Where Memory Meets Stone: A look into the life of Sir William Hamer and how his connection to Castle Crag led to the placement of a unique war memorial at its peak.
William Heaton Hamer was born in Leeds in 1862, the eldest son of John Hamer, J.P. He was a scholar at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and graduated as the twelfth wrangler in 1882. He pursued a career in medicine and was both a Kirkes Scholar and a Lawrence Scholar at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. He qualified as M.R.C.S. in 1886 and earned his M.B. the following year.
Hamer became a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1889 and was awarded his M.D. in 1890. He entered the medical service of the London County Council in 1892 and joined the British Medical Association in 1893. He was elected F.R.C.P. in 1895. In 1912, he succeeded Sir Shirley Murphy as Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer.
Hamer was awarded the Bisset Hawkins Medal in 1920 and received a knighthood in January 1923. He retired on 31st December 1925.
In 1918, Sir William Hamer and his wife, Agnes, purchased the land at the summit of Castle Crag for £150 from the executors of the estate of Colonel C.V. Conway Gordon. They did so as a memorial to their son, John, aged 20, who was killed in France in March 1918 during the First World War.
In 1920, William and Agnes transferred the land to the National Trust, requesting that a plaque affixed to the summit rock on Castle Crag be dedicated solely to their son. However, shortly before his death on 28th May 1920, Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley—one of the founding members of the National Trust—suggested that the dedication also include the ten men of Borrowdale who died in the First World War.
Canon Rawnsley was also a Chaplain to the King and to the Border Regiment Territorials, holding the army rank of Colonel. The plaque, made from local green slate, was erected on 11th June 1921.
Castle Crag was given to the
National Trust in memory of
JOHN HAMER
2nd Lieut 6th KSLI Born July 8 1897
Killed in action March 22 1918
Also of
The following men of Borrowdale
Who died for the same cause
2nd Lieut H.E. Layland R.E.
Pte G. Bird 1st Border Regt
Pte E. J. Boow 2nd Border Regt
Pte J.H. Dover 11th Border Regt
Pte J. Edmondson 1st Border Regt
Pte F. Hindmoor 7th Border Regt
Pte W. Nicholson 5th Border Regt
Pte T. Richardson 6th Border Regt
Pte J.W. Rigg 8th Border Regt
Pte A.E. Wilson Kings Own Royal Lancasters
A Noble Memorial
“Most towns and villages have now provided their memorials to the heroes who fell in the war, and it is to be credited of one of the most sparsely populated parishes in Cumberland that it has provided unquestionably the finest monument. Castle Crag in Borrowdale has been adapted for this purpose, for while a tablet has been erected on the top of the rock, the crag itself has been purchased and presented to the nation, through the National Trust….
….One fears that people who have not the happiness of knowing Borrowdale will get some curious ideas as to Castle Crag from the paragraphs which have appeared in the daily papers during the week. It is not “one of the group of mountains surrounding this beautiful valley,” for Castle Crag stands out boldly alone between Scawdale Fell, with its backing of Eel Crags, on the west of Derwent, and Brundfell on the east.
Tourists from century to century and a half ago, who penetrated Borrowdale (and more wrote about the valley than went through it), spoke in terms of awe of Castle Crag, standing like a sentinel at the entrance to Borrowdale.”
Penrith Observer – Tuesday 21st June, 1921
Sir William Hamer died at the age of seventy-four on 7th July 1936. In 1938, acting on behalf of Agnes, Samuel Hamer asked William Heelis—the husband of Beatrix Potter—to explore the possibility of purchasing the wooded slopes of Castle Crag. As a result of the purchase, the 46 acres, which included Low Hows Wood, was donated to the National Trust by the family in memory of Sir William Hamer.
Lady Hamer’s Gift to Nation
“With a gift of land on the lower slopes of Castle Crag, Borrowdale, Cumberland, to the National Trust, announced yesterday, Lady Hamer has enabled the Trust to link Grange Fell–already possessed by the Trust–and Castle Crag, the summit of which her husband, the late Sir William Hamer, and the family, presented to the Trust.
It was in 1910 that the Trust acquired Grange Fell and the Bowder Stone, one of the favourite parts of Borrowdale. Shortly after the Great War the summit of Castle Crag–on the other side of the valley–was presented by Sir William and his family in memory of his son, John Hamer, and of the men of Borrowdale who fell in the War.
The Trust’s new announcement is of a further important acquistion in the valley, for Lady Hamer has presented forty-six acres on the lower slopes of Castle Crag as a memorial to Sir William. This land includes Low Hows Wood, and protects the approaches to Castle Crag from both the Grange and the Rosthwaite sides, and joins Castle Crag to Grange Fell.
Last year Mr. H. V. Morton broadcast an appeal for the Trust, and out of the money received through that appeal the Trust is now able to buy High Hows Wood, and so to complete the protection of “the Jaws of Borrowdale.” High Hows Wood forms the background to the famous view of the River Derwent and the Borrowdale Birches.”
Liverpool Daily Post – Friday 28th July, 1939
The land surrounding the summit of Castle Crag
was given to the nation in memory of
SIR WILLIAM HAMER M.A. M.D. F.R.C.P.
by his wife AGNES whom this seat commemorates
1939
This memorial is located on the western side of Castle Crag, beside the path leading down into Broadslack Gill, which then continues to the village of Grange. You can descend this way if you wish and then meet up with the Lakeland Way path at Castle Hawes (the head of Broadslack Gill).
William and Agnes lived at 55 Dartmouth Park Hill, London. I am not aware of any other connection the family had with the Lake District, either through land or property ownership. However, William’s brother, Samuel Hamer, served as secretary of the National Trust from 1911 to 1933, and it is clear the family held a deep fondness for Castle Crag and the surrounding area.
“The highest point is a boss of rock, and this is crowned by a professionally-made round flat-topped cairn, below which, set in the rock, is a commemorative tablet: a war memorial to the men of Borrowdale, effective and imaginative.”
Alfred Wainwright, The North Western Fells, 1963
The cairn has since been shaped into a small wind shelter.
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Thanks, sources and further reading:
The British Medical Journal
‘The North Western Fells‘ by Alfred Wainwright