Books by Roger Bowen
Lunacy to Croquet
***********************
Curate and the General
***********************
We think you ought to go
***********************
Swansea Exile
***********************
Croquet at Budleigh
***********************
General Julius Goodwyn
***********************
Lunacy to Croquet
The story of a pioneering doctor who lived from 1828 to 1910.
He was one of the first medical superintendents who worked in the field of insanity at a time when the treatment of the insane in lunatic asylums was scandalous. He brought about many changes in the two asylums he worked in for the betterment of conditions for the insane.
He was forced into premature retirement and moved to Budleigh Salterton to enjoy his literary interests. He studied the works of Sir Walter Ralegh (sic) and became the country's foremost scholar in this study.
Many interesting and well-known people have lived in Budleigh Salterton. Few enough were actually born there. One famous exception is Sir Walter Ralegh whose portrait as a youngster was painted by Sir John Everett Millais as he sat with a fisherman on the beach wall. Note the spelling Ralegh because in deference to the subject of this biography it is accepted that Ralegh never spelled his name as Raleigh.
Most of the other celebrities who came to live here did so after a lifetime of work elsewhere. They came because the small town is unique amongst all others on the south coast of England in that it possesses a calming climate and rural charm that reminds visitors of the sunny days gone by when all the world was young. Many of them came to visit and stayed to the end of their days.
Such a one was Dr Thomas Nadauld Brushfield who chose Budleigh out of many other possibilities when he was forced to retire from a life spent in treating the insane in 1882.
Dr Brushfield possessed a delightful and interesting personality as all his many friends have testified. The systems he devised for the welfare of his patients have come to be adopted widely and he is still recognized as the foremost Ralegh scholar just as he was when he set down his pen for the final time in 1910.*******************************************
The Curate and the General
is the story of two 18th century adventurers who became employees of the East India Company. Robert Palk was a clergyman who gave up his calling to administer the trading that the company was developing in the subcontinent.
Stringer Lawrence was a career soldier who was appointed as a major in charge of the development of a fighting force to counteract the success of the French under Duplieux and La Bordonnais.
They were immensely successful and retired to fullfulling retirements in England after their Indian exploits.********************************************
We think you ought to go
is based on the incomplete memoirs left by Charles Gordon who fought in the First World War in the Western Front and in Salonica.
Following his discharge in 1919 he joined the Metropolitan Police and served through the twenties and thirties. He was present thorugh the bombing of East London in 1941-43.
He was appointed to the body leading the reconstruction and adminstration of Germany after WW2*********************************************
Swansea Exile
is the story of two families from 1938 to 1954 told through the experiences of those who lived through the Swansea Blitz and the industrialization of South Wales.
It also serves as an autobiography of the author from 1937 to 1954 when he moved with his family to Maidstone in Kent.
**********************************************
Croquet Handbook
A short history of the famous Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club from its foundation in the early 1860s until the present day.
The club has now become a national centre for tournaments iwth its 12 beautifully mainatined lawns, comfortable club house and a lively social centre.
**********************************************
General Julius Goodwyn
One of the founders of the Croquet Club in Budleigh Salterton who retired to the town in 1865 after a career in the 41srt of Foot in the Crimea. He became the Colonel of the regiment and served in Jamaica and India.
