At the beginning of February we went on a walk which began at the west end of Fountains Abbey [Fountains Abbey is just to the west of Ripon]. Walking over the bridge and a few yards along the road we then headed down a track and along the River Skell. What a delight ! All along the river bank were wild snowdrops, drifts and drifts of them. We walked for a mile alongside these tiny little flowers which just lit up the woods on a rather grey day. This was a total surprise and cheered us on our way - until I began to notice a rather bad smell. Was this husband who was marching along in front? No ! It was the smell of natural sulphur waters. We had stumbled upon Aldfield Spa, which neither of us knew was there. So this month I am looking into taking the waters at Aldfield just above Ripon. Almost completely hidden by undergrowth was the ruins of a substantial building which had been Aldfield Spa. But this was so out of the way, had it ever attracted the fashionable set to take the waters? Judging by the smell I thought you would have to be very ill to even consider it. This is where the water was bubbling up with a very strong smell, leaves floating on top of the spring were coated with a white substance. Gas bubbles were emerging and the water was spilling over the side of the well. The overflow from the well made a little stream that then ran into the River Skell, coating the bank with this white stuff. Which merged into the white of the wild snowdrops. All very strange. Opposite the ruined Aldfield Spa building was this little curiosity covered in moss, but with no running water inside it. What was it? However - there is something like it in this picture ....... Was it a cover for a well where you would have dipped your cup to get a drink? The painting above is by James Green [ 1771 - 1834] and called Taking the waters at the Spa, Scarborough and is on the Yale Centre for British Art website. Aldfield Spa seems to have been known about for quite some time but not developed and commercialised in the way that the springs at Harrogate were. A very late attempt to jump on the fashion for drinking and bathing in smelly water was attempted by Ripon City Council. The area was called Aldfield Spa, but appart from the ruined building there were no other developments. So this story starts quite late. The local newspaper announced the arrival of the children of Thomas Gill , gamekeeper, of Aldfield Spa, and here he is in 1861 with his mother Margaret, wife Ann, and six children. Mrs Thomas Gill then offered the premises for parties who fancied the walk up the River Skell to the Spa, I don't know if they were Taking the Waters, or just having a ramble. The advertisements were in the local newspaper from Easter 1868 throughout that summer. We will now leap forward a few years and retreat back into Ripon. This is from the Yorkshire Evening Press 25 April 1885 and is a report on a meeting of the Ripon City Council. Looking at the health of the city they had become interested in the waters of Aldfield Spa. The Medical Officer for Health recommended that the wells be throughly cleansed and a report of the waters studied. Ripon City Council moved at a glacial pace. Fast forward to 1887. The Sanitary Committee had instructed the Town Clerk to obtain the names of several eminent analysts, and their terms, for a report on the Aldfield Spa waters ... then went on to discuss road rollers and a traction engine from Fowlers of Leeds .... By June 1887 a Mr Dupre had been engaged by the Sanitary Committee to analyse the Aldfield Spa water... By October the Town Clerk read out letters from Mr Dupre and the Medical Officer for Health regarding the Aldfield Spa water and after consideration it was unanimously resolved to forward the letters to medical gentlemen of the city and invite them to a conference .... after which nothing seems to have been done ! There really is nothing quite like a local newspaper for getting to the nitty gritty of local politics. A report in the Ripon Observer 31 August 1893 mused that if some famous person had had a miracle recovery from a dreadful disease then Aldfield Spa would have drawn crowds, but no such cure seems to have happened. Aldfield Spa was only mentioned as a destination for Sunday School picnics and local rambling groups. Until - 20 October 1898 Ripon Observer - discussions about bringing the water from Aldfield to Ripon -but they could not decide who should be in charge, the Finance Committee, the Water Supply Committee, or should they set up a private company, or the Ripon Corporation, but the Corporation could not instigate the building of a Hydro facility even if the ratepayers were supportive. So far so typical of local government! By January 1899 it was reported that the Ripon City Council was discussing building baths in the City and surveying the route for bringing Aldfield Spa water to the City. Negotiations began with Lord Ripon to acquire the spa water, and that Lord Ripon and Lord de Grey were prepared to negotiate a route. This is Lord Ripon [1827 - 1909] from Wikipedia. By February 1899 the City Council were looking at The Drill Fields on Park Street in Ripon to build the baths. By May 1899 a local group formed a syndicate to purchase land from the Marquis of Ripon for a private hotel. This is the Ripon Spa hotel and has been recently sold for £1.5 million. Ripon Spa hotel below. Ripon City Council decided to do their homework and sent a committee to visit Buxton, Matlock, Starbeck and Harrogate to inspect their baths and having looked at the costs decided not to erect swimming baths as anyone wanting to swim could swim in the River Ure. The Aldfield Spa water was mild sulphur water and similar to that in the Valley Spring at Harrogate. It would be good for gout, rheumatism, derangements of the digestive organs and liver and some skin diseases. Estimated cost of baths was £5,000 and bringing the water down from Aldfield £2,500 (July 1899) - they continued wrangling over how much to spend for some time. As they did not have the money in July 1899 they looked at Borrowing Money under the Public Health Act of 1875 which allowed them to do so! They then discussed spending a further £50 on getting another scientific analysis of the water. At the next monthly meeting the report had arrived, they wanted to know if the water's medicinal properties would deteriorate in transit from Aldfield to Ripon. The report from Dr Stevenson of Guy's Hospital said it was good. They also had to ascertain how many gallons it would produce. The estimated capacity was 1,000 gallons overflowing into the Skell with a constant temperature of 53 degrees F .... as the water flowed over stones there was a deposit of sulphuretted hydrogen ... and it kept in a bottle for seven weeks.... but there were no reports of anyone drinking the stuff! until November 1899 when someone called "Ponce de Leon" wrote a letter to the Ripon Observer saying he or she had been to Aldfield and tried it. This is the west end of Ripon. By February 1900 they were still arguing over the cost. But it was decided to promote Ripon as a Health Resort. This is a print of the fashionable set in Bath immersing themselves in the water. I don't quite think that the good people of Ripon had this in mind. The Ripon Observer kept the public informed of all the debates in the Council chamber throughout 1900, and they went on and on and on. In August 1900 a special meeting of the Ripon City Council debated all aspects of the Aldfield Spa water being brought to Ripon and after a casting vote by the Mayor the scheme was thrown out. There was the huge cost of bringing the water to Ripon plus £3,365 cost of way-leaves to Lord Ripon. It was this cost that defeated the whole project. But by December 1900 it was being discussed in the Ripon Observer again. By January 1901 it was decided to submit a Bill to the next session of Parliament. The ratepayers would have a say. A public meeting laid out the costs and arguments for and against. On a vote taken there were 94 for and 76 against having a Poll. Letters for and against were in the Ripon Observer. The votes of the Ripon ratepayers carried the project ! By now it was February 1901. Between 1904 and 1905 Ripon Spa Baths was built, and next to it the very lovely Ripon Spa Gardens. Water was drawn the four miles from Aldfield Spa to supply the facility. It is very ornate both inside and out. Lovely tiles and stained glass inside in the Arts and Crafts style. Ripon Spa Gardens are lovely, in spring a carpet of crocuses, in the middle a band stand for summer concerts and for exercise a bowling green, putting and crazy golf. At last Ripon got a Spa. To start with it was not a swimming baths, but a Pump Room with a Ladies' Baths on the right and a Gentlemen's on the left both with first and second class bathrooms and dressing rooms attached. A verandah opened out onto the Spa Gardens and the spa water was served from a counter. Royalty came to open the Spa Baths in October 1905; on the left Princess Henry of Battenburg (who was Beatrice the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria) and on the right her daughter Princess Ena (Eugenie, later Queen of Spain). What began as a splendid walk through woods filled with snowdrops, turning into a Bad Smell, developed into a trawl through local politics reported in the newspapers and Royalty opening the baths. Ripon Spa baths did gain a swimming pool, husband learned to swim there as a boy, but sadly they are now closed and a new pool has been built at a Leisure Centre in Ripon. The Spa Gardens continue to be popular, and I have spent many hours with my children and then grandchildren playing crazy golf and putting and having ice cream in the Sun Parlour. Happy Days.
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January is the perfect time to have a wander around the streets of York. The Christmas shoppers have departed and the tourists have not yet arrived in great numbers, so you can take time to look. So this month I am lifting my eyes up above the shop windows to see what there is to see. There is a LOT to see in York, so I am only taking you down two streets. I will take you down others another time. And previous blogs have looked at buildings in York. I will take you along Stonegate and then down Little Stonegate, Swinegate and along Goodramgate. I am not very good at drawing lines with a mouse. Stonegate follows a route from the River Ouse to the Minster and was once the Via Praetoria of the Roman City of Eboracum. This is on Stonegate, and is the upper stories of the pub called The Punch Bowl. It looks very old and probably is behind the facade .... but .... Does that say 1930? I think it does! But nevertheless it is a beautiful building and is the first thing that most people notice when they walk into Stonegate. In summer it has lots of lovely flowers. The pub is much older that 1930. Here is John Hogg listed as Landlord in an 1872 trade directory. And here he is in the 1871 census saying that he was born in Heighington, County Durham. On the other side of the street, on the corner with Blake Street is a shop now called Lakeland that sells leather coats and clothes. But for many, many people like me, this was the renowned Banks' Music shop, very quaint inside, where you bought sheet music. Time stood still when you went into Banks' Music Shop. Stonegate is all shops with empty spaces above. I don't think anyone will actually live in Stonegate now, but in the past families lived above and behind the shops. Hidden behind Stonegate are many little yards and courts which would also be full of families. There were many booksellers in York, and several on Stonegate. This little sprite is called the Stonegate devil and was outside a printing establishment. In the directory of 1822 above, there is a print seller and bookseller called Todd. He had a well known warehouse stacked full of books from floor to ceiling, so renowned it was the subject of a painting. This painting is by Henry Cave [1779 - 1836] and is in York Art Gallery. Just lock me in and don't come back for some time ..... so wandering along Stonegate looking above the shop windows, this is typical of the buildings with a gable end facing onto the street. There is a date 1482 on this one. But opposite there is this ..... Very different architecture, the flat Georgian front with equally spaced windows. The sign "Kleiser's Court" is above a door [shut], and whether there is access behind it I do not know, but who was Kleiser? The 1861 census for Stonegate has listed Martin Kleiser, aged 28 years, a clock and watchmakers employing 2 men and 1 boy. He was from Baden in Germany and had a wife Balbina with him, and his three workers, Benedikt Wilman a clock maker, Richard Riesley a watchmaker and an apprentice Franz Tristcheler who was just 15. They were all from Baden. Ten years later in 1871 there was another Tritschler, Bernhard, who was 33 years old, a watchmaker and jeweller, also from Baden, working further along Stonegate. And in 1871 the Kleiser family were still making watches, though inconveniently on two pages of the census. Andrew Kleiser was now head of the household aged 51 employing three men and 2 boys, so the business was doing well. His brother Joseph was also in the business and both brothers had married girls fromYorkshire, Hannah and Mary were both born at Little Fenton. Three nephews were in the business, all born York and a workman called Jonas Haffner from Baden. So with my back to Kleiser's Court, and looking up, this is the next building. Rather wonderful. Below it is ...... [can you spy a cat?] Hanging above the door, and between the lovely stained glass, is a sign that says "Holy Bible 1682". So I went inside and asked if I could buy a 1682 Bible. The two young lassies laughed but were sufficiently knowledgeable about the history of the building to tell me about the staircase and different rooms above. In spite of the VERY LOUD POP MUSIC I did gather that the building had once been a bookshop and also at one time belonged to stained glass painters. This was the bookshop that had been Todd's from 1762 to 1811. It continued as a bookshop until 1874 and then became the premises for a stained glass maker called John Ward Knowles whose business remained there until 1931. This gorgeous doorway is further along Stonegate heading towards The minster. It is very ornate with a lovely fan light and door knocker. There is a photograph of Queen Mary coming out of the shop and a handwritten note which says " A visit by Her Majesty Queen Mary to this shop formerley Greenwoods the antique dealers, is shown in this photograph. On the day she called the shop was closed so a young shop girl, Bessie Haggerty, lodging opposite at Taylor's Tea Rooms, had to fetch Mr Greenwood to open the premises. One of the Queen's companions was her son His Royal Highness the Prince Edward, who later became King Edward VIII. The Prince advised Bessie "Don't worry about me, you look after Ma!" Queen Mary was well known as a collector of antiques adding considerably to collections in certain Royal Households, an example of which is Holyrood House in Edinburgh." I can recall that this shop used to sell Scottish woollens and had a highly ornate fireplace with blue and white tiles, so I went in. The shop assistant did not mind me photographing the fireplace but told me it was not Jacobean but Victorian as the rear part of the shop was a Victorian addition. I have no idea whether this was right or not, but did note that she was selling some corderoy trousers that had been cut out with the nap in the wrong direction ..... ooooh. Opposite there is a row of jettied houses, that is with the upper stories overhanging the ground floor. Now I am going back down Stonegate into Little Stonegate to cut through to another street. Going back down the street there is a small diversion caused by this - High up above the street the sign for Ye Olde Starre Inne (make sure you add all the EEEs). Down a dark, narrow passage there is a tiny courtyard and a tiny pub. The sign says that this is York's oldest licensed inn and at one time was a posting house for changing horses with stabling at the rear. As you stand in the courtyard and look up you see all the different styles of roof tops. This building was once a Chapel. Very difficult to photograph as the street is so very narrow and in recent times has been filled with tables and chairs of various eating and drinking establishments. This was built in 1851 and used by the Methodists and was called "Ebenezer", a name used often by Primitive Methodists for their buildings. See 1 Samuel chapter 7 v 12. [Now I will be singing "Come Thou fount of every blessing" for the rest of the day"]. This shows how very narrow Little Stonegate is and how difficult it is to get a perspective of looking up. This is a quick way through to another part of the City, so quick march round the corner onto Swinegate where .... there are bricks with initials on them. Can you make a word out of them? Turning the corner and looking both up and down reveals that the initialed bricks are part of the York Central Mission Hall with foundation stones all around the outside. This was built in the 1880s and in 1934 became the Elim Pentecostal church. Marching on ..... and still looking up. Church Street was formerly Girdler Gate. If you eat too many pies you will need a new girdle .... but onwards towards Goodramgate. This ancient street is named after a ninth century Danish king called Guthrum. The first building in Goodramgate is The Old White Swan. The courtyard has now been covered over which hides the front of the pub. This was one of the arrival and departure points in York. You would leave parcels here for delivery by waggoners who travelled in and out of the City to various points to the north. George Dutchburn went towards Northallerton from here on Wednesdays and Fridays. Just a few steps further along Goodramgate is Holy Trinity Church, tucked behind some Almshouses. Very recently this blue plaque has been put on the wall of the churchyard. Here Miss Lister and Miss Walker made their vows to each other. This church was used (as were several places in York) in filming "Gentleman Jack". The portrait above of Miss Lister of Shibden Hall was painted by Joshua Horner [1811 - 1881] and belongs to Calderdale Council and is on the ArtUk website. There are several medieval parish churches in York. Holy Trinity Goodramgate must be one of the most atmospheric. It is always cold and damp, the floor rises and falls, the box pews are all higgledy piggledy and the earliest reference to it is 1082. In front of it are a row of Almshouses. This picture was taken before Christmas. There are some rather ghastly 1960s buildings opposite the Almshouses called Lady Row. So we will continue down Goodramgate a bit further. This shows the wide variation of architectural styles that can encompass one establishment. In 1872 the landlord of the Golden Slipper was Wright Batty. Here he is in the Trade Directory of 1872. Below is the 1871 census for the Golden Slipper with Wright Battye, his wife Elizabeth and two servants. Almost at the end of Goodramgate looking up there are the arched windows of a former Chapel. This was called Monk Bar Chapel and opened in 1859. The building now looks uncared for so it is hard to imagine what it was like in former times. This was also used by a branch of the Methodist Church. There were several different flavours of Methodism. Opposite a building which has a faded sign which reads "Red Lion Inn". this was a busy coaching inn with services towards Malton and Helmsley. So ends this little excursion through a very small part of York looking above the shop windows. The streets would have been very busy in times past. Goodramgate was a main thoroughfare often filled with vehicles, thankfully now pedestrian only. I will wander around another part of York looking above the shops again.
The weeks just before Christmas were bitterly cold both day and night with the frost never lifting. Consequently during the last fortnight I knitted everyone a hat. A useful way of using up left over yarn and some hats were knitted with two strands together, using up even more left over yarn. Keeping your head, hands and feet warm is important in the damp, cold weather we experience here. But it got me thinking about knitting hats. The fashion for the bobble hat or the beanie over the Tam'o'shanter and other designs. Knitted hats seem to be the rage at the moment. I have gone back to this book for references to hand knitting hats, although they are always called caps, to find the local references to knitting head gear. It was part of the rural economy and brought in an income for the poorest. Knitting caps went alongside knitting stockings and were made of similar wool, oversized and then sent to a mill to be "fulled" i.e. shrunk and made waterproof. The Nottingham Review of 25 September 1829 advertised a forthcoming publication called a History of the Framework Knitting and Lace Trades by Gravener Henson. The author gave a summary of the history of knitting thus - It is very uncertain when the art of knitting was introduced into England; but it is positively known who knit, and wore, the first pair of knitted stockings in this country. Stockings made of cloth were a very extensive manufacture in this country in the sixteenth century, as hosiers are mentioned among the crafts, in the great statute of servants passed in 1563; but it does not appear that any knit goods were worn, except knit caps, which were more valuable than hats, as the price of both was fixed by Act of Parliament in 1488 [ 4th Henry VII cap 9] hats at twenty pence each, and caps at two shillings and eight pence. The difference between a cap and a hat was in the manufacture; caps were spun from the wool, knit, then scoured and half thickened upon the bank-stock ...hats were shrunk from the wool, caps were shrunk when knit. Of such importance was this trade in cap making considered, no less than six Acts of Parliament were made to regulate and enforce their wear, in eighty years: the last of which compels every person, not being a gentleman or ladies of twenty marks a year rent, to wear a cap of wool-knit, on Sabbath or holy days, except on travel, under a fine of three shillings and four pence for every day not wearing them..... I am not sure if these come under the Act of Parliament or not. So what type of knitted caps were worn at the time of the Acts of Parliament? The Victoria and Albert Museum has images of hats in their collection which date from this time. This cap is described as 16th century, hand knitted in stocking stitch and fulled, accession T617.1913 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O353199/cap-headgear/ Here is another from the V & A collection dated 1500 - 1550. This is knitted and then felted and has a brim and flaps to keep your ears and neck protected. It is accession 741-1904 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O124669/cap-unknown/ Who wore these knitted caps or hats? Sometimes newspapers gave descriptions of missing people, and sometimes they wore caps. Kentish Weekly Post of Canterbury Journal 22 December 1731. On December 18 1731 an Excise man called Thomas Wylde was attacked by highway men, and died of his injuries. A reward of £50 was laid out for the persons who committed the murder and robbery. One person suspected of such was marked with small pox, between 30 - 40 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches and wore a Knit Cap on his head. The other person was a small thin man about 20 years of age with a light coloured coat without pleats and a light wig - a description of the horse they stole was given and the great coat they stole from the deceased. Stamford Mercury 1 July 1734 A description of a runaway apprentice, William Stains, a boy of near 15 years, pale complexion, a grey coat and waistcoat, a pair of leather breeches and a light natural wigg or Knit Cap. The master, Thomas Horn, took the opportunity to also advertise that he was a malster and sold Hops, Tobacco, Soap, Mustard Powder, Grits, Cheese, Glass Bottles, Flint Glasses, Delf and all sorts of Potters' wares at reasonable rates. Newcastle Courant 23 september 1752 Wanted for house breaking near Morpeth , John Little, who was described as near 25 years of age, five and a half feet high, of sullen countenance and had a great scar on the left side of his head. At the time of his disappearance he wore a Bad Hat, a Knitted Cap, a very mean light coloured coat, a pair of white stockings and a pair of pumps. He had formerly served in the army but was discarded for some scandalous practices. Chester Courant 18 August 1818 Lieutenant Colonel Johnson had journeyed overland from India and described the Don Cossacks that he encountered - The men and women all dress in long upper garments: the men wear a thick woollen great coat with a little cap: the women have a dress somewhat resembling a night gown, opening down the front, under which appear a pair of loose drawers. The upper garment is made of silk, damask, satin or coloured cotton. On their heads they wear a knitted cap of the same form as a night cap, having two stripes, or being otherwise ornamented with coloured figures on the top. This is secured by a coloured handkerchief bound tight round the forehead, the long corners being left to fall down the back .... I am not sure if this Cossack gentleman is wearing a knitted cap or not. He comes from An illustration from Fyodor Solntsev, 1869 courtesy of the New York Public Library collection and is on Wikipedia. Now we will look at the knitters. I was interested in this article - Westmoreland Gazette 16 July 1825 An account of a thief apprehended at the Kendal fair reported that he had with him implements for picking pockets or knitting caps on him. Now as I travel about by public transport I nearly Always have some knitting with me. Might I be accused of having implements for Picking Pockets????! I never quite thought of knitting needles in this way but I use short needles that can easily go in a handbag or pocket. This is the Busby Stoop Inn near Thirsk, very familar as I lived close by for many years, sadly now no longer a pub and called the Jaipur Spice. However, in the days when it was an inn it was broken into as retold by Mrs Kettlewell, who noticed what the robbers wore on their heads - Yorkshire Gazette 18 July 1840 The Ripon Burglaries. George Atkinson, 35, Thomas Atkinson, 33 and John Sanderson 23, were charged with breaking and entering the dwelling house of Ann Kettlewell at Busby Stoop and stealing a great coat, a Macintosh coat and other articles the property of Christopher Spence.... Mrs Kettlewell deposed - I am an innkeeper at Busby Stoop in the township of Sandhutton, parish of Thirsk... she was awoken in the early hours of the morning by three men plundering her bedroom, one had a knife and a candle, another had a stauncheon from the kitchen window - I took notice of the manner in which they were dressed, they had on a sort of knitted cap with a tassel which hung over the shoulder. They had on either Guernsey frocks or striped jackets . I observed something peculiar about their faces, they were disguised with sheep red ..... I am not quite sure why it was headlined the Ripon Burglaries as it was only about two miles outside Thirsk. This painting is called The Knitting Lesson and is by Pierre Jacques Dierckx [ 1855 - 1947] and is at Touchstones, Rochdale. There is a great difference between knitting for pleasure and knitting for your living. It was often the poorest who earned their keep by knitting. We only catch glimpses of them here and there. Brighton Gazette 1 September 1831 Inquest on the body of Mary Dunn who had met a violent death. One witness was Elizabeth Kelly, a Catholic (she did not swear an oath but kissed the Bible), a widow who knits caps. She had been in the company with the deceased (and Elizabeth's small child) when they had gone out drinking and begging to pay their rent and possibly also soliciting as two young men, also the worse for drink, accused the deceased of taking their money, but were then accused of manslaughter. This gives a very sad insight into the life of some women at the bottom of society who knitted and perhaps earned money from prostitution. Another glimpse at a woman who knitted and begged - Saint James Chronicle 30 September 1841 Mr Martin stated that the prisoner was the son of a blind woman who sat in the streets knitting caps and begging. This is a Kilmarnock Bonnet and is from the website of the Future Museum of South West Scotland. This design was very popular and knitted by the dozen, score and even hundreds in the Yorkshire Dales. White's 1840 Trade Directory has this information for Hawes - The knit hosiery made here consists chiefly of sailors' shirts, caps, jackets, drawers etc, the knitting of which gives employment to many poor families here and in the surrounding dales; but their wages are small, only about three pence ha'penny being paid for knitting and scouring a pair of men's stockings. Hartley and Ingleby in their book on the Old Hand Knitters of the Dales include excerpts from the ledgers of Hebblethwaite Hall in the Howgills, just a little to the west of Hawes and not far from Dent. The two authoresses had access to considerable correspondence and the accounts for a mill at Hebblethwaite Hall from 1819 - 1835, run by a family called Dover, when wool was put out to local knitters and brought back to be fulled before being sold. Knitting yarn was sent out once a week by carriers cart into Dent and finished garments collected and then fulled at their mill. They had to be made large enough to allow for shrinking. The finished goods were then sent on, either overland to Stockton and then by sea to London, or overland to Lancaster and onwards by sea or canal. One customer in London took 3,000 Kilmarnock caps at four shillings a dozen. http://www.hebblethwaites.net/aboutplaces_Hebblethwaite_Mill.htm This is a description of the fulling process as recorded by one of the Dover family in 1826 - we mill from 30 to 36 dozen in one stockful, they are put loose into the stocks and milled with about 8 lbs of dry fullers earth dissolved in water, when they are about half milled they are taken out and well stretched out, after they are sufficiently milled they are taken out and put upon boards and raised wet with cards, they are dried upon the boards, and after they are dried they are a little raised up before they are packed up. The price we pay for knitting is 3/9 to 4/- per stone ... they are sold at about 7/- per dozen. In another letter dated 1828 - we have forwarded to you by canal a bale of Kilmarnock caps ... we are rapidly increasing in the manufacturing of these goods and shall be able to supply you with any quantity you demand ... Another letter of 1832 to the wholesaler in London - we have this day forwarded you by way of Stockton 4 bales of goods ... we have about 200 dozen Kilmarnock caps on hand, if you could favour us with an order for the whole we shall put them in at 5/- per dozen, our prices for indigo blue Kilk caps is now 5/9 per dozen ... we employ a few of our best knitters with them. Bobble hats from my very, very ancient book by Patons Woolcraft, a Basic Guide to Knitting and Crochet.
So if you want to get ahead this winter, knit yourself a hat, you are following a very long tradition. Post Script - do any of you remember wearing a bonnet style knitted headpiece in your child hood that had a horseshoe shaped metal band threaded through the brim to hold it onto your head, and a tassle down the back? Sewing has been my theme over the past weeks. Either visiting exhibitions, going to sewing workshops or sewing at home. I have concentrated on the therapeutic aspect. Threading a needle; sewing by hand; placing each stitch; selecting the colours; learning different stitches and techniques. All make you slow down. You cannot hurry. And then reflecting on the finished article. Or that is the theory. Actually lots of things never get finished. So my aim is to dig out various UFOs [Un finished Objects} and turn them into something. See how long ago it is since I made this and it has languished in a cupboard (in fact more than one cupboard as I have moved house) ever since. Now I have to think what to do with it. One of the problems is that we all inherit things like this from previous generations, and don't know what to do with them. I have salvaged ones that I like and use them. But it does beg the question what is the purpose and use of embroidered bits of cloth? But first to exhibitions. Ripon Cathedral had a remarkable exhibition of wall hangings, only there for a short time as they are touring various cathedrals. This photograph from http://www.yorkshireguides.com/ripon_cathedral.html The wall hangings were made by Jacqui Parkinson, called Threads Through Creation, and took THREE YEARS to make! Wow. You had to get very close to appreciate the tiny, tiny stitches. This is just a taste of what was there. Truly inspiring and I just wonder how Big her sewing room is to put together pieces of embroidered fabric this size. You can see where the exhibition is going on Jacqui's website and look in closer detail at her designs. https://www.jacqui-textile.com/creation/ I have also been to see The Stamford Bridge Tapestry. This is not quite as big as the Bayeux Tapestry but is in the same style. There are twelve huge panels (here adorned with tinsel), which tell the story of the Battle which was before the Battle of Hastings. It is beautifully made, the detail, and humour, is wonderful. You have to look at each panel several times and each time see something different. There is a stitch called Bayeux Stitch. Now I must have a go, it gives texture and depth to the sewn picture. And used the same colours as in the Bayeux Tapestry. They have even grown some of the plants in Stamford Bridge. The heat of battle, and they had one lady who embroidered the blood. As soon as the Battle of Stamford Bridge was won and the Vikings sent packing, a message arrived from the south to say that the Normans had invaded. You will see that the fourth soldier from the right was just taking this message on his mobile telephone. If you are in this district do go, the display is at the old Railway Station. Over the past year I have gone to a variety of sewing workshops to learn new things. Mostly these have been at Duttons for Buttons, a quaint little shop on Coppergate in York. It is worthwhile going just to experience the building which dates back to the 15th century and is all crooked little corners and tiny staircases and amazing oak rafters. Imagine the crooked man who had a crooked cat that caught the crooked mouse and they all lived together in a little crooked house, and that is the building where Duttons shop is. Anyway, making a sampler is a traditional way of recording stitches as you learn them. This is my modern take on that idea. Now the challenge is to do something with all these, and then do something with all the UFOs in my cupboard. I have made a zipped purse with one. These are just some of my UFOs. I made the chessboard in, wait for it, 1998! yes, and all I have to do is finish the border and take it off the frame. One of my heroines is Nelly Weeton [1777 - 1849] whose life was extremely troubled, but eventually she gained some independence and went on a holiday to London in 1824 where she visited an exhibition of needlework. It may have been this one which was advertised in the Morning Herald from 1822. So it is good to know that needlework is still held in esteem, and worth exhibiting and putting to good use. Now before the light fades anymore, I must go and thread a needle ......
To continue on the theme of knitted stockings, first some pictures from the ArtUk website. Knitting was done by anyone and anywhere. This picture is called Minding Baby by William H Ward [active 1850 - 1899] and is at the Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery. Knitting is hanging from the girl's belt. This picture is called Welsh Landscape with two women knitting and is by William Dyce [ 1806 - 1864] and is at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. I can't say I have ever thought, "oh I must go and sit on a hard rock and do some knitting". This is called The Peat Boat, Shetland by William Fleming Vallance [1827 - 1909] and is at the Shetland Museum and Archives. One of the girls in the boat is knitting. Isn't this amazing? it is called Pittenweem Fishergirls and is at the Scottish Fisheries Museum. Never a minute to be wasted. They are posed on wet ground, I presume sand, wearing clogs, each with a knitted stocking. All this activity out of doors, and not the main source of income. But these pictures give the idea that knitting was part of everyday life. Daniel Defoe's tour guide is a classic that you can turn to again and again and is oft quoted. His tour missed many places out but he probably stuck to the main roads. His tour was undertaken in the 1720s before the mania of Turnpikes. He described Richmond as - A Large town ... here you begin to find a manufacture on foot again, and as before, all was clothing, and all the people clothiers, here you see people great and small knitting, and at Richmond you have a market for wool and yarn stockings which they make very coarse and ordinary, and they are sold accordingly; for the smallest sized stockings for children are here sold for eighteen pence per dozen, or three ha'pence a pair, sometimes less. This trade extends itself also into Westmoreland ... for at Kendal and Kirkby Stephen ... the chief manufacture of yarn stockings is carried on; it is indeed a very considerable manufacture in itself, and of late mightily increased....... As the eighteenth century advanced more people travelled so more guide books were written. Thomas Pennant actually wrote a book about Scotland, but on his way back south he stopped in Yorkshire and wrote - Before I quit these delicious tracts [he liked the dales] I must remark that from Leybourne to their extremity there is scarcely a mile but what is terminated by a little town, and every spot, even far up the hills, embellished with small neat houses. Industry and competence seem to reign among the happy regions ... Mittens and knit stockings are their manufacture. The hills produce lead, the valleys cattle, horses, sheep, wool, butter and cheese. This book was one of the earliest written about knitting in the dales. It explains how wool was sent out on carrier carts and how the knitted stockings, caps and gloves were then gathered back in by the hosiers. The wool was coarse and the finished articles were then put on wooden boards and fulled. Hartley and Ingilby went through the whole region of the dales across to Dent and Sedbergh and described the last of the knitters that they met. One little snippet of information I was delighted with in this book is that the knitters used to meet together in each other's houses to knit of an evening and had Knitting Songs. And evidently number 804 in the Old Methodist Hymn Book, tune called Dent Dale, is the tune of an old knitting song. "Spread, O spread, thy mighty word/ Spread the Kingdom of the Lord" are the words in MHB, I wonder what the original words were? Oh what joy to combine knitting, singing, and the Old Methodist Hymn Book! On the subject of Dent, which is stunningly beautiful, the memoirs of Benjamin Shaw, born in 1772 in Dent, describe that his father was a weaver, how he, Benjamin, learnt to knit as a small child, and his mother, as well as producing a baby every two years until there were seven of them, had to augment the family income by "winding" while her husband was at the loom, presumably winding onto the shuttles. As well as that she was always knitting stockings or spinning worsted for stockings or stuff gowns which was "her common employ [and] she learned and kept us children to this work constantly this helped my father's earnings a little..." Benajmin Shaw and his family then moved as a man came over to Dent to get factory workers for a Lancashire mill and they left in 1791. But what happened to all these stockings? Abraham Dent in Kirkby Stephen was a hosier who bought wool, supplied knitters, and sold knitted stockings to clothiers in London who then supplied the military. A few of his accounts and letters books have survived which give an insight into his commercial business. In the 1760s he supplied John Cleasby in Swaledale with wool and soap, John Cleasby then put this out to knitters and the accounts have a list of names, not reproduced in the book, but examples given - George Alderson knitted a dozen pairs, Ed Cherry the same. John Cleasby distributed the wool and collected the finished stockings and then took them to Abraham Dent who packed them up to go to London. If Dent could not supply the style of stockings required he had contacts and in 1784 wrote to a potential customer recommending Mr John Harrison and a Mr Stuart of Hawes who could supply them. Abraham Dent supplied two companies in London, one was called Harley and Lloyd, and the other was the company of Nicholas Pearse, whose portrait is here, painted by Thomas Gainsborough [1727 - 1788] Nicholas Pearse [1720 - 1793] had his clothier business at 41 Lothbury, London and did very well indeed. He had country houses in Essex and Wiltshire and his eldest son became a Governor of the Bank of England. The portrait above is on the Sotheby's website (bidding closed). This indicates there was money to be made in knitted stockings. The hosiers who collected them and marketed them did very well. Some of them were enterprising men who had cash to invest in other industries in the dales such as mining or quarrying. In Swaledale Thomas Parke of Feetham, hosier, was involved in speculating for mines. Some had contacts in London and other parts of the country. To illustrate these countrywide connections here are some documents. John Thwaite of Ramsgate in Kent made a will in 1808. He mentioned a nephew who was a Hosier in Nottingham called James Thwaite, bequeathed property in the dales at Raydaleside and a Freehold estate at Countersett where a cousin called James Thwaite lived, some of this land he had inherited in 1787 as recorded in a Deed witnessed by two hosiers in Hawes, John Harrison and Cuthbert Allen. How and why John Thwaite died in Ramsgate I don't know, but his life in the dales had involved hosiery. Some probate documents give an idea of how much a person was worth when they died. Their executors had to take out a bond of administration often double the value of the estate. In Askrigg there were several members of the Burton family who were hosiers. George Burton of Askrigg, hosier was buried 3 January 1787. The administration documents for his estate give a value of £1,000. The first document dated 10th January 1787 is the swearing of an oath and the second, with crossings out, is because the first executrix was under twenty one and her sister took over, but as she was married, her husband had to be the executor in her place. Both state the value as £1,000. This bond is dated 1792 and the widow of George Smith of Askrigg, another hosier, took out a bond for £3,000. and here, Annas, his widow, declared that George Smith's estate was valued at £1,600. Usually the bond was about double the estate value. The £3,000 was not produced, but would have to be paid if the estate was not administered. This is the will of Cuthbert Allen of Hawes in the parish of Aisgarth in the North Riding of the County of York, hosier .... he first bequeaths several items of silver ..... Probate was granted to his widow Mrs Hannah Allen on 24 November 1803 and she swore that his estate was valued at about £2,000. There was money in stockings. Some of the money was made in London. this is the trade card for George Holland in London, a hosier and hatter, from the Lewis Walpole Collection. The Trade Cards were a work of art in themselves. There was a Teesdale man called Charles Waistell, born 1747, who moved through several careers, but ended up making a fortune as a hosier in London. He went into business with Henry and George Holland and a William Orton or Horton. They were no ordinary hosiers and did not sell ordinary stockings, oh no [not quite M & S though] they advertised that they were the Patentees and Manufacturers of "Fleecy Hosiery" and even supplied the Royal Family. They supplied stockings and knee caps, gloves, mittens, night caps, pantaloons, feet baskets, bosom friends, muff linings and drawers as well as pieces of material for great coats and waistcoats. This sounds to have been some sort of thermal clothing as they laid extravagant claims to its warmth and benefits to many ailments. Doesn't it sound wonderful. They then had retail suppliers who advertised in all the provincial newspapers. Charles Waistell, having made a mint out of hosiery, retired into Camden Town and made a will. His relatives were very well provided for including his brother and nephews in Romaldkirk. He had also ventured into Banking and a bank note issued in 1792 for the Godalming and Surry [sic] bank is on a Goldaming website.
In conclusion, as the sun sets ever earlier, and the temperature starts to fall, I can recommend wearing a pair of woollen socks. It really does make a difference. Now as to a Bosom Friend, fleecy if possible, does anyone know where I could get one? There are lots of nursery rhymes which I knew as a child, passed on to my children (though they have forgotten them), and have sung to my grandchildren, which contain references to things of a bygone age which no modern child would understand. So who now would understand half a pound of twopenny rice, except those of us who came out of the Ark and can still calculate Imperial measurements and pre-decimal coins? And just exactly how far did the crooked man go when he walked a crooked mile? So many today will know neither garters nor hose. I like knitting socks. Socks and stockings were known as hose and were held up by garters. I had a little husband / No bigger than my thumb / I put him in a pint pot / And there I bid him drum ........ I gave him some garters / To garter up his hose / And a little handkerchief / To wipe his pretty nose. So this month's blog is about stockings. Everyone wore woollen knitted stockings. They were more visible on the men folk who wore knee breeches with stockings up to the knee. The lovely book by George Walker called Costumes of Yorkshire (1814) has many illustrations of the wearing of stockings or hose. This picture is called "Plough Stotts" and the person you think is a woman is actually a man in drag. These gentlemen are all wearing stockings and are also in George Walker's book. They are playing Knurr and Spell. So where did you get your stockings from? And who made them and who sold them? This picture from George Walker's Costumes of Yorkshire is called "Wensleydale Knitters" and stocking knitting was something that dales folk were very involved with. So now I am going back to David Jameson's step son, to see what story he had to tell. David Jameson's step-son, John Birk, was apprehended in Reeth at the same time as his step father at the end of 1774 beginning of 1775. He said that he was eighteen years old and had been born in Leith, son of a soldier also called John Birk. His mother was originally from Liverpool and had been called Ann Kelly before she married. He did not say what happened to his father, but he had not played a part in his son's life because when he was only eight years old - yes, eight years old - he was put out to work. He was employed by Thomas Ryecroft in travelling the country selling stockings. He did this until he was fourteen years old. This picture from the ArtUk collection is called View near Welsh Coast with Riders and Packhorses and is by Thomas Rowlandson [1757 - 1827] and is at Eton College. The tiny figures of the pack horses carrying their bulky loads gives an idea of what it was like to be a travelling salesman in the age of foot and horse transport. So where did Thomas Ryecroft get his stockings from and who did he sell them to? Whoever wrote John Birk's story down was a bit vague about where Thoams Ryecroft came from. Was he still in Leith? Or had he and his mother gone back to Liverpool? I don't know, but when John was fourteen he went to work for a Thomas Hall, hosier, of Nellgate or Stellgate, not sure which. He was then bound an apprentice to another hosier of the same place for three years called George Hutchinson. So what did hosiers do? Hosiers were the middlemen buying up the stockings from those who made them and selling them on to those who wore them. This is a trade card for a Hosier and Hatter in Covent Garden, London, it is beautifully illustrated and lists that he sold both wholesale and retail silk, worsted, cotton & thread hose. Sometimes a hosier provided the yarn to the knitters. This excellent book describes how Joseph Symson was a middleman dealing in textiles and stockings produced in the Kendal district, selling them on to customers all over the country. Some of his regular customers were itinerant pedlars or hawkers who travelled the country. So back to the journeys of John Birk. After working for the hosier Thomas Hall he was bound apprentice to George Hutchinson, another hosier, for three years. Then the story takes a great leap and he was in - Whitby on the Yorkshire coast in the spring of 1774, and here he met his mother. So this is where his story joins up with his step father [My bonnie lies over the ocean, July 2022] David Jameson. Although his step father had had a lifetime at sea, his mother was also a pedlar or hawker and travelled about selling medicines. Now when David Jameson, sailor, was in Whitby he said he was ill for five weeks. is this how her met John Birk's mother? Did she cure him with her medicines? The little group were soon on the move again. John Birk's story says that from Whitby they travelled to Stockton and stayed three days, then on to Hartlepool where they stayed two night selling medicines; then on to Easington which was seven miles from Sunderland where they lodged at David Huntley's in the High Street; they went to Shields for three weeks and lodged at Fanny Robinsons near the Market Place; on to Newcastle and lodged at Nanny Mutter's in Sidegate through Newgate for one week; the next stop was three weeks in Chester le Street where they lodged at Fanny Robinson's in Hall Garth Street; then to Bishop Auckland where they stayed three weeks with Effie, a widow woman; then on to Staindrop for three nights at the "Hall in the wall", probably the Hole in the Wall, a common name for a pub; not far then to Barnard Castle where they stayed a month at the house of Thomas Bavencroft or Ravencroft near Gallgate. From Barney they set off up Teesdale and stayed two nights at Romaldkirk at the Sign of the Blue Bell, then over to Baldersdale and stopped at Hunderfoot [Hunderthwaite] and then returned to Barnard Castle where they stayed a month. Then a short journey down Teesdale to Whorlton where they stayed four days at the Sign of the Greyhound. From there to Richmond where they arrived "last Monday" and then on to Reeth where they arrived last Friday was a se'nnight [seven night] and met with his stepfather David Jameson again and his Uncle Joseph. John Birk then gave the information that his mother Ann/ Nanny Birk and his step father David Jameson the sailor were married at Darlington and stayed three nights at the house of Nanny French. So this little story gives insight into the distribution of manufactured goods. The hosiers obtained goods from those who made them, then either employed or sold them on to travelling salesmen. We also have the story of John Birk's mother and stepfather. His mother was first married to a soldier, then travelled about selling medicines, and finally married the sailor David Jameson probably after meeting him in Whitby. Now another story involving stockings. This story starts in Grinton in Swaledale - And journeys on to Stokesley, over forty miles to the east. Jane the wife of Samuel Atkinson, taylor of Grinton, set off for Stokesley from Grinton on Monday the 13th of March 1767. She was travelling with a pack of woollen stockings which she sold about the country, carried by her donkey. Thomas and Joseph Atkinson, two of her sons, also went along. She must have needed to take some money with her, and had the remarkable sum of £7 16 shillings in gold and silver. She put this into a little bag made of "harden", a coarse cloth made of hemp or linen, and then stuffed the bag inside one of her son's shoes. She then put another four shillings in halfpennies [come on work it out - 96 coins] in another purse or bag and stuffed it in the other shoe. The shoes were then pushed into the middle of the pack of woollen stockings and she sewed up the pack. There was just enough room for a very small hand to go in. She then tied the sack round with a garter, put it on the donkey and set off for Stokesley. This picture is called The Cobbler by Nicholas Candy [ 1793 - 1857] and is at the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, and on the ArtUk website.
When Jane, Thomas and Joseph Atkinson got to Stokesely they lodged with the local cobbler, William Carlin. Here misfortune befell them. They left the pack in a downstairs room, and they lodged upstairs. The next morning they got up between six and seven, put the pack on the donkey and travelled on to Guisbrough. When they got there and opened up the pack the shoe with the £7 16 shillings was missing, but the shoe with the four shillings in ha'pennies was still there. Jane said that she had the greatest suspicion that Carlin had stolen the money. The only other people in the house in Stokesley were William Carlin's son who acted as boot boy, and his daughter Grace Carlin. Jane's two sons testified that they saw their mother count the money, put it in the bags and put the bags in the shoes and put them in the pack with the woollen stockings, that they were then sewn up and that Thomas tied the pack about with a garter. Sadly that was where the trail went cold and I don't think Carlin was apprehended for theft. But this little tale also is about travelling and stockings. So had all the stockings Jane taken to Stokesley then Guisbrough been made in Swaledale? Was she buying them in one place and selling them in another? And why, in 1767, was she carrying such a huge amount in cash? Why all the ha'pennies? We will never know, but next time you need some new socks / tights/ stockings think where they were made and who made them. I will look at stockings again. We may never give a thought to the shipping which circumnavigates the globe carrying goods of all sorts, transporting people for leisure or business, and the crews who man the ships, but they are there. In times past they were very important and could make fortunes or loose them for those who were waiting for their ship to come home. Every so often a seaman turns up far inland in some historical document, and has a yarn to spin that captures the imagination and takes us back into another world. This story starts in Ormskirk in Lancashire - and ends in Reeth in the North Riding of Yorkshire - and travels all over the world. This painting is called Navigator with globe and dividers by Henrick van der Borch [1583 - 1660] and is at the National Maritime Museum and on the ArtUk website. David Jameson was apprehended in Swaledale in 1775, brought before a magistrate, and recounted his life story which was written down for the courts. He was picked up as a beggar, in court terminology he was a Rogue or a Vagabond, but I will let you decide if he really fell into these categories. He said that he was born in Ormskirk son of David Jameson and his wife Ann nee Frazier. Although I have found Jamesons in Ormskirk I have not pinpointed a David among them, but that does not mean to say he was not telling the truth. He would have been born about 1740. When he was 13 years old his mother bound him apprentice to a Miles Barker, a merchant in Lancaster. This painting is called Lancaster from Skerton with a sailing ship, unknown artist, and is at the Lancaster Maritime Museum. Lancaster had been an important port on the west coast of the country until Liverpool began to grow and took over. Whilst he was an apprentice David served on the ship Cato with Turner as Captain and the ship Eagle with Tomlinson as captain, sailing out of Lancaster. He served on these ships for five years and then his master signed him over to a Mr Crosby who was a merchant in Liverpool. Here he sailed on the Wheel of Fortune out to the West Indies. Here his adventures began. By now Britain was involved in European wars which spread around the globe because of trade links to various ports and colonies. David said that he was taken by the French in either 1760 or 1761 and carried to Marti.... could be Martinique? and from there he was carried as a prisoner to somewhere even more indecipherable (I guess the clerk in Northallerton had no idea where it was) and was held a prisoner for eleven months. Now I wonder if it was the French, or if it was the Spanish. There had been a ship called the Wheel of Fortune, and its goings in and out of port can be tracked through columns of newspapers that reported such movements. In 1752 a ship of this name had been captured by the Spanish in the Bay of Honduras. In 1754 a ship of this name was trading boxes of prunes, capers and olives from Bordeaux, then a sloop of this name sank off Wicklow with a cargo of Portland stone. But in 1756 a ship called the Wheel of Fortune left Liverpool for Tortola, which is the largest of the British Virgin Islands. In 1758 it was reported that the Wheel of Fortune, in coming to Porto Rico, was surrounded by 300 Spanish men who wounded some of the crew and took others prisoner. The next mention is when the Wheel of Fortune arrived in Liverpool in 1763 with a cargo of sugar and cotton from Barbadoes. So in between all of this we have to try and put together David Jameson's story and decide if his memory served him well or not. He said that he was released when there was an exchange of prisoners, and this did often happen. This painting is called Man 'o War and other shipping and is by "British School" at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre. Once he was released from being a prisoner poor David was Press- ganged, which means he was kidnapped and forced to serve on one of His Majesty's ships and go to war. This is from the Lewis Walpole collection and the speech bubble on the right reads "let them starve & be damned, the King wants Men, haul him on board you dogs". The woman pleads that the captured man has a father and mother, sister and wife to support. This is another painting of a Man o'war and is by Charles Brooking [1723 - 1759] and is also at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre. So poor David was now in the Navy and served on a ship called HMS Defiance with Captain Mackenzie at the helm. There has been a whole series of ships called Defiance but this one was a 60 gunner launched in 1744. They sailed to Jamaica and then on to the siege of Havannah, they were there for eleven weeks. Official reports record that the Defiance and the Hampton Court were ordered to cruise between Port Mariel and the Bay of Honda, which are in Cuba, in 1762. The British army was commanded by Lord Albermarle and the Navy by Admiral Pocock. British troops numbered 12.500, which leads to the question how many ships were involved as troop carriers? The naval fleet at Havannah numbered thirty ships, one was called "Ripon" another 60 gunner, and there was a huge merchant fleet of 150 ships to supply the army and navy. The siege of Havannah was a success for the British against the Spanish and lasted from March to August 1762. When the Spanish surrendered the crews of the various ship shared Prize Money. Britain had been at war against France since 1756 and Spain had been neutral, but after 1761 Spain took the side of France and started capturing British ships, Britain then declared war against Spain in January 1761. After the siege David said that the voyage back to Britain took five weeks and two days. and brought him to Plymouth. As soon as he was discharged and received his pay and prize he returned to Liverpool. Here he stayed for nine months, not saying if he had to work or not. This painting is called Man o' war off Whitby and is attributed to James Cleveley, born 1750, and is at the Hull Maritime Museum. David's next voyage was on the Albermarle as Boatswain, Commander called Captain Walker, and this time he was bound for Africa. There is no reason to disbelieve him, but the only record of a ship called the Albermarle was in 1763 when it sailed for Jamaica but was lost on the Culver Sands which are off Bristol. But David's voyage may be on a later ship of the same name. This voyage took twenty two months and he returned to Liverpool about 1767 and stayed in Liverpool for six months. Then he was crew out to Guinea in a ship which looked like it was called "Duck", and was at sea fourteen months. After this another voyage on the same ship to "Cape Mount". I have never heard of this before, but good old google tells me it is in Liberia, so in the same part of Africa as Guinea. This voyage took nine months. He returned to Liverpool about 17th March 1770. When someone says "about" and then gives a precise date, you think they are fairly sure of their story. This painting is called Whale Fishing in a Polar Sea by John Wilson Carmichael [1799 - 1868] and is at the York Art Gallery. David's next voyage, by way of great contrast, was on the ship Perseverance, Captain Smith in command, to Greenland where they were out three months. The movements of the whaling fleet were recorded, and in 1771 the Perseverance returned to Liverpool with 2 fish [whales] and four or five hundred seals. Don't think about it. The crew were laid up for two months and then sailed for Greenland again, this time they were out for three months. Whaling ships ventured north at the time that there would be maximum daylight, if they were delayed by storms or winds in the wrong direction, they could not work when there was almost total darkness around the arctic. This painting is called Greenland Fishery, English Whalers in the ice by Charles Brooking [1723 - 1759] and is at the National Maritime Museum. After his return to Liverpool David must have felt that he had had enough excitement for the time being and went as crew on a ship that was a Cheeseman, Captain called Scott, which traded with cheese between Liverpool and London. This was a booming business. Londoners ate a lot of cheese and it was all imported from the countryside, much of it going by sea. Cheese factors bought up cheese from farmers and sometimes owned their own ships. Various cheesemongers in London specialised in cheese from the particular regions, and the ships that sailed out of Liverpool would have taken Cheshire and Lancashire cheeses. This is the trade card of a Cheesemonger in London who specialised in Yorkshire and Westmoreland cheeses and hams. This is from a collection at the British Musem. Yorkshire cheeses went to Yarm which had a Cheese Fair and then sailed down the Tees and along the east coast to London. David went to London, came back to Liverpool, had shore leave for seven weeks and then went on board the Perseverance back to Greenland, was out for four months and two days and returned to Liverpool which brought him to July 1774. His time as a sailor was alomost coming to an end. Another voyage to London on the Dredgewater in November 1774, and a last voyage up the east coast to Whitby where he lay sick for five weeks. This painting is called Whitby harbour with figures and donkey by Unknown Artist and is at the Whitby Museum.
Suddenly a wife appeared in the story! She was Nanny Jameson and he went with her to a place called Steens? which I am not sure about. They then travelled to Coatham, near Redcar, where the River Tees meets the North Sea. There David met with his step son, his wife's son by a previous marriage, and all three went to Stockton on Tees. From there they went to Darlington, stayed the night at Jenny French's, and then journeyed on to Richmond. Here they lodged at Nanny Waggett's and stayed three days then travelled on to Reeth where they arrived "last Friday se'ennight" i.e. a week ago, a seven night being a week and a fourteen night two weeks. In Reeth he passed his time sitting in the Red Lion and drinking, and I am sure he had some amazing tales to tell anyone who would stand him a pint of good Yorkshire ale. What happened to David Jameson after that I know not, it is most likely that the court would order him to be sent back to the place of his legal settlement, which was Ormskirk in Lancashire. But what a life, and he was only one of many, many sailors who are now anonymous, but played such a part in the history of the world. Now the story that his step son told adds more, and is quite different, but you will have to wait for another time! My bonny lies over the ocean My bonny lies over he sea My bonny lies over the ocean Oh bring back my bonny to me. Fortunately David Jameson did always come back. I think it was way back in 2002 when it was Our Dear Queen's Golden Jubilee, and when I had a local history class at Middleham, that I looked at what happened in various villages in the dales when Queen Victoria celebrated her Jubilee on 20 - 21 June 1887. Back then there were no Old Newspapers on t'internet and I spent hours in Northallerton Library winding reels of film and writing down reports. So this month I am looking back at some of these accounts in 1887. Here is Her Majesty Queen Victoria [ 1819 - 1901] painted by Thomas Benjamin Kennington [1856 - 1916] which is in Retford Town Hall and on the ArtUK website. It was not all harmony and innocent good fun. Darlington and Stockton Times 21st May 1887 The inhabitants of Middleham were late in taking any steps for celebrating the Jubilee, but a fortnight ago a meeting was called by an influential party. Very interesting reminiscences of the loyalty displayed on the occasion of the marriage of the Prince of Wales were recalled but Middleham was pictured as a place of considerable deterioration since the days of 1863, and as a consequence, a treat of a more modest nature was to be aimed at. Oh dear, that does not bode well - the report in the newspaper continued - This view the Squire of Middleham House distinctly combated and wished it to be understood that Middleham ... of all places ought to be loyal on this occasion of Her Majesty's Jubilee, and he for one would not be content if the treat did not come up to that of 1863, but surpass it. So who was the Squire of Middleham House? He was a Topham, the leading family in Middleham. Here he is in the 1881 census, John Topham. John Topham was born in 1812 son of Lupton Topham, solicitor in Middleham. Here in 1881 he put as his occupation Constable of Middleham Castle. He did not live to the next census in 1891 but died in 1888. He was buried at Coverham amongst his ancestors and his tomb stone records " In Memory of John Topham of Middleham House, Constable of Middleham Castle and Ranger of the Forest of Richmondshire. Born 29 February 1812 died 8 February 1888. Fiat Dei Voluntas. I doubt his titles had much meaning by the 19th century, but would have been Royal Appointments in the Middle Ages. Back to the meeting in Middleham in May 1887. A strong discussion ensued and it was arranged, providing subscriptions came in, to afford a treat of the magnitude of 1863, when the old Castle was covered in , boarded out and properly fitted with gas and suitable decorations, and a first class dinner was given to the male population of the ages ranging from 15 and upwards, and a tea to all the women and girls followed by a grand ball in the evening..... So back to 1863 - This painting is called The Landing of Her Royal Highness The Princess Alexandra at Gravesend 7th March 1863 by Henry Nelson O'Neil [ 1817 - 1880] and is at The National Portrait Gallery. And here are the happy couple. This painting is called The Marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales and is by William Powell Frith [1819 - 1909] and is at Barts Trust NHS Archives and Museum. The wedding was on the 10th March 1863. Poor Alexandra she had hardly stepped on dry land when she was marched up the aisle. So what went on in Middleham in 1863? The inside of the keep is rather dark and damp but this is an account in The Yorkshire Gazette for the 14th March 1863. Prince of Wales Marriage Rejoicings in Yorkshire - Middleham In this town of Tuesday last was celebrated in a truly loyal style and the day kept as a holiday. The Church bells were rung occasionally throughout the day and a great number of flags and banners were suspended from the church steeple, the castle and the houses in the town . The weather was most unfavourable, rain and snow being alternate during the whole day. A brass band was especially engaged, assisted by the celebrated Middleham Drummer, Mr John Barber …. The Castle , once a mgnificent one, and the abode of Royalty, was an object of great interest, this being the first time it had been illuminated with gas. … The banqueting hall in the Castle was covered in, fitted up with boards, and decorated for the dinner and tea and ball to be held therein, and the whole was illuminated with gas. About 12 o’clock a procession was formed at the Town Hall, led by Christopher Topham Esq. and Miss Birch, and headed by the band, paraded the town, after which they were marshalled to the banqueting room to enjoy the good old English Fare of Roast Beef and Plum Pudding. Christopher Topham Esq. presided. Upwards of 400 partook of dinner in the hall at one time, the band during dinner playing various tunes. The usual loyal toasts as well as “The Prince and Princess of Wales” …. excellent speeches … After dinner 500 sat down to a substantial tea … after which the hall was cleared for a ball … [lists of the Great and the Good of Wensleydale who were there] - between 200 and 300 persons assembled and dancing was kept up to an early hour in the morning. Back to the Darlington and Stockton Times of 21st May 1887. .... Subscriptions were at once opened and a sum of £200 immediately raised. This would have provided all that had previously been indulged in, and would also have been sufficient for the erection in the Market Place of a memorial in the shape of an ornamental fountain. But this course did not suit several who had started a project of their own, and nothing would suit them but a knife and fork tea - no dancing - no hot roast beef or other joints were to be provided - no plum pudding and no beer - and in a short time the whole project collapsed. The money was to be returned and Middleham made to appear ridiculous. However an informant gives me to understand that the matter is not to rest here. A requisition has been sent out for a public meeting to be held this evening (Saturday) and it is to be hoped amicable counsels will prevail ...... Spectator. Oh dear oh deary me. This picture is just called Beef and is by James Ward [1769 - 1859] and is at The Tate. It looks good to me. And this picture is called The Roast Beef of Old England and is by James Lobley [1828 - 1888] and at the Bradford Museum and Art Gallery. it just needs some Yorkshire Puddings ...... This picture is called Monks in a Cellar and is by Joseph Haler [1816 - 1891] and is at The Wilson Gallery. I think this is what some of the good upstanding folk in Middleham were afraid of, and I can't help thinking that some of my Methodist Middleham ancestors may have been behind the movement to have a Knife and Fork Tea. Here are some very genteel ladies partaking of tea from dainty china. This picture is called Five o'clock tea and is by David Comba Adamson [1859 - 1926] and is at the Dundee Art Gallery. So what happened next? The Darlington and Stockton Times continued to report on the goings on in Middleham. A meeting was held, one hundred turned up. Mr John Topham was made chairman of a new committee. They resolved to have TWO subscription funds, one for a tea and another for a fountain. The original subscriptions were returned. They immediately raised £160 for the fountain and £90 for a tea and a fete. A proposal for a Dinner, Tea AND Dance was defeated, in the end they proposed cold meat, with beer at some tables and tea at others, this proposal was also thrown out, [it must have been a long meeting with votes on all these proposals]. A proposal was then made to have another meeting, committee be dissolved and the chairman to vacate the chair . There was then some disquiet about money which had been subscribed and what was going where. And the chairman and the dissolved committee issued a notice of a counter celebration and opened another subscription fund! This cartoon is of dancing and is called La Belle Assemblee or Sketches of Characteristic Dancing by George Cruikshank [1792 - 1878] and is dated 1818, and is in the Lewis Walpole collection. And this cartoon is called The Drunkard's Children and has the caption - From the gin shop to the dancing room and from the dancing room to the gin shop, the poor girl is driven on the course which ends in misery. By David Bogue [1807 - 1856] dated 1848, also in the Lewis Walpole Collection. Just to illustrate thoughts about dancing! And drinking! So what happened next? The Darlington and Stockton Times for 4th June 1887 reported that the committee appointed at the last meeting had broken up and subscriptions returned, a private meeting was held by Mr Topham at Castle Hill, and it was decided to hold a substantial meat tea for all the inhabitants of the town, including the children, and that was it. Now this was a different Mr Topham, same family, but a cousin. This is the 1881 census for Castle Hill where Mr Thomas Topham, solicitor, son of Christopher Topham, lived. He Saved The Day! So this is what happened, as reported on the 2nd July 1887. Rather a long report, but worth reading to get a flavour of those times in a tiny rural spot in the Yorkshire Dales. Thanksgiving services on behalf of the Queen were held in the parish church on Sunday last…. In the morning the Rector the Rev JGB Knight preached an able and instructive sermon from Romans chapter 13 1st verse, and during his discourse he alluded to the high tone of Her Majesty’s Christian character …. In the evening the curate, Rev J Thomas, preached from 1st Epistle St Peter, 2nd chapter 1st and 2nd verses … collections were taken after each service in aid of the “Victoria Fund” to assist poor clergymen. Anniversary services took place at the Wesleyan Chapel … An excellent fete for all the inhabitants, promoted by Mr Topham of Castle Hill, and a number of influential ladies and gentlemen, in commemoration of the Queen’s Jubilee, was held on Tuesday, by kind permission, in Mr Topham’s grounds in a large marquee … the event was favoured by beautiful weather. At an early hour the bells of the ancient parish church signalled the approach of the festive occasion with a merry peal. Flags were hoisted in all parts of the town, and decorations, festoons and mottoes were both profuse and elegantly arranged. There were triumphal arches in the grounds, the first bearing the motto “God Save The Queen” and a gas jet on the top in the shape of a crown and on each side the letters “VR” which were lighted at night…. The gas arrangement was certainly a great acquisition for the ball in the evening. A grand procession was formed at the Low Market Cross and proceeded through the town to the Castle grounds being preceeded by the Northallerton Temperance Band. The Leyburn Drum and Fife band was also in attendance. Shortly after reaching the field, athletic sports commenced [then the results of the races]. At half past two the children were regaled with an excellent tea. At four o’clock the adults sat down to a substantial meat tea, the whole numbering above 800. The committee men carved. Most of the lady waiters wore aprons made of Union Jack flags. After the inhabitants had finished their repast, a large number of tramps who were loitering in the field was invited to partake … several speeches were made and toasts proposed … The Rev JGB Knight thanked on behalf of those present for the kindness of Mr and Mrs T Topham in allowing the use of their grounds for the day. .. The dancing was led off by the Hon A.C.O. Powlett and Mrs W Swales in “The Triumph” .. at eight o’clock to the strains of the Leyburn Quadrille Band and continued until 12.30 on Wednesday morning. The trees were decorated with Chinese Lanterns making the scene quite like fairyland. At ten o’clock fireworks were let off in the grounds and balloons were let off. Unfortunately two of these caught fire … there then was a list of the committee who so successfully carried out the arrangements. And yes, they did erect a fountain. Queen Victoria [1819 - 1901] by Ernest Dudley Heath [1867 - 1945] at the Museum of the Order of St John. I do hope that whatever celebrations you attended for our own Dear Queen were both enjoyable and memorable. This is Holy Trinity Church in the centre of Richmond Market Place. A small part of it is still used for services and prayer, but the main part of the church is the Regimental Museum for the Green Howards. This is an excellent museum, packed with interest for all, not just those with a military background. For a while I worked as a volunteer here and gained a lot of knowledge and friends. This picture by Terence Cuneo depicts the raising of the Regiment in 1688, the time of the Glorious Revolution, by Francis Luttrell at Dunster Castle in Devon. The Regiment supported William of Orange and was deployed to Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne. For a large part of history regiments were named after, their Commanding Officer, and at one time there were two regiments named after a Howard. To differentiate between the two the 19th Regiment of Foot adapted their uniform to have green facings and became The Green Howards (or with received pronunciation The Grin Hards). By the 19th century various regiments had their own recruiting areas and The Green Howards became associated with Yorkshire. But they travelled the globe. The Green Howards moved to Richmond in 1873 and the Barracks were built in 1875. There are many places in Richmond which incorporate names associated with the regiment, or the insignia XIX, for the 19th Regiment of Foot. There is a Luttrell House, roads named after recipients of the Victoria Cross, Norwegian Royalty, and a Danish Princess. To give the regiment its full title it is "The Green Howards, Princess Alexandra's Own Yorkshire Regiment, the 19th of Foot". In 1875 the then Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark, presented new colours to the regiment who then adopted her insignia and incorporated the letter "A" into their badge. In 1914 she became the first female Colonel in Chief of a regiment. But all this is just by way of an introduction. One day, when working amongst the archives and library of books held in the Museum I happened upon a register kept by a Padre, or several Padres, to the regiment recording baptisms, marriages and burials of military personnel and their families. So I copied the entries out by hand, thinking one day I would see what had happened to all these people. For many years in these registers the regiment had served in Ireland and thus recruited lots of men with Irish surnames. Oh dear, not easy to follow through, just too many called Kelly and Doyle and O'Brien. But just every so often someone did have a more distinctive name. Also as time went on the baptisms, marriages and burials moved on from Dublin to places such as Malta, Cephalonia, Zante, Corfu, Barbados, Trinidad, Quebec, Montreal. What happened to all the sons and daughters of these servicemen? Who were their wives? So this month I am looking at just a few military families to see how they travelled the world. By 1841 the baptisms record that the regiment had moved from Ireland to Malta (right at the bottom of the map above). On the 26th July Mrs Mary Dillon gave birth to a boy who was baptised on the 8th of August as Richard Henry son of Corporal Martin and Mary Dillon. They had already had a son Robert born in August 1839 when they were in Cork, and they had another son Alexander James in 1843 when they were in Cephalonia, by which time Martin was a Hospital Sergeant. Ten years later, 1851, Richard Henry was at school in London. I haven't found the other boys. This is the Royal Military Asylum for children of soldiers founded in 1801 and opened in 1803. It was for 700 boys and 300 girls, but from 1823 the girls were moved to a school in Southampton. Most of the boys were destined for a career in the army, but not exclusively so. It was later renamed The Duke of York's Royal Military School. This photograph dates from about 1900 and is from the Historic England Archive ref cc97-00178. Around 1903 newspaper reports recorded that the school was moving out of Chelsea where it had occupied twelve acres, originally part of Lord Cadogan's estate, and was going to Dover. At that time there were 550 children between 9 years and 16 years. Educating the children of military personnel has always been a problem as their parents have such frequent moves, and this institution offered a solution for some. Father Martin Dillon was discharged from the regiment when he was 34 years old. Richard Henry did go into the army in the 1st Batallion 19th of Foot. The registers then record that the regiment moved on from Malta to various of the Ionian Isles from Corfu down to Zante, on the map above between Greece and Italy. What were they doing there? Now a holiday destination it seems strange that British soldiers were garrisoned on these islands. The British gained vast territories across the globe at the very end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries as a result of wars in Europe. These included Trinidad, Tobago, St Lucia, Dominica, Guiana, Malta, the Ionian Isles and even a strange place called Heligoland. But first the Ionian Isles. These had been part of the Venetian Empire until taken over by the French in the Napoleonic wars. However they would have been useful to both the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and the Russians, and were at the centre of a power struggle with the French. But the British captured them in 1809 and by the Congress of Vienna [1814- 1815] they were made a British Protectorate with Corfu as the capital and remained so until 1864 when they became Greek (but Britain had a hand in who became King of Greece). So that is why the 19th of Foot were in this part of the Mediterranean. Around the globe regiments were garrisoned to protect places which were strategic for the British Naval fleet, one being the Cape of Good Hope. Which brings me to a soldier with the very distinctive name of Charles Highmore Potts. What a joy to have someone with such a name. Not only did Charles have a distinctive name, he married a woman with a very unusual Christian name. I have not traced his marriage(s) but they are available on t'internet. He married twice, each time in Cape Town, and his second wife was called Geertruidijda Haupt, married on 7 February 1825. He was an officer in the Green Howards in the time when to become an officer you had to purchase your commission. According to the type of regiment there was a sliding scale of costs, which could amount to thousands of pounds. Appointments in the armed forces were and still are (I think) recorded in the London Gazette, and were then often copied into other provincial newspapers. This is from The London Gazette 24 February 1829. But we will go back before we go forward. Army Lists record who was in which regiment and the rank that they held. In 1816 Charles Highmore Potts was a Cornet in the 19th of Foot, this does not mean he was a musical instrument, but the name of a rank, sometimes also called an Ensign, and he would have paid about £400 for this position. In 1817 he was a Lieutenant, which would have cost him £550. By 1825 he was a Captain and would have paid about £1,500 for this rank. By 1838 he was a Major which would have cost him £2,600. He had had children by his first wife as The Morning Herald recorded in the Deaths - on 10th June 1822 at his house in Egmore, Madras, the infant boy of Lieut Charles Highmore Potts. And on the 21st of the same month the Lady of Lieut Highmore Potts, his Majesty’s 54th regiment , aged 23 years. So he had been in Madras, but married in Cape Town, which would have been a stopping off point on the voyage to and from Britain. There was a birth of a Charles Highmore H Potts in Tobago registered in Overseas Births in 1834 as an Army Birth. Then the registers that I copied out record that in 1840 Charles and his wife Gertruyda had a daughter also called Gertruyda Maria, at the Royal Barracks in Dublin. In 1841 they had another daughter called Emma baptised at the Royal Palace Chapel in Malta. By 1851 he was in barracks at Brecknock in Wales, his wife now Gretruda (easier to spell) was aged 39 years, born Cape of Good Hope. But then his life started to fall apart. And how often this is a gift for historians. This is from The London Gazette 15 April 1859. The London Gazette not only recorded purchased commissions in the armed forces, but those who were insolvent or bankrupt. This is the Debtor's Court in Portugal Street around 1911, photograph from Historic England ref BB99/03261 Charles Highmore Potts was summoned to attend here, a Colonel in the army [the commission could have cost him upwards of £3,600], at the suit of his creditors a Mr Howells and a Mr Took. His debts exceeded £2,000, and were long standing. The principal creditor was Mr Howells and Mr Took was owed money for educating Highmore's son. So he had not sent his children to the Asylum in Chelsea for educating soldier's children. The piece in the London Gazette of 15 April 1859 then proceeded to list all the known addresses of Charles Highmore Potts, in case any other creditors decided to raise their cases. It was a LONG LIST. It started with Barracks in Dublin, then Cork, next the Barracks in Malta, Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, then Corfu again. Then he was back in Blighty at the Sun Hotel, Chatham, Kent, then back to Ireland at barracks in Boyle, Roscommon, then Sligo, back to Boyle Barracks before on to Castlebar, Mayo, then Toxford in Mayo, next Mullingar in West Meath, then Naas in Kildare before back to Dublin. Then on to Wales and Brecon where he was in 1851, not long there then on to Plymouth, then Winchester, next Portsmouth, all of these in barracks. Then Civvy Street - 17 Arundel Street, near Leicester Square, next he went abroad, Flamande Street, Bruges, Belgium, possibly to excape his creditors? Who knows? he changed addresses in Bruges to Chateaux St Croix, which sounds quite grand, but then to Rue d'Espagnole, then no. 9 Rue Philipstock in Bruges and then back to London and Arundel Street again. Phew, what a life, did he ever unpack? Was his wife with him all that time? But his debts - the court had to decide what income he had and how much he could repay his creditors. The hearing in May 1859 said that he had income of £247 a year less income taxes, and if £90 was set aside for his creditors he would have 1/9d a day to live on (I have not checked this), which was not enough for himself and his wife after 40 years of army service. The Chief Commissioner pronounced a judgement of six months at the suit of the creditors generally and eight months at the suit of Mr Took for contracting his debt without reasonable expectations of payment. Sadly one of his daughters died in 1860, Gertrude Maria, at West Brompton in London, eldest daughter of Colonel Charles Highmore Potts late of the 19th Regiment. Then in the 1861 census he was in Chelsea with his wife from the Cape of Good Hope, a son born in the West Indies and daughter Emma born in Malta. Gertruijda (reverted to original spelling) the beloved and deeply lamented wife of Colonel Charles Highmore Potts died in 1865. Charles died in Worthing in Sussex in 1883. He was born in Carlisle in 1795, and his career in the Green Howards had taken him around the globe. He seems to have survived his insolvency, and only his military career was recorded in death notices in newspapers. This from The York Herald 24 February 1883. Another distinctive name in the registers is that of Samuel Lindenbergh (with or without the h). When Samuel was in Cork the regimental Padre baptised a daughter Isabella daughter of Private Samuel and Jane Lindenbergh 30 August 1840. By 1842 the Lindenberghs were in Malta and Samuel was now a Corporal and they had another daughter, Emma. By 1848 Samuel was a Drum Major and they were in St Vincent and had another daughter , Livinia. This snip has come out rather tiny, but is from an Army Muster Book for 1814 - 1815. At the top of the column for names it says "Boys". The third name down is Samuel Lindenberg and records that he joined the 19th Regiment of Foot at Trincomalie. This is quite interesting as there is a Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, and the 19th Regiment of Foot were stationed there at the time of the Kandy Wars and there was a wonderful Colour Serjeant Calladine of the Green Howards who kept a diary of his time there. But back to Samuel Lindenberg. There is a record af an army marriage of a Samuel Lindenberg in Trinidad in 1835 to Jane Kelly, who sounds Irish. How did she get to Trinidad? They then came back to Cork, went to Malta and then St Vincent in the Caribbean or the Windward Island of the Lesser Antilles. Finally there is an entry in the Registers of Chelsea Pensions payable in the colonies that a Samuel Lindenberg was admited on the 9th April '50 and his residence was in Montreal. In the Canadian Immigrant records there is a Samuel Lindenberg who arrived in Quebec in 1851, saying that he was born in Ceylon and was aged 50. This is part of the 1861 census for Quebec which shows Samuel Lindenberg aged 59. He is not with wife Jane, but someone called Elizabeth McDowell born Ireland aged 40, and then a whole list of children born in Canada. Canadian records also have the deaths of some of his children. This is another Canadian record, this time his death on the 18th April 1880. All these are just little snippets of a life of adventure, daring, danger, possibly disease, but a part of the political history of our ever changing world. Starting in Ceylon, ending in Canada, travel arrangements care of the Green Howards, Princess Alexandra's Own Yorkshire Regiment, the 19th of Foot. I can have many happy hours working my way through these registers. Perhaps more another time.
The headlines in our newspapers are full of news about Russia, their oil and gas, and the terrible consequences of war. It brought to my mind that I had come across a different sort of Russian Oil some time ago. It was one of those times when you are researching something and unexpectedly fall upon another story which leads you down an interesting track. A Happenstance. This is a snip from The Morning Post of 1st October 1832. A long advertisement, you can't read it , so I will transcribe the salient points. Englishmen, will you be so good as to hear reason? It is time you should open your eyes and not be hoaxed by unprincipled persons. Of late several have pretended to sell bears' grease balm and various other preparations, which they have the presumption to say will reproduce hair on bald places. ....... The fact is it is all humbug: there never was such an astonishing article, and never will be. It is against nature that where the hair has fallen off, and the roots are entirely gone from natural decay, and impossible that it should ever grow again .... it should be cut close, and by the use of RUSSIAN OIL to nourish it, it has often been experienced to grown again: but if the root is entirely gone, the Proprietor must confess that neither the Russian Oil nor any other article in the world will restore it; yet it has been proved by persons of distinction that having become bald on the crown, the remainder of their hair has been preserved by using PRINCE'S celebrated original and genuine RUSSIAN OIL. In short hundreds of ladies and gentlemen have declared that they had a fine head of hair by using Prince's Russian Oil only ...... The Proprietor confesses that he is not the inventor of Russian Oil. It is the discovery of that great physician H Myers, who about thirty years ago gave him the receipt how to prepare it .... Proprietor A Prince no. 9 Poland Street, Oxford Street ... 5s a bottle .... Also PRINCE'S RUSSIAN DYE, now improved with an extra gold ingredient, will change red or grey hair to brown or black ..... any Lady or Gentleman can dye their own hair secretly in a few minutes . Ask for Prince's improved Russian Dye with the extra gold ingredient. Half a Guinea per bottle, two bottles one pound or half a dozen large bottles, five pounds. A sketch by Dante Gabriel Rossetti [1828 - 1882] showing most luxuriant hair. Anyway. I will go back to the very beginning to find out just who the purveyor of Russian Oil for hair was. His name was Abraham Prince and he came to Britain in the 1790s. He is an elusive character, which makes him more intriguing. He was of Jewish background. The first advertisement for his hair restorative appeared in the London Courier in 1804. The product was available from "Mr Prince, Dentist, no 333 Oxford Street, near Argyle Street" for 7 shillings a bottle. The thought of him being a dentist makes me shudder ...... He moved around, by 1816 he was at John Street, Oxford Street and his product was also sold through a Mr Smyth, Perfumer to His Majesty. You will start to get the idea of what he was like. By 1818 he was at 68 Charlotte Street, Portland Place. By 1822 he was finding imposters trying to sell their products as HIS Russian Hair Oil. By now he was at 9 Poland Street, just off Oxford Street. Saint James Chronicle 21 September 1822 Advert warning of Imposters. --A Prince, the original proprietor of the RUSSIA OIL, is constantly receiving information that imposters are travelling the Country with Counterfeit Russia Oil… and have made the covers of their counterfeits exactly like Prince’s and even printed on the covers “Prince’s Russian Oil” As far as I can tell this was quite a respectable address. However, all was not going smoothly. In the Public Ledger 9 April 1823 a list of insolvent debtors named Abraham Prince of Poland Street, manufacturer of Russia Oil - he owed £2,683 and had debts owing to him of £180. The Stamford Mercury 9 May 1823 had details that he had incurred debts by advertising his products in newspapers all over the country so his appeal was opposed by the proprietors of the newspapers. His debts to printers was £2,100 within 12 months. It was the second time Prince had sought the benefit of the Insolvent Act, the court could grant him no relief unless three quarters of his creditors agreed. Well he should not have been so wordy in his advertisements, they almost filled a column. By the end of 1825 the newspapers were full of the hearing of his court case, and oh, what dirty linen was about to be aired. He had had a whole series of charges of debt laid against him over several years. In December 1825 at the Insolvent Debtor's Court, one creditor, Mr Davis, opposed his discharge. He had already been discharged from his debts in 1820 and 1824, Davis wanted to hold out for some money. Davis had sold Abraham a diamond and Abraham gave him a bill of exchange, which was like a promissory note, and Davis had paid Abraham's Offerings for the Poor at the Synagogue. Abraham had promised that he would pay as he had received £500 from a Mr Rothschild and was promised the advance of another £1,000 from the same gentleman. Davis believed him as "he was a very honest man" which was followed by Laughter in Court. Another creditor was a Mr Cohen, so you get the picture of the community Abraham Prince associated with. The Commissioner of the Court threw out the case and told Abraham not to come back again. He said he would not if he could help it [laughter in court] . Also in the evidence of this case Abraham said he had a valuable "sea horse's tooth" out of which he was going to make artifical teeth. I will leave that to your imagination. It is apparent that no one really took him seriously. He was mentioned in a poem in a Satirical journal - Satirist or The Censor of the Times. 29 May 1831 Satirical poem …. Last night a messenger arrived / Smoaking: at the Strand divan!/ The only Polish news he brings/ Relates to - Hunt, the blacking man!/ Lord Ellenborough just has left/ “A vacancy for one young lady”/Prince’s Russian Oil is still / Advised by Counsellor O’Grady He complained about slanderous paragraphs about him in The Satirist. But what of the man? Further debts lead him to court again and again, and details of his life began to unravel which was all rather sad. His creditors were the proprietors of newspapers and magazines where he placed his long, wordy advertisements, and obviously then never paid. He was declared insolvent in 1801, 1820, 1824, 1825 and 1832, and on each occasion his debts averaged £1,500. Can you imagine? At various times he was in prison and his business was carried on by his children in Poland Street. His furniture was not his own but belonged to his brother in law Mr Levi Alexander. So he had a family. The Happy Infant - painted by William Charles Penn [1877 - 1868] at the Walker Art gallery, on the ArtUk website. In 1830 a Nursery Maid, Helen O'Brien had been charged with stealing various articles from her employer, Mr Abraham Prince. She said the articles of clothing had been put into her box by another servant, out of spite, and she had no intention of stealing them. She was acquitted. So we learn that there were servants in Abraham's household, and children. Throughout 1832 he continued advertising in a wide range of newspapers, which obviously cost money, and at the same time appeared in newspapers as being an insolvent debtor. The Times of 7 February 1832 described him as "Abraham Prince, a Jew, of Poland Street", and this description was then taken up by others. Does this indicate some antisemitic feeling? I don't know, or if it was quite normal to describe someone by their faith / ethnicity. Things were about to get MUCH WORSE. This painting of a pregnant lady is of Ida John [1877 - 1907], the wife of Augustus John [1878 - 1961 ] and is at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. Ida had five children and died after her last delivery. This is to illustrate the perils of being a woman. The wives (plural) of Abraham Prince had a hard life. By 1833 he was in court yet again. By now his furniture had been sold, his children had no beds to lie on, and some had even been in prison with him. And in a court case heard at the King's Bench in 1835 details of his domestic life were copied into columns of newsprint. Just off Denmark Place at the back of Denmark Street in London was one of the earliest Jewish Synagogues in London. The website called VictorianWeb has some details about it. Around 1765 a room was hired in a property at the back of Denmark Court, an alley off Denmark Place, but the congregation later moved to Dibdin's Theatre. It was one of the first synagogues for Ashkenazi Jews. Another website called Jewishgen.org describes there being a synagogue in Denmark Court from 1797 - 1826 in the building that had formerly been a theatre, and before that a picture gallery of the Royal Academy. Family Historians are wonderful, and there is a website called SynagogueScribes.com which has a database of some of the names of Jews who attended this synagogue from this period. This painting is called "Reading the Book of Esther" by William Rothenstein [1872 - 1945] and is at the Manchester Art Gallery and on ArtUk website. Back to Abraham. He had married three times and twice been divorced and had numerous children, I don't know exactly how many. Wife number one was Phebe Moses and they married on 15 January 1797, he was described as Abraham Prints son of Aharon Eliezer Prints from Breslau (then in Silesia). Wife number two was Esther Alexander and they had married on 24 November 1802. He was described as Abraham Gedalia Prints. They had children whose births were recorded at the synagogue, one daughter was Julia, another was Abigail. Julia was given the Hebrew name of Yelta as well as Julia. Abigail was given the middle name of Alexander and was born at Newman Street, off Oxford Street. Wife number three was Jane Isaacs. I have not got the date of their marriage, but Jane had at least eight children. She became so ill through being constantly pregnant that medical advice was that she should not have any more, and the only way that she could avoid getting pregnant was to be divorced! Jane was the daughter of Lazarus Isaacs, a rich diamond merchant who had a quiver full of children himself [see Psalm 127]. He was one of the wardens of the Denmark Court synagogue. Lazarus was a cantankerous man who fell out with most of his own family. In his last will and testament Lazarus Isaacs gave one son, James, a shilling as "he has deeply offended me", he didn't want his sons to go to his grave, then named three of his daughters, Harriet Lewis, Jane Prince and Fanny Samo " have greatly offended me I give and bequeath to each of them the sum of one shilling only and I hope that my beloved wife will consider their offences in the same way that I do ..." So there! Jane, now married to Abraham Prince, constantly pregnant, cut off by her own father, was then divorced from Abraham. The way this was done was that HER brothers in law, the husbands of her sisters, clubbed together to raise the money needed to go before the High Priest and obtain the divorce. This painting is called "Jews mourning in a synagogue" and is by William Rothenstien [1872 - 1945] and is at the Tate and on ArtUk website. The brothers in law raised £60 and the divorce took place in March 1834 before Solomon Herschell, the High Priest . One brother in law paid over £51 retaining £9 for expenses. Abraham thought this wrong and sued his brothers in law for the £9. When the case came to court in December 1835 the brothers in law said that they had "loaned" the money to Abraham, not given it, and wanted it back. Also involved in this sordid little scene was Abraham's son in law, James Ray/ Rae, who had married Abraham's daughter Julia (after she had had an Anglican baptism). One of the brothers in law was Kensington Lewis, a silversmith, who had married another of Lazarus Isaacs's daughters, Harriet. Lewis had originally been called Lewis Solomons, but changed his name when "he turned Christian" One of Abraham Prince's sons lived with him. Abraham was acquitted. Lord Denman agreed that a case had not been made out. That was not the end of it though. In 1836 another brother in law brought an action against Abraham for the sum supposedly loaned for the divorce and had Abraham thrown into prison. Abraham brought an action against his brother in law for malicious arrest, and the jury found for Abraham. I don't know much more about Abraham Prince and his Russian Hair Oil, I don't know when he died, or what became of him. I actually feel sorry for Abraham, in some newspapers his statements in court were reproduced in a sort of pidgin English indicating that he spoke with a very heavy accent. There was much [laughter] inserted in the accounts indicating that he was ridiculed and he was certainly mocked on account of his Russian Hair Oil . He complained that he had been slandered in the press. So I picture him as a Big Man, with a lot of hair and a full, flowing beard and a strong accent. Why had he come, was he a refugee? It is a sad story, he kept no accounts, was not a good business man, and if he had really loved his wife how sad that he had to be divorced from her. I discovered him when researching one of his daughters, but her story another time. Meanwhile I trust that we all pray for peace and the end of conflict, destruction and lies. I suggest that whenever you see a picture of the man above you get a pen and add some hair, afterall he has plenty of oil.
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AuthorThis is where you can share creativity with me. I believe that everyone has something creative within them, and it is a joy to find ways of being creative. Blogging is NEW to me, so here goes ..... Archives
January 2024
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