Chapter X: Part 10

Probably the last public compliment ever received by Peter Pindar was the dedication by his scholarly neighbour to him of the well-known _History of Kingsbridge_, published in 1819 (the year of Pindar’s death) by A. Hawkins, Esq., F.H.S. With the terms of that dedication we might fitly close our notice:—

To JOHN WOLCOT, M.D., long accredited at the Court of Apollo as Peter
Pindar, Esq., these pages commemorative of the History and Topography
of the vicinity of his native earth, are by his permission dedicated
as a mark of sincere respect for his superior genius and talents.

If in our sketch of Peter Pindar we have “extenuated aught,” we have been wishful to “set down naught in malice,” and can only endorse the universal opinion as to his talent, with the unconcealed wish that such great power had been allowed to exert itself on a higher plane and to a nobler purpose.

O quantum est in rebus inane!
—_Pers. I._ 1.

How vain are all his cares!
And oh! what bubbles, his most grave affairs.
—_Gifford._

WILLIAM THOMAS ADEY.

HONITON LACE.

BY MISS ALICE DRYDEN.

Situated in the fertile vale of the Otter, surrounded by wooded hills and combes, the quiet little town of Honiton slopes down a hill, crosses the river, and ends at the old Hospital of St. Margaret. The picturesque street seems to have a repose amid its beautiful surroundings commensurate with the peaceful industry that has made its undying fame; for thanks to its having been the head-quarters of the beautiful lace manufacture, the name of Honiton is better known than that of many a big city. That its renown should have overshadowed other places is doubtless owing to its being situated on the great coach roads from London and from Bath to Exeter and the ports beyond; travellers were brought to the spot, who would alight while their horses rested; they would then be offered a box of lace at the inn to select from, while the work-girls themselves looked out for the arrival of the coaches and pressed their wares on the occupants, who took away their purchases to other parts of the country as a speciality of Honiton.

Risdon[12] speaks of it as “a great Market and Thorough-Fair, from East to West,” and Westcote[13] writes:—“It is a great thoroughfare from Cornwall, Plymouth, and Exeter to London; and for the better receipt of travellers, very well furnished with Inns.”

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Footnote 12:

_Survey of Devon_, 1605–20 (printed editions, 1785, 1811).

Footnote 13:

_View of Devon_, _circiter_ 1630 (first printed, 1845).

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_From a Photograph_] [_By Miss Alice Dryden._
HONITON LACE.

]

Lace-making has been practically limited to that part of the county south of Exeter which lies between Dorset and the Exe. The industry found its way to Devonshire, if the generally accepted theory be correct, by the Flemish refugees flying from the persecutions of the Duke of Alva. Lace was made on the pillow in the Low Countries about the middle of the sixteenth century, so by the date of the Alva persecution (1568–77) the people might have learnt it in sufficient numbers to start it wherever they set up their new home.

There is much probability to support this theory, and some names of undoubted Flemish origin did and do still exist in Honiton, as Gerard, Murch, Groot, Trump. On the other hand, if there had been any considerable number of Flemings in Devonshire they would surely have founded a Company of their Reformed Church, and no reference is found in the published books of the Archives of the London Dutch Church of any such Company in Devonshire; whereas references abound to places in the eastern counties and Midlands where Flemings were established.

It was not till we read of bone[14] lace that it may be taken to mean pillow lace, made either with fish bones as pins or sheep’s trotters as bobbins. That bones were used as bobbins is stated by Fuller;[15] but the fish bone theory is also possible; pins were very high priced at that time, and it would have been perfectly possible to use fish bones fine enough for the geometrical laces of the sixteenth century.

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Footnote 14:

The term _bone_ lace is wrongly interpreted as representing the raised
Venetian points, which have been likened to carved ivory or bone.

Footnote 15:

_Worthies_, 1662.

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Queen Elizabeth was much addicted to the collecting and wearing of beautiful clothes, but no definite mention of English lace seems to occur in the Royal Wardrobe Accounts.

The earliest mention of Honiton lace is by Westcote—“At Axminster you may be furnished with fine flax thread there spun. At Honiton and Bradnidge with bone lace much in request”;[16] and, referring again to Honiton—“Here is made abundance of bone-lace, a pretty toye now greatly in request”; and therefore the town may say with merry Martial—

In praise for toyes such as this,
Honiton second to none is.

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Footnote 16:

_View of Devon._

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The famous inscription on a tombstone in Honiton Churchyard, together with Westcote, proves the industry to have been well established in the reign of James I. The inscription runs:—

Here lyeth ye body of James Rodge, of Honinton in ye County of
Devonshire, (Bonelace Siller, hath given unto the poore of Honinton
P’ishe the benyfitt of £100 for ever) who deceased ye 27 of July A^o
D^i 1617 ÆTATÆ SVAE 50. Remember the Poore.

There have been traditions that Rodge was a valet who accompanied his master abroad and there, learning the fine Flemish stitches, taught some Devonshire women on his return home, and was enabled to make a comfortable competence by their work.

Rodge was not the only benefactor to the town connected with the industry; there are two others recorded in the seventeenth century. “Although the earliest known MS., Ker’s _Synopsis_, 1561, giving an account of the different towns in Devonshire, makes no mention of lace, we find from it that Mrs. Minifie, one of the earliest named lace-makers, was an Englishwoman.”[17] “She was a daughter of John Flay, Vicar of Buckrell, near Honiton.”[18] She died in 1617, and left money for the indigent townspeople, as did Thomas Humphrey, of Honiton, lace-maker, in 1658.

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Footnote 17:

_History of Lace._ Mrs. Palliser, 1901.

Footnote 18:

_Worthies of Devon._ Prince, 1701.

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The advantages of the lace trade were realized by the time of the Commonwealth. Fuller,[19] writing during that period, says of bone lace:—

Much of this is made in and about Honyton, and weekly returned to
London. Some will have it called Lace, _à Lacinia_, used as a fringe
on the borders of cloathes. Bone-lace it is named, because first made
with bone (since wooden) bobbins ...

Modern the use thereof in England, and not exceeding the middle of the
Raign of Queen Elizabeth. Let it not be condemned for a superfluous
wearing, because it doth neither hide nor heat; seeing it doth adorn.
Besides, though private persons pay for it, it stands the State in
nothing; not expensive of Bullion, like other lace, costing nothing
save a little thread descanted on by art and industry. Hereby many
children who otherwise would be burthensome to the Parish prove
beneficial to their Parents. Yea, many lame in their limbs, and
impotent in their arms, if able in their fingers, gain a livelyhood
thereby; not to say that it saveth some thousands of pounds yearly,
formerly sent over Seas to fetch Lace from Flanders.

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Footnote 19:

_Worthies_, 1662.

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The English were always ready to protect their own trades and manufactures, and various were the Acts passed to prohibit the importation of foreign lace, for the encouragement of home workers. In 1698 it was proposed to repeal the last Prohibition, and from the text of a Petition sent to the House of Commons, some interesting light is thrown on the extent of the trade at that date.

The making Bonelace has been an ancient Manufacture of England and the
Wisdom of our Parliaments all along thought it the interest of this
Kingdom to prohibit its Importation from Foreign Parts.... This has
revived the said Languishing Manufacture and there are now above one
hundred thousand People in England who get their living by it and Earn
by meer Labour £500,000 a year, according to the lowest computation
that can be made; and the Persons employed in it, are for the most
part Women and children who have no other means of Subsistence. The
English are now arrived to make as good Lace in Fineness and all other
respects, as any that is wrought in Flanders; and particularly since
the late Act so great an improvement is made that way that in
_Buckinghamshire_ the highest prized lace they used to make was about
eight shillings per yard, and now they make lace there of above thirty
shillings per yard and in Dorsetshire and Devonshire they now make
lace worth Six pound per yard and in other Places proportionable. The
Laws formerly made not proving effectual, one more strict passed 36
Years since in the 14th of King Charles II. which said Act recites
“That great numbers of the Inhabitants of this Kingdom were then
employed in making the said manufacture. Since that time the same has
encreased to a great Degree, till of late Years the Art of Smuggling
being grown to greater Perfection than formerly, larger quantities of
_Flanders_-lace have been clandestinely imported, which occasioned the
Enforcing of the former Prohibition Acts by a late one made in the
10th year of his Present Majesty.

Secondly, the Lace which used to come for England is but a small part
of their [Flanders] whole Lace-Trade, for they send it to Holland,
Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain, Portugal, etc., whereas we
make it chiefly to serve our own Country and Plantations.

... The Lace Manufacture in England is the greatest next to the
Woollen and maintains a multitude of People, which otherwise the
Parishes must, and that would soon prove a heavy burthen, even to
those concerned in the Woollen Manufacture ... on the Resolution which
shall be taken in this affair depends the Well-being or ruin of
numerous families in their own Country. Many laws have been made to
set our Poor on Work and it is to be hoped none will be made to take
away work from Multitudes who are already Employed.”

Here follows the numbers of the people in a few places which get their living by making of lace. Those quoted in Devonshire as interesting to compare with the present day are:—

Gittesham 139
Culliton 353
Coumbraleigh 65
Northleigh 32
Sidmouth 302
Axmouth 73
Sidbury 321
Buckerall 90
Farway 70
Upotery 118
Shut and Musbery 25
Southley 45
Fennyton 60
Branscombe Beare and Seaton 326
Widworthy and Offerell 128
Broad Hembury 118
Honyton 1,341
Luppit 215
Axminster 60
Otrey St. Mary 814
Shut and Musbery 25

The Dragoons suppressing Monmouth’s Rebellion in 1680 are stated to have despoiled the poor lacemakers greatly, and at Colyton broke into the house of a dealer in bone lace, Burd by name, and stole his goods to the value of £325.

The trade was still advancing when Defoe wrote in 1724:—

The valuable manufactures of Lace, for which the inhabitants of Devon
have long been conspicuous, are extending now from Exmouth to Torbay.

Later still we find the people at Honiton make “the broadest sort that is made in England.”[20] Just previously, in 1753, the first prize was awarded by the Anti-Gallican Society, which encouraged home trade, to Mrs. Lydia Maynard, of Honiton, “in token of six pairs of ladies’ Lappets of unprecedented beauty.” This date seems to have been the zenith of the lace prosperity, and reverses soon after set in.

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Footnote 20:

_Complete System of Geography._ Bowen, 1747.

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Two fires occurred in Honiton, causing much distress, and the second, in 1765, was of so devastating a character that the town had to be rebuilt. Shawe says, writing at the end of last century:—

For its present condition Honiton is indebted to that dreadful fire
which reduced three parts of it to ashes. The houses now wear a
pleasing aspect, and the principal street extending from East to West,
is paved in a remarkable manner, forming a canal, and well shouldered
up on each side with pebbles and green turf, which holds a stream of
clear water with a square dipping place opposite each door, a mark of
cleanliness and convenience I never saw before.

The American war had an evil effect upon the lace trade; still worse was the French Revolution, and also the change of the fashion in dress; lace was no longer used in profusion in the ladies’ wardrobe, and the demand for it declined to a serious extent for the workers. Worse yet, however, was the introduction of machine net, the first factory being set up at Tiverton in 1815. Lysons[21] writes just afterwards:—

The manufactory of lace has much declined, although the lace still
retains its superiority. Some years ago, at which time it was much
patronized by the Royal Family, the manufactures of Honiton employed
2,400 hands in the town and in the neighbouring villages; they do not
now employ above 300. The lace here made had acquired some time ago
the name of Bath Brussels lace; but it is now generally known by its
original appellation of Honiton bone (or thread) lace. It has always
been manufactured from thread made at Antwerp; the present market
price of which is 70l. per lb.; an inferior lace is made in the
villages along the coast, of British thread, called Trolly lace.

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Footnote 21:

_Britannia_, 1822.

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No other reference to Bath Brussels lace is forthcoming; the reason of the name Bath is not apparent. The thread seems always to have been and is still a difficulty to contend with in English lace. It seems impossible to get the very fine, silky, pure flax thread in the home market. A greater part of the lace made at the present time is wasted labour by reason of the coarse cottony thread used.

The evolution (if it may be termed so) of Honiton lace is briefly this. The bone or bobbin lace before mentioned at first consisted of a small and simple imitation of the early Italian pillow laces—mere narrow strips made by coarse threads plaited and interlaced. They got wider and more elaborate as the workers gained experience. Specimens may be seen on three Devonshire monuments of the first part of the seventeenth century. Whether the lace of the district is imitated or not it is probably similar to what would have been made there at that time. On the effigy of a Lady Pole in Colyton Church, her cape is edged with three rows of bone lace. Another, which is in excellent preservation, is on an effigy of Lady Dodderidge in Exeter Cathedral, her cuffs and tucker being a good pattern of geometric design. The third is on an effigy in Combe Martin Church, 1637.[22]

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Footnote 22:

There is an example of _opus araneum_ or _lacis_, net work embroidered
with a simple floral design, on the collar of Bp. Stafford, 1308, in
Exeter Cathedral.

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Bobbin laces soon became popular, as they were so much cheaper than the elaborate points; they became so eminently the speciality of Belgium as to make her the classic country of pillow work. Belgium was noted for her linens and delicately spun flax; in consequence, the Flemings departed from the style of their Italian masters, and made laces of their own fine threads; the fashion of wearing flat linen collars, in the early part of the seventeenth century, encouraged the new style. They worked out their own designs, and being fond of flowers, it naturally came about they composed devices of blossoms and foliage.

These alterations, in course of time, found their way to England, there being much intercourse between their brethren here established and those remaining in Flanders. The lace continued to get finer and closer in texture, the flax thread being required so fine that it became necessary to spin it in damp underground cellars. That the workers in England could not compete successfully against the foreigner with their home-made threads we find over and over again. They also altered the Brussels designs, and instead of the beautiful _fillings_ and openwork stitches substituted heavy guipure bars. The _vrai réseau_ or pillow net ground succeeded the _bride_ towards the end of the seventeenth century. During the eighteenth century the flowers were made separately and worked in with the net afterwards, or rather the net was worked into the flowers on the pillow. The best _réseau_ was made by hand with the needle, and was much more expensive. The advantages of making the net separately soon declared themselves, and it formed an extensive branch of the trade. The mode of payment seems tedious but primitive in its simplicity; the net was spread out on the dealer’s counter, and the worker covered it with shillings; as many as it took to cover it she had as the value of her work. “A piece bought previous to the introduction of machine net, 18 ins. square, cost £15. At the commencement of machine net, in 1808, it could be bought for as many shillings, and in 1851 for as many pence.”[23]

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Footnote 23:

_Antique Point and Honiton Lace._ Mrs Treadwin. No date.

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Trolly lace comes next in order; it was quite different from the Honiton type, and resembled many of the laces made in the Midlands at the present time. It was made with coarse British thread, heavier, larger bobbins, and worked straight on round the pillow. The origin was undoubtedly Flemish, but it is said to have reached Devonshire at the time of the French Revolution through the Normandy peasants, driven by want of employment from their own country, where lace was a great industry in the eighteenth century. Be this as it may, lappets and scarves were certainly made of Trolly lace at an earlier date; Mrs. Delaney, in one of her letters (1756) speaks of a “trolly head.” Trolly lace, before its downfall, has been sold at the extravagant price of five guineas a yard.[24] The origin of _Trolly_ is from the Flemish _Trolle Kant_, where the design was outlined with a thick thread.

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Footnote 24:

_History of Lace._ Mrs. Palliser, 1901.

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The most startling change in the lace industry occurred after 1816, when the introduction of machine net caused the _vrai réseau_ to go out of fashion. The cheap mechanical net took the place of the hand-made ground, throwing hundreds of hands out of work in a few years, and upsetting the social economy of the district. Application on machine net became universal, and the prices decreasing, the workers lost heart, and gave up their good old patterns, taking to inventions out of their heads, and frequently down to the present time copying some frightful design from a wall paper!

Queen Adelaide, in answer to a petition sent up by the lace makers, ordered a dress made of Honiton sprigs on machine net, in which every flower was to be copied from nature. It was executed at Honiton.[25] The bridal dress of Queen Victoria, which she ordered from Devonshire, was carried out at Beer, and cost £1,000. It was made in the _guipure_ fashion, the sprigs being connected by openwork stitches on the pillow. The trade from that time revived, as lace came once more into fashion, the _guipure_ being the description made, the sections of the pattern united on the pillow, or sewn on to paper and joined by the needle with the various lace stitches; _purling_ is made by the yard, for the edge.

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Footnote 25:

Queen Adelaide also caused to be introduced the Maltese lace, that
continued to be made for years here and there.

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The lace schools of this time were a great feature, there being many in every village, and as few other schools existed, boys in addition to the girls of the place attended and learnt the industry.[26] The usual mode of procedure was this. The children commenced attending at the age of five to seven, and were apprenticed to the mistress for an average of two years, who sold all their work for her trouble; they then paid 6d. a week for a time, and had their own lace, then 3d., and so on according to the amount of teaching they still required. The young children went first from 10 to 12 in the morning to accustom them to work by degrees. At Honiton the full hours were 8 to 8 in the summer and in the depth of winter, but in spring and autumn less on account of the light; as candles were used only from nutting day, the 3rd of September, till Shrove Tide. The old rhyme runs:—

Be the Shrove Tide high or low Out the candle we will blow.

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Footnote 26:

Mrs. Treadwin in her younger days saw some twenty-four men lace makers
in Woodbury, one of whom had worked at his pillow so late as 1820.
From being taught as boys, the sailors used to employ themselves in
the winter making some of the coarse laces.

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At Sidbury it was _de rigeur_ that directly a girl married, however young, she wore a cap; but till then the lace-makers were famous for their good hair being beautifully dressed. When school began they stood up in a circle to read the “Verses”; if any one read “jokily” they were given a penalty, and likewise for idleness—so much extra work. In nearly all schools they were taught reading from the Bible, and in some they learnt writing.

The Honiton pillows run rather smaller than those for Buckingham lace, and do not have the multiplicity of starched coverings—only three “pill cloths” over the top, and another each side of the lace in progress; two pieces of horn, called “sliders,” go between to take the weight of the bobbins from dragging the stitches in progress; a small square pincushion is on one side, and stuck into the pillow is the “needle pin,” a large sewing needle in a wooden handle, used for picking up loops through which the bobbins or “sticks” are placed. These last are mostly turned box-wood, small and light, and no coloured beads or “gingles” at the end, as that would make them too heavy for the fine threads. Some of them are of great age. Mrs. Treadwin found an old lace-maker using a lace “turn” for winding sticks, having the date of 1678 rudely carved on the foot.

The pillow has to be frequently turned round in the course of the work, so no stand is used, and it is rested against a table or doorway, or formerly, in the golden days, in fine weather there would be rows of workers sitting outside their cottages resting their “pills” against the back of the chair in front.

Ever since the Great Exhibition of 1851 drew attention to the industry, someone or some society has been trying to encourage better design and better manufacture; but the majority of the people have sought for a livelihood by meeting the demand for cheap and shoddy articles—that dreadful bane of modern times. Good patterns, good thread, good work, have been thrown aside, the workers and small dealers recking little of the fact that they themselves were ruining the trade as much as machinery; tarnishing the fair name of Honiton throughout the world among those able to appreciate a beautiful art. Fortunately there were some able to lead in the right path, and all honour must be given to Lady Trevelyan, who, at Seaton and Beer, about 1850–70, designed and superintended the working of naturalistic flowers and sprays; also to Mrs. Treadwin at Exeter, who started reproducing old laces, and with her workers turned out excellent copies of old Venetian rose-point, Valenciennes, or Flemish. Mrs. Treadwin was a woman of culture and taste who had the best interests of the trade at heart.

In the present work there is a straining after novelty with no capable designers at the helm. We ought, as a national duty, to encourage to our utmost any industry that can be worked in the rural districts. Let the Education Authorities frankly acknowledge that our Art Schools cannot turn out lace designers, and import one of our clever French neighbours to help the Devonian workers. It would, after all, only be a case of _L’histoire se répète toujours_ since the days of Benedict Biscop, who imported vestments which gave the English their first lesson in embroidery.

ALICE DRYDEN.

“THE BLOODY ELEVENTH”;
WITH NOTES ON COUNTY DEFENCE.

BY LIEUT.-COL. P. F. S. AMERY.

The Devonshire Regiment, of which the Haytors now form a battalion, was raised so far back as 1685, has seen a vast amount of service, and has ever served with distinction before the enemy in the two centuries of its history. During the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, in 1685, many new corps were raised, and among them a regiment of musketeers and pikemen by the Duke of Beaufort. It was composed of loyal men of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, and was known as “The Duke of Beaufort’s Musketeers.” In the same year, after the rebellion had been crushed at Sedgemoor, the Duke resigned the colonelcy to his son, the Marquis of Worcester. At that time regiments were named after their colonels. The corps was distinguished by tawny-coloured ribbons in their hats, scarlet coats lined with tawny-coloured shalloon, tawny-coloured breeches, stockings, and sashes. Lord Worcester was succeeded in 1687 by Lord Montgomery, who was devoted to the interests of James II. In 1688 the regiment was in garrison at Hull, when the Prince of Orange landed at Torbay. The Governor of Hull was also a supporter of James. The regiment, however, led by its Lieutenant-Colonel, Sir John Hanmer, declared with the inhabitants of Hull for the Prince of Orange and the Protestant party. Sir John Hanmer was made Colonel, and in 1689 took part with his regiment in the famous relief of Londonderry. In 1690 it served under the eye of William III. at the Battle of the Boyne, where it repulsed three cavalry charges and materially assisted to secure the Protestant succession. In 1707, under Colonel Hill, it was present at the terrible battle of Almanza, in Portugal, where, after performing deeds of valour, it was overpowered and cut to pieces. Twenty-six officers and nearly all the men were killed, wounded, or taken. In 1709 it served under Marlborough in the Netherlands, took part in the siege of Mons, where it greatly distinguished itself in repulsing a sortie, in which ten officers and 150 men were lost. In 1715, under Colonel Montague, it took part against the rebellion under the Earl of Mar in Scotland, and at the battle of Dunblane lost eight officers and 108 men. In 1738, Colonel Cornwallis was appointed, and as Cornwallis’ regiment took part in the war of Austrian succession. It was present at the battle of Dettingen, in 1743, where George II. in person commanded the army, and received a French cavalry charge in line. Cornwallis’ and another battalion executed a difficult manœuvre, which brought the enemy’s cavalry under fire. The name of Dettingen is borne on the colours. In 1745, at Fontenoy, it again broke through the French lines, and almost secured victory; its losses were seven officers and 212 men. It was re-called to England during the Pretender’s rebellion in Scotland, and sent again into the Low Countries in 1746, where, as Graham’s regiment, it took a prominent and honourable part in the desperate battle of Roucoux against the renowned Marshal Saxe, where it lost twelve officers and 206 men.

1st July, 1751.—A royal warrant was issued, regulating the clothing and colours of every regiment. It was now numbered as 11th Regiment of Foot, and the “facings spoken of as being green,” but when they were changed from tawny is not known. The drummers were clothed in green, faced with red. 1756.—The strength was increased to twenty companies, which were divided into two battalions. 1758.—The second battalion was constituted the Sixty-fourth Regiment, illustrating the birth of new regiments. The 11th took part in the Seven Years’ War, 1760 to 1763, under the Prince of Brunswick. In 1782 county titles were given to regiments in order to facilitate recruiting, and the 11th was designated the “North Devon Regiment,” and the officers were enjoined to cultivate an intercourse with that part of the county, so as to create a mutual attachment between the inhabitants and the regiment. Exactly a century afterwards similar orders and changes took place for a like purpose. In 1793, when England was threatened with invasion by the French Republic, and volunteers were being drilled, the 11th was defending Toulon against Napoleon. It was evacuated after a gallant defence by twelve thousand men of five different nations, over a line of outposts extending fifteen miles in circumference, against an army of between thirty and forty thousand men. The 11th formed part of the garrison under Lord Mulgrave, and distinguished itself in several sorties, especially that on 30th November, 1793, when the French were driven from their batteries and guns spiked. In this affair, Napoleon Bonaparte, then an artillery officer, received a bayonet wound in his thigh. Thus the first contact the future Emperor made with a British battalion was with our Devon Regiment; and he did not again come face to face with us until the Battle of Waterloo, although he is said to have watched some of the battles in the Pyrenees from a distance. In 1798, it was sent to Ostend on a very hazardous expedition to cut the Great Canal; it did its work, but was unable to re-embark owing to a storm, and 24 officers and 456 men were captured. In 1800, the 11th was sent to the West Indies, took part in the capture of St. Bartholomew, St. Martin’s, St. Thomas, St. John, and Santa Cruz; in 1807 to Madeira. In 1808, a second battalion was again added, which formed a part of the Walcheren expedition in 1809. At the taking of Flushing they took a set of brass drums belonging to the 11th French Regiment, and enlisted the musicians of a Prussian band serving in the French army, when all the men joined with their instruments. In 1810 and 1811, they took part in the Peninsula War. On 22nd July, 1812, the regiment won glory at the decisive battle of Salamanca, which led to the French being driven out of Spain. The 11th, 53rd, and 61st Regiments formed a brigade in the Sixth Division, commanded by Major-General Clinton. Lord Wellington had noticed that in manœuvring his troops the French marshal had so extended his forces as to be unable to support each other. To take advantage of this mistake, the 11th, as leading its brigade, was pushed forward under a heavy fire, and was soon engaged in a desperate struggle, and drove the French from their ground. At the close of the action a French division made a very determined stand to recover the retreat. The 6th British Division again attacked, led by the 11th, and as the darkness came on overpowered the French, who fled in confusion. They lost 16 officers, 325 men; only 4 officers and 67 men came out unwounded. The 11th captured a battery of guns and a green standard without an eagle. The 122nd French Regiment, which was opposed to the 11th with two battalions, numbering 2,200 strong, the next day only mustered 200 men; they were mostly taken prisoners. Captain Lord Clinton, uncle of our late Lord Lieutenant, was despatched with the news direct from the field, and carried with him the green standard. He landed at Plymouth, and in a chaise and four rattled up the road to London. As he passed through the towns on the way he exhibited the standard, and persons now living in Ashburton remember seeing him pass through; he was at that time Lord of the Borough of Ashburton. The 11th earned the nickname of “The Bloody Eleventh” from the part it had taken in that terrible day. It suffered severely in the battles in the Pyrenees and following movements, which resulted in driving the French across the frontier. It was not present at Waterloo, and in 1816 the Second Battalion was disbanded at Gibraltar, the men being incorporated in the First Battalion. In 1825, new colours were presented to the regiment whilst at Cork, on which were added the names of the Peninsula battles. During the years of peace it moved from station to station, and was not in the Crimea. During the Indian Mutiny a Second Battalion was again raised, but did not take part. In 1879–1880, the 11th took part in the Afghan War; in 1881, the regiment ceased to be the 11th and became the “Devonshire Regiment,” but the green facings were changed to white, in common with other line regiments, and are alone borne by the junior battalion, viz., the Haytor Volunteer Battalion. The Devonshire Territorial Regiment now consists of two line battalions for foreign service, two militia battalions, five volunteer battalions, of which the 1st and 2nd are rifles, total nine.

The reformation and development of the volunteer force in the middle and latter half of the nineteenth century, with its embodiment into the territorial line regiments, has tended to increase the local _esprit de corps_ throughout the kingdom, and especially in Devon, where the movement had its birth. A short sketch of the formation and growth of the volunteers in Devon will, therefore, not only be of local interest, but will be an illustration of the steps taken in times of danger for the defence of our shores in the times of our grandfathers, and continued through the years of peace under our late imperial Sovereign, Queen Victoria.

Plymouth and its immediate neighbourhood is the cradle in which the spirit of volunteer defence has been nurtured; frequently before the sixteenth century have French and Spaniards made or attempted landings there for pillage or destruction, but in each case they suffered severely from the resolute resistance of the townspeople. In the Civil War the inhabitants formed themselves into trained bands and resisted the Royalist siege. In 1745, when Prince Charlie, the young Pretender, landed in Scotland and gained the battle of Prestonpans, Plymouth again raised a body of volunteers; and in 1759, when France determined on a descent on England and had 18,000 men ready to embark on board the French fleet, Plymouth again raised two companies of volunteers to strengthen the militia, one of which undertook to clothe and feed itself. The destruction of the French fleet by Admiral Hawke, at the mouth of Quiberon Bay, and the decisive battle of Minden, where the 20th, or East Devon Regiment, learned its celebrated “Minden Yell,” removed for a time the fear of French invasion. When, therefore, in 1779, the combined fleets of France and Spain held for a time the possession of the English Channel, and the gallant Elliot was holding the rock of Gibraltar against famine and bombardment, and most of our army was fighting in America, the Spanish and French fleets suddenly appeared off Plymouth, causing great alarm for the safety of the dockyard and the numerous French prisoners in the port, the inhabitants were again ready to enroll themselves. Mr. William Bastard, of Kitley, the great grandfather of the present Mr. B. J. B. Bastard, the first Lieutenant-Colonel of the Haytor Volunteer battalion, offered to raise a force of 500 men as a corps of Fencibles, and in two days had 1,500 young men to select from, who wished for the honour of serving under him. On 23rd August, 1779, he escorted 1,300 war prisoners to Exeter for safety, and on the 25th delivered them to the commanding officer there, and at once returned with his regiment to Plymouth. I have been unable to find any traditions of this march preserved in the towns through which they must have passed, but we may be sure at the time it caused much excitement along the road and at the places they rested the two nights. The whole of this eventful period at Plymouth is well described by Miss Peard in her charming little book, _Mother Molly_. The example of Plymouth was followed by the citizens of Exeter, who also raised a Volunteer corps. For these services the King, on the 24th September, signed a warrant for a baronetcy for Mr. Bastard, who, however, modestly declined the honour. The supremacy in the Channel was soon restored by the return of the fleet, and the victories of Admiral Rodney rendered our shores safe for a time.

In 1794, the effects of the French Revolution had made themselves felt in England, and several elaborate plots were formed to supersede Parliament by a National Convention after the French model, and to abolish the Monarchy. Great distress prevailed in the country, which always forms the best weapon of revolutionists. The rate of interest rose to seventeen per cent.; the Bank of England only saved itself by the suspension of cash payment. Monge, the French Minister of Marine, threatened to land in England with 50,000 red caps of liberty, and to overthrow the Government of the country.

It was at this crisis that the Government called on the different counties to take steps for the defence of the kingdom, and a meeting of magistrates was called by Lord Fortescue, the Lord Lieutenant, and presided over by the High Sheriff, J. S. Pode, Esq., on the 22nd April, 1794. 1795, 7th January, returns showed two troops of cavalry and twenty-three companies of infantry to have been raised and equipped by subscription. March 23rd, the Lord Lieutenant, Earl Fortescue, ordered monthly returns from each corps. 7th April, 1795, the twelve corps in the eastern part of the county were formed into a battalion, under Col. Mackenzie. 2nd June, Colonel Orchard, of Hartland Abbey, reported that he had inspected his own regiment, viz., corps at Fremington, Westleigh, Northam, Hartland, and two companies at Bideford. This appears to be the six western companies of the north battalion. 1796 returns showed two troops of cavalry, twenty-two companies of infantry—1,651 men. In this year an attempt was made by the French to land in Bantry Bay, which, however, failed, and the expedition was glad to get back to Brest, with the loss of four ships of the line and eight frigates. Early in 1797, another expedition, under Tate, appeared in the Bristol Channel, off Ilfracombe, with the intention of burning Bristol. The North Devon Volunteers turned out with great zeal, and were prepared to dispute the landing on their coast. The French, however, turned northward and landed in Wales, where they soon surrendered to a far inferior force of militia, yeomanry, and volunteers, commanded by Lord Cawdor, and supported by a reserve of Welsh women in red cloaks. 1798 saw the nation in the most serious crisis of its history. The French Directory having made terms with the European powers, were able to turn all their attention to the invasion and conquest of the British Isles. Former expeditions were designed to stir up the disloyal and assist them to overthrow the Government, but now a French army was to land on our shores. The Spanish and Dutch fleets had been pressed into the French service, but British courage and seamanship had effectually disposed of them in the great naval battles of St. Vincent and Camperdown. Nevertheless, an army was organized, named the Army of England, and distributed along the French coast in readiness for embarkation. Flat-bottomed boats were prepared for landing troops and for service on our rivers. The bankers of Paris were called upon to advance a loan on the security of English property. The greatest calamity, however, was a general mutiny in the Channel Fleet at the Nore, which expelled their officers, elected their own admiral and captains, hoisted the red flag, and blockaded the mouth of the Thames; they seriously discussed the expediency of making the whole over to the French. If England could not depend on her fleet she must fall. Had not prompt measures been taken and the mutiny quelled, invasion on a large scale would certainly have taken place. To add to these troubles a formidable rebellion broke out in Ireland, and its leaders arranged for the support of the French army, under Hocke, a general of great experience. A brigade of 1,000 men actually landed in Ireland, under General Humbert, beat the local troops, and advanced into the country, but were compelled to surrender to Lord Cornwallis; and Admiral Warren caught a French fleet with 3,000 troops on their way to support them, and only one of the nine ships returned to France. Such being the state of public affairs, it cannot be denied that our great grandparents had good grounds for alarm. There is hardly a district or family in Devon but has some tradition of that period. Nervous people were afraid to take off their clothes at night. Old gentlemen provided themselves with hollow walking-sticks filled with guineas to carry with them in their flight. At Totnes my great-grandfather’s family permanently engaged a post-chaise in which the women and children might escape to Bristol; the family plate was packed ready to be taken off, and a belt of guineas provided. The schoolboys enjoyed it, for there was no school, as the seniors were too much engaged in obtaining and discussing news to attend to them. The saying still exists at Totnes, “Going to Paignton to meet the French,” for “meeting trouble half-way.” Beacon fires were prepared to spread the news of any landing. A story is told of a tramp at Dawlish who, in lighting his pipe, set a hay rick on fire; the watchers at the nearest beacon took it for a signal of an invasion, and lighted their fires, which were answered in every direction, and the people sprang to arms until “That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day.” One old sailor, however, had his wits about him, when his daughter shook him out of a deep sleep with the news that the French had landed. Rubbing his eyes, he told her to go and look at the weather-cock. She came back saying the wind was from the north. “I thought so,” said he, “and so it was yesterday. The French can’t land with this wind.” And so the ancient mariner turned round and went to sleep again.

The next place in the history of volunteers was the extension of the area of their service. Up to this date the condition of service was confined to the county of Devon, and in the case of the early Exeter corps to the defence of the city only. The military authorities saw the impossibility of mobilising the volunteers, even to a small extent, who had enlisted under these conditions. The County Committee were, therefore, instructed to accept no offers except for service throughout the military district. It was, however, ultimately arranged for all volunteers to accept the new conditions, but cities or large towns should be allowed to maintain a local corps composed of respectable householders only, to aid the civil power to protect property. Most of the corps appear to have been willing to extend their services to the military district. In January, 1799, it was resolved that no further offers should be accepted. Each parish was required to appoint a man and horse to act as guide. The battle of the Nile and the extinction of the Irish rebellion seem to have quieted men’s minds for a time. But in April Devonshire was again astir, for the Committee of Secrecy of the House of Commons reported that undoubted intelligence had been received that plans of an invasion and insurrection in Ireland were being made in France. That the utmost diligence was being observed in the ports of France in preparing another expedition to co-operate with the rebels in Ireland, that it was intended at the same time to land a French force at different parts of the coast. That the instructions to Tate, who was taken prisoner in Wales in 1797, and those of General Humbert, who landed in Ireland, and who had been destined to command an expedition against Cornwall, had fallen into the hands of the Government, and were as follows:—The legion was to land in Cornwall and to cross the Tamar as quickly as possible, and to establish itself in the district between it and the Exe, or, as we should say, in the South Hams. The “passes and mountains” (Dartmoor) would afford an easy and safe retreat from the pursuit of the enemy. Thus Dartmoor was selected both by the French Directory and by the English officers for a place of refuge. There, indeed, in the Dartmoor prisons, many French soldiers and sailors were destined to find a safe retreat.

But as time went on, and no invasion took place, things became quieter; the Defence Committee seldom met; the volunteers, however, continued to drill and to hold reviews.

In 1801, the separate corps were consolidated into battalions and regiments. The two 1st Devon troops of cavalry, with those at Bicton, Tiverton, and Cullompton, united in the “Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry Cavalry,” under Lord Rolle as Colonel, Sir Stafford Northcote as Lieutenant-Colonel. The North Devon Corps of Infantry became the 3rd North Devon Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Fortescue. The Loyal Exminster Hundred Regiment of Volunteers, under Lord Courtenay, was similarly formed. In 1802 came the “Peace of Amiens,” or, as it is frequently called, the “Cloamen Peace.” It was a fragile, patched up affair, by which Bonaparte gained breathing time. “It was a peace everyone was glad of and nobody proud of.” Volunteer affairs became quiet, many corps were disbanded, among them the Ashburton Sergebacks. Old soldiers were discharged from the line regiments, and militiamen sent to their homes.

In May, 1803, Bonaparte suddenly declared war, and then, as Emperor, prepared in earnest to invade England. A camp of 100,000 men was formed on the cliffs at Boulogne, and a host of flat-bottomed boats gathered for their conveyance across the Channel. At last the Emperor Napoleon appeared in camp; all was ready. “_Let us be masters of the Channel for six hours_,” he is reported to have said, “_and we are masters of the world._” But he never was able to be master of the Channel for six hours. The army waited and drilled, the old Bayeaux tapestry, which illustrates the conquest of England by William of Normandy, was searched out to create enthusiasm, and show what had once been done; all kinds of schemes were resorted to to obtain the naval assistance of other nations, and with success, for the Spanish fleet joined him. Still, the English fleet, under Lord Nelson, held the Channel, but any accident might give the six hours’ mastery, and so England had to be prepared. The County Defence Committee again assumed the direction of affairs. The arrangements made in 1798 were once more put in force. It was in 1803 that the Haytor Regiment was formed, and commanded by Lord Seymour; it was 1,000 strong, with 250 artillery attached, and appears to have been made up of all the volunteers in the Haytor Hundred with those of several towns and parishes adjoining. Newton Abbot was the headquarters, where Captain Babb, afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel Babb, was captain. In the former arming of 1798 Ashburton had formed the 9th Devon Corps, under Captain Walter Palk; they had clothed themselves with local-made serge, and so gained the name of Sergebacks; they were disbanded at the Peace of Amiens, but now again formed and became a company in the Haytor Regiment, under Captain Tozer. Bridgetown, being in Berry Pomeroy parish, also was in the Haytor district. Mr. Milford Windeatt, a relative of the present Captain Windeatt, held a commission in the Haytor Corps. Totnes, however, formed a separate corps, being in the Stanborough Hundred, as did also Highweek, Kingsteignton, Chudleigh, and Bovey Tracey, which were in Teignbridge. The Stanborough Regiment, in which Kingsbridge formed a part, was connected with Plymouth. Torquay, Paignton, and Brixham supplied artillery men under Colonel Cary, of Tor Abbey. For the protection of Tor Bay the authorities garrisoned Berry Head, which, being in the Haytor Hundred, was committed to a detachment of the regiment under Colonel Cary. Many stories remain of this period of service. I cannot say how long the volunteers were out; probably they relieved each other. One story frequently told was of the French fire-ships, for which they were on the lookout, to be sent among the fleet in the bay, and which caused much stir. One night, as the full moon rose red and fiery out of the sea, the sentry at the headland, who had come from an inland parish, mistook it for a fire ship, discharged his musket, and aroused the garrison. The uniform was similar to the line regiments of the period, viz., scarlet swallow-tailed coats, turned out with yellow, blue-black breeches, white cross belts, with a brass plate having Haytor Regiment thereon; the pouches were black, the buttons had H.V.R. (Haytor Volunteer Regiment); officers wore cocked hats, others tall shakoes. The regiment assembled for field days and drill at various points in the district. Lord Clifford has a plan of a sham fight on Bovey-heathfield, but the movements appear to have been very simple. Lieutenant-Colonel Babb, whose tablet is in Wolborough Church, Newton Abbot, commanded the regiment at one time. On 21st October, 1805, Lord Nelson caught the combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar. His last and famous signal, “England expects every man to do his duty,” was observed and obeyed, and although he fell in the hour of victory, twenty battleships had struck their flags ere the day was done. Pitt explained, in his last public words, “England has saved herself by her courage; she will save England by her example.” The crisis had again passed, England could breathe freely once more, still the volunteers were kept enrolled for a time. The Haytors were disbanded about 1809, and the old colours laid up in Wolborough Church until time had consumed them. The time of peace continued for about forty years, until the Crimean War, in 1853, left the country almost without troops to garrison her arsenals. Then several Volunteer corps were raised, among them the “Exeter and South Devon,” under Colonel Sir Edmund Prideaux. At the peace in 1856 it was not disbanded, but remained embodied until the memorable circular of 12th May, 1859, in which the Secretary of State for War suggested the formation of Volunteer corps throughout the country as a means of preventing the frequent war scares caused by the uncertain actions of the French under Napoleon III. The Exeter corps then became the first in the kingdom, and through them Devonshire stands at the top in the precedence of the counties. On 24th May, 1859, the Plymouth corps was formed, but the date of its acceptance was later on. The movement had life because it was in accordance with the feelings of the people, which was shown by almost every town in Devon holding meetings for the purpose of forming corps, and persons of every social position offered their services, and in a large proportion undertook their own outfits. These offers were mostly accepted by Her Majesty; each corps became an independent body, and was numbered in the order in which they were accepted, but joined into administrative battalions for drill purposes. In 1880, the administrative battalions were consolidated into corps, which in 1885 were incorporated as volunteer battalions of the county regiment, of which they have since formed a part, and in the South African war sent two companies, fully officered and equipped, to the front. This brings us to the eve of the proposed changes in the constitution of our army and military system, and possibly the close of the volunteer system as we have known it.

“The brave old men of Devonshire!
’Tis worth the world to stand,
As Devon’s sons, on Devon’s soil,
Though juniors of the band;
And tell Old England to her ace,
If she is great in fame,
’Twas good old hearts of Devon oak
That made her glorious name.”
P. F. S. AMERY.

JACK RATTENBURY, THE ROB ROY
OF THE WEST.

BY MAXWELL ADAMS.

John Rattenbury—or, as he is commonly called, the “Rob Roy of the West”—was born at Beer in 1788. His father was a shoemaker by trade, but before his son John was born, he went to sea on board a man-of-war, and was never again heard of. His mother supported herself by selling fish, while Jack was allowed to run wild, spending his time chiefly at the water-side, where he acquired a taste for the sea and for those daring adventures which made him subsequently so notorious. When about nine years of age, he induced his uncle, who was a fisherman, to take him with him in his fishing expeditions. This was the beginning of his sea training, and continued for some time, until one day, being left in charge of the boat, while his uncle was on shore at Lyme, he lost her rudder. For this negligence his uncle chastised him with a rope’s end, whereupon a separation ensued. Jack then joined a Brixham fisherman as an apprentice, but after a space of twelve months, finding this occupation uncongenial, he engaged himself to the master of a coasting vessel of Bridport, trading between that port and Dartmouth.