Transcript

of

Peter Orlando Hutchinson. [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol. XXX, (1898), pp. 44-46.

by

Rev. W. Harpley

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1898 Honiton meeting. Mr Hutchinson was a polymath whose interests ranged from politics to the preservation of telephone poles. He was also an amateur musician (flute and French horn) as well as a stonecarver. His major achievement, however, was a series of diaries and sketchbooks, containing observations on the geology, archaeology, botany and other items of interest relating to East Devon. He was also great-grandson of Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson of Boston Tea Party fame. In 1837-8 he visited the United States and Canada, where he made over a hundred sketches. In 1880, he helped organize and publish his great-grandfather's paper. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Peter Orlando Hutchinson, born in 1810, was the son of a physician, and great-grandson of His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, the last and loyal Governor of Massachusetts, whose diary and letters he published in 1883. In early life he studied architecture, and was to the last a most zealous antiquarian. He visited repeatedly all the encampments, tumuli, and other antiquities in the neighbourhood of Sidmouth, and wrote a detailed account of them, which, beautifully illustrated with his own hand drawings, and entitled A History of Sidmouth, in six folio vols., he presented to the Albert Museum, Exeter.

When the chancel of the Parish Church at Sidmouth was removed to make way for a larger one, he purchased the old materials, and had the stones carefully numbered while in situ. Re-erected in his own grounds to the north of the church, they formed the nucleus of a curious and picturesque house, which he called the Old Chancel. The entrance hall has a stone vault of fan tracery; the walls are ornamented with tinted diaper work; the staircase has iron railings wrought from his own design; the ceiling of his study is divided by wooden beams into square compartments, which contain the armorial bearings of the successive Lords of the Manor of Sidmouth painted by himself. In this structure he formed during many years a considerable collection of objects of local and antiquarian interest, which, however, he dispersed before his death, mostly in favour of the Albert Museum in Exeter. The handsome pinnacles which now ornament the tower of Sidmouth Parish Church were carved from his designs and under his superintendence.

Mr. Hutchinson wrote a Sidmouth guide-book, which ran through several editions, and from his versatile pen also came The Geology of Sidmouth and The Ferns of Sidmouth, He joined the Association in 1868, and during the earlier portion of his membership was a frequent contributor of papers.

The following is a list of papers read by him: - "On Hill Fortresses, Sling Stones, and other Antiquities in South-Eastern Devon," 1868; "Fossil Elephant's Tooth," 1869; "On a Second Fossil Tooth found at Sidmouth," 1871; "Bronze Celt found near Sidmouth," 1872; "Iron Pits," 1872; "Fossil Teeth at Sidmouth," 1872; "Submerged Forest and Mammoth Teeth at Sidmouth," 1873; "The Population of Sidmouth from 1260 to the Present Time," 1875; ''Jar found at Musbury," 1876; "A Scheme for a History of Devonshire," 1877; " Fossil Plant discovered near Sidmouth," 1879 ; " The Site of Moridumun," 1882 ; "Honeyditches," 1885. He was a member of the Council, and of several committees for special purposes; he also drew up for many years the Index for the annual volume of Transactions of the Association.

He died at his residence, Old Chancel, Sidmouth, October 1st, 1897, at the advanced age of 87 years. A brass tablet inserted in the wall of the south transept bears his coat of arms and the following inscription written by himself:

LIBERTATUM COLO LICENTIUM DETESTOR
PETRUS ORLANDO HUTCHINSON

Fil Andriæ H de Sidost, et Annæ (Parker, de Harburn)
Fil Thomæ H de Heavitree, et Sarah (Oliver, de Boston, Mass.)
Fil Thomæ H de Boston, et Margaretæ (Sanford, de Newport, R.I.)
Fil Thomæ H de Eod Loc et Sarah (Foster, Aylesbury, England)
Fil Elishæ H de Eod, et Hannah (Hawkins)
Fil Edwardi H de Eod, Catherinæ (Hanby, de Gippewico, England)
Fil Gulielemi H de Halford, co. Linc. Eng, et Annæ (Marbury)
Fil Edwardi H de Eod, et Susannæ, Ejus Uxoris
Fil Johanis H de Civitate Linc, et Annæ, Uxoris Ejus
    Qui Quidem Petrus Nat Est Winton, Not 17, 1810
    Bap Heavitree Juxta Exon, Oct 22, 1811
    Et Obiit Sidost Oct 1, 1897