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February, 2010:

‘Buried in Woollen’

Feb 4th, 2010
by Dorset Ancestors.
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Introduced during the second half of the 17th century for “the encouragement of the woollen manufacturer” the ‘Act for Burying in Woollen’ was clearly designed to increase demand for home produced woollen cloth.

The 17th century was a time of crisis for the English woollen industry and particularly so in the West Country. Here many rural workers and their families supplemented their meagre income from the land by processing and weaving wool: they relied on a local market for their production, which was mainly low quality cloth produced in the home. In Dorset this cottage industry was controlled from Dorchester where many rich clothiers had their businesses: these people prospered from the woollen industry while the labouring classes supplying them scratched a living.

During the 14th and 15th and early 16th century woollen cloth produced in Dorset was exported to Northern Europe from Bridport, Wareham, and Poole. The 16th century saw a change in fashion as linen, satin, and silk became more readily available, while the demand for woollen cloth dropped away. The Dorchester merchants protected themselves by changing the way they dealt with their rural suppliers: the end result was a better finished woollen cloth but the new terms of business badly affected the producers who, in modern day parlance, became outworkers.

As a result of these changes there was distress in the hamlets and villages during the late 16th and 17th century. But this was a national problem, and measures were needed to increase demand, improve the quality of the woollen cloth and encourage the development and production of new textiles. To this latter end specialist workers were welcomed into the country for their expertise. The monarchy was restored in May 1660 and during the reign of King Charles II an Act was passed designed to increase the use of woollen cloth.

The ‘Act for Burying in Woollen’ was enacted by Parliament in 1666 for “the encouragement of the woollen manufacturer.” This Act required that no corpse “shall be buried in any shirt, shift, sheet or shroud or anything whatever made or mingled with flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold or silver or in any stuff other than what is made of sheep’s wool only.” The Act was amended in 1678 to make it easier to enforce and imposing a fine of £5 for non-compliance. It was a requirement of the Act that an affidavit be sworn before a Justice of the Peace or a priest of the church (but not the priest officiating at the burial) and delivered within 8 days to the priest who conducted the burial. The term ‘buried in woollen, affidavit brought’ is to be seen in the burial registers of the churches after 1666.

The affidavit frequently took the following form: “Mary White made oath this 15th day of January 1698 before …one of his majesties Justices of the Peace that Jane White of the parish of Morden lately deceased was buried in woollen only according to the terms of the Act of Parliament of burying the dead and not otherwise.”

Gradually the legislation came to be ignored and the Act was repealed in 1814 during the reign of King George III. The rich usually chose to pay the fine rather than be seen dead in wool.

The Death of Lawrence of Arabia

Feb 4th, 2010
by Dorset Ancestors.
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“Lawrence of Arabia fights for his life” ran the headline in the “Dorset County Chronicle” of May 16th, 1935. A charismatic figure who had played a key part in the events surrounding the First World War had come off his motorcycle on the way to his Dorset home from Bovington Camp. The headline was replaced the next week with: “Dorset village grave for Lawrence.” The saga was over. Countless books have been written about him, amid speculation that a mysterious car was involved.

According to the “Chronicle”, for a week the whole world had its eyes on the camp near Moreton, where Lawrence, a brilliant military strategist known more recently as Mr T.E. Shaw, lay at death’s door. Distinguished statesmen inquiring about him included Mr. (later Sir) Winston Churchill. Calls came in from all over the country and abroad.

The funeral was attended by peers, politicians, diplomats, distinguished soldiers, writers, artists and foreign emissaries, together with local villagers and private soldiers and gunners who had served with Lawrence in his famous campaigns in the Arabian desert. The Royal Air Force, in which he also served, was represented. The King and Queen were among hundreds who sent messages of sympathy.… A verdict of accidental death had been returned.

Lawrence loved motorcycling, travelled to and from London and explored parts of England on his machine. As King George V wrote: “His name will live in history. ”The King recognised in a telegram “his distinguished services to his country.”

Helen Taylor of Tyneham

Feb 3rd, 2010
by Dorset Ancestors.
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She was not born there and she did not die there but she spent the happiest days of her life there and her ashes rest there. A simple genuinely heartfelt gesture during the dark days of World War II has made the name of Helen Taylor synonymous with the Dorset village of Tyneham.

The villagers, evacuated from Tyneham on the orders of the War Department have not been allowed to return to their homes. For the full story of the events that took place there in December 1943 see our feature “Tyneham – the Village that Peacetime Betrayed.” And there are photographs in the photo section.

Helen Beatrice Taylor was born at Tincleton on the 14th of September 1901 and her sister Harriet Elizabeth on the 16th of March 1892 to William and Emily Taylor. The sisters, known as Beattie and Bess, ran the laundry for Tyneham House, home to the Bond family. Helen always considered Tyneham her home but after the forced evacuation from the village she lived at Corfe Castle until 1994 when she went to live in a nursing home at Swanage.

Neither Helen nor her sister Harriet Elizabeth (Bessie) or their half brother Charlie ever married. Helen had suitors but it is thought she did not marry because she wished to look after her older sister and half brother. Charlie Meech is credited with saying one day on his return home after a hard days hedging “saw old Thomas Hardy sitting in his garden…wasting his time…writing.”

At Corfe Castle they lived a happy self-sufficient lifestyle – with large garden sheds immaculately kept including one that stored extensive well water worn wooden laundry equipment and others with garden produce.

The sisters had an elder brother, Arthur Henry Taylor, born on the 8th of March 1890. Arthur started his schooling at Tincleton, where he was one of twenty pupils. The Headmistress lived on the premises. Arthur showed early promise and was taken under the wing of a clergyman who furthered his education. Accepted by Cambridge University, from there he entered the army and rose to the rank of Captain, receiving the MC and MBE. His death in Jerusalem on the 30th of November 1929 was the result of a tragic accident. It seems he had worked with Lawrence of Arabia and introduced Helen to him at Tyneham.

The girls had already lost another brother Bertie and a half brother Bill Meech in the First World War. The CWGC Debt of Honour Register records that “Bertie Taylor, Private; Dorset Yeomanry (Queen’s Own) died on Saturday 21August 1915 Age 21. He was the son of William Taylor, of Tyneham, Corfe Castle, Dorset; Buried at Helles, Turkey. The Helles Memorial stands at the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsular. It takes the form of an oblelisk over 30 metres high that can be seen by ships passing through the Dardanelles.” William Meech was in the same regiment as Bertie and died on Saturday 26th February 1916 aged 28. He was buried at Alexandria, in Egypt.

Helen died at the age of 97 in May 1999 and was given a half page obituary in the Daily Telegraph of 13th of May 1999, with the headline “Village That Died for D-Day welcomes last exile” and “Woman returns to Tyneham after 56 years for burial in church she loved.”

Helen was the last person to leave the village in 1943 and she pinned a note to the door of St. Mary’s church that read: “Please treat the church and houses with care. We have given up our homes where many of us have lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly.”

A Disastrous Fire at Shapwick – October 1881

Feb 2nd, 2010
by Dorset Ancestors.
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On the 14th of October 1881 a fire broke out at Shapwick making nearly 80 homeless before it was brought under control. This small village is on the River Stour, overlooked by Badbury Rings. Just five miles south of Blandford Forum, itself no stranger to fires, it was virtually wiped out 150 years earlier and before that in 1564, 1677 and 1731 suffered the devastating consequences of fire. The residents of Shapwick didn’t have the Bastard brothers to rebuild their village.

The fire broke out between twelve and one o’clock and Mrs Andrews, who saw the thatched roof of a pigsty was on fire, raised the alarm. Her son immediately set off to get water to put out the fire. Reports say the wind was blowing a gale from the north-west at the time and the flames quickly spread to an adjacent barn and blazed on to the cowhouses and in an incredibly short time the whole area was burning out of control. A large rick of about 40 tons of meadow hay also caught fire.

Burning thatch was carried on the wind to buildings opposite which were quickly alight and from there jumped to a double cottage occupied by Mary Ann Hammett and her three children and Henry Kerley, his wife and two children. The wind continued to display its destructive power carrying the flames across the street and setting alight a cottage occupied by Mr. Cutler and Robert Cuff, his wife and five children. One pig was burnt alive and another was so badly burned it had to be killed, they were the property of Mr. Cutler and as far as is known were the only livestock lost to the fire. Other animals were let loose and escaped.

Even though the mostly semi-detached cottages were distanced from each other the menace of the gale negated any protection that might have afforded them and the fire travelled rapidly from home to home leaving little time for villagers to salvage their possessions.

A cottage occupied by Mr. Henry Masterman, foreman to Mr Martin Small, with two grandchildren and Charles Cuff and his wife were next in line to be attacked by the flames, which raced towards the home of Phares Kerley and his wife and child and then travelled on to set alight the homes of Henry Foster and Mary Oats.

The gale, still not satisfied with its destructive work, roared on carrying the flames to the homes of Peter Kerley and his mother. Then it was the turn of William Boyt and his wife and Robert Boyt and his sister.

James James had to get out quickly along with his two daughters, son and two grandchildren. The next house, occupied by Israel Andrews, his wife and four children adjoined the house of Mr. Feltham the shopkeeper and was partly used as a post-office: he lived there with his daughter. This property was of brick with a tiled roof and was better able to rebut the advancing flames. Most of the post office papers and stamps were saved and this building at least was left standing but it didn’t stop the fire, which continued its advance to the next cottage, the home of Martin Kerley, his wife and ten children. One of Mr Kerley’s daughters was recovering from rheumatic fever and was immediately carried to a place of safety. Thomas Kerley’s house, which he occupied with his wife and daughter and grand daughter, was the last house of the row to fall to the elements. Due to the heroic efforts of the villagers the fire stopped here and was prevented from advancing further up the street.

The elements persisted in attacking the next cottage but strenuous effort was made pouring water onto the roof and although the fire caught several times the cottage was saved. Not to be defeated the wind carried burning thatch over the garden to the smithy of Mr. W. Guy and his shop and house were soon consumed by the flames; the nearby home of Charles Weeks, his wife and six children was burnt out.

Soon after the alarm had been raised messengers were sent to Wimborne and Blandford and fire engines attended from both towns. It was mostly due to the efforts of the Wimborne fire brigade that the fire was stopped from spreading past Charles Week’s house. The Wimborne brigade saved Henry Frampton’s home, which was some comfort as he looked-on while a large barn he used to make hurdle, crib and spar in was set ablaze, the fire taking most of his materials and stock.

The Blandford engine and brigade arrived in the village shortly after and immediately set about putting out the hay rick at the other end of the village and saving the Anchor Inn and Mr Andrews house. The cottages being mainly built with mud walls and thatched roofs were easy prey for the fire and were quickly laid down.

Adding to the distress of the villagers was the loss of their winter stocks of potatoes and apples as well as their winter fuel, which most had stored in or nearby their cottages; very little was saved.

It was reported that with the exception of Mr Guy’s smithy and part of a property belonging to dairyman Mr Bartlett, the household effects of the tenants were uninsured. The cottages were owned by Lord of the Manor Mr Bankes of Kingston Lacey and were insured with the Atlas insurance office, of which Mr Bankes’ land steward, was the agent.

The Lord of the Manor with his daughter and land steward visited the village late on Friday and again on Saturday to see the extent of the damage. Mr Bankes sent £100 to the vicar the Hon. and Rev. A.G. Douglas to be distributed among the unfortunate cottagers to meet their immediate needs. Villagers whose cottages had escaped gave shelter to less fortunate neighbours and Mr Bartlett of New Barn, Mr Martin Small and other local farmers provided shelter for others. Mrs Douglas and her daughters looked after the younger children at the vicarage.

On Sunday special collections were made during church services at Blandford and Wimborne and collections were made at Sturminster, and Spetisbury and other towns and villages. The scene of the fire was visited by hundreds of people on Sunday when it was said the main street was almost impassable due to the throng of people.

The gale that propelled the fire caused widespread damage in the wider locality, bringing down trees and damaging farm buildings. On Lord Portman’s estate, shortly after six o’clock on Friday morning, an elm tree was brought crashing down through the roof of a hurdle-house.

The local newspapers described the fire as one of most terrible and disastrous fires that had ever occurred in the locality. 17 houses and cottages, three large barns, cowsheds and outhouses together with almost all their contents were lost. Someone visiting the area on the following Sunday said “ the village presented a sad, desolate appearance, only portions of walls and chimney stacks marking the spot where but a short time before many industrious labourers and their families resided.”

The Dorset Button Industry

Feb 1st, 2010
by Dorset Ancestors.
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If there is one industry that could be singled out as almost a Dorset speciality, it would be the manufacture of buttons for clothing. In the days before the industrial revolution buttony was a thriving means of earning a crust for many rural dwellers, but once there was machinery available for making buttons, the industry moved from a cottage to factory and from south to north. Yet at the peak of the industry in Dorset over 100 different types of buttons were being made, marketed and shipped abroad.

Buttons were not made in England before the 15th century; until then all clothing had been fastened using just a tie-string. It took a man who began his career as a soldier from the Cotswolds to make his adopted county a renowned centre for button-making, though he was not the first buttoner in Wessex. But it was more than knowledge of continental culture that Abraham Case picked up during his years in the Army when stationed in France and Belgium. Case was deeply impressed by the skill and high standard of the buttoner’s art in those countries and after leaving the army he settled in Shaftesbury in 1622 where he soon went about setting up his own buttony business.

From this small beginning buttony had virtually become the foremost Dorset industry by the beginning of the 18th century. It came to employ thousands of women and children and was worth £12,000 a year. Buttons were exported from Liverpool to Europe and America, where they were in great demand.

But Case lived in the days before corporate automation. Within and from Shaftesbury the industry was devolved to many outworkers, mainly women but also some men and children living in cottages. Some villages as well as larger towns became centres with depots provided for the buttoner’s finished goods. Following Shaftesbury’s lead, Blandford, Bere Regis, Lytchett Minster, Iwerne Minster, Langton Matravers and Poole all became significant centres for the industry in its initial phase.

The earliest buttons produced by Case at Shaftesbury were mainly of two types called “High Tops” and “Knobs” made from the horn of Dorset rams. A disc of horn was covered with a piece of linen then worked all over with fine linen thread, creating a conical knob shape depending on the button style required. High tops were used as the buttons for gent’s waistcoats. It is appropriate to indicate at this point that that icon of Dorset, the sheep, not only provided the wool for woollen garments but also the backing material for the “roundels” invented to fasten them with!

A broad variety of button styles, including high tops and knobs were made in east Dorset, as well as those produced in a sire-ring: Blandford Cartwheels, Ten-Spoke Yarrels; Basket Weave; Honeycomb; Cross Wheel of Spiders Web; Jaml or Gem; Spangles; Birds Eye and Mites. Mites and Spangles were very small and bore some beadwork. The Singleton was a black button made from the fine linen-covered padded ring produced exclusively by Case’s widow only between 1658 and 1682.

The finished buttons were then mounted onto cards for sale. “A-1” quality buttons were mounted onto pink cards and reserved exclusively for export. “Seconds” were put onto dark blue cards while those of the poorest quality of all were fastened to yellow cards. All buttons other than those of the finest quality were reserved for the domestic market. Any dirty buttons were boiled in a linen bag before mounting.

Outworkers would take finished buttons to be exported to their local depot on designated “button days” where they could sometimes be paid by barter rather than in cash. It was said that skilled master buttoners could make up to 144 buttons in a batch for which they could be paid 3s 9d (it was 3s 6d for poorer quality buttons.)

When Abraham Cash died the business was taken over by his sons Abraham Jr and Elias. The younger son Elias relocated to Bere Regis where he established the branch industry there and in 1731 engaged john Clayton to re-organise the production. On Clayton’s recommendation an office was established in London in 1743 to manage sales and marketing. The following year the depot at Lytchett Minster was opened. Third generation Peter Case set up depots at Milbourne Stines, Sixpenny Handley, Piddletrenthide, Langton and Wool. By the beginning of the 19th century there were depots for the cottage outworkers in all centres of the industry. Children were employed in the main depots at Shaftesbury and Bere Regis to prepare material for the outworkers.

During the reign of George II, Case’s grandson took the process a stage further with the development of the wire-ring button. The wire was brought in one-and-a-half ton bales by horse-drawn wagon from a factory in Birmingham. This wire would then be made into button rings by being twisted in a spindle before dipping the cut ends in solder. Children were employed to thread the rings onto gross bundles or to polish the finished buttons. The latter procedure had to be stopped when it was realised that the polishing was damaging the thread. At Blandford linen shirt buttons were made as well as the native style called the Blandford Cartwheel. The town’s earlier Huguenot lace industry was by then in decline, but the button makers soon found a new use for the fine lace thread.

In 1851 Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition of art & industry was held at the purpose built Crystal Palace. Among the exhibits was the Ashton Button Machine a contraption that within years would virtually wipe out the Dorset button industry, bringing unemployment and starvation to Case’s cottage outworkers and their families. Naturally, escape in the form of emigration was a much sought after alternative. Indeed, it was said that the government paid for the expatriation of some 350 families from Shaftesbury alone, to begin a new life in Australia and Canada. For those who remained Ashton’s invention became responsible for the appearance of the button factory proper at Birmingham and elsewhere.

For about the next fifty years buttony was off the commercial radar in Dorset until early in the 20th century, when Dowager Florence (Lady) Lees of the Lytchett Mission, and a beneficiary of the Case family estate, sought to revive the industry at Lytchett Minster after the death of Henry Case in 1904. Lady Lees set up a small business specialising in the production of “Parliamentary” buttons for Dorset MP’s in their respective constituency colours: pale blue for South Dorset Conservatives; purple for East Dorset Conservatives. In 1908 these buttons were in full production, but Lady Florence’s brief revival of the industry was brought to an untimely end by the outbreak of the First World War. More recently the clearance of an old cottage on the Lees estate turned up several boxes full of buttons that were then sold to Americans to raise funds for religious film productions. Lady Lees died a few months before the last of these films was completed.

It should be noted here that members of the Women’s Institute at Verwood have been working at a second revival of the industry for some time, through the method behind making high tops and knobs appears to have been mainly lost. The revival is based on the wire-ring button types, where a ring is held in the left hand and “casting” done by button-holing closely all around the ring, then sewing over the loose end at the beginning. The button-holed ridge is then turned inside by pushing with the thumb using a bored “slicker” – though it has been found that this weakens the threads. When laying the spokes of a wheel the thread must be kept taut to hold the spokes in place. These are then secured by a cross-stitch at the hub centre. The button can then be rounded off in many designs.

Specimens of Dorset-made buttons can be seen in the County Museum, Dorchester and the museums at Shaftesbury, Poole and Christchurch. Some are also displayed in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Thomas Masterman Hardy

Feb 1st, 2010
by Dorset Ancestors.
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“I have done my duty, thank God, Kiss me Hardy.” The last words have resonated across two centuries, and were there ever any, spoken by an Englishman, more famous than these? Then Admiral Nelson expired, mortally wounded by a musket shot fired from the French warship ‘Redoubtable.’ Thomas Masterman Hardy, his first officer, had the honourable distinction of having Britain’s greatest naval hero dying in his presence, if not his very arms. The place was the surgeon’s quarters of the flagship HMS Victory; the occasion, the last phase of the most famous sea battle in British history.

But the Battle of Trafalgar, fought over two hundred years ago, probably owes its triumphant outcome as much to Hardy as to the admiral under whom he so lovingly served. Writing after the event, Hardy noted “it has cost the country a life no money can replace, and whose death I shall forever mourn.” Hardy was a witness to Nelson’s last will and testament, and bore the colours at his funeral. He was made a baronet in recognition of his gallant service at Trafalgar, receiving also the gratitude of parliament, a gold medal, and swords of honour from the City of London and the Patriotic Fund.

Such accolades would likely not have surprised Nelson had he lived to see them bestowed. There had been a long tradition in his family that young Tom told his parents as soon as he could talk that he was determined to be a mariner. He grew into a well-built man with the potential to be a fine sailor of officer material and of good character. He was also courageous and daring, at least once setting off in rough seas in a lifeboat in an attempt to rescue a man overboard. Hardy had an instinct for doing the right thing at the right time, and took great pains to master every technical detail of proficient seamanship.

Hardy’s paternal ancestors were minor squires of the Melcombe area, descendants of the le Hardi’s, Norman French immigrants from the Channel Islands who spread into south Wessex in the 16th century. We find a Joseph Hardy in possession of the principal house in Portesham in the mid 18th century; it was his son Joseph Jr. who married Nanny. They were Thomas Masterman Hardy’s parents.

On his mother’s side Thomas was descended from the Masterman family, then tenanting Kingston Russell House near Long Bredy. Indeed, Joseph and his wife occupied this home for some years and it is generally believed it was here, on April 5th 1769, that Thomas was born, though obituary information credited to his elder brother states that he was born at his maternal grandfather’s home in Martinstown, near Maiden Castle. Thomas was the sixth of his parent’s nine children and their second son. The children’s grandfather, the elder Joseph, died in 1778, the family then leaving Kingston House to take his place in residence at Portesham.

Few details of Thomas’s childhood survive, though it was noted that he would often climb the hills above Portesham to gaze across the Channel that some twenty years later he would be helping to defend. With the Portesham house now crowded out with many children the Hardy boys were packed off to Crewkerne Grammar School over the border in Somerset. Here, under the headmasterships of Dr Patch and Dr Aske, Thomas received his spartanly disciplinarian, though not inefficient education.

When he had been at Crewkerne for three years a wish of Thomas’s – that he should be able to go to sea at the first opportunity – was fulfilled. Captain Francis Roberts of Burton Bradstock, long an acquaintance of the family, agreed to take Thomas on as an apprentice aboard his brig, HMB Helena on November 30th 1781. From then on Hardy’s general education took second place to his naval apprenticeship, though protracted periods of shore leave did enable him to return to school, as Roberts intended, “to learn navigation and all that is proper to a sailor.” Later, Roberts and Hardy transferred to the Seaford until April 1783 when Thomas returned to shore, first to attend Milton Abbas Grammar School and then to undertake a short period of training in the Merchant Service.

Hardy’s induction into seamanship in the Merchant Service continued until 1790 when he re-entered the Navy as a midshipman under Sir Alexander (Lord) Hood on the Hebe. That year he was promoted to Master’s Mate and went on to serve on the sloop Tisiphone with Captain Anthony Hunt. In 1793, still a midshipman, Hardy transferred to the Amphitrite, a ship of Lord Hood’s fleet, for operations against the Spanish in the Mediterranean.

By mid-November 1793 Hardy was a Lieutenant serving on the Meleager frigate, a vessel of Nelson’s squadron then under Captain Tyler, but replaced in June 1794 by Captain Cockburn. It was therefore about this time that Hardy was introduced to Nelson. By then he had matured into a slow, cautious and tranquil naval officer of genial humour, both fearless and tenacious.

Hardy’s next significant posting came in August 1796 with Cockburn on the Minerve. This year there was an engagement with two Spanish frigates during which Hardy courageously raised his colours to draw the Spaniard’s fire upon himself, thus enabling Nelson to withdraw to safety. However, Lieutenants Culverhouse and Hardy, with 40 other crewmen, were taken captive aboard the Santa Sabina. The next morning the Spanish fleet was reinforced, compelling the admiral to make his escape. The prisoners were later transferred to the Terrible, from where they disembarked at Gibraltar on 29th of January 1797. Here, Hardy and the crewmen were able to re-join Nelson on Minerve, which sailed from Gibraltar on February 11th, pursued by Spanish ships.

Nelson was taking the Minerve to rendezvous with Admiral John Jervis when a crewman fell overboard. Hardy immediately had himself lowered in the jollyboat to attempt a rescue, but the current took the boat astern towards a Spanish ship. Nelson averted Hardy’s capture by ordering the mizzen topsail to be backed. This bold action caused the Spaniard to shorten sail, enabling Hardy to be picked up, though the crewman could not be saved.

The Minerve reached Jervis in time for the Battle of Cape St. Vincent on the morning of February 14th. Nelson and Hardy’s conduct in the battle earned high praise. On June 16th Hardy, now a Flag-Captain, captured and was appointed to command the Mutine at Santa Cruz, then sailed for Aboukir Bay, Egypt, where Nelson drew up his plan to impound the French fleet for the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Here 13 of the 17 French ships were destroyed or captured.

That August Hardy was promoted to Captain of the Vanguard, in which he served before transfer to the Foudroyant under Nelson in Naples and Sicily in 1799. Two years later Nelson gave the French another mauling at Copenhagen, forcing the French commander Villeneuve to flee with the Vanguard in pursuit.

The 1802 Treaty of Amiens wrought a brief and fragile truce between the three powers, but Napoleon had styled himself Emperor and had trampled the whole continent underfoot. Only the British navy stood between him and the imperial domination of all Europe. He conceived a plan to cajole Spain into an alliance, and then build up a coalition armada in the West Indies, which would then re-cross the Atlantic and deliver a decisive blow against an outnumbered British fleet.

In May 1803 Hardy in the Victory attempted to blockade Villeneuve in Toulon harbour, but a strategy of keeping his distance enabled the French to break the blockade in April 1805 and leave the Mediterranean to head for the West Indies. Nelson gave chase, but contrary winds slowed the admiral’s progress. By June the French were nowhere to be found in the Caribbean, having re-crossed the Atlantic to put in at El Ferrol in Spain.

Nelson learnt that on September 2nd the French and Spanish fleets had assembled at Cadiz. Two weeks later Nelson and Hardy joined the rest of their fleet off Cadiz. The Napoleonic armada put to sea on October 18th in an attempt to head into the Mediterranean. Off Cape Trafalgar, on Nelson’s orders, the British fleet split into two columns, one led by Admiral Collingwood on the Royal Sovereign, the other by Nelson with Hardy on the Victory.

Engaging the Redoubtable, the Victory’s yardarm entangled in the enemy’s rigging. Sharpshooters on the Redoubtable took aim at figures on the deck. What happened next could so easily have turned out differently, since the French were firing semi-blind through a smokescreen; if Hardy had been hit instead of Nelson, his story would have ended here. After Nelson fell, Hardy took command of the Victory until Collingwood could relieve him. Amazingly no British ship was lost at Trafalgar – the French lost 18 destroyed or captured. There were 1,700 British casualties; 6,000 of the enemy were killed or wounded.

Clearly Trafalgar was a resounding British victory, but for Hardy it came at the expense of a great personal loss. Nelson, a Norfolk rector’s son, and the Wessex countryman would seem unlikely duo for a binding friendship. They had in common a ‘lust for brine’ from an early age but were in most other respects opposites. Hardy was tall, broad, robust in health and came through 58 years of naval service unscathed; Nelson was physically unimposing, prey to several minor ailments (including sea-sickness!) and had lost an eye, an arm and most of his teeth. Hardy was of strong character, humorous, and had many sterling qualities; Nelson could be morose, sexually over-passionate, despondent and suicidal.

For the rest of his life Hardy remained active in the service, though he would raise his colours at sea for the last time in 1827. He went on to captain the Triumph in the North American Station in 1806 and on November 17th the following year married Anne Louisa Emily Berkeley. From 1809-12 he was Commander-in-Chief at Lisbon, with the rank of Commodore of the Barfleur of the Portuguese service. From 1812-13, when Britain and the USA fought a naval war, Hardy commandeered a squadron from the Ramillies on the North American Station.

For three years from 1815 Hardy captained the Royal Yacht Augusta, and that year was awarded the KCB. In 1816 he fought a duel with the first Duke of Buckingham. From 1819-24 he was Commander-in-Chief of the South American Station, during which time (1821) he served as a Colonel of the Royal Marines. He was Rear Admiral of the Blue in 1825. In 1826 he escorted an expeditionary force to Lisbon and commanded an experimental squadron in 1827.

1830 saw Hardy as Rear Admiral of the White and then First Sea Lord. In September 1831 he was awarded the GCB. In April 1834 he was appointed Governor of Greenwich Hospital and on 10th January 1837 was made Vice-Admiral of the Blue.

Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy died on September 20th 1839, and was buried at Greenwich Hospital. There is a memorial at St. Paul’s, but his native county did not forget him. In 1844 an octagonal tower 70 feet high was raised upon Blackdown Hill near his beloved Portesham, 770 feet above the level of the English Channel he had so often gazed across with eager eyes when just a boy.

Footnote:

On a day in August 1805, 2 months before Trafalgar, a crowd has gathered by Gloucester Lodge in Weymouth. A man wearing a blue uniform of a naval officer, gilt epaulettes, cocked hat and sword, acknowledges the cheers of those who have come to see this local hero. He is Captain Thomas Masterman Hardy, the Captain of Nelson’s ship Victory and he is in Weymouth at the King’s command to tell his Majesty of Nelson’s latest voyage. A few days later Capt. Hardy boards a coach at Dorchester for Portsmouth where he joins Nelson on board the Victory.

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