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?,
■ .,. -■- ■ )
Thh
LANDRIiTH FaMID'
Book Flnh
S I ANF ORD UMVhRSlTY LIBRARli;s
THI:
Lanori-ti { Family
sr \N» oRP I \i\ iRsrn i ibr\rihs
^^.^^
f»^
THE MEMORIES OF
SIR
LLEWELYN TURNER
MEMORIES SERIOUS AND LIGHT
OF
THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1798
WELSH JUDICATURE AND ENGLISH
JUDGES ADMIRALS AND SEA-FIGHTS
MUNICIPAL WORK AND NOTABLE
PERSONS IN NORTH WALES STRANGE
CRIMES AND GREAT EVENTS
EDITED BY J. E. VINCENT
LONDON ISBISTER AND CO. LTD.
15 &• 16 TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT OARDBN W.C.
1901
PrinUd bj Ballamtynb, HAHtoic A* Co.
Loodoo A' Edinburgh
9ell(cation
TO MY DEAR WIFE AND LOVING COMPANION,
MY COMFORTER IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH,
WHOSE AFFECTIONATE KINDNESS TO ME IN
NUMEROUS ILLNESSES I DESIRE TO ACKNOW-
LEDGfi BY DEDICATING TO HER THIS BOOK OF
REMINISCENCES OF A LONG PUBLIC LIFE, WHICH
I HOPE MAY NOT HA^VE PROVED ALTOGETHER
USELESS, AND WHICH I WISH HAD BEEN BETTER
Printed hj BALLAirm»«t
Hanson^ Go.
London ^ Edinburgh
INSTEAD OF A
PREFACE
I OFFER AN
APOLOGY
Being an old man writing from memory on
a number of subjects, I have found it impos-
sible to preserve throughout that consecutive
recital of events, which, at an earlier period
of life, I might have been able to do. The
facts have been engraved on my memory, but
the task of recording them consecutively was
beyond my power at my advanced age.
LLEWELYN TURNER
Parkia, Carnarvon
April 1903
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
SIR LLEWELYN TURNER—A STUDY IN CHARACTER
Pp. i-ii
CHAPTER II
PARENTAGE AND GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
Birth— Father's education— •« Wonderfal Robert Walker "—Visit to North
Wales— Slate quarry — Mr. Williams of Pwlljrcrochan — Fighting quarry-
men— Foundation of William Turner and Co. — Irish Channel dangers —
Enemies' cruisers— Invasion of Pembrokeshire — Stammering cabin-boy —
Riding across North Wales — English and American sea-fights— Lt^Z^ Bilt
V. President — Gmmeri v. ConsUtuHtm — Bingham and Mends — Yankee and
nigger songs — MaadoHian v. United States — Apathy of the Admiralty—
Chesapeake v. Shannon — Story of Captain Clint— The Shannon at Sheemess
—Captain Murphy— The True-llooded Yankee in the Irish Channel—
Pefican v. i4 r^ns— Carelessness of Admiralty— A BUI of Lading of 1811
Pp. 12-39
CHAPTER III
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
The family Bible— Mother's ancestry- The Irish rebellion— Kit Cooper's
murder— Cutting off a lady's finger— Doyle, •* Brigade-Major "— Sir John
Moore — Murder of the Rev. Francis Turner— The •• Ancient Britons '* —
Generals "Needless" and " Useless "—Sir Watkin and the sailor— A
foolhardy rebel— French privateer in EnglishChannel— Pluck of a sloop's
mate— An amateur doctor— Father becomes Mr. Assheton Smith's
partner— The building of Parkia^Famine in Llanberis— Irish lawyers at
Vaenol — Lord Manners — Lord Plunket — Curran— Irish witnesses— Dillon
of Carnarvon — His wit— Irish cars— The curate discomfited — Curran and
CONTENTS
Lord Avonmore— Lord Kenyon's cheap dinner — Increasing business —
Warren Hastings — Corran and Mickey— A successfol ** tramp*' — Slan-
derers— Origin of Turner Family — Mr. Assheton Smith— An honest
prisoner — A confiding gaoler — An act of mercy — A blunderbuss — Cannons
at Carnarvon— The privateer £iu2favoMr^Camarvon Castle— Southampton
Canal — A verse— Irish ecclesiastical appointments — Father's stories —
General Gore — Baron Garrow — Murder by " Hwntw Mawr " — Manufac-
ture of "port" wine— Home life at Parkia— Hospitality— Dogs and
tramps — Modem improvements— Party rancour and its consequences —
Lawlessness — Suet and dripping— A boaster humiliated — H.M.S. Nilson
— Death of father— His form of prayer Pp. 40-79
CHAPTER IV
,THE WELSH JUDICATURE AND THE ENGLISH JUDGES
Ancient Welsh Judicature — Legislative history — Laws of Hywel Dda — ^A
sherifiPs ball given by father — Engaging the hangman — Lord Chief Justice
Tindal — Game and red salmon — ^Judges Raine and Kenrick — Maule on
Messrs. Carbery and Nolan — A lawsuit in hell — Executions at Carnarvon
— Barbarous laws — Welsh juries — Pineapple in a Welsh garden — Jury
packing— Notes on judges — ^Tindal C. ] . — Bosanquet J. — Alderson B. — His
jokes — Vaughan J. — Pompousness of — Hired witnesses — An anonymous
libel and a dying confession — Lord Lyndhurst — His marvellous memory —
His second marriage — Williams J. — His fancy for woodcocks — Defended
Queen Caroline — Election excitements — Highway robbery — "Goody-
goody" days — The North Wales Bar— Two leaders bound over — A
narrow escape— A chestnut— WUliams v. P. BMckkmd—Jervis as cross-
examiner — Patteson J. — The degrees of drunkenness — The new gaol —
Lord Newborough— The '* Black Hole" — Wrong site of new gaol-
Temperance pilgrimages— Sir Edward Haines— Visitmg prisons— Timely
severity and consequent gratitude— Crime as a trade — Serjeant Taddy—
A convivial under-sherifif— Mr. Watson Lloyd's humour— His powers of
mimicry — His death— Creswell J.^His manner— Britannia Bridge
murder — Lord Abinger — Lord Denman— An interesting forgery— A mis-
taken arrest— Recidivisim— A discussion in grand jury— Duties of grand
juries — ^An obstinate magistrate— A manslaughter — ^Two burglaries — ^The
dogs save Parkia— The servant and her lover— Bliad butler as witness-
Dignified judge— Impudent prisoners— Sir Charles Felix Smith was
Lever's Trevanion— The French bully defeated— Lord Campbell— A
mountain murder and a cruel accusation — A confession — ^Jervis L.C.J. —
A poisoning case— Demonstrates thimble-rigging— Earle L.C.J.— An
idiot witness— His repartees— Bovill L.C.J.— Visit to Coombe Wood-
Some Tichbome doggerel— Yachtmg on the Straits— Rioters in Flintshire
pardoned— Engagement of Bovill and Miss Barnwell- Malins V.C.— A
jest — Lord Bramwell — First meeting— His courtesy- Later friendship—
CONTENTS xi
A letter of congratulation — ^Bramwell's hatred of a lie^His manner —
Yachting arguments — Bramwell as mathematician— His deadly sarcasm—
Trying a witness backwards — Welsh clerical witness to character in
sheep-stealing case — Drunken parson's trick — Bramwell's affability — An
abrupt prisoner and a prompt judge — Curious breach of promise case —
Mr. Mclntyre, Q.C. — Absurdities in slip-shod English — Bramwell and
garrotters — His "large dog " — Punch on Bramwell — Sir Fitzroy Kelly and
his pupils — Letters from Bramwell — Lord Chief Baron Kelly — Special
retainers — Quaker and mistress — Kelly's activity — Cockbum L.C.J.—
Prosecution of Palmer — Rugeley and " Palmerstown " — Murder by
gamblers — Inventor of the "drop" — Himself hanged — Tichbome Trial —
Contempt of Court by Whalley M.P. and others — Their credulity —
The preparation of the evidence — Identification of claimant by Sir R.
Tichbome's mother — Byles on "business'' — Martin B. — His courage and
industry — The long drop in jest and earnest — Professor Horton the
inventor — Mistaken for hangman — Talfourd J. — Coltman J. — Mr. Temple
and the poker — Crowder J. — Riding on circuit — Watson B. — Death at
Welshpool — A Board of Trade inquiry — Keating J. — An Anglesey murder
— Grove J. — An unjust attack — Humbugging gaol chaplains — Reports of
criminal trials untrustworthy — The judge's venison — **Goat by gad" —
Lord Robert Cecil — A chaplain overcome — Pollock B. — A "beater"
plaintiff— Moving prisoners for trial — Views of judges — Huddlestone B. —
Sir A. L. Smith M.R. — His premature death Pp. 80-160
CHAPTER V
NOTABLE MEN OF NORTH WALES
Sir Richard Bulkeley, tenth Bart. — His good nature — Electioneering repartee
— His rapid changes of opinion — A Quarter Sessions blunder — A Roya
visit and a rash delay — Sir Richard and the farmers — '* Little Pickles " —
Yacht-radng quarrel and reconciliation — Letters and illness of Sir
Richard — A raid on Dublin Castle — ^Visit of the Prince of Wales — Diffi-
culties of preparation — Exertions of Mayor — Sir Richard's congratulations
— The Rothsay Castk — ^The late Lord Penrhjrn — His character and value —
An address by Sir Lleweljrn Turner — Mr. Lloyd Edwards of Nanhoron —
His bulk and hospitality — Lord Newborough — Chairman of Quarter
Sessions — A violent prisoner — A " pig '* of new species — Irishman and
counsel — The tale-bearer snubbed — Lord Newborough and Jesus College
— The biter bit— Chancellor Trevor at Carnarvon— His powers of reading
—Contrast to Welsh clergy — Anomalies of Church in Wales — Neglect of
English population — The Rev. Thomas Thomas— An address — His zeal
for education — The Rev. James Crawley Vincent — Exertions during the
cholera— His courage — And death — Note from his son — Dean Cotton —
His practical sermon — Door-scrapers— His wit — Incompetent clergy —
*• An* 'im they 'anget "— " Tak* the breeches "—Dean Cotton and Lord
xii CONTENTS
Newborongh'The "{riose dmmnMr " — '*Man is an animal "—Dean
Cotton's blindness — Address by hini— The best "rope" — '*Let ns be
partial*'— Dean Cotton's cheerfolness— His regard for Sir Liewelsrn— His
death— John Bright— His affecticn for Wales— His fineedom from party
spirit— An interesting letter— His views on Welsh language — Letters by
Sir Llewelyn Turner and Mr. Bright— An appeal for common sense vtnus
sentiment— Endorsed by Mr. Bright— Views of a F^rench philologist — Mr.
Bright's handwriting— Mr. Bulkeley Hughes, M.P.— His assistance as to
the Yacht Club House— His industry— Election scenes— His handwriting
—Sad result of illegibility— The bay mare "shot," not "shod" — Sir
Lleu-elyn his trustee and executor- Mr. Richard Davies» M.P. — Contests
Camar\'on Boroughs 1852— Disgraceful literarnre of old elections — Mr.
Davies returned for Anglesey — Appointed Lord Lieutenant — Retirement
from Parliament as Unionist — Mr. Robert Davies — His character — Major
Nanney— The herrings — •• Paws oflf, Pompeyl "—A yacht accident — ^Mr.
Samuel Holland — Recreant groomsmen — Mr. Fosbery Lyster — BCis-
management of Carnarvon Harbour — Sinning against the light
Pp. i6z-ai9
CHAPTER VI
NAVAL REMINISCENCES
Royal Naval Coast Volunteers — Sir Llewelyn Turner raises — Letters from
Admiralty— Admiral Tatham — Sir W. Mends — Value of force — Folly of
abolition— Sir Llewelyn's knighthood— Admiral Tatham's congratulations
— Sir Llewelyn's services— Acknowledged by Captain Mends — Rojral
Naval Reserve— Started by Lord Clarence Paget — Sir Lleweljrn's labours
—Sudden support from Admiralty— An anonymous letter — Sir Llewelyn's
forgiveness— Sir William and Lady Mends — Their kindness to sailors—
A " family of warriors " — Sir William's famous ancestor— The AnthusM —
The ballad— Letter from Sir William. 1871- Foundation of the Naval
Reserve— Speeches by author and Captain Pechell, R.N. — Good advice
to sailors — Admiral Mends — Made C.B. — G.C.B. later— His services —
Reorganises crew of Veugeance—At Sebastopol in Agamtmtum — The timidity
of Admiral Dundas — A caustic bluejacket — The midshipman's signal —
Beaching the Royal Albert — Discipline of crew— The Pique — Quebec to
England without a rudder — Mends' hatred of political government —
"Man overboard" — A prompt coxswain — Rescue by the Hastings in
Holyhead Harbour —Mends as Director of Transports — A visitor at Parkia
— Materials for life of Admiral Mends— Meeting with a convict in the
Royal Albert— MsLTTyait and his "reward of merit" — Correspondence of
Admiral Mends — His interest in Carnarvon Bar and Menai Straits
navigation— Letter concerning Admiral Tryon's death, 1896— Reference
to Captain Mahan — Death of Lady Mends— Letters from the Admu-al —
His death— Letter from his daughter— His " Life " — His orders — Admiral
CONTENTS xiu
Watling — Capture of the Bourbon — Services at De La Passe — Mentioned
in despatches— Association with Sir Llewelyn — Letter from Admiral
Watling— Admiral Otway— Wrecked in the TA#Hs— Acquaintance with
Mends — ^Admiral Lord Clarence Paget, G.C.B. — A friendship of forty
years— Pain of separation — Rapid promotion warranted by ability and
rank — His diary — Visits to Plas Llanfair — Command in Mediterranean —
Lord Clarence as "all-ronnd man'* — Carpenter — Linguist — Sculptor —
Statue of Nelson in the Straits — Its origin and progress — Sfr Llewelyn
revises Lord Clarence's " Life *' — Correspondence— This book suggested —
An Admiral in spurs — Improved communication with Ireland — Inaugura-
tion of the statue — Lord Cowley's speech — Sir Llewelyn's speech — Sale
of Plas Llanfair — Death of Lord and Lady Clarence Paget — Admiral Sir
Edward Augustus Inglefield — Association with Sir Llewelyn — His
services — Arctic expeditions — Admiral E. W. Turnour — His later suffer-
ings— His services — Review for Sultan at Spithead — Ball at Guildhall —
Helping the Lord Chancellor (Lord Cairns) — Letters — Death of Admiral
Tumour — Admiral Sir Hastings Yelverton — Loss of the Captain — Causes
of disaster — Sir Hastings Yelverton 's career — Comptroller of Coastguard
— Intercourse with Sir Llewelyn — Rear Admiral Brooker — Commands
the Hyvem — Her onseaworthiness — A letter — Admiral Sir Erasmus
Ommanney — His career — Navarino — Franklin search expedition— Letter
touching Lord Clarence Paget and Navarino — Vice-Admiral Schomberg
— Queen's Harbour Master at Holyhead — Admiral Sir William King
Hall — His services—Rousing a sleeper in Kaffir War — Campaign against
intemperance — His successes — A4«toa^i*ttet4»»Jsimlae llulpa All
T i^^ip. 1^ f n^ J ^fj >n — ^ ^TTj^ career — Rear Admiral Halsted — The
Dauntkss — Devastated by yellow fever — Memorial to the victims— Naval
odds and ends — The ill-fated Eclair — More yellow fever — Admirals Gough
and Evans — A Russian count horsewhipped— A descendant of Nelson
helped by Sir Llewelyn — Horatia Nelson Ward's son cannot obtain a
nomination for the Navy — Sir Llewelyn intervenes — Sir Llewelyn's suc-
cess— A lock of Nelson's hair — Mrs. Horatia Nelson Ward — A visit to
Raglan Castle and a happy coincidence — Nelson's hair willed to his
family — A court-martial — A mock trial .... Pp. 220-297
CHAPTER VII
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOAT EXPERIENCES
Early familiarity with wrecks — Admiral Crawley's lifeboat — Neglected at
Llanddwyn— Loss of the Staff of Lif e-^Good work later— Early catastrophes
at Carnarvon — The Atlantic — ^A Spanish wreck— Tailor, wrecker and
drunkard — Emigrant ship wrecked — Bodies stripped by waves and sand —
Sir Llewelyn boards a wreck— How the Highlander came to Parkia — The
inscription near him — The Jane of New Orleans— The Southerner and M^.
butler— The s.s. Monk — Channels at Carnarvon Bar — Variation and
xiv CONTENTS
causes— The Vine of Nevin — Light in ballast — An nnfortonate exchange —
Possible improvements at the Bar — Lighting already improved — Wrecks
reduced— Examination of masters and mates — Value of tugs — Llanddwyn
a good lifeboat station — Clynnog useless — List of wrecks — Lifeboat must
have seafaring crew — Wanted rocket apparatus — A sleepy watcher —
Wreck at Malltraeth — Sir Lleweljrn and the Erin o' Bragh to the rescue—
An ungrateful master — Carnarvon lifeboat beaten back — ^To the wreck by
land— Llanddwyn lifeboat upset — One man only lost— Half oars broken —
Sir Llewelyn's signal — The Yankees' smart appreciation — A barrel and a
line — Sir Llewelyn's brave attempt and failure — A new signal — ^Jonathan
cute again — ^A coward in his lifeboat — Return to shore — ^Vessel beached
down wind — All saved — Next day Sir Llewelyn takes command — The
captain's caution and Sir Llewelyn's opportunity — Inexperienced meddling
with tides — A new sandbank — The Meteor Flag — A perilous wade —
National Lifeboat Institution — Its jubilee meeting — Address by Sir
Llewelyn Turner Pp. 298-324
CHAPTER VIII
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE
Municipal apathy — Local Board established at Carnarvon — Foul and insani-
tary courts — Difficulty of obtaining building sites — Hotbeds of fever —
Apathy in London — The cholera — An early victim— Health Committee —
Services of the Rev. J. C. Vincent— Dr. Seaton's opinion of Carnarvon-
Sir Llewelyn's vigorous actions — Threats of violence— Interested opposi-
tion— Struggle with pig-keepers — "Hearing a smell" — Builders on
Sanitary Boards an evil— Pig-styes and fever at Bontnewydd— Complaints
of poor-law officials — Wanted gentlemen of position — Denbighshire an
example— Carvarvon as residence for retired officers — Nuisances round
the Castle — Carnarvon as it might have been— Sympathy of Sir R.
Bulkeley, Lord Newborough, and Colonel Williams— A narrow gauge
railway to Gaerwen — The useless bridge .... Pp. 325-342
CHAPTER IX
YACHTING REMINISCENCES
Owner must be independent of master — Value of early seafaring training — Sir
Llewelyn's first boat the Nautilus — Her iron cut- water severs a hawser —
"Dick the Devil" and "Will Summerhouse" — The G^« -Early
regattas — ^The germ of the R.W.Y.C. — Harwich Regatta, 1846 — Mr.
Parker Smith — Bad harbour management — Deep channel diverted— A
race won cleverly — Selecting courses — Convivial afiEray at the " Three
CONTENTS XV
Cups" — Rough customers — Yarmouth~/iio, Prima Donna, and
Their peculiarities— A practical joke abandoned • Yarmouth in mourning
—The Circe^" Man overboard " — ^A narrow escape — Nearly wrecked —
General Turner Jones overboard — Smart handling — Foundation of the
R.W.Y.C. — Commodore the Marquis of Anglesey — Vice-Commodore
Robert Stephenson — Rear Commodore Llewelyn Turner — Commodore
Assheton Smith— The regatta balls — Colonel Williams as Vice-Commo-
dore— Lord Penrhyn as Commodore — ^The late Lord Anglesey — Sir
Llewelyn's modesty — Sausage breakfasts — Commodores Grindrod,
Graves, and Littledale— Littledale no pothunter— The Qustn oftkt Octan
— A bad racing course — Unscrupulous masters and racing — " Win, tie, or
wrangle "—Ladies in peril — Ungrateful wretches— Banquet at Poulton —
A delayed landing and too warm a welcome— An obstinate master —
Imprisoned by wasps— Merry visitors from the Ariel — Colonel Birchdall
of the Vision — Her successes — A banquet at Preston and a duel averted —
Mr. Trevor Roper— The fVyvem — Neaped at Carnarvon — Colonel PiflB^
Williams — The Hussar — Best as schooner— Sir Harry and Lady Oglander
—Accident to Lady Oglander — A foot lost through carelessness— Lland-
dwyn pilots wrongly accused — Wreck of the Hofufry— Letter from Colonel
Williams — Mr. French — A deaf and dumb yachtsman — Colonel Sir
Charles Hamilton. Bart., C.B.— The fighting Hamiltons— The Hermione
and Miss Hermione Hamilton — Commodore Sir David Gamble— The
North Star— Six David's yachts — Mr. Stopford— Mr. Darcus of the Viola
y/ ^^^fx'^^' Poole of the Mervinia — Sir Llewelyn's eyesight saves a catastrophe
^^**^^'^Mr. WilliamtQn Tilley -The Ranger beats the Danng by time allowance
0/f^^£J^ — '^^o Surprise — The Cedlia — Extravaganza beats Marian — Commodore
^^Jr Brideson — ^Jokes on the Nimrod — Mr. Leader — Mr. Grinnell Pp. 343-386
Am^
/^->iy
/
CHAPTER X
CARNARVON CASTLE
Carnarvon Castle — Marquis of Anglesey as Constable — Whitewashing the
Castle— Mr. Morgan as Deputy Constable— Former neglect of Castle—
The new gates — Masons trick Mr. Morgan —Letter from Lord Carnarvon
— Sir Lleweljrn appointed Deputy Constable — Lord Carnarvon presents
railings— The moat channel— Sir Llewelyn as antiquarian— Visit of Royal
Archaeological Institute — Difference with Corporation — Sir John Puleston
as Constable — Attempts to use the Castle for frivolous purposes — Visit
by Lord Russell of Killowen— Birth of Edward U^ in Castle can be
proved — Another book Pp. 387-395
xvi CONTENTS
APPENDIX A
Stanfield Hall and Its Terrible Tragedies — ^The BisTHn..i£3L
OP Amy Robsart Pp. i99-^p«
APPENDIX B
A Tragic Event and a Most Remarkable Coincidence of Names
Pp. 435-430
APPENDIX C
Irish Hospitality and Wit Pp. 431-449
APPENDIX D
Perjury in Carnarvonshire — Education . . Pp. 450-461
APPENDIX E
Intemperance — Sunday Closing Pp. 462-479
APPENDIX F.
Ghosts Pp. 480-491
ILLUSTRATIONS
Fmcing
Sir Llewelyn Turner Froutispiee^
South-west View of Parkia . - 3
Statuary by Lord Clarence Paget .4
Parkia 12
Captain Clint 33
The ''Shannon " at Sheemess in 1846 36
Clonattin, partially burned in the Rebellion of 1798 .... 42
Thomas Assheton Smithy Esq 48
The Right Hon. Lord Manners 51
General Gore in his Old Age 70
Miss Roberts 75
Mrs, Jones, of Mona View, Carnarvm £ ^' " - -77
Mr, WiWi^m Turner . i^ ^/3:^//^/'<^ .... 79
The Right Hon. Lord CmmpbeU 121
Lord Chief Justice Bovill 126
Baron Bramwell 128
Lord Chief Baron Sir Fitxroy Kelly 138
The Hon. Baron Pollock 156
The Right Hon. Lord Justiu Smith 158
Lord Newborough 178
Admiral Tatham, C.B 222
Admiral Sir William R. Mends, G.C.B 232
Admiral The Right Hon. Lord Clarence Paget, G.C.B. . .256
Lady Clarence Paget 264
Lord Clarence Paget and his Statue of Nelson 266
Admiral Winterton Tumour 272
Admiral Sir W.King HaU 279
Admiral ShoUo Douglas 281
xviii ILLUSTRATIONS
Horatta Nelson Thompson Ward 291
Fanny Viscountess Nelson 295
Figurehead of the Ship " Mountaineer " of Liverpool .... 303
*' Down Helm, 'bout Shipy Ease Off Jib Sheets'' 357
The " Queen of the Ocean '* going to the rescue of the " Ocean Monarch "
onfire 365
Colonel Sir Charles Hamilton^ Bart., C.B, 367
The late Lord Carnarvon 389
Mr. John Jones of Carnarvon Castle 391
Sir Llewelyn Turner 392
Stanfield Hall 399
Stanfield Hall (Plan) 405
Stanfield Hall (Interior) 410
INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER I
SIR LLEWELYN TURNER— A STUDY IN CHARACTER
**GooD wine needs no bush," and the wise and genial
words of Sir Llewelyn Turner which form this fascinating
book are most emphatically good wine. It follows that it
would be out of place for me to burden the volume with
an)rtliing partaking of the natiure of an introduction. Worse
than that, it would be a useless waste of time; for it is matter
of common knowledge and experience that introductions
and prefaces are rarely, if ever, read.
But I have committed myself to the statement that this
is a fascinating volume ; and it becomes necessary accord-
ingly for me to explain why I am entitled to be regarded as
a high authority on the subject. Also, so far as the wider
world is concerned, it may be necessary in some cases to
state who and what Sir Llewelyn Turner is, that his sayings,
experiences, first and second-hand recollections and opinions
should be embalmed in a book.
In claiming high authority upon the question whether
these pages are interesting or not, I am entirely free from
the reproach of intellectual vanity. Accident, rather than
natural capacity, has made me an editor of several more or
less critical newspapers in succession ; and I am that much-
abused person, a professional reviewer. Consequently in
the ordinary way the sight of manuscript is to me anathema
maranatha, after years spent in wading through hundreds
and thousands of pages of tmsolicited, and for the most part
A
2 INTRODUCTORY
entirely unsuitable, contributions. In like fashion the sight
of new books is, save in exceptional cases, loathsome to my
eyes, and my idea of a holiday is either to go to sea, without
books or papers to read or paper to write upon, or to do the
manual labour of a navvy or a gardener. To the end, in spite
of strenuous endeavours to be conscientious, I have been
physically tmable to read a book of any kind which failed
to interest me, and, naturally, I have grown more and more
difficult to rouse to interest. It is for this reason only that
my testimony to the interesting quality of Sir Llewelyn
Turner's work is of value. He has worked a literary miracle
in stirring a sleepy appetite and in giving new pleasure to a
jaded palate. Not once or twice, dining the delightful task
of editing his book, have I sat down to read in a critical
spirit, only to find, after hours had sUpped by unmarked,
that the critical duty had been forgotten and had gone out
of mind, and that the glamour of the writer's personality,
the charm of his memories of old times, had obtained
absorbing possession of my mind. The consequence, of
coiurse, of this involuntary tribute to the many-sided
powers of Sir Llewelyn Turner was a duty of re-reading
with a view to alteration and suggestion ; but for the most
part, when the duty had been fulfilled, it turned out that
it might have been neglected with safety, since the necessity
for editorial suggestion was hardly ever present.
All the society of North Wales is familiar with Sir Llewelyn
Turner's stately figure and voice ; and probably all liie
society of North Wales thinks that it imderstands his cha-
racter. I had deluded m3^elf into the belief that I imderstood
him and his character before I read this book in manuscript.
Also there are a large number of distinguished men, and
there have been many more, no longer with us, who probably
knew the true Sir Llewelyn Turner, the width of his mind,
and the cathoUcity of his interests, far better than his
neighbours could Imow them. Admirals, judges, and even
Royal personages could tell how they have foimd in Sir
Llewelyn Turner the rare man who, by sheer force of cha-
racter and determination not to permit his mind to be con-
fined to a groove, has risen superior to all the inducements
<
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O
H
H
O
C/2
INTRODUCTORY 8
to be provincial in an environment where provincialism
is exceptionally clogging and narrow. (In passing it may
be observed that this statement as to the provincialism of
Carnarvonshire, although advanced with sincere conviction,
may be traceable to a somewhat intimate knowledge of
the conditions of life in that particular county : certainly
the same thing is said frequently of other counties by those
who know them best.) But there will doubtless be many
persons, all the same, to whom the name of Sir Llewelyn
Turner is entirely new. He has not been a member of
Parliament, a great writer, a commander of armies, a
colossal bankrupt or a notorious criminal ; and these are
the positions in which the names of men become known to
the great world. But, for all that, he is an interesting,
profitable and entertaining subject of human study ; and,
since his book really tells us little of his own doings, save in
an incidental and self-effacing feishion, it is simply necessary
to say something of him and of his surrotmdings — surround-
ings which have tended in many ways to direct his tastes
towards subjects in relation to which he has done valuable
service to the world at large as well as to the people of his
own neighbourhood.
A mile or two outside Carnarvon, looking down upon the
M^iai Straits at their most beautiful part, stands Parkia,
the happy home of Sir Llewelyn Turner's boyhood. It was
built, as the following pages show, by his father in days long
gone by, and upon a smaller scale than it shows at present.
It has recently received some additions, and in it, tenderly
cared for by Lady Turner, Sir Llewelyn has written of those
among the things- which he has seen and done and heard,
in the course of an active life of four-score years, that are
worthy to be commemorated. The surroimdings of the
house itself are distinctly pretty, and many a so-called
landscape gardener might learn useful lessons from the
manner in which the contours of the sloping ground, and the
tiny brook that nms on the left of the house, have been
used for beauty. Moreover the grounds — ^it is not a nice
word, but it is the only dear one — are full of memories of
good work done and of valued friendships. Hedges of
4 INTRODUCTORY
laurel and of yew, round the rosary, were planted by Sir
Llewelyn's own hand ; here you find a tablet affixed to an
ivy-covered wall on which a wise saw is recorded ; there a
statue, weather-beaten and moss-grown, which brings to
mind Sir Llewelyn's long and precious friendship with Lord
Clarence Paget.
These things, like the gigantic Highlander in a side hall
within the house, a reminiscence of a wreck in connection
with which Sir Llewelyn did yeoman's service sixty-three
years ago, bespeak the man. Wandering among them
one begins to understand the principle upon which his long
and honourable life has been led. It is, in brief but yet in
the widest sense of the words, that which his hero Nelson
caused to run round the fleet before Trafalgar. Sir Llewelyn
has done his duty in that state of life to which it has pleased
God to call him, but he has construed the word " duty " in
the most generous spirit. His duty towards his neighbour
he has fulfilled both as a Ciamarvonshire man, and as an
Englishman. No man has ever served Carnarvon more
faithfully in connection with local affairs, none has been
more insistent in promoting the well-being of the little
community through good and evil report, and in the face
of unscrupulous and interested opposition. For its present
cleanliness — the use of the term will be better imderstood,
perhaps, by those who knew Carnarvon of old than by those
who see it as strangers^ — Carnarvon has partly to thank the
railway, which practically eviscerated the worst of the slums ;
the cholera, which in 1867 made the old town pay full penalty
for the hideous sin of filth ; but most of all Sir Llewelyn
Turner, who many times accepted the troubles and burden-
some office of Mayor with no other object in view than that
of cleansing the Augean Stable. Similarly Sir Llewelyn
in days gone by did excellent work in connection with tiie
harbour (work of which the efiEect is now, he says, in a
fair way to be nullified by subsequent and ill-considered
operations), was a wise and industrious magistrate, and was
regular in his visits to the prison. Nor did he neglect the
lighter side of life, and his services to the Royal Welsh
Yacht Club as founder, and subsequently as Commodore
TO/ADMIRAL THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD CLARENCE
PAGET, G.C.B.
SCULPTOR OF THE GREAT STATUE OF NELSON AND OP THESE BEAUTIFUL FIGURES
How chaste the mind, how chaste the work
Where nothing commonplace doth lurk,
Sailor, sculptor, and dear friend,
May peace and joy thy life attend.— Llewelyn Turner.
This inscription is on a large stone at the back of the statues and above them. One
lady is supposed to have been going to the water close by with her jug. She has
fallen asleep, and the other comes and is looking with surprise at her
INTRODUCTORY 5
after half a century as Rear and Vice-Commodore, are more
than worthy to be remembered. To life-boat work, also,
he devoted his energies, and in the pursuit of it he never
hesitated to imdertake personal risk and responsibility.
All these things were duty, but duty in the obvious sense,
well performed. It is rather in the width of his construction
of the word that Sir Llewelyn Turner has been remarkable.
A man's first duty, as a citizen, is towards his neighbour ;
but he owes another and perhaps a more sacred duty towards
himself as the work of his Creator. It is the duty set forth
in the parable of the Talents, the duty which may be sum-
marised into making the best of one's opportunities, not
merely for selfish reasons, not for money or fame, but
because they are opportunities, and because they have been
given, although they are often unperceived and unnoticed.
The sequel wUl show first and foremost that Sir Llewelyn
Turner, both in Wales and in England — for he saw much of
London and of great affairs at one time — ^was thrown into
contact with many leading men and women : it will show
also that the friendships thus made were valued and cherished
not only by him but also by those who shared them with
him. It will show also that he did his share, and more,
in promoting great national movements, particularly that
in the direction of temperance. But perhaps the most
remarkable feature in his life has been the keen zest with
which he has entered into every topic of interest that came
into his hfe. Mixed up much with naval officers, closely
interested in naval affairs, he displays a knowledge of quaint
old fragments of naval history which is almost surprising.
Associated from time to time with judges of the High Court
he has not only been careful to continue his relations with
those among them who survive, but he has also ransacked
the stores of memory for anecdotes of the bad, but amusing,
old times of the Welsh judiciary. Visiting in England he
has picked up scraps of information concerning great trials
of days gone by which can hardly fail to attract admiring
attention. Brought up by a father of extraordinary versa-
tility and of strangely diversified experience, a man whose
reputation for wit and wisdom stood remarkably high, and
6 INTRODUCTORY
by a mother whose recollections of Ireland and its traditions
in a very troublous period were of the most exciting cha-
racter, he can remember a hundred things to tell us. That has
happened not because Sir Llewelyn has been a taker of notes
and a maker of diaries all his life ; it is indeed matter for
deep regret to him, and of even deeper regret to us, that it
has not been so. It has happened really because instinc-
tively rather than deliberately recognising the duty of making
the best intellectual use of his opportunities, he has cultivated
an intelligent interest in every sensible subject that came
under his notice. As a fact his notes are all the result of
drafts made during the past two years upon a memory
which, if it be weak sometimes upon matters of date (which
after all is of little moment), is still prodigiously accurate
and minute concerning the events of years long passed away.
The result is, first of all, a very entertaining book ; for
Sir Llewelyn's sense of humour is quick and sharp, and his
store of anecdotes is endless. But the book is something
more than that ; it is a work of peculiar value to the his-
torian. From the modem point of view of history,
kings, statesmen, generals, mighty movements and epoch-
making battles, although they can never lose their impor-
tance as subjects of study, have ceased to be the only
interesting facts in history. The historian has taken to
the study of the social phenomena of given periods, and he
is as anxious to realise and to describe the state of British
society at the dates of the Conquest, of the Civil War, or
of the first Reform Act, as to paint those events themselves.
" The great-condition-of-England Question " — to use a
familiar phrase — is the question of questions.
To the student of history from that point of view Sir
Llewelyn Turner's book is a valuable as well as an enter-
taining companion. In whatsoever he has seen, in every-
thing that he has heard on good authority, he has cultivated
an intelligent interest, and although he regrets in his
modesty many missed opportunities, the reader is sure to
be struck rather by the way in which he has seized every
chance of compelling life to be interesting almost in spite
of itself. Let this be exemplified by a few cases out of
INTRODUCTORY 7
many. Hundreds of men must have heard those stories
of the iniquities and the humours of the Welsh Judiciary
which Sir Llewelyn Turner places upon record. (The
humours, it may be observed in passing, become more
apparent as time soothes the bitterness which must have
been felt by those writhing imder the injustice of the moment.)
It has been reserved for Sir Llewelyn Turner to preserve
them in a bright and attractive form, so that each scene
lives, so that the words produce a dear and dramatic picture
in the mind. Others must have heard in youth stories from
eye-witnesses of the great Irish Rebellion of 1798 ; but few,
if any, could have achieved the feat of recollecting so many
of them so minutely, towards the end of a long life,
after omission to note them in early years. As it was in
the cases of the Welsh Judiciary and of the Irish RebeUion,
so it was in other matters. Sir Llewel3ai was never con-
tented with a superficial knowledge of any subject which
came imder his notice ; he always probed it to the bottom.
Thus, from recollections of his father he is able to give
us an imexampled picture, perfect because it is painted
with so much strong simpUcity, of the romance and adven-
tures of commerce by sea and land in da)^ long gone by.
Associated on terms of familiar intimacy with eminent
admirals, and well acquainted with naval ports, he has
studied naval history and naval development, and he brings
back to us many naval yams of importance no less than of
quaint interest. Yet at the same time he was no dreamer,
nor a mere seeker after curious and entertaining information,
but always a practical worker on well-considered lines.
The collector of these grand stories was also the prime
mover in establishing the Naval Reserve movement at
Carnarvon. If, on the one hand, a long visit to the old
and moated Hall which was tlie birthplace of Amy Robsart
caused him to ransack the records of the terrible tragedies
which afterwards occurred there, and to study the stories
of the crime in connection with the material topography, it
must not be forgotten that, at the same time, he was doing
his duty in relation to contemporary crime and criminals.
As a magistrate, who had the advantage of being a practical
8 INTRODUCTORY
lawyer, he was assiduous and fair in the performance of his
task, even to the extent of standing up against attempted
injustice to publicans, although he was himself an ardent
and active advocate of the Temperance movement in
England as well as in Wales. In this cause, indeed, he paid
repeated visits to the great towns of Lancashire and York-
shire, and to various centres in Wales, addressing large
meetings with much success in speeches of earnest eloquence.
Above all he was constant and judicious during his active
life in the performance of his duty as a visiting justice ; and
his observations, based upon personal experience, concerning
the reforming value of long and short sentences respectively,
are worthy of dose attention from those who have to
administer the law. From an essentially kindly and
merciftd man comes a grave warning as to the misdiief of
injudicious leniency, a clear demonstration of the beneficial
effects of timely severity.
In one respect, but in one only — for Autolycus is bluntly
classified in A Winter*s Tale as " a rogue '* — Sir Llewel5ni
Turner has been like Autolycus. He has been a consistent
** snapper up of unconsidered trifies," which were of real
value ; but the trifles were simply opportunities in which
he claimed no special property. He has been an observer,
a student, and a thinker, in relation to every worthy subject
that came within his reach, and the world is the richer for
his habit of mind. He had eyes to see, and ears to hear ;
and he has seen and heard keenly, laying by the result of
his observations for cool and sagacious reflection. Few
men, if any, have succeeded so completely in fulfilling their
local duties and in maintaining at the same time the broad
and tolerant attitude of the man of the world, in the best
and true sense of the phrase. That attitude he has been
able to keep, in spite of an environment pecuharly calculated
to impress the narrowness upon him, if he had not resisted
it, in a remarkable fashion. He has not been content to
take opportunities ; he has gone out of his way to make
them. There are indeed not many men to whom the
homely and forceful lines of the Western poet are more
applicable —
INTRODUCTORY 9
Were he a mining on the flat
He done it with a zest,
Whatever he set his hand unto
He done his level best.
Municipal work at Carnarvon was, in very truth, mining
on the flat, and Sir Llewelyn Turner threw his heart into
it. But he kept his mind awake to the movements of the
great world, and he has lived a full life, travelling when
occasion permitted, studying as he travelled, watching
always for that which was good in life, displaying always
that intelligent curiosity which makes man's years on earth
worth having. All the time, too, he has preserved an
inborn, and perhaps hereditary, appreciation of wit and
humour, for which his readers will bless him. Even now
to tell him a witty story, if so be that it shall be entirely
innocent and pure, will surely earn the reward of Homeric
laughter on the part of a stately veteran of four-score years,
who is erect as a grenadier of the King's Guard and light-
hearted as any schoolboy.
That, as nearly as may be achieved, is a summary of
Sir Llewelyn Turner's character. Just, energetic, kindly,
broad-minded, a hater of iniquity, witty and amusing,
above all things observant, he has been the best of com-
panions all through his long life, a useful citizen, and a most
valuable Englishman. That he may for some years to
come continue so to be is the ardent desire of those who
enjoy his friendship. When he, to use the beautiftd phrase
of South Wales, " crosses to the other side," he will, one
likes to think, meet a host of friends who have gone before ;
at any rate for those who may be left behind his book will
be some consolation, since in its pages the kind and wise
old man lives, and will live.
One word more and I have done. Sir Llewel5ni Turner
will live in his book. He will live also in Carnarvon Castle,
which from one point of view may be regarded as a con-
spicuous example of the principle, that of using his oppor-
tunities to the best advantage and for public good, which
has animated him through life. Surely there was never
a place more strongly calculated than Carnarvon to raise
CHAPTER II
PARENTAGE AND GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
Birth— Father's education—" Wonderful Robert Walker "
— Visit to North Wales — Slate quarry — ^Mr. Williams of
PwUycrochan — Fighting quarrymen — Foundation of
William Turner and Co. — Irish Channel dangers — Enemies'
cruisers — Invasion of Pembrokeshire — Stammering cabin-
boy — Riding across North Wales — English and American
sea-fights — Little Belt v. President — Guerriere v. ConstituHon
— Bingham and Mends — Yankee and nigger songs — Mace-
donian V. United States — ^Apathy of the Admiralty — Chesa-
peake V. Shannon — Story of Captain Clint— The Shannon at
Sheemess — Captain Murphy— The True-blooded Yankee in
the Irish Channel — Pelican v. Argus — Carelessness of
Admiralty— A Bill of Lading of 1811. »
I WAS bom at Parkia, Carnarvonshire, on February 11, 1823,
the youngest of eleven children, and my father on the day I
was christened nailed a horse-shoe on an old ash-tree close
to the library windows, where both still remain. The date
of this is fixed by the parish register of Uanfairisgaer, in
which Parkia is situated and where I have always lived.
Baptism solemnised in the Parish of Llanfairisgabr in
THE County of Carnarvon in the year 1823.
Date
Chriitian
Name.
Parents' Name
Abode
Quality, Trade or
Profession
Christian
Surname
Feb. 26
No. 84
Llewelyn
Son of
William
Jane
Turner
Parkia
High Sherifi for
the County of
Carnarvon
(Signed) W. Williams, Curate of Uanbeblig.*
(By whom the ceremony was performed.)
• Afterwards Canon Wynn Williams of Menaifron, who took the
additional Christian name of Wynn.
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 18
Why the horse-shoe was nailed up for me, the youngest,
I know not. My father was the sixlli child of a large family
residing on a small landed estate called Low Mosshouse,
at Seathwaite in Lancashire, and his father was the lessor
of the Walmascar slate quarries. He was only twelve years
of age when his father died, and was educated by his god-
father, the Rev. Robert Walker, the clergyman of Seath-
waite, widely known as " the wonderful Robert Walker,"
and wonderftd he must have been, wonderfully good,
wonderfully kind, and wonderfully industrious. The
revenue of the livuig of Seathwaite was so small that one
can hardly conceive the possibility that in a State Church
whose Bishops were well paid such an anomaly could exist
as a living tiiie endowment of which for several years was
£5 per annmn, with a house and glebe which consisted of a
large mountain farm.
The memory of this accomplished man was cherished by my
dear father to the end of his long life, and a school account-
book in which my father wrote his sums is amongst my
most valued possessions. As it will hereafter appear, my
father was engaged during many years of his manhood in
very extensive enterprises, and I have always believed that
the knowledge of figures, of which this old book affords
ample evidence, had much to do with the success which
attended his operations, and the geological knowledge he
so fcBly possessed showed how well his practical education
had been guarded by his reverend and revered preceptor.
The following is a very curious rhyme which I copy from
the old book, as a specimen of the teaching of accounts of
that remote period — about 120 years ago :
EXTRACTION OF THE SQUARE ROOT.
A rule to be got by heart by William Turner.
The root of your first period you
Must place in quote if you work true
Whose square from your said period then
You must subtract and to the remain
Another period being brought
You must divide as here is taught
By the double of your quote but see
14 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Your iiiiits' place you do leave free
Which place will be supplied by the square
If you next quote figure there
Next multiply subtract and then
Repeat your work unto the end
And if your number be irrational
Add pairs of C3rphers for a decimaL
Example :
Extract the square root of 190969 ( 437
16
83) 309
249
867) 6069
6069
I have only space for this one out of a great number of
curious sums as to road-making and all sorts of practical
matters.
"The wonderful Robert Walker" was the grandfather
of Mrs. Thomas Casson, of Blaenddol, near Ffestiniog, who
came to reside in Wales as the result of events which will
hereafter be mentioned.
The life of the Reverend Robert Walker was the subject
of various biographies. He attended to his farm, and
sheared his own sheep. His parish was large and stragglings
and he would walk for miles in all sorts of weather to bajitize
a child or minister to the sick ; he took pupils, and taught
them with a care and attention which was beyond all praise,
and which might well put to shame the practices of many
higher-salaried and more fortunately situated masters.
A man of delicate constitution, yet he was often at his work
at two o'clock in the morning. It may seem a paradox
that this extraordinary man, whose clerical income was so
ridiculously small and whose health was delicate, left at a
very advanced age more than £2000 behind him, earned by
the hard labour of tuition and attendance to his farm. His
teaching was far better, as proved by the result in my father's
case, than the teaching to which I was for some time sub-
jected by a scion of a noble house, who, though a university
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 16
man, excelled more in the thrashing line than any other.
Glad was I to remove to the teaching of the Reverend Doctor
Owen, who never punished a boy imless he deserved it, and
whose friendship I enjoyed to the end of his life, which was
extended beyond the " four-score years " of which the
Psalmist speaks.
When my father, as he often told me, arrived at man's
estate, he was sorely troubled by the feeling that his mother
must be very much hampered by so large a family, all
maintained by a landed property which was not large, and
a slate quarry, the profits of which were I believe not very
considerable. At length he made up his mind to quit the
nest that he felt contained too many birds, and try his
fortune elsewhere.
The careful education which he had received from the
venerable clergyman, who never felt any pains too great to
discharge whatever duty he undertook to perform, embraced
geology amongst other subjects, and proved of incalculable
benefit.
My father, having heard that the Welsh hills contained
beds of slate, determined to make a walking tour through
the northern mountains, and told his brothers, who as in
my case were much his seniors, what he intended to do, and
that he would take whatever they chose to give him and
go and seek his fortune. They asked what sum he required,
and he said he would leave it to them, and they gave him
£500. His earliest examination of rocks in Wales was in
the neighbourhood of Llanrwst. There he found a vein of
slate, and ascertaining that the property belonged to Mr.
WiUiams of PwUycrochan, near Colwyn Bay (a fine old
mansion, now converted into an hotel bearing that name),
he called upon Mr. Williams and told him his story, and
produced the testimonials with which he had provided him-
self. Mr. WiUiams, who was a large landed proprietor,
accompanied him to the place, and they entered into a
partnership to work a quarry on the land upon a small scale
to start with ; and Mr. Williams, with a kindness and gene-
rosity which my father deeply appreciated, insisted on his
making PwUycrochan his home for the time.
16 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
My father told me of a curious incident that occurred
one day when he was standing looking at the men at work.
A strange man came up to him very hurriedly and put a
piece of paper into his hand with a few words written in
Welsh upon it. As my father was ignorant of the language
he could not read it, but became immediately enUghtened
by one of his own men, who hurriedly advanced and said :
" That is not for you, Sir, but for me ; " and he explained
that he (the speaker) was the bully of the parish in which
they were, and that the paper was a challenge to fight from
the bully of the next parish. " Os y dych 501 ddyn cwffiwch
fi," " If you are a man, fight me." My father said, " You
surely will not fight with a man with whom you have no
quarrel ? " " Ah," he said, " I must ; I should lose my
place as bully of this parish if I refused." The battle came
off in a day or two, my father's man being victorious ; and
as his man was not the challenger, he was very much rejoiced
at the man's victory.
It is highly gratifying that this practice of fighting amongst
the lower classes, and of duelling with swords and pistols
by the upper classes, with or without any adequate cause,
has disappeared. It was a common practice even in my
boyhood to see men stripped naked to the waist and covered
with blood fighting in the streets of Carnarvon ; and although
but a young boy at the time I was intensely disgusted with
the wife of a dergyman, who, in a house where we were
having tea, took her cup of tea to a small table at the window
to watch two men who were fighting furiously and covered
with blood.
After working this quarry on a small scale without any
loss my father came to the conclusion that it would not pay,
and that it would be a waste of time and money to go on.
He told Mr. Williams so, and said he must make his bow and
depart in search of something better. Mr. WiUiams, with
a kind appreciation which went to the heart of my father,
said : " Mr. Turner, you shall not leave me if I can help it ;
I have formed a sincere friendship for you, and if there is
anything I can do to further your plans I will do it con
amorey My father assured hijoi that he had appreciated
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 17
his kindness very much, and that it would be with deep
regret that he would leave a home that had been so kindly
and unexpectedly afforded him, and they parted with
mutual expressions of esteem. My father was not an un-
grateful man, and had he ever forgotten the goodness of
Mr. Williams he must have been so.
Having made a careful examination of miles of mountains
he at last hit upon a splendid vein of slate at Dyffws, near
Ffestiniog. The place was for sale, but he had not enough
money to purchase and work it. He accordingly wrote,
to two friends in Lancashire, Mr. Thomas and Mr. WiUiam
Casson, the former of whom married the daughter of the
Rev. Robert Walker. These two gentlemen came over,
but could each put in no more money than my father, and
when the quarry was purchased they had not enough money
to work it properly, and applied to Mr. Hugh Jones, of
Hengwrt Ucha, Dolgelley, who became a partner, the
quarry being designated " William Turner and Co.'* The
vein proved to be of very great value, with the advantage
of the making of slate without any great cost of uncovering
soil. My father, who had good friends, soon obtained large
Government contracts for the supply of slate ; and the firm
very soon found themselves sending slates to cover barracks
at Portsmouth, Plymouth, Dublin, Cork, and other places.
A fine wide road was made from Dyfiws to the main roads,
and slates in vast quantities were carted to Tan-y-bwlch,
thence taken in large flat barges to Yn5rscongor, an island
opposite to what is now Portmadoc, a town which was not
then dreamed of. At that time the sea went up far inland
towards Beddgelert, and in later years Mr. Madoc formed
and carried out the splendid and valuable embankmment
which bears his name. Under the lee of Yn5rscongor the
baiges discharged into small brigs, which transported the
slates principally to the places I have named and to others.
It is curious to contrast the business transactions of
those days, of little or no banking faciUties, with the easy
methods of transporting money, cheques and money orders
in the present day. My father frequently collected in person
the money due for slates sold, and when one considers the
B
18 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
state of travelling at the time, it must have been exceedin^y
dangerous and difficult and tiresome. No bridge across the
Menai — ^sailing-packets, which were cutters of from seventy
to a hundred tons, between Holyhead and Dublin — no
Kingstown Harbour — ^the danger of crossing the Channel,
which my father, as will be seen further on, had to do, was
great from privateers and enemies* cruisers. On February
22, 1797, the French landing at Fishguard in Pembrokeshire
took place. It is said that some returned or escaped con-
victs from a penal settlement who got to France represented
that if a French landing took place in Pembrokeshire the
people of that locality would rise and join the enemy.
Accordingly two French frigates, a barque and a schooner,
with about 1300 men, chiefly gaol-birds, landed on the coast
near Fishguard. The Earl of Cawdor with a troop of yeomen
cavalry, a detachment of the Cardigan miUtia, Colonel
Knox's fendble infantry. Captain Ackland's infantry, some
seamen with artillery, and some hundreds of gentlemen
volunteers, appeared on the scene. Lord Cawdor adopted
an admirable device, sending messages to the various
upland farms and cottages for the women to assemble in
something like martial order and parade on the hills with
the tall hats and red cloaks of their Sunday attire ; and thus
the French were led to imagine that a large military force
was concentrating on the hills ready to march to join the
troops below. On the 24th the British troops already
mustered marched towards the enemy, and a demand was
made for their immediate surrender, the officer pointing
to the apparent concentration of troops on the hills. On
the 24th the French surrendered, stacking their arms in
front. They were then marched to Haverfordwest. The
whole affair seems to reflect great credit on Lord
Cawdor and all those associated with him in this matter.
I had the pleasure of inspecting the place on a }^achting
expedition several years ago, and travelled to Haverfordwest
with a lady, Mrs. Williams, of Fishguard, whose husband had
written an account of the matter from personal recollection
of the events which he witnessed. One of the French
frigates was captured some time after, and became the flag-
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 1»
ship stationed off Woolwich Dockyard, where I often saw
her in days gone by, when the Woolwich Dockyard was
in working order like Portsmouth and Plymouth.
The sailing-packets from Dublin to Holyhead had some-
times with strong north-easterly gales to go to Rhoscol}^ in
Carnarvon Bay. A ring for mooring still remains on a rock
there (which I have in later years often used with yachts) i
it was placed for the benefit of the mail-packets, which it
would have been dangerous to trust at single anchor in such
narrow waters between rocks. As mentioned elsewhere,
carriages and horses were carried on the decks of these
cutters, and the passengers had to provide their own food.
The passages sometimes lasted for many days, and woe to
those who had neglected to go suflftciently provided.
One of these sailing craft with a large number of passengers
on board was drifted in a calm upon a rock called the West
Mouse — the westernmost of three rocks outside the Anglesey
coasts known as the East, Middle, and West Mouse, the
East Mouse being near Amlwch. A large number of pas-
sengers were drowned ; and a gentleman I knew, who died
many years ago, told me that he saw a number of the bodies
recovered soon after the disaster ; amongst them a major
in the army, of splendid proportions. Captain Skinner,
a naval lieutenant, commanded one of these packets, and
years afterwards one of the first steamers, and miserable
little craft they were. Skinner was a man of great popu-
larity with all passengers to and from Ireland and with
the gentry of Anglesey, where he hunted when the oppor-
tunity offered.
My father, who had a wonderful memory and a great vein
of quiet hmnour, used to relate a most amusing anibdote
of Captain Skinner and a cabin boy who stammered. It is
known that a stammerer can sing when he can't speak.
The Christian name of the steward was Simon, and one day
when getting up some salt water in a bucket he and his
bucket fell overboard. The captain was below in the cabin,
and the stammering cabin-boy ran down the stairs as fast
as he could, stammering in great excitement — " Su-su-
SU-SU-." " Sing it, Jim, sing it, Jim ! " cried the captain
20 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
earnestly, seeing it was something serious. Jim then set
to and sang — '' Simon's gone overboard bucket and all,
Simon's gone overboard bucket and all." Captain Skinner
was soon on deck and gave the order — "'Bout ship" — a
boat was lowered, and Simon was rescued with the loss of his
bucket. The inconvenience of travelling must have been
intensely disagreeable and attended with considerable
danger. Imagine any gentleman with a travelling carriage
bound from Ireland to London finding himself at anchor
in Rhoscol3ni ! The carriage could not be landed, and he
would have to wait imtil the wind moderated to enable the
cutter to get roimd to Holyhead.
On one of his nmnerous visits to Dublin Mr. Turner
purchased a very fine horse for a ridiculously small sum of
money. It seems that the animal had been on the slate
quay at Dublin and had backed against a stack of slates
which cut him behind, and nothing would induce him after
wards to back into a cart or carriage of any sort, and the
owner was anxious to be rid of him.
The sailing-packets always started from the Pigeon-house
Fort at the outer end of Dublin quay, and the horse was sent
aboard in the morning with com and hay. The packet was
to sail in the evening, and my father had to receive between
£500 and £600 from Messrs. Dowling, well-known merchants
of that and of much later days. Their oflfice was on the quay,
and from it towards the end there was a wall of great height.
It was a beautiftd moonlight night, but the great wall
entirely obscured the road, which was left in darkness. As
he had so much money about him, Messrs. Dowling sent
a derk to accompany him to the sailing-packet, lest he
shouH be relieved of his cash by the way. They had not
proceeded far before the clerk became alarmed, and ran
back as hard as his legs could carry him, without saying a
word. Naturally my father was doubtful whether the fellow
was in a fright or in league with some one to rob him, as it
was known in the office that he was going to sail that night
with his bag of money. He tucked the bag under his left
arm, and kept the right arm clear for action, but he arrived
alongside the packet undisturbed, landed at Holyhead,
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 21
rode across Anglesey, crossed of course in the flat boats at
Bangor Ferry, where the George Hotel is, and rode on for
Blaenddol Ffestiniog, where he was then hving. He rode
down the steep wooded hill, passing Mr. Oakley's house al
Fan-y-bwlch about an hour after midnight, there being still
a bright moon as when he sailed from Dublin, and in a
lonely part of the densely wooded road a dog suddenly
jumped over the hedge, and he was again on the qui vive
lest the dog should be followed by two-legged animals in
search of prey ; but nothing came of it, and he arrived safe
and sound with his bag of money secure.
We hear much of the "good old days." Give me the
days when a man can travd without seeing a gibbet sup-
porting the body of a murderer, can receive in his own
house or office a bill for any amoimt securely sent by the
post office, or a cheque on a bank on the spot, and when a
man has no need to carry more money than will pay for his
fcure and his hotel bills. In rather earher times, some
families were founded by robbing passengers in Anglesey,
between Beaiunaris and Holyhead, who had travelled vid
the Lavan Sands. The apparently careless way in which
money was carried from debtor to creditor may be estimated
by the following anecdote told me by my father. When
he was living at Blaenddol, in Merionethshire, he was going
in a gig to Dolgelley one morning and had to pass a cross-
road ; coming along the road traversing that on which he was,
he saw a gig with two people in it driving towards the crossing
of the road, but rather nearer to it than he was. As the
vehicles approached each other he soon recognised the
captain of a brig which regularly carried Dyffws slate to
Ireland. The captain, who was in a great hurry, hdd up
a bag and shouted — "Here is 3^400 for you. Sir, from Dublin."
The captain placed the bag on the he^e of the crossing
and rapidly continued his journey. My father picked up
the bag, which was all right. It has often struck me as
remarkable that a man who frequently carried so much
money with him should have gone about unarmed, as my
father used to do. He was a remarkably fine and handsome
man, standing rather over six feet in his stockings, with
22 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
broad shoulders and deep chest and exceedingly powerful.
I did not of course see him in his prime» but I often heard
people who had been out coursing with him say that he was
the most rsjpid runner they had ever seen and could outrun
his sons ; but what are strength and agility to meet pistols,
daggers and swords, as men who travelled much in those
days with large smns of money were Uable to realise.
There had imfortunately been " bad blood " for some
time between England and America, and matters were
unfortunately precipitated between the two nations by a
curious encoimter between the large American frigate
President and the small English sloop of war Little Belt.
Previous to that the English frigate Guerri^e had taken
three men alleged to be British out of an American ship, and
the Yankees were furious and anxious to catch the Guerriire,
and, as will hereafter be seen, they eventually succeeded after
war broke out.
The President, of 1500 tons, had a crew of 475 men, and
though nominally a 44-gun frigate really carried 56 guns.
The Little Belt was a small sloop-of-war of 400 tons, under
Commander Bingham, carrying twenty gims and a crew of
120 men and boys. Falling in with the Little Belt at sea,
and although there had been no declaration of war by
either coimtry, the large American frigate gave chase, and
Commander Bingham, who kept the course he was going,
hove-to with his guns double-shotted, when he found he was
being pursued. He wore three times as the frigate (of the
nationaUty of which he was ignorant) appeared to be trying
to assume a position to rake the sloop. It is a moot point
to this day who fired the first gun, and it seems to be generally
thought that it was fired by accident. Prior to its being
fired each ship had hailed the other without reply, but
immediately after the firing of the gun a furious action
commenced, which lasted for more than an hour.
The Little Belt^ owing to the damaged state of her sails
and rigging, became so unmanageable that none of her gims
would bear on her powerful antagonist and she ceased firing,
and the President also did the same. Commodore Rogers
hailed to know what the ship was, and inquired if she had
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 88
struck, to which Commander Bmgham hailed, '* No." It
seems wonderful that she was not sunk in a few minutes,
but the fact may partly be accoimted for by her being so
small and low that many of the shots of the big ship went
over her. Her loss was eleven killed and mortally woimded
and twenty-one woimded severely and slightly. The
PresidenPs damage was trifling owing to her heavy scantling,
so that she could not be penetrated by the light gims of the
smaller vessel. The position was an extraordinary one, as
war had not been declared.
Commodore Rogers sent a boat aboard with a message
that he lamented the unfortunate afiair, and that had he
known that the British ship's force was so inferior he would
not have fired into her. Probably he would not have done
so had she been a ship of 1500 tons instead of 400. He
offered every assistance, and suggested that the LiMe Belt
should put into an American port for repair, which was
declined. The LUUe Belt soon after reached HaUfax, and
Commander Bingham was at once promoted to post rank,
and got command of a frigate.
1^ The President was captured during the war by the English
frigate Endymion and other frigates. She was a splendid
ship, and is at present in use in London Docks as a depot
ship.
Some years later on, my dear friend Admiral Sir William
Mends, G.C.B., became a midshipman with Captain Bingham
in a frigate he commanded after the war with America was
over, and he. Captain Bingham '' heaped coals of fire " on
the American Navy by an act of great ability and kindness.
An American frigate, the name of which I have forgotten,
was at anchor in an open roadstead in South America, and
as she entirely failed to get up her anchors she buoyed them,
sUpped her cables, and went to sea. After she was gone
Captain Bingham, whose ship was anchored in the locaUty,
went to work and raised both the abandoned anchors,
and safely landing them and the cables, wrote to the
American captain to say where they were to be found.
My old friend always spoke in the highest terms of Captain
Bingham as an able sailor, a first-rate officer, and in every
24 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
sense a gentleman. They (Bingham and Mends) were going
up a river at night in South America near the scene of the
buoyage of the anchors in one of the frigate boats. The
tide was running at a most rapid pace up the river, and as
there was an unseen hawser across the stream the boat was
capsized and Captain Bingham and some others were
drowned. Fortunately for the nation he served so faith-
fully in a long and honoiurable career my dear friend Mends
was saved.
The first action, after war was declared by America, was
that of the Guerriere and ConsHtution. The American frigates
were built with stronger scantling (thicker sides) than an
English seventy-four, and a few months after the capture of
the Guerrihre, Mr. Hamilton, the Secretary of the United
States Navy, reporting to the Chairman of the Naval Com-
mittee of the House of Representatives, wrote, that " a 76-
gun ship " is built of much heavier timber ; a shot that would
sink a frigate might be received by a seventy-six with bid slight in-
jury; it might pass through between wind and water in a frigate,
when it would stick in the frame of a seventy-six and be harm-
less.^' Hence the Americans had the good sense to cut down
several seventy-sixes into frigates and build other frigates on
the same systems of heavy scantling and large tonnage.
In the action the broadside guns (that is one side only)
of the Guerriire numbered 24 of a side, the Constitution 28,
but the difference in pounds weight was — Guerriire 517,
Constitution 768 — a difference in weight of shot of 261 pounds
in favour of Constitution. The crew of the Guerriire num-
bered 244, that of the Constitution 460, a difference of
216 men in favour of the Constitution. But this was far
from all the advantages of the latter. The Guerriere was
an old frigate captured years before from the French ; she
had been long on the American station, and sorely required
fresh powder and numerous fittings of a more modem
character, and her thin sides were easily penetrable by
shot to which the Constitution was impervious. The latter,
in reference to her thick scantling, was known in America
as Old Ironsides. She has been preserved by the American
Government, and bears this name to this day. It often
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 25
appears to me strange to find myself so often connected
with the past as in the case of Bingham and Mends, and in
this case the cook of the Guerriire, at the time of this action,
was a Carnarvon man, Bob Morris by name, who had been
taken by a press-gang out of a Carnarvon sloop. His name
in the Navy was Little, as he deserted and re-entered the
service mider the latter name. In later life when a pensioner
he returned to Carnarvon, when he became the coxswain
of a boat rowed by four yoimg fellows of about seventeen
summers, by name Llewelyn Turner, stroke oar ; Richard
Owen Poole, beam ; George Curtis and William Thearsby
Poole, bow oars. What a difference ten years makes ! my
old friend Sir William Mends was my senior by ten years
and Lord Clarence Paget by eleven. When the latter was
in command of the Belvidere frigate in the Mediterranean,
Captain Dacres, who commanded the Guerriere when she
was captured by the Constitidion, was commanding in the
Mediterranean and right royally entertained Commodore
Hull who when commanding the Consiituiion had captured
the Guerriire, and Lord Clarence was introduced to Commo-
dore Hull by Dacres.
Bob Morris, ahas Little, simg for us many American songs,
which he learned when a prisoner of war in that country,
and real nigger songs which he learned when in British
ships-of-war in the West Indies. I regret that it never
occurred to me to follow the advice of Captain Cuttle —
" and when foimd make a note of " — a quotation often
made by my old friend Admiral Evans, the Conservator
of the Mersey. A scrap of one of Bob Morris's Yankee
songs I recollect :
Brother Jonathan lost his sloop and where due think he faund her,
Sailing raund Cape Cod rigged out as a skuner.
Chorus — Com stock twist yur hairs.
Cart wheel raund you.
Fiery drag carry you off,
Mortar pistle paund you.
Father and I went to camp to visit Capten Dopgan,
And there we saw the boys and girls as thick as hasty puden.
Chorus — Com stock, &c.
26 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
I forget the rest.
Of his real West Indian nigger songs I give a specimen :
Meat upon de goose, marrow in de bone,
De Deble in de ball-room, don't you hear him groan ?
Chorus — Hoopsah, me lads, can you do de like of me ?
Hoopsah, me lads, can you do de like of me ?
As my wife was so funny she wished for a sturgeon,
So I went down de ribber and I hear de fish a talking to me.
Te a me tadium my long- tailed possamum
I couldn't stop to catch him.
Peep troo de keyhole see de break of day.
Run upon de landing Coonah gone away.
Chorus — Hoopsah, me lads, can you do de like of me ?
Hoopsah, me lads, can you do de like of me ?
Returning to the American War, the next frigate action
in which we were sadly over-matched was that of the EngUsh
frigate Macedonian and the American frigate United States.
The Macedonian carried 24 and the United States 28 gims
on each broadside, the latter total 56 guns. The Mace-
donian's guns fired 528 pounds ; United States gims, being
heavier, fired 864 pounds, there being a preponderance of
336 pounds for the latter. With regard to the crews, the
Macedonian carried 254 men, the United States 474 men
— a preponderance of more than half in favour of tiie latter
frigate. Tons — Macedonian^ 1081 ; United States^ 1533 —
a preponderance of 452 tons in favour of the American ship,
whose scantling gave her an even greater advantage, and
a large ship has greater steadiness, which means better aim.
There is great credit due to the administrators of the
American Navy for the absolutely perfect manner in which
they sent their vessels to sea. The marines were chosen
from backwoodsmen who had the most perfect practice of
rifle shooting ; their cartridges were enclosed in thin lead,
so that they did not suffer from damp, and could not wobble
about in the muskets; their powder was fresh, whereas
many of our ships had been abroad for years and required
fresh powder. I well remember Captain Garden, of the
Macedonian, who lived at the Menai Bridge for several
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 27
years when I was a boy, and had a model of the ship m a
diminutive pond in front of his house. As far as I remember,
the model of the ship was about four feet long — full-rigged,
of course.
Despite the warning they had received, the English
Admiralty continued to act in the apathetic way I have
mention^, and took no precautions, notwithstanding the
loss of the ships I have named, and others that were greatly
over-matched. They sent old captured ships to sail through
the seas along the South American coast, through seas
which were swarming with well-formed and more modem
American ships. The worst of all was an old French frigate
originally called the RenomtfUe^ renamed the Java in England,
a miserable old craft, with her sides sloping inwards so far
that her decks were very narrow for fighting the guns and
working the ship. Clearly those who sent this wretched vessel
in the condition she was in to pass through seas where so
many encounters had already taken place of an unequal
character were guilty of treason to their country. This old
craft was to carry out to Bombay General Hislop, a new
Governor and his staff, a large supply of stores, and boxes of
copper for three new ships of war building in Bombay. Eigh-
teen of her marines were recruits, sixty of her crew were Irish
labourers who had never been to sea before, and people drawn
from the press-gangs and the prisons, with a lot of boys,
formed the crew. Her gallant yoimg captain (Lambert) did
all he could in the way of remonstrance ; nevertheless she
was sent to sea hejore her rigging could be properly ^'sel up,^^ and
the captain felt that if he encountered a French or American
ship before his untrained crew could learn to fire he would
be captiu'ed at once, even before he left the English Channel.
When making for San Salvador, the Java fell in with Old
Ironsides, the Constitution American frigate, and after an
action of three hours and a half the Java struck her colours.*
I am quite at a loss to understand how the Java maintained
so long a fight ; and when we contrast this splendid defence
of the Java and those of the Little Belt, the Guerriire and the
* The captain, Lambert, was killed before the termination of the
action.
28 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Macedonian, with the rapid capture by the Shannon of the
American frigate Chesapeake, it is impossible to doubt
that the defence of the British ships reflected the highest
credit on the officers and ships' companies, especially on
Captain Lambert of the Java, It always strikes me as a
very reprehensible thing on the part of our coimtr5anen
that the records of the actions of their sailors do not more
clearly state the actual facts. Brenton*s history gives
us accounts of naval actions which in many respects may
be compared to a record of a fight between a man and a
boy, simply saying A. thrashed B. ; that is, he tells us the
British frigate so-and-so was captured by the French frigate
so-and-so or vice versa. Mr. James, in his marvellously careful
naval history, gives us very full particulars ; but even in his
case one has to examine the diagrams of frigate actions to
ascertain the duration of the fights, which I have done in
every case. If of all naval actions they would say, as some-
times is the case, " after an action of minutes or
hours, the A. was captured by the B." it would do justice.
I have examined the diagrams of the actions in all
these cases, and they show LitUe Belt in half an hour
was silenced, but did not surrender ; Guerriire and Constats
Hon two hours and fifty minutes ; Macedonian and United
States three hoiurs ; Java and Constitution three hours and
twenty minutes. This last action covered the captain,
officers and men with glory ; and one is lost in amazement
that so poor a ship with such a scratch crew was able to
carry on so long a combat with such a fine ship as the
Constitution. The practice of gunnery was actually dis-
couraged by our Admiralty at the time, and many of our
ships of war returned from a three years* conmiission without
having fired a gun. If the money wasted by the Admiralty
at this time had been expended in the frequent practice of
firing I doubt not that some of the small ships that fought
against such odds for so long a time would have escaped
capture. The gallant capture of the American frigate
Chesapeake, which was in entire possession of the British
frigate Shannon, of slightly inferior force, in fifteen minutes
shows what well-foimd British ships when well commanded
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 2
can do. The loss of one ship infinitely exceeds the cost of
gunpowder expended by all the ships in keeping up the
practice of gunnery, as will be seen was done on the Shannon.
Party politics in this, as in a multitude of cases of various
kinds, prevented the examination which would put an end
to these disgraceful transactions. Yes, party spirit is the
ruin of England. What can be more disgusting or disgraceful
than to read in the reports of poUtical meetings that the
enemy, meaning the other side, must be defeated at all cost ?
If violent party men would attend more to the interests of
the nation than to the striving for party defeats, our enemies
would fear and respect us more, and if war broke out we
would be one hundred fold more fit to fight.
It was a maxim with the English Navy that the French
built finer ships than we did, but that we captured them.
Amongst those captured was a beautiful corvette called
the Bonne Ciioyenne, and orders were given to build some like
her. An idiot, for he could be nothing less, who was a Lord
of the Admiralty, went to the dockyard, and seeing one of the
new corvettes on the stocks aduaUy ordered her to be shortened
five feet, and to be fitted to carry two more guns. This silly
old sinner might just as reasonably have cut off a foot from
a four-oared boat and turned her into one of six oars, lessen-
ing her size and yet giving her more oars and men with
greater weights to carry. He thereby lessened the speed,
detracted from the appearance, made her less easy in a sea
way, and gave her less room to fight her guns. It was
like the case of a man who possesses a good picture and
sets an inferior artist to alter it.
The Admiralty insanely sent out a superannuated admiral,
Sir John Borlace Warren (who had done some good work
when young), to deal with our most enterprising enemy,
when there were plenty of younger men fit for the work ;
he did nothing, and, as remarked by Mr. James, it was well
that his next in command. Admiral Cockbum, was a man of
action. The officers and men who fought against such
disparity were deserving of all honour, the Admiralty of the
gallows.
Foremost amongst the many gallant sailors who writhed
80 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
with indignation at the losses we sustained in unequal
fighting was that splendidly brave officer, Captain Philip
Bowes Vere Broke, of the Shannon frigate. He was cruising
in company with the Tenedos frigate, of similar force (Captain
Hyde Parker), and when in Boston Bay sailed dose to the
harbour mouth and saw that one American frigate only
was ready for sea, two others being imder repair ; he gave
Captain Parker a written order (Captain Broke was the
senior officer) to cruise away for two hundred miles, as he
was determined to endeavour to encoimter an American
frigate and show what an English frigate could do on any-
thing hke equal terms. He then sent poUte messages to
Captain Lawrence, of the American frigate Ctiesapeake, to
say that as the Americans with much larger ships and crews
had captured several of our ships he trusted that Captain
Lawrence wotild do him the honour of coming out to meet
the Shannon m, something like equal terms. Some of these
messages are supposed not to have reached Captain Lawrence.
Early in the morning of Jime i, 1813, Captain Broke penned
the following courteous and gentlemanlike letter, and dis-
charged an American prisoner he had on board, a Captain
Slocum (a merchant captain), with directions to deHver it to
Captain Lawrence.
" As the Chesapeake now appears ready for sea, I
request that you will do me the favour to meet the Shannon
with her, ship to ship, to try the fortxme of our respective
flags. The Shannon mounts 24 guns upon her broadside
(that is 48 guns altogether), and one light boat gun.
There are i8-pounders upon her main deck, eight 32-
pound carronades on her quarter deck and farecastle,
and she is manned with a complement of 300 men and boys
(a large proportion of the latter), besides 30 seamen, boys
and passengers, who were recently taken out of a recaptured
vessel. I entreat you, Sir, not to imagine that I am actuated
by mere personal vanity in the wish of meeting the Chesa-
peake ; or that I depend only upon your personal ambition
for your acceding to this invitation. We have both nobler
motives. You will feel it a compliment if I say that
the result of our meeting may be the most grateful
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 81
service I can render to my country ; and I doubt not that
you, equally confident of success, will feel convinced that it
is only by repeated triumphs in even combats that your little
navy can now hope to console your country for the loss of
that trade you can no longer protect.
"Favour me with a speedy reply. We are short of
provisions and water, and cannot stay long here."
After this the Shannon with colours flying stood in close
to Boston Lighthouse and lay to. The Chesapeake was at
anchor in President roads, with royal yards across. While
the crew of the Shannon were at dinner at 12.30, Captain
Broke went himself to the mast-head and saw the Chesa*
feake loose her canvas. He was far too sensible a man to fight
the battle close to the port of Boston, where the crews of the
two frigates were under repair, and any number of soldiers and
sailors might be embarked in boats in the event of a calm or
his losing his spars or masts, and capture him by boarding
in overwhelming numbers ; and he accordingly went down
the bay under easy sail and waited for the coming struggle
about sixteen miles from Boston. A large number of
pleasure boats and a schooner gun-boat, with a number of
American officers and visitors on board, accompanied the
Chesapeake, to witness the whipping of an English frigate ;
but of course at a respectful distance. The Shannon lay
to, with her head to the southward and eastward, about
eigjiteen miles from the Boston Lighthouse, and lay to under
topsails, top-gallant-sails, jib and spanker. The Chesapeake
bore down straight for the Shannon ; at 5.40 she gallantly
hauled her wind upon the ShannofCs starboard quarter and
gave three cheers ; at 5.56 the action commenced by the
firing of the aftermost gun of the starboard broadside by the
Shannon into the port bow of the Chesapeake as she advanced
along her antagonist's quarter. Captain Broke ordered his
men not to cheer, so that there should be no random firing,
but cool, deliberate aim taken. He had issued clear orders
how each gun was to be loaded, and the parts of the Chem^
Peake that were to be fired at, as the latter got abreast
of the Shannon. At 5.53 the jib-sheet of the Chesapeake
82 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
being shot away, and her hebn for a few moments miattended
to, probably by the shooting of the hehnsman, the frigate
came sharp up into the wind, and her stem and quarter lay
towards the Shannon ; Captain Broke at once raked her,
doing terrible execution. At 5.58 an open cask of cartridges
exploded on the deck of the Chesapeake^ but did no harm.
The latter took stem way ; the Shannon's helm was im-
mediately shifted, and her mizen topsail shivered. The
Chesapeake forged a little ahead, but afterwards taking stem
way the spare anchor of the Shannon stowed above the chess-
tree, having hooked the Chesapeake's quarter port ; Captain
Broke ordered the ships to be lashed together, and calling the
boarders jumped on to the deck of the Chesapeake, calling out,
" All who can, follow me ; " and at the head at first of only
thirty men, followed inmiediately by more, directly afterwards
he boarded the enemy's ship that had begim the action with
eighty more men than the number of the crew of the Shannon.
Eleven minutes only elapsed between the firing of the first gun
and the boarding of the Chesapeake, and in four minutes
after the Chesapeake was in entire possession of the Shannon.
The two vessels had broken loose from each other, and in
hoisting the colours on the Chesapeake the American colours
were accidentally hoisted over the English, upon which the
Shannon instantiy resumed her fire, and, her guns being so
well served, their own first lieutenant and five of the
boarders were killed. The mistake was immediately
remedied, and the English colours hoisted over the American.
Previous to this the Americans had surrendered, but one
mffian who attacked Captain Broke after the fighting was
over and wounded him fearfully in the head, was soon killed
by the indignant men of the Shannon. Captain Broke
ordered a chair to be provided, and he sat and issued his
orders from the decks of the captured ship until he fainted
away from loss of blood, when he was removed in one of the
boats to his own ship and placed in his cot.
The destruction wrought on the Chesapeake was fearful,
the port quarter of the stem being terribly battered, and all
her compasses and nautical instmments shot to pieces.
Her surgeon reported the killed and wounded to be from
{NtgTttti and Zambra^ ^hoto^ Londcii)
CAPTAIN CLINT
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 88
i6o to 170. Captain Lawrence was dangerously wounded,
and thus the captains of both ships lay in their berths
hovering between Ufe and death. Mr, Watts, the first lieu-
tenant of the Shannon, was killed as before stated, and the
two ships had to be navigated to Halifax by young lieu-
tenants. Provo William Wallace had now become first
lieutenant of the Shannon and took charge of her — while
Lieutenant Falkener, third but now second lieutenant of
the latter ship, took charge of the Chesapeake. It must have
been a fearful responsibiUty for two young Ueutenants of, I
think, twenty-two and twenty-three years only, to have about
three hundred unwoimded prisoners to guard, some of whom
were removed to the Shannon. On the deck of the Chesa-
peake were found some casks with the heads off, containing
wrist and leg irons ready for the crew of the Shannon, and
as some of the Americans gave trouble they had the pleasure
of wearing them. Owing to fogs and calms the two ships
took six days to get to Halifax. Captain Broke was dan-
gerously ill, and Captain Lawrence died before they reached
Halifax. On their arrival Captain Broke was taken to the
Commissioner's house, where he was confined to his bed for
mcmths, his Ufe for a long time being despaired of. Captain
Lawrence was buried at HaUfax with great respect, all the
naval and miUtary ofl&cers in the port attending the funeral ;
but on the application of the American Government his
body was allowed to be removed to his own country, where
it was buried with all honour. I defer the further descrip-
tion of the condition of the Chesapeake to relate the following
statement, which I received about forty years ago from a
friend of mine, who, as will be seen, boarded both ships in
Halifax directly they arrived there.
This gentleman, Captain Clint, was a retired merchant of
Liverpool, who had formerly been at sea and commanded
his own ship. Shortly before the glorious action I have
related he was on his passage in his ship of 400 tons (a large
merchant vessel for that period), and was captured by an
American privateer off Cape Horn. The American captain
put a prize-master and fifteen men to navigate his prize to
Boston, and while I was on a pleasant visit to Captain Clint
c
84 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
at his residence in Cheshire he told me the whole story. He
said that with great difficulty he got the Yankee captain to
allow him to keep his cabin-boy, he himself being allowed
to live with the prize-master in the cabin of his own ship.
This man and all his hands used to get so drunk that they lay
like swine upon the decks ; and Captain Clint said that they
were so frequently in that state that, if he and the boy could
have taken their lives in cold blood, they had frequent
opportunities of doing it. The first time they got into that
condition he at once reaUsed how certainly the ship would
be lost in a gale of wind without men to take in canvas unless
some precaution was adopted ; accordingly, the next time
they were drunk he practised the boy in letting go the
topsail halyards in case of storms, of which they subse-
quently encoimtered several, and when that was the case
all they could do was to lower the topsail yards on to the
caps. At last they got as far as Boston Bay, and one
morning after breakfast Captain Clint was in the cabin alone,
the prize-master having gone on deck. He heard a great
shuffling of feet above, and ran up the cabin stairs as fast as he
could, and saw the yards of a large ship close to them
looming out of a fog bank. A hail came from her, " What
ship is that ? '^ and Captain Clint at once, before a hand
could be put across his mouth, simg out, " British ship
captured by an American privateer." In a very short time
there was a boat alongside with seamen and marines from
his Majesty's frigate TenedoSy Captain Hyde Parker, and
Captain CUnt's ship was recaptured at once. Another boat
brought Captain Parker, and the American sailors all ran
below. Captain Parker told Clint that he had been sent
by the senior officer. Captain Broke, of the Shannon^ to
cruise away for some distance, that he (Broke) might fight an
American frigate on equal terms. Captain Clint inquired
where he was going, and he said it was immaterial so long as
he could get a chance of meeting any of the enemy's ships.
Clint then suggested that he might as well convoy him to
Hahfax, to which Captain Parker assented, and put a mid-
shipman and nine men from the Tenedos to work the ship.
The weather was foggy, and Captain Clint lost sight of the
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 85
frigate, but got safely to Halifax, and while there witnessed
the Shannon leading in the Chesapeake. There had been so
many prisoners to guard, and woimded men to attend to in
both ships, and so much time taken up in repairing damages
to the hulls and rigging, that there had been no time for
cleaning, and the decks and bulwarks of the Chesapeake
were like shambles, covered with blood ; what surprised
Captain Clint most was to see many fingers with the nails
on sticking in the bulwarks, where they had been carried by
the shot. He said they looked exactly as if the bulwarks
had been paper through which fingers had been thrust
from outside. A year or two after my visit to him,
Captain Clint, then an old man, died.
In the year 1846, some years prior to my visit to Captain
Clint, I was aboard of the Shannon at Sheemess, and found
the greatest difficulty in leaving her, as I felt so deeply
interested. There were the marks, like the indentations
of smallpox, under the upper deck, over the touch-holes
of the main deck guns, showing, I fancy, that a good deal of
the powder used had gone up through the touch-holes ; and
I felt deep interest in the cabin, where the glorious " PhiUp
Bowes Vere Broke " wrote his celebrated challenge to the
Chesapeake^ and where he lay between life and death for the
six days after the fight until they got to HaUfax. She was
evidently a very well-built ship, and by no means bad looking.
I was sorely depressed when soon after I heard that she was
to be broken up, as she was eventually. The Admiralty
presented a piece of one of her timbers to Captain Clint, and
I only wish I could have had a bit as well. A grander action
was never fought. I have adverted to the long time it had
taken American ships of larger force and strength to capture
the Guerriirey Macedonian, and Java, ships 500 tons less than
their captor, and of such light scantling ; and here were two
ships of substantially equal force, what advantage there
was being on the side of the American, and the latter
captured by boarding in fifteen minutes after the firing of
the first gun. The handling of the ship was perfect,
and her gunnery splendid, the Chesapeake being terribly
mauled.
86 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
ConipflrfttivQ Force.
Crew.
Tons.
Shannon
Broadside guns 25
lbs. 538
. 306
1066
Chesapeake .
Broadside guns 25
lbs. 590
. 381
"35
The fact of the vessel with the smallest crew capturing by
boarding a ship with so many men shows how great the
destruction of the Chesapeake and her crew by the cool and
steady firing of the Shannon must have been. When
Captain Broke decided to board he had seen from the bul-
warks of his vessel the deck of the other ship, and that his
fire had disorganised the crew. He survived his wounds and
got home, but was never after fit for service. He was made
a baronet for his splendid action, but the woimd to his head
troubled him imtil his death. My friend Admiral Gough,
who comes to visit me occasionally at Parkia, was berthed
in the Shannon at Sheemess very many years later.
There was an Irishman of the name of Murphy, who made
several voyages to and from Ynyscongor with slates, and was
known to the Welsh masters of vessels and to my father,
whose slates he had carried. A Welsh brig was captured
by an American privateer in the Irish Channel, and when
the crew were taken aboard the privateer as prisoners, the
Cambrian captain was amazed to find that his quondam
friend Murphy was the captain. Thinking that he had " a
friend at Court " and would be all right, he addressed his
captor by name, " Oh, Captain Murphy, how are you ? "
To his horror this proved a very false step ; he had not
calculated that Murphy, being a British subject, was Uable
to be hanged as a pirate if found out and caught capturing
a British vessel. When Murphy heard himself thus addressed
by name he in furious tones shouted, " What does the beggar
say ? Take the beggar and strip the beggar and put the
beggar in irons ! " The unfortunate ship-master was
thrown more than half naked into the hold, with his arms
and legs in irons. The war with France and subsequently
with America also was at its height. Admiral Cockburn
and General Ross were capturing the city of Washington
and other places, and even our own ships of war were often
T" I
ii«
i
1
J
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 87
the dread of a merchant vessel, owing to the pressing of
sailors for the naval service.
In 1812 the True Blooded Yankee^ privateer of eighteen
guns and 160 men, captured in the Irish Channel the Margaret
of Hull, the Fame of Belfast, the George of Liverpool, and
three other vessels. In thirty-seven days she captured
twenty-seven vessels and took nearly three hundred pri-
soners in the English and Irish Channels, and also took a
Scotch town. The first captures of the True Blooded Yankee
which I have mentioned were made between Holyhead and
the Skerries^ a proof that passage between Anglesey and
Ireland was not a very safe adventure. This vessel cap-
tured an island on the Irish coast and held it for a week.
The damage done to British and American trade and the
armed ships of each may make men pause ere they embark
upon war.
Pelican and Argus,
On August 12, 1813, the British i8-g\m man-of-war brig
Pelican — Commander Maples — anchored at Cork from a
cruise, and the admiral at once signalled her to put to sea in
search of an American i8-g\m brig that was doing vast
mischief to merchant ships in the Channel. The Pelican
again got under weigh in a very strong breeze and heavy sea.
On the 13th the Pelican observed a merchant ship on fire
ahead and a brig standing to the south-east. The Pelican
at once gave chase, but the brig was lost sight of in the night ;
but soon after dayhght on the 14th the brig was seen in the
north-east leaving a merchant ship which she had just set
on fire, and steering towards a fleet of other merchant
vessels. She proved to be the United States man-of-war
brig Argus — Captain Allen. The Pelican carried a press of
sail to close with her ; the two brigs were well matched,
their force being as follows :
Pelican
Argus
Comparative Force.
Crew.
Tons.
Broadside guns 9
lbs. 262
lOI
. 385
Broadside guns 10
lbs. 228
122
316
88 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
The action was fought off St. David's Head, Pembrokeshire,
with great ardour on both sides for forty-five nwnutes,
when the Pelican, having been placed on the starboard bow
of the Argus, carried her by boarding. Captain Allen, who
was a distinguished American ofl&cer, was severely wounded
and died of his wounds, and was buried at Plymouth with
great honour, all the heads of the Naval and Military
Departments attending his fimeral. The Argus had made
terrible havoc in the Irish Channel, burning many ships,
and often horses and cattle in transit in them.
Having been all my life a close student of naval history
I cannot refrain from again giving vent to natmral indigna-
tion at the lax methods too often adopted by the Govern-
ment of the day in their conduct of the second war with
America. Small and old frigates captured years before
from the French were thought good enough to send to fight
American ships. Nothing can more fully prove the gross
incompetence of the Admiralty of the day than this
ignorant and stupid carelessness. " When Greek meets
Greek then is the tug of war." The Americans proved
that they were of the true stock they came from, and the
care and circiunspection with which they fitted out their
ships were admirable, and afforded a painful contrast to the
carelessness of our Admiralty at that time. In the case of
the Shannon, the rapidity with which she captured the
Chesapeake distinctly proved the inestimable value of good
gunnery. In that case we have seen that the gallant
Captain Broke — whose name will Uve for ever in naval
annals — ensured it by giving prizes out of his own pocket
for good shooting, whereas in some of our actions at this
period gims were actually in some cases fired at random.
The following bill of lading is one of a vast number I
have foimd amongst my father's papers, from which it is
evident that quite a fleet of small brigs was employed by the
Dyffws quarry. The names of the brigs were legion.
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 89
COPY
♦ SHIPPED, by the Grace of God, in good Order and weU
Conditioned, by WiUiam Turner 6* Co. in and^upon
the good Ship called the JOHN, whereof is Master,^under
id X ^^^' ^^^ ^^ present Voyage, Lewis Lewis, and now
' ^ riding at Anchor in the Port of Traeth, and by^God's
per sheet. Grace bound for London with slates, to say, Nine
Thousand five Hundred DuUhesses, Eleven Thousand
Countesses, Nine Thousand Ladies, Eighteen Ton
S Queens and seventeen Tons Rags, being mark'd and
S number'd as in the Margin, and are to be delivered in
^^ J the like good Order and well Conditioned, at the afore-
S^ said Port of London (all and every the Dangers and
^ ^ Accidents of the Seas and of Navigation, of whatever
g c Nature and Kind soever, excepted) unto Mr, Owen
S -| Hughes or to his Assigns, he or they paying Freight for
J J the said Goods according to agreement with Primage
• •^^ and Average accustomed. In Witness whereof, the
X S Master or Purser of the said Ship hath affirmed to
X ? three Bills of Lading all of this Tenor and Date ; the
^^ one of which three Bills being accomplished, the other
^^ two to stand void. And so God send the good Ship
'8*2 to her desired Port in Safety. Amen.
•c Dated in Traeth, April 9, i8i i .
Contents unknown to LEWIS LEWIS
CHAPTER HI
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
The family Bible— Mother's ancestry — ^The Irish rebellion
— Kit Cooper's murder — Cutting off a lady's finger — Doyle,
" Brigade-Major " — Sir John Moore — Murder of the Rev.
Francis Turner — The " Ancient Britons" — Generals " Need-
less" and " Useless" — Sir Watkin and the sailor — A fool-
hardy rebel — French privateer in English Channel — Pluck
of a sloop's mate— An amateur doctor — Father becomes Mr.
Assheton Smith's partner — The building of Parkia — Famine
in Llanberis — Irish lawyers at Vaenol — Lord Manners —
Lord Plunket — Curran — Irish witnesses — Dillon of Carnar-
von— His wit — Irish cars — ^The curate discomfited — Curran
and Lord Avonmore— Lord Kenyon's cheap dinner — In-
creasing business — Warren Hastings — Curran and Mickey —
A successful " tramp " — Slanderers — Origin of Turner family
—Mr. Assheton Smith — ^An honest prisoner — A confiding
gaoler — An act of mercy — ^A blunderbus — Cannons at Car-
narvon— The privateer Endeavour — Carnarvon Castle —
Southampton Canal — A verse^Irish ecclesiastical appoint-
ments— Father's stories — General Gore — Baron Garrow —
Murder by " Hwntw Mawr " — Manufacture of " port "
wine — Home life at Parkia— Hospitality — Dogs and tramps
— Modem improvements — Party rancour and its conse-
quences— Lawlessness — Suet and dripping — A boaster
humiliated — H.M.S. Nelson — Death of father— His form of
prayer.
The unfortunate and terrible Irish rebellion in 1798, which
resulted in so much bloodshed and loss to both combatants,
took place prior to the marriage of my father and mother, the
latter of whom was Uving in the mi^t of it, as will hereafter
appear. Not long after the rebellion. Miss WiUiams (as my
mother then was) came on a visit to the old mansion of
Maesynuadd in the county of Merioneth, in which county
the great DyfEws quarry was situated, and my father met,
'^^ZJ^'f^'-^-^^>''^f'/^ "^'^'^^ ''"
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 41
wooed, loved, and married her. As their children were bom
he made the following entries in the Family Bible, a copy of
which entry he gave me, made in his own handwriting. I
copy it here to show the accuracy of his dealing with matters.
Children born to William and Janb Titrnbr.
y Henry Turner. Bom at lo o'clock at night February 20, 1803.
g^ Margaret Turner. Bom at 5 o'clock in the morning, September 2,
1804.
^J Joseph TuJiner. Bom at 5 o'clock in the morning, May 12, 1806.
^/^ VfCtJfeftrf^URNER. Bom at 5 o'clock in the morning, January 23,
^/^i8io.
m T^Thomas Turner. Bora at 5 o'clock in the morning, March 6, 18 12.
/ Elizabeth Turner. Bom at 3 o'clock in the morning, April 11,
^ Agnes Turner. Bom at 9 o'clock at night, March 7, 18 16.
^ Ann Turner. Bom at 5 o'clock in the morning, December 8, 18 17.
/y^ John Turner. Bom at 11 o'clock in the morning, July 3, 18 19.
jO Llewelyn Turner. Bom at 2 o'clock in the morning, Febmary 1 1 ,
'^ 1823.
The writer of these pages is now the only one surviving,
and if his elder brother, who died fifty-seven years ago, were
alive he would be more than one hundred.
Although a native of Ireland my mother had some Welsh
blood in her veins, being connected with the family of
Grifl&th Williams, the Lord Bishop of Ossory in Ireland in
the reign of Charles I. The Bishop was a native of Carnar-
vonshire, and left property to some charity not far from
Bangor and Bethesda, but I have forgotten what the charity
is. By a curious coincidence my mother was also related
to a Quaker family in Ireland, and to the Irish Roman
Catholic Archbishop Murray, who was alive during my early
manhood. My mother was an ardent Protestant. During
the wooing my father went frequently to Ireland, and he
had to go to Dublin and Cork for his money, as there were no
banking facilities in those days. There is an old seventeenth-
century book at Parkia, in which the Bishop denounces
with great indignation the indignities to which King Charles I.
was subjected. There was another Welshman at that time.
Judge Jenkins, who while in prison made the most tremen-
42 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
dous attacks on the King's enemies. In reading the denun-
ciations made by the two Welshmen it struck me that
the Judge was the most powerful hitter.
Few things interested me more than my mother's recital
of her recollections of that terrible period of bloodshed
— the RebeUion of '98 — when so many lives were sacri-
ficed and so many famihes ruined. During a part of the
rebeUion she lived with Mr. Johnstone, an unde of
hers, at the foot of the Wicklow mountains. Doyle, the
brigade major of the rebels in that part, was a foster-
brother of Mr. Johnstone, that is, Doyle's mother had been
Mr. Johnstone's wet-nurse, his own mother being too delicate
at the time to nurse him. Doyle was, I think, the surveyor of
roads, and had borne the reputation of being a respectable
man ; but, as often happens, some indiscreet or mischievous
person connected his name with the rebels, and he was
driven into joining them. I am not quite sure as to the ins
and outs of this, but I believe I am not far from the mark.
Anyhow, Doyle became the head of the rebels in the county
of Wicklow, and I fancy did a good deal, and as much as he
could, to restrain their violence. Amongst the incidentswhich
my mother related was the murder of Mr. Tate, a relative
of hers. Mr. Tate was standing in one of his own fields look-
ing at a few men whom he had managed to retain to get in his
hay, when a party of rebels rode past, and incensed by seeing
his men working for him, shot him dead and put his men to
flight. A corps of boys, consisting of gentlemen's sons,
belonging to the loyal famihes, was formed and trained ;
they were called the picquet guard, and amongst them was
Kit Cooper, a cousin of my mother, who was a singularly
active boy and very prominent in the corps. He was
walking along a road one day with his gun, and was chased
by a mounted party of the rebels. There was a stone bridge
some distance in advance of Kit Cooper^ and he knew that
there was a very deep hole imder the bridge called a " turn
hole" (whatever that meant), and that if he could get as far
as that bridge he could prevent their getting his gun, escape
for himself being impossible. He reached the bridge,
dropped the gim into the " turn hole," and told them they
o
"5.
O
>
S ?5
I
4
73
H
>
i s
I ^
i !
-=• o
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 48
could take his body but not his gun ; he was ordered to
mount a horse behind one of the rebels and carried to a cross-
road in a village, a comer house of which was a small shop
occupied and kept by an old servant of Kit Cooper's father
and mother, who had set her up in business. Kit Cooper
was ordered to dismoimt, and then told to unbutton his coat
and waistcoat and stand to be shot. This ungrateful old
servant came out and the boy said — " MoU, won't you save
me ? " Moll's reply was, " Shoot him, shoot him, he is the
worst boy in the picquet guard ! " Sir Richard Musgrq^e,
in his able and interesting work on the Irish RebeUion, speaks
of Cooper's murder being effected by bayoneting ; but my
mother said his clothes, which were recovered, were riddled
with bullet holes. It necessarily follows that in all risings,
political or otherwise, robbers and all sorts of miscreants
take advantage of the occasion to rob and plunder ; a lady
who was a cousin of my mother's was attacked by the
rebels and a finger cut off to get her ring. The miscreant
who conmiitted this abominable offence fell into the hands
of justice some time after, and was visited in prison by the
son of the lady, who was anxious to recover his mother's ring.
The prisoner treated him with the greatest insolence ; the
ring, I believe, was never recovered, but the scoimdrel was
hanged for his many misdeeds.
During the time my mother was staying with her uncle,
Mr. Johnstone, it was reported one morning while the family
were at breakfast that the rebels who were encamped on the
mountain were beginning to descend. Mr. Johnstone, who
was rather a portly man, went upstairs to look through a
back window, whence he could see the rebels coming and,
meeting a housemaid with a long apron strapped over her
shoulders, he transferred the apron to his own person, and
going downstairs collected some plate that was on the side-
board and carried it in the long apron to a wood at the back
of the house, where there were a lot of nettles, and left it
there, where it remained seciure. Doyle, the brigade major,
rode in advance of the rebels, and Mr. Johnstone went out to
meet him. Doyle had previously sent assurance of safety,
and addressing Mr. Johnstone said, '' Mr. Johnstone, you
44 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
know you and I are foster brothers, and I will take care that
you suffer no wrong ; but it is very cold in the mountains,
and we are in want of blankets and whiskey and some wine,
and if you will let us have what you can spare we will go
away without molesting you further." Several things were
collected, and while this was being done one of the rebels
sighted a fine horse grazing in a paddock in front of the
house ; he went to the stable and got a bridle, and seeing one
of Mr. Johnstone's sons he said, " Here, you young puppy,
take this bridle and fetch me that horse." The "yoimg
puppy " took the bridle, went in the direction of the animal,
but turning aside managed to conceal himself, and the rebels
having got what they wanted from the house rode quietly
away, the brigade major adhering to his word. Amongst
the ofl&cers in command of the troops in the county of
Wicklow was the famous Sir John Moore, afterwards killed
at the Battle of Corunna. Sir John Moore, it is needless for
me to say, was a most capable man and possessed of good
conmion sense, and when the rebellion showed some signs
of collapsing he sent an invitation to Doyle to meet him at
some place he named, and they had a conference together.
I believe that Sir John Moore went provided with some
limcheon to share with Doyle at the meeting. It must not
be supposed that this awful rebeUion was all smooth like what
I have briefly detailed. General Johnston and others were
fighting in the adjoining county, where murder and rapine
prevailed. Generals Lake, Needham, and Eustace were
fighting the bloody battles of Enniscorthy, Vinegar Hill,
Ross, Antrim, Arklow, Wexford, etc. The destruction of
life was terrible and attended with great cruelty. Mr.
Johnstone had to thank Doyle for his inmiimity. Sir Richard
Musgrove, Bart., in his interesting history affords ample
evidence of this. Speaking of the murder of the Rev. Francis
Turner of Ballingale, he says he was shot in the jaw, piked
through the neck, and his head violently shaken while the
pike was in the neck. Sir Richard says, " This worthy
gentleman, whose benevolence and amiable manners had
justly entitled him to universal love and esteeem, and whose
mind was highly adorned with prof oimd and elegant learning.
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 45
fell a prey to the fanatical rage of a rabble headed by his
tenatUs and neighbours, whom he had never failed to treat
with kindness and benevolence. The principal leader in
this atrocious act was Michael Keogh, Mr. Turner's proctor,
whom he had raised from poverty to affluence by his kindness
and generosity." The fearful condition of things may be
judged from the following figures. The rebel army that
attacked Arklow amounted to 31,000 men, Vinegar Hill 15,000
and small rebel posts 3000. The terrible destruction of life
in the bam of Scullabogue was attended with every kind of
horror. The bam was thirty-four feet long and fifteen
wide, the walls twelve feet high, and it was crammed as
tight as could be with people of all ages and sexes, who were
suffocated and mutilated in the most horrible manner.
My mother did not see, but was within soimd of, the battle
of Arklow, and she used to describe to us with her hands
the soimd of the musket-firing ; clapping her hands with
amazing quickness in representing the firing of regiments
and columns, and then clapping them slowly and with short
intervals while the bulk of the soldiers were reloading with
their long steel ramrods. A corps of 300 cavalry, consisting
of Flintshire men called the " Ancient Britons," imder the
command of the Sir Watkin WilUams W3mn of that day,
who raised them at his own cost and played a conspicuous
part, were in this battle. A wounded rebel lay on the
ground after the battle, and an " Ancient Briton " went up
to him. The rebel addressing him said, " Mr. Welshman, I
have half a crown in my pocktt, and if you will spare me life
you shall have it." The other replied, " Co tam, I will take
you hfe first and you half crown after;" but an officer coming
by prevented what might have happened.
Towards the end of the rebellion the Govemment, seeing
that the head of the rising was broken, were desirous to
avoid further bloodshed as far as possible. A large body of
rebels were encamped upon a hill, and the generals, Needham
and Eustace, had orders to attack, but had secret instmctions
from Govemment that if the rebels gave way they were to let
them escape. The pubhc, not being aware of the instruction
given by the Govemment and beUeving that the generals had
46 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
been guUty of neglect, transposed their names from Need-
ham and Eustace to Generals Needless and Useless.
My father used to relate a most amusing anecdote of Sir
Watkin Williams Wynn. After the rebellion was over
Sir Watkin and his men were carried to Liverpool in a
transport, and on the voyage one of the sailors in some way
gave very great offence to Sir Watkin, who had a very thick
tongue in speaking. Sir Watkin ran after the sailor along
the deck of the vessel saying, " I will give you a damned
good hiding ; " but the sailor preferring the rigging to the
hiding took to the former, and whenever Sir Watkin, who
was continually on the watch for him, came near, the man
took to the rigging. After a long voyage the transport
arrived safely in Liverpool, and a plank was placed from the
ship to the quay. In getting up the baggage one of the
soldiers fell into the hold, and was brought up senseless.
Sir Watkin, who always bled his own men and carried a
lancet for the purpose (bleeding being then and for many
years after the panacea for all ailments), pulled off his shell
jacket and said, "Leave him to me and I will bthede (bleed)
him." He did it rather awkwardly, and the blood spurted
all over his shirt sleeves. As he wiped the lancet he
" spotted " the sailor to whom he had promised the
" hiding," and gave chase. On this occasion, Jack, instead
of taking to the rigging, ran ashore along the plank. The
Mayor and Corporation were waiting on the quay by the head
of the plank to present an address to Sir Watkin, and the
sailor ran right through the municipal body, with Sir Watkin
in his bloody shirt in full chase astern of him.
Sir Richard Musgrove relates a curious occurrence that
took place in one of the battles, when a rebel who was very
drunk rushed up to a cannon and calling out, " Come on,
boys, she can't go off now," took off his wig and cap and
push^ them into the mouth of the gim, which being fired
blew him to atoms. ^
I have mentioned the danger of crossing the Irish Channel,
which at that time was exceedingly great, as will appear
later on in these pages. In 1804 the sloop Dick, of
Chester, with a cargo of slates from Carnarvon to Portsmouth,
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 47
was captured near the Land's End by a French privateer,
and was recaptured by the nuUe alone. This brave man was
a Welshman, who was left by his captors on board with four
Frenchmen who formed the prize crew. It came on to blow
exceedingly hard, and the mate, having contrived to obtain
and conceal some fire-arms on deck, told the prize crew,
who were ignorant of the nature of the coast, that unless
they entrusted the helm to him they would aU be drowned,
but that he was well acquainted with an out-of-the-way bay
where they could anchor in perfect safety until the weather
moderated for them to resume their voyage. This satisfied
them, and the four went down to the cabin to tea. Having
made all his preparations the mate gently slid the hatch of
the cabin, and they were helpless, as he told them that he
would shoot the first man who showed his nose. He then
steered the vessel safe into Torbay, and saved himself from
a French prison, and the owners of ship and cargo and the
insurers from loss. In recording so many events that took
place before I was bom I must crave the reader's indulgence
for failing in many instances to record matters with precise
consecutiveness, and the following is a specimen of it.
My father visited Ireland on numerous occasions, return-
ing with the bags of gold paid for the produce of D)^ffws
quarry, and on many occasions visited the houses of his
wife's relations. I wish I could recollect a tithe of the droll
adventures he related. His description of an extraordinary
event at one house which took place at the time of hay harvest
was most curious. There were several men employed to get
in the hay harvest, and they were fed on the best of fare,
roast and boiled meats, cabbage and other vegetables, and
puddings. Many of these poor cotters had perhaps never
tasted flesh meat or cabbage in their hves, potatoes or at
most " potato and point " ♦ being their principal food.
The weather was very hot, and they all ate meat and 4rank
porter in great quantities, with the result that several men
became exceedingly ill. They had to send many miles for
^ Potato and point is a dish of potatoes, and, according to the
Irish stories, the very poor used to grill a herring and point it at the
potatoes to flavour them, as they could not afiord to eat it.
48 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
medical aid, and in the meantime the gentleman of the
house actually had the sick carried into the kitchen, stripped,
and their beUies rubbed with oil and grease in front of a
large fire, and then he ordered them to be swathed round
with haybands. On the arrival of the doctor he said that no
better treatment could have been adopted, but my father
said that great alarm was felt as to the condition of some of
the men. I wonder whether an emetic would not have been
better, but there seems no doubt that the stomachs were
fearfully distended.
The practical jokes of that time were of the roughest
kind, and "tricks upon travellers** were of constant
occurrence ; but my father being a man of very great
strength and agility was a bad subject to tackle, and I
always heard that he could beat his own sons in running,
although I was too young to witness the prime of his life,
and had no experience of his or my mother's younger years.
I know, however, that her fondness for her children was very
great. My father never learned the Welsh language, but
my mother learned to speak it fluently, probably through
having some Welsh blood in her veins.
The great success attained by the Dyffws quarry led
Mr. Assheton Smith of that day (the father of the late Mr.
Assheton, the celebrated fox-hunter) to offer my father a
partnership in the Llanberis quarry if he would come and
live in the neighbourhood and undertake the control of the
Llanberis quarry, which at that time was worked in a very
primitive way. The slates were carried down the mountain
in paniers on the backs of ponies and donkeys, thence by
carts to Felinheli, which we now know as Portdinorwic.
The new partnership was at once attended with great
changes. Inclined planes were constructed to carry the
slates down the hill, and a horse tramway through Llan-
ddeiniolen and the valley of Nant-y-Garth was substituted
for the previous primitive mode of carriage by carts. I
think it is pretty well agreed that a great mistake was made
in the time of the last Mr. Assheton Smith in substituting
the inclined plane to Portdinorwic for the continuous line
through Nant-y-Garth.
{From a painting hy Sir Ji 'iiliam Becchy)
THOMAS ASSIIETOX SMITH, Esq.
Lord- Lieutenant of Carnarvonshire for many years. Died 1828
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 49
After my father's death I found in his handwriting on
a loose slip of paper a copy of a letter to the contractor,
expressing in the fewest possible words what he had to say.
" Dear Sir, — Mr. Assheton Smith and I are much sur-
prised that you have commenced the railway without the
signing of a contract. We are both of opinion that £10,000
will be ample for the business.
" Yours,
" W. Turner."
My father was without any exception the most terse letter-
writer I ever knew, and both in speaking and writing he
never wasted a word, and constantly and evidently in-
advertently expressed himself with alliterations. The
quarry soon became a large and most profitable concern,
the figures in thousands exceeding the preceding ones of
hundreds. Parkia was the place fixed upon for a residence,
and my parents arrived from their previous residence of
Blaenddol in a post-chaise. I have often heard my mother
say that when she entered the house she said nothing on earth
would induce her to sleep a night in it. So they drove to the
Sportsman Inn at Carnarvon, which was on the site of the
present large hotel of that name. The only hostelries fit
for accommodating travellers in Carnarvon at that time
were the Sportsman Inn, and the Boot Inn, which in my
days had become a tramps' lodging-house — " How are the
mighty fallen ! " This place (the Boot) that had so degen-
erated was once the resting-place of Talleyrand, the great
French Minister, who stayed at the Boot while visiting Car-
narvon Castle during a tour he made in Great Britain. My
father sent for a Mr. Fletcher, a contractor at Chester, and
the bricks, floorings, doors, windows and rafters, etc., were
sent in vessels from Chester, and what was subsequently
seen of Parkia was erected on the front of its predecessor ;
the former house remained behind the new front in which
the humble servant of the readers of these reminiscences was
destined to be bom in years then to come.
Mr. Assheton Smith used a somewhat ready metaphor in
describing the rapid erection of Parkia, saying " that Mr.
D
50 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Turner was the quickest n&n in his movements he ever
knew/* adding jocosely, " that he rode to Carnarvon one
morning and saw nothing unusual at Parkia, and on his
return in the evejiing beheld a mansion."
Prior to the coming of my father to Parkia, the old house
was occupied by two brothers, both old bachelors, and the
following amusing story was told to me about sixty years
ago by Captain William Griffith, then an old man, who died
very many years back, and who remembered the brothers.
The house was then approached by a long lane where the
lower drive now is. The two brothers kept a riding horse ;
one brother was the parson of the parish of Llanfairisgaer,
in which Parkia is situated, and the other was aretired master
mariner. The latter was going to ride to Bangor one day,
and the Bishopric of Bangor being then vacant his clerical
brother said, "Well, brother, when you are at Bangor
inquire who the new Bishop is." The " ancient mariner "
heard at Bangor that Dr. Ure, who afterwards, if I mistake
not, became an eminent English Bishop, had been appointed.
The divine was anxious to hear the news on the subject and
went to meet his brother ; they met at a turn in the lane, and
the clerical brother hailed the old sailor with the question,
" Well, brother, who is the new Bishop ? " " Ure, Ure,"
was the reply ; and the old parson, fancying it was " you
are, you are," cried out, "No ! am I ? " and pulling off his hat
and in the excitement with it his wig, was busy waving bis
hat when a neighbour who had come to call appeared on the
scene, and the joke was too good to remain untold.
In the year 1812 there was a great scarcity of grain in these
parts, as among the Egyptians of old, and as the quarrymen
were in a great strait, my father suggested to Mr. Assheton
Smith, who was in London at the time, that they should
purchase a cargo of grain and sell it at cost price to the
quarrymen, to which Mr. Smith readily assented, and he
forthwith called upon Mr. Ford, the husband of a sister of my
father, and asked him to make the purchase, which he did ;
and Mr. Ford having accomphshed his mission called upon
Mr. Assheton Smith to report progress. Mr. Smith announced
it to my father in the following letter :
THE RIGHT HON. LORD MANNERS
Lord High Chancellor of Ireland from 1807 to 1828
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 51
Copy.
" Dear Turner, — Mr. Ford has just been with me and
says he has freighted a vessel with Barley for you and that
she sailed yesterday. He has bought considerably more
than I wished and the amount of the cargo which I thought
would not have exceeded £400 or £500 will I imderstand go
to about £1700. Where this money is to be found I don't
know. You will let me hear from you upon it as something
must be done to meet the expense — ^provided the vessel has
a quick voyage without damage to the Com I suppose there
can be no loss upon it, but the difficulty is where to find so
large a sum as £1700. Write directly.
" Yours sincerely,
"T. A. Smith.
"London, May 21, 1812."
Mr. Turner no doubt knew where to find the money, with
the Uanberis quarry at his back.
Not long after my father's arrival at Parkia Mr. Smith
enacted a law that he was to dine at any time he liked on
guest nights without invitation, but must always do so on
Sunday, nolens volens. Vaynol was then frequently visited
by the principal lights of the law in Ireland — Lord Manners,
Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Mr. Plunket, the Attorney-
General, w]|6 became (Lord Plunket) Lord Chancellor after *
the death of Lord Manners ; and I will endeavour to recoimt
to the reader a few of the interesting and often most amusing
anecdotes which my father related to me in after life.
Naturally John Philpot Curran, the great Irish orator, was
amongst the many eminent Irishmen of whom mention was
frequently made by the great Irish lawyers.
There is an excellent likeness in the study at Parkia of
Lord Manners, Lord Chancellor of Ireland ; another of Lord
Kenyon, Lord Chief Justice of England (of whom my father
had a good story), and one of old Mr. As^eton Smith of that
period which is really further on. My father said that when
he used first to go to Vaynol, Lord Manners was rather a
portly man, but the last time he was ever there he had
become very thin ; and when my father entered the drawing-
52 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
room at Vaynol, his lordship placed his hand on his stomach
and with a somewhat melancholy laugh said, " You see,
Mr. Turner, how stout I have become.** It was the
** beginning of the end," for he did not live very long after.
These great lawyers foimd Mr. Assheton Smithes hospi-
tality afforded them a pleasant break in their journeys
between the English and Irish capitals, where they posted
in their own carriages, and in later years Lord Plunket
erected Gorphwysfa (which is the Welsh for "resting-
place ") near the George Hotel. Amongst the many
amusing Irish anecdotes at Va3aiol was one of an Irish
serjeant-at-law cross-examining a clever Irish witness.
The witnesses in Irish courts of justice have or had (I have
not seen them for some years past) a chair where they sit
on the table in the middle of the barristers, and there are
steps at one side of the table by which the witness ascends
and descends. The Serjeants (who no longer exist) had a
dark patch on the wig about the size of a penny token called
the coif, and it so happened that the steps already mentioned
were close to the Serjeant's place at the table. A learned
Serjeant tried in vain to shake the evidence. Pat, a witness
on the opposite side to his client, carried far " too heavy
guns " for him. At last the learned serjeant gave him up,
and said angrily, " You may stand down, sir,'* and sat down
himself. When the witness reached the edge of the table
he sighted the black spot on the wig and, putting on a look
of great innocence, and of appearing quite imsteady in his
gait, he placed his finger on the black spot on the Serjeant's
wig, as if partly to support himself and partly from curi-
osity, and exclaimed, " It is just as I thought, mighty soft."
The laughter which greeted the serjeant could not have
been pleasant for him.
About this period a pubUc passenger vehicle was for the
first time started between Carnarvon and Bangor by Mr.
Dillon, an Irishman, who kept a seed shop in Palace Street,
Carnarvon, midway between the large market and the top
of the street on the same side. The vehicle was an Irish car,
the description of which kind of vehicle I will give in the
words of an Irishman in Dublin who was told by an English
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 58
gentleman that he wanted a car. Pat asked, " Will you
have an inside car, or an outside car, sir ? " " What is the
difference ? " said the Englishman — meaning the charge.
" The difference is this," says Pat, " an inside car has his
wheels outside, and an outside car has his wheels inside."
It seems to me that the reply is too perfect to require further
explanation. My father had an Irish jaunting car, and
going on it to Vaynol one fine Sunday, and seeing a sailor
going the same way, he desired him to get up and ride,
which he did on the other side next the coachman. When
they got to Va3aiol gateway, Mr. Turner ordered him to get
down, which he did not do. The order was repeated. Jack
probably thought it was Dillon's car, and could not under-
stand why he could not complete his journey to Bangor.
But at last on Mr. Turner becoming angry Jack perhaps
realised the position and giving the coachman sixpence went
his way.
This Mr. Dillon was a remarkably sharp man, with his head
evidently screwed the right way on, and a witty Irishman.
He was at one time churchwarden of the parish of Llanbeblig,
Carnarvon, and my father told me that on one occasion
Dillon accompanied the curate on an inspection of St. Mary's
church in the town walls ; for the edification of those who
do not know Welsh I had better explain that "cyw" (pro-
nounced kew) is the Welsh for the young of anything, as
" cyw iar " (pronounced kew yare) for a chicken. Looking into
one of the pews the curate said, " Mr. Churchwarden, there
appear to have been rats at work here." ** Bedad, the kew
rats are the worst sort we have here," was the sharp if not
polite reply. Another story about him which reached my
father further exemplified the readiness of the Irish wit. A
curate who owned some property in the coimty and had
purchased some seeds from Mr. Dillon, lodged at the top of
Palace Street, on the right side in going down from the Castle,
in a house which is now, I believe, the ofl&ce of Mr. J. Roberts,
solicitor. The curate had gone out and was followed in a
short time by the solitary servant-girl, who had only gone
for a very few minutes to a neighbouring shop. While they
were both away Dillon went to the house, the door of which
54 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
was wide open, and after knocking in vain for a time, and
seeing the sitting-room door (dose to the outer door) open,
he stepped in, and placing the bill on the table returned to his
shop. The servant girl and the curate soon returned, and
when the latter saw and read the bill he rang the bell and
asked the servant who had brought it. The girl said she
did not know as she had just gone to a neighbouring shop
for a few minutes leaving the door open, and that some one
must have gone in and put it on the table. His reverence
went down in an angry mood to Dillon's shop and asked
if he had gone in and put the bill on the table. Dillon said
he had, that being in a hurry to return to his shop, and seeing
the door open he stepped in, after knocking several times
at the door, and put the bill on the table. " Then, Sir,"
said Mr. , " you did a very impudent thing. How do
I know if a man goes into my house what he may take away ? "
" Bedad,*' was the reply, " I saw nothing there but two mice
with tears in their eyes as if they had had nothing to eat for a
fortnight, and I can tell you frankly that I brought no more
away out of your room than you brought away in your head
from college." Mr. Dillon was the father or grandfather,
I forget which, of Mrs. Rae, who a great many years after
was the excellent landlady of the Sportsman Hotel at Car-
narvon.
I have spoken of the Vaynol yams as to Curran and others ;
amongst the rest was a most touching one as to Curran and
Lord Avonmore, the then Lord Chief Baron of the Court of
Exchequer of Ireland. Judge Johnston, one of the Irish
judges who was evidently a judge not all judgment, wasfoolish
enough to publish some letters reflecting upon the Govern-
ment under the name of . . . They were traced to him
and he was indicted under a then recent statute which
enabled offenders to be brought from beyond seas for
offences in England ; publication in the latter country was
proved, and his extradition was demanded. Mr. Curran
with his usual power addressed the Court on behalf of John-
ston ; Curran and Lord Avonmore had been bosom friends
for years, but some mischief-maker had " put between them."
In the course of his great speech for Johnston Curran was
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 55
unable to resist the temptation of alluding to the former
friendship and the Attic nights which he and the Chief Baron
had spent together, and in a burst of eloquence, alluding to
those nights of mental refinement and study, he exclaimed :
For we spent them not in toys, nor lust nor wine,
But search of deep philosophy, wit, eloquence and poesy —
Arts which I loved, for they, my friend, were thine.
The Chief Baron could not refrain from tears, and the old
friendship was renewed until that separation which is for
ever.
The stories my father got of Curran and others were
immensely interesting, humorous and amusing, and I deeply
regret that I had not the sense to record them. He seemed
to have a story or a short piece of poetry apropos of almost
everything one could talk of. The late Mr. Williams, of
Treffos, who lived to a great old age, made a purposed visit
to Carnarvon when he heard of my father's death to ask
his son-in-law, Mr. Morgan, " if any one had recorded the
sayings and anecdotes of old Mr. Turner of Parkia."
I mentioned Lord Kenyon as being the subject of one of
my father's stories. Before he went to the Bar he studied
law with Mr. Tompkinson, a very wealthy but penurious
lawyer in Cheshire. One day as Mr. Tompkinson and his
young student were going in a gig on business to another
town, the young man asked the older what he considered
the most important matter to bear in mind in the conduct
of a lawsuit. Mr. Tompkinson, always having an eye to
business, repUed that if Kenyon would undertake to pay for
their dinner at the town they were going to, he would tell him.
" All right, sir," said the yoimg man ; the elder then told him
that good evidence was the most important. They put up at
the inn, and the old lawyer, who had hitherto on such occa-
sions contented himself with a cold collation and beer,
ordered a hot dinner and a bottle of their oldest port. The
business was transacted in the town and the dinner enjoyed
at the iim ; as they neared the end of the old port, the
senior said to the junior, " Perhaps we had better order the
bill." " Very well, sir," was the reply. The bell was rung
56 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
and the bill ordered ; when the waiter brought it in he took
it naturally to the older man, who said, " I have nothing
to do with it, hand it to that yoimg gentleman.*' On the
waiter doing so, the young man rejected it and said that he
had nothing to do with it. " What ! " said Mr. Tompkinson,
" did you not distinctly promise to pay for the dinner if I
would tell you the most important point in an action-at-
law ? " " Where is your evidence ? *' was the prompt
reply of the youth who in later life became Lord Chief Justice
of England.
The business at Portdinorwic increased and multipUed
and Mr. Turner worked the following quarries and mines :
1. Llanrwst, for a short time only,
2. Dyffws,
3. Llanberis,
4. Coetmor, near Bethesda,
5. Pm5a:qS^d, /W/J^^^^^^^
6. Penybryn, '
8. Dorothea,
9. The Copper Mine of Drws-y-Coed.
Most of these were before my time.
I have known him to rise at 3 o'clock a.m. drive to
Beddgelert to breakfast, spend some time at the Dyffws
quarry in Merioneth, return to dinner at Beddgelert, and
deep at Parkia. When he first came to live here, many
years before my birth, it was spelt " Parciau," and was one
of four or five of the same name. Having, as may well be
conceived, an immense correspondence, he found it most
inconvenient to be amongst so many " Parciaus," and he
altered the name to " Parkia." It is to me most strange
to find to this day many people spelling the name of a house
that has for nearly a himdred years been occupied by the
same family and called " Parkia," persisting in the old
spelling. The number of ** Parciaus " is most vexatious,
leading as it does to no end of complications, and some have
altered the " c " to " k." I am continually finding other
people's letters in my letter-bag, and as a man who receives
numbers of letters generally opens them in a hurry one
a. /
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 57
forgets to look at the addresses. I once many years ago
found myself in receipt of a returned dishonoured biU,
which I am glad to say was for somebody else. To this day
the nuisance continues ; it is very hard on other people as
well as upon me, for the great number of other people's
letters received in my bag are necessarily delayed a day after
I get them.
Slates were generally divided as to quality imder the names
of " Queens, Duchesses, Countesses and Ladies," of which
I think, but am not quite certain, my father was the god-
father. Anyhow one of the Judges wrote a number of lines
about him and his slates, which I have not been able to find,
and the only scrap of it that I can remember is, " Turner
he turned out his Queens." Amongst the scraps of poetry
that I have heard him quote were some lines written by Mr.
Law, afterwards Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of
England. During the trial of Warren Hastings, Burke,
who pressed the case so strongly against Hastings, was
unusually severe in his denunciations one day, and Mr. Law,
afterwards Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough, being then
counsel for Hastings, wrote on a slip of paper the following
four lines :
Oft have we wondered that on Irish ground
No poisonous reptile hath ere yet been found.
Revealed the secret stands of Nature's work —
She saved her venom to create a Burke.
The paper was handed roimd to the Bar and finally to Burke,
who was naturally displeased, and was much disconcerted
for the rest of the day.
Amongst the many droll stories of Curran and his ready
wit was one which one has very shghtly to vary. Curran
had a clerk, who came one morning very hurriedly to Curran's
house. (The Irish Bar do not work in chambers but at
home.) " What's the matter, Mickey ? " said Curran.
*' Sure, sir, it's a point of law that's troubling me," was the
reply. " Leave the points of law to me, Mickey," said
Curran. ** But, sir, they're threatening me with an action,"
said Mickey. " Ah, ths^t'^L apother matter. What are the
60 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
himself and his origin he never troubled himself ; and some
one, speaking to him with indignation that such slanderers so
acted, elicited the only remark I ever heard him make about
it, in that, to use the words of a very wise man, he was
impervious to
The hiss of the slanderer.
The whisper of the detractor,
The sneer of the envious.
And the insolence of the fool.
Curiously enough soon after writing the above I received
the following letters from the Vicar of Seathwaite, to whom
I was previously an entire stranger, and I publish them in
answer to any vulgar slanderers who may survive.
" Seathwaite Vicarage,
" Broughton-in-Furness,
" Lancashire, Sept. 9, 1902.
" Dear Sir Llewelyn Turner, — I venture to lay before
you, as a distinguished member of the Turner family which
took its rise in our parish of Seathwaite, in the churchyard
of which he the remains of your forefathers for many genera-
tions of the past, the needs of our little church in connection
with its new organ, and I hope you may feel suflBcient
sympathy with the work to allow your name to be added to
the list of subscribers. — I am, etc.,
" I. R. M. Walker."
Replying to my letter (enclosing a cheque for the organ) »
in which I stated that my father had often described to me
the appearance of his father and mother, Mr. Walker writes :
" Of the Turners of the previous generations to which you
refer I happen to have had independent testimony. Mrs.
Moore, adaughter of Mr. Tyson, the formervicar,when casually
speaking some years ago to me about the varied successes
in the world of the different members of the Turner family,
said they were all a remarkably good-looking race, nor can it
be said that goodness with them has been altogether confined
to looks. The late Mr. Schneider, who married the daughter
of your cousin, Canou Turner, of lancaster, was uq dpubt^
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 61
influenced by this connection to take in hand the rebuilding
of our church over a quarter of a century ago ; and another
outlying member of the family, Mrs. Gibson, of Whitehaven,
who died about a month since, leaving large bequests to
charitable purposes, founded and endowed in that town a
church at her own sole cost.
"Generous deeds nm in the blood, though exceptions
unfortunately exist.
" Your father's name is given in our baptismal register,
under the date of March 23, 1766, he being the sixth child of
a family of eleven bom to Henry and Jane Turner, of Low
Moorhouse, in Seathwaite parish.
"Your grandfather, Henry Turner, was buried July 8, 1777,
aged 49, as recorded on his tombstone, which curiously adds
that he was the lessor of the Walmascar slate quarries for
the previous twenty years.
" Our older registers prior to the first quarter of the year
1700 have perished, so that there are no records further back
along these lines. One property bears the name of * Turner
Hall,* which was previously registered in that early period
as * Turner How/ evidently derived from the patronymic of
its possessor at the date when local names began to crystal-
lise, and so presumably to have been connected in the past
with your family and to have formed what may be called
the local cradle !
"I. R. M. Walker."
There is also a curious little rhyme which is appropriate
at this point.
Rhyme on the parish of Seathwaite, Lancashire, taken
from the history of Turners :
Newfield and Nettleslack,
Hilker's house and Longhouse,
Turner's Hall and Undercrag,
Beech house, Ibrang and Tongue house,
Browside, Frostwell and Hemming house,
Dalehead and Cockley Beck —
You may gather all the wheat they grow
And never fill a peck.
Old Mr. Assheton Smith was a mtn of very kindly feeling.
62 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
He used to ride on horseback with the reins quite loose and
slack. He often rode to Parkia, and, my father having many
children, he would tell his groom to knock at the door, and
the boys and girls soon trooped roimd him ; and as he
generally came, I believe, on his return from Carnarvon, he
would sometimes shower tickets for the play (there were
theatricals in those da)^) or other things equally agreeable ;
but it was almost all before my day, as the old gentleman
died when I was very diminutive.
My father invariably spoke of him as a man who was
always most considerate with his guests, and did all he could
to make them at home, for which purpose he observed all
their little peculiarities. I remember his giving me the
following instance : my father was a man who had a steady
objection to " mix his hquors," and never touched any wine
but port after dinner, either at home or when dining out, and
he had contracted a habit of slightly pushing aside the claret
and sherry glasses after dinner. One day the butler, finding
my father alone at Vaynol, said, " I beg your pardon, Mr.
Turner, but I was afraid you might be angry with me for only
placing one glass before you lately after dinner ; but Master
told me he had always noticed that you never drink anything
but port after dinner, and that you always sUghtly removed
a second or third glass, and said he was sure it indicated
that you preferred having only one, and that I had better in
future only put one before you." There were others who
had a general invitation, amongst the rest being the popular
Captain Skinner, who could not often find time to go, and
Mr. Sparrow of Holyhead, whose name I mention elsewhere.
There was an old clerg5anan and his wife who stayed there
every year or nearly so, and one day one of them declared
that they had never had a cross word, upon which their
kind host satirically remarked, " What an insipid hfe you
must have led ! "
My revered parent used to relate a most curious and
interesting anecdote which one of the Judges had told him.
I forget which Judge it was, possibly Lord Manners, as his
lordship had gone on circuit as a Judge in England for some
years prior to his becoming Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
GJLIMPSES OF THE PAST 68
Like many Judges he was a very early riser, and like most of
them was fond of walking, if time allowed, between the
Assize towns. His lordship started at six o'clock one
morning to walk from Carlisle, where he had finished the
Assizes, to Appleby, where he was going to hold them, and
on the way he overtook a man going the same way, and
entered into conversation with him. The Judge asked how
far he was going, and he rephed to the Assizes at Appleby.
" I suppose," said the Judge, " you are summoned on the
jury." The man said he was not, the Judge suggested that
he supposed he was a witness in some case (for judging by
his decent appearance and demeanour he never dreamed
of his being the subject of a criminal charge). His com-
panion then told his lordship that he was going to be tried.
" Oh then," said the Judge, " you are out on bail." To his
great surprise his companion told him that he was not on
bail, that he had been committed for trial on a charge of
which he was perfectly innocent ; that he was a stranger in
Appleby, and could not get bail — that while in prison he had
a letter from home to say that his wife was most danger-
ously ill, and the gaoler, who was a most humane man, had
let him out to go and see his wife, relying on his strict promise
to be back in gaol in time to take his trial. The Judge was
particularly struck by the man's honesty and demeanour,
and said, " Oh, then, you are going to keep your word."
" Yes," said the poor fellow, " I would not break my word
on any accoimt." I have never forgotten that story and
repeated it very often, and have often wondered what the
poor honest soul thought when he saw on the Bench the
companion of the early morning. The Judge concluded
his story to my father by saying, " You may depend upon
it I took good care that the man who would not break his
word was not convicted, and I was satisfied of his innocence."
Thife gaoler ran a most serious risk, and must have felt very
strongly that the accused was innocent ; and possibly the
recollection of this to my mind most pathetic story may have
influenced me once during the long period I was Chairman
of the Visiting Committee of the Prison for these three
counties, in the somewhat delicate act of employing legal
64 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
aid for a woman who was too poor to pay for her own defence,
and of whose innocence I became convinced. By following
up the suggestion of Mr. Jones, the acting governor of the
prison (afterwards governor of Ruthin prison), I had the
great gratification of witnessing her acquittal, which I am
perfectly satisfied was deserved. My readers will perhaps
pardon this deviation.
It so happened that one Simday at the afternoon service
in Carnarvon gaol, I was delivering a short address to the
prisoners, and I chanced to say that the Judges gave it as
their experience that from seventy to eighty per cent, of
the criminal charges were due to drink, and I added, " Not
necessarily in all cases that of the prisoner ; the drunkenness
of others often brings innocent individuals into trouble
and crime." I had chanced to turn just before saying this
towards the female side of the chapel and noticed a most
respectable-looking woman in the front row, and from her
appearance I thought she was some friend of the matron,
near whom she sat. To my surprise when I spoke of drink
and the mischief often arising from the drunkenness of others^
I noticed the blood mantle in a most extraordinary way
up the neck and face of the woman I have spoken of. Her
eyes became suffused with tears, and she leaned forward
with both hands on her face, of which I saw no more then.
I then visited the male inmates in their cells, and Lady
Turner the females, as we were in the habit of doing on such
occasions, and when I had finished and asked the governor
to have the carriage ordered for me to go home he expressed
a strong wish that I should visit one of the female prisoners,
and read a letter which had been sent to her by a relative
of the prosecutrix, as he had a strong beUef in the woman's
innocence. I accordingly went with him and the matron
to her cell, and found it was that of the woman I had noticed.
I had a long interview with her in the presence of the matron
and governor, and left the prison deeply and solemnly
impressed with a conviction of her innocence. On the way
home in the carriage I told the story to Lady Turner, who
had been visiting the females, and I said that I had a good
mind to employ a solicitor to defend her. My wife's remark
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 65
was» '* Do, for God's sake, if you think she is innocent. We
shall be none the poorer for it." I did employ a solicitor,
who ably defended her at the Quarter Sessions, and had the
satisfaction of seeing one of the jury get up and say — " I
was in the pohce court at Bangor when the prisoner was
before the magistrates, and I noticed the greatest reluctance
on the part of the prosecutrix to give evidence." Another
Bangor man on the jury stood up and bowed assent, which
was tantamoimt to sa3ang, " I was there too and saw it."
The fact was that the letter received by the prisoner and her
statement showed that the drinking propensities of her
mistress, who was or rather ought to have been a lady, had
led to what might have been a pitiful miscarriage of justice.
The mistress did not appear at the trial, and a paper purporting
to come from a doctor at a distant place, to which the
prosecutrix had removed, was most improperly admitted
as evidence, despite the rule of law that the best evidence
procurable shall always be given. In this case the best
evidence would have been the doctor himself, or an affidavit
from him attesting her illness. The poor woman, however,
was acquitted. This latter is a great digression from the
days of Vaynol and my father, but is apropos to my
father's story of the prisoner at Appleby.
Vessels used to come to Portdinorwic from all parts,
including the United States. There is an old brass blunder-
buss at Parkia which was given to my father by an American
captain in these circumstances : my father learning that
it was to be the captain's last voyage, went to his ship
to see him, and the American captain said, " Mr. Turner,
this is my last voyage ; I have traded here for some years,
and have always been treated with the greatest consideration
by you, and I am anxious to present you with some token
of my regard and respect, to the value of five pounds."
My father's eye happened to light on the blunderbuss ; he
replied that he would prefer something that had been in the
captain's use and possession to anything new, and, unless
he objected, he would choose the blunderbuss, which was
accordingly given to him, and which I have still.
I recollect when I was a boy some very nice Danish vessels
E
66 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
taking slates from Portdinorwic. In the early days of which
mention has been made nearly all merchant vessels carried
cannons, as they were never safe from privateers and ships-
of-war. Of course to resist a regular ship-of-war they were
useless, and even against a well-armed privateer not worth
much. I have heard of a bag that carried wooden guns,
to frighten the enemy ; she was capsized in a squall off
Llanaelhaiam, where the wind comes down through the
valley in fearful gasts. At Parkia there are three old giins
(two carronades and one long Tom) which were in a merchant
ship in which my father had shares during the wars ;
another is a small cannon brought from the Black Sea by
my dear old friend Admiral Sir W. Mends, G.C.B., after the
Crimean War. It was captured in a Russian man-of-war
schooner by the tender of the Royal Albert.
The wars with France and America were over before my
day, and Carnarvon was full of old guns ; they were stuck up
at the comers of almost all the principal streets, which being
narrow required protection for the comers of footways from
vehicular traffic, and no end of people's yards had a gun on
each side of the doorway, stuck up on end as a protecting
post ; but they were eventually purchased by the iron-
founders.
I remember an old privateer brig called the Endeavour,
which for a long time lay alongside of a yard, later Messrs.
de Winton's foimdry. She was there with all her masts and
yards standing, and looking very smart ; being empty she
was easily capsized. One morning after some heavy
easterly squalls the brig was to be seen, as I saw her, at low
water, lying flat on her side, with her keel towards the quay,
the ends of her yards sticking in the mud and her topmasts
pointing to the Coedhelen shore. The hawsers that held
her to the quay were stolen, and the squalls capsized her.
She had been used for trade after she was a privateer, but
had been most unaccountably left by the quay for a long
time, and I never could make out how a rope yam was left
without being stolen, as no one lived in her. She was righted
in a few days, relieved of her masts, hauled round to the
quay (which is now dry land in Messrs. Owens' yard.
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 67
below the foot of Market Street), and broken up. There
was evidence that she had been in action, as she had numer-
ous plugged holes from round shots in her sides. I fancy
from nine or six pounders, reminding one, as she was close
to the town walls and not far from the Castle, of part of the
Irish song of the " Groves of Blarney " :
There's castles round her.
That no nine-pounther
Should dare to plunther.
That place of strength.
But in this case neither the old privateer nor the stately
Castle are any more " places of strength," and of the Castle
the concluding verse may truly be apphed :
But Oliver Cromwell he did it pummel.
And make a brache in its battlements.
The " braches in its battlements " it has fallen to my lot to
repair, and I hope after I am summoned to depart on my final
cruise that the grand old Castle, which I have been industri-
ously repairing for thirty-one years with every stone in exact
accord with the original building, may go on approaching
its pristine state until some one sees fit to restore and occupy
it. It is too good for a ruin.
But to return to the venerable man whose memory I
revere ; amongst his many pleasant yams and scraps of
poetry I recollect the following lines, written I forget by whom,
upon the action of a set of wiseacres at Southampton who
actually proposed to cut a canal by the side of Soutiiampton
Water. The " cat " incident mentioned in them is an
allusion to the great Sir Isaac Newton, who surprised his
neighbours by cutting a hole for his cat and another for his
kitten :
Southampton's wise sons found their river so large
That it would carry a ship but would not carry a barge.
So wisely determined to cut by its side
A stinking canal where small ships might glide.
Like a man who contriving a hole in his wall
To admit his two cats, one large, t'other smaU,
When a hole he had made for his cat to go through.
Another must have for his little cat too.
68 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Amongst the many interesting stories with which his
splendid memory was stored was one of an admirable satire
on the Prime Minister of the day by a devet member of
Parliament. At this great distance of time I am imable to
recollect the precise date, or who the Prime Minister was.
I chronicle elsewhere the readiness of some poor Anglesey
rustics to palm ofi a dnmken parson on an Irish parish, but
that a Prime Minister of England should have sent an
unscrupulous ruffian to preside over a diocese in Ireland was
a scandal that no words can be too strong to condemn. A
bishop of this kind had been appointed to an Irish diocese,
and his drunken habits and repeated threats to shoot people
in his diocese, his walking about with pistols, and his gencoral
habits of blackguardism, were so monstrous that the matter
was brought as a solemn complaint before the House of
Commons. The shameful action of the Prime Minister in
making such an appointment was eloquently and forcibly
denounced by several members ; but the climax was reached
when a membt^ capped it all with a splendid piece of satire.
I cannot pretend after so many years to give an3^hing like a
precise account of the words used, but this is the substance.
The member to whom I allude, rising in his place, said that
he had listened with the greatest attention to the eloquent
addresses dehvered by those who preceded him in the debate,
but he ventured to suggest that their assumption of the fact
that the atrocious ruffian whose misconduct they had so
graphically described was the person whom the Prime
Minister had appointed might be wrong ; possibly there had
been a mistake, for if this or any other Prime Minister had
been guilty of the atrocity of appointing such a man to a
Bishopric, no words could be too strong in which to condenm
him. He would venture to suggest whether it might not be
possible that the Prime Minister, actuated as he should be
by a high sense of duty, had appointed a godly man in every
way suited to the post. Honourable members would bear
in mind the great peril of the roads, and the constant murders
and robberies of innocent travellers. Might it not be possible
that the Prime Minster had appointed a godly man who had
suffered the fate of many others ? that in crossing Hoimslow
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 69
Heath or elsewhere in his passage to Holyhead he had fallen
among thieves ? His credentials would no doubt be in the
saddle-bags carried by the horse he rode, and perhaps one of
the villains who robbed and murdered him, findiiig from the
credentials that he was a bishop, conceived and carried out
the idea of assuming his garb of bishop, going to Ireland
and entering upon the office. To his mind some such solution
might prove to be the case, and he trusted that the Prime
M^ister could show that it was so.
It goes without saying that this pungent satire did more
to discredit the Prime Minister than all the other speeches,
excellent though they were. It no doubt loses in the relation
from memory, after so many years since I heard it, nearly half
a century having passed over my head since my father died.
I always noticed one remarkable feature, even in his old age,
of my father's relation of stories. He never told the same
one to the same people without allowing them a sufficient
interval to forget it ; and if any of us laughed when we related
an anecdote, he would say, " Never laugh at your own story,
leave that to those who hear it," and I always observed
that his practice of telling a droll story with a serious face
was far more effective than stories told by those who laugh
at their own jokes.
One of his stories tickled me. It was of a learned serjeant-
at-law addressing an English Court on behalf of a lady client,
whose name was Tickle. He was stating what her position
was in the matter and used these words, " Now, Tickle my
client the defendant, my lord " — and before he could finish
his sentence the Judge interrupting suggested that the
Serjeant should tidde her himself. My father was decid-
edly the most terse man I ever met, and never in writing or
speaking wasted a word.
On one occasion I recollect when I was a boy he received
an invitation to dinner from a gentleman who was pro-
verbial for short letters. The invitation ran :
" Dear Mr. Turner, — ^Will you dine with me on Friday ?
*• Yours,
" H. Williams,"
70 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
The reply was :
"Dear Mr. Williams, — I will. Turner."
His name being William.
Another of the amusing stories of Curran which I remember
was the following : Speaking of a very tall thin witness in a
case in which Curran was counsel, he described him " as a
man who had been educated for the Church but appeared to
be better fitted for the steeple."
One of the many stories I remember was that of an Irish
coachman who was dismissed for drunkenness, and not long
after called upon his master and asked him for a character.
" Oh, certainly," replied the master, who wrote the following
testimonial : " The bearer, Michael Ofrehy, was in my service
as coachman for three years, during which time he was
frequently sober."
On one occasion at a public dinner at Carnarvon a man
who was known to have disgraced himself by writing an'
anonymous and lying letter, and who always op^ily professed
great admiration of my father, went up to him in the ante-
room before the dinner (the initial of his Christian name
was " P."). Holding out his hand he said, " Mr. Turner, I
trust I see you well, sir ? " Mr. Turner put his hands behind
him to avoid shaking hands, and pronoimcing the name
in full, said, " P., P., * you preach and pray, and then
betray,' " and turned his back upon him. I forgot to say
that the anonymous scribe was a preacher of the Gospel.
My old friend General Gore once said to me, " Turner,
your father is the handsomest man I ever saw." As the
general was a remarkably handsome man of splendid
proportions I repUed, " Have you ever looked in the glass,
general ? " I may here make a digression to say that
General Gore was a captain in the 30th Foot, and served in
the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo. There were two
cousins of the same name, who were considered the two
handsomest men in the army. The general and his cousin
were both " Arthur " Gore ; the general's cousin was killed
at Quatre Bras, and a letter which I have seen from the ofl&cer
I ft
C/. f/. Stcuutr/, photo^ Worcester)
gh:nee^\l gore in his old age
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 71
who was dose to him at the time says : " Poor Arthur Gore*s
brains were scattered all over me." General Gore's
daughter is the widow of my worthy friend, the late Mr.
Smith Davids, as good and honourable a man as I ever met.
I fear the reader will tire of too many of my venerable
father's stories, but I will risk one or two more.
When Baron Garrow, a well-known Judge, was at the Bar,
he was one day trying in vain in cross-examination to get a
parchment-faced looking old maid to admit that she had
made a tender of payment of the money in dispute in the
action that was being tried. A clever barrister in court
wrote on a slip of paper and passed to him the following :
*' Garrow, forbear, that tough old jade,
Will never prove a tender maid,"
With the death of Mr. Assheton Smith the partnership of
the Llanberis quarry ended.
In detailing my father's early Ufe in Wales and the trial
at Dolgelley I ought to have mentioned the frightful murder
of a woman by a man who was known as " Hwntw Mawr,"
or the " big South Welshman." The murder was in this wise.
" Hwntw Mawr " went up to rob a small farm-house to the
southward of Deudraeth, probably expecting that the occu-
pants would all be away in the fields busy with the com
harvest. But imfortimately there was a woman in the
house, and with a sickle he murdered her, cutting her most
terribly. The unfortunate woman was not far from her
confinement, so that it might be almost said that it was a
double murder. Having taken the life of the woman he
then ransacked the house, breaking open a ntmiber of
drawers in a large oak piece of furniture, which were aU
locked, the bolts of the locks working into the short bar of
wood above. -^ The murder took place very many years
before I was bom, but my friend Mr. Holland, who lived
not far from the place, took me to see it. Although so many
years had elaps^ the pieces inserted in the apertures the
criminal had madi^above the bolts of the locks by forcing
them were very plainly visible. The bolts of the locks all
shot upwards. " Hwntw Mawr " was captured and taken
72 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
to Dolgelley on horseback, and in crossing a river he
managed to slip off the horse on which he was riding behind
one of his escort and one of them was unfortunately drowned.
The murderer was tried at the Dolgelley assizes and duly
hanged.
I well remember my mother often stating how thankful
she was that my father had declined to go to Almwch with
this " Hwntw Mawr." It seems he had frequently gone
to my father and urged him to go with him to Amlwch,
where he said there was a great fortime to be made in copper.
My father was justly regarded as having a better geological
knowledge than most people about this country then, and it
was very natural that this man, who had seen the place
and formed an idea as to its value, should wish to have the
opinion of a competent person. My father's reply to my
mother was that the man had no wish, as she thought, to rob
and murder ; but he said, " Had I gone with him and seen the
place, both he and I would have been enormously enriched,
as the Earl of Uxbridge, Lord Dinorben, and others who had
the luck to speculate in the Amlwch mines were, these mines
having proved of exceeding great value."
It may not be uninteresting to my readers, the bulk of
whom at all events have no personal knowledge of those
times, to read some notes of the life of a country house
at the end of the eighteenth (1796) and the early part of the
last century. Amongst the old household papers at Parkia I
found the following receipt for wine-making :
" Sir, — Agreeable to your desire I have sent the Receipt
for the Wine, and a little of it you shall have when it is ready
to bottle, but it will be a few months before it is. I am glad
to hear that my unde is so well, beg you will present mine
and Mr. Grahme's most affectionate respects to him. With
Compliments to yourself and all enquiring Friends,
" I remain,
"Your Obedt. Servant
"Mary A. Grahme.
" ExLEY, Jany. 25, 1796."
IN MEMORY OF
ANN BARBER
DIED OCTOBER 10, 1 862
AGED 68 YEARS
THE FAITHFUL HOUSEKEEPER OF
MRS. TURNER, OF PARKIA
. * • • •
GEIMPSES OI^ THE PAST 78
'' Take Forty pounds of Maligo Raisins picked and dipped
put them into ten gallons of soft water let them stand ten days
and stirring them every day then nm them thro a Sieve a
little at a time first having yr Syrup made then put yr
Elderberrys into a pot covered close set them into a Brown
bread oven let it stand all the Night then strain the berrys
a few at a time when cold take seven quarts of the Juice to
every quart put half a pound of Lump Sugar let it stand
few days then boil and skim it well, put it in with three
quarts of Juice of Sloes made then put them into a pot with
two quarts of water let them stand in an Oven all night and
make the Syrup as the Cider put all to gether into a Barrel
let it stand open till it has done working then cover it close
up and let it stand Six Months before you Bottle if it you
please you may put in Two quarts of best Brandy when you
put in the Syrup."
The letter is endorsed " Mrs. Grahame, January 25, 1796,
Receipt to make old Port." At Parkia everything that could
be was done on the premises — the ale and beer being brewed
at home, the oldsters drinking the former and the younger
ones the latter ; gooseberry wine, which was in champagne
bottles, was frequently pronoimced equal to champagne, and
ginger wine of excellent quality was made in the half-barrel.
Seven milch cows were kept for the use of the house, and my
mother was most generous to her neighbours with gifts of
glorious thick cream and fruit. Many pigs were kept
and all the hams and bacon were cured on the premises ;
turkeys and ducks were numerous ; as to hens I never saw
so many until I visited three kind friends, maiden ladies, a
few miles from Ludlow, the Misses Hall, of Ashford Court,
who keep a vast number. One of these excellent ladies
attends to them and the profits are given to charity. But
to return to Parkia ; the hay, oats, and turnips for the
cattle were all home-grown ; there was a pack of beagles,
several shooting dogs, a brace of greyhoimds, and two or three
terriers. Sometimes a cow or an ox was killed at Christmas.
My brothers were all good shots, which I never was, unless
the shooting of myself when five years old and was fearfully
74 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
woimded, through playing with powder, may be so reckonedi
My father and each of us (that is, I when old enongh) had
long hunting poles for jumping in hunting and coursing. In
addition to a large faniily, the house was not often free from
company, Irish and Lancashire friends being always welcome,
and how we were all stowed away when there were visitors
I know not. My dear mother had all the Irish habits
of hospitality, and good cheer abounded as in Irish
houses.
Those were the days of flint and steel, and I have often
watched a servant burning the tinder on which the sparks
were struck for a light. The kitchen fire was kept slacked
all night, as a quicker mode in case of the need of getting
light and fire at night. I was approaching man's estate
when lucifer matchers were invented, and I recollect two
lines only of a song composed on the subject :
Qh, Lucifer's the very deuce, our prospects he will hinder,
Twas he who caused the change between Miss Sparks and Mr.
Tinder.
This invention was a great improvement and comfort,
amongst the many we now enjoy. Tallow and wax candles
gave way to Palmer's metallic spring candle-lamps, which
were a considerable advance. These in their turn gave way
to oil lamps.
I forgot in enumerating the dogs to mention that there
was always a fine house-dog, and amongst them were some
remarkably intelligent animals. The number of tramps in
those days was exceedingly great, and they visited houses
in gangs. My father never would allow a farthing to be
wasted upon them, and used peremptorily to drive them
away. We had one house-dog, whose name was Tiger, that
had a great fight with a tramp, who pelted him with stones,
but the dog drove him off. This dog would take no notice
of a decently dressed person, but his wrath was great when a
tramp appeared. I have heard my father say that when
(as previously stated) he stayed at Pwllycrochan, there were
two very large dogs chained under a sort of alcove in front
of the hall-door. On one occasion when my father was
{F. WhaUy^ photo, Doncaster)
MISS ROBERTS
Former housekeeper at Parkia
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 75
away a tramp came into the back-kitchen at Parkia, when
there were only two males in the house, and insisted on
having food. These men were such arrant cowards that
they actually allowed the fellow to sit down and eat the
dinner provided for them, though ordered to turn him out ;
and when he was going away he wrote in most offensive
language on a large slab outside a threat that he would bum
the house dofwn in less than a week.
The old house of Parkia has undergone many changes
from the period mentioned, but the greatest is the
warming apparatus of Mr. Grundy's patent. I adopted
it some years ago on seeing the testimonial of Professor
Tyndall, who said that imtil he adopted it he had to
go abroad every winter, but was better at home with a
house so comfortably warm. One man now lights a coke
fire in the cellar and warms the whole house, with no un-
sightly pipes, no hbt water, and no nuisance of any kind ;
it is the greatest comfort to a house I ever knew. I do not
like leaving the subject of Parkia without a warm tribute
of respect to Mrs. Barber, long ago buried in our parish
churchyard ; to Miss Roberts, a native of Doncaster, living
there at the very advanced age of near ninety ; Mrs. Jones, of
Mona View, Carnarvon, still alive, who were all in succession
the faithful and honest housekeepers at Parkia for many
years, and to whose fideUty we owed much ; and to William
Jones, who slept at Parkia for fifty years and retired with
£500, which I would swear was as honestly earned as money
ever was. Talk of the expense of county police, they are an
enormous saving to the country. In the far back days of my
youth the robbery of turkeys, fowls, ducks and geese,
potatoes, turnips, carrots, tools and implements, and all sorts
of things from the farmers was terrific. That curse of the
country, political rancour^ for which both parties were to
blame, was very much responsible for this. The town of
Carnarvon, which was lighted with gas actually before the
city of Paris, had a good corporate landed estate, which
was wasted by the blight of party strife. Tories issued writs
of quo warranto against Radicals, and Radicals against
Tories. When a man on one side was elected an Alderman
76 MEMORIES OF SIR LL TURNER
CM- a Town Councillor, writs of quo warranio were issued by
the opposite »de nominally to ascertain fM voirafito (by what
warrant) the defendant exercised the office, but really to
obtain party victories.
* The Castie Hotel and the adjacent houses down to the
Castle, and the houses round Twthill and elsewhere, were
erected upon Corporation property ; and the leases being
I for some time past all at an end would now have been the
property of the town, as well as its former land at Bodrud.
' The property was scandalously wasted, then mortgaged
and foreclosed, and finally lost to the public. It may be
asked what this has to do with the robbery and plunder of
farmers ? I answer, much. ThCTe was no money left to
pay for lighting the town of Carnarvon or to pay constables,
I and consequently thieves abounded in it and were able to
take home their plimder into the town at all times of the
^ night and morning without any chance of detection. At
V Parkia the number of dogs kept us clear of much plundering,
f but the farmers, especially the smaller ones, were unmerci-
' UHy robbed.
At a small farm not a mile from Parkia, as the crow flies,
i about sixty years ago, the old farmer was going out to
" swpperu," that is, to feed the animals and settle them for
p the night, when he saw a light in a small outhouse separated
by a low hedge from the dwelling-house. The door of this
outhouse was open and a lighted candle stood upon a
bottle ; two men were at work filling a large sack, one holding
the edge of the sack while the other filled it with potatoes,
varying his occupation by pelting the old man with his own
potatoes and so keeping him off. This is a mere specimen
of the impunity with which robbers of all sorts carried on
their trade.
I can remember when the streets of Carnarvon were
lighted with oil lamps, and the first night the gas lamps were
^ lit I was taken with other boys by the man we were reading
) with to see the new lamps, and took books and newspapers
^ to see if we could read by the new light.
Returning to my father*s stories, one related to Suet, the
I * actor, who had a quarrel with a man who declared that he
f
MRS. JONES. OF MONA VIEW, CARNARVON
For many years housekeeper at Parkia
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 77
would thrash him on the first opportunity ; returning on
foot from the theatre one night without coat or umbrella
he was overtaken by a heavy shower of rain, and took
temporary shelter in a doorway. The man who had the
grudge against him saw him in the doorway, but as his collar
was turned up he did not fed sure enough of his identity
to attack him, and peering at him as well as he could, said,
" Are you Suet ? '* " No," said Suet, shaking the rain of!
his coat, " Pm dripping." This witty reply so amused the
would-be assaulter that instead of putting his threat into
execution he burst out laughing and they made friends. Is
it any harm on my part to add that the man who had put
his own collar up, by his wit put the choler of the other
down ?
I have mentioned that Mr. Turner in the early days of
Dyfiws quarry used to go to Portsmouth and other places
to receive the moneys due for slates, as the banking facilities
were so poor.
There was one slate merchant at Portsmouth who was
evidently very anxious to impress upon him the excellence
of his position, and how he knew every one at Portsmouth.
When he was buying slates at Dyffws, he told my father
that he was most intimate with the port admiral, and could
take his friends all over the dockyards whenever and where-
ever they liked to go, and if my father went to Portsmouth
he would show him everything in the dockyard. Like all
men who pretend to a position they do not occupy, this poor
feUow suffered a humiliation that was very absurd, for when
Mr. Turner next went to Portsmouth, he thought he would
avail himself of the offer of the merchant and visit the dock-
yard. Alas ! on the " port admiral's friend " presenting
himself he was point-blank refused ; but it happened that
my father had a " friend in Court " in the Government
purchasing officer, who had the entr^ and took him over
the interesting places.
I well remember a joke with which he used to tease my
mother about one of these trips. There was a seventy-four
gun-ship built not long before, called the Nelson, and on my
father's return home he told my mother about his going all
►
78 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
over the Nelson^ and that he could easily have captured
her, as there was only one man in her at the time, and that
^ he (my father) was a much bigger man. The vessel was not
armed or manned, and was looked after at moorings by a
ship-keeper. My mother inquired if the vessel was very
large, and on being told that she was, asked if she was as
large as our bam. She had at that time never seen a man-
k of-war, and had no conception of the size. It is a curious
circumstance that this fine ship, built long before I was bom,
was never sent to sea until, I think, it was the year 1846 or
f 1847 or thereabouts, when I was at Portsmouth, and she was
^ fitting out for Australia, where she was going as a harbour
guard-ship. It struck me when I saw her that if the succes-
\ sive Governments could afford to keep this fine ship so long
i in harbour they could and shoidd have razeed, that is, cut
her down into a fifty-gim frigate and sent her to America
» in that war where her extra size and thick scantling would
have been a match for the heavy Yankee frigates with thick
^ sides. The Americans, as I think I have stated, had built
[ some line-of-battle ships, but with that keen good sense
which distinguished their conduct of the war they saw that,
with their small navy, frigates to prey on British commerce
would answer their purpose better, and no one acquainted
with the history of the period can doubt the wisdom of their
decision.
For very many years before his death Mr. Turner led a
quiet life, entertaining his friends, but taking no part in
public things except serving on the Grand Jury at the Assizes,
and even that he gave up latterly.
MY FATHER^S PRAYER.
A few days before my father breathed his last in the room
in which I was bom above that in which I am writing, he
desired me to bring pen and paper to his bedside, and to take
down from his dictation the following prayer, and to keep
one copy myself, and give one to each of my brothers. He
dictated as follows :
MR. TURNER
From a bust at Parkia taken the day after his death
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST 79
A Prayer used by WiUiam Turner for more than
Fifty Years.
" Oh Eternal God, guide me by Thy grace in all my affairs,
that I may be diUgent, just, and faithful in the position in
which Thy providence has placed me. Bless, O Lord, my
labours as Thou in Thy wisdom seest most convenient for
me. Preserve me by Thy Holy Spirit from covetousness,
lying, and all base, indirect or sordid arts, and give me pru-
dence, honesty, and Christian sincerity, that my doings
may be attended by Thy blessing ; and when I have finished
the course which Thou hast allotted me here, I may be
received into the inheritance of Thy Kingdom, there to rest,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.**
His death took place in November 1853, and had he Uved
until the following February he would have completed
eighty-eight years of an industrious, well-spent Ufe, during
which I am absolutely certain he was never guilty of that
which he prayed he might avoid, namely — ** base, indirect
or sordid arts.'* When he dictated the prayer to me, I felt
certain that this prayer had always been granted, and that
the man who had carried on the vast enterprise of eight
slate quarries and a copper mine had on that bed the full
and noble satisfaction of having Uved up to his holy and
honourable desire. He had a profound contempt for the
mean man, and an equally profound respect for the honour-
able man.
CHAPTER IV
THE WELSH JUDICATURE AND THE ENGLISH
JUDGES
Ancient Welsh Judicature — Legislative history — ^Laws of
Hywel Dda — A sheriff's ball given by father — Engaging the
hangman — Lord Chief Justice Tindal — Game and red
salmon — Judges Raine and Kenrick — Maule on Messrs.
Carbery and Nolan — A lawsuit in hell — Executions at
Carnarvon — Barbarous laws — Welsh juries — ^Pineapple in
a Welsh garden — Jury packing — Notes on fudges —
Tindal, C.J. — Bosanquet, J. — Alderson, B. — His jokes —
Vaughan, J . — Pompousness of — Hired witnesses — An anony-
mous libel and a dying confession — Lord Lyndhurst — His
marvellous memory — His second marriage — ^Williams, J. —
His fancy for woodcocks — Defended QueenCaroline — Election
excitements — Highway robbery — " Goody-goody " days —
The North Wales Bar — Two leaders bound over — A narrow
escape — A chestnut — Williams v. P. Buckland — Jervis as
cross-examiner — Patteson, J . — The degrees of drunkenness —
The new gaol — Lord Newborough — The " Black Hole " —
Wrong site of new gaol — Temperance pilgrimages — Sir
Edward Baines — Visiting prisons — Timely severity and
consequent gratitude — Crime as a trade — Serjeant Taddy —
A convivial under-sheriff — Mr. Watson Lloyd's humour —
His powers of mimicry — His death — Cresswell, J. — His
manner — Britannia Bridge murder — Lord Abinger — Lord
Denman — An interesting forgery — A mistaken arrest —
Recidivisim — A discussion in grand jury — Duties of grand
juries — An obstinate magistrate — A manslaughter — Two
burglaries — ^The dogs save Parkia — The servant and her
lover — Blind butler as witness — Dignified judge — Impudent
prisoners — Sir Charles Felix Smith was Lever's Trevanion —
The French bully defeated — Lord Campbell — A mountain
murder and a cruel accusation — A confession — Jervis, L.C.J.
— A poisoning case — Demonstrates thimble-rigging —
Earle, L.C.J. — An idiot witness — His repartees — Bovill,
L.C.J. — Visit to CoombeWood — Some Tichbome doggerel
— Yachting on the Straits — Rioters inFlintshire pardoned —
THE WELSH JUDICATURE 81
Engagement of BoviU and Miss Barnwell—- Malins V.C. — A
jest — Lord Bramwell — First meeting — His courtesy — ^Later
friendship — Aletter of congratulation — ^Bramwell's hatred of
a lie — His manner — Yachting arguments — Bramwell as
mathematician — His deadly sarcasm — Trying a witness back-
wards— ^Welsh clerical witness to character in sheep-stealing
case — Drunken parson's trick — Bramwell's afiability — An
abrupt prisoner and a prompt judge — Curious breach of pro-
mise case — Mr. Mclnt)rre Q.C. — Absurdities in slip-shod
English — Bramwellandgarotters — His "large dog" — Punch
on Bramwell — Sir Fitzroy Kelly and his pupils — Letters from
Bramwell — Lord Chief Baron Kelly — Special retainers —
Quaker and mistress — Kelly's activity — Cockbum L.C.J —
Prosecution of Palmer — Rugeley and " Palmers town " —
Murder by gamblers — Inventor of the ** drop " — Himself
hanged — ^Tichbome Trial — Contempt of Court by Whalley
M.P. and others — Their credulity — The preparation of the
evidence — Identification of claimant by Sir R. Tichbome's
mother — Byles on "business " — Martin B. — His courage and
industry — The long drop in jest and earnest — Professor Hor-
ton the inventor — Mistaken for hangman — ^Talfourd J. —
Coltman J . — ^Mr . Temple and the poker — Crowder J . — Riding
on circuit — Watson B. — Death at Welshpool — A Board of
Trade inquiry — Keating J. — An Anglesey murder — Grove
J. — An unjust attack — Humbugging gaol chaplains — reports
of criminal trials untrustworthy — The judge's venison —
" Goat by gad " — Lord Robert Cecil — A chaplain overcome
— Pollock B. — A ** beater " plaintiff — Moving prisoners for
trial — Views of judges — Huddlestone B. — Sir A. L. Smith
M.R. — His premature death.
When Wales was incorporated with England the Princi-
pality was divided into three provinces, North, South, and
West Wales ; but for the administration of justice it was
divided into two parts only, known as North and South
Wales. The Prince of Wales held a Chancery and an
Exchequer Court for North Wales in Carnarvon Castle,
and there was a Judge there in early times who administered
justice for the whole of North Wales ; and for South Wales
there was a similar Court of Chancery and Exchequer in
Carmarthen Castle, with a Judge who was called the Justice
of South Wales. These Courts were respectively known as
the Great Sessions. The Judges were sometimes itinerant
and sat in each of the several counties. Prior to the incor-
82 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
poration of Wales with England, the laws of Wales were
principally those of H3nvel Dda, and when King Edward I.
divided Wales into counties he made a collection of the
Welsh laws, annulled some, amended others, made additional
ones, and assimilated all to the English form of administering
j ustice. These laws were constituted by the Staiuium WaUitB^
12 Edward I. c. 5. Certain important alterations were
made in the administration of the laws by the Statute 27
Henry VIII. c. 26, and four additional shires, Radnor,
Brecknock, Montgomery, and Denbigh, were added. The
Statute 34 and 35 Henry VIII. c. 24 made considerable
alterations. It created four circuits, with a Judge to each.
The Chief Justice of Chester had jurisdiction over Denbigh-
shire, Flintshire and Montgomeryshire. The Justice of
North Wales had Carnarvonshire, Anglesey and Chester,
and another Justice had jurisdiction over Radnorshire,
Brecknockshire and Glamorganshire. Another Justice was
to administer the law in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire
and Cardiganshire.
The statute 18 EUzabeth c. 8 settled two Justices to
every circuit. The seal of Chester was kept by the Cham-
berlain of Chester, that of Carnarvonshire, Merioneth, and
Anglesey was in the custody of the Chamberlain of North
Wales in the Castle of Carnarvon. The 34 and 35 Henry
VIII. had provided for Justices of the Peace in every
county, and Sheriffs yearly appointed by the King's Majesty.
The statutes 11 George IV. and WiUiam IV. c. 70, finally
aboUshed these most imsatisfactory Courts, and the Welsh
Courts were incorporated with and assimilated to those of
England, to the inestimable benefit of aU concerned. The
condition of Wales prior to the incorporation with England
and for very many years after was fearful in the extreme.
The serious feuds between relatives and between neighbours
were very lamentable. A few instances from Barrington's
" MisceUanie " would illustrate the condition of things even
two himdred years after the incorporation.
Copies of the laws of H3nvel Dda are kept in the British
Museum, in the Merton College Library, Oxford, and in
Trinity College, Cambridge. A copy of these laws was kept
THE WELSH JUDICATURE 88
for use in the Courts at Westminster, where I have seen them,
and they have been transfenred to the New Law Courts. I
possess a copy of them in my library in English and Welsh.
The elaborate enumeration of each petty offence and its
punishment as contrasted with the plainer laws of modem
times remind one of the evolution in thought and action
that has been gradually going on ; and the same remark
applies to the laws of England, which have been greatly
simplified, to the gain and comfort of everybody. So in
signalling at sea. I have a copy of the flags of Nelson's
memorable signal at Trafalgar — " England expects every
man will do his duty." These eight words took at that time
twenty-eight flags to express them, whereas of late years a
much smaller number would do it, and I suppose the day is
near at hand when Marconi will render flags unnecessary.
In like manner modem laws have simplified the wonderful
complications of those of Hywel Dda, and of that multi-
plicity of Enghsh statutes which I devoutly hope may even
in my time be largely reduced and simplified.
At the time of my birth, as elsewhere stated, and for a few
years after, the Welsh Judicatm-e was in existence, and I
well remember, although I was very young, that the Assizes
at Carnarvon used to last for a week or a fortnight (the latter
period, if I am not mistaken). The Judges at that time
usually were not persons of any note at the Bar, and indeed
were only practising barristers in London, and usually very
far from the first rank. Those I remember were Raine and
Kenrick, and there was for a long time no appeal from their
decisions, which I have always heard were crude and too
often palpably wrong ; there was an Attorney-General,
Mr. Hill, and a Mr. Cockrel, both of them leading barristers,
whom I well remember when a small boy.
At one time the Chief Justice of Chester and North Wales
used to hold the Assizes ; he was a man much respected,
and his portraits are to be seen in Beaumaris and Camarvon
Coimty Halls.
My father was High Sheriff of this county the year I was
bora, and gave a Sheriff's ball, which was the last given for a
great number of years, the next and last since having been
86 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
to the Courts in London, Mr. Temple at once availed himself
of it in a case decided against a client of his, and the decision,
like many others, was at once set aside. He told me also
that " old Jonathan Raine " never forgave him. Mr. Richatds,
who was the second Coimty Court Judge appointed for these
parts after the establishment of these useful Courts, a post
now so ably and worthily filled by Sir Horatio Lloyd, had
practised at the South Wades Bar imder the Welsh JucUcature.
He told me amongst many amusing anecdotes the following
as to the two great lights, Mr. Carbery and Mr. Nolan,
Judges of South Wales, who practised as barristers in
London {i.e., if they had any practice) ; at any rate, they
sat at the " receipt of custom " — the Bar of the Court of
Exchequer. At that time that formidable lawyer, Mr.
(afterwards Mr. Justice) Maule, was a practitioner on the
Shrewsbury and South Wales Circuit. Mr. Maule appealed
(as soon as appeal was granted by statute) against a decision
of these incapable men, and described the case and their
decision in the most humorous and sarcastic manner ; the
appeal came before the Barons of the Exchequer, and one
of them said, " And pray, Mr. Maule, who are these singular
gentlemen who have given this monstrous decision ? "
Upon which Mr. Matde, placing his glasses to his eyes, and
looking from one of the brace of coimsel to the other, said,
" One, my lord, is a person of the name of Carbery, and the
other of tiie name of Nolan." The appeal was granted.
Mr. Richards was an exceedingly pleasant man, and one
of the yams that he told me was illustrative of the manners
of a certain North Wales town, where he held his monthly
Courts, but the name of which I refrain from mentioning
lest the ghost of the local gentleman referred to in the
anecdote shotdd disturb me, or his family be annoyed by the
pubUcation. A well-known soUcitor in the town died, and
two inhabitants of the place met in the street in the morning.
One said to the other, " Good morning, Mr. Jones, any news
this morning ? '* " Oh dear yes, great news, there is a most
important lawsuit going on in hell." " Oh, nonsense," said
Mr. WiUiams, " you can't get news from there." " Oh yes,"
said Mr. Jones, " it is well known. They have sent for
THE WELSH JUDICATURE 87
to conduct it." That was the way in which he announced
Mr. 's death. I am sorry to say that knowing some-
thing myself of Mr. I was not surprised at the method
of announcement. But this is rather wandering from the
Welsh Judicature.
My father had a very poor opinion of these two Judges,
whom he well knew, both before and after their Courts were
abolished.
In those days criminals at Carnarvon were executed on
the marsh between Coedhelen Wood, the Seiont river and the
place where the Cambrian railway now runs. The last
person executed there was a man of the name of Lewis Owen,
who shot Mr. Sturdie, receiver of taxes, as he was riding
on horseback near Llanrwst with a large sum of money in his
saddle-bags. Mr. Sturdie did not die of his wounds, but an
attempt at murder was then and until about forty years ago
a capital offence. Captain WiUiam Griffith, an old friend
of mine, who died more than half a century ago, told me of a
previous execution he recollected on the marsh of a man for
horse-stealing. Having stolen and disposed of the animal
the criminal, whose name I forget, went to America, and was
foolish enough to return to this country ; on one occasion
when he had taken too much hquor he got into a quarrel
with another man and they appeared pretty evenly matched.
Unfortimately for him, in the heat of the fight, he exclaimed,
" Peidiwch chi a meddwl euro Jack " mentioning his
nickname, which I have forgotten (" Don't you think to
thrash Jack "), and the friends of his opponent were not
slow to make known his identity. It is absolutely frightful
to look back to the savage nature of punishments that
rendered men and women liable to loss of life for forgery
and stealing a horse or a sheep, or indeed almost for any
theft. It is, I think, highly creditable to a Dolgelley jury
that when the evidence was too strong for an acquittal on
a charge for sheep-stealing the foreman announced the
verdict as, " Guilty, my lord, but no hang.'^ I often heard
this story told in early days to their discredit as being
ignorant, but to my mind it showed an honesty of finding
the verdict, and a sense of abhorrence of the outrageous
90 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
was a pupil of the Rev. Dr. Owen, at Beaumaris, this Judge
was either holding the Assizes there, or had a house for the
iong vacation (I forget which), and meeting me, a yoimg boy,
on the Green, he kindly entered into conversation with me,
and was so very humorous and good-natured that I took
the Uberty of requesting him to ask for a holiday for us
pupils, which he did, and we got it. In far later years, when
I had attained manhood, I was dining at the Town Hall of
Liverpool at an Assize dinner on one occasion when the
Baron and Mr. Justice Cresswell were the Judges, and I went
into court next day to hear the trials. It was impossible
not to see that when he perpetrated a joke the Baron took a
stealthy look to ascertain if it was appreciated. He was a
most able Judge, but exceedingly fond of a joke. Trying a
prisoner who was found guilty of stealing a saw, when the
usual question was asked what he had to say why judgment
should not be pronounced against him, he replied, " I only
carried it off for a joke, my lord." ** And pray," said the
Judge, " how far did you take it ? " " Three miles, my lord,"
was the reply. The Judge at once said, " Prisoner at the
bar, that is carr5dng a joke too far, the sentence of the Court
is that you be imprisoned for three calendar months " ;
thus giving him a month a mile. When holding the
Assizes for Cardiganshire, at one Assize town, a juryman
told the crier of the Court, who was administering the oath,
to speak up, as he could not hear what he said. Baron
Alderson asked the juryman if he was hard of hearing.
" Yes, my lord," said the witness, " I am deaf of one ear."
The Judge then said, " You may leave the box, as it is
necessary for you to hear both sides.^^ When he was trying
a youth at Chester for riot during the Chartist disturbances
the prisoner was very saucy, and chattered and interrupted
the coimsel and witnesses frequently, and talked a good deal
of nonsense. He was foimd guilty, and in passing sentence
the Baron said, " Yoimg man, you have a very empty head
and a very voluble tongue." Baron Alderson was a Judge
for twenty-six years, and if I remember rightly came
only twice on the North Wales Circuit. That he was
what is known as a strong Judge no one can doubt, and
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 91
he waSy I always understand, a great favourite with the
Bar.
Amongst the earhest of the Judges who presided on the
North Wales Circuit was
MR. JUSTICE VAUGHAN.
He was made a Judge in 1827 and died in 1839. His
brother was the Royal physician, and when Mr. Vaughan
was appointed to a Judgeship it is said that the Bar joke
was that he was a Judge by prescription. I well remember
his passing sentence on a prisoner at the Carnarvon Assizes,
and his concluding words, " The sentence of the Court is that
you be transported beyond the seas for the term of ten years
to such place as his Majesty by the advice of his Privy
Cotmdl (to which body I have the honour to belong) shall
direct ; " and I remember when we returned home my father
expressed great surprise at the absurd addition of this last
piece of information, a comment which, though very young,
I was then old enough to appreciate.
At this period there were unfortunately certain individuals
at Carnarvon whose evidence was a matter simply of £ s. rf.,
and when their services were required it was f oimd convenient
by some solicitors, who followed the villanous practice of
suborning witnesses, to lay the venue occasionally in some
other coimty ; and a gentleman who was present as a witness
in a case at Shrewsbury told me, fifteen or twenty years after
the event, that one of these false witnesses, who always
dressed in a black suit with a white choker, gave evidence
at that Assize at Shrewsbury, " every word of which was no
doubt a lie, or he would not have been there to depose to
it." My informant told me that in reply to one question put
by the Counsel for the plaintiff, on whose side he had gone to
perjure himself, he said, " Will you kindly ask the question
again, Sir, as I am not certain that I exactly imderstand it,
and being on my oath I must fully comprehend it before I
reply ? " The question was asked again slowly, and the
answer which he had no doubt been instructed to make was
given, and in his siunming up to the jury Mr. Justice Vaughan
92 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
said, "You have the evidence, gentlemen, of that most
conscientious witness, Mr. , who gave his evidence with
%uch a scrupulous desire to avoid mistake." This man lived
many years into the time of my early manhood, and a more
infamous and dangerous old sinner could not well be found.
He was a writer of anonymous letters, the practice of which
prevailed at that time in these parts to a disgraceful extent.
I knew a case in which he asked a favour of a gentleman
of the highest honour and integrity ; the favour was refused,
as the gentleman knew too much of the man, upon which
the villain so far forgot himself as to declare that he would
be his ruin. This he attempted by writing an anon3mious
letter to a gentleman of very high position, who at once
forwarded it to the man who was to be ruined, who in his
turn was my informant as to the matter. The letter con-
tained a carefully concocted tissue of lies which the recipient
of the letter declined to investigate, as he was satisfied of the
high honour of the gentleman traduced. I knew of a case
in which the ownership of a small property worth about £^o or
£40 a year changed hands from the real owners to another,
on the oath of that man and his forgery of documents. The
occurrence took place before my recollection, but I know the
property and learned the facts in later Ufe. I often in my
own mind contrast the way in which this plausible fellow
gulled the Judge (Mr. Justice Vaughan) at Shrewsbury,
wWi a case at the Carnarvon Assizes some thirty or forty
years ago before Baron Bramwell. The case was one as to
the ownership of certain strips of land which had certainly
belonged at one time to the parties who lost the action, but
had been so long in the possession of the other side that it
became imdoubtedly theirs by the Statute of Limitations.
The late Mr. Mclntyre, Q.C., was Counsel for the losing side,
and the Judge, in speaking of the case to him afterwards, said,
" Well, Mclntyre, you lost your case, for adverse possession
was clearly proved against you, as I had to tell the jury ;
but my opinion of the matter is that your clients being non-
resident in this part of the country and trusting their affairs
to that white-chokered gentleman who gave evidence, he
found it convenient not to interfere with influential people.
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 98
and winked at the adverse possession, and thus justice has
been defeated." This man was not a trader in false evidence
like the infamous person I have described, but a Judge of
the strength and perceptive power of Baron Bramwell
would have seen through the man at Shrewsbury, and with
his black clothes and white choker, and his pretended respect
for the sanctity of an oath, would have made a mental
comment, " that he protested too much," as to his oath.
A very curious trial took place at the Carnarvon Assizes
whi<^ wotdd more properly have been recited under the
head of the Welsh Judicatm-e. It was before my recollec-
tion, but in after years I knew Mr. Temple, who was
Counsel for the defendant. He was the elder brother
of Mr. Robert Grif&th Temple, of whom I have spoken,
and the father of Mr. Leofric Temple, for many years
Deputy Recorder of Liverpool, and a friend of mine;
and I also knew a gentleman who was on the special jury
and lived to a great age, as did the defendant (who, in later
years, became a warm friend of mine), who even after the
trial lay for years under the imjust stigma of writing an
anon3mious letter.
This was the case.
The Lord Penrhyn of that day had an agent, Mr. Green-
field, who managed his quarries, and his lordship received
an anon3mious letter in which numerous charges were brought
against Mr. Greenfield, accusing him of defrauding Lord
Penrhjm in various ways. Lord Penrhyn sent for Mr.
Greenfield, and told him to do his utmost to discover the
writer of the letter and bring an action to vindicate his
character. Steps were accordingly taken to ascertain who
the writer was, and several persons declared that the writing
was that of the Rev. Mr. Hughes, the Vicar of St. Ann's,
near Bethesda, against whom the action was brought ; and
I heard from my father, who was present at the trial, and
from Mr. Churchill, one of the special jury, to whom I have
already alluded, and from others, that the defence made by
Mr. Temple was most able and vigorous. The jury were
not satisfied with the evidence of handwriting, and returned
(most fortimately as will be seen) a verdict for the defendant.
94 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
This of course did not reflect upon the character of Mr. Green-
field, as the question was not one as to the truth of the libel,
but as to the identity of the writer. The Rev. Mr. Hughes,
conscious of his integrity, took no step beyond defending
the action to vindicate his character, which was at last
amply done by the death-bed confession of the real writer
of the letter, who was then a resident of Bangor. This man
when on his death-bed sent for Mr. Rumsey Williams,
Mr. Greenfield's solicitor, and confessed that he was the
writer, and that, as he had learnt writing from the sgme
master as Mr. Hughes, their handwritings bore a remarkable
resemblance. Although the occurrence was before my time
I became doubly interested in it from the fact of my being
in after years an intimate friend of Mr. Hughes (tiirough
my dear friend Dean Cotton), and from the fact of the curious
clearance of the character of Mr. Hughes, who lived to a
very great age, and was when I visited him last (he being
then between eighty and ninety years of age) as pleasant,
amusing and kind-hearted as he was when I first made his
acquaintance. Considering the frequency of anon3mious
letter-writing at that time it was a great thing to find an
innocent man acquitted altogether . I use this term, as the
verdict, it seems, failed to satisfy many who of course could
not doubt the death-bed confession.
In writing about Judges I ought to mention that singularly
atle Judge,
LORD LYNDHURST.
I was a boy when he held the Assizes here under the present
regime, but I accompanied my father and mother, who
generally attended the Assizes, the former being alwa}^ on
the grand jury, and I recollect distinctly that the Judge
was spoken of in terms of thegreatest admiration and interest,
and my father in after-life often adverted to the Judge's
marvellous memory. He tried a very long case, and my
father and others whom I heard speak of it in after years
expressed the greatest surprise that in summing up he simply
referred to the notes of evidence to look at the name of the
witness, and not even that in every case, accurately recapitu-
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 96
lating the evidence of each and commenting upon it with
singular clearness. I was indebted to my friend Mr. R. G.
Temple for many anecdotes as to Lord Lyndhurst's visit
to this circuit, to the comfort of which it was very evident
the first Lady L5mdhurst did not add. Meeting her successor,
the second Lady Lyndhurst, in London, and once spending
a day in her ladyship's company at the Thames Regatta
in a yacht accompan5dng the races in 1846, I came to the
conclusion that his lordship's second marriage must have
been attended with greater happiness than the first. This
truly wonderful man was three times Lord High Chancellor,
and when his party was out of office prior to his third
Chancellorship he accepted from the other side the post of
Lord Chief Baron, which he occupied when on this circuit.
I recollect during his old age reading in the Times a wonderful
speech which Lord Ljoidhurst (then a blind man with a brass
rail in front of him to place his hands on in the House of
Lords) delivered with reference to the action of the King of
Prussia. In his powerful speech he reviewed the history of.
Europe for several years with marvellous accuracy. He
died in the ninety-third year of his age, in 1863. Amongst
other cases he tried at Carnarvon was one on the subject of
the Talyfoel ferry and the Paul Pry steamer.
Amongst the early Judges whom I remember was
MR. JUSTICE WILLIAMS.
Sir John Williams, I read recently, was a native of Banbury,
but I had always understood that he was a Yorkshireman.
He came the North Wales circuit on seven successive spring
circuits, and the woodcocks of Vaynol were a great attrac-
tion to him. In 1820, not long before his promotion to the
Bench, he was one of the Coimsel for the defence of Queen
Caroline with Brougham and Denman, the first of whom, it
is needless to add, became Lord Chancellor, and the second
Lord Chief Justice of England. Mr. Justice Williams was a
great student of Latin and Greek, or in the words of Lord
Tenterden, the Lord Chief Justice, "was an admirable
scholar.'*
96 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
I recollect that his Marshal, who was with him during all
the years he came to Carnarvon, was Captain Lally, a retired
miUtary officer. Sir John WiUiams was made a Judge in
1834, and died in 1846, after being thirteen years on the
Bench. At that time the number of civil and criminal
trials at the Carnarvon Assizes was considerable, for party
spirit ran very high and led to frequent appeals to the law.
Elections lasted a long time, bands of music playing for
each party paraded the streets for many weeks prior to the
elections, the bands being accompanied by men carrying
light flag-poles, and if the rival parties met in the sreets the
meeting often culminated in a fight, the flag-poles being
soon converted into staves. At that time the present site
of the Brunswick Buildings in Castle Square, Carnarvon,
was an open bank sloping down to the road behind the Slate
Quay, and I saw a great fight, in which one party drove the
other down the hill with considerable violence, followed by a
trial at the Assizes before Mr. Justice Williams. At one of
the many trials arising from party spirit and elections,
Mr. Justice WiUiams asked one of the witnesses several
questions, which, as a clever man and an officer of the Cor-
poration, he was naturally supposed to be able to answer, but
could not. At last the Judge turned upon him and said,
" Where have you come from. Sir ? Have you come from
Kamschatka, or where have you been ? "
Amongst the nimierous cases he tried at Carnarvon was one
of highway robbery committed a Uttle way out of the town
at Ysgubor Wen, which is now an outskirt of the town, and
far within the lamps. A gentleman had been driven from
the Menai Bridge to Carnarvon in a hired car, and as the car
was returning, four ruffians stopped the car, pulled the
driver oif, and robbed him. They were well-known ma-
rauders named George Roderick, Nanny Roderick, his wife,
alias Nanny Wilt (a prostitute), WiUiam Jones, cUias Billws
Caerbongal, and Robert Roberts. They were all appre-
hended together the next day at a tavern a Uttle way out of
the town. I well recollect the Judge beginning to pass
sentence, and when he had got as far as " Prisoners at the
bar," the woman interrupting said, " My lord, my lord."
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 9T
" Well, prisoner," said the Judge. She then made a very
curious but clever appeal to the Judge, which I cannot very
well repeat here. I forget the sentence they got. After he
got loose Roderick continued for years to live on the public,
and got (as will be seen in another part of these Reminis-
cences) a sentence of fourteen years' transportation, reduced
to four during the goody-goody season, when vast numbers
of dangerous villains were let loose on the public, the result
being murder, rape, and rapine. A regular system of deceiving
gaol chaplains existed amongst convicts at the time, and
many scoimdrels who had made it appear that they were
thoroughly repentant were released, and hanged or trans-
ported for subsequent crimes. After his return Roderick got
fourteen years in Anglesey, and never returned from that.
His companion on these two last occasions was a man called
James Healy ; both men, standing six feet high, were living
in Baptist Street, Carnarvon, better known as Waterloo
Street, owing to the fights that took place there.
The Bar was then a very select sort of club, if I may so
call it. The leader was Mr., afterwards Sir John Jervis,
Attorney-General and subsequently Lord Chief Justice of
the Court of Common Pleas. Mr. R. G. Temple, Mr. Welsby,
and Mr. Townsend were the other leaders. The Bar mess
all travelled in their own omnibus, a very handsome one of
dark blue, with four horses. Of course there were several
juniors. On one occasion at Beddgelert a great quarrel
arose at the hotel between two of the leaders, and the result
was an arrangement for a duel. My brother-in-law, Mr.
Walker Jones, who was a member of the circuit, being a
Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the county,
bound them both over to keep the peace — a somewhat
anomalous position for a junior, that of binding over two
seniors and leaders. At a much later period the leaders of
the Bar had a very narrow escape at Parkia. They had been
dining here, and the horses were stabled. I saw them off at
the door, and to my surprise instead of going down by either
the right or the left from the house to the drive, the horses
went straight down the grass towards the simk fence, which
is about 250 feet from the front of the house, and is between
G
98 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
the two ways already mentioned. I ran after them and,
stopping the horses, fomid that the reins, instead of being
attached to the horses' bits, were fastened to the hames of
the collars. Had they gone on and fallen over into the
sunk fence, the loss of life and limb would probably have
been most serious. The driver had evidently taken the
bridles off on arrival at Parkia and fastened the reins to the
collar, got drunk and forgot to attach them to the bits.
I cannot help recording a very stupid thing done by a man
who was dining at Parkia on one occasion to meet the Bar at
the Assizes. He told after dinner the well-known piece of
fun of the elder Mathews about the boy who is left an
orphan and is advised to go to London to consult a
civilian as to his father's property, he having died intestate,
and who goes as directed and asks a doctor of civil law if he
is a silly villain, as he had come to insult him, and so on.
The teller of this story was fooUsh enough to assure us that
it was actually the case of a youth who lived close to his
neighbourhood and whom he knew well. The next time I
saw him I told him that he had " put his foot in it " most
terribly, and that the leaders of the Circuit were dangerous
people " to tell crammers to ; " and it will hardly be beheved
that I heard the same man elsewhere tell the same story,
with the adoption of it as before, as a matter within his own
cognisance, and that the family lived dose to him. His
memory was evidently better for the compositions of Charles
Mathews than for the warning I had given him a year or two
before.
I recollect some very amusing cases at Beamnaris about
this time. The case of Williams v. Buchland was really an
action against Colonel Pennant, afterwards Lord Penrhyn,
Buckland being the keeper who had ejected Williams from
a part of the Ogwen claimed by the Penrhyn estate. Jervis
led for theplaintiff, and my friend Mr. Robert Griffith Temple
for the defendant, and I had taken Mr. Temple to Beaumaris
in my yacht. One of Colonel Pennant's agents was called
to produce the deeds containing the grants of fishing under
which he claimed. Jervis, alwa)^ fond of a lark, got up and
cross-examined him, asking, with apparent but not real
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 99
solemnity, " Do you mean solemnly t6 tell the Court that
these are the deeds you found in the muniment room at
Penrhyn Castle ? " Upon which the agent, who was very
nervous, put on his glasses and began to open the deeds.
As he was doing so the glasses fell off over the edge of the
witness-box amongst the people standing below. He then
nervously felt in his waistcoat pocket, and after awhile foimd
another pair, put them on his nose, and proceeded to ex-
amine the deeds, when down fell the second pair over the
edge of the box, and then he was helpless. One of the
people below then picked up the first pair and handed it to
the witness, but as it had been trampled on and broken it
was no good and the witness was then helpless. The
Judge then said he could not have the time of the Court
wasted any longer, and Mr. Jervis amidst loud laughter
then left the witness alone, there never having been any
doubt as to the genuineness of the deeds. To those who
were alive to the fact that Jervis was not serious in the matter
the affair was amusing. There was a trial at Beaumaris
which, as Paddy says, " bates Banagher '* in which Jervis
showed great wit. A Captain WiUiams, of whom I have a
distinct recollection, had retired from the sea, after being
master of a schooner called the Auckland. He was one of
the fattest men I ever saw, so fat that I feel certain if he had
got into the cabin of his vessel after he retired from the sea
he could not have got out again without a special opening
of the deck. In his evidence for the plaintiff he said he was
a retired shipmaster. When Jervis got up to cross-examine
him he said, " Now, Sir, you say that you are a retired ship-
master. Pray, may I ask you if you were ever a lighter-
man.*^ The Court was convulsed with laughter, and the
Judge could scarcely refrain; whether the witness imderstood
the joke I know not, but I fancy he did ; anyhow he could
not fail to see that the whole Court was laughing at his
expense. The Court House at Beaumaris, which has the
inscription of its date in the seventeenth century, is worth
a visit as clearly showing an ancient Court-house in an
almost unaltered state. The one alteration I recollect was
recommended by Baron Gumey, and a similar one in the
100 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
old Court at Carnarvon, which (the Court House) I was the
means of having destroyed, as will be hereafter explained.
These alterations consisted of great iron railings behind the
dock and crier and Under-Sheriff's boxes with two iron gates
to admit those who had business in the working part of the
Court.
Sir John Jervis was usually to be seen in a (not always
new) white hat, and when he became a Judge he was hustled
by two ruffians at some public place, I forget where, and
not very long after they stood in the dock to be tried before
the Lord Chief Justice and received a stiff sentence of penal
servitude. Moral: Don*t hustle a Judge. Returning to
the Assizes at Carnarvon I will now relate a very amusing
trial of breach of promise tried there many years ago. I
forget who was the Judge, but unless I am mistaken it was
that eminent Judge,
MR. JUSTICE PATTESON,
who went the North Wales Circuit more than once. He was
made a Judge in 1830, and retired owing to increasing deafness
in 1852. I beUeve there never was another instance of a man
raised to the Bench after only nine years' practice at the Bar ;
and it was recorded of him that, peculiar as this early pro-
motion was, there never was a voice raised against it by the
members of the Bar. But to return to the breach of promise
case, in which the reader will find one of the most racy
and rapid descriptions of the three stages of drunkenness.
The case was the unusual one of gentleman (?) v. lady, revers-
ing the normal order of such cases. The plaintiff was a
medical man of the name of Williams, and the defendant
a widow of the name of Townly. Mr. Jervis led for the
plaintiff and Mr. Townsend for the lady defendant. The
case aboimded with laughable incidents, many of which
I may be pardoned for forgetting, as it took place about
sixty years ago. The promise to marry was not denied,
but the defence was that the plaintiff was foimd to be a man
of such drunken habits that the lady was justified in refusing
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 101
to marry him, as no decent woman could live with such a
drunkard, a fact which several witnesses were called to prove.
inter alia the sharpest witness I ever saw or listened to. I
will give his evidence as near as I can recollect it, and I
believe it is verbatim.
Mr. Barnet examined by Mr. Townsend.
" Mr. Barnet, I beUeve you are the coaching book-keeper
at the Castle Hotel at Bangor ? '*
" I am. Sir.**
" Do you remember Thursday the day of ? "
" Perfectly well.*'
" Did you see the plaintiff on that date ? "
" Yes, he arrived by coach at Bangor about six o'clock,
and ordered a car for the Menai Bridge."
" What state was he in then ? "
" Rather fresh.''
** Did you see him again ? "
" Yes, at eight o'clock, when he left in the car for Menai
Bridge."
" What state was he then in ? "
" Half seas over.''
" Did you see him after that ? "
" Yes, he returned at eleven o'clock."
** What was his condition then ? "
" Beastly drunk."
The three stages were described with great rapidity, the
examination taking less time than I have to write it. The
special jury. Bar and audience were convulsed with
laughter. What could exceed the terseness of the repUes ?
Rather fresh, half seas over, and beastly drunk ! Several wit-
nesses proved cases of insobriety, but none with the force and
brevity of Mr. Barnet. Mr. Townsend made a strong appeal
to the jury ; his person and his voice (which was rather a
weak one) seem as present to me as if the trial took place
yesterday. I remember and have often repeated the
peroration, " I feel assured that a special jury of gentlemen
of the county of Carnarvon will not give the sanction of
104 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
of the crosses might be elongated. The dots represent
railings to enclose stone breakers. I was, however, over-
^"^^^
^1
ruled, and the present too small site on the old one, with the
addition of two houses in Gaol Street, was adopted.
The influence of Serjeant Wilkins' words no doubt drove
me into agitations against niunerous miserable dwellings ;
(many of them in back courts) for pure water and good
drainage and the erection of better buildings. The words
quoted no doubt drove me to frequent visits to the large
towns of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and to various parts of
Wales, to try to persuade men to make better use of their
money than to spend it in taverns ; and I was at one time
President of the Leeds Temperance Association, where I
made the acquaintance of the venerable Sir Edward Baines,
who had been a great worker in the good cause, and the
pregnant words I have named drove me to visit the
prisoners in Carnarvon Gaol as a friend both before and
when I became Chairman of the Visiting Justices, until I
was debarred by sickness.
It may not be out of place here for me to record my
opinion of the result of my prison visits, which is a far from
saUsfactory one. With the exception of a few young folk,
some of whom ought never to have been sent to prison, and
a few men not too far gone in habits of drunkenness, I am
not aware of having succeeded in converting any prisoner
from crime, and I beUeve honestly that the only hope lies
in catching people when very yoimg. Numerous Judges of
Assize have asked me to what I attribute the diminution
of crime, and I invariably answered, ^^ prevention rather
than cure ; by educating boys and girls ; better housing of
the people, thereby reducing the temptation to adjourn to
the tavern ; the great alleviation of the lot of vast nimibers
by the action of good men and women ; an active poUce, and
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 105
education." I never as a magistrate would fine a man for
being drunk the first time if I sat alone or with others who
would agree to it; but when sitting with others I rarely
found any one to agree, and the hardest objectors were
generally those most fond of drink themselves. Now every
one is in love with the ''First Offenders' Act,'* which is
working well in all sorts of cases, but in some is carried too
far. Whenever I could discharge the first offence of drunk-
enness, with a promise of trying not to do it again, I found
it most efficacious. I will give one instance : I was address-
ing a crowded audience in a large chapel at Cwmyglo,
near Llanberis, many years ago at night, and when I got down
off the raised dais I was grasped cordially by each hand by
two fine well-grown men, well dressed and wearing blue
ribbons. They said, "We owe everjrthing to you. Sir."
" Oh," I said, " you must be making a mistake. I have a
singularly good recollection of faces (alas ! not now), and
have no recollection of ever seeing either of you before."
"Oh," they said, "when you were Mayor of Carnarvon,
you saw us too often. We were brought before you for
being drunk, and the first time you said you would not fine
us if we promised to do our best to avoid drunkenness. We
did avoid it for some time, as we were ashamed to go before
you after you had let us off without pimishment, but after
awhile we broke out again and were locked up for being
drunk and riotous. After fining us two or three times you
said that that was the last time, and that if we came again
you would send us to prison without the option of fine.
We did and got a month, and you visited us several times
in gaol and got us to promise to take the pledge if we meant
honestly to do our best to keep it, but on no account to sign
it unless truly intending it. We took the pledge, and have
kept it to this day. We have been saving money now for
years and Uve decent hves." " Which accounts for my not
recognising you," I said, " as you are so altered and so well
dressed." I am no longer a Visiting Justice, and was very
properly superseded owing to a succession of dangerous
illnesses, which quite incapacitated me for the work. I
hope, after long experience, that I may venture to advise
106 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
that where magistrates have a taste for the work it is very
advisable to keep one or two in harness as visiting magis-
trates, if they visit and inquire into the thoughts and habits
of prisoners, by which means they can in time realise the
effect of long or short sentences ; and now that I do not
sit even as a magistrate I can have no object but one in the
strong advice I venture to give as to sentences at Quarter
Sessions and dsewhere, and that is to give heed in awarding
sentences to those who have taken an interest in prisoners,
those who have availed themselves of the opportimities of
holding frequent interviews with them in prison. I daresay
at Quarter Sessions it might often be thought that in certain
cases I was the advocate for far more severe sentences than
many other Justices ; and if there were those who thought so,
they were right. I generally and sometimes successfully
got sentences pronounced fully double those proposed in the
retiring room. These were cases of brutal violencey and my
experience of prisoners, often longer than the age of many
other magistrates, confirmed me in the principle. I knew
many prisoners, including one Bob Robyn, who was in gaol
two hundred times on short sentences. He never stole but
was constantly drunk, and committed serious assaults. I
recollect the cases of five prisoners tried at Quarter Sessions
for most violent assaults — four for assaulting and nearly
killing in one case, and one man for a similar offence at another
Quarter Session. I managed to get them at one Session more
than double the amount of imprisonment proposed, and not
one of them came again. They were cowardly ruffians who had
assaulted old men. I visited them often in prison, and one
of them (not one of the four), who had evidently enjoyed the
comforts of good living and a good home, often complained
of his feeling of emptiness of belly, and vowed it was the last
time I should see him in gaol, and so it proved. One man,
about forty years ago, was continually brought up at the
Guild Hall for assaulting his wife, a decent woman, and the
farce of a fine with the alternative of imprisonment, or
binding over in two sureties to keep the peace, was repeatedly
enacted. He was a very large and powerful fellow, with
private means and no actual necessity for work, and I had
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 107
the mortification several times of attending the prison to
discharge him on his wife attending with two sureties,
perhaps within two hours of his incarceration. At last I
got him before me at the Guild Hall, for one of his repeated
assaults on his wife, a hard-working, decent, but very plain
woman, and gave him six months and hard laboiu:. The
resuU was that his place in Carnarvon gaol and at the GuM Hall
knew him no more. Those who commit violent assaults are
generally cowardly rufl&ans, on whom a short sentence has
no effect, but whom — from my experience of such men as a
magistrate for forty-four years — I have found to have a
wholesome dread of a long sentence. The luxury of cruelly
treating another does not seem a sufficient temptation when
it involves a long term of imprisonment, but the chance of
making a good haul by a theft or a burglary seems to possess
an irresistible temptation to those who have once com-
menced the busifiess^ for as such they seem to regard it.
There was a very smart man who with two others was tried
some years ago at the Carnarvon Assizes, whom I had the
impertinence to approach in his cell when he was under
sentence with a little reasoning as to the unwisdom of a
method of living which involved being locked up for some
time. I sat modestly on a three-legged stool in the presence
of this smart man, who shut me up very quickly by repudi-
ating the idea that his mode of living was a disreputable
one. Yet he and his companions had been convicted on the
clearest evidence of carrying on a " long firm " business.
They had taken a house in Carnarvon and obtained goods
from London firms by clever misrepresentation, and had no
idea of being argued out of crime that brought good returns.
It is the old story, " Can the leopard change his spots ? etc.,"
and again I say the moral is, " Catch them yoimg.'* In
many public addresses I denounced the s)^tem of allowing
children to grow up in the gutter and then hanging or trans-
porting them for following the trade they were brought up
to. I use the word tradey as it is so regarded by its practi-
ticmers.
108 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
SERJEANT TADDY.
In the year 1835-^ my brother-in-law, Mr. Morgan, was
High Sheriff of the county of Carnarvon, and the Judge who
was to have held the March Assizes, was not able to come,
and Serjeant Taddy, one of the Serjeants-at-law, was
conmiissioned to go the Circuit in his stead. In those days
the grand jury was alwa3rs composed of the gentlemen of
the county, who always arrived the day before, the High
Sheriff giving a great dinner. People sat very late at
dinners in those days, and the Under-Sheriff , who was rather
addicted to long sittings, seems to have been imusually
incapacitated on this occasion. The next morning the
Judge found no Sheriff, no carriage or javelin men awaiting
him, and walked from the lodgings, then in Castle Square,
to the Court, and opened the Assizes. Before long there
was a blast of trumpets, and the noise of carriage wheels, and
into court came the High Sheriff. Upon which Serjeant
Taddy rose and said, " I fine the High Sheriff of the county
of Carnarvon £50." Mr. Morgan bowed and took his seat
in the High Sheriffs box, an appendage of the old Court
House. The following Friday, being Good Friday, the
Court did not sit, and the High Sheriff took the Judge for a
drive in the country, and as they journeyed Mr. Morgan said,
" My lord, about tiiat £50 you have fined me," but before
he got any further the learned Serjeant said, " My dear Sir,
make your mind perfectly easy on that subject. I had no
idea of enforcing it ; I know all about it, you gave a great
dinner the night before, and that little Under-Sheriff of yours
got drunk and did not appear in time in the morning.
Where did you get that little man ? " The " little man "
was really acting as deputy of the actual Under-Sheriff. It
is said, " that he who fights and runs away shall live to fight
another day." This " little man," despite his weakness for
liquor, lived for many years after, and I have seen him at
some of the numerous public dinners at elections, and other
occasions, get drunk, slip quietly off his chair, straight down
feet first under the table, and go to sleep without attracting
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 109
any general attention, and in an hour or so quietiy re-appear
on his chair and get drunk again.
BARON HOLLAND.
At the following Assizes the Judge was Baron BoUand,
who was made a Baron of the Exchequer in 1829, and after
ten years' admirable service on the Bench had unfortimately
to resign in 1839 owing to extreme ill-health, and died in
1840. He was a man of considerable erudition, a very
handsome dignified man, and a most kindly mannered and
an able Judge. Mr. Morgan happened to tell him of his
mishap the previous year, and when he had got to the fining
of £50 the Baron said — " What ! and in borrowed boots ? "
but when he heard the rest of the story of the excusal of the
fine he laughed and said that of course Serjeant Taddy as the
Commissioner of Assize possessed every power of a more
permanent Judge, and the walking to Court was of course an
unheard-of affair, and might be very awkward in any period
of excitement.
For a great number of years the post of Clerk of the
Crown, recently vacated by Mr. Henry Crompton, the son of
the late Mr. Justice Crompton, was filled by Mr. Lloyd, the
grandfather of Sir Horatio Lloyd, the present County Court
Judge, who has evidently won the esteem of the public and
practitioners. Mr. Lloyd was a remarkably gentiemanly
old man, always most neatly and carefully correct in his
dress, and he alwa}^ had a bunch of flowers before him in
Court. One of his sons, Mr. Watson Lloyd, had been a
lieutenant in the Navy and had a cork leg. After losing his
leg he accompanied his father for some years on the Circuit,
and became quite competent for the post of Clerk of the
Crown. He was a man of singularly pleasant manners, and
as full of fun as a midshipman. He was a delightful com-
panion, and when I arrived at years of discretion — that is if
I ever did — he and I became fast friends, and he was my
guest at many of our Regattas, and I visited him at his house
at Park Gate. His drollery on that and all other occasions
amused me much ; as I was a life-boat volunteer and Rear
110 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Commodore of the R.W.Y. Club, he thought I would like the
smell of tar, and he placed a ball of spun yam on a chest of
drawers in my bedroom which scented the whole room, and
being fond of tar I enjoyed the smell as well as the joke.
Not so, however, Grindrod, the then Commodore of the
Mersey Yacht Club ; he had the same luxury supplied to his
bedroom on another occasion by our mutual friend, and
not appreciating it threw it out of the window. But to
return to the Assize reminiscences. The contrast between
the two Lloyds and the other official called the Associate
was singularly marked. He was a man with a broad
Cheshire accent, and used to make the drollest hash of names
imaginable. In the coimty of Merioneth where Mr. Hugh
Pugh of Rug (pronounced Pew and Reage) was always on the
grand jury, the Associate used in calling over the grand
jurors' names, to call " Hug Pug of Rug, Esq." At Carnar-
von, Captain Simeon Peter Boileau, an old military officer,
resident in the town, was ahnost always on the grand jury,
and the Associate mangled his name into ^^ Sitnon Peter
Below, Esq." His voice was loud and gruff, and it was most
amusing to any one having any appreciation of the ludicrous
to listen to him. Mr. Jervis frequently took a rise out of
him, and at one Assize on the hearing of a breach of
promise case there was a love letter abounding in French
quotations to be read. It was to Jervis*s cUent's interest that
the letter should appear as ridiculous and as incompre-
hensible as possible. When the letter was put in, the
opposite Counsel was about to read it, but Mr. Jervis claimed
to have it read by the proper officer of the Couit. Accord-
ingly the Associate proceeded to do so. The letter com-
menced with the words, " My dear love." The Associate
commenced, " Moi dear luve ; " he got on pretty well until
he arrived at a French quotation, then he came to a dead stop.
After waiting some little time the Judge ordered him to go
on, and he recommenced with " Moi dear luve," and halted
again. The Judge after waiting awhile, wondering at the
delay, rather angrily said, " Pray go on, Mr. Evans."
Poor old Evans, after in vain stumbling over the words,
looked round and said, " My lord, there's a crace in it "
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 111
(meaning a crease). The ruse was of course seen through,
and the Bar leading the laugh, the audience joined in
it. The French quotation was a little too much for Mr.
Evans.
When the elder Mr. Lloyd had grown old and his son,
Mr. Watson Lloyd, had thoroughly learned the work to be
done, Mr. Justice Cresswell was holding the Assizes at
Carnarvon, and Mr. Lloyd, senior, called on him at the
Judges' lodgings. He reminded his lordship that he
(Mr. Lloyd) had grown very old in the service, and that his
son had quite mastered the business, and asked to be allowed
to resign in his favour. The Judge, putting on a very
serious look, repUed, " Mr. Lloyd, I cannot allow any man
to resign in favour of another," and then relaxing his features
into a pleasant smile, he added, " but I think if you resign
you will run no risk." The old gentleman took the hint,
and the Judge (in whose gift the post was) appointed Mr.
Watson Lloyd, and many a pleasant hour I spent with him
on many occasions here, at Beaumaris, at Carnarvon and
elsewhere. He had excellent power of mimicry. His
imitation of the singing of the old salts when he was in the
Navy was admirable :
Farewell and adiew to ye Spanish ladies.
Farewell and adi^o; to ye ladies of Spain,
We've received fresh orders to sail for old England,
But in a short time we shaU see you again, &c.
His imitation of the Welsh harp too was irresistibly droll,
and I recollect an old friend of mine who was visiting at
Parkia declaring that he had never witnessed anything more
droll. Dear kind old soul, I am always glad I did not accept
the last invitation I received from him to stay at his house
near Park Gate. His letter said he would meet me with his
dog cart at the Hop Pole Hotel in Chester, but I wrote to say
I could not go. He drove there to meet another guest
and died there in a fit, and I was spared the intense pain of
witnessing the sudden end of so kind a friend.
112 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
MR. JUSTICE CRESSWELL.
During one of Mr. Justice CressweU's Assizes at Carnarvon,
he tried Rowlands, the man accused of murdering his fellow
watchman over the stores of the contractors for the Britannia
Bridge. The stores of a man called Boly were repeatedly
robbed, and one night Rowlands rushed into the nearest
house to the works, which extended for about a mile along
the Vaynol shore. He was apparently in great haste and
said, " Come quickly, they have robbed Boly's stores and
have killed Roberts." The murdered man was addicted
to drink, and the theory of the prosecution was that both men
were plunderers of the stores and that Rowlands had reason
to fear that Roberts would let it out when in liquor, and
thought it prudent to close his tongue for ever. The principal
evidence against him was this. The two men lived on the
Anglesey side of the Straits, and crossed in a boat to and
from the works on the Carnarvonshire side. The toll-
keeper of the Menai Bridge, who is stationed on the Carnar-
von side, deposed to the fact that a man whom he afterwards
identified as the prisoner crossed the bridge from the Angle-
sey side, paid for passing through, and disappeared for a
short time. Very soon after he had passed through the
toll-gate the witness heard the breaking of a branch of a
tree in the wood on the Carnarvonshire side, and the prisoner
directly after passed back through the toll-gate towards the
Anglesey side, carrying a large branch, and as he passed
through he said in Welsh, " My head has not spared my
heels," leaving it of course to be imderstood that after going
to the Carnarvonshire side he had recollected something he
had previously forgotten, and had to go back. Those who
know the beautiful Menai Bridge will be aware that the
pillars have very large projecting ornaments abreast of the
two roadways. One of these pillars on the Anglesey side
is built on a rock, between which and the mainland in Angle-
sey there is a water passage. On this rock were found
several articles of clothing stolen from Boly's stores. The
prosecution naturally suggested that the prisoner had
thrown the clothes over, and it not being very light in the
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 113
early morning had not noticed the large ornamental pro-
jecting stones when he threw them, as he had supposed, into
the sea, and that being afraid of going out on the projecting
ornament when he saw they were resting upon it, he got the
branch of a tree and pushed them ofi, but they fell on the
rock, where they were found. The sununing up of the
Judge was a masterpiece of clever dealing with the subject.
The prisoner was acquitted. And when in recent years the
trial of Mrs. Maybrick caused so much excitement, some
idiot who argued himself into a beUef of her innocence
adduced this case as a proof of the danger of circumstantial
evidence, and stated, what was untrue, that another man
had confessed on his death-bed that he had murdered the
man. Mr. Justice Cresswell had a somewhat abrupt and
unpleasant manner. When he could not keep up in writing
his notes with the questions of Counsel, he would say,
" Stop." At the Liverpool Assizes Mr. Henry James, the
eminent Counsel, was a Uttle ahead, and his lordship called
" Stop." Mr. James went on, and the Judge said, " Did
you not hear me, Mr. James ? " "I heard your lordship
very distinctly," was the reply ; " but I of course concluded
that you were issuing orders to some servant of the Court."
He was afterwards appointed Judge of the Divorce Court,
and gave great satisfaction, I beUeve. I happened to go
into the Court one day, when it was quite a new thing, and
chanced to be standing next to some barrister who was also
standing in the body of the Court by my side, and I remarked
to him that I wondered Sir Cresswell Cresswell had preferred
it to the post he had filled of a Judge of the Court of Conmion
Pleas, and his reply amused me much. " You see," he said,
" he is sole Judge in this Court, and there are people who
would rather reign in hell than exist in heaven." At that
time the Divorce Court was new and had not attained its
subsequent dignity.
H
1*6 MEMORIES OF SIR LL TURNER
not the forger lay upon him ; and that while men do sum-
mon people to witness their wills, they do not summon their
kinsfolk or acquaintances to see them forge a document,
but do it secretiy ; it is in nearly all cases therefore proved
by evidence of facts from which the jury may presume it.
TTiere was ample evidence to presimie, and there had been
no attempt on the part of the prisoner to prove that any one
else had done it. Possibly tihis may come imder the eye
of some future grand jury who may be content to leave the
question of guilt to the Judge and jury and to find a bill
on primd facie evidence, which is all a grand jury requires.
I was talking this matter over the other day with a gentleman
who often serves upon the grand jury, and he reminded me
of a case in which also I had been the foreman, and in which
a grand juror proposed to throw out the bill because there
was no person answering to the name written by the prisoner,
therefore according to his argimient there could be no offence
in writing a fictitious name. Fortimately the law, in this
case at all events, is not as once described by Mr. Bumble,
" a hass." The bill was found and the prisoner convicted
and sentenced for the common offence of defrauding a bank
by producing a document of the natmre of which the law
says, " that whether the name forged be that of a merely
fictitious person who never existed or of a person actually
existing is wholly immaterial." " It is as much a forgery
in the one case as in the other, provided the fictitious name
be assumed for the purpose of fraud in the particular instance
in question. So also the signing of a bill of exchange in the
name of a non-existing firm."
Grand juries are often reminded by Judges that they are
not called upon to try prisoners, but simply to ascertain
whether there is sufficient evidence to put them on their
trial to answer the charge ; yet singular propositions of the
kind I have mentioned will sometimes crop up. As I am
not going to mention names I cannot be accused, I hope, of
violating the grand jurors' oath by now mentioning a case
of the opposite kind, where I felt it my duty, as foreman of
the grand jury, strenuously, but imsuccessfully, to oppose
the finding of a biU. A very curious case was tried in a
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 117
G)unty Court in one of the towns of this county before
Sir Horatio Lloyd. At this moment I forget whether his
judgment was in favour of the plantifE or of the defendant ;
that is, however, inunaterial so far as what follows is con-
cerned, xhe losing party applied to a magistrate and
obtained a warrant for the apprehension of the winning
party on the charge of his having committed perjury in his
evidence in the County Court, and the magistrate who
granted the warrant sat on the case and committed the
accused for trial. He was also on the grand jury of which
I was foreman. Having heard the evidence, I expressed
a very decided opinion that the evidence was very far from
such as to justify a conviction even in an ordinary case ; but
that in this case a Judge of Assize would never sanction the
conviction of a man who, having been the plaintiff or defend-
ant in a County Court action, had been successful, the
judgment of the Coimty Court Judge being tantamount to
a declaration that he was the witness of truth. In reply
to this the magistrate who had committed the accused
said that had he tried the case in the County Court he would
have decided for the other party, who was now prosecuting.
The evidence offered to the grand jury was the same as that
upon which the accused had won his case in the County
Court. Strange to say, only one man supported my con-
tention, and he was the oldest magistrate in the coimty.
The bill was foimd, and when the Judge — Lord Justice
Baggallay — heard the prosecutor's evidence he stopped the
case, directing the jury to acquit the prisoner on the grounds
I have mentioned. I name these cases out of no disrespect
for the opinions of others, but to show that it is well to be
guided by settled principles. The magistrate who had
committed the prisoner and was so positive as to his guilt,
was an honest and honourable man, but showed on a
variety of occasions that he laboured under the singular
delusion that he knew far more law than any Judge. I
recollect on one occasion his astonishing my weak mind by a
very remarkable criticism of the address to the grand jury
of (me of the most clear-headed and able Judges on the
Bench ; and I remember another occasion when there was a
n^ MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
meeting of some of the coimty justices (of which he and I
formed a part) I said that the matter was one which the
Home Secretary would have to decide, and he stated, " that we
were above the Home Secretary^* a statement tfce fallacy
of which was self-evident, as we should very soon have foimd
had we " tried conclusions " with that important official on
the point.
Returning to the cases tried by Lord Denman at Carnarvon
in the year 1840, one was a charge of murder against the
master of a small vessel canying limestone to Carnarvon.
The^accused had killed his wife just before the Assizes, but
the jury, with the sanction of the Judge, found him guilty
of manslaughter, and he got off with a term of twelve months*
imprisonment. His lordship at these Assizes tried two
serious charges of burglary, one committed at the mansion
of Pendyffryn, near Conway, which was then the property
of Mr. Smith, the brother of General Sir Charles Felix
Smith, who succeeded to it on the death of his brother, and
on his death it was sold to the late Mr. Darbishire, who
subsequently filled the office of High Sheriff of this coimty.
The other burglary was at Treborth, near Menai Bridge,
then occupied by Mrs. Drew, a lady of remarkable kindness
and most charitable disposition, whose liberality to the
poor was proverbial. The prisoners, t^ee in number, were
part of an organised gang of burglars, who, having ascertained
that Wales was very unprotected by any anti-thief and
robber organisation, determined to try it. It appears from
their statement to the governor of Carnarvon Gaol, prior
to their leaving it for Australia to serve their term of trans-
portation, that the gang consisted of five men, the three
prisoners to " burgle,** one of the others to follow some trade
at Carnarvon, and the other at Menai Bridge to dispose of
the " swag,** and the latter to get rid of it by steamer from
the Menai Bridge to Liverpool. They mentioned that this
house (Parkia) and Llanfair had been examined, but the
nimiber of dogs at this house and some obstacle on the night
they visited Llanfair kept them off for the time. They
also stated that their practice was to visit houses, and
" burgle ** them if any special circiunstances favoured the
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 119
operation on the night of inspection ; if not, the visit was to
enable their plans to be laid for another occasion. With
r^ard to Pendyffryn they robbed that on the inspection
night in these circumstances. At one o'clock, while they
were canying on their examination, a back or side door was
opened, and the three men were at the time behind a laiige
bush of evergreens close to that door, and there they stood
quiet for some time, quite near to, but divided from a servant-
girl and her sweetheart, whom she was letting out of the
house. The two lovers remained about a quarter of an hour
or so, talking by the door, and the sweetheart kissed her
and went away, and the girl returned into the house and
bolted the door. It was a perfectly still night, and she had
brought a candle with her, by the light of which the burglars
saw that a small window of a lavatory was left open. They
told the governor before they left the gaol for Van Diemen*s
Land that they gave the girl one hour to go into a soimd
sleep, which was the usual time allowed by burglars, and
then the small man of the party entered the house through
the lavatory window and opened the door through which the
lovers had come out, and the two other men then entered,
and they were rewarded by a large haul of silver plate.
Two of them were powerfully made men who had deserted
from the army and adopted this trade, and the third was a
sharp little scoundrel who could get into houses through
a very small aperture. The three men were apprehended
in one of the mountain passes, Nant Ffrangcon, if I remember
rightly, with a donkey-cart and a lot of silver vessels in it.
I do not recollect any of the facts of the breaking into
Mrs. Drew's house, except the loss of her plate, etc. ; but it
would be difficult to forget one piece of evidence given upon
the trial — that of Mrs. Drew's blind butler, whose hat they
had stolen, and which was found in the donkey-cart with
other stolen property. The bhnd butler excited the greatest
interest in Court at the Assizes ; he was asked by the Counsel
for the prosecution if he had lost his hat on the night in
question and could identify it. It was then handed to him,
and he felt it all over and identified it, no one doubting the
truthfulness of the man. Mrs. Drew, an Irish ladv, was
120 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
a model of kindness, and her works of charity " were known
of all men." The prisoners were found guilty ; and the
dignified demeanour, the clear voice, and impressive tones
and manner of the learned Ju4ge in passing sentence were
remarked on all sides at the trial ; but the contrast between
the dignity of Lord Denman and the response of the pris-
oners was laughable. One of them immediately on the
conclusion of the sentence said, " Thank you, my lord ; you
are sending us to a Christian country where we shall have
a fine black wife apiece.'* In retiring to the prison they
indulged in the recreation of giving the turnkey, Hugh Jones
(whom I well remember), a couple of black eyes, a somewhat
unusual proceeding for men who had to be to a certain extent
at his mercy imtil their removal to transportation. Apropos
of Sir Charles Felix Smith, who, as already stated, subse-
quently lived at Pendyffryn, the late Lord Penrh3ai told
me that he (Sir Charles) was the original of Trevanion,
mentioned in one of Lever's admirable novels, the incidents
of which it is stated were perfectly true. I venture, as all
my readers may not have read the story, and others who
may have forgotten it, to recite it. After the battle of
Waterloo, when the English and the other allied armies were
in the occupation of Paris, the defeated French officers, who
were splendid pistol-shots, took every possible opportunity
of insulting the English officers and challenging them to
fight, trusting to their own firing acciuacy, and many officers
were shot in the moat or ditch where the duels took place.
There was a particular restaurant in Paris where the English
officers resorted very much, and they were constantly
insulted there. Trevanion was very ill for some time, but
as soon as he was sufficiently recovered he went to the
restaurant, and seating himself at a small table called for a
newspaper and a cup of coffee. The paper was brought,
and a big bullying French officer, who was sitting at a table
close by, snatched it out of his hand and sat down reading
it. Trevanion took no notice, and the English officers
present looked on in wonder at him, who was considered
a champion, suffering such an indignity, and thought that
his late illness had deprived him of his nerve, but they were
THE RIGHT HON. LORD CAMPBELL
Lord Chief Justice of England
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 121
mistaken. The coffee was delivered and the Frenchman
took it away and resumed his paper, and after a brief deliber-
ation Trevanion slowly rose from his seat, and with each
hand seized the French officer by the upper and lower jaw,
opening his mouth wide, spat down his throat, and in the
operation broke his lower jaw. There were no more insults
and no more duels. My recital may be wrong in a few
particulars, but if there are any they can be of no importance,
as it is forty or fifty years since I read the story, and a great
many since I heard who the officer was. I had a sUght
acquaintance with Sir Charles Felix Smith, who used to
attend the Yacht Club balls at Carnarvon with the first,
and afterwards with the second Lady Smith, and I recollect
I had a small correspondence with him, but I forget what
it was about. The particularly cool, quiet, and unruffled
way in which he would sometimes move about would quite
reconcile one to the description of the deliberate move upon
the French officer during the occupation of Paris. I never
was at Pendyffryn, but had the very great intellectual treat of
corresponding on more than one literary subject with the late
Mrs. Darbishire when she resided there. Her style stamped
her as a lady of no common order of thought, and one who
was very far from being behind the times. Mrs. Darbishire
was the mother of Mr. Arthur and Mr. Charles Darbishire,
two magistrates of this county at the present time.
LORD CAMPBELL.
Amongst the Judges who came the North Wales Circuit
more than forty years ago was Lord Campbell, the Lord
Chief Justice of England, who tried the unfortunate man
who was known as " Jack Swan " for the Roe murder. The
facts were briefly these. He enticed a lad who was a pupil-
teacher in the British School to go rabbit-shooting with him
to a lonely spot in the mountains between Llanrwst and
Penmaenmawr, and walking behind shot him in the back
of the head, and packed the body in between some huge
boulders of which a vast number have been deposited by
some convulsion of nature in a small gully or pit on very
122 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
high ground. The boy had a silver watch and a few pieces
of sUver money. The watch was not worth much more
than a few shiUings, and therefore the gain for which, as it
proved, the prisoner sacrificed his own and the boy's life
was very small. Two nights prior to his execution the
prisoner told the turnkey who sat up with him that he had
shot the boy, but that he had done it at the instigation of a
man of the name of William Jones, whose son, the prisoner
said, had tried for the post of pupil-teacher, which had been
won by the deceased. The prisoner's story was that
William Jones offered him (the accused) £s los. if he
would shoot the lad, so that his son might get the place.
The turnkey of course communicated the story to the
governor of the prison, who at once sent an account of it
to Lord Newborough, who was then the Chairman of the
Visiting Justices. A warrant was immediately granted for
the apprehension of William Jones, and he was brought to
the prison, and in a room below what was then the c(MI-
demned cell the prisoner was confronted with William Jones.
The prisoner was sworn and deposed upon oath to the truth
of his story, which the magistrates felt no doubt or difficulty
in pronouncing to be false, and William Jones was dis-
charged, and very properly informed by the Justices that he
left the prison without a stain upon his character. It was
painful to hear the statement of the prisoner made within
sound of the hammering in preparation for his execution.
He asked the governor to send for me the night before he
was hanged, and I went to his cell about eight o'clock, p.m.,
and he talked about the matter. I entreated of him that
as he had to die next morning he should not leave this world
with a lie upon his hps, and that if he had told any falsehood
he should unbosom himself of the truth, and especially free
WiUiam Jones from the false charge he had made against
him. This he readily did, and said that he had not intended
to destroy William Jones, but that he had thought to
preserve his own hfe until the next Carnarvonshire Assizes,
when William Jones would have been tried upon the charge
he (Jack Swan) had falsely made against him. His case
amply proves the impropriety and wickedness — for it is
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 128
nothing less— of concealing confessions. When a man is
executed for murder it is of course a great satisfaction to the
witnesses for the prosecution that the prisoner confesses his
guilt ; and when he confesses they should have the benefit
of it, for although people of good understanding who knew
the facts would not bdieve the story the prisoner had told,
many would be found who would have a lurking suspicion
of guilt which the confession of course removed. The tower
in the upper story of which the prisoner was confined is
now the place of execution, where the permanent machine is
kept. But the floor of the upper story was removed some
years ago — ^unwisely, I think, as a useful room was lost. It
is the only remaining portion of the old prison which
my agitation was the cause of demolishing, the new one
being built on the site. The tower is a part of the old town
wall.
SIR JOHN JERVIS,
Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.
Sir John Jervis, of whom mention has been made in these
pages, when he was at the Bar came this Circuit on CMie
occasion when a young woman from Llanddeiniolen was
charged with poisoning her father with arsenic. They lived
alone and saw few other people, and a post-mortem exam-
ination very clearly proved that the father died from arsenical
poisoning. Being confined to the house he could not have
gone an5nvhere to obtain the poison, but there was no evi-
dence of the accused having purchased arsenic, and the
Judge wisely advised the grand jury to throw out the bill,
explaining that if tried and acquitted she could not be tried
again ; but that if the bill were thrown out and any fresh
evidence was forthcoming, she could be placed upon her
trial. The bill was of course thrown out, and this ended
all that I ever heard of her. I have very little recollection
of any other incident at these Assizes connected with the
advent of Sir John Jervis as Lord Chief Justice beyond the
fact of an address presented to him on this occasion, since he
had been so long leader of the North Wales Circuit.
124 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
A curious incident is well known with regard to another
trial over which he presided. A man was being tried for
cheating by " thimble-rigging." A poUceman professed
to show how the cheating was done, but the Chief Justice,
who had when at the Bar paid a thimble-rigger for teaching
him how it was done, told the police officer to hand the
tackle to him, and demonstrated at once to the jury how the
trick was worked.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE EARLE.
This learned Judge, when Mr. Justice Earle and afterwards
when Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, was evidently
fond of the North Wales Circuit, and his exceeding kindness
and patience were very pleasing to all who came in contact
with him.
I recollect on one occasion he sat imtil near eleven at
night at Carnarvon, on the day fixed for opening the Com-
mission of Assize at Beaumaris, to finish a heavy list at the
former place, and had to hurry to Beaumaris to open the
Assizes there before midnight. I remember a somewhat
imusual criminal case tried before him at Carnarvon Assizes
on one occasion, that of a man who, having taken a house
at or near Portmadoc, put the doors and windows and all the
woodwork he could lay hands on to the uses of warming and
cooking, rendering the house imfit for habitation. There
was at that time a man of the name of Will Ellis, an idiot
at Portmadoc, who, notwithstanding his defect of intellect,
could say most witty things. To the surprise of every one.
Will walked straight up into the witness-box and deliber-
ately shut the door. It was the old Court, and there was a
witness-box with steps leading up to it. Will wore a large
calf-skin waistcoat that reached down to the bottom of his
stomach, and carried a long stick nearly as high as his
shoulders with a shepherd's crook, and was apparently
going to deliver an oration in favour of the prisoner ; but
the J udge,*^ seeing what he was, gently and in his usual kind
waynjordered his removal. The prisoner was convicted on
clear evidence.
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 125
A droll instance of Will Ellis' wit took place at an election
where he appeared with the Liberal colours hanging from
his hat. He was accosted by a clergyman, who was a
magistrate, in very angry terms. The magistrate, who was
incimibent of iwo parishes, asked Will how he, being a pauper
kept by the parish, dared to interfere in the election, and to
go about with colours on his hat, adding that being a
guardian of the poor he would have his relief stopped. Will
was too much for him, and replied, " Well indeed, Mr. ,
it is quite true that the parish does keep me, but it only take
one parish to do it, and it take two parish to keep you."
Sydney Smith or Dean Cotton could not have replied in
a wittier manner. Will's head shook naturally when
he spoke, and the shake of his head added pungency to his
wit.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE BOVILL.
After a very large practice at the Bar Sir William Bovill
filled the post of Solicitor-General, and was promoted to the
office of Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.
It was my good fortune to enjoy his friendship for
many years imtil his death, and he several times came
the North Wales Circuit, and often went sailing with me. I
received great kindness and attention in London from him
and Lady Bovill.
During the time that the Tichbome trial was going on I
enjoyed the very great pleasure of staying with him and Lady
Bovill at Coombe Wood from Saturday to Monday, and a
most charming visit it was. That exceedingly genial Judge
Vice-ChanceUor Malins and Mr. Kenyon, the Chairman of the
Shropshire Quarter Sessions (a descendant of the Lord Chief
Justice Kenyon), were the other guests. The house was that
of Lady Bovfll's brother, lent to the Chief Justice, and was
itself a place of great interest, having been the property of
Lord Liverpool, and in it he had entertained the great
European Deliverer after the Battle of Waterloo, and a
very handsome dwelling I foimd it. I never heard the
eleventh commandment until then, when the Chief Justice
told me, " Thou shalt not be found out.** He also repeated
126 MEMORIES OF SIR LL, TURNER
the droll lines that came out at the time of the Tichbome
trial:
O, have you heard the Tichbome case is done,
And Chief Justice Bovill proved to be Sir Roger Tichbome's son ?
This trial was adjourned over the Summer Assize when the
Chief came this Circuit with Lady Bovill. I had arranged
to take them from Carnarvon to Beaumaris by water, and to
breakfast with them at the Judges' lodgings ; but although
it was the height of summer, the darkness when I got into the
lodgings about eight o'clock a.m., was extraordinary, and
the thimder, hghtning, and rain exceedingly great. The
yacht was abandoned, and they went by land, but, as so often
happens in that pleasant himting-gromid Anglesey, there was
no business, so we sailed about the Menai Straits and Beau-
maris all the next day.
At the Assizes of Flintshire of the previous year the Lord
Chief Justice had had to try and sentence some rioters
who had violently stoned from a bridge a small military
force sent to guard other rioters who had been guilty of
violence, and at the Flintshire Assizes following those of
which I have been speaking, a representation was made to his
lordship that the county had returned to normal quietness,
and he agreed to recommend the final pardon of the offenders,
who were let off from fmrther punishment on the Judge's
recommendation.
On one occasion they stayed at Plas Llanfair with Lord
and Lady Clarence Paget, and I had the pleasure of passing
two or three pleasant days with them there, as there was no
civil or criminal business at Beamnaris. We visited the
bridges, and the Chief Justice related to us a fact which Lady
Bovill had mentioned to me some years before. When the
Lord Chief Justice was a young barrister, he made a tour
in North Wales dming the long vacation, and went to see
the Menai Bridge. Lady Bovill, then Miss Barnwell, was
doing the same thing in a travelling carriage with her imcle.
It so happened that they saw each other for the first time
on the bridge, and when Mr. Bovill saw her he said, " That
is my wife." After subsequent introduction she became his
(Jt'afk/fts, pAo/fi, Lontion)
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE HOVILL
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 127
wife, and the mother of a very large family. She was a very
handsome woman, and stayed with us at Parkia a few years
after her husband's death.
VICE-CHANCELLOR MALINS.
As this most agreeable Judge has been mentioned I may
as well recoimt one or two anecdotes that may not be imin-
teresting. On my Coombe Wood visit, as always, the Vice-
Chancellor was most pleasant. I recollect his telling me
after dinner that, during his career at the Bar and on the
Bench, he could not remember any case that gave him so
much trouble as a Chancery suit tried by him between two
contractors of the Carnarvon and Llanberis railway, the
figures and the various ramifications of which, he said, had
bothered him to an unusual degree.
There is a most amusing story told of a smart remark
he made. His Court was next to that of Vice-Chancellor
Bacon, and during the hearing of a case before Vice-Chan-
cellor Malins a woman threw an egg at him, on which the
Judge, at once addressing the Bar, said, " It must have been
intended for my brother Bacon^
LORD BRAMWELL.
My first acquaintance with Baron afterwards Lord Bram-
well, was some years before he was raised to the Bench. I
and some other members of my family were interested in an
important suit, our leading Cotmsel being Sir Frederick
Thesiger, afterwards Lord Chancellor Chelmsford, Mr.
Bramwell being the leading Counsel on the other side.
I was staying with a very old friend of my father in the
outskirts of London waiting for the hearing of the case by
the full Court of Queen's Bench of a legal point reserved for
their decision by Mr. Justice Maule, which involved con-
siderable delay, as for three weeks the two big guns could
not be found in the same Court at once. My kind host took
me down in his carriage frequently to Westminster Hall in
128 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
the morning, and one day we chanced to meet Mr. Bramwell
in the Great Hall. My host, who was a friend of his, intro-
duced me to him, saying, "This is Mr. Turner, one of the
gentlemen who are interested in the case of, etc." " Well,"
said Mr. BramweU, " I suppose, Mr. Turner, the case is
so-and-so, is it not ? " putting playfully his version. " Well,
Sir," I said, " I suppose it is so-and-so," putting my version :
" but I have been in London three weeks and it seems quite
impossible to get Sir Frederick Thesiger and Mr. Bramwell
into the Queen's Bench Court on the same day." He very
kindly said at once, " Well, if you find Sir Frederick Thesiger
in the Queen's Bench and I am not there, look into the
Common Pleas and Exchequer Courts, and the Parliamentary
Conunittee Rooms ; and if I am not in either, if you will just
knock at the door of my house I will be in Court at once, for
in these da5rs of great legal changes I have come to the con-
clusion that the nearer a man lives to his business the better,
and have taken a house close to the Abbey." However,
the search became imnecessary, as the two leaders both met.
The case was argued before the fuU Court of Queen's Bench,
and imanimously decided in our favour. It did not then
occur to me that Lord BramweU would in later years
become a great friend of mine. On two particular occasions
I had the gratification of hearing from others of the most
kind and complimentary terms in which he had spoken of
me, after he became a Judge ; and when some years after I
received the honour of knighthood his was one of the first
letters of congratulation which I received. As it was very
characteristic of the man, a part of it I append ; and his
was my first congratulation as to my coming marriage :
" Dear Sir Llewelyn, — I congratulate you on the honour
you have received, not that I suppose you care to have * Sir '
before your name, but I have no doubt that you are pleased
with this public recognition of your worth and public
services, and a very reasonable pleasure it is. I was knighted
fifteen years ago." [Then follow some amusing and
characteristic remarks as to the fees, and his own and Mr.
Justice Maule's action with regard to them when they were
{London Stereoscopic Co.^ photo^ London)
BARON BRAMWELL
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 129
knighted.] "Anyhow, long life and prosperity to you to
enjoy your new honour.
" Yours,
" G. BRABfWELL."
I always regarded Baron Bramwell as one of the most
manly, straightforward of men, whose hatred of a lie was
intense. I have noticed his face redden when he was satisfied
that a witness was not telling the truth, and it was easy to
judge from his manner that he regarded every sort of sham
as a form of untruth. On one occasion, when holding the
Assizes in the old County Hall at Carnarvon, I saw him
express his strong doubt of the truth of a witness. The
witness-box in the old hall, as elsewhere stated, was to the
right front of the Judge, and further off than the witnesses
stand in the present hall. He had been carefully taking
down the evidence of this witness, and after putting a few
questions to him he slowly reached out his right hand with
his pen in it, and with the greatest deUberation placed the
pen at arm's length on the desk of the Bench, and took a most
deliberate view of the witness, and at the end of about half
a minute or so he with the same deliberation slowly reached
his pen, all the while looking at the witness, and at last told
him to go on. The examination was resimied. It struck me
that the witness was a good deal more careful in the rest of
his evidence after the silent caution he had received.
On another occasion when I was to have taken him for a
sail, the yacht was not ready, and we went in a four-oared
gig, and as we were going towards Belan Fort and the Gap,
and had got about half-way, Mr. York, his Marshal, and
his brother, then Mr., but now and for many years past
Sir Frederick Bramwell, Bart., both said they had been
that far the previous day in a hired boat and had seen the
Orme's Head from there. I said that was a mistake, as the
Orme's Head could not be seen. The Baron said he could
not imderstand why it should not be visible from there, as
we were nearing one end of the Menai Straits'and the Orme's
Head was at the other. I then appealed to the master of the
I
180 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
yacht, who was pulling the stroke oar of the gig, and to my
astonishment he said that it could be seen from there, so
that I was in a minority of one. However, the next day I
had my revenge amply ; the yacht being ready, I took them
to Beaumaris in her, and when the yacht's bowsprit was
pointing towards Vaynol Park, we being off Lord Boston's
house, I said, " Baron, will you kindly show me the Orme*s
Head ? " Then seeing the great bend in the Straits and the
high land of Vaynol and Br3mtirion, he at once said, " Mr.
York, Mr. Bramwell, we must make an abject apology to
the Commodore ; we contradicted him yesterday upon his
own business, and now we must retract and eat hiunble pie."
Addressing the master, he said, " What made you tdl us
yesterday that the Orme's Head was visible from the south
end of the Straits where we were ? " "I thought you
meant from the hill of Dwyran in Anglesey, my lord," he
said, but nobody had mentioned the hill of Dwyran. As
we were going imder the Menai Bridge I was coming up out
of the cabin and heard the Baron asking the master, " Is that
a yacht or a fishing-vessel ? " "A fishing-vessel, my lord,**
was the reply. I knew the vessel well, and told him it was
the Bacchante, an eighty-ton cutter belonging to Mr. Hey-
wood Jones, Vice-Commodore of the Royal Mersey Yacht
Club, but she had a long trawl net hanging up from her mast-
head to dry. The Baron said, " As that was the second
mistake the master had made,** he would rely on the Com-
modore for his information in the future.
On another occasion I took the Baron to Beaumaris in a
gun-boat, of which a friend of mine was in command, as he
was boimd for that end of the Straits. There was a yoimg
surveying officer on board, and his papers that he had to study
were on the cabin table. To my surprise the Baron took out
his pencil and a piece of paper and at once unravelled all the
mysteries of algebra and the other sciences.
The late Canon Trevor of York told me an amusing and
characteristic anecdote about Lord Bramwell. His first
Circuit as Judge was the Northern, and the calendar of
crime at York was one of the worst in point of number and
magnitude of crime ; amongst other cases was that of Dove
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 181
for the murder of his wife by slow poisoning. There was a
singularly large number of doctors who had been summoned
on the part of the prisoner to prove that he was insane.
Many of them had never beheld the prisoner until they saw
tajm in Court, but were to judge from what those who had
seen him that his acts betokened insanity. Several of them
quietly slunk out of Court when they heard part of the
evidence, but the others remained and told their story. The
case lasted until a late hour at night, and the prisoner was
foimd guilty and was sentenced to death. Owing to the
heavy calendar the Judge adjourned the Court to an early
hour in the morning to enable him to get through his work,
and Canon Trevor told me that he never regretted anything
more than the fact that not one of the reporters had arrived
to record the witty sarcasm of his lordship. The first
prisoner put forward in the morning was a tailor, who
pleaded guilty to some not very serious offence, and the
Baron in passing a mild sentence availed himself of the
opportimity of letting his opinion be known of the doctors
who had given evidence the day before. Canon Trevor said
he never heard a finer piece of sarcasm in his life. He began
his sentence by expressing very great doubt as to the
wisdom of any person accused of crime in the city of York
pleading guilty when there was at the disposal of all persons
accused of crime so large an array of medical talent to
prove a prisoner to be insane, and the Canon said he took
the best notes he could of a witty sentence lasting about ten
minutes and bristling with well-deserved sarcasm. The
case of Dove was that of a cold-blooded villain, who by slow
and deUberate poisoning had murdered his wife.
Baf'on Bramwell had a very dear and decided but pleasing
voice, and told a story well. I usually dined with him at
the Carnarvon Assizes, and he had always something amusing
to tell.
I recollect his trying a case at Beaimiaris in which a
butcher and his grandson were charged with sheep-stealing.
The Baron ordered the boy from the dock into the witness-
box, where he at first denied all knowledge of the robberies.
Addressing the Counsel for the prosecution, the Baron said.
182 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
"Try him backwards." The Counsel evidently failed to
understand his meaning ; the Judge then took up the
examination at the point at which the Coimsel had arrived,
and asked the boy what they did with the skin of the sheep.
The witness was taken completely ofi his guard, and at onoe
stated what had been done with it ; after he had admitted
that, the Counsel for the prosecution had no difficulty in
eliciting from him backwards all the information he required,
and the elder prisoner was convicted.
In this case a reverend gentleman with a very strong Wdsh
accent was called by the prisoner's Counsel as a witness to
character, and the following amusing answers to questions
were given.
" I beUeve, Mr, , you are the inciunbent of ? "
" I am, Bare."
"I believe you were formerly in charge of the parish
of , where the prisoner resided ? "
" Yes, Sir, I wass."
*' How long have you known the prisoner ? '*
" I have known him for a great many years^."
" During the time you knew him what character did he
bear?"
" He bore the very best of cha-rac-ters, and I bought my
mate (meat) from him for many years^, and he always^ give
good weight. Indeet. I always say he wasj give too good
weigfU.^^
It goes without saying that a man who stole the sheep
he sold could afford to do this. I forget what the sentence
was, but no doubt the giving of too good weight had not the
effect of reducing it, confirming as it did the belief that the
prisoner was a veteran sheep-stealer.
This reverend divine had been at one time a great drunk-
ard, and had charge of the parish where his sheep-stealing
friend resided. As his then propensity for liquor did not
commend him to the parishioners, a round robin signed
by nearly all of them was presented to the Bishop of the
diocese, setting forth his evil practices, and praying for his
removal. The Bishop sent for him, and on his arrival at
the Palace handed him the memorial to read, and asked for
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 188
his answer, with which he was well prepared, having heard
of the charge against him. Well up to the mark, his rever-
ence repUed, '' My lor/, there iss some great mistake, and
if your lorfehip will let me have a copy of the paper, I will
convince your lorfehip that I am well respected in the
parish." " Oh, certainly, Mr. ,*' said the Bishop, " you
are of course entitled to have a copy and to defend yourself.**
Having obtained the copy with the signatures, he prepared
a memorial setting forth the sanctity and sobriety of his
life, and the high appreciation in which he was hdd. He
then visited every one of those who had signed the memorial
to the Bishop, few if any of whom in those days knew
EngUsh. To each he told the same story. Commencing
by acknowledging that he had been a great drunkard, and
had sadly neglected his work, he said that he could not
blame them for having complained to the Bishop ; but he
was quite sure that they had no desire to injure him, and as
there was a Uving vacant in a distant part of Ireland which
he could get if they would sign the paper he had brought with
him, he could obtain it. They one and all said that they
had no wish to injure him, and signed the memorial, in which
his virtues were set forth in glowing colours, but not, I
imagine, in the most pure EngUsh.
He took the memorial to the Bishop, who, finding it signed
by every one of the same people who had signed the com-
plaint, told him that since his parishioners did not know
their own minds he found no groimd to interfere. Con-
sidering, however, the very few miles that divided the parish
blessed with so amiable a pastor from the episcopal city
of Bangor, my readers will be apt to wonder why his lordship
did not institute an inquiry of his own. The living in a
distant part of Ireland was of course a myth, and the con-
sistent parishioners enjoyed the society of this pious parson
for many subsequent years. Between the period of his
charge of the parish he so long blessed, and his obtaining
the appointment he held when he gave his evidence before
Baron Bramwell, I recollect his writing to make some
request of me, the natiure of which I have forgotten. I
knew the man and his history, but not knowing the house
184 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
from which he dated his letter, and his Christian and sur-
names being very ordinary ones in Wales, and his ortho-
graphy not of the highest order, I addressed my reply to
Mr. , upon which he wrote " respectfully " reminding
me that being a clergyman of the estabhshed Church he was
entitled to tiie prefix of " Reverend." Well knowing the
man and his works and the story of the memorials, I need
hardly say that after he had disclosed his identity his
request to me was not granted. While expressing my
surprise that the Bishop did not inquire for himself, it is
only justice on my part to say that the subsequent appoint-
ment this man held at the time of his evidence was not one
in the Bishop's gift.
After a brilliant career as one of the Barons of the Ex-
chequer, Baron Bramwell became one of the Lords Justices
of Appeal, who at that period and for some years after also
went on Circuit as Judges of Assize. Like many Judges,
when time permitted, he was very fond of walking from one
Assize town to another, and alluding to that practice I once
told him an anecdote which my father had heard from a
Judge about a hundred years ago, and I happened to say,
^' For my part, if I am walking along a road and a sociable
man is going my way, I do not mind if he is a chimney-sweep
with soot on his face, if he is a companionable man, I will
walk with him, and am pretty sure of either learning some-
thing, or hearing something amusing." His lordship
holding up his forefinger, as he was often wont to do, said,
" That is the true way to learn hfe : we must all obtain
information from books, but unless we put our knowledge
into practice by contact with our fellow men, our knowledge
is incomplete." He was a man of considerable accom-
plishments ; I called on him by appointment one morning,
and found him pla3dng the piano, and on another occasion
there was an open book on the table, which I found was a
new French work.
A characteristic story appeared about him after his death.
A man had been convicted of some offence, and the Judge,
having got as far as, " Prisoner at the bar, you have been
convicted of ," the prisoner, who was an old offender,
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 185
interrupted saying, " *ow much ? *' The Judge at once
replied, " Nine months."
I recollect a most curious case of breach of promise
which was tried before his lordship in an English coimty.
The action was brought by a widowwho kept an hotel, against
a " poor fellow " who had proposed to her. I say advisedly
" poor fellow,*' as it appears to me that his position was
a most difficult one. As far as one could judge from the
evidence the defendant had every desire to marry the widow,
but she had two grown-up sons, both big fellows, and it was
sworn in evidence that they had frequently warned their
mother's lover that if he married her they would break every
bone in his body. He feared the threats and broke off the
match, and the widow recovered heavy damages. I wish
I could ascertain what the verdict of my readers would be in a
like case, and I daresay some of them will kindly inform me
which they prefer matrimony and broken bones, or the pay-
ment of heavy damages. TTiis breach of promise case may
have had some influence upon his lordship's mind in giving
expression to the following idea on the subject of this class
of actions. He was of opinion that they ought not to be
encouraged ; that if people changed their minds it was
better done before than after marriage.
After a smalldinner after the Carnarvon Assizes, where there
were only four guests, of whom I was one, and his Marshal
and himself, Mr. Mclntyre, Q.C., happened to ask me how
a certain individual (with whom botii he and I were ac-
quainted) was. I repUed that the last time I had seen him
the door was opened by his butler " with two black eyes.'*
This sUp of the tongue had no sooner been made than I
realised the absurdity of the answer, and took a sly look
at the Baron to see if he had observed it, and while I did so
he said, " What, Sir Llewelyn, a door opened to you by two
black eyes ! " But I must apologise for my rudeness, and I
ought not to have made the remark. It, however, reminded
me of a barrister who in conducting a case before me once said
" that the door was opened by a woman with a white petti-
coat," upon which I could not help exclaiming, *' Mr. Smith,
that was a curioiis thing to open a door with." " Well," I
186 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
said, '' if people use slip-shod language as I did, and describe
impossibilities, they must expect harmless criticism."
It is somewhat curious to read, as I and probably many
of my readers have, that Baron Bramwell (as he then was)
did not put down garrotting. Those who remember the time
as I do, know to the contrary. There was a large number
of these villains, who garrotted and used knuckle-dusters,
tried before him, and he walked from his house in the West
End to the Old Bailey every morning.
I read in a newspaper at the time that " the learned Baron
walked to the Court every day accompanied by a large dog,
and frequently looked behind to see if his canine protector
was at hand." The Baron came the North Wales Circuit
at the then ensuing Assizes, and feeling certain the story
was false I asked him. His reply was that he had a very
small dog at the time that he used to take out walking
with him, and dog-stealing being so prevalent in London he
had to look back frequently to protect it, not to be protected
by it.
The sentences of five years* penal servitude " and the cat "
soon ended the epidemic.
Punch had a humorous allusion to the suppression of this
dangerous system, whereby so many people had suffered.
In the Court of Old Bailey, 'twas Bramwell that spoke :
The Crown can't allow all these crowns to be broke ;
So let each skulking thief who funks justice and me
Just attend to the warning of Bold Baron B.
Just hand me my notes, and some ink for my pen^
And, Jailor, look sharp and bring up aU your men ;
Under five years of servitude none shall go free.
For it's up with the dander of Bold Baron B.
On his retirement from the post of Lord Justice of Appeal
he was raised to the Peerage as Lord Bramwell, and sat some
years as one of the Law Lords in the House of Lords.
Previous to this, on his retirement from the Bench, he was
entertained in the Temple by an enormous concourse of the
Bar, and all the Judges were present.
When a student for the Bar he had been a pupil in the
chambers of Sir Fitzroy Kelly, who subsequently became
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 187
Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. It was a somewhat
curious circiunstance that the Lord Chief Baron should have
practised before his former pupil, which arose thus. Lord
Bramwell had accepted a puisne Judgeship, whereas Sir
Fitsroy Kelly, being Attorney-General, waited for one of
the chief Judgeships, and when he became a Judge it was
as Lord Chief Baron. I recollect during the time Lord Bram-
well was one of the Lords Justices of Appeal, the late Lord
Chief Baron, in an interesting conversation I had with him,
said, ^'The two most able Judges on the Bench are old
pupils of mine." In reply to my question he replied. Lord
Justice James and Lord Justice Bramwell. I related the
remark of the Chief Baron to Lord Justice Bramwell.
He was a great traveller during the long vacations, both
when at the Bar and on the Bench, and when I was engaged
to be married I wrote to ask him about some places in France
which I thought of visiting during my hone3anoon, and
utilising it to improve my knowledge of mediaeval archi-
tecture. His reply was in his usual pleasant vein :
" FOUR Elms, Edbnbridgb, Kent,
August y, 1878.
" My dear Sir Llewelyn, — I got home yesterday after
some very hard work. It is strange that you should have
asked me about the only place I beUeve to which long
vacation travellers go, and I have not been.
" I have been to Normandy, Dieppe, Havre, and Rome ;
but have never done the usual trip to Caen and other places.
I should have to consult Murray's handbook, but mine is
twenty years old. Mr. Mclntyre, Q.C., could tell you what to
do. But you will be very safe to trust to Murray. I
congratulate you in advance on your intended marriage, but
you must not tell the lady you are going to utilise the honey-
moon, that is much too prosaic. Wishing you every happi-
ness, being truly yours.
" G. Bramwell.
**You will have an annual Assize at Carnarvon in the
b^^inning of November."
188 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
THE LORD CHIEF BARON KELLY.
This distinguished lawyer on several occasions came the
North Wales Circiut. He had been a most successful
advocate at the Bar, and after filling the post of Solicitor-
and Attorney-General succeeded the Honourable Lord Chief
Baron Pollock at rather an advanced time of life.
His practice at the Bar had been a very large one, and
I recollect in my boyish days his coming to the Carnarvon
Assizes on a special retainer of five hundred guineas ; but the
case was settled in Court, and he proceeded to Newcastle-
on-Tyne on a retainer of one thousand guineas. I amused
him in after life, when he was Lord Chief Baron, by telling
him at dinner one day that I could repeat verbatim a speech
that I had heard him deUver about fifty years before. On
his lordship looking surprised, I stood up and said, " I am
happy to inform your lordship that my learned friends on
the other side and myself having agreed upon the terms of a
settlement of this case, it will be needless to occupy the time
of the Court any further. That was the whole of your
lordship's speech on a retainer of five hundred guineas, and
then you went to Newcastle on a retainer of one thousand
guineas." The Lord Chief Baron was highly amused, and I
having told him that I recollected reading his speech in,
I think, the Gorham case, he said that I did him great honour
to remember so much about him. When at the Bar he
defended the murderer Tawd the Quaker, a saitU who
poisoned the lady he kept.
The last time he came the North Wales Circuit, I arranged
to take him to Beaumaris by water, and asked Colonel
Piatt to place his steam yacht at my disposal for the purpose,
which he most kindly did. I went down to Carnarvon on
the last day of the Assizes and saw him in the retiring-room
at lunch-time, and I said that I had arranged for a steam
yacht to take him to Beaumaris as, if he did not finish the
business at" Carnarvon that day, and should have to sit part
of the next day, a sailing-yacht would not be able to get
through the Swillies. " Sit at Carnarvon to-morrow ! "
he said. " I have no notion of doing so. I will finish the
LORD CHIEF BARON SIR FITZROY KELLY
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 189
business at Camaxvon if I sit until midnight." I then went
home and got aboard the steam yacht at nine o'clock next
morning, and to my surprise found the Chief Baron already
aboard. I asked him at what hour he had finished the
Assizes ; his reply was, " The jury brought in their verdict in
the last case as the clock struck twelve last night, and I went
to the Judges* lodgings and got my dinner." " Well," I
said, '^ I trust you had something more than the bunch of
grapes I saw you had for your lunch in the retiring-room
yesterday." "Oh yes," he repUed; "finding the business
was going to last I had one of your good Carnarvon Bay
soles at five o'clock at the lodgings, having adjourned the
Court for three quarters of an hour." " Well," I said, " may
I ask when you got up this morning after such a long day's
work yesterday, from ten in the morning till midnight ? "
He repUed, " At my usual time. I always rise at seven o'clock
in the morning, whether I go to bed late or early." This
for a man of his advanced age was certainly an active
life to lead.
When we got to Beaumaris he asked me to stay and dine
with him that night, and it struck me that I should be an
infliction upon him and prevent his obtaining rest, and I said
so. " Oh nonsense," he said. " I require no rest," " Well,"
I said, " if you will permit me, I will lunch with you instead."
" Do both," said the veteran Judge, but I stuck to my guns
and limched only. In another part of these reminiscences
a record will be found of a most unexpected act of kindness
which he bestowed upon me some years after, to my great
surprise.
He was a man with a most intelligent face, as will be seen
by a copy of the photograph which he kindly sent me many
years ago. He gratuitously at one time before he reached
the Bench rendered a great service to the State by eliminating
a large number of useless statutes. Some years after his
death the TimeSy in speaking of this and other legal amend-
ments made by him, spoke of him " as that great master
of the Common Law, Sir Fitzroy Kelly." In another place
will be found a copy of a most kind and complimentary letter
which the Lord Chief Baron wrote to me when he heard
« i
140 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
from a mutual friend in London that I was a candidate for
the post of Judge (subsequently altered to Conmiissioner
of the Wreck Court).
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE COCKBURN.
This learned Judge, who was a Baronet in his own right,
was raised to the Bench after filling the post of Attorney-
General, during which time he prosecuted the miscreant
Dr. Palmer, for the murder of Cooke, who was tried before
Lord Campbell, then Lord Chief Justice of England. The
case, it will be recollected, excited great interest in Great
Britain, as there was no doubt that it formed one of a niunber
of murders by poisoning. It was one of the many instances
'in which atrocious crimes have been committed by gamblers,
who appear to me (with large experience of crime and
criminals) to be the most depraved of mankind. The offence,
or rather offences, were committed at Rugeley, where Palmer
lived, and such was the excitement they created, that the
people of the town of Rugeley actually went so far as to
send a deputation from the inhabitants who waited upon Lord
Palmerston, then Prime Minister, to request that the name
of the town might be changed. His lordship asked what
name they would suggest, and they asked him to fix one.
With his usual readiness he said, " Suppose you caU it
Palmerstown." This skit was rather too much for the
deputation, and Rugeley retains its name.
Although not belonging to the work or times of Lord Chief
Justice Cockbum, it may not be out of place here to mention
a case of murder by gamblers, tried when I was very young
before Mr. Justice Park, one of the Judges of the time. The
principal murderer was a gentleman by birth, who had
fallen step by step in the social scale by indulgence in
gambling and drink, until he became an atrocious murderer.
He was the inventor of the drop formerly used, which he
invented in prison, and was the first scoundrel hung with it.
He was hanged for the murder of a person of the name of
Weare, whom he and his villainous companions murdered, put
the body into a sack, threw it into a pond, and ate a hearty
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 141
supper of pork chops in a cottage dose to the pond where
their victim was lying. I know. not the exact cause of my
early hatred of gambling, but it is probably in some measure
due to the horror of this case, which is the first murder case,
I believe, I ever heard of.
When at the Bar Sir James Alexander Edmimd Cockbum,
Bart., was a successful advocate of great eloquence, and was
engaged on very important cases, and during the years that
he filled the post of Lord Chief Justice of England he tried
a number of most interesting cases, both civil and criminal.
So far as I can recollect, there was no case of any great
interest on the North Wales Circuit before him. The long
and arduous trial of the Claimant exceeded in length any-
thing within my ken. Nothing in the annals of credulity
comes up to the silly infatuation of vast numbers of idiots
who believed that a fat vulgar ruffian (whose appearance
was that of a mixture between the lowest class of pubUcan
and the same class of butcher) had ever been an officer and
a gentleman. I was a good deal in town at the time of this
excitement, and heard a great deal of the case. On one
occasion, Mr. Whalley, M.P. (whom I had long known),
lir. Onslow, Mr. Skipworth, and other dupes, or whatever they
were, held a meeting at Brighton, where they indulged in the
most vinilent abuse of the Chief Justice, a contempt for which
they were ordered to appear before the Court of Queen's
Bench. The case was heard before all the Judges of that
Court, excepting the Chief Justice. Lord William Lennox
and I had orders from the Chief Justice for the small gallery
that faced the Bench, whence we could see and hear well.
The accused were assembled in the soUcitors' well between
the Bar and Bench, and the seats of the Queen's Counsel were
full. The Claimant addressed the Bench from the well of
the Court, creating great amusement by his coarse attempt
to bribe Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., by vulgar flattering not to be
hard upcm him. Looking hard at Serjeant Ballantyne, who
had been his Coimsel in the civil action before Lord Chief
Justice Bovill, and waving his hand towards him he said,
" My lords " (with a strong emphasis on the " my ") " if
my case before the Court of Common Pleas had been con-
142 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
ducted by this great barrister (pointing to Mr. Hawkins)
I should have won my case." The language used had been
such that it could not have been passed over, and the accused
were heavily fined.
It so happened that I was dining at the Reform Club
the night before this case was heard with one of the Counsel
who was to appear for two of the accused, and one of the
two persons, who apparently had taken the brief home to
read, brought it into the smoking-room, and the two set to
cram me with all sorts of stuff about the innocence of the
Claimant. Taking the opportunity of their going for a
minute to talk to some one else the learned Coimsel, whom
I knew intimately, whispered to me, "Did you ever see
two such damned fools in your life ? '* The things they
told me were absolutely ridictilous and simply incredible.
Inter alia, Onslow said, " We have a great deal of strong
evidence yet to bring forward." One thing he told me was
that the Claimant was sitting reading the newspaper by the
fire in a hotel in London, having been told by his solicitor that
an old man from Alresford was coming up to identify him
with a view to proving that he was the real Sir Roger ;
when the man went in the Claimant put the newspaper near
his face and stooped into it, concealing himself as much as
possible. The old man at once knew him, and said, "I
knows ye, I knows ye." The Claimant for some time
appeared to avoid him, and kept his back to him as much
as possible, and the paper in front ; but the old rustic stuck
to his gims, and kept on saying, " It is no use to hide theself .
I knows ye, I knows ye." My not unnatural conunent on
this palpable rubbish was, that it was of course usual for
everybody engaged in a lawsuit to do everything in his
power to deprive his witnesses of all knowledge of the subject
they were to depose to, and thus to deprive himself of all
chance of success. I looked in the papers for this evidence,
but, of coiu*se, with no expectation of finding it, and did not
do so. I had immense fun with these credulous gentlemen,
and was invited again by one who was present and enjoyed
the chaff. On another night, I said to Mr. Whalley, " Kindly
tell me, if the Claimant is really Sir Roger Tichborne, how.
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 148
when cross-examined by Sir John Coleridge, in reply to the
request to tell him the names of the captain and mate and
some of the crew of the ship that he said saved him from the
wreck and carried him to Australia, he gave the names of
the captain and mates and some of the crew of the ship that
had carried Arthur Orton to Australia ? " The reply was
that it was one of those small particulars that he
could not recollect, but that he would inquire of
Onslow. Being in the smoking-room on another night,
Onslow came to me and said that Whalley had requested
him to answer my query as to the names, and that the answer
was that the Claimant and Arthur Orton had been so long
in the Australian bush together, and had exchanged the
recitals of all their doings and sayings so often, that his mind
had become imbued with what Orton had told him, and that
when Sir John Coleridge cross-examined him on the subject
he inadvertently gave those names ; to which I replied, I
had no doubt that there was never a separation, Orton and
the Claimant being one and the same, and that when Sir
John Coleridge's time came to reply on the evidence, we
should hear what his comment would be on that droll state-
ment. One night when I was in the smoke-room (although
I do not smoke) one of the club servants fetched Whalley
to go downstairs, and on his return he came to me and said,
" Now the Claimant (who was out on bail) is below in his
brougham, and if you will give a shilling towards the defence
fund and come with me I will introduce you to him, and
have asked him to wait." I thanked him, but said that I
preferred subscribing to help some honest man ; and having
the honour of the acquaintance of the butcher who supplied
Parkia with meat I did not care to extend the jBieshy acquain-
tance. It is a strange comment on the fickle and foolish ideas
of mobs that many of them hissed the Chief Justice and
cheered the fat vagabond who claimed another's birthright,
and, as the press justly remarked after the trials, the incon-
sistency of men was remarkable in arguing that it was too bad
to deprive a poor working man of his birthright, whereas he
was a working man trying to steal the birthright of the right
heir of a drowned man. I often asserted during these trials
144 NtEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
(the civil case before Chief Justice Bovill and the criminal
case before Chief Justice Cockbum and Judges Mellor and
Lush), that if the owner of any large estate were to dis-
appear almost any clever scoimdrel who could glean a few
facts as to the life of the lost individual could secure a very
large following, not only amongst poor men, but among those
who ought to know better, but being cranks of perverted
mind are always ready and anxious to differ from sober-
minded people. Arthur Orton, the butcher, was as unlike
any man who had received a University education as a poor
wayside ass is like a fine hunter : but he had the advantage
of having secmred the black servant of the real Roger Tich-
bome, and got from him that gentleman's diary, which
amongst many entries contained one of his riding over a
conunon in England when in the army, and his horse
putting his foot in a rabbit hole, and breaking his leg.
Having got the names of Roger Tichbome's company in the
regiment from this diary, he carefully set to work to find
them, and having ascertained the name and place of one who
kept a public-house in Birmingham he went over there, and
slapping the quondam soldier on the back, said, " Ah, my
old friend, Jolm Smith " (I forget whether that is the correct
name), "have you forgotten your former officer, Roger
Tichbome ? " "I recollect Mr. Roger Tichbome," said the
man, " but surely you are not Mr. Roger.*' " Oh, I am a
good deal older, and was shipwrecked, was long in the bush,
and have grown fat." As the man was still incredulous, he
said, "Do you remember the day when I was riding on
(naming the conunon) and my horse got his foot into a hole,
and broke his leg " (a fact named in the diary as proved on
the trial) ? " Ah, to be sure I remember you now. I recollect
that quite well." The poor man had of course no idea of the
easy way in which the Claimant had obtained the information.
One curious fact that gave a strong colouring to the story
was the identification, or pretended identification', of the
Claimant by Roger Tichbome's mother. Some fifteen or
sixteen years ago (I think it was) I was conversing with a
learned Judge who had been one of the Coimsel in the case,
and had enjoyed an enormous practice at the Bar, and he
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 145
expressed a most decided opinion that the old woman knew
better, but did it to spite the real heirs of the estate. In
my long public life, not spent with my eyes and ears shut,
I have always observed that however great a scoundrel a
person may be, however clear the guilt, there are always
found a certain proportion of mischievous cranks ; and no
matter how plain the facts before them may be, or however
small their experience, they wiU meet you with a slow-drawn
" Well, I don't know," followed by an argument which is
sinning against light.
Chief Justice Cockbum used to go out sailing with me if
there was time at the different Sununer Assizes, and it is
needless to say that his conversation was always interesting
and amusing. We once dined on deck on the Carnarvon bar,
as there was not sufficient water to cross the shallowest part,
and I recollect his surprise at seeing the enormous number
of cottages on Moeltryfan. He told a story about the late
Mr. Justice Byles, which I have since seen in print. When
at the Bar Serjeant Byles had a very large practice, and
went out daily on horseback when he cotdd afford the time.
To prevent any suspicion of neglecting his work he christened
his horse '' Business," and when any one called when
Serjeant Byles was out riding the clerk used to say he was out
on " Business." Mr. Byles was the leading Coimsel in the
prosecution of the terrible murderer Rush at Norwich, men-
tioned somewhat fully in another part of these Reminiscences.
He held the Assizes when a Judge at Carnarvon, and tried
the case of Jackson v. Williams, which established the
harbour rights to foreshore, on which Mr. Bramwell and
Mr. Cowling had previously advised when the former was at
the Bar.
BARON MARTIN.
When at the Bar, Baron Martin went the Northern
Circuity and had a very large practice. He was on friendly
terms with many of the leading men of that day whom I
knew in Liverpool, who were yachting friends of mine, and
had a great many amusing tales of cases in which he was
concerned, and others which, when on the Bench, he tried ;
K
146 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
but as some of them were cases in which "ladies were
ordered out of court," I refrain from their mention.
The late Commodore Littledale, the genial Commodore of
the Royal Mersey Yacht Club, told me as an instance of
Martin's tenacity in discharging his duty at the Bar that he
was once afflicted by a most dangerous attack of illness
arising from remaining too long in court one day, and the
doctor declared that if he went into court the next day it
would be at the peril of his hfe. He peremptorily refused
to stay away, stating that no one else should hold his briefs.
He went and recovered, notwithstanding the alarm of his
doctor.
After a successful career at the Bar he was raised to the
Bench as one of the Barons of the Exchequer. As far as I
recollect, I do not think he came the North Wales Circuit
more than once, but I often saw him presiding in the Court
of Exchequer in the old Westminster Hall Courts, which to
my mind were very superior to the New Courts. At any
rate, to compare the Hall of the New Courts with grand
old Westminster Hail would be like comparing the County
Hall of Carnarvon with Carnarvon Castle. The former
building was erected some years later than the period of
Baron Martin's advent, and I have no recollection of there
being any trial of importance when he was on this Circuit,
but there was a most amusing occurrence in Castle Street,
in Carnarvon, not far from the Judges' lodgings. After the
Assizes were over, his lordship was walking along the street
when a magistrate of the county, who had been upon the
grand jury a few days before, and whose brain had not been
made more clear by his incessant appUcation to his whisky
bottle, accosted the Judge, and taking ofi his hat, said,
" My lord, I have a very nice place in this county where I
have had the honour of entertaining Alderman Johnstone,
the late Lord Mayor of London, and I should be delighted
if your lordship would honour me with a visit." The Judge
with ready wit replied, " I will allow you a pretty long drop
from a Judge of Assize to a Lord Mayor," and wsdked away.
Many years later, after I had for some years enjoyed the
friendship of the Baron's brother-in-law. Baron Pollock, I
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 147
wrote this anecdote in a letter to him. In his reply to my
letter Baron Pollock wrote, " Thank you so much for the
story about the long drop. So like Martin." The long drop
in the sense in which we now know it was not invented until
several years after Baron Martin's witty reply. The drop
of former days was invented by and used in the execution of
Thurtell, as related earlier, and the term long drop was one
used by some murderers who, asked after conviction what they
had to say why judgment should not be passed, made reply,
" Give me a long drop, my lord." This was because a long
drop secured quicker death. I may as well in this place intro-
duce the history of the invention of the present method,which
was due to Professor Horton, of Trinity College, Dublin, who
with Professor Galbraith was one of the authors of the exceed-
ingly clever work, Galbraith and Horton on Tides. These two
gentlemen were the first to discover and interpret the cause
of the loss of so many ships on their outward passages from
Liverpool down the Irish Channel, and I have derived
valuable information from their discoveries, which have been
of great benefit to mariners.
I had the pleasure of entertaining Professor Horton at
Parkia, and as I have for more than half a century been a
student of tides and their effects, he, like many able author-
ities on such subjects whom I have had the privilege of
associating with, was a godsend to me. It was not long after
his invention of the long drop, the effect of which is to break
the neck, instead of killing by strangulation. The Professor
had been to Glasgow to some gathering of learned men, and
on the passage from Ireland on a steamer it became known
that he was the author of the long drop, and as stories rarely
gain in accuracy by being bandied about, a curious mistake
was made. When the learned Professor landed from the
steamer he found himself the " observed of all observers,"
and followed by a crowd to his hotel. On his inquiring what
it meant, it turned out that a man was to be hanged the next
day, and he had been reported as being the hangman. He
was a most unlikely looking person for that business, being
short and slight and the reverse of athletic in appearance.
The importance to mariners of the scientific researches of
148 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Galbraith and Horton is very great, and it is quite dear that
nature intended Professor Horton for a very different occupa-
tion to that for which he was mistaken at Glasgow, the
worker of the machine now in use in our prisons, of which he
was the inventor.
MR. JUSTICE TALFOURD.
This learned and most genial Judge came the North Wales
Circuit once only about sixty years ago. At the Bar he was
for many years known as Serjeant Talfourd, which was very
many years before the title of Serjeant was abolished.
I recollect that on his visits to Snowdon in which he was
accompanied by my brother-in-law, Mr. Walker Jones, who
was a barrister on the Circuit, he wrote his name in the book,
as " The Author of Ion." There was no particular case at
Carnarvon so far as I recollect.
Mr. Justice Talfourd's end was awfully sudden, and took
place on the Bench in one of the Assize Courts in an English
coimty. It is so long ago that I have forgotten which
Circuit it occurred at.
MR. JUSTICE COLTMAN.
Mr. Justice Coltman went (once only, I think) the North
Wales Circuit, and I have no recollection of any special
circumstances attending his coming. He lived in the next
house to the late Mr. Assheton Smith, in Hyde Park Gardens,
and died there of cholera. It was a curious circumstance
that the servants of Mr. Assheton Smith, who had gone down
to Vaynol, took the cholera with them, which opens a moot
point as to the subject of contagion.
My friend, Mr. Robert Griffith Temple, experienced a
curious adventure at the Anglesey Assizes, which proves
that a little man can be very courageous. Mr. Temple
was the leading Coimsel for the plaintiff in an action
against a noble lord who was a veiy much bigger man
than himself. It was not usual in the Bar to stay in
hotels, but in lodgings ; at Beaimiaris however they
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 149
did. The evening of the day of the trial, at which Mr.
Temple had made very strong strictures on the defendant,
while he was dressing in his bedroom to go to dine with the
Judge a waiter came upstairs and advised him not to go
down as Lord was below with a large horsewhip, saying
that he would horsewhip him. Mr. Temple at once said,
" Bring me a poker," and went on dressing. The waiter
brought up the poker, and as soon as he was dressed he went
down with it in his hand, but he had no occasion to use it as
the defendant had gone away, better thoughts and the advice
of friends having probably prevailed.
MR. JUSTICE CROWDER.
Mr. Justice Crowder was a fine handsome man, and in
addition to his travelling carriage brought a riding horse on
Circuit. There were no railways in these parts at that time,
and when the weather was propitious he used the horse in
preference to the carriage, varying the route when time per-
mitted. On his way from Dolgelley to Carnarvon, the
Judge's carriage and four horses arrived at the Gorsygedol
Arms at Barmouth with the Judge's Marshal, who duly took
possession of the rooms that had been ordered, and then
went out for a walk. A solitary traveller arrived about an
hour later on horseback, and asked for the room ordered
for the Judge. The landlord was puzzled ; on the one hand
a gentleman had arrived some time before and inquired for
the room ordered for the Judge of Assize, followed directly
by a staff of clerks and servants with luggage, and here was
a man of commanding presence desiring to be shown to the
room of the Judge. The poor landlord was at a loss to know
what to do, but the return of the Marshal from his walk
solved the dif&culty.
Mr. Justice Crowder had but a short career on the Bench,
and died a fearfully sudden death.
150 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
BARON WATSON.
A dreadful case of the murder of two seamen by the captain,
whose name was Rogers, was tried by Baron Watson at the
Liverpool Assizes. I forget the circumstances of the murders
which were perpetrated in the barque on the high seas. The
vessel was afterwards purchased by some people at Carnar-
von, and was in the old harbour for a year or two or more.
I have reason to remember this, as she was the subject of a
Board of Trade inquiry at Camqjrvon, over which I presided
with two assessors.
The prosecution was conducted by that most amusing and
pleasant man, Mr. O'Dowd, who was the standing Coimsel
for the Board of Trade. According to the statement of the
case by Counsel the vessel had been purchased by two people
at or near Carnarvon, one being a farmer and the other a
butcher. They did not appear in person, and I never knew
who they were, their names being amongst the ordinary
Welsh surnames. The vessel sailed from Cardiff with a
cargo of coal for a port in Spain. She was nominally com-
manded by a man with a master's certificate, which was of
course necessary to enable a person to take command, and
be so registered. After she got outside Penarth roads, the
son of one of the owners, who had been rated as boatswain,
changed places with the man rated as captain. The vessel
sprang a leak off the Scilly Isles, and was abandoned, the
master and crew taking to the boats. After floating about
for four days and nights with no one to pump or navigate
her she was taken possession of by the crew of some vessel
that found her. She was insured, which, as the showman
said, " fully accounted for the milk in the cocoanut." I
trust I need hardly say that in giving judgment I gave the
master as long a suspension as the weak Act of Parliament
permitted. To return to Baron Watson, he started on the
North Wales Circuit, but got no further than the first Assize
town upon it, d)dng suddenly at the Judges' lodgings in
Welshpool.
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 151
MR. JUSTICE KEATING.
Mr. Justice Keating went the North Wales Circuit twice.
I had not the pleasure of meeting him on the first occasion,
but accompanied him by water to Beaumaris on the second
occasion.
On his first North Wales Circuit he tried a very bad case
of murder at the Beaumaris Assizes. An old man and his
wife occupied a farm between Gaerwen and Holyhead, and
his son-in-law and daughter lived with them. The son-in-law
had a very great longing to get the farm, and murdered the
poor old man one night in a field. The case was clearly
proved against him, and he was foimd guilty and executed at
Beaumaris, which then had its gaol. It was strongly sus-
pected by their neighbours that the murderer's wife was not
wholly innocent of the guilt of her husband. In the chapter
on ghosts will be foimd a similar case of attempt on the part
of one generation of a family to get rid of the other, but
fortimatdy murder was not resorted to in that case.
MR. JUSTICE GROVE.
This learned Judge, who was a man of remarkably scien-
tific attainments, was raised to the Bench, I believe, in a
great measure owing to that fact, and the very great useful-
ness which it was felt he would be in the trial of patent cases.
I dined with him several times when he held the Assizes at
Carnarvon, as I did with most of the Judges for many years.
To my surprise I read an outrageous attack upon Mr. Justice
Grove in a so-called rehgious paper : the impudent libel, for
it was nothing less, was headed, " Poor Williams," and, as
far as I can remember, it stated that "poor Williams"
resided somewhere in South Wales and had been some time
in America, whence he had returned, carrying about with him
a revolver ; according to this impudent writing, " poor
WiUiams " was out very late one night, and was attacked
by some one, whom he shot with his revolver, inflicting a
dangerous wound. He was indicted before Mr. Justice
Grove for highway robbery with violence, and sentenced to
152 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
penal servitude ; but the reverend editor of this pious fraud
said he was punished for defending himself, and that during
the time he was in gaol awaiting his trial he spent all the time
he could in stud)dng his Bible. I felt so indignant that I at
once wrote to the reverend writer and pointed out to him
that the accused had been committed for trial by justices of
the peace, who always had the advice of the magistrates'
clerk, who was a trained lawyer, a true bill found by the
grand jury, a verdict of guilty found by the petty jury
after a summing up from an experienced Judge, and that a
very long criminal experience as a gaol visitor had taught me
that some of the most dangerous criminals were men who
made a strong parade of their Bibles after " sucking" thereout
no small advantage. Really for some years previous to this a
flood of convicts had been let loose on the country on tickets
of leave, a regular system of humbugging gaol chaplains
having led to this lamentable mistake, which culminated in
murder, rape, and other terrible crimesof the worst character.
One was a tnily sad case, that of a young lady, who was
going to church in the county of Shropshire. She went by a
path through the fields, and near a brook met one of these
ticket-of-leave convicts, who ravished and murdered her, her
clothes, her parasol, and bonnet being smashed and torn
in the fearful struggle. I saw the cast of the villain's head
in Shrewsbury gaol some years after his execution. He was
an odious looking brute, with a broken nose, obtained in some
of his earlier crimes. I think it would have served the
reverend traducer of Mr. Justice Grove right had he met
*' poor Williams " with his revolver on a lonely road and
had to " stand and deliver."
Considering the enormous care taken in hearing cases
against persons accused of crime in this nation, with the aid
of trained lawyers at every step, it is painful to find the
administration of justice disparaged by men on hearsay,
and almost invariably by men who entirely lack experience.
I recollect talking to a noble lord who expressed a very
decided opinion of the innocence of a notorious criminal of
whose guilt I told him I felt no doubt. '' But," he said, " I
read the whole trial, and fed no doubt of her innocence."
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 158
I ventured to point out that he could have had no criminal
experience, and, unless I was greatly mistaken, he had never
even sat as a magistrate; that he. at once admitted, but
repeated that he had read the whole trial. " Well," I said,
" with all due deference, I do not think that possible, inas-
much as the reporting of trials is necessarily curtailed in
the papers, and too often considerable mistakes made and
important points missed." I narrated to him one case. I
was on my way to London and slept at Crewe, and the next
morning, being very anxious to see what Lord Bramwell
said to the grand jury at Winchester Assizes in the case of
the running down by the royal yacht of a yacht belonging
to a Manchester gentleman with loss of Ufe, I bought the first
London paper I could get at the earliest station to which a
paper had come. Having read what purported to be the
address I said to myself, " I will swear Lord Bramwell
never said that." At the next station I bought two more
papers and was not surprised to find that the three accounts
varied as much as do the colours blue, green, and yellow.
I wrote and told Lord Bramwell, and his characteristic reply
was, " I am used to that."
Mr. Justice Grove suffered sadly from dyspepsia, which
made him sometimes rather testy, but in spite of it he lived
to a good old age. His latter years were sadly embittered
by the loss of his wife and daughter by an accident when
away in Scotland, and it was useless to ask him to dinner
afterwards, as he was very low-spirited. He was one of
three Judges that came this Circuit the year I was High
Sheriff of this coimty. This Judge came this Circuit on
several occasions, and I recollect on one there were more
guests to dinner than usual, and a piece that had been added
in the centre gave way with a loud crack, but was soon
mended. I sat next to the Judge, who remarked to me that
he so little enjoyed food that he could rarely tell half an
hour after his dinner what he had had. This I thought fully
accoimted for a subsequent incident. He said to me, " I
see you have let the entries pass. What will you have ? "
I replied, " I know that Lord Powys always presents her
Majesty's Judges with a fine fat haunch of venison at Welsh-
156 MEMORIES OF SIR LL, TURNER
on which I was anxious to hear his views, and he wrote from
Brighton as follows :
" My dear Sir Llewelyn — Thanks for your New Year's
remembrance. ... I entirely agree with your views on the
subject of . . . and my father* had a strong opinion to the
same effect. I hope you have been well this winter. . . .
" My kind regards to Lady Turner.
"Very faithfully yours,
"C. E. Pollock.'*
As the question was a controversial one I have left out the
subject-matter.
The gross hardship inflicted upon Merionethshire pri-
soners confined in Carnarvon Gaol and taken to Ruthin
to be tried had long occupied my attention as Chairman of
the Visiting Justices of the former prison, and in January
1893 I received the following reply from Baron PoUock to
a letter I wrote him on the subject :
" The Croft, Putney,
" Jan, 10, 1893.
" My dear Sir Llewelyn — Thanks for your kind
remembrances and good wishes, which I cordially reciprocate.
I am glad to report that my seventieth year has brought me
more of health and strength than I have enjoyed for some
time past.
" I entirely agree with your proposal as to the Carnarvon
prisoners, and will do my best, if the Judges are consulted,
to endorse what you say.
" With my kind regards to Lady Turner,
" I am ever,
" Yours very sincerely,
" C. E. Pollock."
The other Judges, Lord Justice Vaughan Williams and
Lord Justice Mathew, cordially endorsed the idea of
relieving the prisoners from being tried at a distance from
** The Lord Chief Baron Pollock.
{U'/iitlock, photo y Birtritii^haut)
THE HONOURABLK BAROX I>OLLOCK
4
4
THE ENGLISH JUDGES 157
the place of confinement, where the Assizes are held ; but
to my amazement a grand jury, of which I was foreman,
declined to support a presentment in favour of it. The
grand jury at Ruthin made a presentment that Merioneth-
shire prisoners should be imprisoned and tried there, and
carried their point. The last time I saw the Baron was in
1896,
In January 1897 I received my last letter from him, as
follows :
" South Parade, Soxtthsba.
"My dear Sir Llewelyn — I have long owed you a letter,
and now write to wish you and Lady Turner from Lady
Pollock and myself a very happy New Year.
" I hope you have had no trouble since your visit to
London,* and I trust you have enjoyed good health and
strength. I have had a stiff year for work, but we contrived
to get to Yorkshire in the long vacation. . . . Please give
our kindest regards to Lady Turner, and believe me ever,
" Yours very truly,
" C. E. Pollock."
When Baron Pollock died I felt that every man with whom
he was acquainted lost a friend.
''Time has a Domesday Book upon whose pages he is continually
recording illustrious names." — Longfellow.
BARON HUDDLESTON.
Although considered somewhat austere in court, Baron
Huddleston was an exceedingly pleasant man, and as full of
interesting anecdotes as " an egg is of meat.'' I saw much of
him and of Lady Diana Huddleston when he held the Assizes
at different times at Carnarvon, and he was one of the
numerous Judges who visited Parkia, and spent his Sundays
with us. I suppose it is one of the signs of old age that while
my memory is retentive on earlier events, it seems utterly to
fail in others; and while remembering that Baron Huddleston
* I had been obliged to decline an invitation to dine with the
Baron in London, as I had to undergo a serious operation.
158 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
had such a fund of anecdotes they have slipped from a
memory retentive and clear on very much older matter, and
1 am imable to relate one. I recollect a very awkward but
somewhat droll proceeding. I called at the Judges' lodgings
on the Commission day, and inquired if the Judge had
arrived, and was told he had, and was shown up by one of
the footmen. The Judge was just telling me how he and
Lady Diana had arrived at the railway station, which was
crowded with market people, and that they had to push their
way through a concourse of arriving and departingpassengers,
there being no Sheriff or carriage to meet him. While he was
telling me this the High Sheriff, a rather elderly and unwieldy
gentleman, was shown in, and the Judge told him sharply
of his inconvenience. The Sheriff pulled out a letter to
explain matters, which happened to be a wrong one, and
handed it to the Judge. It was a foolish and unfortunate
letter, written by the Under Sheriff, but which made the
Judge justly feel exceedingly angry ; however, as it appeared
not to be the old gentleman's fault, his lordship forgave him.
Lady Turner and I accompanied them by water to Beau-
maris when they went to open the Assize there. I have no
recollection of any very special cases tried at Carnarvon by
the Baron, excepting an indictment for libel on one occasion
which fell to the groimd. I was foreman of the grand jury,
and we threw out the bill.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR ARCHIBALD
V ) LEViN SMITH, MASTER OF THE ROLLS.
In writing of Judges whom I have known I have for
obvious reasons abstained from alluding to those who are
living, and with much regret I find myself at liberty to bring
in this eminent Judge, who has ceased to exist. I had the
pleasure of entertaining him at Parkia on each occasion of
his holding the North Wales Assizes. He was raised to the
Bench of the High Court of Justice in 1883, and made a Lord
Justice of Appeal in 1892, and Master of the Rolls in 1900.
He was one of the Judges who sat as Commissioner in the
Pigot inquiry in 1888-9. Although he was not one of the
{H'hitlock, photo ^ Birmingham)
THE RIGHT HON. LORD JUSTICE SMITH
'* • i **--^ ' "• .
> THE ENGLISH Jj^pCE^ 159
Judges 4)n Circuit when I filled tho office of High Sheriff in
1886-7, s*iU ^ 1889 I had the pleasure of acting as his High
SheriSwhcn I discharged that duty in the place of Mr. Brooke,
of Pabo Hall, who was too ill, and did not live long after. A
more agreeable Judge one could not have desired. When I
went into the lodgings one day I could realise the hard
work of a Judge ; the floor in one part of the drawing-room
w^ covered with papers, and I asked him what they were,
and he said they related to a compUcated criminal case that
the Secretary of State had asked him to read and give him
his opinion upon. It struck me it must be a very peculiar
case to Jiave such a mass of papers relating to it. His lord-
ship had a heavy Assize and was unable to finish the
xivil business at Carnarvon, but as there was only one case
at Beaimiaris with great kindness he returned to Carnarvon
to finish the dvil business, instead of letting it stand over to
the next Assize.
In 1890 he was kind enough to send me a photograph of
himself in his robes, but I regret to say that it does him less
than scant justice.
When he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1892
I wrote to congratulate him, and received the f oUowing reply :
" 60 Cadogan Square, S.W..
"June 19, 1892.
" My dear Sir Llewelyn Turner — I received your con-
gratulations with gratitude. I am by no means certain that
I should not have been a happier man if left as I was in the
Queen's Bench division ; but when the offer came I had not
the courage to say no, more especially as the new post
relieves me from the everlasting Circuits.
" It is only the hospitality of friends such as you that make
the Circuits agreeable. With compliments to Lady Turner,
" Believe me,
" Very truly yours,
" A. L. Smith."
The Master of the Rolls was thirteen years my jimior in
years, and I always regarded him as a man who would have
160 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
long outlived me. He was a remarkably eminent athlete in his
younger days, and had thrice rowed in the Cambridge eight
when at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a fine hale, hand-
some man, that had all the appearances of living. How little
we know what is before us ! He and Lady Smith were in bad
health one year and went to Scotland in the long vacation ;
they both reclined on the bank of a river, and he feU asleep,
and on awaking found that Lady Smith had fallen in and
was drowned, she having no doubt slept too.
I was deeply touched and gratified at the inauguration of
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, when Lord Justice Vaughan
Williams said to me, " The Master of the Rolls dlways spoke
with affection of you."
CHAPTER V
NOTABLE MEN OF NORTH WALES
Sir Richard Bulkeley, tenth Bart. — His good nature —
Electioneering repartee — His rapid changes of opinion — A
Quarter Sessions blunder — A Royal visit and a rash delay —
Sir Richard and the farmers—" Little Pickles "—Yacht-
racing quarrel and reconciliation — Letters and illness of
Sir Richard — A raid on Dublin Castle — Visit of the Prince
of Wales — Difficulties of preparation — Exertions of Mayor
— Sir Richard's congratulations — ^The Rothsay Castle —
— The late Lord Penrhyn — His character and value — An
address by Sir Llewelyn Turner — ^Mr. Lloyd Edwards of
Nanhoron — His bulk and hospitality — Lord Newborough —
Chairman of Quarter Sessions — A violent prisoner — A "pig"
of new species — Irishman and counsel — The tale-bearer
snubbed — Lord Newborough and Jesus College — The biter
bit — Chancellor Trevor at Carnarvon — His powers of
reading — Contrast to Welsh clergy — Anomalies of Church in
Wales — Neglect of English population — ^The Rev. Thomas
Thomas — An address — His zeal for education — The Rev.
James Crawley Vincent — Exertions during the cholera —
His courage — And death — Note from his son — Dean Cotton
— His practical sermon — Door-scrapers — His wit — In-
competent clergy— "An' 'im they 'anget "— " Tak' the
breeches " — Dean Cotton and Lord Newborough — The
" piose drummer " — " Man is an animal ** — Dean Cotton's
blindness— Address by him— The best " rope "—" Let
us be partial " — Dean Cotton's cheerfulness — His regard
for Sir Llewelyn — His death — John Bright — His affection
for Wales — His freedom from party spirit — An interesting
letter — His views on Welsh language — Letters by Sir
Llewelyn Turner and Mr. Bright — An appeal for common
sense verstis sentiment — Endorsed by Mr. Bright — Views
of a French philologist — ^Mr. Bright's handwriting — ^Mr.
Bulkeley Hughes, M.P. — His assistance as to the Yacht
Club House — His industry — Election scenes — His hand-
writing— Sad result of illegibility — The bay mare " shot,"
not " shod " — Sir Llewelyn his trustee and executor — Mr.
Richard Davies, M.P. — Contests Carnarvon Boroughs 1852
L
162 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
— Disgraceful literature of old elections — Mr. Davies
returned for Anglesey — Appointed Lord Lieutenant-
Retirement from Parliament as Unionist — ^Mr. Robert
Davies — His character — Major Nanney — ^The herrings —
** Paws oflf, Pompey ! " — A yacht accident — Mr. Samuel
Holland — Recreant groomsmen — Mr. Fosbery Lyster — Mis-
management of Carnarvon Harbour — Sinning against the
Hght.
SIR RICHARD WILLIAMS BULKELEY, OF BARON
HILL, Tenth Bart.
When I was a pupil at Beaumaris with the Rev. Dr. Davis
Owen I first set eyes on Sir Richard Bulkeley, and although
only a young boy was much impressed by his appearance.
He was then in the prime of life, and a more gentlemanlike
man in face, figure, and carriage I never saw. This early
impression of him has always remained with me.
To us boys he had always something pleasant to say if
he met us anywhere, and when we prigged his walnuts, as
we sometimes did, I Uttle thought that I should in later
life be amusing him when his guest at Baron Hill by telling
him how we had enjoyed our ill-gotten nuts.
On one occasion when we boys were out walking we were
hailed by him from ground above the road (where he was
with a shooting-party) to go up, and he said that if one of us
could tell him the Latin for woodcock he would ask for a
half-hohday for us to accompany the shooting-party after
luncheon. We were all at fault, tmtil Sir Richard's brother-
in-law, Mr. Bryce Pearse, whispered to one boy — ** Cockus
lignus.'' " Cockus lignus ! " shouted the boy, to the great
amusement of Sir Richard and his guests. Notwithstand-
ing our inability to give the correct Latin for woodcock he
kindly got us the half-hoUday, and gave us a pleasant after-
noon's sport.
During my stay with Dr. Owen an excited county election
took place, the hustings being in Beaimiaris Castle. The
Conservative candidate was Mr. Meyrick of Bodorgan, and
the Liberal candidate the Honourable WiUiam Owen
Stanley. On the nomination day the Liberal candidate
was proposed by Sir Richard, and the impression he made
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 168
upon me may be guessed by the fact that I do not recollect
snyttdng about the other speakers on either side, or their
speeches ; but Sir Richard's port and presence, coupled with
his wit and playful manner, compelled one's attention.
The great and grand Bill for the aboUtion of slavery was
of recent date at that time, and in his address Sir Richard
naturally spoke with approval of the measure. While he
was enlarging upon it, a clergyman — who was also a some-
what pronounced squire — suddenly shouted, " It is not
aboUshed in Anglesey yet." " No, Sir, and never will be
so long as country parsons ape country squires," was the
prompt reply. The baronet continued his speech without
being in the sUghtest degree disconcerted by theinterrruption.
A few minutes later a clergyman of notoriously drunken
habits, who Uved a completdy unclerical Ufe, placed both
hands to his mouth and shouted between them, " Go home
and read your Bible." " If you. Sir, when you read it, were
to apply its maxims to yourself, it would improve both your
mind and your morals," was the instant reply, and the
address went on without being in any measure injured by the
interruptions. His readiness of repartee and in rapidly
framing an epigrsun or giving an amusing and appropriate
name to anything was remarkable.
My brother-in-law, the late Mr. Morgan, was trustee of
Sir Richard's marriage settlement with his first wife, and
he purchased from Sir Richard some fields near Carnarvon,
one of which was called Cae Synamon. On this field Mr.
Morgan built a house, and strangely called it by the name
of the field. When Sir Richard heard the name he promptly
christened it " Morgan's spicy place." Any one hearing
the name ** Cae Synamon " would be apt to connect it, as
Sir Richard so wittily did, with the pleasant spice one
enjoys with custard, but the name is really said to be the
Welsh for " a field with a pleasant view of Anglesey {syn
y Mon).
It was a loss to the two counties that so able a man had
one defect, (where is the man with none ?) an inconstancy
of sentiment on subjects, which led to his throwing up many
public appointments in which he was most efl&cient; but
166 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
We bundled into the yacht's gig, and the men rowed as hard
as they could, but we had not got more than thirty or forty
yards from the Terrible when her broadside of 68-pounders
blazed away. The Queen and Prince Albert had arrived,
and we passed rapidly under a bridge and scrambled up an
immense pile pier, of which there were two abreast of each
other, the Victoria and Albert royal yacht being moored
between them. We scrambled up one of them and saw
five ladies entering the glass house on deck, but could not
tell which was her Majesty.
The Victoria and Albert, the second of her name, and still
sound (though a far larger yacht has taken her place), is a
steam yacht of 2400 tons, and her paddle-box was very far
above our heads. The captain. Lord Adolphus FitzClarence,
called by his friends " Dolly '' for short, was an old friend
of Sir Richard's, and when the latter saw him on the paddle-
box he looked up at him and " sang out," " Dolly, how are
you ? " Lord Adolphus, looking down from his elevation,
replied, " Bulkdey, how d'ye do ? Turn ahead slow."
The yacht then at once steamed very slowly from between
the piers and anchored amid the Channel Fleet. The address
had been presented by the High Sheriff of the county, and
we saw no more of the Queen than 1 have stated. " Never
mind," said Sir Richard, " we will go and have some fun
amongst the people." All Anglesey seemed to be there, and
all Anglesey seemed familiar to him, especially the farmers,
many of whom were his tenants ; the numbers he knew
astonished me very much. One man was asked if his wife
was better, another if he had sold the black mare, and these
sort of questions. He saw one well-dressed man, of the
higher class of farmers, and hailed him, " Ah, Little Pickles,
how are you ? " " Little Pickles " took oil his hat as we
passed on and seemed in no way displeased. I asked how
he had earned this title. " Well," Sir Richard said, " he is a
tenant of Lord Dinorben and of mine. He attended Lord
Dinorben's dinner one day, and mine the next, they being on
consecutive days. He got too much liquor at Lord Din-
orben's rent dinner and felt very seedy at mine, and my agent,
Tom Williams, who of course presided, asked him what he
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 167
would take. Mr. looked about the table, and his eye
fell upon a glass jar of pickled onions, which he evidently
r^arded as the best remedy for seediness, so scratching his
head he repUed, ' Well indeed I will take a little pickles, if
you please." Mr. Thomas WiUiams retailed the story to his
employer, hence the hail of " Little Pickles, how are you ? "
I once found myself in what is to me one of the most
unpleasant positions, that of being present while two county
magnates had in the County Hall of Carnarvon a serious
quarrel, the one a noble lord and the other a gentleman of good
estate. Sir Richard was also present, and he " never turned
a hair," as the saying is, whereas I felt, and I have no doubt
looked, almost as miserable a sinner as if I had been '' left
for execution." Sir Richard had a very handy way of
expressing himself by a wink, and turning to me he winked,
as much as to say, " Here is a pretty kettle of fish ! " Like
all other quarrels it came of coiu'se to an end, but there never
was any love lost between the combatants either before or
after the quarrel. I would rather have walked twenty miles
than have been present, but Sir Richard was a very much
older and more seasoned man than I was.
I once only got for a time into his " black books," and few
things ever grieved me more than to appear to have given
an adverse decision against his eldest son, then Captain
Bulkeley, and afterwards Sir Richard Mostyn Bulkeley.
The latter ran a yacht at the R.W.Y.C. Regatta, which came
in second in her class, with the protest flag flying, and on
coming ashore a written protest, in accordance with the
rules, was duly presented within an hour after the end of the
race. The protest was upon the alleged ground that the
yacht which came in first (an Irish yacht) had not passed
the red buoy of the bar on the proper side as ordered in the
sailing directions with which each yacht was alwa)^ supplied
immediately before the race, together with a chart of the
course. The directions were — " in going out leave the red
buoy of the bar on the port hand> and the black buoy on the
starboard hand, and on returning after rounding the flag
boat leave the black buoy of the bar on the port hand and
the red buoy of the bar on the starboard hand." These two
168 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
buoys are the only ones noticed in the directions, these
marking the two comers of two sides of the South Bank,
where the channel is very narrow. There were upon the bar
three other buoys, which as above stated are not mentioned.
One of these, a very small buoy, was painted red, its designa-
tion being the preventer buoy, the difference between the
" red buoy of the bar " and the little preventer buoy being
as great as that between a horse and a small pug dog. The
two buoys noticed in the directions were essential to keep
dear of the shallow water on the banks, whereas the small
buoy was simply to show the deepest water, but as the yachts
were not sent out until there was plenty of water, it, like the
other buoys, except the two essential ones, was purposely
ignored. Captain Bulkeley's yacht had no hcensed pilot
aboard, and the Jersey man, who acted in that capacity,
told them that the little buoy was " the red buoy of the bar."
The Sailing Conmtiittee, of which I, as the flag officer present,
was of course the chairman, after hearing the evidence on
both sides, unanimously gave the only decision possible,
that the Irish yacht had fully complied with the sailing
directions, which, as far as the buoys were concerned, had
been in force for many years. Captain Bulkdey was advised
to take a hcensed pilot in future, who would have piloted
numberless yachts, and would of course be acquainted with
the well-known designation of the " red buoy of the bar."
For a time this matter created some coolness, but Vice-
Commodore Jones, of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club, with
his yacht the Bacchante, being at Beaumaris, happened to
dine at Baron Hill, and having seen the chart and a copy
of the sailing directions signed by me he pointed out that
no other possible decision could have been given without
injustice. The matter cropped up a few years later at
Baron Hill, and Lord Fitzhardinge, who had sailed in the
yacht, made some slight allusion to it, saying there was some
mistake about a red buoy. Sir Richard with some playful
observation turned the conversation.
In the year when Sir Richard's ddest son, then a lieutenant
in the Guards, who subsequently succeeded to the title,
came of age, a large dinner was given at Baron Hill, at which
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 169
I was one of the guests. Nothing could exceed the genial
pleasantry of Sir Richard on that as well as on all occasions.
It was a source of deep regret to me and always will be
that I was unable to be present and take an active part in the
inauguration of the pillar put up to the memory of Sir
Richard Bulkeley, His son and successor, the late Sir
Richard Mostjm Bulkeley, wrote to invite me to deliver the
English address on the occasion, but to my great sorrow I was
unable to go, as few things would have been more pleasing
to me than to have deUvered a valedictory address on the
occasion of doing honour to the memory of one who had for
many years showed me the utmost kindness and con-
sideration. I had considerable correspondence with him
on local and other matters, and append a few of his kind
letters, and much regret having lost some of Lady Bulkeley's.
" Baron Hill, Bbaumaris,
"Nov, 22, 1865.
"Dear Turner, — A notice will appear in the local
journals on Saturday next convening a public meeting to be
held the week following at Carnarvon to take into con-
sideration what is best to be done with regard to the cattle
plague. It is a puzzling question, and I confess that I do
not see my way to a satisfactory solution.
" Yours truly,
" R. Williams Bulkeley."
Having slept over the matter, the Lord Lieutenant
altered his mind, and the day after sent me the following
letter, which no doubt must have crossed my reply to that
of the 22nd, in which I fancy I was as much at sea as to any
advice I could offer — which was nil.
" Baron Hill, Beaumaris,
'*Nov. 23, 1865.
" Dear Turner, — On further consideration I am of
opinion that it is not the business of the Lord Lieutenant to
call a meeting to consider the cattle plague. If there are
any persons in the county who think that any practical
170 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
result would be arrived at by a county meeting they must
address the Sheriff. For myself, all that I could suggest
would be for farmers, cowkeepers, etc., to insure their
cattle, and as the Normal Cattle Insurance Co. have estab-
lished agents here there is no difficulty. This no doubt would
not meet the intentions of some parties; voluntary sub-
scriptions they could propose, or in other words to escape
the difficulty they would be very ready to dip their hands
into other people's pockets. There would be Inspectors,
Treasurers, Secretaries, etc., with good salaries, the expense
of which would fall on a few willing givers. Be so kind as to
tell the Volunteer officers to put my name down for the
annual Volunteer ball.
" Yovu3 very truly,
"R. Williams Bulkeley."
In the year 1867 Sir Richard Bulkeley had a severe attack
of illness, as to which I received the following letter from
Lady Bulkeley :
"/an. 4, 1867.
" Dear Mr. Turner, — I am delighted to be able to send
you an improved accoimt of Sir Richard's health. For two
months I have been most anxious about him and indeed he
has been very ill ; but now, thank God, each day he seems to
regain strength, and I hope in a Uttle time he may be quite
himself. Pray accept my thanks for your kind inquiries.
" Wishing you many happy returns of the New Year,
" BeUeve me yours sincerely,
" Maria F. W. Bulkeley."
Sir Richard had proposed to me in 1868 that we should
take a short sail in my yacht to visit the scenes of the losses
of the Rothsay Castle and Royal Charier, as to which
he altered his mind some time after, and notified the
change in the following playful letter, which was so character-
istic of his sudden changes and of his droll and playful and
pleasant way of expressing them :
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 171
" Baron Hill, Beaumaris,
*' August 31, 1868.
" My dear Commodore, — My courage has oozed out ; a
voyage across Red Wharf Bay m a 20-ton cutter about the
autumn equinox alarms me. I am gettmg nervous in my
old age, so I must decline ; there is no money left from the
Royal Charter, no odd sovereign or two to be picked up
from the beach. I tried that dodge, but without success.
" Yours very truly,
" R. Williams Bulkeley."
In 1868 the then High Sheriff of this county invited the
Prince and Princess of Wales to pay a visit on their way to
or return from Dublin, where they were going. There was
very considerable friction on the subject, as the magnates of
the coimty naturally felt that they should have been con-
sulted, and I was placed in a most awkward predicament, as
Carnarvon was just completing the great scheme of drainage,
which I in my capacity of head scavenger was responsible
for having pushed forward, and literally forced " down
people's throats," and it seemed almost impossible that the
county town could be got into shape with its principal
streets all " up," as the saying is for streets torn up for
drains, etc.
On the one hand I was assured their Royal Highnesses
would come, and on the other that they would not, so I set off
to Dublin to make certain of their intentions. I left Bangor
at midnight on Sunday, and reached Dublin at 7 a.m. on
Monday ; after breakfast I went to Dublin Castle, but as
they were all going to a great review in the Phoenix Park
I could only get an appointment for two o'clock. I went
to the review in Phoenix Park, and then had an inter-
view with Colonel Knollys in his bedroom in Dublin Castle,
which was too full to afford him a room that did not answer
a double purpose. Having a distinct arrangement that the
Royal party would come on April 25, the anniversary
of the birth of Edward II. in the Castle, I wrote to
Lord Penrhyn, the then Lord Lieutenant, to Sir Richard
Bulkeley, and several coimty magnates, to inform them.
172 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
and dined at the Royal Irish Yacht Club at Kingstown with
a lot of yachting friends, who escorted me to the steamer at
midnight. I went straight to bed aboard the mail steamer,
got to Holyhead the next morning, and took train to Menai
Bridge, wsdking from there home. I then drove to Carnar-
von, and to my disgust found that in my absence the streets
that I had closed had been re-opened ; but I soon had them
re-closed, and day and night workmen had to be employed
without intermission. I believe that if ever a man should
have been excused for displeasure in this case I ought. It
was only by incessant watching that the place was made
ready. Fires were kept burning in the streets all night, and
the novel sight might have been witnessed of the then
County Court Judge, who had dined at Parkia, and the
Mayor (myself) wandering about the streets from midnight
until two o'clock in the morning, to see that the work was
being finished.
The decorating committee and inhabitants of the town
worked splendidly, and when the day arrived the streets
presented the fairy-like appearance described by Sir Richard
Bulkeley in his letters that follow. The quantity of ever-
greens used for decoration was enormous. Castle Square,
the side-walks of which were bowered with evergreens,
through which you could step in and out through the arches
to and from the foot and carriage ways, was much admired.
The fountain in the square was temporarily surrounded with
spar, stones, ferns, etc. Sir Richard wrote :
" Baron Hill, Beaumaris^
"April 26, 1868.
" My dear Turner, — I can't allow a day to pass without
expressing my admiration for the absolutely perfect arrange-
ments made for the reception of their Royal Highnesses.
" Hampered as you were by the untoward circumstances
which made it most difficult for you at the head of affairs at
Carnarvon and for the representatives of the coimties to
arrange for the reception, the success was wonderful, and
you must naturally rejoice that after all everything went off
to perfection.
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 178
•* The uncertaiiity in which at one time we all were as to
whether the Royal visit was really to come off, and which
was only cleared up by your raid on Dublin Castle, must really
have been distressing, especially as the streets of Carnarvon
were recently torn up for water and drainage.
" Everything except the one embroglio went off well. It
was refreshing to hear two gentlemen like Lord Penrhyn and
yourself addressing the assembly after that S. S, P.
"Yours faithfully,
" R. Williams Bulkeley."
So pleased was Sir Richard with the whole proceedings
that he wrote again in a few days, in the pleasant chatting
vein in which he so frequently indulged.
" Baron Hill, Beaumaris,
" April 29, 1868.
" Dear Mr. Mayor, — Allow me once more to congratu-
late you on the success of the reception and the good taste
exhibited by the Carnarvon Castle committee throughout.
The old town looked beautiful ; the narrowness of the streets
was emblematic of its antiquity. The great square, with
its festoons of evergreens and lined on all sides with Volun-
teers and boimded by the Castle, was really splendid.
Within the Castle the same good taste prevailed ; the
dijeHner was well served, the eatables vastly superior to what
are usually served on such occasions. I had soup, some
cold salmon with mayonnaise sauce (quite correct), roast
lamb, and two glasses of champagne. What does a man
want more ?
"Yours faithfully,
" R. Williams Bulkeley."
About this time there was an unpleasant change in the
health of Sir Richard Bulkeley, but the same exceedingly
pretty and distinct handwriting was visible in his letters,
and it was with deep regret that I received the following
announcement of his illness :
174 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
" Baron Hill« Beaumaris,
"Nov. 26, 1868.
" My dear Turner, — I am quite unable to accept your
kind invitation. I have been Ul for more than a month,
I rallied considerably about a week ago, and thought that I
was going again to enjoy the blessing of health, but it is now
otherwise, and I hardly leave the house. . . . has left such a
feeling of animosity in the boroughs as you could hardly
imagine, and this by harangues after the election was over.
" Yours very truly,
" R. Williams Bulkeley."
One of the most important occasions upon which Sir
Richard Bulkeley did pubUc service was as foreman of the
Coroner's jury which sat at Beaumaris on August 19, 1831,
in an inquest over the bodies of fifty-six persons who perished
in the Rothsay Castle, At the end of the proceedings he
handed to the Coroner the following outspoken letter :
" Sir, — From the evidence before them the jury cannot
separate without expressing their firm conviction that had
the Rothsay Castle been a seaworthy vessel, and properly
manned, this awful calamity might have been averted. They
cannot disguise their indignation at the conduct of those who
could place such a vessel on this station, and under the charge
of a captain and mate who have been proved, by the evidence
brought before the jury, to have been in a state of intoxi-
cation.
" (Signed) R. W. Bulkeley,
" Foreman.
" To the Coroner, •"
THE LATE LORD PENRHYN.
This nobleman, who died in harness as Lord Lieutenant
of the coimty, was so recently an active factor and bene-
factor in relation to all matters connected with the county
of Carnarvon that I think the best course I can adopt in
these Reminiscences is to reprint here the address which in
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 175
my capacity of High Sheriff of the county of Carnarvon I
ddivered in presiding over the county meeting to commem-
orate his death,
" Gentlemen, — It is a source of deep regret to me that
one of the earliest functions of this shrievalty should be that
of convening and presiding over a meeting consequent upon
the death of the late Lord Penrhyn, the Lord Lieutenant
of the coimty; and if, in discharging the latter part of the
duty my words be few, I pray you to believe that their
brevity will be due to an unwillingness to trespass upon the
time which other speakers are equally entitled to share.
In treating of the death of Lord Penrhyn, it is a great conso-
lation to reflect that he was not cut ofi in the meridian of Ufe
— that his simset in the appointed season was in the evening
of his existence, when he died full of years and full of
honour.
" This is by no means the first occasion in a somewhat
long pubUc career on which I have been called upon to dis-
charge duties of a kindred kind. Now, as then, I will
endeavour studiously to avoid the use of any words savouring
of flattery. One sometimes hears nauseous eulogies of the
dead, describing them as perfectly faultless — ^in other words,
not human. To my simple understanding such a description
is an insult to the memory of any one who deserves — as I
beUeve Lord Penrhyn to deserve — the appellation of a good
man. The best proof of this will be found in the fact that,
however other men may have differed from him on various
points, from the day when he first entered Penryhn Castle
to the hour when he passed from time to eternity, one never
heard of a whisper against his moral character, or of a stain
upon his honour. I and others have differed with him on
public points, but which of us can say that we ever heard
of an inUntional error or wrong of which he was guilty ?
I mention difference of opinion advisedly, because it em-
phasises the evidence, inasmuch as the testimony of those
who did not always agree in his views must of necessity
immeasurably transcend in importance that of any one who
might have said ' Amen ' on all occasions to his utterances.
176 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
I will now take leave to allude to the long connection of the
late Lord Penrhyn with the county of Carnarvon, a connec-
tion so long that the younger generation of men do not
recollect his advent, which, I am sorry to say, I do ; and
as one who having filled a variety of pubUc posts, has had an
enormous amount of pubUc business to transact with him,
I can state that as member for the county he was always
energetic and ready in the discharge of pubUc affairs, and
that when he was called to the Upper House he was equally
ready to co-operate with those who required his aid. Allow
me now to speak of the late Lord Penrhyn as an improver
of the face of the county. It has been said, and wisely said,
that the man who causes two blades of grass to grow where
one grew before is a benefactor to his race. Lord Penrh3m
did more tha,n this ; he spent a large smn in turning bad
land into good. I am unable to say what his practice may
have been of late years, but his lordship told me, many years
ago, that he had not taken a farthing out of the farms of the
estate, but had expended the entire rents in their improve-
ment. It maybe said that he was improving his own property,
and if it be so said, I take no exception to the statement ;
but allow me to remark that there are vast nimibers of
proprietors who neglect the duty of improving the portion
of this earth entrusted to their care. I have never hesitated
to denounce from pubUc platforms the disfigurement of this
beautiful country by that burlesque upon architecture
which is rapidly rendering some of its best scenery unsightly
and robbing it of its charms. Lord Penrhyn never offended
in that direction. If you desire proof of this latter assertion
look at the model village of Llandegai, and examine the
pretty and commodious dwellings erected by him for the
Penrhyn quarrymen. My observations in opening this
meeting would be lamentably incomplete were I to sit down
without allusion to the charities of Lord Penrhyn. We are
taught in holy writ that * to whom much is given, from him
will much be required;* but, alas! the warning and the
admonition are not always regarded as they ought to be.
All men do not recognise the fact that they are, after all,
no more than ' stewards of God's bounty.' Who can deny
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 177
that the late Lord Lieutenant did recognise this duty, and
that he gave with a liberal hand? I, for one, believe that he
never refused to assist all whom he beUeved honestly to
deserve it. If there be truth in the Gospels of heaven we
have fuU warrant for beUeving that those who, to the best of
their hghts, recognise this great duty of charity, lay up for
themselves a far higher and more endiuing reward than any
memorial which this or any other meeting can offer upon
their tombs."
Lord Penrhyn succeeded the late Mr. Assheton Smith as
Commodore of the Royal Welsh Yacht Club, to which he was
a most liberal benefactor for many years, and I succeeded
Lord Penrhyn.
MR. LLOYD EDWARDS, OF NANHORON
( A large estate in South Carnarvonshire).
Amongst the best known men in the county of Carnarvon
for a great many years was Mr. Lloyd Edwards, whose kind
and pleasant face was famiUar to most people, and he was
almost always to be seen at all functions relating to the
coimty. In the old days of the Pwllheli himt and the
Tremadoc balls he was always to the fore, and he was alwa}^
an active worker at elections. He was a man of large and
strong proportions, and I well remember about fifty years
ago at a very large dinner at the Bulkeley Arms Hotel in
Beaimiaris, the object of which I have forgotten, considerable
laughter was caused when in proposing his health the
speaker alluded to their early days at Eton, " when Lloyd
Edwards was a boy." Captain Bob WiUiams, the late Sir
Richard Williams Bulkeley's brother, called out, " Lloyd
Edwards a boy ! Lloyd Edwards never was a boy."
This may seem absurd on paper, but Mr. Lloyd Edwards
being so big a man the joke amazingly tickled the audience,
and none laughed more heartily than the genial gentleman
who had evoked it.
He was always so ready to join in any pubUc matter, and
M
178 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
was so well known for his hospitality not only in his own
house, but when from home, especially to young men, that I
for one felt great regret when I heard of his decease.
THE LATE LORD NEWBOROUGH.
Lord Newborough for a great nimiber of years filled the
posts of Chairman of Quarter Sessions of the county of
Carnarvon, and Chairman of the County Petty Sessions of
the Carnarvon division, and of the Visiting Justices of
Carnarvon Gaol before it fell to my lot to fill the latter post,
which I did for many years. He was most assiduous in
the discharge of his duties until an unfortunate misunder-
standing with some other magistrates led to his resignation.
As his lordship filled the post of Chairman of that body so
long, I may as well here relate some curious incidents attend-
ing Quarter Sessions cases.
On one occasion two powerful ruffians were tried at these
Sessions for breaking a window in a watchmaker's shop in
broad dayUght, and stealing some watches. One of them
had managed to secrete a stone in his pocket, and on being
sentenced he threw it at the Chairman, but missed him ;
having fired too high the stone went through the arm of the
portrait of Mr. Gamons, who filled the office of Prothonotary
under the Welsh Judicature, which was hanging at the back
of the Bench in those days.
In another criminal case which I remember, the foreman
of the petty jury, when asked the usual question as to
whether they found the prisoner guilty or not guilty, replied,
" Guilty, my Lord, but we recommend the prisoner to mercy
as we think there was a pig between him and the prose-
cutor." " What ? " said Lord Newborough, " I do not under-
stand you." " A pig, my lord ; we think there was a pig
between him and the prosecutor." I ventured to suggest
that the juryman probably meant a pique, and the sug-
gestion being adopted, the prisoner received a sentence
partially softened by the fortunate intervention of the " pig.**
When I inform my readers that the gentleman who introduced
the '• pig " into the verdict was a printer, they will probably
{/Chanctllor.photo.^ Dnblin)
LORD NEWBOROUGH
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 179-
in future cease to ascribe aU errors of printed matter to that
convenient individual — the printer's devil.
By far the most humorous proceeding which I remember
at Quarter Sessions was the creation of an Irishman whom
I had the honour of knowing very well. He was a wonderful
man in his walk of life, and for some time wheeled a barrow
daily from Carnarvon to Beaumaris for oysters ; returning to
Carnarvon in the evening he hawked the oysters about the
streets of Carnarvon at all hoiu^ of the night. As he in-
creased in wealth he gave up the barrow, and got his oysters
to Menai Bridge by the Liverpool steamer, and on to Car-
narvon by one of tiie three omnibuses that met the steamer
in those days. I once asked him how on earth he got cus-
tomers at three o'clock in the morning, as I had heard him
calling, " Carlingford oysters, stinking fish, O ! yur stinking
fish," when I was leaving a ball at that hour. His reply was,
" Ah, sure, your honour, there's many a man who has been
soaking himself in a tavern all night who is glad of an oyster
at three or four or any other hour." At that time and for
many years after taverns could be kept open all night.
But to come to Pat's comic proceedings at Quarter
Sessions. A man was placed upon his trial for stealing at
Carnarvon a sack of hones for sharpening knives. A yard
where hones were stored had been more than once robbed,
and late one night or in the early morning a poUceman met
a man with a sack on his back in a street and demanded to
know its contents, and the man was apprehended and com-
mitted for trial at Quarter Sessions. Pat sat right in front
of the dock where (in the old court) there was a bench,
Ihiring the proceedings Pat called out, " I seed that man
buy thim hones from a Welshman near the Natiend School
in this town ; " no notice being taken he repeated his state-
ment in a very loud tone, and when the case for the prose-
cution was concluded, he was put into the witness box (in
the old court it was a large box or enclosure, some five feet
square, with a door to it at the top of some steps). Pat
being sworn deposed to the facts already stated as to seeing
the prisoner purchase the hones. The advocate for the pro-
secution, who was an exceedingly able man, but not used to
180 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Irish witnesses, got up to cross-examine, and commenced in
an angry tone, which was not a wise course with a witty
native of the Emerald Isle. The following questions and
answers took place, and in a very angry tone he began by
asking :
" What is your name. Sir ? *'
" Matthew Grant, bi the same token."
** And pray, Mr. Grant," said his questioner, " what is
your occupation ? "
** I'm a jack-of-all-thrades and master of none like yur-
self."
r ** You might give a civil answer. Sir, to a civil question."
" I could give a gintleman a civil answer."
Nothing could be got out of the witness, and when his
tormentor sat down there was a dead silence for a minute
or two, when Pat placed his hands right and left on the sides
of the witness-box, and turning his head to the right and left
took a deliberate and calm inspection round the coiut ;
then opening the door of the witness-box very slowly
descended the steps, sajdng as he went, " I care for neither
lawyers, magistrates, nor piUecemen." The advocate for
the prosecution then took " his change " out of Pat in his
address to the jury, who foimd the prisoner guilty, despite
the eloquence of "' Matthew Grant bi the same token."
Lord Newborough was an exceedingly good landlord, and
his farms were supplied with models of good farm build-
ings, the houses and out-houses being equally good. I
heard an amusing story of his ^'shutting up" a selfish
tenant who coveted his neighbour's farm, which adjoined
that tenanted by him. The tenant of the adjacent farm
died, and Lord Newborough let the farm to the widow,
whose neighbour desired to " add field to field," and get the
poor woman ousted. He went to Lord Newborough and
said, " My lord, Jane Williams is letting the land." " What,
letting my land ? " was the reply. " Yes, my lord, she has
let it all but the garden." " What, let all mv land except
the garden?" "Yes, my lord." "Well," said Lord
Newborough, " will you go to her with my compliments and
tell her that she is welcome to let the garden too."
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 181
His lordship, who was a keen man of business, preferred
attending to his own afiairs to being assisted by an interested
schemer. I once mentioned the subject to him and he
laughed and was evidently amused at having discomfited
Jane Williams's jealous neighbour. Though so good a mftn
of business, he was sometimes overmatched. He and his
predecessors had for some years paid a small annual sum
to Jesus College, Oxford, and after the lapse of some years
he refused to pay it any longer, imless they coidd show him
what it was for. It so happened that at that time the
Bursar of the College was a particularly acute man, and he
looked up the business of the College with great care, and
foimd that the money was payable as an ancient ground-
rent for a farm granted to Lord Newborough's predecessors
in title. The document which he discovered contained a
proviso that unless the ground-rent was paid within a certain
number of days after it was due the farm was forfeited to
the College, and after being in the possession of the owners
of the Gl5mUifon estate for many years it thus reverted to
Jesus College.
CHANCELLOR T^J^GSi.
At the time I was bom the R^. William Trevor was the
Vicar of Carnarvon, and although Parkia is in another pari^^h^
viz., that of Llanfairisgaer, or the Church of St. Mary
below the fortification (».d., the British or Danish encamp-
ment), which existed on the higher ground above it, my
father's family went to Carnarvon to the English service.
Mr. Trevor was a man of good physique and fine presence,
and was in my opinion the most perfect reader and the
best interpreter (if I may use the term) of the wonderfully
beautiful prayers and supplications of the Church of England
to whom I ever listened. My own father was a most distinct
reader, and few things offended him more than bad reading.
Mr., in later life Canon, Wynn Williams was one of Mr.
Trevor's curates, and christened me in Llanfairisgaa:
Church. Mr. Trevor was Sheriff's Chaplain to my father
that year, and must have been a striking contrast to many
182 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
of the country dergy, who often filled that post, and were
of a strikingly different type. I do not for a moment apply
this observation to all the clergy, as there were some gentle-
men who had graduated at Oxford and Cambridge who
preached Assize sermons fit to listen to, but I repeat that
I never yet saw the man whose rendering of the service
equalled Mr. Trevor's.
The Uving of Carnarvon is in the gift of the Bishop of
Chester, and, amongst the nimierous other anomaUes which
abound in the management of the Church, no sooner is a
vicar appointed than he comes under the clerical juris-
diction of the Bishop of Bangor. Mr. Trevor was a Cheshire
man, and engaged to be married to the daughter of Professor
Woolaston, and the Uving was given to him on condition
that he learned to speak and preach in the Welsh language
within a given period, the length of which I forget. He
studied hard, passed muster, and got the living. It was not
unnatural that his appointment as an Englishman to a
Welsh parish should be at first resented by a portion of his
flock, but as the EngUsh church was the principal one in
point of attendance and culture he was a decided godsend
at least to it. In any other similarly situated establish-
ment, a good English reader and preacher would have been
appointed to the English church, and a Welshman to
Llanbeblig, but somehow or other a reform of Church
government seems as difficult as it would be to divert the
Gulf Stream. Down to the latest times we have men allowed
to read and preach in English who are as incapable of doing
so as the Archbishop of Canterbury is of preaching in Welsh.
There are of course numerous Welshmen who can efficiently
perform EngUsh services, but the term " Reverend " seems
a passport to the work in both languages, without any dis-
tinction as to capabiUty.
The revenues designed for providing for the service of the
sanctuary had been and remained for a very long period
diverted to secular uses, and a family of the name of
Peploe had a lease of the tithes of Llanbeblig. The actual
stipend of the Vicar of LlanbebUg was something ridiculously
low, and a man of parts like Mr. Trevor could not be expected
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 188
to remain there for ever, and he was after a few years trans-
planted to the island of Anglesey, when he held two adjacent
livings and became Chancellor of the Diocese, Carnarvon,
with a large English congregation, being deprived of an able
English incumbent. Until the lease to Captain Peploe
expired no increase of the stipend of the Vicar of Llanbeblig
could be made ; and in the time of Mr. Thomas, who suc-
ceeded Mr. Trevor, a strong memorial drawn by the writer
of these pages was presented to the Bishop of Chester, and
through him to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and the
lease was not renewed. I endeavoured to induce two Bishops
of Chester to get the parish divided, and the late Lord
Penrhyn was strongly of that opinion, but it still remains
one. The late Mr. Trevor was deeply impressed when in
Anglesey with the conviction that something should be done
to abolish the then existing " custom of the country," as it
was called, and he invited the Rev. Mr. Roberts of Amlwch,
a highly respected Calvinistic Methodist, to accompany him
on a preaching tour to denounce the practice. Mr. Roberts
readily assented, and they both went together, and their
powerful exhortations had a most excellent effect and opened
the eyes of the country to the necessity for the abolition of the
practice. During his stay at Carnarvon Mr. Trevor received
two presentations of plate, one within no long time of his
advent, and the other on his leaving. I recollect an anecdote
that the Chancellor used to relate of an awkward experience
in a limatic asylum he once visited, but was in no hurry
to revisit. He was not dressed with the usual white tie of
clergymen, and in going out of the asylum he remarked to
the head of the establishment, ** I have often heard that sane
men are occasionally confined in asylums, and nothing would
convince me that Captain Smith whom I talked to for so long
is insane." ** Would you like to go back and have further
conversationwithhim? "said thedoctorin charge. "Verymuch
indeed," replied Mr. Trevor ; so back they went. Addressing
the lunatic the doctor said, " Captain Smith, I forgot to
introduce you to the Reverend Mr. Trevor." No sooner
was the word Reverend pronounced than Captain Smith
displayed the greatest violence and attempted to attack
184 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
the man whom nothing a few minutes earlier would persuade
that he was a lunatic.
He was mad upon parsons.
THE REV. THOMAS THOMAS.
The Rev. John William Trevor, afterwards Chancellor
of the diocese, was succeeded as Vicar of Carnarvon by the
hard-working and successful clergyman whose name heads
this section.
As the energy and good works of Mr. Thomas are set forth
in the address delivered by me in the Guildhall at Carnarvon
in presenting him with a public testimonial on his leaving
for Ruabon, and which was printed at that time in the
Carnarvon Herald, and reprinted in that journal after his
funeral, I present that as a picture painted at the time, and
therefore more accurate than one of more distant date
might prove to be :
" Mr. Thomas, — I have been deputed by a numerous and
influential body of your late parishioners to present to you
these substantial tokens of their affectionate regard. Pleasing,
however, as it may be to me to discharge such a duty, and to
you to be the recipient of such a memorial, it is nevertheless
impossible altogether to conceal the fact that your satis-
faction must partake, in some degree at least, the character-
istics of a melancholy pleasure. Your long residence in this
parish, the connection of your sacred duties with the Uving,
as well as with that mighty army of the dead, to whose
hopes and fears, and joys and sorrows, you listened in Ufe,
at the bedsides of many to whom you ministered in sickness,
and finally saw laid in the silence of the tomb, — these are
considerations calculated to cause deep and solemn reflection,
neither can it be altogether uninstructive for a few moments
to dwell upon them. It seems to me but yesterday — ^yet it
was the period of my boyhood — of yoiu* advent to this place,
that I beheld you, the then new vicar, returning the call of
one * whose place now knows him no more,' one who was
dearer to me than the life he gave me. Since that day what
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 185
events have crowded upon us, what changes have we seen 1
Of those who during my lifetime occupied the responsiUe
office which I now fill as chief magistrate of this place, no
less than eight,commencingwith the first Marquis of Anglesey
of Waterloo fame, have been called upon to render an account
of their stewardship before a higher tribunal than man's.
Most, indeed, of the principal actors of that day have passed
from ofif the stage of life, exchanging the fleeting things of
time for the awful realities of eternity and we, amid things
ever changing — ever new — are for a brief period occupying
their place, happily or the reverse.
-^
AU hope, and fear, alternate chase
Our course through life's uncertain race.
" I speak not of uncertainty as a * dark idolater of
chance,' but of that uncertainty in which finite minds are
wisely kept with regard to sublunary things. In reviewing
these momentous changes of the past, how vain, how
trifling, how infinitesimally small and insignificant, appear
the jealousies, animosities, and differences which may have
agitated the breasts of some of those who have passed from
amongst us, which, at the time they were felt and expressed,
may have assumed in their eyes important proportions !
How many virtues, how many vices, how many prejudices
lie buried with them ! And how often do we find that the
more honourable the motive, the more imfoimded the pre-
judice, the more groimdless the notion, the more difficult
is its eradication. The Lord Chancellor Erskine, whose
great experience of mankind was equalled by the eloquence
with which he clothed the narration of it, has left upon record
his experience of prejudice in that beautiful and expressive
passage wherein he tells us that ' Some of the darkest and
most dangerous prejudices spring from the most honoiuable
impulses of the mind ; when prejudices are caught up from
bad passions, the worst of men feel intervals of remorse
to soften and disperse them ; but when they arise from a
generous, though mistaken source, they are hugged closer
to the bosom, and the kindest and most compassionate
natures often feel a satisfaction in fostering a blind and
186 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
unjust resentment.' In the brief glance which we have taken
of the past, what does the retrospect point out to us but man
and his prejudices buried together ? But I must not dwell
longer upon such considerations — thoughts so fraught with
melancholy interest, so suggestive of the severance of those
ties which all men in a greater or lesser degree regard.
There is, however, a severance of another description, which
has caused our assemblage together in this ancient hall
to-day ; and although that severance has been volimtary on
your part, I cannot imagine that * the die was cast ' without
a pang. Often as you have offered consolation to others,
you may not at this moment feel independent of it yourself,
For 'tis strange we should have power oft to give another peace.
Whilst we vainly bid the anguish of our own vexed spirit cease.
** In quitting this place, however, you may have many
consolations ; you have the consolation of reflecting that you
are materially benefiting, as you are boimd to benefit, those
whose natural protector you are ; of knowing that you leave
behind you useful monuments — witnesses that you have not
altogether lived to yourself. Foremost amongst the insti-
tutions for which Carnarvon is indebted to you, you leave
a temple devoted to the training of childhood — a building
in which the children of men are taught with their earUest
breath to praise their Maker. Opposite to that unpretending,
though invaluable institution, you leave us a National
School, almost if not altogether equal to any National School
in the Principality of Wales — an institution in which the
children, whose early training has been commenced in the
Infant School, receive an education suited to their advancing
age and requirements. You also leave a Ragged School,
the advantage of which is too patent and perceptible to be
enhanced by any panegyric which I might pass upon it ; also
two National Schools in the outl)nng parts of this populous
parish, and the Training College, of which you are the founder.
These are your moninnents, these are your witnesses ; they
address themselves to us in language more eloquent than I
can command — their testimony wiU endure when these lips
are closed, when this tongue is silent for ever. How many
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 187
of the sons of want and toil are indebted to the education
which they have received in these institutions for the im-
provemeQt of their mind and manners !
EmoUit mores, nee sinit esse feros.
You have now for the second time entered upon a
responsible future ; it is, however, a future pleasingly
blended with the past. You return to the scene of your
early duties ; and great as the changes at Ruabon must
necessarily have been, it is gratifying to reflect (as your pre-
decessor. Dean Bonner, told me some time ago) that many
of your former parishioners at Ruabon still hold you in
pleasing remembrance.* I have perhaps trespassed too long
upon you, as well as upon those whose feelings I have but
feebly expressed. In discharging the delicate duty entrusted
to me I have endeavoured in steering clear of the Scylla
of flattery to avoid shipwreck upon the Charybdis of
faint praise. I will only add in the name of those for whom
I speak the expression of an earnest hope that you and yours
may long Uve to enjoy these tributes of regard ; that your
sojourn at Ruabon may be usefully and happily spent ; and
when you are called upon to exchange that future upon which
you have now entered for that other future, which is
eternity, may your end be peace."
THE REV. JAMES CRAWLEY VINCENT.
ThisexcellentclergymansucceededtheRev.Thomas Thomas
as Vicar of Carnarvon, and in my capacity as Mayor and
Chairman of the Board of Health I was associated with him
during the cholera pestilence in the year 1867, and witnessed
his noble exertions in the relief of distress. I should be sorry
to omit his name from the list of those who are to be found
in these pages. I believe there were few of the one hundred
victims of this dreadful disease that left this world without
his ministrations and charitable aid. Having accompanied
* Mr. Thomas had been promoted to the Vicarage of Carnarvon
from the Curacy of Ruabon, to which he was now returning as
Vicar.
188 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
him in daylight through all the abominably disgraceful
haunts of misery when the cholera first broke out nobody
could better reaUse than I the horror of visits to the dens to
which he was summoned at all hours of the night, simimonses
to which he responded with a readiness that was worthy of all
praise.
Mr. Vincent was a man of fine physique, standing about
six feet two, and as brave as a lion. If the cholera experi-
ence had not been sufficient I had additional proof of it in a
furious gale of wind in the Irish Channel off St. David's
Head in my yacht, which fortimately proved an Ai sea-boat.
She had previously met with an accident through one of her
legs sinking in a soft place when aground, which necessitated
new garboard streaks,* one of which had been badly fastened
at the stem, and we sprang a leak. The gale was of such
force that when the ebb-tide faced it the seas were of great
depth and height. It was a novel experience for a clerg}mian ;
but the man who fearlessly faced the cholera as bravely
faced the sea, and took his turn at the pump with as great
alacrity as any man aboard.
The admirable conduct of Mr. Vincent and Mr. David
Thomas, whose honom-ed name appears elsewhere, endeared
them to me ; and when, a few years later, I followed Mr.
Vincent to the grave I was painfully reminded that the
locaUty was deprived of a man whose services in a great
emergency had hghtened the departure of a large number
of unfortunate people who were carried off by the pestilence.
It is deplorable that so-called human beings should erect
vast numbers of houses imfit for human habitation, and that
the law permitted it to be done. It is a positive fact that in
some of the places I visited with Mr. Vincent when the
pestilence first broke out there were houses in which
fishermen who could earn 30s. or £2 a week, but who spent
it in drink and never went out again to fish until they were
driven by starvation, had nothing but stones to sit on and
straw to he on. What must night visits to such dens be when
the cholera was raging ? Yet that was what Mr. Vincent
and Mr. David Thomas fearlessly did at all hours of the night.
* These are the planks next to the keel.
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 189
Mr. Vincent was a man of most kindly nature, a thorough
gentleman, very charitable, and always given to good works.
His father, who was for many years the incumbent of Llan-
fairfechan succeeded Dean Cotton in the Deanery of Bangor,
and died while holding that office. Like his fine manly son
he was a genial kind man. I had known him from my boy-
hood, and never saw a frown on his face. Mr. Vincent's
mother was the niece of Admiral Crawley, who, as else-
where is mentioned, presented the life-boat to Carnarvon, a
model of which I have at Parkia and in which I often had my
face washed with salt water. On the death of my mother at
the age of 90, Mr. Vincent wrote me the following letter :
" ViCARAGB, Carnarvon,
''Nov. 22, 1864.
" My dear Turner, — You will fully believe me when I
say how sincerely I sympathise with you in the loss you have
sustained. Great as was yoiu* mother's age, and therefore
expected as this affliction must have been, yet not the less
hard does it seem ; and as you recall all her care and anxiety
for you during the many years that it pleased Grod that she
should be spared, the blank is hard and will long remain so.
It was very kind of you in the middle of your trouble to
think of our meeting.
" I am, my dear Turner,
" Yours sincerely,
"James C. Vincent."
Mr. Vincent was one of those fine strong looking men that
I always expected would have long Ufe. He had the mis-
fortune to catch a cold which settled in his throat, and he had
for some time to breathe through a tube inserted in it. The
respect in which he was held was amply displayed at his
funeral, which was attended by a vast concourse of people of
all classes.
[It may be permitted that the son of the clergyman of
whom Sir Llewelyn speaks with such high esteem should say
that, in his opinion, the real cause of his father's early death
at the age of forty-two was that he was completely exhausted
by overwork during the visitation of cholera. — J. E, V.]
190 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
DEAN COTTON.
Amongst the many revered friends whose association I
enjoyed for many years was Dean Cotton ; and in his case,
as in that of so many friends, I looked upon him as an elderly
man when I was a boy, and when in after-life I enjoyed his
valued friendship I could hardly realise that I had regarded
his age as so far beyond me when young.
Dean Cotton was the model of a practical pastor, a man
always " given to good works," always trying to help others,
and doing and sa3dng kind things.
One of my first recollections of this good man was his
preaching at the ancient church of St. Mary at Carnarvon,
then the English church. He was then one of the Vicars of
Bangor, prior to his becoming Dean. In his sermon he
urged upon his audience the duty of considering others,
and pointed out that every one had it in his power to make
life easier to his neighbours, and to the commimity at large,
and amongst other things he indicated many thoughtless
acts which caused pain and discomfort to others without
even benefiting those in fault. For example he instanced
what he had noticed in almost every street in Carnarvon,
viz., door-scrapers at right angles to the foot-way, which
he had ascertained were a continual source of accident and
danger to others ; and he urged that a little consideration
in many matters of the same kind would lead to a better
feeling between neighbours, and save many disasters. I
well remember as we came out of church hearing a lady
denounce his sermon in warm language, stating " that the
congregation had gone to church to hear the Word of God, and
not to listen to nonsense about door-steps and such rubbish,"
etc. I dare say she had a door-step to her house, but she
did not realise that though such things are not specially
mentioned in Scripture, selfishness in every form is included.
The practical benefit of the Dean's sermon was shown by the
fact that, many years after, I made war on projecting steps
when I filled the post of chief magistrate of Carnarvon, and
they are aU now things of the past, a work in which I was
aided by Lord Newborough as to his property. Some years
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 191
after the Dean's sermon, Mrs. Gibbon, the wife of the
cashier of Williams and Co.'s bank fell over a door-
scraper on returning from a concert, and was laid up for
months.
Another of my early recollections is the labour in which
the Dean voluntarily engaged of going about the country
to collect money to recoup the poor people who had lost the
money put by for old age by the failure of the Savings Bank,
and many a wealthy Cheshire or Lancashire man was
beguiled by his pleading to aid in this holy and imselfish
work. The self-imposed labour of this good man was
enormous, and one wonders how he did it sdl. Much of his
great success, as will be seen as we go on, was due to the wit
and kindness and good-humour with which he oiled the
machinery, if I may be excused for such an expression.
His ready and always kind repartee, and his " word in
season " never failed him, and many an angry person was
turned from his wrath to good-humour by that readiness.
The Dean's wit was so frequently displayed that one has
not room for half one knew, and heard of. On one occasion
he was walking along a street in Carnarvon with Mr. Thomas,
the then Vicar. They were in a desperate hmry to catch a
coach, and seeing a very nervous medical man approaching,
Mr. Thomas said, " Oh, here is Dr. , he wiU button-hole
us and we shall lose the coach." " No, he won't," was the
reply. The doctor, meeting them, saluted them with
" Good morning, Mr. Dean ; good morning, Mr. Thomas.
Any news, gentlemen ? " " Mad dogs, doctor," was the
Dean's reply. " Good morning, gentlemen," said the doctor,
and bolted off to his house as fast as his legs could carry him.
The Dean knew that the mere mention of those two words
would rid them of his company at once.
On the opening of the Britannia Bridge a train of waggons
loaded with stones, and a number of carriages for those who
chose to be amongst the first to cross, was provided, and
amongst those passengers was the Dean. Before the train
started the Dean espied Mr. Pryce, one of the Vicars of
Bangor, standing near, and iu*ged him to go with them,
which Mr. Pryce declined. " Well," said the Dean, " perhaps
192 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
you are right, for if I take the sea (see) by descent you will
perhaps succeed to the Deanery."
The practical common sense of the Dean, and the natural
kindness of his disposition, led to his living on terms of
friendship and goodwill with his Nonconformist brethren ;
and so much was he respected by them that I have always
felt that a disestablishment meeting would not have been
held in Bangor in his day ; and if I am right in this belief ,
there can be no stronger evidence that the strength of a
Church lies more in the hearts of an entire community than
in the pressing of claims and the enimciation of doctrines,
of which it may often be said, " that they appear for a little
time and then fade away."
The Dean gave an amusing description of a certain clergy-
man in an English diocese. But while enjoying the description
of the absurdities of the man one is apt to pause and wonder
how it is that in a Church in which the Bishops are learned
men and scholars, men who cannot read their own language
properly are ordained ; how Welshmen who cannot talk
English correctly are thrust continually on English con-
gregations, and how in some Welsh dioceses Englishmen
whose knowledge of Welsh was next to nothing were allowed
to be inflicted on exclusively Welsh congregations. I do not
hesitate to state that I have heard clerg3mien over and over
again whose reading and preaching would disgrace any Board
sdiool of boys or girls above twelve years old. But to my
story, or rather that of the Dean. The rev. divine whom
he was describing was a deplorable reader, and always when
he came to that passage of Scripture " and him they hanged,'*
rendered it " and 'im they *an get." After the death of this
model of good reading his portrait was hung in the chapter
room of the Cathedral of which he was such a curious
ornament ; and Dean Cotton, who chanced to pay a
visit to the place, was in the chapter-room, and one of the
clerg3mien said, " Mr. Dean, we are hanging up the picture
of . Will you give us a motto ? " " An* 'im they
•an get " was the prompt reply.
Having received an appointment on the Cathedral staff,
the poor man was much scandalised by being frequently
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 198
addressed by his abbreviated Christian name " Joe " by his
half-brother, who was an uneducated man ; and one day
when he met him he told him that he did not like his calling
Wm " Joe," as he was now a Cathedral clergyman, and that
if he would promise not to call him Joe any more, but ** Mr.
," he would give him a new pair of breeches. After
much persuasion and long consideration the poor man con-
sented, and received the breeches. Some dajrs after, our
reverend friend was standing outside the Cathedral talking
to three other clergymen, when up came the half-brother
with the breeches under his arm, and pushing his way into
the middle of the group, handed the garment to his brother,
saying, " Tak' the breeches — tak' the breeches, I can't help it
— I must call thee Joe." Amongst the amusing specimens
of the reading of this accomphshed divine was his ending
the second lesson which concludes with the words, " And
Paul spoke unto them in the Hebrew tongue saying"
(what he says being in the next chapter) in this fashion,
" An' Paul thspake unto them in the Hebrew tounge thaying
here endeth the thecond lesson."
Some thirty or forty years after this poor man had been
" 'an get," I chanced to meet the then Dean of at
dinner at the house of one of the Canons in residence, and I
repeated this story, upon which the Dean promptly invited
me to lunch with him the following day, when he would show
me the picture, which appointment was duly kept. Alas !
like almost (if not altogether) all of those of whom these
pages speak, both Deans and Canons have long joined that
great majority which we must follow.
At the time when Cardinal Wiseman was making a stir
in this kingdom for the revival of Popery, Dean Cotton,
amongst his increasing avocations, was busily occupied in
begging for money to restore Clynnog church, and amongst
others whom he visited for the purpose was Lord New-
borough. When the Dean had stated his case, his lordship
repUed, " What is the use of spending money in the repair
of churches when the Pope is going to take them back
again from us ? " Always ready the Dean answered,
" Well, my lord, having had the use of them for so many
N
194 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
years, the least we can do will be to return them in good
repair."
Dean Cotton, amongst many tales of his clerical brethren,
related the following laughable farce. There was (to draw it
mildly) a very eccentric parson in the diocese, whose elations
and depressions were very curious. He was in lodgings at
Bangor, when one day the Dean called upon him, and in
reply to the usual inquiry of how he was, replied, " Mr. Dane^
I am ass strong ass a yimg bull. I wonder the Bisheop
duss not employ me." *' Well, Mr. ," repUed the Dean,
" if you are as strong as a young bull, why don't you volun-
teer to assist at weddings and fimerals. etc. ? " " Oh, Mr.
DanCy I am so wake, my breast, my breast, Mr. Dane»
you could not recommend a pio-s^ drummer to me, could
you ? I wass thinking that if I had a pi-ose man to bate
the drum for me, it would do me a great dale of good." The
Dean, with his usual sense of humour and kindness, repUed
that he knew a man that would suit him, and he would send
him up. The Dean having fulfilled his promise, thought that
he would go and see how they got on, and found the eccentric
cleric sitting in a big arm-chair in front of a huge fire,
although it was in the middle of siunmer. The drummer
was drmnming away with all his might, and the parson
sitting in the arm-chau: was kicking up his legs and feet
in the most astounding manner. Turning to the Dean, he
cried out, " Oh, Mr. Dane, Mr. Dane, it iss beautiful, it iss
heavenly music — ^go on, John, go on, John." Unfortunately
the neighbours were not of the same opinion as to the music,
and the drummer had to be sent away.
The Dean's devotion to the subject of education was
exceedingly great, and he voluntarily went about to examine
the difierent schools in the diocese. On one of these occa-
sions he lunched at the rectory of a parish where a long
lasting feud existed between the rector's wife and the family
of the neighbouring squire. This good lady, whose ire was
great, kept continually enimciating with regard to one of the
male members of the offending family, "The man is an animal,
Mr. Dean, the man is an animal." As the poor Dean had
never seen the " animal " in question and was tired of the
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 195
9f
denunciation he replied, ** Yes, madam, man is an animal.
His descriptions of the mistakes of bo5rs in reading were often
very amusing, and he had no end of instances.
During the later years of his life this excellent divine
never abated a jot of his work, although he had become blind,
and he was as amusing and pleasant as ever. It was my
good fortune frequently to enjoy his society at Parkia, and
on one occasion when he stayed here, Mr. Vincent Corbett,
who had married the Dean's niece, and was lodging at
Carnarvon, dined here to meet him at a small dinner-party.
Mr. G^rbett had lost his sight, and the dinner party had thus
two blind guests ; but as both were cheerful men we enjoyed
a most pleasant evening, the Dean leading most of the con-
versation wisely and wittily.
My dear sister, the late Mrs. Walker Jones, for whom I was
trustee, gave land for new National Schools at Beddgelert,
where her body and that of her husband and two children
now lie buried. I drove my revered friend to the opening
of the buildings, where he dehvered the following practical
address, of which I will only say that his inculcation as to
making things clear has an appUcation to many others as
well as to school-teachers.
The venerable Dean, who occupied the chair, rose and
said that it afforded him unfeigned dehght to find himself
among them on so interesting an occasion, and he could not
better conmience the remarks he was about to offer than by
invoking the blessing of God upon their labours for the
education of the rising generation of Beddgelert. Forty or
fifty years ago, and even less, who would have dreamed of
such an undertaking at Beddgelert ? When he (the Dean)
first began his crusade in^ favour of schools, the few to be
found were generally in the most miserable hovels, and were
conducted by the most ignorant men. Assembled as they
were in a commodious building, set apart for the education
of youth, it mightnot be iminteresting to go back to the period
when any one proposing such a thing in such a place would
simply have been thought mad. He remembered numerous
instances of men who resorted to school-keeping when all
other means failed. Now, the schoolmaster was trained
196 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
to his business, and there was an ample college at Carnarvon
from which masters were provided and sent forth to all the
parishes of this and the adjoining diocese of St. Asaph.
Happy change indeed ! He could occupy them for hours
with a recital of the mistakes and absurdities perpetrated
in the old-fashioned schools that existed at the period he
had alluded to, but he would only mention a few. In one
case a drover, who had picked up a little broken English
by driving cattle from Carnarvonshire into Leicestershire,
set up a school, which he (the Dean) occasionally visited ;
and certainly the reading, or rather the nonsensical attempts
at reading, to be heard there were extraordinary, and such
was the ignorance of the master that he had no notion of its
being at all incorrect. On one occasion when he visited the
school a boy was reading from the Bible about the Prodigal
Son, and instead of the word " robe " he read," bring ttie
best ' rope ' and put it on him." The master was surprised
that he (the Dean) found fault with this; and when he
attempted to explain to the poor pedagogue that the best
robe was brought in token of forgiveness and to do honour
to the penitent son, whereas the bringing of a rope would
have denoted an intention of a character the reverse of
pleasant and appear as if he meant to hang his son, both
the poor teacher and pupil displayed an equal ignorance
of the meaning of the passage. In short, instead of reading
as intelligent beings, the reading and the understanding
were the mere utterances and imderstanding of the parrot,
who learns the sound but not the sense. Another instance
which he recollected as displa3ang the same senseless feeling
was, " He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,"
the pupil read, " He that hath the sope " (or, as it sounded,
soap) in him purifieth himself."
It must be evident that when the Scriptures or anything
else were read or learned in such a parrot-like fashion the
intellect was not interested, and unless that were so no
passage could be correctly appreciated. He attached great
importance to the intelligent reading and understanding of
passages of Scripture which abounded with plain and simple
illustrations drawn from Oriental customs, the origin of
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 197
which should always be explained .to the children when
reading them. Indeed it must be obvious to all educated
persons who reflect that illustrations drawn from other
lands could not at first be well understood by a child unless
brought home to the mind by a short and siijiple explanation.
It was creditable to the minister as well as to the people of
the parish that such a school had been erected at Beddgelert.
The children of Wales were highly susceptible of education,
and the degree of intelligence displayed in all the schools
was most satisfactory. He would not detain them longer,
but conclude with the expression of his heartfelt wish that
the school might be useful to the children who now resorted
to it as well as to their children's children.
Amongst the Dean's recollections of droll sayings and
doings was one of an old farmer of his acquaintance in
Cheshire, who used to stick his thumbs in the sides of his
waistcoat when in a confidential mood and say, " I always
know when I'm wrong, but the beauty of me is I never confess
it." One day meeting Mr. Cotton (then a Cheshire curate)
this farmer said, " I was at t'agricultural dinner t'other day,
an' they made me give 'em a toast, an' what do you think
the toast was that I guv 'em ? " Of course Mr. Cotton did
not know, so the old farmer told him : " Let us not be ar-
buttering or criuwel, but let us be partial — How do you like
my toast ? " " Well, I think you buttered your toast very
well," was the reply.
The cheerfulness of this extraordinary man, despite his
blindness, was marvellous. I recollect on one occasion
talking to some one at a railway station, and the Dean was
there talking to some one else. When the Dean heard my voice
he said, " Ah, that is a voice I know well," and he moved
over to where I stood, and placing his hand upon my shoulder
he said with his usual playfulness, " This is the good man
who leads me, and feeds me, and does all but clothe me, when
I am in the neighbourhood of Carnarvon. Now, my dear
friend, when are you coming to Bangor ? If you come in
the morning come and breakfast at the Deanery, if you
come at mid-day come to lunch, and if you come in the
evening come to dine and sleep, and I will make you as
198 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
comfortable as I can ; in short, I will you put into coUon
On one occasion, on my telling him an anedote that
interested him, he said, " My dear friend, I am so glad that
it was not my hearing that went. I should have lost so many
good things." In an interesting memoir published after
the Dean's death by the Rev. W. Hughes, then curate of
Glasinfryn, near Bangor, it is justly and truly said, *' The
distinguishing featiure of the Dean's character was his great
desire to do good to all men." Mr. Hughes, with equal
justice, adds, " His noble disposition, vivid imagination,
quaint sayings, and his ardent aspirations after ' whatsoever
things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good
report,' rendered him one of the most conspicuous and useful
clergymen in the Principality."
Few things have ever afforded greater gratification to me
than hearing from Dr. Richards, the Dean's medical atten-
dant, that when upon the bed from which he never rose
again, he spoke with warm affection of me. How can I
forget him ?
The last visit he ever paid to me at Parkia for a few da5rs
was not very long before his death. I knew of his failing
health, and that he was subject to fits of insensiblity. I
started with him for the railway station the day hewent home,
but when about half-way to Carnarvon he had one of these
fits, and I stopped the carriage, and his valet, who was on
the box with the coachman, came up and gave him some weak
brandy and water, which he (the valet) always carried with
him ready mixed in a flask. This slightly revived him, and
we returned to Parkia, and after sitting for some time by
the fire, he got gradually better, and in his usual pleasant and
humorous tones said, " There ought to be a small fund to
pension old Deans when they become useless." Useless he
never was, but verified the saying, which he often used,
'* It is better to wear out than to rust out." He literally
wore out; and on May 28, 1862, as useful a man as well could
live, as great a friend of all who came into contact with him
" who were anyways afflicted or distressed in mind, body or
estate," breathed his last ; and when I go to Bangor I generally
MR. JOHN BRIGHT 199
find time to stand hat in hand over a plain slate slab, which
is flat on the ground, on which is inscribed :
HERE LYETH THE BODY
OF
JAMES HENRY COTTON,
B.C.L.
He was 28 years Vicar of this parish, and
afterwards for 24 years Dean of
Bangor.
He died on the 28th day of May 1862, aged
82 years. ]
•* By Thine agony and bloody sweat,
By Thy Cross and Passion,
By Thy precious death and burial,
By Thy glorious resurrection and ascension,
And by the coming of the Holy Ghost,
Good Lord, deliver us."
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN BRIGHT.
Although Mr. Bright was not connected with Wales he was
very fond of it and took great interest in it and its people.
In the few sentences I write I of course avoid attempting
to paint the life of so well known a man.
During his early career I had formed no acquaintance with
him, but we became acquainted some years prior to his being
appointed President of the Board of Trade. Contrary to
my early opinions as to Mr. Bright, I always found him
in conversation and correspondence a moderate man in the
expression of his views, and I observed this excellent trait in
his character in that after agitating a subject, and attaining
his point, there was no desire to deal with it as a party
question, which appears to me the bane and curse of most
politicians.
No man waged a more energetic war for justice foi Ireland
than he did ; but he knew when to stop, and would not join
a crusade for home rule, to which he was decidedly opposed
on patriotic and pubhc grounds, as the following letter will
amply prove.
200 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
" Rochdale, June 14, 1886.
*' My dear Sir Llewelyn, — I thank you for your kind
letter and invitation. At present there is no probability of
my being able to go to your pleasant county. I have just
come from London, and have engagements for some time at
home, and then the elections are coming on, and I may be
occupied here or in Birmingham.
" As to the future I can see little, and say nothing. Poli-
tically we are in great darkness. I think the Irish Bills and
the fresh election are a great mistake on the part of the
Liberal leader. What the result will be no . man can tell.
I can only hope it may teach our people that principles have
a higher daim than party, and that a great leader may com-
mit his followers to a policy full of peril.
" I thank you again for your kind offer of hospitality,
though it is not now in my power to accept of it.
" Beheve me, very truly yours,
"John Bright."
In October of the same year he writes he has just returned
to Rochdale after five weeks pleasantly spent in Scotland. He
had a child buried at Llandudno, if my memory does not fail
me, and he concludes this letter by lamenting that he can't
spend even a day or two at Llandudno.
There was one subject upon which we were in fuU agree-
ment, and that was the great loss to the Welsh people of the
want of a full knowledge of the EngUsh language, as to which
I pubUshed in pamphlet form the following letter, which
had previously appeared in the North Wales Express^ in
December 1887, and with it was pubhshed Mr. Bright*s
letter which follows, with the remarks of an eminent French
philologist.
Sir, — I have read with very great interest the admirable
address of Mr. D. Edwards on "The Welsh language
a national embarrassment," which appeared in your last
issue, and the subject appears to me to be one of the first
importance to the future prosperity of Wales and Welsh-
men, who are paying a huge tax for a sentiment ; and large
MR. JOHN BRIGHT 201
as that tax is in the present, it is trifling to that which will
have to be paid in the future of this competitive age. Mr.
Edwards has so ably and exhaustively dealt with the subject
from other points of view that I propose to confine my
observations, as far as possible, to this one aspect of the
matter, viz., the tax or drawback suffered by Welshmen.
A nobleman who has never been slow to promote useful
Welsh objects, put the question some years ago, Why does
Wales produce no great men ? It would be an insult to the
Principality to ascribe the failure to a want of talent, and
I think Mr. Edwards has taken an important step towards
supplying the answer, which I venture to supplement by
reminding your readers that the population of Wales,
including all the English, Welsh, Irish, and Scotch within it,
and including the largest towns of Cardiff and Swansea,
numbers only a very small fraction of the population of the
empire, and is nothing to the population of London alone,
and from this small proportion we have to deduct the
enormous number of the Welsh people who talk and think
in a language which is not that of the world's market.
Bom and bred in the house in which I am writing, and
taking an ardent interest in the welfare of the Welsh, I
confess it has always been to me a matter of surprise that
the people of Wales have been content to " hide their
talent in the earth." Frequently have I met amid the
mountains of Wales men who were nature's gentlemen,
and, I doubt not, some who were nature's geniuses. The
former were probably as happy in their valleys as they
would have been lifted out of them, but what about the
latter ? Why should genius be handicapped ? The loss
is national and imperial, as well as personal. A relative of
mine, an officer in the army, on his coming home on furlough
after nineteen years' service in India, was more struck by
finding so many people still speaking Welsh than by anything
else he heard or saw, knowing how industriously the people
of India were learning Enghsh.
It is never pleasant to interfere with a sentiment, but
sentiment is infinitely less important than bread and butter,
Sentiment is useful to the poet, and in moderation to all
202 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
but the poet who writes in English earns the greater fame,
as his writings become known to so large a number, and if
worth anything will be translated into the languages of all
civilised nations, as those of Shakespeare and Milton have
been. Had Mr. Lewis Morris written in Welsh, the Epic
of Hades would not have been generally known, and his
name would not have been connected with the Jubilee of
the Sovereign of these realms. That man must be blind,
indeed, who fails to appreciate the signs of the times, signs
so plain that he that nmneth may read ; fails to see that
Germany, France, Austria, Russia, Belgium, Italy, and other
European nations are all competing with Great Britain
for the conunerce of the world. Foreigners receive less
wages, do not eat and drink so expensively, are less given
to strikes, and work longer hours ; hence their competition
is more dangerous, as they can afford to undersell us. We
have vast mmibers of foreigners coming into Great Britain
and giving their services in offices, warehouses, and manu-
factories, for the smallest pittance, some so that they can
set up similar works to ours in their own land, others to
learn the trade and the English language so that they can
act as merchants in England. Numbers have toiled for
years here for the smallest wage, have become merchants and
manufacturers, being succeeded by their sons, who use English
as their language, finding the language of Germany, France,
Greece, or whichever it may chance to be, most useful also
in carrying on business with those nations. Those who,
having learned English, and English business and manu-
factures, return to their own land of low wages, can, of
coiu^e, imdersell us, as it goes without saying that the man
who has paid the least for the manufacture of what he has
to sell can undersell the man who has had to spend more
to make a similar article.
In no commercial or manufacturing business can a know-
ledge of Welsh help a man ; but if he desires to cultivate
language, a knowledge of German, French, Spanish,
Russian, Italian, or Modem Greek, will always aid him,
as we have so much to do in commerce with those nations,
and every day's newspapers contain advertisements for
THE WELSH LANGUAGE 208
clerks who speak some of those languages. Again, the
man must be blind who fails to see that the astounding
increase of population will necessitate new industries and
new fields of labour. The sons of numbers of the nobility
and gentry of England are rapidly becoming colonists or
emigrants to the United States, and so are vast numbers of
all classes, and they must increase enormously.
In the States, and in all the great colonies scattered over
the world, English is the language ; and if another is of
benefit, it is, of course, the language of one or more of the
great nations with whom they trade.
In the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, where I happen to be inter-
ested in land, vast estates are owned by English and Scotch
men ; and here a knowledge of English is necessary, and a
knowledge of Spanish most useful.
I have met with numbers of intelligent Welsh captains
of ships who have expressed the greatest regret that they
could not exchange their knowledge of Welsh for some
foreign language that would profit them. In conveying
the body from one place to another, successive generations
have not hesitated to discard the picturesque bridle-paths
for the turnpike roads, and then the latter and the fine
four-horse mail coach for the more prosaic, but more rapid
and more convenient, railway accommodation. In trans-
mitting thought the post-office mails superseded the slow
messengers, and they in their turn have in large measure
5delded to the telegraph and the telephone.
In language — or the expression of ideas by words for
communicating thought — the most radical changes have
taken place ; like all other things in this world, the survival
of the fittest must prevail. What that fittest is I have
endeavoured to show, not from any sentimental view, or
any ideal comparison, but by reference to the necessities
and requirements of the times. I am far from ignoring
wholesome sentiment ; but while admiring the sound of
the Welsh Dyfnder y mdr as much as the Poluphlosboio
thalasees of the Greek, I venture to think that for all pur-
poses of elegance, for all expression and description of
what is great and useful in this world, the language of
204 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Shakespeare and Milton, of Byron and Cowper and Coleridge
is sufficient.
The Teutonic branch of the Indo-Germanic languages
includes the German dialects, and the Anglo-Saxon, the
Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic. It is needless to say that
the English has become the largest medium of expression
in the great business of commercial life, and at the pace at
which we are travelling it seems destined to become the
language of conmierce.
Wales has formed an integral portion of Great Britain for
600 years, and we know that a Welshman, Henry VII. of
England, has sat on the throne. It is nonsense to talk of
separate interests ; there are none. EngUshmen have and
feel a deep interest in the welfare of Wales, where their
capital is invested in enormous amounts in rsulways, quarries,
and mines, and the interests of Wales are inseparably bound
with those of England.
It may suit trading politicians, and ambitious rhetor-
icians to talk nonsense about " the ignoring of Wales."
It is Wales that has ignored herself by the isolation of so
large a number of those who speak only Welsh. Providence
and Parliament help those who honestly help themselves.
I heard a very foolish fellow stand up upon an Eisteddfod
platform, and like a big spoiled child he complained that if
any situation of trust from a gangman (he might well have
said a hangman) upwards was vacant, it was alwa)^ given
to an English, Irish, or Scotch man. Had the man possessed
a grain of common sense he would have known that there is
no such thing as the selection of men for public posts because
of nationality. If a Welshman loses the post of ganger or
porter on a railway it is because a knowledge of English
is necessary, and many intelligent Welshmen are so em-
ployed.
The Government knows no distinction of race, and the
wisdom of Welshmen is to win places as the Scotch have
• done by adopting the language which has enabled them to
secure the splendid share they have so honourably won in
the Government, in arts, in arms, in conunerce, and every
other department. I met a number of Scotch ladies and
THE WELSH LANGUAGE 205
gentlemen at the time of the Crimean War, and somewhat
surprised them by counting no less than thirteen Scotchmen
in high places at that time in the Government, the law, the
army and navy, and the Church, including amongst the
number, Lord Campbell, Lord High Chancellor of England,
Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury, or Bishop of London (I
forget which then, as he filled both offices successively),
three admirals, seven generals, including Sir Colin CampbeU,
afterwards Lord Qyde. Like the Welsh, the Highland
Scotch forms a portion of the Celtic branch of language, in
common with the Armorican, the Irish, Cornish, and Manx,
and the Welsh is the only branch that really retains theirs.
I trust the day is near when Welshmen will see that
their true interest Ues not in looking back, which Bacon
condemns as the sign of a bad runner, but in entering fully,
freely, and without trammel into the noblest arena in striving
manfully for the great prizes which are to be obtained in
the Government, the pulpit, the bar, the army and navy,
the arts and sciences, and last but not least the commercial
enterprise, not only of Great Britain, on whose scroll of
fame it is open to them to inscribe their names, but also
of that Greater Britain beyond the seas, in which so many
hopes are centred, and so many more must be in the future.
I have just been reading of the Crown Colony of Western
Australia, more than half the size of Europe, with a popu-
lation very much smaller than that of the Uttle island of
Anglesey. This is one of many fields opened to the imited
peoples of this realm, and well calculated to arouse attention
during the present bad times. The Welsh people are excellent
colonists, but the Welsh language will not help them in this.
It is argued by some that an extra language is no drawback.
Most respectfully do I assert that, hke all other questions,
this is governed by circimistances. To my mind, it is clear
that if you are to learn languages they should be those that
will serve you. Take the case of Wales, if a man reads,
thinks, and speak in Welsh, he can be a labourer ; but unless
he is well up in English he can't get beyond that, and though
his natural abilities may transcend those of any other Uving
man he has no more chance of making his way in the great
206 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
world than the man who mends shoes. The more lan-
guages a philologist, a professor, or a schoolmaster acquires
the better for him ; but for the great and general business of
life, a man should acquire those languages best suited to the
Ikie he is about to take and the particular kind of fight for
existence he is about to make, for that is what it comes to in
these days of competition.
When Wellington weighed a soldier with all his arms and
accoutrements, it was to ascertain whether he could Ughten
any portion of his load, and, as in a horse race, the lightest
weighted horse is apt to win. Philologists and professors are
far too apt to forget that there is not room for all to earn
their bread in their particular line, and it has long been
notorious that many learned men are apt to subject pupils
under examination for the army and navy, or who look
to commerce, to test questions as inappUcable as it would be
to examine a sailor in theology, or a candidate for holy orders
in seamanship.
It is no reflection upon Welshmen or the Welsh language
to say that being the language of so very small a portion of
those whose lot is irrevocably cast amongst the EngUsh
speaking races of Great and of Greater Britain, the only road
by which they can obtain the full advantages of that con-
nection is by the broad highway of the language of the
majority. Were Welsh the language of that majority it
would be suicidal for the minority to continue to talk
EngUsh.
It grieves me to see so many Welshmen debarred from
the great prizes so frequently secured by English, Irish,
and Scotch, of all ranks. Who that has read the addresses
of Burke, the soul-stirring speches of Grattan, Curran, and
other magnificent Irish orators, can fail to feel that had
the Celtic language been that of Ireland, the nation at large
would have been deprived of some of the most thrilling
eloquence.
Who that reads the world-famed novels of Scott — which
have afforded pleasure and instruction already to three or
four generations — or who that reads the poetry of Bums
can^ help feeling thankful that the world has not been
THE WELSH LANGUAGE 207
deprived of the pleasure of their perusal by the eclipse of a
separate language?
In the great business of life, I repeat, no needless load
should be carried. The man who goes into public Ufe with
the accent of Somersetshire, or Lancashire, or Cheshire,
or Wales, or Scotland, upon his tongue, may be a very
learned, able, respectable, and clever man, but he goes
weighted. I have known Scotch members of the Bar speaking
and reading English with the most perfect purity, and
countrymen of their own weighted with a strong accent ;
will any wise man tell me that the former does not possess
an enormous advantage in the race, all other things being
equal ?
It was said that every soldier of Napoleon carried a
field marshal's baton in his knapsack. It may equally be
said that every member of the English Bar carries a judgeship
in his wig, and every clergyman a bishopric under his sur-
plice. We know that many archbishops and bishops have
risen from the poorest ranks. Will any one tell me what
chance of a bishopric a man would have whose accent was as
broad as the brim of a bishop's hat ? The separate language
shuts out the people of Wales from a share in the finest
freehold that has ever been the heritage of this or any other
age or clime of the world — that owned by the English-
speaking races. I have spoken of the Welsh King Henry
VII., whose chapel is at Westminster, where the great JubUee
service was lately held in that ancient fane, in which the sons
of those who have passed the sea to other lands delight
to feel they have a share. The Americans have erected
memorials at Stratford to Shakespeare, and in Westminster
Abbey to Cowper and Herbert, and an American gentleman
is ndw placing a beautiful stained window in the Great Abbey
to the memory of Milton,^ for which the following lines have
been composed by Mr. Whittier, the American poet :
The new world honours him whose lofty plea
For England's freedom made her own more sure,
Whose song unmortal as its theme shaU be
Their common freehold while both worlds endure.
That the people of Wales may go in for and enjoy their
208 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
full share of the comtnon freehold, the road to which my
pen has feebly portrayed, is the earnest desire of — Your
obedient servant,
Llewelyn Turner.
Parkia, December 27, 1887.
Letter of the Right Hon. John Bright after perusing
Sir Llewelyn Turner's letter.
" Jan. 6, 1888.
" Dear Sir Llewelyn Turner, — I read your letter with
great interest and pleasure and hope it will be useful among
your people.
** I agree with your views most completely. At this
moment the stream of opinion seems nmning the other
way, and many men, and even Mr. Gladstone aiding them,
are apparently anxious to continue and strengthen the
ancient difference between Wales and England.
** I have great had pleasure in visits to Wales, and amongst
the Welsh people ; but I have not failed to notice the com-
parative helplessness to which their ignorance of English
has reduced them.
" I hope your letter has been, or will be, widely read.
It deserves to be read and considered in every family in the
PrincipaUty.
** Believe me, very sincerely yours,
"John Bright.
" Sir Llewelyn Turner,
" Parkia, Carnarvon."
Opinion of a French Philologist.
"A separate language is an enormous drawback to a
small population ; fostering as it necessarily does all kinds
of prejudices. Prejudices engender suspicion, and when a
man is suspicious of you, he will do you injustice and injury,
not necessarily from an evil disposition, but from the difficulty
of forming a correct appreciation of surrounding circum-
stances in the larger world."
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 209
The last time I saw Mr. Bright was a few years ago before
his death, when we travelled together in the same train from
Manchester to Chester, and on that as well as on many
occasions he expressed his great interest in and fondness for
Wales, and his belief that a wider knowledge of English
would tend enormously to their prosperity.
Mr. Bright wrote an exceedingly neat little hand, and I
noticed that it never varied in the slightest degree. In my
three large volimies of bound letters there are nimibers that
I have to refer to the signature to identify ; but if I chance
to open the book at Mr. Bright's letters I recognise the
handwriting at once, and the same may be said of the M /
late Sir Rcbort Bulkeley, whose pretty handwriting never rpu^A^^
varied.
MR. BULKELEY HUGHES, M.P.
This energetic gentleman represented the Carnarvon
Boroughs for many years, and was one of the oldest members
of the House of Commons. His charming old house in
Anglesey, now the property of and occupied by his daughter
and her husband, Colonel Hunter, was always open to his
friends, and the hospitality of Plas-coch was well known.
After I had founded the Royal Welsh Yacht Club I was
anxious to provide a Yacht Club house, and having in vain
when very young tried to get the Customs authorities to
restore the ruins of the West or Golden Gate of Carnarvon
for a Custom House, close to the sea, it struck me that these
ruined towers were in the most perfect position for the purpose.
It was necessary to obtain the consent of the Office of Woods,
and, but for the active aid I received from Mr. Bulkeley
Hughes, the anomaly might still exist of two broken and
hollow ruined towers at the foot of a street. As far as I can
now remember, the correspondence was carried on for the
best part of a year, and at last the Office of Woods gave their
promise not to interfere, if we could agree with the persons
who had some sort of occupation of it. One side was used
by the workmen of a yard for the calls of nature without
any appliances of even the conmionest kind, and the other
o
210 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
for storing hemngs, with an old door into High Street, where
the billiard room window now is.
This was one of the innumerable instances in which the
aid of the honourable member was invoked by me and others,
and after long experience I can honestly say that no trouble
appeared to be too great for him to take when his services
were enUsted. Writing of Mr. Btdkeley Hughes takes one
back to the far away days when the elections were such
scenes of riot and rows, before that abominable absurdity
and nuisance, the Nomination Day, was abolished. This
day gave rise to all sorts of riotous scenes. The two candi-
dates approached the hall or place, whichever it chanced to
be, by different routes, Uke two opposing armies, and a
proposer and seconder expatiated on each side on the fitness
of their candidates, amid the continual interruption of their
respective opponents in the assembled crowd. Nicknames
were freely used, and often unpleasant statements made, and
sometimes things were thrown. On one occasion, in the
Market Hall in Palace Street, Carnarvon, a lady of easy
virtue was yelling at one of the candidates with all her might,
and looking up, he called out, "Smile again, my bonnie
lassie," a joke that I need hardly say elicited great amuse-
ment.
When the successful candidate was chaired, that is, carried
through the principal streets on a grand chair decorated
with ribbons, he scattered money amongst the large crowd
through which he had to pass, the chair being carried by
several stalwart men with their shoulders under the long
poles or shafts which projected in front and behind from
below the chair. The crowds on these occasions were
enormous, and it was amusing to watch the relieving of the
pressure by the chaired member throwing the shillings and
sixpences as far as he could into side streets, as he passed,
so that the street he was traversing might be less crowded.
The activity of Mr. Btdkeley Hughes, when Parliament was
not sitting, was extraordinary. He used to attend Quarter
and Petty Sessions at Carnarvon, Boards of Guardians at
Bangor, and all sorts of things, Like the man who writes
this memoir, his handwriting was not always very distinct,
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 211
and once led to a droll but unfortunate episode. As the Par-
liamentary Session one year was drawing to a dose, he
wrote from London to the housekeeper at Plas-coch to have
the " bay mare shod." I recollect the mare very well ;
she was a very fine animal, not young, but had apparently
years of work before her. The mare was out at grass, and
the housekeeper imfortimately misread the word " shod "
for " shot." She was grieved and surprised at the supposed
order, and took the precaution of showing the letter to the
ctuate, who said itwas quite plain — "have the baymare shot."
This was accordingly done, and when the honourable member
came down to breathe the pure air of his native island he
wrote as usual to order the coachman to meet him at the
railway station, which he was in the habit of doing on such
occasions with a phaeton drawn by the bay mare. Alas, the
explanation for tho absence of the mare was not a pleasant one.
Some time after, Mr. Bulkeley Hughes was at the Quarter
Sessions at Carnarvon, which sat until eight or nine o'clock
one night ; I had left before the Court rose, Mr. Bulkeley
Hughes being still there. The next morning I met him
going to the Court-house at ten-o'clock, and inquired what
had become of him the night before, as I had left him in court
at eight. He replied that he had gone home ; on my
expressing surprise that he had not stayed at a hotel in
Carnarvon to be ready for the morning, he said that he
would have done so but that he had left his horse at the
Anglesey Ferry. I replied, " Oh, I see, and it might have
been dangerous to write." He gave me a little dig in the
ribs, and bolted into court. His great energy continued
into old age ; one day at the Quarter Sessions he said that
he had a great favour to ask of me, which was that I would
act as trustee and executor of his will. I said I could not
refuse, but suggested that a younger man would be better,
as I was then between fifty and sixty. He said he would
prefer my accepting it, and I agreed. A co-trustee was
named in the will, but he died before the testator, and I was
left sole trustee and executor. A few years later Mrs. Hunter
exercised the power contained in the will of appointing an
additional trustee, and naturally selected her husband.
212 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
It is pleasing to me to reflect that after so many years I can
look back with some satisfaction to the fact that all has gone
as smooth as a marriage bell, and that not a single cross word
or misimderstanding has occurred with either co-tmstee or
cestui que trust and that a perfectly unencumbered estate
exists.
MR. RICHARD DAVIES, M.P.
Mr. Richard Davies, of Treborth, near Bangor, in this
county, contested the Carnarvonshire Boroughs in 1852 un-
successfully. At that time the disgusting practice of carica-
turing and writing — to use plain English — all sorts of lies aiid
offensive things with regard to candidates was still in force.
I had promised my support to Mr. Bulkeley Hughes, and one
day there was brought into the conunittee room at the Sports-
man Hotel, Carnarvon, absolutely a sackfuU of squibs and
caricatures against the opposite candidate. The sack was
opened, and to my disgust some of the committee hailed
them as " capital." I proposed that the sack and its con-
tents should be taken to the yard of the hotel and at once
burned, which at first met with opposition. I pointed out
that the use of such weapons would spur our opponent to
natural retaliation, and, other things failing, I stated that
I would not move hand or foot further in the election, nor
record my vote, unless the burning took place, the result
being that I saw them utterly consimied.
The conduct of both sides in pitched contests in those days,
though far better than what I remember in previous years,
was still a disgrace to a civilised coimtry.
On the retirement of Sir Richard Williams Bulkeley from
the representation of the county of Anglesey, Mr. Davies
was returned imopposed for that county in 1868, and was
appointed Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey in 1884, being the
first Nonconformist that filled the office. Mr. Davies retired
from Parliament in 1886, as a Unionist, at the general
election. A fine church of the Welsh Presb5rterian per-
suasion, to which he belonged, was erected by Mr.
Davies at his own cost a few years ago, and he and his
brother were for many years most liberal supporters of the
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 218
cause, as well as of other charitable objects. His brother,
Mr. Robert Davies, to the present time continues to display
the same benevolent and kindly feeling to those in distress
which has marked his conduct through life. The author is
aware of many private acts of charity of Mr. Robert Davies,
in which, to his honour, he has acted on the noble principle
of ^' not allowing thy left hand to know what the right hand
doeth."
MAJOR NANNEY.
Major Nanney, the father of the present Sir Hugh Nanney,
Bart., was many years ago one of the leading men in the
comity of Carnarvon, and conmianded the coimty militia,
in which two of my brothers were lieutenants when I was
a small boy. The regiment at that time was a very small
one, and a story was extant that as many of them did not
know English in those days, [there was a small wisp of
straw tied to one ankle and of hay to the other, and instead
of the order " left-right " in drilling, the sergeants called out
" gwellt gwair " (hay-straw). I do not know whether the story
was true or not, but if it had existed I think the practice
was gone in my time. I recollect my brothers returning in
imiform from the funeral of the adjutant, who went mad and
shot himself in his house, now part of the Prince of Wales
hotel in Carnarvon. Major Nanney contested the Boroughs
in the Conservative interest, when elections were of long
duration, and much canvassing went on. My father was a
very ardent Conservative, and took great interest in the
election, and I, though a yoimg boy, accompanied the
canvassing party very often. Party spirit ran high, and
the abominable habit of gross lying and caricaturing the
candidates was carried out on both sides to a discreditable
extent, and I well remember the indignation with which I
heard and saw the insults offered to the candidates. That
abominable " Nomination day " afforded every opportunity
for it. Major Nanney, in those days, drove a mail phaeton,
always with an excdlent pair, his horses being invariably
good. Just before the election his groom got drunk, and in
exercising one of his horses managed to break his leg, for
214 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
which he was most properly dismissed, upon which the
rascal, who was promptly employed by the managers of the
other candidate, had the impudence to state that he had been
dismissed for eating two herrings instead of one for supper,
a lie probably invented for him by one of the hot partisans
of the opposite side. The hustings, as generally was the case
then, were in the Market Hall, in Palace Street, Carnarvon,
and a fellow concealed himself in the woodwork above the
gallery, which is large ; and as soon as the candidate began
his address, the man, John Lythal by name, lowered two
herrings and dangled them in front of the speaker. The
walls had been for weeks placarded with ribald verses and
pictures of two herrings. How could the business of Parlia-
ment be honestly and fairly discharged when those who
sought seats in Parliament had to run the gaxmtlet of such
libellous attacks, engendering such bad spirit, that actually
turned the nation into two camps ?
There was a pompous sort of man who was very officious
at the balls at Carnarvon in those days, and I recollect my
father, who was a member of the Adelphi Society — as I
became in much later years — mentioning his going up the
stairs at the Guildhall a little behind Major Nanney, and as
the latter was entering the room the pompous man put his
arm across the door to stop the major, who pushed it aside
saying, " Paws off, Pompey ! " and passed in. I forget why
the stoppage was attempted, but whenever I saw the pom-
pous man, whom I knew for several years imtil he died,
I always thought of " Paws off, Pompey ! " How strange
that we forget so many important things and recollect
trifles of this kind after many years !
After I established the Royal Welsh Yacht Club Major
Nanney became a member, and very often came to the Club
House.
Having always received kind consideration at the hands
of Major Nanney, I was much disappointed that illness pre-
vented my showing respect and courtesy by attending the
fimctions on the coming of age of his only son ; and in reply
to my letter of apology for not going, I received from him the
following kind letter :
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 215
"GwYNFRYN, March 2, 1866.
" My dear Sir, — Allow me at this late time, after receiving
your very kind note expressing yoiu* desire to have been
at Criccieth to congratulate in person myself and my son
on his attaining his majority, to thank you much and sin-
cerely.
" A great many displayed in a conspicuous manner their
kind sentiments and good wishes for my son's prosperity
and happiness. I thank you from my heart, and hope that
every luck may attend you and yours at all times.
**I trust that in a short time we may see the railway
finished, and that we may meet each other oftener.
" Yours sincerely,
"^J. E. Nanney.
" Excuse the writing. I am very nervous after illness, but
approaching convalescence."
• The last time I saw Major Nanney was in the Yacht Club
House, when we witnessed a curious collision. There were
only two vessels in sight. A yacht was at her moorings off
the Club House and a trading schooner coming in from over
the bar with a fair wind, must put her helm hard aport to
bring her head to wind to anchor, and coUided with the
yacht. It was strange that having the whole place clear,
with this one exception, she must needs run into that
one. Well might the major exclaim, " What a lubber the
fellow must be ! "
MR. SAMUEL HOLLAND, M.P. for MERIONETH-
SHIRE.
Mr. Holland, who for so many years represented that
county, was the oldest of my friends, as I had enjoyed his
acquaintance from my earliest boyhood and his warm friend-
ship, as will be seen by letters written shortly before his
death.
In the early part of the last century my father, who then
216 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
owned Plas Brereton, on which stood a few remains of the
residence of Brereton, Cromwell's general rebuilt it. The
present house was built upon the old foundations, and one of
its earliest tenants was Mr. Holland's father.
The Hollands subsequently removed to Merionethshire,
where Mr. Samuel Holland worked an extensive quarry,
which for a great number of years was a source of the
gravest anxiety to him, and after a most serious expenditure
of money upon it at last " turned up trumps." Mr. Holland
was a very frequent visitor at Parkia, and I as frequent a
visitor at the different houses he occupied in Merionethshire
during many years, and we tramped many of the adjacent
lulls together. I forget the year, but I fancy it is about fifty
years ago or more, that he married Miss Robins, of Alesly Park,
in Warwickshire, and I was his best man, and had a very
pleasant time of it, sta3dng a week after the wedding which
carried one of the birds from the nest.
A laughable circmnstance took place at the wedding
breakfast. I as best man proposed the health of the brides-
maids, and, although there were some other young men there,
none of them could be induced to respond to the toast. Not
intending to do so, I said that if none of the bachelors present
were gallant enough to respond I would do so ; and the ladies
with one accord asked me to do it, and there was the imique
position of a man responding for those whose health he had
proposed. I tried my utmost to fire broadsides at those
who ought to have responded, and felt I had rather be in
my own shoes than theirs. Mrs. Holland was a most
charming and excellent wife and a general favourite, but long
ago paid the debt of nature.
Mr. Holland purchased the pleasant residence of Caerdeon,
in Merionethshire, and when I was about to be married
kindly offered to lend it to me for the honeymoon, but we
had decided to go abroad. In 1878 Mr. Holland married
Miss C. J. Burt, who survive^him. J
During our long friendship a large correspondence took
place on various subjects. I here bring in two letters only,
written when Mr. Holland was in his eighty-seventh year,
he found his end was approaching.
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 217
" Casrdson, April 2, 1889.
" My dear old Friend, — I feel much obliged for your
kind inquiries, which I ought to have replied to sooner. I am
still far from well, and do as little writing as I can. Dr.
Roberts is still attending me. I am told the warm weather
will set me up, and I have only to hope that it may.
" This has been the most serious illness that I have had,
but it is only what I must expect in my eighty-seventh year.
" If I am able to get to Carnarvon in the course of the
simuner I will try to get to Parkia, where I have always
spent so many happy and pleasant days.
" I hope you keep pretty well now that you have got over,
in some measure, the terrible illnesses you have had. I am
now out of all county offices.
" With my kind regards to Lady Turner and yourself,
" Believe me, yours sincerely,
"Sam. Holland."
Nearing the end.
" Caerdeon, Nov. 1889.
" My dear old Friend, — It gave me great pleasure to
receive your letter the other day. I fear I can't answer it
as I ought ; but my writing days are over, as you will see by
the scrawls. I do not go out much. I went one day to
Dolgelley, but did not get out of the. carriage. You will,
no doubt, have heard of the death of Charles Spooner, after
a short illness. It will be my turn next. It would give me
great pleasure to see you again before I quit this world, but I
fear it is impossible. Many old friends have recently left
us. Charles Spooner was taken off very soon. My memory
is fast failing me. I have some idea that I wrote to you last
week, but if I did I know you will not object to another
scrawl.
" Believe me, yours sincerely,
"Sam. Holland."
I was too imwell to go to see him, which I would dearly
have liked to have done. My old friend, who knew me from
childhood, did not long survive, and I deeply regretted that
218 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
the state of my health would not permit me to attend his
funeral.
MR. GEORGE FOSBERY LYSTER.
It would be rank ingratitude on my part if, in writing my
reminiscences, I were to omit from these pages a brief
acknowledgment of my indebtedness for the kind attention
and gratifying confirmation of my work on the alterations
designed by me at the north-east side of Carnarvon Har-
bour, and the removal of a portion of the outrageous ob-
struction that was built across the tide to the terrible
detriment of the harbour and injury of the bar and Straits.
Mr. Lyster spent a well-earned hoUday of six weeks at
Carnarvon; and as I was about commencing the large
harbour works, I had the great advantage of a personal
introduction to Mr. Lyster from the Hon. William Owen
Stanley, then Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey. Mr. Lyster
kindly took my plans, which had been fully drawn and put
into shape by Mr. Frederick Jackson, the engineer, and
Mr. Lyster also examined them with the utmost care.
He went along the Straits north and south of the intended
works, and impressed upon me the wisdom of carrying them
out in the exact form, not going out a single yard from
the outer line of wall designed to Uadj instead of obstructing-
the tide. Would that the heads and hands of those less quah-
fied than this perfect master of his business had been content
to be guided by those who had studied such questions, and
had not injured plans designed after great thought and long
experience, and approved by such men as Mr. Lyster,
Admirals Lord Clarence Paget and Sir William Mends, and
other experienced naval officers, and examined and approved
and signed by the Hydrographer of the Navy, Admiral Bed-
ford. My wall, that Mr. Lyster desired should not be pro-
jected a yard further out, is sixty feet further, as the
result of a disgraceful job on the part of nothing more nor
less than a tool of a railway company employed by a Govern-
ment department, as Mr. Stanley pronoimced it ; and it seems
to me but a poor return on the part of my successors in the
Harbour Trust for the labour of many years endorsed by
NOTABLE WELSHMEN 219
such high authorities, the benefit of whose counsel Carnar-
von has had, to have built a cross wall in violation of the
whole principle upon which the plan — the result of years
of calculation and trouble — was founded, and which had the
high sanction mentioned.
" Si monumentiun circumspice " might well have been the
motto of this eminent engineer had a monmnent been proposed
to him, who could point to the wonderful works executed by
him at the Liverpool Docks, and the ingenious devices for
facilitating trade of which he was the parent. On nimierous
occasions when I visited Liverpool he drove me, or rather
we were driven, in his cab to the works at the north end of
the Mersey which he was carrying out, and he took the
trouble of walking with me in the channels newly cut for
the foimdations of docks by the walls of which those
channels are now filled.
After spending many years in executing these vast works
Mr. Lyster retired from the post he had so ably filled, and
was worthily succeeded by his son, who is, I have no doubt,
" a chip of tiie old block." Mr. Lyster retired to his estate
in Flintshire, and died there a few years after his retirement.
CHAPTER VI
NAVAL REMINISCENCES
Royal Naval Coast Volunteers — Sir Llewelyn Turner raises
— Letters from Admiralty — Admiral Tatham — Sir W.
Mends — Value of force — Folly of abolition — Sir Lleweljm's
knighthood — Admiral Tatham's congratulations — Sir Llew-
eljm's services — Acknowledged by Captain Mends — Royal
Naval Reserve — Started by Lord Clarence Paget — Sir
Llewelyn's labours — Sudden support from Admiralty —
An anonymous letter — Sir Llewelyn's forgiveness--Sir
William and Lady Mends — Their kindness to sailors — A
" family of warriors " — Sir William's famous ancestor — The
Arethusa — The ballad — Letter from Sir William, 1871 —
Foundation of the Naval Reserve — Speeches by author and
Captain Pechell, R.N. — Good advice to sailors — Admiral
Mends — Made C.B. — G.C.B. later — His services — Re-
organises crew of Vengeance — At Sebastopol in Agamemnon
— The timidity of Admiral Dundas — A caustic bluejacket
— The midshipman's signal — Beaching the Royal Albert —
Discipline of crew — The Piqtie — Quebec to England without
a rudder — Mends' hatred of political government — " Man
overboard " — A prompt coxswain — Rescue by the Hastings
in Holyhead Harbour — Mends as Director of Transports —
A visitor at Parkia — ^Materials for life of Admiral Mends —
Meeting with a convict in the Royal Albert — Marryat and
his " reward of merit " — Correspondence of Admiral Mends
— His interest in Carnarvon Bar and Menai Straits naviga-
tion— Letter concerning Admiral Tryon's death, 1896—
Reference to Captain Mahan — Death of Lady Mends —
Letters from the Admiral — His death — Letter from his
daughter — His ** Life " — His orders — Admiral Watling —
Capture of the Bourbon — Services at De La Passe — Men-
tioned in despatches — Association with Sir Llewelyn —
Letter from Admiral Watling — Admiral Otway — Wrecked
in the Thetis — Acquaintance with Mends — Admiral Lord
Clarence Paget, G.C.B. — A friendship of forty years — Pain
of separation — Rapid promotion warranted by ability and
rank — His diary — Visits to Plas Llanfair — Command in
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 221
Mediterranean — Lord Clarence as " all-round man " — Car-
penter— Linguist — Sculptor — Statue of Nelson in the Straits
— Its origin and progress — Sir Llewel3ni revises Lord Clar-
ence's " Life " — Correspondence — ^Thjs book suggested —
An Admiral in spurs — Improved communication with Ire-
land— Inauguration of the statue — Lord Cowley's speech —
Sir Lleweljm's speech — Sale of Plas Llanfair — Death of
Lord and Lady Clarence Paget — Admiral Sir Edward Au-
gustus Inglefield — Association with Sir Llewelyn — His
services — Arctic expeditions — Admiral E. W. Tumour —
His later sufferings — His services — Review for Sultan at
Spithead— Ball at Guildhall— Helping the Lord Chancellor
(Lord Cairns) — Letters — Death of Admiral Tumour — Ad-
miral Sir Hastings Yelverton — Loss of the Captain — Causes
of disaster — Sir Hastings Yelverton's career — Comptroller
of Coastguard — Intercourse with Sir Llewelyn — Rear Ad-
miral Brooker — Commands the Wyvem — Her unseaworthi-
ness— A letter — Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney — His
career — Navarino — Franklin search expedition — Letter
touching Lord Clarence Paget and Navarino — Vice-Admiral
Schomberg — Queen's Harbour Master at Holyhead — Ad-
miral Sir William King Hall — His services — Rousing a
sleeper in Kafiir War — Campaign against intemperance —
His successes — Admiral Sholto Douglas — Helps Sir Llewelyn
to find Lady Turner — His career — Rear Admiral Halsted
— The Dauntless — Devastated by yellow fever — ^Memorial to
the victims — Naval odds and ends — The ill-fated Eclair —
More yellow fever — Admirals Gough and Evans — A Russian
Count horsewhipped — A descendant of Nelson helped by
Sir Lleweljm — Horatia Nelson Ward's son cannot obtain
a nomination for the Navy — Sir lAewelyn intervenes — Sir
Llewelyn's success — A lock of Nelson's hair — Mrs. Horatia
Nelson Ward — A visit to Raglan Castle and a happy coin-
cidence— Nelson's hain willed to his family — ^A court-martial
— An^ktrial. ^ ^li dc^u^y^
The very extensive acquaintance I had for many years
enjoyed with naval men, and the deep interest I felt in the
naval defences of the country, received a full and ample
reward in the kindness and friendship of hosts of gallant
officers of that service, and many pleasant visits to the
captains and officers of different large ships of war. My
humble exertions in raising men for the service were acknow-
l^ged by the Lords of the Admiralty in the following
official letter :
222 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
"Admiralty, October i6, i860.
*• Sir, — I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty to express to you their Lordships' grati-
fication at the accomits they have received from Captain
Tatham of your zealous and patriotic exertions in raising
and keeping together a fine body of Royal Naval Coast
Volunteers belonging to the town of Carnarvon.
" I am, Su-,
" Your most obedient Servant,
" W. G. ROBiANE.
" Llbwblyn Turmbr^ Esquire."
ADMIRAL TATHAM.
Letter of Captain Tatham, enclosing copy of his letter to
the Admiralty :
*'HJd.S. 'Blenheim/
" Pembroke Dock, i860.
" My DEAR Sir, — I am very glad their Lordships wrote you
a complimentary letter, which you so much deserved. I felt
it due to you to lay before them what I felt on public grounds.
If the gentry of the cotmtry always acted in the spirit you
have done the result would be of great value. I was sorry
to hear of your mother's accident, but much pleased that she
has so well got over it.
" Remember me kindly to her, and believe me,
" Sincerely yours,
" Edward Tatham.
" A copy of my letter may interest you."
The allusion to an accidentwasthe breaking of mymother's
arm in going upstairs to bed, which, for a person between
eighty and ninety years old, was serious.
Copy of Captain Tatham's letter to the Admiralty :
" UM.S. ' Blenheim.'
"Ihave now drilling aboard this ship a division of R.N.C.V.
belonging to the town of Carnarvon (54 men). Of this
(Jabez Hughts, photo^Ryde, /.JK)
ADMIRAL TATHAM, C.R
NAVAL REMINISCENCES . 228
division a few only are absent and accounted for as being
at sea. The Carnarvon men were enrolled by me with
the cordial and zealous assistance of Mr. Llewelyn Turner,
Rear Commodore of the Royal Welsh Yacht Club. They
have been kept together by that gentleman, to whose patriot-
ism and naval sympathies the service and country is much
indebted ; and as this opinion is fully shared by Captain
Mends, commanding the Liverpool district, I submit the same
to you for their Lordships' consideration and expression."
Captain Tatham (afterwards Admiral) commanded the
coast from Pembroke to Carnarvon in H.M.S. Blenheim^
which was subsequently changed for another ship, the Eagle^
50-gun frigate, and the coast from Carnarvon to Kirkcud-
bright in Scotland was commanded by Captain Mends, C.B.,
afterwards Admiral Sir W. Mends, G.C.B., in the Hastings^
of 60 guns, subsequently exchanged for the MajesiiCy 80-gun
ship. The latter district included the Isle of Man ; and
acting upon my advice the Admiralty included Carnarvon
in the Liverpool district, as the distance the men had to go
to the ship to be drilled was so much less than Pembroke.
I have forgotten the total number of men raised for this
force in the two divisions, but it was very considerable, and,
if I recollect rightly, the number of men entered by me in the
Carnarvon district, including Amlwch, Holyhead, and the
various places, was about 150 or 160. The Scotch and
Isle of Man recruits were especially fine men, hardened by
being constantly at sea in their fishing craft, and keeping
out in almost all weathers. I was continually aboard
the Hastings and Majestic, and visited the Isle of Man and
other places, and was exceedingly gratified to see the pro-
ficiency attained by the men in gunnery. God help us,
with our wretched political bickerings, and our ruinous
absence of continuity in any one settled course of action !
One Government does a wise thing, and it gets kicked out
by the next, which undoes to a perilous degree the defences
of the country. Here was a most valuable force, trained to
the use of great guns and rifle shooting and cutlass exercise,
on board large ships of war with full drilled crews, and, with
224 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
neither wit nor wisdom to justify it, this useful force was
abolished. The sailors and fishers, well hardened to the
sea, were a splendid force, and some thousands of men who
could row and manage boats got a training in large ships of
war all round the coast, the value of which was immense.
On their return from drill on these large ships, the increased
sobriety and behaviour of this latter class of men was most
observable. I knew all those from Carnarvon, and was
exceedingly gratified to see a wild sort of sinner return with
a stripe to denote his good behaviour. A month in a ship
of war with its excellent discipline was of the greatest service,
and many a man to my certain knowledge gained in cleanli-
ness and decency of living a fresh and valuable experience,
and I never heard any complaints in the ships themselves
of their misconduct. Now I understand the Government
talk of resuscitating the force.
I kept up a steady friendship with Captain Tatham, both
as captain and admiral, and when my hmnble endeavours to
serve the country were rewarded by the honour of knight-
hood I received from him on his retirement to his property
at Midhurst the following kind letter :
" My dear Sir Llewelyn, — I send you my warm con-
gratulations on your reception of public proof that your long
continuance in good works has had its reward. We are
probably both now in what is called retirement, but must
bdth try to be useful, and on your part the endeavour
will be but a continuance of success. . . .
** We may both look back with some satisfaction to a time
when your zeal and local knowledge enabled me to do, I hope,
some good for the naval strength of the cotmtry. It must
increase your satisfaction that cM ranks and classes rejoice
with you.
" Yours sincerely,
" Edward Tatham,
" Admiral (alas ! retired)."
During the Crimean War Captain Tatham (as he then
was) commanded the Fury steam frigate, and seeing a
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 225
Russian merchant brig going into Sebastopol chased and
captured her at the mouth of the harbour. With two or three
Russian ships of war following he had to let her go and be off
himself. His next command was the Phaeton, 50-gun frigate,
in the West Indies, from which he occasionally corresponded
with me. After attaining flag rank, and retiring to his
estate near Midhurst, he did not live long, and there was one
more blank. A charming letter from him him is appended :
" St. John's, Midhurst,
" December 28, 1870.
" My dear Sir Llewelyn, — I am glad to hear that there
is further evidence of a joy among all for whom you have
done so much — that your friends should do is natural
enough. You will have now to pass the remainder of life
with the great satisfaction of having done more than your
duty, and that duty appreciated by your Queen and country.
I send you my photo ! such as it is. It is the best I have
with me — but is generally thought a bad specimen of art,
from some serious error about the legs — which happily the
possessor has not. You can cut it off or rather them off.
I hope the coming year will bring with it all the blessings
you may need — our best thoughts at this moment must be
for the peace of Europe. I had forgotten the letter I wrote
— and of which you seem to have such nice memory. If not
a trouble to you, send me a copy, it does not appear in my
letter-book.
" Always sincerely yours,
" Edward Tatham."
ADMIRAL SIR W. MENDS, G.C.B.
I was in constant communication with Captains Mends
and Tatham, and frequently visited them in their ships, and
after receiving the thanks of the Admiralty I was gratified
by the following amongst the frequent letters of Captain
Mends.
The Majestic 8o-gun ship having been commissioned by
p
226 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Captain Mends instead of the HasHngs of 60 guns accounts
for the change of names :
" H J^.S. ' Majestic/
" October 22, i860.
" My dear Turner, — My wife and I do indeed participate
in the pleasure you have experienced at the letter from the
Lords of the Admiralty, though it expresses but weakly
what is really due to you for your exertions in behalf of the
naval service, which can never be over-estimated. I do hope
Carnarvon will be added to the Liverpool district ; it will
be more convenient for the men, and I think attended with
benefit to the service. I will be with you during the first
week in November. ... I am rejoiced that your good
mother experiences no bad effects from her fall.
" One and all of my party unite in very sincere regards.
"Yours faithfully,
" W. R. Mends."
On his quitting the station (Kirkcudbright to Carnarvon)
my old friend Captain Mends sent me the following letter on
service :
" H.M.S. ' Majestic/
** RocKFERRY, December 31, i860.
"Sir, — I cannot quit the command of the Liverpool district
without conve)dng to you the expression of my sincere
thanks for the active co-operation you have afforded me
during the period of my command. The Uvely interest you
have taken in the welfare of the seamen and your earnest
advocacy of the advantages held out to them in the naval
service of her Majesty claim the grateful acknowledgment
of every well-wisher of his country.
" I have the honour to be,
" Your faithful friend and servant,
" W. R. Mends,
" Captain.'*
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 227
THE NAVAL RESERVE.
Some time after the events referred to in these letters of
Captain Tatham and Sir William Mends, my good old friend
Lord Clarence Paget, who was then the Secretary of the
Admiralty, started the Royal Naval Reserve force, and I was
in frequent communication with him on the subject, as well
as with Admiral Sir Hastings Ydverton, the Comptroller
of the Coastguard, and Sir William Mends, the Deputy
Comptroller. At that time there were large numbers of
sailing merchant vessels at Carnarvon, Bangor and Port-
dinorwic, but, alas ! steamers and railways have reduced
the nrnnber to almost nothing, and I am amazed and sorry
to find that so little notice seems to be taken of this most
serious reduction of the fighting forces of the country, as
the reduction of sailing-ships reduced the nrnnber of men
most seriously. Living as I do between Carnarvon and
Portdinorwic I had every opportunity of meeting and con-
versing with sailors, when they were going backwards and
forwards between those places. I was as often as I could
spare time down at the lodge on the Bangor and Carnarvon
road, endeavouring to recruit for the naval service ; but the
seamen, like the fish that will not trust the fly, would not bite
at first, and I found that the old traditions of the press-gang
were strong ; nevertheless I persevered and got a few to join,
and then arranged for and advertised a meeting of seamen to
be held in the Castle of Carnarvon, and from thence a proces-
sion of sailors with a band of music (which I engaged for the
purpose) to the Guildhall, where they would be addressed
by me and by Commander Pechell, the Inspecting Com-
mander of the Coastguard (a former midshipman of Captain
Mends). The meeting was successful, but a most curious
incident took place. My advertisements were only issued at
Carnarvon and Portdinorwic, and only posted on the Wednes-
day, and to my utter surprise, I received the letter following
from the Coastguard Department at the Admiralty :
228 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
** Coastguard Department,
" Admiralty, 14. 3. 1862.
" My dear Turner, — I see the men at Carnarvon are
beginning to respond to your numerous patriotic addresses.
Commodore Yelverton wishes me to say that he has ordered
a gun-boat to be sent there for the purpose of drilling them
at their own port, and that if they come forward in sufficient
nimibers a battery of two gims shall be erected at Carnarvon
for drill purposes. I see you are to have one of your gather-
ings to-morrow in the Castle and Guildhall, at which my old
shipmate Pechell is to accompany you. He was one of my
youngsters in a frigate years ago, and a good lad. We want
you to fix on a suitable site for the erection of this battery
in Carnarvon in conjunction with Pechell and Inglefield.
Estimates will be called for in Carnarvon for the construction.
I trust you and yours are well. All unite with me in kind
regards. Remember me to Pechell. Send me a copy of
your address to-morrow. I want it for the commodore.
" Faithfully yours,
" W. R. Mends.'*
The following is a contemporary accoimt of the beginning
of the movement.
" A meeting of sailors was convened at Carnarvon by the
Mayor, Llewel3ni Turner, Esq., at five o'clock on the even-
ing of Saturday last, the 15th inst., in the Castle Yard,
whence the men marched in a body to the Guildhall, headed
by the Volimteer band (whose services were handsomely
tendered for the occasion), the Mayor, Captain Pechell,
R.N., Mr. Thomas Turner, and other gentlemen. Having
arrived at the Guildhall the meeting was addressed by the
Mayor and Captain Pechell, R.N., on the advantages of
joining the Naval Reserve.
** The Mayor said he was glad to see so good a muster of
respectable seamen, and to have another opportimity of
stating the advantages of a service which he had on so
many occasions laid before them. Many of them would
remember that he had addressed them on the subject twice
at the Sailors' Institute soon after the Naval Reserve was
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 229
established, and subsequently at the Guildhall, with his
gallant friend, Captain Mends, of the Royal Navy, and
again, at the British School, with Captain Inglefield, of her
Majesty's ship Majestic, He felt that in addressing the
seamen of the port of Carnarvon (who, taking those at home
and abroad, formed a large body of men) he had the great
advantage of being personally known to them all, or at
least to a large majority of them, and he had always so
much identified himself with them, and was so well known
to them from boyhood, that he felt sure there was not
a man in the room who would for a moment doubt
his intentions towards them, or who would hesitate to
accept his statements as being put forth for their good.
In addressing them that evening he would take this ground
to start with. That no man out of the limits of a lunatic
asyliun or of the Peace Society, would doubt that in this land
he was living in the most free, the most wealthy, and the
most happy country imder heaven. Thank God that it
was so ! Truly this was a great and a wonderful people ;
and what the Almighty had committed to them, whether
seamen or landsmen, they were boimd to defend and main-
tain. Another proposition which he would put to them
was, that no class of men within the realms of England had
contributed so much to that greatness, which was the ad-
miration and the envy of mankind, as the British sailor.
Had it not been for the sailors who fought imder Drake
and subsequent commanders, and, above all, under the
immortal Nelson, would England be the England that all
nations now looked up to with so much wonder and amaze-
ment ? But deep as our debt imdoubtedly was to those
gallant spirits, the merchant seaman also had done a great
deal towards the greatness of his coimtry ; he had carried
to and from our shores the commerce of England, which
benefited all, from the noble whose land was increased in
value, and the merchant who rolled in the legitimate wealth
made by commercial enterprise, to the peasant whose tea
and sugar was a luxury he owed to the sailor. But let the
merchant seaman always remember that but for the Royal
Navy he could not have pursued his lawful occupation.
280 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Now here were two plain and patent facts, the greatness,
and that the sailor was the chief instrument of that
greatness. And yet what did they find ? — that no man
in Great Britain had so little voice, so little stake in it
as the sailor. He had filled many pubUi; oflSces which
had given him great opportunities of knowing and seeing
who was and who was not prosperous. When, some years
ago, he was Chairman of the Guardians, he had seen with un-
feigned sorrow men who a few years before were fine seamen,
ending their days in the workhouse. And being now in the
third year of his magistracy, in which it was his duty to
study the interest and benefit of all classes, he could affirm
that in no respect was the sailor in the position he ought to
be ashore. Taking the proportion of landsmen and seamen,
who formed the population of the port of Carnarvon, or any
other place he was acquainted with, they had not the stake
in it which they ought to have. There were very many
small freeholders, owners of perhaps some small farm, or
a few houses or cottages, which by honest, creditable labour
they had earned ; but how rarely was the sailor foimd
amongst these, how rare his provision of this or any other
kind for old age. Now, why was this ? Jack was as honest
and as well-meaning a man as any of them ; but he left home
in early life, found himself constantly in strange ports, was
too often seduced into the Yankee service, and instead of
the wholesome checks which landsmen generally had of
parents or friends, he was pounced upon in every large port
by the greatest villains with which the earth was cursed.
He (the Mayor) had so often in his addresses denounced
the crimps — ^with whose rascality he was well acquainted —
that the subject coming from his lips would almost appear
stale, but a dangerous disease required strong treatmerft
and plain speaking. The sailor was no sooner in one of the
large seaports than he was met by these plausible wolves
in sheep's clothing, who advanced him money up to a safe
point, always a mere fraction of what they knew to be due
to him, placed him in the way of every temptation which
could assail and beset a man, and then profited by his want
of knowledge of the world ; often shipping him off in a
•
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 281
Yankee ship in a state of drunken stupidity; selling him,
in plain English, to the Yankee skipper, as completely as
any negro was ever sold on the coast of Africa. Now this
was a state of things well known to the Government of the
country, and to their credit be it said that they did all they
could to put an end to it ; they established shipping masters
in each port, so that the seaman could be regularly entered.
And, as he had often reminded the seamen, every Custom-
house was a savings' bank, in which the sailor was invited to
deposit his earnings, so that in old age he would have a stand-
by— a fimd to save him from the workhouse. And with an
enlightened policy, for which the sailor could never be too
grateful, the Admiralty now offered them wonderful terms for
joining the Naval Reserve. At first there was everywhere
a hanging back, but the seamen of the North of England
candidly examined the scheme, and a number of them
joined in recommending it to others. Let them weigh it well
in their minds. Since the establishment of the force, he
(the Mayor) had made it his business to explain it to every
seaman he met, and he was glad to find that those doubts
and prejudices which at first prevailed were disappearing.
Here was a liberal offer of pay and rations for a month's drill,
and after a certain number of years in the force they were
entitled to a pension of £12 a year, which, with what
any seaman who used the Custom House Savings' Banks
could put by during the active years of his life, would be
comfortable provision for old age. He had that morning
received from the Deputy Comptroller-General of Coast-
guard, an Admiralty letter stating that a gun-boat should
be sent to Carnarvon to drill the men, and that if a sufficient
number of them joined, a battery should be erected on the
beach, on a site to be fixed by Captain Inglefidd, Captain
PecheU, and himself. The battery would be a section of the
side of a ship of war, built of strong oak, and tenders for its
erection would be invited in Carnarvon. Now, here the Ad-
miralty brought home the matter to their very doors. He
(the Mayor) knew that at this very moment there was a
large number of Carnarvon seamen in Liverpool out of
employment ; if the battery were erected (which their
282 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
joining the force in sufficient number would ensure) these
men could all be earning at this slack season a month's pay
and rations, they would be at home with their families, and
kept steady, clean, and sober, each man spending the even-
ings, if he chose, with his wife, if he had one, and returning
to learn the mode of defending his country in the morning.
Amongst those he had talked to on the subject was a res-
pectable master of a coasting-vessel, and he said he could
never get a month's leave to attend this drill ; but he had
explained to him, as he wished to explain to them, that
twenty-eight days together was not required, that they
could take it in four divisions of a week each, if more con-
venient. Now, let Jack recollect, how much less he was
asked to do than the landsman. As Captain Mends and
Captain Inglefield had put it to them on formej^occasions
at the meetings he had alluded to, the laiiaVolimteers
received no pay, they gave their time for nothing, and paid
heavily for their clothes, and other expenses besides. They
were all aware that a body of Rifle Volimteers — ^whose band
had kindly played for them that evening — was in existence in
this place since the formation of the force, and they were
constantly drilled, and kept themselves ready to defend
their country without any fee or reward, and he learned
that ant additional body was in course of formation in the
town. Let the sailors reflect on this, and let the seamen
of this locality bear in mind how much better their time
would be employed on their return from a foreign voyage
in learning gtm-drill, and thus receiving pay and rations at
home, instead of having to dive into their wages, all of which
could by this plan be saved and placed in the Custom House
Savings' Bank. There were two other views which he would
briefly put before them. He alluded to the benefit to the
taxpayer of the country and to the shipowner. It was well
known that to prevent war by the possession of power was
alwa)^ cheaper than to drift into a war ; and but for the
excellent management of the present Government, and
particularly of the Board of Admiralty, we should in all
jlrobability have been at war with America. They all knew
of the Trent affair ; the first news they got was defiance.
{Hughes &^ Afu//ins, Photo, Ryde)
ADMIRAL SIR WILLIAM R. MENDS, G.C.B.
• 9
, NAVAL REMINISCENCES 288
The 'American papers were brimful of bullying braggadocio
about spilling ' the blood of a million men before they would
give up these men,' and such like stuff. ' That it would be
no use for John Bull to bluster and bully, as Slklell and
Mason should not be surrendered ' and had those renegade
Englishmen calling themselves the Peace Society had any
weight they would not have been given up. But John Bull
did not bluster or bully, he wished to preserve the dignity
and the honour of England without war if possible, and he
did it by being ready for war. Lord Russell sent a firm, but
quiet demand, giving our ambassador in America, Lord
Lyons, instructions to give the Yankees an opportunity for
knuckhng imder without any demand at all. But while
this was going on Admiral Milne's fleet was being quietly
but rapidly reinforced with a nimiber of the most efficient
and powerful ships that ever floated on the ocean, and the
garrison of Canada was reinforced, and the American
Minister in London well knew that we had also in the back-
ground a Naval Reserve of 8000 or 10,000 seamen. The
knowledge that we were ready thus prevented war, and the
taxpayer was saved from enormous pressure. Some years
ago we were on the eve of war with France, not because
the ground of quarrel was strong, but because so much
pressure had been put on the Government by false econo-
mists, that our right arm was crippled. We had a small,
half-manned fleet, the line-of-battle ships in the Mediter-
ranean actually having one tier of gims left ashore for want
of men to work them, owing to the reduced crews. The
French admiral in the Mediterranean then wrote to his
Government that that was the time to wipe out the disgrace
of Trafalgar — our glory. Now, here the taxpayer would
clearly see that the want of preparation would have been
the cause of war then, and not any good cause of dispute.
Besides, if they had a good reserve, they would not always
need so large a permanent force. That clever, shrewd man,
the Emperor of the French, understood these things well,
and his conscription marine was an admirable protection
to that country. There were in France two services, one to
which our Naval Coast Volunteers bears a strong resemblance,
286 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Department how they came to know anything of my meeting,
and the reply was preceded by this question : " Do you
know the Registrar General of Seamen at London Bridge ? "
" Oh yes," I replied. " Well, he came here on the Friday,
the day next before the meeting, and brought with him an
anonymous letter, and your advertisement. The letter
described you in anything but complimentary terms, and
said that you were destroying all possible chance of raising
men in the district, etc." Sir Hastings Yelverton inquired
if the Registrar had any idea who the writer was ? " Oh
yes," he said, " I know his handwriting well, as it has not been
sufl&ciently disguised. I often receive official letters from
him." Sir Hastings Yelverton said, " The writer must be a
thorough-paced scoundrel. Llewel3ni Turner is the only
man in the kingdom who works, and that heartily and
gratuitously, for the Admiralty. Write him a letter. Mends,
that he may receive it to-morrow morning, and show him
that we know all about his meeting, and tell him we will give
them a battery at Carnarvon if the seamen respond freely
to his patriotic exertions, and that Carnarvon people shall
erect it." The letter was read at the meeting as desired,
and the number of recruits quickly rose to seventy-four, and
soon attained a large number.
The fooUsh writer of the letter was very angry that he
had not been invited to the meeting, and gave vent to his
anger in the form described. Some time after my return to
Carnarvon I met him in the street and he came up to speak
to me, but I put out the palm of my hand and motioned him
to be off. He made an attempt to speak afterwards, with
the same result. A few years after he sent me an official letter
with some information which I was glad to receive, and as I
am not addicted to bearing maUce I called at his office, and
thanked him for his attention, and from that day forward
to the time of his leaving Carnarvon I had no more devoted
person than he was. I thoroughly abominate all writers of
anonymous letters, but I honestly believe that this man gave
way to a fierce temper, and that he so thoroughly appreciated
my forgiveness that he would have done almost anything to
please or serve me.
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 287
It will be noticed that in Sir William Mends' letter he
mentions Captain Inglefield. He was the officer who suc-
ceeded to the command of the Majestic, 8o-gun ship, after
Sir W. Mends, and to the coast command from Kirkcudbright
to Carnarvon. Had I not been well known at the Admiralty
and to the Registrar General of Seamen, Canarvon might
have been deprived of the large force, and the two batteries,
a second one being subsequently erected, and the naval
strength might have been reduced in men through that
improper letter. I spent very many happy times with my
dear friend Mends in the Hastings and Majestic, and sub-
sequently with Captain, afterwards Admiral Sir Edward
Inglefield. In those days the families of the captains were
allowed to Hve in the district guardship, and the presence
of Lady Mends (who was devotedly attached to her gallant
husband, and he to her) was much appreciated by the crew,
as she often visited the " sick-bay " as the ship's hospital
is called, and on Christmas day the sailors derived much
pleasure from the thoughtful attention shown in adding to
the Christmas festivities. My old friend's record was a most
admirable one. He came of a long line of heroes, the family
having contributed to the navy and army a singular number
of distinguished officers. His father was Admiral William
Bowen Mends, and was one of a very large family, fourteen
of whom were officers in the two great services, whom Lord
Palmerston described as a race of warriors ; one of the
ancestors of Sir William Mepds was Commodore Sir Robert
Mends, G.C.B., who entered the navy in the year 1779,
and in 1780 served in his Majesty's ship CuUoden at the
capture of the Spanish fleet by Admiral Sir George Rodney,
and took part in the following actions : the action with the
French fleet off the Chesapeake in 178 1 ; on shore in Virginia,
America ; with General Philip at Petersburg ; at the defeats
of the American army at James Island ; the action at " Ber-
muda Hundreds," when the whole of the enemy's squadron
of thirteen armed vessels were captured after a hard fight ;
at the siege of York Town, America, when he was woimded
in the knee and arm, which afterwards underwent amputa-
tion. In 1782 he served in the Conqueror at the capture of
288 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
the French fleet by Admiral Sir George Rodney, when he
was wounded in the head, and had his jawbone fractured.
He had comanded the celebrated frigate Arethusa as senior
ofl&cer in the blockade of Cherbourg in 1808, and taken part
in a vast number of actions recorded in the life of his descen-
dant, my dear and deeply lamented friend, published after
his death by his son. It would occupy too much space to
go on reciting the services of Sir William's gallant ancestor,
who died of cholera and apoplexy the year I was bom,
1823, after a briUiant career of forty-four years.
The Arethusa was the subject of a ballad which I knew
well in years gone by, but am not certain whether I can
repeat it now ; stDl will make the attempt :
Come, all ye jolly saUors bold,
Whose hearts are cast in honour's mould.
While English glory I unfold.
Hurrah for the Arethusa/
She is a frigate stout and brave
As ever ploughed the dashing wave.
'Twas with the spring fleet she went out
The English Channel to cruise about.
When three French sail with crews so stout
Bore down on the Arethusa.
The famed Belle Poule straight ahead did lie.
The Arethusa seemed to fly,
Not a sheet or a tack
Or a brace did she slack,
Though the Frenchmen laughed, and thought it stuff,
But they knew not the handful of men, how tough,
On board of the Arethusa.
On deck five hundred men did dance.
The stoutest they could find in France ;
We with two hundred did advance,
On board of the Arethusa.
Our captain hailed the Frenchman, * * Ho ! "
The Frenchman he sang out, *' Hallo ! "
** Bear down, do you see, to our admiral's lee."
** No, no," says the Frenchman, *' that can't be."
" Then I must lag you along with me,"
Said the saucy Arethusa.
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 289
The fight was ofiE the Freochmen's land.
We drove them back upon their strand,
We fought till not stick would stand
Of the saucy Arethusa.
And now we've driven the foe ashore
Never to fight with Britons more,
Let each fill his glass to his favourite lass.
Here's a health to our captain and officers true
And all that belong to the jovial crew
Of the saucy Arethusa,
To return to that friend whose memory I shall cherish
while my waning years last, I may honestly say that his
career was well worthy of the splendid stock whence he came.
As a lieutenant his career was highly creditable. He served
with distinction as commander under his old friend Com-
modore Sir Henry Blackwood, Bart., in the East Indies,
and his affectionate nature and true friendship is well shown
in the following letter, in which, in showing his affection for
me, (as dozens of his letters during the period of nearly half
a century do,) he mentions his departure from his old com-
modore : —
" Admiralty, Whitehall, 1871.
" My dear Old Turner, — Such friendship as yours is
really worth having. I warmed towards you the first few
minutes of our acquaintance because I felt myself face to
face with an earnest-minded and sincere man, with truth and
honesty to the fore, therefore I need scarcely say how
earnestly, after a friendship of so many years, I reciprocate
your kind feelings for me. I thank you for all you say. My
dear old commodore Sir Henry Blackwood in his parting
words to me when I left him on receiving my promotion,
used these words, ' We met as strangers, and I hope we part
friends for life.' I apply them now in our case because it is
an affection begotten of respect and esteem each for the
other. Her Gracious Majesty was pleased to place on my
neck the Order of the Bath * on Monday last, and I felt
rewarded to the full for all my labours, and would willingly
^ As will be seen, he^got the G.C3. later.
240 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
go through all again to win such a reward, which signified
to me that my services are recognised, and I am content.
*' With united regards,
" Believe me ever,
" Yours with affection,
"W. R. Mends."
Of those services he might well be proud. After service
under the late Admiral Rous and others, when a commander,
he was selected by that eminent Admiral, Sir William Parker,
who then commanded the Mediterranean fleet, to get the
Vengeance^ 74, into proper order. The captain was in-
valided home. For reasons that need not be named here
the ship was found by the admiral on inspection to be in
anything but the high order and discipline to which he was
accustomed, and he sent for Commander Mends, as he
then was, and told him to assume temporary command of
the Vengeance, to take her away and bring her back in
proper order. Away they went, and he foimd, as he told
me afterwards, that the ship's company was far from being
a bad one, but the discipline had been lax, etc. At first he
allowed no evolution to be done quickly, but gradually
increased the speed until all operations were performed
with the greatest rapidity, and when in about a month he
brought the ship back to the fleet while they were going
through a series of manoeuvres and operations, she proved
to be the fastest in the shifting of spars and sails, and other
kindred performances.
Not long after this, his promotion to post rank took
place, and after various services, when the Crimean War
broke out, he was the captain of the Agamemnon, 90-ton
gun-ship, in the Mediterranean, which formed one of the
fleet of Admiral Dundas to the Black Sea. As captain of
a line-of-battle ship he was of necessity almost entirely
confined to the fleet, and as that admiral was not distin-
guished for enterprise Captain Mends was anxious to ex-
change his command for that of a frigate which would
be sent on wider expeditions. He accordingly exchanged
his command of the Agamemnon with Sir William Symonds
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 241
for that of the Areihusa, 50-gun frigate. In that frigate
(now a training-ship for boys in the Thames) he attacked
some of the batteries of Odessa ; and I have a copy in the
drawing-room at Parkia of the water-colour drawing, the
original of which was done by Captain George Mends, the
brother of my old friend.
When Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons was sent out as second
in command, he was ordered to hoist his flag in the Agatnem-
non, 90-gun, and chose Mends as his flag-captian, and con-
sequently he had to go back to his old ship. This selection
was a great compliment, as the number of applicants for
the post was very great. A warm friendship grew up
between admiral and captain, and they messed together.
At the naval attack on Sebastopol, three ships went close
in imder the walls, with only two feet to spare under their
keels, viz., the Agamemnon^ 90 gims. Captain Mends, the
London, 90 guns, Captain Eden, and the Sanspareil, 74 guns.
Captain Dacres. During the middle of the action. Captain
Mends, going along the main deck to inspect the firing,
saw that the crew of one gim were firing in a random manner
without taking correct aim, and, though in the crisis of
the battle, he disrated the captain of the gun and appointed
another. The crews of great gims, as far as I remember,
were at that period fourteen men to each gun.
A most laughable occurrence, well worth relating, took
place a day or two after the attack. Admiral Dundas had
not distinguished himself by a close approach to the great
fortifications, but had anchored the flagship and others at
a distance of 2000 yards from them, and a day or two
after the attack signalled for all the first lieutenants of
the large fleet assembled off Sebastopol to go on board the
Britannia, his flagship, a sailing liner of 120 gims. Steam-
ships of war being then new productions this fine old sailing-
vessel was the flagship of the Mediterranean station when
the war with Russia broke out. (I have an oil painting of
her.) The number of boats bringing the first-lieutenant
of each ship was very great, and the quartermasters had
infinite trouble to keep away the boats of the first comers
after they had left their officers aboard, their near presence
242 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
impeding the others. The quartermaster was continually
^ving the order, " Keep that boat further off," and
at last one of the boat's crew in a waitiug boat shouted,
" How far, Sir ? will 2000 yards do ? " This was heard by
all the boats waiting f* the return of the first-lieutenants,
and was received by the various crews with the greatest
laughter. The qaestion of that sailor deUghted every
officer and man who heard it, except one — if he heard it.
After the attack on Sebastopol my old friend received a
" roimd robin " from the crew of the Agamemnon, thanking
him for the gallantry with whi<& they were led into
action, and stating that if he conmianded a ship in any
other war they would to a man volimteer to serve imder
him.
To the intense satisfaction of the officers and men of
the fieet Admiral Dimdas retired. Sir Edmund Lyons was
appointed commander-in-chief, and raised to the peerage.
On his leaving the fleet, the retiring Admiral Dundas did
not in any shape bid adieu to Lord Lyons, who had been
his second in command; and as he was going away Lord
Lyons said that, although the admiral had not had the courtesy
to say adieu before he left, they would act differently, and
he ordered the signal to be made, " May happiness attend
you." A signal went up and was soon down, the signal
midshipman having hoisted by mistake, " May Imnging
attend you." It is not improbable that the wish may
have been the parent of the mistake. The fine new ship
Royal Albert, 120, was sent out for flagship, and the admiral
and captain shifted into her, and many a gallant soldier
had reason to be thankful that two such able officers with
so fine a ship were at hand to expedite the landing of tents
and stores and other necessary things. The terrible wiuter
when the transport Prince, a fine steamer, was lost, passed
away with all its scenes of misery, and when the war was
over the Admiral (Lyons) left, and Captain Mends brought
home the Royal Albert. In coming through the sea of
Marmora, on a beautiful fine day about midday, the officer
of the watch reported that the stuffing-box of the screw
had burst, and that the water was flowing into the ship
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 248
with fearful rapidity. Many of my readers will doubtless
" be at sea " as to what a " stuffing-box " is. There is
a long iron shaft called the screw shaft, which is worked
from the engine, and goes out of the stem of the ship neces-
sarily under water. At the outer^ end under the taffrail
is the screw which works the vessel, and a wonderful con-
trivance exists, called the stuffing-box, through which the
shaft passes ; and how the wit of man ever devised a box
capable of allowing the screw shaft to pass through it
working such an enormous thing as the screw without
admitting the sea into the ship passes my poor imderstand-
ing. The ship was near the shore, and the captain looked
out for a soft place to beach her. Not a moment was to be
lost, and had the accident happened far from land down
the ship must have gone. Any fool could have run his ship
ashore, but it took a wise man to make all provision in
doing so for getting her off again. This is what this ex-
perienced man did. Giving his orders with rapidity, which
the large crew of 1250 officers and men, splendidly drilled,
were able to carry out with great speed, — " Full steam
ahead, hard aport the helm " — both best bower anchors were
made ready to let go ; and as they neared the shore with a
sandy beach, the two anchors were let go. " Send down
royal and topgallant masts and yards, nm the forward
guns aft." Although the sun was shining brilliantly the
ship was going so fast that they could see the sparks from
the rapid passing of the chains through the hawse-holes.
By running the guns aft, the ship, drawing twenty-five
feet of water aft, was run into twelve feet at the bows.
As soon as the ship grounded forward, the guns that had
been run aft were replaced and fixed her firmly ; but as the
sandy beach sloped very much, the topgallant- and top-masts
were lowered, and ropes sent from the lower mastheads to
trees on the land, and several starboard guns run to port
to keep her from capsizing.
In a ship with a perfectly disciplined crew of 1250 officers
and men all this work was performed like magic, and then
a water-tight compartment was erected in the after-part
of the hold, but forward of the stuffing-box. The precaution
244 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
of letting go both the best bower anchors having been taken,
there was no difl&culty in hauling the ship off, the anchors
having been dropped a cable's length from the shore. When
M J the guns were again run aft the great ship was without any
/Vjf^f^tt/C^ difficulty hauled off, her bow was imxxx in deep water, and
7/ the guns being replaced the ship was hove to her anchors
and all afloat ; whereas had the previous precautions not
been taken it would have been almost impossible to carry
out anchors in boats of sufficient size to haul off so large a
ship, and quite impossible in bad weather.
The many ships and stations in which this splendid
officer had served are too numerous to mention here. I
have forgotten to name one curious experience he had as a
lieutenant serving with Admiral (then captain) Rous in the
Pique frigate. She lost her rudder in going down the coast
from Quebec, and was sailed to England with incessant
pimiping and no rudder. This reminds me that having told
him of a venerable instructress well-known as teacher of
navigation in Carnarvon, he went with me to see her and
subsequently sent her a model of a temporary rudder to
aid her in her teaching.
I feel that my readers will think that I am not altogether
consecutive in my recitals, but as I am writing from me-
mory in nearly sdl cases, excepting letters, of which I have
retained so many, the laiigest number from naval officers,
they will pardon an old man for occasionally " placing the
cart before the horse."
To return to the pleasant times spent by me in the Hast-
ings and Majestic, nothing could exceed the pleasure I felt
in the association with this able man and his amiable
wife and family, and many a fine moonlight night have
I paced the decks with him listening to his recitals of
naval experiences and discussing sea subjects. His heart
was in his work, and his disgust for that curse of the navy
and army— /ar/y government — was what no lover of his
coimtry can fail to experience. I well know how in after
years, when he held official positions in the Admiralty,
he did his best to counteract the shameful political ex-
pedient of seUingy to reduce the estimates, stores which had
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 245
to be replaced at terrible loss to the nation whenever even a
small war appeared likely.
I recollect one Sunday after Divine service as usual by
the chaplain, the captain, Lady Mends, and one of their
daughters, and I, went ashore for a walk. The ship was
moored in the Sloyne, and the ladies returned aboard after
a short walk, the captain- and myself going for a mile
or two further inland. The men knew exactly when we
would be back to the landing-place, and the captain's gig
was alongside the jetty with her head pointing outward
towards the ship. The crew of six men being all on their
thwarts (seats) had of course their backs to the ship ; as we
were descending from higher land I saw that no less than
five of her boats were out, and drew the captain's attention
to them. We both set to run and, jumping into the boat,
the captain ordered the crew to pull as fast as they could.
Some of the boats from the ship got to her before us, one
containing a seaman who had fallen overboard in walking
along one of the lower studding-sail booms, that protruded
from the ship to keep boats not on the davits clear of her
sides. As soon as the cry " man overboard " had been heard
a splendid sailor, of the name of Jackson, who was on the
lower deck, ran up the various ladders, and despite the fact
that the tide was nmning at a fearful rate, jumped overboard
from the taffrail, a height of at least twenty or twenty-five
feet from the water. He assisted the poor man until the
boats came. Doctor Wood, the surgeon of the ship, and
the assistant-surgeon, were at their posts, and a bed with hot
salt was ready in the sick bay by the time the poor fellow
was taken aboard. The captain at once went to the sick
bay, and the man was able to tell him how it happened; but
the shock and the quantity of water he had swallowed, was
too much for him, and he died about eight p.m. I went to
see his body on Monday morning ; it was placed on a plank
between two of the ship's broadside guns, where I had sat
at Divine service the day before, and I lifted the Union
Jack with which he was covered to have good look at him.
He was an exceedingly fine man, and had only joined the
ship about three weeks before. He was buried, of course,
246 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
ashore, with all due honour, a procession of the ship's boats
being formed to the shore. What apparently slight events
appear to alter our destiny ! He was a sailor sail-maker,
and work being slack at Plymouth had entered for the
Hastings.
The coxswain of the captain's gig was a very smart and
able man, and one day when the children were ashore at
Rockferry the gig was alongside the jetty, and the coxswain
landed, and was wheeling the children about, when an Ameri-
can sailor going by caught hold of the perambulator and nearly
capsized it, using some not very polite language. The cox-
swain was at him in a trice and polished him off in a way
that would hardly induce him to repeat his pranks.
On one occasion when the Hastings was at Holyhead, I
was walking up and down the ship's bridge ; it was a
lovely day, with a very gentle breeze blowing out of the
harbour. It was low water and a schooner was going out
before the wind ; she kept too far in, and instead of passing
between the platters rocks and the breakwater, she ran on
to one platter. The captain was at once informed, and,
with the usual rapidity of the work of a man-of-war, there
were two boats off to her immediately ; the first, a few minutes
before the other, had orders to lower the schooner's sails
at once, as they were driving her further on the rock ; the
second boat, which took a few minutes only to hoist in a
kedge anchor and a hawser, was ordered to drop the kedge
to windward of the schooner, pay out and take the end
aboard of her. The operation was performed with the
utmost rapidity, and the schooner was hauled off to the kedge
in a very short time. The first boat returned to the ship
with a man with a broken leg. It seems that when the
schooner struck on the rock, which she did with some
violence, as she was sailing pretty fast at the time, this
poor fellow, who was a passenger in her, fell over a balk
of timber that was on the deck. In a very short time he
was aboard the Hastings^ and in bed in the sick bay, where
his broken leg was set. I fancy all merchant captains and
crews must rejoice when they are in harbour with a man-
of-war there, for if they have sickness or accident there
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 247
is a surgeon and an assistant surgeon at hand, and if there
is a row or a mutiny there is a force at hand ready to quell
it. I have known instances of both cases when I have
been in ships-of-war. In the da3rs of which I am speaking,
when all ships had masts, and nearly everything was done
by hand, I always thought it a pretty sight and a great
evidence of power to see the ship's boats hoisted in. A boat
perhaps that would carry fifty men came up to the davits with
as great ease as the moving of a child's toy. A row of about
twenty-five to fifty men would lay hold of the tackle — a
rope laid along the deck — and simply walk forward when
the boatswain's mates whistled (they carry a silver whistle),
and the boat came up quietly and speedily without the
heavy hauling necessary in short-handed merchant ships.
In these days all is done by steam, and the large ships-of-
war carry an almost incredible number of steam-engines to
hoist the anchors, the boats, to steer the ship, work the
electric Ught, load the guns, and a host of other things.
Everything is so large now that little can be worked by hand.
The excellent work which Sir W. Mends did at the
Admiralty after he attained flag rank was of inestimable
worth to the nation. To the last we carried on our affec-
tionate correspondence, a vast body of which I have pre-
served in bound books, and warmly cherish. The interest
he took in his business, the industry with which his onerous
duties were performed, were most praiseworthy. He it
was, when Director of Transports, that inaugurated a
system of large transports for carrying troops to India ; and
prior to the making of the Suez Canal there were four ships
for the Indian Service, one between England and Alex-
andria, another from Suez to Bombay, and two spare
vessels. They were ships of 4000 tons and upwards,
which in that day was a very great tonnage. They were
all exactly alike inside and out, so that when a passenger
landed at the Mediterranean end and crossed the desert
to Suez he found himself in another ship the exact coimter-
part of the one he had left, even to the soap-stand in his
cabin. Admiral and Lady Mends were staying at Parkia
when he had completed his regulations for the internal
248 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
fittings, and he was so anxious get back to London to get
the specifications, etc., finished, that I insisted on getting
a clerk for several days to copy them, which was done here.
These and the other transports were abolished amongst the
many more than questionable changes for which party and
private interest is so often responsible, and I should like to
know how much money the nation would have saved had
the whole of the transport ships inaugurated by Sir William
Mends been available when the Boers declared war. The
companies could not then have made the enormous demands
which were conceded.
During the Crimean War, which has already been men-
tioned, although his time was so fully occupied, he kept up
a most carefully detailed correspondence with his excellent
wife in England, and that correspondence supplied his son
with the deeply interesting details contained in the life
of the admiral which was published after his death.
I forgot to mention that when the Royal Albert was
being built in Woolwich Dockyard I went all over her, and
when I was standing by the kdson at the very bottom of the
great ship, which was tiien far from completion, I found that
one of the convicts that were employed in the dockyard had
followed me down, and quietly solicited a contribution of
tobacco, which, as I use none, I could not have complied
with, even had it not been contrary to rules. As we were
in the dark regions of the enormous ship some fifty feet
below the upper deck, I thought it best to forego the rest
of my inspection of the lower regions of the ship, and rid
myself of the gentleman's company.
This meeting with the convict reminds me of the humorous
tale of Captain Marryat, R.N., of the yoimg midshipman
who, on his first visit to the dockyard and the ship he
was to join, inquired of a convict the meaning of the bright
steel ring round his ankle, to which inquiry the convict
promptly replied that it was a reward of merit.
Amongst the vast number of interesting letters of my
dear friend are various announcements of the deaths of
distinguished officers — in 1888 the death of Admiral
Norton Taylor, R.N., whom I knew, and who died in his
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 249
ninetieth year, and in another, some years after, of the death
of his old friend Admiral Sir Byam Martin, who had passed
the same patriarchal age. Much later on are ominous
accounts of the health of Lady Mends, and later of her
death, and after so long a friendship I can certify that no
more devoted couple could be. My dear friend's letters
upon all naval subjects, and the interest he took in my
attempts to protect the Bar of Carnarvon and the Menai
Straits from the shameless sale by a public department of
the stones which were nature's protection and the action
of persons totally ignorant of tidal effects.
He wrote me a most affecting letter upon the loss in 1893
of Admiral Tryon's flag-ship in the Mediterranean — an
event, that, to me, has always been one of the most in-
scrutable I ever knew.
My acquaintance with Admiral Tryon was a very slight
one, but, as will be seen by the following letter, he was well
known to Sir William Mends :
** Anglesey, Alverstoke, Hants,
*' March i8, 1896.
" My dear Turner, — My mind is still so weighed down
by the terrible loss off Tripoli that you must not expect a
cheerful letter. Poor Tryon served under me for six years
as midshipman, sub-lieutenant, and lieutenant, and in each
rank was a truly able and clever officer. When I retired
from official hfe in 1883 he sent me his photos and signatures
between 185 1 and 1883, 'with best wishes and the ripe
friendship of thirty-two years.' It would be difficult, nay,
almost impossible, to select a man with similar power, energy,
and force of character. . . . Another vAy dear friend of
mine, the late Rear-Admiral Long, whose untimely death
was caused by a fall from his horse a few weeks since, was
also one of my youngsters in the same ship as poor Tryon ;
his loss will be felt throughout the Service to which he
was devoted. He lived about an hour's journey from us by
rail, and was constantly here for the past year consulting
on Service matters. I see his personalty was £80,000, but
notwithstanding his wealth he was the same in manhood
250 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
as he had been in youth, ever straight, honest and true. I felt
his loss almost as if he had been my son. ... I have no
fear of my country, as the need of naval supremacy is better
understood by the people than it was. I want you to read
Mahan's book on the influence of sea-power on the French
Revolution, and Maurice's review of it. With kind regards
to Lady Turner,
" Affectionately yours,
"W. R. Mends."
There are vast numbers of letters of great interest on
the noble Service he adorned, and upon a variety of pubUc
questions, but of course mostly upon sea subjects. I
trust that recent events will lead to a habit of discussing
miUtary matters amongst military officers as much as it exists
amongst naval men.
I have spoken of the warm attachment which existed
between Sir William and Lady Mends, and in 1894 it be-
came evident that the fearful severance which is the lot
of all awaited him, and in July of that year my warm-
hearted friend was deprived of the mother of his children,
the affectionate partner of so many years. In reply to my
letter of condolence he wrote :
" Anglesey, Alverstoke, Hants.
" My very dear Friend, — In my dire distress I can only
say God bless you, and thank you for your true sympathy.
The loss of such a wife is a dreadful wrench. I thank God
that her death was painless, and I know that she is in
heaven.
" Ever yours affectionately,
"W. R. Mends."
His warm friendship and love for the good woman he had
lost prompted him to write again to me, who had for so
many long years known her worth.
" I cannot do more than thank you gratefully for your
kind condolence. The woimd is too fresh for me to see the
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 251
bright side after the loss of her who was at my side ever in
loving sympathy with me ; as for yourself and the changes
of which you speak you have at all events the consolation
of feeling that you have done your best in every position you
occupied with a high effort in view. Once more God bless
you. . . .
" Your affectionate friend,
" W. R. Mends."
In 1896 I had to undergo an operation in London, and
when it was over my wife and I went to Southsea to be
near my old friend, whom we visited almost daily at
his residence, Anglesey, Alverstoke, Hants. His silent grief
was painful, and it was plain to see that his warm and honest
heart was sorely wounded. He pointed in silence to the
portrait of her who had been his loving companion for so
many years, and turned away to hide his tears. I left him
with the sad fear that it was probably the last farewell of
the man I had loved and respected for so many years.
At last the final severance in this world of an affectionate
friendship took place, and was announced to me in the fol-
lowing beautiful letter from his daughter, Mrs. May, the
wife of Admiral May :
"June 28, 1897.
" My dear Sir Llewelyn, — I know that you will be
much grieved at the news that I have to tell you. My dear
father passed away on Saturday evening, just as the sun
was setting over the magnificent fleet he would so have
rejoiced to see. For the last three weeks Bessie had been
most anxious about him, and summoned me down here, but
his power of rall5dng was such that we could not help
hoping until midday on Saturday, when all consciousness
left him. He did not suffer in the least, I am thankful to
say, and passed peacefully away. He is to be buried by my
mother in the little church here on Thursday next.
" With kind regards to Lady Turner,
" Believe me to be,
" Ever very sincerely yours,
" Constance E. May."
252 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
The fleet alluded to in this letter was the Diamond Jubilee
fleet in her late Majesty's reign,* and had the admiral been
alive he could have seen it from his own windows at Alver-
verstoke.
Surely such a man as he was no " hard bargain," a man
whose love of his country, whose faithful and conscientious
discharge of every duty may well cause him to be numbered
as one of the " salt of the earth." His life, written by his son,
is well worth reading, and shows the affectionate nature,
the high sense of duty, and the ability of the man. The im-
remitting correspondence with his wife during the whole
of the Crimean War, when he had such arduous labours to
perform, has enabled his son to give the public the history
of his doings then, and affords no small insight into the
causes of our muddles there ; and I cannot leave the subject
without the acknowledgment, after forty years of close
friendship, contact, and correspondence, that I humbly
consider myself a better man to-day than I should have
been without the affectionate association with, and the
admirable example of, WiUiam Robert Mends.
The admiral's naval orders were C.B. in 1854, K.C.B.
(military) 1871, GX.B. (military) 1882 ; he was also an
aide-de-camp of the Queen.
ADMIRAL JOHN WYATT WATLING.
This gallant officer was fighting the battles of his country
in the Sirius frigate thirteen years before I was born.
In the capture of i%^Bourbon in the Indian Ocean in the
year 1810, Lieutenant Watling, as he then was, took a pro-
minent part. He is mentioned in despatches as follows :
"Owing to the able dispositions of Lieutenant J. Wyatt
Watling, second of the SiriuSy who, with a small detachment
of seamen, had charge of the beach, not an accident occurred
to a single soldier, nor was any part of the ammunition
required." Subsequently he rendered important service in
capturing a large French ship laden with military stores.
In the capture of the island of De la Passe, Lieutenant
Watling; signally distinguished himself, a,nd was most
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 258
honourably mentioned in despatches. Lieutenants Norman
and Watling attempted to scale the walls of the fort at night.
Norman was shot through the heart by the sentry, who was
at once shot by one of the boats' crew. The attack from
the boats was successful, and the commandant surrendered ;
having forgotten to destroy the private signals they all fell
into the hands of the captors.
Captain Pym, of the Sinus, wrote in his despatches : " I
do certify that the conduct of Lieutenant Watling in the
attack of Isle de la Passe under Lieutenant Norman of the
Sirius was truly gallant, and that after Lieutenant Norman
was killed in the moment of victory he took the command.'*
I have, unfortunately, lost my notes of the many further
services of this officer, whose acquaintance I first made
after his retirement from the service.
At this time the state of our Navy as to the Admiralty
being in a position to obtain sufficient men was most unsatis-
factory. I had many conferences with Lord Clarence Paget,
the late Sir Richard Brtfmley the Accoimtant-General of
the Navy, and others, and as far as my very small powers
were concerned I laboured hard to promote an increase of
men, and was strongly urged by numbers of naval officers
to go into ParUament, amongst them being Admiral Watling,
who had left the Service.
When her Majesty rewarded my humble services I had
the pleasure of receiving an enormous number of kind letters,
amongst them the following from the widow, as she had
then become, of Admiral Watling :
"My dear Sir Llewellyn, — It is with unfeigned
pleasure that I offer my hearty congratulations on the
honour conferred upon you by her Most Gracious Majesty,
in acknowledgment for services rendered to that noble
profession, which you seemed bom to — so at least thought
one* on whose judgment I had perfect reliance, and though
you are not a member of it, you would, I feel assured, heart
and hand join those who are in defence of your country,
* Her husband.
254 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
supplementing the renown of that power we are all so proud
of, the Royal Navy,
** Believe me to be,
"Very truly yours,
"M. H. Watling."
I can only express my regret that I have lost my notes
of the later services of one whose kind appreciation of my
small and humble services were in the highest degree pleas-
ing to me, expressed by him, as they repeatedly were, in
the kindest manner.
ADMIRAL OTWAY.
Here I have again to lament the loss of my notes of
Admiral Otway's services. I never in my life came across
a man of more affectionate nature, and regret that I have
mislaid — I hope not lost — correspondence that would amply
prove what I have said. He was first lieutenant of the Thetis
frigate, in which Admiral Mends was a midshipman when
the frigate was wrecked on Cape Frio, having on board at
the time 800,000 dollars. She ran at night on to the
rock, her bowsprit striking it, was carried away, and the
masts foUowed. The Cape was 1500 feet high, and
the water 45 fathoms deep (270 feet). Several men were
killed and the boats all destroyed, but the ship drifted near
enough to a rock for the rest of the crew to be saved by
jiunping ashore. Forty years later I was with Admiral
Otway in London, and asked him if he had seen Mends,
and he said no. " Come along," I said, and we went to the
Admiralty to the office of the latter, and I asked, ** Who is
this ? " pointing to Otway. Mends took a short look at him,
and said, " He is not Otway, is he ? " I fancy that seeing
him with me, whom he knew to be ^o^^jk^ihiflj^nff^^ the
recognition easier. He once addressed ^3B«jr /ommself ,
asked me for my pocket-book and extracted a promise that
when I went to Ireland I would put a scrap of paper in it,
saying '* what day I was going to Otway Castle." Alas, h»
died without my having been able to go.X^«^ tuyiu/^^n^ — s^
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 255
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ADMIRAL LORD
CLARENCE PAGET, G.C.B.
While it is pleasing to think and to write about old and
valued friends it is painful in the extreme to reflect that
their place " knows them no more." The uninterrupted
friendship of forty years, and the continual correspondence
during that time with two such allies as Lord Clarence Paget
and Sir William Mends, had so long brightened my exis-
tence that when the separation came I felt it deeply. When
in company or correspondence with either, subjects of
interest were always discussed ; and passionately fond of the
sea as I have been from childhood, it may well be under-
stood that nautical matters formed no small portion of our
correspondence and conversation. Sir William Mends
was ten years my senior, and Lord Clarence Paget eleven
years ; and I shall be guilty of suppression of truth were I
not to acknowledge that the continual contact that I had
with both for so long and uninterrupted a period had a
marked and important influence upon my Ufe, and as both
were good and accompUshed men it is a real pleasure to
acknowledge the benefits of their association. Both were
hard-working zealous men, who had seen the world, and
loved the profession they adorned. Being a naturally
shrewd man with a fondness for his work, and being the son
of the great Marquis of Anglesey who so gallantly conmianded
the cavalry at Waterloo, and was twice Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, Lord Clarence Paget naturally rose rapidly in the
days when interest was a powerful factor in promotion, but
as Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney says in a letter to
me which appears further on in these pages, he fully justified
his early advantages, and distinguished himself in every-
thing to which he put his hand, and such was the confidence
placed in his abiUty and judgment that when a young
man he was sent on a secret expedition to America to re-
port upon the navy of that coimtry, the relations with
which had not been too cordial after the last war.
Lord Clarence kept a journal all his life, commencing
with his log as a midshipman at the battle of Navarino
#*•
256 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
in 1827, when he was fifteen years old, having previously
served in the Naiad in encounters with the Algerines when
he was thirteen years old. His adventures by sea and land
were great. He had a delightful trip for a month in his
father's fine cutter yacht Pearl with his father and others,
when they were hospitably entertained by the Royal
family of Portugal and that of Russia. The diary of Lord
Clarence was of great interest, and several years ago I had
the pleasure of reading it aloud alternately with him after his
return from the Mediterranean command, and I then insisted
on his having it copied, lest so interesting a record should be
lost. It was most distinctly written, and as his lordship
was such an excellent hand with pen and pencil, * the diary
was frequently illustrated by amusing pen-and-ink sketches.
During the years in which he occupied Plas Llanf air in Angle-
sey, which was his property, I enjoyed the pleasure of constant
visits, and the number of his old naval friends, and soldiers
he had met in the Crimea, and accomphshed persons whom
he constantly entertained, were a continual pleasure to me,
as for several years I was there every week. Being clever
people themselves they naturally brought down people of
parts to visit them, sculptors, artists, musicians, etc. Both
Lord and Lady Clarence were finished musicians, and
singularly good-natured in catering for the enjoyment of
their guests. I frequently asked for an oratorio on Simday
evenings, and never in vain, and on week-nights they
continually played and sang portions of the best operatic
music. Our excursions by land and water were always de-
lightful, and the rapidity with which Lady Clarence trans-
ferred her attire from yachting to evening costmne after
a day's sailing would have formed an object-lesson for
yoimg ladies. After some years of profitable enjoyment,
where something was always to be learned, there was to me
a sad break when Lord Clarence was appointed to the com-
mand of the Mediterranean Fleet. There was a small
schooner yacht for sale at Milford belonging to Admiral
Loring, which Lord Clarence would have me purchase, and
his lordship took the trouble to draw out a course for me
to visit Lisbon and other places on the way, and join him in
{Afau//&' Polybank, photo ^ London)
ADMIRAL THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD CLARENCE
PAGET. G.C.B.
..«^
*
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 257
the Mediterranean ; but I had too many irons in the fire
at home, and was obliged to dedine, to my deep regret and
his, for, as he put it, " You will probably never have another
friend in the Mediterranean command, and have the op-
portunities of visiting many of the most interesting places
in history with which you are well acquainted in name
but have not seen." He kindly kept up his correspondence
with me while there, but not with the same regularity as
when he was at his town house in London or on the south
coast, which he often visited after he sold Plas Llanfair.
Lord Clarence was the most perfect all-roimd man I ever
saw. He was an excellent carpenter and had a carpenter's
shop at Plas Llanfair, where he did a variety of house-work.
For his son for some time he had an Italian tutor, with whom
he was able to converse freely in Italian; French and German
governesses for his daughters, and with them he was per-
fectly at his ease in speaking both languages. His valet
for some years was what is known at Gibraltar as a " rock
scorpion," i,e,, a Spaniard bom on that rock, and he used
to yam with him in Spanish. That he was a sculptor
is well known from his having constructed the great statue
of Nelson on the Menai Straits, the origin of which was as
follows. He said to me one day, " Turner, I have been
thinking of trying my hand at a statue of Neptune, to
place on the rock by the sea below the house, which will
answer for a landmark." " Neptime be hanged," I replied ;
" what has Neptime done for us ? Nelson is the proper sub-
ject." " Right you are, and Nelson be it," was his prompt
answer, and in a very short time this industrious and capable
man commenced operations. First, a labourer was em-
ployed to get blue clay for the model ; there was a small
outbuilding near the mansion, the lower part of which was
the coal-house, and a floor above, which had no commimi-
cation with the lower story, was used for keeping the sails
of the yacht and her trawl-net, etc. The floor of the
room was cut away in the centre, the sides being left as a
stage to work the upper part of the statue upon, but as the
whole space from roof to floor was too short the floor was
deepened in the centre for a foot or two.
R
258 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
The building was on uneven ground, so that thp upper
room was entered from the high ground and the coal-hole
from the lower ground.
[^■The model was first formed in blue clay, and the statue*
being twenty feet high the work was attended with
no small danger, inasmuch as when the clay was too moist
it shrunk very much, and when too dry there was great
danger of it falling in large pieces. It was curious to observe
it, sometimes the head and shoulders would be foimd in
the morning presenting the appearance of a huge giant
with abnormally high shoulders, and his head sinking into
his body. The ingenuity of the Admiral was always equal
to the demand upon it, and the figure was kept in proper
shape by wet cloths laid on it when too dry and cracking,
and an avoidance of too much moisture, on the other
hand. The first foot was laid with all ceremony by Miss
OUvia Paget as the foimdation of the structure, so to
speak, in the presence of the family, servants and visitors,
including myself ; the floor being deepened in the centre
thus for the feet. It was arranged that I should dehver a
short address on the occasion, which I did. The portion
below the stage, which, as already stated, was the part left
of the upper floor, was worked by temporary stages from
the bottom, the upper part being worked in the parts of the
floor and left from the stage itself. The only assistant
which the Admiral employed was my old friend John Jones,
whose faithful services to Lord Clarence for seventeen years
. and to me in Carnarvon Castle are elsewhere spoken of. The
statue was removed in pieces to the rock, where it now stands.
To give an accoimt of the long and useful hfe of Lord
Clarence Paget would be far beyond the scope of a book
containing so many subjects. His Ufe, from the diary I
* The statue, which stands to this day above one of the most
dangerous pieces of navigation in the Menai Straits, has been, and is, a
most useful mark for sailors. Long ago as it was I, who have the
honour of editing these memories of Sir Llewelyn Turner, can well
remember the scene and especially Sir Llewelyn's address, delivered
with a sonorous dignity calculated to impress itself deeply on a boyish
memory. — ^J. E. V.
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 269
have mentioned, was edited by his brother-in-law, Sir
Arthur Otway, Bart, (brother of Lady Clarence). Slips
of the work were forwarded to me for any corrections on
matters within my ken, but the diary had been so well kept,
and the work of Sir Arthur Otway was so correct, that I could
be of Uttle assistance. Amongst the very large correspond-
ence with Lord Clarence, extending over so long a time, I
find a letter of his from London in which he alludes to the
journal.
" 7 Cromwbll Gardens, S.W.,
"December 31, 1889.
" My dear Turner, — This will greet you on the first
day of 1890, and I trust you and yours will go through it
in health and peace. I am to be foimd this week by my
wife and bairns. I wish you were young and active enough
to imdertake the work of publishing the notes of a long life
of varied incident afloat and ashore to which you so often
allude.
" Very faithfuUy,
"C. Paget.''
In the three books of letters from old friends I have very
numerous reminders of old friendships and kind thoughts
amongst the many from this good and able friend. I extract
a few pleasant recollections of the past.
" 7 Cromwell Gardens, S.W.,
" May 27, 1889.
" Thanks, my dear Turner, for your letter ; it always
gives me pleasure to be reminded of our pleasant com-
panionship of former days. In fact one Uves on reminis-
cences of the past, and I can sit in my own chair for hours
at a time in calm and agreeable contemplation of events
long gone by. An old Admiral Ingram, who was a mid-
shipman witii me, publishes from time to time accomits
of our voyages in the Aigle,* which would interest you. I
* The Aigle frigate was commanded by Lord Clarence Paget
when he was a post-captain, and Ingram was one of his midship-
men.
260 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
gather that you are now all right again, and you have still
youth enough to go and see that lovely country around
the river Plate and look after your good wife's estates
there. Fitzroy* was there last year and gives a wonderful
account of it. . . .
" Kind regards from,
" Ever faithfully,
" C. Paget.''
" 7 Cromwell Gardens, S.W.,
" May 15.
" Dear Sir Llewelyn,— My father is delighted that you
have returned safe home again.f Cockbum wore spurs
by right of being Colonel-in-Chief or General of the Marines,
and was much laughed at in consequence J . . . The
photograph of the statue will have to be taken from a boat,
and must therefore be what they call an instantaneous
photograph or snap-shot. We are all very well, and join in
kind compliments.
" Yours trtdy,
"E. O. Paget."
In a letter written from Folkestone occurs the following
allusion to our nmnerous discussions on public things :
" Amongst our niunerous discussions on all sorts of subjects
connected with sea and land I cannot recall ever having
heard you suggest a better commimication with Ireland.
Let's hear what you have got to say." My reply was that in
the days of the small steamers that preceded the Ulster,
Munster, Leinster, and Connaught, I was crossing from
Dublin in a steamer called the Cambria (I think) commanded
♦ His son.
t From the Continent.
X This was in reply to my comment in a letter, as to Admiral
Cockbum's picture in the National Gallery being taken with spurs
on. He was, of course, entitled to spurs as a General of Marines,
but it looked absurd with naval uniform. He probably, however,
had used spurs in war, as he fought side by side with General Ross
in;^the American War when the General was killed, and they cap-
tured Washington city.
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 261
by Captain Gray, a worthy and experienced old veteran,
who had faithfully discharged his onerous duties on the
station for many years. I was on the bridge of the steamer
talking to him in crossing. The Great Britain, of 3000 tons,
then considered a monster in size, was one of the wonders
of the time, and I ventured to suggest to Captadn Gray that
the station between Holyhead and Kingstown would be
some day worked as a large ferry with vessels as long as
the Great Britain. Captain Gray evidently regarded me
as a limatic, and with a look of amazement walked off
in palpable disgust to the other side of the bridge without
vouchsafing any reply. I wonder what he would have said
had I met him two or three years later, when the four splen-
did vessels I have named, all longer than the Great Britain,
but of about 600 less tonnage, were working the station,
with vastly improved comfort to the pasengers. These
fine vessels have had their day, and are superseded by
larger ones. But to return to the Admiral. I added my
beUef that vessels of increased draft of water would roll less
and cause less sea-sickness, that a tunnel from Milford to
the neighbourhood of Wexford as the shortest distance
from Holyhead to Ireland migAt some day exist, but that
the very great difference in the soimdings of the Irish
Channel would not, in my opinion, make it practicable imtil
many further additions were made to the already marvellous
discoveries of science.
Soon after the completion of the statue invitations were
sent to a large nimiber of the nobility and gentry of Anglesey
and Carnarvonshire, to attend the inauguration and the
(UfeHner which followed. At the request of Lord and Lady
Clarence Paget Lord Cowley presided at the cUjeHner, and
I was deputed to hand the cord to Lady Clarence for im-
veiling the statue, which was hidden from view by a large
flag, and was then to deliver the inaugural address ; but as
it was pouring with rain when the procession from the house
to the road was about to start, it was suddenly arranged that
the inaugural address should be combined with the response
for Lady Clarence's health at the iijeHner, As will be seen
by the address, the rain suddenly ceased, but as the weather
262 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
was doubtful it was thought best to adhere to the indoor
arrangement. The following account is taken from the
local papers:
" Lord Cowley presided at the d^eHner^ and after com-
plimenting Lord Clarence on the public spirit shown by
him, proposed his lordship's health, which was warmly drunk.
Earl Cowley had observed amid cheers that it was not neces-
sary to call to mind the high ofl&ces his lordship had held
in the Royal Navy and the naval administration of the
coimtry to appreciate the esteem in which he was held by
the nation.
^"Lord Clarence in reply expressed his pleasure and
gratitude for the honour which had just been proposed by
Lord Cowley and received with such enthusiastic kindness
by the company. He, or rather he should say Lady Clar-
ence, had invited them there to assist at a ceremony which
at the first blush might be thought to be merely a piece of
amusement to some and interest to lovers of art. But the
fact was that their object in asking so many distinguished
persons to come to assist them (Lady Clarence and himself)
in unveiling the statue of the immortal Nelson went even
somewhat further than the object in view on an ordinary
occasion attending the unveiling of a statue. He thought it
would be interesting to them, and indeed to all lovers of
art, that he should give a very short description of the origin
of this monument and its object likewise. With regard to
the monimfient he would shortly state, first of all, its dimen-
sions. The statue itself was nineteen feet in height, and
was the largest statue he knew of in the United Kingdom.
It stood on a pedestal nine feet high, and that surmounted
a tower of thirteen feet, making a total height, as far as his
arithmetic went, of forty-one feet — that was, from the sum-
mit of the rock, which stood, as they knew, prominently
in a beautiful situation on these most beautiful of straits.
That statue was composed of a material that he would fain
hope might be extensively used in ornamental designs in this
country. They knew that marble first of all was not suited
to this dimate, and they knew that it was extremely costly.
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 268
and that to obtain stones when any work of cqnsiderable
magnitude was needed to be executed was a very difficult
as well as costly operation. They also knew that bronze,
which was the only other material, was not without some
defects. No person would deny that we Uve in times when
the enlightened spirit of mankind leads us to higher things
than mere utiUty. We are to elevate the minds of the
people by showing them great works of art, copies of antique
statues, statues of our great men, vases and other designs,
which all tend to elevate and civilise the people. And he
hoped to Uve to see the day when every village in this coun-
try would be ornamented as all the villages of Italy were.
Why should this not be ? We were devoting great care
and a great expenditure of pubUc money on schools of
art and design, and thus greatly improve the tone of our
countrymen ; but we had nothing, with the exception of
a few isolated statues here and there, and the magnificent
memorial which the Queen had erected in Hyde Park to
the late illustrious Prince Consort, — we had really nothing
which the people of this country could see as they went
to their daily work. He had endeavoured, in an humble
way, to show to the thousands of sailors that passed through
these Straits that there lived in aU their hearts the memory
of an immortal hero. Even as an amateur, if he could depict
the features of that hero he would by doing so do something
towards civilising the sailors passing through these Straits.
Now, he wished not to deceive them or to mislead.
There was no royal road to perfection, whether in sculpture
or any other art. To acquire perfection required long and
careful study and patient experience, such as those only
who devoted their Ufe and talents to the profession could
hope to attain, and such as he had not been able to give to
sculpture. Therefore he gave them to imderstand that
the work inaugurated that day was the work of an amateur,
but the work of one who had done it from the highest
motives. He was too old to be ambitious, but he did
think, with those who thought of these things, that he
should endeavour in his sphere to procure for the people
proper representations of art. He could not, when his
264 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
health w^ drunk in connection with this work, pass over
the faithful creature who had accompanied him during
two years of anxiety. There were mechanical difficulties
connected with a structure of this sort, as an eminent
sculptor present — Mr. Joseph Durham — knew. Every
sculptor required that his work should be placed on a turn-
table, so that it might be turned about to judge of all its
points, and it was also necessary to have a certain distance ;
but any one looking at that statue would find that it was
impossible to move a mass of twelve tons of day. He
was assisted by a Welshman, a man almost without educa-
tion, but a man who partook of that which the Welsh had
in an eminent degree — that was, quiet determination and
energy. That man was named John Jones, and he wished
his good health. He would admit that John Jones was
not a very uncommon name ; but his John Jones had
worked at that statue at times when masses of clay had
fallen in the construction of the model. The falliig of
pieces was always alarming to a person standing by, but
John Jones had cheered him up, and had been of great
assistance to him. Therefore in returning thanks for
this toast he should beg to be allowed to associate with it
the name of John Jones. He returned them his very best
thanks for the honour they had done him.
" Lord Cowley then proposed the health of Lady Clarence
Paget.
" Sir Llewelyn Turner, in responding for her ladyship
at her request, said. My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,
I feel that a most distinguished honour has fallen to my
lot, that of being called upon to return thanks on behalf
of Lady Clarence Paget for the toast proposed by Lord
Cowley, and — as it deserved — so warmly responded to by
all present ; and right sure am I that there is no one here
who does not feel grateful to Lord and Lady Clarence
Paget — to his lordship for the great work he has so suc-
cessfully carried out ; to Lady Clarence for the duty she so
gracefully discharged in unveiling the statue, and to both
for the mimificent hospitality we are all enjoying. I also
feel, doubly grateful for being allowed to take a part in the
(Mauii, phot Of London)
LADY CLARENCE PAGET
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 265
inaugnration of a statue to the greatest naval hero the world
has ever produced. I am quite aware that, in a country
which has given birth to such splendid lords of the sea
as Rodney, Hood, Duncan, St. Vincent, CoUingwood, and
Exmouth, it is a strong assertion to make that any other
sea officer was greater than they ; but I have not the shadow
of a doubt that if we could invoke the spirits of those mighty
admirals, they would be the first to bear testimony to the
fact that Lord Nelson was not simply primus inter pares^
but that, ' as one star differeth from another star in glory,*
so did he greatly transcend them, brilliant constellations
though they were. I have read, I believe, every naval
history but one ; and the more I read the more I find to
admire in this incomparable commander. Amongst all
the great chiefs — the warriors of ancient and modem times
— I know of none who rtded so completely by love, whose
strength lay so much in the hearts of his followers ; and I
venture to afiirm that in the great attribute of moral courage
he rarely, if ever, had a rival. His acceptance of respon-
sibility, his absence of slavish fear of the frowns of those
in authority at home, were such as not one in a million
would have dared or displayed ; and in conceptive power,
and courage and skill in turning his rapidly formed con-
ceptions into victory, Nelson was never surpassed. I fed
that I shall carry you all with me when I say that there has
been a pecuUar f ehcity and appropriateness in the work of
Lord Clarence Paget, in that which he has done, and in
the place wherein he has done it. The immortal victor
of the Nile, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar — the hero of hundreds
of other fights, dimmed only by the lustre of these his
greater achievements, was actuated by the highest sense
of duty. Duty was his guiding star. Lord Clarence
has placed his statue (the only one in Wales, I believe, to
his great memory) in a position to be seen by every mariner
who navigates these Straits. Here they will be reminded
that ' England expects every man will do his duty,' and
while the path of duty is placed before them the statue will
also serve to guide them, by means of an obelisk behind it,
from the dangerous rock called the Gunnog, below Mr.
266 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Assheton Smith's park, and on the other side from the still
more dangerous Swillyt rock ; but there is more stiU
that is appropriate — the statue of the hero is placed in
fitting company. On the bold hill behind this house stands
the memorial of a grateful country to the most brilliant
of cavalry ofl&cers, the Murat of the British Army, the noble
Marquis of Anglesey, the illustrious father of the accom-
plished son — distinguished, as Lord Cowley has just told
us, by the efficient discharge of great and varied public
duties — the artist to whom we are indebted for this great
work. Over the entrance hall of this hospitable mansion
in which we are assembled stands the work of the same
skilful hand, a statue of the gallant Admiral Sir Robert
Waller Otway, the father of Lady Clarence Paget. Here
too is the noble bridge called the Britannia, a name and a
fame which these great warriors spent their memorable
lives in defending. Here too are the grand lions which
defend the Britannia bridge ; and are they not lions of
whom we have been speaking, and was not Nelson a very
king among sea Uons, a monarch of the deep ? But the
happy combination of fitness does not end even here;
Lord Clarence has just told us that he was anxious to create
and disseminate a taste for art in this district, and where can
art be more properly developed than in association with
her sister science ?
" Here are the great monmnents of the genius of Telford
and Stephenson, and here may be seen the beauties of
nature, the creations of art, and the wonders of science.
But I must come back to the more immediate subject en-
trusted to me, the grateful and pleasing task of returning
thanks for the health of Lady Clarence Paget, and I will let
you into a Httle secret ; Lord Qarence thought that her lady-
ship would not have ventured out in such rain, but he
was mistaken ; and when the time arrived Lady Clarence
was ready, and came to the front ; and I can assure you
from personal observation that during the arduous work
upon which her noble husband has been engaged for the
past two years, she has given him every encouragement,
and, having done so, she was not Ukely to shirk the part
LORD CLARENCE PAGET AND HIS STATUE OF NELSON
i
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 267
aligned to her to-day. * The rain descended and the wind
blew, but when the statue was unveiled, the rain ceased,
and the sun shone brightly on the statue of him whose ^life
was a blaze of glory. Let us hope that the sun of prosperity
will always continue to shine upon this house, and that
every blessing may attend its inmates. In conclusion, I
beg, in the name and on behalf of Lady Clarence Paget, to
thank you for the cordiality of your response to the toast.
" John Jones was then introduced to the company, and
was heartily applauded. Sir Llewel5ni Turner proposed
three cheers for him, which were warmly given."
Some few years later Lord Clarence, to my intense loss
and regret, sold Plas Llanfair, and resided principally in the
town house in London, which he purchased a great number
of years ago, but his interesting and instructive correspon-
dence continued to the last. I visited him occasionally
in London; but the energy he displayed through a long
life was giving way to old age, and he had lost the use of
one eye, a trouble with which had brought him home from
the Crimea before the dose of the war, a deprivation which
he always lamented. He often said that he believed that
there was not an important incident in his life or mine which
we were not both acquainted with ; and I can only say, as I
have done of that other friend of forty years* close friendship,
Sir William Mends, that my contact with Lord Clarence was
in the highest degree beneficial to me. There was scarcely
a subject of public interest not discussed in our contact and
correspondence, the sea forming a large portion of it.
" Then cometh the end." The late Marquis of Anglesey
telegraphs on March 23, 1895 :
" You will be sorry to hear that my uncle Clarence died
yesterday. He passed away peaceably.
"Anglesey."
Mrs. Bentinck, Lord Clarence's eldest daughter, also sent
me an annoimcement of her lamented father's death,
which I have mislaid.
^68 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Fearing that I might not have heard of it, Sir W. Mends
wrote :
''March 25, 189$.
" My dear Turner, — You will be sorry to read the
death of your old friends, Lord Clarence Paget and his wife,
within a few hours of each other at Brighton, on Friday
and Saturday last. They are to be buried together on
Thursday next. My old friend Admiral Sir W. Bryan
Martin died on Friday at Upton Gray.
" Hurry for post.
" Very sincerely,
"W. R. Mends."
ADMIRAL SIR EDWARD AUGUSTUS INGLEFIELD,
K.C.B., D.C.L,, F.R.S., F.R.G.S.,
as elsewhere stated, was amongst my nautical friends ;
he was the son of Admiral Albany Otway, and so was con-
nected with Lady Clarence Paget. He served in the opera-
tions in Syria in 1840, and at the bombardment of Acre ;
subsequently in the Crimean war; in the battle of Pe-
rama in South America. He succeeded my old friend
Admiral, then Captain Mends, in the conmiand of the
Majestic, of 80 gims, and I was associated with him in my
crusade for raising seamen for the Navy. He was engaged
in three of the Arctic expeditions, and some time after his
return he gave a most interesting lecture at Carnarvon,
having brought home a nimiber of Esquimaux articles,
including clothing and implements. He dressed up a
young Welshman, of most remarkably curious features, in
Esquimaux attire, and passed him off for fun as one of the
inhabitants of the Arctic regions, remarking in his lecture
that he had heard it asserted that Welsh was the language
spoken in heaven, and having addressed several questions
in English to the supposed Esquimaux they were promptly
answered in Welsh. The intelligent part of the audience
of course imderstood that this was a joke, but some wiseacre
who was present wrote a silly letter in the local papers.
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 269
quoting Captain Inglefield as having offered the strongest
evidence of the probability of Welsh being the language
of heaven, as he had brought home from the Arctic regions
an Esquimaux who talked Welsh. After he became an
Admird, Sir Edward Inglefield was second in command
of the Mediterranean fleet and Superintendent of Malta
Dockyard. He was the author of " A Smnmer Search for
Sir John Franklin," " Maritime Warfare," " Naval Tactics,"
" Terrestrial Magnetism," etc. Admiral Inglefield was
an excellent painter, and many of his nautical pictures
fetched considerable prices. I spent some agreeable times
with him in the Majestic, and as she was then a coast ship
Lady Inglefield was allowed to live on board. On one oc-
casion a lady and her husband were guests on board for
some days. She was an exceptionally good singer, but
probably from the height of the cabin being less than
rooms where I had heard her ashore, I was particularly
struck by the fact that her voice was lost.
Admiral Inglefield commanded the North American Sta-
tion. He has been dead for some years.
ADMIRAL EDWARD WINTERTON TURNOUR, C.B.
Admiral Tumour, son of the Hon. and Rev. Adolphus
Tumour, and grandson of the second Earl of Winterton,
served at the capture of Canton, 1841, and in the Baltic
during the Russian war.
It is painful to me to begin my remarks upon a dear old
friend by stating that he was for many months a very sad
sufferer, the last letter I got iu)T^b^^ioiv[img me that
he was breathing through a pipe in his throat. The
Admiral had a long service career, and was flag-captain to
the gallant old salt. Sir Harry Keppel. In the old da5rs
when the captains of district guardships were allowed to
have their families with them I spent some of the most de-
lightful times on board the grand old screw line-of-battle
ship Donegal, of 100 gims, a splendid ship. I was living in
her with him at Spithead at the great Review for the Sultan
of Turkey. The large fleet was moored in two lines, the
270 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
wooden screw ships forming one line, of which the Donegal
was the leading ship, with the Black Prince, Warrior , and an
immense line of beautiful sailing and steam-ships, and the
other line of ironclad ships and a vast concourse of gim-
boats. The water was somewhat rough on the morning
of the Review, but so steady was the great lOO-gun ship
that I shaved quite as easily as I would ashore, whereas
nimibers of passengers on steamers moving about had
their heads over the bulwarks feeding the fish. Captain
Tumour, as he then was, had a pleasant party on board,
and Mrs. Tumour did the honours with her usual kindness.
Alas, this good wife and kind friend died many years later,
after five years of fearful suffering from rhexmiatism and its
accompaniments. No guests were more welcome at Parkia.
In my visit during this Review I was accompanied by my
friend, the late Honourable Frederick Fitzmaurice, R.N.,
and as we had both invitations to the ball at the Guildhall,
on June 8, 1883, given in the Sultan's honour by the Lord
Mayor of London, we journeyed together there.
The invited guests were, of course, very numerous, and
one room in which I found myself trying to get away was
very crowded. I saw the Lord Chancellor Cairns and Mr.
Gathome Hardy, afterwards Lord . . , a little in advance
of me and nearing the door, and knew them by sight only.
I heard the Chancellor say to his companion, as both were
looking backwards, " If we could only attract the attention
of the ladies we could get out now." Captain Fitzmaurice
and I were about midway between the husbands and their
wives, and as there were several ladies some distance behind
me trying to get out I asked the gentlemen whicA they
wanted. They repUed, " The nearest to you, the one with
the . . . dress," on which I turned towards the ladies,
who had just then turned to try to get out the other way, and
had their backs towards us. I managed to touch the nearest
lady on the back with my cocked hat, and looking round
she darted an indignant glance at me, but on my pointing
to her husband, she saw by his face and nods how " the
land lay." Captain Fitzmaurice and I made a passage
for her and her friend to their husbands, and her angry
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 271
look was turned into smiles and thanks as they got away.
To return to my old friend the Admiral. I am anxiou^y
hoping at this time to hear better news of his health, which
has been very bad of late. I had a very affectionate cor-
respondence with him for a great number of years and
append a few of his letters.
" Jlfay 25, 1871.
" My dear Turner, — Your letter of the 22nd has just
reached me. Very many thanks for your kind congratulations
on my being honoured with the C.B. I knew you would be
pleased, and I appreciate your kind congratulations very
much.
" I was so glad that Mends got the K.C.B., no one more
deserving the honour. I was very much pleased that my
dear old friend and chief Sir Henry Keppel was nominated
to the highest grade, which he ought to have received long
ago. My wife joins in kindest regards and best wishes.
" Most sincerely yours,
" E. WiNTERTON TURNOUR."
" 10 Hydb Park Mansions,
"Aprils, 1891.
" My dear old Friend, — I am so glad to learn from
your kind letter that you are getting through your very
long and tr5dng illness, and have been able to get out. I
sincerely hope that you will now make rapid progress, and
give no anxiety to your dear wife, who has nursed you so
well. I am grieved to say that my poor dear wife continues
very weak and depressed. It is truly melancholy to wit-
ness her lamentable state, and the prospect is very gloomy.
I cannot thank you enough for your sympathy and good
wishes, and pray God they may be realised, and I fervently
hope that your health may be restored. With kind regards
to you and Lady Turner,
" Very sincerely yours,
"E. WiNTERTON TURNOUR." •
272 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
" 14 SouTHWicK Street,
" Hyde Park, London, W.,
" December 23, 1889.
"My dear old Friend, — Your letter reminded me
of the many happy days long, long ago. We can only live
now upon the memories of the past, some bright and some
very gloomy. However, I have not forgotten you, and
wish you may be spared for many years to enjoy your
domestic felicity and pretty home, which I wish I could
visit again. At present I see no prospect of doing so, but it
is most kind of you to invite us. I thank you most sincerely
for your wishes and inquiries after my poor wife. We
have tried many remedies, but, alas ! without doing any good
— ^it has been a most tr3dng and painful time to me, and the
strain has been very great. I can hope only for better times.
I endorse every word you say about as to whom our
views are in complete unison. With best wishes to you and
Lady Turner,
" Very sincerely yours,
" E. WiNTERTON TURNOUR."
"16 Hyde Park Gardens,
" London, W.,
'' April 3, iSgs.
" My7dear old Friend, — Very many thanks for your
welcome letter. I have been a great sufferer from a
bronchial attack. . . .
" The influenza has been very fatal amongst the old
Admirals, and I have lost an old friend and shipmate. Lord
Alcester, and you have lost your old friend Lord Clarence
Paget, who will be much missed, as he was so popular, but
he was spared to a good old age. I do hope that Lady
Turner and you have weathered the trying winter.
" I am sorry my old age and infirmities prevent me from
availing myself of your kind invitation. I am not what I
was in the days of the old Donegal, when we used to have
such pleasant yams.
" Very sincerely yours.
" E. WintcRTQN Turnour."
{Ferramtif photo, Lii*€rpoot)
ADMIRAL WINTERTON TURNOUR
-i
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 278
After five years of absolute martyrdom my dear old friend
lost his kind and amiable wife, whom he survived some
years. His last letter announced his painful condition,
breathing through a tube in the throat. I was kept
informed of each attack, and then of the end of a faithful
friend, a sterUng English gentleman, and a gallant officer,
in the year 1902.
ADMIRAL SIR HASTINGS YELVERTON, G.C.B.
Sir Hastings Yelverton, who when a Post-Captain com-
manded several ships in succession, and when he became
an Admiral was second in command of the Mediterranean
Fleet, the then Commander-in-Chief being Sir David Milne.
At the time of the fearful loss of the ill-fated Captain in the ^
Bay of Biscay, the fleet was in two lines under each Ad-
miral and under sail. The Captain, a turret-ship, had an
imusually low freeboard, and was designed by Captain
Cowper Coles, who, as well as Captain Burgoyne and Lieu-
tenant Renshaw, who were both friends of mine, was
amongst the many dro^raeAin h^ Sir Hastings Yelverton ^^
was pacing the sternS^ his flag-ship the night of the A^^^ (^
disaster, taking a look at the line he commanded each time ^
he got to the end, whence he could see the ships. He saw
the lights of the Captain for some time on each occasion of
his looking out, until on one turn he found they had dis-
appeared. Out of the large ship's company sixteen only
were saved. There is no doubt that the air inside the
double bottom, coupled with the low freeboard, was the
main cause of the disaster. One of the cfew who was saved,
and served afterwards in an ironclad when I spent some
pleasant times in her, told me that he thought the spar deck
had a share in the accident, as the wind was strong under
that high deck. Lord Clarence Paget was of opinion that
it would have been wise always to place such vessels under
steam only, and not sail, in bad weather, their freeboard
being so low. I need hardly say that sails are now
things of the past in war-ships. Sir Hastings was Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Channel Squadron, and afterwards
s
274 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
of the Mediterranean Fleet, and then Senior Sea Lord of the
Admiralty from 1876.
When Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet
he was an exceedingly popular officer, as in aU the ships he
had commanded. During the time he filled the post of
Comptroller of the Coastguard I was frequently in contact
with him at the Admiralty in my work of raising men for
the Reserves ; and two more pleasant men to deal with than
Sir Hastings Yelverton and Sir William Mends, who were
then the Comptroller and the Deputy Comptroller of the
Coastguard, no one could meet with. Sir Hastings oc-
cupied different high official positions at the Admiralty,
and it is pleasant to record the geniality and kindness of
the man. Sir Hastings was a fine handsome gentlemanly
looking person, and was what he looked. It is much to be
regretted that our various public departments are not
always filled by such men, although, fortunately for the Ser-
vice, they often are.
REAR-ADMIRAL BROOKER.
The late Admiral Brooker was an old friend of mine,
who had been taken away from the civil to the fighting
department in consequence of his exceeding bravery.
When a young man in China, a man-of-war brig in which
he was serving was surrounded by a number of powerful
jimks, and aU the executive officers were killed, but the
brig was saved by his gallantry. When he attained the
rank of captain he commanded successive ironclads, inter
alia the turret-ship Wyverny which I think I have in some
other part described as the reverse of a satisfactory ship.
She and the Scorpion^ a sister ship, were built by con-
tract at the time of the war between the Northern and
Southern States of America, and were in my humble opinion
very xmfit to encounter the Atlantic or Biscayan seas. I
was a guest in the Wyvern of the late Captain Burgoyne
when he commanded her, and of Captain Brooker when
she was imder his command ; but although a vessel of 2000
tons, she was, I thought, too small for a turret-ship, and did
NAVAJ. REMINISCENCES 276
not look more than 500 tons. Captain Brooker had the
honesty when appointed to the command of the Scorpion
for the West Indies to express his opinion of her unfitness
to cross the Atlantic, and failed to get a ship afterwards.
In the end he was retired when he attained the rank of rear-
admiral and served no more. I had much correspondence
with him on naval matters.
" 3 Sussex Placb, Southsba, • .
" December 28, 1870.
"My dear Turner, — I cannot permit the old year
to depart without wishing you a happy new one with many
of them for you to enjoy your well-acquired honours, and I
am desired by Mrs. Brooker to say everything that is kind.
I shall not be surprised if I see you in Parliament, and then
I shall bother you to get naval matters put on a better
footing than they are at present.* In the meantime we
must be on the look out for the Lady Turner. It would
be a sin for you to enjoy your honours alone in that big
house of yours. No news of any importance, the crews of
the Channel Squadron are on shore, having their Christmas
hoUdays, after which I beUeve the ships will assemble at
Portland to watch events on the continent, and that is all
we shall do. Really I don't think we have much to be
proud of, but I won't bore you with poUtics.
"With all good wishes and kindest regards from Mrs.
Brooker,
" BeUeve me, ■
" Yours sincerely,
"G. A. Brooker.
" Sir L. Turner."
* I was for many years pressed by naval men to go into Parlia-
ment, as my views on naval matters coincided with theirs as to
reform.
276 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
ADMIRAL SIR ERASMUS OMMANNEY, C.B., F.R.S.
This grand old sailor comes of a fine naval race of fighting
men, and is the son of the late Sir F. Molineux Ommanney,
M.P., and grandson of Admiral Sir Courthwaite Ommannqr.
Sir Erasmus was bom in 1814, and entered the Navy at the
age of eleven. He served as a midshipman at Lisbon on
the landing of the army in 1827, was at Navarino in 1835,
and in the Arctic Expedition in 1850 in the search for Sir
John Franklin. He commanded the squadron in the White
Sea during the war with Russia, and served in the Baltic,
Mediterranean, and West Indies.
I have had the misfortune to lose or mislay a very inter-
esting letter from the admiral, but the first of those I pub-
lish is full of interest.
"May 4, 1875.
" Dear Sir Llewelyn, — ^We have been away from home,
which accoimts for my delay in replpng to your kind letter.
.... I never served with Lord Clarence, and only met
him casually ; his naval career was highly creditable. His
early career was due to his high connections, but he was a
man of great ability and much liked. As regards the battle
of Navarino we were imder similar conditions. He was a
midshipman on board the Asia, 84 guns, carrying the flag
of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, the Commander-in-
Chief. I was a midshipman in the Albion^ 74 gims, under
my uncle, Captain J. A. Ommanney, The allied squadron,
English, French, and Russian, entered the harbour ; the
action began at 3 p.m., and they were under an incessant fire
for three hours. The EngUsh fleet bore the brunt of the
action. The destruction of the Turkish and Egyptian
fleet continued through the night. Out of eighty ships,
not twelve were left seaworthy the next morning. At one
time the Albion was exposed to the fire of six Turkish
ships. We boarded a frigate, and after capturing her she
was foimd to be on fire, so we cut her adrift. She soon blew
up, alas! sending 500 people into eternity, about two
cables' length from the Albion. Altogether it was a very
sanguinary affair. My hanunock was shot overboard, and
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 277
after two days I purchased one which belonged to a mess-
mate who had been killed.
" My uncle, the captain of the Albiof^ received the flag
of the Turkish admiral after the action in token of suIk
mission, which I have presented to the city of Athens, as
the battle of Navarino led to the foundation of the kingdom
of Greece. I have in my possession the sword of the captain
of the frigate we boarded. He was slain by one of our
men, who brought his sword and pistols to my unde."
" Bournemouth,
(No date.)
" My dear Sir Llewelyn, — I received your very kind
note just as we were leaving home.
" We greatly esteem your friendly remembrances. You
wiU be pleased to know that we were mutually in each
other's thoughts only the day before the receipt of your
letter. I was bringiog to the recollection of Lady Ommanney
the kind attention we had received from you. We are glad
to find you are still in the land of the living, and trust you
are enjo3dng good health. Considering our very advanced
ages I am thankful to say that we are in wonderfully good
preservation of mind and body. ... I fear we shall not
again drop anchor in your pretty country. My days of travel
are over, and it is time to coil up my ropes to meet futiuity.
" I entered the Navy in 1826, three years after you were
bom. With our imited kind regards, and thanks for your
friendly reminiscence,
" I remain,
"Yours very truly,
"Erasmus Ommanney."
" Weymouth, Gloucester Hotel,
" August 26, 1902,
" Dear Sir Llewelyn, — I fed much favoured by your
sending the pamphlet. The views of the old Castle are ex-
cellent. We are sta3dng for the benefit of sea air, and I
am recovering from a violent attack of rheumatism. I
^4, *
278 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER *
have been invested by the King with the order of K.C.B.,
on board of the royal yacht lying off Cowes.
" His Majesty was very gracious. ... I passed through
our magnificent fleet of io8 ships. I have no photo of
myself, so I can't send you one, but am flattered by your
request. I have attained such a very advanced age, which
together with my infirmities, compel me to lead a very
retired Ufe. I am very poorly, so you will excuse haste.
" Faithfully yours,
" Eras. Ommanney.
" Sir Llewelyn Turner."
VICE-ADMIRAL SCHOMBERG.
Having passed through such a number of serious illnesses
vaS|t numbers of my notes and papers have been necessarily
mislaid, and others lost ; and I much regret my inability
to do justice to my late friend Admiral Schomberg, who
was one of the many naval officers who urged me to go into
Parliament. After an active life in the Service of his country
he retired with the rank of rear-admiral, and accepted the
post of Queen's Harbour Master at Holyhead, where I
was always warmly welcomed when I visited it. I had
the great pleasure of receiving from him the following kind
letter on receiving the honour of knighthood.
" Holyhead,
** December 3, 1870.
" My dear Sir Llewelyn, — Among all your kind friends
in which I know you abound, and well deserve it, for your
imiform kindness and hospitahty is as a household word
to all around you, no one can wish you more happiness than
I do, and I hope I may include my wife and household.
" I daresay that, after the Ufe of zeal for the pubUc, such
reward is pleasing to you. With kindest wishes, and hoping
to congratulate you in person soon,
" Beheve me to be,
" Most sincerely yours,
" W. Schomberg."
ADMIRAL SIR W. KING HALL
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 279
ADMIRAL SIR WILLIAM KING HALL, K.C.B.
Sir William King Hall was a distinguished officer, who had
seen considerable service. He was bom as far hack as the
year 1816, and had served in the Carlist War, in the opera-
tions in Syhai in 1840, in the steam vessel Styx m the
Kaffir War, and in the B%Ul-4og in the Burmese War. He
was flag-captain to Sir Michael Seymour in China from
1856 to 1859 ; was Captain Superintendent of Sheemess
Dockyard, 1865-2 ; Rear-Admiral Superintendent of Devon-
port Dockyard 1871-2. I recollect his telling me a droll
incident during the Kaffir War (I forget what the exact posi-
tion of the sleeping man was), but he occupied some official
position not far from Capetown, and it was his duty to attend
at the disembarkation of a few troops that Captain Hall
was to land at a very early hour of the morning. He duly
arrived at the appointed place, but there was no sign of
preparation for the disembarkation. The official resided
in a house below some high rocks, and Captain Hall saw
through his glass that the blinds of his house were all down.
Disgusted with the man's apathy he fired two or three
shotted guns over the house at the rocks above and behind
it, and these shots brought down a quantity of the rocks,
making a terrific noise. The blinds were soon up, and the
disembarkation completed.
The admiral was a careful observer of human nature,
and, like the man who writes this slight tribute to his me^
mory, was deeply and painfully impressed by the terrible
evils of drunkenness. Fine seamen were disgraced and led
into mischief by a foolish habit which he did his best to
discourage. He was not a total abstainer, but was a hater
of drunkenness, not of drunkards, or he would not have
laboured so hard to help them«
When he retired from the Service he devoted his time
to endeavouring to impress on those addicted to it the
evils of intemperance. A curioos piece of carelessness on
my part happened several years ago when Sir William
and Lady King Hall were staying at Parkia. I had agreed
to preside at a Bible ^^''^**^^ and Sir William was to speak.
280 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Very stupidly I mistook the hour for eight o'clock, and we
both arrived, as we thought, five minutes before the time,
when we found that the meeting was half over, the time
being seven and not eight o'clock ; but as nearly all evening
meetings at Carnarvon are commenced (or were at that time)
after the closing of the shops, I was deceived by that.
I had the pleasure of sharing many platforms with him
in some of the large EngUsh cities. Lady King Hall used
generally to accompany him, and there is no doubt that he
effected a vast amoimt of good in reclaiming drunkards and
preventing others from entering upon the evil habit.
In the neighbourhood of Sutton Bonnington his name
was a household word, and his house near that place (the
Elms) was a sort of stronghold of temperance, from which
emanated advice and support for weak-kneed tumblers into
the temptation of taverns. The admiral was no bigot in his
advocacy of temperance, which often leads to more harm
than good, but his practical advice was of great value.
There was one of his neighbours who was a notorious drunk-
ard, whom many weU-disposed people would have liked
to help, but they feared liim. The admiral took him in hand,
and managed to convert him into a sober man. Lady
Turner and I spent a pleasant time with him and Lady
King Hall at the Elms ; and I heard a great deal of his ex-
cellent work, as I make it a rule wherever I go to hear what
the people have to say about things in general. One man,
whom the admiral had succeeded in weaning from being
apparently a confirmed drunkard, had a knowledge of
music, and after King Hall had got him into sober habits he
collected and gave money enough to get him a harmonium.
The man used to play upon it, and show it to his neighbours
sa3dng, "This is King Hall's harmonium." Another re-
formed drunkard was enabled by him to get a cow, which he
called " King Hall's cow." Many were the men, whose hves
had been a disgrace to humanity, who were saved by the
unselfish labours of a man who reahsed " that no man
Uveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself." The
admiral is dead. Will any of the heedless men who scoff
at work like this, believe that the consciousness of having
(£". Mentor Cs' Co., photo ^ Southampton)
ADMIRAL SHOLTO DOUGLAS
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 281
done his best to save others from destruction was no solace
to him at that hour which for ever closed his eyes to all
created things ? I venture to think it was.
ADMIRAL SHOLTO DOUGLAS, C.B.
Amongst my many old naval friends — alas, I must add,
amongst the few of them who survive — is my friend whose
name heads this page, whose kind hospitality in her Ma-
jesty's ship Achilles, an iron-dad of 10,000 tons, it was my
lot on different occasions to enjoy. I have special reason
to recollect one occasion, as it was from this ship that I
went to pay a visit to the house from which I subsequently
carried off the lady who has shared my lot for nearly a
quarter of a centmy, and whose love and affection probably
did more than all other things combined to lead me through,
what I was very far from singular in believing, was the
" valley of the shadow of death " on several occasions. I
had once piloted her parents through Carnarvon Castle, and
made her acquaintance at a bazaar which I had been in-
vited to open in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, at which she
had a stall.
I had the pleasure of Captain Douglas' company at
Parkia on different occasions. The admiral, as he now is,
was bom in 1833 (very juvenile in comparison to those of
whom I have been writing). He joined the Navy in 1847,
and was in the KaflBr War in 1853, when he received a
medal (extra African-Burmah war 1854 medal) ; China
during part of 1854; Baltic (war with Russia), 1874-5;
China, Canton, Patshan, 1857 ; Pei-ho, 1858 (medal). He
commanded the Esfice on the west coast of Africa, from
i860 to 1864, engaged in suppressing the slave trade, and
liberated over 1200 slaves. Captain Sholto Douglas com-
manded the troopship Malabar, the first ship that took
troops to India through the Suez Canal. Subsequently
he was captain of the Aurora, 50-gun frigate, in the Flying
Squadron, and from 1875 to 1878, H.M.S. Achilles, and
afterwards H.M.S. Resistance, iron-clads, with the internal
arrangements of both which I was well acquainted. Captain
284 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
'; WEST PANEL.
AROUND THIS TOMB,
REST THE REMAINS OF
FIFTEEN OFFICERS
AND THE captain's STEWARD
OF H.M. SCREW FRIGATE " DAUNTLESS,"
WHO, TOGETHER WITH THIRTY-EIGHT SEAMEN,
TEN MARINES, AND TEN BOYS,
[buried in THIS GARRISON,
AND ONE OFFICER, THREE SEAMEN,
SIX MARINES, AND ONE BOY,
COMMITTED TO THE DEEP ;
ALL PERISHED BY YELLOW FEVER,
WHICH BROKE OUT AT SEA,
ON LEAVING THE HARBOUR OF ST. THOBIAS,
ON THE lOTH OF NOVEMBER, 1852.
SOUTH PANEL.
AT THIS ISLAND
A GENEROUS REFUGE WAS AT ONCE AFFORDED,
AND BY THE UNCEASING CARE OF ITS CIVIL, MILITARY AND MEDICAL
AUTHORITIES,
THE SHIP WITH HER SURVIVING CREW, RESTORED TO HEALTH,
WAS ENABLED TO SAIL HOMEWARDS ON
THE 2ISt. MARCH, 1853.
VIM.:
COL. SIR WILLIAM N. G. COLEBROOKE, C.B., K.H., GOVERNOR IN CHIEF,
LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM WOOD, C3., COMMANDING THE TROOPS.
THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIBIENT.
THE SIXTY-NINTH REGIMENT.
WILLIAM MUNRO, ESQ,, INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF HOSPITALS.
REV. WILLIAM W. JACKSON. M.A., CHAPLAIN OF THE FORCES.
WILUAM DENNY, ESg., SURGEON, 34th REGIMENT.
ALEXANDER B. CLELAND, ESQ., M.D., SURGEON, 69th REGIMENT.
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 285
EAST PANEL.
THIS HALLOWED SPOT
WAS PURCHASED AND ENCLOSED,
AND THIS MONUBfBNT INSCRIBED
IN HONOURED MEMORY TO ALL,
BY THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY,
THE CAPTAIN,
AND SURVIVING OFFICERS
OF THE SHIP,
AND BY THE SORROWING RELATIVES AND FRIENDS
OF THOSE WHO REST BELOW,
THAT THEIR
SACRED AND BELOVED REMAINS
SHOULD AWAIT IN UNDISTURBED REPOSE
FOR THE COMING OF THAT GREAT DAY,
WHEN ALL GRAVES SHALL BE SUMMONED
TO GIVE UP THEIR DEAD.
NORTH PANEL.
ML
Obit.
Ross Moore Floud .
First Lieut.
37
Nov. 28,
1852
Charles Kent .
Second Lieut.
28
Dec. 2
9»
Alfred Neale .
Third Lieut.
25
Nov. 22
ft
William Simpson
Lieutenant
23
Nov. 17
>»
Alexander Langlands
Chief Engineer
32
Nov. 22
>»
Arthur C. Couper .
Mate
21
Nov. 17
»
(Buried ofE the Port)
Henry I. Nuttall .
Second Master
28
Nov. 23
l>
Edwin Death
Captain's Qerk
27
Dec. 6
>»
George Gordon Bushby .
Midshipman
20
Dec. 14
9»
Joseph Crispin .
Midshipman
IS
Dec. I
ff
Fleetwood Pellew Haswell Master's Assist.
18
Dec. 14
»9
Charles Martin
Assist. Engineer
28
Nov. 25
»
St. George G. S. Davis
Assist. Engineer
25
Dec. 2
>»
James T. Henwood .
Assist. Engineer
21
Nov. 18
>»
Walter W. H. Richards .
Assist. Engineer
21
Nov. 24
99
William Welman
Carpenter
40
Dec. 15
»»
James Venables . Captain's Steward 23 Dec. 12
" blessed are the dead which die in the lord."
286 MEMORIES OF SIR LL TURNER
Appended are some naval odds and ends which cannot
fail to be of interest.
THE ILL-FATED " ECLAIR."
As previously mentioned, the use of iron was condemned
by a committee as not adaptable for ships of war, but the
tables were turned in a few years, and the wooden walls,
that were so long our great bulwarks of offence and defence
at sea, gradually gave way to iron ships, which later on
were clothed with iron, and then with steel plates of great
strength. Amongst the early iron-built vessels of war (long
prior to ironclads) was H.M.S. Lucifer^ a paddle-wheeler.
For some reason or other her name was changed to Eclair.
She was not a post ship, but imder a commander, and
in August 1844, ^^ ^^ conmiissioned by Commander
Estcourt. She was for some time on the coast of Africa,
and the crew was attacked by yellow fever, the fearful
mortality that took place earning for her the title of " the
ill-fated Eclair r
After her return I could not help paying her a visit,
knowing the fearful mortahty of the crew, but it is so very
long ago that I reccoUect httle about her beyond the fact
that, being an iron paddle-wheeler, she was.as totally different
from the grand old ships to which I was accustomed, as
a bicycle is from a state coach, and as different from an iron-
clad as a tin box is from an iron safe. I have quite forgotten
the full extent of the mortahty, but it was absolutely ap-
paUing, and I well recollect a creeping sort of feeUng, which
I did not experience when going over the larger, and more
roomy Dauntless, after her awful loss of Ufe. I was not
acquainted with anybody connected with the Eclair.
Her name was subsequently changed to the Rosamond^
and she was again commissioned under that name in Novem-
ber 1846, by Commander Foot, but I do not think the
Admiralty ventured to send her to the coast of Africa, and
not long afterwards her class disappeared from the service
altogether.
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 287
ADMIRAL GOUGH, CA
Served in the Kafl&r war in 1846 in command of a party
of seamen from H.M.S. President, and was specially thanked
by General Sir George Maitland, K.C.B. Captinred a slaver
on the Mozambique Channel, when a lieutenant in H.M.
Cleopatra, Served on the London (90 guns), at the bom-
bardment of Sebastopol in 1854, ^ind subsequently com-
manded batteries for nine months in the trendies (slightly
wounded). Was decorated with the Legion of Honour and
Order of Medjidie, Sardinian, South African, Crimean, and
Turkish war medals. I hope we may live to meet again at
Parkia.
ADMIRAL EVANS.
Admiral Evans after various sea services was appointed
Conservator of the Mersey, and I frequently met him at
the Town Hall of Liverpool banquets, and had the pleasure
of entertaining him at Parkia. He illustrated the enormous
advantage of competent conservators to prevent the ruin
of our ports, leaving them in charge of people who, however
fit they may be for things they are acquainted with, are
necessarily unfit for a subject they never mastered by
either study or experience.
ADMIRAL EVANS.
{Hydrographer of the Navy^
Must not be confounded with Admiral Evans previously
mentioned. My only acquaintance with him was during
the period of his holding the important office of Hydro-
grapher of the Navy, and I had the greatest possible plea-
sure in all my interviews with him, and always foimd a
S5nnpathetic listener to any conversation connected with
sea matters.
288 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
AN INTERESTING LETTER.
Having written to the Standard to contradict a statement
in a letter as to the old Foudroyant in 1896, I received
several communications, amongst others the following :
"35 Warwick Road,
" Earlscourt, S.W.,
" Noveniber 2, 1891.
" Dear Sir Llewelyn Turner, — I thank you very much
for your taking the trouble to reply to my request for
particulars as to the capture of the French ship RivoU,
of 74 guns, off Venice in 1810, which I have been trying in
vain to obtain since 1835.
" Of course the Weasel, of 18 guns, must have been the
small vessel referred to. I have also to return my best
thanks for all your information. In fact, I was at Venice
on Carlist business in 1835, having gone there to give up
my passport, and take command of the Carlist army.
I afterwards served during the campaigns of 1836--7 and 8,
and in Catalonia in 1837 when Queen Victoria came to her
throne. Again thanking you for your kind attention to
my questions,
" Yours very truly,
" George J. T. Merry.
" Sir Llewelyn Turner,
" Parkia. Carnarvon."
SERVED HIM RIGHT.
THE ADMIRAL AND THE RUSSIAN COUNT.
The following curious anecdote was related to me by a
great friend of mine, a British Admiral. The nephew of
an admiral who was also well known to me, called upon his
uncle, who occupied an important post in the Admiralty
at the time, and related to him the following facts. The
yoimg man's sister was for some time at Boulogne, and had
the misfortime to make the acquaintance of a Russian
Count, who behaved in the most infamous manner towards
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 289
her, and the young man requested his uncle to advise him
what to do. The admiral was a man of action and deter-
mination, and at once gave directions to his nephew, telling
him first to go and purchase a good stout ash-plant, such
as he described to him. On the return of his nephew with
it, he said, " You must go over to Boulogne, and thrash
him to the utmost of your abihty," and he even described
accurately to him where the blows were to be struck —
first over the shins to disarm him from defending his upper
works. He told him that he would accompany him to
Boulogne, to see the business out. The young man des-
cribed the usual haimts of the intended victim, and the
admiral decided on the most public place, correctly cal-
culating, as the scoimdrel was well known in Boulogne,
that he would not have much sympathy. Uncle and
nephew took up their station, and when the Russian
arrived the young man set upon him, and inflicted a tre-
mendous thrashing upon him. Nobody offered to inter-
fere, it being evidently considered a case of " serve him
right." The French police behaved splendidly in the
matter ; no doubt knowing the Count was a scamp, they
did not interfere and managed to look the other way
and quietly advised the assailants to be off by the first
steamer and thus put the Channel between them. For-
tunately nothing was ever pubhcly heard of the matter,
or it would have been a most serious thing for the admiral,
occupying as he did a high position at the Admiralty.
Strange as the story may appear, it is perfectly true. The
admiral (the uncle of the young man) was well known to
me, and the admiral who first informed me was a very old
friend of mine, while another admiral, from whom also I
got the story, was an old acquaintance.
290 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
A DESCENDANT OF THE GREATEST SEA OFFICER
THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.
Not till sirty years after do da find him loss.
Den his daughter da forget, and build him up in Charing Cross.
Italian Sang.
Students of the life of Lord Nelson are aware that he
first went to sea under the auspices of his uncle, Captain
SuckUng, his mother's brother, who was a distinguished
naval officer. In the year 1879 I received a letter from my
friend. Captain Suckling, R.N., one of the family, informing
me that Horatia Nelson Ward, the Horatia of Lord Nelson
and Lady Hamilton association, and widow of a clergyman
of that name, had a grandson who was bom in the island
of Madeira, christened in the Retribution steam frigate, and
specially educated for the Royal Navy ; that several titled
ladies whom he named had applied on his behalf for a
nomination for the Navy without success ; that he had
ventured to tell them that the only man he knew with any
naval influence was Sir Llewel3m Turner, and that he (Cap-
tain Suckling) knew him to be so great an admirer of Lord
Nelson that he would no doubt exert it if asked. I replied
that the latter part of the letter was quite correct, but that
I feared that any very httle influence I had once possessed
had disappeared, but that I would willingly do my best. I
at once wrote to some, and personally visited other naval
friends, whom I thought could or would help. Sir W.
Mends replied that he had given away a cadetship a fort-
night before to one who had no claim on him, concluding
his letter with these words, " I had rather a tltousand times
sooner have given it to you, and ten thousand times sooner
to one with Nelson's blood in his veins." Captain Suckhng
informed me that young Ward would be too old before
long, to enter the service, and that there were only two
more examinations for which he would be eligible. I re-
ceived a great nmnber of letters from the boy's father
and mother and others from time to time on the subject.
On November 11, no success so far having attended my
{Faii, photo, London, //'.)
HORATIA NELSON THOMPSON WARD
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 291
exertions, I received the following letter from Mrs. Ward,
the mother of the youth :
** Radstock Rectory, Bath.
" My dear Sir, — We are most thankful to you for aU
you are doing for our boy, and if you do not succeed in
getting him a nomination I shall believe it to be for the
best. It seems hard that his grandmother's petition
should not have been attended to, but I imagine that the
First Lord is overwhelmed with cases. We are so glad
that you like Captain Suckling. We think most highly
of him, and only wish Philip may be like him some day.
My husband joins me in kind wishes to Lady Turner and
yourself, and with earnest thanks,
"I am,
" Sincerely yours,
" E. M. Ward."
The following interesting letter reached me from the old
lady, who was the daughter of England's great sea warrior :
" My dear Sir, — I send you the carte you so kindly
wished of myself. Thank you much for all your kindness
to my grandson Philip. It will be a great thing for him
if your efforts are successful. Alas that the feeling of the
present day should not be willing to bestow a nomination
on one descended from him. I hope you will be able to read
this, but I have such great difficulty in holding my pen, and
it is so painful to me^that I fear your being unable to decipher
it. Again let me tell you how much I feel your great kind-
ness. I have Lord Nelson's hair, which I will be pleased
to give you a small piece of, and some relics of his, which
I will be glad to show you, should you come this way, and
let me have a line the day before.
" I am, deax Sir,
" Horatia M. Ward."
I wrote to one of the Civil officials at the Admiralty who
was a personal friend of mine, and said that I had a mind
to send a copy to the Admiralty of the public letter of
292 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
thanks I had received from their lordships years before;
but his advice in reply was, " No, keep that for a last shot.'*
Mrs. Ward was very delicate and feeble at that time, and,
like many other subjects of regret, I am excessively
grieved that I never availed myself of her kind invitation.
She sent me the lock of hair, which I regard as a great
treasure. The last time I saw Sir William Mends he said,
" My dear old Turner, there are plenty of admirals, but
there was only one Nelson.'^ After the death of the great
warrior, all his hair was cut off, and came into the possession
of Mrs. Ward after the death of Lady Hamilton. With
the exception of the lock given to me, she bequeathed it
to Greenwich Hospital.
In January 1879, 1 had the great gratification of receiving
the cordial thanks of Mr. and Mrs. Ward, with the an-
nouncement that their son had passed his examination
and got his nomination. Captain Suckling wrote me as
follows :
" QuEENSTOWN, January 23, 1879.
"Dear Sir Llewelyn,— Young Ward has just got a
nomination. I make no doubt it is through your very kind
exertions, so I hasten to write and thank you, which we aU
do from the bottom of our hearts. I am sure we would
never have got it had it not been for you. He goes up in
June, and is of that age that he must pass or fail entirely."
Then follow some replies to my anxious wishes that Captain
Suckling should not retire (as he contemplated) from the
Service in which so large a niunber of his family had been
such distinguished ornaments.
" With kind regards to Lady Turner, and many, many
thanks for your kind exertions for young Ward,
" Believe me,
" Yours most sincerely,
*' T. Suckling."
The days of Mrs. Ward were not of long duration after
her grandson's success, and the Times of March 12, 1881,
contains the following reference to her death :
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 298
" Our obituary column on Tuesday contained the
name of a lady who ought not to be allowed to pass out
of life without some lines of remembrance. In this lady,
Mrs. Horatia Nelson Ward, who died on Sunday, at Beau-
fort Villas, Woodrising, in the eighty-first year of her age,
many of our readers will recognise Lady Hamilton's little
daughter, Horatia, the same whom Lord Nelson bequeathed
with his dying breath to the care of his country. Bom
in 1799, she spent her infancy at Merton. In the garden
of Lady Hamilton's villa there was a little streamlet (which
she caUed the Nile), and a pond dammed up and crossed
by a rustic bridge. The banks of this pond were the child's
playing-grounds, and Nelson writes from the Victory thus
to her mother, ' I would not have you lay out more than
necessary at Merton. ... I beg that as my dear little
Horatia is to be at Merton for three years, that a stnmg
netting about three feet high be placed round the ** Nile,**
that the little thing may not tumble in.' Horatia in the
course of time married the Rev. PhiHp Ward, sometime
Vicar of Tenterden, in Kent, but was left a widow about
twenty years ago."
A curious incident happened to Lady Turner and myself
in reference to this matter a few years afterwards. We
went to inspect the ruins of the beautiful and historic
castle of Raglan, in which the unfortunate and misguided
King Charles I. was besieged. We left the castle by a path
across the fields to a single-line railway. When the train
arrived we got into a compartment, and soon entered into con-
versation with two ladies, who proved to be aunt and niece.
I was deUghted to find that the younger lady, with whom I
conversed, had a much greater knowledge of Raglan Castle
than the author of the so-called guide-book, which I had
found to be ridiculously misleading, and she was in sIkqCI
exceedingly " well up " in the matter. I asked if she had
ever seen Carnarvon Castle, and she said no, but that she
had often heard what a magnificent building it was. Taking
out of my pocket a photo of it I said, " Here it is, I carry
it about with me." She said she would be so glad to see the
294 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
castle itself. I replied that if they ever went to Carnarvon,
if they presented my card (which I gave her) the ser-
geant-in-charge would send for me, and I would go down
and give them a full description of it. She kept the card
in her hand, and the train stopped at a crossing, where the
ladies got out. A liveried servant came forward and took
their traps to a handsome carriage in waiting about thirty
yards away on a level with the railway and in full view.
The elder lady got in, and I saw the younger, as she was
about to follow, open her hand to look at my card. She
instantly ran back to the train and addressing me said,
" I never looked at the card until I was just going to step
into the carriage. I had no idea whom I had been conversing
with in the train, and I would not have missed seeing
you for anything. I am Philip Ward's sister." Fortunately
the rail, being a single line, the train was detained a very
long time, and the lady remained until it started (and a
very charming lady she was). We had a most interesting
conversation as to the Nelsons and Sucklings. Then came
another coincidence ; sitting on the other side of the carriage
was an elderly clergyman, who was there before we got in,
and directly the train started he addressed me, sa5dng,
" Excuse me. Sir, but I assure you, while you and that lady
were talking of the Nelsons and Sucklings my hair felt
as if it was full of electricity. I am the clergyman of the
next parish to Bumam Thorp, where Nelson was bom, and
I can hardly tell you the interest I could not help feeling
in the conversation."
Not long ago I received a letter from one of the family —
a brother of Philip Ward, asking — as all Nelson's hair cut
off after death, excepting the lock given to me, had been
bequeathed by Horatia Nelson Ward with other Nelson
relics to Greenwich Hospital — if he might venture to hope
that this lock of hair might some day go back to the family.
I repUed that I could not of course part with it in my hfe-
time, and that Lady Turner would not do so in hers ; but
that I was willing to add a codicil to my will, leaving it
to the family after her decease, for which they were
thankful.
(From an oil Minting)
FANNY VISCOUNTESS NELSON
I
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 295
TRIED BY COURT MARTIAL.
I chanced to be at Portsmouth some years ago. I forget
the year, probably 40 years ago, and saw that the court-
martial flag was flying aboard the Victory^ the grand old
flag-ship of the inunortal Nelson, in whose cabin the Ports-
mouth court-martials are held. As a friend of mine was
in command of one of the large ironclads then in harbour,
I had no doubt he would be sitting as a member of the Court,
and there he was. The president and all the members of
the Court are always in full uniform, swords and aU.
Seeing that my friend was there I went to the opposite
side of the table, and when he saw me he tore a piece off
the foolscap paper supplied to each member and wrote,
" We have a house at No. terrace, Southsea. Dine
at seven. At whatever hour you feel disposed to go you
will find Mrs. and the children," or words to tiiat
effect. He gave the note to a lieutenant on duty at the
court-martial to give it to me, and I wrote back, " Will turn
up at seven o'clock," which I did. The court-martial was for
a most serious offence, that would have been imquestionably
punished with death in earlier years ; it was that of a marine
striking the captain of his ship — an offence, fortimately,
of singular rarity. The prisoner was foimd guilty, but I
have forgotten the sentence, which would necessarily be
severe.
At dinner the captain told his wife of his sending the
note to me at the court-martial by Lieutenant , and
we had great fim over it, she himiorously telling her hus-
band how dreadful it was of him to turn an old beau
of hers into a twopenny postman, the lieutenant having
proposed to her before her marriage. Alas ! she and her
husband are amongst the past. She was an exceedingly
pretty and agreeable person, and she and her husband were
a loving couple. I had the pleasure of their company on
more than one occasion as my guests for some da)^ at
Parkia.
296 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
MOCK TRIAL OF THE WRITER.
It is said that " an honest confession is good for the soul,"
and so I may as well confess that I was arraigned and tried
by court-martial, not in the cabin of Nelson, but in one of
H.M.'s ironclads. As I believe I have a few friends left
who can S5nnpathise with any misfortune of mine, I trust
they will exercise their kind feelings even to so great a
criminal, and they will, I feel sure, commend the leniency of
the Court towards me. I was a guest in one of the large ships,
and the master-at-arms delivered to me a large and formid-
able looking letter with a very big seal. On opening it, I
found myself commanded to appear in the cabin of H.M.S.
, to answer to certain serious charges, etc. etc., and I
the more readily obeyed the smnmons on recognising the
handwiriting. In the arm-chair at the upper end of the
table sat the president of the Court, my excellent friend
Mrs. , the wife of Vice-Admiral , and by her side
sat the other member^ of the Court, the wife of the then
Captain , afterwards retired Rear - Admiral, the
lady already mentioned whose husband sat on the court-
martial in the Victory. The charge against me was that
I was not married. I pleaded guilty to the charge, and
could make no plea in extenuation, and offered none,
but admitted the heinousness of my offence, and was ordered
by the Court to lose no opportunity in making some lady
happy. The second question before the Court was the
age of the lady ; and although I fear I was about forty at
the time, the Court imanimously ordered that the age of
the lady was to be eighteen, which I felt to be a compliment
that I did not deserve. I had delayed writing my brief
memoir of Vice-Admiral , and had lost sight of
his widow for some years, and I wrote to the Admiralty to
inquire for her whereabouts, and received the following
prompt and poUte reply :
"Admiralty, June 19, 1902.
" Sir, — Having laid before my Lords Commissioners of
the Admiralty your letter of the 12th instant, I am com-
NAVAL REMINISCENCES 297
manded by their Lordships to acquaint you that Mrs.-
the widow of Vice- Admiral , is recorded as having died
on September 15, 1896.
" I am, Sir,
" Your obedient servant,
" Evan Macgregor.
" Sir Llewelyn Turner, D.L., etc. etc.
'* Parkia, Carnarvon."
I need hardly say how much I regretted the intelligence
of the death of a lady for whom and for her husband I had
always a deep respect, and by whom I had always been
treated with the utmost kindness, especially when she
had let me off so leniently at the court-martial.
CHAPTER VII
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFE-BOAT EXPERIENCES
Early familiarity with wrecks — Admiral Crawley's lifeboat
— Neglected at Llanddwyn — Loss of the Staff of Life — Good
work later — Early catastrophes at Carnarvon — The Atlantic
— A Spanish wreck — ^Tailor, wrecker, and drunkard — Emi-
grant ship wrecked — Bodies stripped by waves and sand —
— Sir Llewelyn boards a wreck — How the Highlander came
to Parkia — The inscription near him — The Jane of New Or-
leans— The Southerner and his butler — The s.s. Monk —
Channels at Carnarvon Bar — Variation and causes — The
Vine of Nevin — Light in ballast — An unfortunate exchange
— Possible improvements at the Bar — Lighting already im-
proved— Wrecks reduced — Examination of masters and
mates — Value of tugs — Llanddwyn a good lifeboat station
— Clynnog useless — List of wrecks — Lifeboat must have
seafaring crew — Wanted rocket apparatus — A sleepy
watcher — Wreck at Mallbraeth — Sir Llewelyn and the Erin
o* Bragh to the rescue — An ungrateful master — Carnarvon
lifeboat beaten back — To the wreck by land — Llanddwyn
lifeboat upset — One man only lost — Half oars broken — Sir
Llewelyn's signal — The Yankees' smart appreciation — A
barrel and a line — Sir Llewelyn's brave attempt and failure
— A new signal — Jonathan cute again — A coward in his Hfe-
boat — Return to shore — Vessel beached down wind — All
saved — Next day Sir Llewelyn takes command — The
captain's caution and Sir Llewelyn's opportunity — Inex-
perienced meddling with tides — A new sandbank — The
Meteor Flag — A perilous wade — National Lifeboat Institu-
tion— Its jubilee meeting — Address by Sir Llewelyn Turner
Parkia commands beautiful views of Carnarvon Bar and
a large portion of the Menai Straits, and many were the
sad shipwrecks I witnessed in my early boyhood. Many
of these happened in the night, some few not having gone
entirely to pieces before the morning. I used to know
nearly all the names of the wrecks, but, alas, my recollec-
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 299
tion is somewhat impaired. One of the early shipwrecks
was that of a ship called the Sally. Vast crowds at
Carnarvon witnessed from Twthill and the •promenade
the loss of the schooner Staff of Life with all hands,
which I well remember. To the eternal discredit of those
who filled the post of Trustees of Carnarvon Harbour,
although there was a hfeboat at Llanddwyn, she might just
as well have been in Constantinople. The late Admiral
Crawley (after whom was named the Rev. James Crawley
Vincent, who is honourably mentioned in these reminiscences),
being aware of the terrible wrecks of constant occurrence in
Carnarvon Bay in those days, had presented to the Trust,
or rather " Mistrust," a lifeboat — one of the best of those
early days — and she was kept at Llanddwyn with a few mats
over her, winter and summer. I have often seen her when I
was a small boy, with the mats blown off, and a lot of sand
lying in her. There were four pilots at Llanddwyn as now,
and no provision made for any more men to man the boat,
and she was so far from the water that four men, unless
gifted with the strength of Samson, could not possibly
have launched her, as there was no rail or cradle, and as it
required nine men to man her launching would have been
useless. After being exposed for so long to wind and rain,
she was dried, and leaked like a sieve when taken to Car-
narvon to be put in order, as she was after this sad wreck.
This boat, going as she would have done rapidly before a
howling north-west wind, might have saved the crew, as
the wreck took place in broad daylight, and those respon-
sible for this wanton carelessness were as morally guilty of
manslaughter as the unfortunate signalman who fails to
warn the approaching train.
It was not long after this that the Harbour Trust of that
day erected that stone pier which Telford saw, and at once
he denoimced. Well was it for the crews of four vessels one
Saturday which I remember, that the Staff of Life had been
lost, as the lifeboat, having been put in order as the result
of the scandal created by such neglect, went out from Car-
narvon, saved the lives of the four crews, imder the man-
agement of Captain John Richards, of the brig Jane of
800 MEMORIES Q¥ SIR LL. TURNER
Carnarvon, a vessel mentioned in another place. One of the
four vessels was the brig Fame of Bridgwater, which did not
break up, as I think all the others did. TheFame was brought
in, and lay for a long time where the oflSces of Messrs.
Owen and Son now are, with her bowsprit over the road
leading from Northgate Street and Bank Quay to Vin^ar
Hill. What is now the road from St. Mary's Church to the
archway of Northgate was a part of the old promenade,
reaching from the Eagle Tower of the Castle to the Guildhall,
when the space between the site of tlie present patent
sUp to the promenade was a pretty little bay, with
vessels anchoring nearly opposite to what is now Lloyd's
Bank.
I saw the lifeboat return on that Saturday twice with the
crews of two of the four vessels, which were landed at the
stone jetty below the Eagle Tower and the Anglesey Arms
Inn (then the Custom House). I will only say — " Well done.
Captain John Richards ; you deserved well of your country,
and here is one man aUve who blesses your memory for
your gallant exploit, not forgetting the equally gallant crew."
Had the boat been stationed at Llanddwyn more could have
been done, as she would have gone with and not against
the wind, but the gale not being so severe as many it
was managed.
I ought perhaps to have commenced this chapter by an
earher record of wreck and loss of Ufe at sea, but I began
with my personal recollections. Prior to that, and in the
year 17 — , the ship AUaniic, of Boston, was at anchor
opposite the town of Carnarvon, and one boisterous night
the captain attempted to go on board and was drowned.
He was buried close imder the east windows of Llanbeblig
Church, and his tombstone is engraved as follows :
Sacred li^HE memory of captain delano, of the ship
/ ** ATLANTIC " OF BOSTON, IN NEW ENGLAND, WHO WAS DROWNED.
Many years before (I am not sure whether I was bom or
not), a fuU-rigged Spanish ship was wrecked near Dinas
Dinlle, opposite a hedge that runs down towards the sea,
a little on the Belan side of the modem Bimgalow Hotel.
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 801
There was great loss of life and treasure ; I have often
heard my father and mother speak of it. They drove down
to see the place, and witnessed the sad spectacle of numerous
bodies, many of which, having been washed ashore near
Clynnc^, were laid on the churchyard green awaiting cofl&ns.
A curious circumstance occurred soon after; money being
often obtained at very low water, a tailor with a drab top-
coat went down on an unusually low spring-tide and filled
his coat and breeches pockets with so many coins that it
was with the greatest difficulty he climbed the bank. Then
comes the old story " too much Uquor." Some years later
he died in the old poor-house, the coins having gone down
his throat in a liquid state. This was related to me by
an old clergyman, long ago dead, who saw the wreck and
knew the tailor.
There is an old cannon at Belan Fort, pock-marked (if I may
use the term) with indentations from rust, which came from
this wreck. Another was recovered in my time, long after
the wreck. The men who got it sold it to Lord Newborough,
who had some horses yoked to it, and so towed it to Gl3mllifon
where it was loaded with much powder and ramming to test
its safety, but being too near the house, it broke a great
number of windows and hot-houses, though it stood the
test.
The emigrant ship Abeona, of Newry, was lost near the
Rivals, on a Saturday night, and several emigrants drowned,
and the rest walked to Carnarvon ; some orphans who were
saved were charitably provided for. I recalla^one Anne
Macalister, who had a small pension, took on service for
years and then got married. This wreck was about seventy
years ago.
The name of the wrecks that took place in Carnarvon Bar
when I was a boy was legion, for they were many, and for
years after there were great numbers. I well remember a great
loss of life on the bar, and the curious error that people at
that time laboured under. Numerous bodies were washed
ashore in the Straits along the Coedhden shore naked.
These bodies had beyond all doubt been buried by the
breakers on the banks of the bar and exhumed by the same
802 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
powerful operation ; but the idea prevailed amongst the
pubUc that they had been cruelly stripped and robbed, and
so strongly did this idea prevail, that some yoimg gentlemen
including two of my brothers undertook to patrol the shore
to protect the bodies from plunder. I have seen a man who
was drowned by the capsizing of the Llanddwyn lifeboat,
in which I subsequently succeeded in boarding the ship,
buried in a sandbank, his feet and knees projecting out of
the sand, his body being entirely buried in it, and what was
visible was quite naked. There is one thing that the breakers
fail to rob from a corpse, and that is a pair of sea boots.
Bodies otherwise entirely naked have been cast ashore, the
clothes being torn off in the working which buries and an-
buries the bodies, a process that ought to open the eyes of
people having no experience in such matters, to the way in
which sand is driven about by wave force. To my mind
it is lamentable that sea matters are so often entrusted to
those as ignorant of the subject as man can be.
The first ship which I boarded in a Ufeboat was the
Mountaineer, of Liverpool, a fuU-rigged ship conmianded
by Captain Williams, and bound from the Spanish Main in
South America to Liverpool with a cargo of dye-nuts called
" divi-divi."
The crew were all saved except a poor boy who got
entangled in the rigging. This may seem a curious place
to be drowned in, but a laden ship pounded into a sandbank
has the sea breaking through her lower rigging causing
great confusion and entanglement. The ship went to
pieces the following tide, and the shore between Abermenai
and Llanddwyn was strewed with her remains. The figure-
head went £Lshore abreast of where the ship broke up, and
was given to me by the captain. I saw the figure well washed
with salt water before the ship went to atoms. He is a fine
Highlander, and stands about six feet high with his plume,
and has just had a new nose, feet, and ankles, these latter
being the second he has had in the sixty odd years he has
been a visitor at Parkia, as he was for some time carelessly
left to stand in a damp place. He now looks much younger
than the writer, who has been his host for so many years.
^^^^^1 ^^^ ^fmm jllHi^HSFl^^m ^^1
■ ^^^^PSflH
^1 ^MF^fi i^^^^^^H
^^^^^^^H ^^^ ^^^H»^ _ ^v'-~'~ ^.^^^^^^^1
W^—^zJ^^nr^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^§it^^^^^^ ^^^^i^c^^^^^^ ^^^^'* ^^^^^jI^^^^I
FIGUREHEAD OF THE SHIP MOUNTAIXEER OF LIVERPOOL
Wrecked on Carnarvon Bar, 1840
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 808
The figure-head has been fresh painted, and is now in first-
rate order in the side hall at Parkia, the following inscription
being placed near it : " This gallant officer filled a prominent
position in the van in the good ship Mountaineer^ of Liver-
pool. After plowing the ocean for several years, he shared
the fate of the ship and was wrecked on Carnarvon Bar,
sixty years ago when I had the honour of making his ac-
quaintance. He was alternately submerged and standing
high in the air, far above water. As he did not avail him-
self of the services of the lifeboat David Jones threw him into
his locker, and with the vast wreckage of the ship he was
landed by ' David ' on the sand. His companions (with
the exception of one boy who was drowned in the lower
rigging while trying to board the lifeboat) were safely landed,
and this peaceable, well-behaved gentleman has resided at
Parkia ever since, and during this long period has never
tasted a drop of grog, or spoken an unkind word either to
his host or to any one else.
" Llewelyn Turner,
" Parkia,
"September 30, 1901."
By the side of the figure is a model of the old lifeboat
presented by Admiral Crawley, in which on the above and
numerous subsequent occasions I had my face well washed.
Forty years after the wreck of this ship I received a letter
from the mate as follows :
"June loth.
" Sir, — I made your acquaintance on Carnarvon Bar
forty years ago when I was mate of the ship Mountaineer,
of Liverpool (Captain Williams). I am an old ship-master,
seventy-eight years of age, with a bad knee and incapable
of further service, and am now going to ask you to get me
once more into a haven of safety, if you will be so kind as to
use your influence to get me into one of the Trinity housdi.
" I am, Sir,
" Your obedient servant,
" Benjamin Llewelyn."
804 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
I replied that I did not remember him, but had a lively
recollection of Captain Williams, and if he would send me
his discharges from the latter, I would willingly do my
utmost. He sent them and I did all I could, but failed
to get him into one of the Trinity houses, succeeding, how-
ever, in obtaining for him a small grant. The next year some
of his Liverpool friends got him into a Trinity house. As
confessed before, I am unable to give precise dates, or to
be certain that the events I chronicle are quite consecutive,
and the mate's letter omitted the year.
"JANE" OF NEW ORLEANS.
Some time after this, a fine American ship, the Jane of
New Orleans (Captain Cook), ran upon the south bank of
the bar in the night, not from stress of weather, but in
consequence of a mistake in her course, by keeping too far
to the S.E. She grounded about half-way between the
red buoy channel and the land between Bdan and Dinas
Dinlle. The crew were landed there, and encamped
amongst the sandhills. As she had grounded at high water,
she could not be got off, being as she was heavily laden with
cotton. She gradually swung round with her head towards
Ttf the shore I have mentioned facing S.jp, and her stem
towards the sea — N.W. A very large hole was cut in her
port side which with the prevailing wind was her lee side, and
the bales of cotton were transhipped into small vessels,
while the weather was fine, which it often was, as she stranded
in the summer. I often visited her, as she did not break up
for some time. The captain was a nice, gentlemanly man,
being a Virginian gentleman, and was upon his mettle.
Lord Newborough's butler, who was in his lordship's service
for many years, was a very well-mannered man, and went
down to the tents and invited the captain to go up and see
him, a proposition that the captain was not slow to resent,
as he was used to higher game than a butler to visit. After
settling the affairs of the ship and cargo, he stayed a long
time at Carnarvon, and visited it in after years, not having
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFiEBOATS 805
gone to sea after the wreck. He was a good singer and a
very smart man.
THE "MONK" STEAMER.
The melancholy wreck of this craft has often stirred a
curious, and to me, most interesting problem. She used
to carry pigs from Porthdenllaen to Liverpool, and one
fine day I was on that disgraceful excrescence, called the
Victoria pier, at Carnarvon, which was answerable for so
much injury to the Menai Straits, and the outer end of which
I cut off. Standing above the vessel's deck, I asked the
master when he would be returning, being half-inclined to
go with her, but reflecting that a pig-vessel would not be a
pleasant craft, and not knowing what sort of night quarters
there would be at Porthdenllaen, I decided not to go. When
the Monk started on her return voyage with her decks
covered with pigs, it was blowing hard from the south-
ward. She had no pilot, but trusted to the knowledge
derived from former passages. Had she hugged the bank,
S.E., close to the red buoy, the chances were that she would
have got in, but keeping too far to leeward, and not having
great horse-power, she could not steam to windward, and
went to pieces on the north bank under her lee. Now my
feeling was this ; knowing the bar as I most thoroughly did,
had I been in her, I would under the circumstances have
strongly urged keeping to windward, as close to the red
buoy as possible, as I often did before, and after, in sailing-
craft ; but there was the chance that the captain might
have been a positive fellow like the master of Com-
modore Littledale's yacht mentioned at a later page,
and the engines might not have proved sufl&ciently
powerful to carry her in even with the windward vantage,
although I believed they would ; anyhow, the chances, I
should say, would have been enormously in her favour had
she kept sufficiently to windward, and I have often wondered
whether if I had gone and returned on board of her I should
have saved her, or been drowned with the rest of the crew.
I have forgotten what the number was of the crew who were
u
806 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
drowned, but if my memory serves me properly they all
perished, and the mortahty of pigs was enormous. Pig was
plentiful all about the shore inside and outside of the Straits.
Apropos of this, I have always felt that there is a great advan-
tage in the Channel through the south bank being nearer the
Carnarvonshire shore than more seaward S.W. When the
Channel breaks through nearer the south-east, it is, I am
now satisfied, as for the last thirty or forty years I have
behaved, that it is due to a long spell of strong north-east
winds. This we had in the winter and spring of 1901, and
I was anxious to know the result, which as I expected was a
breaking out in that more inshore direction. As south-west
winds are always in the ascendant, the north-west end of the
bank has the Channel most often, and for longer periods
through it. With a south-east gale it is most difficult to beat
up from the red buoy to Belan, when the Channel through the
south bank is far to the north-west, especially with a vessel
Hght in ballast, as for instance the case of the schooner
"VINE" OF NEVIN.
This vessel was very light in ballast, and was off the bar
in company with a schooner-yacht one evening. It blew
very hard from the south-east, and the yacht was too
well handled to run to leeward to Llanddwyn for a pilot,
and never having been in these parts before, could not
venture the bar without one. They accordingly changed
a hand with the Vine, receiving one of her crew instead. It
will be observed that this transfer was a less difficult opera-
tion wi<h a south-east wind, which is over the Carnarvon-
shire sho e, than it would have been with a westerly or
north-westerly wind, the sea being smoother for the passage,
and repassage of a boat from vessel to vessel. I was on
the Custom House wall, looking with a good deal of appre-
hension at the two vessels, but seeing the schooner-yacht
well inside of the Perch beacon, and not imagining that the
merchant schooner was so very hght in ballast, as it turned
out that she was, I came home satisfied, but learned the next
morning that the merchant schooner was the Vine of Nevin
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 307
and had missed stays and gone ashore on the north bank.
The next afternoon, in fine weather, I went down to the
vessel, with Mr. Jackson, and found the Vine with her
starboard side embedded in a pool of water she had made
for herself in the sand, her keel facing towards Llanddwyn,
and her two lower masts and topmasts pointing towards
Abermenai, so that one was able to sit on the masts and
topmasts or recline over them. There we met Lord New-
borough, who had crossed over from Bdan Fort. A
melancholy sight presented itself ; imder the Vine in the pool
could be seen the flaUened skull of a poor fellow, and his
father digging a httle trench from the pool towards the sea to
let the water off, which could only be done to a very small
degree. When he had let ofi a little water, he ran back, and
with a boat-hook Ufted, as far as he could, the flattened skull,
which was as flat as a plate, but as the poor sailor's body
was under the vessel, it was impossible to identify him.
The anxious seeker was the steward of the yacht, whose
son had been lent to the Vine in exchange for one of her crew
who knew the bar. I have quite forgotten what the mor-
tality of the crew of the Vine was. It being summer or
autumn time, the weather became fine and the Vine was
righted and brought in and repaired. On what apparently
small events our hves depend. The sailor who left the Vine in
exchange for one of the yacht's men, probably owed his life
to that circumstance, and the poor fellow who went from the
yacht to the Vine clearly lost his life through having gone.
The advantage of a drec^e for preserving the channel, as now
it has worked out nearer to the south-west, would be inestim-
able, as the distance to beat in against the south-west squalls
which blow with exceeding violence through the mountain
passes, would not be great, and had the passage through the
south bank been nearer in, and if more to the S.E., as it is
after long spells of east wind, it is probable that neither the
Monk nor the Vine would have been wrecked. It may
naturally and fairly be asked whether the maintenance of
the more inshore passage would have no disadvantage with a
north-westerly or westerly gale. I reply **yes" and "no."
Running to leeward to Llanddwyn for a pilot would be
808 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
answered "yes," but in all other respects, "no." In these
days so mudi more is done by steam and less by sailing-vessels,
that few of the latter are to be seen crossing the bar now.
It may be well asked why shipwrecks were more numerous
in former times than now, and for the last twenty or thirty
years. The change is easily accoimted for. The light-
ships in Cardigan and Carnarvon Bays, and the red light at
Llanddwyn form one cause. The compulsory examination
of masters and mates is another. Tug-boats play the most
prominent part in the reduction of shipwrecks. It was
formerly a common thing for an outward-boimd ship for
India, America, or other distant lands, to leave Liverpool,
and be kept a month perhaps in the Irish Channel beating
through fogs and gales, and in many instances wrecked
without even getting out of the Channel. Now such a
thing is rarely heard of ; the owner of a vessel outward
boimd hires a powerful tug, which tows her right out of the
Channel into the broad Atlantic, where she is free to tack
without fear of rocks or shoals. Inward-boimd vessels that
used continually to get out of their course and become em-
bayed in Cardigan and Carnarvon Bays, are now met at the
entrance of the Channel south of Irdand, and towed up to
Liverpool. In former times I have often counted from Parkia
from twenty to thirty ships, barques, and brigs, in Carnarvon
Bay, boimd for Liverpool. With an east wind they would
beat in within a few miles of Llanddwyn, and as the flood-
tide sweeps round the bay, they carried a side-wind and a
strong flood, which took them past Holyhead. Now a large
ship in Carnarvon Bay is a rara avis, as the tug tows her
straight up the Irish Sea (from the south of Ireland) to Liver-
pool. Many of the old wrecks in Carnarvon Bay were due
to vessels becoming embayed in it, and their failure to beat
out against strong north-westerly winds.
As the north-westerly gales blow straight into the bay
it is very hard to beat out, and the same observation applies
to the difficulty of a hfeboat getting out from Carnarvon
against it. On the other hand, Llanddwyn, being dead to
windward in a north west gale, the boat goes with a fair wind
to vessels on the bar, and to any stranded between lianael-
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 309
haiaxn and Belan. I often went out towards wrecks, but
having to face the gale was anticipated by the Llanddwyn
boat, which of course with a fair wind got to the
ship before us. About sixty years ago, or perhaps a
little less, a motion was made and carried at the Carnarvon
Harbour Trust that they should place a Ufeboat at Clynnog.
I was not a Trustee then, or would have strongly opposed it.
Several years later, I, being then a Trustee, proposed its
abolition, which I carried after more than one attempt.
It was a perfectly useless expense, and would never have
been proposed or carried by any one acquainted with the
possibilities and necessities of the case. During the whole
six or seven years it was there it did nothing ; and had it
remained to this day there would have been nothing to
show but the cost of its purchase and maintenance for more
than half a century. The gales that drive ships ashore
there are, as already shown, fair winds from Llanddwyn,
and the boat from there can go down very quickly. There
is no nautical population about Clynnog to man a lifeboat,
and unpractised hands would be as useless as a country
carter would be to drive a cab in the crowded streets of
London. Of the vessels stranded on the Carnarvon-
shire shore between Belan and Llanaelhaim were the
Spanish ship, of which earUer mention has been made ;
the Swallow brig, near Dinas Dinlle, purchased and got into
port by the late Mr. Humphrey Owen ; the brig Ann\
nearer to Belan than to Dinas Dinlle, got in without loss of
Ufe, the old (Crawley) Ufeboat having previously landed the
crew ; the ScotiUy not far from Qynnog, without loss of Ufe ;
the Hawk brigantine, and Heron brig, close together near
Afonhen; no loss of Ufe. These two vessels were got
into Carnarvon ; the Heron, a handsome Maltese brig, being
much strained, was puUed to pieces, and a brigantine
called the St, Helen, built with her material; but the original
was a very good-looking bird, which her successor hardly
was. The Hawk had not suffered much damage, and was
soon repaired. I went down to these two birds when they
were ashore, but incurred no risk and rendered no service,
as the weather had moderated and the vessels had gcine
810 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
far enough ashore for the crew to drop off the bowsprits
when the tide fell.
It may be well for an old hand to point out to future
generations that the difficulty of launching a boat on such a
lee shore as that, where the useless lifeboat I have named was
placed, between Belan and Llanaelhaim (where the bottom
for the greater part of the way is as hard as stones brought
down by a river and pounded to the hardness of rock can
make it), is enormous. A lifeboat manned by an undis-
ciplined crew of landsmen would be far worse than
useless, their position being as absurd as that of a man
not brought up to law or medicine would be to administer
either. As to drilling a crew not accustomed to the sea, the
thing is too ridiculous. As before stated, the Llanddwyn
lifeboat would get there with a fair wind from the quarter
causing the wreck ; but it would be most difficult and often
impossible to get her back to Llanddwyn in time to relieve any
other vessel in distress. The safest and best protection there-
fore for vessels stranding on the Carnarvonshire shore would
be the rocket apparatus for firing a line from the shore over
the ship, the crew of which could be landed, as often done in
similar places. I appUed for one many years ago, but wrecks
are so diminished on this coast that the Board of Trade
did not see their way to grant one, and I am bound to admit
that no wreck has taken place for several years there. I
forgot to mention a small barque, the name of which I do
not remember, that went ashore near Dinas Dinlle about
fifty years ago, but was got off and taken into Carnarvon,
where she lay alongside the quay for some time. The captain
and crew were paid off, and a ship-keeper appointed, who
slept in the cabin, which was a deck-house. He had a brace
of loaded pistols on the cabin table ; but a thief, or thieves,
broke quietly in, and stole what was valuable, including the
pistols, without waking the sleepy guardian. I visited the
barque when head on to the beach, but my visit was in fine
weather.
A ship laden with tea, bound from China to Liverpool,
the name of which, like too many others, I have now forgotten,
ran ashore in Malltraeth Creek, in Carnarvon Bay, near
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 811
Bodorgan,. Tugs in those days were scarce, and I drove
to Menai Bridge and arranged with the agent of the City of
Dubhn Company to send the Erin o' Bragh, the steamer
plying between Liverpool and Menai Bridge, to try and get
the ship off. It had to be done at night, as the Erin o' Bragh
had to go to Liverpool in the morning. This steamer was
commanded by Captain Warren, who had been a master's
mate (now called a sub-lieutenant) in the Navy, and an ex-
ceedingly nice gentlemanlike man he was. We went down
to the place at night, having got a light placed in a craft
anchored on the bar, and when we reached the ship sent
hawsers aboard, and commenced towing, or rather for some
time trying to tow. Any one who has tried to tow a groimded
craft by one afloat knows the contortions of the tow-er,
how she is drawn backwards right and left during her
struggles. This was the case in this instance, and the captain
of the tea ship set to to swear at us, as if we were pirates.
Captain Warren ordered the engines to be stopped, and told
the ruffian that if he dared to repeat his outrageous be-
haviour he would abandon the ship. Steam was again put
on, and the ship came off, and was saved.
On one occasion the lifeboat guns were fired at Lland-
dwyn, and I made an attempt with as brave a crew as ever
manned a Ufeboat ; but although the rowers did their best,
the heavy boat, which was rather high out of the water,
could not be propelled against the seas that met her ; and
seeing a large ship on the north bank of the bar at anchor,
with her three masts cut away, and bumping heavily, and
a large crowd from Newborough and the surrounding
country on the beach to leeward of her, I decided to
land at Abermenai, and leave our lifeboat there. We all
marched to the scene of action, swallowing a lot of sand if
we opened our mouths, as we faced a howling gale of wind,
which covered us with it. An American full-rigged ship
was riding at anchor on the bank with both cables out
at fuU scope (a ship's cable is 120 fathoms or 720 feet
long). The three masts had, of course, been cut away to
prevent the ship dragging her anchors. The ship's stem
was towards the shore, from which she was distant about
812 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
one or two cables' lengths. The Llanddwyn lifeboat
was high and dry on the beach opposite the ship. She
had gone down to the vessel with a fair wind from Lan-
:^4^^r/^ddw3m, and in hmrding had upset. Strange to say, she
/ had drifted ashore on her side, breaking all the oars on that
side ; and it was highly to the credit of the people on shore, of
whom there were about a hundred or more, that they got
her out of the water without damage or further loss of life
than that of one of the crew, who Wcis missing, having been
washed out of her, and drowned. How any one of the
* lifeboat crew escaped is astonishing, as the boat was for
some time entirely under water, but I presume that the
hollows of the breaking seas gave them breathing time, and
the distance to the shore was soon passed with the wind
blowing towards it.
My first consideration was how to get her out to the ship
with only sufficient oars to man one side ; and as the ship
was so near I unlashed a bucket from the Ufeboat (every-
thing is lashed in a Ufeboat, or it would be washed out of
her in heavy seas) and fastening a rope to it, held it up as
high as I could and threw it inland, the object being to get
something thrown from the ship with a line attached to it,
by which we could haul a hawser ashore, so that the crew
of the ship could tow us out to her. The smart Yankees
understood this at once, and threw out a cork-fender with a
line attached ; but the eddy formed astern by the big ship
and her masts at each side took it under her counter, where it
remained playing about. They then hauled it in, and attached
a large cask to the line. This cleared the ship and came pro-
vokingly near the shore, but was each time carried back-
wards and forwards by the backsend of the sea. I now did
a very foolish thing — attaching a line to my waist, the other
end being held by men ashore, I went into the sea to meet
the cask, and when I saw it above my head on the top of a
big wave I realised the folly of the act. Imagine a moving
cave with an overhanging entrance advancing with a large
barrel on the top, and an unwise man in the hollow below it.
Looking up at the barrel several feet higher than my head, I
at once saw the folly and danger of the position ; had I
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 818
been able to touch it, my shoulders would have been dis-
located in an instant, or had it touched my head it would
have flattened it Uke a pancake. The barrel came close to
me in this fashion for a time, advancing and retreating as be-
fore, but never reached the land, as the weight of the water
was heavy on the line, and there was a strong backsend of
sea also.
Being hauled in, I now did what I ought to have done at
first — ^held up a broken oar and dropped it, and then a whole
oar, and threw it towards the lifeboat on the strand. Brother
Jonathan understood me at once, and threw overboard
twice as many oars as we required. They all came ashore,
and I arranged to launch the Llanddwyn boat and wanted
all my crew with me to man her, but one of the crew of the
Llanddwyn boat, who was in her when she capsized, in-
sisted on coming, and I had no right to prevent him. With
the aid of the mass of people on the beach, who ran great risk
in launching us in such a sea, we got away. The waves
were excessively wicked, and the noise of them exceedingly
great ; we had not got far seaward before I saw that the
man who had forced himself on us was looking the picture
of abject fear, holding on with one hand to the thwart on
which he sat, and dragging his oar in the water with the other,
in short carrying out the well-known hindrance of ** catching
crabs." Threats and entreaties were all in vain, and the
boat could make no progress without all hands doing their
utmost, and this man's oar impeding us. Never in my life
did I witness such signs of consternation in any man's face.
I felt that I would be disgraced by turning back without
any apparent cause to those on the diip and the shore, about
20 men on the stem of the ship, who felt that their lives were
in our hands, and lOO or 200 spectators on the shore ; but
there was nothing else for it but to get rid of the frightened
man and to beat an ignominious retreat. Added to this
there was the natural disinclination to tirni a boat in a heavy
sea, which had already upset in turning before. I therefore
tinned for the shore with painful feehngs of humiliation, sta-
tioning a man in the bow ready to throw a rope to the people
when we got near the dry bank. We steered her straight for
814 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
it, and the rope was skilfully thrown and hauled by willing
hands. Acting on the orders I had given we all jumped
overboard when we got into shallow water, and helped to
keep the boat head on by running up with her, as a very
few minutes on her side would have dashed her to pieces,
but she was out of the water in no time without exposing
the lifeboat for a moment side on to the sea. ^
There was a lifeboat truck kept at TalyfowLin the
Menai Straits opposite Carnarvon, and I had requested Mr.
Humphry Owen, who was on the beach, to send horses for it,
but fearing delay we had gone out as stated. On our return
. the truck arrived with three horses. With the aid of the
CA'^t4/^l^ cr8\¥c on the beach we soon got the boat on the truck, and
went to Llanddwyn. Launching the boat from the place
she had started from in the morning we were soon with a
fair wind down by the ship. There was the broaching to
to be guarded against, as the boat had upset in the morning
on doing it.
Here we were met with a serious difficulty ; the masts
alongside were like battering-rams, and I wondered why
the crew had not cut them away, but I fancy the reason was
that if the ship went to pieces before aid from the shore came
the floating masts might then be cut loose and some of the
crew saved on them. Having seen the lifeboat upset once,
and put back afterwards (to land the fimky man), they were
perhaps right from their point of view. On getting inside
the battering-rams (masts) the greatest nicety of steering
was required. The fore- and main-masts were on the lee
side, and that was the best side for boarding the ship ; as
the boat might be staved in on the weather side ; we got
safely inside of a mast which, luckily for us, kept away at a
tolerable distance, and after five or six hours' work that
day we ventured to board the ship. For the benefit of any
of my readers if he should ever be placed in such a position,
I advise him to take good care if he boards a ship to get into
her while the boat is high up on the ship's side, as she is
one moment level with the ship's bulwarks, and in a very
few more seconds down by her keel. If you are on the
ladder as the boat goes up with a big sea, she will squeeze
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 815
you to death. The ship was thumping heavily, her stern
striking the ground first. As, for instance, if a man places
his elbow on a table, his fist being in the air, and then work-
ing his arm up and down with the hand hammering the table
under it. When the ship's bow rose it was a beautiful sight
to see the water falling from so great a length of the cables
as the bows of the ship lifted them with it. (The vessel
proved to be the brand new full-rigged ship SoanCy of Boston,
U.S.A., in ballast.) The tide had fallen a good deal and
the sea began to do so. I told the captain that we were
all as hollow as empty casks, or I would not have ventured
out of the boat alongside, and asked him to lower some food
and drink into the lifeboat for the men. He said, " We
are a teetotal ship, and I guess with a sea like this breaking
over us we could not cook anything to-day." A keg of
water and a bucket of biscuits were lowered for the men into
the boat. " Well," I said, " let me have anything you have
got to stow my lower hold, that really has nothing in it
but sand and salt water." We then went into th^ cabin
in a deck-house, and I set to, like a cannibal, eating from
a rib of cold roast beef cooked the day befo e, and a glass of
water. I recollect just as I was pouring the water into the
tumbler that the ship's stem gave one of those heavy bumps
with the "elbow" as I have described, and the big jug
cut the tumbler in two. The tide had fallen and the sea
got less, and I got a hawser to the shore, which got nearer as
the tide fell. The men were safely landed at Llanddwyn,
and we tramped back to Abermenai, and got safely back
to Carnarvon in the lifeboat, which we had been obliged
to leave in the morning at the former place. I slept at
Carnarvon that night, and was awakened in the morning
by some of my brave companions of the former day, who
said that there was another vessel on the bar — a brig on the
south bank, and that it was a beautiful morning, and that the
Llanddwyn lifeboat was with her. I asked if the Soane
had gone to pieces, and they said she had not, so I told them
to get a four-oared boat without any further delay, and that
we would go and see how matters stood. This they soon
did, and we started. The brig got off, and we met her in
816 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
the Gap with the Llanddwyn lifeboat alongside, boarded her
and changed boats, we taking the Llanddwyn lifeboat. We
rowed to the SoanCy the object of so much successful labour
the day before. I never remember being more impatient ;
the sea was easy, but the boat horribly heavy and slow.
We boarded the ship and sounded the well, and foimd that
she had only four feet of water in the hold, but five men might
as well have attempted to attack a regiment of soldiers as get
in two cables of 720 feet each. We therefore pulled away
for Llanddwyn to get the ship's crew. It was a lovely morn-
ing, and we left the slow lifeboat at Llanddwyn, returning
to the ship in a lighter and quicker boat, my object being
no longer to save Ufe but property. It was not strictly right
to use the lifeboat for that purpose. The captain required
great persuasion to induce him to go with us, but he and his
crew finally consented, and we went in the pilot's light
rowing boat, they following in another. On reaching the
ship I told the captain that as the tide would turn before
the long scope of cables could be got in, it would be useless
to attempt to go towards the Menai Straits, and advised him
to kedge her under the lee of Llanddwyn. He then said that
he would not in any way interfere in the matter. His position
was this : the vessel, which was insured, was a partial wreck,
dismasted, and otherwise damaged. The bar, tides, and
sandbanks, were imknown to him ; the ship was at anchor,
and if any mishap occurred through his interference the
insurance company would repudiate all responsibility. I
told him that it was a pity to leave the ship there, as a
recurrence of the gale would probably break her up. As it
was a fine day, I thought it would be practicable to kedge her
under shelter imder the lee of Llanddwyn. His reply was
a positive refusal to interfere. I then asked him if he would
raise any objection to my kedging the ship into shelter,
telling him that I had been to many wrecks, and asking if
he would allow the mates and crew to obey my orders. He
replied, ** You can take your own course, and do what you
please, and I will not interfere with the men or with you."
There was no time to be lost, so I set to work.
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 817
COMMANDING A LARGE AMERICAN SHIP.
Having ascertained the mate's name I desired him to order
the windlass to be manned, which was done promptly and
cheerfully. With the Americans and my people we were
about twenty-five men, and I sent some men into the hold
to bring up a kedge anchor and a hawser, which were got
ready with a boat to take the kedge. The port cable was soon
got in, and the anchor got out of the water. The starboard
cable was got " up and down," and the boat sent away with
the kedge in the direction of the deepest water, while we
got the starboard anchor up, and by alternately dropping
one anchor and sending off the kedge we at last got the ship
well under the lee shelter of Llanddw3ni. I then gave orders
to let go both anchors, and the ship soon after took the
ground very quietly. As we had the three masts and sails in
the water to tow and had frequently to drop anchor while
sending the kedge away, the operation . took many hours,
during which nothing could exceed the readiness and willing-
ness of all hands. When the work was over I sought out the
captain, whom I may call my predecessor, and reminded him
of What I had said the day before — that I disliked working
on an empty stomach ; and suggested that although he had
declined in any way to interfere in the management of the
ship he might feel at liberty to give an order as to the stores.
To this he raised no objection, and we had some coffee and
molasses and plenty of biscuits. Night was approaching
and it became suddenly very dark, and while the captain and
I were yarning in the cabin (deck-house) after our very
meagre feast, I was amazed to see the heads of two of my
men protruding into the cabin. They said, " It has come on
to blow hard. Sir, with sleet. It is so dark that we can't see to
the bow of the ship, and the sea is rising rapidly." " What
does it matter ? " I said. " The ship is fast aground in the
shelter of the rocks, and no vessel has ever gone to pieces in
this shelter." " We will not stay any longer, Sir," said one
of them. " What ! " I said, " men like you, who acted like
lions yesterday, are not going to act like sheep now ? "
" We had a lifeboat yesterday," they said, " and we have
818 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
only two common rowing-boats now, and they may be
staved alongside. So away we go." The fact is that the ship
being agroimd and perfectly stationary, the Yankee skipper
and I felt no motion ; but there was danger of the boats
being staved alongside as the men said, although the ship
was safe ; so away we went, and my command of the Soane
was ended. I never saw darkness come on so quickly or a
sea rise more rapidly. We got ashore in the boat we had
very much sooner than the other boat, as to which I may say
that I never liked the roimd bottoms of American boats.
A letter had been sent to Liverpool, and two tugs arrived
and towed the ship to Bangor. She had taken grain from
America to Galway, and while on her passage to Bangor to
load slates was driven into Carnarvon Bay in a gale of
extraordinary fury. " Losing way " on each tack she
finally anchored, and cut away her masts as already stated.
She was thoroughly repaired at Bangor, and came back to
Carnarvon on her way back to America; and here was
another surprise for me. She groimded with an experi-
enced Carnarvon pilot on board ; and to his and my astonish-
ment, and that of Mr. Jackson, the Harbour Surveyor, we
saw her aground in ten feet of water, where plenty of ships
of her size had floated before. That bank in a few years
was ten feet out of the water, the whole being the result
of the mischievous interference by men entirely ignorant
of the subject, who ran a stone wall across the tide at
Carnarvon, and deflected the flood and ebb, with the result
of sending into dead water, where it simk, the whole of the
sand in suspension from a gutter through a sand-bank
called the Foel gutter. That sand in suspension, which was
previously carried to sea, was thus kept in the Straits.
It was suggested to me that I ought to claim heavy salvage
for saving the ship. I could only say that my Ufeboat
experiences were some of the pleasantest recollections of my
Ufe, and had I been acting as a mercenary that pleasure
would have been lost. I have mentioned that the Soane
was a new ship, and in ballast. She had a great advantage
over ships I have often seen ; heavily laden ships ground
sooner, and, being worked into the sand, are soon broken up.
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 819
There is a great difference too between boarding a deeply
laden vessel burrowing in the sand and a light vessel in
ballast high out of the water. In the first, the Ufeboat may
be thrown against the ship's rigging or even on board a ship
very deep in the water, in which case dropping an anchor in a
good position ahead of the ship may prove useful, as I have
found. In a flying Ught ship very high out of the water
it is necessary to take care not to ascend or descend when
the hfeboat is falling into the trough of a sea.
After the hfeboat given to the Harbour Trust by Ad-
miral Crawley finished her career of usefulness, her departure
from old age being to me that of an old friend, whose face
had been washed in her on so many occasions, the Trustees
of the Harbour purchased a small harbour Ufeboat. I
made several trips in her, but, as already stated, we were
alwa5rs going against a gale, and the Llanddwyn boat, start-
ing from the windward, necessarily got to the ship first,
and when we saw that the crews were safe we did not go
further. My last adventure in this boat was a curious one.
There was a brigantine on the west angle of the South Bank,
and I started to go to her in this boat, which had only four
oars, and those working in ordinary rowlocks, and not on
iron pins with grummets, as on proper Ufeboats. The oars
were incessantly pitched out of the rowlocks. When we got
about midway abreast of the South Bank I saw the Llan-
ddwyn hfeboat at anchor on the outside south-west of the
South Bank. I felt no moral doubt that the crew of the vessel
(which she must have passed to get to where she was) were
safe in her, but as we could only see two men in her I did
not feel justified in assuming that she had got the crew.
Having so large and so long an experience of the bar, I felt
satisfied that if the ship had meant going to pieces that tide,
she would have already done so, as the ebbing tide gave
her some protection by lessening the depth of water outside
of her, but I had no doubt that if the gale continued her
doom would be sealed with the flood tide. I therefore deter-
mined, as the water had shoaled over the South Bank which
dries at low water, to anchor our boat close to the bank,
and wade across to the other hfeboat. I rightly guessed
820 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
that the depth at that tune of tide would not average more
than about four feet. This distance and the gale of course
prevented communication by the voice, but when the people
in the other boat saw me start I wonder it did not occur
to them to stand up and show that they were saved. It
was a curious sort of undertaking, and after a long struggle
I found myself leaning on the gunwale of the Llanddwyn
lifeboat with her own crew and that of the Meteor Flag, all but
two, on the watch, lying down for shelter out of the cold, and
I heartily wished some one amongst them had possessed
sufficient imagination to guess why a man should in cold
weather take such a rash step, excepting to ascertain whether
the crew were safe, as there are necessarily indentations
on bar and sandbanks, and some wreckage that a man
may tumble over. They might have thought of saving a man
# the journey by showing themselves. The return was easier,
H^A£^ui^U^^^^ water being shallowjlj^d I got back to the other boat,
which was backed from her anchor to get me in. On
arrival back at Carnarvon I was asked what we had been
having guns fired from Belan Fort for ? It seems that Lord
Newborough, I suppose to stir us all up, had fired his guns
from Belan ; but as we were a mile and a half to windward
when the guns were fired we never heard them, whereas Car-
narvon being to leeward the soimd was carried there, and
people were naturally afraid the lifeboats had met with
disaster, as I never doubted would be the case. The Meteor
Flag flew it no more, as she totally disappeared with the
flood tide, having gone to atoms. As I had passed the
meridian of life, and for the reasons I have assigned for the
diminution of wrecks, which in this bay are becoming as
rare as the Dodo, this was my last adventure in lifeboats ;
and if I had my life to begin over again, with the choice of
two days' real satisfaction, I would choose the two days'
work on the American ship Soane of Boston.
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 821
ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION.
On a date now forgotten, the Jubilee meeting of the
friends and supporters of the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution was held at the London Tavem, Bishopsgate
Street ; his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, P.C, D.C.L.,
President of the Institution, occupied the chair.
" His Grace, in opening the proceedings, gave an interesting
account of the operations of the Society since its establish-
ment. The Secretary then read the Report, which was adop-
ted ; and a motion, proposed by Admiral Sir J. W. Tarleton,
and seconded by Mr. George Lyall, a vote of thanks to ^e
Admiralty, the Board of Trade, and the ofGicers and men of
the Coastguard service for their assistance to the Society,
was moved by Mr. Hubbard, M.P., and seconded by Sir
Llewelyn Turner, who said :
" My Lord Duke, my Lords and Gentlemen, — I rise with a
peculiar pleasure to respond to the call of your Grace, to
second the resolution which has just been read. We live
in days when charitable and other societies must stand or
fall according to their abiUty to pass the ordeal of public
criticism and inquiry. As a member of that valuable in-
stitution, the Charity Organisation Society, I rejoice that
it is so. The Times of this morning contains a most useful
article on the subject of charity, and the duty of those who
attempt to guide public opinion to endeavour to lead it
to a just appreciation of the great difference between those
appeals which address themselves to our immediate sym-
pathies only and those more deserving ones which will stand
the strict test of examination. It is to me matter of intense
satisfaction that this great Institution requires no eloquence
either to recommend or to justify it. The wreck chart
which hangs from that gallery before us appeals to us in
language more forcible, with argument more convincing,
than any that my feeble tongue can utter — a language that
addresses itself at once to the heart and the imderstanding ;
and however much the heart may be affected by a tale of
woe, I maintain that before the purse-strings are opened,
the impressions of the heart should be confirmed by the judg-
X
822 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
ment ; and I feel that I shall carry the meeting with me
when I say that, abounding as the world does with real
objects of commiseration, it is the duty of all narrowly to
inquire before they bestow on unworthy or doubtful objects
that charity that may be of inestimable value when judi-
ciously and sensibly apphed. The professed and possibly
the real objects of a charity may be good, and yet every
farthing bestowed upon it may be simply wasted. It be-
hoves us, therefore, to examine not simply the object, but
also the administration and management of a charity.
Here is one that will pass through the ordeal of both tests—
th^t stands on the most solid basis. There is not under the
sun any other nation that owes so much to the sailor, or
depends so much upon him. With a commerce the largest,
a colonial empire the most stupendous, the sailor is at
once our great carrier and our first line of defence ; and
going as he does to sea at an early age, he cannot be
expected to enter into those things that concern his
own interests and protection as those whose lives are
spent in constant contact with their fellows ; indeed, we
continually find that the man who, geographically speaking,
has seen an enormous range of the universe, knows actually
less of what we understand and mean by the term world
than the dwellers of great cities who rarely pass their bounds.
His occupation, too, is hazardous beyond that of ordinary
callings, and, like a traveller who has escaped the dangers
of the forest, or the footpad, and is garrotted at his own
door, the sailor, after escaping the dangers of the ocean, is
too often dashed upon the shoals and rocks of his own
coast. Hitherto I have been speaking of the dangers that
called, and called loudly, for such a Society as this. It may
now be permitted me to speak as to the practical working of
it, of the good sense that is displayed in its management.
As chairman of the local lifeboat committee, I have ever
felt that we were dealing with an Institution carefully and
judiciously governed. Yesterday I had the opportunity of
going over the headquarters with Mr. Lewis, the able and
indefatigable secretary, whose name is so well and so hon-
oiu-ably known in connection with it ; and subsequently I
SHIPWRECKS AND LIFEBOATS 828
had the pleasure of accompanying its admirable first in-
spector, Captain Ward, R.N., over the yard of Messrs.
Forrest, where the boats are so well built and repaired, and
of seeing a lifeboat tested by capsizing with a crane and
being loaded with men, prior to being sent to a dangerous
part of the coast. As an old lifeboat volimteer myself, I
believe I have a practical acquaintance with the subject,
and I aJ0&rm that nothing can be more perfect and — ^like
many perfect things — less pretentious than the whole
arrangements. In seconding the vote of thanks to the Ad-
miralty and Coastguard, it seems to me that there is an
appropriateness in the combination as it were of those great
branches of the public service with the affairs of this national
undertaking, and I am glad to see my friend Admiral Sir
Walter Tarleton, one of the Lords of the Admiralty, taking
part in the proceedings of the day. The effect of discipline,
whether upon individuals or communities, when properly
exercised, is necessarily beneficial, and the example of
discipline around our coasts cannot fail to be most advan-
tageous. I happen to reside near a Coastguard station
where numbers of merchant seamen in the naval reserves
are drilled by the Coastguard, the effect being of great value,
as I can fully testify. TTie result of discipline of another kmd
is visible in the working of this Society. Your Grace des-
cribed to us the loss of four valuable lives, caused by the
disaster to the lifeboat near Aberdeen ; I inspected the
boat carefully yesterday, and I do not hesitate to say that
had the building of Mr. Forrest been less careful, the
inspection of Captain Ward and his brethren less accurate
and real, we should have had to mourn the loss of the whole
crew. So faithfully, however, has the boat been put to-
gether that with so many holes battered in her bottom by
the rocks, she would land a crew from a ship to-day, her
air cases being intact. It is a great satisfaction to all around
the coast who have to ask men to risk their lives in these
' forlorn hopes ' to know that the boats are so faithfully
inspected and built. I have great pleasure in joining in
this jubilee, and in seconding the vote of thanks to the
Admiralty and Coastguard department ; and in doing so I
824 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
hope I may not be out of place in suggesting, as the Com-
modore of a Royal Yacht Club myself, that in return for
the privilege we enjoy of having the Admiralty warrant, the
various yacht dubs should ally themselves more closely
and give more personal aid to the great work of this Institu-
tion ; there are many yachtsmen who would make valuable
volunteers for Ufeboats.
" The motion was put and carried, and the proceedings
closed with a cordial vote of thanks to the Chairman."
CHAPTER VIII
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE
Thy task may well seem over hard
Who scatterest in a thankless soil
Thy life as seed with no reward,
Save that which duty gives to toil.
Whittier.
Municipal apathy — Local Board established at Carnarvon
— Foul and insanitary courts — Dif&culty of obtaining
building sites — Hotbeds of fever — Apathy in London —
The cholera — An early victim — Health Committee — Ser-
vices of the Rev. J. C. Vincent — Dr. Seaton's opinion of
Carnarvon — Sir Llewelyn's vigorous actions — Threats of
violence — Interested opposition — Struggle with pig-keepers
— ** Hearing a smell " — Builders on Sanitary Boards an
evil — Pig-styes and fever at Bontnewydd — Complaints of
poor-law officials — Wanted gentlemen of position — Den-
bighshire an example — Carnarvon as residence for retired
officers — Nuisances round the Castle — Carnarvon as it
might have been — Sympathy of Sir R. Bulkeley, Lord
Newborough,and Colonel Williams — A narrow gauge rail-
way to Gaerwen — The useless bridge
Before I reached the period commonly regarded as the
" years of discretion " and those of manhood I was strongly
impressed by the beauties of Carnarvon Castle, and the grand
old town walls, described by Speed as " a town within a
castle, and a castle within a town ; " and it always appeared
to me that nature and Edward I. had created vast pos-
sibilities that it was sinful to ignore, and I felt the strongest
wish to see the place restored to its pristine state. In very
early manhood I joined the old Highway Board oi Car-
narvon, and took a very great interest in the improvement
of the roads and streets, though resident in another parish
out of the borough. At that time the Corporation did
826 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
absolutdy nothing, and any one who has the curiosity to
examine the entries in the minute-book of the Corporation
during some years may be surprised to read such entries
as — " there being no business the meeting was adjourned."
I felt the deepest anxiety to see the place rescued from the
lethargy that prevailed, and placed in that position to which
its natural advantages seemed to point. No other course
seemed to me open but to establish a Local Board, and having
explained the matter to many of the leading merchants and
traders I obtained their signatures to the necessary docu-
ments towards getting it done.
A Local Board was established, and very considerable
improvements in the town were carried out. The Corporation,
which had been asleep for a very long time, woke up, and the
business was done by them. Owing to the shamefvd neglect
of the authorities that allowed coints to be erected in what
had been, and ought always to have continued to be, the
back yards of houses, men and women in large numbers were
housed in places totally unfit for the occupation of hiunan
beings. These courts, surrounded in all cases by houses and
approached from the streets by covered wa)^ taken from
the street houses, were not fit for dogs. None of the courts
possessed a convenience, and there was no drainage nor
water-supply. The ground in front of the wretched dwellings
was paved with small cobbles, and the filthy comiition of
them was necessarily abominable. It goes without saying
that people reared amid such surroimdings were degraded
in the extreme, and it was not the fault of the people them-
selves that there was much crime and sickness amongst them.
It was remarked by some one whose business took him con-
tinually to Carnarvon, that it was the only finished town
in the kingdom ; and when asked to explain, he said that
they had done building and that a new house had not been
erected for many years, all building being at an end. Neither
he nor any one else passing along the streets would dream
that openings cut through street houses led by passages into
these vile abominations, the courts being built roimd the
back yards, the street houses being reduced by the passage
cut off. To my mind it was and is absolutely astonishing
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE 827
that owners of green fields, on which people were ready to
build houses, refused either to l^se or sell them for building
purposes, although the rent they would receive would be
twentyfold greater for streets of houses than for agri-
cultural purposes.
" Of all the doctrines of devils none seems to me so earthly
so sensual, so deviUsh, as that which teaches that a man
can do just as he wills with his own, and live as best pleases
himself in this present world." — Bishop Fraser.
Some of the back slirnis of the town, but especially the
courts, were almost always nests of fever, and to add to the
evil pigs in large numbers and in some instances cows were
kept in such places, the animals being in many cases passed
into the backyards through the houses.
The exertions I made to reduce the mortality of the town
led to my being requested by two parties in the Corporation
to accept the post of Mayor of the town, though not living
in it ; and having accepted it, I was able to carry on the work
for some years of partially cleansing the Augean stable. We
have high and ancient authority for the statement, and ex-
perience proves, that habit becomes second nature, and
that people who have been bom and bred in filthy surround-
ings become so used to them that they look upon those
who endeavour to improve their lot by pulling down and
clearing away houses unfit for hiunan habitation, and
removing filthy surroundings as their enemies. I was
actuated by a strong and ardent desire to lower the high
mortality of the town, and to lead people into a higher and
better life, a desire impossible of accomplishment within any
short compass, and the difficulties of which I had hardly
anticipated. The owners of small houses regarded me as a
sort of emissary of the Evil One, and, like the followers of
Diana of the Ephesians, felt that " their craft was in danger."
Passing over the long and weary times I spent as a public
scavenger — for that was really my occupation, although
in politeness I was called " Mayor " — I endeavoured in vain
to obtain larger powers from Government. There was a
street in the district of the town called Smithfield, which
ended in a cut de sac, with a wall across the upper end, behind
828 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
which was a slaughter-house, from which blood and filth of
all sorts flowed through bracks into the street and down
into the houses, which were not free from fever for three
entire years. Armed with this strong argmnent, I applied
to the proper department to put the Diseases Prevention
Act into force ; and my experience of the " how not to do
it " of the public offices, so well described by Dickens, not
being so great as it soon afterwards became, I was amazed
to receive a reply that " I had not made out a sufficient case,"
and the fever was allowed to run its course. The task of
Hercules, we are told, was made easy by diverting a great
river which swept away the filth, but his humble imitator
who is here recording his difficulties had no such assistance.
Many owners of dwellings imfit for human habitation were
members of the governing bodies of the town, and the task
of reconciling public duty with private interests was Augean.
A people so long used to unwholesome surroundings were
most difficult to move, imtil nature resented the conditions
of things, and an outbreak of cholera afforded me the aid
which the river Alpheus or the Pineus gave to Hercules.
My grave assistant had not been unforeseen by me, for
many weeks before the cholera broke out in Carnarvon, I
had bills posted all over the place pointing out its existence
in Europe, and the necessity for cleanliness, warnings
which were renewed on the appearance of the pestilence
in England. It was a somewhat curious circumstance that
one of the early deaths from this scourge was a man who,
to the discredit of the parochial authorities, was, and had
been for years, in receipt of parish relief. He was always
well dressed, and was a high authority amongst the fre-
quenters of taverns, and kept a pleasure boat. This un-
fortimate man was one day reading one of the notices calling
upon all persons to avoid fostering filth, and informing all
poor persons that lime would be given to them gratis, and
brushes lent to them at the police office. Constituting
himself a guardian of the public rates, which aided in keeping
him in idleness, he pointed out to a sympathetic audience of
idlers, what a waste it was to tax people for printing such
nonsense, the effect of which was, he said, most injurious
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE 829
to the town by deterring people from coming into it. A
far geater deterrent was at hand, and a very brief space
elapsed ere the enemy entered the ancient town and com-
menced the rapid slaughter which the greed and short-
sighted policy of property-owners inside and outside of the
town had prepared for the conqueror. The tongue of
the poor man who had denounced my preparations for
resistance, with that of so many others, was silent for ever,
and nothing remained but to increase those precautions
which the practice of greed and false economy had too long
delayed. A Health Committee was at once elected, with
daily sittings in the Guildhall every morning at nine o'clock,
Sundays inclusive. I am afraid that I was considered a
very strict chairman, for if any one was five minutes behind
the hour of nine, he was decidedly reminded of it ; and my
dog-cart arrived a quarter of an hour before nine for con-
sultation with the Surveyor and ofiicials. Ptmctuality
was highly necessary, as the scavengers had to be at their
posts at ten o'clock to clear the courts of the human filth
thrown out of the windows by that time ; there being no
'* accommodation " the poor people had no other means of
getting rid of it. At the hour named the floors of the courts
were cleared, and were made white with lime and disinfec-
tants. I have seen them as white as snow after the cleansing,
and on visiting the same place at three or four o'clock in
the afternoon they were dark with a mass of disgusting
filth, so much so that I never entered this house (Parkia) after
such visits without changing my shoes outside the door,
and that after dipping them in the pond and rubbing them
in the grass. " Dirty beasts " was the epithet applied to
these poor degraded people by folks who heard for the first
time of these courts and their inhabitants.
Were the poor wretches who occupied these places human
beings ? Were they considered to be so ? If they were
who was responsible for their being worse housed than
if they were the beasts that perish ? Emphatically I say
not the poor people themselves. I ask again who was res-
ponsible ? Churches and chapels abound ; we sit in our
comfortable pews, we return to bask in the sunshine of our
880 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
pleasant homes. My position was a most unenviable
one ; many friends or supposed friends blamed me for
wasting my time, as they said, on a thankless public. The
owners of small houses wished me to Jericho and r^arded
me as a dangerous foe, and the poor degraded victims of
dirt could not quarrel with a state of things which being
normal was regarded as reasonable. The Rev. J. C. Vincent,
the Vicar of Carnarvon, and I visited all the haunts of filth
on the breaking out of the disease, but the time had been
allowed to pass by in which prevention was possible. Nobly
he acted in attending the bedsides of the d3dng at aU hours
of the night — death-beds that were the result of neglect,
selfishness, and filth. Few if any left this world without
the consolation of Mr. Vincent's religious ministrations;
and it would be sinful on my part to omit the noble
behaviour of Mr. David Thomas, the brave and devoted
relieving-officer.
I wrote to all owners of property adjoining the town,
pointing out the evils of over-crowding, and the utter im-
possibility of abating them without land to build upon, and
in some instances was not replied to with common courtesy.
The suggestions I had long before made for obtaining
a pure and sufficient water-supply and efficient drainage
had been strongly opposed by members of the Corporation
and others, but the cholera proved an efficient ally,
and the order was made for both ; but the immediate want
of allaying the disease could not be met by operations
requiring long periods to carry them out, and temporary
measures were difl&cult. Dr. Seaton, the able inspector
sent down by Government, dined with me at Parkia, and
he assured me that he had never in all his experience wit-
nessed anything so bad as the undrained portions of the
town, more espedaUy the crowded courts, which were indes-
cribably abominable sinks of disease. I told him that I was
perfectly at one with him on the subject of the fearful con-
dition of the place, of which I had long before apprised the
authorities in London, a subject on which he could not in
the circumstances say much. He gave us full credit for
what was being done, but very properly pointed out that
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE 881
temporary measures were quite inadequate to do more
than temporarily reduce the mortality from all causes,
and that nothing but good water and drainage, and an
extension of the town with the destruction of the courts^ could
prevent such outbreaks of cholera, fever, etc. This doc-
trine I had preached in vain, but coming from the public
inspector it was listened to and acted upon with the
very best results, so far as the water-supply and drainage
were concerned. Lord Newborough and Mr. Bulkeley
Hughes were the trustees of the Coedhelen estate, in which
there was then a minority, and I pointed out to them the
advantage to all parties that* would arise from opening a very
large field at Twthill for building. They readily agreed to
lease it, and it was soon after covered with streets, and back
lanes for the removal of refuse and taking in coals, etc. etc., to
the great rehef of the over-crowded slums; but this is
anticipating, as it of course followed the cholera. " It
goes without saying " that the value of the field was enor-
mously enhanced ; and yet it required this example to induce
other owners to follow suit.
During the raid I made on places unfit for human occu-
pation I received some letters of warning, one of which was
rather amusing. The writer, who I had no doubt was an
owner of small houses, wrote strongly, urging me not to
interfere with the dwellings of the poor, and advising me on
no account to be out after dark, as there were many who
had suffered by my action who had determined to take my
life. I had visited some houses a few da)^ before, and given
the owners fair warning that unless they were put into proper
order in forty-eight hours it would be done and charged to
him. He was no doubt afraid that a direct threat would
betray him, so he laid the intention to the charge of the
unfortunate victims of greed. A relation of this man, who
was also a gross offender, actually drove up to Parkia one
day and endeavoured in a way that highly amused me to
prevent my interference by an indirect attempt at bribery.
They were both very ignorant men, as may be imagined
(though they were large owners of small houses), or they would
have never adopted such silly methods. Neither I nor the
882 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Inspector of Nuisances had any doubt as to the writer of the
letter.
There were two houses in an out-of-the-way part of the
town the only approach to which was a space of about ten
feet between the ends of two houses, in an adjacent street.
These houses were in an exceedingly dilapidated state and
entirely concealed from the street, all portable things, in-
cluding about half the slates of the roof and the doors, having
been stolen ; the pohce and Nuisance Inspector reported
that they were nightly occupied by the very lowest class of
prostitutes and others, and that as soon as the backs of the
pohce were turned after ejecting them, they returned. I
visited the place, and caused a wall ten feet high to be bmlt
across the narrow approach and to be completed in a day,
which was done. The next morning it was reported as having
been entirely pulled down m the night. As nobody could
ascertain who owned the houses, I took the responsibiUty of
ordering them to be pulled down, which was at once done,
and from that day to this I never heard who were the owners.
Had this nest of filth and wickedness been allowed to
remain it would probably have become an additional cholera
trap.
One court rejoiced in the unsavoury title of " Court y baw
iaty^ the dirt of fowls, the over-crowding of human creatures
being supplemented by quantities of hens. This vile place
was in a sad state of filth, and the inmates of one house were
amazed when I told them that they were pa3ang more than
£% a year rent. The shocking place they occupied was let to
them at 3s. (>d, per week, and it was some time before they
realised the fact that fifty-two times 3s. 6i. came to more
than ;f 8 in a year. A poor wretch died in the house, which
had a window opening to a lane. It was reported to me
that a dog had rushed out of the place with his back covered
with human filth, the poor animal having been under the bed
of the cholera patient, and I therefore made a dead set at
all dogs kept in such places, and ordered their destruction.
It was an exceptional thing that a court had a window to
a lane ; and passing the place soon after the cholera death, I
saw the feather-bed on which the patient had died actu-
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE 888
ally exposed at the window to dry, and ordered it to be des-
troyed ; feather beds in confined places like these, where
there could not be sufl&cient space for them, must be un-
wholesome and most objectionable, and I remember
wondering how they could have stowed it. I fear I was a
dreadful invader of the liberty of the subject at this time, but
it was some reward to find the Lancet recognising my humble
exertions, and they gave special prominence in one of their
articles in which they applauded a statement in a public
speech that " / wotdd recognise no property in dirt.^^ It is
difficult to realise the extent to which the cholera would
have continued its destruction if the most vigorous attacks
on dirt had not been made, and it had to be borne in mind
that to disturb the vast accumulations of filth which had
acciunulated in many places would have extended and in-
creased the mortality ; therefore it was decided to disinfect
and cover them to the utmost with layers of lime and sand
until better times. At one time it appeared to me that
nothing short of tents or huts on the upper and dry ground
of the Marsh (now the public park) would save the dwellers
of courts and other vile places from destruction, and I pro-
posed it to the Sanitary Conmiittee, who were of the same
opinion ; but the vigorous use of lime and disinfectants,
and the forcible closing of courts and other dens, prevailed
over the disease. One great source of disease was the large
number of swine kept in the town, which were forcibly ex-
pelled. I was told that an elderly man was living, or rather
existing, in a court at the back of Mountain Street, on the
south-west side, and that he had long been suffering from
typhus or typhoid fever, I forget which. I went to the
court, which was fortunately open to the south-west wind,
and not shut out from sun and wind like almost all the rest ;
being to windward with a south-west gale blowing I ven-
tured to open the door, and told the old man that I was
sorry to hear he had been so long ailing, and the reply I got
was that he was suffering very much, " and would have died
long ago but for the smell of the pig ! " The aforesaid
animal was outside the house, and like myself to windward
of the house and man.
884 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
The ruthless sanitary ofl&cers removed the pig, and the old
man recovered, notwithstanding the deprivation of the
scent. Daily evidence was afforded of the fact that poor
uneducated people considered dirt and such odours as those
of pigs to be exceedingly wholesome, and regarded sanitary
action as a sad attack upon their rights. Thank God that
the schoolmaster is abroad, and I trust cleanliness is one
of the creeds that he teaches. It goes without saying that
many of the owners of these dens of himian degradation
and destruction fostered this beUef, and it would hardly
be believed what curious attempts were made by some of
them to divert the devil (as they regarded me) from his evil
doings and undoings. The strong opposition to my pro-
posals for an efficient water-supply and drainage whidi had
preceded the cholera was closed by its ravages ; it enabled
me to carry the point, which, as I think I have already said,
could not have been done without its aid.
When the devil was ill, the devil a saint would be.
But when the devil mtes well, the devil a saint was he ;
and so it was with some members of the Corporation, who
had opposed the water and drainage for two or three years
prior to the cholera ; their pluck failed when the hand of
death was busy, and little was seen of them while the plague
lasted ; but as soon as the funk was over, it was again " the
devil a saint was he," and the opposition was renewed ; but
it was too late. I had not been quite " so green " as to let
the opportunity pass, and the poor man lived to reaUse that
he was a considerable gainer by the fine supply of water
that followed. The folly and forgetfulness of the ignorant
and uneducated are certainly most difficult to deal with ; one
hundred people had, by death from cholera, paid the penalty
of living amid filthy surroundings, but it was nothing to the
general decay and death due to dirt which had been going on
for years. The abolition of the filth had been met by an im-
mense amount of opposition, which was for some time par-
tially deadened by cholera mortaUty ; but no sooner did the
scourge cease than a combination of pig owners took place,
and nearly the whole of the swine that had been forcibly
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE 335
removed out of the town were brought back again. I at once
directed that siunmonses should be taken out against the
offenders ; oddly enough, I had been spending Sunday in
Anglesey, and travelled from Treborth Station in the train
to Carnarvon, and on taking my seat in the Guildhall
found it hteraUy crammed with defendants and sympathisers,
and I found that I had been travelling with the learned
gentleman who had been imported for the defence, whose
presence was made known by the usual pohte bow in court.
Amongst the witnesses called for one defendant was a mem-
ber of the Corporation, whose rephes were a decided rehef
to the monotony of the proceedings. The questions asked
by the defendant's counsd were : " Mr. , I beUeve you
are a member of the Corporation of Carnarvon ? "
" I am, Sir."
* ' You reside, I beUeve, next door to the defendant,
Mr. ? "
" I do. Sir."
" I believe your bedroom window faces the yard in which
Mr. keeps his pigs ? "
" Yes, Sir, it does."
"Now, have you ever been annoyed by any smell from
the pigs ? "
" I never heard any smell." (Laughter.) " I — that is, I
never saw any smell."
From the Bench : " You are positively certain that you
never heard nor saw a smell ? "
" No, Sir, I did not." (Loud laughter.)
The defendants were all convicted and fined to the full
amount with costs. A case was apphed for and peremp-
torily refused, and the pigs were again ejected.
The town was drained, and an excellent supply of water
obtained. Can any reasonable man doubt that had these
and the other precautions not been taken, many of
those now alive, and many who lived for years after the
cholera, would have paid the penalty of thus living in a
filthy town, and would have joined the majority long before
their time ? Yet many of these people were loud in the
abuse of one whose aim was their good.
886 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Parkia is in another parish, and well away from the town
and the haunts of cholera, but until incapacitated for a few
days by a serious attack of English cholera I was at my
post at the Guildhall every morning before nine o'clock.
It is a pity thai no law can he devised by which the owners of
-filthy dwellings could be kept out of public bodies which are
supposed and intended to be the guardians of the public
health; but so far is this from being possible, that those
who recklessly build are reckless in their representations
to ignorant men whose suffrages they obtain. It is to be
hoped that with the spread of education people may be
found to inquire into questions of this kind. A jerry
builder or a jerry contractor with a voice in the management
of a town is a curse to the locahty. A man builds, or con-
tracts to erect, perhaps a row of houses ; the law very
righteously says that he must drain ; he is perhaps a
member of the body which is to see to its being properly done,
and often takes care to be on the Board (I taiow of many
such cases) ; there may be a bit of rock or a large stone in
the way of the drain, the ends of two pipes meet at the top
of the stone or piece of rock, and the odour of perhaps hun-
dreds of yards of drains comes up into the house through
the aperture. " Oh," you will perhaps say, " but there is
the Surveyor." My dear sir, the builder and perhaps the
owner, is a member of the governing body, and as such the
master of the Surveyor, and instances have not been rare in
which the latter was neither a sober nor an independent
person. Until the public is sufficiently educated and in-
formed upon such matters, and no man is elected upon public
Boards who has an interest in risking the public health, that
cannot be assured. Take the town of Carnarvon, the upper
portion of which is very high and far above sea level ; let
the sewers of a house half a mile above the sea have a
drain with the ends of two pipes open as described, the odour
of the drainage from half a mile of sewage has a vent in
that house, where, if the vent exists, fever must generate,
and soon spreads into the adjacent dwellings.
I recollect the time when the village of Bontnewydd,
near Carnarvon, which ought to be as healthy a place as
CLEANSING TI^E AUGEAN STABLE 887
can be found, was alwa)^ subject to fever in a row of houses
at the top of the hill ; each house had a pig-stye at the back,
the only drain from which was under the floor of the house,
discharging into the open gutter in the road. The only
cover of the drain of each house was the slate flag forming
part of the floor, which was all slate. I was Chairman of
the Board of Guardians, and being aware of the condition of
these houses and the frequent fevers in them I availed
myself of the provisions of an Act of Parliament, and the
owners were compelled to make a drain behind down to the
valley below, and so prevent the drain passing under the
houses.
I trust the day is not far distant when the pubhc will learn
that men who are interested in avoiding the prevention of
these things which are prejudicial to health may be excluded
from pubhc Boards. When I was a Guardian of the poor
there were two notoriously drunken women, who begged
from door to door, who each received 5s. a week parochial
rehef. These women derived a considerable revenue
from begging for house-leavings, which they sold for pigs'
meat, and spent in liquor. These were well backed by
relations who were Guardians. I once knew a case where
Lord Newborough and other magistrates sitting with him
most properly fined a well-to-do man for not maintaining
his parents, with a term of imprisonment in default. Yet
that man was in later years elected a Guardian of the poor.
Such cases as these, by which the pubhc so largely suffer,
might advantageously be explained to the unwary, who
by their votes afford the opportunity for indirect plunder.
When I was Chairman of the Guardians a most serious charge
of iniquitous plunder was brought against a parochial ofl&cer
by a poor widow .belonging to a distant parish, whose
allowance was paid to the reUeving- ofl&cer where she hved.
I suggested that a day should be appointed to hear evidence
and examine into the charges. A Guardian at once came •
to the rescue and objected " that the character of a respect-
able man should be taken away by a pauper." I rephed
that it was our business to protect paupers as well as others,
and that if innocent of the charge no one was so much
Y
888 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
interested in having an investigation as the person against
whom the allegation was made, and that if I was the only
Guardian to do it I would hold an inquiry. I named a day
when I would attend at the workhouse. In the meantime
on my return home one day from Liverpool, I was informed
by my housekeeper at Parkia that a man had sent me a
present of four woodcocks. I asked who they came from,
and it turned out to be the parochial officer in question,
upon which I at once sent a man over to this man's parish
with the game, and a note to say that if he dared to send me
any present again I would report him to the Poor Law Board.
The inquiry was held, and I had no moral doubt that evi-
dence was withheld, and had to acquit the man of the
charge. Some of the Guardians (who, for reasons I could
quite understand would not attend the inquiry) privately
expressed to me their belief in the guilt of the accused,
saying, " nid hwn yn unig.^^ * I am not casting blame upon
people who make bad selections ; in the then, and I fear
now, state of things it is not easy for people to avoid
mistakes in the selection of persons to serve on public bodies,
or for them to select the best men to carry out the work ;
but I earnestly hope that if party spirit does not cause the
downfall of Great Britain, a system of education better
adapted to enlighten the understanding of the people may
lead to better selections. I am no behever in selecting men
simply because they have broad acres or much money;
but I am a firm believer, and experience of all sorts of public
offices has convinced me, that a man of some recognised
status, who has a character and a position to lose, and has
sufficient education to enable him to discount facts and
construe acts, is a far safer guide than the interested person
who has nothing to lose, but too often something to gain,
by taking office.
I venture to submit the case of a Board of Guardians in
Denbighshire, which has for very many years been pre-
sided over by Mr. Boscawen, one of the very ablest and best
Chairmen in the Kingdom, as results in that part show.
So far as I can remember I never saw him but on two occa-
* '* And not the only offence."
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE 889
sions, both at Poor Law Conferences, and those many years
ago, and therefore I am unbiased ; but I have no doubt that
if such men occupied the chair all over the kingdom, the
paupers would be infinitely fewer and far better cared for,
the rates correspondingly smaller, and the pauper population
gradually reduced.
Returning to the cleansing of the Augean stable, amongst
the many schemes which I was anxious to carry out, if the
impatience of small minds had left it possible, was the de-
velopment of the beautiful sites around Carnarvon. I re-
member it when a considerable number of good Irish and
English families lived in and around it. There was a
pitiful jealousy in those days amongst some of the minor
gentry, whose ignorance and silly pride led them sadly astray,
and their narrow prejudices prevented that cordisdity and
association which makes a place pleasant to reside in.
Many of the old ofl&cers who had fought at Waterloo were
amongst the number. It may be said, what has this to do
with the cleaning of the Augean stable ? I reply much, very
much. The majestic Castle was surrounded with nuisances.
The manure of a hotel was enclosed on one side of the King's
gate and a coalyard on the other, resting on the slated /^
moat. The once pretty valley of the CawiaJQjt was built on (idit^^
both sides, with wretched houses, on sites admirably adapted
for gentlemen's houses, with hanging gardens that might have
led to fine parks by damming the brook. The sea formerly
flowed in to the Guildhall from the north, and, as shown in
old prints the Promenade still existing from the Eagle
Tower of the Castle to St. Mary's Church formerly reached
round to the Guildhall, washed by the sea in a pretty bay.
Instead of dredging out this bay and the second bay to the
gasworks and further up if required by trade, men on the
Harbour Trust, as ignorant of tidal matters as I am of surgery,
meddled and muddled with what it is ruinous to entrust to
any but skilled hands, and they projected a thousand feet of
walling across the tide, diverting both flow and ebb from
their proper course, under the foolish and ignorant notion that
a violation of nature's laws would give them a deep-water
pier. The money this abominable measure cost would have
840 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
dredged out the two estuaries of the Seiont and the other
river, and ships would have been sheltered from all winds, and
the nuisance of the sandbank opposite the Promenade
avoided. Between fifty and sixty years ago a valuable com-
mittee, under the chairmanship of Admiral Bowles, sat ; and
had the evidence given been acced upon the bulk of the
harbours would have been rescued from the hands of men
who, while able to manage their own businesses, were as
ignorant of tidal matters as an equal niunber of cattle ; and
Carnarvon, like many others, was ruined, as Mr.. Telford
said it would be, when he saw the conmiencement of the
great wall they called a pier. I cut a large piece off it, and
would have cut sixty feet more but for sinister and dishonest
interference.
The perfect shelter that the two estuaries would have
afforded to vessels would have largely encouraged trade,
enticed numerous yachts, and been excellent sanitary agents.
The vastness and grandeur of the Castle, the wood, and river
down along the Seiont, and the beautiful views above it,
of the Castle, the mountains, and Carnarvon, where
Highseiont, occupied by Mr. Darbyshire, stands, shows
what possibihties there were. That a proper use of the
possibilities of the place would have enormously increased the
value of Carnarvon and its outskirts cannot be doubted by
any one who has well considered the subject.
There were three individuals, who, after a time, sym-
pathised with my hiunble exertions to make the place what it
ought to be, viz.. Sir Richard Williams Bulkeley, Lord New-
borough, and Colonel Williams of Craigydon, and they recog-
nised the folly of opposing public improvement ; but the
pubUc scavenger was unable to stem the tide of ignorant
opposition, and had to lay down his broom before he had
done sweeping.
A narrow gauge railway from Gaerwen Voel, and across
the sand on a pile pier, which Lord Clarence Paget heartily
joined the scavenger in promoting, serving as it would to
deaden and gradually close the injurious back channel on
the Anglesey side, and thereby enormously increase the
water and scour of the proper channel, was treated with
CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE 841
indifference. The pier would have saved passengers from
having to go round for miles, at low water would have
formed an admirable promenade, the steam ferry-boat
would have occupied about five minutes in crossing, and pas-
sengers for all parts of Anglesey would have entered covered
carriages direct from the steamer. Of course, men who have
never had experience of dealing with tides and coast-
lines knew far more about such questions than all the
admirals, naval engineers, and others who have viewed
the shoals from this house, commanding a fine view of them
and the bar.
The late Lord Newborough spoke and with bitter scorn
of the opposition offered to proposed pubhc improvements
when the scavenger laid down his broom, and was com-
manded by the Queen to appear at Windsor in December,
1870, to receive the honour of knighthood for raising men
for the Navy, and various other sins he had committed ; and
he received the following letters from Lord Newborough : j
"Glyn, Dec. 17, 1870.
" Dear Sir Llewelyn, — I am glad to find that your accu-
mulating honours do not prevent your bestowing a thought
upon the Castle and its neighbour the County Hall. . . .
I hear that more honours are awaiting your amvaJ at home,
and that, hke BeUsarius and Agricola and many other his-
torical gentlemen, it would now appear that the turbid
element over which you presided so successfully for so
long begins, now that you are gone, to discover their loss.
" Very truly yours,
" Newborough."
On the 24th his lordship writes :
"Dear Sir Llewelyn, — Enclosed I send a cheque for
my subscription, and hear the tower is nearly roofed in. I
am going to London on Tuesday or should have been glad
to have witnessed the repentance of sins conMnitted, and
the turning from their evil ways of the Corporation, on
Thiursday. The ovation would have come with a better
342 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
grace if it had been on the day of your retirement from
office, instead of waiting for honoxirs to be showered upon
you from other quarters ; still, * better late than never,'
and I wish you many a long day to enjoy them.
" Truly yours,
" Newborough."
The enormous increase of trade that would arise from
the formation of a narrow gauge railway from Gaerwen in
Anglesey and a pier across the sand, thus tmiting all
Anglesey with Carnarvon and gradually closing an
injurious channel, were unworthy the consideration of
those whom it would benefit ; but since that time the dis-
covery has been made that a bridge leading from nowhere
to nothing and preventing the possibility of large steamers
ever going up to the foundry, where so many were formerly
supplied with engines the manufacture of which gave em-
ployment to a large body of men, is in every respect
more useful than a connection with aU Anglesey would now
have been, and the gradual extinction of a second channel.
The advantage of the opinions of the many scientific
officers who have discussed these subjects with me from so
commanding a platform as the front of Parkia is not to be
compared with that of Trustees innocent of all nautical
knowledge. So satisfied was Mr. Richards, a retired engineer,
who was resident in Carnarvon, with the value of the
scheme that he surveyed the line from Gaerwen to the
ferry without charging the poor scavenger a farthing.
CHAPTER IX
YACHTING REMINISCENCES
Owner must be independent of master — Value of early sea-
faring training — Sir Llewelyn's first boat the Nautilus — Her
iron cut-water severs a hawser — " Dick the Devil ** and
" Will Summerhouse " — The Gleam — Early regattas — ^The
germ of the R.W.Y.C.— Harwich Regatta, 1846 — Mr. Parker
Smith — Bad harbour management — Deep channel diverted
— A race won cleverly Selecting courses — Convivial
affray at the " Three Cups " — Rough customers — Yar- ^ /-
mouth — Ino, Prima Donna, and 3Bt22it/^-Their peculiarities ^^ tt^yl-^
— A practical [joke abandoned — Yarmouth in mourning —
The Circe — " Man overboard " — ^A narrow escape — Nearly
wrecked — General Turner j Jones overboard — Smart hand-
ling— Foundation of the R.W.Y.C. — Commodore the Mar-
quis of Anglesey — Vice-Commodore Robert Stephenson —
Rear Commodore Llewelyn Turner — Commodore Assheton
Smith — The regatta balls — Colonel Williams as Vice-Com-
modore— Lord Penrhyn as Commodore — The late Lord
Anglesey — Sir Llewelyn's modesty — Sausage breakfasts —
Commodores Grindrod, Graves, and Littledale — Littledale
no pothunter — ^The Queen of the Ocean — A bad racing course
— Unscrupulous masters and racing — "Win, tie, or wrangle "
— Ladies in peril — Ungrateful wretches — Banquet atPoulton
— A delayed landing and too warm a welcome — An obstinate
master — Imprisoned by wasps — ^Merry visitors from the
Ariel — Colonel Birchall of the Vision — Her successes — A
banquet at Preston and a duel averted — ^Mr. Trevor Roper
— ^The Wyvern — Neaped at Carnarvon — Colonel Piers
Williams — The Hussar — Best as schooner — Sir Harry and
Lady Oglander — Accident to Lady Oglander — A foot lost
through carelessness — Llanddwyn pilots wrongly accused
— ^Wreck of the Hornby — Letter from Colonel Williams —
Mr. French — A deaf and dumb yachtsman — Colonel Sir
Charles Hamilton, Bart., C.B. — The fighting Hamiltons —
The Hermione and Miss Hermione Hamilton — Commodore
Sir David Gamble — The North Star—Sir David's yachts —
Mr. Stopford — ^Mr. Darcus of the Viola — ^Mr. Poole of the
Meruinia — Sir Llewelyn's eyesight saves a catastrophe
/c^uy
844 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
^ir^s^^^^ —Mr. Willimu30Ai Tilla^^The Ranger beats the Daring by
time allowance — ^The Surprise — The Cecilia — Extravaganza
beats Marian — Commodore Brideson — Jokes on the Nimrod
— Mr. Leader — Mr. Grinnell.
There is no better plan of learning any business than com-
mencing with the A B C of the matter, and the man who is
used from his boyhood to boats, and even earher to sailing
Uttle model craft, has a great advantage over others. Many
a man with no previous experience purchases a yacht, and
becomes at once the slave of the captain. Ludicrous be-
yond measure has been the lot of many an owner of a fine
craft who is no more " monarch of all he surveys " in his
yacht, and can no more go and come when he pleases, than
the child in its nurse's arms. " Captain, we will go to Wey-
mouth to-day," says one of the uninitiated. " Impossible,
Sir, it is blowing great guns down there, and heaven knows
when we could get back if we attempted it." The grossly
hbelled weather is in no sense responsible for the loss of a
pleasant trip, prevented by the axe-grinding business which
the master preferred attending to for himself.
I have sometimes seen men who would not be fooled in
matters they understood, become mere catspaws in the hands
of lazy and selfish skippers, who took advantage of their
employers' ignorance of seafaring matters.
Thousands of pounds are sometimes expended on pur-
chasing a yacht which is a source of misery to its owner, who
is often a mere slave. I found there was nothing better than
this early training. Before I was six years old I had
tumbled out of a boat and had a narrow escape of drowning,
the same year that I had previously been blown up and cut
up by the bursting of a copper powder flask, losing all my
hair and being stone blind for more than a fortnight. It
seems strange that a boy who suffered frequently from sea
sickness should be so fond of the sea — but it was the
lot of a greater, no less a person than the immortal Nelson
being a martyr to it.
Afterwards my being supposed to study under a scion of
nobihty who took pupils and kept a pleasure boat gave me
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 845
an additional love of the sea and everything connected with
it ; and if, as I admit, I got but a meagre share of learning
then from books, I was admitted to be his best hand at
steering, rowing, and general handling of a boat.
After I left school my father gave me a remarkably fine
boat called the NautiluSy built at Bangor by Mr. John
Hughes, pilot, one of the most respectable men of his calling
on the Menai Straits. He had a peculiar arrangement
before he sold the boat to Lieutenant Boultby, R.N., of
Carnarvon, from whom my father bought her, but the
appendage I allude to I never saw. It was a sharp arrange-
ment of iron, which could be fastened in the bow, cutting
the water much finer than the boat's stem. John Hughes
told me that he was once sailing in the Nautilus at Bangor,
and a vessel at anchor a Uttle way from the land to which
the vessel had a warp ; the wind was ofE the shore and the
Nautilus was passing rapidly between the vessel and shore,
and as he was approaching he called out to the captain of
the craft requesting him kindly to slack down the warp for
a minute. The master of the vessel sung out that he would
see him d d first ; Hughes then held his course, and the
sharp iron projection severed the warp, and the boat was
soon out of reach of the captain's oaths. This is one of
the many proofs that one loses nothing by a httle civiUty,
which would have saved the hawser without loss to the
vessel.
I had several fast open sailing-boats in succession. A man
I had of the name of Harry Hughes could steer the Nautilus
by standing in the stem sheets and sUghtly inclining his
body forward or aft. He was the handiest boatman I
knew. He had ballasted the boat so correctly that her
way was hardly even stopped by the usual shifts of the
helm which he thus evaded.
I suppose all mankind make the acquaintance of the
devil in one form or other, and in very early Ufe I made
his acquaintance on the sea. " Dick the Devil," so
far from being as bad as the devil is painted, was
a hard-working decent pilot and fisherman. He was not,
it is true, averse to a glass of rum, and if it was occasionally
846 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
in the plural number, and made a rum fellow of him, he
did no harm to any one else. Dick was a pilot for Camarvon
bar ; some of them are stationed at Uanddwyn outside the
bar, and some at Camarvon, the former to take vessels in,
and the latter to pilot them out. Two especial Mends
of mine in early seagoing life were " Dick the Devil *' and
Will Summerhouse, and I have nothing but good words to
write of them both, so far as my experience went.
As my readers will perceive they were both titled per-
sonages. Experience teUs us that titles are too often awarded
without being won by good service. The former owed his title
to meeting the Bishop of Bangor (Majendie) on a day when he
(Dick, not the Bishop) had too much rum aboard, and insisting
on shaking hands, was told that the gentleman was the Bishop
of Bangor, upon which Dick, instigated by the devil in the
form of rum, rephed to the information, " Well, I am the
Devil of Camarvon." The other pilot of whom I have spoken
owed his title to his birth in a summer-house, which still
exists as a small narrow brick house in Pool Street, but
stood originally alone in what was then a garden. It is
recorded of the two pilots that his satanic majesty once
boarded a ship in the bay, and on his return to the boat
was asked by his brother pilots if he had had any rum, and
when he answered in the affirmative, Will said, " For mercy
sake,giveme a kiss," another way of saying how he would have
then hked the liquor had it been his lot to board the vessel.
Will Summerhouse had the misfortune to have had his nasal
organ knocked inwards by the boom of a sloop, which inter-
fered with the melody of his voice ; but Will notwithstanding
the defect was a hearty, pleasant, good fellow, an excellent
sailor and pilot, a capital shot and a good all-roimd sports-
man. I was often and often as boy and man out sailing and
boating with him, and I do not hesitate to say that I
knew and respected plenty of good and able fellows in the
humbler ranks of hfe, and these were two of them.
My friend Summerhouse had some peculiar notions as to
the life- and courage-giving properties of grog. Like the
present recorder of the man, he had a profound respect for
Nelson and Wellington ; and one day when out sailing with
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 847
me, alluding to the two warriors, he said, " I am sure them
two great fellows must have taken a stiff glass of brandy
before they fought those big battles ; " and great was his
surprise when I told him that they were both singularly
temperate men, Lord Nelson when he dined out taking one
glass of wine at dinner and one after to drink the King's
health, and that he was for two years afloat without tasting
any, and that the Duke of Wellington was also most tem-
f)erate and was a great tea-drinker.
The first whole-decked craft I had was a small yawl
yacht called The Gleam, which I sold to, and purchased
back from, an Irish relative. Many delightful cruises I
had in her with numerous now long departed friends.
I once had a narrow escape of losing her. She had an iron
tiller with a round turn to clear the mizen mast ; and on a
lovely day with a charming gentle breeze we were going at
about eight knots an hour along the coast of Llanddwyn by
the small tower when, where the water is deep close to the
rocks, the tiller broke at the turn. I at once gave the orders,
" Let go the mizen and main sheets, haul the jib and fore-
sheets to windward, get a pole out forward to stave her off
the rocks ; " and we just managed to save her, there being,
luckily, plenty of people on board. Poor Gleam/ I sold her
to a gentleman, and she was soon after wrecked on the
Cheshire coast, becoming a total loss. Shortly before this
period we had some rowing matches with foar-oared boats
not of the racing kind ; and after some quiet matches, I had
the cheek to send circulars to various people for funds, and
we got up a small regatta which soon developed into a very
large affair, first of one day, and then two days, with a fifty-
guinea cup for the first prize of each day. We soon had
racers from Dublin, Cork, the north of Ireland, Liverpool,
and many other parts, and the fame of these regattas became
great. I was the sailing steward, and managed that depart-
ment, and at the Harwich Regatta, an accoimt of which
follows with numerous curious incidents, my friend, Mr.
Knight, the Rear-Commodore of that club, who was a London
barrister, suggested to me to establish here a Royal Welsh
Yacht Club, by applying for the Admiralty warrant and
848 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Royal patronage, I obtained the Admiralty^s warrant
and the patronage of her Majesty Queen Adelaide, the
Queen Dowager of King William IV., as we were able to
show how large our regattas had become.
THE HARWICH REGATTA OF 1846.
My friend the late Mr. Wynn Roberts, of London, the owner
of a fast racing yacht. The Ranger, being seriously ill, asked me
and another friend of his, Michael Parker Smith, a young bar-
rister of Lincoln's Inn, the descendant of a former Irish Judge
of that name, to sail his vessel at the Regattas of Harwich
and Yarmouth, at each of which she took a cup. We joined
the yacht at Gravesend late in the evening, and at once set
sail for Harwich, where we arrived next morning after a
rapid run. A more agreeable and satisfactory companion
than Smith I could not have desired, and we both agreed
that we felt as if we had known each other for years. Soon
after our arrival we took up our quarters at the Three
Cups Hotel, as the cabin would be required for the spare
top-sails and jibs to be ready for shifting canvas in the
race.
There was a fine display of racing yachts and others
whose owners came to enjoy the sport. Several of them
had come over from the Ostend Regatta, one of them
bringing an enormous silver cup, by far the largest I ever
saw in the numerous regattas in which I was a participator.
Most of the yachts' cabins were given up for the sails to be
ready for shifting, and the Three Cups Hotel was crammed
with yachtsmen. Taking it all together, it was one of the
pleasantest yachting proceedings I ever enjoyed. Like too
many harbours on our coast, Harwich had been a terrible
sufferer by the lamentable interference with tidal laws by
men entirely ignorant of the science, and interested workers.
The harbour is, or rather was, entered in a straight line, and
then diverges inside up the bed of the River Stour to the
left, and to the right of that river the tide ascends the River
Orwell to Ipswich. Above the right bank of the Orwell is
the residence of the man whose memory every lover of his
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 849
country shotild adore — Philip Bowes Vere Broke — the gallant
captain of the Shannon^ who, in less than fifteen minutes
captured by boarding a frigate of superior force. There
were on the Orwell two schooner yachts belonging to Sir
Hyde Parker, whose ancestor commanded the Tenedos
frigate which was sent away by Broke that he might fight
the Chesapeake on equal terms.
Dredging for personal gain was permitted to the westward
outside the harbour, with the result that the deep-water
channel was diverted no less than 2000 feet from the east
to the west side, a large sandbank forming on the east side
below Landguard Fort, and a corresponding destruction of
Beacon's CUff ensued on the opposite side. Four yachts
in our class started from a point on the harbour between
the town and Walton Marsh. We had a soldier's wind (side).
A brand new yacht, the name of which I forget, was on our
weather side, and the two others to leeward ; and we three
leeward-most vessels headed rather towards the projecting
bank before Landguard Point the weathermost yacht
pressing us to leeward as much as possible ; I kept my
eye most of the time on the weather yacht, the master of
which kept his eye on us, taking advantage of every oppor-
tunity of pressing us to leeward. So near was he that I
could see his eyes most distinctly, but he outwitted himself,
as he got the whole four yachts so far to leeward that imless
we could cross the bank a tack would be inevitable.
I asked the pilot if we could venture to cross the bank,
the limits of which were plainly seen by the broken water.
" If you don't mind two or three bmnps I will guarantee her
crossing," and Smith agreeing to my proposal, I said, " We are
an iron vessel, let her go." We passed safely over with about
three bumps, and our weather companion having gone too
far to leeward in pressing us down, and drawing more water,
had to tack. The two others to leeward funked the bank,
and tacked also ; we were then safe out of the harbour into
the " rolling ground " outside, and spanking before a
very strong wind towards the Cork lightships some miles
dead to leeward. My plan of crossing the bank, which
we were not prohibited from doing, gave us an enormous
850 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
advantage, as in tacking with a side wind the three yachts
had a smooth dead beat to get to windward of the bank.
When we rounded the Cork lightships the other three
were, I fancy, about a mile or more astern of us. We
had then to beat up to windward, passed the mouth of
Harwich Harbour, and up to a flag-vessel imder the lee of
Walton-on-the-Naze, a long low promontory which gave us
the full force of the wind, but lessened what would have
been, I fancy, too heavy a sea for us. When we had got
about half a mile to windward of the Cork lightships, some
one called out " Look at the " (name forgotten). And
there, far astern of us, was our weathermost competitor (at
starting) dismasted, with the water rolling in and out of
her scuppers. The lower mast had broken about ten or
twelve feet above the decks, as far as we could judge, and
we had the satisfaction of seeing her taken in tow of a large
sailing-yacht that was not racing. In a few minutes we
saw another of our competitors in the same state, her lower
mast having gone apparently about the same distance from
the deck. This left us with only one to compete with, the
dead beat up against a very strong breeze, but, as stated,
the sea was mitigated by the Walton projection, and the more
so as we approached it. We rounded that mark, and after
a long run before the wind round the flagship in the harbour
whence we had started, and as our single competitor was good
four miles astern, the Rear Commordore hailed that he would
not trouble us any further, and he stopped the race ; the
course was twice round, with power to shorten, which we were
glad was done. I was less surprised to see the first yacht
dismantled, as, being a new vessel, her rigging probably
stretched, and left the strain of the sails upon the mast,
but in the other case it was rather odd. I have been at
vast numbers of regattas and have seen many topmasts
carried away in races, and in one case a lower mast head with
the topmast, but two lower masts out of four in a class was
a unique experience. The four topmasts I saw carried away
at one regatta many years after were in gibeing.
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 851
MORAL FOR THE BENEFIT OF MANAGERS
OF REGATTAS.
Try to avoid giving a course requiring gibeing. I managed
sailing-matches for very many years, and generally was able
to avoid it. I was pressed to give the courses the night before,
but always refused, avoiding it until dose on the time of
starting. Ascertain the state of the bearing and weather
probabihties, and then, having the courses filled up by several
hands, send them aboard the respective yachts. Of course, a
change of wind might spoil your calculations, but in summer
changes are much more often in light than stormy weather,
and a gibe in light weather is harmless, while in strong breezes
it may be (as in these cases) most injurious, as all the canvas
that the vessel will bear is used in racing.
THE BATTLE OF HARWICH.
There was a fine show of yachts at Harwich at this time,
and there was a great assemblage of yachtsmen in the
prime of life, many, like m5^elf, young fellows of about
twenty-three. As there was time before the next port
we were to visit, Yarmouth, we had an idle day at Harwich,
and, as Dr. Watts sa)^, " Satan finds some mischief still
for idle hands to do." As the yachts' cabins had the sails,
etc., in them ready for changing jibs, topsails, etc., we were
almost all living ashore at the Three Cups Hotel, and
there this memorable battle was fought under these circimi-
stances. My pleasant companion, Michael Parker Smith,
and I went for a long walk up coimtry, and on our return
were met in front of the hotel by some of our brother yachts-
men, who said they had been in search of us to see if we
would join and make a party of eleven, and they had ordered
dinner for that number, calculating that we would join, which
we gladly did. Another lot of nine had just sat down to
dinner in an adjoining room, and the windows of both rooms,
which were upstairs, looked over a lower part of the hotel, so
that any one going out of the window of one room could go
along the roof of the lower building to the window of the
852 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
other room. It was somewhat curious that not only were
we numerically superior, but we were all the biggest men.
While we were at dinner, one of the nine going out of their
window crept under ours, and threw a squib right along our
table. He was a man with a curious head of hair, and was
known amongst us as " Old Frizzlewig," alias " Door-mat."
Frizzlewig beat a retreat after delivering his shot, two
of us lay in wait for him on each side of our window,
and while he was launching another squib we got hold of
him ; a detachment of the other army got out on the lower
roof, and it was soon a case of " pull devil, pull baker." We
had his upper half inside the room, and his party the lower
end outside. As the other side were being reinforced, the cry
on our side was, " Shut the window," the result being that to
avoid the guillotining of poor Frizzlewig in the centre, the
other side had to let go his legs. We took him prisoner,
and fastened the window, and the other army going back
through their room came to the rescue through our door.
Then arose the din of this memorable engagement, recorded
in humorous hues soon after, but now lost by me. My chum
Smith was very neatly dressed, so much so that I had a light
suit made afterwards like it for myself. When the battle
commenced the puddings and pies were on the table. The
blood was apparently pouring down the neat shirt front,
pretty waistcoat and white trousers with the blue stripes
of Smith, the ball with which he was struck in the chest
and which caused the scarlet overflow being nothing less in
size than a thirty-two pounder. This ball had a minute
before graced the head of our table in the form of a fine red-
currant pudding, which one of the attacking force had seized
with both hands, and hurled into Smith's bosom, and the red-
currant juice gave Smith the bloody look that crimsoned his
attire. In a few minutes the crockeryware and glass had all
left the table for the floor, or been smashed, excepting one big
jug. Not to harrow the minds of the readers by a further
account of so sanguinary an engagement, I conclude by sa}dng
that the mortality was «/7, and the whole of the enemy had
to surrender, the eleven being too much for the nine. Our
principal prisoner was Rear-Commodore Knight, who was
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 853
not very big, one of the smallest of his army. We treated
our captives with all consideration and humanity, and did
not hang any of them. We then rang the bell for the land-
lord, and told him to estimate the damage, and as luckily
the crockery, etc., was not of a costly kind, the whole cost
of this great battle only came to 3s. 8d. o^ 3s. lod. per head.
As far as I saw, the whole thing was conducted with the
greatest good hmnour, and I heard not a cross wMi ; but my
friend Smith told me afterwards, when I spoke of eVerykody*s
good humour, that he and a namesake of his very nearly 'got
to blows. Those were days when rough jokes were prac-
tised more, I fancy, than now. Every one of us had squibs
and crackers ad lib. ; but a better-humoured lot I never
met, the great battle notwithstanding.
AFTER THE RACING
the yachtsmen all dined pleasantly together at the Three
Cups, after a hard day's racing, and some one said there was
A BALL
to which we could go, and ofE we went, finding to our amaze-
ment that we had got into a low -class place, where there
were a lot of most disreputable men and women, and on our
attempting to beat a retreat we found the door we had
entered by was barricaded. We then burst open another,
and going down stairs found the bottom of that barricaded.
Sir Richard Marion Wilson, Bart., who was with his yacht
at Harwich, but not racing, vaulted over the banisters into
the middle of a lot of fellows who vowed we should not go out
without paying our footing as they called it. I immediately
vaulted over, and stood by Sir Richard Wilson, and was
followed by the adjutant of the Flintshire Militia. Sir R.
Wilson ordered the rufl&ans to open the door, saying, " Any
man who touches me will have reason to repent it." There
was little room for reinforcements from our side as the
place we had jumped into was small, but as there were a lot
more yachtsmen on the stairs, the bargees showed some
z
854 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
desire for a compromise, and said if we would order some
liquor the door should be opened. Sir R. Wilson said,
" Not one drop of anything will we give you, or do anything
else, excepting on our own torms. Bring a flat wash tub, if
there is one at hand," and they at once found a large shallow
wooden one, the place being, it seems, used for washing. He
then told them to bring him a gallon of beer, which they
quickly did. " Now,*' he said, " pour it into the tub."
He paid for the ale, and the door was opened, and he said,
" Now let the pigs drink ; " and while they were all struggling
for the liquor we all walked into the street, having
been completely sold by whoever gave out that there was
a ball. I never was in such another blackguard assembly
in my life.
Sir Richard Wilson had a massive diamond ring on his little
finger, and he told me afterwards that loth as he would have
been to use such a weapon in ordinary circmnstances, it should
have left its mark on some ruffian's head if we had been
driven to extremities to fight our way out, and he looked
like a man who would not be cowed by any one. About
forty years after the event his daughter was at Parkia and
much interested in my recital of the event. I never exactly
understood how the enticement to such an infernal region
came about. I fear in like circumstances I should hardly
be as formidable an opponent in this year of grace 1903 as
I might have proved in 1846.
TO YARMOUTH.
We sailed from Harwich to Yarmouth in company with
f Z^— 4wo of the fastest 25-tonners afloat, viz., the Ino, and the
^^tt-^^l Prima Donna; the third, the Sm.\)ni, 'lliough she went to
Yarmouth, did not sail in our company. I have seen every
one of the three beat the others at East Coast regattas, and I
fancy yachting men will appreciate the following curious
J . statement.
>C^t^yy^ The Smmd and Ino were singularly well matched in beating
to windward, and up to the turning-point of a race they were
^Lcy/^ always close together, but the S<io#»^ had an ugly trick in
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 855
running before a strong breeze of cocking up her stem, and
the Ino would pass and leave her far behind in a long run.
The Prima Donna was not nearly equal on the wind to
either of the two others, but if (which is not often the case)
she had a long run without being close-hauled she beat both,
and thus I saw each of the three successful over the others.
Our trip from Harwich to Yarmouth was delightful ; the
land is so low that farm-carts in the fields looked as if we were
higher than they, the gentle wind was o|j\the land, and the
sea was as smooth as a pond with only^e gentlest ripple.
We laid a plot to seize the Ino and navigate her into Yar-
mouth, we being the largest party ; and we thought if we could
get aboard when they were at lunch, and the bulk of the crew
at dinner, we could do it. The wind fell to a dead calm two
or three times ; but luckily for us — as will be seen — before
we could get our boat ready to board a gentle breeze arose, and
we were all soon doing seven or eight knots. I often think
our beating up the narrow entrance of the river at Yarmouth
at low water against a dead head wind was a masterpiece in
sailing, the space being exceedingly confined to tack in.
All the yachtsmen had agreed at Harwich to dine
together at the Star Hotel at Yarmouth, where dinner
had been ordered by letter beforehand, and a most pleasant
evening we had. Now my readers will learn why it was
lucky for us that we could not board the Ino, I told them
at dinner of our piratical design at sea that day, and they
soon had the laugh against us : they had a powerful machine
for wetting the sails at regattas, that would send water up to
the topsail ; and the owner said, '* Do you think after the
experience we had of you fellows at Harwich that we would
have let a lot of you aboard of us ? We had a careful watch
kept upon you, and whenever you were seen to be getting
a boat ready the machine was ready for you, and we
would have filled your boat with water in a short time."
What a pickle we should have been in ! We were again
successful at Yarmouth, coming in first and winning a cup.
It was painful to wi ness the large number of people in deep
mourning at this curious old town, with its quaint narrow
lanes the names of which I forget (" wynds," I think). The
856 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
cause of all this mourning was a most extraordinary one.
A short time previous to our advent some large travelling
show had visited the town, and the clown gave out that at
a particular hour on a day named he would go down the
River Yare (a fresh-water river running from Norwich) in a
tub drawn by two geese. A very large concourse of people
assembled on both banks of the river, which is very narrow,
and was spanned by a light iron suspension bridge. I do
not think that the river is any wider than the Seiont at
Carnarvon, or the Ogwen near Bangor, but it is deeper. The
bridge collapsed, and more than seventy hves were lost. I
looked at the place in absolute amazement, and wondered
"^a^ranything like a tithe of the loss hadL taken place,
one lot must have suffocated the others. There is a monu-
ment to the glorious Nelson at Yarmouth 144 feet high, and
I was gratified to find the honour in which he was held in his
native county.
MAN OVERBOARD.
I had for many years a small cutter yacht, called the
Circe, in which I and many friends had much enjoyment.
She was an admirable " sea-boat," and proved so in many
a rough sea, notably in the Irish Channel ofiE St. David's
Head, as I think is somewhere else recorded.
On one occasion in going to Llanddwyn with a large party of
ladies and gentlemen, all about the deck, when in sta)^ near
the Perch Beacon, Dr. Morgan (late Royal Artillery) stood up
and was knocked overboard by the boom. He fell feet down-
wards. I was at the helm, and at once ported the helm ; we
were in the act of turning from the starboard to the port tack ;
there was a fine breeze, and the hard-a-port helm brought the
top of the bulwarks level with the water, and the doctor
was able to grasp them, and I got a grab of his collar, and
we soon had him aboard. There was a four-oar gig towing
astern, which would have given him a slight chance ; but he
had a narrow escape, as there was a fresh breeze.
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YACHTING REMINISCENCES 857
AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE.
One night when bound for Holyhead, we found the north- /)j
east gale ofE the South IIta4 too much for us, and put back, ^/^A^-"
intending to anchor for the night in Llanddwyn Bay, as the
wind was over the land. I had been at the helm a long
while, the master looking out forward. I changed places
with him, and stood on the. w|nch for^^nl of the mast, with mJ
a rope*s end round my boay io sfeaay me ; we were on theP ^^ ^^
look-out for the land on our weather quarter, and had
advanced further than we thought. I chanced to look sea-
ward, and to my horror I saw the foam of a sea breaking
outside of us. I roared out, " Down helm, *bout ship ; " the
order was at once obeyed, and being a very handy craft the
yacht was on the other tack with her head exactly the
reverse way of what we had been going ; we had got
too near the Anglesey shore, along which we had been
sailing, but the weather was so thick that we could not see
it, and had got inside the half-tide rock ofE Aberfraw, which
i^covered at high water, which it then was. It is an enor-
ndons flat rock with a passage through the centre, with deep
water through it. I once sounded all through it at low water,
which could not be done at high water without fearful risk,
as the channel would not be discernible.
MAN OVERBOARD.
My nephew. General Turner Jones, being on furlough from
India many years ago, purchased a cutter of aboutis tons, ^ ^
and feU overboard as we were going into the bij/feE Belan, (^c^C%^
having got her head to wind to anchor, and the jib not /
lowered.
I was at the helm, one of the two men was stupid from
drink, and the other was as deaf as a post (a temporary hand
come instead of a regular hand who was said to be ill). It
was most fortunate that the heai sheets led aft. I never, if
I could help it, would let go the anchor imtil I gave the
vessel I was handling " stem " way, and was just waiting for
it in this case. I had ordered the fore-sail to be lowered,
858 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
thank God, not the jib. A gust of wind put the main-
sail in motion, and the boom knocked the General overboard
on the starboard side. We were only a few yards from the
turn into the Channel where the ebb runs like a millstream.
I at once fastened the jib-sheet on the port side, and the
tiller being in the cockpit where I was, I was able to press
the helm hard a port with my body while I fastened the
jib-sheet, then fastened the helm, it was hard a-port, let go
the main-sheet, and I got the starboard quarter close to
where the General was, receiving no assistance whatever
from the two idiots forward. How to account for the " man
overboard " not being simk to the bottom I know not. I
worked the vessel as I have shown down to him, and he had
all the appearances of a man sitting quietly on a chair in the
sea with some feet of water over him. I could see his large
eyes distinctly through the dear water, and grabbed his
clothes with a boat-hook, and got him to the side until I could
catch his collar, and roaring to the men at last got their
slow-coach aid to haul him inboard ; and he took the matter
as coolly as if he had fallen into a shallow pond instead of
some three fathoms of water. It was as narrow an escape
as I ever saw. Had he been a thin bony man I fancy he
must have gone to the bottom while I was working the
vessel towards him, as we had gone ahead some yards after
he fell into the water before the headway could be stopped,
the jib to windward loosed main-sheet, and hard-a-port helm,
brought her down on him.
Returning to the formation of the Royal Welsh Yacht
Club, the first Marquis of Anglesey, of cavalry fame, was
elected Commodore ; Mr. Stephenson, the eminent engineer,
who built the Britannia Bridge, was elected Vice-Commodore ;
and the then young man, the humble servant of the public,
who in his old age writes these pages, was converted from
Sailing Steward into Rear Commodore. Hunt's "Yacht
List," in one of its early numbers, contained a pretty print
of the Marquis's beautiful cutter, Pearl, sailing off Carnar-
von. On the death of the Marquis of Anglesey, the late
Mr. Assheton Smith, of fox-hunting fame, was elected
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 859
Commodore, and he never missed attending a regatta in
one of the fine steam yachts which he from time to time
had built for him on the Clyde. He was always accom-
panied by Mrs. Assheton Smith ; and Penrhyn, Vaynol, and
GlynUifon for some years brought large house-parties to the
Yacht Club Balls, which were so well supported that the
old Guildhall became too small, and the late Lady New-
borough suggested to me she should ask Lord Newborough
and Mr. Assheton Smith to join to erect a large pubhc room,
which I of course urged her ladyship to do. Lord New-
borough at once assented, and asked Mr. Assheton Smith to
join him ; the latter said that he would consult his agent,
and the latter strongly advised him to build one himself
at his own hotel — the " Sportsman " — and the very fine
room, with orchestra, &c., was erected. It was ready in time
for the next, year's regatta, and Mrs. Assheton Smith sent
to desire me to meet her and the Commodore to view it be-
forehand. When I met them in the room, I said, " We have
to thank you, Sir, for a splendid ball-room." " Yes," was
the reply, " better suited to the city of Dublin than the
town of Carnarvon ; " but it proved not at all too large.
Mr. and Mrs. Assheton Smith, notwithstanding advancing
years, always opened the ball, which had generally a large
contingent of yachtsmen in the uniforms of their respective
clubs.* In those days silver plate was always given as prizes,
and as the Commodore (Mr. Assheton Smith) preferred my
making the presentations, I always did so. On one occasion,
I was rather hoarse, and in my speech accoimted for it by
stating in fim that I had caught cold by shouting through a
damp speaking-trumpet. A lady mistaking the word damp for
an oath of similar soimd, said to those near her, " How strange
for the Rear Commodore to swear in a ball-room ! " I used
often to greet her after with the words, " How strange for the
Rear Commodore to swear in a ball-room." She was a friend
of mine and enjoyed the chaff.
* The Regatta Balls in later years were not so successful. On
one occasion Mr. Charles Jones, of Carnarvon, and I were the only two
men pre9ent until a pressing invitation had been sent to the yachts.
J. E, V,
860 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
On the death of Mr. Stephenson, Colonel Williams, of
Craigydon, the father of the present Dowager Duchess of
Wellington, was elected Vice-Commodore, and on the death
of Mr. Assheton Smith, the late Lord Penrhyn was elected
Commodore. On the resignation of Colonel Piers Williams,
the late Sir Richard Williams Bulkeley was elected Vice-
Commodore. On his resignation, I was promoted from
Rear Commodore to the vacant ofi&ce, and on the resignation
of Lord Penrhyn was elected Commodore. I would have
preferred remaining in one of my previous stages, con-
sidering as I did the supreme post was better suited to an
owner of a big estate with its possibihties, than the yoimgest
of eleven children. Captain Pennant Lloyd was appointed
Vice-Commodore.
When the late Marquis of Anglesey, the grandson of the
first Commodore of the dub, took up his residence
at Plas Newydd, the fine family seat in Anglesey, he
brought with him a fine steam yacht called the Santa
Cecilia, and a smaller one besides. His lordship was, of
course, elected a member of the Yacht Club, of which his
grandfather had been the first Commodore, and he attended
the first annual general meeting of the club. The post of
Rear Commodore was at that time vacant, and I had
endeavoured to persuade the gentleman who had succeeded
me as Vice-Commodore to go down a step and fill the post
of Rear Commodore, to enable me to go lower in rank and
propose Lord Anglesey to fill my post, but he did not see
his way to it at first.
The annual general meeting was largely attended by
members, one of whom drew attention to the fact that the
post of Rear Commodore had been for some time vacant, and
moved that the Marquis of Anglesey should be elected to
the post, which was seconded, the Vice-Commodore having
consented to lose a step. Then I stated that the pro-
position which had been moved and seconded was that
Lord Anglesey should fill the post of Rear Commodore, but
that I hoped they would bear with me for a few minutes
while I made a suggestion, which they would, perhaps, if
approved, turn into a motion, reminding them that the
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 861
first Lord Anglesey had been Constable of the Castle and
Mayor of Carnarvon for many years, and Commodore of the
dub ; that he had been a great benefactor to the place. I
suggested that with the sanction of the Vice-Commodore I
would go down a step and become Vice-Commodore, and
that Lord Anglesey should take my place as Commodore,
mentioning as a precedent the case of Lord Alfred Paget,
who had given up the Commodoreship of the Thames Yacht
Club, and become Vice-Commodore, to enable the Prince of
Wales to fill the post of Commodore, which was done. At
my request the mover and seconder of the previous resolu-
tion assented to my suggestion, and made it their motion,
and it was carried. I then requested the Marquis to occupy
my post, and take the chair ; and a very good and hberal
supporter of the Club he became imtil his death, when I was
again elected to my former post, in which the then state
of my health did not lead me to expect I should long continue.
Captain W3mn Griffiths was appointed Rear Commodore.
Some of the members after the meeting strongly dissented
from my action, stating that I, as foimder and father of the
Club, ought not to have placed any man over my head ; but
I rephed that it was the duty of a parent to do what he
thought would be best for his children, and reminding them
that I had always advocated the appointment of a Commo-
dore who could afiord the largest class of yachts.
It seems a long jtmip from a Commodore to a sausage-
maker. There was a most honest and conscientious sausage-
maker at Carnarvon in the early stages of the great regattas,
and I was in the habit of giving a sausage breakfast to yacht
owners on the mornings after the ball, and the institution
became most popular. The patentee of these viands has
departed this life, and, alas ! most of the pleasant fellows who
enjoyed the feast have gone.
For some years we used to supply the yachts with fire-
works, and the display of twenty-five to thirty hghted yachts
at night was a pretty sight. Those were the palmy days
when not only well-known racers but numerous fine schooner
yachts with large parties attended the Regattas, and as
the fame of Carnarvon sausages was great in the fleet of
882 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
yachts, they all took away supplies with them. With the
death of the sausage-maker the breakfasts ceased, and so
did the port of Carnarvon as a great sausage depot.
COMMODORE GRINDROD.
This gentleman was the first of the Commodores of the
Royal Mersey Yacht Club, and was often in our waters,
as was his brother Mr. Jonathan Grindrod, the Rear Commo-
dore of that club of which he was an active member, and they
were both frequenters of our early Regattas.
Commodore Grindrod was succeeded by Mr. Graves, who
was Mayor of Liverpool, and then M.P. for that important
seaport. Mr. Graves was a most energetic man in all he
took in hand, and a genial pleasant person. I once had
a narrow escape of being blown up with him at the Mersey
Regatta. We were both standing in the bow of the flag-
ship when the gun was fired as one of the winning yachts
came in, and the powder store somehow got fire, and ex-
ploded. Commodore Graves was slightly burned, but I
entirely escaped.
COMMODORE LITTLEDALE.
Amongst the many pleasant fellows who frequented these
waters, and never missed the regattas for many years, was
the hberal and kind-hearted Tom Littledale, a favourite
with everybody. The hospitalities of his flag-ship, the cutter
yacht Queen of the Ocean, and afterwards of his schooner
yacht Afield were imbounded, and are not easily forgotten by
one who so often partook of them as I did.
His was not yachting in the mere ordinary sense, for as he
did not *' sail for the pot " (as some few shore sportsmen
are said to shoot for it) he was somewhat indifferent to
cup winning. I think it was about the year 1848 that I
was a guest of his in the Queen of the Ocean at the Morecambe
Bay Regatta, previous to which I had been staying with a
cousin of mine at Lancaster. We had actually no less than
nine ladies aboard in the race, a pretty good proof tha,t th^
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 868
Commodore thought more of ladies than sUver cups, and
we sailed the most comical course I ever witnessed in a
long yachting career. Three 50-ton cutters, that so often
raced at Carnarvon, viz.. Vision, Drift, and Queen of the
Ocean, were placed at the starting-point, and we were
directed to round three flag-boats which, with the starting-
boat, formed a large square of some miles. The Secretary
came in a boat, and gave us the direction to leave all the
flag-boats on the starboard hand, which, owing to the
direction of the wind, involved four gibes on each round.
Commodore Littledale at once said : " Surely you must
mean the port hand." " No, leave the mark-boats on the
starboard hand," was the reply. " Excuse me," said Com-
modore Littledale again ; '* but if we round the marks on
the starboard hand, it will involve gibeing roimd each mark,
and the distance to the first mark is so short that we shall
all be rounding at once, which will be very awkward."
" That is the course fixed," said the Secretary ; and away
he went in his boat, as well satisfied as from a long experience
I have generally found people who undertake to perform
work of which they are profoundly ignorant almost always
are. The consequence of this gross error was that, as
Commodore Littledale had pointed out, the yachts got into
great confusion in rounding the first mark. One of the
yachts was that season noted for getting into trouble wher-
ever she went, and people (myself amongst the rest) were very
indignant with the owner ; but after he had gone through
a season of scrapes, it was ascertained that it was entirdy
the fault of the master, who attempted all sorts of improper
devices to gain advantages, and represented to the owner
that they were entitled to do the outrageous things that
caused the owner to be tabooed. At last it transpired that
the owner had never had any experience whatever of yacht-
ing, and was entirely at the mercy of a fellow who was totally
unfit to have charge of a yacht which had to abide by the
rules of the sea, and the laws which regulate fair dealing.
This gentleman was the victim of an adverse fate, and was
quite unaccountable for that which, for a season at least, put
him into Coventry.
86* MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
I regret to say that I have known a few instances of men
(who called themselves gentlemen) who were acquainted with
the rules of the sea, but who never hesitated to violate those
rules, and the code of honour amongst gentlemen to gain
a cup. Are cups or money not somewhat dearly bought
at the expense of the winner becoming known at the various
yachting stations they frequent as men " who sail for the
pot," — ^who are always " tr3dng it on," presenting imtenable
protests, and generally making themselves disagreeable ?
I repeat with satisfaction that in an experience of more
than sixty years I have known very few indeed of such men,
but those few were very bad.
But to return to the yacht race at Morecambe. The
offending yacht I have mentioned nearly caused a most
serious accident and probable loss of life. The distance was,
as before mentioned, so short to the first mark-boat that
there was no time for the yachts to clear each other, and we
in the slowest of the three vessels chanced to take the lead.
Had we been allowed to leave the mark on the port hand,
we should all have stood on far past her on the port tack.
No sooner had we gibed to. round her than the ill-mannered
yacht tried to cut in between us and the mark-vessel, with
the result that his bowsprit came right across our deck to the
great danger of the nine ladies, and we had to lay them aU
on their faces, as the bowsprit was far from continuing in
the same place, but was swa3nng across in a most dangerous
way with the movements of the yachts. Had it blown
harder this reckless fellow must have cut us down ; but by
good luck, and I may safely add, good management, we got
the vessels clear without any serious injury.
Having landed the ladies, we had another curious adven-
ture. We had to anchor in a dead calm with an ebb-tide,
the force of which was exceedingly great ; the Vision was
about a cable, or a cable and a half's length from us. The
Commodore had not long before saved forty or fifty hves
from the burning Ocean Monarch in Abergele Bay, as he was
on his passage from Carnarvon to Liverpool. The Ocean
Monarch was an emigrant ship, with a crowd of unfortunate
passengers, ntmibers of whom were burnt to death, and
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YA'CHTING REMINISCENCES 865
others drowned. It was a curious coinddepce that the Qu^en
of the Ocean should go to the rescue of the Ocean Monarch.
The yacht saved between forty and fifty people, and it is
pitiable to reflect that some of those saved from fire and
water actually entered the sleeping cabin of the man who
saved their lives, and stole some of his jewellery. Arrange-
ments had been made at Poulton to entertain the Commodore
at a banquet, to commemorate his rescue of those he had
saved from the burning ship, and this banquet was to follow
the Morecambe Bay Regatta.
The ebb-tide rushing out of the bay was of very great force
and rapidity, and we had apparently as httle chance of
getting to the banquet as we had of reaching the moon.
Orders were therefore given that dinner should be prepared
on board, but we had hardly attacked our soup when one
of the crew entered the cabin to say that there was a boat
coming down with the tide, the strength of which brought
her to us in an incredibly short time, with a message to say
that the banquet would be postponed for two hours to give
us time to reach Poulton. We were into the boat in a very
short time, and pulled to the Vision for her owner, Mr.
Birchall. Our progress was necessarily very slow, and it took
us several hours to approach Poulton, which we did long
after dark, and the night being hazy we could hardly see
our way. When we got near the place we foimd ourselves
in a queer predicament ; thinking we must be somewhere
near, the good people on shore set to to fire a row of cannons
which they had placed on the top of the bank, up which we
had to go to reach the hotel. Our hospitable entertainers
had evidently not calculated that blank cartridges at close
quarters were very dangerous, as the wadding would hit ;
we sang out to them to let them know we were below, but this
redoubled the firing, so we had nothing for it but to run up
the steep bank as fast as we could between the discharges.
Having had to cross a long and very wet beach, we arrived,
with wet and dirty shoes, just as the cheers following after
the Commodore's health were being given. It was about
ten o'clock at night, and as the banquet had had to be dis-
posed of without the hero for whom it was intended, we were
866 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
only too glad to idt down in another room to the remains of
the feast, which had been carefully kept for us. Then
followed an adjournment to the banqueting room, where the
Commodore's health was drunk, and he returned thanks ;
after which we all went to a back kitchen, where the
boots and ostlers of the hotel did their best to make our
wet shoes presentable, and we then — cutting, I fear, but
sorry figures — entered the ball-room, and danced with
sundry ladies who had waited for us. It was assuredly the
pursuit of pleasure under difficulties.
I believe this was the first regatta held in that bay, and
it proved how necessary it is in yacht-racing, as well as in all
the affairs of life, that all matters requiring skill should be in
the hands of those who understand them ; and I know of no
other business to which the argument is so apphcable as that
of seafaring.
Morecambe Bay is a very tickUsh place to deal with. The
inward tide, hke that of the Bristol Channel, often enters
with large bores or huge waves, and the receding tide goes
out like a mill-stream. Hence, in a place of that description,
the tide should be carefully calculated, and a course fixed
which would enable the contending vessels to be " to wind-
ward " of such a tide when it commenced to ebb, as it would
require a very strong breeze for a vessel to stem it. But
" Ne sutof ultra crepidam.^^
The many pleasant recollections of my old friend Tom
Littledale are saddened by the recollection that he and the
nimierous pleasant companions he generally brought with
him have long left this world. He had at one time an exceed-
ingly satisfactory and civil skipper, who was not " too big
for his boots," but owing to his death he got another who
was less amenable to reason. During this man's regime
we were one day with a pleasant party cruising in waters
well known to me, and in which from long experience I must
have been a man of crass stupidity had I not known how near
we might approach a particular bank ; the captain was
steering the yacht himself, and coming up out of the cabin
I saw we were standing too near in to a bank. I therefore
told the captain that it would be better to tack at once.
{Greenish^ photo^ London)
COLONEL SIR CHARLES HAMILTON, BART., C.B.
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 867
and received the impudent reply : " We know all about it,
Sir, ourselves." In less than a minute we were aground, in
proof that this positive fellow did " not know all about it ; "
and if further proof than this grounding were necessary, it was
supplied by his excuse that " he had never sailed there before,
and that we ought to have had a pilot," which I rather demur
to, considering my knowledge of Carnarvon Bar. This obsti-
nate impertinence cost the Conunodore a considerable sum.
Although we were able to dine where we groimded we re-
mained for two or three hours gently rolling from side to side,
the effect of which was to loosen the bolts of the keel and
damage it so that they had to put on a fr^h keel.
Amongst the many pleasant doings in the old Queen of the
Ocean, Mr. Aspinal Tobin and I were at Beaumaris Regatta
in her, and we went to a pleasant ball that followed. We
got back aboard from the ball about three or four o'clock
in the morning, and went to bed, and to our astonishment
when we awoke we foimd ourselves prisoners. The cabin
table had been laid for a good breakfast, with jams, marma-
lade, and other pleasant viands, which had tempted a great
niunber of wasps, the skylights and door of the companion
being, of course, open in the warm weather. I hope I am not
a coward generally, but here was an army one dare not face,
and the steward, reinforced by some of the crew, had to work
hard with towels to drive the dangerous enemy away before
we dared to leave the shelter of the bed-clothes.
Our old companion, the Vision, was at anchor near us, and
her owner, Mr. Birchall, having had his breakfast, boarded us
and beat a retreat until the enemy was dispersed, returning
soon after with a copy of that week's Punch, with the
curiously appropriate cartoon of a huge wasp, the descrip-
tion of which was, " Hawful appearance of a wopse, at a
picnic party."
Amongst the many amusing things connected with Little-
dale (he was the nephew of the late Mr. Justice Littledale)
was the following :
I had gone to Portmadoc one day, and in the evening
there arrived at Parkia in my absence the Commodore, Sir
Thomas Edward Moss, Bart., and some other pleasant
868 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
fellows. They had come from the Arid — the schooner
yacht which had superseded the Q%ieen of the Ocean — ^as the
Commodore's flagship of the Mersey — and from two other
yachts, which they had left at Beatmiaris ; they had come over
by land. I was then a bachelor, and they knew how welcome
their company would be to me. In reply to the questions of
where I was, and when I should return, they were told
between eight and nine. The Commodore then told the house-
keeper (who knew him well) to get a good supper ready by
nine o'clock, and to have my portmanteau packed for three or
four days' cruise. I arrived in due time for supper, and Sir
Thomas Moss moved with all due solemnity, " That Commo-
dore Littledale take the chair." After supper (which was
a very good one) I, with all the usual formality of toasts,
proposed the health of the Chairman and the rest of my
hospitaUe hosts, and congratulated them on their happy
home and pleasant diggings, acknowledging the debt which
I, as a wayfarer, owed to them for such kindness, that the
homeliness of their hospitaUty was most striking, and such
was the consideration shown to me that I felt quite imlike
a stranger, and almost as if I had been bom in the house.
Why, even the paper and the pictures on the wall resembled
what I had at home, and knowing my intense admiration for
the greatest sea officer whom the world had yet produced —
the immortal Nelson — his picture was hung on the wall
behind the Chairman. Who would not be a wayfaring man,
when he could thus, as it were, tiunble into such a hospitable
abode ?
After a pleasant evening we left for Beaumaris in the
vehicle that had brought them to Parkia, and we got to bed in
the Arid at one o'clock a.m. expecting to awake in the Mersey,
but, like many human expectations, ours were in this case d^
appointed. It had begun to blow from the north-east after
we got to sleep, and we were still at anchor off Beamnaris
when we awoke. Had the Arid started for the Mersey, as
ordered, at daylight, we should not have got beyond the
Orme's Head, and had a less pleasant sensation than lying
at anchor off Beaumaris. The wind continued to blow from
the north-east, and we got under weigh for Carnarvon with
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 869
a fair wind. Alas ! the writer of these rough notes is the
sole survivor. Poor Littledale died suddenly in London,
and I had the sad satisfaction of attending his funeral.
The last time I saw Sir Thomas Moss was in Liverpool,
many years ago, at the bottom of Bold Street, and we agreed
to spend an hour together on the great landing-stage. There
we fought our old battles over again, and a few years later
he was " gathered to his fathers."
COLONEL BIRCHALL, OF THE " VISION.''
Amidst my very numerous old yachting friends I have
occasionally mentioned Mr. Birchall, of the Vision. The
first time I set eyes on the Vision I inadvertently exclaimed :
" Why, there is the Secrd / " I had known the Secret well
at Harwich, Yarmouth, and the Thames. She was built
by Wanhill of Poole, the then most successful yacht-builder.
TTie Secret was a crack 25-tonner, and the Vision a 50-tonner ;
the difference of size puzzled me at first, but I soon came to
realise that they were both children of the same parents. I
never heard what the cost of the Secret was, but that of the
Vision was £1200.
The success of the Vision at numerous regattas was very
great for some time, until, like our first and subsequent iron-
dads, her nose was put out of joint. She once carried off
two fifty-guinea cups at Carnarvon in two successive days,
and one fifty-guinea cup on two or three other occasions.
Those were indeed regattas, of one of which I recollect
Littledale exclaiming that it was the Apex Culmen and
Climax of regattas.
Reverting to Mr. Birchall, he invited me to stay with him at
his seat, Ribbleton Hall, some miles from Preston, on the occa-
sion of his giving a great banquet at Preston, the mayoralty
of which place he had accepted that year. It was a splendid
affair, given upstairs in a very large hotel, and it was en-
livened by the uniforms of twenty-nine soldier officers and
the band of their regiment. All went smooth as a marriage-
bell up to a certain point, when, rather late in the evening, a
sudden squall set us all in motion. The Honourable Captain
2 A
870 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
, who was one of the guests, suddenly started upon his
feet, and addressing our host, said to the amazement of every
body, " I am exceedingly sorry. Sir, but I could not help it,
and gave him a back hander." Every one was taken
aback like a fleet of ships in a squall. This sudden avowal
and exclamation took every one by surprise, and our host,
with great tact, said : " Gentlemen, we will go downstairs
and smoke a cigar." Coming to me he said : " I wish you
would keep the receiver of the blow away imtil we inquire
into the matter." This gentleman, who was a barrister on
the Northern Circuit, had had too much wine, and, not in the
least knowing what he was saying, had told his neighbour
that he would like to fraternise with Mrs. (the wife of
the man who administered the " backhander "). The party
broke up and retired to a room downstairs. There chanced
to be a large private sitting-room hard by, upstairs, and I
got the recipient of the blow in there, and locking the door,
refused to let him go downstairs to make matters worse by
the excuses of a man who had made too good, or rather bad,
use of the bottle. As all the chairs of this room had been taken
to the large banqueting-room, and there was no other piece
of furniture excepting a sideboard, I found the post of gaoler
one of great inconvenience ; so, having armed myself with
some sort of an apology from a drunken man, I locked him
into the room and took the key with me downstairs, and
entered the room where the " Council of War " was being
held. I said that Mr. had authorised me to express
his regret if he had unintentionally said anything that was
offensive to the Honourable Captain , upon which the
latter at once said that an apology from a man in a drunken
condition could not be accepted. I then pleaded that
whatever was said by a man in that state need hardly be
taken seriously, and that he probably meant nothing more
than that he would like to have the honour of the lady's
acquaintance ; that I have no doubt that was all he meant,
and that I was quite sure that when the morning came the
unfortimate sinner would fully apologise. At this juncture,
an Irish captain in the regiment quartered in the barracks,
addressing me, said : ^^ Now, Sir, look, here is a case in which
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 871
one man uses insulting language to another about his
wife, and the other retorts with a blow. There is surely
nothing but blood that can wipe that out." Mr. Birchall,
however, knew a better course than the shedding of blood ;
and it was settled after a very long sitting that a letter, which
I undertook to obtain in the morning from Mr. , should
be written, expressing his great regret that, having taken too
much wine, he had given expression to words offensive to the
Honourable Captain , and that nothing could be further
from his intention than to give offence.
Indeed, before I had left him I had got enough sense out of
him to authorise that. The Honourable Captain agreed
that if that letter were written in the morning, when the
offender was sober, he would write another letter, expressing
his regret that a blow had been struck. Mr. BirchaU thus
settled a very impleasant sequel to a previously pleasant
meeting. I went upstairs again, and released my prisoner
who by that time had regained sense enough to see the wisdom
of our host's sensible arrangement, and Captain 's method
of settlement by blood-letting was rendered imnecessary. The
letters were duly written the next day, and so ended a scene
of a little more than half a century ago. The offender and
the offended were strangers to me, whom I never saw before
or after.
The Vision continued her successes for a few years, and
the last time I saw her the once great racer was in a dock in
Dublin turned into a yawl, which showed that her racing da}^
were as completely over as those of a winner of the Derby
when dragging an apple-cart. Of my old friend Birchall it
is also the same sad story. He died many years ago.
MR. TREVOR ROPER.
Amongst the many dear old yachting friends whose
memories I cherish was Mr. Charles Blany Trevor Roper,
the hospitalities of whose fine old house in Flintshire, Plas
Teg (the architect of which was no less a person than Inigo
Jones), I often enjoyed ; but far oftener, pleasant cruises in
his yacht the Wyvern, where one had to keep " one's weather-
872 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
eye lifting" to avoid being sold, as a good many harmless jokes
were of frequent occurrence. For my part, I was always
fond of the ladies» and preferred a yacht where they were to
be foimd, as in the case of the Wyvern. I recollect, after
spraining my wrist in cutting branches for a path I had
suggested through trees at Lord Clarence Paget's, I had
to wear my arm in a sling for a week on my retmn home, so,
being useless as a woodman, I went to limch in the Wyvern,
and a very pretty girl who sat next to me was kind enough to
mince my meat, on which I protested my readiness to sprain
my wrist every week on the same agreeable terms.
I have witnessed some things in the Wyvern that might,
nay would have, elicited strong language from even so simple
a sinner as the writer of these recollections, but I never once
saw Mr. Roper out of temper. On one occasion, when he had
fitted out for the summer at Carnarvon, his yacht was lying
on the graving bank below the Eagle Tower of Carnarvon
Castle, a place now disfigured by a bridge, apparently created
to bring people to the town of Carnarvon from nowhere. Mr.
Roper brought down his family on Saturday, and went with
them to St. Mary's Church on Sunday, with orders to haul
the yacht off to her moorings at high water, as the spring
tides were falling, and the neap tides approaching. On their
return from church they found that the order had been
neglected, the yacht was neaped, and they were kept there
for nearly a fortnight. Probably, had the Welsh Sunday
Closing Act been in force, this yacht might have been afford-
ing fresh air and enjoyment to her owners, instead of being
aground on a mud bank, which was close to a tavern, now
pulled down. The men who ought to have hauled the vessel
out were hoisting the liquor in.
Mr. Roper travelled home from the Continent in the
same vessel with Sir Walter Scott, when that grand man,
to whom we all owe so much, was coming home to pay
the last debt of nature. He had some conversations with
him ; but the spirit of the great novelist was at a low ebb, as
it well might be when his end was so near.
My old friend, Mr. Roper, died many years ago, and was
buried in Hope churchyard. He was succeeded by his son.
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 878
Colonel Roper, for some years the Colonel of the Flintshire
Militia, an old yachting friend of mine, and the owner and
occupier of dear old Plas Teg ; and since the preceding pages
were written he also has joined the majority, after many
years of painful suffering from rheumatism ; and I look back
to many pleasant nights and days spent with father and son
in yachts, and at the grand old baUs at the earlier days of
the Yacht Club at Plas Teg, Parkia, and elsewhere; and
joyous times they were.
COLONEL PIERS WILLIAMS, OF CRAIGYDON.
Colonel Piers WiUiams was the father of the Dowager
Duchess of Wellington, and for many years was the Colonel of
the Anglesey Mihtia, and at one time the Vice-Commodore
of the Royad Welsh Yacht Club. He had a fine estabUsh-
ment of yachts, one being the Hussar schooner (afterwards
brig-rigged). She was a very handsome vessel, and had
originally been a slaver. As a schooner I admired her much,
but as a brig even much more, so far as looks were con-
cerned ; but I always felt that if I were at sea in her I should
feel much more at home, and much more at ease, if schooner-
rigged ; and I recollect a well-seasoned old yachtsman, the
late Sir Harry Oglander, Bart., who lived in the Isle of Wight,
telling me that he and Lady Oglander went to Portsmouth with
Colonel WiUiams in the brig, and as it came on to blow from
the south, they could not get back to the Isle of Wight. Had
she then had her old rig of schooner I fancy she would have
beat to windward.
Apropos of Sir Harry and Lady Oglander, I may mention
the sad accident that occurred to the latter. I spent a most
pleasant evening with them in their fine auxiliary screw yacht
one summer ; and two or three summers after, when I enjoyed
the same pleasure again, I learned for the first time that a
dreadful accident had taken place since I had seen then^
before, namely this : the engineer, or one of his men, had
gone into the after cabin to oil the screw shaft, which necessi-
tated the lifting of a piece of the floor kept loose for the
purpose. He had unfortunately left the place for the plank
874 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
open. Lady Oglander had gone in in the dark — the screw
was at work, and the revolving shaft deprived her of one
foot. But thanks to science she was provided with a new foot,
which fortunately did not appear to affect her movements.
Were it possible to compare the number of accidents due
to carelessness with those which no foresight could prevent,
I fancy the former would be found largely in the ascendant.
I have known sailors and others who seemed bom with the
bump of carefulness (if such a bump there be) and others
whose reckless carelessness was almost beyond credence.
When one grows old, and, looking back, considers the grave
problems of life, a thousand and one ideas become present
which were absent in youth. After long experience and
study of seafaring matters, I feel no hesitation in asserting
that carelessness and neglect of simple duties are infinitely
more responsible for perils on the sea, than those of storm and
tempest. But I am wandering from Colonel Williams. I
have mentioned the Hussar; he had also for a great nimiber
of years the Gazelle cutter of eighty tons ; a beautiful little
brig, open fore and aft, of ten or twelve tons (an exact
model of the Pandora, ten-gun man-of-war brig) ; and another
small cutter yacht. He was of course a member of the
Royal Yacht Squadron.
I forget the precise year that I received a letter from
Colonel Williams, complaining that the Llanddwyn light
was not lit on a particular night named ; that in consequence
the yacht of the Earl of Aylesford, with the Earl and Countess
aboard (the Countess was the Colonel's daughter), had
struck on Carnarvon Bar. As Chairman of the Harbour
Trust I at once summoned two of the Llanddwyn pilots,
the captain of the yacht, and any one who could give infor-
mation. The result was as I expected ; I asked the captain
to tell me whether the light was visible as an all-round
light, or only within a certain compass or range ; he replied
^at he thought the light was an all-round one, visible from all
points of the compass, and the course that he had steered
from Bardsey showed that, acting on this erroneous idea, he
had expected to see the hght from a position to which he had
steered his vessel, so far to the southward and eastward of
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 875
the range of the light that it was impossible to see it. The
light shows purposely within an arc, which is to be kept in
sight, to avoid Carnarvon Bar to the southward and east-
ward, and the Anglesey coast to the north-west. The pilots
deposed to the light being fired at the usual hour, and the
masters of two vessels, that were in sight of it when lit, de-
posed to seeing it shining from their vessels. I found on
examining the master that he had not got the Admiralty
directions aboard, and his evidence clearly showed that h^
yacht was as completely sailing at random towards the bar
as if his crew were blindfolded, and had it then been stormy
weather all hands would most probably have been drowned.
The following interesting letter from Colonel WiUiams to
me related a curious incident of shipwreck and plunder.
The letter is in reply to one of mine as to a Lieutenant :
" Craigydon,
"November 5 (date not mentioned).
" My dear Sir Llewelyn, — I have a perfect recollection
of the Lieutenant you mention. He was not, however,
what is now called an officer of Coastguard, but a Lieutenant
in command of a revenue cutter, and was attached to this
station.
" His family resided at Beaumaris, and rmnour described
him as a very cross-grained, disagreeable man, and not
popular in the town. However, be that as it may, when
the cutter was paid off, he went to reside in Liverpool, and
got the command of a trader called the Hornby, and sailed
with a valuable general cargo, for the West Indies, I believe ;
but having got as far as Point Linas, he met with bad
weather and a north-west wind, which prevented his making
Holyhead, and was two daysj struggling between Orme's
Head and Linas. On the second night, however, between
four and five bells of the middle watch, the mate ineffectually
endeavoured to persuade his commander to go into Beau-
maris, but he said : * I had rather be at sea for ever than go
there.' Thinking it was time to go about, he sent a man to
loose the jib, but the man had no sooner got on the jib-boom
than, seeing a rock just below him, he jumped upon it. When
876 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
he recovered himself^ he saw no more of the ship, and the
next morning he clambered up the precipice, and told the
story in Conway. There were afterwarck nineteen people
sent to Carnarvon gaol for plundering the wreck.
" I will not fail to give you notice when Mrs. WiUiams is
inclined for a trip to Carnarvon, and with many thanks
remain,
•* Very faithfully yours,
" T. P. Williams."
Amongst the many kind friends who encouraged me in my
various attempts to raise the standard of pubUc things in
tiiis locality, decrease the mortality, and cleanse the Augean
stable of Carnarvon, there was no one whose appreciation
I had more occasion to value than Colonel Piers WiUiams,
and the kindness of Mrs. WiUiams and her husband to me
on aU occasions I most fuUy valued. The good feeling
displayed by Colonel WiUiams towards me was expressed in
severad letters at the time when a pubUc testimonial was
presented to me in the County HaU of Carnarvon, and I
cannot help recording one of them :
" Craigydon, December 28, 1871.
"My dear Sir Llewelyn, — It was my fuU intention
to have attended the ceremony fixed for to-morrow,
and at the same time to have personaUy congratulated
you upon the hard-earned and weU-deserved compliment
it has pleased her Majesty to bestow upon you ; as weU
as to have taken part in the presentation of a testimonial
which, though weU intentioned (very inadequately I
should hope), represented the feeling of aU your friends
and neighbours, including the whole of Carnarvon, for your
most untiring energy and abiUty in promoting in every way
the interest, trade, and general prosperity of Carnarvon.
I regret, however, to find that I am unable to attend on that
occasion ; but I beg you wiU accept my best wishes for your
prosperity, and the enjo3anent of many years of your newly
acquired honours, and beUeve me, my dear Sir Llewelyn,
" Yours very faithfuUy,
" T. Piers Williams."
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 877
Writing to me a few days later on another matter in a
letter from Craigydon, January i, 1872, Colonel Piers
Williams repeats the good wishes of his. previous letter of
December 28, in these words : " Pray let me repeat the
good wishes contained in my last letter, with the addition
of many happy retiuns of this day's anniversary."
A sad accident took place at Craigydon some years before
the deaths of Colonel and Mrs. WiUiams. The Colonel's
yachts were wintered in a pretty Uttle bay amongst the rocks
at Craigydon ; and one night the master of the Gazelle was
going over a rock to pay a visit to the vessel, when he
slipped, fell, and was killed.
Alas ! one has to end with the old story. The charming
seat on the Menai, opposite to which the yachts I have
named were moored, has long ceased to be the abode of
Colonel and Mrs. Williams, whose kindness I acknowledge,
but whose place knows them no more.
MR. FRENCH.
Amongst the yachtsmen who sometimes frequented the
Royal Welsh Yacht Club Regattas was Mr. French. This
gentleman, although he had the misfortune to be deaf and
dumb, was an A i yachtsman, and a most trustworthy steers-
man, and performed that duty in his yacht with marked
success in racing. Afflicted as he was, I have never met a
man who enjoyed a joke more. When he was my guest I
amused him to the best of my humble abihty after dinner
with all the droll stories I coidd think of, probably some of
those which I have inflicted on the readers of these pages.
Mr. French had a yachting chum with him, who kept up a
rapid interpretation of all the yams by the use of his fingers
with the deaf and dumb alphabet.
COLONEL SIR CHARLES HAMILTON, Bart., C.B.
One of my very dear old friends was Sir Charles Hamilton,
who was in the Scots FusiUer Guards, and distinguished
himself at the battle of Alma, for which he got the C.B. Sir
Charles came of a fine old fighting line ; the first baronet
878 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
was the active Captain Hamilton, of the Melpomene^ whose
admirable conduct at the siege of Quebec under Wolfe in
1759 was of the utmost value, and earned for him the
Baronetcy. Another naval Baronetcy was won by Captain
Edward Hamilton, cousin of Sir Charles's grandfather, for
the glorious cutting out of the Hermione in 1799, one of the
grandest operations of this kind ever performed.
About forty years ago I danced with Hermione, the sister
of the then Baronet, who was descended from Sir Edward
Hamilton, the gallant captain of the Hermione, after whom
the lady was called. She married soon after, and died in
giving birth to her child. But to return to Sir Charles, who
was descended from the brother of the sixth Earl of Aber-
com. He did some yachting in these waters, but was not
well versed in nautical matters, and was very ill served by
the master of his yacht. His town house was for some years
98 We5nnouth Street, but he removed early in the seventies
to 13 Devonshire Place, where I frequently visited him, and
always found a hearty welcome. I had considerable
correspondence with him, and have retained many of his
kind letters. In 1864, 1 find a kind letter of condolence on
the death of my mother ; in August 1878, warm congratula-
tion on my intended marriage ; and in October 21, on the
warm reception on reaching home on my return with my
bride. Not long before his death we took lodgings near
him, and he was then in the decline of life and had a nurse.
I used to visit him daily, and some lady relations of his were
there, and when I got back to Parkia I was shocked to hear
of the sudden death of one them, and Sir Charles did not
long survive.
COMMODORE SIR DAVID GAMBLE, Bart.
This experienced yachtsman, and kind friend of all
yachtsmen who came in contact with him, has had a long
and honourable career by sea and land. His yachting
life commenced in the year 1857. Himt's YacfUing
Magazine for that year, page 440, says that the North Star
raced at the Royal Northern Yacht Club Regatta, at Dunoon,
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 879
August 26-29, that she was launched ready for sea on
August 6, the keel having been laid down only on June 20
of the same year (six and a half weeks). She was built by
the Canada Company, of Birkenhead, of which old Mr.
Thomas Brassey was the principal partner.
Himt's magazine for 1858, page 373, states that the North
Star entered for the Royal Welsh Yacht Club Regatta, at
Carnarvon, for that year, but had no competitor in her class.
Hunt for 1859, P^g^ 437» ^^^ ^^ account of the North Star
winning a silver kettle at this regatta, beating the Isabella
and five other yachts. It came on to blow very hard, and
the Isabella, which was her most formidable competitor,
dreaded going the second round in the race, and the North
Star was victorious.
Amongst the yachts that Sir David Gamble has possessed
are the North Star, 27 tons, 1857 J Nora Crena, 108 tons
(auxiliary screw), 1864 ; Heleti (steam yacht), 1873 ;
Chanticleer (yawl), 1895 ; Aline (steam yacht), 1881. This
latter yacht is still in the possession of Sir David, and con-
tinues to fill her position as a fine handsome vessel, worthy
of her station as the flag-ship of the Commodore of the Royal
Mersey Yacht Club, and I doubt not that all its members
will join in the wish of the writer of these pages that she
may long continue to fly the flag of him who so worthily
fills the post of Commodore. Sir David was appointed Rear
Commodore of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club in 1870, Vice-
Commodore in 1871, and Commodore in 1881. In the year
1887 Her Majesty conferred upon him the Order of the Bath,
as a just reward for the vast expense and trouble which, for
twenty-seven years, he had incurred when in command of
the St. Helens Rifle Volunteers Regiment.
The good people of St. Helens have good reason to re-
member the benefits he rendered to their town and to the
nation. Some years ago he erected and endowed the
Gamble Institute, Library, and Technical Schools, at a cost
of £30,000, and for his long and faithful services Her Majesty
conferred upon him a Baronetcy in 1897.
In the post of Commodore of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club
Sir David Gamble succeeded the Honourable Mr. Stanley,
880 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
now the Earl of Derby, who was the successor in that post
of Mr. R. S. Graves, M.P., who came after Mr. Littledale,
so long known in these waters. I have personally great
reason to thank Commodore Gamble for the courteous
granting of his yacht as flag-ship on various occasions, and
for the generous hospitality I have so often enjoyed in his
various yachts in the Mersey, the Menai Straits, and else-
where.
In common with all yachtsmen who can appreciate the
generous actions of his sea-loving brethren I have always
been glad to see the broad pennant of the Conunodore of
the Royal Mersey Yacht Club. At one quarterly meeting
of the Royal Welsh Yacht Club, Sir David Gamble was, on
my motion, unanimously elected an honorary member
of this club. His generosity has been exemplified by his
presentation of the handsome silver kettle won by him, as
already stated, at the Royal Welsh Yacht Club Regatta in
1859.
, MR. STOPFORD, OF THE " WATER WYVERN."
Amongst the pleasant Irish yachtsmen was Mr. Stopford,
as thorough a specimen of a polished and scrupulously
honourable yachtsman as I ever met with. He raced at
Carnarvon on various occasions, and I recollect one on which
he had the misfortune to lose the cup which but for some
trifling error he had won. I forget the exact circiunstances
of the case, but have a perfect recollection of the great regret
I felt in having to decide against a man always so distin-
guished by his kind and gentlemanlike bearing. The Water
Wyvern was a fifty-ton cutter, and always welcome in my
sight for the sake of her owner.
MR. SOLOMON DARCUS.
I have a pleasant recollection of this genial Irishman of the
North of Ireland, who frequently raced at our regattas, and
had always a pleasant party with him. His yacht, the Viola,
was often here, and if I mistake not was successful.
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 881
MR. POOLE, OF THE " MERVINIA."
Among my old sailing friends was Mr. Poole, whose yacht,
the Mervinia, often raced at the Regatta, but, I am sorry to
say, did not win. My old friend had her built at Carnarvon,
where the building of yachts was not of sufficient frequency
to make them likely to meet successfully those turned out
by WanhiU of Poole, Fife of the Clyde, White of Cowes, or
other well-known builders. Many and many a pleasant sail
I had on the Mervinia, and before her day, in the Royal
Eagle, which Mr. Poole purchased from my brother-in-law
and excellent friend. Walker Jones, who had, when I was
young, purchased her from Mr. Talemache. There was
always a welcome in the Mervinia, and we had some pleasant
trips to the Isle of Man and other parts. On one occasion,
as we were returning from the Isle of Man, we were becalmed
all day, and at night found ourselves off Abergele. I went
to bed, but was roused up in the early night to help to reef
mainsail and shift jib, as it had come on to blow hard.
Having a strong southerly wind we were soon under the lee
of Anglesey, and were on the boom reefing the mainsail.
The night was very dark, owing to sleet and rain, and
chancing to look out I saw a light to windward of us, which
Thomas Jones, the master, said was Posit Linas Ught. I
said no, it is a ship's light. The master said no, it is Point
Linas, looking small through the sleet. I maintained stoutly
that it was a ship's light, and that we were approaching each
other at a dangerous pace. A large ship passed close to us»
going before a strong wind at a rattling pace. Had we been
fifteen yards or so further ahead she would have gone clean
over us, as alas ! so many ships do as the result of a bad look-
out, or an obstinate watcher. Mr. Poole's two eldest sons,
Richard and William, were contemporaries of mine, and
fellow rowers in the races of which the old man-of-war's man.
Bob Morris, elsewhere mentioned, was the coxswain. The
Mermniaw3S by no means a handsome craft, but 1 enjoyed
many a pleasant cruise in her, and have to lament, as in so
many otiber cases, that these old friends have long dis-
appeared from this life. It is a curious circmnstaace that
882 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
a man who was "at one time stone blind, which I was for
a fortnight as a boy after being blown up with gunpowder,
should have had, and still enjoy, good sight. At sea in
yachts, and in ships of war, I never met any one with better
sight either by day or night, and the case of the Mervinia was
very far from being the only one in which good eyesight
proved of real service to myself and others.
MR. WILKINSON TETLEY.
This practical yachtsman held a high place in his day
amongst those who tried their yachts in various waters.
The first he had was an old friend of mine, in which I had
sailed and won cups in the Thames, Harwich, and Yarmouth
in the year 1846, at each of which places she won a cup for
her owner, as elsewhere related.
Mr. Tetley's first race was at the Beaumaris Regatta in
1847 or 1848. As I was an old friend of the yacht, and knew
her qualities, I sailed with Mr. Tetley in his first race with her.
One of her competitors on the occasion was the beautiful
yacht Darings with which I had fallen deeply in love,
as she was to my mind and eye one of the handsomest craft
of her class afloat.
The Ranger, Mr. Tetley's yacht, had been brought round
by the same master who was in her with me at Harwich, the
previous year, and a very curious circumstance took place
towards the latter end of the race. A dispute arose between
the master and a Liverpool pilot, who had brought them round
from that port, as to the course to be steered, and each got
hold of the helm, upon which, seeing how fatally such a state
of things, if continued, must end, I took the helm, stating
that as I had often sailed into Beaumaris by day and night,
I knew which way to go. I forget how many yachts raced
in our class, but the Daring was the first to pass the flag-ship
at the epd of the race, we following on, I think, about half a
minute or less astern of her. The crew of the Daring cheered
lustily as though they had won. We sailed close up to them
and I told them their " cheers were premature, that the cup
was ours,** to which the skipper replied : " Ah, sure, sir, how
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 888
can that be when we came in first ? " I, of course, reminded
him that the Daring, being a Uttle larger, had to allow us
time, of which we had some to spare. As the cheers were
continued, I stepped into a passing boat and went ashore
to the secretary, who stated that we were the winners with
time to spare. I was soon back to both yachts that were
close together, and told them the result of my visit.
Our ship was iron, and the Daring wood, and when the
captain of the latter heard my statement, he shook his fist
at the Ranger, saying, " Ah, sure, sir, and is it to be beaten
by an ould tin can like that ? " The " ould tin can "
however, was the winner, and Mr. Tetley got his prize, a
silver cake-basket.
Mr. Tetley made an interesting trip to Canada, the United
States, and Cuba, making the acquaintance of Commodore
Stephenson, of the New York Yacht Club, who, three years
later, brought over the celebrated schooner yacht, America,
of 310 tons, which beat all our English schooners. Mr.
Tetley, while in America, was much interested by the
lengthened bows of the fine New York pilot vessels, and
when he returned to England altered the bow of his own
yacht, the Surprise, which won the Challenge Cup of the
Royal Mersey Yacht Club in 1885. She also won the
Challenge Cup in 1856, beating the new yacht Cymbal, built
that year by Fife, and then owned by Mr., later Lord,
Brassey. The Surprise won several cups that year, the
last of which was at the Royal Welsh Yacht Club Regatta,
at Carnarvon, where I had the pleasure of presenting it to
him at the ball.
In i860 he sold the Surprise and bought the Cecilia, an
iron yacht with longitudinal frames, sailed her at the Royal
Welsh Yacht Club Regatta, at Carnarvon, and won the cup
presented by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The
Prince Consort and the Duke of Edinburgh were expected
here from Ireland, but were unfortunately delayed a day.
Mr. Tetley was in that year elected to the post of Rear
Commodore of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club, and sold the
Cecilia to Mr. David Mclver, M.P., and purchased the
Extravaganza, which had been built for Sir Percy Shelley,
884 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
but changed her name to that of Marion. Reverting to the
Surprise^ I have a vivid recollection that on one occasion,
when she passed the flag-ship at Carnarvon, having won, there
was a very fresh breeze from the southward, which came down
with considerable violence between the Castle and Coed
Helen Hill. When the winner's gim was fired, the man at
the helm joining in the cheering kept the vessel too full, with
the result that she went clean imder. I was talking to
Grindrod, the then Commodore of the Royal Mersey Yacht
Club, whose back was to the Surprise^ and I exclaimed :
" Good heavens ! the Surprise has gone clean imder.'* A
man who stood with Grindrod said, " Nonsense." *' Non-
sense, man ! " I said, " look for yourself," taking him by the
shoulders, and turning him roimd. When he saw that her
hull had disappeared, he exclaimed : " Good God, so she
has ! " but the helm being properly starboarded, she rose
out of the sea, into which she had gone like a plough into a
furrow.
COMMODORE BRIDESON, DART YACHT CLUB.
Harry Brideson, as he was known to his numerous friends
in all directions, was as kind and open-hearted a man as ever
sailed in salt water, and his wife was a handsome and charm-
ing woman. I fancy that any one knowing Brideson and
disliking him must have been a churl. From time to time
he was the owner of so many yachts that my poor memory
does not enable me to enumerate them. He was Commodore
of the Dart Yacht Club, and at one time was a great person at
the Isle of Man, where, I recollect, he once built a schooner
yacht.
*' Gaieties and gravities afloat " — Such was the description
given of the Nimrod, a cutter yacht of forty tons which he had
for a long time, and had a lot of humorous fellows with him,
amongst others Mr. (I forget the name, as everybody
called him the Admiral), who had the misfortune to have
an injured back that made him short and stumpy, but a nice
pleasant man. In the Nimrod were many attires, itUer alia a
very large red robe like that of a mayor of a town. One
YACHTING REMINISCENCES 885
sailor sitting cross-l^;ged on the shoulders of another, entirely
covered by the red robe, represented a huge giant walking
about the deck with a boat-hook for a walking-stick, and
wearing a huge mask laige enough to contain a soda-water
bottle, the contents of which might be seen falling into the
sea when the giant was sick. The same robe tucked up
covered the " Admiral " as a dwarf, who also appeared sick.
I once saw the ferry steamer on a market day when full of
passengers passing the Nimrod when at anchor at Carnarvon,
and the passengers aU rushed to one side to look at the sick
giant.
Many of Brideson's jovial guests carried matters very far,
and must have got very nigh some serious scrapes.
The last time he was at the Royal Welsh Yacht Club
Regatta he came in a very l&ne schooner-yacht, the name
of which I forget, and brought with him the fine new cutter
Muriel, the winner of many prizes elsewhere, and she was a
winner at Carnarvon on this occasion, which was the last time
I saw her kind owner. He went to Madeira and died, and
was buried there. A tombstone is placed in the churchyard
at Dartmouth, which I visited when there, the only instance
I remember of a tombstone so far from the real place of
interment.
MR. LEADER.
Mr. Leader was an Irish gentleman who, for a time, resided -, /f
at Talgacofidd, in Anglesey, opposite Carnarvon. Strange^^^jf^Sc^
to say, I have forgotten the name of his yacht, with which he ^
won a cup at one of our regattas, Mr. Stopford's yacht,
I recollect, having lost it through some mistake, as elsewhere
mentioned. I recollect that in presenting the cup I had the
delicate task to perform of condoling with Mr. Stopford and
congratulating Mr. Leader. I have tried, in vain, to recall
the facts beyond the recollection that Mr. Stopford was in
one sense the winner, but that Mr. Leader was entitled to
the cup by the rules of racing ; but this I do remember, that
there was no underhand or ungentlemanlike act on either
side.
2 B
886 MEMORIES OF SIR LL, TURNER
MR. GRINNEL.
Amongst the numerous pleasant people who frequented oar
regattas in the early das^s was Mr. Grinnel, the only yachting
American I recollect. If all American yachtsmen are of
his type I can only say that yacht-racing in America must be
a pleasant pastime. Mr. Grinnel made his residence in
England, where I know he was justly a favourite with all
who came in contact with him.
CHAPTER X
CARNARVON CASTLE
Carnarvon Castle — Marquis of Anglesey as Constable —
Whitewashing the Castle — Mr. Morgan as Deputy Constable
— Former neglect of Castle — The new gates — Masons trick
Mr. Morgan — Letter from Lord Carnarvon — Sir Llewelyn
appointed Deputy Constable — Lord Carnarvon presents
railings — The moat channel — Sir Llewelyn as antiquarian
— Visit of Royal Archaeological Institute — Difference with
Corporation — Sir John Puleston as Constable — Attempts
to use the Castle for frivolous purposes — Visit by Lord
Russell of Killowen — Birth of Edward III. in Castle can be
proved — Another book
It is pretty generally known that I have been engaged on
a labour of love for more than thirty years in the repair and
restoration of Carnarvon Castle. Of this noble pile, the first
Marquis of Anglesey (of the Battle of Waterloo fame) was
for many years the Constable, in which post he succeeded his
father, the Earl of Uxbridge, who had held it for many years.
During the Constableship of Lord Anglesey the Corporation
of Carnarvon, which was composed of a mayor, bailiffs,
and burgesses (Lord Anglesey being the mayor) conceived
in his absence the great artistic (?) idea of whitewashing the
castle and town walls. They conunenced operations on the
two grand old towers of the West or Golden Gate of the town,
which I had the honour of converting into the Royal Welsh
Yacht Club House very many years later. Fortimately
for the good name of the place, but imfortunately for the
lime-dealers, Mr. Saunders, the Marquis' agent, chanced to
go to Carnarvon in a boat, and to his surprise saw these fine
towers as white as lime could make them. He at once con-
veyed the intelligence to Lord Anglesey, who, of course,
ordered the whitewash to be scrubbed off, thus depriving the
authors of that notoriety which they sought, but for their own
888 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
credit were fortunately deprived of. On the death of the
Deputy Constable, Mr. Roberts, I was led to beUeve from
information I received that the Marquis of Anglesey designed
me for the post, but as I was then a very yoimg man, his
lordship's agent advised him to appoint my brother-in-law
and godfather, Mr. Morgan, who was a very much older man.
Up to the appointment of Mr. Morgan nothing was done to
the castle, which was rapidly going to destruction. The
keepers obtained for themselves aU they received, and many
a time I as a boy paid a shilling for going in, and a vast
quantity of coping and other stones were actually stolen.
On Mr. Morgan's appointment, an arrangement was made
by the Constable and himself that the present charge of
f ourpence was to be made for admission, the money to be
spent on the repair of the building, and the payment of i8s.
per week to the keeper. My dear friend and relative did all
the good of a well-intentioned man, and some of the evil
incident to an absence of study of mediaeval architecture.
He put up the truly fine oak doors on the grand entrance,
which are an exact copy of the ancient doors of Carlisle, with
the exception that being, like his godson, brother-in-law, and
successor, an intense admirer of the ladies, he slightly enlarged
the wicket-gate in the great doors, so as to freely admit ladies
with crinolines, that dress being then in vogue. The gates
of Carlisle being in the exact style of the period of Carnarvon
Castle, the pubUc enter through doors exactly representing
the originals, with the sUght variation named.
The masons employed by my excellent relative were guilty
of the most outrageous imposition. One man who had the
work in hand was guilty of the gross rascahty of raising the
well tower in the following fraudulent fashion : instead of
building the wall to its former original height with solid
masonry of seven or eight feet in width, he built two thin
walls, one wall on the outside and the other wall on the
inside of the ramparts, filling in the space between the walls
with rubbish and earth. In doing this he filled in the
fine chimneys of the rooms below. He built a wall five feet
high, on the side of the corridor, which he coped precisely
as in a field wall. It has now been replaced by a proper wall
{lyhitlockt photo, BirminghanC)
THE LATE LORD CARNARVON
CARNARVON CASTLE 889
and the entire corridor restored and covered, lOO feet long.
This man was engaged on a contract, and got Mr. Morgan's
leave to cut stones on the closed moat opposite the County
Hall, and finding that Mr. Morgan was in a state of health
that rendered recovery unlikely, he converted the permission
to cut stones into possession of the entire space between the
Eagle and Well Towers, a space of great length, the curtain
wall between the towers forming one side of a large enclosure
and a strong paUsade cutting it off from the street the other
side. Against the outer part of the Well Tower within this
erection he placed a coal-yard, and in the side next the
ciutain he erected a convenience, used by thirty-three men,
with a shoot into the Well Tower, where there was about
two tons of human excrement.
On the death of Mr. Morgan I received the following letter
from Lord Carnarvon, the terms of which will show that the
post of Deputy Constable was imsolicited by me, although I
was known to have taken great interest in it for years.
" Royal Hotel, Ventnor, I. of Wight,
''April 19, 1870.
" My dear Sir, — The death of Mr. Morgan, which I heard
with so much regret, imposes on me the task of finding a
successor to him as Deputy Constable of the castle. The
qualifications for the office are, in my opinion, that its holder
^ould be a gentleman, with a love and knowledge of the
local antiquities, and a genuine interest in the castle. I
know no one who combines these conditions so fully as your-
self, or with whom I personally should have greater pleasure
in working, and in whose judgment and good sense I could
fed greater confidence. It will, therefore, give me very
great satisfaction if you will accept the office, and give me
and the castle those services officially which you have
already given in so full a measure individually.
" Believe me, my dear sir, ' '
" Yours very faithfully,
" Carnarvon.
"Llewelyn Turner, Esquire."
#. •
ftdO MlfiMORiES OF SIR LL. TURNER
I gladly accepted the post, which I felt would enable me
to carry out improvements I had long desired to see made.
His lordship made the same arrangements with me as he
and his predecessor, the first Marquis of Anglesey, had <ione
with Mr. Morgan, viz., that the sole management of the build-
ing should rest with me.
My relations with Lord Carnarvon were of the most cordial
character, as will appear from the following letter :
" HiGHCLBRB Castle,
" October 27, 1870.
" My dear Sir, — Of the docimients you mention ♦. . . .
There are in my mind few public men who have done better
pubUc work, or shown more constant activity, than you have,
and it would give me very sincere satisfaction to see qualities,
imfortunatdy not so conunon now as we could desire, dis-
tinguished by some honourable recognition from the Crown.
When you write again will you let me know the length of the
castle on the front next the town, with a view to my iron
railings ?
" Believe me,
" Yours truly,
" Carnarvon."
The railings alluded to now surroimd parts of the castle
moat, and were provided by Lord Carnarvon at his own
personal cost.
After giving repeated verbal and written notices to the
annexer of the space opposite the Coimty Hall, as before de-
scribed, and on his continuing possession, I employed twenty-
five navvies to clear away the excretions and enclosures,
having a body of poUce ready to prevent disturbances. This
man did his utmost to revenge himself upon me, making
attacks in a newspaper for some years. His powers of com-
position and caUigraphy being restricted, he employed two
brothers to write the attacks until they died of liquor. He
* Strange to say I am unable to recall the nature of the documents
alluded to.
(// 'i7/i'ams, photo^ ( 'atnat ;•> n)
MR. JOHN JONM:>i OF CARNARVON ('ASTI.E
CARNARVON CASTLE 391
drculated all sorts of stories, declaring, as I was often told,
that he would be revenged upon me, but after years of annoy-
ance death put an end to his hopes, and my friend and honest
workman, John Jones (who has now worked for me in the
castle for twenty-three years, and was in Lord Clarence
Paget's employ for seventeen years previous, during which I
knew him), does the work allotted to him with the ability of
an excellent mason, and the good work of a conscientious
man.
Amongst the kind and appreciative letters I received from
Lord Carnarvon was the following :
" Eastnor Castle, Ledbury,
" December 8, 1870.
" My dear Sir, — I was on the point of writing to add my
congratulations to the well-merited honour which you have
just received when your letter reached me. Seeing by its
address that you are, or were, in London, I am all the more
vexed that my own engagements should have taken me
away at the moment from home, as I should otherwise have
tried to persuade you to pay me a visit at Highclere. I must
hope for the satisfaction another time.
" Believe me,
" Yours very sincerely,
" Carnarvon."
Lord Carnarvon paid me two or three visits at Parkia, and
one with the Countess for a few da3rs.
In the year I got up a subscription amongst a few of
the county magnates to restore the Queen's Tower, which
was soon after roofed and floored, but as the work of the
parties entrusted with the work far exceeded the estimate,
I had to find £400 as best I could to finish it. I forgot to
say that on my appointment as Deputy Constable, I took
a tape and a note-book and made a tour through South
Wales, carefully examining nearly all the fine old castles there,
observing with sorrow the enormous damage done by trees
growing on the walls ; and as I have provided myself with a
good library of architectural and archaeological books, and
892 MEMORIES OF SIR LL TURNER
had always made a study of the castle, I fed confident that
my work is in full accord with the original building. At any
rate, it has passed muster with the Archaeological Institute
and the Association. In the year I entertained the
Archaeological Association at lunch, and described Conway
and Beaumaris Castles to them at each place.
In the year 1887 when I was High Sheriff of the County
of Carnarvon, the Royal Archaeological Institute met at
Chester and I was invited to read a paper there on the
castle, and to describe the castles of Conway and Carnarvon
to the members the following day. They had a special
train from Chester to Conway and Carnarvon and a trumpeter
to keep the members together. I described Conway' for one
hour on the spot, and Carnarvon in a peripatetic lecture for
five hours, including half an hour for lunch, when I enter-
tained the two himdred members to luncheon in the restored
Queen's tower.
As there are absurd people who object to keeping ancient
buildings in order, I venture to report that the two hundred
archaeologists, embracing eminent architects, presidaits of
learned societies, under the presidency of Eari Percy, and
voiced by those two eminent architects, Mr. Ferguson, F.S. A.,
and Mr. Pullen, F.S.A., Professor Clarke, unanimously
expressed their approbation of the work done, as did the
Archaeological Association some years later. I was requested
by the Association to describe the Castles of Beaimiaris and
Carnarvon, and did so in peripatetic lectures in both places.
I had the pleasure of entertaining the sixty-six members to
luncheon at Can^arvon and of being entertained by them
at Beaimiaris.
Several years ago I cleared out all the rubbish of the
towers and the courtyard, the depth of which I carefully
ascertained, and re-opened the moat. Having effected this
vast improvement to the gratification of all archaeologists, I
received a letter from the Corporation requesting me to
re-close it, which extraordinary request received the following
answer :
{J ones f Son &* Harper^ photo^ LudlovS)
SIR LLEWELYN TURNER
m
CARNARVON CASTLE 898
". Sir, — In reply to your letter I have only to state that I
dedine to repeat the vandalism and vulgarity of a former
generation by closing the moat, and thereby depriving the
magni^ent castle entrusted to my care of a large portion
of its fa9ade.
" I am, sir,
" Your obedient servant,
" Llewelyn Turner."
After the death of Lord Carnarvon Sir John Puleston,
who was then contesting the Carnarvon Boroughs, was
appointed to the post of Constable. Sir John called
at Parkia, and expressed a hope that I could see my way to
continue in office. I stated that whatever business I had
in hand I always went straight to the point, that I would be
sorry to desert a post I had felt such interest in filling, as I
was so well acquainted with its necessities; but that I
could only hold office on the dear and distinct understanding
thai Us management should be entirely under my control; that no
one could apply for its use over my head; and that the repairs
and structure should rest entirely in my hands. Sir John
replied at once by saying that he could not think of
asking me to retain the post on any other conditions. I
may mention here that I had often used strong arguments
(as I fancy I have stated elsewhere) to persuade people to
form a company and erect a large public building at Carnar-
von, urging that if they did I would not grant the use of the
castle in any way to compete with it. At last my oppor-
tunity came. I was Chairman of an Eisteddfod Committee,
and proposed that £1000 for its use for four days should be
offered to any company that would erect a building to seat
7000 people. The proposal was successful and a company
was formed, and the place erected, and proved a blessing to the
Castle, as I expected when I suggested it. In accordance
with my promise I refused all applications for public meetings
to be held in the venerable building, the passages, corridors,
and dark places being on such occasions turned into the uses
of a lavatory, and visitors were never anxious to venture to
visit it for days after a large meeting, when, in addition to
894 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
the filth in the corridors, bits of paper, glass bottles, ocange
peel, and such things degraded the fine old building. People
who wish to turn a grand memorial of past times into a place
of amusement, or for the holding of public meetings, fedl to
realise that the town in which it stands would be deprived
of a vast number of tourists who are attracted to it, and the
serious diminution of the niunber of visitors would soon stop
the great repair that has been going on for years, as there
would be no fimd to supply it. The beauty of the joke is,
that Carnarvon people pay nothing for going in, and the
visitors provide the money which enables the repairs to be
carried on. Yet there are always silly schemes for
turning the Castle into a pandemonium and deterring
visitors.
At the Summer Assizes in 1900, Lord Russell, Lord Chief
Justice, was the judge, and when in the castle with me I
pointed out John Jones, who was working about twenty
yards off, and told him how he had worked for my old frioid.
Lord Clarence Paget, for seventeen years, and on the castle
for me for twenty-three years, and that I had therefore
known him for forty years ; that I never once had to ask
why he did this, or why he had not done that, and that he was
always faithful in canying out every order, and doing it
intelligently. I then called John to us, and said : " Now,
John, you are in the presence of the Lord Chief Justice of
England, and I have been telling his lordship what a bad
man you are ! " John replied : " I am not very bad, am I,
Sir Llewelyn ? " Slapping him on the back I said : " No,
John, you are very good " ; upon which Lord Russell took
him by the hand and shook it warmly. I have told many
judges at the Assizes of his faithfulness, and they have
shaken hands with him.
On two different occasions I had the honour of describing
the castle to his Majesty the King, when Prince of Wales,
on the spot, and of showing how groundless was the attack
on the tradition of the birth of Edward II. in the Eagle Tower.
The fact that the lower portion of the Eagle Tower, including
the chamber in question, was first built by Edward I., and
the storey above not ^until a later period, can and will be
CARNARVON CASTLE 895
plainly shown, if I live to complete the history of the castle.
The bills which clearly relate to the raising of the tower to a
greater elevation have been misapplied to the building itself, all
the bills relating to which have been lost. This was clearly
explained by me to two hundred members of the Archaeological
Institute in 1887, and later on to the sixty-six of the Archaeo-
logical Association, and also to the Cambrian Association.
Inasmuch as the whole subject will be well threshed out, with
maps and pictures explaining the matter, in a history of the
castle, dedicated by permission to the King, I will not further
anticipate that which will be given in full detail. I may add
that the earliest work I did was to destroy all trees, which
it took a few years to do, and I had to salt the roots of many
to prevent their coming on again.
For many years I searched in the Record Office for bills
and documents relating to the castle, and am the possessor
of copies of all that could be found, but a series of dreadful
iUnesses has prevented my completion of a history of the
castle, which his Majesty, when Prince of Wales, kindly
allowed to be dedicated to him, and I hope to be able to
complete it, but having now lived in four reigns I must
make haste, or leave it unfinished.
[Note. — Although, as I correct this page, Sir Llewelyn Turner is
eighty years of age and ill, I deem it best to leave the concluding
passage unaltered. — ^J. £. V.]
APPENDICES
<
X
21
■J
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Cm
•II
in
APPENDIX A
STANFIELD HALL AND ITS TERRIBLE
TRAGEDIES.
THE BIRTHPLACE OF AMY ROBSART.
In the year i8 — I accepted a kind invitation from my valued
friend, connection, and old schoolfellow, Colonel Boileau,
to pay him a visit in this interesting old moated house, the
scene of fearful murders and bloodshed, viz., the murders of
Mr. Isaac Jermy, the Recorder of Norwich, of his son, Mr.
Isaac Jermy Jermy, and the shooting of Mrs. Jermy Jermy,
the son's wife, and her maid, by probably one of the greatest
scoundrels that ever disgraced humanity, James Bloomfield
Rush. Some of the incidents connected with this shooting
of four people extend back to the very remote period of
1750, when the estate belonged to a family of the name of
Jermy, and the reversion of a poor relation of the owner was
purchased by a gentleman of the name of Preston, who
subsequently became the owner, and resided at Stanfield
Hall. Outside the lodge of one of the park gates is the
Home Farm, with very large buildings and barns, which was
occupied by the villain Rush as tenant. Having ascertained
that old Mr. Preston (the father and grandfather of the two
gentlemen whom he so cruelly murdered) was going to
London on a particular day. Rush took three inside places
in the mail coach, so as to have the old gentleman \entirely
to himself all the way ; and being a consummate hypocrite,
with that plausible manner that so often imposes on the
unwary, he so far ingratiated himself with the old gentleman
that he was appointed to be his agent, and thus he obtained
the opportunity of stealing some of his title-deeds. Old
Mr. Preston was succeeded in the ownership gf the estate
400 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
by his son, Mr. Isaac Preston, afterwards Jermy,* the
Recorder of Norwich, and Rush was still the tenant of the
Home Farm. The descendants of the former gwners
of the Stanfield Hall estate had entered proceedings in
Chancery for its recovery from the Preston family, and
Rush, with the advantage of possessing the title-deeds he
had stolen, was doing all he could to assist them. Stanfield
Hall was at this time unoccupied, save by the sister-in-law
of Rush, who was employed as housekeeper to look after it.
She was a woman of some moderate means of her own, and
Rush, with his usual villainy, got hold of all she possessed
and left her nothing.
The Recorder was informed that Rush was disposing of
the stock of the Home Farm and intended to go to America ;
and inquired into the matter ; on which Rush, with his usual
cunning, asked him to go and see what a large stock he had
of cows and pigs, which were ample to pay the rent. So
large was the quantity of corn threshed that Mr. Preston
(the Recorder) was able to walk on to the top of the huge
barn from the top of the straw ; and when in later years I
was staying at Stanfield Hall and went over the fine old
buildings of this Home Farm and saw the size of the bam,
I was able to realise the magnitude of the quantity of com
threshed. Rush soon sold his stock and went into bank-
ruptcy, and judging from the notes I made in subsequent
years at the Hall when hearing all the numerous extra-
ordinary facts connected with the tragedies, I came to the
conclusion that if, as I believe, " the law is not a Hass/^ one
man who administered it was, and the advantage gained by
Rush through the extraordinary credulity of Commissioner
Fane was to me painful reading, and afforded ample evidence
of the necessity for entrusting none but strong Judges with
the administration of justice. The suit of the claimants of
Stanfield Estate lingered on in Chancery, and the claimants,
thinking its delays (which were fearfully tiresome in those
"^ The reason for this difference of name between father and son will
be cleared up as the reader proceeds.
STANFIELD HALL 401
days) far too great, hired a number of men from Norwich
and took possession, barricading the windows and the
bridge of the moat. Other means of dislodging them failing,
the Recorder applied for troops, and a body of dragoons,
under the command of a major, was sent to deal with them.
Dragoons may appear a curious force to attack a barricaded
house, but they were the only available troops at Norwich,
which is only nine miles from the Hall. The major called
upon them to surrender, which they refused to do. He
then gave them five minutes to do it in, with a distinct
warning that they would be fired upon, and they surrendered
and were marched to Norwich. At the Lent Assizes of that
town in April 1839, John Larner, Daniel Wingfield, and
eighty other men were indicted for the riot. The prosecutor
strongly recommended the men to mercy, as he believed
they had, being ignorant men, been actuated by a mistaken
idea as to the property, and on this strong recommendation
the Judge said that the prisoners ought to be deeply obliged
to the prosecutor, and sentenced Larner and Wingfield to
three months and others to two months and the rest to one
week. At the March Assizes the case of Preston and Rush
for breach of covenant took place, and what with this and
the bankruptcy proceedings the relations between the
parties were very much strained. There can be no doubt
that the Recorder, knowing too well the character of the
man, who, being in part possession of his title-deeds, left
him unable to prove his title, led a life of great discomfort.
The Recorder found that by the old settlements of the
estate it was necessary that the owner should bear the name
of Jermy, and he took and was thereafter known by that
name, his Christian name being " Isaac."
I ought to have mentioned that when the Recorder's
father died and the place came into his possession, he made
up his mind to pull down the Hall, and he sold it to Rush
for ;^iooo (for the materials). This was an inadequate price,
but two years later Rush sold the buildings back again to
Mr. Jermy (late Preston) for the sum at which he had pur-
chased it.
' 2 C
402 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Now we approach the dreadful tragedies which ended the
career of the Recorder and his son, and that of the arch-
villain Rush, who died on the gallows. Ten years previous
to the fearful events about to be related, Mr. Jenny had
deputed Rush to attend the sale and to bid on his behalf for
a farm called the Potash Farm, which adjoins one end of the
park of Stanfield Hall. I forget what the amount was at
which the farm was sold at the auction, but after the sale
Rush went to Mr. Jermy and told him that the biddings
exceeded what he had authorised him to bid, and that he had
purchased it for himself foi* a sum exceeding that by j^ijo,
and that Mr. Jermy must lend him the money to pay for the
farm. Awkwardly as he was situated with Rush, Mr. Jermy
lent him j^Sooo on mortgage, with an agreement giving him
ten years to repay the principal. When this term of ten
years was rapidly coming to an end Rush applied for further
time, which was not granted, and now we are on the thres-
hold of the climax of the catalogue of crimes committed by
this arch-hypocrite. He had many years before been in-
dicted for having burnt a hay-stack from motives of revenge,
but his old friend and banker, the devil, not having done
with him, continued to honour his cheques, and he got out
of the trouble. There is scarcely any doubt that his mother
and his step-father had died by his hand ; that he had set fire
to a Wesleyan chapel in London out of revenge against the
chapel authorities, who had prevented his seduction of a
young girl who attended the Sunday School, and the avarice
of the scoundrel was proved by his having carried off his
own books from his pew when he entered to fire the chapel.
Fortunately the fire was discovered very soon and ex-
tinguished, and the discovery that the books of one pew only
were missing (that of Rush) pointed out the man who had
done it, but there was not sufficient proof to accuse him, and
no proceedings were taken.
An important factor in the events we are now coming to
was Emily Sandford, a young woman whose life was one of
the many ruined by this fiend. Rush was a widower with
several children, and occupied the Potash Farm, and another
STANFIELD HALL 408
farm which he held under lease from the Recorder at
Felmingham, about fourteen miles from Potash and Stanfield
Hall. In 1846 Rush had advertised for a governess, and unfor-
tnately for her, Emily Sandf ord answered it, and was engaged
and seduced, and lived with Rush until the end. The 30th
of November, at which date the jfisooo was payable, was fast
approaching, and Rush made various attempts to induce the
Recorder to extend the term of ten years he had given him.
That valuable and wonderful invention, the electric telegraph,
had then been recently discovered and set up in many parts
of the kingdom, and on the night of November 28th, 1848,
a telegram reached Norwich from Wymondham (which is
three miles from the Hall), stating that Mr. Jermy and his
son had been murdered and the son's wife and her maid
dangerously wounded. The Chief Constable at once gave
orders for several men to be armed and follow with Norwich
policemen to Stanfield Hall. Although Rush's name had
not been mentioned, his description was telegraphed to all
places in the kingdom to which wires had been laid. The
promptness of the police arrangements was most creditable,
the heads being at the stations when the emergency
arose. Individuals were enlisted in the search, and
before three o'clock next morning both houses belong-
ing to Rush, at Potash and Felmingham, were surrounded
by a cordon of police. Just before daylight a light
was seen in the bedroom of a servant boy of Rush's,
called Savory, who slept in an outhouse in the Potash
farm, and a light was also seen in Rush's bedroom. The
boy came out and was quietly ordered by the police, who
kept him well in hand, to knock at the back-door and to tell
Rush that Mr. Cann, the magistrates' clerk of Wymondham,
wished to see him as early as possible. Rush came down,
opened the door, and was instantly seized. They found ti#o
double-barrelled guns, both loaded, with caps on the
nipples. The excitement throughout the nation exceeded
anything of the kind ever known, and the Times actually sent
down a printing-press to Norwich to report daily the inci-
dents of the magisterial and coroner's inquiries.
406 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
On the arrival of the various persons from Wymondham
and elsewhere, the body of the Recorder was found welter-
ing in his blood in the porch of the front door. The heart
was demolished and the clothes partially burned, showing
that the shot was fired at close quarters. The bodies of
father and son were carried on to the dining-table, and
Mrs. Jenny and Eliza Chastney placed in bed. The next
morning a meeting of magistrates was held in the servants'
hall, to which Rush was brought from the lock-up house at
Wymondham. The half-cover of a book, half-foolscap size,
was found on the floor of one of the passages with the
following warning written in printed letters as follows : —
" There are seven of us here, three of us outside and four
inside the hall, all armed as you see us two. If any of you
servants offer to leave the premises or to Mloo, you will be
shot dead. Therefore all of you keep in the servants' hall,
and you nor any one else will take any amu, for we are only
come to take possession of the Stanfield Hall property.
''Thomas Jermy, the owner."
The most careful search was made at the Potash Farm
for arms and documents ; the moat was emptied by the
cutting of a huge drain and the hiring of large punts. The
neighbouring haystacks were turned over, barbed forks were
made, and all suspicious-looking sods turned by them. The
search at Potash resulted in great discoveries — disguises,
a horrible-looking wig, women's clothes; but more important
than all, the floor of a cupboard which reached to the
bottom of a room like the rest of its floor was found to be
so laid that it could be lifted, and in it were found the follow-
ing documents, which my readers will see disclose the object
of the murders :
The forged documents found under the floor of the cupboard.
" Agreement dated the loth day of October 1848, between
James Bloomfield Rush and Isaac Jermy Esquire, marked A.
STANFIELD HALL 407
''An agreement made the loth day of October 1848,
between James Bloomfield Rush of the one part and Isaac
Jermy Esquire Recorder of Norwich on the other part. The
said Isaac Jermy agrees to let the said James Bloomfield
Rush have the five thousand pounds on the Potash estate
three years over and above the time mentioned in the mort-
gage deeds, at four per cent., computing three years from the
expiration of the ten years as mentioned in the said mort-
gage deeds to Isaac Jermy, and the said J. B. Rush agrees to
pay the interest the same as heretofore, and observe all the
stipulations and covenants mentioned in the aforesaid mort-
gage deeds, and the said Isaac Jermy agrees to do the same
as witness our hand the day and year just above written.
"Isaac Jermy.
" James B. Rush.
"Witness— Emily Sandford."
Then follows the second forgery, the forger providing
himself with (as he evidently thought) an alternative of either
producing an agreement to obtain further time to pay, or a
more profitable one of freeing himself of all obligation to
pay. This forgery runs as follows :
"Agreement dated 21st November 1848 between Isaac
Jermy Esquire of Stanfield Hall and James Bloomfield
Rush, marked B.
" It is this day agreed to by me Isaac Jermy of Stanfield
Hall that if James Bloomfield Rush gives up all papers and
documents he holds relating to the Stanfield Hall and
Felmingham estates and do all that lays in his power in
maintaining and keeping me and my heirs or assigns in
possession of the said estates that I will give up all claim I
have on him the said James Bloomfield Rush on the Potash
estate and will burn the mortgage deeds I hold on the said
estate, and give up the writings of the same to the said
J. B. Rush within twelve months from the date hereof, and
give him a lease of the Felmingham estate for twenty-one
yearsi on the same terms and conditions as he now holds
408 MEMORIES pF SIR LL. TURNER
an agreement from the present claimant Thomas Jenny.
In witness hereunto the undersigned have set their hancte,
this 2ist of November 1848.
" Isaac Jermy/'
'M James Bloomfield Rush do in consideration of the
above herewith give up all papers and documents relating
to the above estates that can in any way affect the title of
the aforesaid Isaac Jermy, and agree to do all I can to assist
in maintaining and keeping possession of the said estates
for the aforesaid Isaac Jermy his heirs or assigns.
"James Bloomfield Rush.
"Witness— Emily Sandford."
There was also found a forged lease purporting to be of
the Felmingham Farm, and to be signed by Mr. Isaac Jermy,
to which Emily Sandford had signed her name as witness.
It goes without saying that so long as Mr. Jermy was alive
these forgeries would be useless, and therefore the taking of
his life was a necessary part of the performance, and the
death of Mr. Jermy, jun., would of course render the
transaction more complete, as his knowledge of the actions
of his father, with whom he was living, would necessarily
be considerable, and Mrs. Jermy, the son's wife, was probably
in a position to throw light upon the case. The death of the
entire family would facilitate the plot, so that it was well the
daughter of Mr. Jermy, jun., escaped as she did. The
magistrates sat at Stanfield Hall, where Rush was brought by
a writ of habeas corpus. One magistrate completely lost
his head, and gave so much trouble that the other justices
were about to communicate with the Home Secretary on
the subject, and his conduct very much complicated the
inquiry. At first, poor Emily Sandford, who was not far
from becoming the mother of a child to Rush, screened him
by her evidence, but she broke down the next day and con-
fessed all, after which Rush behaved with the most abomin-
able violence and had to be restrained. The arch-hypocrite
had taken her in his gig on both the days mentioned in the
forged documents to the Hall, passing through a turnpike
STANFIELD HALL 409
gate and through one of the park lodge gates, so that if he
had been in a position to use either of the forged documents
he^could have called the turnpike- and lodge-keepers as
witnesses of his having been at the Hall with Emily Sand-
ford on both these days. Despite his fearful violence, which
was so difficult to restrain, the poor victim of his villainy
told all the truth, and how he had got her to sign her name
to the forgeries, Mr. Jermy of course not being present or
signing them; and how he had gone out disguised on several
nights at the same hour, locking her up in her room, doubt-
less in order to prevent her seeing how he was disguised.
On the night of the tragedy there was a concert at Norwich,
to which he had promised to take her, with evidently no
intention of doing it, but he took care that the servants went.
They had tea at home (Potash Farm) at half-past five, and
Emily Sandford observed agitation on the part of Rush,
who said : '* I have been thinking a good deal about the
story we read the other day of the Scotch chief," alluding to
the well-known story of Robert Bruce before the battle of
Bannockburn. He lay on his back and saw a spider which
had suspended itself from the ceiling, swinging itself with
the view of reaching a beam. The insect tried six times and
succeeded the seventh time, and then said the Scottish
chief : " I have tried six times, and as the insect tried six
times and succeeded the seventh I also shall succeed."
Rush continued : " I have tried five or six times and the
next time I shall be successful." Sandford expressed alarm
and asked what he meant,, that it must be something more
than poachers, alluding to his having gone out armed and
disguised on the several nights, as she had caught glimpses
of him despite his precautions. He replied, " I would like
you better if you do not ask me." He went out between
seven and eight o'clock. She heard but did not see him go,
which he always tried to prevent her from doing. His
nearest path to the Hall was down a long piece of ground
called a " Lork," in which the animals were allowed to stray,
and he had had this covered with straw, no doubt to prevent
the marks of his footsteps being seen, although it is only
410 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
right to say that straw was often placed there, and at other
farms in like places, for the cattle, pigs, and other animals to
tread down into manure. From there the path went alfog
the top of a hedge, on parts of which no marks need be
feared, but where marks might be possible straw had been
placed, and from this hedge he entered the park. As already
stated, Mr. Jenny used to go out at or soon after eight
o'clock to the porch, and Rush knew the house and his
habits, and had often let himself in by lifting the latch of
the side door. When Mr. Jermy went into the porch he was
confronted by a man (Rush of course) who shot him dead as
above stated, although there were five persons, female servants
and their sweethearts, by the gate at the outside of the
bridge of the moat, thirty-five yards only from the scene of
the murder. These persons were laughing and joking, when
they heard a report of a fire-arm, andisaw a spark fly up some
feet in the air, and they all ran away. In reading the account
of the evidence given before the magistrates I was amazed to
find some of these people had not been examined, and one
of them had been asked a question or two not on oath, as he
stated on the trial ; and it struck me forcibly that had they not
been called upon at the trial it would have afforded a strong
ground of argument that witnesses who could throw light
on the case should not have been called. Despite all
the exertions to find the weapons, the moat and most likely
places being examined, they were not found until after the
execution of the murderer, when the pistol and the cloak
supposed to have been the one he wore were found in the
muck heap in the yard at the back of the Potash Farm. The
weapon was a double-barrelled blunderbus with very wide
mouths and the charges were slugs, which were nearly
all found in the bodies and limbs of the four persons
shot. One of the witnesses who saw the event spoke of two
shots, but I fancy it was the banging of the door, for while
I was visiting years after at Stanfield Hall I wanted to fully
realise the whole thing, and at eight o'clock one windy
night I went just from the staircase hall through large
folding doors into the front hall, then opened the hall door,
STANFIELD HALL— THE HALL
A Dining-room door B Drawing-room door C The stairs
C to D Stairs omitted, as they would hide spot where Mr. Jermy, junr. was shot
X Spot where Mr. Jermy, junr. was shot
I Family portraits
STANFIELD HALL 411
a heavy old oak door, leaving it a little open to enable me to
return after standing in the porch, the porch door flew
open, and it and the folding door between the two halls
I had also left partly open both shut with a noise like a gun,
and I had to do as Rush had done, that is, to go to the side
door, lifting the same latch and going down the long
passage as he had done. I am of opinion after very careful
consideration of the matter that Rush burned the cloak he
had worn, and buried a diflferent one, so that in the event of
the things being found, he might prove in cross-examination
of the servants that it was not the one deposed to by the
butler, who had seen him in the house. Rush had had the
claimants of the property from London on the day of
the murders on some pretence of giving them some hints
to assist their claim, but no doubt really to give colour
to the attempt to prove that they wereithe murderers, and the
notices he threw down in the passage at Stanfield Hall
purporting to be signed by poor old Jermy, the claimant of
the estate, were of course not intended to prevent the
servants from interfering, as the murders would be com-
pleted before they could be read, but were to divert
suspicion from himself to the claimants. This is a mere
outline of the case.
The prisoner was committed for trial for murder after
imparalleled scenes of violence on his part, after he found
that Sandford told the truth at the trial. He had doubtless
been disturbed on the first six nights, probably in the
same way as on the seventh, but the time for payment of the
;g5ooo mortgage being so near he committed his murders
no doubt calculating (rightly as it proved) that the shots
would frighten away the persons he saw. A figure had been
seen on several of the six nights in the park, once with
a dark lantern, and this no doubt was Rush.
The bodies of father and son were buried in two coffins
made from an oak tree in the park and removed in two
hearses to the church at Wymohdham, the funeral cortege
being of enormous proportions, the neighbours and people
from far and wide joining in it. In the period between the
412 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
preliminary inquiries and the Assizes the search for the
weapons and the preparations for the trial were unabated.
The sufferings of Mrs. Jermy and Eliza Chastney continued^
the arm of the former having to be amputated, and for
a long time she lost her reason. No effort could restore her
to consciousness ; she knew no one, but after a time
recognised her child. One Monday morning the little creature
began to repeat a hymn in her mother's sick room (bedroom)
in which she was not correct. The poor mother immediately
prompted her, and the moment she had done so her
benumbed feelings were relieved by tears for the first time
since her disaster. Shortly after she recognised the bark of
a favourite dog of her late husband. When convalescent she
was removed from Stanfield Hall to another place ; and one
day at the house of a friend, whose infant was brought into
the room, she made the natural movement to take it into
her arms, and was painfully reminded by the loss of her arm
how cruelly she had been mutilated. *' She was a young,
handsome, light-hearted wife, but none who then saw her
as a widow with the bright but vacant eye could fail to realise
the sad change. She, however, eventually recovered from
the mental shock she had received."
A poor woman named Bailey kept the lodge-gate of
Stanfield Hall on the Ketteringham side of the park,
through which Rush and Sandford had driven as stated on
a previous page.
She and her son were examined at the preliminary
inquiries before the magistrates and Coroner, and she gave
her evidence clearly, but became insane immediately after-
wards and died raving mad in a fortnight, never having
ceased to repeat the names of Rush and the Stanfield family
until her death. Her son gave evidence at the Assizes. The
grand jury appeared in large numbers, and the High Sheriff
was solicited by many to be summoned. So great was the
interest taken in the trial that great difficulty was felt to
supply the necessary accommodation, and several ladies were
accommodated in the grand jury box. The London press
was strongly represented, the reporters being admitted as
STANFIELD HALL 418
early as half-past seven in the morning. At eight the court
was filled, the members of the Bar also being in their places.
The Judges on the Circuit were the Lord Chief Baron
Pollock, who presided in the Civil Court ; and Baron Rolfe,
who presided in the Crown Court. The learned Baron took
his seat on the Bench at nine o'clock, and the prisoner was
brought in. The Clerk of Arraigns, amid the most solemn
silence, arraigned the prisoner on the charge of murdering
Isaac Jermy, and on a second indictment for the murder of
Isaac Jermy junior, and also on the Coroner's inquisition,
to which he pleaded "not guilty." The Counsel for the
prosecution were Serjeant Byles, Mr. Prendergast, and
Mr. Evans. (Serjeant Byles was not long after promoted to
the Bench, and came the North Wales Circuit, and tried
inter alia the action in which the right of the Harbour
Trust to the foreshore was established.) Rush defended
himself, and his violence and interruptions were so great
that the Judge threatened to send him back to prison and
have the trial conducted in his absence. The following wit-
nesses were examined :
Mr. fames Deane, to prove the plans of Stanfield Hall and
the Potash Farm, and the probable way that Rush had gone
from Potash to Stanfield on the night of the murder.
Mr./. S. Canity Magistrates' Clerk, who proved accom-
panying the police and finding the forged documents and
many others in the secret hiding-place under the boards
of the cupboard from Emily Sandford's description, and
deposed that Miss Sandford had given the information as to
where they would be found. The witness was continually
interrupted by Rush, and the appeals to the Almighty were
nauseous coming from the lips of such a man. On one
occasion he said to the witness, " God's arm is strong, you
are a young man, it is most awful to hear you."
James Watson, the butler, proved having heard the reports
of the shots, and the meeting with the man. Counsel asked
him who was that man, and he replied that he believed it
was the prisoner Rush. The butler was examined at great
length.
414 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
The next witness was the wounded maid, Elira Chastncy,
who after a period of four months was suffering agony. She
was carried in a palanquin from Stanfield Hall, and gave
her evidence lying down in it. After deposing to the facts
related at the preliminary inquiry, she said, " I saw the head
and shoulders of the man who shot me. There was some-
thing remarkable in the shape of the head, being flat on the
top ; he was wide shouldered, and I formed a belief at the
time who the man was. I have had no doubt in my own
mind about it." The Counsel asked who she believed him
to be. Putting out her emaciated arm and hand from the
palanquin where she lay, she said in a clear tone, ** that
man," pointing to Rush. She added that she had often seen
him at the Hall, that he had a particular way of carrying
his head which could not be mistaken. The witness was
cross-examined by the prisoner.
Marhta Read deposed to having seen the murders
and heard the reports of fire-arms. She described the ap-
pearance, and said : " I have often seen Rush at Stanfield
Hall.* The man was of the height, size, and carriage of
Rush." The prisoner cross-examined the witness, and told
her to remember that God Almighty saw and heard what she
said.
Mr. Nicholas^ surgeon, said that the wound of Mr. Isaac
Jermy, whose body he examined in the dining-room, was
above the nipple on the left breast, and from three to four
inches in extent. The fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs were
shattered, the entire body of the heart was carried away, and
the charge had passed through the left lung and had lodged
in the muscles of the back. He examined the body of
Mr. Jermy, junior ; the wound was not more than half an
inch in diameter, near the nipple of the right breast. He
found a number of slugs in both bodies, those in both being
identical. The prisoner then said that he must have the
depositions read, that he would not be contradicted.
* He had frequent business with Mr. Jermy, and had often gone to
ask for more time to pay, as the ten years' grace was all but over.
STANFIELD HALL 415
Another surgeon confirmed the last witness, and was
cross-examined at length by the prisoner.
This is, of course, a very curtailed account, the speech of
Counsel not being reported here.
At seven o'clock in the evening the Court adjourned until
the next day. At nine o'clock the Judge took his seat on
the bench. The first witness called was Edward Harvey,
who deposed to what he and others saw outside on the
night of the murders. In the notes I made at Stanfield
Hall when on my visit there, I could not help recording my
amazement that he had not been sworn at the preUminary
inquiry, and on this occasion at the fact that Counsel failed
to ask him the hour. Rush used most violent language to
this and to another witness ; and now appeared in the box
the unfortunate woman he had ruined, Emily Sandford.
Addressing the Judge, Rush said he must make one observa-
tion. This the Judge said he could not allow, on which the
villain said, " I have a higher power than you, my lord, and
I say to this witness that I am innocent." The Judge then
said that it would be for the jury to determine that point.
Having detained the Court for some time by his interrup-
tions, the Judge at last said that he was entitled to remain in
court while the evidence was given, " unless you misconduct
yourself, otherwise you will be removed."* This poor
woman was cross-examined at great length, the prisoner
interrupting constantly. She deposed to her seduction on
a promise of marriage ; to his making her sign as a witness
the forged documents, concealing from her the contents ;
to his remarks about the six nights and his expected success
in an important venture on the seventh ; his having the
numerous disguises found in the Potash Farm, and a vast
variety of facts, all leading to prove the guilt of her seducer.
The Judge had to stop Rush's abuse of the poor woman.
* I was once sitting as a magistrate at Bangor vdtb the late Lord
Penrhyn, and a prisoner was so noisy and violent that I proposed to
remove him, and Lord Penrhyn asked if we had the power, and I
adduced this case in proof that we had, but the threat quieted the
416 MEMORIES OF SIR LL, TURNER
He several times tried to argue with the Judge, who had to
protect the witness from his cruel questioning.
The next day, Saturday, the Court opened at 9 A.M. A
witness of the name of Home deposed to having heard
prisoner say that Mr. Jermy had given him notice to quit
his farm, and that he (Mr. Jermy) would soon have notice to
quit this world from him. Other witnesses proved that Rush
had inquired on the different days if Mr. Jermy was at heme.
Books were produced, one of which had the back missing,
and one of the notices left in the Hall by the murderer was
evidently torn from one of these books. The number of
witnesses examined on Saturday was considerable, and the
Court adjourned at 7.30 p.m. until Monday.
On Monday the Court opened at 9 A.M., and numbers of
police and others were examined. The prisoner asked to
see a pocket-book that was produced in evidence, and
actually extracted a cheque for ;^40 from the pocket of it
and concealed it in his hat. The Judge during the proceed-
ings was about to ask a question of a witness, when the
prisoner said, " I will examine her first, my lord, and then
you may ask her any question you like." It will be
remembered that I have stated that the notices left in the
Hall were no doubt for the purpose of making it appear
that the murders were committed by the claimants, who
were, therefore, summoned by the prosecution. When old
Jermy, one of the claimants, was put into the box, Serjeant
Byles asked him one question only, ''Can you write, Mr.
Jermy f" " A^o, sir/' was the answer. In this case, as in
so many others, Rush had overreached himself.
Poor Emily Sandford was in the witness-box for thirteen
hours, of which ten were occupied by the prisoner's cross-
examination, and much delay was caused in her examination
by the constant interruptions of the accused.
No less than thirty-six witnesses, including several police-
men, were examined for the prosecution, and proved beyond
question the guilt of the accused. A large amount of time
was consumed in the examination of documents and by the
incessant interruptions of the prisoner. The prosecution
STANFIELD HALL 417
was now closed, and as the prisoner was about to defend
himself the Judge gave him several pieces of information
for his guidance as to what he could and could not do. The
Judge asked him if he was prepared to make his defence, and
as he replied that he was not, said that he would not require
him that day. The Court was thereupon adjourned until
the next day.
On Tuesday the Court opened at nine o'clock and the
prisoner commenced his defence. The anxiety of the public
to hear him was exceedingly great. Nothing strikes me as
more plainly showing the pride of the prisoner in his belief
in himself, his self-consciousness, and his contempt for others,
than his electing to defend himself. The case against him
was too strong for the ablest Counsel to resist, but in
choosing to defend himself he a£Forded a striking instance
of the truth of the adage that ''a man who is his own
lawyer has a fool for his client." No one accustomed to
criminal trials can doubt that had he been defended, his
counsel would not have called witnesses, and thus given the
right of reply to the prosecution, inasmuch as the evidence
he called was of no service to him, but on the contrary some
of it was injurious. After the prisoner had addressed the
Court for some hours the Judge offered to adjourn for a time
so that the prisoner might have some refreshment, but he
elected to proceed. When several hours had been thus
occupied the Judge inquired if his address would take much
longer time, and the prisoner said that he could not finish
under four and a half hours. The jury being exhausted,
the Court was adjourned.
The next morning (Wednesday) the prisoner continued
his defence, which concluded at twelve o'clock, the accused
having spoken for upwards of thirteen and a half hours
altogether. The prisoner then commenced his examination
of his witnesses. The first was George Waugh, who swore
that Frederick Howe, one of the witnesses for the prosecu-
tion, had been in his service as a clerk, and that he would
not believe him on his oath if he were contradicted by
respectable testimony. As little or no importance was
2 D
418 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
attached to Howe's evidence, that of Waugh, of whom
nothing was known at Norwich, could not repair the
damage to the case of calling witnesses.
The next witness called was Arthur W. Hyde, but as it
turned out, his evidence could not be heard.
Maria B/anchflower, nurse to Mrs. Jermy's children, had
not been called for the prosecution, as she had only recently
entered the service, and had not seen Rush prior to the
murders, but she was unwisely called by the prisoner, who
examined her as follows :
/?usA.—" What did you see on that night ? "
Blanchfiower. — " I saw a low stout man with broad
shoulders and no hat on."
Rush. — You did not know who it was ? "
Blanchfiower. — " No, I did not stop to look at him. When
I got to the back stairs I passed him. He was near the back
staircase. I brushed past him."
Here the prisoner incautiously gave himself away.
Rush. — " Did you pass me quickly ? "
Blanchfiower. — •' Yes, when I got to ithe servants' hall I
looked back, and saw the man coming towards the servants'
hall. I ran through it into the kitchen. I had no time to
see if it was any one I knew. I did not see Read or Miss
Jermy."
Solomon Savory, the servant lad whom I mentioned in a
previous page as being the boy who was sent by the police
to knock at the door at Potash when Rush was apprehended,
was called, but his evidence was unimportant. Rush accused
him of contradicting himself, but as he was one of his
witnesses, the Judge of course refused to allow him to
contradict Savory. Rush recalled the witness Howe, which
was a curious mistake, in my opinion, for him to make. He
was asked in succession if he knew no less than six persons
whom Rush named to him, and he said he knew none of
them even by name. As all his questions received negative
replies this witness did more harm than good ; it was a
novel thing to see a witness for the prosecution called by
the prisoner.
STANFIELD HALL 419
Mr. Serjeant Byles rose to reply to the speech and
evidence of the prisoner, but was frequently interrupted by
him. The Judge then said that he must be removed if
he continued to interrupt the proceedings, and the prisoner
replied, " I must be removed then." On the conclusion
of Serjeant Byles' speech, the Judge summed up and the
jury retired to consider their verdict. They returned
into court in ten minutes with a verdict of Guilty.
Amid profound silence Baron Rolfe proceeded to pass
sentence as follows : —
"James Bloomfield Rush — After a trial unusually pro-
tracted you have been found guilty of the crime of wilful
murder. The deepest and blackest crime may have some
circumstances of mitigation, but I regret to say that in your
case there is every circumstance which makes it one of
the deepest dye, and committed under circumstances the
most horrible. It appears from letters that you yourself
have written, that to the father of the unfortunate gentleman
to whom you have exhibited such malice you owed a ifi^^
debt of tfaspw gratitude. You commenced your career by a i
system of fraud, that of endeavouring to cheat your land-
lord ; you followed this course by making that unfortunate
girl, whom you had seduced, the tool by which you
committed forgery ; and having done this, you terminated
your guilty career by the murder of the son and grandson of
your friend and benefactor. Your crime is as loathsome as
it is terrible, and no one who has heard the evidence and
witnessed your conduct at the trial can fail to agree in
the verdict, and feel with me when I say that you must quit
this world by an ignominious death, auiiil4he unmitigated
abhorrence of every well regulated mind. The crime you
have committed is one of the greatest magnitude and
atrocity. I shrink not from making this statement, nor
from adjudging you the full punishment which the law
awards in the situation in which you now stand. To society
it must be perfectly indiflferent how you pass your few
remaining days — no concealment of the truth will cast the
slightest doubt upon the correctness of the verdict. No
420 MEMORIES OF SIR LL, TURNER
confession you may make or repentance you may show will
more fully prove your guilt. No taper light you can add
will be an increase to the broad daylight already cast upon
your case. I hope that no morbid curiosity will be
exhibited by the public towards you, who have no more
concern with you ; and all I conjure of you is that you will
devote your remaining days to an endeavour to make your
peace with God. Had you performed your promise to that
unfortunate girl to make her your wife, her lips would now
have been closed against you ; for a wife's lips are sealed
against her husband's ofiFences." (Prisoner : " I did not
promise, my lord.") You have been convicted on evidence
so clear that any further comment is unnecessary. Having
enjoined you on the small remaining portion of your life, I
will hope that no idle curiosity of the public will be
permitted to pry into the murderer's cell."
His lordship then passed sentence of death in the usual
form. While Rush was being removed he gave vent to
some improper expressions.
The Execution.
Never was a criminal hanged in a more prominent position
and from which a larger number of persons could witness
his exit from the world in which he had spent so evil a life.
The great old Norman castle of Norwich, which was then
the prison, stands on a high hill, and the large doors open
upon an elevation over a large tract of open country. An
extraordinary number of spectators gathered from far and
wide, the crowd being so enormous that the most distant
part of it must have had but the scantiest view. The hard-
hearted monster continued his assumed coolness to the last.
If a proof of the excitement throughout the nation was
wanting, I think I can afford it. I chanced to be at Kidder-
minster, which, I need hardly say, is six counties away from
Norfolk, and happening to go out of the coffee-room about
eight o'clock the night before the execution, and seeing the
bar and the approach to it crowded, I asked if there was an
STANFIELD HALL 421
election or some other unusual event going on at Kidder-
minster. The landlady said, " Oh, no ; they are all talking
of Rush's execution to-morrow." " What," I said, " at this
great distance ? " " Yes," she said, '* they are all discussing
it, and glad that the world is to be rid of such a monster."
Later on, when I was a visitor at Stanfield Hall, Mr. Pinson,
the able and respected governor of the prison, informed me
that during his very long experience as governor of this
large prison, nothing to his knowledge had ever approached
the excitement created by this case. He received numerous
letters from people in foreign countries, written in their
languages, begging for some information as to Rush. He
would have shown me these, but he had lent them to the
Bishop of Norwich. Rush, he said, was the most difficult
prisoner he ever had to deal with during his incarceration
from the end of November to his execution in March. His
wiles and schemes to deceive, his callousness and hardness,
were simply amazing. When Calcraft, the hangman, entered
his cell. Rush said, '' I suppose this is the gentleman who is
to do the little job for me." Taking up his top-coat, he
said, " I suppose I shan't want this. I shall not catch cold."
He said that he would not take it with him, or the hangman
would get it as his perquisite with the clothes he wore.
"He that hardeneth his neck shall suddenly fall." This
man hardened his and suddenly fell.
Rarely in the annals of crime was a murderer more
quickly secured. There is no doubt that it was a part
of his vile plot to murder Emily Sandford had he been
able to act upon the forged documents ; for had he
succeeded in establishing his claim either to get three
more years to pay his mortgage of ;f 5000 or, still better,
to secure total immunity from payment, he would have
been in constant dread while Emily Sandford lived of
being handed over to justice, as she would have been
able any day to prove his guilt. It was clear that no one
by whose death he could gain would be allowed to live.
His mother had been ill a long time, and, having got rid
of the nurse, there is little doubt that he also got rid of
422 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
his mother, by whose death he got money. He also
forged a codicil to her will. His stepfather was shot in
1844. He had gone to sleep after dinner, which, I believe,
was his custom, and from that sleep he was not allowed
to wake. His mother was ill upstairs, and Rush's account
was that he (Rush) had gone upstairs, leaving his gun
on a table ; that, hearing a shot, he went downstairs and
found the gun and his stepfather on the floor, the gun
having exploded and killed the latter. He went himself
and gave information to the Coroner, who found part of
a jury ready for the inquest when he went to the house with
Rush, whose forethought was rewarded by a verdict of
accidental death. Rush had become aware that his step-
father had made his will, leaving all to his wife (Rush's
mother), and he got from her what her husband would not
have allowed him to have — ;f 1500. The stepfather is got
rid of, and his wife gets the money ; Rush gets ;f 1500 of it ;
and then Mrs. Rush dies mysteriously, and he again profits.
I conversed with numerous people in the locality, who had
no doubt but that both were murdered.
I copy the following from notes made by me in Stanfield
Hall.
In a note made by Sir John Boileau, Bart., who acted as
one of the justices of the case (not the excited one referred
to above), he says of Stanfield Hall : "In the summer
following the murders a sale took place at the house of some
furniture and effects, and from the moment the private
view, which preceded it, arrived, the place was visited by
thousands. The days of the auction, when throngs of the
gay and thoughtless trod the floors still stained by the blood
of its owners, are scarcely to be described. Still less its
complete desolation afterwards, a desolation that could be
felt."
The floors of the two halls, viz., the front hall and the
staircase hall, and the porch where Mr. Jermy, senior, was
shot, are all flagged with porous light-coloured stone, of
which also the steps of the hall-stairs are formed, hence the
statement of Sir John of their being stained with the blood.
STANFIELD HALL 428
In my notes made while staying at Stanfield Hall I find the
following :
" The family portraits (many of which are of considerable
antiquity) and a few other things were not sold. The family
portraits still adorn the walls of the dining-room, and the
walls of the galleries looking down on the hall. Had these
been endowed with sight and hearing on the night of that
Tuesday, in November, 1848, what destruction they would
have witnessed!" Another circumstance of melancholy
interest attaches to this place. The following interesting 'facts
are from the notes of Sir John Boileau, Bart. : " Stanfield
Hall was at one time the home of Amy Robsart, the unfor-
tunate Countess of Leicester. Her father was John Robert
Robsart, Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in the first year of
the reign of Edward VI., and is called of 'Wyndham in
Norfolk, Esquire, alias of Stanfield, in the parish of Wymond-
ham.' He obtained a pardon of the said monarch (accord-
ing to Bloomfield, by the advice of Edward, Duke of
Somerset, the Protector), and the Council, for all treasons,
insurrections, rebellions, etc., before the 20th January in
the first year of that king. Soon after this he died, leav-
ing by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Scott of Camber-
well in Surrey, Esquire, a daughter and heiress, Ann,
married to Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Sir
Walter Scott, though he calls the Countess's father 'Sir'
Hugh Robsart, as more euphonious, quotes in a note a
passageprovinghimto have been called Sir John Robertsett
or Rossert. The lady's name he also changes from Ann to
Amy, by which she will always be best known."
I confess never to have felt so great interest in any trials
or in any house as the several incidents I have described
raised. The notes which I made from the various deposi-
tions of Sir John Boileau were made in my bedroom at
night, as the family, of course, did not wish the servants to
be needlessly reminded of past events. They are infinitely
more numerous than those appearing here, and the incidents
of the trial and ruling of the Judge upon a mass of points
of evidence form an admirable study for any one who
424 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
administers justice in criminal courts. I will only give one
more note, which may be of value to magistrates and
policemen.
" These terrible murders, and the events which followed,
prove the vast importance of the electric telegraph in the
detection of crime. They also prove the necessity for
having the heads of the police in immediate proximity to
the telegraph."
In this case the chief of police of the county and of the
borough of Norwich was at hand, and the speed with which
Rush's houses were surrounded by a cordon of police was
most creditable. They prove another matter to be most
important, viz., the search of the house and haunts of the
suspected person, not simply for weapons, as was at first the
case here, but also for documents, the value of which in the
detection of crime cannot be over-estimated on many occa-
sions. Everything as far as possible should be sealed up, and
the importance of a second search is often very great, as
shown in this case, where the wig was found in a place pre-
viously searched by the police. The great importance of
reticence on the part of the police is well evidenced by the
fact that in this case Rush named the hour of the murders
without having heard it from the police, who swore none of
them had named it. As it is not possible to estimate at the
moment the true effect of a question or observation by a
prisoner, it is well to be chary about replying to it.
APPENDIX B
A TRAGIC EVENT AND A MOST REMARKABLE
COINCIDENCE OF NAMES.
One of the most remaricable trials in my earlier days
was that of Josiah Misters for cutting the throat of
Mr. Macreth, a commercial traveller, in a hotel at Ludlow
on August I, 1840. Mr. Ludlow, a butcher and drover on
a large scale, who visited the fairs in Shropshire and
Herefordshire to buy cattle, was well known as a man of
money, who carried a good deal of coin about with him,
payment by cheque being far less in vogue then than in the
present better practice of not carrying a lot of money on the
person. Mr. Ludlow had, as will be seen, on two occasions
at least the narrowest escape of being robbed and murdered,
and the razor intended for him cut the throat of another.
Mr. Ludlow, who, if I recollect rightly, lived in Birmingham,
attended Shrewsbury Fair in the month of July 1840, and
put up at the Ludlow Arms Hotel ; a very young shabby
genteel man followed him into the house, and so acted
as to make it appear to others that he was accompanying
Mr. Ludlow. This villain attended the farmers' dinner, and
when asked for payment pretended he had lost his purse.
He had ordered a bed and took an opportunity of ascertain-
ing which bedroom Mr. Ludlow was to occupy. Mr. Ludlow
went to spend the evening with a friend near) Shrewsbury,
and either providentially or by good fortune he was invited
and consented to stay the night, and did not return until
the next morning, or he would very likely have had his throat
cut, as the sequel will show that the young man would
have been under his bed. The young man in question was
Josiah Misters, who lodged in Birmingham, where a brother
426 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
of his, who was a respectable man, lived. Misters was a
"ne'er do well," and had frequently to be assisted by
his brother. After the Shrewsbury fair this fellow made his
way by slow stages towards Ludlow, sleeping in barns and
such places as he could, and no doubt waiting for the
Ludlow fair, where he knew Mr. Ludlow would be. When
the day of the fair drew near, he had gradually worked
on towards Ludlow, and he was afterwards proved to have
made inquiries when the Ludlow coach would pass. He
placed himself on the way, got up behind, and when
the coach stopped at the hotel he descended and entered
the house with Mr. Ludlow, who recognised him, and said,
" Oh, you are the young man who was at Shrewsbury when
I was there," to which he assented. He coolly marched in
with Farmer Ludlow, entered the commercial room, and
sat down at the same table, both having ordered tea.
Mr. Ludlow said, " You may as well make the tea," and
this of course gave the people of the hotel the idea that
he was travelling with him. Mr. Ludlow had a bedroom
assigned to him, and well was it for him a second time that
he happened not to occupy it. A little latter there drove to
the hotel in a gig a very respectable commercial traveller,
Mr. Macreth, who travelled for a wholesale firm of ironmongers
at Bristol. Mr. Macreth got his tea, and was shown a bed-
room, which he declined to occupy, insisting-— most unfor-
tunately for him— on having the room he had always slept
in on his visits to that town. In consequence of this,
the luggage of Mr. Ludlow was shifted to another room,
and that of Mr. Macreth placed there. The latter then went
out to an ironmonger's shop, and received for his employers
a sum of, as far as I remember, between £^o and ^40,
which he locked in his box and returned to the commercial
room. A small room at the end of a passage had been
allotted to Misters, who had no luggage ; the door of that
room faced down the passage, the next to it looking across
the passage was empty, the one beyond that being occupied
by a Dr. Cameron, and the room beyond that by Mr. Macreth.
About eleven o'clock Misters went upstairs, and the chamber-
A TRAGIC EVENT 427
maid, who had gone up with him, chanced to look back after
reaching the top of the stairs and saw that the door of
Misters' room was open and had no doubt that some one was
standing behind it. Subsequently Mr. Macreth and all the
others went to bed. Mr. Macreth locked his door, but did
not look under the bed, which I advise every one to do in a
hotel or public place of the kind ; he placed his razors and
brushes on the dressing-table and went to bed. He slept
well until about four o'clock, when he was awakened by feel-
ing something about his throat, and as well as he could
speak with his throat cut, said ''What is this ?" or something
of that- sort. He put up his hand to his throat, and it
went into the cut. There was then a short struggle, during
which his mouth on each side was widely cut, as shown
on the sketch taken at the trial, by which time it had
healed. He was able to articulate but not distinctly,
and heard people in the garret above. He got up and
broke a window, shouting " Murder ! fire ! " as well as his
wound would allow. He then attempted to get out of the
room, but it being dark he got between the bed and the wall
and felt his way, leaving quantities of blood on the walls. He
then got out into the passage and was going downstairs
when he met the landlord, who in my opinion deserved to
be severely reprimanded. He could not recognise Mr.
Macreth, and instead of inquiring into the matter, said, like
a fool as he must have been, " What have you been doing
to yourself ? Go back to bed immediately." His brain seems
to have been too small to comprehend that murder is more
rife than suicide. So great was the quantity of blood lost
by poor Mr. Macreth that the landlord's feet and slippers
were wet with the blood on the stairs, and the walls were
covered with his handmarks in feeling his way. The alarm
soon spread — two men who had slept in the garret above,
not realising where the noise they had heard was, had gone
downstairs. Dr. Cameron who slept in the next room, got
up and gave aid, and the police and Dr. Hodges of Ludlow,
a very sharp man, were soon on the scene. Mr. Macreth had
great difficulty in making himself understood and was very
428 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
weak, and his cheeks had to be sewn up, his mouth having
been enlarged. Seeing that at first it was thought to be an
attempt at suicide, he pointed to his clean razors on the
dressing-table. The villain who had done the deed had the
coolness and effrontery to go into the bedroom, and taking
his cue from what he had doubtless heard the landlord say
to Mr. Macreth, said, •' He says somebody else done it, he
done it himself." Addressing Dr. Hodges, Misters said,
" Do you think the poor gentleman will recover ? " Dr.
Hodges turned sharply upon him and said, " How does it
concern you ? " The doctor, who had made up his mind
that he was the culprit, whispered to his partner, " That
fellow did it. I have a good mind to give him in charge."
" Don't for goodness sake," said his partner, " for should you
be mistaken the consequences would be serious." " I will
risk it," said the doctor, and gave Misters into custody. A
careful examination revealed small spots of blood from the
door of Mr. Macreth's room past Dr. Cameron's door and
the empty one up to the room of Misters. There was a
small mark of blood on the curtain on one side of his bed-
room window ; this led to a search of the garden below
belonging to another house, and in that garden the police
found a black-handled razor with blood on it. The prisoner,
as he then had become, said he had no razor with him, but
had two black razors in his lodgings at Birmingham, which
he very unwisely described. His lodgings were searched,
and one only found there, that found in the garden being no
doubt the other. He was committed for trial, and at the
next Assizes at Shrewsbury tried before Baron Gurney and
deservedly hanged. Fortunately for society, the law had not
then been changed which confined capital sentences to cases
only in which death ensued. Like most of the worst
criminals he was as " cool as a cucumber," and died with a
lie on his lips.
How often one is amazed to find numbers of people
attributing innocence to a firm denial and a callous de-
meanour, whereas to persons acquainted with criminals it is
as a rule one of the strongest evidences of guilt. Silly people
A TRAGIC EVENT 429
lose sight of the fact that a person capable of committing
murder, is equally capable of cool lying to the last. Mr.
Ludlow never carried large sums with him after these narrow
escapes, and took a man always with him when he travelled.
The coincidence of names was most curious. The man
intended to be robbed and murdered was Mr. Ludlow, his
first escape from murder was at the Ludlow Arms in Shrews-
bury, and the second in the town of Ludlow, and at the
Assizes the Counsel for the prosecution of the prisoner was
Sergeant Ludlow — four Ludlows ! The Town Clerk of
Ludlow has a cast of the head of Mislcsrs, which he kindly
sent to me at Ludlow to look at. It has often puzzled me
why the miscreant did not commence operations earlier,
instead of waiting until four o'clock in the morning.
On the bed being moved the marks of his body were
plainly seen in the dust under the bed, of which there
was plenty to leave a mark, and the doctors said that
the place where he had been breathing was quite distinct
in the dust. Some matches he had dropped were also
found. Many years after the event there was a sale of
furniture in the hotel, and under the mattress of lijiis bed
were distinctly seen the marks of bloody hands that had
been wiped on it. I have forgotten to say that he appeared
the next morning without stockings, and declared that
he had lost them. The landlady lent him a pair, but
the doctors were puzzled as to the way in which he
had got rid of the blood ; and some time after a pair of
stockings, which beyond doubt he had placed there, were
found in the fireplace of a disused back kitchen. This had
not been searched, no one dreaming that he had gone so far ;
the stockings, originally white, were of a sort of dirty brown,
but it was too late for the doctors to be able to say it was
blood, although they did not doubt it. The water-jug of
his room was empty, and he had no doubt used his stockings
to wipe his hands and other things. There is a lesson to be
learnt here as to searches — not to make too sure that a
criminal's hiding-places may not be further than at first sight
seems probable. Had the stockings been found out at the
480 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
time, the doctors might have been able to prove that there
was blood, and they would have helped to preserve society
from a villain. Dr. Hodges used to say that nature had
intended him for a detective, and he was that way inclined.
Dr. King of Ludlow, who, a few years ago, most skilfully
and carefully attended me in a dangerous illness, had been a
pupil of Hodges.
APPENDIX C
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT.
In my youth I was called "Louis" for short by my
intimates, and more formally " Mr. Louis " by those who
were less intimate. An Irish lady, some five or six years my
senior, was a bosom friend of mine, and although we always
called ourselves cousins I doubt if we were any relations at
all. She was a charming and most witty person, who, like
so many other dear friends, has long left this sublunary
scene, to the regret I am sure of all who knew her. Strange
to say, to this day I have never been able to make up my
mind whether many curious things she said were Irish bulls,
or clever imitations of bulls.
We kept up a most delightful and witty correspondence for
a long time — the wit, I am afraid, being all upon her side.
In one of her charming letters in the year 1845 she sent me
the following humorous lines in illustration of something
very amusing contained in her letter :
I believe he's in earnest,
Yet I long to find out.
Fortune's wheel as thou tumest
Take me out of this doubt.
I've no feeling for sly men
Who make flirting a trade,
But maintain that for shy men
Some excuse may be made.
No, he'll never deceive me,
Though I now and then doubt,
When he knows he*d relieve me,
Why canH he speak out ?
482 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
On my word it's provoking
To worry me so,
If he's serious or joking
How on earth can I know ?
One moment he sajrs things
Which the next he destroys.
Are women's hearts playthings
To be broken by bojrs ?
Sure woman was never
So tortured by doubt,
Tho' I'll lose him for ever
rU make him speak out.
January 1845.
In the following year she formed one of a large house
party at the residence of Major Eustace, near Carlow, a
relative of General Eustace, one of the generals I have
mentioned earlier as being at the battle of Vinegar Hill in
the Irish Rebellion of 1798. An account of her doings is
poetically and pleasantly given in the following witty lines.
Some of the matter will be better appreciated when I explain
that the " painful impression on the foot " was caused by the
spur of a cavalry officer in dancing. The names of the " fleet
on your coast " arose from a habit I had of calling my lady
friends by the names of ships-of-war. My charming friend
and witty correspondent being the " Irresistible/' and a lady
of our mutual acquaintance, a Miss Malaber, I called the
" Malabar," after the 74-gun ship of that name. The Incon-
stant was a beautiful 36-gun frigate, the picture of which
hung in the hall at Parkia, but is now one of twenty ships-
of-war in my bedroom. The Pique and Inconstant were
considered the two smartest frigates in the Service at the
time of which I am writing.* With these explanations I
fancy my readers will appreciate the playful and witty lines
of a departed friend :
Mr. Louis, I wonder you often don't write,
You certainly ought when I'm out of your sight,
I used to imagine you real true blue,
And sure I can't bear disappointment from you,
* The Pique was the frigate Sir William Mends came home on firom
North America without a rudder.
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 488
My first composition you will not refuse,
Twill give you a sketch of Castlemore mews,
I've been dancing and riding, driving and walking,
And you know very well Vm not backward in talking.
We've had some excursions old ruins to view,
I must also remark some fine scenery too,
And now I should say ho^f your prints were admired'*'
And for your country, admiration inspired.
I've something to tell you, believe me 'tis true,
I do not know why I should keep it from you,
I've had a proposal — or — a lady that's here,
At present the youth has not made it quite clear.
I hinted most gently " which one do you mean ? "
From his look I should say 'twas plain to be seen.
But on such a subject I ought not to tease,
I leave you to guess — whichever you please I
Carlow is famed for ** available " beaux.
But then if you gain them — ^you also gain/oM,
Some ladies have daughters in number near ten,
Which makes them most watchful of all the young men.
And if they but happen attention to pay.
Oh I how it is talked of the very next day ! !
I certainly like your custom in Wales,
No matter whaf s said there — ^you never tell tales.
I'm leaving to-morrow, and with much regret.
There's but one whom I'm sorry that ever I met.
My heart it is safe — I had that much discretion^
But he left on my foot a most painful impression.
Now, I must ask for the fleet on your coast.
And if *^ Irresistible " still is your toast ?
Or as she has gone on a voyage afar.
Have you turned tender to the great " Malabar " ?
Our Irish are true — at least 'tis said so.
As for the Welsh — ^you must keep them in tow.
But if after aU *< Inconstant " they be.
Why then I pronounce them — unworthy the sea,
* This alludes to some prints of Welsh scenery I had sent to her.
2 £
484 MEMpRIES OF S;iR LL. TURNER
And now my best verses to you I enclose
And request that they may not be answered in prose :
I hope that the Muse wiU inspire your rhyme,
And don't sicken my heart by deferring the time.
April 22, 1846. J. J.
It is many years since I last visited Ireland, the land of
my mother, but it would be as difficult as undesirable to
efface the memory of the hospitality of its people, and the
droll scenes one witnessed and experienced.
On the occasion of my first visit, when about nineteen or
twenty years old, I was most hospitably entertained by some
very dear old friends of my father and mother. It often
happened that Irish houses were somewhat untidy, and in
that respect less charming than houses this side of the
Channel ; but this house, which was of considerable size, was
one of the best-ordered, neatest, cleanest, and in every way
nicest of dwellings. It required to be somewhat large, owing
to the number of its inmates, the family consisting of my
host and hostess, eleven children, all grown up or nearly so,
and an adopted nephew and niece, making a family of
fifteen, and myself a sixteenth. The breakfasts, lunches, and
dinners were profuse ; the breakfast-table abounding with
fish, meat, and the greatest variety of tempting viands. I
never saw one pair only of anything at dinner ; ducks were
two pairs, fowls also, not of course on the same dish. In
those days all food was served on the table ; there was
only one drawback, and that was a great one, namely, the
pressure put upon me to eat. One of the sons, a nice kind
young fellow of about my own age, always sat by me, and
the difficulty I experienced in resisting his hospitable pres-
sure was very great. If I put my knife and fork down, my
plate was at once replenished or another plate with some-
thing tempting substituted. Protest was vain ; my com-
panion was evidently told off to take care of me (the same
son always). My constant protest — " My dear fellow, I
really can't eat any more," was met with — "Sure if you
don't eat you'll die." I really became ill, as it was not
possible to avoid over-feeding, and was obliged to curtail my
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 485
visit. It was the regular practice in those and earlier days
amongst Irish families. I recollect some twenty years later
relating this to the late Sir Richard Williams Bulkeley, and
he said : " Ah, that was some years ago. I well remember
the custom ; but if you go to Ireland now you will find in
all good houses that the habit has disappeared, and the
English custom of leaving people to eat as much or as little
as they like prevails." When I visited Ireland later I found
it to be so.
In Ireland I met with nothing but kindness and hospitality.
I spent a fortnight about forty years ago with a friend of '
mine, a Q.C. of the Irish Bar, who had a good landed estate
in the north of Ireland — a very old friend of mine. He and
his wife were most kind ; I went with my host every day to
the Four Courts, and the fun going on there kept me in a
perpetual state of laughter.
As to the men who drove the Irish jaunting-cars, they
were the joUiest and most pleasant fellows I ever came
across. I would say, "Pat, this is a beautiful city cf yours!"
"Ah, bedad, y'ur honour, it is a beautiful city," was the
reply. The compliment paid to the city always proved a
passport to his affections.
One day, seeing a jaunting-car going along slowly waiting
for a customer, I hailed the driver, ** Hold on, Pat, and I'll
go a drive with you." As I was mounting the car a by-
stander called out, " There will be two jolly fellows of you
together. Don't give him too much whisky, your honour."
The fares seemed to me ridiculously low, and the pleasant
conversation with the drivers was quite worth an additional
fare. One day, as I was leaving the Four Courts, I found a
driver fast asleep on his car, and got up on the other outside
wing. I saw a silver sixpence on the cushion between us, and
awa^ng the driver handed him the coin. He civilly touched
his hat, and I told him to drive to Mountjoy Square ; I
stopped at the post-office and at a shop on the way, for
which I expected to pay extra. When we reached the
house I was going to in Mountjoy Square I asked what his
fare was. " Ah, sure your honour paid me when you got on
486 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
the car at the Four Courts." " Oh, no," I said, *^ that was your
own money which I found on the cushion behind you/'
" Ah now, your honour, I see it all now, and I am greatly
indebted to your honour. I dhrove a gintleman down to
the Four Courts in the morning, and thought he bid me wait
for him, and I waited and went to sleep, and if your honour
had not come and woke me I might have slept on waiting
for him all day/' His only demand on me was sixpence,
and he looked on the shilling I gave him evidently as a
godsend, and was profuse in his gratitude.
^ The fun in the Four Courts was as good as a play, and as my
host and hostess on this occasion did not belong to the
school of compelling one to eat too much, I felt that one
had no better promoter of health than visits to the Four Courts
and a drive on an Irish jaunting-car.
There is a church in Dublin called St. Michan's, the soil of
the yard of which has the curious effect of preserving bodies
from decomposition. In the Irish Rebellion of 1798 two
brothers, Mr. Richard and Mr. John Sheers, were executed
for high treason on the balcony of the Criminal Court in
Green Street. The case was an exceedingly painful one,
and my mother's recollections of the great Rebellion had
interested me much with regard to them, and I was well
acquainted with the evidence and Curran's great defence in
their behalf. Mr. Ponsonby arrived in front of the place of
execution with a reprieve, but the crowd was so great that
he could not get to the place in time ; their heads were cut
off, and one of the executioners was holding one of the
heads up, saying, " This is the head of a traitor," just as Mr.
Ponsonby got near. My host told me that he had been
some few years before to the vault in St. Michan's church-
yard where they were buried, and had seen the bodies with
the heads on the chest of each.
Knowing what interest I felt in the trial he said that if I
liked he would get me an order to see them, and he did. I
went to the sexton's house with the order of the vicar, and a
young woman with a lantern came with me. There were
several iron entrances to vaults, exactly like the wooden
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 487
companions leading to the cabins of ships, and the young
woman unlocked one of them, and was preceding me when
I asked if she was certain that that was the vault which
contained the bodies of the brothers Sheers. She replied
that it was not, and pointing to another entrance said, " That
is the vault containing them." I of course said that what I
wanted to see was the heads and bodies of the Sheers. She
then told me that I could go down to the vault they were in
if I liked, but that I could only see the coffins, as they had
had lids fastened on them by order of Government not long
before. I then asked her how long it was since any one had
been buried in the vault she was going to show me, and she
said, '' Last week." As I could not see the Sheers, and had
no other object in view, I did not go down.
One day when I went as usual in the morning to the Four
Courts, I was in the Court of Queen's Bench for three hours
waiting for the Judges to come in. They were in their
retiring-room consulting on a point of criminal law, with
reference to two men who had been condemned to death at
one of the Assize Circuits ; the men had been brought there,
I don't know why. I forget what the point raised was, but
I looked with considerable interest at the two men who were
under sentence of death. They were not bad-looking
fellows, and I recollect were quite different in appearance
from each other. One of them not unlike an Irishman I
knew (now long dead) in Carnarvon, a man with no colour
in the face, the other a man with a fair skin. At length the
Judges came in, and the Lord Chief Justice delivered the
judgment of the Court against the prisoners, who were taken
back to the Assize town and hanged.
A droll case was tried in one of the Courts of the Common
Pleas one day before Chief Justice Monahan, of that
Court. It was a peculiarly small court, with a gallery in it.
Hearing screams of laughter I hastened up the gallery stairs,
so as not to lose the fun, and to my surprise saw a black
retriever on the desk in front of the Queen's Counsel, and I
laboured for some time under the delusion that it was steadily
looking at me, but as the case proceeded I found that the
488 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
dog, which was dead, was the subject of the action, that the
eyes were sham and the animal stuffed. The plain tiflF claimed
;^ioo damages against the defendant (who had shot the
animal), as the pups, he asserted, always sold for ;^io.
The only witness-box I saw in Ireland was in that small
court, as in all others I visited the witness (as elsewhere
stated) sat on a chair on the table, round which the Counsel
all sat. The plaintiffs Counsel having stated the case, the
witnesses were called.
" Call Mr. Macnamara."
Into the box went Mr. Macnamara, a tall, thin man, and
Counsel proceeded to examine him as follows :
" Mr. Macnamara, I believe you are a solicitor practising in
Dublin ? "
"I am."
" Do you recollect Sunday, the — day of last, walk-
ing along the Canal Road, near the plaintiff's fields ? "
"Perfectly well."
*' Did you see the defendant in one of the fields ? "
" I did."
" Had he an5rthing in his hand ? "
" Yes, he had a gun."
'* Did you see this bitch there ? " (pointing to the stuffed
animal).
" I did."
'^ Did you see the defendant do anything to the bitch ? "
" I saw the defendant deliberately point his gun at her, and
he shot her dead."
*' Now, had the bitch attacked or done anything to him
before he fired at her ? "
"No, she had not. On the contrary, the bitch went
towards him wagging her tail in the most harmonious
manner."
Then, of course, came the cross-examination, and very
considerable sparring between Counsel, and witticisms as to
the animal welcoming the defendant rather than trying to
bite him.
Evidence was called as to the nature of the animal and the
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 439
sum that her pups had fetched. Before the Counsel for the
defendant (whose brogue was exceeding great, and, I can't
help adding, very disagreeable) rose to address the jury, he
called to the officers of the Court, " Take that nasty thing
away " (pointing to the animal).
" I object to that, my lord," said the plaintiff's Counsel,
and then arose a considerable wrangle. The Judge, inter-
vening, said, " Is there any heavy smell on it ?" At last the
animal was removed, and the Judge having summed up, the
jury awarded reasonable compensation for the valuable
mother of pups, the amount of which I forget.
On another occasion, before the same Judge Monahan, an
action for false imprisonment was tried. The plaintiflF was a
great sufferer from trespass on his hayfield in the outskirts of
Dublin, and one day caught two small boys in the hay. He
collared both, led them into the nearest street, and handed
them over to a policeman. The action for false imprison-
ment, which I will briefly describe, ensued. This case,
though tried by the same Judge, was held in a larger court
than the other, and had the usual chair on the table for the
witnesses.
The Judge asked one of the boys as he sat on the chair on
the table : "Now, me bhoy (his lordship had a lisp and a
brogue), what did you and your brother do when you got
into the field ? " " Well, my lord, I took a whisp out of a
haycock and shoved it into Billy's face, and Billy pulled a
whisp out and shoved it in my face." His lordship then
asked, " Now, me bhoy, did you mount on the top of the
haycock ? " The boy, still sitting on the chair, lifted one leg
up with both hands, and replied, "Ah, my lord, is it with a
little leg like that ? " I forget what the result was.
There was a fine tall barrister, Mr. Rolleston, who had a
large business in the diflFerent Courts, and sitting by a barrister
in court one day, I remarked to him that Mr. Rolleston
seemed to be in great request. He replied, " Yes, I go the
same Circuit as he does, and he has a large business there
as well."
" One day, at one of the Assize towns, after I had finished
440 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
my business, I went away and took off my wi^and gown as
it was a hot day, and then returned to the court. A man
came behind me, and, pointing to Mr. Rolleston, said,
' What would I get that big Counsellor there for ? ' I told
him what the fee was, and pointing to a short barrister in
court, he asked, * And what would I get that little fellow
for ? ' ' Oh, the same money/ was the reply. On which
Pat exclaimed, * Ah, shure, and is it pay the same money for
that little fellow that I could get that fine big able Counsellor
for ? Shure, I heard him talking in court yesterday, and I
down be the post-office I ' "
What struck me most as to the Irish courts was the
wretched practice of whittling the desks of the courts, which
were sadly cut, causing a great contrast between the mean-
ness of injured desks and the majesty of the grand Four
Courts. Many of the Judges of those days were very far
from acting in the dignified manner of the English Judges ;
but there were two very great exceptions, namely. Lord
Chief Justice Blackburn and Lord Chief Justice Lefroy.
I forget at the moment the name of the Chancellor at the
time of my earlier visits, but his enemies insinuated — ^how
shall I say ? well, I'll put it politely — that he sometimes sat
rather long after dinner. The Chancellor and some of the
Judges were at some great function in Dublin, and, to the
surprise of every one, Mr. Justice Ball danced. A Judge
went up to Chief Justice Doherty, so remarkably ready of
wit, and said, " Brother Doherty, did you ever see a Judge
dance before ? " On which the Chief Justice, pointing his
thumb towards the back where the Chancellor was, replied,
" No, but I may have seen a Chancellor reel." This was
about sixty years ago, and people sat long after dinner.
Chief Justice Doherty, who flourished in those days and
for some time later, had one of the large houses on the
Green at Beaumaris, where he used to go in the Long
Vacation.
On one occasion he and his valet were packing up at
Beaumaris to go on Circuit in Ireland. The trumpets
sounded on the arrival of the Judge of Assize, and the Chief
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 441
Justice, addreteing his man, said, " Happy country ! happy
country ! here is the Judge of Assize coming to try a few
cases of no great enormity, whereas I am going Circuit in
Ireland, where I shall have to try men for murder and other
crimes of terrible wickedness. The freedom from crime
here is most creditable to the people ; " on which Mickey
promptly replied, " Ah, me lord, they are a mane-spirited
lot."
My host, as I have stated, had landed estates in the north
of Ireland. On one occasion he had to defend a young
man and woman charged under the White Boy Act, an Act
directed against midnight marauders, who went by that
name.
The case was simply this : A wealthy old miller was
anxious to marry the pretty young daughter of a neighbour-
ing farmer, who favoured the miller's suit for his daughter
owing to his wealth. The young woman, however, had
engaged herself to a young man in the neighbourhood, and
the lovers naturally did all they could to choke off the old
miller. In imitation of the White Boys they went to the
miller's house one night, armed with two old muskets, that
carried by the young woman (who was dressed in a suit of
her lover's clothes) being without a lock. The young man
foolishly fired several shots with his. They placed a notice
on the door stating that if the miller did not leave the
country in a week he would meet with the fate of 1
somebody who had been recently shot. The notice had on
it a rude representation of a coffin, and was signed " Molly
Maguire," which was the signature adopted by the White
Boys. The firing brought down the police, and the young
people were committed to the Assizes. My host's defence
of the accused was in accordance with what I have stated,
and he argued that it was a mere frolic on the part of two
lovers, carried out in the hope of deterring an objectionable
old nuisance from pestering the girl with his offensive
addresses. The Judge adopted this view, and in his
summing up told the jury that this was a charge under
the White Boy Act, an Act of Parliament peculiar to
442 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
Ireland, and the main question for them to consider was
whether the young woman was or was not a WhiU Boy.
"If," he said, "you should be of opinion that she is a
White Boy, the law will allow me in my discretion either to
confine or to transport her. But however much she may
have been transported with her lover on the night in
question, I certainly will not transport her, and if you entail
upon me the necessity of confining her, her confinement
shall not be attended with hard labour."* As my host
remarked, the Judge's summing up was probably more
effective than my host's defence. The jury at once found
a verdict of " Not Guilty," and as my friend's estate was in
the locality, he learned the sequel of the story. The old
miller could not stand the annoyance he had to submit to
from his neighbours, and shifted his quarters. The father
of the young woman, who was proved not to be a white boy,
withdrew his opposition to the marriage, which soon after
took place.
Many years ago there lived in Dublin a man of great
hospitality, whom I will here call Mr. A., and whom I very
well knew. He was a great joker, and on one occasion
invited three noble lords to dine with him ; the eatables and
drinkables were confined to sausages and champagne, but as
they knew their man there was no surprise.
He was once in Carnarvon Castle with me, and he picked
up a few rusty iron nails that some workmen had left
behind. We met a fussy hypochondriacal old woman
coming out of the Eagle Tower, evidently giving great
trouble to her companions. Addressing her, Mr. A. said :
" Are you ever troubled, ma'am, with a cough, or a cold, or
anything of that sort ? " The woman at once mustered a
great cough ; and presenting her with the rusty nails, Mr. A.
said : " Now, ma'am, if you will just boil these in some
gruel, and take them when you are going to bed you won't
be a bit better in the morning." Her companions enjoyed
the chaff more than the old lady did.
Mr. A. used to entertain the officers of the various
* Transportation had not then been superseded by penal servitude.
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 448
regiments in Dublin. Colonel ^ with an infantry regi-
ment, arrived in Dublin, and was soon asked to dinner at the
house of a co-conspirator in practical joking of Mr. A., of
whose curious freaks the Colonel had heard, but had not
made his acquaintance, and little dreamed that he was
sitting opposite to him. The Colonel said to the man next
to him, also a co-conspirator in their pranks : " I hear there is
a Mr. A. in Dublin who gives very good dinners, and
indulges in some odd doings ? " " You may well say he
does odd things," said the other, "he's an infernal old
scamp." This was uttered "without turning a hair,"
as the saying is, either by the man who said it or by Mr. A.,
who sat opposite ; the Colonel said he had heard a good
deal of him, but nothing against him, and hoped some day
to meet him.
A few days after came an invitation for Colonel ,
and the officers of the Foot, to dine with Mr. A., which
was gladly accepted. On arrival at the door of the house, it
was opened by a man in the uniform of one of the regiments
which were quartered in Dublin. In reply to the Colonel's
inquiry as to what he was doing there, the man simply
motioned with his hand for them to move on towards the
stairs. At the foot of the stairs was another red-coat with the
number of another regiment, and he motioned to them with-
out speaking to go upstairs. At the top of the stairs were a lot
of muskets stacked, and another red-coat without uttering a
word motioned to them to go into the drawing-room. The
weather was cold, and a lot of red-coats were standing round
the fire, like those acting as servants, all in the uniform of
privates, and the officers could not get near the fire. Soon
after the private at the door put his head into the room and
shouted, " Dinner ready, boys I " and they all started down-
stairs, pell-mell, for the dining-room. Here there was a
regular scramble to get to the table ; the officers, guessing
there must be some trick that would be cleared up, took it in
good part, and sat where they could. There were upon the
table a large round of boiled beef at the end, and a great
dish of cabbage at the other. There was for a few minutes
444 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
a great scramble for the dishes, and the officers good-
humouredly contended with the rest for possession. After
a short time Mr. A. got up and rang the bell, when three or
four liveried servants came in and removed the beef and
cabbage, and laid a handsome feast on the table, those being
the days before dinners were served as now.
Mr. A. then said : " Colonel and gentlemen,
allow me to introduce to you my friends, Mr. , Mr.
, etc. etc." These were the sham privates, amongst
the rest a very well-known dignitary of the Church, more
than one well-known public official, and, inter alios, the
'* co-conspirator " who had told the Colonel that Mr. A. was
an infernal old scamp. iMr. A. had a roomful of uniforms
and dresses of all sorts. I was once in a house on this side
of the Channel, where he and the reverend personage just
mentioned were on a visit. They had brought none of their
stage costumes with them, but managed to extemporise a
wonderful lot of strange attire out of ordinary household
matters and ornaments. The reverend gentleman got him-
self up marvellously well as a Chinaman, his ear-rings I
remember being composed of neither more nor less than a
pair of cases of some small ornaments, which hung to his
ears with singularly apparent fitness.
Such were the habits of some jokers in Ireland half a
century ago, but it must not be supposed from this that
there were not numerous houses where nothing of the kind
took place.
One might go on for no end of time in recounting the
droll sayings and doings in Ireland. A by-law existed, and
I presume still does exist, in Dublin, prohibiting boys under
fourteen years of age from driving vehicles in the streets.
A boy was summoned before the police magistrate on one
occasion for breaking this law, and the police proved his age
from the register of births. " Now, me bhoy," said his
worship, " what have you got to say ? " The boy at once
replied : " Well, your worship, I am one of twins — I am
thirteen years of age and me brother is thirteen, and shure,
sir, that's twenty-six years between us I " The magistrate,
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 445
addressing him, said : " Now, me little special pleader, you
may go, but if I catch you again I'll fine you." Where could
one find a better special pleader ?
There was a good story extant about fifty years ago,
which I recollect, of an argument between an Englishman
and an Irishman, which ended in a duel. The Englishman was
talking of anchovies. " Sure, I've seem them growing ? " said
the other. " How could you see them growing," said the
Englishman ; "why they are yisA." " I tell you I've seen them
growing," says Pat. "And I tell you they are fish, and
you would have to watch the water a long time to witness
their growth," said the other. " Do you mean to give me the
lie. Sir ? I repeat that I have seen them growing," says Pat
again, and finally he called the Englishman out. The duel,
according to the story, came off, and Pat shot his opponent
in the leg ; the latter sprang up in the air when shot, and on
seeing that, Pat shouted, " Ah, I am so sorry, sure it was
capers I meant I "
There was a droll sailor from the Emerald Isle that had
the glorious record of having served in that grand old ship
the Shannon^ in her celebrated duel with the Chesapeake,
elsewhere recorded ; apropos of which I may state that the
veteran Admiral Sir Harry Keppel once told me that he
would rather have been in the Shannon on that occasion
than at Trafalgar. But to return to William iNeale, the
man I am introducing to my readers, he became master of
a schooner belonging to Arklow, that traded to Carnarvon
for slates, and I chanced to be in the office of the Dorothea
Quarry when the Captain went in for his bill of lading.
"What is your name?" said the agent. "Billy Nail,"
replied Captain Neale. " How do you spell it ? " said
the agent. "Sure, your honour knows that best," said
Mr. Neale. "Well, will N-a-i-l do ?" said the agent. " Ah, I
suppose it will as well as anything else," said Mr. Neale ;
so instead of " William Neale " it was written " Billy Nail."
In those days, nearly sixty years ago, there was no examina-
tion for captains and mates as now, and Billy could not
write. At that time gutta-percha was all the go for soles
446 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
of shoes ; meeting the harbour-master one day (Mr. William
Owen, who later on died of cholera) he said, holding up one
foot to show the sole, "Misther harbour-master, this
go-to-Persia's wonderful stuff ; faith, I verily believe a man
could go to Persia and back without wearing it out." Billy
was a fine tall well-made man, and I daresay cut down
a goodly number of men in the splendid boarding of the
Chesapeake.
There was a Carnarvon seaman, an old shipmate of " Billy
Nail," in the Shannon, and they always had a harmless
meeting together when Billy was at Carnarvon. His
^ Carnarvon chum was Richard Griffith, commonly known
'./f4^/U^^'^4i^ I^*c TywygP8iai^ one of the crew of the Shannon ; Billy
^ was a tall and Richard Griffith a short man. The former
always had a ready answer, like most Irishmen ; meeting on
the quay one day the agent of one of the slate quarries (Billy
having his dog with him), the agent, meaning of course the
breed, asked, "What is your dog ?" Billy replied, " My dog
is the other sex."
Captain Neale, to give him his proper title, told the
harbour-master that when he was a young smart fellow of
nineteen, he was in the employ of an owner of fishing-boats
and herring-nets, and a schooner belonging to a neighbour
in Ireland sailed through one of the nets, which are of
enormous length, supported by buoys formed of dog-skins
filled with wind. The schooner arrived in port at Arklow
with a great quantity of netting fast to her. " I was a good-
looking young chap in those days," said Billy, "and
^ my master sent me to demand the return of his nets. I
dressed in me best with a blue jacket and trousers, and
knocked at the back door, which was opened by a nice
young woman, who invited me to walk in and sit down,
saying that her master would see me by-and-by. 'Well,
young man,' said she, ' what may your occupation be ? '
' Well, mim,' says I, ' my occupation is a very quare one,
very quare indeed.' 'And pray, young man,' she said,
' what may that be ? ' ' Well, mim,' says I, ' my occupa-
tion is blowing wind into dead dogs ! ' ' Well,' says she,
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 447
* I never heard of such a business as that.' " He was alluding
of course to the filling of dogs'-skins with wind.
Talking of Arklow, I always regret never having gone to
see the battlefield which my mother was so near in 1798, as
mentioned in another place.
I was in Ireland during the excited times immediately
following the trial of John Mitchell, and was in the Criminal
Court in Green Street, Dublin, at the trial of his successor,
John Martin. There was a garrison of 10,000 men in
Dublin and a vast body of police. All the streets within
about a quarter of a mile of the Court-house had cordons of
police across the road, in such intervals and numbers as to
let people pass between them in the ordinary way, but in
sufficiently strong force to prevent any rush of crowds.
The excitement in court was so great that the presiding
Judges, who were (I think) three in number, left the Bench
one day for some time. Martin was defended by Mr.
Isaac Butt, Q.C., the Home Ruler. No man is a greater
admirer than I of the speeches of Curran, Grattan, and
numerous other great Irish orators, but I confess to have
been very much disappointed in the address of Mr. Butt,
whose ridiculous motions would have spoiled any speech.
The jury-box, like that at Beaumaris, is in a gallery, and
one moment the learned Counsel's voice was loud and
shrill and the next so exceedingly low that I could not
hear a word he was saying. At one moment he was erect
in person, the next leaning over the table as if he was
doubled up. I was particularly struck with his pronuncia-
tion of the word rule, the prolonging of which was abso- \
lutely absurd. "Talk to Ih^ gentlemen of the jury of ^^^^^
English r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-rule in Ireland," at the same time
hammering the palm of one hand with the other as rapidly
as possible.
For my part, I think the best address ever spoken
would be spoiled by either a strong brogue or accent and
a number of gestures.
There are brogues and brogues. At the Irish Bar its
varieties at the time I speak of were considerable, the
448 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
majority not objectionable, but some very decidedly so. I
maintain that the language of Shakespeare and Chaucer
is more or less spoiled by accents which may be suited to
the languages that gave them birth, but are better con-
fined to them ; and in these days, when the schoolmaster
has been so long abroad, I submit that a broad accent
is neither more nor less than a provincialism; but my
description is of half a century ago and more.
A Sermon.
Talking of brogues, by all that's funny I never witnessed
such a performance as a charming lady friend took me
to in a Dublin church. If ever a poor fellow could be
excused for laughing in a place of worship, I felt that I
ought to be excused if I did there. I had heard much
of the Rev. as a wonderful preacher. When
we got to his church it was so crowded that one had to
stand, my delightful friend for half the service and I for
the whole. When the collection was made by a number
of gentlemanlike-looking persons, I thought, from the noise
of the plates, that everybody gave a crown or at least half
a crown, and, feeling in my pocket, I mustered sixpence,
and thought what a shabby fellow they would think me.
When the plate reached me, my ideas were at once
changed, and I began to think that, if my juvenile appearance
was not against it, I should be mistaken for the Governor
of the Bank of England or some great millionaire, as my
bright sixpence shone brightly on the big pennies and
halfpence, the sound of which I had mistaken for crowns
and half-crowns. The well-known kindness and liberaHty
of the Irish forbids the remotest suspicion of stinginess ;
but this and the low fares of the Dublin carmen show that
money was far less plentiful on that than this side of the
Channel. But to the sermon, which was on the subject of
the shipwreck of St. Paul. After landing Paul and his ship's
company, the preacher drew a contrast between tlie so-called
barbarous people " who recaved them kindly and his own
IRISH HOSPITALITY AND WIT 449
countrymen, who had often been guilty of robbery and
murder in wrecked ships" ; and his reverence was moderately
quiet until the viper got hold of Paul's hand, when he launched
out both arms, port and starboard, as if they proceeded
out and in from his body, at the same time shouting at the
top of his voice, "Sur^-ly this man is a murtherer! " repeated
three times at high pressure, astounding the unsophisticated
individual who now recites it. The words in the fourth
verse of the Acts of the Apostles, chap, xxviii., are, "No
doubt this man is a murderer " ; but I am giving part of the
sermon. I could not help fancying how the " barbarous
people " would have bolted had they heard this Boanerges
and seen his arms shooting in and out as if he had an
internal engine to propel them. The rev. gentleman was
made a Bishop not long after, but whether he shouted him-
self into it I know not. There is so much really great oratory
in Ireland that I could only feel amazed how such a noisy
person could attract so large a congregation. The preach-
ing in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church, and the Chapel
Royal was, to my mind, as superior to what I have been
describing as the song of a nightingale to that of a screech
owl. The serene service of the Cathedral pulpit was in
marked contrast to the roar in the other church.
2 F
APPENDIX D
[In this appendix are given some of the speeches made and
addresses delivered by Sir Llewelyn Turner on important
occasions.]
PERJURY IN CARNARVONSHIRE.
(Copied from the Carnarvon Herald)
We now give in full the speech of Sir Llewelyn Turner on
the above subject at the Carnarvonshire Quarter Sessions, to
which we briefly alluded in our last.
Sir Llewelyn said : — In rising to bring forward the painful
subject of the prevalence of perjury in this county I need
scarcely assure the Court that I have not placed such a
matter upon the agenda without considerable hesitation and
regret. As a native of this county, who has always felt
a warm interest in its institutions, I had no inclination
to publish a scandal of which I am ashamed. In dealing
with the subject I must ask the indulgence of my brother
magistrates to bear with me while I enter into it at some
length ; for I feel that it would be almost as improper
to treat such a serious matter in a light or perfunctory
manner as it would have been to introduce it upon
frivolous or insufficient grounds. It seems hardly necessary
to offer any observations in proof of the extensive existence
of this crime. Most assuredly in the division of the county
in which I act no such necessity can exist, as any magistrate
who sits as often as I do, has the most frequent and painful
experience of it ; and from what I have heard from some of
those sitting in some other divisions, their experience is not
very dissimilar, and I have reason to know that the County
Court Judge (than whom there is not a more learned or
painstaking County Court Judge anywhere) has no less
painful evidence of its existence. I have less hesitation in
PERXURY IN CARNARVONSHIRE 551
attacking perjury in the witness-box from the fact of my
having attacked it successfully many years ago in the jury-
box, in conjunction with the late Lord Lieutenant of the
county, Sir Richard Bulkeley. A practice at the time I
speak of prevailed under the sanction of law of jury-pack-
ing, a system of legal — or, more properly speaking, illegal
warfare — which I can only compare to the poisoning of
wells in military warfare, and certainly nothing more
calculated to pollute the fountains of justice can well
be conceived. Representations were made to the Secretary
of State for the Home Department, and to some of her
Majesty's Judges, by the late Sir Richard Bulkeley and myself,
and the practice was suppressed. The distance from the
witness-box to the jury-box is not great, and if we do not
prevent the existence of perjury in the former it may soon
again appear in the latter. My experience of cases is not
confined to those of country districts. Some time ago
I sat for many years as a magistrate in the town of Carnarvon,
trying some thousands of cases, and it may at first create
some surprise when I state that, so far as my experience
goes, I have found infinitely greater perjury coming from
country districts than from the town. This may arise in a
great measure from the fact that in a town of this size
people know, and perhaps care, less for their neighbours'
affairs, and partisanship becomes less probable and possible,
and rows are generally settled by the intervention of the
police, whose presence is a strong deterrent to subsequent
perjury. The class of cases is mostly different. In the
country districts partisanship prevails to a surprising extent,
the friends of the disputing parties arranging themselves
on either side, like the faction fights of Ireland. In that
country disputes are settled by the rival combatants with the
persuasive aid of the shillelagh ; here, too often, with the
Gospels of heaven in the right hand. This leads me to
a remark natural, I think, under the circumstances ; namely,
that in a part of the kingdom which boasts, and fairly
boasts, of its support of the Bible Society, and in which the
means of religious instruction are so thoroughly provided in
452 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
churches and chapels, the Holy Scriptures should be thus
treated in courts of justice, not merely with levity, but
actually made an instrument of fraud. The eminent author
of the noble "Commentaries on the Laws of England"
(Mr. Justice Blackstone) reminds us that "the Scriptures are
the common law on which all other law is founded ; " and
it is upon this great foundation of all law, this great treasury
on which our knowledge of the life that now is, as well
as our hope of that which is to come, is founded. It
is, I repeat, upon this sacred sanction that the most
barefaced falsehoods are continually uttered. In affiliation
cases the partisans of complainant and respondent array
themselves in opposite ranks on either side, young men feel-
ing no shame, no compunction in adding insult to injury,
by imputing (as their denial necessarily does impute) perjury
to those whom they have seduced and ruined. Young
women, on the other hand, are frequently found coming
forward with shameless effrontery to declare that men are
the fathers of their offspring under circumstances the false-
hood of which is often proved to demonstration ; in some
cases women who have already privately received payment
from one man publicly enforcing it from another. Again,
in cases of a different kind, where witnesses have been com-
pelled by summons to attend, the magistrates have frequently
either to believe that the senses of hearing and seeing of the
witnesses had been suspended at a particular time, or that
their denial of facts proved to have taken place was neither
more nor less than wilful and corrupt perjury. I repeat my
great reluctance to have brought such a matter forward pro-
minently, and I say that nothing but a deep sense of duty
and an ardent desire to secure a pure administration of
justice would have impelled me to do so, for I feel it a stain
upon my native county ; but it is far better to endeavour to
remove it, and less disgraceful to expose it, than to connive
at and allow it to continue. Though I am not one of those
sanguine men who imagine that any resolution of mine will
entirely effect the object devoutly desired, still I have faith
that those to whom the first part of my resolution appeals
PERJURY IN CARNARVONSHIRE 458
will afford their powerful aid, and that the county officials
will do all in their power to carry out the second part. The
resolution I intend presently to submit to the Court may be
divided into two parts, the first of which appeals to the
religious instincts of the country, to the press, and to those
entrusted with the training of youth. The other part may
be called declaratory and mandatory to the officials of the
county. The resolution is as follows : " That this Court
regards with anxiety and regret the prevalence of perjury
said to exist in the county. The Court desires respectfully
to invite the earnest aid and co-operation of ministers of
religion of all denominations, of the masters and mistresses
of schools, and of the representatives of the public press, in
suppressing this social sore. That the police be reminded
that they are authorised to employ professional assistance in
all cases deemed expedient by the chief constable in perjury
prosecutions. That the special attention of magistrates'
clerks of the various petty sessional divisions be called to the
necessity of taking most careful notes in cases where con-
tradictory testimony is likely to arise, and that in cases
where the magistrates deem it essential they be authorised
to employ shorthand writers, and that a copy of this resolu-
tion be sent to the public prosecutor." Now, I have the firmest
belief that if the various ministers of religion are convinced of
the evil they will attack it, and that if they attack it they will
succeed in effecting great good. Many years ago, when
what is, or was, known as " the custom of the country "
prevailed to a most lamentable extent, the Rev. John William
Trevor, Chancellor of the diocese of Bangor, and the Rev.
William Roberts, of Amlwch (a Calvinistic minister who was
as highly respected by Chancellor Trevor as he was by all
who knew him), made a series of journeys through Anglesey
together, denouncing that impure practice, ^ind their volun-
tary mission was attended with excellent effect. The
English press of Carnarvon has already done admirable
ser\'ice in this matter of perjury, some most useful articles
having appeared ; for which, in my opinion, the thanks of
^he Court and the county are due, and if they will continue
454 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
their efforts they will be invaluable. In these days when we
pay so highly for the education of our humbler neighbours,
we have a right to expect that the inculcation of truth will
form a prominent feature in the training of the rising genera-
tion, and, if sq, we may hope that they, at least, will be sent
into the world with a knowledge of the disgrace attaching to
a wilful departure from the truth. With regard to the other
part of my motion, I can only state that the conduct of the
police in investigating several cases of this sort, and in
bringing the guilty parties to justice, has been most admir-
able, and such as entitles them to the highest praise. It
may be supposed by inexperienced persons that magistrates'
clerks will have a difi&culty in anticipating cases of perjury.
I do not think so ; for when a certain class of cases comes
before Petty Sessions, and a long list of witnesses are read
over on each side, with a request that they be ordered out of
court, it is not difficult to believe that ulterior proceedings
may be more than probable. Speaking from long experience
I can state that there is no class of cases more difficult of
proof, and none in which accurate notes of the evidence
impugned are more necessary, than perjury cases, where
conviction is simply impossible unless the exact words
alleged to be false are stated. The importance of shorthand
notes in such cases is obvious. I trust that a due consider-
ation of the motion will lead the Court to the conclusion that
although certain parts may be within the duty of those to
whom they apply, that they are not the less proper to be
placed in this motion, which I request, if adopted, may
fully appear in the Welsh and English press ; and when
people find that the authorities are fully determined to bring
every engine to bear to secure the conviction of perjurers,
surely we may hope and expect that many will be deterred
from its commission. I beg to propose the resolution already
read.
EDUCATION 455
SIR LLEWELYN TURNER ON EDUCATION.
At an annual speech-day at Friars' Grammar School,
Bangor, Sir Llewelyn Turner presided, and in opening the
proceedings said :
Of all the subjects which occupy the minds of thoughtful
persons at the present time I can conceive few, if any, of
greater dignity, interest, or importance than those which
relate to the training of youth — the preparation by the
actors and thinkers of to-day of those who will be the
actors and thinkers of a by no means distant future. It has
been my lot at various times to have been connected with
several educational institutions in these parts, and I hope I
have not been an altogether indifferent governor of this
ancient foundation. It was my happiness to be associated
on many interesting occasions with my revered and estimable
friend, the late Dean Cotton, of whom it may be said, with-
out fear of offence to others, that he was the pioneer of
popular education in this diocese, and no one could have
been so associated without imbibing a healthier and heartier
spirit in the work. Notwithstanding the vast amount of
writing and public speaking that this great subject of educa-
tion has evoked, there still seems an ample field for discus-
sion. Many of you possibly had the pleasure and profit
very recently at Beaumaris of listening to the views of that
practical prelate, the Bishop of Manchester, who there dis-
charged duties analogous to those I am discharging to-day ;
and when two such authorities as Bishop Frazer quoted in
his address, namely, the Bishop of Exeter and Lord
Aberdare, differ upon thei important question of whether too
much is not being attempted, whether the youthful brains of
our boys are not being over-taxed by a too great variety of
subjects — when, I say, two such men as Dr. Temple, the
former successful Headmaster of Rugby, and Lord Aberdare,
differ on such an important point, and we find that the
Bishop of Manchester, who heard the debate, did not vote
upon it — then it behoves me to speak with modesty in
reference to it. If I venture to express an opinion it will be
456 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
that as in all other things we ought to endeavour to hit off
the happy medium, and, while modern requirements neces-
sitate some addition, avoid making that addition too heavy
a burden. The late Lord Chelmsford delivered a very strong
address in the House of Lords a few years ago on the
subject of the education of naval cadets, denouncing in
vigorous terms and with all the eloquence of which he
was so perfect a master the notion that boys could, at the
early age of entering as cadets, imbibe all the subjects which
they were expected to learn ; and I unhesitatingly confess
that I fully concurred in all he said. We may buy gold too
dearly, and if learning is acquired at the co^ of health and
sight, it is paying too high a price for it. There is an aspect
of the question which I think is too much lost sight of, but
which it is in my humble opinion most injudicious to ignore.
I mean the undoubted fact that all boys have not the same
power of concentrating their minds upon what they have to
learn, at the same age ; and, as the present accomplished
Ambassador of France to this country puts it : " All boys
have not the same aptitude, and all do not flower at the
same age." I desire to dwell on this point because I am
satisfied that too little is thought of it. Many boys arc set
down as dunces at school who are really not so, but whose
peculiar aptitude has not been ascertained, or who have not
begun to flower. Without giving names, I will mention two
remarkable cases in point within my own knowledge, those
of two highly accomplished men, distinguished in their
respective walks of life, but who were considered decided
dunces at school. Both have now passed away after brilliant
and successful careers. One died an admiral, after contribut-
ing greatly to geographical discovery, and casting a lurid light
upon many scientific subjects ; the other died a Judge, after
occupying the place of a recognised leader of the Bar for
many years. At the Bar, his profound knowledge of law,
and forcible exposition of it, obtained for him that position
on the Bench which he filled for many years with the de-
cided reputation of what is called a strong Judge. The fact
was that these two eminent persons flowered late. There is
EDUCATION 457
no doubt that in too many schools the boy whose talent has
been discovered absorbs the greatest attention, and it is
equally certain that it will always be difficult for the master
to avoid this, and to discover the latent forces of those "who
flower late." There is a branch of the educational tree on
which perhaps I may be allowed to touch, though it does
not belong to a classical school like this — I mean the subject
of Board Schools. No man views with greater respect than
I do the creditable sacrifices made by the hard-working
people of Wales, who deny themselves numerous comforts
to enable them to give their children a better education than
they received themselves ; but I unhesitatingly affirm that it
is highly discreditable to those who elect the Boards that in
too many cases the most ignorant, crotchety, and unfit
persons are consistently elected as members of School Boards.
The man who would not think of entrusting his watch to a
blacksmith or a carpenter to repair has no compunction
about entrustingthe management of the educational .establish-
ments of his locality to the most ignorant of his neighbours,
and it is, alas I too common an incident to find men who
are actually unable to speak the language which is taught in
the schools placed on the Boards, and that frequently, too,
in places where there is plenty of choice. A gentleman of my
acquaintance once received the following note from his
gardener, who had asked for a holiday to attend the election
of a School Board : " Dear Master the lection is over, and I
happy tell you that me and you is the school board."
Perhaps, as the master was an educated gentleman, the
electors thought they would set off a little ignorance against
him, or possibly they may have thought the cultivation of
cucumbers analogous to the cultivation of brains. Perhaps
this may be considered an exceptional case, but I know it is
not, and I put it broadly to the people of this country that if
great results are expected from Board Schools, if the rate-
payers are to have the worth of their money, they must
elect competent persons to ensure it. There are plenty of
suitable men to be found in most of the Welsh towns, but it
too often happens that the first peison who asks for a vote
458 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
gets it irrespective of his fitness for such a post. This being
a classical school, I trust it will always have upon its govern-
ing body a sufficient number of men imbued with those
traditions, and capable from their own training of apprecia-
ting those studies which it is intended to impart. There is
another subject to which I cannot help alluding, and which
I cannot help believing to be of importance — I mean a
correct habit of expression and pronunciation, and a freedom
from provincial accent. I can hardly think it creditable to
any young native of Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Somerset-
shire, or other part of the Queen's dominions, in these days
when the schoolmaster is abroad, that he should be unable
to express with distinctness that which he had acquired at
school. I met a man the other day in a neighbouring
county who would doubtless feel grossly insulted if told he
was not fit to be a member of a School Board or anything
else I I said to him : " Have you seen Mr. Jones about
here ? " The reply was : '^ I will coal him. Sir Llewelyn."
" Coal him I " I replied ; " why, he is not a steamer, is he ? "
But the joke was not appreciated. A young clergyman,
whose business it was to tell us about " Paul who was
called Saul," astonished many of his audience by speaking
of " Pole who was coal-ed Sole," and regardless of the
season invariably prayed for peas in our time. There is one
thing above all which I hope will never be lost sight of in
schools like this — I mean the maintenance of that high
standard of principle which is necessary for a worthy career,
the absence of which in the aggregate destroys the greatness
of any people. It was well said of that fine specimen of a
true man, Sydney Smith :
Whate'er was true he loved, but all pretence —
Pride without merit, learning without sense —
Small niggard piety that deals in tracts
And substitutes cant words for Christian acts,
He hated, and most holy war did wage
With each Tartuffe who shamed our English stage.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I will, with your permission,
address for a few moments those who are the more imme-
EDUCATION 459
diate objects of this meeting — those who now play a minor
part, but will hereafter play a more important one in the
great drama of life. My young friends, I offer you, for what
they may be worth, a few of the matured opinions of one
who, having passed through the stage of life you are now in,
has had much contact with a great variety of persons. I
desire to impress upon you the vast importance of cultivating
a manly disposition. Do not suppose I mean for a moment
a pugnacious spirit — far from it. I mean that healthy, manly
love of truth and fair play, without which no man can act
a creditable part. I was taught by my father that nothing
was baser than a lie, and nothing worth gaining at the
expense of truth and honour. True manliness is far removed
from a combative disposition, and is more frequently asso-
ciated with gentleness. One of the most eloquent men who
ever occupied the post of Lord High Chancellor of England,
Lord Erskine, who had served in the Army and Navy before
he went to the Bar, when addressing the House of Lords in
favour of the Bill for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
thus related his experience : " I never knew a man remark-
able for heroic bravery whose very aspect was not lighted
by gentleness and humanity, nor a kill-and-eat-him coun-
tenance that did not cover the heart of a bully or a poltroon."
No finer example is to be found in the history of this or any
other country of a truly manly character than that of the
great Lord Nelson, the greatest sea officer that ever existed
in this or in any other age or clime of the world. His
men said of him, "Our Nell is as brave as a lion and as
gentle as a lamb " ; and I commend to you another attri-
bute of his — he was as incapable of revenge as he was of
cowardice. I do not hesitate to say that in my opinion
a revengeful man is the very lowest type of humanity,
and how any man who believes that God, who so sternly
forbids it, is the Judge of all, can deliberately indulge a
revengeful feeling passes my understanding. In Nelson's
noble career there were numerous instances of his mag-
nanimous forgiveness, notably of one high officer, who had
been one of his few enemies, though Nelson would be no
460 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
enemy of his. Depend upon it that time amply revenges a]
wrongs ; and besides the exceeding wickedness of nursinj
such a feeling, it will give no satisfaction. I will give yoi
the result of a very foolish and wicked attempt made U
injure me some years ago by that unmanly and detestabl
method, too often practised, of anonymous letter-writing
It was my misfortune, several years ago, to incur the wratl
jj' of a man whom I had most unintentionally offended. I sa]
* unintentionally, for it is part of my religion never wilfully t(
hurt the feelings of any one. The offence taken was at ai
act of omission and not of commission. Directly I founc
out that oflfence was taken, I tendered, as I shall never b
ashamed to do, the most full explanation and apology, bu
was told I was too late. This I failed to understand until i
was subsequently made known to me in a manner mos
gratifying to my feelings, that the man had written a mos
scurrilous anonymous lelter against me to very high quarters
and, strange to say, this letter, designed deeply to wounc
me, led to my receiving a letter of thanks from a great publi<
department for services of which they would probably hav<
been ignorant but for this futile attempt at revenge. M;
young friends, our common country has a splendid past
a glorious retrospect. Religion, science, arts, and arms cai
all claim a roll of noble names. You have the advantage ii
this ancient seat of learning — the foundation of a pious mai
of long past days — of acquiring that knowledge which ma;
fit you to have your name inscribed on that roll. I trus
that no meanness will ever stain the character of any of you
and that you will each endeavour to contribute your fai
share to the permanence of that "peace and happiness, trutl
and justice, religion and piet)%" which we pray every Sunda;
in the beautiful liturgy of our Church " may be establishe(
among us for all generations."
A vote of thanks to the Chairman was proposed anc
seconded in short speeches by Colonel the Hon. Sack\all(
West and the Dean of Bangor,
EDUCATION 461
(From the Carnarvon Herald)
" Sir Llewelyn Turner was missed from his place at the
meeting of the Carnarvon Harbour Trust last Tuesday, but
he was not idle, and I venture to think that he did even
more good elsewhere. He presided at the annual speech-
day meeting at Friars' School, Bangor, and delivered a
really excellent address on education, with every word of
which I heartily agree. In fact, Sir Llewelyn inculcated
some noble lessons which ranged far above the ordinary
routine of education. He was right in saying that gold
might be bought too dear, and that if learning were acquired
at the cost of health and sight, it was paying too high a
price for it. Probably blind Milton thought so when he
found * wisdom at one entrance quite shut out'; but
fortunately in his case the celestial light shone inwards, and
' Paradise Lost ' was the result. Sir Llewelyn's statement
that too many boys held to be dunces at school are not so
in reality, but that their intellect flowers late, is quite borne
out by facts. Oliver Goldsmith was reckoned a dunce at
school, but after his genius had developed itself, he proved
a most graceful writer, and in the words of Dr. Johnson,
who wrote his epitaph, 'left no species of writing unadorned
by his pen.' There is no part of Sir Llewelyn's address that
I like better than that in which he impressed upon the boys
of the Friars' School the importance of cultivating a manly
disposition, to love truth and fair play, and let no petty
meanness ever stain their character or sully their name.
This is the kind of education of the heart which is more
needed than education of the head, and Sir Llewelyn
Turner has done good service in eloquently descanting
upon it."
i:
K
I!
I*
jV
APPENDIX E
INTEMPERANCE.
i-. The large experiences of prisoners whose fall was due to
1 1 drink, and of men of all classes who succumbed from the
^ same cause, led Sir Llewlyn Turner to accept the post of
Pesident at one time of the Leeds Temperance Conference,
and to addresslarge meetings in thegreat towns of Lancashire
and Yorkshire, and in Wales. A few of the addresses are
given.
^ Great Conference Meeting in the Free Trade Hall
AT Manchester, under the Presidency of the
Rev. the Earl of Mulgrave, October 17, 1885,
AND an Audience of Five Thousand People.
In proposing one of the resolutions Sir Llewelyn Turner
said: My Lord, Ladies, and Gentlemen, — I read thisafternoon,
after our conference concluded, a most interesting account
in a magazine I picked up at a club of the blowing up of a
well-known obstruction to the entrance of New York, con-
sisting of nine acres of rock called Hell Gate; and I not
^ long ago read of great rejoicings in this city on the occasion
\ of celebrating the passage of an Act of the Legislature
sanctioning your bringing of the sailor to Manchester
:■ through the great canal you propose to make. Allow me
to say that if you put that Act of Parliament in force you
will incur a most serious responsibility. As friends of
' j»| temperance and decent living, which is impossible without
it, you will, I trust, feel doubly bound to put forth the
utmost exertion to imitate the action of New York, and
1 1 destroy that danger to the sailor which in this country
^1 exists on every side. There is no nation under heaven that
1,
INTEMPERANCE 468
owes so much to sailors as ours, and there is no class of
her Majesty's subjects so little cared for and subjected to so
many dangerous pitfalls. You, in these centres of industry,
are greatly indebted to the sailor. Without him you cannot
eat bread. It was on this platform that the great battle of
cheap bread was fought, and successful as the agitation was,
you cannot avail yourself of it without the sailor. Without
him you cannot receive those vast and various products of
the earth by the manipulation of which you live. Geo-
graphically speaking, the sailor sees infinitely more of the
universe than other men, but (in the sense in which we use
the term) he knows less of the world. Artless, confid-
ing, and generous, he lands on the shores of his own land
with the wages earned at the risk of his life ; and great as
those risks are, they often prove very much less than those
encountered from the beasts of prey that are on the watch
in our seaport towns to fall upon and plunder him. Now
I am not going to draw on my imagination for my facts,
but to relate to you a specimen of the evils arising from
the Hcensed temptations in his way. A ship's company is
paid off ; they stroll through the streets of a town, and
see the apocryphal beasts that adorn the public-house
sign. "I say, Bill," says one, "we saw some lions in
Africa, but we never saw a Red Lion like that." "No,
Jack," says the other, " nor a Green Dragon like that
beast over the way." Happy would it be for them if
the survey was confined to the pictures of the wonderful
beasts outside ; but, alas, the tempting description of the
liquor within leads to an inspection of the interior, and that
inspection often to maiming, to manslaughter, and to
murder. In a seaport in the county whence I come a ship
from the Baltic was paid oflf. The outside and inside of the
taverns were inspected, and maddened with liquor the rest
of the crew gave chase in the street to a Finlander, who
drew his knife, and said that if they approached nearer he
would use it. They did not heed the warning, and in a few
seconds one man lay on the street a bleeding corpse. Now
am I not justified in asking whether the licensing law is not
464 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
y responsible for the fact that the seaman is not alive, and for
!;■ the painful punishment of the Finlander in having to walk
;' the earth for the rest of his days with the painful conscious-
ness of having caused the death of his fellow man, with whom
he had no previous quarrel, and with whom he had lived in
i terms of amity during the entire voyage ? The Judge who
> tried the Finlander took a merciful view of the case, and
t* passed a very short sentence of imprisonment, believing the
i act to have been done without premeditation, and that the
i great temptation of the tavern to a freshly landed sailor was
'i^ the most active cause of the fatal fray. Now, being an old
gaol-bird myself, I was a great deal in the same prison with
that man, who was one of the best behaved prisoners, and
' I was moreover a man with a fine intellectual head that often
attracted my attention. He spoke English, and I held many
conversations with him. How different might have been
II that man's position under a diflferent star! Now this is the
i sort of thing that goes on continually, but how diflferent
' ■ would be the mariner's lot if he were freed from the tempta-
tion ! My Manchester friends, I appeal to you — ^to the
thousands of earnest men and women that have crowded
this great hall to-night — I appeal to you to blast Hell Gate,
and clear your channel before you make your canal, before
you bring your sailor here. Let Manchester, if it is to be a
seaport, present to the world the grand spectacle of being
more free from the licensed temptation of the sailor. I have
come to you as a voice from the sea coast, crying in advance
of the ships and their brave crews to remove the rocks and
shoals that will endanger them. I am here, too, because
after forty years' apprenticeship to all sorts of public offices,
I have never had the good fortune in my public or private
capacity to enjoy immunity from witnessing the sin, sorrow,
and degradation, suflfered by all sorts and conditions of men
— ^would that I could avoid adding, and women too. My
heart is cheered by such a sight as this. We can read in the
thousands of faces an earnest of what to expect from your
exertions. I have enjoyed great and numerous opportunities
of addressing the men and women of various places in the
INTEMPERANCE 465
North of England, and your heartiness is a great spur to the
work. Let me pray of you not to relax, not to think that
the fight is won, because you witness signs that the enemy
is becoming a little disconcerted. On the other hand do
not despond in consequence of the disappointments we have
experienced.
Hope on, sir, I see the mom break through the grey,
The shades are dispersing, all hail to the day
When fresh from the furnace untarnished and pure
Incorruptible truth shall for ever endure.
Yes, hope on, and work on. Work for the passing of an
Act to give the inhabitants of each locality the right to say
they won't be polluted by a mere drinking-tavern in their
midst — the right every gentleman of property now enjoys
in his own immediate neighbourhood. I have been a
licensing justice for the last twenty-six years, and I find the
licensing law is a failure. Give the people the right of veto,
and if they wish for the public-house, then let the magistrates
administer the licensing law which I would prefer to any
Board ; but in the name of outraged humanity, let the people
who wish to live decent lives have the right to express and
enforce that wish. Let us return to the original house of
refreshment for man and beast, but not for mere drinking
purposes. I have great, yes, the very greatest pleasure,
in supporting this great measure of local option and
absolute veto.
Sir Llewelyn Turner resumed his seat amidst loud cheers,
his speech having been'frequently applauded throughout.
Sir Llewelyn Turner once addressing a crowded meeting
under the auspices of the Blue Ribbon Army, in the Pavilion,
Carnarvon, spoke as follows :
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I am afraid
that it is nearly forty years since I first stood up as a strip-
ling to address a public meeting in the town of Carnarvon,
the subject being the establishment of a cheap reading-room
in Castle Square for the working classes ; and since that time
2 G
466 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
I have presifled over and addressed a vast number of meet-^
ings on a great variety of subjects in this land and other
parts of the kingdom, and I can honestly afErm that great as
the number has been, I never addressed an audience on any
subject which I considered to be of such widespread national
importance as that which has brought us all into this great
building ; and if any evidence were required as to the truth-
fulness and reality of that statement, any proof that it is not
a mere passing conventional assertion, it will be found in the
fact that night after night I am doing what I would not
lightly do — leaving a comfortable home to advocate this
great cause in the towns and villages of the neighbourhood.
I am happy to say that the success of the Blue Ribbon Army,
so far, has been very great in these parts, as well as all over
the kingdom. Happy, too, to find, as the chairman told you,
that earnest, thoughtful men like Lord Cairns, the late Lord
Chancellor of England, Lord Mount Temple, and Lord
Claud Hamilton, are giving their valuable support to this
great national regeneration. I repeat the words with great
deliberation, " this great national regeneration," for if there
is one thing more certain, more generally admitted than any
other, it is the evil of drunkenness. Murder, and all crimes
recognisable by the law, afe promoted by it. The peace of
families is destroyed by it ; the race of men and women is
degenerated by it ; and we also know that almost incredible
sums are diverted from useful to baneful purposes by it. Not
to dwell too long on the point at the outset, I must give you
one big fact — more than double the cost of governing our
great Indian Empire, in which so many thousands of the
inhabitants of these isles derive a living — I repeat that more
than double the cost of governing India is wasted in drink
by the inhabitants of the United Kingdom, and principally
by the working classes. Before I go further into the subject,
let me make one remark, that in what I am about to state
this evening, as well as in the numerous addresses I have
been invited to deliver in other places, nothing can be
further from my desire than to give pain to any individual,
or class of persons ; on the contrary, I desire to express the
INTEMPERANCE 467
opinion that much of the evil of drunkenness arises from
long but wrong habits and customs of the nation. But with
all my wish to avoid giving pain to individuals or classes, I
must remind you that the surgeon would exercise his skill in
vain if he did not probe the dangerous wound to the bottom,
however painful the probing might be to the patient ; and as
in that case no one would benefit more than the wounded
man, so no one will benefit more by this examination than
the drunkard. What did I say ? The wounded man. Alas !
the wounded and the slain in this case are not confined to
men ; would to God we had not to lament the painful fact
that it is fearfully prevalent amongst women, and I take it
that the number of persons who can behold the sight of a
drunken woman without a shudder must be small, yet we
find drink so debasing an agent that men will accompany
their wives to taverns and spend the evening there with them ;
and if any good man with a taste for statistical information
would give you an accurate description of the horrors of
drunkenness, even in your own town, horrors not confined
to the working classes, as too many suppose, but to all
classes of society, I believe the lesson would be of infinite
use and benefit. We are strangely constituted in many
respects, and it is a well known and admitted fact that the
capsizing of a ship, the falling of a house, or an accident to
a train, where the lives of a hundred persons are suddenly
destroyed, will excite a thousandfold more attention
than the loss of a thousand lives by gradual, though perhaps
more preventible causes. When I was driving into the town to
attend this meeting my mind reverted to those solemn ones
held a few years ago to which I drove in by nine o'clock
every morning, Sundays included, for weeks — I mean
the sanitary meetings held daily during the cholera. The
results of those meetings were regarded with no doubt far
more general interest in your town than this, yet I have
spoken of the drink question which we have, met to discuss
as of more widespread national importance than any other.
Well, the truth is I have been all my life accustomed to deal
with sober facts. I have had such a vast amount of public
468 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
business to attend to that I have naturally got into the habit
of marshalling those facts in their true order, and therefore
it is only natiual for me to say that the evil disease of
drunkenness which has measured its victims by thousands,
even in this your town, is of immeasurably greater importance
than that of cholera, the victims of which were below one
hundred persons. That, too, was a temporary disease ; this,
alas ! is a permanent one. The cholera carried oflF its
victims without leaving the smallest taint upon their offspring ;
but is that the case with the drunkard ? It is as well known
as any fact can be that the children of drunkards are
weaker, more sickly, and more subject to disease than the
children of sober men, and that they are more liable to
become drunkards themselves. I have spoken to you of
men and women, husbands and wives — I am afraid I may
add parents and children who give way to this degrading
vice together, and I have expressed a desire that such cases
should be prominently placed before the public. Suppose I
remind you at random of a few. Some of you may recollect
that of a person who was once a sober man, respected by the
numerous persons to whom he was well known in this locality;
I never met a more obliging man. But for the demon of
drink, that man might be living, and as respected to-day as
he was when sober, and in receipt of good wages from
a public company. He and his family might have been
to-day putting by money for their old age, and might be
occupying their own house, and their children might be
growing up happy and contented around them. That
is a pleasing picture to contemplate, but I have to show you
its opposite. Accompany me to the police office, where the
first sight I saw was a woman with blood dried and caked
over her entire face and neck, her dishevelled hair matted
with dried blood, her head having numerous stabs upon
it. Then was led in the prisoner, who turned out to be the
man I have described to you as once occupying a situation
of trust, and being respected in it. Well, my friends, I
am only a fallible human being, and I am not ashamed
to confess that I was unable to see that fallen man without
INTEMPERANCE 469
deep emotion, without realising to its full extent the injunc-
tion, " Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall," and
when a man thinks he is strong enough to enter the bar,
and the tavern, in full confidence of his strength not to go
beyond a certain point, let him, I say, consider the awful
wisdom of that scriptural warning. But to return to the
police court. Policeman No. 37 is examined, and deposes
that he was on duty in High Street at three o'clock that
morning, and hearing a moaning noise, he went towards it,
and turning into Market Street, found the woman (now
about to give evidence) on the steps of the meat market,
almost denuded of clothing, covered with blood, and bleed-
ing from numerous cuts in the head. From what she told
the officer. he proceeded with her (after tying up her head
to reduce the bleeding) to the sea, by the edge of which he
found a bonnet, dress, shift, shawl, and other articles of
female clothing with much blood upon them, and near them
was the sad evidence of the husband's guilt, his knife open
and stained with his wife's blood. It turned out that the
husband and wife had been drinking for hours in an
opposite gin-shop. To cut the story short, I committed the
husband for trial, he was found guilty at the Assizes and
sentenced by Baron, now Lord Bramwell, to seven years'
penal servitude. I visited him many times in prison, where
he subsequently died of the cholera, with many other victims
of drink. I add that because drunkards are always more
liable to cholera than sober men. Now I can fancy some
opponent of this cause or some reluctant supporter of this
great movement saying, " Oh I he has to go back some years
for his illustrations," but have I to do so ? Why, I could
occupy you all night with details of miserable careers.
Have I to go far back for illustrations ? Let us see, the
other day I had a case before me of men going to a tavern
at night ; they go out to fight, one is knocked down,
another kicks him and breaks his collar bone. The other day
I tried a case in which a husband and wife seemed to feel
no shame in admitting that they had been for hours together
in a village public-house, where some words took place with
470 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
some young men, who waylaid them on the way home.
The result to them was a severe kicking, the five or six young
men who had kicked them being heavily fined and dismissed
by their employer. Read the papers ; see the recent coroners'
inquests at Bangor ; see the drunken brutality recorded in
the great metropolis of the Empire and all over Great
Britain. I daresay many people wonder at my going about
the country at night to these Blue Ribbon meetings. Have
I not a cause ? Is the civil magistrate to be confined to the
duties of punishment only ? Is he precluded from exercis-
ing every engine at his disposal to prevent crime ? Drink is
the greatest cause of crime, and does more to create it than
all the other causes put together. As Chairman of the Visit-
ing Justices of H.M. Prison at Carnarvon, which is now the
prison for Anglesey, Carnarvonshire, part of Merioneth, and
a small part of Denbighshire, I have full sway for my
fanaticism, as some, who believe more in punishment than
in reformation, possibly regard it. The excellent chaplain,
Mr. Hughes, has a great field of usefulness. We have a
humane governor, a good staff of officers, and now no man
or woman leaves that prison without every effort being made
to induce them to embrace sobriety on their discharge, and
we have a Prisoners' Aid Society, which does much to
rehabilitate fallen men and women. I have known the gaol
to contain more prisoners when it was the gaol of this
county only than now that Anglesey and parts of other
counties are added. Why ? Because at the time I speak of
wages were high. Well, I am not here to advocate high or
low wages, but when the wages go to the ale-houses, high
t wages become a great evil ; and thanks to our drinking
habits, the higher the wages the fuller the gaols, whereas
with sobriety good wages would tend to more empty prisons.
But is all this evil confined to what are called the working
classes ? Oh dear no — far from it. Are there none of those
honoured with the description of gentlemen or professional
men or tradesmen ? Why, of course there are. Some tell
us that education will cure the evil 1 Education is a very
good thing, but it alone will not cure drunkenness ; if it
i
f
INTEMPERANCE 471
would, how is it that amongst others — medical men, whose
special education teaches them the danger of drink, how is
it that drunkards are found in their ranks ? How comes it
that I am able to tell you now of the case of a gentleman,
an accomplished scholar, holding honorary degrees of one
of our old universities, with whom I often pleaded, but
pleaded in vain, for his emancipation from his terrible
enthralment, and who finally left this world for the unknown
future, oblivious to every fact except that I was by his side.
Ladies and gentlemen, the subject is painful, but the trumpet
must utter no uncertain sound in the day of battle, and this
is the day of battle — yes, " to-day while it is called to-day,"
for " the hour cometh when no man can work." I have said
that drunkenness is not confined to one class. Does not the
experience of each one of you prove it ? Have none of you
observed ? If you have not I have, for I havfe not walked
the earth with my eyes shut. I say, have none of you
observed some quiet, decent man, some one, perhaps, that
one only knew by sight or, mayhap, one knew him well ?
And I am happy to know that there are many such good,
quiet men in our land — some unobtrusive man who, " rising
early, late taking rest, and eating the bread of carefulness,"
stints himself of many things to enable him to educate a son,
or, perhaps, sons, to afford him or them advantages which
he himself has never enjoyed. The education is given,
the son is launched upon the voyage of life, and, perhaps,
gives promise of being useful to others and a credit to
himself ; but the hotel smoking-room or the tavern bar
has claimed him as its victim. Forgetting that " when we
are weak then we are strong," that when we recognise our
fallibility then we are safest, he accompanies his friend —
what did I unconsciously utter ? — his friend, did I say ? I
at once recall it — he accompanies his tempter to the edge of
a fatal precipice, and after having his mind polluted (as
young men who have had the luck to be saved have told me
their minds have been polluted in this very town), they
gradually descend, until the love of liquor conquers their
reason. I will give you the experience of one young man
4T2 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. 1
who served his time to a profession ir
reminds me of the parable of the two pec
the mill, the one taken and the other left."
brothers, but not here at the same time :
drink, the other, who had the wisdom "to fl<
to come," told me that as long as he lived
his visit to the smoking-room of a hotel 1:
At the time of his recital I did not exactly k
though he knew me well. He told me tha
similar places in London, Edinburgh, ar
nowhere else had he heard such vile, riba
that he had reason to thank God he had see
in time. This young man's brother saw it
the demon of drink claimed him as its o\
Are these things true or are they false
violently counter to your own experiences 1
no hopes blasted, no young men whose p;
said, denied themselves many things ? Hs
young men starting on the great voyage oi
equipped vessel, the hull symmetrical, the
to a favourable breeze, the charts and comj
in order ? Have you never witnessed th
tion of the father, the possibly more demo
the mother ? Have you ever seen those
blasted for ever ? Perhaps the ship ha
at the outset of her voyage, or may have
three, or more creditably successful voyages
or rather the unregarded, rock has been ;
ship has gone to the bottom ; the young
has trusted too much to his own powers of
like the man who suffers himself to lose hi
top of an inclined plane, he rolls to de
bottom. I say again, are these realities or f
to God they were the latter. Now I have i
you, if I mistake not, and most of you dou
I am one of those practical people who, wh
an inquiry, like to fathom it. You know 1 1
o£Eices intended for your benefit during i
INTEMPERANCE 478
hood. I have had to look into matter-of-fact questions as
to the cost of keeping paupers and where it was best to keep
them, having been very many years ago Chairman of the
Union. In another capacity I have had to examine how far
obstructions to navigation were permissible, and have had to
remove them. How far evidence tended to prove the guilt
or innocence of prisoners, and other everyday inquiries, so
you will excuse my indulging my everyday mind by asking
a few questions for our mutual information. But before I
do so, let me ask you to accompany me to the encampment
of a vast army which is just outside your walls. In my day
I have seen thousands of its members walking in your streets,
some appearing steadier in their gait than others. Many of
them I have met from time to time in large temples of
stone, of which I think I have counted some fourteen or
fifteen, including one very ancient one placed in the midst
of the encampment. I have occasionally gone into one of
those temples, and I have there heard the priests who
minister to them assert that there was some other place
beyond the encampment, some holy spot where they might
go if they liked to adopt the necessary steps, but that
nothing unclean could enter, and they quoted from a book,
a copy of this very book on the-table, that no drunkard can
gain admission, and they quoted a parable out of the book
about a man who had failed to enter this other world by
the right door, got into another place, and awaking in
torment, wished to come back to warn his brethren at
home, but he could not be allowed. Am I asking too hard
a question when I put it to you whether if those of the great
army outside your town, who left this world with their brains
clouded with drink, and curses on their lips, could be allowed
to revisit the earth to-night, as we read that some of the
saints were allowed to do so on a great sacrificial occasion,
they would choose to come here to join in our warning to
their-brethren at home, or would recommend them to go to
the various haunts of drunkenness, of which from sixty to
seventy are at this moment open in all directions ? I have
stood by the bedside of more than one that the demon of
■n
11
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I
I
^1
474 MEMORIES OF SIR LL.
drink, aided by Act of Parliament, has sc
important voyage. To pursue the inqi
militia recruits up now, and the whole re
strong, will soon be amongst you, leami
their country, but owing to a foolish natioi
tected themselves from their greatest foe
slate quarries a few miles off, where thou
employed, and living in or near villages
coming here to market, where there are m
man or quarryman gets drunk, I, or anotl
has had to license the tavern, fines him
him to prison for a worse offence caus
drink. Get the law altered, join the repn
places in getting your members to vote fc
in the granting of licences, which we will
carry out. The priests of those temples
that a great Being appeared for a short
leaving us a short form of supplication,
appeared to me to be a model of concis
its close I find these words, " lead us no
One hundred years ago my father wen1
Rev. Robert Walker, the clergjrman <
Lancashire, called in the interesting lif
" The wonderful Robert Walker," a man c
who used to tell his congregation that
thing to be tempted of the devil, but ;
thing to tempt the devil, which every yc
public-house is doing. The practice is
No tavern frequenter can do efficient ^
Though I have no ostensible occupation
both mentally and bodily. I want my e
even to the end. Now, one word in defe
licensing law corrupted by modem n
licensed victualler at once shows that 1
license houses for travellers. The word
from the Latin word victus, food. The
inns to entertain travellers, then hotels f
but now all have more or less become
_i
INTEMPERANCE 475
drinking habits, which require correction by sweeping legis-
lation. Now, what is the remedy for all this ? Enlighten
the public. Nothing is so fallacious as the statistics of the
deaths of drunkards. They don't supply you with a tithe of
the reality. Do you think that if I died at Parkia of drink
this night that a medical man would offend my family by
stating the cause ? They are an honourable body of men,
but they are human, therefore fallible, and they have to live.
The heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, or some portion of the
system, becomes vitiated from hard drinking, the result
being death from disease of the heart, or some other
member affected, and heart disease is stated as the cause of
death. This might be partially, but only partially, corrected
by sending the certificate to the Registrar-General. Petition
in favour of Lord Stanhope's Bill for preventing the pay-
ment of workmen in taverns ; of those parts of Mr. Morgan
Lloyd's Bill which prevent the use of taverns at elections ;
but, above all, petition in favour of removing all the load of
tavern temptation from the young and the thoughtless who
are its victims. I desire to offer my thanks and to express
my admiration to those who carried on the great work of
temperance while I slept over it. In conclusion, let me
express a hope that as the light breeze which carried the
glorious flag of England into the midst of the enemies'
ships at Trafalgar brought victory with it, that so in like
manner the little blue ribbon may gradually, but surely,
find its way into the ranks of those who are their own
enemies, thus hastening the time when there shall be no
" leading into captivity, no complaining on our streets."
H
476 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
SIR LLEWELYN TURNER ON SUNDAY CLOSING.
(From the Carnarvon Herald.)
An address delivered by Sir Llewelyn Turner in the
Free Trade Hall, Manchester, under the presidency of the
Archbishop of York.
My Lord Archbishop, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I have been
deputed to propose the first resolution, " That the sale of
intoxicating liquors on the Lord's Day is productive of a
large amount of drunkenness, domestic misery, pauperism,
and crime ; and as other trades may not legally be pursued
on that day, this meeting is of opinion that it is unfair and
wrong that such sale should be sanctioned by the laws of
the realm." Perhaps few people are better qualified to
verify the first part of the resolution than one who was
a great many years ago Chairman of a Poor Law Union ; has
been for a quarter of a century a magistrate, and is at present
chairman of the visiting justices of a prison, and also a
visiting justice of a lunatic asylum. I feel that the result of
that experience justifies me in charging, and I do in the
presence of this vast assembly charge upon our licensing
laws and drinking customs an overwhelming proportion of
that " drunkenness, domestic misery, pauperism, and crime."
I see and feel by your cheers that the assertion commends
itself to you, as it must to any one acquainted with the
degradation of vast masses of our countrymen and women
of all classes, from the highest to the lowest, a degradation
the more revolting and public part of which is to be wit-
nessed in every town of the land by any one who visits the
haunts of those who have descended into the lowest depth
of that degradation. It has often struck me, my lord, that,
if I were an inhabitant of a heathen land, I should be
||, infinitely more likely to embrace Christianity as taught by a
missionary there than I would be to accept it in this country,
because in that other land I should not be met by the
difficulties that would present themselves on every side in
this. In the distant land, under the guidance of the
missionary, I could look up from Nature to Nature's God
1
INTEMPERANCE 477
with unquestioning faith and simple trust. Here the poor
heathen would be met by so many anomalies, so many
astounding contradictions, that he would become fairly
perplexed. In the Bible, which he is taught to read, he
would find it stated that no drunkard or unclean person
could enter into the kingdom of heaven ; and as your Grace
and all other ministers of religion teach, he would doubtless
be instructed that the utmost vigilance and watchfulness
over himself was necessary to secure salvation. His curiosity
might lead him to ask the meaning of the passage, " As the
tree falls there it lieth," and the number of drunkards' deaths
would probably suggest to his mind strange reflections. He
would hear that the Judges of the land, whose decisions are
so justly venerated, declare that 78 or 80 of every 100
criminals have fallen into that condition through drink ;
and if he chanced to meet a man like himself who visits
criminals as a friend as well as a magistrate, he would learn
that these criminals themselves fully confirm the statement.
How could he reconcile this statement of the Judges, and
other competent authorities, with the existence of the
enormous number of traps laid for the unwary in the shape
of houses licensed to sell the very thing that caused the
evil ? How reconcile the opening of these drink houses on
Sunday in every direction with the teachings of religion and
the existence of the places of worship by their side ? What
on earth could he make of it all ? Sin denounced, crime
punished, and the cause and the creator of crime duly
licensed ? Would he not be tempted to ask : Why do you
pray to be delivered from temptation when you license it ?
Why go on lamenting the existence of so much crime when
you have it in your power to reduce a large percentage of
it by a simple act of common sense and common honesty ?
These things being so, your Grace is eminently in your
proper place to-night as chairman of a meeting to rid us of
this astounding inconsistency. Although we here are asking,
as far as the computation of time goes, for the closing of
taverns for only the seventh of a period, the gain will be far
more than a seventh. The gain of any one day of enforced
478 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
sobriety would be great : who can tell what dawning oi
reason might ensue to the saving of many ? But the gain oi
Sunday closing is far greater than of any other day. It wil
relieve us of this terrible inconsistency of the Bible and tht
publican, as it were, contending side by side on the daj
nationally recognised as the day of rest and worship. It will
allow many more minds to be calm and free to enjoy the
day, and to partake in public worship. It will make man}
a household happy, and allow many a Saturday night's
drunkard time for reflection, and time too to fit himself foi
Monday's work, which, after Sunday's drinking, is either
H totally neglected or perfunctorily performed. What a
spectacle for an unbeliever it is to see the population oi
church-goers and public-house frequenters, the latter
waiting impatiently until the former have closed the service
of God that they may commence their devilish orgies ! I
know a small tavern in a seaport, the whole width in the
frontage of which is not, I think, sixteen feet, including the
door ; yet I have it, on the authority of respectable neighbours
of it, that about twenty people were always waiting the
Sunday afternoon opening of that wretched den, where they
would remain as long as the law allowed. These placeSj
though narrow in front, are often deep, and have generally
back doors. I have seen, not only the outside but the
inside of this place, having on more than one occasion to hunt
out a fine British sailor, who was employed in my yacht.
This man, who could far better face the dangers of the ocean
Ithan of the tavern, was my companion in more than one
; peril of the sea, and in boarding an American ship in the
^ lifeboat on one occasion I was delighted with his cool
i courage. What a curse that such men should be ruined, as
he finally was, by these pest-houses ! Man the lifeboat !
Men of Manchester, man the lifeboat of temperance, man
, the lifeboat of temperance, and do not lay in your oars until
■ | ' you have rescued your perishing brothers and sisters, until
the men and women who are daily sinking in the troubled sea
of drunkenness, and all its attendant vileness and dangers
be rescued. [Here the entire body of people stood up and
INTEMPERANCE 479
waved their handkerchiefs.] Put aside the selfish grovelling
creatures who look on coolly while their fellow creatures
are perishing, and shame them into following your example.
In Wales we have obtained the Sunday Closing Act at last ;
and although in some parts the blessing may not be fully
realised, it is nevertheless an invaluable blessing, the extent
of which is measurable by the extent to which it is enforced.
You want public opinion brought decidedly to bear upon its
enforcement in all quarters, and you want that thirsty
animal the bona-fide traveller dealt with in a bona-fide manner
by magistrates, police, and all concerned — big and little
publicans to be treated alike. Thank God that the Act is in
force in Wales ; and should a national tribute be offered to
Mr. John Roberts, M.P., who was the honoured instrument
of its adoption, I for one will be delighted to be a participator
in giving it. Unlike many public benefits, the closing of
taverns on Sunday can in my opinion have no drawback, no
qualifying evil, and its national adoption would be a national
gain. My Lord Archbishop, you and other ministers of God
tell us ''that righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is
a reproach to any people." What is the reality of that
assumed righteousness displayed by a nation that legalises
what those Jbest informed as to its mischiefs condemn ?
What is the reality of that boasted civilisation that consists
in respectability in the sanctuary, side by side with the most
disgusting orgies m the tavern, followed by the most revolt-
ing vice, filth, cruelty and murder in the so-called home ? I
appeal, and I cannot fail to see that the appeal is not in vain,
to this vast concourse of enthusiastic supporters of temper-
ance to stand forward as true patriots to stay the avenging
hand by removing the causes of the reproach of this nation,
and earning for it the reward of righteousness. As a slight
contribution to this desirable end, I move the resolution
I have read.
APPENDIX F
GHOSTS.
In dealing with this subject it appears to me desirable to
divide it into the several heads or divisions which follow :
(i) Ghosts are the result of interested imposture.
(2) Those which are due to a love of the marvellous,
combined with a peculiar disarrangement of the nervous
system.
(3) Those which are the creation of rats, mice, birds,
trees, wind, creaking furniture, and many other disturbing
accidents or influences.
(4) Those which are created for the amusement of their
creator, and the frightening of silly people.
In dealing with the first cause mentioned I will give
a brief description of a ghost which 1 saw and laid when a
very small boy. My father and elder brother (twenty years
my senior) were members of the " Adelphi " Society, which
was a county club holding an annual ball in the county town
of Carnarvon. To this ball my father and mother and the
grown-up children had gone on the night when this ghost
was created, and the others had gone to a young people's
party to which 1 was too young and insignificant to be
invited. Knowing that the coast would be clear on the
night in question, with the exception of the young urchin
that remained, the servants gave a party, and in this case the
interested imposture lay in the desire to give me something
else to think and talk about than the servants' feast. In
accordance with this , a housemaid, took me upstairs
when she was going to turn down the beds as usual, and
put me to bed. Leaving me in my father and mother's
bedroom (where I was born a few years before) with a
candle burning, she returned in a short time on all fours
GHOSTS 481
with a white sheet over her. I was standing i^ear the fire-
place and facing the door, when I was horrified to see
a movable white object approaching me. Very fortunately
a long-handled brush with a good heavy cross-head had
been carelessly left near where I stood, with the cross-head
upwards. I was terribly alarmed, but had often heard
of ghosts from hard-headed people who knew there were
really no such things, so suddenly seizing the brush I said
as well as my fright would allow — " I will see whether you
are a ghost or a servant," and brought it down upon (as
it turned out) the left shoulder of the ghost, which came out
of its white sheet groaning with pain. It is needless to say
that it was the housemaid ; the weight of the cross-head of the
brush proved too much for her, assisted a little by my tiny
exertion put forth with all my might. Had I not heard such
rubbish laughed at by sensible people I might have had my
nervous system ruined by this " interested imposture." This
is a very small and insignificant story compared with those
that follow. The wretched little boy told his story in the
morning, and the erring housemaid was relegated to her
parents' home.
The next story of fearfully interested imposture was
related to me several years ago by an old general officer, who
had been quartered in Ireland at the time of the horrible
incidents which I am about to relate. There was a large old
mansion on an Irish estate where there was a long minority
in the ownership, during which the gardener and his wife
lived in the mansion as caretakers, receiving a weekly wage,
and having a very comfortable billet, and a large garden,
the bulk of the produce of which they no doubt plundered.
The estate was the property of a young lady who was living
in a garrison town many miles away from it. During some
of the years of her minority the house had been at diiBferent
times rented by people who entirely disappeared ; and the
country being at that period in a disturbed state, as, alas !
Ireland has so often been, the matter did not receive that
attention which would have been the case with the present
improved police arrangements.
2 U
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1i
482 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
1 It so happened about the time of the coming of age of the
{ young lady that a fine powerful young ofl&cer of the Royal
i Horse Artillery was quartered in the garrison town and fell
(in love with this lady, and his aflfection being reciprocated,
they were married. The stories of the old mansion being
haunted having been circulated for years, and the fact that
those who had gone there to reside had so often disappeared,
[B nothing would induce her to go and live there. Her gallant
husband, however, rode over to the place armed as a soldier
with sword and pistols. He carried a small quantity of food
and ordered the caretaker's wife to prepare it for his dinner.
Having gone over the place, he sat down to dinner, and
while eating it a large white object of peculiar appearance
and rude shape entered the room and approached him.
The officer called out, "Halt ! or I fire " ; but the object con-
tinued to advance, and he fired, the ball passing through the
advancing substance. He fired again, with the same result,
the balls passing through the right and left sides of the
advancing apparition. The advance continuing, the officer
saw that both shots had passed outside the body, which he
was, of course, satisfied was concealed within. Having dis-
charged both his pistols, he had only his sword remaining,
so he quickly decided to choke the person ; fortunately
calculating correctly where the neck would be, and the
white cover yielding sufficiently, he tightly grasped the throat,
and throwing himself on the body, brought it under him to
the ground. He succeeded in strangling the gardener, who
was well armed, and had been about to commit another of
the many murders of which the reader will presently see he
had been guilty. While he was examining the body, another
person, dressed in male attire, entered the room. Seizing
his sword, the officer attacked and quickly disarmed the new-
comer, who proved to be the gardener's wife in a suit of his
J- clothes. Begging for quarter, the woman said that if the
officer would spare her life, she would confess the truth, and
show him where the bodies of the persons that her husband
had murdered at different times were buried. This she did,
and the bodies of the different victims were exhumed from
^
GHOSTS 488
a pit into which they had been thrown. This is a fearful
instance of the first of the divisions into which I have divided
the ghost stories, for a more horrible example of interested
imposture could scarcely be found. Is there not a moral to
be drawn from such a fearful narration, viz., that the foolish
people who "sin against light," the light of reason and
common sense, by crediting and upholding a belief in ghosts,
tend materially to assist knaves and murderers, and to render
the detection of crime more difl&cult ?
The third ghost story under the first heading which I am
about to narrate occurred in the town of Carnarvon within
my own recollection, and I well remember the aflfair and the
principal actors in it. There were two gentlemen who
resided in Carnarvon whom I knew when I was a boy,
named respectively Musket and Murray. One of them was
a retired military ofl&cer, but I have forgotten which was the
Colonel and which the civilian. I recollect when I was very
young the Colonel lunching with my father at Parkia, and
telling me then that his real name was Pil Garlick, which
was an abbreviation of William Onion. The Colonel died,
if my memory serves me right, in either the house now
occupied by Mr. Richard Davids at Henwalia or the adjoin-
ing house, both under the same roof. Immediately after
the death and burial of the Colonel, it became noised abroad
that his ghost went about the streets in the dead of night in
a hearse, and many people asserted that they had seen the
hearse. The statement soon became transposed into their
having seen the ghost, of which, of course, the hearse was
part and parcel. The fact of the hearse being seen at
uncanny hours was vouched for by too many respectable
people to leave the matter in doubt, and as few folk like
meeting ghosts, the streets the hearse frequented were well
cleared of people at ghostly hours. At this time, and for
some years before, there were several Jersey and Guernsey
smacks engaged in the trade of carrying apples to Carnarvon,
and there was a citizen of that town, by name Boaz Pritchard,
whom I well remember. He and his wife lived in Love
Lane, and had business relations of a spiritual kind with the
IE
484 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
apple smacks. As I was always fond of the sea, I often iw
past these handsome smacks and often boarded them in
harbour, and frequently saw Boaz and his wife there. '
ghost of the Colonel had not a long career, for eit
the lynx-eyed officers of the Inland Revenue or some on
have forgotten who, "smelt a rat," as the saying is, a
instead of the hearse containing the Colonel's ghost,
occupants were found to be kegs of brandy. The pai
hearse was, and I suppose still is, kept in a shed out*
of Llanbeblig Churchyard, and Boaz and his Jersey ;
Guernsey friends took " French leave " and used it for
spirituous service. It was an ingenious use to make c
ghost, but one that could hardly pass muster for a I
time. The result of the discovery was the transfer of B
Pritchard from Love Lane to a less lovable quarter ca
Gaol Street, where board and lodging gratis is provided
the State. His sentence was for a very long period, bi
was shortened at the request of the first Marquis of Angle
Now, here is a very clear case of interested imposti
Clear, because it was found out ; but had it not b
discovered, there would no doubt be people or tl
descendants to this day who would be declaring i
they or their parents had seen the ghostly hearse
different occasions, and there would have been m
recruits added to the ranks of silly believers in ghc
Boaz broke the eleventh commandment, which says, " T
shalt not be found out."
The next ghost is of more modern date than thos
have already related, and took place, as far as I remem
not more than about thirty years ago, within two or tl
miles of Carnarvon, and about a similar distance from Pa
across country. It took place at a farmhouse near Prys
belonging to Mr. Assheton Smith. I also believe that
house has since been pulled down and a new one erec
with, let us hope, no room for unearthly sights or sound
The house, or the kitchen where the tenants lived,
open to the roof, and had a beam across from the top of
wall to the other. The tenants were an elderly nian and
iii
GHOSTS 485
wife, and they allowed their daughter and her husband to
reside with them. A ghost appeared at Pryscol and played
various antics, as to my knowledge as a great lover of ghosts
they are in the habit of doing. There was an old saddle
hanging from the beam (how ghosts love old things !) and a
piece of ham or bacon, I cannot say if that was old, hanging
from the beam ; and the ghost having taken either a liking or
hatred, I know not which, set them frequently into motion,
and saddle and dried pig were often transferred from one side
of the house to the other. The neighbours assembled in
numbers, and perhaps the old house had never before held
so many people with their ftiouths open. The story soon
reached Carnarvon, and several people from that ancient
town had the pleasure of viewing the sudden transit of
leather and of what was possibly as tough. The ghost held
his own for some weeks, until two hard-hearted policemen,
who had evidently no sympathy with apparitions, visited the
place, and the saddle and piece of pig travelled across the
beam no more. These sharp guardians of the law soon got
behind the scenes, or rather their hands got behind some-
thing hung on each wall, which each concealed a cord,
which, by means of a small pulley, enabled the inventors of
the apparition to move the articles rapidly from one end of
the beam to the other. The " murder was out," and the neat
little scheme of the younger generation to frighten away the
older was defeated, and these unprincipled people failed in
their plot to drive away those who had housed and fed them.
One step further, which got rid of a father-in-law in Angle-
sey, led to the gallows (vide the murder trial at Beaumaris
before Mr. Justice Keatinge).
Now in this case of these dutiful children, they also broke
the eleventh commandment, and their being found out
exposed another instance of interested imposture, and
deprived the ridiculous believers in ghosts from adding a
very large number of recruits to their silly ranks.
Ghosts arising from a love of the marvellous and a
credulous condition of the mind are exceedingly numerous,
many of them being of the most childish description. I
486 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
have known persons, otherwise apparently sane, who wa
always on the qui vive for a haunted house or an apparitio
of some sort. Anything at all difiBcult of comprehensioi
such as an unusual sound, any place where a tragedy of an
kind has been committed, is at once seized upon and form
the subject of an apparition. Despite the exposure b
Maskelyne and Cooke, who honestly tell their audiences th*
all their work is sleight of hand, the lovers of the marvellov
go on believing in the silly rubbish of the pretende
spiritualists. That which is readily ascribed to natun
causes by healthy minds is a subject of awe to your marvi
lover.
A very few years ago some silly people degraded one c
the daily papers with nonsensical letters about haunte
rooms, and had the impudence to assert that everybody ha
at some time of life felt that he was in a room where soni<
thing dreadful had taken place, or which from some caus
was haunted, and the writer even went so far as to say th<
everybody now believed in ghosts. I recollect I create
great indignation on the part of these people by asserting i
the London paper that inserted their twaddle that no reall
brave, healthy-minded man could entertain such creduloi
nonsense. When one enters the cell where Mary Antoinett
was confined, one naturally feds the horror of the place, hi
cause one knows the horror of that poor Queen's positio
when she occupied it ; but no one could tell me that a rooi
he was in had been the scene of a tragedy without the fa<
having been made known to him.
I once had a coachman who lived at the stables an
would on no account pass between them and the hous
without a lantern after dark, although the distance 1
the servants' hall, where he got his meals, was not moi
than half a minute's walk. He had seen a ghost, ye
a real ghost, as large as life. I chanced one day to mei
tion it to the butler, who confided to me the fact that h
(the butler) was the author of the ghost, and he said thj
I would go up with him to his room he would sho
me how it was done. I was much amused at the notio
.//
GHOSTS 487
and went with him. There is a high wall opposite the
room in which the latter slept, and when the candle was in
a particular part of the room, owing, if I recollect, to the
position of the looking-glass, a figure in white was shown on
the opposite wall, which looked singularly like a white
woman. The butler told me that he had gone out one night
with the coachman, and showed him the white lady, and
used regularly to place his candle in the position which
created the ghost. Shakespeare tells us that conscience
makes cowards of us all, and in this case this man, as it
turned out, might well be a coward, as he proved to be a
thorough scoundrel. He was with us for nine or ten years,
and was as plausible as Old Nick (a justifiable comparison in a
ghost story). He was trusted in every way, but we could
not keep another servant, as he told all new domestics that
we never gave characters to servants when they left, and that
unless they did so at once they could not get fresh places.
At last a new butler, who was not fool enough to believe him,
asked to speak to me one night, and said : " You have had
great trouble with your servants, many of whom I find give
notice a day or two after their arrival. The new lady's-maid
and I had not been in this house an hour before the coach-
man advised us to give notice at once, as you dismissed
servants without characters, and the longer we stayed the
worse our chances of a fresh place. I asked him how it was
he had remained nine years in the place if his story was
true, and he replied that it suited him to stay as he had
saved money and intended on leaving to retire from service
altogether." The butler further informed me that he had at
once written to his wife, who suggested to him not to
believe the story, but to tell us of it, which, like an honest
man, he did, and further gave me unasked full authority
to use his name in the matter, which I did, pointing out
to the coachman the terrible evil he had inflicted for nine
or ten years on Lady Turner, who had made poultices
for him with her own hands when he was hovering
between life and death. This man, whose injury to us
was incalculable, was dismissed the next day. He was too
I
fm 488 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
religious (?) to read a newspaper, had always one or moi
religious books left about the saddle-room, and was a pe
feet saint ; but notwithstanding his piety, he could not fac
a ghost, which, had he been brave and honesty he couk
This ghost comes, of course, under the category of a ghos
created for the amusement of its creator and the alarm c
silly people.
The next ghost I have to introduce to my readers is on
j; ij which really might well disturb the stoutest heart ; but thoug
a person blessed with one might well be disturbed, he wouli
not necessarily attribute it to supernatural causes, and if h
|i^|l had read any of the stories of the murders and robberies ii
country taverns in former days he might well be alarmec
I honestly confess that had I been in the place of the mai
whose position I am about to describe, I should have beei
exceedingly alarmed, and would have fancied that there wa
a repetition of what was not uncommon very many year
ago, viz., the lowering of a traveller's bed by machinery infr
a place of destruction.
The story, which was told to me by a medical man a
Carnarvon, is that a commercial traveller on the road t
Criccieth was caught in a fearful storm of wind and rain
and stopped at a wayside tavern, and asked for a bed, am
stabling for his horse. The landlord told him that he couh
stable his horse, but that there was only one spare bed ii
the house, and that was haunted. The weather was so ba<
that the traveller elected to stay, saying that he was no
afraid of ghosts, and that he would sleep in the hauntec
room. After he had been in bed for some time he wa
awakened by an extraordinary movement of the bed. Afte
righting it he went to sleep, being again rolled out of it ii
the same way. He determined carefully to investigate th<
matter, and, obtaining a light, soon got at the cause of th<
mystery. The tavern had a large swinging sign outside
the spindle of which penetrated into the bedrom througf
■\ I the front wall, and the many years that it had swung abou'
in bad weather had loosened the fastening ; some local wise
I
II
GHOSTS 489
acre had thereupon lengthened the spindle into the bed
below the mattress with some clumsy arrangement, the
efiFect of which, in a heavy gale, was to " capsize the ship."
Here was a plucky and clear-headed fellow who evidently
searched into cause and effect and found it. Are there not
multitudes of full-grown men and women who would have
rushed out of the room without the smallest investigation,
and would probably have shared the stable with the horse,
or had the gig out and pursued the journey despite the
weather, spending the rest of their lives as believers in
ghosts ? There are many geese without feathers so super-
stitious that to point out anything to them in the night and
say that it is a ghost is to them sufficient warranty that
it is.
I had a great hulking lad of about eighteen or nineteen
years of age working at Parkia some years ago, and chancing
to go into the outhouse in which he and others were having
their dinner, I heard this youth speaking of ghosts, and I
asked him if he had seen one ? He replied that he had seen
two ; in reply to my inquiry as to when and where, he said
that he was going along a road on a moonlight night and on
some grass where the space was wide there was a ghost in
the exact form of a pig. In reply to my question as to how
he knew that it was not a pig, he said that a man w)io was
with him told him it was a ghost. I asked where and when
he had seen the other ghost, and he answered that it had
been seen on the same road and on the same night, and that
it was in the form of an ass, upon which I suggested that the
ass was his own shadow. I told him there were no such
things as ghosts, and that his companion had been making
a fool of him ; but although the men laughed and made fun
of him he ''stuck to his guns" and declared he had no
doubt of the matter.
Rats, mice, birds, wind, &c., are frequent causes, even in
this house, where we have no room for ghosts. On different
occasions birds got into the garrets from under the roof, and
getting amongst the bell wires rung the bells in the dead of
490 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
night. Similar occurrences are often attributed to super-
natural causes, and in many houses rats and mice have been
guilty of similar misdemeanours. As to the hall door bell at
Parkia, a worse behaved bell never disgraced a house ; so ill
is its behaviour that a notice has been stuck over it to " pull
hard/' and many visitors during the last fevi^ years have had
to go to another door, where the bell behaves decently.
One day the late Mr. Watkin Roberts was upstairs attending
a patient, and I was sitting in the library with the large fold-
ing doors open. I saw the servant passing to, and heard him
open the hall door, and I could see the doctor's coachman
on the box of his brougham in the front, and could have
seen any one go to the door, from which he was about
thirty feet distant. He said no one had been at this door,
and I saw no one pass the two windows of the room where
I was writing ; yet the servant had been summoned from his
pantry by the hall door bell, which I informed him was
occasionally guilty of the practice. Well, I know people
who would have put it down to ghosts, whereas the simple
fact is that the wires have a long distance of ups and downs
to travel, and a hitch no doubt occurs now and then in some
part of the wires which some accidental shake lets loose.
There is one bedroom in this house which has a very large
chest of drawers that I would guarantee to frighten any
believer in ghosts. It occasionally creaks so loudly that any
one not used to it would believe there was something very
wrong. Some years ago, a long time now, I occupied the
room, and recollect getting up more than once to see if there
was a burglar in the room, as I have a very great belief in
gentlemen of that occupation, but none in ghosts. I forgot to
begin earlier and relate that when I was a small boy the late
|f Mr. Holland (later on M.P. for Merioneth) presented my
I eldest sister with a monkey. Like the rest of our brethren
who still retain their tails, he was addicted to mischief. He
was the first of his tribe that had been seen in these parts,
j and one winter's evening he found his way to a neighbouring
small farm. The inmates all moved out and left him in
^
GHOSTS 491
possession, seeking safety at another farm and telling their
neighbours that either the devil or a ghost had gone into
their house and was jumping about in the most frightful
manner. They said they had an old gun but no powder, or
they would have tried to shoot him. Their host said that he
had a small bottle with powder in it, and if they could get
at the gun he would go back with them and have a shot at
him. Accordingly, accompanied by several people, they
returned to the farm, and found the devil or ghost still in
possession, and considerable damage done in the house.
Incautiously placing the little bottle containing the powder
on a chair, it caught the watchful eye of the monkey, and
his curiosity being excited, he took possession of it, and com-
menced examining it, in no less dangerous position than on
the iron in the large chimney-place above the fire. The
people had got the gun but the monkey had the powder, and
considering the danger of the seat he had chosen he was
again left in possession, the good folk peering at him through
the outer door. At last some one who had seen the creature
at Parkia arrived and said that it was the '• monkey-cat " from
Parkia. The " cat " being always appended like a sort of
additional tail to the earliest monkeys that were seen in these
parts. Now, without this explanation, that old farm-house,
which is still standing, would have been noted as long as it
remained together as being a haunted house.
I recently heard that a good house in the outskirts of Car-
narvon had developed some prominent ghostly symptoms.
The inmates were disturbed on diflferent nights by the
destruction of kitchen crockery, which fell from the dresser
and other places, where it was stowed in a position from
which a shaking could dislodge it. Some years ago this
would have unquestionably led to the belief that the house
was haunted, but fortunately it occurred to some one to con-
sider on what ^sort of nights the ghostly disturbance took
place. They invariably happened on windy nights, and as
the house is closely surrounded by large trees there was no
doubt that the force of the wind acting on the large branches
1.
f!
I
^n
,1
492 MEMORIES OF SIR LL. TURNER
disturbed the roots of the trees, which having grown ur
the walls, shook the house in windy weather. There
alas ! many people even in this year of grace 1903 \
would hug this ghost to their bosoms and adducq the <
turbance as an additional proof of the existence" of suj
natural agencies of that kind.
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