High Country History Group

Recently the National Archives (TNA) enabled certain documents to be downloaded for free. You have to register first (on Discovery), then you can search by name, place or keyword. I searched for “Stapleford Tawney” in the section on Wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) and discovered several interesting local characters. The one which first caught my eye was John Collop, blacksmith. He had written his will in 1844 and died in 1846. The sentence which intrigued me (once I had managed to decipher the legal clerk’s handwriting) was a legacy “for my son John Collop who was about the year 1837 sentenced to transportation for fifteen years”. If he returned he was to be given his legacy, but if he had not claimed it after five years beyond the end of his sentence, it was to go to his three named children, ie the blacksmith’s grandchildren. I wondered what crime the son had committed, and whether he ever came back to claim his inheritance.

John Collop senior was born in Stapleford Tawney in 1763 and married Rose Fitch of Stapleford Abbotts. They lived at Cutlers Forge, at the junction of Tawney Lane and the main road near Suttons Manor. The house and the former smithy are both still there though the main road has since been realigned. The house has been much enlarged since it was first built in the 17th century, and its weatherboarding has been plastered over and pargetted. The forge itself was converted to a dwelling about 50 years ago. A photograph taken in 1953 of the last working blacksmith shows the scene looking more like it was in John Collop’s time.

Cutlers Forge, Stapleford Tawney, 1953, and part of the blacksmith’s house

As the village blacksmith, John Collop would have been known to everyone in the locality, and he served his turn in the local church as a responsible parishioner. John and Rose had three children – James, Mary Ann, and the youngest John, known as Jack, who was born in 1800. James disappears from the records (he seems to have died young, in 1816). Mary Ann married a Richard Bonus from North Ockendon. They moved to London and had two children, Emma and John. John Collop Bonus was named in his grandfather’s will as the sole executor, and was to inherit his watch as well as a cash legacy.

The blacksmith’s youngest son Jack originally worked with his father at the forge and was also described as a ‘veterinary surgeon’ or ‘horse doctor’. In those days there were no professionally-qualified vets, and those who shod horses were more knowledgeable about horse health, especially lameness, than most horse owners.

However, despite his respectable background, Jack got into trouble as a teenager. In 1819 he was sentenced at the Essex Assize to three months in prison for larceny (theft). Three years later, at 22, he was convicted again of larceny, and served another three-month sentence. He seems to have kept out of the courts after that for several years, and in 1829 he married Rebecca Davey, a 19-year-old girl from Finchingfield. Possibly she was a servant working just down the road at Suttons Manor, which would have given them the opportunity to meet.

The couple had three daughters: Rebecca was baptised in Stapleford Tawney church in 1830 and Mary Elizabeth in 1831. Hannah/Anna Lucinda was baptised in Chigwell in 1835, suggesting the family had moved there, where the Collops had relatives.

John and Rose must have hoped that Jack had put his youthful thieving behind him as he settled down with his young family. Jack’s mother Rose died in 1835, and was buried with other members of the Fitch family in Lambourne churchyard.

In August 1837, however, Jack was arrested for his involvement with a notorious horse-stealing gang led by the Wicker brothers. The newspapers reported the trial in great detail. They even include a description of his “desperate-looking” physical appearance, given in Newgate jail by the gang leader, who hoped to gain favour by incriminating the others:

“John Collop is about 5 feet 6, about 34 years of age, has a very large and long nose, a thick set man, with scarcely any whiskers and darkish hair; he wears a long shooting jacket and black waistcoat.”

It seems that Jack, along with fellow-thief Thomas Brown, had stolen three horses from a farmer called Robinson in Horndon-on-the-Hill. Jack had brought with him a variety of collars, bridles and bits, and his ability with horses would have enabled him to slip them on the horses they were to steal.

Although the actual evidence against Jack was mostly circumstantial, the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to 15 years’ transportation. He was first sent to a prison hulk for four months. Then he was one of 330 convicts put on board the Lord Lyndoch which on 4th April 1838 set sail for New South Wales. As well as the prisoners and the crew, there were 35 army personnel to guard them, eight of them having their wives with them, and a total of 14 children.

The ship’s doctor, Obadiah Pineo, kept a detailed medical journal throughout the voyage, revealing that it was a nightmare from the beginning. There was an outbreak of smallpox just two or three days after leaving port, including the barrack sergeant’s wife and children, and several others. Two prisoners died, one of smallpox and one of TB. Fortunately the surgeon had brought supplies of smallpox vaccine, which reduced its spread.

In May there was a serious accident when a pan of boiling tea scalded sixteen prisoners, two of whom died. By the time they reached the Cape, there had already been a few cases of scurvy, caused by lack of vitamin C. However, the master and doctor decided not to put ashore for fresh provisions, but to press on. Scurvy increased rapidly, with eventually 150 cases altogether. The hospital berth was crowded with smallpox, TB and scurvy sufferers as well as victims of scalding. Nineteen men died in the last eight weeks of the voyage.

When they finally arrived in Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) on 8th August 1838, the sick men were landed from the vessel; 77 were sent to the General Hospital, and 30 for medical treatment in the Prisoners’ Barracks. On a happier note, two of the guards’ wives gave birth to healthy babies during the voyage.

Jack Collop was probably fitter and better-nourished than many of his fellow-convicts and survived the journey. Convicts were used as gang labour to build roads or buildings, or to work for free settlers. Jack’s skills with horses probably stood him in good stead and towards the end of his sentence in October 1849 he was granted a ticket of leave. This was a form of bail or licence which allowed a prisoner to start building a new life in Australia before the official end of his sentence, which would be in 1852. In November 1850, despite 24 hours in solitary confinement for drunkenness a few weeks before, he was granted a passport, suggesting he was hoping to earn enough for his passage home. However, it was not to be. He died In July 1851 and was buried in the Glebe Cemetery, East Maitland.

What happened to Jack’s family while he was away? His wife and children went to live in north Essex, where Rebecca had relatives. But the family were unable to keep together. Rebecca the mother was at the silk mill in Pebmarsh, as servant to a silk merchant. Her eldest daughter, another Rebecca, went to live with relative Charles Davey and his family. He was a farmer in Toppesfield, a few miles away from Pebmarsh. In the 1841 census young Rebecca, although only just 11, was classed as his servant. The two younger girls, Mary and Hannah, were not far away. They were both staying with the Toppesfield Parish Clerk and schoolmaster and his family in the School House. In 1848, the eldest daughter Rebecca married her cousin Henry Davey, a butcher. But that same year her younger sister Hannah died, aged only 13. In 1851 Jack’s wife Rebecca, by then a seamstress, was living alone in Castle Hedingham and described herself as a widow, although Jack didn’t actually die until a few weeks later, far away on the other side of the world.

I was surprised to find out so much while never leaving my own home.

When Alexander Cleeve married, he settled upon Trustees his manor of Greensted, and at his death in 1738 his will stated that his wife was to continue to live at Greensted Hall, and upon her death, the estate was to be sold for the benefit of his children.

We now look at some of his children:

Bourchier Cleeve: Born in 1715, and so named after his mother Ann Bourchier. He was an English Pewterer and a writer on finance. In 1736, aged only 21, he was given the Freedom of the City of London. In 1740/1 he married Mary Haydon (died 1760) and they had three children – Richard, Ann and Bourchier. He purchased an estate in Foot Cray, Kent, pulled down the old house and built himself a Palladian mansion, called Foots Cray Place.

Cleeve was wealthy and collected paintings by Rembrandt, Reubens, Van Dyke, Canaletto and Hans Holbein. Visitors were invited to admire the house and its contents. In addition Cleeve laid out the grounds and arranged for water to be diverted from the Cray to run through a canal and a cascade in front of the house. However he did not long survive the building of the house.

In 1755 he paid a fine to be excused service as the Sheriff of London. His will written in 1759 only mentions Ann, his two sons are believed to have pre-deceased him. Ann inherited his estates, which came into the possession of Sir George Yonge upon his marriage with Cleeve’s daughter in 1767.

Cleeve wrote A Scheme for preventing a further Increase of the National Debt, and for reducing the same (1756), inscribed to the Earl of Chesterfield (1756). The scheme was to impose a high tax on houses, and to repeal an equivalent amount of taxes on "commodities". Part of this tract was taken up with estimates of the amount subtracted in taxes from incomes. Cleeve's estimates were exaggerated, as was shown by Joseph Massie's Letter to Bourchier Cleeve, Esq., concerning his Calculations of Taxes (1757). He wrote another pamphlet, on the staffing of the navy.

Jane Cleeve: Born in 1716 she married the Reverend Thomas Velley, who was Rector of Chipping Ongar and Bobbingworth from 1740. He died in 1750, aged 47 years and is buried at St Martin’s, Chipping Ongar. They had 4 children. A son, Thomas (1748 – 1806), matriculated from St. Johns College, Oxford, and graduated B.C.L. in 1772. He became lieutenant-colonel of the Oxford militia and was made D.C.L. of the university in 1787. He resided for many years at Bath, and devoted himself to botany, and especially to the study of algæ, collecting chiefly along the south coast. He became a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1792.

Jumping from a runaway stage-coach at Reading on 6 June 1806, Velley fell and suffered concussion, from which he died on 8 June.
The only surviving daughter of Thomas and Jane, Mary, born in 1743, married the Reverend Richard Budworth (1746-1805), who on the death of Richard Cleeve, succeeded to the living of High Laver.

They had three children, their surviving son was Captain Philip Budworth, who resided at Greensted Hall.

The company was first established in 1780 by two brothers in the heart of London who established a shop at No.10 Old Jewry. In 1841 the company had to move to larger premises which were located in Cripplegate and in 1862 they had to move yet again to Bishopsgate in London.

By July 1887, the company was producing sports catalogues.

A Gentleman enters Piggott’s shop in 57, 58 & 59, Bishopsgate Street, London. He looks at the company’s hardback catalogue, but at 263 pages, covering an extremely wide range of products, he is somewhat befuddled. A conversation is overheard.
“Good morning”
“Good morning, Sir. Can I help you?” the assistant replied.
“Well, thank you. I am interested in the purchase of a hammock.”
“Come this way to our tent department, please, Sir . . . . We have our selection here.”

“We have three ranges. The white cotton twine hammocks come in six sizes. We also sell Mexican Grass Hammocks, but these are extra large. Them we have The Pocket Ashantee range. We stock three sizes of this.”

“If I may say so, Sir, you are a little taller than average . . . . I will measure you so we may be both safe and sure . . . . um, as I thought the 10 ft. version will be too short, so you should try the 11 ft. or even the 111/2 ft.. You will sleep well in either, Sir”, the assistant advised, adding; “The 11 ft. is 10s. 6d. but it does come with a carrying case. The whole thing weighs around 21/2 lbs.”

“Will you be trekking, Sir?”
“Yes I will be exploring, hoping to make the Rann of Kutch by February. I have lined up a couple of guides, strong enough to carry my wife, who is not taking her horse with her this time. Ah, I see the set up here in your catalogue.”
“Then with respect, The Ashantee is for you, Sir. As for slinging, given two trees about 12 ft. apart the job is conveniently done. We do sell a Patent Trestle Slinging Apparatus at 23s. 6d., . . . . regard it as an investment in your well-being, Sir, . . . . but I can tell that you are not convinced.”
“We expect to be fully laden, is there an alternative.”
“Well, yes there is. The Ashantee comes with two large screw hooks. You can sling one end of the hammock over a chair and the other over, say, a table and attach to the hooks screwed into the floor. You have wooden floors, Sir? Then practise in your living room before you set out.”
“Thank you!”

At a public vestry held this 7th day of April 1806, it was resolved to take down the bell which was split and out of order and to dispose of the same, the money arising from such sale to be applied towards repairs of the steeple of the said parish of Stanford Rivers.

At a Special Vestry held in the Parish Church of Stanford Rivers in the County of Essex on the Twentieth day of November 1806. It was agreed between the Revd. Dr. Dowdeswell Rector, the Churchwardens Overseers and others of the Parishioners of the said Parish present at the Vestry of the one part, and Mr. Thomas Mansfield of Ongar Park Hall for an on behalf of Charles Smith Esq. of Suttons in ye Parish of Stapleford Tawney in the said County (of the other part).

That in consideration of the sum of One Hundred and Twenty Pounds to be paid by the said Charles Smith Esq., into the hands of the Parish Officers of Stanford Rivers for the time being: to be applied towards paying off and discharging a Mortgage of Two Hundred Pounds due to Mr. James Grove of Navestock for which the Workhouse of Stanford Rivers is a security: The said Rector, Churchwardens Overseers and Parishioners do, as far as in them lies, sell and assign over unto the said Charles Smith Esq his Heirs and Assigns for ever Two pieces of Land containing Two Acres more or less lying and being in the Common mead of their Parishes and which are free from Tithes and poor Rates and are the property of their Parishes. To have and to hold to the said Charles Smith his Heirs and Assigns for ever free and clear from any future claim or demand for Rent or Charges from the Parishioners of their Parishes and in case contrary to this resolution and Agreement any such claim or demand should be made on the said Charles Smith his Heirs of assigns it is hereby declared that he shall be entitled to claim and demand repayment of the said sum of One Hundred and Twenty pounds which has been paid into the hands of the Parish Officers previous to the signing of this resolution and agreement and the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged.

It is also agreed that in case the said Charles Smith should require any further deed or writing to make valid or secure his uninterrupted possession and enjoyment of the said land the Parishioners will execute the same, he paying the expence of procuring such deed or writing.

It is further agreed by the Parishioners here present that the sum of Eighty Pounds which will remain due to Mr. James Groves after payment of the aforesaid £120 shall be forthwith by cutting down and vale (?) of the Timber now growing upon a field adjoining to the Workhouse of this Parish or out of the first Rates which shall be raised or levied for the relief and maintenance of the Poor of this Parish so that the said Mortgage with the Interest due thereon may be paid off and discharged.

In witness thereof we have severally subscribed our names at a Public Vestry held this 30th day of March 1807
Dowdeswell, Rector
Stephen Jones } Churchwardens
John Crouchman }

Thos. Mansfield } Overseers
William Frost }

In August 1838, upon their return from Australia, George Loveless his wife and four children and James Loveless, his wife and one child, together with James Brine who was single, were installed in New House Farm, Greensted, which consisted of some eighty acres of arable and pasture land. The lease on the farm had been paid by the Central Dorchester Committee and had a further seven years to run. The price paid by the Committee for the farm was £600, plus a further £40 for furniture.

The land was in poor condition and difficult to farm - one of the fields is still known as 'Starve Goose Field'!

In 1808, New House Farm had been described as:
‘A compact and very desirable freehold estate beautifully situate in the parish of Greensted, on the verge of the Common, One Mile from Chipping Hill, Two from Ongar, Five from Epping, Twelve from Rumford, Fourteen from Chelmsford, and Bishop Stortford and only Twenty-one from London, in the most salubrious and luxuriant District of the County of Essex.’
‘Comprising of Eighty Acres, Three Roods and Thirty Seven Perches (be the same more or less) of remarkably rich meadow, arable and wood land; abounding with fine Marle, lying completely in a ring fence and subdivided into convenient enclosures. With a large Farm House, farmyard, Barn, Stabling, Out Buildings, A Good Garden and Orchard’.

James Hammett lived at New House Farm for a few months after his return in 1839 but then returned to Tolpuddle to become a builder’s labourer.

Another of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Thomas Standfield, his wife and five children were also re-located to a farm at High Laver, which consisted of some forty-three acres. The farm was described as in a dreadful condition – three years untenanted and the house in ruins. The committee paid £100 for the farm.

The presence of the Loveless family in Greensted was not well received.

The following article was published in the Dorset County Chronicle – on Thursday 26 December 1839

THE DORCHESTER LABOURERS

The Morning Post of Tuesday gives the following statement relative to the existence of Chartism in the neighbourhood of Ongar. It is well known that the Whig Ministers were compelled by their Radical supporters to recall from transportation the “Dorchester Labourers” convicted of administering unlawful oaths for seditious or treasonable purposes. The Post, after referring to the facts, says-

The arrival in London of the returned convicts was signalized by a public procession, public dinner, and a public subscription. The cause of Radicalism and of unlawful oaths had gained splendid victory over social order and Lord John Russell, on this first and only occasion of even an apparent alliance between the two latter: and the joy of the Radicals knew no bounds. That it made many of them subscribe to the fund for the Dorchester labourers would be an inadequate attestation of its power; it carried some to the extraordinary length, as our subsequent narrative will show, of paying the amount of their subscriptions.

Some short time after the creation of the fund a gentleman, who acted as the trustee or manager of an estate in Essex, was solicited by one of the tenants to grant him permission to sub-let his farm, as he (the tenant) had received a most advantageous offer. Not only was he to have a considerable premium, but be was to be paid according to his own valuation for his stock, ploughings, &c. The representative of the landlord was a little surprised at this communication, as he considered the actual rent quite as much as the farm was worth. He acceded, however to the application, requiring of course, satisfactory security for the future payment of the rent and the fulfilment of the other conditions of the lease. The arrangements were speedily completed, and a person of the name George Loveless entered into the occupation of the farm, which is situated in the parish, up this time a very tranquil one, of Grinstead, near Ongar. George Loveless was accompanied by two men, who assisted him in the labour of the farm. The names the latter are Joseph Loveless and James Bruce.

“Well!” the reader will naturally exclaim, ‘what can all this have to do with Chartism or its propagation, with the Dorchester labourers whom Lord John Russell brought back from New South Wales, or the subscription which Lord John's Radical supporters and squeezers raised for their benefit.

We proceed, therefore, to supply the necessary link of connexion. The names we have just mentioned, are those of the men who bought out the Essex farmer, and the names of three of three of the Dorchester Labourers, and the check which the outgoing farmer was paid on account of premium and stock, bore the signature of Sir William Molesworth.

It was soon afterwards discovered that two others of the Dorchester labourers had also been planted in a farm in another parish (High Laver) in the same county.

And what was the effect of this Ministerial counter-colonization from Botany Bay to the rural parishes of Essex?

The new settlers at and High Laver had not been long established among the hitherto quiet and well-conducted population of these parishes before they began to agitate, and to agitate in a manner and with a degree of success which showed but too plainly that their mission of mischief had not been entrusted to unpractised or unskilful hands. Chartist newspapers were quickly seen in active circulation. The beer-shops in which they were to be found became more frequented and more noisy than heretofore. A Chartist Association was formed at Grinstead, and, the combined or alternate influence of persuasion and terror, nearly the whole of the agricultural labourers in that -and the adjoining parishes were induced to join it. A weekly subscription was exacted from each of them , and they were told that when their fund amounted to a certain sum it would be increased by the committee in London. Frequent meetings were held—the time selected for this purpose being generally on a Sunday morning, during the hours of divine service. The meetings became progressively more and more numerous. At first the farmhouse occupied by the new settlers was large enough to contain them, but ere long the farmyard was found insufficient, and the assemblies were held in an adjoining field. Delegates attended the meetings from Waltham Abbey, Epping, Harlow, Hatfield, Broad Oak, &c. Delegates and orators from London, sometime to the number of forty, were also occasionally present. The project of a general rising of the Chartists on or about the 12th of August was discussed and entertained. The effect of these proceedings was to diffuse a general sense of insecurity throughout that part the country, and so far disturb the habitual relation between the farmers and labourers, that the former thought it necessary to adopt a system of hiring for the last harvest different from their previous practice, and to engage their labourers on such terms that, in case of desertion from their work, they might be liable to summary punishment.

It is gratifying to us to be enabled to add, that, since the discomfiture of the Chartists at Newport, the Essex disciples the Dorchester labourers have dwindled, or seemed to dwindle, alike in numbers and in courage.

It happened by a remarkable, but no doubt quite an accidental, coincidence, that very soon after the establishment of the Dorchester Labourers in Essex, and the commencement of their liberal exertions, Lord J. Russell endeavoured to disband the West Essex Yeomanry Cavalry, the only efficient protection then or since in existence for the extensive gunpowder magazines of government in that part of the country; and that his Lordship made this attempt, which the corps happily defeated, by their patriotic determination to bear their own expenses, not only without consultation with the officers of the Board of Ordnance, but in direct opposition to their well-known opinions.
We fear that only one inference can be drawn from this narrative, viz.—that the Chartist organization is very extensively diffused throughout the country. What spot, it will naturally be asked, can be supposed free Iron Ibis foul infection, when it is seen to have pervaded even the quiet and secluded hamlets of the county of Essex? And what to be thought of the Administration, whose Home Secretary, during the progress of this organisation was dismissing loyal corps of yeomanry, with every possible manifestation of contempt; and whose Attorney-General only waited till it had arrived at its utmost maturity to boast that Chartism had been utterly put down by the indulgent forbearance of the Executive Government?

There was clearly some concern about the influence of the men in Essex. On 28 December 1839 The Morning Post published a letter from an anonymous Conservative magistrate for the County of Essex, who wrote:

‘It is also true that these firebrands, the dreaded Dorchester Labourers, are four poor ignorant creatures, who literally do not even know how to plough the land they occupy.

And...it is also true (and let me tell them they are marked men) That if these half dozen ignorant democrats (nether Essex men nor true agriculturalists are they) should attempt to disturb the peace of the county, they would be put down, not by the military force as at Newport, not by an armed gendarmerie of rural police but by the good sense and strong arm of the TRUE agricultural yeomen and labourers of Essex.’

the Rector of Greensted, the Revd. Philip Ray, preached against their chartist activities. He felt that the foundations of decent society were being undermined; paternal, beneficial order where everyone knew his proper place must be restored. He alerted the Home Office.

According to the Essex Standard:
"George Loveless, instead of quietly fulfilling the duties of his station . . . is still dabbling in the dirty waters of radicalism and publishing pamphlets to keep up the old game."

Despite his opposition to them, the Revd Ray conducted the wedding of James Brine, aged 26, and Elisabeth Standfield, aged 21, daughter of Thomas Standfield, in Greensted church, in 1839.

The five later emigrated to the town of London, Upper Canada (in present-day Ontario), where there is now a monument in their honour and an affordable housing co-op and trade union complex named after them. George Loveless is buried in Siloam Cemetery on Fanshawe Park Road East in London, Ontario. James Brine died in 1902, having lived in nearby Blanshard Township since 1868, and is buried in St. Marys Cemetery, St. Marys, Ontario.

Hammett returned to Tolpuddle and died in the Dorchester workhouse in 1891.

In the March edition of the Journal (No. 79) I wrote about my ancestor who became known as “The Baker of Great Bardfield”. From my paternal grandmother’s family comes another tale of conflict – this time on the high seas.

First, some historical context. Denmark and Norway tried to remain neutral in the early 19th century struggles between France and the Britain but the British were concerned that the very considerable Danish fleet might enter the Napoleonic war on the side of the French and so decided on a pre-emptive strike. The Second Battle of Copenhagen took place on August 16th 1807 when almost the entire Danish-Norwegian fleet of 43 ships was captured. In the following years the Britain imposed a blockade on supply lines between Norway, Denmark and the rest of the world causing severe economic damage to both Scandinavian countries. What was left of the Danish-Norwegian fleet spent much of its time trying to break the blockade by harassing the British ships sent to enforce it. In July 1812 the British decide to destroy the remaining Danish-Norwegian fleet and so end the threat it posed. A British detachment consisting of one ship of the line and 3 brigs was sent under the command of “Mad Jim” Steward to track down and destroy the remaining frigate and 3 brigs of the Danish-Norwegian fleet. The Battle of Lyngor took place on July 6th 1812 and the small Danish-Norwegian fleet was captured or sunk marking the end of the involvement of Denmark and Norway in the Napoleonic Wars. Now read on.

Richard Spear, then holding the rank of Lieutenant, served on board the 74 gun Conqueror at the Battle of Trafalgar (October 21st 1805) under Captain Sir Israel Pellew. Many ships of the vanquished French/Spanish fleet were captured and after the battle Richard Spear was given command of Admiral Villeneuve’s flag ship, the 80 gun Bucentaure. This brief command ended when the Bucentaure was wrecked at the entrance to Cadiz Bay on October 22nd 1805. Despite this disaster Spear was promoted to Commander on December 24th 1805. On September 2nd 1811 we find him commanding the 10 gun Brig Chanticleer which was involved in the blockade of Denmark and Norway referred to earlier and under attack from a small Danish squadron off the Drommels.

Luckily for Spear the Chanticleer had been sailing in company with the gun-brig Manly under the command of Lieutenant Richard Simmonds. The Manly was armed with 10 18-pounder carronades and 2 long sixes. We have a graphic (if not quite C.S Forrester/Patrick O’Brien) account of Spear’s narrow escape in a letter which Simmonds sent to Sir Henry Stanhope who was the Commander-in-Chief, Sheerness. The letter is dated Christiansand, Norway, September 4th 1811.

It reads (in part) as follows:

“We exchanged numbers with the Chanticleer at 5:30 p.m. on the 1st instant ….when she made a signal to pass within hail, which I complied with, and waiting on Captain Spear, having no surgeon on board the Manly, and both vessels being bound for one port, I thought it prudent, through his advice, to remain in company with Chanticleer that night, for the purpose of her surgeon visiting my sick people the next morning. Captain Spear informing me, at the same time, he meant to sail along the coast during the night: the superior sailing of the Chanticleer occasioned me to carry a press of sails, against a heavy head-sea to keep her company.

At 1 a.m. she was a long way ahead and at 2, I observed three strange sails close to her, but could not now discover which was the Chanticleer. I then made the night signal, which was answered in that direction; and the four vessels being right ahead, I continued my course, endeavouring to come up with them, and as I was certain the Chanticleer must be one. About 3:30 I observed a firing among them, which gave me suspicion that the three strangers must be enemy vessels; and conceiving from their superior force the Chanticleer must be in a very perilous situation, I was determined, whatever might be the consequences, not to forsake her, but to share the same fate, and continued under all sail, using every exertion in my power to close with them for her assistance: being confident, from the appearance of the strangers, that their force was more than double ours, both in guns and men, I only thought of selling the Manly as dear as possible, in her support. I could not, however, distinguished which was the Chanticleer, till after I had received the fire of two of the enemies vessels, which I found to be three Danish brigs of war – the Loland (under Captain H.P.Holm) with a crew of 123 officers and men, the Alsen (Lieutenant Lutkin) and the Samsoe (Lieutenant Grothschilling) each with 123 officers and men on board.
I then perceived the Chanticleer to be abaft my larboard beam, making sail from the enemy. The largest brig now tacked to close the Manly: I hauled to the wind, and tacked, with our head to the eastward, to join the Chanticleer , if possible; but she still kept her course, steering from the enemy, and seemed to decline, on her part, to renew the action. I had, however, by this time, for her support, placed the Manly in a situation where it was impossible to avoid it, and the largest of the enemy’s brigs, which afterwards proved to be the Loland, coming up on our starboard beam, we received her whole broadside, which did us considerable damage. We instantly returned it, when an action commenced, and continued within musket-shot range for the space of 2 hours and 25 minutes, when the other two brigs, which had now left off chasing the Chanticleer, returned to support the Loland , and were within musket-shot, the one endeavouring to take her station on our larboard bow, and the other to supply the place of the Loland, who now tacked, and placed herself on our starboard quarter, keeping up a constant fire; nor was it in the smallest degree possible for us to prevent these manoeuvres on the part of the enemy, owing to their superior sailing, and we being completely disabled, our head-sails having been all shot away about the beginning of the action, and afterwards our standing and running rigging, with all the other sails entirely cut to pieces; our masts and bowsprit being badly wounded in several places, and 4 guns dismounted:as the fire of all three brigs would have opened upon us at a very small distance, within the space of 5 minutes, they still continuing to close, and our force consisting of only 37 men and 5 boys; the brig being in a crippled state and unmanageable, I conceived it would only have been in vain presumption on my part, and a cruel sacrifice of the lives of my crew, to have pretended further resistance against three heavy vessels, each of which, as it afterwards proved, mounted 18 long 18 pounders, especially when there was not the smallest hopes of any assistance, or possibility of escape. I was, therefore, reluctantly compelled to submit to their superior force; and although our loss in men was very trifling, having only 1 killed and 3 wounded, yet, from the length of time we were exposed to their fire, and the altered state of the brig at the close of the action, I have to thank the Almighty no more of them fell. The Loland has also suffered considerably; but of their damages and loss of men they avoid letting us gain any information. The Loland has to get a thorough repair, and is this day getting out her foremast.”

We have to assume that the Manly and her crew were taken into Christiansands from where Lieutenant Simmonds sent his report but evidently they found their way back to England where Lieutenant Simmonds was court-marshalled at Sheerness on January 6th 1812 for surrendering his ship to the enemy. He was honourably acquitted and retained his rank as Lieutenant.

Whilst we have to recognise that Lieutenant Simmonds’ letter must have been written in anticipation of a court-martial and is, therefore, self-serving it does not reflect very well on the conduct of Captain Richard Spear who appears to have left the Manly and her crew to their fate. In 1813, notwithstanding his conduct, he obtained the rank of post captain before retiring from the Royal Navy in 1814.

Two years before this incident (in 1809) Richard Spear had married Anne Maria Walter, the only daughter of John Walter (who is described as a “naval contractor” in North Yarmouth). He died in Gorleston in 1825. My grandmother’s family were to remain in and around Great Yarmouth for several generations.

We have a lasting souvenir of Richard Spear in the family crest which is a “bras arme” brandishing a spear.

David Livingstone was 25 years old when he left Glasgow in 1838 to spend 15 months training with the London Missionary Society, based at the Congregational Church in Ongar. Livingstone arrived in Ongar an idealistic young man who had suspended his medical studies to spread the word of God.

The Reverend Richard Cecil, who was minister at Ongar between 1834- 1847, was an accomplished tutor and it was his custom to receive into the cottages at the front of the Church young men who were to be given some preliminary education before taking up college studies for missionary work. The students were taught Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Theology. Cecil was not impressed by Livingstone, describing him as “worthy but not brilliant” and commented that his studying was “steady but not rapid.” He declared that, in his opinion, he would never make a missionary! Livingstone was made to do an extra year by the London Missionary Society before he was allowed to go.

Ongar Congregational Church
© Ongar Churches Together

The Ongar Congregational Church had been founded in 1662 by the ministers and worshippers from St Martin’s church in Ongar, who had been ejected from their church under the Test Act 1661. The rector of St Martin’s at the time was the Revd. John Lorkin. He was ejected for refusing among other things to subscribe to the Book of Common Prayer.
In 1838 Livingstone was sent to preach at the at the Independent Chapel in Stanford Rivers, He is said to have suffered from ‘stage fright’ and to have been unable to finish his sermon. He quoted his text and said “Friends, I have forgotten all I had to say” and stepped down from the pulpit. He apologised to his audience, which included a disappointed Rev Cecil, and fled.
It appears Livingstone embraced Ongar, visiting The Royal Oak pub in the High Street at the end of a long day. While accounts by his fellow students describe him as a rather withdrawn man, he fell in love with a local merchant’s daughter, Catherine Ridley. However she did not return his feelings, eventually marrying his friend Thomas Prentice.
A more forceful side of his character, which was to stand him in great stead in later years, showed through when, taking his studies seriously, he set out for London to visit a sick friend and guided only by a compass he crossed over fields, hedges, ditches and streams to reach his destination and returned home in the same manner.
The URC still has the walking stick Livingstone used in Africa.
NOTES on the CHAPEL at STANFORD RIVERS
20 October 1819 a small place of worship, originally a cottage, was opened for the use of dissenters. Sermons were preached at the opening service by the Revd. James Stratten of Paddington and the Revd. Edward Andrews of Walworth. A Sunday school was attached to the chapel. Arrangements had been made for the supply of preachers from Hoxton Academy.
On 27 June 1820 a new chapel, specially built and seating 300, was opened in place of the converted cottage, on the corner of Church Road and Hare Street, Stanford Rivers. Stratten and Andrews were again the preachers at the opening. Two local residents had each contributed £100 towards the cost of the chapel. Supplies were still being sent by Hoxton.

The Chapel at Stanford Rivers, circa 1927
In 1827 the site, chapel, and vestry, with a stable and outhouses, were conveyed to trustees, among whom were Stratten, then of Maida Vale, and Thomas Kingsbury of Stanford Rivers. The trust deed stipulated that the buildings should be used for 'a congregation of Protestant Dissenters usually denominated Calvinists of the Independent Denomination'.
In 1829 the congregation numbered 150 and there was a minister, William Temple. There was a minister in 1846-7 and another in 1850-3. From about 1854 the chapel was served mainly by the ministers of the Congregational church at Chipping Ongar. Isaac Jennings, formerly the minister at Ongar, had charge at Stanford Rivers during his retirement in 1863.
A new trust was appointed in 1877. In 1904 there were 34 Sunday-school children and 2 teachers. The chapel was burnt down in 1927.
Funds were raised to rebuild the chapel, but the work was never carried out and in 1955 the funds were used to build the David Livingstone Congregational church in Harlow.

Reports and returns on schools and education in Theydon Mount, and Stapleford Tawney in 1818 and 1833.

1818
Theydon Mount:

"Population 194. The poorer classes are without the means of education but desirous of possessing them."

Stapleford Tawney:

"Population 241. The poor have not the means of instruction and are desirous of possessing them."

Source: Digest of Parochial Returns. Select Committee on Education of the Poor, 1818

1833
"Thoydon Mount and Stapleford Tawney Parishes (joined). Population 546. Two Daily Schools: whereof one (commenced since 1818) contains 20 children of both sexes, and the other (commenced 1829), 40 males and 35 females, all of whom are instructed at the expense of their parents. One Sunday School (commenced 1829) wherein are 80 children of both sexes is supported by charitable donations; the master and mistress are paid £13 each per annum by the Curate."

Meetings will be held on the following dates

(subject to Covid Restrictions)

24 Jun
22 Jul
21 Oct
25 Nov.

Meetings are held in Toot Hill Village Hall.
Meetings start at 8.00pm.

Members £1 ~ Visitors £3.

Refreshments