Roger Bacon: Franciscan monk, philosopher, scientist and scholar

Roger Bacon was a medieval philosopher and scientist.  He was a great proponent of the importance of experimental science.  He was the first European to write a detailed description of the process of making gunpowder.  He also speculated about flying machines and motorised ships and carriages. 

Roger Bacon was born c1214-1220, probably in Ilchester. His family was wealthy and he was educated in geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music.  He then studied, and probably also taught, arts at Oxford University.  He travelled to Paris sometime between 1236 and 1245.  He was a pioneer in teaching Aristotle's natural philosophy at the University of Paris.  He may have returned to Oxford c1247, where he met and was influenced by the philosopher and theologian Robert Grosseteste (who was the Bishop of Lincoln), the Welsh Franciscan Thomas Wallensis and the Franciscan scholar and theologian Adam Marsh (also known as Adam de Marisco).  Bacon may have returned to Paris in 1251.

In around 1257 Roger Bacon became a Franciscan monk, probably in England.  Soon after this he returned to Paris, where he stayed for about 10 years. Roger Bacon was an innovative thinker, who wasn't afraid to challenge current beliefs about science, philosophy and religion. He met Cardinal Guy Foulquois in Paris, who showed an interest in Bacon's ideas.  Foulquois became Pope Clement IV in 1264 and then demanded to see Bacon's written work. 

In 1266 Roger Bacon completed his Opus maius, which was divided into seven parts: the causes of human ignorance, the relation of the sciences to theology, grammar and the power of languages,  mathematics (including astronomy and astrology), optics, experimental science and moral philosophy.  The most famous passage in this work includes the sentence "without experiment, nothing can be sufficiently known". He sent his Opus maius to Pope Clement IV in Rome.  Bacon then worked on his Opus minus, which summarised and supplemented the Opus maius. This work was also dispatched to the Pope.  He then began writing his Opus tertium, which was his longest work. This was probably never sent to the Pope, who died in 1268.  There is no written record of Pope Clement IV's reaction to Bacon's ideas.

Roger Bacon probably returned to Oxford in around 1270.  He was annoyed by the increasing corruption of knowledge and was outspoken in his contempt for many of his contemporary intellectuals, including prominent Dominicans and Franciscans.  In about 1278 Girolamo da Ascoli, who was Master-General of the Franciscans, condemned Bacon's teachings and had him imprisoned. He was probably released in 1290 and he died c1292 in Oxford.

There is a brass memorial plaque to Roger Bacon in the Church of St Mary Major in Ilchester.  It says:

To the Immortal Memory of

Roger Bacon

A Franciscan Monk and also a free enquirer after

true knowledge.  His wonderful powers as

mathematician, mechanic, optician, astronomer, chemist,

linguist, moralist, physicist and physician gained 

him the title of "Doctor Miribilis"

He first made known the composition of

gunpowder, and his researches laid the

foundations of modern science.  He prophesied the 

making of machines to propel vessels through the water

without sails or oars; of chariots to

travel on land without horses or other draught 

animals; of flying machines to traverse the air.

He was imprisoned, starved and persecuted by

the suspicious ignorance of his contemporaries

but a fuller knowledge now acclaims and 

honours him as one of the greatest of mankind.

Born at Ilchester in 1214

Died at Oxford 1294

This tablet is erected to commemorate the Seventh Centenary

by a few admirers of his genius

AD 1914

Roger Bacon's memorial plaque in Church of St Mary Major, Ilchester 

General Charles Gordon of Khartoum

Charles George Gordon was born on 28th January 1833 in Woolwich.  His parents were Lieutenant-General Henry William Gordon and his wife Elizabeth (nee Enderby).  He attended Fullands School in South Road, Taunton c1843-1846.  During this time he lodged at a house in Upper High Street.

In around 1846 he attended a military school in Shooters Hill and in 1848 he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.  He was commissioned second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in June 1852.  In February 1854 he was promoted to lieutenant and was appointed assistant garrison engineer at Pembroke Dock. While at Pembroke he became a committed Christian.

Charles Gordon volunteered for service in the Crimean War in 1855. He took part in the attack on Redan and the siege of Sevastapol. He was a proficient map maker and in 1856-8, after the end of the Crimean War, he was involved in surveying and delineating the new boundaries between the Russian and Ottoman empires in modern-day Romania and later in Armenia.

In April 1859 Gordon was promoted to the rank of captain and was based at Chatham until June 1860 when he volunteered to fight the Chinese in the Arrow War (also known as the 2nd Opium War).  He remained in China until the end of 1864 and played a part in crushing the Taiping rebellion and in defending Shanghai.  He was given the nickname Chinese Gordon by the British press and public.  

Gordon returned to England in early 1865 and was Commander of the Royal Engineer at Gravesend in Kent. He was given the job of supervising the building of forts at the mouth of the River Thames.  In his spare time he helped local homeless boys and allowed some of them to live in his house.

In 1873 Ismāʿīl Pasha, the Khedive (Viceroy) of Egypt appointed Gordon to the post of Governor of the province of Equatoria in Sudan. From 1874-1876 he mapped the Upper Nile River, set up a line of stations along the river as far as what is now Uganda and suppressed the slave trade in Equatoria.  In 1877 he accepted the post of Governor General of Sudan.  He crushed rebellions and further reduced the slave trade. 

He returned to England in early 1880.  He then served in India, China, Mauritius and the Cape Colony until October 1882.  He spent most of 1883 studying antiquities in the Holy Land.

In 1884 Gordon was sent to Sudan by the British government to evacuate Egyptian troops from Khartoum.  They were under threat of attack by the Mahdists, who were followers of the Sudanese religious leader Muḥammad Aḥmad al-Mahdī.  Gordon arrived in Khartoum in February 1884.  He managed to evacuate 2,000 civilians and 600 soldiers before the Mahdists besieged Khartoum in March 1884.  On 26th January 1885, Mahdists broke into Khartoum and killed Gordon.  A few days later a relief force arrived.  Gordon was hailed as a martyr by the British press and acquired the name Gordon of Khartoum.  His body was never found.

Plaque on house in Upper High Street where Charles Gordon lodged while he was at school in Taunton

House in Upper High Street, Taunton where Charles Gordon lodged

Fullands House, South Road

The Tragic Death of Amos Cann of Exford

On the afternoon of 9th March 1891, 24 year old Amos Cann, who lived on at Greenland Farm in Exford with his father Richard Cann, travelled down to Porlock to deliver 2 horses to a purchaser.  When he arrived in Porlock it was snowing, but rather than stay the night in there he decided to walk back to Exford.  He set off from Porlock at around 7.30pm.  He never arrived home.  Once they realised he was missing, local people went out searching for him but his frozen body wasn't found until 26th March, in a snowdrift a mile or so from his home.  His overcoat was found a quarter of a mile from his body.  He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene's Church in Exford.  It wasn't known whether he died on 9th or 10th of March, so his tombstone just says he died in March 1891.  

The epitaph on Amos's headstone is as follows:

"You that are young, behold and see                                                                                            How quickly death has conquered me.                                                                                           Its fatal stroke it was too strong.                                                                                                     It cut me off while I was young:                                                                                                      The God above He knows for why                                                                                               That in my youth I was to die."

Amos Cann's gravestone in Exford Churchyard

John Biffen, MP and Government Minister

(William) John Biffen was born in Bridgwater on 3rd November 1930.  His father Victor William Biffen was the tenant farmer at Hill Farm, Otterhampton.  He was educated first at Combwich Village School and later at Dr Morgan's Grammar School in Bridgwater, where he became the head boy. He was awarded a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge University, where he studied history and graduated with a first class honours degree in 1953. He worked for Tube Investments Ltd from 1953-60 and the Economist Intelligence Unit 1960-61.

John Biffen developed an interest in politics at Cambridge University and he was chairman of the university Conservative Association.  He stood unsuccessfully for the parliamentary constituency of Coventry East at the 1959 general election.  In 1961 he won the by-election for the Oswestry constituency (renamed Shropshire North in 1983) and he held the seat until 1997.  He was a Eurosceptic and in 1971 he voted against the UK joining the European Economic Community. 

He served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (May 1979-January 1981), Secretary of State for Trade (January 1981-April 1982) and Leader of the House of Commons (April 1982-June 1987).  He made remarks that upset the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher and he was dropped from the Cabinet after the 1987 General Election and returned to the back benches.

John Biffen married Sarah Wood in 1979.  He was made a life peer in June 1997 and moved to the House of Lords.  His title was Baron Biffen of Tanat in the County of Shropshire. He died on 14th August 2007, aged 76.  He is commemorated in Combwich with a blue plaque on the wall of Otterhampton Village Hall.

Blue Plaque in Combwich

Hannah More, Writer and Philanthropist

Hannah More, writer and philanthropist, was born in Fishponds, Bristol on 2^nd February 1745.  Her father Joseph More was a schoolmaster and she had four sisters.   She was precocious and quick witted and her passion for learning was quickly recognised by her parents and older sisters, who all helped to educate her.  Joseph More ensured that all his daughters were educated, so that they would be able to earn a living for themselves by running a boarding school for girls.   He set up a school in Bristol for Hannah’s older sisters Mary and Elizabeth to run when Hannah was 12 years old and she attended the school.  By her late teens Hannah was teaching at the school.

Hannah started writing stories and poetry at an early age.  In 1762 her first significant work, a pastoral drama poem entitled The Search after Happiness, was published in Bristol.  In it she expressed her views on the education of women and their role in society.  It was republished in London in 1773 and had sold over 10,000 copies by the mid-1780s.

In 1767 William Turner of Belmont House at Wraxall proposed marriage to Hannah and she accepted.  However he was 20 years older than her and he postponed their wedding three times. In 1773 Hannah broke off their engagement and, after suffering a nervous breakdown as a result, resolved never to marry.  She turned down several subsequent marriage proposals. Feeling guilty William Turner persuaded her to accept an annuity of £200, which made her financially secure and independent.

In 1773 Hannah and her sisters Sarah and Martha visited London for the first time.  She was introduced to many notable people, including the artist Joshua Reynolds, the actor and playwright David Garrick and the writer Dr Samuel Johnson.  Her visits to London became annual events and on her second visit she was invited to join the Bluestocking circle, which was a group of intellectual women with literary interests. David Garrick put on Hannah’s first play The Inflexible Captive at the Theatre Royal in bath in April 1775.  Her second play Percy was performed in Covent Garden in London in 1777.  For various reasons Hannah became disillusioned with the literary world after 1779.

Hannah’s Christian faith became deeper in the 1780s and she became involved in the campaign to abolish slavery.  In 1784 she moved to a cottage at Cowslip Green near Wrington.  Hannah had many books and tracts published on a variety of moral issues.  She became friendly with anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce and he encouraged her and her sisters to set up schools to educate the children of poor people. 

Hannah and Martha’s first school was in Cheddar and it opened in 1789.  The children were taught to read and learned about the Bible and the Christian faith.  Hannah didn’t want them to be taught to write because she thought this would encourage them to be dissatisfied with their lowly situation.  The school was a success and so the sisters owned a second one in Shipham.  This was followed by another 10 in villages around the Mendips, including Blagdon, Yatton, Sandford, Congresbury, Banwell and Nailsea over the following decade. They also started evening classes for adults, weekday classes for girls to learn how to sew, knit, and spin, and a number of women's friendly societies, which emphasised the virtues of cleanliness, decency and Christian behaviour. 

In 1799 Hannah’s definitive two volume work on the subject of women’s education,         Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education was published. All five More sisters moved to a large house called Barley Wood on the north east edge of Wrington in 1801.

Hannah’s schools encountered opposition from local landowners and farmers who did not want their labourers to be educated.  She was also opposed by some local clergymen, who accused her of encouraging Methodism at Blagdon School in 1800.  Hannah defended herself well but closed Blagdon School in order to protect the reputation of her other schools.

Hannah suffered from ill health for the last 20 years of her life and one by one her beloved sisters died.  In 1828 her friends persuaded her to move to Clifton in Bristol, so they could look after her.  Hannah died on 7th September 1733 aged 88 in Clifton and was buried with her sisters in All Saints’ Churchyard in Wrington.

Bust of Hannah More in the porch of All Saints' Parish Church, Wrington 

Grave of Hannah More and her 4 sisters in the churchyard at Wrington

All Saints' Church, Wrington

Tithe Barn, Nailsea

This building housed Hannah More’s school for nearly 200 years from 1789

Hannah More’s name lives on today in three local street names – Hannah More Road in Nailsea and Hannah More Close in Wrington and in Cheddar.  There also still two schools named after her – Hannah More Primary School in St Philips, Bristol and Hannah More Infant School in Nailsea.

Hannah More Road, Nailsea

Hannah More Close, Wrington

Frederic Weatherley - Songwriter

Frederick Edward Weatherly, songwriter and barrister, was born at 7 Wood Hill (now 63 Woodhill Road) in Portishead on 4th October 1848.  He was educated at Hereford Cathedral School and Oxford University.  After graduating he remained at Oxford and worked as a teacher.  In December 1872 he married Anna Maria Hardwick in Worle and they had a son and two daughters.  They later separated and he lived with Maude Francfort for many years.  

At some point in his adult life Frederick dropped the k from the end of his name and became Frederic.  In 1887 he left teaching to qualify as a barrister in London. In 1893 he joined the western circuit and moved to Clifton, Bristol.  In 1900 he moved to Bath where he continued to work as a barrister. Frederic’s wife Anna died in 1920.  Maude Francfort died in 1923 and later the same year Frederic married a widow, Mrs Miriam Bryan.  He died in Bathwick on 7th September 1929 after a short illness and was buried at Bathwick Cemetery. 

Frederic Weatherly published his first song lyrics, poems, two novels, many children's books, and librettos for cantatas and oratorios while he was living in Oxford.  He went on to write the words to many of the most popular songs in the English-speaking world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  His songs were performed by the leading singers of the time.  He also translated several Italian and French operas into English.

Frederic Weatherly claimed to have published more than 1,500 songs in total. Dozens of them were extremely popular in his lifetime, and several of them, including Nancy Lee (1876), The Holy City (1892), Danny Boy (1912) set to the tune of 'Londonderry Air', and Roses of Picardy (1916) remained popular after his death.

63 Woodhill Road, Portishead

Commemorative plaque on the front of 63 Woodhill Road, Portishead

Weatherly Drive in Portishead is named after Frederic Weatherly

John Locke

 John Locke is regarded as possibly the most influential English language philosopher and political theorist. His works lie at the foundation of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism.  His ideas had an influence on the development of many important psychological concepts and provided inspiration for the European Age of Enlightenment and the Constitution of the United States.

John Locke was born in the village of Wrington on 29th August 1632 and baptised the same day in All Saints Church.  He probably spent his childhood in the hamlet of Belluton near Pensford. Locke attended Westminster School and Christ Church College, Oxford where he studied, among other things, medicine and later became a tutor at the University.  In 1666 he met Anthony Ashley-Cooper, later the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, who became his friend and patron. Locke became Shaftesbury’s aide and personal physician.  In 1675 Locke travelled to France for health reasons and because his personal safety was threatened, as Shaftesbury had lost favour with King Charles II.  He lived in France until 1679.  While he was there he studied the work of various French philosophers. 

After trying unsuccessfully to exclude the Catholic James II from becoming king after Charles II, Shaftesbury fled to exile in the Netherlands in 1682 where he died the following year.  Locke travelled to the Netherlands in 1683 and stayed there until after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when King James II was overthrown in favour of the Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary.  

When Locke returned to England in 1689 he made his home with the family of his close friend Damaris Masham at High Laver in Essex and lived there until his death on 28th October 1704.  He is buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church, High Laver.

John Locke’s major works were Letters concerning Toleration (1689, 1690 and 1692), Two Treatises of Government (1689), An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690); Some Thoughts concerning Education (1693) and The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695).

Bust of John Locke in the south porch of  All Saints Church, Wrington

Stone in Wrington Churchyard marking the site where the house in which John Locke was born, once stood.  It was demolished in the 19th century.

John Locke wrote his own obituary, which was originally located above his grave, but was later moved inside High Laver Church to preserve it.

Plaque at High Laver Church explaining why John Locke's obituary was moved

John Locke’s grave at All Saints Church, High Laver, Essex

Plaque above John Locke’s grave acknowledging his contribution to the Constitution of the United States of America

Bust of John Locke in the Temple of British Worthies at Stowe Gardens, Buckinghamshire

Guglielmo Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy. His father Giuseppe Marconi was Italian but his mother Annie Jameson came from County Wexford in Ireland.  As a boy he was very interested in physical and electrical science and in 1895 he succeeded in sending wireless signals over a distance of 1.5 miles on his father’s estate at Pontecchio near Bologna.

In 1896 Marconi brought his equipment to England because the Italian government was not interested in his work.  He was introduced to Sir William Preece, who was Chief Engineer at the Post Office.  In the same year he was granted the world’s first patent for a system of wireless telegraphy.  He demonstrated his system successfully in London and on Salisbury Plain.

On 13^th May 1897 Marconi and his assistant George Kemp successfully transmitted long wave wireless messages between Lavernock Point on the coast of South East Wales and Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel, a distance of 3 miles. These were the first ever wireless messages to travel over open water.  On 18^th May 1897 they succeeded in transmitting wireless messages from Lavernock Point across the Bristol Channel to Brean Down, a distance of nearly 9 miles.

In July 1897 Marconi formed the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company Limited This was re-named Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Limited in 1900. 

In 1899 Marconi established wireless communication between France and England across the English Channel. In December 1901, in order to prove that wireless waves are not affected by the curvature of the Earth, Marconi transmitted the first wireless signals across the Atlantic between Poldhu in Cornwall and St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada - a distance of 2100 miles.  In 1907 he opened the world’s first commercial transatlantic wireless telegraph service between Glace Bay in Nova Scotia and Clifden in County Galway, Ireland.

In 1909 Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with German physicist Ferdinand Braun, "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".  He served in the Italian Army during the First World War and during this time and afterwards he continued his experiments into short wave wireless communication. In 1923 he successfully conducted trials between Poldu in Cornwall and his yacht Elettra, which was cruising in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea over 1,400 miles away.  This began the development of shortwave wireless communication, which is the basis of most modern long-distance radio communication. In 1924 Marconi’s company obtained a contract from the Post Office to establish shortwave communication between England and the countries of the British Empire.

In the 1930s Marconi conducted experiments in Italy using microwaves and in 1935 he gave a practical demonstration in Italy of the principles of radar.  He died at his home in Rome on 20th July 1937 following a series of heart attacks.

Guglielmo Marconi’s achievements are commemorated by numerous monuments and plaques in various locations around the UK where he lived, worked and conducted experiments.  He has at least 26 roads named after him in Great Britain, including ones in Weston-super-Mare, Portishead, Highbridge and Penarth.

Further Reading:

Marconi: A Biography: W.P. Jolly.  Constable, 1972

My Father, Marconi: Degna Marconi.  Frederick Muller, 1962

Marconi Road, Portishead

Plaque in the Italian Gardens, Weston-super-Mare 

It commemorates Marconi’s achievements in the area in 1897.

Brean Down

Monument on Flat Holm commemorating Marconi's visit in 1897

Edith Cavell

Edith Louisa Cavell was born on December 4th 1865 in the village of Swardeston in Norfolk, where her father Frederick was the vicar for 45 years. After being educated at home for several years, Edith boarded at Belgrave House School in Elton Road, Clevedon from 1883-84. She then attended schools in London and Peterborough. In 1889 she became governess to a family in Brussels and she remained in this post for six years. She returned to England in 1895 to nurse her seriously ill father and she then decided to train as a nurse. She trained at the Royal London Hospital and then worked at various hospitals in London and Manchester.

In 1907 Edith was appointed as director of a new nurses’ training school in Brussels, which had just been set up by Dr Antoine De Page. She successfully persuaded potential recruits and members of her committee that nursing was a respectable profession and one which required professional training.

After the German occupation of Belgium in late 1914, Edith became involved in an underground group formed to help British, French, and Belgian soldiers reach the Netherlands, which was a neutral country. The soldiers were sheltered at the Berkendael Institute, which had become a Red Cross hospital.  They were provided with money and guides by a Belgian called Philippe Baucq.  About 200 men had been helped before Edith and several others were arrested by the Germans on 5th August 1915.

The group of nine people was brought before a court martial on October 7th, 1915, accused of assisting the enemy and of trying to damage the German war effort. Edith Cavell made a full confession and was sentenced to death on October 9th, along with four others. The remaining four were sentenced to hard labour.  Edith Cavell and Philippe Baucq were executed by a firing squad on October 12th 1915 in Brussels, despite the efforts of the American and Spanish ministers to secure a reprieve. Edith’s execution on a charge, which did not include espionage, was considered outrageous and was widely publicised by the Allies.

After the war there was a funeral service for Edith Cavell at Westminster Abbey and on 15th May 1919 her body was reburied on the outside of the south east corner of Norwich Cathedral.  She is commemorated on the Swardeston village sign and by a statue in St Martin’s Place in London. There are busts of her at the London Hospital Museum; in Brussels; Melbourne in Australia and Norwich.  She also has many streets in the UK and across the world named after her and a bar in Tombland, Norwich There is a blue plaque on 1 Elton Road, Clevedon, commemorating the time she spent at school in Clevedon.

There is another Somerset connection to Edith Cavell - Sister Elizabeth Bastable Wilkins worked with her at the Red Cross Hospital in Brussels.  On one occasion the Germans raided the hospital looking for British soldiers.  Sister Wilkins warned the ward nurse and 4 British soldiers were hidden away, while Sister Wilkins hid their documents.  She was arrested, but released after 3 hours.  On 5th August 1915 she was arrested again, at the same time as Edith Cavell.  However, she was released.  She visited Edith Cavell while she was in prison and looked after her dog.  Elizabeth Wilkins later became Matron of Chard Hospital, a position she held for over 30 years.  

Further Reading:

Edith Cavell: Faith before the Firing Squad: Catherine Butcher.  Monarch Books, 2015

Edith Cavell: Nurse, Martyr, Heroine: Diana Souhami.  Quercus Publishing, 2015

Blue plaque outside 1 Elton Road, Clevedon

1 Elton Road, Clevedon

Edith Cavell's memorial outside Norwich Cathedral

Bust of Edith Cavell, Norwich

Cavell’s Bar with a stained glass window of Edith, Tombland, Norwich

Edith Cavell's grave, Norwich Cathedral

Plaque adjacent to Edith Cavell's grave, Norwich Cathedral

Swardeston war memorial

Edith Cavell's name is at the top.

Edith Cavell on the Swardeston village sign

Edith Cavell stained glass window in St Mary's Church, Swardeston

Portrait of Edith Cavell in St Mary's Church, Swardeston

Iron silhouette of Edith Cavell close to Norwich Railway Station

V - Blast

14 paintings of the Passion of Edith Cavell by Brian Whelan were commissioned by Norwich Cathedral in 2015. 

IX - Trust

Walter Bagehot of Langport

Walter Bagehot was born in Langport on 3rd February 1826.  He became an economist and political analyst and he was one of the most influential journalists in the mid-Victorian period. His parents were Thomas Watson Bagehot and Edith Stuckey.  Several generations of Walter's father's family had been general merchants and his mother's uncle, Vincent Stuckey, was in charge of the largest bank in the West of England.

He attended Langport Grammar School and at the age of 13 he was sent to Bristol College.  There he learnt about mathematics, philosophy, literature, natural sciences and the classics. He then attended University College London.  While there he made several long-term friends, including the poet Arthur Hugh Clough, Richard Holt Hutton (who later became the editor of The Spectator), lawyer and diarist Henry Crabb Robinson and the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  He graduated with first class honours in 1846 and was awarded a masters degree in 1848, along with the university's gold medal in moral and intellectual philosophy.

Walter then studied law for 3 years but didn't like it.  He was in Paris in 1851 at the time of Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat and wrote a supportive article about it.  This convinced him that he could write and he produced many literary essays, studies of leading political figures and articles about economics while working for Stuckey's Bank.  These were noticed by James Wilson, who was an MP, financial secretary to the treasury in Lord Palmerston and founder of The Economist magazine.  He got to know James Wilson's eldest daughter Eliza and he married her in April 1858.  After their marriage they lived near Clevedon and later in London.  They had no children.

By 1860 Walter was manager of the Bristol branch of Stuckey's Bank.  During this year James Wilson died in India and Walter gained control of The Economist. For the next 17 years he wrote the main article every week for the magazine and transformed it into one of the world's most important financial and political publications.

Walter Bagehot described himself as a conservative liberal.  He believed that rapid urbanisation and industrialisation were creating social problems in Britain.  He also took a great interest in international affairs.  In 1867 he published a book entitled The English Constitution.  In it he examined how the British government really operated and in whose hands true power was held.  He was one of the first people to observe the power of the Cabinet.  He was friends with both the Liberal William Ewart Gladstone and the Conservative Lord Carnarvon.  He tried unsuccessfully to get elected as an MP for Manchester, Bridgwater and London University (he was a poor public speaker).

In 1873 Walter Bagehot published Lombard Street. This publication argued for a larger central reserve to be controlled by the Bank of England.  However, it also contained the beginnings of the modern theory of central banking and exchange control.

Walter Bagehot's health began to worsen in the 1870s.  He suffered from recurrent respiratory infections and migraines and his vision and heart began to fail.  On 24th March 1877 he died of a lung infection while visiting his father at Herd's Hill near Curry Rivel.  He was buried in the family grave at All Saints' Church in Langport.

Bank House, Cheapside where Walter Bagehot was born

Plaque commemorating Walter Bagehot above the front door of Bank House

The Walter Bagehot Memorial Window, 

All Saints' Church, Langport

This window was commissioned by Walter's widow, Eliza.  It was designed by Hugh Arthur Kennedy and was installed in late 1877.  The inscription at the bottom is "In honor of God & loving memory of Walter son of Thomas Watson & Edith Bagehot of Herds Hill.  He died March XXIV MDCCCLXXVII aged LI. Erected by his wife Eliza Bagehot."

Walter Bagehot's grave in the churchyard of All Saints' Church, Langport

Walter Bagehot's gravestone

Bow Wharf Warehouse, Langport

This was built by the Parrett Navigation Company, which was owned by Vincent Stuckey and Walter Bagehot

Poets' Walk, Clevedon

The town of Clevedon has connections to two of England’s best known poets. Poets’ Walk is a popular footpath which runs along the coast and around Wain’s Hill and Church Hill at the southern end of Clevedon.  The walk is said to have inspired poets such as Alfred Tennyson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Makepeace Thackeray, who visited the town.  The formal path which exists today was constructed in 1929. Poets’ Walk was designated as a Local Nature Reserve in 1993.

Poets' Walk signpost

Poets' Walk

Poets' Walk

Poets' Walk

The Sugar Lookout is a feature on Poets’ Walk. It was built by Ferdinand Beeston in around 1835.  It is said to have been used in the mid-19^th century by a family of sugar importers called Finzel to look out for ships sailing up the Bristol Channel, which were carrying sugar from the West Indies.  It later fell into ruin but has recently been restored.

Sugar Lookout overlooking the Bristol Channel

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his wife Sarah spent the first few months of their married life in a cottage on Old Church Road in Clevedon in 1795.

Coleridge Cottage, Old Church Road, Clevedon

In the mid-18^th century the author William Makepeace Thackeray was a frequent visitor of the Elton Family, who lived at Clevedon Court.  He is best known as a novelist but he did also write some poetry.

Alfred Tennyson had a close friend at Cambridge University called Arthur Hallam.  Arthur’s mother was a member of the Elton family of Clevedon Court.  Arthur, who was a poet and essayist, was engaged to marry Tennyson’s sister Emily but he died suddenly in Vienna in 1833 at the age of 22.  His body was brought back to England and he was buried in the family vault at St Andrew’s Church in Clevedon.  In 1850 Tennyson wrote a poem called In Memorium in tribute to his friend.  In the same year he made his first visit to Clevedon.  The house on Old Church Road in Clevedon, where he is said to have stayed, is called Tennyson House.   A nearby road is called Tennyson Avenue.

Tennyson House, Old Church Road

Tennyson Avenue, Clevedon

St Andrew's Church, Clevedon