Sepia Saturday 90: What did you do in the war, Grandpa?

This week's Sepia Saturday photo prompt is a cutely posed studio portrait of a young Princess, taken in Spain in 1916 when she was seven years old. Of course Spain remained neutral throughout the Great War, and visits to the studio may have continued unabated, even by ordinary folk. In Britain, however, the war had been going on for two years, times were tough, and many studios experienced reduced business, or were even closed due to the lack of customers.


Corporal Robert Hollis, Machine Gun Corps
Postcard portrait by Pollard Graham, 108A Friargate, Derby, c.1917-1918
Image © and Courtesy of Fran Powles
Derby photographers were no exception, and it is informative to note that Pollard Graham shut eight of their branches in the Midlands - from Northampton to Burslem to Lincoln - between 1913 and 1916, leaving only the headquarters studio serving customers. Even after the war, it would be some time before business picked up sufficiently for the firms to contemplate expansion again, with their first post-war branch opening in 1920. Understandably, their clientele had changed too, with the majority of clients being uniformed soldiers about to head off to war. Postcards tended to be the predominantly used format. For most people there wasn't much spare cash around for the fancier mounts and frames.

Corporal Hollis of the Machine Gun Corps probably had this portrait taken on a visit home from the front, perhaps even after a period of recuperation, since he is sporting a wound stripe on his left sleeve.


The Brown family, Postcard portrait by Pollard Graham,
108A Friargate, Derby, 13 July 1917
Image © and Collection of Brett Payne
While most portraits tended to be a single figure, or perhaps couple, I am fortunate enough to have a group portrait of my grandmother's family, the Browns, taken in the summer of 1917. The older two of her three brothers are dressed in uniform. Arthur was a Corporal/Sergeant Dispenser, RAMC, and served with the 57th North Midlands Field Ambulance Unit. He became a chemist after the war. I'm not sure what unit Frank served in, and the insignia on his lapels are not clear enough for me to make out. Ethel worked as an apprentice milliner before the war, but during the war both she and her mother Edith served in some medical capacity, probably at a hospital in Derby. Edith has what appears to be an RAMC badge pinned to the front of her dress, Ethel some other type which I've been unable to identify. Percy was still at school, while Fred Brown, at 47, was presumably too old to be called for active service.


Unidentified Royal Navy man, perhaps with his father
Postcard portrait by Pollard Graham, 108A Friargate, Derby, c.1917-1918
Image © and Courtesy of Grace-Ellen Capier
This rather nice vignetted portrait shows an unidentified Royal Navy man seated with an older bearded gentleman who may be his father. I can't decide whether the single stripe on his left arm signifies that he holds the rank of "Able Seaman, Higher Grade," or whether it is a "Good Conduct" badge. Also just visible on his right sleeve is part of another badge. By comparison with Royal Navy Badges used during the First World War, it may be something like an Armourer's badge.


Thomas Frederick (Fred) Green, Royal Garrison Artillery
Postcard portrait by Pollard Graham, 108A Friargate, Derby, c.1917-1918
Image © and Courtesy of Betty Bowler
A very young Fred who also visited Pollard Graham's studio, probably on the eve of his departure for the front, is wearing standard Great War issue uniform with an RGA (Royal Garrison Artillery) shoulder title. The Medal Index Cards show a Thomas F. Green, 189835, Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery, entitled to the Victory and British War Medals.


Unidentified young man, Army Ordnance Corps, c.1914-1918
Postcard portrait by F.J. Boyes, 22 & 24 Osmaston Road, Derby
Image © and Collection of Brett Payne
Frederick J. Boyes was another Derby photographer who attended to portrait requirements of those dutiful young men during the Great War. The AOC shoulder title of this unidentified young man with his very neatly combed hair show that he served with the Army Ordnance Corps, which dealt "with the supply and maintenance of weaponry, munitions and other military equipment."


Uncle Bill (Notts & Derby Regiment) and Auntie Hilda, c.1914-1918
Postcard portrait by F.J. Boyes, 22 & 24 Osmaston Road, Derby
Image © and Collection of Brett Payne
This young man and his new bride (I presume from the prominently displayed wedding ring) are identified on the reverse only as Uncle Bill and Auntie Hilda, but he wears the shoulder titles of the Notts and Derbys Regiment, as well as a circular badge containing a red cross, similar to that of Arthur Brown, above, which may signify that he is some sort of medical orderly.


Charlotte and Alfred Horobin with their nieces, c.1915-1916
Postcard portrait by F.J. Boyes, 22 & 24 Osmaston Road, Derby
Image © and Courtesy of Sally Jackson
Sally Jackson sent me this portrait of her grandparents Alfred Irvin Horobin and his wife Charlotte Louisa née Brady with their nieces, daughters of his half brother, Arthur Swinfield Newton and his wife Lillia née Tomlinson. Alfred is dressed in uniform, wears shoulder titles of the RFA (Royal Field Artillery), and has a crown on his sleeve, suggesting he was a warrant officer. His finely waxed moustache, not clearly visible in this image, is certainly in keeping with that rank - all he needs is a swagger stick - but I've been unable to find an appropriate Medal Index Card for him.


Frederick William Lomas of Derby, c.1914-1916
Postcard portrait by R. & R. Bull, Ashbourne
Image © and Courtesy of Derek Smith
Unfortunately this portrait of a fresh-faced Frederick William Lomas, taken by the Ashbourne firm of R. & R. Bull early during the war, is not clear enough for me to read his shoulder titles.


Unidentified man and woman, c.1914-1918
Postcard portrait by H. Hinge, Ashbourne
Image © and Courtesy of Ellen Oakley
Henry Hinge, also of Ashbourne, took this rather wooden - and now pretty battered - portrait of a non-commissioned officer, identified on the reverse only as "Gran's brother," and his presumed wife. He has sergeant's stripes on his lower sleeve, as well as two wound stripes, and is also holding a swagger stick, which makes me wonder whether he is a drill or staff sergeant. His shoulder titles are not visible, and I'm not familiar enough with regimental badges to recognise the one on his cap.


Louisa and Doris McAuslan at Green Hall Hospital
Postcard portraits by Frederick Holbrook, George St Studios, Belper
Images © and Courtesy of Robert Silverwood
Louisa McAuslan and her daughter Doris were working for the Red Cross at Green Hall Hospital in Belper during the war, when Belper photographer Frederick Holbrook visited and took these two fine portraits.


Frank Tomlinson, c.1914-1918
Panel print portrait by Seaman & Sons, Chesterfield
Image © and Courtesy of Phil Gregory
This less common format by Seaman & Sons of Chesterfield is often known as a panel print, although it is not too different from a postcard cut into three, and I have often seen them constructed in that manner. Phil Gregory's relative Frank Tomlinson obviously served in a Scots Regiment during the war, as evidenced by his Glengarry hat, but I have no further information about him.


Sergeant George Manning, Royal Field Artillery, c.1917
Mounted print by W.W. Winter, Derby
Image © and Courtesy of Christine Hibbert
Sergeant George Manning of the Royal Field Artillery paid a visit to the studio of W.W. Winter in Midland Road Derby "whilst at home on leave from the battlefields of Europe." The single bar on his lower left sleeve is a wound stripe, indicating that he had already been wounded in the line of duty.

Geoff Caulton's PhotoDetective web pages have some excellent descriptions and images of uniforms, badges, shoulder titles and other tips for identifying subjects on portraits from the Great War.

Roger Capewell has an extensive web site devoted to Military Images, including a comprehensive list of badges with images.

For questions about the Great War, both of a specific and more general nature, the Great War Forum is well worth trying. Chris Baker's The Long, Long Trail gives valuable advice on how track a particular soldier's service during the war, including an excellent article on how to interpret Medal Index Cards.

The Clarke, Bloor and Disney families of Derby

Frederica Eliza Clarke and Frederica Muriel Clarke
Cabinet portraits taken c.1885-86 and c.1886-88
at the studio of W.W. Winter of Derby
Images © and collection of Brett Payne [1,2]

 

The young woman and child shown in the two cabinet cards from the studio of W.W. Winter, both of which featured in my previous post here on Photo-Sleuth, are identified sufficiently on the reverse to deduce who they are: Frederica Eliza Clarke née Disney (1857-1939) and her eldest daughter Frederica Muriel Clarke (b. 1883).

Badge of the Somerset Herald
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Frederica Eliza Disney was born in early 1857 at Lambeth or Brixton in Surrey, where her father Henry Cathrow Disney (1826-1896) worked as a customs clerk.  Henry was, in turn, the eldest son of James Cathrow (c.1792-1854), who had taken on the surname of Disney during his four decade-long tenure as Somerset Herald, an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London and member of the Royal Household [3,4].  Two years after the death of his father, Henry had married Emily Evans from Cardiganshire, and after Frederica, they were to have a further three sons: Henry Charles Cathrow Disney (1858-1906), James Cathrow Disney (1860-1934) and Charles Cathrow Disney (1867-1941). (5,6)

Morley Park Ironworks, c.1870s
Unknown photographer
Image © and courtesy of Picture the Past [7]

Some time between April 1861 [8] and April 1863 [9], Henry Cathrow Disney became the proprietor of the Morley Park Ironworks near Belper in Derbyshire [9], although the family only appear to have moved to live there around 1868 or 1869. [10]  The 1871 Census describes Henry, living with Emily, their youngest son and two servants at Morley Park, as an ironmaster employing 210 men and 61 boys, as well as occupying 144 acres of farm land, on which a further 4 men and a boy were employed. [11]  This was a substantial operation, obviously requiring a large amount of capital, as well as considerable managerial and financial skills.  In fact, these particular ironworks had provided work for the men of Heage for almost two hundred years.  Frederica and the two other sons remained at boarding school in Lambeth. [12,13]

Morley Park Ironworks, 9 September 2009
Image © Alan Murray-Rust and courtesy of Geograph.co.uk
Licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License [14]

By April 1873, when Frederica was sixteen, she was also living at Morley Park.  A report in The Derby Mercury describes her as presiding over a stall at a well patronized charity bazaar raising funds for the Heage parish church and National School. [15]  The ironworks business too was in need of supplementary income, as evidenced by the advertisement for the sale of 36 acres of land (The Stripe Farm, Denby) by Henry Cathrow Disney in September the previous year. [16]  In early 1874, however, resurrection of the financial situation proved to be impossible, and he was declared bankrupt.

Mr. H. Cathrow Disney, of the Morley Works, near Belper, has failed for 17,000l.  The works consist principally of two blast-furnaces, and it is not unlikely that the estate will turn out tolerably well. [17]

The family probably moved to Leeds shortly afterwards, where Henry was employed as a clerk at another unknown ironworks [18], and where on 10 May the following year Frederica was married to Thomas Clarke (1845-1904), a corn factor and maltster from Derby. [19,20]

The “Disney boys,” c.1894-1896
Henry Charles Cathrow and Charles Cathrow Disney
Cabinet portrait by Frederick J. Boyes of DerbyImage © and courtesy of Robert Silverwood [21] 

Frederica went to live in Derby with her husband and it appears that, between 1881 and 1887, her parents and at least two of her brothers did, too.  Certainly in 1887 Henry Disney was listed as resident at 3 Friary street, Derby [22], and by April 1891 he was working as a “maltster’s manager,” presumably for his son-in-law, Thomas Clarke. [23,24]  Henry Cathrow Disney died at his home, Friary Villa, Derby on 21st November 1896 at the age of 69. [25]

 

It was possibly around this time that two of his sons visited Frederick J. Boyes’ studio on Osmaston Road to have their portrait taken, a copy of which (see above) is now in the collection of Robert Silverwood [21].  Henry’s widow Emily Disney continued to live in Derby [26] until her death in 1914. [27]

 

Arboretum Square, Derby
Image © and courtesy of Derby City Council

 

In the mean time, Frederica and her husband Thomas Clarke had settled in a house – number 7 - in the fashionable Arboretum Square [28,29], located at one of the four entrances to Derby’s Arboretum, England’s first public park. [30]

Genealogy of the Clarke, Bloor and Cathrow Disney families
(click image for larger JPG or here for PDF file) 

Thomas was born and had grown up in Derby, his grandfather, also Thomas, having arrived there with his parents from Lincolnshire around the turn of the century. [4]  That Thomas Clarke (1783-1832) had established himself in the corn trading and malting business, with premises on Nottingham road, a short distance to the north-east of Derby’s centre. [31,32]  When he died at the relatively young age of 49, his wife Mary Clarke née Moore (1794-1860) continued to run the business [33,34] until their eldest son Thomas Clarke (1817-1879) was of an age where he could take over the reins. [35,36]

 

Sarah Elizabeth Clarke née Ramsbottom (1828-1893)
Carte de visite portrait by W.W. Winter of Derby, taken c.1880-1883
Image © and courtesy of Derby Local Studies Library [37] 

Frederica’s father-in-law (the “second” Thomas Clarke) was married at Heanor, Derbyshire on 11 May 1844 to Sarah Elizabeth Ramsbottom (1828-1893), daughter of Edward Ramsbottom of Liverpool, and grand-daughter of Robert Bloor of Derby. [4,38]

The Derby China Works, c.1780s
Image from Bemrose (1898) courtesy of Archive.org [39]

I will digress here because Sarah’s maternal grandfather Robert Bloor, and her husband Thomas Clarke, both played small parts in the history of Royal Crown Derby china, that product which has perhaps most been responsible for making the town of Derby known around the world.

 

Crown Derby Imari plate

Image © George Le Gars and courtesy Wikimedia Commons [40]

 

Robert Bloor (1778-1846) was born in the village of Church Gresley in South Derbyshire [41], but moved to Derby after his marriage to Sarah Gilliver (1776-1844) in 1799. [6,42]  The Derby China Manufactory, after having been started six decades earlier by John Heath, André Planché and William Duesbury, had been built up by successive owners William Duesbury II, Michael Kean, William Duesbury III and W.E. Sheffield. [43]  When in 1815 Robert Bloor leased the business, he had already been working there as a salesman and clerk for some years.

 

Bloor was a shrewd business man and art lover who knew the business well. The company began designing brightly coloured Japanese Imari patterns and new artists were hired as the company set about restoring its former reputation. He borrowed heavily to support the business but restored it to its former high position. [44]

Old China Works, Derby, undated
in Keys, John (1895) Sketches of Old Derby and Neighbourhood,
courtesy of Revolutionary Players [45]

 

Bloor may have lacked the artistic background of his predecessors … but the factory was never without talented artists and much fine work was produced under the Bloor regime. There is every reason to believe that he was well aware of the traditions he had succeeded to and endeavoured to maintain the high standard. [46]

 
Royal Crown Derby coffee can, c. late 1820s

Bloor mark used from c.1825

Image © Nathan Antonucci and courtesy of Montreal Antiques [47]

 

Sadly Robert Bloor’s mental health deteriorated, and he was unable to take an active part in the business from around 1828 onwards, the firm being entrusted to James Thomason, who had been manager since October 1815. [48]

 

China Works, Nottingham Road, Derby, 1817
from Magna Britannia by Lysons [49]

 

Depending on which source you read, Thomas Clarke was either responsible for a valiant, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to salvage the china works from a state of neglect and bad management [50], or instigated a statute of lunacy against his wife’s grandfather after the latter’s wife had died, to gain control of the firm, but had no interest in the business itself. [51] Whatever the real truth about Clarke’s intentions, an inquisition was held into Bloor’s mental state in early October 1844, resulting in the following verdict:

That it is the opinion of this Jury, that Mr. Robert Bloor is of an unsound state of mind, and incapable of managing his business, and has been so since the 26th of Feb. 1828. [48]

Bloor plate, c.late 1820s
Private Collection [52]

Robert Bloor died on 11 March 1846 at Hathern, Leicestershire, where he had been cared for over the previous sixteen years, aged 68.  His wife Sarah lived to the respectable age of 86, only dying in February 1852, Derby. [53,54,55]  Repeated efforts were made by James Thomason and Thomas Clarke to find someone to purchase or rent the china works, to no avail, and finally in February 1849 it was announced that china manufacture would be discontinued. [51] The plant, stock, moulds and materials were eventually sold to Boyle & Sons of Fenton, while the buildings were demolished, bringing an end to almost a century of production at the Nottingham Road china works. [56]

Nottingham Road, Derby, 1852
Image © and courtesy of the Derbyshire Archeaological Society [57]

The land was sold to two Catholic priests, a convent was built there by Reverend Thomas Sing of St Mary’s, and by 1852 it was home to the Sisters of Mercy, with a day school for 70 children, evening classes for factory girls, a large Sunday school, an orphanage, a training programme for domestic servants, a public laundry and, in the following year, a girls’ boarding school.  Sixteen nuns from the convent attended the sick and wounded at Scutari during the Crimean War. In 1862, since the convent had become unhealthy, the convent moved to more appropriate premises [58], the land was purchased by the Midland Railway Company and the buildings demolished in 1863. [59]

Nottingham Road, Derby, 1899
Image © The Ordnance Survey and courtesy of Alan Godfrey Maps [60] 

This was the same year that Thomas Clarke senior was elected and served as Mayor of the Borough of Derby. [61]   They had moved with their ten children from Nottingham Road, presumably in a house adjacent to the extensive malthouses and grain storage buildings which formed the core of the family business [60], to Pear Tree House in Litchurch. [62]  Thomas died in 1879 from a “lingering illness.” [50]

By the time Thomas Clarke junior’s daughter Muriel was born in 1883 [63], he appears to have been in control of the business. [64]  It also transpires that he employed his father-in-law Henry Disney, who moved from Leeds to live at 3 Friary Street, Derby before 1887, as a manager of the maltworks. [22,61]  Between 1878 and 1898, Thomas and Frederica had thirteen children, five sons and eight daughters. [5,65]  By 1899, the business had expanded considerably, with additional premises in Derwent street east and Fox street. [66],  The Clarkes had moved a number of times, to Matlock Bath in 1888 [67], to Scarborough in 1895 and then back to Derby in time for the April 1901 Census, which shows them living in [65].

Frederica’s father died in 1896 [25], her husband in 1904 [68] and in 1911 she was living in Mickleover with five of her children.  Frederica Eliza Cathrow Clarke née Disney died at Stratford in 1939, aged 81.  The fate of her daughter Muriel is unknown.

-----------------------------------------

Derby resident Nigel Aspdin – a keen photo-sleuth himself, as regular readers of this blog will know - has very kindly cycled around the western end of Nottingham Road to look for any remnants of the buildings which made up and surrounded the china works, convent, granaries and malthouses in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Cottages on Nottingham Road, Derby, 18 July 2010 
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin [70]

These two cottages on the north side of what is left of Nottingham Road, situated between Wood and Alice Streets, are possibly the only buildings remaining from the early to mid-19th Century.  Nigel suggests that they may even be remnants from the late 18th Century.  The old china works were almost certainly situated immediately to the west of these cottages, currently occupied by the sports grounds of the Landau Forte College.

Cottages on Nottingham Road, Derby, 18 July 2010
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin [70]

The gable outlines preserved by the fresher brick colours on the west facing wall of the cottage, as shown in Nigel’s picture above, are conceivably those of the Sisters of Mercy convent.

Possible former malthouse on Alice Street, Derby, 18 July 2010 
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin [70] 

Most of the malthouses appear to have been replaced by buildings which form part of the Liversage Charity Estate, built in the mid- to late 1890s.  However, there is a large building at the northern end of Alice street, the northern (above) and eastern walls (below) of which show some features suggesting that it could once have been a malthouse.

Possible former malthouse on Alice Street, Derby, 18 July 2010 
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin [70] 

On the north-facing wall a series of four, equally spaced rectangular concrete insets can be seen, each three brick courses high and at a high of about two metres.  It is possible that these were formerly where large internal timber cross-beams were set into the walls, acting as joists or supports for the malting floor.  Three similar insets can be seen in the right-hand part of the east-facing wall, at a similar height, half way up and between the ground floor windows.

Overlay of 1899 OS map on 2006 aerial photo
Image © Ordnance Survey and courtesy of Alan Godfrey MapsImage © Infoterra Ltd & Bluesky and courtesy of Google Earth

It is possible, therefore, that the existing building, outlined above in red from a 2006 aerial photo [71], was formed by the amalgamation of two former malthouses shown on the 1899 Ordnance Survey map [60].

 

Acknowledgements

 

Many thanks to Nigel Aspdin for once again setting forth armed with bicycle and camera in search of clues on my behalf, for his excellent photographs of buildings, for permission to reproduce the image of his Bloor plate, and for his thoughts on many aspects of the story told here. I am also grateful to the Derby Local Studies Library, Alan Murray-Rust and Robert Silverwood, for permission to reproduce images.

References

[1] Winter, W.W. (n.d.) Cabinet portrait of Frederica Eliza Clarke (1857-1939), Derby, c.1885-1886, Collection of Brett Payne.

[2] Winter, W.W. (n.d.) Cabinet portrait of Frederica Muriel Clarke (b. 1883), Derby, c.1885-1886, Collection of Brett Payne.

[3] Anon (2010) Somerset Herald, Wikipedia article [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[4] Howard, Joseph Jackson & Crisp, Frederick Arthur (eds.) (1897) Visitation of England & Wales, Volume 5, England: College of Arms, Courtesy of Archive.org [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[5] General Register Office (GRO) Index to Births, Marriages & Deaths, from FreeBMD [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[6] International Genealogical Index (IGI), from FamilySearch [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[7] Photographic print of Morley Park Ironworks, c.1870s-1880s, unknown size and format, © Derby Museum & Art Gallery Ref. DMAG001030, courtesy of Picture the Past, . [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[8] 1861 Census, 1 Lee Cottages, Cowley Road, Lambeth, Surrey, England, National Archives Ref. RG9/360/41/13/77, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[9] Anon (1863) Petty Sessions, April 15, The Derby Mercury, 22 April 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[10] Harrod, J.G. & Co. (eds.) (1870) Postal and Commercial Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, and Staffordshire, Second Edition, London & Norwich: J.G. Harrod, courtesy of the University of Leicester’s Historical Directories [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[11] 1871 Census, Morley Park, Heage, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG10/3588/21/1/3, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[12] 1871 Census, 4 Angell Park Gardens, Lambeth St Mary, Surrey, England, National Archives Ref. RG10/687/59/40/174, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[13] 1871 Census, 10 Wiltshire Road, Lambeth, London, England, National Archives Ref. RG10/688/59/38/152, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[14] Photograph of Morley Park Ironworks, 9 September 2009, by Alan Murray-Rust, © Copyright Alan Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

[15] Anon (1873) Heage, The Derby Mercury, 23 April 1873, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[16] Anon (1872) Advertisement, The Derby Mercury, 9 October 1872, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[17] Anon (1872) Trade of Derbyshire, The Derby Mercury, 26 August 1874, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[18] 1881 Census, 83 Caledonian Road, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG11/4534/88/23/139, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[19] Marriage Registration: Thomas Clarke & Frederica Eliza C. Disney, 2nd Qtr 1876, Leeds Registration District, Vol 9b Pg 564, General Register Office (GRO) Index to Births, Marriages & Deaths, from FreeBMD [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[20] Anon (1876) Births, Marriages & Deaths, The Derby Mercury, 17 May 1876, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[21] Boyes, Frederick Joseph (n.d.) Cabinet portrait of Henry Charles Cathrow Disney (c.1858-1906) and Charles Cathrow Disney (1867-1941), Derby, c.1894-1896, Collection of Robert Silverwood.

[22] Kelly, E.R. (ed.) (1887) Kelly’s Directory of Derbyshire, London: Kelly & Co., republ. on microfiche by the Derbyshire Family History Society.

[23] 1891 Census, 3 Friary St, Derby St Werburgh, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG12/2731/135/36/229, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[24] Kelly, E.R. (ed.) (1891) Kelly’s Directory of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire & Rutland, and Derbyshire, London: Kelly & Co., republ. on microfiche by the Derbyshire Family History Society.

[25] Deaths: Henry Cathrow Disney, The Times, Tuesday, Nov 24, 1896; pg. 1; Issue 35056; col A, The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning[Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[26] 1901 Census, 122 Green Lane, Derby, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG13/3218/86/2/8, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[27] Death Registration: Emily Disney, aged 80 [sic], 2nd Qtr 1914, Derby Registration District, Vol 7b Pg 651, General Register Office (GRO) Index to Births, Marriages & Deaths, from FreeBMD [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[28] 1881 Census, 7 Arboretum Square, Litchurch, Derby, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG11/3401/61/14/68, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[29] Anon (2009) Arboretum – History, Derby City Council web site [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[30] Harris, Christopher (n.d.) Derby Arboretum, England’s First Public Park, 1840-2010 web site [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[31] Anon (1828) Pigot and Co.’s National Commercial Directory for 1828-29, London & Manchester: J. Pigot & Co., courtesy of the University of Leicester’s Historical Directories [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[32] Glover, Stephen (1829) The Directory of the County of Derby 1827-9, Derby: Glover,courtesy of the University of Leicester’s Historical Directories [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[33] Anon (1832) Advertisement: In the late Mr. Thomas Clarke’s Affairs, The Derby Mercury, 23 May 1832, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[34] Anon (1835) Pigot and Co.’s National Commercial Directory, London & Manchester: J. Pigot & Co., courtesy of the University of Leicester’s Historical Directories [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[35] 1841 Census, Nottingham Road, Derby St Alkmund, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. HO107/199/17/54/16, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[36] Anon (1842) Pigot and Co.’s Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography, London & Manchester: J. Pigot & Co., courtesy of the University of Leicester’s Historical Directories [Accessed 20 Jul 2010].

[37] Winter, W.W. (n.d.) Carte de visite portrait of Sarah Elizabeth Clarke née Ramsbottom (1828-1893), Derby, c.1880-1883, Collection of Derby Local Studies Library.

[38] Marriage Registration: Thomas Clarke & Sarah Elizabeth Ramsbottom, 2nd Qtr 1844, Basford Registration District, Vol 15 Pg 647, General Register Office (GRO) Index to Births, Marriages & Deaths, from FreeBMD [Accessed 23 Jul 2010].

[39] Bemrose, William (1898) Bow, Chelsea and Derby Porcelain, London: Bemrose & Sons, Ltd., 174pp, courtesy of Archive.org [Accessed 24 Jul 2010].

[40] Image of Crown Derby Imari plate, © George Le Gars and courtesy Wikimedia Commons

[41] Parish Registers of Church Gresley, Derbyshire, 1695-1908, Derbyshire Record Office no: D2112/A/PI/1/1-4,2/1-5,3/1-7,4/1-4,5/1-2, Matlock, Derbyshire, transcribed from microfilm FHL 1785836, LDS Church Family History Library, by Brett Payne, partially available on Church Gresley Parish Pages [Accessed 23 Jul 2010].

 

[42] Parish Registers of Rosliston, Derbyshire, 1758-1812, Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock, Derbyshire, transcribed from microfilm FHL 1042087, LDS Church Family History Library, by Brett Payne [privately held].

[43] Royal Crown Derby, Article from Wikipedia [Accessed 24 Jul 2010].

[44] Anon (2006) Royal Crown Derby, Heirloom Antiques Centre [Accessed 23 Jul 2010].

[45] Image of Old China Works, Derby, in Keys, John (1895) Sketches of Old Derby and Neighbourhood, courtesy of Revolutionary Players, Derby Porcelain: William Duesbury II and Robert Bloor [Accessed 23 Jul 2010].

[46] Bunt, Cyril G.E. (1956) British Potters and Pottery Today, Leigh-on-Sea: F. Lewis, 130pp, Extract as article, “Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Co. Ltd.” on ThePotteries.org [Accessed 23 Jul 2010].

[47] Lloyd, Martin (n.d.) Marks on Derby Porcelain, on Montreal Antiques [Accessed 23 Jul 2010].

[48] Anon (1844) Commission of Lunacy at Hathern, The Derby Mercury, 16 October 1844, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 23 Jul 2010].

[49] Magna Britannia by Lysons

[50] Anon (1879) The Late Mr. Thomas Clarke, The Derby Mercury, 31 December 1879, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 23 Jul 2010].

[51] Twitchett, John (1980) Derby Porcelain, 1748-1848: An Illustrated Guide, Barrie & Jenkins, in Derbyshire Porcelain: Nottingham Road c.1749-1848, by the Derbyshire International Porcelain Society [Accessed 24 Jul 2010].

[52] Image of Bloor plate, Private Collection, Reproduced by permission.

[53] 1851 Census, 27 Sacheverel Street, Derby St Peter , Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. HO107/2143/409/27/133, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 24 Jul 2010].

[54] Death Registration: Sarah Bloor, 1st Qtr 1852, Derby Registration District, Vol 7b Pg 233, General Register Office (GRO) Index to Births, Marriages & Deaths, from FreeBMD [Accessed 24 Jul 2010].

[55] Anon (1852) Death Notice for Mrs Sarah Bloor, aged 86, in Sacheverel-street, on Thursday last (12 Feb 1852), The Derby Mercury, 18 February 1852, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning [Accessed 24 Jul 2010].

[56] Burton, William (1863) A General History of Porcelain, Volume II, London: Cassell & Company Ltd., courtesy of Archive.org [Accessed 24 Jul 2010].

[57] Anon (1852) Map of the Borough of Derby, surveyed by the Board of Ordnance for the Local Board of Health, (facsimile edition) Derbyshire Archaeological Society, 1980.

[58] Anon (n.d.) History of the Convent in Derby, St Mary’s Church & parish Derby web pages [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

[59] Jewitt, Llewellynn (1878) The Ceramic Art of Great Britain, Volume II, London: Virtue & Co., Ltd., 569pp, courtesy of Archive.org [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

[60] Old Ordnance Survey Map: Derby (North), 1899 (O.S. Derbyshire Sheet L.9), republished by Alan Godfrey Maps.

[61] Tacchella, B. (1902) The Derby School Register, 1570-1901, London: Bemrose & Sons, Ltd., 200pp, courtesy of Archive.org [Accessed 26 Jul 2010]

[62] 1861 Census, 1 Pear Tree House, Litchurch, Derby, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG9/2505/148/25/142, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

[63] Birth Registration: Frederica Muriel Clarke, 1st Qtr 1883, Derby Registration District, Vol 7b Pg 584, General Register Office (GRO) Index to Births, Marriages & Deaths, from FreeBMD [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

[64] Kelley, E.R. (ed.) (1881) Kelly’s Directory of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire & Rutland, & Derbyshire, 1881, London: Kelly & Co., republ. on microfiche by the Derbyshire Family History Society.

[65] 1901 Census, Darley Slade, Belper Road, Derby St Alkmund, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG13/3215/19/29/193, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

[66] Anon (1899) Kelly’s Directory of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire & Rutland, 1899, London: Kelly’s Directories Limited, courtesy of the University of Leicester’s Historical Directories [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

[67] 1891 Census, Mason House, Derby Road, Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG12/2775/126/4/17, UK Census Collection 1841-1901, from Ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

[68] Death Registration: Thomas Clarke, 2nd Qtr 1904, Burton Registration District, Vol 6b Pg 222, General Register Office (GRO) Index to Births, Marriages & Deaths, from FreeBMD [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

[69] 1911 Census, Radbourne View, Station Rd, Mickleover, Derbyshire, England, National Archives Ref. RG14/1040/16/7/59, England & Wales Census Records 1841-1911, from Find My Past [Accessed 16 Mar 2010].

[70] Photographs of buildings on Nottingham Road and Alice Street, Derby, 18 July 2010, by Nigel Aspdin, reproduced by permission.

[71] Aerial Photograph of Nottingham Road, Derby, 11 June 2006, by Infoetrra Ltd. & Bluesky, from Google Earth [Accessed 26 Jul 2010].

Henry & Henrietta Payne – A “Noble” Life

The theme for the 12th edition of the Smile for the Camera Carnival, hosted as usual on the blog Shades of the Departed, is “A Noble Life.” The connotation of this word that immediately occurs to me is akin to the first part of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) definition:

nō’ble 1. a. Illustrious by rank, title, or birth, belonging to nobility;

I don’t really know of anyone in my extended ancestral family who fits that rather grand description and, to be honest, I don’t really think that is what "Smile" host footnoteMaven contemplated. She elaborates:

“Show us a photograph of an ancestor, relative, or friend that is the embodiment of A Noble Life. A life that is worthy of those who came before and those who follow after. A Life filled with small but courageous acts; filled with love and honor. A simple life, an ordinary life, A Noble Life.”

The second part of the OED definition continues thus:

... of lofty character or ideals; showing greatness of character, magnanimous, morally elevated; splendid, magnificent, stately, imposing, impressive, in appearance; excellent, admirable.

A splendid cabinet card portrait of my great-great grandparents Henry Payne (1842-1907) and Henrietta Christina Benfield (c.1843-1914) comes immediately to mind. In that sense, I suppose that between them, they did lead what could be thought of as “noble” lives. I don’t have much direct evidence of the personal character of either of them, but I believe a great deal may be interpreted by a reader from an account of the experiences that shaped their lives, together with some contemporary reports.

Naturally, as was often the case in the male-dominated Victorian times through which they lived, it was Henry’s life which left the most significant paper trail, and has therefore been the most fruitful to research. I have little doubt, however, that Henrietta’s character was of no less influence in the lives of her children, grandchildren and those around her, even if her activities may have been conducted in a somewhat less public manner.


Henry & Henrietta Payne, c. April 1898
This photograph of Henry and Henrietta was taken at the Frederick J. Boyes’ Electric Daylight Studio at 22/24 Osmaston Road, Derby, around April 1898. I can’t be sure what occasion might have precipitated their visit to a photographer, but it may have been to mark Henry’s recent retirement from the building trade. Henry would shortly celebrate his fifty-sixth birthday; Henrietta was only a few months younger, and they had been married for thirty-three years. They had seven children – four boys and three girls – and their second grandson had been born in January that year. Henry’s duties as Vaccination Officer to the Borough of Derby, a post to which he had been appointed some thirteen years earlier, would now became his primary focus during his semi-retirement.


139 St James' Road, Normanton,
the home of Henry & Henrietta Payne,
1893-1902
By this time Henry and Henrietta were settled residents of Normanton, a southern suburb of Derby, where they lived in a large house that Henry had built at the western end of St. James’ Road in 1893. Their two eldest sons Charles Vincent and Charles Hallam, both married by this time, lived further down St. James’ Road in two houses opposite each other on the corner with Hastings Street. Vincent had set himself up as an estate agent, while Hallam had taken over the family shop, a grocery and off-license, which they had been operating for twenty-two years. The younger children were all still living at home. Frank had been appointed vaccination officer for Burton-upon-Trent a year earlier. Lucy Mary was probably working as domestic servant, although she became a stationer’s assistant a short time later possibly at Clulow’s in Derby. Fred and the two youngest girls Lily and Helen, aged 18, 16 and 14, respectively, were presumably still at school.

This settled scene is perhaps indicative of the environment in which their grandchildren, including my grandfather, grew up in the 1890s and early 1900s. However, it was a sharp contrast to the several decades of drive and hard work that it had taken for Henry and Henrietta to overcome the enormous hurdles which beset their early years.

Henry was born on 8 May 1842 in the Staffordshire brewing town of Burton-upon-Trent to a carpenter/wheelwright Peter Payne (1801-1845) and his wife Ann Tipper (1807-1857). Their three earlier children born between 1833 and 1840 had all died in infancy, so Henry’s prospects from the start were not great. Not many details of his father’s life are known, except that he suffered badly with asthma, from which he died in February 1845, three months before Henry’s third birthday. Ann’s mother had died the previous year in Church Gresley, and in the interim her stepfather had remarried and moved south to Warwickshire. She had several half-siblings but they were poor and had young families of their own to look after. Peter’s parents had died in 1839, leaving little in the way of an inheritance, while most of his siblings had moved away, either to other counties or abroad.

Ann’s sister-in-law Harriott Bagnall, a widow like herself, remained in Church Gresley with her five children. The four young Bagnall sons, barely in their teens, supported the family by working in the coal pits. It is possible that Ann and Henry went to stay with them, but they may also have visited Ann’s half-sister Dorothy Lunn née Benfield, whose husband William Lunn was working as an agricultural labourer in Church Gresley and Woodville.


The Parish Church of St. Stephen the Martyr, Woodville, 2007
On Wednesday 1st March 1848 Henry was enrolled among the first intake of 150 day scholars at the then newly built St. Stephen's Daily and Sunday School at nearby Woodville, two months before his sixth birthday. Less than a fortnight later Henry was baptized at the parish church of St. Stephen's.

On 25 April 1850 Henry's mother Ann was caught stealing several items in the High Street, Burton-upon-Trent. She was imprisoned in Stafford County Gaol on a charge of theft, and three weeks later, on 14 May 1850, Henry was admitted as ‘destitute’ into the Ashby Union Workhouse, situated on the Loughborough Road north-east of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. Ann was charged at Stafford County Court with two counts of larceny, to which she entered guilty pleas. The first complainant was William Brunt, a tailor, draper and hatter, from whom she had taken two jackets, worth one pound, and a cloth cap, valued at four shillings. The second was William Stanley, a butcher, and the theft this time was of three pounds of beef, valued at one shilling.


Reception Ward, Stafford Gaol, c.1869-1871
Image © and courtesy of Staffordshire Past-Track
She was found guilty of the charges, although in mitigation it was stated that she suffered from epilepsy, and the crime was considered to have been committed "while in a state of unconsciousness and absence of mind." Even without the epilepsy, it is not difficult to imagine Ann's dire circumstances: no husband, no close family, no means of income and an eight year-old child to care for. She joined her son in the workhouse roughly eight weeks later after her release from incarceration.


Workhouse or childrens' home, c.1880s
possibly in Nottingham
Henry and Ann appear to have spent most of the next five years in the workhouse. The Admittance & Discharge Registers show a series of comings and goings, with their spells outside the workhouse each being of only a few days’ duration. Worthy of note is the comment written at the time of Ann's re-admittance on Thursday 8th June 1854, stating that she was still "of unsound mind." The last known register entries for them show Henry still in the workhouse in October 1854, and Ann as an inmate in July 1855.


On 20 September 1857, Ann Payne died as the result of a terrible accident. The following is a report of the inquest from the Leicester Chronicle dated 3rd Oct 1857:

HARTSHORNE - An inquest was held on the 22nd ultim at Hartshorne, on the body of Ann Payne, widow, aged 50 years, whose death took place the Sunday morning previous from the effects of burning. The deceased was sitting alone in the workhouse, about nine o'clock at night, when, being suddenly seized with a fit (to which she was a subject), she fell against a table upon which there was a lighted candle, which candle falling upon her set her clothes on fire, the whole of which were consumed. The deceased lingered a few hours in excruciating pain, and the body on being viewed by the jury presented a most frightful sight. A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned.

She was buried two days later in the parish churchyard of St. Peter’s, Hartshorne.

According to family legend, Henry started work at the age of nine hauling in a clay pit. He was then reputedly bound to a cobbler, but ran away and worked on farm at Smisby, and possibly other farms, till he was eighteen. Although I haven’t found documentary evidence of this, it was common practice for workhouses at this time to “farm out” children to various employers. It is conceivable, therefore, that Henry may have worked in a pit belonging to one of the several earthenware and firebrick makers in the Woodville area. The Ashby Workhouse had some ten acres of land, most of it under pasture, but the inmates using “spade husbandry” cultivated about three acres. The nearby village of Smisby was mainly an agricultural community, and Henry could have worked at any of a number of farms in the vicinity.


Unidentified policeman from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, c.1870
On the 18th February 1861 Henry joined the West Bromwich Police Force, having spent a year or so in partnership with his cousin Thomas Benfield as a blacksmith at Princes End, near Birmingham. The change seems to have suited Henry very well. He rose quickly through the ranks and in the space of just over two years - by June 1863, soon after his twenty-first birthday, he had become the youngest sergeant in the force. However, Henry had itchy feet, and after resigning from the force on 7 July 1864, he moved to Burton-on-Trent and found work as a night watchman with the brewery firm of Ind Coope & Co., whose premises were at 120 Station Street. Five months later he married Henrietta Christina Benfield at Christ Church in Burton, describing himself as a book-keeper.


Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882
Courtsey of Fabulous Masterpieces
Information about Henrietta’s early life is still very sketchy and mostly reliant on secondary sources. Family legend has it that she was the illegitimate child of a chamber maid or barmaid who worked at a pub or small hotel in Burton-upon-Trent, the father being a wealthy-Jewish American industrialist named Gold. According to census records, she was born between 1840 and 1843 in Notting Hill or Camden Town, London. The identities of neither of her parents are very clear, but the painting of a barmaid at the Folies-Bergère by Édouard Manet is the image that always comes to my mind when I think of her mother. It seems very likely that Ann Tipper’s half-sister Dorothy Lunn informally adopted her, although the 1851 Census actually shows her lodging with an apparently unrelated family at Woodville. A decade later she was working as a housemaid for a retired army surgeon and his family in the village of Tutbury, northwest of Burton.

Shortly after their marriage they moved to Derby, where Henry found employment with Midland Railways as a pointsman. Having saved ten pounds, and assisted financially by a local solicitor named Sale who for some reason took a shine to him, Henry started building houses in the suburb of Litchurch. Henrietta, in between giving birth to and looking after three boys between 1868 and 1874, operated a shop from their successive homes in Douglas and Grange Streets, being described in various documents as a provision dealer, grocer, baker and off-license holder.

In September 1870, Henry made a trip to the United States. According to his son, he first "traveled to Virginia, looking for a farm. He put his watch and chain on a farm in or near Omaha, Nebraska, but didn't take it up." One of Henry’s granddaughters claims that Henry went looking for Henrietta's father, Mr. Gold. Whatever the reason, it appears that he must have returned to Derby after just a few months.


83 St James' Road, Normanton
The Payne family shop, 1876-1940s
In 1875 Henry built a house in St James' Road, Normanton for a curate. For some unknown reason, the curate never seems to have taken the house, so the family instead moved there, marking the start of a Payne association with that street which lasted for some eight decades. They successfully applied for an “out-door beer license” and opened a new shop in the part of the house situated on the corner with Hastings Street. Between the late-1870s and the early 1890s, Henry developed most of St James' Road and the adjacent Crewe Street, building a total of about 50 houses there, chiefly for letting.

In late 1877 Henry Payne left Derby with his family, by then including a daughter Lucy Mary almost a year old, and spent a few months living at Ash House, Turnditch, where it is possible that he built a new infants classroom at the National School. In August 1878, they returned to St James' Road, and the two older boys were re-enrolled at St Andrews Middle Class School, Litchurch. Henry had the off-license transferred back to his name on 8 October 1878.

Then in late 1879, Henry made a bold decision to try again to emigrate with his family to the United States, and an advertisement appeared in The Derby Mercury offering for sale "29 dwelling houses & business premises situate in Litchurch and New Normanton ... with instructions from Mr. Payne (who is leaving England.)" Henry sailed with his 13-year-old eldest son Charles Vincent from Liverpool to Philadelphia on board the S.S. British Crown, arriving on American soil on 2 March 1880, and "took up" a farm near Bladensburg, about four miles north-west of Washington D.C. They must have moved fast to find the farm and get the crops planted by late April or early May, and the census taken the following months shows a farm labourer Thomas Cash boarding with them.


Advertisement in The Derby Mercury, 26 May 1880
Henrietta had given birth to their fourth son Fred at St. James' Road in December the previous year, and probably waited in Derby for Fred to get a little older, and for word from Henry, before setting out to join them. She was probably also taking care of important financial and administrative matters. A sale notice in The Derby Mercury dated 26 May 1880 offers for sale "the whole of his superior household furniture and effects" by "Mr Henry Payne (who is leaving England.)"

Henrietta left Derby for the docks at Liverpool, nursing Fred and with Hallam, Frank and Lucy Mary in tow, in late June. It must have been some adventure for the children, and not a mean feat for Henrietta to achieve with four small children.


Port of Baltimore c. 1875
They arrived at the bustling port of Baltimore on 7 July aboard the SS Hibernian and joined Henry and Charlie at the farm shortly after. Even after the rigours of an Atlantic crossing, they do not seem to have had much time for rest and recuperation. "After being there about two days Hallam fell out of buggie and broke right arm ... went to hospital in Washington for 4-5 weeks." In the meantime, Charlie "went into Washington one day and as he came back was set upon by two niggers." Of far greater importance, "Mother was bad through change of climate." They returned to England soon after Hallam's recovery, "leaving all crops growing (2 nigger cabins on farm)," by 16 November 1880, when the beer license for the shop in St James’ Road was transferred back into Henry’s name. The UK census dated 3 April 1881 shows them again running the family grocery at 38 St. James' Road.

While they had been in America a new school, St James’ Road Board School, had been completed directly across the road from the shop, and Charlie, Hallam and Frank all enrolled there. Henrietta had two more girls, Lily and Helen, in March 1882 and October 1883, respectively. Henry went back to building more houses in St. James' Road and Crewe Street. A plan dated January 1885, by Edward Fryer, Architects & Surveyors is entitled, "Proposed Houses - St. James' Road Derby - for Mr Payne." In August 1887, Henry tried to obtain a full license as an "innkeeper or victualler, retailer of beer, wines spirits and liqueurs (to be drunk on the premises) at a house and shop situate at 38 St. James’ Road." Several local landowners and residents, clergymen from nearby churches, and members of the School Board strenuously opposed this, and it was denied. He tried again, also unsuccessfully, in August 1891.

In January 1883 Henry, who described himself as a house agent, made an unsuccessful attempt at election to the post of Relieving Officer for the Derby Board of Guardians. Two and a half years later, on 29 September 1885, and "after a spirited ballot," he was elected by the Board of Guardians as Derby’s first Vaccination Officer, a position which he was to hold for the next twenty years. The Derby Poor Law Union administered the post from offices at Becket Street in Wardwick, Derby. By his own admission, the duties involved resulted in him being "the most hated man in Derby," and occasionally brought him into conflict with his employers. The Minute Books of the "Dispensary Visiting Committee" of the Derby Board of Guardians contains numerous references to Henry and his work. A resolution made in July 1891 demonstrates the prejudice existing against "arm-to-arm" methods, and notes the introduction of a Calf Lymph vaccine. Statistics quoted show that by the first half of 1893, Henry was already vaccinating 100 people a month, representing roughly half the births in the borough. The minutes include numerous records of legal proceedings initiated by Henry against defaulters, as well as several occasions where Henry had disagreements with the Board, mostly concerning remuneration for his services. Henry eventually retired from this post in about 1905.


A newspaper obituary written for Henry in The Derby Mercury after his death in April 1907 contained the following:

"He carried out his duties in strict accordance with the orders of the Local Government Board in London, and his action was often made the occasion of adverse criticism on the part of local anti-vaccinators. Mr. Payne was a conscientious man who had a keen sense of duty, and did it. The nature of the official position which he held was perhaps not exactly one that conduced towards the making of hosts of friends. Still, those people who had more than a passing acquaintance with the deceased gentleman could not help but know of many sterling qualities which lay beneath a somewhat brusque exterior."

The April 1891 Census showed Henry and Henrietta at the house/shop on the corner of St. James’ Road/Hastings Street with five of their children. Apart from his vaccination duties, Henry was listed as a rent collector and still held the "off beer licence," although it was Henrietta who ran the shop. Presumably this rent was from houses that he had built and still owned, as he was still shown as a builder in trade directories and other documents as late as 1896.

When Charlie and Hallam returned from Chicago in November 1892, after working on the World's Columbian Exposition, Henry employed them to do joinery and other building work on houses that he was building in Crewe Street. They may also have worked on the large house that Henry built at the western end of St. James’ Road, number 139 which they named “The Hollies,” and into which Henry, Henrietta and the remaining children moved in 1894. It was about this time that Henry retired from the building business and Henrietta from an active role in the shop. Charles Vincent, his wife and young son moved into the shop, took over the licence in June 1894 and ran the family business for a couple of years, but then turned it over to Hallam and his wife in February 1896, and became an estate agent. Presumably he was managing the family’s growing property portfolio which, apart from his parent’s numerous houses, may have included properties that Charles Vincent and Hallam were developing and leasing out.

By April 1901 they still had five children living at home, although all except the youngest Helen were working. A year later, Henry and Henrietta retired to a house in nearby Sunny Hill, while Charles Vincent, Amy and their two children moved into number 139.

Henry died at 1.00 pm on Monday 1st April 1907 at "The Hollies," Sunny Hill after being ill for some time and was buried later that week at Normanton Cemetery. Among the hymns sung was "Now the labourer's task is o'er", fitting perhaps for someone who had worked hard from the age of nine almost until his death at the age of sixty-five to achieve so much.


Henrietta Payne, c.1910
Henrietta moved back to 139 St James’ Road and lived there until her death on Wednesday 18th February 1914. A memorial service was held at St. Augustine's Church on the following Sunday, and she was buried in the family plot at Normanton Cemetery.