Wednesday 30 January 2013

William Orton of Hutton Rudby – and New South Wales

In my blog post of 27 January I recounted the fate of William Orton of Hutton Rudby, found guilty of forgery and transported for life to New South Wales.

As Geoff (his descendant) said in his comment on the post, they did wonder what had happened to William ...

So naturally Geoff set immediately to work on the new information and he has just contacted me with this:

Morning Chronicle (Sydney, New South Wales), Wednesday 17th September 1845
William Orton was indicted for having, at Black Creek, on the 26th of April 1845, passed certain forged orders, each for £1, drawn on John Welsh, with intent to defraud William Jones. 
The jury found a verdict of guilty, but in consequence of having received a most excellent character, his Honor sentenced him to the lightest punishment which the law allowed, namely, two years imprisonment in Parramatta gaol.

Could it be William of Hutton Rudby again, resorting to forgery after years of excellent behaviour and now aged 67?

Still, I'm glad to think he was flourishing out there, though two years in Parramatta Gaol can't have been fun for a chap in his late sixties.

Meanwhile, back in Hutton Rudby – with everybody knowing their story, which must have been difficult in its own way – his wife Elizabeth and their daughters got on with their lives ... I wonder if they ever heard from William?



Tuesday 29 January 2013

Shocking murder of Margaret Barker, 1805

I know this story has been retold at least once in the local press, but not for some time, and I think not always in full detail.

In the autumn of 1805, a week before the Battle of Trafalgar, newspapers across England picked up the news of a shocking murder that had taken place in Stockton-on-Tees.  The victim was a woman from Hutton Rudby.

This version, from the Leeds Intelligencer of Monday 14 October, tells the tale:
On Tuesday night a shocking murder was committed, at Stockton-upon-Tees, upon a young woman of the name of Barker, who had gone from Hutton Rudby, near Stokesley, where she resided, to sell some Cleveland cloth for a manufacturer and neighbour of the name of Webster.
She retired to rest between nine and ten o’clock, and at midnight the inhuman wretches where she lodged, and to whom she was no stranger, nearly severed her head from her body with a case knife, and soon after twelve were seen attempting to remove the body, in order to throw it into the river.  
The man, his wife and daughter, were all immediately secured.
A young woman murdered in her sleep, the victim of a dreadful conspiracy by the family whom she had trusted?

A week later, the story turned out to be rather different.

Sunday 27 January 2013

William Orton of Hutton Rudby & the forged Boroughbridge Bank note: 1821

A man named William Orton lived on the east end of North Side, Hutton Rudby at the beginning of the 19th century.

He had obviously been a substantial property owner, because title deeds of 1815 relating to land belonging to the late Thomas Tweddle of Middleton show that Orton had sold Tweddle several houses, garths and gardens in the area of the Bay Horse [1].

It seems likely that he was the father of the William Orton, described as being the son of William Orton, who was baptised at Hutton Rudby on 8 December 1778.

The account that follows is almost certainly about the William who was born in 1778.  He would have been aged about 43 at the time of this story.

In March 1821, William Orton of Hutton Rudby was tried at the York Assizes.  He was charged with altering a banknote and knowingly passing an altered banknote – both offences that carried the death penalty.

He had used forged notes to buy two heifers from a farmer at Thirsk Fair, claiming that his name was Wilson and that he lived in Goodramgate in York.  As a result of this, George Brigham [see Chapter 5 of Remarkable, but still True] had to appear in court to confirm Orton's true identity.

Friday 25 January 2013

Five guinea note from the Boroughbridge Bank

This is a photograph of a photograph.

It shows a five-guinea (£5 5s 0d) note from the Boroughbridge Bank. 

A note on the reverse of the framed photograph records that at the end of the 19th century the original banknote was in the possession of Joseph Stubbs of Boroughbridge.  He was a grandson of the Thomas Stubbs named on the note.

Thomas Stubbs (1761-1838) was a grocer, tea dealer and wine & spirit merchant.  His home and business premises were known as the Bridge Foot – they are the buildings depicted on the bank note.  According to Bishop Stubbs of Oxford, the house stood on the site of the Battle of Boroughbridge 1322.

Stubbs was one of the four partners who owned the Boroughbridge Bank.  The others were Hugh Stott of Boroughbridge, Humphrey Fletcher of Minskip, and Thomas Dew of Boroughbridge.  The articles of partnership establishing the Bank were signed on 8 May 1814, but the bank may have been in existence for some time before that date – the partnership agreement may have been a formalisation of an existing situation.  The bank had branches in Boroughbridge and Northallerton.

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Will of Mark Barker of Great Ayton, 1838

Another Will held at the Borthwick Institute.  Again, from my working notes and accuracy not guaranteed.

Notes and details of Mark Barker's heirs and successors, Mark Barker Passman and Henry Passman, and their mother Sarah, follow the details of the Will.

Mark Barker had been a servant of Thomas Wayne of Angrove Hall.

This country house once stood between Stokesley and Great Ayton, but was demolished in 1832.  According to John Fairfax-Blakeborough, this was because it was haunted.  Only its gate piers survive, removed from their original position to a new site outside the Stokesley Manor House.

We are keenly awaiting Peter Meadows' revised booklet on the subject, but in the meantime notes from his earlier account can be found here, with descriptions and maps. 

On his death in 1806, Thomas Wayne left considerable property to Mark Barker, who found himself a property owner in Hutton Rudby and Lord of the Manor of Hutton.  Barker's Row is named after him, and he provided the site for the village school built by Mr Barlow.

He left his estate to a boy called Mark Barker Passman, who is widely believed to have been his son by Sarah Passman.  Mark Barker Passman died at the age of 32 and in turn left the property to his half-brother Henry Passman.  Henry farmed at Manor House Farm (on the road between Hutton Rudby and Crathorne) until he retired to live on North Side, a little way up from the Bay Horse. 


Monday 21 January 2013

The Will of Thomas Passman of Hutton Rudby, 1828

More from my working notes.  Again, I can't guarantee accuracy.  Thomas Passman's Will is to be found at the Borthwick Institute, York.

Thomas Passman was a yeoman farmer. 

On his death in 1830, he owned houses, buildings, yards, garths and gardens and a 4 acre close called the Holme or Hunters Holme.  Part of the property had been bought by William Passman in 1729; part Thomas had bought from Elizabeth Souter and Robert Moon Souter in 1822.  His trustees were Thomas Tweddle and Thomas Kingston;  he left his estate to his daughter Mary Kingston and her family.  The Kingston family were related to the Hebbrons. 


Thomas Passman:  Will dated 20 Oct 1828, died 11 Sep 1830, aged 80

Summary
Executrix:  Mary Kingston, his daughter.  Trustees:  Thomas Tweddell and Thomas Kingston.  His houses and the close called the Holme to his trustees on trust for sale, with daughter Mary Kingston to have a life interest.  On her death, her daughters – Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary Ann & Eleanor - to have £20 each, and the residue to go to his grandson Thomas Kingston.  Household effects and ready money to Mary Kingston
This is the last Will and Testament of me Thomas Passman of Hutton near Rudby in the County of York Yeoman made the twentieth day of October in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty eight

Saturday 19 January 2013

Vicars and Churchwardens of All Saints', Hutton Rudby in the C18 and C19

During the 18th and 19th centuries, eight vicars served All Saints' Church and the parish of Rudby-in-Cleveland.

Churchwardens were elected annually.  The list of their names reflects the families that have moved in and out of the village over the years.

1700-35 [1] 
Rev Michael Lieth (variously spelt Lyth and Lythe)

1735-67
Rev George Stainthorpe

1767-74
Rev Donald Grant
Grant wrote Two Dissertations on Popish Persecution and Breach of Faith which you can, amazingly, still buy on Amazon.
In this work, he admits that he knows a number of worthy local Roman Catholic families, some of which had lived in the area since the Reformation, but said that he strongly opposed their Faith and their claim to be loyal to the King
(Isn't it pleasant to reflect that All Saints has for some years been part of a successful Local Ecumenical Partnership with the Methodist and Catholic churches?)

Thursday 17 January 2013

Will of Revd Jeremiah Grice of Hutton Rudby, May 1820

From my research notes - in case it is of use or interest to anybody else.  I think it's all accurate, but obviously I can't guarantee accuracy. 

Jeremiah Grice was the vicar of Hutton Rudby from 1781 until his death in 1820.  His Will can be found at the Borthwick Institute, York.  I will begin with a summary of the contents, go on with a transcription and finish with notes on it.

Grice was the last vicar to be buried within the altar rails of Hutton Rudby church.

One of the witnesses to his Will was Thomas Pulman, the surgeon who died in the cholera outbreak of 1832.


Jeremiah Grice:  Will dated 1 May 1820, died 13 May 1820, age 71

Summary
Executrix:  Elizabeth Nelson of Halifax.  Household contents in his dwellinghouse in the township of Hutton to Mary Baillieur.  The house and lands at Trenholme, occupied by Richard Simpson, to Mary Baillieur for life and on her death as she shall appoint.  The house and lands in the township of Hutton lately bought from Matthew Appleton to Robert & Elizabeth Baillieur for life, subject to an annuity of £10 p.a. to Elizabeth Nelson, and on their deaths to Elizabeth Nelson.  All property in Halifax, and his ready money, to Elizabeth Nelson.

Monday 14 January 2013

Notes on Hutton Rudby's industries in the 19th century

From my research notes for Remarkable, but still True.  I can't guarantee accuracy, but I thought it might be of interest to others to see the topics brought together in this way.  I have added internet links where I have found them available.

Agriculture

1808:  Graves noted that “there are no common, or uninclosed lands, which is a circumstance of some advantage and consequence to husbandry”.

1853-70:    The “Golden Age of Farming”

1877:  the price of wheat began to drop disastrously

1894:  Royal Commission noted that in the Stokesley area wheat growing land had fallen in value by two thirds since 1879, farmers had lost their capital and three had even applied for poor relief

This depression in farming only came to an end with the First War

1801 Census    
Skutterskelfe, Sexhow and East Rounton wholly agricultural
Hutton, Rudby and Middleton 20 % agricultural and 80 % manufacturing, trade or handicraft

1808   
Graves commented that in the parish the number of people engaged in agriculture and the number engaged in trade or manufactures was nearly equal.

1831-41   
Ord noted in 1846 a decrease in population between 1831 and (probably) 1841, and attributes it to “the removal of families to Middlesborough”.

1841-51    
the linen industry collapsed. 

1841 Census
there were 37 farmers, 2 hinds and 71 agricultural labourers, 62 % men and 38 % women.  9 of the women and 10 of the men were 65 to 85 years old

1851 Census
there were 94 farm labourers and 41 farm servants – 86  labourers were men, and only 5 men and 1 woman were over 65.  The young men had been displaced from the linen industry into agriculture. 

1861 Census
there were 52 farmers, 111 labourers and 38 speciality farm workers eg ploughmen, milkmaids.   
A number of Drainers are listed in the Census – 12 men aged between 24 and 50.  One was born in Hutton, one in Stockton, 4 were Yorkshiremen, two of them married to Hutton women, one was born in Lincoln and 5 in Ireland.


Saturday 12 January 2013

Arrears of tithe in Myshall, Co Carlow

This article deals with the list of arrears of tithe that Mr Barlow and his sister Nanny believed was due to her late husband, who had been Rector of Myshall in County Carlow.

The list is to be found in a notebook held at North Yorkshire County Record Office and has been listed as "Rental of an Irish estate(?)".  As any information relating to Irish genealogy is always welcome because of the destruction of records in 1922, I think it worthwhile posting here.

As it is not easy to transfer the columns of figures and abbreviations into a blog post, I shall list only the names - anybody wanting more details, please feel free to contact me!

I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the transcription, so please consult the original.
[The Rudby-in-Cleveland PCC Minute Book 1920-32.  NYCRO PR/HTR: MIC 1207]

Mr Barlow's Notebook

The North Yorkshire County Record Office holds a book used by the Rudby Parochial Church Council as a Minute Book, which had originally been used in the 19th century as a notebook by the Revd R J Barlow. 

The book opens with Mr Barlow's jotted "Notes on Humbolts Cosmos Vol 1."  (A few notes relating to Cosmos also appear in another of Mr Barlow's notebooks, in the possession of Hutton Rudby Primary School).

These extend over several pages, and are then followed by twelve pages of names and figures set out in columns, the first headings being  "Myshall", "Arrears May 1st 1833", and "half yearly".  This text was hitherto described as "rental of an Irish estate (?)."  However, a comparison with the Tithe Applotment Book for the townlands of the parish of Myshall in County Carlow (1827) shows that the arrears in question are arrears of tithes.

Friday 11 January 2013

1851 Ecclesiastical Census for Gt Ayton, Nunthorpe, Stokesley and Hutton Rudby

On Sunday 30 March 1851, two censuses were taken.  One was the census of the entire population, and the other was the Ecclesiastical Census.  This was the only census of religious attendance in England and Wales ever taken by the state; it has never been repeated.

The results were analysed by the civil servant, Horace Mann (1823-1917) and his report was published in January 1854.

It is not possible to calculate from the returns the number of people who attended worship that day.  Instead, the census returns show how many attendances there were at each service (morning, afternoon and evening).

Many people will have attended more than one service and it was quite common for people to attend the service of one denomination in the morning and another in the afternoon or evening. 

The census was entirely voluntary, and not every church, chapel and meeting house sent in a return.  Some vicars felt that the state had no business making such an enquiry, and refused to complete the forms.

The total population was nearly 18 million. 7,261,032 attendances were recorded. 

Thursday 10 January 2013

The Digby Beste family in Indiana, 1851

The Revd Robert Barlow's sister-in-law Marian D'Oyley Bird married her third husband, John Richard Digby Beste, in 1850.

He was a widower with ten children aged between two and nineteen; she had a 13 year old daughter Louisa and an adopted daughter aged about 17, Elencho Marie (later known as Ellen Mary).

In 1851, Marian and her new husband took ship to America with eleven of their children, a lapdog, six canaries and a parrot [cf Remarkable, but still True, chapter 18].

Digby Beste's lively account of the family's travels can now be read online: The Wabash: or Adventures of an English Gentleman's Family in the Interior of America, Volumes one and two.

He includes many lively and fluent contributions written by his children.  He had set them the task of writing something each day as an exercise in composition and handwriting.  When, as he explained in his Preface to volume one,
these descriptions appeared to me graphic or entertaining; when they told the sad scenes which I myself was incapacitated from witnessing; when, even, they only showed the impressions which a new country and new scenes produced upon new minds
he incorporated them in his text.  Those of his stepdaughter Louisa Barlow Hoy can be found by searching for "Louie".

Several of the party fell seriously ill with dysentery while they were staying in a hotel in Terre Haute, Indiana, and 9 year old Isabel died there on 10 July 1851. 

Her sister gives a touching account (pages 38 & 39) of the poor child's death and funeral, with grateful notice of the number of strangers who attended the funeral of "the little stranger of whom they knew nothing, and to show their sympathy for the family".

Details of her grave can be found here, at Find A Grave.



Wednesday 9 January 2013

Mrs Barlow Hoy and the new church at Bitterne, Hampshire

Another glimpse of James Barlow Hoy and his wife Marian [cf Remarkable, but still True].  Here they are going about their public duties on his new estates in Hampshire:
On Monday, April 18th, the first stone of the new church at Bitterne was laid by Mrs Barlow Hoy.  The site of the church is in the angle of a field, close to the junction of the roads leading to Swathling, Itchen, Ferry, Bursledon, and Moor Green.  The service was read by the Rev W D Harrison, the vicar.  The inscription on the plate was as follows:-
The first stone of this church, built by subscription, on ground presented by J Barlow Hoy, Esq., MP, was laid on the 18th of April, 1836.  W D Harrison, vicar.  R Scott, and J Gale, churchwardens.  J W Wild, architect.
The style chosen by the architect is the simple Gothic of the 13th century; the church will have a nave and two aisles; there will be a west-end gallery, but no other; accommodation will be afforded for 640 sittings, of which 392 are to be free.  The name is to be “St James's Chapel, West-end.” The Rev E R Breton is to have the perpetual curacy.

[from The British Magazine, and Monthly Register of Religious and Ecclesiastical Information, Vol IX]

Monday 7 January 2013

Appendix II: Burials 3 October to 13 December 1832

1832  Burials Register, All Saints', Rudby-in-Cleveland

Entries made by Revd R J Barlow

The register shows: Name Abode When buried – Age
           
John Cook – Hutton – Octr 3rd – 48 yrs
Stephen Catchasides – Hutton – Octr 6th – 39 yrs
Wm Bainbridge – Hutton – Octr 6th – 13 yrs
Thos Preston – Hutton – Octr 6th – 50 yrs
Thos Souter – Hutton – Octr 6 – 5 yrs
Jane Bainbridge – Hutton – Octr 7th – 16 yrs
Jas Catchasides – Hutton – Octr 7th – 81 73 yrs
Grace Catchasides – Hutton – Octr 7 – 82 yrs
T.  C.  Pulman Surgeon – Hutton – Octr 7th – 36 yrs
John Passman – Hutton – Octr 7th – 5 yrs
Jane How – Hutton – Octr 7th – 1 yr
*Maryanne Bainbridge – Hutton – Octr 7th 8th – 41 yrs
*Betty Skelton – Hutton – Octr 9th 8th – 39 yrs
Isaac Matth Bainbridge – Hutton – Octr 9th – 4 yrs
Thos Hall – Hutton – Octr 12th – 73 yrs
Benjamin Hall – Hutton – Octr 12 – 25 yrs
Dinah Rayne – Hutton – Octr 13th – 81 yrs
Elizabeth Bainbridge – Hutton – Octr 13 – 6 yrs
Jane Cole – Hutton – Octr 15 – 75 yrs
*Harriott Passman – Hutton – Octr 15th – 4 yrs
*Jane Walton – Hutton – Octr 16th – 59 yrs
Jonathan Eland – Hutton – Octr 19th – 82 yrs
Thos Shaw – Hutton – Octr 23 – 65 yrs
Robt Sheppard – Barrak Parish of Egglescliffe [ie. Barwick] – Octr 27th – 4 yrs
Jane Shaw – Hutton – Octr 28 – 62 yrs
Elizabeth Dixon – Hutton – Nov 10th – 41 yrs
Jane Hall – Hutton – Novr 12 – 30 yrs
Jacob Honeyman – Hutton – Nov 14th – 75 yrs
Jane Cook – Hutton – Novr 15th – 40 yrs
David Souter – Hutton – Novr 19 – 13 yrs
Elizabeth Souter – Hutton – Novr 29th – 87 yrs
John Orrigh – Faceby – Decr 3rd – 75 yrs
Emma Souter – Hutton – Decr 11th – 38 yrs
Rachel Cook – Hutton – Decr 16th – 91 yrs


*  Mary Anne Bainbridge's age is left blank in Mr Barlow's additional "Sepultorum nomina" list
*  Betty Skelton's age is left blank in the "Sepultorum nomina" list
*  Harriott Passman's age, unclear in the main register, is clearly 6 in the "Sepultorum nomina" list
*  Jane Walton's age is given as 57 in the "Sepultorum nomina" list

Sunday 6 January 2013

Appendix I: Barlow Family Tree


John Barlow = Ann [?Wilson]
        c1769-1844
  _____________________|___________________________
 
  James           Mary          Isabella        John          Anne         Robert
 Barlow         Sophia       Catherine     Wilson     "Nanny"       Joseph
   Hoy            Barlow        Barlow       Barlow      Barlow        Barlow

James Barlow Hoy (c1792-1843) married Marian D’Oyley Bird (1814-85) in 1831. 
Their only child Louisa Barlow Hoy (1838-?) married Guadagno Guadagni and had four children: Guitto, Catherine, Aurora and Mary. 

Their adopted daughter Elencho Marie Pera, later Ellen Mary, was born c1834.  She married Robert Claude Evans.  Following the death of James Barlow Hoy, Marian D’Oyley Bird married Captain Richard Meredith; following his death she married John Richard Digby Beste.
Mary Sophia Barlow (c1795-1873)

Isabella Catherine Barlow (c1799-1874)

John Wilson Barlow (c1800-37) married Georgina Borough (c1804-?) in 1831. 
Their only child was James John Barlow, of whom nothing is known.
Anne “Nanny” Barlow, Mrs Vaughan (c1801-67) married the Revd Hector Francis Vaughan (c1785-1834) in 1830. 
Their only child, Hector Barlow Vaughan (c1833-85) married Wilhelmina Christiana Mathews and had two children, Caroline and Hectoria Vaughan
Robert Joseph Barlow (c1804-78) married Marianne Webb (c1782-1852) in 1829.  They had no children

Saturday 5 January 2013

Chapter 24. Epilogue

Three years after Mr Barlow's death, the Revd George Sanger's ministry came to an abrupt and unexpected end.

The new church at Carlton was opened by the Archdeacon in March 1879.  George Sanger had done much of the work himself – it was a magnificent undertaking.  Unfortunately, his relations with his parishioners were growing increasingly difficult. 

At three o'clock in the morning on 19 October 1881, the new church was destroyed by fire.

Soon it became apparent that some of his parishioners fervently believed that their vicar had destroyed his own church.  A long history of petty grievances and village gossip had apparently combined to produce a combustible mixture.

Mr Sanger was arrested in London on a charge of arson soon after his marriage to his young and allegedly pregnant housekeeper (who seems to have been the niece of James Stanger's wife).  The case was dismissed by the Stokesley magistrates in January 1882, but the public opinion in Carlton remained unrelenting. 

Nevertheless Mr Sanger entreated his parishioners to build a new church:
Money is not wanting in the parish, where one parishioner can boast of being able to command £70,000, and the united income of the wealthy landowners is not much less than £1m a year. 
Perhaps the distinct lack of tact may explain some of his past difficulties in dealing with his parishioners.

He was inhibited by the church authorities from taking services for five years on an ecclesiastical offence, but for many years afterwards much of the parish continued to ostracise the poor man.  While parishioners attended services at Faceby, Mr Sanger lived on in the vicarage, spending his time walking on the moors.  A reconciliation took place as he came to his deathbed in 1894.  According to Major Fairfax-Blakeborough,
some of those who have had time to hear all the evidence, and every insinuation, are confirmed in the certain opinion that the Rev Geo. Sangar had no part in the burning of his Church.  The mystery will probably never now be solved, though it is said the late Vicar himself could have explained it and that spleen was the motive. 
The case inspired the Middlesbrough-born writer, E W Hornung, creator of Raffles, the gentleman thief, to write a fictionalised version in his novel Peccavi  [1]

Friday 4 January 2013

Chapter 23. "The old vicar of Rudby has gone to his well-earned rest"

Life in the vicarage must have grown more lonely for Mr Barlow in the years following Nanny's death. 

His sister Mary Sophia was suffering from dementia and died aged 78 of "Senile Decay" on 17 September 1873.  She was followed six months later on 7 March 1874 by her sister Isabella, whose cause of death was registered as "General Debility" at the age of 74. 

As before, it was not Mr Barlow who registered their deaths.  Mary's was registered by Christopher Garbutt, the joiner and publican of the King's Head, and Isabella's by the joiner Alvey Kay – they had presumably supplied the coffins and were acting as undertakers. 

The sisters were buried in the family vault and a memorial tablet was placed on the church wall near the door.  Hector Vaughan possibly contributed to the cost of this, which gives full details of his father – it can be seen that Mr Barlow employed the Latin version of the degree of Master of Arts.  The lettering was apparently in gold, although no trace of this remains: 

IN A VAULT NEAR THIS LIE THE REMAINS OF NANNY VAUGHAN
WIDOW OF THE LATE REVD HECTOR FRANCIS VAUGHAN A.M.
RECTOR OF MYSHALL WHO DIED OCTOBER THE 26TH 1867
AGED 66 YEARS
ALSO OF MARY SOPHIA BARLOW WHO DIED SEPTR 7TH 1873
AGED 78 YEARS
ALSO OF ISABELLA CATHERINE BARLOW WHO DIED MARCH 7TH 1874
AGED 74 YEARS
THE NAMES OF THESE THREE DESERVEDLY BELOVED SISTERS
ARE HERE RECORDED BY THEIR AFFECTIONATE BROTHER
IN CHARACTERS OF GOLD AS A TESTIMONY OF THEIR WORTH

Now Robert was alone in the vicarage.  He had his friends and regular consultations with his curate George Sanger, and he was still active, as his notebook shows. 

Wednesday 2 January 2013

Chapter 22. 'Remarkable, but still True'

The 1871 census found a diminished household at the vicarage – Robert, his sister Mary (here called Maria), whose age is now given as 75, and his sister Isabella (here for some reason called Jane), whose age is given as 72.  They had one maid of all work living in the house – 20-year-old Mary Chipchase, born in Appleton Wiske. 

New industries had come – there were now jet miners living in the village and working in Scugdale and a busy timber mill stood at the top of Sexhow Lane.  George Wilson's Sailcloth Mill employed 24 men and 9 women and was being converted from water to steam power, while over on the Rudby side of the river, the bleach house employed three men.

Mr Barlow was occupied with a new project.

Not for him the usual topics of the clergyman scholar – he was engaged in a lively volume of disguised autobiography and colourful anecdote, under the pen-name Walter Fitzallen.  It is interesting to note that nearly all the names he gives his characters were used by Sir Walter Scott – Graham, Clutterbuck, Barnard, Seymour and the name Fitzallen itself.  Perhaps, although he does not mention reading Scott, he was so fond of his works that he had absorbed the names without noticing.

The novel was printed for Mr Barlow in 1872 by Wyman & Sons of Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields – again, he had evidently no desire to use the local printers – and appeared as a small octavo volume (19cm tall) of 406 pages divided into 34 chapters.