Herefordshire Through Time
Herefordshire Through Time
In recent years Sir John Hawkins has all but disappeared from the histories of late Tudor seafarers, perhaps because of his links with the slave trade. A slave trader and merchant, a diplomat and a politician, a courtier and a double agent, Treasurer and Controller of Queen Elizabeth's navy.
The book, Sir John Hawkins, Elizabethan Explorer and Privateer, by Nic Dinsdale and students of Lady Hawkins' School, tells Hawkins' story. With royal backing he established the slave trade route from Plymouth to the west coast of Africa and then to the "New World" of the Americas. His slaving voyages were also journeys of discovery as he and his crews encountered new people and creatures, as well as great dangers. They also took Hawkins into the very heart of a newly emerging conflict between Philip II's Catholic Spain and Elizabeth's Protestant England. Hawkins' treatment by Spaniards at San Juan de Ulua was never forgotten by the seafarer, but he had his revenge with the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The Queen appointed Hawkins Treasurer and Controller of her navy, and in these roles he restructured the royal fleet and improved the sea-worthiness and fighting capabilities of its ships. It was to a large extent thanks to Hawkins that the Spaniards were defeated in 1588.
Sir John Hawkins' later life was also colourful. He helped foil the Ridolfi Plot and save the life of Queen Elizabeth, and was also the victim of a failed assassination attempt. Although a native of Devon, the great seafarer established a link to Herefordshire through his second marriage, to Margaret Vaughan of Hergest, Kington. It is possible that the couple married at Eardisley Castle. Little more is known of Hawkins' Herefordshire connections, but Lady Hawkins' School, built in 1632 as part of the bequest of Lady Margaret, was almost certainly possible due in part to the fortune Sir John had amassed on his voyages.
The book Sir John Hawkins, Elizabethan Explorer and Privateer, by Nic Dinsdale and students of Lady Hawkins' School, can be purchased from the school. Contact Lady Hawkins' School, Kington, Herefordshire, HR5 3AG, telephone 01544 350405. The book costs £4.50, and cheques should be made payable to 'Sir John Hawkins Book Fund'.
[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2003]