Devonshire June July 16

But here’s the thing...
Few remain but now one of those express
passenger locomotives has been rescued
from a scrap heap and is being lovingly
brought back to life by a team of highly
committed engineers and a small army of
rail enthusiasts.
When new, the great green machine Sidmouth
34010 steamed into Sidmouth station itself
on 27th June, 1946 to have its name plaque
unveiled by Councillor A. Lancaster Smith
(pictured).
Sixty years later you can follow Sidmouth’s
restoration or even play a part in the work
with a donation to the project at this website:
www.southern-locomotives.co.uk
Sidmouth getting all steamed-up, again!
ONCE UPON A TIME before the era of
Beeching-the-branch-line axe-man, Sidmouth
had a railway station (as did a lot of other
places in Devon) and the West Country as a
whole had some 60 steam locomotives named
after our towns and cities.
When restored Sidmouth will grace the
Swanage Railway line and will probably
spend time on other heritage lines around
the country, helping promote the town after
which it was named.
Ottery’s Sacrifice 1914 –
1921, published by the
Ottery St Mary Heritage
Society, supported by a
Heritage Lottery grant.
This was exactly 400 years ago this month
and historians believe that she broke her
journey on 17th June 1616 by staying over
night at the famous White Hart Inn, in South
Street, Exeter.
Devon’s sacrifice
THERE THEY STAND on the platform of
Ottery St.Mary railway station, in their best
clothes, their boots brightly polished, off to
fight in The Great War.
Each man proudly wears an English rose
in his button hole, given him by a mother,
wife or sweetheart, come to wish him and
his mates, “Good luck, God bless and come
back safely!”
This was Tuesday, September 1st, 1914. In all,
478,893 men joined Kitchener’s army between
4 August and 12 September, including 33,204
on 3rd September alone and these proud
Devonians were a part of that in-take.
What became of them is recounted by
Jim Woolley, in his newly published book
This remarkable book
identifies the service
details of all the men
of Ottery St Mary and
district who gave their
lives for their country;
those whose names are
recorded on parish war
memorials and also the
large number of individuals associated with
the parish who, for one reason or another,
were not included in the listings.
The book is available from The Curious
Otter Bookshop, (Tel: 01404 814469) at £7.95
softback or £14.95 in a 100-copy limited edition
hardback version.
Pocahontas slept here
POOR POCAHONTAS, history’s most famous
Native American princess (1596 –1617). After
arriving in Plymouth from her home in
Virginia, she was taken to London by her
tobacco grower husband John Rolfe to be
presented to the Court.
Poor Pocahontas? Legend has it that she grew
homesick for her native land and died aboard
ship at Gravesend the following March on
her way home - some say of a fever, others of
a broken heart. She was 22 years old.
Alas no guest book survives to record her
stay at the White Hart but the hotel’s principal
bedroom still boasts a magnificent fourposter
bed.
JOHN FISHER
68