Celebrating 12 years of the blog!

So, a couple of days ago saw the 12th anniversary of the beginning of this blog! In previous years, I’ve invited people to write a post related to some of Loughborough’s history, to be hosted on the blog, but this year I thought I’d write a series of posts myself, a couple before the actual anniversary day, and a couple afterwards. However, I’ve missed both the before and the on the day opportunity, and I’m only here today because I couldn’t let the occasion go by without some kind of post!

I am rather staggered that the viewing figures for the blog are now nearing one million! It had never occurred to me that my ramblings about our lovely town would ever have much longevity, and the idea that the blog has been read so many times is, well as I said, simply staggering. As I write this post, views are 988,086, and this year (August 2024 - August 2025) alone there have been over 270,000 views!

The past year has flown by, too, and I have been kept busy, not only with the blog, but with lots of volunteering activities, attending heritage events and meetings, giving presentations, and leading guided walks. Oh, and a new book coming out in late September!

I have a bit of a penchant for sharing stories of people, some well-known, others less so, but I see this year I’ve reined that in a bit and kept it down to five posts [1]! Unless you count the others, like Robert Bakewell anniversary post [2]; a couple of posts about the Coltman family and Burleigh Hall [3], and three posts about Shelthorpe House and the people who used to live there [4].

With the 100th anniversary of the exhibition in Paris that led to the naming of the Art Deco movement and the April A-Z blogging challenge coming along at the same time, I wrote 26 posts related to Art Deco, which took up almost the whole of April! A full list of these articles was posted around the beginning of May. [5]

In September 2024 I presented quite a number of posts related to the Heritage Open Days events which were taking place as part of Loughborough’s contribution to this programme. Many heritage-related places took part and were open during the final weekend of the Open Days, and overall lots of visitors came and enjoyed their visit.

The Hope Bell and the beacon in Queen's Park

I try very hard to keep up with what’s going on in our town, but have really struggled this year! I presented the customary review of buildings that had been demolished, or disappeared during the previous calendar year [6], and managed to cover things like the installation of the Hope Bell (although I was away for the opening ceremony) [7], the re-dedication of the gates of the parish church [8], the parish church Christmas Tree Festival [9], an exhibition of research into Nanpantan [10], and a celebration of 120 years of our beautiful public library [11].

Other than to keep on blogging, I have no firm plans for the blog into its thirteenth year, but I know I still have a few series to finish for you, which includes Goadby’s History of Loughborough, a whole load of Agatha Christie connections to Loughborough, and maybe some connections I discovered on a recent trip to London.

In the meantime, you might spot me out and about leading guided walks, especially during this year’s Heritage Open Days, when I will be extending beyond the weekend of 20-21 September, and walking beyond the confines of the town centre streets!

Thank you for reading the blog!    

 

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NOTES

[1] A.E. King pt 1, and A.E. King pt 2; 

Thomas Barker; William Thomas Cartwright; John Thomas Judges

[2] Robert Bakewell 

[3] Coltmans and Burleigh Hall pt 1, and pt 2

[4] Shelthorpe House the early years; the middle years, and the final years

[5] The full list of Art Deco A-Z posts

[6] Changes pt 1, and Changes pt 2, and Ones to Watch out for in 2025!

[7] Hope Bell installation

[8] Re-dedication of the parish church gates

[9] Christmas Tree Festival

[10] Nanpantan exhibition

[11] 120 years of the public library

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Celebrating 12 years of the blog! Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/08/celebrating-12-years-of-blog.html  [Accessed 6 August 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

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By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

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Carillon recitals

There’s been lots happening in Loughborough lately, but sadly, I seem to have missed quite a lot of it!

So, although I was invited to the ceremony to hear the first sounding of the Hope Bell, I wasn’t able to attend. Of course, I’ve been taking photos for a while now, so I’ve probably got enough over a period of time to write a decent account of the bell from start to finish.

I almost missed the demolition of the Herbert Morris factory on Empress Road, but just managed to catch the tail end of it. Again, I’ve taken plenty of photos over the past couple of years, so I’ll post them in a blog sometime.

What else did I miss? Oh yes, the opening of the new exhibition at the Old Rectory, which showcases the work done by the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society, and in particular Brian Williams, in uncovering the building which you see today, trying to understand it, and trying to present it to the public. Oh, and I missed the art exhibition down at the parish church, when, amongst other things, they had a VR flythrough high up in the ceiling! And I missed the Old Rectory Community Day!

As if that weren’t enough, although I heard the Carillon playing yesterday, and I knew it was Saturday, it wasn’t until this morning that I realised yesterday was the anniversary of the opening of the Carillon – in 1923! It’s always lovely to hear the Carillon being played – and played so well!!

I must admit, sadly I didn’t linger long enough to take in what the carillonneur was playing, but I have recently come across the programme for a recital, which was performed by Eric Jordan (I’ve previously written about him on this blog), on Saturday April 12th, 1924, at 5.30 in the afternoon.

The programme was billed as being “Toll for the brave that are no more.” and included

1. Softly awakes my heart, by Saint Saens

2. i. Smilin’ through, by A. W. Penn and ii. Love sends a little gift roses, by Openshaw

3. Andante, by Couperin

4. March van Hartopp, by Degruytter (18th century)

5. Le cygnet (The Swan), by Saint Saens

6. Tempo di Gavotta, by Fesch

7. i. Come back to Erin, ii. Blue bells of Scotland, and iii. Drink to me only with thine eye

8. Berceuse de Jocelyn, by Godard

9. Song without words no.9, by Mendelssohn

Such a worthy concert could not be concluded without a rendition of God Save The King.

Interestingly, there were to be recitals throughout the Easter period, which were given by M. Robert Dierick, who was the Carillonneur in the city of Ghent, in Belgium.   

 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). [Post title]. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/07/carillon-recitals.html  [Accessed 27 July 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

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If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Seeing the Old Rectory in a new light

I recently stopped off down at the Old Rectory and had a good look round. I’ve talked about this in a previous post, but here’s what I saw this time:

 

 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Seeing the Old Rectory in a new light. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/07/seeing-old-rectory-in-new-light.html [Accessed 23 July 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

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You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

So Who Was John Thomas Judges

Last week on the blog we celebrated 120 years since the opening of the Carnegie Library on Granby Street. In the report of the opening ceremony, there was mention of several people with a connection to the town, and to the library, so I thought this week I would tell you a little about one of those people - John Thomas Judges.

Posted with kind permission of LCC, granted Sept 2024

John Thomas Judges was born in 1848, and baptised at Boughton-under-Blean in Kent, on 14 January 1849. His parents were John, a bricklayer, born at Boughton-under-Blean, near Faversham in Kent, and Mary (née Fox), born at Harbledown, near Canterbury, but only about 5 miles from Boughton-under-Blean. The couple had already had three other children before John Thomas was born – William baptised on 22 August 1841, Catherine (sometimes recorded as Caroline) baptised 5 March 1843, and Rachel Mary born c.1847. At least two further children followed, in 1851 and 1852, but sadly, both died in infancy.

John Thomas attended the District National School and Wreight’s School, both in Faversham, and later became a pupil teacher in the local schools. In 1870 he qualified as a teacher, and became head teacher at the River Board School, in Kearsney, Kent, which when it was first established was in a small wooden building near the railway station. On 20 September 1873, John Thomas married Caroline Eleanor Swoffer of Faversham, at the church of St Peter and St Paul in Boughton-under-Blean, and sometime after their marriage the couple made their home in Quorn, where daughter Kate Swoffer Judges was baptised on 17 August 1876, and Caroline Mary Swoffer was baptised at All Saints church in Loughborough on 22 July 1879, after her father had taken up the head teacher post at the Lancastrian School on Church Gate.

From 1880 onwards, John Thomas was listed in various directories as being the school master at the Burton Endowed School situated at 43 ½ Church Gate. John’s parents were still living in Boughton-under-Blean, which is where his mother died in 1884. 

In December 1886, at a meeting to discuss the formation of a cricket club, John was elected to the committee, along with, amongst others, John Paget, Alfred Adolphus Bumpus. In 1891, John, still listed on the census return as a certified teacher, and Caroline, now aged 42 and 40, were living at 43b Church Gate with daughters Kate aged 14, and Caroline aged 12, who were both attending school. However, a trade directory of 1895 lists John as an insurance agent on Church Gate, although he continued to teach at the school until 1909.

On 4 October 1899, John, a retired builder, who was the father of John Thomas, died in Boughton-under-Blean. John Thomas and Caroline were still living on Church Gate in 1901, but Caroline was at the Training College for Mistresses at Cheltenham, and Kate was possibly in St Andrews, training to be a teacher, although by 1904 she was an Assistant Mistress at the Wallingford Grammar School. Sadly, in June 1905, Caroline Judges died, and following a period of failing health, John Thomas also died on 28 September 1909. Probate was granted on 12 January 1910 to spinster daughters, Kate and Caroline who at the time were living at 68 Frederick Street, Loughborough. His effects amounted to £1,985 1s. 5d.

During his lifetime, John Thomas had thrown himself into the life of the town. He had been chair of the trustees of the John Storer Charity; he was a director of the Loughborough Building Society for many years; he was a founding member and secretary for many years of the Loughborough Club; he served on the Town Council until the passing of the Education Act of 1902; he was on the Free Library Committee, and many other town charities.

After his death, a memorial tablet made of brass was created and unveiled at the Church Gate School, by Councillor Benjamin Braybrooke Barrow, who was chair of the Education Committee at the time. The tablet was inscribed:

 “John Thomas Judges, for 30 years headmaster of this school. Died December 28, 1909. This tablet is erected as a mark of affection by the past and present masters and scholars.”  - Melton Mowbray Mercury and Oakham and Uppingham News 12 May 191.

Barrow said of Judges:

“he was eminently accurate in all he did; an enemy to slovenliness in dress, manner of speech, whilst a marked characteristic was his politeness.” - Leicester Evening Mail, 7 May 1910

Mr Leon Morley, superintendent of the Parish Church Sunday School, who had been a pupil at the school, said of Judges:

“[pupils] knew of his wonderfully methodical habits, how he left nothing to chance”.

Kate, his daughter, was unable to attend the unveiling ceremony, but she instigated the John Thomas Judges Memorial Prize for the boy who had shown himself to have been the most public-spirited during each year for five years. Daughter Caroline, who was head teacher at the Warner School, was able to attend, and she presented a framed photograph of her father to the school.

Both daughters followed in the footsteps of their teacher father, although upon her marriage to John Ernest Theophilus Chapman, a 58-year-old widower, at Marylebone Church in 1913, and the birth of their daughter, Barbara on 8 February the following year, Kate gave up her teaching career. Although Kate’s husband died in 1921, it is unlikely that she re-entered the teaching profession. 

Caroline, however, did not marry, and in 1921 she was the headmistress of St Clements Church of England elementary school for girls in York. By 1939, Caroline had retired from her head teacher role, and was living at 14b High Street, Brighton, aged 79. By 1939, Kate was now widowed and was living at 21d Nevern Road, Kensington, London, with daughter Barbara, who had married Mostyn Cohen.

Kate Swoffer Chapman (nee Judges) died at Rayland Nursing Home, 54 Marine Parade, Brighton. Probate was granted on 4 March 1952 to Westminster Bank Ltd. and Barbara Joan Cohen (her daughter, and wife of Mostyn Cohen). Her effects were £10,820 4s.. 

Caroline Mary Swoffer Judges, of Karney House, Westbrooke, Worthing, died at 10 St Michael’s Road, Worthing, at the age of 93. She was buried at Durrington cemetery, West Sussex. Probate was granted on 24 September 1953 to Barbara Joan Cohen (her niece, and wife of Mostyn Cohen), and her effects were £1,170 12s. 8d.. Mostyn Cohen died in 1970, and Barbara in 2001.

This has been a very brief look at the life and times of John Thomas Judges. 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). So Who Was John Thomas Judges? Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/06/so-who-was-john-thomas-judges.html aboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/03/loughborough-and-isaac-newton.html] [Accessed 29 June 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

120 years of the Carnegie Library

It was 120 years ago today that the Loughborough public library on Granby Street was opened. It had been a long time in the planning, and had been preceded by a variety of libraries, the early ones of which were subscription libraries, and therefore only accessible to those who could afford to pay. As early as 1826 there had been a subscription library on Baxter Gate, which included a reading room. Following this a permanent library was established in the Town Hall. These libraries were supplemented by more commercial circulating libraries, again, available only via a subscription, and these were run by local booksellers, like E. T. Soars, and Henry Wills, often in association with Mudies who supplied books across the country.

In the mid-19th century, legislation was passed that allowed local areas to provide free libraries to their population, funded through the payment of rates. This legislation was replaced by that passed in 1892 and 1893, but Loughborough had already taken advantage of the earlier acts, and had opened the first free library in January 1886. The building was on the corner of Green Close Lane, and was opened by Lady John Manners. Henry Deane was the chair of the Free Library Committee, and was supported by, amongst others, John Judges, George Hodson, and Alfred Adolphus Bumpus.

This library served the town well, but eventually, a new, bigger building was needed, and so, in the early 1900s, the town council applied to philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, for funds to build a new library. A sum of £5,000 was agreed, and by October 1904 construction of the new building on Granby Street had begun, the architects, Barrowcliff and Allcock, having been selected via a competition, judged by George Hodson. Very quickly, opening day arrived.

Mr Andrew Carnegie was invited by the Town Clerk, on behalf of the town council, to open the new public library for the building of which he had contributed £5,000. Unfortunately, he was unable to attend due to commitments in London, and so the council approached Joseph Griggs instead. Griggs now lived in Wirksworth, and sent the following reply:

“I am much obliged to the Mayor and Corporation of the borough of Loughborough for the flattering compliment they have paid me by inviting me to open the new free library in the town.

I have not attended any public functions for the past few years, owing chiefly to the state of my health, and to my removal from the borough, but I feel I ought to set aside personal feelings on such an important occasion.

I shall therefore feel obliged if you will kindly convey to the Mayor and Corporation this acknowledgement of their kind invitation, and my acceptance of it. Believe me, yours very truly, Joseph Griggs” – Nottingham Evening Post 22 March 1905

By comparison, Leicester's Carnegie Library had been opened on 8 May 1905 by Carnegie himself, and Melton Mowbray's Carnegie Library was due to be opened by the Marquis of Granby, who was the Lord Lieutenant of the County, but he had been involved in an accident, so the ceremony was performed by William Willcox who was the chair of the Library Committee, and who had made the inital approach for funding to Carnegie.   

The opening of the public library on Granby Street in Loughborough duly took place on the afternoon of Wednesday 21 June 1905. Mr Joseph Griggs, JP, DL, and Loughborough’s first mayor in 1888, did the honours before a large gathering of local people. According to the Nottingham Evening Post that day:

“The building occupies an excellent site presented to the town by Major F.R. Griggs (son of Joseph), and the principal front, which is towards Granby-street, is immediately opposite the Queen’s Park.”

The newspaper article continues with a description of the building:

“The Rennaissance [sic] style has been adopted, and the central feature of the façade is a lofty pediment with ionic columns flanked by octagonal angle turrets, and crowned by a steep pyramidical roof with a domed lantern and vane.”

Inside, the reading-room was a leading feature, being “a spacious apartment 40 feet square and very lofty, a heavy cornice and frieze supported by ionic columns being carried round the room at a height of about 13 feet, forming and octagon of the upper portion. Above is a domed ceiling enriched with modelled plasterwork with a large ceiling light in coloured glass and with lunette windows in each side of the octagon.”

The lending library part of the building was 33 feet by 28 feet, and the full height of the building. The space would be able to hold around 13,000 volumes, which were arranged in tiers 3 feet apart and 7 feet 6 inches high, each section having a window which let in natural light. The library counter was made from polished oak. The lending library also had a wide balcony at the first floor level, which housed a museum, which was approached by a very wide staircase from the entrance hall. The showcases which housed the geological exhibits were polished oak and modern fittings of the time, designed to protect the artefacts, especially from dust. It was Joseph Griggs who generously provided these exhibition cases.

Today, we often use the internet as our go to source of information, but in 1905, reference libraries were the place to go.

“The reference library, 23 feet by 18 feet, is on the ground floor in direct communication with the entrance hall. Provision is made for storing about 3,000 books. As the room is situated as far as possible from the streets, the student is assured of a quiet place in which to work. At the rear of the principal rooms, and office for the librarian, store room [sic], staff room, lavatories, &c., are provided ... the heating installation on the low pressure hot water principal is by Messrs. Messenger and Company … The contractors [William Moss] have executed the work under the supervision of the architects, Messrs. Barrowcliff and Allcock …”

The opening ceremony was overseen by the Mayor, Alderman Thomas Mayo, and Joseph Griggs read out to the assembled people the letter he had received from Andrew Carnegie:

“Dear Mr Griggs,

I am delighted to hear that you are to perform the opening ceremony of the public library at Loughborough. Although absent in body pray assure the good people that I am with them in spirit on Wednesday next, and give them my hearty congratulations upon Loughborough’s new attraction which I am certain is to increase its usefulness with the years. With best wishes for the town and happiness of all its people.

I am very truly yours,
Andrew Carnegie”

Joseph Griggs commented upon the situation of the past, when only 60 years ago there were no free libraries, no free reading rooms, and few books available to people. The old library and reading room that had been established 20 years ago by, amongst others, Henry Deane and Alfred Adolphus Bumpus, had, in his opinion, done good work in the past, and especially to young people of the town, for it gave them facilities for continuing their studies after leaving school, and for equipping them for the battle of life which awaited all youth. He further said that young people must devote much of their time to technical studies in order that the country might keep abreast of developments in Germany and the US. His comments upon the value of books, show how important Joseph Griggs felt reading was:

“There was companionship in good books, and even in depressed conditions of mind and body a good book would ever cheer and comfort, give fresh courage, and would often cause the shadow of life to flee away.”

Upon the official opening of the building, Edward Thomas Allcock presented Joseph Griggs with a key described as being

“of exquisite workmanship, finely wrought, carved and decorated on both sides with enamel. In the upper part of the obverse is an enamelled view of the library. Below this is an ornamental shield upon which is engraved the following inscription ‘Presented to Joseph Griggs, Esq., J.P., D.L., on opening the Carnegie Library, June 21st, 1905.’ Over the view of the library are the initials of Mr Carnegie formed in monogram. The reverse centre of head is occupied by the arms, crest, and motto of the borough of Loughborough, below which are enamelled the arms, crest, and motto of the recipient. There are several mouldings, richly decorated on the stem, which is fluted, and the words are formed by the monogram “J. G.”. On the lower part of the stem is engraved the name of the architects, Messrs. Barrowcliff and Allcock, Loughborough.” 

In his speech, Joseph Griggs had mentioned the Library Committee, particularly its chairman Mr Judges and Mr W. T. Tucker, along with the librarian, Mr Topping, for their enthusiasm in seeing the project through to successful completion. A vote of thanks to Joseph Griggs was proposed by Henry Deane, and seconded by Alderman Bumpus, and Councillor William Cartwright, who was the vice-chair of the Library Committee, proposed a vote of thanks, which was seconded by Councillor Willie Thomas Hampton, to Major F.R. Griggs for his gift of the site. A final vote of thanks was proposed by Mr Maurice Levy, the MP, which was seconded by Mr Judges, to the Mayor.

Before the Mayor entertained a large party to lunch at the town hall, he and Joseph Griggs toured the new library, and were the first people to borrow books from it.

An exhibition about the Carnegie has been prepared by the volunteers at the library, and is currently on display in the exhibition area.

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). 120 years of the Carnegie Library. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/06/120-years-of-carnegie-library.html [Accessed 21 June 2025]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

So Who Was William Thomas Cartwright

My research into the history of Loughborough takes me in all sorts of directions, down all manner of rabbit holes, and just occasionally I find I have taken a completely wrong turn! This was the case with one piece of research I did, which saw me investigating the life and times of William Cartwright. Of course, I was fully aware from the outset that there were Loughborough families with the name of Cartwright, and even several people called William Cartwright, but on this occasion, I set off in the wrong direction, based on an erroneous assumption! This is most unlike me! I rarely make assumptions, so this all took me a bit by surprise!

Well, rather than let all that research into William Cartwright go to waste, and languish in my research files, I thought I’d share it here on the blog, after all, this particular William Cartwright was born and brought up in Loughborough, so is totally relevant to this blog!

So, let’s go!

William Cartwright’s grandfather was James, a farmer, originally from Derbyshire. William’s father was William Ambrose Cartwright who was born in Loughborough and who married Ann Haywood (née Bailey) on 15 October 1849 in All Saints church in Loughborough, when they were both aged 20. At the time, William Ambrose was a hosiery assistant in Angola wool, presumably at the factory of Richard Cartwright on Queen Street, who had begun the company in 1794, and soon joined forces with Edward Warner. The company employed around 2,000 workers in 1892, and is probably still well-remembered today. 

Back to William Ambrose and Ann ... The couple’s first child was William Thomas, whose birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1850, and who was baptised on 21 March 1851 at Emmanuel Church, by the Reverend Bunch. At the time, the family were living on Leicester Road, and lodging with them were 65-year-old William Vickers, a landed proprietor, and 66-year-old Elizabeth Vickers, an annuitant. The household had one servant, local girl, Emma Rossell.

A second son was born to William Ambrose and Ann in 1852, and he was named Thomas Bailey Cartwright, after Ann’s family. Another son, James, was born and was baptised on 18th March 1857 at All Saints church. In 1859, a daughter, Carrie, was born, and the family were living on Leicester Road in 1861, William Ambrose being a 32-year-old hosier’s warehouseman.

Sadly, Ann, wife of William Ambrose and mother to William Thomas, died in December 1862. In March of 1864, William Ambrose married Betsey Amatt at All Saints church, and in 1865 a child, Henry, a half-brother to William Thomas was born. In 1866 we find William Thomas, now aged 16 studying magnetism and electricity with the Loughborough Institute (possibly the Mechanics Institute), for which he obtained a second-class prize.

William Thomas’s half-brother, Albert Edward Harley was born in August 1867 but sadly he did not survive into childhood, and died on 18th February 1868. Another half-brother to William Thomas, named George, was born in 1870, at a time when William Ambrose had risen from the ranks of hosier’s warehouseman to a hosiery manufacturer, and when he was initiated into the Howe and Charnwood Lodge of the Freemasons.  

William Ambrose and wife, Betsy, were living on Stanford Lane, which on the census return for 1871 was listed just after Meadow Lane. Also living there were Thomas Bailey, James, Carrie, Henry aged 6, George E. aged 1, and two servants. Meanwhile, William Thomas was aged 20, and boarding with a family in Nottingham – Melbourne Street (Sherwood?), where he was a solicitor’s articled clerk. The family he was lodging with were the Bramelds – widow Anne aged 60, her daughter Mary, a governess aged 25, her sons Herbert 24, and Godfrey 22, both banker’s clerks – and one servant.

On 15 October 1874, William Thomas Cartwright married Mary Isabel Brameld (the governess listed in the 1871 census return), at St Stephen’s church in Sneinton, Nottingham. The home address was given as Belvoir Terrace. William was noted as a solicitor, his father William Ambrose was quoted as a merchant, and Isabel’s father was John Thomas Brameld a clerk in holy orders – a bit of a change from the time of Mary’s birth on 2 October 1845, and baptism on 13 November that year at St James, Westminster, when he was a china dealer.

A few years later, the 1881 census records William Thomas and Mary as living at 6 Park Terrace, Standard Hill, within the limits of Nottingham Castle, with daughters Edith 5, and Annie 4, and sons Thomas W. 2, and George A. aged 1. They also have three servants. Today, Park Terrace is a private road which runs parallel to the Ropewalk in Nottingham.

Another son, Vincent Henry, was born on 8 September 1882, and baptised 19 October 1882 at St Mary’s in Nottingham, while the family were living at Newcastle Drive Park. Vincent would later attend Rugby School, and matriculate for Oxford University in 1901. He played rugby, and later became a solicitor. In 1884, William was appointed as joint clerk to the magistrates of Nottingham, along with his business partner, Mr F. G. Rawson. Mr Rawson died in 1886, and William Thomas was appointed to the position solely, but later shared the duties with his sons, Thomas William, and Vincent Henry.

In 1891, William Thomas, now aged 40, was still a solicitor; wife Mary was aged 45, daughters Annie 14, and Margaret 5, and son Cecil Bailey aged 3, were living with four servants at 1 Newcastle Drive, Standard Hill, Nottingham. Meanwhile, the couple’s other four sons, all born in Nottingham - Thomas William (12), George Ambrose (11) Arthur James (9) and Vincent Henry (8) - were at school in Brighton, possibly at Chisham Place. A couple of years later, Betsy, William Thomas’s step-mother in Loughborough, died in 1893.

The family continued to live at 7 Newcastle Drive, and in 1901, William Thomas was aged 51, and a solicitor, his wife Mary Isabel was aged 55, and the children living at home were Edith aged 25, Annie aged 24, (neither of whom were working), Thomas William, a solicitor aged 22, and George A. a mechanical engineer aged 21. The family were supported by four live-in servants.

Later, in December 1901, Cecil Bailey Cartwright, a student at Rugby College, died at the school, at the age of only 14. An obituary in the Rugby Advertiser of 21 December states that Cecil was a bright, intelligent boy, who had been taken ill, and died a few weeks later. His funeral was in Nottingham, and there was a simultaneous service held at the Chapel in Rugby School. As a consequence of Cecil’s death, his brother, Vincent Henry, who was the football forward for Oxford University’s team, and who had been due to play sot the South against the North of England, dropped out of the team.

A few months later, in April 1902, William Thomas’s father, William Ambrose of Loughborough, died, and less than a year later, in March 1903, William’s wife, Mary died. 1903 brought happier news, when William’s half-brother, Henry Ernest, married Ann Elizabeth Pidd, daughter of Charles Pidd, a tailor. The address given was 13 Burton Street, presumably, Nottingham as the couple were married in Holy Trinity church, Nottingham, but could have been Loughborough.

In 1910, William Thomas was listed in Wright’s trade directory of Nottingham as a solicitor with Freeth, Rawson, & Cartwright & city magistrates’ clerk, at 13 Low Pavement, but living at 7 Newcastle Drive Park, Nottingham. Son, Thomas William was also listed with the same solicitors, and living at 1 Wellington Square, Nottingham, which was very close to Newcastle Drive. The following year, the census returns listed William Thomas as a 60-year-old solicitor, still living at 7 Newcastle Drive Nottingham, which had 16 rooms. His two daughters (not working) – Edith Mary aged 35, and Margaret Helen aged 25 – were also living there, as was son Vincent Henry now aged 28, who was a solicitor. The family still had four servants. The electoral rolls between 1911 and 1914 show that William Thomas was still living at 7 Newcastle Drive, Nottingham, and owned property at Long Clawson. In 1915, William Thomas suffered a seizure, and as a consequence reduced the amount of public work he did.

The 1921 census return was taken on 19 June that year, and William was still listed as a solicitor, but was possibly still poorly as he had a male attendant, a domestic nurse, as well as three servants, and was being visited by family members from Australia – son Arthur James, his wife, Marjorie, and their children Arthur William Alexander, Isabel Mary Ruth, and Ian Hebburn Scott. William’s two daughters lived with him – Edith Mary aged 45 on house duties, and Margaret Helen aged 35, a private secretary working on Oxford Street, Nottingham.

On 22 December 1921 William Thomas Cartwright of 7 Newcastle Drive, The Park, Nottingham, died. Probate was granted 20 January 1922 to his son, the solicitor Thomas William Cartwright. Effects were £1,103. The funeral took place on 24 December, at Nottingham church cemetery, and amongst the mourners attending was James Cartwright, William’s younger brother, who had made a name for himself in Loughborough – but his story is for another day, as is the story of the William Cartwright I had meant to research!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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