Famous
Faces
Our list of famous visitors and residents reads like an
historical Hello! From Henry Vlll who gave us three castles to the
Duke of Wellington, hero of the Battle of Waterloo. Within the
walls of Dover Castle, Churchill masterminded World War ll
strategy and Lord Nelson visited Lady Hamilton in Deal just along
the sea front from Deal Castle.
Louis Bleriot
The first person to fly the English Channel in an aeroplane was
a Frenchman called Louis Bleriot. The flight took place on 25 July
1909 and won Bleriot a prize of £1,000 from the Daily Mail. An
earlier attempt five days earlier, by Englishman Herbert Latham,
had ended when he had ditched in the sea.
A memorial in the form of a stone silhouette
of Bleriot’s plane is set into the ground at the place where he
landed.
Captain Matthew Webb
The first person to swim the English Channel on 24 August,
diving from the Admiralty Pier a few seconds before 1 p.m. and
reaching Calais at 10:41 a.m. the next day. He had been in the
water for nearly 22 hours and had swum 40 miles rather than 22,
having been carried off course by strong currents
Charles Dickens
He stayed in Dover on a number of occasions
and also made frequent trips through the port on his way to the
Continent, often staying at the Lord Warden Hotel.
Although he didn’t find Dover entirely to
his liking, writing to Mary Boyle on 22 July 1852 from Dover he
said:
“My Dear Mary, you do scant justice to
Dover. It is not quite to my taste, being too bandy (I mean
musical; no reference to its legs) and infinitely too genteel. But
the sea is very fine, and the walks are quite remarkable”
Thomas Tallis
(1505 - 1585) was an English composer during
the Renaissance Period in music
The first record of Tallis dates from 1532,
as organist of Dover Priory, a small Benedictine monastery
consisting of about a dozen monks
Duke of Wellington
1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), hero of
the Battle of Waterloo, became Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and
Constable of Dover Castle in January 1829. He held the post
of Lord Warden for 23 years at Walmer Castle and died there
on the 14th September 1852 in his campaign chair.
Charles II
King Charles II arrived in Dover in 1660 on
his way to London to secure the throne after the restoration of the
Monarchy. Ten years later he signed a secret treaty at Dover Castle
which was negotiated with the French King Louis XIV.
Elizabeth I
Queen Elizabeth I visited Dover on 14 July
1573 on her progress through Kent
It is likely that the Queen stayed at Dover
Castle before proceeding onto Sandwich.
Henry VIII
King Henry VIII had a long connection with
Dover and Deal, and held the office of Lord Warden of the Cinque
Ports and Constable of Dover Castle before he became King.
Henry had a chain of castles built along the
south coast to protect the country from French or Spanish
invasion. Deal Castle was one of the first and largest
castles to be built, followed by Walmer and Sandown castle’s.
Victoria & Albert
On 14 November, 1842, Prince Albert and
Queen Victoria visited Dover while staying as guests of the Lord
Warden of the Cinque Ports.
Only short notice of the visit was given but
there was sufficient time to decorate the town with a considerable
number of flags
Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay
During the second world war, Dover Castle
was an important command centre, with Naval operations being run
from a secret underground headquarters deep in the chalk cliffs
below the castle. From here Admiral Ramsay organised the evacuation
of Dunkirk, where 338,226 British and allied soldiers were brought
back to Britain.
On completion of this great achievement
Ramsay reported on the operation to the King in person, and was
rewarded by the honour of the K.C.B. from the King.
Charles Rolls
On 2 June 1910 the Hon. Charles Rolls,
co-founder of the Rolls-Royce Company, made his historic flight
from Dover to France and back without landing.
The flight, of about sixty miles, won him
the Ruinart Cup presented by a French champagne company.
Matthew Arnold
Victorian poet, he brought his new wife in
1851 to Dover. They stayed one night before setting off for their
honeymoon on the continent. He wrote a poem that night, DOVER
BEACH.
Ian Fleming
Fleming’s connections with White Cliffs
Country began in the early 30’s when, as a founder member of a
small dining club ‘Cercle’ made up of old Etonian friends, he spent
weekends playing golf at the Royal St. Georges course at
Sandwich.
In two of Fleming’s books part of the story
is set in this part of Kent. ‘Moonraker’ which he wrote in
1955 is largely based in the St. Margaret’s and Kingsdown
area. ‘Goldfinger’ (1959) features the ‘Royal St. Marks’,
otherwise known as the Royal St. Georges golf links at
Sandwich. The landscapes and buildings Fleming described are
real places which he knew and visited, many of which can still be
seen today.
Norman Wisdom
After a period in a children's home in Deal,
Kent, Wisdom ran away when he was 11, but returned to become an
errand boy with a grocery store on leaving school at 13.
He had a long and varied film career, often
returning to visit the town.
Charles Hawtrey
Hawtrey retired to Deal in Kent in the
1980s, where he was recognised as a colourful and eccentric figure.
His former house in Middle Street, is marked with a blue
plaque.
Lord Nelson
He had associations with Deal and in 1801
when commented that “Deal must be the coldest place in England,
most assuredly”
Horation , Lord Nelson is known to have had
a long and close relationship with Lady Hamilton.
Thomas Paine 1737 – 1809
Thomas Paine moved to Sandwich in 1759. He lived in a small
house in New Street, where he practiced his trade as a master
stay-maker. He is still remembered in Sandwich and a blue plaque
marks the house where he lived.
The Earl of Sandwich & the Sandwich
The word 'sandwich' for an item of food was
possibly named after John Montague who was the 4th Earl of
Sandwich. It is said that in approx.1762, he asked for meat to be
served between slices of bread, to avoid interrupting a gambling
game.
The family of the Earls of Sandwich has no
real connection to the town itself, only the title. the fleet he
was commanding in 1660 was lying off Sandwich, before it sailed to
bring back Charles II to England.
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was a frequent visitor to
Goodnestone Park in the 1790s and early years of the 19th century.
Her eldest brother, Edward, had married Elizabeth, one of the
daughters of the house, and the couple began their married life at
nearby Rowling. Elizabeth's widowed mother lived at the Dower House
- Goodnestone Farm. Jane Austen wrote several letters trom
here.