Royals in Medals #1: The Earl and Countess of Wessex

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, was born on 10 March 1964, the third son, and fourth and youngest child of Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip.  He graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge, before joining the Royal Marines as an officer cadet in 1986.  However, he resigned one third of the way through the qualifying course and subsequently concentrated on media interests, until it was felt that these activities were incompatible with his royal status.

In June 1999 he married the PR executive Sophie Rees-Jones.  On the day of their wedding he was granted the titles Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn (with the remainder to the title Duke of Edinburgh on the death of his father).  The couple have two children: Lady Louise Windsor (b. 2003) and James, Viscount Severn (b. 2007).

Honorary Military Appointments

United Kingdom

• Royal Honorary Colonel of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry
• Royal Honorary Colonel of the London Regiment
• Royal Colonel of the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles
• Honorary Air Commodore Royal Air Force Waddington
• Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Canada

• Colonel-in-Chief of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Prince Edward Island Regiment
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Saskatchewan Dragoons
• Honorary Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Here, as Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, the earl wears his full rack as at the time of writing (taken at the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, 3 June 2012)

 

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Orders
 

Order of the Garter
Royal Knight (KG), 23 April 2006





Royal Victorian Order
Commander (CVO), 10 March 1989 (25th birthday)
Knight Commander (KCVO), 2 June 2003
Knight Grand Cross (GCVO), 10 March 2011 (another birthday present!)

Saskatchewan Order of Merit
Hon Member (SOM), 11 May 2005











Commemorative Medals
 
  Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal 1977
  Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal 2002
  Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal 2012
  New Zealand Commemorative Medal 1990
  Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan 2005

Long Service Medals

Canadian Forces Medal





Overseas Awards

See Updates below.

 

At the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, 2010

 

Sophie, Countess of Wessex

Sophie Helen Rees-Jones was born on 1965 in Oxford.  After education in independent schools and secretarial college, she entered the public relations industry, eventually becoming a partner in her own firm.  She quite her business interests in 2002 following a series of incidents in which her use of royal status was brought into question.

She is reported to be very close to the Queen (though this may be due to judicious PR-ery).  Certainly her appointment straight into the Royal Victorian Order as a Dame Grand Cross would be an indication of some favour.

Honorary Military Appointments  

United Kingdom

Colonel-in-Chief of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps
Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps of Army Music
Royal Colonel of the 5th Battalion The Rifles
Honorary Air Commodore Royal Air Force Wittering
Ship's Sponsor of HMS Daring

Canada

Colonel-in-Chief of the South Alberta Light Horse
Colonel-in-Chief of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment

A rare picture of the Countess in uniform, she wears the insignia of an Air Commodore during a visit to Kandahar Air Base, 2011

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Orders

Royal Victorian Order
Dame Knight Grand Cross (GCVO), January 2010.

 

Most Venerable Order of St John
Dame of Justice, 2005









 
Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II, 2004

Commemorative Medals

Wearing an unknown medal (Golden Jubilee Medal?) while on jubilee duties in Barbados, Feb 2012

  Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal 2002

  Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal 2012

  Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan 2005

Long Service Medals

Canadian Forces Medal

Update - Oct 2012

Edward holds a medal of the Principality of Monaco, which he wore at the July 2011 wedding of Prince Albert II.

This is probably a commemorative for Prince Albert's enthronement in 2005, which the Earl and Countess attended as representatives of the Queen.  It is possible that the Countess also holds this medal.













Update - Oct 2017

TRHs represented the Queen at the celebrations of the Sultan of Brunei's Golden Jubilee in the first week of October 2017, and were each awarded the Sultan's Golden Jubilee Medal.

The Earl attended the Silver Jubilee ceremonies 25 years ago, and wears the Silver Jubilee Medal at the end of his rack.  As some stage (which I missed), he was also awarded the Canadian Forces Decoration, as was the Countess.

The Koh-i-Noor

The press are reporting new moves to repatriate the Koh-i-Noor diamond to the Punjab.  This is nothing new - the Indians requested the diamond’s return in 1947 and again in 1953, the year of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Then, in 1976, Pakistan joined in, asserting its ownership of the gem.  Further claims were made when the Queen made her state visit in 1997, and David Cameron squashed similar demands as recently as 2010. 

So this comes up every so often, but it's a good excuse to write about a nice bit of glitter.  It also prompts me to put a post on Duleep Singh onto my to-do list, so watch this space.
 

The Koh-i-Nor was acquired by the Crown in 1850, when Duleep Singh ceded it following the East India Company's conquest of the Punjab - as laid out in a clause of the Treaty of Lahore.  The argument for repatriation is that Duleep Singh didn't have the authority to alienate a part of Punjab's patrimony.  However, the diamond had only been in the Singh's hands for a generation.

The early history of the jewel is unclear.  It may have been discovered in the twelfth century, but the first confirmed mention is when it was acquired by Babur, the first of the Moguls, in 1526.  It was known as 'Babur's Diamond' for the next 200 years.  At some stage it was mounted in the Mogul's Peacock Throne.  The throne formed part of the booty taken by Nadir, Shah of Persia, following the fall of Delhi in 1738.  At that time it was described thus:

The Peacock Throne

in form like one of our field beds, six feet long and four broad. The cushion at the base is round like a bolster: the cushions on the sides are flat. The underpart of the canopy is all embroidered with pearls and diamonds, with a fringe of pearls round about. Upon the top of the canopy, which is made like an arch with four panes, stands a peacock with his tail spread, consisting all of saphirs and other proper colored stones. The body is of beaten gold enchas'd with several jewels, and a great ruby upon his breast, at which hangs a pearl that weighs 50 carats. On each side of the peacock stand two nosegays as high as the bird, consisting of several sorts of flowers, all of beaten gold enamelled. When the king seats himself upon the throne there is a transparent jewel with a diamond appendant of eighty or ninety carats, encompass'd with rubies and emeralds, so hung that it is always in his eye. The twelve pillars also that uphold the canopy are set with rows of fair pearl, round, and of excellent water, that weigh from six to ten carats apiece. This is the famous throne which Tamerlane began and Cha Jehan finish'd, which is really reported to have cost 160 million and 500,000 livres of our money.

Ranjit Singh

On Nadir's assassination in 1747, the jewel was acquired by Ahmed Abdali, one of his generals, who on the break-up of the Persian empire became Emir of Afghanistan as Ahmed Shah Durrani.  The Durrani empire was no more stable than any other in the region and following more bloody adventures the diamond left the country with Shuja Shah Durrani in 1813.  It was seized from him by Ranjit Singh, the 'Lion of the Punjab' in return for help in regaining the Afghan throne.  It was Ranjit's son, Kharak Signh who was deposed by the British.   The Koh-i-Noor was presented to Queen Victoria by the 13-year-old Duleep Singh in 1850


The stone weighed in at just over 186 carats, but was disappointing in appearance to western eyes.  Lord Dalhousie, who had enforced the Treaty of Lahore, said 'the Koh-i-Noor is badly cut - it is rose-cut, not -brilliant, and of course won’t sparkle like the latter.'  The diamond was displayed at the Great Exhibition, where it received a mixed review from the Times:-

The Koh-i-noor is at present decidedly the lion of the Exhibition. A mysterious interest appears to be attached to it, and now that so many precautions have been restored to, and so much difficulty attends its inspection, the crowd is enormously enhanced, and the policemen at either end of the covered entrance have much trouble in restraining the struggling and impatient multitude. For some hours yesterday there were never less than a couple of hundred persons waiting their turn of admission, and yet, after all, the diamond does not satisfy. Either from the imperfect cutting or the difficulty of placing the lights advantageously, or the immovability of the stone itself, which should be made to revolve on its axis, few catch any of the brilliant rays it reflects when viewed at a particular angle

On display at the Great Exhibition

The decision was made to re-cut the diamond, and Messrs Coster of Amsterdam were given the job, the first cut being done by the Duke of Wellington. Thirty-eight days and £8,000 later it emerged as an 'stellar brilliant' weighing just under 109 carats.  Prince Albert was unimpressed by such a radical reduction and said so in the clearest terms.  In 1853 Garrards mounted it in a tiara for the Queen which contained more than two thousand diamonds. Five years later Queen Victoria ordered a new regal circlet for the Koh-I-Noor which they delivered the following year.

Queen Mary wearing her crown as a circlet

Then in 1911 Garrards made a new crown which Queen Mary wore for the coronation: it contained only diamonds, among them the Koh-i-Noor and the Cullinan III and Cullinan IV. It could be worn as an eight half-arch crown or a circlet.  For the 1937 coronation a new consort's crown was created for Queen Elizabeth, which similarly could be worn as a crown or circlet, and the Koh-i-Noor transferred to it. The Koh-i-Noor is set in the maltese cross at the front of the crown.

The consort's crown resting on the coffin of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, 2002

Themes...

I'm asked if there is any pattern to my posts.

Well, for those of you who don't want to visit every day for my pearls of wisdom...

• Monday - A Moustache
• Weds - Royals in Medals
• Fri - Books & Stuff
• Sat - The week's interesting obits
• Sun - Dead bishops

And anything else that occurs to me...

I'm not going to get too fussed if I miss a day - so there!

The Seagull and the Statue

Excuse the break from usual service, but I feel in need of a rant...

As the title of this blog suggests, I have mental health problems.

I heard depression described as a seagull/statue illness: somedays you're the seagull, and somedays you're the statue.  Well today, I was the statute and life made the deposit on me.  I'm pleased to say that I seem to be coping quite well though.

I've been on long-term sick leave for some time.  My eligibility for Statutory Sick Pay ended on 29 August, and today I found out that 'in accordance with your conditions of service (paragraph 10.4 of the NJC for Local Government Services, national Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service)' my employer will cease to pay me altogether from 12 September.  So that's me without any visible means of support then...  

In the meantime, my employers are resistant to me returning to work, despite me indicating over two months ago that I was prepared to go back.  They wanted a psychological review and so sent me to a specialist in eating disorders.  Have I ever had an eating disorder or has it ever been suggested?  No.  But it's well-known that anyone can deal with depression...  At least my line-manager has stopped giving me unsolicited lifestyle advice.

So this morning I had a 90-minute 'phone call with the Department of Work and Pensions.

After that - having sworn off the booze - I took the dog for a long walk and for three cups of coffee at the Red Roaster.  (I had the coffee, he had a half a flapjack and the adoration of other customers.)  It helped.

Talking of mental health (and I was considering blogging about this before - it's not an indication of how my day's gone), today is World Suicide Prevention Day.  The World Health Organisation says that suicide is the 13th most common cause of death (more common than murder or war) and that for every death for suicide there are twenty attempts.  Here in the UK, the government has announced the investment of £1.5m in research into suicide prevention and support to bereaved families.  Apparently, the suicide rate is highest among men aged 35-49, men are three times more likely to commit suicide than women, and there were 4,200 suicides in England in 2010.  More needs to be done to prevent this, and £1.5m doesn't sound a lot to me.

In the UK, the Samaritans provides confidential emotional support 24/7 to those experiencing despair, distress or suicidal feelings.  They can be contacted by telephone, email, letter and face to face.  If you need to, talk to them.

Good luck and good mental health.

Air Vice-Marshal F.D. 'Hawk Eyes' Hughes

Back when I blogged about Spink's  Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust Appeal Charity Auction.  I discussed 'Cat's Eyes' Cunningham, and used the following illustration.

Not 'Cat's Eyes' Cuningham's medal group

Well, of course, it's not Cunningham's group.  In the words of Spink (their punctuation, I assure you!) it is

The Important and Outstanding C.B., C.B.E., Second War D.S.O., D.F.C. and Two Bars, Post-War A.F.C. Group of Ten to Air Vice-Marshal F. D. 'Hawk Eyes' Hughes, Royal Air Force, Who Claimed His First Victories in Defiants During the Battle of Britain, and Added to His Score in Beaufighters in the Mediterranean and as a Squadron C.O. in Mosquitos Over North-West Europe; He Finished With A Personal Score of 18 Victories.

As a Native of the Emerald Isle He Was Second Only to 'Paddy' Finucane in Confirmed Victories, and was Right On The Tail of John 'Cat's Eyes' Cunningham As The Highest-Scoring Night Fighter Ace of the Second World War.

Frederick Desmond Hughes was born on 6 June 1919 in Belfast.  He was studying at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and a member of the University Air Squadron when he was called up in September 1939.  By the end of the war he was a Wing Commander, in command of 604 (County of Middlesex) Sqn, and was offered a permanent commission.  He retired in 1974 as an Air Vice-Marshal and died on 11 January 1992.

Citation for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross

Flying Officer Frederick Desmond HUGHES (74706), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No.264 Squadron.
Flying Officer Hughes and Sergeant Gash as pilot and air gunner respectively have participated in numerous engagements against the enemy, both by day and night. During these flights four enemy aircraft have been destroyed, of which two were shot down at night. 
London Gazette – 18 April 1941

Citation for the award of the Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross

Acting Squadron Leader Frederick Desmond HUGHES, DFC (74706), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 600 Squadron.

As pilot and observer respectively, Squadron Leader Hughes and Flying Officer Dixon have flown together on many night sorties in operations in North Africa. During these flights they have destroyed 3 enemy aircraft. Squadron Leader Hughes and Flying Officer Dixon have displayed great skill and keenness, setting a praiseworthy example.

London Gazette – 13 April 1943

 

Citation for the award of the Second Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross

“Acting Squadron Leader Frederick Desmond HUGHES, DFC (74706), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No.600 Squadron.

Squadron Leader Hughes is a brilliant night fighter whose determined efforts have met with further successes. Since being awarded a bar to 'the Distinguished Flying Cross he has destroyed 7 enemy aircraft. His total victories number at least 16, of which 13 have been destroyed at night. Squadron Leader Hughes is a highly efficient flight commander and his meritorious, work has been reflected in the efforts of his flight which has earned notable successes.
London Gazette - 28 September 1943

Hughes was awarded the DSO in 1945 and the AFC in 1954 he was appointed CBE in 1962 and CB in 1972.

Vice-Admiral Sir William Nathan Wrighte Hewett, VC, KCB, KCSI

Admiral Hewitt - photo taken c.1873

William Nathan Wrighte Hewett was born on 12 August 1834 in Brighton,  His father was Doctor William Wrighte Hewett MD, of Billham Hall, Near Doncaster, Yorks. He was a Surgeon and Physician to William IV. His mother was Susan Moore, daughter of the Revd John Maddy Moore DD, Prebendary of Ely and Chaplain to William IV.

The Crimea and Award of the Victoria Cross

In April 1847 Hewett was appointed Cadet on HMS Ocean. In May 1849 he was made Acting Mate on HMS Impregnable and served on several ships before being posted to HMS Beagle, a shallow-draft dispatch vessel commissioned for service in the Crimea War as a gunboat.  He was attached to the naval brigade at the siege of Sebastapol, being in command of the right Lancaster battery.

The Illustrated London News' vision of Hewett winning his VC

On the occasion of a repulse of a sortie of Russians by Sir De Lacy Evans Division on the 26th October, 1854 ... The advance of the Russians placed the gun in great jeopardy, their skirmishers advancing within 300 yards of the Battery, and pouring in a sharp fire from their Minie rifles. By some misapprehension the word was passed to spike his gun and retreat; but Mr. Hewett, taking upon himself the responsibility of disregarding the order, replied that 'Such an order did not come from Captain Lushington, and he would not do it till it did.' Mr. Hewett then pulled down the parapet of the Battery, and, with the assistance of some soldiers, got his gun round and poured upon the advancing column of Russians a most destructive and effective fire. 

As ever, it's quite likely that this account is sanitised.  Another account gives Hewett's response as: 'Retire? Retire and be damned! Fire!'  For this, and for his actions at the Battle of Inkerman on 5 November, Hewett was one of the first naval recipients of the newly-instituted Victoria Cross. 

Career Progression

Hewett was promoted to Lieutenant with effect from the date of his actions at Sebastapol. He was promoted to Commander on 13 September 1858, Captain on 24 November 1862, Rear-Admiral on 21 March 1878 and Vice-Admiral on 8 July 1884.

For much of this time he commanded expeditions in West Africa, the Arabian Gulf, Egypt and the Sudan, gaining in the process a reputation as the Navy's finest exponent of combined operations, being known as 'The Fighting Admiral'.  The breath of his campaign experience can be seen in his medal entitlement:-

• Victoria Cross
• Knight Commander, Order of the Bath (KCB)
• Knight Commander, Order of the Star of India (KCSI)
• Crimea Medal (1854-1856), 3 clasps (Inkerman - Azoff - Sebastopol)
• India General Service Medal (1854-1895), 1 clasp (Pegu)
• Ashantee Medal (1873-1874), 1 clasp (Coomassie)
• Egypt Medal (1882-1889), 2 clasps (El Teb - Suakin 1885)
• Medal of Military Valour (Sardinia)
• Order of the Medjidieh, 2nd Class (Turkey)
• Legion of Honour, 5th Class (France)
• Khedive's Star (1882)
• Order of Solomon (Abyssinia)
• Turkish Crimea Medal (1855-1856)

Third Ashantee War

As Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, Hewett commanded the naval forces during General Wolseley's Gold Coast campaign.  He was created KCB in recognition of his services.

Sudan Campaign

Hewitt, by now Commander-in Chief of the East India Station, arrived at Suakin on 16 December 1883 in his flagship HMS Euryalus.  Following the disastrous first engagement at El Teb, he was put in command of the 150 seamen, 400 Royal Marines and six Gardiner guns that comprised the naval brigade.  At Second El Teb, he personally commanded the naval brigade from the square and led a charge at swordpoint.  He was appointed Governor of Sudan by Baker Pasha and led the negotiations that allowed for the retreat of troops though Ethiopia and the engagement of Ethiopian troops against the Mahdists.

Hewitt took command of the Channel Fleet in November 1886, but soon became seriously ill.  He died at the Haslar Naval Hospital on 13 May 1888 and was buried at the Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth.

The Fighting Admiral's Grave

This Week's Interesting Obits

Carlo Maria Martini  (d. 31 Aug 2012), Cardinal Archbishop of Milan.  Considered papabile on the death of John Paul II and the great hope of the 'progressive wing' of the Catholic Church.

Daily Telegraph 3 Sep 2012

Guardian 3 Sep 2012 

Terry Nutkins (d. 6 Sep 2012), TV naturalist.  The boy who ran away from school to join the zoo.

Daily Telegraph 8 Sep 2012

Guardian 8 Sep 2012 
BBC 7 Sep 2012 - Life in Pictures

Books and stuff

What I've been reading...

Carrying on with Court of the Air, wanting to get it finished - it having been dormant too long, I'm in danger of literally loosing the plot.

I read Brian Jenner's Men and Collections, which is a bit of fluff really.  I shouldn't have expected too much, but had heard that Men and Sheds was good.  It turns out that Men and Sheds, though in the same format is by someone else (as is Shed Men - who knew?).  I don't know why they needed different authors, a bit of hack-work like this could have been cobbled together by the original man.  It'd make a stocking-filler, I suppose, but don't expect anything profound  or (as it is billed) humorous.  Having recently acquired a shed-space, I was looking forward to the shed book, but now my hopes seem doomed to be dashed...

What I've bought this week...

Trevor Beeston, Prelates and People: The Daily Telegraph Book of Clerical Obituaries - £1.00.
David & Joan Hay, The Last of the Confederate Privateers - about Capt John Cliborn Brain - £1.00.
Iain McCalman, Darwin's Armada: Four voyagers  to the Southern Oceans and their battle for the theory of evolution - £3.99
Charles Stephenson, The Admiral's Secret Weapon: Lord Dundonald and the origins of chemical warfare - £1.00
 
Jim Butcher, Fool Moon (Book 2 of the Dresden Files) - £2.00.
Joe Haldeman, Worlds - £2.50.

'Cats' Eyes' Cunningham Update

A little while ago, I blogged about Spink's  Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust Appeal Charity Auction.

Group Capt Cunningham's medal group

Among other things I said that the estimate of £140,000 for John ‘Cat’s Eyes’ Cunningham group 'is likely to be an under-estimate'.  Well, the sale was today and the lot fetched £320,000 (after extras, that'll be a total of £396,800).  That's an eye-watering sum of course, but it just confirms that the auctioneers' estimate was woeful.  They must have know (as we did) that the real result would be much more.  Why do they do this?  Some claim that it's a 'teaser', pulling punters in - but why tell someone they can buy something for much less that you know you want them to pay?  The real reason, I suspect, are the headlines in tomorrow's papers - 'medals sell for twice estimate'.

Anyway, as I said in the original blog, both the hammer price and the commission fees from this lot are going to charity.  So, that's a result then.

Matt

For those not familiar with Matt, he can be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/.  There's a biog of him at the British Cartoon Archive.

On the Papabili, Vaticanologists and Wikipedia

Preparing my obits round-up for next Friday, I had to check how to spell papabile.  Imagine my surprise to find out that that's it's got it's own Wikipedia entry!

Basically, it's a term invented by Vaticanologists to mean that one might be 'popeable' - that is likely to be elected pope.  Vaticanologists are like those 'constitutional historians' or 'royal biographers' the BBC wheels out every so often - like them, they range from the bonkers to the frankly useless and normally talk nonsense.

Wikipedia says that the most famous Vaticanologist was Peter Hebblethwaite - who my grandmother claimed wore a hole in her carpet playing snooker with my uncle.

'He who enters the Conclave as Pope, leaves it as a Cardinal'

Lists of papabili are mainly wishful thinking and tend to tell you more about the people who drew them up.  A example is Cardinal Martini, who has died aged 85 - he was touted in 2005 as the hope for liberal catholicism.  The fact that the new pope was being elected by a conclave consisting of electors appointed by a conservative pope meant nothing...

Cardinal Martini - considered papabile in 2005

I used to read a blog that would get over-excited when cardinals wore the cappa magna and Benedict XVI reintroduced the camauro.  It would love the picture of Martini in ermine.

I sometimes think that I've over-dependent on Wikipedia, but then I find that it has pages on Benedict's dress-sense and the world's largest collection of clerical hats.  Y'gotta love it!

Despite all this ecclesiastical queenery, I'm a liberal myself and would probably tend towards Martini's flavour of Catholicism...

It'll probably cost more too...

 Story from today's Daily Telegraph:-

Enthusiasts will take longer to build Sovereign of the Seas replica than original shipwrights in 1637

It took 22 months to build the original Sovereign of the Seas warship in the 17th Century but it will take enthusiasts reconstructing the ship from a magazine two years and seven months. 

more...

anniv. J R R Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973)

Today is the 39th anniversary of the death, aged 81, of J R R Tolkien.  He died in Oxford and was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery alongside his beloved wife Edith, who had predeceased him by two years. Their gravestone reads

Edith Mary Tolkien
Lúthien
1889–1971
John Ronald
Reuel Tolkien
Beren
1892–1973

JRRT as an officer with the Lancashire Fusiliers

Sadly, there's no full biography of Prof Tolkien.  Humphrey Carpenter had access to his papers, but the result was slight.

If the Estate do lighten their vice-like grip, the obvious contender for biographer is John Garth, who's Tolkien and the Great War did an excellent job on the early years, the Edith/Ronald love story and the traumas of the Great War.

Even if Garth doesn't get to complete the job, it's hoped that someone will be allowed to.

Alan Brunskill Webster

Listening to a radio programme on the expulsion of Ugandan Asians by Idi Amin has reminded me of some work I did on Alan Webster (1918-2007), Dean of Norwich (1970-1978) and Dean of St Paul's (1978-1987).  While some cities were taking out adverts telling the Asians not to settle there, Webster (then Dean of Norwich) set aside a house in The Close in order to welcome refugee families - one of Webster's sayings was that The Close should be renamed 'The Open'.

Alan Brunskill Webster was born on 1 July 1918 in Wrenbury, Cheshire, son of the Rev J. Webster. He attended Shrewsbury School and studied Modern History at Queen's College, Oxford (BA, 1939 and MA, 1943). He subsequently entered the theological college Westcott House, Cambridge, where he came under the influence of the principal, B.K. Cunningham and Launcelot Fleming. He was awarded a BD in 1954 and an honorary DD by City University in 1983.

Webster was ordained deacon in 1942, serving his curacy in Sheffield parishes, and priest in 1943. He remained in Sheffield until 1946, where he was influenced by Bishop Leslie Hunter and Alan Ecclestone and their vision for the Church of England to be 'loved into new life so that it could be once again the moral and spiritual centre of the whole community' [Times obituary].

From 1946 to 1953, Webster was chaplain and vice principal of Westcott House, where his students included the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. In 1951, he married Margaret C.F. Falconer, who was working in the study department of the SCM. He was the first member of the Westcott staff to marry and have children. He introduced a more liberal approach to married students and their needs. He left Westcott in 1953, becoming vicar of Barnard Castle in the Diocese of Durham (the bishop at the time being Michael Ramsey). Runcie succeeded him as vice principal of Westcott.

In 1959 Webster became warden of Lincoln Theological College, where he initiated Anglican-Methodist dialogue, introduced women students and arranged for lectures by Roman Catholic theologians. From 1964 to 1970 he was a canon and prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral.

Norwich Cathedral

In 1970 he was appointed Dean of Norwich, initially working alongside Bishop Launcelot Fleming, but from 1971 with Bishop Maurice Wood, a conservative evangelical with whom Webster was sometimes at odds. Webster's vision for a cathedral community was to be an inclusive centre for city and diocesan life. While at Norwich he put into effect many of his social teachings, establishing a night shelter for the homeless, housing refugees from Idi Amin's Uganda in The Close and supporting clergy expelled from Apartheid-era South Africa. Webster also developed a personal devotion for Dame Julian of Norwich, one very much in keeping with his views on women's rights and on the necessity for the ordination of women.

In 1978 Webster became Dean of St Paul's Cathedral. His tenure there, until 1987, coincided with the height of the social campaigns by the liberal wing of the Church of England and the crisis of church/state relations brought about by opposition to policies of Mrs Thatcher's Conservative government. Webster

Runcie and Thatcher

was involved with anti-Apartheid campaigns, issues relating to social exclusion and the implementation of the Faith in the City report (published in 1986).  Perhaps the most direct point of conflict between church and state came with the service held at St Paul's to commemorate the end of the Falklands War at which Runcie (now Archbishop of Canterbury) preached a conciliatory sermon. Webster was adamant that this should not be a victory celebration and suggested several elements to emphasise this, including the recital of the Lord's Prayer in Spanish. One Conservative MP commented that 'it is wrong for cringing clergy to misuse St Paul's to throw doubt upon the sacrifices of our fighting men'.

Within the church itself, Webster had become a leading advocate of the ordination of women to the priesthood. In this, he worked closely with his wife, Margaret, who was executive secretary of the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) from 1979 to 1986. In 1982 Webster earned the rebuke of Graham Leonard, Bishop of London, for hosting a eucharist irregularly celebrated by Elizabeth Canham, an English woman ordained in the United States.

Webster was a member of the Crown Appointments Commission, the perceived liberal bias of which was a factor in the 'Crockford's Controversy', seen as severely damaging Robert Runcie's leadership. Webster's own view was that the presence of the Prime Minister's patronage secretary put more radical candidates at a disadvantage.

Webster's activities did little to endear him to a divided chapter at St Paul's. In 1984 an unsuccessful attempt was made to force his retirement. When Webster did retire, he was not appointed Dean Emeritus of St Paul's until after the tenure of Bishop Graham and his equally conservative successor, Bishop Hope.

In 1988 he was appointed KCVO by the Queen and retired to Norfolk. He died in Cley on 3 September 2007.

Independent obit, 5 Sep 2007 
Daily Telegraph obit, 6 Sep 2007
Guardian obit, 11 Sep 2007

Sassoon at Craiglockhart

Today is the anniversary of the death at the age of 80 of the soldier-poet Siegfried Sassoon in 1967.

Probably his most important piece of writing was the Soldier's Declaration, written in July 1917.

I am making this statement as an act of willful defiance of military authority because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that the war upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them and that had this been done the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.

I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops and I can no longer be a party to prolonging these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.

On behalf of those who are suffering now, I make this protest against the deception which is being practised upon them; also I believe it may help to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share and which they have not enough imagination to realise.

Sassoon faced court-martial, but Robert Graves intervened, giving the authorities the get-out of declaring the Sassoon was suffering mental illness.  He was accordingly sent to Craiglockhart Military Hospital, where he was treated and befriended by W H R Rivers and met Wilfred Owen, on whom he was to have a great influence.

The Craiglockhart War Hospital

Craiglockhart War Hospital for Officers was established in 1916 in the requisitioned Craiglockhart Hydropathic Institute, near Edinburgh.  It specialised in the treatment of neurasthenia ('shell shock').   Rivers  wanted his patients to talk about their experiences and face their fear and the horror of what had happened to them - the ‘talking cure'.  In doing this Rivers became a life-long friend and mentor to many of his patients (including Sassoon).  He conducted three sessions a week with Sassoon, in which he also tried to get him to return to the battle front. Rivers considered shell shock to be an illness and treated all of his patients as individuals who needed special care. He also had ethical concerns about his role - he felt that curing patients was problematic when they would be returned to the front line, where he believed they would be in danger of having another breakdown.

Rivers, Craiglockhart and the talking cure are at the core of Pat Barker's excellent Regeneration Trilogy - with Sassoon as a major character in the first novel and Owen's fatal return to France featuring in the last.

Rivers' back-story is fascinating.

Rivers at Craiglockhart

Born in 1864, William Halse Rivers Rivers was the son of a Church of England priest, who had a side-line in speech therapy (one of his patients was the Revd Charles Dodgson), his uncle was the founder of the Anthropological Society (later the Royal Anthropological Institute of GB and Ireland).  William had a stammer and lacked visual imagination, both of which were to inform his later works.  He had intended to attend the University of Cambridge to study classics, but the necessity of earning a living led him to medicine, which he studied at London University  He application to join the RAMC on graduation was rejected on health grounds, instead he decided to go to sea as a ship's surgeon (a popular route for medical graduates in the nineteenth century).  On graduating as a MD and becoming a FRCP, where he began specialising in neurology and psychology.  He worked at Barts, the National Hospital and Guy's before being appointed to a lectureship at Cambridge, where he became a Fellow of St John's.

In 1898 Rivers headed the Torres Straits Expedition.  Initially he studied colour-perception among the islanders in comparison to Europeans (sensory perception was a preoccupation of the Cambridge psychologists at that time), but his collection of islanders' genealogical  information for genetic purposes turned his mind to ethnological and anthropological questions.  Rivers was to pursue his anthropological enquiries with expeditions to Melanesia in 1907-08 and 1914-15.  After his time at Craiglockhart, Rivers was attached to the Royal Flying Corps.  In 1919 he returned to St John's, and died on 4 June 1922 after being taken suddenly ill.

His death prompted Sassoon to write  'To A Very Wise Man':

I

FIRES in the dark you build; tall quivering flames
In the huge midnight forest of the unknown.
Your soul is full of cities with dead names,
And blind-faced, earth-bound gods of bronze and stone
Whose priests and kings and lust-begotten lords
Watch the procession of their thundering hosts,
Or guard relentless fanes with flickering swords
And wizardry of ghosts.

II

In a strange house I woke; heard overhead
Hastily-thudding feet and a muffled scream...
(Is death like that?) ... I quaked uncomforted,
Striving to frame to-morrow in a dream
Of woods and sliding pools and cloudless day.
(You know how bees come into a twilight room
From dazzling afternoon, then sail away
Out of the curtained gloom.)

III

You understand my thoughts; though, when you think,
You’re out beyond the boundaries of my brain.
I’m but a bird at dawn that cries ‘chink, chink’—
A garden-bird that warbles in the rain.
And you’re the flying-man, the speck that steers
A careful course far down the verge of day,
Half-way across the world. Above the years
You soar ... Is death so bad? ... I wish you’d say.

The Rivers Centre at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital is a clinic, established in 1997, for the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  There are several charities aimed at helping veterans with PTSD; in the UK these include Combat Stress and Healing the Wounds.

Wilfred Owen

I've not left myself much room to talk about Wilfred Owen (a patient of Arthur Brock rather than Rivers).   Perhaps I shall do so come 4 November.  For the time being, here is one of his best poems, the draft of which Sassoon famously amended:-

Anthem For Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.

This Week's Interesting Obits

Neil Armstrong,  of course.  Use the label to see my entries and links to the obits.

Sydney Knowles (d. 31 Jul 2012), the diving partner of Cdr Lionel 'Buster' Crabb, whose disappearance in 1956 during a covert mission to examine a Russian warship carrying Nikita Khrushchev remains shrouded in mystery.

Daily Telegraph 28 Aug 2012

Jerry Nelson (d. 23 Aug 2012), muppeteer.

Daily Telegraph 27 Aug 2012
Independent 30 Aug 2012

Tony North (d. 7 Jun 2012), V&A arms and armour expert .

Daily Telegraph 27 August 2012

Ron Stephens, the last surviving crew-member of HMS Tarana, a vessel used during WWII for MI9 operations.
Guardian 28 August 2012









 

Professor Gerard Turner (d.19 Jul 2012), an authority on the history of the microscope and other scientific instruments.

Daily Telegraph 26 August 2012

And should we mention the man who, wanting to fake Bigfoot sightings, put on a camouflage suit and stood in the middle of the road?  Yes, I think we shall.   'He probably would not have been very easy to see at all,' said Trooper Jim Schneider of the Montana Highway Patrol.

One for the Darwin Awards, I'm sure.







Not yet obituarised, but 'the Welsh Rosa Parks' died recently.  If nothing turns up next week, I'll blog.