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BENJAMIN SATCHWELL

IKE Dr Johnson, Benjamin Satchwell owes some measure of his fame to a strong personality. His conversational powers appear to have been of no mean order. A visit to his cottage and a chat with the owner afforded entertainment to many a visitor to the rising Spa of Leamington Priors' towards the close of the eighteenth century. His disposition was marked by a geniality less conspicuous in the great Doctor.

The story of his simple, useful life is soon told. Born at the Old Mill in Leamington Priors' on 3rd January 1732, he was baptized in the Parish Church on the 16th of the same month, as the younger son of William and Frances Satchwell. Tradition says that Satchwells bad been estate bailiffs to the lords of the manor for more than a century, though no proof exists of their residence in Leamington, prior to 1702.

The father died when Benjamin was thirteen years old. He was then apprenticed to a shoemaker in the neighbouring village of Offchurch, who not only taught his handicraft well, but inspired the boy with a love of books. These he obtained and read as opportunity offered. In 1783 he returned to his mother's home at the Mill and from his uprightness and intelligence soon acquired a reputation in his native village not only as an "honest mender of boots and shoes," but as a trustworthy "arbiter in local quarrels " at a time when Leamington could not boast of a lawyer. He saved a little money, became possessed of some small property, married, and to him were born eleven children.

Benjamin Satchwell was, however, more than a good shoemaker and wise adviser. He was one of those who see visions and dream dreams. His dreams were not of self-aggrandisement or material gain, but of the prosperity of his beloved village. Leamington possessed a spring of water of great repute in cases of hydrophobia. The thoughts of Satchwell went out to the possibility of the existence of other medicinal springs, which might make Leamington a rival to Cheltenham and Bath. Had he read in the Rous Roll of the "many springs about the old well" where myght be made many wells"? We know not. His friend William Abbotts, proprietor of the "Dog Inn," shared his enthusiasm. Satchwell was a great frequenter of the "Dog Inn." He tells us

To those who ask in earnestness it is often given to One day we know the date, 14th January 1784 -the two friends who had waited and watched for signs noticed significant bubbles in the stream of water bordering the elm-lined lane, on the opposite side of the Old Well. The water proved saline to the taste. Medical evidence having been adduced as to its salubrious nature, Abbotts erected baths and Satchwell spread their fame and the charms of the village by glowing accounts published in the Coventry Mercury, and the London papers. Satchwell gave Abbotts his full share of the glory that accrued :

"If Master Abbotts had not done
His baths of laud and praise,
It must have been poor Leamington
Now as in former days."