This started by a quick look at a group of
cousins who ended up in the London pub trade of the mid-19th century.
It has turned into a more detailed study of the pubs involved. Much of the basic
outline for each pub’s history has come from the excellent pubwiki.co.uk
website. The gaps have been filled with data from parish records, land tax
records, and street directories, held by London Metropolitan Archives and found
on Ancestry.com, together with other records on Ancestry, such as the censuses.
Newspaper references are from Findmypast
Royal
Oak, Circus Street
Part of Marylebone around Bryanston Square was
developed by the Portman family from the late 18th century and into the
early years of the 19th century. As part of this development, a tavern
was built at 15 Circus Street on the corner with Upper York Street on the edge
of Bryanston Square. The pub – christened The Royal Oak – first opened its
doors in 1807.
According to Land Tax records,
15 Circus Street was occupied from at least 1808 by Richard Bass who was
married to Ann, and had a son, James, born about 1802.
The Land Tax records between
1794 and 1807 show Richard Bass at Adam Street, off Portman Square and Holden’s
1805 Directory refers to him as a victualler at that address. The name of his
house is, unfortunately, not mentioned.
In its edition of 7 March 1826,
the Morning Advertiser reported the death “on 2d instant, [of] Mr
Richard Bass, of the Royal Oak, Circus St, Mary-le-bone, aged 63”. Parish
records state he was buried on 12 March at St Marylebone.. The will he had written three years earlier
left everything to his wife and son, and it is clear that his son took over the
running of the Royal Oak, as, on 15 December 1826, the Sun reported that
“Mr Bass of the Royal Oak, in Circus-street” and four other publicans in the
area had each been fined 40s and costs “for keeping their houses open during
divine service in the afternoon of Sunday the 3d of December”.
The Land Tax records continued
to refer to the occupier of 15 Circus Street as Richard Bass into the early
1830s although Robson’s Directory of 1831 names James Bass as the proprietor of
the Royal Oak, 15 Circus Street, New Road, Marylebone.
James Bass is listed by Robson
at the Royal Oak until 1835 but about this time, James and his mother Ann moved
to Middlesex Place, off New Road, where they lived comfortably: Ann with an annuity
and James from his investment in property. Ann died there in 1851 and James
moved to Harewood Square. He never married and died in 1882 leaving an estate
valued at over £25,000.
The next two landlords
There were two different licensees of the Royal Oak
in the following five years. The first was Richard Stephen Griffiths, who was
listed in Circus Street in Robson’s Directories of 1836 and 1837.
Griffiths did not stay long and
had moved to the Duke of Bridgewater, 29 Macclesfield Street North, City Road, by
1838 while the Royal Oak in Circus Street was taken on by Lucy Bluck. She is
listed there by Robson in 1838, 1839 and 1840.
She also moved on to a different
pub and by 1842 was at The City of Hereford, 10 Charles Street, Portman Square,
although she had left by 1846, when John Gurney was listed as the landlord.
Diaryman turned publican
By census night (6 June) 1841, the Royal Oak was
occupied by James Tilling and his family:
James Tilling 40 Licensed Victualler
Sarah Tilling 40
Thomas Tilling 15
Robert Tilling 14
Hannah Tilling 11
Edward Tilling 7
Hester Tilling 4
Thomas Edwards 25 MS
George Warrick 15 MS
Mary Wait 40 FS
Elizabeth Gardner 45 FS
The Tilling family had lived in
the area for many years. Born in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, in 1794,
James was in Circus Street from at least 1817, according to the Land Tax
records. He married a local girl, Sarah Elizabeth Bell, on 29 April 1821 at St
Marylebone and they had eight children, including Thomas Tilling who went on to
found a well-known London omnibus company.
When Edward Tilling, the
youngest son of James and Sarah, was baptised at St Marylebone on 25 July 1834,
James was stated to be a dairyman living in Circus Street; when Hester Louisa
Tilling was baptised, on 9 March 1837, the address given was Upper York Street
and her father was still a dairyman.
James Tilling appeared in the following news report:
Bell’s Weekly Messenger 12 November 1842
Marylebone – Intended Duel – Bloodshed Prevented – Wild v Tilling –
John Edward Wild, a queer-looking little man, residing in
Bowling-green-buildings, New-road, and who deals in bottles, &c, was
brought up on a warrant charging him with having sent to Mr James Tilling,
landlord of the Royal Oak, Circus-street, Bryanston-square, a letter,
calculated to provoke him to a breach of the peace. Mr Tilling’s evidence was
to the effect, that defendant was constantly coming to his house, and annoying
the respectable company assembled there, by preaching about Chartism, and other
“nonsense.” He had been expelled from the parlour; and a short time ago he
brought against complainant a charge of assault, which was dismissed. He had
often used threatening language out of doors; and a few days ago complainant
received from him a letter. The following is a copy:-
“Nov 2d 1842
“Sir – The bearer of this is my friend. I wish you to Name a friend,
and meet me at any Place you may name on Occasion of your Abusive Condickt in
sending me a lawyers Letter in regard to your unmanly Condickt towards me. John
Cowell is my friend.
“J.E.Wild, 4 Bowling-green-buildings
“to John Tilling Esq”
[Police Constable] Coster, 41D, stated that on 29th
of October he heard defendant, who had received from Tilling a lawyer’s letter,
say it was the worst thing he could have done, and threatened to go to his
(Tilling’s) house and blow out his brains. The little chartist defendant, who
denied the truth of the allegations against him, was held to bail, himself of
100l and two sureties in 50l each
for his keeping the peace and being of good behaviour for the next 12 months.
The publican’s life was clearly
not for James Tilling, and while Robson was still listing Tilling as landlord
of the Royal Oak in 1843, the following year there was a new licensee and James
took his family to Hendon where, in 1851, he farmed the 74-acre Wheelers Farm.
Birth of triplets
By the summer of 1844, the pub had been taken over
by Edward Hodges, whose wife was about to present him with triplets:
Bell’s New Weekly Messenger 21 July 1844
A Happy Landlord – On Monday the wife of Mr Edward Hodges, landlord of
the Royal Oak public-house, Circus street, New-road, Marylebone, did her
husband the honour of adding to his family circle three fine boys, who with
their mother are doing well.
Leeds Intelligencer 17 August 1844
Christening Extraordinary – Mrs Hodges wife of the landlord of the
Royal Oak, York-street, Marylebone, having, on the 16th ult, given
birth to three fine boys, they were all christened on Tuesday last, by the Rev
Dr Dibdin, at St Mary’s church, Bryanston-square, adjacent to the happy
father’s residence. Long before the baptism took place the street in front of
Mr Hodges’s house was crowded to excess. The church, as soon as the doors were opened,
was nearly half filled. The infants, who have received the names of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, are all remarkably healthy, and their maternal parent is also
quite well.
Baptismal records show the
mother’s name was Eliza and the boys’ full names were Abraham Edward, Isaac
William and Jacob George.
Edward was not such a happy
landlord when, in July 1846, his creditors Charles and William Webb, wine
merchants of King William Street, petitioned for his bankruptcy. He was
declared bankrupt and the tenancy of the Royal Oak passed to William Bathe.
However, Edward managed to pay
his creditors at least some of his debts for by 1 January 1848, he was at Canonbury
Tavern in Islington when his wife presented him with another child, Clara Rose
as reported in The Era of 9 January: “Births: 1st, the wife
of Mr Edward Hodges, of Canonbury Tavern, of a daughter.”
The 1851 census still refers to
Edward as a victualler, living at 19 Ranelegh Street with wife, the triplets
and an older daughter and older son. His wife died in 1857 and the 1861 census refers
to him as a retired licensed victualler.
One of the Bathes move in
The second child of Wootton
Basset solicitor William Bathe and his wife Mary Henley (nee Warman), was
baptised at Purton on 27 January 1820. He was also called William and, like two
of his brothers, became a publican. His first entry into the licensed trade was
when he was apprenticed to a vintner, Charles Bleaden, on 8 October 1834. He
only 14 years old. Charles Bleaden had other links with the Bathe family which
will be discussed in a later blog.
It is
possible that William was working in a pub in Shoreditch in 1841: there is a
William Bathe of the right age listed as a servant at the Carpenters Arms, a pub in the
Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, where the licensee was James Smith.
Although
William was listed by Robson as the licensee of the Royal Oak in 1848, there is evidence he was there by the
autumn of 1847 when this advertisement appeared:
Morning
Advertiser 15 September 1847
Wanted immediately Two Servants of All-work. Those with good characters
may apply at the Spanish Patriot, New-cut, Lambeth and at the Royal Oak,
Circus-street, Bryanston-square, this day and to-morrow.
William’s elder brother John
Bathe was the landlord of the Spanish Patriot and clearly the brothers saved a
bit of money by placing a joint advertisement. When John died on 10 September
1851, William was made executor of his brother’s will and he transferred the
licence for the Spanish Patriot to George Godfrey on 12 Nov 1851.
On 24 September 1848, William
married Catherine Barwick, from Denton, Norfolk, at St Marylebone parish church.
William and Catherine were to have eight children, born between 1849 and 1861.
At the time
of the 1851 census, the household of Royal
Oak consisted of:
Wm Bathe/head/married/31/Licensed
Victualler/Purton, Wiltshire
C Bathe/wife/married/24/–/Denton,
Norfolk
C A Bathe/daughter/–/1 /–/Middx
W A Bathe/son/–/1 month/–/Middx
E Painter/servant/unmarried/23/barmaid/Surrey
A
Prigg/servant/unmarried/19/barman/Surrey
H Dubber/servant/unmarried/18/house
servant/Wiltshire
M A Allen/servant/unmarried/17/nursery
maid/Wiltshire
On 7 January
1861 the licence for the Royal Oak was transferred from William Bathe to James
Murrell and the Bathe family moved to 7 Kildare Gardens, Paddington.
The 1861
census for the new family home:
William Bathe/41/retired
victualler/Purton, Wilts
Catherine Bathe/34/wife/Denton, Norfolk
Catherine Anne Bathe/11/scholar/Marylebone
Jessie Jane Bathe/8/scholar/Marylebone
Mary W Bathe/6/scholar/Marylebone
Charles E Bathe/5/scholar/Marylebone
Arthur John Bathe/3/scholar/Marylebone
Ellen Bathe/1/scholar/Marylebone
Eliza Rutland/21/house servant/Maston,
Northampton
Elizabeth Norris/22/nurse
maid/Marylebone
They then
moved to Ealing, where Catherine died on 1 October 1864, aged 37. Her body was
taken to Purton, William’s home village, for burial on 7 October. William was
in Marston, Wiltshire, when he died on 30 September 1868, aged 48. It is not
clear if he had moved there or was just visiting. He was described as “late of
Ealing” when probate was granted. Again, his body was taken to Purton for
burial, on 5 October. A tomb commemorating William and Catherine still stands
in Purton churchyard.
William had
obviously done well out of the Royal
Oak: his estate was valued at £14,000 (about £650,000 today). Executors
of his will were his sister Ellen Bathe, of Ealing, William Standen of Clapham,
and Thomas Young, licensed victualler of the Eyre Arms, Finchley Road, St John’s Wood. In 1871, William and
Catherine’s eldest son – William Anthony Bathe – was a visitor at the Eyre Arms and described as a wine
merchant.
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