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

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'Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.'

Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)

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Almost Two Centuries Ago...

...William HUNT was baptised on the 29th of November 1818 at St Mary's Church, Luton, in the county of Bedfordshire. Who was this William HUNT? 

William was Henry Graham PIERCY's great grandfather. We don't  know his date of birth but we do know when he was baptised - one hundred and ninety five years ago today. His parents were named as William HUNT and Elizabeth.

Want to know where the family forename Wingrave came from? Well, in 1842 William married Harriet WINGRAVE, daughter of Thomas WINGRAVE and Ann, again at St Mary's, Luton. As well as HUNTs there are lots of WINGRAVEs in the registers there, the surname probably coming from the nearby village of Wingrave about fifteen miles from Luton as the crow flies. So Alice Wingrave PIERCY, Averil Wingrave PIERCY and Caroline Wingrave PIERCY have a name which can be traced back in the family for over three hundred years to William WINGRAVE, baptised in 1678, Averils' 6th great grandfather.

Click on any illustration to  view full-size

So what did William HUNT do? At the time of his marriage he was described as 'age 23, bachelor, warehouseman of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, Middlesex, father William Hunt, steward'. It may seem rather odd that he was away in Middlesex, but perhaps he had business connections there. A warehouseman in those days was someone who owned a warehouse, not as these days someone who drives a fork-lift truck!

His two first daughters, Sarah and Harriett, were born in Middlesex before the 1851 census. By 1849 he appears to have returned to Luton as his next two daughters were born there and in the 1851 census he and his family were living at 22 George Street, Luton. Again he was described as a 'warehouseman, straw plait'. 

William Hunt's family in the 1851 census

Luton was the centre of the very profitable straw plait industry, mainly used for straw hats which were so popular because of their lightness and coolness as summer wear for both sexes. The straw boater is still part of some schools' uniform and is symbolic of late nineteenth century leisure times.  George Street itself was at the very centre of Luton; the Town Hall had been built there in 1846 suggesting that William was prospering in Luton.

Drays loaded with hat crates in George Street, c.1905. Acknowledgements to The Luton News

His daughter Alice Maude, Henry Graham PIERCY's maternal grandmother, was born in 1854 at George Street. Her father William was now described as 'straw hat manufacturer'. As an aside, I was told by my aunt Kathleen that one of William's daughters 'was governess to Russian Royalty ("only one of the lesser princes")'. There's name-dropping for you!

Alice Maude Richardson née Hunt

By the time of the next census, 1861, he had moved with his wife and by now eight daughters from Luton to Dunstable High Street about five miles away, as a 'straw manufacturer'. 

William Hunt's family in the 1861 census

He was still in Dunstable at the time of the 1871 census, living at The Priory [House] on High Street South and described as a 'manufacturer'. 

William Hunt's family in the 1871 census

A description of Priory House says of it:

'This 18th century building stands on the site of the Priory guesthouse and incorporates part of an original 13th century vaulted chamber within. The front of the property dates from the 13th century, making it the oldest secular building in the county. 

It was built as a 'hospitium' (guest house) for travellers to Priory Church and stood on the perimeter of its Great Courtyard adjacent to one of two gated entrances. Pilgrims would have been regular guests. 

Dunstable Priory Church

Ownership of the site passed to the Crown in 1539 when the Priory was dissolved and Priory House was leased to private individuals. By 1694, the property was in the ownership of the Crawley family. Three subsequent generations of the Crawleys owned the house and, as medical practitioners, made use of it as a private asylum for the mentally ill. In 1743, the family greatly expanded the house and built a two storey brick building on what is now the car park. It seems likely that this extension was to house their patients. A magnificent mahogany staircase and a fine marble fireplace were added and these have survived to the present day. 

Priory House and Munt & Brown hat factory in 1859
The factory has now been demolished though Priory House still stands

In 1859, Priory House was purchased by Munt and Brown, straw hat manufacturers. Part of the house itself was used as the manager's residence. A third storey was added to the extension for the factory premises. The firm went into liquidation and the house passed to Arthur Munt who demolished the factory but retained part of the front wall, including the outline of two windows which today remain hidden behind a bus shelter. 

The property has been in various office uses since 1947. Today it houses Dunstable's Heritage centre'.

Priory House on Google Street View today - the two windows mentioned above can be seen on the right

William was listed in a Bedfordshire directory for 1877 as 'Manager to Mount [sic], Brown and Co' at The Priory.

By the time of the 1881 census he had left Dunstable for the capital, living at 58 Seven Sisters Road in Islington. He had left the straw business - perhaps he had seen which way the wind was blowing for the industry as the Bedfordshire products became threatened by foreign imports - and was now described as a 'Keeper Of Registry Office For Servants'. Perhaps his daughter became a 'governess to Russian Royalty' through the contacts he made while running this employment agency.

William Hunt's family in the 1881 census

He died in 1882 leaving over £1,600, a tidy sum worth today between £152,000 and £1,960,000 according to how you make the calculation - it was in any case the second highest value will on the page.

Link to William HUNT's will in the National Probate Calendar

Henry Ellidge RICHARDSON, one of the two executors, was William's son-in-law, the husband of Alice Maude Richardson née Hunt. He is shown in the ancestors chart below; William and his descendants are connected to Henry Graham PIERCY by the thick line.

Ancestors of Henry Graham PIERCY for three generations back to William HUNT

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'Cock your hat - angles are attitudes.'

Frank Sinatra

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So, Who was Eric?

Some time ago my kind sister Averil sent me from Canada a box full of place marker cards. They are a set of Japanese, hand-coloured card figures, each with a person's name on the base.

Where had they come from? Almost certainly from my parents - my father had been working in Japan. So, first question answered.

But was this dinner party before his and my mother's return in 1936 or after? There are no place settings with their names on, so the initial response might be that it was before 1936 and that the place settings had been sent to England as a gift by them. On the other hand on their return from Japan they lived first in Hampshire, then in North Wales, then in Somerset. These are all places far from Newcastle upon Tyne, where evidence suggests the meal took place. In those days before or during World War II, before every family had at least one car, the railways were the only was of travelling round the country. A long cross-country journey might involve several changes of train, often involving long waits in station waiting-rooms for the next train. Perhaps my parents were actually back in England and just unable to join the others because of the distance involved. So, this question unanswered.

Looking at the names, they were almost all family members of my father's and grandfather's generation. Was there a story behind that meal?

Let's have a look at those place marker cards - and don't forget you can see a larger image by clicking on the original.

Daddy

Mother?

The first one is labelled 'Daddy'. Since most of the rest of the family names were those of my father's generation, I am fairly sure that 'Daddy' was my paternal grandfather Frank Piercy.

The next one is a little more tricky to read as it looks as though one name has been over-written by another. One interpretation could be 'Mary'. Another could be 'Mother', in which case it would refer to my paternal grandmother Alice Wingrave PIERCY née RICHARDSON. The latter sounds most likely, but which name was written first?

Alice Wingrave was known to her own generation as 'Winnie' - to the younger generations she was always known as 'Granny Piercy'. Averil pointed out to me that the writing looks like hers (Winnie's) - I concur.

Willlie

Elsie

The next card has the name 'Willie' written on it. This would have been my grandfather's brother, William PIERCY  Like my grandfather he was an engineer in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north east of England and I have dim memories of him driving his Lanchester (I think) car round Jesmond where he and my parents lived.

'Elsie' was William's wife, Elsie Marian PIERCY née PLOWMAN. Her father was a bottled beer wholesaler according to the 1891 and 1901 census - interesting, as William's father, also William, was a teetotal Methodist. I wonder how that went down in the family!

Elsie was born in Hackney, William in Dalston nearby.

Kathleen

Frank

'Kathleen' was Alice Kathleen PIERCY née PIERCY, my father's eldest sister and Frank's eldest child. She had trained as a teacher, like her mother, but in domestic science. Also like her mother she left the profession when she married her first cousin, Frank PIERCY (yet another Frank in the family!), William and Elsie's son. He took over his father's business of Cromil and Piercy, graphite factors. They had no children.

Maurice

Grace

The next name was 'Maurice', William Maurice PIERCY, my father's younger brother. He was always known as Maurice and after attending the Royal Grammar School at Newcastle became an accountant. After the war, when he served in the Royal Artillery, he left England to work with the accountancy firm Price, Waterhouse in Singapore. I was told he was the official receiver to the Malta Dockyard. Oral tradition, so no doubt some truth in it but not perhaps the whole truth...

'Grace' was Grace PUMPHREY. Grace's family were Quakers, so when Maurice came back from Singapore to marry her at the end of 1950 they were married at the Friends Meeting House in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, before returning to Singapore. Her brother Owen ran the Pumphreys Coffee business, started in 1750 and still trading.

Muriel

Mary

Next I found the name 'Muriel', Maurice's twin sister Elsie Muriel PIERCY. Muriel trained in Domestic Science and never married. She spent most of her life in the north east of England.

'Mary' was Mary RUNCIMAN née RICHARDSON, my grandmother's youngest sister. An amazing character, she survived being torpedoed during World War 2, was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in World War 1, and between the wars was adopted by Sir Walter RUNCIMAN. That's a story in itself!

Jean

Spence

'Jean' was Jean MALLEN née PIERCY, William PIERCY's daughter, Frank and Stanley's sister. She married 'Spence', Spence MALLEN.

Spence had been an estate agent, and qualified for his Royal Aeronautical Aviator's Certificate at Newcastle Aero Club in June 1939. He was killed in action while flying a Handley Page Hampden bomber as a Sergeant Pilot with 44 Squadron on 28 August 1941.

Stanley

Eric

Of the first two names, 'Stanley' is easy to identify - Stanley Edwin PIERCY, second son of Willliam PIERCY and Elsie Marian PIERCY née PLOWMAN. He became a very successful veterinary surgeon in Kenya after getting his PhD at London University's Royal Veterinary College.

But who was Eric? So far I cannot identify him as a PIERCY family member. Perhaps he was a family friend. The puzzle remains.

So there you have it. Over seventy years ago the PIERCY family gathered for a meal. Meals can be practical, simply feeding the body; meals can be social, cementing relationships; and meals can be ritual, celebrating events. Surprisingly, after all those years, we still have these few hints about this meal and its circumstances.

From the evidence of the place settings, it seems to have been a family gathering and might have been celebrating a birthday or perhaps a festival. It certainly occurred before 28 August 1941 when Spence was killed. It probably occurred before 1940 as by then Stanley was married to Eleanor and there is no place setting for her - though there may have been one, lost over the years. Almost every person named had their home in Newcastle upon Tyne; if 'Daddy' and 'Mother' were the hosts then the meal would have been at 26 Graham Park Road in Gosforth.

So we can have a good guess for the era of the meal; its location; and the reason for the gathering. The chart below shows the relationships between most of those present.

We still don't know who 'Eric' was, though...

The Newcastle PIERCY family - click to enlarge

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'Any celebration meal to which guests are invited, be they family or friends, should be an occasion for generous hospitality.'

Julian Baggini

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A Gravestone Proves Me Wrong - and we find a Preceptress

David Campbell, who has made a close study of the YARKER family, has kindly emailed me to point out an error in my previous post about Sarah YARKER. I had identified her in the 1841 census as living in Clerkenwell with the SWAISLAND family. This was on the basis that James SWAISLAND had married an Elizabeth YARKER and so was brother-in-law of our Sarah YARKER.

David points out that there is a Monumental Inscription (MI) in St Mary, Ulverston, on a grave located in a triangular area between two footpaths. The MI says:

"Beneath are deposited the ashes of five infant sons of John & Elizabeth YARKER of Ulverston.
Henry departed this life 26th June 1802, 5 months.
John Langton died 7th January 1803 aged nearly 3 years.
William resigned his breath 20th September 1804 an infant 10 days old.
John Kendall quitted this vale of tears 9th November 1811 aged 5 months & likewise is here interred an infant son born lifeless 20th August 1812.
Elizabeth their daughter who died 19th August 1821 aged 18 years.
Also John YARKER the father who died 29th December 1822 aged 51 years.
Also Elizabeth widow of the last named John YARKER who died 11th November 1825 aged 51 years.
Also William YARKER nephew of the above who died 14th April 1863 aged 75 years."

I had previously known of Sarah's brothers Henry, Willliam and John Langton. Most of these dates coincide with my previous data, so this must surely be the same family. However, this does show that Sarah's sister Elizabeth had in fact died in 1821, so cannot be the Elizabeth SWAISLAND née YARKER in the 1841 Census.

David has also found more evidence - the marriage between a Sarah YARKER and a Henry MILES, butcher, on 4 Dec 1847 at St Andrew by the Wardrobe in the City of London. This Sarah's father is shown as "Robert YARKER, ostler" and a witness is Elizabeth SWAISLAND. This sounds very much like the Sarah YARKER and Elizabeth SWAISLAND née YARKER of the 1841 census, showing that this Sarah YARKER  was very much alive four years after our Sarah YARKER was dead.

Marriage of Henry MILES and Sarah YARKER, 4 December 1847

David then pointed me to the 1841 census for Wales, which has an entry for a "Sarah YARKER, age 35, Preceptress, n[ot born in county]" in the household of Joseph JONES, solicitor, in the High Street of Welshpool, Montgomeryshire. "Preceptress"? Apparently this was a tutor/governess - presumably to Joseph's three children of school age. Not confirmed, but certainly a more likely fit to what we know of Sarah's background than "Dressmaker". Sarah had a first cousin Robert Francis YARKER who was a solicitor in Ulverston - one can conjecture that she might have obtained the post through his contacts. Again, this is only conjecture; it is not proof.

Sarah YARKER in the 1841 census

So thanks to David we have certainly eliminated the wrong Sarah YARKER in the 1841 census and found a much more likely entry for her; not in England, but in Wales.

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"If many faultes in this booke you fynde
   Yet think not the correctors blynde;
If Argos here hymselfe had beene
   He should perchance not all have seene."

Richard Shacklock 1565

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