Devon's Great Explorers
Above: Cllr Tom Wright, Mayor Budleigh Salterton, congratulates 'Sir Walter Raleigh' and the Fairlynch Fancies on winning 1st prize in their category
As you know Budleigh Carnival is
happening on the evening of Saturday 28 September. Fairlynch Museum’s costumed
group The Fairlynch Fancies, flushed with their success in winning 1st
prize among the walking groups in the 2018 Carnival, is entering again with the title ‘Devon
Explorers’.
Now that ties in nicely with the
Museum’s current exhibition, called ‘Devon’s New World Explorers’. In case you
haven’t seen it, the displays focus on people like Sir Walter Raleigh, his
half-brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Francis Drake. The Golden Age of
Queen Elizabeth I was a celebrated period for exploration.
View towards Sharpitor & Leather Tor down the valley of the river Meavy. Photo credit: Herby
Of course Devon has been the home
of many other explorers from other, more recent times. The long coastline and
the wild parts of Dartmoor are just two possible reasons for that. Some of the
explorers have been the subject of Fairlynch Museum exhibitions because they
lived in the Budleigh area.
Think of the naval officer, zoologist and founder of
the British Schools Exploring Society George Murray Levick who was the doctor
and zoologist on Captain Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition. His wife Audrey accompanied him on explorations with teams of young people to places like Newfoundland. The picture is of a corner of Fairlynch’s
2011-12 exhibition showing the kind of kit worn by Levick and his fellow
explorers in the Antarctic, including his actual skis.
Then there was the great Victorian Budleigh-born
scientist Henry Carter FRS, explorer of Arabia and expert on marine sponges. I was so impressed by his kind face and his achievements that I wrote this biography of him!
Another name associated with
Fairlynch is George Carter – no relation – amateur archaeologist, pebble expert
and explorer of India and Woodbury Common.
Seen here is a photo of him wearing plus fours next to one of the radioactive
pebbles from Littleham cliffs, on display at Fairlynch Museum.
A fourth Budleigh resident was
Admiral George William Preedy CB, the Victorian naval officer who explored the
Atlantic sea-bed during the laying of the first telegraph cable from Ireland to
America. He is pictured here – standing
fourth from the left with no cap – with his crew from HMS Agamemnon. If you visit All Saints Church in East Budleigh you can admire the fine stained glass window set up in his honour.
Further away from Budleigh one of
the best known names among Devon-linked explorers is Captain Scott himself,
born in Plymouth in 1868.
Born in Torquay in 1867, Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett DSO explored the Amazon. He
was the star of the 2017 Hollywood adventure film, The Lost City of Z, starring
Sienna Miller and Charlie Hunnam. The film told the story of Fawcett’s search
for this fabled lost city reputedly built by an ancient civilisation, believed
to have been located deep in the Amazon jungle in the Matto Grosso region of
Brazil. After a series of expeditions in Brazil, Fawcett disappeared with his
son Jack and Raleigh Rimmel in 1925.
Fawcett has his critics. Explorer John Hemming described him as a
racist, a ‘nutter’, and a dangerous incompetent who ‘never discovered anything’,
but caused the loss of many lives.
Portrait of William J Wills by Thomas Adams Hill
State Library of New South Wales
I had never heard of William John
Wills, famed for being part of the first expedition to cross Australia from
south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of
Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Born in Totnes in 1834, he became a
surveyor and also trained as a surgeon.
Sadly he and his fellow-explorer Robert O’Hara Burke died in 1861 at the
end of the journey but their achievement was recognized when they received a
State Funeral and were buried in Melbourne General Cemetery.
Nor had I heard of John Hanning Speke, pictured above, an officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. Born near Bideford in 1827 he is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile and was the first European to reach Lake Victoria. After a life of adventures which make me feel like a complete vegetable he died, ironically from a self-inflicted gunshot in 1864 during a shooting party in Wiltshire.
Even
more extreme and even eccentric as an adventurer and explorer was Richard
Burton - or to give him his full title Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS. Definitely not the actor. Born in Torquay
in 1821 he collaborated with Speke on one expedition in Africa.
Described as a geographer, translator, writer, soldier,
orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and
diplomat, he was famed for his travels
and explorations in Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary
knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29
European, Asian and African languages.
The above photo shows him as ‘The Pilgrim’, disguised as ‘Haji Abdullah’, an illustration dated 1853 from his personal narrative. A great costume for the Budleigh Carnival!
Another great Victorian explorer was Sir Samuel White Baker, who discovered one of the sources of the Nile. Born in London in 1821, his connection with Devon is that he purchased the estate of Sandford Orleigh, near Newton Abbot and died there in 1893.
Among other things he is noted for having his second wife, Florence, accompany him on his trips – he called her ‘his good little officer.’
You can read more about him on the Newton Abbot Museum website at https://www.museum-newtonabbot.org.uk/sir-samuel-white-baker where he is counted as a Notable Newtonian. The above image of the couple is from the website.
And other women explorers? One of the best known
is Dame Freya Stark DBE, whose childhood was spent in Devon and Italy.
And how about Mary and Jane Parminter, the
cousins who built A La Ronde, pictured above, near Exmouth. Before settling down and furnishing their amazing 16-sided house
overlooking the River Exe they embarked on the 18th century Grand
Tour with Jane’s sister Elizabeth Parminter.
Their Tour included a trip in the Alps, where in 1786 they were recorded
as the first women to climb a peak over 3,000m. Mont Buet is known as Le Mont
Blanc des Dames in their honour.
I should of course mention Ginny Fiennes, aka Virginia Frances, Lady Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, wife of
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and an explorer in her own right. She was the first woman to be awarded the Polar Medal.
I'm sure there are other women explorers with links to Devon. I’m investigating. Maybe you can help.
And would you like to help make Budleigh
Carnival a success and join our Fairlynch Fancies on the evening of 28
September by dressing as one of the Devon explorers mentioned above?
Sir Walter
Raleigh’s role has already been taken of course. But there are plenty of others
which may be available.
We may be able to provide props and bits of
costume. Here’s a list of those explorers and their possible kit:
Henry Carter (explorer of Arabia + marine
sponge expert and subject of Fairlynch 2013 exhibition) – He gathered his sponge specimens on Budleigh beach, equipped with waders, crowbar, magnifying glass and other tools.
George Carter – bags of pebbles, plus
fours, pith helmet.
Murray Levick (zoologist, naval officer and
surgeon on Captain Scott’s last Antarctic expedition) – Antarctic suit
Audrey Levick - ??? (I have photos)
Audrey Levick - ??? (I have photos)
Admiral Preedy (explorer of the Atlantic to
lay cable, subject of Fairlynch 2017 exhibition) – naval uniform
Devon links, but not Budleigh:
The Parminters (Alpine explorers and linked
to A La Ronde) – 18th century long dresses, easel, bags of feathers?
Freya Stark (explorer of Arabia, childhood
spent in Devon and Italy) – Arab keffiyeh headdress
Ginny Fiennes d.2004
Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett Amazon
explorer, born in Torquay – 1920s suit & boater or as in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Fawcett#/media/File:PercyFawcett.jpg
Email me, Michael, if you would like to
know more.
E: mr.downes@gmail.com
You can access other posts on this blog by going to the Blog Archive (under the ‘About Me’ section), and clicking on the appropriate heading.
You can access other posts on this blog by going to the Blog Archive (under the ‘About Me’ section), and clicking on the appropriate heading.
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