L. C. R. Duncombe-Jewell

Louis Charles Richard Duncombe-Jewell (10 September 1866–1947), born Louis Charles Richard Jewell, was a soldier, special war correspondent of The Times and Morning Post, sportsman and sometimes poet, he was a champion of the Cornish language. Born at Liskeard in Cornwall, he assumed the additional surname of Duncombe in accordance with his grandmother’s will in 1895. His parents were members of the Plymouth Brethren but he later converted to Catholicism.

Military service

Formerly a Lieutenant in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, he represented The Times in Spain during the rumours of an impending Carlist rising in 1898-99, and served as a Special War Correspondent for the Morning Post newspaper in South Africa, the same paper that also employed Winston Churchill, with the 3rd Division South African Field Force.

Writing career

Duncombe-Jewell was a noted historian, novelist and verse-writer, and made numerous contributions to the Pall Mall Gazette, and many other publications of the period. He was editor of Armorial Cornwall, founder and Hon. Sec. Celtic-Cornish Society, and leader of the Cornish Language Movement. He was also an expert in the works of occultist, Aleister Crowley who spent some time in Cornwall.

Interest in Cornish Nationalism

In 1901 he founded the Cornish Celtic Society (Cornish language: Cowethas Kelto-Kernuak), and at the Pan Celtic Congress of 1901 made a spirited plea for recognition of Cornwall as a Celtic nation.

He was a flamboyant individual who appeared at the 1902 Bangor Eisteddfod as the Cornish delegate sporting a traditional Cornish costume of his own design, he was barded by the Welsh Gorsedd in 1904 and took the bardic name of Bardd Glas (the Blue Bard) because he was clad from his tights to his cap in this colour. Also involved with Cowethas Kelto Kernuak was Henry Jenner who had retired to Cornwall following a distinguished career as librarian at the British Museum. Together with Jenner, he was joinly responsible for Cornwall gaining its acceptance as a Celtic nation by the Pan Celtic Congress of 1904. Later the two men founded the Cornish Gorseth. The Cowethas Kelto Kernuak organisation petered out at the outbreak of the Great War and the colourful and enigmatic Bardd Glas progressively turned his attention away from Cornish Celtic culture to Welsh.

Works

(Some publications under the name Ludovick Charles Richard Duncombe-Jewell or L. C. R. Cameron)

• Otters and Otter-hunting (1908)
• The Handbook to British Military Stations Abroad (1898)
• Rod, Pole & Perch: fishing & otter hunt ISBN 978-1-84664-126-8 (2006 reprint)
• Minor Field Sports ISBN 978-1-905124-12-1 (2005 reprint)
• Love-Lies-Bleeding: lyrics in Old French verse-forms (1929)
• Wild Foods of Great Britain: where to find and how to cook them ISBN 0-904727-49-1 (1977 reprint)
• The Hunting Horn: what to blow and how to blow it (1950)