Stir-up Sunday

 

Today is 'stir-up Sunday'. Have you been stirring your Christmas pudding today? I have always enjoyed researching these ancient traditions. As a family historian I like to think it brings us a little closer to understanding the lives and beliefs of our ancestors. 

'Stir-up Sunday' is the traditional day to prepare your Christmas pudding and mincemeat for your mince pies. This gives the ingredients five weeks for the flavours to combine.

The last Sunday before advent was called 'stir-up Sunday' because of the simple Anglican prayer which was heard by church goers at this time of year and which coincided with making Christmas cakes and puddings: 

Stir up, Oh Lord we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Advent was once a time of fasting and so making delicious and tempting food that was to be eaten at Christmas, the end of their fast, had great significance. Rituals such as having the entire household present and each stirring the pudding three times 'sun-wise' (east to west in honour of the three wise men who visited the baby Jesus) were followed, as was placing a silver 'joey', a threepenny bit, into the mixture in the belief that wealth would be bestowed to whoever bit into it on Christmas Day as the pudding was eaten.

There is speculation about the origins of Christmas pudding. In the Middle Ages, a Christmas porridge called Frumenty was popular and may be a savoury ancestor of the Christmas pudding. The recipe evolved over the years into plum pudding, containing dried fruits, eggs, breadcrumbs, and beers or spirits to increase its shelf life. In the 19th century, Prince Albert declared his love for the Christmas pudding and made it fashionable.

In its modern form as a dried fruit-based dessert, it would have been wrapped in a cloth and boiled. In earlier times it would have contained meat and been eaten at the start of the meal or alongside the meat. The cloth eventually gave way to basins and moulds, and now we tend to use a basin, which is considerably easier than a cloth.

The making of the pudding was only the beginning of its special treatment as on Christmas Day it will be set a flame by brandy being poured over it and carried into the family gathering with much ceremony.

The First & Last of the Great War

In this week of remembrance, I discovered a poignant fact that gave me goosebumps. At 9:30 am, 90 minutes before the armistice, Private George Edwin Ellison was shot dead by a sniper - the last British soldier to be killed on the Western Front. He was killed only a couple of miles away from where the first British soldier was believed to have fallen. The exact circumstances of the death of 17 year old Private John Henry Parr is unclear, but it seems he was killed on the eve of the Battle of Mons in August 1914. 

Both soldiers are buried in St Symphorien military cemetery, on the outskirts of Mons, opposite each other. There was no knowledge at the time, of the significance of the positions of their final resting places. But, these two men are separated metaphorically by the deaths of 750,000 fellow British serviceman.

Old Maps of New Inn Street

 

There has been a lot of interest in my discovery of my 6X Great Grandfather, David Wait (c.1738-1793), a carpenter from Shoreditch. Documents exist that show from 1780 until David’s death, he was renting property in New Inn Street, south of St. Leonard's Church.

One of the many resources I use for my clients are old maps. They can give us a fascinating insight into the places our ancestors lived and the world they knew.  I have shown Horwood’s map of 1792, which details how New Inn Street (bottom left), in Shoreditch, would have looked during David Wait’s lifetime. 

I have also shown an insurance map (pink/red) from the 1880’s which reveils the growth in premises dedicated to carpentry and the furniture trade, just in the vicinity of New Inn Street. Right on what would have been David Wait’s doorstep was a saw-mill, cabinet factory, stacks of wood, french polisher, timber store, furniture warehouse and various wood workers.

I was also lucky, on this occasion, to find an old photograph of New Inn Street from 1907. Although this is much later than David Wait’s lifetime, it shows the old buildings occupied by cabinet makers. A french polisher peers from the doorway and on the pavement you can see some furniture in various states of construction. 

Living here, David Wait witnessed how London would become the principle centre of the English furniture trade.

David Wait c.1738-1793

Excited!!! In between working for clients  I have discovered evidence that takes my ancestry back nearly 300 years. David Wait(e) (c.1738-1793) is my 6X Great Grandfather. He was  a carpenter and lived from about 1774 till 1791 in New Inn Street, Shoreditch. This map, drawn in 1720 shows the Shoreditch he would have known. Look at the fields around The Curtain (later Curtain Road). New inn Street is marked with 76.  My research continues. If I can help you, discover your ancestry please let me know.

Contact me at tonywait@hotmail.com

Contact me at tonywait@hotmail.com for all your research and family history enquiries. 

The Mystery of Robin Hood's Grave

The sad state of Robin Hood's grave today

It was the historical search for a 'real' Robin Hood through history, that first got me interested in genealogy. It is a truly fascinating subject. Along with Sherwood and Barnsdale,  Kirklees that has one of the strongest links to the Robin Hood legend. It is in the tiny priory that existed in Yorkshire, ballads and legend state that the outlaw was killed and buried:

I will never eate nor drinke,' Robin Hood said,

'Nor meate will doo me noe good,

Till I have beene att merry Church Lees,

My vaines for to let blood'.

(Robin Hoode his Death c.1500)

A Joan Kyppes was the last prioress of Kirklees and on the 24th November 1539, she surrendered the priory during the Dissolution at the value of £29.8s. 2d. It had contained eight nuns. Shortly after the Dissolution, the Armytage family came into the possession of the hall at Kirklees, which was constructed with the stone from the original nunnery.

 The drawing by Dr Nathanial Johnston

John Leland (1506-52) Antiquary to Henry VIII had spent six years on a tour of England collecting material for his Collectanea (1540) and in 1534 he visited Kirklees. Not only was Leland the first person to describe the outlaw as noble, but he also describes seeing:

The monastery of Kirkley where the famous noble outlaw Robin Hood is buried.

Edward VI's printer, Richard Grafton (1507-73) in c.1562,  first mentioned a 'stone set up over his [Robin Hood's] grave.' He says in his Itinerary of Britain:

"......afterwards troubled with siknesse came to a certain nunry in Yorkshire called Birklies [Kirklees] where desyring to be let blood, he was betrayed and bled to death......The prioress of the said place caused him to be buried by the highwayside, where he had used to rob and spoyle those that passed that way. And Vpon his grave the sayd prioress did lay a very fayre stone, wherein the names of Robert Hood, Willaim of Goldsborough and others were graven. And the cause why she buried them there was, for that the common passengers and travellers, knowing and seeing him there buryed, might more safely and without feare take their journeys that way, which they durst not do in the life of the sayd outlawes. And at eyther end of the sayd tombe was erected a crosse of stone, which is to be seene there at this present"

A spot by the roadside adjacent to Kirklees Park on the highway between Mirfield and Clifton-upon-Calder is known as Dumb Steeple, and it is here that some local people say Robin Hood was buried. In 1584, a gazetteer mentions, the tomb of Robin Hood at Kirkley, a generous robber and very famous on that account. 

The mysterious 'Life of Robin Hood,' an anonymous collection of information, seemingly taken from extant ballad and plays of about 1600, (known as the Sloan Manuscript) has:

....Being dystemepered with could and age, he had great payne in his lymmes, his blood being corrupted, therefore, to be eased of his payne by letting blood, he repayred to the prioress of Kirklesy, which some say was his aunt, a woman very skylful in physique and surgery; who perceyving him to be Robyn Hood and waying how fell an enimy he was to religious persons, toke revenge of him for her owne howse and all others by letting him bleed to death.

The tomb is again mentioned by the Westminster School Master and historian William Camden, in his fifth edition of Britannia in 1607 (revised in 1789):

At Kirklees Nunnery, Robin Hood's tomb with a plain cross on a flat stone is shown in the cemetery. In the ground at a little distance by two gravestones, one which has the inscription for Elizabeth de Staynton, prioress there.

Grafton describes Robin Hood's grave as being by the road, but Camden places his tomb near to the prioress Elizabeth de Staynton, which was in the priory garden.

Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion has the lines:

It chanc'd she in her course on Kirkley cast her eye,

Where merry Robin Hood that honest thief, doth lie.

In 1632 Martin Parker, probably the greatest ballad-monger of them all, produced his 'True Tale of Robin Hood'. Included at the end of his 'brief touch of the life and death of that renowned outlaw', is the epitaph which the said 'Prioress of the Monastery of Kirkes Lay in Yorkshire set over Robbin Hood. Which, as is before mentioned, was to be reade within these hundred years, though in olden broken English, much to the same sense and meaning'.

Decembris quarto, die 1198: anno regni Richardi Primi 9

Robert Earle of Huntingdon

Lies under this little stone

No archer was like him so good:

His wildnesse named him Robbin Hood.

Full thirteen yeares, and something more

These northerne parts he vexed sore

Such out-lawes as he and his men

May England never Know agen.

Some other superstitious words were in it, which I thought fit to leave out.

We can only wonder what 'superstitious words' they were!

Between 1631 and 1831 there appeared 18 different versions of this 'epitaph'!

           

Robin Hood's Grave c.1900

The drawing of a grave slab that seems to be similar to the one described by Grafton in 1562 and Camden in 1607, was drawn by Dr Nathanial Johnston a physician to the Armytage family in c.1669.

The grave slab apparently carried the inscription: Here lies Roberd Hude William Goldburgh Thomas... 

So the inscription was scarce legible when Johnston drew the grave slab. Who William Goldborough and Thomas were is yet another mystery?  Some believe that William Goldborough may have been Will Scarlet's real name.

Between 1697 and 1702 Thomas Gale, Dean of York kept amongst his papers yet another version of the epitaph:

Here undernead dis laitl stean,

Laiz Robert earl of huntington,

Near arcir veras hie sa geid,

An pipl kauld im robin heud,

Sick outlawz as hi an iz men,

Vil england nivr si agen.

Obit 24 kal; Dekembris 1247 

How this bizarre inscription was devised remains a mystery, but may have been an attempt at archaic English. A Roman Kalend (Calend) ended on the first day of December, as Gale, (who was a classical scholar) must have known. Presumably, it was added to the epitaph to lend it an ancient ambience, but it does seem that Gale's verse may have been borrowed from Parker's ballad, a 'True Tale of Robin Hood'.

Ralph Thoresby the Leeds historian records in his 'Ducatus Leodiensis' in 1715 that:

 ...near unto Kirklees monastery the noted Robin Hood lies buried under a grave-stone that yet remains near the park, but the inscription scarce legible.

In a letter to Thoresby a certain Richard Richardson also describes the inscription's decay:

The inscription upon Robin Hood's grave was never legible in my time, and it is now totally defaced; insomuch that neither the language nor character is to be distinguished; only you may perceive it was written about the verge of the stone. I have heard Dr Armitage say, that he could read upon it Hic jacet Robertus Hood, filius secundus Comitis de Huntingdon, but I must own, tho' he was a person of merit, I give little credit to this report.

Ralph Thoresby also included, in the appendix of his book, the 'ye olde Englishe' epitaph found in Thomas Gale's papers.

The 'rough sketch by Joseph Ismay

In about 1750 Sir Samuel Armytage the landowner of Kirklees appointed the vicar of Mirthfield, Reverend Joseph Ismay, a local historian, as a tutor for his children. Ismay was fascinated by the grave of Robin Hood and produced an illustration of the cross that appeared on his tombstone. He admitted it was only a rough sketch but even, so it bared no resemblance to the drawings of Johnston. Ismay's writing on either side of the cross is very hard to understand, but it seems to say:

Sir George Armytage ordered two stone pillars to be erected by Robin Hood's grave in the park with the inscription found amongst the papers of the learned...[section breaks off but it must be Gale].

On the other side of the cross, Ismay writes the epitaph that appeared in Gale's papers and would later be added to the grave itself. But he also includes:

...assumed to have been bled to death Dec 24th 1247

Ismay explains the reason why the gravesite was enclosed:

Ye sepulchral Monument of Robin Hood near Kirklees which has been lately impaled in ye form of a Standing Hearse in order to preserve the stone from the rude hands of the curious traveller who frequently carried off a small fragment of ye stone, and thereby diminished its pristine beauty.

Thomas Gent's includes a bizarre tale in his List of Religious Houses:

[Robin Hood's] tombstone, having his effigy thereon was ordered not many years ago, by a certain knight, to be placed as a hearth-stone in his great hall. When it was laid over-night, the next morning it was "surprisingly" removed [on or to] one side; and so three times it was laid and as successively turned aside. The knight, thinking he had done wrong to have bought it thither ordered it should be drawn back again; which was performed by a pair of oxen and four horses, when twice the number could scarcely do it before.

                    

The 'grave' in c.1870.

In a rare account of a tour around the grounds of Kirklees, a certain John Watson describes Robin Hood's tomb in 1758:

At some distance from this in an inclos'd plantation is Robin Hood's tomb, as it is call'd; which is nothing but a very rude stone not quite two yards along, & narrow in proportion; it has the figure of a cross, cut in a manner not common upon it; but no inscription, nor does there appear ever to have been any letters upon it, notwithstanding Mr Thoresby has publish'd a pretended one found amongst the papers of Dr Gale Dean of York.

Richard Gough's Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain (1786) contains a drawing of a plain stone with a cross fleuree said to be from the grave of Robin Hood.

Gough's drawing of Robin Hood's grave-stone.

Richard Gough says:

The figure of the stone over the grave of Robin Hood (in Kirklees Park, being a plain stone with a sort of cross fleuree thereon), now broken and much defaced, the inscription illegible. That printed in Thoresby Ducat. Leod. 576, from Dr Gale's papers, was never on it.

Gough's book also includes the details of a dig at the grave:

The late Sir Samuel Armytage, the owner of the premises, caused the ground under to be dug a yard deep, and found it had never been disturbed; so that it was probably brought from some other place, and by vulgar tradition ascribed to Robin Hood.

1 yard (3 ft.) is 0.91 of a metre, so it begs the question of why they didn't dig a bit deeper?

During the construction of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in the 1830s pieces of Robin Hood's gravestone was chipped off by the navies because they believed it could be a cure for a toothache!

By the 1840's only a small piece of the gravestone remained, so the owner of the land, Sir George II Armytage, enclosed what was left of the grave with an iron railing. Included was a new gravestone with the inscription taken from Thomas Gales writings.

The epitaph built into the wall around the grave.

In conclusion, I would like to use a famous Churchillian quotation, that the site of Robin Hood's Grave is 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma!'

Our Ancestors Handwriting

The signature of my 5th x Great Grandfather David Wait

These signatures of my ancestors tell a story. They reflect the circumstances in which they lived and the world around them. A fleeting glimpse into their lives. This is an article about the handwriting of three of them.

Family history can consist of hundreds of names, dates and, addresses. Occasionally I have managed to discover an old photograph of a client's ancestor. But, usually the only look we get of their lives is something more personnel - their signature. Often, this is the only 'physical' thing they have left us, yet it can hold clues to the times they were living in and their personality. 

Look above at the confident swirls and flourishes of my 5th x Great Grandfather, David Wait (c.1738-1793). He was a carpenter in New Inn Street, Shoreditch, from about 1763 till the 1790s.

But below, is the far more narrow and restricted writing of Jane Wait (b.1820). Jane was my 3rd x Great Grand Aunt and married John Evans Melson at Christ Church, Newgate, London on 27th March 1842. 

Jane Wait's signature

John was an engineer and his father was a butcher. Jane's father was my 4th x Great Grandfather, John Wait (1796 -1817), a poor carpenter from Shoreditch. At the time of her marriage, Jane's mother was suffering from rheumatic fever and her father had applied to the church for poor relief. Jane's handwriting looks very tentative, compared to her husband's. Perhaps she was nervous about signing the register in front of the congregation on her big day? Perhaps her name was all she could write? But, at least she did write her name.

The mark of Matilda Bisker (1818-1858)

When Matilda Bisker (1818-1858) married Jane's brother, my 3rd x Great Grand Uncle, William Valentine Wait (1822-1887) at Hackney Parish Church on 18th August 1844, she just left her mark. Was she illiterate?

There has been a great deal of debate about our ancestors just ‘marking’ documents with an X. Many argue now, that when our ancestors, did this, it may not be a straight forward indication that they  couldn't read and write. Perhaps the clerk had assumed that Matilda was illiterate, so wrote her name on the register and told her to leave her mark. Matilda may have even been able to read, but too embarrassed to show her weak handwriting alongside her husband’s.

A few years after those marriages were described, a national survey revealed that 37% of men and 48% of women could not sign the marriage register*. At that time, education was not compulsory. Children were simply taught the skills they required for work. Boys learned about the use of tools and agriculture, girls how to run a household. Often, the only way working-class people could learn to read was by reciting the Bible ' by rote', perhaps at Sunday School.

A bride signs the register

From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, signatures were required on various kinds of official documents. Far more than previous generations. But, reform happened slowly and it wouldn't be until the 1870s -1880s that education became compulsory.

Today, the ability to read and write is accepted as normal. Being illiterate is regarded as shameful. But, during the time of many of our ancestors, literacy was considered a luxury. With this in mind, the physical marks they left behind can tell us a great deal about their lives and background.

If you would like to learn more about the lives of your ancestors, contact me at tonywait@hotmail.com.


* Tracing Your Ancestors Through Letters And Personal Writings by Ruth A Symes

Admiral Of The Narrow Seas

There are many expressions for being drunk. I can remember quite a few from my younger days. The terms I can print, include, wasted, loaded, sozzled and three sheets to the wind. But have you heard of being an Admiral of the Narrow Seas? Recently I have discovered some truly colourful historic and often hilarious historic slang words for being in drink. 

Our language is constantly evolving and it is interesting to re-visit some of these words or 'sayings' from the past. Particularly the quirky ones. They can hold their own glimpses into the lives of our ancestors. A good example is this old naval phrase Admiral of the Narrow Seas in the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgur Tongue:

Admiral of the Narrow Seas or Admiral for the Guard of the Narrow Seas was a prestigious Royal Naval appointment. His responsibility was to guard England's close territorial waters from foreign threats. The post holder was chiefly responsible for the command of the English Navy's 'Narrow Seas Squadron', also known as the Eastern Squadron that operated in the two seas which lay between England and France (the English Channel particularly the Straits of Dover) and England and the Spanish Netherlands later the Dutch Republic (the southern North Sea) from 1412 to 1688.

This trend to attach fictitious titles to various persons and characters seems to emerge in the eighteenth century.  For example Captain Queernabs was a shabby ill-dressed fellow, Captain Cork was a man who was 'slow in passing the bottle,' an Admiral of the Red ' was a prolific wine drinker and Admiral of the White - a coward.

Three or Four Sheets to the Wind also probably derived from  nautical terminology. A "sheet" is the rope or chain that controls the sails of a tall ship; if several sheets are loose or mishandled, the boat's movement becomes unsteady and difficult to control, like that of a drunk person.

Of course there are plenty of other vintage naval expressions for being intoxicated:

He has more sail than ballast.
He has his main-brace well spliced.
He is half-seas over.
He has been fighting the booms.
He is pumping the ship

How did our navy ever 'rule the waves'?

15th August 1945

Dad with his grandson Stephen

Today has been an emotional day for me. I must admit to shedding several tears this morning as I watched the VJDay 75 broadcast at the National Memorial Arboretum. I am sure dad was looking down and pleased to see the 14th Army finally getting some recognition.  Like so many, he rarely mentioned what he experienced in Burma. After over three years away from home fighting in that ferocious campaign - it was not surprising.

Dad in his slouch hat

This week I have been posting what dad's regiment was doing 75 years ago. They were based at Taunggyi and involved in the Battle of The Breakout. The Japanese were still in the hills in the Namhkok area. The day before, 4th Field Royal Artillery had organised various fire plans (coordinated artillery fire) against the enemy, but two reconnaissance parties had been ambushed. Now, there were no reports of returned fire. At16:00 hours the regiment’s diary records that all guns are to be employed and ‘F Troop’ to stay in position. The remaining three troops organised a new fire plan, including a feint attack to secure Pengsu Bridge. 

But at 17:00 hours everything changed. The 4th Field RA Diary says that all operations for the 16th August 1945 have been canceled following a message from 17 Division that all provocative firing will cease:

“All troops ordered to remain in present locations and to maintain full defensive measures. Harassing Fire on Japs terminated”.

The following two days, 16th and 17th July 1945 were declared holidays. The 4th Field RA Diary has for the 16th of July:


“08:00 hours: Air Op sent on a mission to drop surrender pamphlets on HWETAK, NAMHKOK LM, HKWELU LR, HSI-HSENG LR, SAMKA LR.
10:00 hrs: Capt. E.W. Knight RA appointed Prisoner of War
Commander. Full arrangements being made to accommodate 1500 prisoners of war in TAUNGGYI.

11:00 hours: Regiment Fired ROYAL SALUTE of 21 Guns to mark the conclusion of hostilities in World War II.” 

Dad didn’t get home till November 1946. How this young lad from Tooting in London faced what he did for his country fills me with pride. I have been researching his military career for two years and hope to publish a book soon. He will never be FORGOTTEN.

14th August 1945

VJ Day is commemorated tomorrow. Blink and you might miss it. This week I have been looking back daily at my father’s experiences with 'the forgotten army' 75 years ago. At this time dad was with the 4th Field Royal Artillery around the area of Taunggyi and involved in the Battle of the Breakout. His regiment was stopping the escaping Japanese around the Shan Hills. But the enemy is still putting up a fight. Particularly in the hills above the villages of Namhkok and Hopong. So a fire plan (coordinated artillery fire) had been organised against these locations.

On August 14the 1945 the diary has:

“08:00 hours: Harassing fire continued against three locations.‘F’ Troop 14/66 Battery moved forward to 804148 to a permanently defended area in order that H.F. could be continued by night as well as by day”.

Later that day, a regimental reconnaissance party was ambushed  by the Japanese in the hills above the village of Pengsu. There were no casualties, but they were unable to proceed. So at 23:30 hours, F Troop of 4th Field RA organised a fire-plan at Mile Stone 9, supported by 1 Sikh LI.  Another fire-plan was coordinated from the south-west. 

But the Japanese continue to cause problems and another reconnaissance mission by 4th Field RA, this time from the north, also had to be abandoned, due to ambush. More tomorrow.