My thoughts on Roy Jenkins’ biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

This short biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Roy Jenkins packs a good deal of information into its 173 pages.  Very sadly Lord Jenkins died of a sudden heart attack before the book was finished.  It was completed by his friend Richard E. Neustadt of Harvard University who took up the task from page 155.

I have read other, much longer, biographies of FDR by American authors H. W. Brands and Jean Edward Smith.  Their books provide much more background detail and scene-setting for FDR’s personal conflicts and political battles.  Despite their greater length they are much easier to read being written in plain and straightforward language.  One has to have a dictionary to hand when reading Lord Jenkins’ work.

However, I did add some words to my vocabulary.  Those listed below are just some which had me reaching for my Collins.

Contumaciously

Eleemosynary

Riparian

Semi-Lacuna

Readers of this blog may enjoy looking up the definitions.

Roy Jenkins’ Franklin Delano Roosevelt was first published in 2003 by Times Books of New York.

The Church of St. James the Less in the South Somerset village of Hambridge.

The Church of St. James the Less at Hambridge is a prominent landmark beside the B3168 between Ilminster and Curry Rivel in South Somerset.

Work on the church began in 1842 and was completed in 1844.  Worshippers from Hambridge and Westport were thus saved a two mile and three and a half mile journey respectively as previously their nearest church was St. Andrew’s in Curry Rivel.

When passing it, as I often do, I find the Church of St. James the Less pleasing to the eye standing as it does among the trees in its very tidily maintained churchyard.  However, Pevsner is rather unkind and describes the church as: “Very dull.  The west tower too low for the nave roof.  The best thing about the church is the two splendid cedar-trees by its side”. 

The Church of St. James the Less which serves the South Somerset village of Hambridge.

The Church of St. James the Less at Hambridge in South Somerset. The B3168 is on the other side of the wall in the background.

There are two Commonwealth War Graves in the churchyard.  I give their details below:

Private Herbert H. Cleal, son of Daniel and Emily Cleal of Hambridge, died on 1 January 1919 aged 19.  He served with 2/8 Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. 

Signalman Richard Thomas Collins, son of Herbert and May Collins, and the wife of Alice Maud Collins, all of Hambridge, died on 15 November 1940 aged 24.  He served with the Royal Corps of Signals.

The crash of RAF Blenheim R3912 on Pawlett Hams in Somerset. Those lost are commemorated by a memorial plaque in the nearby village churchyard at Pawlett.

On 5 July 1942 a Bristol Blenheim Mk 4, a light bomber powered by two 905 hp Bristol Mercury engines, crashed at Pawlett Hams on the east side of the River Parrett in Somerset.  The aircraft, from No 13 Operational Training Unit, took off at 0950 hours on a cross country navigational and low level bombing exercise from its base at RAF Bicester in Oxfordshire.  At approximately 1220 hours the Blenheim was seen entering an area of cloud in a near vertical dive.   On emerging from the cloud, at an estimated height of 3,000 to 5,000 feet, the Blenheim straightened out, but then dived again and crashed.  All 3 crew members on board were killed.

The crew of Blenheim R3912 consisted of the pilot Sergeant James Falconer Anderson, RAF, aged 20, the observer Sergeant Adam Hogg, RAFVR, aged 33, and the wireless operator/air gunner Sergeant Gilbert Ingram McBoyle, RAFVR, aged 21.  They are commemorated on a memorial plaque in the British Legion garden of remembrance in the churchyard of St. John the Baptist Church at Pawlett, Somerset.

The British Legion garden of remembrance in the churchyard of St. John the Baptist Church in the village of Pawlett, Somerset. 

The memorial plaque at John the Baptist Church, Pawlett, Somerset commemorating the crew of RAF Blenheim R3912.

The picture below of the ill-fated Blenheim crew was kindly provided by Fiona Goldsmith PCC Secretary of St. John the Baptist Church.

Views from Westover Bridge over the River Parrett near Mucheleny in Somerset.

While out for an afternoon drive around The Levels south of Langport  in Somerset my wife and I stopped at a layby overlooking the River Parrett at Westover Bridge just outside Muchelney.

It was the last day of March, a beautiful sunny day of blue sky dotted with cloud, but a strong North wind made it bitterly cold.  Unsurprisingly not many people were out and about except some well wrapped dog-walkers enjoying the River Parrett Trail and the Macmillan Way Link, both of which follow the river bank.

I could see three churches from where we were parked.  To the north and north-east were the towers of All Saints at Langport and St. Mary’s at Huish Episcopi while a few hundred yards east was the tower of St. Peter and St. Paul at Muchelney.

I braved the bitter cold to take the photos below.  On another, warmer, day it would be nice to follow the footpaths alongside the river bank, but it was altogether a better day for driving rather than walking.

A view from Westover Bridge over the River Parrett near Muchelney in Somerset. The tower of All Saints Church, Langport can be seen just left of centre.

A view from Westover Bridge over the River Parrett near Muchelney in Somerset.  The tower St. Mary's Church at Huish Episcopi can be seen on the skyline to the left.

The tower of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Muchelney, Somerset viewed from the nearby Westover Bridge over the River Parrett.