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There are many famous people throughout the ages who have been born and bred
in Lincolnshire's Poacher Country, and on this page we have touched
on just a few.
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ALFRED, LORD
TENNYSON
Heading into the Wolds countryside, near to Horncastle, you reach the
picturesque village of Somersby, birthplace of Poet Laureate Alfred,
Lord Tennyson.
The Church of Saint Margaret was once presided
over by Tennyson's father who was the local Vicar. Tennyson's own 'haunt
of ancient peace' was the 18th century Gunby Hall, near to Spilsby.
In the 1830s Harrington Hall, (private residence), was the home of Miss
Rosa Baring, with whom Tennyson fell in love and about whom the poem
'Maud' is partly written.
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CAPTAIN JOHN
SMITH
Alford has many links to America. Anne Hutchinson, America's first woman
preacher was born in the town.
Captain John Smith, born in nearby Willoughby, sailed to Virginia in
1606 with the first Jamestown settlers where he set up trading connections
with the Indians and mapped the area. Smith was captured by the Indians,
but he was saved from execution by the eleven year old Indian Princess,
Pocahontas.
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SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
Sir John Franklin, arctic navigator and explorer, was
born in Spilsby in 1786. Having joined the Royal Navy aged just 14,
he sailed on many expeditions and eventually became Lt. Governor of
Tasmania.
However, at the age of 57, Franklin commanded
his final expedition to find the North-West Passage between Canada and
the Arctic. Tragically the expedition disappeared in 1847 and all the
crew perished.
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WILLIAM MARWOOD
William Marwood was a boot and shoemaker who lived in Foundry Street, Horncastle and had his shop in Church Lane from 1855. But Marwood's claim
to fame is as a Public Executioner, executing over 350 men and women
with his own humane 'long drop' method of hanging through a trap door.
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HENRY WINN
Fulletby, near to the market town of Horncastle is a tranquil village
and is famed as being the birthplace of Henry Winn, prolific writer
and poet. Winn grew up in the village, one of six children of the village's
shoemaker. At first he followed his father into shoemaking, and then
became master at the local school. In 1880 he gave this up and began
to record village history and the life of Lincolnshire people, places
and customs which were set down in numerous volumes of notebooks. Winn
died in 1914 at the age of 98.
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SIR JOSEPH BANKS
Sir Joseph Banks, the famous explorer and botanist born at nearby Revesby
in 1743, owned extensive lands in and around Horncastle. Aged 25 he
sailed with Captain Cook to the South Pacific exploring and recording
the wildlife of New Zealand and Australia. Sir Joseph travelled all
over the world but he always returned to Lincolnshire every autumn.
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