represented to the King that they were disarmed, and asked for his
Majesty’s protection, and that their arms might be “re-delivered in
this time of actual war.” Charles immediately issued a commission to
the Lancashire recusants “commanding them to provide with all possible
speed sufficient arms for the defence of his Majesty’s person or them
against all force raised by any colour of any order or ordinance
whatsoever without his Majesty’s consent.” This was answered by the
Parliament sending down Sir John Seaton, and by the issue of orders for
“putting down associations of Papists in Lancashire, Cheshire, and the
five northern counties.” In December, 1642, Sir Cecil was imprisoned as
a recusant by the Parliamentarians, probably in the same prison to
which his relative had consigned so many for recusancy. The death of
Sir Cecil’s two eldest-born sons caused the estates to pass to the
third, who received the name of Humphrey from his grandfather
Davenport. Another brother was John Trafford, of Croston. The eldest of
Humphrey’s sons died unmarried at Angiers; the second, Humphrey, was
married at Manchester in 1701 to a daughter of Sir Ralph Assheton, but
the numerous offspring of this union left no children. In 1670, Henry
Newcome’s heart was sorely troubled about the fate of his son Daniel,
who was on a voyage to Jamaica. News came that the ships, with their
two guardian men-of-war, had, after a two days’ fight, been captured by
the Turks. The first imperfect rumour reached him on Saturday, and it
was not until the succeeding Thursday that, when visiting Dunham he saw
the story told more plainly. He enters it thus in his diary:—“That
seven Turkish men-of-war set upon them two ships and other merchant
ships near the Cape de Gat, and that the captains were slain, but they
fought it out two days, and the Turks were glad to desist from their
engagement. This satisfied me that there might be no captivity in the
case; but then I knew not but that my child might be killed in the
fight; and so it rested with me till Saturday. Then going to Trafford,
I discoursed of that part of the news, and Mr. Trafford showed me that
Cape de Gat was in the midst of the Mediterranean, and 150 miles within
the Straits; by which it was apparent that the Amity bound for Tangier
was gone off before.” Dan was not carried into Turkish captivity, but
returned to Manchester, and his father was mortified at not being able
to obtain employment for him with “Mr. Trafford.” It is to be remarked
that at this date Sir Cecil was still living. He was buried 29th
November, 1672.
The next squire of Trafford also bore the name of Humphrey. He married
a daughter of Sir Oswald Mosley, but the union was childless. In the
very curious “Characteristic Strictures,” written by the Rev. Thomas
Seddon, and consisting of remarks on an imaginary exhibition of
portraits of Lancashire and Cheshire notabilities, we have the
following picture of him as “the good Samaritan”: “That universal
benevolence is an enemy to restraint, and that character is not the
effect of an illiberal spirit, is here most laudably expressed. The
pure motives of compassion cannot be restrained by religious tenets;
the manner in which these sentiments actuate the Samaritan to relieve
his fellow-creature in distress, is most beautifully sublime, and every
after-stroke gives lustre to the whole. The formality of the habit is
the only fault in this performance, as it is better calculated for a
recluse than a travelling character.”
By a will dated June 5th, 1779, the estates were devised by Humphrey to
his collateral cousin, John Trafford, of Croston, who settled at the
ancient home of his race, and obtained an act of Parliament in 1793
giving him power to let lands on building leases, and to lease the
waste moss lands in the parishes of Manchester and Eccles for
ninety-nine years. Mr. Thomas Joseph Trafford, who in 1815 succeeded to
the estate, was the fifth son, and was born at Croston in 1778. His
marriage, in 1803, with the daughter of Mr. Francis Colman, of
Hellersdown, Devonshire, resulted in a family of fourteen children. He
was a county magnate of high consideration, served as High Sheriff in
1834, and was in 1841 created a baronet and received the royal
authority to revert to an old method of spelling the family name. Sir
Thomas Joseph de Trafford died in 1852, and was succeeded by Sir
Humphrey, who was born in 1808, and in 1855 married the Lady Mary
Annette Talbot, the eldest sister of the 17th Earl of Shrewsbury. The
numerous issue of this union are the bearers of a name that has endured
for so many centuries that some of the families entered in the peerages
look but like parvenus beside it. He was succeeded by his son, Sir
Humphrey, who in consequence of the contiguity of the Manchester Ship
Canal, found it desirable to leave the old home of the family.[7]
The possessions of the family in Lancashire were thus set forth in the
return of landowners in 1873, which is generally credited with under
rather than over-estimating the value of the estates of the larger
landowners:—
Gross estimated
rental.
A. R. P. £ s.
Sir Humphrey de Trafford 6,454 2 38 22,158 7
J. R. de Trafford (Croston) 1,157 0 32 2,773 8
Paul Trafford (Liverpool) 9 1 12 14 10
Randolphus de Trafford (Croston Hall) 265 3 14 453 10
The family of Trafford in bygone centuries did good service in the
public work of the nation, and if for some generations it sought
obscurity, the motive was honourable and the blame for it rested upon
those laws, alike mistaken and mischievous, which made creeds the test
of citizenship. The most impressive fact about the ancient race of the
Traffords of Trafford is their permanence. It is a thoroughly English
attribute, and nowhere will it attract more respect than in that place
which successive generations of the Traffords have seen developing from
the Saxon village to the busy, bustling, modern city of Manchester. The
Traffords survive and flourish, but they are Traffords of Trafford no
more.
Footnote 6:
When the Rev. Joseph Bradshaw was _in extremis_, Mr. T. J. Trafford
sold the next presentation of Wilmslow for £6,000 to Mr. E. V. Fox,
who nominated the Rev. George Uppleby, B.A. The Bishop of Chester
arguing that this was a simoniacal transaction, refused to induct,
and a see-saw litigation ensued, ending in a judgment of the House of
Lords in favour of Mr. Fox!
Footnote 7:
Those who desire to follow the fortunes of the Traffords in greater
detail will find it recorded in Richmond’s “History of the Trafford
Family,” a magnificent volume privately printed for the present
baronet. The General Indexes of the Chetham Society also supply
abundant evidences of the influence and consideration of the family.
A Manchester Will of the Fifteenth Century.
The will of George Manchester, A.D. 1483, was presented to the Peel
Park Museum, Salford, by the late Mr. Stephen Heelis. It has several
points of interest. The date is given in a peculiar form: “the first
year of the reign of King Richard the Third after the Conquest, when he
raised his realm against the Duke of Buckingham.” The Manchester
localities mentioned are the Irk Bridge, the Furthys (? the Fords), the
Pavey, the Spring Bank, the Butts, the Tenter Bank, Drynghouses,
Bradforth, and Mylnegate. The family names of Fornesse, Strangeways,
Blakeley also occur. Dialectally noticeable are the words brege
(bridge), garthyn (garden), longs (belongs), whether (whichever), wedit
(wedded), spendit (spent). The spelling of the word lawful seems to
point to the former use of a guttural sound now fallen into disuse. The
peculiar employment of the word livelihood is also noteworthy. The
perusal of this interesting document seems to show that in the past the
dialect of Lancashire approximated more closely than at present to the
Northumbrian group. The will reads as follows:—“Be it knawen to all men
& in especiall to all myn neghburs _th_at I George Manchester have made
my Wyll in dyspocion of my lyvelouede the xx^{ti} day of October the
fyrst yere of the regne of Kyng Richard the thyrd after the conquest
when he raysed hys realme agaynes the Duke of Bokyngham. Fyrst my wyfe
schall have dewrying hyr lyve the place _th_at I dwell in so _th_at she
kepe hyre Wedo. And at the furthys xiii s viii d and at the pavey vi s
viiii d. And if so be _th_at sche be weddit Roger my sone schall hafe
the place _th_at I dwell in and delyver hyr alsmuch in a nother place
at the seght of neghburs. And also it is my will _th_at Hugh my sone
have the halfe burgage _th_at I purchest of Richard Fornesse and the
hows be yond Irke brege that [? Emyun or Simyun] Blakela dwells in and
the garthyn and the orchard _th_at longs thereto and the Spryng Bank
dewryng his lyve and then remayn to myn eldyst sone and hys heres male
laghfully begotyn. And also it is my will _th_at Thomas my sone have a
no_th_er hows be yond Irke brege next the Butts and the garthyn & my
newe orchard _th_at is cald the Tentur Bank dewryng hys lyve & then
remayn to myn eldest sone & his heres male laghfully begottyn. And
_th_en it is my will _th_at myn eldest sone have my land at Drynghowses
and Jamys hows of Bradforth and Geferous of Pedley and Johns Phyllypp &
Johns Alseter & my kylne & my kylne hows and the blake burgage in
mylngate with the appurtenaunce _th_at was sum tymes Nicholas
Strangewyse. And it is my wyll _th_at yf Roger my sone hafe non ischewe
male of hys body lawfully begottyn that then my lyfelode remayn to Hugh
my son and hys heres male of hys body laghfully begottyn. And yf Hugh
my sone have non heyres male of hys body laghfully begottyn _th_at then
my lyfelode remayn to Thomas my sone and hys heres male laghfully
begottyn. And yf so be Thomas my sone have none heres male of hys body
laghfully begottyn _th_at _th_en my lyfelode remayn to Thurstan of
Manchester my brother and hys heres male laghfully begottyn or bastard
so _th_at it be in the name. And yf my name be spendit of Manchester it
is my wyll _th_at John of Buth my Syster sone have my lyvelode & so
furth male or generall whether God wyll. And all so it is my wyll
_th_at Roger my eldyst sone gyf to Elyzabeth my Doghtter iiii marks to
hyr maryage when he ys mared hym self.” The anxiety to keep his
belongings within the enclosure of the family name was greater than his
dislike of a bar sinister.
The Lancashire and Cheshire wills published by the Chetham Society show
that the illegitimate children were often provided for along with those
born in wedlock, and in several cases bore the surname of their father.
There are several entries relating to the Mancestres in the manorial
rent roll of 1473, which has been translated and printed by Mr. Harland
in his “Mamcestre.” Ellen Mancestre appears as the tenant of two
burgages, late Katherine Johnson’s, for each of which she paid 12d.
George Mancestre held a messuage in “Le Foris” at a rent of 3s. Mr.
Harland conjectures this to be the clerkly rendering of “the Market or
the Courts.” He was also concerned in a field near the “Galoz,” and
paid 6d. as tenant of an _ostrina_, concerning which Mr. Harland
observes:—“The word we have rendered singeing house is in the original
_ostrina_, literally purple, from _ostrea_, an oyster. But it seems to
be an error for _ustrina_ (from _uro_) a burning or conflagration
(_Apuleius_) a place in which anything, especially a dead body, has
been burned (Festus), or a melting house for metal (Pliny); but besides
these meanings of classic times, the word had other mediæval
significations, one of which is, a place where hogs are singed—ubi
porci ustulautur. (See Ducange _in voce_.) This seems to be the most
probable meaning of _ostrina_ in the text.” May not this be the
“dryng-howses” named in the will? The name of the family of Manchester
is not yet “spendit,” but is still borne both in this country and in
the United States.
A Visitor to Lancashire in 1807.
There are some interesting references to Lancashire and the
manufacturing district in a volume of “Summer Excursions,” consisting
of letters written by Miss E. I. Spence, published in 1809. Literary
fame is not always permanent, and it may be necessary to explain that
the author of these volumes and of “The Nobility of the Heart” and “The
Wedding Day” was a well-known woman of letters in her own generation.
Elizabeth Isabella Spence was the daughter of a Durham physician, and
the granddaughter of Dr. Fordyce. She was early orphaned, and was
brought up in London by an uncle and aunt. On their death the literary
tastes which had already made her a contributor to the press became
useful in the gaining of a subsistence. She wrote nine novels or
collections of stories, and three works of inland travel, devoted
respectively to the North Highlands, Scotland, England, and Wales. She
“lodged for the greater part of her life in a retired street at the
west end of the town”—Weymouth Street, that is. Amongst her friends
were the Benthams, Lady Margaret Bland Burges, Lady Anne Barnard (the
authoress of “Auld Robin Gray”), Sir Humphrey Davy, L. E. L., and the
venerable Mary Knowles, one of the few ladies who met Dr. Johnson on
equal terms in argument, and could even claim a victory over that
doughty champion. Miss Spence died on the 27th July, 1832.
Her impressions of the manufacturing district were not of a favourable
kind. The inns of Warrington did not please her, and “the dirtiness of
the people here exceeds,” she says, “what I could have believed in any
part of this kingdom.” From Bolton she writes: “The apparel of the
women in some of the villages we passed through was scarcely decent,
and all the children were without shoes and stockings.” At Wigan she
mentions the “celebrated spa” and the “cannel coal,” which was made
into ornaments. “I have heard a dinner service was once made out of
this coal, which, after the entertainment, was demolished in the fire.”
Bolton she found to be situated on “a dreary moor,” but there was some
compensation in “an extensive view of a fine open country.” The next
stay was at Stand Hall, a mansion of which the beautiful situation and
the hospitality of her friends, who were its inmates, made her pardon
even the rainfall. Her host, “Mr. J——,” was Mr. John Johnson, steward
for Lord Derby in the Bury district. “The large town of Manchester,”
she says, “spreads along the valley in front of the house at some
miles’ distance, and the less one of Bury is seen distinctly to the
left, surrounded by villages with simple cottages dispersed along the
plain. The hills of Lancashire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire,
rising in succession, spread in a vast amphitheatre till lost in the
immensity of space; while the rugged tops of the Welsh mountains, which
I gazed upon as old friends, hide their heads in the clouds, of which
they seem to form a part. The dialect of this country is peculiarly
unharmonious to the ear, and when spoken by the peasantry is scarcely
to be understood. All the lower orders of the people are employed in
the manufactories, and the dress worn by the women is a long bed-gown,
black stockings, and a mob-cap hanging open from the ears.” The
fidelity of her description of the former dress of the people will be
recognised.
Miss Spence was taken by her friends to the Manchester theatre to see
Mrs. Siddons as Lady Macbeth, and also as Catharine in “Catharine and
Petruchio”—an adaptation of the “Taming of the Shrew.” Apparently the
drama then, as now, was in a decline. “This pre-eminently great
actress,” says Miss Spence, “has for several years been so entirely the
theme of public admiration to the real amateurs of the drama (for some
we still possess) that it would be superfluous to dwell on her
exquisite powers—powers that even in former times, when the stage was
in its meridian glory, could not be excelled, and would have awakened
astonishment and admiration. But to give your Ladyship” (the letter is
addressed to the Dowager Countess of Winterton) “an idea either of the
little taste or the prudent economy of the inhabitants of Manchester in
permitting her to perform to empty benches, I need only mention that
after the other evening, on sharing the profits with the manager, she
was rewarded with the sum (shall I commit it to paper?) of seven
shillings!” But wishing to be just, even in such a case, she adds,
“There may, indeed, have been a moral cause for this rather than a want
of taste or parsimony.” And no doubt there were many in old Manchester
who would not go to the theatre even to see the acting of Mrs. Siddons.
In 1775, the establishment of a Theatre Royal was advocated by a noble
peer as a means of “eradicating” Methodism in Manchester.
Miss Spence visited also Rochdale, and was impressed by the handsome
houses of the manufacturers, “whose wealth appears as unbounded as the
magnificence of their tables.” She notices with regret the fondness for
card parties, and was surprised to find “the primitive hours of our
ancestors still prevalent in Rochdale,” where one o’clock was the
general dinner hour. Passing through the “miserable village”—as she
styles it—of Whitworth, Miss Spence repeats an interesting account of
its famous “doctors,” which was given to her by Mr. Johnson. “‘Old
Sammie [it should be Jammie] in Whitworth’ was originally a common
farrier, or cow doctor. His sons, however, John and George, though they
continued the business of farriers, had a deal to do with the human
race, and for many years were famous for the cure of cancers, and
contracted or broken limbs, which they frequently effected at a very
small expense, from the sum of two and sixpence to half a guinea. T——,
Bishop of Durham, was a patient of theirs for a cancerous complaint;
and it is well known that they prolonged his life for several months,
though they did not cure him. To this obscure village both lords and
commoners resort for relief; and in cancerous cases and contractions
have undoubtedly succeeded when the regular bred men of the faculty
have failed. The widow of George, son of old Sammie, and James,
grandson of Sammie, are the present doctors, and are held in high
estimation for the same cures. The widow of Doctor George is reckoned
very clever, and takes a most active part amongst the patients of both
sexes. They attend once a week at Rochdale, where they have a public
open shop, and it is wonderful, though dreadful, to see the business
they go through.”
The neighbourhood of Stand delighted her, and she has a good word for
the Rector of Prestwich and for the Earl of Wilton. “What an edifying
example does my Lord Wilton set by attending this church every Sunday,
not only with the whole of his noble family, but also in being followed
by the men and women of his household, who all conduct themselves with
the most becoming reverence! This noble example of his Lordship tends
to assemble a very numerous and respectable congregation, even from
distant parts.” Some of our readers will remember that at a later date
Fanny Kemble drew an interesting picture of the household at Heaton
Park. She was impressed in the same manner as was Miss Spence, but she
does not give expression to it in quite the same manner.
“Adjoining to the mansion of Stand Hall,” observes Miss Spence, “is a
barn, which was once a chapel. It has a fine Gothic roof of English
oak, and it is a singular fact, no one ever saw a spider’s web upon it;
and it always looks as if it had just been swept down. Mr. J—— informed
me no person he had ever met with could account for it, although all
other barns are covered with spiders’ webs.”
Of Manchester she says, “It is a very large town, but the streets, for
the most part, are inconveniently narrow, with very few noble buildings
or handsome houses. The population is immense, and the traffic
considerable; and it has acquired great celebrity from its extensive
manufactories, so productive, all over the kingdom.” We need only make
one more quotation. “I wish I could tell your Ladyship,” she says,
“that the peasantry were possessed of that native simplicity we expect
to find two hundred miles from the Metropolis; their manners accord
with their rude and uncultivated appearance, and their demeanour is
remarkably forbidding; but this, I understand, is often the case near
manufacturing towns, though it is the first time I have had the
opportunity of observing it.” Evidently Manchester, even ninety years
ago, was some distance from Arcadia.
How the First Spinning Machinery was taken to Belgium.
The introduction of spinning machinery to the Continent is a curious
episode in the history of commerce, and has some interest for
Manchester people, as it was from that place the men and the machinery
were obtained. The industrial activity of England and the riches which
the inventions of Kay, Highs, and Arkwright brought her, naturally
attracted the attention of her foreign rivals, but in those days there
were stringent regulations against the export of machines, and the
“seduction of artizans” to engage in the service of a foreign master
was a criminal offence. The temptation was, however, too great for the
attempt not to be made. As Englishmen had gone abroad in order to
obtain the secrets of the silk and other manufactures, so foreigners
came here to spy out the industrial riches of the land. The man who
succeeded in taking abroad the spinning-jenny was Liévin Bauwens.[8] He
belonged to a Belgian family that claimed patrician rank, but had
always been associated with the industries of Holland, in Antwerp,
Malines, and other places. Although the names and coat-of-arms of the
Bauwens are to be found in the books of the Low Country heralds, they
are also inscribed for generations in the records of the Tanners’ Guild
of Ghent.
Liévin Jean Bauwens was born at Ghent on the 14th of June, 1769, and
was the son of Georges Bauwens and his second wife, Thérèse van
Peteghem. His father had a tannery in the Waaistraat, and his numerous
children were taught to take a part in the family industry, so at an
early age Liévin was made the overseer of a branch establishment at
Huydersvetters-Hoeck. He can only have been a boy when he had this
responsible position, for at the age of sixteen he came to London, and
in the great tannery of Undershell and Fox learned what there was to be
known of the English methods of that industry. Three years later he
returned to Ghent, and took charge of a large establishment which his
father had started shortly before his death. The Nieuwland Tannery in
the old Dominican convent employed 200 men, and kept 550 vats going.
Bauwens made leather for the London market, and is said to have paid
500,000 francs of customs duty yearly. He had frequent occasion to
visit England, and the expansion of the cotton industry naturally
attracted his attention—all the more so that he had always had a strong
taste for mechanics, and only adopted the family trade in compliance
with the wishes of his father. A clock which he had made at the age of
twelve was one of the favourite exhibits of his parents, who, whilst
proud of the ingenuity of their son, did not wish him to abandon the
vocation which had ensured competence to the family. As tanners, they
naturally felt that there was “nothing like leather.”