Christopher Rowntree of Middleton-on-Leven

My post of 8 February mentions Christopher Rowntree, who went to court to prove he was a gentleman.

The story is told in The Church & Parish of Rudby-in-Cleveland by the Rev Arthur Eddowes (1924):

The following account of a Middleton "worthy" is copied from one of the many interesting "sporting" articles contributed by Mr Fairfax Blakeborough in the Darlington and Stockton Times:–

Mr Rowntree, – a famous Cleveland fox-hunter and racing man, – is perhaps the only man in England who had a trial at law to prove that he was a gentleman.  He won a gentleman's race at Stokesley and the prize was withheld on an objection being raised that he was not eligible for the race, not being, – it was argued, – a gentleman according to the general acceptance of the term and meant to be implied in the conditions of the race.  The trial took place before Mr Baron Thompson at York in 1803 and the following is an account of it written at the time:–

“At an Assize trial held at York to decide whether one Christopher Rowntree, of Middleton-on-Leven, the celebrated fox-hunter, was a “gentleman," the only evidence against him was that he was blind of one eye, wore leather breeches, and when he came to Stokesley market dined at an ordinary with the farmers at one shilling or eighteen-pence a head, – the best joints of meat there never being sold by butchers at more than fourpence a pound, and eggs being retailed in our market at twopence a dozen during the season. 

As to his worldly wealth, and unblemished character, these were fully admitted by his opponent (though they doubted whether he could be said to keep a pack of foxhounds, as each of his tenants fed a few, and the horn was blown to gather them together when they had to assemble for a hunt). 

The counsel on behalf of Christophr. Rowntree declared that a gentleman remained such wherever he dined.  Those wishing to hold from him that title to which his client possessed every just claim ought to prove, – not where he dined and paid, but whether he dined and left without paying, then, – guilty of such an act as that, – he would have lost all right to have been considered a gentleman.  They, – his opponents, – should have proved not that he went about in leather breeches, but without any at all, then that truly would have stamped his client as no gentleman.”

"Hooivver did oor farms get t'neeams ther've got?"

My last post about Middleton-on-Leven, with its mention of Goslingmire farm, reminded me of some verses from Bill Cowley's delightful book Cleveland Calendar: Seasons of the Year in North-East England.  

 It is illustrated with evocative line drawings by Bernard Fearnley; it can be bought second-hand.

Here are the lines:

Hooivver did oor farms get t'neeams ther've got?
High Paradise, Holme, Slapewath, Seldom Seen,
Steeanstoup an' Goslingmire – a canny spot –
Spyknave, Stank, Hesketh, Raikes – an Gowton Green.

St Cuthbert's church, Middleton-on-Leven

On 22 & 23 June 2002, a Flower Festival was held in St Cuthbert’s church at Middleton-on-Leven.

Refreshments & light lunches were on offer, and the weekend finished with a Thanksgiving Service at 5 o’clock followed by a barbecue.

The flower displays and information boards on show around the building reflected aspects of the church’s history and current life in the community; proceeds were to the church fabric and the new carpet.

The explanatory leaflet included a brief history of the village and church.  I feel sure it was written by the vicar, Canon David Lickess (now retired), and hope he will not mind me reproducing it here, as there is so little information on Middleton available online.

The 'Skirt Dance' of the two Savile Clarke girls

When I finished work on the articles on the Savile Clarkes, I contacted Leeds Art Gallery, who own J-E Blanche's painting of Maggie and Kitty.

I wasn't sure how much information the Art Gallery had on the sitters, as both the Public Catalogue Foundation's book and the BBC Your Paintings website record the title simply as The Savile Clarke girls.  The curator tells me that they did indeed know of the painting as The 'Skirt Dance' of the two Savile Clarke girls, but my additional information will be added to the files (as it's interesting and useful – what more could I ask?!)

If you have a longing to see the beautiful sisters, they are currently on show at Lotherton Hall.


Update 4 July 2014: for information on Jacques-Emile Blanche, see Artist in Focus (July 2014) on the Public Catalogue Foundation website

Update 26 November 2019: the Public Catalogue Foundation and BBC Your Paintings website is now Art UK, and the Savile Clarke girls can be found here

Helen Savile Clarke and her daughters

Continuing the story of Henry Savile Clarke and his family ...

When Henry Savile Clarke died in 1893, his wife Helen Weatherill was 53 years old.  During the 1880s, she had developed an artistic career of her own.

By 1880, when Helen reached the age of forty, her family had become sadly diminished.

Helen Savile Clarke with one of her daughters

Her brother William had died at school in London when she was eleven.  Her younger sister Clara (after whom she named her eldest daughter) had been fatally injured in a fire caused by a candle igniting her clothing in the year before Helen married.

Her eldest brother George Jackson Weatherill had died in 1872, the year of her daughter Kitty’s birth; his conduct had brought his married life to an end when his wife divorced him and he seems to have died in Australia.  Her father died the following year, and her mother in late May 1880.

It seems that her younger sister Emma, who had never married, then came to London – she died at Helen’s house on 26 September, aged 38.  Her elder sister Anne Louise, whose first marriage had been to Henry Savile Clarke’s father, was to die in Guisborough in 1882. 

There was a younger brother, John Charles Weatherill, of whom little is remembered or known.  He seems to have encountered difficulties, as their mother had left to Helen the “Prize books” given to him by the Corporation of Plymouth and £5 to be given to him at Helen’s discretion.  Anne Louise’s Will, made in 1881, left £1,000 in trust for John Charles “for his personal enjoyment and not to become the property of his alienees or creditors”, so possibly he was a bankrupt. 

Three of Helen’s four close cousins in Guisborough (their mothers being sisters, and their fathers brothers) had died, and her cousin Kate was to die leaving three small children in 1884.  Only Helen’s eldest sister Margaret Elizabeth survived into the 20th century.

It must have seemed to Helen all the more important to follow and develop her own talents as an artist while she could.  Perhaps she took advice on her plans from her relatives, the artists Mary and Sarah Ellen Weatherill [cf blog post of 29 November 2012].  They were five or so years older than she, and they both studied in London.

Henry Savile Clarke (1841-93)

Henry Savile Clarke was the eldest child of the Rev Henry Clarke of Guisborough (1813-61) and his wife Catherine Dawson (c1819-52).  Baptised by his father on the day of his birth, 14 February 1841, he spent the first months of his life at the house then called Long Hull.  At that time there was no parsonage house for the vicar of Guisborough, and Henry Clarke must have rented Long Hull from the Chaloner family.  We know it now as Gisborough Hall.

By 1842, the Clarkes had moved to Sunnyfield House on Westgate, with ample room for the five children who followed – four sons and a daughter – before the untimely death of their mother in 1852 at the age of 33.

Henry’s brother “Jock” Clarke [1] (baptised John William), was a year his junior.  He became agent for the Guisborough estate and was well known for his rather malicious wit.  Arthur Dawson Clarke was born a year later.  He became a clergyman, lecturer and tutor, writing books on geography and mathematics for candidates for Army, Woolwich and Civil Service examinations.  Francis Savile Clarke was the next child; he studied music in London and returned to Guisborough to teach.  Cecil James Clarke was born in 1846; he became an estate agent and lived in the South of England.  Lastly, there was the only daughter, Kathleen Ann Augusta Clarke.  She left the North East and married Arthur Edward Prescott, a land agent.  She was left a widow with four children at the age of 40.

Henry Savile Clarke was blessed with good looks, energy, ability and a private income from his late mother.  He went to Edinburgh to study medicine and there became caught up in the world of journalism. 

Guisborough’s link to Lewis Carroll: Henry Savile Clarke (1841-93) and his family

While my original piece on Annie Weatherill’s 1863 diary (for which, see my blog post of 1 December 2012) was to be found on my previous website (www.jakesbarn.co.uk) I was contacted by Dr Tony Nicholson of Teesside University.

Tony provided me with fascinating information regarding Henry Savile Clarke, the husband of Annie’s cousin Helen Weatherill.

In particular, he told me of Lewis Carroll’s correspondence with the Savile Clarke daughters, and of the further connection that linked the Savile Clarkes to President Franklin D Roosevelt.

This was such exciting news!  I have at last been able to complete my own research on it, which I'm going to start posting. 

I think it is a story especially worth telling because there are inaccuracies in some already published accounts – in particular, writers have confused Helen Weatherill with her daughter Clara Savile Clarke – and also because Clara deserves wider notice.

All the family – including the younger sisters Maggie and Kitty – attracted press attention in their day, but with Clara's early death, a promising literary talent was lost.

Certainly a great deal of research remains to be done into the Savile Clarkes, and I hope someone will do it – my work has been done from the warmth of home and the comfort of the sofa, and largely limited to internet resources.  In particular, I have found the British Newspaper Archive very useful.

(Subscribers to www.findmypast.co.uk have access to the archive, but a much better search facility is available through a subscription to the archive’s own website.)

My account includes numerous hyperlinks, and I hope you find them useful.

I think they are especially valuable in linking to work by Clara Savile Clarke that would otherwise be hard to find, but I have also made full use of them to reduce the number of footnotes, and to convey a wider picture of the times to readers who perhaps may not be familiar with the period.


Part 2 of this series of posts is here