Hutton Rudby in the Second World War

Not to be missed!  Check out the videos on the Facebook page of the Hutton Rudby and District Local History Society in which Malcolm McPhie interviews Maurice Atkinson about his memories of Hutton Rudby in the Second World War.

It's a priceless collection.  These are the topics that Maurice and Malcolm cover:

• The radio announcement by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
• Arrival of the evacuees 
• The Army take over
• The Home Guard
• Army Cadet Force
• The Air Raid Shelters
• Search Lights
• Village defences
• Spitfires over the village
• Damaged Army tank on Rudby Bank
• Rifle practice in Leven Valley
• Celebrations and bonfire on the Green

Celebrations of the tenantry in Ingleby Greenhow, 23 April 1850

York Herald, 27 April 1850

REJOICINGS AT INGLEBY GREENHOW

It was a day of gaiety and festivity long to be remembered at Ingleby Manor, on Tuesday last, the 23rd inst., in celebration of the marriage of Miss Foulis, of Ingleby Manor, to the Hon. Mr Phillip Sidney, only son of Lord de Lisle, of Penshurst, in Kent, which took place in London on that day.  

At two o'clock in the afternoon, in a commodious rustic tent, beautifully fitted up and festooned with evergreens and bloom [sic], about seventy gentlemen, including the tenant farmers on the estates, sat down to a substantial dinner with fine brown October and punch, served up in first-rate style by Widow Hunt, of the Village Inn.  John Peirson, Esq., of Thornton Fields, presided, supported on the left by John H Handyside, Esq., of Stokesley, on the right, by Thomas Garbutt, Esq., of Yarm; the vice-chair being occupied by Mr Henry Chapman of Hutton Rudby.  

Tea was provided at the Village Inn, for the wives and daughters of the tenantry, which was most tastefully set out, and the room chastely ornamented with wreaths of evergreens flowers, and orange blossom, a huge bride's cake taking command in the centre of the table.  Afterwards a ball took place, which was kept up with great spirit.  

It must not be omitted that a fatted ox was slaughtered, and an ample supply of beef given to every poor family in the villages of Ingleby and Battersby so that the aged and infirm, as well as the young and healthy, might each and all rejoice on this auspicious event.

Widow Hunt of the Village Inn was Mrs Mary Hunt, then aged 52.  In the census of 1851 she stated that she was born in Hutton, and I think this means Hutton Rudby.  She will have been assisted by her daughter Mary, aged 22.  She also had a 15 year old son, John.

John Peirson was a land agent; Thornton Fields farm is off the Redcar Road, near Guisborough.  

John Hepburn Handyside was a surgeon in Stokesley; he married Hannah Coates, daughter of the solicitor James Coates in Stokesley in 1845.

Thomas Garbutt was a Yarm solicitor.

Mr Henry Chapman of Hutton Rudby was a farmer and land agent.  The family farmed in Enterpen for many years.

Hutton Rudby had a couple of other links with this story besides Henry Chapman.  

Firstly, the Foulis family owned land in the Sexhow area and, secondly, Lucius Cary of the Falkland family, owners for a time of the Rudby and Skutterskelfe estates, was buried at the groom's family estate of Penshurst in 1871.  Lucius was the only child of Lucius Cary and Amelia Fitzclarence, daughter of William IV.  Amelia is commemorated by a tablet in Hutton Rudby church, (for details, see The People behind the Plaques.)

Leonard Appleton of Doddle Hill Farm

This sort of detail is always useful to family historians, I know, given the Rev R J Barlow's failure to keep the parish registers properly (see here and here)

Newcastle Guardian & Tyne Mercury, 15 April 1848

Marriages

On the 10th inst. Mr Leonard Appleton, of Hutton Rudby, farmer, to Miss Jane Hardman, of Durham

The Tithe Map and White's Directory 1840 show that Leonard Appleton farmed at Doddle Hill and in the 1841 census he gave his age as 43.  The 1851 census finds him farming 141 acres at Potto Field House.  By then his wife Jane had given birth to a little girl called Ann Elizabeth.  By 1861 Margaret Jane and Mary Ann had been added to the family.

Update on 'Thomas King of Kirkleatham, brewer & smuggler'

I have just been looking over an early blogpost on Thomas King of Kirkleatham, the brewer who was said to be in partnership with John Andrew, the famous smuggler of Saltburn.  

I've updated the links to the Skelton history website – the old ones were invalid.  And I've also done a little more work on the subject, so for a couple of 18th century newspaper reports on the lugger called the Morgan Rattler – and for an explanation of what a Morgan Rattler actually was – do follow the link.

The Yarm Minstrel Troupe performs at Hutton Rudby, 1894

This seems a very male entertainment and I harbour dark suspicions of the piece entitled Woman's Rights:

Darlington & Stockton Times, Ripon & Richmond Chronicle, 3 February 1894

HUTTON RUDBY 

On Friday night the members of the Yarm Minstrel Troupe gave a highly successful entertainment in the Board Schoolroom, Hutton Rudby, under the distinguished patronage of Messrs G. Y. Blair, J.P., A. Bowes Wilson, J.P., P.A. Blair, and other gentlemen.  

The room was crowded by a large and appreciative audience.  The first part of the programme consisted of a comic operata, The Two Frauds, performed by Messrs R.L. Wilford and H. Wright.  A most laughable sketch, entitled Woman's Rights, was given by Mr Rhodes Eliff, in full costume, for which he was loudly applauded.  

In the second part songs, &c., were rendered by the troupe, and Mr W. Raper sang, in a most exquisite manner, Maggie May, while Mr R Gamble played a cornet solo in capital style.  Mr J.H. Watson was accompanist, and Mr C. Fergyson was managing director.  

At the conclusion of the entertainment, Mr A. Bowes Wilson, J.P. in a few well-chosen remarks, complimented the performers on the efficient and entertaining style in which they had performed their parts.

G.Y. Blair was George Young Blair (1826-94) of Drumrauch Hall (see here).  Only weeks after this entertainment, Mr Blair suffered an attack of his heart condition and his doctors advised him to spend five weeks convalescing in Bournemouth.  He went back to work on his return, suffered a relapse and died on 22 September.  P.A. Blair was his son-in-law, Percy Alexander Field Sadler (1866-1906) of Linden Grange, who took the surname Blair.

A. Bowes Wilson was Allan Bowes Wilson (c1839-1932) of the Cleveland Sailcloth Mill - for more on him and his family see here.

Benjamin Flounders and the Crathorne Bleach Yard, 1743

This notice – really it's an advertisement – in a Newcastle newspaper of 1743, casts an interesting light on the scope of the operation run by Benjamin Flounders (1708-56), who had a Bleach Yard at Crathorne in the first half of the 18th century.

His surname appears in this advertisement as Flounder, but it is clearly a typo.  The notices continue in the Newcastle Courant until we find, on 3 April 1756, a few weeks after his death, that his widow Barbara is now carrying on the business in his place.  By 1765 the notices appear under the name of their son, John.

The family were Quakers. Benjamin and Barbara were the grandparents of the prominent Yarm businessman and pioneer of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, Benjamin Flounders (1768-1846).

We can see that Benjamin Flounders in 1743 has a network of collection points across County Durham and the North Riding.  I assume the handloom weavers, who worked from weaving sheds at home, would have their cloth bleached so as to be able to profit themselves from the higher price that it would then fetch. 

The square brackets indicate where I have added letters or given the modern spelling of names and places, to assist people searching online.  (You can see that Staithes was spelled phonetically)

Newcastle Courant, 26 March 1743

BENJAMIN FLOUNDER,

of CRATHORNE, near YARM, hereby gives Notice, 

THAT he continues the BLEACHING OF LINEN CLOTH this Year as usual, to great Perfection.  His Prices are, as formerly, Yard-wide high white at Twopence Halfpenny per Yard, and so in proportion for broader or narrower, and Superfine Cloth at Threepence, which will be taken in at the following Places, viz.  

By Geo. Flower, Grocer, in Sunderland; Barnard Sheal, at the Dun Cow, in the Market-place, Durham; Sam. Dalkin, Roper, in Sedgefield; Mary Ward, Weaver, in Whitby; Rich. Taylor, at Steaths [Staithes]; Rich. Outhard, Weaver, in Guisborough; Joseph Flounder, Butcher, in Northallerton; Anthony Lidster, Dyer, near Bedale; Simon Bickerdike, Dyer, at Laburn [Leyburn]; Robt Hodgshon [Hodgson]. in Darlington; William Bird, Taylor, in Bishop Auckland; Jonathan Wheatley, Dyer, at Staindrop; Wm Hall, Tanner, in Barnardcastle; John Gill, Weaver, in Sockfield; Thomas Allison, in Chester-le-street; and at his own Shops at Stockton, Stoxley [Stokesley] and Yarm.  All Persons may depend on having their Cloth kept strong, and with a good Colour.  Mr Gabriel Hughes, Merchant, at Yarm, with himself, will be accountable for all the Cloth that comes to the above Peoples Hands. 

N.B.  He has made a great many Conveniences in his Yard, so that his Friends may expect to have their Cloth as well done as at Durham, or elsewhere.

Note:  For more on Benjamin Flounders (1768-1846) see Benjamin Flounders, a very useful account of this interesting man on the Stockton-on-Tees heritage site.

When Mr Mease of Hutton Rudby lost his arm, November 1860

We had always known that Joseph Mellanby Mease (1827-1928) lost an arm in an accident at the corn mill on Hutton bank, but I have at last found a newspaper article that carried an account of the accident at the time:-

York Herald. 1 December 1860

HUTTON RUDBY

A HERO

Mr Mease, of Hutton Rudby, was accidentally caught, a few days ago, by a part of the machinery of his mill, and his arm fearfully mangled and crushed.  He extricated himself and stopped the machinery.  Allowing no one to go home to tell his wife of the accident, he calmly concealed the arm, and walked home himself, afraid the shock to his partner would be as serious as the accident to himself.  He walked into the house in his usual calm manner, took down a book, and commenced reading it for a minute or two, and then gradually broke the matter to his wife.  By-and-bye surgical assistance was procured, and Mr Mease bore up with the greatest magnanimity, his wife aiding him with that fortitude and resignation he had sought.  The arm, we regret to say, had to be amputated.

Joseph Mellanby Mease was a well-educated and well-read man, born into a Stokesley family in 1827 and baptised there on 24 October 1827.  According to a report on his 100th birthday in the Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, he went to school in Doncaster and would tell lively recollections of his stage coach rides to school.

He married Harriett Wilkinson on 29 March 1854 in the parish church of Whitfield in Derbyshire, where Harriett was living at Norfolk Street.  She was the daughter of Joseph Wilkinson, a cotton mill manager.

Joseph was then working as chief clerk at the Lake Chemical Works in Jarrow (they were owned by a member of his family), and it was in Jarrow that their only child, Jane Ellen (always known as Jenny) was born.

Joseph, Harriett and Jenny came to Hutton Rudby in 1858, for Joseph to work as manager of the corn mill that stood half way up Hutton Bank.  Then he lost his right arm in the accident at the mill.

Many adjustments must have been made.  Here, for example, is the left-handed moustache cup that he used:-

He seems to have retired temporarily - in the 1861 Census he describes himself as a farmer of 23 acres.  He and his wife and daughter were living at Mill House, later to be named Leven Valley, a house on the Rudby side of the River Leven.  Joseph and Harriett lived there for the rest of their long lives.

By 1871 he was the Registrar of births and deaths for Hutton Rudby and an Inspector of Nuisances, or Sanitary Inspector, for Stokesley Rural Council, retiring at last when in his eighties.

His wife Harriett ran a school, assisted by her daughter Jenny.  (Mrs Mease’s school is mentioned in the Hutton School log book in 1879.)

Joseph Mellanby Mease and his wife Harriett

In this photograph you can see Joseph and Harriett together in old age.

When the Northern Echo celebrated its jubilee in 1920, Joseph was one of the three or four people who could prove that they had taken the paper from its first number, and he was presented with a silver teapot.

Harriett died at the age of 92 in 1924.

In his last years Joseph became famous as the village's centenarian, as these notes from a clipping in Miss Winifred Blair's green album show:-

Newspaper clipping from 15 October 1927:  

Centenarian as Stone Layer – Hutton Rudby G.O.M. likes Bright Villages – New £3,500 Hall – 

Hutton Rudby’s grand old man, Mr J M Mease, who recently celebrated his hundredth birthday, on Saturday laid one of the foundation stones of the new village hall.

In view of his great age, however, it was not felt fit that he should be subjected to the excitement of a public ceremony, and he performed his part in the function with his usual cheerfulness a couple of hours before the larger gathering, with a silver mallet with which he was presented by the architects.

He said that he had always been in favour of brightening village life and was thankful that he had been spared to see the start of a village hall  

Joseph Mellanby Mease

He attributed his great age to an open-air life, plenty of sleep and always having been abstemious.  He never smoked until he was over 80, and after that had a cigarette after supper every night.

He died at the beginning of January 1928.  His daughter Jenny lived afterwards in Rose Cottage, Enterpen.

The Mease family

Joseph Mellanby Mease (1827-1928) was the son of Thomas Mease (1792-1862) and the great-grandson of Solomon Mease (1731-1801).  

Born in Great Ayton, Solomon married Jane Humphrey and had four children.  He was the son of a weaver and trained as a weaver himself.  As I understand it (but I have no source for this information) Solomon inherited money and his wife brought him a good portion, but in the words of his son John, his “love for cards and drink was such that he was sold up in a few years”.  He joined the army and served as a sergeant in the American Wars.  His son John Mease left a diary which contains many references to the religious problems of the day, but I do not know where this diary is to be found.

For a full account (incorporating new research) of the Mease family in Stokesley and Hutton Rudby, the mills they established and their fluctuating fortunes, see the series of articles posted on 29 February 2020 beginning with The linen mills of Stokesley & Hutton Rudby: 1823-1908