One surname you won’t meet in today’s Cornwall is Bodrugan. The name has its origin in a place overlooking St Austell Bay near Mavagissey. It means Rygan’s farmstead and was acquired by the family that had emerged as the owners of the local manor by the 1200s. By the 1320s Otto Bodrugan was one of … Continue reading Who were the Bodrugans?
Category: people
Silas Hocking: a Cornish record-breaker
This week sees the anniversary of the death of Silas Hocking in 1935. Largely forgotten now, Silas was the first writer in the world to sell over a million copies of a novel. This was his second book, Her Benny, published in 1879. It was a sentimental tale of child poverty and rags to riches … Continue reading Silas Hocking: a Cornish record-breaker
Charles Causley
The Cornish poet Charles Causley was born in Launceston on August 24th, 1917. The Seasons in North Cornwall O Spring has set off her green fusesDown by the Tamar today,And careless, like tide-marks, the hedgesAre bursting with almond and may. Here lie I waiting for old summer,A red face and straw-coloured hair has he:I shall … Continue reading Charles Causley
Admiral Boscawen
There used to be a pub in Truro called the Admiral Boscawen. But who was Admiral Boscawen? Born this week in 1711, Edward Boscawen was the third son of the first Viscount Falmouth of nearby Tregothnan. He went on to become one of the leading naval officers of the day and a British war hero. … Continue reading Admiral Boscawen
Henry Jenner
On this day in 1848 Henry Jenner was born at St Columb. Jenner played a key role in the Cornish ‘revival’ that began in the 1870s and has long been regarded as the patriarch of Cornish revivalism. However, he wasn’t brought up in Cornwall, having been taken with his family to Essex and then Kent … Continue reading Henry Jenner
John Spargo; a forgotten Cornishman
John Spargo was born at Longdowns, a few miles north-west of Penryn, in 1876. He became a stonecutter, working at one of the quarries that had made the district the centre of the Cornish granite industry from the 1840s. He also became a Wesleyan Methodist lay preacher. So far, so typical. But the young John … Continue reading John Spargo; a forgotten Cornishman
Billy Bray: Methodist folk hero
On this day in 1794 William Trewartha Bray was born in the hamlet of Twelveheads, tucked away at the bottom of the Poldice valley between Redruth and Penryn. His father died when he was young and the family then moved in with a grandfather. On his death in turn in 1811, William, by now known … Continue reading Billy Bray: Methodist folk hero
Bob Fitzsimmons: Cornwall’s world boxing champion
Cornwall can claim a world boxing champion. And not just a champion but someone who won three world championships at different weights – middle, heavy and light heavy. The house in Wendron Street where Bob was born In actual fact, Bob Fitzsimmons’ connection to Cornwall was rather tangential. Born in Helston on this day in … Continue reading Bob Fitzsimmons: Cornwall’s world boxing champion
Sir William Molesworth: an enigmatic Victorian
Sir William Molesworth is a character from the past who deserves more than the footnote usually devoted to him in histories of Cornwall. Born in May 1810, he was the eighth in a line of baronets and heir to Pencarrow, near Wadebridge. But he was an anomaly: patrician in appearance and manner but democratic in … Continue reading Sir William Molesworth: an enigmatic Victorian
An idiot’s guide to the life and death of Richard Trevithick
Books have been written about him, poems dedicated to him, statues erected in his honour, plaques affixed to significant buildings and locations in his life, university libraries named after him. He even has his own festival. It’s time this blog offered its own stripped-down guide to the life of Richard Trevithick as this month sees … Continue reading An idiot’s guide to the life and death of Richard Trevithick
Cornish studies resources 