AUDLEY & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
The first bookseller we hear about in Newcastle under Lyme was Peter Gilworth of Stoke who was listed as a bookseller in 1676. We know this as he was mentioned in the Sutherland Papers. He visited to Trentham Hall and supplied 6 books for the Duchess on March 8'1675/6. His name was also to be found in the Newcastle Parish registers as being buried on 20th May 1712. His son continued the business and was described as a bookbinder and stationer in Newcastle.
In the mid 1700's a Samuel Parsons was noted as a bookseller, bookbinder, stationer and printer; he eventually paid the princely sum of £8 to become a Burgess of the parish. He eventually died in 1766.
One of the most notable families to be found in this line of business was the Smiths. Having been partners with Parsons the Smiths continued after 1766 and the business expanded to include an agency for insurance, tax collection, newspaper selling, and manufacture of paper. They were obviously an important and extremely wealthy family.
In 1791 Charles Chester and John Mort operated as booksellers for over half a century until 1846.
Where did people buy books?
This was a time when people were avarice for information, many more people were beginning to benefit from reading lessons and information was becoming more readily available. From information taken from The History of N. Staffordshire 1798 it was obvious that books were sold in shops or on market days. Books came fresh from London in carters' wagons and were delivered to shops, stalls or residences.
What kind of books were these?
The simplest books were known as " CHAP" books. They consisted of a few pages and were handed around; they were produced in London, Oxford Cambridge and York.
Who owned books?
In Newcastle it is known that prominent people such as William Beard, Barrister at Law, Reverend Robert Fenton and Mr. Mary Mills widow and midwife all had libraries of books and these libraries appeared in inventories after death.
By the mid 18th C people were buying, reading and discussing books and so Literary Societies were formed and with a subscription of 10s 6d the membership was exclusive.
It is known that circulating libraries were coming into existence in Newcastle, the largest of these was owned by Charles Chester and included over 2000 books of various content. It is interesting to note that people in Newcastle, as a whole, were literate, the mining population in the surrounding areas were not so fortunate. The study of the new marriage licences, which required witnesses to sign, showed a remarkable lack of legible signatures, a cross usually surfaced.
Printing developed alongside the great demand for literature. The government of the day was very reluctant to grant licence to print. It wished to keep control but gradually these controls eased in the late 18thC.
There was an explosion of businesses, manufacturers, societies and trade in the area, each needed the facility to advertise its wares etc. The age of printing had begun in earnest. One of the most notable was James Smith of Newcastle who, from records left, seemed to be responsible for most of the printing in and around Newcastle.
THE PROPERTY MARKET IN NORTH STAFFS
With the availability of the printed word to all, the next step was for local printers to advertise property for auction or sale. Auction companies needed catalogues and all form of printed materials, many bills, receipts, letters etc. are still to be found in company archives.
Andrew's talk was all encompassing and in the space of an hour and a half he took us on a journey through one of the most fascination epochs tour through the needs, opportunities, discoveries and the entrepreneurial ability of some, we come to realise the debt we owe to our ancestors.
SNIPPETS
· John Hughes; born Audley, Staffordshire 23 Mar 1921, died Oldham Dec 2005.
John Hughes, whose full name was Jack Wareham Hughes, first appeared on the London Stage as
Mernitz in; The Chocolate Soldier (Shaftesbury, August-September 1940). He joined the D'Oyly Carte
Opera Company chorus in April 1947, serving until July 1949. In March 1949 he succeeded Hector
Thomas in the small role of; First Yeoman in; The Yeomen of the Guard.
Hughes made his only subsequent appearance in a named part on the London Stage as Jack in
Paint Your Wagon (February 1953-April 1954). In 1953 he also appeared as Bill Bobstay in the film
"The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan," starring Robert Morley and Maurice Evans.
In November 1949 he married former D'Oyly Carte mezzo-soprano Marian Smith. In 1974 he sang
Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore with the Sadleworth Musical Society, Oldham.
· As a child, just in infant school, I was too young to be scared. I remember all the children learning to knit socks, and the infants winding the wool. The school had practice air raids, all going to the shelter in a crocodile. The main memory of the war was of queues; most mothers worked in munitions at Radway Green so the children had to queue for the rations. Rations were often given out in alphabetical order, and as our family name began with a W, the best was often gone. We seemed to spend most of our spare time in a queue at the bakeshop, which is still the site of a cake shop to this day.
Audley itself, as a small village was not a target of enemy bombers, but it was on the route to the Crewe engineering works and there were often air raid warnings as the planes went overhead. My father was in the Auxiliary Fire Service and was often on duty during raids. I still have his tin hat. An incendiary bomb did land in the area known as "Town Fields", very close to the village.
When the air-raid warnings were given the family went to the pantry under the stairs. Once, while the planes were overhead, we heard a whistling noise, and thought that bombs were coming down, but when the all clear sounded, we found out that it had been the kettle whistling! If mother was at the munitions factory on the evening shift, a neighbour put us to bed and if the siren started, she had to come back to take us to her house.
Audley had evacuees from Coventry, they came with only what they could carry and were given out to the villagers without any previous consultation. As there was no television, only newsreels, young children did not really understand what was going on, things like queuing, evacuees and walking into lampposts in the blackout were just a way of life.
By Vivienne Downes, from, 'WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by
members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at
bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar
· James Touchet, Lord Audley and William Montague, Earl of Salisbury, the great-grandfathers of the leaders of the two armies at Blore Heath, had fought side by side at both Crecy and Poitiers at the beginning of the Hundred Years War.
·
The price of immortality was too
much for some: In St. John the Baptist's Churchyard, Keele
Samuel EARDLEY, Of Knutton Heath, 17 Dec 1834, 60
Hnnah EARDLEY, 29 August 1852, 79
Thomas EARDLEY, 13 June 1866, 64
Maria POYER, d, 11 Dec 1831, 22
[Hnnah is correct. The stonemason has inscribed a
capital H on top of a capital A]
· Walter Roebuck was born in 1857 at Bradgate, Leicestershire. In 1882 he married Catherine Elizabeth Blundell. They had the following children, which show very clearly the mobility of this family.
John Richard Roebuck was born 1884 in Birmingham. Walter Blundell Roebuck was born 1886 in
Warton, Yorkshire. Agnes Roebuck was born 1889 Warton, Yorks. Ethel Roebuck was born 1891 in
Tyldesley Lancashire. Arthur Roebuck was born 1893 in Platt Bridge Lancashire.
By 1891 Walter was a Colliery under manager at Tyldesley and by 1901 he was the colliery under
manager living at Crown Bank, Audley, Staffordshire. He was under manager at Talk-o'-th'-Hill Colliery
Staffs in 1901 when the explosion occurred.
·
Missing entries in Staffordshire BMD, Audley area, between 1837 and 1875.
Parents were only legally obliged to inform a registrar of the details of a
birth if the registrar demanded them. Many births were not recorded in the EARLY
days of civil registration. Many people, in these early years, did not
know about the law, or thought that a child’s baptism recorded in a church
register, was a legal alternative to registration.
If you cannot find a birth entry, you should search the Audley Church register for a baptism.
· Snippets from Poor Law Union –Audley Board of Guardians Minute Book
1840 George Capper, 30. Healey, shoemaker. Ann, 31, ill with fever. Eliza, 7;Mary 5;
Ann, 6mths. Receiving 5/- and 12 bread. Application for 4lbs more bread. Allowed 1840
Agreed that inmates should have Roast beef and Xmas Pudding on Xmas Day, reserving the Meat Dinner of
Thursday to Friday [Christmas Day] 1841
William Dale, 55, Boond Hill; Mary, 60; 4 children, all ill; given by the R.Officer 3 pairs of sheets on loan
and 8/6p. Allowed 1841
Governor's Report--Joseph Lawton, for taking another person's porridge, was confined in the refractory
ward for 12 hours with Bread and Water 1842
Mary Johnson, 24, of Halmer End; Elizabeth, 3; Thomas, 1; applies for relief—her husband Daniel
Johnson having been convicted of begging during the late RIOTS. Order given. 1846
Elizabeth Riley, 51, widow, Boond Hill and 6 children, all ill of the fever.
Paid Ellen Challinor for attendance £1-10; Mary Weaver 101-; Hannah Riley for Washing £1. Ordered 2/-
per day for nurse
1849 William Horrobin was ordered to be whipped for disobeying the orders of the schoolmaster and
striking him.
=Refractory Paupers=
It was resolved that all paupers not observing the rules laid down for the purpose of maintaining order in the
House— be deemed disorderly and shall, for the space of 24 hours next succeeding, be placed on the following
diet: -
6ozs of bread with water, 3 times a day for men
5ozs of bread with water , 3 times a day for women
If a pauper should repeat any of the offences within 7 days then should be placed on the following diet: -
6ozs bread with water , twice a day for men
5ozs bread with water, twice a day for women and be imprisoned in the Refractory Wards for 12
hours.
The year 1752 is not one of those instantly recognisable dates of historical importance, but what happened that year changed the lives of everyone in England. On the night of Wednesday 2nd September people went to bed as usual – but they awoke on Thursday 14th September! No, this is not another Doctor Who adventure, it actually happened.
We all take time for granted today. Every year begins on the 1st January and ends on the 31st December. The only adjustment we have to make, apart from altering the clocks twice a year, is to add a day to the calendar once every four years.
The calendar we use today is called the Gregorian calendar, following its introduction by Pope Gregory XIII in March 1582. That was all right as long as you lived in a Catholic country, but in 1582 England was no longer Catholic because King Henry VIII had created the Church of England in 1532. So the new calendar was introduced in Europe whilst the old calendar remained in use in England.
The old calendar was called the Julian calendar, established by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. The first month was March and the last month was February. This is why the months of September to December are named from the Latin words for the numerals 7 to 10. When the Romans invaded in 43 A.D. they brought their calendar with them.
March – named after the god Mars
April –from the Latin aperire, (= to open) (i.e. with reference to flowers or spring)
May –after the goddess Maia
June –after the goddess Juno
July –renamed in honour of Julius Caesar
August – renamed after the emperor Augustus
September – from the Latin septum (= seven)
October – from the Latin octo (= eight)
November – from the Latin novem (= nine)
December – from the Latin decem (= ten)
January –after the god Janus
February –after Februa, the Roman festival of purification
Later in Anglo-Saxon England Christmas Day became the first day of the year. This continued until about 1190, when everything changed again.
If you are not already aware of this fact, then it will totally confuse you. The year started on the 25th March, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Lady Day, and the year ended on the following 24th March. This was the calendar that continued in use in England until 1752.
It was the Julian calendar which created the Leap Year, as it had been calculated that the solar year was 365¼ days long, hence the need for an extra day every four years. However, it was discovered much later, that this calculation was slightly too long, resulting in a discrepancy of 10 days in the calendar by the year 1582. To correct this, Pope Gregory XIII took 10 days out of the calendar in 1582, by making the 5th October the 15th October. In order to compensate further for future discrepancies only those century years divisible by 400 were to be leap years, hence, in England, the year 2000 was a leap year, but the years 1800 and 1900 were not.
The existence of different calendars for England and Europe must have been chaotic. Not only were the years different, but also because of the discrepancy which remained in the Julian calendar, the dates were drifting further apart. By 1752 the difference was 11 days. Clearly something had to be done. So, by an Act of Parliament of 1751, known as Lord Chesterfield’s Act, the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian.
In order to bring England into line with Europe, 1752 was chosen as the year of change. The year 1751, having started as normal on the 25th March, was cut short and ended on the 31st December. The following day, the 1st January, became the first day of 1752. The discrepancy in days was corrected by deleting 11 days from the calendar in September, resulting in the 2nd of September being followed by the 14th September 1752. The population did not take that decision lightly. Mobs rioted and demanded that the government give them back their 11 days. Just imagine what would happen today if a similar decision were taken. In the event, the change was made and there was no return, but not everyone accepted it.
The Treasury insisted on continuing with their tax years, which followed the Julian calendar, but the loss of 11 days in 1752 meant lost revenue, so the Treasury added 11 days to the tax year, so that it did not end until the 4th April 1753 (i.e. 24th March + 11 days). The new tax year then commenced on the 5th April 1753 and continued that way. Those readers still following this will now be thinking “just a minute, the tax year starts on the 6th April!” That’s correct, so where did the extra day come from? The year 1800 was not a leap year in the new calendar but would have been in the Julian calendar. Once again the Treasury would not stand losing a penny! So they added another day to the tax year to make up for the loss, thereby moving the start of the tax year to the 6th April. Henceforth, the date has remained unaltered.
As a result of the problems caused by the two calendars, a dual system of dates began to appear on documents almost a century before 1752. The dates, which differed most, were those between the 1st January and the 24th March, which in England were at the end of the year and in Europe at the beginning. Thus, for example, the 30th January 1648 in England was the 30th January 1649 in Europe. The dual date system recorded this as the 30th January 1648/9. (i.e. 1648 by the Julian calendar and 1649 by the Gregorian). These dates became known as Old Style (Julian) and New Style (Gregorian) and can be found in some publications abbreviated to OS and NS following a date. However, the example used is another significant date in English history – that of the execution of King Charles I - but you will find that most history books give the date as 1649. The same applies to the battle of Nantwich, which took place on the 25th January 1643 but is always recorded as 1644. The reason is that most historians since 1752 have chosen to ignore the Old Style dates and record history in terms of the historical year, which always begins on the 1st January. So beware of dates in books and especially on old documents (parish registers, wills, leases etc.) if the dates are between January and March of any year before 1752.