Piercy's Purple Prose

While I am researching our family history, occasionally I come across a little gem that has nothing to do with my research. Here's one - I know of no direct connection between Samuel and our family. He was an actor on the West Coast of the United States and died on January 9th 1882. Prose doesn't come much more purple than this...

They just don't write 'em like that any more!

Sport and the Habitual Drunkards Act

What on earth does the Habitual Drunkards Act 1879 have in common with sport? Well, they are both connected to my great grandfather Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON who was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on the 6 January 1848. And, no, he was not the habitual drunkard!

He was the eldest son of Henry Yarker RICHARDSON; his mother was Emma Oakes ELLIDGE from whom he inherited his middle name. Henry Yarker RICHARDSON was described as a 'clerk' at the time of his son Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON's birth - later on he was to enter business on his own account after working for Robert Stephenson who built the famous locomotive Rocket.

Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON was only twenty two when his father was killed in the 1870 Brockley Whins railway accident - his father by then had a paper-making factory in Sunderland. His mother died shortly afterwards.

Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON
Click on any illustration to  view full-size

In 1863 he had been sent to Shrewsbury School where he stayed until 1867. At school he had excelled in athletics and he won the school Senior Steeplechase in 1865 as well as being awarded a silver cup in 1866 for coming first in the school mile. After matriculating at Shrewsbury he went up to Magdelene College, Cambridge, to read Law where he continued his athletic interests and was awarded another cup at his college, also for the mile, in 1868. His athleticism did not end there; later on when in his 50s, as well as walking the half mile or so every day to work and back he would regularly swim at the City Baths in Northumberland Road.

1866 Shrewsbury School 1 mile winner's cup.
It is 250mm high and inscribed
'Shrewsbury School ATHLETICS 1866 THE DERBY 1 Mile
Presented by the Mifs Kennedys
WON BY H E Richardson'

Judging by the 1871 census, after his parents' deaths he seems to have taken on the responsibility of bringing up his siblings. In that census he appears at Sunderland, in the north of England, as head of the household of seven siblings between the ages of three and twenty one and one servant age eighteen. He is described as being an Undergraduate at Magdelene College, Cambridge. Meanwhile he must have returned to his studies as he graduated from Cambridge with a BA degree on 2 March 1872.

Marriage

In  1877 he married Alice Maude HUNT, daughter of William HUNT and Harriet WINGRAVE at the Dunstable Parish Church, in Bedfordshire - William HUNT's story appeared here in the post Almost Two Centuries Ago... on 29 November 2013.

After their marriage they set up home at 19 Westmorland Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. This address does not appear in the 1871 census so it was probably a new building when they moved in. He lived there for about twenty years - the last reference I have to him there was in 1897 - but by the 1901 census he had moved to 20 East Parade in Elswick, not far away. He was still there by the 1911 census though East Parade is now no longer on the map, no doubt swept away by the post World War II development of this area. Some time after this he moved yet another short distance to 27 West Parade where he lived until his death in 1918.

His homes at Westmoreland Road and West Parade, and his office at Market Street
Acknowledgements to Google Maps

These were the homes at which he brought up his four children:

• Henry Robson RICHARDSON ('Rob') who later emigrated to Canada after fighting in the Boer War.
• Alice Wingrave RICHARDSON who was my paternal grandmother.
• Elsie RICHARDSON who married John William MUSE, a friend of Rob's who had served with him in the Boer War and who also emigrated to Canada.
• Mary RICHARDSON, a considerable character in her own right. She was awarded medals in both World Wars, including the Military Medal for bravery in the first World War; and was adopted by Lord RUNCIMAN as his niece.

Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON's three daughters, left to right:
Mary RICHARDSON, Alice Wingrave RICHARDSON and Elsie RICHARDSON

The Law

While he was bringing up his family he followed his profession as a solicitor from premises at 26 Market Street in Newcastle as H E Richardson and Elder. He was admitted as a Solicitor in 1875 and was appointed a Commissioner of Oaths in 1883. Among the cases he had to deal with was one in 1897 under the Habitual Drunkard’s Act that I mentioned earlier - today's equivalent would be a stay at a rehab clinic. In his own words from a letter written in October 1897 to his daughter Alice Wingrave:

'Just as I was going to dinner, i.e. about 12.45 a telephone message came from a client that he wanted me to prepare the necessary papers for the admission of a young man to an inebriate’s retreat, under the Habitual Drunkard’s Act, which allows a man to practically shut himself up in prison for such time as he himself specifies & consents to, & then won’t let him come out till the time has expired.  As he was going off by the 5 train I was to have the papers ready & be at my client’s office as soon after 3 as possible.  Hardly had I received my instructions when callers began to pour in, & I had not a moment to spare till nearly 3 in which to prepare the papers.  

At last I got them done, & started for the office, which I reached at 3.20, only to find that my client was out.  As I had had nothing to eat since 8.30 a.m. I rushed into the nearest restaurant, & fed fiercely, I might say, returning at 3.35 to find that I had to meet him at a livery stable in Clayton Street.   

There I waited for nearly an hour, but at last he came, bringing the poor young fellow with him.  The latter was about 30, handsome, well off, living in a Hall, with a wife & 4 children, but a hopeless wreck through drink.  He said he had more than once heard me preach in one of our country chapels some time ago, but had gone the wrong way since then.  I saw him off at the station, & was introduced to his wife, poor thing, who was saying “Goodbye” to him for months.  It was a sad sight, and I was glad when I could get home & forget it for a short time.'

I suspect that most of his work was rather more mundane, though the reference to the 'telephone message' is interesting coming only twenty years after the opening of the first telephone switchboard in Bolton in 1877. He was obviously an early adopter of the new technology!

Also less mundane was his friendship with William Snowdon ROBSON who at the time was Recorder of Newcastle and who later became a Member of Parliament and Attorney General for England and Wales. A niece of mine has a silver tea service given by him to the family.

W S ROBSON with Elsie RICHARDSON

W S ROBSON 1906
Acknowledgements to Wikimedia Commons.

Relaxation

He was a keen fisherman and when he was on a fishing holiday in Newcastleton, a village on the Scottish Borders, he was able to show off more of the latest in new technology:

'The village policeman met me at the corner of the Square, & was greatly astonished & edified by my electric flash-light, which I bought a little time ago, to aid me in finding out the numbers of doors, & avoiding broken-down staircases, in my visiting.  It is a very handy instrument, & particularly useful in Newcastleton, where, as you may remember, they economise lamp-light at the expense of unwary strangers.'  

He obviously had a mischievous sense of humour. An extract from a 1910 diary says:

'15th June. Since the last sentence was written I've been to Whittle Dene with Stanley in his new motor. My! What a pace we went every now & then! It won't be long before Stanley gets his licence endorsed for “exceeding the limit”, I fear. But I quite understand the fascination of a motor-car. The motion is so smooth, & the sensation so pleasant, that even mother would suggest the top speed, I fancy, & I can't say more than that. All the same I acted as a constant, & most necessary brake on Stanley, not because I didn't want to go fast, but because I remembered my attitude as a pedestrian towards motor-cars, & didn't wish my pleasure to cause annoyance or danger to others. I had one eye on the road & the other on the speedometer all the way, & it was amusing to see how suddenly the needle mounted from 20 to 25 or even 30 – a mere oversight on Stanley’s part, of course.'

A solicitor in trouble with the law! What next? Stanley, by the way, was his friend Stanley Haggie of the Hood Haggie rope-making business, later taken over by British Ropes and now known as Bridon. They had an office in Peterborough, Ontario which still stands. No doubt Stanley was little troubled by the idea of a speeding fine...

About the same time Henry wrote:

'Stanley phoned me today, & I asked him, as a joke, if he had been fishing lately. He laughed, &  replied that he had only once -  by night & with a light – but only saw one salmon & missed that. So he is becoming a first-class poacher, to my great amusement. Wouldn’t it make a fine paragraph. “Salmon poaching extraordinary. Mr S. S. Haggie of Newcastle was today fined £20 & costs, or in default one month’s imprisonment, for night poaching at Rothbury. The prisoner appeared in the dock with a black eye & a beaming smile, & when asked if he had anything to say, replied that he was sorry the keepers had come just then as they make him miss a fine salmon, which could be at least 15 lbs. The fine was paid.” What with motor driving to the public danger, & salmon-poaching, Stanley is going it, isn’t he?'

Stanley was obviously not worried by a poaching fine, either.

Henry Ellidge and Maude Alice RICHARDSON at Allendale

As well as fishing Henry had a cottage in Allendale to get away from the pressures of work. There was a river nearby where he could fish, claiming in 1909 that 'on Tuesday I caught 39 trout, the biggest catch I have ever had at Allendale.'

He also followed the local football team and in 1909 he wrote:

'Newcastle United  are doing very badly, so far, this season. They are certainly not up to last year’s form, & the question is whether they ever will be. Of course it is early in the season yet, but they are so slack, & at the same time, I fear, conceited, that they may never make up their lee-way. It doesn’t matter much to me, except that I like “ma ain toon” to do better than any other.  But I fear that nothing but comparative failure will wake them up.'

Some things never change! However, it was not always thus; I do remember being one of a huge crowd who turned out to see them bring the Cup back to Newcastle and parade it through the City Centre in the 1950s.

Methodism

Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON was a staunch Methodist. In the 1881 census he describes himself as a Wesleyan Methodist Local Preacher and both he and his son-in-law Frank Piercy were said to have preached 'on the stump' at the Big Lamp, at the junction of Westgate Road and Elswick Road. He had a close connection with the Rye Hill People's Mission whose records are in the Tyne and Wear Archives. Perhaps he is mentioned there. His daughter Alice Wingrave RICHARDSON was married there.

Big Lamp in 1900
Note the lines for horse-drawn trams
Acknowledgements to Newcastle City Libraries

His Wesleyan connections and his professional standing meant that in 1891 he was instructed by the Wesleyan Trustees, of whom he was the solicitor, to undertake the negotiations for the site for a place of worship in Blaydon, at the southern end of James Street where it joined Shibdon Road.  The foundation stone was laid in 1892 by Mr James Joicey MP but the building was since destroyed by fire in the 1960s.

Death

Left to right:
Rob, Elsie, Mary, Alice Maude, Henry Ellidge and Alice Wingrave RICHARDSON, Frank PIERCY
about 1895

He died in 1918 at at his home in West Parade aged 70. He was survived by his wife Alice Maude and was buried at Elswick Cemetery.

In his will he left almost £3,000, between £120,000 and £886,000 in today's money according to the method you use to calculate it.

Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON and his close family

---

'Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.'

Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)

---