Newsletter Spring 2016 Autumn 2016 1
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Boldre Parish Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2016 - Autumn 2016 Volume 2 - Issue 4 History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided. Konrad Adenauer Konrad Adenauer served as the first post war Chancellor of West Germany from 1949 - 1963 In this Issue Welcome from your Chairman Dr James Horsfall Welcome from your Chairman P1 I am very pleased to report that our membership total is now AGM November 2016 P1 108. This helps to explain why we are getting such good Forthcoming Events P1 turnouts at our meetings despite other local meetings taking Events Review P2 to P5 place at the same time! Any ideas for future talks are very nd welcome. My thanks, as ever, to all committee members and 2 World War Correspondence P6 especially James Puttick for producing the newsletter more or Snippets P7 less by himself. Alison Bolton has offered to organise some Parish Walks P7 local walks in the summer to view local history - see page 7 AGM 20 November 2015 P7 for details. The 7th Exhibition P8 Society Officials P8 It is acknowledged for a business to succeed it must always be looking to the future to ensure it makes improvements to its services or products. To stand still can lead to contraction and Forthcoming Events eventually closure. This is also true of societies and our historical society is no exception. On Wednesday 6 April this at The Boldre War Memorial Hall year we have an open meeting, which I hope many of you will at 7.00pm attend. The meeting will give you the opportunity to ask questions about your society and Boldre parish. I would Wednesday 23 March 2016 therefore ask you, prior to the meeting, to think about your Talk by Philip Unwin society and what you would like to see it achieve in the coming years. You may like to consider how to attract more younger The SS Great Britain in Bristol members to join us, or you may like to know how to research The Concorde of the Day your family history. A very ambitious goal would be for the society to purchase or lease suitable premises in the parish, Wednesday 6 April 2016 which could form a meeting room and a research/reading Open Meeting room with storage facilities. John F Kennedy's famous quote is quite appropriate when you are deliberating about the society Where you can ask anything concerning the history and I paraphrase "ask not what your society can do for you; of the parish of Boldre. Discussion, questions and ask what you can do for your society". maybe answers. The Annual General Meeting November 2016 This year's AGM will be held on Friday 4 November 2016 at the Boldre War Memorial Hall at 7.00pm. After the meeting Brian Goodall will talk on the History of the Lymington Rowing Club - a date for your diary. Boldre Parish Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2016 - Autumn 2016 Page 2 Events Review Once again our Chairman has excelled himself by arranging a series of excellent talks which, as he confirmed in his Welcome Notes, have been very well attended. As the years pass by it becomes more difficult to find speakers who can tell us about aspects of our local history, which we have not heard about before. This is why our last talk in March is about the SS Great Britain and why our Chairman will welcome any ideas for future talks. On Friday 20 November 2015, after our AGM, we had two lectures for the price of one. Two of our members, John Cockram and Richard Williams, spoke about The New Forest and the Great War in 1915 and the beginning of 1916. A summary of the talk follows along with a summary of the first two talks of 2016. 1 The Sadness of War ………. John commenced his part of the talk by telling us about the casualty breakdown, commencing with the 31 local men who died from natural or accidental causes. This figure was swollen by the seven Hampshire Territorials who died in India, mainly from heatstroke, dysentery or enteric fever. He then moved on to talk about the 12 men who died at sea - including George Pilkington from Boldre who was lost with his submarine C31 off the Dutch coast. However, the main part of his lecture concerned the Western Front in 1915, which accounted for the deaths of 80 local men. Sir Edward Hulse from Breamore, seen right, who had taken part in the Christmas Truce in 1914, was killed at Neuve Chapelle in March. This was the first British offensive of the war and initially was very successful. The main cause of loss was the Second Battle of Ypres during April and May 1915, which cost 37 local lives including Bert Kingswell of Pilley. Alan Hargreaves of Lyndhurst, seen left, died at the battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915. Another ten local men were killed in the Battle of Loos in September 1915 including Bob Pearce and Clive Worthington of Boldre. Richard then told us about the naval aspect of the Gallipoli Campaign and followed by explaining how the landings at Helles and ANZAC Cove, on the 25 April 1915 were conducted. Two local men from Hythe - Captain E Unwin VC RN and Lieutenant Colonel Doughty VC, seen below right, both won their VC’s at this time. Later in the year the August landings and battles cost the lives of 56 New Forest men, including nine men who were drowned when the Transport ROYAL EDWARD was torpedoed bringing reinforcements to the campaign. In all, local villages suffered the loss of 84 men in the campaign before the peninsula was successfully evacuated on 8 January 1916. Minor operations in Salonica, West Africa and Mesopotamia cost the lives of six more local men. 2 A Monumental Project ………. The first talk of our Spring 2016 Autumn 2016 season was given by Donald Mackenzie. His subject was the awakening memories of a forgotten New Forest naval hero and the Burrard Neale Monument Anniversary Restoration Project. As always our meeting was well attended and for those of you who could not attend you missed a highly entertaining talk. Don is able to entertain and inform his audience with his highly articulate, serious and at times humorous delivery. Don was representing The Lymington Society who are leading the project on behalf of the Lymington and Pennington Town Council supported by the Hampshire Garden Trust. Other local organisations including the New Forest District Council and the New Forest National Park Authority are involved in the Burrard Neale 250 restoration project. Boldre Parish Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2016 - Autumn 2016 Page 3 Events Review continued ………. 2 A Monumental Project continued ………. Last year was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Sir Harry Burrard Neale, our Forgotten naval hero. Who is Sir Harry? He is certainly the most celebrated and illustrious person to have come from Lymington and his monument stands proudly in our parish. He was born Harry Burrard on 16 September 1765 and in 1795 he adopted the additional name of Neale when he married Grace, the daughter of Robert Neale of Shaw House, Wiltshire. His father was William Burrard, the governor of Yarmouth Castle on the Isle of Wight, where he may have been born. He was also the nephew of Sir Harry Burrard, 1st Baronet of Walhampton, whom he succeeded in 1791. Following his education at Christchurch Grammar School he joined the Royal Navy in 1778 rising through the ranks to finally being promoted to that of Admiral 1810. During his time in the Royal Navy he distinguished himself in 1797 by quelling the Mutiny at the Nore, an anchorage in the Thames Estuary, which also found him Royal favour. He helped to sink 20 enemy ships and was one of the Lords of the Admiralty between 1804 and 1807. You would have thought his naval career would have kept him fully occupied - but no - he was a Member of Parliament for Lymington on four occasions between 1790 and 1835 and also Mayor of Lymington on many occasions. He was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1815 and advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1822. He became Commander in Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in 1823, which led to his appointment of the Order of St Michael and St George the following year. He died without issue in 1840 and was succeeded by his brother George and was buried in Lymington Church. He was obviously widely respected in Lymington and beyond and a magnificent obelisk was erected in his memory by public subscription. The monument has been known as the Walhampton Monument for many years, which is one reason the Burrard Neale 250 project aims to revive awareness and appreciation of our forgotten New Forest naval hero. The other three aims are to restore the Walhampton site and monument to their former glory, maintain the attraction of the Walhampton site and to celebrate Sir Harry's 250th anniversary. The restoration of the site would also upgrade the Solent Way that runs through the site and leave a legacy to ensure the site is looked after and Sir Harry is remembered. (There is an interesting Snippet provided by Margaret Orman on page 7, which is appropriate to this section. Ed.) To achieve these objectives there has been a phased approach commencing with arranging publicity to awaken interest in Sir Harry and his monument, followed by raising funds for the landscaping of the site and improving the Solent Way.