Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 August 28

= August 28 =

An unidentifiable place described as Lensham
While campaigning for the United Kingdom general election, 1906, H. H. Asquith is described by Roy Jenkins as having spoken in the fortnight beginning on December 29th 1905 "at Sheffield, Huddersfield, Stockton-on-Tees, Oakham, Henley-on-Thames, Perth and an unidentifiable place described as Lensham". Can anyone identify Lensham? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 14:07, 28 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Might it be Lenham? -- Jayron 32 14:19, 28 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Lenham seems somewhat of a backwater compared to those other locations, too small to have been worth Asquith's delivering a campaign speech there. I wonder if it could be a misprint (in Jenkins' source) for Lewisham? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.127.181 (talk) 15:59, 28 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Lenham does seem to be a backwater, and Lewisham seems too far south compared to the other places. It also seems an unlikely typo. The source would be Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith by J. A. Spender and Cyril Asquith. DuncanHill (talk) 16:38, 28 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Lewisham is not much further South than Henley on Thames --ColinFine (talk) 17:27, 28 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I cannot imagine that a Westminster MP, or any Londoner writing about one, would not be able to identify and spell "Lewisham". Do we know who his source is? There was a Lensham House, here, in Kentish Town, London, but I have no idea where it's named after. The Camden History Society might well know.
 * Henley-on-Thames is also a bit of a geographic outlier, especially if that was the order of the speeches! Lenham seems to have been in Maidstone parliamentary borough, which was a tight contest, so maybe he spoke there to reach the outlying voters: Maidstone (UK Parliament constituency), see also description in article. Sheffield and Huddersfield also had tight races. Stockton-on-Tees didn't. Of course, which races were perceived as tight at this unidentified but presumably late point in the election might not correlate well with the end vote. HLHJ (talk) 02:14, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I've just had a look through The Times Digital Archive and found accounts of his speaking at Sheffield (4 Jan), Huddersfield (8 Jan), Stockton (9 Jan), Perth (11 Jan), Oakham (15 Jan) and Henley (18 Jan), but nowhere else. I won't swear I haven't missed something, but might this Lensham be a "ghost", introduced into the list God knows how?  You'll see that the dates of the known speeches don't really fit the description of them as being delivered in the fortnight beginning on December 29th, so I'm not sure the source is altogether reliable. --Antiquary (talk) 08:48, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

If Jenkins, who researched meticulously, called it "unidentifiable", I'd be surprised if we could do any more than wildly speculate. For all we know, it might have been a surname (a speech in someone's home), a typo, a ghost inclusion or, I dunno, a joke. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 10:09, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * With regard to my earlier suggestion of a misprint for Lewisham, consider the case of Brian Duppa, sometime Bishop of Winchester. Our article gives a reference (No 4) for stating his his birthplace to be Lewisham, but this work found on Google books prints it as "Lensham."
 * A few other mentions of "Lensham, Kent" can be found online, often in genealogical materials, where it's impossible to say if they reference an obscure place or are misprints for Lenham (or indeed Lewisham, which was within Kent until 1889).
 * This work listing parishes in Kent clearly prints "Lensham" in reference to Lenham (which is geographically adjacent to Leeds in Kent as well as following it in the list).
 * Conversely this work refers to Lewʃham (with the archaic 'long s'), clearly referring to Lewisham, but Google's OCR has read it as "Lensham." {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.127.181 (talk) 11:45, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * On p. 1 of 90.208's first link there is a lower case italic "w" in "what" and a lower case italic "n" in "England".  The "n" has a hook at top left, the "w" has a hook at top left and top right.   Consequently, the word on p. 405 is "Lewsham".   There's no link to Google's OCR transcription of this word.   In which of Roy Jenkins' many biographies of Asquith does his remark appear? 86.133.58.87 (talk) 13:43, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * It is on page 161 of the 3rd (1986) edition of his Asquith, in the chapter "The Radical Dawn". As I mentioned above, it also appears in Volume 1 of Spender & Asquith's Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith. DuncanHill (talk) 23:14, 29 August 2018 (UTC)