Budleigh Notables: M
Wilfred Francis Remington MACARTNEY (1899-1970), convicted spy and author, lived at ‘Eastcliff House’, 14 Marine Parade.
* His book Walls Have Mouths is a record of the ten years' penal servitude that he spent after his conviction for spying for Soviet Russia.
* The book inspired contemporary authors including George Orwell and Sir Compton Mackenzie.
* He was a friend of WW2 double agent Eddie Chapman.
* In the summer of 1941, Special Branch officers who were watching his house in Budleigh noted that five women were staying with him, including the American former Vogue model and celebrated WW2 photographer Lee Miller – described as ‘a strong communist’ by MI5.
* Lee Miller is portrayed by Kate Winslet in the film ‘Lee’ (2023).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_(2023_film)
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2022/05/kate-winslet-in-budleigh-salterton.html (26 May 2022)
https://spartacus-educational.com/SPmacartney.htm
https://www.theauxiliaries.com/men-alphabetical/men-m/macartney-wfr/wfr-macartney.html
Major General Sir Wilfred MALLESON KCIE, CB (1866-1946) army officer, lived somewhere in Budleigh Salterton, location unknown.
* His military service included involvement in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. He was involved in military intelligence, running a spy network from Meshed in north-eastern Iran against the Russians during this period.
https://www.ova.org.uk/article/malleson-major-general-sir-wilfred-1866-1946
Anita MANDL, aka Anita Jennings (1926-2022) Sculptor, scientist and artist. Lived at 21 Northview Road. Pictured is one of her many sculptures inspired by the natural world. © the artist's estate. Photo credit: RWA (Royal West of England Academy)
* Born in Prague to a Jewish family she arrived in London from Czechoslovakia on July 1939, aged 13. She and her brother travelled on the last but one of Nicholas Winton’s humanitarian Kindertransports.
* She was instrumental in founding the Otter Valley Association.
* An exhibition of Anita Mandl’s work was staged at Fairlynch Museum in 2023.
http://www.gallery-pangolin.com/artists/anita-mandl
https://www.ova.org.uk/sites/default/files/common/Founding%20of%20the%20OVA%201979.pdf
Dame Hilary Mary MANTEL DBE FRSL (1952-2022). Author. Lived at Marine Court, 9 Marine Parade. Image credit: Joshua Irwandi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Mantel
George MARIETTE (1837-1925). In 1919 he was living at 'Meadow Croft', on Station Road.
* He has been recorded as one of ‘the men who wrote the laws of association football’, leading to the founding in 1863 of the Football Association; its shield is pictured above.
* A Frenchman, he was born in Paris on 20 May 1837, originally named George Mariette de Villeblin.
* An all-round sportsman, he was described as an ‘oarsman, fisherman, boxer and a very good amateur actor’.
* He died in Budleigh Salterton on 25 April 1925.
* The Mariette family papers are held at the University of Exeter.
Humphrey Richard Hickson MARRIOTT (1919-45)
* His parents were Major Richard George Armine Marriott DSO (1867-1924) and Eileen Anita Marriott, née Hickson (1884-unknown). They married in 1912.
* His siblings were Eileen Marriott (1913-unknown), Diana Barbara Marriott (1914-1988) and Armine John C. Marriott (1917-unknown).
* He joined The Buffs Regiment as a Lieutenant, was captured in 1940 and spent WW2 at Oflag VII-B PoW camp at Eichstätt, Bavaria.
* On 14 April, 1945, two days before the camp was liberated he was killed by ‘friendly fire’ from three American aircraft.
* His mother is recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as ‘of Budleigh Salterton’ at the time of his death. He was 25 years old.
* His grave is at Durnbach War Cemetery, south of Munich in Germany.
* The above memorial plaque was set up in St Andrew’s Church, Shalford, Essex, by the Marriott family.
* You can read about him at https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2023/12/ww2-75-14-april-1945-pow-killed-by.html
Ethel Frewin MATHIESON (1874-1954). Suffragist and supporter of wormen’s movements. She lived at Otterbourne House, Coastguard Road.
* A suffragist, in 1909 she arranged a meeting in Budleigh Salterton to raise local interest in the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
* She was elected Honorary Secretary when the Budleigh Salterton Branch of the NUWSS was formed in 1911 with 40 members.
* In 1913 she became Honorary Secretary for the whole of the South West Federation of NUWSS societies, covering Devon and Cornwall
* She took part in the Land’s End to Hyde Park section of the suffragists’ Pilgrimage to London in 1913.
* Aware of the need for low cost housing for workers she funded the building of houses off Bedlands Lane, pictured above. Rent was no more than 2s 6d per week and prospective tenants had to be living in the district. The houses are named Frewins in memory of her.
HTTPS://WWW.DEVONHISTORYSOCIETY.ORG.UK/MATHIESON-ETHEL/
Julia MCMORDIE, née Gray, CBE JP (1860-1942). Ulster Unionist politician, pictured above in 1922. She is listed in 1939 as living at ‘East Cliff’ – now known as ‘Eastcliff’ – on Marine Parade.
* She was the daughter of West Hartlepool shipbuilder Sir William Gray (1823-1898) and Dorothy Gray, née Hall.
* She was President of the St John Voluntary Aid Detachments in Belfast during WW1.
* In 1922 she was one of only two women elected to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, representing South Belfast.
* She became the first female High Sheriff of Belfast in 1928.
* She moved to ‘East Cliff’ in 1925 after the death of her husband Robert James McMordie KC (1849-1914) a former Lord Mayor of Belfast.
* Tate Britain's ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’, pictured above, has been exhibited on three occasions at Fairlynch Museum.
* The child model for Millais’ painting ‘Cherry Ripe’ was Edie Ramage, aka Edith Ellen Ossorio (1875-1970). She chose Budleigh to settle in retirement in the 1960s, living at ‘Rock Mansions’ in Fore Street, opposite ‘The Octagon’, where Millais in 1870 had worked on his painting ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’.
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/02/stories-from-southlands-hotel-by-iris.html (27 Feb 2021)
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/02/stories-from-southlands-hotel-by-iris_28.html (28 Feb 2021)
Elizabeth ‘Lee’ MILLER (1907-1977) aka Lady Penrose. American fashion model, and later, photographer and photojournalist during WW2, pictured above while serving as an accredited war correspondent with US forces. She stayed in Budleigh in June 1941.
* Secret MI5 files released to the National Archives in 2009 revealed that she was observed by Special Branch officers staying at the house of Wilfred Francis Remington Macartney (1899-1970). Also staying at the house was the wife of Harry Pollitt (1890-1960), general secretary of the British Communist party.
* A notice in the Edinburgh Gazette of 25 January 1944, recorded Macartney’s receiving order for bankruptcy and gave his address as ‘lately residing at “Eastcliff”, Budleigh Salterton’.
* A film based on Lee Miller’s eventful life is due for release in the UK on 6 December 2023, with Kate Winslet in the title role. It is called simply ‘Lee’.
* Lee Miller’s son, Anthony Penrose, found no mention of his mother’s stay in Devon in the Lee Miller archives. So, sadly, Budleigh Salterton will not feature in the film.
https://www.theauxiliaries.com/men-alphabetical/men-m/macartney-wfr/wfr-macartney.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7919000/7919211.stm
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/mar/03/national-archives-mi5-socialites
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/16093/page/29
https://www.darklight-art.com/blogs/news/historical-heroines-lee-miller
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_(2023_film)
George Ramsay Acland MILLS (1896-1972), schoolmaster, children’s author. Lived at ‘Grey Friars’, Westfield Road.
* His notable works are Meredith and Co. (1930); King Willow (1938); Minor and Major (1939).
* His grave is in St Peter’s Burial Ground, Moor Lane.
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2011/01/does-anyone-in-budleigh-salterton-know.html (24 Jan 2011)
http://www.whoisgeorgemills.com/2011/06/charles-watson-warrell-westfield-road.html
(12 June 2011)
David MONEY (1912-2009), music critic, lived at ‘Grey Garth’, Fore Street Hill
* He was a favourite accompanist of the versatile opera and concert singer Ian Wallace (1919-2009), and was also a Daily Telegraph music critic for 35 years.
Benno MOISEIWITSCH CBE (1890-1963), pianist, stayed at ‘Fairlynch’, Fore Street.
* Born in Ukraine, he settled in England and took British citizenship in 1937.
* Local people would gather around the house to hear him play.
* He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1946 for services to music during WW2, having performed hundreds of recitals for servicemen and charities.
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2011/06/muse-about-music-at-museum.html (12 June 2011)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benno_Moiseiwitsch
Stanley MURCH (1901-1985). Station Master. He lived at ‘The Station Master’s House’, 12 Leas Road, pictured above.
* Under his supervision, as the best kept station in its class, Budleigh Salterton railway station won first prize no less than three times.
* The house on Leas Road, originally named ‘Swiss Cottage’, was built in 1895 as the home of the Station Master at Budleigh Salterton. The house remained the property of the railway until 1967 when the Budleigh line closed, and Stanley Murch bought it.
* He enabled a large quantity of railway memorabilia to be donated to Fairlynch Museum.
* Stanley Mews, on Upper Stoneborough Lane, is named after him.
* He was buried alongside his wife, Edith Irene (1903-1975), in St Peter’s Burial Ground, Moor Lane.
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