Images Dated 2018 October

Maria Asumpta, Charlestown, Cornwall. August 1991

The tall ship Maria Asumpta enters Charlestown harbour. The oldest sailing ship in the world still sailing at that time, was invited to the port by the Charlestown Heritage and Trading Company. She spent two days in the port and acted as the venue for a sea shanty festival. The ship was launched at Badalona, Spain, in 1858 and was used to ship textiles between Argentina and Spain. Renamed Pepita in the 1930s, Cuidad de Inca in 1953, she was given back her original name in 1988. In 1995 the Maria Asumpta was on her first voyage after a refit in Gloucester when she hit bad weather and on the afternoon of 30th May prepared to enter Padstow harbour. The captain, Mark Litchfield, decided to sail between The Mouls and Pentire Point, not a route recommended by the Admiralty, she hit rocks and the crew abandoned ship with three men losing their lives. Mr Litchfield was charged with manslaughter due to gross negligence, was found guilty and jailed for 18 months. Photographer: Jonathan Barker

© RIC, photographer Jonathan Barker

The Lennox-Boyd brothers. Around 1912

Studio photograph of Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd with his brothers. From left to right: George Edward Lennox-Boyd (1902-1943), Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd (1904-1983), Donald Breay Hague Lennox-Boyd (1906-1939), Francis Gordon Lennox-Boyd (1909-1944). Born on 18th November 1904, Alan was the son of Alan Walter Lennox-Boyd and Florence Annie Begbie. Educated at Sherborne School, Dorset, and Christ Church, Oxford, he married Lady Patricia Florence Susan Guinness on 29th December 1938 and died on 8th March 1983. He held the office of Member of Parliament (Conservative) for Mid-Bedfordshire between 1931 and 1960, holding the positions of Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour in 1938, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aircraft Production in 1943, Minister of State for Colonial Affairs 1951-1952, Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, 1952-1954 and Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, 1954-1959. He served as Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War, was admitted to Inner Temple in 1941 and entitled to practise as a Barrister at Law. Appointed Privy Counsellor in 1951, he held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire between 1954 and 1960, was managing director of Arthur Guinness & Sons between 1959 and 1967 and appointed Companion of Honour in 1960. He was created 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton in September 1960 and that same year, his wife, Patricia, Viscountess Boyd, purchased Ince Castle in St Stephens by Saltash, Cornwall. In 1965, Viscount Boyd held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall. He died on 8th March 1983. The Boyd family lived at Ince Castle until 2018. George, a Major in the Highland Light Infantry, died in a military hospital in Scotland; Donald, a Captain in the Scots Guards, died in custody in Germany in events leading up to the Second World War; Francis, a Major in the Royal Scots Greys, was killed in action at Normandy, France, during the Second World War while leading 22nd Independent Parachute Company. Photographer: Debenham & Gould, Bournemouth

© From the collection of the RIC

A view of the front of Carlyon Bay Hotel after the fire in 1931, St Austell, Cornwall. 27th-28th December 1931

"Built in 1925, this was the first hotel at Carlyon Bay and was originally called the St Austell Bay Hotel. The hotel quickly became a fashionable choice with movie stars and celebrities and was frequented by a famous Royal visitor, Edward, then Prince of Wales, and his future wife, Mrs Wallis Simpson. The building suffered the devastating fire on 27th December 1931. Locals who rushed to the scene to help were met with the sight of furniture being frantically thrown from the windows to save it from the flames. During the war years, two boys schools from Canterbury, The Kings School and St Edmund's, were evacuated to the hotel to escape the Blitz. In March 1944, General Montgomery came to the hotel to inspect the schools cadet force. (In April 2015, a special 70th Anniversary Reunion was hosted at the hotel for the surviving evacuees and their partners). There was considerable excitement when Sir Winston Churchill stayed at the hotel with his wife Clementine in 1953. The hotel became part of the Brend Group in 1982". Source: Brend Hotels, 2018. It remains a top class hotel and boasts a championship golf course. Photographer: Probably Arthur William Jordan

© From the collection of the RIC