Buy the book!
Chapters in the Life of Robert Marsham 1708-1797 - By Tim Sparks and John Lines
This 64 page illustrated book provides an insight into the man described by Gilbert White as a "painful and accurate naturalist". The book is divided into 16 sections. It includes excerpts from letters to cousins near and far, to the then Prime Minister and, of course, to Gilbert White himself.
Marsham himself provides a fascinating insight into the winter of 1739/40, the coldest year on record, when the contents of his chamber pot frequently froze overnight and the turnip crop was completely destroyed. Turnips, being a Norfolk speciality, feature elsewhere: he regularly recorded turnip flowering dates (needed when turnips were to produce seed) and was amazed at the size a giant turnip achieved. If you want to know how big it was you will have to read the book!
Marsham's comments on birds are included (he is still the only person in Norfolk to have recorded the wallcreeper) and, of course, his passion for trees, timber and woodland are apparent. In 1736 he began recording 27 signs of spring that were continued by successive generations of his family until well into the 20th century and provide us a wealth of knowledge about how spring is influenced by prevailing weather conditions; now of huge interest in the climate change debate.
Proceeds from the sale of the book contribute to the upkeep and care of St Margaret's Church, Stratton Strawless. Copies of the book can be obtained by sending a cheque for £5 (inclusive of p&p) made payable to "Stratton Strawless PCC" to Mrs Waddingham, Church Farm, Church Road, Stratton Strawless, Norwich NR10 5LN.
Review by Tony Leech of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society:
While most Norfolk naturalists will have heard of Gilbert White, many fewer will be familiar with the life of Robert Marsham despite him being a landowner in the county. Both lived in rural England during the 18th century; both were intensely curious about their local wildlife; both were passionately interested in growing things and both wrote numerous letters. Indeed, during the last few years of White’s life they became affectionate correspondents but never met. So why the difference? The simple answer is that Gilbert White published a best-selling book (which has never been out of print) while Robert Marsham was dissuaded from publishing his manuscript by friend Humphrey Repton, the landscape gardener.
"That no trace now exists of this manuscript, of Marsham’s diaries or of many of the letters he is known to have written, has been the challenge faced by authors Tim Sparks and John Lines in their recently published Chapters in the Life of Robert Marsham Esq. F.R.S. It is a challenge they have risen to admirably by eschewing a standard bibliographic approach although the book (it seems churlish to describe such a polished publication as a booklet, despite its 64 pages) is very far from a scrapbook. Most of the sixteen short chapters describe an aspect of Marsham’s life or interests using passages transcribed from his own writing. Retention of the original spelling and punctuation might make them difficult to speed-read but the chosen passages illuminate both Marsham and his times. Who would have thought an 18th century country gentleman would have used the phrase ‘so she may kiss my arse’!
Tim Sparks works at the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology and has done more than anyone else to bring historical phenology records into the modern scientific domain as evidence for global warming. John Lines is a Norfolk GP and long-standing member of the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society with interests in birds and conservation. Their collaboration has produced a most elegantly designed and engagingly written publication; even the unobtrusive footnotes are informative.
Although he possessed ‘mad strings’ as he himself described them, Robert Marsham comes through as an enthusiast and a man of opinions but he is also delightfully worldly. In response to Gilbert White’s gentle chiding that he got his young female artist to draw only two feathers and not the whole of the wallcreeper which Marsham shot on his house at Stratton Strawless in 1792 (still the only Norfolk record of this bird) Marsham replies. “I hinted my wish for the whole bird; but she lent a deaf ear in the manner all young women have treated me (when I ask favours) since I was turned 40.”
So, buy the book. Read it. Then come to hear modern naturalists report their long-term studies at the Norfolk & Norwich Society’s Marsham event in June. But if you can’t make that, do at least visit Stratton Strawless church, where Robert Marsham and many of his relatives are buried, to absorb the ambience and drop a few coins in the collection box."