The lives and deaths of Thomas and Harriet Rowson and their children

March 23, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

Thomas Rowson’s forebears – at least as far back as the mid-18^th century – lived and worked in villages near Grimsby in Lincolnshire. His grandparents, Robert Rowson and Margery Bryant, married in 1775 in the parish of Old Clee, and Robert is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity & Saint Mary. The parish of Clee was made up of small fishing villages on the mouth of the River Humber, and roughly 2 miles from the town of Grimsby. The village of Old Clee, slightly inland, was described in a guidebook to the area in the late 19^th century as “chiefly inhabited by farmers and farm labourers” and had “the quiet appearance of an agricultural and secluded place.” The guidebook describes the cottages as suggestive of wigwams, due to the thatched roofs and “roof-trees”¹. All in all, the houses and farm buildings were neat, clean and wholesome-looking, and the sea air was “soft and refreshing.”²

In the 19^th century, Cleethorpes, near Old Clee, became a fashionable place for sea-bathing,³ but the Rowsons were not likely in the class of people who had the leisure time for such things. Robert was a labourer, and died relatively young, at the age of 46.

Ordnance Survey Map, Lincolnshire Sheet XXII.SE; Surveyed: 1887, Published: 1888

Holy Trinity church, Old Clee – *Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology*

Children of Robert Rowson and Margery Bryant
Robert Rowson, born 1775, died 1776
Elizabeth Rowson, born 1777
Ann Rowson, born 1780
Samuel Rowson, born 1782
Mary Rowson, born 1785
John Rowson, born 1787
Robert Rowson, born 1790
? Thomas Rowson, born 1794

(note: most of the children were baptised at Old Clee. John, however, was baptised at nearby Humberstone, and Thomas – if he belongs to this family, may have been baptised elsewhere. Only on the baptismal records of John and the second Robert is the mother’s name recorded as Margery. The others show mother’s name Margaret.

John Rowson and Mary Petch

Some of Robert and Margery’s children were only a few years old when Robert died. How Margery and her young children got on isn’t known, but their son John (my ancestor) received at least some education, as he was able to sign his name on the marriage register when he married Mary Petch in Great Grimsby in 1810.

John and Mary settled near the village of Irby upon Humber, where most of their children were baptised in the parish church of St Andrews. Irby was about 6 miles from the river Humber, and 6 miles from Grimsby, and in the mid-1800s had a tiny population of about 250 people⁴. John was a labourer as a young man, but due to luck, hard work or both, became a farmer. The Rowson farm was located in Laceby, a few miles from Irby, and consisted of about 16 acres. Later census records show the farm was located on Cooper Lane.⁵ In his senior years, John was also the local rate collector.⁶ When John Rowson died in November 1873, he left an estate probated at up to £3000⁷, which in today’s currency would be worth approximately £187,000⁸. Not bad for the son of a labourer.

Church of St Andrew, Irby – Britishlistedbuildings.co.uk

Cooper Lane, Laceby – Ordnance Survey Maps, Lincolnshire Sheet XXII.SW Surveyed: 1887, Published: 1888

The children of John Rowson and Mary Petch
Mary Rowson, born 1812
Thomas Rowson, born 1813
Samuel Rowson, born 1815
Robert Rowson, born 1816
Susannah Rowson, born 1818
John Rowson, born 1821
Ann Rowson, born 1823
Frances “Fanny” Rowson, born 1825
Robinson Brant Rowson, born 1828

Thomas and Harriet

John and Mary’s eldest son was Thomas Rowson, born in 1813. Thomas left Lincolnshire and took himself to Yorkshire. In 1840, he married Harriet Shepherd, in the market town of Snaith, where her family lived. Per the 1841 census, Thomas was an agricultural labourer. He and Harriet were living then in Howden, a village only a few miles from Snaith.

Along with many thousands of people from the villages and towns in northern Lincolnshire and eastern Yorkshire, Thomas and Harriet Rowson made the move to the growing city of Hull, no doubt looking for better opportunities.

In November 1843, their first child, William Shepherd Rowson, was born in their home in the probably misnamed Clean Alley, in the township Witham.⁹ The photo below, likely taken circa 1900, shows a cramped alley with tenements whose front doors opened up right on the alley – not even a tiny front garden. Clean Alley was likely too short and insignificant a street to feature on the usually fairly detailed Ordnance Survey maps of the late 19^th century. An advertisement in the Hull Advertiser indicates that Clean Alley was off Holderness Road.¹⁰ Another advertisement in 1865 indicates that there were at least 16 tenements in the alley.¹¹ In 1901, as the city of Hull continued its efforts to improve the health and well-being of its residents, someone wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that “Clean-alley is at last condemned, but ninety-nine unclean courts … remain in putrid florescence.”¹²

Clean Alley in Sculcoates, Hull, England pre-1900 – photo source, Wikimedia

A couple of years later, the Rowsons moved to no. 4, Lime Street in The Groves. Their home was sometimes referred to as “Lime Cottage.” They were to live there for approximately 14 or 15 years. The Groves was described as an “unsavoury” suburb¹³, adjoining Drypool, near the docks, and surrounded by the River Hull and Sutton Drain. It got its name because it was a very wet, marshy area which often flooded, especially in winter. As the city of Hull industrialised, the banks were built up along the river and the land dried out enough to build on. Cotton spinning factories were established in and near the Groves, alongside flour mills, rope-making factories, glassworks and ship building yards. The population of Hull increased dramatically in the 19^th century, and housing was a major issue. The Groves was one of the several residential areas built to accommodate the factory workers. According to a report in the Hull News in 1879, it was a filthy place. The housing was densely-packed, small and cramped, with communal yards and toilet facilities. The spaces between the terraces were too small for a horse and cart. Often sewerage flowed into the streets, and residents had to contend with flooding and industrial pollution.¹⁴

High infant mortality, public health, disease

The location of their home may have played a role in the Rowson family’s high infant mortality rate. Thomas and Harriet were visited time and time again by the tragedy of child deaths. While infant mortality was high in mid-19^th century England, the toll on the Rowsons was even higher. Harriet gave birth to 14 children whose births were registered over a 24-year period between 1843 and 1867. Of those, only three survived to adulthood.

In order of death:

Year	Date	Name	Age	Cause of death	Residence
1848	14 June	Mary Ann Rowson	6 weeks	convulsions	4 Lime St, the Groves
1849	15 Sep	Robert Rowson	5 months	diarrhea	4 Lime St, the Groves
1850	26 Sep	George Rowson	2 weeks	convulsions	4 Lime St, the Groves
1852	8 Oct	Martha Rowson	5 weeks	Convulsions	4 Lime St, the Groves
1853	19 Aug	John Rowson	7 years	Fever and convulsions	4 Lime St, the Groves
1856	9 Aug	John Thomas	3 weeks	Convulsions	4 Lime St, the Groves
1857	15 Aug	Harriet Hannah Rowson	9 days	diarrhea	4 Lime St, the Groves
1859	21 Mar	Thomas Henry Rowson	6 months	Convulsions	4 Lime St, the Groves
1862	17 Nov	Elizabeth Rowson	8 days	convulsions	49 Hedon Rd, Drypool
1863	6 Nov	Helen Rowson	19 days	convulsions	49 Hedon Rd, Drypool
1868	15 Oct	Thomas Rowson	8 years	Fever lasting 7 days	49 Hedon Rd, Drypool

Seven of their children died when they were only days or weeks old. A further two died at 5 and 6 months of age. Infant mortality in Hull in 1851 was about 176 deaths for every 1000 born who did not reach their first birthday¹⁶. This equates to about 17%. In the Rowson family, 9 out of 14 children did not see their first birthday – a mortality rate of 65%. Two more did not see their 8^th and 9^th birthdays.
Of the 11 child deaths, 8 were from convulsions, 2 from fever, and 2 of diarrhea. These are likely imprecise as causes of death, as all of these were symptoms and “only the final and fatal effect of infection or some other condition”.¹⁷ Convulsions may have resulted from high temperatures, or from dehydration due to diarrhea. In turn, both of these were likely symptoms linked to bacterial and viral infections. While it can’t be confirmed with certainty, it is possible that 5-month old Robert died during the infamous cholera epidemic of late summer 1849, which hit the city of Hull worse than most places in England.
It is not surprising that infections were rife in the suburb of The Groves, where sewerage and industrial run-off flowed into the Hull and Humber rivers, and then the effluent pushed back up the river during high tide. The physician and epidemiologist John Snow, who was one of the first to make the connection between germs and disease, used Hull as a case study in some of his writing relating to the causes of cholera epidemics.¹⁸

Thomas and the Temperance movement
Family lore has it that Thomas was a reformed drunkard, who joined the Temperance movement. He established a Temperance Hall for sailors, so they had someplace (other than drinking houses) to go to pass the time. His wife sold coffee to the men whilst they swapped stories and played games such as dominos.
The Temperance Movement of the 19^th and early 20th centuries was a social movement against consumption of alcohol. Its members were critical of intoxication, promoted total abstinence from alcohol, and demanded laws against the sale of alcohol. Those in the movement would point to prisons and hospitals as full of individuals with an alcohol problem.
From at least the 1850s and well into his advanced years, Thomas was a regular speaker at various temperance meetings, such as the Hull Temperance League, the Good Templar and Temperance Mission, and the All Saints’ Temperance Society. A description in the Hull Daily Mail in 1886 said of Mr Thomas Rowson “an old temperance worker, gave an excellent address in his usual happy style.”¹⁹

I’m not sure when the Rowsons’ Temperance Hall was established, but perhaps it was the same place as the “refreshment house” on Hedon Road, Drypool mentioned in the 1861 census returns.²⁰ The 1892 Hull Trades and Professions Gazette gives the exact address of the Temperance Hall as 53 Hedon Road (on the north side, near the crossroad with Great Union Street).²¹

In 1887, a fire broke out in the Hedon Road property belonging to Thomas Rowson. The establishment affected by the fire was described as “a bacon and provision shop,” the tenant being Mr Robinson. Above the shop, the large room was let to the Good Templar’s meetings, at which Rowson had spoken on the issue of temperance. At the rear of the property was the dwelling house, occupied by the Rowsons, and the temperance hall. The fire was discovered late in the evening by his son, who, along with other men, tried unsuccessfully to put the fire out, before the fire brigade arrived. While the nearby saw-mills and buildings were saved, the Rowson’s property was not. The damage was estimated to be around £1099.²² Mr Rowson must have been covered by insurance, because he was able to rebuild. The new Temperance Hall was completed by December of the same year, and Mr Rowson provided a “substantial tea” at the reopening ceremony. The new buildings were said to be superior to the old ones.²³

Thomas and work

Also according to family lore, Thomas started a business down Holderness Road, near the docks. He bought timber from the ships coming from the Baltic and employed men to make lathes and other items for the building trade²⁴. In a general sense, this is verified, as his occupation was “lath render” on census records and his children’s birth certificates. Whether due to tough economic times, or bad business practices, Thomas was declared bankrupt in September 1862. The circumstances behind this turn of events are not described in the bankruptcy notices. Mr Charles Henry Phillips was declared the official assignee, and the first meeting of creditors set for October²⁵. He was tardy in filing his statement of accounts, and the examination was adjourned until the following month.²⁶ In a public sitting, the Court judged that Thomas Rowson was entitled to a Discharge of his debt under the Bankruptcy Act of 1861,²⁷ although various aspects of the proceedings (such as the paying of dividends) continue well into mid-1864.²⁸

*The London Gazette*, 30 Sep 1862, p. 4711

Thomas and Harriet’s deaths

Harriet died in 1890, aged 67, and was buried in the churchyard of St Giles church in Marfleet, Hull. A memorial service was held in her honour at the Temperance Hall on Hedon Road, by her husband, friends, and family.

Thomas lived for nearly 6 years after his wife died. He was 83 years old when buried on the 20 October, 1896. He was buried at the Marfleet church along with his wife and many of their children.

The surviving children

Of the 14 children that Harriet gave birth to, only 3 survived to adulthood.

Eliza, born in 1854, married an engine fitter from London, named Charles Oliver. They went on to have several children, mostly girls. Sadly, Eliza died aged 37 in Sculcoates.

Harry, born in 1867, married at the age of 20 to Elizabeth Gerty Raw, and a few months later, they immigrated to the United States. By 1890, they had settled in Portland, Oregon, where their children were born. A bricklayer by occupation, Harry lived to the age of 82, when he died in 1951.

My director ancestor is William Shepherd Rowson, the first-born child of Thomas and Harriet.

William Shepherd Rowson and Eliza Ann Thompson

William was born 12 November 1843 in Hull. According to my great-aunt Kathleen’s notes, he was a “clever boy”, and became an accountant and company secretary. He worked for the Earl of Yarborough’s shipbuilders, and later for the Hull Central Dry Dock.

He married Eliza Ann Thompson on the 12 March, 1866 at Brocklesby church, near Habrough in Lincolnshire where Eliza’s family lived. Eliza was said to be the housekeeper “at the hall” on the Earl of Yarbrough’s estate.

Two of Eliza’s brothers migrated to Canada. Eliza convinced William to go and try to be a farmer in Canada. The first time they went was circa 1884. Farming didn’t suit him, so he returned to England. According to family lore, he took up a boot and shoe shop in Goole, then later got a job as an accountant “and never looked back.” Eliza and several of their children either stayed in Canada, or came to England and then went back to Canada, where she they were found on the 1891 census record in Hinchinbrooke, Ontario. She “lived by selling beautiful clothes.” Three of their children (a son and 2 daughters) married and remained in Canada.

ENDNOTES

Note: a roof-tree is probably an alternative word for ridge-pole, for a triangular type roof. ↩︎
Davenport, J. B. (1870). Davenport’s Illustrated Guide to Cleethorpes, and Visitor’s Hand-book to Great Grimsby, etc. (n.p.): J. B. Davenport. ↩︎
History of Cleethorpes. Discover North East Lincolnshire website, accessed 22 Oct 2023 https://www.discovernortheastlincolnshire.co.uk/things-to-do/heritage-and-history/history-of-cleethorpes/ ↩︎
White, W. (1856). History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Lincolnshire... Reprinted Newton Abbot, Devon. ↩︎
1861 England Census; Class: RG 9; Piece: 2391; Folio: 81; Page: 19; GSU roll: 542964; accessed on Ancestry.com ↩︎
Morris & Co. (1963). Commercial Directory and Gazetteer of Lincolnshire. Morris & Co. ↩︎
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966; accessed at Ancestry.co ↩︎
Currency Converter: 1270-2017; The National Archives https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/ ↩︎
Hull Trades and Professions by Alphabetical Street (1892), transcribed and hosted by GENUKI: https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Hull/HullStreets/Hull1892SmallStreets ↩︎
The Hull Advertiser, 9 Apr 1859 ↩︎
Hull News, 25 Mar 1865 ↩︎
The Daily Mail, Hull, 5 Aug 1901 ↩︎
Blashill, Thomas, Sutton-in-Holderness: The Manor, The Berewic, and the Village Community; Hull: William Andrews & Co, 1896; p. 54; ↩︎
The Fascinating and forgotten lost suburbs of Hull that shows the city’s remarkable history (4 oct 2018). Hull Daily Mail, accessed at https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/history/fascinating-forgotten-lost-suburbs-hull-1432641; The Groves or the Growths, Sutton and Wawne Museum, https://www.suttonandwawnemuseum.org.uk/groves.htm ↩︎
The Fascinating and forgotten lost suburbs of Hull that shows the city’s remarkable history (4 oct 2018). Hull Daily Mail, accessed at https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/history/fascinating-forgotten-lost-suburbs-hull-1432641 ↩︎
Infant Mortality Rate, Populations Past – Atlas of Victorian and Edwardian Population; University of Cambridge; accessed on 2 Feb 2024 at https://www.populationspast.org/imr/1851/#7/52.829/-1.752/bartholomew. ↩︎
Preston, S.H. and Haines, M.R. (1991). Fatal Years: Child Mortality in Late Nineteenth Century America; Princeston University Press. ↩︎
Snow, J. (1988). On the mode of communication of cholera. The Challenge of Epidemiology: Issues and Selected Readings, 505, 42. ↩︎
Hull Daily Mail, 15 Jan 1886. ↩︎
1861 England Census, Class: RG 9; Piece: 3580; Folio: 53; Page: 29; GSU roll: 543155; accessed on Ancestry.com ↩︎
Hull Trades and Professions by Alphabetical Street (1892), transcribed and hosted by GENUKI: https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Hull/HullStreets/Hull1892StreetsH ↩︎
Hull Daily Mail, 2 Sep 1887. ↩︎
Hull Daily Mail, 14 Dec 1887. ↩︎
Letter from K. Howarth to M. Healey (16 Sep 1989), in private collection. ↩︎
The London Gazette, 30 Sep 1862, p. 4711 ↩︎
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times 31 Oct 1862 ↩︎
The London Gazette, 2 Dec 1862, p. 6208 ↩︎
The Hull Advertiser, Wed 1 Jun, 1864; The London Gazette, 3 Jun 1864, p. 2919 ↩︎

The Cotton Mills of the Healey Family of Smallbridge, Lancashire

June 11, 2023February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

My grandfather, Colin Healey, wrote briefly in his memoirs about the Healey family’s cotton mills in the village of Smallbridge, near Rochdale, Lancashire. His grandfather, Thomas Healey, was one of the four brothers who ran the mills in the mid-19^th century. By the time my grandfather was born, the Healey family had got out of the cotton industry, and at least his branch of the family were no longer living in Lancashire. It’s unlikely that he knew where the mills were located. Earlier this year, my Mum was musing that we didn’t know much about the mills, and we speculated that even if we could find out, the buildings were probably long gone. I set myself the task of discovering what I could about the Healey mills.

The Healey family history

We begin this part of the family history with Thomas Healey, born around 1691 in the Rochdale area of Lancashire. Thomas married his first wife, Elizabeth Smith, in Rochdale on the 29 October 1716. They had at least 6 children together, prior to Elizabeth’s death sometime in the late 1720s or early 1730s. Thomas then married Sarah Rhodes, on the 3 May 1732. Thomas and Sarah had about 6 or 7 children.[1]

On the baptismal records of his children, Thomas’ occupation was recorded as clothmaker and weaver. The residence was sometimes recorded on the baptismal register. The family’s earlier records state that they were of Chadwick and Broad Halgh, while later records state Stones or Stoney Heys. Among the property that Thomas left in his Will was the leasehold of Stoney Heys.

Chadwick is a hamlet within the township of Spotland, in the large parish of Rochdale.[2] Broad Halgh (or Broadhalgh) is the name of an estate in Chadwick.[3]

Map of Chadwick area of Lancashire, 1840s[4]

By the 1730s, the family of Thomas Healey had moved from Chadwick to Stoney Heys, still within the Spotland township, but closer to Smallbridge.

Map showing Stoney Heys, Lancashire 1840s[5]

Among the children of Thomas and Elizabeth Healey were the two brothers, Abraham and Robert, who set up the Healey mills in Smallbridge. Abraham was the second-born son (born 1722) and Robert was the third-born son (born 1723). Like their father, Abraham and Robert were also woollen weavers. Thomas must have done reasonably well for himself, and was able to leave property to his sons, thus making it possible for them to set themselves up in the burgeoning textile trade.

Development of Cotton Spinning/Cotton Mills in Lancashire

Before the industrial revolution, cloth-making in England was a cottage industry, using mainly wool or linen. It is likely that by the early 1700s, the Healey family supplemented their income from farming by woollen-weaving done in their own home. They may have raised their own sheep, though it is likely they were part of the “putting-out” system, whereby merchants would provide weavers with the raw materials, and later pick up the woven products to sell on.[9] Generally, there was a division of labour in woollen clothmaking. Women and children did the spinning, and the men did the weaving on a handloom.

The late 1700s saw the rise of an early form of factory system, whereby textiles could be produced at a larger scale and at lower cost than by individual, home-based weavers. Loomshops, also knowns as Weaver’s Houses, were built in hamlets, villages and towns and rented to entrepreneurs or co-operatives, who gathered together a number of handlooms into a workshop, and paid workers a fixed rate to produce cloth. These “Weaver’s Houses” were built two or three storeys high, with long rows of windows. The lower storeys were often for domestic use, while the upper floors, with better access to natural light, were for weaving.[11] More than one of the Healey first mills began as loomshops.

Example of a Loomshop or “Weaver’s House” [12]

A number of things contributed to the growth of the textile industry in Lancashire. Among these were the importation of cotton to England first from India and later from the Americas; the repeal in 1774 of a heavy tax on cotton thread and cloth made in Britain; the availability first of fast-flowing steams for water-power, and later coal for steam-power; and the improvement in transportation, such as was brought about by the building of canals. Technological advancements also played a large part. A number of inventions from the mid-1700s made the spinning and weaving of textiles more efficient, such as the spinning jenny, the water frame, the cotton gin, and eventually steam power.

A big development was the move from the Weaver’s Houses to water-powered mills. The first water-powered cotton-spinning mill was built in 1777 by Edward Chadwick, and leased to Arkwright, the inventor of the water frame. From that year, more and more textile mills began to pop up in villages and towns along Lancashire’s fast-flowing rivers. These mills were long and narrow, and taller than the Weaver’s Houses, often with five storeys instead of two or three. These also used regularly-spaced windows to maximise daylight. In urban areas, they were constructed of brick, while in some rural areas they were made of stone. They featured the addition of a waterwheel, which was fed by a system of dams or reservoirs and leats (artificial watercourses) conducting water to the mill.[16]

Kirk Mill: an example of an Arkwright-type cotton-spinning mill (built 1785) [17]

Over time many water-powered mills were rebuilt or repurposed – for example, from a woollen mill into a cotton mill.[18] The biggest change came with the advent of steam-power. In 1789, the first steam engines were introduced into cotton-spinning factories. At first, many existing water-powered mills built wings onto existing buildings, and the end product was usually L or U shaped. By the early 19^th century, as new factories were built, they tended to be wider than the earlier mills, to accommodate larger machinery. As the technology improved and became more efficient, the most successful mills grew to enormous sizes. [19]

The Healeys and their businesses

Abraham Healey and his brother Robert moved in the late 1760s or early 1770s from Stoney Heys to Smallbridge, where they built their mills along the River Roche. The Healey’s first mill may have been called Smallbridge Mill. Over time, the Healeys also built Greengate Mill, Green Mill (later called Dob Wheel Mill), and Riverside Mill.[20]

Abraham had married a woman named Jane, and they had only two daughters, who died young and unmarried. He died in 1791 at the age of 69. His Will was long and detailed. His widow was to have the enjoyment of many of his properties during her lifetime, then upon her death, all the property passed to his brother Robert. He also left funds to the overseers of the poor in Hunderfield, and directed that in the first instance, the interest on the invested funds should go to any of his poor relations who stood in need of help, and if there were none, then to the “industrious poor” in the township of Hunderfield. He also left legacies to his siblings, including the half-siblings from his father’s second marriage. Abraham’s Will named a number of properties (including dwellinghouses in Smallbridge) and leasehold properties, but does not specifically name the mills, nor even describe the nature of his business.

His brother Robert died only a few years later, in 1799. To his eldest son, named Abraham after his uncle, he left the leasehold of his property in Buckley, along with cattle, household goods, husbandry tools, “ingins” (presumably “engines”) for carding wool and all things belonging to the corn mills. He made various legacies for his daughters Mary, Betty and Sarah, and gave (after his wife Alice’s death), the remainder of his property to his youngest surviving son, Robert. Presumably this included the mills, though they are not named in the Will. As there are several generations of Roberts, I will name this one Robert II.

Robert II was born in 1771, and married in 1801 to Sarah Butterworth. Although we don’t know when it began, we know that by the late 1820s, Robert II was in a business partnership called “Robert Healey and Company,” which may also have been referred to as “Healey and Butterworth,” which included Thomas and Henry Butterworth (his brothers-in-law), and George Thompson, his sister Betty’s husband. Thompson left the partnership in 1829.[21]

Robert II died in January of 1830. In his Will, written a few weeks before his death, he described himself as a Woollen Manufacturer and a Cotton spinner, indicating that he had continued to carry on in the woollen trade even after expanding the business to include cotton. At the time of his death, Robert and Sarah’s children were still quite young. The eldest son Robert (III), was only about 21 years old. Henry was 11, Thomas 6, and Edward 4. As a testimony to how well he had done in business, he was able to give legacies to each of his four daughters of over £1000[22]. The residue of his estate was to be divided between the four sons, with each to receive his share when he turned 17 years of age. The Will further stated that included in that residue was to be “the proceeds arising from the trades and businesses to be carried on by my said son Robert with such other of my said sons as may be able to render such assistance therein for their mutual benefit.” The wording seems to imply that Robert III was in charge and the younger brothers, when they came of age, would play a lesser role in the business.

It appears that Robert III made the decision to concentrate on the cotton spinning and leave the woollen weaving behind. According to an advertisement in the newspaper in 1832, he was “declining in the woollen business,” and intended selling off the woollen-related machinery, such as a carding engine, tumming machines, billies, spindles and a teaser.[23]

Robert III continued to operate under the business name “Robert Healey and Company” with his uncles, Thomas and Henry Butterworth. Thomas left the partnership in 1837,[26] and Henry left the following year, leaving the company in the sole hands of Robert Healey (III).[27] At some point after 1838, the name of the business was changed to “Robert Healey and Brothers,” to include his younger brothers as they came of age. By one account, Robert ran Riverside Mill, while the younger brothers ran the other mills.[28]

There is every indication that the brothers did reasonably well with their businesses in the mid-1800s. For example, it appears that they introduced modern machinery into their mills. A series of advertisements in 1850 mentioned to interested parties that the firm Robert Healey and Brothers in Smallbridge were using the “Improved SLUBBING and ROVING FRAMES,” where “two frames performed the work of three ordinary ones.”[29] Another ad in 1853 mentioned that Royde’s patent stop motion for drawing frames could be seen at the Healey’s mill in Greengate.[30] They introduced steam-power, at least to their Dob Wheel Mill, in 1854. [31] Another indication of their success is in the value of the probated estates left by the two older brothers. When Robert III died in 1874, his estate was worth £12,000 (equivalent to more than £751,000 now). Henry Healey, the only bachelor, died in 1878, leaving an estate worth £30,000 (nearly £2 million today).

The “Robert Healey and Brothers” partnership was dissolved in January 1874,[32] only months before Robert III’s death. According to Grandpa Healey’s memoirs, there was a dispute over money, and in particular, Thomas and Edward fell out with each other. Robert’s sons carried on their business in a partnership known as Robert Healey and Sons. They ran Dob Wheel Mill and Riverside Mill, until they went bust in 1902[33]. Thomas Healey ran Greengate Mill, under the business name “Thomas Healey and Son”, with his son Howard. This business did not last long – they went bankrupt in 1879.[34] It appears that Edward took on Smallbridge Mill.

According to my Grandfather’s memoirs, the Healey brothers mismanaged their mills. He also said that the Healeys’ mills remained too small, in comparison to the huge mills developed in and around Manchester.

McConel & Kennedy Mills: example of a large cotton mill[35]

The Mills

Smallbridge Mill

According to the obituary of Ellen Gertrude Healey, the first Healey mill was “the Smallbridge Mill.” I have not found much information about this mill, nor could I identify a mill by that name on the 1840s Ordnance Survey maps. It was mentioned in Slater’s 1869 directory in the section for cotton spinners[36]:

After the split between the brothers, Edward Healey ran the mill. “Mr E. Healey, Smallbridge Mills,” was mentioned in a list of firms who had erected lightning conductors on their premises, by “the Lancashire Steeple-Jack.” [37]

Tragically, the mill caught fire on the 13 March, 1883, at 10:30 in the morning, and within an hour was completely destroyed, “with the exception of the scutcher-room and engine and boiler house, which were saved.” The damage was estimated a roughly £8,000[38] (about half a million pounds today). The mill was fortunately insured, and there was no report of any deaths or injuries. It does not appear that the mill was rebuilt by Edward. His occupation for the next few decades was that of yarn agent.[39] When he died, he left a modest estate worth £1500.[40]

Greengate Mill

Greengate Mill was located northeast of the other mills, closer to the hamlet of Greengate, and near Robert Healey’s home, “Husted” (also known as Hurstead). Greengate is where his partners, the Butterworth brothers, were born, and where their father Edmund was a shoemaker. When this mill was built isn’t clear, but it was listed in the 1828-29 Pigot & Co’s National Commercial Directory, the Rochdale section for cotton spinners[41]

After the split between the brothers in 1874, it appears that Thomas Healey and his son Howard took on Greengate Mill, under the business name “Thomas Healey and Son.” It appears from modern maps that the area was developed for housing, and the mill buildings are no longer there.

Greengate mill labelled only as “Mill”, 1890[44]

Green Mill, later renamed Dob Wheel Mill

Located on the north bank of the River Roche, Green Mill was established in the late 18^th Century (some accounts give it as 1790, others 1796). According to an archaeological survey, the earliest building was a stone water-powered mill with a slate roof. In about 1800 a brick three-storey handloom weavers’ shop was built, with windows in pairs. It began its life as a woollen mill, and was later converted to cotton production. Further buildings were added until the late 19^th century. By the 1840s, Green Mill was renamed Dob Wheel Mill. In 1854, the mill became steam-powered with an engine house and a boiler house. There is also a weir along the river, constructed to divert water through the leats. Sadly, the handloom weaving block was destroyed by fire in 2014.[45]

It is now a Heritage II listed building, as it is considered “an important site representing the development of aspects of textile production through hand, water and steam power.” [46] Follow this link for the blurb from the Historic England website https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1084231?section=official-list-entry.

From the Wardle and Smallbridge History Group

The fact that Dob Wheel Mill is one of the few remaining cotton mill buildings still standing is extraordinary, considering that it faced its share of drama. In 1881, when the mill was in the hands of Robert Healey and Sons, a fire broke out on the top floor of the old, three-storey section. The news report explained that “it is thought that either the friction of the spindles or of the tin rollers was the cause of the fire.” Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. “Hose was quickly connected with a steam fire engine at River Side Mills [nearby], and a large volume of water was soon pouring on the flames from this source.” A fire engine was on the spot within 10 minutes of the alarm being sounded, and people from the village and nearby mills were on hand to help put the fire out. There was considerable damage to the top two floors, but the mill was fortunately insured.[47]

Another drama of note occurred many years after the mill had passed out of the Healey family’s hands. In December of 1930, the flywheel (which weighed several tons) began to disintegrate while in motion. It went crashing through the brick wall at the end of the engine house and rolled out onto a meadow near the building. It left a hole in the wall twenty feet by ten feet, and debris strewn everywhere. The newspaper commented that “it looked as though an explosive shell had struck the wall.” A part of the wheel went through the roof and ended up in the lane next to the mill. Luckily no one was injured.[48]

Example of a flywheel no longer in use[49]

The Ordnance Survey Map of Lancashire for 1847/48[50] shows the location of Green Mill (described as a Woollen mill):

On the 1890 Ordnance Survey map, the mill’s name is shown as Dobwheel Mill: [51]

Riverside Mill

There isn’t as much information about this mill. It was built in about 1860 as a cotton mill, on the southern bank of the River Roche. On the 1890 Ordnance Survey map, it can be seen positioned across the river and a little bit down from Dob Wheel Mill. It was likely built as a steam-powered mill from the start.

A survey done in 2014 described Dob Wheel and Riverside Mills in their present setting:

“Both mills are accessed via Dye House Lane, and provide a strong sense of a semi-rural industrial settlement based on textile manufacturing, with open fields to the south reinforcing the rural character of the surrounding area.” [53]

Riverside Mill, with Dobwheel Mill in the background, taken 1973[54]

Here it is on the Ordnance Survey map of 1890[56]:

After the split between the brothers circa 1874, both Dob Wheel and Riverside Mills were run by Robert Healey and Sons. Here is a description of the mills from 1891[57]:

In 1903, Dobwheel and Riverside Mills were sold by liquidators. The sale notices give a good description of the mills:[58]

ENDNOTES

[1] The names of Thomas’ children were extracted from his Will, and the Will of his son Abraham. Not all of the baptismal records have been found. It is unclear whether one or two of the children were Elizabeth’s or Sarah’s.

[2] Wilson, John Marius: Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72), transcribed on the GENUKI page for Rochdale.

[3] “Townships: Spotland”, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 206-213. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp206-213 [accessed 30 April 2023].

[4] Ordnance Survey Map, Lancashire Sheet LXXXVII, surveyed 1844-1847, published 1851, accessed at National Library of Scotland website, https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344027

[5] Ordnance Survey Map, Lancashire Sheet LXXXVII, surveyed 1844-1847, published 1851, accessed at National Library of Scotland website, https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344006

[6] “Healey Stone Circle,” Komoot website, https://www.komoot.com/highlight/3232307

[7] “Stoney Heys Cottage, Road Lane,” HomeOnFilm website, https://homeonfilm.com/property/road-lane-rochdale-ol12/

[8] “Stoney Heys Barn, Lower Healey,” Barton Kendal Home, https://www.expertagent.co.uk/asp/in4glestates/%7B0ee0e60f-231c-4d2a-99bf-45cfd9ddcc82%7D/%7B333de12e-1e70-4732-8233-50b71de42ce1%7D/External.pdf

[9] Phelps, A., Gregory, R., Miller, I., and Wild, C.; The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy; Oxford Archaeology North; Lancaster, England.

[10] “Pre-Industrial 1785 Handloom,” Student Handouts, https://studenthandouts.com/world-history/industrial-revolution/pictures/pre-industrial-hand-loom.htm

[11] Hartwell, C., Hyde, M, Pevsner, N, Pevsner, Sir N.; Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East; Yale University Press:, 2004; Phelps, A., Gregory, R., Miller, I., and Wild, C.; The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy; Oxford Archaeology North; Lancaster, England.

[12] Phelps, A., Gregory, R., Miller, I., and Wild, C.; The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy; Oxford Archaeology North; Lancaster, England.

[13] Phelps, A., Gregory, R., Miller, I., and Wild, C.; The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy; Oxford Archaeology North: Lancaster, England.

[16] Phelps, A., Gregory, R., Miller, I., and Wild, C.; The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy; Oxford Archaeology North; Lancaster, England.

[17] Phelps, A., Gregory, R., Miller, I., and Wild, C.; The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy; Oxford Archaeology North; Lancaster, England.

[18] Hartwell, C., Hyde, M, Pevsner, N, Pevsner, Sir N.; Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East; Yale University Press: 2004.

[19] Phelps, A., Gregory, R., Miller, I., and Wild, C.; The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy; Oxford Archaeology North; Lancaster, England.

[20] “Death of Miss E.G. Healey,” Rochdale Times, 11 Feb 1922.

[21] The London Gazette, 16 Oct 1829, p. 1901.

[22] This equates to about £67,000 as of 2017. Check out this website to see how many horses, cows or wheat this would buy you: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#

[23] Manchester Courier, 10 Mar 1832.

[24] “Textiles: a carding machine,” Engraving by W. Lowry, 1809, after J. D. Herbert., as seen on https://wellcomecollection.org/works/rt5akmk2

[25] “Slubbing-billy to spin carded wool,” Science Photo Library, https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/690311/view/slubbing-billy-to-spin-carded-wool

[26] The London Gazette, 24 Oct 1837, p. 2701.

[27] The London Gazette, 19 Oct 1838, p. 2236.

[28] Obituary of Col. Robert Healey, Rochdale Times, 16 Apr 1910.

[29] Bolton Chronicle, 7 Sep 1850.

[30] Manchester Times, 19 Nov 1853.

[31] Hartwell, C., Hyde, M, Pevsner, N, Pevsner, Sir N.; Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East; Yale University Press, 2004; Tarnside Close, Smallbridge, Rochdale, Greater Manchester Archaeological Assessment and Heritage Statement; Issue No: 2014-15/1585 Oxford Archaeology North; Prospect (GB) Ltd.; Nov 2014; Brogan, A; Historic Environment Assessment: Places for Everyone, Land Allocations, Rochdale, University of Salford Manchester, 2020.

[32] The London Gazette, 6 Feb 1874, p. 561.

[33] The London Gazette, 16 Sep 1902, p. 5983.

[34] The London Gazette, 28 Mar, 1879, p. 2521, and The London Gazette, 9 Sep 1879, p. 5439.

[35] “McConnel & Kennedy Mills,” Wikipedia, accessed 30 Apr 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McConnel_%26_Kennedy_Mills

[36] Slater, Isaac, Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Cumberland, Lancashire and Westmoreland, Manchester, Isaac Slater, 1869 accessed on Ancestry.com https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1547

[37] Stanley, “The Lancashire Steeplejack,” [blogpost 22 Apr 2012], One Guy From Barlick, https://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=13181&sid=3b620df4af7f5f1e5a7d6ee642c5c7a2#p13181

[38] “Mill Fire Near Rochdale,” Manchester Courier, 14 Mar 1883.

[39] According to the 1891 and 1901 census records.

[40] National Probate Calendar, 1909, accessed on Ancestry.com.

[41] J. Pigot & Co, Pigot and Co.’s National Commercial Directory for 1828-9; comprising … Cheshire, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Durham, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Rutlandshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Westmoreland, Worcestershire, Yorkshire … North Wales … [Part 1: Ches – Northumb], 1828-29, p. 448 accessed on the University of Leicester Special Collections website https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/233467/rec/5

[42] Photograph provided by Touchstones Rochdale

[43] Ordnance Survey Map, Lancashire Sheet LXXXI, surveyed 1847 to 1848 published 1851, accessed at the National Library of Scotland https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344006.

[44] Ordnance Survey Map, Lancashire Sheet LXXXI.SW, surveyed 1890, published 1894, accessed at the National Library of Scotland https://maps.nls.uk/view/101102630

[45] Hartwell, C., Hyde, M, Pevsner, N, Pevsner, Sir N.; Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East; Yale University Press, 2004; Tarnside Close, Smallbridge, Rochdale, Greater Manchester Archaeological Assessment and Heritage Statement; Issue No: 2014-15/1585 Oxford Archaeology North; Prospect (GB) Ltd.; Nov 2014; Brogan, A; Technical Report no 2020/91 Historic Environment Assessment: Places for Everyone, Land Allocations, Rochdale, 2020

[46] “Dob Wheel Mill,” Historic England website https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1084231?section=official-list-entry

[47] “Fire at Dobwheel Mill,” Rochdale Observer, 12 Nov 1881.

[48] “The Mills” information provided by Touchstones Rochdale; “Flywheel Bursts”, Rochdale Observer, 6 Dec 1930.

[49] “The sizzling steam engine”; University of Cambridge. http://mi.eng.cam.ac.uk/IALego/steam.html

[50] Ordnance Survey Maps, Lancashire Sheet LXXXI, surveyed 1847 to 1848 published 1851, accessed at the National Library of Scotland https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344006.

[51] Ordnance Survey Maps, Lancashire Sheet LXXXI.SW, surveyed 1890, published 1894, accessed at the National Library of Scotland https://maps.nls.uk/view/101102630

[52] British Listed Buildings, https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101084231-dob-wheel-mill-wardle-and-west-littleborough-ward#.ZCkGyPZBxXR

[53] Tarnside Close, Smallbridge, Rochdale, Greater Manchester Archaeological Assessment and Heritage Statement; Issue No: 2014-15/1585 Oxford Archaeology North; Prospect (GB) Ltd.; Nov 2014

[54] WikiCommons website: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riverside_Mill.jpg

[55] “Riverside Mill off Dye House Lane, Smallbridge,” Geograph website https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2146623

[56] Ordnance Survey Map, Lancashire Sheet LXXXI.SW, surveyed 1890, published 1894, accessed at the National Library of Scotland https://maps.nls.uk/view/101102630

[57] The Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers’ Directory, and Engineers and Machine Makers’ Advertiser; with the approximate number of spindles and looms, and the telegraphic addresses, telephone nos., and pay days of the principal firms …, John Worrall (pub.), 1891

[58] Rochdale Observer, 4 Jul 1903.

The Tappers in Western Australia – The Mystery of Daniel and Ann Tapper

April 18, 2022February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ 3 Comments

Much of the information relating to Daniel and Ann Tapper comes from research done by many other family historians. My intention here is not to pass off the research work as my own, but simply to have a look at how frustrating family history can be when you can’t find answers.

Stirling’s camp on Garden Island, Western Australia, 1829. [source: A Stamp a Day webiste https://stampaday.wordpress.com/2018/05/02/establishment-of-swan-river-colony/%5D

Daniel Tapper and Ann Norris arrived in Western Australia on the 13 May 1830. They had sailed from London on the ship the Rockingham, along with a number of free settlers for the newly-established Swan River colony. From this one couple, there are now hundreds if not thousands of descendants. On Ancestry.com alone, there are over 200 family trees which include Daniel and Ann.

What I (and many other Tapper family historians) find curious is that nothing is known of their fate. Despite being among Western Australia’s earliest white settlers, their stories have not been passed down through the generations. Very little is recorded in public records, and their deaths have never been found.

More than half of the family trees on Ancestry.com include a year of death for Daniel of 1847. Yet his date is not correct and is based on erroneous conclusions and similarity of surnames. (This is a reminder to family historians to check your sources!).

So, what do we know?

Daniel Tapper and Ann Norris

According to the first census of Western Australia, taken in 1832, Daniel was born circa 1798 in London, England. There are no records created in Western Australia that point to who his parents were, and curiously the names of his parents were not handed down through the generations.

We believe that the correct record of Daniel’s birth can be found in the Bishop’s Transcripts of the baptisms for the church of St. Mary’s on St Marylebone Road, in Marylebone, London. This record shows that on the 16^th December 1798, Daniel Tapper (born 12 August) was baptised. His parents are recorded as Joseph and Sarah Tapper.

This is the only Daniel Tapper born or baptised in the year 1798, give or take a few years, found in the indexes for the various church records of London. The Bishop’s Transcripts were copies of the parish records sent to the Bishop of the Diocese of London. This means they are transcribed copies, not the original baptismal records, and thus could introduce errors by the person who did the transcribing. Bishop’s Transcripts also do not contain much information. Only the name of the child, father’s full name, and mother’s first name, and – in this instance – the date of birth. It would appear that the original parish register for St Marylebone is missing.

Daniel married Ann Norris on the 24^th March, 1823 at St Nicholas church, Child Okeford, Dorset. Ann was born circa 1804, and baptised 7 October 1804 in Child Okeford. Her parents were Thomas Norris and Jane Lambert. The marriage entry shows that Daniel was, at the time of marriage, of full age, and residing in Heytesbury, Wiltshire, and that he was a bachelor. Ann’s age was given, because she was still a minor, aged 18, and required the permission of her parent or guardian to marry.

St. Nicholas Church, Child Okeford [Source: HipPostcard]

Three of their children were born in England.

Lucy (Lucia), baptised a few months after the marriage, on the 27 Jul 1823, at Child Okeford. The baptismal record shows Daniel’s occupation as “labourer.”
Frederick, baptised on the 12 February 1826 at Child Okeford,
Cornelius, baptised on the 8 June 1828 at the church of Blandford St Mary’s, Dorset. Daniel’s occupation was described as gamekeeper.

In 1829, for reasons unknown, Daniel temporarily deserted his family. Under the laws of the time, it was an offense to do so, because it created the necessity for the abandoned wife and children to be cared for at the expense of the parish. This could mean the workhouse for Ann and the children, a decidedly unpleasant experience. Daniel was taken up to the Wiltshire Quarter Sessions on the 27 June and accused of being a “rogue and a vagabond,” for having run away for one month or more from the parish of Heytesbury, leaving his wife and children chargeable to the parish. He was convicted and committed to the House of Corrections in Devizes, Wiltshire to serve hard labour for a month. Before we judge too harshly, the late 1820s were a difficult time for the working people in southern England. The end of the Napoleonic wars saw an influx of men no longer needed to fight the wars, leading to a surplus of labour, hence more competition. Daniel may have lost his job as gameskeeper and gone looking for work elsewhere.

In any case, this experience may have spurred on the family’s decision to try their luck in the new colonies. This bit of personal history of Daniel’s also serves to illustrate that they were a poor family, with few options in England, and perhaps, few options later in life.

The Swan River Colony

In early 1827, Captain James Stirling, travelling with botanist Charles Fraser, sailed down the coast of western Australia. From what they saw of the area around the Swan River, they believed the land would be suitable for British Settlement. Early attempts to get the British government interested were met with a cool reception. That is, until Stirling met Thomas Peel. Peel and some associates worked out a deal with the government: they would recruit 10,000 settlers in exchange for land. In the end, the deal was not as favourable to Peel and the settlers, but in any case, the government sent Captain Fremantle to the Swan River to claim the western portion of Australia for the British.

Swan River Colony by Mary Ann Friend, 1830

In April 1829, Peel began to advertise for recruits to join the new colony.

In June 1829, the first ship – “Parmelia” – carrying 68 settlers arrived. They were to remain on their own for months. Meanwhile, Peel’s plan began to go pear-shaped. He and his partner were slow to get organised, and took months to send the next ship. In mid-December 1829, the “Gilmore” arrived, carrying another 89 adults and 78 children. At this point, the township of Clarence was proposed, but not much happened in terms of its development. The next ship, the “Hooghly” arrived a few months later, and there was not much awaiting them.

Mr & Mrs Tapper go to Australia

With their children, Daniel and Ann set forth to Australia aboard the Rockingham. They set sail from London in late January of 1830. It was to be an ill-fated and difficult journey from start to finish. As they sailed out of the mouth of the Thames, the wind changed, and they had to heave to and await the abatement of the winds. The winds were fierce enough for the cable to snap and an anchor to be lost, causing the ship to drift onto the Goodwin Sands. Fortunately, this occurred at low tide, and the ship was afloat again once the tide came in. Next, the winter gales in the English channel were so fierce the sails were torn to shreds. The captain was able to sail the ship into Falmouth harbour where the ship was refitted. Over three months later, they arrived in the Western Australian colony. On the 13 May 1830, the Rockingham sailed into Cockburn Sound, and anchored off Garden Island within sight of the town of Clarence. However, the passengers’ rough voyage was not yet over, because bad weather struck that day. The ship pitched, the cable broke, and the ship was swept closer to shore where it ran aground. The poor passengers had to climb over the side and jump into the surf. For Ann, this must have been very challenging, as she was six months pregnant and with young children in tow. All passengers mercifully reached the relative safety of the beach, but would have spent a chilly and wet night. The next day, the new colonists walked to Clarence to begin their new lives.

The Rockingham [source: City of Mandurah Museum Fact Sheet https://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/-/media/files/com/downloads/explore/museum/fact-sheets/thomas-peels-ships.pdf%5D

One might say that this rough beginning was a harbinger of the hard early years the Tapper family faced in the new colony. Their first months were spent in Clarence, where three months later, their fourth child, Sarah, was born on the 16 August 1830.

Whatever the settlers had been promised by Peel, the reality was grim. There were few employment opportunities in Clarence, the soil was not adequate for European-style agriculture, the cattle had escaped into the bush, and food supplies were inadequate. The water supply was a problem in the drier months, and diseases like dysentery were common.

Further north was the Swan Colony, where the Governor, Captain James Stirling, was offering accommodation and better opportunities. By the time the 1832 Census of Western Australia was taken, the Tapper family were living in Fremantle. Daniel’s occupation on the census (and indeed on other records) was “boatman.” As of the early 1830s, there were no harbour facilities in Fremantle, therefore cargo and passengers had to be rowed between ships and shore by boatmen or lightermen. There would also be the need to ferry goods up and down the rivers.

By the end of 1830, the population of the Swan River colony was about 1000 people. The population grew slowly, and numbered only about 5,000 ten years later, in 1850.

Life in the Perth and Fremantle areas was very difficult. In July of 1832, the mechanics and labourers of Fremantle joined to sign a petition to the Governor, Captain Scott, begging for assistance and employment. Scarcity and high prices were causing starvation. Daniel Tapper was one of the signatories. In response, the Governor ordered Captain Scott to employ any men who needed work to erect a parapet wall, and pay them 2 shillings and sixpence a day (and a higher rate for men with larger families).

In the midst of their hardship, on the 7 August 1833, another Tapper child was born, named John. It was to be several years before he and his sister Sarah were to be baptised, at the same time, in the Church of England in Fremantle. Another child, Mary A, was born around 1836. She was baptised a few days before she died, and was buried on the 11 April 1838. John’s baptismal record shows Daniel’s occupation was “Fisherman.”

Perhaps due to the harsh living conditions, Daniel was in trouble with the law several times during the late 1830s. On the 3 July, 1837, he was charged with committing a misdemeanour and sentenced to one month’s jail. The offence in this instance wasn’t recorded. In 1838, he served a two-month sentence for stealing a bottle of pickles from a storekeeper. As an aside, I always found this funny because my father and I both love pickles. Did the Tapper obsession with pickles go back that far? Later that year, Daniel served a six-month sentence for stealing a china bowl. Daniel’s defence was that he found the bowl outside Mr Curtis’ shop, from which the bowl was allegedly stolen. Mr Curtis claimed the bowl had been on a shelf in his shop where Daniel had been not 15 minutes before being apprehended. It may be that he planned to sell the stolen item, so that he could sustain his family. In any case, it is a sign of desperation. Another census of Western Australia was taken in 1837. At this point, Daniel was in prison. His wife Ann was shown with most of their children, with her occupation listed as servant. Their oldest daughter, Lucy, was living in the household of Captain Daniel Scott, where she was also employed as a servant.

Another Tapper infant was buried in Fremantle on the 9 December 1841. The child’s name was not recorded, but died of convulsions. It’s possible the child was only a newborn, which might explain why no name was recorded. If this is indeed the case, then we ca surmise that at least Ann was still in Fremantle in late 1841, regardless of whether Daniel was or not.

Did Daniel leave Western Australia?

After his bouts of incarceration, Daniel’s trail as reflected in the public records of Western Australia fades. But the name Daniel Tapper does show up in some records in other Australian locations. More tenuous are mentions of Mr Tapper or Mrs Tapper in some records. For example:

1840: Daniel Tapper was a passenger on board the Mona departing from George Town, Tasmania on the 30 May 1840, heading for Portland Bay, Victoria. Daniel Tapper is not a common name, and to date, I a not aware of another person by that name who was also in the Australian colonies in the mid 19tch century. [Source: Archives of Tasmania]

1841: Port Phillip Gazette, 8 Sep 1841 – Letters being held in the Post Office until Sea postage be paid – a letter for Mrs. Tapper, Swan River. This would indicate that someone (Daniel, perhaps) had written to Ann, but had not paid the full postage.

1848 Dec 15: Daniel Tapper was a passenger in steerage on the Schooner Venus, from Guichen and Rivoli Bays

*South Australian*, Fri 15 Dec 1848, p 2

1850: D. Tapper on board the cutter “Resource” leaving Guichen.

*South Australian Register,* Mon 10 Jun 1850, p2

1853: Tapper, on board the Gold Seeker, cleared out of Melbourne for Hobart Town on the 14 June

1856: Victorian Government Gazette shows a Daniel Tapper in Flemington, for whom an unclaimed letter was held. [Source: Victoria Government Gazette no. 89, 1856, July 25, p. 1206: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/vic_gazette/1856/89.pdf%5D

1856: Mr Tapper departed on the Frances from Adelaide to Fremantle on the 6 November. (This, of course, could be some other Mr Tapper, including Daniel’s son Frederick, who did settle in Adelaide.)

1860: Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser, 31 Jan 1860, a Daniel Tapper was arrested for being drunk, and pleaded guilty. He was discharged with a caution.

1860: Victoria Outward Passenger lists: Daniel Tapper, age 60 (so, roughly correct age), departing Portland, Victoria on the Sydney Griffiths bound for Swan River. This entry certainly looks like it refers to our Daniel Tapper.

What was Daniel doing in the coastal area between South Australia and Victoria? Was Ann with him? At this point, it’s all speculation.

Most of these mentions in shipping and newspaper records potentially put Daniel in the region of south-eastern coastal South Australia and western Victoria, namely around Guichen and Rivoli Bays in South Australia and Portland, Victoria.

Given that in the late 1830s Daniel had been in jail several times, he may have suffered a reputational blow, which added to the general difficulty in finding work in the colony. He may have gone to earn a living somewhere else, leaving Ann and the youngest children and sending back money to them. A connection to the area around Guichen and Rivoli Bays and Portland makes some sense. There was a whaling station in Rivoli Bay, and in general, whaling and seal-hunting were happening between Portland, Guichen and Rivoli Bay. Portland also happens to be the only deep-water port between Melbourne and Adelaide, and fishing would have been a common occupation. Daniel’s later-mentioned occupations – fisherman and boatman – are consistent with him working in this region. There is also a family connection to whaling.

Would Ann have gone with him, leaving the youngest children in someone else’s care? I think not. The letter awaiting appropriate postage addresses to Mrs Tapper in Swan River in 1841 could indicate that at least at this point, Ann was still in WA.

After the discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851, Daniel’s focus may have altered. There is some speculation that Daniel may have gone to the diggings to try his luck finding gold. We know that his son Frederick went to the Forest Creek goldfields to try his luck in 1852. Did he go to join his father, or did his father follow him? Further research is needed to answer those questions. To date I have found no record of either of them in gold mining records, but if they were there in 1852, it’s likely they were in the goldfields prior to extensive record keeping relating to mining claims.

The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News, 17 Sep 1852

Absence from WA

There is also evidence – of sorts – in the lack of evidence that Daniel (and/or Ann) stayed in WA.

For example, their daughter Lucy married on the 1 January, 1844 to Jacob Delmage. She was 20 years old, and they were married by licence. Western Australian marriage certificates at the time did not show father’s name, but one of the witnesses was her younger brother Fred, who would have been under 20 at the time. This means he was still considered a minor, but may well have been her eldest male relative – or even eldest relative at all – in the colony.

The youngest daughter, Sarah Tapper, married on the 1 August 1848 in Perth, to William Rewell. She was not quite 18 years old, and would have required permission to marry. While the groom’s father (and his occupation) were shown on the marriage certificate, the bride’s father’s details are left blank. On the church version of the marriage record, it appears that a witness to the marriage was a J Tapper, who is likely to be her brother John, then only 15 years old. The lack of detail about her father is curious, for even if he was absent or dead, those details would normally be included. Is it at all possible that the name of her father was not known to her? Or does in indicate that he was not around, or that she did not want to be connected to him?

What happened to Dan and Ann?

Even if we can establish that at least Daniel, and may Ann, left Western Australia for South Australia and Victoria, we still don’t know when they died.

Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages did not begin in Western Australia until 1841. Records of these events prior to 1841 can only be gleaned from other sources, such as church records, cemetery records, other government sources, and newspapers. Not all of these records have survived, nor were they necessarily faithfully maintained. There are also known gaps in the church records even after civil registration began, such as between 1855 and 1860.

So, for example, many of us have assumed that Daniel and Ann’s son Cornelius died as a child, but there is no surviving record to confirm this. Gaps in the records may explain why we can’t find evidence of his death. And gaps may explain why we don’t know when Daniel and Ann died.

Many Tapper family trees on genealogy websites give Daniels’ year of death as 1847. This is likely because of Daniel’s entry in the Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australia, which was compiled by Rica Erickson, with input from many others. Unfortunately, while this source is a useful compilation of data, it does contain many errors. Apparently, there were two Perth newspaper which mentioned the death of a Mr Tappin or Tapping, formerly a baker, who died suddenly on the 15 March 1847. Further research indicates these articles were about an Edward John Thomas Tapping.

Also, if Daniel was the passenger on board the Sydney Griffith in 1860, he definitely did not die in 1847. Nevertheless, after his departure on the Sydney Griffith in January 1860, his trail runs cold. His wife Ann’s trail ran cold perhaps as early as 1841).

Did Daniel make it all the way back to Swan River in 1860? Maybe yes, maybe no. But there’s nothing to say that he stayed in WA and saw out his days there. His death is not registered in WA. There is no other source to show this death, such as newspaper death notice, cemetery record, or probate.

What are the possibilities?

He died on the voyage?

In theory, if he died on the Sydney Griffith’s voyage, his death should have been registered at the next port. There is no evidence of that.

Did he stay on the Sydney Griffith as it left Australia? Or leave on another ship to other parts of the world?

The Sydney Griffith made it safely to WA. The ship was scheduled to travel on to Singapore. The ship’s manifest relating to its departure form W.A. shows the ship left for Singapore on the 9 March, with one passenger, but the passenger was not named. The newspapers only mention the captain and his wife. Was the wife the passenger? The Singapore Straits newspaper did not mention the ship’s arrival. Maybe Daniel stayed on board and went to Singapore. If so, nothing has yet been found to indicate he stayed in Singapore.

Maybe he left Australia for some other part of the world. For example, did he return to England? New Zealand? Travel to America? South Africa? Asia? The Pacific Island?

There is no record of a death in England of a Daniel Tapper of right age. Also nothing for him in the consular returns of Brits dying abroad, nor in New Zealand. Records in other parts of the world were patchy during this period, but certainly nothing has been found on the international genealogy databases such as Family Search and Ancestry.com.

Did he go back to SA, VIC, or some other state in Australia?

By the 1860s, civil registration was well-established in the Australian colonies. Even if he was elsewhere in Australia his death would more likely than not to have been registered. Furthermore, there were more cemeteries, and newspapers to report on events. Yet Daniel’s death is not recorded in any of the surviving birth, death and marriage records, there is no mention in a newspaper, and none of the (obvious) cemeteries show his burial
Other records have been examined for VIC and SA, such as inquests, lonely graves, asylum and hospital records etc. There is nothing to indicate Daniel living or dying anywhere after 1860.

Did he die in a shipwreck?

perhaps Daniel was on another ship that wrecked. Such things were commonly reported, and the newspapers would probably list the passengers who went down with the ship. Then again, not all such records have survived (or been indexed).

He died without his identity known

Maybe he died far from home (whether in WA or some other part of Australia), where people did not know his identity, and he is recorded as an “unknown death”. There are dozens of deaths a year registered with unknown names.

As I mentioned at the start, none of Daniel and Ann’s descendants have information about him. There were several branches of the family in Western Australia. Stories have filtered down about their children – but none about Daniel and Ann. For “first settlers” with a large number of descendants, this seems unusual to me. Maybe the family were ashamed of Daniel and Ann for one reason or another. Remember that for decades, a convict ancestor was not something that Australians acknowledged. While Daniel was not brought to Australia as a convict, he did spend time in jail.

It may be that as other records of genealogical interest are indexed and digitised, we may come across information about his fate. Until then, we have to bear with the dissatisfaction of not knowing his fate.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, in the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country in Western Australia where my English ancestors arrived only 192 years ago ; I acknowledge the millennia of connections to land, sea and community of the peoples who had inhabited the land long before my people arrived. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

I would very much like to thank the many people who have contributed to the Tapper research, including the late Bob Cook, who many years ago, before the days of Ancestry.com, combed through the Western Australian records and spoke with many Tapper descendants to compile “The Tapper Family of Fremantle”, a manuscript written on typewriter, full of photographs and facts.

I’d also like to thank Margaret Thompson, who has done a lot of the more recent research on the Tappers, along with many others belonging to the Tapper email group.

And Pia Tapper Fenton who runs the Tapper One Name Study. The Tapper Tree: https://thetappertree.wordpress.com/

Links and Information

Dorset Online Parish Clerk https://www.opcdorset.org/ChildOkefordFiles/ChildeOkeford.htm

GENUKI: Child Okeford, Dorset https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DOR/ChildOkeford

The Ship Rockingham https://rockingham.wa.gov.au/forms-and-publications/events-culture-and-tourism/heritage/the-ship-rockingham

Photos relating to Tapper and Chaytor families of Western Australia

April 18, 2022February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

A large number of the family photographs in my possession relate not to my direct ancestors, but to their various aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Family would send each other studio photos of themselves and their children.

I’m posting them here for the benefit of those related families. I’ve included additional details where I know them.

Arthur Francis Tapper, aged 6 1/2 months [son of Arthur John Tapper and Edith Lucy Thompson; Arthur John Tapper was my great-grandfather’s brother, and little Arthur Francis was his nephew]

Beryl Alicia Rann, age 2 yrs 4 months. [Beryl was the daughter of Arthur Walter Rann and Grace Tapper. Grace was Harold’s sister.]

John Robert Tapper, age 7 months. [John was the son of Arthur John Tapper and Edith Lucy Thompson]

Laura nee Gilbert’s children c1900 [I don’t know where Laura fits in]

May be Grace Rann nee Tapper with her husband

Unidentified photos – likely related to Tapper and Chaytor families of Western Australia

April 18, 2022February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

I have in my collection old family photographs and I can’t identify who the subjects are. My feeling is that they are photos taken for or by families related to my ancestors, or perhaps friends of theirs. I have put these photos up in case others out there recognise who they are.

Most of the photos I have in my collection relate to my great-grandparents, Harold Tapper and Mary (aka Lily, and affectionately known as Molly) Chaytor, who married in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, and later moved to Sydney before settling in Melbourne. Harold was the son of John Tapper and Maria Tonkin; Molly was the daughter of James Chaytor and Sarah Lambert. Some photos may relate to the Turner family (Harold and Molly’s son Lionel Tapper married Grace Turner).

There are two versions of this photo. Both state the year is 1925; one has a note on the back reading “Pat and Effie”, the other one “Rob and Effie” !

Tapper or Chaytor woman c 1909 related or connected to Harold Tapper and Molly Chaytor

Whiddon Park

March 8, 2022February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

The home of the Seymours, Bailys and Evans

Many names are mentioned in this (very long) article. I would advise reading some of the other blog-posts relating to the Seymour, Baily and Turner family to understand better how they are linked.

Edward Seymour Evans in front of Whiddon House, presumably late 1800s, early 1900s

In July 1899, Commander Edward Seymour Evans, of Whiddon Park, Chagford, Devonshire, wrote to Charles Turner, a teacher near Horsham in rural Victoria, Australia. They were cousins, though they did not know each other. Commander Evans was concerned about what would happen to Whiddon Park after his death. He was the “heir in tail” of the property after their mutual great-uncle Edward Seymour Baily had left it to his niece, Mary Evans, nee Turner, and her children, for their use during their lifetime.

In his letter, Evans stated that “until lately I have never heard of my Uncle Andrew Turner’s family. You may be aware that this property [Whiddon Park] is entailed & that in due course providing neither my brother or self have issue, will descend to uncle Andrew’s eldest living representative.” He then enquired about his uncle Andrew’s eldest son, called John Bailey Turner, whose whereabouts he wanted.

The letter was also part warning: “My reason for writing is that I think whoever inherits it should be informed of the exact condition of affairs, and on hearing from you I will provide them, there is no doubt that Mr. Baily never wished the place to be sold, but the money he intended (in my opinion) to be left – with the possession of the property has been left elsewhere, and the place is a perfect ‘white elephant’ to anyone without a fair income to keep it up.”

This letter has always fascinated me. Did Charles Turner reply? Did Evans write to others in the family? As Whiddon Park very clearly did not end up in the hands of Andrew Turner’s family, nor any other Turner relatives, what happened to the house and its contents?

Another curiosity to me is that Charles Turner’s father, Andrew Cheape Turner, was not actually the next male in the lineage. Andrew was the youngest son of his parents, the Reverend John Turner and Mary Jane Baily. His older brother Alfred Rooke Turner (my great-great grandfather) had sons. So why were Andrew’s family mentioned as next in line instead of Alfred?

After many years of research, I have found answers to some – but not all – of my questions.

Whiddon Park

Whiddon Park is situated in the Devonshire market town of Chagford, on the edge of Dartmoor, and in the valley of the Teign river. The property, originally consisting of about 300 acres, was named for the Whyddon family, who owned it from around 1570.[1] Some say the house was built by Sir John Whiddon, who died in 1575, but there is a plaque above the door reading “1649,” indicating that’s when it was built, in which case it was probably built by Rowland Whyddon.[2]

I visited Whiddon House in the mid-1990s. I was not able to look inside, nor go around the back, but the owners at the time allowed me to take a few photos. Looking at it from the front, Whiddon House is pleasant-looking large square house made of granite stone. It is also oddly situated, enclosed on two sides by steep slopes.

A 1988 survey by the National Trust described it as built in an L-shape, and three stories tall, with 9 chimneys. The Ground Floor had 2 dining rooms, 2 sitting rooms, 2 kitchens, a stair turret, back lobby, and lavatory. The First Floor had 5 bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms, and one Lavatory. On the Second Floor there was a Playroom, 3 further bedrooms, a store-room, a study, a box room, 2 bathrooms, and a Lavatory. Inside it had dark oak panelling, large granite fireplaces, mullion windows, and decorative plasterwork.[3]

A deer park was created in the Tudor era by Sir John Whiddon (circa 1570)[4], which covered 195 acres[5], enclosed by a high wall made from immense blocks of granite. “The park is wonderfully picturesque, with granite outcrops, groves of ancient oak, ash, and rowan, broom, gorse, bracken and bilberry, and a lichen and invertebrate community that has survived from pre-Neolithic woodland.” [6] A visitor in 1793 called it “a truly romantic spot,” and said that “behind the house, we are presented, at a little distance, with a distinct view of rock and wood, the most beautiful I have observed in the vicinity of the Teign.”[7] Today, the deer park is owned and managed by the National Trust, and there is no public access to the actual woods, in order to preserve the plant and wildlife.

In 1851, in his handbook for travellers, J. Murray was glowing in his praise for Whiddon Park: “No stranger to this neighbourhood should neglect to visit Whyddon Park, a romantic hill-side at the entrance to the gorse of the Teign, and a short 2m walk from Chagford by a path along the river bank. You will enter the park at the mansion of Whyddon, anciently the seat of the Whyddon family, and now the Bayleys. Here are huge old Scotch and Silver firs to delight you at the threshold; but higher on the hill are scenes and objects magnificently wild, – vistas of beech and aged oaks, chaotic clatters and piles of granite, herds of deer among the ferns and mossy stones, at a distance, the towering tors of Dartmoor.”[8]

Deer park wall. Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Wall_of_Whiddon_Deer_Park_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1243628.jpg

From the Whiddons to the Northmores to the Seymours

The Northmores came to possess Whiddon Park, probably through a marriage with the Whyddons.[9] By the early 18^th century, William Northmore of Cleve owned it. Northmore was an inveterate gambler, and lost £17,000 in one sitting, on the turn of an ace of diamonds in a card game called putt.[10] The modern-day value of this bet is probably close to £2 million.[11] Whether or not this particular loss led to his financial straits, William Northmore obtained mortgages on a number of his properties. Henry Portman, of Orchard Portman, was one of the men who loaned him money. Portman loaned him over £20,000, with the security being a long list of properties, mainly in Devonshire.

When Portman died, his great-nephew Francis Seymour inherited his vast estates and personal property, including the debt owed by William Northmore, which had not been fully settled in either Northmore’s or Portman’s lifetimes.

When Francis Seymour died in 1761, that same debt owed to Portman by Northmore had still not been fully settled, and was passed down to Seymour’s heirs. The bulk of the real estate went to Francis’ son, Henry Seymour. Henry took it on himself to do something about the Northmore debt, and instituted a number of successful Chancery Court cases to recover it.

Whiddon Park and the Bailys

Portman’s Will had made it clear that the estates were to be entailed on the male line. A controversy arose relating to a Codicil to Francis Seymour’s Will, which is detailed <here>. In summary, the codicil named his daughter Mary, the wife of John Baily, as the heir to her father’s property. However, her brother objected, and took the matter to Chancery Court. The end result was that Henry inherited most of the real estate, but some of the Devonshire properties previously belonging to Notrhmore were settled on Mary Baily.

Married women in those days did not have sole rights to their property. Upon marriage, husband and wife became “one person” under English property laws, and a married woman’s ability to own property on her own ceased to exist. Any property acquired by a wife (such as through inheritance) – unless specified to be for her own separate use – came under the control of her husband. Married women could also not dispose of their property nor write a Will without her husband’s consent.[12]

Family lore has it that John Baily spent his wife’s inheritance, and had to sell off some of the properties to pay his debts. However, Whiddon was not sold. It appears that John Baily did live at Whiddon in the year or so before his death, but I do not know if Mary ever did. John is buried at Chagford, but Mary is not, and they died within a year of each other.

No clues are to be had from Mary’s Will, as it was written and signed in 1774 while they were living in Ramridge house, in Weyhill, Hampshire, and before the Chancery suit relating to her father’s Will and Codicil had been fully settled. The construction of her Will reflects this. She mentions the contingencies should property be settled in her favour, or not. If it were, then her eldest son would inherit the properties. Whiddon is not specifically mentioned.

In his Will, John Baily left his Manor of Dunkeswell in Devonshire, and “all other my Messuages Tenements Lands and premises whatsoever or wheresoever situate” as well as his personal estate, to his “well beloved son” Edward Seymour Baily. Again, Whiddon is not specifically mentioned. Several properties in the parish of Dunkeswell were part of the Northmore properties settled on Mary Baily, and I’m presuming Whiddon fell into the category “all other” properties.

The next person to live at Whiddon Park was Edward Seymour Baily, eldest child of John Baily and Mary Seymour. Edward was born in 1761, a few months before his grandfather Francis Seymour died. ES Baily served in the navy, retiring with the rank of Captain. He did certainly live at Whiddon Park, as is mentioned in numerous letters between the Bailys and their lawyers.[13]

Captain Edward Seymour Baily married Phillis Rooke on the 9 Oct 1790 at Wells St Cuthbert. Per their marriage settlement drawn up between them just days before they married, Captain Baily conveyed Whiddon Park into the hands of Trustees, who would then manage the income derived from the property. After Mr and Mrs Baily died, the Trustees were instructed that their property would be settled equally between any children they would have. They went on to have two children, Mary and Edward.

The Bailys faced financial difficulties, and it is presumed that they no longer held any of the other property inherited by Edward’s mother, as correspondence from their lawyers stated that Captain Baily had no other assets or source of income besides Whiddon. After his wife’s death in early 1832, Captain Baily decided to settle Whiddon Park on his son Edward. Judging from the attorneys’ correspondence, this was not a simple matter. There were questions as to whether the Title to Whiddon was sound and sufficiently comprehensive. Furthermore, the property was subject to a mortgage debt of £1706. In addition, according to the terms of the marriage settlement between Captain and Mrs Baily, if Whiddon was to be settled on Edward, then something had to be settled on his sister, Mrs Mary Turner. Another piece of land, described as a “nominal part” of the estate – a field called “Honeybags” adjoining Whiddon Park – was to be settled on Mrs Turner.[14] One can see that this was not equivalent to being left Whiddon Park, including the house, which no doubt would have been useful for the Turners’ growing family (they ended up having 10 children). According to their lawyers, “Mr & Mrs Turner are very indignant at the intended appointment, & therefore most certainly will not join as they have expressed their intention of using their utmost exertions to prevent the appointment.”[15] Note that Rev. Turner believed the whole of Whiddon was worth at the time £6,000. I doubt the field was worth anything close to that sum.

Regardless of Mr and Mrs Turner’s objections, the plan proceeded. The plan was executed in the early 1830s, and Edward Seymour Baily junior came into possession of Whiddon Park. Captain Baily would pay a nominal rent to his son, and continue to live in the house.

Who lived in the house form 1840?

Captain Baily died in 1840, and is buried in the churchyard at Chagford. It seems particularly galling to me (as a descendant of the Turners), that it appears that his son Edward Seymour Baily did not live at Whiddon after his father’s death. Certainly in the 1841 census, there is no entry for Whiddon House in the returns for Chagford, although there is an entry for a farming family by the surname of Webber at “Whiddon.” The likelihood is that their residence was actually “Whiddon Farm. A probate notice in the Exeter Flying Post relating to the Estate of Mary Ponsford Webber makes this clear.[16]

At least Edward did the decent thing by his sister after the death of her husband Rev. John Turner in 1846. Mary and her daughters went to live at Whiddon House for a few years. They were at Whiddon on census night in 1851. By the later 1850s, Mary Turner and her children had left Whiddon. The children were grown up by then, and had gone their separate ways. Mrs Turner spent quite a few years taking turns living with her settled children, particularly Henry in Ireland and Mrs Mary Evans in Surrey. She died in 1876 in Strathpeffer, Scotland, where she had lived for a few years.

Meanwhile, Edward went to live in Reading, Berkshire from at least the 1860s onwards. Per the 1861 census, he was a visitor at 21 Sydney Terrace, Reading, Berkshire, the home of his cousins Ann and Emelia Michell. Curiously, he was also there in 1871, where he is described as “Head cous”, although he is only there with two servants. Perhaps it was the Michell’s home, but they were absent. Finally in 1881, Edward Seymour Baily resided at 67 Castle Crescent in Reading, Berkshire, where he lived until he died. It may be that he rented out Whiddon Park because the income received from this would enable him to live a more comfortable life elsewhere. It may also have been too large a place for a bachelor.

Edward Seymour Baily’s Will

When it came time to write his last Will, signed on the 4 Mar 1879, Edward favoured his niece Mary Jane Evans, even though he had nephews alive. In some ways, this is not surprising. He was geographically close to Mrs Evans and her children, and there are many indications of their friendly relations. Meanwhile, his nephews were scattered across the world (Ireland, Canada, South Africa and Australia).

He devised his property (including Whiddon) to the use of his niece, Mary Jane Baily Evans for her life, and after her death to the use of her eldest son George Bruce Evans for his life, then to his sons successively in order “in tail male”; and if George had no sons, then to his daughters. If George had no children, or they died without issue, the entail then went to Mary’s next son, and so on. Mary’s daughter Mary Emily Evans and her issue were then last in this line.

If none of the Evans had issue, then the estate was to go to Edward Baily’s “right heirs”. In this context, the next in line would be his eldest living nephew, and then that nephew’s issue, with preference given to their sons first, and then on to the next nephew, and the next, etc.

The Evans

ES Baily died 15 Feb 1886. His niece Mary Jane Baily Evans, the wife of Captain John Evans, proved his Will. She had possession of Whiddon for only a few years before she died on 9 Jul 1893, but did not ever live there. In the meantime, her eldest son George Bruce Evans had died, on the 15 Mar 1886, without issue. Next in line was her son Edward Seymour Evans, who became the tenant-for-life of Whiddon Park, and receiver of its rents and profits.

*from Devonshire Historical Descriptive, biographical 1907 (D –4)*

When he wrote to Charles Turner in 1899, ES Evans was 55 years old, and still a bachelor. His elder sister Mary and two older brothers (John and George) had died unmarried. His younger brother William Hunter Evans was the only sibling left. While Hunter had been married, there were no children of the marriage. By this time, it was clear to ES Evans that neither he nor his brother were likely to have children, and he’d better do something to determine who was the next heir.

His two youngest aunts, Frances and Sophie Turner, were still alive, living in London. They had certainly communicated with the families of their colonial brothers, as we have copies of some letters. Evans is likely to have consulted with them about their families. Whether he decided that Charles was the most likely person to ask, or whether he also wrote to others, I do not know.

ES Evans finds another heir

Maybe Charles replied that none of his siblings were interested in claiming an inheritance Evans had labelled “a white elephant”. Alternatively, if the next in line really was Charles’ older half-brother John Bailey Turner, it’s possible that no one knew where he was. In any case, what happened next indicates that ES Evans decided to find a new heir.

This decision was made easier by some changes in the laws regarding the breaking of entails. Prior to the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, entailing estates was a common, legally-binding method used by landowners to keep land within the family. Whether declared in a Will, a marriage settlement, or other type of deed, the instruction was that the land was to go to the eldest son for life and then the remainder to pass to his son’s eldest son “in fee tail” (in tail/entailed) and on to their issue. This had the benefit of keeping the property intact (rather than dividing it into smaller and smaller parcels). It also prevented spendthrift and frivolous heirs from selling the land to fund their gambling, debts, or other bad habits, and thus using up the next generation’s inheritance. But there were some serious disadvantages, including the inability to sell the property when it had become uneconomic to run. Sometimes they could not use the land in certain ways that could be considered a “waste” of the resources on that land. This meant that the landowner could not increase their income off the land in new ways. Another problem was that deeds and Wills often included a widow’s annuity and “portions” for the younger children/daughters. These could run to the thousands of pounds, and had to be raised from the profits of the land. It was feasible that the sum given to the widow or younger children would use up the larger part of the income derived from the land, leaving insufficient income for the tenant-for-life, let alone pay for the upkeep of houses and farms.

The Settled Lands Acts of 1882 and 1890 addressed this situation by giving the tenant-for-life greater powers to deal with the property than had previously existed.[17] This meant that Commander Evans was now able to settle Whiddon Park on someone else. In 1912 he signed indentures which reflected his intent that after his death, Whiddon Park would be put in trust for the benefit of his godson, Edward Arthur Craig Fulton. During Mr Fulton’s lifetime and at his request, or after his death, the trustees could sell Whiddon Park, or any part of it. The proceeds of such a sale would be invested for Mr Fulton’s benefit. Mr Fulton could leave the trust to anyone in his Will, and if there was no Will, the trust would be settled upon his children. Commander Evans’ Will also reflected this arrangement. When Evans died on the 20 March 1920, Whiddon Park became the property of Mr Fulton.

*Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 26 March 1920*

Edward Arthur Craig Fulton

Edward Arthur Craig Rampini was born in Elgin, Scotland in 1888. His father Charles Joseph Galliari Rampini was a barrister and served as the sheriff of Elginshire, and his mother was Annie Burness. Despite the Italian name, Edward’s parents were born in Scotland.

Just how Edward Seymour Evans knew the Rampini/Fulton’s I do not know. As EAC Fulton is described as Commander Evans’ godson, he must have known the Rampini family in the 1880s. They appear to have holidayed together at least once, in 1898 when the Rampinis and Captain Evans stayed at Summerhill House in Strathpeffer, Scotland.

*North Star and Farmers’ Chronicle* 21 Jul 1898

In the 1901 census, the Rampini family were living in Paignton, Devonshire, not far from Chagford. In 1910, Edward Rampini changed his name to Edward Fulton. It appears that his brother Frederick also changed his name to Fulton, but at this stage I have not learned the reason for this.

Edward Fulton was working as an articled clerk when he enlisted to go to World War I. He served in the 2^nd London Regiment, Highland Light Infantry, attached to the 2/4^th Gurkhas, from August 1914. He was stationed in Malta first, then France from 1915-1917, and India 1918-1919. He left with the rank of captain.[18]

After the war, he travelled back and forth to the US a few times. In 1922 he married Alice Aldidge in Paignton. She was of a New Orleans family. They lived in New Orleans for a few years. The couple can be found there on the 1930 US Census. It appears they divorced, and Fulton returned to England and married a second time, in 1940 in Devonshire. His second wife was Maud Georgina M. Forsdyke.

What happened to Whiddon?

As it happened, Mr Fulton did sell the property. In 1921, Whiddon Park was sold to Julius Charles Drewe for the sum of £8000. That’s equivalent today to £401,000.[19] Drewe also bought some adjoining land, where he built Drogo Castle. Since then, Whiddon House has passed on to others’ hands, and what was the enclosed deer park is now managed by the National Trust.

The contents of the property were also sold, by auction on Thursday 7^th April, 1921 by Arthur Coe and Amery auctioneers. The advertisement below details a long list of furniture, carpeting, bedding, paintings, clocks, bookcases and books, a naval barometer, kitchen items and outdoor effects such as garden seats and lawnmowers.

Edward Arthur Craig Fulton died in 1968. There is no mention of a probate or Letters of Administration on the English probate calendars. It is likely that his estate passed over to his widow. Maud died the year after, in 1969 in Paignton. Her estate was probated and was valued at £10,728. As she was 49 years old when she married Edward, it is unlikely they had any children.

One last question – why was ES Evans looking for Andrew’s children?

Early on, I mentioned the curiosity that ES Evans was looking to his uncle Andrew’s family as the next in line to inherit Whiddon. Of the 10 children of Rev John and Mary Turner, only 3 had sons – Mary Evans, Andrew Cheape Turner, and Alfred Rooke Turner. During my earlier days researching the family history, everything pointed to Andrew being older than Alfred. Based on the ages they gave at the time of their marriages, and on the birth certificates of their children, it looked like Andrew was born around 1826 and Alfred in 1828. Although I don’t know why, maybe their sisters in England (the ones who Evans would have consulted) believed this too. But the reverse is true – Alfred was born first, and Andrew is the youngest of the sons.

Does this mean that Alfred’s children were really the rightful heirs? Maybe, but not if they had to prove their relationship. Today, when an intestate estate is to be distributed to the rightful heirs, especially when dealing with a large family who have spread over the globe, the relationships between the heirs and the Deceased have to be proven with birth, death and marriage certificates and other sources (such as census records, Wills, immigration records, etc.).

I do not know whether this was the standard in the 1920s. However, given how many “next of kin” agents advertised in the newspapers, offering to obtain the relevant records for heirs, I think it possible that “proof of kinship” was required.

The reason it matters in this case is that both Alfred and Andrew had common-law relationships that produced children. But in those days, children born out of wedlock were not entitled. If these “illegitimate” children of either man were required to produce a marriage certificate for their parents, they would not have been able to – and may therefore have been excluded from inheriting Whiddon.

This applies to John Baily Turner, who ES Evans was looking for. He was the son of Andrew Cheape Turner with his first wife, Harriet Hiscox. Although I’m not sure of this, it looks like JB was not raised by Andrew and his legal wife, Grace Rose. John Baily Turner disappears from the records until the early 1900s, when he is found on electoral rolls in Queensland. He died in 1920, alone. Had he been alive to try to claim Whiddon, it would not have worked, if he had to prove his parents’ marriage.

With regards to Alfred, he had a number of children with Mary Ann Eliza Lane, including sons. But he and Mary Lane were not married. Later he was to marry Margaret Devine. There are two children whose birth certificates show Alfred as their father. But the one born after the marriage died before ES Evans died, and had no surviving children. Hence, Alfred’s line legally could not claim the estate – if they had to prove themselves.

So in the end, it is probably Andrew’s line who could legally claim the estate – not John Baily Turner, but Charles and his siblings.

But alas, it was not to be, and Whiddon passed in other hands.

NOTES

[1] From White’s Devonshire Directory (1850), accessed on GENUKI https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEV/Chagford

[2] Hayter-Hames, Jane. A History of Chagford, Chagford, Devon: Phillimore. (1981).

[3] For a full description, see https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA151566; Hayter- Hames, p. 60; “Whiddon Park House, Castle Drogo; Devon and Cornwall” National Trust, https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA151566

[4] Greeves, L. 2004. History and Landscape – A Guide to National Trust Properties. London: National Trust Enterprises Ltd.

[5] Whitaker, J. 1892. A Descriptive List of the Deer Parks and Paddocks of England. London: Ballatyne & Hanson.

[6] Greeves, L. 2004. History and Landscape – A Guide to National Trust Properties. London: National Trust Enterprises Ltd.

[7] Polwhele, 1793, quoted on the website Legendary Dartmoor, https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/whiddon_park.htm, though it does not provide the exact citation. Polwhele published two books in 1793, Historical Views of Devonshire and The History of Devonshire (in 3 vols published 1793–1806) (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Polwhele).

[8] Murray, John. A Handbook for Travellers in Devon and Cornwall, London: Spottiswoodes & Shaw. (1851). quoted on the Legendary Dartmoor website (https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/whiddon_park.htm)

[9] Hayter-Hames, Jane. A History of Chagford, Chagford, Devon: Phillimore. (1981).

[10] May refer to a card game, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Put_(card_game)

[11] “Currency Converter: 1270-2017,” The National Archives, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#, accessed 9 Jan 2022.

[12] “Married Women’s Property Act 1882,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Married_Women%27s_Property_Act_1882, accessed 2 Nov 2021 (page last edited 25 Oct 2021).

[13] See the documents DD/FS/41 held at the Somerset Heritage Centre. I have obtained digitized copies of many of the items held in this collection.

[14] Letter from Mr Broderip to Mr Senior, undated; Somerset Archive, DD/FS 40/8/2

[15] Letter dated 22 Mar 1833 Somerset Archive, DD/FS 40/8/2

[16] Exeter Flying Post 20 Sep 1869. Note also that on the 1851 Census, there is an entry for George Webber and family at Whiddon House, and a separate entry for Mary Jane Turner and her children also at Whiddon House.

[17] From Wikipedia entry on Settled Lands Act of 1882 and 1890

[18] Record of Service of Solicitors and Articled Clerks with His Majesty’s Forces 1914 -1919; Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd., London, 1920; accessed at https://archive.org/stream/recordofserviceo00soli/recordofserviceo00soli_djvu.txt

[19] CPI Inflation Calculator, https://www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation/1921?amount=8000, accessed 2 Nov 2021.

Harold Tapper

September 5, 2021February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

Born 24 Sep 1877 in Fremantle, Western Australia.
Baptised 25 Nov 1877 at the old church of St John in Fremantle.
First born son, but second child, of John Tapper and Maria Tonkin.

Harold was only 4 years old when the devastating event of his father’s death occurred. On the 7^th of March 1882, John Tapper was drowned at sea on his cutter the “Ruby”, when it sank during a cyclone off the north-west coast of WA near Cossack. His wife Maria was left with 5 children to care for on her own, and one on the way.

Maria, having sold their previous home to her father-in-law John Tapper for £400, had a shop and house built on the corner of South Terrace and Suffolk Street, Fremantle. The shop was not a success, and Maria sold it in 1886. They continued to live there as tenants. Maria had been a school-teacher prior to marriage, and took that up again, operating a private school room in her house.

Also in 1886, Maria married again, to William Donaldson, a shoemaker. Maria and William went on to have 6 children, to add to the 6 Tapper children. Much later, between 1895 & 1897, Harold purchased two blocks of land in Bay Road, Claremont. Later, he transferred them to his widowed mother Maria & her husband and family. The house built on the site was named “Innamincka.” Presumably this was a larger space for the large family.

Beginning his Career:

Harold was apprenticed as a “stereotyper” at the tender age of 12 to the Daily News in Perth. Whether he boarded in Perth or traveled to work every day is not known. The apprenticeship was likely around 5 years. Stereotyping is a process that was used in newspaper printing prior to the computerisation of newsrooms. It involves making “duplicate press plates for letterpress printing from the metal type form prepared in the composing room,” and allows for large volume printing, such as is required for daily newspaper runs.[i]

On the 14 December 1899, he was offered the position of 1^st Stereotyper at the Kalgoorlie Miner and the Western Argus, with a salary of £5 a week. Over time, he rose to the position of Foreman Stereotyper.

Kalgoorlie Miner and Western Argus Office. Photo from WA Museum Collections.

When Harold arrived there, Kalgoorlie was still a young town. Gold was found in nearby Coolgardie in 1893, and the town of Kalgoorlie grew with the WA goldrush. The government built a railroad to Kalgoorlie, completed in 1896. It was an overnight sleeper train, the distance being nearly 600km from Perth. The population in 1901 was shy of 5,000 people, nearly 2/3 of which were men. Kalgoorlie would have been quite a different place to live compared to what Harold would have been used to in Fremantle. Located at the edge of a desert, it would have been considerably hotter and drier in summer than he was used to, and without the blessing of the “Fremantle doctor” breezes his hometown was known for.

Harold served his community:

Each of the Australian colonies were required to raise their own militias. As of 1870, the colonies assumed full responsibility for their own defences. In March 1901, after the establishment of the Australian nation, the separate colonial forces were amalgamated into the Commonwealth of Australia’s forces.

Harold was one of the many young men to serve in the volunteer forces. Before his move to Kalgoorlie, he had been a member of the Fremantle Rifle Volunteers, until he resigned on the 22 Dec 1893. In January 1894, he enrolled with the Western Australian Volunteer Force, and served for 5 years and three months with the No. 2 Field Battery. He resigned on the 5^th April 1899 with the rank of Sergeant.

Harold as a young man in the volunteer forces

When he moved to Kalgoorlie, he joined the Goldfields Infantry Regiment in 1901, and served until his resignation as a corporal on the 10 March 1904 with a good character. Harold was among a number of young men from Kalgoorlie selected among the WA military contingent to the opening of Federal Parliament in Melbourne. [iv]

Part of being in the regiment involved regular training, and occasional competitions. For example, Harold was selected to be on the team of 7 men to represent Kalgoorlie in the Fleming Challenge Cup. This snippet from the local newspaper describes what was involved: [ii]

By 1903, Harold was not only participating in the rifle competitions, but was in charge.[iii]

He was also a volunteer with the Fire Brigade and rescue organisation while in Kalgoorlie.

Sporting and social life in Kalgoorlie:

From his early days in Kalgoorlie, Harold was an active and keen sportsman, particularly as a runner. In his 20s, he competed in running events several times a month. He was also keen on dog-racing. When the Eastern Goldfields Whippet Club formed, Harold became a member, and in 1909 was elected as Trackmaster, and also had the position of Handicapper.

It seems his organisational skills were much admired. For example, when the Kalgoorlie Athletic Club held their Third Grand Carnival in April 1914 (described as a “grand electric light carnival”), the newspaper wrote, “Mr. Harold Tapper, the well-known whippet handicapper… has fortunately been secured by the club, and the public and athletes can rest assured that a competent and experienced man will have charge of the pistol and frame the handicaps.”[v]

By the sounds of it, the growing town of Kalgoorlie provided many opportunities for a social life. For example, the Goldfields Regiment had a social club which held events, which sometimes also included civilians. Harold is mentioned in the local news for having sung at several of these events.[vi] Here is a description of the second annual Military Ball held in July 1902:

“The floor was in excellent condition for dancing, and walls, pillars and ceiling were artistically draped, and otherwise decorated, reflecting much credit upon the committee responsible for the show.” [vii]

At several of the balls and socials hosted by the volunteer regiment, and by his employer the Kalgoorlie Miner, Harold was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies.

The local newspapers often reported on the local balls and other social occasions, and would describe in some detail what the young ladies wore. One of the young women who attended several balls was Miss Chaytor. She was a dressmaker, and so it is likely that she made her own dresses, such as the one described for the Daffodil Ball, held in September 1901: “black Brussels net, covered with design of true lover’s knots, the bodice being relieved with real point lace.”[viii] Whether Harold met Lily at a ball is purely romantic speculation, but possible.

Marriage and children:

Harold married Lily Chaytor (her birth name Mary, but she married as Lily) two days before Christmas 1903. Lily was the daughter of James Chaytor and Sarah Lambert. Harold and Lily married at her parents’ residence at Hill End. After their marriage, Harold and Lily lived at 166 Collins Street, Piccadilly, in Kalgoorlie.

Photo is marked on the back “Mr and Mrs Tapper”; the groom certainly look like Harold

Mr and Mrs Tapper and five children, four of them born in Western Australia.

Heidee Kathleen Tapper, born 23 September 1904 at her grandmother’s house, “Innamincka” in Claremont.

Lionel David (“Jack”) Tapper, born 19 Mar 1906 in Kalgoorlie

Lancelot Harold (“Lance”) Tapper 5 Oct 1911 in Kalgoorlie
Audrey Pauline (“Kate”) Tapper 1914 in Kalgoorlie
Their last-born child, Howard Geoffrey, was born in Sydney, on the 10 May 1917.

Tragedy struck in 1910 when their eldest child, their obviously beloved Haidee Kathleen, died of a sudden illness on the 6 Feb 1910. She was at “Innamincka” when she died, and is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery. She was only 5 years old. For several years after her death, her parents, and her Chaytor grandparents, placed “In Memoriam” notices in the newspapers.

funeral notice for Haidee: *Kalgoorlie Western Argus*, 15 Feb 1910, p. 35

The Wayzgoose:

A Wayzgoose was an annual outing and dinner put on for the staff of a newspaper. The Kalgoorlie Miner & the Western Argus jointly held their first annual Wayzgoose on Saturday 11^th of August, 1900 – as a picnic and day of fun. A number of sporting events were held on the day, including the Maiden Plate, boys’ and girls’ races, a Tug of War, and so on. About 120 people attended the first Wayzgoose, and were conveyed to the spot by a special train.

Harold Tappers was on the organising committee several times over the years, as well as a participant in the sporting events. His children and wife also participated. For example, in 1910, Harold Tapper was on the committee organising the prizes for the races. In the same year, his son Jack (Lionel) won third place in the Boy’s Under 5s Race.

The Tappers among others at the 1913 Wayzgoose picnic

A move to Sydney:

The family set sail in August on board the “Warialda”, bound for Sydney.

At first they settled at 40 Denison Street in Rozelle, but later established themselves at 9 Dulwich Street, Dulwich Hill, a suburb south of the harbour. [x]

Harold was very good at his job, and sought after. So much so that in 1923, he was offered the position of Head Stereotyper with the Herald and Weekly Times, in Melbourne. His letter of offer stated “The Management are keenly looking to your knowledge to improving things all round and are, like myself, absolutely replying on you coming.” They even offered to cover the expense of moving his family down from Sydney. Not only that, they were also willing to place his son Lionel in a job. The Truth in Sydney were sorry to see him go, and wrote him a glowing reference.

Once again the family made a move, and settled at no. 3, Sutherland Street in Coburg.

Harold retired in 1944, but was asked to return, and worked on until 1946.

Harold’s retirement notice, *Westralian Worker*, 14 Jan 1944, p. 4

Harold died on the 17 August 1963, and his wife Lily died almost 3 years to the day later, on the 16 August 1966.

ENDNOTES

[i] Mitchell, James P., Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bulletin No. 1215, 1957; Untied States Department of Labor: Washington D.C.

[ii] Kalgoorlie Miner, 21 May 1902, p. 4

[iii] “Military Notes,” Kalgoorlie Miner, 20 Oct 1903, p. 4

[iv] “The Opening of Federal Parliament: Goldfields Participants,” Kalgoorlie Miner, 6 Apr 1901, p7

[v] “Kalgoorlie Athletic Club: Third Grand Carnival,” Kalgoorlie Miner, 23 Apr 1914, p. 5.

[vi] “Kalgoorlie Volunteer Social Club,” Kalgoorlie Miner, 26 Oct 1901, p. 6; “Our Returned Soldiers: Welcome Social,” Kalgoorlie Miner, 7 May 1902, p. 4.

[vii] “Military Ball,” Kalgoorlie Miner, 19 Jul 1902, p.2

[viii] “Daffodil Ball”, Kalgoorlie Miner, 13 Sep 1901, p. 6

[ix] “Eastern Goldfields Whippet Club: Annual Meeting,” Kalgoorlie Miner, 31 Jul 1915, p. 12.

[x] Ancestry.com Sands Directory collections for NSW 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1920; original source: Sands Directories: Sydney and New South Wales, Australia, 1861–1933. Balgowlah, Australia: W. & F. Pascoe Pty, Ltd. Directories reproduced from microfiche copies courtesy of W. & F. Pascoe Pty, Ltd.

The Tichborne connection

August 13, 2021February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

Much has been written over the years about the Tichborne case, involving as it did heartbreak, a shipwreck, a large inheritance, a grieving mother, and a case of identity fraud. There are countless websites recounting the tale, and there is even a play written about it.

Tales of inheritance are my thing, as I have worked for over 20 years as a probate genealogist, and have myself encountered many cases involving missing heirs, and cases where someone tried to claim they were someone they weren’t. But as so much has already been written about the Tichborne case, I wasn’t planning on writing about it myself. But then I discovered a family connection, and so I am adding this tale to my blog.

Coincidentally, my great-great-great grandmother Mary Jane Turner, nee Baily, mentioned the Tichborne case in a letter she wrote to her son Andrew in Australia. She wrote: “Did you ever know anything of the History of this horrid man who is trying to get the Tichbourne Estates? The general belief is that he is an Imposter. I suppose you have seen something of it in any English papers you may see.”

When I first read that letter years ago, I thought nothing much of it, except that the letter from Mrs Turner was undated, and the mention of the Tichborne estates helped to pin down at least a year range when this letter was written.

I am guessing that Mary Jane did not know that she actually had a family connection to the Tichborne, as she did not mention in it her letter. The missing heir to the Tichborne estates was in fact Mary Jane’s 2^nd cousin once removed.

Mary Jane’s grandmother was Mary Baily, nee Seymour. Mrs Baily’s brother Henry Seymour had a son also named Henry, born in 1776. The younger Henry had an illegitimate daughter, Henriette Felicite Seymour, who was born in France about 1809. Her mother was Felicite Dailly-Brimont. Hentriette married Sir James Doughty-Tichborne, of an old Catholic English family, with large estates in Hampshire.

Henrietta was Mary Jane Turner’s second cousin. There is the connection. What follows is the tale of the Tichborne Case.

Henriette and Sir James had two sons, Roger and Alfred. Roger, the elder, was born in 1829. As a young man, he fell in love with his cousin Katherine. Sadly for them, this was not a match either family wanted, and he was not allowed to marry her. A heartbroken Roger left England to tour South America. Reports indicated that he had left Rio on the 20^th April 1854 on the ship The Bella, sailing for Jamaica. However, 4 days later, one of her long boats was found empty off the coast. This was the only evidence of the fate of the ship, which was presumed to have wrecked at sea off the coast of Brazil, with all crew and passengers assumed to have drowned.

Roger’s mother Lady Henriette Tichborne was distraught, and it appears that she refused to believe he was dead. Rumour later surfaced that a ship bound for Melbourne had rescued the survivors from the shipwreck, which added to her certainty that he was still alive. She was encouraged by a clairvoyant, who claimed Roger was still alive, so Lady Henriette began actively searching for him, advertising widely, including in South America and Australia.

In 1862, Sir James Doughty-Tichborne died. Now added to his widow’s fervent hopes of finding their son alive was added an inheritance to deal with. Had Roger been alive, he would have taken the title and the estates. But as Roger was nowhere to be seen and presumed dead, so his younger brother Alfred was now the heir.

Searching for missing heirs in the colonies was not uncommon. In fact, from the 1860s onwards, there were frequent ads in newspapers looking for missing heirs. Several men who then called themselves “Next of Kin Agents” (and would probably now be called “Heir Tracers”) had set up shop in Australia. One such man was Arthur Cubitt, who established the Missing Friends Office. In 1863, he was contacted by Lady Tichborne, authorising him to announce her husband’s death, and offering a handsome reward to any person who could furnish information about the fate of Roger Tichborne.

*Sydney Morning Herald*, p. 1, 26 July 1865

Enter the claimant. Thomas Castro, a butcher in the New South Wales town of Wagga Wagga was facing bankruptcy. During the examination, he revealed that he had survived a shipwreck, and claimed to own properties in England. Curiously, it is said that he smoked a pipe engraved with the letters RCT – Roger’s initials. A lawyer who had seen the newspaper ads pressed him, and Castro told him that he was the missing baronet.

Castro wrote to Lady Henrietta, stating that he was her missing son. Henrietta was quite eager to accept his claim, even though his letters were poorly written and a bit cagey. Her second son and only remaining child had died in 1866, leaving an infant son. This may have made her all the more eager to have her son back to claim his inheritance. Castro claimed that he had been rescued off The Bella by the Osprey, which was headed to Melbourne. He said he wandered around Australia, and settled in Wagga Wagga where he took up the occupation of butcher, married, and had a child. Why he did not contact his family earlier was not made clear. Nevertheless, after receiving encouraging letters from Lady Henriette, he made plans to travel to England. The lawyer who “discovered” him encouraged him to make a Will. Curiously, in the Will he referred to his mother as Hannah Frances – though the name is Henriette Felicite. He also mentioned properties that did not exist. In 1866, Castro sailed to England with his wife and baby, ready to claim the title and estates.

To add to the curiosity of the case, it was hard to see how Castro could be Roger. Photos side-by-side or Roger as a young man, and Castro in the late 1860s, do show some similarity in facial features.

Photo source: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/89321/mysterious-disappearance-and-reappearance-roger-tichborne

But there were glaring differences. Roger in his youth was tall, slender, with a long sallow face, dark, straight hair and blue eyes. His mother described him as having a “delicate” constitution. Crucially, he had a tattoo on his left arm. However, Castro has obese, with a round face and light-coloured wavy hair. And he had no tattoo. A blacksmith on the Tichborne estates remarked “if you are Sir Roger, you’ve changed from a racehorse to a carthorse.”

Despite all this, Lady Henrietta believed him, and settled on him an allowance of £1000 a year! Few others believed him, though he had been able to “remember” some details from his childhood, such as the name of the family dog. Working against him were several factors. For example, his letters were badly written, though Roger had been well-educated. Roger also spoke French fluently, having grown up mostly in Paris – but Castro did not. There were many other “lapses in memory”, which he explained as being the result of the traumatic shipwreck scrambling his memory.

Lady Tichborne died two years later. In 1871, he initiated a civil case to claim the Tichborne estates, then in the possession of Roger’s nephew. The trial lasted more than 3 months, and the court rejected his claim. In the end, the case turned on the fact that Roger had a tattoo that Castro did not have.

He was then arrested and tried for perjury. The trial broke records for its duration (188 days) and costs, and captured the public’s imagination in both England and Australia. Investigators had found many people who identified Castro as Arthur Orton, the son of a butcher in Wapping, England. Orton had sailed to Australia, and at some point took on the name Thomas Castro.

The prosecutors theorised that after seeing the ads looking for Roger Tichborne, Orton/Castro saw an opportunity and took it. By chance, he had come across former servants of the Tichborns while in Sydney making his travel plans. Perhaps he picked up enough information about the family to make his claim hold some water.

But the evidence in the perjury trial was overwhelmingly stacked against him. Aside from the number of witnesses who identified the defendant as Arthur Orton, there was the fact that his handwriting did not match Roger’s. Furthermore, the logs of the Osprey, which did land in Melbourne, did not mention picking up survivors of a shipwreck. Castro was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to 14 years of penal service. He died in 1898 and was buried in a pauper’s grave.

Sources:

“Tichborne versus Tichborne,” Hawke’s Bay Weekly Times, vol 1, issue 45, 4 Nov 1867, p. 272. Accessed on Papers Past website 11 Apr 2021.

Cecilia Kendall “The Tichborne Case – a Case of Identity Fraud?”, 6 May 2020, The Brighton Museum website accessed 10 Apr 2021

https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/2020/05/06/the-tichborne-case-a-case-of-identity-fraud

Stacy Conradt, “The Mysterious Disappearance and Reappearance of Roger Tichborne,” 18^th Jan 2017

Mental Floss website: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/89321/mysterious-disappearance-and-reappearance-roger-tichborne accessed 10 Apr 2021.

Robyn Annear, “The Return of the Tichborne Claimant”, The Monthly, May 2014.

https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/may/1398866400/robyn-annear/return-tichborne-claimant?cb=1618041336 accessed 10 Apr 2021.

Also see:

Barry Enever, “The Tichborne Claimant, a Victorian Mystery”, Ennever/Enever family history and ancestry, http://www.ennever.com/histories/history19478.php accessed 10 Apr 2021.

Henry Seymour

August 13, 2021February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

The eldest child, and son, of Francis Seymour of Sherborne, Dorset and the Viscountess Hinchingbrooke (Elizabeth, nee Popham) was Henry Seymour, born 21 October 1729 in London. He was educated at Westminster (1739-1747) and then attended New College, Oxford. He was one of the fortunate who could undertake a Grand Tour of Europe as a young man.[i]

In 1752, Henry had courted Lady Diana Egerton, but she jilted him. When asked about this, Henry replied “Di has her caprices”, but the lady herself explained it more fulsomely: that she could not marry him for “the badness of his temper, and the imperiousness of his letters.”[ii]

Despite his earlier bad luck in love, Henry was married twice. The first marriage took place on 24 July 1753 toLady Caroline Cowper, the daughter of William Cowper, 2^nd Earl Cowper. Lady Caroline died in 1773, and two years later, he married Louise Therese de la Martilliere, Comptesse de Ponthon, of the Castle of Ragni in Tournay, Lower Normandy. She was the widow of Compte Guillaume.

On his father’s death, he inherited the properties that had been entailed upon the male line by Henry Seymour Portman. This included Sherborne House, in Sherbornre, Dorset, Redland Court near Bristol, Gloucestershire, Knoyle House in Hindon, Wiltshire, and an estate in Northbrook, Devonshire.

Redland Court, 1824 image © Bristol Culture (Bristol Museum & Art Gallery) | Licence: All Rights Reserved

Following in his father’s footsteps, Henry entered politics. He obtained the office of Groom of the Bedchamber in 1763. He was a member of Parliament, firstly as a member for Totnes, which he held for 5 years. His half-brother the 4^th Earl of Sandwich apparently helped him to establish himself in George Grenville’s administration. He spoke in Parliament frequently, his first speech being in support of the Stamp Act. Lord Sandwich also arranged for him to stand in the seat of Huntingdon in 1767 in return for £800 and a loan of £1000. However, by the time the election was over, Seymour and Montague were on opposite sides of the political divide. Seymour remained loyal to Grenville even in opposition. From 1774 to 1780 Henry Seymour was the member for Eversham. Over time his speechifying became less frequent.[iii]

In 1778, he and his second wife settled in Paris and purchased a property in Prunay, near Versailles. He thus became the neighbour – and then the lover – of Madame du Barry. Du Barry had been born Jeanne Becu, the illegitimate daughter of a woman of low social standing. A reputed beauty, she became the mistress of Compte Jean du Barry, and was thus introduced to Parisian society. Eventually she became a mistress of King Louis XV. As a result of her relationship with the king, she became a wealthy woman, and was given an estate at Louveciennes. [iv]

Madame du Barry by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1781

Henry fled France during the French Revolution in 1792. Madame du Barry was beheaded a year later in 1793. [v] He lost most of his property in France. Back in England, he retired to Knoyle. Over the years, he had disposed of his estates in Sherborne, Redland and Norton.[vi] Most sources state that Henry died in 1805, but the monument to him at Exeter Cathedral in Devonshire gives his date of death as 14 Apr 1807. [vii]

Henry had four children. The first two, both daughters, were his children from his first marriage to Lady Caroline. He at last had a son called Henry from his second marriage. His fourth child was an illegitimate daughter

1 Caroline SEYMOUR (1755-1821) who married William DANBY of Swinton Park, North Yorkshire, the bibliophile and mineralogist.

2 Georgiana Amelia SEYMOUR (1756- ) who married COMTE LOUIS de DURFORT.

3 Henry SEYMOUR b. 10 Nov 1776; d. 27 Nov 1849; m. 27 Jan 1817 to Jane Hopkinson dau Benjamin Hopkinson of Bath and Blagdon Court. Henry was of Knoyle House andbecame the High Sherriff of Dorset in 1835.

Henry Danby SEYMOUR 1820-187? – Magistrate and JP.

Sarah Ellen SEYMOUR 1820-1867; m. 1857 William Ayshford SANFORD.

Alfred SEYMOUR 1824-1888

Jane SEYMOUR b. c.1822; d. 18 Sept 1892; m. 21 Aug 1847 to Philip PLEYDELL- BOUVERIE.

Louisa Caroline Harcourt SEYMOUR 1829-1889

ENDNOTES

[i] Shelagh M. Hill, Sherborne House and Its People, 1996

[ii] Locke, A. Audrey, The Seymour Family: History and Romance, London: Constable & Co, 1911, p. 344.

[iii] “SEYMOUR, Henry (1729-1807), of Sherborne, Dorset”, History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke, 1964, accessed at http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1754-1790/member/seymour-henry-1729-1807 on 26 Jul 2020.

[iv] Shelagh M. Hill, Sherborne House and Its People, 1996

[v] Shelagh M. Hill, Sherborne House and Its People, 1996

[vi] “Henry Seymour (Redland), Wikiwand, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Henry_Seymour_(Redland) accessed 13 Aug 2021.

[vii] Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi accessed 26 July 2020.

The children of John Baily and Mary Seymour

July 24, 2021February 3, 2024 ~ AddieT ~ Leave a comment

John and Mary Baily had four children. All bore for their middle name their mother’s maiden surname, in honour of her connection to the Seymour family, the Dukes of Somerset.

Edward Seymour Baily – born 1761 at Sherborne House, Sherborne Dorset
Mary Seymour Baily – born 1765 in Weyhill, Hampshire
Francis Seymour Baily – born 1769 in Weyhill, Hampshire
Sapphira Seymour Baily – born 1771 in Weyhill, Hampshire

The eldest, Edward, was born at Sherborne House, Sherborne, Dorset while his parents were still living with Mary’s father. After Francis Seymour’s death, Mr and Mrs Baily relocated to Ramridge House, in Weyhill (also called Penton Grafton) in Hampshire.

Ramridge House, Penton Grafton [https://www.onthemarket.com/details/4961279/]

Both John and Mary died in 1785. At the time of their deaths, only their eldest, Edward, was “of age.” The two youngest were in their late teens. Edward was appointed the guardian by the Court of Chancery, of at least Francis, who was to come of age on the 20 August 1790. Although I have no evidence for it, I assume he was likely the guardian of all his siblings.

Edward Seymour Bailey

Edward was born on the 16 August 1761 at Sherborne House, the home of his grandfather, Francis Seymour. It was Francis who chose the name of the child, naming him after Francis’ own father.

As a young man, Edward joined the Royal Navy. He joined the Royal Naval Academy in August 1774, at the age of 13, and passed the Lieutenant’s Examination in 1780 (at the age of 19). He was made Commander in 1782, and spent just over a year as commander of the ship Cameleon, and then the Swan. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1809.[1]

After his parents died, the Estate of his grandfather had still not been fully wrapped up. In 1788, Letters of Administration with the Will annexed were granted to him to wrap things up. As part of the settlement, property had been purchased and left to his mother and her heirs. As a result, Edward became the heir of Whiddon House, in Chagford, Devonshire, as well as a handful of other minor properties, including farms.

On the 9 October 1790, Edward married (by licence) Phyllis Rooke, daughter and co-heir of George Rooke, of the Honourable East India company. George Rooke had been dead many years, and as Phyllis was under 21 years of age, her mother, Phyllis Rooke, nee Michell, gave permission for the marriage to occur. One of the witnesses to the marriage was the bride’s uncle Robert Michell. After her mother died in 1793, Phyllis inherited property and trusts from both parents. From her father, she (and her sister Ann) inherited “the Kent Lands”, which included freehold estates in the parishes of Ivechurch (aka Ivychurch), Brookland, and Ashford situated in the county of Kent. Her mother, Phyllis nee Michell, had also inherited, from her uncle Robert Michell.

Of course, in those days, what a woman inherited became automatically her husband’s property upon marriage, unless a specified amount was set aside specifically for her use only. When Edward and Phyllis married, a Marriage Settlement was drawn up. By the terms of that settlement, Edward was to allow £160 per year for Phyllis’ use.

Unfortunately for both Edward and Phyllis, Edward’s property did not generate enough income on its own, and for whatever reason, Edward was in debt. It was also the case that Phyllis’ father George had incumbrances on his estate. A decision was made to sell the Kent lands, partially because they were too far away to manage effectively and also so that the debts could be paid. The law necessitated that Mr and Mrs Baily seek an Act of Parliament to do this. This was sought in 179x. The Kent lands sold for approximately £26,100, which was not a small amount, and shared between Phyllis Baily and her sister Ann Rooke. George Rooke’s debts were paid, and funds were advance to Edward Seymour Baily towards a mortgage he had on Whiddon House. With some of the remaining money, they purchased Elm Farm at Pilton, and a farm in Doulting, both in Somerset, and a house in Devizes, Wiltshire. Later the house at Devizes was sold to pay off more of the mortgage on Whiddon. The remainder of the funds was invested in stocks.

Edward and Phyllis had two children, born quite a few years apart. Mary Jane Baily was born in 1793, most likely at her uncle’s home in Hungerford, Berkshire. Edward Baily was born at Bath 6 years later, in 1799. It appears that Edward and Phyllis separated in about 1802, for reasons I have not yet discovered. More about how this impacted on Phyllis is described in a previous post. It appears that Edward was not very involved with his children in the early years. It is also clear that he did not do what he was legally bound to do in support of his estranged wife. Her family had to appeal to the trustees of their marriage settlement, and threaten to take matters to the Court of Chancery, just to ensure that she was paid the measly £160 a year to which she was entitled. Meanwhile, Edward enjoyed the income from the property she had inherited from her parents. For well over a decade, financial difficulties bedevilled both of them. Both racked up debts, and bitter negotiations were entered into about getting Edward to pay for half of his son’s education, including sending him to university.

For most of their marriage, they lived separately. Edward lived at Whiddon House. While she was still a young woman, Phyllis lived with a companion, sometimes visiting Bath or Lyme, or staying with relatives, such as her maternal aunts and uncles. Eventually, she was “allowed” to set up her own home, renting a house in Devizes. When their daughter, she lived with them for several years. Finally, she settled in Bath, where she lived until her death.

Phyllis Baily died December 1932 in Bath, Somerset. She was buried with the Michell family at Chitterne All Saints, Wiltshire, on the 5 January, 1833. After her death, Edward decided to settle his Estates on his children during his lifetime. He settled Whiddon on his son.

Edward died at Whiddon House, Chagford on the 13 October, 1840, and was buried in the churchyard there. The officiating minister who signed the burial register was his son-in-law, the Reverend John Turner.

Mary Seymour Baily

The second child of John and Mary Baily was christened on the 26 Nov 1765 at Weyhill (aka Penton Grafton), Hampshire.

She married George Evans Bruce on the 18 June 1784 at St Clement Danes church in Westminster, London. Mary was still a minor, and married by licence with the consent of her father. The marriage certificate described her as being of the parish of St Clement Danes. The witnesses were John and Caroline Gawler.

George Evans Bruce was born circa 1757, and was the son of George Bruce (1828-1788) and Mary Evans (1727-1799).

The Bruce (and related Evans family – they seem to intermarry at various junctures) owned land in Milltown Castle, Cork. There were, according to the Irish Landed Estates database, originally a Scottish family who settled in the Bandon area of county Cork in the mid 17^th century. Milltown Castle came into the possession of the Bruce family through the 1752 marriage of George Bruce and Mary Evans. Mary was the niece of the 21^st Lord Carbery. It is reputed that this Bruce family were descendants of Robert the Bruce.

From a Facebook page of the Charleville Historical Society, we get this information:

“This family are descended of Andrew Bruce of Earlshall Scotland and Helen Gray. Their younger son Alexander Bruce settled in Ireland about 1654 and had a son Saul Bruce. It is Sauls Bruce’s line that settled in the Charleville area. After that we see a series of branches of this line mainly Jonathan’s and George’s.” [2]

G.E. Bruce was a banker, formerly of Limerick in Ireland. One source described him as an “eccentric”, who “lived in style and grandeur” in the finest mansion, called the Hermitage, in Castleconnell.[3] The Hermitage was built circa 1790 for Mr Bruce. It was rumoured that he had made his fortune gambling in casinos in London and Paris.

The Hermitage, Charleville Ireland [source: http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-hermitage.html ]

The Charleville Bank was likely founded in 1803 by Eyre Evans. It is believed that George Evans Bruce took over as the lead partner circa 1806. There are some who say that the Charleville bank was actually a merger of two banks operating in the area, Eyre Evans and Co, and George Evans Bruce & Co. George also established Bruce’s Bank at 6 Rutland St, Limerick. Note that the partners of the two banks are not all the same, so it may be two different banks rather than one bank with two branches. [4]

As banks did in those days, they issued their own bank notes. These are, apparently, now very rare to see.

Charleville Bank (George Evans Bruce, Jonathan Bruce, and George Bruce) 1 ½ Guines 10 Oct 1806
[source: https://www.irishpapermoney.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=364]

Unfortunately, there was a bank failure in 1820. Another bank, Maunsell’s Bank of Limerick, failed in May 1820. This led to a run on Bruce’s bank, which was forced to close on the 29^th of May. The Charleville branch also closed the same day. The debts of both of George Evans Bruce’s banks were fortunately paid off after the same of some property.

A satirical poem entitled “The Nosegay” was written about George by his neighbour and former friend, Thomas O’Grady, a barrister and man of letters. One account of the souring of their friendship is that O’Grady borrowed £1300 from Bruce’s bank, but the banker called in the debt very suddenly. Subsequently there was much mud-slinging between them. Bruce accused O’Grady of embezzlement and murder. In turn, O’Grady wrote the poem, consisting of rhyming couplets of character assassination, accompanied by a caricature of Bruce. A libel case ensued, and was found in Bruce’s favour. [5]

Caricatures of George Evans Bruce from “The Nosegay”

Mary, it seems, lived at least part of her time in Bath. Mary and George did not have children. However, Mary seems to have played a part in her niece’s early life. Her niece bore the same name, Mary, and was the daughter of Mrs Bruce’s brother Edward Seymour Baily.

Edward’s wife and little Mary’s mother was Phillis nee Rooke. Phillis wrote many letters to her lawyer Mr Broderip, and occasionally mentioned – or complained – about Mrs Bruce.

Little Mary, around the age of 10 or so, was away at school in Bath, at an establishment run by the Miss Whittakers. It appears that Mrs Bruce was frequently taking little Mary out of school to stay with her, and Miss Whittaker complained of the disruption to the little girl’s education. Phillis also complained about the style of living at Mrs Bruces, as she could not afford how Mary lived when staying with her aunt. I presume that means they went shopping too often, or out to the theatre and such. Though it seems that her aunt was also very indulgent, something that Phillis was probably jealous about, as she herself had no money for indulgences. On one occasion, when little Mary was about 12 or 13, she asked to stay with her aunt for the holidays. Phillis wrote to her that she wanted Mary to be with her, “Mrs Bruce has her so often & I did not & also her extravagance of Dress with Mrs Bruce & going to Plays etc was what I could not afford nor did I think so much of it necessary at her age.”

Mary died on the 12 September 1831 in Montpelier, France.[6] She is buried at the Protestant church burial ground in Montpellier. George died several years later, on the 23 March 1837. There is a headstone for him in the churchyard of All Souls, Kensal Green, London. At the time of his death, he was living at no. 2 Wilton Crescent, St George Hannover Square, London. George left his estates to his nephews. It does not appear that Mary left a Will.

Francis Seymour Bailey

His birth date is uncertain. He was christened 20 Aug 1769 at Weyhill, Hampshire, and in a letter to attorneys, his brother Edward, who was his guardian after their parents’ deaths, mentions that he was to come of age in 1790, indicating that he would be 21– so the year of birth 1769 is likely to be correct. However, the marriage licence bond when he married the first time states that he was 21 in 1787, which would mean he was born in 1766. He may not have been truthful about his age when getting married.

Francis was married three times.

At the time of his first marriage, a notice appeared in The Times: while it says nothing about his own father, it described him as the nephew of the Earl of Sandwich and the second cousin of the Duke of Somerset.[7]

.His first marriage was to Jemima Harris. The marriage took place on the 12 October 1787 in Netheravon, Wiltshire[8]. They had a child, Francis Seymour Baily (but the middle name spelled “Semer”), christened on the first day of January in 1789.[9] Sadly, the child lived only a few days and was buried where he was baptised.[10] In 1791, Francis was listed as a Gentleman residing in Amesbury, Wiltshire, a stone’s thrown from Stonehenge, and 6 miles from Netheravon.[11] His wife Jemima died in August 1795 and is buried at Netheravon.[12]

He next married Margaret Spratt on the 16 Jun 1798 at Fawley, Hampshire.[13] At this point, nothing more is known about Margaret, where they lived, or where and when she died. However, she must have died, because Francis went on to marry again.

The third marriage was to Martha Ann Miller, on the 13 April 1808, at St James Piccadilly in Westminster.

This is Francis Seymour Baily’s signature on the marriage register at Netheravon:

And on the register for the third marriage:

To date, nothing has been found about his death or burial, and it does not appear that he left a Will.

A possible mention is made of him in the correspondence of Phillis, wife of Edward Seymour Baily, to her solicitor. She wrote that “I received a strange letter from a Woman of Salisbury saying that Mr F Baily had boarded with herself & Husband & had gone off in their Debt she also says that he told her that I allowed him two guineas a month besides the Guinea pr week that Captain Baily allows him… F* Baily has been a lose [sic] time at Salisbury but I believe by the womans letter he has left it as she complains he wore away her Husbands Great Coat & has not returned it.”[14]

It is believed he had no children who survived childhood.[15]

Sapphira Seymour Baily

The fourth and last child of John and Mary Baily was born 22 October 1771, and christened at Weyhill (Penton Grafton), Hampshire.

She married at Drewsteignton, Devon on the 22 June, 1798 to Captain John Taylor Michell of the Royal Navy. John Mitchell was born 4 Nov 1770; and died 6 Jan 1833 aged 62, and is buried at Thames Ditton, St Mary, Surrey.

They lived for a time in France, as is evidenced by where some of their children married.

Sapphira died 30 October, 1837 at East Stonehouse, Plymouth, Devonshire. Sapphira Seymour Mitchell, nee Baily, left her estate to her son Royal Charles Mitchell a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy.

The children of Captain John and Mrs Sapphira Michell:

ENDNOTES

[1] “Edward Seymour Bailey,” Three Decks; https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_crewman&id=2943

[2] Charleville Heritage Society, “Megan Markle and the Charleville Connection,” Facebook, posted 12 April 2021, https://www.facebook.com/charlevilleheritage/posts/megan-markle-and-the-charleville-connectiondid-you-ever-walk-past-the-vault-in-t/1095993530905942/ accessed 2 May 2021.

[3] Hannan, Kevin, “Limerick Savings Bank”, http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Media,3950,en.pdf , p. 26

[4] Irish Paper Money website, https://www.irishpapermoney.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=364 and https://www.irishpapermoney.com/irish-private-banks/Charleville-Bank-George-Evans-Bruce.html accessed 2 May 2021.

[5] Charleville Heritage Society, “Megan Markle and the Charleville Connection,” Facebook, posted 12 April 2021, https://www.facebook.com/charlevilleheritage/posts/megan-markle-and-the-charleville-connectiondid-you-ever-walk-past-the-vault-in-t/1095993530905942/ accessed 2 May 2021.

[6] Death notice, The Southern Report, and Cork Commercial Courier, 15 Sep 1831.

[7] The London Times, 26 October, 1787

[8] Marriage record, Francis Seymour Baily and Jemima Harris, 12 Oct 1787, Netheravon, Wiltshire; Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre; Chippenham, Wiltshire, England; Wiltshire Parish Registers; Reference Number: 2093/7; downloaded from www.ancestry.com

[9] Wiltshire baptism index 1530-1917, Wiltshire Family History Society, accessed on www.FindMyPast.com on the 2 Aug 2020.

[10] Wiltshire burial index 1538-1990, Wiltshire Family History Society, accessed on www.FindMyPast.com on the 2 Aug 2020.

[11] 1791 The Universal British Directory (Part 1) : Plan of the Work – Country Part; part of the UK, City and County Directories, 1600s-1900s on www.ancestry.com

[12] Burial record of Jemima Baily 14 Aug 1795, Netheravon, Wiltshire; Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre; Chippenham, Wiltshire, England; Reference Number: 2093/4; accessed at www.ancestry.com on 2 Aug 2020.

[13] “England, Hampshire Parish Registers, 1538-1980,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q5WM-2VWX : 3 June 2020), Francis Seymour Baily, 16 Jun 1798; citing Marriage, Fawley, Hampshire, England, Hampshire Record Office, England.

[14] Letter from Phillis Baily to Edmund Broderip, date unclear. It is clearly written as Feb 8, 1787, but she was not married to ES Baily then, so it may be 1797. Somerset Records Office Ref no. DD/FS/41/6/90.

[15] The Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval, Melville Henry Massue. The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal Being A Complete Table of All the Descendents Now Living of Edward III, King of England. London, England: T.C. & E. C. Jack, 1905-1911; Accessed on Ancestry.com. Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.