{34}
First Railway Journey.—Two Schools at St. Ives Built.—Methodical Philanthropic Work.—A High Character.—Church Rates.—Church Rate Question at St. Ives.—How an Uncontested Church Rate Used to be Made at Houghton.—Wyton Events.—Religious Work at Houghton.—The Dissenters and Their Work.—Lady Olivia Sparrow.—Building of Houghton Chapel.—The First Members.—Mr. Harcourt’s Advent to Houghton.
At the age of 17, say in the year, 1840, I was taken from school, and put in the mill to learn the milling business. About that time, or a little before, some fresh boys came to be educated with my brother, Mr. Geo. Brown, who was 3¾ years younger than myself:—The two sons of Mr. Dennis Paul, then of St. Ives, afterwards of Leicester; John Ekins, son of Mr. Longland Ekins, of Woodhurst; and Mr. Geo. Daintree, son of Mr. Robt. Daintree, of Fenton. They remained until my brother had finished his education, and the school was broken up in the summer of 1843.
{35} I think in the year 1840, before I went into the mill, my father, accompanied by Dennis Paul, took my brother and myself, and Mr. Paul was accompanied by one son, Dennis or John, also Mr. Chas. Tebbutt, a tour to the English lakes, also into Scotland. We went by coach to Nottingham, stayed one or two nights at Mr. Felkin’s house, and then on to Birmingham. Please note here, that the nearest railway then to Huntingdon was the London and Birmingham, which came within about four or five miles of the town of Northampton, at a place called Blesworth, so that the journey we made from Nottingham to Birmingham was the first journey I ever made by rail. The second day we went from Birmingham to Liverpool, then to Lancaster, where the railway at that time ceased. Then we went to Kendal by coach, after visiting the lakes; went to Carlisle by coach, then by coach from Carlisle to Glasgow. This was in the year 1840. How the railway has spread over the whole civilised world in something over 50 years! I will say nothing more about this tour, except that on our journey home we took the coach at Newcastle on a Friday morning at 11 o’clock, reached York about 9 p.m., and Huntingdon on Saturday at one p.m., a total of 36 hours for the journey from Newcastle to Huntingdon.
I will now resume with the Education question, at Houghton especially, but also at St. Ives. Mr. Francis Cross had, I think, at one time about 200 scholars; of course, principally the children of Houghton and Wyton, but, under Mr. Cross’s management, {36} the school gained such a local reputation that children came to it from the two Hemingfords, St. Ives, Godmanchester, Huntingdon, and Hartford. The sons of some tradesmen, as well as the children of labourers, received their education there, and when Mr. Cross died, in the year 1867 (January 19th), and it was advertised that a monument was to be erected to his memory in Houghton Chapel Yard, subscriptions came in from America and the Colonies and other parts of the world. To this day, men past middle age, but younger than myself, will say, “I was educated by Mr. Cross at the Houghton British School, and attribute much of my success in life to the education I there received.” I may say, in conclusion, “We shall never see his like again.”
The school, as I said before, was built by my father, and it was mainly supported by him.
Some time after the Houghton School was in operation, my father built the Boys’ School at St. Ives, then the Girls’ School (with additions, they are now both the St. Ives Board Schools). My father used to go all round the town of St. Ives, and could always collect sufficient money to carry on the schools efficiently. Sometimes someone would offer him a sovereign, and he would say, “I will only take 10s. of you; I think that is as much as you ought to give.” Mr. Botterill was the first master at the St. Ives School, and an excellent master he was. He afterwards became Agent to Mr. Geo. Day, {37} the grandfather of the present Mr. Dennis Day.
The schools were only “Voluntary” Schools, receiving no State aid; the Bible was taught, and religious instruction given; both Mr. Cross and Mr. Botterill being men making a religious profession. Children of both Church parents and children of Nonconformists were educated, and a religious difficulty had not even been thought of.
Before resuming the religious work that was carried on by my father, I will account for the fact that while Mr. Goodman, my father’s partner, was heart and soul with him in the religious work, he did not assist in either building the school or the chapel, nor did he take such a prominent part as my father in the management. The reason of the latter was that Mr. Goodman was a quiet, reading, studious man, more adapted for using the pen than the sword. As regards the former, I am certain that while my father gave largely on a fixed principle, Mr. Goodman gave less, but on an equally fixed principle. They were so much in accord that they would do nothing, religious, political, or philanthropic, without consulting each other. My father would say to Mr. Goodman, “God has only given me two children that I may have the more money to spend on religious effort. He has given you seven children, and it is your duty to hold your money tight, and provide for your family, so as to give them a strong position in the world as far as money can do.” I know for a fact on one occasion when my father was past {38} middle age, Mr. Goodman said, “You have now made sufficient money; there is no occasion for you to save any more.”
Mr. Goodman was a very strong Nonconformist, perhaps more so even than my father. He had great difficulty in making his mind up to pay a Church rate, not because of the injustice of taxing Nonconformists to pay for Church services, but because he took strong exception to Church teaching.
I remember on one occasion, when he was discussing the Church doctrines with some one in Mrs. Goodman’s presence, she said in my hearing, “Joseph, with your strong antipathy to the Church, I wonder we ever got married.” Dissenters then could only be married at Church.
When a Church was formed at Houghton, and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered in the Chapel, my father, though holding the Quaker opinion on that subject, used to stay without communing, but Mr. Goodman used to walk out. Before leaving my remembrances of Mr. Goodman, I must record what a high character he bore, not only amongst his co-religionists, but the general public. I heard a gentleman say some years ago that at a public market-table his presence was sufficient to stop anyone from indulging in an unseemly jest or incident. In confirmation of this, the late Mr. William Hempstead, a Churchman and Conservative, told me that some one said in his hearing something derogatory to Mr. Goodman in the market-room upstairs at the “George,” at {39} Chatteris. Mr. Hempstead said, “What; what did you say? Say that again, and I will kick you downstairs.”
Church rates were a great grievance, also an injustice to Dissenters, because you not only had to assist in repairing the building which you did not use, but also to provide the bread and wine for the Sacrament, coals for warming, washing the parson’s surplice, in fact, all incidentals of a service in which you took no part. Among Dissenters there were two classes of objectors, one set bona fide having a conscientious objection to supporting Church services; the other having no conscientious objection, but declining to submit to an injustice. The first refused absolutely to pay the rate, the second either refused to pay or paid as circumstances dictated at the time.
There were two so-called Church rate martyrs, one a Mr. Baines, of Leicester, who went to gaol rather than pay the impost; the other—who also went to gaol—lived at Chelmsford in Essex.
It was always considered, up to some time in the Forties, that a majority of a parish or vestry assembled could either make or refuse to make a Church rate, but the inhabitants of Braintree in Essex (the Church having become dilapidated) declined to levy a rate for its restoration. The Church authorities took the question into a superior Court, which Court ruled that the parish was bound to keep the Church in repair. The effect of this decision gave the minority the power to levy a rate against the consent of the ma-{40}jority. Such a decision could not remain to rest there, so Mr. CoustauldCourtauld (The Times, 11 Nov. 1841, p. 7), a wealthy silk manufacturer, took the matter into a higher Court, and got the first decision reversed.
During the period between the two decisions at St. Ives, which could always prevent a Church rate being levied, the Dissenters being stronger than the Church people, the churchwardens availed themselves of the minority decision, and attempted to collect the rate. Some paid and some would not. The Churchwardens, the late Mr. Martin Osborn, tried to coax my father into paying, but my father said, “I always pay when a majority vote a rate, but I will never pay a rate made by a minority.”
No one can form any idea of the excitement caused by a Church rate contest. It was only to be compared to the excitement of a Parliamentary election.
Here is the making of an uncontested Church rate at Houghton. A few parishioners would gather round the Communion table, most of them with their hats on, my father and Mr. Joseph Goodman amongst them. As soon as the clergyman came, they would all uncover excepting my father; he, having his Quaker scruples, would not uncover.
The Clergyman: I request you to take your hat off, sir.
Mr. Brown: I decline to take my hat off.
The Clergyman: I insist upon you taking your hat off.
Mr. Brown: If you insist I will take it off out of respect to you.
{41} The Clergyman: I do not wish it taken off out of respect to me.
Mr. Brown: I decline to take it off out of respect to the bricks and mortar.
My father remained covered. Next, one of the Churchwardens would propose a 6d. rate, knowing it would not be carried, then a 5d., 4d., 3d., and 2d. rate. Ultimately a penny rate was duly proposed and seconded, then Mr. Goodman would remark that the Church ought to pay for its coals, etc., the same as they did at the chapels. The Clergyman would say that was a very different thing. Mr. Goodman would then faintly ask if a halfpenny rate would not do, and the farce ended by a penny rate being agreed to.
The above proceedings, with little variations, were repeated at every Easter vestry.
The books were laid on the Communion table, and all the business of the vestry was there conducted.
Horne TookTooke once took the duty for a short time at Wyton Church.
Charles James Fox, the celebrated Statesman, was married privately at Wyton Church.
The two parishes of Houghton and Wyton were ecclesiastically one, though having two Churches; there was only one clergyman and one rectory attached or near to Wyton Church. The Rector at the time I am now writing about (say from 1823 to 1846) was the Rev. E. P. (not to be confounded with his son, the Rev. E. P., who was {42} the first Rector of Houghton, after the two parishes were disconnected). He was a clergyman of the old school, called “High and Dry,” which has been described as caring less for the Flock than the Fleece. He also held another living, I believe at Coveney, near Ely. He would have a congregation on the average of about 25, in a population of from 700 to 800, and conducted the services in a formal manner, preaching the same sermon about every fifth Sunday. (I should have said his congregation of 25 included the Rector’s domestics). Such was the man that had the spiritual charge of a considerable sized parish.
My grandfather built, adjoining his house, a long, narrow building, afterwards called the “Tunnel,” because of its length, compared with its width, where he gathered a small Sunday school together, and he, and I presume his daughter, gave the children religious instruction. He afterwards handed over the school to the clergyman, who, as may be imagined from what I have related before, soon lost it all.
I must now state, that after events may be better understood, that the living of Houghton and Wyton was in the gift of Lady Olivia Sparrow, of Brampton Park, near Huntingdon. She was also a considerable landowner in the parish and Lady of the Manor, also owner of the water mills. She was a strong evangelical church woman of the most orthodox description, and was in much communication with Hannah Moore, the authoress, and others of that stamp. She {43} was also, of course, a State and Church Tory of the old school (the milder name of Conservative had not then been invented). Such was the lady under whom my father and Mr. Goodman held the mill and the farm. From the farm then they could be dismissed at six months’ notice, and from the mill at the end of every expiring lease. It must, therefore, be clear that both Mr. Goodman and my father were men who would act according to their consciences at the risk of losing both the occupations from which they gained their living. At a time when Mr. Goodman and Mr. Brown were about 40 years of age, Mr. Goodman said to my father, “We cannot continue here; we are too strong Dissenters in religion and Radical in politics to suit our landlady.” Mr. Goodman’s prophecy was afterwards partially fulfilled, though not in his lifetime.
To resume, my father, anticipating some trouble might arise with his landlady, to justify his after proceedings, had the congregation at Church counted for several Sundays.
I should say here, between the time of the Rector losing the Sunday School, as recorded, my father lent the “tunnel” to the Wesleyans, and they carried it on until Mr. Brown and Mr. Goodman took it over. Mr. Goodman was the first superintendent, and, I think, continued so until his death in the Autumn of 1844. I think the present Houghton chapel was erected in 1844. The first brick was laid by me, Bateman Brown, on the right-hand corner facing the Chapel. Among others pre-{44}sent was Mrs. Joseph Goodman, and she took the work people engaged on the work into the adjoining British Schoolroom, and presented each of them with a Bible.
Now at the present time, in the year 1896, what would be thought an intolerable piece of interference took place. The Rector came to my father, and said, “I insist, sir, that not another brick shall be laid to that building until I have seen your landlady on the matter.” Of course, my father did not take any notice of his threat, for such it was intended to be. My father heard nothing from his landlady, and nothing more from the Rector, but it was reported to my father by someone who knew what took place, that she said, “I decline to interfere, but you, sir, must, to hold your position in the parish, be more diligent and active in your work.”
Copy of the original document to be signed by all Church members on, admission to the Houghton Church, which was formed December 8, 1844:
Houghton, December 8, 1844.
We, the undersigned, having given ourselves to the Lord to be his people for ever, do hereby form ourselves into a Christian Society, specially to promote each other’s spiritual welfare and the eternal interests of all around us, solemnly promising before Almighty God, that by the assistance of His strength, we will walk with and towards each other, according to the rules of His most Holy Word. And we agree to welcome to our number all who, desiring to flee from {45} the wrath to come, seek for union with us, in order to promote the objects for which we are banded together:—James Harcourt (a); Francis Cross (d); Potto Brown (d); Wm. Tysoe (a); Elizabeth King (d); John Corbett (x d); Sarah Howell (x d); Mary Ashton x d); Francis Earl (x d); Luke Boutall (d); John Clark (x); William Freeman (x); Mary Bass (x d); William Cook; Jeremiah Sharp (a); Mary Allpress (x); Thos. Toon; Sarah Tysoe (x d); Margaret Ellis (d); Rowette Cunnington; Ann Clark (d); Mary Blott (d); Hannah Clark (d); Caroline Clark (a); Mary Lister (x); Jane Corbett (x d); Mary Brown (d); Rachael Burton (x); Francis Minney (x d) ; Elizabeth Perry (x d); Mary Clark (a); Frederick Clarke (d); William Johnson (d); Jane Boutall (d); Jane Leach (x d); Jane Cole (d); Elizabeth Johnson (x d); Isaac Wallington (d); Mary Ann Pailton (x d); Mary Ann Suiter; Emma Algood (x d); John Hunter; Sarah Hunter; Mary Ann Toon; Martha Hewes; Ann Sharp (a); Mary Argent (x); Mary Bull; Jane Slowe (x d); Mary Clark (x d); Ann Spinner; Margaret Stamford (d); John Pick (a); Butler Cole (x d); Thomas Hammond (d); Elizabeth Hart. I know that out of the 57 names, 32 are dead, and most likely some others who have left the village are also dead. This was in 1896. Out of 57, 22 have made a x because they could not write.
So the Chapel was completed in due course. At first the minister was a Mr. Augustus Smith, whose preaching and ministrations produced no effect upon the population, and {46} he left and became a High-Calvanist minister at the Crown Yard Chapel, St. Ives.
In the summer of 1844, Mr. Goodman and my father invited Mr. James Harcourt to become their minister, after hearing him preach some little time in the chapel, and satisfying themselves that he would be a suitable pastor. Up to his advent, we had continued to worship more or less at the Independent Chapel, St. Ives, under the ministry of the Rev. J. K. Holland, who was a man of considerable ability but cold-blooded in nature. Mr. Goodman and Mr. Brown were convinced that under his ministrations their young people were not likely to receive any religious impressions, so on or soon after Mr. Harcourt’s coming, they seceded from Mr. Holland’s chapel, and became attendants at the Houghton Chapel. At least my father did actually, and Mr. Goodman in intention, which intention was not carried out for the cause now to be explained.