A mystery marriage in Barton-under-Needwood - Epilogue

In Part 1 to Part 7 of this story, I described Nigel Aspdin's and my successful investigation into the identities of five people in a wedding portrait by William Farmer of Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire (shown above), and the location of this and two other carte de visite photographs. As part of that discussion I gave something of the background to the Smith and Hoult families. To round off the story, I would like to report on my research into what happened to the members of the two families after the wedding.


Rectory Farm & St Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Weston-on-Trent
from the Trent & Mersey Canal, 26 September 2007
Image © 2007 Brett Payne
Jacob Botham Smith and his wife Mary Ann settled initially at Rectory Farm, near the village of Weston-on-Trent in southern Derbyshire, where their only child, a daughter Mary Hardy Smith was born in about April 1870 and christened at the parish church on 7 May.


1871 Census: Rectory Farm, Weston-on-Trent, Derbyshire
National Archives Ref. RG10/3552/141/5/27
The census of 1871, taken on the night of Sunday 2nd April, found Jacob, Mary Ann and daughter Mary aged eleven months at home at the Rectory Farm. Jacob is described as a "farmer of 300 acres employing 5 men and 5 boys" so it must have been a fairly substantial operation. Also living in the household are two teenage girls, working as domestic servants, and three of the male farm servants.


Rectory & Glebe Farms, Weston-on-Trent
Source data - 1:25,000 Scale Colour Raster
Image © and courtesy of Ordnance Survey Get-a-map
F. Wright's Directory of South Derbyshire for 1874 includes the following listing under the village of Weston-upon-Trent:

• Smith Jacob Botham, farmer, Glebe Farm

Presumably the family moved the few hundred metres from Rectory Farm to Glebe Farm (shown on the current OS map above) between 1871 and 1874. Both properties were probably been leased from Sir Robert E. Wilmot-Horton, Baronet, who is listed as the principal landowner of the parish in Kelly's Post Office Directory of Derbyshire for 1876, as well as lord of the manor. The same directory lists the chief crops in the largely loam soils of Weston-on-Trent as "half grass, half arable." In January 1878, Jacob B. Smith was sworn in as a member of the Grand Jury at the Derbyshire Epiphany Sessions in the Derby Crown Court [Source: The Derby Mercury, 9 January 1878].


1881 Census: Glebe Farm, Weston-on-Trent, Derbyshire
National Archives Ref. RG11/3386/122/6/31
On Sunday 3rd April 1881 Jacob and Mary Ann were living at Glebe Farm; Jacob is described as farming 286 acres and employing four men and four boys. The servants living on the farm included a dairy maid. Rather strangely their daughter Mary, then aged ten, was not shown at home and I haven't been able to locate her in the census anywhere else.

Mary Ann Smith's death was registered at the Shardlow Register Office in the first quarter of 1885. I presume that she was buried in the churchyard at St Mary, Weston-on-Trent, although I have not been able to check the parish registers. She was only fifty years old.


1891 Census: Glebe Farm, Weston-on-Trent, Derbyshire
National Archives Ref. RG12/2201/27/13/64
On Sunday 5th April 1891, the widowed fifty year-old Jacob was living with his daughter Mary at Glebe Farm. No details of the farm size or number of employees were provided by the census enumerator, but there were seven servants living at the farm, including a housekeeper.


The Derby Mercury, Wednesday, January 11, 1893; Issue 9288.
Less than two years later, Jacob Smith decided to retire from farming. The Derby firm of auctioneers, Cumberland & Sons, inserted the following advertisement in the newspaper:

THE GLEBE FARM, WESTON-ON-TRENT, NEAR DERBY
(3 minutes' walk from Weston-on-Trent Station, Midland Railway)Messrs. CUMBERLAND and SONS are instructed by Mr. J.B. Smith (who is declining Farming) to SELL by AUCTION, on MONDAY, February 6th, 1893, the whole of his LIVE and DEAD FARM STOCK, viz.-
107 Beasts,
60 In-lamb ewes or theaves,
8 horses, pigs, poultry, Farm Implements, Tackle, &c.Lunch by Ticket 10. Sale at 11.30.
Particulars in future papers and catalogues.

The Derby Mercury, Wednesday, February 8, 1893; Issue 9292.
A report on the sale published in The Derby Mercury gives some idea of the farming operation, as well as the respect he had earned amongst the local farming community in the 25 years or so that he had been living there.

STOCK SALE AT THE GLEBE FARM, WESTON-ON-TRENT.Although it cannot be said that the agricultural prospect has materially improved of late, except as regards the weather, great interest was shown in this sale, held at Weston-on-Trent on Monday, and an unusually large attendance of country gentlemen, agriculturists, stock dealers, and butchers assembled at the place of sale. Doubtless the hopes engendered by Spring, and the prevailing opinion that prices hace now touched the bottom, the nearness to a good railway centre, the acknowledged usefulness of the cattle and horses to be sold, combined with the popularity of the owner, Mr. J.B. Smith were all instrumental in calling together one of the largest companies seen at a local stock sale for some years. A capital lunch was provided, to which over 500 persons did justice, and here, as in the sale yard, most satisfactory arrangements had been made under the direction of the auctioneers, Messrs. Cumberland and Sons. The sale commenced with the farm implements, waggons, tackle, dairy utensils, &c., which, being in trim order and modern, were quickly disposed of, and the live stock was then dealt with. Before proceeding, Mr. Cumberland said it was almost superfluous to impress upon his audience the sterling character of the lots he had to dispose of that day, both in cattle and horses. Mr. Smith's reputation and judgement were sufficient guarantee for any praise that he might bestow. The Shropshire inlamb ewes and theaves first came under the hammer in lots of five. They were a very fine flock, and made from 58s. to 63s. apiece. There were over 100 beast, which came up in capital form and condition; incalves realised from 15l. to 22l, barren cows 10l. to 14l., heifer yearlings 13l. to 15l. the pair. Calves 2l. to 2l. 10s. Fat bullocks 15l. to 21l. 5s. Fat heifers 17l. to 25l. 5s. Fat cows 19l. to 23l. Two bulls made 22l. 15s. and 21l. 5s. respectively. A good deal of interest was shown when the horses were trotted out. They were all of a very useful stamp, and eagerly bid for. Traveller, bay gelding, made 24½ guineas; Captain, black gelding, 28gs.; Jack, black half-legged gelding, 29gs.; Poppett, brown mare, 26gs.; Weston Blossom, bay shire mare, served by Harold, 60gs.; Berry, black shire mare, 62gs.; Florence, black shire mare, 29gs.; brown nag mare, 45gs. These concluded a sale that was in every way considered highly satisfactory, and as the company dispersed the general hope and expression was that Mr. J.B. Smith would experience many years of health and happiness in his well-earned retirement.

1901 Census: High Street, Castle Donington, Leicestershire
National Archives Ref. RG13/3204/61/5/34
In early 1899 Mary Hardy Smith, too, died at the age of twenty-eight. Her father retired to Castle Donington, Leicestershire, where he was shown living on the High Street - with three servants - on 31 March 1901. Subsequent directory entries demonstrate that he remained living at "The Hawthorns" in the High Street until his death in late 1915, aged eighty six.

Since their only daughter died at a young age without having married or had children, Jacob Botham Smith and Mary Ann née Hoult would have no surviving descendants. However, both had several brothers and sisters and numerous nephews and nieces.

• Joseph Botham Smith (1829-1915) married Jemima Bancroft (c.1840-1913). They farmed at Draycott Fields near Wilne and had six children.
  
• Elizabeth Botham Smith (1831-1912) married Charles John Storer (1828-1891), a Derby grocer and chandler.
  
• James Hardy Smith (1836-1928) married Jemima Marples (c.1836-1901) and farmed at Alvaston. They had no surviving children.
  
• John Hardy Smith (1838-1920) married Fanny Margaret Smith (c.1849-), with whom he had five children. Although originally a farmer, after his marriage they moved to Leicester, where he was a leather merchant.
  
• Margaret Abigail Hoult (1841-1901) married James Archer a farmer of Hoon Hay and Brailsford, Derbyshire. They did not have any surviving children.
  
• William James Hoult (1843-1900) married Hannah Newcomb (c.1847-1896) and farmed initially at Cranage, Cheshire, where their only son was born in 1870. In the 1870s they moved back to Barton-under-Needwood, and farmed at Tucklesholme Farm. James Newcombe Hoult (1870-1940) became a brewer's clerk, married Mary Ann Bruxby (c.1872-1916) and lived nearby at Efflinch; they had at least three daughters.
  
• Louisa Georgiana Hoult (1847-) married Edward Etches (c1816-), a cheese factor from Derby, and had three children.
  
• John Abell Hoult (1849-) married Fanny Archer (c1850-1929) and, after farming at Upper Blakenhall with his father James until the latter's death in 1882, moved to Newbold Manor Farm, north-east of the village of Barton-under-Needwood, in Dunstall parish. They had at least seven children, including a son Albert James Hoult (1883-) who served on the parish council in the late 1890s and early 1900s, and purchased Fulbrook House on Captain's Lane, Barton-under-Needwood in 1933. His son William John Hoult (1916-2000) also served on the parish council from 1952-1976.
  
• Joseph Emmanual Hoult (1851-) married Carolina Victoria Archer and settled in Cheadle, Staffordshire, where he was a chemist. They had one daughter.
  
• Constance Emily Hoult (1853-) married Charles Henry Hess, manager of a chemical factory; they settled in Hampstead, London.

... and that's it. I think I've done this one to death now, and will move on! I hope you've not found the journey too tedious.

Post Script

Many thanks to Michael Spencer who kindly checked the Weston-on-Trent parish registers in the County Record Office at Matlock for me. I now know that Jacob Botham Smith and Mary Ann Hoult were married by the rector Thomas Wadham at Weston-on-Trent on 22 February 1870 by licence, and that the witnesses present at the ceremony were Joseph Botham Smith, James Hardy Smith and Jemima Smith (two brothers and a sister-in-law of the groom).

When Mary Hardy Smith was baptised at Weston-on-Trent on 7 May 1870, the following was written into the margin of the baptism register:

Chas John STORER,
Elizabeth STORER,
The Mother Apr 5 1871

Mike states that similar notations elsewhere in the register specify the named individuals as sponsors of the child. I'm not sure what the sponsors would be in this context - perhaps something like godparents. I suspect that this means that on 5 April 1871, her mother asked the parish clerk to make the additional notation in the register that Charles John Storer and Elizabeth Storer had assented to become her daughter's sponsors. CJS and ES were, of course, the child's paternal aunt and uncle.

Mary Ann Smith née Hoult was buried at Weston-on-Trent on 12 January 1885, her place of residence at the time of her death, aged 51, being shown as Rectory Farm.

References

J.G. Harrod & Co.'s Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland & Staffordshire, 1870, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories
F. Wright's Directory of South Derbyshire, 1874, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories
E.R. Kelly's Post Office Directory of Derbyshire, 1876, from Ancestry
Kelly & Co.'s Directory of Derbyshire, 1881, from Ancestry
Kelly & Co.'s Directory of Derbys, Leicestershire & Rutland, and Nottinghamshire, 1891, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories
Kelly & Co.'s Directory of Leicestershire & Rutland, 1899, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories
Kelly's Directory of Leicestershire & Rutland, 1908, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories
Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Nottingham, Leicester & Rutland, 1912, from Ancestry
Kelly's Directory of Leicestershire & Rutland, 1916, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories
The Derby Mercury, in 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Digital images online from GALE Cengage Learning
UK Census 1841-1901 indexed images from Ancestry
Barton under Needwood Parish Council History on the Barton-under-Needwood Community web site

A mystery marriage in Barton-under-Needwood (Part 6)

James Hoult (1803-1882) was born at Church Broughton in Derbyshire, son of a shopkeeper. He settled at Swadlincote in South Derbyshire around 1828 where he operated a bakery and grocer's shop. He married Abigail Abell (1815-1874), daughter of Lullington farmer Richard Abell, around 1832. In 1842 James Hoult, perhaps with assistance from his father-in-law, started farming on a property of some 280 acres at Rangemore, near Tatenhill, across the county border in Staffordshire. By this time they had three daughters, and another three daughters and three sons were born at Rangemore before they made a second move some nine years later to Upper Blakenhall Farm near Barton-under-Needwood.


Advertisement from The Derby Mercury, 24 March 1847
A sale notice for stock, farm equipment and household effects at Upper Blakenhall appeared in The Derby Mercury of 24 March 1847. Presumably the Hoults moved in not too long after the property had been vacated by the previous tenant.


1851 Census: Upper Blakenhall Farm, Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire
National Archives (NA) Ref. HO107/2012/368/34/122
Image © The National Archives and courtesy of Ancestry
The census taken on the night of Sunday 30th March 1851 appears to have caught the Hoults in mid-move. Their eldest daughter Mary Ann, then aged seventeen, was obviously regarded as pretty responsible, as she was installed with nine year-old younger sister Margaret Ann and a servant in the new house at Upper Blakenhall. James and a pregnant Abigail - she would give birth to a fourth son in about August - remained with two more children and a couple of servants at Rangemore, presumably winding up affairs. The other children, perhaps to keep them out of the way during the upheaval, were staying with Abigail's brother John Abell farming at Coton Park in Derbyshire.


A Cottage in Needwood Forest, 1790, by Joseph Wright (1734-1797) of Derby
Image © Derby Museum & Art Gallery & courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
Upper Blakenhall, a separate farm to that of Blakenhall Manor, was probably part of the Wychnor (or Wichnor) Estate, home of the Levett family, and was situated on the southern margin of what had been the huge 70,000-acre Royal Forest of Needwood, celebrated by Derby's well known romantic artist Joseph Wright in his 1790 painting, Cottage in Needwood Forest (shown above). However, the agricultural enclosures which were enacted in 1803 and completed by 1811, although strongly resisted by many including the poet F.N.C. Mundy, resulted in its deforestation with only a small few patches remaining today. By the mid-1800s, the denudation was well under way - indeed, the Hoult's previous farm at Rangemore was one of those created by this process.


Extract from the First Edition of the One-inch Ordnance Survey Map, 1834-1891, showing Upper Blakenhall Farm & Barton-under-Needwood
It seems likely that James Hoult was a lessee of Upper Blakenhall, rather than a freeholder. They were to remain living there for over three decades until James Hoult's death in 1882, and not only would it have come to be regarded as the family home but they, too, would have undoubtedly have left their mark on the property. The amount of land which they leased varied over time, according to census data, from 232 acres in 1851, to a maximum of 247 acres in 1861, then 192 acres in 1871 and finally 212 acres in 1881.


Farmland and Park Piece Plantation, near Upper Blakenhall Farm
Image © Copyright Cris Sloan and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence, Courtesy of Geograph.co.uk
Kelly's 1868 edition of the Post Office Directory of Staffordshire describes the countryside in the parish of Barton-under-Needwood as, "exceedingly fertile, and in a high state of cultivation, studded with numerous farmhouses ... a great portion is fine pasture and meadow land ... The crops are wheat, beans and barley." A map produced by Gerald Carey in his book on Barton parish shows the area occupied by Upper Blakenhall Farm as "mainly arable with some cattle," and it is likely that this predominance of crops over livestock doesn't represent much of a change from what it was a century and a half ago. The Derby Mercury reported on 15 October 1862 that:

Mr. Dickenson held his 12th monthly sale of fat and store stock, &c., at the Bowling Green Inn, Burton-on-Trent, on Monday se'nnight. There was a very large show of beef and mutton of first-class quality, and a considerable attendance of butchers and farmers. The stock was supplied by the following gentlemen ... Hoult, Blakenhall.

The 1861 Census shows James Hoult employing four labourers, including daughter Margaret as a dairy maid, son William as a shepherd and daughter Catherine as a house servant. Mary Ann Hoult was still living at home, and presumably helped on the farm, although she is not shown with an occupation. Her sister Ann was living and working in Lichfield, where she was apprenticed to a milliner, while another sister Sarah Jane was at boarding school in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire.


Advertisement from The Derby Mercury, 10 May 1864
In June 1864 Upper Blakenhall Farm was offered for sale by auction. Although it is not clear who bought it, or indeed if a sale was effected, the advertisements in The Derby Mercury, which appeared for four weeks prior to the sale, are useful since they detail the actual properties occupied at that time by James Hoult:

• Blakenhall Farm, 182a. 0r. 4p.
  
• Ryelands and two Row Meadows, 19a. 3r. 20p.
  
• Cote Closes, with Buildings and part of Allotment, 28a. 1r. 18p.
  
• Damford Weir Meadow, 6a. 3r. 39p.

This amounted to a total of 238a. 3r. 1p. (1 acre = 4 roods = 40 perches) which presumably James Hoult continued to lease.

Mary Ann was not the first of James and Abigail Hoult's children to marry. Their eldest son William James Hoult (1843-1900) had married Hannah Newcomb in 1868 in Cheshire, and by February 1870 was probably operating the 184 acre dairy farm at Cranage in that county, where he was certainly living at the time of the census in April 1871.

Living at home with James and Abigail in 1870-1871 were four of their children:
- Ann Botham Hoult (1835-1872)
- Louisa Georgiana Hoult (1847-)
- John Abell Hoult (1849-)
- Constance Emily Hoult (1853-)
Mary Ann's other siblings were living further afield:
- Margaret Abigail Hoult (1841-1901) was living at Hoon House, Hoon, Derbyshire, where she was housekeeper to a farmer, James Archer, who she later married in 1874.
- Sarah Jane Hoult (1846-) was in Over Whitacre, Warwickshire, also working as housekeeper to a farmer James Archer, who she later married.
- Third son Joseph Emmanual Hoult (1851-), their first child born at Upper Blakenhall and now aged twenty, was apprenticed to a chemist in the High Street, Burton-upon-Trent.

Mary Ann Hoult's husband-to-be Jacob Botham Smith (1840-1925) was born at Aston-on-Trent, where his father Jacob Botham Smith senior (1800-1864) was a butcher and farmer. His three older brothers Joseph Botham Smith (1829-1915), James Hardy Smith (1836-1928) and John Hardy Smith (1838-1920) were also farmers, with properties at Draycott, Weston-on-Trent and Aston, respectively. He also had a sister Elizabeth Botham Smith (1831-1912) who was married to Derby grocer and chandler Charles James Storer (1828-1891).


The married couple who we are trying to fit into this wedding portrait were:

• Jacob Botham Smith, aged 29, and Mary Ann Hoult, aged 31

I have demonstrated that there were certainly no shortage of male family members to be present at the marriage ceremony and reception party, but we should also investigate the likelihood of which of them were actually there. In summary, the males most likely to be present were, in order of decreasing age:

• James Hoult, aged 67
  
• Joseph Botham Smith, aged 40
  
• James Hardy Smith, aged 34
  
• John Hardy Smith, aged 32
  
• William James Hoult, aged 26
  
• John Abell Hoult, aged 21
  
• Joseph Emmanual Hoult, aged 19

Since the marriage took place in the groom's home parish of Weston-on-Trent, it is probable that some of his family would be present at the ceremony. If the reception did take place in the bride's home at Upper Blakenhall - a possibility suggested earlier in this article - the wedding party would have needed to travel there from the parish church at Weston-on-Trent, a distance of about 20 miles (32 kilometres). Some of the Smith family may also have accompanied the happy couple to the bride's home for the reception, but the Hoult family would surely have been present in force. The journey would probably have taken several hours [Source: Yahoo Answers] in a horse-drawn carriage, suggesting that they would not have arrived at Blakenhall until the afternoon or the following day.


Estimating ages from photographic portraits is always tricky, particularly with early cartes de visite. However, it is a process that one often has to attempt in the course of researching old photographs, and I shall provide some provisional ages for this one, in order to try and match the participants with the family concerned.


1. The Groom is seated on a chair to the right of, and slightly behind, the bride, perhaps to accomodate the large skirts of her wedding gown. He has short hair with a slightly right of centre-parting, short sideburns, and looks to be in his late twenties or early thirties. This could well be Jacob Botham Smith, who was aged 29 at the time of his marriage.


2. The Bride is dressed in a white wedding gown with veil and is carrying a bouquet in her left hand. She is seated more or less at the centre of the group, and her being slightly forward from her husband gives the appearance that she, rather than her husband, is the primary subject of the photograph. She looks to be around the same age as her husband, i.e. in her late twenties or early thirties, although the harsh white light reflected from the wedding gown, together with the fact that she has her eyes facing somewhere in front of the photographer's feet, has made it difficult to see her face very well. Since Mary Ann Hoult was thirty-one when she was married, it would also fit rather nicely.


3. The Youngest Male in the group, standing on the left, is probably in his late teens or early twenties. He has both of his hands resting lightly on the shoulders of the groom, seated directly in frot of him. Often, this would have been arranged by the photographer to suggest that there was some relationship between them, but might not necessarily have been the case. Jacob Smith didn't have any younger brothers, so I suspect this was one of Mary Ann's two youngest brothers, John Abell or Joseph Emmanual Hoult, aged 21 and 19, respectively.

N.B. The rather vacant expression in his eyes is due to a technical photographic quirk, rather than any zombie-like qualities of the subject. Albumen and collodion emulsions used in early photographic processes had poor sensitivity to certain wavelengths of light, and in particular extra sensitivity to the blue end of the spectrum, which could result in some rather strange effects such as that seen here. Photographers often retouched their subjects' irises as pencilled dots on the negatives to make the portraits a little more realistic.


4. The man standing in the middle appears to be the Oldest Male. He has a fine moustache and long sideburns or Dundreary whiskers, and hair which is perhaps thinning somewhat on top. I would say that he is in his thirties at least, perhaps even early forties. None of Mary Ann's brothers were that old. It could, however, be one of Jacob's three older brothers, aged between 32 and 40.


5. The fully Bearded Man standing on the right is probably in his mid- to late twenties or early thirties. This could be Mary Ann's brother William James Hoult, aged 26, or the youngest of Jacob's three older brothers John Hardy Smith, aged 32.

One of the questions that occurs to me at this stage is why the wedding group should include this particular selection of family members. On refelection, however, it is clear that this portrait, or indeed the group of three cartes de visite, should not be considered as a complete set. Almost certainly they were originally part of a larger collection of photographs, and the full context has naturally become obscured as a result of being separated, as well as from the loss of any knowledge of the provenance.


Glebe Farm, Weston-on-Trent, 14 April 2009
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Jacob and Mary Ann Botham settled at Glebe Farm, near Weston-on-Trent, after their marriage, where Jacob farmed 300 acres of land, employing five labourers and five boys. The census of Sunday 2nd April 1871 shows them living at the farm with a daughter Mary H. Smith, aged 11 months, and five servants. Mary Hardy Smith was born at Weston-on-Trent, probably in the month of April 1870, if the age given in the census was accurate. The birth was registered at the Shardlow Register Office during the second quarter (April-June) of 1870, and Mary Ann was baptised at St. Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Weston-on-Trent on Saturday 7 May 1870.

This implies that Mary Ann would have been at least six months, and presumably quite visibly, pregnant at the time of her marriage in early February 1870. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to look for any signs of such a pregnancy in the carte de visite portraits. Unfortunately, large expanses of white colour never photographed well in those early years (photographers usually advised their customers to wear only dark clothing to avoid this problem) and, even with digital enhancement, the definition is not clear enough to make out whether the subject is pregnant or not.


The portrait of a woman feeding the dogs is intriguing, but it is difficult to interpret a great deal from it. I can't even make out whether the subject is the same woman as the bride in the wedding group portrait. If it is, then she has changed clothing, presumably into a brown or black "travelling dress" as discussed in Part 4 of this series of articles. Perhaps she is saying a last goodbye to the family pets. Again though, I can't make out whether she is likely to be pregnant or not.

At this stage most readers will be able to tell that I am fairly confident that the Smith-Hoult marriage is by far the most likely candidate for the wedding portrait. In Part 7, I will discuss the architectural aspects of the portrait that have convinced me - with a confidence of, say, above 90% - that it must be the right one.

References

International Genealogical Index (IGI) from the LDS church online at FamilySearch
1841 Census of Swadlincote, transcribed by Brett Payne, on the Swadlincote Parish Pages
Derbyshire Petty Sessions, an index compiled from original records by Michael Cox and presented online by John Palmer on his Wirksworth web site
The Derby Mercury, in 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Digital images online from GALE Cengage Learning
Index to General Register Office Births, Marriages & Deaths from FreeBMD
UK Census 1841-1901 indexed images from Ancestry
Pigot's Directory of Derbyshire, 1831, from Ancestry
W. White's History, Gazetteer & Directory of Staffordshire, 1851, from Ancestry
Harrison, Harrod, and Co.'s Directory and Gazetteer of Staffordshire, 1861, from Ancestry
E.R. Kelly's Post Office Directory of Staffordshire, 1868, from Ancestry
J.G. Harrod & Co.'s Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland & Staffordshire, 1870, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories
E.R. Kelly's Post Office Directory of Staffordshire, 1872, from Ancestry
F. Wright's Directory of South Derbyshire, 1874, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories
E.R. Kelly's Post Office Directory of Derbyshire, 1876, from Ancestry
Reprint of the first edition (1834-1891) of the One-inch Ordnance Survey of England and Wales: Sheet 34 (Stafford) & Sheet 42 (Lichfield & Birmingham), publ. 1970, David & Charles, ISBN 0715346342 & 0715348574
Gerald Carey (undated) The Parish Of Barton Under Needwood In Staffordshire, a 2004 web version of the book of the same title by Gerald Carey
Gerald Carey (1999) The Manor Of Barton Under Needwood in the County of Staffordshire, 2001 web version
Needwood Forest, Wikipedia article
How fast can a horse and carriage travel? from Yahoo Answers
Cameras From Daguerreotypes to Instant Pictures, by Brian Coe, 1978, Crown Publishers, ISBN 0517533812

Wallis, Furnishing Ironmongers of Bakewell (Part 1)

I received this image of an ambrotype, or collodion positive, recently from Nino Manci, who purchased it in Buxton, Derbyshire.


Apart from a little damage to the emulsion of the original, presumably from abrasion, it is a very nice picture. I should point out that I have carried out some minor digital manipulation of the image - mainly adjustment of the contrast, with no other editing of the picture - as the original was very dark. Although it is no longer housed in the case in which it was likely to have been originally sold, it does still have the ornate pinchbeck frame in relatively decent condition. Pinchbeck, now synonymous with things cheap and tawdry, was a gold-coloured copper-zinc alloy developed in the 1700s by English watchmaker, Christopher Pinchbeck [Source: World Wide Words], that became a popular choice for cheap frames (I think matts in US parlance).

On the reverse of the ambrotype is the inscription, "Wallis Ironmongers, Nr Post Office, Bakewell." The picture shows a shopfront and, in Nino's words, "I presume Mr Wallis at the door of his establishment with the sign 'Furnishing Ironmongers' above him. The shop seems to sell a wide range of household and farming products." The first interesting thing to note is Nino's statement that the photo was probably taken from the mid-1880s to the 1890s. Ambrotypes became very popular, and indeed the most common type of photograph used for portraits, in the mid- to late 1850s, but were still common in the early 1860s, before being rapidly superseded by the carte de visite. However, they were still used occasionally, mainly because of their cheapness, for example by travelling photographers, and enjoyed brief resurgences in popularity from time to time.

The firm Wallis Ironmongers of Bakewell appears to have been fairly long-lived. John, William and Edwin Wallis were three sons of a Bakewell lodging house keeper, William Wallis (c1790-1844) and his wife Mary Lees. Slater (1850) lists the middle son William Wallis (1824-) as a brazier and tinman with a shop on Bridge Street, Bakewell, although the census a year later indicates that they lived with their widowed mother in Water Lane. John and Edwin Wallis were working as carriers in 1851, and John had become an earthenware dealer in 1855 (Anon). By 1857 (White), John had married and opened an ironmongery and glass & china dealers on Bridge Street, and three years later (Harrison, 1860) Edwin was a smallware dealer around the corner in Bath Street.

Their mother Mary Wallis died shortly after the 1861 census, and Edwin Wallis married Ann Kitson (c1838-18 at Bakewell on 22 May 1864. Ann gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, early the following year, but sadly Ann and the boy died soon after. Edwin remarried on 2 August 1866 to Sarah Susannah Bower (c.1837-1919). By the time the 1870 edition of Harrod & Co.'s trade directory was compiled, Edwin was operating as a general dealer and ironmonger at Anchor square, Bakewell, while John and his wife had vanished from the scene. The 1871 Census shows them to be doing sufficient business by then to be employing a shop assistant and a general servant.

By 1881 (Census & Kelly) Edwin & Sarah Wallis were living in Bath Street and operating what was referred to as an ironmongery and general dealership in Bridge Street. Edwin died in late 1883, at the age of 51, leaving a widow and five children, the eldest Mary Ann being sixteen and the youngest only three years old. However, Sarah continued to run the shop, and was listed in the 1887, 1891, 1895 and 1899 trade directories. Her children Lucy and Charles Wallis became shop assistants by 1891, and continued to assist her until at least 1901. Sarah Wallis died in 1919.


Before discussing the date that the photograph was taken, I would like to mention one of the reasons that that Nino sent me the image in the first place, as it is particularly relevant to the dating exercise. In his words, and relating to the enlarged portion of the photograph shown above:

What may be of interest to you is that just inside the window, to the right of Mr Wallis is a separate display cabinet displaying photographs. The scan is not as crisp as under a magnifying glass. At the top of the case are the words Seaman and Sons Photographers. The cabinet appears to be full of scenic views of Derbyshire. Many firms, such as Francis Frith made a good living from the sale of such images, and this shows how Mr Seaman also adventured into selling his firm's images though other outlets.

From my study of the photographic firm, it appears they only started trading as Seaman & Sons in the mid-1880s. The founder of the business, Alfred Seaman (1844-1910), opened his first studio in Chesterfield in around 1876. Although his second son Albert Edward was already working as an photographic assistant in the studio in 1881, he was only fifteen years old, and it would have been normal that the firm would only have started trading with the suffix "& Sons" when the sons reached the age of eighteen. Indeed, it is not until the 1887 edition of Kelly's trade directory that the listing is formally shown as A. Seaman & Sons.

It seems unlikely that the man - perhaps in his late 20s or early 30s - standing in front of the shop is Edwin Wallis, as he died in late 1883. I assume, therefore, that he is an assistant hired by Sarah Wallis. Charles Wallis was 25 years old by 1901, so there is a possibility it is him, if the photograph was taken in the early 1900s. I still haven't come to a conclusion when it was taken, but perhaps a discussion of other items in the photograph may help in this regard.

The shop window contains a myriad of interesting items on display, some of which are easy to identify. Rather than presenting readers of this blog with a fait accompli, I thought it might be interesting to open up the task of identifying as many articles as possible, a form of what The Economist recently referred to as crowdsourcing. Although this concept is not new - it was used in the 19th Century to compile the Oxford English Dictionary - the term was first coined in 2006 (Howe) to describe a process which harvests the talents of an undefined group of people, generally via the internet, to perform a task traditionally carried out by an employee or contractor. This is much along the lines of what I have inadvertently achieved on Derbyshire Photographers over the last six years, with hundreds of contributions from family historians and photograph collectors all over the world.

So if you would like to participate in this mini-crowdsourcing experiment, please feel free to download the high resolution version of the image here (but be careful it is over 3MB). I'm looking for a comprehensive list of all the items that can be identified in the shop window, in the doorway, on the pavement in front of the shop, on the walls, etc. If you know, or can find by researching, any interesting details to add about the items, or contemporary (i.e. from that era, not this one) images of similar items, so much the better. Please feel free to either post as comments or by email. I will post the results of our combined analysis as Part 2 of this post in due course, and will include acknowledgements to all who participate.

I am, of course, hoping that there will be some further clues unearthed which may help to narrow the dates. However, even if we don't manage that, it will be an interesting exercise in the powers of our observation. Good luck and thank you.

References

Anon (2008) Following the Crowd. The internet: The idea of "crowdsourcing," or asking crowds of internet users for ideas ... in The Economist, Vol 388, Number 8596, Technology Quarterly Insert, September 6th 2008, p. 8
Howe, Jeff (2006) The Rise of Crowdsourcing, in Wired, Issue 14.06 June 2006.
Anon, Crowdsourcing, from Wikipedia
Quinion, Michael (2004) Pinchbeck /ˈpɪn(t)ʃbɛk/, on World Wide Words
Digital Trade Directories courtesy of the University of Leicester's Historical Directories:
- Anon (1855) Post Office Directory of Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire
- Harrod, J.G. & Co. (1870) Postal & Commercial Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland & Staffordshire
- Kelly (1891) Directory of Derbyshire
- Kelly (1895) Directory of Derbyshire
- Kelly (1899) Directory of Derbyshire
- Kelly (1912) Directory of Derbyshire
Trade Directories on microfiche from the Derbyshire Family History Society (Collection of Brett Payne):
- Slater (1850) Directory of Derbyshire
- Harrison & Co. (1860) Directory of Derbyshire
- Kelly (1881) Directory of Derbyshire
- Kelly (1887) Directory of Derbyshire
Bagshaw, Samuel (1846) History, Gazeteer and Directory of Derbyshire, Photocopy from original now in collection of Barbara Ellison)
White’s 1857 Directory of Derbyshire by Neil Wilson
Index to GRO Birth, Marriage & Death Indexes from FreeBMD
International Genealogical Index (IGI) from the LDS Church's FamilySearch database
Indexed 1841-1901 UK Census Images from Ancestry

The Story of a Down-to-Earth Family Heirloom (Part 2 of 3)

In Part 1 of this article, I provided some background to the Miller family of Weston Underwood (Derbyshire, England), together with a couple of old photographs of the house where they lived, and in which they ran a grocer's shop and post office.

After reading the article about John Miller, carrier of Weston Underwood fellow photo-sleuth and Derby resident Nigel Aspdin, who often visits the nearby Kedleston Park, paid a visit to Weston Underwood to see if he could see any evidence of the brickyards and the former post office. Although he hadn't seen my old photos at the time, he made a very good educated guess and hit on the exact building straight away. He found,

a large jumble of buildings or different build, all one property now, I think. There are a few things about this building that attracted my attention. It is called "Stores Cottage" or "Old Stores Cottage," depending upon which gate sign you look at. I note that the roof has been patched with red roofing tiles, on both sides. The blue roofing tiles are what are called, locally, as "hand made Staffordshire blue", but these reds are clearly from somewhere else. Could they have been produced locally? The location of this building is, in my view, a ... likely location for a shop/post office/carriers office etc ... It is by all of the road junctions.

Coincidentally, Nigel chose almost exactly the same spot for one of his photographs of the building (above).


He also took photographs of other houses in the village, including a couple with dates on the gables.



The dates 1861 and 1862 indicate that the houses were built at a time when James Miller was producing bricks in the village, and it seems likely that the houses were constructed of bricks from his brickyard. The ornate "S" we assume stands for Lord Scarsdale, although we have not yet been able to verify that the coat of arms is an appropriate one.


Nigel also noticed, just around the corner from the "post office," an interesting pair of stone gate posts. It appears that they might once have framed the entrance to a substantial building of some kind. The stone wall on either side of the gate posts appears to have been a later addition.


This necessitated some further research, and Nigel paid a visit to the Derby Local Studies Library, where he found an 1:2500 Ordnance Survey Map of Weston Underwood, dated 1898. A portion of the map is shown above - clicking on the image will bring up a larger image, revealing more of the map. The map shows a building in the "vacant" plot, exactly where one might expect it in line with the stone gate posts, labelled "Meth. Chap. (Wes.)," i.e. Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). This plan is overlaid on the modern Google Maps satellite image below.


Kelly's 1899 Trade Directory for Derbyshire shows only a "parish hall, built by Lord Scarsdale in 1879" in Weston Underwood, but the 1887 edition states, "here are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Chapels."


I found a photograph, almost certainly in postcard format, of the cross-roads in Weston Underwood, including what must be the chapel, on the Picture the Past web site (Ref. DCHQ501676).

In the third, and final, part to this story, I will relate the discoveries made by Nigel on his second visit to the village, after I asked him if he could try to take a photograph from the same viewpoint as the postcard shown above.

The Story of a Down-to-Earth Family Heirloom (Part 1 of 3)

I'd like to share with readers the story of a recent investigation into several family photographs which resulted in a rather unexpected, but delightful, discovery. First, I will need to provide a little - okay, perhaps quite a lot of - background material. If you'd rather skip the background, and cut straight to the chase, then feel free to click here.

In a couple of recent blog articles (here and here), I've discussed photographs relating to the Miller family of Weston Underwood in Derbyshire. My great-grandmother Edith Newman Brown née Miller (1872-1956) and my cousin Lynne Tedder's grandfather Frederick Newman Miller (1885-1958) were two of ten surviving children of John & Eliza Miller. John Miller's parents were James Miller (1815-1893) and Mary née Cuckson (1815-1878). James was a drainage contractor who had worked in Nottinghamshire and Cheshire, before settling in Weston Underwood in the late 1850s.


It seems likely that he was initially employed in some capacity by Lord Scarsdale - Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, 4th Baron Scarsdale, of nearby Kedleston Park - who owned all of the land in the hamlet of Weston Underwood at that time. He was probably involved in both draining of land and as a brick manufacturer, since that is how is shown in the 1861 Census (see image above), employing 8 men. James Miller's three sons, aged between seven and twelve, and including my great-grandfather John, were all working in the brick yard. Harrod & Co.'s 1870 Directory of Derbyshire [from Historical Directories] and the 1871 Census [from Ancestry] show James continuing as a brick, tile and pipe maker and land drainer. All three sons were still working in the brickyard, although John was by then married and living his wife Eliza, the local school mistress, in the adjacent village of Mugginton.

The next decade, the 1880s, saw some significant changes for the Millers. James's sons and daughters were growing up and leaving home to get married, and the arrival of grandchildren resulted in a rapid expansion of the extended family. An older daughter Ann Miller had married farmer Edwin Fearn and was living at Ireton Farm, Mugginton. James William Miller (1852-1921) had married Hannah Oakley (1853-1915), a farmer's daughter from Kirk Ireton, had moved into the Mill House, Mugginton, and was now farming on a small scale himself, as well as continuing to work in the brickyard. Third son Tom Cuckson Miller married Lucy Hunt, daughter of a farm worker, and was helping his father out in both the land drainage and brickmaking enterprises.


The Post Office at Weston Underwood, taken from the south
(along what is now Cutlers Lane)
Undated, Image © & courtesy of Lynne Tedder
In the early 1880s, by which time their family had expanded considerably - four daughters and three sons by 1882 - John and Eliza Miller opened a grocery and sub-post office in Weston Underwood. These two photographs (above and below), which were sent to me by cousin Lynne, show the house in which the Millers lived, and in which the grocer's shop and post office was located. It looks a rather large building, but it would have had to house a large family, the shops and possibly a few servants and labourers from the brickyard.


The Post Office at Weston Underwood, taken from the west,
i.e. the south side of the Mugginton road (now Bullhurst Lane),
Undated, Image © & courtesy of Lynne Tedder
It is not clear when the photographs were taken, although I suspect they date from the 1920s or 1930s.


Also sent to me by Lynne was this image of the front of the building, which clearly shows the shop window as well as the signs, "John Miller, Grocer & Provision Dealer" above the door, and "West Underwood Post Office" above the window. Since John Miller's name is still there, I presume it must have been taken prior to his death in 1922. It appears to have been printed in postcard format.


Perhaps a reader more familiar with this era can identify some items in the shop window. I'm afraid all I can make out is the notice which appears to read, "LOST RED & WHITE COW."


Also worth mentioning as being of some curiosity, but probably little relevance, is the parrot in a cage placed by the front gate!


View Larger Map
The house in question is located a short distance to the north-west of the cross-roads in Weston Underwood, as shown in the Google Maps satellite image above.


In my father's collection was this far more recent photograph of the house, which I scanned a decade ago, although it was perhaps taken in the 1970s. While some of the detailing had changed by then, and the original shop entrance appears to have been bricked in, it is obvious that the fabric of the building was largely intact.

In Part 2 I will relate the most recent investigations into the property which formed a central part of the Miller family's lives, from perhaps the late 1850s to the turn of the century, and well into the 1900s.

John Dean, Draper of St Peter's Street, Derby

This rather nice image of the St Peter's Street, Derby shopfront of John Dean, draper, was sent to me by Nigel Aspdin. The image has been included in previous articles on John Palmer's Wirksworth web site and on You & Yesterday. However, the shop also appears in an image of St Peter's Street that I included in a previous article about the Nag's Head Yard, so I thought it would be of interest to reproduce it here too.


It shows a group of young men posing in the doorway of the shop, including the shop's owner, John Dean (1853-1918), at right. John Dean was born in Kirk Ireton, son of farmer and publican Samuel Dean. After attending James W. Beeson's Excelsior Academy in Wirksworth, John became a draper's apprentice in Wirksworth by 1871. On 16 March 1881, John married Annie Mary Harvey, daughter of a Derby druggist, and they initially lived in a house at 3 Bramble Street. The 1881 Census on 3 April showed them at this address, together with John's younger sister Sarah Jane, and a boarder by the name of James E. Hurd. Hurd was, by then, John Dean's partner in a drapery business located, according to the 1881 edition of Kelly's Trade Directory (on microfiche from the Derbyshire Family History Society), at 18 St James' Street (south side).


They appear to have moved from this address to 54 St Peter's Street some time after 1881. The second photograph, a more general view looking north up St Peter's Street from immediately south of St Peter's church towards the intersection with East Street, includes the same shop premises as that shown in the first photograph, but with signage showing clearly that the partnership of "Hurd & Dean" was still in existence (see below). However, it must have been taken prior to 1887, as Kelly's Trade Directory for that year shows only John Dean to be in business at number 54. There is another firm, "Hurd & Bentley, general drapers, silk mercers, hosiers & glovers, milliners & dress & mantle makers" shown with premises at 38 Corn market, one half of which may have been Dean's former partner.


The detailed image shows several people, once again, standing in the doorway of the shop, but this time they appear to be looking at something happening in the street, rather than posing for the camera. Examination of the larger version of the photograph shows, apart from three horse-drawn trams, which must have been a regular sight, a procession of horse-drawn wagons parked on the east side. The waggons are piled high with rectangular bales, identified on the front one as containing tea! The sign above the shop windows of the premises on the north-eastern corner of St Peter's Street and East Street demonstrate that at least part of the building was occupied by the Star Tea Company. Kelly's 1887 directory confirms that company occupied offices in St Peter's Chambers at this address, presumably on one of the upper floors, as the Midland Drapery Company were on the ground floor.

John Miller, Carrier of Weston Underwood

Continuing the theme of Victorian transport, this image was sent to me four years ago by my Canadian cousin Lynne Tedder, to whom I'm very grateful for permission to use it on the net. It has previously appeared in my profile of the Derby photographer Frank Day.


The elderly man driving this coach and horses is John Miller (1849-1922) - Lynne's great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather - who was born at Capesthorne near the small village of Siddington in Cheshire. His father James Miller (1815-1893) was a drainage contractor, and had spent his earlier years moving around where the work was. However, while John was a young lad the family moved to and settled in the small village of Weston Underwood in Derbyshire. Although James continued working as a land drainer, he also opened up a brick and tile works in the late 1850s, and by 1861 twelve year-old son John and his two younger brothers, aged nine and seven, were all working for their father in the brickyard.

John Miller continued working in the brickyard after his marriage in 1869, and perhaps became involved in the management of the business, as his father started farming 20 acres of land in the late 1870s. He was also a member of the Derbyshire Yeomanry Cavalry as a young man. In the early to mid-1880s, he and his wife Eliza Sheales Newman (1844-1919) opened a grocery and post office in the village. By 1895 they had also started to operate as carriers between Weston Underwood and Derby, doing the run twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, as shown in the Kelly's trade directories of the period.


Extract from Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire for 1912
Image © and courtesy of University of Leicester's Historical Directories
He continued to do this run, presumably carrying the mail as well, until at least 1912. The photograph shows what looks to be a fairly elderly John Miller, and I have estimated that the photograph was possibly taken in the late 1910s or very early 1920s.


The reverse of the photo mount has an advertisement for photographer Frank Day at 108 Pear Tree Road in Derby. I'm not sure exactly when Day moved to Derby, but it was probably after 1912, when he is shown in Kelly's directory with a studio on Mansfield Road in Heanor. The size of the card mount and style of the advertisement design is also typical of the 1910s or 1920s.

I have been wondering where the photograph was taken. The carriage and two horses are parked on a cobbled courtyard of what may be a coaching inn. The size of the buildings makes it unlikely to have been in Weston Underwood or nearby Mugginton, and I decided that it was probably somewhere in Derby. Fortunately the trade directories of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries gave some very detailed information about carriers and their routes.


I found the following details (also shown in the image above) in Bulmer's History, Topography and Directory of Derby, originally published by T. Bulmer in 1895, but usefully reprinted by the Derbyshire County Council in facsimile form in 1988 (ISBN 0 903463 26 1).

Carriers to and from Derby.
Where to: Weston-under-Wood
Name (of Carrier): Miller
Place of Departure: Nag's Head
Days and Time of Departure: Tues., 2-30, and Fri. 4 p.m.

This was probably the old inn listed in the same directory as, "Nag's Head Vaults, St Peter's St; [prop.] R.H. Vessey," rather than a newer Nag's Head in Stuart street, Derby, as the former was listed as a coaching inn for many decades prior to John Miller's time.


Kelly's 1912 trade directory (see image of extract above) shows that the route remained the same until at least that time.


The same directory lists the Nag's Head Public House, then under the tenure of David Ford, and the Nag's Head Yard, just off St Peter's Street, alongside a handily located livery stables. It would be interesting to know whether the buildings that existed around the Nag's Head Yard in the early part of the twentieth century are still there, and whether the location in this photo can be identified.


The St Peter's Street lisiting in Kelly's 1899 Trade Directory (image above) enables us to pinpoint the precise location of the entrance to Nag's Head Yard in the photograph shown below, kindly provided by Nigel Aspdin.


The photograph has been taken - according to Nigel, circa 1890 - in a northerly direction up St Peter's Street, with East Street heading off to the right from the centre of the image. The ivy covered facade of St Peter's Church is visible on the left hand side. The premises of the Star Tea Company can be seen on the corner of St Peter's and East Streets. I believe the entrance to the Nag's Head Yard is located about 50 meters behind the furthest of the three trams, i.e. the one which is parked facing the camera.


View Larger Map
Google Maps shows this part of Derby, approximately centred on the intersection of St Peter's Street with St Peter's Churchyard/East Street.

Update: 15 August

Nigel Aspdin found a copy of the 1883 Ordnance Survey 1:5000 map (compiled in 1882) for this part of Derby, and kindly scanned the relevant portion for me. It has proved rather illuminating!


The alleyway leading from St Peter's Street to the Nag's Head Yard is shown, as is the irregularly shaped Nag's Head Yard, with the Nag's Head Public House identified on the northern side of the yard. After some re-examination of the photo and correlation with the map, Nigel noticed the manhole to the front and left of the left-hand horse, which appears to correlate with the "M.H." on the plan. The staircase shown on the plan appears to have been replaced by a covered wooden staircase by the time the photo was taken.

We believe that the photo is very likely to have been located in the Nag's Head Yard and that, if so, it was taken looking in a north-easterly direction from the corner of the building immediately south of the manhole. The carriage and horses are therefore parked facing back down the alley towards the St Peter's Street entrance. In the right-hand foreground of the photograph, a slightly raised section of cobbles possibly equates to the pavement shown adjacent to the building on the south side of the yard, along the other alley which leads southwards towards East Street (formerly known as Bag Lane). Many thanks to Nigel for his efforts.