A Steadfast Friend: the life of Mrs Mary Stubbs

Mary Henlock was born on 16 November 1803, the eldest child of John Henlock and Jane Redmayne.  She married Thomas Stubbs of Boroughbridge on 21 September 1824.  They had six children:  Jane, Joseph, Thomas, John, Lizzie and Alice.

Naturally enough, we hardly glimpse her in the diaries of her teenage son John. 

She had been running the large household at Bridge Foot for thirty years, bringing up six children and entertaining family, friends and business guests.  This was the unexamined background to John's life and escapes comment, except for occasional entries such as this one on 23 May 1856, when John was thirteen:

 “at night I rode to Ouseburn …  got home at a ¼ to ten   got a rowing for being so late"

We don't know how many servants were employed in the house nor how many employees the shop needed.  Bessie Carass seems to have been in the family's employ for a very long time and her importance can be seen from John’s fiancée Ellis’s letters to him from Boroughbridge on her first visit there: 

 “Last Night I went to the kitchen to try to get old Bessie tell me something bad about you, but of course failed altogether.  This morning I watched her prepare a turkey for cooking.  So you see I am beginning already!!” 

Bessie obviously knew John all his life and may have been the children's nurse.  She and her husband Henry, a local butcher, are frequently mentioned in John's diaries and she remained a mainstay of the family for many years, helping Mary with cooking and cleaning in the 1870s, offering to come and look after Ellis when the babies were due, making cushions for Ellis and going for holidays to stay with John and Ellis in Coatham. 

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): Stubbs

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

Thomas STUBBS of Boroughbridge
1796-1867
Born Bridge Foot, Borobdge 3[or 23] Jul 1796 “Twenty Minutes before Nine Eveg” [paper sent by Alice Stubbs to TDHS]
Father of John

Diary references:
Jan a/c 1853:  recd 27th £2 6s
June a/c 1853:  “What Father owes Uncle”

Jan a/c 1855:  “Recd of Father £3 2s 6d.  [Paid to] Father £3 2s 6d”
Apr a/c 1855:  “Recd of Father £2”
Jul a/c 1855:  “Recd of Father £6 6s.  Pd Father £3”

Feb 22 1856:  “We then went to Capes’s to sup  Aunt Ann, Aunt Bell, Aunt Hirst, Father, Mama  Joe & I”
Mar 1, 11, 14, 27:  “..At Night Joe & I were busy with Fathers books” .......”Went to York with Father”....”Richd Walburn of Norton was buried today   Joe & Father both went”.........  “Cousin Bessie Stamper  Father & Mama went to Helperby to fetch Alice”
Jul 14:  “Father Aunt Hirst & Mary went with the Sedgwicks to Scarbro”
Aug 11, 12:  “Father & I went to meet the train”... “Today Father & Joe went to Ripley”
Sep 16, 17:  “At night Father & I walked nearly to Ellenthorp  Then we went to the Doctors  all the rest were there to tea”  “At Noon Father & I walked up towards Kirby Hill by the fields..”
Oct 1, 18, 20,:  “At Noon Father Mother Aunt Redmayne & Uncle & Aunt Bell & Sarah Sedgwick went to Redcar”.. “..Went to Redcar...Father & Mother  Aunt & Uncle Redmayne Sarah Sedgwick & Miss Cunnyngham were there”  “Father & I walked to Coatham  had some porter at the Lobster”
Nov 6, 10:  “At Noon went & had a walk & met Father as I was coming back & I turned again with him”   “Father & Mama dined at Capes’”
Dec 15, 23, 25:  “Father & Mother were at Ouseburn today  Mr Brown from Australia & Uncle Redmayne were there - They did not get home till half past nine”   “Went a walk up Topcliffe Road  met Father”  “Father Tom & I went to Aldbro [church] in the afternoon”

Jan 8, 17, 28 1857:  “Father & I were the only two at home   All the rest had gone to the Concert Servants as well”  “Father went to Taitlands today as he was going to Eliza Stubbs Wedding”  “Father came home from Taitlands tonight”
Feb 4, 22:  “At Noon Father went with Lizzy to Arthington on her way to school”  “Stayed at home with Father in the evening”
Mar 5, 17:  “Father & Mother were at Capes’” “At Noon walked with Father round by Milby”
Apr 21:  “Father & Mother were at Capes”
May 12:  “Father & Mother  Capes & Jane set off in Mrs Morrells Cab to Joes Wedding at ½ past seven”
Jun 9:  “Father & Mother were at Langthorpe”
Jul 20, 24:  “At Noon Father & Mother set off for Doncaster”  “Father & Mother came home from Mrs Workmans”
Aug 16:  “Nelly [Scholfield] & Jane sat with Father & me in our pew at Aldbro”
Sep 3:  “Father & Mother went to Redcar”
Oct 8:  “Father & Mother came from Redcar”
Nov 17:  “Father & I were alone”
Dec 7:  “Father & I rode the old Pony & Joes Mare to Langthorp Field”
16, 30 Sep 1858:  “Father & Mother went to Redcar”  “Father & Mother came from Redcar” [after Aunt Hirst’s death]

18 Mar 1859:  “Father & Mother supped at Uncles”
12 Apr 1859:  “Drove Father & Sarah to Ripon on business”
13 Dec 1859:  “Father & Mother were at Knaresbro”

9 Jan 1860:  “Alice & I walked to Uncle Picks ... & then ... to the workhouse & Capes & I came on to BB together  Father brought Alice home”
29 Jun 1860:  “dined at Uncle Picks  Father came on & he & I went to see Uncle Wm  we came home with Father”
9 Jul 1860:  “Went with Father to Ouseburn  Mr Pick Father Aunt Redmayne Capes & I dined at Uncle Picks  went to Browns to the sale of the late Mr Crosby’s property”
23 Jul 1860:  “Father Tom & I drove to Ouseburn & brot Alice from there”
29 Aug 1860:  “Father & Mother & Dora Hirst went to Redcar at noon”
26 Sep 1860:  “Father & Mother came home from Redcar”
11 Oct 1860:  “Father & Mother were just returning from Knaresbro as we started home”
30 Oct 1860:  “at home with Father at night”
22 Nov 1860:  “Father fetched us home in the Dog Cart as there was a letter from Geo Capes which wanted answering (Re Daniel’s Practice)”

The Redmayne family of Stainforth

Update: A much more detailed account of the life of Thomas Redmayne is to be found in the article by Catherine Vaughan-Williams published in 2020 in the Journal of the North Craven Heritage Trust.  The article is called 'Thomas Redmayne of Taitlands'.  

In it you will find full details of the Redmayne family of Taitlands and their connection with the Henlock family of Great Ouseburn and the Stubbs family of Boroughbridge.

Thomas Redmayne of Taitlands was born in Stainforth in about 1797 and died on 23 February 1862 at the age of 65.

Thomas was the first cousin once removed of the prosperous London silk mercer, Giles Redmayne (1792-1857), who bought the Brathay Hall estate, beside Windermere; Thomas Redmayne's executors were his wife's nephew Joseph Stubbs and John Marriner Redmayne, son of Giles.  The relationship may look a little distant but Thomas and Giles were close.

Thomas was one of the children of Richard Redmayne and Ann Batty.  Richard is commemorated in Giggleswick church by a brass inlaid in the floor: Richard Redmayne of Stainforth died 13 Jun 1799 age 31.

By the time the cousins Thomas and Giles Redmayne were in their thirties, they were both creating country estates/houses for themselves – Thomas at Stainforth and Giles at Brathay.

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): names beginning R

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

9 July 2022: I have added information from 'Thomas Redmayne of Taitlands' by Catherine Vaughan-Williams, published in the North Craven Heritage Trust Journal 2020, where relevant 

Mrs Jane REDMAYNE of Taitlands, née HENLOCK
1809-1862.
"Aunt Henlock"
Daughter of John Henlock of Ouseburn and Jane Redmayne of Stainforth, sister to Mrs Mary Stubbs, William Henlock, Isabella Henlock, & Mrs Ann Pick
She married Thomas Redmayne of Taitlands, her cousin [cf 'Thomas Redmayne of Taitlands' by Catherine Vaughan-Williams here]

Diary references:
23 Mar 1853:  “To tell Uncle Henlock the flower at Aunts is done & Aunt Pick that she wants a ham”
Oct 1856:  Aunt & Uncle Redmayne at Redcar with JRS family
3 Aug 1858:  Uncle & Aunt Redmayne come to stay at Bridge Foot

17 Jun 1859:  “Uncle & Aunt Redmayne came to Fredk Scholfield Capes’ christening”
21 Sep 1859:  “Had a letter from Aunt Redmayne asking me to go to Taitlands some day this week”
3 Oct 1859:  “Uncle [Redmayne] went to Clapham Fair    Aunt   Henry  Lizzie & I went to Clapham in the large carriage   I drove there  We had dinner & tea at Miss Redmaynes   Called at the vicarage & Miss Ingleby’s & had some good fun in the fair  Hy Marriner was at home”

5 Mar 1860:  “Wrote to Mother & Aunt Redmayne”
28 Mar 1860:  “Wrote to Aunt Redmayne who is staying at Knaresbro”
28 May 1860:  “Aunt & Uncle Redmayne were at Ouseburn”
6 Jul 1860:  “[Uncle Pick] came home with us to dinner  Aunt Redmayne with Capes”
9 Jul 1860:  “Mr Pick  Father  Aunt Redmayne Capes & I dined at Uncle Picks”
28 Sep 1860:  “... to York  I went to Miss Sutcliffes  Had lunch there   Aunt Redmayne & Mary  Aunt Bell Mrs Stackhouse Miss Cragg & I took a Cab & saw a review by Genl Cathcart of the Yorkshire Volunteers on Knavesmire & a very pretty sight it was   Hy Redmayne & Uncle & Capes were reviewed”

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): people N to P

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

Miss NEWBOUND of/in     BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
13 Oct 1856:  “Uncle Hirst gave me a tickett to the Concert (Singers Miss Barwick & Miss Newbound  Mr Wilson Lambert & Mr Delavanti”

NIDSDALE of Giggleswick School
Diary references:
Giggleswick class lists 1853

Miss  Mary NIXON of Everton, met in Settle
Diary references:
5 Oct 1853:  “..drove Aunt B  Cousin Jane & Miss Nixon to Settle..”
14 Oct 1853:  “Went to see Miss Nixon off by 1st train”
In the December receipts section of 1853 diary:  “Miss Nixon, Woodlands, 3 Clarence Grove, Everton, Nr Liverpool       Recommended me to read Frank Fairley”
14 Jan 1858:  “Miss Nixon  Mary Redmayne  Mary Sedgwick  Fanny Stubbs & Margaret Ingleby were bridesmaids”
22 Jan 1858:  “[at Bbdge ] set Mary Sedgwick home to Aldbro.  Met Leonard  called for ½ a minute & saw Miss Nixon”
26 Jan 1858:  “went to Sedgwicks  Had tea with them  Miss Nixon was with them...”
8 Feb 1858:  “Sophy & I set Miss Nixon to Leonards”
9 Feb 1858:  “...to Langthorp  Mrs Leonard Sedgwick & Miss Nixon were there   I walked home with them & bid Miss Nixon good bye as she leaves tomorrow”
9 Sep 1858:  “Miss Nixon was married today”
10 Sep 1858:  “...Had wedding cards from Miss Nixon...”

Mary Stubbs wrote to John in October 1875,
“You remember Mrs Killick, poor Mary Nixon, she had just buried two little girls in scarlet fever then took it herself and died from it and has left five children”.  
In the 1881 Census her widower Charles Killick, an East India Merchant, and four children aged between 13 and 21 are living at 21 Wellington St East, Broughton in Salford, Lancs.  They have three female servants and Miss Mary Sedgwick of Aldborough is visiting them.

William NIXON    in SETTLE area
Diary references:
13 Jan 1858:  “Tom Sedgwick  Wm Nixon & I went to sleep at Stackhouses”
14 Jan 1858:  “Tom Sedgwick  I  Wm Stubbs  Wm Nixon & Hy Redmayne were Groomsmen”

Notes
It would appear that Settle was not his home, as he was spending the night at Stackhouses.  Brother of Miss Nixon?

Charles NICHOLSON at BALDERSBY
Waterloo veteran
Diary references:
11 Jun 1859:  “At 3/5 o’clock drove to Dishforth where I stayed tea  ... drove to Baldersby to spend tomorrow at Mr Barroby’s  Chas Nicholson who was at Waterloo was there”

James OLIVER of/in BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
27 Mar 1857:  “Wrote to Mr King inclosing a letter from Jas Oliver repenting of his neglect of duty”

Rev Robert OWEN, vicar of BOROUGHBRIDGE
Mr Owen, was a good friend.  He came to the parish in July 1847 when he was nearly 24 years old, and so was only three years older than Thomas and Mary’s eldest child Jane.  Mr Owen said in the address he gave at the dedication of the choir vestry given by the family in Mary’s memory that she “was, throughout my long residence in this parish, one of my most steadfast and consistent friends.  I valued her friendship very highly”.
 He retired at the age of 76 and died in 1904.

The Story of Boroughbridge and of two Versatile Clerics at the Church of St James in the C19 (1987) by Kathleen M Reynolds:  has full details of his career

Diary references:
28 Apr 1856:  “..went to Mr Owens to delr a message from Mr Barroby  I stayed & had tea with him  Mr John was there...had a very jolly evening”
26 Jun 1856:  “went to the church to see Miss Owen married  it was a jolly wedding”
2 May 1857:  “At Night I was at the School Room with Smallwood  Owen & Leond Sedgwick making arrangements for the German Tree”
5 May 1857:  “At Night went to the School Room to tea & to the German Tree.  Put into several loteries   got a cushion which I sold to Owen for 12/-....”
13 May 1857:  “went to shoot rooks at Owens at Night  Had some very good sport  Holdsworth  Davies & I had tea with Owen at the Hall”
4 Oct 1858:  “[Aunt Hirst’s funeral]  There was a large funeral   Holdsworth & Owen performed the ceremony”

21 Mar 1859:  “At night Capes  Joe & I went to the Greyhounds to the sale of Charltons land  when Capes bot same for Mr Owen for £640”

2 Jan 1860:  “At night Steele Sedgwick Scholfield E.C.Clark & I dined at Owens & a very pleasant evening we had  got home about 12”
   
J calls on Owens at the end of the month, and meets Mr Owen at a dinner at Heaton House in June

Kellys 1908:    “the living is a vicarage in the gift of the vicar of Aldbro”

Tithe Map c1840

1851:  Boroughbridge Index:
Owen        Robert        27    b Marchington, STS    fol 22

Parish Registers:
Bbdge:  marr:  26 Jun 1856:  Mary Elizabeth Owen, spinster, daughter of John Owen, gentleman, to Christopher Empson, esquire, of Headingley, son of Amaziah Empson, gentleman  
perhaps she is Mr Owen’s sister?

Notes
from the published versions of his first and last sermons: 
he was born 23 Oct 1823, ordained curate in sole charge of Bbdge in July 1847, and resigned the vicarage in Oct 1899, aged 76.
On 20 Nov 1892 he preached a sermon at the dedication of the new choir vestry, given by the family in memory of Mary Stubbs:  “The consistent lover of our Church in whose memory our new choir vestry has been dedicated, was, throughout my long residence in this parish, one of my most steadfast and consistent friends.  I valued her friendship very highly ...”

George Whitehead’s Journals:
Revd Mr OWEN Borobridge clergyman had a sale of furniture &c  Oct 12, 13, & 14  he has given up the living  1899
Revd Mr Owen d Oct 20 (3 days off 81 years old)  he was clergyman at Borobridge a many years 1904

Mr & Mrs OUTHWAITE    of LONDON
Diary references:
14 Aug 1858:  “to Baldersby to stay till Monday  Mr & Mrs Outhwaite of London were there”


Mrs Ann PICK of GREAT OUSEBURN, née Henlock
"Aunt Pick"
1810-60 Daughter of John Henlock & Jane (Redmayne) Henlock. 
Sister of William of Gt Ouseburn, Mrs Mary Stubbs, Mrs Jane Redmayne of Taitlands,     John & Richard of New Zealand, and Miss Isabella Henlock (Aunt Bell)

Diary references: eg
Jan 1853 a/c:  recd from Aunt Pick 2s 6d
23 Mar 1853:  “To tell Uncle Henlock the flower at Aunts is done & Aunt Pick that she wants a ham”
24 Mar 1856:  “After dinner went with Joe to Station to see if some oranges had come from Liverpool for Aunt Pick”
30 Mar 1856:  “Aunt Pick gave me a pair of gloves”
19 Jun 1856:  “At Night Uncle & Aunt Pick came   did two or three errands for Aunt”
12 Jul 1856:  “At Night Uncle & Aunt Pick brought home the children”
6 Apr 1857:  “Wrote to Aunt Ann   sent her a pound of sausages for a present”
20 May 1857:  “Got a pickle fork Aunt Ann got in York for me to give to Joe & Sarah”
30 May 1857:  “At Noon wrote to Aunt Ann & sent her 4 rooks”
7 Jul 1857:  “Aunt Pick gave me half a sovereign”
15 Jul 1857:  “At Night went to Cookes Circus   A very fair performance   Uncle & Aunt Pick went   Joe & Sarah, Capes, Lizzie & Alice, Steele, & Smallwood”
4 Aug 1857:  “I went on to Liverpool   Uncle & Aunt Pick were there   we stayed at the Stork”
5 Aug 1857:  “Uncle   Aunt   Tom & I went to Manchester   spent the day in the Exhibition & most superb it was...”
6 Aug 1857:  “Spent the day in Liverpool.....”
7 Aug 1857:  “Aunt  Uncle & I went to Blackpool  walked about on the Sea Side  At Night played Cards at the Inn  We had a very large party”

7 Sep 1858:  “Uncle & Aunt Pick  Aunt Bell  Sd  Sophy Hirst & I went to Pablo Fanque’s Circus”
23 Dec 1858:  “Aunt gave me two white pocket handkerchiefs & a £1 for a Christmas Box”

4 Feb 1859:  “Had a note from Aunt Ann asking me to go tomorrow to spend Sunday with them”
19 May 1859:  “At night I rode to Ouseburn but the good people there had gone to a missionary meeting so I did not see them”

10 Feb 1860:  “wrote to Dora & Aunt Pick”
9 Mar 1860:  “After dinner a box arrived from Aunt Ann containing a beautiful Ham  some bacon  above a score eggs & about the same number of tarts  ...  wrote to Aunt Ann thanking her for sending me a ham some bacon eggs & tarts”
22 Mar 1860:  “Mrs Trapwell fetched Toms half of Aunt Anns ham”
24 may 1860:  “Poor Aunt Ann Pick died early this morning” [J returns from London with Bill Morley and Wm Thompson on 26th, meeting Jane Redmayne Sedgwick in York]
28 May 1860:  “Joe ... Lizzie & I took a Cab to Ouseburn & we buried Poor Aunt Ann today  we stayed dinner & tea at Uncle Picks”

Censuses:
1851
Great Ouseburn:  west from the church, in the village.  After them comes 3 households, then a blacksmith, 3 households & then an Inn      
William Pick, 34, farmer 100a, emp 2 in- & 2 outdoor labourers & 1 boy, b Gt Ouseburn
 wife Ann, 36, b Gt O
house servants Mary Ann Robinson 19 and Rebekah Pearson 18
farm labourers William Berry 21 and John Scratcher 16   

TDHS notes:
She was born 1 Jun 1810, and died 24 May 1860

Notes:
The holograph Will purporting to be that of her mother, Jane (Redmayne) Henlock, made at Taitlands 8 Dec 1843, and amended by a Codicil made the same day, shows Ann to be still unmarried at that date.  She and Isabella take the bulk of the estate:  dividing the money, ornaments, linen in the plate chest, “my writing desk, work box & a work box made by Miss Wilkinson & also the Punch Bowl given by Miss Baker, the best Tea Service and dessert service....poney carriage & harness”, the “portraits of my sons John Giles & Richard Redmayne Henlock” & clothing between them.  She is left the “white quilt given me by my brother Wm Redmayne...it is marked W Redmayne”, and a black bracelet.  The sentence structure is ambiguous, but Thomas Redmayne is an executor, and Jane Redmayne takes only a ring, and they presumably knew how the bequests were to be made.

George Whitehead’s Journals:
William Pick & Miss Ann Henlock both of GO  Married Oct 1  it is said he is worth £20000  1846

William PICK of GREAT OUSEBURN
Husband of Ann Henlock
d 1872
He was about to marry his nurse/housekeeper Miss Wing when he died suddenly of heart failure.  She later kept a boarding house in Harrogate.

Diary references:
6 Jan 1853:  “Had the steam threshing machine at Uncle Picks  got wet through with going to see the sheep”
23 May 1856:  “had a glass of ale at Uncle Pick’s”
22 Sep 1856:  “Went to Uncle Picks  he had finished breakfast  I had beef & bread & 2 glasses of Ale”
16 Oct 1856:  “to Uncle Picks Party....played Cards had some fine fun  Got home about twelve”

3 Apr 1857:  “Uncle Pick had a sale of Stock &c at his Low House Farm today”
15 Jul 1857:  “At Night went to Cookes Circus   A very fair performance   Uncle & Aunt Pick went   Joe & Sarah, Capes, Lizzie & Alice, Steele, & Smallwood”
4 Aug 1857:  “I went on to Liverpool   Uncle & Aunt Pick were there   we stayed at the Stork”
5 Aug 1857:  “Uncle   Aunt   Tom & I went to Manchester   spent the day in the Exhibition & most superb it was...”
6 Aug 1857:  “Spent the day in Liverpool.....”
7 Aug 1857:  “Aunt  Uncle & I went to Blackpool  walked about on the Sea Side  At Night played Cards at the Inn  We had a very large party”
8 Aug 1857:  “Was about Blackpool.....at two o’clock  Uncle & I started home...”

12 Jun 1858:  “At Night Uncle Pick fetched Capes & me in the Dog Cart to spend tomorrow at Ouseburn”
20 Dec 1858:  “Uncle & Aunt Pick were at Harrogate”

In 1859 J sees Uncle Pick at Bridge Foot, at Joe’s, and J calls at the Picks and stays there in Oct

In 1860, after Aunt Pick’s death, J stays with Uncle Pick for much of June, & once again in July.  Alice & Lizzie also stay in July.  J and other family members call frequently, and J gives Uncle Pick a pheasant he has shot in Oct and a hare in Nov.  He goes with Uncle Pick to the Cattle Show at York, and stays with him again for two days before Christmas

10 Aug 1860:  “Uncle Pick had a steam thrasher at work”

George Whitehead’s Journals:
Mrs PICK, GO, burried Aug 18th 1845
William Pick & Miss Ann Henlock both of GO  Married Oct 1  it is said he is worth £20000  1846
Mr Thos Abbay lost part of his land joining the Workhouse & William Pick  of GO got it   Mr Abbay got some Helvick fields in exchange Lady Day     1855
William Pick of GO had a sale at his Low House farm near Low Dunsforth  Apr 3rd   He let the Farm to John Curtis   he entered to it Lady Day 1857
Mr Wm Pick GO died Sep 16th aged 58 1872
Stock & implements belonging to the late Mr Wm Pick of GO sold January 20th 1873
Furniture plate &c belonging to the late Wm Pick of GO sold by Auction March 31st & Apl 1st     1873
Thos Abbay sale of stock & implements at LO, Mar 17th   he is giving up farming & Wm Johnson has got part of his land & the house & the land Mr Pick had in our Township    1873
Robert Bell went to the house at GO which Mr Pick had occupied   Lady Day 1873 ...

Old PICK & wife     of/in OUSEBURN
Diary references:
21 Sep 1857:  “...supped... at Uncle Wms  Lascelles & wife  Miss Haddon  Howe & wife  Old Pick & wife  Richd Paver   Ellison & wife were there”

Mr & Mrs PICK  of/in GRASSGILLS
Diary references:     eg
13 Mar 1856:  “At night Uncle & Aunt Pick  Mrs Pick of Grassgill & Richard Paver  Aunt & Uncle Hirst  & Aunt Bell came and had tea at our house”
9 May 1856:  “...took Union Books to the Workhouse  went from there to Picks of Grassgills for bonds of Officers”

In 1860, J sees Mr & Mrs Pick at Grassgills on a call with Richd Hirst

George Whitehead’s Journals:
Mrs Pick left Grassgills & went to live at York    May or Jun 1866
Mrs Pick widow of the late Wm Pick of Grassgills died at York Oct 11th aged 72 years     1867

PICK of/in MARTON MOOR
Diary references:
5 Sep 1857:  “..rode Uncle Hirsts pony to Grassgill Richd Paver went with me to Picks of Marton Moor on business”

Miss PALEY of/in  BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
30 Dec 1857: “Went to get a deed executed by Miss Paley at Aldbro”

Pigots 1834:   
in Borobridge, “George Paley, Aldbro, Boot & shoemaker”
Whites 1840:    
in Dishforth, “Rev Thos Paley MA, sub-curate”

Slaters 1849:    
in Knaresborough, “Miss Paley, High Street”
in Borobridge, “Mrs Mary Ann Paley, Aldbro
Cornwallis Paley, attorney, Borobridge”

Slaters 1854:               
“Paley, Mrs Mary Ann, Aldborough”
“Attorneys: Paley & Walker, Boroughbridge”

Richard PAVER    of/in GRASSGILLS
Miss PAVER
Richard Paver was the son of the vicar of Brayton near Selby and the nephew of William Pick of Grassgills

Diary references:
(frequent)
19 Apr 1857:  [staying with Uncle & Aunt Pick] “After [Gt Ouseburn] church at night I set Mrs Howe Miss Wisdom two Misses Howe Miss Lockey & Rd Paver past the workhouse”
5 Sep 1857:  “...At Night rode Uncle Hirsts pony to Grassgill   Richd Paver went with me to Picks of Marton Moor on business..”
5 Feb 1859:  “at Aunt Pick’s  ... Miss Paver & Richard & Tom Johnson were there  we played cards”

9 Aug 1860:  “Richd Paver & Rt Rheeder came to Uncle Picks to measure some beasts”
18 Oct 1860:  “spent the afternoon at Uncle Picks  Rd Paver came to ask him to dinner but did not stay tea”

Kellys 1908:       
“Ornhams Hall - Richard George Paver-Crow”

George Whitehead’s Journals:
Edwin Crow, Ornhams, died Nov 27  1861
Richard PAVER of Grassgills & Elizabeth Howe Ouseburn Moor  Married Jun 26  1866
George Crow Esqr  Ornhams died Jan 27 aged 80 yrs  1872
Richard PAVER flitted from Grassgills to Ornhams  Feb 10 or 12th  1872  Mr Crow died & left him all
Mr Paver Crow sale at Ornhams Apr 15th  he sold the stock & implements & gave up farming  he built a new farm house & let the farm to Mr --      1887
A C Holtby of Heaton House BB & Mary Paver Crow of Ornhams marrd at Aldbro Oct 29  1889  she died Apl 30  a20 yrs  1890
Mr Paver Crow died at Ornhams interred at Aldbro Church  June 23 a68 years  1905

Richard Paver is very frequently mentioned in the diaries.  He lived at Grassgills and in 1866 married Elizabeth Howe of Ouseburn Moor.  Richard inherited Ornhams Hall from Mr Crow in 1872.  Mary Stubbs wrote, “Richard Paver enters upon everything as it stands – the house all furnished with three hundred aces of land besides being residuary legatee […] some of [Mr Crow’s] relatives say it is a most unjust Will as the Howes get almost all amongst them.  They have sent me a card & gloves this morng”.
Richard took the name Paver Crow; he died in 1905 “worth £20, 609” according to George Whitehead.

PEACOCK, the relieving officer    of/in    BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
24 Mar 1858:  “Got a first rate dog from Capes  he got him from Peacock relieving officer”

Notes
Possible Peacock?, from the 1851 Census Index:Ouseburn:John C (45) bRainton
fol 376, Whixley Parish (part of)

George Whitehead’s Journals:
Mr Peacock  Relieving Officer  Whixley  died May 17  a67  1872

Robert PETTY of/in BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
8 Dec 1856:  “..water was across the road  W/Lent after in Robert Petty’s rulley”

Tithe Map c1840:  Boroughbridge
Robert Petty rents no 102, house & garden from the Banking Company York City & County

Censuses:
1851: Borobridge Index:  fol 16
Petty    Robert        49    b Aldbro   
    Joseph N    23    b Darlington
    Jane N        20    do.-
    Sarah         14    b Borobridge
    Robert         13    do.-
    Gowland    11    do.-
    Margaret    8    do.-
    Elizabeth    5    do.-

Mr Henry, Mr Arthur & Mrs POWELL of/in BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
frequent - tea, parties
5 Feb 1856:  “Mrs Powells house was on fire, not much damage done”
19 May 1856:  “Mrs Powell’s young ladies were at our house at tea.  I missed them which was a good job”
27 Jun 1856:  “at noon was at Capes with Arthur Powell to dinner..”
8 Nov 1856:  “..at night went to Capes for some Newspapers & took them to Mrs Powells”
29 May 1857:  “Arthur Powell & I went down by train to Helperby...”
19 Nov 1857:  “..took Sophy & Mrs Hy Powell to Uncle Hirsts..”
21 Sep 1858:  “...Aunt Bell was at Mrs Powells...”
22 Mar 1859:  “At night went to a spread to Mrs Powells  ...  we played cards  got home about ½ past eleven”

Pigots 1834:       
“Coal Merchants: Hugh Powell, Borobridge”

Slaters 1849:       
“Gentry etc: Hugh Powell, Borobridge

Tithe Map c1840:
Hugh Powell rented house, yard & garden from the Banking Company in the block of houses near Bridge Foot

PYBUS    of/in BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
14 Jan 1853:  “A polling day concerning rates   in the evening had a riot & the poll was postponed  Pybus was [”kicked out” deleted] turned out

Slaters 1849:       
“Inns & Posting houses:  Crown (& commercial) John Pybus, Borobridge”
“Grocer & tea dealer:  Thomas Pybus, Borobridge”

Slaters 1854:       
“Inns & Posting houses:  Crown (& commercial) John Pybus, Borobridge”

Tithe Map c1840:
John Pybus rented a house, yard & garden nos 132 & 133 from Edwin Greenwood, just before the road to the main street

Censuses:
1851: Borobridge Index:
Pybus        John    40    b Kirby Fleetham    fol 19
        Mary     40    b Clayton        fol 19
        Frances    65    b Knaresboro        fol 36

Notes
Hugh Stott had the Crown in the 1834 Directory

Mrs PARKER of/in LANGTHORPE
Diary references: eg
29 Sep 1857:  “went & had supper at Mrs Parkers at Langthorpe”
28 Jan 1858:  “Went to Mrs Parkers of Langthorp to fetch Mother & Sarah”
15 Jul 1859:  “Tom & I ... called at Scotts & ... Sampsons & Parkers & had supper at Joes”

Whites 1840:        “Wm Parker, farmer, Langthorpe”

Notes
Mrs Elizabeth Parker, Aldborough, is listed in 1854 Slaters
Francis Parker, Auctioneer, Boroughbridge is listed in 1854 Slaters

POULTER of BOROUGHBRIDGE
ratcatcher
Diary references: [mentioned 4 times 1856, 4 times 1857, once 1858]
first mentioned on
18 Apr 1856: “Joe  Capes & I went to our Milby Lane Field   Poulter brot a live rabbit & his two dogs   we had a capital course   Pincher took the Rabbit   Poulters old Bitch was in the heat.....”

16 Feb 1857:  “....Poulter the Ratcatcher was there...”

Tithe Map c1840:  Boroughbridge
Wm Poulter        in hand        no77    house & garden

Parish Registers: eg
Dowson, son of Wm & Jane Poulter, Roecliffe, bap 17 Oct 1817
Amy, dau of Wm & Jane Poulter, Roecliffe, Publican, bap 8 Mar 1822

the Misses PRESTON of/in SETTLE
The Misses Preston of Settle must also have been friends of John's mother, as one of them was his sister Alice’s godmother.
Diary references:
20 Aug 1856:  “Jack Ingleby [etc].. and the Misses Preston of Settle took tea with us”
28 Aug 1856:  “We all went & had tea with Thomas Stackhouse   Two Misses Preston from Settle were there”

Slaters 1849:       
“Gentry etc:  the Misses Preston, Settle”

1851 Settle: Preston       
Miss Jane Preston, 66, house proprietor, b Settle
Miss Margt, 54           
Miss Eliz., 49   
with 2 servants in a large house near to The Terrace

Mr POOLEY of/in SETTLE area
Diary references:
21 Aug 1856:  “..Mr Pooley came tonight”
22 Aug 1856:  “Uncle & Pooley went shooting”
4 Sep 1856:  “Pooley & I walked to Settle”

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): people L to M

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

Rev Edward R LASCELLES, vicar of LITTLE OUSEBURN
Diary references:
8 Sep 1855:  “Aunt Bell  Mrs Lascelles & Miss Haydn called”
10 Sep 1855:  “Took Aunt Bell to illeg  Supped Lascelles
21 Sep 1857:  “supped..at Uncle Wms   Lascelles & wife ..[etc]..were there”

20 Mar 1859:  “...to Uncle Picks.   Aunt Bell came with Mr Lascelles governess (Miss Welch) & one of Lascelles boys to Church at night  Aunt Bell stayed at Uncle Picks   I set the Governess home to Little Ouseburn but I did not go in”
24 Apr 1859:  “Had tea at Aunt Bells   Two Miss Lascelles & the Governess were there”
12 Nov 1859:  “BB Hirings  Mr & Mrs Lascelles  Mr & Mrs Henlock & Mr & Mrs Pick dined with us”

1851: Gt Ouseburn
Lascelles   
Edward R Lascelles 42    vicar of Little Ouseburn    b Surrey       
Frances        46    wife        
Catherine     8     [all children b Little Ouseburn]                       
Anna         7                           
Charles     5                           
John W        4                           
Arthur        2                       
Egbert        9mths                       
Elizabeth May    U    20    cook   
Betsey Glossop    U    29    nurse   
Elizabeth Mark    U    15    housemaid

George Whitehead’s Journal:
Revd Robert Edward LASCELLES & Fanny Watson  Married  Dec 7th 1841
Charles Edward Lascelles son of E R Lascelles b May 9th 1845
Mr Lascelles got first gig they ever had  May 25th 1846
Mr Lascelles Drop’d down in a sick fit in the reading desk at Church Feb 11th 1849
Lascelles got their first governess viz Miss Chapman  Sept 6th  a south countrywoman  1851
Revd Edward Robert Lascelles vicar of Little Ouseburn d Aug 6th a55     years (he was the vicar at         L.O. about 27 yrs)  1864
Mrs Lascelles sale at L.O. Mar 28th  they left L.O. & went to live at Bbdge Apr 6th 1865
Charles Lascelles got to be Bbdge Post Master, spring of 1870
Charles Lascelles & --  Married 1880
Mrs Lascelles d Feb 16 a78 yrs  1884
Chas Ed Lascelles son of Ouseburn late clergyman d Jan 3rd a46 yrs  1892

The children of the Revd Lascelles are frequently mentioned in the 1870s letters from Mrs Mary Stubbs.  Three of the Lascelles children were to die before they reached the age of 27 and Charles Lascelles, who became Boroughbridge postmaster in 1870, was taken very ill in 1873 with what seems to have been a stroke in his mid twenties.  Charles recovered, and in the 1881 Census is to be found in Harrogate, working as a solicitor’s managing clerk.  His mother and sister Anna are in the same household; Anna sometimes went on holiday with the Stubbs family. 

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): people I to K

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

Jack, Christopher, Margaret and Old  INGLEBY/INGILBY  of/in  Settle/Lawkland Hall
Miss INGLEBY of  CLAPHAM
Diary references:
20 Aug 1856:  “Jack Ingleby  Old Ingleby  Mrs Jefferson Harrison [etc] took tea with us”
26 Aug 1856:  “..went to Settle   I saw Mr Ingelby & Mr Foster”
2 Sep 1856:  “Went to Lawkland Hall    Saw Margt Ingleby  .....rode home by Austwick  saw Jack Ingleby”
29 Jun 1857:  “Went to Skipton Sessions  Mr Wm Foster drove me to Settle station   dined with Chr Ingelby at the Devonshire & then retd to Taitlands”
14 Jan 1858:  “[at Leond Sidgwick & Jane Redmayne’s wedding] [etc] & Margaret Ingleby were bridesmaids”

24 Sep 1859:  “ ... to Austwick  I called to see John Ingleby  Chr Ingleby & young Clapham”
3 Oct 1859:  “Uncle [Redmayne] went to Clapham Fair    Aunt   Henry  Lizzie & I went to Clapham in the large carriage   I drove there  We had dinner & tea at Miss Redmaynes   Called at the vicarage & Miss Ingleby’s & had some good fun in the fair  Hy Marriner was at home”
4 Oct 1859:  “... to the Bashals to tea  Jack Ingleby Mrs & Miss Wood & ourselves were there”
10 Oct 1859:  “...with Uncle & Thos Stackhouse to Austwick Wood to shoot   Mr Foster  Mr Ingleby  John Ingleby  Robt Hargraves  Thos Clapham  Joe Birkbeck  Thos Stackhouse  John Hartley  Uncle & I were there.  We shot 46 hares  17 pheasants & 18 rabbits   We all dined at Thos Claphams at 7 o’clock”

Pigots 1834:       
“Gentry etc:  Mr Robert Ingleby, Lawkland green”
“Gentry etc:  Thomas Ingleby esq, Lawkland Hall”

Slaters 1849:       
“Gentry etc:  Charles Ingleby esq, Austwick”           
“Gentry etc:  Mr Robert Ingleby, Lawkland green”

1851 Census: Austwick
Christopher Ingelby, marr 27, Attorney & solicitor, b Lawkland Hall
Anne, wife, 34, b Westmorland
groom
house servant

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): names beginning H

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

JOHN LEES & FRANCES ELIZA HUNTER & family of/in KNARESBOROUGH
Alexander, John & Frances HUNTER met with at  GT OUSEBURN

Frances Eliza STUBBS b 18 Jan 1801, aunt of Bishop Stubbs.  Married John Lees Hunter.  Buried Feb 1881 at Knaresborough. [Bishop Stubbs p 6]

Diary references:
5 Sep 1856:  “Mrs Wm Stubbs   Aunt Bell & Aunt Redmayne & I set off....We stayed & had tea at Hunters of Knaresbro   had a cab from there   Frances came with us & she returned in the Cab”
16 Oct 1856:  “went with [Sedgwicks] in their dogcart to Uncle Picks Party....Fras Hunter was there  played Cards had some fine fun..”
13 Jun 1858:  “Twice to Gt Ouseburn church  Alexr Hunter  John Hunter  Frances Hunter & Rd Paver spent the day with us”

1851 Settle:  The Terrace
Henry L Hunter is a pupil at the Grammar School and is boarding with his aunt Miss Henlock.
He is 10 years old, and was born at Wetherby

Mr, Miss Ellen & Miss Lucy  HALLEWELL     of LEEDS
The father and sisters of Martha Eliza, wife of Heaton Edwin Clark of Ellenthorpe

Diary references:
16 Jun 1856:  “Mr Hallewell called at our house”

29 Mar 1859:  “At night Capes & I had a cab to Ellinthorp Lodge to the return bridal party   we played cards & a very jolly evening we had.  Miss Ellen & Miss Lucy Hallewell were there  We got home about ½ past twelve”

George Whitehead’s Journal:
Heaton Edwin Clark of Ellenthorpe Lodge & Martha Eliza Hallewell of Highfield House, Woodhouse, Leeds  married Jany 5th 1859

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): Henlock and Hirst

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

William & Ellen HENLOCK of  GREAT OUSEBURN
William Henlock 1805-66 is the brother of John's mother
Ellen Henlock, nee Thornber, of Settle, born ca1807, died 1885

JRS often calls there, stays there, they dine at Bridge Foot &c

Diary references: eg
Jan 1853:  “Recd from Aunt Henlock  26/-”

6 Mar 1856:  “walked to Ouseburn and had dinner Uncle Williams as they had been coursing    We then had tea    after tea a rubber at wist   two table   Uncle Henlock  Crosby  Len Sedgwick & I sat at one table.  Gudgeon  Uncle Pick  Capes  & Joe at the other...”
1 Apr 1856:  “walked to Marton to get a gun for me from Gudgeon  Uncle Wms gamekeeper...”
19 Jul 1856:  “Uncle Wm & Aunt came home from Redcar”
22 Sep 1856:  “went to Uncle Wms   Mrs H gave me a tart or two & a glass of wine”

28 Apr 1857:  “Uncle Wm lent me a gun which I brought home”
14 Jul 1857:  “Smallwood & I walked to Ouseburn   Had some fruit at Uncle Wms   the good people were out at the other house”
28 Jul 1857:  “Uncle Wm came & left his pony & carriage at our house until he returned from Driffield”
21 Sep 1857:  “..walked to Ouseburn Feast.....supped...at Uncle Wms  Lascelles & wife  Miss Haddon   Howe & wife  Old Pick & wife  Richd Paver  Ellison & wife were there.....”

5 May 1858:  “At Night  Sd & I walked to Uncle Wms Plantation  Met Harry Redmayne there with the gun”
8 May 1858:  “At Night  Harry Redmayne  Sd & I walked to Uncle Wms Cottages”
25 Jul 1858:  “Morning & evening to Gt Ouseburn Church   In the afternoon Aunt & I took the Dogs down the Croft”
25 Dec 1858:  “After dinner I walked to Ouseburn   Had tea at Uncle Picks  then I went to Uncle Wms to stay until Monday mg”

20 Mar 1859:  “In the afternoon Aunt Henlock & I walked down to Uncle Picks...”
19 May 1859:  “At night I rode to Ouseburn but the good people there had gone to a missionary meeting so I did not see them”
20 Aug 1859:  “Mrs Henlock & I went to see some sheep & had a good course”
27 Oct 1859:  “Aunt Henlock gave me a gold chain”
20 Nov 1859:  “Uncle Wm had a letter to say Miss Marriner was dead”
    J stays at Henlocks’ in August and November

    J stays at Henlocks’ in January 1860 and for much of October 1860, for the shooting
17 Aug 1860:  “Went with Uncle Pick to Uncle Wms cottage...”

    Aunt Henlock goes to Harrogate on 4 Oct 1860, stays at Settle in December and
10 Dec 1860:  “[J goes to York Cattle Show]  I bought 2 flannel shirst which Mrs Henlock said she would pay for”

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): names beginning G

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

Sir Willam GALLWEY of PILMOOR HOUSE
MP for Thirsk

Diary references:
15 Feb 1856:  “I wrote a letter to Sir W G telling him Uncle had not arrived at home as he expected him this morng”
no other references 1816-Apr 1858

Post Office 1857:     
“Pill Moor House is the residence of Sir William P Gallwey, Bart, MP; it is a new building, pleasantly situated 1 ½ miles from the village.  Brickmaking is carried on extensively near here”


William GATENBY of/in    BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
11 Mar 1856:  “When I got home [from York] I went to James Swales & Wm Gatenby to ask them to go & speak a good word for Hodgson who was going to be tried with Kirby of Marton for night poaching as I met his mother in the Castle Yard & she asked me if I would  but they declined going”

Slaters 1849:        “Joiners & Cabinet makers: Gatenby, William, Borobridge”
            “Shopkeeper & Baker:  Gatenby, John Walker, Borobridge”
Post Office 1857:    “Farmers at Helperby/ Brafferton:  William Gatenby”

Censuses:
1851: Borobridge
William Gatenby, widower, 45, joiner & cabinet maker master b BB
with 6 children under 16       

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): people E to F

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

Mrs ELGOOD of/in  BOROUGHBRIDGE
Diary references:
3 Oct 1856: “..to Crawshaws to have tea...Leond [etc] were there Mrs Elgood  it was rather sticky”
14 Oct 1856: “..to Miss Stotts...Mrs Elgood & Mrs Crawshaw...&c &c....”


Emma ETESON of/in  Knaresborough
Diary references:
9 Jul 1855: “ Emma Eteson &c to tea”
14 Oct 1856:  “..to Miss Stotts...Emma Eteson & Jacob...&c &c”
15 Oct 1856: “..to Mrs Powells party  Had cards  Emma Eteson & I played Joe & Miss Smith”
21 Oct 1856: “..to Humburton..had a large party  Emma Eteson was there  had a jolly dance”

20 Jan 1857:  “Mother was at Mrs Powells at tea.  Mrs Eteson of Knaresboro was there”


Mr & Mrs ELLISON of/in OUSEBURN
Diary references:
21 Sep 1857:  “..supped...at Uncle Wms  Lascelles & wife  Miss Hddon  Howe & wife  Old Pick & wife  Richd Paver  Ellison & wife were there”

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): names beginning with C

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

Bessie CARASS of BOROUGHBRIDGE
Bessie may have been John's nurse and features in the life of the family for many decades

Diary references:
16 Jan 1856:  “...played cards at Henry Carass’  Joe & I beat the two Henrys had only one rubber  Bessie went to ask Miss Eagle a Clairvoyant Lady at Mrs Morrells about Uncle Henlocks...”
27 Jun 1856:  “At Noon was at Capes’ with Arthur Powell to dinner   I gave Mrs Stevenson a pair of Sissors & Bessie Carass a pair”
15 Sep 1856:  “Called to see Bessie Carass & Aunt Bell & then went home”

30 Oct 1857:  “At Night sat with Bessie Carass”

no references in 1858 or 1859
while in London, JRS wrote to Bessie (9.2.60)

Censuses:
1851:  Boroughbridge
Henry Carass, 32, butcher, b BB
Elizabeth Carass, 34, wife, b Topcliffe

Letters from Ellis Macfarlane to John Stubbs on her first visit to Boroughbridge after their engagement: “I am to see old Bessie tomorrow” she wrote on her first night, and the next day, “Last Night I went to the kitchen to try to get old Bessie tell me something bad about you, but of course failed altogether.  This morning I watched her prepare a turkey for cooking.  So you see I am beginning already!!” 

Bessie offered to come and look after Ellis when the babies were due, made cushions for Ellis and went for holidays to stay with John and Ellis in Coatham. 

Bessie also worked for other families.  She was left £10 by Mrs Wood in 1872, and a letter of Mary’s in May 1874 shows how busy Bessie and Henry were:  “Bessy is very busy.  She has loads of washing.  We have had Henry one day this week and again tomorrow whitewashing.  The Sedgwicks have the Mackaskeys at dinner tomorrow and Bessy is making jelly &c for them”. 

Aunt Bell remembered Bessie in her Will “as a small acknowledgment of all her kindness”, and in a letter of 1886 Mary told John she wished on her death that the maids should each have full mourning and that Bessie Carass was to have “a gown and bonnet and cap” in the traditional way.

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): Capes & Clarks

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date.

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.

Henry Hawkesley CAPES (1827-1905) of  BOROUGHBRIDGE
John's brother in law

Diary references:
first mentioned 20 Jan 1853:  “in the evening we had a few friends as M & S Hirst   M & J/L Sedgwick & Mr Capes”
15 Sep 1855:  “Capes & I walked round by All Arm....”
through 1856: sometimes ‘Capes’, sometimes ‘Mr Capes’, occasionally ‘Mr Henry Capes’.  I have come to the conclusion that this is all HHCapes.
4 Feb 1856:  “Mr Cape came home from Gainsbro”
9 Feb 1856:  “At night went with Mr Capes to Dishforth to hear a little more about Cousin Marks Horse Cause”
14 Feb 1856:  “Uncle & Mr C being at Malton   Mr Barroby’s horse trial being heard today...”
21 Feb 1856: “Capes & Jane went walking”  [first mention of the two together]
27 Mar 1856:  “Jane & Capes played Chess”
29 Apr 1856:  “At Night Capes  Joe & I rowed their boat up to Roecliffe for the first time”
10 Jun 1856:  “At Night I had tea with Capes   we went down to play Cricket & a jolly practice we had”
17 Jun 1856:  “Capes & his cousin Scholfield”
11 Jul 1856:  “At Night Jane & Capes came from Taitlands”
27 Aug 1856:  “Had a letter from Capes...”
10 Sep 1856:  [wedding]
26 Sep 1856:  “Capes & Jane came from their Wedding Tour in Wales”
30 Sep 1856:  “Capes & Jane came   I went with them to their house & filled up some orders of Removal & stayed & supped with them”
14 Oct 1856:  “At Night I went to Miss Stotts to meet Mr & Mrs Capes...”
8 Nov 1856:  “At Night went to Capes for some Newspapers & took same to Mrs Powells”

John Stubbs' diaries (1853-60): people A to B

These are my original working notes, made quite a few years ago in the days before broadband and easy access to census records etc.  I have done a certain amount of extra work in getting them ready to post here, so some of the entries are now up-to-date. 

They include quotations from George Whitehead's Journals, ed. Helier Hibbs, which have been an invaluable resource for which I am very grateful. 

As with the A-Z of Hutton Rudby people, my accuracy is NOT guaranteed!  And I'm afraid they are not quite in alphabetical order.


John APPLETON of/in    Dishforth?
Diary references:
?? Jan 1853 a/c:  “for Appleton    6d”

9 Feb 1856:  “At Night went with Mr Capes to Dishforth to hear a little more about Cousin Marks Horse Cause    Mr Charles Mason & John Appleton were there”

26 Jul 1857:  “Mr & Miss Barroby went to Wm Richardsons childs christening   I came home at night with John Appleton in the pony carriage  They came to meet the Bulls from Salisbury which came tonight”


The Misses D & Sarah APPLETON of Dishforth
Diary references:
17 Jan 1857:  “At Night....to Dishforth   Ryotts children were all there & a Miss Rhodes from Thirsk & the Misses Appleton of Dishforth   we had a dance”

30 Dec 1858:  “At Night Went to Capes   Miss D  Miss Sarah Appleton of Dishforth  Miss Clarke of Minskip  Miss Calder  Jane Sedgwick & Mary  Alice & Lizzy Joe & I were there   got home about ten”

3 Jan 1859:  “...in Stotts phaeton to Clarks of Minskip to tea   Miss Calder  The Misses Appleton & Miss McCleod were there...”
24 Feb 1859:  “we had Miss Appleton & Sarah Appleton & Sophy to tea”
25 Feb 1859:  “tea at Uncles  The Appletons & Mrs Powell were there”
They are at tea or supper with the Stubbs or Hirsts five times in April, three times in August, and have tea at Bridge Foot once in December

Whites 1840: Dishforth:  Thos Appleton, yeoman

Tithe Map c1840
Thomas Appleton has in hand no316, house, and land, and tenants on most of his farmland; his house is on the west side of the main street of Dishforth, south of Mr Barroby’s
William Appleton has tenants on his 59 acres

From Graham Appleton (31 Aug 2014): 

The two sisters, Annie and Sarah, went to a private school in Boroughbridge. Their school mistress was Mary Powell, who is also mentioned in the letters (I found this in the 1851 census). They were the daughters of the Thomas Appleton you found at Dishforth by his second wife. She sadly spent a lot of time in 'asylums' (most time in Bootham Hospital, York). I've looked at her medical records and she seems to have suffered from undiagnosed /untreated post-natal depression- which may have often been the case. Charles Mason and Mark Barroby, who are also in the letters, were the executors of her husband Thomas' will, and then became trustees of her estate while she was in the hospitals.

The John Appleton who is in the letters was from a different branch of the family living in Dishforth. He was a groom- I noticed that the entries with which he's involved are both of a horsey nature! He was the father of the Thomas Appleton who gave his name to the Thomas Appleton's butchers in Ripon market place. Curiously, the young Thomas started his working life as a groom in the household of the above family in Dishforth (the family of Annie, Sarah and their mother-in the 1861 Dishforth census).

Finally, the 'Mrs Appleton of Langthorpe' in the letters is from another branch of the family who were also from Dishforth. All these branches were related and came from Dishforth.

Mrs APPLETON of LANGTHORPE
Diary references:
25 Jan 1856:  “At Noon went with a note for Mrs Appleton of Langthorp from Uncle Hirst”

Mr ATKINSON decd   

Diary references:
30 Aug 1859:  “Went to the Fulford Road Cemetery [York] for a cert.e of Mr Atkinsons burial”

A large family in 19th century Harrogate

I like this story of Jane Stubbs' family because it's a reminder – at a time when everything to do with bringing up children seems so particularly fraught with anxiety – that the idea we make for ourselves of childcare of the past may not be quite accurate … …

Jane Stubbs was born at the Bridge Foot at seven o'clock on the morning of 5 July 1826, and was twelve years older than John.  She makes only rare appearances in his early diaries – a teenage boy would hardly notice the activities of a sister who was a young unmarried woman of twenty-seven.

By early 1856, Jane is more frequently noticed in his diary entries and always in connection with a young solicitor in their uncle Hirst's office, Henry Hawkesley Capes.  He was a year younger than Jane, and came from Whitgift in Yorkshire, the son of solicitor Thomas Hawkesley Capes and his wife Ann.  He and Jane were now to be found walking together and playing chess.

At some point the marriage must have been announced, but John does not record it.  We might guess that Jane must have been making preparations for her wedding when she went to stay in York in May and came back with a black undress Coat for her younger brother.   With quantities of clothes and underwear to make or buy and the new home to get ready, it is not surprising to find her going to York again in early August, this time with her mother.

York was also the natural place to find a wedding present, and John entrusts this task to his eldest brother Joe who, with the help of his fiancée Sarah Sedgwick of York, buys something suitable:

 “gave Jane a butter dish and silver knife with pearl handle for a wedding present   it cost 11/6”. 

On Wednesday 10 September 1856 Jane and Capes were married.

A spinster lady in 19th century Boroughbridge

A glimpse of the life of Alice Stubbs:

Alice Stubbs lived all her life in Boroughbridge.  She was born at 6 o'clock in the morning on 2 August 1844 at Bridge Foot, where her father, a grocer and wine merchant, was the third generation to run the family business.

Alice was the youngest of the six children.  When she was thirteen years old, she went to school at Miss Adcock's in Ilkley with her elder sister Lizzy and her cousin Mary Redmayne of Stainforth.  The following year, in August 1859, she and Mary went to school in Blackheath near London, while Lizzy, aged seventeen, had left education and was making lengthy stays with family and friends.

When Alice's father Thomas died in 1867 Alice was the only child left at home.  Her eldest sister Jane and her growing family had moved to Knaresborough, while Lizzy lived in Doncaster with her husband and new baby.  John was establishing himself as a solicitor in Middlesbrough, and the family must barely have recovered from the loss of Tom, who had died suddenly in London the previous year when aged only thirty-two.  Alice and her mother moved out of the Bridge Foot, leaving it to her eldest brother Joe and his wife, and set up home in St James's Square.  She was twenty-three years old and it was to be her home for the rest of her days

We do not know whether Alice chose spinsterhood.  There is no hint in the family papers that she suffered any disappointment in love – unlike her cousin Fanny Stubbs, the Bishop of Oxford's sister.  Fanny had told John of "her smash with George Robinson" as they walked together to the Castleberg in Settle in August 1856; when she died at the age of forty-one she was still unmarried.  Alice, like Fanny, was the mainstay and companion of her widowed mother Mary.

We can glimpse her daily life through family letters. 

She had local duties and obligations to fulfil.  This included visiting the poor ("districting" as her mother called it), teaching in the Sunday School and helping at the National School.  There were calls to be paid and shopping – or, as her mother still said, "marketing" – to be done.  Alice played tennis, went for walks, and of course attended church.  There were frequent visitors to stay and people called on them and were entertained at meals.  Alice and her mother very much enjoyed "romping" with the little children who were brought to the house. 

Alice herself went to stay with friends and family, for amusement and to be useful.  She went to Redcar, visited Cambridge for the May Bumps “and had great gaiety” when a young relative Charlie Stubbs was rowing in the races, to Hychin Hall near Bury St Edmonds with her cousin Mary Redmayne, to Scarborough with Aunt Henlock.  Aunt Henlock was clearly very fond of Alice –

"We had such a pleasant day at Ouseburn yesterday  Aunt sent for us in the morng   paid the bar [tollbar] and sent us home in the eveng, then I felt overpowered with her presents to me it was so exceedingly kind in fact she did not know how to make sufficient of us"

wrote Alice to John in Feb 1869.

Aunt Henlock's generosity, though it made Alice a little embarrassed, was very welcome.  Finances were a constraint, as although their lives were comfortable their incomes were fixed.  Alice was unable to get to Redcar to see her new nephew soon after the birth because of

"lowness in the purses, the sealskin has never been quite recovered   Alice felt she had not sufficient dress to come with and nothing quarter day"

wrote Mary in March 1872.

"Transferring money does not suit those who have only a limited income   payment deferred for a few months is very inconvenient"

she wrote in April 1872. 

Keeping the balance between the necessity for careful housekeeping and the level of hospitality that she had been accustomed to offer guests – and perhaps felt was expected of her – must have required care.

Alice took her share of the work in the house – and it is clear that they enjoyed their garden:

"Alice is taking in her geraniums"

wrote Mary, and

"... tell dear Ellis our Hyacinths and Narcissus’s are all nicely in flower and though not remarkably fine are very pretty, are yours flowering?"

Mary had run a large household, entertaining customers and family for days in succession during the Fair, and was clearly an excellent manager.  The housekeeping skills possessed by Mary and Alice were valued by the rest of the family:

"I have got a ham if you like to have it weighing 21 pounds for twenty one shillings, would you like another one or not if so we will look out and they could both come together"

Mary wrote in September 1875. 

"I have only been able yet to get you the small ham but if Ellis still wishes for a large I have no doubt we can get one and then shall be sent off by luggage train when we hear from you."

Alice made marmalade for the family, and thereby earned a little more income:

"she has put it into bottles to travel best and altogether has cost 6/-"

wrote her mother to John.

For all housekeepers in Boroughbridge, the seasonal house-cleaning was a major undertaking.  Social life came to a temporary halt while the house was turned out, scrubbed, dusted and whitewashed.  Gas had come to the town in about 1860, but even if the house in St James's Square had replaced oil lamps and candles with gas lighting, the light afforded was dim by comparison with the electricity of the 20th century.  When spring brought brighter sunshine into the darker corners and shadier passages, the grime of a winter of coal fires and smoky wicks would have been all too visible.

"We very much wished to be cleaning"

wrote Mary in March 1872 when it became clear visitors would prevent them, and they were forced to put it off until the beginning of May.  It must have been a trying time, and that year they were unfortunate in the weather.  They were assisted as usual by Bessy (who had been the children's nurse) while her husband Henry Carass the butcher was their whitewasher.  By dint of their combined efforts they were nearly finished by 18 May, but the unseasonable coldness – "it is like Christmas" – made it rather unpleasant.  And it was all to be done again in late autumn, ready for winter.

 "We have had a busy day cleaning the dining room putting down the old carpet etc"

wrote Mary at the end of October, and again on 7 November,

"I do not think we have anything more to tell you everybody is cleaning for Martinmas." 

The stone passages were not easy to keep clean and warm: 

"I am rather anxious to have a new oilcloth for one passage … I cannot have it to cover entirely as no one here could properly fit it so it must only be a certain width … the flags are very rough ones that they may be better not covered altogether, and we always roll it up when we go from home"

wrote Mary in April 1873. 

Another comment by Mary in May 1873 shows how consuming an occupation cleaning was for the whole community:

"Everybody is cleaning so we are very quiet.  Alice will be doing all her drawers &c I cannot persuade her to take them quietly I tell her she will be worn out before her time"

Unsurprisingly, Mary grew increasingly reluctant to take on the burden without Alice.  In 1874, when she and John were attempting to fix a date for Alice to visit him at Coatham, Mary wrote

"We must have house cleaning and I do not feel equal to undertaking it alone."

 The house was turned upside down in the process.  When in May 1874 her daughter Jane Capes wrote in the middle of cleaning

"to say she and Henry would come for the night, today was the Audit [probably of the Workhouse Union, which Henry would have to attend] we had not a carpet down up stairs but we took them they slept in the nursery bed (rather small you will say) but they seemed content."

In spring 1875 Mary was 72 years old – that year she found

"the extra work of dusting &c has made my sight rather more dim for we have had a very busy week and thankful it is over."

John and his wife Ellis made Alice the fine present of a sewing machine.  Isaac Singer improved on earlier machines and patented his own design in 1851, achieving such success that by 1860 Singers were the market leaders.  When Ellis prepared her own trousseau in March 1871 she had the use of a sewing machine, remarking to John in a letter from her mother's house in Helensburgh

"10 bodies.  No easy task"

as she sewed her underwear.  She must have realised how very useful Alice would find one.

The machine was set up on the table that Mary used for writing letters.  On 22 February 1872, she wrote to John

"Alice is machining beside me and makes me very shaky but she says to tell them every time I use it I feel more inwardly grateful to them both for it and her best love to Ellis and thanks for her letter."

and the following month

"Alice is machining by me petticoat bottoms &c   she does prize her valuable gift it has done a great deal this week bed curtains &c &c"

It enabled Alice to earn a little money by carrying out commissions for the family.  She did some sewing for Ellis and the children: 

"tell Ellis the frock was sent off to her on Monday"

wrote Mary in February 1874. 

The sisters-in-law both evidently enjoyed discussing clothes and Ellis must have been a useful source of information for Alice.   Boroughbridge had become a much quieter town since the railways came, while Coatham and Redcar were popular seaside resorts, giving Ellis the opportunity to see the lady visitors in their best holiday attire.  The sewing machine must have been particularly valuable in the 1870s, when dresses were decorated with a uantity of elaborate trimmings:

"Am I to have Pekay [piqué] dress or what else can you recommend for I have 6 yards of embroidery to trim it with?"

wrote Alice to Ellis in April 1872.

"Alice begs I will tell Ellis she wore her blue dress"

Mary wrote in July 1873.

Ellis went to visit John’s family for the first time on 28 December 1870. She had met John in late November when they were fellow guests of Thomas Vaughan, the ironmaster.  Tom was a friend of John's, and his wife Kate Macfarlane was Ellis's cousin.  Ten days after their first meeting, John and Ellis were engaged to be married.  Ellis's first visit to Boroughbridge was naturally a matter of great importance, and as he was unable to accompany her, he depended on the post for news.

Her letters give us a glimpse of life in St James's Square.  She wrote to him of sitting in her room beside such a cosy fire, watching old Bessie in the kitchen preparing a turkey, coming in

"from such a nice dinner – and as Alice insisted in me taking some port you must excuse bad writing!?!"

coming home from church and

"taking a nice warm cup of coffee to lunch."

 A few months later, when he was staying at Boroughbridge, she wrote,

"I imagine when you receive this you will be just dressing in the nice comfortable room I slept in perhaps just out of your bath as I was when I received yours." 

Alice died on 23 July 1921.  A loving soul, she was much loved herself.  In a letter to his mother on 15 February 1885 John wrote,

"Don’t please trouble about Alice.  So long as I am able, she shall never want a home, but she will have enough to make her independent of any of us"

 In 1909 Alice wrote to Ellis,

"words will never express what you have been to me throughout the whole of your married life and it was one of dear Granny’s great causes of thankfulness that John had chosen such a wife.  Also that I had gained such a true and loving sister."

Queen Victoria is proclaimed in Boroughbridge, 1837

This seems to be the draft of an account of the proclamation of the young Queen Victoria, written for the Intelligencer:

“Boro’Bridge
On Friday the 30th Ult at 2 o’clock P.M. the Queen was proclaimed in the Town with every demonstration of loyalty.  Wm Hirst Esq [‘Esq’ is deleted in pencil, and ‘Mr’ written above ‘Wm’] (in the stead of the Borough Bailiff who was indisposed) accompanied by the Sheriff’s Officer, read the Proclamation in the Square in the presence of a large concourse of people.  The children of the National & Infant Schools formed a large circle & were regaled with negus and Biscuits, and the populace had several Barrels of ale distributed amongst them.  The Proclamation was received with hearty British English cheers, after which the procession being formed & headed by two Bands of music moved to other parts of Town where the Proclamation was read with similar expressions of loyalty - after which a large party of Gent. adjourned to the Crown Inn, where the health of the young Queen with many [other?] patriotic toasts was drunk with due honors and the remainder of the afternoon spent in the greatest good humour.  The Procession was accompanied by a great number of ladies who contributed in no small degree to enliven the scene.”

The solicitor William Hirst was married to John Richard Stubbs' aunt Elizabeth Stubbs (1798-1858).

He was of a local family – one uncle was Thomas Dew, borough bailiff and a partner in the Boroughbridge Bank with Thomas Stubbs and others; another uncle was Henry Hirst, a Northallerton solicitor. 

Hirst’s career bridges the old and the new.  He was the agent for the Duke of Newcastle, who owned the rotten boroughs of Boroughbridge and Aldborough in the last days before Parliamentary Reform.  And he was Boroughbridge's first Postmaster.  He must have had a finger in every pie in Boroughbridge during his years in practice!

A Boroughbridge Boyhood: Epilogue

What happened to John's family in later years?

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

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

William Henlock of Great Ouseburn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She kept a cow:

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

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

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

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

Death was never far away. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: Boroughbridge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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