History 1925-1969 – the Harman era
Martin Coles Harman bought Lundy when it was put up for sale in 1925. He had visited the island in 1903 when he was an office boy, and the family story is that he declared to a friend on leaving that he would buy Lundy one day. Harman – often referred to as 'MCH' – firmly believed that Lundy was, in his words, “a self-governing dominion of the British Empire recognising King George as its head”. He ran the island as his private kingdom, relying for the actual organisation on his agent (and childhood friend), Felix Gade. Felix and Rene Gade lived permanently on Lundy for many decades while Martin Coles Harman ran his businesses in London and visited when he could with his family.
As part of his vision of an autonomous Lundy, Martin Coles Harman introduced his own stamps, which were first issued in 1929. They are still going today, by arrangement with the Post Office, and the Lundy stamp covers the cost of U.K. postage plus the cost of ferrying it across to the mainland. Lundy has the oldest private postal service in the world.
The stamps are denominated not in pennies but in puffins. Alongside the stamps, Harman had coinage minted for his kingdom in 1929 – one puffin and half-puffin coins, the same size and weight as the old pennies and ha'pennies. In this case, he overstepped the mark, because he had the coins struck with his head on them, not the King's. This led to a court case in the High Court in 1931 which he lost and the coins were withdrawn.
MCH may have had extreme ideas about Lundy's sovereign status, but he wasn't possessive about his domain. He enjoyed it hugely, and he wanted both his family and other people to enjoy it too. Since Victorian times, paddle steamers had criss-crossed the Bristol Channel, and they made regular visits to Lundy. Felix Gade, and especially his wife, Rene, set up facilities to welcome visitors to the island. The Manor Farm Hotel (now Old House) received staying visitors, and teas were provided for the day-trippers arriving on the steamers.
Lundy had a surprisingly interesting World War II. Things weren't always easy, though the islanders were used to being self-sufficient. Three aircraft crash-landed on Lundy during the War – two German Heinkels and an RAF Whitley bomber. Remains of the two Heinkels can still be found – if you know where to look.
A touching reminder of World War II can be seen in one of the quarries on the East Side. John Pennington Harman, the eldest son of Martin Coles Harman, was killed during the Burma Campaign at the Battle of Kohima. He single-handedly attacked a Japanese machine-gun nest and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. A memorial to him was placed on one the granite slabs in the quarry which was one his favourite places to play when he was a boy. This spot is now known as VC quarry.
MCH died in 1954 and his three surviving children, Albion, Ruth and Diana, wanted to keep the island going as it had been. Inevitable wartime neglect and some bad storms had made things difficult, though they gradually restored and adapted buildings so that visitors could stay again. However, when Albion died in 1968, his widow, Kay, and his two sisters couldn't afford to keep Lundy. It still needed capital investment, and there had been another land slip in the slatey south-east corner which damaged the road from the Landing Bay. They put Lundy up for sale.
Alarming rumours circulated about who would buy the island – the mafia, the scientologists – and local Devon MPs got involved to help ensure a suitable sale. This all-party group consisted of the Liberal MP for Barnstaple, Jeremy Thorpe; David Owen, who was Labour member for Plymouth Sutton; and Peter Mills, the Conservative MP for Torrington. The man who saved the day was Jack Hayward – later Sir Jack – who also paid for the return of the SS Great Britain to Bristol. He bought Lundy for £150,000 and then immediately gifted it to the National Trust. Lundy had been sold for the last time, and its modern history began.
Text by André Coutanche
History 1836-1925 – the Heaven era
In 1836 William Hudson Heaven, of Bristol, bought Lundy with the intention that it would be a summer resort for his family, where he would be able to enjoy the shooting. Heaven was the son of a gentleman and he went to Harrow and Oxford. He was a well-travelled man who inherited estates in Jamaica and became a Freeman of the City of Bristol. When he bought Lundy, it was essentially a farm with a lighthouse and a castle. There was no church, no school, no doctor, no shop, no meeting room.
No owner of Lundy has ever really been able to make it pay. William Hudson Heaven was a gentleman and lived the life of a gentleman, and that cost money. Fortunately for him, he had money – some of it from the compensation paid by the government to owners of slave plantations when slavery was abolished in 1834. But Lundy demanded money spent on it, not least for major improvements to the Beach Road to get carriages up it, and for a suitable gentleman's residence - 'The Villa' (later renamed Millcombe House). So in 1863, a lease was granted to the Lundy Granite Company and they started to excavate extensive quarries along the east coast. They built major engineering works and exported granite to the mainland – though it wasn't used in the Thames Embankment as they claimed and as some Lundy histories have repeated. The Granite Company's heyday was a short five years - the directors were crooks and the company went bust.
Reverend Hudson Grosett Heaven was the eldest son of William Hudson Heaven and was educated at Oxford. He took holy orders and came to teach on Lundy in 1863, where he became the minister of the island. He inherited Lundy on the death of his father in 1883 and realised his ambition to build a church on the island. First he built an iron church which was then replaced by the present church of St Helen in 1897. It was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter who had a rough crossing to reach Lundy. He said that he had no difficulty in believing in the doctrine of Purgatory after what he had experienced to reach the Kingdom of Heaven. Reverend Heaven also built a Sunday School which was converted by subsequent owners for accommodation and extended by the Landmark Trust – it's now known as the 'Blue Bung'.
An interesting series of photographs from this period, taken by J S Catford of Ilfracombe, can be viewed here.
In 1906, the outside world came to Lundy with a bump. HMS Montagu was one of the Royal Navy's latest battleships and was undertaking trials in the Bristol Channel of Marconi's recently developed wireless. It was foggy, though the captain and navigating officer were sure they were off Hartland Point. As they proceeded slowly, they crashed into the south-west corner of the island, near Shutter Point. Some of the officers got ashore and walked north until they came to the North Light, where they explained to the keepers what had happened and said that they were pleased to have reached Hartland Point lighthouse. When the keeper said that they were at Lundy North, the Montagu officers didn't believe him. The keeper assured them firmly that he did know which light he was in charge of. That exchange didn't go down very well at the subsequent Court Martial. Initial attempts to refloat the Montagu didn't work, and she became a tourist attraction – many postcards were produced. The Admiralty concentrated on salvaging the valuable guns, and an aerial walkway was built from the island to the wreck to get off what they could. The rest was left to rot.
The Reverend Heaven died in 1916 and his nephew inherited Lundy, but he sold it in 1917 to a North Devon estate owner named Augustus Langham Christie. Christie took a professional approach to this small part of his land holdings and made many improvements. However, bad health compelled the family to sell in 1925 to Martin Coles Harman. The next major steps to the Lundy of today were about to be taken.
Text by André Coutanche
History before 1836
Human beings have lived on Lundy – or, at least, visited it - since the Mesolithic period (8500-5000 BC), and there are Bronze Age hut circles (2500-800 BC) in several parts of the island. The archaeology of Lundy is covered here.
At Beacon Hill, next to the Old Light, is an extremely important early Christian site. Four memorial stones from between the 5th and 8th centuries can still be seen, though not in their original positions. Excavations in 1969 revealed at least 30 Christian burials around an important grave that has been interpreted by the late Charles Thomas as being that of St Nectan. Prof. Thomas conjectured that the remains of the saint were moved to Hartland in the seventh century.
The de Marisco family were first mentioned on Lundy in 1154 when Henry II granted the island to the Knights Templar – but the de Mariscos wouldn't give it up. In the early 13th century, William de Marisco used the island as a base for raids on the North Devon coast. William's nephew, also called William, was implicated in an attempt on the king's life, and was hanged, drawn and quartered. His corpse was “sent to the four principal cities in the kingdom, by what pitiable spectacle to strike terror in all beholders”. In 1243, to keep Lundy under the control of the state, Henry III ordered the building of a castle. It's sometimes called 'Marisco Castle', which is turning history on its head - it's more accurately the ANTI-Marisco Castle.
From around 1200 rabbit warrening was established and in 1274 it was estimated at providing 2000 rabbits a year. Part of the cost of building the Castle came from the sale of rabbit skins. A document of 1321 mentions eight tenants paying 15 shillings a year, with one tenant having a rent reduction because he kept the gannets.
Medieval Lundy passed from one noble family to another by inheritance or marriage for over 400 years. This pattern – owners who didn't live on Lundy and who rented the island out to tenants – lasted until Victorian times.
In 1750 Lundy was leased to Thomas Benson, a shipping merchant and MP for Barnstaple, who concealed smuggled goods on the island. He also contracted to transport convicts to America but instead he landed some of them on Lundy where they were used as a slave work force. Benson's career on Lundy came to an end when he was caught out in a shipping insurance fraud. He fled to Portugal, leaving the captain of the ship involved to hang for the crime.
In 1775, Lundy was bought by Sir John Borlase Warren. The island was in a poor state and he had ambitious plans for a pier and buildings. He built a new farmhouse (now Old House North and South) but eventually sold Lundy in 1781 after accumulating large gambling debts.
In 1802, Sir Vere Hunt bought the island on impulse at an auction. Also a gambler, Sir Vere died in 1818 leaving large debts so his son, Sir Aubrey de Vere Hunt, tried to sell Lundy. During this time, in 1819, Trinity House built the first lighthouse on Beacon Hill, now the Old Light.
After several failed sales, Lundy was bought by its new owner, William Hudson Heaven. Lundy then entered its first stable – though far from uneventful – period of history.
Text by André Coutanche
For a small and rather remote island, Lundy has a surprisingly long and interesting history. The pre-history and archaeology of Lundy are covered here. Some of the events of the last millennium and a half of Lundy's story are shoe-horned into these pages ...
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