Posted by Peter H on March 27, 2009 at 11:05:56 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: burghers of Carlisle posted by Kathy_S on March 27, 2009 at 03:05:33:
'And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle
I have a theory about this, which was very kindly published in that excellent journal "Signals from TARSUS" (readable online):-
Canon Rawnsley was a famous clergyman who lived in the Lake District at the end of the 19th century. He was a friend of John Ruskin, and was one of the founders of the UK National Trust. He was also a friend of W G Collingwood, whose family adopted AR as a young man.
Canon Rawnsley was in charge of preparing bonfires on the fell-tops to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, and he said at the time that he was determined that “the red glare on Skiddaw” should once again wake “the burghers of Carlisle” (quoting Macaulay). This is described in a biography by his second wife, Eleanor F Rawnsley, published in 1923, which AR must surely have read (or Rawnsley himself may have passed this on to AR). Maybe that is where he got the idea for Titty quoting those lines when they were on the summit of Kanchenjunga?