Hutton Rudby - parish life in the 1890s

An early photograph of All Saints'

A collection of old bound volumes of parish magazines gives us a very full picture of Church and village life in Hutton Rudby in the 1890s.

I will begin with Church affairs - just skip those sections to go straight to other village activities.

These include: the Blanket Club; village cricket; hedge-cutting; and children's prizes & sports.  There are lists of those taking part, which might be useful to family historians. 

According to the account of the Sports Day in 1896,

"The race with the needle and thread created great excitement, as did also the old ladies' race for tea"

But unfortunately, there's no more information on how they were run - or the qualifying age for the old ladies.

The Parish Magazine

The driving force behind the parish magazine from 1890 to December 1893 was Lady Falkland of Skutterskelfe. 

The magazine had a useful calendar of church and village events, details of church officials and a list of hymns for the month.  It also included items of local news and a series of articles written at Lady Falkland's request by the celebrated Canon Atkinson of Danby.  It cost one penny (1d). 

During this time Lord and Lady Falkland were frequently resident at Skutterskelfe, playing a very active part in the life of the village.  Then Lady Falkland's father, a wealthy Chicago businessman, lost his fortune – presumably in the 1893 crash of the New York Stock Exchange – and Lord Falkland found himself obliged to retrench.  The family sold their Yorkshire estates and left the area.

It seems that Lady Falkland must have been subsidising the magazine, because after her departure it dwindled in size and at the same time it increased in price to "three halfpence" (1½d).  Contributors were asked to send items for inclusion in the magazine to the Vicarage, and Mrs Brigham, Mrs Robson and M E Johnson were in charge of distribution.

Church Services

The vicar at the time was the Revd John Johnson.  Then in his sixties, he was vicar of Rudby from 1878 to 1916. 

Every Sunday he held a service of Matins at 10:30 am and Evensong at 6:30 pm.  Every four to six weeks he would celebrate Holy Communion, usually after morning service. 

In Holy Week he took a daily service at 11 am, with an evening service on Good Friday at 7 pm.  At Easter, Ascension Day, Harvest Festival and Christmas Day he held a service of Holy Communion very early at 7 am or 7:30 am. 

Baptism was available any Sunday after the second lesson at Evensong, or during any weekday service.  The magazine was at pains to stress that "there is no fee whatever for HOLY BAPTISM". 

The Churching of Women took place before Evensong ("an offering is voluntary"). 

There was a Confirmation every year in one of the local churches – in 1893 it was in Hutton Rudby and there were 25 candidates from the village. 

Special services in Church

Harvest Festival, first invented by the eccentric vicar of the Cornish village of Morwenstow in 1843, had been enthusiastically adopted in Cleveland and by the 1890s was a major event in the parish calendar.  There was usually a visiting preacher and the offertory was taken in aid of charities such as the Missions to Seamen or the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.  A favourite cause was raising funds to send sick villagers to the Convalescent Home at Coatham.  In 1895 the magazine hoped that the collection would be enough "to send two invalids from our village next year".  Church was decorated with contributions of fruit, vegetables and flowers, which were afterwards given "to the sick and poor". 

The Life Boat Service was another favourite.  A visiting vicar would preach and all village children and their parents were invited.  In 1891 they sang 'Eternal Father, strong to save' and 'Fierce raged the tempest o'er the deep' and the offertory amounted to a magnificent £6 10s 5 ½d. 

Flowers in church

The magazines frequently comment on the church decorations and it seems that the altar was decorated with flowers throughout the year: one February there is a note of thanks for an offering of snowdrops; at Easter favourite flowers included primroses, violets, ivy, moss and ferns; and at Christmas, they decorated the church with flowers and evergreens – in 1895 holly boughs were made into "graceful wreaths round font, pulpit, pillars etc". 

From 1896 Mrs Blair of Drumrauch Hall provided hothouse flowers and exotics from her glasshouses and decorations seem to have become more ambitious as time passed – wealthier parishioners were perhaps competing with each other and the parish's chapelry of East Rounton, which at Christmas 1896 was decorated with  "palms, ornamental grasses and a variety of evergreens". 

The congregation's favourite hymns

West Gallery music – psalmody – had lasted at All Saints until the end of the 1850s, but by 1863 a harmonium had been installed.

Perhaps the congregation was then introduced to Hymns Ancient & Modern which had been first published in 1861. In 1889 a supplement with 176 new hymns was added, and the May 1890 Parish Magazine urged the congregation to buy the Revised Edition, which could be bought from the Parish Clerk for twopence: 

"Will not those who do not already possess the Revised Edition buy one that we may not only join heartily in the singing but also use some beautiful hymns that are not found in the old edition?" 

The congregation certainly had favourites from the hymn book during these years. 

Every Christmas they sang Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Ye Faithful and While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks. 

Every Good Friday they sang

Lord, as to Thy dear Cross we flee
And plead to be forgiven

In the Lord's atoning grief
Be our rest and sweet relief

and 

Glory be to Jesus
Who, in bitter pains

Every Easter Day at Mattins and Evensong they sang the new hymn Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!. 

The Matins service usually included

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
The strife is o'er, the battle won

and

Draw nigh and take the Body of the Lord
And drink the Holy Blood for you outpour'd

and at Evensong they generally sang

Jesus lives! no longer now
Can thy terrors, death appal us

and

Come ye faithful raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness

Confirmation

From the April 1892 magazine

At the Confirmation held at Yarm, on March 7th, by the Bishop of Beverley, the following Candidates were presented from our Church of All Saints, by the Vicar:-

George Barthram
Ralph Dennison
Hannah Brown
Dorcas Corner
Jane Fortune
Jane Elizabeth Garbutt
Mary Harrison
Amy Picken
George Fortune
Thomas Russell
Sarah Picken
Laura Richardson
Jessie Rowell
Francis Sowter
Kate Thorman

Sunday School Prizes

From the February 1891 magazine

On January the 2nd a Tea was given by the Sunday School Teachers and Friends in the Schoolroom to the Church Sunday Scholars.  The prizes for proficiency and good conduct during the past year were awarded by the teachers, and distributed by Mrs Bowes Wilson in the absence of Lady Falkland.  Doctor Snowdon added much to the enjoyment of the children by kindly attending and exhibiting his magic lantern. 

The following is a list of those who gained prizes:-

Girls
1st class – Prizes not yet awarded
2nd class – 1st, Amelia Charlton; 2nd, Bella Rowell; 3rd, Mary Fortune
3rd class – 1st, Alice Hall; 2nd, Emma Privett; 3rd, Hannah King

Boys
1st, Charles Hall; 2nd, Harold Eyre; 3rd, William Picken

Infants
1st, Mary E King; 2nd, William Harrison; 3rd, Joseph Fortune

Other village activities - a few examples

Coal and Blanket Club

From the February 1892 magazine

The names of those who have kindly subscribed to the Coal and Blanket Club this year are –

Viscount and Viscountess Falkland
Mrs Sadler
Mrs Brigham
Mr A B Wilson
Miss Paver
Mr Barthram
Mrs Chapman
Miss O'Connor
Mr Park
The Misses Park
Mr T Bowes Wilson
Mrs Blair
Mr Passman
Mr Coverdale
N. H. Coal Company

These subscriptions amounted to £13-10s-7d.  Money paid into Club by members, £17-0s-9d.  With this fund 25 tons of coal and 9 pairs of warm blankets were distributed to the members, the total amount paid for the coals and sending being £24-16s-9d, and for the blankets £5-9s-9d.

Our best thanks are again due to Mrs Brigham this year for the time and thought she has given to the Coal Club.  Her good work is much appreciated throughout the village, both by the poor and by those who realise what an amount of labour and of anxiety is incurred by the successful carrying on of a Coal Club.

Children's Flower Club

From the November 1890 magazine

The children had grown ivy geraniums, scented leaf geraniums, coleus, pelargonium, begonias and fuschia.  

Prizes were won by: 

Emma Prevett of Skutterskelfe for best bouquet of Garden Flowers; Annie Hall of Enterpen for best bouquet of Wild Flowers; Ethel Tarran for best ivy geranium; and Emily Honeyman for the best begonia.

On Saturday the 11th October, by the kind invitation of Mr and Mrs Bowes Wilson, the children belonging to the Flower Club met at their house, bringing with them their flowers grown by them since April last. 

Since that month about fifty children have joined the club, and the flowers and growing plants shown by them on Saturday did great credit to their care and attention.  After the plants had been judged and the prizes awarded, the children did full justice to the tea provided for them by their President, Mrs Bowes Wilson, and were then permitted to walk about the garden, which was one mass of beautiful flowers.

Hutton Rudby Cricket Club news

From the August 1892 magazine

Marton v Hutton Rudby, played at Marton, May 21st 1892

Hutton Rudby
J Wood………………………...6
A A Smith ……………………22
T Sage ……………………….18
E Bainbridge …………………..1
T Hall …………………………9
A Milestone …………………...7
J Kay ……………………….....0
B Ainsley ……………………....0
W Sidgwick, not out ………  . ...6
V Meynell …………………… ..0
Substitute …………………   .....0
Extras ……………………….…4
                                                  73

Marton
R Brunton ……………………..2
R T Wilson ………………….…0
W Brunton ………………..….25
E Longtoft ………………..…..18
G Dawson ………………........22
W Newstead …………………..5
H R Dixon …………………......5
C Tawers ………………….…..5
H A Hart ………………….…..8
T Coates, not out ………...........3
H Dyer ………………..…..…..8
Extras ………………...…...…..4
                                              105

Visit from a Travelling Dairy Company

From the July 1894 magazine

Hutton Rudby was visited on May 22nd by the Travelling Dairy Company from Leeds Agricultural College, to give lessons on the making of butter and cream-cheese, and general dairy management.  It had been invited by several influential people in the place, the County Council affording an opportunity of so doing, and by the kindness of A Park Esq, a dairy was extemporised in his coach house [at the top of Hutton Bank]. 

For ten days, from one to five o'clock pm, a lively and busy scene was there presented; the accomplished instructress, Miss Downes, having a class of more than a dozen pupils, suitably attired, working in pairs, and engaged in churning, pressing, salting, and other butter-making operations.  The visitors were numerous each day, and much interested in the pretty little red and green churns, and other implements.  The separator and thermometers – the latter of no little importance in butter-making – attracted much attention.

The following is a list of Miss Downe's pupils:

Mrs Rickatson, Misses A Adamson, E Bainbridge, J Barthram, A Coulson, A Eyre, A Garbutt, M Garbutt, A and E Goldsbrough, L Harrison, M Harrison, D Passman, R Skillbeck and E Thornman. 

All passed a very good examination, conducted by Mr Haydon, who pronounced some of the butter delicious, an opinion shared by those who were able to procure such of the butter as was on sale.  A balance remaining, after payment of expenses, will be employed in the purchase of thermometers and other appliances that are to be given to the pupils. 

Special thanks are due to Mr Park for the loan of his premises, and to those persons who sent a liberal supply of cream.

On Friday evening, 1st June, Mr Haydon, who is a Professor at the Leeds College, gave an instructive Lecture, on Dairy Management and the Feeding of Cows, to a numerous and attentive audience.

 
Hutton Rudby Sports

From the August 1896 magazine

On Tuesday July 7th, the annual sports and tea took place. 

The sports commenced with a cricket match at 12.30 for boys between two chosen teams, with Messrs A Park and J Goldsbrough as umpires.  Each boy on the winning side received 6d each, and the highest scorer (Alfred Honeyman) a new bat. 

At 4 o'clock the children attending the School partook of an excellent tea, provided by Mr C R Garbutt. 

After tea were races for both young and old, and skipping for the girls.  The race with the needle and thread created great excitement, as did also the old ladies' race for tea. 

Everyone expressed themselves highly pleased with the day's amusement, which wound up with shying at cocoa-nuts and a dance on the greensward. 

To those ladies and gentlemen who kindly paid for our tea our heartiest thanks are due as well as to all subscribers towards the day's sport.  May we have many more such pleasant days.

 

Hutton Rudby Hedge-Cutting Competition

From the March 1894 magazine

The Hutton Rudby Hedge-Cutting Competition, of which Alexander Park Esq is President, took place on Tuesday, January 30th.  Four of our professional hedge-cutters, viz Robert Craggs, William Sidgwick, George Jones, and William Ainsley, were successful in obtaining prizes

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

From the June, July & August 1897 magazines

The Religious Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of our Gracious Queen's Accession will take place on Sunday, June 25th, when a Special Service, ordered by Queen's Proclamation, will be used, copies of which will be distributed in the Prish Church.  For the week following, the Sports' and Ladies' Committees are preparing a joyous programme.  As a permanent Commemoration, it is proposed to make improvements to the School Premises by subscription, and to the Reading Room by private liberality.
[June 1897]

June 20th, the 60th Anniversary of the Queen's Accession, falling this year on a Sunday, was made a day of Universal Thanksgiving for the blessings of our good Queen's reign.

In our Church, at Morning and Evening Service, special hymns, including the much-loved National Anthem, were heartily sung, and special prayers earnestly uttered.  The Rev J Wilson officiated in the evening.

Beautiful flowers and foliage marked the festive day, and as a lasting memorial the chancel has been fitted up by handsome substantial choir stalls of good English oak.  A beautiful silver flagon and large handsomely bound hymn-book, for organ use, are other memorial gifts of generous parishioners to their Parish Church.
The festivities of the ensuing week will be reported in the August magazine.
[July 1897]

Tuesday, June 22nd, a never-to-be-forgotten day, began by Mr Allan Wilson presenting every school child with a shilling and Jubilee mug.  On the previous day they received from Miss Park a handsome Bible.

At 11 o'clock a short appropriate service was held in Church.  During the morning cricket matches were played, and a representative procession, with the band and flags, paraded the village. 

In the afternoon, tea was provided for all the inhabitants, and a maypole dance and many amusing sports delighted the large assembly of villagers on the green, and the Festive Day wound up by a display of fine fireworks and an immense bonfire.

The Jubilee Committee have our great thanks for their unwearied exertions in carrying out the day's programme, of which many handsomely-printed copies were distributed.  The weather was brilliant: true Queen's weather.
[August 1897]

A Doctor's Rhyme

from the July 1898 magazine

As soon as you are up, shake blankets and sheet.
Better be without shoes than sit with wet feet.
If you wish to be well, as you do, I've no doubt,
Just open the windows before you go out.
Keep your rooms always tidy, and ever so clean;
Let dust on the furniture never be seen.
Much illness is caused by the want of pure air;
Now to open your windows be daily your care.
Old rags and old rubbish should never be kept.
Please be sure that you see that your floors are well swept