Ye Olde Bell, Hurley, Berkshire
I’m sitting here in the pub of The Old Bell, or in Old English, Ye Olde Bell, in Berkshire, just a short walk from the river Thames. Thinking back about all that we’ve seen in the last couple of days, it’s difficult to believe how much has been packed into these short eight days. It’s been absolutely magnificent.
The Old Bell is billed as Britain’s oldest continually operating inn. It was founded in 1135, yes; that’s nearly 900 years of assisting guests in stepping out of their coaches and pouring them a pint. Our coach has quite a few more horses, only one driver and a rather surly footman, so we’re really quite like those travellers of centuries past.
We visited the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst today, and the Sandhurst Archivist gave us an informed, personal tour.
There are a great many stories to tell, which I will have to get to later on. However, we’ll be leaving to visit the codebreakers at Bletchley Park in about thirty minutes, so I only have time for one.
It Runs in the Family
Of the many fascinating stories from yesterday that were told, our well-informed host told the most intriguing in the Lord’s Room of Old College.
There are two great portraits on the wall, enormous in scale even for this great room. One is General Sir Eyre Coote KB, and the other is his wife, Lady Coote.
There are two fascinating stories here, and one is much more fascinating than the other.
First, is that Coote, as the Governor General of Jamaica from 1806 to 1808, had these great portraits painted for the government building, which he used as the Governor General’s residence in Kingston. In government buildings, portraits of spouses were expressly forbidden (this sounds like another story). An exception was made in this case, and his wife hung alongside him in the residence. The second tale with which we were regaled was about this fellow Coote; though he and his wife had a long and happy marriage, he had an affair with a young slave girl whom he also loved dearly. And Coote and this young girl had a child together.
When Coote left Jamaica, he was separated from his mistress and child as she could not accompany him back to England. He, therefore, set her up quite well, with money and a home in which to live. The family lived well, prospered, and eventually immigrated to the United States.
This family later produced one of America’s most illustrious leaders, former Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State General Colin Powell. Powell can trace his lineage back directly to General Coote and even further back, directly through Coote, to Edward I of England, one of England’s great soldier Kings.
