ARMY, NAVY, and AIR FORCE.

ARMY.

SIR THOMAS REMPSTON, (died 1458), lord of Bingham, was twice, 1413-1416, member of Parliament for Notts. He was a soldier, and saw much fighting in Prance. In one of the battles he was taken prisoner, and kept for some years, when it is said an enormous ransom was paid for his deliverance. Sundry honours were given him, he being made a Knight of the Garter. In the wars referred to, Joan of Arc appeared, and had a mighty influence. Although she was burnt at the stake, yet her spirit liveth evermore.

The body of Sir Thomas was buried in the chancel of Bingham church, and a fair alabaster tomb placed over it, but it has disappeared. (Art. W. H. Stevenson).

HENRY IRETON, (1611-1651) was born at Attenborough, became a gentleman commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, and after three years, Bachelor of Arts. He read law in the Middle Temple, but was not called to the Bar. When the Civil War broke out he was residing on his estate in Notts. He raised a body of Puritans, and joined the army of the Earl of Essex; was appointed Major, fought at Edgehill, Gainsborough, Bristol, and Marston Moor, and was in command of the Horse on the left wing at Naseby. He was firm, brave, active, discreet, diligent, disinterested, and pious. He became an M.P. and married, in 1646, Bridget, daughter of Cromwell. "Being esteemed a person full of invention and industry and skilled in the Common Law he was employed in drafting declarations, desires, modules and transactions of the army," says Woods, a Royalist, and while calling him "a thorough faced dissembler under the mark of religion,'' he says he was '' bsolutely the best prayer-maker and preacher in the army." He was one of the Commissioners who signed the death warrant of Charles I. In 1649 he was sent to subdue Ireland, and became Lord Deputy. He died at the siege of Limerick, and was buried in Henry VII Chapel, in Westminster Abbey; a magnificent monument being erected. After the Restoration the body was removed, gibbeted at Tybum, the head being set upon a pole.

COL. JOHN HUTCHINSON, (1616-1664), was born on High Pavement, Nottingham, this then being the family residence of Sir Thomas Hutchinson, his father. He received the rudiments of his education partly at the Free School in Stoney Street, and afterwards went to Cambridge. At twenty-two he married Lucy, daughter of Sir Allen Aspley, (she being 18½ and whose Memoirs are well known), and settled at Owthorpe, about half way between Bingham and Widmerpool. When the disturbed state of affairs between the King and Parliament arose, he, after mature consideration, decided to side with the parliament, in which his father was member for the county (in 1625-39 and 40). He, in 1643, became Governor of Nottingham town and castle, which he held successfully through much calumny, and attempts to bribe and overawe him. Party passion on both sides made men utterly unreasonable. Scarcely anybody could bring to local and national administration a sound mind and unbiassed judgment, but Mrs. Hutchinson in her highly interesting, and very properly partial description of her husband's virtues, expressed for the benefit of their young children who had enjoyed few opportunities of long converse with their father, unwearied delineation of his character, his noble spirit of government— civil and military,—"where-ever he saw wisdom, learning or other virtues in men, he honoured them highly, . . . . . but never gave himself blindly up to the conduct of the greatest master." "He found such felicity in that proportion of wisdom that he enjoyed as he was a great lover of that which advanced it, learning and the arts, which he not only honoured in others, but he had by his industry arrived to be himself a far greater scholar than is absolutely requisite for a gentleman." "Of all lies he hated hypocrisy in religion," and so through all the scale of virtuous acts and life the fond wife details the many aspects of his character, which are. largely sustained in the records of his actions. He does not appear to have been called to any great national councils or duties; except that for two years he was a Councillor of State. He was content with good local administration, and would not put himself forward for places of honour or profit, and he was strongly opposed to the ambitions of Cromwell, whom he endeavoured to thwart by obtaining during Cromwell's absence in Scotland, an order from the Parliament for the removal of the garrison at Nottingham into the marching army, and for the demolition of the Castle, which was speedily executed between June and November, 1651, and when Cromwell came back through the country, and saw the Castle pulled down, he was heartily vexed at it, and told Col. Hutchinson that if he had been there when it was voted he should not have suffered it. The Colonel replied that he had procured it to be done, and believed it to be his duty to ease the people of charge when there was no more need for it. We wish, however, that he had not destroyed so thoroughly.

He was in 1660 sent to Parliament to represent the Town, as he had fourteen years before represented the County, but when it was discovered that he had in 1649 been one of the signatories to the King's death warrant, he was expelled, prosecuted and persecuted.

His efforts as a landowner for the development and improvement of his estate at Owthorpe are interesting, as well as his work and influence in the district as a County Magistrate, and Mrs. Hutchinson gives a pleasing account of the Colonel's home scenes in the diversion and education of his children, in which he advanced his children more than their tutors did, especially in music, and he spared no cost for their education in languages, science, music, dancing, and all other accomplishments befitting their father's house, which gives a very different view of a distinguished Puritan than that usually presented as being a man so occupied with other-worldliness that he has no enjoyment or refinement in the present world.

He died at Sandown Castle in 1664.

Mrs. LUCY HUTCHINSON, (born 1620), tells in her story how that on the day of their marriage she fell sick of the small pox, and the priests and all that saw her were affrighted to look upon her, but it made no difference to the devoted husband. She was a true wife and mother, and in order to impress her children with a reverence for their father's memory, she wrote the "Memoirs" which bear her name, and which have become invaluable as local records. She occupies twenty-five pages with descriptions of her husband's character, which, very properly, is from her standpoint most favourably viewed, but as to other persons her judgment was biassed. She was a fine woman, strong in her love, faithful and fearless in duty, constant in suffering, she displayed greater ability than even her husband. Her "Memoirs" remained unpublished for more than one hundred years.

LADY HUTCHINSON, the Colonel's Mother.

There is an item in the Borough Records of 1656 where the Constables present to the Sessions "that the Lady Hutchinson had musicke in hir house one the Saboth day, the 12 of October 1656."

This was during the time of the Commonwealth, and indicates the extreme Sabbatarianism then prevailing. Probably the Magistrates paid no attention to the presentment.

MARSHALL TALLARD and other French and Bavarian generals and officers, being defeated in a battle fought in 1704, at Blenheim, on the Danube, the English gained a complete victory, and the officers referred to were taken prisoners, and sent to Nottingham, as being in the centre of the country, and therefore a difficult place from which to escape. They were prisoners for six years on parole, and Marshall Tallard being one who would make the best of a bad business by promoting the good of those around him, drew the plans of houses, one being " Leeds House," with an attractive front. It stood where Smith's Bank now is. He designed flower beds for the gardens of Newdigate House where he lived, and had strange fruits and flowers and vegetables grown there with new methods. He also taught the bakers how to make French bread.

SIR NESBIT J. WILLOUGHBY, (1777-1848) was the son of Robert Willoughby, Esq., of Aspley and Cossall, and was styled " Hero of the Mauritius." Entering the Royal Navy when thirteen years of age, he was a Lieutenant in 1803, then Commander, Captain 1810, and, in 1847, Rear Admiral of the Blue. His exploits were many and varied, for he seemed to have a charmed life, acting with the utmost daring. Lady Middleton occupies twenty-two pages in the "Transactions of the Thoroton Society for 1905," with an account of him. He lost an eye in the service, and was twice knighted— bv George IV and William IV—an unprecedented event. His portrait hangs in Wollaton Hall, representing him wearing a bandage over the left eye.

SIR JAMES OUTRAM, (1803-1863) was the son of Benjamin Outram, who, as Engineer, had constructed colliery iron rail tram roads in Derbyshire and Notts, they having previously been of wood. He died at Butterley Hall in 1805. Mrs. Outram, by the sudden death of her husband, was left in straitened circumstances, but was a women of great self-reliance. She removed with her young family, including James, to Worksop, where they resided three years, and then for two years at Barnby Moor, whence they went to Aberdeen, where James completed his education. In 1819 he went to India, where in the course of forty years he accomplished great deeds and exploits, received the thanks of parliament, the rank of Lieutenant-general, was made a Baronet, and became a member of the Supreme Council at Calcutta. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his statue is on the Thames Embankment.

"FREDERICK ATTENBOROUGH, long a private in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, died May 13th, 1869, aged 69.

Having once owed his life under God to the General Hospital, he bequeathed to it his savings, £4,200. A deed thus gratefully recorded by the Governors."

Such is the inscription on a simple granite gravestone surmounted by a helmet carved in relief on a circular background, which stands in the Nottingham General Cemetery, about 70 yards east of the top lodge, by the side of the statue of the Good Shepherd, which is over the grave of that worthy man the Rev. Speight Auty. On the opposite side of the path is a monument which it was said cost £1,000, but this has a worthier record.

In a dangerous illness, Attenborough was taken to the General Hospital where the physicians' skill and the nurse's care aided a recovery, for which he was so grateful that he determined thenceforth to devote his life to the good of the hospital. His regiment went to India and when off duty he rendered special services to the officers, and sacredly set aside the earnings for the object of his life. When he returned, and was retired from the army, he earned a living, it is said, by waiting at dinners, and by selling tripe, setting aside his pension. He made his will in 1864, and directed his executors, Martin Inett Preston, and James Mather, missionary, to pay the above-named amount in government securities.

The case of Frederick Attenborough has been used in a magazine, with further details, to illustrate the obligation to service that we owe for spiritual benefits, through the work of the Good Shepherd.

"Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."

JONATHAN WHITE, (1804-1889) was born at Radford, joined the army, and went to India. Before he was nineteen he became sergeant, and soon gained a reputation for brilliant service, for he had no vices and possessed definite virtues. When in 1859, the Robin Hood Rifles were formed he was chosen as drill-master. He developed into a man of fine simple manliness, without affectation, a strict disciplinarian, rendering steady continuity of service. He became Captain, and Adjutant, and afterwards Major. His bust stands in the Nottingham Castle grounds.

THOMAS, LORD SCROPE,

SCROOPE, LORD HOWE,

VISCOUNT HOWE,

ADMIRAL EARL HOWE,

See " Howe Family."

NAVY.

SIR MARTIN FROBISHER, (about 1535-1594) must be put down to Finningley, Notts, that being the estate which was given to him for his eminent national services as a pioneer navigator. The parish is a peculiar one in this respect, that it is only just raised out of the water, and forms a small tongue between East Yorkshire and Lindsey, Lincoln.

Frobisher was sent out by Queen Elizabeth in 1567 with three ships, in the hope of discovering a North-west passage to India and China, but the ice of Labrador and beyond stopped him, and he returned, bringing some mineral substance that was thought would yield gold. Ten years afterwards he was sent again with three ships, when he discovered the Straits now known by his name. He was despatched a third time, with fifteen small ships and instructions to form a settlement, but the attempt and the supposed valuable minerals were all failures; by the failures, however, knowledge was obtained. He was a strict disciplinarian, and instructed all the captains in his fleet to banish swearing, gambling, and filthy talk, and twice a day to have church services.

In the naval victories over the Spanish Armada invasion he joined with Drake and Hawkins, and later engaged in other sea services, in which he was wounded and, through unskilful surgery, he died.

EDWARD FENTON or Robert Fenton, as Mr. Brown calls him, (d. 1603) Captain and Navigator, the brother of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, was born at the hamlet of Fenton, in Sturton-le-Steeple. He is described as having quick and lively parts which were improved by a good education. Cornelius Brown devotes 13 pages to the doings of Captain Fenton and his superior, Sir Martin Frobisher. In 1577 he accompanied, as Lieutenant-general, Sir Martin Frobisher in the second attempt to discover the North-west passage; in Frobisher's third attempt he was second in command. In 1582 he had command of an expedition for discovery, but really for trade, and his course does not appear to have been either straightforward or successful, and ended in a great failure after severe contests with Spanish forces. He in 1588 took part in the defence of the country against the Spanish Armada, having command of a Royal Ship, and was afterwards appointed a deputy for a year to Sir John Hawkins. He was buried in Deptford Church, where a monument describes him as "Esquire of the Body to Queen Elizabeth, and a gallant commander during the troubles in Ireland."

CHARLES HOWARD, First Earl of Nottingham, (1536-1624) was in 1569 made General of the Horse in the army, and afterwards installed as Knight of the Garter, and in 1585 he was constituted Lord High Admiral of England, and commanded the Fleet which defeated and dispersed the Spanish Armada in 1588, and having captured Cadiz he was made Earl of Nottingham, and appointed Justice Itinerant of all the forests South of the Trent. James I. appointed him Lord High Steward, and in 1605 he went as Ambassador to Spain. He had little concern with Notts, except his title; but he was grandson of Thomas, Second Duke of Norfolk, a Nottinghamshire landowner, and son of Lord William Howard.

A portrait of the Earl's first wife, Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham, has, through the generosity of Mr. F. W. Dobson, been placed in the Castle Museum.

SIR JOHN BORLASE WARREN, Bart., (1753-1822), lived at Stapleford Hall, and owned estates in Nottinghamshire and Buckinghamshire. As a boy he had a passion for the sea, which was gratified before he had gone through his studies. Returning, he proceeded to Cambridge, where he continued until in 1776 he had obtained his M.A. degree; after which he travelled, and later became M.P. When war broke out, the old passion for the sea asserted itself, and he joined the Royal Navy, serving under Lord Howe. This course was repeated when the French Revolution rendered necessary the protection of the British coast. In 1794 he was made a Knight of the Bath. Subsequently, he had several successful engagements with the enemy, whom he defeated, and this was especially the case in 1798 when he captured several of their ships on the Irish coast, for which action he received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and was made a Rear Admiral of the Blue. When the War ended he settled down to a sphere of usefulness at Stapleford Hall. For twelve years he represented Nottingham in Parliament, and was active as a county magistrate. He was sent as an Embassy to Russia, and was made a Privy Councillor. When the Napoleonic wars began he, as an Admiral, was placed in command of a fleet operating on the American coast, and when this war was over he again returned to Stapleford, and other honours were conferred on him. He died while on a visit to Greenwich Hospital. He was courageous, active, skilful, generous, courteous and affable.

LADY WARREN, (nee Miss Caroline Clavering) and Sir John were in 1780 at a party, when Sir John put the matrimonial question in a peculiar way. He drew on a piece of paper the figure of a heart within which in French he wrote what in English was, "If it be worthy of you, and you will accept it, you will make me the happiest of men." Folding up the paper he passed it across the table to Miss Clavering, who verbally replied Then you shall be happy.'' She survived her husband 18 years, and died in 1840. She built the Schools at Stapleford, at a cost of £3,000, and endowed them with a like sum, and also built and endowed a school at Toton.

AIR FORCE.

"CAPTAIN ALBERT BALL, (1897-1917), V.C., 7th (Robin Hood) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, attached Royal Flying Corps., D.S.O., (two bars); M.C., Croix de Guerre, Legion d'Honneur, Order of St. George (Russia); Hon. Freeman of the City of Nottingham." Such is the official description of a brave boy (for he was three months short of twenty-one when he lost his life) as inscribed on the monument in the Nottingham Castle grounds, and on the reverse face the legend is: "In the air he gave most conspicuous and gallant service to his country, and was killed in action fighting gloriously. May 7th, 1917, aged 20 years. Per Ardua ad Astra." The statue is in bronze, and represents Captain Ball, bare-headed, inspired by an allegorical figure of a woman representing the Air, with robes and hair wind-tossed, having one hand pointing to the sky, and the other resting on Captain Ball's shoulder. Mr. Henry Poole, A.R.A., was the sculptor, and Messrs. Brewill & Baily the architects.

Here is the secret of success. Air-Marshall Sir Hugh Trenchard, D.S.O., who unveiled the statue, said: "Ball used to tend his machine like some of us look after our ponies, and almost like some people look after their children. He painted it, oiled it, tested it, and cleaned it, not occasionally but continuously. He knew all about the mechanism, and he looked after his guns. His reputation was not only that of a brilliant pilot, but of a thoroughly reliable workman, a man imbued with the necessity for thoroughness, care, and detail." "He made use of every minute in his crowded life." He had crashed forty-four German machines.

His father (now Sir Albert Ball) and mother, have erected at Lenton a monument to his memory, not of an artistic figure, but of eight alms-houses, to be occupied by the widows of Lenton men who fell in the war. Standing behind a great cross of sacrifice, on which the names of the men are inscribed, the houses have in the rear a number of other houses forming part of the foundation, the whole value of which was estimated at £15,000.

THE ROBIN HOOD RIFLES were for many years the pride of Nottingham as being a fine volunteer force, when wanted "Ready—aye Ready," (which was their motto) to defend their homes and country when threatening clouds were gathering round. The first moving spirit was Mr. J. G. Simpkins, of Angel Row, who on May 28th, 1859, assembled half a dozen kindred spirits on the old Castle terrace, and he had invited ex-Sergeant-Major Jonathan White, late of the 2nd Queen's Royals, whom he believed would make an ideal drill instructor. The six persons referred to were Messrs. Simpkins (who became Secretary and Captain) A. J. Mundella, Robert Evans, J. M. Perry, George Hine and W. J. Johnson. Among those who at once joined were Messrs. E. Patchitt (the Mayor) T. R. Starey, Dr. Ransom, and others.

THE SOUTH NOTTS. HUSSARS have their memorial in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham, erected to the memory of 200 officers, non-commissioned officers and men who made their supreme sacrifice for the salvation of their country during the great war, 1914-18, in Egypt, Gallipoli, Macedonia, Palestine, and France.

"True love by life—true love by death—is tried;
Live thou for England! We for England died."

THE SHERWOOD FORESTERS memorial of the men who fell in the Great War, is a tower erected on Crich Stand, overlooking the two counties, and bearing the inscription, "To the memory of 11,400 men of all ranks of the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) who gave their lives for their King, and their Country, in the Great War, 1914-1918, and in honour of 140,000 of their comrades who served during the war in thirty-two Battalions of the Regiment, this monument is gratefully erected by the people of the Counties of Nottingham and Derby to remind us of their sacrifice and our duty." This monument was inaugurated on Bank Holiday 1923, by General Sir Horace L. Smith-Dorrien, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., D.S.O., the Colonel of the Regiment, and the two Lord-Lieutenants. It was designed by Colonel A. W. Brewill.