And Finally We Reach Letter Z!

 An A-Z of Architects of Loughborough

For a complete list of the A-Z posts please head over to the bloglist.

 

So, we have reached the final letter of the alphabet in this A-Z blogging challenge, and what a tricky one it is too, to find something that fits the overall theme I’ve chosen this year! If I were writing a book called ‘A-Z of Loughborough’, I would have plenty of topics to choose from – Zenobia, Zeppelins, Zamosc, Zodiac Toys, and more! Trying to find an architect whose name begins with a Z, and who has some connection to Loughborough has proved impossible!

If I were sticking to the architectural theme, I could perhaps write about ziggurats, but those iconic, step-like rooflines, so typical of the Art Deco period, were featured in last year’s A-Z blogging challenge. Obviously, I want to share my new discoveries with you, but you could pop over to last year’s feature, or to the Art Deco glossary.

So, what am I going to share with you for this final blogpost of April? I’ve decided to go back to my professional roots, and the reason I came to live in Loughborough …  

Short biography of Zebedee Moon

Zebedee Mooon’ parents, Isaac, and Elizabeth, née Tilke, tied the knot on 12 November 1843 at Coleford in Somerset. Isaac was a coal miner at the Coal Barton Collieries, in Coleford, Somerset, as was his father, William. Elizabeth’s father was a farmer and butcher, and Elizabeth, unlike Isaac, signed her own name on the marriage register.

By the time Zebedee was baptised on 27 November 1859, he had older siblings, William, Eliza, Albert, Elizabeth, and Grace, while siblings born after Zebedee were Rosalie and Ann. The family lived on Kilmersden Common, in Coleford, and at the age of 11, like his father, Zebedee was listed on the 1871 census return as a coal miner. In June 1873, Isaac died, and between that time, and the next census, which was taken in 1881, Zebedee moved to Loughborough, and was boarding with the Skevington family at 56 Baxter Gate. Samuel Skevington, the head of the family, was a grocer, Zebedee was a postal clerk, and the other boarder, Nathaniel Riley, was a clock and watch maker.

On 26 December, 1882, Zebedee, who was apparently living in Barrow-on-Soar, married Sarah Ann Clarke of Loughborough. The wedding took place at the Primitive Methodist Chapel, which was probably the one on Swan Street. The following year, Zebedee appears in a trade directory as living on King Street, Loughborough, as a shopkeeper. The electoral roll for 1883 shows the house on King Street to be no.43: the houses along King Street were demolished and rebuilt around 1888, so the shop itself no longer exists.

1884 saw the birth of Zebedee and Sarah Ann’s first child, George, followed in 1887 by that of Jessica. Meanwhile, Zebedee was changing jobs again!

Loughborough’s first library was on Baxter Gate, and moved to the Town Hall (designed by the nationally-known architect, William Slater, who was also responsible for the design of the Baxter Gate Hospital, 1861) around 1856. However, it only stayed there for about 11 years, before closing completely, and it wasn’t until the town adopted Free Libraries Act of 1885, that a new library was built. This was on the corner of Green Close Lane (now part of the Sainsbury site), and was designed by Hodson, Price, Hodson. The first librarian here was Zebedee Moon, who stayed until July 1892, when he moved to Leyton, where the new library opened to the public on 1 June 1893. Interestingly, the building which housed the new Leyton library had originally opened as the town hall, and was designed by architect John Knight, and was built using white bricks. A new redbrick town hall (with Technical Institute adjoining) was built next door, as the original building was becoming too small, and this is when, in 1892, it became the library.

So, back to 1891, and the census return shows Zebedee, the borough librarian, aged 31, living with his wife, Sarah Ann, aged 29, and their children, John Morley, aged 7, Jessie, aged 4, and Elsie, aged 2, at no.138 Herrick Road, Loughborough. A directory of secondhand booksellers and public libraries, published in 1891, suggests that the Loughborough Free Library now had a stock of 5,000 volumes, and an annual circulation of 48,000. Money to fund the library was raised through the rates, amounting to about £260 per annum, of which £30 was spent on books. The opening hours were weekdays only, from 9.30 in the morning until 9.30 in the evening!

The Moon family welcomed another daughter, Ida, who was born in 1900, but who sadly died the same year. In 1901, the family are living at La Maison, Public Library, High Road, Leyton, and have been blessed with more children – Edna, and Eric. Later that year, Zebedee’s mother died in Folkestone, where she had been living at East Cliff Gardens, with her married daughter.

Zebedee continued to work as the borough librarian at Leyton, meanwhile, back in Loughborough, a new library was being built on Granby Street, designed by Barrowcliff and Allcock. In 1911, Zebedee and the family, which included two more children, Leslie Arthur, and Dora Gladys, were still living at the Leyton library. Daughter Jessie, now aged 24, was working as an assistant librarian at Leyton! 1921 and still the family are living at the library, although they were tricky to track down as Zebedee has been mistranscribed as Zelda!! So, Zebedee, wife Sarah Ann, and offspring, Edna, working as a library assistant, Eric, a civil service clerk at the Inland Revenue, and Leslie, an engineering apprentice with the Great Eastern Railway, and Dora. They are being visited by Jessie, who has married Albert Green, with whom she has 3 children.

I’m not sure when Zebedee retired from work, nor when he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, but I do know he died on 2 August 1938, when he was living at 14 Windsor Road, Wanstead. He left effects amounting to £1,968 18s. 2d..

In 2024, Michelle Johansen, writing about librarians during the period 1890-1920, is able to advise that Zebedee Moon, was one of many self-taught men from a working-class background, and like his colleagues, was “often to be found surrounded by books and papers, continuing into adulthood the diligent habits of self-education adopted in … youth.” Apparently, “Zebedee Moon of Leyton studied poetry and linguistics” in his spare time.    

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Basic facts

Name: Zebedee Moon

Parents: Isaac (c.1825-1873) and Elizabeth, née Tilke (1824-1901), m.1843 Colesford, Somerset

Date and place of Birth: 1859 (baptised 27 November), Coleford, Somerset

Spouse: Sarah Ann Clarke, m.1882, Loughborough

Children: George Morley (b.1884); Jessie Beatrice (b.1887); Elsie Elizabeth (b.1889), Ida Lillian (1890-1890); Edna Irene (b.1894); Eric Bertram (b.1899); Leslie Arthur (b.1902); Dora Gladys (b.1906)

Death: 20 August 1938, Wanstead

Places lived: Colesford, Somerset; 43 King Street, Loughborough; 138 Herrick Road, Loughborough; High Road, Leyton; 14 Windsor Road, Wanstead

Place of work/Offices: Loughborough Free Library, Green Close Lane; Leyton public libraries

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I’m taking part in the April A-Z Blogging Challenge!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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