Chain mail shirt
Category
Arms and armour
Date
1750 - 1820
Materials
Metal
Measurements
755 x 730 mm
Order this imageCollection
Cotehele, Cornwall
NT 347443
Summary
Chain mail shirt.
Provenance
Colonel G.T.G. Williams wrote on 22 November 2002: "William Williams gave his uncle Edward Williams (1786-1824) the shirt of chain mail when he came home from Afghanistan. Edward and his family lived at Honeycombe St Anne's Chapel, his family continued to live there until about 1906. It was then sold, together with a certain amount of contents, including the chain mail shirt. Michael Trinick told me that Lord Mount Edgcumbe, of the day, bought the house, as a Dower house for Cotehele. I don't know if any of the family ever lived in it. [Ernestine Edgcumbe did, 1905-25]. It is now the central building of a flourishing holiday camp. Edward Williams lived there to supervise the Manor of Calstock that his father John Williams (1753-1841) bought in 1806. He also helped his father with the construction of Plymouth breakwater. William Williams' portrait hangs at Caerhays Castle, and is of a very ill-looking officer in his red tunic. He was obviously full of malaria, dysentery, and no doubt tuberculosis. He died soon after it was painted. I hope this makes a rather plain object more interesting!"