ISLAND KINGDOM CHANGES HANDS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 121, 8 February 1918, Page 6

ISLAND KINGDOM CHANGES HANDS

e LUNDY ISLE, IN BRISTOL CHANNEL. The recent purchase of Lundy Isle, in the Bristol Channel, by Mr. Augustus Langham Christie, a brother-m----law of the Earl of Portsmouth,_ and the owner of extensive properties in North Devon, opens another chapter in the chequered history of this little island set in the silvery ,sea (writes a correspondent of the "Morning Post"). Lundy is an important bit of the British Empire, yet for more than a hundred and fifty years it has been ruled and governed without reference to Downing Street. The celebrated auctioneer, Mr. George Robins, did not transgress the bounds of veracity when, in putting up tho island for sale about eighty years ago, he described the owner as "sovereign lord of tho island, with an independence far exceeding some of the minor foreign potentates." To the Rev. Hudson Heaven, tho recent owner of Lundy, it was a source of supreme satisfaction that while the island had neither rates nor taxes it likewise had no poor, because everyone of its hundred odd inhabitants was in tfonstantemployment, and no police, because there was no need for a single constable. The Revenue Department was kind enough to ignore the existence of the island, for there was no gun, dog, or liquor licence to pay, and 'the peoplo were altogether exempt from the Liquor Laws, tho Game Laws, and the Education Act. It was, and is, ex-tra-parochial, and with the motor-car it is totally unacquainted. , How conies it that Lundy offers such passive resistance to the King s \Vrit without let or hindrance? The answer may be found in the long and curious history of the island. The first bit of authentic history is to be found in the records of the Eleventh Century, when Sir Jordan de Marisco was tlio lord, and spent his time ju building Marisco Castle and otherwise strengthening his stronghold. Soon after Henry II came to the Throne Lundy was declared forfeit to the Crown, because of the "obnoxious conduct" of the then lord, and granted to the Knights Templars. The Templars never actually took possession, and eventually the island was restored to tho Marisco family, but the attempted murder of Henry . 111, at tho instigation of William de Marisco, proved the undoing of that unworthy race. William and sixteen of I his associates —criminals and outlaws whom he had gathered together to help j him '.n his fell desian, were captured and hanged, and the island wrested from his family. For two or three hundred yenrs Lundy was in possession of | one or another owner, who owed that | favour to tho Crown. Edward 11, fly- ■ ing from the rebellious Barons, would have taken refuge there, hut was prevented by the contrary winds. The only people at one time who found safety in the island were pirates and smugglers, who pursued their nefarious conduct in the Channel, the former be- | ing a particular terror to tho captains , of merchant ships. , In 1746 Lundy was granted by lease I to Thomas Benson, a member of an old Bideford .'family, with large trading , interests with France, Portugal, and i tho colonies. Beii6on entered into a i contract with the Government to trans- [ port convicts to Virginia and Maryland, i but he had a profiteer's notion of ful- . filling his bond, aud took his charges , only as far as the island, where ho em-, i ployed theni in building walls and • otherwise improving his property. His • excuso was this: "They arc transported ■, from England, and it does not matter • whero they arc so long as they are out of tho Kingdom." Twice the island ; has been in the hands of foreigners— i once when it was captured by a band of Turkish pirates, who threatened to burn tho town of llfracombe; and, sec- ' ondlv, in the time of William 11, by i French privateers, who gained posses- • sion by landing a coffin filled with arms l and ammunition, on pretoneo that it . contained the. body oi their captain, i whom the.v were anxious to bury in consecrated ground. Lundy in 1836 was purchased by the late Mr. Heaven's father —a West Tn- ■ dia planter, who attributed his com- ■ parative poverty to the Emancipation 1 Act and free trade in sugar. Father 1 and son in succession ruled the island • as benevolent autocrats until a year 1 or two afo. when the son died, rich in I years and honour. So far as money, ' i;ood intentions, and eneriry emild co, ' 1m had mado Lu»dy, in nnnular pun- ' niug phrase, the "Kingdom of ' Henveu," nnd .this, one hones, it will >, remain under its new owner.