Section Two
The Hastings-Needhams ( 1765-1895 )
On a breezy overcast Sunday in the January of 1992 I travelled to the north west Leicestershire village of Belton to see a grave. The previous day, my sister Marie had chanced upon a memorial, only a pace or two inside the churchyard gate and standing slightly to the left. The stone was erected to the memory of one Elizabeth Needham, who died in childbirth in 1802.
Elizabeth was the wife of George Needham ( son of Thomas Needham and his wife Sarah ) who was born at Lutterworth Leicestershire in 1765. It was probably in 1788, after the death of his grandmother, that he and his mother moved to Belton where his uncle Theophilus Hastings was vicar. No doubt he met Elizabeth in Belton, she being a local girl from the nearby village of Worthington. They married in 1797 and settled in Belton where their first child, Francis Hastings Needham, was born a year later. Soon after, their daughter Elizabeth was born but sadly she died in infancy in 1801. A year later, George's wife Elizabeth died giving birth to their third child. The child survived and was christened Sarah at Belton church on September 13th. Her mother was laid to rest the same day.
Francis Hastings Needham grew up in Belton. He worked as an agricultural labourer and at the age of 31, in the late autumn of 1829, he married Mary Roe of Osgathorpe. Soon after the marriage they moved to Shaw near Newbury in Berkshire where I believe their first child Theophilus Henry was born circa 1833, followed a year later by his brother James. It was probably in 1836 that the family returned to Leicestershire taking up residence in Osgathorpe where a third child arrived in 1839. He was named George and in 1841 their son Francis was born. Ten years later the family were living on Skinners Lane in Whitwick.
In Leicestershire at this time there was a strong revival of Roman Catholicism. The main champions of this cause were Ambrose Phillips and his wife Laura who provided funds for a school, dedicated to St Aloysius, to be built in the area known as Turry Log. The school, which opened on January 2nd 1843, was to serve the needs of catholic boys and girls from both Gracedieu and Whitwick. Francis Hastings Needham - who had been converted to the catholic faith by the Rosminian priest Father Luigi Gentilli - became a master of the school and his wife Mary the sewing mistress. The move to Whitwick must have been between 1842 and 1846, for it was in the latter year that their last child Arthur was born. Resident at Skinners lane on census night 1851 were four of Francis and Mary’s sons. James, then 16 years old earned a living as a Brick Clerk and his brother George worked as a farm servant. Of the two younger boys, 9 year old Francis is recorded as a scholar and Arthur was then only 5 years of age. Before to long the school at Turry Log needed expansion and at some point prior to 1863 an extension was added to the main building. This addition became known as Mr Needham's school and catered for infants.
In 1861, Francis and Mary were living at the schoolhouse with four of their sons. James then 26 worked as a bricklayer, George and young Francis were coalminers and the youngest boy Arthur was a pupil teacher at the school. This Arthur, in later years, ran the local Post office in Whitwick Market place. He married Frances Benniston in 1870 and had at least 6 children. Arthur was a teacher of music and organist for Holy Cross church. He appears to have taken an active role in the life of St Mary’s Agricultural Colony which was a nearby reformatory for delinquent boys. Mr Albert Robinson, in his book “ Holy Cross Whitwick a Brief History”, notes that “ The lads also had their own band which was formed by Mr Needham”. Arthur died on July 15th 1914
By 1863, it appears that Turry Log school was again in need of enlargement and in his report for that year the school inspector, MrJ.R.Morrell, suggested that failure to comply with the recommendation could result in exclusion from any further annual grant. Morrell does however commend the general standards at the school and in particular the competence of the juniors at needlework “ In the case of the juniors the needlework is unusually good “. A year later the grant to the school was indeed reduced however this was probably due to falling standards rather than the issue of building enlargement as the grant was restored the following year. By 1871, the question of the size of the building was once again raised by the inspector although work on the foundations for an extension had begun on August 30th 1870. The same report of 1871 notes that “ The infants are under the charge of an aged master who does not profess to teach them to add or subtract, nor even to write, but confines his efforts to teaching them to read. The master is evidently anxious to do his best with such indifferent help as is at his command he must have worked hard to achieve such success as he has “. Francis Hastings Needham’s career was coming to a close and in July 1871 he was informed that “ he would have to give up the charge of the infants “. He did not leave immediately for a governess had to be appointed and as the following extract from the report by J.Blakiston reveals he was still teaching as late as February 1872: “ At 2.20p.m. the registers of this school were not marked. They should have been closed at 2. The Master gave as his reason that he was engaged in the infant room. This room was entirely open to the main room and in charge of the same aged man whose mismanagement of the infants gravely imperilled the award of any grant last year and whose continuance in a charge for which he is obviously unfit is a serious hindrance to the welfare of the school “. Francis Hastings Needham was finally dismissed by Mrs De Lisle on March 1st 1872. He died a little over four years later on September10th 1876 and was buried three days later in the cemetery of the Holy Cross Chapel on Parsonwood Hill. After leaving the school Francis and Mary appear to have moved, with their two sons ( George and Francis- who remained single all their lives ) to Forest side.and here Mary died aged 76, on April 9th 1881, she was buried with her husband. Her sons, George and Francis eventually moved to Parsonwood Hill. George died in 1908 and Francis ten years later. Both are buried in the cemetery on Church Lane.
Theophilus Henry Hastings Needham the eldest son of Francis and Mary returned to Leicestershire a few years before his father's death. He had been working for some time as a bricklayer in London where he lodged at Trafalgar Place. On May 11th 1856 he married agirl from Hackney named Elizabeth Day at St Mathew's church Bethnal Green. By 1871 Henry and Elizabeth had produced seven children and, in the May of that year Elizabeth gave birth to an eighth Father Angelus van Pameal baptised the infant, whose name was Anna, at the Holy Cross Chapel. Sadly, ten months later, she died. Their eldest son George, and two of his brothers Anthony and Francis became bricklayers like their father. Mary, the eldest daughter, followed in her mother's footsteps earning a living as a seamstress and Agnus became an elastic weaver. The youngest member of the family was Theophilus born in 1874.
In 1871 the family were living on Loughborough road in Whitwick. By 1881 they had moved to Cademan St, and the 1891 census for Whitwick records Henry and his wife Elizabeth living in the Hockley. On census night three of their sons were at home, also staying that night was a six year old girl named Lizzie Baugh who was Henry and Elizabeth's granddaughter. Their daughter Agnus, who eight years earlier had married John Revell, a joiner from Quorn, lived with her own family in Brookside cottage, just a stones-throw away.
Theophilus Henry Hastings Needham died aged 62 on March 23rd 1895 and his body was interred in the cemetery of the Holy Cross chapel on Parsonwood Hill four days later.
The Revells & The Stones ( 1813 - 1961 )
Sarah Rawlings was born at Market Bosworth in the latter part of the 18th century. She may have been the daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Rawlings who married at Market Bosworth on July 5th 1787. In 1813 Sarah married widower Francis Revell, a Grazier, from Mancetter in Warwickshire. They had two sons. The eldest son, Francis, was born in 1818 and six years later, on December 23rd 1824, the Reverent B.Riching of Mancetter baptised their second son John.
John Revell became a groom and in time moved to St Martins in Leicester. In the spring of 1850 he married a twenty year old girl from Quorn by the name of Emma Ball and the couple moved in with Emma's parents John and Eliza Ball. Their first child, Sarah, was born soon after, followed two years later by their son Francis and in 1856 a second son, William, was born. In 1857 the family moved to Gracedieu, this was probably due to John securing a job as a groom at the manor there.
The manor of Gracedieu was a wedding present given to Ambrose March Phillips and his bride Laura Clifford on July 25th 1833. Ambrose had become a catholic in 1825 and it will be remembered that it was he who was largely responsible for the spread and success of the catholic revival in the area. On October 10th 1837, the chapel of the manor was consecrated by Bishop Walsh and on June 12th 1840, Father Luigi Gentili, the celebrated Rosminian missionary from Rome, arrived at Gracedieu as Chaplin. It is hardly surprising that John and Emma's fourth child, Elizabeth, was baptised into the catholic faith at Gracedieu on April 8th 1858. Three years later Father Hubert de Burgh baptised the Revell's third son. Like his father he was named John and the service was performed at Gracedieu chapel on July 2nd 1861. By 1868 the three elder children of John and Emma had also become catholic. The ranks of the church had also been swelled by the arrivals of Emma, born 1864; Helena in September 1866 and another baby girl who they named Ester in 1869.
In 1871 the Revells had a house on Gracedieu Rd Whitwick. John was still working at the manor and it seems his position had improved to that of coachman. His eldest daughter Sarah also worked at the manor in the capacity of housemaid, a position she had held since the early 1860's. It was probably in 1872 that the family returned to Quorn where they lived on Barrow St. In this same year Emma had another child who was given the name Fanny, and three years later Agnus was born.
John Revell remained employed at Gracedieu manor, possibly travelling to Quorn when his duties permitted, and Emma added to the family income by doing alterations and dressmaking. Just how long the family remained at Barrow St is uncertain, they were still there in 1881 but ten years later they were living on High St with Emma's father, then 82, and three of their children, William a 35 year old joiner; Fanny who was 19 and earned her living as a cook and domestic servant; and Agnus a 16 year old elastic weaver. John, the third son, and fifth child of John and Emma Revell had by this time been married for eight years and lived with his own family in Whitwick.
Holy Cross chapel on Parsonwood hill in Whitwick was consecrated in 1837 and remained the place of worship for local Catholics until 1906. It was demolished two years later and today little remains save one wall ( now almost completely overgrown ) and an ill kept graveyard. It was in this small church, in the spring of 1883, that the young John Revell, then not quite 22, married his 19 year old bride Eliza Agnus Needham. They set up home in a small cottage on Parsonwood hill overlooking the Hockley, where incidently, Eliza's parents Henry and Elizabeth Needham lived. Eliza was already pregnant, indeed a little over three months after the marriage she started labour. It was in her parents house that she gave birth to a son on July 2nd. Twenty seven days later this child was baptised ‘George Walter’ by the parish priest Father Angelus van Peamal.
On October 16th 1888 the Revells along with two other families, were given notice to vacate their homes by Mrs de Lisle. It seems three cottages were needed for conversion into a school which would be known as Holy Cross girls school. The work was carried out with great speed and the school opened in the January of the following year. The Revells new home was only a stones throw away, in fact just across the road in one of the Framework knitters cottages, so distinctive with there long windows. Their son Walter ( he was always known by his second name ) went to live with an Uncle on church lane at this time but the reasons for this are unknown. The family is recorded in the 1901 census as living on Parsonwood Hill but sometime after this date they moved again, this time to Brookside cottage in the Hockley, very close to the line of the Charnwood Forest railway which had opened in 1883.
John Revell was a joiner by trade and according to the 1901 census he was employed at that time by a colliery as a carpenter. This colliery was Snibston Colliery at Coalville. He was to continue in this employment until he was well into his seventies, indeed the colliery was to provide work for at least three of his five sons. Edward signed on in February 1911 as a bank boy and eventually became a shot-firer. Bernard known to all as Ramper rose to be a pit deputy and Walter worked there as a bricklayer. One story from John’s time at the colliery has come down through the years. It seems that on one occasion he was in his workshop and somehow he managed to set his clothes alight. He ran ablaze from the workshop and only the quick thinking of his son Bernard, who fortuitously was nearby, prevented serious injury by rolling John in a blanket.1
John Revell was perhaps something of an eccentric and in his later years he was rarely seen without his bowler hat. He was, it seems, a moody man with an annoying talent for being awkward. His wife Agnus on the other hand was a very likeable and pleasant woman who was often called upon by the local community to assist at a birth or to layout a person who had died.2 Agnus herself died aged 78 on March 3rd 1941 and was laid to rest in church lanecemetery Whitwick on March 6th. John outlived his wife by a decade. He died in the February of 1951 when the present writer was just six weeks old. He is buried with his wife.
Walter Revell was educated at St Aloysius school Turry Log where his great grandfather Francis Hastings Needham had taught. After elementary schooling He received an apprenticeship in bricklaying with the help of a local trust ( possibly the Thomas Monk charity set up in 1713 ).3
What sort of a lad was young Walter? Several stories have been passed down to us of which two might serve to illustrate his character. It appears that he got into more than his fair share of trouble and on one occasion he pushed fireworks through the letterbox of No 1 Parsonwood hill which was then occupied by the Bamkin family. Miss Emma Bamkin ( the aunt of Walter's future wife ) was so distressed that brandy had to be fetched. Another prank that could have had serious consequences also happened on Parsonwood hill. Walter and some of his pals were roaming about the hill, they wandered up to a cottage which was occupied at that time by the wood family ( this would be where No 10 stands today ). Bill Wood was in the yard making a coffin and for some reason he got inside perhaps to check it for size. The boys seized the opportunity to screw down the coffin lid. Happily Mr Woods cries for help were heard before he came to any harm.4
Walter Revell became a Bricklayer journeyman and, at the age of 26, on October 23rd 1909 he married Agnus May Stone at St Charles Roman Catholic church Aigburth road Liverpool. It may be appropriate at this point to delve a little into her history.
Agnus Stone, born on May 6th 1880 at Liverpool, was the third of seven children born to Bernard and Elizabeth Stone. Bernard John Stone a native of Derby was born at Alvaston in 1854. At the time of writing little is known of his early life except that his father's name was Enoch. Just how this man from Derby came to meet Elizabeth Bamkin, a girl born and bred in Whitwick, is not known but it appears that he was in the habit of cycling to Whitwick at weekends on a penny-farthing in order to see her.
Bernard married Elizabeth on February 14th 1876 in the then recently refurbished church of St John the Baptist at Whitwick. Very soon after, the couple moved to Liverpool where Bernard had secured a position as a printer and compositor with the Liverpool post Newspaper. Toxteth, especially the area opposite Sefton park was at that time a very desirable location and even today with its inevitable urban decay it is possible to imagine the area as it was in Victorian times. The 1891 census shows the family living in this area at 17 Alwyn Street, which was then newly built. Some time after the census was taken the Stones moved to 57 Belgrave Road just around the corner from the Alwyn street property. A few minutes walk from the house in Belgrave Rd, situated on a leafy lane, stands the small church of St Michael's in the Hamlet. Bernard Stone who was a gifted musician played the organ here.6 In 1994 whilst researching in Liverpool I walked the short distance from house to church and indeed little could have changed here over the years. It was pleasant to imagine Bernard, music scores under his arm, strolling down to the church and perhaps, on his return, enjoying a pint in the Belgrave pub.
The Stone’s first child, Bertha Agnus, was born on November 10th 1876 and their first son Samuel Ernest on March 10th 1878. Sadly the following year little Bertha died at Whitwick during a visit to Elizabeth's parents, she is buried close to the wall of St John's church. Elizabeth's simple entry in the family bible reads " Our dear little Bertie died 12th Feb 1879." The Stone's suffered more sadness in May 1883 when their second child died aged only five. Bernard and Elizabeth's five other children were all destined to reach maturity. Clara was born in 1881 a year after Agnes and Charles followed in 1883. A gap of four years separate Charles from his brother Ernest and the youngest boy Sidney arrived in 1889.
Agnus Stone began working for the Liverpool post newspaper and around the turn of the century she was sent, together with another young lady, to Worcester. The two girls lodged in the house of Henry Jackson, on London road. Agnes and her friend Harriet are both listed as being Type Distributors.It must have been on a visit to Whitwick and her grandparents Abraham and Hannah Bamkin that Agnus met Walter Revell. She became a convert to the catholic faith and after their marriage in Liverpool - which was it seems a lavish affair - they returned to Whitwick to start their life together in Church lane. During the early part of their marriage they moved house twice however they remained in Church lane. Their last house in the lane ( number 61 ) was near to the cemetery gates, not far from the Black Horse pub and here, in the February of 1911, their son Bernard John was born.
In 1905, the then newly built Holy Cross Church on Parsonwood hill replaced the old chapel which had become unsafe probably due to land-slipping. The Chapel was finally demolished in 1908. Bernard Revell was baptised in the new church by father Crowther. Shortly afterwards the family moved to 28 Cademan street, a new property belonging to the Underwood family.
In 1913 Agnus lost her brother Charles who tragically died of pneumonia in Glasgow. It appears that he and his wife Edith took a stroll in the park one Sunday evening to listen to the band play. Charles caught a chill, three days later he was dead.
On April 2nd 1916 Agnus was delivered of her second child Kathleen Mary who died eleven months later on March 14th 1917. 1917 also saw the passing of Agnus's father Bernard Stone, a shy, generous man, lover of music and an organist of some ability. He died on December 27th of throat cancer and was interred in the Toxteth cemetery on Smithdown Road. His American organ he bequeathed to his grandson Bernard Revell and this instrument remained for many years at 30 Parsonwood hill. Elizabeth his widow went to live with her daughter Clara who was at that time head postmistress at Garston.
Misfortune again struck the Revell's when on January 10th 1920 their second son Sidney died of pneumonia aged 13 months. Both Sidney and his sister Kathleen share the grave of their great grandparents Henry and Elizabeth Hastings Needam in the cemetery of the Holy Cross chapel on Parsonwood hill.
It is said that the end of the Great War in 1918 represents a watershed, the end of old ways and ideals if this is so then into this new era on September 18th 1921 Elizabeth Agnes the Revells fourth and last child was born. Elizabeth spent her early years at 28 Cademan Street, but the relationship between her mother and Mrs Underwood the landlady was not a good one. The Underwoods owned the local grocery shop and expected their tenants to only buy from them, if not they were threatened with eviction, a threat it seems that Agnus did not take lightly.13 In early 1928 Angus Revell and her daughter Elizabeth took a trip to Garston near Liverpool to visit Elizabeth's grandmother Elizabeth Stone and her auntie Clara affectionately known as Nan. Elizabeth remembers the start of the journey - " We left Coalville on the train. I could see Dad waving to us. He was at work close to the railway line. I wanted to go home but mum said we had to go". Whilst they were away Walter Revell approached the Griffin family then living at 30 Parsonwood Hill with a view to purchasing some land on which he could build a house. Mr Billy Griffin suggested to Walter that he buy number 30 instead of a parcel of land and Walter wrote to his wife in Liverpool for advice. Agnus consulted her sister Clara who not only advised buying but also loaned her twenty five pounds as a deposit. Agnus was so afraid of losing the money on the return journey to Whitwick that she pinned the notes to the inside of her corsets.
The transaction was completed in the summer of 1928. The house and grounds,comprising of a sizable strip between the house and the church where at some time a cherry orchard had been planted; a large garden at the rear of the premises with one of similar proportion at the front and a fair sized field beyond which was a Spinney mainly populated with Oak, Silver Birch and Hawthorn trees, cost 440 pounds. The Revells moved to their new home in the August of 1928. Their furniture being transported by a local carrier named Walter Chapman on his horse and dray for the sum of 9d. The family had a small holding, and kept chickens, ducks, pigs, goats and geese.
In 1929, Clara Stone died of a burst appendix. The Revells once again made the journey to Liverpool this time in order to attend Clara's funeral. Elizabeth Stone left the post office at Garston and stayed for a short time with her youngest son Sidney and his wife Alma before finally moving back to Whitwick to live with her eldest surviving child Agnus and her son in law Walter Revell at 30 Parsonwood hill. It was here that she passed away in 1937. On her deathbed she converted to Roman Catholicism and Canon H.A. Hunt gave her the last rites. Her body was transported to Liverpool where she was laid beside her Bernard in Smithdown road cemetery
In 1935 at the age of 14 Elizabeth Revell left Holy Cross school on Parsonwood Hill which she had attended since 1926 and took a job at Seals Elastic factory on Church Lane earning 7/6d a week. The foundation stone of this factory had been laid as early as 1910 though the building as it is known at the time of writing was not completed until 1922.
In the 1930's four commercial size greenhouses were constructed at 30, Parsonwood Hill. Two were built immediately behind the house and three more in the left corner of the field as you look from the house. The greenhouses were of brick, timber and glass construction and no doubt Walter Revell did most of the brickwork, his brother in law Arch Annabel did the timber and glass work. The materials were second hand, even so, the writer remembers being very impressed with these greenhouses in his youth. The purpose of the greenhouses was to grow tomatoes commercially an endeavour which Bernard Revell undertook just prior to the 2nd World War.
In 1939 Elizabeth Revell was made redundant from Seal's Elastic factory and instead of getting another job she devoted her time to helping her brother with his tomatoes, Bernard himself joined the army in 1940 and was posted to Larne in Northern Ireland. During his time in Ireland Bernard met a young man from Surry named Frederick Weston and the two men became firm friends.18 Throughout the war Frederick Weston made several trips to Whitwick with Bernard and in 1945 he married Bernard's sister Elizabeth. After the war Bernard worked with his brother in law Fred growing tomatoes until 1948 when Fred accepted a job offer at Snibston colliery where he worked as a bricklayer's labourer.
Agnus May Revell died in the front room of 30 Parsonwood Hill on Christmas eve 1956, the cause of death was pneumonia and cerebral haemorrhage and It was at about this time that Walter first manifested signs of the Parkinson's disease that slowly overtook him in his last years. The writer remembers him shuffling about, bent almost double and unable to control the sometimes violent shaking of his hands. On November 9th 1961 at 11p.m. he was rushed to Leicester City General hospital suffering from a burst ulcer. He died at 10.15a.m. the following day. The mortgage that he had taken out back in 1928 had still one payment outstanding and this was paid off by his children. I remember as a young boy walking behind my Grandfather Walter's coffin as the funeral procession made it's melancholy way through the gates of Church lane cemetery and on to the grave side. I remember that the freshly dug grave was shaded by a tree as they laid him to rest beside Agnus.
Bernard's tomato business which had always struggled to keep afloat finally sank in 1963/64 and on the suggestion of his brother in law he took a job as a groundsman with the Leicester County Council.20 Bernard's health had not been good for sometime and in 1965 he was admitted to Leicester Royal Infirmary where they diagnosed renal failure. After a short spell in hospital he was sent home to spend his last days with his family. He died on July 2nd, at 54 Cademan Street, and he is buried at Church Lane cemetery just a stone's throw from the place where he was born half a century earlier. Elizabeth and her husband Frederick Weston had a family of five children and this will be covered in more depth in a later chapter.
The Bamkins ( Mid 18th Century - 1909 )
The church of St John the Baptist Whitwick stands on a slope. The sandstone tower, dating from the 13th century, faces church lane and a footpath running past the main door leads down to the area known as the Hockley. Since its opening in 1883, the quiet here would be periodically disturbed by the passage of trains travelling along the Charnwood Forest Railway Line, however, the line closed in the 1960's and the track was taken up providing a pleasant walkway. The old Whitwick station literally a stones throw from the church is now appropriately enough the headquarters of the Whitwick historical group and close by is the mound where Whitwick castle once stood. The graveyard has been grassed over and sadly, in the way of so many of our old churchyards these days, the gravestones have been moved and placed around the edges. In the centre stands a memorial to the fallen of the two world wars. A stream trickles by, flanked on one side by Horse Chestnut trees of considerable height, then finally disappears under the road. Strolling through this churchyard on an autumn day in 1990 I chanced upon a headstone dedicated to the memory of John Bamkin who's epitaph persuaded me to look more closely into the history of this particular branch of my family.
The John Bamkin commemorated in the graveyard of St John's was the son of John Bamkin and Mary Griffin who married at St John's in the spring of 1774. The Bamkins may well have lived on the edge of the village where later the city of Dan was built. Little is known regarding the family though it is believed that John came from nearby Rothley. John Bamkin is recorded in the poor law rate book (1826) as follows- "John Bamkin-house, shop, barn and garden - small allotment on forest -3s-10d -owner.". Thirty three years after their marriage, on December 30th 1807, and in the same church, another of their sons, Joseph, then 21 years old, married Elizabeth Jesson a local girl two years his junior. Joseph earned a living as a framework knitter, indeed at the time that particular cottage industry was expanding rapidly and therefore able to absorb much of the otherwise unwanted labour released from the land due to enclosure and new farming methods. Elizabeth was pregnant at the time of the marriage and in early 1808 she gave birth to a girl whom they named Sarah. Two years later another baby girl, Harriot, was added to the family and both girls were baptised at St John's on June 24th 1810. In 1815 the battle of Waterloo brought to an end the long war with France but that date also marked the start of one of the grimmest periods in British history. In Whitwick much distress was caused when the framework knitting industry went into recession. There was uncertainty and discontentment due to the great changes taking place in agriculture and industry. For some it was a period of grinding poverty and not until the 1820's did things begin to improve albeit slowly. It was during these unsettled times that Joseph and Elizabeth raised their large family. Between the years 1813 and 1827 they had six more children all of whom were baptised at St John's. In 1841 the Bamkins were living in Loughborough Rd Whitwick. Joseph now 55 still earned his living by framework knitting but by this time the industry was very much in decline, even so in 1844 there were still 423 frames operating in the village.
Between the 1841 census and that taken ten years later the Bamkins moved to No 1 Parsonwood hill. Joseph, no doubt realising that framework knitting had no future, set up as a grocer and later a baker however his 24 year old son Abraham, the only one of his children then living at home, continued to work his frame. The fact that the number of frames in operation in the village almost halved in the seven years between 1844 and 1851 is an indication of the poor state of the industry.
Circa 1853 Abraham married Hannah Haywood a girl from Isley Walton near Castle Donnington. She was the daughter of William Haywood an agricultural labourer and his wife Elizabeth. In 1841 when Hannah was 12 the Haywoods lived at the toll gate Isley Walton. It is probable that Hannah became a convert to the catholic faith at some time in the 1840's and the most likely venue for her marriage to Abraham is the catholic church on Pick St in Shepshed. The couple moved in with Abraham's parents on Parsonwood hill and it was here that their daughter Elizabeth ( my Great Grandmother ) was born on February 13th 1854. The little girl was baptised on April 28th at St John's which had incidently undergone considerable refurbishment in 1848/49.
Abraham and Hannah had four daughters, Bertha was born in 1856, Emma three years later and Alice in 1863. Elizabeth and Alice were brought up in the church of England but Bertha and Emma were raised as Catholics. What sort of education did the girls receive? They may have attended the national school built in Whitwick market place in 1858, for, although it was not compulsory to send children under 10 years of age to school until 1880, many parents would send their children to school when they could afford the fees. Many senior pupils became pupil teachers and this may be what happened to Elizabeth. Elizabeth taught at the national school until her marriage to Bernard John Stone on February 14th 1876.
Bertha Bamkin married George (tinman) Benson who kept a lodging house on Pare's hill called the Irish yard. George appears to have also kept the Beaumont Arms in Whitwick Market Place for a time. He is listed there in the census for 1881 with his wife Bertha, son Thomas and daughter Flora. Also recorded as living there on census night was a 16 year old girl named Lucy who was a servant. George Benson was reputedly a rather unpleasant man who did not treat his wife too well however this information was reported to the writer by Mrs E Weston who heard it from her mother, a niece of Bertha, and so somewhat subjective. George’s father, Thomas Benson, had made a will on 27/09/1881 which was proved at Leicester on 16/01/1882. In it he left his wife £75.00 and to his son George he bequeathed his gold watch and his business together with all tools etc. The rest of his estate he entrusted to his two friends William Bernard Beckworth of Coalville, a licensed victualler and John Stott the Younger of Ashby de la Zouch, a watchmaker on the understanding that they pay the income from the estate to his wife for the duration of her lifetime. After her death he directs that they realise the assets of the estate, pay any debts and the residue to be paid in equal shares to his son George and daughter Theresa. The estate was assessed to be worth a Gross value of £406.14s.0d
Bertha seems to have had a hard life and she died in middle age on Christmas day 1893. George re-married and lived on until 1907. His estate was disposed of thus: Be it known that George Benson of Pares Hill Whitwick in the county of Leicester, tinned plate worker who at the time of his death had a fixed place of abode at Pares Hill Whitwick, the aforesaid within the district of Leicester died on the fourth day of February 1907 at Pares Hill. The estate was granted by Leicester court to Johanna Bridget Benson of Pares Hill, widow, the relict of the said deceased, the sole executrix. Proved 26/04/1907. Gross value of the estate £1024.14s.0d. Net value of personal estate £ 21.6s.1d.
Alice Bamkin married a man named Harry Haywood. She had a daughter and the child was named Eve. But sadly Alice also died at a relatively early age.
Joseph Bamkin died on July 5th 1866 and was buried at St John's on July 8th. His widow lived on into her eighties and the burden of caring for her fell squarely onto Hannah's shoulders. Abraham, still working his frame would have provided a poor living at this time and Hannah had to take in washing. Abraham was an idle and cantankerous man and Hannah could have had few pleasures in life. She did however enjoy the odd tipple at the Railway Inn on South St, where of an evening, her granddaughter's future husband George Walter Revell and his pals would often buy her several measures of brandy. These she accumulated in a bottle to be imbibed later at her ease
The 1901 census records Abraham, Hannah and their daughter Emma still living on Parsonwood Hill. Abraham is listed as an engine driver for a hosiery factory but he was now 72 years of age and he probably died soon after the census was taken. After Abraham's death, Hannah remained at Parsonwood hill where she lived with her spinster daughter Emma until Emma's death on January 22nd 1908 Thirteen months later on February 8th 1909 Hannah herself passed away. She was buried according to the rites of the catholic faith in Church lane cemetery Whitwick
The Westons (1876 - 1951)
Towards the end of her life my paternal grandmother, Annie Maud Weston, came to live with us at Whitwick and so, as a teenage boy, I had, if only I had realised, a living link with a different age. She was born at Kingston upon Thames during the reign of Queen Victoria. Mr Gladstone was enjoying his second term of office as prime minister and General Gordon would soon be involved in that epic struggle in the Sudan, which culminated with his death at Khartoum. Her teenage years were spent in early Edwardian Surbiton and she was a mature woman of thirty one at the outbreak of the Great War. With her death in 1963 all her first hand knowledge of life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was consigned to a Leicestershire cemetery.
Annie was the daughter of Charles and Eliza Craig. Charles Craig was a lithographic printer and the family lived in Canbury Place Kingston. It was here on January 11th 1883 that Annie, the youngest of the eight Craig children, was born. Charles Craig himself was born some forty years earlier at Bunhill fields London. On September 11th 1862 he married Eliza Almond Tyrrell at St Thomas's church Finsbury. Eliza was twenty years old and she came from Beccles in Suffolk. Both Charles and his bride were resident at Featherstone St Bunhill fields at the time of their marriage. At some point between 1862 and 1870 the Craigs moved to Hatton a small village that nowadays lies on the periphery of London's busy Heathrow airport. Here at least five of their children were born. Circa 1880 the family moved to Kingston where in 1881 Eliza gave birth to their son John.
As yet I have found little information concerning the early years of Annie Maud Craig, however at the turn of the century she was working at 11 Thames St, in the capacity of a housemaid at the house of one William Dempsey. Mr Dempsey was a Draper and employed seven other people. In later years Annie found employment at 10 Lovelace Rd Surbiton, as a domestic servant. At this time many middle class families were able to afford a “maid of all work” which is probably what Annie was. Household chores were very time consuming. Washday for example was particularly arduous and was really a day and an evening. The wash had to be pre-soaked in a soda crystal solution the night before. On washday proper the copper was lit and the water heated very early in the morning. The clothes were put in, perhaps with soap flakes which were just becoming popular. The wash was manually agitated with a tool known as a dolly peg. Stubborn stains could only be removed by using a washboard and scrubbing. Much of the water in the clothes was removed using a mangle manually turned of course. In the household where Annie Craig worked she could probably expect a salary of around twenty pounds a year.
Some six years before Annie's birth, across the Thames in Middlesex, her future husband Thomas Frederick George Weston was born on December 29th 1876 at High St Hampton Wick. His father, William Weston was a baker and confectioner and it seems quite wealthy. His mother Sarah - known to all in later years as Aunt Polly, had several husband during the course of her life. William Weston probably died soon after Thomas’s birth as the 1881 census records the family as residing in High Street Hampton Wick, however the head of the household is now one Robert Read, a sailmaker from Paddington and Sarah is recorded as his wife.
The first twenty five years of Thomas’s life are sketchy to say the least but the 1901 census opens a small window by recording him on census night as being part of a three man crew aboard a steam barge on the river Thames at Streatley. Thomas earned his living as a Lighterman , plying his trade along the Thames navigation. Interestingly, the census for that year records Thomas’s elder brother, Henry staying at 28 Shortland Street Kingston upon Thames in the house of Charles Craig,
Thomas Weston and Annie Craig married at Kingston registry office on February 3rd 1915. Both gave their address as 10 Lovelace Rd Surbiton where as stated above Annie was in service. The Weston and Craig families were however already connected by marriage. Thomas's eldest brother, William Weston, was the husband of Annie's elder sister Eliza and Arthur Craig their brother was himself married to Elizabeth Burrows a half sister of Thomas and William Weston. To complicate matters further William Weston appears to have been one for the ladies and family tradition asserts that he had an affair with his wife's sister in law Rose, the wife of Jack Craig. There is even a suggestion of impropriety between William and Annie Craig but I have found little to support this.
On July 28th 1916 Thomas Weston enlisted with the Durham Light Infantry. He appears to have been earning a living just prior to enlistment as a postman. During the Great War he served as a private with the 2nd/5th Battalion T.F. On November the 4th 1916 he set sail on the Monas Queen bound for Le Harve, from where his battalion were transported by train to the southerly port of Marseilles. Thomas embarked from the port on 10th November and five days later arrived at Salonica ( now called Thessalonica ) Greece. Thomas and his battalion found themselves in a backwater of the war. Indeed the 28th Division to which the battalion was attached became known as the Forgotten Division. The battalion war diary records that they passed there days doing routine garrison duties, repairing defences or going on the odd patrol. In September 1918, XVI Corps of which the 28th Division was a part did engage the enemy at the battle of Dojran however Thomas’s battalion played little or no part in the action. A far greater threat than enemy fire was illness and Thomas seems to have fallen prey to maleria during his time in Northern Greece. He embarked for England on May the 3rd 1919 and was demobilised at Crystal Palace 0n the 20th of May.
After demobilisation Thomas went to Kingston where his wife had taken rooms at 8 Bloomfield Rd and it was here that their only child Frederick was born on March 7th 1920. Some years later the family moved to a cottage near Grindley and Mishkin's timber yard, which was situated, on the eastern approach to Kingston Bridge. Unfortunately the cottage burned to the ground when the timber yard caught fire and this forced them to move yet again this time to 12 Coombe Rd where they lived for a time in rooms above the fish and chip shop. The fish and chip shop has long since gone and at the time of writing the space it once occupied is taken up by a car showroom. What was to be Thomas's final home was comprised of rooms at 33 Portland Rd. Young Frederick attended St Johns school which was and indeed still is at the corner of Portland Rd and Denmark Rd less than a minute's walk from his home. Frederick's education was completed at St Luke’ and All Saints schools.
In 1932, at the age of twelve, Frederick Weston began working in the evenings and weekends at Mr Jones photographic studio in Surbiton. His duties included cleaning windows, polishing brass fittings and at weekends he delivered portraits to Mr Jones's customers. For his efforts he was paid two shillings and sixpence but, as he was later to recall to the writer, on Saturdays there was an added incentive, the use of the firms bicycle.
In 1934, Thomas Weston died at 33 Portland Rd. He had suffered for the previous two years and it seems he was bedridden for several months prior to his death. Thomas was buried in Kingston in the large cemetery on Bonner hill Rd. Now Fred became the main breadwinner. He left school and secured a job at the Kingston branch of International stores earning ten shillings a week. After a year his wages increased to fifteen shillings with a further rise of five shillings the following year. His mother Annie helped by cleaning in the locality. Mother and son now moved to rooms at 8 Alfred Rd and in 1937, Fred left International stores to take a job at Twickenham - landscape gardening for an Italian gentleman by the name of Gamba. This work lasted for about a year after which he obtained employment at Swains off license New Malden delivering goods on a tricycle for a salary of two pounds and ten shilling per week. His stay at Swains would be short lived, for the political storm clouds, that had been gathering over Europe throughout 1930's, were soon about to break.
On September 3rd 1939, following an attack on Poland two days earlier by German armed forces, Britain and France declared war on Germany. A little over seven months later, on April 14th 1940, Frederick Weston joined the Royal Ulster Rifles and was posted to Northern Ireland via Preston barracks. He could not have known that this break with home would be a permanent one. Frederick was stationed in Armagh and saw a good deal of Northern Ireland. One day, whilst having a meal in a church hall in Ballymena county Antrim, he engaged a young soldier in conversation. They had a mutual interest in gardening and the two men got on very well. Unfortunately they had no opportunity to pursue their friendship, as Fred had to return to Armagh. His companion, who was stationed at Larne, was a twenty nine year old Leicestershire man. Bernard Revell was missing his home at Whitwick. He longed for the time when he could return to his family and the greenhouses in which he grew tomatoes commercially, little did either men realise that they would soon make the trip together.
Early in 1941 Fred was transferred to Cromer on the east coast of England, however his stay there was short lived and very soon he found himself posted to Buxton in Derbyshire. In Buxton he once again ran into Bernard Revell who coincidently had also been transferred there. Bernard wrote home to Whitwick telling his family about the new friend he had made and informing them of his intention to bring the young man to Whitwick on their next leave.
Frederick's first impressions of the Revells were a good one. He liked Bernard's parents very much and they in their turn took to their son's friend from the start. He also made a favourable impression on Bernard's sister Betty. Bernard owned a bicycle and was able to borrow another for Fred; on these the two men cycled the not inconsiderable distance back to camp. The bicycles were used on several subsequent visits during which Fred and Betty became good friends. They began to write frequently to each other and when he was in Whitwick they would often go for walks or an occasional visit to the cinema.
It was probably in 1943 that both Frederick and Bernard were posted to Bognor. When the situation allowed Frederick would visit his mother in Kingston often taking Bernard with him. After one such visit Frederick wrote to Betty Revell telling her of his engagement to a young woman named Dolly and although Betty had no claim on his affections she became very angry and refused to reply to his letters. After several months Bernard wrote to his sister informing her that his friend had now broken off the engagement and soon the letters began to flow again.
It was almost eighteen months before either of the two men were able to visit Whitwick again. During that time they were posted to Stranraer and the 101st beach-landing group. A little over a week before Christmas 1943 the two men were transferred to the Royal Engineers and posted to Longmoor near Liss in Hampshire. Frederick was given a job doing clerical work and Bernard joined the training for the allied invasion of occupied Normandy - the so-called “second front". Frederick requested a transfer to more active service but this was refused and so when on June 6th 1944 the invasion was finally launched he remained at Liss whilst Bernard went to France and later Belgium.
In May 1945 the war in Europe ended but Japan remained undefeated and now it seemed at last Frederick's turn to be sent overseas had come. He and Betty had talked of marriage on his more recent visits to Whitwick and now that he was going abroad he wrote to Betty who replied saying that they should marry on his embarkation leave. The marriage took place on July 14th 1945 at the Holy Cross church Whitwick. Betty's brother Bernard, who had managed to get some leave, acted as best man. Frederick made the trip to Kingston in order to collect his mother who had never met her future daughter in law. The couple had only one short week together before Fred's return to Hampshire, from where, he was sent to board ship at Liverpool. As things turned out the ship never sailed because the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and a few days later Nagasaki brought the war to an abrupt end. One month to the day after his marriage he found himself, once again, on route for Whitwick where he stayed until August 21st before returning to Liss. It was some time before Frederick was demobilised but eventually he received the welcome news and he, together with his comrades, held a party in the mess. Frederick recalled - in conversation with the writer - that he became very drunk, so drunk in fact that he had to be carried on parade next morning by two of his mates. He was still drunk when he boarded the train at Longmoor for Liss and it seems just as bad when he was pushed onto the train bound for York. He had however sobered up by the time he reached the infantry barracks at York where he was issued civilian clothes, a rail pass and just over seven shillings, the balance of his pay still owed him by the army. Frederick took a train south arriving at Coalville on June 7th 1946. He was officially discharged from the army and transferred to the army reserve on August 3rd.
By the June of 1946 Frederick and Betty had been married eleven months however during that time they had spent only ten weeks together, now they could begin married life properly. They set up home at 30 Parsonwood hill; Betty's parents allowing them the use of the smaller of the downstairs rooms. Betty took a part time job at a maternity home on London Rd in Coalville working fifteen hours a week she also earned a little extra money making doll's dresses at home. Since demobilisation Frederick had worked with his brother in law growing tomatoes. It was hard work for little reward and they struggled to pay their way. In 1950 Freddie Smalley a local man injected some capital into the business but by this time Frederick had already found other employment.
Betty and Fred's first child; Thomas Paul, was delivered by Dr Horner, the family physician, on June 4th 1947 in their room at 30 Parsonwood hill. The arrival of a baby can only have added to their financial difficulties and so, acting on the advise of his father in law, Frederick applied for the job of bricklayers labourer at Snibston colliery on Ashby Rd in Coalville. His application was successful and the job paid twelve pounds a week, a sum which must have seemed enormous when compared with what he had earned growing tomatoes.
The first week of January 1951 was bitterly cold. Betty was pregnant with her second child and both she and her husband were laid low with influenza. The child was expected on January 6th however, that date came and went without event. Four days later Betty was still ill, in fact she spent most of the day in bed. At ten o' clock in the evening she started labour and Frederick cycled to Leicester Rd to fetch the nurse. Doctor Horner arrived at ten fifteen and five minutes later on that very cold Wednesday night the present writer was born.