Tinniswoods of Waygill Hill, Talkin, Hayton Parish

Waygill Hill, Talkin, 2019

Waygill Hill was a farm near Talkin Village. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was owned by the Tinniswood family; one of the principal families in the area. Other branches of the Tinniswood family lived at Cumcatch and Boothby.

Wills going back to the early 1700s suggest they had a comfortable income. The Reverend Whitehead writes about the Tinniswoods of Waygill Hill in 1879 alluding to their importance in the area and the subsequent loss of the farm.[1]

Waygill Hill passed into the custody of Robert Tinniswood (1752-1820) and his wife Dorothy Bell (1759-1829) although the exact date is unknown. They appeared to be prospering, owning other farms in the area. Subsequently property sale announcements begin to appear for the farms in the local newspapers. Far Tarn End Estate was put up for sale in 1814. [2] Ash Tree Farm and Waygill Hill (which had already been re-mortgaged in 1809) followed. [3] When Robert Tinniswood died in 1820 there was very little left. [4] Robert was described by the Rev Whitehead as an extravagant man. Robert’s widow moved to nearby Brampton, possibly to live with two of her children Jane and Elizabeth.

The first voucher referring to the Tinniswoods and settled by Richard Brown is dated January 1833. [5] It relates to Robert and Dorothy’s oldest son John Tinniswood (1772-1831) who probably expected to succeed his father at the farm. One of the items on the voucher refers to

‘a journey to Carlisle to consult Mr Saul [solicitor] about E Tinniswood 4s.0.’

A report in the Carlisle Patriot provides the probable circumstances which the voucher relates to. [6] Kirkbampton Parish faced with the financial care of Elizabeth Tinniswood’s unborn child were seeking her removal to Hayton where they felt her settlement lay. Witnesses were called, amongst them Elizabeth’s mother, now called Mrs Thompson. She explained that she married John Tinniswood at Gretna but he soon left her. She gave birth to Elizabeth in Dumfries and took her to John Tinniswood in Hayton. As her marriage had no legal standing, she was encouraged by a magistrate to pursue John for money. An 1816 bastardly order for St Mary’s Within, Carlisle, named John Tinniswood as the father of the child of Elizabeth Calden. [7] Mrs Thompson said that John Tinniswood subsequently married at least twice more at Gretna but on each occasion left his wife.

Cross-border marriages were common at this time due to the difference in English and Scottish marriage laws. Brampton and Hayton were foremost amongst English border settlements taking advantage of irregular marriages on the Scottish side of the border. It was a booming business.

Young Elizabeth Tinniswood was taken to the workhouse in Hayton where she lived until the age of 11. She explained that she left the workhouse and went into service. For two years she had been at Elizabeth Proud’s  Hardbank Mill working, as she said, forher meat and clothes‘. 

John Tinniswood died in 1831. There are no records of his marriages or any other children he may have had. No decision was reached in Elizabeth’s case. It was due to be heard again at another session. This may not have happened. Elizabeth Tinniswood gave birth to a daughter named Eliza on 30 July 1832 in Hayton. She was baptised privately but died 2 August 1832. [8]


PR102/114/4, Hayton Overseers’ Vouchers, 17 January 1833.

Robert Tinniswood (1773-1861), the second son, was an innkeeper at Low Gelt Bridge with his wife Christina Brown. In January 1817 they were faced with the prospect of bankruptcy. His effects and estate were assigned to Joseph Cox and Thomas Halliburton for the benefit of Tinniswood’s creditors. [9] The property itself was not put up for sale but all the goods in it were. In May of the same year his father was attempting to sell Waygill Hill.

A voucher dated 1821 ‘to buy clothing for ‘Tinniswood Child at 2s’ may refer to Robert’s children.[10] Robert, now working as an agricultural labourer, and his family remained at Bye Gelt.

George Tinniswood (1798-1859) was the fourth born and third surviving son. He never married. He worked on the Brackenthwaite Estate at Cumrew.[11] Like his two brothers, he was an agricultural labourer. By this time their parents’ farm was owned by Mr Graham of Edmund Castle.

Margaret was the eldest daughter born in 1780 but nothing can confidently be attributed to her life or her sister Mary. Mary (1782-1818) died 2 years before her father. The Carlisle Patriot describes her as dying after a lingering illness.[12]

Another daughter Dorothy (1785-1858) married first Thomas Simpson Wills (1774-1809) then after his death the Reverend John Leech (1793-1864) on 9 August 1820. They moved shortly after to Berwick upon Tweed. Her son, Edmond Wills, appears in another voucher.[13]

Rec’d Apr 10 1833 of ‘David Watt [Parish Clerk] the sum of £1.15s for Henry Browns House due to Edmond Wills for whose use received the same E Tinniswood’.

It has been assumed this is Elizabeth Tinniswood, Dorothy’s sister. Edmond Wills (1808-1856) subsequently entered the clergy living in Barkstone, Lincolnshire.

The two unmarried sisters, Elizabeth Tinniswood (1787-1870) and Jane (1789-1863) were left £20 by their mother in her will of 1831. Around this time they began trading as confectioners and grocers in Brampton [14]. They were still trading at Front Street when Jane died in 1863. [15] She left her estate of less than £200 to her sister Elizabeth. [16] When Jane died they had been trading at the same place Front Street, Brampton, for around 35 years. Elizabeth left her estate of under £100 to her surviving brother William (1794-1878). William, having moved to Leeds, Yorkshire, was an excise officer.[17]

Thomas (1791-1851), the other brother, had married Betsy Watson and had a large family. He was first surveyor of taxes for Eskdale Ward which included Brampton and Hayton then from 1820 Berwick upon Tweed. [18] He died at 31 King Street, Carlisle in 1851. [19]

Waygill Hill still stands near Talkin village today. The Tinniswood sons perhaps hoped for a future on their father’s farm but it was not to be. An epitaph to their father was placed in Hayton Church. [20] although I couldn’t find it in April 2019.

‘Farewell vain world, I’ve seen enough of thee’ And now am careless what thou say’st of me;. Thy smiles I court not, nor thy frowns I fear, My cares are past, my head lies quiet here. What faults you view in me take care to shun, and look at home; enough there’s to be done’

Former Workhouse Hayton Cumberland April 2019 Photo taken by M Dean April 2019
Former Workhouse Hayton, Cumberland, April 2019 Photo taken by M Dean

Sources
[1] Carlisle Patriot, 12 December 1879
[2] Carlisle Journal, 16 July 1814
[3] Carlisle Patriot, 11 December 1829
[4] Cumbria Archives, PROB1826/AB(38) Administration Bond, Robert Tinniswood
[5] Cumbria Archives, PR102/114/4, Hayton Overseers’ Vouchers, 1 January 1833
[6] Carlisle Patriot, 7 July 1832
[7] Cumbria Archives, CQ 5/7 Carlisle, Quarter Sessions, Bastardly Recognitions, Midsummer 1816.
[8] Cumbria Archives, PR 102/8 Hayton, St Mary Magdalene Parish Burial Register 1811-1879
[9] Carlisle Patriot, 18 January 1817
[10] Cumbria Archives, PR102/110/2, Hayton Overseers’ Vouchers, December 19 1821
[11] Carlisle Journal, 25 March 1859
[12] Carlisle Patriot, 7 February 1818
[13] Cumbria Archives, PR102/114/8, Hayton Overseers’ Vouchers, 10 April 1833
[14] Parsons, W. M. & White, W.C., History, Directory and Gazetteer of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Pigot & Co., 1829)
[15] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1863/W125a, Will of Jane Tinniswood
[16] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1870/W653a, Will of Elizabeth Tinniswood
[17] www.findmypast.co.uk accessed 1 June 2019
[18] Carlisle Patriot, 19 February 1820
[19] Carlisle Journal, 28 March 1831
[20] Cumbria Archives PR 60/5

Various reference to the Tinniswoods in Catalogue of the Howard Family papers related to Cumberland. Durham University Library accessed at www.http://endure.dur.ac.uk:8080/fedora/get/UkDhU:EADCatalogue.0154/PDF accessed 1 June 2019

George Graham. Surgeon, Brampton. 1783-1847

 

George Graham was a surgeon in Brampton. During his working life he encountered both the poor and the non-poor. His name appears on voucher PR60/21/13/5 which relates predominantly to child deliveries with fees ranging from 15s to £1.5s. As one item on the bill relates to the Workhouse it is assumed that the mothers were poor.[1] The mothers are referred to by the prefix ‘Miss’ and a surname. One is simply referred to as ‘a pauper in Brampton’. Excepting a Miss Robb or Ross and the pauper however, it is possible to determine who some of those concerned are.



Cumbria Archives Service, PR60/21/13/5, Brampton Overseers’ Voucher, Dr Graham, 22 Mar. 1816


Four have been identified: Robert, illegitimate son of Margaret Dobson 11 March 1814, Forrest Head. Ann, illegitimate daughter of Ann Atkinson, spinster, 5 May 1815, Brampton; George, illegitimate son of Sarah Taylor, weaver, 5 November 1815 Brampton; and Margaret, illegitimate daughter of Margaret Wallace, 12 January 1816, Brampton.

From parish registers, four have been identified: Robert, illegitimate son of Margaret Dobson, 11 March 1814, Forrest Head; Ann, illegitimate daughter of Ann Atkinson, spinster, 5 May 1815, Brampton; George, illegitimate son of Sarah Taylor, weaver, 5 November 1815, Brampton; and Margaret, illegitimate daughter of Margaret Wallace, 12 January 1816, Brampton.[2]

Other vouchers bearing Dr Graham’s name are for medication but it is not clear who they are for. Medicines include, Cream Tartar 4d, Cordial Mixture 3s, Diuretic Mixture 3s, Bronchial Mixture 3s, Opening Powder 6d, and Tonic Powders 5s. Although the precise ingredients are not stipulated, Dr T J Graham’s Modern Domestic Medicine (1837) may give some idea as to the ingredients used.[3]

Dr Graham was born at Bankhead, Canonbie, Dumfriesshire on 15 October 1783 in the Esk Basin. This was once known as the ‘Debatable Land’ between England and Scotland where the Graham, Armstrong, Bell and Elliot families administered the law. George Graham had five siblings: three sisters Sarah (1777-1862), Janet (1778-1841) Margaret or Peggy (1786-1836), and brothers William (1781- 1849) and John (1789- 1838). Sarah married farmer Richard Johnstone (1773-1873) and Janet also married a farmer, John Hope (1779 -1866). [4] George’s parents Peter Graham (1740-1825) and Ann Nichol (1747-1831) left the farm at Bankhead around 1790 and moved the short distance to Cubbyhill near Longtown.[5] George became a Surgeon, John became a silk mercer in London, and William took over the farm.


Dr Graham gained his Surgical Diploma in Edinburgh and began practice initially in Longtown Cumberland aged 23. His name is amongst those balloted for the Militia but he did not serve, a substitute took his place[6]


Working Life
Dr Graham began practice in Brampton in 1811. His name can be found in the 1829 trade directory at Market Place. [7] He was one of three surgeons in Brampton; the others being T. Gilbanks, H. Dobson and W. Fleming. In 1834 he was joined by an assistant William Armstrong (1812-1886), also born in Canonbie. Dr Graham purchased a property in Market Place in the centre of Brampton for £400 in 1836 and began a Doctors’ Partnership with Dr Armstrong in 1839. [8] They can be both found on the 1841 Census at Front Street, Brampton. They were joined in the practice by John Graham(1820-1893) George Graham’s nephew, one of his brother William’s 12 children. John Graham continued in the practice till 1861 when he sold up to leave for London along with his wife.[9] William Armstrong continued to be involved in Brampton affairs, becoming Justice of the Peace for Cumberland and Chairman of the Brampton Poor Relief Fund in 1878. He died at Garden Terrace, Brampton, 5 August 1886.[10]

 

Brampton Stocks, 2019

Some of Dr Graham’s work involved the administration of justice. Local newspapers give an insight into what is hoped were the less common events in his working life. In 1836 he ordered the release of a Jwhonnie Steeson (sic) from his punishment in the stocks Market Place, Brampton. The event was recalled by local poet Peter Burn (1831- 1902).[11] In 1841 at the trial of Jane Hogg and her mother Mary Hogg for the murder of Jane’s newborn child, Dr Graham gave evidence. Jane and Mary Hogg were both found guilty but the death sentence was commuted. The Jury asked for leniency for Jane. Lord Chief Justice Denman said of her mother Mary if I were perfectly convinced that she had destroyed the child for the purpose of saving the expense of keeping it … I should have no choice but to leave her to the executioner’. [12] He felt that all the facts were not known. Jane was given a life sentence, Mary was transported on 2 May 1842 to Van Diemen’s Land never to return.[13]

All three doctors were together two years before Dr George Graham’s death at the celebration of the Earl of Carlisle’s birthday at the Howard Arms, Brampton.[14]

Doctor Graham’s death is reported in the Carlisle Patriot, 2 July 1847:At Brampton on the 26th ult George Graham Esq surgeon aged 63 much respected by a wide circle of acquaintances‘. [15] He was buried at Lanercost, two miles from Brampton.[16]


This is a work in progress and subject to change with new research


Sources
[1] Cumbria Archives, PR60/21/13/5, Brampton Overseers’ Vouchers, 22 March 1816
[2] Cumbria Archives, PR60/7, Brampton, St Martin’s Parish. Register of Baptisms, 1813-1835
[3] Thomas J. Graham, Modern Domestic Medicine. A popular treatise illustrating the symptoms, causes and distinction and correct treatment of the diseases incident to the human frame; embracing the modern improvement in medicine (7th edn., 1837), https;// books.google.co.uk, accessed 14 Mar. 2019.
[4] www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, accessed 14 Mar. 2019.
[5] Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society, Canonbie Parish Church Monumental Inscriptions (2006).
6] Cumbria Archives, Q/MIL. Militia Liable Books, 1690-1831, (1806-1812)
[7] W. Parson and W. White. Directory and Gazetteer Cumberland and Westmorland (1829).
[8] Cumbria Archives, DCART/B/2/19/2, Deeds and Probates re: Clarke’s property in Market Street[Place] purchased by George Graham Surgeon of Brampton (B1); Carlisle Patriot, 10 November 1838; Carlisle Journal, 12 April 1843; Carlisle Patriot, 13 August 1856
[9] Carlisle Journal, 11 January 1861
[10] Carlisle Journal, 10 August 1886
[11] Carlisle Journal, 20 January 1893
[12] Carlisle Journal, 7 August 1841
[13] www. convictrecords.com.au, accessed 14 Mar. 2019.
[14] Carlisle Journal 20, September 1845
[15] Carlisle Patriot, 2 July 1847
[16] Cumbria Archives, Carlisle, PR 121/9, Lanercost, St Mary Magdalene Parish Burial Register, 1813-1870