Feature Writer

This Hidden Hero were nominated and submitted by Carisbrooke Castle Museum

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Edgar William Tyler Greenshield was born in 1877, the son of a Newport draper. As a young man he was inspired to devote his life to missionary work and between 1901 and 1913 made five extensive journeys to the Arctic.

He was a contemporary of Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton and became a popular public speaker as interest in exploration in the polar regions grew.

Educated at Portland House Academy, Edgar regularly went to St Johns church, Newport with his family. The Rev. Henry Lewis, who was vicar from 1892 to 1896, had spent many years as a missionary in India and spoke of it often.

It was after hearing a sermon from Lewis that Edgar determined to devote his life to mission work.

First mission in 1901
At 20 Edgar joined the Church Missionary Society College where he learnt medical and technical skills as well as theology. In 1901 he set sail on his first mission to the Canadian Arctic where he endured violent snowstorms, freezing temperatures and long hours of darkness.

He wrote “There is not much in one’s general surroundings to cheer or help or lift one up. The depth of winter, the short dull days, the long dark nights, all tend to depress…”

Learning the Inuit language
Edgar spent two years on Blacklead Island, learning to speak the Inuit language and putting his medical and practical skills to good use, caring for the sick and building the first hospital in the Arctic Circle – a one-roomed wooden hut at the mission.

He was held in great affection by the locals and they named him “ilataaqauq.”

Iceberg disaster
He undertook several missions to the region over the coming years, but in 1909 disaster struck when his ship, the Dutch schooner Jantina Agatha, hit an iceberg and began to sink 30 miles from land.

The captain gave the order to abandon ship and Edgar, the captain, a German explorer and the seven members of the Dutch crew escaped in rowboats. They also recovered the stores of the German explorer, who was on his way to study arctic bird life.

Survival down to Edgar
They rowed for many days in extreme conditions until they eventually arrived at the mission. For months they battled against the threat of starvation trying to make the rations they had salvaged, intended to last one man for a year, stretch for ten of them.

It was Edgar’s quick thinking, resourcefulness and determination that ensured the crew survived for eleven months before their rescue. When they were eventually rescued almost a year later the Dutch crew were adamant that their survival was entirely down to Edgar.

Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau
The Queen of the Netherlands was so moved by the tale she made Edgar a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau and granted him an allowance of 200 guilders to be spent on goods for the Inuit people in honour of the “kindness displayed by them towards our shipwrecked mariners”.

He returned to England a hero and celebrity, and due to the growing interest in the polar regions and exploration he found himself much in demand as a public speaker.

Lecture tours
Edgar embarked on many lecture tours on behalf of the Church Missionary Society and was widely popular and successful as a speaker, always championing the Inuit people.

He also lectured on the Isle of Wight and once spoke to a crowd of 200 people in the Leigh Richmond Hall. However it was in December 1906 that he made his most memorable appearance on the Island.

Dressed in Inuit clothes Edgar showed stuffed animals and birds of the region to an audience at Newport and played a “bloodcurdling” phonograph of a bear-hunt with Inuit calls and war cries that thrilled his audience.

Inuit doll for Mollie
One local Isle of Wight girl received a surprise keepsake from the Inuit people of Blacklead Island through Edgar Greenshield.

On one of his trips Edgar took with him a doll from a 14 year old Mollie Alderslade of Newport to give to an Inuit girl. Almost two years later Edgar returned with a handmade doll in local garb for Miss Alderslade from her unknown friend.

The head was made from driftwood, the suit from caribou skin and the doll’s hair was taken from a musk ox. It was used for many years in a local Newport school to teach geography and can now be seen at Carisbrooke Castle Museum.

Final trip to the Arctic
Edgar visited the Arctic for a fifth and final time from 1911–1913, and made use of his medical skills as sickness swept through the community.

After this Edgar wanted to return to the Arctic but chose instead to look after his parents, the ship that he would have travelled on was lost with all hands.

For the rest of his life he undertook missionary work with sailors and fishermen in Ireland, the Shetlands, India and finally Teesside where he died in 1938. The epitaph on his grave stone read “A friend of the Eskimo”.

These Hidden Heroes were nominated and submitted by Carisbrooke Castle Museum

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Passionate about the historic and natural environment, a group of young women formed Ferguson’s Gang in 1927.

Inspired by the book ‘England and the Octopus’, by Clough Williams-Ellis, they wanted to help protect rural England from rapidly spreading urbanisation. They made many generous donations to the National Trust, and supported the growth of the organisation in their pursuit of conservation. This included saving Newtown Old Town Hall on the Isle of Wight.

Pseudonyms for the gang members
The Gang adopted pseudonyms, remaining anonymous during their lifetimes. The 6 core members were known as ‘Bill Stickers’, ‘Sister Agatha’, ‘Red Biddy/ White Biddy’, ‘The Lord Beershop of the Gladstone Islands and Mercator’s Projection’, ‘Kate O’Brien the Nark’ and ‘Shot Biddy’.

They enjoyed dressing up, adopting disguises, including masks.

Peggy led the Gang
The Gang’s leader, ‘Bill Stickers’, was the only one who formally revealed herself, as Peggy Pollard (nee Gladstone), in a letter sent on her instructions to The Times, after her death, aged 92.

It is only recently that others identities have been revealed. Their stories researched and compiled by Polly Bagnall and Sally Beck, in the book ‘Ferguson’s Gang’, published in 2015.

Peggy won a scholarship to Cambridge in 1921, aged 17, becoming the first female student to gain a Double First in Oriental languages there. She completed further research at university in London, writing a book that she was later awarded a PhD for – impressive achievements for a woman in the 1920s.

Unconventional record-breaking
Aged 70, Peggy unintentionally broke a world record, when she embroidered 1330 feet of cloth with scenes from the Narnia story – typical of Gang member’s undaunted approach to projects.

All the members had a great sense of fun, and were quite unconventional in their time. Some were lesbian or bisexual, some dressing in masculine outfits. They loved fine food, having Fortnum & Mason deliver hampers for meetings and excursions.

They were open to subscribing members, to help their funds and causes, with a diverse mix of people involved. The architect advising on properties they acquired was known as ‘The Artichoke’.

Countrywide conservation
The Gang secured the future for places such as Shalford Mill in Surrey (a room there was used for Gang meetings), as well as Newtown Old Town Hall on the Island.

They also funded the purchase of stretches of the coastline of Cornwall, Priory Cottages at Steventon in Oxfordshire, and supported appeals for money to purchase land in Derbyshire, the Lake District, Devon, and Wiltshire for the National Trust.

Media savvy
Whilst the Gang did not initially set out to seek press attention, they attracted a lot of publicity through their unusual acts of donation. They found they could use this to their advantage to further their causes.

One headline-grabbing occasion they triggered a bomb scare, after they deposited a metal pineapple at a National Trust AGM, which in fact enclosed £100.

The Island connection and saving Newtown
Anne Gladstone, the mother of ‘Bill Stickers’/ Peggy Pollard, moved to the Isle of Wight in 1922, following the death of her husband, John Gladstone (nephew of the former Prime Minister).

She lived at The Briary in Freshwater, which was the home built in 1873 for the artist G.F. Watts, at Tennyson’s suggestion, and was where the Watts, and Prinseps (Julia Margaret Cameron’s family) stayed.

Impressed by National Trust’s work
In February 1927, one of Anne’s close neighbours, the second Lord Tennyson, presented 155 acres of land – now known as Tennyson Down – to the National Trust, in memory of his father.

Seeing at close hand how the countryside could be protected by the Trust, may have provided some inspiration to Anne and Peggy for their future contributions.

Who will save the Old Town Hall?
It was during a stay at The Briary that Peggy/ ‘Bill’ first became aware of Newtown, after her mother had asked at a dinner party, ‘When is someone going to save the Old Town Hall at Newtown?’. The next day she cycled the eight miles to Newtown to inspect it.

Newtown had been a significant port in medieval times, with an official building on the site of the Town Hall since around the 13th century. In 1699 the Town Hall had been substantially rebuilt, with further 18th century alterations. After steady decline in the area, the building was in a very poor condition by the 1930s.

Bought for £5
The dilapidated Hall had captured Peggy’s imagination, and at a meeting in March 1933, it was suggested as the Gang’s second building project (after Shalford Mill).

It was purchased from Sir John Simeon for £5, and the neighbouring field for £100, but would take over £1,000 to repair (a considerable cost at the time).

The Gang visited on 17th March 1934 to inspect works, with a typically lavish picnic, and eccentric rituals to bless the place.

New life as a youth hostel
They concluded that it should have a use following its repair. They agreed, (with the National Trust), on the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) making use of it, provided the Gang may still occasionally visit, without becoming members themselves.

In December 1934, a payment for the Hall was delivered to the National Trust, along with a ‘bottle of poison’- sloe gin. The Town Hall was used as a Youth Hostel between 1935-1939. George Macauly Trevelyan was a member of the Gang, known as ‘Poolcat’, and had been responsible for establishing the YHA in Great Britain in 1931.

Helping people enjoy the countryside
Newtown was therefore a fairly early hostel, and shows the Gang’s fondness of supporting and promoting organisations which helped people to enjoy and preserve the countryside.

At Newtown, women slept upstairs, with the Council Chamber used as a Common Room, and the men slept downstairs, where remnants of the old kitchen and washrooms still survive.

Why Heroes?
Without the young women of the Ferguson’s Gang, it is unlikely that Newtown Old Town Hall would still be standing today.

Beyond the saving of this building, significant in the Island’s history, they also made important contributions to the growth of the National Trust, and other organisations, helping people to experience, enjoy, and conserve, the historic and natural environment of the UK.

Find out more about Ferguson’s Gang on the National Trust Website

Find out more about Newtown Old Town Hall on the National Trust Website