Botanical walks, can Linnaeus help trace ones ancestors?

Cardamine amara  (left hand plant) collected in June 1838 and Mildenhall now in Birmingham University Botanical Collection

A few years ago, I was the recipient of a totally unexpected email from Gigi Crompton [1] a researcher at the Cambridge Botanical Garden who had read an article that I had posted onto the internet about my great great grandfather, the Revd. Harry Baber. 

Did I know that he had been involved in botanical trips while at Cambridge University?

Harry Baber (1817-1892) in 1840.

The Botanical Garden has been engaged in a project for many years that is trying to measure the changes brought about to the flora of Cambridgeshire due to climate change, and mans modifications to the landscapes. They have been going back through the botanical collections and records held since the 1530's in order to try to determine how many plants had been lost, by comparing the lists with current survey details.

Harry Baber was recorded by Charles Cardale Babington (1808 – 1895), the author of "Flora of Cambridgeshire" (1860)making many trips together out into the Cambridgeshire countryside botanising.

Charles Cardale Babington (1808-1895)

Babington was nine years older than Harry Baber, and had been studying botany under Professor John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), who was professor of Botany at Cambridge. Henslow had also mentored Charles Darwin, and it is this work that he is best remembered for these days.

It had been Henslow who had put forward Darwin's name as being a suitable companion and botanist for Captain Fitzroy who was about to depart on HMS Beagle.[2]

Records exist both on the notes written on the back of the pressed plant specimens preserved in the Cambridge Botanical Garden and also in sources like the diaries of Charles Babington and notes made by Professor Henslow, which record that Harry Baber had been on some of the trips that Henslow and Babington had made, and these describe the locations and the finds they had made.

The Flora survey listed University Database included details of the following excursions.

Chenopodium rubrum Stretham, H. Baber (Hb CC Babington), Oct.1838, CGE.

Lamium purpureum  Grantchester, H Baber, 6.1837, CGE.

Lythrum hyssopifolia L. Stretham, H Baber, 9.1837, E.

Myosotis ramosissima Pit beyond Observatory, as M.collina flore albo., [var mittenii Baber added in pencil], H Baber, 6.1837, CGE.

Mentha x gentilis var cardiaca (Baber), Marshy field by Finch¹s Walk, Cambridge,.

Rorippa amph. Stretham, H Baber, 7.1838, CGE; near Ely, H Baber, n.d. (but Babington label), CGE;

Trifolium subterraneum Gamlingay, Prof Henslow, H Baber (in pencil), HB Churchill Babington, 1836, CGE.

Sparganium emersum Stretham-fen, as S.simplex, H Baber, 8.1837, CGE.

Veronica agrestis Stretham, H Baber, 30.9.1837, CGE.

Veronica polita Stretham, H Baber, 30.1837, CGE.

Lycopodium clavatum Stretham, H Baber, 9.1837, E.

Minuartia Went with Baber to Madingley...We noticed...Arenaria tenuifolia just come up, in the gravel pit near to the Observatory. 29.5.1837 Bab.Mem.62.

Muscari neglectum Hinton, H Baber, 5,1859, BM.

Oenanthe

Oenan pimpinelloides Wilburton, H Baber, Hb JA Power, 7.1838, 'I call this pseudanifolia, Poll. CE Salmon', & pimpinelloides crossed out. RTE.

Potamogeton compressus Stretham fen, H Baber, 6.1839, det. Dandy & Taylor, UCNW.

Potamogeton gramineus Stretham, H Baber, 1837, det. Dandy & Taylor, CLE.

Pulsatilla vulgaris Gogmagog Hills, H. Baber, May 1837, BM. Cambridgeshire, H Baber, Hb JA Power, 5.1838, RTE.

Gogmagog Hills, H Baber, 1839. ex Hb. F Tansom [?spelling.], YRK:6.

Gogmagog Hills, H Baber, Hb JA Power, 1839, RTE.

Gogmagog Hills, Mr H. Baber in Hb Mrs Atkins, 1839, BM.

Taraxacum palustre Ely, H. Baber, 1839, BM.

For a long time I have been waiting for an opportunity to see if I could repeat some of these trips. It would be important to choose the same time of year as the earlier trips otherwise many of the plants would be dormant and invisible.
Harry Baber had been educated at Westminster School, and matriculated at Michaelmas 1834. He was admitted to Trinity College Cambridge on the 13th of June 1834. He became a Scholar in 1835, and a Bachelor of Arts in 1839 and an MA in 1842.

Although he had gone to Cambridge University in order to take his degree so that he would be able to qualify to go on to take Holy Orders, he does not appear to initially have been intending to study botany. In this he was not alone as Charles Darwin, when he had gone up to Cambridge in 1828, it was only in his second year that he began to attend Professor Henslow's lectures.

These lectures did not form part of the curriculum for either student's degrees, and would have to be paid for separately. The core of the degree course in those days mainly revolved around mathematics largely based on Newton's Principia, or Newtonian Physics and moral philosophy.

Henslow's lectures soon became very successful drawing 60 to 70 people to each event. The attendees included not just students but many senior members of the university, including Adam Sedgwick, and William Whewell. [3]

Babington had attended the lectures for three years, paying for each year, but when he reappeared for the fourth year, Henslow relented and he was awarded a free course.

Carex obrubae, or False Fox-sedge collected at Stretham in June 1838

Professor Henslow was in the habit of holding an annual excursion for the students and other members of the audiences of his lectures which would go to Gamlingay Heath which is located about twenty miles west of Cambridge. Carriages were hired to transport the members of the botany club out to Gamlingay, for those members of the party who did not themselves ride. Wives and sisters of the members were also able to join the excursions, that had a strong social aspect to them.

They became a social highlight of the early summer when the lectures and exams were coming to an end.

Gamlingay Heath from the 1900 Ordnance Survey Map. In the 1830's the heath was more open, with few of the hedges shown, or indeed the brick works.

As the day drew to a close a meal was laid on in a nearby inn, and a band was hired to help the evening festivities along. Between sixteen and twenty people generally attended, at a cost of 12 shillings each. These trips which started in 1827 were so popular that they continued every year until 1852. Other trips were made taking advantage of the River Cam down towards Ely, which would have passed Little Thetford and Stretham, which was Harry Baber's family home.

John Stevens Henslow, (1796-1861)

From 1828 until 1837, Professor Henslow held "Friday Evenings" at his home in Cambridge at which many of the most highly regarded scientists of their day were frequently in attendance as well as his students.

The Modern track onto Gamlingay Heath. In the 1830's the Heath would have been much more open, and was probably given over to common grazing.

Trifolium subterraneum

As Gamlingay is only about 14 miles away from my home and with restrictions on travel slowly starting to lift, I decided to make the journey on Monday 25th May 2020.

I was in search of..

"Trifolium subterraneum Gamlingay, Prof Henslow, H Baber (in pencil), HB Churchill Babington, 1836, CGE"

This is where my difficulties began, because clover in its many forms is very common in England, but this one is different from all of the others in only one key respect only. According to Wikipedia, it is alone amongst all the other clovers in that it seeds under ground.

"Trifolium subterraneum", the subterranean clover which, is a species of Clover "native to northwestern Europe, from Ireland east to Belgium". The plant's name comes from its underground seed development geocarpy, a characteristic not possessed by other clovers. It can thrive in poor-quality soil where other clovers cannot survive, and is grown commercially for animal fodder. There are three distinct subspecies used in agriculture, each with its own ideal climate and soil type, allowing for wide distribution of the plant over varied environments.
 
Subterraneum is the generalist subspecies, and it can be grown in the widest range of environments,is grown in moist areas that are prone to flooding.T. subterraneum brachycalycinum is a more sensitive plant, requiring dry, cracked soil for its germination." 

Plants on Gamlingay Heath in May 2020

While very success as a pleasant walk in a remote part of Cambridgeshire, I am afraid that my skills as a botanist are strictly limited. Lacking the skills of a Babington or a Henslow, I have no idea if the clover I saw was the correct one.

In my defence,  Trifolium subterraneum has become very rare these days.  The reason for these is that wide scale advances in agricultural improvements during the 1840's and into the 20th Century have altered the soil pH. and fertility out of all recognition since 1839. The soil at Gamlingay is very sandy, but it is a cap only a few feet deep over lying clays. This is evidenced by the presence of 19th Century brick pits and the sites of former kilns on three of the four sides of the woods.

Improving farmers during the 18th Century like my four x great grandfather Josiah Rodwell had already worked out that by digging up the underlying clays, and mixing the clays with the sands they would produce a very great improvement to the soils fertility, and this increase in fertility wiped out many of the highly specialised plants that had formerly grown on this heath.

In 1837 Henslow decided to move his permanent place of residence to Hitcham in Suffolk, only travelling back to the University at Cambridge for the Spring Term, when he gave his lectures.

It is not known when Harry Baber first began his interest in botany, however it probably arose from his living in an apartment attached to the British Library where his father the Rev. Henry Hervey Baber was Keeper of the Printed Books at the British Library until 1837.  Harry's father also had responsibility for the natural history collection.

At that time there was no Natural History Museum, and a natural history collection had formed part of the British Museum's collection since 1758 when the Rev. Andrew Planta who had come from Switzerland was appointed Assistant Librarian of Natural History.

Planta's son Joseph, also worked on natural history as an Assistant Librarian in the Department of Printed Books. In 1814 Joseph Planta accompanied Henry Hervey Baber on his trip to Munich where Baber purchased a major botanical collection from Baron Von Moll.

The Apartments in the entrance quadrangle to the British Library where Harry Baber lived with his father.  The museum and library entrance was just off to the right of this picture. 

Both the British Library and the British Museum were located in a single building that stood on the site of the existing British Museum, and Harry who was born in 1817, would have lived with his parents in a flat built in the courtyard to the front of the museum that came with the post of Keeper of the Printed Books.[4]  This would have allowed Harry access to one of the largest collections in Britain at that time.

The earliest collecting expedition in which Harry is known to have taken part in, that we are aware of took place in April 1837, when he found and example of Arabis turrita which is preserved in the Herbarium at the Perth Museum in Scotland.

"The Perth collection also includes an example of Grape-hyacinth Muscari neglectum which is recorded as having been collected in Cherry Hinton, in May 1837.

On "May 29. [1837, Babington] Went with Baber to Madingley.  Lamium Galeobdolon was just come into flower.  We noticed Cerastium arvense in flower, and Arenaria tenufolia just come up, in the gravel pit near to the Observatory.  Leontodon palustre was in flower in Madingley chalk pit."

The gravel pit at Madingley subsequently became abandoned and overgrown. It now forms the eastern most point in the grounds of the American War Cemetery at Madingley.

During June 1838, Harry appears to have been staying in his father's rectory at Stretham near Ely, where he was able to collect an example of Carex obrubae, or False Fox-sedge.  He then pressed the sample to dry it. Harry then arranged for the sample to be sent to his friend at the Royal Botanical Garden at Edinburgh, where it survives to this day. [5]

Stretham is located in the Fens directly to the north of Cambridge, on the main road towards Ely.  During the winter, the village was almost an island, as the surrounding area became flooded by winter runoff from the catchment of the Ouse.  Harry was witnessing one of the last summer's before the installation of a major new steam pumping engine at Stretham would draw down the waters, destroying the wetlands for every, and allowing most of the land to be turned over to arable land.

Cardamine Amara collected by Harry Baber, July 1838, Mildenhall.

Harry Baber's time at Cambridge began a year or more after Charles Darwin left.  It is largely due to modern interest in Charles Darwin that the records that allow me to follow Harry Baber's botanical interests have survived.

It is at this point that from the records of Charles Darwin, that a really intriguing set of connections begin to emerge, and these have deep roots into the Suffolk countryside.

Some of the most interesting records of Darwin's time at Cambridge come from the anecdotes recorded by my great x 4 uncle the Revd. John Medows Rodwell who was a student at Cambridge at the same time as Darwin. I will further explore these connections in a second blog post which hopefully will follow shortly.

After leaving University Harry was Ordained as a Deacon at Norwich Cathedral on the 26^th of July 1840.  On the following day, 27^th July 1840 Harry was appointed curate of Barham in Suffolk.  He had been nominated by the Revd. William Kirby Rector of the adjacent parish of Claydon.

Revd William Kirby by Spence

The selection of the Rev. William Kirby as a suitable mentor for Harry Baber as he took up his new role as Curate is an interesting one.  The Revd William Kirby was a very highly regarded lepidopterist.

Natural History was also a professional interest of Henry Hervey Baber, especially when they were attacking his precious religious texts, his primary interests, as the following letter in John Freeman’s book Life of Rev. William Kirby M.A. Rector of Barham, published in 1852 demonstrates. In this letter dated April 25th 1817, Dr Leach wrote to Rev. Kirby: -

“Mr Baber also Director of the library in the British Museum, sent me another species that had perforated a manuscript from Mount Sinai”

The insect was apparent a Dermestides [6] of a type that was hitherto unknown, and it had shot out of the bindings of an ancient text that had been collected from the famous library at St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai.

The Dr Leach who wrote the letter was William Elford Leach (1790-1836) Assistant Librarian of Natural History from 1813 to 1822, who worked under Henry Baber at the British Library. [6] 

The recipient William Kirby of the letter was a natural historian of great ability, who was a member of the Royal Society and the Linnaean Society.  From his rectory in Suffolk he corresponded with naturalists in Sweden and South America. It is not clear from the letter how well if at all he knew Henry Baber, but he was later to become closely related to Henry Baber, when Henry’s son Rev. Harry Baber married Sarah Rodwell. Kirby’s second wife was Charlotte Rodwell, Sarah’s aunt.

Henry’s daughter Anne Maria was to marry the Rev Philip Freeman the younger brother of the Revd. John Freeman, the author of Kirby’s life. This earlier link is probably how Henry’s children came to meet their respective wives from the Gipping Valley in Suffolk.

The close nature of the friendship, and that it was maintained over many years is suggested by the following codicil in William Kirby's will (from the Suffolk Record Office) as follows:

"to my dear friend Ann Maria Baber, daughter of the Revd H. H. Baber late of the British Museum Ten Pounds as a token of my regard" Jan 10th 1844 [7]

William Kirby and his wife Charlotte paid a social visit to Cambridge and Stretham in January 1841. This is recorded in Freeman's Life of Kirby.

“After spending a week at the latter place (Cambridge) and Stretham very pleasantly, we packed ourselves into the Ipswich Coach.”

Edward Stanley, (1779 – 1849) [8] Bishop of Norwich

That the Bishop of Norwich was involved in Harry Baber's early career as a curate is interesting.
Harry Baber's father Henry Hervey Baber occupied a living that was in the Diocese of Ely, and was located within sight of Ely, which was only about six miles from Stretham. However for reasons that are unclear, Harry was ordained by the Bishop of Norwich located much further away.

Botany may well have been the reason for Bishop Edward's interest in Harry Baber's career. The Bishop was a very keen botanist.  He became President of the Linnean Society in 1837, and remained so until his death in 1849.  He was also the original Patron of the Ipswich Museum and presided at its opening in 1847. 

The printed licence from Edward Stanley, (1779 – 1849) [8] Bishop of Norwich appointing Harry Baber to his first curacy is endorsed in handwriting: -

“You residing at Claydon about half a mile distant being allowed to reside out of the parish of Barham aforesaid on account of the Rector being resident in the parsonage house there.”

I am by no means an expert on either botany or on the history of natural philosophy as it was described at the time. If you are aware of other information on this subject, or know more about aspects of the above, I would very much like to hear from you.  My email is balmer.nicholas@gmail.com

---

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/17/gigi-crompton-obituary Mrs Crompton sadly died early in 2020.

[2] Janet Brown, Charles Darwin, Voyaging, pages 117-140.

[3]http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2018.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=BBNN825CC&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50

See also S.M. Walters & E.A. Stow, Darwin's Mentor, John Stevens Henslow 1796-1861.

[4] The apartments were all located in two wings of red brick buildings that lined either side of the courtyard in front of the museum. Before the existing library was built, these blocks of apartments were demolished. 

[5] See http://herbariaunited.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12933

[6]Dermestidae are a family of Coleoptera that are commonly referred to as skin beetles. Other common names include larder beetle, hide or leather beetles, carpet beetles, and khapra beetles. There are approximately 500 to 700 species worldwide.

[7] Doctor Leach who was six years older than Henslow had recognised Henslow's abilities as a naturalist before Henslow went up to Cambridge. It is very possible that Leach would have shown Henslow the botanical collections inside the British Library.

[8] E-mail from Greg Finch 02/2001, original of Kirby’s will in Suffolk Record Office.

[9] Edward Stanley, Bishop of Norwich was also President of the Linnaean Society.

Buckden & Henry Hervey Baber's Ordination 1798

Buckden Bishops Palace and Church, December 2016.

For many years I have known that my great x 3 grandfather Henry Hervey Baber had been ordained at Buckden in Huntingdonshire.  The village used to sit astride the Great North Road, from London north to Edinburgh, although it is now bypassed.  Recently, I had occasion to drive past the village, and unusually I had time to go into the village and explore it in more detail. It was a cold drizzling afternoon a couple of weeks before Christmas.

Returning home, I looked up Henry's diary, and was agreeably surprised to see that we had by chance visited Buckden almost to the day, 218 years after he had arrived.

Entries from Henry Hervey Baber's Memorandum for December 1798

(Please click on this image and the others for larger versions)

In the life of any clergyman, the day of his ordination is always going to be a particularly important day.  Fortunately for me, a record of the events surrounding Henry's ordination survive, and recently I was able to visit the locations where these events took place.

Dec'r

11  Set off from Oxford for London -- Set off

12 On the following day went to Mr H Cowpers - and received my Title for Orders

-- which was at Ibstock in Leicestershire.

-- the Rector - Mr Madan.

Henry Cowper (1758-1840) was the third son of General Spencer Cowper and Charlotte nee Baber, who was Henry's great aunt  Henry Cowper was a lawyer at the Inner Temple,  grandson of William Cowper, clerk of the parliaments 1739–40, and great-grandson of the judge Spencer Cowper.

Family connections were being used to the full here, as the Rev'd Spencer Madan who was Rector of Ibstock, in Leicestershire, as well as St. Philip's, Birmingham, and Canon Residentiary of Lichfield Cathedral, as well as being one of the King's Chaplains, was a close relative of the Cowper family.

In 1723 Judith Cowper (1702-1781), a skilful poet, had married Colonel Martin Madan, groom of the bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and MP for Wootton Basset. He had died at Bath on 4 March 1756, aged 53. Their sons included Rev Martin Madan, author of Thelyphthora a defence of polygamy and the Right Rev. Spencer Madan bishop successively of Bristol and Peterborough.

Spencer Madan, Rector of Ibstock, was the son of the Bishop of Peterborough, and Lady Charlotte Cornwallis, sister of the first Marquis Cornwallis.  His uncle was Bishop of Lichfield. His father had been Chaplain in Ordinary to the King until 1787, when he resigned his post, which was then handed on to his son.

As a puralist, with so many posts to fill, Spencer Madan must have needed several curates to service his other livings.[1]

Henry's entries for December 13th to the 25th, 1798.

1798

Dec.

13 met ( Isham there - on Thursday set

off from the White Horse, Fetter Lane by the

York High Flier for Buckden 61 miles, 

took up my abode at the George Inn, where I met

the rest of the Candidates for H. Orders. -- on the 

14, 15 Friday and Saturday examined by Mr

16 Maltby - and on the Sunday ordained a Deacon

by the Bishop of Lincoln.  There were

18 Candidates - 2 of whom were pluck'd. --

returned to London on Sunday night

on the outside of the Glasgow Mail.--

The White Horse, Fetter Lane in Holborn, 

departure point on December 13, 1798 for Buckden.  
The inn had been refurbished in 1794 by Landlord John Roberts [2]

The journey must have been an anxious one for Henry as he would face a searching interview and examination on his arrival. The route to Buckden up the Great North Road through High Barnet, Baldock, Biggleswade and St Neots, was not totally unknown to Henry as he had previously travelled down from it from Stamford in 1782, when he had been aged 7. Now aged 23, he was to face the final hurdle into his chosen profession.

As he checked in to the George, he must have apprehensively viewed the other eighteen candidates.

The George Inn, Buckden in December 2016.

Over the following two days the candidates were all interviewed and examined by the Reverend Edward Maltby. [3]

Maltby was the Vicar at Buckden. In 1794, Maltby had also become domestic chaplain to George Pretyman, Bishop of Lincoln.  His career had become assumed when his cousin Elizabeth had married the Bishop in 1784, and they subsequently mentored Maltby's career.  He was made a Prebend at Lincoln Cathedral, and then he had received the parishes of Buckden, in Huntingdonshire, and Holbeach, in Lincolnshire.

Buckden had been one of a number of travelling palaces, that had belonged to the Bishops of Lincoln since Medieval times.

In those days, the Bishops of Lincoln had occupied some of the most important roles in government, and had control of a diocese that stretched from the Humber to the River Thames at Dorcester.  By the end of the 18th Century, most of the palaces had gone, and many new dioceses had been split out from the original Medieval one.

The palace complex, which is on the opposite side of the road, a short distance north of the George survives to this day. It has become a Catholic Conference Centre these days.

The entrance to Buckden Palace from the former Great North Road.

Henry does not make it clear from his diary, however, it is very probable that it was inside the Palace that the interview took place.

The Reverend Edward Maltby (1770-1859)

The Palace had been at its most opulent during the 16th Century, when it was used by the Tudor Royal families on a number of occasions, as well as the Bishops.  By 1798, it was becoming quite run down, and in the 1830's large sections were demolished.

The Bishops Palace at Buckden, and the parish church

 where Henry was ordained as a Deacon

The Rev'd Maltby, who ran a private school at Buckden, was known to be a fierce inquisitor.  He would later become Bishop of Chichester  from 1831 until 1836, and Bishop of Durham from 1836 until 1859.

In any event, Henry must have passed the examination, as on Sunday the 16th of December, he was ordained as a Deacon by the Bishop of Lincoln.

Sir George Petyman, Bishop of Lincoln.

Sir George Petyman came originally from Bury St Edmunds, and went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge. Following his graduation, he stayed at the College as a Fellow, and had the good fortune have been appointed tutor to William Pitt the Younger, who had arrived at Pembroke as a 14 year old.  In 1780, Pitt stood unsuccessfully for parliament for the Cambridge University seat, but in January 1781, Pitt was able to secure the backing of the Lowther family who controlled the Pocket Borough of Appleby.  By 1784, Pitt had become Prime Minister, after the Fox North government had fallen.

Petyman was made Pitts Private Secretary, and used his considerable mathematical skills to advise Pitt on suitable financial methods to fund the government, and which were to play a major role in enabling Pitt to successfully fund the Coalitions set up in Europe to wage war on Napoleon's France.

At first Pitt's government was not expected to survive more than a few weeks, but it eventually ran for seventeen years.  There was considerable criticism of Petyman for having taken on the role of Private Secretary to Pitt, whilst still a clergyman. [4]

However, it did his career no long term harm, as Pitt in his role as Prime Minister, was able to appoint Petyman first as Bishop of Peterborough, in 1787.  In 1820 Sir George became Bishop of Winchester.

Interior of Buckden Church.

Although Henry does not say as much, I believe that it is most likely that he was ordained inside Buckden Church.

From the Clergy of the Church of England Database [5] it has been possible to assemble a list of eleven of the eighteen candidates at Buckden on that December day in 1798.

Richard Barnett
John William Robert Boyer
William Cowley
Peregrine Curtois
John Dolignon
Thomas Cotton Fell
John Tottenham O'Keefe
Martin Sheath
William Tate
William Thistlethwaite.

All that remained for Henry to do, was to return to London. This he did on the outside of the Glasgow Mail.  He appears to have travelled through the night, and it must have been a long and very cold ride, perched on the roof seats, in the position of the man in the brown coat in the following image as he was.

London to Glasgow Coach.  

Although this painting dates from 1815-1830, the earlier coaches were little different in style. [6]

If you are aware of any other details of the events discussed above, I would be very pleased to hear from you. I can be contacted on balmer.nicholas@gmail.com 

[1] See The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 7, page 205 and 206 for Revd Spencer Madan's obituary. [2] The Cambridge Telegraph Coach at the White Horse Tavern and Family Hotel, Fetter Lane, London, by James Pollard (1792–1867) from http://artuk.org/visit/venues/national-trust-arlington-court-and-national-trust-carriage-museum-4917 National Trust, Arlington Court and National Trust Carriage Museum

[3] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Maltby for more details of Maltby's career.

[4] For more on Sir George Petyman see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pretyman_Tomline

[5] http://db.theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/search/index.jsp

[6] See http://www.scotcities.com/railways/beforetrains.htm for more on the Glasgow to London coach services

Riots at Little Thetford, Rector in peril getting to Even Song

Little Thetford Church Yard

It seems hard to imagine it now, but in 1833, this church yard and quiet village was the scene of a pitched battle between the villagers and the Constabulary.  When on the following evening my three x great grandfather, the Rev'd Henry Hervey Baber arrived to take the service, the villagers at once tried to prevent his entering the church in protest.

On the 16th of November 1833 a notice had appeared in the local press, announcing the intention of the promoters to apply for an Act of Parliament to enclose the common lands of Stretham and Little Thetford.  In order to do this a number of legal formalities had had to be undertaken including pinning notices to the Church doors of the villages concerned, and the solicitors clerks set out to Stretham and Little Thetford to post the notices. At Stretham this seems to have happened with no immediate repercussions.

However at Little Thetford, perhaps forwarded by the appearance of the notice on Stretham Church door, when Thomas Archer and his clerks arrived they found a dozen villagers who were opposed enclosure waiting for them, each armed with bludgeons, who prevented the official getting to the church door, determined to prevent the posting of the legal notice.

The clerks retired thwarted in their intention, to Ely where they went to visit the local magistrates, who ordered ten constables to accompany the clerks to see that the job was completed.

It must have seemed to the magistrates that ten constables would have been more than a match for the original twelve villagers, however by the time they arrived back in the village they found that they were confronted not by twelve, but one hundred and fifty protesters, all of whom were armed with sticks.

This must have been just about every adult male from this small village, and quite possibly other protesters from surrounding communities had joined in.

Here is a copy of the notice that had appeared in several local news papers, including the Huntingdon, Bedford & Peterborough Gazette and the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal. 

            Huntingdon, Bedford and Peterborough Gazette - Saturday 16 November 1833

The notice read as follows, and its text must have been very similar to that, which it had been intended to post onto the church door.

STRETHAM-CUM-THETFORD. 

NOTICE is hereby Given, that Application is intended to made in the next Session of Parliament for leave to bring in a bill for dividing, allotting, inclosing, and draining the several Open Fields, Commons, Meadow and Commonable Lands and Waste Grounds within the parish of Stretham and hamlet of Thetford, in the Isle of Ely and County of Cambridge, and such portions of fen called Grunty Fen, in the said Isle and County, (being an intercommon between the said parish and hamlet, and the parishes of Wilburton, Haddenbam, Wentworth, Witchford, and Saint Mary, in Ely, in the said Isle and County, or some of them) as may be equal in value to the rights and interests of the several commoners and inhabitants of the said parish of Stretham and hamlet of Thetford over the same: and for exonerating from tithes the said fields, com mons, lands, and waste grounds, and the said portions of the aforesaid fen, and all other the titheable lands and properties within the said parish of Stretham and hamlet of Thetford. And that is intended to make provision in the said Bill for appropriating for the exclusive benefit and enjoyment of the Poor Inhabitants of the said parish of Stretham and hamlet of Thetford. certain parts of the said fen or of the said commons. And Notice is further Given, that provision is also intended to be made in the said Bill for altering, amending, or repealing an act passed in the sixth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the third, entitled, "An Act for draining and preserving Stretham Common in the Isle of Ely "and County of Cambridge; and for empowering " the Commissioners for putting in Execution an Act for the effectual draining and preservation of Waterbeach Level in the County Cambridge, and to establish an Agreement made between the Lord of the Manor of Waterbeach-cum-Denny and the Commoners within the said Manor, to raise Sum " of Money to pay the Debts owing upon the Credit "of the said Act." And that provision will also be made in the said Bill for embanking, draining, and preserving, as well such of the said commons and meadow and commonable lands as may require to be embanked and drained, as also certain low lands situate within the said hamlet of Thetford, and parish of the Holy-Trinity in Ely, and the parish of Saint Mary in Ely, and between certain bank, called Cawdle-Fen Bank, and a certain common, called Hall-Fen Common, and certain other low lands and grounds situate within the said hamlet, called Reed Fen and Langmore grounds.—Dated this eighth day of November, 1833.

By Order,

EVANS, ARCHER, and EVANS, Solicitors.

Huntingdon, Bedford and Peterborough Gazette - Saturday 16 November 1833

Eventually the police withdrew bruised, however the villagers remained on watch until midnight.

The next afternoon, being a Sunday, the Rector, Henry Hervey Baber, arrived to conduct the service of Evensong, and the watchers resisted his approach to the Church, “No church today” they shouted, however the rector persisted and was eventually able to enter the Church with his church warden, who had been one of the protesting crowd. [1]

The objections to the inclosure act was not just coming from the poorest of the villagers, but from a vocal and well organised group of villagers who appear to have including many of the tenant farmers. 

They were sufficiently well organised to be able to publish their own advertisements in the local press objecting to the inclosures.  The following fascinating advertisement names many of those who must have taken part in the demonstration and fracas in the street at Little Thetford.

Friday 22nd of November 1833,  Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 

The Rector was at this time relatively new in the living, having been presented to it in 1827, as a reward for his efforts in publishing the facsimile of the Alexander Codex, and to supplement his salary as Keeper of the Printed Books at the British Library.  This meant that until 1835 when he resigned his post at the Library, he can have only been present in the villages of Stretham for parts of the year, and that he must have employed curates to read the services in his place. 

Revd Henry Hervey Baber, Rector of Stretham Cum Thetford.

It was probably because those involved in the affray were in many cases substantial farmers and villagers, that the magistrates appear to have been very restrained in their treatment of those involved when they came before the bench in Ely.

STRETHAM CUM-THETFORD INCLOSURE.

In consequence of the extreme unpopularity of the proposed inclosure among the small commoners, attempts to post the notices church doors in each place was resisted. At Stretham, however, a notice was eventually posted; but at Thetford the whole population rallied, from the farmer to the servant, with their wives and children - all were in readiness to resist the posting of the notice in arms.

Mr. Thomas Archer, one of the solicitors for the bill, attended by a host of constables, sworn in for the occasion, was successfully resisted. It is but right to state that their resistance was as peaceable as, under the circumstances, might be expected. An information against eleven of the inhabitants was heard before the magistrates at Ely, on Thursday last, when all the parties were discharged upon entering into recognizances. The excitement was beyond all precedent, and particularly as regards Grunty Fen, which belongs to nearly all the surrounding parishes. The attempt to inclose Grunty Fen, some fifty years ago, brought forward an opposition nearly amounting to a riot.

Huntingdon, Bedford and Peterborough Gazette - Saturday 30 November 1833

The Main Street in Little Stretham, opposite the church. Presumably the site of the struggle with the Constabulary.

Why were the villagers so exercised by the proposals to inclose the land?

The Fens and especially the Isle of Ely had a long tradition of resistance to outsiders, going back to at least Hereward the Wake. Oliver Cromwell had lived in Ely, and was well aware of the popular resistance to the drainage of the Fens during the 1830's.

The Fens to the east and north of Stretham were amongst the deepest and most waterlogged, so that they remained as marshland until much later than more accessible and less deep areas had first been reclaimed.

Nearby Wicken Fen represents the closest that we can get today to seeing what the land around Little Thetford and Stretham was like in 1833.

The land was covered in marshland, reeds and wet land woods, which was seasonally flooded each Winter and in wet periods.  In the Summer months it was dry enough over much of its area for cattle to be fed in the marshes. The reeds were cut and sold for many miles inland for thatching houses, and year round there was a rich harvest of fresh water fish and wildfowl. Rents were generally low.

The following photo taken recently at the National Trust's reserve at Wickham Fen, which is being returned to its former wetland status, gives a very good idea of what the landscape around Little Thetford and Stretham looked like before the drainage. Cattle including Highland Cattle were droved as two and three year olds from Scotland and the North West of England to markets where local farmers would buy them, each year to turn out on the summer grazing.  These cattle, previously only used to sparse upland vegetation, would rapidly fatten ready for onward droving first to St Ives market, and then London in time for the Christmas markets. 

Modern Highland Cattle at Wicken Fen

Surprisingly examples of the former vegetation that was living and growing at Stretham and from the surrounding Fens at this very time survive in the Botanical Libraries of Edinburgh and Cambridge in the form of pressed plants and flowers.

They demonstrate the former marshy situation that they grew in.  The samples were taken in the 1830's by Henry Hervey Baber's son Harry Baber, who was a student of Theology at nearby Cambridge University. Whilst studying there he had been very interested in botany, and had studied under the Rev Philip Henslow, who had been one of Darwin's tutors.  Harry's father was also responsible for the British Libraries botanical collection, which later on, would be separated out and formed the core of the future National History Museum.  This sample was one of a number of aquatic plant species that Harry sent to the Botanical Collection at Edinburgh University, where they have recently been photographed as part of their digitising of their collections.

Carex Hirta (Hairy Sedge) collected by Harry Baber at Stretham in 1838.

It had become possible to drain and convert the land to arable uses by drainage because of the advances in steam pumping engines that had been taking place in the previous decade.  In 1831 a very large pumping engine had been built to the east of Stretham, which still survives. A Mr Glynn had been commissioned in 1829 to develop a proposal for this very large new pumping station.  By 1831, complete with its 75 feet tall chimney it was brought into service.[2]

The beam engine had been manufactured by the Butterley Company and must have taken a considerable effort to move from Derbyshire to Stretham and to erect.

Stretham Steam Pumping Station.

The cost of the coal for the pumping station was met by levying a tax per acre onto the land of the surrounding parishes, and these added financial burdens put pressure on farmers and graziers who didn't have the capital to invest in hedging and draining their individual farms.

An extract of the Ordnance Survey map of Little Thetford circa 1890.

Although this map shows the later railway, and indeed the field boundaries and drains installed following the inclosures, it still show the names of the former boundaries, including in this case Thetford Cow Common.  As can be seen the common extended over the site of many local fields laid out in 1837.  Before the inclosures the villagers held the Common Rights "in Common" and were each able to turn out a set number of cattle onto the Common, so that many cows from the village would all be grazing together.  With the inclosure acts all of this was done away with.  By the time the Act was proposed at Stretham and Little Thetford enclosure Acts had previously been enacted in many other villagers, so that the villagers were under few illusions as to what to expect.

The open and potentially dangerous nature of the land at Little Thetford prior to its draining is illustrated by the fate of a drover returning to Ely who had lost his way in 1830. Stretham and Little Thetford were on the main London to Ely and Kings Lynn Road.  Both villages were situated on low islands that were raised just above the surrounding marshland, and in wet weather with the floods out, it must have been easy to become confused. The route north into Ely involved crossing several deep drains.

Friday 26 February 1830 Cambridge Chronicle and Journal

A modern map showing the location of Little Thetford relative to Ely and Stretham

Cambridge is about ten miles to the south of the map.

The Rector found himself caught up in the resentment for many reasons.  The primary one was that the farmers had to pay tithes to the Rector, and these represented a substantial amount of their annual income.  In many cases the same farmers were Dissenters, or Non-Comformists, and as such they disliked supporting the Established Church.  The issue became really complicated, because in most cases, the Inclosure Act was intended amongst other things, to compound for the tithes by allotting the Rector an area of Glebe Lands with which in future he would be able to grow his own income, and the villagers would no longer have to pay him tithes.

There was also the issue of Puralism, or absentee parsons. Throughout the 18th Century the religious fervour and rigour than had applied in the 17th Century fell away, and with so did church attendances.  Many of the richest parishes also came to belong to institutions like the Oxford & Cambridge Colleges.  The incomes from these parishes became dedicated to the support of academics in those Colleges, and the incumbents rarely ever visited their parishes in person.

A very telling letter appeared in the local Huntingdon, Bedford & Peterborough Gazette complaining about this situation.  Oddly enough the Rector of Stretham is singled out as being one of the few who did at least attend his parish, if only for part of the year.

Saturday 20 September 1834, Huntingdon, Bedford and Peterborough Gazette

In Henry Hervey Baber's case he had been given the living specifically to support his income because his salary from the British Library was too low.  By externalising the cost the Board of the Library were able to avoid raising their budget.  In 1834 Henry would give evidence at the Royal Commission saying that it was no longer acceptable that the Keeper of the Printed Books be a pluralist, and that the salary should be increased.

He also handed in his notice, and retired to Stretham.

Friday 21 August 1835, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal

The actual process of inclosure seems to have taken nearly a decade to implement.  It caused a large scale reorganisation of the entire landscape, and required many families to commit to major fencing and drainage works.

The Fence and Ditches from the Inclosure Award are evident in this 1890's map.

Many of the meetings to arrange the work of dividing up the parish lands took place in the Lamb Inn in Ely, which survives to this day. Did the Rector attend along with the other villagers?

The Lamb Inn, Ely.

Here is an example of one such meeting called at the Lamb in the following notice published in the Cambridge Chronicle in November 1835.

Friday 20 November 1835, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal

Before the Inclosure, the individual farmers land had generally been interleaved with that of many others. In future it would be combined into contiguous blocks wherever possible.  The other boundary fences were erected by the Commissioners who were undertaking the Inclosure, but in due course they would charge the farmers for it.  Many of the roads were also realigned, and until these could be rebuilt, this must have reduced the roads to an absolute mud fest until such time as they could be surfaced.

The villagers themselves were responsible for this road making. It was generally done in winter using labourers and their families who had been reduced to dependency on the Poor Law.  To get the stones, they were expected very often to stone pick the newly ploughed soil, which can have been no fun at all throughout the winter months, carrying the stones in sacks or baskets across the fields to the dump in the newly fenced lanes. Here is an advertisement for the fencing work.

Saturday 15 October 1836, Huntingdon, Bedford and Peterborough Gazette

By 1837, the bulk of the work had been completed on the enclosures, and the formal award was announced, with the lands being handed out.

STRETHAM INCLOSURE. 

WE, the Commissioners acting under and by virtue of Act of Parliament passed in the 5th and 6th years of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, entitled "An Act for inclosure and allotting lands in the Parish of Stretham, the Isle of Ely and "county of Cambridge, and for the Commutation " of Tithes," do hereby give notice, that we shall hold a SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING at the Lamb Inn, in Ely, on Wednesday the sixth day of September next, at ten o’clock the forenoon, for the purpose of reading over and executing our Award in the presence of such the Proprietors as may think proper attend, and of transacting any other business relative the said Inclosure that require our attention.—Dated this 17th day of August, 1837.

JOHN JOSSELYN.

ANTHy. JACKSON.

For many of the smaller farmers, whose allotments were often too small to adequately support their families the effects were dire. With the land no longer held at least in part as common land, and with it all fenced off, it was no longer as easy to forage as it had been in earlier years.  With the land increasingly drained, there was much less opportunity for fishing or wild fowling to supplement the pot.

Many of the farms were sold in the following years, and the ownership of land was consolidated into the hands of many fewer larger farmers.  Many smallholders who had previously eked out a living, working seasonally on the holdings of the larger farmers, and who grew subsistence crops or foraged to supplement their incomes became dependent on the parish.

As I will show in a future blog, this led to an unfortunate series of events in Stretham, that would affect both the Rector, but also many of the villagers profoundly. 

[1] I acknowledge the assistance of  Steve Skerry who wrote an excellent leaflet and notice board in 1995, which appears inside Little Thetford Church setting out these events.

[2] See http://strethamoldengine.org.uk/history.htm.  The pumping station is open at weekends and public holidays, but it is advisable to check with the trusts website before you set out for the details of opening days and times.

The newspaper extracts all come from the excellent British Library online Newspaper Archive, without which this blog would be far less interesting, if indeed possible.