Young Amazon Snell, From "The Strange Story Book"!

May you enjoy this reading of the real life "Young Amazon Snell" story, from the book named "The Strange Story Book", which was the last of a series of 25 books published in the UK from 1889-1913, by husband and wife team, Andrew and Nora Lang.

Hannah or "Amazon" Snell as she was known, was a real life English female soldier/sailor, who disguised herself as a man back in the mid-1700s, to join the British military and travel all over the world, taking part in various campaigns.

The Langs collected a large variety of folk/fairy tales and true stories from all over Europe and beyond and published them in 25 volumes. Nora translated many of the stories from other languages and all were shared with children in mind.

Their book series was extremely popular and actually ended up helping to revolutionise children's literature of the era...enjoy!

Transcript

Hello there.

Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of the story of Young Amazon Snell,

One of the various stories in the book called The Strange Storybook,

Which was the last of a series of 25 books published in the UK from 1889 to 1913 by husband and wife team Andrew and Nora Lang.

They collected up stories,

Both folk and fairy stories and also true stories,

From all over the world and put them together into these 25 volumes.

Before we get into this story here today,

Let's just take a moment here to have a nice deep exhale.

Letting go of the day,

Letting go of whichever baggage we might be bringing along with us into this moment.

For right now,

There's nowhere else that we have to be,

Nothing else we have to be doing.

So we can just relax,

Get ourselves comfortable and enjoy the extraordinary story of Young Amazon Snell.

When George I was king,

There lived in Worcester a man named Snell,

Snell,

Who carried on business as a hosier and dyer.

He worked hard as indeed he had much need to do,

Having three sons and six daughters to provide for.

The boys were sent to some kind of school,

But in those days tradesmen did not trouble themselves about educating their girls and Snell thought it quite enough for them to be able to read and to count upon their fingers.

If they wanted more learning,

They must pick it up for themselves.

Now,

Although Snell himself was a peaceable,

Stay-at-home man,

His father had been a soldier and had earned fame and a commission as captain lieutenant by shooting the governor of Dunkirk in the reign of King William.

Many tales did the Snell children hear in the winter evenings of their grandfather's brave deeds when he fought at Blenheim with the Welsh Fusiliers and a thrill of excitement never failed to run through them as they listened to the story of the Battle of Malplachet,

Where the hero received the wound that killed him.

Twenty-two battles,

They whispered proudly,

Yet with awestruck voices,

Did ever any man before fight in so many as that?

And though the eldest boy said less than any,

One morning his bed was empty and by and by his mother got a message to tell her that Sam had enlisted and was to sail for Flanders with the army commanded by the Duke of Cumberland.

Poor Sam's career was not a long one.

He was shot through the lungs at the Battle of Fontenoy and died in a few hours.

The old grandfather's love of a fight was in all these young Snells and one by one the boys followed Sam's example and the girls married soldiers or sailors.

Hannah,

The youngest,

Brought up from her babyhood on talk of wars and rumours of wars,

Thought of nothing else.

She would be a soldier too when she was big enough,

She told her father and mother twenty times a day,

And her playfellows were so infected by her zeal that they allowed themselves to be formed into a company,

Of which Hannah,

Needless to say,

Was the commander-in-chief,

And meekly obeyed her orders.

In their free hours she would drill them as her brothers had drilled her,

And now and then when she decided that they knew enough not to disgrace her,

She would march them through the streets of Worcester,

Under the admiring gaze of the shopkeepers standing at their doors.

Young Amazon Snell's troop are coming this way,

See how straight they hold themselves and look at Hannah at the head of them,

Said the women hurrying out,

And though Hannah,

Like a well-trained soldier,

Kept her eyes steadily before her,

She heard it all,

And her little back grew stiffer than ever.

So things went on,

For many years,

Till,

At the end of 1740,

Mr.

And Mrs.

Snell both died,

And Hannah left Worcester to live with one of her sisters,

The wife of James Grey,

A carpenter whose home was at Wapping in the east of London.

Much of Grey's work lay among the ships which drew up alongside the wharf,

And sailors were continually in and out of the house in Ship Street.

One of these,

A Dutchman called Soms,

Proposed to Hannah,

Who married him in 1743,

When she was not yet 20.

She was a good-looking,

Pleasant girl,

And no doubt had attracted plenty of attention,

But of course she laughed at the idea of her marrying a shopkeeper who had never been outside his own parish.

So,

Like Desdemona,

And many another girl before and after,

She listened entranced to the marvellous stories told her by Soms,

And thought herself fortunate indeed to have found such a husband.

She soon changed her opinion.

Soms very quickly got tired of her,

And after ill-treating her in every kind of way,

And even selling her clothes,

Deserted her.

And being ill,

And miserable,

And not knowing what to do,

She thankfully returned to her sister.

After some months of peace and rest,

Hannah grew well and strong,

And then she made up her mind to carry out a plan she had formed during her illness,

Which was to put on a man's dress and go in search of the sailor who had treated her so ill.

At least,

This was what she said to herself,

But no doubt the real motive that guided her was the possibility of at last becoming a soldier or sailor,

And seeing the world.

It is not quite clear if she confided in her sister,

But at any rate,

She took a suit of her brother-in-law's clothes and his name into the bargain,

And it was as James Grey that she enlisted in Coventry in 1745,

In a regiment commanded by General Guise.

It was lucky for Hannah that,

Unlike most girls of her day in position,

She had not been pent up at home doing needlework,

As after three weeks,

She,

With 17 other raw recruits,

Was ordered to join her regiment at Carlisle,

So as to be ready to act,

If necessary,

Against the Highlanders and Prince Charlie.

But these three weeks had taught her much about a soldier's life,

Which her brothers had left untold.

She had learnt to talk as the men about her talked,

And to drink with them if she was invited,

Though she always contrived to keep her head clear and her legs steady.

As to her husband,

Of him she could hear nothing at Coventry.

Perhaps she might be more fortunate in the north.

In spite of a burn on her foot,

Which she had received after enlisting,

Hannah found no difficulty in marching to Carlisle with the other recruits,

And when they reached the city at the end of 22 days,

She was as fresh as any of them.

How delighted she was to find that the dream of her childhood was at last realised,

And that she could make as good a soldier as the rest.

But her spirits were soon dashed by the wickedness of the sergeant,

Who on Hannah's refusal to help him to carry out an infamous scheme on which he had set his heart,

Reported her to the commanding officer for neglect of duty.

No inquiry as to the truth of this accusation appears to have been made,

And the sentence pronounced was extraordinarily heavy,

Even though it was thought to have been passed on a man.

The prisoner was to have her hands tied to the castle gates,

And to receive six hundred lashes.

She actually did receive five hundred at least,

So it was said.

And then some officers who were Some officers who were present interfered and bade them set her free.

It does not seem as if Hannah suffered much from her stripes,

But very soon a fresh accident upset all her plans.

The arrival of a new recruit was reported,

And the youth turned out to be a young carpenter from Wapping,

Who had spent several days in her brother-in-law's house while she was living there.

Hannah made sure that he would recognise her at once,

Though as a matter of fact he did nothing of the kind.

And to prevent the shame of discovery,

She determined to desert the regiment and try her fortune elsewhere.

To go as far as possible from Carlisle was her one idea,

And what town could be better than Portsmouth for the purpose?

But in order to travel such a long way,

Money was needed,

And Hannah had spent all her own and did not know how to get more.

She consulted a young woman whom she had helped when in great trouble,

And in gratitude the girl instantly offered enough to enable her friend to get a lift on the road when she was too tired to walk any longer.

If you get rich,

You can pay me back,

She said.

If not,

The debt is still on my side.

But oh,

Master Grey,

Beware,

I pray you,

For if they catch you,

They will shoot you,

To a certainty.

No fear,

Answered Hannah,

Laughing,

And very early one morning she stole out.

Taking the road south,

She crept along under the shade of the hedge,

Till about a mile from the town she noticed a heap of clothes lying on the ground,

Flung there by some labourers who were working at the other end of the field.

It will be many hours yet before they will look for them,

Thought she,

And fair exchange is no robbery.

So,

Stooping low in the ditch,

She slipped off her regimentals,

And hiding them at the very bottom of the pile,

Put on an old coat and trousers belonging to one of the men.

Then,

Full of hope,

She started afresh.

Perhaps the commander in Carlisle never heard of the desertion of one of the garrison,

Or perhaps search for James Grey was made in the wrong direction.

However that may be,

Nobody troubled the fugitive,

Who,

Weary and foot sore,

In a month's time entered Portsmouth.

At this point,

A new chapter begins in Hannah Snell's history.

The old desire to see the world was still strong upon her,

And after resting for a little in the house of some kind people,

She enlisted afresh in a regiment of marines.

A few weeks later,

She was ordered to join the Swallow,

And to sail with Admiral Buscarwin's fleet for the East Indies.

It was Hannah's first sea voyage,

But in spite of the roughness of the life on board ship in those days,

She was happy enough.

England was behind her.

That was the chief thing.

And who could tell what wonderful adventures lay in front?

So,

Her spirits rose,

And she was so good-natured and obliging,

As well as so clever,

That the crew one and all declared they had found a treasure.

There was nothing James Grey could not and would not do.

Wash their shirts,

Cook their food,

Mend their holes,

Laugh at their stories,

And as she looked a great deal younger in her men's clothes than she had done in her woman's dress,

No one took her for anything but a boy,

And all willingly helped to teach her the duties which would fall to her both now and in case of war.

She kept watch for four hours in turn with the rest,

And soon began to see in the dark with all the keenness of a sailor.

Next,

She was taught how to load and unload a pistol,

Which pleased her very much,

And was given her place on the quarterdeck,

Where she was at once to take up her station during an engagement.

Most likely,

She was forced from time to time to attend drill,

But this we are not told.

The swallow was not half through the Bay of Biscay when a great storm arose,

Which blew the fleet apart and did great damage to the vessel.

Both her topmasts were lost,

And it is a wonder that in this crippled condition,

The ship was able to make her way to Lisbon,

Where the crew remained on shore till the ship was refitted and she could join the rest of the fleet,

Which then set sail down the Atlantic towards the coast of India.

Except for more bad weather and a scarcity of provisions on board the swallow,

Nothing worthy of note occurred till they had rounded the Cape of Good Hope and passed Madagascar.

Some fruitless attacks on a group of islands belonging to the French gave Hannah her first experience of war,

And her comrades were anxious as to how the boy would behave under fire.

But they speedily saw that there was no danger that any cowardice of his would bring discredit on the regiment,

And that James Grey was as good a fighter as he was a cook.

Perhaps James Grey,

If the truth be told,

Was rather relieved himself when the bugle sounded a retreat.

For no one knows what may happen to him in the excitement of a first battle,

Or whether,

In the strangeness and newness of it all,

He may not lose his head and run away and be covered with shame forever.

None of this,

However,

Befell Hannah,

And when six weeks after they were on Indian soil and sat down to besiege the French settlement of Pondicherry,

The Worcestershire girl was given more than one chance of distinguishing herself.

Pondicherry was a very strong place,

And the walls,

Which were not washed by the sea,

Were thoroughly fortified and defended by guns.

While the magazines contained ample supplies both of food and powder,

Further it was guarded by the fort of Ariakapong,

Commanding a river and with a battery of twelve guns ready to pour forth fire on the British army.

Hannah was speedily told off with some others to bring up certain stores which had been landed by the fleet,

And after some heavy skirmishing,

They succeeded in their object.

Her company was then ordered to cross the river,

So as to be able to march when necessary upon Pondicherry itself,

And this they did,

Under the fire of the guns of Ariakapong,

With the water rising to their breasts.

At length the fort was captured,

And great was the rejoicing in the British lines,

For the surrender of Ariakapong meant the removal of the chief barrier towards taking the capital of French India.

For seven nights Hannah had to be on picket duty,

And was later sent to the trenches where she constantly was obliged to dig with the water up to her waist,

For the autumn rains had now begun.

But her heart and soul were bound up in the profession she had chosen,

And everything else was forgotten,

Even her desire to revenge herself on her husband.

Not a soldier in the army fought better than she,

And in one of the battles under the walls of Pondicherry,

She is said to have received 11 shots in her legs alone.

She was carried into hospital,

And when the doctors had time to attend to her,

She showed them the bullet wounds down her shins,

But made no mention of a ball which had entered her side,

For she was resolved not to submit to any examination.

This wound gave her more pain than all the rest put together,

And after two days she made up her mind that in order to avoid being discovered for a woman,

She must extract it herself,

With the help of a native who was acting as nurse,

Setting her teeth to prevent herself shrieking with the agony the slightest touch caused her,

Hannah felt about till she found the exact spot where the ball was lodged,

And then pressed the place,

Until the bullet was near enough to the surface for her to pull it out with her finger and thumb.

The pain of it all was such that she sank back almost fainting,

But with a violent effort she roused herself and stretching out her hand for the lint and the ointment placed within her reach by the nurse,

She dressed the wound.

Three months later,

She was as well as ever,

And able to do the work of a sailor on board a ship,

Which at that time was anchored in the harbour.

As soon as the fleet returned from Madras,

Hannah was ordered to the Eltham,

But at Bombay she fell into disgrace with the first lieutenant,

Was put into irons for five days,

Spent four hours at the foretop masthead,

And received 12 lashes.

She was likewise accused of stealing a shirt,

But as this was proved to be false,

The charge only roused the anger of the crew,

And they took the first opportunity to revenge themselves on the lieutenant who had sentenced her.

It was in November 1749 that the fleet sailed for home,

And the Eltham was directed to steer a straight course for Lisbon,

Having to take on board a large sum of money destined for some London merchants.

One day,

When she was ashore with her mates,

They turned into a public house to have dinner.

Here,

They happened to meet an English sailor,

With whom many of the party were well acquainted.

Learning that he had been lately engaged on a Dutch vessel,

Hannah inquired carelessly whether he had ever come across one Jemmy Sums.

Sums,

Answered the man,

I should think I had.

I heard of him only the other day,

At Genoa,

In prison,

For killing an Italian gentleman.

I asked to be allowed to see him,

And as he was condemned to death,

They gave me leave to do so.

He told me the story of his life,

And how while he was in London,

He married a young woman called Hannah Snell,

And then deserted her.

More than six years have passed since that time,

And he does not know what became of her,

But he begged me,

If ever I was near Wapin again,

To seek her out,

And entreat her to forgive him.

As soon as he had finished,

The jailer entered,

And bade us say farewell.

That was the last we saw of him,

But before I left,

I heard that he had been sewn up in a bag filled with stones,

And thrown into the sea,

Which is their way of hanging.

Hannah had listened,

In silence,

And would gladly have quitted the place,

To think over the sailor's story,

Quietly.

But she never forgot the part she was playing,

And roused herself to tell the sailor that and roused herself to tell the sailor that when she returned to England,

She would make it her business to search for the widow,

And to help her if she seemed in need.

Then she got up,

And called for the bill,

And followed by her companions,

Rowed back to the ship.

It was on June the 1st,

1750,

That Hannah Snell landed in Portsmouth,

And in the course of a few days,

Made her way to Wapin.

The rough life she had led,

And even her uniform,

Had changed her so little,

That her sister recognised her at once,

And flung her arms round the stranger's neck,

Much to the surprise of the neighbours.

But Hannah,

In spite of her sister's entreaties,

Refused to put on the dress of a woman,

Till she had received £15 of pay due to her,

And two suits.

And when this was done,

She invited those of the ship's crew,

Who were then in London,

To drink with her at a public house,

And there revealed to them her secret.

It was,

However,

To no purpose that she talked.

These men,

By whose side she had fought and drunk for so long,

Would believe nothing,

And thought it was just one of Jemmy's stories.

At length,

She was forced to send for her sister and brother-in-law,

Who swore that her tale was true.

And then,

The sailors broke out into a chorus of praise,

Of her courage,

Her cleverness,

And her kindness,

All the time that they had known her.

One,

Indeed,

Made her an offer on the spot.

But Hannah had had enough of matrimony,

And was not minded to tie herself to another husband.

It was not long before the wondrous story of Hannah Snell reached the ears of the Duke of Cumberland,

Son of George II,

And commander-in-chief of the British army.

A petition was drawn up setting forth her military career,

And requesting the grant of a pension in consideration of her services.

This petition and accident enabled her to deliver in person to the Duke,

As he was leaving his house in Palmal.

And by the advice of his equerry,

Colonel Napier,

The pension of a shilling a day for life,

18 pounds,

Five shillings,

Was bestowed on her.

It does not sound much to us,

But money went a great deal further in those times.

But her fame as a female soldier was worth much more to Hannah than the scars she had won in his majesty's service.

The manager of the theatre at the New Wells,

Goodman's Fields,

Saw clearly that the opportunity was too good to be lost.

And that advertisement of the celebrated Mrs Hannah Snell,

Who had gained 12 wounds fighting the French in India,

Would earn a large fortune for him and a small fortune for her.

So,

Here we bid her goodbye,

And listen to her for the last time,

Her petticoats discarded forever,

Singing to the fashionable audience of Goodman's Fields,

The songs with which she had delighted for many months the crew of the Eltham.