Maildubh
Maildubh was an Irish monk, or hermit, who decided to settle in Malmesbury around 640AD and founded a school, or monastery, there. Little more is known of Maildubh. One of his pupils was St. Aldhelm. The name, Malmesbury, is thought to be derived from the name, Maildubh, or from a corruption of Maildubh and Aldhelm together.
St. Aldhelm
St. Aldhelm was one of Maildubh's pupils. Aldhelm is thought to have been a relation of King Ine of Wessex, and had some power and influence in that kingdom. Aldhelm had grown up in the monastery, under the tutelage of Maildubh; he had also spent some time at St. Augustine's in Canterbury. Aldhelm was an educated and accomplished man. Books of his poetry have been found at religious houses across Europe. Legend also has it that Aldhelm would stand on the town bridge playing his lyre, to summon people to church!
By 675AD, the monastery had grown to become an abbey, with Aldhelm as its Abbot. Under Aldhelm's abbacy, the monastery at Malmesbury became wealthier and flourished.
In 705AD, Aldhelm was elected Bishop of Sherborne, and so left the abbey. He died at Doulting, Somerset, in 709AD, but his body was brought back to Malmesbury to be buried. He was canonised, St. Aldhelm, after his death.
Athelstan
Athelstan was the grandson of Alfred the Great. He reigned from 925-939AD and was the first real king of England as one country.
In return for their loyal service in the battles against the Danes, Athelstan reputedly gave land, known as King's Heath, to the warden and freemen of the 'burh'.
Athelstan was a great benefactor of Malmesbury Abbey. He donated many gifts to the monastery. He died in Gloucester on 27th October 939, and is believed to have been buried at Malmesbury Abbey.
The tomb which can be seen in Malmesbury Abbey today, which is believed to be dedicated to King Athelstan, was constructed long after his death.
Elmer
Elmer is famous for his early attempt at flight. Around 1010AD, as a young monk at Malmesbury Abbey, Elmer attached wings to his arms and body and launched himself from the abbey tower. William of Malmesbury, writing a century later, records that he flew for a furlong before crashing to the ground, breaking his legs. Elmer attributed his failure to fly further to forgetting to attach a tail. Despite his injuries, Elmer live to an old age.
In 1066, Elmer saw Halley's Comet and prophesied the destruction of the land. According to William of Malmesbury, this was the second time Elmer had seen Halley's Comet. The comet would previously have been visible in 989AD when Elmer would have been a child, but Elmer said that in 1066 it was more terrible.
We know of Elmer from William of Malmesbury's 'Gesta Regum Anglorum' (Deeds of the English Kings). William would have come to Malmesbury Abbey perhaps only 30 years after Elmer's death, and so, while he is not a contemporary of Elmer, he is likely to have known monks who were.
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was born c1095 and entered the monastery as a boy. A well educated man, he became librarian and precentor of the abbey, and is known as one of the country's most trustworthy chroniclers.
He completed 'Gesta Regum Anglorum' (Deeds of the Kings of England) and 'Gesta Pontificum Anglorum' (Deeds of the Bishops of England) c1125AD. William was offered the role of Abbot in 1140AD, but declined it. He was present at the Council of Winchester in 1141 as a supporter of Matilda against King Stephen. William's book, 'Historia Novella' (History of Our Time) ends suddenly in 1142, and it is generally assumed that William died in 1143.
William of Colerne
William of Colerne became Abbot of Malmesbury in 1260. His works mark him out as one of Malmesbury Abbey's most dynamic abbots of the late medieval period. The key to William of Colerne's success was astute financial management which allowed advancement of the Abbey's holdings. An early student of agriculture, William was able increase the value from the Abbey's farms and used the gains from this to invest in a wide-ranging building programme.
Two stone halls and a kitchen as well as three new ovens were provided for the monks. A fresh water supply was installed, bringing water from Long Newnton. In the Abbot's lodgings a stone larder was constructed and vines and orchards were planted. A chapel dedicated to St Aldhelm was built in the monastery grounds and a new lady chapel was added to the Abbey church.
The importance of William is reflected by two royal visits. Henry III in 1265 and Edward I in 1283. The Abbacy of Malmesbury gave the incumbent a seat in the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual, thus the post held considerable weight.
William of Colerne died in 1296.
Post Medieval
William Stumpe
William Stumpe was born in North Nibley in Gloucestershire. By 1524 he was already one of the wealthiest men in Malmesbury. At the Dissolution he bought up the Abbey buildings to convert them into a huge cloth producing enterprise. More than 30 looms were installed in the former Abbey church. Weaving was typically a home-based activity, as were most elements of cloth production. Stumpe's vision of mass production makes him exceptional for his time. Like many other cloth men, Stumpe was also a land owner, at his death in 1552 he owned land across the Cotswolds and at Tewkesbury, Woodchester, Warminster and Wootton Bassett.
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes is best known for his philosophical works such as Leviathan, De Cive, De Homine and De Corpore Politico. He was also a gifted mathematician, viewing mathematics as central to all other knowledge.
Thomas Hobbes was born (1588) and grew up in the Malmesbury parish of Westport where his father was vicar. Aubrey, amongst others, commented on how little Hobbes senior valued education, being only literate enough to manage church services.
It was his Uncle Francis, a Malmesbury Alderman who saw to it that Thomas was educated. He began his lessons at Westport church at the age of four. At eight years old he joined Robert Latimer's school in Westport. He was already a proficient reader and an able mathematician but by the time he left this school at fourteen he was a brilliant classical scholar, having translated Euripedes' Medea from Greek into Latin iambics. In 1603, aged 14, he left Malmesbury to continue his learning at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, again funded by his uncle. Later he was tutor to the future Charles II.
Throughout his life he pursued knowledge and ideas. In old age he translated the Iliad and the Odyssey into English verse and at the time of his death, aged 91, was working on a mathematical treatise concerned with squaring the circle. He died in 1679.
Sir Lawrence Washington
Sir Lawrence Washington owned Garsdon Manor and lived there with his family from 1631 to 1671. His family had an association with Malmesbury through to ancestors who had been resident there at the start of the seventeenth century. He also owned the manor of West Amesbury which included Stonehenge.
Washington carried considerable alteration to the appearance of Garsdon Manor, considerably altering its original medieval appearance. Works included altering the style of the windows on the south and east facades.
In public life Washington held the post of Register of the Chancery following being dubbed knight by Charles I.
Sir Lawrence Washington died in 1643 at the age of 64, surviving his daughter Anne by one year. His wife Dame Anne, died in 1645 and the estate passed to their son Lawrence Washington the Younger.
The manor passed into the Shirley family when Elizabeth Washington, daughter of the Lawrence Washington the Younger, married Sir Robert Shirley of Staunton Harold in 1671.
The Washington Memorial to Sir Lawrence Washington and his wife Anne can be found in Garsdon churchyard.
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox one of the greatest political figures of the eighteenth century was born the second son of Henry first lord Holland, born in 1749 at the family seat at Foxley in Wiltshire. After attending Eton and Hertford College, Oxford he was elected to parliament in 1768, aged nineteen, to represent the family's pocket borough of Midhurst. Fox was appointed Junior Lord of the Admiralty in 1770. In December 1772 Fox became Lord of the Treasury but was dismissed by in February 1774 after criticising the influential artist and journalist, Henry Woodfall. He returned to the House of Commons as MP for Malmesbury in 1774. Later, 1784, he was elected MP for Westminster.
In an era when the political and industrial landscape was rapidly changing, Fox advocated parliamentary reform to get rid of rotten and pocket boroughs which could be bought by would-be MPs, in favour of creating new constituencies in the expanding industrial towns.
Out of office, Charles Fox opposed North's policy towards America. He denounced the taxation of the Americans without their consent. When war broke out Fox called for a negotiated peace.
Fox anticipated the creation of a liberal, constitutional monarchy following the French Revolution of 1789 and was horrified when King Louis XVI was executed. Fox criticised the government for going to war against France in 1793 and called for a negotiated end to the dispute. His stance in this matter led to him being perceived as unpatriotic by many people.
While Fox disapproved of the ideas presented in Tom Paine's 'Rights of Man', he valued traditional freedoms and consistently opposed their restriction. This is demonstrated in his support of parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation as well as his opposition to the suspension of habeas corpus and to the continuation of the slave trade.
In 1806 Fox was appointed Foreign Secretary in Lord Grenville's administration. Despite intense negotiations, he was unable to end hostilities with the French. In the summer of the same year he was taken ill shortly after speaking in the House of Commons in favour of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill. His health never recovered. Fox died on 13th September 1806.
Walter Powell M.P.
Born in 1842 into a wealth industrial family, Walter Powell was educated at Rugby School. He moved to North Wiltshire in 1867, renting Dauntsey House. In 1868 he was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for Malmesbury and was duly elected later that year.
As well as taking an interest in matters of national importance raised in the House of Commons, he ensured his involvement in Bills that affected his constituents. These included supporting funds for turnpike roads being drawn from the Treasury rather than town councils and applying for a military pay station to be opened in Malmesbury. His popularity was evident in his greatly increased majority in the 1880 general election.
A large degree of this popularity resulted from his generosity to the people of Malmesbury. In 1870 he provided a reading room with a library in the town. In 1873 he established the Ragged School. In addition he and his wife frequently aided Sunday School outings and children's teas. a keen collector of magic lantern slide shows, he laid on magic lantern evenings for wide ranging audiences from children to working men, on a range of educational and entertaining topics.
Walter Powell is also remembered as a balloonist. He had first discovered this activity through Henry Coxwell, a highly regarded balloonist of the time. Walter Powell received formal training in flying balloons and in June 1881 made a successful flight from Cross Hayes to Spirt Hill in 'Eclipse', the balloon of Thomas Wright. By the autumn of that year Walter Powell had his own balloon and was making regular flights over the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire countryside.
In December 1881, Powell and Captain James Templer, an experienced balloonist and Mr A Agg-Gardner, an interested party, took off from Bath in 'Saladin', a War Office balloon. Their flight took them south over Dorset where according to Captain Templer's account they attempted to land. As the basket approached the ground it tipped up and Captain Templer and Agg-Gardner fell out. Captain Templer retained a grip on the balloon's valve line and was dragged for some way until the balloon, with Walter Powell still aboard began to lift once more. As the balloon headed out to sea, Captain Templer telegraphed the local commander of the Royal Engineers for help. A search which continued into the winter night failed to find any trace of Walter Powell or 'Saladin'.
Harry Jones
At the turn of the nineteenth and on into the twentieth century, Harry Jones was a familiar figure of the Malmesbury scene. Described as 'a veritable John Bull….the embodiment of the spirit of Charles Dickens'; he is remembered as a larger than life character and noted raconteur. So well known was he as the landlord of the Kings Arms Hotel that friends writing from abroad would drawn a cartoon of him on the envelope, add the word 'Malmesbury' and it was sure to reach him.
The legend says that baby Harry and his twin brother came to Malmesbury from London in a cigar box carried by their father in 1853. Harry was educated at Chippenham Grammar School and apprenticed to a grocer. In 1878 he became the landlord of the Railway Hotel in Gloucester Road. A year later he inherited the Kings Arms Hotel from his father and remained there for the rest of his days. His reputation as a good host from the care of horses to the quality of the fare on the tables was enhanced by his famed gift for story-telling. Harry Jones entertained many noted figures at the Kings Arms. These included Lord Roberts, Sir John and Lady Fisher, the Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop of New York.
In addition to being a popular publican, Harry Jones gave much of his time to civic works and supporting local clubs and societies. In addition to being the town's Mayor for twelve years from 1895, he served as Chief Magistrate, a member of the Board of Guardians of the workhouse, Chairman of the Burial Board County Council, representative to school managers, president of the bowls club and chairman of the cricket club.
Harry Jones died on 21st August 1911 aged 58.
The Poole Brothers
In the days before television and cinema, entertainment's were provided using displays of panoramas of landscapes and recreated moments of history. On these, lights could be played to highlight a particular part of the story being told by the narrator. A musical accompaniment was also a regular part of such a show. A particular form of these shows was the 'myriorama'. This was a picture made up of several smaller pictures, drawn on separate sheets so as to allow a variety of combinations of scenes to be displayed.
The Poole family first became involved in this sort of entertainment when Charles and George Poole were employed as musicians by Moses Gompertz, a famous owner of diorama shows. The brothers were born in the 1820s at Avoncliffe and Calne respectively. The family moved to Malmesbury sometime before 1841.
In the later 1800s all five Poole brothers rose to be among the most notable of the diorama showmen with their particular style of 'myriorama' shows, and having up to five shows touring at any one time. The subjects of these shows were kept very current, favouring themes of recent wars from across the British Empire as well as an ever popular 'phantascope', Pepper's Ghost. Keeping the performances up to date required a production studio of substantial proportions. The eldest brother, Joseph returned to Malmesbury in 1883 to operate just such a studio, near his home, Verona house. In addition Joseph Poole managed two of the Poole's myrioramas constantly touring the country.
Joseph Poole became one of the leading citizens of Malmesbury, being Alderman for two terms as well as mayor and on the Technical Education Committee. He was also active in the Malmesbury Fat Stock Show. Poole owned a hundred acre farm in the borough and exhibited at the Fat Stock Show, winning several first and second prizes.
One of the other Poole brothers, George, was also a myriorama showman for many years as he and his other brothers toured with all the shows put together by Joseph. However, by 1880 George had decided to retire from the touring side of the business, employing a manager to tour with the show in his place. George became the landlord of the Railway Hotel in Malmesbury. His decision to walk about the town clad in a suit in the colours of the various political parties prior to one general election marks him out as a showman.
Charles Poole continued to work with the touring myrioramas as well as dabbling in quack medicines for a brief period. He eventually bought the Albert Hall in Gloucester which became a permanent venue for myriorama shows. As business boomed he had studios producing myrioramas in London, Brighton and Kings Lynn as well as the one in Malmesbury.
The younger two brothers, Harry and Fred, set up a further studio in Malmesbury as Messrs. H. & F. Poole of Malmesbury. Although both continued to tour, Harry eventually turned to his interest in farming but remained in contact with the studio where Fred continued to capture the popular mood with a wide range of 'pictures'.
Charles Poole Junior went into the myriorama business but correctly guessed the future of the trade when he opened the 'Empire Electric Picture House', the first cinema in Taunton, in 1910. The younger generation of Pooles swiftly expanded their entertainment's empire into cinema but this business had its main focus away from Wiltshire, favouring the Devon coast.
