Old Royal Oak, Wootton Bassett, Wilts

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 18^th 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 25^th 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 13^th 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 7^th 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 33^rd 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.

Spanish Patriot, Lower Marsh

The second blog in this series on publicans from one family again uses data from pubwiki.co.uk, Ancestry and Findmypast

Spanish Patriot, Lower Marsh

After Napoleon ousted Ferdinand VII and placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne of Spain in 1808, the Spanish revolted and started the first guerrilla war. Initially the guerrillas were known as “Spanish Patriots” and banquets were held in London to raise money in their support. A newly-built armed merchant brig was named Spanish Patriot, and its successful encounters with French privateers were reported in many newspapers. Spanish Patriot fever swept the country – a book of patriot songs bore an illustration of a Spanish Patriot and The Globe of 7 January 1809 reported the annual Twelfth Night festival:

An immense crowd rendered the house of Mrs Leftwick, Fleet-street, difficult of access. At the entrance, a large figure of a Spanish Patriot, formed in masterly style, of confectionery, presented itself to view, holding in his hand a label “Ferdinand the VIIth, my lawful Monarch, for him I will conquer or die!”

Mr Cuthbert, in the same street, was not less brilliant. On the end of his counter stood the figures of a Spanish Patriot and an English Tar, with their hands grasped in each other, with an inscription underneath “United we will conquer the Usurper”.

At least two London pubs took the name, one in White Conduit Street, the other in Lower Marsh, Lambeth.

Richard Davis

The first landlord of the Spanish Patriot in Lower Marsh was Richard Davis, who appears to have started the business in 1808, when he was about 28.

Richard was one of several brothers born to John and Ann Davis in Barnes, on the Surrey side of the Thames. He was baptised in St Mary, Barnes, on 30 April 1780. He married Nancy Atkins at St Peter, Cornhill, in the City of London, on 8 August 1824. Nancy, who was some 16 years his junior, came from Taunton in Somerset.

Richard and Nancy had three children: Charles, born 1825, Emma (1827) and Julia (1831). It appears that Charles died in infancy but the two girls lived long lives and married two brothers, Augustus and Robert Marzetti.

 When Richard retired in 1834, the following advertisement appeared:

Morning Advertiser 10 January 1834

New Cut, Lambeth. – To Brewers, Distillers, Publicans, and Others – Respectable Free Wine Vaults, known as Spanish Patriot, held for the unexpired term of upwards of 70 years, at a ground rent of only £8 per annum, alike available for investment or occupation.

J. Wisby respectfully informs the Public he has received instructions from Mr Davis (who is retiring from business) to submit to Public Auction, at Garraway’s Coffee House, Cornhill on Tuesday Jan 21 unless previously disposed of by Private Contract, the valuable lease with immediate possession, of the above premises, which have been successfully carried on by him for upwards of 27 years. The situation for business stands unrivalled, being in the centre of that densely populated neighbourhood, Lower Marsh near the New Market, and the Marsh Gate, New Cut, Lambeth, Surrey. – The Premises may be viewed, and descriptive particulars had at the Gloucester Coffee-house, Oxford-street; Horns Tavern, Kennington; Garraway’s Coffee-house, Change-alley, Cornhill; of Colly Smith, Esq., Solicitor, Lincoln’s Inn; upon the Premises; and of Mr. J. Wisby, Auctioneer, Appraiser, &c., No.10 Mount-row, Westminster-road, Surrey.

After the sale of Spanish Patriot, the Davis family moved first to Norwood, and then to West Bromwich in Staffordshire, where Richard invested in several properties, probably assisted by his brother Septimus Davis, who was by then an auctioneer and valuer in that town. The family was there when Richard wrote his will on 30 December 1837, but when he added a codicil, on 8 April 1840, they had moved back to London.

Richard died two days after adding that codicil to his will and the following notice appeared:

Morning Advertiser 21 April 1840

On the 10th instant, at Bayswater, after a lingering illness, Mr Richard Davis, aged 60. He was a subscriber to the Morning Advertiser a number of years and was the original occupier of the Spanish Patriot, Lower Marsh, Lambeth.

Richard was buried  at St Mary, Paddington Green on 18 April 1840.

Richard’s will was remarkable in that the beginning concentrated on a life assurance policy he had taken out with Imperial Life Insurance in March 1832. For an annual premium of £48 4s 3d, the insurance company would pay out £1,000 on his death. This sum was intended for his wife and children but in March 1837, he sold the policy to a Thomas Prout, perfumer of the Strand, for the sum of £100.

The will was strangely worded: Richard said he believed the £1,000 would still be for the benefit of his wife, even though he had sold the policy to Prout, and so he went on to dispose of his real estate – the houses in West Bromwich – to another brother, Charles, and a friend called Henry Holland, and made various other bequests to Septimus and another brother, John, as well as Licensed Victuallers’ charities. Very little was left to his wife beyond his personal effects.

Thomas Prout was born in Launceston, Cornwall, in 1786 and had married Mary Blanchard in 1816. The couple appear not to have had any children of their own and were living in East Hill, Wandsworth, at the time of the 1841 census. However, on 16 October 1842, Mary died while visiting Brighton.

Nancy Davis, on the other hand, who had been living in Clapham with her two young daughters in 1841, made sure she got the benefit of her husband’s life assurance – she married Thomas Prout in April 1844!

Thomas Prout died on 25 July 1859, with an estate worth £16,000. Nancy lived for another 19 years, dying on 28 December 1878.

Thomas Iredale Woodin

Meanwhile at the Spanish Patriot. When Richard Davis sold up, the pub was taken over by Thomas Iredale Woodin. Thomas was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, the son of Samuel Woodin and his wife Catherine (nee Iredale). On 25 January 1820, he married Fanny Cook at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, the village where Fanny had been born in 1801.

Thomas and Fanny had a number of children, and one of the oldest was William, who was baptised in St Albans, Hertfordshire, on 21 February 1823, when his father was described as an inn keeper. Another child, Dennis, was baptised in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, on 1 July 1825 and this time Thomas was described as a publican. Unfortunately it has so far not proved possible to identify which pubs he was running.

At some point in the in the late 1820s, Thomas moved the family to London. They may at first been in Tottenham Court Road but certainly by July 1829, they were in Webber Street, off Great Surrey Street, Lambeth. On the baptism of Frances Woodin on 20 July that year, Thomas was described as a wine merchant, but when both Frances and her sister Georgiana were baptised (Frances for a second time) on 30 September 1833, Thomas was described as a victualler and Robson’s directories record him as the licensee of Cobourg Arms, Webber Street in 1832. Pigot’s 1832 directory called it Royal Cobourg Arms, but that was probably an error.

In the 1835 edition of Robson, Thomas Woodin is listed at both Cobourg Arms and Spanish Patriot but after then, solely at Spanish Patriot with Francis Gigner at the Webber Street pub.

Not long after Thomas took over at the pub, the following case was widely reported:

Morning Advertiser 28 December 1836

A man in the employ of Mr Woodin, landlord of the Spanish Patriot, in Upper Marsh, Lambeth, was charged with carrying spirits without a permit, whereby he had incurred a penalty of £100.

Nicks, an excise officer, stated that he met the defendant that morning carrying a gallon of brandy and gallon of gin, for which he had no permit, and took him into custody.

The defendant said that his master was ill, and that it was by the directions of the barman he carried out the spirits, being ignorant at the time that he was committing an offence.

Mr Wisbey said that application had been made at the Permit-office, in Redcross-street, for a permit to send out a gallon of spirits, but the messenger was told by the officer in charge that there was no necessity for a permit in sending out that quantity.

For the guidance of the retailers of spirits, in cases of this description, we insert the subjoined General Order, issued by the Commissioners of Excise.

“The Act of 8^th of Geo I cap 18 sec 13 enacts that no spirits, without the same may be under the quantity of a gallon, shall be received or taken into the possession of a retailer without a permit. The injunction that although under one gallon the spirits shall be accompanied by a permit, narrowly implies that on application a permit shall be granted. By the 116^th section of the Act 6^th Geo 4 cap 80, all spirits exceeding a gallon, to whomsoever going, requires a permit, and all spirits, though less than a gallon, going to a retailer must be permitted (as the instruction is to having a permit, but not restricting the quantity). And a retailer licensed as a dealer, when sending to another entered trader, may require a permit for a less quantity than a gallon.”

The defendant was fined the mitigated penalty of £25, the Magistrates telling him that he had better memorialize the Board for a remission of the sentence.

The 1841 census gives the family living at Spanish Patriot as:

Thos Woodin 40 Publican

Fanny Woodin 30

Ann Woodin 20

William Woodin 18

Georginada Woodin 14

Francis Woodin 12

Mary Markwell 20 FS

Chas Mallat 20 MS

Maria Somer 20 FS

By the end of September 1841, Thomas was in financial difficulties and was called for a bankruptcy hearing. The following advertisement then appeared:

Morning Advertiser 25 October 1841

Long Lease of premises including Spanish Patriot wine and spirits Establishment New Cut Lambeth with stabling &c, also Baker’s Shop adjoining and Five tenements in the rear producing an improved rent of about £60 per annum for 64 years. – By Fenton and Faithful, at Garraway’s, on Tuesday Nov. 16 at Twelve, by direction of the Assignees of Mr Thomas Iredale Woodin, a bankrupt, and with the concurrence of the Mortgagees.

The Lease of those excellent Premises, known as the Spanish Patriot, No 34 Lower Marsh, leading from Blackfriars-road to Marsh-gate, Westminster Road; also the Baker’s Shop, No 33, adjoining, and four Tenements in the rear, the whole of which valuable property is held by one lease, for 64 years, at the trifling rent of £20 13s per annum. May be viewed five days preceding the sale, when particulars may be had; also at Garraway’s; of Mr Ware, Solicitor, Blackman-street, Southwark; of William Pennell, Esq, Official Assignee, No 31 New Basinghall-street; and at the Auctioneers’ Offices, No 12, Wellington-street, Strand.

A few months later there was another announcement, this time of a death:

Morning Advertiser 27 April 1842

On Sunday, 17^th instant, in the 49^th year of age. Mr Thomas Iredale Woodin, late of the Spanish Patriot, New Cut, Lambeth; a life subscriber to the School and a donor to the Asylum, leaving a heavy family to deplore his loss.

Possibly, then, Thomas’s bankruptcy came about because he had difficulty running the pub while his health was failing.

Thomas’s widow Fanny married Joseph Jay in Kennington on 20 July 1844. What Joseph’s profession was at the time is not known but on 15 January 1849, the licence for the Mitre in Mitre Terrace, Hackney, was transferred from Samuel Robert Bishop to Joseph Jay.

The 1851 census shows two of Fanny’s children at the Mitre:

11 Mitre Terrace

Joseph Jay /58 /Licensed victualler/ Norwich

Fanny Jay /50 / Ampthill, Beds

Dennis Woodin /26 /Hatfield, Herts

Georgiana Woodin /23 /Tottenham Court Rd, Middx

Henry Hannant /25 /Potman /Buckstone, Norfolk

Mary Serls /33 /Waitress /Exeter St Davids

Ellen Martin /22 /House servant /Bow, Middx

Rose Langley /22 /Barmaid /Dover, Kent

On 15 March 1859, the Morning Advertiser announce the transfer of the licence for the Mitre from Joseph Jay to John Mosby. Joseph and Fanny Jay then retired to 35 Culford Road South, Downham Road, Kingsland, but they did not enjoy their retirement together for long. Joseph died there on 1 January 1861.

The 1861 census then showed the occupants of 35 Culford Road as:

Fanny Jay /widow /60 /Leaseholder /Ampthill, Beds

Ann Galer / widow /51/ visitor / Formerly Matron / Somerson, Hunts  

Eliza Godier / unmarried/34 house servant / Bethnal Green, Middx

Fanny was still in Culford Road when she died in February 1870. Like Joseph, she was buried at St James, Pancras

The Caretaker

It is not clear who actually bought the Spanish Patriot when it had to be sold following Thomas Woodin’s bankruptcy: whether it was bought by one man or by a consortium. Certainly the next licensee was Andrew Alexander, but it would appear that he was someone who looked after pubs that had had a setback. He would put them back on their feet and then move on. He is known to have been the licensee of five different pubs in as many years – scattered across London.

This is a series of events that it has encouraged Peabee to look at him as a subject for yet another blog – so no spoilers now.

Another Bathe moves in

The eldest son of Wootton Bassett solicitor William Bathe was christened John Bathe in Purton, Wiltshire, on 8 July 1819. Although his father had his practice in Wootton Bassett, the family lived in Purton where they had been for generations.

William Bathe had been born in Purton and baptised in the parish church on 26 June 1793. The same church saw his marriage to local girl Mary Henley Warman on 1 January 1818.

William and Mary had had 11 children in the 24 years of their marriage, all of them baptised in Purton, but by census night 1841, William and Mary, with the four youngest children, were living in Wootton Bassett where he had his practice.

William died on 10 September 1841 when he was 48 and Mary died two years later – she was 47. When William died, his oldest child was 22 and his youngest just 3 years old. The oldest child – John –appears to have assumed responsibility for several of his surviving younger siblings after their parents’ deaths.

It is not known precisely when John became a licensed victualler in London but he was, for a short time around 1843, at the White Swan at 20 Little St Andrew Street, Seven Dials. Then he appears to have been the licensee at two premises at the same time – Green Dragon, Fleet Street, and Spanish Patriot, Lower Marsh.

The licence for Green Dragon was transferred from Ralph Thomas Fellowes to Stephen Taylor on 16 February 1843 and Stephen Taylor was listed as the landlord in the 1844 Post Office Directory. However, early in 1845, this advertisement appeared:

Morning Advertiser 20 February 1845

Hy Haines had received the most positive instructions to Submit to Unreserved Sale, at Garraway’s Coffee-house, ’Change-alley, on Monday, Feb 24, at 12 for 1, The Valuable Lease and Goodwill of the Green Dragon Wine Vaults, Fleet-street. The property is undoubtedly placed in one of the Very Best Situations for Trade in London, the thoroughfare, beyond all doubt, the largest in the metropolis, and the neighbourhood most extensive, the returns in trade are large and The Profits Excessive. It being far removed from the possibility of opposition, it may be fairly inferred that, with proper management, the trade would exceed £500 per month. The premises are large and well arranged for business, but yet capable of great improvement; held on lease at a moderate rental. For particulars apply on the premises; at Garraway’s; and at the Auctioneer’s Offices, 38 Moorgate-street, City.

John Bathe was the purchaser of the lease and on 24 April 1845, he applied for the Freedom of the City from the Green Dragon – and application that was granted on 29 May 1845.

Besides running Green Dragon as a public house, he also advertised “Bathe’s sweep stakes” on various classic horse races – Derby, St Leger, Cesarewitch, etc – throughout 1845, 1846 and early 1847, but on 3 July 1847 the licence for Green Dragon, Fleet Street, was transferred from John Bathe to Edward Low.

Meanwhile, John was also the licensee for Spanish Patriot. He is listed there in the Post Office Directory of 1844 (although his surname was misspelt Bath – a fairly common mistake even today!).

On 19 April 1845 it was reported that the Licensed Victuallers’ Protection Society awarded William Kealy “a guinea for apprehending Robert Holmes for robbing Mr Bathe, Spanish Patriot, Lower Marsh, Lambeth, of a pewter pot and a spirit funnel”.

Then again, on 17 Oct 1846, the Licensed Victuallers’ Protection Society awarded [PC] John Davies, 46L, a guinea for apprehending Mary Eaton for robbing Mr Bathe, Spanish Patriot, Lower Marsh, Lambeth, of a knife.

One of John’s sisters, Susannah Holliday Bathe, died in Lambeth on 17 May 1847, when she was 21 and in 1848, when a younger brother, Julian Bathe, became an apprentice in the Merchant Navy, he stated that he would be living in Lambeth when ashore.

The fact that Susannah died relatively young was not surprising for this family: only one of the 11 children is known for certain to have been older than her parents when she died.

For Christmas 1848, John Bathe decide to get some musicians to help entice customers, but it didn’t go according to plan:

Bell’s New Weekly Messenger 24 December 1848

Unneighbourly and Cruel Conduct

On Thursday, at Lambeth Police Court, John Jones, William M‘Cann, James Busby, and James Buzzard, street minstrels, were charged with a violation of the Police Act, in having continued to play their instruments in a public thoroughfare after being required to depart, by a respectable housekeeper.

Mr Fuller, baker, Lower Marsh, Lambeth, deposed that, on the night before, the prisoners commenced playing their wind instruments in front of the Spanish Patriot public-house, which is next door to his, and ascertaining that they were engaged by Mr Bathe, the landlord, to play for several hours, he saw Mr Bathe, and informed him that Mrs Fuller had been very ill for two months, and was then lying in his first floor front room, in a very dangerous state, and begged he would order the music to be discontinued. Mr Bathe replied that he had engaged the musicians for four nights, and therefore could not think of their removal; and added, that if Mrs Fuller was so ill, and wished to avoid hearing the music, she must be removed to a back room. Witness told him that her state was so dangerous that this was impossible. The music was continued, and witness, seeing a policeman pass, gave them into custody.

Mr Norton: How long did they continue to play after you gave them warning to leave?

Mr Fuller: At least half-an-hour the last time; but they were there altogether from about half-past eight o’clock to a quarter to ten.

Inspector Arnold said, when the prisoners were taken to the station-house, Mr Fuller offered to forego the charge, provided Mr Bathe would give his word that the music should not be repeated; but the latter not only refused to give any such promise, but said if even the magistrate should attempt to prevent them playing in front of his house he should have them play in his drawing-room.

Police-constable Romaine, 38L, corroborated a great portion of the evidence of Mr Fuller, and said he had prevailed upon the prisoners to play a short distance from the Spanish Patriot, at which Mr Fuller expressed himself perfectly satisfied, but Mr Bathe brought them back and ordered them to play as before, in front of his house.

Mr Norton: Now, Mr Bathe, we must come to some understanding in this matter. What do you propose doing?

Mr Bathe: I do mean to have the music.

Mr Norton: What! to torture this poor woman, who is so afflicted with an affection of the brain that, as stated by her medical attendant, any noise or excitement may place her life in great danger. I tell you that should you persist in keeping these men in your house after what has happened, and the noise or excitement caused by their music occasion the death of the poor woman, you will be placed in an awkward position.

Mr Bathe, observing the strong feeling which his conduct had produced in the court, said: If I had been aware that Mrs Fuller was so ill, I should not have done it.

Mr Norton: Then, now that you are aware of it, do you persist in saying you will continue this music?

Mr Bathe (reluctantly): Well, under the circumstances, I will not.

Mr Norton: Then, with this understanding, I shall mitigate the penalty from 40s to 10s each; and I hope to hear no more of this.

Mr Bathe paid the fine, and the prisoners were discharged.

Another newspaper reported that Mr Fuller had given the magistrate a letter from Mrs Fuller’s surgeon, J. Sewell of 55 Lambeth Marsh, which read: “I do certify that I am attending Mrs Fuller of 33 Lambeth-marsh, who is suffering severely from the effects of affection of the brain; and it is my opinion that any noise or excitement will place her life in the greatest danger.”

Perhaps at this point it should be pointed out that Mrs Fuller was just 29 years old at the time and lived until she was 62 – outliving her husband!

Alfred Fuller had married Elizabeth Ann Lloyd on 7 April 1846 and their first child was born on 19 September 1847 and so was 18 months old when the incident occurred. Less than a year after she was supposed to be at death’s door, Mrs Fuller fell pregnant again and on 16 May 1850, gave birth to her second son. Three more children were to follow, the last in 1862.

John Bathe himself got married the following year, to Eliza Andrews from Dartford, Kent, at St John the Evangelist, Lambeth, on 3 April 1849. They had one son, John Warman Bathe, who lived for just 2 months and was buried in Dartford on 2 May 1851.

The 1851 census shows the inhabitants of Spanish Patriot at the end of March as:

John Bathe /32 /Victualler /Purton, Wilts

Eliza Bathe /24 /Dartford, Kent

John Bathe /1 month/Lambeth, Surrey

Joshua Golding /22 /Barman/ Shoreditch, Middx

Elizabeth Bathe /16 /Sister /Wootton Bassett, Wilts

Sarah Safe /22 /General Servant /Lambeth, Surrey

Thomas Hammond /18 /Potman / Westminster, Middx

John Bathe died on 10 September 1851 and his body was taken to Purton for burial.

A month before his death, he had written his will in which he left the sum of £50 to his 16-year-old sister Elizabeth, who was living in the Lambeth pub, and the rest of his estate to his widow, Eliza, with his brother William appointed executor.

Eliza remarried a year later, on 7 December 1852 – to another licensed victualler, Francis John Bond, of King’s Arms, King Street Camden Town – but she too died young, at the beginning of 1855, aged 31.

John’s brother William, who was the licensee of Royal Oak, Circus Street (see previous blog) transferred the licence for Spanish Patriot, to George Godfrey on 12 November 1851.

Royal Oak, Circus Street

This started by a quick look at a group of cousins who ended up in the London pub trade of the mid-19^th 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 18^th century and into the early years of the 19^th 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 29^th 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 16^th 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: 1^st, 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.