A tribute to Lt Col. John Speller
By Sarah, Curator of West Exe
Lt Col. John Speller was a member of the Friends of Exeter Museum and Art Gallery and served on the FEMAG Committee from 2004 until his death in May 2008. In September 2007 he spoke to me on the telephone about happy memories of a childhood in St Thomas. He was clearly full of local knowledge. His family goes back to the mid 1800s in the area.
John Speller was also in the St Thomas Homeguard. He had many fascinating memories and we had hoped to record them when he was in town but unfortunately it was not to happen.
Here are a few snippets I jotted down at the time:
"Countess Isabella Fortesque had the river weir built. It stopped ships coming up to the quay in Exeter so the city petitioned to build the canal. Did you know the Exeter Ship Canal is the second oldest canal in England? When the Romans moved their legion from Lincoln to York they built a canal on the Oose and that was the oldest.
[When I was a boy] there was a rowing stage, a floating pontoon. Boys and girls would be down on the river all weekend, but now its gone. That was really fun...
I went to school in Exeter and at lunchtime we used to race down to the museum and throw our caps. The first boy to get his cap onto one of the giraffe's horns got a sweet. I don't think the guard on duty thought much of it but to us it was great fun."
I would like to pay tribute to Lt Col.Speller for his contribution to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum over a number of years.