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Talk by Historian Barry Jolly.

The Real Sir Harry - The Man, the Myth and the Monument

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We were very pleased to have been able to host our final event before the “lockdown” when Barry Jolly gave a fascinating talk to about 40 Friends and supporters on the 13th of M arch at the Lymington Centre

 

Summary of the Talk

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What do we really know about our local hero, Admiral Sir Harry Neale?  His achievements are listed on the Burrard-Neale Monument as having taken 20 enemy ships in many gallant actions, and maintaining the loyalty of his crew during the mutiny at The Nore, thereby rewarded by the friendship of George III and the thanks of the City of London.

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Careful examination of the facts leads to an alternative interpretation; not less praiseworthy butraising doubts about the motivation and identity of the promoters of the monument. Sir Harry was unquestionably favoured by George III, Queen Charlotte, and their daughters; later also by William IV and Queen Adelaide, but the thanks of a grateful nation were limited to a private meeting of merchants and shipowners in London, not even addressed personally to Sir Harry but to the captains, officers and crews’, and a generous donation to the crew by the people of Ludlow.

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Royal favour had its downside, as Sir Harry spent much of the wars against the French on royal protection duties, thereby limiting the opportunity for achievements in battle. His haul of 20 shipsover a period of 20 years was actually very modest.

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His marriage to Grace Neale is frequently misrepresented; his wife was actually heiress to both her father and, subsequently, her grandfather. It was the latter who stipulated that any husband should change his name to inherit, a stipulation that very plainly stated that the name Neale be adopted instead of –not in addition to -any other: no Burrard, with or without a hyphen.

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Interestingly, Grace’s mother remarried, also inheriting with a change of name to Duckett. Her son George Duckett was MP for Lymington from 1807 to 1812, and his daughter, Isabella, in turn married Sir Harry’s nephew, George Burrard, in 1839.

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The memorial gas lamp erected by public subscription in 1833 was dedicated to Sir Harry and George Burrard Esq. –his nephew, and not his brother Rev George Burrard. Sir Harry’s name is correctly registered as Sir Harry Neale. Yet only seven days after his funeral, a proposal for a memorial to Sir Harry Burrard-Neale was agreed and put into effect. One name in life; another in death.

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The gas lamp was an acknowledgement of Sir Harry’s gift of all the gas lamp standards in the town. This act of apparent benevolence also had a political motive: from 1832, Sir Harry could no longer simply nominate himself as member of parliament for Lymington, there were now 270 voters to take into account. Any doubts on this point were removed when the other member for Lymington, the non-resident John Stuart, financed the gas lighting in the church at his own expense in November 1833.

The driving force behind the memorial to Sir Harry was clearly his brother, now Rev Sir George Burrard. Like the Neales and the Ducketts, George wanted to ensure the continued usage of the Burrard name; an ornamental obelisk on his own land, with Sir Harry’s name amended to Burrard-Neale and some typically extravagant (and not entirely accurate) paeons of praise adorning the four sides, presented the opportunity.

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In this he was supported by the local gentry, many of whom had strong naval connexions. Subscriptions flowed from far and wide, including from members of the Royal Family, members of parliament, the navy and army, the clergy and many others of really quite humble origins. Noticeably, the Burrard family did not contribute, but the Rev Sir George thanked the organising committee as follows: ‘Most deeply do I feel this mark of confidence and esteem which is now evinced towards myself’; strange words in respect of a memorial to his brother.

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Perhaps a more fitting tribute came from the pen of an old naval comrade, Admiral Sir Thomas Byam Martin:

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“There was implanted in his heart a principle of Christian benevolence, which made him truly the friend of the friendless. There was nothing from his earliest years, to his death at the age of seventy four, for which he was so remarkable as his attention to the interests of the poor, but it was without parade, and never done “to be seen of men.” It was necessary to know from others the extent of his generosity, and the endearing affability which rendered his visit to the cottagers, far and wide around Walhampton, so gratifying to the inmates”.

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Barry Jolly.

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Standing room only at Friends of Sir Harry talk from Dan Snow

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A large and excited audience of 180 people filled the Fuller-McLellan Hall at the Lymington Centre on Friday night to hear about the Lymington Society and Friends of Sir Harry’s project to restore the Burrard Neale Monument and an eagerly anticipated talk by TV personality and historian Dan Snow, entitled “Sir Harry Burrard Neale’s Navy – The Superpower of the Age”

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Don Mackenzie, Chair of the Friends, opened the evening with a brief resume of how the Lymington Society had worked with the Town Council to raise the necessary funds from local donors and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)  to restore the Walhampton Monument to Sir Admiral Harry Burrard Neale, in a project mostly completed by late Summer this year.

Following this, the Society has now set up the Friends to take forward the HLF requirement to have an organisation in place to help maintain the monument and the surrounding site, and to ensure that the life and times and the achievements of this naval hero are kept in the public eye.

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Dan Snow was then invited to talk, and he soon set about his task with gusto. In his opening remarks Dan thanked people for attending and supporting the Friends and he urged people to join the Lymington Society. He said what a pleasure it was to live in a community where the heritage of the area was supported by such volunteer activity.

He then went on to describe how the period from the Glorious Revolution in 1688 to the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, sometimes known as the “Long 18th Century”, saw the British and the French fight repeated wars over many continents, until Britain finally emerged as the undisputed world superpower. The implications of this are to be seen to this day with English as the main global language and British ideas of democracy and economics spreading worldwide.

Key to this was the strength and power of the British Navy, which was supported by the main political parties of this period, namely the Whigs and Tories, who both undertook to build the largest and most powerful navy in the world - whatever the cost.  During this period the navy grew from about 100 ships to over 600 and influenced every aspect of national life, driving industrialisation of the country with its huge demand for the vast amount of manufactured items needed to build and support such a huge enterprise, which at times consumed as much as a third of the GDP of the country.

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A video of the evening is available on YouTube. Click here

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Dan then described how the newly developed techniques of supplying a blockading force of ships enabled the British navy to keep French navy ships in ports such as Brest for years. This led to undisputed British naval superiority, leading to the capture of many French possessions and colonies worldwide.

Following a question and answers session, a vote of thanks was proposed, and a presentation was made to Dan of a framed engraving of the Burrard Neale Monument from 1855 as a token of thanks from the Friends and the Lymington Society.

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Speaking after the event, Don Mackenzie said:

“The Friends of Sir Harry and the Lymington Society are extremely grateful to Dan for so kindly giving up his Friday evening to give such a fantastic and riveting talk about the period from 1688 – 1815, when Britain finally emerged as the undisputed world superpower, due in no small measure to the strength and professionalism of the British Navy.

We are also grateful for the support he gave to the Friends and the thanks he gave to the Lymington Society and other local volunteers who do so much to help look after the heritage of the local area.

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We were fascinated to hear from Dan how the naval mutinies of 1779 were turning points where the future of the country was truly seen to be on a knife edge, with mutineers blockading London and expressing revolutionary ideas.

As Dan described, Sir Harry Burrard Neale rose to national prominence at this time due to the actions of him and his crew in sailing away under fire from the mutineers which then caused the mutiny to collapse.

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The Friends are very grateful that so many people attended the talk and we hope they enjoyed the “tour de force” that Dan gave in his thrilling presentation of the events of the so-called Long Century.

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We also hope that they will now wish to join the Friends and attend our future events, including the tour of the gardens of Walhampton House, home to the Burrard Family and Sir Harry which takes place in May next year.

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