Thomas was baptised in Uttoxeter in 1787 (7 March or 30 May), the son of Thomas and Ann Norris [1]. His father was a farmer. He married Charlotte Kiernan Collins at Stone by licence on 26 May 1821 [2]. In 1836 he advertised his intention in local newspapers to stand as candidate for Relieving Officer to the Uttoxeter Poor Law Union [3]. He had had considerable experience of the old pre-1834 Poor Law system as his signature appears on many of the receipts among the Overseers Accounts for Uttoxeter parish in the late 1820s and early 1830s [4]. He was successful in his candidature as the 1841 census shows his occupation as Relieving Officer [5]. His wife Charlotte listed her occupation as dressmaker, which proved important as she would need to support herself and her children after Thomas died in October 1848 [6].
Thomas and Charlotte had 6 children: daughter Charlotte became a dressmaker, too, Ann and Mary became milliners and Elizabeth became a governess at Blore Hall and at Croxden Abbey [7]. Son Henry eventually became a station master. Their other son, Thomas Henry, died aged 17 months in 1830 [8]. Henry became head of the family, gathering his womenfolk in his home at Dove Bank, including his aunt Harriet, Thomas’s sister, who had been a witness at Thomas and Charlotte’s wedding in Stone [7]. Thomas’s widow Charlotte died in Uttoxeter in September 1872 at the age of 82 [9].
[1] SRO, D3891/1/7 Utttoxeter St Mary Register of baptisms
[2] SRO, D5969/1/16 Stone St Michael, Register of marriages
[3] Staffordshire Advertiser, 19 Nov 1836
[4] SRO, D3891/6/31-40 Uttoxeter Overseers of the Poor vouchers
[5] TNA, HO 107/1007 1841 census for Uttoxeter
[6] SRO, D3891/1/34 Uttoxeter St Mary Register of burials
[7] TNA, HO 107/374 1851 census for Uttoxeter; TNA, RG 9/1955 1861census for Uttoxeter; TNA, RG 9/1954 1861 census for Croxden
[8] SRO D3891/1/33 Uttoxeter St Mary Register of burials
[9] SRO D3891/1/35 Uttoxeter St Mary Register of burials
The 1841 census listed another Thomas Norris in Uttoxeter besides the one who was a relieving officer [1]. This second Thomas was a printer and bookseller living in the Market Place and was somewhat younger, having been born in 1809 [2]. He was at this stage unmarried and living with his mother Ann and sister Jane. He married Ann Caroline Fowler of Leominster in 1845 [3] and went on to be steward of the Wesleyan Methodist church in Uttoxeter. His sister Jane married a Wesleyan minister (John Peaviour Johnson) in 1844 [4].
However, it is their mother Ann who is the most intriguing figure. She was born Ann Schofield and married Thomas & Jane’s father John Norris at Leek in 1806 [4]. Sometime after Thomas’s birth in 1809 and that of Jane in 1814 the family decamped to Pentwyn in Llanfair Kilgeddin, Monmouthshire [5]. John Norris had been a baker but became a farmer in Wales. By 1834 Ann was a widow and was living in Uttoxeter again. In May of that year she requested to register a printing press and thus the firm of A. Norris & Son of Uttoxeter was born [6]. This must have been quite a departure from her life as the wife of a baker then farmer. What happened in those 20 years between 1814 and 1834 remains to be uncovered.
Ann died in Uttoxeter in December 1848 aged 72 [7]. Her son continued the business in the name of A. Norris & Son until the 1860s when it hit the rocks financially [8].
[1] TNA, HO 107/1007 1841 census for Uttoxeter
[2] SRO, D3891/1/8 Uttoxeter St Mary Register of baptisms
[3] SRO, D3891/1/20 Uttoxeter St Mary Register of marriages; Derby Mercury, 21 Feb 1844, p.3
[4] SRO, D1040/5/10 Leek St Edward Register of marriages
[5] Gwent Archives, D/Pa 71.1-71.8 Records of parish church of Goytrey, Monmouthshire
Hannah Hall married James Roper on 26 June 1797 in Kirkby Lonsdale. She was the eldest daughter of John Hall and his wife Isabella Taylor. At the time they were running the Rose and Crown Inn in the market town of Kirkby Lonsdale. Presumably this was where Hannah lived before her marriage. James had been baptised in Colton, Lancashire, and was the son of John Roper and Mary Walton.[1]
Hannah’s mother died in December 1801 and her father in 1807.[2] John Hall had been the proprietor of the Rose and Crown for 37 years. His son-in-law, James Roper, announced in the Lancaster Gazette that he would be taking over the running of the inn, while also intending to continue his tallow chandlery business.[3]
Together James and Hannah had three children, all born in Kirkby Lonsdale; Mary Ann (b.1798), John (b.1800) and Isabella (b.1801). Another son, James, was baptised 1 April 1803 but died the same year.
Two vouchers addressed to the overseers of Kirkby Lonsdale signed by J. Roper can be attributed to James. One was for the supply of ale in July 1811 costing 2s 7½d, the other for the supply of a chaise and horses to Lancaster on 13 July 1814, costing £1 5s 0d. [4]
The inn had many functions but was principally a posting and travelling inn. The coaching side of the business possibly expanded following developments in the mail coach service in the late-eighteenth century.[5] Its role as a posting inn led to James Roper and his fellow Innkeeper and postmaster Alexander Tiplady of the Green Dragon Inn being convicted and fined £5 for letting out horses to draw carriages without the appropriate stamp office ticket (to show that they had paid the relevant tax on horses) to those hiring them on the 14 October 1816.[6]
James Roper died on the 4 June 1817. Hannah, probably already having been involved in the running of the inn while James continued the tallow chandlery, continued to run the inn.[7]
The next three years saw various serious events at the inn. Shortly after her husband’s death, there was a serious fire at the inn. Fortunately, she was insured with the Imperial Fire Office . There was considerable damage to the stabling for the horses and 700 yards of hay . In reporting the event, the Westmorland Advertiser expressed surprise at the lack of a fire engine in Kirkby Lonsdale.[8]
On 4 August 1819 the post coach Lord Exmouth on its way from Newcastle to Lancaster. After stopping at the Rose and Crown, it set off again with eleven people on board only to over turn near the Lune Bridge. William Batty (a surgeon in Kirkby Lonsdale for whom vouchers exist) [ 9] attended the accident but he was unable to save the life of William Howson. The other survivors were cared for by Hannah at the inn. Despite evidence from the guard as to his sobriety, the coach driver William Elmire [Elmer] was deemed to have been driving while intoxicated in a dangerous manner. Convicted of manslaughter he was sent to jail for 12 months.[10]
There are frequent references to the Rose and Crown in the local newspapers concerning sales and meetings but it was on the 6 December 1820 that events at the inn were reported around the country and are still remembered after 200 years later by the local community.[11] Hannah Roper living with her two daughters and servants at the inn awoke to find the inn on fire once again. Hannah and her daughters managed to get out by jumping from a window. Of the men asleep in a different part of the inn, all managed to escape by removing grills from a window. Hannah had tried to wake the other five women asleep to make their escape, but they never made it out. The inn was destroyed and the five women died: Alice Clark aged 31, Bella Cornthwaite 28, Agnes Waling 25, Hannah Armstrong 18, and Agnes Nicholson 17. This time the insurance did not cover the full extent of the destruction, but perhaps partly as a result of a respected social and business relationship in the community and help from public subscription Hannah was able to run the inn again in the adjacent Jackson Hall.[12]
With her eldest daughter Mary Ann Roper now married to Richard Atkinson on the 12 April 1825, Hannah decided to retire. The inn was advertised for sale.[13] Hannah was still listed as the proprietor in the directory of 1828, however.[ 14 ] Two years later she died aged 56 on the 22 May 1830 . The inn was once again put up for sale. Details could be had from John Hall, solicitor.[15] Son John was a chemist and druggist in Ulverston from at least 1824.[16] The inn was taken on by Isabella, the youngest daughter, who was often commended for the sumptuous dinners she provided.
The 23 July 1840 saw the Dowager Queen Adelaide staying at the Rose and Crown as part of her tour of the Lakes. Satisfied with her excellent accommodation, the Westmorland Gazette reported that the Queen Dowager was pleased to allow the Rose and Crown to became known as The Royal Hotel.[17]
When the Roper’s son John died as a result of some unspecified accident on the 27 May 1844, the sale of his property was handled by his cousin Richard Roper (1814-1871). John’s sister Isabella, now 42, married the same Richard Roper on the 7 June 1845 and another branch of the Hall-Roper family were linked together. Richard was a solicitor in Kirkby Lonsdale and was the son of her father’s brother Richard Roper and her mother’s sister Isabella Hall, ( 1778-1840 ) who had married in 1803.
Richard and Isabella had only one son, also called Richard, who died when only 14 weeks old in January 1847. [18] Isabella died on 11 June 1866. [19] Richard Roper, now well established in his profession, married again. His second wife Mary Eleanor Brade (1838-1921) was 24 years his junior and they had three children: John, Roland and Hilda Mary.
Although no member of the Roper family seems to have been directly involved with the running of the Rose and Crown [Royal Hotel] after Isabella Roper; when her sister Mary Ann’s (Atkinson) youngest daughter married John Swainson of Liverpool 4 April 1866 a large reception took place at The Royal Hotel, Kirkby Lonsdale.[20] Mr Dawson was the proprietor.
Access to further documents is needed to identify the nature of the terms to which the inn was passed on to successive family members.
[1] www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 13 march 2021].
[2] Lancaster Gazette, 12 December 1801, page 3 col. b
[3] Lancaster Gazette, 25 July 1807, page 3 col. b
[4] Cumbria Archives, Kirkby Lonsdale Overseers’ Vouchers WPR19/7/1/3/20 20 July 1811; WPR19/7/1/5/6/20 13 April 1814.
[5] www.postalmuseum.org [accessed 13 March 2021].
[6] ‘Supplementary Records: Kirkby Lonsdale’, in John F Curwen (ed.) Records Relating To the Barony of Kendal: Vol 3, (Kendal, 1926), pp. 278-291. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/kendale-barony/vol3/pp278-291 [accessed 11 March 2021].
[7] Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland Church Notes, Westmorland Papers. The Westmorland Historical Facts Project http://dustydocs.com/link/39/39198/131714/monumental-inscriptions-westmorland-papers.html
[8] Westmorland Advertiser and Kendal Chronicle, 18 October 1817, page 3, col. c
[9] Cumbria Archives, Kirkby Lonsdale Overseers’ Vouchers, WPR19/7/1/5/6/22 , 11 April 1815
[10] Westmorland Gazette and Kendal Advertiser, 4 September 1819, page 7, col. c
[11] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-55207382
[12] Westmorland Gazette, 9 December 1820, page 4, col. c
[13] Carlisle Patriot, 2 July 1825, page 2, col. b
[14] Pigot and Co.’s, National Commercial Directory, Cumberland, Lancashire and Westmorland (J. Pigot and Co, London and Manchester,1828), page 851.
[15] Westmorland Gazette, 5 June 1830, page 3, col. e; Lancaster Gazette, 20 November 1830, page 1, col. c
[16]Baines’ History, Rectory and Gazetteer of the palatine of Lancashire 1824 (Edward Baines), page 576 Ulverston [accessed at www.ancestry.co.uk]
[17] Westmorland Gazette, 15 August 1840, page 2, col. d
[18] Westmorland Gazette, 26 September 1846, page 3, col. f; 16 January 1847, page 3, col. f
[19] Westmorland Gazette, 16 June 1866 page 5, col. f
[20] Kendal Mercury, 7 April 1866, page 5, col. e
Marquess of Londonderry, Sir Roger Gresley and Daniel O’Connell attempt to sell newspapers to John Bull, Sauney and Paddy, passengers on a coach. Coloured lithograph by H.B. (John Doyle), 1836. Doyle, John, 1797-1868. https://wellcomecollection.org/images?query=union+coach. Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection.
In 1772 one of the poorhouses of England was situated in the small market town of Hesket Newmarket, in the Parish of Caldbeck, some nine miles from the town of Wigton.
Market Cross, Hesket Newmarket
Vouchers for the parish of Wigton as well as the Account Book of Caldbeck poorhouse for 1772-73 name Jonathan Cape, apothecary; Joseph Bewley, mercer; and William Blair. Blair was responsible for the poorhouse. In addition, some of those boarded there are named, although detail is limited.
Suppliers
Dr Johnathan Cape provided medicine and treatments to the poor. [1] His bill of 1774 totalling £4 6s 0d begins ‘to the poor in the poorhouse Hesket Newmarket belonging to the Township of Wigton’. Among those named on his bill, are Isabel Hendrie, Mary McCullen, Sally Harrison, Peggy Little, Mrs Mary Kennedy, Mary Blackburn and Betty Thompson who was supplied with herbs on 4 March 1774 costing 4d. Bleeding from the arm, was a regular treatment costing 6d. [2]
Cape was baptised in the parish of Greystoke on 14 July 1737 and by 1759 was apprenticed to Richard Grave apothecary and grocer of Penrith.[3] In her book, Frances Wilkins describes Grave’s work at the estate of Dalemain; treating both the Hassell family and their servants.[4] Grave died in 1760 leaving his wife Mary with seven sons and one daughter. She carried on his business in the same vein. Some ten years later she married William Atkinson and continued in business. Only a year into his apprenticeship, it has been assumed that Johnathan Cape continued his apprenticeship with her or found someone else to take him on until he started out on his own. There is no evidence of him having a contract with the poorhouse at this time or what spectrum of society used his services [5].
Joseph Bewley, like Cape, sent a bill to William Blair concerning the supply of fabric and haberdashery items to the poor of Wigton in 1772-73.[ 6] In October two women are named on his bill Sarah Wiley, and Betty Thompson. A further bill from him has similar items the following year [7] . However, by 1784 Bewley had been declared bankrupt. Several notices appear in the London Gazette between 1784 and 1793. Meetings of his creditors were held at the Crown and Mitre, Carlisle, and the George and Dragon, Hesket Newmarket.[8]
Overseers and Inmates
Of the inmates in the poorhouse, Betty Thompson was there between 1772 and 1776. Several bills show that her board was being paid for by the overseers of Wigton. In 1776 payments for Thompson ceased after her death on 10 April. William Blair wrote to Isaac Robinson, ‘I have sent an account of Betty Thompson if we find anything else will let you know’.[12] Itemised are her possessions, all clothing including unmade gowns and brats. Thompson may have been making her own clothes but like many of the others named identifying the circumstances that led to them entering the poorhouse can only be surmised.
Isabella Hendrie, her sons and Mary Kennedy also had their board paid for.[9]
John Henderson was the overseer in 1774-75. Two further overseers named in subsequent years are Isaac Robinson [10] and William Lightfoot. [11] The Hendrie and Blackburn families were provided with their board and schooling. All the payments were made to William Blair.
By 1776 time William Blair and his wife Sarah Peascod were the parents of John, George, Stephen and Sarah. A fifth child, William, was buried on 18 April 1776.
Elizabeth Thompson and William Blair, Junior burial record. Caldbeck Parish. PR 71/3
In 1784 William Blair appears in the overseer accounts of Thomas Clements in Threlkeld. [13] Named in relation to Hesket Newmarket poorhouse, he had by this time another son, William. There are various payments concerning Mary Pingey. On 9 March, 5s for her to be entered into the poor house at Hesket Newmarket, and a year’s board of £3 4s 0d. Shortly after further expenses appear for her; including ‘a journey to pay funeral expenses’ £1 9s 3 1/2d and ‘a Journey bringing her clothes’ 2s 6d . Mary Pingey was buried at Caldbeck on 20 November 1784.
Threlkeld Overseers’ Voucher SPC21/8-11, 1 1784
There are references to other inmates in Hesket Newmarket poorhouse in the accounts of Threlkeld around the same time. For instance, a charge of 9s 6d regarding Benjamin Nicholson when he was ‘brought out of the poorhouse’. Robert Lancaster and the Benson family are others named spending time in the poorhouse.
When William Blair’s tenure at Hesket Newmarket poorhouse ended is uncertain. One Thomas Dobson fulfilled this post but exactly when is not known either. [14]
The parish of Caldbeck had agreements with house the poor of other parishes, among them Sebergham and Blennerhasset being examples. [15]
Sources
[1] Cumbria Archives, PR 71/47, Overseers’ Account Book, 1753- 1773.
[2] Cumbria Archives, PR/36/V/3/ 7, [line 50] Wigton Overseers’ Voucher, The poor in the Poorhouse of Hesket Newmarket Belonging to the Township of Wigton, Johnathan Cape. 1773-1774
[3] www.findmypast.co.uk [accessed 15 January 2021]
[4] Wilkins Frances, Two thousand five hundred Cumberland and Westmorland Folk (Wyre Forest Press, 2006)
[5] op.cit Johnathan Cape 1773-1774
[6] Cumbria Archives, PR/36/V3/6 [line 59], Wigton Overseers’ Voucher, For the poor belonging Wigton, Joseph Bewley, 1772-73.
[7] Cumbria Archives, PR/36/V/3/5 [line 16] Wigton Overseers’ Voucher, 1772
[8] London Gazette, 25 May 1784, p. 5
[9] Cumbria Archives, PR36/V/4/11, Wigton Overseers’ Voucher, John Henderson, Overseer, 1774-75
[10] Cumbria Archives, PR36/V/6/78, Wigton Overseers’ Voucher, PR36/V/6. 78 Isaac Robinson, Overseer, 1776
[11] Cumbria Archives, PR36/V/6/62 [line 1], Wigton Overseers’ Voucher, William Lightfoot, Blackburn girls schooling, c.1776
[12] Cumbria Archives, PR36/V/6/9, Wigton Overseers’ Voucher, Betty Thompson, 1776
[13] Cumbria Archives, SPC21/8/11/1, Threlkeld Overseers’ Voucher, Thomas Clements Overseer Accounts, 1784
[14] Monumental Inscriptions of St Kentigern’s Church, Caldbeck, Cumberland
(Thomas Dobson, her son-in-law, late Governor of Hesket Workhouse, 4 May 1822, aged 99)
[15] Cumbria Archives, PR 75/13, Deeds and papers re: Caldbeck Parish Workhouse, 1779-1936
On 8 June 1782, the parish of Wednesbury became indebted to the tradesman Silvanus Earp for a ‘chip’ hat, priced eight pence. This refers to a hat made of ‘chip’ straw with a fairly wide brim. Such headgear could be fashionable, and straw hats were certainly customised by both retailers and consumers with a bow or other additions to maximise their flamboyancy. An entry in the Derby Mercury for 12 June 1800, for example, recommended that the fashion in women’s ‘walking dress’ required a coloured chip hat with flowers at the front. News from London specifically in 1782 reveals that high-quality chip hats could be worth stealing, but could also be used by elite women in fancy dress who were ‘slumming it’, such as when Lady Beauchamp adopted the character of a French peasant girl for a masquerade ball at London’s Pantheon. In the case of the Wednesbury purchase, we assume the hat was plain and intended to be worn by a parish pauper.
This image, cropped from The Gallery of Fashion (June 1794), shows the brim of a chip hat: the crown is largely concealed with a profusion of ribbons.
Silvanus Earp (1747-1822) was a general dealer in the 1780s, supplying the parish with both foodstuffs and textiles. He was not used often by the parish authorities, being present in only a handful of the hundreds of vouchers transcribed for Wednesbury, but enjoyed a personal connection to the parochial officers which proved useful. The witnesses to his marriage in 1774 included John Guest, presumably the man of the same name who was an overseer of the poor for Wednesbury in 1782. There at least three generations of Silvanus Earps in the locality, since his father Silvanus senior was a baker in Wednesbury, while one of his sons Silvanus junior was a factor or merchant who by 1851 had retired to Wolverhampton. By the time of his death in 1822 he was described as a gentleman and left a lengthy will, albeit his estate was valued at under £100.
Sources: SRO D4383/6/1/9/1/9/3 and D4383/6/1/9/1/14/11 Wednesbury overseers’ vouchers 1782; Wednesbury St Bartholomew, baptism of 7 March 1747, marriage of 7 April 1774, burial of 27 June 1822; Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, will proved 24 September 1822; National Archives HO 107 census of 1851, for Penn Road Wolverhampton; Morning Chronicle 14 January 1782; Morning Herald 22 April 1782; Derby Mercury 12 June 1800.
The Covid-19 lockdown has had many of us setting about de-cluttering and tidying at home. For me a principal tidying target has been the collection of notebooks in which I’ve recorded snippets of information and jottings from research at Staffordshire and Lichfield record offices. Going through one of these a few days ago to make sure I had entered up everything on my laptop in a more organised way, I found some brief notes I’d been trying to track down for ages. These concerned a Richard Ward, shoemaker and the source was Burton St Modwen vestry minutes [1].
On 9 July 1817 these minutes reported that it had been resolved to bring Richard Ward into the workhouse to be employed in making and mending shoes and that his goods be redeemed. On 1 May 1822 the minutes reported that Richard Ward of Alrewas be allowed £5 to assist him in his rent, he being unwell at times. This money was sent to him by a courier. On 16 April 1823 Richard Ward of Alrewas was supplied with some bedding. Now this was a puzzle. Richard was born in 1789 in Streethay, just north of Lichfield. Parish register entries indicate that his family gradually moved northwards to Fradley and then Alrewas. So why was Burton parish a good eight miles away taking responsibility for him? Clues come from the Alrewas parish register [2] where his marriage by licence to Elizabeth Wootton in 1811 indicates he was “of Burton” and this is confirmed by the associated marriage bond and allegation. [3] He may have gained a settlement in Burton, possibly through apprenticeship.
Resolving a person’s settlement could be a fraught business if they sought parish relief and the overseers suspected another parish should or could be liable. It could also be expensive for the parish if a challenge was disputed. Among the project vouchers submitted by lawyers there are many, many examples of the bills incurred by overseers to resolve matters of settlement.
Sadly, overseers’ vouchers for Burton have not found their way to Staffordshire Record Office, so it is not possible to delve further into Richard’s shoe making and mending while in the parish workhouse in Hawkins Lane. Likewise, vouchers for St Michael’s parish in Lichfield (which includes Streethay) have not survived. Vouchers for Alrewas parish were processed for the project and these show that it did not have its own workhouse but sent paupers over to nearby Rosliston in south Derbyshire. [4]
At one of the workshops held at Stafford in connection with the project, Dr Joe Harley set out how useful pauper inventories could be as sources of information. His talk drew on research published in 2015. [5] His paper sets out evidence for the able-bodied poor using the workhouse as a short-term survival strategy. This may well have been the case for Richard.
Overseers’ vouchers for Uttoxeter [6] show that the constable was ordered on 15 Feb 1832 to grant relief to William Breeze to redeem his bundle of clothes and resume his journey to London, and that Joseph Barnes was paid 8 shillings on 20 March 1835 to redeem four articles belonging to Sarah James. Likewise overseers’ vouchers for Tettenhall [7] show payments of 2s to Francis Taylor on 24 Feb 1831 to redeem James Billingsley’s coat, of 6d on 28 June 1832 to redeem Maria Williams’ shawl and of 19s 2½d on 29 June 1832 to redeem Thomas Williams’ coat and for an inquest .
Richard Ward’s experience of Burton workhouse did not put him off returning to the town after his youngest child was born in Alrewas in 1825. It is possible to track the family living in Burton through the 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses until Richard died in 1869 and was buried in Burton’s new municipal cemetery at Stapenhill. Two of his sons (William and Richard) lived out their lives in Burton, too. I have visited all their graves and stood the proverbial six feet above. Richard was my 4xgreat grandfather and William my 3xgreat grandfather. I know lots about their various doings.
During Dr Pete Collinge’s Zoom-based talk to the Erasmus Darwin Society on 28 Jan 2021 on ‘Food and the Georgian pauper: evidence from Sandford Street Workhouse Garden , c. 1770-1834’, a lady attending provided illuminating and fascinating information about cottages on Sandford Street in Lichfield and on the Sedgewick family from her own family memories. It never ceases to amaze me just what detail emerges from studying the overseers’ vouchers and other records in connection with this project and the buzz of excitement that comes from connecting with one’s own family.
[1] SRO, B12, Burton St Modwen Vestry minute book, 1805-1840
[2] SRO, D783/1/1/6 Alrewas All Saints, Register of marriages
[3] SRO, PAL/C/6,7/1811/Ward, Alrewas marriage bond and allegation
[4] SRO D783/2/3 Overseers’ vouchers for Alrewas
[5] Harley, J., ‘Material lives of the poor and their strategic use of the workhouse during the final decades of the English old poor law’. Continuity and Change, 30, (2015), pp. 71-103 doi:10.1017/S0268416015000090
[6] SRO, D3891/6/37/12/1 and D3891/6/41/7/21 Overseers’ vouchers for Uttoxeter
[7] SRO, D571/A/PO/65/13; D571/A/PO/69/71; D571/A/PO/69/173 Overseers’ vouchers for Tettenhall
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
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.
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]
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
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]
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
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 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
