Chapter 17
One year on… Christmas week December 1860 Sunday Cold this morning. Some folk reckon we might get some snow this week. Others reckon that it is too cold to snow. I shall ask Old Zachary if I see him. He’s the village weatherman. Poor old chap, can hardly get around the village. We got into some remembering in The Stars last night. We started talking about some of the good lively times we have had in the bar. William Hillsdon thought that the best days of the year was the cricket matches and the sessions afterwards. Things got stirred up then with some shouting and jeering. The rivalry between Up Town and Lower End flared up again. Accusations and arguments were revisited. Mary Ann tried to calm things down, saying “perhaps t’would be better to play against another village rather than fight amongst us.” Old Henry said he was a bit disappointed about this year’s tea party. He said it “weren’t a patch on the first one. They made a mistake charging people to get in. They were only after the money for the school. Was mainly for do-gooders from outside the village. Fancy, ninepence a head and sixpence for littl’ns! They came unstuck. Didn’t make half the money they made the year before.” It’s been a funny old year. We had a special event in the vicarage. Mary Anne, the curate’s wife gave birth to a baby girl early September, their third daughter. They baptised her “Elizabeth Hymencea.” Don’t know where they got that from! We also lost Old Thomas Horwood in October and his daughter Mary, the month before that. No more “Horwoods the Shopkeepers.” Some say we may be losing more of our shops in the village before too long. Monday Petal got to be Mary in today’s Nativity performance at the school. She had us sit down this evening to tell us all about it. She said that the Curate and his wife were there along with some of the farmers and their wives. Petal told us that young Jesus got a bit too wriggly and wouldn’t stay put in the crib. She said that the Schoolmistress had tried wrapping her baby Albert in swaddling clothes. Petal said that he wasn’t happy and cried like mad. He squirmed and soon shook off his sheet. His big sister had to take him out of the classroom. She told us that Mr Gilbert had said we had done really well. She is not sure if he really meant it, as there had been a few problems with the shepherds larking about and Mr Green had to stop the readings a few times to glare at the boys. She enjoyed singing the carols with Mrs Gilbert playing her piano. The piano got taken back to the vicarage afterwards. Petal and most of the girls really like Mrs Green, the schoolmistress. The wife thinks that Petal tries very hard with her schoolwork just to please Mrs Green. Running the school room seems to be a family affair, with Mr Green the schoolmaster and Mrs Green the schoolmistress. Their eldest children, Barbara and William help with the younger children in the school. Petal told us of Mrs Green’s eldest son, John, who lived by the sea. We sat quietly and listened when Petal told us about sand and waves. All that we knew about the sea was the Ark and Jonah and the whale. Petal was so proud to tell us about fishing boats and seashells and something she called the horizon. She spelled the letters out for us and put her arms out wide to show how big it is. She told us the water tastes of salt and people swim in it because they think it is good for them. Wednesday No word of any work for a while. I did walk round some of the farms this morning. Tried Manor Farm, Chilling Place, Griffins up Muzzle and at Corbel. Went on to Gravel Pits. I didn’t see Thomas May, but I did see his wife Rachel. She told me that they wouldn’t have any work this winter. Spring perhaps. As I made to walk away, she told me that she had a need of a young dairy maid. She wondered if Petal would be old enough now. She told me that her dairy girl had scarpered again. They took her on at Bicester Fair and she had been nothing but trouble. She told me “£7 a year, no less. She has runaway twice now. First time they took her to court. God knows where she has gone now. They’ll lock her up if they catch her!” I saw the young Sarah Dumbleton at the Toll Gate. Three kids running round and she was very big with child. She told me that she is proud to have her three children in school. She said that times are hard. Coming on 9 years since her husband Jonathan died. I asked the wife when I got home. She had not heard talk of who this father might be. Thursday Woke up to snow this morning. Snowed on and off all day. With the school closed for Christmas the village kids have been running wild. Running up and down the village whooping and hollering. There was a non-stop snowball fight between Lower End and Up Town kids most of the morning. Not just the kids. Some of the grown-ups got tangled up in the fun. The Reynolds kids found out that the ice on the brook wasn’t strong enough to walk on.! Carol singing last night. Petal insisted we went along with her. Maybe twenty of us. Started at the vicarage and worked our way down the village. The snow had just about stopped. We could see our footprints in the snow from the lantern light. Made me think about carol singers before us and those to come years ahead. Thomas Gibbons and his squeezebox kept us roughly together in time, if not in tune. We told Petal about the night she was born. Hearing the sound of carol singers approaching. Her popping out right in the middle of Hark the Herald! She had a big smile on her face each time we sang that one. Some folk pretended not to hear us, no matter how loud we sang. Others opened their doors straight away. We were offered a few drinks and pies on our way through the village. William Parrott was pleased to see us all. He told us to come back after we finished. Our last call was Ann Brown’s house at the bottom of the village. Some of the wives and kids returned home. The rest of us went back to Rookery Farm and sang again outside the farmhouse. William and Sarah beckoned us in and made us feel very welcome. A real spread laid out before us. William was generous, topping up our glasses. It was so warm inside. Made me think how cold we must have been outside. There was a good fire burning in the grate. The logs could have been from the firewood we cut for William the year before. It came to pass that William had a particular reason for being so hospitable this year. He told us about his plans for a village choir and he hoped that there would be some amongst us who would join. He praised our wonderful voices and thought that we would be up to the task. I was taken aback by this. I had never thought that William would be someone who take a lead on something like this. He is famous, like his father William before him, for bellowing out in church. The problem is that he has inherited Old William Parrott’s habit of singing a bit behind everyone else. I could see Thomas Gibbons was having a bit of difficulty taking in what William was saying. William told us more about his plans and said that he hoped that the choir could be up and running by next Christmas. What’s more, he said “We need some music in the church. We should have a harmonium.” None of us knew what a harmonium was. Thomas Gibbons thought it might be a really big squeezebox. William told us that there were plans to get some money together and the Curate and his wife were all for it. We left the farmhouse in good cheer. Thomas Gibbons told everyone “Perhaps it is everyone else that sings too quick and the Parrotts are the only ones that are spot on!” Friday More snow overnight. The wife has been putting some crumbs out for the birds. Now that she has made our Christmas pudding, she has a few to spare. The snow has covered up the early beans that have just begun to show through. Shouldn’t take any harm. Old Henry called round first thing. “Sad news from Manor Farm. Especially just a’ fore Christmas.” He told us “Young George died yesterday. Little mite was only 5 years old. Just think, it is a year ago, almost to the day, that the little Charlotte Brown was born” Saturday, Christmas Eve Just heard this evening. Old Henry called round again. I could tell straight away that he had some more bad news. Christmas Eve and all. The family had done so much to brighten things in the village. Barbara Green, the Schoolmistress died today. How are we going to tell Petal in the morning? Sources & Inspirations Some good times in The Stars: James Maycock, of the Seven Stars, Piddington, was charged with having on the 25th July, permitted drunkenness and other disorderly conduct in his house; convicted, and fined 15s., and costs 16s.; paid. Oxford Journal 11th August 1860 Cricket: 25th June 1860. Source: Oxfordshire Telegraph 14th July 1860. To date this is the earliest report of cricket in Piddington that I have found. There are more matches reported in during the 1860’s. |
Note: 13-aside. A great performance by J Freeman, taking 13 wickets! This is unlikely to be the farmer, Old John Freeman, who would have been 73 years old at the time. In an early chapter I described him “catching his breath most of the time.” That was 10 years earlier! The cricketer in the Lower End team was Probably his 32-year-old son, Joseph. The return match was played on 23rd August. 12 -aside. Another low scoring game. Thomas Brown’s side won again. This time with 25 runs to spare. Piddington’s 1860 cricket match is the earliest I have found so far. The Second Village Tea Party Tea Party: May 31st Advertisement Bicester Advertiser 26th May 1860 |
I was very pleased to find actual evidence of a Piddington worker hired at a local fair. For many years I have assumed that a number of “farm servants” shown in the village censuses were hired in this way. This was a feature of employment in the 19th Century and well into the early 20th Century in some parts of the country. These “hiring fairs” were sometimes known as “mop fairs”. Workers hired in this way were often referred to as “working on the mop.” This description came from the custom of those seeking employment at a fair carrying the implements that advertised their skills. This could be a mop in the case of a housemaid or a milking stool in the case of a dairymaid. There are records of hiring fairs at many towns. This is the first record I have found for Bicester. Employment included “board and lodging” plus very low pay. The terms were usually for 6 months. The worker would then have one day off and then be retained for a further 6 months or be dismissed. The worker was rarely told if his services would continue to be required before the end of the 6 months. Some of these farm servants were fortunate to live in the attic or cellar of the farmhouse. Most would live in one of the outbuildings. A new baby in the vicarage:
The Horwoods:
It is probable that “Horwoods” had stopped trading before Thomas and Mary died in 1860. Weighing up all of the evidence, I believe that the Horwoods shop was in the property in recent times called Corbell, the present home of Betty Newell. There should have been no immediate concern about the decline of Piddington’s shops. The 1861 census shows a butcher, a baker, 3 grocers, two public houses, a tailor and two shoemakers! Sarah Dumbleton’s family: The 1861 census shows her three children as “Scholars.” Ann 9, Emma 8, Henry 6 and a new-born son:
The Green family: I first learnt about the Green family from the 1861 census which showed Francis as a Widower and Schoolmaster, their eldest daughter Barbara and four other children as “Scholars”, including two-year-old Julia. Albert Edward is shown as 10 months old. From this starting point I have learnt more about the Green family, before and after their time in Piddington.
Carol singing, the choir and plans for the harmonium: Inspired by many warm welcomes and fine hospitality provided by a wealthy farmer and his family at the far end of the village in the 21st Century. It is a while since we have had a white Christmas in Piddington. I thought it would be nice to have one in 1860. Rookery Farm may not have been so named as early as 1860. More news of William Parrott, the village choir and the harmonium at a later date. Young George Brown: Death: Piddington 22nd December, George Edward, aged 5 years, second son of Thomas Brown, farmer. Bicester Herald 28th December 1861 Note: George is named as Thomas Brown’s second son. This information was probably supplied by the Curate, William Gilbert. He wouldn’t have known that Thomas and Matilda had a second son, William, who died in July 1853 aged 10 months. Author’s Notes In earlier chapters I had not been very kind describing both Old William Parrott and his son William’s singing. I also wrote about Old Ann Horwood’s shrill voice. I have only recently discovered younger William’s leading role in Piddington’s choir. So, belated apologies to both Williams. And now, another extended break from the diary and 19th Century Piddington. The research will continue. |