Tablet in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire dedicated to Captain Henry Skillicorne d. 1678.

Location

St Mary's Church, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

Transcript

In memory of Captain Henry Skillicorne, deceased, born at Kirk Lonnon / in the Isle of Man in 1678. Taught by Dr. Wilson, Bishop, and justly called / the good Bishop of that Island. When young he went to sea and was for many years / in the employ of, and concerned with Jacob Elton, Esq. Merchant in Bristol, / whose relation Sarah Goldsmith of that city he married. She dying in childbed / with two children, he in 1731 married Elizabeth Mason, then of Bristol, / daughter of Will'm Mason of Cheltenham, Gentleman, by Margaret Surman, / daughter of John Surman, of Treddington in this county, Esq. / He quitting the sea after 40 years service, they resided together some years / at Bristol, and in 1738 came to live upon their estate in this town, / where he gave his mind to increase the knowledge, & extend the use / of Cheltenham Spa, which became his property. He found the old spring open / and exposed to the weather. He made the well there, as it now is, made the / walks, and planted the trees in the Upper & Lower Parades; / and by conduct ingenious and manners attentive / he, with the aid of many worthy persons in the town and neighbourhood, / brought this most salutary water to just estimation & extensive use;/ and ever presiding with esteem in the walks, saw it visited with benefit / by the greatest persons of the age, and so established its reputation, / that his present Most Gracious Majesty King George the Third, / with his most amiable Queen, Charlotte and the Princesses Royal / Augusta and Elizabeth their daughters, visited it, drinking the water, / & residing from the 12th day of July to the 16th day of August / both inclusive 1788 in the Lodge built by Will'm Skillicorne, / the proprietor thereof, and of the spa, son of Captain Skillicorne, / on his Bay's Hill near thereunto, for & then & now in lease to the Right / Honourable Earl Fauconberg, who receiving benefit from this water / for many years spread its good name. Wm. Miller, Esq., the tenant of the / Spa, & others of the town, erected new buildings, paved, cleansed / & lighted the street, encouraged by the gentlemen of the neighbourhood / making new roads. The king discovered the new spring like the Old, / which his Majesty steaned and secured, and built 17 rooms at the Lodge / House at his own expence, and graciously gave it to Mr. Skillicorne, / in whose ground near the House it was, at the instance of Earl Fauconberg. / Captain Skillicorne was buried the 18th of October 1763 with his son / Henry by his last wife, at the west door on the inside of this church, / aged 84 years. He was an excellent seaman, of tried courage./ He visited most of the great trading posts of the Mediterranean, up the / Archipelago, Morea & Turkey, Spain, Portugal & Venice, and several of the / North American Ports, Philadelphia, and Boston, and Holland, / and could do business in seven tongues. He was of great regularity / and probity, & so temperate as never to have been once intoxicated. / Religious without hypocrisy, grave without austerity, of a cheerful / conversation without levity, a kind husband & tender father, / tall erect robust & active. From an ill-treated wound while a prisoner / after an engagement at sea, he became a strict valetudinarian. / He lived and dyed an honest man. / Mrs Elizabeth Skillicorne, a Quaker, was buried in the Quaker / Graveyard upon the 14th of April 1779, / a virtuous woman, a good wife, & a tender mother. / William Skillicorne, Esq., / died April 12th 1803, / aged 66 years'

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