Walter Hawken Tregellas

“ Sir Francis opposed the peace with America with great energy, and in the same year seconded the address to the king's speech, declaring his confidence in the administration. In 1779, when the combined French and Spanish fleets threatened Plymouth, Sir Francis Basset marched into that town a large body of the Cornish miners' militia, and, with their aid, rapidly threw up additional earthwork batteries for the defence of the port; he also constructed about the same time some defences for the little harbour of Portreath on the north coast of Cornwall. ”

“ Like the Arundells of Lanherne and Trerice, the Arundells of Tolverne intermarried with good Cornish blood, but this branch chose generally the western families for their alliances, such as Reskymer, Trefusis, St. Aubyn, Godolphin, and Trelawny. The grandson of Thomas Arundell, who died in 1552 (who was also called Thomas, and who was knighted by James I) , having seriously impaired his fortune by endeavouring to discover an imaginary island in America, called 'Old Brazil,' sold Tolverne, and afterwards lived at Truthall in the parish of Sithney. ”

“ At the coronation of Henry VII, Richard Boscawen paid a fine of 5l. in order to escape the trouble and expense of going to court, and of being made a knight of the Bath; and his grandson, Hugh, did the same at the coronation of Queen Mary. All the earlier Boscawens, though wealthy, were unambitious and undistinguished. The first who claims notice is Hugh, the great-grandson of the last-named Hugh Boscawen, who appears to have formed that intimate connection between Truro and his family which has so long subsisted. ”

“ Allen on her husband's death, ‘I fear not all the example of his virtues will have power to raise up to the world his like again,’ and by Allen's leaving to Pitt, by his will, 1,000l., ‘as the best of friends, as well as the most upright and ablest of ministers that has adorned our country.’ Pope left Allen 150l. by his will, that sum ‘being, to the best of my calculation, the account of what I have received from him, partly for my own, and partly for charitable uses.’ Allen quietly observed, ‘He forgot to add the other 0 to the 150,’ and sent the money to the Bath Hospital. ”

“ ARUNDELL of Cornwall. The Arundells are amongst the few Cornish families of Norman origin, and there are still fewer of French extraction who have for so long a period as at least five or six centuries been, like them, traceable in that county. It will be convenient, before referring to the more celebrated members of the family, to briefly sketch the history of the three principal stems — viz. the Arundells of Lanherne, Trerice, and Tolverne — and to add a few words about the minor Arundells. ”

“ The Arundells intermarried with most of the old Cornish families — nearly all of them now extinct — thus adding considerably to their vast possessions, until at length, in the twenty-ninth year of Henry VI, John Arundell, born about 1421, had become the largest free tenant in Cornwall, his estates being of the value of 2,000l. per annum. He was sheriff and admiral of Cornwall, and a general for Henry VI in his French wars, but was attainted in 1483. The Arundells acquired Lanherne by marriage with the heiress of that family ”

“ He had thus become a man of such importance in the city that he was known as ‘The Man of Bath;’ and, although only once mayor (in 1742) , his influence in the town council was so great that it gave rise to a good-humoured caricature portrait of him, long popular in Bath, entitled ‘The one-headed Corporation.’ He now left his old residence, between York Street and Liliput Alley, and built out of his own quarries a solid and magnificent mansion on the Prior Park Estate, Widcombe, some three or four miles from Bath, and near the site of his famous quarries. ”

“ In the following reign he was vice-admiral of the king's ships in the west seas; and in 1544, when he was sheriff of Cornwall, Queen Mary wrote requiring that he, with his friends and neighbours, 'should see the Prince of Spain most honourably entertained, if he fortuned to land in Cornwall.' By his first wife, a coheir of Bevil, he had two children, Roger, who married a Dinham, and Katherine, who married a Prideaux. ”

“ William Sandys, son of a former steward of the family, and who had been specially trained for the purpose, completed his education, and he at once started in public life with every advantage that talents, education, and position could confer. ”

“ Edward Boscawen [q. v.] , the son of the third viscount, became first earl of Falmouth. His son, George Henry, by his wife Anne Frances Bankes, was the fifth viscount and second (and last) earl. He was a man of considerable ability, taking in 1832 a double first-class at Oxford. He died unmarried in 1852. He was succeeded in the viscounty by his cousin Evelyn, grandson of the third viscount by his second son, John Evelyn, canon of Canterbury. ”

“ He appears to have been a jovial sportsman, much addicted to hawking and cock-fighting. He married in 1620 Ann, daughter of Sir Jonathan Trelawny of Trelawne, and, when the stress of the civil war in 1643 passed into Cornwall, was busily engaged in the western part of Cornwall in raising money and drilling forces for the king. ”

“ In 1722 he was presented to the living of Ludgvan, near Penzance, and he now seems to have first paid particular attention to the natural history of his native county, and to the præhistoric antiquities of the hundred of Penwith. He was an acute observer and a careful draughtsman, and his observations, albeit sometimes of a too fanciful character (especially when he approaches the subject of the Druids) , are often interesting and original. In 1724 he married Anne Smith, daughter of the rector of Illogan and Camborne. ”

“ Their 'right goodly lordship,' as Leland calls it, extended over the parishes of Illogan, Redruth, and Camborne, the advowsons of which pertained to the manor of Tehidy, and the livings were occasaionally held by some member of the family; but their wealth has in later times been mainly derived from the enormous mineral riches of this part of Cornwall, albeit they likewise had considerable property in the north-eastern part of the county. ”

“ Dr. Wolcot (Peter Pindar) now became his friend, and by his advice Bone made professional tours in Cornwall. On 24 Jan. 1780 he married Elizabeth Vandermeulen, a descendant of William III’s battle-painter; and by her he had twelve children, ten of whom survived, In the same year he exhibited his first picture at the Royal Academy, a portrait of his wife, an unusually large enamel for the period. He now gave himself up entirely to enamel-painting, and continued frequently to exhibit at the Academy, initialing most of his works. ”

“ In this frail craft they sailed, for nearly three months, a distance of 3,618 miles, touching at some small islands, where they got only a few shellfish and some fruit; but at length, thanks to Bligh's skill, resource, and courage, they reached Timor, an island off the east coast of Java, on 14 June 1789. Here Bligh obtained a schooner, in which, with twelve of his companions, the survivors, he reached England on 14 March 1790. The mutineers settled on Pitcairn Island, where their descendants still exist, happy and prosperous [see Adams, John, 1760?–1829] ”

“ She married, first, Robert Radcliff, earl of Essex, and, secondly, Henry, seventeenth earl of Arundel. She is buried at the east end of the south aisle of Xewlyn Church, Cornwall, in the vault of the Trerice Arundells ”

“ She arrived, successively, three rich London merchants, the last being Sir John Percyvall, who in 1486 was sheriff, was knighted by Henry VII, and in 1498, the year of the marriage, was elected lord mayor of London. He died about 1504, and had a chantry in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth. Dame Percivall survived her third husband, and at his death retired to her native place, where she occupied herself in ‘repairing of highways, building of bridges, endowing of maidens, relieving of prisoners, feeding andappareling the poor,’ &c. ”

“ He was an energetic man of business, and greatly increased the sales of the manufacture, employing at one time as many as fifty painters, besides a great number of potters, burnishers, apprentices, women, and girls. Under his management, however, the former high quality and finished decoration of the Derby ware deteriorated. About the year 1820 his business was at its height; and, by the aid of auctions in various parts of England, Derby china, for the most part showily painted, but some of it slightly injured in the firing, was dispersed throughout the country ”

“ In 1817 he gained a premium of 100l. from the British Institution for his painting of ‘a Lady with her Attendants at the Bath.’ He does not appear to have done much, if anything, in enamel painting, but confined himself almost exclusively to sacred, classic, and domestic subjects. His works, though generally small, are tasteful and sparkling, and he was a member of the Sketching Club. He died from the effects of an accident on 5 May 1840. ”

“ Allen also became an employer of labour to a very large extent as proprietor of the Combe Down quarries, near Bath, and invented a very ingenious contrivance for conveying the huge blocks of stone from the quarries down to the canal. ”

“ He was a colonel in the king's army, and Clarendon describes him as 'a stout and diligent officer.' His estates, much impoverished during the civil war, were confiscated by the parliament in 1647, but on the Restoration were recovered by him, and on 23 March 1664 he was created a baron. ”

“ He became a lieutenant in the royal navy, made several important hydrographic surveys, and was present at the memorable battle off the Doggerbank 5 Aug. 1781, fought under Lord Howe at Gilbralter in 1782, and, having acquired a high reputation as a skilful navigator, was appointed to the Bounty, of 250 tons, in December 1787, arriving at his destination, Otaheite, ten months afterwards, Here he remained for five or six months, during which period his crew became demoralised by the luxurious climate and their apparently unrestricted intercourse with the natives. ”

“ He took deep interest in gardening, and in the formation and improvement of the public roads in his neighbourhood. He now also worked at a 'Parochial History of Cornwall,' never published. His latest literary work consisted of some speculations on the 'Creation and the Deluge,' but this, too, was not printed (although actually sent to the press) , in consequence of Borlase's last illness. On 31 Aug. 1772 he died at Ludgvan, of which parish he had for fifty-two years been rector, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. ”

“ Having, according to Thomas Walsingham's story, profaned a convent at or near Southampton, and carried off 'vi vel sponte' many of its occupants, the fleet was pursued by a violent tempest, when the wretched nuns who had been carried off were thrown overboard to lighten the ships. ”

“ Ives in Cornwall, and Lydia Harris, his wife, of Hayne, Devonshire, a descendant of the Nevilles and Bouchiers, was born on 2 Feb. 1695 (Quarterly Review, cxxxix. 367) . First educated at a school in Penzance, he was removed thence to Plymouth in 1709, and placed under a Rev. Mr. Bedford; going afterwards to Tiverton School. In March 1712–13 he was entered at Exeter College, Oxford, where he took his degrees of B.A. and M.A. in due course. ”

“ He became a gentleman-commoner of Exeter College, Oxford, and on settling in London studied law under a Cornish lawyer, Mr. Justice Buller, about 1770, and went the western circuit. Boscawen published two or three law treatises, and was appointed a commissioner in bankruptcy. In 1785 he was made a commissioner of the Victualling Office. ”

“ BURY, THOMAS TALBOT (1811–1877) , architect, was descended from a Worcestershire family, afterwards settled in the city of London. He was born on 26 Sept. 1811, and was articled in 1824 to Augustus Pugin. Among his fellow-pupils were Messrs. Ferrey, Dollman, Shaw, Lake Price, Nash, Walker, and Charles Mathews the actor. He commenced practice in Gerrard Street, Soho, in 1830; and, in addition to his architectural practice, was often engaged in engraving and lithographing his own and other architects' drawings, notably those of Pugin and Owen Jones. ”

“ Although a clever workman, especially in the making of pastes and glasses, he does not appear to have been very successful in conducting a business, for after a while he returned to the potteries district, this time as an assistant at Mason's factory at Lane Delph. ”

“ This acquaintanceship seems to have led to the publication of the results of Borlase's labours, for in the following year appeared his essay on 'Spar and Sparry Productions, called Cornish Diamonds,' in the 'Philosophical Transactions.' This at once procured his election in 1760 as a fellow of the Royal Society. ”

“ He was sheriff of Dorsetshire 1531–2, gentleman of the privy chamber to Cardinal Wolsey, and was knighted at the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533. He was appointed in 1535, with Sir John Tregonwell and others, as a commissioner for the suppression of religious houses. ”