Sir Lancelot Rolleston and his wife Lady Maud were certainly no strangers to visiting Royalty.
Queen Elizabeth was very close to her grandparents. Here she is aged 6 as
Princess Elizabeth with them on the way back to
Balmoral after attending church at nearby Crathie in September 1932. All through her long life, Balmoral Castle on Royal Deeside was one of the few places she could relax and do the things she loved.
From Newark, the King and Queen went to Welbeck Abbey where the Duke of Portland, William Cavendish-Bentinck in his capacity as Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, was due to host them for the night. Very similar to the plot of the Downton Abbey film for you Downton fans! The next day they were due in Nottingham for the opening of the new University of Nottingham main campus, paid for to the tune of £1 million by Sir Jesse Boot, and to open the Royal Agricultural Show.
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Watnall Station prepares to welcome
the King and Queen in 1914 |
On a previous royal visit to Nottinghamshire in
June 1914, King George and Queen Mary had used the tiny railway station at Watnall while on a 3 day tour of the county. There is no obvious reason why
Watnall station should be used unless perhaps they were visiting Watnall Hall and there is a
strong royal connection to the Rolleston family that goes back to the King George's early years in the Navy. When the king was a 13-year-old Navy cadet
aboard the training ship HMS Britannia at Dartmouth, Sir Lancelot's younger brother
Lieutenant Robert Sidney Rolleston was one of his tutors.
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| From another angle - 1914 Watnall Station spruced up for the Royal visit |
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| Picture in the King's keepsake album |
Lieutenant Rolleston's picture was one of just a few included in a keepsake photo album presented to the king as a souvenir of his time as a cadet. He had been sent off with his older brother Prince Albert to toughen them up and instil some discipline but young George was small and had a rough time with bullies. He recalls "It never did me any good to be a Prince. The Britannia was a pretty tough place, and so far from our benefiting, the other cadets made a point of taking it out of us, on the grounds that they would never be able to do it later on. There was a lot of fighting among the cadets, and the rule was if challenged you had to accept. So they used to make me go up and challenge the bigger cadets. I was awfully small then, and I'd get a hiding time and again. But one day I was landed one on the nose that made me bleed. It was the best blow I ever had, as the doctor forbade me to fight any more."
When the King came to power in 1910, Sir Lancelot himself was quite a high profile soldier and statesman. He was in command of the Yeomanry Brigade cavalry at the King's Coronation ceremony. When Sir Lancelot received his knighthood in 1911 it was King George V who bestowed the honour.
His royal duties had begun in 1878 when as a 31-year-old Captain he had escorted the Prince and Princess of Wales on a visit to open the Nottingham Museum at the castle. The Mayor expressed his thanks as follows...
"My Lord, I am directed by the Mayor and Town Council of this Borough to express to you their most grateful acknowledgments for kindly furnishing to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales an escort from the Regiment under your command, on the occasion of the recent visit of their Royal Highnesses to this town. The Mayor will be glad if you will convey to Captain Francklin, Captain Rolleston, Captain Charlton, Captain Evans, Lieutenant Thackeray, and Lieutenant Fellows, the officers in command of the escort, his sincere thanks for the efficient way in which they discharged their duties. I am, my Lord, your most obedient servant."
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| 1914 Royal visit commemorative medal |
The 1914 Royal Nottinghamshire tour included a
visit to the home of local miner Elijah Mottishaw in Forest Town near Mansfield. Everywhere along the route, there were people cheering and waving flags. Many of them watched in amazement when the royal car stopped just before it reached the entrance to the
Forest Town Institute grounds; it had stopped in front of number 8 Second Avenue, the home of an ordinary working miner!
This was the home of Elijah and Sarah Mottishaw, and while it was rumoured the royal party were to visit a miner’s cottage it is reasonable to assume that only a select few would have known that the Mottishaw’s were to be the honoured family.
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Elijah and Sarah Mottishaw
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The King and Queen stepped out of their car and walked up to Elijah Mottishaw, a bearded man who stood at the door with his wife and daughter.
The Queen is reported to have said,
“We have come to see you, may we come in?” It was said
‘the couple were too surprised and delighted to respond in words but Mrs Mottishaw curtsied, and led the way into their cottage followed by the King, the Queen, and the Duke of Portland.’They were shown into a well-furnished parlour and admired the harmonium, china and a photograph of their son. The King was interested to discover more about the flag that he had noticed flying from the upstairs window of the house. Elijah Mottishaw told him that the flag came from Nanamimo, a mining camp in British Columbia, where he had once lived and worked. He had been in British Columbia ten years before eventually retuning to England. Elijah now aged 56, had been working at Mansfield Colliery for around eight years, and their Majesties discovered he was a ‘Butty Miner’. I wonder if the royal visit is why Mansfield pit was always called "Crownie"?
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| Queen Elizabeth gew'in down't pit |
Queen Elizabeth herself was no stranger to a coalmine. One of the Queen's most unusual visits was in 1958 to the newly-opened Rothes Colliery in Fife. In a white boiler suit, white headscarf and miner's helmet, she descended 1,600ft (500m) in the cage to walk to the coal face.
She was the first monarch since George V to go into a pit, and newsreel pictures at the end of the visit show the boiler suit was
still pristine white.
During the 1914 visit, the King and Queen's motorcade also went through Eastwood, past Beauvale School and through Hucknall. Everywhere they went the crowds were out in numbers and the buildings were decorated in bunting and Union Jacks.
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1914 - crowds gather outside Beauvale School
awaiting the royal motorcade |
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June 25th 1914 - Crowds in Hucknall Market Place
greet the King and Queen |
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1914 - Watnall Station prepares to greet the Royal party.
Did they leave from here or arrive? |
The Royal couple's visit to Watnall is intriguing and leaves several questions unanswered. Why use such a small railway station for such a prestigious visit? How involved was Colonel Rolleston? Did they visit the hall? And was the Colonel's brother, now promoted to Vice-Admiral, there to meet his former pupil from HMS Britannia?
The 2 royal princes spent several years together in the Navy, first on Lt. Robert Rolleston's training ship HMS Britannia in 1877 and then on a 3 year world tour on HMS Bacchante from 1879. Prince George's elder brother Albert was next in line to the throne but destiny and his poor health intervened. Albert's health had never been good and, aged 28, he died during the 1892 influenza pandemic. George not only inherited his brother's sovereignty, he also married Albert's fiancé Princess Mary of Teck. They married in 1893 and when he ascended the throne in 1910 as King George V, she become his queen consort, Queen Mary. Fortunately the marriage proved to be a long and happy one. The king and queen were very popular as can be seen from the pictures of the 1914 visit, as the country prepared for the impending WW1. Indeed it was only 3 days later on June 28th 1914 that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, starting the events that led to war. The Archduke himself had visited Nottinghamshire just 6 months previously and had almost been killed in a hunting accident at Welbeck Abbey. How the events of world history could have been changed!
Click on the video above to see news reel film of the Royal visit to Nottingham from June 24th 1914. The film shows King George V and Queen Mary arriving outside the old Exchange council house on the market square accompanied by the Duke of Portland and a host of other dignitaries then in a landau, again with the Duke, in front of a large crowd of waving children on the Forest.
You can read more about Robert Sidney Rolleston by clicking here on the Tales from Watnall hall website
Notes and Sources :
https://www.ourmansfieldandarea.org.uk/content/topics/royal-events/royal_visit_to_a_miners_cottage; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-40352697;
The Royal visit to the Mansfield area was part of a three day tour of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire which commenced in Nottingham on the 24th June 1914. After a busy first day the Royal visitors stayed overnight at Welbeck with the Duke of Portland. On the 25th June King George V and Queen Mary visited Mansfield where at a ceremony in the Market Place the King pressed an electric button to officially open the new wing of the Mansfield [General] Hospital. The Royal party then proceeded to Messrs., Barringer and Wallis where they made a tour of every department under the guidance of Mr W H Reddan and Mr A H Wallis. From Mansfield they went to Forest Town where they made an unexpected call to the cottage of miner Elijah Mottishaw and his wife. (See our page ‘Royal Visit to a Miners Cottage’ under Places/Forest Town). These visits were memorable occasions for people in the Mansfield Area and were reported in many newspapers both local and national. https://www.ourmansfieldandarea.org.uk/content/topics/royal-events/royal_visit_to_mansfield
1914 Royal visit to Nottinghamshire video https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-royal-visit-to-nottingham-1914-online
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a28472902/king-george-v-queen-mary-princess-mary-visit-downton-abbey-movie-true-story/
Image ID: 11908 King George V and Queen Mary Visit to Newark Castle, 1928. Courtesy of Nottinghamshire Archives. Castlegate, Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire, England. On the left of the Queen are Coun. CH Dale (Mayor), Col. RFB Hodgkinson, Major H Tallents (Town Clerk). Right of the King are Viscount Galway, Sir Lancelot and Lady Maud Rolleston, Sir Ernest Jardine Bart, Mr KT Meaby, and Colonel and Mrs Lemon. Date: 09/07/1928
http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/H.M.S._Britannia_(Training_Ship)
Statham, Commander E. P., R.N. (1904). The Story of the "Britannia": The Training Ship for Naval Cadets: With Some Account of Naval Education and of the New Scheme of 1903. London: Cassell and Company, Limited. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46788/46788-h/46788-h.htm#Page_49
In January, 1877, the Prince of Wales’s two sons, Prince Edward—then known as Prince Albert Victor and Prince George, joined the Britannia. They had special quarters allotted to them, but in other respects they were “in the same boat” with the remainder of the cadets, to whom they were a source of much interest. The “divinity that doth hedge a king,” or its equivalent in the case of a prince, is considerably discounted among a lot of boys, and the two [107]Royal cadets often found themselves the target of endless interrogations, resulting from the curiosity of their shipmates.
“I say, how do you like being a Prince?” “What do you do when you’re at home?” “Do you ever get licked?” and so on.
Prince Edward, having recently recovered from a severe illness, and not being really intended for the Navy, was left to do pretty much as he pleased in the matter of study, etc. He was sent to the Britannia principally with the object of benefiting by the change and healthy outdoor life.
Prince George, however, went through all the work, and the impression he produced was that he was a sharp lad, and, though very backward on joining, turned to with a will, and passed out very creditably. He used to tell the seamanship instructors not to bother about his brother, who was not going to sea, but to devote their attention to him.
Royal Collection - Lt Rolleston's picture presented to George V by Mr Dalton his tutor. Description - Photograph of Sidney Rolleston in naval uniform, standing by armchair; his hat on the chair.
Royals’ pit stop in grieving community
During the 1912 Royal visit to South Yorkshire, King George V and Queen Mary shared unexpected periods of sheer joy and deep sorrow with the local mining communities.Arriving in the luxurious Royal train at Doncaster station on the afternoon of Monday, July 8, the purpose of the visit was said to be to “acquaint themselves with the lives, work and homes of their industrial subjects”.
The Royal cavalcade motored in style through streets bedecked with bunting and thronged with cheering, flag waving crowds, before beginning a journey westwards to Earl Fitzwilliam’s Wentworth Woodhouse. Along the way the King repeatedly raised his hat and the Queen bowed her head.
A brief stop was taken to view and walk round the unique 12th century castle at Conisbrough. The King, resplendent in a grey suit, brown bowler hat and a red and black tie, and with white spats over brown boots, was shown the most remarkable features of the keep, dungeon, the armoury, the fireplaces, in which he was especially fascinated, and other objects of antiquarian interest.This was the first time the castle had been visited by a reigning English monarch since King John visited in 1201.
An estimated 30, 000 witnessed the event of 1912. After taking tea in the royal pavilion, comprising a small, beautifully fitted tent, with ivory muslin and festooned with flowers, the King and Queen left shortly after five and continued their journey to Wentworth, staying overnight. While at breakfast, the King heard of the disaster at Cadeby Colliery, only a short distance from Conisbrough castle, which he had visited the previous day.
The news did not deter him from carrying out his intention of descending the Elsecar mine later in the day. Rumours that he had abandoned his intentions were rife, and there was great enthusiasm amongst the miners when they found the rumours were unfounded.
The King and Queen began their day by motoring to Clifton Park, Rotherham, and there they shook hands with a disabled boy, Ambrose John Rowe. Two years earlier, having lost both legs, he wrote to the King for help. He had since been provided with limbs funded from the Royal purse.
A short drive was undertaken to nearby Silverwood colliery. First, the Royal party watched the coal emerging from the shafts at the rate of three hundred tons an hour and then being weighed before it was transferred into the screening house. Into the latter building, the King descended amid the roar of machinery for sifting and sorting the coal.
Meanwhile, the Queen mounted a platelayer’s trolley, accompanied by Lady Fitzwilliam, hostess at Wentworth Woodhouse, and Lady Eva Dugdale. Workers pushed the trolley along a track, giving the Queen a ride to the winding engine house, where the King re-joined her. Almost an hour was spent at the colliery. The Royal party then headed eastwards through Rawmarsh, Swinton, Mexborough, High Melton, Sprotbrough and on to Woodlands, a model village inhabited by miners at Brodsworth colliery, Doncaster.
They were greeted by Charles Thelluson, of Brodsworth Hall, who was also the High Sheriff of Yorkshire. The purpose of the visit was to view a collier’s house and they toured round the home of coal getter William Brown, at no. 33 The Park. The entourage then drove away to begin a short journey westwards, through Brodsworth village, to Hickleton Hall, the seat of the Viscount Halifax, where they took lunch.
Later in the afternoon, Elsecar colliery, owned and worked by Earl Fitzwilliam, was their next stop. The King descended to a depth of 350 yards in just over a minute and spent forty minutes underground. Cheers resounded up the shaft on his arrival. He was supplied with an electric hand lamp, the other members in the party with ordinary safety lamps. In the pit the King borrowed a miner’s pick and did some hewing. The Elsecar visit made King George V the first British King to descend a coal mine. At about 7pm, the Royal couple returned to Conisbrough and visited Cadeby Colliery, where 88 men had lost their lives as a result of two explosions. This showed, it was loudly trumpeted in the Press, that the King and Queen shared in the sorrows as well as the joys of the nation. In a low-key arrival, the couple did not go to the pit where the disaster had occurred, but to the colliery company’s offices, situated a few hundred yards from the pithead. As the Queen came into view, it was seen that tears were trickling down her cheeks. The King was also touched. The gathered crowd seemed to be struggling between loyalty and a sense of grief. A faint cheer broke out, but the King raised his hand as if to say “Don’t.”
Once they had left, the colliery management issued a message from the couple: “They command me to say to all those who have suffered a loss of any who are dear to them their deep sympathy with them in their grief.”
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