Loyalist Trails Newsletter 2020-46 (November 22, 2020)

In this issue:

  • Remembrance Day – Unmarked Graves
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Loyalist Survivors: P 1of2; Stephen Davidson UE
  • Maugerville NB family wants ancestors’ headstones back
  • JAR: Lord Dartmouth’s War of Words, 1775
  • JAR: The Feint That Never Happened: Unheralded Turning Point of the Philadelphia Campaign
  • Burton Williams, Son of Henry, Grandson of Samuel
  • Eleanor Coade: A Little Remembered Georgian Businesswoman
  • The Trade (and Art) of Making 18thc. Trim
  • Princess Elizabeth Weds on 20th November 1947
  • Book: The Loyalists of Massachusetts and The Other Side of the American Revolution
  • Additions to the Loyalist Directory
  • Where in the World is The Queen?
  • From the Twittersphere and Beyond

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Remembrance Day – Unmarked Graves
The Legion (Last Post Fund) will do a presentation for us at Monday 7 December at noon EST. Details will be in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
The link below will give you further information about the project which includes those who served since Confederation – https://www.lastpostfund.ca/EN/UGP.php

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Loyalist Survivors: Part One of Two
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
The trauma of war leaves deep psychological scars as well as the more visible physical wounds. What was known as “shell shock” in World War I became known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the latter part of the 20th century. Rather than being a sign of a weak character or a lack of moral fibre, the condition is now understood to occur after any terrifying event — not just the violence of war. Both men and women with PTSD suffer from flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
Loyalist soldiers and civilians often experienced extreme violence at the hands of Patriot combatants and neighbours: public humiliation, tarring and feathering, witnessing the death of relatives and the destruction of property, riding astride a rail, and imprisonment. In the case of William Schermerhorn, the revolution left him in severe psychological distress, but his widow had neither “shell shock” nor “PTSD” as terms to describe her husband’s state of mind.
On September 28, 1787, Elizabeth Schermerhorn stood before the loyalist compensation board during one of its sessions in Montreal. Her husband had died the year before after living with post-traumatic stress disorder for three years. Nevertheless, his widow hoped that the family might be compensated for their wartime losses in Albany County, New York. As always, the family’s best hope was to outline the meritorious service of the deceased soldier. With the aid of John Boice, Simon Clark, Henry Dellenbeck, Sir John Johnson and the Rev. Mr. Stewart as character witnesses, Elizabeth presented the case for her husband, a man she described as “almost out of his mind from his distresses”.
William Schermerhorn once owned three farms in Hilberg, New York before the outbreak of the revolution. As early as March 1777, William demonstrated his loyalty by administering an oath of allegiance to King George III to over 100 New Yorkers, and also secured their agreement to take up arms. In retaliation, his farms were plundered and destroyed by local Patriots who confiscated the family’s 17 cattle, 13 sheep, hogs, grain, furniture and utensils. The rebels allowed Elizabeth and her 5 children to live on one of the farms until near the end of the war. They finally drove her off in the fall of 1783. The Schermerhorn family was reunited in St. John’s (Quebec) that October.
While Elizabeth and the children endured not knowing William’s whereabouts between 1777 and 1783, Schermerhorn suffered even more trying experiences. As a captain with Burgoyne’s British forces, Schermerhorn was tasked with carrying dispatches from Burgoyne to General Clinton in New York City. At some point in time, he fell sick and was taken prisoner after Burgoyne’s defeat at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. One witness testified that Schermerhorn was “confined a long time in gaol and suffered much”.
A letter written by John Adams, then commissioner of prisoners for New York, mentioned Schermerhorn in his October 21, 1778 letter to the state’s governor. The future president of the United States wrote about prisoners who had been offered parole. Before being released, Schermerhorn and four other officers had to indicate their rank and regiment and pay any debts they had incurred during their imprisonment. Schermerhorn described himself as a captain in Colonel Jessup’s Corps of the Loyal Americans.
After being incarcerated for 12 months, Schermerhorn sought sanctuary in Canada, but it is uncertain as to whether he did so upon his release (or after having escaped) from the Patriot’s prison. He tried to raise a company of men for the British, pledging the entire value of his estate to underwrite the venture. He managed to get the company to Canada where the men joined Butler’s Rangers. He was promised a commission for his services, but never received it. Later, in May of 1780, 60 men requested that Schermerhorn be made their officer. Again, this was unsuccessful.
The combined trauma of losing his property, his lengthy separation from his family, his suffering in a rebel jail for a year, and the denial of a company of his own wore heavily on Schermerhorn. “Almost out of his mind” when he was reunited with his family, the Loyalist veteran only lived for three more years. Today he would no doubt have been diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Schermerhorn was not alone. A month after his widow appeared before Montreal’s compensation board, Catherine Cryderman testified on behalf of her family. Her husband, Valentine Cryderman, was too old to serve as soldier for the king. Rebels imprisoned him in 1776, leading to him losing his senses. After his release, he was confined to his bed, eventually dying in 1780. James Morden, a witness on the Cryderman family’s behalf, said that Valentine had “suffered much from imprisonment”. He felt that this led to “an illness that proved fatal” to Cryderman. Morden may well have been describing the impact brought on by the trauma of Valentine being isolated from his family.
Isaac Williams had no widow to speak on his behalf when the compensation board convened in Halifax, but a “representation” was made by “several respectable persons of {the} claimant’s illness, amounting to a temporary insanity after his arrival” in Nova Scotia. In addition to losing propery, a slave, and a great deal of livestock, Williams was also separated from his only son who had remained in Westchester, New York. Presumably the Loyalist had lost his wife and any other family members during the revolution.
Williams had served as a guide to General Tryon, but by the time he sought sanctuary in Halifax at the end of the war, he “was out of head, melancholy, and would do nothing”. Isaac Wilkins, an associate of Williams, thought that the only chance for his recovery from his deep depression would be to find refuge with friends headed for Nova Scotia. Despite their watchfulness, Williams managed to jump overboard during the journey from New York City. Fortunately, his friends rescued him.
All of Williams’ symptoms are typical of PTSD. He had negative thoughts, felt hopeless about the future, felt detached from family and friends, and engaged in self destructive behaviour. Although the syndrome was unknown in the late 18th century, at least Williams’ friends had the wisdom to stay close to him, sensing his need to be surrounded by a supportive group.
Next week’s Loyalist Trails will conclude this look at those who seem to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the violence of the American Revolution.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Maugerville NB family wants ancestors’ headstones back
… after finding them in an unlikely place
Lloyd Dutcher has spent years trying to have headstones returned to his family’s cemetery
As a child, Lloyd Dutcher spent his time exploring the fields and forests of Maugerville that included the small cemetery where his ancestors were buried.
The cemetery is considerably overgrown now. But buried under the unkempt brush are the sprawling 200-year-old branches of the Dutcher family tree.
“Elijah Miles was buried there in 1802,” said Dutcher, going through a mental list of family interred there. “My grandfather, Nathan Day, he was a sheriff in Sunbury County.”
He’s able to pinpoint John Dutcher as the first ancestor in the area bearing his last name, buried in the family cemetery after drowning in the St. John River in 1805.
The farm property the cemetery sits on has changed hands a few times in the decades since Dutcher played there as a child and the plot has fallen into disrepair. Dutcher now lives about 10 kilometres away. Read more…

JAR: Lord Dartmouth’s War of Words, 1775
by Greg Aaron November 17, 2020
It was late 1775, and William Legge, the 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, was looking out the window of his office in Whitehall, London, thinking of his enemies on both sides of the Atlantic. His letters were partly responsible for the outbreak of open warfare in America. Now a sarcastic poem in a London newspaper was serving as the writing on the wall, mocking his failure to quell the rebellion in the colonies. The words flying back and forth were having deadly consequences, for solders and for careers alike.
Lord Dartmouth had assumed the title Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1772.This cabinet position had been created in 1768 to deal with the increasingly restive North American colonies, and Dartmouth took up the role under his stepbrother, Prime Minister Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford. Faced with mounting problems in the colonies, Dartmouth had at first adopted a policy of conciliation, hoping that tensions would abate. But the Boston Tea Party of December 1773 and other protests had made that policy impossible. Dartmouth sought to reimpose strict British control by supporting the Intolerable Acts of 1774, which led to more unrest. As the situation worsened, Dartmouth still hoped for peace, but prepared for war. While he worked on a secret, last-ditch reconciliation plan with Benjamin Franklin,[1] Dartmouth put contingencies in place, including a covert plan to recruit Loyalists in New York and North Carolina. Read more…

JAR: The Feint That Never Happened: Unheralded Turning Point of the Philadelphia Campaign
by Gary Ecelbarger 19 November 2020
By noon on Saturday, September 20, 1777, Gen. William Howe watched his window of opportunity to cross the shallowing upper fords of the Philadelphia sector of the Schuylkill River slam shut upon his 14,000-man army. Gen. George Washington and 9,000 Continentals and militia blocked the seven closest river crossings to Howe’s forces which had been encamped along the Swede’s Ford Road at Tredyffrin on the opposite side waiting for the water levels to drop for safe passage of supply wagons and artillery. Meanwhile, 1,500 Continentals and an equal number of Maryland militia sandwiched Howe’s army from the southwest. At stake for Howe was the road to Philadelphia, a sixteen to twenty-two mile southerly avenue depending on where he crossed the Schuylkill. Equally important was to regain an unobstructed supply line to adequately feed, clothe and arm his substantial force.
Washington had clearly checked his opponent. Although suffering more than 2,000 losses in ten days from Brandywine battle casualties, skirmish losses, illness, and desertion, Washington now had the opportunity to create a rare moment of desperation upon his adversary which could lead to a costly decision. Merely thirty hours and thirty miles earlier, His Excellency had departed Reading Furnace with the bulk of his army and crossed the chest-high waters of Parker’s Ford, twenty-two twisting miles upriver from Swede’s, and proceeded to march them well past midnight and rested them only two hours before moving on—not to Swede’s Ford which was already defended by Pennsylvania militia and Continental artillery—but to Fatland Ford five miles west from Swede’s where his intelligence system had notified him that Howe would cross his army. Read more…

Burton Williams, Son of Henry, Grandson of Samuel
By Phil Eschbach
(This follows last week’s “Henry Williams, Son of Samuel“)
Burton, Henry’s oldest son, and patriarch Samuel’s oldest grandson was born around 1762 probably in North Carolina. He moved from Florida with his father to the Bahamas in 1787 and remained in the British colonies the rest of his life, moving between his various plantations in the Bahamas and Trinidad.
By 1788, in the Bahamas, Burton, his father, brothers and uncle William acquired plantations on Watlings Island, Cat Island, Nassau and Eleuthera. His first grant was for 40 acres, called Run the Risk at the north tip of Watlings Island, now known as San Salvador Island. San Salvador is supposedly where Christopher Columbus first sighted land in the new world in 1492. His brothers, uncle, and father also obtained grants of 560 acres together. Burton’s brother Samuel, and his uncle William, moved back to Florida in 1803, leaving their properties with Burton.
In 1797, Burton married Jane Hartley. They had six sons, Henry Paxton, Richard Burton, William Augustus, Samuel Hartley, Burton Frederick and Edward Eyre. They were all sent to England for their education. Most remained in or returned to England, except William, and Samuel, who died in Trinidad in 1839.
Burton was an intrepid planter, struggling through hurricanes and poor land to become one of the wealthiest landowners in the out islands. In 1804, he bought another thousand-acre tract of land for £740 and formed a plantation called Fortune Hill, raising cattle and sheep as well as crops. He also had many holdings on Eleuthera and in Nassau where he served in the of Assembly, representing Eleuthera in 1808. Eventually he possessed nearly 13,000 acres among the islands.
On March 1, 1814, he set sail on his schooner Jason but was captured by an American privateer and made prisoner since he was a British citizen and therefore an enemy of America, this occurring during the War of 1812 with Britain. His boat was burned, and he was seized, along with a half dozen enslaved people and his favorite stud horse, which was brutally slaughtered in front of him. He was taken to Philadelphia, then to Charleston and Savannah where he was put on a prison ship to Jamaica. On April 10, he was listed as missing in the local paper, but amazingly he resurfaced in Nassau on September 2, arriving on a packet boat from Jamaica.
By 1820, he was struggling on his plantations because of unproductive soil. He looked around for other options, finding a grant in Trinidad, noting that the soil there was the best he had ever seen. Around 1821, Burton moved some 330 of his nearly 450 slaves there to his new plantations called Williamsville, Picton, and Cuper Grange, where his wife Jane died in 1822. The governor, Lord Ralph Woodford, welcomed Burton, waiving his tax for the opportunity to have such an experienced planter settle there.
Burton consented, at great cost, to moving various enslaved groups between the islands if they wished to be with their families. In 1834, after all slaves were freed, he returned to Watlings Island with his few remaining servants.
Britain freed all the enslaved in all its colonies by 1833, impoverishing many plantation owners, even though they were somewhat compensated by the government. Burton received £851 for the loss of his slaves. But most plantation owners were heavily mortgaged for the purchase of slaves. By the new British law, slaves in all colonies were technically free in 1833, but there was to be period of a few years when they were to be apprenticed to their former masters to learn a trade or how to farm, before complete freedom; but this system soon fell apart when the former slaves realized they had the freedom to move around without restriction. Only about 80 of Burton’s several hundred slaves chose to be apprenticed, the rest leaving for what they hoped would be a better life. Many descendants of Williams’ enslaved remain today in the Bahamas Islands.
Apparently, the last surviving of the original loyalists who left the colonies for the Bahamas, Burton Williams, died in 1852, age 83, outliving all his siblings and children except his youngest son, Edward Eyre. He died in abject poverty, with his last remaining servant burying him in his own pre-dug grave on Watlings Island. It is said that, compared to many slave holders, Burton was one of the gentler masters to his several hundred slaves, “providing for them with care and indulgence.”
Burton and Jane’s first son was Henry Paxton Williams, born in 1798, probably in the Bahamas. He died in England in 1839 and was buried at St. Luke’s Chelsea in Middlesex. In 1827, he was listed as a Captain in the 2nd West Indies Regiment of Foot and stationed at Nassau in the Bahamas. He was married to Ramona Gauxardo and had four children. While in the Bahamas, he acquired a few properties and formed a law partnership with William Kerr, probably another loyalist immigrant to the Bahamas and friend from his past. Kerr was married to Burton’s aunt Elizabeth, his father’s sister. The partnership was dissolved in 1821.
Their next son, Richard Burton Williams, was born in the Bahamas in 1800, and died in Kensington, London in 1852. After his father established plantations in Trinidad, he gave Richard one called Savanna Grande. But in 1830 he lost it due to illness. He was apparently insane, registered as a patient in the Kensington House Lunatic Asylum in 1832. He also appeared in the 1841 English census as a patient there, his occupation listed as planter. His estate was awarded to his brother Edward Eyre in 1836.
Samuel Hartley Williams, Burton’s third son, was born about 1802, probably in the Bahamas, and died in Trinidad in 1839, his will being probated in June of that year. He died within a few months of his brother, Henry Paxton. Burton’s fourth son, William Augustus Williams, born in 1802, married Eliza Gloster, daughter of the chief justice of the British colony of Dominica in the Caribbean. Their marriage took place in the Parliament House in Nassau. The fifth son, Burton Frederick Williams, was born in 1806. He is listed in the slave registers of 1813-34 as in possession of slaves belonging to him as of 1825 in the Bahamas.
Burton’s youngest son, Sir Edward Eyre Williams, was born in 1813, perhaps in London, as he was baptized there in 1813, at St. George the Martyr church. He married Jessie Gibbon (1814-1903) of Lonmay, Scotland. He migrated to Australia where he became a Supreme Court Justice. While in Australia, he had four children, one son Edward Eyre Jr. also became a supreme court justice. He died in 1880, in Bath, Somerset, England, a very wealthy man. Descendants still live in Australia.
Burton probably gave his son his middle name after a contemporary, George Eyre, who was born in England and became a captain in the British Navy, sailing to the Caribbean during the American Revolution and later in the 1790s governor of Jamaica. He was likely a friend or acquaintance of Burton, either in England or the Caribbean. Additionally, Burton as well as at least one of his sons attended school in England at Harrow, where several Eyre children also attended, which may have been where the relationship began. These children also were from the town of Lyndhurst in Hampshire where it is said that some of Burton’s children were educated and where his niece, Eliza got the name for her plantation (discussed later).
In the next installment, I will discuss Burton’s brother Samuel who also originally went to the Bahamas but returned to Florida in 1803.
Endnotes

  • Leicester, L. Anthony, Sandra Riley & Chris McLaughlin. San Salvador, an Island Guide. Savannah, Georgia: Williams & Company, Book Publishers. 2007.
  • Bethell, A. Talbot. The Early Settlers of the Bahamas and Colonists of North America. Nassau, Bahamas: Rounce & Wortley, 1937.
  • Saunders, Gail. Bahamian Loyalists and their Slaves. London: Macmillan Education, 1983.
  • Riley, Sandra. Homeward Bound. Miami: Riley, Hall Publishers, 1983.
  • Craton, Michael and Gail Saunders. Islanders in the Stream. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1999.
  • “Royal Gazette,” Nassau, April 7, 1821
  • Williams, Eric. Documents on British West Indian History, 1807-1833.Trinidad. Trinidad Publishing Co. 1952.
  • “Records of some Loyalists,” Lydia Parrish, Manuscript, UF Special Collections. Reel 140-A.

Eleanor Coade: A Little Remembered Georgian Businesswoman
Eleanor Coade was a very unusual woman for the Georgian times, but one I must admit I admire after recently coming across her story. She was a businesswoman in her own right, despite never being married. The business she owned wasn’t traditionally feminine either. She actually owned an artificial stone factory in Lambeth, London, which bore her name. Architecture was an incredibly male dominated industry, although it was common for upper class women to have a say in the decoration of the house they lived in, Eleanor is definitely one of the first I’ve come across who had a practical role. Her business was highly successful and as English Heritage describes the stone her factory produced was “one of the most widely used materials of the 18th century”.
Eleanor was born on the 3rd of June 1733 in Exeter, Devon, to George Coade, a wealthy merchant, and his wife Eleanor. However, the wool trade George largely dealt in was soon in decline and in 1759, the family were forced to relocate to London because of bankruptcy, including s second one in 1769. Perhaps this was what spurred Eleanor to set up her own business, hoping to help the family fortunes. It was certainly a family trait as her grandmother and uncle all ran successful businesses, something which her father had not quite inherited.
By 1766, Eleanor was listed as a linen draper who dealt in linen-based textiles. That business was definitely a success as the insurance for it raised from £200 (around £17,500 in today’s money), to £750 (around £65,500 in today’s money) in just one year! Sadly we don’t know her reasons for deciding to give up this business and buy up the failing artificial stone manufactory set up by Daniel Pidcot just 3 years later. Read more…

The Trade (and Art) of Making 18thc. Trim
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Silk trim was the final decorative icing on an 18thc. lady’s elaborate dress, whether the last delicate accent to a costly silk or an important element of design on a solid-colored gown. I’ve written about trimming before, and most recently featured this spectacular sack-back dress covered with multi-colored trimming that brings the white gown to life.
While I was recently visiting Colonial Williamsburg, our good friends in the Margaret Hunter shop were busily recreating knotted silk trim for use on future projects. Read more…

Princess Elizabeth Weds on 20th November 1947
73 years ago today Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) married Philip Mountbatten. She purchased the dress fabric using ration coupons. The dress was designed by Norman Hartnell and was made of Chinese silk with a high neckline, tailored bodice, and short train.
The fabric for Princess Elizabeth’s bridal gown was duchesse silk satin from the firm Winterthur Silks, near Dunfermline — one of the three silk mills in the area. The ivory silk was made from that of Chinese silkworms at Lullingstone Castle .

Book: The Loyalists of Massachusetts and The Other Side of the American Revolution
by James H. Stark, Published 1907
The UELAC Library & Archives has a digital copy of James H Stark’s book. He was a controversial writer, but stood his ground much to the dismay of many of the top Patriots of the day.
Stark was a Republican, and a member of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada.

STARK, James Henry, author; b. Vine House, Mitcham, Surrey. London. Eng., July 6, 1847; s. John Henry and Mary Elizabeth Ann (A’Court) Stark; came to Boston, Mass., 1856; ed. pub. schs.; m. Katherine, d. William S. and Jane (Mitchell) Manton, of Kingston, Can., Dec. 23, 1876. Apprenticed to stereotyping and electrotyping trade. 1864; established the Photo-Electrotype Co., Boston, 1877 (president 1877-1900); retired, 1900, to devote time to literary work.
Founder and v. -p. Dorchester Hist. Soc; pres. British Charitable Soc, British- Am. Assn., and v.p. Victorian Club (all of Boston) ; member N.E. Historic-Geneal. Soc, United Empire Loyalists Assn. of Can., Republican, Mason. Founder South Boston Yacht Club, 1868 (commodore, 1872), Savin Hill Yacht Club, 1888 (commodore, 1888-1900), Rock Hill Yacht Club (commodore, 1913).
Author: Stark’s Antique Views of Boston: Loyalists of Massachusetts; Stark’s Histories and Guides to the West Indies, 6 vols.. Bermuda. 1884. Bahamas, 1891. Barbadoes and (Carib- bean Islands, 1903, Trinidad, 1897, Jamaica, 1902. British Guiana, 1904. Has written and published many articles on hist, and geneal. (sic genealogical) subjects. Home: Savin Hill, Dorchester. Office: 17 Milk St.. Boston

@ Marquis, Albert Nelson. (Ed.) (1916) Who’s Who in New England &c 2nd edition. Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 1013.

Carl Stymiest UE, UELAC Dominion Archivist

Additions to the Loyalist Directory
As time permits, we add information to the Loyalist Directory. The latest additions and updates are as follows:

  • Henry Gordonier – contributed Branch records by Jo Ann Tuskin
  • Enoch Groom – contributed by Kevin Wisener
  • William Livesay – contributed by Kevin Wisener
  • Jesse Purdy – contributed from Branch records by Jo Ann Tuskin
  • Paul Trumpour – contributed by Mark Trumpour and Anne Redish

Please help us build the directory by contributing more information for it. Contact loyalist.trails@uelac.org for instructions and guidance.

Where in the World is The Queen?

“Royal Audience” … Where in the world is Her Majesty the Queen — and when?

Please submit a photo of a person or two (or more), preferably with a loyalist connection such as clothing (UELAC promotional gear or heritage attire) at a place or event with some loyalist or related historical aspect and tell us about it. If you are a member of a branch, please indicate that as well – send to the editor loyalist.trails@uelac.org

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

    • Map showing Loyalist settlement in Rawdon, Hants County, Nova Scotia. Nucleus of settlers were South Carolina militiamen & their families.
    • Gravestone of Charles Wiswall (1808 – 1869) youngest son of Loyalist Reverend John Wiswall (1765 -1831) native of Portland, Maine. His father is buried nearby beside Old Holy Trinity Anglican Church which he helped build in 1789 with other Loyalists in Middleton, Nova Scotia.
    • This mourning ring commemorates Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, who died #OTD in 1818. Look closely and you can see it contains a lock of her hair.
    • In Westport, Nova Scotia outside Provincial Heritage Site, former boot shop of John Slocum, father of Joshua Slocum (1844 – 1909), first person to sail solo around world. The Slocums were Loyalists who received a land grant in Nova Scotia
    • Looking for an idea for Christmas? Learn about Canada’s Ulster – Scots. My first Loyalist ancestor was one as well as my grandparents. My new book arrived today & I would be happy to sign & mail. If interested send me a message. Brian McConnell UE brianm564@gmail.com
    • This Week in History
    • Clothing and Related:
      • 18th Century dress, 1775, American: Round Gown, similar to a Robe a l’Anglaise
      • 18th Century women’s riding coats, 2 examples showing this fashion for masculine tailoring worn for a women’s practical wardrobe, c.1775
      • 18th Century dress, Robe à la Française dressed la Polonaise, with the addition of accessories of the period, 1770-1790
      • 18th Century men’s waistcoat, 1780’s The influence of Neo-classical design is evident in the decoration. Medallions of twill silk minutely & skilfully painted in black with mythological classical figures have been applied to the front & collar via @V_and_A
      • 18th Century Royal Marines dress coat belonging to Major General Arthur Tooker Collins (1718-93), of red wool with cuffs & lapels faced with blue. Buttons are stamped with a laurel wreath enclosing a crossed sword & baton.
      • 18th Cent men’s waistcoat, Anna Maria Garthwaite’s original design of this is @V_and_A & identifies not only the artist but also the weaver, Peter Lekeux, & date of sale – Oct 23, 1747. Both were important contributors to Spitalfields silk industry.
    • Townsends
    • Miscellaneous
      • This model boat is made from animal bone collected by French prisoners of war in the late 18thC, early 19thC. These ships were then sold in the local area to enable the prisoners to buy food and to stop boredom.
      • Happy 223rd birthday to Louis Daguerre, photography pioneer, born #onthisday 1787. He took the earliest known pic of a person in 1838 with this image showing both a shoeshiner and a shoe-wearer! He said, “I have seized the light — I have arrested its flight!”
      • Trace the history of the Paspahegh Indians in Virginia and the archaeological findings of a Paspahegh town near the mouth of the Chickahominy River in today’s blog by Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation historian Nancy Egloff. Paspahegh: ‘At the Mouth of a Stream’

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