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 A sleeve argent maunch |
1826 - John Wharton was defeated in the
election at Beverley and retired from politics, heavily in debt.
1828 - April, London Gazette. 1830 - Death of George IV and accession of William IV. 1831 - The population of Skelton was 781. |
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1832 - The Reform Act of this year extended the right
to vote slightly and altered constituencies. 1834 - The Poor Law Amendment Act removed the administration of the poor law from the parish and established the Poor Law Guardians who were representatives of many parishes and combined to form a Poor Law Union. Skelton combined with 26 other parishes and a work-house was authorised in Northgate, Guisborough. Opened 1838. Paupers, who could not maintain themselves were sent there and hard work was found for the able bodied. Pigot's Directory of this year lists people in "Professions
and Trades" in Skelton as:- |
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Boot and Shoe Makers - Bell Robert, Bunting Thomas,
Hatherton John, Johnson John, John Lewis, Thomas Low. Butchers - Wilkinson William & Son. Grocers and Drapers - Dixon William [and druggist], Macnaughten Duncan, Shemelds Thomas and Son. Inns and Public Houses - Duke, Joseph Biggins, Royal George, William Lawson, Wharton's Arms, Robert Bell. Joiners, Cabinet Makers and Cartwrights - Carrick Mark, Dixon Leonard. Plumbers and Glaziers - Gowland William. Shopkeepers and Dealers in Groceries and Sundries - Harforth William, Robinson Benjamin, Robinson John, Wilkinson Elizabeth, Wilson Christopher. Stonemasons - Ridsdale John, Wilkinson George. Tailors - Lynass Ralph, Shemelds Thomas and Son, Thompson Joseph. Linen weaver - Thomas Dawson. Retailer of Beer - Christopher Wilson. |
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1835 - The burial of John Andrew in the South corner
of Skelton Old Church yard.
He was a Scot, having been born in 1757 at Inverberbie, Kincardine.
In 1778 he attained the degree of Master Mason of Kilwinnie Lodge,
Montrose, [North Britain No. 18.] He must have arrived at Saltburn, North Yorkshire, shortly afterwards for in 1780 he married Anne Harrison at All Saints Church, Skelton-in-Cleveland. Saltburn at this time was in the chapelry of Brotton, which in turn was part of the Skelton Parish. He became the landlord of the Ship Inn, Saltburn. During the French Wars many imports had heavy duties imposed on them and it became very profitable to avoid them. John Andrew became notorious in this area as the 'king of smugglers'. Thomas King, a Brewer, of Kirkleatham, who later married one of John Andrews daughters, Elizabeth, was a partner. Together they bought a lugger named the "Morgan Rattler" to cut out the middle men and prospered. When word went round that "John Andrew's cow has calved" clients knew that another cargo had been landed. At the same time he was serving in the local Volunteers. 24th October, 1804 he was commissioned in the Cleveland Volunteer Infantry. In 1807 he was made Lieutenant. In 1808 he was made Lt. in the 3rd Regiment of Local Malitia. 16th May, 1809 he was promoted Captain in the same regiment. |
| The order each time was signed by the Duke of
Leeds. It is reputed at one time during his smuggling activities they were surprised by the Excise men in the Blackhall Rocks area. John made his escape on horseback and rode to tees-mouth where he roused a fisherman and offered him a guinea to be taken across the river. Landing on the Majuba sands he approached a coastguard man and asked the time. then made his way home. Later he was arrested and appeared before a court on a charge of smuggling, he called the coastguard as a witness and it was decided he could not have been at the scene at the time and also south of the river a short time later. The only crossing over the Tees at this time was at Yarm so a ride of a considerable distance. |
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He used his smuggling gains to join the landed gentry by buying the
White House Farm at Saltburn. "Saltburn was then but a fishing hamlet and colony of smugglers on the seashore. Not the large and fashionable watering place it has since developed into. On the top of the cliffs, with a wooded ravine running inland, stood then and still stands the home of the Andrew family, a farmhouse known as the White House. Up this secluded ravine many a string of pack horses wended their way with the contraband goods, which found a ready market at Guisborough, Stokesley and in the country-side. This illicit trade being encouraged both by the gentry and clergy as well as by the farmers...... Many a cargo was run ashore at Saltburn and stored in the White House, and in the clay holes of Hob Hill, in the ravine beyond the house. You may now see in the last stall of the stables a large flagstone, which when removed, discloses the entrance to a spacious cellar. In this stall John Andrew had always a celebrated mare who would kick like mad when any but her master approached that stall. Upstairs in the house is a room which had a secret hiding place, where in case of a search the men might hide or lie in ambuscade." |
| From the "The Cleveland Hunt" by A E Pease. In 1817, at a meeting in the Angel Inn, Loftus John Andrew Snr was elected as the first Master of Foxhounds by the newly formed Hunt. It has long been believed that, after a lifetime of dodging the excise men, he was eventually caught in 1827 at Hornsea off-loading an illicit cargo. But, as Alan Ward of Saltburn points out, John would have been 70 by this time and it was, in fact, his son, also called John [1794 to 1855] who was nabbed in the act. Alan is a direct descendant of John Andrew and has provided the bulk of this information. John Andrew, Junior must have carried on the family "trade". Three items, found by Alan, confirm this. The first is a letter from the Customs House, London, dated 20 Jan 1825 asking the Customs Collector to enquire into the ability of two men to meet the bail amount of £95 for John Andrew. The second is a letter asking the Collector to take the necessary measures for the release of John Andrew, "JUNIOR" from York Castle. [Alan obtained this information from a report in the Cleveland Family History journal by a John Warwick Andrew, b 1925, of Oxford, who did the original research.] The third is an article in the Northern Echo, dated 28 Nov 1935 dealing with "Sir Alfred Pease's Memories of Saltburn":- There were three Andrews of successive generations, who were Masters of the Cleveland Hounds. They lived at White House. I began hunting with the last of them, Tom about 1865. He died in 1870. His brother George at the White House until he died in the 1880's. I knew him well. [George died 7 April 1891, he was shown resident at Glenhow Saltburn 1891census, 5 April.) altho. burial register All Saint's Skelton show abode as White House.] John Andrew, JUNIOR had the bad luck to be caught running a cargo ashore at Hornsea and was fined an enormous sum of £100.000, I believe about 1827, and, of course, unable to pay a fraction of the fine, was imprisoned in York castle. After two years of durance there, Henry Vansittart, of Kirkleatham, who had carried on the hounds during John's absence, was able to secure his release through the influence of his relative Lord Bexley, who was in the goverment. In those days the discipline for debt was not strict, and Tom Parrington told me that John Andrew carried on his smuggling by correspondence through agents all the time he was a prisoner. From his release until his father died in 1835, he seemed to have been reduced to poverty, for he lived in a small cottage at Boosbeck and only had a grey pony. 15 h.h. on which he hunted hounds twice a week. The pony was "as hard as iron" but had a temper and would always run away with his master and was not particular as to the direction in which he bolted. It was not uncommon to see the gallant grey tearing across country in quite another direction to that which the hounds were running.The pony never got a summer rest for then his owner yoked him to a cart and he carted stones, seaweed, or anything else at a job which earned John a few shillings. After his father's death, Andrews was master of the hounds, and his circumstances improved a little as the hunt paid him a small salary. Offenders from this area were sent to the House of Correction
at the County headquarters, Northallerton. This year saw the imposition
of a new
system of correction. Silence. No communication or conversation was to
be allowed.
People who committed serious crimes in this area were sent to the York
Assizes for Trial. |
| 1836 - Christmas and Boxing Day saw a great snowstorm
from the ENE which saw drifts up to 15ft deep in parts and caused loss
of life.
1837 - Death of William IV and accession of Victoria. One of the longest cold periods, beginning January, with temperatures down to -20 at Greenwich, and lasting some 7 to 8 weeks. 1838 - Building of Guisborough Workhouse at the corner of Northgate and Church Lane to house up to 130 poor, who could not provide for themselves. |
 The dress of the gentleman with the stock pens would indicate a date some time in the earlier part of the 19th Century. But he could be an invention of the artist to depict earlier times, as the gentleman standing in the road looks distinctly later. It is believed, by the paintings owner, to have been the work of a lady called Tiplady. This surname appears several times in Skelton's History of this period. See list of Farmers below. The Green, had long been used for pasture and as a market. It still had stock-pens on photographs much later in the 1800's The Royal George, with the sign and cart outside, later had a third storey added in red-brick and bay-windows. The white railings below the Inn still exist. The house below the Royal George was a fish shop in the 1940's and probably for some time before. John Dobson lived there as a young boy and remembers a floor of sandstone flags. As he points out, this cottage is number 8. Therefore there must have been others running down to the Parsonage. Perhaps the bottom three and the Parsonage are out of view in the painting. Probably one was a shop as a sign can be seen at the end of the row. Today only 7 and 8 North Terrace exist. Skelton Castle Estate built an Estate Office in 1890 and these lower cottages were presumably demolished, as John points out, to make way for it. [The painting is owned by Allan Seaton, now of Congleton, Cheshire. He kindly loaned it to be photographed. His family lived at various addresses on Boosbeck Rd, Skelton Green and his wife Pamela was fostered by a family called Gill of New Brook Farm, Skelton Green. The work shows a certain expertise beyond the talents of the average local amateur and may well have been created by the Rev Crawford Townsend Bowen, who married into the family. See Forbidden Love Story on the page for 1859. [Permission to copy this photograph should be sought via this website.] |
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1840 - 10th January. The Penny post was introduced. Now anyone could send a letter weighing not more than half an ounce anywhere in Britain for the cost of a one penny adhesive stamp. Previous to this the cost was paid by the recipient of the letter based on weight and distance and the cost could prove too expensive for the ordinary man. White's directory records Skelton as 'including the hamlet of Manless Green'. |
| The schoolmaster is teaching 10 'free' scholars. The poor of Skelton benefitted from the following charities - £0 16s 8d left by a person called Carrick £1 12s 8d left by Thomas Conn and Robert Collins. £1 10s left by William Hutton. [see 1801] |
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£1 10s left by William Hutton. [see 1801] £1 10s left by a person called Ling. £10 left by Medd Scarth [see 1818]. Letters arrive at 8.30am and the post returns at 4 pm. A coach goes to Whitby and Middlesbrough three days a week, Persons recorded are - Castle - John Wharton. Curate - Rev W Close, Farrier - Barker Joseph. Victuallers - Joseph Biggin at Duke of York [presumably Duke William], Jane Lawson at the Royal George. Robert Bell at the Whartons Arms [also listed as a wood agent.] Gamekeeper - Frank Thomas. Plumber and Glazier - William Gowland, James Gowland. Butcher - Lawson Andrew. Saddler - Patterson Thomas. Schoolmaster - Joseph Sharp. Corn Miller - Nathaniel Stonehouse. Surgeon - Hinderwell Thompson. |
 240 pence = 1 Pound 960 Farthings = 1 Pound |
Blacksmiths - William Carter, John Kilburn, Thomas
Robinson, John Young. Boot and shoemakers - John Lewis, Thomas Lewis. Farmers - Mrs Abelson, John Andrew, John Cass, John Cole, Thomas Coverdale, E Dale, Thomas Dixon, Stephen Emmerson, C Kilburn, Thomas Leng, Ruth Lockwood, John Lynas, Robert Marlow, Michael Miller, Thomas Moon, William Morris, Edward Patterson, David Petch, John Roper, Thomas Rickaby, John Sanderson, Robert Suggitt, Joseph Tate, James Taylor, Hannah Thompson, John Thompson, Robert Tiplady, John Wood, Robert Wilkinson, William Young. Grocers - Thomas Carter, William Dixon, Benjamin Robinson, Thomas Taylor, Hannah Wilkinson, Matthew Young. Tailors - Ralph Lynas, Benjamin Robinson, Thomas Taylor, Joseph Thompson. Wheelwrights - Mark Carrick, Leonard Dixon, James Wood. |