Francis Waring the Vicar in a Hurry.

In the early 18^th century Francis Waring was vicar of Heybridge in Essex. He liked to get through a service as quickly as possible. Having set up a small clock on a ledge, he sped through the lessons, delivered a quick fire sermon consisting of two aphorisms and a proverb, ran down the aisle, jumped onto his horse and galloped off to repeat the performance at two neighboring churches.

He was noted, too, for an idiosyncratic dress sense, appearing in church in hats of his own devising, and on one occasion being loudly rebuked by his bishop for wearing purple at important ecclesiastical functions. The bishop was handed a card – kept in readiness for just such a purpose- on which was written, “How very good of you to notice. Do let me recommend my tailor.”

Dennis Collins and Pension Rights.

In 1832, Dennis Collins an able seaman who had lose a leg at the battle of Trafalgar, limped 21 miles from London to Ascot, where he attended the races and threw a stone at King William IV as a protest against the removal of his pension rights. The stone dented the King’s top hat and Collins was sentenced to be hanged.

This was later commuted to deportation, but Collins died before he could be shipped out to the Caribbean.

The Storming of Badajoz

At the storming of Badajoz in 1812, George Hennell was attached to the 94^th Foot as a volunteer.

Here he describes his baptism of fire:

“The dead and wounded lay so thick that we were continually treading on them (I must tell the facts). The men were not so eager to go up the ladders as I expected they would be. They were as thick as possible in the ditch and, the officers desiring them to go up. I stopped about two minutes likewise.  The men were asking ‘Where’s is the 74th?’ ‘Where is the 95th?’ I perceived they were looking for their regiments rather than the ladders. I went up to the ladder, and when about half way up I called out, ‘Here is the 94^th!’ and was glad to see the men begin to mount.”