Maurice Smelt – 101 Cornish Lives (2006)
Local History – 250 pages – my copy (paperback; 2006) a gift from Emma, and signed from Mr. Smelting himself
- 2 nods out of 5 -
Throughout history there are thousands upon thousands of forgotten lives and elapsed events. Of course, the big cheeses of history continue onwards: Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Hitler; but for those local luminaries, each passing generation sounds as a nail hitting the wood of a coffin. All the more celebration, then, for local histories! Here the author, Maurice Smelt, presents the reader with one hundred and one Cornish lives; those born at the “fag-end of the country” and went on to become inventors, travellers and great sportsmen.
Smelt’s language never threatens to excite, a gentle plod through some of the most noteworthy and important names in Cornish history. And as common for standard local histories, a game develops of ‘spot the mistake’; this book’s obvious error appearing on page 18, when the philanthropist Ralph Allen is noted as making a fortune for himself in 1620 and serving as mayor of Bath in 1642; even though a page earlier he is stated as being born in 1694. Such mistakes are not a light crime, and are further compounded when reading of Smelt’s academic past (including Major Scholar of Trinity Hall, Cambridge).
But at no point does Smelt falter in his writing, providing us with quick and digestible portraits of famous Cornishmen, from Sir Bevil Grenville to Richard Trevithick, from the past of St Piran to the modern day World Trade Centre hero Rick Rescorla. Smelt is most confident and entertaining in his words upon novelists, poets and historians, including Charles Causley, Crosbie Garstin, Arthur Quiller-Couch and A.L. Rowse. But perhaps the most striking are the complete unknowns who are brought back to life, notably that of the exceptional Mary Bryant, the dubious Tibet monk in Cyril Henry Hoskins, and the erratic and lunatic John Tom.
Of course, it is the usual small county/town/village laying claim to whatever they can lay their hands on; such is the case with world champion boxer Bob Fitzsimmons who left Cornwall when a mere toddler. But on the whole, 101 Cornish Lives is an admirable attempt at bringing the once famous and infamous back to the written page.
Local History – 250 pages – my copy (paperback; 2006) a gift from Emma, and signed from Mr. Smelting himself
- 2 nods out of 5 -
Throughout history there are thousands upon thousands of forgotten lives and elapsed events. Of course, the big cheeses of history continue onwards: Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Hitler; but for those local luminaries, each passing generation sounds as a nail hitting the wood of a coffin. All the more celebration, then, for local histories! Here the author, Maurice Smelt, presents the reader with one hundred and one Cornish lives; those born at the “fag-end of the country” and went on to become inventors, travellers and great sportsmen.
Smelt’s language never threatens to excite, a gentle plod through some of the most noteworthy and important names in Cornish history. And as common for standard local histories, a game develops of ‘spot the mistake’; this book’s obvious error appearing on page 18, when the philanthropist Ralph Allen is noted as making a fortune for himself in 1620 and serving as mayor of Bath in 1642; even though a page earlier he is stated as being born in 1694. Such mistakes are not a light crime, and are further compounded when reading of Smelt’s academic past (including Major Scholar of Trinity Hall, Cambridge).
But at no point does Smelt falter in his writing, providing us with quick and digestible portraits of famous Cornishmen, from Sir Bevil Grenville to Richard Trevithick, from the past of St Piran to the modern day World Trade Centre hero Rick Rescorla. Smelt is most confident and entertaining in his words upon novelists, poets and historians, including Charles Causley, Crosbie Garstin, Arthur Quiller-Couch and A.L. Rowse. But perhaps the most striking are the complete unknowns who are brought back to life, notably that of the exceptional Mary Bryant, the dubious Tibet monk in Cyril Henry Hoskins, and the erratic and lunatic John Tom.
Of course, it is the usual small county/town/village laying claim to whatever they can lay their hands on; such is the case with world champion boxer Bob Fitzsimmons who left Cornwall when a mere toddler. But on the whole, 101 Cornish Lives is an admirable attempt at bringing the once famous and infamous back to the written page.
