Monday January 21st 1856
… Sat up till 4 o’clock in the morning expectg cow calving She calved about an hour after I got to bed … Calved red & white Heifer Calf.
The Stubbs family had once been more prosperous – in the days before the railways, when the Great North Road was filled with traffic, Boroughbridge had been a thriving, bustling town and there had been plenty of business for the wine merchant and grocer at the Bridge Foot. The house had even featured on the five guinea note of the Boroughbridge Bank established by John’s father, together with Thomas Dew, Hugh Stott (the doctor who owned The Crown Inn) and Humphrey Fletcher of Minskip. By 1856 trade had dwindled and the family’s fortunes with it – but they still owned a little land at Langthorpe, necessary for the house cow and the pony needed for deliveries.
Wednesday February 20th 1856
Went with Mr Roger [Buttery] to Brafferton to Murfits to see a pig which was expected to weigh 60 stones Had breakfast Dick [Hirst] came with me to the Station came home by 9 o’clock train
Tuesday afternoon, at the office – a letter came for John from his cousin Sophy Hirst, staying with the Buttery family at Helperby, inviting John to a party that night. He enjoyed it “very fairly”, stayed the night and was up in time to visit the giant pig before taking the train back to Boroughbridge. The Butterys – Mr and Mrs Roger, Mr Thomas and Mr William, were relatives of the Stubbs. To the Butterys again in March, where his cousin Dick Hirst was learning farming:
Sunday March 16th 1856
Went twice to Brafferton Church saw the Smiths called at Thos Buttery went with Dick Hirst to chop turnips for the Sheep. At night we sat in the house
Years later, established as a solicitor in Middlesbrough and living first in Coatham and then in Ormesby, John always managed to keep a few farm animals himself – even though, as his mother reminded him, amateur farming does not pay.
