The islanders featured in this book are remarkable in very different ways. The charmed life of Jack Seely and Johnny White's exploits in a Hurricane are the stuff of Boy's Own Comic. The miraculous wartime experience of Sid Porter is in stark contrast to Philip Bagwell's principled stand against war. The sea has been the making of many islanders, among them the eccentric boat designer Uffa Fox, Admiral Hopson - hero of Vigo Bay - and smuggler turned lifeboatman James Bucket.
Remarkable Islanders tells the stories of sixteen characters of interest who, at various points in history, have lived on the Isle of Wight. During the introduction, author Ian Williams goes into some detail about how he came up with the title of the book: its subjects are not necessarily famous, heroic or outstanding, but are certainly people that one feels compelled to remark on! And his definition of what makes an ‘islander’ is a little controversial!
The first chapter of the book is dedicated to ‘Galloper’ Jack Seely, who was brought up on the family estate in Brook in the West Wight towards the end of the nineteenth century. He is notable for his fourteen or more near-death experiences, involving each of the four weather elements!
Further on in the book we hear of ‘The Queen of Chantilly’: Miss Sophie Dawes, daughter of an eighteenth century St Helens smuggler and mistress of Louis Henri Joseph, Duc de Bourbon (last of the Condés):
“Notorious and much talked about in the salons of France, she was Queen of Chantilly to some, and the uncomplimentary ‘Montespan de Saint-Leu’ to others. She was intelligent and ambitious and, according to one observer, ‘a person of very extraordinary talents; her history is the greatest romance of real life within my knowledge."
Remarkable Islanders tells her fascinating story and that of others who have featured in the Island's colourful past.
