Lyn Watts’ book Gentlemen in Blue, first published in January 2018 and now in its third edition, takes up the story of George Ransley, the leader of the band of smugglers known as the Aldington gang, who thrived in the 1820s. They were well in with the local gentry, and brought a measure of prosperity to their district, before being apprehended in 1826. Duly convicted at Maidstone court, some of the gang met their end on the scaffold, but George Ransley‘s sentence was commuted to transportation to Tasmania for life, thanks to the intervention of Edwards Knatchbull, an ancestor of Lord Mountbatten. This coming November, Lyn and her husband will be travelling to Australia to meet a sixth generation descendant of George Ransley.
The book is available (price £6) at the Rye Bookshop, where I met Lyn last Saturday, September 8. She was there to sign her latest book “Sisters at the Sharp End” published in July 2018. This recounts in the form of short stories her experience of being a District Nurse following her training at Bart’s Hospital.
In retirement, when not writing short stories, Lyn and her husband run a medical training company from their home in Whatlington, near Battle. They give advanced life support training for staff of dental practices and doctors’ surgeries.
Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .