A Place, A Philosopher, The Potato, A Private, Printers, Painters, Publishing, The Pacific & A Pirate! - Part I.

Introduction

This blog was initially intended to be on the subject of Lennelhill Farm, Coldstream  - "The Place",  and its connections with various families and people of note through the centuries.  However, the research process has revealed some intriguing facts and unexpected family links that simply cannot be given the justice they deserve in one blog!

Therefore, this topic is being broken down into instalments, but as it still remains largely untouched in the following articles, my research notes, pedigrees of the families concerned & other interesting 'bits and pieces' are contained in the book "Border Ramblings" which I am currently in the process of writing.  This is designed to support all the posts that appear on the Borders Ancestry Blog and will, I hope, prove a useful resource to those of you researching 'people and places' in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders.   

Part I - The Place, A Philosopher, The Potato & A Private

Situated on a ridge 63m above sea level facing South East, Lennelhill with its excellent visibility and proximity to the River Tweed would have been a natural and strategic choice for a settlement.  There is no doubt that the Farm or Settlement at Lennelhill is of great antiquity from the discovery of two burial cists disturbed during ploughing, one was empty, the other contained the partial remains of three burials.

Bob & I moved to Lennelhill Cottages in April 2012 and when the opportunity came to purchase the adjoining property later that year we jumped at the chance.  Renovation work began in early 2013, stripping back the walls and digging up the floors.  This revealed some startling evidence as to the former life of these cottages that the "Time Team" would be proud of.  Fascinated by these revelations I turned "house detective".  My findings are not unique and can most probably be applied to most of the rows of single storey farm cottages in the area built in the early 19th century.  Nonetheless, they form an interesting part of the Farm's social history and have their own story to tell..

The Cottage Block

View to the North - Lammermuir Hills in the Backgound

View to the South West with The Cheviot Hills in the Background

View to the South with Branxton Hill in the Background

We knew that our block had originally been three cottages from the numbering, we are number 4, and the adjoining cottage is number 6.  When our Architect drew up the initial set of floor plans this was plain to see. Three cottages consisting of four rooms, with later extensions serving as kitchens.  As the excavations progressed the cottage began to reveal it's hidden past - doorsteps, heavily worn, under windows - fireplaces where there are no longer chimneys etc.  It was obvious this hadn't been three cottages but six!  Six cottages of two rooms, one room with a fireplace and a boarded attic space to each cottage to provide additional sleeping space.

6" Map from 1858

25" Map from 1858, showing our block.

The 6" Map above left shows both blocks of cottages, ours on the left with outbuildings and clearly defined strips that would have been workers plots, most likely for vegetables.  The 25" Map above right, of the same date shows the outbuildings in more detail.  Six have open yards, one for each cottage.  An educated guess tells me these could be stalls for a cow or pigsties.  Keep for a cow was included as part of the Hind's wages & the pig being quick maturing, eating scraps and slops, then cured, salted and wrapped would provide meat for the cottage occupants over several months. The other three buildings may be outside 'privies'?  I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on the above interpretation.

The People 
The Workers

But how many people lived here?  For the answers I went back to research I had previously done for my own family tree and William Nicholson & his family who were the farm tenants here from about 1835 to the mid 1860's. In 1851 he employed 31 labourers on the Farm.   The 1851 census also reveals that there were no less than 46 individuals living in these six cottages, with the household of a Mr Brown, farm servant, being home to 12 members of his family, including his elderly Mother-in-Law.  Lucky chap!!

Fast forward to 1861 and Mr Nicholson is farming 708 acres and employing 27 labourers (12 men, 2 boys & 13 women).  Four individuals less than the previous census return.  However, the 1861 census tells quite a different story to that of 1851 in that 4 out of the 6 cottages list a servant living with them!  "Wow", some of you may be thinking "life was looking up for the humble Ag Lab & Ploughman, he can afford a servant!".  How wrong could you be, a close look reveals these servants to be present in the smaller households typically consisting 5 persons - these unmarried females are 'Bondagers'.  Single women taken on by the Ploughmen & Labourers, as a condition of their own employment to provide cheap labour to the farmer.  

This system was rife in the 18th,19th & early 20th centuries in Northumberland & South East Scotland. With their colourful uniforms they paint a romantic picture of the Countryside of the time.  Again this is far from the truth! 

To read more about the history etc., of the Bondage System follow the link below which will take you to an excellent website by Dinah Iredale to complement her book & film she has produced.  It explains the system in detail, separating fact from myth, packed with pictures & video clips.

Dinah Iredales - The Bondage System 

The Farmers

When considering the following information it is useful to note that tenancies in Scotland most usually but not always, ran for a term of 19 years, and are referred to as "19's".

The Philosopher

The earliest tenant I have come across to date is a Mr William Dudgeon, tenant at Lennelhill during the late 1720's to the mid 1730's, with three children baptised from 1728-1731.


The Oxford DNB has his date of Birth as 1705/6 and his date and place of death as Upsettlington in 1743 aged 37 from consumption.  A further four baptism records from the Ladykirk Parish Register 1733 - 1737 list William as "in Upsettlington" , in the neighouring Parish of Ladykirk, with wife Betty Bell.  

His first major work published in 1732 (see left) was the subject of much controversy and lead to his prosecution on the grounds "he was an author of a work that contains many gross errors subversive of Christianity", (DNB) in other words he blamed God for all the evil in the world.  

These charges were ultimately dropped but not before it reached The General Assembly of The Church of Scotland.

William went on to publish other works before his death in 1743 that did not go unnoticed either, indeed they appear to have had a far reaching effect on both sides of the Border.

Little appears to be known about his family which I feel is deserving of further research.  One interesting point of note is the marriage of a Mary Dudgeon to a Robert Swine, Longformacus, Berwickshire in 1749.

It is possible that this is Willliam's daughter Mary who was baptised in 1731, she would have been 18 years old at the time.  I also intend to investigate any possible links of Robert Swine to the family that was the subject of my previous blog.  I shall keep you all updated of any progress!

The Potato

The next tenant Is George Hogarth (1714 - 1791).  Exactly when he entered the Farm can be determined from the Window Tax Returns (1748- 1798).  People loathed this tax, but I love it!  From these returns it is possible to determine to the half year when a tenant moved.  George paid his dues at Lamberton in the half Nov-Apr 1765 and at Lennelhill in the half year May-Oct 1766.  (The Window Tax records along with a host of other useful returns are available at Scotlands Places.)  From these various tax returns it is no doubt that at this time the Hogarths were an established and prosperous tenant farming family.  

In the Clock & Watch tax return of 1797/98 David Hogarth has taken over the tenancy of the Farm following the demise of his father and is paying tax on a gold watch of 11 shillings 3 pence. There were a total of 15 gold watches in the Parish of Coldstream, 11 belonging to the 'Earls & Esquires', 1 to a stone mason, 1 to the above David Hogarth and the remaining 2 the property of his cousin David at Fireburn Mill.  The only tenant farmers in the parish in possession of such an item!  Were these watches remnants from a more illustrious past?

It is George's third son Robert (1744-1819), tenant from circa 1769 in the farm of Carfrae on the upland border of Western Berwickshire,  that is credited with the introduction of the potato to the region in 1780.  This, as the following extract from Statistical Account of 1794 testifies was only one of his many achievements:-

— " Agriculture has made wonderful progress within these last twenty years in this parish. This has been chiefly owing to the skill and attention of one individual, Mr Robert Hogarth, tenant in Carfrae. He came twenty-five years ago from East Berwick- shire. At this period our farmers were total strangers to the turnip, and very little acquainted with the lime and sown- grass system. He introduced turnip and clover, and suc- ceeded. It is now very general to grow turnips, and in no part of Berwickshire is it in greater quantity, or of better quality, on the same extent of land. He also introduced the white-faced, long-wooled sheep from Northumberland, and they promise to answer well." Mr Hogarth is also credited with the introduction of the potato into the district, but this was later, about 1780. Bruce, in his Appendix to Lowe's Agriculture of Berwickshire (July 1794), notes that Robert Hogarth, in Carfrae, " has made astonishing changes upon a large tract of very high wild country." 

It is difficult to imagine a life without potatoes, they have become a dietary staple and most meals seem incomplete without them.   Surprisingly enough this was not the case until relatively recently.  Whilst potatoes graced the tables of the upper and middle classes, the working man was at a loss as what to do with them.  They were regarded with "suspicion, distaste & fear" and even the peasant classes used them only as animal fodder.  Credited with population explosions as well as deaths through famine, there is more to the humble potato than a novelty item brought to England by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1580!  For more about the history, myths and superstitions surrounding this plainest of vegetables "The Impact of the Potato" is an enlightening read!

The Private

The Hogarth family's time at Lennelhill came to an end with the death of Robert's younger brother David in 1815, but not their association.  In 1817/18 the tenancy was taken up by James Purves (1791-1840) brother in law to Robert Hogarth jnr, son of Robert Hogarth of potato fame.  It is to James's third son James Charles Purves (1727-1855) to which this section is dedicated.

James Charles Purves was born at Lennelhill and baptised in June 1827.  In 1850 he joined the Cavalry, the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own).  On 25th October 1854 Private Purves was present at the Battle of Balaclava when the misinterpreted order was received from Lord Raglan to capture (rather than prevent the removal of) the Russian Guns at the end of the Valley to the North of Causeway Heights.  

What happened next has been immortalised in many paintings, the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson and by the pen of Private Purves in a letter home to his brother following the receipt of a wound to his leg which would later prove fatal. He describes the Battle as a "disastrous affair for the poor Light Cavalry" but his initial feelings of a young man with his "blood up" is clear from the following excerpt from the same letter:-

"Off we went tearing towards destruction. The round shot came first; one most wonderfully came past my shoulder striking my rear rank man right in the chest.  Onwards we went. I could see the shell bursting over our heads and hear the grape and canister hissing through us. But I felt or feared nothing - a sort of wildness came over me and I seemed to care not. .

Onwards still. The guns were silenced and the Russians would not stand our charge. We cut down the gunners and literally took the whole lot. ‘Hurrah my boys’ sung out our brave Colonel Douglas ‘Lets give them another Charge and we’ll take the guns home with us’. I found myself as excited as possible singing out ‘Come on boys’".......

......... I was quite chuckling to myself when I got a rap on my leg as if from a sledgehammer. I looked down and saw blood gushing from a good sized hole. ‘Now then old horse’ I says ‘Save my life now!’

Private Purves received a canister shot to the leg that required amputation below the knee as the Light Brigade retreated.  He was operated on in the temporary hospital at Balaclava before being taken by steamer to the hospital in Scutari, (a ten day journey, unattended) where he was ironically nursed by a girl from Berwick upon Tweed.  He remained in remarkable spirits despite his injury  - "My leg is cut off very long about a foot below the knee so I can have a cork leg and having both my arms can earn a good living yet."

Private Purves died as a result of his wounds in January 1855, of blood poisoning, in the Military Hospital at Scutari, his burial place unkown.  His memorial stone lay broken and neglected in Lennel Churchyard until the valiant fund-raising efforts led by Trevor Swan and the Coldstream History Society led to it being restored.  On Sunday 15 July 2012 a service was held in Coldstream Parish Church, attended by some of Private Purves's relatives where a plaque was unveiled as a lasting memory to this brave young man from Coldstream.

To conclude this chapter...

The Purves family had vacated the Farm at Lennelhill before 1835, James senior was at Ford Westfield Farm, and at the time of Private Purve's letter home his elder brother was at West Lilburn Farm in Northumberland.  

We are back to Mr William Nicholson tenant from 1835 to 1864, and for those "Smiths" out there who are curious as to the connection.  William was brother in law to 1st cousin 4x removed Phillis Smith through her marriage to wait for it  - a Middleton!!

If you think you have heard the last of the Purves & Hogarth families think again.  They will be back in the next instalment together with a family you really are least expecting!, (especially all you Hogarth, Purves, & Clay groupies!) with connections not just to the above two families but several others too, with far reaching effects, and dramatic outcomes.