Tennis and a Teapot - The Morton Family of Berwick

The name of Morton has long had connections with the town of Berwick with numerous entries in the early Baptism & Marriage Registers from circa 1572 -1700.   One of the earliest records I have come across being the grant of probate for a Thomas Morton an alderman dated 1583 which makes mention of brothers William and George and of their father Thomas Morton and his Will dated 1561. This potentially (but as yet unproven) may suggest a family link back as far as the Elizabethan period which witnessed the construction of the fabulous fortifications built during this era, whose enduring appeal make them a major tourist attraction of today.

Aerial View of Berwick upon Tweed

​“Thomas MORTON, alderman, of towne of Barwick [Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland]; also spelt Mortone
Date of probate: 14 June 1583
See DPRI/2/6 ff.22v-23: probate, June 1583. Also see Surtees Society vol.38, p70-72: [additional information drawn from this source]. [Proved, 14 June 1583.]copy will, 16 January 1582 (DPR/I/1/1583/M5/1-2)inventory, actual total £27 4s 10d, 1561 (DPR/I/1/1583/M5/3-4)inventory of the goods etc. in William Morton's house bequeathed to him and his brother [?George Morton] by the last will of Thomas Morton their father, dated 1561 [?recte 1581]”

The History of Parliament Online http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/, contains the following information about his son, also called Thomas:

Alderman, Berwick, mayor 1574, 1581, 1588, 1592

“The Mortons appear as merchants at Berwick in the mid-fifteenth century. Morton himself, as mayor, led a campaign for the extension of the civil authorities’ power, at the expense of the military officials, under the governor of Berwick, Lord Hunsdon. During his last term as mayor, when he was also MP for Berwick, he presented a list of complaints to the Queen, charging Hunsdon and his subordinates with infringements of his authority and the town’s ancient privileges. Though he claimed to be in terror of the governor’s ‘indignation’, this did not cause him to moderate his criticisms either of Lord Hunsdon, whom he condemned as an absentee official, or his subordinates, whom he accused of corruption, inefficiency and nepotism.

Morton continued, as alderman, to support the next mayor in the struggle with the governor, but he is less in evidence after his final term of office in 1593. He last appears in the records four years later, when his aunt, Phyllis Clavering, appointed him executor of her will.

The Berwick guild book shows payments to Morton as MP in 1584, when he and his colleague had 7s. 6d. a day between them ‘from the time of their setting forth from the town to their returning again’, and in 1593 when he was paid, but his colleague, an official, was not. He is not mentioned by name in the journals of the House of Commons, but he may have attended two committees concerning salted fish and the town of Berwick, to which the Members for Berwick were appointed on 11 Mar. and 14 Mar. 1589”.
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Surtees Soc. xxxviii. 70, 71; J. Scott, Hist. Berwick, 286-7, 456-61, 479; Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van den Handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland, ed. Smit, ii (R.G.P.91), p. 1317, n. 2; Raine, North Durham, 254; D’Ewes, 445, 446; Border Pprs. i. 433-9 et passim.

Tennis and a Teapot

As we have enjoyed such a fabulous summer of tennis, and witnessed some very exciting matches  involving British female players , I thought I would revisit my previous research into Agnes “Agatha” Morton a female tennis player of a by-gone era that made the ‘Wimbledon Hall of Fame’ in her own right.  With her ‘Morton’ ancestral roots firmly planted in Berwick upon Tweed and whilst the Berwick 900 “Our Families Project” continues to explore the town’s heritage through its people I set out to see what I could unearth, with help of a silver tea service!.

Whether there is any connection to the three generations of Thomas Morton mentioned above is unknown, but as John  Morton, the recipient of the tea service also endeavoured to make a difference within his community it is most certainly worthy of mention.  This article will focus on what IS known and what I have discovered about Agatha’s immediate Morton ancestors, which I hope will prove useful to others researching the same family. 

First and foremost I would like to stress that contrary to popular opinion widely reported in online family trees, Agatha’s grandfather was NOT Charles Rutherford Morton, but in fact John Morton, a butcher and himself a former Alderman of Berwick upon Tweed.  (Just a small point before we go on, is that Charles is actually Charles Robson Morton, not Rutherford as widely quoted.  He was a rather colourful character as we shall see later!)  Agatha’s grandmother was Hannah Hoffman the granddaughter of Elizabeth Smith of Norham (1727 – 1797) and James Taylor of Horncliffe (1731 – 1813) her spouse.  

Agatha was born in Halstead, Essex on the 6th March 1872 and was christened Agnes Mary Morton but was known as "Agatha" to her friends and family. Her father was solicitor Robert Rutherford Morton, born 1840 in Berwick - upon - Tweed, and her mother was Jessie Mary Sinclair.  The couple had married in Halstead in 1869 and Agatha was the eldest daughter of seven children.

Throughout her tennis career she was coached by her father Robert, and first came to prominence in 1902 when she won the Wimbledon Ladies Doubles final.  Agnes was twice runner up in the Ladies Wimbledon finals in 1907 and 1908 but alas, at this stage Wimbledon did not hold championship status for ladies!  This was finally awarded to the Ladies Doubles in 1913 and Agnes together with her American partner Elizabeth Ryan took the title on the eve of World War I in 1914.  Agnes also competed successfully on the international circuit in a host of tournaments in Germany and France and was also placed 4th in the Summer Olympics of 1908 in London.  From the album of photographs left to her by her father in his will, it is apparent she was also a keen cyclist and had enjoyed holidays with him cycling throughout France and Belgium.  She married later in life, Sir Hugh Houghton Stewart bart., at the age of 53.  Dame Agnes Stewart as she became known, died on the 5 April 1952 aged 80 in Holland Park, London. In her Will her last wishes were that:

“My body be cremated in the Crematorium in Golders Green in the County of London and my ashes scattered in the Garden of Remembrance and that no tablet or other memorial be erected and I also desire that neither of my sisters attend the cremation and that in the event that I shall die in Ireland I desire that I shall be buried there under a plain grass mound if there is no Crematorium in the vicinity…and that the certificate of an experienced doctor shall be obtained that I am dead”.

Agnes leaves bequests to, amongst others, an unmarried sister Lillian Morton, her sister in law Mrs Violet Morton,  her niece Mrs June Nott, wife of Donald Nott, Miss Angelina Nott Harden and her other unmarried sister Nora Morton of Perth.  Her brothers had all predeceased her, the eldest Gerard Sinclair Morton in 1941, Reginald Charles Morton had died unmarried in Newcastle in 1934 and Bertram the youngest, a Bimbashi, (Major) in the Egyptian Army, formerly an inspector of mines in the Far East was killed during WW1 in 1917.  

Of her sister Kathleen there is no mention, other than her former spouse Basil St John Reyner who was charged with overseeing her funeral arrangements.  Alas, Basil too had passed away before Agatha at his home in London in 1950.

Robert Rutherford Morton

Her father, Robert Rutherford was born of the 26th August 1840 and baptised at Shaws Lane Protestant Relief Congregation to parents John Morton and Hannah Hoffman who were married at Berwick in February 1826.

Robert Rutherford son of John Morton, Butcher,
Berwick & Hannah Hoffman his wife. Born 26 August

He was the youngest of six children born to this marriage:

• James Hoffman Morton born 5.11.1826 in Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland, England
• Thomas Morton born 15.7.1829 in Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland, England
• Agnes Hoffman Morton born 4.11.1832 in Berwick upon Tweed
• John Morton born 14.6.1835 in Berwick upon Tweed
• Andrew Holmes Morton born 22.9.1837 in Berwick upon Tweed

From his father, John Morton’s Will, originally written in 1874 the absence of a reference to sons Thomas and John would indicate they had died before this date, and from the inscription on the headstone it is apparent that his daughter Agnes had passed away in 1869. 

Morton Headstone in Berwick Civic Cemetery

There is further evidence that by the time of his own demise in 1885, John had been predeceased by both his wife Hannah in 1881, his son James in Queensland Australia in 1876, where he had been killed instantaneously by a falling tree, and Andrew Holmes who perished at the hands of the Zulus at the famous Battle of Isandlwana in South Africa in 1879.  

24th Regiment of Foot at Isandlwana

This left only one surviving child, his youngest son Robert Rutherford, Agatha’s father, as custodian of the tea service, so affectionately referred to and specifically singled out in his last wishes.

“I give and bequeath the service of Plate consisting of Four Silver Articles presented to me in or about the year One thousand eight hundred and sixty eight to my said wife for her life.  And from and after her decease I give and bequeath the same articles to my said son Robert Rutherford Morton absolutely.  But I request (without meaning to constitute a Trust in this behalf) that my said son will in the case of his death without leaving issue so in his lifetime dispose of the said articles that the same may remain in the possession of  some one of my lineal descendants resident in England or Scotland.”

This last statement indicates John was aware he had two grandchildren overseas, the children born in Australia to his son James by his wife Annie McDonald.
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Robert Rutherford Morton died at Star Stile, Halstead in 1917, and remain true to his father’s wishes regarding the same.  In clause 5 of his Will written the previous year he conveys the guardianship of the tea service to his eldest son, also a solicitor Gerard Sinclair Morton.

“I give to Gerard Sinclair Morton the portrait of Samuel Francis his great-great-grandfather and the silver teapot and its stand, the sugar basin, tongs and cream pot, all of which belonged to my Father and were presented to him when he was Alderman of the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed.”

Gerard passed away in 1941, leaving a widow Violet (nee Candy) and a daughter, June, by now Mrs Donald Nott.   But what of the silver tea service, and why was it so important?

John Morton 1801 - 1885,
​Butcher and Alderman of Berwick upon Tweed

In 1868 the tea service had been presented to him by the Mayor, in recognition and thanks for his “exertions on behalf of Berwick Soup Kitchen”.

​The Soup Kitchen had been long been a source of relief to the poor of Berwick in times of severe weather or hardship and when John finally resigned from the Committee in 1880 he was referred to as its “presiding genius”.  He was also one of the Guardians of the Poor and sat on the Workhouse Finance Committee from at least 1856-59, hardly missing a meeting.  A Town Councillor for 30 years at his retirement in November 1880, of which he had spent 15 as an Alderman, he was vocal on many issues such as the appointment of a Medical Officer, the paving of the streets, the Berwick Academy and the ongoing costs of the Gaol.
 
But who was he?

In the 1841 census the family are living at the home of his wife Hannah’s parents John and Agnes Hoffman (nee Taylor) in Western Lane.  The “P” against the name of John Hoffman may indicate he was a pensioner of the armed forces the “F” unsurprisingly indicates that he was born in foreign parts.  However, John is not with his family and this is where it all gets a bit tricky.

We know from White’s Directory of 1827 that John Morton was trading as a butcher from premises in Western Lane, and a record of a probate bond in 1848 for an Alexander Morton, Hatter of Berwick upon Tweed would appear to name John as a brother, along with a George Morton, Furrier, Charles Morton, Hatter and spinster sisters Euphemia and Jane.  The document as you can see has been signed by all three brothers in an educated hand.  

So far so good, the first problem is the second page of the same probate document where John and his brother Charles are both referred to as Hatters.

The second is an entry in the 1841 census for Yorkshire, where there are a John and Charles Morton, clearly listed within the household as having been born in Berwick, and both Hat Makers.  The problem created by this is who are the remaining members of the household?

Mary aged 30 Born Berwick
John aged 9 Born Berwick
Robert aged 12 Born Berwick
Ellen Born Howden Yorkshire, aged 3
 
A search for baptisms of the two children born in Berwick returned the following results.  Robert, baptised 1828, the son of John Morton, Hatter and his wife Mary, and John Gibson Morton baptised 1831 to the same couple.

The 1841 census whilst useful to the family history researcher is also infuriating in its lack of information regarding relationships.  This record gives no indication as to whether John is brother, cousin or otherwise to the Charles in the same listing.  What can be established is that John is approximately 15 years his senior and all the household members, with the exception of 3 year old Ellen, were born in Berwick.  The name Ellen may yet prove significant if family naming patterns are taken into consideration.

Switching the focus to Charles, who I do believe is one and the same as named in his brother Alexander’s probate and whose Mother’s name was Helen.  Helen died in 1852 and her death certificate was signed by her son Charles, of Western Lane.  She was recorded as the widow of Robert Morton, a shoemaker.
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To compound the problem even further, George Morton, the Furrier of Berwick upon Tweed married in 1834, Eleanor Rutherford.  Could this hold the key to the ‘Rutherford’ in Agatha’s father’s name?

I remain of the opinion that there is a connection between John Morton, Butcher and Alderman and the individuals mentioned above, not least the frequent reference to Western Lane.  This evidence will be scrutinised next time.  Until then I leave you with the thought that John Morton was a good man, but never a wealthy one, who worked hard for his Community, and that Charles Morton on the other hand, wearing his other ‘hat’ of Post Office Employee was in 1867 a convicted felon.

Tune in next month to find out more.  In the meantime in the spirit of the “Berwick 900, Our Families Project”, if you have any information regarding the Morton family of Berwick, including the whereabouts of the infamous tea service, I would love to hear from you!.