Pages from Volume II,Rows 113

GREAT YARMOUTH 315

divided the 2 nd South Ward from the 1 st Middle Ward, and now divide

St. George's Ward from Nelson Ward.* The division is carried from

Row No. 112 to the river; and from Row No, 114 along Deneside Road

to St. Peter's Road, and thence to the sea north of the Jetty.

A large house, now divided into three occupations, standing on the

west side of Middlegate Street, between Rows No. 111 and 112, was

early in the 17 th century the property and residence of Leonard

Holmes 1 , who filled the office of bailiff in 1623. Anne, his only

daughter and heir, married Robert Gooch, Esq., of Earsham, Norfolk, to

whom the above house was conveyed by his father-in-law. Leonard

Gooch, son and heir of Robert Gooch, sold this property in 1657 to

Robert Robins, f 2

Row No. 113, from Middlegate Street to King Street, anciently

called Tilson's South Row . f At the south-east corner there is a dwelling-

house which for many years was occupied by George Errington, who

was extensively engaged in the herring fishery, and compiled

voluminous statistics relating to the same, which are now in the Public

Library.§

* The alderman and constable of each ward were required to take a general

supervision over it. Under the pain of a fine they had once a fortnight to search for new

comers, and take note of all poor persons; as also of such wenches and maids as lived out,

of service," and to suppress disorders in inns and alehouses.

t In 1602 Thomas Mortimer and George Turner reported to the queen that they were

unable to execute a commission entrusted to them, as none of the commissioners

appointed in defendant's behalf came to the Angel where they were to meet. They say

they went to John Wheeler's house, but he pleaded want of leisure. Rob. Robins

confessed that he had warning of the day, but did not attend. (State Papers.)

f Thomas Tilson was a member of the corporation in 1626, voting against the

proposed change of local government, and supporting Brinsley.

j The Erringtons bore arg., two bars, in chief three escallops az. Some consider this

name a corruption of Herring-town, but, as Talbot says in his English Etymologiess,

" whoever follows philological researches must not expect an universal assent to the

conclusions he may arrive at". Benjamin Errington voted in 1714 for Hare and Earle, and

died in 1748, aged 62, leaving Elizabeth his widow, who died in 1766, aged 79. They

were both buried in the Parish Church. Samuel Errington (son of Benjamin Errington)

married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Baker, Esq., and received a considerable accession

of fishing property from, his father-in-law, who died in 1732. (See ante. p. 152.) They had

three sons, the above-named George Errington, Samuel Errington, and Joseph Errington.

The family is now extinct.

1 Palmer’s addenda: Leonard Holmes , in 1631, pleaded to be discharged of the honor

of knighthood at the coronation, as did also, John Stevenson, of Great Yarmouth.

2 Robert Robins of 52 King Street, also having property on South Quay.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

This house was afterwards in the possession of William Smith Ferrier,*

surgeon, Coroner for the Borough, from I836 to 1848 ; being the first

appointed to that office after the passing of the Municipal Corporation

Act, previous to which two coroners were annually elected by the

Inquest of the Corporation out of that body. The present possessor is C.

B. Dashwood, Esq. f On the south side of Row No. 113, near the east

end, there is a house which evidently at one time was of some

importance. There is also an old tenement over-hanging the row.

Near the west end of this Row there was a public house called the

Bee, a sign sometimes accompanied by the following verses ;—

“ Within this hive, we're all alive.,

“ Good liquor makes us funny ;

" If you are dry, step in and try,

" The flavour of our honey. "

Row No. 114, from King Street to Dene Side. The house to the

north, fronting St. George's Plain (now No. 33), was probably erected in

the latter part of the 17th century, and although divided still retains

some of its original features. It was for many years the residence of Mr.

Francis Turner, an eminent surgeon, who was the eldest son of the Rev.

Francis Turner (ante. p. 174). He enjoyed an extensive practice until

1792, when some serious rioting took place in consequence of the high

price of provisions. An attempt was made, as has already been

mentioned vol. I, p. 261, to force the gaol, which Mr. Turner and other

gentlemen of the town endeavoured to prevent. He laid hold of one of

the ringleaders, but instantly received a severe blow on the head,

inflicted by a rioter with one of the wooden palings taken from the front

of the Gaol. From the effects of this blow Mr. Turner never recovered;

and after lingering four years under much mental and bodily suffering,

died in 1796, aged 54, leaving no issue

* He died, without issue male, in 1848, aged 43.

f Son of the Rev. Jarrett Dashwood, Rector of Caister St. Edmund's with

Merkshall near Norwich, who died in 1859, aged 87. Harriot his wife, daughter of

Thomas Burton, Esq. died in 1853, aged 70; both buried at North Cove, Suffolk.

Charles Dashwood, Esq., of Beccles, died in 1865, in the 91st year of his age.

J Two years after the occurrence above mentioned, Mr. William Cooper, being

GREAT YARMOUTH

317

by his wife (Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. H. Talbot of Wymondham), who

survived him 36 years, and continued to reside in this house until her

death in 1830, aged 84.* In her time the room at the north-west corner

(now a shop) was lined with dark wainscot, as were some other

apartments. In the imagery attached to this house Sir Astley Cooper

when a youth, pursued his medical studies. At an early age he was

apprenticed to his uncle, Mr. William Cooper of London, but he resided

in the house of Mr. Cline, one of the most distinguished surgeons of the

day, at whose table be met such men as Home Took, Thelwall, and

others, whose conversation had great attractions for a young man of an

ardent and sanguine temper like Astley Cooper; although their opinions

were at variance with the aristocratic school in which he had been

educated. He was, however, accustomed to spend the summer months at

his father's parsonage, and during that time to study pharmacy and

general practice with Mr. Turner. f Many amusing anecdotes have long

circulated in Yarmouth, of' the vivacity, animal spirits, love of fun, and

contempt of danger which characterized Sir Astley Cooper from his

earliest childhood. Upon one occasion, when St. Nicholas' Church was

under repair, young Astley ascended by a ladder to the ceiling of the

chancel, and whilst with foolish temerity he walked along one of the

joists, his foot slipped and he fell between the rafters, and must have

been dashed to pieces upon the stone pavement below, had not one of

his legs remained bent over the joist. He remained suspended with his

head downwards, until he succeeded, by jerking his body upwards, to

catch hold of a beam, and regain his

on a visit at Yarmouth, removed with a trephine a small portion of bone from that part of

Mr. Turner’s head on which the blow had been received. This, Mrs. Turner wore about

her neck as a locket until the day of her death.

* Mr. Turner was buried at Fritton, where he and an estate on the borders of the lake,

which he acquired by a devise for life under the will of Richard Fuller, Esq. (See ante. p.

150). Having purchased the reversion he devised this estate to his wife for life, upon

whose death it was sold, with the Manor or Lordship of Fritton, otherwise Freton Pastons,

to Andrew Gregory Johnstone, Esq., of Hempnall in Norfolk. After passing through

several hands, the hall was some years since, purchased for a residence by the Rev.

Lambert Blackwell Foster 1 , brother of Sir William Foster, Bart.

f There was a connection between the families, the Rev. Richard Turner having

married a sister of the wife of the Rev. S. L. Cooper, as has been stated.

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Lambert Blackwell Foster , died at Fritton Hall, 16 th March,

1863. No will being found, letters of administration were taken out by his eldest son, but

for a long time afterward, a reward of £3000 was advertised for such information as

should lead to a probate of will and recovery of property.

318

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

footing. On another occasion he attempted to cross the bar and put to

sea in a "gun-boat" only fit for shooting on Breydon, and narrowly

escaped with his life. When his father inhabited the parsonage, the

ruined cloister which stretched from the priory to the chancel was still

standing. Within this cloister, Nat Bacon, who combined the offices of

sexton and grave digger, had fitted up an habitation for himself and his

wife. He was an eccentric old man, short of stature, broad in the

shoulders, and long in the arms. The appearance of his pimpled face,

with a squint in one eye, surmounted by a cast-off wig and hat of the

doctor's, was irresistibly ludicrous. Both he and his wife were addicted

to drink, and their frequent quarrels were a source of amusement to the

boys at the parsonage. One night, when the sexton had complained of

his inebriated spouse to young Astley, the latter wrapped himself up in

his father's cassock, and having otherwise disguised himself as the

Prince of Darkness, suddenly entered the old woman's room, and so

frightened her as to produce serious consequences. There stood in the

parsonage an old chest, which from its size was an inconvenience, and

Dr. Cooper ordered his carpenter, Howes, to remove it. Two men were

sent to do this work, and as they carried the chest down stairs,

complained loudly of its weight. They however conveyed it to their

master's workshop, which then occupied the site of the present

Wesleyan Chapel. To the amazement of the men they heard strange

noises proceeding from the interior of the box, and at last the lid was

opened and Master Astley Cooper stepped out, but was not allowed to

leave the yard until he had paid “smart money." One day, when the

worthy doctor was about to marry a couple in the chancel of the Parish

Church, Master Astley secreted himself behind the turret door in the

north chancel aisle. As the ceremony proceeded, the sonorous voice of

the doctor was echoed in a manner he had never observed before. He

stopped and looked round but could see no one. On proceeding with the

service the same thing occurred, his own voice only being echoed,

which so perplexed the doctor that he concluded as quickly as possible,

while the clerk, who suspected the cause, could with difficulty preserve

his gravity. On another occasion having taken two pillows from his

mother's bed, he carried them to the top of the church tower, where he

ripped them open, and a gale of wind from the north quickly

GREAT YARMOUTH

319

sent their contents flying over the Market Place to the astonishment and

bewilderment of the people who found their stalls sprinkled with

feathers. He played another trick, which might have been attended with

a fatal result. Bursting into Mrs. Cooper's room he exclaimed, " mother!

mother ! I have shot my brother Billy;" but quickly calmed her horror

by pulling out an owl from beneath his coat, which bird in Norfolk is

vulgarly called by that name. Naturally incensed at so thoughless a

joke, the doctor confined his son to his room; but shortly afterwards,

when walking with a friend in the church trees, he heard a voice lustily

calling "sweep, sweep," and saw a crowd collecting before the

parsonage to witness the antics of young Astley who appeared half out

of the chimney. When these boyish tricks were discarded, he still

retained an appreciation of fun which could not be restrained. One day

when Mr. Turner was giving directions to an apprentice, Astley Cooper

twisted his face into such grimaces as to overcome the gravity of the

lad. Mr. Turner turning quickly round and discovering the cause, asked

with apparent concern "what was the matter." Young Astley

immediately clapped his hand to his mouth exclaiming in a tone of

well-feigned agony, " Oh! my tooth, my tooth." Mr. Turner coolly

removed his hand, forcibly opened his mouth, and really perceiving a

decayed tooth, whipped in a pair of forceps and wrenched it out, before

any remonstrance could be made. While still a pupil with his uncle in

London, he visited Edinburgh, where he remained during the winter of

1787; and having letters of introduction from Mr. Beaufoy, at that time

M.P. for Great Yarmouth, he made the acquaintance of Adam Smith

and other literary celebrities. In 1791 he married Miss Cook, and in the

spring of the following year he took his wife to Paris. Young Astley

Cooper, whilst in London had embraced the democratic opinions which

were then promulgated; and this political bias was increased during his

residence in Edinburgh, where he became a member of the Speculative

Society. At Yarmouth a society existed which was open to all parties,

having been intended for the purposes of literary and scientific

discussion; but at a time when men were excited by violent and novel

doctrines, it gradually became the scene of political contention. Lord

Chedworth and Crompton were members and took opposite sides.

Young Astley Cooper when in Yarmouth attended the meetings of this

320

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

society, and in the summer before his visit to France he warmly

espoused the cause of the democratic party; merely as some thought "to

see who would make the ugliest fate." At Paris he had a speedy

opportunity of witnessing the atrocities committed in the name of

liberty. “On returning to my hotel one day," he says in his journal,'' I

found my dear wife very much alarmed. We sat down together at the

window, and presently a mob passed carrying the heads of some of the

Swiss guards they had killed, twenty-two in number. Each person had

some trophy; some had cut off a finger, some a hand; and soon

afterwards we saw a Swiss soldier chased like a hare along the street,

and the people following him, trying to kill him; he escaped however to

a Corps de garde, being more lucky than many others whom we saw

butchered in the streets. We were particularly alarmed at our hotel, as

General Money of Norwich, had been at the chateau all night with the

King, and we expected that on his return to us he would be followed by

the mob, but he prudently remained concealed, and so escaped notice. In

the evening, the gardens of the Tuilleries were full of dead men, close to

the chateau, and there they lay naked, having been stripped of all their

clothes by the mob. On the next day, we went to the Hotel d' Espagne,

and passed through the mob which were escorting Louis XVI. and his

Queen to the Temple. He also witnessed the horrors of the 2nd of

September, when the political prisoners were liberated from the Abbaye,

only to be murdered by an infuriated rabble placed at the prison door

and armed for the purpose. These scenes of horror effectually cured

Astley Cooper of his democratic inclinations 1 .

It is needless to pursue his successful and honorable career until he

was created a baronet in 1821 by George IV. He became President of

the College of Surgeons 2 and Vice-President of the Royal Society, and

died in London in 1841, aged 72. He felt the desire so often experienced

by men towards the end of their lives to return to the scenes of their

youth; and in 1836 he paid his last visit to Yarmouth with some of the

inhabitants of which he had always maintained a friendly intercourse.*

* In his journal he mentions how greatly the Suffolk road to Yarmouth was

changed by the enclosure of Hopton heath, where in his youth he had been

accustomed to see a military camp. “I should not have known Yarmouth,” he says,

“it

1 This of course was anarchy, not democracy. For the overthrow and revolution

required to strip out malevolent administration and the abuse of political power, a

revolution is indeed needed, but democracy can pursue a course of peaceful but effective

protest causing change, so long as the general will is sufficient. We have seen this in

effect recently, with firstly a general contempt and refusal to pay Margaret Thatcher’s

“Poll Tax”, and secondly the blockade of the petrol supply depots that was so effective in

causing the Government to reduce petrol taxation. In the latter case the public were

pleased to accord with the protesters and ensure the outcome that was desired by all. Both

aims achieved without bloodshed.

2 We should remind ourselves here, that Astley Cooper and James Paget were both

prominent surgeons at a time when sterility was in its infancy, and anaesthesia had yet to

be developed. Both will have had to be very strong minded, and expert at very rapid

surgery, very different to that practiced today.

GREAT YARMOUTH

321

Row No. 115 , from. King Street to Dene Side, called Mr Nathaniel Fish's

Row, from a house at the north-west corner 1 , which in the 18th century

was the residence of a gentleman of that name, who in 1714 voted at the

Norfolk election for Astley and De Grey, and died in 1721, aged 73.

Another Nathaniel Fish died in 1779, aged 66, and was buried in

Gorleston Church; as was John Fish, who in 1790 married Elizabeth

Bacon at Caister, and died in 1802, aged 45. They left

an only child, Janet, who, as we have seen (vol. i., p.

334), married James Symonds, Esq.; and thus this

family of F ISH became extinct in the male line. They

bore m., a chev. wavy arg. betw. three fleur-de-lis

or. *

Subsequently the above-

mentioned house was occupied by Miss Matilda Church, daughter of

Richard Church by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of John Barker, Esq.,

of Lowestoft. f The latter died in 1723, aged 62. Mrs. Church died at

Yarmouth in 1800, aged 91. t Of Miss Matilda Church many amusing

anecdotes are

He bore gu., semée of crosslets, and three herrings hauriant or.

f John Barker (by Jane his wife who died in 1754, aged 82) had two sons, Samuel

and John. The former married Margaret Arnold, and died in 1781, aged 76, leaving

Samuel Barker of Yarmouth (see vol. i., p. 400). John, the second son, married Elizabeth

Loney, and impaled her arms— arg., on three piles engrailed az., three crosses fitché of

the first. There was no issue of this marriage. The above-named Richard Church was the

son of Richard Church by Susan his wife, daughter of Samuel Pacey (see vol. i., p, 288).

t She left annuities to three old ladies who had been her constant companions at

whist. Her portrait is in the possession of her grandson, Mr. R. S. H. Church.

1 42 King Street, now King’s Wine Bar, the house originally built for Robert Robins .

2 Palmer’s Addenda: Archbishop Herring – delivered a discourse on the Jacobite rebellion

in York Cathedral, printed in 1745, and now rare.

VOL. II

is so much, increased on the denes." He found the parsonage " not at all changed;" and in

the church saw the spot of his own "hair-breadth escape."

* It might reasonably be expected that fishy names abounded in Yarmouth, and above

all that of Herring; but it was not so. There was a family of that name in the 17th century,

but it became extinct. William Herring of Yarmouth married in 1682 a lady named

Shotten. It would have been a curious combination had they called their son Shotten

Herring. The most distinguished of the name was Dr. Thomas Herring 2 , Archbishop of

York, son of the Rev. John Herring of Walsoken, Norfolk, where that learned prelate was

born in 1693. When the rebellion of 1745 broke out, he was very active in forming an

association to oppose the pretender; and a rhapsody was written calling upon the young

men of the north to follow the archbishop's example,—" And rise the Herrings of a future

age."

322

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

related. She was probably the last person in Yarmouth who followed the

old practice of riding on horseback mounted on a pillion behind her

groom. During the last great war with France 1 , the sailors from the fleet

in Yarmouth Roads played many mad pranks. On one occasion a party

of them observing her coach standing before her house with one door

open ready for her to enter, opened the other door, and then one and all

leaped through the coach and went their way. At another time, seeing

her carriage standing in front of a shop, they requested the loan of it that

they might ride round the town. She consented, but prudently stipulated

that her own coachman should drive, and the carriage returned

unharmed. A market woman, having had her basket of eggs upset while

Miss Church 2 was passing, vented her anger on that innocent lady by

exclaiming, "Curses on your ugly face." "I cannot help my ugliness,"

said Miss Church, " but here is half-a-crown to pay for your loss."

Dickens, in his Great Expectations, draws a picture of a lady whose

affections in early youth were blighted, and who in old age delighted in

being clad in bridal attire. Miss Church, for some reason or other,

desired after death to be dressed in her finest clothes, and to be laid out

in the dining room. Miss Church died in 1805, and was buried at

Lowestoft.

She had a brother, J OHN B ARKER C HURCH , some incidents in

whose remarkable career are highly interesting. He was born at

Lowestoft in 1746, and when a youth was placed by his wealthy uncle

with an eminent mercantile house in London; but his restless

disposition did not allow him to pursue “the beaten path,” and he

preferred to seek his fortune in the then British colonies of North

America. Arriving at Boston at the beginning of the rupture with

England, and sympathising with the colonists in their struggle with the

mother country, he obtained a commission in their newly-formed army;

but soon after joined the commissariat department, where he displayed

so much ability as to be named Commissary-General to the army under

General Rochambeau, sent by France to assist in the revolt. In the

performance of his duties, young Church became acquainted with

General Philip Schuyler,*

*His grandson, Philip Schuyler, when Consul-General for the United States at

Liverpool in 1841, acknowledged his connection with the members of the Palgrave

family then residing there. See ante. p. 232.

1 The Napoleonic War.

2 Palmer’s Addenda – Matilda Church – by a codicil to her will, expressed a desire to

be buried in linen, in the chancel of Lowestoft Church, in the same grave as my

grandfather Church, and to be carried there by six men, who are to be given a guinea

apiece. (I wonder whether this wish was carried out, and what her (dead) grandfather

thought of that!)

GREAT YARMOUTH

323

afterwards Minister of War to Washington, and in 1777 married

Angelica, the General's eldest daughter. Peace being concluded, Church

went to Paris for the purpose of adjusting his accounts with the French

Government. After residing there for nearly two years he came to

England, and in 1784 took a house in Sackville Street, London, where,

and at Downe Place on the banks of the Thames near Windsor, he

resided with his family for some years, living in a very profuse manner

and entertaining persons of the highest rank and fashion, including the

Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV.* He attached himself to the

whig party, and was on-terms of great intimacy with Fox, lending him

considerable sums of money. f He was an active

* The house has long been converted into an hotel. At the back were gardens

belonging to the then residence of Lord Melbourne upon which "The Albany" now stands.

Both in Sackville Street and afterwards in Berkley Square, Mr. Church's house was the

resort of the most distinguished French émigrés of 1793, many of whom he had served

with in America or had met in Paris. He had been intimate with Talleyrand, and when that

eminent person was ordered to quit London in twenty-four hours, Church procured for

him the means of reaching the United States, a service which was long remembered. In

1792, when Lafayette was a prisoner at Olmutz, Church in concert with Fox planned the

attempt at his escape, and contributed largely to the expense of it. Mr. and Mrs. Church

had been very intimate with the Lafayette family while in Paris, and their names will be

found in the memoirs of that general. As respects the Prince of Wales, one of the many

proofs of the kind feeling which he continued to entertain for Mr. Church, is to be found

in a letter still preserved addressed by the latter in 1816, soon after his return to England,

to his son Richard, then residing with a private tutor, in which Mr. Church says, " I was at

the levee when the boy came with your note. I am this moment returned from Carlton

House. His Royal Highness received me in the most cordial manner —enquired after your

mother, and repeatedly said how very sorry—how extremely sorry—he was to hear I had

lost her, and regretted her very much."

f In proof of which the following letters have, been preserved:—

Dear Sir,

" I received some days ago your letter, and very much concerned I am that it is

not in my power immediately to comply with the desire of a person to whom I feel

myself bound by the strongest ties of gratitude. Living entirely on an income of two

thousand pounds a year, and being wholly out of the habit of play of all sorts, you will

easily believe that I have no command of ready money, and any instalments I can make

by annual saving will be but a very slow mode for discharging a large sum. However,

when I go to town I shall see a person by whose means I hope to be able to let you have

about two thousand pounds. Believe

Thetford, 17th Sept., 1796.

324

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

member of the Society called the "Friends of the People," formed for

the purpose of diffusing political knowledge throughout the country.,

me, my dear Sir, that it gives me concern more than I can express, that

yon should be under the smallest inconvenience on my account, and

much more so from the handsome and friendly manner with which you

have behaved to me upon this subject, and which I shall always

remember with the greatest thankfulness.

I am, Dear Sir, yours ever sincerely,

C. J. FOX.

To J. B. Church, Esq.

P.S.—I am leaving this place to-day for Mr, Coke's at Castleacre. I

beg my best respects to Mrs, Church, to whom I hope to send some

partridges by the next conveyance."

When in February, 1806, Fox was appointed Secretary of State for

Foreign Affairs, Church thought a favorable opportunity had arrived for

reminding the Minister of his pecuniary obligations, and received from

that statesman the following characteristic reply:— "My Dear Sir,

I take the opportunity of the first mail since my entrance into

office to repeat to you my assurances of friendship and regard, and the

deep sense I have of the many essential obligations you have conferred

on me. If I should be able, either by the share of power which is

peculiarly my own, or by my influence with colleagues, to show any

kindness or civility to you or yours, it will give me the highest

satisfaction.

With regard to my pecuniary circumstances, you will easily

perceive that an addition of £6,000 per annum, with deductions, to a

bare £2000 , will not enable me to lay aside anything in the first year at

least, when such expensive preparations are necessary for the settling of

my affairs. The particular office which I hold, added to the

circumstance of being at the head of the House of Commons' business,

is that of all others which is least capable of being exercised with any

view to saving, especially as you may probably know that ever since

you left us the prices of everything have nearly doubled. If I should

continue any time in office, I will endeavour by instalments to

discharge the last £2,500, but I do not know that I can promise further. I

have mentioned this subject rather to show you that I feel as I ought the

obligation, than with any view to convey to you that the steps I am

taking and shall take ought or can be considered by you as a satisfactory

means of discharging it. I trust entirely to your friendship and liberality.

With respect to publick affairs, there seems to be getting up on your

side of the water a heat that has the appearance at least of being very

alarming. As the business between the two countries is chiefly in my

department, you know me well enough to be sure that every thing

possible will be done here to settle the matter amicably. Lord Selkirk,

who is going as envoy, is a very well-informed and sensible young man,

and if you happen to meet I am sure you will be pleased with him. My

best respects to Mrs. Church, and good wishes to the whole family.

I am, my dear Sir, most truly your faithful and obliged humble

servant,

"C. J. FOX"

Fox died in the following September, and all hope of payment

vanished 1 .

1 Such is the honour among politicians!

GREAT YARMOUTH

325

In 1790 Church was (with Lord George Cavendish) elected to

Parliament for Wendover;* and was one of the forty-two members who

supported. Mr. Grey's motion for reform in 1793. In 1797 he returned to

America and took up his residence at New York, f where he became an

underwriter, and, entered largely into mercantile speculations; but his

heavy “ French claims” remained unsettled. J After the death of his wife

he once again revisited London, and died there in 1818 after an illness

of three days, when about to visit Yarmouth. He left three sons. John

Barker Church, the second, resided in Paris, where he died at an

advanced age in 1865. § Philip Church, the eldest son, became one of

the greatest pioneers of American civilization.

P HILIP CHURCH , born in 1778, came to England with his father

when only eleven years of age, and was sent to Eton; on leaving which

school he was entered at the Middle Temple, but returned with his

father to the United States, where, although under twenty years of age,

he obtained through the influence of Major-General Hamilton (who had

married his mother's sister), a commission as Captain of Infantry in the

United States' army. ¶ Captain Church resided at New York, and

* Wendover was then what was called a "rotten borough." The right of election was

vested in the inhabitant householders in number about 180, but although all the lands and

messuages in the borough appertained to the Earl of Verney, the electors had on a recent

occasion refused to obey his behest; whereupon he disposed of his property to John

Barker Church, to whom the electors were more complaisant. Church afterwards sold his

property in the borough to Lord Carrington, who influenced the return of members until

the place was disfranchised in 1832.

f He took from England a French cook named Godey, who established himself in

New York as a confectioner; and was the father of the founder of Godey's Magazine at

Philadelphia.

t The adjustment of these claims was assumed by the United States Government,

and bills acknowledging them passed both Houses of Congress, but were twice vetoed by

the presidents; and nothing has ever been paid.

§ On making his arrival in Paris known to Talleyrand, he was cordially welcomed,

and invited to the minister's weekly dinners and evening parties. After a while, Church

perceived a coldness on the part of his distinguished host, who excused himself by saying

" I am so watched that I dare not just now be civil to any one connected with England or

America."

¶ In his capacity of Aide-de-Camp to General Hamilton, Church carried dispatches

to General Washington, who in a letter to the young officer, dated 4th Dec,

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

practised as a barrister until 1800, when having taken possession of

100,000 acres of land in what was then, a wilderness, but which is now

Alleghany County,* he founded the flourishing town of Angelica; so

named in honor of his mother. "By his bold spirit," says an American

writer, "he, during long years of enterprize and perseverance," won an

enduring conquest over primeval forests inhabited by the warlike

Senecas, and opened them up to the sunlight of civilization." In 1805 he

married Anna Matilda, daughter of Major-General Walter Stewart, f and

took his bride to her new home in the wilderness, a small house of

wood, to be in after years transformed into a spacious one of stone. In

1811 Philip Church paid a visit to England; and accompanied by Mr.

Rush, the American Minister at the Court of St. James', came into

Norfolk, and was entertained at a public dinner in Yarmouth, given by

the Barkers, Palgraves, and other old friends and

1798, says, "If business, duty, or inclination should ever call you into the State of

Virginia, I shall be very happy to see you at Mount Vernon." In the following year

Washington died; and Captain Church, as chief of the staff, accompanied General

Hamilton to Philadelphia, and attended the funeral of that great man. When in 1781 an

attempt was made to capture General Schuyler, then residing near Albany, the infant

Philip was snatched from his cradle by his mother; but before she could effect their

escape, the child received a wound on his forehead, the scar of which he was accustomed

to point out as being the first and only wound received by him during the war. Some years

afterwards General Hamilton was shot in a duel by Col. Burr, on the same ground where a

previous duel had been fought between the son of the former, Philip Hamilton, and E.

Eckhard, in which encounter young Hamilton was mortally wounded; Captain Church,

then a very young man, being his second. Col. Burr had in 1799 fought a duel with J. B.

Church, but without any fatal result. The former was "attended" by Judge Burke; and the

latter by Elijah Hammond, Esq. See Jefferson and the American Democracy by De Witt,

translated by R. S. H. Church, p. 404, and Memoirs of Aaron Burr.

* It appears by a letter addressed by J. B. Church to General Hamilton in 1792, that

he had partly agreed to purchase this tract of land called "Morris' Reserve" at 1s. 6d. per

acre; but instead thereof, he advanced £10,000 upon mortgage, which mortgage was

foreclosed in 1799, when the property was offered for sale by auction and "bid in" by

Philip Church, who with his father became the absolute owners.

t This officer lived on friendly terms with Washington, who, in a letter from Mount

Vernon, says "Mrs. Washington joins me in compliments to Mrs. Stewart. Tell her if she

don't think of me often, I shall not easily forgive her; but will scold at and beat her

soundly—at piquet —the next time I see her." Washington also presented Mrs. Stewart

with a miniature of himself, which is preserved in the family.

GREAT YARMOUTH

327

connections of his father.* Returning to the United States in 1813, he

employed himself in projecting and promoting many undertakings of

great national importance; f and after a long life of usefulness died at his

favorite residence called Belvedere on the Genesee river in 1861, in the

83rd year of his age. He was usually called "Judge Church," because he

had been appointed judge over the extensive territory which he brought

into cultivation. He had with other sons, John Barker Church t and

Richard Church. The latter paid a visit to Yarmouth in 1867 when on

his way to the Paris International Exhibition.

The third, son of J. B. Church, is Richard Stephen Hamilton

Church, long resident in this country. § He translated Jefferson and the

American Democracy by De Witt, and is the author of several able

pamphlets and

* Accompanied by Mr. Palgrave he paid a visit to Mr. Coke, afterwards Earl of

Leicester, at Holkham, and was present at one of the annual "sheep shearings," where he

had the opportunity of meeting leading agriculturists from all parts of Great Britain and

Ireland. He afterwards visited the Duke of Bedford at Woburn, and Lord Grenville at

Dropmore, and renewed his acquaintance with many of his father's old friends, including

Sir Philip Francis.

f He introduced the turnpike system into Alleghany County, originated the Genesee

Valley Canal, and projected that great undertaking the New York and Erie Railway.

Governor De Witt Clinton, writing to inform a friend that he had invited Philip Church to

Albany in 1828, says, "The friends of internal improvement are on the look out; and you

must not be astonished to hear the roar of cannon and the "ringing of bells."

j He resides in New York, and has a son, John Barker Church, who thus continues

the same name into the fourth generation, Another son is Benjamin S. Church of Sing-

Sing on Hudson. "When, in 1826, La Fayette revisited America he recognised in the

eldest daughter of Judge Church, a likeness to her grandmother, Angelica, and addressed

the following letter to her father:—" Happy I am in the opportunity to remind you of the

old friend of your beloved parents; to present my respects to Mrs. Church, doubly dear to

my most precious recollections, and to your amiable daughter, whom a fond image

engraved on my heart made me recognise before she was named to me. Your

affectionate friend, L A F AYETTE ."

§ He was for some time at Cambridge and a student at Lincoln's Inn, but was never

called to the bar. "When, in 1832, Talleyrand was sent by Louis Philippe as his

ambassador to London, Mr. Church received a letter from La Fayette, in which he says—

"Had I seen my former colleague and old friend Talleyrand when on his passage through

Paris he called upon me and I upon him, we should no doubt have spoken of your dear

and deeply-lamented parents, which would have afforded me an opportunity to mention

you and your desire to renew a too long interrupted

328

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

reviews. The arms borne by this family of Church.

are gu., a fess or., in chief three sinister gauntlets ppr .;

and for a crest, an arm erect in armour garnished

or ., holding a baton of the last.

Matilda Church of Great Yarmouth had an elder

sister, Elizabeth, who inherited great wealth from

her maternal uncle, John Barker, and married Robert

Panther, a solicitor in London. Part of her fortune was inherited by

Philip Church, and her portrait is preserved at Belvedere. Mary,

widow of John Barker of Norwich, died there in 1872, in her 79th year,

when the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, mentioned in vol. I, p, 401,

passed to her unmarried daughter, and is now in the possession of

Charles Palgrave, Esq., of Dublin.*

After the death of Miss Church the house in King Street was

occupied by Mr. Richards, navy agent, f It was subsequently, with

“acquaintance with him. You told me some coolness had taken place between him and

one of your brothers; but this circumstance cannot, so far as you arc concerned, obliterate

the remembrance of the intimate friendship that existed between your excellent father,

your beloved mother (a true sister to me), and M. de Talleyrand— a friendship which I

am the more bound to remember as it has been often exercised in behalf of an imprisoned

friend.”

* The above particulars of the family of Church are principally obtained from papers

in the possession of Mrs. Horwood of Turvey, Bedfordshire, a daughter of the above-

named Philip Church, who has in her keeping - a miniature of John Barker of Lowestoft,

and also miniatures of John Barker Church and Philip Church, when children, painted by

Cosway, and set in brilliants. Also from information and papers obligingly communicated

by Mr. R. S. H. Church (the surviving son of J. B. Church) and by Mr. B. S. Church of

Sing-Sing on Hudson. (See also Trumbull's Reminiscenses of his own times; the author of

which had been a contractor for the American army, and in that capacity had become

acquainted with J. B. Church. On the termination of the war, Trumbull came to London to

study painting, and was greatly encouraged and assisted by J. B. Church. Trumbull

painted the "Surrender of Cornwallis," now hanging in the Rotunda at Washington, in

which picture General Stewart, Philip Church's father-in-law, is represented.

f This gentleman had a talking parrot, whose remarks however appropriate were not

always acceptable. On one occasion Richards had a naval lord dining with him, to whom

he was desirous of shewing the greatest respect. Polly had no such feeling; and with the

perversity peculiar to these birds, horrified the host and amused the company by

exclaiming, “Such a lord! such a lord” until turned out of the room.

GREAT YARMOUTH

329

the adjoining house to the north, purchased by the late J. M. Lacon, Esq.,

who converted them into one mansion, in which he resided until, by the

death of the Dowager Lady Lacon, in 1829, he became possessed of

Quay House (see vol. i., p. 267), when he sold the King-Street property

to T HOMAS H ORATIO B ATCHELOR , Esq., of Horstead, Norfolk, who

occupied it till his death in 1844, being then in his 81st year.*

Thomas Batchelor, a Proctor in the Episcopal Consistorial Court of

Norwich, was in 1710 invited to Yarmouth by the bailiffs, to assist them

in admiralty matters. He settled the forms of procedure in their

Admiralty Court; and was permanently retained as their judicial

assistant. He died in 1729, aged 65, and was buried in the Beauchamp

Chapel of Norwich Cathedral, where there is a long

and laudatory epitaph to his memory, from the pen of

Dr. Tanner, then Chancellor of the Diocese, with his

shield of arms— arg., on a bend vert., betw. three single

wings az., three fleur-de-lis or.; and for a crest, two

wings displayed az., each bearing a fleur-de-lis or. f

Leonard B

atchelor, his son, married Mary, eldest

* Any anecdote of Nelson is read with avidity. The late Mr. Batchelor used to relate

that when Nelson and he were schoolboys at North Walsham they occupied the same

truckle bed. Many years afterwards, when Nelson had made a name in the world, the

schoolmaster's effects were sold, and this bedstead was purchased by Mr. Batchelor as a

memento. Unfortunately nothing was done to identify this article of furniture, so that at his

death it was probably disposed of as mere lumber. The Rev. Wenman Langton, writing to

his friend, Mr. palgrave, in 1797, says,—"Nelson has gained great laurels. He now resides

in a small cottage at Burnham Thorpe near Holkham, the parish of which his father is

rector. The old cock resides at Burnham Market, and must be highly gratified at his son's

gallantry. Many of Nelson's crews are Norfolk men, and some of them from this

neighbourhood (Langham). Norfolk men are generally small, but the dogs have good

pluck! " Nelson was not born at the parsonage house, which at the time happened to be

under repair, but at a farmhouse now the property of the Earl of Orford.

f He married Juditha, daughter of Leonard Gleane, Esq., of Norwich. Frances,

another daughter, married Dr. Hughes, Chancellor of Bangor. Mary, daughter of Sir Peter

Gleane, Knt., an eminent merchant at Norwich, married Wm. Pettus, Esq., and died in

1831; having this epitaph:—

"Reader, behold where Time is put in Trust,

" To keep till day of Dome, this sacred Dust."

Anna "uxor charissima" of Sir Thomas Gleane, Bart., by his wife, a daughter of

VOL. II.

330

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

daughter of Sir Horatio Pettus, Bart.,* and purchased the Horstead

estate, f where he and his descendants resided for three generations. He

died in 1757, aged 55, and his widow in 1764, aged 63. They were

Leonard Mapes, Esq., died in 1680, and was buried at Rollesby. Sir

Thomas dying s.p. the title went to his brother, Sir Peter Gleane, who

left a son, Sir Peter Gleane, with whom the title, created in 1666,

became extinct. Gleans bore erm., on a chief sa., three lions ramp., and

for a crest, on a crown, a dog passant .

* There are portraits of Leonard Batchelor and his wife, belonging to the Rev. T. J.

Batchelor, which were for many years in the dining room of the above-mentioned house.

The family of P ETTUS derived their descent from Thomas Pettus, a wealthy citizen of

Norwioh who flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Thomas, his grandson, was

Mayor of Norwich in 1591, and died in 1597, aged 77, leaving a son, Sir Thomas Pettus,

Knt., mayor in 1608, and Member of Parliament for the city, whose portrait still remains

in the Guildhall, Norwich. He died in 1613, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir

Augustine Pettus, Knt., whose eldest son, Thomas, was for his loyalty to Charles I. created

a baronet in 1641. He married the daughter of Sir Thomas Knyvett of Ashwelthorpe, and

died in 1654, leaving an eldest son, Sir Thomas Pettus, who married Elizabeth, daughter

of Walter Overbury, Esq., by whom he had one son who died in his minority. Sir Thomas

was Sheriff of Norfolk in 1664, and dying in 1671 was succeeded by his next brother, Sir

John Pettus, who published Fodince Regalis, or the History, Laws, and Places of the Chief

Mines and Mineral Works in England, Wales, and the English pale in Ireland; as also of

the Mint and Money —in folio, with a very fine portrait; and another work on metals in

1683. He died in 1698, leaving an elder son, Sir Horatio Pettus, who married Elizabeth,

youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Meers of Barton in Lincolnshire, Knt. They had an elder

son, Thomas, "a very hopeful gentleman," who died in his 21st year, unmarried, in 1723,

and three daughters, the eldest of whom married Leonard Batchelor, as mentioned in the

text. Sir Horatio died in 1731, aged 63, and was succeeded by his second son, Sir John

Pettus, who dying without male issue in 1743, was succeeded by his surviving brother, Sir

Horatio Pettus, who married Rebecca, daughter of Edmund Prideaux of Padeton in

Cornwall, son of Humphrey Prideaux, Dean of Norwich, by whom he left two daughters,

each of whom married successively John Richard Dashwood, Esq., of Caistor near

Norwich. Sir Horatio dying in 1772 without male issue the title became extinct, and the

estate of Rackheath, which this family had possessed for many generations, was

purchased by Sir Edward Stracey, Bart., and now belongs to Sir Henry Stracey, Bart. If

the Pettus baronetcy could have been inherited through females, the title would now be

vested in the Rev. T. J. Batchelor. There are numerous monuments in the church at

Rackheath in memory of the Pettus family. They bore gu., a fess, arg., betw. three

annulets or.; and for a crest, out of a ducal coronet, a demi lion ramp. , erm., holding a

piece of a spear gu.

f Horstead Hall was subsequently purchased by Lord Suffield, and became the

residence of Emily, Dowager Lady Suffield.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

331

both buried in the family vault which he had constructed in Horstead

Church. The issue of the above marriage was an only surviving son,

Thomas John Batchelor of Horstead, who married Anne, eldest

daughter of Peter Elwin, Esq., of Booton Hall, Norfolk. He died in

1789, aged 52, leaving an elder son, the above-named Thomas Horatio

Batchelor, who married Jane, daughter of James Beevor, Esq., of

Norwich, who died in 1844, aged 75. Thomas John Batchelor had two

other sons, Leonard Batchelor, who died in 1788, aged 22, on board

H.M.S. Southampton at Gibraltar, and Peter Elvin Batchelor, who was

killed in battle with the Cotiote Rajah, when in his thirtieth year; and

two daughters, Philippa Charlotte, who married Stackhouse Tompson,

Esq., of Norwich, and died in 1781, aged 20; and Mary Anne, who

married the Rev. Robert Picklin, Rector of Crostwich from 1789 to

1804. Thomas Horatio Batchelor had two sons both in Holy Orders.

Horatio Beevor Batohelor, the eldest, died in 1863, aged 70, unmarried,

and the Rev. Thomas John Batchelor, now living, who in 1871 sold the

above-mentioned house to the Yarmouth Gas Company.* 1

At the south-west corner of Row No. 115 is a house (No. 43) 2

which in 1759 belonged to Samuel Lacey of North Shields, and was

sold by him in 1776 to William Mallett, beer brewer, on the death of

whose widow it descended to their daughter, Mary Alice, the wife of

Simon Smith, they being the parents of the late J. P. Smith, Esq., M.D.

(see vol.i ; p. 210). Adjoining to the south is a house, 3 which had the

same successive owners as the one just mentioned until 1810, when it

was purchased by Mr. John Bracey, who for many years filled the

office of Pier Master. He resided in it till his death in 1885, aged 63.

There is an excellent likeness of him, which has been engraved (private

plate).

This family of B RACEY flourished greatly in Yarmouth during the

last century. f Andrew Bracey, who resided in a house at the north-west

* Besides the family pictures in 42, King Street, already mentioned, there were

also portraits of Sir Horatio and Lady Pettus, Sir Thomas and Lady Meers, Bishop

Dolvin, and Sir Geoffrey and Lady Palmer. See ante. p. 270.

f The name is perhaps derived from a sea term; braces being the ropes by

which a yard is turned about, braced up, braced to, braced in, &c. To “splice the

main brace” is to take an extra allowance of grog. The arms borne by this family

are sa., two bends joined or braced together, between two dexter arms and hands arg

They appear on a family seal apparently of the early part of the last century.

1 In 2005, this house, at the north-west corner of row 115, belonged until recently to

Peter Howkins, and rented out to various tenants as Grenville’s the King’s Wine Bar. For

some years, Paul Robinson had his architectural offices on the first floor (1982). It is now

in the possession of Ellis. See RRH.

2 It is the south-west corner house that I purchased off Peter and Valerie Howkins in

1996, for use as a surgery, at which time the Howkins were divorced and dividing

ownership of the properties. The owner in 1759 who sold to Mallett the brewer, was

Samuel Larey, not Lacey, of South Shields. See RRH for detail.

3 See RRH for more detail of 44 King Street, owned in 2007 by Willy and Jeanie

Henderson.

332

PERLUSTRATION OF

corner of Row No. 136, which, we shall have

occasion to mention, voted at the county election in

1714 for Astley and De Grey; and filled the office of

mayor when, in, 1715, the Old Pretender landed in

Scotland. He was a zealous Hanoverian, and

promoted an armed association among the

inhabitants for the suppression of that "most horrid

and unnatural rebellion," as he termed it. He caused the town wall,

which in places had fallen into decay, to be strengthened, and ordered

the gates to be shut every night. These precautions were soon found to

be unnecessary, for ‘ere long the church bells were rung on receiving

"the good news that the rebels in Scotland had dispersed, and the

pretender had fled out of that country." Andrew Bracey 1 died in 1731,

aged 79 leaving a son of the same name, a woollen draper, who

occupied a house and shop at the north-east corner of the Market Row.

William Bracey, the mayor's brother, also a woollen draper, occupied a

house on the north side of Old Broad Row, depicted in Corbridge's Map.

He died in 1720, aged 63, leaving Margaret his widow, who died in

1731, aged 68. Their, initials w B M , were cut upon a stone in front of the

house last mentioned. Lieut. Bracey, R.N., who commanded a tender in

1790, married Mary, daughter of William Browne, Esq., mayor in 1744,

and widow of Brightin Wakeman, Esq. William Bracey died in 1792,

aged 70, having married Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Taylor, Esq.

She died in 1807, aged 77. Jay Bracey married in 1793 Matilda,

daughter of the Rev. Peter Petitt, Vicar of Wymondham from 1768 to

1788. John Bracey, the purchaser of the King-Street house, married

Ann, sister of Samuel Paget, Esq., by whom he had two sons, Mr. John

Taylor Bracey, who (except his own sons) is the sole living

representative in Yarmouth of the once numerous families of Bracey

and Taylor and Mr. William Bracey, solicitor, who married Clementina,

daughter of the Rev. Clement Chevallier, and died in New Zealand, s.p.

Sometime after the death of Mr. Bracey the house above-mentioned

was purchased by Mr. R. H. Beart, who resided in it for some years; but

subsequently it became the property of Rear-Admiral Charles

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Mr. John Bracey had five sons, not only two as in the text. Of

whom, Mr. John Taylor Bracey, and Mr. Samuel Paget Bracey alone survive (1874).

GREAT YARMOUTH

333

Sibthorpe John Hawtayne,* who, in 1857, walking one dark evening on

the South Pier at Lowestoft fell over the side into the harbour, and

received a concussion of the brain which caused his death, being then

in the 76th year of his age. He married Susanna, daughter of the Rev.

Robert Norris, Rector of Tattisford in Norfolk from 1793 to 1832 . f

Between Row No. 115 and Row No. 126 there is a short street,

called East Street 1 , t leading to the Drum Opening and York Road. At

the south-east comer of the opening and just within the town wall,

which bounds it towards the east, is the office of the Great Yarmouth

Water-Works Company 2 . William of Worcester speaking of Yarmouth

in his Itinerary says, " sita inter duoflumina habit tamen copiam aguae

dulcis adpotandam rijandam et lavandam ;" and Camden, writing in

1610, repeats nearly the same words. This water was usually found

within a few feet of the surface, where it had accumulated by

percolation ; and when not contaminated by refuse, drains, or other

impurities, was usually soft and good, especially in the Dene wells

where the water had filtered through sand and was distant from any

dwelling 3 . Nashe,

* The ancient family of Hautyn or Hauteyn held lands at Herringby, Surlingkam, and

Oxnead in Norfolk. In 1443 John Hauteyn, a Carmelite Friar of Blakeney, sued for an

estate there to which he had become heir, and having proved that he was only fourteen

years of age when forced to enter that religious house, Pope Eugenius gave him

permission to leave it; and Hautoyn recovered his inheritance. At Haylesdon there was a

manor called Hanteyn's; and Sir Hamo Hauteyn, temp. Henry III., was custos of the

County of Norfolk and held a commission to look after the Jews. This family bore arg,, a

bend sa. ; and some of the family sealed with bendy of eight, arg. and sa. —See

Blomefield, vi. 478: x. 427.

f Edward Hawtayne, a son of the admiral, died at Yarmouth in 1846, aged 16. The

Rev. John Gambler Hawtayne, the admiral's eldest son, was Vicar of Whitton in

Middlesex.

j Here, in 1800, was a lodging house kept by Mrs. Allen. Among the inmates was a

young gentleman, after wards well known in Yarmouth society, recently deceased, who

laid sick of a fever. He imagined that the ghost of his father appeared and invited him to

throw himself from the window. He prepared to obey, first taking the precaution of

casting out (as he supposed) a feather bed and other articles to break his fall. He was in

the act of following when he was seized from behind by his alarmed and enraged

landlady who forced him back to bed. It then appeared that in his delirium he had gone to

the landlady's china closet, which adjoined his bedroom, and under the above delusion

had thrown into the street some of her most valued treasures

. 1 In this same short street has been one of the most infamous of lodging houses in

recent years, where a murder took place in 1998 (see RRH). No longer called East Street,

this is now re-named as part of York Road.

2 These offices extended to the town wall, which was built in to the cellar. When, in

1987, the water-works sold the buildings, they were purchased by Christine Howkins, and

converted to flats, a Dutchman married her on her deathbed, thus acquiring all her

properties. (see RRH).

3 Huge amounts of water were taken daily from a well in Victoria Road by Long’s

Dairy for their bottle-washing plant. Since most milk is now sold in supermarkets, the

once thriving milk business of the Long family, with large premises also on England’s

Lane, Gorleston, dwindled and became uneconomic. They were sold to the Co-op about

1990, and the former dairy in Victoria Road converted to terraced houses.

334 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Writing in 1598, says "In no place about Yarmouth can you dig six feet

deep but you shall have a bubbling spring of fresh or sweet water for all

uses, as apt and accommodated as St. Winifred's well, or Tower water at

London, so much praised and sought after. Nothing in nature is more

marvellous than the incessant circulation of water from the ocean to the

atmosphere, from the air to the laud, and from the land once more to the

ocean. The water which issues from any spring has passed times without

number from sea to air and from air to land—has been in the

atmosphere now invisible and now visible —has fallen as rain to the

earth. Distilled from the ocean, it is absolutely pure; floating in the

atmosphere, it absorbs nitrogen, carbonic acid, and other gasses; sinking

into the crust, says Professor Page, it loses its purity and carries along

with it and out with it a burden of mineral and other impurities. As the

town increased in population without any efficient system of drainage,

the water in many parts deteriorated; and Manship, writing in 1619,

confesses that "in the summer season many of the springs within, the

walls became brackish," and otherwise unfit for drinking purposes.

Many of the inhabitants were accustomed to procure water from the

Dene wells;* to preserve the purity of which, the inhabitants were

prohibited from washing or rinsing their clothes and nets in them ; and

to obviate the inconvenience of going to these wells, a scheme was

proposed in 1694 for collecting their waters into a reservoir and

distributing the same through the town by earthenware pipes. The

corporation entered into a contract with Barry of London and Sorocold

of Derby for this purpose, and gave them permission to break up the

streets. The pipes were partially laid, and have since been occasionally

found; but nothing more was done. In 1810 Mr. Dodd propounded a

somewhat similar plan; but it was opposed in Parliament and

abandoned. After that period the rapid increase of buildings without the

town wall, with a multiplicity of dead wells, rendered the

* It was customary in the last century for women to make a living by carrying about

pails of water for sale, procured from the Dene Wells. There is in St. Nicholas’

Churchyard a very long and laudatory epitaph to Eleanor Roalf, who gained a livelihood

by this means, and died in 1800, aged 64. " Her heart was refin'd of those gross ideas of

pleasure and self which wealth and the insolence - of prosperity seldom "fail to generate,"

Palmer’s Addenda: Price – 27 th May 1777, The Rev Price Married Miss Eaton,

daughter of Mr. William Eaton, bookseller – Youell’s Diary.

GREAT YARMOUTH

335

water on the Denes impure and deleterious; that is to say, it became

impregnated with animal matter which, without being positively

injurious, might in times of epidemics become the fruitful source and

propagator of disease. Few facts are better established than that cholera,

typhoid fever, and diseases of that class, are mainly if not entirely

produced, by drinking contaminated water, that is, water into which

some particles of sewage matter or the excreta of the sick, although in

an infinitesimally small degree, have by some means or other

penetrated; and it is well known that such water may often be perfectly

inoffensive in smell, and even bright, sparkling, and tempting to the

palate; that it is possible people may continue for years to drink such

water without suffering from it, and yet the time may come when under

peculiar circumstances its use may be attended with fatal

consequences 1 . The want of an abundant supply of pure water being

generally acknowledged, Mr. Wickstead, C.E., in 1835 proposed to

construct a reservoir on the high land at Burgh Castle, and to aid the

natural springs by obtaining a supply from the fresh water of the river

brought down by the ebb tide ; but this plan met with no support.

The Great Yarmouth Water-Works Act was obtained in 1853. The

company derive their supply from some small inland lakes, locally

called "Broads,"* the waters of which communicating with each other

flow over about 600 acres of land, and receive the rain-shed of the

surrounding country. They communicate at their southern extremity

with the Biver Bure by means of a narrow tortuous stream about three

miles and a half in length, at the end of which there are sluice gates to

let off the superfluous waters of the broads and to prevent the influx of

salt water from the river. The company's works are erected on the

margin of Ormesby Broad, whence the water flows by gravitation into

an artificial well formed on the works, from which it is lifted by two

powerful engines into two filter bed, passes through the filtering

material and again goes to the engines by gravitation, and is then forced

through a main five miles long, to a service reservoir at Caister. From

* They are named Hemsby, Ormesby, and Filby Broads; and there are others,

at Martham, Hickling, Barton, Wroxham, and various places in Norfolk. "Wilkie

Collins describes one of them in his novel of Armidale ; and a well written paper

upon them will be found in the Cornhill Magazine 2 .

1 This treatise on contamination and treatment of fresh water is of exceptional

interest, showing that it was well realized (in 1874) that something from sewage caused

the disease transmission, chemicals had been identified, but the bacterial origins of

disease were as yet unknown. Pasteur had identified bacteria in 1865, but it was not until

1876 that Koch first proved that a bacterium caused a disease. Fortunately, we had fresh

water and sewers in Yarmouth before the actual mechanisms of disease causation were

known. A parallel is true today when radio and TV signals are ubiquitous, electric light

everywhere, and yet the medium of transmission, the “dark” matter causing the

phenomenon of “gravity” and transmission of light still remains a mystery to all. Yet it is

really so obvious, that a pressure from the unseen microparticles, causes the effect known

erroneously as “gravity”, with no such thing as attraction at a distance, as postulated by

Newton. How slow on the uptake is the Human Race! God gave us brains, but we seldom

use them very well. (see Copresumy in RRH, or by google search.)

2 It was only in the 1950’s that it was finally conceded that the Broads were all man

made, being the resultant basins that were left after millions of tons of peat were dug out

for fuel in the medieval period. No wonder that Yarmouth and Norwich were prominent

towns then. Little research has been done on the business aspects of this industry, which

must have had a very big impact on local prosperity and the port. It still seems to be

thought by many that Broadland was under the sea in a great estuary, but clearly, neither

would the peat have formed, nor could it have been extracted, if it was under the sea! See

RRH, vol i.

336 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

this reservoir the water is conveyed by a main along the public roads to

Yarmouth, where it is distributed throughout the town. The water

supplied by the company is peculiarly soft and wholesome, but it wants the

brightness by which mineral waters are distinguished.* At the Caister

works there is a stand-pipe through which the water can be passed so as

to supply the loftiest houses in Yarmouth. It makes an admirable sea-

mark, and is known to coasters as "The Caister toasting-fork." Watering

the public streets and roads was a luxury unknown to our ancestors 1 . In

order to render the air more pure, especially in the rows and other

confined spaces, and particularly in unhealthy seasons, there should be

put into every cart load of water a small quantity of chloride of lime and

a still smaller quantity of sulphuric acid, which would set free the

chloride gas, the purifying properties of which are very efficacious

where fevers of the worse kind rage. A large surface of ground would

thus be covered by a disinfecting fluid, and the air rendered thereby

much more wholesome. The same mixture used by a small fire engine

could be led into the most confined courts, where fevers mostly

generate, and would purify them at a small cost. (An excellent proposal

by Palmer, but entirely superceded by the building of the sewers.

Although the main sewer was built –of brick- along King Street nin

1856, it would be many years before the majority of properties were

connected)

Row No. 116, from Middlegate Street to King Street. At the south-

east corner is a large house which was the property and residence of

Samuel Hurry, the fourth son of Thomas Hurry already mentioned, born

at Yarmouth in 1727. Early in life he engaged in the mercantile marine;

and at the termination of war, soon after the accession of George III.,

was employed on the coast of France and America in the transport

service, which he conducted in a manner to attract the attention and

commendation of Admiral Boscowan. He quitted this employment in

1775; and subsequently engaged largely as a ship owner and general

merchant. f In 1792 an association was formed in Yarmouth

* The company's engineer in chief is Thomas Hawksley, Esq. The present able manager is

Mr. John Ayris; an apt name, as it is derived from Ari the Norse for one employed and trusted

by another.

f In 1763 he launched a ship called the Pitt, in token of his admiration of that statesman

(afterwards Earl of Chatham), being the largest vessel that had been launched in Great

Yarmouth for many years," says the Norwich Gazette, It was then the practice for persons not

engaged in business to hold shares in ships, leaving

1 If disinfecting the streets was such a benefit, it only goes to show how foul the streets still

were, with sewage and urine just dumped and washing about. We now have laws to keep us free

from dog’s excrement on the street, but then you had to avoid human excrement, as well as cow

pats, and huge amounts of horse manure. One reason for building the rows up away from the

river, was to let the rain wash the manure and excrement down to the river! The idea of

swimming in the river or sea then I think, was not a good one.

337

GREAT YARMOUTH

"against Republicans and Levellers," which, was joined by a large number of

persons whose names were alphabetically printed and published. Resolutions

in support of their views were adopted at a public meeting held at the Town

Hall, while those who differed hold a meeting at the Angel under the

presidency of Samuel Hurry, at which a declaration was drawn up of

attachment to the "glorious revolution of 1688," and expressing a desire to

support the ancient constitution, and to "impress a reverence for and due

submission to the laws of the country, which had theretofore preserved the

liberty, protected the property, and encreased the enjoyments of a free and

prosperous people." In 1796 Mr. Hurry permitted John Thelwall, a political

lecturer, to fit up one of his warehouses in the south part of the town as a

lecture room; and Thelwall announced his intention of delivering a series of

lectures on "Classical History." This was considered merely as a cloak under

cover of which to disseminate revolutionary doctrines. At the first lecture

some disturbance took place, Mr. Cammant Money being conspicuous in the

expression of his disapprobation; but the second was the scene of a serious

outrage. About ninety sailors from the ships of war then lying in the

roadstead, evidently organized for the purpose, rushed into the apartment and

endeavoured to seize the lecturer, who had just exclaimed "So fell the

Gracchi." The lights were extinguished and blows were freely given on both

sides, some persons being seriously injured, whilst others were more

frightened than hurt.* Thelwall, while attempting to escape by

the management to the "ship's husband." Thus we find that the Rev. Thomas Artis, who

was Vicar of Ormesby from 1723 to 1774, had a share in the Pitt; and also in the William

and Mary of which vessel Mr. William Harry was manager. He was a partner in the house

of Thomas Hurry and Co. (ante. p. 103), and in 1790 the ship-owners of North Shields,

having: often experienced the good effects of that philanthropy by which the firm was so

eminently distinguished, particularly during and after the great storm which happened on

the 31st of October 1789, in their humane attention to the distresses of the unfortunate

sufferers, to the preservation of shipwrecked property, and to the prevention of that

imposition too frequently practised on unfortunate seamen; and being anxious to express

the “high sense they entertained of their essential services,” presented each of the

partners, Samuel Hurry, Thomas Hurry, and William Hurry, with a silver cup.

*Among the former was Christopher Atkinson, a somewhat conspicuous Member of

Parliament.

Vol II

338

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

a side door, was seized by the sailors and hurried towards the shore with

the avowed purpose of taking him on board ship " to serve his king and

country," but the townspeople interfering he contrived to escape into the

house of Mr. Norton. "Among the persons to whom I am indebted for

this rescue," says Thelwall, "I am happy to particularize Mr. Thomas

Hurry, jun., and two of the younger Mr. Palmers; and it is but a tribute

of justice to say that I never saw any thing more gallantly executed in

my life. The ruffians had all of them formidable bludgeons; the persons

who rescued me, few in number, were most of them entirely unarmed,

and none of them provided with anything more than a small walking

stick." The sailors who remained in the lecture room collected the hats,

shawls, and cloaks which the affrighted audience had left behind them,

and these with the lecturer's books were carried on board the fleet.

Application was made to the mayor, who was then at an evening party,

for assistance; but he seemed disposed to return a verdict of "Served

him right." Upon further pressure he is reported to have said, "Well,

Lord Spencer may send the soldiers if he please." The commanding

officer did not please; and he was right for signal guns from the fleet

called all hands on board, and relieved the town from an agitation which

had lasted two hours, and might have ended in bloodshed. Thelwall and

his friends denounced these proceedings as "atrocious," and accused

Windham, then Secretary of War, with having from the Treasury Bench

"upheld the anarchic doctrine of exerting an authority beyond the law"

whilst the opponents of Thelwall declared the disturbance to be "the

natural result of a loyal and virtuous indignation" against a person "who

made his appearance in a peaceable town to spread sedition under the

specious veil of classical allusion." Much ink was spilled on both

sides;* but

* The following epigram appeared: — ,

" Ah! Brutus! what avail the applauses loud

" Of ‘charming!’ ‘hear him!’ from the friendly crowd,

" Since angry Jack, loud thunders at the door,

" To break that noddle that was crack’d before."

For your hearers can no longer stay."

e

Another ran thus—

" At the front of the warehouse I hear roaring John;

" The door to his fury gives way!

" Mr. Thelwall you must in a Hurry b gone,

GREAT YARMOUTH

339

nothing more came of it.* Mr. Samuel Hurry married Isabella, daughter

of John Hall of Whitby. She died in 1754 at an early age, leaving an

only child, Elizabeth, who married Robert Alderson, Esq. Mr. Hurry

survived his wife for more than half a century, and died suddenly in 1800,

aged 74, leaving the bulk of his large fortune to his grandchildren.

The name of A LDERSON " is derived from the Danish Haldorsen.

James Alderson died at Lowestoft in 1760, aged 46, leaving three sons.

James Alderson, the eldest, an eminent physician, settled at Norwich,

where he died in 1845. f Robert Alderson, the second son, abandoned

his original profession for the bar, where he was eminently successful,

for he was made Steward and afterwards Recorder of Norwich, and also

Recorder of Ipswich and Yarmouth, t an unprecedented instance of three

* from Yarmouth, Thelwall went to Norwich, where he was very roughly-treated by

the " loyal Windhamites;" Mr. Windham himself addressing him, he asserts, with great

bitterness. Thelwall, speaking of Yarmouth society at that day says " there is a sort of

comparative equality in the condition of the inhabitants. The links of the progressive chain

are not yet broken. There are no overpowering or gigantic fortunes on the one hand, and

but little want or abject wretchedness on the other; and there is a good body of decent

substantial families filling up the intermediate space between the merchants and the

mechanics. In short such is the state of Yarmouth that the principles of liberty need only

to be understood, and they must be immediately adopted 1 ." He only excepted the clergy

and the corporation whose conversion appeared to him to be hopeless. Thelwall's voice

was originally feeble and husky; yet by perseverance he acquired an extraordinary

distinctness of articulation, and, even in the open air, could make himself heard at a great

distance. He died at Bath in 1834, aged 68.

f There is a portrait of him by Opie, painted in 1798. He married Amelia, daughter of

Joseph Briggs of Cossambaza on the Ganges (eldest son of Dr. Henry Briggs, Rector of

Holt, Norfolk), and Mary his wife, daughter of Captain Worrell of St. Helena. Dr. Briggs

was grandson of Augustine Briggs, who was Mayor of Norwich and a representative for

that city in four Parliaments; a man eminent for his loyalty, who died in 1648, aged 67.

Amelia Alderson, the only child of the above-named James Alderson and Amelia his

wife, married John Opie, the celebrated painter, who died in 1807 , s.p., and was buried in

St. Paul's Cathedral. His widow, Amelia Opie, well known by her literary productions,

resided at Norwich until her death in 1853, aged 84. The arms of Briggs are gu., three

bars gomell. or., a canton arg. There was an old family of the name of Opie seated at

Pawtonin Cornwall, who bore sa., a chev. betw. three garbs or., as many hursts az.

t The latter election was peculiarly honorable to both parties, for Mr. Alderson's

political opinions were not in accordance with those of the majority with whom the

1 Unfortunately this has not been so, in recent years. The steadfast refusal of the

council to allow the conversion of disused hotels and guest houses into domestic

accommodation, has seen the proliferation of the worst kinds of landlord, and the town

has filled up with impoverished mentally ill and addicted persons, the only ones willing

or otherwise obliged because of their circumstances, to occupy such pitiful residences.

The rooms that they have been forced to occupy are largely unheated, damp, devoid of

cooking or bathing facilities or laundry facilities. There has been no money spent on their

upkeep, and only in the event of tragedy has any prosecution of a landlord taken place.

The mental health services have been swamped by schizophrenics and addicts. The

corner shops mainly sell huge quantities of “white Lightning” – cheap cider, and other

brands, but little if any, fresh food. I have seen young persons admitted to hospital with

swollen bellies and starvation, from rooms surrounded with cigarette butts and empty

beer cans. I have seen a pregnant girl aged 17 living on a plain mattress in an unheated

cellar. I have seen accommodation where the only access was through a toilet. Most

accommodation is a single room, and the occupants disallowed from residing there

during the day, and thrown out altogether in summer; no better than tramps in Leake’s

Lodgings in the 20’s and 30’s, and worse looked after than in the workhouse. Building

more and more better housing in Cobholm and the periphery has done nothing to address

the basic problem, that remains in many areas: Northgate, Wellesley Road, Nelson Road,

and Camperdown, and Paget Road, being especially affected.

340

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

such judicial appointments being held by the same person. He died in

1833, aged 81, and was buried in Norwich Cathedral. There is an

engraved portrait of him. Thomas Alderson, the third son, settled at

Newcastle; and the fourth son, John Alderson, a physician, practised at

Hull, where he died in 1829, aged 72, leaving a son, Sir James Alderson,

M.D. By his marriage with the only surviving child of Mr. Samuel

Hurry the recorder had two sons. Edward Hall Alderson, the elder, was

born in the above house, where he spent the first years of boyhood,

deprived however of a mother's care, for Mrs. Alderson died soon after

the birth of her youngest child, in 1791. He walked daily to a school at

South-town, conducted by Mr. Thomas Wright, crossing and recrossing

the ferry for that purpose, and he was also a pupil of the Rev. J. M.

Beynon, the pastor of the Unitarian Church. He was next sent to a

boarding school at Scarning, memorable as having been the educational

cradle of Lord Chancellor Thurlow. In 1800 he was removed to the

Charterhouse, but the change from "the garden of Norfolk" to the fog

and smoke of the metropolis proving injurious to his health, he was sent

to the Grammar School at Bury St Edmund's, where he made the

acquaintance of Dr. Blomefield, afterwards Bishop of London, and

commenced with him a life-long friendship. He was next entered at

Caius College, Cambridge, where in his second year he obtained Sir

William Browne's medal for the best Greek and Latin epigrams, and in

1809 he was declared senior wrangler, first Smith's prizeman, and first

medalist, thus completing a list of honors almost unequalled in the

annals of that university. Called to the bar in 1811 he went the Norfolk

circuit, and soon acquired a very extensive and lucrative practice. In

1830 he was raised to the bench and made one of the Judges of the

Court of Common Pleas, and in 1834 was transferred to the Exchequer

where he remained till his death. Shortly after assuming the ermine he

had the satisfaction

appointment rested. He (or some one on his behalf) is believed to have given vent to

his feelings of satisfaction "by some lines commencing with—

" Recorder I am, — but I don't care a d—m

" For the Mayor, and the whole corporation &c."

Mr. Alderson had in fact opposed the ruling party in the corporation in 1796 by

endeavouring to procure the election of Sir John Jervis. See a letter to him from

Lady Jervis in P.C. , p. 228. Lady Jervis was the daughter of Chief Baron Parker.

GREAT YARMOUTH

341

of visiting his native county as a Judge of Assize. He usually passed his

vacations at Lowestoft, where his greatest enjoyment was to sail along

the coast or to make boating excursions up the rivers and to the Norfolk

broads.

"Yarmouth," says his Biographer, "as the place of his birth and

early education, was endeared to him by many associations of the past,

and was each year the object of frequent visits. It was with deep interest

that he loved to point out to his children the house where he first drew

breath and the school which he first attended; or the old jetty from

which, in his early days, he had watched the return of more than one

Baltic fleet of the old war, and which, through, an inadvertency in

saluting, he remembered on one occasion to have narrowly escaped

being swept by a cannon ball to the consternation of the assembled

townfolk." His interest in Yarmouth was specially evinced in

connection with objects of great parochial importance. In 1848 he

attended, with Lady Alderson and his daughter, the present

Marchioness of Salisbury,* the re-opening of the Parish Church after a

partial restoration, upon which occasion he brought with him that

illustrious statesman, M. Guizot, then in exile. Baron Alderson was also

present at the opening of the Priory National Schools. The long vacation

of 1856 was spent at Dieppe; and in January, 1857, he went down to

Beechwood Park, Hertfordshire, the seat of Sir Thomas Sebright, where

he was attacked by sudden illness and died shortly after his removal to

London. Baron Alderson married in 1823 Georgina Catherine, daughter

of the Rev. Edward Drewe of Broadhembury in the County of Devon-

shire, whose family had long been seated at the Grange near Honiton.

She resided for some time in Yarmouth, and died in 1871.

The second son of the recorder was the Rev. Samuel Hurry

Alderson, sometime Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, Vicar of

Buckden in Huntingtonshire in 1831, Vicar of Bredfield in Suffolk

from 1832 to 1835, Rector of Risby in Suffolk, and chaplain to Lord

Chancellor Brougham. He married in 1821 Jane Frances, only daughter

of Philip

* Sir William Cecil, Lord Burleigh 1 , the renowned counsellor of Queen Elizabeth, who visited

Yarmouth in 1578, was elected High Steward in 1588. He was the, founder of the noble

houses of Salisbury and Exeter,

1 Although we commemorate his appointment today in the name of “Burleigh

Close”, next to “Sidney” Close, after Lord Sidney, and “Clarendon”, after Lord

Clarendon, it would be an appropriate future endeavour to make these areas of the town

somewhat more of a fitting testimony!

342

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Bennett, Esq., of Rougham., Suffolk.* The only daughter of the

recorder, Elizabeth. Hurry, married Sir William George Milman, Bart.,

in 1809, and died in 1854, aged 62. f The arms used by the Alderson

family were gu., on a chev. betw. three cinquefoils,

three cats' heads. The three in the cheveron are cats*

heads, which perhaps you would not find out, so I

mention it, said Baron Alderson in a letter written in

1848 to the editor.

The next possessor of the above-mentioned

house 1 was Thomas Hurry, also a merchant and ship

owner and senior partner in the agency house for many years conducted

under the style of Messrs. Thomas Hurry and Co. He was the son of

Thomas Hurry, who died in 1801, aged 83. He, the son, died very

suddenly of apoplexy, whilst walking one morning in 1828, aged 78,

and being unmarried his branch, of the family became, as bad that of

Mr. Samuel Hurry in the male line, extinct.

After the death of Mr. Hurry this house was purchased by Mr.

Joseph Plummer, who here established a large boarding school 2 .

At the north-east corner of Row No. 116 is a house which in the

last century was occupied by John Moxon, who died in 1799, aged 75,

and afterwards of his son, John Moxon, who died in 1809, aged 88. The

father was great-grandson of Elizabeth Palmer, widow, who died in

1752, leaving an estate to the Moxons. Samuel Barker Moxon of

Poplar, only son of Thomas Moxon of Newington Butts, only son of

Thomas Moxon of Walworth, grandson of Elizabeth Palmer.

* Rougham was acquired by Philip Bennett, Esq., on his marriage with the only

daughter of the Rev. Roger Kedington, who was descended from one of the most ancient

families in Suffolk. Kedington had a renewed grant of arms in 1709, namely, erm ., on a

bend az., six scimiters placed salter-wise ppr., having previously borne the same arms on

a field arg. Bennett hears gu. x a bezant betw. three demi-lions ramp, arg.

f By his second marriage (with Maria, daughter of J. Mannock, Esq. of Bungay) the

recorder had a son, the Rev. Robert L. C. Alderson, Rector of Wetherden, who married

Sophia Sarah, daughter of J. T. Mott, Esq., of Barningham, and had issue.

J An usher in this school published at Sloman's press in 1855 an Ode in honor of

Prince Albert; a dramatic fragment entitled Brutus an d Cassius, and part of another poem.

1 It may well have escaped attention by now, after several pages of digression, that

this house is 133 King Street. This house was rebuilt by Hurry, after purchase from

Frances Le Neve, following Peter’s death. It is likely that Peter latterly visited Yarmouth

mainly to see his mistress “Durham Dolly”. At first he came to take the air for the sake of

his health. See RRH.

2 In about 1995, Richard Skippings, inheritor of the house and shop at no 133, the

eldest of the sons of Skippings the draper, who had the drapery there after Mr Carr.

During the course of some restoration work, discovered some school books and slates

(which the children wrote their lessons on, prior to writing in books), that had fallen

behind some panelling a hundred or so years before. Richard Skippings sold up after

business declined in the depression of the early 1990’s, and has emigrated to Australia.

See RRH.

GREAT YARMOUTH

343

represented another branch of the same family. The Rev. George

Browne Moxon was instituted to the Rectory of Sandringham in 1827,

and died there in 1866. The Prince of Wales attended his funeral. He

was succeeded in the rectory, on the presentation of the Prince by the

Rev. William Lake Onslow (godson of Viscount Lake), who, before

going to the university, was educated at the Proprietary Grammar

School, Southtown 1 . Mr. Onslow having accompanied the Prince to

Egypt, received from the Kedive the Order of the Medjidié, and from

the Sultan the Order of the Osmanli, and had permission to wear the

same in the presence of the Prince in his capacity as private chaplain.

Row No. 117, from South Quay to Middlegate Street. At the south-

west corner is an ancient house which

extends over this row, spanning it by a

fourteenth-century arch, of which an

engraving is here given. In the early part of

the last century it was occupied by Joshua

Pear-tree; and in 1774 was used as an

alehouse called The George ; but when an

attempt was made to establish a trade in

connection with The Greenland Whale

Fishery it received that name, and the

jawbones of a whale were set up on the

Quay opposite this house 2 ; and in the

conveyance thereof in 1793, the trees on the

Quay fronting the premises and the jawbones and sign there placed, are

expressly included. In 1795 it was called the Ballast Keel, and

subsequently the Gallon Can; the adjoining row being then called the

Gallon-can Row. The front of this house was modernized some years

since, but at the suggestion of Mr. Dawson Turner, the curious

tapestry irons, which had adorned it, were replaced and still

remain. They are good specimens; and have the projecting

spikes upon which tapestry was hung upon festive occasions.

The one here engraved has a merchant's mark in ironwork.

Behind the above-mentioned house was a "capital messuage,"

which must at one time have been of considerable importance. In a

1 This was on the site later Horsley Smith’s Timber Yard, after being a site for

goods railway sidings, and now “Matalan” Store, this warehouse type building

first built for WH Smith DIY (“Do-it-yourself”) store.

2 There were then, a number of whalebone arches in the town, one by the tower

in the park, one on South town Road, and the only one that survives today, is at

Hopton Hall. See RRH.

344

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

panelled room there is a very rich, and elegant

pendant ceiling, exhibiting in the centre com-

partment the arms of James I.* The pendants

at the intersections of the ribs are singular ;

each having on one side an angel with

extended wings, as seen in the annexed

engraving. In an upper chamber there is also a

very rich ceiling, profusely adorned with fruit

and flowers. This house and the buildings

adjoining, including the public house in front, were the property of

Henry Lombe, Esq., f who, dying in 1730 of smallpox, devised it to his

brother, Samuel Lombe, whose only child, Elizabeth Martha, married

John Rising; and from them the property passed to James Bellord, who

sold the public house to John Day of Norwich, brewer,

* In the engraving of this ceiling it will he observed that a mistake has been made in

rendering the motto at the foot of the royal arms. It should be the begining of Psalm 68.

Exurgat Deus dissipentur inimici.

f He voted at the Norfolk election in 1714 in favor of Hare and Earle, In 1725 he filled

the office of mayor. Henry Lombe, Esq., "whose approv'd integrity and prudence in his

public character, and exact piety and virtue in his private conduct, made his life

exemplary and his death lamented," (as saith his sorrowing friend, “J. D.,” who erected a

monument to his memory) died in 1730, aged 40.

" Quos vita semper Habuit conjunctisimos

"Mori Quae sola potuit separavit" —(From Add. M.S.S., B. M.)

Thomas Lombe, Esq., many years a merchant at Rotterdam, died in 1785, aged 59, and

was buried in St. Nicholas' Churchyard. He was grandson of Thomas Smith, Esq., who

died in 1752, aged 88.

j He was the eldest son of George Day (by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of R. Miller

of Warrington in Lancashire), who was the fifth and youngest son of John Day by Bridget

Tompson (of Tinwell in Rutlandshire, his wife), and who settled at Norwich in the latter

part of the seventeenth century, and became the founder of a family who nourished in that

city for many generations. John Day, his only son, married a daughter of the Rev. Dr.

Sandby, Chancellor of Norwich. Thomas Day, second son of the above-named John and

Bridget Day, married Ruth, youngest daughter of James Starling of Hockering in Norfolk

in 1730, and by her had eight children, one of whom was Starling Day who twice filled she

office of Mayor of Norwich, and died in 1820, aged 84; and had issue an only son.

Starling Day, who filled the same and who in 1787 married Margaret, daughter of Cyrus

Framingham of Swaffham, Norfolk, and sister of Major-General Sir H. Framingham,

K.C.B., and died in 1815, aged 55, leaving six sons and three daughters. Of the former,

the late

GREAT YARMOUTH

345

John Daye, the celebrated printer, was a native of Dunwich in

Suffolk, and died at Walden in Essex in 1584, and was buried in the

church there. See Gent. Mag. for 1832, part ii., pp.417, 597. Arms —

erm., on a chief indented gu., two eagles displayed arg. The Days of

Norfolk bore or., on a chief indented az., two mullets or.

On the north side of Row No. 117 were several houses the

property and one of them the residence of Edmund Wilson, a ship

owner. He made his will in 1672, being then, as he informs us, in the

preamble, “of good and perfect health (thanks be to Almighty God), but

intending suddenly to take a voyage to sea, and calling to remembrance

the uncertain state of this transitory life and that all flesh must yield

unto death when it shall please God to call.” He names as one of his

vessels the Love's Increase. Thomas Wilson, his grandson, died in

1743, aged 38, and the property descended to his two sisters as his co-

heirs, one of whom married Francis Seaman.

A family named Wilson resided in Yarmouth in the 16th century,

of which the most celebrated member was A RTHUR W ILSON , who is

entitled to take rank among our historians; and his works may be

consulted with advantage by the student of the times in which he lived.

Arthur Wilson was the son of Richard Wilson of Great Yarmouth, and

was born here in 1562. " When I was a little boy," says he, "about seven

years of age, being in company with two of my unkles who fell out, one

of them threw a great flint-stone at the other with such violence, that

slanting on his breast and rebounding thence, it strooke me on the

forehead, which cutt into my skull and endangered my life; leaving

such a visible impression yett, as discovers God's providence in my

preservation." Being seventeen years of age and "fit "for Cambridge,

my genius rather carried me to a desire to travel; and by the indulgence

of a loving mother, my father sent me into France, where being sick of

an ague a miller of Clerac in Gasconie

Thomas Starling Day, Esq., was the eldest; and of the latter, Frances Bridget married the

Rev. John Lucas Worship, already mentioned; and Mary Anne, the youngest, married Sir

William Foster 1 , Bart., of Norwich. When Sir Lambert Blackwell (already mentioned vol.

i., p. 39, and ante, p. 32), died in 1801, aged 60. and that title became extinct ; he left all

his estates, with his collections of pictures, books, coins, &c, to Sir William, then Mr.

William Foster, jun.

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Sir William Foster – died at his residence in St Giles Street,

Norwich, in December 1874, aged 76.

VOL. II.

346

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

“cured it by a charm; and I never had the fitt againe”. (Peck's Curiosa.)

After being nearly two years abroad, Wilson sailed from Bordeaux in a

ship of his grandfather's laden with wine, and was in danger of being

shipwrecked on the coast of France "in a Michaelmas storm." Having

reached Yarmouth he found his father had somewhat wasted his estate,

so that it was determined to apprentice young Wilson to a merchant in

London ; but the latter proving to be a papist the negotiation was broken

off, and eventually his father left him for half a year with Mr. Davis in

Fleet Street ("the most famous writer of his time") to learn the court and

chancery hands, and thereby qualify himself for a place in the

exchequer, procured for him as clerk to Sir Henry Spiller; but having by

his disputations upon religion and other matters incurred the displeasure

of Lady Spiller, who was a papist, he was discharged; so he took a

chamber in Holborn, and living very thriftily, devoted himself to

literature and poetry. When his money was spent and being without

means of procuring more, he again came to Yarmouth, but, as he says,

found small comfort; his mother being dead and his "father with a great

charge of children, and in a declining state." In this extremity he was

fortunately introduced to the Earl of Essex, son of the unhappy favorite

of Queen Elizabeth (High Steward of Yarmouth in 1598), and the last of

the Devereux family, who took him down to Chartley in Staffordshire,

where a singular accident, which shall be told in his own words,

introduced him to the "liking" of his lordship." Towards Michaelmas

there was a sonding alarum in the house afore dinner, which caus'd a

great disturbance. Some thought the house had been on fire; others, that

there were theeves. So some ran one way, some another. My Lord of

Essex, and some lords and gentlemen with him, ran out on the

drawbridge (for the house had a very deep mote about it), and I ran into

the laundrie, where I found the cause. One of the laundry maids, rinsing

clothes in the mote upon a little gallerie for that purpose, fell into the

water. Another of the maids coming to help her, was pull'd in by her.

The third to help both, was pull'd in by both; which caused the shrieks

and noise which begett this disturbance. The two first got out by the

help of poles the first comers reach'd to them; but she who fell in first,

with

GREAT YARMOUTH

347

the plunging of the water, was driven without reach or sense of taking

hold; so that my Lord of Essex and all who stood on the bridge cried out

“ Now she sinks! Now she's gone!” I came in (as God would have it) just

as she was soe; and had only a glimpse of where she sunk; and there

being no time to study what to do, I instantly with a running lep bounced

into the water. My plunging there brought her up again, and holding her

with one arm I swam with the other, the people drew her out, and with

much ado recovered her.” The earl upon this took Wilson into his

personal service and made him keeper of his privy purse. This

advancement caused much envy and jealousy in the earl's household,

and Wilson had to fight two duels in order to preserve his position. He

accompanied the earl in his expedition into the Palatinate and travelled

with him through Germany, Italy, Spain, and France; and being trusted

by the earl, he became well informed upon all the material transactions

of King James' reign, and subsequently he had the use of all the earl's

papers with those of his lordship's father's friend and fellow sufferer, the

Earl of Southampton. Wilson remained with Lord Essex until 1630,

when the earl, unhappily for himself, married Mrs. Elizabeth Paulet, who

took a dislike to Wilson, and never rested till she procured his dismissal.

After a brief residence at Oxford he became Steward to the Earl of

Warwick; and remained with him during the eventful period of the civil

war. Wilson says he was incited to write his autobiography by a sermon

which he heard preached from Numbers xxxiii. 1, in which it was

asserted that every christian ought to keep a record of his own actions

and ways, being full of dangers and hazards, that God might have the

glory. He therefore entitled it Observations on God's Providence in the

Track of my Life, and certainly he relates many perilous adventures and

hair-breadth escapes. He died peaceably at Felstead in Essex in 1652,

and was buried in the chancel of the church there. In the following year

his Life of James I. was published.

Row No. 118 from South Quay to Middlegate Street. It has been

called Blue Bell Row from an early period, probably from the sign of

some neighbouring public house. The Bell is one of the commonest

signs in England, and was used as early as the 14th century, and is

348

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

mentioned by Chaucer. It was probably adopted on account of the

national fondness for bell ringing.* This row is also called the White

Swan Row, from the public house at the north-west corner. This was a

very old house having some handsomely-carved chimney pieces and

panelled rooms, all of which were destroyed when the house was rebuilt

some years since.

Row No. 119 , from Middlegate Street to King Street. At the north-

west corner stood a house erected in 1534 by Aleyn Couldham, which

descended to his son, John Couldham, already mentioned (ante. p. 222),

at which time the garden at the rear of the house extended three parts up

the row. In 1644 William Collingwood and Agnes his sister, wife of

Benedict Barrett, children of William Collingwood, then deceased, who

was the son and heir of Robert Collingwood, mariner, deceased, sold

the property to Simon Swayne, from whom it passed to George Lindsey

of Loddon, Norfolk, who in 1675 conveyed the house, then standing, to

Stephen Dawson; in consequence of which the adjoining row was

subsequently called Dawson’ s Row. He was the son of John Dawson,

born at Loughborough in Leicestershire in 1621, f who was appointed

Collector of Customs at Yarmouth, and died here in 1679 aged 56. By

his will be bequeathed £100 to the place of his birth, and a like sum to

the Corporation of Yarmouth to enable them to pay £5 yearly for the

teaching of poor children in arithmetic and mathematics, which sum

still continues to be paid by the Town Council under the name of

“Dawson's gift.” James Dawson, son of Stephen, inherited the above-

mentioned house, which he refronted in 1719 as we see it depicted in

Corbridge's map. He died in 1750, aged 65; and by Martha Carlowe his

wife left issue a son, James Dawson, who married in 1749 Anne Cubitt

of Tunstead, grand-daughter of Benjamin Cubitt

* A bell painted blue as a sign, may be a pictorial pun upon the Blue Bell of

Scotland, the common pretty bell-shaped flower of blue colour, the Campanula latifolia

of Linnaeus. The Blue Bell was the sign of one of the oldest houses in Norwich,

remaining unaltered until recently.

f The Dawsons were a good family in Leicestershire, where they intermarried

with the family of Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Attorney-General to Charles II. See

Nicholl's Leicestershire , p.p. 1422, 1482.

GREAT YARMOUTH

349

of Honing, and died in 1793, aged 72, s.p.* Sarah, his sister, married

the Key. Francis Turner, already mentioned, and died in 1795, aged 76 ;

and in the above-mentioned house Mr. Dawson Turner was born, as

previously stated (vol. i., p. 305). Subsequently it passed into the

possession of Captain Thomas Riches, who commanded the Hunter

revenue cutter, and died at Kensington in 1821, aged 71. He married

Sarah, eldest daughter of John Hurry (see ante. p. 129), and had issue

Thomas Hurry Riches, who settled at Uxbridge, where he died in 1863,

s.p. The latter was a Magistrate for the County of Middlesex, and

published a History of Uxbridge. John Hurry Riches, his brother, settled

at Cardiff.

In 1809 this house was inhabited by Edmund Mapes, Esq., for

many years Lieut.-Colonel of the East Norfolk Local Militia, who died

here in 1811, aged 70. f The next occupant, for some years, was Lady

D' Urban, the wife of General Sir Benjamin D'Urban, then serving with

the British army in Spain under Wellington. J He was the second and

* There are portraits of James Dawson and his wife in the possession of Miss Mary

Worship.

f Leonard Mapes of Rollesby, Norfolk, voted at the county election in 1734 for

Bacon and Wodehouse, and filled the office of High Sheriff in 1750. Edmund Mapes, his

only son and heir, married in 1772 Ann Garden. In 1781 an Act of Parliament was

obtained for settling the family estates. There were issue of this marriage two daughters

only, Amphillis and Sophia Anne, the elder of whom married in 1796 John Ensor, Esq.,

son of John Ensor, Esq., of the City of Dublin, descended from the family of Edensor of

Wilnecote near Tamworth, who bore for their arms arg., a chev. Betw., three horseshoes

sa ., and for a crest, a unicorn's head arg., horned or. There is a tradition that Grace, the

wife of John Ensor (ob. 1733), was descended from the Shakspeare of Stratford-on-Avon.

(See the Genealogist and Papworth's Ordinary p. 452). The Ensors quartered the arms of

Blunt. George Ensor in 1725 was a member of the Gentlemen's Society of Spalding. See

History of Brinckley, p. 183. The second daughter married the Rev. Sir George Stracey,

Bart. of Rackheath. The Mapes of Rollesby bore for their arms— sa., a fess fasily or.,

varied to four fusils (or lozenges) in fess or . John Mapes Ensor, Esq., eldest son and heir

of John Ensor, Esq., of Rollesby, died in 1852 at Concarneau in France, aged 55, holding

the office of British Consul for the Department of Morbihan. Rollesby Hall was re-fronted

by Mr. Ensor. Before his time there was a clock turret, in which was kept chained a live

eagle.

t When a boy the editor was delighted to visit at the house of Lady D' Urban,

because her apartments wore adorned with prints and drawings of battles and sieges;

350

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

only surviving son of John D'Urban, a physician at Halesworth, who

married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Benjamin Gooch of Shottisham

in Norfolk, at which place Dr. D'Urban died circa 1798. His widow died

in 1810 at Long Stratton.* Sir Benjamin D'Urban, when a gallant

captain in the 20th Light Dragoons quartered at Norwich, married in

1797 Miss Wilcocks, and died at Montreal in 1849, aged 75, then

commanding Her Majesty's forces in Canada. After many years of

active service, especially in the West Indies, he joined at Yarmouth in

1805 the expedition under Lord Cathcart, and in 1808 went to Spain,

where he was appointed Quarter-master General to the army under

Marshal Lord Beresford. He was present at the battles and sieges of

Busaco, Albuera, Cuidad, Rodrigo, Badajos, Salamanca, Vittoria, the

Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, and Toulouse. In 1815 he was made a K.C.B.,

and in 1840 a G.C.B. He attained the rank of Lieut.-General in 1837,

and in 1841 he was appointed Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, f

where Lady D’Urban died in 1843. John Gooch D'Urban, their eldest

son, died a Commander of the Royal Navy in 1845, aged 45. William

D'Urban, another son (educated in Yarmouth), was Major of the 26th

Foot and Deputy Quarter-master General in the Leeward and Windward

Islands in 1846; a third son, Walter D'Urban, also held a commission in

the army.

The present possessor of the house above mentioned is Mr. James

Hargrave Harrison, at one time Lessee of the Ballastage for Great

Yarmouth. t

and was much frequented by the military officers then quartered in the town, whose gay

uniforms and clanking swords, the latter ostentatiously unbuckled and placed in a corner of the

room, excited his youthful admiration.

* See Gent. Mag., vol. 30, p. 347, 1760. The D’Urbans are said to have derived their descent

from an old Milanese family. They bore az., on a chief arg., a demi lion ramp. gu. There is a

pedigree of D'Urban of Halesworth in B. M. AD. M.S.S. 19, 127. Charles D'Urban, who died

in 1769, lies buried in Halesworth Church.

f A flourishing province in Southern Africa was named Durban in honor of the governor.

J The name of Harrison is very prevalent in East Norfolk, and is to be found among

the earliest entries in the parish registers for Yarmouth. In 1570 Thomas Haryson was

married to Agnes Austea; in 1572 Matthew Harryson to Agnes Rede; and in 1598 Edward

Owner was married to Elizabeth Harrison; but Mr. J. H.

GREAT YARMOUTH

351

At the south-west corner is a public house formerly called the

Harmless Dove: and hence the adjoining row was called Dove Row.

Having acquired a soiled reputation 1 the sign was changed to the

Sailor's Return, and the house is now called the London Tavern.

At the north-east corner of Row No. 119 is a house now turned

into a pawnbroker's shop, which was for some years occupied by

Colonel Storey, who afterwards had the command of Leith Fort. The

same house was also tenanted for some years by Colonel Taylor of

Lynn, who died in 1835, aged 82.* Here resided Arthur Beevor, Esq.,

of Honingham

Harrison's immediate ancestor, John Harrison, grandson of Thomas Harrison of Postwich,

settled in Yarmouth in 1812. Sir Christopher Baker, Knt., Garter, in 1549 confirmed and

assigned unto "Rycharde Heryson als. Hers of Breydestone and of

Phumstede Magna " in Norfolk, the following arms—arg., an eagle

displayed sa,, on a chief az., three crosses pattee fitched or.; and

for a crest, rising from a ducal coronet or., with her head afront a

winged harpy ppr. He is said to have been the last Roman Catholic

rector of Bradeston, and to have been dispossessed by Queen Mary,

for being a married priest. He is also reputed to have been the

adopted son of John Hers, a foreigner, priest of the adjoining Parish

of Blofield, Thomas Haryson, his son, married Elizabeth, sole

daughter and heir of James Hargrave of Blickling, who bore vert., a

fess or., fretty gu., betw. three stags in full course or. Thomas Harrison, their grandson,

disposed of the family estate at Plumpstead and Postwich, and died in 1710 leaving a son,

Thomas Harrison, who was for fifty-six years Parish Clerk at Great Plumpstead, where he

died in 1770. See Notes and Queries, 3 S. v. 258, and vi. 258. Mr. J. H. Harrison printed,

in 1859, for private distribution, Postwich and Relatives, written early in the 18th century

by Thomas Harrison of Great Plumpstead, Norfolk. The Rev. Anthony Harrison, Vicar of

Catfield, compiled a book which he says was began in 1603 and finished in 1612; and was

lent to Bishop White in 1629, and "was with much difficulty, recovered." It contains much

information respecting the Bishoprick of Norwich. He died in 1638, after having been

Rector of Catfield twenty-nine years. "He was," says the parish register, "a man of

admirable parts both of nature and grace; zealously and religiously affected towards God.

Courteous and loving to his parishioners, and to the poor charitable and merciful even

beyond his ability. He hath dispersed and given to the poor; his benevolence remaineth for

ever—2 Cor. 9, 9." The parish register of Catfield, commencing in 1548, is a remarkable

example of caligraphy, and contains many curious and quaint entries from the pen of this

singular man, who did not hesitate to insert poetical versions of the facts or events he

desired to record.

* He obtained his rank in 1805 in acknowledgment of the services rendered by him

in raising and forming volunteer corps.

1 Presumably another brothel.

352 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

a captain in the army, fourth son of Sir Thomas Beevor, first baronet,

who "by Mary his wife, second daughter of the Rev. Arthur Branthwayt

of Stiffkey in Norfolk, had two daughters, one of whom, Marie Janetta,

married Henry Daveney, Esq.,* who also for some years resided in the

above-mentioned house. f

On the north side of this row there stood a spacious house once of

considerable importance, as evinced by several arched doorways of

stone and some marble pavement, which remained until the present

century;

* He was an ardent archaeologist. When a resolution had been passed by the church

trustees to brick up the great east window of the south aisle of the Parish Church to save

the expense of repairing it, Mr. Daveney made so warm a protest against this intended act

of vandalism, that the resolution had to be rescinded. He was the eldest son of Henry

Daveney of Colton in Norfolk (who died therein 1852), by Anne Burton his wife, of which

marriage there were several other children, one being Major-General Burton Daveney,

who died, in 1872, aged 73. The latter was born at Colton, and having obtained a

commission in the 57th Regiment, went to Australia with a detachment. In 1830 he

exchanged into the 1st Royals, and served with that regiment for thirty-one years, with

much distinction, in Canada, the Crimea, and India. He died at Heigham Grove, Norwich,

and lies buried among his ancestors at Colton, at which place the Daveneys had been

settled as early as the 16th century, and where they acquired a further estate in 1687 by

marriage with an heiress of the Seaborne family, which estate remained in their possession

until the death of Henry Daveney, the father, in 1852. They bore arg., a chev. sit. betw.

three nuns' heads couped at the waist ppr. ; and quartered barry wavy of ten, over all a lion

ramp, for Seaborne, James Seaborne “of great Prudence and Piety, a Father to his

Relations, and a good Friend upon any Occasion to all about him, as looking for Eternal

Life”, died in 1710, aged 81.

t The other daughter of Capt. Beevor married the Rev. William Boycatt (see ante. p.

81), He was a grandson of Thomas Smyth, Esq., of Dereham (see vol. i., p. 221). Dr.

Beevor, already mentioned vol. i., p. 283, was a brother of the first baronet. His first

marriage was with Miss Love, by whom he had a daughter who married James Crowe of

Lakenham; and his second wife was Mary Russell, by whom he had issue, besides

Edward who took the name of Lombe, four other sons, namely, John, Rector of Scarning

from 1789 to 1808, who married a Bullock of Shipdham; Charles, who also assumed the

name of Lombe; Henry, a physician, who married Miss Ganning, and had an only child

who became Mrs. Page Scott of Norwich; and Robert, a general in the army; and three

daughters, namely, Mary, who married the Rev. Philip Du Val, Rector of Scarning from

1808 to 1848 ; Charlotte, the wife of Robert Berney of Worstead; and Anastatia, who

married William Foster of Norwich, and by him had two sons, the Rev. Lambert

Blackwell Poster and the present Sir William Poster, Bart. The name of the daughter of

George Robertson and Elizabeth (Ward) his wife was Lillias, misprinted Silias in vol. i.,

p. 283.

GREAT YARMOUTH

353

when being in a dilapidated state the house was pulled down and

several tenements were erected on the site. It was occupied in the last

century by a family named Hunt, from whom is descended Mr. William

H. Hunt, an artist in water colours of considerable excellence,

especially in marine subjects.*

Row No. 120, from Middlegate Street to King Street, formerly

called Drum Row; and more recently Humber Keel Row, f from the sign

of a low public house which stood at the north-east corner, upon the site

of which Sir E. H. K. Lacon has erected a modern liquor shop, called

the York, with a similar house adjoining; both designed by Morant.

They are a decided improvement on modern street-architecture. This

row was also formerly called Duncan’s Head Row, because in the latter

part of the last century that sign was adopted in honor of the victorious

admiral, who after the battle of Camperdown became very popular in

Yarmouth. Many anecdotes of him have floated down locally to the

present time; and the following used to be told by a lady long resident

in Yarmouth, and recently deceased, whose family had for many years

been upon terms of neighbourly intimacy and friendship with that of the

gallant seaman. Some of these anecdotes she had from his own lips.

When Duncan first went to London, a poor Scotch boy, although of a

good family, he travelled by waggon, when a not unusual mode of

conveyance even for the better classes for long distances, when speed

was not an object of importance. Arriving in the great metropolis he

went to a coffee house to which he had been recommended. The next

* He was the son of Abraham Hunt of the Old Broad Row, who died in 1843, aged

88. This family of Hunt came from France to England to escape the persecution to which

the Huguenots were subjected, leaving behind some landed property never recovered.

They settled at Louth in Lincolnshire, but Nathaniel Hunt, the father of Abraham Hunt,

came to Yarmouth, and in 1774 purchased the above-mentioned house, where he carried

on the business of a cloth merchant and tailor until his death in 1784. He acted as a

volunteer in 1745, when some alarm was felt in consequence of the landing of the Young

Pretender in Scotland and his march into England, and his musket was long preserved by

his descendants, who continued in possession of the property in the above row until 1828,

when it was sold.

j The Humber keel was a small sea-going vessel trading between Yarmouth and the

Humber; also called a Billy-boy (and now we have a street called “Humber Keel” in

Gorleston).

VOL. II.

354

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

morning in answer to an enquiry by the smirking waiter as to what he

would have for breakfast, he answered in broad Scotch, "butter and

bread." The waiter could not resist the impulse of repeating the words in

a mocking manner; whereupon the young Scotchman planted two blows

on the astonished waiter's person, exclaiming, "that's for your butter —

and that's for your bread." He was ever after treated there with marked

civility. "When I first went to London," said, Duncan, "to present

myself before the Lords of the Admiralty, I travelled by waggon. When

I took my leave of them I returned to Scotland in a carriage and four,

with a coronet on the panels."* Before going into the action which led

to his honors, Duncan, in allusion to his adversary, said to the captains

of the fleet assembled on the deck of the Venerable, "Gentlemen, you

have a severe Winter before you, so pray keep up a good fire” At an

illumination which on the news of the victory took place in Yarmouth, a

poor householder in King Street exhibited two candles with this

inscription—

" If provisions were cheaper, and taxes were less,

" I would put up more candles for Duncan's success.”

After Camperdown, Lord Duncan and Sir Richard Onslow were each

presented with the freedom of the borough. When the mutiny broke out

in the fleet under Duncan in Yarmouth Roads, the sailors on board the

Venerable demanded the keys of the arm chest. Capt. David Wilson

who commanded the marines threw the keys overboard, and told the

mutineers to go and fetch them. It is a fact creditable to that corps that

neither in this nor on any other occasion did a marine join the mutiny.

* At a later period an instance of more rapid advancement occurred. Arthur

Wellesley landed in Portugal on the 10th of April, 1809, a young Lieutenant-general and a

commoner. He returned to London in June, 1814, a field-marshal and a peer. Any

authentic anecdote of "the duke " is worth recording, Lieut.-Colonel Beckham (see vol. i.,

p. 240) used to relate that when taking a part in the operations of the army in the

Pyrenees, so graphically described by Gleig in the Subaltern, Lord Wellington rode up

one night to the post at which Beckham was placed, and with a strong expletive not

unusual with his grace, demanded to know what he did there. On naming the officer

whose orders Beckham was obeying, the duke was instantly mollified; and touching his

hat, rode off. The above is an example of the vigilance of the duke, and how careful he

was in matters of detail.

GREAT YARMOUTH

355

Row No. 121 , from Middlegate Street to King Street, formerly called.

Capt, Christmas' Row.* At the north-west corner* of this row, facing

Middlegate Street, there remains an old house, upon the front of which is the

date 1601 in iron letters.

Row No. 122 , from Middlegate Street to King Street, On the front of the

house No. 47, in Middlegate Street, may be seen the date 1633 in ironwork.

Peter Kirkman had property in this row, in respect of which he voted at the

county election in 1714 in favor of Hare and Earle. On the south side of this

row a half-timbered house still remains.

Row No. 123, from South Quay to Middlegate Street. At the north-west

corner is the Angel public house, formerly belonging to the Moxon family;

hence it is called Quay Angel Row.

Between this row and the next there stood early in the last century a tavern

called the Ship, afterwards the Cat and Monkey, which in 1754 was purchased

by John Fisher, Esq., who pulled it down, and on the site erected a spacious

residence, now divided into two occupations. Here he died in 1775, aged 56;

and in 1780 the house was sold by his son, John Fisher, Esq.; to Dover Colby,

Esq., who filled the office of mayor in 1796, and died here in 1826. His wife,

Charlotte, youngest daughter of the elder John Fisher, died in 1823. In this

house were preserved four fine pictures by Rembrandt; two being portraits of

the Rev. John Elison and his wife, f painted at

* The surname of Christmas has been of some continuance in Yarmouth, find also in

Flegg - Hundred.

f John. Elison of Amsterdam was in 1603 appointed Minister to the Dutch

Congregation at Norwich, and held that office until his death in 1639, aged 58. There is a,

large mural monument to his memory in the Dutch Church at Norwich, which church is

in fact the chancel of the Dominican Church, the nave of which is now called St.

Andrew's Hall. On this memorial, which was erected by his son, John Elison, merchant of

Amsterdam, there is an epitaph in Latin, Dutch, and English, the latter containing these

verses : —

" That worthy Elison, whose, holy life and preaching

" Did equally advance with both his Dutch flocks teaching,

" Lies here in dust dissolv’d, whose loud sweet voice no more

" In this church sounds, but now sings in the heavenly choir.

He was succeeded in his pastoral office by his son, Theophilus Elison, who " faith-

356

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Amsterdam in 1634. They descended to the Colby family from Mr. Dover, who

had married Mr. Elison's daughter.* Mr. Dawson Turner states that in 1808 he

was commissioned to offer £2,800 for these portraits, but Mr. Colby would not

sell them. At his decease they came to his eldest son, the Rev. Samuel Colby,

Rector of Little Massingham iu Norfolk, who died in 1860, aged 79, having held

that living for forty-six years. Mr. Dover Colby had two other sons, namely,

William, Rector of Clippesby, who died at Southtown in 1860, aged 69; and

Henry, All three sons died unmarried and the family became extinct . The name

is derived from the parish of Colby near Aylsham in Norfolk; so called by the

Danes from Kiolbye in Denmark. The Yarmouth family traced their descent

from Robert Colby of Brandish in Suffolk, who was living in 1542. f Third in

descent from him was Samuel Colby, who left three sons, Samuel, Dover, and

John. Dover Colby of Yarmouth, "a sincere Christian," died in 1757, aged 72;

and Samuel Colby, surgeon, died in 1779, aged 60. The Yarmouth family bore

az., a chev. betw. three escallops or., within a bordure engrailed of the second;

and for a crest, a dexter arm in armour embowed, the hand holding a broken

sword, the point dripping with blood. The Dover family are also extinct in

Yarmouth. f

fully served God thirty-six years,"' and died in 1674, aged 67. There is a small brass

with an inscription, to his memory, which concludes with—

" Do not believe that Elison is dead ;

" His dust lies here; his soul to heaven is fled."

A sermon, in the Dutch language is still annually preached in the

before -mentioned church.

* Sylas Neville, speaking of these pictures in 1772, says, "Two are large pictures

representing an old man and woman, admirably finished in the dark manner of this

famous painter. The two others are small full lengths, said to be the son and

daughter of the former."

f Sir Thomas Colby, descended from John Colby of Brundish by Alice his wife,

granddaughter of Sir Thomas Brewse, Knt., was created a baronet in 1720, and died

s.p. in 1729, when the title became extinct; and his estates descended to the Bullocks

of Shipdam.

t The Dovers of Norwich bore three arrows, the points meeting as piles in point.

But the late Henry Dover, Esq., as appears by his shield of arms in Caston Church,

Norfolk, bore erm., a cinque foil sa., on a canton or., a bugle stringed; and for a crest,

on a castle triple-towered a demi-griffin, with the motto—Do ever good. Daniel

GREAT YARMOUTH

357

Row No. 124 , from South Quay to Middlegate Street, formerly called Cat

and Monkey Row, from the tavern already mentioned. In the early part of the

present century the house at the south-west corner was occupied by Capt.

Ridsdale, who had been barrack-master ; afterwards by Mr. James Laws, Agent

for the London Traders* (for in his time steam was unknown); and latterly by

Mr. William Briggs, a Yorkshire man, who settled in Yarmouth, became a

Justice of Peace, and died in 1864, aged 63. f

At the south-east corner of Row No. 124, facing Middlegate Street, there

is a good specimen of a second-class house of the early part of the 17th century,

comprising one story only above the ground floor, with an attic having one

large dormer window.

Row No. 125 , from Middlegate Street to King Street, called the Gun Row

from a very early period. An old house with a shop at the north-east corner was

used as a district polling place at the general election in 1869, when voting in

wards was first introduced; also as a polling place at municipal elections until

1872, J when the ballot having been introduced it became necessary to erect

booths specially designed for secret voting.

Dover of Yarmouth was a spirited individual. The war with Holland was not

popular; and therefore the proclamation of peace in 1657 was made the

occasion, of great rejoicings. The ships in the harbour and roadstead displayed

their colours; and flags and other decorations were suspended from windows.

The mayor and corporation went in state to church, where a sermon was

preached; after which they proceeded to the market cross, where peace was

proclaimed. A stage was built on the Quay, from which during the evening,

fireworks, at the cost of Daniel Dover, were displayed, " such as had never been

seen before in these parts." State Papers, p. 443. In 1727 the Rev. James Dover

was presented to the Rectory of Blofield by Samuel Colby, Esq.

* He married into the family of Eastmore. Mr. J. P. Laws, his son, filled the office of

Mayor of Beccles in 1871 and 1872. In 1714 Benjamin Eastmore voted at the Norfolk

election for Hare and Earle. In 1792 James Laws, nephew of the agent, accidentally fell

off the Quay-head and was drowned.

f His second son, Joseph Alexander Briggs, was drowned in the Red Sea in 1873, in

his 32nd year, when in command of a merchant ship.

t It was then, occupied by John Everitt, who died in 1873, aged 73. The name of

Everitt has prevailed in Norfolk and Suffolk, George Everitt, for many years tenant of the

Caister Castle estate, died there in 1850, in his 90th year.

358

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

The adjoining* house to the south, fronting King Street (No. 122),

was for about a century in the possession of the N ORFOR family. John

Norfor (ropemaker), who married Elizabeth, daughter of William

Belson, was for many years an alderman. He died in 1752; and his

widow in 1705. John, their eldest son, filled the office of mayor in

1765, and died in 1779, aged 63, leaving three sons, John, William,

and Benjamin. John, the eldest, was a Captain in the 1st Regiment

of Europeans serving in India. “Our friend, poor John Norfor, departed this life

in a very strange and unfortunate manner," says a

letter written in 17 8 3 to James Lucas Worship, Esq. ''Leaning against

the railing of a verandah at his house in Calcutta it gave way,

and he was precipitated to the ground, receiving such injuries as to

cause his death." He was unmarried; and the above-mentioned house

descended to his next brother, William, who resided, in it for many

years, but ultimately went to live at Dilham in Norfolk, where he died

in 1827. Martha, his daughter, an accomplished artist and musician,

married Thomas Gent, who came to Yarmouth to establish an agency

business, having his office at the south-west corner of Regent Street,

upon the site of which part of the London and Provincial Bank now

stands. He was the subject of the following jeu d’ esprit —

" T. Gent — Agent — Regent Street, "

" Dines with any man, on any day, on any joint of meat;"

and it might with truth have been added, was always a welcome guest,

for he possessed a considerable amount of wit, humour, and conviviality.

In 1808 Gent published a small volume of Poetic Sketches, with this

deprecating motto—

'' In mercy spare me, when I do my best"

" To make as much waste paper as the rest."

They were admitted by the critics to possess some merit. The book was

dedicated to Canning. On leaving Yarmouth, Gent took up his residence in

London, where he wrote for the newspapers ; and was a well-known frequenter

of theatres and other places of public amusement. He died in 1832.* There is

a portrait of him, etched by Mrs.

* His wife had died previously, and her loss is alluded to in the following verses

addressed to Gent by John Taylor: —

" Dear Gent, thy numbers smoothly flow; "

Truth, pathos, humour they impart;

GREAT YARMOUTH

359

Dawson Turner, which is scarce. Benjamin Norfor, the third son, was captain of

a vessel in the Oporto trade.* Robert Norfor, the only son by a second marriage,

has already been mentioned (see vol. i., p. 296). He was for some years

secretary to the Friendly. (See vol. 1, p. 362.) Their motto was Cor umum, via

una. In the year before Norfor's death he laid in, for the use of the society, a

pipe of port wine, the practice being to pay the landlord, a gratuity on each cork

drawn, f Elizabeth, the only daughter of Alderman John Norfor, married Samuel

Barker, Esq. Between Row No. 125 and Row No. 127, fronting Middlegate

Street, there is a public, house called the Gallon Pot, formerly the Tumble down

Dick, a very ancient sign alluding as some think to the defeat of Richard III. on

Bosworth Field, but more probably to the fall of Richard Cromwell, the eldest

son and proclaimed successor of the protector. He not only fell rather

ignominously from his lofty position metaphorically, but did occasionally fall

literally, as his enemies asserted, from too great a love of the bottle; and this

sign was put up by exulting

"And o'er the varied volume shew "

A cultur'd mind, a feeling heart.

" Thy muse through fancy's region winds;

" Genius attends her on the way, "

Virtue approves, for all she finds,

" Tender, or innocently gay.

" Nor this alone thy muse's pow'r;

"O'er steeps Parnassean she can climb,

"And to the lofty summit tow'r,

" Where dwells in state the dread sublime.

" Ah! hapless Bard, if verse could tell

" The loss that thou wast doom'd to see, "

Too mournfully would sound thy bell,

" For none can know that loss like thee."

* A miniature of him is in the possession of the Palgrave family. He died s.p.

t By the original minute book recently brought to light, it appears that the society at

first met every Sunday evening at six o'clock during the winter months at the Fountain

tavern, then kept by Mrs. Williams. In 1770 John Sayers was elected "warden;" but in the

following year he was required to deliver his key to the treasurer, and the office was

abolished. As illustrative of the manners then prevalent it may be mentioned that no

member was permitted "to sit with his hat on," or "to be disguised in liquor;" and in 1773

Dover Colby was fined for the first-named offence. The use the society made of its

accumulated fund in 1772 was to purchase lottery tickets of Allday and Kerrison, which

however turned out blanks.

360

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

royalists. There used hero to be a painting representing a man tumbling from

a beer barrel, upon the head of which he had been dancing.

Row No. 126, from King Street to Dene Side. To the north of and partly

adjoining this row (which has been, paved with flag stones) is a large house

(No. 51), extending from King Street to Dene Side. In 1678 the site, then part of

the town waste, was granted, by the corporation to Robert Robins, merchant,

who built a house there, which in 1680 he by will gave to his daughter, Sarah,

the wife of Jonathan Calthorpe; but having made the will himself,* and his

meaning as to the charges upon such devise being obscure, the matter was

referred to Sir James Johnson, George England, James Symonds, and John

Woodroffe for their decision. Mrs. Calthorpe, after the death of her husband,

married Mr. Saunderson, but devised this property to Sarah Irene Calthorpe, her

daughter by her first marriage, who became the wife of the Rev. Jonathan

Mercer of Swindale in Westmoreland, and he in 1745 conveyed it to Thomas

Clifton (merchant), by whom the present dwelling-house was probably erected,

as, in 1772, it is described as a "new-built messuage," then late in the

occupation of Mr. Henry Mayes, and afterwards of the Rev. George Walker.

Clifton had house property at Newcastle as well as in Yarmouth, the whole of

which was sold under a decree in Chancery. By his first wife, who died in 1732,

aged 29, he had a numerous family. His second wife died in 1758, aged 61.

William Clifton, who died in 1720, aged 60, married Elizabeth, daughter of

John Collin. f

* Mr. Robins forgot the old distich which says—

" Who saves a feo and writes his will,

" Is friendly to the lawyers still;

" but the legatees, by adopting arbitration, prevented the result -which sometimes

follows, when

" ----- these take all the will contains,

" And give the heir just what remains."

Robins it appears had property at Ormesby, Scratby ,

Filby, and Caister.

f Of an opulent family residing at Nottingham and Peter-

borough, who bore az,, a griffin sejeant or. Deering's History

of Nottingham, p. 347. William Clifton is mentioned as a

legatee in the will of Abel Collin of Nottingham. T.S. p. 107.

The ancient Norfolk family of Clifton held Bokenham Castle,

and had estates at Topcroft, Denton, Harleston, and other

places. They bore chequy or. and gu., a bend erm.

GREAT YARMOUTH

361

In 1799 this house was conveyed to Miss Matilda Church, who in

1802 sold it to Francis Riddell Reynolds, Esq.,* the only surviving

• His second baptismal name was given by James Riddell, Esq., who had at that

time a residence in Yarmouth, with large estates in the neighbourhood, and who

was on forms of intimacy with his godson's father. The R IDDELS trace their

descent from the Sieur de Riddel who came over with the Conqueror. He held a

command at the battle of Hastings, and is named on the roll of Battle Abbey. A

large

share of forfeited lands in Suffolk was bestowed upon him; which are now enjoyed

by the Earl of Suffolk, having come into the Howard family by a marriage with the

heiress of Ralph, Lord Riddel of Weldon. Descended from the Sieur de Riddel

was

Geoffrey de Riddel, who accompanied David I. into Scotland, and obtained

considerable possessions in Roxburghshire. Walter de Riddel got all his lands

elected into

the free Barony of Riddel in the reign of Alexander II., and from that period he and

his descendants have been called Riddel of Riddel. James Riddel, great grandson

of

Robert Riddel, second son of Walter Riddel of that Ilk, acquired lands at Kinglass

in Linlithgowshire, by which name his descendants were ever after designated.

He

adhered to the Parliament during the civil war, and Oliver Cromwell lodged with

him at his house in Leith. Second in descent from him was George Riddel of

Kinglass, whose second son, the above-named James Riddell, came into Norfolk,

where

in 1754 he married Mary, daughter and heiress of Thomas Milles, Esq., of

Billockby

Hall, by Helen his third wife, daughter of Richard Ferrier, Esq., of Herasby, by

Helen his second wife, daughter of Robert Longe, Esq., of Reymerston and

Spixworth,

by whom, he had two sons, Thomas Milles Riddell of Billockby Hall and George

James Riddell of Loddon. James Riddell, the father, purchased in 1763 an estate

at

Belton in Suffolk, which of late years was the property of the Fowler family, and

also acquired the extensive Barony of Ardnamurchan and Sunart, with the lead

mines

of Strontian in Argyleshire, and also Riddel Lodge in Berwickshire; and being well

skilled in Norfolk agriculture he greatly improved the cultivation of his Scottish

estates, and set an example which was followed with much advantage. His first

wife

died in 1762, aged 27, and was buried in the chancel of Yarmouth Church; and in

1765 he married, secondly, Sarah, daughter and heiress of Thomas Burdon, Esq.,

and

widow of John Swinburne, Esq., whereby he acquired large estates in Durham, and

Yorkshire, and took up his residence for a time at Coxhowe in the former county.

Ho was created a baronet in 1778, died in 1797, and by his will desired to be

buried in the chancel of Yarmouth Church by the side of his first wife, which wish

was complied with, the body being brought from Scotland by easy stages. He also

left £100 to be expended in the erection of a monument in Yarmouth Church; but

this was never done. Thomas Milles, whose daughter and heiress he married,

filled

the office of mayor in 1737. Milles married, for his first wife, Mary, daughter of

Jonathan Pue, Esq., who was mayor in 1718. Sir James Riddell was succeeded in

his title by his grandson, Sir James Milles Riddell of Ardnamurchan. George

James

Riddell, the second son of the first baronet, had estates at Gorleston, Southtown,

Bradwell, and elsewhere devised to him by his maternal grandfather, the above-

VOL. II.

362

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

son of John Reynolds, Esq., mentioned ante. p. 171. He studied the law in his

father's office, was admitted an attorney in 1791, succeeded to his father's

practice in 1799, and continued it till his death; being a period of 55 years. He

married Anne, daughter of Jacob Preston, Esq. Having entered the corporation,

and filled the subordinate offices with credit to himself and advantage to the

town, he was elected mayor in 1804, and again in 1823, and continued to take

great interest in public affairs until the passing of the Municipal Corporation Act

in 1835, which ejected him and his friends from power. He was a Deputy-

Lieutenant for the County of Norfolk; and Vice-President of the Yarmouth

Hospital, of which he was one of the original and most zealous promoters. He

died in 1846, and devised the above-mentioned house to his eldest daughter,

Anne, who married the Rev. Edward Curtis Kemp.* He left two sons, the Rev.

John Preston Reynolds, Rector of Necton in Norfolk, who died in 1861, and the

Rev. Charles Reynolds, Rector of Little Brandon and Great Fransham in

Norfolk, who died in 1853, Francis Riddell, the second son 1 , died in 1820, aged

22, unmarried.

named Thomas Milles. He was a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, and was killed

in a duel in 1783, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. There is a portrait of him

engraved by Bartolotozzi. The arms of Riddoll are, or ., a chev. invecked gu., between

three ears of rye slipped and bladed vert., a cross moline of the field; quartering for

Milles a lion pass. betw. three billets sa. ; the shield being supported on the dexter

aide by a female holding in her right hand three ears of rye, and on the sinister side

by a knight in complete armour; and for a crest, a demi greyhound arg., with the

motto— Fight to share. There is in the British Museum a M.S., not much known,

written in the latter part of the eighteenth century by Sir Richard Kaye, Dean of

Lincoln, which contains a great many curious notices of contemporary persons. He

says that in 1778 he was informed by Dr. Spence, a physician at Durham, that the

father of Sir James Riddell was a common cooper at Edinburgh, who had three sons.

The first went to the West Indies; the second to the East; and both made fortunes,

one of them, living splendidly at Bath. According to the same authority, Sir James

Riddell, the third son, entered into the service of a fish-curer at Yarmouth, at a salary

of £120 a year, and ran away with his master's daughter with whom he obtained

£30,000. What a grain of truth in a peck of gossip! This Dean Kaye was no

relation to Dr. Kaye, subsequently Bishop of Lincoln, who was a Norwich man, and

married Miss Mortlock of Cambridge.

* See ante, p. 196. This name is derived from the Saxon Kemp (or combat),

which to this day in Norfolk means a football match or contest; thus a Kempen

was a combatant, a contender. The Rev. E. C. Kemp published in 1858 Evidences of

the Divine Authority of the New Testament.

1 Although printed “eldest son”, this has a hand-written correction to “second son”,

by an unknown hand, in my original printed copy.

GREAT YARMOUTH

363

After the death of Mr. Reynolds tlie above-mentioned house was

for some years occupied by Dr. Impey (already mentioned vol. i., p. 161),

who here collected a good medical library.* Subsequently the same

house was occupied by the Rev. Mark "Waters, f

Further south, facing King Street, was a building erected as a

"School of Industry," but afterwards occupied as a chapel by the

"Latter-day Saints." It is now converted into dwelling houses 1 .

Row No. 127 , from Middlegate Street to King Street, formerly called

Thompson’s Row, and afterwards Foundry Row, because here the late

Mr. William Yetts established an Iron Foundry. He was the only child

of Andrew Yetts, who died in 1823, aged 79; and married Elizabeth

(who died in 1854), only daughter of Joseph Muskett, Esq., of Intwood

Hall, Norfolk, f by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas

* Georgina Maria, his widow, died in 1858, aged 30. They were both buried at North

Cove. William Impey, the doctor's brother, formerly in the State Paper Office, and

afterwards Deputy-Keeper of Land Revenue Records and Inrolments, died in 1872, in his

57th. year.

f He was the only child of Mark Waters, merchant, who in 1805 married Margaretta

Maria, youngest daughter of Samuel Tolver, Esq. The father was a Cornet in the

Yarmouth Yeomanry Cavalry; and his widow died in 1858, aged 84. The Rev. Mark

Waters was appointed one of the Ministers of St. George's Chapel in 1832, and after the

passing of the Municipal Corporation Act purchased of the Town Council the right of

presentation. On the resignation of the Rev. John Homfray in 1839 he was licensed at his

own request, and since that time there has been but one minister. He was for many years

President of the Yarmouth Savings Bank; and Hon. Sec. to the Monthly Book Club.

t Intwood in the time of Queen Elizabeth belonged to Sir Thomas Gresham, who

built the hall of which some remains are preserved in the modern mansion. Here he

entertained Dudley, Earl of Warwick, when he came down to suppress the insurrection

under Kett. The Greshams were a Norfolk family terminating with Sir John Gresham of

Holt, who died in 1801, s.p. A pedigree of Gresham, deduced from John Gresham of

Gresham in Norfolk, who was living in 1397, will be found in the Papers of the Norfolk

and Norwich Archaeological Society, vol. vii., p. 355. Gresham bore sa ., a chev, betw.

three mullets pierced of the field: and impaled az., on a chief or., a demi-lion passant gu.

for Mairkham; and arg., on a saltire eng. sa., five annulets or. for Leeke. Intwood was

afterwards possessed by the Hobarts, of whom it was purchased in 1808. Muskett is

probably the same name as Muschet. The Clippesby Hall estate now possessed by this

family (who are said to be descended from the Musketts of Haughley, Suffolk ) was in the

last century the property of John Ramey, Esq. (see

1 This “school of Industry” was a long narrow building (no.57 King Street, of which I

have the deeds) in which young women were taught to make and repair fishing nets (see

RRH).

364

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Salisbury, Esq., of Chevely in Cambridgeshire, and died here in 1863, aged 67. He had

been a Member of the Corporation and Town Council, and was a Magistrate for the

Borough. In this house, which is now converted into two shops, Nos. 118 and 119. Mr.

Yetts made a collection of pictures which was dispersed at his death. Among others was a

"View of Household heath," by Old Crome. This picture, after Crome's death, was

purchased for £12, and passed from baud to hand until it found a resting place in Mr.

Yetts' collection. He sent it to the International Exhibition in 1861, where it attracted

much attention as being an admirable specimen, of the skill of this artist; and it was

subsequently purchased of Mr. Yetts for the Kensington Museum for £400.* Mr. Yetts

was himself an amateur artist of considerable taste both with brush and burin.

vol. i,, p. 365), and was by him devised to the Earl of Home, who sold it to Joseph

Muskett, Esq., of Intwood, by whom it was entailed on his second son, Henry Muskett.

Esq., who erected the present house on an elevated site and surrounded it by plantations.

On his death this estate descended to his only son, the Rev. H, J. Muskett, Rector of

Clippesby. The old hall bears the date of 1585, with the initials of Robert Mayhew, the

builder, and is a good specimen of the architecture of that age. In

one of the apartments is the shield of Ore we impaling; Clippesby,

carved in oak. (See ante. p. 62.) Mayhew of Clippesby bore arg.,

a chev. vairy arg. and gu., between three ducal coronets or.,

within a bordure engrailed of the last; confirmed in 1563. The

arms of Muskett are arg., two bars betw. six lions' heads caboshed

three, two, and one, gu.; and for a crest, out of a ducal coronet a,

demi-antelope sa., ringed and chained or. Papworth, p. 32.

* The works of Old Crome, whose early career has been

already sketched (vol. i., p. 162) have rapidly increased in value. " A "View of Cromer"

was sold in 1867 by Christy and Hanson for 1024 guineas; and at the sale of the Gillott

collection in 1872 two small pictures were purchased for 230 guineas, and a richly-

wooded scene for 700 guineas, all for the New York Museum. One of the most glorious

pictures by Old Crome, so unlike his woodland scenes as to raise a doubt whether it could

have been painted by him, is his Yarmouth Water Frolick, formerly belonging to the late

Dean of Ely, which was exhibited in the rooms of the Royal Academy in 1873. It has

been described as much warmer and brighter than any picture by Vandevelde. A number

of sailing craft are gathered together in the centre of the river; the water is perfectly

smooth; the air so still that the sails hang lazily, and the very tails of the vanes droop

without motion. In all this crowd of vessels not one can stir. The picture is fairly a miracle

of brilliant light and calm repose; —the very air is saturated with sunlight.

GREAT YARMOUTH

365

At the north-west corner of Row No. 127, fronting Middlegate Street, is an

old house having ornamental ironwork on the front. It was the property and

residence of William Boult, who died in 1804.*

At No. 116 resided Tipple Gooch, Esq., who married a daughter of Mr.

Thomas Watson. f

Row No. 128, from South Quay to Middlegate Street formerly called

Spanton's Row ; also Factory Row. At the north-west corner is a bow-windowed

house, which at the commencement of the present century was the property of

John Palmer, merchant, who died in 1805, aged 56, s.p. He devised it to his

second wife, Mary (born Wright), who in 1809 sold it to G. D. Palmer, Esq.,

who resided in it for many years. On the south side of the above row, fronting

the Quay, stands an old house (the front of which has recently been rebuilt),

which was formerly the property of Thomas Pitt, Esq., who filled the office of

mayor in 1776, and died in 1786, aged 76. His epitaph, remaining in the north

chancel aisle of St. Nicholas' Church, informs us that he "administered justice

impartially—was just in his dealings—a kind parent—liberal to the poor—and a

good neighbour." Although, he had sixteen children there is now no descendant

residing in Yarmouth. He bore arg., afesse

"For Jesus sake — in whose Blessed Name

" I crave — Do not this stone remove —

" Nor yet disturb - this grave."

f See ante. p. 274. Their son, Mr. Watson Gooch, married the widow of Henry

William Maxwell Lyte, Esq;., who resided for some years at Bradwell, and died there in

1856, aged 37. The latter was the eldest son of the Rev. H. J. Lyte of Birsham, Devon, hy

Anna his wife, daughter of the Rev. H. Maxwell, D.D., of Falkland, County Monaghan.

The Tipples were a family of long continuance in Suffolk, and had property in Sfcuston

and other parishes. William. Tipple of Stuston died in 1797; and his will gave rise to a

lengthened suit in chancery as to the succession to his manors and estates.

t This has been a name of long continuance in Yarmouth. John Spanton had

property in Deneside Austin Row, which in 1693 he sold to Thomas Palmer. Francis

Spanton died in 1728, Aged 86, and was buried in St. Nicholas' Church. Six freemen of

the name voted at the borough election in 1754.

* Benjamin Boult of Yarmouth voted at the county election in 1714 for Astley and

De Grey, in respect of a freehold at Potter Heigham. There is in St Nicholas' Churchyard

a flat sepulchral stone to the memory of Mary Boult, who died in 1780, with this

inscription—

366

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

between three cross crosslets gu ., with a stork erect for

a crest. James Pitt Mason, died in 1826, aged 79. Lieut.

Charles Pitt died in 1821, aged 34.

Row No. 129 from South Quay to Middlegate Street,

formerly called John Taylor's Row (1789) and Gregory

Harrison's Row* and now St. Peter's Row West. At the

north-west corner there is an Elizabethan house, one of the

original many-lighted windows of which may still be seen on the south side. On

the modernized front the mouldings of an old oblong window may be traced,

with some ornamental iron work. The ground floor, fronting the Quay, was

formerly used as a blockmaker's (or pulleymaker's) shop by Mr. Searum.

In the house at the south-east corner of this row was born the Right Rev.

W ILLIAM J ACOBSON , D.D., now Bishop of Chester. He was the only child of

William Jacobson of Yarmouth, who died in 1803, aged 25 (son of Howard

Jacobson, who died in 1786 , aged 60), by Sarah his wife (who died in 1802,

aged 62), daughter of Robert Tolver, by Sarah Fenwick his wife (who died, in

1790, aged 79), which said Robert Tolver was the second son of Samuel Tolver

of Diss. f Dr. Jacobson matriculated at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, in 1823, but

in1825 he became a scholar of Lincoln College. In 1827 he took

the degree of B.A., and in 1829 obtained the Ellerton

Theological prize; and in the same year a fellowship in Exeter

College j and was Perpetual Curate of Iffley in 1839 and 1840.

He was ''select preacher'' in 1833 and 1842 and public orator,

which office he resigned upon his appointment to the Divinity

Chair at Oxford, vacated by Dr. Hampden, made Bishop of

Hereford in 1848. Dr. Jacobson was chairman of the Oxford

committee appointed to secure the re-election of Mr. Gladstone

* Gregory Harrison, in the last century, had a house on the South

Quay near this row.

t See ante. p. 23. Among the earliest marriages recorded in the parish registers is that

of William Alden to Alice Jacobson in 1581; and in 1603 Paul Jacobson was married to

Sarah Farye.

GREAT YARMOUTH

367

for that university. He edited several publications for the University Press; and

in 1864 was one of the Royal Commissioners to consider the terms of clerical

subscription. In 1865 he was consecrated Bishop of Chester. He married, as we

have seen (vol. i., p. 309), the youngest daughter of Dawson Turner, Esq.* His

mother married, secondly, William Roberts, Esq. : of Southtown. The bishop

bears arg., a chev. gu. betw. three trefoils slipped sa ., on a chief of the second

an estoile or. Occupying the space between this row and the next, No. 132, and

fronting the Quay, is an Elizabethan house, which now exhibits but few vestiges

of antiquity except some picturesque rounded and clustered brick chimney

shafts and a portion of the original tiled roof. The north part of this house has

been partially rebuilt, and is now a public house called the Newcastle Tavern.

The ground floor front of the south part, brought out to the pavement, is

occupied as a butcher's shop. In the 17th century this house was the property of

Sir James Johnson, Knt. By a pedigree extracted from the Visitation Book of

Norfolk for 1664, and preserved in the College of Arms, it appears that, he was

the son of Thomas Johnson of Great Yarmouth, (grandson of James Johnson of

the same place), by Margaret his wife, daughter of Thomas Thompson, several

times Bailiff of Yarmouth. He married Dorothy, daughter of Alderman

Scottowe of Norwich, f Le Neve speaks of him

Lady Hooker, her eldest sister, died at Torquay in 1872, aged 75. f This family derived

their name from the Parish of Scottow in Norfolk, where they had a good estate at a very

early period. William de Scottowe in 1329 was in favor with Edward III., who called him

"his beloved clerk," and entrusted him with several offices. Alderman Scottowe of

Norwich was appointed to meet a deputation from Yarmouth in 1642 on the subject of

ship money. The arms borne by the Norwich family were per fesse, or and az., a star

counterchanged; whilst those of Little Melton bore instead of a star a mullet of six points

counterchanged. The crest is a band and arm holding a star. Mr. M.

P. Smith of Cheltenham has compiled a History of the Scottowe

family, and possesses some fine family portraits. Elizabeth Scottowe

became the wife of Dr. Tanner, Bishop of St. Asaph. In St. Swithin's

Church, Norwich, there is an inscription to the memory of Sibilla

Scottowe, who died in childbed in 1657, which, after describing the

mother as

"

" Yet is not lost, tho' it dost rust

Evn like a pearl fall'n into dust,

368

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

(Harl. M.S.S., 5801, 2) as having "lived well, spent much, and died poor."

James Johnson, the great-grandfather, was bailiff in 1590; in which year, for the

better defence of the town, the mount was erected, where the hospital now

stands. The inner wall was higher than the town wall, and mounted with,

cannon, so that, says Manship,

" If one doth miss, the other may hit,

" Which was the cause they builded it

Thomas Johnson was bailiff in 1624, 1635, and 1644, on which latter occasion

he entertained the Earl of Lauderdale when he visited Yarmouth On the

business of the Parliament. He appears to have been very active on the popular

side, and exerted himself to collect gifts, loans of money, and plate in

accordance with the propositions of Parliament, "for the payment of soldiers and

providence of horses, arms, and ammunition." He himself brought in "plate of

several sorts to the value of £25." In this manner upwards of £2,000 were

collected, of which Johnson took £1,000 to London and paid it over at the

Guildhall, at the same time obtaining permission to expend the remainder in

fortifying the town. He and John Carter were appointed by the Earl of

Manchester, then General of the Parliamentary forces, to be "Commanders-in-

chief of the Militia of the town" in 1644. James Johnson, his son, was a member

of the corporation, but becoming obnoxious to the ruling party during the

Commonwealth, was constrained to resign his place. At the Restoration he was

immediately re-elected; and it was he who on the 8th of August, 1660, moved

and

ends thus— " And with her lies in bed her son,

"Came in and cried, wash'd and was done;

" Yet is he now as old as she,

"Heirs of one perpetuitie."

In Little Melton Church are epitaphs on two children, Frances and Elizabeth

Scottowe. The first died in 1665—

" Just three years old, and April be her date,

" The month bespeaks our tears, her years, her fate."

And on the second, who died in 1656—

" Stay; she'll awake e're long, then cease to weepe,

" The damsell is not dead, but she's asleepe,

" She, like her sister, did but take a taste

" Of mortal life, then breath'd it out in haste;

" Soe two at three years old interred b e

"In expectation of the One in Three."

GREAT YARMOUTH

369

carried an address to the Crown breathing the moat exuberant loyalty. He was

rewarded with the post of Government Agent for Naval Affairs at Yarmouth,

and as such provided money for payment of seamen, pilots, &c. There are many

of his letters among the Admiralty State Papers. He appears to have

experienced great delay and difficulty in obtaining repayment of money spent

in the king's service; and he urged that when claims were not attended to "the

men clamoured for their money." On the 10 th of December, 1660, he reports

that the Maria, Capt. Carle, and the Blackamoor, Capt. Sadder, had lost their

mainmasts in a severe storm, and asks whether he is to buy masts and sails or

order the ships to Harwich. On the 17th he is directed to supply these ships with

provisions, "putting a moderate price thereon." "I am not," replied the indignant

agent, "a trader, but I will be as good a ship's husband as I can." On the 21st he

reports that the ships are ready for sea, and declines supplying ships in future ;

yet, says he, "accidents will happen which do not admit of delay." When in

1671

" Yarmouth had — oh! more than happy Port

"The honour to receive the King and Court ;"

Johnson was deputed by the corporation to entertain the "Merry Monarch,"

which he did, being "an open-handed man," to his majesty's entire satisfaction.

The king arrived at Yarmouth on the 28th of September, accompanied by the

Duke of York (afterwards James II.), the Duke of Monmouth, the Duke of

Buckingham, "and several other persons of principal quality;" and was

received, at about five o'clock in the afternoon, by the corporation in their robes

of office, amidst expressions of public joy, guns being discharged from the

"mounts" and salutes fired from the ships in the roads. The king was lodged at

Mr. Johnson's house j some of the noblemen of his suit were entertained at Mr.

Bailiff Rowe's house (see vol. i., p. 233) j and the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk

and some deputy-lieutenants were lodged at Mr. Thaxter's. On the following

day the king was presented with an address and also with four herrings

" Whose eyes were rubies and whom scales were gold;"

and with a chain, of the same precious metal valued at £2.50.* The

Matthew Stevenson, in his Norfolk Drollery, published in 1673, asks

VOL. II

370

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

entertainment altogether cost the corporation £1,000. Johnson on this occasion

received the honor of knighthood. He had always taken a leading part in

municipal affairs. In 1668 he was named in a commission issued to enquire into

the condition of the Haven and Piers, and what means there were for their

maintenance; and it was upon the report of this commission that an Act of

Parliament was passed in 1670 which for the first time appointed Haven

Commissioners, and authorized the collection and expenditure of dues. In 1681

Sir James Johnson was returned to Parliament for Yarmouth, on which occasion

the freemen at large insisted upon their right to vote, which they ever afterwards

exercised until they were disfranchised in 1847. A short but pithy speech

addressed by Sir James to the electors will be found in Swinden's History,

p.949. His loyalty to the Crown induced him in 1687 to produce in Assembly an

order from James II. for the removal of six aldermen and eleven common

councilmen, to be replaced by others named by the king in council; an arbitrary

proceedin g which caused great dissatisfaction. The arms of this family,

recorded in the Herald's College, are arg., a fesse counter embattled between

three lions' heads erased gu., crowned or. Sir James Johnson

always sealed with this coat.

From Sir James Johnson this house passed to the

Cooper family, who were possessed of considerable

property in the neighbourhood. John Cooper was bailiff in

1657, died in 1684, aged 63, and lies buried in St. Nicholas'

Church, where there is a very high sounding epitaph in Latin

to his memory.* Thomas Cooper, his son, married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert

London, f and died in 1725, leaving the above-mentioned house to his son,

Thomas

" ------ what herrings pray were they ?

"Not red, nor white, pickl’d nor bloat, they say:

“No milch I but all hard rows,—strange kind of meat ! "

Herrings you might digest — but could not eat.

" Oysters may on their pearls high value set;

" But these are herrings for a royal net."

* At the Herald's Visitation in 1664 he disclaimed arms. This family was not

connected with that of the same name mentioned ante. p. 197.

f She married, secondly, Anthony Ellys, Esq., and died in 1735,

GREAT YARMOUTH

371

Cooper the younger, who went to reside at North Walsham, where he died in

1760, having devised it to his son, John Cooper, Esq., of Beccles, who died in

1777, and by his will directed the house to be sold on the death of his sister.,

Mrs. Girdlestone of Holt; and in pursuance thereof the above-named public

house, then called the Diana Packet, and afterwards The Fishery, was in 1802

conveyed to James Norton, beer brewer. Thomas Cooper of North Walsham,

another son of the last-mentioned Thomas Cooper and brother and heir of the

last-mentioned John Cooper, usually known as "old Captain Cooper," was a

remarkable character. He is said to have run away from school for the purpose

of joining the army of the Duke of Cumberland in 1745, and afterwards

distinguished, himself by kicking a cart-rope over Swaffham Church. He

married a Miss Hammont, and left an only son, Thomas Hammont Cooper*,

known as "Young Captain Cooper," who was for some time in the West Norfolk

Regiment of Militia, also in the 56th Regiment of Foot, and in 1801 was

Captain of the North Walsham Volunteers, about which time he rebuilt the

family mansion at North Walsham, where he resided for many years, acting an a

county magistrate and attaining considerable sporting notoriety. In 1820 he had

a piece of plate of the value of 115 guineas presented to him by the inhabitants,

"as a testimony of their high esteem for his public conduct and private worth."

He left an only son, the Rev. Thomas Jennings Cooper, now Rector of Paston,

and three daughters.

On the south side of this row, eastward of the Newcastle Tavern, was an

ancient house, which in the 18th century was know as the Gun Tavern. At the

north-east corner is a public house called the Odd Fellows, f

Row No. 130 , from Middlegate Street to King Street, called formerly

White Lion Row, and now St. Peter's Row East. At the south-east corner,

immediately fronting St. Peter's Road, is an old house which

* He was High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1731.

t The "Independent Order of Odd Fellows," established a lodge in Yarmouth in 1840,

which was followed by another in 1842, and also one at Gorleston. They have now

upwards of 500 members, and their accumulated capital amounts to more than £5,000.

372

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

for the last two centuries has been known as the Old White Lion Tavern.* In 1684 James

Symonds by his will devised it to his widow for life; and after her death it was purchased

by John Fisher, Esq., in 1738, who sealed the deed with his crest—an

eagle displayed. The Yarmouth family of Symonds has been already

mentioned, f John Symonds of Yarmouth, who died in 1657, descended

from John Symonds of Cley-next-the-sea, who died in 1492, leaving a son,

John Symonds, whose son, Ralph Symonds, purchased of the Earl of Rutland in 1541 the

Manor of Roos in Whitwell, Norfolk, and died in 1557, having married Elizabeth,

daughter of William Bishop of Great Yarmouth. They had issue Gyles Symonds who, by

Catherine his wife, daughter of Sir Anthony Lee of Burston in Buckinghamshire, had a

son, Ralph Symonds, who married Anne, daughter of Jeffery Cobb of Sandringham, and

their grandson, Gyles Symonds, sold, the manor in 1678 to Augustine Messenger, whose

daughter, Anne, married Nicholas Barber of Fressingfield in Suffolk.

At the north-east corner of St. Peter's Opening resided for some time (having

previously occupied a house on Apsley Road), Capt. William Chasford Hemsworth, R.N.

J He was the son of Daniel Addison Hemsworth, who when parser of H.M.S.

Formidable, 98, came to Yarmouth in 1776, where he married Sarah, daughter of

Anthony Browne; the history of whose family is extremely curious.

This family of B ROWNE was of considerable antiquity in Northamptonshire; and of

them was Sir Whiston Browne, who had a grant of

This sign has prevailed in Norfolk from a very early period. The Blanch Lion was a

badge of the Mowbrays, Dukes of Norfolk, and descended through Lady Margaret

Mowbray to her son, Sir John Howard, who was created Duke of Norfolk in I483; and the

tanner on which it was displayed was foremost at Bosworth.

"For who in field or foray slack

" Saw the Blanch Lion e’er fall back”

When John Mowbray, the last Duke of Norfolk of that name, died in 1461, it was said

that "The White Lion was leyde to slepe."

f See vol. 1, p.332. Cotton Symonds there named died at Birkenhead in 1873, aged

63.

J He was a godson of Capt. Glasford, R.N., whose wife, Jane, died at Yarmouth in

1795, aged 46.

GREAT YARMOUTH

373

arms temp. Henry VIII. John Browne married Anne, daughter of

Edward Sawyer, Lord of the Manor of Kettering in Northamptonshire,

and by this alliance acquired a landed estate there upon which he

settled. They had a son, Sawyer Browne, born in 1643. Being one day at

a coffee house in London, words arose between him and another young

man; swords were drawn and Sawyer Browne was run through the

body. John Browne, the next brother, took possession of the Kettering

estate, but after a while his right was disputed by a woman who

produced not only a certificate of a "fleet marriage"* with Sawyer

Browne, but also a son and heir. A long litigation, ensued, but

ultimately the title of this child was established. John Browne, who was

thus dispossessed, married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Palmer, Esq.,

by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Attorney-General

to Charles II. The issue of this marriage was Palmer Browne, who had a

son of the same name, f father of Anthony Browne who settled in

Yarmouth, and whose daughter, as above stated, married Daniel

Addison Hemsworth.

The Hemsworths trace their descent from a remote period. Daniel

Hemsworth, son of Stephen Hemsworth, acquired an estate at Moreton

near Leeds after the sequestrations. Jeremiah Hemsworth, his son,

settled in London and married Mary, daughter of James Addison, son of

Lancelot Addison, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who was the

son of Lancelot Addison of Maulds Meaburn near Karensworth in

Yorkshire, and brother of Joseph Addison the poet. § Mrs. Hemsworth died

in

* These notorious marriages, performed within, the precincts of the Fleet Prison,

were abolished by Lord Hardwicke's Act passed in 1754.

f Edward Browne, brother of the first-named Palmer Browne, married Margaret

Walpole; and they had a son, Samuel Browne, an officer in Colonel Egerton's regiment,

who had a son, Anthony Browne, a barrister. The latter settled at Norwich and married in

1736 Mary, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Artis (see ante. p. 337). Samuel Browne, a

brother of the second named Palmer Browne, established himself as a manufacturer at

Norwich, where he died s.p. This family of Browne bore gu., a chev. betw. three lions'

paws erected and erased within a bordure arg., on a chief of the second an eagle displayed

sa.

t He married Jane, daughter of Nathaniel Gulston, sister of Dr. William Gulston,

Bishop of Bristol from 1678 to 1684.

§ The Addisons bore erm., three annulets or. on a bend pit., in chief vert, three

leopards' faces; and for a crest, a unicorn's head pierced with an arrow.

374

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

giving birth, to the above-named D. A. Hemsworth, who died in 1804.* All the space

between King Street and the Town Wall, on the south side of the White Lion Opening,

was early in the last century open ground, which in 1738 was conveyed by Cotton

Symonds, Esq. to John Fisher, Esq., and was in 1760 brought into settlement on the

marriage of James Fisher, Esq., youngest son of the latter, with Anne, the daughter of

Prebendary Stedman. Upon a portion of this ground fronting Dene Side are some houses

called Brunswick Terrace, in one of which resided Mr. James Beatty, C.E. f while

employed by Sir Morton Peto in 1842, in the construction of the Yarmouth and Norwich

Railway. In another house in Brunswick Terrace died Henry Harris Gibbs in 1873, in his

91st year.

On the east side, immediately within the Town Wall, between St. Peter's Road and

Alma Road, are St. Peter's National Schools, with a master's house, erected in 1850 (upon

the site of an old sawpit), from a design by Brown. These schools were opened on the

11th of April in that year by Dr. Hinds, Bishop of Norwich. In 1788 a lookout called

"Symonds' Seat" was removed from "eastward of the playhouse" to ground to the north of

the site of the above schools.

Row No. 131, from Middlegate Street to King Street.

* The Hemsworths, originally of Hemsworth in. the county of York, bear—per

saltier arg. and or., a leopard's face sa., and for a crest, a dexter arm embowed in armour,

the gauntlet grasping a sword ppr., transfixing a leopard's face sa . Henry D'Esterre

Hemsworth, Esq., of Shropham Hall, Norfolk, having married Jane Maria, second

daughter and co-heir of the late General Hethersett, bears on an escutcheon of pretence a z.

a lion ramp. or., in the paw a battleaxe arg,

f During the war in the Crimea he was sent out to form a line from the port of

Balaclava to the camp ; on the completion of which the 71st Regiment was ordered up. In

his endeavour to stop one of the trains which had got too much way on it, Mr. Beatty was

thrown out and received an injury on the chest, from the effects of which he never

recovered. He died in 1856, within four weeks of his return to England. Sir Morton Peto,

in his account of the undertaking, says "within twelve days of the arrival of the first

convoy seven miles of line were laid; superseding to that extent the soldiers passing shot

and shells from one to the other; and eventually thirty-nine miles of line were laid, and

seventeen locomotives were employed in the conveyance of stores." Field Marshal

Burgoyne stated it was impossible to overrate the services rendered by this railway in

shortening the duration of the siege and alleviating the fatigue and suffering of the troops.

See Life and Correspondence of Sir John Burgoyne, ii., p. 219, et seq.