Yeates

John Yeates Yeates and HMS Thunderer

Royal Mail Coach 1838

John Yeates Yeates

John Yeates Yeates was born John Yeates Richards at Park Head, Levens, Westmorland, England on 4 June 1826. His parents were George Yeates and Margaretta Brettargh. On 31 May 1837, John’s father changed his surname by Royal Licence from Richards to Yeates as a condition of inheriting the estate of his guardian Anthony Yeates, and so his son, John Yeates Richards became John Yeates Yeates.

John Yeates Yeates’ father had served in the Royal Navy and was keen that his eldest son should follow him into the Navy, and so it was that at 9 o’clock on 29 January 1840, his son, at the young age of 13, boarded the Royal Mail Coach in Kendal with his parents bound for London and then Plymouth to join the Royal Navy.

John Yeates Yeates kept a Personal Diary for the duration of his service in The Royal Navy and this page has been based on selected edited extracts from his Journal. The story is told in John Yeates Yeates’ own words. A copy of the Personal Diary and the Ships Log that was copied by John as part of his service are available for download at the foot of the page.

Arriving in London

1840

I left home on the 29th of January 1840 about 9 o’clock in the morning accompanied by my father and mother. The ride was rather cold, but a good breakfast fully compensated. We dined rather in a hurry, and the Mail was about to start just as we sat down. We reached London at five o’clock next morning just in time to have a good caulk [naval slang for a sleep] before breakfast, which we had at 10.30. In the evening we took a cab and went to visit Miss Sheppard, 47 Wilton Crescent. On the 31st I accompanied my father to the House of Commons and heard O’Connell speak. I was heartily tired and dropped asleep long before its termination.

On the 3rd of February I went down to Woolwich and passed my entrance examination for Volunteer of the First Class, before Captain Phipps Hornby. Sir Charles Adams was kind enough to allow me to stay a month in town before my final departure at the same time giving me a hint that the process of fitting a ship out ought not to be overlooked as I might profit by it considerably in afterlife. I only stopped until the 22nd in London, when I embarked on board the Thames Steamer for Plymouth. It was then I felt the first pangs of parting with my dear parents. I feel bound to say though that I was very hard hearted at first for I was thoughtless and happy and cared little about the present. Circumstances prevented my father and mother from proceeding any further than London or it would have been grand to have seen the ships in that great naval rendezvous, Plymouth.

On the 24th in the evening at 10:00 o’clock we saw the lights at Plymouth but being too late to go onshore that night I contented myself with sleeping on board at Calwater. Next day having called on Captain Basden and left my trapes at his house I went down to Devonport to report myself to the commanding officer Captain Williams.

John Yeates Yeates’ Personal Diary 1840

Volunteers of the First Class

Devonport

March 7. The ship was warfed [sic] alongside the hulk to get her stores and ammunition on board. A hulk is an old unseaworthy ship jettied up expressly for the officers and mess of any ship fitting for sea. The “Vigo” was the name of the hulk, we were lashed alongside of. Her accommodation was not bad although it would not be to the taste of a young bear just left the nursery. I made myself very comfortable after duty was done, and in the evening, I could read, write, or do anything I liked. For nearly a fortnight afterwards we were employed stowing away salt provisions, water, tanks and receiving boatswains’, gunners’ and carpenters’ stores.

March 12. I accompanied Captain Basden and his daughter to a ball given by Mrs Fugle. It was a very gay and pleasant party and we kept it up until 3 o’clock next morning. I can assure you I slept very soundly after it all for I did not awake until 10.30 next morning when I incurred the displeasure of my commanding officer for being up so late.

March 17. Captain Williams was superseded by Captain Massey. A loss which we all felt for Williams was a man remarked for his kindness to his officers and at the same time a good disciplinarian which was the very reverse of his successor for I never saw a man with a worse temper. One day when I was standing on the combings of the chain hatchway seeing the shot called in, he told me to let him know when the first “fakes” of the hemp cable was down. Well, I did not know what a fake meant so you may imagine I was sometime before I found it out and got well rowed for being so long. However, I did not forget it in a hurry.

March 20 and 21. We were employed getting in guns, shot and carriages, Which completed the gunners’ stores , except the powder which is next sent on board when the ship is in the Sound, when it is sent off in a Lighter fitted up for the purposes.

April 8. The ship was towed down to Hamoaze on the other side of the harbour and painted inside and out so that by the 13th the ship was ready for both officers and men which was the day appointed for us to shift over from the hulk. Soon after we got on board the men were stationed as regular as possible in watches and divisions and the ships company had leave to go ashore in each of their watches so that we had always two on board and one on shore. I very often went on shore with the commander or master to the dockyard in the launch to bring off hawsers so that I generally had an opportunity of seeing the various ships repairing.

HMS Thunderer

April 15. Cambridge 80 guns anchored in the sound from Sheerness to see if she could pick up any men before proceeding to the Mediterranean.

April 16. Persian 10 guns sailed into the sound. The commanders name was Quinn, the same who was so attentive to me on my passage down to Plymouth. I have heard since that he died on the coast of Africa. On Good Friday, the skipper read the Articles of War at 2.30 pm. I got leave to go on shore to visit a mess mate. I also called at Captain Basden’s to see if he had returned from London.

April 18. Beat sails. Inconstant anchored in the Sound.

April 24. At 7 pm the Carron Steam Vessel took us in tow. As we passed the dockyard the houses and parapets, were covered with people cheering. But although our spirits were very high at that moment we were soon dumped by the report that Howard the quartermaster had been blown from the main chains by one of the saluting guns on the quarterdeck. He had been called out of the chains where he had been employed heaving the lead and it is supposed that while clearing the line the charge had blown him overboard.

The body was picked up in the water by pieces about the size of a brickbat. Just as we passed the Cambridge, the engine broke down which delayed us 3/4 of an hour. When we were once more moving, the steamer took us as far as the breakwater and when a light breeze sprung up, she left us. We took a short cruise round the Eddystone lighthouse and back again and anchored in the sound about five o’clock in the evening. Moored ship in 15 fathoms.

HMS Thunderer 84 guns

Devonport Harbour

Plymouth, Devonport

April 27. Roding 92 guns anchored with the Broad Pennant of Sir Hyde Parker from the Mediterranean. At 7 pm the Persian sailed for the coast of Africa.

May 1. The wind blew very hard from the East which obliged us to strike the top gallant masts.

May 6. The captain gave all the youngsters leave to go on shore with his sons and play cricket with them at “Borsaw” the harbour masters residence. We spent the afternoon very pleasantly but were interrupted by heavy showers of rain. Mr Walker took us off in his gig in the evening after tea.

The scenery about the Sound is not very striking. The only place which draws the attention of visitors is Mount Edgecumbe the residence of the Earl of Edgecumbe. It is fitted out in his own style and the heights are covered with trees of every description. But adieu to Plymouth for the Mediterranean.

HMS Thunderer leaves Plymouth

May 23. at eight o’clock a.m. Her Britannic Majesty’s Ship Thunderer weighed from Plymouth Sound with a light northerly wind. The Harbour Master accompanied us to the Eddystone and then returned. I have turned in in very high spirits.

But I found myself transported next morning when I turned out with inconceivable velocity to the lee side the steerage. When I went on deck the scene of the preceding day had changed considerably. Instead of smooth water and all sail set, we were under close reefed topsails and courses with a heavy head sea.

May 30 & 31. We had beautiful weather and the air felt warm and delightful. Saw several porpoises. On June 2nd we anchored at Lisbon directly opposite the town. I could not go on shore because my leave was stopped but I had a very good view of the town. The houses seem of all colours and the streets are of the filthiest description possible. We found the Donegal 78 guns, Revenge 78 guns and Espoir 10 guns with some men of war of foreign natives.

On the 4th we again weighed with a south west wind in company with the Revenge. In tacking we slightly touched the ground on the opposite side under the cliffs but soon got off again. We reached the mouth of the Tagus but were obliged to anchor on account of the floodtide making. We weighed again at slack tide.

Devonport Dockyard 1798

Muhammed Ali in Egypt

The Egyptian Ottoman War 1839 – 1843

In the early nineteenth century the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul ruled a vast empire that stretched from Libya in the west to the Arabian Gulf in the east, and from what is now Romania and Serbia in the north to the Sudan in the south. A weak central government, all too often bedevilled by corruption and by difficulties in communication over such a vast area, made it easy for local governors to set themselves up as semi-independent rulers.

The most notable of these ambitious local governors was Muhammad Ali (1769 – 1849), an Albanian general in the Ottoman Army who was appointed governor of Egypt in 1805. His first step in consolidating his power was to eliminate the Mamluks, the warrior caste which had ruled Egypt, under the Sultan, for over 600 years. He did so in 1811 by inviting the Mamluk leaders to a celebration at the Cairo Citadel. Once gathered there, they were surrounded by Muhammad Ali’s troops and slaughtered. He was now de-facto ruler of Egypt and the Sudan by the 1820s was arguably as powerful as the Sultan himself.

Muhammad Ali asked the Sultan for Syria, a term which then included modern Lebanon and Israel in addition to the country now known as Syria. The Sultan refused and in the early 1830s Muhammad Ali, successfully seized Syria, and much of Arabia, in a campaign that was notable for Ottoman ineptitude.

A mixture of medieval despot and enthusiast for modernisation, Muhammad Ali now concentrated on building Egypt into a powerful and independent European-style state. No opposition was allowed, and the process was often brutal. He set out to streamline the economy, train a professional bureaucracy, and build a modern military machine. He not only encouraged agriculture – the global demand for cotton was insatiable – and he built an industrial base, primarily focused on weapons production. By the end of the 1830s, Egypt’s war industries had constructed nine 100-gun warships and were turning out 1,600 muskets a month.

Sidon

In 1839, the Ottoman Empire, now ruled by the young Sultan Abdulmecid, attempted to retake Syria. Ottoman ground forces were once again routed.

In June 1840, the entire Ottoman navy defected to Muhammed Ali and the French Government, with aspirations to regain the control of the area which Napoleon had won briefly, then lost, decided to offer full support to Muhammad Ali. This would involve a major strategic reorientation in the Middle East and indeed held the seeds of a general European conflict (WW1 seven decades too soon!). Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia decided that preservation of the Ottoman Empire was paramount and decided to intervene jointly to prevent total collapse.

By the “Convention of London”, signed in July 1840, these powers offered Muhammad Ali and his heirs permanent control over Egypt, the Sudan and the “Eyalet of Acre” (an area roughly corresponding to modern Israel, Palestine and Southern Lebanon) as nominal territories of the Ottoman Empire. Muhammad Ali hesitated, believing that he could rely on French support. This was a fatal miscalculation.

British and Austrian naval forces moved into action in September 1840. Faced with the possibility that confrontation with Britain could mean war, France, pragmatically but ingloriously, changed sides the following month, aligning itself with the other European nations against Muhammad Ali. By this time the Royal Navy and the Austrian Navy had already been in action. Alexandria, to where the defecting Ottoman fleet had withdrawn, was blockaded and forces were concentrated on Sidon and Beirut on the Lebanese coast.

At Sidon, the withdrawal of the Egyptian garrison was demanded by the British commander, Commodore Charles Napier (1786-1860). A refusal brought bombardment by Napier’s squadron on September 27th. This force was led by the HMS Thunderer, a two-deck 84-gun ship of the line, launched in 1831 but not significantly different to ships of the Napoleonic era.

Muhammed Ali Pasha 1769 – 1849

Attack on Sidon by Napier, HMS Thunderer on the left

Sidon

The bombardment seems to have driven the Egyptian defenders from their positions and, in the best Royal Navy tradition, a naval brigade landed under Napier’s personal command, suppressed any remaining opposition and captured many prisoners. Beirut was subjected to similar treatment but did not yield until October 9th, after Napier had again landed and had conducted a vigorous and successful land campaign.

Acre (just north of Haifa) was the remaining Egyptian stronghold on the Eastern Mediterranean coast. British and Austrian forces, attacked again, led by HMS Thunderer. Following a bombardment on November 3rd, 1840 a small landing party of Austrian, British and Ottoman troops, led personally by the Austrian fleet commander, Archduke Friedrich, took the citadel after the Egyptian garrison had fled.

Muhammad Ali now accepted the inevitable and assented to the terms of the Convention of London on November 27th. He renounced his claims over Crete and Western Arabia and agreed to hand back the Ottoman fleet and to downsize his remaining naval forces and standing army. In return he and his descendants would enjoy hereditary rule over Egypt and Sudan.

HMS Thunderer was to serve on towards the dawn of a new age of naval technology and 1863 was fitted with iron plates for trials of new armour-piercing guns. She survived as a storage hulk until 1901, initially renamed Comet, and subsequently Nettle, one of the last links with the age of fighting sail.

Sidon

September 23. I had charge of the first and second cutters to tow the Zebra down to Saint Georges Bay to attack the bridges. All the marines of the squadron were embarked on board the steamers, and landed at Djounie Bay a very advantageous place selected upon by the Commodore for erecting a tent to contain troops and where they might have time to build a fort free from the molestation of the enemy, who were likely to pass that way.

The Edinburgh was employed most part of the week in firing at the enemy as they passed along the high road. The bombardment commenced with all its fury that day. We were dispatched to St. George’s Bay to prevent the bridge being used in their retreat from the town and in consequence preventing the English from landing at Djounie. The effect was very grand at night seeing the ships firing, and the Austrians through their Congreves remarkably well.

The firing commenced at daylight again and continued the whole day. The great object was to bring down the Castle where a great number of troops were concealed. We held guard until daylight of the 13th to give notice if the enemy attempted to pass the bridge. I was midshipman of the cutter in the first watch and Mr Loring her officer of the guard we were also accompanied by Mr Bridgman the Naval Instructor. Mr Loring landed with 5 men, well armed and proceeded along the river towards the beach. I had orders to pull in directly any firing commenced.

The attack and capture of Sidon

Naval Square Rigged Uniform for enlisted sailors 1840

Royal Marines

Before they had been on shore ten minutes I was roused from the harmless occupation of smoking a cigar by the report of musketry close to the boat on the beach we pulled in and succeeded in bringing off the party.

It was a hugely dangerous attempt to land there on a bright moonlight night within 1000 yards of a camp said to be filled with 10,000 men which was the case, but it was done to find the position of the bridge which if an enemy was seen to cross we had only to burn a blue light on the ship would have opened her broadside upon them.

While we were employed getting the party into the boat she was touching with the bow and the fellows came down to the beach and fired deliberately into her. How anyone escaped is a miracle for some struck the boat while the rest whizzed harmlessly over our heads. An Austrian boat was with us at the time which cut and run on the first musket being fired and left us to bring off her officers.

At Djounie our force suffered some loss by the attack of a fort strongly built and covered with loopholes from which such a destructive fire issued that are brave fellows file fast on every side and obliged then to retreat. The camp at Djounie was built chiefly of sandbags carried to the top of the hill by the seamen and marines of the squadron. I was onshore as Aide de Camp to the Captain every other day from 4 pm to 4 am next day, and then relieved by another midshipman from the Ganges.

During our stay here hundreds of Druses came down from the mountains to join us and were all supplied with muskets. Sir C Smith the General of the forces was on shore with us. He seemed a very fine man but was very fond of having too much of his own way. The young Prince of Austria was also one of our brother campaigners. He was only 19 and yet had the command of a fine 50 gun frigate under the command of Mr Bandeira.

The Battle of Acre

November 3. At 4 am the boats were hoisted out, hammocks stowed and then we went to breakfast. It would have done anyone’s heart good to have seen the execution done, cocoa and bread swing to the expectation of a battle.

After breakfast the bulkheads were cleared away, guns loaded all ready for action the moment the signal was made. We did not wait long for at 1030 the Admiral weighed as did the rest of the squadron in succession. The breeze was very light from the westward so that we had time to dine.

The squadron rose and stood in, the batteries firing a few shots as the ships came round opposite tack. The Western line was led by Sir C Harper in the Powerful 84. The southern line was held by the gallant Castor which acted her part to the admiration everyone under a heavy fire from the batteries. 2:15 pm squadron anchored, and the action became general at 2.30.

At three the enemy’s powder magazine blew up with a stunning noise, the air all round was covered burning shells, mud, stones et cetera. Broadside after broadside was fired until 5 pm in darkness coming on; we hauled out of gunshot to repair damages.

The Battle of Acre

Bombardment at Acre 1840

The Surrender of Acre

Next morning, I went on shore. The sight was actually sickening. The number of dead and dying wretches laying in the street and on the ramparts was immeasurable. The walls are of immense thickness and mounted all round with very heavy guns, not a soul was to be seen in the town where ever we went except Austrian and Turkish soldiers ransacking the dead soldiers.

But the disgusting scene may be better conceived than described. The storehouses on the western walls were completely destroyed and rendered walling rather than rather dangerous on account of the shells being hurled about in all directions. But this is not all we went to the eastern part of town to the place where the magazine had blown up.

We were obliged to turn our heads with disgust at every step. Men, women and children lay indiscriminately around with the mutilated bodies of sheep, oxen, pigs and asses, which had huddled into the square for safety. Before the enemy sent their flag of truce they had made good their retreat from the town only to fall into the less merciful hands of the Druzes who fell upon the unfortunate creatures and killed a great part of them.

They were brought into the town. The Admiral, soon after the action, held a council of war to storm the city on the land side. The beach was made for us without our knowledge for the explosion had destroyed the rocks and scattered stones all about the plain.

The Aftermath of Acre

We had upwards of 900 Egyptians on board us as I mentioned in a former part of this narrative, who had expressed themselves willing to serve us. Every ship in the fleet had a proportionate quantity of them in case of storming the town. I shall not soon forget the yell of joy they gave on the explosion taking place.

The number of killed to the enemy was between two and three thousand. The prisoners when sent on board the different ships accounted in all 7000 men. The damage done to the squadron very slight considering the whole affair. We had our preventer main brace and part of the captain’s cabin window shot away. The most severe was the Commodore and Revenge they had both their top gallant masts badly wounded, the former shot away and main top mast badly injured and three men killed between.

On the southern side all the ships escaped with slight loss except the Castor, she had 23 men killed and wounded amongst the former was Lieutenant L. Mevure, who was killed first shot a splinter striking him in the belly. Her injuries about the foremast and bowsprit were very severe so much so that she sailed for Malta soon after the action besides having several shot below the water.

We sailed on the fifth in company with the Bellerophon I forgot to relate a very singular and some may think very improbable anecdote. A man in the barge on the opposite side to the engaged saw a shot come through the midship lower deck port and fall close alongside. This was corroborated by the officers of the foremost lower aft quarters as perfectly true. What a providential thing; at the least it might have mown down 6 or 7 men.

Acre – Plan of Bombardment

Download Copy of John Yeates' Personal Diary 1840 - 1861

Download Copy of HMS Thunderer's Log Feb 1840 - Jan 1841

Ancestor Chart

Coronation Invitation

Yeates Coronation, June 1838, Queen Victoria 0

Invitation to the Coronation Ball

Coronation of Queen Victoria

An Invitation to the Coronation Ball

Anne and I have been waiting patiently for our invitation to King Charles III’s Coronation at Westminster Abbey. It’s beginning to look as if we might have been overlooked, but I thought I would share with you how the Yeates family, of Park Head, Levens, Westmorland celebrated the Coronation of Queen Victoria on 28 June 1838.

The Yeates family never threw any documents out and it has provided a treasure chest of family information. Nowadays, we live in an age of decluttering and you can even get treatment on the National Health Service for “Hoarding Disorder”!

How lucky we are that the Yeates didn’t declutter. I’m sure if I delved again into the box containing the Yeates Papers, I would find the cloakroom ticket for his hat and coat, from the Coronation Ball.

Whitehall Assembly Rooms, Kendal

A most suitable place for the Coronation Ball. Designed in 1828 by George Webster, it now forms part of the Kendal Town Hall, which was built adjacent to the Town Hall on the left of the picture.

Whitehall Assembly Rooms Kendal

The Coronation in Westminster Abbey

The coronation of Victoria as queen of the United Kingdom took place on Thursday, 28 June 1838, just over a year after she succeeded to the throne of the United Kingdom at the age of 18. The ceremony was held in Westminster Abbey after a public procession through the streets from Buckingham Palace, to which the Queen returned later as part of a second procession.

Planning for the coronation, led by the prime minister, Lord Melbourne, began at Cabinet level in March 1838. In the face of various objections from numerous parties, the Cabinet announced on Saturday, 7 April, that the coronation would be at the end of the parliamentary session in June. It was budgeted at £70,000, which was more than double the cost of the “cut-price” 1831 coronation, but considerably less than the £240,000 spent when George IV was crowned in July 1821. A key element of the plan was presentation of the event to a wider public.

Queen Victoria Coronation

Ancestor Chart

The Mysterious Death of Edward Yeates

Yeates Australia, Bendigo, Gold Rush, Goulburn River, Melbourne, Rushworth, Victoria 0

The Mysterious Death of Edward Yeates

Clipper Ship Marco Polo

April 2023 Update

The final paragraphs of this report have been added in April 2023 after invaluable help from the Seymour and District Historical Society from the town of Seymour in Victoria, Australia, in identifying the location of Edward’s death. A copy of his inquest report has also been made available for download.

Edward Yeates

Edward Yeates was born Edward Richards on 31 January 1833, at Park Head, Levens, Westmorland, England. He was the fifth child of John Yeates and Margaretta Brettargh, and the older brother of George Yeates. who was known as Harry to the family. The whole family changed their surname to Yeates in 1837 as a condition of his father inheriting the estate of Anthony Yeates. In 1836 Edward’s father was Lord Mayor of Kendal, then in 1839 the whole family moved to live in “Frankfurt am Main” in the Maintal district. Both his parents died within a few weeks of each other in late 1847, after they had returned to Kendal.

On Sunday 13th March, 1853 at the age of 20, Edward embarked on the Clipper Ship “Marco Polo” in Liverpool and set sail for Melbourne, seeking to make his fortune in the Land of Gold. This article has been written from letters that Edward sent home to his eldest brother John Yeates Yeates, who was now head of the family in Park Head. I have quoted at length from these letters, but thought it best to let Edward tell his story in his own words. He wrote his first letter home from the “Marco Polo”. This letter was transferred to the Dutch Clipper “Erasmus” near the equator. Scans of the original letters and transcriptions of them are available for download at the foot of this page.

Edward described his journey:- On the 24th our first death occurred; a child 6 months old, son of Francis James Hilton Esq. a gentleman in the 1st cabin and it was buried the same evening. On the 28th we lost a poor girl. It was a most melancholy case. It was when we had been out about two days she went into her berth, as she supposed, after the lights were put out. It so happened that it was the wrong one, and she put her hand onto a man, which so frightened her that it sent her silly. She was continuously screaming and would eat little or nothing. Poor girl, it was a relief when she died. She was buried the same night and a very solemn sight it was for it was the roughest night we have had yet.

Arrival in Melbourne

The remainder of the voyage was as but a repetition of the account I gave you. I had capital health on board never been once seasick or even feeling so. We arrived at Melbourne on Sunday, 29 May but I did not manage to get all my luggage out of the hold until 3 June, so that I was delayed getting on shore until 4 June.

The first thing was to get my boxes stored which I did although not at a very reasonable rate, but of course I did not expect everything very cheap in this land of gold. The next thing was to get something to eat, so at the Melbourne Larder I ordered a beef steak and potatoes which I thought uncommonly good for we never tasted an ounce of fresh meat from the time we left Liverpool to that of our landing.

I certainly felt rather lonely in the city of Melbourne without a single person I knew, excepting some “Marco Polo” friends or house acquaintances I did not think worth cultivating but however after dinner I had a glass of good ale in which I drank your very good health and many happy returns of the day to you and then set out to the town.

Well I carried on for about a week longer, when after applying for every situation that was advertised in the Argus newspaper without success. I walked off to Le Hardy’s Beach in a pair of fustian trousers, Jim Crow had, and started as carter, so there I was with two horses in a dray and a long whip, carting timber from the beach.

The reason for my going there was to be in Melbourne as little as possible, not that I ought to be ashamed of it for now I found many of the most respectable people that I have met have begun just in the same way, indeed it is easily explained, the working classes go off to the diggings and there is no one left to fill their places excepting such unfortunate fellows as myself who come into a colony like this to make rapid fortunes.

Collins Street Melbourne, 1840

Swanston Street, Melbourne

Inspector of Roads

I did not find myself too strong after a sea voyage and bad diet. So one day as I was with the cart up towards St Kilda with some goods for one of the Inspectors of the Roads who seemed to be a very nice person and to know in a moment how I was situated.

This gentleman after making a few remarks about the disagreeable employment I had got, asked me into the house where he gave me an account of three or four friends of his who all had at first been situated in much the same way as myself but who at that time were doing very well in Melbourne before I went.

He offered to take me onto the roads he told me that he has got a very select gang on a road a little way in the bush where I should not have much to do. We found with tent, wood and water and that I should then have more time to look about me. This I thought very kind of him for generally the people here are a selfish independent set, so I accepted his offer, and accordingly called on him during the following week.

He received me very kindly I had tea with him and we agreed that I should go with him on the following morning. I was not a little astonished to find such a select set of workmen. I was introduced to a Dr Mamel, a Dr Laurie, a clergyman’s son from Yorkshire and two others that had been brought up for the Law.

You would guess that we had pretty easy times of it, but it did not last long for before I had been employed here three weeks rendered we were sent into the Bush all the roads by contract, So I did not wish to stay any longer as we should have have had a change of inspectors.

Mounted Rifles, Victoria

So there I was all adrift again, and I remained so for nearly a fortnight trying the advertisements again but to no purpose. I was now quite at fault and was going by horse one night when I met one of our first class passengers who was keeping up appearances as well as he could, but he said it was of no use for although he had got so many letters of introduction etc he could not get any retention fit for him to take, he told me of another passenger that came out in the same berth as himself who had accepted a waiters place in one of the hotels.

So he had determined to enter the troopers at Richmond Barracks and for that purpose determined to see Mr Bourk. On the following morning, he wanted me very much to enlist at the same time, but I thought I would take a little time to reflect on it,

I fancied I should have preferred a shepherd’s place but after enquiring found that it was anything but an enviable one and in which I should not be able to see or hear anything that was going on which would not have done for me as I wished to have some idea how to lay out my money, when I get it, to the best advantage, so I decided to go next morning and make some enquiries at Richmond Barracks.

Mounted Rifles, Victoria

Mounted Police

This force is a sort of cross between a mounted policeman and a soldier, but notwithstanding consists of a mostly respectable set of young men. I introduced myself to some of them and stated my reason for being there, they gave me every information they could and said that I should be sure to get in if I had any good letters with me.

That afternoon I called on Capt. Bourk and he advised me to call on the day following and bring with me my letters or papers I could, as he said he had to be very particular as to who he admitted. I call accordingly, letters I told him, I had none to show, that the only paper which he could see who I was and where I came from was a Power of Attorney which I handed him, which after reading he handed me back and wrote a note to Lt Weston at Richmond which he gave me telling me that he would in all probability grant me a few days leave to get my things settled in Melbourne as we should be going up into the country very soon.

Mr Weston seemed a very nice person and through him I applied for a cadetship but was told that there were no vacancies but however after some trouble I got my name down for the first vacancy in the supernumerary cadets, little as this was it was something, I soon found out that there was but very little difference between a cadet and a trooper (only the name) they had to clean their own horses and kit just the same as the rest of us as well as the drill and parade with us.

I was only at Richmond a week or 10 days when 25 of us were ordered off to Bendigo diggings, as they expected the diggers to stand out against paying any licence at the same time the 40th regiment was ordered off to the same place.

Journey to Bendigo

I must now give you a sketch of our journey although it was not a very long one. Two days before we started I had my choice of horses out of a lot that had just been brought in from the Bush as wild as ever they could be.

I chose a young iron grey that had never had a saddle on his back before and you may suppose that I had enough to do for the two days he nearly broke my neck twice, but however we started in sections of threes off to the Treasury where we were joined by our lieutenant it was a miserable wet day, and the road with the exception of about 6 miles out of Melbourne are wagon tracks over swamps and marshy ground.

Notwithstanding these difficulties our horses were fresh and we managed to get to the Bush Inn a distance of 35 miles. So far there is little or nothing worth recording, the Wheeler Plains which we had crossed was more like a desert than anything else.

Mounted Police Australia

Manual of Police Regulations

River Crossing

The next day started at 5 o’clock in the morning and soon got to the Black Forrest. The roads here are worse than ever, the mud was up to our horses girths at times. The trees are a pretty good size, but hardly anything else than gum trees and crow bark and here and there thick clumps of underwood.

We passed many parties both going to and coming from the diggings of which we had various accounts some told us that they were in a complete uproar other again that they were uncommonly quiet but that they were making every perturbation to oppose the government, indeed we had so many accounts that we could give credit to none of them.

After about 12 miles ride through the forest we again broke out into the open country and after climbing over all rock and hills we came onto another land of Plains in the middle of which was a river or more properly speaking a swollen stream, which was deep enough however to make our horses swim.

We soon got over this difficulty although some of the young horses were very timid as for the one I rode when he found that I was determined to go across made a bound right into the middle of it like you see a dog going into a pond after a stick; consequence was that both the horse and myself went right over head but I took hold of him by a lock of his mane and his ears so he soon brought me out. I came at the other side and as I was one of the first across I had the pleasure of enjoying the misfortunes of others all of whom had had a hearty look at the disappearance of me and my horse.

The Australian Gold Rush

It is now exactly 12 months since I was here last, but the place is much altered, that I might as well never have been here at all. I walked down from Bendigo in three days, which I don’t consider very bad work, in the state the roads are at present.

The diggings are at present very slack in fact there is little or nothing doing, In consequence of the want of water, before I started I got about an acre and a half of land set with potatoes and about half an acre with other vegetables, and I am in hopes that they will turn me out about two hundred pounds and clear the expenses as well.

If so I shall not complain, if I live so long. I intend then to sell my share of the land and come and settle down somewhere nearer Melbourne, where I am sure I can very soon double any time that I may have at hand.

Australian Gold Miners

Bendigo Diggings

I should so like to see you and Bill with your moustaches and beards you must look rum customers, and yet I suppose that I look quite as rum for of course I never shave indeed it is very few that do here.

I am now digging and find it the most pleasant occupation that I have been at yet, it is the most independent and although the gold may not come in so regularly, yet in the long run I think it will be the most remunerative.

Bendigo is very much improved since I came here instead of tents there are now very good substantial stone buildings now such as churches, banks and stores but business is in a shocking dull state and every day there is a fresh “Smash” as it is colloquially termed. A case in the Bankruptcy Court, owing I suppose to the inferior yield of the gold, to what has been.

They are beginning to work the quartz reefs now with great spirit in this district and crushing machines are going up in every direction. I have been prospecting several reefs about here lately and think I know one now that will pay, but it requires a little capital to begin and I lost nearly all I had with that infernal piece of ground but thank goodness I have sold out now though at a loss of £23 besides labour and time, but it can’t be helped now and so I shall buy something elsewhere.

Regrets

I was much obliged to you for the Mercury’s which you sent me, you may depend upon it. I devoured them with great gusto especially the local news. I do not mean by that that I do not feel interested in the war news for I’m sure every English man must.

I only regret that I did not enter the army instead of coming out to this colony. But regretting is not part of my creed, at least shall not be. I shall work with my tub and cradle until I can make some money and then make a stroke at something else.

When I left my Australian estate I was down to my last shilling so I thought it time to stir myself and leave the potatoes, cabbages et cetera et cetera to take their chance. You will wonder how the deuce I managed to raise the wind, but I wrote a few lines on the same night. I will enclose it, it will show you that no man need suffer that chooses to work.

Gold Diggings 1858

A Poor Breakfast but a Good Dinner

T’was on a Winters evening, my daily toils were done

and as within, my tent so thin, I thought myself alone

I laid me down upon my bed, to sleep I was not willing

for what I’d spent, and what I’d lent, I’d only one last shilling

The next days grub I had to get, but how I did not know

I could not prig, I’ll have to dig, to some gully I must go

at the bottom of the Sheep Wash Creek I think there’s something yet

so with my cradle, if I’m able, I’ll try what I can get

The morning came, and with the dawn, I started with good will

to try to find, those things that shined, my belly soon to fill

Twelve hoppers, yes, or more went through, but very little gold

stopped on the slide, and then I sighed, for I was wet and cold

The next one now, I did begin, though I was getting thinner

I want the price of something nice in fact I want my dinner

and now into the slide again fix my anxious stare

and to my surprise, before my eyes, little nuggets thick lay there

Another and another, I’ve hit the spot I see

and in an hour, or little more, I had of ounces three

so to the nearest restaurant, I went you may be sure

and since that day, I safe can say I never was so poor

Edward Yeates

Way of Life

At any rate you will hear from me again soon; our mode of living here would rather astonish some of you English people that are so fond of comfort. Our house is a small calico tent, our beds are made of two poles with a couple of sacks nailed across them, we live principally on mutton and damper [NB damper is an Australian soda bread, made without yeast] with the addition of tea, which beverage we drink a great deal of, when we can get a chance shot at a turkey he makes a capital feed for us, or a couple of ducks if we fail to get either of these.

We can always get plenty of parrots and wattle birds as which make excellent pies. The worst things about here are the wild dogs, native cats and possums. As for the latter you cannot wake up in the night without finding one or other of them either on your bed or up the tentpole trying to get at the meat, damper, candles or anything they can eat.

The dogs do not annoy us as much although they kick up a dreadful row in the night howling. Snakes are very plentiful in the summer time especially about the creeks, I killed one last summer while riding, with my whip, it measured 9 feet, what they call the black snake, a native black man told me that it would make very good eating but I did not like to tackle it and offered it to him, but he gave me to understand that he never eats them unless he killed them himself.

I do not know whether you will be able to make out all the scrawl for the bush accommodation is very bad I am now writing this on the leg of a long boot laid across my knee for the want of a desk. But as soon as we can get the hut up which we are beginning to build I shall have my boxes up to so that we shall get more comfortable by degrees.

Gold Mine Entrance

Letter to his brother William

Letter to his Brother William

I am digging now it is very heavy work but at times very remunerative. Here I’ll give you a rough sketch of myself on a cash mean. There is an immense blast of digging work on the Bendigo, but I have settled myself down on the Back Creek not because it is the richest but because it has generally paid most regularly. My tent is situated between two gum bushes I have got an American stove rigged inside which cooks capably and has an oven attached to it.

The greatest nuisance here is the China men I give you a sketch of those that were working opposite the tent and are evidently new on the diggings. They look very curious dressed all kinds of ways but go where ever you will, you are sure to find those celestial devils, they cut up the ground most inferior early and spoil a great deal of workable ground by overflowing it with water which is a very scarce commodity especially in the summer months.

Last summer we had to be up before sunrise and go with a bucket and panic in and mop up as much as we could but I certainly cannot complain about it now for we are all but swamped out. The diggings are crowded with all kinds of machines for both puddling and quartz ores bring for it is soon hard to find places to pay the pick and shovel digger.

Aboriginal Men

About half a mile from where I am camped there are about 60 aboriginal natives staying. They often come down the country in gangs like this to beg and pick up gold, which they invariably buy out in grog and return to their mie-mie’s which are little miserable huts built of branches and leaves which they live in, here they polish off the brandy and then begin to dance and shout and fight; this row they will invariably keep up until daybreak.

Taking them all together they are a harmless idle set of fellows and have been very much corrupted in their morals by the white people. They most of them take European names with some little affected such as King Billy, Queen Betty, Prince Peter and Princess Wanga-Wanga.

This latter had what I should say was a worthy descendant of some British digger being very young and other much lighter complexion than the rest and good featured with all, I had some conversation with the aforesaid “King Billy” who is rather an intelligent fellow.

Amongst other things he told me that since the white men had taken away their country they have always in their tribe killed the female children as soon as they were born, on enquiry I found that this was in consequence of their young women being invariably seduced by the white men I asked him if they followed the same practice in other tribes.

When he told me that they did I told him that it was a most barbarous affair and that they might all be hung for it but he only replied “Black man been fool too long, be fool no longer”.

Aboriginal Men

Gulgong Miners

Thomas Finlayson

I must say that gold is the only attraction left. Tom Finlayson is the only person that I correspond with in Melbourne, he always sends my letters up to me and I have them all directed to him, he has got a very nice little place at Prarhan near Melbourne. I dined with him twice when last in town he brought his sister out with him who was in a decline.

I have marched a good many miles and at last settled down on the Goulburn diggings [Nuggetty Gully, Rushworth] about hundred and twenty miles from Melbourne. I have there put up a machine for washing gold by horsepower, and as horses are bringing an exorbitant price up in that part of the world, I was obliged to come down again for one or two more, so that this accounts for my being in town again so soon.

I have laid out every penny of the little legacy in the above-mentioned machine and cannot reproach myself for spending a single pound foolishly so you will say that there is great reform in me. I said that all my money had been spent in erecting this machine.

I must also tell you that the horse that I have now bought and which will take me up country tomorrow (value £60) has been bought from the proceeds of this machine over and above expenses, so that I have not been idle since I last wrote.

Receipt of Legacy

I am only going to write this just to acknowledge the receipt of your letter containing the Bills of Exchange, which I’ve also got changed into money and safely lodged Union Bank of Australia in my next which will be dated from Bendigo, when I shall have more window, I will be able to let you know what I propose doing with my little legacy.

It won’t go very far in this country but however I must do the best with it I can, I was very sorry to hear your account of will I felt almost jealous that he would make a better use of his than I should be able to do with mine, for although we have been both of us launched into the world long since, still this legacy seemed to be the only rope that held us safe, now that this road is cut of course we are adrift altogether and must either make a good or a bad voyage.

If I make the former I may see England again.

Australian Gold Miners Camp

Gold Mining Licence 1853

Letter from John Yeates Yeates to his brother Edward

Take care of your money my dear brother and it will be of use in an hour of need. I shall be most happy when I hear from you again to say all is right.

I am looking forward to a letter about the middle of July to hear of your welfare and trust you will prosper with good cold luck.

I hardly know how to commence my budget of news and when I shall know how to end it. Lucy and I are the only occupants of Parkhead and the servants as Harry is still at Lancaster School [Lancaster Royal Grammar School] from which I intend to remove him this Midsummer. He has expressed a great wish to join the Royal Marines and I am going to try to get him a cadetship at Portsmouth after he has been with me about six months.

I mention this because I can teach the best part of the drill make him hold himself up “eyes right and eyes left” teach him the recovery exercise. I have already these last Easter holidays put him through a course of geography logarithms and I feel sure he will pass for the entrance examination on board the “Excellent” Gunnery ship. They are very strict in that department and woe betide unlucky youngsters who is turned back.

Letter from Lowson Salmon about Edward’s Death

Nuggetty Gully, Rushworth, Colony Victoria

July 8th 1856

It is with feelings of the most heartfelt and inexplicable sorrow that I have to perform the melancholy duty of informing you of the death of your poor brother Edward (my partner) who was unfortunately drowned last week (Monday 30th of June) whilst endeavouring to cross a creek called “McBean Creek” near to the junction of the same with the Goulburn River. He was on his way from Melbourne on a young horse purchased for the puddling mill but just finished by us at this place. He left me on Sunday, 15 June to proceed to Melbourne and was consequently on his return here.

I did not hear of the melancholy accident until Thursday, 3 July when accompanied by my other partner, I drove off, but owing to the dreadful state of the country although the distance was only 25 miles I did not reach the fatal water until Friday at midday; on arriving I had the satisfaction (but an unhappy one) of finding that his poor body had been recovered the day before and an inquest held by Dr Lumsden JP the particulars of the evidence forwarded to the attorney general of the colony. His body not having been interned I identified and claimed it.

I got a coffin made and placed his remains in it myself and buried him on the banks of the Goulburn River, reading the Church of England service over him. Although he rests in unconsecrated ground (a matter quite unavoidable up the country here) I am sure you will feel with me that it matters but little what becomes of the frail and perishing tenement, when the immortal spirit has winged its flight to its heavenly Father.

Report of Death of Edward Yeates

Letter to John Yeates Yeates

Thomas Finlayson’s account of the death

It is with great reluctance and with sad and sorrowful feelings that I now address you, to inform you of the melancholy death of my dear friend your brother Edward who was drowned while crossing a creek on the 30th Ultimo [the previous month], and I enclose you copies of documents from which you will see all that has been done. He came to town about 14 days before (to purchase a horse) and remained with me till the Wednesday previous, left in perfect health and high spirits. He had every prospect of succeeding in the world he having become very steady and persevering and one of his remarks to me a short time since was “that the hardships he had undergone since coming to the colony had made him a changed man”. To me he was almost a brother and indeed, had he lived would have been so he having been engaged to my sister, and he would have married her had I not objected to him taking her to a tent and when he left it was agreed he would build a wooden house. My poor sister has suffered more than language can convey and for the last two weeks her medical attendants almost despaired of her reason but thank God she is slowly recovering.

What amount of property he may have left I cannot say and you must entirely depend on his partners for that information (his partner as you will see is to write to you). He however said to me that the machine entirely belong to him and I am sure his partners had no money when he received the remittance from you about 10 months since as he sent £10 to keep them he having resided with me for a month then, he spoke of his partners as honourable men and placed the utmost confidence in them but did not seem acquainted with their previous history except that Lowson Salmon (the one who is to write you had been extravagant and that his estates in England were held for his creditors) I intend visiting his partners in about two months and will endeavour to have poor Edwards body removed to a graveyard and I would like to know if you would wish a stone erected at his grave.

Salmon confirms that Edward had been robbed

Touching the manner of Edward’s death I am quite convinced that the Italians had nothing to do with it the steepness of the bank where he attempted to bring his horse out was quite sufficient to account for his being thrown back over, and having heavy leggings on he was unable to swim, with respect to the blanket he had rolled in front of his saddle I am not so clear the articles it contained were invaluable to a bushman, (illegible) there was a great deficiency in his money,

I can however gather no information. The horse was caught 9 miles down the river before I even knew of the accident, at Mr Banks and gentlemen who owns 15 miles of frontage on the Goulburn River and who rendered me every assistance in his power but without result. The money Edward had on him was not the earning of the mill but the price of a nugget of gold found by my other partner Richard which digging with pick and shovel but of course common property.

Official documents are difficult to collect in a place like this, which although a declared town but containing no magistrate, no solicitor, no clergyman, no church or consecrated graveyard not even a single policeman or recognised authority of any description except the loading Heathcote [???], 35 miles distant.

I shall however do what I can as I suppose I am the only person who can prove his burial, having taken his remains and placed them in the coffin myself. If God spares my life it is my intention to be at home again in the early part of next year when perhaps I may be better able to meet any of the nice acquaintances of the English law, not to be done just in a state of society but little removed from the savage prowling account.

Major’s Creek, Mitchellstown at the crossing point where Edward drowned. This Creek is also known as Mitchell’s Creek and had previously been known as McBean Creek.

Inquest Report Edward Yeates

Edward Yeates’ Inquest 3 July 1856

Edward Yeates died on the 30 June. The inquest was held on the 3 July at the Freeburn Inn, River Goulburn. Edward had spent the night before his death at the same inn and had been recognised by a labourer who lived at the inn and who also found his body at the crossing point. He was also recognised by the cook of the inn, both of whom gave sworn statements at the inquest.

The Freeburn Inn in Mitchellstown was owned by Donald McBean, presumably a descendant of Clan MacBean of Tomatin, Inverness, Scotland.

It was no doubt named after the famous Freeburn Inn, in Tomatin, which was built in 1745. In 1639, James, Earl of Moray granted a Charter to Bean McBean, and the McBean family lived at Tomatin House from 1639 to 1926.

Confirmation that the body was Edward Yeates

The attached extract from the inquest report confirms Lowson Salmon’s explanation of identifying Edward’s body at the inquest and claiming it for burial. He says that he had a coffin made and buried it on the banks of the Goulburn River.

It would be nice to know the location of the Freeburn Inn, Mitchellstown as that would tell us where Edward’s final resting place is to be found. We know that it is in the vicinity of Mitchellstown, on Donald McBean’s land, but south of Major’s or Mitchell’s Creek and on the banks of the River Goulburn.

Confirmation that the body has been identified as Edward Yeates

Chinaman’s Bridge, Mitchellstown

Thomas Finlayson’s Story

He states that “the mill has been a ruinous failure and as I am worse off than I was nine months ago in fact I have not been working it for some weeks, both horses are in a paddock at grass and this being the dry season and sale’s out of the question”

Such is the present state of poor Edwards affairs and I fear it will be some time before I can visit Mr S and from enquiries I have made I find it would be throwing away the machine to dispose of it at present. But as yet I do not know what I may do.

Dr Wilmot the coroner for Melbourne called on me about two months ago with two ladies (friends of your family) and offered to assist us wind up Edwards affairs, but having no authority to act for you I could not accept of this offer I intend however now to avail myself of his kind offer as from his position I hope he will save a great deal of time, I have called twice on him without meeting him.

When I do I will give him for perusal all the papers relating to poor Edwards death and get his opinion and advice and if possible get him to act with me. Could you inform me in course what legal document are required and I will have them sent you.

Finlayson reports that Salmon has disppeared

I send by this mail a newspaper containing a notice of Mr Lowson Salmon’s disappearance from Rushworth. I trust however he has long ere this accounted to you for the property left by your brother Edward.

The last letter I had from Salmon he stated that he had sent you the desk and that he had instructions from you to realise the property and remit the proceeds to you; this coupled with your continued silence to my letters led me to believe his statements to be correct but from what has now occurred, I fear I have been mistaken.

Little if anything can now be recovered but I will wait on the Bank Inspector so soon as he returns and will write you the result by next mail.

Salmon has not yet been found.

Melbourne 1863

Postscript

The “Download Original Documents” button below will enable you to download a PDF scan of all the original letters. As you will see from the illustration opposite these letters have been cross written and are not easy to decipher, so a transcription of all the letters is included in the file.

Looking back over the events in this article I found it hard to believe that an accomplished horseman who had served in the Mounted Police should have difficulty crossing McBean Creek, or in deciding when it was unsafe to cross.

Secondly, my suspicions were further raised when I discover that he was robbed before he drowned in the creek.

Thirdly, Edward makes clear in his letter that he purchased the “machine” from his legacy, but Lowson Salmon in a later letter claims that it was his, alone.

Finally, Lowson Salmon raises suspicions even further by disappearing without trace, four years after Edwards death. Never to be seen again.

Ancestor Chart

Download Original Documents

Download Inquest Report

The Brettargh Family of Liverpool

Brettargh, Yeates Aigburth, Brettargh Holt, Childwall, Ives, Liverpool, Toxteth, Woolton 4

The Brettargh Family of Liverpool

Overview

I have used family correspondence and memoranda of pedigree from the College of Arms to trace the family back to James Brettargh who died in 1664. The original copies of all of these documents were originally in our possession, but have now been donated to the Kendal Record Office, in Cumbria, along with all the other Yeates related correspondence and diaries, and made available to the public.

For information about the Brettargh family earlier than that date I have relied upon an excellent article written by R Stewart-Brown MA FSA entitled the Brettarghs of Brettargh Holt in Woolton. This article was published in Vol 88 of Transactions 1936 and the information therein is reproduced with the kind permission of the editor and council of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.

Margaretta Brettargh

“Madge” Brettargh as she was known to her family was born in Liverpool, England on 6 August 1802, the eldest daughter of William Brettargh and Margaret Kendall. Her story is told here.

The Brettargh family can trace their heritage in Liverpool back to the twelfth century, or to the reign of King John as her husband, John Richards, describes it in one of his letters to his wife.

This page is an overview of the Brettargh Family. I have deliberately avoided trying to document the direct line of succession. That information is available in other places including my tree on Ancestry.co.uk. Instead I wanted to focus on the connection to the family and also provide some anecdotes about the rise and fall of the fortunes of this family over the centuries.

Letter from John Richards to his wife

Childwall

The letter opposite is dated April 27th 1831. It is a letter from John Richards to his wife Margaretta “Madge” Brettargh. John Richards is in Childwall, Liverpool, which was the original home of the Brettargh family since the twelfth century.

It seems that John had gone to Liverpool to try to find a connection between his wife’s father William Brettargh and the Brettargh family from Brettargh Holt which is near Childwall. Maybe, he just wanted to do a little family history research or perhaps he hoped to enhance their social standing by association with a notable and armorial family. His letter transcribes as follows:

Childwall April 27th 1831

My dear Madge

You told me not to write long letters, and this is likely to be the shortest you will ever get. I have been too long in the church searching the Registers that I am quite tired, and half blind, but you will wish to hear me safe, my morning’s work has convinced me that there is something wrong about this family Estate. Give my love to Mr Anthony and Mr George and believe me,

Yours ever affectionately

John Richards

PS John Haswell very kindly came with me. JR

Draft Pedigree of Brettargh and Yeates

The draft pedigree opposite shows the confirmation by the York Herald, Rev William King, that the attached pedigree may be considered to be proved subject to the supply of some additional documentary evidence. The transcription reads as follows:

“I think that this pedigree may be considered as proved from James Brettarghe and Deborah his wife to their great grandson John Brettarghe who died in 1779. It will be desirable however that copies of the wills mentioned should be procured, as the abstracts are not very clear.”

“The issue given to John, abovementioned require to be somewhat corroborated as the evidence of their baptisms is scarcely sufficient for their identification; and the affiliation of William Brettarghe who died in 1804 to Henry must be identified.”

Rev Wm. King, York Herald

Heralds College

17 Jan 1865

As the Pedigree was eventually accepted by the College of Arms, I assume that the deficiencies identified by the York Herald were rectified.

Draft Pedigree of Brettargh

Holt Hall Farm before demolition.

Holt Hall Farm, Woolton, Liverpool

Brettargh Holt was the ancestral seat of the Brettargh family. It has now been demolished, but it was located in what is now the Childwall area of Liverpool. All Saints Parish Church in Childwall contains many memorials and graves of the Brettargh family.

The original Brettargh Holt was located on about 300 acres of land to the west of Tarbock Hall and north of Childwall Brook on land that is now occupied by Childwall Golf Club.

The original building became known as Holt Hall Farm and has now been demolished.

Location of Brettargh Holt 1929

Holt Hall Farm is located on the top right of the map and is circled in red ink.

The railway line and many of the roads still exist today which enables us to locate the position of this building before it was demolished.

Map of Brettargh Holt

William Brettargh died 1804

William Brettargh

Opposite is a small extract of the pedigree that was submitted to the York Herald at the College of Arms. William Brettargh was Madge Brettargh’s father and died when she was just two years old, just like her husband’s father died when he was also aged two. No wonder this couple want to establish their pedigree!

The Herald’s comments are marked on the pedigree in red ink and read as follows:

“There is no evidence at present to show that he was the son of Henry. His Uncle’s will might establish the fact.”

We have to assume that these deficincies were rectified as the Draft Pedigree was eventually accepted by the College of Arms.

Connecting the two families

It seems that John Richards and John Haswell continued their search of the parish registers and gravestones in All Saint’s Church in Childwall. John Richards writes again to his wife and an extract is transcribed below.

John Haswell has found a paper amongst his fathers, which fully establishes the connexion of your father’s family with the Holt Estate, it is an account of the payment of eight hundred and ten pounds, which seems to me to be a compensation in lieu of Dower, due to your great grandmother, but tomorrow I have to see it. Leigh whose father seems to have been the attorney upon the question.

My visit to Childwall was very satisfactory, the register confirmed the abstract which I have got, but I do not wonder at your father’s name being omitted for I could barely ? from the bad spelling (Bretar).

Extract of letter from John Richards to his wife from Childwall.

Brettargh Chart

Pedigree

This is the section of the Brettargh Pedigree which includes John Richards and it describes John Richards as follows.

John Richards of Kirkland in the Parish of Kendal, Co Westmorland. In the Commission of the Peace for the Borough of Kendal & for the County of Westmorland 1837. Took the name & Arms of Yeates only by Royal Sign Manual dated 31 May 1837.

The Pedigree does not include George H B Yeates who was not born until 1841, so it was reasonable to assume that the Pedigree was created between 1837 and 1841. But it is a mystery why the comments on the pedigree by the York Herald are dated 1865, unless George Yeates wanted to verify that the heraldry to be used in the stained glass window, which he was installing in Holy Trinity Church, Kendal in memory of his parents was correctly designed in terms of the heraldic shields.

James Brettargh

Our family papers record the history of the Brettargh family as far back as James Brettargh, who died in 1664.

James Brettargh of Brettargh Holt

Memoranda GHB Yeates

Memoranda

I found the document opposite amongst George H B Yeates’ papers. It is entitled Memoranda, but reads very much like a To Do list that we would use today. It reads as follows:

To enquire of Reveley if he has an old Memorandum sent to my [father] by Mr Martin of the Heralds Office, taken from a book given by the late Duke of Norfolk to the office in which the Brettarghs are traced up to King John’s time.

Information included below about the Brettargh Family before this date has been derived from an article in Vol 88 of the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, and is reproduced with the kind permission of the editor and council of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.

The Brettargh Family

The Brettargh family can trace their history back to 1180, when John, Constable of Chester granted the “vill” of Brettargh to william de Suonis. In 1324 William de Huyton settled Brettargh and about 100 acres of land on Avice, who was thought to be either his daughter or his discarded wife. At this time, Avice was the wife of Roger the Walker, and together they became de Brettargh.

By the end of the fifteenth century the family pedigree can be traced fairly accurately to current times. Though never a family of the front rank, the Brettarghs of Brettargh Holt were of prominence and position in Lancashire.

Probably never a wealthy family, but fortunes began to go downhill in the seventeenth century largely due to the extravagance and recklessness of Nehemiah Brettargh and his son James. Further heavy liabilities were incurred by James grandson of James. He sold the valuable property at Aigburth, which had come to the family in the sixteenth century by the marriage with the heiress of John Toxteth.

The entail of “The Holt” was broken and the ancestral estates heavily mortgaged. Before his death in 1747 James Brettargh seems to have been forced to leave “The Holt”, and he was the last Brettargh to live there. About 1790, The Holt estate was thrown into Chancery, for non-payment of a mortgage.

Brettargh Pedigree

View Ancestor Chart

Download Original Documents

George Yeates and Caroline Boulger

Aegean, Beatrice, Chios, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Harry, Jemima Naesmyth, John Boulger, John Yeates, Margaretta Brettargh 0

George Yeates and Caroline Boulger

George Henry Brettargh Yeates

George Henry Brettargh Yeates is recorded as being born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany in 1841. He was known as Harry to his family. I have been unable to trace his birth record either in the records for Hesse in Germany or indeed the English records.

There is circumstantial evidence from recent ancestral DNA tests to suggest that he might have been adopted as a child, and have been of Aegean Islands ethnicity, in particular the Island of Chios. What is indisputable is that he was brought up by John and Margaretta Yeates as their own child.

I use the phrase father and mother on this page in the ambiguous sense, as it includes both adoptive parents and biological parents. His “parents” were John Yeates and Margaretta Brettargh. Their story is told on a separate page.

Caroline “Beatrice” Boulger

Caroline Boulger, known as Beatrice, was born in Brompton, London in 1850. She was the granddaughter of Sir James Naesmyth of Posso. 3rd Baronet. Shared DNA matches with other Naesmyth offspring leave no doubt of the biological line from Sir James Naesmyth, through his grand daughter Beatrice, and her son Cyril Yeates to the current day.

Beatrice’s parents were John Boulger and Jemima Naesmyth. Their story is told on a separate page.

George Henry Brettargh Yeates 1841 – 1875

George “Harry” Yeates

Harry spent his early years living in Germany, first in Frankfurt am Main, in the Maintal district, then the family moved to Biebrich, near Wiesbaden. We know a lot about this period as his father kept a daily diary recording all manner of events and thoughts.

Both his parents died in 1847, when Harry was just six years old. He seems to have been brought up in Park Head, Levens. His elder brother John Yeates Yeates, who had served in the Royal Navy on board HMS Thunderer, an 84 gun 2nd rate ship of the line, seeing action in the eastern Mediterranean, became the head of the family.

There are many and detailed letters between John Yeates Yeates and his brothers and many references are made to “Aunt Lucy”, who was Miss Lucy Copland, but I can find no geneaological links to Aunt Lucy. I believe she might have been appointed as either a nanny or governess to look after Harry. There appears to have been genuine affection for “Aunt Lucy” and she is buried in the same grave as Beatrice and her second husband, in Kensal Green Cemetery, London. On Lucy’s death certificate, Beatrice records her relationship with Lucy as a niece, but she clearly wasn’t.

Beatrice Boulger

Beatrice appears to have spent her early years in London where her parents were living in Ecclestone Street. George Yeates, although he lived in Park Head, Levens, also had a house in London at West Dale House, Streatham. Beatrice’s mother Jemima lived in the same area and it is possible that they met as a result.

Caroline “Beatrice” Boulger

Crisps Marriage Licence Index 1868

Crisps Marriage Licence Index

Beatrice was eighteen at the time of her marriage to Harry. As such she was regarded as a minor and required parental consent to marry. The document opposite shows Beatrice’s father John Boulger, granting consent for his daughter to marry George (Harry) Yeates at St Peter Church, Pimlico.

Marriage

Harry and Beatrice were married on 17 October 1868 in St Peter Church, Pimlico, but they lived mainly in Park Head, Levens. By this time all of Harry’s siblings had died, and Harry inherited well from the estate of Anthony Yeates. As a result he records his occupation as “Gentleman”. In other words a Landed Proprietor or a man of independent means.

Marriage Certificate St Peter Pimlico 17 October 1868

Harry Yeates with Shotgun

Brettargh Holt

At this stage, Harry decides to bring together the armorial families of the Brettarghs, Aigburths, Yeates and other families and build a mansion behind Park Head, to be called Brettargh Holt to celebrate his status as a Gentleman.

He appointed a local Surveyor, Job Bintley, to design the house, although most of the letters to and from Bintley seem to have been from Beatrice. The letters provide an interesting insight into the considerations of the design. All of these letters have been donated to the Kendal Record Office and made available to the public.

The house was named “Brettargh Holt” after the ancestral seat of the Brettargh Family in Little Woolton, Liverpool, which was the original Brettargh Holt.

Beatrice

The period between their wedding and the completion of Brettargh Holt, seems to have been a busy time with all the considerations for the construction. Brettargh Holt was completed in 1873, and Beatrice gave birth to their first, and only child, on 10 July 1875, and he was christened Cyril Ernest Brettargh Yeates.

Beatrice Boulger

Yeates Coat of Arms

Yeates Crest

My heraldic knowledge is not good but the crest opposite appears on one of the Yeates books. On the shield the top left and bottom right are the Yeates Arms as I recognize the five bar gates.

The motto which reads Res non Verba, is I think Latin for “Action not Words”

Brettargh Holt

The attached photograph was one of many taken when Brettargh Holt was first completed. I believe this to be taken from the south from where Park Head was located.

Brettargh Holt from the south, taken about 1873

Brettargh Holt Staircase

Brettargh Holt Interior

The photograph opposite shows the galleried staircase of Brettargh Holt, shortly after it was completed.

Brettargh Holt today

Brettargh Holt has had a varied history and was for many years a convent occupied by the Salesian Sisters, who built a chapel on the right hand side.

It has now been beautifully converted into a luxury hotel and wedding venue. It is now known as the Villa Levens, and it is nice to see the building being given a new life.

Brettargh Holt today as a hotel Villa Levens

Brettargh Holt Staircase today.

Villa Levens Hotel

This photograph is a contemporary photograph of the staircase of the hotel. The building has been most sensitively converted.

Aerial View

The photo opposite, shows the location of Park Head, where the Yeates family lived, marked by a purple arrow at the bottom of the picture.

Brettargh Holt, marked by a red arrow, is located at the top right of the photo.

Brettargh Holt (red arrow) and Park Head below (purple arrow)

Death of Harry Yeates

Harry Yeates died on 18 October 1875 at Brettargh Holt, just three months after the birth of his son Cyril. Harry is buried in the churchyard at Heversham alongside his parents and other Yeates relatives.

Beatrice put Brettargh Holt up for sale and returned to London with her son Cyril. Beatrice’s sister was married to Charles Webb from Wimborne, Dorset. Beatrice met and married Charles Webb’s brother, Major William Bridges Webb. They were married in Wimborne Minster on 13 September 1878.

Caroline “Beatrice” Boulger before her marriage to William Bridges Webb

William Bridges Webb

Major William Bridges Webb

Beatrice and William had a further three children, two sons and a daughter. Cyril lived with his half siblings in Paddington, London. William was the Chairman of the Baltic Exchange.

William died on 25 August 1913 at the age of 64, and Beatrice died on the 12 November 1914. They are buried in the same grave in Kensal Rise Cemetery.

When Beatrice’s son Cyril died in 1950 he was cremated and his ashes were buried in the same grave.

Ancestor Chart

Richard Turner and Margery Yeates

Bessie Hine, Black and White Cat Club, Chipping Sodbury, Cyril Yeates, Francis Turner, Gloucestershire, Gretta Wright 2

Richard Turner and Margery Yeates

Richard Turner

Richard was born in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England on 22 January 1915. His parents were Francis Turner and Bessie Hine. Their story is told on a separate page.

Margery Yeates

Margaretta Mary Beatrice Yeates, who was known as ‘Margery’, was born in London, England on 14 November 1914. Her parents were Cyril Yeates and Gretta Wright. Their story is told on a separate page.

Richard Turner and Margery Yeates

Richard and Margery

Richard grew up in Chipping Sodbury, where his parents ran the Post Office. After attending boarding School at Taunton School, he moved to London and trained as an accountant.

Margery was born in Pembroke Gardens, Chelsea and attended the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus, in St Leonards on Sea. After leaving school she went to finishing school in Friburg, Switzerland in 1931.

She returned to London, where she worked a secretary to an author.

She met Richard at a bus stop on her way to work.

Birth of Margery

Margery was born at her parents home of 12 Mandeville Place, St Marylebone, London. Her father Cyril was a landed proprietor, having inherited several farms and properties around Kendal in the Lake District.

Margery Yeates Birth Certificate

Margery Yeates as a child

Margery – Early Years

Cyril and Gretta hired the services of a children’s nanny called Mary Fahy. Mary’s family were from Ireland, but she had grown up in a children’s orphanage in Westbury on Trym, Bristol.

Mary worked for several important families in London, but returned to look after Cyril in his old age and also become the nanny to their daughter and son, Anne and Anthony Turner. She is remembered with great affection by the family as “Aunty Mary”.

Margery as a Baby

Margery’s early years were spent during the First World War. Her father who had been a rifle marksman, regularly competing in the Imperial Meeting at Bisley. As a result he was conscripted as a marksmanship instructor at a military camp near Winchester training the troops, before they were transferred to France.

Her mother would bring Margery down to Winchester at weekends and they would all go to Bournemouth for the weekend, as her father got weekend leave from the camp.

Margery’s parents were prolific letter writers, and just like Margery’s grandparents, retained all their correspondence for posterity. We still have these letters so have a valuable insight into their lives.

Margery Yeates as a baby

Margery Yeates with Cat

The Black and White Cat Club

Margery’s parents shared a fascination with showing cats at competitions around the country. So, Margery grew up with lots of cats around the house.

Unfortunately the cats were show cats so they were very definitely not family pets.

Schooldays

Margery seemed to enjoy the boarding school life in St Leonards on Sea, even sending her daughter to the same convent, the senior school of which had moved to Mayfield in Sussex.

Both Margery and Richard were only children.

Margery Yeates sitting on grass

Margery Yeates on left skiing with Doreen Ransome

Friburg, Switzerland

Margery seems to have had a carefree time in Switzerland writing regularly to her parents, regaling them with stories of a very full social life. She also wrote to her mother’s siblings in London and New York.

Margery seemed to have managed regular trips to the ski slopes and also outings to the theatre and the ballet.

Richard Turner

Although he grew up in Chipping Sodbury where his mother was appointed as Post Mistress, the family spent a lot of time with his mother’s family in Dunster, on the north coast of Somerset.

As many of the Hines had attended Taunton School, so, in turn did Richard. A report from the school to his parents suggested he might be able to pass the Civil Service Exam, but also saying that he should easily be able to get a suitable position at a firm in the City of London.

Richard Turner

Margery Yeates in Oare Church, Porlock

Dunster

During their many visits to Dunster and Minehead, they liked to walk from Porlock Weir to St Mary’s Church, Oare, which is in woodland further along the coast.

The church stands in a lovely rural setting in the Exmoor hamlet of Oare, in the heart of what is now known as the Doone Valley, east of Lynton.

Oare Church draws visitors from across the world, drawn by its links to the popular 19th-century novel Lorna Doone, by RD Blackmore. It was here that the novel’s heroine, the eponymous Lorna, was shot at the altar during her wedding to the novel’s hero, John Ridd.

Accountancy

After leaving Taunton School, Richard moved to London where te took up a position with a London company in order to train as a chartered accountant.

He worked for various companies culminating in his appointment as Chief Accountant at the Confederation of British Industries (CBI).

Richard Turner

Margery Yeates by lake

Marriage

Richard and Margery were married in the autumn of 1939 and they lived initially with her father in Pembroke Gardens, Chelsea. Her mother had died in 1937 before they were married.

Dorset

Margery’s parents were regular holiday visitors to Dorset, in particular Chideock. Richard and Margery seem to have inherited the same love of West Dorset and eventually decided to buy a weekend cottage in Burton Bradstock on the Chesil Beach coast.

Richard, through his friendship with the artist A R Thomson R A, became a member of the Chelsea Arts Club, eventually becoming it’s treasurer. From what I have gathered, life in the Chelsea Arts Club seemed to revolve around the bar. It must have been a far cry from his father’s vow of temperance with the Baptists in Chipping Sodbury. His daughter Anne had her 21st birthday there.

I remember on one occasion visiting Richard and Margery at their cottage in Dorset. As a prospective son in law I was very much on my best behaviour. I was invited to go with Richard to “walk the dog”. I was a bit bemused by this as they didn’t have a dog, but it turned out that “walking the dog” involved walking round the corner to the Three Horseshoes Pub for a little pre-dinner refreshment! Other coded invitations might include “going to see a man about a dog”.

In keeping with the traditions of London Pubs, Richard alway stood at the bar, ramrod straight, never using a bar stool or other chairs. He would simply pass the time of day with his friends from the village.

Richard Turner with Anne Turner

Margery Yeates

Margery on Horseback

Presumably taken during their many visits to Dorset.

Milton House, Fernshaw Road, Chelsea

For most of their married life Richard and Margery lived a first floor flat in Milton House. the ground floor was occupied by a famous artist who had been commissioned to paint a group portrait of the extended Royal Family.

As the artist was pre-lingually deaf, the Royal Family agreed to attend Milton House for the sittings, rather than Buckingham Palace. Anne remembers peering through the bannisters of the staircase in her school holidays watching members of the royal family arrive for their portrait sittings.

Milton House, 2 Fernshaw Road, London

Bramble Cottage, Burton Bradstock, Dorset

Bramble Cottage

Richard eventually retired from the CBI and moved permanently to their cottage in Burton Bradstock. He worked as an accountant for Bridport Gundry in Crewkerne, before taking well earned retirement. He always says it was the best job he had ever had.

Richard and Margery

Visiting San Francisco in the early 1980s.

Richard Turner and Margery Yeates

Richard Turner – Burton Bradstock

Richard Turner

Richard Turner enjoying his retirement, reading a book in the garden of Bramble Cottage, Burton Bradstock, Dorset.

Ancestor Chart

Cyril Yeates and Gretta Wright

Bisley, Black and White Cat Club, Brettargh Holt, Dublin, Ireland, James Joyce, Rutland, Uppingham School, Westmorland, Winnall Down Barracks 0

Cyril Yeates and Gretta Wright

Cyril Ernest Brettargh Yeates

Cyril was born in Brettargh Holt, Levens, Westmorland in the Lake District on 10 July 1875. His parents were George Henry Brettargh Yeates and Caroline “Beatrice” Boulger. Their story is told on a separate page.

Margaretta Mary Teresa “Gretta” Wright

Gretta was the oldest of six children of Peter MacFie Wright and Margaretta Lyons of Dublin, Ireland. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 11 October 1884. Her parents story is told on a separate page.

Sketch of Cyril Yeates by C Atkinson

Cyril Yeates

Within three months of his birth at Brettargh Holt, Cyril’s father George Henry Brettargh Yeates died at the age of 34. Cyril’s mother Beatrice, decided to put Brettargh Holt on the market and moved back to London.

Beatrice’s sister Jemima Boulger was married to Charles Webb from Wimborne Minster. Beatrice met and married Charles Webb’s brother William Bridges Webb on 13 September 1878.

William was the Chairman of the Baltic Exchange. The Baltic Exchange is a membership organisation for the maritime industry, and freight market information provider for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts.

Beatrice and William had three more children together and although they were half-siblings to Cyril, they all grew up together in London and he would have known no other family.

Cyril Schooling

When Cyril reached secondary school age he was sent as a boarder to Uppingham School in Rutland.

The photograph opposite was taken in 1890 when he was 15 years old, and presumably on holiday from school as the photograph was taken in Portsmouth.

The Webb family were from Wareham in Dorset and Dorset seems to held a special place in Cyril’s heart as he repeatedly returned to Dorset all through his life.

Cyril Yeates 1890 when he was a pupil at Uppingham School

Group of children. Cyril Yeates, second row with white hat

Group Photograph

This photograph of a group of young children appears to have been taken in London.

Cyril is in the second row with the white hat.

Gretta – Early Years

Gretta grew up in an affluent area of the West End of Glasgow. Unfortunately that came to a sudden end with the bankruptcy of her father in 1897. Gretta would have been 13 at the time.

Three of the children were placed in the care of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul. Gretta’s mother moved to London where by the 1901 census she was living in Fulham with her youngest son Leo.

Gretta’s grandmother, Julia Clare Flynn, who had been living with them in Glasgow, returned to Dublin, where she died in 1905. I believe that Gretta Junior probably moved to Dublin and lived with her grandmother.

She was friends with her cousin James Joyce and they corresponded regularly throughout their lives. This does seem to suggest they were both living in Dublin at the time.

By 1911 Gretta was living in London in Highgate as the Lady Nurse to the Fisher White family. John Fisher White and his wife Edith Blackwell were both famous actors at the time, and Gretta was appointed to look after their daughter Thalia.

1911 Census

Marriage Certificate 1911

Marriage

Cyril and Gretta were married in St James’ Church, Spanish Church, Manchester Square, London on 9 November 1911. Cyril was 36 and Gretta was 27.

London

Gretta and Cyril seem to have settled into married life in London, and they moved to 21 Talbot Square, Paddington.

Gretta Wright

Cyril Yeates & Gretta Wright in Chideock, Dorset

Dorset

Life in London was relieved by their many trips to Chideock on the west coast of Dorset, in the shadow of Golden Cap. In this photograph, they both look to be in a very relaxed holiday mode.

Cyril’s stepfather William Bridges Webb died on 25 August 1913, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

Birth of Margery Yeates

Their first and only daughter Margaretta Mary Beatrice Yeates, known as Margery, was born on 14 November 1914.

Two days before Margery was born, Cyril’s mother Beatrice Boulger died. She was buried in the same grave as her husband, William Bridges Webb, in Kensal Green Cemetery.

Gretta Yeates with her daughter Margery Yeates

National Rifle Association to Cyril Yeates

Cyril Yeates holding his daughter Margery.

First World War

Cyril was a member of the National Rifle Association at Bisley and regularly took part in shooting competitions there.

As he would have been nearly 40 at the outbreak of the First World War, he was probably considered too old to be conscripted, but his marksmanship skills would be a valued skill and he served in the Army Training Regiment in Winnall Down Barracks, on the downs to the north east of Winchester.

He seems to have lived in the village of Easton, just to the north of the barracks. His letters to Gretta at the time , show that life at the barracks was quite boring and at weekends, Gretta would come down from London and they would stay at a hotel in Easton or sometimes go to a guest house in Bournemouth.

The Black and White Cat Club

Cyril was a gentleman of independent means, having inherited land in the Lake District. Although he did not work in the normal sense of the word, his hobby was breeding show cats. These cats were bred for show, and were very definitely not domestic pets. Children were not allowed to play with them.

Gretta with two of their exhibition cats.

Aunty Mary, Margery Yeates and her father Cyril Yeates, during the First World War.

Aunty Mary

Cyril and Gretta hired the services of a children’s nanny called Mary Fahy. Mary’s family were from Ireland, but she had grown up in a children’s orphanage in Westbury on Trym, Bristol. Mary was Margery Yeates nanny when she was a child.

When Margery was older, Mary worked for several important families in London, but returned to look after Cyril in his old age and also become the nanny to their daughter and son, Anne and Anthony Turner. She is remembered with great affection by the family as “Aunty Mary”.

Brittany

Cyril’s Photograph Album has many photographs of holidays in Brittany. With only two pairs of shoes on the beach, this was presumably taken before Margery was born.

Gretta relaxing on the beach.

Cyril Yeates

Cyril

A very relaxed looking Cyril Yeates, apparently enjoying a walk in the country.

Gretta with Billy Myers

Gretta talking to Billy Myers, who was the second husband of Cyril’s half sister Violet Webb.

Judging by the formal attire this photograph was probably taken at a family wedding.

Gretta talking to Billy Myers. Cyril Yeates on right.

Gretta Wright Death Certificate

Gretta – Death

After a short illness in a nursing home in Bexhill on Sea, Gretta died of a brain tumour on 29 August 1937.

Headstone

Gretta was buried in Bexhill on Sea. The monumental inscription reads:

“In ever loving memory of Margaret Mary Teresa Yeates (Gretta), The dearly beloved wife of Cyril Yeates, who fell asleep 29th August 1937. In our hearts we keep, sweet memories of thee, so rest in peace beloved.”

Cyril Yeates died on the 27 February 1950. He was cremated and his ashes were interred in his mother and step father’s grave in Kensal Green Cemetery. It is thought that a memorial stone for Cyril Yeates was erected in Highgate Cemetery, and we are currently trying to trace the location of this memorial.

Gretta’s headstone in Bexhill Cemetery

Ancestor Chart

Yeates Window Holy Trinity Church, Kendal

John Yeates and Margaretta Brettargh

Anthony Yeates, Kendal, Margaret Kendall, Slave Ship Brooks, Slave Trade, Slavery, Westmorland, William Brettargh 2

John Yeates and Margaretta Brettargh

John Yeates (formerly Richards)

John Yeates was born on 30 May 1796 in Kendal, Westmorland, England and baptised as John Richards. He changed his name in later life as a condition of benefitting from the will of Anthony Yeates, his guardian. His father, who was also called John Richards was from Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth. He was originally a Ship’s Surgeon but became a ship’s captain in the slave trade sailing out of Liverpool. To avoid confusion I will refer to John Richards, father and son, as Senior and Junior.

John Richards Senior married Jane Yeates in St Anne’s Liverpool on 27 February 1794. Jane came from Kendal and Old Hutton in Westmorland. Sadly, John Richards Senior died on his second voyage as the Captain of the Slave Ship Brookes and was buried in Kingston, Jamaica in 1798. His son, John Richards Junior, would have only been two years old, when his father died. Jane Yeates and her son John returned to Kendal in Westmorland and lived with her uncle, Anthony Yeates 1744-1837, who was a wealthy business man in the leather tanning industry in Kendal.

Margaretta Brettargh

“Madge” Brettargh as she was known within the family was born in Liverpool, England on 6 August 1802, the eldest daughter of William Brettargh and Margaret Kendall. John Richards and Madge Brettargh traced the earlier history of the Brettargh Family of Liverpool and this story can be read here.

The Brettargh family were an old armorial family whose family pedigree has been authenticated by the College of Arms back to the twelfth century. The history of the Brettargh family has also been documented in an article in the Journal of the Historic Society of Lancs and Cheshire Vol 88 (1939) by R Stewart Brown MA FSA entitled “The Brettarghs of Brettargh Holt”.

John Richards Junior, who changed his name to ‘Yeates’

John Richards Junior

John Richards Junior, having been brought up by his great uncle Anthony Yeates in Kendal, married Margaretta Brettargh at St Benet Fink Church in Gracechurch Street, London on 6 August 1825, Madge’s 23rd birthday. The seventeenth century building in which they were married was demolished in 1844.

Between 1826 and 1836 John and Madge raised six children at their home in Park Head, Levens near Heversham in Westmorland. Two of their children died in childhood. Their seventh child, and our ancestor, George Henry Brettargh Yeates was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on 24 July 1841, only six years before the death of both his parents. There is a separate page on the history of George Yeates and Beatrice Boulger. It should be said, however, that recent ancestral DNA testing provides circumstantial evidence that George Yeates might have been an adopted child of John and Madge Richards.

John Richards Junior, was elected Mayor of Kendal in 1836 and was the first Mayor elected after the Reform Act. The painting of John Richards on the left was commissioned ty the Kendal Town Council and hangs in the Town Hall.

Jane Yeates

The painting opposite has been dated to approximately 1800. The subject of the painting is not known, but it is believed to be Jane Yeates, John Richards Junior’s mother. The child in the picture appears to have been added at a later date and is considered to be painted by a different artist.

Jane Yeates died in Kirk Maughold in the Isle of Man on 24 March 1830.

Jane Yeates c1800

Slave Ship Captains

The Slave Trade

The Slave Trade, sometimes referred to as the triangular trade, due to the three legged voyages undertaken by the ships. The ships departed from Liverpool laden with local goods, most probably cotton goods from the Lancashire mills. They sailed to West Africa where they sold the cotton in order to buy slaves, who were then transported across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, where they were sold. Sugar was purchased from the proceeds of the sale, which was then transported back to Liverpool.

The illustration opposite shows that John Richards Senior was the Captain of the Slave Ship Brookes and that he died in Kingston, Jamaica on 16 June 1798. This date is corroborated by a Memorandum of Pedigree authenticated by the College of Arms.

British Slave Ship Brookes

The illustration opposite shows the stowage plan for the slaves being transported to Jamaica. It defies belief that slaves could be chained side by side like sardines for the duration of the crossing.

This poster had such an apalling effect on the public that it was adopted and used as publicity by the anti slavery movement. Mercifully, by 1807 the slave trade had been banned in the UK.

More information about the Slave Trade Abolitionist Movement can be found at the Royal Museums Greenwich website. Every year on 23 August, the National Maritime Museum commemorates International Slavery Remembrance Day, featuring a day of talks, workshops and performances exploring the transatlantic slave trade and its legacies.

Stowage Plans of Slave Ship ‘Brookes’

The French Frigate Clorinde, on left, was captured by the British in 1814

HMS Clorinde

John Richards Junior served in the Royal Navy and his first posting was on board the Clorinde. The Clorinde was a French frigate of 40 guns which had been captured by the British in 1814. It was orginally called HMS Clorinde, but was later renamed HMS Aurora.

John Richards sailed on HMS Clorinde to the eastern Mediterranean in accompanying HRH the Princess of Wales.

He also sailed to the Falkland Islands in 1820, 1821.

John Richards Diary 1843

We have no birth certificate for Madge Brettargh, but John Richards’ diary for August 6th Sunday 1843, provides circumstantial evidence of her birth on 6 August 1802 and their marriage on 6 August 1825. For convenience I have transcribed his diary entry below.

“August 6th Sunday. My wife’s birthday and our wedding day, 41 years of age and eighteen years married, mother of seven children, five living and two gone, I trust, to heaven and happiness. It was a hard trial to leave them for they were good children. But every day that passes shortens the period of our separation. May each succeeding year teach us the increasing value of a decreasing time, so that when the day comes that we are to render the body to the earth and the spirit to the God who gave it, we may now be altogether.”

Portrait of Anthony Yeates

Anthony Yeates 1744 – 1837

Anthony Yeates was the guardian of John Richards Junior, and with whom he lived at his home in Kirkland, Kendal. He is generally regarded as the patriarch of the various branches of the Yeates family, largely on account of the fact that he lived to the grand old age of 93 at a time when the average male life expectancy was about 40. There is no doubt that he built a successful leather tanning business on the back of hard work, but he also outlived most of his siblings and relatives and seems to have inherited well from his family, to the extent that by the time of his death he was a wealthy man.

His considerable fortune was shared between two nephews, Robert Henry Machel Michaelson and John Richards Junior on condition that they adopt the name and Arms of Yeates.

The Yeates family of Old Hutton

Anthony Yeates was born at the farmhouse of Hood Ridding in Old Hutton near Kendal. He was part of a large extended family, some of which are commemorated in the plaque opposite which can be seen in the church at Old Hutton.

It is clear from tha ages on this plaque that longevity was an inherited condition of the Yeates family. Most of the Yeates family are buried by the entrance door to Holy Trinity Church, Kendal.

Plaque in Old Hutton Church to the ‘Yeates’ family

Drawing of Hood Ridding Farm, before it’s demolition in 1913

Hood Ridding Farm, Old Hutton

There is still a farmhouse at Hood Ridding, but it is not the farmhouse where Anthony Yeates would have lived. This was demolished in the early twentieth century. Fortunately, the owner of Hood Ridding allowed me to photograph a sketch of the old farmhouse before it was demolished, for which I am very grateul.

It gives us an insight into the early lives of the Yeates family.

Map of Kendal 1833

The map opposite shows the layout of Kendal in 1833, shortly before Anthony Yeates’ death. He lived in the property just across the road from the Holy Trinity Church, and this is also where John Richards Junior spent his early years.

Anthony Yeates was also a friend and neighbour of the artist George Romney RA, before Romney moved to London.

Map of Kirkland, Kendal 1833

Petiion to William IV to change name to ‘Yeates’

John Richards becomes John Yeates

In accordance with the requirements of the will of Anthony Yeates, John Richards Junior duly petitioned the King, William IV, in what must have been his dying days to change his family name to Yeates, and to adopt the arms of Yeates. This was granted on May 31 1837.

His six children had all been born and christened with the surname Richards, so this led to a few unusual names to reckon with, like his eldest son John Yeates Yeates. I could write a book about John Yeates Yeates as he kept a daily diary of his time from his enrolment in the Royal Navy at Devonport to his return to civvy street.

He took part in the final Royal Naval action under sail serving aboard HMS Thunderer, 84 gun Ship of the Line, at St Jean d’Acre and the seige of Beirut in Lebanon. The original diaries have been donated to the Cumbria Record Office in Kendal. Maybe someone could take on the challenge of telling this story. Please, someone pick up the challenge, it’s a fascinating story.

Emigration to Frankfurt am Main

The letter opposite was written, but presumably never completed, or sent. It is dated Rye April 26th 1839. I have transcribed the letter below.

Rye April 26th 1839

My dear Proudfoot

You will be surprised to hear from me so far south but now that we have got our liberty there is no saying where we shall stop

He is writing to his friend and solicitor, and the letter seems to suggest that now is he is free from the shackles of Mayor of Kendal he has simply taken his family off on a journey with an unknown destination, which turned out to be Frankfurt am Main.

Envelope addressed to John Yeates at Park Head.

Story

An envelope addressed to John Yeates at Park Head, Levens.

It includes a penny red stamp which must have been just at the beginning of the Postal Service.

Brettargh Holt

In the illustration opposite, Park Head, is located at the bottom of the photo on the right, marked by a purple arrow.

Brettargh Holt is located at the top right marked by a red arrow.

Park Head, Levens. Bottom of picture with purple arrow.

Death Notices

The newspaper clippings opposite record the death of John Yeates and his subsequent burial in the churchyard at Heversham.

Holy Trinity Church, Kendal

After the death of John Yeates and Margaretta Brettargh in 1847, their son George Henry Brettargh Yeates commisioned a stained glass window in their memory in 1865. It is located just inside the entrance door of the church on the right hand side.

There are eight shields incorporated into the design. The simplest is the St. George’s Cross at the very top, whilst the most complex is in the centre. This shield is divided into six sections which relate to the names of Brettargh, Yeates, Toxteth, Ackberg which was in the possession of the Brettarghs in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, and Ives. The Toxteth & Ives connections arise from intermarriage with the Brettarghs.

The left hand panel shows an angel appearing to the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10 v. ff.3) a devout man and one who feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.

The right hand panel depicts another centurion beseeching Christ to heal his servant. Christ says of him, (Matthew 8.5) , I have not found so great faith, no, not in all Israel.

The heraldry details are from ‘The Stained Glass Windows of Kendal Parish Church’ by Roy Eaves.

Yeates Window Holy Trinity Church, Kendal

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