While living at Southsea and Portsmouth, on holidays we used to hire a horse and wagonette and drive out for the day, eat lunch by the roadside, go somewhere to tea, and get home to a crab supper or something else unusual to eat. On one or two such occasions [112] we visited at Miss Haughton’s, aunt at Bursledon; they had strawberry gardens, also there were some windmills in the neighbourhood. On one such outing, the horse fell lame, and I had to go home, and as it was a public holiday there were crowds of people at various places, and also the police were about in force, so I had to drive very carefully, so I walked the horse when in a town, and it did not show when it walked, and so I got home safely. On one occasion we saw an aviator descend by parachute from his plane; the first we had seen.
When we lived at Southall, and the children were too big and too numerous to put into a wagonette, we used to go out and about 20 miles by train, and then walk home. We all enjoyed it, were all together, and we arrived home tired and hungry but happy – then fried cod’s roe or other relish for supper. Also, later, I and the 2 boys Leonard and Eustace would go a bicycle ride to Fleet, put up our wheels at the Fox and Hounds [113] public house, and hire a boat and row along the canal as far as the Barley Mow at Winchfield, have a bread and cheese and beer lunch, row back to Fleet and cycle home – a strenuous holiday, but enjoyed. A cycle journey to see my brother Sam at Eastleigh, along through Staines and Egham, by the Thames, Virginia Water, Bagshot, Farnborough to Fleet – this route was to Fleet and not to Eastleigh. The other was through Guildford, and Godalming, Farnham and Alton, along the Hogs Back (so called), the ridge of the Surrey Hills – lovely country.
One outing from Portsmouth while the two oldest were little, and could be put into a pram; we went to the Crystal Palace for the day, had dinner in 1st class dining-room, the costliest dinner I ever bought, but had an unusual meal and enjoyed it. On another vacation we went to Hazlemere, to Lillian’s friends Mr and Mrs meadows, whom she had worked with at Oxford; [114] took a vehicle and drove to Hindhead, saw the residence of Thomas Huxley the scientist, The Devil’s Punchbowl and the lovely country around, we shared expense? of hired vehicles.
The Church and Sunday School at Elm Grove, Southsea, used to arrange an outing on all public holidays, and some very enjoyable outings were had; sometimes by train and tramp, sometimes by brake, always in Summer. Our entertainments in winter were held indoors. We had a good choir and also a Choral Society, to which latter we both belonged, and all our church meetings were enjoyable. We were young, and business was good – but all things come to an end, and so did the lovely time we had at Southsea. On one occasion of a visit to Portsmouth, before I went to live there, I went over Nelson’s old ship the Victory, and saw the cockpit where he is supposed to have died (footnote 1). [115] A very exhilarating walk on a rough day was along the sea front and round Southsea Castle; the spray used to wash right over the path (footnote 2), which was a way up far above sea level. One year I bathed in the sea until after the middle of November – it then got a bit too cold for me, but some people kept it up longer.
Some very enjoyable outings we used to have to the Isle of Wight, sometimes called the Garden of England, but I think that nomenclature has also been used for the County of Kent (footnote 3). We explored the island, especially on our honeymoon, which we spent at East Cowes, very near to Queen Victoria’s residence (footnote 4), and we went each day, sometimes by train and sometimes by boat, and always did a good deal of walking – the best honeymoon I ever had (don’t laugh!). I took 2 or 3 services at the Congregational Church, both before Mr Preston came and afterwards.
[116] At Southsea we entered into Church work. I was a deacon and Church Secretary for years, also Superintendent of Sunday School for some time, occasionally taking weeknight and sometimes Sunday services. I also was on the Southall and Norwood Burial board; here I bought a grave (footnote 5), and our own little Beatrice was buried ; also Auntie Rose and one of her boys. From Southall we drove once or twice to Stampwell Farm, to Lillie’s Uncle and Aunt Mr and Mrs Butcher (footnote 6); beside the farm they had a cherry orchard, very productive and profitable. Mr Butcher later opened a bakery at Uxbridge, and of course supplied the flour, his daughters attended to the bakery business. Bulstrode Park is near Uxbridge, noted in English history, but I cannot recall the event (footnote 7). Lord Howe’s estate included Mr Butcher’s farm. [117] Not far from Uxbridge is Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was signed assuring English political liberties, but unfortunately it did not assure them all, as later history proves. Also further on from Runnymede is Windsor, the home of English kings, also Eton College and Slough, also the churchyard where was written
Gray’s elegy (footnote 8), I remember; later my son Eustace used to recite it and knew it all. Also Burnham Beeches is near, also not far away is Milton’s country; and not far from Mr Butcher’s farm is the Quakers meeting-house, and where William Penn is buried, who also was the founder of the state of Pennsylvania and after whom the Sate was named. Beaconsfield is also near, where was the seat of Benjamin Disraeli, the first Jewish Prime Minister in Britain; it was he who created Queen Victoria “Empress of India”.
[118] I must not forget Kew and the Botanical Gardens, at one time claimed to be the finest botanical gardens in the world, and perhaps they were at one time, but time passes and brings many changes; others have been founded by other nations and have rivalled if not outrivaled Kew. There was a Royal residence at Kew, and William IV lived there, but on the north bank of the Thames on Brentford for some time, reckoned the capital of Middlesex, as London covers part of 3 or 4 counties, and is not exclusively Middlesex. Nearby is Richmond, a royal borough and where a Methodist College is; from Richmond Hill (footnote 9) the views are superb, and for miles around fruit and flower gardens are to be seen. Twickenham is near, where lived the poet Pope; then Teddington, to where the tide from the sea is felt, hence its name (footnote 10); [119] and then Kingston, where is still shown the stones on which the English Kings were crowned, hence its name. Next comes Surbiton where I lived for some time, and which has been called by Punch (comic paper) the “borough of elegant villas”. North and West lies Hounslow, with its military barracks etc., also Hounslow Heath was notorious for its highwaymen, robbers of the olden time, but since railways came to be the mode of travel the old-fashioned hold-up by highwaymen has largely ceased – it is done otherwise now, although train hold-ups have been too frequent in America and other places. Now we come to Heston and Southall and a few miles further on Harrow-on-the-Hill, with its public school; don’t be deceived by the word “public”, it is exclusive for those who can afford to pay its fees – public school in the States or Canada means Public.
[120] I served on several Coroner’s juries, both in Portsmouth and Southall; on one at Portsmouth Dr Conan Doyle (footnote 11), who lived near, was the medical officer, and that was in the days when (as he says in one of his books) he was waiting for the patients that did not come. On one, during the viewing of the body, the Coroner pulled down one of the eyelids of the corpse, and I observed a very diminished pupil; I afterwards learned that such was a condition consequent on taking poison. We the jurymen were paid the mean sum of 8d = 16 cents at Portsmouth, but 1s = 25 cents at Southall. At one inquest a corpse had been taken out of the sea at Southsea, and laid in one of the cells of the old prison at Portsmouth, and there we the jury had to go to view it, and had to hold our noses; it had been in the water 2 or 3 weeks; the occasion however gave an opportunity to see what sort of places prisoners used [121] to be incarcerated in times gone by – little light, no ventilation, no warmth, only cold stone walls and floor.
At the end of Portsmouth harbour stood Porchester Castle, which was in ruins, but during the long war between France and England many French prisoners were imprisoned here; also the Portsdown hills were fortified, a range running east-west on the mainland; and it was on Portsea Island that the combined towns of Portsea, Landport, Portsmouth and Southsea were situated. It was while we lived at Southsea that the large barracks were built on Southsea Common, and were erected by convicts who were marched there and back twice a day under armed guards.
We could hear on foggy nights the ships hooters, while they felt their way into and up the harbour; indeed there was a pleasure steamer run aground on one occasion on Southsea beach, but it was re-floated and re-named [122] and sailed away again; I suppose the re-naming was to obviate the objection people have to going aboard a ship that had got a bad name through accidents. There were two forts built in the sea at Spithead, but I think were neither fully manner or armed at that time. The Portsmouth Dockyard employed about 6,000 workers at this time, of all sorts of trades and professions; we knew some who were writers and draughtsmen etc. At Elm Grove we had some naval officers as church members.
Both at Ealing and at Portsmouth I attended mesmeric performances, also Markelin and Cooks magic show, and some of the first moving pictures, one showing a train going over the Rocky Mountains – not dreaming at the time I should ever go over them in the train; but I did – one never knows what may happen, or where one might go, or the time of ones death.
[123] To retreat a few years, at Fleet we used to go by barge with the Sunday School to Odiham Wood, and also at Southall our Sunday School used that mode of conveyance for its annual picnic.
I had 4 short sea voyages while living in England; one to Scotland, 2 to France – Boulogne and once to Calais, and once from Bristol to Belfast and back to Cardiff etc.
On one occasion I went as a delegate to the Baptist Union meetings at Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and then went over a woollen mill – I don’t mean a mill made of wool, but one where woollen cloth is made – and I saw the whole process from the fleece to the woollen cloth. I have earlier recorded the visits to the paper mill at Woking.
I am putting things down in a disjointed manner, as it is hard on one as old as I to remember consecutively things as they happened years and years ago.
[124] I remember taking the family, when living at Southall, to the Zoological gardens (footnote 12), and on one occasion at Easter it snowed while we were there. Also I took them on steamboat rides down the Thames; by train from Southall to the nearest passenger wharf, have our river outing and return by rail. Have also taken some of them to Madame Tussaud’s waxworks. Usually we did not go out for pleasure on Sundays, but once we (my wife and I) visited St Paul’s Cathedral, and once we went to City Temple when Dr Parker was there, and we heard the great man; he had a large church building and a good congregation, but not half the number at Spurgeon’s, different preachers altogether – but Parker admired Spurgeon, as he wrote …
Spurgeon who dost excel
Ten metropolitans in preaching well,
Where no inflated organ proudly swells
And no stained glass where checkered sunshine falls, [125]
But where they sing
“Jesus, Thy robe of righteousness
My beauty is, my glorious dress”.
As soon as I could afford it, I bought some books, 6 or 8, of the poets – Milton, Mrs Hemans, Hood and others, the latter on account of his wit and wisdom. Mrs Hemans because of her “Better Land”, which I learned as a boy; I quote the first lines …
I hear thee speak of a better land
Thou callest it, Children, a happy band;
Where, O where is that blissful shore?
Shall we not seek it, and weep no more?
Mentally I said “yes”, and I suppose most of us make the quest, but how many find it?
Milton I tried many times to read, and until I got to know where to begin could make no headway, but I got a small book by a Q Quiller-Couch who was professor of literature at Cambridge University, who indicated where to begin; I got interested, and wanted to read it all – I did. [126] But I never read widely when I was young – not enough time; had to be busy about the business of the day. Recreation, reading, even entertainment had a very small portion of my time; a large family and small income kept me busy, and I could not afford luxuries or superfluities, ‘just bare necessities’ was the rule.
Most people at the seaside, notably Southsea, used to go inland for their annual holiday, just as inland dwellers like to visit the seaside, and many of our Southsea friends did this. We could not do it; first, the expense, and secondly, it was our busiest time all through Summer – but we had our little outings to London and the Isle of Wight, both of which were a constant source of pleasure and enjoyment and recreation, and for most of us though life be sombre it has its times of joy and even exaltation, and that is how life is made up for the majority.
[127] During my residence at Surbiton I was Sunday School visitor to the Thames Valley Sunday School union, and so visited various denominations in their Sunday School work. Also, in our Mission work around Ealing we were un-denominational, and although I had certain views and beliefs of my own, was always willing to visit and fraternise with my neighbours; this same spirit was in vogue in work for the Southall auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society – in these ways we met and worked on a religious equality, as the two following incidents will illustrate.
On one occasion, one of the delegates wanted to raise an argument with the chairman, who was an Anglican clergyman, about burying a suicide “with a sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection”, but was dismissed with the remark that “this was a Bible societies meeting, and such a discussion would be out of place”, but also with a challenge to discuss [128] the matter at some other and more convenient time. And again: my chairman was away on one occasion, and there happened to be sent to us as speaker from the parent Society, a clergyman of the so-called Church of England (otherwise Anglican), and these are or were not supposed to speak in a non-conformist church, only in the schoolroom attached; and on this occasion our meeting was due to be held in the Primitive Methodist school, which was in the basement of the building, and rather dark. So as I was in charge I asked the speaker if he would object to speaking in the church auditorium and he replied it did not matter to him where it was if the clergyman of the parish did not object; so I replied “he is away and won’t object”, and so to the Primitive Methodist pulpit or rostrum he went. But I did know of an [129] occasion where the clergyman of the parish reported to his Bishop a case of another clergyman who had spoken in the Methodist schoolroom without asking his permission; however, as the Bishop pointed out, it was in the school and not in the Church auditorium that the speaking was done, the obstacle to peace was surmounted (footnote 13).
Southall was known as one of the London dustbins, i.e. a place where the refuse was brought to and dealt with; the cinders of all burnable rubbish was used as fuel in the burning of bricks, as great quantities of bricks were made around Southall. And the canal, being near, furnished the cheapest transport both for incoming fuel and outgoing bricks. This was a place of essentially brick earth; there was a pottery near, but their clay had to be brought by canal barge from the Midlands, i.e. Burislem (footnote 14) and the [130] “Five Towns” neighbourhoods of which Arnold Bennett wrote (footnote 15), and gave cheaper and better transport than the railways. There was also a flour mill near, where they ground English and foreign wheat, and mixed it with Canadian flour and called it patent. About 15 little grocers failed in Southall, in the 14 years I was there, so business must have been anything but good, and there was some excuse for me, as better men than myself had to go “to the wall”.
During my last 6 years at Ealing, I went for my holidays to Scotland, France twice, a hiking tour along the S E coast of England from Margate and Ramsgate to Deal and Dover, Hastings and St Leonards, Eastbourne and the various towns to Portsmouth and Southampton; and when I got there wet weather seemed to set in and I resolved to go home. I had spent nearly 2 weeks on this trip and so had done well. [131] Later, on one occasion, coming back from the Isle of Wight, I landed at Stokes Bay, a not very busy route for passengers, and on the pier was one solitary man; I made my way up to him and found it was Mr Harcourt, Baptist Minister of one of the Gosport churches and father of my friend Mr C H Harcourt of the brickfield mission stations. On another occasion at Sandown Isle of Wight, I met our Chemist, on whom I often called at Ealing, to our mutual surprise.
I would like to here insert the books I read as a boy, and up to the time I’m now writing of, say 1880-3.
· The Bible was read to us both at home and in Church and Sunday School.
· Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress, also Holy War,
· a liberal daily paper and
· the Christian World religious weekly; although evangelical, this latter was also philosophical and therefore may account for my trend of thought
· I used to read the Sunday School papers, also
· Baptist Missionary Herald
· Fennimore Cooper’s novels of the north American Indians, and
· Other writers of stories for boys. Also
· Marianne Farningham (footnote 16) and Emma Jane Warboys serial tales in Christian World,
· And don’t forget Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Hesha Stretton, Sarah Dondrey,
· And I might say a host of others too numerous to remember or mention
· Later came the Koran, the Apocrypha and
· Dante’s 3 books – Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradiso – in Italian and illustrated by Dore, so we had to get a translation to be able to read, which I was fortunate enough to obtain.
At Ealing there was a library at the Mechanic’s Institute, and there I indulged my inclination for reading; also there were lectures and entertainments of an educational nature, e.g. lecture on water, with experiments, concerts, mesmeric entertainments.
[133] Ealing was a lovely place to live in; the flowers, brought in by the costermongers barrows, and such odours came from them as they passed – and fruit, as we were very near some of the best fruit commercial gardens around London, and foreign fruits thanks to free trade. I have bought 3 lemons for 1d, dates at 1½d per lb, bananas (large ones) at 2 for 1d. There were fleets of ships that went to the Channel Islands and brought flowers, tomatoes, new potatoes, all earlier than could be raised at home, and cheaper. There was a fleet of 4 or 5 vessels, which brought bananas to Avonmouth (footnote 17) - but I must not enlarge, or I should be tempted to go into the tremendous shipping trade of the country, the biggest in the world, doing about this time 60 per cent of the carrying trade of the world, at this the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. And did [134] I not see a great deal of it arriving in London and St Catherine’s dock, and all the warehouses and wharves along the Thames-side for miles, and had the handling of the papers for thousands of pounds worth of it? Also as a boy, I remember seeing the huge East Indiamen – great ships towed up the Thames to London by steam tugs.
Billingsgate fish market I knew, also Smithfield meat market, The Borough and Covent Garden fruit, flower and vegetable market; and talking of Smithfield, I knew both West Smithfield and lower east Smithfield where the martyrs were burnt, also Tower Hill where also political prisoners were executed. Calling up the dreadful past and thankful I lived in a more peaceful time, and thought the world was getting better and would not, could not slip back into barbarism again – how little we know, how unsuspicious [135] we were; but enough for now (footnote 18).
At Ealing I had a “wen”, growth behind one of my ears, and so went to a doctor to have it cut out; he told me, it would not likely get larger, but he would take it out if I wished, but did I drink alcoholic drink? I said “Yes, a little”; “Well”, said he, “don’t do it while I’m treating you”; so I promised to abstain, as it was no trouble to me, as I took so little. When it was over and healed, I asked him if I could take my small amount of alcoholic drink; he said “It does you no good”, so from that time although I had access to a barrel of beer and money in my pocket, and plenty of places to buy, I refrained: and Ernest Birch asked me to help with Band of Hope work (Temperance) I did, and remained an abstainer for over twenty years, until I had influenza, and the aftermath seemed to leave me weak and tired, [136] so to the Dr again; who told me “Well, what you need is a stimulant about 11am – get a few bottles of good port wine and take a glass at the time stated”; I said “Good port wine is expensive, could he not recommend something less expensive?”; “Why yes”, he said, “a glass of ale or stout would do”, and so from that time on for some years, I did, until I left England where things were plentiful, for a place where such superfluities were either too expensive or unobtainable.
I’ve never possessed much money or earned big salaries, but have been rich in my friends – they gave me nothing, or next to nothing, save friendship, and that is a wonderful possession, and so helpful and so cheering along life’s way. I’ve always tried to be friendly with other people, and they have well reciprocated my advances, mostly. [137] Of course by far the closest friend I had was Lillian, my wife; we had 7 years at Southsea with business good, and family increase in the 7 years we were there. Then we had fine church associations, literary society, choral society, and entertainments both as much and as many as we could reasonably find time and money for – but never the theatre, that was always regarded as too absorbing and expensive, like drink or money fever; people who lived on it never had enough. I could not afford time or cash for it; dramatics are teaching and educative I’ve no doubt, but as absorbing as sport, where you can get thousands to see a leather ball kicked about, or a pack of hounds after a poor little fox – not so far removed from a Bull fight or a prize fight or similar entertainment, and the latter regarded [138] as unchristian. Gambling had no attractions for me, so I never lost a bet in my life.
I knew a Spiritualist at top hacks (footnote 19) Southall who invited me to a séance, but I had no inquisitiveness in the matter and never went. I have my doubts about disembodied spirits, and had no inclination to make their acquaintance. Indeed, Mr Maskelyn of the Egyptian Hall, London, claimed he could do conjuring, what the spiritualists claimed was done by spirits. I’ve seen walking sticks walk into a room, tables and chairs move about, and the “vanishing lady” (a special act put on by Maskelyn) – but I’ve seen remarkable things done by hypnotism, at Ealing Portsmouth and Winnipeg Canada. I may tell of some of these later.
Transcriber’s
footnotes:
1. I lived for 4½ years in Southsea, but never went on the Victory; years later, I took my wife and two sons to see it, and wished I’d gone there when I lived in the place. It is still one of the tourist attractions of Old Portsmouth in 2001.
2. And still did during my time in Southsea, in winter - Bernard
3. Nowadays, it only refers to Kent.
4. Osborne House, nowadays open to the public
5. The deed to this plot, dated 18th April 1899 and at a cost of £1-11-6d, is in the family archives. It refers to grave space 84 (or possibly 89), section C, sub-section D, of Southall Cemetery in the Parish or Norwood.
6. Nee Sarah Birch
7. When we lived in Beaconsfield, we visited it on several occasions; it was then the headquarters of the Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade (WEC), and several of its staff were members at our church (Beaconsfield Baptist). Bulstrode was the home of the Bentinck family (Dukes of Portland)
8. “Elegy in a Country Churchyard” was conceived in the churchyard of Stoke Poges, just north of Slough; I worked for Plessey at Stoke Park from 1971-78, and we lived in Farnham Common just on the edge of Burnham Beeches.
9. There is an English folk-song “The lass of Richmond Hill”, but this refers to Richmond in Yorkshire, not Richmond near the Thames; just in case anyone made the wrong connection!
10. Probably derived from Tiding-hame, or hamlet where the tide comes.
11. Author amongst other books of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories, which featured forensic science and the medical background of Dr Watson.
12. Presumably the London Zoo in Regent’s Park.
13. These sorts of problems are thankfully well behind us in 2001; it may be that there was more tension between Anglican and Methodist churches than Anglican and others, the Methodist-Anglican schism having been fairly painful.
14. Unknown – could this be his own name for Birmingham?
15. Stoke-on-Trent. Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was a versatile writer, a lifelong book reviewer, journalist, playwright, travel writer, and occasional watercolorist. But his true gift was fiction. Functioning brilliantly as a premier realist, Bennett wrote works such as Buried Alive and The Card, which were still being made into films years after his death. In his best work, he created a series of novels and tales dealing with people in the five towns of his native Staffordshire, England's "black country," where the chimneys of the pottery factories churned smoke into the air for generations. His finest writing is to be found in The Old Wives' Tale (1908) and Clayhanger (1910).
16. Best known these days as a hymn writer, notably of “Just as I am” and “It is well”; known as Mary Ann Hearn, also wrote under the pseudonym of Eva Hope. Lived 1834-1909.
17. The port adjacent to Bristol.
18. At the time of writing, the first world war would have happened, and the second was in force.
19. Spelling unclear, meaning uncertain
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