Cornish Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Cornish Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Cornwall (England : County) -- Biography; Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
For several years Mr. Gurney resided at Hanacott Manor, near Launceston,
but he had also a house at Reeds, in Poughill by Bude, and the castle
at the latter place, which is usually let. He was knighted in 1863--a
tardy acknowledgment of his great services and extraordinary ability.
The honour came too late to really advantage him. That same year he was
stricken with paralysis, and therefore could do nothing in the way of
scientific research and invention. He was attended till his death by his
only child, a daughter, Miss Anna D. Gurney. He expired at Reeds on the
28th February, 1875, and was buried at Launcells in the graveyard just
under the south wall of the nave.
Like Henry Trengrouse, so with Sir Goldsworthy Gurney--a man of genius
and perseverance, and one who benefited mankind, received no adequate
recognition in his lifetime. May posterity do for him, as for
Trengrouse, what his contemporaries denied him. Mr. Smiles vainly
endeavoured to refuse to credit him with the invention of the
steam-blast; but the writer of his life in the _Dictionary of National
Biography_ afforded him tardy justice. "One soweth and another reapeth"
is true of all inventors with few exceptions. How much do we owe to Sir
Goldsworthy! He was the pioneer of locomotion by motors on our roads,
the salvation of many lives by the ventilation of coal-mines; he
invented the system of heating mansions by hot water, the flash-light
for lighthouses, the steam-blast revolutionizing locomotion by steam; he
showed that houses could be built on concrete foundations; he discovered
the limelight, the oxyhydrogen blow-pipe: and he was repaid with a
barren knighthood when about to be struck down by paralysis.
For his bounty,
There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas,
That grew the more by reaping.
_Antony and Cleopatra_, v. 2.
FOOTNOTE:
[13] Smiles (S.), _Lives of the Engineers_, Vol. III, p. 100. London,
1862.
THE JANES
The family of Jane, descended from the ancient family of Janes of
Worcestershire, was settled in Cornwall at an early date. It bore as its
arms, arg. a lion rampant az. between 3 escallops gules. It was settled
in S. Winnow early in the sixteenth century, and at the beginning of the
following century was at Lanhydrock and at Liskeard, at which latter
place Thomas Jane was mayor in 1621. His son Joseph Jane was M.P. for
Liskeard in 1625 and 1640, and was mayor in 1631, 1635, and 1636. He
married Loveday, daughter of William Kekewich, in 1633. He was a
whole-hearted Royalist, and when the King was at Oxford, in 1643, he
attended him there. In the following year he was one of the Royal
Commissioners in Cornwall, and when Charles I came to Cornwall, in 1644,
he entertained him in August in his house at Liskeard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account