Untold lives blog

On 25 July 1823, East India Company warehouse labourer Charles Richards was brought into the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors in London to receive his discharge from debtors’ prison.  However he was opposed by Mary Ann Richards, widow of his brother Benjamin.  She challenged the schedule of debts.

Morning Herald 26 July 1823 British Newspaper Archive

Benjamin Richards had been the cook on board East Indiaman Marquis of Camden on a voyage to Bombay and China.  The ship’s captain Thomas Larkins told the Court that Benjamin had been ‘deranged’ during the voyage and unable to do his duty.  When the ship arrived back in the Thames, Benjamin had jumped or fallen overboard and drowned.  He was buried on 14 May 1823 at Milton near Gravesend in Kent, aged 38.

Before the ship entered the docks in London, Charles Richards went on board and asked for the slush and fat which was the perquisite of the ship’s cook.  Slush was the floating grease skimmed off boiled meat which could be sold to tallow merchants.  There were fifteen casks worth about £60 or £70 and they were given to Charles on the understanding that he was receiving it for the benefit of Benjamin’s widow Mary Ann.  He sold the slush to Mr Rottenbury of Gravesend.

The Court was told that Mary Ann was in great distress.  She stated that she had married Benjamin seven months before he left on his last voyage.  Her husband had left £10 with Charles who was to give her money as needed.  She had received £3 from Charles in the two years that Benjamin had been absent.  Charles claimed that his brother had owed him £40.

The Court heard evidence of Charles’s financial situation and property.  He earned 18s a week from the East India Company, and let out rooms as lodgings in his house in St George in the East.  Charles and his wife both owned watches and she had five shawls, three from India.

Mr Heath addressed the Court, claiming that Charles had endeavoured, by misrepresentation and fraud, to obtain the perquisites of a poor widow.  He drew attention to the income Charles derived from his position as warehouse labourer, the profits from his lodgers, and other sources of emolument.  Charles should be obliged to pay the debt due to Mary Ann.

The Chief Commissioner ruled that this was a case of persecution, where there ought to have been protection, and of fraud where there should have been pity.  Charles’s villainy ‘was too glaring to be doubted for a moment’.  It was hard to conceive of a case of greater hardship than that of this poor widow.  The Court granted the application made on behalf of Mary Ann that the schedule of debts should be dismissed.  Charles was remanded and he returned to prison.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading;
The British Newspaper Archive has several articles on the Court proceedings of 25 July 1823, with variations to the story e.g.
Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser 26 July 1823
British Press 26 July 1823
Morning Herald 26 July 1823
Morning Chronicle 26 July 1823

Are you a fan of needlework? Then you absolutely must visit Mrs. Evershed’s London emporia.  Step back into the 19th century and explore 7 Hanover Square, 59 South Moulton Street, or 71 Chiltern Street, and marvel at ‘rare old pieces of petit-point, quilting, crewel work, and silk work [which] mingle happily with the modern'.

Enlargement of embroidered bookbinding by Mrs Evershed on Washington Irving’s The keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall - British Library Collins 461

Ellen Evershed, widowed aged 38, was left to raise four young children, yet she thrived.  By 1913, her estate was worth the modern equivalent of £27,900.  What was her secret?  A combination of exquisite embroidery and entrepreneurial genius that could rival even the sharpest minds of today’s ‘Dragons’ Den’.

Ellen Middlebrook Cockcroft (1834-1913) came from a Leeds family of drapers.  The 1851 census records Ellen in the Brighton hosier and draper’s shop of her stepfather Thomas Sturdy.  In 1862, She married Frederick Evershed (1832-1872) from Sussex, a draper who specialised in silk.

The Eversheds owned two shops in central Rugby catering for women and men.  An adroit user of the social media of the day, Ellen advertised new stock in The Rugby Advertiser and in 1866 called for apprentices and ‘improvers’ in millinery and dressmaking, an indication of her success.

The Rugby Advertiser 9 May 1863  alerted Mrs Evershed’s patrons to new stock.  British Newspaper Archive

The Rugby Advertiser 27 January 1866 advertised Evershed's men’s accessories and celebrated flannel shirts. British Newspaper Archive

The Eversheds raised their family in Brighton.  Life was challenging after Frederick’s death but thankfully, the family had domestic and childcare help.  It seems that Ellen was driven. She certainly had her own unique talents on which to base a new future in the capital.

Brighton Gazette 6 February 1873 - Ellen vowed to continue the business. British Newspaper Archive

Ellen's unusual occupation in the 1891 Hampstead census was ‘Secretary of the Exhibition of Embroidery’.  She organized competitions for amateur needleworkers and showcased their creations.  While there were few formal rules, one requirement was the use of Pearsall’s threads (which, naturally, were sold by Ellen).  Embroidered book covers were offered as prizes.

The Queen of Saturday 2 February 1895 informed its readers that Mrs Evershed ‘the courteous manager of Messrs Harris' depot for embroideries in old Bond-street’ had opened a shop around the corner.  At the age of 60, she was ready for a new challenge, albeit helped by her daughter Ellen Lucas Evershed.

The Gentlewoman 3 April 1897 advertised the new designs and twice weekly classes available at Mrs Evershed’s new shop. British Newspaper Archive

The Queen 19 March 1904 . Mrs Evershed’s work basket featured ribbon work, a new decorative technique.  British Newspaper Archive

The shops sold an astonishing variety of traditional and modern needlework sundries.  Patrons were encouraged to embroider everything which could be embroidered including ordinary curtains, cushions, work baskets etc' and the surprising, for example ‘Natty coats for dogs’ (sorry, no images!).  Other items for sale included ‘artistic furniture,’ which combined ‘ease with tastefulness in designs’ and copperware made by Newlyn fishermen, inspired by the contemporary Arts and Crafts movement.

Weldon’s needlework old and new Needle Art Series no 9, p 5 illustrated the historic patterns available at Evershed’s

The Queen published a regular column headed ‘The Work-Table' which provided advice upon knotty (sometimes literally!) needlework problems.  Frequently answers relied upon the expertise of Mrs Evershed and her staff.

It is a testament to Ellen’s business acumen that all levels of customer’s ability were addressed and monetised.  Less skillful embroiderers could avail themselves of a service ‘to stretch to shape needlework tapestry that has pulled crookedly in working'.

Ellen saw potential everywhere. Church furnishings provided an obvious source of work, but lest non-religious customers felt overlooked, her trade ticket reminded customers of her versatility.

Trade ticket for Mrs Evershed from Washington Irving’s The keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall - British Library Collins 461

Stock was frequently refreshed.  Imports from Italy, France and even New Zealand provided constant temptation.  Evershed’s was not the only embroidery retailer in London.  There was much competition but The Queen’s estimation of Ellen as ‘the best in needlework’ has much justification.  The shop was still operating in 1945, but appears to have closed before daughter Ellen Lucas's death in 1949. 

Assurance that Evershed's was still in business - The Queen 21 March 1945 British Newspaper Archive

P J M Marks
Curator, bookbindings, Printed Heritage Collections

Further reading:
Florence Sophie Davson ‘The revival of art needlework and embroidery’ in The Girls’ Own Paper pp.798-799
Weldon’s Needlework Old and New series number 9. 
British Newspaper Archive

A newly catalogued India Office Private Papers collection is now available to view in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room.  It consists of the large journal collection and private papers of William Coldstream (1841-1929), Indian Civil Servant, and his son Sir John Coldstream (1877–1954), also of the Civil Service.

William Coldstream was born in 1841 in South Leith, Midlothian, Scotland to John Coldstream (1806–1863), a Scottish physician, and to Margaret Dryborough Menzies (1812-1871).  He achieved his BA at Edinburgh University and was appointed to the Bengal Civil Service after open competitive examination in 1860.  Coldstream maintained an academic curiosity throughout his life, as he was the author of several academic papers on agriculture, as well as editor to Sir William Muir's work Records of the Intelligence Department of The Government of the North-west Provinces of India During the Mutiny of 1857.  For much of his career he was a District Commissioner in the Punjab, of which his experience is well documented in his journals.

Notebook pages showing journal entries, names of some acquaintances in Persian, and pen and ink studies of Benares streets. Mss Eur F590/2/1, pp.94-5.

The 40 journals in this collection provide a fascinating insight into his life and duties, as well as detailed records, reports, and illustrations of towns and villages.  This includes census data, notes, and illustrations of Indian individuals and groups, agriculture and arboriculture, weather and local animal life, to name just a few.  These notebooks are also inclusive of Coldstream’s personal interests, such as Indian Christian missionary works, Indian artwork promotion, Indian social reform, and Indian students in Britain.  Many of the notebooks were written during his retirement in London (1894-1927) and these display a continued close personal, academic, and official connection with the Punjab, particularly with missionary groups such as the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission.  Coldstream continued to hold a leading and respected position within what he described as ‘Anglo-Indian’ groups and felt a strong kinship with the Punjab and its people.  He appeared to take great pride in helping Indian students adapt to Britain, inviting them to his home, to join him at Church, and to social events, although there is a clear desire to dispel anti-colonial British thought among the young students, particularly following the First World War.

Notebook pages showing journal entries, a pressed ‘gadfly’ specimen, and a drawing of a religious ‘chariot’ from the annual procession ‘Rath Yatra’, as part of the festival Kullu Dussehra held in the Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh. Mss Eur F590/2/11, pp.172-3.

Also included in this collection are a small selection of papers of his son, Sir John Coldstream (1877–1954), who followed his father’s footsteps into the India Civil Service.  John, usually referred to as ‘Jack’, served as a High Court Judge in Lahore 1925-1937, and then Chief Minister of Kapurthala state.  During the First World War Jack for a time worked as an Indian mail censor, and in this collection there are his reports of 1914-1915, with extracts of Indian letters.  These letters provide an insight, although a greatly filtered one, of Indian soldiers' daily lives and inner thoughts.  Additional items in this collection include various family papers, correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia of the Coldstream family.

Maddy Clark
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Collection of William Coldstream (1841-1929), Mss Eur F590- a paper catalogue of the contents is available to consult in the Asian and African Reading Room.

On 30 December 1776 the Sherborne Mercury carried an advertisement for ‘a proper New-Years Gift for every Maid Servant’.  Employers were encouraged to buy Madam Johnson’s Present: Or, Every Young Woman’s Companion, in useful and universal Knowledge.

Advert for Madam Johnson's Present - Sherborne Mercury 30 December 1776 (British Newspaper Archive)

Madam Johnson’s Present was first published in 1753 and had reached its seventh edition by 1776.  The compiler kept the price low ‘out of her benevolence’ (1s 6d in 1776), and the book was said to contain twice as many pages as were usually sold for that amount.

Contents page for the fourth edition of Madam Johnson's Present 1770

The companion claimed to be the ‘Completest Book of the Kind ever published’.  It opened with a preface reflecting on the duties of servants, who should ‘take into their serious Consideration that low State of Life in which Providence has placed them, and the several little menial Offices, which they must, and ought without Reluctance, to perform’.  Servants should be grateful to their superiors who employed them, and be ‘very Industrious, Faithful, and Honest in every Trust reposed in them’.

Madam Johnson's Present - the duties of servants

This was followed by a ten-page ‘Short Dissertation on the Benefits of Learning, and a well-directed Female Education’.

Then came these sections:
• Spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic – this covered the alphabet; diphthongs and triphthongs; syllables; punctuation; writing with a pen; sample letters on different subjects; addition; subtraction; multiplication; division; time; measures for wine, beer, ale, dry goods, cloth and land; weights.

Madam Johnson's Present - 'The Young Woman's Guide to the Knowledge of her Mother Tongue'

• ‘The Compleat Market Woman' - instructions for ‘the judicious choice of all kinds of provisions’ including meat, poultry and game; butter, cheese and eggs; fish and seafood.

• A cook’s guide to ‘dressing’ provisions – roasting, boiling, and frying; cooking vegetables, with a warning about over-boiling greens which destroys their beauty and sweetness.

Madam Johnson's Present - instructions about greens

• A cook’s guide to pickling and potting, pastry and confectionery - making puddings, pies, tarts, gravies, soups (including egg soup), and sausages; baking cakes, gingerbread, macaroons, buns, and wigs (a type of teacake); making cheesecakes, creams, jellies, and syllabubs.

Madam Johnson's Present - how to make an egg soup

• An estimate of the expenditure of a family on the middling station of life – man, wife, four children, and one maidservant.

Madam Johnson's Present - An estimate of the expenditure of a family on the middling station of life – man, wife, four children, and one maidservant.

• The Art and Terms of Carving Fish, Fowl, and Flesh e.g. ‘Disfigure that Peacock’, ‘Splat that Pike’.

Madam Johnson's Present - terms for carving meat poultry game and fish

• A bill of fare for every month of the year for dinner, supper, and special occasions.
• An instructor for the correct spelling of words used in marketing, cookery, pickling, preserving etc.
• Plain and necessary general directions to maidservants - practical advice for the daily duties of housemaids, kitchenmaids, laundrymaids, and chambermaids, instructions on how to kill rats, bugs, and fleas, and clear flies and gnats; how to protect poultry from foxes and weasels; and a remedy for toothache and and ‘Scurvey in the Gums’ which involved a butcher’s skewer and gunpowder.

Madam Johnson's Present - treatment for toothache and scurvy in the gums

• Useful tables of information, including one for the most ‘familiar’ names of men and women. I was not expecting some of those listed for men – Sigismund, Caesar, Dunstan, Urban.

Madam Johnson's Present - most familiar names of men and women

Happy New Year! Time to celebrate with a bowl of egg soup and a wig.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

On 27 December 1833 the Morning Post reported a spate of thefts in London.  Thieves had been targeting food being delivered for Christmas dinners – joints of meat, fish, turkeys, hares and pheasants.

Butcher's boy from London Characters drawn by Horace William Petherick, Image courtesy of Bishopsgate Institute.

These ‘market scamps’ noted houses had taken in a delivery and then, with a tray on their shoulder, knocked at the door.  They told the servant that an inferior cut had been left in error and that they would substitute the correct sort in a few minutes.  The servant, glad that the mistake had been detected, nearly always handed over the meat.  The thieves then quickly sold it to a new customer.

A family in Bishopsgate Street had been robbed of turkey and a piece of beef by a man looking like a butcher.  One man, who had pawned his watch to give his children an extra treat on Christmas Day, had the joint stolen and so had to make do with a couple of sheep’s heads.

However, Mr Willoughby of Bishopsgate Street had read about the scam in the newspapers.  When a man knocked at his door and told his servant that the wrong beef had been delivered, Willoughby seized him and handed him over to a law officer.

The prisoner gave his name as James Smith.  He was remanded in custody so that those who had been robbed of their Christmas dinners could come to ’look at him’.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further Reading:
British Newspaper Archive – also available via Findmypast

Enjoy puzzles?  Try researching women hand bookbinders in the early 1900s!  ‘Lady binders’ was a hot topic in newspapers, but they tended to work for a restricted period, their careers cut short by various events including marriage (which usually involved a change of surname) and the social and economic upheavals of the First World War.

In careers articles and exhibition reviews, women binders are often referred to as ‘Miss’ plus surname.  Miss M. Marshall, the binder of Library’s newly acquired copy of William Morris's Poems (1908) has proved difficult to research, but we can reveal her identity.

Gold tooled green goatskin binding by M. Marshall on William Morris, Poems, 1908 (shelf mark to be assigned).

In an electoral register for London’s Holborn 1907-1908, a Maud Marshall is shown as joint occupier of a shop at 6 Denmark Street with Edith Gedye, who was a bookbinder.  Maud’s residential address is given as 18 Blomfield Street, Paddington. Through this address, Maud Marshall the bookbinder can be linked to her siblings Mary Crawford Marshall and Angus McPherson Marshall who were living there at the time of the 1911 census.  Mary was born in Yokohama, Japan.  In 1911, bookbinder Maud Marshall was living in Claygate, Surrey, and her place of birth was Japan.

Emily Maud Marshall was born on 12 January 1869 in Yokohama, the daughter of merchant William Marshall and his wife Clementina Strachan née McLean.  Her father died suddenly at Yokohama on 4 September 1873 and the family returned to England.  Clementina died in 1900.

Based in London during the first decade of the 20th century, Maud Marshall worked as a bookbinder in collaboration with Edith Gedye.  Their binding styles were influenced by William Morris and T. J. Cobden-Sanderson's Arts and Crafts movement (as were many contemporary hand binders) but it is not known who taught them.  The pair exhibited their bindings at Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society shows in 1903 and 1906.  From 1904 to 1907, the book seller Bain helped them sell their work.  Newspaper articles indicate that they submitted their bindings to many amateur and professional competitions, and they regularly received first prizes, certificates and honorable mentions.

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society - catalogue of the seventh exhibition, the New Gallery, 121 Regent St. 1903. Images from Internet Archive. Digitised book from the collections of the Archive of Art and Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, uploaded by V&A staff.

Maud Marshall contributed a piece on bookbinding to The Fingerpost. A guide to the professions and occupations of educated women first published in 1906.  She wrote: ‘Of the many careers opened of late years to women, bookbinding is perhaps the one most attractive in point of interest, combining as it does physical, mental and artistic effort.  Whether it is a lucrative career must depend entirely upon the individual’.

A career in artistic bookbinding could certainly be an uphill struggle for women, as emphasised in this article from The Queen.

The Queen 28 May 1910 p.42 British Newspaper Archive

Gedye and Marshall offered lessons in bookbinding.  This not only provided an increased income stream for the business but also gave experience to those not otherwise able to learn the craft (notably women who were not usually eligible for apprenticeships).  They also devised a way of obtaining patronage from country house owners by offering to bind together family correspondence and supplying albums to be used for visitors’ books.

Country Life 19 December 1903 lxiv British Newspaper Archive

In 1910 the pair begun to work independently, with Edith moving to Bristol.  Maud continued to rent business premises in London, but in the 1921 census she is listed in Ware, Hertfordshire, ‘not occupied for a living’.  She died in Aldingbourne, Sussex, on 25 March 1940.

Lower turn-in with signature of M. Marshall.

P J M Marks, Curator, Bookbindings
Margaret Makepeace, Lead Curator East India Company Records

Further reading:
Marianne Tidcombe, Women Bookbinders 1880-1920, 1996
The Fingerpost: A Guide to the Professions and Occupations of Educated Women, with Information as to Necessary Training (London: Central Employment Bureau for Women and Students, 1906.)
See also British Library C.188.a.412. In an early twentieth century English brown goat skin binding tooled in gold and onlaid. Signed: M & G 1905 [i.e. Miss Marshall and Edith J. Gedye]
British Newspaper Archive

Samuel Hough first appears in the records of the East India Company as Master Attendant of Marine at Bombay in the 1730s.  The Marine fleet guarded British shipping on the west coast of India mainly from attack by local pirates but also from other nations at time of war.  His position gave him standing in the community and he must have been a brave officer, as shown by an event in 1748 when he was in command of the Bombay, at anchor at Rajapore.  Some of his crew had been impressed, but on 1 March the remainder mutinied and broke open the arms-chest.  Hough managed to reason with the men, promising safe passage back to England at the first opportunity and after seven hours he took back control.  His promise was honoured by the Government who needed crew to man ships on the return to England at this time of war with France.

An aquatint of a view of Bombay Harbour from the pier up to the Bunder Battery including part of the fort or Citadel. From James Wales, Bombay Views: Twelve Views Of The Island Of Bombay And Its Vicinity Taken In The Years 1791 And 1792. British Library shelfmark X 436. Images Online

Shortly after this, on 19 May 1748, Captain Samuel Hough married Mrs Judith Sclater, a widow with two small daughters.  They had two more daughters (Louisa and Ann) before Judith died in January 1752.  At the end of that year Samuel took all four little girls back to England on the Streatham, disembarking on 7 June 1753.

On 16 March 1754 Samuel Hough married Martha Crichton at St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury.  She came from a family well established in the East India Company and within a few weeks she sailed off to Bombay.  Her husband captained their voyage on the Hardwicke which was to remain in Bombay as part of the Marine.

They had been joined on the Streatham by Laurence Sulivan and his family, also returning home.  The two men had been friends and business associates and this arrangement continued to their mutual advantage. Back in Bombay Hough acted as an agent holding powers of attorney on behalf of his clients and could provide ways of remitting Indian funds through confidants among his fellow captains, to be deposited with Sulivan in London, on their behalf.

Appointment of Samuel Hough as Superintendent of the Bombay Marine - IOR/E/4/996 p.69 General Letter from Court of Directors to Bombay 5 April 1754

Samuel Hough was appointed Superintendent of the Bombay Marine, the highest ranking officer below the Council members.  It is clear he was greatly respected and his opinion was valued by the Council.  By 1759 he had become one of the Council members but he returned to England on the Harcourt, arriving back on 18 May 1761.  By this time his family had grown - Louisa and Ann were joined by a baby brother William and a sister Elizabeth.

Entry from the journal of the ship Streatham Wednesday 29 November 1752 - IOR/L/MAR/B/605H

Back in London Hough continued his involvement with the East India Company by investing in and managing ships.  He was the second signature on the charterparty agreements for five ships in the 1761/2 season with four more voyages for 1762/3.

Samuel died on 5 September 1764 at Bath.  In his will he left bequests to his three daughters and his son William but also named a ‘natural son Samuel Hough, now a mate on the Latham Indiaman’.  Samuel junior went on to become a sea captain with the East India Company, married in September 1777 but died a year later.

CC-BY
Georgina Green
Independent researcher

Creative Commons Attribution licence

In October I had the pleasure of attending the Connecting Threads: Fashioning Madras in India and the Caribbean Symposium at the V&A Museum.  This event focused on exploring the cultural and textile history of 18th-century Madras textiles, their production in South India, and their interwoven link with the Caribbean.

Madras Handkerchief made by Sooboo Chetty, c.1855. V&A, 4968(IS)

The Connecting Threads project is a collaboration among various specialists, aiming to amplify the voices and contributions of Indian weavers and African Caribbean consumers who have adopted Madras as part of their heritage, shifting the narrative away from colonial and Western markets.  The project’s accompanying website, Connecting Threads, supports this initiative.  With born-digital scholarship, the project aims to democratise research, reach a wider audience, and address Open Access data issues by making their resources freely available globally.  They also hope to influence the development of AI knowledge about Madras textiles, promoting a less Eurocentric view of its visual history.

The Programme
The programme featured 14 speakers from various backgrounds and specialisms, including curators, professors, historians, craftspeople, artists, and business owners.  Throughout the day, we viewed microscope-enhanced images of 18th-century and modern Madras handkerchiefs, analysed by the research team and a Chennai master weaver.  There were lectures on their production and how different caste groups, sexes, and religions may have worn them.  For example, Muslim groups were noted in inscriptions from 1538 for their specific weaving techniques (source: Uthra Rajagopal, scholar and curator).  There was some discussion into trade by the English East India Company and other European traders, and the appropriation of designs to be reproduced in Britain.

A Company painting titled ‘A Weaver and his wife’, c.1800. V&A, AL.8940N

Caribbean experts and scholars gave excellent talks and demonstrations on the trade and cultural use of Madras, particularly by enslaved or low-income groups.  The usage is complex, but the talks generally emphasized Madras’s positive context—its power in Caribbean island identity and, amusingly, the historical use of head wraps as flirtatious signifiers of availability.

Exquisite handmade dolls were displayed to the attendees, a real example of the integrated nature of Madras in Caribbean culture.  These dolls, currently held at the Bristol Museum, were made in the 1780s by Rebecca Ahmuty Snagg, a domestic enslaved woman in Grenada who died a free woman.  They were likely crafted for the children of the family that bought Rebecca, and they feature Madras head coverings, emulating the real-life articles worn by black Caribbean women at the time.

One of three of the Rebecca Ahmuty Snagg dolls, currently held at the Bristol Museum Collections - photograph by author

The conference was an insightful addition in the ongoing initiative to decolonise and diversify our collections.  This line of research is gaining momentum, with frequent discussions at the British Library on how to rethink our catalogues to promote a more diverse and inclusive narrative.

Maddy Clark
India Office Records

Further information about the Connecting Threads project can be found on their resource website and the V&A website.
Connecting Threads
Connecting Threads: Fashioning Madras in India and the Caribbean