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| A glass of wine, a good book, politics and art…. |
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Page 1 of 4 How many Cornish men and women can you name who have achieved fame and fortune here in Cornwall or in far off corners of the world? Richard Trevithick, Nicholas Holman, Thomas Merritt, AL Rowse, and many others have had volumes written about them down the years but what of others like William Angove, Silas Hocking, John Spargo or Arthur Gundry? All bearers of Cornish names who I have had the pleasure to research and all very different characters as we shall see. First of all a glass of wine: Dr William Thomas Angove, was born in Camborne in 1855. He was the son of Thomas Angove, a landowner and copper company agent and his wife Henrietta. William qualified in medicine from the London Hospital in 1875 and became a general practitioner and surgeon, practicing at locations in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. He married Emma Carlyon in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire in 1879. Emma was the daughter of another Cornishman, Frederick Carlyon and his wife Lucy formerly Turner, both of whom were born in Truro. Her father was a member of the same Carlyon family who have given us many very prominent Truro names down the generations as churchmen and Mayor of Truro as well as in the legal profession and as county coroner. Thomas and Emma Angove emigrated from their home in Mildenhall, Suffolk, to Australia in 1886, where he not only continued his medical career, attending to the medical needs of all, including the poor and the destitute in his role as district medical officer, but he also began experimenting with wine making, growing his own vines at Tea Tree Gulley in the foothills near Adelaide. His enterprise expanded from red and white wines into the making of fortified wines. These were believed to have medical benefits for those suffering certain ailments. A large Cornish built steam boiler was specially imported and installed to help in the process of making these fortified wines. The business thrived and grew and Angove wines became well known in Australia. Dr Angove returned to England in 1912 to carry on his medical work at the London Hospital. His son Thomas Carlyon Angove took over and expanded the wine business in Australia. One of their new products was St Agnes Brandy, named after the area in Cornwall well known to the Angove family before they left for Australia. Today this business is world renowned for its fine wines. |
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