Posted by Peter Hyland on August 11, 2014 at 01:50:27 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Who Owns Wild Cat Island? posted by Mike Dennis on August 10, 2014 at 04:55:51:
“can we assume it [W.C.I.] is owned by the Blackett family?”
Mike - in my view, we can’t. I suppose the short answer is – we don’t know, but it is very unlikely. The island would originally have belonged to whoever owned the lake, i.e. the bed of the lake – probably one of the large estate owners (in real life, perhaps the Lonsdale Estate). The island could have been bought by the Blacketts or their precedessors at Beckfoot (provided the lake owners were willing to sell it, and I think they would be reluctant), but the question is why? The island can’t be used for anything except leisure, i.e. occasional visits and picnics, and the local residents would do those things anyway. People were not too hung up about land ownership in those days, and visits by two local children playing ‘pirates’ would not have bothered anyone (nor picnics by adults - John Ruskin frequently used to take guests for picnics on Peel Island and he didn’t own it.) Camping on the island might be regarded as a trespass, and as Mike mentions, Mrs Walker may have obtained permission, although I can't find any express mention in the book – when it says (on p. 21) that the children “were to be allowed to land on the island and live there . . .” I take this as meaning allowed by Daddy.
I think AR was right to ignore the ownership question. Children aren’t bothered about who owns places, and he just wanted a good story. By the way, I think the location of the houseboat is nothing to do with Wild Cat Island – it was in the next bay, and was probably there because a rented mooring was available and it would be away from the “shipping lanes” but not too far from Rio for supplies.