William Weatherill of Guisborough (1807-73)

The obituary of William Weatherill (1807-73) captures the social change of the 19th century.  He was the second son of a Marske farmer – his father, also William, had the old Hob Hill Farm.  He was born in the violent heyday of smuggling, and in his childhood illicit cargoes were run up from the Saltburn beaches and hidden in the clay holes near his home. 

Smuggling was a huge illegal industry, as this report from the year of William’s birth shows:

Leeds Intelligencer, Monday 26 January 1807 

The smuggling trade on the north coast of Yorkshire, and on the opposite shores in Durham, has been carried on lately to a height almost beyond imagination.  It is computed that upwards of eight or nine hundred tons of different kinds of goods were landed and run in the course of the last two months in the old year; a circumstance loudly calling for the attention of Government.

Ten years later, there was little change in the situation:

Leeds Intelligencer, Monday 24 March 1817 

A terrible engagement took place on Wednesday night, near Whitby, betwixt a revenue cutter and a smuggling vessel. – Both vessels, from the severity of the storm, were run ashore, four of the cutter’s men and seven of the smugglers were killed.  Ten of the men belonging the latter went through York, unpursued, on Thursday and Friday, by the coaches for London.

Thomas King of Kirkleatham, brewer & smuggler

Was Captain Thomas King of Wapping related to Thomas King of Kirkleatham?

No link has been found, but later descendants of the Jacksons of Lackenby certainly speculated about a possible connection.

Thomas King of Kirkleatham was the partner of John Andrew, the famous smuggler of Saltburn.

Smuggling was from 1700 to 1850 an enormous illegal industry:

Leeds Intelligencer, Tuesday 26 December 1769 

Accounts from Redcar, Saltburn, and several other places on the Yorkshire coast, mention that the smuggling trade never was carried to so great a height as at present.  The great number of country people that daily attend the coast, (and who seem to have no other employ but to convey off the goods) is almost incredible. – The revenue officers are very active, and have made several considerable seizures; yet notwithstanding their vigilance, it does not appear possible to suppress this pernicious trade, which is highly detrimental to the revenue and fair trader unless the Honourable Commssioners of his Majesty’s customs please to order a sufficient number of cutters with experienced commanders to be stationed upon the coast at proper distances:  This would certainly have the desired effect, and also prevent wool and sheep being exported, which there is great reason to believe that those delinquents are frequently guilty of. –  That our woollen manufactories have for several years past been upon the declension, is an alarming truth; and certain it is, that the French, thro’ the cheapness of labour, and (it’s to be feared) by getting materials from England, have been enabled to undersell us in foreign markets

The work of the Revenue men was both unpopular and dangerous:

Leeds Intelligencer, Tuesday 20 April 1773 

Last week a smuggling cutter appeared off Witby [Whitby]: She is about 200 tons burthen, carries 14 carriage guns, besides swivels, &c. and about 50 stout men, several of whom were on shore near Saltburn, where they landed a great quantity of spirits, &c. and appear to be a very daring and desperate gang. – An officer belonging to the Customs near that place, endeavouring to seize some goods they had landed, very narrowly escaped with his life. – One of the King’s cutters gave chace to the smugglers, but finding the danger of such an attempt, thought it prudent to depart in peace. –  It is now evident that there is no way to put a stop to this illicit practice, but by repelling force to force.

Occasionally the forces of law were successful.  In the following case, the riding officers (mounted men charged with the duty of patrolling the coast) seized a fine cargo of gin and tea:

Leeds Intelligencer, Tuesday 31 January 1775 

Thursday se’ennight Mr William Fenwick, of Marsk, and Mr Macdonald, of Skiningrave [Skinningrove], riding officers, attacked a smuggler’s long boat, full mann’d, near Saltburn, and seized 58 casks of geneva, and four large bags of fine tea, which they brought off in defiance of the whole crew, and lodged it in the Custom-House warehouse.

For a lively account of the life of a riding officer, have a look at The Worst Jobs in History: Two Thousand Years of Miserable Employment by Tony Robinson (of Time Team and Blackadder) and David Willock!

The Day Book of Thomas Jackson (1775-1834)

Thomas Jackson (1775-1834), son of George Jackson and Elizabeth King, farmed at Lackenby all his life.  Over a period of years, he kept a Day Book, which was continued after his death by his son John (1808-94).

It is a book of notes and jottings (which may explain the spelling and punctuation) and covers a wide variety of subjects, including records of important family events, household accounts, details of court cases, and notes on farming matters.

There are many miscellaneous farming notes.  He jots down the recipe given him by Robert Thompson for a horse “bad in is wind”:

Robt Thompson Reseat [receipt]
        A Medison for a Horse Bad in is wind take 4 ounces of Garlic 4 ounces of Tax 4 ounces of Flour of Brimstone shread the Garlic small and mix it together into Balls size of a small nutmeg and give it every other Morning The Horse may work as usual

In 1806, he recorded the cost of a threshing machine:

1806  Feb 10    The following is an account of the expense of the Threshin Mushin that I Thos Jackson erected below Lackenby ………..£103. 3. 7

John Jackson and his uncle, Captain Thomas King (1748-1824)

continued from 'The Jackson family of Lazenby and Lackenby' ...

Captain Thomas King

Thomas King, merchant of Wapping, played a hugely influential role in the life of the Jacksons of Lackenby during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

He was the brother-in-law of George Jackson (1746-1810) of Lackenby.  George and his sister Dinah (1753-1819) had both married members of the King family:  George married Elizabeth King (1752-82) in 1774 at Skelton, and Dinah married Robert King in 1783 at Wilton.  (Elizabeth and Robert King were probably cousins.)

Elizabeth King and her elder brother Thomas were the children of Newark King and Elizabeth Boyes, who married in 1746.  Thomas was baptised on 19 Feb 1748; he left home to go to sea and by 1766 he was second mate of the Royal Charlotte.  He became an increasingly successful London merchant, and left the sea in 1780.  He had a family of his own, but remained a powerful figure in the lives of his relatives in Cleveland.

He invested in property in the area – in 1783 he paid £1,200 for Lackenby Low Farm, which had belonged to another branch of the Jackson family.  This was the year that Robert King married Dinah Jackson, and the farm was to be the home of Dinah King until her death in 1819; Thomas was perhaps coincidentally providing a home for the newly married couple.  At that point his address was George Yard, near Tower Hill, Middlesex.  Five years later, he sold the property to William Jackson of Guisborough for £1,300 [Kirkleatham Hall] and by then his address was Great Aliffe (Ayliffe) Street, Goodman’s Fields.

He would eventually have a counting house in London and a country seat in Wandsworth.

The Jackson family of Lazenby and Lackenby

In the 18th and 19th centuries, a family called Jackson farmed at Lackenby and Lazenby, two small hamlets in the parish of Wilton, at the northernmost edge of the North Riding of Yorkshire.  This low-lying land, stretching northwards to the mouth of the river Tees – and later mostly covered by ICI Wilton – was once known as the Lowside.

We are so used to the view of the petrochemical complex that inspired the opening scenes of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner that it is hard to imagine how empty and beautiful the place once was.

Here it is – before the Tees became an industrial river – described by the Revd John Graves in his History of Cleveland in 1808:

The village of Wilton is small, and consists of a few houses, seated on the northern declivity of a hill, the summit of which being nearly level, has been brought into cultivation; while the sides, rising abruptly, are ornamented with young and thriving plantations.   

The grounds on the north from the village have an easy and gradual descent, and the prospect is extensive and pleasingly diversified: near at hand upon the right are seen the hospital and mansion, with the richly cultivated grounds of Kirkleatham, beyond which, tracing the circling line of shore to the left, the town of Hartlepool in a prominent position, with the bold figure of its church, affords a striking object; while the serpentine course of the river Tees, which on its approach towards the sea, expands itself into a fine extensive bay, is seen winding through a tract of rich and fertile grounds beneath, adding greatly to the beauty and interest of the general view. 

It was a small agricultural parish and, in 1801, consisted of 67 houses occupied by 74 families – a total of 328 people.

The lands within the parish consist nearly of an equal portion of arable, meadow, and pasture; and the soil in general a fertile clay; which, notwithstanding its northern aspect, and exposure to severe blasts from the sea, produces crops of wheat and other grain in great perfection, and the harvests in general are as early as in any of the more favoured parts of Cleveland.   

The low grounds near the river Tees are principally in grass; as was formerly an extensive tract, which lay in common open fields, stretching from the village in a direction north and south; but, by the late inclosure, has been brought into a more advantageous state of cultivation.

The Jacksons of Wilton were for the most part yeomen, that hardworking, prudent class that lay between the gentlemen and the petty farmers.

In the mid 20th century, a descendant of the Jacksons of Wilton compiled a family tree covering the 17th to 19th centuries, based on a collection of legal documents, information and artefacts that had remained in the family, and supplemented with research. 

It was subsequently examined and extended by the late Miss Grace Dixon, local historian of Guisborough, with assistance from the Kirkleatham Museum, and then Grace Dixon and I worked on some specific areas of the story. 

The early parts of the family tree remain imperfect, but nevertheless useful (perhaps particularly to those trying to disentangle the many Jacksons of Cleveland), and the later developments are very interesting.  Where I can, I indicate sources; it is obviously open to correction, but will at least point to areas of investigation.

People of Hutton Rudby in C18/19: Calvert to Chipchase

... from my working notes ... accuracy not guaranteed ... for explanatory note, see post of 14 Feb 2013


Calvert

Robert Calvert was a previous occupant of property on East Side, bought by Joseph, Thomas & William Whorlton in 1808

Stephen Calvert is a Wesleyan class leader in 1836, 1838 and 1839 and was a subscriber to the Youth’s Instructor in 1840
He was the agent in Hutton for subscriptions to Cottager’s Friend in 1840: ordering “14 Nos at 1/1d”
He was the Steward for Hutton Rudby in 1840
He was the agent in Hutton for subscriptions to Cottager’s Friend in 1841, ordering 22, and for Child’s Magazine in 1841, ordering 3.  He ordered 3 of the Missionary Notices.
Mr Calvert was a subscriber to the Shilling Magazine, Christian Miscellany, Early Days, Juvenile Offerings, and Missionary Notices:  no date, apparently 1859

1851 Census:  North End:  Stephen Calvert single 57 handloom weaver linen b Hutton lodging with Ann Elliot 63 schoolmistress b Ayton Bank, Durham


Campion

Campion is listed in “Recpts for 1854” – Barlow’s Notebook

29 Apr 1841:  Rudby church:  Margaret Dobbin 35 spinster of Rudby, dau of William Dobbin farmer, married William Campion 40 bachelor, gentleman of Kirkleavington, son of John Campion Coates gentleman:  witnesses Thomas Righton, John Dobbin
 
1851 Census:  Ober Green farm:  William Campion 49 farmer 75a, 3 labourers, b Whitby:  Margaret Campion 42 b Picton:  children:  Ann 7 and William 8 both b Kirkleavington;  with Margaret Dobbin 5 niece and visitor b Kirkleavington;  servants: Catherine Christelor 14 b Harlsey, William Hedley 20 b HR, Robert Weatherill 16 b Hornby

Snowstorms in 1900

With snow still lying on the moors and in the hedge-backs, and flakes of snow in the wind today, I thought now would be a good time to post this – which I found quite by accident yesterday.

In the first half of February 1900, Britain was hit by severe snowstorms causing great disruption for days. 

On Friday 16 February, the Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough had the headlines:

HISTORY OF THE BLIZZARD
An Unparalleled Storm of Wind and Snow
NOT EXCEEDED DURING THE PRESENT GENERATION
EXCITING AND THRILLING EXPERIENCES

On Saturday 17 February, the report began:

THE GREAT STORM
Further Stories of Adventure and Suffering
SERIOUS LOSS OF LIFE
Trains Fast in Snowdrifts
BREAKDOWN OF COMMUNICATIONS

One effect of the snowstorm is found in the delay to which news for Middlesbrough is being subjected.  All telegrams are being sent by train.  This accounts for the fact that the news of the relief of Kimberley, which was handed in in London yesterday morning to be sent over the wires in the usual way, has only been received by us to-day.  We are in the appalling position, that, with the exception of a telegraph wire to West Hartlepool, there exists no other communication with anywhere, either by telephone or telegraph.  We have been besieged by the elements, and are almost as completely isolated from the outside world as Ladysmith at the present time, or Kimberley until yesterday.