One of the vouchers from Skelton initially caused a bit of a puzzle. This was resolved when it became apparent that it was from Elizabeth Wilson to Isaac Dodd, the Skelton vestry clerk. This was not the only letter that Elizabeth had written to Isaac. Like Elizabeth’s previous letter, (see https://thepoorlaw.org/2018/12/29/elizabeth-wilson-fl-1785-1788/), this one, dated 25 June 1786, came from Kendal and was to be left at the Black Bull, Penrith.

It begins ‘I received the money but both genes was light’. Once more she was talking about guineas given to her and their validity. Their light weight was the source of her unease and the consequent effect this had on its monetary value.

 

The Guinea was minted in Britain between 1663 and 1814. It weighed approximately one quarter ounce of gold. Its value could fluctuate with the rise and fall in the price of gold. By 1717, however, its value was fixed at 21shillings. The guinea Elizabeth was given was most likely a George III guinea. During his reign these were issued in six different obverses and three reverses. From 1761 to 1786 the guinea showed a crowned shield on the reverse. In 1787 the guinea was called the ‘spade guinea’ referring to the crowns shield in the shape of a spade on the reverse.

It was the weight of the coin that concerned Elizabeth. These coins not only lost weight with wear but irregularity of shape meant they were the target of counterfeiters; clipping being one such offence. Pieces were shaved from the edge of the coin to melt down for the gold to be sold or made into other coins. Elizabeth was obviously aware of the problem of counterfeit coins. Warnings appeared in the newspapers of the time. The following appeared in the Newcastle Chronicle:

Counterfeit guineas are now in circulation in Whitehaven which seem to have been produced only a few days since. They are much thinner than the real guinea poorly relieved and so badly executed that they can pass upon none but the very ignorant.

In 1786 the Derby Mercury reported concerns about counterfeit copper coins being released into general circulation and the impact it would have on the lower classes. The Mayor offered a reward of five guineas for help in bringing those responsible to justice.  Nearer to Skelton at a later date and at the instigation of the Mint, Richard Irving was prosecuted by Thomas Ramshay and received a sentence of six months hard labour for knowingly possessing counterfeit coins when arrested by Hesket Newmarket Poorhouse doorway. Previously he had been a husbandman of good character, but was now selling pots and living in camps at the hedge-sides.

Another profitable crime was that of ‘uttering’.  This often involved a genuine coin or coins being swapped for a counterfeit one while making a purchase. Women were often involved in uttering or passing of bad coins. The notion being they were more easily trusted and able to dispose of the false coins.

Elizabeth Wilson’s upset seems to be directed at the coins she has been sent rather than any malice towards Isaac Dodd.  She finished her letter: ‘My mother desiers (sic) to be remembered to you all so no moor[more] at present from your frend (sic) and well wesher (sic). However by November 1787 she is still having trouble with the weight of the guinea.

Sources

Cumbria Archives

PR 10/V/12, Skelton Overseers’ Voucher, Elizabeth Wilson to Isaac Dodd, 25 June 1786

Newspapers

Newcastle Chronicle, 4 August 1781

Saunders Newsletter, 20 September 1786

Derby Mercury, 19 December 1786

Carlisle Journal, 19 October 1839

Websites

www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0 March 2018 accessed 13/01/2019

https://wwwlondonmintoffice.org accessed 13/01/2019

This is a work in progress, subject to change with further research

Letter addressed to Thos. Ramsay

Church warden

Penrith

 

Carlisle 24^th of 1^st Mo. 1824

Respected friend,

I feel a pleasure in answering the enquiries respecting the duties, usefulness, Salary etc. of the permanent Overseer of the poor of St. Marys, within the liberties of the City of Carlisle.

The Manager of the of the Work house, John Routledge and his Wife have a Salary of £30 a year for discharging their duties of this Office exclusive of their board in the family. When a permanent overseer was employed Separately a Salary of £25 was given but about two or three years ago, finding that John Routledge has sufficient leisure time and was well qualified for the Office of permanent Overseer, he was engaged for this purpose, for which he received and addition of 10£ a year to their former salary making the total £40 a year. With respect to his Duties in the Workhouse, I may briefly state that he purchases or looks after all the provisions and other articles which are purchased for the use of the family, pays all Bills after being passed, collects Debts due for bastardy sums from other Parishes for of which he renders a correct Account and of the House Expenses at each Meeting of the Select Vestry and receives from them a check in the Banks for the exact amount of Bills passed. The collections being all paid into the Bank when brought in by the Overseer, he has in fact the whole of the business to transact which attaches to this Office under the direction of the Select Vestry and appointed overseers, visits the poor at their own Houses whenever it seems to be required, grants temporary relief to fresh applications, looks after Bastardy enquires respecting settlement of Paupers, assists the other Overseers in getting up the arrears of Rates, summons those to appear before the Magistrates when it is required, pays the Weekly Paupers after the account has been allowed, answer all letters after having had the sanction of the Vestry, and produces Memorandums of all that requiring their attention at each meeting of which Minutes are made and such directions given as each case may require. From which it is obvious that it must be greatly to the advantage of any Parish of considerable population to have such a permanent Overseer, being that he becomes thoroughly acquainted with the Duties required and having to render an account of all he does to the vigilant Select Vestry a compleat pick is kept upon him and consequently is considered here to be a great saving to the Parish indeed this has been very satisfactory proved to be the case.

If any further information is required, I shall be glad to give it and remain respectfully

Thy friend,

Thos. Stordy.

Source of this letter:

Cumbria Archives, Carlisle

PR 110StA/97

Isaac Westmorland I (1728-1790) Grocer and West Indies Importer, Wigton, Cumbria.

Isaac Westmorland II (1755-1824)   Tallow Chandler, Wigton, Cumbria.

Isaac Westmorland III (1787-1855)   West India Merchant, London.

 

Isaac Westmorland I (1728-1790)

There are three generations of identifiable men with the name Isaac Westmorland, but the records are not always clear which one is being referred to. What follows is currently a “best fit”.

The first Isaac was born in Crosthwaite, Cumberland, and married Martha Peat in 1753. He was probably a grocer and a West Indies importer of sugar and rum. He is also listed as an Overseer of Wigton in 1760.[1] Isaac and Martha had six surviving children, John, Robert, Isaac, Agnes, Martha and Peat.[2]His eldest son, John 1754-1820 is listed on the Hair Powder Tax register of 1790 as a “Housekeeper” [3]He is also listed on the Land Tax Redemption Register for the Township or Quarter of Woodside, Wigton, Cumberland.[4] He was probably a merchant in Kingston, Jamaica in 1780. John is listed on the Sunfire Insurance records in 1791, no occupation is given, so it is likely that he was insuring his property rather than his business.[5] John was unmarried, and when he died in 1820 his will left most of his property to his two sisters, Martha Thornthwaite and Agnes Westmorland who were probably twins, being born in the same year and baptised on the same day, 28 August 1766.[6]

Martha Peat had a brother, Arthur, born in 1741. An Arthur Peatt is listed on the Legacies of British Slave-ownership website as being someone with West India connections. In his biography mention is made of a slave trading company ‘Peatt and Westmorland’ in Kingston, Jamaica in 1777. This may have have been part of the connection all three Isaac Westmorlands had to the West Indies.

A Miss Westmorland is noted on John Wood’s 1832 map of Wigton as owning property in Wigton. One of these parcels includes the buildings and land next to the Half Moon Inn in King Street.[7] This is possibly Agnes as in the Parson and White Directory for 1829, a Miss Agnes Westmorland is listed among the Gentlemen and Yeomen as living on High Street.[8]

Another son of Isaac’s, Robert (1759-1844), died in in Southwark, London. It is possible that he was a lawyer as a Robert Westmorland appears in the UK Articles of Clerkship in 1785 as working at Ball Court, Cornhill and the clerk articled to him is Peat Westmorland. It is possible that both brothers were London Lawyers.[9] Peat Westmorland is also mentioned in the London Land Tax Records in the St Stephen Wallbrook precinct in 1792. In the churchyard in Wigton he is mentioned among the family headstones as having died in St George’s, Grenada in 1815, aged 47.

There are two groups of lease and release documents in the archive for 1772 and 1784, for the same property. Isaac was taking on the lease of the property in each case from Ann Gardner. Isaac Westmorland Junior’s signature appears on one document as a witness.[10]

 

Isaac Westmorland II, (1755-1824.)

Isaac is listed in the Sun Fire insurance records in 1791 as a Tallow Chandler and because this information is given, he was probably insuring his business. [11]

Hutchinson, in his History of Cumberland, 1797, notes the existence of a ‘soap boilery, the property of Mr Isaac Westmorland’ as one of the ‘public works of note’ in the town.[12]

So far, one voucher for Isaac Westmorland has been identified, he supplied soap, blue, starch and candles in January 1777.[13]

Isaac was active in the town, he is mentioned in the Cumberland Paquet in 1781 as one of the signees on a petition against Sunday trading in Wigton[14], and again in 1783, as a member of the ‘Wigton Association’ for the prevention of offences and for bringing the perpetrators to justice[15]. Isaac was married to Betty Atkinson in 1782. They had three sons and two daughters. There may have been others, but these are either mentioned in Isaac’s will or to be found on the headstones in the churchyard.

The headstone in the graveyard of the parish church notes that his eldest son, John, died aged 19 in Jamaica in 1802.

In 1805 there is an advertisement in the Cumberland Pacquet for the sale of the Half Moon Inn and the letting of the soap boilery and related buildings due to the illness of the proprietor, Isaac Westmorland.[16] In 1811 he is listed in Jollie’s Directory as ‘not in trade’ but living in Church Street. A John Westmorland, Esq. who may be his brother John, is listed in the same publication, again, ‘not in trade’ and living in Corn-market.[17]

Isaac’s will mentions his two daughters, Martha and Betty and his son Arthur, but no mention is made of his son, Isaac, who was born in1787.

 

Isaac Westmorland III, (1787-1856.)

Isaac III seems to have moved to London. He is listed on the Legacies of British Slave-ownership website as a partner in the firm Stewart and Westmorland. The same website notes that an Isaac Westmorland, then in partnership with James Thompson and Charles Osbourne at Billiter Square London was declared bankrupt in 1816.

He married Hannah Cheesewright in Islington in 1819 they had nine children. The 1851 census records them living in Camberwell, their eldest son, John being 17.

The website lists 11 associated claims for slave ownership compensation for the partnership in 1836. In some cases the company is listed as the Mortgagee, in others Owner in Fee.

The partnership was dissolved in 1854. Isaac died aged 68 in 1856.[18]

 

 

[1] CRO PR/36/119 within Vestry Minutes Book 1735-1885.

[2] Ancestry.com, England, Select Births and Christenings,1538-1975 [Database online]

[3]  CRO Carlisle Q/RT/11 Hair Powder Tax Certificates 1795.

[4] Ancestry.com UK Land Tax Redemption, 1798 [Database online]

[5] London Metroplolitan Archives, Royal Sun Alliance Insurance Group, CodeCLC/B/192/F/001/MS11936/367/569656 Insured: John Westmorland, Wigton, Gentleman. Date 1790 May 15

[6] Ancestry.com, England, Select Births and Christenings,1538-1975 [Database online]

[7] CRO John Wood, Map of Wigton, 1832.

[8] W.Parson and W.White, A History, Directory and Gazeteer of Cumberland and Westmorland with Furness and Cartmel, (Whitehaven:Moon,1984) First Published, 1829.

[9] Ancestry.com. UK Articles of Clerkship, 1756-1874 [Database online]

[10] CRO, Carlisle, DX748/203, DX748/195,196.

[11]London Metropolitan Archives, Royal Sun Alliance Insurance Group. Code CLC/B/192/F/001/MS11936/381/591605. Insured: Isaac Westmoreland, Wigton, Tallow Chandler. Date 1791 Aug22.

[12] W.Hutchinson, A History of the County of Cumberland, Vol.2 (Carlisle: Jollie,1797),p.468.

[13] CRO, PR36/V/757

[14] Cumberland Paquet, 24 April 1781.

[15] Cumberland Paquet, 30 September 1783.

[16] Cumberland Paquet, 29 October 1805

[17] Jollies Cumberland Guide & Directory 1811 P.68

[18] ‘Isaac Westmorland’, Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/view/42306(http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/42306) [accessed 14thNovember2018]

The Reverend Tovey Jolliffe had various posts in Hampshire before becoming Rector of Skelton on 11 June 1791. The living of Skelton was in the patronage of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from where he had obtained his qualifications (B.A 1768, M.A 1772 and B.D 1781). From 1795–98 he was also Rector of Brooke, Hampshire.
Jolliffe was born on 16 January 1750 at Newport, Isle of Wight, to James Jolliffe (1717– 95) and his second wife Frances Smith (1716–87). Shortly after coming to Skelton Tovey married Grace Dobinson (1751–1832) in Carlisle on 27 May 1793. Two of Grace’s sisters, Catherine and Mary, had also married clergy, whilst a third sister, Elizabeth, remained unmarried. M. Yates’ letter in the Memorials of a Family in England and Virginia 1771–1851 recounts: ‘It is talked that Miss Grace Dobinson is to marry a Parson whose name is Jolliffe. He has a living near Greystoke’. Tovey and Grace Jolliffe set up home in Skelton.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries local affairs were run by parish vestries with the local squire and parson often in charge. There are several accounts of Jolliffe’s involvement in the parish affairs. Newspaper items respond favourably on his provision of coal and beef to the poor at Christmas.
The Carlisle Patriot (30 December 1820, p. 4) noted:
On Friday week, the Rev. Tovey JOLLIFFE, of Skelton, with his usual liberality, distributed a quantity of excellent Beef to the poor inhabitants of that village. It is the constant practice of this benevolent gentleman to give large quantities of Soup to the same people every week during winter. He also supports and superintends a Sabbath School, and the children undergo a weekly examination by him.
The last occasion on which he donated food was the Christmas before his death when he gave 30 stones of beef and 636 pecks of coal. Others of means also did the same. The Earl of Lonsdale gave beef, blankets and clothing to those in the Lowther Castle area, and Joseph Cowper of Unthank gave soup to the poor at Christmas. Jolliffe’s visits to the poorhouse with supplies of tea, sugar and soup are reported as regular occurrences too. Jolliffe contributed to the subscription for relief of the Waterloo sufferers following the Napoleonic Wars.

Jolliffe concerned himself with the education of the children at Skelton school. The disbursements record that in 1819 and for the next 18 years until he resigned his post and moved to Workington, Robert Loraine, schoolmaster of the parochial school, was paid £16.3s.5d every half year. The trustees of the school were led by Rev’d Jolliffe. In 1798–9 Overseers of the Poor and Churchwarden account books report Jolliffe striking out one churchwardens and replacing him with one of his choice.

The Rectory provided Jolliffe with an income, some coming from tithes and rents. In 1823 Leeds Intelligencer Jolliffe’s name is on a list of gentleman who had reduced tithes in order to help those struggling with high wheat and grain prices as well as stagnant wages. In publishing the list it was hoped that pressure would be exerted on others to do the same.

From early on, Jolliffe had purchased small pieces of land around Skelton and continued to do so for the remainder of his life. As open ground started to be replaced by enclosed land, opportunities arose for the creation of a market in land purchase. In 1796 Jolliffe’s mother’s cousin (Betty Smith) died leaving Jolliffe half of Hale Manor and the tenement of Stile House in Arreton, Isle of Wight, near where he was born. By his death in 1830 he had at least 27 properties including fenced of areas of land, allotments, orchards and property to his name in Skelton. He also had property mortgaged to him between 1798–1814. One property he purchased in 1820 was occupied by Jane Sewell (b.1759). Sewell’s name appears on overseers’ vouchers between 1784 and 1788 for the maintenance of her child. Payments of £0.19.0 and £0.16.0 were made by Isaac Dodd, clerk. The parish register records the birth of this child, Mary, as base born in 1779 and a further illegitimate child, Ann, being born to Sewell in 1789. Jane had lived in Skelton since 1781. What happened to her after Jolliffe purchased the property is unknown.
Jolliffe collected rents for the properties he owned. Tenant Joseph Robley who had a 21-year lease paid £36 a year; William Whitelock and Joseph Thompson paid £82 a year each. A churchwarden’s voucher of 1802 shows a payment made by William Whitelock: ‘Rec’d of William Whitelock by the hands of Rev’d Jolliffe the sum of one pound, one shillings and sixpence due to the estate of the late Jos Sanderson’.

Jolliffe had also purchased land in Carlisle. Evidence for this is found in 1830 when a meeting of benefactors and subscribers for the building of an Infirmary in Carlisle agreed to purchase land at Coldcoates from Jolliffe.
Jolliffe died suddenly on Sunday August 1830. His remains were interred in Skelton Parish Church. A memorial can be seen in the church today. It reads:
‘Underneath are deposited the remains of Rev’d Tovey Jolliffe B.D 39 years Rector of this Parish who die on the first of August 1830 in the 81st year of his age. Also of Grace his widow who died at Carlisle the 19th day of June 1832 aged 82 years.’
Grace died at her home in Castle Street, Carlisle. Tovey and Grace had no children.
The Jolliffes appear to have amassed an estate of considerable value. Jolliffe left a new cottage and garden to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Joseph Cowper had the two thirds of Jolliffe’s estate he purchased from the Jolliffe family valued in 1839. It records the purchase price as £2200.
Jolliffe is also listed as a donor to King’s College, London. His contribution was £50.

Information for future research
Both Tovey and Grace Jolliffe left wills accessible at Cumbria Archives Carlisle
Robert Loraine, schoolmaster, married Mary Marie Wright in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, on 27 October 1834. Her father was John “Squire” Wright (1752–1821) of Hutton in the Forest
William Whitelock died 8 May 1817 aged 78 years. He is buried in Skelton Churchyard along with his wife, Rebecca, who died 28 November 1820, aged 80 years.

Sources
Cumbria Archives, Carlisle
PR 10/V/24 Skelton Overseers’ Voucher, 1804-5
PR 10/V/12, Skelton Overseers’ Voucher, 1784
PR 10/V/16, Skelton Overseers’ Voucher, 1788
PR 10/14, Lease for 21years at £36 a year from Rev’d Tovey Jolliffe to Joseph Robley, 24 March 1792
PR 10/15, Lease for 21 years at £82 a year from Rev’d Tovey Jolliffe to William Whitelock and Joseph Thompson, 24 March 1792
PR 10/81, Overseers of the Poor and Churchwardens account books entry. 1798-9 by Rev T Jolliffe
DCC 1/63, Personal account and memoranda book of Joseph Cowper of Unthank, Valuation of Rev. T Jolliffe estate 1839
DX 748/214, Deeds of house on Castle Street, March 1798
DX 748/215, Lease and Release of piece of waste ground, formerly bought by Watson Carnaby, March 1798
DX 1/47 Deeds, mostly of various small properties in Skelton, mainly sold to Thomas James and family of Thornbarrow (p. Hutton) and Penrith, 1736-1801, and to the Rev. Tovey Jolliffe, rector of Skelton, 1796–1820
DCC, 1/32, Deeds relating to the purchase of the Skelton estate of the Rev. Tovey Jolliffe deceased, in which Joseph Cowper of Unthank Esq. (with his brother John of Carleton Hall and of Stamford Street, Blackfriars, London, as co-party) bought two-thirds of it from the Jolliffe family, 1831–34

Isle of Wight Record Office
JER/SEL/1A/16, Schedule of deeds re. BROOK ESTATE, I.W., delivered to Rev’d Tovey Jolliffe, clerk, mortgagee, by James and William How, 6 August 1806

Newspapers
Cumberland Pacquet and Ware’s Whitehaven Advertiser, 21 December 1821, 5 January 1824, 10 January 1826, 23 January 1827
Carlisle Patriot, 22 January 1820, 30 December 1820, 22 January 1830, 23 January 1830, 19 June 1830
Hampshire Chronical, 9 August 1830
Leeds Intelligencer, 9 March 1823
Oxford Journal, 14 August 1830
Stamford Mercury, 13 August 1830
Secondary Sources
The Skelton Parish Histories. Skelton Parish Council Millennium Project (2000)
A. E. Tirrell, Memorials of a family in England and Virginia 1771–1851
Websites
www.theclergydatabase.org.uk
www.ancestry.co.uk
www.nfknowlege.org/record/na-254cdec Probate will of Betty Smith, parish of Carisbrooke, dated 4 October 1796, proved 7 February 1804
www.kingscollections.org/calendarscollection/1880-1881/page-572 accessed 9 November 2018
This is a work in progress, subject to change with additional research.