An Adamthwaite tale of Tragedy, Bigamy and Intrigue
- the ORANGE Adamthwaites
William Vipond
Adamthwaite (1793-1872)
The elder of Thomas
Adamthwaite’s two sons was born in 1793. We have not managed to find him in
the 1841 census, although he appeared on the Dent Electoral Roll for
1841 with an address of ‘Kings Arms Inn, Wigtown’ – this could be either
Wigton in Cumberland or Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway. We also know from
Tithe Schedules that in 1843 he was recorded as owning Low Branthwaites in
Frostrow, Sedbergh, but the farm was occupied by a tenant.
By the time of the
1851 census William was aged 56 and living at 28 Polygon Court in St
Pancras with his 'wife' Isabella, age 32 and born in Burgh Cumberland
(not too far from Wigton).
William’s occupation is given as ‘annuitant’. We have not found a marriage
record for William and Isabella, though it could have taken place just
before the start of general registration in 1837 (when Isabella would have
been aged about 18). However, from the information on their daughter
Mary Isabella's birth record we do not think they were married.
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The Polygon
looks a very interesting place, perhaps some sort of Victorian
experiment in social housing? It was a ring shaped building in the
middle of Clarendon Square – between King’s Cross and St Pancras
Stations. It seems to have had a school in one small section and
the rest was divided up into 32 terraced buildings. In the 1841
census there were school teachers, artists, musicians, jewellers and
lots of single independent people living on their own – but sadly no
William Vipond Adamthwaite! It seems that Mary Wolstencraft lived
there whilst married to the author William Godwin, and their
daughter Mary Shelley was born there. Charles Dickens also lived
there in the 1820s. The engraving left shows it in its heyday, the
map below is from 1830.
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following extract gives an idea of what the area must have been like
when William and Isabella were living there in 1851:
By the middle of the century, the
area was largely slums. In 1857, 'Illustrated Times' published a
picture of a homeless shelter here showing how the homeless were
housed, in stables without bedding or even straw. Some of the slums
were demolished a few years later during the construction of St
Pancras station. The Polygon came down in the 1890s, but it wasn't
until after World War One that many of the remaining slums were
cleared to build blocks of flats, such as Levita House. [source
http://www.pikle.demon.co.uk/londoncross/londoncross59.html]
Shortly after
the 1851 census, William and Isabella had the first of three
daughters:
Lucy
Adamthwaite was born about
1851 (but we have not managed to find a record of her birth) – she
died aged 7 years on 8 oct 1858 of Scarlatina Anginposa at 34
College Place, Camden Town. On her death her father’s occupation
was given as ‘Land Proprietor’
Mary Isabella
Adamthwaite was born 28 Jan 1856 at 36
College Place, Camden Town, father William Adamthwaite, proprietor
of land, mother Isabella Rickarby.
Kate Ellen
Rickaby Adamthwaite was
born 25 jul 1861 at 35 College Place, Camden Town, father William
Adamthwaite, freeholder, mother Isabella Adamthwaite (formerly
Rickarby). [note: did someone have a problem with remembering their
address - the house number of College Place seems to fluctuate
somewhat!)
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The Polygon in 1830
- map reproduced with kind permission from Motco Enterprises
Limited www.motco.com
)
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In the 1861
census, we have found the family living at 36 College Place, St
Pancras:
-
W Adam Thwaite, age 63,
occupation Landed Proprietor, born City Middlesex
-
Isabella Adam Thwaite, age 41,
born Bowstead Hill, Cumberland
-
Mary Adam Thwaite, age 5, born St
Pancras, Middlesex
-
Emily Carpenter, age 43, servant,
born Hackney, Middlesex
(Lucy had died
by the time of the census and Kate was born shortly afterwards)
In
the 1871 census, the family has moved to 2 Edward Street, St Pancras:
-
William V Adamthwaite, age 75, Fund
Holder, born St Pancras, Middlesex
-
Isabella Adamthwaite, age 50, born
Cumberland
-
Mary I Adamthwaite, age 15, scholar, born
Middlesex
-
Kate E Adamthwaite, age 9, scholar, born
Middlesex
But the following year,
things start to get confusing!
On 13 March 1872,
Isabella died at 74 Euston Street – but on the death certificate she was not
named as Isabella Adamthwaite, wife of William Vipond Adamthwaite as
expected, but as Isabella Rickerby, age 52 years, domestic servant.
The cause of death was ‘fatty degeneration of the heart accelerated by
habits of intoxication’ according to the Post Mortem, as reported by Edwin
Lankester, Coroner for Middlesex following the Inquest held on 15 march
1872. (check coroners reports)
And less than two weeks
later, on 25 March 1872, William Vipond Adamthwaite gentleman died,
also at 74 Euston Street. The cause of his death was ‘Serious Apoplexy, 4
days’ and the death was reported by M I Rickerby, present at death. Though
this must have been William’s daughter Mary Isabella, note that she signed
herself Rickerby, not Adamthwaite.
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When we examined
William Vipond Adamthwaite’s will [link to
will], matters became a little clearer. The will was written
on 13 September 1871 and he left 5 shillings a week to Isabella
Rickerby ‘as long as the money lasts’ (perhaps he anticipated this
would not be long!) and he directed that following her death the
residue should be divided between her two children Mary Isabella and
Kate Ellen Rickerby. He named the sole Executrix as Mary Keatley,
wife of John Reeves Keatley, cabinet maker. And shortly after his
death, in November 1872, an announcement appeared in the London
Gazette (see left).
In the 1881 census Kate E
Rickerby, age 19, scholar, was a boarder in the household of John R
Keatley and Mary Keatley at 7 Oxford Terrace, Marylebone. However,
we have been unable to find her sister Mary Isabella Rickerby in the
1881 census, and there is no trace of either of them after this time
in later censuses, nor have we found death or marriage certificates
for either of them.
It seems as
though this was the end of this particular line of the ORANGE
Adamthwaites, but a number of questions remain:
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What happened to
Mary Isabella and Kate Ellen Adamthwaite/Rickerby?
Apart from the entry in the 1881 census for Kate, no further
sightings have been found in later censuses or marriage or death
indexes under either surname. On the Death Duty records there is
a handwritten note stating 'this will is nearly incomprehensible but it is
proved that the duty will be paid', it seems that there was some
correspondence relating to the legacies which continued until 1875,
including a note referring to a case in Chancery in august 1873;
final entry gives the value of annuities and bequests as £283.13s 6d
and the duty on the bequests (at 10%) was finally paid in September
1875. But there were no clues as to the whereabouts of either
Mary Isabella or Kate Ellen.
Was
Mary Keatley related to Isabella Rickerby? Both of them gave their place of
birth as Cumberland in the censuses. When Mary married
John
Reeves Keatley in August 1851 her maiden name was Mary Wood,
daughter of Nathan Wood, farmer and one of the witnesses was
recorded as Isabella Rockhill (could this
be Rickerby? Check original entry in Parish Register of the Parish Chapel of
St Marylebone).
Shortly before the
marriage, in the 1851 census there was a Mary Wood age 27 working as
an assistant in a drapers in Regent Street who gave her place of birth as
Westward Cumberland and in the 1841 census there was a Nathan Wood,
farmer, living in Westward Cumberland with his family. Although there was
no Mary living there, in the same census there was a Mary Wood age 20 living
nearby in the household of Edmond Wilson, farmer, at High Hall Westward.
In the censuses,
Isabella Rickerby gives her place of birth as either Burgh or Boustead Hill,
Cumberland. In both 1841 and 1851 censuses there are Rickerby families
living in Burgh (Boustead Hill is a hamlet just outside Burgh by Sands),
Westward and Wigton, but no Isabella of the right age. Of course there is
also the possibility that Rickerby was not actually Isabella’s maiden name:
she could have been married before she met William Vipond Adamthwaite. In
the absence of a marriage record, this is unlikely to be resolved.
And in the case against
Mary Keatley
mentioned in the article reprinted above, who was Henry Theophilus Carr,
the ‘next friend’ of Isabella Rickerby’s two young daughters? It seems a
‘next friend’ was a person appointed by or admitted to a court to act on
behalf of a minor, but who would have appointed him, given their parents
were both dead? In the 1871 census a Henry T Carr, a widower age 30
born in Oxford, was a Solicitor Managing Clerk living as a boarder in
Guildford St, St Pancras.
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