Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/95

 12 S. VIII. JAN. 22, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 75 Warwick, 24 Henry VIII. Of his brothers, Francis was the founder of the Sheldons of Abberton, Thomas of the Sheldons of -Childswicombe and Baldwin of the Sheldons of Broadway. William Sheldon, ob. Dec. 23, 1570, had issue two sons and four daughters by his marriage with Philippa Heath. Ralph the .heir (1537-1613) built the mansion at Weston which became the principal residence of the family after the destruction of the house at Beoley during the Civil War. He -also purchased Steeple Barton, co. Oxon. His first wife was Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Throgmorton of Coughton. Catherine who married Edmund Plowden was one of his four sisters. If the Sheldon pedigree be correct, Catherine must have been much younger, than her husband. If, ^n the other hand, she was the daughter of 'William Sheldon of Barford Hall, her father died 1517, the same year that her husband Edmund Plowden "was born. Perhaps the privately printed ' Records of the Piowden Family,' by B. M. P., 1874, may throw some light on this question. I have not access to this work nor can I, at the moment, refer to the Plowden pedigree in Foley's ' Records,' vol. iv. To those using the Brooke pedigree in Nash, I would add one word of caution. By a slip, probably a printer's error, Ralph Sheldon, who succeeded to the estates on the death in 1684 of his cousin the " great Ralph Sheldon," is given as Rcbert, and this mistake has been copied by Dr. Kirk in his ' Bio- graphies of English Catholics.' Nash in the text of his book correctly describes him as Ifcalph. RORY FLETCHER. THE BRITISH IN CORSICA (12 S. viii. 10, 35, 59). According to Clowes's 'History of the British Navy,' a squadron was sent to Corsica in 1745, under the command of Com. Thomas Cooper. Bastia was bom- barded for two days, Nov. 17-19, after which Cooper withdrew, two of his ships having suffered somewhat severely. No further details of the expedition are given, and as no mention of it is made in For- tescue's 'History of the British Army,' we may conclude that, so far as the British Army was concerned, it was a purely naval operation. In September, 1793, Lord Hood des- patched a squadron of five ships from "Toulon, under Com. Robert Linzee, which on Oct. 1 bombarded Formeille, near San Fiorenzo, without effect. After the evacua- tion of Toulon Hood despatched five ships, again under Com. Linzee, with transports containing troops commanded by Major- General David Dundas, the expedition arriving in Mortella Bay on Feb. 7, 1794. The troops consisted of detachments of the following regiments : 2 /1st, llth, 25th, 30th, 50th, 51st (under Lieut. -Col. Moore, after- wards Sir John Moore) and 69th. Later on they were joined by the 18th. San Fiorenzo was taken on Feb. 17, but Bastia, which was next attacked, proved a harder nut to crack. Owing to differences with Lord Hood as to the conduct of the operations Dundas gave up his command, and left on Mar. 11, being succeeded by Col. D'Aubant, of the Engineers, the naval force on shore being under Nelson, then in command of the Agamemnon. Bastia surrendered, owing to want of provisions, in May, and shortly after Charles Stuart arrived and took command of the forces. Calvi was attacked on June 19, and surrendered after a siege of fifty-one days. It was during these operations that Nelson's eye was injured by some sand or gravel, thrown up by a round shot, the sight of which was eventually lost. The casualties were slight, but the troops suffered terribly from sick- ness, two -thirds of the force being in hospital at the end d'f the siege, and the remaining third worn out by their exertions. I have failed to find details of the opera- tions in 1814, referred to by F. M. M. T. F. D. MATTHEW PARIS (12 S. viii. 28, 58). The passage required is to be found at pp. 279-280 of vol. iv. of the Master of the Rolls' edition erased in MS. B., but given in MS. C. The prophecies of St. Hildegard are printed in Migne, ' Patrclogia latina,' vol. cxcvii., pp. 145-382, according to Potthast ('Bibl. Hist. MediiAevi," 1896 edition, vol. i. p. 598). W. A. B. C. [Text of passage has been given by PROF. BENSLY at ante. p. 50.] ASKELL (12 S. vii. 409, 513). It might be noted that Lindkirst in his 'Middle English Place Names of Scandinavian Origin ' (Upsala, 1912) at f. 173 says the names Asketill, Askell, Eskell old west Scandinavian had a wide diffusion in England in O.E. times and was one of the most usual Scandinavian names there Askytel, Askill, Aeskitil, Eskil, &c. See also Bjorkman, ' Personennamen, '