Walter Bagehot, influential mid-Victorian political journalist, born and died in Langport, Somerset.

I recently came across a twitter spat between Tim Montgomerie, conservative political activist and journalist, and Sky News presenter Kay Burley.  Apparently Mr Montgomerie tweeted: “Throughout Sky News we have pundits posing as reporters.”  This brought a reply from Ms Burley which was, shall we say, uncomplimentary.  I think I side with Mr Montgomerie!

Be that as it may, the exchange reminded me of a visit to Langport where I came upon the grave of Walter Bagehot, the esteemed mid-Victorian political journalist, in the churchyard of All Saint’s Church on The Hill.

The west tower of All Saints' Church on The Hill in Langport, Somerset.  The church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

Walter Bagehot was born in the ancient Somerset town of Langport in 1826.  In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Langport thrived as an inland port serving barge-hauled merchandise on the River Parrett.  

Walter was the son of Thomas Watson Bagehot, a leading Langport merchant, who had interests in banking and shipping.  He studied at University College, London, and in 1852 he returned to Langport to enter his father’s business. 

At the age of 31 he married Eliza, the daughter of James Wilson, founder and editor of The Economist.  When Wilson died in 1860 while in Calcutta advising the Indian government on its finances, Bagehot succeeded him as editor.  For the next 17 years, until he succumbed to pneumonia at the early age of 51, he wrote The Economist’s main article.

Writing on political, economic and social affairs, he was one of the most influential journalists of his day and had leading politicians among his friends, including William Gladstone, the first Liberal prime minister. 

It is said Bagehot did not persevere in a political career because he was not a good speaker and failed in his attempts at being elected to Parliament.  I wonder what he would have made of Twitter!

Walter Bagehot died in Langport on 24 March 1877.  He is buried in the churchyard of the town's All Saints' Church.  His headstone is on the right, to the left is that of his father and mother.

Three local by-elections give cheer to the new parties of the right.

The Liberal Democrats had a good day yesterday gaining two council seats in Gloucester, one from Labour and one from the Conservatives. 

However, it is interesting to note the performance of the new parties of the right.  The Brexit Party stood candidates in the two contests in Gloucester receiving 10.5 per cent of the votes in one and a very respectable 16.4 per cent in the other.    

In the Labour Party bastion of Hartlepool, on the North Sea coast of County Durham, Labour won a council seat with only 30 per cent of the vote while Anne Marie Waters’ For Britain Movement must have been encouraged by garnering 13.8 per cent.  Remarkably the For Britain Movement and UKIP received a combined 23.3 per cent of the vote. 

In general the three results suggest the Labour vote is being chipped away on the left by the Liberal Democrats and on the right by The Brexit Party and the For Britain Movement.

I suspect, now Boris and his Brexiteers are in government, the Conservative Party may stabilize somewhat in the polls until its fate is decided on November 1.

Tatworth Park / Snowdon Grange housing development on the fringe of Chard in South Somerset. More fields and hedgerows lost!

Work has started on the Tatworth Park housing development on the edge of Chard on fields between Tatworth Road (A358) and Forton Road (B3162) in South Somerset.  Another few acres of agricultural land together with hundreds of yards of hedgerow have been sacrificed to provide homes for England’s burgeoning population.

I took some photos of the changing landscape, just after the bulldozers moved in.

Update March 2021.

I see that the developers have changed the name of the housing development from Tatworth Park to Snowdon Grange.  I suspect they thought the original name sounded a bit down market?!

Tatworth Park housing development underway.  The view from the A358 on the southern fringe of Chard in South Somerset in July 2019.

The Tatworth Park housing development underway on the outskirts of Chard in South Somerset.  The view looking east from the A358 on 23 July 2019.

Tim Montgomerie on Ian Dunt. My favourite tweet of the month,

On the 23rd July Tim Montgomerie, British political activist and columnist, tweeted:

"Delivering Brexit isn't just about delivering Brexit anymore.  It's a culture war.  It's about defeating foul-mouthed anti-democrats like Ian Dunt who think that the views of the elite matter more than the views of the majority."

Mr Dunt, editor of politics.co.uk  is a regular on Sky News, which says a lot about that channel's standards.

Incidentally, also on the 23rd BBC presenter Nick Robinson tweeted this, perhaps the daftest tweet of the month:
""You broke it. You own it".  As true for Boris and Brexit as it was when Colin Powell warned George W. Bush about invading Iraq."

However difficult and chaotic Brexit might possibly be, comparing it to invading Iraq is just plain silly.

A jackdaw stands guard for the grim reaper in South Somerset.

I took this photo in my courtyard this morning.  I was trying to photograph massed squadrons of swifts, but they were too quick for me!

A jackdaw stands guard for the grim reaper.

Conservative Government Minister suggests it is impossible to escort every vessel through the Straits of Hormuz after British flagged vessel is seized by Iran.

Tobias Ellwood, an Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, suggested on Sky News today that it is impossible to protect from Iran every individual British merchant ship which passes through the Straits of Hormuz.

My first thought was to wonder if he had ever heard of the Convoy system, my second was to wonder if Mr Ellwood regrets Conservative Government defence cuts which have resulted in the Royal Navy having only 19 frigates and destroyers. 

Who could not agree with the views of Lord West, the former lst Sea Lord, who was reported in The Telegraph as saying it had been “foolhardy” and “unacceptable” for UK shipping to transit the area without a Royal Navy escort?

The Telegraph reported Lord West, the former 1st Sea Lord, as saying it had been “foolhardy” and “unacceptable”, for UK shipping to transit the area without a Royal Navy escort.  He also said:

“We have to run convoys of merchant ships with a Navy escort so we can look after them. It was very stupid of us to allow a merchant ship to go through those waters before HMS Montrose was close enough to look after her.

As soon as we seized Grace 1 we should have been aware the Iranians would retaliate. We should have instituted protection measures for the control of merchant shipping and said to the Stena Impero to wait in port until we could escort you through the Straits with one or two warships.”

The following timely and highly pertinent letter, first published in The Daily Telegraph, appeared in The Week (July 20), before the Stene Impero incident took place.  If anyone in the Ministry of Defence or Foreign Office read it they obviously took no heed.

Navy blues,

To The Daily Telegraph

Jeremy Hunt is right to say that the Royal Navy needs to be expanded to meet today’s threats.

In 1987, an Iranian warship fired five Sea Killer missiles at a Shell tanker.  Fortunately, they all missed.  The next day, Mr Hunt’s father, the commander in chief, directed that three destroyers and frigates be permanently on station and all British ships be accompanied through the danger area.  We had 55 destroyers and frigates then.  Today we have just 19.

Vice Admiral John McAnally, national president, Royal Naval Association.

A pilot who took part in the first RAF Bomber Command daylight raid on Berlin is at rest in a Sussex village churchyard.

Our good friends L and C were recently on holiday in Sussex where, when visiting the churchyard of St. Mary Magdalene in the village of Rusper, they came across the Commonwealth War Graves of 2 RAF officers.  Knowing my wife and I have family links to the RAF and an interest in its history, L sent me photographs of the two headstones.

Both these officers died while serving in Operational Training Units.  Flying Officer John Gerald Rappoport (RAFVR) aged 28 died on 21 April 1943 while serving with No.2 OTU of Coastal Command.  He was flying a Bristol Beaufighter when it stalled and crashed while attempting a night landing at RAF Catfoss in Yorkshire, both he and his navigator were killed.

Flight Lieutenant Antony Trelawney Wickham DFC (RAFVR) was in a de Havilland Mosquito of No. 60 OTU when, during an overshoot at RAF High Ercall in Shropshire on 14 June 1944, an engine cut out and a crash-landing ensued.  He and his co-pilot did not survive the crash.

Flt. Lt. Wickham was an experienced and distinguished pilot.  On 30 January 1943 he had taken part in the first RAF Bomber Command daylight raid on Berlin.  The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt (Penguin Books Ltd., 1985) tell the story:

“Two formations, each of 3 Mosquitoes, made dramatic attempts to interrupt large rallies being addressed by Nazi leaders in Berlin on this day.  These raids would be the first time the German capital was bombed in daylight. 

3 Mosquitoes of 105 Squadron successfully reached Berlin and bombed in mid-morning at the exact time Goering was due to speak.  The speech was postponed for an hour.  These 3 Mosquitoes returned safely.

In the afternoon, 3 Mosquitoes of 139 Squadron arrived at the time Goebbels was due to speak and again bombed at the correct time, but the German defences were alerted and the aircraft of Squadron Leader D. F. Darling was shot down.  Darling and his navigator, Flying Officer W. Wright, were both killed and are now buried in Berlin.”

At the time of the raid Wickham held the rank of Flying Officer and was second in command of the three 105 Squadron Mosquitoes.  All ten surviving aircrew were awarded the DSO, DFC or DFM for their actions.  Wickham received the DFC. 

Although F.O. Rappoport and Flt. Lt. Wickham have no connection with Somerset I have written this blogpost with the thought in mind that training for war has its own hazards, and can be just fatal as warfare itself.

Flying Officer T.P.K.Higgs, the first RAF pilot killed in action during the Battle of Britain, is remembered on the war memorial in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

On this day in 1940 the Battle of Britain began.  The first RAF pilot to lose his life in the battle was Sgt Ian Clenshaw of 253 Squadron when his Hurricane crashed in bad weather while on dawn patrol from Kirton-in-Lindsey in No. 12 Group.  The first pilot to be killed in action was Flying Officer T.P.K. Higgs of 111 Squadron based at Croydon in the Kenley sector of Fighter Command’s No.11 Group.  He had family connections in Somerset being the son of Arthur and Alice Higgs of Shepton Mallet.

At 1000hours on July 10 1940 Higgs was engaged with German fighters and bombers over a convoy off Folkestone.  During this combat his Hurricane collided with a Dornier 17 bomber and lost a wing with the Dornier 17 crashing at Dungeness.  Although he managed to bale out Flying Officer Higgs was never found alive.  His body came ashore on the Dutch coast on August 15. 

Thomas Peter Kingsland Higgs is buried in a Commonwealth War Grave in Noordwijk General Cemetery on the coast north of Leiden.  He is also commemorated on Shepton Mallet’s cenotaph type war memorial situated in the town centre. 

The war memorial in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

Flying Officer T.P.K. Higgs is remembered on the war memorial in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. 

Sources:

https://www.cwgc.org/

The Fallen Few of the Battle of Britain, Nigel McCrery & Norman Franks with Edward McManus, (Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2015)

The Narrow Margin, Derek Wood & Derek Dempster, (Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1961)

Brexit Party MEPs turning their backs on the EU anthem was crass, but comparing them to Nazis is preposterous.

The act by Brexit Party MEPs of turning their backs as the EU anthem was played at the opening ceremony of the European Parliament was crass, but comparing it to how the Nazis behaved in the Reichstag is preposterous.

One moment Brexiteers are accused of being “Little Englanders”, the next Nazis.  However, I doubt Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party want to invade Poland and France, march on Moscow, conquer the world and build concentration camps on Dartmoor!

Gavin Esler, former BBC Newsnight presenter and EU Parliamentary candidate for Change UK, said the Brexit Party had ‘shamelessly copied the Nazi Party’, on the basis that the Nazis once turned their backs on a Jewish speaker in the Reichstag in 1930.

Mr Esler is a member of the Remainer elite that are absolutely committed to stopping Brexit, even if the EU Referendum result of 2016 has to be set aside and faith in democracy shattered as a result.

Be that as it may, I sent the letter below to the Western Daily Press, I haven’t seen it published yet!

Dear Sir,

Brexit Party MEPs turning their backs as the EU anthem was played at the opening ceremony of the European Parliament was a boorish act, but not as boorish as Liberal Democrat MEPs wearing yellow vests emblazoned with “Bollocks to Brexit".  MEPs, whether Brexiteers or Remainers, should set high standards of civility, and not exhibit such oafish behaviour. 


Update September 9th.

It seems the above letter found its way into the Western Morning News on July 8th!