The Brontës

I hope nobody interested in the Brontë family missed Sally Wainwright's brilliant drama To Walk Invisible, which was shown over Christmas?

If you did, it's available on DVD and Blu-Ray.  Unmissable.

And don't forget to read about Branwell Brontë’s ‘honest and kindly friend’: Dr John Crosby of Great Ouseburn on this blog.

John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1855

7. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: “Got out at the back door & went to the Newsroom”

Tuesday January 29th 1856
Went to Office   at Noon had a walk with Jane & Lizzy & Joe a mile up Topcliffe road & round by Milby   At Night went & read Blackstone at H Carrass’, before tea   After tea went again to Carrass’ with Joe had a rubber at wist   Uncle Hirst came for Sophy.   Joe & I got out at the back door & went to the Newsroom

The Subscription Newsroom at the White Horse Inn was a favourite place for John to read the papers – the lurid details of the Palmer poisoning trial, perhaps, or a little of the Tory periodical, the Quarterly Review – to meet friends or even, as in May 1856, to clean his gun. 

Saturday January 3rd 1857
Went to Office   Returned to Breakfast.   At Noon went to Capes’.   At Night I went to Newsroom Met Leond  Tom & Jim Sedgwick there   Leond & I had a regular split because our Tom called at their house once when he was here & would not go again because he was not asked in  he did not see the Doctor.   Called at Henry Carass’  Read Shakespeare

John’s older brother Tom had been home for a few days over Christmas, and clearly John was very angry with the Sedgwick brothers for the breach of hospitality – Tom had not been asked in to the house when he called on the Sedgwicks during his brief stay.  Perhaps the doctor’s household was in some disarray – Dr Roger Sedgwick died in early April.  At any event the “regular split” did not impair their relationship – they remained friends for life.

6. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: "Enjoyed ourselves extremely"

Tuesday January 15th 1856
Went to the Office   Mrs Workman  Mr Robert W  Mr Henlock & Mrs dined with us at 2 o’clock   I left the Office at  2  returned at 4   Went to the Doctors [Sedgwicks’] in the Evening   Danced   had supper & enjoyed ourselves extremely   A Family party  Leonard’s birthday

Breakfast was after a little bit of studying or opening the post at the office.  Dinner was the main meal of the day – whenever it took place – but here in rural Yorkshire it was generally in the middle of the day or the early afternoon.  Tea was in the early evening, supper later on.  Dinner, tea and supper – all were opportunities for parties and gatherings in this gregarious, sociable world.

Mr Robert Crawshaw Workman farmed at Arksey, near Doncaster.  The Workmans were connections of the Henlocks, John's mother's family – Margaret Henlock married William Workman.  Mr and Mrs Henlock were John’s uncle and aunt from Great Ouseburn. 

Tuesday January 22nd 1856
Went to office.   Retd to Breakfast   felt rather tired.   At Noon walked with Jane up the Topcliffe Road   Had tea with Aunt Hirst   went to a small party to supper at Aunt Bells.   had my fortune told by her.   Got home about ½ past eleven.   Uncle Hirst & Dora came home from London & Ann Stubbs came with them

No wonder John felt tired – he had been up till 4 o’clock in the morning waiting for the cow to calve.  Jane was his elder sister, who would soon marry young Mr Capes of her uncle Hirst’s office.  Dora was his cousin Dorothy Hirst, who died unmarried aged fifty-one.  She led a quiet life of useful works to the community and her family and is commemorated by a stained glass window in Boroughbridge church.  Ann Stubbs was one of the London relations.

2. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: "Good sport"

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.

1. A Boroughbridge Boyhood in the 1850s: Introducing John Stubbs

Saturday January 1st 1853
Stayed at home in the morning & helped to clip the pony & had a ride in the evening on the pony

John Richard Stubbs was fourteen years old when he made his first entry in his new diary.  He lived beside the River Ure in Boroughbridge, opposite the Crown, once a famous posting house.  His home was called the Bridge Foot, where his family had lived, kept their warehouse and run their business since his grandfather’s day – wine merchants, grocers and tea dealers since 1790. 

Monday January 3rd 1853
Rode the pony to Knaresboro to the Sessions dined at the Royal Oak & rode back at night & went to Uncle Hirst’s to supper

John’s eldest brother Joseph, now aged nearly twenty-four, would take over the firm.  He had learned his trade from his father and in London and was back at home working in the business.  Eighteen-year-old Thomas was away, apprenticed to a Master Vintner.  John was destined for the law.

Thorpe Underwood Hall: 1912

I can date this Knight, Frank & Rutley brochure from the final pages, because they advertise  auction sales due to take place in May and June 1912.

Amongst the landed estates and large country houses featured is Thorpe Underwood Hall, Ouseburn.  This had been built only a few years earlier and was designed for Frederick William Slingsby by the York architect Walter Henry Brierley.

Between 1885 and 1926 he was responsible for over 300 buildings, including schools, churches, houses and civic buildings across the North, amongst them Northallerton County Hall – and, in 1923-4, the restoration of All Saints’, Hutton Rudby.  The extensive work on the church took eight months, and during that time the congregation was ferried out by bus to services held at Drumrauch Hall.

Thorpe Underwood Hall stands close to the site of the old Thorpe Green Hall, which had been destroyed by fire at the end of the 19th century, and which is remembered now for its connection to the Bronte family.

Thorpe Underwood Hall 1912

Anne Bronte lived at Thorpe Green as governess to the Robinson family.  She was joined by her brother Branwell, but his time there was to precipitate the crisis that led to his death.

The Monk's House mentioned in the Particulars (where it is claimed to be C16 – it is actually C17) was the home of Branwell while he was tutor to the Robinsons’ son.  His ink drawing of the back of the house is well-known, cf p282 of The Art of the Brontës by Christine Anne Alexander.

Thorpe Underwood Hall 1912

By direction of W SLINGSBY, Esq.

YORKSHIRE
Within 2 1/2 miles Cattal Station, 5 miles Alne, 12 miles York and 11 miles Harrogate

A Fine Modern Mansion of Elizabethan Design
known as
"Thorpe Underwood Hall"
Ouseburn

Between Harrogate and York
Extending to about 178 Acres

The Hall is most conveniently arranged on 2 Floors
Oak-panelled, and fitted throughout with every
Modern Convenience.  Electric Light Installed.  Accom-
modation: Large Oak-panelled Hall measuring
36ft. by 20ft., Billiard Room 27ft. by 20ft.,
Drawing Room 29ft. by 18ft., Dining Room
29ft. by 18ft., Morning Room, Boudoir, Business
Room, 20 Bed and Dressing Rooms, 2 Bathrooms
Park of nearly 100 Acres
Stabling for 8 horses

Cottages
Attractive Pleasure Grounds

The Historic 16th Century Monk's House
is included

The Property is situated in the Middle of the York and Ainsty
Hunt and within reach of the Bramham Moor and Bedale Hunts

Illustrated Particulars on Application
Auctioneers & Land Agents Messrs Knight, Frank & Rutley,
10, Hanover Square, London, W.C.

Thorpe Underwood Hall is now a school. 

Branwell Brontë’s ‘honest and kindly friend’: Dr John Crosby of Great Ouseburn

An article of particular interest to Brontë enthusiasts:

The experiences of Anne and Branwell Brontë in the household of the Reverend Edmund Robinson of Thorp Green near York had significant and dramatic consequences for them both.

Branwell never worked again after his sudden dismissal as tutor to young Edmund Robinson in June 1845; it precipitated the self-destructive decline that ended in his death in September 1848.  Anne’s novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall derive much material from her five years as governess to the Robinsons’ daughters and from the painful three years at Haworth Parsonage during which Branwell descended into drunkenness, irreligion and despair.

The cause of Branwell’s dismissal has long been a subject of debate, while in recent years there has been increasing interest in Anne and appreciation of her work. The lack of information about their time at Thorp Green has therefore been most unfortunate; the following account of Branwell’s ‘honest and kindly friend’ [1]  Dr John Crosby and his friends and neighbours, whose social life Branwell probably shared, may therefore be appreciated.