James Wilson of Hutton Rudby (c1775-1865)

An old resident of Hutton Rudby has turned up in Massachusetts, and I think he may like to come home.  You can see him in this fine mid-19th century portrait by Clement Burlison.

Mr James Wilson of Hutton Rudby

James Wilson was born in about 1775 at Woodhouse, a few miles from Alnwick, in Northumberland.  He married Mary Straker in Gateshead on 30 January 1798.  They had a large family – I have found the names of three daughters (Jane, Matilda and Mary) and six sons (William, James, John, Henry, George and Edward) and there were possibly more – and they lived in Newcastle.

We don't know when his wife died, but by 1840 James was living in Hutton Rudby.

The fortunes of his son George (1810-76) had brought him to the village.  George was to be the founder of the Hutton Rudby Sailcloth Mill on the banks of the River Leven.

George had come to Hutton Rudby as a very young man in the 1830s when he was working as a clerk for the linen manufacturers & spinners, Messrs Clarke, Plummer & Co.  

It seems to me now, after looking at the newspaper reports that are now available online, that he had gone into the business in which his father had worked for many years.

This report shows that a Mr James Wilson had worked for Clarke, Plummer & Co for 37 years at their Northumberland Flax Mill at Ouseburn:-

Northern Liberator, 25 May 1839

A dinner was given on Monday last, by the workmen of the Northumberland flax mill, to Mr James Wilson, on the occasion of his retiring from his situation, when a silver cup was presented to him, bearing the following inscription:- "Presented to Mr James Wilson, by the workmen of Messrs. Clarke, Plummer, and Co., of the Northumberland flax mill, Ouseburn, as a token of their high respect for him, he having been agent for thirty-seven years to the said works. - 20th May, 1839."

I think it's very significant that James's daughter Mary, who generally recorded her place of birth in censuses as Newcastle, in the 1881 census was more specific – she said that it was Ouseburn.

There had been a flax mill by the Ouseburn near Newcastle since the mid-18th century (cf. here) and Clarke, Plummer & Co were evidently operating from there from the earliest years of the 19th century.  I assume they began with a water-driven flax spinning mill (cf here) but a steam engine was soon added.  Their first serious fire happened in 1822, when a flake of soot flew from the engine chimney and ignited a stock of flax and tow, and they had a very damaging fire in March 1836, when initial losses were estimated at £4,000.  For the men, women and children working there, the loss was of course of livelihood and means of subsistence. (For more on the lower Ouseburn industrial area, see here).  The fire of 1836 occurred while James Wilson was agent; I rather hope that it was during this calamity that he earned the respect of the workmen who gave him his silver cup on retirement.

Two years before James Wilson's retirement, this advertisement had appeared in the newspapers:

Newcastle Journal, 28 October 1837

ROBINSON & WILSON,

(SUCCESSORS TO MESSRS CLARKE, PLUMMER & CO. AS) 

LINEN MANUFACTURERS,

AT HUTTON RUDBY, YORKSHIRE, AND NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE; 

BEG respectfully to acquaint their Friends that they have REMOVED their Stock from the Warehouse at the Northumberland Flax Mill, Ouse Burn, to a newly erected and commodious one at

No. 79, PILGRIM-STREET,

Where they intend to keep an extensive Assortment of every kind of LINEN GOODS OF CLEVELAND MANUFACTURE, for the accommodation of their Customers in this District, and where all Orders will be received and attended to from this Date.
Newcastle, Oct. 11th, 1837

This was George Wilson's venture, and from this advertisement it seems that he was originally in partnership with a Mr Robinson.  It looks rather as though George has taken over the Hutton Rudby end of Messrs Clarke, Plummer & Co's business.  I know that he continued to keep a warehouse in Pilgrim Street,  Newcastle, as it is mentioned in the Shields Daily Gazette of 11 May 1864, when it was reported that his bookkeeper and manager had absconded after 26 years with the firm, taking with him at least £600 from the till.

By 1840, George's father James had joined him in Hutton Rudby, and was listed there under the

James Wilson (c1775-1865)

description 'Gentleman' in the 1840 White's Directory.  

I suspect that George must have been glad of James's presence in the village to supervise matters when George had to travel to Newcastle on business.  By that time, George was a family man.  He had married Ann Hutton in Newcastle on 9 June 1836, and their son James Alder Wilson was born in 1837, followed by Allan Bowes Wilson in 1839.

The censuses for 1841, 1851 and 1861 show that James lived in the last house at the west end of South Side.  (The house nowadays has a West End address, but the name West End was not used in the 19th century.)

This is a photograph of the house from the 1930s (courtesy of Malcolm McPhie), looking eastward along South Side:

Mrs Sidgwick in her front garden, Hutton Rudby 

The house looks rather different today: it has been rendered, the window glazing has been altered and, most noticeable of all, an enclosed porch has been added to the front door.

James lived there until his death on 14 July 1865 at the age of 90.

The family of James Wilson & Mary Straker

James & Mary's daughter Jane (c1806-77), married John Ingo, a shipowner and ship's captain (1800-77), who was born in Whitburn, Co. Durham.  They had no children, but their nephew John J Brunskill, ship broker's clerk, is with them for the censuses of 1861 and 1871.
In 1861 the Ingos were living in Sawdon House, Gosforth.  In 1871, they had moved to No 1 The Grove, Gosforth, where John died, a few months after his wife, on 30 December 1877.
In the 1851 Census, Jane is to be found in Hutton Rudby visiting her father.

James & Mary's daughter Matilda (1808-96) married a master mariner, Thomas Churnside.  She was a widow by the time of the 1861 census.  They had at least four children:  Matilda (b c1836), Mary, (b c1838), Edward (b c1841) and Jane Ingo Churnside (b c1842).
Young Matilda was to be found in Hutton Rudby in 1851, acting as housekeeper to her grandfather.  In 1861, Matilda and her children were living at 45 Fowler Terrace, Bishopwearmouth.  By 1891, old Matilda was living with her son (a Master Mariner – the census notes that he was deaf) and her widowed daughter Mary Robinson, at Bar Moor, Ryton, Gateshead.

James & Mary's daughter Mary (b c1817) married a Mr Todd (probably John Todd).  Their children were (or included) James Wilson Todd (b c1842), Edith (b c1855) and Mary (b c1852).
At the time of the 1861 census, Mary was staying with her father in Hutton Rudby, together with little Edith, while James Wilson Todd, a ship broker's apprentice, was staying with the Churnsides.  In 1871, Mary (described as a schoolmistress) was living with her daughters at 38 Tatham Street, Bishopwearmouth, and in 1881 she and her son James (then unemployed) were living at 10 Harlow Street, Sunderland.  

So it can be seen that the fortunes of Matilda and Mary were not as prosperous as those of their brother George.  Of the other brothers, William, James, John, Henry and Edward, I have no details.  Perhaps they too had George's entrepreneurial flair.

George Wilson & Ann Hutton lived at Hutton House, Hutton Rudby.  Their children were:

James Alder Wilson (1837-1910), Rector of Crathorne 

Allan Bowes Wilson (1839-1932) of Hutton House
for details of Allan's interest in the works of artist Ralph Hedley, see my blogpost here 

Thomas Bowes Wilson (1845-1929).  He and his wife Maria Hutton lived at Enterpen Hall.  They had three children:  Capt. George Hutton Bowes Wilson (1877-1915), solicitor, who married Nora Dulcie Linney;  Lt Col John Hutton Wilson (1880-1917); and Mary Hutton Austin.
for details of the life and early death of George, see my blogpost here

John George Wilson (1849-c1930) was a prominent solicitor in Durham.  He married Anna Louisa Eade, daughter of the Rev Canon Eade, vicar of Aycliffe, in 1879.  He inherited Staindrop Hall in Co. Durham on the condition that the family surname was changed to Luxmoore.  Their son Allan Aylmer Luxmoore was also a solicitor in Durham. 

Annie Hutton Wilson (1856-1947)

Allan and his brother Thomas took over the running of the Sailcloth Mill on their father's death.  For details of the mill in 1860 see this blogpost.  And for details of the mill in 1877 see this one.

The portrait by Clement Burlison (1815-99)

Clement Burlison was a native of the city of Durham.  A few newspaper clippings serve to track his career, and you can see that it was his bequest that established Durham's first art gallery:-

Durham Chronicle, Friday 27 November 1846

Our talented townsman, Mr Clement Burlison, returned to England a few days ago.  He has been spending the last two years for improvement in his profession in Rome, Florence, Venice, &c, and we understand brings with him a magnificent collection of studies from the Old Masters, &c, which will add materially to the fame which, before he left England, he had acquired as a first rate historical and portrait painter.  He sent home during his travels several excellent pictures, which were included in the last exhibition of the Royal Academy.

Northern Echo, 6 February 1899

DEATH OF MR BURLISON, OF DURHAM. - We regret to announce the death of Mr Clement Burlison (83), which occurred at his residence, Victoria-terrace, Western Hill, Durham, on Saturday.  

Mr Burlison, who was one of the oldest citizens of Durham, was an artist by profession, and his abilities gained for him considerable local reputation.  On many occasions he received commissions to paint the portraits of notable citizens, and many of those now occupy prominent positions on the walls of the Durham Hall, where they are much admired for the lifelike fidelity with which Mr Burlison has invested them.  In other directions beside that of portraiture Mr Burlison's talents were greatly appreciated.  He leaves a widow and one daughter.

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 4 June 1901

ART GALLERY FOR DURHAM
The Lord Lieutenant of Durham (the Earl of Durham) yesterday formally opened the art gallery which has been established in Durham by means of the bequest of the late Mr Clement Burlison, a Durham artist, who left to the city his collection of fifty pictures conditionally upon the city authorities providing a public gallery for their reception within a definite period.

The art gallery premises were in Sadler Street according to the Sunderland Daily Echo & Shipping Gazette of 31 May 1901.

Burlison left a record of his early life in a short book called The Early Life of Clement Burlison, Artist. Being His Own Record of the Years 1810 to 1847.  It was first published in 1898 and, according to the Newcastle Journal of 8 May 1914, "gives interesting information about the artist's methods of work".

You can find other paintings by Burlison online here, on the Art UK website, and also here.  You will be able to see from the Art UK website that Co. Durham still holds quite a stock of his civic portraits.  Other works by Burlison can be found in the online auction house sales records.

James Wilson's fine portrait has been found by Brad Verter of Carpe Librum Books, Williamstown, Massachusetts.  Brad deals in books and art and tells me that Clement Burlison had his creative peak in the 1840s and 1850s, which is when he thinks this portrait was completed.

And how could Brad tell that this grand old chap was James Wilson of Hutton Rudby?  Because he is

helpfully holding a letter addressed to himself.

This seems to me to be rather odd for a portrait intended for family, so I wonder if it was perhaps painted for some association or institution to which James belonged.  I wonder how it made the journey to the USA ...

If you are interested in acquiring James for your own walls (especially if it is a wall that James once knew, in Hutton Rudby or Crathorne!) please contact Brad at brad@carpelibrumbooks.com

The painting is for sale at $1,500 (about £1,125) plus shipping, which will be charged at cost.

And how can you resist, when old James is so finely rendered as this?

Schoolmaster wanted at Ormesby, 1793

An advertisement from 1793.  Revolutionary France had declared war on Britain on 1 February that year.  Little did anyone know that war would continue for the next two decades.

The Ormesby churchwardens were looking for a new schoolmaster for the "Publick Schoolhouse" which still stands in the High Street.  It had been built in 1744 and rebuilt in 1773, presumably just before the previous schoolmaster arrived.  The requirement that the master could teach Navigation is a reminder that Cleveland was a maritime area – and, of course, Stockton-on-Tees was then the nearest town.

Newcastle Chronicle, 28 December 1793

To SCHOOLMASTERS 

WANTED, at Ormesby, in Cleveland, near Stockton upon Tees, 

A SCHOOLMASTER, qualified to teach the English grammatically, Arithmetic, Navigation, &c, &c – A Person so qualified may have every Information respecting the Situation, by addressing a Letter (Post-paid) to John Hymers, or John Trenholm, Churchwardens of Ormesby; or R. Christopher, Bookseller, Stockton. 

N.B.  A good modern-built House and School-House adjoining, Rent-free with 3l a Year for teaching six poor Children to read. 

The late Master being dead, who occupied the same for above twenty Years, occasions this Vacancy.

Charles Hall goes coursing greyhounds, 1818

York Herald, 12 December 1818

In addition to the several convictions which have lately taken place in Cleveland, under the game laws, John Leng, of Bilsdale, carpenter, was convicted before the Very Rev. the Dean of York, on Friday week, in the penalty of £20 for setting snares in the estate of Sir Wm Foulis, at Ingleby Greenhow, on Sunday the 29th ult. and Charles Hall, of Hutton, near Rudby, labourer, was convicted on the same day before Sir W Foulis, in the like penalty, for coursing with greyhounds, without having obtained a game certificate

I think this is the Charles Hall mentioned in my research notes (People of Hutton Rudby in the C18/19):-

30 Nov 1817:  Charles Hall of Whorlton married Mary Taylor otp [of this parish].  Their children’s baptisms:  Jane 1818, Elizabeth 1819, Charles 1821, John 1823, Benjamin 1827, Robinson 1829, Marianne 1831, Isabella 1837.  Charles is described as farmer 1818-9, and labourer thereafter.  Their son Benjamin married in 1851 and remarried in 1861.  Charles died in 1854 a60.  His family’s gravestone [MI 396] is near the cholera mound, and records Charles, Elizabeth his daughter who d1844 a22, and Mary his wife

(On the subject of the Game Laws, it looks as though Gentlemen & Poachers: The English Game Laws 1671-1831 by P B Munsche is definitely the book to read.  I see from the 'Look Inside' preview pages on Amazon that Charles Hall should have paid £1 a year tax for keeping a greyhound.)

John Richard Stubbs: death announcement 1916

For those of you who have enjoyed reading John Richard Stubbs' diaries, this is the announcement of his death in the local newspaper:- 

Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 8 December 1916

Death of Mr J R Stubbs

Doyen of the Legal Profession in Middlesbrough 

The death has taken place at his residence, Trafalgar-terrace, Coatham, Redcar, of Mr John Richard Stubbs, one of the best known and most highly-respected citizens in the North Langbaurgh Division, and also in Middlesbrough, for many years past. 

The deceased gentleman was admitted a solicitor in 1860, and was the oldest practising member of the profession in Middlesbrough.  At one time he was in partnership with Mr Fred Brewster, and later with his son, Mr T D H Stubbs. 

For nearly 30 years the deceased gentleman had been clerk to the magistrates in the Langbaurgh North Petty Sessional Division (South Bank).  He was also for a considerable time the Official Receiver for Middlesbrough. 

In his 78th year, Mr Stubbs had not been enjoying very good health for the past few months, never having completely recovered from the shock caused by the death of his grandson, Mr Duncan Stubbs, a midshipman, who went down with HMS Aboukir, early in the war. 

He leaves a widow, a son, and a daughter. 

His son is Major T D H Stubbs, of the North Riding Battery of Artillery, and who is a solicitor and Deputy Coroner for Cleveland. 

The interment has been fixed to take place tomorrow afternoon at Coatham.

New Close Farm, Hutton Rudby, in 1812

York Herald, 10 October 1812

Hutton, otherwise Hutton Rudby

TO BE SOLD,

PURSUANT to an Order of the High Court of Chancery, bearing date the 8th day of July, 1811, made in a Cause wherein THOMAS BINKS is Plaintiff, and the Right Hon. MORRIS Lord ROKEBY and Others, are Defendants, a FREEHOLD and in part TITHE FREE ESTATE, called NEW CLOSE HOUSE, situate in the Township of Hutton, near Rudby, otherwise Hutton Rudby, in the County of York, consisting of a Mansion-House and Offices, and divers Closes or Pieces of Arable, Meadow, and Pasture Land, containing 143 Acres, or thereabouts, with Barns, Stables, and Outhouses. 

The said Estate will be sold in one Lot, before SAMUEL COMPTON COX, Esq. one of the Masters of the said Court, on FRIDAY the 20th day of November, 1812, between the hours of TWO and THREE o'clock in the afternoon, at the public Sale-Room of the said Court, in Southampton-Buildings, Chancery-Lane, London. 

Particulars whereof may be had (gratis) at the said Master's Chambers, in Southampton-Buildings aforesaid; of JOSEPH EGERTON, Esq. Solicitor, Gray's Inn Square; of Messrs TURNER and PIKE, Solicitors, Bloomsbury-Square; of Mr WHELDON, Barnard-Castle; and of Messrs CLARE and GREY, Solicitors, Stockton upon Tees 

New Close Farm lies off Black Horse Lane.  It was obviously a very desirable property, with its "Mansion-House", but why it was involved in this Chancery case, I do not know. 

Morris, Lord Rokeby (1757-1829) inherited the title as 3rd Baron Rokeby from his uncle, Matthew Robinson.  He came from a remarkable family. 

The first Baron Rokeby was the clergyman Richard Robinson, Archbishop of Armagh.  The title was created for him in 1777, with special remainder to Matthew Robinson (1694-1778) of West Layton, near Barnard Castle, his second cousin twice removed.  Very keen on public works, not so bothered about people, seems to have been the general verdict about Richard.  Sir Thomas Robinson, the extravagant creator of Rokeby Hall, was his brother.

Matthew, the 2nd Baron, heavily bearded, deeply eccentric, was the brother of two distinguished women of letters: the bluestocking Elizabeth Montagu and the novelist Sarah Scott.

Morris himself was an author, but his play The Fall of Mortimer is described in Biographia Dramatica (David Erskine Baker, 1812) rather discouragingly as

Never performed.  There is frequently force and spirit to be met with in the diction of this play; but the incidents and conduct of it are not so managed, as to produce the necessary degree of interest to have rendered it successful on the stage.

Speedy business, 1825

A reminder of a slower time:-

Yorkshire Gazette, 3 September 1825

On Monday week, Mr John Langdale, of Menithorpe, near Malton, started from Easingwold at one o'clock, and rode to Thirsk, where he did business; thence he rode to Potto, making three calls on business; from Potto he proceeded to Hutton Rudby, Middleton, Hilton, and to Stockton, making eight other calls; from Stockton, by Seamer, to Hutton Rudby, all with six hours, being a distance of at least fifty miles.

The first Primitive Methodist Chapel in Hutton Rudby is opened, 1821

I was very pleased to find this report from a Leeds newspaper when I was searching the digitised newspapers available on findmypast.co.uk.

It's an account of the opening of the first Primitive Methodist chapel in Hutton Rudby.  As you can see, Primitive Methodism had become very popular and great numbers of people filled the street.  It will have been a scene filled with lively singing and huge enthusiasm:- 

Leeds Intelligencer, 3 September 1821

Ranters.– A neat and commodious chapel was opened at Hutton Rudby, on Sunday, the 5th instant, for the use of the ranters.  There were three public assemblages in the street at the same time that public worship was performed in the chapel; and the concourse of people was immense, and of all descriptions.  Since the Ranters have had reason to apprehend prosecutions for preaching in the open air, many landholders and farmers in the north riding of Yorkshire have accommodated that sect with the use of their barns and other outbuildings.  They continue to increase in numbers and zeal.

You can find more information on the arrival of the Primitive Methodists – often known at the time as Ranters because of their style of worship – here in Chapter 1. Hutton Rudby: a North Riding Township of my book, Remarkable, but Still True.

Linden Grange, Hutton Rudby

I've mentioned Linden Grange, Hutton Rudby, several times on this blog. 

It is included in Stately Homes of Hutton Rudby, and it's mentioned in the accounts of Miss Winifred Rachel Blair and her scrapbooks, in the story of George Young Blair & Drumrauch Hall, in various chapters of Remarkable, but still True and so on.

But I never dealt with the garden and the grounds in any detail.  However, there is a full and interesting account by Louise Wickham of the development of the gardens and parkland of the house on the website of the Yorkshire Gardens Trust.  Not to be missed.  You'll find it here.

Revd Henry Clarke of Guisborough (1813-61)

On 15 March 2013, I wrote a blogpost about John and William Richardson, doctors and brothers, who were the mayors of Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough in the 19th century and I illustrated it with photographs from old albums – a photograph of each brother, as I thought.

But I was wrong – or, to be more exact, it was probably my great-great-aunt who was wrong – in labelling a photograph "Dr William Richardson" when it was actually a picture of the Revd Henry Clarke of Guisborough (1813-61).  I know this because I've been contacted by his great-great-grandson, who has a framed photograph with an inscription on the back to prove it definitively!

So here is the Revd Henry Clarke, looking very relaxed:

Revd Henry Clarke of Guisborough (1813-61)

Mystery stone structure in field near Crathorne

I was recently asked through the blog whether I had any information on a

"round stone structure that was in a field on the left hand side of the road to Crathorne" 

My correspondent Ian remembered seeing it as he cycled past in the 1970s and once running over the field to explore it – but it had no doors or windows, so it was impossible to tell what it was.

I remembered the structure – in fact, I remembered having a conversation with someone who explained it to me – but I couldn't remember the answer!

Luckily, Malcolm McPhie knew who to ask.  And here I think it's appropriate to remind everyone that his facebook page detailing the history of the Hutton Rudby Choral & Dramatic Society is definitely not to be missed!  It's filled with fascinating information and many videos of performances and of several Village Events and even includes such gems as this – a photograph of the mallet with which Mrs W L Johnson of Crathorne Grange laid a foundation stone of the Hutton Rudby Village Hall on 15 October 1927.

And so, thanks to Malcolm and with very many thanks to Maurice Atkinson, now 90 years of age, I have the explanation of the mystery stone structure.

It stood about half way between Hutton Rudby and Crathorne.  It was about 10 feet high and about 30 feet in diameter, but the outside walls were earthed up for about 3 feet so it may only have looked as thought it was 6 or 7 feet high.

It had been built for water storage, was fed from a windmill-driven pump and was located on raised ground to increase its pressure.

Its function was to supply water to Crathorne Hall and the village of Crathorne.

Maurice was related to the Atkinson family that had the mill at Crathorne and he remembers that they had piped water also fed from that tank.  He thinks its use was discontinued shortly after the Second World War when mains water arrived in the area.  It was demolished several years ago.

Maurice also reminded my friend that in the same field was a dummy WWII airfield, complete with its own entrance and a sign above it – it was called "Seldom Scene" airfield.

What's On in Darlington, 22 April 1893

As we look forward to the opening of the newly-restored Darlington Hippodrome, the following newspaper clipping seems quite apt.

It doesn't actually feature that particular theatre, which dates from 1907.  It began its life as the Hippodrome, became the Civic Theatre, and is now resuming its original name.  Full details of its history can be found here.

This newspaper clipping features the Theatre Royal, which was in Northgate.  It closed in 1937 and the building was later the Regal Cinema; it is now the Odeon.

It is a report from the celebrated theatrical newspaper, The Era, and it comes from a section called Provincial Theatricals: From Our Own Correspondents:

The Era, 22 April 1893

Darlington 

THEATRE ROYAL.– Lessees, Messrs A and P Milton; Manager, Mr W E Potts.– Messrs Vaughan and Carlton's well-selected company occupy the boards with Fenton Mackay's new realistic drama entitled Spellbound, and are attracting large audiences.  Mr Harrington Reynolds makes an admirable George Westland, and Mr W J Vaughan does well as Count Santos.  Miss Helen McCulloch wins the sympathies of the audience as Helen Westland.  Mr Arthur Kingsley is capital as Mr Harry Melton, and the comedy element is safe in the hands of Mr George Sennett and Miss Mary Rivington.

LORD GEORGE SANGER pitched his enormous tent in Darlington on Wednesday, and gave two excellent performances.  The afternoon programme attracted a large audience and in the evening there were about 5,000 present to witness the doings of the various artists, all very clever.  

Though Spellbound is billed as "realistic", it nevertheless includes that reliable and not very realistic stock figure of the drama, the Adventuress.  This one, together with her brother Count Santos, wields a mysterious power over the unfortunate George Westland.

I don't know where the famous Lord George Sanger pitched his enormous circus tent, I'm afraid – but perhaps it was the Show Field in South Park.

George Sennett

Following up on George Sennett – in whose hands the comedy element of Spellbound had been safe – I found a sad but interesting story of the vicissitudes of stage life.

George had been in the news for rather less flattering reasons nearly 20 years earlier, when he was about 27 years old.

In November 1874, newspapers across the country carried the lively story of his argument with a fellow actor, J H Clynds.  They were performing together at the Grecian Theatre in City Road, London and were now appearing together in the magistrates' court.  Sennett was the complainant, alleging that Clynds had attacked him.

Clynds was the star, playing the juvenile leads, while Sennett specialised in the heavies and the villains.  Every night in their current piece, Sennett had to die and Clynds had told him that he should be doing it lower down the stage.

Sennett retorted that he had received his orders from the authors and he wouldn't be taught what to do by Clynds.  The argument in their dressing room grew very heated, Clynds telling Sennett that he used idiotic language and Sennett retorting that Clynds was a liar.

On cross-examination, Sennett said that he hadn't used a vulgar adjective as well as the word liar and that he wasn't in the habit of bullying and blustering in the theatre.  Witnesses who had heard the racket were divided, I think according to whose side they were taking – the manager and author of the piece, for example, said that he thought Sennett was a blackguard.

At the close of the performance, Clynds waited for Sennett outside the theatre and demanded an apology – when none was forthcoming, he hit Sennett on the head with a thin walking cane.  Sennett told the court that he couldn't explain how his own, heavier, stick came to be broken as well and that he didn't know if he had hit Clynds back.  He said he hadn't pushed Clynds and told him to go to a very warm place.

The magistrate said that Sennett ought to have accepted the apology that Clynds had written after receiving the court summons, and bound Clynds over to keep the peace.

By 1893, when Sennett was performing in Darlington, his career must already have been on the slide.  He had worked for a good many years at the Grecian Theatre in London, but now he was touring.  Seven years later, in 1900, things had got much worse.

Sennett was now 53 years old and the work had dried up.  He and his wife Ada, who had been on the stage herself as an actor and dancer, moved to Manchester.  They found employment for a time, George as an extra at the Theatre Royal and Ada in the wardrobe department of the Queen's Theatre, but by May they were both out of work and had become very depressed.  One Sunday afternoon, their landlady at 58 Cumberland Street found them both unconscious on the bed, with three empty laudanum bottles on the table.

George died, but Ada was taken to the Royal Infirmary and eventually recovered.  Unfortunately, her situation was still hopeless and six months later The Era reported that she was close to starvation and it was thought that "those who know her and knew her husband will not forget her in her time of need".

But this tactful little piece was not echoed by the report at the same time in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser.   On 5 December 1900 it gave details of Ada's appearance in the magistrates' court under the headline

One of Life's Wrecks

Ada Sennett "an old woman, of unkempt and emaciated appearance, and miserably clad, was charged with being drunk and incapable in Quay-street, on Monday afternoon ... she has been assisted at various times by prominent people in Manchester theatrical circles, but is still in a very poverty-stricken condition."  

She was discharged and advised to give up alcohol or she would find herself in gaol.  She objected strongly to the suggestion that she should go to the Workhouse.

Just before Christmas she was up in court again and, as she wouldn't promise to reform her ways, she was sent to gaol for 14 days.  The newspaper report stated that she was 70 years old, but she was actually only 57 when she died in the spring of 1901.

The murder of James Lyall in Venezuela, 1900

A sad and mysterious story:

Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough 31 March 1900

The Assassination of a Darlington Man in Venezuela

Mr E W Lyall, of Darlington, has received some further details concerning the death of his son, Mr James Lyall, who for some time, prior to his death at the hands of an assassin, was attached to the British Consulate, Cuidad Bolivar, Venezuela.   

It will be remembered that the circumstances of the murder were reported in the "Gazette" a few weeks ago.  Mr Lyall was leaving the Consulate, when he was followed by three men, one of whom stabbed him the side near the heart, and he fell to the ground.  Whilst Mr Lyall was lying there the man again stabbed him.   

The man is now in custody, and is a native of Colombia.  He is believed to be one of five conspirators, and has since confessed to the crime, and says he is but the tool of others.   

Mr Lyall left England in October 1893, and frequently acted as Consul during the absence of Mr C H de Lemos.  Deceased was 23 years of age, and had a most promising career before him.   

Mr E W Lyall has received a letter from another son who is an engineer at Demerara, and states what steps were being taken with regard to the death of his brother.  Mr C H de Lemos has also written to Mr Lyall, returning all the letters addressed to the deceased.  A temporary cross had been erected at the head of the grave of Mr Lyall, and Mr de Lemos and his wife had paid several visits to the grave, which had been planted with everlasting flowers.

Birmingham Daily Post, 3 April 1900

The Murder of the British Deputy Consul at Bolivar

A British Guiana correspondent states in reference to the assassination of Mr James Lyall, British Deputy Consul at Bolivar, Venezuela, on February 28, that Mr Lyall had just left his office when he was attacked by an assassin, who is stated to be a Colombian, and fatally stabbed.  Mr C H de Lemos, British Consul, was preparing to go on leave, and Mr Lyall was to have acted for him during his absence. 

Mr Lyall came out from England in 1898, and during his connection with the consulate he has been most energetic in attending to British interests in the district.  It is believed that the murder was committed at the instigation of a party of conspirators.  Writing to a brother of his in Georgetown, on February 13, Mr Lyall said a state of political anarchy prevailed in Bolivar, and that the inhabitants daily expected the town to be attacked by the rebels.

The father of the poor young man was Edward Whyte Lyall.  Born in Edinburgh, he was a civil engineer and surveyor.  He and his wife Ann came to Darlington from Scotland in the late 1860s.

They lived for a time at 13 Woodlands Terrace before moving to 4 Vane Terrace, which was their home for the rest of their lives.  Edward died there in 1922 at the age of 81.  The notice of his death in the Yorkshire Post records that he

had been in declining health lately, though he was out for a walk on Wednesday. Yesterday morning he was found dead in bed, having passed away in his sleep in the night. 

Mr Lyall was well known in his profession, being responsible, among other works, for a number of water supplies around Darlington.  He was for a long period hon. secretary of the Darlington Charity Organisation Society.

His wife Ann died in 1930.

The British consul named in the newspaper reports was Charles Hermann de Lemos (c1855-1928).  Born in Hamburg, he took British nationality at the age of 27 while living in Newcastle.  He was appointed H.M. Consul for "the States of Bolivar, Sucre, and Barcelona, to reside at Ciudad Bolivar" on 10 Mar 1899.  His wife, with whom he paid the visits to young Mr Lyall's grave, was Guillermina Dalton (1855-1943).

William Hall Burnett (1840-1916)

Here is a new website about William Hall Burnett, journalist & editor, newspaper proprietor & poet.

He was born in Stokesley in 1840 and began his career under the printer William Braithwaite, and was deeply influenced by him and by the Rector, Charles Cator.

Only three posts so far, but all very interesting – especially for those with an interest in Stokesley – and do check out the section called Things to Come.

Kendal & Flintoff marriage announcement 1805

I know there are readers out there looking for Flintoffs:-

Leeds Intelligencer, 9 September 1805

On Monday was married, Mr R Kendal, of Barton, to Miss Flintoff, late of Hutton Rudby.

Thomas Wayne of Angrove Hall

York Herald, 15 August 1801

GAME

WHEREAS the GAME within the Manors of HIGH WORSALL, HUTTON near RUDBY, AND KIRBY, belonging to THOMAS WAYNE, Esq., hath of late been almost entirely destroyed; it is requested that no Gentleman will Hunt, Shoot, or Course upon the said Manors, or any of the Grounds of the said THOMAS WAYNE, without his leave in writing.  All unqualified persons found trespassing will be immediately prosecuted.

ANGROVE HALL, Aug. 13, 1801

More details on Thomas Wayne of Angrove Hall (which stood between Great Ayton and Stokesley) can be found in Stately Homes of Hutton Rudby.

His servant Mark Barker was a major beneficiary under Wayne's Will, inheriting the mill by the River Leven in Hutton, the lordship of the manor of Hutton and several other properties (see A History Walk round Hutton Rudby.  I posted a piece about Mark Barker's Will earlier in the blog, here.

For maps of the area in which Angrove Hall once stood – and for the story of its haunting – see the Great Ayton history website for information from Peter Meadows' unpublished article, Angrove Hall, a lost Cleveland house.

North Riding dialect

I came across the website of the Yorkshire Dialect Society recently and their page of recordings of dialect readers and raconteurs.

I was so pleased to find that the North Riding dialect reader is the late great Bill Cowley, who I have
mentioned on this blog before.

As they say nowadays, Enjoy!

Miss Margaret Clarke (1833-97), "highly-respected Northern educationist"

Margaret Clarke belonged to the generation of pioneers in women’s education. She was born in 1833 in the parsonage in Wolviston, Co Durham, one of a large but impecunious family.  She didn’t follow the paths we might have expected for a woman of her time – she didn’t marry, she didn’t become the useful spinster aunt and she didn’t become an unregarded and underpaid governess.  She became a gifted teacher, a skilled networker and a good administrator and businesswoman.

Margaret Clarke's origins

Her father was the Revd Lancelot Christopher Clarke (1793-1864).  He was born in Stanhope, Co Durham; his father, the Revd John Clarke, was then perpetual curate of St John’s Chapel in Weardale.  John Clarke must have made his way on his own merits.  A History of Northumberland in Three Parts by John Hodgson (1820) says that he was born in 1756 in the Morpeth deanery in “a solitary farm-house, called Ridpath, within the boundary of the Wallington estate, and on the north side of Harwood and of Fallowlees-burn”. 

He had no patron to give him a living with a substantial income but must have had a friend at Durham Cathedral because in 1802 he was made a Minor Canon and in 1808 the Dean and Chapter appointed him vicar of Billingham where he stayed until his death in 1831.  He wrote several tracts (A Brief Illustration of the Morning Service, &c and others) which were printed at Durham and later reprinted in an edition edited by his son.  His position at the cathedral must have been useful in obtaining from the Dean and Chapter the preferment of the chapelry of Wolviston – which lay within the parish of Billingham – for his son Lancelot.

So Lancelot came to Billingham as a boy of about 14 and it was there that he met his future wife, Isabella White (1800-73).  They married in 1819 after Lancelot came down from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and was priested at Durham.  

Isabella was born and brought up at Brook House, Billingham.  Her father Robert White was the farmer there; her mother Margaret Blackburn came from Guisborough.  Brook House Farm lay not far from Billingham Mill, just above the mill race which led into Billingham Beck.  An industrial estate covers the site now.  

Lancelot and Isabella began their married life in Billingham and their first two children were born there.  They moved into Wolviston Parsonage in 1823.

Wolviston was enticingly described in An historical, topographical, and descriptive view of the county palatine of Durham of 1834 – the year after Margaret was born – as “pleasantly situated on the turnpike road between Sunderland and Stockton ... The soil on which it stands is dry, and the southern prospect is extensive and beautiful”.  It was a sizeable village, with “several good houses” and must have been a lively place as it contained 6 public houses, a spirit & porter merchant, 5 shopkeepers, a corn-miller, 4 butchers, 2 gardeners, 2 stone-masons, a bricklayer, 4 joiners & cartwrights, 2 blacksmiths, 2 tailors, 2 shoemakers and a saddler.  

The young vicar was full of energy.  On 23 January 1830, the Durham Chronicle reported that he had – by his “zealous exertions” – led villagers from Wolviston to the aid of people fighting a fire that had broken out “in some wooden sheds, used as workshops, adjacent to the splendid mansion of the Marquis of Londonderry”.  Luckily there was a strong wind blowing from the north east so that the fire did not reach the “noble Marquis’s Orangery” or threaten “his Lordship’s magnificent house”.

During that year, the chapel at Wolviston was enlarged by the addition of “a neat, elegant steeple, of polished Yorkshire stone” which, according to the Durham Chronicle of 25 December 1830 “is now seen to tower up in the centre of the village, presenting to the eye quite a new and highly ornamental feature in the scenery of the surrounding neighbourhood.  The whole has been effected by means of voluntary contributions”.  The chapel re-opened just before Christmas with Lancelot giving “an appropriate and impressive sermon”.  We can’t see Lancelot’s church now – I see from the Victoria County History that it was rebuilt in 1876.

By that time Lancelot and Isabella already had five children.  There were to be several more – they had eleven children, as far as I can see.  Margaret was the seventh, baptised on 16 March 1833.  It was a full household and by 1841 it also included his mother-in-law, Mrs Margaret White.  

I think money must always have been tight, as the stipend was not generous and Lancelot had so many mouths to feed.  The 1834 View of the County Palatine shows that he was then running an Academy.  He later tried his hand at farming, but it evidently didn’t answer the purpose because by the early summer of 1847, when Margaret was 14, his financial situation came to a terrible crisis and he ended up in Durham Gaol as an Insolvent Debtor.  He spent four months in gaol.  Perhaps he was helped by friends or family, because he was able to come to an arrangement with his creditors and I’m glad to say that he seems to have bounced back.  The day after his appearance before the Durham County Court he was at the third Annual meeting of the tenantry of the Londonderry estate enjoying a good dinner with the other local clergy.  But it must have been a searing experience for the family.

Margaret's education and early career

Unsurprisingly, Margaret was sent to the Clergy Daughters School at Casterton, where she could be educated cheaply.  This was the later incarnation of the school at Cowan Bridge, which was described so vividly and unfavourably by Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre.  The school had moved to the healthier situation of nearby Casterton in 1833, eight years after Charlotte and her sisters were removed from the school by their father.  

We find Margaret there, aged 18, in the 1851 census together with her younger sister Mary Ann, aged 14.  Margaret was one of the older pupils and I think she must have stayed on as a Pupil Governess because her obituary in the Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough records that she went from there to become an associate of the Sisterhood of Holy Trinity, Oxford.  

The Society of the Holy and Undivided Trinity was an Anglican Sisterhood which ran a convent school in Oxford – the buildings now form part of St Antony’s College.  There she must have gained more teaching experience.

I suspect that during her later years at Casterton she encountered Miss Dorothea Beale, who was superintendant of the school during 1857, because in 1860 Margaret was invited onto the staff of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College, where the celebrated Miss Beale was Principal.

Margaret sets up her own school

Margaret remained there five years and then, in 1865, set up her own small school at the Old Hall, Kirkleatham – the building we now know as Kirkleatham Old Hall Museum.  She had made good use of her time at Cheltenham and clearly had made some very useful connections.  Here is her advertisement from 1868:

Newcastle Journal, 19 December 1868

HOME EDUCATION – MISS CLARKE, Kirkleatham Old Hall, Redcar receives TEN YOUNG LADIES to educate on a system adapted to the highest purpose of Education.  The domestic arrangements are those of a private family.  Terms from £60 to £100 per annum, according to age and requirements.  There are two Vacancies.  References can be given to the Dowager Viscountess Barrington, the Lady Ponsonby, the Rev Canon Woodford (Vicar of Leeds), Dr Acland, F.R.S., Regius Professor of Medicine, Oxford, &c

Margaret was targeting the affluent market and had references – and fees – to match.  She soon realised that she could build on her growing success and decided to relocate to London where it would be very much easier to find staff of the calibre she required.

She took a house in Warrington Crescent, Maida Vale, in a terrace of tall white-stuccoed Italianate town houses.  They were five stories high including the servants’ quarters on the top floor and only recently built.  There she and her sister Catherine (who seems to have been generally known as Kate) set up their school.

At the time of the census in 1871 they occupied numbers 26 and 28 Warrington Crescent and their widowed mother and older sister Elizabeth were there with them.  The school remained popular with parents from the North, and among the 15 pupils were four from Yorkshire and three from Newcastle.  A closer inspection of the census details reveal that two of the Yorkshire girls were from Middlesbrough and that they were girls who have featured on this blog before: Annie and Ellen Richardson, aged 14 and 13, the daughters of Dr John Richardson and his wife Margaret Elizabeth Weatherill.

Expansion of the school & the last years of the Misses Clarke

Perhaps Margaret was always on the lookout for a large house in its own grounds, because it was not long before she took out a lease on Brondesbury Manor House in Willesden.  The buildings dated mainly from the late 18th century and early 19th century; the grounds had once been landscaped by Repton, who commented favourably on its hill-top position.  The railway had reached Willesden and from the late 1860s houses for merchants and City professionals were being built.  It must have seemed a very appropriate area.  Margaret took possession in around 1881 and seems to have begun building work to make the buildings ready for occupation by the girls.

The 1881 census shows that the school had expanded dramatically.  Margaret and Kate now had three houses, numbers 24, 26 & 28 Warrington Crescent.  The seven teachers (described by Miss Clarke as “governesses”) included a young French-born British woman and a young woman from Germany, so we can see the pupils were learning both French and German.  The housekeeping staff consisted of a housekeeper, an accountant, a matron, a cook, 2 parlourmaids, 5 housemaids and a kitchenmaid.  

There were 48 pupils aged mostly between 14 and 18, the youngest child being 10 years old.  They included four girls from overseas (India, Cape of Good Hope, Portugal and Canada) and several from the North of England – a girl from Newcastle, another from Kendal, and Elizabeth Faber, the daughter of Henry Grey Faber, solicitor in Stockton-on-Tees, and Kathleen Newcomen, whose father owned Kirkleatham Hall, the great house that was demolished in the 1950s.

By 1891, the school had expanded further still.  Brondesbury Manor was nearly ready for full occupation and in the meantime the census shows that the sisters now had four houses in Warrington Crescent – numbers 24, 26, 28 & 30.  The pupils, teachers and domestic staff were divided between the houses.

In Number 24, there were 12 girls, four of them from Yorkshire, living under the supervision of three teachers.  One taught German & Music, another English & Music and the third taught English.  In Number 26, Miss Kate Clarke presided over the domestic staff – a secretary, a matron (from Gateshead), a housekeeper, a cook, parlourmaid, 5 housemaids, a kitchenmaid and a 15 year old boy as a page.  There was another Music teacher living there.  In Number 28, an English teacher and a French teacher were in charge of 14 pupils, including 2 from Yorkshire and one from Tynemouth.  In Number 30, yet another English teacher had the charge of 7 girls (including one from Nova Scotia and another from New Zealand).  Also living there were a carpenter, a housekeeper, and a 13 year old described as School Boy.  Clearly the school prided itself on music and English – masters will have visited the school to teach other subjects.   

At Brondesbury, the census reveals Margaret presiding over three teachers (one taught German & music, the other two English) and 27 pupils, including a girl from Australia.  She was assisted by a manageress born in Wynyard, Co Durham, and her staff consisted of a ladies’ maid, parlourmaid, 4 housemaids, a cook and a houseboy.  A gardener and his family lived in the Manor House Cottage.  Staying with Margaret was an old pupil, Miss Agatha Skinner, aged 33.

While Miss Kate Clarke stayed in Warrington Crescent, chiefly with the younger girls, work continued apace to build a school chapel.  The building was largely financed by a generous donation from Miss Agatha Skinner, and the chapel was dedicated on 7 June 1892 by the Rev W H Cleaver.  The first Confirmation was held by the Bishop of Marlborough, Alfred Earle, whose daughter was a pupil.  Soon afterwards the houses in Warrington Crescent were given up, and all the girls moved into the Manor House, which had been extended to accommodate them

Miss Margaret Clarke presided over the Manor House for only a few more years.  She died on 11 February 1897 at the age of 64.  Her obituary in the Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough on 26 February called her 

“a once well-known [clearly her renown in London did not count] and highly-respected Northern lady educationist ... known to the leading educationists of the day as one only second to the late Miss Buss [of the North London Collegiate School for Ladies] in powers of organisation and devotion to her work.”

Kate Clarke carried on the school for the next two terms, but it must have been a very difficult time and she must have been very glad to find a buyer quite quickly.  This was Miss Lucy Helen Muriel Soulsby, headmistress of Oxford High School, who arrived at the school in September 1897 and took it over completely from Kate at the beginning of 1898.  Kate lived only two years longer.  She died on 11 February 1897, aged 59.

The two Misses Clarke had not only made their school a resounding educational success, they had also made a substantial fortune.  When Margaret died in 1897, she left £8,114 10s 1d; Kate’s estate (which obviously included the sale of the business) amounted to £18,717.  

Brondesbury Manor House School under Miss Soulsby (1856-1927)

Miss Soulsby – such an apt name, I feel it would have been chosen for her by Charles Dickens – had bought the school with her own objective already fixed in her mind.  Her mother was the strongest influence in her life and, in the words of the Dictionary of National Biography, Miss Soulsby reverenced “the power of the home”.  She intended to put character-building ahead of academic achievement and she intended to form “fine wives and fine mothers”.  

She drew further inspiration from the works of John Keble, Charlotte M Yonge and Elizabeth Missing Sewell (who, with her brothers, has already appeared in this blog), emphasising the importance of developing spirituality and self-discipline.  She was clearly a very charismatic character and was very much in the public eye, a great committee woman, traveller and writer of pamphlets and books.  Unsurprisingly, she opposed female suffrage.  

She retired from the school in 1915, leaving it in the hands of Miss Frances Abbott, but she was still very much in charge.

During this time, Northern families remained loyal to the school, perhaps unconscious of the changes that had taken place.  Mrs Margaret Richardson, who had sent her daughters Annie and Ellen to Miss Clarke’s school in the 1870s, sent her stepdaughters Averil and Madge Buchannan there as well.  They evidently remembered their schooldays with affection because they sent their own daughters there after the First World War.  Alas, by then the school was not the congenial place they remembered, and several of the girls were actively unhappy while all of them seem to have resented the petty discipline and the poor academic performance.

Memories of the school in the early 1920s

Mary Hurst attended the school between 1921 and 1923.  The best that can be said for it, as far as I can see, is that it gave her plenty of time to daydream during lessons; she had two novels, Thy People and The Bond of the Spirit, published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1928 and 1930.

In her unpublished memoirs, Mary left a vivid portrait of the school, which her sister-in-law Katharine Stubbs described tersely with the words, “Lousy education.  Sadistic discipline.  Good on arts.”  Interesting to note that Mary came to Brondesbury from the Oxford convent school in which Miss Clarke had once taught, and which Mary found preferable in terms of education, discipline, kindness and lack of silliness about boys.

Brondesbury Manor House, c1921

Mary wrote that even in the years that she spent at Brondesbury, Miss Soulsby still “periodically made formidable descents on the school to see that [her customs] were being duly continued”.

Here is her description of the school regime:

When the present girls left they did not become simply old girls but some sort of flower, the earlier Miss Soulsby generation being Rosemaries and the later Water Lilies, but the original Manor House-ites, to whom my mother-in-law and her sister belonged were simply called “Miss Clarke’s old girls”.  I fancy Miss Clarke, an uncompromising Puseyite lady devoid of whimsies, would not have approved of all the horticulture.

Brondesbury crest

We were given over to the care of our respective “school mothers” for the first two weeks of school life.  It was a good idea, and conscientiously did my worthy if uninspiring “mother” perform her heavy task.   

She made me rise at 6.30 in order that no possible thing should be left undone to ensure a tidy bedroom.  The bedrooms were inspected when we were at Prayers and the names of the untidy people and their offences were read out by the Head at breakfast.  It was an offence to have a piece of cotton on the floor, a corner of blanket hanging crooked on the chair when the bed was stripped, a blind out of line or a single dead flower in your vase.   

You belonged to a block house, a group of seven or eight girls under a Captain.  “Lucknow” was the Scottish block-house where I, who have not a drop of Scottish blood in my veins, spent two terms; but indeed I started in the Kitchener’s Army block-house and ended as Captain of Revenge, the Navy one, without the faintest connection with either.   

The untidy offender followed her block-house Captain upstairs and picked up the cotton or whatever it was.  If there was no excuse the whole blockhouse lost the Red Star for that week.  It taught us neatness all right, but when I tell you that we lost the Gold Star for a word spoken at any time in the bedrooms (the worst offence of all), the Green Star for a word in the passage, half another star for a shoe adrift in the boot-room, half for any unpunctuality and another whole star for an untidy drawer, you can imagine life was rather hazardous.   

Every morning our persons were inspected from hair to shoes in a vaguely military manner by the Blockhouse Captain and her lieutenant, and it went ill with you if the white starched apron in which each girl was clad had a tear or a button missing.  

The rooms in which the girls slept were named after places that appealed to the imagination of Miss Soulsby.  The landings on the first and second floors were named after her favourite countries – Spain, Italy, France, Greece, etc – and the rooms were named accordingly.  Mary seems to have been in an Algerian section, sleeping in the room called Timgad, which led out of Tiemcen.  The 6th form room was called Byzantium.  The passage by the garden door where girls could read the Illustrated London News was called The Fourth Estate.  I see from a map I found amongst Katharine Stubbs’ papers that the naming extended to the garden, where could be found Bunyan’s Arbour, Little Gidding, Tigris, Arabia and a path named Path to Fairyland and St Hilda’s.

We were placed in classes for sitting, standing and walking.  I soon acquired a more poker-like posture, but my walk was beyond either threats or entreaties.  We were exhorted to strive to be Harebells, which involved always being very straight-backed, courteous and tidy and thus gaining the right to wear a brooch with a harebell upon it. 

At the beginning of every term came the ceremony of obtaining a motto for your cubicle.  “Ich Dien” and “Noblesse Oblige” were the most popular, but “I can because I must and by God’s help I will” was quite a good second.  The mysterious “Here Stand I.  I can no other,” and “Here or nowhere is America,” were low on the list.  “Don’t think of the carriage-in-pair in front but the donkey-cart behind” was deservedly rejected, and “He is so much in love with misery who likes to sit down on his own little handful of thorns” (a most uncomfortable bed-time thought) was at the very bottom.  Miss Soulsby’s passion for mottoes ran riot in every corner but was there or was there not a glint of humour in putting “E’en the light harebell lifts its head exultant from her airy tread” over the school’s main staircase?   

Miss Soulsby was present in person and we were told to bow or curtsey low to her when we entered the drawing-room.  Distracted by seeing a youthful mistress appearing, far too daringly, as an ancient Briton in a hearthrug, bangles and enough brown stain to render Dominion bathroom unusable for days, and hampered by shortsight, I prostrated myself before the only strange lady in view, who turned out to be the Normanbys' governess, who was visiting Katharine Phipps [daughter of Lord Normanby], only to be later confronted by a prodigious vision in a Mary Queen of Scots mantilla, who was obviously the great Lucy S.

There is a photograph of Miss Soulsby in the mantilla on the Brent Museum & Archives website.

The Sunday routine sounds particularly uninviting:

A Manor House Sunday began for those who had not been to Early Service, with shortened prayers before breakfast and after breakfast a promenade round the grounds as on weekdays, only always with hats on because of it's being Sunday.  This was known as First Walk. 

Then we sat in the schoolroom and learned alternate verses of a poem from The Christian Year, then we were herded into the Chapel for Morning Service ending abruptly with Ante-Communion but no communion to follow.  After this came Long Walk which was the only walk taken outside the garden, and the neighbourhood was so dreary that this hardly caused surprise.   

Then we stood in twos in the schoolroom and said our verses from The Christian Year.  After lunch came First Sweet Walk, round and round the garden again, everyone with hats on.  Then the actual sweet-eating, an unseemly exhibition in the Boot-room where you were often unable to have any of your own sweets as they had to be universally distributed and greedy people always asked if they could take two.  Then there was the Second Sweet Walk, followed by the oasis of silent reading from which we were rushed to Chapel for Church History or some such.   

Then tea, and after tea we all took chairs and trailed into the drawing-room where there was hymn-singing (it was amazing that in a finishing-school where so much weight was given to music there was hardly a girl who could play for this adequately).   

After hymn-singing there were readings from George Herbert and The Pilgrim's Progress, Miss Abbott having previously recorded the Stars of each block-house on a special board prepared by the Bell-ringer and had a good stare at any star-losing culprit, who had to stand up for the purpose.   

Then we went back to our class-rooms and wrote our home letters.  Then we had supper and some more improving reading in the drawing-room and then went, exhausted, to bed.  

Only one girl in the Sixth Form in Mary’s time passed Matriculation.  It is cheering to note that Miss Soulsby’s strong aversion to women’s suffrage had no effect on the girls of Mary Hurst’s time.  She herself was already very politically aware and her father Gerald Berkeley Hurst, Conservative MP for Moss Side, Manchester, always impressed upon his daughters and granddaughters that they must vote, because women had died for them to be entitled to do so.  Katharine Stubbs, on leaving school, went and helped a friend’s family electioneering in Eastbourne, while Katharine Phipps, always known to her schoolfriends as a Communist, went to work in the East End at the Camberwell settlement.

Miss Soulsby died on 19 May 1926, and the school continued – but with something of a change of direction.  It was examined and approved by the Board of Education and it gained a science laboratory.

The school went on to have several new manifestations.  

In 1934, after a move from Brondesbury to Cranleigh, Surrey, it became known as Brondesbury-at-Nanhurst.  Brondesbury Manor House, described as “shabby-looking”, was bought by a builder and demolished to make way for housing.  In 1941 the school evacuated to Shakenhurst Hall in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire.  The following year it moved again, to Stocks House near Tring, where it became known as Brondesbury-at-Stocks.

And it was there that Miss Clarke’s school at last came to an end in 1972.

Sources: 

Unpublished memoirs of Mary Hurst

Information sent to Katharine Hill née Stubbs in 1987 by the Grange Museum, London Borough of Brent: copy of the Silver Jubilee issue of the Brondesbury Magazine 1930

Notes left by Margaret Isobel Stubbs née Buchannan

Photographs by Katharine Stubbs

Samuel and Louis, artists & brothers

This isn’t actually to do with North Yorkshire, but I have the information and I feel I must do something with it!

It is the story of two brothers, both artists, whose identities have become curiously conflated in recent years.

If you search online for Samuel Baruch Halle, you will be informed that he was a French artist, who was born in 1824 and died in Paris in 1889.  On the sidebar you may find the name Ludwig Halle, who was – again – born in 1824 and died in Paris in 1889.

If you then search for Ludwig Halle, you may find your way to the German wikipedia entry which gives his name as Samuel Baruch Ludwig Halle, and describes him as a German artist who also worked in London and Paris and who was born in – surprise! – 1824 in Frankfurt am Main and died in Paris in 1889.

Some of this is true.  Here is the real story.

Samuel Baruch Halle and his brother Ludwig (who was known in his adult life as Louis) were both born in Frankfurt am Main.  Samuel was the elder, born in 1824.  Louis was born in 1828.  Neither of them died in 1889.

They were the sons of Simon Markus Baruch Halle (1794-1864) and Fanny Flörsheim (1803-32).

Simon was a bitter and disappointed man and a neglectful father.  He had been born in the Judengasse, the narrow and crowded street in which Frankfurt’s Jews were forced to live.  They had been freed from the harsh restrictions imposed for centuries by the city council when the Revolutionary armies of France invaded.  Artillery bombardment destroyed much of the ghetto in 1796 and under the French occupation the civil liberties granted to French Jews in the Revolution were extended to Frankfurt.

Simon grew up in tumultuous times and he served in the army during the years of the Napoleonic Wars, spending just over a year in 3rd Company 1st Battalion Zweyer's Light Infantry Regiment.

When the wars ended and the reorganisation of Europe began, his uncle Jakob Baruch (1763-1827) was sent by the Jewish community of Frankfurt to the Congress of Vienna, in the hope that his family’s good relations with the Hapsburg Court would be useful in obtaining equal rights for Frankfurt’s Jews – in vain.  The transient gains of the French Revolution were lost, the city council resumed previous practices as far as they could, and in the 1819 Hep Hep riots Simon was apparently injured and a close friend died.

Simon’s daughters died in infancy and his young wife died leaving him with five little boys.  He brought them up in the conviction that they must leave Frankfurt.  They did.

The eldest, Bernard, was a merchant who contributed European news to American newspapers under the name Bernard Barry.  Julius (1825-1904) became a prosperous London merchant dealing in fancy goods and travelling frequently to France and Germany.  He became a naturalised British subject at an early date and was intensely proud of his adopted country.  Philip settled in the USA and became a US citizen in 1858.  Samuel and Louis became artists.  Only Julius had children; two of his grandsons were knighted – the brothers Gerald Hurst and Arthur Hurst.

Samuel Baruch Halle 

Samuel Baruch Halle – his full name was Samuel Simon Baruch Halle – studied art at Antwerp and worked on the Continent for some years, but by the time of the 1881 Census he had settled in London.  He had of course visited his brother in England over the years, and possibly also worked here at times.  This photograph of him is from the large family group photograph taken in June 1875 on the occasion of his niece’s wedding in London.

Samuel Baruch Halle 1824-92

Samuel lived and worked at 133 Regent Street until 1885, when he moved to 59 Adelaide Road, Hampstead.  In 1891 he moved to 82 Gloucester Street, Pimlico.  By then he had retired and was in very poor health.

He died at home on 20 December 1892 at the age of 68.  The cause of death is recorded as “Syncope during operation for Stone.  Stone in Bladder.  Enlarged Prostate.  Cystitis diseased kidneys.  Certified by H Fenton, M.D.”  The poor man must have suffered greatly.

The informant on the death certificate was his brother Louis Hallé, of 33 Avenue du Roule, Neuilly near Paris.  Louis, together with solicitor John Hopgood, were the executors of Samuel’s Will.  He left £8,636 14s 6d.

Louis Hallé

Ludwig Baruch Halle – using the French version of his name, Louis Hallé – lived at Neuilly-sur-Seine.  He was a friend of the photographer Gustave Le Gray and was one of the witnesses to the acte de notoriété after Le Gray's death.  This is referred to in Gustave Le Gray, 1820-1884 by Sylvie Aubenas (2002):

1885, January 28: Document prepared by M Latapie de Gerval, a Paris notary, designates Alfred Le Gray, his only surviving child, as his heir.  Witnesses said to have known his father well:  Louis Hallé, painter, and Vincent Philippe, boot maker

Louis appears twice in the English censuses.

In 1851 – when his recently-married brother Julius was living in Hackney and his brother Philip was visiting the newly-weds – Louis Hallé was staying at 3 President Street, Finsbury, in the household of Elizabeth Blackhall, a 56 year old widow, and her son and daughter.  He described himself for the census as a “lithographic artist”.

He was back in London for the census of 1871 in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War.  Now aged 43, still unmarried, and describing himself simply as an artist, he was a boarder at 19 Grosvenor Road, Highbury, in the home of Edward W Hoare, commercial traveller in the tea trade, and his wife and five children.  The Cornish artist Edward Opie was also lodging in the house.

In 1875 he too was in London for his niece’s wedding and here is his photograph – looking, surely, every inch the Parisian artist.

Louis Hallé 1828-99

We know he was in London in December 1892, because he was at the deathbed of his brother Samuel.

He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 3 February 1899.


Samuel’s art seems to have become increasingly popular in recent years and you'll find two of his paintings on Art UK and many more on the internet, but I can’t find any of Louis’ work online.

It doesn’t seem right that their identities should be confused and the reality of two well-lived lives should disappear.  I hope this will put the record straight.


NB. This link tells in outline the story of Simon Markus Baruch Halle’s first cousin Ludwig Börne.

Various occupants of the mill at Rudby

These newspaper notices relate to the mill on the Rudby side of the River Leven:

Hull Advertiser & Exchange Gazette, 5 July 1806

Marriages ...

A few days ago, at Hinderwell, Mr Thomas Hird, of Rudby Flour-Mills, near Stokesley, to Miss Moor, of Staithes, near Whitby 

Yorkshire Gazette, 8 November 1823

Robert Robinson's Assignment

Whereas Robert Robinson, of Rudby Mill, in the Parish of Rudby, in the County of York, Miller and Farmer, hath by Indenture, bearing Date the 3d Day of November instant, assigned over all his personal Estate and Effects unto John Millner, of Rudby, aforesaid, Weaver, and Thomas Robinson, of Crathorne, in the said County, Farmer, in Trust, for the equal Benefit of such of the Creditors of the said Robert Robinson, who shall execute the same Deed and accept the Provisions thereby made, in full, for their respective Debts, on or before the 1st Day of January next ... 

York Herald, 22 March 1856

To be sold by Public Auction,

on Easter Monday, without Reserve, if not Sold by Private Contract, or Let for the ensuing Season before, that celebrated Coaching Stallion CLEVELAND LAD.

Cleveland Lad is rising 9 years old, is a rich bay, with black legs clear of white, with great bone and superior action, stands 16 hands 1½ inches high, and has proved himself a sure foal getter.

Cleveland Lad's pedigree may be had on application to Messrs J & M Middleton, Rudby Mill, near Yarm.

March 21st, 1856

(As the name suggests, Cleveland Lad was a Cleveland Bay)