By Martin Brisland.
In 1896 a young boy arrived in Southampton from South Africa on the SS Guelph.
John Ronald Reul Tolkien would go on to create The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Some say he used Southampton as the inspiration for Southfarthing, a part of the Shire in The Lord of the Rings. He also calls the seaport
Grey Havens, possibly inspired by the grey medieval walls of the Old Town. In 1915 he left from Southampton for the Western Front as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He had trench fever and returned to Southampton in November 1916 on the hospital ship, Asturias.
The former Portswood Hotel was renamed The Hobbit pub in 1989 after J.R.R. Tolkien’s book. In 2012, the pub was accused of copyright infringement, a move criticised by many including Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen. The live music venue in Bevois Valley Road still uses the name.
In 1904, Southampton Common was used for a large-scale army camp involving the First Army Corps. Twelve thousand men and three thousand horses boarded troopships in the docks before a mock invasion of Clacton on Sea led by General Sir John French in September that year. Ten years later we were at war with Germany.
Jack Mantle was born in London on 12th April 1917. After his mother died when he was two years old his father remarried and moved to Southampton.
The family lived at 2 Malvern Road off Winchester Road. He attended Taunton’s School and joined the Royal Navy in 1934. Jack trained as a gunner and served on convoy protection duty. In 1940 Jack joined HMS Foylebank an armed merchant ship converted into merchant cruiser to defend the convoys.
On 4th July 1940, a convoy assembled at Portland came under attack. HMS Foylebank was defending the convoy with Leading Seaman Jack Mantle, 23, on board.
Mantle was one of the few naval gunners to have previously shot down an enemy aircraft and he was positioned at the starboard pom-pom gun. Despite serious injuries and a shattered leg, he continued to fire at the enemy aircraft after his ship was struck. Jack lost his life in the action and HMS Foylebank was sunk.
For his bravery Jack was awarded the Victoria Cross which was presented to his parents by the King at Buckingham Palace in 1941, the only VC awarded for an act of valour on mainland Britain. Only about 1,400 have ever been awarded.
Jack’s Corner play area at the Sports Centre in Southampton is an official war memorial in his honour.
The Victoria Cross is the highest and most prestigious award of the honours system and was introduced on 1st January 1856 during the Crimean War by Queen Victoria.
The medals are still cast from bronze taken from Chinese cannon captured from the Russians at Sevastopol in the Crimea in 1855.
Further Heritage: Quirky Southampton articles can be found below:
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