DOWN MEMORY LANE
Salcombe & Beyond: 1960s to the ’80s
A SLIDE SHOW with audience participation presented by Roger Barrett and Geoff Foale.
TUESDAY, 17th JUNE 2025 – 7 for 7.30 PM at SALCOMBE RUGBY CLUB, Camperdown Road, Salcombe, TQ8 8AX
Everyone Welcome – Admission: members free, £5 non-members – info@salcombehistorysociety.co.uk

UPCOMING HISTORY SOCIETY EVENTS IN 2025
Saturday, 9th and Sunday, 10th August: South Hams Steam Rally: The History Society will be at the Craft Tent. South Hams Steam Rally, Sorley Cross, Kingsbridge TQ7 4AF. https://www.shvmc.co.uk/rally

Saturday, 6th September: Kingsbridge Show: We will join with Salcombe Maritime Museum at the Craft Tent. Kingsbridge Show@TQ9 7QP. What3Words: pacemaker.perused.eats. https://www.kingsbridgeshow.co.uk/

Tuesday, 30th September: Rosemary Griggs: ‘A Woman of Noble Wit’. 7 for 7.30 pm at Salcombe Rugby Club.
Few women of her time lived to see their name in print. But Katherine Champernowne was no ordinary woman. She was Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother. This is her story. Set against the turbulent background of a Devon rocked by the religious and social changes that shaped Tudor England; a Devon of privateers and pirates; a Devon riven by rebellions and plots, ‘A Woman of Noble Wit’ tells how Katherine became the woman who would inspire her famous sons to follow their dreams. It is Tudor history seen though a woman’s eyes.

Rosemary Griggs is an author, researcher, seamstress and popular West Country speaker. https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/

History Society AGM: 25th March 2025

 

Following the AGM, members of the Society and guests thoroughly enjoyed a talk by Dr Elaine Murphy of Plymouth University entitled ‘Maritime Aspects of the English Civil War with a focus on South Devon’. We heard about the importance of the Civil War at sea for the outcome of the conflict and subsequent development of the Navy. Elaine’s enthusiasm for the subject was infectious, and her talk was filled with memorable stories about individual people whose lives were changed by those turbulent times.

Salcombe Crabfest: 4th May 2025
We had a joint stand with the Maritime Museum on Island Street, made up of two fine new gazebos offering plenty of space to display old photos and books. This year was especially busy, with lots of interest in the photos and Museum items. Passers-by chatted to the team about Salcombe’s history, their memories and connections to the town, and generally caught up.

Three Generations of the Fairweathers of Salcombe
In this issue, James Fairweather (1846-1912), to be followed in subsequent issues by Alfred Edward Fairweather (1876-1959) and Len Fairweather (1913-1990)

James Fairweather played a prominent role in the life of Salcombe from the 1870s as a young man in his mid 20s, until he died in 1912. He was the civic leader who initiated Salcombe having its own local authority – Salcombe Urban District Council – and built the civic infrastructure to support this new role – the Council Hall, and was busy on many local organisations to promote the welfare of residents and the community, as well as being a Justice of the Peace.

James was founder, campaigning journalist, editor and printer of the Salcombe Times. He recognised the importance to Salcombe of what we now call the visitor economy, because of nature’s bounty to the town – the beautiful setting of its estuary, harbour and surrounding landscape, and he was the first to promote Salcombe as a holiday resort by writing three editions of the ground-breaking guide book ‘Salcombe and Neighbourhood’.

His reforming activism, to improve the life and standing of the town and its people, was underpinned by deeply held, lifelong religious beliefs – he was a Methodist preacher, teacher and leader. When he died on 12th February 1912, James was described as ‘an institution in the town’. He was indeed the founding father of the Salcombe we know today.

On leaving school, James went to sea and made several voyages to the Mediterranean. He was then apprenticed to a Plymouth printing and stationery business. After his apprenticeship, he was foreman at a Bristol printing works.

James became a member of the Wesleyan Church, now the Methodist Church. A local preacher from the age of 19 (‘he never neglected a single appointment’, said his obituary). He was leader of Salcombe’s Men’s Bible Class which met first in the Market Hall and, when the work grew, he built the Central Hall, later renamed the Council Hall, where today the Museum and Information Centre are based.

Returning to Salcombe from Bristol in 1872, James started his own printing and stationery business, first at Island Street, then at Ringmore House, before building 67 Fore Street in about 1901. Aged only 25, he launched the Salcombe Times, of which he was editor, reporter, printer and publisher. The newspaper provided him with a powerful platform to campaign for Salcombe’s autonomy, to ensure that the town did not become subsumed into a wider Kingsbridge, which would otherwise have probably happened. This was perhaps his most notable achievement.

When the Salcombe Times was launched, Kingsbridge Highway Board was responsible for Salcombe’s streets and sanitary matters. James successfully argued through the Salcombe Times for the creation of a separate Salcombe Local Board to take over these tasks, on the grounds that under the oversight of Kingsbridge, Salcombe was neglected.

James was duly appointed Clerk to the Salcombe Local Board, which evolved into Salcombe Urban District Council. He remained as Clerk until 1907, when he was elected to the Council. In 1911, he was elected Chairman of the Council and remained in that position until his death in 1912. In these roles, James guided and led Salcombe’s new local authority, which both organised essential services for the well-being of Salcombe’s residents and visitors, and spoke for the town, for many years until Salcombe Urban District Council became fully established.

Salcombe Urban District Council survived until its abolition on 1st April 1974, when the Local Government Act 1972 came into force, and it was replaced by Salcombe Town Council. At the same time, broader powers were transferred to the newly established South Hams District Council.

James Fairweather was the first to effectively promote Salcombe to a much wider audience as a healthy retreat from industrialising Britain. As interest in visiting Salcombe and its story grew, in 1884 he printed and published a guide book, ‘Salcombe and Neighbourhood’ (1st edition). In 1897, he revised and expanded a second edition, with illustrations and a map, which sold out. A few weeks before his death, James prepared a significantly extended third edition, which was published posthumously in 1913.

Information about James Fairweather and images, courtesy of Salcombe Maritime Museum.