Cléo de Mèrode, spirit of La Belle Epoque

In Paris, La Belle Epoque, the Beautiful Era began in 1871, when the Franco-Prussian War ended, and lasted until the First World War began in 1914.  The French Third republic enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity and the joi de vivre inspired a golden age of music and literature.  In 1889 the World Trade Fair was held in Paris and the new Eiffel Tower shown to all the visitors.  Many flocked to see Burlesque at the Folies Bergère and Art Nouveau was indeed a new and popular design style.

L'Opera, Paris

In this environment, the dancer Cléo de Mèrode flourished. Descending from Austrian aristocracy, she was enrolled for dancing lessons when she was 7, at the Paris Opera Ballet, making her debut at the age of 11. Her beauty and graceful dancing prompted Degas to include her in his ballet paintings, Alexandre Falguière to sculpt The Dancer, using Cléo as his model and Toulouse Lautrec to paint her portrait.  Many photographs were taken, showing her slim waist and distinctive hairstyle and postcards of her image were avidly collected.

In her private life she enjoyed cycling and playing the piano.  In 1896 King Leopold II of Belgium visited Paris, saying he had come to see Cléo dance.  He sent her dozens of presents and as the 61 year old King had previously had many affairs it was presumed that he was now involved with the 22 year old dancer.  Cléo was horrified at the effect on her reputation and denied any involvement but later choosing to dance at the Follies Bergère did nothing to enhance the public’s opinion of her morals.  Despite this she became an international star.  She earned a great deal of money, briefly acting and dancing in America and when she toured Scandinavia in 1904, she received 3000 love letters from fans.

Cléo de Mèrode continued dancing into her 50s when she retired to the chic seaside resort of Biarritz.  There she gave ballet lessons until she was over 80.  She never married and confessed to only two relationships. When she died in 1966 she was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

The tomb of Cléo de Mèrode

The Jewellery of Josef Hoffman #ArtNouveau

I am grateful to Pinterest for introducing me to a man of diverse talents who died in 1956.  Josef Hoffman was born in Moravia in 1870, two years after Renee Mackintosh had been born in Glasgow and like Mackintosh he became an architect.  He worked prodigiously, his most famous buildings being Stoclet Palace which included mosaic friezes by Gustav Klimt and Purkersdorf Sanatorium.  In both these buildings, the stark simplicity of the exterior is contrasted with an ornate interior.

Josef was influenced by the Art Nouveau movement but he had a more modernist approach especially favouring geometric shapes.  In 1897 he set up the Vienna Secession with Klimt and Koloman Moser reflecting his interest in the design of textiles, teapots, book covers, glass and ceramics.  Hoffman’s design for the 14^th Secession Exhibition, dedicated to Beethoven, was particularly praised. 

But Josef wished to develop the application of good design into every part of people’s lives so in the spirit of the arts and crafts Movement he set up Wiener Werksttäte where 100 employees produced ceramics, jewellery, metalwork, leather goods, woodwork and bound books.  The 37 craftsmen at Wiener Werksttäte were, in Hoffman’s eyes artists of equal standing to painters and architects.

Hoffman enjoyed designing chairs, jewellery and everything which required function and beauty.  His designs are still produced today and works of art originally made in the early 20^th century are sold for immense amounts. 

Coldblooded Villainy #19th Century #London

They cut his throat from ear to ear,

His head they battered in.

His name was Mr William Weare,

He lived in Lyons Inn.

William Weare was a solicitor, gambler and murder victim.  His name is rarely mentioned but the Radlett Murder or the Elstree Murder, as it is also called, is notorious.  Accused of his murder were Joseph Hunt, professional singer and former keeper of the Army and Navy Coffee House in St Martin’s Lane, Mr Probert a former wine dealer who owned a cottage near Elstree and John Thurtell, a successful prize fighter who was the son of Alderman Thurtell of Norwich, 

 

Lion's Inn where William Weare had his chambers

All four men were well known in the murky world of gambling in early 19th century London.  Weare was a careful, successful gambler who was known to carry at least £1000 about his person.  He had won £300 from John Thurtell playing blind hookery, a card game. 

In October 1823 suspicions were aroused of a dreadful crime in the area of Gill’s Hill Lane in Elstree.  Shots had been heard on the Friday night and next morning, workmen found a bloody knife and a pistol in the undergrowth.  Local authorities investigated suspicious behaviour by men staying at Mr Probert’s cottage, who had been seen searching the Lane, saying that their gig had thrown them the night before.

It transpired that John Thurtell had invited Weare down to Probert’s cottage for a weekend’s shooting.  Probert and Hunt had travelled separately from Thurtell and Weare and they spent 45 minutes drinking five brandies at the Artichoke in Elstree.  Meanwhile, in a separate chaise along the road, Thurtell shot at Weare giving him a glancing wound on the cheek.  Running for his life, Weare promised to return Thurtell’s money, but his throat was cut and his skull caved in by the butt of a pistol.

 

Burial of William Weare

It would appear that only one man was guilty but the other two men were probably involved in the plot to attack Weare and they certainly helped to cover up the murder.  Arriving at Probert’s cottage at 9 pm, the men dined with Probert’s young wife.  After she retired to bed the men stayed up all night drinking and smoking but the servant, Susan Ann Woodrough said that they went out from 10 to 11 pm with a candle and a lantern.  This must have been when they collected the body from the lane, over the back of a horse and then concealed it in the fish pond by the cottage.

Next day Hunt and Thurtell returned to London, promising to be back at the cottage on Sunday. In town, Hunt bought cord and a new sack and on their arrival in Elstree, John Thurtell used the chaise to transport the body to Hill-slough pond, two miles from the cottage.  He used the cord and sacking to wrap up the body, weighed down with stones.

Soon after his arrest, Joseph Hunt confessed to his knowledge of the murder and showed the Magistrate where the body could be found.  Probert also confessed to some involvement, telling how Thurtell shared out £24 from the dead man and put a gold watch chain round Mrs Probert’s neck.  The cottage had been full with a family party that Sunday so at first Mrs Probert, her sister Mrs Noyes and John Thurtell’s brother, Thomas, were also arrested.

Newspapers throughout the country were full of gruesome details about the brains attached to the pistol and John’s bloody clothing.  A partially dug 6 foot grave was found close to the cottage and testimony of Hunt’s purchase of 2 pistols and a new spade helped to incriminate him.  The Caledonian Mercury talked of the diabolical ferocity of the murder and the cold blooded villainy of the plan.

John Thurtell was condemned to death and hanged on January 9^th 1824.  A waxwork of his body was exhibited at Madam Tussaud’s for 150 years, although his actual body had been dissected.  Joseph Hunt was also sentenced to death but this was commuted to Transportation.  After serving his term in Botany Bay, Joseph became a respectable police officer with a wife and two children.  Probert was released, a ruined man and his many crimes caught up with him, when in 1825 he was arrested for stealing a horse and was hanged at Newgate.

During the trial in 1823, Probert’s cottage became a popular place to visit.  The tenant charged one shilling per head and made over £200.  These visitors included the Marchioness of Salisbury and, a few years later, Sir Walter Scott.  The furniture was sold and the house torn down.

Although his hands were warm with blood,

He down to supper sat,

And passed the time in merry mood,

With drink and songs and chat.

A Veteran Tar #Trafalgar

In 1866, one of the oldest inmates of Guildford Union Workhouse was allowed to sit with a glass and tell a yarn to his cronies by the workhouse fire.  At 86, John Ranger was hale and hearty and had some colourful tales to tell.

At the age of 24 he had volunteered to be a sailor, joining HMS Victory, under the command of Captain Hardy.  Soon, as you probably realise, he found himself at the Battle of Trafalgar where he witnessed Lord Nelson fall dying onto the deck.

He later had further adventures, when on June 1^st 1813, while serving on the Shannon under Captain Broke, they engaged with the American ship the Chesapeake. He described how quickly they took the enemy ship, “We went into action at 4.30 and at five minutes to 5, I was on the deck of the Chesapeake and she was ours.”

The Chesapeake and the Shannon off Boston

John Ranger’s fame increased after an article was published in the West Surrey Times.  In 1822 he had left the navy very suddenly.  Disliking his task as part of a blockade against the slaving ships off the west coast of Africa, he jumped overboard and deserted.  This meant that he was ineligible for a place at Greenwich Hospital and thus he had ended up in the workhouse.

The article prompted Captain Egerton of HMS Victory to write to the newspaper offering to organise a trip for the old sailor to dine on the Victory on the anniversary of Trafalgar.  A fund was organised so that people could contribute, “a few Shillings to give an old fellow a treat, rigging him out in naval costume,” but did he go?  Captain Egerton required proof that Mr Ranger had indeed been a member of the crew that day and yet in the Muster Roll available now he is not named.

The Soprano who became an Admiral’s wife #Singapore

High above the naval base in Singapore stands a beautiful building, formerly Admiralty House which was designed by Edward Lutyens.  With views across the Straits of Johore it was destined to be the residence of the officer in charge of His Majesty’s Naval Establishments in Singapore.  Although completed in 1939, this Arts and Crafts style house was not used until August 1941 when Rear-Admiral Ernest J Spooner and his wife arrived on the island.

The Former Admiralty House

Mrs Spooner was better known as Megan Foster, an accomplished soprano singer, who had performed in concert halls all over Europe including Carol Concerts in the Albert Hall and broadcasts on BBC radio.  The daughter of renowned baritone, Ivor Foster, she was, like her husband, Welsh by birth although they had both grown up in southern England.  Megan had been praised in the British press for her, “delightfully fresh and pure soprano voice and beautifully clear enunciation.”

Megan looked forward to decorating her new house tastefully although it was already furnished with jade green leather armchairs and an immensely long dark, walnut finished, teak table.  As soon as they had settled in, Ernest and Megan gave a cocktail party where 350 people were able to fit comfortably into the dining and drawing room.

 

Megan Spooner

Although Megan was used to being apart from her husband or travelling to Gibraltar to meet him briefly, now, in his senior rank, she accompanied him on the long voyage from Glasgow, through dangerous wartime seas.  Sensibly they had left their son in an English boarding school.

Mrs Ernest Hemingway had written of Singapore in Colliers Magazine describing how she saw it in August 1941.

Singapore Free Press & Mercantile Advertiser 18 October 1941

Even Rear-Admiral Spooner was probably unaware how quickly this idyllic lifestyle would end and he would certainly not have asked Megan to accompany him if he had known that Singapore would fall to the Japanese Army only 6 months later.  But fall it did. Megan was one of the lucky wives who managed to evacuate on the Empire Star on February 12^th but by the time Ernest and his fellow officers boarded an escape vessel they were attacked by Japanese aircraft near Java.  Ernest Spooner died on Chibia Island of exhaustion and malaria and after the war he was laid to rest at Kranji Cemetery in Singapore.

Megan Foster, as she continued to be known to the public, arrived in Britain on May 9^th 1942 and she returned to singing on the BBC Home programme.  It was some time before she learnt of her husband’s death at which point she sunk into grief until, encouraged by fellow singer Maggie Teyte, she began to perform again.  She was very popular at children’s concerts, enjoying singing English and French folk songs.  She received encores for her “perfect artistry” and “arrestingly dramatic quality.”

The house where Megan and Ernest lived happily, but so briefly, became a National Monument in 2002 but it was in danger of crumbling away before it was taken over by the FIS Institute School who have restored it beautifully.

www.Ancestry.co.uk

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/singfreepressb19411018-1.2.34.aspx

https://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/an-english-country-manor-in-the-naval-base/

The Romance of the Nation

My love of history began when as a small child I flicked through the pages of a large green book belonging to my father.  In fact there were two green books each packed with illustrations and they were bound copies of magazines first published in 1934.

There were detailed diagrams of how things worked, including my favourite, a castle.  This picture showed the attack and defence of a fortress in the days of Edward III when the first cannons were beginning to be used, but catapults and ballistas were still needed for accuracy.

Other illustrations are of famous peopla or events such as this one of Cardinal Wolsey at the height of his powers when he built Hampton Court Palace.

Originally 52 issues of the magazine were printed, edited by Charles Ray and you can read about his other publications here.

Ray described The Romance of the Nation as, "A Stirring Pageant of the British Peoples Through All the Ages."

If it had still been loose copies of the magazines, I might have been tempted to cut out and dress these medieval dollies.

I don't think I ever made any of the complicated models.

Catastrophic Fire at Clandon Park #NT

The Surrey Infantry Museum

Today I share with many people great sadness at the terrible destruction of Clandon Park House by the fire yesterday evening.  Although not the most beautiful house to look at from the outside, it contained a stunning collection of beautiful artefacts, ceilings and its unforgettable marble hall. There are many pictures online of its lovely rooms including some on my Pinterest page here

The Corps of Drums of the 1st Battalion of the Queen's Regiment at Clandon Park in 1989

Last year I visited an exhibition about the First World War Hospital which was set up in the house in 1915 and while there I also spent considerable time in the Surrey Infantry Museum in the undercroft.  This contained the collections of the Queen’s Royal Regiment and the East Surrey Regiment from three and a half centuries of service.  There were uniforms, medals, musical instruments, flags and pictures from the Indian mutiny, Crimean War, Boer War and both world wars of the twentieth century.

Here are some of them.

These life sized figures dating from 1715 wear the uniform of the Princess of Wales Regiment and were made when the Regiment was quartered in Carlisle.  They carry flintlock musket, sword and socket bayonet. The leather pouch contained three grenades. 

Just some of the many medals on display including several Victoria Crosses.

The Sovereign's Colour was presented to the Regiment at Gosport in 1847.  The last time it was paraded was in Singapore in 1947,

Update about the Colours

All photos from http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/new_museum/new_museum.shtml

A year ago soldiers recreated the scene when Clandon was a War Hospital.

A sad story 

A Serious Offence

On 10^th October 1886, The Surrey Mirror reported that a serious offence had taken place on the premises of Guildford Union Workhouse.  Frank Maplestone Riches, who been appointed Temporary Master of the Union owing to the death of the previous Master, Mr Hardwick, was charged with embezzlement of £10, the money of the Guardians.

Mr Riches was prosecuted by the clerk to the Guardians, Mr Mark Smallpeice.  Riches had disappeared after agreeing to a meeting to go through the accounts, to look for an explanation of ten pounds 9 shillings and 6 pence which was unaccounted for.  A specific amount of five shillings paid to Mr Riches by a coal merchant was not forwarded to the Guardians.

Frank Mapleston Riches had been taken into custody in Alnwick, Northumberland, from where he was taken to Guildford for judgement.  He was found guilty of embezzlement and was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment.

The former Cuckfield Workhouse

This was a sad termination of his lifelong connection to Workhouses.  In 1861 he was living at Thingoe Union Workhouse in Bury St Edmonds where his parents were Master and Matron.  By 1881 Frank was Assistant Master at Cuckfield Union Workhouse in Sussex, where his older brother Thomas T. Riches was Master so it would have been a natural progression for Frank to become Master of Guildford Union Workhouse.  What a pity that he succumbed to the temptation of dipping into the funds to which the responsible role of Master gave him access.

Sources

British Newspaper Archive

www.Ancestry.co.uk

Priscilla Cinderalla in the Workhouse for over 10 years

In 1901 among the many inmates of Guildford Union Workhouse were the Standing family, Priscilla, aged 39 and  her three sons, Harry, aged 5, Thomas, 4 and Edwin, 2. 

Priscilla Standing

Priscilla Cinderalla Cooper was born in Lurgashall, Sussex, the daughter of a travelling farm labourer.  The 1881 census tells us that she was deaf, although this is not mentioned when she was at the Workhouse.  At the age of 22, she was working as a servant, probably a housemaid, for the Standing family. Thirty eight year old, James Standing and his wife Emma were living in Copse Green, Northchapel, Sussex with their four children.  James was Under Bailey for the Petworth Estate.  But three years later, his wife Emma died and in 1895 Priscilla married James Standing in Petworth.  James moved on to greater responsibility as the Bailiff of a farm in Surrey.  By 1899 their third child, Edwin, had been born but James died in the same year.

 

As a deaf widow with three very young children, Priscilla was probably no longer able to stay in the tied cottage provided by her husband’s work and inevitably ended up in a workhouse.  Perhaps she had walked to Guildford to look for housekeeping work. Although the 3 brothers had each other, they were taken from their mother at a very young age and she must have missed them terribly. Priscilla’s stepson, William Standing, was 21 in 1901 when she and her young sons entered the workhouse, so he was able to earn a living as a carman lodging in Angel Gate, Guildford.  Her other stepchildren were also old enough to make their own way in the world.

Priscilla was still living at Guildford Union Workhouse ten years later when the 1911 census was compiled, but her sons had all moved to other accommodation.  Edwin, aged 12, now lived at the Scattered Home for Boys at 37 Recreation Road, Guildford, with eleven other boys 5-13 years old and a foster mother appointed by the Guildford Board of Guardians.  Thomas, now 14, was still in Warren Road, near to the Workhouse, but in the Children’s Receiving Home where John William Sowers, the Superintendent, was aided by a Matron and two foster mothers in looking after 12 children aged 3 to 15. 

Henry (Harry) Standing was now 16, so he had been sent to the Training Ship, Exmouth, at Grays in Essex.  He later married Gertrude Brown and they had eleven grandchildren before he died in Liverpool in 1972.  Thomas served in the Army Service Corps in the First World War and in 1923 he married Agnes Smallbone in Hambledon.  He died in south west Surrey in 1952.

The Sunset Home in Merrow House

Despite their earlier separation, Priscilla and her sons kept in close contact throughout their lives until her death in Surrey in 1953.  She was described by one of her grandchildren as, “a lovely grandmother,” who was able to lip read and communicate well.  She spent her last years living happily at the Sunset Home in Merrow House.

With thanks to Dorothy Lauder for the photo of Priscilla.

The Old Red Lion by the Fleet Ditch

The front of the Red Lion and two pictures of the Fleet at the back of the Tavern

Flowing beneath the streets of London between Hampstead Heath and Blackfriars Bridge is the hidden river Fleet.  Its upper reaches once gave the name to Holborn or Hol (hollow) bourne but by the 18^th century it was better described as the Fleet Ditch, a sluggish, dirty stream.   Next to this unhealthy spot stood the Red Lion Tavern or Lodging House, a den of iniquity.

Possibly dating from the mid-16^th century, this rambling building stood in Chick Lane (also called West Street) near Saffron Hill in West Smithfield, an overcrowded area known for criminals and prostitutes. 

The Tavern provided accommodation for coin counterfeiters and contained a private still.  It was full of sliding doors and secret cupboards.

In the garret there was access to the rooftop for a quick escape and a handy plank could be used from a window as a bridge to cross the Fleet to the house opposite.  The authorities often pursued thieves into the building but rarely captured them.

Walter Thornbury in his second volume of, “ Old and New London,” tells of a chimney sweep called Jones who having escaped Newgate prison, hid in the Red Lion for 6 weeks although the building was searched several times by the police.  Eventually they imprisoned another tenant until he revealed the hiding place.  Jones was concealed behind a brick wall in the cellar 9 foot by 4 foot with a small hole near the ceiling through which food had been delivered.

There is a tale of a sailor who was robbed at the Red Lion, stripped naked and thrown into the Fleet but a woman and 2 men were arrested for the crime and later transported.  One criminal discovered in a bedroom, crawled under the bed and disappeared.  He was found to have used a trap door but he broke his leg and was arrested.

Jerry Abershawe, a highwayman on the Portsmouth Road, and the notorious criminal, Jack Sheppard, were said to frequent the Red Lion but its alternative name was Jonathan Wild’s house.  Jonathan Wild came from Wolverhampton but he was drawn to the crowded metropolis to seek his fortune.  Unfortunately he was soon put into a debtor’s prison where he met a prostitute who introduced him to the criminal fraternity.  He came up with a seemingly faultless plan.  He and his soon assembled gang stole items then later produced them for the original owners for a reward saying that they had discovered the thieves.  When the newspapers reported his heroic efforts he became popular.  He called himself Thieftaker General, although he even stooped to blackmail when wealthy gentlemen were robbed in inappropriate surroundings.

But he went too far when he betrayed fellow thief Jack Sheppard.  He became identified with the unpopular authorities and found himself in court accused of two robberies.  Although acquitted of one, he was condemned to death for the other.  Fearing an unpleasant death, he took laudanum so was scarcely conscious when taken to the noose.  Ironically the hangman had been a guest at Jonathan’s marriage to Elizabeth Mann.  Although buried in St Pancras Old Churchyard he was exhumed three days later for dissection by the Royal College of Surgeons.

In 1844 the Red Lion was demolished.  As well as the many secret hiding places, a skull and several bones were found in the cellar.

British Home Children

In April I wrote about the first children sent to Canada by the Board of Guardians of Guildford Union Workhouse

 A New Life in Canada 

Since then I have been researching another small group of emigrants sent from Guildford to Canada.

On June 18^th 1887 a group of 115 children arrived in Quebec aboard the SS Lake Ontario bound for the Guthrie Receiving Home in London, Ontario.  They had been sent from the Children’s Emigration Home in Birmingham by John T Middlemore, boarding the ship in Liverpool, but the children had originally lived in several different parts of England.

Mr Middlemore's Book in Birmingham

Seven of the girls came from Guildford Union Workhouse sponsored by Miss Ada Spottiswoode, the only woman on the Guildford Board of Guardians.  The youngest child was 5 year old Ada Walker, whose brother and sister had been sent to Canada two years previously despite the fact that their Uncle Frederick Walker and Aunt Jane Mercer had shown willingness to look after them.  The other girls were two groups of sisters, Margaret Cheeter aged 12, Edith Cheeter aged 11, Louisa Cheeter aged 7 and Eliza Hebburn aged 11, Ellen Hebburn aged 12 and Rose Hebburn aged 18.

The Hebburn family had their name spelt Hebborn or Hebbourne on different documents.  In 1871 William Hebburn, Labourer, was living with his wife Emma (Becks) and his daughter Rose Alma in Woodbridge Hill, Stoke, Guildford but by 1881 Rose, her 8 year old brother George and her younger sisters Ellen and Eliza were inmates at Guildford Union Workhouse after the death of their mother in Bellefields in 1877.  George remained in England and can be found as a farm labourer in Littlefield Common, Worplesdon in 1891.

It was difficult to find the Cheeter girls in England until I realised their surname was Chewter.  Margaret Ellen, Edith Mary and Louisa were born in Pirbright, Surrey the daughters of James Chewter and his wife Sarah.  James was a farm labourer but he and his wife appear to be missing from the records after 1880.

 

St Mary the Virgin, Worplesdon

In fact all three families were originally from the neighbouring villages of Worplesdon and Pirbright just to the north of Guildford and as agricultural labouring opportunities declined they moved closer into Guildford so that the fathers could find casual labouring jobs.  They managed to eke out a living until one parent died and then it was impossible to provide for the family and look after the children.

Thanks to Jim Littlewood, a descendent, we know that Rose was contracted to a Mr A N C Black of PO Dutton, Elgin County. The contract is signed on behalf of Middlemore by H. Gibbons.  As she was 18, Rose was only committed to working under this contract for 3 years so it is perhaps not surprising that in 1890 she married James Collins in Tonawanda, New York.  By 1892 the New York census shows the couple with 1 year old daughter, Frances, living in Wheatfield, Niagara County NY.

By 1905 Rose’s life had changed dramatically.  She had 5 children, James, Rose, Frances, Lilly and Veronica but they are listed in the New York census of Inmates in Alms-houses and Poorhouses. The reason given was "father’s desertion".  They were transferred the same day as they arrived to "homes for the friendless".

Thankfully life improved for the family.  James Collins must have died, as in the 1910 census Rose is listed married to a Mr. John A. Clarkson.  Living with them are the 5 Collins children and 3 year old Edna Clarkson, daughter of Rose and her new husband.  Rose Hebburn Collins Clarkson died on 14^th October 1944 at Buffalo, Erie NY.

Meanwhile, 12 year old Ellen Hebburn had been assigned to John H Elliott of Wilton Grove at Concession 6 of Westminster on 28^th June 1887 and later moved to E Adams of Chatham Kent Co. on 22^nd August 1888.  In an incident report dated February 3^rd 1892 it is stated, “Ellen writes to say she has left Mrs Ritchie because the wages were not high enough.  She is now earning $5.00 per month. She did not receive the letter and papers at Christmas so Mrs Ritchie kept them.  She is anxious to have her sister’s address."

The last mention of Ellen is from another Visitor’s Report on September 5^th 1893:- "Ellen went to a Mrs Osborn from Mrs Brill then to Mrs Griffiths and finally left for her sister in Buffalo. She suffered a good deal from sore feet and was not able to do much for some time before she left."

It was arranged for 10 year old Eliza Hebburn to go to a merchant, Mr S E Hooper of Clandeboye, on 23th June 1887, on 7th May 1888 to George Dodge of Aardoc Strathroy, then to Robert McGregor of Huntley, Lanark County (Almonte) on 5th December 1888 and finally to Harry H Cowan of Wellington Street, Richmond Road, Ottawa on 7th June 1889.

After five different employers in two years it is perhaps not surprising that tragically Eliza shows up on the 1891 Canada census in St. George’s Ward of Toronto.  She is listed as an inmate at Mercer Reformatory and Industrial Refuge at the tender age of 14 years.

These were just a few girls from over a hundred thousand children sent to Canada as indentured workers from all over Great Britain between the 1860s and the 1940s.

With thanks to Jim Littlewood for sharing his family research

And to Judy Neville of Ontario for her expertise and research advice

Other sources

Census & birth records from www.ancestry.co.uk

http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/

Postscript

Thanks to Marion Crawford of the Middlemore Atlantic society in Canada I now have more information about the other girls.

In 1887 when she arrived in Canada five year old Ada Walker was placed with a family in Parry Sound.  She was described as, “a bright little girl, doing well.”

The Chewter/ Cheeter girls were now given the surname Chuter.  Edith was placed in three different locations, the final one being at Belmont, Ontario, Louisa, age 7, was placed with Francis Davis at Adelaide Street, London, Ontario and Margaret, age 12 went to David Phillips of Durham, Oxford Co. Ontario.

Another family split by emigration and misfortune can be found here

Update

Thanks to the research of Pirbright historian, Shirley Foster, we now have more evidence of the Chuter family.  According to the death records registered in Guildford, Sarah Chuter, mother of the three girls sent to Canada, died at the Royal Surrey Hospital in 1884 aged 38, so it must have been very difficult for their father James to look after them on his own while continuing to work.

Tunnelling inside the Rock of Gibraltar in 1782

During the mid-1970s my parents lived in Gibraltar.  The house in which they resided was called Ince’s Farm, a name with a fascinating history.  If you have been to Gibraltar you will surely have visited St Michael’s Cave, a network of natural limestone caves displaying stalactites and stalagmites within the rock.  But there are also miles of tunnels, some of which were excavated in the late 18th century.

Ince's Farm by L. Sanguinetti 1977

In 1779 Spanish and French armies laid siege to Gibraltar, hoping to starve the British army and citizens into giving up ownership of the Rock and its small town.  This was to become the longest siege ever endured by a British Garrison.  The townspeople had to abandon their homes which were bombarded by the French and Spanish and settle in tents and roughly made huts to the south.  Lack of fresh produce caused them to suffer from scurvy and living so closely together, smallpox, yellow fever and influenza quickly spread amongst the population.

By May 1782 the Governor of Gibraltar, George Augustus Elliott, was desperate for a means of attacking the foreign troops who were advancing slowly in ever extending trenches along the isthmus which connected Gibraltar to Spain, but they were out of view beyond the rock face.

It was at this point that he came into conversation with Sergeant Major Henry Ince.  Henry Ince had been a Cornish miner before joining the Queen’s Royal (West Surrey) Regiment and in 1772 had been transferred, along with other, “mechanics,” to the newly formed Company of Artificers, a forerunner of the Royal Engineers.  Sergeant Major Ince suggested that he should begin tunnelling through the rock to the Notch, a ledge on the sheer North face.  He was appointed Overseer of Mines and, with the aid of 12 men, began to clear a way through the rock using gunpowder, quicklime and water and pick-axes. There was an immediate need for ventilation so small openings were blasted in the cliff face.  These proved to be in good firing positions and so began the Upper Gallery for 4 guns.  There was a problem in the sharp downwards angle required for firing but this was solved by Lieut. Koehler who mounted the large guns on, “depressing carriages”.  He was aided by the ammunition developed by Lieut. Shrapnel.

Gibraltar by L. Sanguinetti 1977

The siege ended in 1783 when it became evident that the British would not need to give up. After the ceasefire, the Duc de Crillion, commander of the opposing troops, visited the tunnels, exclaiming, “These works are worthy of the Romans.”

As a reward for his invaluable work, Henry Ince was granted a large plot of land on Queens Road, half way up the rock, on which he established “Ince’s Farm”.  One day, Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, came upon Henry, riding his old horse.  The Duke said that the sergeant major should have a finer horse, “more in keeping with your worth and duties,” but the horse he gave to Henry was too strong and spirited so the Duke suggested that Henry should sell it.

Henry Ince remained in Gibraltar for 36 years and despite some local opposition he established the Methodist church there, being one the prime Methodist lay preachers.  He wrote letters to John Wesley whom he had probably met while he was a soldier in Ireland around 1760.  Henry had at least 2 wives and 6 surviving children, Joseph, William, Robert, Harriet, Henry and George, who were listed as beneficiaries in Henry’s will.  Returning to England in 1804, he died in Gittisham, Devon in 1808, at the age of 72.  On his tombstone behind the tower of St Michael's church his tunnels in Gibraltar are described as, "lasting testimony to his skill, industry and zeal."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier_Artificer_Company

http://gibraltar-intro.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/1782-sergeant-major-henry-ince-on.html

Letters to America

While researching my Hamilton family from Lanarkshire and Ayrshire I discovered online a series of letters written by the Young and Shields families in Scotland to their relation, Alexander Shields, who had emigrated to America.  Three of the letters were written by my Hamilton ancestors who were intermarried with the other two families.  The letters cover the period from 1829 till 1853 and not only contain family news but also details of politics, religion, health and everyday economics.

In Robert Shields’ letter of 1829 to his brother Alexander in Vermont he soon expresses his Presbyterian feelings by complaining that the, “Roman Cathlicks have got their Clawes granted to them in Parliment,”  He next reflects on the decline in the handloom weaving industry, saying that, “The weavers here are in a very poore state.”

Writing to his brother-in-law Alex Shields in 1832 Rev. Hugh Young informs him that Cholera Morbis has appeared in nearby Falkirk, with 14 deaths out of 27 cases.  He observes that “temperate” people are usually not affected. (Maybe they did not drink whisky with water?)  But 3 years later, Rev. Young writes, “with a heavy heart and with eyes streaming with tears,” of how he has committed to the grave, Anna Carslaw, age 5 and Jane age 7, both victims of measles.  Luckily in 1841, his daughter Mary recovered from scarlet fever.

When William Hamilton wrote to Alexander Shields in 1839, he was more philosophical,

“We have got a new Queen as you will see stamped Victoria on the head of this sheet, but what good she may do in her reign is unknown for prophets is forbidden to enter our Land...  But I have no doubt to say that there will be some events in her reign that will fill up the pages of History and be a blessing to one class in this realm and a scourge unto another.”

In his news of “Auld Scotland,” he reports that, “There is a very great emigration from Scotland to America, to Australia and Van Deimon's Land.”  He talks of an Iron Works newly erected in Galston but two years later we read that, “ it has brought a number of strangers to the town, but has made no improvement in the morals of the people, as drinking, swearing, and Sabbath profanation is carried on to an alarming degree.”  In 1843 Rev. Young talks of the depressed state of trade and commerce with the result that, “many thousands in England and Scotland,” were unable to obtain employment.

During several years the letter writers mentioned failed crops and hardship.  In 1836 a combination of cold, rain and frost meant that the crops, “did not come to maturity.”  A cold, wet summer in 1841 caused grain costs to be high, and in 1846 Rev. Hugh Young reported that potatoes had been lost over the whole country.  “They had a fine appearance till harvest, when a disease (for which no one seems able satisfactorily to account) came upon them, and rendered them unfit for use, and at present it is doubtful if seed can be procured.  Great distress is anticipated in Ireland and it is reported that Famine has already broken out in some districts of that unhappy country. The newspapers at the same time state that Government has already forwarded to several Irish ports a very large supply of Indian corn and other provisions of a cheap kind, that as far as possible the evil may be remedied.”

On the positive side, we read in 1832 of ploughing matches between 30 ploughs, a sign of prosperity and leisure time.   The younger members of the family have enjoyed sea-bathing, probably because of the new railway built in 1840 connecting Glasgow and Ayr round the coast.  Gas works established in Galston gave the residents gas in their homes and they found it cheaper for lighting than oil or candles.   The penny post was welcomed and even 8 pence for a letter to be taken to America was felt to be fair. 

In 1844 there were talks in the Free Kirk of giving females a right to vote for a Minister, but it was felt that the men would not accept the result.  However many of the daughters of the families received a good education, studying Reading, English Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography and Botany.

As the replies to this collection of letters do not seem to have been kept, we hear little of the lives of the family in America, except for one reference to a younger Alexander in Vermont who has asked,

“Is there a probability that I could get a good, braw, rich, active, young woman for a wife?”  Rev. Young believed his daughters could provide every one of those qualities except riches!

http://www.ayrshireroots.com/Towns/Mauchline/Letters%202.htm

http://www.ayrshireroots.com/Towns/Mauchline/Letters%206.htm

Dr Thomas Jenner Sells investigates a murder

Among the eminent families in 19^th century Guildford the Sells family had a significant impact. 

Thomas Jenner Sells was born on February 25^th 1811 in Clarendon, Jamaica, the son of William Sells, Practitioner of Medicine, and his wife, Euphemia.   William Sells was a surgeon in Jamaica for several years. In November 1826 he and his family left Jamaica and by 1841 he was living in Kingston-upon-Thames where he died in September.

Thomas Jenner Sells decided to follow his father into medicine and after completing his medical training, he settled in Guildford, Surrey in about 1840.  On July 19^th 1842 Thomas married Charlotte, the daughter of Rev. John Stedman and they settled at 109 High Street.  In 1846 and again in 1851, Thomas was elected Mayor of Guildford.  In addition to his everyday medical duties, Thomas took over the private lunatic asylum at Leapale House. 

In 1852 Thomas Jenner Sells participated in the investigation into the horrific murder of a 3 year old child in Albury.  John Keene and his wife Jane were accused of drowning her illegitimate child, Charlie Broomer, in a well in February 1851.   Mrs Keene’s mother, Ann Broomer, had reported her fears to Police Superintendent Josiah Hawkins Radley stationed at Guildford and he took a well-digger to Warren Well near Albury Heath.  On finding remains, they summoned Dr Sells.  Thomas Sells testified that the body had been in the well for at least a year and he produced the skull, which he had put back together, to show to the Court.

Other testimonies included that of Mr Ames, Master of Guildford Union Workhouse, who reported that Jane Keene had been admitted to the Workhouse after dark on January 10^th 1851 accompanied by two children, 3 year old Charlie Broomer and a baby born a few weeks before to Jane and her husband John.  She had left the Workhouse with her children on February 6^th.  On 16^th February she returned to the Workhouse with her husband John and her youngest child, saying that Charlie was with her mother in Albury.  In spite of the fact that all the evidence was hearsay, at the end of the trial Jane Keene was acquitted but her husband was condemned to death for murder.

One of the other cases involving Thomas occurred in 1864 when there was a quarrel between two boys from a gypsy encampment on Whitmoor Common.  One boy, John Stacey, was stabbed.  Dr Sells dressed his wound and then sent the boy to the Workhouse although his assailant had escaped towards Woking. 

 In 1862 Thomas Jenner Sells purchased a large plot of land at the south-eastern end of Guildford with the intention of building many houses.  Thomas Sells worked with Henry Peak, the town's first Borough surveyor, and the design for one of the first housing estates in the town took shape. Thomas Sells named the area after his wife, Charlotte, and many of the roads were named after famous physicians.  Charlotteville, one of the earliest planned suburbs in Britain, was planned to have a social mix, with large villas to purchase and small terraced cottages to rent.  The gradual building of this, “urban village,” continued after the death of T. J. Sells, but in 1867 at an anniversary dinner for the local Forresters’ Lodge, Thomas commented that, “He hoped he had shown his fellow townsmen the best way to spend their money.  Every mechanic should live in his own home.”

You can read more about Charlotteville at www.users.waitrose.com/~iannicholls/Local-History.html

Resources

Diaries of Henry Peak edited by Roger Nicholas

Census and Parish records from www.Ancestry.co.uk

British Newspapers Archive 

Times Digital Archive

www.guildfordinstitute.co.uk