Young men in London: 1860

On 1 February 1860 John and his sister Alice arrived in London at the house of their cousin Jane Hirst.

Jane had married Charles Stewart Stubbs (her second cousin once removed) and was known in the family, to distinguish her from the many other Jane Stubbs, as "Mrs Charles".  A tragic accident left her widowed in 1848, only four years after her marriage.  Charles's death in a riding accident in the Park left Jane at the age of twenty-four with their two very young children and pregnant with the third.  She remained in London near her husband's family and must have had the financial benefit of her marriage settlement and the support of her father and her father-in-law.

In February 1860 she was aged thirty-six and lived with her son and two daughters in Islington at 15 Cloudesley Square.

Islington was on the cusp of change.  Cloudesley Square was some thirty years old, in an area of pleasant terraces laid out with gardens in open countryside from 1825 onward, with the Holy Trinity Church designed by the young Charles Barry.  The rural quality of Islington began to disappear from the middle of the century, when it became rapidly built up.  A fashionable shopping "bazaar" had been built on the High Street in 1850, and in 1860 the Grand Theatre or Philharmonic Hall was under construction, while the open land remaining at Stoke Newington was soon to be built over.

London was already beginning to undergo the vast changes that would create a modern city.  Huge trenches were being dug to house the new underground railway and the Houses of Parliament, destroyed by fire a few years before John was born, had been rebuilt.  After the Great Stink of 1858, plans were afoot to create the sewerage system that would rescue the city from stench and disease, but it would be ten years before the opening of the Albert and Victoria Embankments began to create the riverside panorama that we know today.

Alice, aged fifteen, was on her way to school in Blackheath – accessible by train from London, growing rapidly and with many schools, it was an ideal place for her and her cousin Polly Redmayne to complete their education and broaden their experience. 

John was twenty-one and after his years in Uncle Hirst's office was in London to complete his law studies and take the examination which would qualify him as a solicitor.  He would be in London for the next four months, so Mrs Charles helped him to find lodgings with a Mrs Pirmiger at 23 Upper Islington Terrace, just north of present-day Cross Street.

Transcription of John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1860

3 ½ in x 6 in black notebook:  “Renshaw’s Diary and Almanac for 1860”

Sunday January 1
In the morning to Aldbro church  in the afternoon to Kirby Hill & In the eveng to BB church

Monday January 2
To office   At night Steele Sedgwick  Scholfield  E.C.Clark & I dined at Owens & a very pleasant evening we had   got home about 12.  At Noon walked to Langthorp  Miss Stamper left them today

Tuesday January 3
To office.  At night Lizzie & I dined at Dr Sedgwicks   Had a rubber  got home about ½ past 10

Wednesday January 4
To office.  At Night Read law at the office   attended a Meeting at the Newsroom  bought the Times for Mr Hirst at 22/-    Supped at Uncles

Thursday January 5
To office.  At night Read law at the office

Friday January 6
To office   At noon walked with Joe to Langthorpe   at night Drove Capes as far as Hazel Bank  he had tea with us

Saturday January 7
To office.  Capes went by noon train to York & was met at Cattal & from there he drove to Minskip   I drove the trap   Capes came from Knaresbro in to Minskip & we both had tea at Clarkes & attended a sale of township property     after the sale I went home with Capes to Knaresbro to stay till Monday

John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1860

Transcription of John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1859

Written in the same diary as 1858

Saturday January 1
To office.  At night walked with Steele to H.E. Clark’s to tea (the last time as a bachelor) as he is to be married on Wednesday.  Jacob Smith & Thos Lund were there    played cards.  Steele was called away   I got home a little before 12

Sunday January 2
Twice to BB Church   Joe spent the day with us   Sarah was in York.  He & I walked to Kirby Hill Church in the afternoon.  LW Sedgwicks child was christened in the evening

Monday January 3
To office.  A Noon Had a walk with Capes   At Night went with Miss Stott, Steele & EC Clark in Stotts phaeton to Clarks of Minskip to tea   Miss Calder   The Misses Appleton & Miss McCleod were there   Had a good dance   John Clark drove the Sedgwicks & Alice & Lizzy & me home   got home about 12

Tuesday January 4
To office   At Noon rode Joes mare to Sugar Hills near Givendale to see some coursing  Had some pretty fair sport   At Night was about home

Wednesday January 5
To office  At Night went to Capes’s   stayed supper

Thursday January 6
To office   Spent the evening at Joes

Friday January 7
To office   At Night went to supper at Mrs Parkers at Langthorp   played Bagatelle

John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1859

Transcription of John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1858

Cloth bound 3 ½ inch x 6 inch notebook “Renshaw’s Diary and Almanack for 1857”
 
In the flyleaf is written “JRS  Jany 1857    For 1858 & 1859”
 
The entries for 1858 and 1859 are written in the 1857 Diary by using it as a notebook with the printed dates and days deleted and ten plain pages stitched into the back.

Up to Saturday January 9th doing nothing but going to Office   Suffering from Carbuncle

Sunday January 10
Twice to BB Church.  Once to Aldbro

Monday January 11
To Office   Had breakfast at Uncles.  The Workmans left Uncles this morng   At Noon about home   At Night went to see Jane Capes   Went to Leonard Sedgwicks to sup   H.E. Clark   J.Smith  Wm Morley   Smallwood   Steele   Joe & I were there   played Cards   Got home about ½ past one

Tuesday January 12
To Office   At Noon working at the Office.  At Night went to Smallwoods & to Sedgwicks   Arranged to go with Leond & M. Sedgwick in the Cab to Starbeck

Wednesday January 13
Went with Leonard & Mary Sedgwick to Taitlands to Leonards Wedding   he paid my fare   Tom Sedgwick joined us at Leeds   Fanny Stubbs met us at Settle Station   Had a Fly to Taitlands  Had tea there    Tom Sedgwick   Wm Nixon & I went to sleep at Stackhouses    Leonard went to Richardsons
[Fanny Stubbs is Bp Stubbs’ sister Frances 1836-77]

Thursday January 14
Went to Taitlands to 1st breakfast & helped Uncle to arrange.  Went back to Stackhouse’s   got dressed   Took Leond to Church & they got wed.  Tom Sedgwick  I  Wm Stubbs  Wm Nixon & Hy Redmayne were Groomsmen    Miss Nixon   Mary Redmayne  Mary Sedgwick   Fanny Stubbs & Margaret Ingelby were bridesmaids.  Went to Taitlands   Sat down 30 to breakfast at ½ past 12 Bride & Groom started about 2.  We some of us walked to Stainforth Foss & on to the rock in front of Taitlands   went & had a 1st tea at Stackhouses    Went to Taitlands  we were above 50 of us  Had a splendid dance   Got to Stackhouses about ½ past 3   Went to bed about 5  Everything passed off firstrately
[John's friend Leonard is marrying John's friend Jane Redmayne.  He is a few days short of his 29th birthday; if baptised as a baby, she will soon be 24.  Her brother Henry was baptised in Dec 1841; he is possibly 16.  Her sister Mary may be about 14.  Mary Sedgwick is about the same age as John, that is 19, and Fanny Stubbs is 21. Wm Stubbs is the future Bishop, then aged 32]

John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1858