Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/597

 n s. v. jr>- E 22, 1912.] KOTES AND QUERIES.

493

"An Old Soldier" tells (vol. ii. p. 286) of his meeting at Cheltenham one Riddle, who, being a private in the 52nd, had lost a leg at the final assault on Badajos in the forlorn hope. He tells how " a terrible fire killed and wounded Capt. Jones, Mr. Merry, and some others " close to a chevaux de frise. Later he ' ' met a fresh body of stormers coming up with Capt. O'Hare, of the Rifles." He turned with these, and then his leg was smashed by a cannon ball. The " Old Soldier '' mentions that he himself had known in his early days Jack Jones, Peter O'Hare, and Merry.

Iri the same book (iii. 276 et seq.) is an article entitled ' The Forlorn Hope,' pre- sumably supplied by an ex-private of the Ooth, who, having volunteered for the forlorn hope, joined the stormers of the Light Division, composed of the 43rd, 52nd, and 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 95th (Rifles). He speaks of Major O'Hare, who commanded the four companies to which the narrator belonged, and Capt. Jones of the 52nd as being both in com- mand of the storming party. He says of them :

"I believe a pair of uglier men nature never made ; but a brace of better soldiers never stood before the muzzle of a Frenchman's gun."

" ' Well, O'Hare,' said Captain Jones, ' what do you think of to-night's work ? ' ' Don't know,' replied poor Peta (for so we familiarly called Major O'Hare), ' I think it will be my last, for I know not how it is, I cannot keep my spirits up.' ' Tut, tut, man ! ' answered Captain Jones, 'take a drop of the crafnr,' and at the same time handed him his calabash/'

A ladder party was wanted, so Major O'Hare ordered the right file of each section to be taken. (The narrator was one of those tapped on the shoulder for the ladder party.) In less than twenty minutes after the conversation O'Hare and Jones fell, riddled with bullets.

The latter account is correct in giving O'Hare the rank of Major instead of Captain, as in the former.

In what I have written there are many cases in which I have been unable to give the regiment, and some where the rank is wanting. Napier (pp. 432, 433) speaks in specially eulogistic terms of Ridge, Macleod, Nicholas, O'Hare, Walker, Shaw, Canch, and Ferguson, adding, however, that there were many other brave men, some known, some that will never be known. Besides those generals mentioned above, Generals Harvey. Bowes, and Colville were severely wounded,

I think that in the accounts of the taking of Badajos to which I refer, excepting those in ' Tales of the Wars,' the term " forlorn hope " is hardly ever used.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

COMPSTON FAMILY : THE NAME (US. v. 350). Doubtless adopted, as Bardsley re- marks, from a place-name that no longer exists ; there are many such. Compston cannot mean the ton of a Compt (no such name), because that would make Comptes- ton. I have shown that Kempston, Beds, was once Csembes tun, i.e., " Caemb's farm " ; where Caemb was a personal name ; but the A.-S. ce has nothing to do with o. On the other hand, A.-S. am and om are often confused ; and Compes might be the sames as Canapes, in Campsall (Suff.). ^ This is not a true English name, but Xorse ; from the Norse personal name Kampi.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

CAMDEK SOCIETY (HS.v. 328, 434). The Camden Society was founded by John Gough Nichols in the year 1838. The original prospectus bears no date, but on a copy which I have seen there are several endorsements, and among them is one which says that the date of the issue of the prospectus was March, 1837. It was in 1838 that J. G. Nichols, with the co-operation chiefly of Sir Frederick Madden, the Rev. J. Hunter, J. Payne Collier, John Bruce, and W. J. Thorns, established the Camden Society. Its objects were

" to perpetuate and render accessible whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the Civil, Ecclesiastical, or Lite- rary History of the United Kingdom." The first President was Lord Francis Egerton, and the original Council consisted of Thomas Amyot, John Bruce, John Payne Collier, Charles Purton Cooper, T. Crofton Croker, Joseph Hunter, Sir Frederick Madden, Sir Thomas Phillipps, Thomas Stapleton, Edgar Taylor, William John Thorns, and Thomas Wright. The first book issued was edited by John Bruce, and was entitled

" Historic of the arrivall of Edward IV. in England and the finall recouereye of his King- domes from Henry VI. A.D. M.CCCC.LXXXI. Edited by J. Bruce. 1838."

Of this, 500 copies only were first printed and sold, but the editions of later issues of that year were of 1,000 copies. In 1839 the membership of the Society had greatly increased, and it was then decided to limit the number to 1,200. The success of the Camden Society led to -the formation of the .Elfric, the Shakespeare, the Percy, the