Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/252

194 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. Weekly News for many of the details of the life of Mr. Hart- Smith, and for the loan of the block which accompanies this note. This was made from an early portrait of Mr. Hart-Smith, the only one extant. Mr. Hart-Smith's family really belonged to Exeter where it played a prominent part in municipal life. In 1910 the late Mr. W. Hart-Smith, the father of the sub- ject of the above memoir, presented to the Exeter City Library what appears to be an unique lithograph of a Mr. Rippon as herald proclaiming the accession of William IV. at Exeter. It is dated June 30th, 1830. The letter which accompanied this gift, addressed to the late Alderman James Commin, contains much interesting information, and we think some extracts from it will interest our readers. Mr. Hart-Smith says : " Rippon was considered, I believe, one of the finest men in Devon. He was a tailor in St. Catherine Street, and was the parish clerk at St. Martin's. He led the congrega- tion singing with a pitch-pipe — there was no organ in those days. Mr. Cosserat was Rector, and afterwards Mr. Mar- wood Tucker. Mrs. Steer then kept the Clarence Hotel, and Mr. Gendall's shop was next the church. Rippon was mounted on one of the great horses of Salter and Owen's City Brewery, down by Exe Bridge. The lithograph is a good likeness of the man, who was handsome. He was succeeded by a man called Woolland, of St. Sidwell's, whose voice was so poor that it led to our having a small organ in the gallery, played by Miss Sparkes, whose father was one of the Vicars Choral at the Cathedral, and sister of the afterwards well-known Dr. Sparkes of Leeds. She married a Curzon. My mother was a Chamberlain, and my grand- mother a Hart — well-known names in the old Chamber of Exeter. My father was, I think, the last Receiver of Exeter when Mr. De la Garde was Mayor. He was a South Devon man, and his mother a Serjeant, of Liskeard. My wife was a Lawrence, of Launceston. My eldest brother was for more than fifty years Rector of North Tamerton. He might have taken out the freedom of the City, but neglected to do so. The other day I attended the proclamation of George V. in company with my old friend Richard Peter, of this town [Launceston] , who was born on Oct. 9, 1809. Our united ages exceeded 184 years, and Mr. Peter had lived