Interesting book about Cornwall - 'The Kings General' by Daphne DuMaurier

Hello Vosper Cousins!

I have just finished reading the Daphne DuMaurier book, "The Kings General".  It is a historical novel, thinly veiled as an unusual 'romance' novel.  Before I read this book I had heard of the Magna Carte, but had no knowledge of the fact that there had been a civil war in England, nor of the effect it had on the people of Cornwall.  This novel does an excellent job of explaining the military and political maneuvers of the Royalist cause, as well as describing the horrible economic results of the years of conflict.

Here is a snippet from the Wikipedia entry:

(I have created an "icon" from this media item, and attached it as a fact to those people living during that time)

I had only gotten to the introduction when I seized up the name "Grenvile" – "Sir Richard Grenvile, the Kings General in the West" – when I thought, "That's one of our Vosper Ancestors!"

Indeed it is! 

Jane Grenville was my (our) 12^th great grandmother.     You should note that Jane lived from 1474-1551, and this book takes place from 1640-1656, so, several generations later.  In other words, the Richard Grenvile in this book was not a direct ancestor of ours, but was most likely a cousin.  From the chart above you can see that Joseph Vosper, Judith Dinham, and Mary Frane would all have lived through the Civil War – and most of them died very young, probably as a result of the privations they experienced.

One of the phrases I seized upon, with a mind to our genealogy, is the following:  "….in Cornwall there are only two families that count for anything…the Grenviles and the Arundells." (page 12) You will note from the chart above that we also descend from the Arundells!

Much of the book takes place in the estate "Menabilly" – here is part of the Wikipedia article on Menabilly:

Tywardreath is located here:

One of the things I found interesting was the amount of travel that was going on in these early days, with trips to Truro, Launceston, Liskeard, and Plymouth mentioned regularly.   We stayed in Polperro, near Looe, when we visited Cornwall.  It wasn't terribly bad getting around by car, but I just can't image doing it on horseback!

I heartily recommend the book to everyone with an interest in understanding what our ancestors lived through in Cornwall.   Hard times, indeed!

In other Vosper news,

• I have made contact with a group of Vospers who live near me, but they did not know what branch they were descended from.  Supposedly I was referred to the family genealogist, but I have not heard from him.
• Our Australian Vosper family has agreed to do a Y DNA test!   YEAH!  I hope to receive it and get it out in the mail to them this week! 

Thinking of our Vosper cousins in Florida, and hoping they are managing well through Hurricane Matthew!

Cousin Teri

From: William Matthews
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2016 1:53 PM

Subject: Re: Interesting book about Cornwall

Hullo Teri

You have not heard from me for quite some time as we have been at our holiday home in the South of France for much of the summer where we did not have broadband....... that is until yesterday, Wednesday, when we got into the 21st. century and eventually we came on line. 

I notice that you are into Daphne du Maurier books such as The Kings General, and Frenchman's Creek as well as Jamaica Inn and all are set in Cornwall. One 'scene' in The Kings General I seem to recall from my reading of the book many years ago was set in Saltash!! The book is set during the English Civil War and, at the time, it was not unknown for executions to take place in the square at the back of St. Nicholas' Church that still stands just off Fore Street. I understand that there was a special piece of land just outside the churchyard of St. Stephens by Saltash church that was unconsecrated ground where villains and other unsavoury characters were buried.    In the early 20th. century when the churchyard was reaching capacity the churchyard was extended and actually embraced this land that originally was considered for people of ill repute but by then there would have been no trace of anyone buried there.

Daphne du Maurier lived in a house called Menabilly if my memory serves me correct and that is quite close to Tywardreath shown on your map. The settings for her books really do describe the Cornish landscape extremely well for those that live in more distant parts of the world and are not so familiar with the countryside.

Best wishes

Bill Matthews