Plymouthhistory

Plymouthhistory
Summer 2014 Issue No.1
A journal for the study and celebration of Plymouth and its
history

Plymouthhistory
There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing
unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory – Sir
Francis Drake, Portugal 1587
Contents:
EDITORIAL:
THE NEW PLYMOUTH HISTORY CENTRE
EXITS & ENTRANCES– Stories from Plymouth’s
Theatre History by Laura Quigley
EDITOR:
Andrew Jago
COLUMNISTS:
Laura Quigley,
Marc Partridge,
Stephen Luscombe.
BOOKS FROM OUR LOCAL AUTHORS
PLYMOUTH, DEVONPORT AND STONEHOUSE:
FROM THE PEACE OF 1815 TO THE 1860'S by Marc
Partridge
DEPARTMENT OF JANNEROLOGY Plymouth
knowledge exam. A signed copy of Laura Quigley's
brilliant “Bloody British History: Plymouth” to be won!
THE A7 PROJECT
THE STRANGE DEATH OF HENRY HALL
EMPIRE IN YOUR BACKYARD (PT I ) by Stephen
Luscombe
LIVES OF THE GREAT WAR: BILLY BAKER
NOTORIOUS by Laura Quigley
MUTINY: THE STORY OF HMS JACKAL
CONTACTS
If you have a letters, articles, family
histories, reviews, or any other
comments to make, please contact the
Editor at the following:
editor@plymouthhistory.co.uk
For subscription information, please
contact the following:
subscriptions@plymouthhistory.co.uk
NEWS FROM ARGYLE FANS TRUST
VOTE FOR THE GREATEST JANNER EVER!
The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in signed articles, letters and other items published in “Plymouth History Magazine” are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect
those of the views, conclusions and opinions of “Plymouth History Magazine. The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in unsigned articles, news reports, reviews and other items
published in “Plymouth History Magazine” are the responsibility of Plymouth History Magazine and its editorial team.
We occasionally use material we believe has been placed in the public domain. It is not always possible to identify and contact the copyright holder; if you claim ownership of something we
have published we will be pleased to make a proper acknowledgement.
The contents of Plymouth History Magazine including the compilation of all materials and the unsigned articles,essays, news reports, reviews and other items are copyright ©2013 Plymouth
History Magazine. The authors of signed articles, news reports, letters, reviews and other items retain the copyright of their respective contributions. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise circulated in any form, by any means including, digital, electronic, printed, mechanical, photocopying,
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3
Plymouthhistory
Welcome to the first edition of the Plymouth History e-Magazine!
First of all, many apologies for the long delay. Lots of minor, but troubling and time consuming
technical difficulties that, hopefully, we have seen the back of. Many thanks for your patience, and
for subscribing and downloading the magazine; we hope that it's worth it!
We think we have assembled a formidable team of contributors for this first edition, whose
knowledge is second to none and whose willingness to share that knowledge is gratefully
acknowledged here.
Laura Quigley is an award-winning Plymouth-based writer who writes all kinds of fiction, nonfiction,
theatre and articles. This month's competition prize (see page 22) "Bloody British History
Plymouth" was a best-seller, and "South West Secret Agents", telling true stories of espionage in
World War 2 is due for release with the History Press in September 2014.Her next publication
though is pure fiction, out in July 2014 and it's the start of a time-travelling fiction series for all
ages, called “Spirit and the Magic Horsebox” (see page 41).
Marc Partridge may not be a familiar name to you (yet!) but most of you would have seen or liked
Marc's fantastic “Plymouth History Appreciation Society” Facebook page. Photograph rich and full
of historical detail, both ancient and modern. As can be seen in this issue, Marc has a superb
knowledge of crime and policing in Victorian Plymouth which we are sure you will be seeing more
of in the future.
Last, but far from least is Stephen Luscombe. His magnificent website at www.
britishempire.co.uk is a work of epic proportions with many illustrations. With grateful thanks to
Stephen, the Plymouth section of his site will be serialised in this magazine.
We believe that there is a real boost in interest in the history of our great city – the individuals
named above and groups and organisations such as Hidden Heritage, the SHIPS Project and The
War In Plymouth Project amongst others, are testimony to that. Their willingness to engage and
freely share knowledge on the various social media platforms is a much needed and welcome
breath of fresh air. Perhaps, even more importantly, the sharing of that knowledge on social
media is leading to huge interest from younger generations. Long may it continue!
RESURGAM!
Andrew Jago, Editor

Plymouth History Centre News
After 15 years of uncertainty, as well as the threat that Plymouth's archives and records collection could be
taken away from the city, we are absolutely delighted that there has been progress on the long awaited
Plymouth History Centre.
The hope is that building work to transform the current site of the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, due to
start in January 2016, will be completed by July 2018.
The new History Centre will house the archives and records of Plymouth & West Devon Record Office
(PWDRO), the Museum and Art Gallery, the reference library and the South West Film & Television Archive
(SWFTA) currently based at the Melville Building of the Royal William Yard. It is thought the project will cost in
the region of £21million. Plymouth City Council have committed £5million and there is an ongoing bid to the
Heritage Lottery Fund for an investment of £12million. The remainder will be sourced from smaller bids.
Only 5% of the city's magnificent collections are on currently on display at
the existing site (left) and the new History Centre will provide enough space
for much bigger and better exhibitions and much improved facilities for an
expected doubling visitors and researchers. In addition to the
refurbishment of the Grade II listed library and museum buildings and the
St Lukes Church building in Tavistock Place, the development will see an
extension built at the reverse of the current library building.
An aerial view of the projected development (right) shows the
extent of the plans. Plymouth City Council and PWDRO are
calling on the public for their input and ideas which you can
give through their website or by emailing the team at
pwdro@plymouth.gov.uk. They are also asking for stories and
photographs to use on the website. For more information, visit
http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/loveourpast where you can also
follow all the developments and bid processes as they happen.
Those on Twitter can keep up to date by following
@LoveOurPast or by visiting and liking the Love Our Past
Facebook page.
In many ways it is understandable that there is some
scepticism, but we believe that this is an opportunity for
all of us to get involved and help show what Plymouth
has to offer, to celebrate it's often neglected but
nevertheless, fantastic history. The artistic impression of
how the History Centre may look (left) looks superb.
LOVE OUR PAST!
Images and artwork courtesy of Love Our Past and
Plymouth City Council.

About the author
Having earned a First Class Honours Degree in
Drama and an MA in Film and Television, Laura
Quigley spent years in educational management
and publishing before receiving awards for her
writing for theatre and publishing her own local
histories: The Devil Comes to Dartmoor and Bloody
British History Plymouth. She regularly gives talks
to Buckland Abbey and Hidden Heritage and she’s
currently working on South West Secret Agents,
true stories of WW2 espionage in the West Country,
out in 2014.
Exits & Entrances: Stories from
Plymouth's Theatre History by Laura Quigley ©
Early Days
In the 1400s, travelling players in Plymouth were considered vagabonds and thieves and often
whipped out of town. Early Plymouth had little time for their theatricals which were frequently
bawdy or satirical, playing to the base pleasures of the crowd, and like many authorities, the
Mayor of Plymouth was eager to see such unholy offerings removed.
However the Tudor monarchs brought with them a love for entertainment and in 1515, strolling
players called The King’s Joculars appeared at the Town Gates and started a tradition. In 1539, a
juggler and six players were paid for entertaining the Mayor and his brethren at the Mayor’s house.
During the Elizabethan age visitors from London could expect some theatrical offerings, though it
would be a long while before Plymouth had its own theatre and even longer before theatre was
seen as respectable entertainment. There was a small arena under the Hoe for bull baiting, a
popular Elizabethan pastime that I for one am glad did not continue. I’m reliably informed that the
adrenalin from baiting the bull makes the beef very tender but for me this is a cruel substitute for
‘dinner and a show’.
By 1604, puritan feeling was growing in the town, and strolling players were again evicted, on one
occasion paid NOT to play for the townspeople. Perhaps they just weren’t very good. On May Day
the same year, Morris Dancers and musicians still performed upon the Hoe, yet in 1628 again
another poor street performer was paid off “to be gone”.
17 th century Morris Dancers
The English Civil War would see all forms of
entertainment banned by the puritan authorities,
including swearing, drinking, gambling, make-up,
ostentatious costume and any form of theatrics. Even
after the war, when the town’s authorities had been
pardoned by King Charles II, there seems to be little
support for theatre The only spectacles were hangings,
duckings, throwing rubbish at some poor soul in the
stocks and the annual drunken re-inactments of Freedom
Day, commemorating when Plymouth fought off an attack
by the French in 1403.

By 1700, the townspeople must have been desperate for some ‘light entertainment’ but in 1728,
an economic depression hit Plymouth, with shops emptying at an alarming rate. The town couldn’t
afford to maintain paupers, let alone any travelling actors. The authorities were determined to
discourage all tendencies to vice and immorality and any ‘actors of interludes’ were sentenced to
prison with hard labour at ‘the pleasure of the Corporation’.
The First Theatre
Wars against the French brought prosperity back to Plymouth and the first theatre was built in two
rooms in Hoegate Street (then Broad Hoe Lane) at the back of the Plymouth Gin distillery. A ‘lurid
allegorical scene’ was performed at exactly 6.30pm every night (except Sundays I presume) and it
was just the sort of disreputable heatre the authorities had feared. Of course, every show was a
sell-out.
This first theatre had no licence. All stage plays were banned by local statute, so the manager
advertised the performances as concerts. But the people knew exactly what they were getting.
In 1749, the Brandy Company performed The Beaux’ Strategem, a lewd comedy about two
handsome but impoverished young men who seduce heiresses and steal their money. The Brandy
Company were so called because the majority of the members drank themselves to death.
Theatre had finally arrived in Plymouth!
The Beaux Stratagem, performed
in Plymouth in 1749
Frankfort Gate
By 1758, the theatre had outgrown its premises on Hoegate Street
and they moved into three partly finished houses opposite
Frankfort Gate. Fortunately they opened in good weather in June
as the houses still had no roof. Within three weeks, the company
had taken £1800 in ticket sales – an extraordinary sum for the time
– and soon the new coach service from London was bringing in
some renowned performers.
The theatre changed hands, the new owner Miss Capdeville
enchanting the crowds with her dances, often performed in men’s
clothes - very risqué in the 18 th century. One popular play was The
Revels of the Royal Volunteers of Plymouth, a satire on the
manners of those ladies who accompanied the soldiers to their
tents, with music offered by the Regimental band. Base pleasures
indeed. ‘Grace’ and ‘Virtue’ took to the stage, but they were the
names of characters, not the characteristics of the play.
Mr Bernard and Mr Barrett became joint owners of this Plymouth Theatre and Mr Bernard was
renowned for introducing a fresh ‘wife’ into polite local society at the start of every season.
Of the actresses, Mrs Bradshaw was the most popular, but she met a tragic end. She’d adopted
a daughter and scandalous rumours spread that the girl was in fact her illegitimate child. While
performing in Plymouth, she discovered the gossip and broke down during a dance. The
audience hissed her and Mrs Bradshaw was seized with fits on stage then carried home to die
insane.
The actress Mrs Sumbell, was not so affected by propriety. When George III visited Plymouth in
1789, she sat astride a gun on the deck of her boat belting out “God Save the King” to the
cheers of spectators.

Two Theatres
A theatre was opened in Dock, later known as Devonport,
on the site of what was then Cumberland Gardens. In
1793, Messieurs Bernard and Barrett argued and Barrett
opened yet a third theatre, an improved wooden structure
on George Street, which he called “The New Theatre” but
this was soon abandoned. Mr Bernard’s company then
performed alternate nights at the Plymouth and Dock
Theatres.
In 1801, both the Plymouth Theatre and the Dock Theatre
were taken over by Mr S. Foote (formerly known as
Freeman). He re-named the Plymouth establishment the
Theatre Royal, though no-one knew on whose authority,
but he declared “it’s a good travelling name and avoids
troublesome enquiries”. To his credit, King George III had
visited in 1789, and Mr Foote actually bothered to apply
for a licence and performed in all the shows himself. His
pretty daughter also became a popular actress, playing
Juliet at just twelve years old. (For a time, the Dock
Theatre was also called the Theatre Royal which must
have caused some confusion!)
George III visited the Plymouth Theatre in
1789
Meanwhile the Dock Theatre became notorious for drunken behaviour, with the sailors passing
bottles of rum to the women who sat segregated in the audience. In the pit, tradesmen were
assailed with insults and pelted with orange peel. Riots regularly broke out in the aisles. In 1808, a
lady was ‘insulted’ as the lights went down and officers fought in the upper boxes. Police were
called, and the naval officers used their whips and bludgeons against the police. The ringleader
was publicly stripped of his uniform and sentenced to two years in solitary confinement. Local
magistrates asserted their right to free tickets so they could attend to preserve the peace, but they
failed to prevent the debauchery.
One performance of Othello at Dock was so good that when Desdemona was being strangled by
Othello, one man in the audience raced to her rescue, tearing Desdemona from Othello’s grasp.
The poor actor playing Othello bolted home terrified, still in black-face, his dagger in hand.
Smith and Winson took over Plymouth’s Theatre Royal and tried to attract a better clientele, but
local patrons preferred buffoonery to high drama. The next manager Mr Sandford increased the
prices by a shilling to pay for improvements, but the actors and the audience rebelled, defiantly
blowing trumpets and singing lewd songs throughout the show. A crowd of sailors took over the
stage and in the mayhem the manager reduced the prices.
Theatre Royal patrons particularly enjoyed the performances of Mr. Hayne, a local actor of
tragedies, because he would interrupt his speeches with attacks on the misbehaving audience. As
Othello, played by Hayne, addresses the Senate in the play, Hayne would repeatedly turn to
members of the audience and shout abuse: “I'll have everyone of you in custody before you are
aware of it.” And “That young woman with blue ribbons is as bad as any of you” and “What, are
you at it again?”. Before the speech was over, he’d be calling for the constable, much to the
amusement of the crowd. Some ladies in the audience got their own back when Hayne was
playing Richard the Third, sewing beneath his robes a long and curly demonic tail which protruded
as he sauntered across the stage. As he began his opening speech “Now is the winter...”, it stood
erect like a giant phallus. The audience were apoplectic with laughter.

A New Theatre Royal
In 1810, John Foulston won a competition to design a new theatre, hotel and assembly rooms on
George Street. His neo-classical design, with a portico of 30 foot columns, opened in 1813. Its
foundation stone contained a vase of Plymouth porcelain and gold and silver coins for luck. With
thick walls, Foulston believed he had built the only fireproof theatre in the country, but
unfortunately it did catch fire in 1878, and had to be refurbished.
While Foulston’s Theatre Royal was being built, John Kelland defied the local laws by opening a
theatre in his tavern the Fox and Goose near Frankfort Place. The magistrate declared this an
incentive to vice. Kelland was reprimanded and the young actors put in the dock and required to
improve their behaviour. So much for community theatre.
The old Plymouth Theatre at Frankfort Gate did continue for a time and in 1825 presented a short
season of “A Grand Serious Pantomime in four Acts” called “Haradin, the Chief of Turks”, but this
establishment does not appear to have lasted much longer.
The new Theatre Royal opened with Shakespeare’s As You Like It and a version of The Taming of
the Shrew, but the local audience were more interested in singing "Paudeen O'Rafferty," a
disreputable song at the time that was forbidden. Fights broke out and the Mayor had to suppress
the disorder by sending in the constables.
Nineteenth century audiences demanded
spectacle and the Theatre Royal delivered
dramatic aerial effects, flames and herds of live
horses. In 1815, the famous circus performer
Andrew Ducrow ascended the gallery standing
on his head on top of a balloon, with two boys
suspended from the basket.
Foulston's Royal Hotel, Theatre & Assembly Rooms, Plymouth.
In spite of all this, the theatre did not make
money, and the manager Mr Brunton
complained that there was a high ‘moral
principle’ in certain classes that was
undermining theatre in Plymouth. As he
relinquished the lease, Mr Brunton argued
against his critics that drama must show all
aspects of society, the vice as well as the
virtue.
Mr Davenport took over the Theatre Royal’s lease in 1837, announcing he had the fortune to
maintain it, but it was quickly discovered he was interested only in getting himself onto the stage.
His performance of Virginius in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was so dire that the audience boo’d
him. He ignored them and went on to attempt Othello – well, that small portion of the text he could
remember. Defying all his critics, Mr Davenport insisted on being in every play.
Mr Hay, the next manager, was censured by the Corporation as his plays were considered
immoral. Eventually Mr Hay fell behind in the rent and was forced to leave, declaring it was
impossible to make the Theatre Royal pay:
“It is too large for the town; very frequently it is a mere wilderness; it presents a most
melancholy and comfortless sight; and it is impossible for the actor to dispel the prevailing
sadness."
While Mr Hay was all melancholy, the Dock Theatre was succeeding with comedy in the form of a
performer called James Doel who only had to walk on stage and say “What are you laughing at?”
to have the audience in stitches. In 1824, it became the Devonport Theatre which eventually
closed in 1899 to be reopened on Fore Street the same year. Also private theatricals thrived in
local mansions including Saltram House, making the Theatre Royal difficult to fill.

Mr J. R. Newcombe from Bath made a bid for the management of the ailing Theatre Royal but
season after season passed without profit, the dress circle usually empty and the outbreak of
cholera in Plymouth did his business no favours. Mr Newcombe never lost heart and the
audiences that turned up saw some of the best performers in the country, local stories being
warmly received, most noteworthy being The Five Fields Tragedy, or the Assassin's Bridge : A
Tale of Stoke, in 1787. He even staged the famous Drake and the bowling green scene in a play
about the Spanish Armada.
His tenure would be marked by tragedy. During a local amateur performance, the auditorium was
filled to overflowing when the performers entered the stage. Mrs Kirby as a Country Belle came
downstage towards the footlights wearing a light muslin dress and was instantly enveloped in
flames. For a moment, everyone was paralysed with horror then several men rushed to her rescue
with coats and rugs. The hysterical spectators dispersed to the news that the poor Mrs Kirby was
horribly injured. She did not survive.
During the pantomime season of 1863, shortly after the house had emptied, Mr Newcombe
noticed a suspicious smell and scoured the theatre. He saw nothing to alarm him and went to bed,
where still worried he rose within the hour and returned to find the Theatre Royal in flames. The
props room was ablaze and the firefighters made a hole in the roof so the water could reach the
fire, but this seemed only to spread it further. The firemen were forced to retreat and the rafters
shook and came crashing down. The country was illuminated by the flames for miles. Thousands
were evacuated from their homes as the Citadel’s guns fired in warning. The conflagration
enveloped the western part of the building and engineers saved the rest by hacking at the roof
with hatchets. The ballroom floor collapsed into the tearoom below with such force that the floor
sank several inches.
In June 1878, fire struck again. The play had just finished when the acting manager, another Mr
Newcombe, saw smoke issuing from the upper windows. In a couple of hours, the theatre was
gutted again and nothing remained but bare walls. It finally reopened in January 1879.
The Palace of Varieties
In 1898, an elegant Theatre of Varieties was built on Union Street
replacing a noisy marketplace that was called “The Fancy Fair”. Designed
by Mr W.H. Arber of London, with tiled panel reproductions of Sir Oswald
Brierly’s famous Armada paintings, the new theatre was named “The
Palace”. A handsome Sicilian marble staircase led to the balcony and
foyers and the stalls were reached through an avenue of mirrors. In the
proscenium over the stage, a huge Union Jack was displayed along with a
fresco of the knighting of Drake, and the dome and balcony were filled
with paintings of naval and military triumphs. Along with the building of the
Western Hotel next door, the total cost was £185,000.
Over the years, the Palace would attract the great names of variety including Charlie Chaplin,
Gracie Fields, Lilly Langtry, Anna Pavlova, Harry Houdini, George Formby, Louis Armstrong, Old
Mother Riley and Tommy Handley of ‘It’s That Man Again’. Laurel and Hardy were to perform there
in 1954, but Stan Laurel had a minor heart attack following a bout of flu and they sadly had to pull
out. Their faces however still decorate the interior. Shows continued throughout the Plymouth Blitz,
despite the theatre being hit with incendiary bombs.
Variety performers had previously used St. James's Hall in Union Street which had been
built in 1866 by Mr Henry Reed, musical director at the Theatre Royal and Mr J R
Newcombe’s son-in-law. In 1872 the famous Barnum circus star General Tom Thumb
appeared there. In 1898 the Hall was closed to prevent competition with the new theatre
and performers were transferred to The Palace.
Having lost the lease to his father-in-law’s Theatre Royal, Henry Reed then constructed
the Grand Theatre in Union Street but it could not compete with the existing theatres and
the owner of The Palace easily induced Mr Reed to sell The Grand Theatre for £17,000.
The Grand became a very popular film theatre until it was destroyed in the Plymouth Blitz
Tom Thumb
of March 1941.

The Palace had been opened just 7 months when fire broke out. There are
several versions of the story, but contemporary writer Henry Whitfield
describes a sketch involving a cannon and scraps of burning paper flying into
the wings. The audience was hurriedly evacuated but the fire curtain was not
lowered and the interior was engulfed in flames, destroying all the fabulous
artwork.
The Metropole
The Devonport Theatre closed in 1899, but the builder of the Grand Theatre had also built the
Empire Theatre in Devonport in 1893. This was redesigned and renamed the New Metropole
Theatre in 1896 when Mr F R Benson's Shakespearean and Old English Comedy Company were
expected to stage a different classic play every night. It was frantic, with amusing consequences
for the audience.
During their performance of MacBeth, an ageing actor ascending as an evil spirit suddenly crashed
to the stage and sat there disconcerted by the audience’s laughter. The following night this same
actor played Hecate which involved another lift from the stage and he demanded something more
secure. A roped platform was duly substituted but the actor allowed his foot to dangle off the edge.
Then he was too quickly lifted into the air. Instead of Hecate’s sage advice as he departed this
world, there was a crash and Hecate screaming “Oh my toe, my toe!”.
The following night, a poor lad playing a Captain had to wait until the Third Act for his cue to say
“Here comes the King!”. He kept nervously asking his fellow thespians ‘when’s it my turn to go on?’
He finally got his chance and walked onto the stage to stand there speechless. He’d forgotten his
line. He hurried off embarrassed then returned to giggles from the audience, to announce “Here
comes the King!”. No King. The trumpet played a fanfare. Still no King. Frantic whispers offstage.
“Where’s the bloody King?”. The Captain said his line again. The trumpet played the fanfare, and
five mortifying minutes later, a backstage battle ensued and the King was unceremoniously shoved
onto the stage, his costume just held up in front of him. The King had found out at the very last
minute that his robes didn’t fit.
The New Metropole soon became a movie theatre, the New Alhambra, and was then sadly
destroyed in the Plymouth Blitz of April 1941. The Palace stands empty and looking unloved,
though there is talk of renovations, but there is still plenty of theatre in Plymouth. The Plymouth
Theatre Company is still going strong after 114 years
http://www.plymouththeatrecompany.com/whatson.html
In 1962, the new Theatre Royal opened on the Royal Parade with Leonard Rossiter giving the
opening address and Gene Pitney heading the bill. It has just been refurbished and happily, even
in these difficult times, now seems to go from strength to strength.
References:
http://www.plymouthdata.info/Theatres.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_Royal,_Plymouth
Plymouth Municipal Records (Plymouth and West Devon Record Office)
Whitfield, Henry Francis (1900) Plymouth and Devonport in Times of War and Peace, E. Chapple.
Also see:
My article on the Plymouth Palace on the website for Our Place Our Base: http://news-opob.com/plymouth-palace/
Programmes and playbills from many of the shows are available online, beautifully displayed by Plymouth’s Library Services here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plymouththeatrehistory/sets/72157603477561856/with/964625279/

Plymouth History e-Magazine recommends...
Share the joy of knowledge by buying one of these fantastic titles from your local
Plymouth authors!
From Laura Quigley - available at all good
retailers in paperback and e-book formats.
Bloody British History:Plymouth
“Brilliant!”
“All killer – no filler”
The Devil Comes to Dartmoor
“Another great book by Laura Quigley”
“I love it”
(Amazon reviews)
www.thehistorypress.co.uk
Bloody British History:Plymouth
Plymouth has one of the darkest and most dreadful histories on record. Beginning with the discovery of the bones of
cave men nearby and rushing through French attacks, Breton raiders, outbreaks of leprosy and the plague, Civil War
sieges and the Spanish Armada, dreadful murders, savage deeds and all the way through to the dire consequences of
the Nazi attacks during the Blitz, this book is a gripping, terrifying, disgusting and glorious insight into the life and times
of Plymouth throughout the ages. WARNING: Contains dreadful battles! Horrible accidents! Wicked pirates! Murderers,
smugglers and malefactors galore! Heartless slavers, Victorian sinners, and historical legends such as Pocahontas
and Sir Francis Drake! Do not read alone at night!
The Devil Comes to Dartmoor
Many will have heard of the ghostly white lady haunting Tavistock - the notorious Mary Howard, accused of murdering
her four husbands. A few may know the true story of her lover, George Cutteford, the puritan lawyer who died illegally
imprisoned in the horror of Lydford Gaol, persecuted by Mary's fourth husband - Sir Richard Grenville, the most
notorious and sadistic royalist general in the Civil War. But fewer still will know the secrets George Cutteford died to
protect - secrets that would destroy his own family; end Grenville's career in shame; and make a boy with no name the
richest landowner in Devon. Gathered from the varying historical accounts, and with new primary matieral unearthed in
an old fish market in London, comes this haunting true story of love, treachery and revenge in seventeenth-century
Devon.
'Being Silent They Speak' by David J.B.Smith
“ A stunning debut from an amateur researcher”
(Family Tree Magazine review)
“This is a well-written, well-researched book...”
A very good read!!!”
(Amazon reviews)
Available in paperback and e-book editions from all
good retailers
For more information, visit:
unbeatenblog.weebly.com
Being Silent They Speak
His Majesty’s Submarine Unbeaten was last heard from via a signal sent to Flag Officer Submarines on 1 November
1942. The signal simply stated: ‘Operation Bluestone completed’. After this date the 58-metre British U-Class
submarine inexplicably disappeared. Unbeaten was fully operational for just over two years. During her short tenure
she successfully returned to war-torn Malta many times, symbolically flying her Jolly Roger. Being Silent They Speak
endeavours to highlight the varied triumphs, tragedies, events and sacrifices of submarine life during World War II.
This meticulously researched true story follows Unbeaten through her build at Vickers of Barrow, her war deployment
to Malta and back, and then on to the submarine’s final departure from Holy Loch. The crew of Unbeaten were the
last to see the legendary British submarine HMS/M Upholder before her Commanding Officer Lt. David Wanklyn VC
and his indomitable crew also disappeared forever. Several submarines have had books written about them.
Unbeaten’s activities were no less daring than those of Upholder or any other submarine taking part in World War II.
Exactly 70 years on, this compelling and revealing book encompasses all of Unbeaten’s war patrols and expands on
her final clandestine tasking in November 1942. The account of this secret operation, concludes with an extreme
twist of fate, which could leave the final chapter open forever and the last crew of Unbeaten still on patrol.

Haunted Plymouth
“Spellbinding”
“Very good read”
(Amazon reviews)
Available from all good retailers
Coming Out now soon “Haunted - Dartmoor”
For more info, visit:
www.hauntedplymouth.com
From heart-stopping accounts of apparitions, manifestations and supernatural phenomena, to first-hand encounters
with phantoms and spirits, this collection of spooky sightings from around the city of Plymouth is guaranteed to make
your blood run cold. Richly illustrated with over 100 pictures, "Haunted Plymouth" contains a chilling range of tales.
From the ghost of Sir Francis Drake on Plymouth Hoe, poltergeist activity in one of the city's Elizabethan inns and the
shade of a lady in white at Widey Court, to French prisoners of war at Devonport Dockyard and a phantom pair legs at
a Mutley house, this gathering of ghostly goings-on is bound to captivate everyone interested in the paranormal history
of Plymouth and will chill all but the sturdiest of hearts.
A Secret Step
“Accurate and insightful”
“A bit of a Ripper”
“A very enjoyable read”
(Amazon reviews)
Available at all good retailers. For more info, please visit:
http://asecretstep.co.uk/
‘A Secret Step’ is a gripping and compelling story combining Jack the Ripper and the Blitz, the East End’s two most
historical moments.
When Jack The Ripper stalked Whitechapel, Percy Miller was ten years old. Destined to be a mobster, He lived up to
expectations. Billy, his grandson was ten when the Luftwaffe bombed the same streets. He took the Blitz in his stride.
Could war offer him a way into respectable society?
In 1888 Percy Miller was ten years old, growing up in the slums of Whitechapel, in the East End of London. It was also
the year that Jack the Ripper was wreaking havoc in the area.
Percy got caught up in the shocking events and ended up traumatised by the murders in a time before ‘trauma’ had been
invented. He lived but could never tell the tale. It was no surprise to anyone that he ended up settling into the life of a
career criminal.
It was another fifty years before the East End saw violence on a scale to eclipse the Whitechapel Murders of 1888 and
once again Percy was right in the thick of it.
The Blitz of London was truly a terrifying thing to live through. Percy, against all the odds, was now a grandfather of one.
Billy Miller, Percy’s grandson was ten years old when the Blitz began in September 1940.
To Billy the air raids were times of excitement and adventure. Without adult supervision Billy and his friends were free to
roam as the bombs rained down. Their criminal instincts were not easy to shake off until Billy turned one daring rescue
into a game..

Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse:
From the Peace of 1815 to the 1860s
The story of the early nineteenth-century Plymouth district is a tale of growth and expansion. It is
also indicative of a nationally occurring theme of urban centres attracting poor and unemployed
people, sparking a rise in all types of criminality and more importantly, a rise in the fear of crime.
The cessation of the wars in Europe (French Revolutionary Wars 1792–1802 and the Napoleonic
War 1803–1815) brought peacetime to Plymouth, Stonehouse and Plymouth Dock, as Devonport
was then known as. How the towns dealt with the difficulties of peace and urbanisation, along with
their failures to deal with these issues, gives each town an individual historiography. Each town
shall now have their social conditions examined separately, and the chapter will culminate with an
investigation into the primary common denominator between the places – crime.
Although Plymouth was better equipped than its neighbours to deal with the mass invasion of
unemployed sailors, soldiers and locals who depended on war for employment, the town still
suffered. The first two decades of the century saw an expansion of Plymouth as new affluent
suburbs were built to accommodate those who had profited from the wars, such as naval captains
and army officers. Wealthier classes were moving to the new neighbourhoods in the west (Millbay)
and north-west (New Town). This left the poorer inhabitants to crowd themselves into the large old
buildings in the centre that the wealthy people vacated.
By the late 1820s, Plymouth’s population had risen dramatically. An account from the
Victorian historian Henry Whitfeld indicates that the increasing population resulted in mass
unemployment, giving rise to gangs of desperate, bored young men and women ‘infesting’ the
town.
by
Marc
Partridge ©
Girardet's famous picture of Napoleon aboard HMS Bellerophon in
Plymouth Sound portrays the clamour of the people of the Three
Towns to see him, and the carnival-like atmosphere as they
celebrate the peace that his downfall would bring.

Demand for housing grew and workers’ housing was built to alleviate overcrowding in the older
sections. But these houses could only be built in the spaces unoccupied by the estates of wealthy
families in the district. The land required was found below both Stonehouse Lane and King Street
in the west, the Cobourg Street area in the north, and on the hill above Regent Street in the east.
The suburban villas of the previous decade were therefore swallowed up as large numbers of
streets were built around them. The poor flocked to these new areas, only to find that conditions
were only marginally better thanin the old town. For instance the newly built Claremont Street, just
off the North Road, averaged only one privy to sixty-six people.
Plymouth during the early nineteenth century was also not a safe
place for visitors. Opportunistic thieves hid in the ancient slums during
the day, but at night they ventured outside the confines of the town to
rob those making their way along the approaches. One notorious
gang, known as the Robinson Gang, robbed inns all over the district
and even attempted to rob banks in both Plymouth and Devonport
prior to their capture in 1829. An account of the social conditions at
the time, describes the north-western part of Plymouth (what was
known as the New Town district, around King Street and York Street)
as a place overrun by ‘[b]ullies and thieves, vagrants and youthful
depredators, united in the use of signs, marks and slang language.’
But the crime was a consequence of the economic situation; the town
simply did not have the resources to keep its natives in employment,
let alone the migrants who were adding to the population.
One particular set of migrants who lived in difficult conditions were the Irish. They arrived in
Plymouth to work on the railway lines and docks during the 1840s. The 1851 census indicates
that they were congregated, and effectively segregated, away from the English. The majority were
crammed into the “Irish ghetto” north of Stonehouse Lane, around Quarry Lane and Quarry
Court. These slums were the scene of many violent incidents. But social and sanitary conditions
did improve. Under the 1848 Public Health Act, which Plymouth finally adopted in 1854, streets
were widened, some older slums were demolished, and sewerage and proper paving were laid in
streets that previously contained neither. Despite the quality of life becoming slightly more
tolerable, certain crimes, particularly those associated with drinking and prostitution, were still rife
in the town. This is due to three primary reasons. Firstly, new housing was not adequately built to
accommodate those evicted by slum clearances, therefore overcrowding just moved locality.
Secondly the surge of migrants from the countryside and Ireland in the 1840s and 50s reduced
employment opportunities for both local men and women. Finally, military wives and widows were
not looked after by their husbands’ employers (or in some cases their husbands) financially, so
crime and prostitution were their only realistic choices to avoid the workhouse.

Women, as well as the unemployed and poor in general, were to find life equally as difficult in
Devonport during the first half of the nineteenth-century.
By the end of the eighteenth century, Devonport had grown beyond its walls. The young town
was a flourishing and busy place, but the thriving business of the Georgian era would lessen as
the nineteenth century progressed. The growth that enabled the town to become more populous
than its older neighbour slowed, and Plymouth regained its status as the more populous borough.
Overcrowding in the town’s older dilapidated buildings was rife. Yet it was not all shanties and
ruins. Nettleton’s Guide from 1836 states that Fore Street was the ‘handsomest commercial street’
in the whole district. The town contained many buildings of grand design and, as in Plymouth,
many of them were designed by architect John Foulston. Devonport thrived on war and the
resulting business such an endeavour entails, it did not thrive in peace time. As early as 1823 it
was noted that ‘the town affords a melancholy proof of the assertion, that peace has come
unattended by its usual blessings; instead of being all life and bustle as heretofore it is now quite
the reverse.’ It is then not surprising that when cholera made its first attack on the district in 1832,
Devonport and its cramped streets suffered desperately. A second visitation of cholera in 1849
would kill a further 720 people in the town.
Although North Corner was the oldest and
most notorious district, the worst conditions
was found toward the south-west, in the
area known locally as the Cribs. Located
between the market and the dockyard wall,
the Cribs contained a number of notorious
lanes known for their abject poverty,
including Doidge’s Well and Braggs Alley. .
The Cribs were essentially a network of lanes, tunnels
and courts that once entered, as contemporary
accounts claim, would have a visitor ‘despair of escape
from these infernal regions.’ The poorer people of
Devonport were quite literally stuck. Hemmed in by the
sea to the south and Crown establishments in the west,
only east toward the parish of Stoke Damerel, or north
towards the Ford and Swilly estates, could provide the
land any expansion of workers’ housing desperately
needed.

Unfortunately, much of this land would not be purchased by the town’s corporation and developed
until the last decades of the century (Ford was developed primarily in the 1880s and Swilly in the
1920s). Therefore in 1861 the population of 50,440 were housed in approximately 5000 buildings
contained within the older town itself and the northern suburb of Morice Town. Like Devonport,
Stonehouse was also geographically contained.
Stonehouse had been home to a small number of the elite and a large population of working
poor for centuries. The nineteenth century was no different, only the numbers were increased. By
1801, a grand set of houses, known as Durnford Street, had been built off Stonehouse’s ancient
central four streets (Chapel, Newport, Edgcumbe and Fore Streets). Another new road off
Durnford, called Emma Place, was also built with a striking town hall at the end of it. Both of these
roads were constructed to house the higher echelons of the navy. But even the paving and lighting
in the new streets were virtually non-existent, and conditions in the older streets were notoriously
poor. Consequently, the peace of 1815 was as harsh to Stonehouse as many unemployed military
personnel simply stayed in the township. The population of the poor increased and workers’
housing was built. Stonehouse experienced Plymouth and Devonport’s dilemma of how to combat
overcrowding. The town was both geographically and municipally hemmed in on all sides and it
quickly began to fill up. By 1841 the population stood at 9,712, with the vast majority of the people,
as well as many of the local Royal Marines and their families, crammed into the poorer housing
that sprang up behind Durnford Street and eastward from High Street.
The growth of Stonehouse between 1815 and 1850 can be attributed not only to migrants and
a poorer economic climate forcing people to stay, but to the extension of Edgcumbe Street and the
construction of the adjoining Union Road, which later became known as Union Street. This artery
joined Plymouth and Devonport, making Stonehouse the central area, bringing many visitors and
much needed commerce to the township. As Stonehouse grew eastwards, Plymouth’s streets
came west to meet it and Devonport’s suburbs would later do the same from the north.
By 1851, the urban area of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport’s combined population
made it the fifth largest provincial district in England. This huge rise in population, can be traced to
a local ambition to join the Three Towns with easier road access and one man’s vision. The
architect John Foulston laid plans for the “New Road” to link Plymouth,Stonehouse and Devonport
through an area only ventured through by the very brave, due to the boggy land of the route and
highwaymen.

The prospect of a town extension being created over marshland was met with trepidation. The
town fathers favoured the development of the current safest route to Devonport; through King
Street, then along Stonehouse Lane and down High Street in Stonehouse itself, to the bridge
leading to the south-eastern gate of Devonport. Foulston was adamant however that he could
build across the marshland which was once known as the Sourpool, and he was soon proved
correct as the road itself, though devoid of buildings, was opened in 1815. By 1820, the
Stonehouse half of Union Street was complete and it was not long before the Plymouth end joined
up to it. During the 1820s, Union Street was in its prime, home to some of the district’s elite. But it
was not long before this new suburbia became part of the inner sanctum of the expanding urban
district.
In the 1830s, the first Millbay dock began construction. Then in 1840, Thomas Gill, who
owned the West Hoe Estate, established a pier and works at the mouth of Millbay and deepened
the seabed. This new dock attracted a great deal of interest from the unemployed labouring class
of the Three Towns and the back-streets and lanes around Union Street began to develop into
new neighbourhoods, physically joining Plymouth to Stonehouse. The problem though was that
the basements of the large houses and the new streets tended to flood as some were built below
sea-level. The flooding, along with the 1832 cholera outbreak, caused the wealthy inhabitants to
leave the area, which was still commonly known as “The Marsh”. By the mid-1840s, Millbay and
New Town were most certainly lower class neighbourhoods. The construction of the Great
Western Railway Line out from the docks also brought more of the labouring class to the area. At
this time, many Irish railway workers came and evidently settled with their families, although as
previously stated they were mainly confined to certain areas.
By the mid-nineteenth century, the entire conurbation was
overcrowded and dirty. Streets merged with each other, giving no
indication where one borough ended or began. Grand roads for the
wealthy wishing to escape the overcrowded centre, and workers’
housing, had almost doubled the geographical size of the urban area
within forty years. But underneath the glamour of the Theatre Royal and
wealthy mansions on the Hoe, and in the lanes behind the eminent
centres of learning, there were problems; prostitution, theft, and drinkrelated
violence occurred frequently.
During the middle decades of the century, a person wanting a drink in Plymouth did not have
to look very far. Even if he could not find a public house in the street where he stood, there
would probably be a beerhouse. These establishments could be owned by anyone who paid a
small fee to brew the beer, and were much easier to operate than a public house.

This easy access to alcohol led to the police cells being full on a regular bases. In the worst
streets they became brothels, and magnets for criminals to reside in and “lay low”. This became
apparent as the police were being called to assist with violent incidents involving drink,
prostitution, and robberies, in the same streets over and over, such as Pembroke Street and
Cornwall Street in Devonport, Fore Street and Edgcumbe Street in Stonehouse, and King Street,
Castle Street, and the infamous Granby Street in Plymouth. But no street surpassed one for
regularity of being the location of drunken debauchery, and that was Union Street. A letter printed
in a local newspaper describing a typical scene in the Stonehouse half of Union Street from 1858
exemplifies the problem of having an abundance of these beerhouses .
in residential areas. It also calls the reader to question what effect the county authorities had on
curbing drunkenness and what were they doing to protect the public from those who would abuse
drink:
To the Editor of the Plymouth Journal
SIR, I beg, through the medium of your valuable paper, to call the attention of the
magistrates and police authorities of Stonehouse to a problem of no mean order. In
Union Street there exists three beerhouses, which may be described as bad, worse and
worst (sic) as regards the nuisance they are to the whole neighbourhood. From the
windows of these houses females of doubtful character, by gestures, endeavour to
allure the passer-by. At eleven-o’clock, when the squeak of the fiddle ceases, we are in
hope of peace, but the turn out of the bad people of both sexes often gives rise to
disgusting scenes. They fight, they curse, and such horrid curses; the obscenity of their
language is so revolting, as to show how much they must be brutalized by the
abominable traffic of which they are at once slaves and victims. Such a state of things
calls loudly for interference; as a rate and taxpayer, I consider I have a positive right to
ask the magistrates and the parish authorities to protect me against violations of
decency, and to keep the landlords of these houses within the limit (as to harbouring
prostitutes and disorderly persons) which the law enacts

Prostitution was endemic in the district, as it was in all naval and dockyard towns. Prostitution
has existed in Plymouth for centuries. The main prostitution district during the first half of the
nineteenth century was above the Barbican and commercial docks, centred around Castle Street
(appendix F, p. 104), also known as ‘Damnation Alley.’ But a relocation of the commercial docks in
the late 1840s, and new licensing laws used in the 1870s, led to prostitution being spread to the
west of the town and over a larger area. Prostitution was ignored, or accepted and in some social
circles even expected by women who, for many reasons, could not gain employment. Yet after
centuries of toleration, wealthy mid-Victorians and clergy decided that something ought to be done
about this vice due to the criminal activities attached to the “profession”. The immorality of the
nation was making headlines as religious authorities and philanthropists criticised the general lax
attitude to vice by the authorities, namely the police and the Admiralty. Then the Admiralty and
Home Office decided that to stem the flow of military personal taking time off due to sexually
transmitted disease, some regulation was in order. The result of this state-intervention was the
highly controversial Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866 and 1869; which is explored later in
this study.
.
Even without the troubles of prostitution-related crime and
disorder, alcohol caused or played a part in a great number
of offences from murder to public obscenity. For example, in
1850, Plymothian William Ambrose was walking with his
friend William Thomas after an evening of drinking in
Stonehouse Lane. Ambrose decided to escort the worse-forwear
Thomas back to his home in Morice Town and the
quickest route to the Devonport suburb was up Stoke Hill.
Unfortunately for the two men, this meant walking to the end
of Stonehouse Lane, past the junction with Quarry Lane.
Both were pursued and knocked down by Irishmen next to
the junction and Ambrose later died of his head wound.
The two Irishmen, who had drunkenly boasted of their part in the assault, were quickly arrested,
convicted and sentenced to transportation for life
.Later, in 1856, husband and wife, John and Mary Long, were arrested in Plymouth for being drunk
and disorderly. The police officer at the trial alleged the couple had consumed over a gallon of ale.
In 1858 William Parker was charged after a policeman, upon hearing a great commotion and
expecting to find a brawl upon his arrival, had found Parker arguing with his own shadow in
Whimple Street. Reading these stories in their morning paper may have amused the wealthier
inhabitants of the town, but for the people who resided in the poorer districts, the evenings were a
scary place to be outside. Unfortunately for the young, even their homes could not shield them
from the effects of alcohol abuse

Children were often the victims of their parent’s alcoholism, sometimes from violence, but more
often from neglect. Plymouth’s Superintendent Gibbons, whilst acting on information given to him,
visited the dilapidated eighteenth-century home of a naval officer’s widow in 1851. He found the
wretched-looking woman downstairs and two children, a fourteen year old girl and twelve year old
boy, in another room. The children were reportedly covered in filth and vermin, and the girl was
literally naked. What Gibbons found upstairs though disturbed him most of all. In a bedroom was
the eldest daughter, aged twenty-two, holding her new-born baby, both of whom were in a state of
malnourishment. No food was found in the house. Even though it was claimed by the widow she
had a pension of ninety-four pounds a year, it was almost entirely spent on drink.
But the epitome of Plymouth’s drinking problem can be exemplified with a study of a particular
infamous local man and his decline.
Robert “Bob” Cowley was a Plymouth-born fisherman and regularly found himself waking up
in the police cells with no knowledge of the previous night. By the mid-1850s he was known
throughout Plymouth as “Notorious Bob” due to his increasing visits to the courts and regular
appearance in the stocks in Plymouth market. In 1856 he appeared before magistrates almost
once a month and sometimes more. One magistrate even ordered that Cowley was to just be
imprisoned in the cells when found intoxicated and released when sober so as to not “waste” the
court’s time. In 1858 he was found drunk and brought before the magistrates. He declared he had
not drank for sixteen months, and only just relapsed. The magistrate discharged him on the
promise he would make another attempt to give up the drink. But less than a week later, he was
back for his usual offence, but this time things were different. The court correspondent reported
that the defendant looked very ill and that he shook involuntarily. It was also shown by the police
that a landlady took all his money and valuables in return for drink, allowing him to stay in her
public house for six weeks. The court magistrates took a dim view of the landlady and the charge
was dismissed.

As he left the court, Bob declared that he had not ate more than a sixpence worth of food for five
weeks. No reaction to his statement was recorded. Cowley spent the next few years being sent to
the workhouse. Yet every time he was released he would be given drink and became a morbid
source of amusement for the locals, until he died.
Bob Cowley’s story was not unique, each of the three towns had characters whose reputation
for alcohol-related court appearances resulted in notoriety, and the death of one merely witnessed
the rise of yet another. In 1862 the Plymouth magistrates were already labelling another man as
the ‘new Cowley’. But drink had more extreme consequences for some. Drunken arguments,
fights and frolics would result in serious crimes being committed and sentences obviously
increased in harshness as a consequence.
Another type of crime also prevalent in the district was smuggling. The smuggling networks
were embedded into the fabric of the entire region, not just the towns . This is because of its
prevalence throughout the centuries. Even Plymouth’s greatest heroes, Drake, Hawkins and
Raleigh, were perceived by many around the world merely as glorified pirates. Henry Whitfeld’s
huge undertaking, Plymouth and Devonport in Times of War and Peace, is inundated with
anecdotes and reports of smuggling. His very first sentence of the relevant chapter is a good
indicator as to how endemic this crime really was, ‘[e]xtremely lax was public sentiment as to
smuggling.’ Therefore if the police could enforce the anti-smuggling laws and influence a cultural
shift in the social acceptance of the crime, only then could they truly claim to be an efficient force.
But the local police would have help in combating this crime, from the original Dock police, the
Dockyard Police, then the Metropolitan Police who searched the smugglers out, and to the
customs officials who watched the stores and landing stages. The role of these particular law
enforcement agencies will be discussed in later chapters.
By 1850, overcrowding (people per house) in Plymouth was double the national average and
higher at that point in time than London and Liverpool. By the 1860s, there was 848 public houses
and beer-shops in the district, a combined population of over 130,000 people, plus thousands of
military personnel both domestic and foreign, and three separate areas of police jurisdiction. This
made the district a vibrant, but often brutal, place to be. With no suggestions of amalgamation
accepted by the various councils, bringing order to the entire district through the efforts of three
separate and distinct police forces was a challenge. Yet it was one which the superintendents and
chief constables had to meet. To fail to do so would have dire consequences on one of the largest
centres of population and arguably the most important military hub in the entire country.
Part of an unpublished thesis available in full from the electronic library resource at the
University of Plymouth, Policing in Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse, 1835-1886
©Marc Partridge.

Dept. of Jannerology
EXAMination
Welcome to the first Dept. of Jannerology exam. For our first prize
we are delighted to offer a signed copy of Laura Quigley's brilliant
book, “Bloody British History: Plymouth”. To be in with a chance to
win and in the process become an honorary “Jannerologist”, please
send your answers to: editor@plymouthhistory.co.uk.
1.Smeaton's Tower is the subject of the PHM cover picture; what year was the upper section, now
on Plymouth Hoe, first opened to the public?
2.So called “Damnation Alley” was once reputedly “the worst street in Plymouth”; by what name do
we now know it?
3.The Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom of 1859 resulted in the
construction of the many fortifications which ring Plymouth; which Prime Minister instigated this?
4.Devonport Column, designed by John Foulston, is a noticeable feature on the Plymouth skyline.
What year was it finished; what does it commemorate; and, what is missing? (3 answers)
5.
There are 6 discernible elements to the modern city of
Plymouth coat of arms (pictured). What are they and what
does each mean or symbolise? (6 answers)
6.By the Door of Unity at the Prysten House near St. Andrew's Church, stands a memorial to two
United States Naval officers. What are their names, and what was the name of their ship? (3
answers)
There is a total of 15 points on offer, so to be in with a chance to win this great prize, please
send your answers to: editor@plymouthhistory.co.uk. Only entries received at this email
address by 31 st August 2014 will be counted. The entry with the most correct answers
wins. In the event of a tie, those entries with equal most points will be picked at random.
Editors decision is final.
So, thinking caps on, and good luck!

The SHIPS Project:Shipwrecks and
History in Plymouth Sound
Mission
Come and help us search for ships
lost near Plymouth, dive them and
find out their history.
Contact: pete@promare.co.uk
The SHIPS Project was formed to promote the maritime heritage of Plymouth.
and aims to record, document and publish the remains of shipwrecks, aircraft, hulks, lost anchors and any
other objects on the seabed
The project is being run by a local group of divers and shipwreck enthusiasts
The SHIPS Project is interested in the maritime history of Plymouth from the earliest occupation by humans
until the present day and is funded by ProMare UK
The A7 Project has been granted a licence by the Ministry of Defence to survey the wreck site of
HMS A7 in Whitsand Bay.
The submarine sank with the loss of all hands in January 1914 while taking part in simulated
torpedo attacks. Tragically there was only enough air in the submarine for six hours, and all 11
crewmen perished. Despite numerous salvage attempts, the submarine has remained buried in
the ocean floor about 135ft below the surface. The cause of the disaster has remained a mystery
ever since, and the bodies of the submariners still remain inside.
Permission to conduct a ‘non-intrusive’ underwater archaeological survey of the wreck has now
been granted. Project leader and Plymouth University lecturer, Pete Holt said, “As part of what
we’ll be doing we’ll have to investigate how it happened. From my point of view, I’m very interested
because the story is very strange. She was found with her stern buried 20ft in the sand. The Royal
Navy tried to pull her out with tugs but she wouldn’t budge. That’s one of the reasons why she is
still down there.”
The project is aiming to record the condition of the wreck; conduct a comprehensive geophysical
survey; and carry out a photographic and recording survey of the submarine hull and external
fittings.
Another key aspect of the project will be the creation of a 3D virtual reality computer model of the
submarine and wreck site. The volunteer team will also research the story of the boat. A series of
public lectures and a museum display will also be organised after the survey work.
Pete said the site is a designated military maritime grave and will be treated with the “utmost
respect”.“No divers will enter the hull”, Pete added.
A final report is expected by the end of the year.

The Strange Death
Of
Henry Hall
Henry Hall was born in East Stonehouse, Devon in 1661 and he was the oldest known member of
a renowned family of lighthouse keepers that includes Grace Darling.
In the early hours of 2 nd December 1755, while working on the Eddystone Lighthouse, Hall
realised that sparks from kitchen stove chimney had set the lighthouse roof ablaze. He attempted
to extinguish the fire by throwing buckets of water upward "four yards higher than his head", onto
the underside of the burning roof. Soon, two other lighthouse keepers joined the fight and the
three tucked their heads while blindly hurling buckets of water overhead at a frantic pace.
During the battle with the blaze, Hall looked up to check their progress. As he did so, a shower of
molten lead fell from the lighthouse roof onto him, burning his head, neck, and shoulders and
almost unbelievably, falling into his open mouth which he then involuntarily swallowed. Despite the
intense pain, Hall continued fighting the fire until the blaze grew so large the three men were
forced to retreat from the lighthouse tower. The fire raged for the five days.
Several hours later, the three men were spotted by a passing boat. Sailors threw ropes to the men
and hauled them aboard. They were taken to East Stonehouse where Hall was treated by Dr.
Edmund Spry. According to Dr. Spry, “Hall spoke with a hoarse voice, scarce to be heard, that
melted lead had run down his throat into his body”. Hall added that he was suffering from intense
internal pain. At first, Dr. Spry did not believe Hall’s claims feeling that anyone who swallowed
molten lead would have surely died on the spot. Hall however, appeared to be perfectly fine other
than the burns about his head and neck.
In the days following, Hall was able to eat, drink, and take medicine. After several days, it
appeared as if Hall was on the mend and the claims of swallowing molten lead were dismissed as
the ramblings of an injured and shaken old man. However, on the sixth day, events took a tragic
turn. Hall’s health began to decline and by the 10th day, Hall could no longer eat or drink. He died
on December 8, 1755 aged 94 years.
Dr. Spry conducted an autopsy on Hall and to his surprise, inside the confines of Hall’s stomach
was a seven ounce layer of solid lead (see above). Dr. Spry immediately wrote an account of the
incident and sent it to The Royal Society who met the report with great disbelief. In response to
their scepticism, Dr. Spry initiated a subsequent series of experiments on dogs and chickens,
pouring melted lead down the animals’ throats to test their reaction. The results of Dr. Spry’s
efforts proved that indeed, it was possible to survive, for a limited period of time, after such an
extreme and bizarre event. Spry’s animal experiments would go down in history as the first fully
documented and reported British scientific experiments on animals.
The piece of lead taken from the stomach of Henry Hall,
weighed 7 ounces (approx 200g). It now resides in the
National Museum of Scotland. (Picture by kind permission National
Museum of Scotland)

There follows Dr Spry's full report of the incident from 1755 and the text of the original report
from 1756 of experiments that he conducted on animals in an effort to test the effects of
swallowing molten lead.
On Thursday the fourth of December, 1755, at three in the afternoon, Henry Hall, of Eaststone-house,
near Plymouth, aged 94 years, of a good constitution, and extremely active for
one of that age, being one of the three unfortunate men, who suffered by the fire of the lighthouse
at Eddy-stone, nine miles from Plymouth, having been greatly hurt by that accident,
with much difficulty returned to his own house. I being sent for to his assistance found him in
his bed, complaining of extreme pains all over his body; especially in his left side, below the
short ribs, in the breast, mouth and throat. He said likewise, as well as he could, with a
hoarse voice, scarce to be heard, that melted lead had run down his throat into his body.
Having taken the proper care of his right leg, which was much bruised and cut on the tibia, I
examined his body, and found it all cover’d with livid spots and blisters; and the left side of
the head and face, with the eye, extremely burnt; which having washed with linen dipt in an
emollient fomentation, and having applied things used in cases of burning, I then inspected
his throat, the root of his tongue, and the parts contiguous, as the uvula, tonsils, &c., which
were greatly scorched by the melted lead. Upon this I ordered him to drink frequently of
water-gruel or some such draught; and returning to my own house, sent him the oily mixture,
of which he took often two or three spoonfuls.
The next day he was much worse, all the symptoms of his case being heightened, with a
weak pulse; and he could now scarce swallow at all.
The day following there was no change, except that, on account of his too great costiveness,
he took six drachms of manna dissolved in an ounce and half of infusion of senna, which
had no effect till the day following; when just as a clyster was going to be administered, he
had a very fetid discharge by stool.
That day he was better till night, when he grew very feverish.
The next day, having slept well the preceding night, and thrown up by coughing a little
matter, he was much better.
He began now to speak with less difficulty, and for three or four days to recover gradually;
but then suddenly grew worse; his pulse being very weak; his side, which grew worse daily
from the first, now reddened a little swelled; to which I applied the emplaster of gums. But all
methods proved ineffectual, for the next day being seiz’d with cold sweats and spasms in
the tendons, he soon expired.
Examining the body, and making an incision thro’ the left abdomen, I found the
diaphragmatic upper mouth of the stomach greatly inflamed and ulcerated, and the tunica in
the lower part of the stomach burnt; and from the great cavity of it took out a great piece of
lead of the shape and weight here described.
It will be thought difficult to explain the manner, by which the lead entered the stomach: but
the account, which the deceased gave me and others, was, that as he was endeavouring to
extinguish the flames, which were at a considerable height over his head, the lead of the
lanthorn being melted dropped down, before he was aware of I, with great force into his
mouth then lifted up and open, and that in such a quantity, as to cover not only his face, but
all his clothes.
Plymouth
19 Dec. 1755

To the Right Hon. George Earl of Macclesfield, President to the Royal Society.
Plymouth, Jan. 30, 1756.
My Lord,
As the late case I took the liberty of troubling your lordship with, was so very singular, as to make
it by some gentlemen greatly doubted, on account of their imagining, that the degree of heat in
melted lead was too great to be borne in the stomach, without immediate death, or at least more
sudden than happened in this case; I herein can not only convince your lordship of its fact, by my
own and (if requisite) the oaths of others, but also by the following experiments, which from
similarity of circumstances must not only render that probable, but (in the most convincing
manner) the absolutely possibility of my assertion.
I extracted in three pieces, from the stomach of a small dog, six drachms one scruple of lead,
which I had pour’d down his throat the day before.
N.B. The mucous lining of the oesophagus seemed very viscid, and the stomach much
corrugated, tho’ its internal coat was no-ways excoriated.
The dog had nothing to eat or drink after; nor for twenty-four hours before the experiment, when,
being very brisk, I killed him.
I also took from the stomach of a large dog (in several pieces) six ounces and two drachms of
lead, three days after thrown in.
The pharynx and cardiac orifice of the stomach were a little inflamed and excoriated; but the
oesophagus and stomach seemed in no manner affected.
I gave this dog an half pint of milk just before I poured down the lead; very soon after which also
he eat thereof freely, as if nothing ailed him; which he daily continued to do, being very lively at
the time I killed him. From the crop of a full grown fowl, I (in company with Dr. Huxham, F.R.S.)
extracted of lead one solid piece, weighing two ounces and a half, together with nine other small
portions, weighing half an ounce which lead was thrown down the fowl’s throat twenty-five hours
before.
The fowl was kept without meat for twenty-four hours, before and after the experiment, eating
(being very lively just before we killed him) dry barley, as fast, and with nigh, if not quite, the same
ease as before.
The mucus on the larynx and oesophagus was somewhat hardened.
The external coat of the crop appeared in a very small degree livid; and the internal, somewhat
corrugated.
The barley was partly in the oesophagus, tho’ mostly in the craw, which was almost full with the
lead.
I took two ounces one scruple from the crop of another fowl, three days after the experiment,
which fowl was very brisk to the last.
Allowing, for a further satisfaction, that the experiment be tried, it is requisite in making thereof,
that the melted lead be poured into a funnel, whose spout being as large as the throat of the
animal (whose neck must be kept firmly erect) will conveniently admit of, must be forced down the
aesophagus, somewhat below the larynx, lest any of the lead might fall therein; and according to
the quantity, either by totally, or partly obstructing the aspera arteria, cause immediate, or a
lingering death; which accidents happened, in my first experiments on two dogs, directed me to
proceed in the above manner.

At present I have a dog with lead in his stomach, which I intend to keep, to prove how long
he may live.
My lord, your lordship may depend on it, that so far from my asserting any thing in the least
degree uncertain, that, as I always have, I always shall act with so much circumspection and
integrity (especially in these tender points, where my character is at stake) as to be able
easily to prove what I may assert, as in the present case, so very extraordinary, that scarce
any of the faculty (unless particularly acquainted with me) would give credit to, till I
demonstrated it by the above experience; which, I doubt not in the least, will be sufficiently
satisfactory to your lordship, and to the honourable Society; to serve which venerable body,
as much as lies in my power, will, at all times, give the greatest pleasure to,
My Lord,
Your Lordship’s most obedient,
And most humble servant,
Edmund Spry.
Perhaps the next time you take a walk past the Duke of Cornwall Hotel towards the old Sippers
complex, stop for a moment and look at this small plaque set in the pavement; spare a thought for
poor old Henry Hall, late lighthousekeeper of East Stonehouse and Dr Spry who treated him.

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be sure to fly of the shelf. An 'andmade rare gem made in small batches, it's one of
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Restaurants serving Janner Jam as part
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The Boathouse Cafe
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Madeira Road, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1
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Duttons Cafe
Madeira Rd, Plymouth PL1 2NU Tel.
01752 255245
Ocean BMW Motorbike Cafe
Longbridge Road, March Mills, Plymouth.
Stockists
Performance Yachting, Mayflower
Marina, Richmond Walk, Devonport
Plymouth Kitchen Company, Plymstock
Tourist Info (Barbican Information
Centre), The Barbican, Plymouth
Duttons Cafe, The Hoe, Plymouth
Drake's Cafe, Plymouth University
Campus, Plymouth
Please visit
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Empire in your
backyard
www.britishempire.co.uk
Part I
©Stephen Luscombe
Although every location in Britain, however large or small, oozes history and heritage, there are
not many places which can challenge Plymouth in the way that its history connects it to so much
of the wider World. This is due to Plymouth's central role in Britain's maritime history and in
particular the role of the Royal Navy and the Dockyards built to service it. For much of its history,
Plymouth's fortunes have risen and to some extent fallen with the ebb and flow of Empire.
Plymouth led the way in the initial and crucial phase of England's exploration and its search for
new trading opportunities during the Tudor era. It served as a base to help defend the islands from
becoming a colony of other powers, be it Spain, France or any other would-be invader. South
West mariners were at the forefront of colonisation in the recently discovered New World lands of
North America and the Caribbean. Geographically, the South West peninsular provided an ideal
starting point for anyone wishing to travel across the Atlantic or further afield after marine
technology opened up this new highway of trade, exploration and colonisation.
William of Orange
It was thanks largely to the successful rise of Holland as a
maritime power that the Dutch born King William of Orange made
the decision to build a new dockyard in Plymouth; guarding the all
important approaches to the Channel. With the failure to discover
a North West or a North East Passage to gain trade routes to the
spices and exotic goods of the Orient, attention moved back to
the established routes around the Cape of Good Hope and the
Cape Horn, and Plymouth was the best placed, safe harbour to
take advantage of these routes. It also helped that the rivers
surrounding the port had enough deep anchorages to safely
harbour what would eventually become the world's largest fleet as
the Royal Navy expanded in size and scope throughout the
Eighteenth Century.
As the island nation decided that its wealth and prosperity was increasingly dependent on
international trade, a safe base of operations was required to police and patrol this empire and
Plymouth provided the perfect location to organise the production of ships, maintain existing
vessels, fit them out with fresh victuals and water and recruit and train the crews and artisans who
were necessary to man this ever growing institution.
The Seven Years War and the Napoleonic Wars further enhanced Plymouth's strategic suitability
as Britain engaged in a titanic struggle for influence and domination with the French who had their
own naval bases just on the other side of the Channel. Years of warfare turned Plymouth into a
hub of frenzied activity and not just of sailors, soldiers and marines passed through the city to fight
in ever increasingly exotic parts of Europe and the wider World. It is no coincidence that at the end
of these wars, Napoleon himself was brought to Plymouth, a city which had dedicated itself for two
decades to frustrating his ambitions. He became something of a public spectacle in Plymouth
Sound before he was exiled to the remote British colony of St. Helena.
Plymouth's contribution to the imperial story is not just bound to wars and conflict though. The
Royal Navy increasingly understood that knowledge and scientific endeavour were fundamentally
important to Britain maintaining its competitive advantage which in turn helped fund the ships and
improve the efficiency of the Royal Navy. Sailor scientists like Captain Cook, Captain Bligh and
Charles Darwin all used Plymouth as a launching pad for their voyages of discovery and enquiry.
Plymouth Museum and Aquarium were set up in part to catalogue and process the many
specimens that were brought back from all corners of the globe.

Not all those who left Plymouth on important voyages did so voluntarily. Convict ships bound for
Australia set off from Plymouth carrying cargoes of unwilling passengers the vast majority of whom
would never see England again once the coast of the South West slipped over the horizon.
Political prisoners such as the Tolpuddle Martyrs joined the unfortunate common criminals in their
journeys of misery to the other side of the world. Although in their case, the Tolpuddle Martyrs
were later reprieved and so became some of the few prisoners who actually travelled in the
opposite direction and alight in Plymouth as free men once more.
The Tolpuddle Martyrs
Plymouth also provided the starting off point for myriad settlers looking for a fresh start elsewhere
in the ever growing colony. The first four ships to New Zealand departed from Plymouth with
emigrants determined to make a new life for themselves thousands of miles away. Other voluntary
emigrants followed to Canada, Australia and South Africa amongst other places.
The human traffic was by no means one way throughout Plymouth's long history. Mariners have
long been in the habit of recruiting anyone with a pulse to help with the rigging or running of a
ship. The Royal Navy happily recruited crew from prize ships or foreign ports to help feed her
insatiable desire for manpower; French, Spanish, Americans, Caribbeans, Africans, Asians all
passed through the city with varying degrees of loyalty to the Crown! Those who resisted the 'offer'
of employment could be shipped back to Plymouth before being escorted to prison on Dartmoor.
Many graves of Britain's foes are located in and around the city.
And of course, Britain's soldiers and marines continued to march through the port on to new wars
often in more and more bizarre and remote locations as the Empire lapped up to yet stranger
shores and entered wars that were little understood by the soldiers and sailors who had to fight
them. Yet, they were dutifully cheered off from Plymouth and welcomed back with open arms on
their return; not that everyone did return as many of the gravestones and memorials in Plymouth
and in the far flung corners of the World attest to.
In the 19th century, Plymouth's rising importance led to military planners building extensive
fortifications to prevent it from being attacked from the landward side. There had always been
formidable defences on the shoreline at least as long as the Royal Navy had used it as a base.
But after the Crimean War, British planners were concerned that a continental power might land
an army on any one of the many beaches of the South Coast and move overland to capture the
Dockyards and destroy the capability of the Royal Navy to defend Britain. Similar plans were put in
place to defend Portsmouth and one of the most expensive fortification programs since the
building of Hadrian's Wall was undertaken on mainland Britain. The defence of Plymouth and the
Dockyard was regarded on a par with the defence of the realm.
The age of explorers had not yet been completed. Many of the polar explorers of the late 19th and
early 20th Century hailed or at least sailed from Plymouth bringing the final phase of imperial
exploration back to the place that started England's initial phases of discovery. Scott of the
Antarctic is the most famous of these, but many of the polar explorers had very strong
connections to this maritime city.
The twentieth century may have seen Plymouth's attention focus back on European conflicts but
the imperial connections did not cease as men, supplies and equipment flooded into the city from
the Empire and beyond in the First and Second World Wars. Indians, Australians, Canadians,
New Zealanders passed through Plymouth on their way to fight or were brought back to Plymouth
to be treated in her hospitals before being repatriated home.

World War Two saw the aerial war bring Plymouth into the front line for the first time in its history
as it became the most heavily bombed city for its size in the country. The dockyards were the
inevitable target, but much of Plymouth's history and heritage was destroyed by the less than
precise bombing of the Luftwaffe. What the German bombers missed, keen urban planners in the
1940s and 50s ripped up and reorganised for the sake of a 'modern' city rebuilt in the aftermath of
war. But not all of Plymouth's landmarks and imperial heritage have gone as I hope to explain and
explore below. Her history is long and fascinating and as I said at the outset, her imperial
connections are so strong that they have fundamentally shaped her relationship to the rest of the
World. Personally, it is this history and heritage that haw shaped how I understand and engage
with the wider World; I have a deep love of the sea, for exploration and for engagement with
cultures where-ever they come from in the World. These are traits that are synonymous with the
City of Plymouth and the evidence of which is still around for all to see.
Plymouth, or rather Sutton as it was then called, was a tiny settlement compared to the nearby
town of Plympton. However, the natural harbour was already identified as providing excellent
protection from the prevailing Westerly Winds and its south facing hills made it a good place to
grow crops on those surrounding heights. Additionally, the River Plym had been silting up. This
was largely due to the extraction of tin on Dartmoor around the Cadover Bridge area. This meant
that vessels were finding it more and more difficult to travel to Plympton to pick up or land goods.
Consequently, Plymouth began to supplant its more ancient neighbour and began its rise as an
important port from the thirteenth century onwards.
Plymouth's first mention as a military port was made during the reign of King John at the beginning
of the 13th Century. After John had lost land in Normandy, Plymouth was identified as the main
base of operations for campaigns against France and to the recovery of their ancestral lands. In
many ways, this was England's 'First Empire' - the Empire of the Norman Knights with lands on
both sides of the Channel. In 1295, a national fleet was gathered in Plymouth as King Edward I
prepared to embark on a war to reclaim Gascony for his Crown. Edward stayed at Plympton Priory
which was located on the site of the present day St Mary's Church. The local area was expected
to provide victuals and supplies to the army. In many ways, this expedition was the first of many
military expeditions that would set forth from Plymouth Sound over the following centuries.
Edward, The Black Prince
Plymouth steadily grew in strategic importance as
the Hundred Years War played itself out.
Plymouth was the perfect staging post for many of
the military expeditions and ventures as many of
the lands that the English were fighting for were
located in the South and West of France and were
easier to get to from Plymouth than from ports
further up the Channel. This was illustrated by the
military actions of Edward III's son, the Black
Prince, as he sought to take advantage of his
father's initial successes in the war. He gathered
together an army in Plymouth in 1348 and again
in 1355. He also stayed at Plympton Priory to
coordinate the expeditions. Ultimately, his 1355
expedition culimanted in the overwhelming victory
at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 where he
managed to capture the King of France, Jean II.
Both the Black Prince and Jean II returned to
Plymouth in May of 1357 before travelling
triumphantly to London to imprison and ransom
the French King at the Tower of London. Jean II
was not the last French leader to be brought to
Plymouth as a prisoner!

Plymouth's offensive capabilities meant that it was placing itself in the limelight for retaliatory
strikes and raids against itself. The French descended on the town for the first time in 1339 setting
fire to what was then largely a wooden settlement. Another expedition entered the Hamoaze in
1350 but only destroyed outlying farms and settlements. There were further attacks in 1377, and
1400 before culminating in the most devastating raid in 1403. This last expedition saw 30 ships
carrying 1200 men land from St Malo a mile to the north of the port. They then proceeded to
attack the town from this direction getting as far as Exeter Street but not able to enter the port
itself due to intense fighting from the defenders. The area is still known as 'Bretonside' in honour
of this fight. Indeed, for many years the fight was re-enacted between those who would later live
inside and outside of the town walls that were soon put up to help protect the port. This tradition
lasted until the Eighteenth Century before being banned for being 'too unruly' and resulting in too
much violence between rival gangs. Still, the incident showed that defence was a priority for the
growing settlement and a castle was soon built to guard the entrance of Sutton Harbour. A chain
could be pulled across the harbour to prevent enemy ships from entering Plymouth. This was
followed by walls to surround the town.
Map of “walled” Plymouth
Plymouth was more than just a military port, it had long shown itself to be a good base for fishing
and was replacing Plympton as the port of choice for merchants and traders. It became an
important port for the wine trade and brought in much of the wine from Bordeaux and La Rochelle.
It exported fish, tin, wool and cloth. In 1362 it was granted a license to trade with Portugal as
England sought an ally to help fight the growing antagonism from the Castillian Royal Family
(which would later become Spain). In 1381 and 1385 two new armadas were assembled in
Plymouth in order to help the Portuguese in their fight against Castille. These armadas were
designed to guard the approaches of the Channel and show an early indication of the value of the
strategic location of Plymouth that would later see it at the heart of England's naval defences. As it
was, this war saw England cement its friendship with Portugal which would go on to become
England's (and then Britain's) longest alliance in history and which is still technically in effect to this
day. It also marked out England's early antipathy towards what would become Spain, even before
any Reformation marked out differences between Catholicism and Protestantism

This Nicholas Condy painting shows a scene of the port of Sutton that barely changed over the ages
Plymouth was to earn itself one additional Royal Monopoly in 1390 when it was designated as
being one of only two ports from which religious pilgrims were allowed to sail overseas from. This
early form of control of movement was a way to help the King collect customs and dues from
pilgrimages but it also allowed him the ability to sanction or curtail voyages to destinations that he
might feel were undesirable. It was a crude form of control but one that perhaps would help
explain why Plymouth would go on to become such an important centre of religious and radical
activity in the Tudor and Stuart periods. Plymouth was officially incorporated as a town in 1440
and was allowed to be ruled by a guild. This meant that all traders and businessmen in the town
had the right to select a town council and mayor to run the place. It also meant that commerce
was given a pre-eminent position and anything to protect or enhance trade was seen as the
priority for the town council. Unfortunately, Plymouth was about to enter some choppy economic
waters as first the Hundred Years War came to an end, which saw a diminution in supply ships
and military expeditions, and then the growing problems of the Wars of the Roses which
paralysed much of the trade and commerce of the country as the Yorkists and Lancastrians fought
for control of the Crown. There was little the town council could do to counter these forces and
considerable division and suspicion was unleashed in the wake of what was effectively a Civil War.
It was during these Wars of the Roses that Plymouth became an unlikely staging post of a French
army that was landed in the port in order to help the Lancastrians in their battle against the
Yorkists in 1461.
This Nicholas Condy painting shows what the old port of Plymouth would have looked
like. It was actually painted in the 19th century but could have come from earlier eras
In the next issue:
Stephen Luscombe takes a look at Plymouth from the
golden age of the Tudors.
Stephen's fantastic website, from which this article is
drawn is available here: www.britishempire.co.uk
Please take a look!

HIDDEN HERITAGE
The new Heritage Centre opened in partnership with
Whitsand Bay Fort Holiday Park.
Current Opening Times as of 20th July are as follows;
Tuesday and Thursday evenings 7-9 – Tunnel tours and
Volunteer Work Party
Friday evenings 7pm-10pm – A series of late Summer
tours and Community History Workshops every Friday
evening
Saturdays – 10am-2pm
Sundays – 11am-3pm – Guided Tour at 11.30am
All other times are by appointment. Booking by txt
07894159906
Operating from the historic maritime city of Plymouth, and with a second base amidst the stunning
surroundings of the Rame Peninsula, Cornwall, Hidden Heritage not only embrace, but also
celebrate and promote history and heritage from a fresh perspective – interactive in it’s approach
featuring community events and an online resource featuring contributors from around the world.
Beginning with impressive archives kindly submitted by Cyberheritage and Hidden Plymouth , the
online resource is already off to a good start and we also have private collections of photographs
and memoirs that have been donated to us, spannning more than 50 years across many
European countries, to add to the online resource over the coming months. Interacting with the
public will be our main focus, with a number of oral history projects, community projects and
commemorative events planned to take us through to 2020 and beyond – welcome to the
wonderful world of Hidden Heritage!!
Creating a diverse range of Community Projects, we engage with people of all ages, and from all
walks of life, collating archives from contributors worldwide. A roots level and passionate approach
to promoting, exploring and preserving history, archaeology and heritage worldwide, in turn raising
the plight to save more of our heritage for future generations to discover and learn from via our
online community hub.
While we are passionate in what we do, and determined in our appoach, we know that there are
no guarantees in life but vow to give 100% in whatever we do, and with a realistic view, Hidden
Heritage hope to be able to help make a little difference in people’s lives.

● Plymouth in the great war
As we approach the centenary of the First World War, we take a look at how “The War to End All Wars” affected
Plymouth and Plymothians. In this issue we feature Plymouth Argyle player, Sgt William James Baker.
Footballer on the Somme: The story of Billy Baker,
professional footballer & true hero
William James Baker (pictured) was born in Plymouth in the last quarter of
1882, the fourth child to Joseph and Fanny (nee Moaxley). Joseph had been
in the candle making industry for most of his working life and in all likelihood
worked at the New Patent Candle Co.Ltd in Sutton Road. It would appear
that the family lived a fairly ordinary life for the age they were living, although
not without tragedy; of the eleven children of Joseph and Fanny, only seven
lived to see 1911.
By 1901, an 18 year old William had been apprenticed to a plasterer, and it
was around this time that his career as a footballer began as he played for
local Plymouth side Green Waves.
His skill was soon recognised and it was not long before he had represented both the Devon and
Cornwall Football Associations at County level. He had also signed up and completed two years
service in the Army with the Devon Regiment. But his prowess as a footballer was growing; he
resigned from the Army in 1904 and it's possible that it was at around this time he left Plymouth,
first for the United States and then South Africa where he played for De Beers Football Club in
Cape Town. By 1909 William was back in Plymouth and playing for Green Waves, where his
potential was spotted by Plymouth Argyle. He made his debut in the 2-0 home defeat against
Queens Park Rangers on 18 September 1909. A wing half, renowned for his “love of the strenuous
game, but clean withal and never tiring”, William went on to make over 200 appearances for
Argyle scoring his only league goal in the 2-1 home defeat to Bristol Rovers in October 1910.
Life was going well for William, his career was going from strength to strength and it was on 7
October 1912 he married local girl Olive Blanche Weir. As if to underline this, on 13 April 1913 a
baby daughter, Phyllis Olive arrived. However the dark clouds of war were soon gathering on the
horizon.
And, so it was, like hundreds of thousands of young men in towns and villages throughout the
country had done before and would continue to do, on 18 January 1915 William presented himself
at the Kingsway Recruiting Office, London. As he did so, he could not have known that his wife
was in the early stages of pregnancy.
His service papers describe him on enlistment as aged 32 years and 2 months, being 5 ft 5 1/4 ins
in height and weighing 154 lb (11 stone). He formally attested to the Middlesex Regiment – the
famous 17 th Battalion (or 1 st Football as it came to be known) – as “F521 Private Baker W.J” on the
28 January 1915, signing up for the duration of the war. In these early days of the war, he still
played for Argyle, and his final appearance came in the away match at Southend United on 1 May
1915, after which he left for his Army service.
On 17 August, another daughter, Rita Beatrice was born and one can only hope between then and
16 November, when he left with his regiment for the killing fields of France and Flanders, that he
managed to spend at least some time with his young family.

The Argyle handbook of this year described William as “"possessed of inexhaustible energy and
indomitable pluck” and these qualities were soon recognised by the British Army as he was quickly
promoted, first to Lance Corporal then to full Corporal in February 1916.
During July 1916, William suffered a sprained
ankle while performing fatigue duties in the
trenches (non military work such as digging etc.
Whether this was as a punishment is not made
clear.). The injury would not, his commanding
officer remarked drily, interfere with his
efficiency as a soldier.
That efficiency was perfectly illustrated when
the London Gazette of 10 August 1916 carried
notice that William had been awarded the
Military Medal for “bravery in the field”, and
British soldiers on the Somme
furthermore he had been promoted to Sergeant.
Those early days of the Battle of the Somme had been nothing short of a disaster for the British
Army, with unprecedented casualties killed and wounded – around 60000 on the first day (1 July)
alone. Just a few short months later, on 22 October 1916 at Serre, the name William James Baker
M.M was added to that long list when he was killed in action during the British attempts to drive the
German forces from the heavily fortified town. He is buried at Sucrerie Military Cemetery,
Colincamps, France (grave ref: I.I. 26). William was 33 years old, and his wife, who never
remarried was awarded a pension of 25s & 5d per week (approx. £55 in today's money)
Commonwealth War Graves at
Sucrerie
Unfortunately for the Baker family, there was more tragedy to come. On
23 December 1917, William's younger brother (by now Petty Officer
Stoker) Alfred Stanley Baker was on board Royal Navy destroyer HMS
Tornado, when she came to the aid of three other destroyers hit by
mines - HMS Valkyrie, Torrent and Surprise - at the Maas Light Buoy, off
the coast of Holland. Tornado herself then struck a mine and sank
quickly after breaking in two. In all, over 250 men were lost in this single
incident, among them Alfred, who was 33 years old. Sadly, his body was
never recovered. Coincidentally, Alfred also represented Plymouth
Argyle although, as an amateur/ reserve, it seems he never made a 1 st
team appearance.
After the war in 1920, a wreath was placed on the Cenotaph in London to commemorate those
Argyle players who gave their lives. The wreath was tied with the ribbons of green and black, the
favours of Plymouth Argyle. Club captain, Septimus Atterbury, laid the floral tribute, which held the
following inscription:
“From the directors, players and officials of Plymouth Argyle Football Club in respectful memory of
the late Sergeant W J Baker DCM (sic), Petty Officer Alfred S Baker RN, Sergeant William
Sutherland, Sergeant Norman A Wood and Private Stanley Reed, players of the club, who gave
their lives in the Great War.”
Sources & acknowledgements:
“WE WILL REMEMBER THEM”
Greens On Screen (www.greensonscreen.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (www.cwgc.org)
Plymouth Argyle Football Club
Many thanks to the following:
Steve Dean & Colin Parsons and all at Greens on Screen – a fantastic and unique website for all things
“Plymouth Argyle”
Rick Cowdery & PAFC for kind permission to reproduce the picture of William James “Billy” Baker

THE
WAR
IN
PLYMOUTH
In April 2013 we were awarded a Heritage Lottery Grant to develop a three-year oral history
project entitled The War in Plymouth: Destruction and a New Beginning.
During the terrible Blitz on Plymouth during the Second World War, over 4,000 homes were
destroyed. The City’s response, encapsulated in the Abercrombie Plan, was dynamic, and over
the course of ten years between 1945 and 1955, over 17,000 new homes and 24 new schools
were built, creating new neighbourhoods such as Southway and Efford.
This project, working in association with the History Department at Plymouth University under the
guidance of Professor Kevin Jefferys, aims to gather as many interviews as possible with
Plymouth people who remember the war years and the years of social housing. Going out into
people’s homes, we are recording and preserving these memories, with the aim in 2015 of
publishing a summary and overview in physical and digital formats, and in the shape of a touring
exhibition.
We will be working with members of the community in Plymouth who would like to join the project
in a number of ways – either as an interviewer or as an interviewee or as a voluntary transcriber
The project is entirely shaped by the perspective of the people of Plymouth: what was their
experience of war, and how did the city emerge from it into a new era?
We will be working with Fotonow, the Plymouth-based photographic social enterprise, who will be
enabling Plymouth people to produce a photographic record of our interviewees to sit alongside
the oral history recordings.
If you would like to join the project either as an interviewee, telling us your memories of the period;
or as an interviewer, going out and conducting interviews, then do please contact us by going to
the Contact page on this site, or taking a look at the project Facebook page
The project is working closely with Plymouth University (which awarded us a Vice-Chancellor’s
Community Award), local historian Chris Robinson, Plymouth and West Devon Record Office,
Plymouth Museum. The project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
LATEST NEWS
Our project, is coming to a close at the end of this summer, as we are pretty close to completing
all the interviews we have been able to do under the remit of this project. But, we are still looking
for volunteer transcribers to transcribe the many fascinating interviews we have conducted, and
we would really welcome hearing from any one who might be able to work with us typing out the
interviews - so that we have a written copy of each one (the interviews tend to be about an hour
long). If anyone would like to get involved on this side of the project, then do please contact me at:
tam@thewordmachine.org

Notorious
By Laura Quigley ©
William Culliford was an upstanding customs officer in the 1680s sent by the King to
investigate the customs officials in Devon and Cornwall. William’s report was a damning
indictment: the customs officers of the two counties were the most corrupt in the country,
frequently taking bribes, stealing cargoes, engaging in every kind of scam and larceny they could.
He was appalled, wondering why the smugglers here even bothered to hide their activities. His
report resulted in the dismissal of the worst offenders – including the Controller of Customs at
Plymouth - and an overhaul of the whole service.
At the same time, William appointed his son Robert to the post of customs officer in
Southampton, but the profligate Robert was not content to live on the meagre salary of 45 pounds
a year. With his friend William Kidd, Robert became a privateer, joining the government’s raiding
parties against pirates and enemy ships in the West Indies. William Kidd took command of a
captured French ship, and now as Captain Kidd received a commission to hunt down pirates, but
his criminal activities show he had a very loose interpretation of his duties – he was certainly more
interested in raiding the cargoes than actually catching any pirates. Meanwhile Culliford himself
had become a pirate – with the wonderful nickname “Cutlass Culliford” - and Kidd and Culliford
spent many days drinking together as they attacked trading ships and brought death and
destruction to the West Indies and then the Indian Ocean.
Both men and their crews were eventually captured by the Royal Navy and brought to
London for trial. Almost all of the crewmen were hanged, and Kidd charged with piracy ironically
because of his association with Cutlass Culliford. Kidd was then hanged and his rotting body left in
an iron cage over the Thames to deter anyone else tempted into piracy. Meanwhile his scheming
associate Robert Culliford was pardoned, having testified against all his comrades, and released.
Of course, Robert Culliford now needed employment. His father’s report had resulted in a
substantial increase in the salary for customs officers, to discourage corruption, so the job
suddenly looked more attractive, and Robert spent the rest of his days back in his old job as
customs officer for Southampton.
And what of William Culliford? How did he react to his son’s disreputable behaviour? Was
he too astonished that the authorities would let a pirate go back to being a customs officer?
William seems to have made no comment until after his death in the 1730s, when he bequeathed
a substantial inheritance - but only to his daughters.

Recommended, Uniquely Plymouth!
Plymouth Tea is an
independent, family run business based in
the historic city of Plymouth on the south
coast of Great Britain. Plymouth Tea was
established to give people the perfect, luxury
tea which could be enjoyed by everyone. We
felt that tea drinkers deserved to have the
best possible tea available at a reasonable
price. We also wanted to produce a tea
which would become synonymous with that
most English of occasions, the Tea Party
With this simple and yet perfectionist plan we
undertook a long and rigorous process of
tasting and sampling to eventually produce
not one but three quality blends which we felt
matched our own lofty expectations. Imagine
our delight when the response to our teas
matched our own opinions, from the
occasional to the most dedicated tea drinker.
We supply tea direct from our website
shop and through a large number of tea
shops, restaurants, retailers and other
establishments throughout the South-
West of England.
Plymouth Tea was not designed to be an
‘everyday’ tea, although its success has
meant many people serve it as such. We
created a luxury tea which we believe is
the ultimate in refinement and elegance.
Whether you are serving Plymouth Tea at
a tea party with a cream tea or just
treating yourself, this is the perfect blend
for youIf you serve Plymouth Tea at home
or in your establishment then you are
making a statement. There will be no
doubt that you value quality and
understand the finer things in life - that's
what you get with a cup of Plymouth Tea
– luxury.
“Like” us on Facebook or visit
http://www.plymouthtea.co.uk/

Plymouth in pictures
Here is a selection of great “merged” old &
new photos from Alex Burgess
If you have any photos, “merged”, “colourised”
or from your family collection, please contact
the Editor!
New from Laura Quigley!
Hardback, 240pp, 9yrs+
The first book in a series of
adventures that will take the reader on
a gripping ride through time, battling
against evil forces in a bid to stay
alive, rescue a mystical horse, get
home and save humanity.
An amazing story that will captivate
boys and girls of any age.
For more info, please visit
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http://www.forelock-books.co.uk/

MUTINY!
The story of HMS Jackal in Plymouth, March 1941
While the Luftwaffe continued their intensive air raid on Plymouth during 20-21 March
1941,Royal Navy destroyer HMS Jackal was ordered to take station in Plymouth Sound and
provide additional anti aircraft fire. Their was a problem however; many of the Jackal's crew were
Plymouth men, and they watched with a growing sense of horror as the enemy attackers rained
destruction down on their city, the city where their loved ones and families lived and worked.
On the morning of 22 March, Jackal was ordered to sail up the Hamoaze to re-arm the ship and
then alongside at Devonport dockyard. It was then that the Plymouth crew men asked for a
period of shore leave in order that they check on their families and homes. When the order for
“leaving harbour” stations came, the men refused, locking the watertight doors in the faces of the
ships officers, refusing to obey further orders. Since the Jackal was one of the ships of the 5 th
Flotilla under the command of Lord Mountbatten, he was duly informed and he reiterated the
order for the ship to return to sea. The stand-off continued for several hours, until at last the
commander relented, and the local men were allowed to leave the ship. Sadly some men did
indeed find that their homes had been destroyed and/or family members had been killed or
injured in the air raids.
A sailor and his girlfriend stroll through
the ruins of Plymouth
The story doesn't end there. Two days later, after the Plymouth men had
returned to duty, without any courts martial, the Jackal put in to
Dartmouth. Whilst there, the men who were perceived as the
ringleaders of the “mutiny” left the ship, and were, in the words of
several of the crew “never seen again”. It was assumed that they had
been transferred to other ships. Some have speculated that the men
were sent to Gibraltar, and may even have been executed there.
Unfortunately the files of the incident remain closed, despite
efforts for them to become part of the public record, and the fate
of the men in question remains a mystery.
HMS Jackal was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in April
1941 and took part in several operations. She was badly
damaged by Italian torpedoes at the end of that year, and put in
to Alexandria for repairs. In May 1942 Jackal along with HMS
Jervis, Lively, and Kipling tried to deliver vital supplies to Malta,
they were attacked by German bombers. Lively and Kipling were
sunk and Jackal was badly damaged. Efforts were made by
Jervis to save her, but she was abandoned and she was scuttled
by a torpedo from HMS Jervis on the 12 May.
HMS Jackal as built, pre-war

This month there was some great news coming from
the Argyle Fans Trust particularly in this centenary
year of the beginning of The First World War.
PLYMOUTH Argyle, the Green Army and the Royal British Legion are entering into a partnership
unique in football this coming season.
Thanks to the Argyle Fans’ Trust, the Pilgrims will wear the Royal British Legion’s poppy logo on
their shirts – home and away – during the 2014-15 Sky Bet League 2 campaign.
The AFT are making a sponsorship donation to Argyle on behalf of the RBL to acknowledge the
work the organisation carries out for the men and women of the Armed Services.
As well as wearing the poppy on the back of their shirts, Argyle will help promote the Trust’s
season-long campaign to fundraise for the RBL. The Trust hope supporters of other clubs will join
them in supporting the RBL.
AFT Press Officer Tim Chown said: “Plymouth has a proud history as a military city, and the
sponsorship recognises the tremendous work done by the Royal British Legion in supporting our
forces personnel, past and present, and is also timed to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of
the first world war.”
Argyle Chief Executive Martyn Starnes said: “Plymouth Argyle is proud to be at the heart of a city
rich in military history and tradition, and the club is fully committed to supporting our armed forces.
We were the first club in the country to stage an Armed Services Day, which is now a high-profile
regular event in the season, to honour and financially support our military and their families. This
agreement takes that commitment to the next level.”
Carole Arnold, the Royal British Legion Community Fundraiser for Devon, said: “The Royal British
Legion is delighted to be in partnership with Argyle, the Trust and fans. The club has always been
supportive of the work of the RBL and to join forces at this time, with the first world war
commemorations, is even more important. The club has a wonderful reputation within the
community and, with Plymouth being a major military city, it will enable us to continue our work
with serving and ex-serving military.”
For more info and to join the Argyle Fans Trust, please visit: www.argylefanstrust.com

Plymouth history magazine requires
your Nominations for the greatest
Janner ever
Who would get your vote - Drake? Chard? Scott? Walker?
Sir Francis Drake, mayor,
privateer, swashbuckling
scourge of the Spanish,
and bowls player; born in
Tavistock but forever
associated with Plymouth
Robert Falcon Scott,
of the Antarctic,
Royal Navy officer
and explorer, born in
Milehouse
John Rouse Merriott Chard
VC, Victoria Cross winner
and hero of Rorke's Drift,
born in Boxhill (now
Honicknowle
Captain Frederic
“Johnnie” Walker RN,
famed U-Boat hunter
of World War 2, born
in Plymouth
Or someone else?
Please send your nominations and reasons
to editor@plymouthhistory.co.uk

Please consider joining Plymouth History Forums!
The purpose of this discussion board is to promote interest and discussion on the
history of Plymouth.
Plymouth is a city with a long, proud, and fascinating history that is often
undervalued or even totally ignored, and sadly, it seems on many occasions it is
Plymothians who are the worst offenders! Can a message board make a difference
to the way we think about our city? We at Plymouth History Forums would like to
think it can, and with the help and support of our members will try to make Plymouth
proud again.
Regards
The Admin team
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