A Boroughbridge Boyhood: Epilogue

What happened to John's family in later years?

Aunt Ann Pick died in 1860 at the age of fifty and her husband William in 1872.  Aunt Bell, the active spinster aunt, died in 1880 at the home of her niece Jane Capes.

Uncle William Henlock died in 1866.  In his Will he left the sum of £200, the interest of which was to

William Henlock of Great Ouseburn

be distributed to the poor of the parish by the Vicar and Churchwardens.  His wife Ellen died in 1885.  They are both commemorated in a memorial on the wall of the church of St Mary the Virgin at Great Ouseburn, where there is also a plaque recording Mr Henlock's legacy.

Uncle William Hirst died in 1879 at the age of eighty-one.

He had outlived his daughter Dorothy, who died the year before.  John recorded her funeral on 28 November 1878:   

went to poor Dora Hirst’s funeral at 3 o clock.  She was buried at BB Church.  Tremendous funeral.  All the Shops closed.  Grannie [his mother] and Alice went and so did all from Uncles except Uncle who is still very poorly.  It is indeed a sad day at BB. 

She was fifty-one years old and is commemorated by a stained glass window in the church to which she had been devoted through her life.  Her unmarried sister Mary Barker Hirst lived alone in Boroughbridge after the death of Dora and her father.

Their sister Sophy Hirst married William Thompson, a London auctioneer with family in Bridlington.  They lived in Russell Square in some style – they were holidaying in Nice in 1880.  After Sophy's death in 1900 and William's retirement, he and his unmarried daughter Edith Wharton Thompson moved north to Harrogate.

John's cousin Mary Redmayne, wife of his friend James Sedgwick, the Boroughbridge doctor, was a  sociable, kind and active neighbour often mentioned in letters by John's mother.  She died “of apoplexy” on the night of Whit Sunday 1892 “very suddenly at Victoria Station London”.  She was fifty years old.  James and his unmarried son and daughter left Ladywell House and the practice to Dr Daggett and moved to Wimbledon, perhaps to be near his son Hubert Redmayne Sedgwick and his family; Hubert was a surgeon at St Thomas's.

13. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: "Mulled ale at Starbeck"

John gives few details of Christmas celebrations.  Family letters from the 1870s show that they had a turkey for dinner, hung mistletoe, gave presents and ate plum cake, but in his 1850s diaries John records only one Christmas present:

Thursday December 23rd 1858
To office.   At night rode Joes mare to Uncle Picks.   Aunt gave me two white pocket handkerchiefs & a £1  for a Christmas Box  Got home about ten

It was not often that all the family could be together, so this must have been a precious time for John’s mother.  We have a glimpse of one such occasion in the following terse entries from 1856, which record John’s cold journey to Starbeck station to meet his brother Tom, the drive back in the dark, taking communion together at Boroughbridge church, the walk with the dogs in thick snow and the evening by the fire …

Wednesday December 24th 1856
Went to Office   Retd to Breakfast  Had a letter from Tom saying I was to meet him at Starbeck at 8.25 tonight.   At Noon had a walk up Topcliffe Road   At Night Drove to Starbeck to meet Tom  Left here at six   Got home about half past ten   Had some mulled Ale at Starbeck   It was very dark

Thursday December 25th 1856
Christmas Day
Went to Office   Did the Mail   Went to BB Church in the morning   Stayed Sacrament  Father Tom & I went to Aldbro in the Afternoon  After we came back had a walk with the Dogs a mile up Topcliffe Road & back  It snowed hard.   Dick Hirst & Aunt Bell had tea with us.   Sat & talked all the evening

St James's Square, Boroughbridge (early C20 postcard)

12. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: “Helped to arrange about the Wedding Breakfast”

Weddings in John’s circle were not celebrated on the large scale of today.  When John’s brother Joe was married to Sarah Sedgwick in York, John did not go:

Tuesday May 12th 1857
Father & Mother  Capes & Jane set off in Mrs Morrells Cab to Joes Wedding at ½ past seven.   Went to office.   At Noon was about home.   At Night I went to Uncles   Miss Milnthorp  Mrs M Smith & Miss Fretwell were there

Wednesday May 20th 1857
Had breakfast at Uncles.   At Noon went to Langthorpe.   At Night Rode Uncle Hirsts pony to Marton with Grafton on business & from there to Ouseburn   Had supper at Uncle Picks   got home at ¼ to ten   Got a pickle Fork Aunt Ann got in York for me to give to Joe & Sarah

Joe and Sarah were away only a couple of days, before they returned to live in Langthorpe:

Friday May 22nd 1857
Had breakfast at Uncle’s   At Noon went to Langthorp.   At Night Capes & I went up the River   I shot 2 rats  Joe & Sarah came home   Uncle came home from London

Sarah was a cousin of the Sedgwicks of Aldborough.  Her father Leonard Sedgwick, brother of Dr Roger, was a wholesale tea dealer in York.

11. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: Aunts, sisters, cousins: “a jolly walk we had”

John’s aunt Elizabeth Hirst – his father’s sister, still commemorated in stained glass in Boroughbridge church – had been a loving companion to her husband Henry:

Monday November 3rd 1856
Went to Office  Had breakfast at Uncles as he was going to London & Aunt wanted to go to the Station to see him off …

She kept a cow:

Tuesday November 25th 1856
Went to Office.   Retd to Breakfast   At Noon Had a walk with Capes towards Kirby Hill by the fields.   At Night Joe & I walked to see Aunt Hirsts cow which they were expecting to calve.   Went home  read Law

and, like John, she too sorted the letters for the post:

Friday February 15th 1856
Was at the Office   Had breakfast at Uncles   went to Howells with a letter Aunt had missed putting into their bag …

10. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: "Very ill not likely to get better"

Death was never far away. 

Monday January 26th 1857
… Rode Joes Mare to Humberton to enquire of Lydia Smith who was very ill not likely to get better …

Saturday March 12th 1859
…   Mrs Clark of Ellinthorp Hall was confined   child dead  Mother was there

Tuesday March 22nd 1859
To office.   At Night went to a spread to Mrs Powells   Two Miss Smiths of Burton   Charlesworth  Miss R Stott   Steele  Capes & I were there     we played cards    got home about ½ past eleven
Annie Sedgwick died today

In September 1858, John’s parents and Uncle and Aunt Hirst had gone away with friends and family to Redcar for a holiday.  Mary Hirst and her sister Jane were with them, but the others had remained behind:

Tuesday September 28th 1858
To office.   At Noon went down to the Cricket field.   At Night went to Joes & from there to the train to meet the Hirsts & Miss Thompson coming from Duncombe Park.   Leonard Sedgwick was telegraphed for to Aunt Hirst who was ill at Redcar

Wednesday September 29th 1858
To office.   At Noon at the Cricket Field.   About 3 o’clock Rd Hirst came with a note which Mr Roger Buttery had brought from Redcar to say Dora  Sophy & Rd [Hirst] were to go by the 6 train to Redcar as Mrs Hirst was very ill   They went by the train but received a message at Pilmoor [station] to say they were to return as poor Aunt was dead.   Leond came home from Redcar & Mary Hirst also came with him.   She died about 3 o’clock of paralysis apoplexy

Thursday September 30th 1858
To office.   Had breakfast at Uncles  At noon Father & Mother came from Redcar also Uncle Hirst & Mrs Chas Stubbs and the corpse came by Ripon  At night Had tea at Joes

Mrs Charles Stubbs was the Hirsts’ eldest child Jane, now thirty four years old.  She had married one of the London cousins, Charles Stewart Stubbs, when she was twenty.  Four years later she was widowed when Charles died in a riding accident.  Her third child, Alice, was born three months later. 

Saturday October 2nd 1858
To office.   At Noon at Uncles directing funeral cards …

Monday October 4th 1858
To office.   At 12 o’clock we committed the remains of poor Aunt to the grave.   She was borne shoulder height by 6 men & a pall was borne by 8 ladies.   There was a large funeral.   Holdsworth & Owen performed the ceremony   At Night read law

9. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: Boroughbridge

Threading through the diary entries are glimpses of Boroughbridge and the countryside around: John records taking visitors to see the Devil’s Arrows or the Aldborough Pavement; riding his cousin Richard Hirst’s mare to the top of Gibbet Hill; going to the river “to bathe through the pasture and jolly it was”; walking down the river past Ramsdens; walking through Langthorpe down Dog Kennel Lane; going to the Water Cress Spring near Low Dunsforth; walking to the Ouseburn Bar. 

People appear, mentioned fleetingly.  In April 1856 John had his hair cut at Bulmer’s and his watch mended at Glew’s.  He got a dog from Capes, that Capes had bought from Mr Peacock, the relieving officer.  He went fishing and ferreting with Slater, the Roecliffe gamekeeper, or at the Mill with Baldrey (possibly the young schoolmaster lodging at Whixley in 1851).  He and his friend Smallwood walked up the river to drink porter at Bickerdikes.  On summer evenings he would play or watch the cricket – on 3 July 1856 he watched the match between Langton Wold and Boroughbridge.

There were annual events: the fairs, November the Fifth – in 1856 John walked round the town to see the fireworks on November 5th (Dr Sedgwick had his display two days earlier).  There were visiting attractions – travelling circuses  (Cookes or Pablo Fanque’s) were always a great favourite but sometimes the entertainment was rather more unusual:

Monday January 14th 1856
Went to Office   Sat with Aunt Hirst as all the rest were at Eagles Clairvoyant Entertainment   Read Blackstone

Miss Eagle of Eagles Clairvoyant Entertainment was staying at the White Horse Inn – a couple of days later Bessie Carrass went to ask her for news of John’s uncles Richard and Giles Henlock, who had emigrated to New Zealand in about 1835.  Miss Eagle (inaccurately) predicted Richard’s return in 1857.  Both are mentioned in Uncle William Henlock’s Will made in 1865 and it seems Richard died in Australia in 1876.

Monday November 7th 1859
to office.   At night read Equity at the office.   Went at noon to call at Mrs Parkers   Went at night to Miss Grace Egertons entertainmt at the White Horse

Mrs Morrell of the White Horse also kept vehicles for hire – in May 1857 the cab was hired to take John’s parents, sister Jane and Mr Capes to Joe’s wedding in York; in March 1858 John and his friend Mark Smallwood went in Morrells’ phaeton to Ripon to visit friends; in February 1859 John and a friend went in Morrells’ dogcart to a party in Humburton; and in November 1859 a large party of ten people took Morrells’ omnibus to Thornton Bridge to a party at Thomas Lund’s house.

8. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: "About in the Fair"

Wednesday June 18th 1856
Went to Office   At Noon Was about in the fair   At Night Steele  E.C.Clarke  Leonard  Joe  Capes  Schofield & I went down to the Swale Nab in the boat  it came on wet & we got wet through   we pulled up through the far arch   there was a little fresh down but we grated on the bottom.

The Barnaby Fair in June was the highlight of the year.  John’s parents were busy entertaining – they usually had people staying for the fair and friends, relations and valued customers would be invited to dine.  The young men were free to enjoy themselves – when they were not at work:

Monday June 23rd 1856
Drove home from Dishforth   Went to Office   At Noon I rode over to Dishforth for some Deeds   I had dinner there.   came home & went to the Office   At Night was walking about in the fair    saw two or three battles & a tumble off or two   helped the Constables & had some fine fun

Tuesday June 24th 1856
Went to office   At Noon was about home   Mr Robt Workman & Mrs W.  [of Arksey] dined with us & Uncle Wm & Aunt [Henlock].   At Night was about in the fair   Went to sup at the D[octo]rs came away about 11   Capes  Joe & I walked round the fair   had some fun & came home.

Wednesday June 25th 1856
Went to office.   At Noon was about home   At Night The Clarks of Ellinthorp  Steele & E.C.Clark  The Sedgwicks & the Hirsts were at our house to tea    we had a walk in the garden   we had singing &c   Sophy H.   Mary Sedgwick & I went into the fair to buy pins &c of Mrs Dickinson.   They left about 11

Monday June 22nd 1857
Went to Office.   At Noon was about in the fair   Nineteen of us sat down to dinner   After dinner Mr John Mitchell & I had a walk in the fair.   At Night Richd Paver, Young Houseman  Joe  Capes & I had a stroll in the fair

Richard Paver was the twenty-year-old son of the vicar of Brayton, near Selby, and related to the Picks and Howes of Ouseburn, where he learned farming.  When in 1872 he inherited Ornhams Hall from Mr Crow, he changed his name to Paver Crow.

By the early 1880s John’s mother was writing sadly,

The town looks miserably quiet and all the families are going away for Barnaby, what a change from the old times.