Every autumn, at a ceremony organised by Wessex Reserve Forces & Cadets Association, https://www.wessex-rfca.org.uk/, the Lord-Lieutenant presents awards to deserving members of the Reserve Forces and Cadets and businesses and organisations connected with the Armed Forces. These awards include Certificates of Meritorious Service and awards under the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme https://www.wessex-rfca.org.uk/employers/defence-employer-recognition-scheme/ as well as the appointment of Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadets.
Each year, three – four cadets considered to be among the very best of each of the Sea Cadets, Army Cadet Force, Air Training Corps and Combined Cadet Forces are appointed Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadets. They assist the Lord-Lieutenant on Royal visits, award ceremonies, parades, services and other civic occasions. As a result, they will enhance their CV and will gain a much greater insight into the people of Cornwall and the great breadth of life here.
This award is a living memorial to the Rt Revd Sir Jonathan Trelawny and his place in the affections of the Cornish and is organised by the Lieutenancy.
Bishop Trelawny, 3rd Baronet of Trelawne, was incarcerated in the Tower of London with six fellow Bishops in 1688 accused of seditious libel. They had petitioned against the order of King James II that they should support his Declaration of Indulgence, which seemed to promise toleration for Protestant dissenters but which was actually intended to win them to Roman Catholicism. The Declaration was strongly opposed, particularly in Cornwall. They were found not guilty and released on 30 June 1688, a date that is always celebrated. On Bishop Trelawny’s return to Cornwall bonfires were lit from hilltop to hilltop and people lined the turnpikes to welcome him back.
His incarceration in the Tower was immortalised in the Cornish Anthem, ‘The Song of the Western Men’, better known simply as ‘Trelawny’, written over a century later by Parson Robert Stephen Hawker, vicar of Morwenstow.
And shall Trelawny live?
Or shall Trelawny die!
Here’s twenty thousand Cornish men
Will know the reason why!
The Trelawny Plate Award is presented every two years to an individual who is considered to have made an outstanding contribution to providing inspiration for the Cornish and evoking pride in Cornwall. The plate itself, which was the personal property of the Bishop, is presented by the Trelawny family in Pelynt, the Bishop’s home parish, on the 30th June, the anniversary of the Bishop’s release from the Tower. This date is still celebrated as Trelawny Day in Pelynt.
