A college lecturer believes he has found proof that the woman said to have played a key role in defeating the last army to invade Britain really existed. Pembrokeshire man Andrew Thomas claims he has found the baptism records of Jemima Nicholas, who tricked French troops into surrendering in 1797.

Nicholas told local women to dress in a black-and-red traditional costume, and the French thought they were soldiers.

But the origins of the heroine, who died in 1832, have never been proved.