Peabee’s series of blogs on the pubs run by members of the Bathe family over the years returns to the family’s home county this time. Once again, the information has come from pubwiki.co.uk, Ancestry and Findmypast
Old Royal Oak, Wootton Bassett, Wilts
The Old Royal Oak Inn on the High Street of Wootton Bassett had been trading since the early 18th century and, besides its traditional role as an inn, the building also became the centre of the local auction trade.
In February 1829, one auction sale was advertised as going to take place at “the house of Mary Turvey, known by the sign of the Royal Oak Inn in Wootton Bassett”.
It is not known when Mary Turvey gave up running the inn – she was 90 years old when she died in the summer of 1836 – but the evidence is that the next known landlord – Charles Hunt – was there by May 1834.
Charles Hunt
Born in nearby Cricklade in 1809, the son of Joseph and Lucy Hunt, Charles Hunt was a schoolmaster in Cricklade before taking over the Old Royal Oak. He is listed in that role in the 1830 edition of Pigot’s Directory. On 25 March that year, he married Mary Moreton at St Mary, Islington, with his older brother Isaac as one witness. Mary, who was from Saffron Walden in Essex, was some 10 years older than Charles.
Charles and Mary’s first two children were born and baptised in Cricklade, while Charles was still a schoolmaster. The second of these two children was baptised on 21 May 1833. Their next child was baptised in Wootton Bassett on 3 May 1834, and on that occasion, Charles was described as an innkeeper.
The following advertisement appeared over a number of weeks between November 1837 and March 1838:
Wiltshire Independent 7 November 1837
Hunt’s Old Royal Oak and
Commercial Inn,
Opposite the Town Hall
Wootton Bassett, Wilts
C. Hunt
Avails himself of this opportunity of publicly testifying his grateful acknowledgements to the numerous Commercial Gentlemen who have so liberally bestowed their patronage on him during the four years he has resided at the above Inn; and he begs to assure them, and Families who may pass through the town, requiring the convenience and comforts of an Inn, none shall excel him and Mrs Hunt in zeal to give satisfaction. If at any time inconvenience should occur (which, doubtless, is often the case in country towns of the magnitude and locality of situation like Wootton Bassett), he must crave their kind forbearance, and take the will for the deed, as he is most anxious to retain that kind preference which has been so bountifully given him hitherto.
To The Gentlemen, Yeomen, Farmers, and Dealers, of the surrounding towns and district, who have so repeatedly favoured him with their support (more especially on the Great Monthly Market days), he begs to give his best thanks from the bottom of his heart, and hopes his future conduct, with obliging servants, may ensure their future patronage.
Good Stables, and Lock-up Coach-Houses;
Well-aired Beds; and an honest, steady Ostler;
Neat Four-wheeled Phaeton, Gigs and Saddle Horses let to Hire
N.B. As repeated disappointments and inconveniences have arisen to Commercial and other Gentlemen, in consequence of their driving to a Public House in the Town having a sign of the Royal Oak, C.H. particularly requests his Friends to inquire for Hunt’s Old Royal Oak, opposite the Market House.
The other Royal Oak was run by George Mulcock in 1830, according to Pigot’s Directory but by 1839 Jesse Hitchcock, a carpenter, was listed in Robson’s as running the “New Royal Oak” while George Mulcock had a different pub, The Steam Carriage.
The 1841 census lists the following people in the Old Royal Oak:
Charles Hunt 35 Innkeeper
Mary Hunt 35
Charles Hunt 8
Caroline Hunt 9
Mary Hunt 7
Sophia Hunt 4
Harry Hunt 4 months
Maria Hunt 30 Barmaid
Hannah Horsell 60 FS
Jane Stratford 20 FS
James Button 40 MS
George Colley 25 MS
Thomas Mercham 20 MS
William Williams 29 MS
Joseph Williams 30 MS
George Plank 30 MS
William Ellis 25 Commercial Traveller
Emma Ellis 15
William Wills 25 Commercial Traveller
William Lovell 25 Commercial Traveller
Ten years later the household consisted of:
Charles Hunt /47 / Innkeeper / Cricklade, Wilts
Mary Hunt / 52 / Walden, Essex
Caroline Hunt / 19 / Cricklade, Wilts
Charles Hunt / 18 / Cricklade, Wilts
Mary Hunt / 17 / Wootton Bassett, Wilts
Sophia Hunt / 13 / Wootton Bassett, Wilts
Ann Bryant / 28 / Cook / Stroud, Glos
Emily Halloway / 20 / Housemaid / Cerney, Glos
John Lawrence / 24 / Boots / Wootton Bassett, Wilts
Stephen Farmer /39 / Groom (Travelling) / Avebury, Wilts
For many years, the Old Royal Oak was a centre for auctions in Wootton Bassett, and in the 1840s, Charles Hunt started acting as auctioneer and appraiser himself. When he gave up the inn, he continued his auctioneering business until his death:
Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette 18 June 1863
14 June at Wootton Bassett, after a long and painful illness, Mr Charles Hunt, for nearly thirty years a respected inhabitant of the above named placed, aged 53
A Bathe marries in
Anthony Mortimer Bathe was the third son of William Bathe and Mary (nee Warman) and, like his two older brothers, John and William, entered the pub trade (see earlier blogs).
Baptised in Purton on 25 April 1822, he was 15 years old when he was apprenticed to London vintner, James Gaby Breach on 1 February 1837.
Breach was a member of the partnership that was running the London Tavern in Bishopsgate Street but unfortunately, the 1841 census records for this part of Bishopsgate Street have not survived and it is not known if Anthony Bathe was there at the time.
However, on 3 November 1847 he was granted the freedom of the Worshipful Company of Vintners following his apprenticeship.
He did not stay in London and on 30 August 1853, married Caroline Moreton Hunt at Wootton Bassett. Caroline, the eldest child of Charles and Mary Hunt, had been baptised in Cricklade on 14 July 1832, when her father was a schoolmaster there.
Within a couple of years, Anthony was listed as the landlord of the Old Royal Oak, while his father-in-law concentrated on his trade as auctioneer and appraiser. However, Anthony’s reign as landlord did not last long and he died on 30 May 1856, aged 34.
In his will, he left everything to his wife and appointed his brother William (of the Royal Oak, Circus Street) and his uncle Thomas Warman (a grocer in Wootton Bassett) as the executors.
Anthony and Caroline did have one child together: Mortimer Charles Bathe was baptised in Wootton Bassett on 12 August 1855 but he never attained adulthood, dying when he was 16 in 1871.
An unfortunate second marriage
It is not known who ran the Old Royal Oak after Anthony Bathe died, but less than a year later, on 7 January 1857, his widow married again. The marriage took place at St Stephen, Hammersmith.
The marriage was by licence and while her new husband, Robert Gane, was said to be living in Wootton Bassett, Caroline’s “usual place of abode” was stated as in the parish of St Stephen, where her sister Mary and her brother-in-law William Hidden lived. Mary and William acted as the witnesses to the marriage.
Robert was the son of George Gane and Jane (nee Huckman) and had been born in Lympsham, Somerset, where he was baptised on 21 June 1834. His father was a respectable farmer and at the time of Robert’s baptism, George Gane was also church warden at St Christopher, Lympsham. Later, George became the relieving officer for the Axbridge Poor Law Union and moved his family to East Brent, two miles away.
When he married Caroline, Robert gave his occupation as that of draper. In 1851, he had been an assistant to a draper at Westonzoyland in Somerset. However, soon after his marriage he became landlord of the Old Royal Oak as stated in the 1859 Post Office Directory.
When the couple’s first child – Charles Moreton Gane – was baptised at Wootton Bassett on 27 February 1860, his father was described as a victualler and again when the second child – Lucy Sophia Gane – was baptised on 21 January 1861.
Something must have happened in the next few months because by the time of the 1861 census, taken on the night of 7 April, the couple had split up – Robert was back with his parents in East Brent, while Caroline and her young daughter were with her sister and her family in Hammersmith. Meanwhile, Mortimer Bathe and his half-brother Charles Gane were with their grandparents, Charles and Mary Hunt, in a house two doors away from the Old Royal Oak.
And the inn was occupied by a different family – the Aldridges.
Part of the problems between Robert and Caroline may be explained by the following announcements:
The London Gazette 8 March 1861
Notice is hereby given, that by an indenture, bearing date the 25th day of February 1861, Robert Gane, of Wootton Bassett, in the county of Wilts, Licensed Victualler, assigned all his personal estate and effects whatsoever unto Abraham Woodward, Maltster, George Notley, Butcher, and Zabulon Aldridge, Baker, all of Wootton Bassett aforesaid, as trustees in trust for the equal benefit of all the creditors of the said Robert Gane, and that the said indenture was duly executed by the said Robert Gane, unto Abraham Woodward, George Notley, and Zabulon Aldridge respectively, on the day of the date thereof, in the presence of, and their respective executions are attested by, Walters Freak Pratt, of Wootton Bassett aforesaid, Attorney-at-Law, and the said indenture now lies at my office for execution by the creditors of the said Robert Gane.
The London Gazette 26 April 1861
Before the Judge of the County Court of Somersetshire, [to be held] at Taunton, on Monday the 13th day of May 1861
Robert Gane, from February 1856 to February 1861, residing at Wootton Bassett, in the county of Wilts, Licensed Victualler, keeping the Old Royal Oak Hotel, Wootton Bassett aforesaid, from February 1861 to April following residing in East Brent, in the county of Somerset, out of business or employment.
Swindon Advertiser & North Wilts Chronicle 27 May 1861
In re Robert Gane – At Taunton County Court last week, Robert Gane, late of Wootton Bassett, licensed victualler, and since of East Brent, out of business, an insolvent petitioner, came up from Taunton gaol, for his discharged. There was no opposition and his Honor (Charles Saunders Esq) ordered the prisoner’s discharge.
Robert’s financial problems may not have been the only cause of the marital discord:
Swindon Advertiser & North Wilts Chronicle 12 February 1866
Extraordinary Case – At the Borough Magistrates’ Offices, Chippenham, February the 7th before Rev B Winthrop, and J Wilson Esq, ex-mayor, Robert Gane, a native of East Brent, and formerly landlord of the Royal Oak and Crown Inns, Wootton Bassett, was brought up in the custody of Sergeant White, with a warrant, charged with sending a threatening letter to his wife, Caroline, a highly respected person residing in the causeway, at Chippenham. The prisoner is greatly reduced in circumstances, and has been living apart from his wife for some time past, and working near Bristol. He sought his wife in this town, and wrote her a letter which it was alleged contained the threats, and in it he stated that he was walking the streets quite penniless. After due consideration the Bench were of an opinion that the tenor of the letter did not amount to threats, and dismissed the case. The Rev B Winthrop very kindly advanced Gane a loan of 10s, to assist him in returning to Bristol.
So the couple had been “living apart … for some time”, yet on 8 July 1866 Caroline had a third child baptised in Wootton Bassett, Edith Mary Gane. The baptismal records state that her abode was Chippenham and that her father, Robert, was a commercial traveller. However, the 1871 and 1881 census returns give Edith’s place of birth as Cork, in Ireland, and the year of birth as 1864. Later censuses make her a year or two younger.
In 1871, Caroline was still in Chippenham, and was described as a schoolmistress, with her son Mortimer Bathe (15), an assistant schoolmaster, and her three other children living with her. By 1881, the family had moved to Chester, where both Caroline and Edith were described as governesses, Charles had recently matriculated at Oxford and Lucy had become a nurse.
By 1891, Caroline, now described as a matron of an institution, was living with her sister Mary Hidden in Putney; Charles, who had taken holy orders, was a curate in Claughton, Birkenhead, Cheshire; Lucy was now head nurse at Chester General Infirmary; and Edith was a music governess in Wigan.
Ten years later, Caroline with living “on her own means” in Hitchen, Hertfordshire, with her daughter Edith, who was listed as a school teacher; Charles had a living in Parkstone, Dorset; and Lucy, after a time as a district nurse in Stoke on Trent, had become matron of the Health Memorial Convalescence Home in Llanfairfechan, North Wales, where she died in 1906.
Edith had died in Chester in 1905 but Caroline remained in Hitchin and was there in 1911. However, she was in Midhurst, Sussex, in 1916 when she died. Charles had become rector of St Mary, East Grinstead, Sussex, and was the only one of the three Gane children to marry – when he was 65 and just two years before he died!
What happened to Robert Gane after his 1866 court appearance is not known. Caroline was still noted as married in the 1871 and 1881 censuses, but from 1891 she is described as a widow – perhaps she never knew what had happened to him.
The Aldridges
It is interesting to see that following Robert Gane’s bankruptcy and Caroline’s move to Chippenham, it was the son of one of Gane’s trustees, Zebulon Aldridge, who took over as landlord of Old Royal Oak Hotel.
Richard Aldridge was baptised in Wootton Bassett on Christmas Day 1835, the eldest child of Zebulon and Mary (nee Draper). He was working as his father’s assistant in the bakery in 1851. Zebulon, who was also one of the town’s burgesses, expanded his business in the 1850s and had become landlord of the Angel public house by 1855.
Richard must have taken over at the Old Royal Oak almost as soon as Robert Gane was declared bankrupt. On 1 November 1860, he married Elizabeth Rumming Templar at Wootton Bassett and gave his trade as baker, but he appears in the 1861 census at the Old Royal Oak Inn:
Richard Aldridge /26 /Innkeeper /Wootton Bassett, Wilts
Elizabeth R Aldridge /wife /36 /assistant /Wootton Bassett, Wilts
Mary Ann Smith /serv /30 /assistant /Clack, Wilts
Eliza Aldridge /sister/19 /barmaid /Wootton Bassett, Wilts
George Lawrence /serv /18 / Boots /Wootton Bassett, Wilts
The ill-luck that had plagued both his predecessors continued with him:
Newbury Weekly News & General Advertiser 22 August 1867
12 August 1867 death of Richard Aldridge at the Old Royal Oak Hotel, Wootton Bassett, in his 33rd year
Richard’s widow, Elizabeth, continued to run the Old Royal Oak until 1876 when the old building was demolished. After its rebuild, it was advertised for letting, Elizabeth having relinquished the licence. She then married a farmer from Lyneham in 1879 and lived with him on his farm until her death in 1883.
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