Budleigh Past and Present

Fairlynch Museum was glad to be able to help out one of our sister museums in Devon when the fragment of flag shown here was lent for an exhibition at Topsham. A model of HMS Terror on display at Topsham Museum  The item is cherished as a possible relic from HMS Terror, the bomb vessel constructed for the Royal Navy by the Topsham shipbuilder Robert Davy. Some of my American readers who know their history will recognize the name of this vessel as belong to one of th ose ships which took part in the unhappy Anglo-American conflict of 1812-14. It was during that war that the White House was burned down by the British.  HMS Terror, under her captain, John Sheridan, took part in various actions against the Americans including the bombardment of Stonington, Connecticut in August 1814, and the Battle of Baltimore the following month.  HMS Terror th...

Continued from   https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2015/10/from-slavery-to-sponges-imagining.html It seems that John Campbell, the wealthy Budleigh resident and benefactor of Henry John Carter, the future FRS, took a keen interest in the voyages undertaken by adventurers of his time.  Admiral Sir John Ross By an artist of the British school, 19th century  He would probably have read the 740-page volume written by a fellow-Scot who had made his name as an explorer. This was Captain, later Admiral, Sir John Ross (1777-1856), pictured above;  the account of his adventures was entitled Narrative of a second voyage in search of a North-West passage, and of a residence in the Arctic Regions during the years 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833. The book was published by the London firm of A.W. Webster in 1835, and John Campbell’s name is on the List of Subscribers to the companion Appendix which app...

Devon's Topsham celebrates its US link in the Entwhistle Room Yes, as far as Friends of Fairlynch Mike and Margaret Wilson are concerned, ‘Celebrating Topsham Maine’ is probably the big exhibition at Topsham Museum. The Entwhistle Room is small, but Margaret, who has done the research, has managed to convey a massive amount of interesting information about the Devon port’s sister-town. All displayed on attractively designed panels. I first met Mike and Margaret when we were involved with former Fairlynch Chairman Roger Kingwill a few years ago in designing the Budleigh museum’s ‘Survival!’ exhibition to mark the centenary of Scott’s last Antarctic trip.  I knew nothing about Dr Murray Levick, the expedition's doctor and zoologist who had come to live near Budleigh, and not much more about Antarctica and Scott's ship, the Terra Nova . But I learnt a lot from Roger, Mike and Margaret about planning a museum exhibition. ‘Celebratin...

Good luck to our friends at Topsham Museum with their 2014 'Secret Gardens' event