Category: People

William Coulston 1766-1835 Plumber, Glazier, and Tinman, Kirkby Lonsdale

By NMDEA
William Coulston’s Bill, 1813-1814

Poorhouses were not only in need of supplies but also maintenance. William Coulston was one of the traders helping to keep Kirkby Lonsdale poorhouse running.

Coulston’s business was situated in the old Market Square of Kirkby Lonsdale, well-positioned to take advantage of trading opportunities. He supplied the poorhouse with various cutlery items, milk cans ‘chocolate’ paint and a brush. His receipted bills totalled 14s in  August 1811 and £1 17s 9d in April 1814. [1]

Presumably this paint was destined for use outside owing to its durable properties. The British manufactory Company of London supplied different colours of paint, expounding their cheapness, durability and readiness to be thinned with prepared oils. [2]

Around this time other bills were sent to Thomas Parkinson who was the governor of the poorhouse, which was built in 1811 for the use of the townships of Kirkby Lonsdale.[3]

William Coulston was baptised 16 July 1766 in Kirkby Londsdale, as were his siblings . His older brother Thomas (baptised 29 October 1758) was also a glazier while his sister Margaret (baptised 14 June 1761) married a soldier, John Dunn in 1782. [4] Coulston married Sarah Baines on 1 December 1798 in Kirkby Lonsdale where all their children were born. William, born in 1798, didn’t survive long. Another son also named William and daughter Margaret followed in 1801 and 1802. In 1804 when Elizabeth was born Christopher Ellershaw began his apprenticehip as a tinplate worker with Coulston.[5] The Coulstons had another two daughters Sarah (b.1805) and Jane (b.1807). Tragedy struck the family in 1817 when only son William, aged sixteen, drowned while swimming in the River Lune. [6]

Coulston appears to have continued in business for a number of years appearing in the 1829 trade directory. [7] He died 10 May 1835 around the time the poorhouse was closed. [8]

Thomas Parkinson had been the Governor of the poorhouse until its closure. Parkinson and his wife Mary Gill were then employed as master and mistress of the workhouse East Ward, Kirkby Stephen, in 1836  remaining there for the next nine years. [9]

By 1841 William’s widow and her unmarried daughter Margaret were living with daughter Sarah and her husband at Horse Market in the town. Both were of ‘independent means’.[10]. Sarah had married Isaac Dalkin, a currier, on 14 February 1831 in Kirkby Lonsdale. The Coulstons’  youngest daughter, Jane,  married John Carter, a tinman, in Liverpool. [11]. When Sarah Coulston the elder died on 21 January 1843 the local newspaper referred to her having been ill for some time. She was buried at  Kirkby Lonsdale alongside her husband and son William. [12]

Margaret Coulston perhaps finding herself in reduced circumstances set up in business in the busy area of Mill Brow in the town and can be fond in the trade directories in subsequent years. An Elizabeth Coulston is listed as a tea dealer in the same directory and location as Margaret in 1851 but their relationship is unknown. [13] As Margaret’s sister Elizabeth had married James Atkinson, a saddler, on 20 September 1823 it assumed it is not her. [14]. Margaret continued in business for at least the next 10 years. She died on 9 April 1868.[15]

sources

[1] Cumbria Archives, Kirkby Lonsdale Overseers’ vouchers, WPR19/7/1/5/3/13, 31 August 1811, WPR19/7/1/5/5/4, 4 March 1814
[2] Cumberland Pacquet and Whitehaven Ware’s Advertiser, 7 March 1815
[3] Cumbria Archives, Kirkby Lonsdale Overseers’ voucher, WPR19/7/1/5/3/61/6, 4 November 1811. .www.thepoorlaw.org, Peter Collinge, The Kirkby Lonsdale Digester, 1 June 2020
[4] Lancashire Archives, Marriage Bonds, APR 11, Thomas Coulston, glazier and Sarah Hudson, 18 November 1780, John Dunn, soldier, and Margaret Coulston, 15 April 1782
[5] The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Collection: Board of Stamps: Apprenticeship Books: Series IR 1; Class: IR 1; Piece: 71, UK Register of Duties Paid for Apprenticeship Indentures,1710-1811 [accessed at www.ancestry.co.uk]
[6] Lancaster Gazette, 28 June 1817, p. 3, col. d.
[7 ] Principal Inhabitants of Cumberland and Westmorland 1829, Parson and White’s Directory compiled by R Gregg
[8] Kendal Mercury, 16 May 1835, p. 3, col. e
[9] Kendal Mercury 21 December 1850, p. 3, col. g
[10] TNA, 1841 Census HO107; Piece: 1161; Book: 9; Civil Parish: Kirkby Lonsdale; County: Westmorland; Enumeration District: 15; Folio: 39; Page: 15; Line: 18; GSU roll: 464191
[11] Lancaster Gazette 13 April 1833 p2 col e
[12] Kendal Mercury, 28 January 1843 p3 col f www.findagrave.org
[13] Mannex and Co.,  History & Directory and Topography of Westmorland (1851) [accessed at www.ancestry.co.uk]
[14] Lancashire Archives, Marriage Bonds, APR 11, Elizabeth Coulston, James Atkinson, saddler, 19 September 1823
[15] Kendal Mercury, 25 April 1868, p. 3, col. g
William Coulston’s will, plumber and glazier, is held at Lancashire Archives, WRW/L/R640, 29 August 1835

An Extension to St Mary’s Workhouse Garden, Lichfield

By Peter Collinge

In July 2020 the Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies published my article on workhouse gardens.[1] Since then further information has come to light regarding the garden of St Mary’s Workhouse in Sandford Street, Lichfield.

The article noted that in 1769 Henry Rogers supplied the potatoes and kidney beans for the garden.[2] An entry in the overseers’ accounts for 19 July 1777 shows that the existing gardening operation was extended when the committee appointed to oversee the repair and extension of the workhouse for the ‘reception and employment of the poor’ accepted the offer ‘made generously by the Reverend Dr Falconer respecting a piece of Meadow Ground for a Garden’.[3]

Figure 1: LD20/6/3, Lichfield St Mary’s, Overseers’ Account Book 1778-1784.

The accounts for 1778 show purchases for the garden and the payments made to labourers. In April thread for ‘garden line’ was purchased, presumably for marking out the ground. A Mr Bramhall was paid for plants and seeds. Other than ‘beans’, however, the specific types of plants and seeds are not listed. Gardeners were provided with ale. Wm Marklew was paid three shillings for two days’ work digging the new garden. In April and May ‘Brindley’ and others were also paid for unspecified garden work.

One of the crops was potatoes. On 30 October 1778 the workhouse received 5s 10d from a Mr Simpson for ‘Boys getting up Tatoes’. Although workhouse inmates were given ‘pay’ for any work they undertook in the new attic work room amounting to ‘two pence out of every shilling for their use’, it seems likely that in this instance the money went to the workhouse rather than directly to the boys.

 

With thanks to JK for the above image.

[1] Peter Collinge, ‘He shall have care of the garden, its cultivation and produce’: Workhouse gardens and gardening c.1780-1835’, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1754-0208.12717.

[2] SRO, D3891/6/30/32, Henry Rogers, 27 May 1769.

[3] SRO, LD20/6/3, Lichfield St Mary’s Overseers’ Account Book 1778-1784.

Grace Sandwick’s Possessions

By Peter Collinge

Figure 1: PR5/43, Greystoke Poor Account Book, 1740-1812

When Grace Sandwick was granted poor relief by the parish of Greystoke and boarded out with Deborah Bushby in 1774, she brought with her a range of clothing and belongings. Apart from what is recorded in Greystoke’s Poor Account, nothing further has yet come to light to provide further information on Sandwick. Deborah Bushby was baptised in Greystoke on 13 April 1738 and buried in the parish church on 29 January 1814.

The parish recorded in its Poor Account Sandwick’s possessions. Sometimes parishes sold such goods to help defray the cost of relief. On other occasions, if the pauper was admitted to a workhouse, the items could be stored and returned should the pauper leave. In this instance, as Sandwick was boarding with Bushby, it looks as though the list was draw up so that there could be no dispute over what Sandwick owned.

April ye 7th 1774 Agreed with Deborah Bushby for Grace Sandwicks Boarding for one year at the rate of four pounds four shillings pr year to be paid quarterly.

A schedule of the Goods brought with her the said Grace when she came to lodge with the said Deborah Bushby the date afored: viz one feather bed, 2 Blanketts, 2 Feather Bolsters, one quilt, a kuggone[?] lining sheet a Bedstead a line whool [____alor?] one shag hat one stew pot a meal box and brown gown one blew gown & jacket one good quilted black petty coat Callamanca, a blew petty coat and one white one brown petty coat a blew cardinall one blue apron a corner cupboard and Box each with a lock a Check and White Apron 2 or 3 caps.

Though poor, Sandwick had a change of clothes. Some of the terms used to describe them are unfamiliar to us today but they tell us about something the quality and durability of what she wore. From the seventeenth century ‘shagg’ was used to describe the nap of cloth. It was often coarse and long. Sometimes it was used to describe worsted cloth having a velvet nap. Such material was often used for linings. Calamanco was an unprinted, plain cotton, often white. The ‘blew cardinal’ was a short cloak with a hood.

The lockable cupboard and box were important as a means of securing possessions, particularly when spaces were shared. For many people in the eighteenth century, a lockable box was the only private storage facility they had. Lockable boxes became associated with servants. They could be used to transport belongings between one job and the next. The lack of a box, as Amanda Vickery points out was ‘a sign of the meanest status’.

Sources

CAS, PR5/43, Greystoke Poor Account Book, 1740-1812.

National Burial Index for England and Wales, St Andrew, Greystoke, 29 January 1814.

Amanda Vickery, Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), pp. 38-40.

 

 

William (1789-1827) and Wilkin Irving, (1791-1859) Surgeons, Greystoke Parish

By NMDEA

When Wilkin Irving died on 9 April 1859 he was described as having a naturally timid and nervous character ‘A safe cautious judge of medical practice, who rarely made a mistake. His opinion often sought by rich and poor’. [1]

The vouchers of Greystoke contain bills for treatment given by Wilkin and his brother William John. The vouchers span the years 1818 to 1834.[2] In addition, there are also bills at a later date signed by their cousin William John Irving (1808-1870). He was the son of Christopher Irving, William and Wilkin’s father’s brother.  

Examples of recurring items appear on the brothers’ bills, including Anodyne drops 1s, diuretic drops 1s 6d, a blister and ointment 2s 6d [3] an alkaline mixture 2s 6d, enuretic solution 1s 3d, and camomile flowers 6d. [4] The procedures they undertook were varied but charges for attending women in labour occur frequently. [5 ][6] The extraction of a tooth from someone called Monkhouse [7] 18 November 1827 and the extraction of urine from someone named Berli[e]n are infrequent events. [8] The Irvings also supplied medicines to the Workhouse in Penrith.[9]

PR5/53 37A Greystoke Overseers' Voucher 1829-1830 William Irving treatment to Berlin , Fanny Cowper
PR5/53 37A Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher 1829-1830 Wilkin Irving

William was baptised on 11 January 1789 and Wilkin on 21 June 1791 in the parish of Caldbeck, as was their brother Joseph (1790-1844). They had a sister Jane (b.1793)  who may have died in infancy. Their father William and his wife Mary [Mally] Dobson had no further children. Mary died on 11 February 1795 in child birth aged 27.

Barbara Dowson (1755-1812) married the widowed William at Greystoke on 27 June 1801. [10]

Their father William had established himself as a surgeon in Hesket Newmarket. Wilkin Irving was educated at Appleby, Westmorland, and gained his surgical degree in Edinburgh before returning to Hesket Newmarket to practice in 1814, first with his father, then the following year with brother William John. [11]

Hesket Newmarket, Cumberland. Left of picture what was the Poorhouse
Hesket Newmarket, Cumberland. Left of picture what was the Poorhouse

William Irving the elder died at Hesket Newmarket on 2 September 1820. His extensive will shows he owned various parcels of land and property in the surrounding area. While he occupied some, he leased others, from which he earned an income. His will names some of those he leased the land to such as Betty Alcock, a farmer, and Hannah Peet, a shopkeeper. [12] Hannah Peet was also a witness to his will.

The three sons are named as beneficiaries in his will. Joseph and William John inherited property and land; Joseph the livestock and household furniture; Wilkin consolidated bank shares valued at £500. Medical and surgical books were left to William John and Wilkin. Wilkin inherited his father’s surgical instruments. Small bequests were made to nephews and nieces, as well as to Christine and Sarah, daughters of fellow surgeon William Blamire of Thackwood Nook, Dalston. Five pounds was left to the parish poor. [13]

While Joseph remained in Hesket Newmarket the brothers continued to practice in the surrounding area. Wilkin at some point moved to Hutton John. William John died suddenly on 23 July 1827 aged 38, [14] leaving a wife Ann Studholme (1789- 1884) who he had married at Sebergham in 1812, and three children: Mary Ann (1814-1898), Catherine (1821-1898), and William John 1823-1905). Ann and her children lived with her brother John, a farmer, at Bell Bridge, Sebergham, before they all moved to Buckabank House, Dalston.

Buckabank House, Dalston, Cumberland

According to newspaper accounts, Wilkin continued to work but his nervous disposition and pressure of work began to take its toll. He gradually withdrew from work refusing to undertake surgical procedures. He moved to Bennet Head near Watermillock overlooking the lake at Ullswater, where he died aged 68. The Carlisle Journal reporting that he had ‘a hereditary malady which he well knew would ultimately prove fatal to him’. [15]

Ullswater from Bennet Head near Watermillock

A memorial to the brothers step-mother Barbara Dowson and her brother Rev’d Thomas Head Dowson was placed in Greystoke Church. [16] The surrounding Churchyard has one to Wilkin irving, his brother Joseph, and their father.

Memorial to Wilkin Irving, his father and brother Joseph at St Andrews Church, Greystoke.

 

Sources
[1] Cumberland and Westmorland Advertiser and Penrith Literary Chronicle, 19 April 1859, p. 4, col.,d
[2] Cumbria Archives, PR5/67-K, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin and William Irving, (cousin) 4 June 1834
[3] Cumbria Archives, PR5/54-26, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, william John Irving 4 April 1820
[4] Cumbria Archives, PR5/54/12, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving 5 August 1828
[5] Cumbria Archives, PR5/53/37A, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving 9 November 1830
[6] Cumbria Archives, PR5/53/10, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving 5 June 1833
[7] Cumbria Archives, PR5/54/12, [line 32] Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving. 5 August 1828
[8] Cumbria Archives PR5/53/5, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving, 12 May 1829
[9] Cumbria Archives, PR5/53/37A, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin irving 9 November 1830
[10] Carlisle Journal, 4 July 1801, p. 3, col. c
[11] Cumbria Archives, DCC/1/47, Deeds mostly of various properties in Skelton….1714-1832
[12] England and Wales Quaker BMD Register, 1578 -1837, Cumberland and Northumberland Burials 1814-1835 [accessed at www.ancestry.co.uk 2 October 2020] p. 67 of 272
[13] The National Archives, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB11/1636/67, Will of William Irving Surgeon Caldbeck, Cumberland, 8 November 1820
[14] Cumberland Parquet and Whitehaven Ware’s Advertiser, 31 July 1827
[15] Carlisle Journal, 22 April 1859, p. 5, col. e
[16] Kuper, M. E. (1888), ‘Sebergham Parish Registers’, Transactions of Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and archaeological Society, 9 (series 1), pp. 32-96, p. 73 [accessed 2 October 2020]

William Robinson (1783-1857), Flour for the Poor

By NMDEA

The first Corn Law was enacted in 1815. One of its consequences was its detrimental effect on the poor who were already subject to the vagaries of the weather and variable harvests.[1]

Overseers’ Voucher 1835 SPC/26/12 item 5

Two Vouchers exists from the parish of Greystoke for William Robinson, a miller. One for the supply of oat meal in 1835 [2], the other a bill settled 3 April 1827. [ 3] The later is from William Hodgson, a farmer at Blencow and also overseer, for the supply of flour to the poor in November 1826. It is assumed from looking at the trade directories that this was from Robinson’s time at Hutton Mill. [4]

An undated list of people choosing to use Sparket and Greystoke Mill instead of Hutton Mill to grind their corn exists when Hutton Mill was described as in good repair.[5] Looking at the names on the list, it possibly dates from around the late-eighteenth century. Although the nature of its significance is not known it may be related to the ‘Lord of the Manor’ stipulating where the inhabitants took their corn. It is thought William leased the Corn Mill when Henry Howard of Greystoke Castle was the landowner.[6]

Sparket Mill
Greystoke castle

Those named on the bill of 1826 are Rebeckah [sic] Cowper, Barbery [sic] Parker, Ann Greenal, Frances Williamson, Esther Fox and John Johnston. The order is for a stone of flour [type unknown] supplied at a cost of 2s 8d each. It is not known if this was something done on a regular basis by Robinson.

Some of the recipients of the flour appear to have had other help from the community by means of the poor law. Rebeckah Cowper had received relief in the past. Her name being in the Overseers Account book between 1810-1814. [7] She died in 1847 aged 87. Esther Ward had married John Fox in 1815 and was widowed with a young son Ralph. She died in Penrith in 1861 aged 77 years, having worked as a charlady and general servant. Ann Greenal’s name appears on a bill for Dr W. J. Irving in 1827 for attendance in labour and subsequent medical care. By the time of the 1851 census she was a laundress/pauper living with her son, William. She died in 1864 aged 77. Barbara Parker had sought help from the parish when expecting a child in 1820. A warrant was issued for a Richard Gillespie on 27 October 1820 for him to being examined concerning her yet-to-be- born bastard child. [8]

By contrast William Robinson’s business prospered through the nineteenth century.  He could be described as being part of the Robinson dynasty of millers/corn factors.

William was baptised at Crosby Ravensworth 16 November 1783. His parents John Robinson (1749-1833) and Mary Clark (1751-1836) ran a mill at Maulds Meaburn. His other brothers took on mills in Cumberland and Westmorland. Thomas (1775-1851) at Craigs Mill, Shap; John (1778-1848) Bongate Mill Appleby; Joseph (1781-1864) Askham Mill, Westmorland; Robert (1785-1874) Maulds Meaburn mill; and Mathew (1787-1853) Sockbridge mill, near Penrith. Their only sister Mary (b.1776) married John Laycock, also a miller.[9]

William Robinson had served an apprenticeship at Millhouse near Hesket Newmarket with his cousin Robert Clark before going to Greystoke Mill where his future wife’s parents Thomas Routledge and Eleanor Smith were the millers. On 13 June 1810 he married their widowed daughter Mary, who already had two young children, Elizabeth and Isaac. They had a further five children: John, baptised 23 March 1813, and William baptised 23 April 1817, who along with Mary’s son Isaac Routledge (1807-1877) were all involved in the milling business. Thomas (1815-1897) broke the mould and became a cleric . Daughter Mary (1810-1891) married John Todhunter a blacksmith but was widowed a year later. Youngest daughter Eleanor or Ellen (1819-1881) married Isaac Kidd, a farmer, later in life. Both daughters lived in the Greystoke area. [10]

Memorial to Mary and Eleanor Robinson and Isaac Routledge daughters and Stepson William Robinson
Memorial to Mary and Eleanor Robinson and Isaac Routledge daughters and Stepson William Robinson

William Robinson returned to Greystoke Mill, where he died on 26 January 1857, aged 75. His wife predeceased him. Memorials to William and Mary Robinson, as well as some of their children, are located at St Andrew’s Church, Greystoke.

William Robinson of Greystoke Mill Memorial St Andrews Church,Greystoke
William Robinson Memorial St Andrews Church,Greystoke

Sources
[1] www.thepoorlaw.org Ann White, East Sussex, The price of bread, 31 July 2019
[2] Cumbria Archives, Hutton Soil, Overseers’ voucher, SPC/26/12 5, 10 March – 1 April 1835
[3] Cumbria Archives, Greystoke Overseers’ voucher, PR5/67-F item 5, William Robinson’s bill settled 3 April 1827
[4] Parson and White, Principal Inhabitants of Cumberland and Westmorland (1829), Compiled by Roland Gregg;  Pigot, Directory of Cumberland and Westmorland ( Pigot and Co., 1834); William Robinson, Greystoke and Hutton Mill,  www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 20 September 2020]
[5] Cumbria Archives, DHUD/8/56/20, List of Tenants of Whitbarrow, Penruddock and Hutton Soil not grinding corn last winter at Hutton Mill, who went to Sparket Mill and Greystoke mill instead. undated.
[6] Carlisle Patriot, 14 August 1841, p.1, col. d, Freehold Property in the Parish of Greystoke
[7] Cumbria Archives, PR5/45, Greystoke Overseers’ Account book, 1810-1814
[8] Cumbria Archives PR5/67A iem 1, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, April 12 1827, W. J. Irving; PR5/67A item 3,  27 October 1820 and PR5/67A item 4, 27 February 1821 [Richard Gillespie] [accessed 20 September 2020]
[9] Penrith Observer, 24 May 1949, p. 7, col. b-c. Robinson’s were Millers for 200 years.
[10] Cumbria Libraries, (920 ROB), Margaret Clark, The Black Book of the Richardson Trust, A question of Inheritance. The letter book of William Robinson, Miller of Greystoke from 1854-55, 3rd edn. (2008).

Memorial to John Robinson of Motherby son of William Robinson
Memorial to John Robinson of Motherby son of William Robinson

Medicated Vapour Baths – for paupers?

By Alannah Tomkins

Medicated vapour baths became popular in England in the 1820s. Such things were available in earlier decades, but Sake Deen Mohamed advertised them via both his published works and his bathing establishment at Brighton. The treatment he offered for muscular and similar ailments involved massage and steamy bathing with the addition of Indian oils. He introduced the word ‘shampooing’ to popular usage, although with a slightly different meaning to its current one (ie rubbing the body, whereas we lather our hair). Mohamed was named ‘shampooing surgeon’ to George IV and William IV.

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/xg5ewh67

What did such fashionable treatments have to do with the Staffordshire poor? We might have guessed ‘none’: but we would have been wrong. Spa towns like Buxton had long made bathing facilities available to poor patients, albeit in a heavily regulated way.  In 1785 for example the poor were admitted to bathe at Buxton between the months of May and October, on Mondays only, and funded places were limited to sixteen beneficiaries at any one time.  Successful applicants to the Buxton charity had to support their appeal with ‘a letter of recommendation from some lady or gentleman from his own locality certifying whether he was a proper object of charity, and if the patient was a pauper, also a certificate signed by the Churchwardens or Overseers of the poor that the pauper’s settlement was in, and a certificate from a physician or apothecary that the case was proper for the Buxton waters’.  In the 1820s, though, copyists of Mohamed developed their own vapour bathing equipment which was not dependent on location. Charles Whitlaw patented his medicated baths which could be installed in any town, and published his Scriptural Code of Health in 1838 thanking Anglican and Dissenting clergy for funding treatments for miscellanous workhouse poor.

It was still a surprise, though, to discover that the parish of Alrewas actually sent its paupers to a medicated vapour bathing establishment in Wolverhampton. The vouchers show that in 1831 the parish sent William Riley to the baths run by surgeon Edward Hayling Coleman at Dudley Street in Wolverhampton, albeit the parish paid the resulting bill rather slowly. In early 1832 they also sent a woman called Eams, possible Ann Eams born at Fradley in 1805 or her mother Mary, who Coleman reported in March to be ‘somewhat better’ as a result.

Coleman had invested in Whitlaw’s patented bathing equipment, and set up two facilities for treatment.  There was a public bath in Dudley Street costing 3s6d a time, and he also saw the more prosperous of his patients at his own house in Salop Street for 5s per bathing session.  We do not know the diagnosis for either Riley or Eams, but Coleman promoted his baths for cases of scrofula, cutaneous diseases, liver complaints, gout, rheumatism, asthma and (very optimistically) ‘cancer in it’s incipient stage’.  When the first cholera epidemic swept Britain in 1831-2, Coleman even reserved one or more of his baths ‘for the gratuitous use of the poor’.

 

Sources:  Ernest Axon, ‘Historical Notes on Buxton, its Inhabitants and Visitors: Buxton Doctors since 1700’ (1939), among the ‘Axon Papers’ held at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery ; Charles Whitlaw, The Scriptural Code of Health (London, 1838); SRO D 783/2/3/12/8/2/2 Alrewas overseers’ voucher, bill of Edward Coleman to the parish 1831; D 783/2/3/13/7/1 Alrewas overseers’ correspondence, letter from Edward Coleman 1832; Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser 22 June 1831 and 16 November 1831.

 

 

Catherine Lawrie (1786-1873), Brazier, Tin Plate Worker and Plumber

By NMDEA

Catherine Lawrie traded in Carlisle while she supplied the workhouse in the village of Dalston some 4 miles away with a number of items. Her bill of April 1831 for repairing 8 tins at a cost of 8d and supplying 12 tins at 3s along with the supply of a boiler costing 1s. 2d was settled by William Barker. [1] She was still supplying them with items in 1837. [2]

the former Workhouse at Dalston



William Barker’s employment with Catherine was abruptly terminated in January 1836. He fell from a ladder fracturing his leg leading to his death. His wife Catherine Henderson was left with four young children.[3]

Richard Johnson became one of Catherine’s employees as her foreman. In 1857 he left Catherine’s employment and set up business on his own. [4] Advertising his new venture, he placed an announcement in the newspaper stipulating his role as foreman to Mrs Lawrie for nearly 20 years, suggesting Catherine was someone respected within the city. It was standard procedure to alert the public of your previous experience when setting up a new venture.

Catherine Elizabeth Henegan was born in Ireland. On 1 January 1814 she married Archibald Lawrie a brazier and tinplate worker from Carlisle at St Mary’s church. Her residence was given as Canonbie, North Britain (Scottish Border region).[5] Archibald and Catherine had four children: Richard Hanegan (1815-91), Catherine Anne (1817-86), Mary Isabella (1819-89), and Archibald,  baptised 17 July 1822. By the time of Archibald’s baptism, his father, lately of Eden Court, was recorded as deceased. His death, aged 51, appears in the burial register of Stanwix on 23 June 1822. [6] The running of the business was taken on by Catherine. When her children were young, Mary Bell became a part of her support network, remaining with her for 30 years.

When Mary Bell died in November 1851, the Carlisle Journal recorded:  ‘At Rockliffe on the 21st inst Mary Bell 58 nearly all her industrious life was spent in the service of the widow of Russell the historian of modern Europe and Mrs Lawrie of Scotch Street Carlisle with the later of whom she lived upwards of 30 years’. [7]


Catherine’s name is in the local trade directory of 1834.  The name of her son, Archibald, begins to appear in the trade directories in the late 1840’s. [8] Their place of business always clearly specified as 54 Scotch Street, Carlisle.


Guildhall and Fisher Street, Carlisle Cumbria Image Bank



Using entries from local newspapers, Catherine’s business activities can be traced. She appears to be the only woman on a list of those allocated shares in a stock company for the provision of a building for the Literary and Philosophical Society in 1838. [9] There is evidence of her securing tenders for work in the city for lanterns costing £12.9s 4d in 1841[10], the maintenance of a force (water) pump in Fisher Street in 1843, [11] and plumber’s work at the Court buildings costing £8.6s.9d in 1845.[12]

Catherine chose to give to charitable causes in the City. She subscribed to a fund for the widow of Thomas Dougall, a mail guard killed in a railway accident in 1840 [13], and to the relief of the distressed poor in Carlisle in 1842.[14] In her later years in business she contributed to the building fund of the Dispensary in 1857.[15 ]

When John Nicholson a stone mason stole 11 lb of lead from her property and sold it on, she decided not to pursue matters further. [16]

While Catherine’s eldest son, Richard, had chosen to pursue a career as a barrister from 1840 practising in the city until 1849, [17] it appears that Catherine was gradually withdrawing from the business in preparation for Archibald to take over. Unfortunately Archibald died on 29 January 1852 aged 29. [18]

In 1860 Catherine appears to have decided to call it a day. Although she is not named in the notice for the sale of plumber’s stock, the address of the retiring proprietor is given as 54 Scotch Street so it is assumed this is her.[19]

 

The Tin Plate Worker Wellcome Collection



In 1868, creditors received a once only payment relating to her business. [20] Catherine left Carlisle with her two daughters to live with her son Richard at Wellington Terrace, Hammersmith. Without the existence of the vouchers Catherine Lawrie’s business interests outside of the city of Carlisle may not have become apparent.

Sources
[1] Cumbria Archives, Dalston Overseers’ Vouchers, SPC44/2/48/114, 30 April 1830
[2] Cumbria Archives, Dalston Overseers’ Vouchers, SPC44/2/46/16, 1837
[3] Carlisle Journal, 30 January 1836, p.2, col. d.
[4] Carlisle Journal, 30 January 1857, p. 4, col. c.
[5] Carlisle Journal, 8 January 1814, p. 3, col. d.
[6] Cumberland Paquet and Ware’s Whitehaven Advertiser, 24 June 1822, p. 3, col. a; Cumbria Archives, PR117/13, Stanwix Burial Register, 1814-1846.
[7] Carlisle Journal, 28 November 185,1 p. 3, col. g.
[8] Pigot & Co., National Commercial Directory of Chester, Cumberland, Durham, Lancaster, Northumberland, Westmorland and York (London and Manchester: J Pigot & Co., 1834);Mannix & Whellan, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland (18470, p. 164.
[9] Carlisle Journal, 17 March 1838, p. 3, col. a.
[10] Carlisle Journal, 16 October 1841, p. 2, col. b.
[11] Carlisle Journal, 15 April 1843, p. 3, col. b.
[12] Carlisle Journal, 18 October 1845, p. 3, col. b.
[13] Carlisle Journal, 21 March 1840, p. 2, col. e.
[14] Carlisle Patriot, 19 February 1842, p. 2, col. b.
[15] Carlisle Journal, 14 August 1857, p. 4, col. d.
[16] Carlisle Patriot, 21 August 1858, p. 6, col. d.
[17] Alumni Cantabrigienses A biographical List of all Known Students Graduates & Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge from the Earliest times to 1900, vol 2, 1752 to 1900, ed. John Vale, Cambridge Library, accessed at books.google.co.uk
[18] Carlisle Journal, 30 January 1852, p. 3, col. g; Cumbria Archives, PR 117/14, Stanwix Burial Register, 1846-1862 entry 264
[19] Carlisle Patriot, 19 May 1860, p. 4, col. b.
[20] Carlisle Patriot, 28 February 1868, p. 3, col. g.


footnote
Catherine and her daughters are buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London. Richard at Cheritan Road Cemetery, Folkestone, Kent.

Edward Heylin (fl. 1801- 1843), Linen and Woollen Draper, Penrith

By NMDEA

Edward Heylin was a linen and woollen draper in Penrith. [1] Several vouchers appear with his name on them for the parish of Greystoke; some of which have a printed heading.[2] The bills were sent to Thomas Burn, overseer, and then assistant overseer of Greystoke. Most are bills of only a few lines long.[3] Around the time of these vouchers Heylin was also active in the community, being elected a churchwarden in Penrith.[4] As churchwarden it is likely he was influential in the distribution of Penrith’s charitable funds to the poor.

At least two of Heylin’s bills are for items for a Mary Johnson. Items supplied around 1822 include five yards of grey calico,  at 3s. 9d; three yards black calico at 2s 3d; one yard of fustian at 1s; yarn and whalebone costing 2s 8d; two yds blue linen, thread and tape at 2s 6d;  for the making of shifts, 8d, and two caps, 2d; two aprons, 2d, and a petticoat, 4d; the making of a pair of stays, 1s 4d. [5] The other bill cannot be positively dated but contains similar items. [6]

Mary Johnson was baptised in Greystoke in 1802 so she would have been around 21 when she received these items but her circumstances at the time are not known. She married Joseph Greenhow, a farm labourer, on 8 November 1830 in the same parish. By 1841 they were living at Hog House Brow, Martindale, with two children.

Edward Heylin’s father, also Edward (c.1772-1836), was a yeoman and owner of a farm at Celleron near Ullswater. His mother, Mary Wilkinson (c.1765-1841), owned property in Greystoke which had been in the family from the early eighteenth century. [7] Edward was baptised at Dacre, a village near Penrith, on 20 December 1801. He had three siblings: Jane (1794-1818) who married James Russell; John (1797-1854); and Margaret (1799-1877) who married Thomas Atkinson. Edward’s brother John also appears to have been a draper in Penrith around 1829 before becoming the Governor of Much Woolton Workhouse, Childwall, Lancashire. [8]

Edward married Maria Featherstonhaugh (1802-43) in Alston on 15 October 1823, her place of birth. Maria was descended from a branch of the Featherstonhaugh family of Featherstone Castle, near Haltwhistle, Northumberland. Edward was reputedly a direct descendant of Dr Peter Heylin (1599-1662), historian, author and chaplain to Charles I.[9]

Edward and Maria seem to have had a stable and well established life with a growing family but this was about to change. In 1839 Edward advertised for an apprentice in the Carlisle Patriot [10] but by late 1842 he was no longer trading in Penrith. The Carlisle Journal reported on 10 December 1842, that J. and J. Grindal had taken on his business. [11]

After his father’s [12] and mother’s deaths, he appears to have moved to London with wife Maria. It is unclear what precipitated this move.

1843 must have been a turbulent year for Edward Haylin. Despite favourable character references and their eldest son Richard Featherstonhaugh’s (1824-1852) position as a qualified solicitor, [13] second son Edward (1826-1855) was found guilty of a crime in April 1843. Edward, aged 17, having recently been appointed by Lord Lowther as a clerk at the General Post Office in London [14] was accused of stealing letters containing sovereigns from the Post Office General. [15] Considered a serious offence for which the death penalty had just been abolished in 1837, he was brought before the central criminal court on 8 May 1843. After some deliberation the punishment of the justice system was brought to bear. He was sentenced to transportation for life; departing for Norfolk Island, Australia, from Plymouth on 26 August 1843.

Edward Heylin’s youngest son Henry ( 1843-1899) was baptised at Clerkenwell, London, the month before Edward’s transportation. On 30 November 1843 his wife Maria died. Her death was recorded in Clerkenwell, aged 41.[16].

Son Edward never returned home. On 6 June 1855 he was found guilty of robbery and the illegal discharge of a firearm intending to cause harm and was executed on 26 June 1855. Considered by some as being a harsh punishment.[17] Whether his family knew of his fate is unknown.

From 1843 Edward Heylin the elder is difficult to trace. He occasionally appears on a list of those attending a meeting in London of the Cumberland Benevolent Institution [18] but it is difficult to say conclusively if this is him. He may have returned to Penrith occasionally being involved in the sale of family properties at Celleron and Penruddock but this cannot be confirmed without further research. [19]

Greystoke Voucher E Heylin Linen & Woolen Draper PR5/54 19B 182? items on bill
E Heylin Linen & Woolen Draper Penrith, Cumbria Archives, PR5/54 19B

Additional information about other children of Edward and Mary Heylin.
Alexander (1829-1868) was a bookseller in London. A fire in 1861 at his business in Paternoster Row, was followed by bankruptcy in 1863. [20] Third son John died in infancy in Penrith (1833-1837). Emma (1835-1916) was described as a governess on one census and can be found living with her unmarried brother Henry (1843-1899) who she was caring for when he died aged 55 in 1899. [21] Maria (1837) married Francesco del Campo in 1872. Her whereabouts cannot be traced after this. Genevieve Jane (1839-1884) married William S. Wicks, a stationer by trade. They also had their troubles. William petitioned for divorce on the grounds of her adultery in 1872. Ultimately staying together, Genevieve died after a short stay in Hoxton Lunatic Asylum in 1884.

Footnote

On 15 July 1812 the Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser recorded the suicide of an E. Heylin. [22]This seems to refer to Edward Heylin who was overseer [parish officer] in Penrith in 1811. It cannot be established conclusively how he is related to Edwin Haylin. Also at this time there was an affiliation for Edward Heylin of Celleron to appeal against. [23 ] it is possible the two events are related.

sources
[1] J. Pigot, National Commercial Directory 1828-9 (London: Pigot & Co., 1828)
[2] Cumbria Archives, Greystoke Overseers’ Vouchers, PR5/53 11, 183[?]
[3] Cumbria Archives, Greystoke Overseers’ Vouchers, PR5/54 19B 182[?]
[4] Westmorland Gazette, 5 July 1823, p.3, col. e
[5] Cumbria Archives, Greystoke Overseers’ Vouchers, PR5/67-D 11, 7 August 1821 or 2, bill for items for Mary Johnson
[6] Cumbria Archives, Greystoke Overseers’ Vouchers, PR5/67/D 8 [1820s]
[7] Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser, 6 August 1841 p. 8, col. e.
[8] TNA, HO/107/511/13 1841 Census, Much Woolton Workhouse, Childwall, Lancashire.
[9] Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser, 6 August 1841 p. 8, col. e.
[10]Carlisle Patriot, 16 February 1839, p. 2, col. a
[11]Carlisle Journal, 10 December 1842, p. 2, col. e
[12]Carlisle Journal, 10 September 1836, p. 3 col. g
[13] TNA, Court of King’s Bench: Plea Side: Affidavits of Due Execution of Articles of Clerkship, Series III; Class: KB 107; Piece: 16 [accessed at ancestry.co.uk 16 July 2020]
[14] Kendal Mercury, 6 May 1843, p. 2, col. g
[15] Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 18 July 2020), May 1843, trial of EDWARD HEYLIN (t18430508-1417).
[16] Worcester Journal, 7 December 1843, p.3, col. f
[17] Libaries Tazmania Online Collections https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-76$init=CON33-1-76p85 and Colonial Times 27 June 1855 p. 2, col. f [accessed at trove.nla.gov.au] https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8781473?searchTerm=heylin
[18] Penrith Observer, 26 May 1868, p.6 col., c
[19] Cumbria Archives, DX 315/1, Deeds relating to property in Motherby, Penruddock Cumberland, and Barton, Westmorland, 1669-1859
[20] The Stirling Advertiser and Midland Counties Advertiser, 12 September 1861, p. 3, col. b; London Gazette, 31 July 1863, p. 3817
[21] West London Observer, 21 April 1899, p.6, col. d

[22] Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser, 15 July 1812, p.3, col, c

[23]Cumbria Archives, Kendal ,WQ/SR/651/23 Recognizance of Edward Heylin and John Bailey, 4 Jan. 1812 [accessed at www.ancestry.co.uk] England, Select Births and Christenings 1538-1975 , UK Lunacy Patient Admission Registers 1846-1912, England and Wales Civil Divorce Records 1858-1918

GRO search index www.gov.uk [deaths]

Thanks to Joe McDarby

Wilkinson’s Griffin Inn, Penrith

By NMDEA

The Griffin Inn was one of the numerous inns in Penrith during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was listed as being situated in the urban subdivision of Dockray and in later years the Corn Market. It was part of the social and commercial centre of the community, helping to promote the economy of the town, providing a venue for local officials, manufacturers and traders and those selling property. It was a place for social and cultural events providing accommodation for passing travellers, those on fishing excursions to Ullswater, and travelling performers as well as members of the Cumberland Militia that assembled and trained there in the early 1800s.[1] Grain was sold outside the various inns positioned round the Cornmarket; barley was sold from outside the Griffin.[2]

The Griffin Inn had been trading from at least 1779 when innkeeper Christopher Idle offered for lease a:-

Large and convenient dwelling house with a large hall or kitchen, parlour, back kitchen and brew house on the first floor, a large dining room, a small ditto, three lodging rooms for servants, three cellars, both dining room and lodging rooms have closets. Good stables for eighteen horses, common stables for fifty more, a byer for cows, roomy chambers for hay, three extraordinary good granaries, a pump, coal holes and every necessary convenience the whole situate within a large close yard. The stock and furniture to go with the premises it also a good seat in the Parish Church.[3]

One voucher from Threlkeld with no clear date has the letterhead ‘Wikinson’s the Griffn Inn’. Scribbled on the back are additions to the bill. It is probably dated from the end of the eighteenth century. It does give an brief insight into the business of the Griffin. Wilkinson supplied the customers with a range of alcoholic drinks, mainly ale and porter; luncheon and dinner, tobacco, beds, horses hay and corn along with the services of an ostler. The printed bill also shows the Griffin offered fruit, punch, tea and coffee, wine and negus, washing facilities, postage and paper as well as food and ale for servants. [4]

bill for Wilkinson's Griffin Inn items such as ale ,porter hay tobacco
Wilkinson’s Griffin Inn Penrith c 1800 SPC21/8-11 13 A and B

John Wilkinson and his wife Julia Harrison were married at Thorpe in the parish of Greystoke in 1789 but perhaps seeing a lucrative business opportunity moved and became the proprietors of the Griffin around the time of the birth of their second son, William in 1795. William did not survive beyond his first year, as was also the case with sibling John (b.1799).[5]

After John Wilkinson’s death in 1801, [6] it is not known if Julia had full control of the inn or a trustee was appointed. However, the lease of the Griffin was offered for nine years in February of that year. The Griffin being described as in the possession of Mrs Wilkinson.[7] Little can be found of the Griffin’s activities until 1811 when Jollie’s trade directory lists Julia Wilkinson as the Innkeeper.[8] She remained at the inn and was still there when her father Jonathan Harrison died in 1818[9] and when her daughter Mary married the Rev. John Ormandy the following year. [10] Mary died in a house fire on 27 December 1848 ,the suggestion in one local newspaper being that her being intoxicated was partly to blame.[11]

The General Wolfe inn near the Griffin, where Isaac Wilkinson was the innkeeper was continued by his only daughter Mary after his death in 1823.[12] She had married William Bolton a Sergeant Major in the Cumberland Militia in 1802. Widowed in 1824 she continued in business at the inn. [13] It may be that the two Wilkinson families were related.

In 1819 local newspapers carried family notices suggesting that Julia Wilkinson had remarried. The notice in the Carlisle Patriot of 31 July read ‘At Greystoke Thursday Mr Isaac Hodgson of London Slop Merchant to Mrs Wilkinson late of the Griffin Inn Penrith’. [14] A slop merchant provided clothes and bedding to sailors; often they were cheap and of poor quality. Indignant at this announcement, the same paper retracted this two weeks later, claiming it a falsehood. The instigator was unknown.[15] Julia Wilkinson died sometime around 1824. [16]

In 1811 the Wilkinsons’ eldest surviving son, Harrison, became a surgeon in Hounslow, Middlesex. Prior to that he had been in the Royal Navy.[17] The other Wilkinson children didn’t follow their parents into the innkeeping trade. The Griffin was once again offered for lease, with the addition to its facilities being a garden. Particulars of the lease were to be had from Thomas Wilkinson [John and Julia’s son] of Thorpe House, Greystoke.[18]

The will of Harrison Wilkinson (1790-1830) identifies family members. Apart from some small bequests he instructed his trustees to divide most of his estate between his brother Thomas (1797-1860) and two sisters Mary (1791-1848) and Ann or Nanny (1800-1865). The Griffin made up part of his estate. Dorothy the eldest daughter of his sister Mary was to benefit from the profits of the Griffin independent of her parents or husband, then subsequently the female lineage [her sisters or daughters]. The female heirs were always to be preferred before the male. Youngest sister Ann named Smith in the will, later married James Rowntree, a successful gun maker of Penrith and Barnard Castle. She was resident in Penrith when she died in 1865. She, like her siblings benefitted from her brothers estates at Townhead, Penrith; and Thorpe and Field House, in Greystoke parish.

Perhaps mindful of his own endeavours to gain an education and the lack of a public library in his early life, Harrison added a codicil to his will. He asked for his books comprising his library, to go to the president and committee of the public library free of all legacy duty for the use of all the inhabitants of Penrith.[19] They went to the Mechanics Institute, the forerunner of the Public Library. [20]

Julia Wilkinson appears to have been the only female owner among the Griffin’s various hosts before it ceased trading in March 1893. Adam Barker, a farmer who had taken possession of the Inn in October 1892, was adjudged bankrupt the following year.[21] The General Wolfe fared better and continues in business.

General Wolfe Inn Little Dockray, Penrith .Griffin Inn was situated just around the corner until 1888
General Wolfe, Little Dockray, Penrith


sources.
[1] Ewanian (William Furness), History of Penrith from the Earliest Record to the Recent Time, (1894) Reprint Carlisle Bookcase, pp. 179-185. Michael Mullett, A New History of Penrith, Book V, Penrith in the Nineteenth Century. 1800-1901 (Carlisle, Carlisle Bookcase, 2020), pp. 46-49; Westmorland Advertiser and Kendal Chronicle 26 June 1813, p.3, col., d
[2] www.penrithtowntrials.co.uk http://www.penrithtowntrails.co.uk/downloads/cornmarket.pdf
[3] Cumberland Pacquet and Ware’s Whitehaven Advertiser, 8 June 1779, p.1, col. b.
[4] Cumbria Archives, Threlkeld Overseers’ Vouchers, SPC21/8-11 13A and 13B, no date
[5] www.ancestry.co.uk
[6] Cumbria Archives PROB/1801/A(44) John Wilkinson Innkeeper Penrith
[7] Carlisle Journal, 7 February 1801, p.1, col. d.
[8] Jollie, F. Cumberland Guide and Directory (Carlisle, 1811), p. xxxi.
[9] Cumberland Paquet and Whitehaven Ware’s Advertiser, 8 September 1818, p.3, col. a.
[10] Carlisle Patriot, 20 February 1819, p. col. d.
[11] Kendal Mercury ,6 January 1849 p.2, col., g
[12] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1823/W723, Isaac Wilkinson Innkeeper, Penrith, 1823, Cumberland Paquet and Ware’s Whitehaven Advertiser 17 February 1823, p.3, col. c.
[13 Pigot & Co., National Commercial Directory, Cumberland, Lancashire, and Westmorland 1828-9 (London and Manchester, J Pigot & Co., 1828).
[14] Carlisle Patriot, 31 July 1819, p. 3, col. d.
[15] Carlisle Patriot, 14 August 1819, p.3, col. d.
[16] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1824/A(25), Julia Wilkinson, widow of Thorpe. 1824.
[17] UK City and County Directories 1766-1946, 1811, London County Directory, p. 1566 [accessed at www.ancestry.co.uk, 25 August 2020].
[18] Carlisle Patriot, 17 December 1825, p.1, col. e.
[19] National Archives, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB11/1792/175, 3 November 1831, Will of Harrison Wilkinson of Hounslow, Middlesex.
[20] Cumberland and Westmorland Herald, 20 January 1883, p.5 cols. a-b.
[21] Cumberland and Westmorland Herald, 11 March 1893, p.4 col. g.


Research is ongoing and additional information may by gained accessing the following :-

DHOD/15/7, 1831-36, Estate of Harrison Wilkinson deceased and residue to Mrs Smith, Gosling Cottage, Carlisle.
DHOD/15/10 1830-38, Papers, estate of Dr Harrison Wilkinson, deceased.

Daniel Dunglinson (1764-1829), governor of a workhouse with a profitable enterprise?

By NMDEA

Kendal workhouse manufactured hardens ( a type of cloth) for approximately 50 years. This took place during part of the tenure of Daniel Dunglinson governor of the workhouse.

In 1797 Frederick Morton Eden described the workhouse as being a commodious building in an airy situation, kept with great neatness and propriety, with 55 separate rooms, 35 lodging rooms with an adjoining garden from which the poor were provided with vegetables. The bread allowance was plentiful and on beef days each person was allowed half a pound without discrimination for age or sex. In April 1795 there were 136 inmates in the workhouse, 57 males and 79 females. Seventy-six of them were under 30, 27 between 30 and 60, and 33 over 60.[1 ]

The harden manufactory was credited with reducing some of the costs of the workhouse and the poor rates paid by Kendal township. While having access to charitable funds from the Kendal Fell Fund, generally the workhouse profits were attributed to the harden manufactory. It was run while being mindful not to undercut the ordinary trader.[ 2 ] Parson and White’s 1829 trade directory listed it as a manufacturer of carpets.[3]

The manufactory did have a manager. In 1815 it was Thomas Harrison (c. 1791 – 1815).[4] who died aged 24 in 1815. Then, at some point this role was carried out by John Mann (1802-1875). The extent to which Daniel Dunglinson can be credited with the profitability of this enterprise can only be speculated upon. Equally, there is no evidence of his wife’s involvement in the workhouse.

By 1818 typhus fever was prevalent in Kendal . A proposal was made for a ‘House of Recovery’ to be erected to combat infectious diseases for the benefit of the poor and wider community; the cost to be offset by the profits from the harden manufactory.[ 5 ]

In 1823 the number of paupers in the workhouse was put at 118 , 44 employed in useful work the average net cost of each pauper a week being 1s 4d at the lowest , 2s 4 1/2d at the highest. [6]

The harden production continued until closed by order of the Poor Law Board, the stock related to the manufactory was put up for sale in 1849. [7] John Mann become Governor in 1829 after Daniel Dunglinson [8] finally tendered his resignation, along with his wife Margaret Dunglinson (1802-1877) in October 1848.[9]

Mary (or Diane) Croker mat women, Colchester 1823
https://www.portrait.gov.au/image/87693/87466/ Mary (or Diana) Croker, mat women, Colchester 1823 by John Dempsey

[1] Frederick Morton Eden, The State of the Poor, A History of the labouring classes in England 3 vols, (London, 1797), III, pp.750-771.
[2] Kendal Mercury, 14 February 1846, p.2, col.e
[3] Parson and White, History, Directory and Gazetteer of Cumberland and Westmorland, (White and Co., 1829), p.665
[4] Lancaster Gazette, 11 March 1815, p.3, col. c
[5] Westmorland Gazette, 29 August 1818, p.3
[6] Westmorland Gazette, 19 April 1823, p.3, col. b
[7] Westmorland Gazette, 9 June 1849, p.3, col. b.
[8] Westmorland Gazette, 29 February 1832, p. 4, col. e.
[9] Westmorland Gazette, 14 October 1848, p.2, col. e.
[29] Kendal Mercury, 28 March 1840
[30] www.ancestry.co.uk

footnote

Kendal workhouse sometimes referred to as Kirkby in Kendal as there was another workhouse called Kirkland in Kendal at this time.