A General Connection

Ye Old Bell
Hurley, Berkshire

I'm sitting here in the pub of the Ye Old Bell in Berkshire, just a short walk from the river Themes. Thinking back about all that we’re seen in the last couple of days, its difficult to believe how much has been packed into these short eight days. It’s been absolutely excellent.

The Old Bell is billed as the oldest continually operating inn in Britain. It was founded in 1135, yes, that’s nearly 900 years of assisting guests to step out of their coaches and pouring them a pint. Our coach has quite a few more horses, only one driver and a rather surly footman [just kidding Gerry], so we’re really quite like those travelers of centuries past.

We went for a visit to Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst today with an excellent personal tour around by the Sandhurst Archivist.

There are a great many stories to tell, of which I will have to get to later on, because we’ll be leaving for Bletchley Park in about 30 minutes, so I only have time for one.

Of the many fascinating stories from yesterday that were told, the most intriguing was told in the Lords Room of Old College by our well-informed host. There are two great portraits on the wall, enormous in scale even for this great room. One is Lt. General Sir Eyre Coote and the other is his wife Lady Coote. There are two fascinating stories here, well, actually one much more fascinating then the other. First, is that Coote, as the Governor General of Jamaica had these great portraits created for the government building which he used as the Governor Generals residence in Kingston. In government buildings, portraits of spouses were expressly forbidden. An exception was made in this case and his wife hung along side him in the residence. The second tale with which we were regaled was about this fellow Coote was that though he had a long and very happy marriage he had an affair with a young slave girl, whom he also loved dearly; with this young girl he fathered a child.

When he left Jamaica, they had to be separated as she could not accompany him back to England; therefore he set her up quite well, with plenty of money and a home in which to live. The family lived well and prospered, and eventually immigrated, some time later, to the USA.

This family later produced one of America’s most illustrious leaders, former Head of the Joint Chief’s of Staff and Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Not only can Powell trace his lineage back directly to Lt. General Coote, but also further back, directly through Coote to Edward I of England, one of England’s great soldier Kings.