Newsletter Number 6

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Causton One-Name Study

Little Hall, Lavenham, Suffolk

Lavenham in Suffolk has a number of interesting historic buildings, but one in particular is of interest to Causton researchers. It is known as Little Hall and is in the Market Square, Lavenham. Many generations of Caustons lived there. These were tradesmen and merchants connected with the cloth and wool trade. It was enlarged by the Causton family in 1425 to 1450. The medieval roof is thought to be over 600 years old. The great chimney was added in the 1550's and was accompanied by the insertion of a strong timber floor creating a large upper room in what was previously a lofty hall. A two floor extension beyond the north wing was added in the late 1600's and later it was divided into 6 cottages. The cross in the market place in front of the Little Hall was erected in 1500 after a bequest by William Jacobs.

There are known to have been Caustons in Lavenham from the earliest surviving records. The first Causton will referring to Lavenham as the residence is of Robert Cawston in 1474. There were no Caustons listed in two listings of Lavenham cloth makers in 1463/4 and 1468/9¹ so either those records are incomplete or the Caustons were engaged in some other trade. The presence of earlier Caustons of substance (sufficient to pay taxes) might be gleaned from early tax records but abstracting these is a specialist job as they are in medieval latin.

In the muster roll for Lavenham² in 1522 we have:-

• John Causton ordered to find ij [2] harnesses, one bow, one sheaf of arrows and one bill and a horse above the value of xx s [20 shillings] . Lands etc.. xx s [20 shillings] and in money iiijxx li [£42].
• Robert Cawston was ordered to find ij harnesses, j bow, j sheaf of arrows and one bill. In money xlvij li x s [£47 10s].
• Robert Cawston in goods xx s.
• William Cawston ordered to find one harness and one bill. Lands etc. xx s, in money xx li.
• William Cawston junior ordered to find ij harnesses, one bow, one sheaf of arrows and one bill and half a horse above the value of xx s. Lands etc. xl s, in money C marks.
• William Cawston, miller in goods xx s.

In the 1524 Lay subsidy or tax there appear to be six adult male Cawstons in Lavenham. John, Robert and William Cawston the younger were fairly well off. Another two William Cawstons, one living at the cross and a Robert Cawston, labourer, were fairly poor. This return shows Lavenham to have by far the greatest concentration of Cawston families in Suffolk. The 1524 lay subsidy apparently coincided with a peak of prosperity for the town.

In the will of Symon Causton, cloth maker, dated 1521 he left £18 to the reparation of the steeple in Lavenham and £8 to the gilding of the tabernacle of Our Lady in the chapel on the south side of the church. To the building of the steeple £40, which he was judged to pay to Lavenham church by Master Thomas Stockhouse for discharging his conscience. [parson Dr Thomas Stockhouse was appointed arbiter in a quarrel between the clothier Symond Causton and the sons of his brother William]. He left to his son William, after the death of his wife, his head house and the tenement next to it. William in 1552 was dwelling by the cross in Lavenham and Thomas Causton in 1624, refers to his head house as being in or near Prentice Street. William Causton, who died in 1633, says in his will that he lived in Prentice Street. This seems to relate to the Little Hall and the adjoining property in the corner of the Market Place and Prentice Street.

Descendants of the Caustons of Little Hall lived in various other properties in Lavenham. A house in Shilling Street was occupied by Mary Causton from 1728³ and in 1755 by John Causton, woolcomber, and his wife⁴. In 1731 Isaac Causton was admitted to 3 messuages in Potterland⁵ later occupied by Samuel Causton.

Francis Causton was admitted on the 12th of October 1700 to a stall in market place⁶. Isaac and Elizabeth Causton were admitted 2 March 1703 to 2 closes of land or pasture called Bramstons⁷ alias Scarletts containing 10 acres. In 1703 Isaac Causton and Elizabeth his wife were admitted to a building situated in Hall Yard⁸.

Later John Causton paid £20 a year to Ann Burch for a 'house, barn stable and all other outhouses with the orchard and yard and gardens in Church Street - the school house.

The last events involving the Causton family in the parish registers appear to be the burial of Girling Causton on 25 January 1791 and the baptism of Mary Causton, daughter of John Davies and Mary Causton on 14 July 1806. John Davis Causton was the author of 'Christian Sonnets (1817) and the 'The Day of Christ' (1842). In his early days he was the schoolmaster in Lavenham but by the time of his death he was an accountant in London.

Refs:

(1) Aulnage [cloth duty] Accounts PRO E101/343.5 quoted in "Lavenham - 700 years of Textile Making" by David Dymond and Alec Betterton.

(2) Babergh Hundred Muster Roll - Fol. 72 hB, Fol. 73b h, Fol. 71b BB, Fol. 71 n. and Fol. 72 n. Suffolk Institute of Archaeology volxxix part 2, 1963 and vol xxxpages 112-115

(3) Will of James Campbell of Lavenham 1728

(4) Lavenham Manor Court Roll 19 November 1755

(5) ibid 6 July 1732 (6) ibid 12 October 1700 (7) ibid 2 March 1703 (8) ibid 1 April 1703

John Davis Causton (1777-1843) aged 65, a self portrait .

Six Generations of Causton Printers in London

For six generations the members of one extended Causton family were partners and directors of companies in central London that make stationary, printed and published books, culminating in the large and for many years successful Sir Joseph Causton & Sons Ltd. This article examines the family origins and the connections between the partners and directors.

Two members of the family, Henry Kent Staple Causton and Richard Knight Causton MP adopted a coat of arms, shown below, granted to a Thomas Causton of Oxted, Surrey in 1700. The motto simply means 'seal of Causton'. Richard Knight Causton changed this to 'In Deo Spes'- in God hope. Although the right to bear these arms, which passes from eldest son to eldest son, may be in doubt it does strongly suggest that the printing family knew themselves to be descendants of Thomas Causton from Oxted. The Oxted Causton line has been traced back to the marriage of William Causton and Katherine Banister in about 1575. T is hoped that further research will establish the detail of the connection of the Oxted Causton family to the Causton printing family. A two page family tree of the Causton printers is at the end of this article.

The known family tree starts with Richard Causton of St Giles in the Fields who was probably baptized on 23 August 1696 at Saint Paul's, Covent Garden, Westminster son of Thomas Causton, goldsmith and Ann. Richard Causton first married Jane Kent, a sister of Henry Kent, printer, and the five children of a Richard and Jane were baptized at St Paul, Covent Garden. After Jane's death Richard married again in 1729 to Ann Leever, sister of Susannah, wife of Henry Kent. The Causton family clearly valued this double link to the Kent family as Kent appears as a middle name for the next two generations of Henry Causton's children.

Henry Kent was a printer and publisher in Finch Lane, London (near the Royal Exchange) between about 1732 and 1771. He was known best for his Directory for the City of London³. From 1750 he was the printer for the City of London. Richard Causton junior and Henry Causton were both by this time journeymen living with Henry Kent. They were apprenticed to Henry Kent in 1746 and 1756 respectively. The statute of Apprentices 1563 prevented anyone carrying out a trade without serving an apprenticeship (usually seven years or more). Such an apprenticeship at the usual age fourteen give us estimated birth dates for Richard and Henry of 1732 and 1742. Henry Kent, in his will of 1771 leaves the Causton brothers his printing utensils and materials and £500 each. He also expressed the wish that they set up as partners in a printing business. They are listed separately at 21 Finch Lane in a trade directory⁴ but some of the books they published seem to confirm a partnership was set as wished by their uncle.

Guild Membership

The guilds for many trades were legalised from 1180. Later on they brought royal charters which enabled them to become the livery companies. To carry on a trade in London you had to be a Liverymen of a trade guild and a freemen of the City of London. The printing trade was controlled by the Stationers company which was incorporated in 1555. However none of the Causton printers appear to have members or officials of this company, preferring to belong to the Skinners. The Skinners Company records¹⁰ relevant to the Causton family, which confirm some aspects of the family tree, are in table A. The picture on the left is the Skinners Hall in London.

The Early Causton Family Partnerships

The first companies were partnerships (listed in the table B). Richard Causton's son Richard had four sons, one of whom, Joseph Richard Causton, was apprenticed to his father in 1792. His involvement with the printing trade does not seem to have continued long. Richard Causton's other son Henry did continue with the printing trade until his death in 1806. Henry Causton's first son Henry Kent Causton and his son Henry Kent Staple Causton continued as partners of printing companies for two further generations until 1881. Although Henry Kent Staple Causton's son, Richard Townsend Causton was a printer and printers reader it appears to have been as an employee. The tradition of running printing companies was continued by Henry Kent Causton's brother Robert, a watch and clock maker in St Albans, whose son Joseph Knight Causton came back to London and was apprenticed to Henry Kent Staple Causton. It was this Joseph Causton who, starting from a partnership with Samuel Jones about 1837, and then in 1863 in partnership with his son Joseph, developed the printing company which was to become the large and well known Sir Joseph Causton & Sons Ltd. In 1867 the company was described as a wholesale stationer and printer in Bridge Ward with a large warehouse in Southwark Street.

Some Early Publications

Henry Kent Staple Causton was also an author and wrote 'The Rights of Heirship; or The Doctrine of Descents and Consanguinity as Applied by the Laws of England', published by Henry Kent Causton in 1849, 306 pages cloth bound. In 1862 he wrote 'The Howard Papers; with a Biographical Pedigree and Criticism', also cloth bound and costing 26 shillings. Other erudite publications in 1850 included 'Origines Patriciae, or a Deduction of the European Titles of Nobility and Dignified Offices (18s.), Medii Aevi Kalenarium; or Dates, Charters and Customs of the Middle Ages (32s.) both by R T Hampson and a facsimile of the Magna Carta (97s. 6d.).

Causton Directors in the Early Development of the Limited Company

Changes in company law enabled directors to avoid the unlimited liability of partnerships, and in 1869 Sir Joseph Causton and Sons Ltd. was established. Joseph Knight Causton was knighted 11 Dec 1869 at Windsor and died two years later on Saturday 27 May 1871 at his home at Champion Hill, Camberwell after a long and painful illness. He left £70,000 in his will.

Marcus Edward Causton, the fourth son of Sir Joseph Causton ceased to be a partner in the company in 1880. In June 1887 Thomas Micklem ceased to be a partner leaving Sir Joseph Causton's first three sons, Joseph Causton, Richard Knight Causton and James Albert Causton as partners¹⁴. James Albert Causton, joined after school and worked in the company for 50 years. He was managing director in 1912/13 when he died. Marcus Hildred Lynch Causton, son of Marcus Edward Causton, was appointed director in 1925²¹. The latest known Causton director of the company was Joseph William Francis Causton JP, an Ipswich resident¹⁵ and great grand son of Sir Joseph Causton. He resigned on 31 March 1963 after 21 years as a director and 13 years as managing director 'in view of increasing business commitments'. He is first mentioned as chairman in the 56th AGM report in the Times in 1952¹⁶.

Sir Joseph Causton cica 1870

Company and Employees in Court

On 12 January 1881 the company, then at 114 Southwark Street, Borough, London, were summoned under the Smoke Nuisances Act for using two furnaces in the factory not constructed so as to consume the smoke. In their defence it was stated that the furnaces had now been altered. The firm were fined £3 and £1 13s. 6d. costs¹¹.

An action in the Lord Mayor's Court on Saturday 6 February 1886 against the company by an apprentice who had prevented from completing the full term of his indenture as a printer. The company accused Christian Schroder of insubordination over a long period, reading penny periodicals during working hours, wilfully spoiling his work, insolent and unbecoming behaviour towards his superiors and breaking lithographic stones. He denied these charges and the court found for the plaintiff, awarding him £40 of damages¹³.

In 1924 Ada Gulliver, a secretary at the company, was prosecuted and sentenced to six months hard labour for stealing money from the farthing club carried out among the employees. She was a forewoman earning £ 3 15s a week. Just before Christmas auditors found only £198 15s. when there should have been £595 7s. 10d. It was stated that the shortfall was nearly £1 per share, which would mean the company had about 400 employees¹⁴.

The Later Years

Sir Joseph Causton and Sons Ltd, described as printers and stationery manufacturers, moved to a large new factory in Eastleigh, Hampshire in the 1930s although it retained an office in London. An extension of the Eastleigh premises was started and completed in 1962. Much more detailed information from the time of the opening of the Eastleigh factory is available in Hampshire Record Office²⁶.

From 1948 reports of the companies AGM appeared in the Times¹⁷. At this time the company was making healthy profits from the new Eastleigh factory and the London factory at Clapham. In 1953 the AGM report mentions the acquisition of Cockayne & Co. Ltd and lists the Causton Group of Companies :- Sir Joseph Causton & Sons Ltd, London and Eastleigh, printers; A & E Walter Ltd, London, printers; Whitehead Morris Ltd, London, printers, Cockayne & Co. Ltd, London, printers; Hodgetts Ltd, London, publishers; The Press Etching Co. Ltd, London, process engravers. The group had offices in Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leicester and the West Country.

In 1959 (28) trades union disputes caused six weeks of stoppages in all the factories. The company wished to restrict trade union recognition to the British Federation of Master Printers. The resolution is not recorded. In the same year the Southwark St. premises used by the company for 80 years, were sold.

There was a publishing company known as Cawston-Caxton (which published The Birth of a Dynasty by H Plunket Woodgate)

In 1959¹⁹ trades union disputes caused six weeks of stoppages in all the factories. The company wished to restrict trade union recognition to the British Federation of Master Printers. The resolution is not recorded. In the same year the Southwark St. premises used by the company for 80 years, were sold.

1964 saw a restructuring of the company after three years of less good profitability. Sir Joseph Causton & sons Ltd became a holding company with the production controlled by a subsidiary company, the Causton Press Ltd²⁰. There were a couple of unsuccessful take over bids by Tremletts and Highcastle in 1972 which valued the companies assets at about £3.5m²².

In 1975 and 1976 the company lost money and Smith St Aubyn (who by this time owned a controlling 54% of the shares) reduced its holding to 30%. A buy out of shares by Christopher Bland²⁴ saved the company for the time being but after an initial recovery profits flagged. Selling two loss making colour printing plants in 1983 (Sir Joseph Causton & Sons (Eastleigh) and Causton Repro) did not save it from a take over by Norton Opex in 1984²⁵. They in turn were involved in a hostile takeover in 1989 by Bowater when Sir Joseph Causton & Sons Ltd ceased trading. The Causton name survived only as Causton Envelopes Ltd which has its factory in Smith Close, Eastleigh and Causton Cartons, which is a subsidiary of the Bowater Group, manufacturing flat-pack cartons for the pharmaceutical industry.

References

(1) London Publishers and Printers by Philip Brown

(2) The London Book Trade 1775-1800 by Maxted

(3) Dictionary of Booksellers and Printers by Plumer

(4) The Dictionary of Printers by William Todd

(5) London Directory 1862

(6) London Directory 1869

(7) London directory 1870

(8) Johnstone's London Commercial Guide & Street Directory 1817

(9) Post Office Directory 1851

(10) Skinners Company records - Guild Hall

(11) Times 12 Jan 1881

(12) Times 29 Sep 1881

(13) Times 8 February 1886

(14) Times 29 June 1887

(15) Ipswich Who's Who 1959

(16) Times 18 Sep 1952

(17) Times 1948

(18) Times1956

(19) Times 1959

(20) Times 25 Sep 1964

(21) Times 19 Dec 1925

(22) Times 9 Nov 1972, 16 Nov 1972 and 15 Dec 1972

(23) Times 24 Jan 1973

(24) Times 18 Feb 1977, 17 Dec 1977

(25) Times 20 Dec 1984

(26) Hampshire Record Office - Collection 65 A00

A Link Between Caustons in Norfolk and Kent

The Heydons were Lord of the Manor at both Baconsthorpe, Norfolk and West Wickham, Kent. The following abstract of an article is interesting because of a known Causton presence in Baconsthorpe. An Andrew Causton was a Baconsthorpe resident in 1597¹ and the wills of John and Anthony Causton in 1558 and 1576² give Baconsthorpe as their residence. Robert Cawstone was church warden at West Wykham parish church in 1552³.

Article from Archealogica Cantiana :- Richard Heydon died a wealthy bachelor in 1553. Besides his activities as a private lawyer he had invested in land on his own account, having purchased the estates of Weybourne Abbey. He had eighty sheep grazing in Kent when he made his will, forty of which, twenty ewes and twenty wethers, he left to the farmer, Thomas Philipps, and another twenty ewes to the bailiff, Hugh Brickett. Five stone of his wool was stored at West Wickham, too. Old John Causton and his wife were given twenty shillings, and then to Anthony Causton was left Richard's "doblett of canvas" and ten shillings. Richard also had sheep in Norfolk, and barley and wheat growing on his nephew's land there. He had corn, too, growing on the lands of Weybourne Abbey, though he had sold this estate to his nephew six years before. Sir John's eldest son, Christopher, had died before his father, so it was to his grandson, also named Christopher, that the Heydon lands passed at Sir John's death in 1550. Sir Christopher was a genial and sociable man, of easy conscience with regard to the constant religions changes, and famed for his lavish hospitality. He was not an able administrator, however, and it would seem that he was trying, as one of the two deputy lieutenants of the county, to keep up appearances beyond his means. He kept a household of eighty servants at Baconsthorpe, [B.M. Lansdowne 67/3] and ran a coach with two 'grey-stoned' horses at a time when coaches were still a rare and expensive luxury⁴.

References:

1). Norfolk Subsidy Tax 1597.

2). Norfolk Record Society vol XXI -Norwich Consistory Court Wills.

3). Vol 14 p198 Archealogica Cantiana.

4). page 18 vol 78 Archealogica Cantiana.

Caustons in Literature

• From The Life of Johnson vol IV ed Hill & Powell 1934:

In a letter from Honourable John Byng to Mr Malone he mentions that he had had a long conversation with Cawston, who sat up with Dr Samuel Johnson from nine o'clock on Sunday evening till ten o'clock on Monday morning. Cawston describes Dr Johnson as perfectly composed and resigned to his death (Monday 20 December 1784). Cawston was apparently a servant of the Right Honourable William Windham.

• Arthur Conan Doyle's book 'The White Company' is a story set in the fourteenth century about a group of English mercenaries led by Sir Nigel Loving. Sir Richard Causton, described as one of the bravest knights in the army died fighting a combined French and Spanish army. It is not clear to what extent this book is based on true events.

Causton One-Name Study Web Site

This can be found at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.causton and has recently been expanded to provide much additional information.

Publication Date

Issue No. 6 was published in July 2006 and will probably be the last issue. Subsequent articles will appear on the web site.

ISSN 1473-3676

Table A - Caustons in the Skinners Company Records

Table B - Early Causton Printing Partnerships