19th century solicitors in Middlesbrough, Stockton and Darlington

In the second half of the 19th century when Middlesbrough – Gladstone's "Infant Hercules" – boomed from a farmhouse to an important industrial town in the space of decades, solicitors played a significant part in the business and private life of the borough.  

Among the solicitors of Middlesbrough, Stockton and Darlington were firms that, in 1990, amalgamated to make the present firm of Messrs Jacksons.  Their history up to the Second World War is set out below.

Their history up to 1990, together with deeds and documents relating to the constituent firms of Messrs Meek, Stubbs & Barnley and the Meek family, have been deposited at Teesside Archives.

The dates in brackets after the names of practitioners are the dates of admission as a solicitor.  I have set out some brief biographical details at the end of each section in which a solicitor first appears.  They come from a variety of backgrounds and from across the country. 

JACKSONS, MONK & ROWE

1876 Gilbert Benjamin Jackson (1876) first practising as Solicitor and Attorney at 42 Albert Road, Middlesbrough

1878 Gilbert Benjamin Jackson and his brother Francis Henry Jackson (1872) practising as Jackson & Jackson in Middlesbrough, Loftus and Saltburn

1892 Jackson & Jackson practising also at 61 Lincoln's Inn, London

1896 Gilbert Benjamin Jackson and Francis Henry Jackson with James Bell Stothart practising as Jackson, Jackson & Stothart at 23 Coleman Street, London and at Middlesbrough

1899 Philip Henry Monk (1898) with Jackson & Jackson in Middlesbrough and subsequently in London.

1901 Loftus practice sold to Henry Hoggart

1904 London office sold to Elwell & Binford Hole

1906 Philip Henry Monk a partner in Jackson & Jackson

1907 Gilbert Benjamin Jackson, Francis Henry Jackson, Francis's son Basil Jackson (1905) and Philip Henry Monk practising as Jackson & Jackson in Middlesbrough

Name of firm changed to Jackson & Monk

1920 Death of Basil Jackson from war wounds

1930 Death of Francis Jackson

1931 Retirement of Gilbert Jackson

1933 Herbert Edward Rowe (1928) partner in Jackson & Monk with Philip Henry Monk

1938 Firm became Jacksons, Monk & Rowe

(1989 Jacksons, Monk & Rowe merge with Cohen, Jackson with firm name of Jacksons)

Joseph Honeyman of Hutton Rudby, dies of cholera in 1848

York Herald, 4 November 1848

CASE OF CHOLERA, AND CAUTION TO DRUNKARDS

On Tuesday last, an inquest was held before Mr John Settle, at the Angel Inn, in Stranton, on view of the body of Joseph Honeyman, a native of Hutton Rudby, in Yorkshire, and who was a seaman on board the brig Zephyr, then lying in the West Dock, at Hartlepool, on board of which the deceased was viewed by the jurors.  

From the evidence, it appeared that the deceased had been drinking for several days, in London, previous to the vessel leaving the Thames, and that he had got quit of about nine sovereigns in eight days, during which time he had been drunk every day.  

When off Flambro' Head on Saturday last, the deceased was suddenly attacked about five o'clock in the afternoon with illness.  He was sick and vomited very much, he was purged and subjected to cramps, and was also cold at the extremities.  He lingered about thirty hours from his first being seized, and died on board the Zephyr, at the harbour of the West Dock.  

Dr Green, of Hartlepool, attended the deceased on the arrival of the ship, and, at the inquest, he stated that deceased's was a case of malignant Asiatic cholera, the exciting cause being drink.  Deceased was 24 years of age.  Verdict, "Natural death, from Asiatic cholera."

On the Hartlepool History Then and Now website you can see a Public Notice dated 8 August 1848 warning the inhabitants of the cholera:

From information received almost daily in this country, from many parts of the Continent, it is manifest that, that dreadful scourge of human life, the CHOLERA, is spreading its devastating influence over many parts; and, from all accounts, the inhabitants of this country have the strongest reasons for dreading its quick approach to these Isles; and of all the towns in the kingdom, none can have greater cause of fear than Hartlepool ...

The same website has a picture of the West Harbour and Dock dated 1848.

A few weeks before the death of Joseph Honeyman, the Darlington and Stockton Times of 14 October 1848 had carried the report that "considerable apprehension and alarm" had been excited in Hartlepool the previous Saturday when a rumour spread that a young passenger on the Highland Chief out of South Shields had died of the cholera.  

It was Dr Green, with a police officer, who went aboard to establish the facts, and he decided  that it had not been a cholera case.  The belongings of the poor young man, Isaac Forsyth Arthur, were removed ("his trunk, portmanteau, &c") and the Highland Chief continued on her voyage to Naples.  The jury decided that he had died from exhaustion, caused by sea-sickness.  He was about 20 years old, and had been a student in the Free College at Edinburgh.

This was the second visitation of the Asiatic cholera to the United Kingdom.  Hutton Rudby itself had suffered in the first terrible epidemic in 1832.  For a full account see 'The Year of the cholera', chapter 11 of Remarkable, but still True, my book about the Rev R J Barlow of Hutton Rudby.

Already in 1832, a link had been made between alcohol and the disease.  To quote from that chapter:

The abuse of alcohol was frequently linked with vulnerability to cholera, by the newspapers and the doctors.  It struck a chord with the public, as this was the dawn of the temperance movement, and alcohol now carried increasing associations of poverty and lack of self-control.  Moreover, the usual medical advice was to abstain from strong liquor during the epidemic and take wine in moderation.  In fact the gastritis and malnutrition caused by excessive use of alcohol did favour the disease.

And the unfortunate young man at the heart of this story –

There is one Joseph Honeyman in Hutton Rudby in the 1841 Census who was of the right age.  Joseph, aged 17 or 15 (it is hard to tell whether 7 or 5 was the correction) was the son of Thomas Honeyman, weaver, and his wife Ann, and he was in 1841 a cartwright's apprentice.  He must have left the village for a more exciting life ...

The Noddings family of Hawnby, Hutton Rudby and Hartlepool

I've been contacted by Scott and Keith Noddings with this appeal for information.  They would be very glad to hear from anyone who can help.   

Appeal for information on the Nodding(s) family from Hawnby, Hutton Rudby and Hartlepool

A quick introduction, I’m Scott Noddings, I was born in Burnley, Lancashire in 1973 and my dad is Keith Noddings who was born in West Hartlepool in 1949 and we both have a keen interest with regards to our family history.

 My father and I are particularly interested in the journey our grandfathers took from Hawnby in the 1600s to Hutton Rudby in the 1700s, to Welbury, Appleton Wiske and finally to Hartlepool around the 1820s.  We are trying to figure out what took them from the green fields of Hawnby and the Yorkshire Dales to the coast line of Hartlepool and Seaton Carew, was it simply work and the need to feed the family or was it something else, like their religion…??

Already from this blog we have discovered that our family were connected to All Saints Church in Hutton Rudby.  A Michael Nodding was the churchwarden in 1773,1778 and 1779, furthermore his brother Thomas Nodding was the churchwarden in 1777, 1781, 1798, and 1799.  We know that both Michael and Thomas along with their father James had connections with All Saints' Church in Hawnby, St Leonard's church in Welbury and later at All Saints' Church in Stranton (Hartlepool); what we are keen to know is, was it the church that took them on this journey…..??

Also we are interested in Michael’s grandson Ralph Spencer Noddings who we think was born at Windyhill farm, Seamer in 1786.  The reason for this interest is that he is the first of the Noddings to have a middle name (Spencer) and the only one to have godparents mentioned on his birth register. The godparents were Ralph Spencer Esq, Mr John Middleton and a Mrs Hutton.  We would love to find out who these people were and if they would have played a role in shaping Ralph Spencer Nodding's future.

Finally we are looking for information regarding Ralph Spencer Noddings' marriage to his wife Jane.  We know the marriage must have taken place between 1804 and 1812 (before the birth of their first child), the census of 1871 tells us that Ralph and Jane lived together with their children in Seaton Carew. We have searched high and low for this marriage, can anyone help us…??

If anybody could shine a light or point us in the right direction with regards to the questions above it would be well appreciated, our contact details are as follows……

Scott Noddings - 07748 968 175

Keith Noddings

soundtecuk@hotmail.co.uk

Note 

Below is a list of their names, with date and place of birth and date of death
 James Nodding           (1889 - 1778)  Hawnby
Michael Nodding        (1726 - 1799)  Hawnby
Michael Nodding        (1755 - 1792)  Hawnby
Ralph S Noddings      (1786 - 1872)  Seamer
 Their wives were:
 Ann Gibson                 (1690 - 1782)  Hawnby
Mary Chapman           (1734 - 1789)  Hawnby
Susannah Sayer           (1755 - 1812)  Great Ayton
Jane (Nodding) ?        (1786 - 1868)  Stokesley
 Many Thanks
 Scott & Keith Noddings