Exeter or, How Many Vicars Does It Take to Change a Candle?

Rain. Mud. The "tank" is in doing the tree-trimming and my beautiful green pastures look like a World War One battleground. I can't bear to look ... diggers and choppers and sawyers everywhere ... and MUD!

So what better to do than light the fire and snuggle back into the 19th century ...

I find that some of the most interesting bits of ebay ephemera come from countries such as Australia and, recently, France.

So while the kettle was boiling, I disappeared into France. More particularly, the shop of the oustanding 'photo discovery' ... and what I discovered was a disemembered photo album made up of portraits of English ladies of a certain class ... 

They were recognisable as being from the same album thanks to a neat and clear inscription in readily readable handwriting on each one ... so, where to start?  

Well, I started in the wrong place, but that's the way of the game. But pretty soon I came upon siblings (always helpful for identification!) and came up with four sisters. Well, semi-sisters.  The Misses Martin. Here they are 

Georgina Harriet (29 June 1833-4 December 1899)

Jessie Anne Frances (Mrs Chas Cooper Johnson)
(16 November 1838-18 July 1920)

Renira (4 November 1845-19 December 1911)

Lucy Annora (Mrs Arthur Chas Cherry)
(d 2 August 1927) 

They are semi-sisters because the first two girls -- and there were 8 surviving children, because papa, George Martin, was a country parson, the sort with with 8 servants -- were by his first wife, [Lady] Charlotte Sophia Eliot (d 1839) and the younger ones by his second, Renira Henrietta Altenburg Bentinck (m 1842).

Father, long the Vicar/Canon of Harberton became Chancellor of the diocese of Exeter, and one day cut his throat 

The widow and daughters moved to Upton-on-Severn.  Lucy married banker Arthur Cherry and became the lady of Henwick Hall, Worcestershire (7 servants). Charlotte and Renira did not marry, and lived latterly with married sister Jessie and her husband at The Hill, Upton on Severn (7 servants).

Here is the second Mrs Martin 

Right. Let's have a go at some of the others and see if any sort of a link comes up. 

Miss Woollcombe. A daughter of Henry Woollcombe from Heavitree, Devon. Cleric. Later Archdeacon of Barnstaple.  Two possible links: the Church and the county of Devon, specifically the town of Exeter. Henry Woollcombe married Jaquette Elizabeth Louis (1846) and had issue including two daughters, Mary born 1847, and Jaquette born 1867. He also had two reverend brothers who married and had daughters .. but ...  I need to date this photo.

Augustus Alexander Stanislaus de Niceville, son of a French officer and born in Teignmouth practised as a photographer and landscape painter in Exeter in the 1850s and 1860s. I see him at 262 High Street from 1862 to 1865 .. but when I spot him again in 1873 he's moved down the street. So I think we can safely say that this portrait belongs to the 1860s. Which means that we can be 99% sure that this is Mary.

And she's buried at Heavitree ....

So what other Devonian photos have we in this bundle? Oh lawks! A perfect flock of clergy and their families. Never have I see so many Archdeacons!  And here is Mary Woollcombe's father ... and her mother ..

Archdeacon John Bartholemew. Archdeacon at Barnstaple. Canon and Co-Chancellor of Exeter Cathedral

Archdeacon Freeman

And a Bishop, no less. Here's Bishop (from 1868) Frederick Temple of Exeter

and here an earlier Bishop, which I presume is the well-known Henry Phillpotts

and his wife

Dean Ellicott of Exeter

and wife

And yet another clergyman. How many vicars does it take to change a light bulb?  Reginald Henry Barnes (b 12 February 1831; d 29 September 1889). Vicar of ... Heavitree. Born in the Cathedral Close at Exeter . And his maiden sister Augusta (b 9 August 1811; d 15 October 1901)... Reg was the father of actresses Violet and Irene Vanbrugh.

Irene Vanbrugh

and see https://kurtofgerolstein.blogspot.com/2023/03/shrimp-fish-net-girls-st-leonards-on-sea.html

Well, my two suppositions were clearly correct! The church and Heavitree and Exeter. And, I imagine, all these folk were attached to social circles to which our album-keeper evidently belonged.  

The Rev George Thomas Comyns, vicar of Axmouth, then Sidbury (d 27 March 1897)

Hmm. Here's an 1857 notice re Heavitree wherein features the Rev Barnes ... I notice one or two other names which also appear among the photos -- Sanders, Andrew ...

Miss Sanders photographed by de Niceville whe he was at no 262

Ah, and Mrs Sanders as well 

I think these may be the wife and daughter of Edward Andrew Sanders (2 March 1813-20 March 1905), banker and magistrate, of Stoke House, Heavitree (7 servants) ... fits the form, don't it?

And so does this one. Mrs Frederick Milton, née France Harriet Lewis. Mr Milford was a banker too, of [Little] Matford House. They had lots a children, but this album doesn't do children. Just ladies and clergy of a certain class.

I suspect that the Mrs and Misses Templer are those from ... Heavitree.  Living in 1861 in St Sidwell, Exeter. Georgina Charlotte Gertrude (d 25 April 1901) and Augusta Noel (d 27 November 1913). Parents George Templer and Charlotte Eliza née Kennaway (d 8 October 1875). 

Miss K Stephens photographed by Brice of Queen Street. Katherine Georgina Stephens of the Bishop's Palace, Exeter. (b Holcombe Burnell) daughter of the Vicar of Dunsford. (6 sisters, 9 servants)

Miss E Shapter by Angel, photographist. Elizabeth Shapter, daughter of Doctor Thomas Shapter, Barnfield St Sidwell. Or more probably (given the initial) her young sister Esther.

Mrs and Miss Oxenham by Angel. Died 27 October 1864 at her house in the Close, Exeter, Anne, widow of the late Rev William Oxenford vicar of Cornwood, Devon and prebendary of the Cathedral in her 92nd year. Daughter Anne Dorothea (b 8 August 1806; d Southernhay 10 September 1875). 1851 six servants ...

Mrs Bond, photographed by Angel

to whom, I suspect, belongs Miss E Bond

William Miles Esq. JP. of Dix's field House, St Sidwell, Exeter (d 5 March 1881)

Arthur Corfe Angel, son of the organist at Exeter Cathedral. He went to sea and was drowned at the age of 20 in the Bay of Biscay 11 January 1866 ..

It is becoming more and more evident that our collector was in some way connected with Exeter Cathedral. This is likely not just a maiden lady's Friends book. The fact that young Arthur Angel gets into its pages ...  But there are NO babies, and babies infest everyy maiden lady's scrapbook .. and only the holy among the gentleman get in.  

I also think that this collection was put together over a relatively short period. Early to mid 1860s. 

So, I keep on digging.

The Hon Miss Brodrick. If I am correct, sister of Viscount Middleton .. the one who didn't marry? Albinia (d 20 April 1863)

John Dinham. Not a clergyman? Maybe a tea dealer died 1864? Left 40K ...

Mrs ?Ware

Miss Harington (three separate pictures!). Yep. Dignitaries of Exeter Cathedral under Phillpotts: Edward C Harington ... oh gosh, there's half the team!  Chancellor Martin, Ralph (father of Reggie) Barnes, Woollcombe jr, so I suppose the 'Dean' pictured above is Thomas Hill Lowe ...

Um. But Edward Charles Harington (d 1881) was unmarried. However, he had a sister .. Anne E Harington, born in the Isle of Man .. I see the two of them in 1851 living in ... The Close, Exeter! with the remarried mother Frances Shallcross ... Anne, born 1803 ... she don't look 60!

And so who was Edward TEMPLER Harington, curate of Whimple, vicar of Axmouth who died 11 May 1874 ....

Are we getting to 'family' here? Haringtons and Templers ....?

Miss Jane Smith of 2 Salutary Place, St Sidwells. Born Westminster 1767, unmarried, died 24 July 1867. Left a cool 7000L .. and a will with five codicils, and an Esq of an executor. Be fun to read those codicils! I hope she didn't leave anything to her dressmaker!

Miss Gibson Craig? Where does she fit in? There she is in 1861 at a charity meeting for the Exeter Female Refuge. And in 1864 both Miss G C, and Miss H[enrietta] E [lizabeth] G C, are taking part in an Archery Contest along with Miss E Bond, Miss Andrews ... ah! The Gibson Craigs are related to the Andrews! 'Biggs Andrews Esq QC, commissioner of bankrupts for the Exeter District, of Heavitree House' and Sir James Gibson Craig of Riccarton ... OK, we're into Scots aristocracy here. With Heavitree connections. There's one of the Miss Gibson Craigs aged 65 living with the widowed Biggs Andrews at Heavitree House (6 servants)  in 1871 ...  I think this might be Sir James's niece, Annie  ..

I imagine this is Anne Clarissa Andrews who married the Reverend Davie of Yelverton, Norfolk, youngest son of a baronet. Mrs is the former Helen Gibson Craig (d Heavitree House 11 March 1869). Yes, well I won't get into the ramifications of the Gibson-Craigs (they acquired a hyphen somewhere along the way)

And now a Viscount .. but, of course, he's not just a Viscount (no 7 of the ilk), he's the Very Reverend Dean of Exeter ... William John Brodrick (d 29 August 1870) and here he is dining with Messrs Woollcombe and Har(r)ington and Dr Shapter in 1867 ... 

These three ladies look as if they have been culled from the same album, too

I think that's enough. I'll keep an eye out for those Exeter labels though. There are still a lot of Devonian Revs who haven't turned up yet ...

And one comes up, from a wholly different source, just minutes later!  Well, not he but his wife, mother-in-law and other family! 

The Rev John Eva White, BA Trinity, Dublin, formerly deacon of St Mark's, Victoria, rector of Pillaton, Curate of Probus ...  married Miss Mary Peter (b Liskeard) 

Her mother, Elizabeth Hicks née Bishop, married firstly (1834) innkeeper Jonathan Elford of Liskeard, and after two sons (Alfred and Edwin) and a daughter (Louisa) and his his death (1846) the rather younger Simon Peter, attorney and solicitor. Peter died aged 32 (11 March 1853) after a brief marriage, which produced two daughters: Mary and Florence and a son, Reginald.  Mary was born 28 September 1847. Reginald 2 August 1850.

Mrs Simon Peter

Reginald Peter

Reginald had a dashing career: mayor, JP, magistrate ..   married and had six children ... and lived to over 80 (d East Looe 3 February 1932). Mary's clergyman was less durable. He died at Pillaton (the fief of the Bishop Family) 8 August 1876. Mary herself lived to 19 February 1931 back in Cornwall.

And here is Edwin Elford, son of Elizabeth's first marriage, with his wife [Ann] Louisa née Fell ...

Edwin became a 'merchant', and died at Heavitree 14 December 1887 aged 48. The couple had seven children, whose progeny must nowadays stretch from Devon and Cornwall to Australia, where their youngest son, Archibald Sefton Elford MA OBE, became an official of the Australasian Steamship Company.

And then there's Mrs Seccombe, photographed in Exeter, too. And her daughter, Rosa. Well, I went all around the houses before I discovered that Mrs James Seccombe was none other than Edwin's older sister, Louisa Elford. She married Captain James Seccombe 'marine and mineral agent' of the Phoenix Mine near Liskeard 18 October 1862.

Their daughter Rosa was born in Linkinhorne 24 September 1863, and was around 12 years old when this photo was taken. She married Benjamin Frazier Zimmermann of the army medical staff (19 January 1892) and they left their Bournemouth home for Bombay. Rosa died soon after in Belgaum (23 March 1897) at the age of 32.

James and Louisa, with son Cyril (b 1873)  appear to have migrated to Bolivia in the 1880s...  Yes, there is Cyril espousing first Matilde Sosa y Holt, then Gudelia Micaela Lemus Licona in Mexico 9 February 1916 ... and dying 10 March 1918. 

So, not so much church this time, but still a dose of Heavitree!