Cornish Characters and Strange Events

Part 1

CORNISH CHARACTERS AND STRANGE EVENTS

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME

DEVONSHIRE CHARACTERS AND STRANGE EVENTS

With 55 Full-page Illustrations Reproduced from Old Prints, etc.

CORNISH CHARACTERS

AND STRANGE EVENTS

BY S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.

WITH 62 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS REPRODUCED FROM OLD PRINTS, ETC.

"We all are men, In our own natures frail, and capable Of our flesh; few are angels." HENRY VIII (Act V, Sc. 2).

LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMIX

PLYMOUTH: WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS

PREFACE

Cornwall, peopled mainly by Celts, but with an infusion of English blood, stands and always has stood apart from the rest of England, much, but in a less degree, as has Wales. That which brought it into more intimate association with English thought, interests, and progress was the loss of the old Cornish tongue.

The isolation in which Cornwall had stood has tended to develop in it much originality of character; and the wildness of the coast has bred a hardy race of seamen and smugglers; the mineral wealth, moreover, drew thousands of men underground, and the underground life of the mines has a peculiar effect on mind and character: it is cramping in many ways, but it tends to develop a good deal of religious enthusiasm, that occasionally breaks forth in wild forms of fanaticism. Cornwall has produced admirable sailors, men who have won deathless renown in warfare at sea, as "Old Dreadnought" Boscawen, Pellew, Lord Exmouth, etc., and daring and adventurous smugglers, like "The King of Prussia," who combined great religious fervour with entire absence of scruple in the matter of defrauding the king's revenue. It has produced men of science who have made for themselves a world-fame, as Adams the astronomer, and Sir Humphry Davy the chemist; men who have been benefactors to their race, as Henry Trengrouse, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, and Trevithick. It has sent forth at least one notable painter, the miner's boy Opie, and a dramatist, Samuel Foote, and a great singer in his day, Incledon. But it has not given to literature a great poet. Minor rhymes have been produced in great quantities, but none of great worth. Philosophers have issued from the mines, as Samuel Drew, eccentrics many, as Sir James Tillie, John Knill, and Daniel Gumb. And Cornwall has contributed a certain number of rascals--but fewer in number than almost any other county, if we exclude wreckers and smugglers from the catalogue of rascality.

Strange superstitions have lingered on, and one very curious story of a girl fed for years by fairies has been put on record.

It is somewhat remarkable that Cornwall has produced no musical genius of any note; and yet the Cornishman is akin to the Welshman and the Irishman.

Cornwall has certainly sent up to London and Westminster very able politicians, as Godolphin, Sir William Molesworth, and Sir John Eliot. It furnished Tyburn with a victim--Hugh Peters, the chaplain of Oliver Cromwell, a strange mixture of money-grasping, enthusiasm, and humour.

It has been the object of the author, not to retell the lives of the greatest of the sons of Cornwall, for these lives may be read in the Dictionary of National Biography, but to chronicle the stories of lesser luminaries concerning whom less is known and little is easily accessible. In this way it serves as a companion volume to Devonshire Characters; and Cornwall in no particular falls short of Devonshire in the variety of characters it has sent forth, nor are their stories of less interest.

The author and publisher have to thank many for kind help: Mr. Percy Bate, Mr. T. R. Bolitho, Rev. A. T. Boscawen, Mr. J. A. Bridger, Mr. T. Walter Brimacombe, Mr. A. M. Broadley, Mr. R. P. Chope, Mr. Digby Collins, Mr. J. B. Cornish, Mrs. Coryton of Pentillie Castle, Miss Loveday E. Drake, Mr. E. H. W. Dunkin, F.S.A., Mr. J. D. Enys of Enys, the Rev. Wm. Iago, Mrs. H. Forbes Julian, Mrs. de Lacy Lacy, the Rev. A. H. Malan, Mr. Lewis Melville, Mr. A. H. Norway, Captain Rogers of Penrose, Mr. Thomas Seccombe, Mr. Henry Trengrouse, Mr. W. H. K. Wright, and Mr. Henry Young of Liverpool--and last, but not least, Miss Windeatt Roberts for her admirable Index to the volume.

The publisher wishes me to say that he would much like to discover the whereabouts of a full-length portrait of Sir John Call, with a view of Bodmin Gaol in the background.

S. BARING-GOULD.

CONTENTS

PAGE

WILLIAM PENGELLY, GEOLOGIST 1

SIR CHARLES WILLS, K.B. 12

LIEUTENANT GOLDSMITH AND THE LOGAN ROCK 18

HUGH PETERS, THE REGICIDE 26

Part 2

JAMES POLKINGHORNE, THE WRESTLER 54

HENRY TRENGROUSE, INVENTOR 59

THE BOTATHAN GHOST 72

JOHN COUCH ADAMS, ASTRONOMER 83

DANIEL GUMB 91

LAURENCE BRADDON 96

THOMASINE BONAVENTURA 108

THE MURDER OF NEVILL NORWAY 117

SIR WILLIAM LOWER, KNT. 126

THE PIRATES AT PENZANCE 130

DAME KILLIGREW 133

TWO NATURALISTS IN CORNWALL 141 John Ralfs George Carter Bignell

SIR JOHN CALL, BART. 154

JOHN KNILL 169

THOMAS TREGOSS 176

ANTHONY PAYNE 181

NEVIL NORTHEY BURNARD 186

SIR GOLDSWORTHY GURNEY, KNT., INVENTOR 192

THE JANES 206

THE PENNINGTONS 222

DOCTOR GLYNN-CLOBERY 228

THREE MEN OF MOUSEHOLE 232

DOLLY PENTREATH 238

ROBERT JEFFERY OF POLPERRO 247

ADMIRAL RICHARD DARTON THOMAS 258

COMMANDER JOHN POLLARD 269

THE CASE OF BOSAVERN PENLEZ 270

SAMUEL FOOTE 280

Part 3

THE LAST LORD MOHUN 298

THE LAST LORD CAMELFORD 318

WILLIAM NOYE 329

WILLIAM LEMON 342

SAMUEL DREW 346

THE SIEGE OF SKEWIS 364

THE VOYAGE OF JOHN SANDS 370

CHARLES INCLEDON 375

THE MURDER OF RICHARD CORYTON 388

SIR JAMES TILLIE, KNT. 399

LIEUTENANT JOHN HAWKEY 408

DR. DANIEL LOMBARD 424

THE DREAM OF MR. WILLIAMS 427

SIR ROBERT TRESILIAN 432

PIRATE TRELAWNY 441

JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM 455

MARY ANN DAVENPORT, ACTRESS 466

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PRUSSIA 470

CAPTAIN RICHARD KEIGWIN 479

THE LOSS OF THE "KENT" 489

VICE-ADMIRAL SIR CHARLES V. PENROSE 500

SIR CHRISTOPHER HAWKINS, BART. 515

ANNE JEFFERIES 531

THOMAS KILLIGREW, THE KING'S JESTER 544

NICOLAS ROSCARROCK 554

LIEUTENANT PHILIP G. KING 559

HICKS OF BODMIN 569

CAPTAIN TOBIAS MARTIN 579

Part 4

THE MAYOR OF BODMIN 586

JOHN NICHOLS TOM, ALIAS SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 593

THE BOHELLAND TRAGEDY 614

MARY KELYNACK 620

CAPTAIN WILLIAM ROGERS 623

JOHN BURTON OF FALMOUTH 627

THE FATE OF SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVEL 637

FRANCIS TREGIAN 652

ANN GLANVILLE 663

JONATHAN SIMPSON, HIGHWAYMAN 670

DAVIES GILBERT 675

JAMES HOSKIN, FARMER 682

JOHN HARRIS, THE MINER POET 692

EDWARD CHAPMAN 701

JOHN COKE OF TRERICE 704

THOMAS PELLOW OF PENRYN 707

THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBARTES FAMILY 718

THEODORE PALEOLOGUS 727

ILLUSTRATIONS

THOMAS PITT, LORD CAMELFORD Frontispiece

TO FACE PAGE

WILLIAM PENGELLY 2

From a painting by A. S. Cope, reproduced by permission of Mrs. H. Forbes Julian

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR CHARLES WILLS 12

From an engraving by Simon, after a picture by M. Dahl

A VIEW OF THE CELEBRATED LOGAN ROCK, NEAR LAND'S END IN CORNWALL 18

Taken after the Rock was displaced on the 8th of April, 1824. From a lithograph by Vibert, after a drawing by Tonkin

A VIEW OF THE SOUTHERN PART OF CASTLE TRERYN, SHOWING THE MACHINERY ERECTED FOR THE PURPOSE OF REPLACING THE LOGAN ROCK 22

Part 5

From a lithograph by Vibert, after a drawing by Tonkin

HUGH PETERS 26

From an old engraving

JAMES POLKINGHORNE, THE FAMOUS CORNISH WRESTLER 54

From a drawing as he appeared in the Ring at Devonport on Monday, 23 October, 1826, when he threw Aḇͫ. Cann, the Champion of Devonshire, for a stake of 200 sovereigns

HENRY TRENGROUSE, THE INVENTOR OF THE ROCKET APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE AT SEA 60

From an oil painting by Opie the younger, reproduced by permission of Mr. H. Trengrouse

THE WRECK OF THE "ANSON" 66

From a sketch by Mr. H. Trengrouse

"PARSON RUDALL" 72

From a painting in the possession of the Rev. S. Baring-Gould

JOHN COUCH ADAMS 84

From a mezzotint by Samuel Cousins, A.R.A., after a picture by Thomas Mogford. From the collection of Mrs. Lewis Lane

JOHN COUCH ADAMS 88

THE CHEESE-WRING 92

From an etching by Letitia Byrne, after a drawing by J. Farington, R.A.

NEVILL NORWAY 118

From a painting in the possession of Miss A. T. Norway

SIR WILLIAM LOWER 126

THE KILLYGREW CUP 134 "1633. FROM MAIOR TO MAIOR TO THE TOWNE OF PERMARIN, WHERE THEY RECEIVED MEE THAT WAS IN GREAT MISERY" JANE KILLYGREW

This cup has been recently valued at the sum of £4000. It measures just two feet in height

GEORGE CARTER BIGNELL 142

From a photograph

JOHN RALFS 146

Reproduced by permission of Miss Loveday E. Drake

SIR JOHN CALL, BART. 154

From a portrait (by A. Hickle) in the possession of his great-granddaughter, Mrs. de Lacy Lacy

WHITEFORD--THE RESIDENCE OF SIR JOHN CALL 164

Part 6

From a drawing in the possession of Mrs. de Lacy Lacy

JOHN KNILL 170

After a picture by Opie in the possession of Captain Rogers, of Penrose

GLASS INSCRIBED "SUCCESS TO THE EAGLE FRIGATE, JOHN KNILL, COMMANDER" 172

Continue reading Cornish Characters and Strange Events free in the Wunder reader →