The photo box: Headingly, Sudbury, Redruth and Peckham

.
I started this evening's entertainment hoping that I might fish up some jolly, but unrich folk. The zeroes on the legacies of most of the last lot were a bit staggering. It was ninepence to have a photo taken by a travelling photographer ... I suppose I had stop picking pictures by Bassano and Elliot & Fry ... but they are so often the best ..

Well, let's see what I've got. The first ten. No Elliot & Fry. No Bassano.

The Rev J C Hose by Russell of Kensington & Tufnell Park
Alfred E Butland by John Russell of Kensington & Camden
Alfred and Sam Miers by Braithwaire of Leeds
John Luxton by Carford of Ilfracombe
Emmy Frederickson by Hawkins of Brighton AND Millichip of Liverpool
Elizabeth and Laura Young by Bliss of Cambridge
Jane Stacey Lanyon by no photographer's name
Mr G Messent by Wright of Sudbury. Miss or Mrs L Messent by Stacy of Islington. Sutton William Messent by Wood of Bowery, NY

Wonderful photo. Well done, Mr Russell. This is the Reverend John Christian Hose (b 16 July 1834; d Camberwell House, Peckham Rd 17 December 1915). Father was also named John Christian, and had originally been a druggist, but not a good businessman. He had landed up in Fleet prison in 1827 as an insolvent debtor. The lodger, John Simmonds, kept on with the dispensing, and J C sr became a clerk on the railways. He died in 1849, and in the 1851 census we find that J C jr has taken his place with the railways. We also see that the lodger is still there. With mother. However, J C jr had other heights in view. He studied at King's College (2nd prize in Hebrew) and was graduated a theological asoociate, and nominated to the post of curate at St Saviour's, Hampstead in 1857.
In 1863 he married Emily Louisa Kirton, and there followed, at the usual clerical rate Mary Emily, Caroline Louisa, John Christian III, Arthur Cyril, James Augustine and Edith Agnes Gottlieb (18 November 1872). I see that, on top of that clutch, their household includes a niece, Beatrice, a cook and a housemaid.
Perhaps it was the perilous pecuniary past of his parent, but J C jr never had another post, another job. After forty years as curate, the parishoners presented him with a purse of a thousand pounds. After fifty-five years, he finally retired.

He died a few years, aged 81. The thousand pounds was gone. He left 44L 2s 7d.

Alfred Edward BUTLAND (b Countess Weir, Devon 8 April 1865; d 106 Chain Lane, Derbyshire Littleover, 11 January 1948) was born into a scholarly family. Father Thomas Butland was a schoolmaster, mother Maria Matilda née Allen (d 1917). No wonder we see Alfred taking a prize at Newton Abbot school in 1883. And, of course, he too became a teacher.

An elementary school teacher at Whiston in Yorkshire, says the 1891 census. In the meantime, I think, he had this photo taken, and acquired a wife: Emily Jane née Banks, schoolteacher, and a son, Thomas William. An Alfred Edward would follow (31 August 1892) then a Percival Allen (1893-16 May 1964). I see Alfred on an ediucation committee in 1904, and in 1911 he is in Treeton, Rotherham with wife and the two later sons. Little Thomas had died soon after his birth.
When I next see him, he has retired to Shardlow, Derbyshire. And he has a different wife. She is Mabel Bishop née Butler (b 16 April 1895) from Carnavon. And he's had her for twenty years, for they have a daughter, Hilda (b 15 August 1918). Yes, there! they were married in 1917. I wonder what happened to Elizabeth. Oh, cripes. She's still alive. Alfred is a bigamist. Yes, here is Elizabeth living in the Schoolhouse in Treeton in 1925. She died Haytor, 59 Gerard St, Rotherham, on 23 May 1939, leaving 2471 5s 8d to husband Alfred and son Alfred ...
Something is queer here. Surely there aren't two Afred Edward Butlands, schoolmaster ... is it the classic middleaged man syndrome? Leave the wife and mother for a 23-year-old dollybird? Well, Mabel died, after 35 years of widowhood, in 1982. Hilda (Mrs Frederick Miles) .... Alfred is at 106 Chain Lane, Littleover in 1941 ... alone? He died there in 1948. The executors to his will were his two sons (4647L 4s 11d) ... Percival, late of the Schoolhouse, Worksop Road, Aston-cum-Aughton, died in 1964.  Alfred Edward jr at Littleover 25 March 1968. He left 62,000L. I guess he wasn't a schoolteacher. Ah ... F C Construction Co Ltd, Old Bank Chambers, 26 Irongate, Derby ...

Let's move on to the next. A double one. Alfred MIERS (b Headingly 1860; d 536 Stonegate Rd, Leeds 25 July 1931) and Sam MIERS (b Headingly 1860, d Grove House, Scarcroft 4 October 1905), brothers of course. Sons of John Samuel Miers, oil merchant (1827-1904),  and his wife Jane née Burnett (1837-1920). Married 1858.

I wonder which is Sam and which Alfred. Apparently there were at least nine siblings, and seemingly these were their first surviving In the 1861 census Sam is said to be one, and Alfred 6 months. And just to confuse the issue two doors up Victoria Terrace, Headingly, is William Miers oil merchant with his wife and four infants ... The brothers sent their boy children to Wharfedale College, Boston Spa: the list of pupils in 1871 includes Sam, Alfred, William and Henry ...

Sam worked as a 'wholesale clothier'. He seemingly didn't marry and can be seen, aged 41, still living with his parents and brothers and sisters, Jane, Frederick, Florrie and Percy, in Scarcroft, where he died a few years later. Probate to brothers Alfred, Walter and Frederick (L11,102 13s 11d)

Alfred did all the things Sam didn't. Whereas Sam  sold cloth, Alfred manufactured it. Whereas Sam stayed home, Alfred didn't. Whereas Sam remained a bachelor, Alfred married Emily Blanche Dobson in 1886.

And he had issue: Cyril Alfred, Norman Arthur, Norah Blanche. No Sam. In 1911, Sam is dead: Alfred is listed as 'woollen manufacturer, manager' in the bosom of his family at Roundhay.

Alfred in adult life

But Sam won on one score. When Alfred died in 1931, he left L315 8s 0d. Well, I supose living costs.

Postscriptum: sister Florence turned up after I'd posted this, so she'd better take her place!

I thought John Luxton didn't look a very promising candidate for life's honours and rewards

And that he might be hard to find. But, no! Ilfracombe did it. This is John Edward Neal LUXTON (b Kilkhampton, Cornwall x 14 April 1859; d 43 Fore Street, Ilfracombe 24 February 1935). Son of William Luxton and his wife, Elizabeth née Neal. William (b Welcombe, Devon c1833) appears in the 1861 census with Elizabeth (b North Tamerton c 1833) and baby John in Morwenstow, where father is an ag lab. By,1881, John has gone off to seek his fortune, William is still labouring agriculturally, and second son, William Henry (17) is working as a joiner. In 1891, the boys have left home, William labours on, and they have taken in a niece. John. in the meantime, has surfaced at Ilfracombe's 6 Cross Place, and acquired a wife Annie née Harding from Ashford, Kent, and a wee daughter, Annie Harding Luxton. And he, too, is working as a joiner and carpenter. Annie subsequently took on a greengrocer and fancy goods shop, Annie jr after being 'apprenticed in the china trade' became a fruiterer's assistant (probably to mother) until she became Mrs George Buckingham in 1935. 

Brother William ended up as a grocer at Bideford, married and has issue ... so I wonder who inscribes this photo 'cousin John'. A Luxton or a Neal from the previous generation? 

John's gravestone is pictured on the www. It's so dark, I can't see if the stone commemorates Annie too. Anyway, I added this photo to Findagrave's entry and here's theirs. Oh, his will? He left L1188. Better than some!

Mrs Emmy Frederickson née Mary Emmeline NICHOLSON (b 3 Shaw Street Everton x 24 October 1848; d 33 Twyford Avenue, West Acton, 13 October 1930)

I found this photo in the stock of music-ad-world. She looked lovely, so I looked into her. There was a lot to look into. 

Emmy was born Nicholson, the daughter of Everton tanner William Nicholson and his wife Kate Eleanor née Shaw (m 1839). I see in the 1851 census that William has gone up in the world, and become 'proprietor of houses', and has two sons, John and George, two house servants and a governess, as well. There were actually more children: Harold who died young and another Kate Eleanor who are with their parents, visiting family at 24 Promenade Villas, Cheltenham. 'Family' is auntie Elizabeth, her vicar husband and new baby, auntie Mary, two nurses, a housekeeper, a housemaid, two servants ...  humm. I'd better not start on that family. 

Fast forward to Emmy's marriage. 1873. Husband: vicar's son Charles Montagu[e] Wilmot 'general merchant and ship owner' 'formerly of Berdiansk, South Russia'. It wasn't really a marriage. Wilmot died within six months (24 October 1873). So Emmy married again (1876). This time her husband was a German, Augustus Daniel Frederickson FRGS.  A website says: 'an adventurer and Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society... he travelled from London to Arabia, India, China, the Orient and over the Pacific to the USA. During his travels he sketched interesting scenes, plants and people'. He also wrote a book of his travels Ad Orientem.

His wife went on those travels, too. Their first child, Harold, was born in Chundrapore, Mysore 21 May 1877. A daughter, Erna,  was born in the Dauphiné 31 May 1881. And, in between, a second (ephemeral?) son back home at St Hubert's, Beckenham 12 May 1879.

They are in Beckenham for the 1891 census ... but the travelling hadn't stopped. Augustus died 28 November 1900 at Rapallo, Italy. He left ... 65L. Emmy had thirty years of widowhood in West Acton. She left 784L. I guess it had all gone on camel tickets. Son Harold redressed the balance sheet. He became a 'merchant' with, I see, ties to India. Erna too had ties to India. She married Charles Edward Jesser Davis, son of a Bengal chaplain ...

Well! Look what I found. More Emmy pix amongst Mr Music-ad-world ... 

And good heavens ... A D's father ...

Another pair. Sisters this time. Elizabeth Mary YOUNG (b Bentham, Yorks 14 July 1857; d ?West Bromwich 1946) and Laura Bella YOUNG (b Islay, Scotland 2 January 1863; d Accrington 13 March 1950)

That's elder sister Elizabeth on the left and Laura Bella on the right . I wonder when this photo was taken. How old they were. Ah! J E Bliss only operated at that address from 1887 to 1889. So Elizabeth would be thirty or so.

The girls were two of the ten children of Robert Young of the internal revenue (b Harveston, Norfolk) and his Scottish wife Isabella (1838-1907), who made their home in Spotland, Rochdale. So the inscription 'Aunt Laura' on the back of the photo could be in the hand of any one of many (I imagine) nieces and nephews. 

Laura actually married (1882) before Elizabeth. Her husband was William Watkin Sheriff (b 30 August 1858; d Accrington 1940) of Great Witley, Worcs, who worked for a calico printer as a roller painter. Their children were born in Midlothian, Lincoln, Lumb (Lancashire) and Accrington, so I guess there was a call for calico printers all around. Six of the eight young people were still at home -- Church, Lancashire -- in 1911, and Winifred, Kathleen and Maud were all working into the calico printing industry as well. The couple passed their golden wedding ...

Elizabeth married Mr John Ernest Tranter (b 1865; d St Edmunds Hopital, Wellingborough 26 April 1947) from Cambridge. Ah! So that's what they were doing in Cambridge. Actually, they were visiting family. Tranter's father was John Daniel Tranter (1840-1873) and mother was Jessie Bella née Young (b St Albans 1839-1920). So Elizabeth married a cousin. They were wed in 1892, and Mr Tranter, theological student, became the Rev Tranter, congregationalist minister of Chippenham, then of Roydon, Essex, then Leeds. They had two daughters, Marjorie Gladys (15 January 1898-24 February 1993) and Dorothy Joyce (31 March 1901-15 December 1987) and they, too, topped the half century of years of married life.

A large and complex family from which I happily extricate myself!

And on to Jane Stacey LANYON née BENNETT (b Redruth 12 September 1839; d Birdhurst House, Croydon 26 November 1906)

'Mother, aged about 25'. So, not long after her marriage to John Charles Lanyon, merchant, son of John Charles Lanyon also merchant, of Redruth. 1864. Wow, no wonder she's got a smut or two. The photo is 150 years old.

Jane was the first daughter of Camborne draper Charles Bennett of Fore Street and his wife Jane Ann.  After their marriage the couple moved to Croydon, where their first child Alice Mary was born 22 November 1859 at Pennare House, Bedford House, followed by another Jane Stacey (1860), John Charles (1862 died), Sidney (1864), Arthur Herbert (1866), Vivian (1868), Mabel (1870) and Alfred Leonard (1871, died). John worked as a merchant in the Australian trade, and prospered. His father, too, had prospered and I daresay he inherited ...

So let us say that Jane, if she liked babies, lived a decidedly comfortable life at, latterly, Birdhurst House, Croydon with her bulging brood, cook, housemaid, parlourmaid, two nurses (when the children were young) and later other servants, plus all sorts of nieces and visitors ... Birdhurst was clealy an hospitable place. John had his headquarters at Gresham House, Old Broad Street, in the City, whence he merchanted for Australia and the East Indies, and made the money to keep this large establishment. He made a bit extra, too. When he died, in 1903, his will was probated at a staggering L201,334. Jane lived on for a further six years. Five of the children married ... and one of them must have saved this photo ...

My last group of photos is a real punt. The name 'Messent' caught my eye because of the fact that Miss Sophia Messent is one of my hundred published Victorian Vocalists, so I've delved in Messent land before. Were these folk, I wondered, connected ...?

Mr G Messent 

Sutton William Messent

Miss L Messent

Well, here goes. What Messents have I got in Sophia's family? Sophia, Sarah, Emily, John, Uncle John, Phillip, Lucy (d aged 9 months), Lucy (died aged 21, 1856) ... I think I have drawn a blank there. So, I'll start from scratch. Darn. It's obvious where to start!

Sutton William MESSENT (b Castle Hedingham, Essex 1850; d Tower House, Slad Road, Stroud 25 January 1924) was the eighth (at least) child of Jeffrey Messent (1810-1866), tailor and his wife Hepzibah Emma née Wood. 

His father was born in Lamarsh, Essex, which is a positive nest of Messents largely due to the efforts of one Charles Messent and his wife Keziah in the early years of the 19th century. Each succeeding generation seems to have multiplied the quota ...  I see a Mrs Mary Messent of Lamarsh 'aged 82' going to the graveyard in 1836, and, oh dear, a Thomas Messent gent, 'a respectable farmer'  being subjected to a commission of lunacy in 1843. Zackie Messent, Jeffrey's brother 'a beershop keeper' and farmer gets into the news too, as a member of the Hedingham Highway Board 'a member of one of the oldest sporting families in the county of Essex'. A Charles Messent has ventured as far afield as Ipswich, where one of the many branches of the family has settled. Jeffrey did worse: he removed to Peckham where his first five children were born.

Sutton's elder brothers, George, Henry Staughton and Josiah all followed their father's trade. He became a draper's assistant. And then, 14 April 1873, he left ('tailor') for America. And this is when our photo was taken. I don't know just how quickly he came home, But by 1881 he is living with Henry and his family at 419 Brixton Rd, professing 'boot and shoemaker'. And he got married. She was by name Harriet Maria Price, a little older than he, but that is all I know, except that she seems to have died 7 December 1902. At which stage they are 'of 131 High Road, Streatham' (boots and shoes). In 1897 he has a shop in Rye Lane Peckham, in 1909 he is esconced at 234 Burrage Rd, Woolwich .. and to round him off, he rewed, Florence Henrietta Clark 6 September 1906, removed to Stroud, where he ended his days seemingly without incident. Except when their little dog, 'Rip' got lost and he had to make an inhabitual appearance in the news.

G Messent is almost certainly George MESSENT. Well, there were heaps of Georges in this family. There's a George in Jeffery's generation who became a draper in Ipswich, there's a George among Zackie's children, born 1849. And there's a George among Sutton's brothers, born in Peckham in 1843. I imagine it is one or the other, having his picture took in Sudbury ... when? 

Omigod. I just popped back into ebay to check on Mr G. It's 11pm and instead of typing MESSENT into the search engine, I typed SUDBURY. And out they poured: the same handwriting, from the same vendor who has broken the family archive up ....

Here is 'Mr A[rthur?] MESSENT' ... he had a wife named Laura. 'L Messent'?

And look at these babies!

Three little Attfields. As everybody knows, Zackie's eldest daughter, Frances Messent, married Samuel Attfield of Alphamstone in Lamarsh in 1861 ... are these her babies? Poor Frances died in August 1866 aged 28 ... Fanny Kate (later Mrs Buttle) was born in 1862, there was an Ann Elizabeth x 8 May 1864 who died. The top one is labelled 'Kate'. Oh gosh .. Frances as a baby?

and John MESSENT

But it doesn't stop there.

Same writing: John Oxley PARKER (b Moulsham, x Essex 13 August 1816; d Drinkstone 24 January 1875)

Is he a relation, or just a friend? Father Charles George Parker. Wife Caroline née Tilbrooke. 'Gentleman farming 100 acres'. Cottingham's Farm. Employing seven men. Son of, of course, the same name.

And this lady. Mrs Charles Tokely. I imagine that this is Emma RAYMOND from Wales, the wife of Charles T of Great and Little Cornard, Bulmer ... born 1849. He was an ag lab, she produced Arthur, Emily, Kate, Maria, William ... 

Friend? No! Family! The 1911 census shows Charles ('stockman on farm, 75') and Emma looking after 10 year-old Ernest Charles MESSENT 'grandson' (b Bulmer 18 November 1900; d Braintree 1980).  Son of John Messent ('horseman on farm') and Maria Tokely.  Where does John fit in the the scheme of Messentry? By John Messent (1849-1928) out of Ann Golding. John is ... oh, out of Rebecca Messent ... I think we leave that branch alone. A thief and loose woman who died in the workhouse.

Then there's 'Mrs Ruce'. I haven't managed to fit her into the jigsaw ..

And other Sudbury portraits unnamed ... Whoever pencilled the identifications on the back of some of these photos obviously did so at a later date ... 

And here's that handwriting again! Like the Messents, we've wandered from Sudbury to Ipswich ... 

'Ellen Shortbridge'

S Shortbridge

Well, I can't track down the Shortbridges, but I may have got this wonderful gentleman. His name was, I reckon, George Henry SACH (b Witham 22 January 1832; d London 1885) and he was a carpenter. He married Harriet Squirrel from Ipswich in 1853, and they moved to London's 92 Tachbrook Street ...   There are a surprising number of Sachs around Essex in the 1830s, farmers at Layer Marney and Witham, but Geo H is the only one I can connect with Ipswich ... so, let's say it's a tentative identification ...

And now it's time to say 'farewell' to Sudbury and head back to D'Oyly Carteland ...

Months later ... look what has turned up now

The Masters Messent, 1885 ...

Harry Messant son of John of Woolwich