Famous Cornish People

Cornwall has produced many famous people, some were born in Cornwall, some just lived there.

King Arthur

Although various parts of Britain lay claim to Arthur, the strongest case seems to be that he came from Cornwall. While the English tribes were conquering more and more of Britain, the Celts were driven further westwards. There was a great Celtic leader called Arthur, who united the various tribes as they fought the invaders. According to Cornish legend he was mortally wounded at Slaughter Bridge, just outside Camelford, at a spot called Arthur's grave. There is a place called King Arthur's hall on Bodmin Moor, and there is a large hill fort at Kellybury, near Wadebridge that was Arthur's Cornish home. Truth and legend become intermingled, some say Camelot took its name from the River Camel, some legends say he was buried in the Isles of Scilly. The present day legend of Arthur seems to come from the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who had heard about Arthur, and invented the stories of the Round Table. He also placed Arthur in Tintagel more out of romanticism than fact. The tales of Arthur and the Round Table are set some 600 years after he had really lived. Nevertheless Arthur represents the Celtic spirit of Cornwall, and reminds people of their Celtic past. One story says that Arthur will return one day to restore Cornwall to Celtic independence, and that he still lives in the disguise of a Cornish chough.

 

Michael Joseph (An Gof) and Thomas Flamank

These were the two leaders of the 1497 rebellion against Henry VII against the taxes he imposed to finance his Scottish war. There was great poverty among the Cornish tin workers, and much local resentment against having to pay towards a war that they felt had little to do with them. At St. Keverne, near the Lizard, Michael Joseph, the local blacksmith roused the village into open rebellion. And in Bodmin, Thomas Flamank, a lawyer, also urged the populace to arms to protest. They led an ill-clad, ill-armed army to march to London. Supporters were collected along the way, and in Somerset Lord Audley took command of the army. By the time it reached Blackheath near London, there were several thousand men armed with staves, pitchforks and home-made weapons. On June 17th 1497 they were surrounded by the King's army of ten thousand men. The battle was brief, 200 Cornishmen died. Lord Audley and Flamank were captured on the battlefield, Joseph caught as he fled towards Greenwich. They were taken to the Tower of London, Flamank and Joseph being executed at Tyburn 10 days later, with Lord Audley being beheaded at Tower Hill a day later. Joseph became known as An Gof, Cornish for The Smith. The rebellion is indicative of the state of Cornwall at that time, and Perkin Warbeck's landing in Cornwall in September 1497 shows further how Cornwall was perceived as being ripe for rebellion. A statue of the two men was unveiled at St. Keverne, on the 500th anniversary. A commemorative plaque was unveiled at Blackheath Common at the same time.

 

Sir Richard Grenville

The son of Roger Grenville, captain of the Mary Rose when it sank in the Solent in 1545. He was only three at the time. The Grenville's lived in a great house at Stowe, near Kilkhampton in North Cornwall. He himself had became a naval captain, commanding the Revenge. Steeped in naval tradition, he was a cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh and a friend of Sir Francis Drake. In 1585, while commanding a fleet of five ships carrying colonists to Virginia, he captured a much larger Spanish ship. In 1591, as second in command to Lord Thomas Howard, he took a small fleet to the Azores to lie in wait for a Spanish treasure fleet homeward bound from South America. However the Spanish heard about the English fleet, and sent a large fleet to protect their treasure ships. Lord Howard decided that they did not have enough ships to fight the Spaniards, and ordered the English fleet to up anchors and put to sea. Richard Grenville refused to leave his ninety sick men ashore, and vowed to stay and fight the enemy. On August 31st 1591 the revenge with about a hundred men fought a battle against some fifty Spanish ships and five thousand men. Battle was broken off as darkness fell, and the next day the Spaniards were amazed to see the Revenge still floating. Its mast and sails were gone, its holds were flooded, and only twenty men were left to fight, including the mortally wounded Grenville. Grenville called on his chief gunner to sink the Revenge to stop it falling into enemy hands, but the remaining crew begged him to surrender. Grenville agreed provided the Spanish would grant them full honours of war, and return them to England immediately. The Spanish commander agreed and the battle ended. Grenville died of his wounds on the Spanish ship. Shortly afterwards an enormous storm sank the Revenge and 14 Spanish ships.

 

Sir Bevil Grenville

Born 1596 near Withiel, west of Bodmin, and a grandson of Sir Richard Grenville. At the start of the Civil War in 1642 he raised an army in Cornwall to fight for the King. When the Parliamentarians crossed the River Tamar his army fought a number of battles and threw them out of Cornwall. He won battles at Braddock Down near Lostwithiel, and at Stratton Hill near Bude, he then led his men on a victorious march through Devon into Somerset. In 1643 the Royalists won a battle at Lansdown Hill outside Bath, but Bevil Grenville was mortally wounded. His Cornish soldiers refused to fight under any other leader and returned home, carrying the body of Sir Bevil. It was buried in a tomb in Kilkhampton Church.

 

Sir John Arundell

Born in 1566 at Trerice (now a National Trust property), he led a comparatively quiet life, until he was appointed commander of Pendennis Castle at Falmouth at the age of seventy. In 1643, Pendennis probably seemed like a long way from the action of the Civil War, but he did fight at the battle of Braddock Down, near Lostwithiel. Although the parliamentary army had been thrown out of Cornwall by Sir Bevil Grenville in 1643, by 1646 they were strong enough to try again. By March 1646, town after town had fallen to the Roundhead army. General Fairfax captured St. Mawes Castle, then called on Arundell to surrender Pendennis Castle, Arundell replied "I will here bury myself before I deliver up this castle to such as fight against His Majesty". The siege lasted until 17th August. For five months the garrison had held out, but they had run out of ammunition and food. Sir John surrendered to Colonel Richard Townsend, and the defenders were allowed to leave with full military honours and flags flying. Of the sieges during the Civil War, only Raglan Castle in Wales held out longer (by two days more). Parliament was so glad of the fall of Pendennis Castle that they made September 22nd a day of general thanksgiving. Sir John is buried at Duloe in East Cornwall.

 

Admiral Edward Boscawen

Born in 1711 at Tregothnan near Falmouth, he joined the navy at the age of twelve, and was a captain at 26. He was MP for Truro several times, and during the 1745 rebellion raised an army of six thousand Cornishmen to fight for the King against the Young Pretender. In 1747 he was commander in chief of all military forces in India and the Far East. His last sea victory saved the country from invasion. In 1759, while his ships were undergoing repair in Gibraltar, he got news of a French invasion fleet gathering in ports along the Channel coast. He put to sea and defeated the French, so their invasion plans were cancelled. He died in 1761 and was buried at St. Michael Penkevil, near Truro.

 

Sir Nicholas Slanning

Sir Nicholas Slanning spent his early life at Maristow, near Plymouth. He left England, aged 23, "to learn the arts of war" in the Low Countries. He was knighted in 1632. Slanning's were one of five Cornish foot regiments formed in October 1641 by Sir Ralph Hopton during the Civil War. They were involved in the battles at Braddock Down, Modbury, Polston Bridge, Sourton Down, and Stratton. Thereafter, combined with Prince Maurice's men, they took Taunton, Bridgewater, Dunster Castle and Wells ending up, after the victory at Lansdown, taking Bath. He died in action in 1643.

 

Samuel Wallis

Born in 1728 at Lanteglos-by-Camelford, he is not well known, but was a Cornish navigator who circumnavigated the world. He served under Admiral Boscawen as his flag lieutenant, and was given command of H.M.S. Dolphin in 1766 to explore the Pacific. It was believed that another continent existed to the south of South America, and Wallis spent twenty months sailing round the world looking for signs of it. He found the islands of Tahiti and Easter island, and his reports led to Captain Cook's later voyages. He died in 1795.

 

Captain William Bligh

Born in 1754 at St. Tudy between Bodmin and Camelford. The family moved to Plymouth and he joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman. In 1772 he went with Captain Cook on his second voyage round the world and proved himself to be a good navigator and mapmaker. He returned to England in 1780 with news of the final voyage and the death of Captain Cook. In 1787 he was chosen to command The Bounty on a voyage to the Pacific to bring breadfruit to the Caribbean, where they were wanted to provide cheap food for the plantation workers. The Bounty expedition was a disaster, the ship was a converted merchant vessel and was too small. There was a large crew including scientists, and they needed storage space for the cargo of breadfruit that they had to carry. Some of the sailors were known trouble makers, and Bligh did not get on with some of the officers and petty officers. By the time they reached the Pacific attempts to maintain discipline had led to mutiny, and Bligh and those crew loyal to him were cast adrift in a a longboat. In spite of the fact that he had little food and only basic navigational instruments, Bligh sailed the longboat over 3500 miles of open sea to Timor. At the time it was the longest known voyage in an open boat. News of the mutiny was sent to London. Bligh was not blamed for the mutiny, and in 1794 was given the Society of Arts medal for the 42 day longboat voyage. in 1801 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society for services to navigation and botany. He fought in a number of sea battles including The Battle of Copenhagen, where he was personally thanked by Nelson for bravery. In 1805 he was appointed governor of the colony of New South Wales. In 1808 there was a small revolt against taxes imposed by England, and Bligh was deposed and imprisoned for two years until military reinforcements arrived from England to restore order. Again Bligh was not blamed, and was promoted to Admiral. He died in 1817 and is buried in Lambeth in London.

 

General Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert

Born in Bodmin in 1785, a descendant of the Elizabethan seaman Sir Humphry Gilbert. At 15 he became a cadet in the Bengal Infantry. He rose to major-general and through his conquests in Northern India became a national hero. The army even issued a medal with his picture on it - only Wellington as an army officer has had the same honour. The citizens of Bodmin decided to erect a memorial to him on the hill overlooking the town. A tall, slim granite obelisk was built on his death in 1853. It is 144 feet high with the story of his Sikh and Afghan campaigns written on the four sides of the base. The Indian Empire has now gone, and those that fought there like Gilbert largely forgotten.

 

John Carter

Born 1770 at Breage near Helston, matured to become one of the biggest rogues on the coast, the self styled King of Prussia. Carter was a mixture of hard working fisherman, honest merchant and out and out rogue. He operated out of Bessies Cove, a rocky inlet near Perranuthnoe in Mount's Bay. It was an area notorious for lawless gangs of wreckers and smugglers. But it was a time when few local people thought smuggling to be a crime. John and his brother Henry were well known along the French coast, but during the French Wars they were arrested and imprisoned in St. Malo for a year on one occasion. He mounted guns on the cliffs guarding the approach to Bessies Cove and fired on revenue boats that came too close. On another occasion he raided Penzance Customs House and removed some barrels of wine that they had seized from his boat. In 1807 he disappeared from the area and was never heard of again! He left a journal relating his life and times. The nickname King of Prussia came from his fascination with Fredrick the Great, King of Prussia. Bessie's Cove is now called Prussia Cove.

 

John Arnold

John Arnold, born in 1736 at Bodmin, perfected the ships chronometer. For a ship to navigate accurately it had to know both latitude and longitude. Latitude was calculated by using the sun and a sextant, but longitude had to be worked from an accurate knowledge of the time. Ships timepieces had been inaccurate because of changes in temperature and motion effecting their working. He lived and worked in a narrow street off Fore Street in Bodmin, and eventually moved to London to produce his chronometers and in 1788 produced the first pocket chronometer. John Arnold made very accurate regulator clocks for the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. His marine chronometers were of such quality that Captain James Cook used them on his South Sea voyages. He is still remembered with a plaque over the entrance to the narrow passage where he once lived - Arnolds Passage. John Arnold died on 11th August 1799 at the age of 63 and is buried in Chislehurst, Kent.

 

Sir Humphry Davy

Inventor of the eponymous miners safety lamp. He is commemorated with a statue in Market Jew Street in Penzance. Born 17th December 1778, the son of a woodcarver in Penzance. His interest in scientific things was fostered by his acquaintanceship with Robert Duncan, a Penzance saddler who made electrical and mechanical models. He went to school first in Penzance, then to Truro Grammar School when he was 15. At 16 he became apprenticed to Dr John Borlase, a Penzance surgeon. Here his work involved mixing potions in the laboratory. Then a chance meeting with a Bristol scientist, Dr Beddoes, led to his being offered a job as assistant in the newly opened Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. Within four years he had established himself as a scientist through his experiments with gasses. Though he did nearly kill himself by sniffing a newly discovered gas, and had to return to Penzance to recuperate. He wrote books, gave lectures and became president of the Royal Society for seven years. He was knighted in 1812, and it was then that he was asked to devise a safety lamp after an explosion had killed 89 miners in a coal mine in Feeling Colliery near Sunderland. His solution to the problem was elegant, simple and practical. Wire gauze covered the flame, air passes through the gauze to feed the flame with oxygen, but the explosive gasses were held back. Although he patented his invention, he let anybody use it. Apart from his interest in gasses, he was also the founder of the Zoological Society, with its zoo in Regents park. He died in Switzerland aged 51 in May 1829.

 

William Bickford

Born in 1744 in Devon, he invented the safety fuse for igniting gunpowder. Cornish mines did not suffer from explosive gasses, but there were many miners killed by misuse of gunpowder. Early fuses were often tubes of reeds filled with powder and were extremely unreliable. Either they exploded too early not giving miners time to get away, or took too long to ignite and killed miners who assumed the fuse had gone out. William Bickford was a leather merchant in Illogan. One day watching a rope maker spinning his threads, he realised that a strand of yarn, impregnated with gunpowder could be included in the rope to make a reliable, predictable fuse. In 1831 he took out a patent on his "safety rods" and manufactured them in a factory at Tuckingmill near Camborne, now commemorated by a plaque. It took some time to get miners to use these safer fuses, as the older, unpredictable ones were cheaper. Eventually common sense prevailed and the mining industry moved over to the safety fuses. He died in 1834. His grandson, William Bickford-Smith, became MP for Truro. In 1974, the Bickford-Smith family bought the Trevarno estate near Helston.

 

Sir Goldsworthy Gurney

Born in 1793 at Treator, Padstow, he became a surgeon in Wadebridge. But by 1823 he had given up medicine to experiment with steam engines. He made a steam driven boat and a coach. In 1829 on of his coaches travelled from London to Bath and back at 15 miles per hour. However it was early days for steam engines, and there were powerful forces ranged against him - from sellers of horses to toll road owners. Gurney was forced out of business. He carried on with experiments with steam engines, and perfected a means of channelling air to the firebox in a way that allowed the fire to function even when the engine was moving at speed. he also invented a better form of lighting for lighthouses., and it was he that realised that by giving each lighthouse a different flashing system, then sailors could know which lighthouse they were looking at. Between 1854 and 1863 he was in charge of heating and lighting the Houses of Parliament. And he was knighted for this in 1863. He built Bude Castle to prove that a house could be built on sand with the use of a concrete raft. He died penniless in 1875, and was buried at Launcells Church near Bude. There is no memorial to him in Cornwall.

 

Richard Trevithick

Born in 1771 at Tregajorran between Redruth and Camborne, the son of the manager of Dolcoath Mine. As an apprentice he had a genius for pumps and machines, and he developed into one of the engineering giants of the day. Perhaps the real father of the railways. He lived for most of his life at Trevithick Cottage, Penponds. Stephenson's Rocket ran from 1821 between Stockton & Darlington. Trevithick ran a steam engine through the streets of Camborne on Christmas Eve 1801. Camborne Hill was the steepest hill in the district, and horses had difficulty pulling loads up it, so the fact that the new steam engine could reach the top showed the potential of steam. Three years later he successfully ran another engine on rails at Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. He then went to Peru to maintain pumping engines in the mines, and stayed for eleven years. When he wanted to come home he had no money for the fare, and had to borrow it from Stevenson. Back in England with no money he was forced to work in London as an ordinary engineer, and died penniless, only a collection of money by his friends saved him from a paupers grave. There is a statue to him in Camborne, outside the public library, holding a model of his locomotive. There is also a memorial window to him in Westminster Abbey. A celebration of his life and achievements (Trevithick Day) is held every year at Camborne.

 

Richard & John Lander

Two brothers born in the Fighting Cocks Inn in Truro in 1804 and 1807 who grew up to become explorers. They were sent in 1830 to explore the lower reaches of the River Niger, and later mounted two more expeditions to the Niger. They found the source, route and mouths of the then unmapped river. A nine hundred mile trek inland took them through hostile natives, tropical diseases and intense heat. John Lander was killed in 1834 by a bullet during a fight with natives. A statue of Richard Lander stands on a tall column at the top of Lemon Street in Truro.

 

John Couch Adams

A great scientist born in Laneast parish, Bodmin Moor on 5th June 1819. From an early age he showed a bent for mathematics and astronomy in particular. He went to Cambridge University. Solely by the application of mathematics, he proved that there must be another planet circling the sun. A French astronomer came to the same conclusion, and they published their conclusions at the same time. The planet was called Neptune. He became Professor of Astronomy in Cambridge in 1858. He turned down a knighthood and also the post of Astronomer Royal. He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1866. The Adams Prize, presented by the University of Cambridge, commemorates his prediction of the position of Neptune. He died on 21st January 1892 in Cambridge.

 

Henry Trengrouse

Born in 1772 at Helston, he was the inventor of the rocket line apparatus that fired a rope to stricken ships on the rocks, and enabled the crew to be taken off. A Helston cabinet maker, he stood helplessly on the beach at Loe bar near Porthleven on 19th December 1807 when the frigate Anson was driven onto the coast. Nearly a hundred men drowned because they could not bridge the short distance from the wreck to the shore because of the boiling surf. Trengrouse spent the rest of his life and saving in inventing an apparatus that would save men under such circumstances. Inspired by a firework display he tried for many years to perfect a rocket that would fire a light line to a boat, so that the sailors could haul in a heavier rope that would bear the weight of men. It took ten years to interest the government in it, and eventually they paid him the grand sum of £20 for the invention. He also invented a type of life jacket, and built a model of an unsinkable lifeboat. He died penniless in 1854.

 

John Opie

Born in 1761, the son of the village carpenter in Mithian near St. Agnes. From an early age he showed a great talent in drawing. An artist was not considered as employment for a poor boy, and he became an apprentice in his fathers business. Dr Walcot from Truro befriended him and encouraged his talents, and gave Opie an education in mathematics and science as well as drawing and painting. Dr Walcot took him to London and introduced him to Sir Joshua Reynolds, President of the Royal Academy. By 1782 his work was on display in the Royal Academy, and for the next twenty years he was the most fashionable portrait painter in London, painting some 700 portraits. However he died young, in 1807 after a short illness. He was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

 

Henry Bone

Born in Truro in 1755. He was apprenticed to William Cookworthy at the Plymouth China Works where china was made from the china clay that Cookworthy had discovered at St. Austell. Bone developed into a skilled painter of pictures on porcelain buttons and broaches. In 1778 he painted in watercolours on ivory and enamel in London, and by 1800 was the official enamel painter to the Prince of Wales, followed by the appointment as enamelist to the King from 1801. Later he was made an associate of the Royal Academy and enamel painter to George III. He continued to hold the royal appointment during the reigns of both George IV and William IV. On 15 April 1811 he was elected a Royal Academician. In 1831 his eyesight failed and he reluctantly took the Royal Academy pension. His eldest son became enamelist to Queen Adelaide and Queen Victoria. He died in London on 17th December 1834.

 

Sir Jonathan Trelawny

The hero of the Cornwall's National Anthem - Song of the Western Men. Born at Pelynt (Near Looe) in 1650. A staunch royalist, he was ordained in 1673 and became a beneficed clergyman. He was appointed Rector of Southill on 4th October and of St. Ives on 12th December 1677. The Duke of Monmouth's failed rebellion against James II in 1688, led to seven bishops being imprisoned in the Tower of London. They were put on trial for their lives as they refused to sign a document bringing back Roman Catholicism as the state religion. They said they were loyal to the king, but their consciences would not let them sign. The seven bishops were tried, acquitted and freed. Trelawny became Bishop of Exeter in 1688 on the accession of William of Orange to the throne, and Queen Anne elevated him to Bishop of Winchester in 1707. When he died in 1721 his body was brought back to Pelynt for burial.

 

Richard Lower

Richard Lower was born in 1631 on the family estate at Tremeer, near Bodmin. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He obtained his degree and remained at Oxford to study medicine. In 1666, he moved to London and started a medical practice. Before long, he became a member of the Royal Society and a successful court physician. Lower was involved in some of the earliest experiments with blood transfusions, following the similar investigations of Christopher Wren a few years earlier. His early subjects were dogs but he was also involved in the first experimental transfusions of blood into a human subject in 1666. Lower is particularly famous for his work on the brain and nerves, which he carried out as the assistant of Thomas Willis in Oxford during the course of his medical studies. His anatomical and physiological investigation of the structure and action of the heart is recognised as an early breakthrough and he was recognised as one of the most skilled vivisectionists of his time. Following the accession of James II, Lower fell into disrepute due to his anti-Catholic beliefs; he lost his court appointment and his medical practice suffered. He spent an increasing amount of his time in Cornwall until his death in 1691. He bequeathed money to St. Bartholomew's Hospital and to French and Irish Protestant refugees, making plain where his religious beliefs lay.

 

William Murdoch

William Murdoch was born in 1754 at Bello Mill Farm, near Cumnock in Ayrshire. He was said to have carried out early experiments in a cave on the banks of the River Lugar. In his mid twenties he walked from Ayrshire to Birmingham to find work at famous Soho works of James Watt and Matthew Boulton. In 1779 Watt and Boulton sent Murdoch to Cornwall, where he made his home in Cross Street, Redruth from 1782 to 1798. All his spare time was spent in design and innovation, he improved the efficiency of steam engines used in the mines and he is believed to have been the first in Britain to construct and use a steam-powered road going vehicle. This was in 1785. In 1792 William Murdoch was the first person in the world to light his house and office by piped coal gas. This laid the foundation for the gas industry of today. Murdoch House in Cross Street, Redruth has been fully restored and now houses various local bodies including Redruth Old Cornwall Society. Among the other successes of William Murdoch include a working model of a low pressure steam locomotive. He also invented a process for clearing beer. Murdoch returned to Birmingham in 1799 to continue his work with Boulton and Watt. He died there in 1839.

 

Dolly Pentreath

The memorial stone of Dolly Pentreath set into the wall of Paul churchyard, near Mousehole reads

'Here lieth interred Dorothy Pentreath who died in 1777, said to have been the last person who conversed in the ancient Cornish. The regular language of this county from the earliest records till it expired in the 18th century in this Parish of Saint Paul. This stone is erected by the Prince Louise Bonaparte in Union with the Revd John Garret Vicar of St. Paul. June 1860.'

Her main language was Cornish and she only learned a little English as an adult. She is considered by many people to be the last person to speak Cornish as a first language, although this is contested by some. Cornish persisted as part of the local dialect until the 20th century revival. The Cornish language was already believed to have died out when Daines Barrington visited Mousehole and discovered Dolly and others conversing in the language. This aroused a great deal of interest over a long period. Eventually the monument in her memory was set into the churchyard wall in 1860 by Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's nephew. One story says it was originally placed over the wrong grave and had to be moved later.

 

Sir John Eliot

John Eliot was born on 20th April 1590 at Port Eliot, St. Germans on the bank of the River Tamar. He grew up in a household that was noted for its generous entertaining and relaxed way of life. As a result John seems to have been a little wild in his youth. In one instance he wounded a neighbour. a Mr. Moyle, of Bake, after he had been complaining to his father of his way of life. At the time of this incident Eliot was somewhere between 15 and 18 years old and it seems to have had a steadying effect on his character as from this time forward he lead a blameless life. At 24 years old John Eliot became Member of the Parliament for St. Germans, for the first time, in March of 1614. This parliament was an unproductive (no bills were passed) and short (dissolved in June). It is notable as the last Parliament with Sir Francis Bacon as Attorney an that Sir Edward Giles (a Cornish neighbour) was leader of the opposition. He led in the Commons for the impeachment of Buckingham (following his disastrous management of the anti-Catholic war) in 1626 and was imprisoned for eleven days and dismissed as Vice Admiral. He was returned to the Parliament of 1628 where, with Pym, he led the Commons in forcing Charles to accept the Petition of Rights and continued to attack Buckingham. Charles dismissed Parliament and imprisoned Eliot (and eight other commons leaders) in the Tower where he died 3 years later.

 

Edmund, Earl of Cornwall

Edmund, the son of Richard Plantagenent (Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans) was born on 26th December 1249 at Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire. He was not invested with the title until the last days of Henry III's reign. After the death of Henry, Edmund helped finance the newly crowned Edward I military campaigns to the extent, that on one occasion he placed the whole of the revenue of Cornwall at his disposal. Edmund improved Restormel Castle by replacing the wooden buildings in the keep at with stone structures. He also lived for a period at Helston Castle. He made Lostwithiel the county capital and built the 'Duchy Palace' including the Shire Hall, Hall of Exchequer of the Earldom and the Coinage Hall. When he died 1st October 1300 at Ashbridge Abbey, Buckinghamshire of natural causes and his bones were buried at Hailes. He was the last Earl of Cornwall to reside in Cornwall.

 

Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall

Richard was born on 5th January 1209 at Winchester Castle, the second son of King John and Isabella of Angouleme. He was made High Sheriff of Berkshire at the age of only eight, was styled Count of Poitou from 1225 and in the same year, at the age of sixteen, his brother King Henry III gave him Cornwall as a birthday present, making him High Sheriff of Cornwall. Richard's revenues from Cornwall provided him with great wealth, and he became one of the wealthiest men in Europe. Though he campaigned on King Henry's behalf in Poitou and Brittany, and served as Regent three times, relations were often strained between the brothers in the early years of Henry's reign. Richard rebelled against him three times, and had to be bought off with lavish gifts. As the second son of King John, he had to wait to be crowned as King. In March 1231 he married Isabel Marshal, the wealthy widow of the Earl of Gloucester, much to the displeasure of his brother King Henry, who feared the Marshal family because they were rich, influential, and often opposed to him. Later that year Richard departed for the Holy Land. He fought no battles but managed to negotiate for the release of prisoners and the burials of Crusaders killed at a battle in Gaza in 1239. Later in life he built Tintagel Castle and Restormel Castle but Launceston Castle was his Cornish base. On the 2nd April 1272, Richard died at Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire.

 

Sidney Godolphin

Sidney Godolphin was born in Godolphin Hall near Helston and baptised at Breage on 15th June 1645. He became a royal page to King Charles II in 1662 where he became a life long friend of John Churchill (later the Duke of Marlborough), who was at that time a page to the Duke of York. This relationship was to play a pivotal role in the affairs of England later on when Godolphin rose in position and influence and was responsible for raising the finance to support Marlborough's campaigns on the continent. Godolphin entered Parliament in 1668 as member for Helston and in 1678 he visited Holland. In that year he married Margaret Blagge, who subsequently died of pleural fever after giving birth to a son, Francis (she is buried at Breage). In 1684 Sidney created Baron Godolphin of Rialton and was made head of the treasury. He served as lord of the treasury until the end of James II reign. When William III landed in 1688, Godolphin stood by James II and was sent with Halifax and Nottingham to negotiate with William. However, when James flight was known, he voted for a regency. Nevertheless in February 1689 William reinstated him as first commissioner of the Treasury because of his outstanding political and economic skills. Godolphin was a Tory and when William began replacing his Tory ministers by Whigs he dismissed him in 1696. In 1698 his son, Francis, married Henrietta the daughter of the Duke of Marlborough Sidney's close friend and political ally. When Anne succeeded to the throne she made Godolphin her sole Lord High Treasurer in 1702 and Knight of the Garter in 1704. During this period he was a member of the triumvirate, along with Marlborough and Robert Harley (the future Earl of Oxford) at the heart of Anne's administration. In 1706 Anne created him Earl of Godolphin for his work with Marlborough in bringing about the union of England and Scotland. To maintain his position he pressured Anne to dismiss Harley (1708) his rival, however in 1710 he was dismissed himself. Sidney's interests outside of his official life was horse racing. He was the first to import arab stallions into England and all throughbreds in english racing today can trace their bloodline back to his stable. Two years later, on September 15th, 1712, he died at the London home of his friend Marlborough.

 

Sir Francis Basset

Sir Francis Basset bought St. Michael's Mount in 1640 and held the titles of Lord and Captain of the Mount, Sheriff of Cornwall, Vice-Admiral of the Northern Shore at the outbreak of the Civil War. A firm supporter of the King he played an active roll, on occasions at his own expense, of strengthening defences in Cornwall. He was at Boconnoc in 1644 where, after a successful campaign, the King knighted him saying 'Now, Mr. Sheriff, I leave Cornwall to you safe and sound'. Sir Francis died in September 1645. A 90ft high monument is erected on Carn Brea, near Camborne, to the memory of Francis Lord de Dunstanville and Basset of Tehidy (1757 - 1835).

 

Joseph Thomas Treffry

Born in Plymouth in 1782 as Joseph Thomas Austen, he changed his name by deed poll after the death of his mother's brother William Esco Treffry of Fowey in 1808, when he inherited the family estate at Place House, Fowey. Trained in civil engineering, Treffry built a new quay in Fowey to take larger vessels for the export of tin, the major industry of Cornwall. As a result he became a partner in the Wheal Regent copper mine at Crinnis near Par. He then became a partner in Fowey Consols mine at Tywardreath and manager of Lanscroft mine. After he amalgamated the two mines in 1822 and took full control, Fowey Consols became the most productive mine in Cornwall and employed 1,680 workers. However, as Cornwall was geographically isolated form the industries of London and the Northwest, and as there were minimal port facilities through the narrow streets of Fowey, Treffry needed to find new means of distributing his tin ore. In 1828 he drew up plans for a new safe harbour at Par, and by 1829 Treffry had built a twelve thousand foot breakwater on Par Beach. When the harbour opened, Treffry opened Par Consuls on the mount behind Par and build a double incline tramway to link it to Par harbour. This became his first venture into land transport, constructing inclines and Treffry Tramways to link with the canal up the valley to Ponts Mill and an inclined plane railway to the Fowey Consols mine on Penpillick Hill - taking tin ore out to the harbour, and coal in to power the steam engines. To bring water power to the mine he built a leat from Luxulyan along the west side of the valley. Treffry bought Newquay harbour and mines in the area of Goss Moor, and planned to link them by a railway system. He began developing a tramway from Ponts Mill to Newquay in 1837, constructing tracks to Bugle, which included building a viaduct at Luxulyan, to carry both tramway and water to power his mines. Treffry and his steward William Pease built the inclined plane tramway from the canal basin, past the Carmears Rocks, to the level of the top of the valley, then a level run through Luxulyan and on to its terminus at the Bugle Inn near Molinnis. This required a high-level crossing of the river, for which they built Treffry Viaduct, which is 650 feet (198 m) long and 100 feet (30 m) high. Built of stone from the Carbeans and Colcerrow quarries, the lines from the quarries to the viaduct were the first parts of the tramway to be operational. The tramway was completed in 1844. Treffry served as vice-president of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society from 1849 until his death of pneumonia in 1850 at Place House in Fowey. He was also High Sheriff of Cornwall from 1839-1840.

 

William Borlase

Antiquary and naturalist, born at Pendeen in 1696, of an ancient family (originating at St. Wenn). From 1722 he was Rector of Ludgvan and died there in 1772. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford from 1713 and in 1719 he was ordained. In 1722 he was presented to the rectory of Ludgvan, and in 1732 he obtained in addition the vicarage of St. Just, his native parish. In the parish of Ludgvan were rich copper works, abounding with mineral and metallic fossils, of which he made a collection, and thus was led to study somewhat minutely the natural history of the county. He married Anne Smith in 1724: she died in 1769. In 1750 he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society; and, in 1754, he published, at Oxford, his Antiquities of Cornwall. His next publication was Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly. In 1758 appeared his Natural History of Cornwall. He presented to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, a variety of fossils and antiquities, which he had described in his works, and received the thanks of the university and the degree of Doctor of Civil Law Borlase was well acquainted with most of the leading literary men of the time.

 

Rev. Robert Stephen Hawker

Robert Stephen Hawker was born at Stoke Damerel in Devon on the 3rd of December 1803. He educated at Liskeard Grammar School, and when he was about sixteen was apprenticed to a solicitor. He graduated from Oxford in 1828, and he became vicar of Morwenstow in 1834 where he stayed for over 40 years. He was a poet and collector of folklore. His most well known poem, which he wrote in 1824 "The Song of the Western Men", better known by its chorus ," And Shall Trelawny Die", is often called the Cornish National Anthem. Hawker was acutely aware of the life-and-death importance of the harvest to his parishioners. In 1843 he introduced the Christian celebration of Harvest Festival that we know today. He invited his parishioners to a Harvest service on the first of October, when bread made from the first cut of corn was taken at communion. This was certainly an attempt to create a Christian replacement to the traditional feasting and heavy drinking which celebrated the end of the Harvest. Parson "Hawker", as he was known to his parishioners, was something of an eccentric, both in his clothes and his habits. He loved bright colours and it seems the only black things he wore were his socks. He was often seen wearing a fisherman's jersey and wellington boots, walking the lanes with the huge pig he kept as a pet. He built a small hut from driftwood on the coastal cliff path overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where he spent many hours writing his poems. Though eccentric, Hawker was much loved by his parishioners. He cared for his fellow human beings. Sailors drowned in shipwrecks were often buried on the beach where they were found, without Christian rites, for who could tell whether or not they were Christian men? Hawker, however, made sure that sailors drowned on the treacherous rocks near Morwenstow were given a Christian burial. He himself often made the steep and dangerous descent down the cliffs in order to recover the bodies. Hawker was happily married twice to two very different women. When only twenty he married Charlotte I'Ans, a lady much older than himself, who died in 1863. The following year he married Pauline Kuczynski, daughter of a Polish exile who worked as a governess nearby. He died in 1875 and is buried in Plymouth.

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