Nelson & His World

Recently, a neighbour of ours compiled a history of Draycott, our small Somerset village that lies within the parish of Rodney Stoke. I was most interested to see this record [refD/P/rod.s23/2], now held in the Somerset Archives, of donations made by the villagers on 30 May 1798, totalling £9.12s 0d, towards supporting the cost of the Napoleonic Wars, and a receipt from the Bank of England for contributions from Rodney Stoke and Draycott residents for their contributions.(top image) I am grateful to the archivist for permission to reproduce the documents here. It is interesting to note that our parish’s contribution was numbered 3212, on a pro-forma receipt, indicative of widespread support for the cause.

The Rev. Mr Salmon’s heading to the list of contributors makes it very clear what the war was intended to preserve:

having made clear that the collection was for 'Voluntary Contributions towards the Support and Defence of Old England', he inserts as an emphatic afterhought ‘and its glorious and excellent contribution in Church and State’, against the threatened Attacks of a most daring and implacable Enemy, collected in the loyal little Parish of Rodney-Stoke, Somerset.'

Of even greater interest to me is the information that John Chapman Jnr made a donation of one shilling. Several generations of the Chapman family, yeoman farmers with land on the Somerset Levels, lived in our house until the end of the nineteenth century. By the mid-19th century, they owned 100 acres but maybe they weren’t quite so prosperous in 1798 and could afford only a shilling.

I don't have an ancestor who fought at Trafalgar, but it gives me much satisfaction to think that a former inhabitant of the home I'm typing this post in gave the king a shilling.

Mark:

to save you trawling through the list of threads, you'll see above the document showing the contribution of Draycott & Rodney Stoke to the Napoleonic Wars, with the rev. Mr Salmon's robust support.

On another tack, but as a matter of interest, Rodney Stoke was one of the very few places in the country which received home all its servicemen who fought in the First World War - no one was killed. These villages are known as 'Thankful Villages'. A few weeks ago, new signs were erected at the entrance to the village saying (somewhat belatedly?) Rodney Stoke, A Thankful Village.