THE MOST EPIC HON
Daily Express Wednesday September 19 2018
IF AN idle browser at an antique fair had not spotted a dog-eared hardback journal and been entranced by its contents the story of a remarkable odyssey undertaken 125 years ago by a wealthy Victorian couple might never have seen the light of day.
But thanks to that eagleeyed collector, Lily and Godfrey Armitage’s thrilling account of their nine-month honeymoon has gone on public display as it goes up for auction.
The travel log was meticulously updated by the Armitages during their round-theworld trip and contains 129 pages of handwritten diary entries, coloured sketches, photographs and keepsakes such as maps, brochures, menus and hotel receipts.
But while their honeymoon is recorded in minute detail, little else is known about the intrepid duo. “We don’t really know a lot about Lily and Godfrey, an army major, but they obviously came from a very affluent family to be able to afford a trip like this,” says Mimi Connell-Lay, from David Lay Auctions in Penzance, Cornwall. “It’s a fascinating historical document and once you get stuck into it, it’s hard to put it down.”
Their voyage began in 1893 after their wedding at Over Hall, Winsford, Cheshire. They planned their trip to follow Thomas Cook’s World Tour, taking in America, Canada, Japan, China, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India before returning to England at Plymouth in 1894.
Several maps of the globe, marked with a red line, indicate the newlyweds’ route which started on September 2, 1893, when they set sail from Liverpool aboard the SS Arizona bound for New York.
Unlike a subsequent ocean crossing when their cruise ship almost capsized, the voyage was uneventful. But it was not long before the couple were in the thick of the action as highwaymen held up five trains on the track ahead of them as they crossed America.
At one point the Armitages spent two weeks camping out on the prairies, shooting and preparing their own food and encountering wolves, bears and the Native American Sioux tribe whom Lily recalled, “look at you in such a funny way that you feel rather uncomfortable”.
BLACK and white photographs show a Native American settlement and a sketch by Lily depicts their camp, complete with wagon, tent and campfire.
Once on the west coast the couple visited an opium den in San Francisco’s Chinatown which Lily described as a “dreadful hole”. Quite why this well-to-do couple ended up there is unclear but Lily describes the scene: “In a little low-roofed room lay 26 men, all smoking hard except two or three who had fallen asleep, how they live in such a fearful atmosphere is wonderful.”
Connell-Lay reckons the prose style reflects Lily’s common-sense approach to life. “Lily writes very engagingly but also in a very matter-of-fact way. They were doing a lot of life-threatening activities but she just takes it in her stride.”
No episode was more hairraising than their crossing of the Pacific en route to Japan. Their vessel the RMS Empress of Japan almost sank when it was hit by a typhoon.
In one extract Lily describes the stomach-churning crossing: “Tuesday night was our worst night, it was frightful and everyone thought our last hours had come. At two o’clock in the morning we gave one terrific roll, 42 degrees, the hurricane deck went right under water and she lay there for a minute before she could right herself. The captain has since told us that if she had done it a second time it would have been all over with us. No one thought we should ever get through that night.”
One “mad” passenger was so terrified he threatened to shoot himself if the 550ft vessel rolled over again. “He was frantic during the storm and rushed after the captain offering him £2,000 to stop the boat and he bent down for his pistol to shoot himself, after the big roll he was so frightened,” she wrote.
Once safely on land the Armitages took part in a traditional tea ceremony, with photographs showing the couple seated on the floor, surrounded by women in traditional Japanese costume and make-up.
Other photographs and detailed rice paper water colours of the landscape, a giant Buddha, Japanese calligraphy and costumes indicate their appreciation of this fascinating new culture.
From Japan the couple travelled via Hong Kong to Sri Lanka, arriving in the capital in February 1894. An invoice from the House of Observation in Colombo, where the honeymooners stayed, shows that no expense was spared. During