Aldershot
Aldershot. The Home
of the British Army
The Garrison based at Aldershot was established in 1854,
when the War Department purchased a large area of land near Aldershot, with the
objective of establishing a permanent training camp. It is from the Garrison that grew into a military
town, and it is still used by the British Army today.
Located in the town is the church of St. Michael the
Archangel.
 |
| St. Michael the Archangel church, Aldershot |
The first bell was hanged in the late 14th
century. During the reign of Elizabeth
I, the tower was rebuilt and was used part at chain of beacons to warn against the
threats from the Spanish.
 |
| St. Michael the Archangel church, Aldershot |
The Civil War, Aldershot was set fire, during 1645, by
Royalist troops, the church was spared. Local
legend has it that after the Restoration of 1650, Nell Gwyne, mistress of
Charles II, was journeying from Portsmouth to London, when she stopped off in the area to give birth to her stillborn child.
It is said that this child is to have been buried under a tree in the
churchyard. However, there is no record
of this burial.
At the time, of the arrival of the British Army and the Crimean
War, 1855. St. Michael church underwent development
and expansion.
The church was enlarged again in 1911, and the old bells
were recast, and an additional three bells were added.
 |
| Harriet Sarah Lady Wantage Memorial Stone |
At the door of the bell tower is a memorial stone, laid in
1910, by Harriet Sarah Lady Wantage, commemorating her husband Robert Loyd
Lindsay, Lord Wantage. For his Unfailing interest in British Soldiery.
 |
| Robert Loyd Lindsay, Lord Wantage |
Robert Loyd Lindsay, Lord Wantage, British soldier, politician,
philanthropist and the first chairman and co-founder of the British National
Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War, later known as British Red Cross
Society.
July 1870, Franco-Prussian War had broken out, it is this spark,
that John Furley, the humanitarian, asked Loyd Lindsay to help to establish the
British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War. Furley, had himself been in touch with the
International Committee of the Red Cross, with the desire of establishing the British
national Red Cross society. 4th
August 1870, saw the resolve of the “a National Society be formed in this
county for aiding sick and wounded solder in time of war, and that the Society be
formed upon the Rules laid down by the Geneva Convention”. Loyd Lindsay remained until his death, 1901,
chairman.
One of the French commanders at the Franco-Prussian War, whom was made a Prisoner of War, was Napoleon III. He died three years later, 1873 at Chislehurst, Kent. His uncle was Napoleon I, who was interviewed by Mr J. H. Vivian, MP at Elba, during his Continent tour of Europe 1814-1815. Napoleon IIIs son Napoleon, Prince Imperial. He trained as a solider, he was serving with the British forces, when he killed by group of Zulus in a skirmish, 1879. Field Marshal Francis Grenfell was tasked to receive his body.
 |
| Harriet Sarah Jones Loyd, Lady Wantage Painted 1911, by Philip Alexius de Laszlo, Anglo-Hungarian painter |
Harriet Sarah Jones Loyd, Lady Wantage, was a British art
collector and benefactor. Some of her
notable paints in the collection include High Street, Oxford by J. M. W.
Turner. Part of Turner’s artwork can be found on the
new £20
Located nearby the church, in Manor Park, Aldershot is the impressive
red-bricked three-storey Manor House the former home of the Tichborne
family. After the last the family left their
home, and it was sold to the Aldershot Urban District Council in 1919. For some years is served at the Register
Office for Aldershot. One of the marriages performed there was Violette Szabo
GC to the Free French soldier Etienne Szabo in 1940.
 |
| Manor House, Aldershot |
Comments
Post a Comment