|
|
The Baker Timeline 1505 to the present day
|
|
|
The home page of the Farndale family website of which this section is a part |
The Home page of the Baker family part of the website |
The Baker Family directory |
Notes on the Baker family history |
The Baker Family Tree, which is the best way to search the family history |
The colour code
key to this page will help to navigate:
Dates
in red.
Royal
history in Blue.
Key National Events in Orange.
Local
history impacting on Baker history in purple.
Baker family history in green.
This timeline is
a chronological history of the
Bakers of Highfields as well as the Bakers of Fenton
and Hasfield. It also includes the relevant
history of the Dod family,
particularly relative to Highfields. It also touches on the Bellyse family, insofar as
relevant to the Bakers of Highfields.
1505
William
Dod of Lostford, the son of John Dod of Cloverley Hall (an estate the family had owned since the early
fifteenth century) was born in about 1505.
1508-1509
Henry
VIII, 1509-1547
1519
Ferdinand
Magellan began his circumnavigation of the world.
1523
The
Great Subsidy on all individuals over 16 years old. A long list of taxpayers were included in the returns.
1530
The
estimated date of the birth of John Baker (BAK0009).
William Dod of Lostford
married Anne Chester, daughter of Hugh Chester of Newstrete
Lane, Salop.
1536
The
Dissolution of the monasteries 1536 to 1539
1537
The
foundation of the Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest regiment in the
British Army.
1539
John Leland’s journey through
England and Wales published in the 5 volume The Itinerary.
1540
The
Statute of Wills permitted freehold land to be bequeathed.
1545
The
Mary Rose sank.
Edward
VI, 1547-1553
The
Vagabonds Act allowed the branding and enslavement of beggars deemed capable of
work.
1548
The
Book of Common Prayer introduced a new liturgy.
1549
Kett’s
rebellion in Norfolk against enclosure of land.
1550
The estimated date of the birth of William Baker (BAK00010)
in Ryton upon Dunsmore on the outskirts of modern Coventry.
1553
The first mention of the “pasture or close of the
Highefelds” is in a deed, still at Highfields, dated 1 October 1553. The owner
was Hugh Chester of Newstrete Lane, Salop and the
land was some 500 acres. He bequeathed the estate, on the death of his wife and
himself to his son in law, William Dod and so William had inherited the
Highefelds pasture from Hugh Chester, his father in law.
No house yet stood there, so a house must have been built about that time.
Lady
Jane Grey 1553 (9 days)
Mary
I (Bloody Mary), 1553-1558
280
Protestants burned at the stake.
Wyatt’s
Rebellion against the marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain.
Elizabeth
I, 1558-1603
The
practical start date for parish records.
1559
The
Act of Uniformity laid the basis for the Protestant Church in England.
1568
William
Dod of Lostford’s son, William Dod described himself
as ‘of Highfields’ by 1568.
1570
The growth of Presbyterianism.
1579
Christopher
Saxton’s country maps of England and Wales.
1581
Recusancy
(not attending Anglican services, especially by Catholics) became a criminal
offence.
John
Baker (BAK0009) was buried at St Nicholas, Warwick
on 25 February 1581.
William
Baker (BAK00010) was a mercer, a trader in
textiles.
During
the fifteenth century mercers had grown their fortunes and instead of mere
merchants were regarded as of higher status and often held influential
positions such as aldermen and mayors. There was a flourishing overseas trade.
However in the sixteenth century there was something of a decline in the trade
and growing rivalry with the Worshipful Company of Mercers.
Sampson Baker the Elder (BAK00017)
was baptised on 29 November 1581 at Holy Trinity,
Coventry.
1586
William
Camden’s Britannia was the first
topographical survey of England.
1588
The
Spanish Armada, 1588.
1595
The
Nine Years War began in Ireland against England.
1600
The
East India Company began to trade in the Far East.
Population
reached 4.8 million.
1600
Elizabeth
I, 1558-1603
The
East India Company began to trade in the Far East.
Population
reached 4.8 million.
1601
The Poor Law placed legal obligation on parishes to
care for those unable to work. Three classes were introduced – the able bodied
poor who were offered work in houses of correction; the impotent; and
persistent idlers.
1603
The
Stuart Line, 1603-1714
James I, 1603-1625
Bubonic plague outbreak in London.
Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England (though the
nations remained separate with their own parliaments).
1605
The Gunpowder Plot: A plot in which Guy Fawkes and other Catholic associates conspired to blow up King James VI and I and the Parliament of England was
uncovered.
Adoption of the Union Flag for Great Britain.
Sampson Baker the Elder (BAK00017)
married Millicent Gooddale in
Market Bosworth, near Nuneaton.
1607
14 May 1607 - Jamestown was founded in the Virginia Colony and was the
first permanent English colony in the Americas.
1610
William Camden’s Britannia, the
first county buy county survey of Britain.
1611
John Speed’s The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain
included the first set of county maps of England and Wales.
The publication of the King James Bible.
1614
Sampson Baker the Younger (BAK00034)
was baptised on 16 October 1814 at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire,
near Nuneaton, just north of Coventry.
1615
William Baker (BAK00010) died at Coventry and was buried on 11
November 1615 at Holy Trinity, Coventry.
1616
William Shakespeare died.
There is a Jacobean chimney piece in the south wing of
Highfields dated 1615, with the initials of the third William Dod of Highfields
(1577 to 1647) and the date 1615 appears over the front door at Highfields, but
the house is reputed to date from about 1585. Perhaps the main structure of the
house was not built until the early seventeenth century.
The original house consisted of two three storied wings
joined by the hall the roof of which ran at right angles to the gables, forming
the well known ‘H’ shape of the period.
1618
The Company of Adventurers of London Trading with ports
in Africa.
The Thirty Years War 1618-1648
1620
The Pilgrim Fathers sailed for America on the Mayflower
to establish Plymouth Colony.
Charles
I, 1625-1649
1630
Population reached 5.6 million.
Public stagecoaches began to operate within a radius of
about 30 miles of London.
1638
Sampson Baker the Elder (BAK00017) was a Woolman
of Baxterley, Warwickshire.
1640
The Long Parliament.
1641
The Protestation Oath required adult males to declare allegiance to the King, Parliament and the Protestant religion. About a third of the returns survive.
On 9 October 1641 Sampson Baker the Younger (BAK00034) married Esther Martin at St Michael, Lichfield, Staffordshire. He was a merchant in Norwich and London.
1642
English Civil War (1642–1651)
During the Civil War support was divided in the Audlem
area, but the Dod family of Highfields appear to have sided with the Royalists.
William Dod (1577 to 1655) was appointed to be one of the principal collectors
of a subsidy for Charles I and persons whose lands or goods exceeded £1 in
value were assessed to pay 8s in the pound.
Oxford became the Royalist base.
The Battle of Edgehill which was inconclusive.
All theatres closed to prevent public disorder.
Military
activity around Audlem was largely confined to passage through the village. In
May 1642 Prince Rupert, Charles I’s nephew, the third son of Frederick V of
Bohemia and James I’s daughter Elzabeth, marched with his army from Shrewsbury
to relieve Stockport, just before the Battle of Marston Moor.
The army camped between Market Drayton and Buerton
and a number of officers were billeted at local houses
including Bellaport Hall. It is claimed that Prince
Rupert himself spent the night at Highfields, and his army camped in the fields
round about.
1643
Marchamont Nedham and Mercurius Britanicus.
1644
Royalists defeated by Parliamentary troops at the
Battle of Marston Moor.
1645
The Battle of Naseby and the Battle of Langport. The
last Royalist field army was decimated.
1647
The
London Corporation established to build workhouse.
Marchamont Nedham and Mercurius Pragmaticus
(royalist)
Sampson
Baker (BAK00017)
the Elder died and his will was proved on 14 October
1647 by his sons William and Thomas Baker.
1649
January 1649 - Trial and execution of Charles I.
The
Commonwealth, 1649-1653
1651
The Battle of Worcester ended the English Civil War.
1652
The First Anglo-Dutch War, fought mostly at sea.
1653
The
Protectorate, 1653-1660
Marchamont Nedham and Mercurius Poliuticus
(platform for the Commonwealth regime)
1655
British captured Jamaica from the Spanish.
1659
Sampson Baker the Younger (BAK00034) was a surgeon
living at Ratcliff, London on 16 October 1659.
1660
Charles
II, 1660-1685
The Royal Society founded to promote discussion about
scientific subjects.
The start of Samuel Pepys’ diary.
The Tenures Abolition Act ended feudalism.
A poll tax levied on all men and women over 16 years
old annually (until 1697).
The first regular standing army established.
The English Navy became the Royal Navy.
1662
The Quaker Act made it illegal to refuse to take the
oath of allegiance.
The Settlement Laws made it easier to evict newcomers
if a complaint was made within 40 Days of their arrival. This reduced the
mobility of the poorer classes and discouraged the search for work elsewhere.
Limits to rights to claim poor relief.
The Book of Common Prayer included a prohibited
marriage list.
The Hearth Tax – a shilling to be paid twice a year for
every hearth or stove in all domestic buildings. From 1663, hearths were
listed.
1663
The first turnpike road was authorised for a section of
the Great North Road.
1664
The Conventicle Act forbade religious meetings of more
than 5 people to discourage on conformity.
The Second Anglo Dutch War, 1664 to 1667.
Impressment into the navy was officially authorised.
1665
The Oxford Gazette (later the London Gazette).
The Great Plague in London killed over 60,000.
William Dod’s sons did not
long outlive him and Highfields passed to his
grandson, George Dod II, a barrister at law.
1666
Great Fire of London, 1666
On 20 April 1666, Sampson Baker the Younger (BAK00034) was a surgeon, living at White
Horse Street, London.
The Burial in Wool Act required woollen shrouds to be
used.
1667
The earliest ships’ muster books.
John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
1670
The population reached 5.7 million.
Sampson
Baker the Younger (BAK00034) died and his
will was proved on 27 June 1670 at Stepney. Administration of the estate was
given to Jn Hubbucke, guardian during the minority of William Baker, his son.
John
Baker (BAK00050) married
Margaret Claiton or Leighton.
In
the late seventeenth century staircases with twisted balustrades were installed
at Highfields by the Dod family and there may have been a
number of developments to the house at this time.
1671
Establishment of a Board of Customs.
1672 to
1674
The Third Anglo Dutch War – the army was increased to
10,000.
1675
John Ogilby’s Britannia Illustrata
included 100 strip maps of roads in England and Wales.
1676
John Baker (BAK00050) was
a wine cooper at Ratcliff, London.
Richard Baker (BAK00060) was baptised at St Dunstan,
Stepney, Middlesex on 28 May 1676.
1680
Headstones began to be widely used to mark a place of
burial.
The Great Comet first identified by telescope.
George Dod II of Highfields married Charity Woodroffe,
the niece of Sir George Woodroffe of Alvington Court,
Gloucestershire. They had seven boys and ten girls.
1682
The first settlers arrived in Pennsylvania.
Travels of Celia Fienes provide detailed information on certain
English towns.
1683
The Great Frost – a frost fair held on the Thames.
James
II, 1685-1689
1685
The Bloody Assizes in the south west.
John Baker (BAK00050) died and was
buried on or about 26 October 1685 at St Bride’s, London.
1687
The Settlement Act of 1662 amended so that it was
necessary to establish settlement by occupying property valued at over £10 per
annum for more than 40 days.
1688
The Glorious Revolution.
1689
William
III and Mary, 1689-1702
Legislation to encourage the consumption of gin rather
than French brandy.
1690
The Battle of the Boyne.
1692
The Massacre at Glencoe.
The Royal Hospital at Chelsea was established.
1694
The Bank of England founded by Royal Charter.
1695 to
1699
Large scale emigration from Scotland following famine.
Many settled in Ireland.
1696
County Sheriffs were required to compile poll books of
voters.
A Window Tax replaced the Hearth Tax and led to
widespread bricking up of windows.
1697
Paupers were required to wear badges.
Waymarkers were inscribed on roads.
1698
Richard Baker (BAK00060) married
Mary Smith at St Bride, Fleet Street, London on 9 October 1698. His son later
recorded “he married Mary Smith and both she and my father were born in
London, as was myself, in St Bride’s parish.”
1699
The first slave ship sailed from Liverpool.
The Standing Army was limited to 7,000 ‘native born’
men.
On 6 August 1699 Richard Baker (BAK00060) was a gilder and lived at
King’s Road Court, London.
1701
The population reached 6 million.
1702
Queen Anne, 1702-1714
First daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, published in Fleet
Street – it later merged with the Daily Gazetteer.
On 20 February 1702 Richard
Baker (BAK00060) was a button maker in Dorset.
1704
Marlborough's victory at the Battle of Blenheim, 1704
A Deeds Registry was established in Wakefield containing
over a million records of property ownership, followed by records in the East
Riding in 1708 and North Riding in 1735.
1705
On 14 September 1705 Richard Baker (BAK00060) may have been
a surgeon, although this would seem to contradict the other evidence. On 26
December 1705 he lived at Leominster, Herefordshire.
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) was born at
St Bride, Fleet Street, London on 14 October 1705. William later wrote that his
father “married Mary Smith and both she and my father were born in London, as
was myself, in St Bride’s parish.”
1707
The Act of Union established the Kingdom of Great
Britain.
1708
The earliest artillery muster rolls.
The coldest winter for centuries.
George Dod III of Highfields,
barrister of law, married his second cousin, Jane, daughter of John Gouldsmyth, barrister of law of Stapely
Manor, Cheshire
1709
Poor harvests across Europe led to bread riots in
Britain.
1712
Thomas Newcomen’s steam driven piston engine provided
efficient pumping of mines.
1713
The Treaty of Utrecht – Spain ceded Gibraltar and
France ceded Newfoundland to Britain.
George Dod III of Highfields died before his father
George the Elder who died in 1727.
1714
The
House of Hanover
George
I, 1714-1727
1715
Jacobite Rebellion of Fifteen, 1715
1718
The first factory opened in Derby, producing silk.
1720
The South Sea Bubble, 1720.
1723
The Black Act added 50 capital offences to the penal
code including some forms of poaching.
Knatchbull’s Act enabled workhouses in parishes.
1724
Daniel Defoe’s A Tour through the whole island of
Great Britain.
1727
George
II, 1727-1760
George
II was born in Hanover the son of George I and Sophia of Celle. He married
Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1705.
George Dod II of Highfields died in 1727.
Highfields passed to Jane Dod of Highfields, the only
surviving daughter of George Dod III who had died in 1713, and so she inherited
Highfields on the death of her grandfather in 1727
1728
Vitus Johanssen Bering reached Alaska.
1729
The first parliamentary acts to curb the consumption of
gin.
Charles Wesley
founded the Methodists at Lincoln College Oxford. See also the Journal of John Wesley.
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) married
Eliza Eykyn (born 1707), the eldest daughter of James
Eykyn of Ackleton, Worfield, Shropshire on 5 July 1729 at Blymhill,
Staffordshire. They had two children who both died young and Eliza died perhaps
in 1731.
1730
The first seaside towns appeared in Brighton and
Margate.
Charles ‘Turnip’ Townsend promoted crop rotation.
1732
Unmarried mothers were expected to name the father of
their child under oath during a Bastardy Examination.
1733
Latin was replaced by English in public records.
The invention of the flying shuttle revolutionised
weaving.
1734
Jethro Tull published essays on improving farming
including the use of the seed drill.
Jethro Tull (1674 – 21 February 1741, New Style) was an
English agricultural pioneer from Berkshire who helped bring about the British
Agricultural Revolution. He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill in 1701 that
economically sowed the seeds in neat rows. He later developed a horse-drawn
hoe. Tull's methods were adopted by many great land owners and helped to
provide the basis for modern agriculture. This revolutionized the future of
agricultural success.
1735
The Hawkhurst smugglers were active across south east
England.
1736
On 21 September 1736 Richard Baker (BAK00060) was a
churchwarden at St James the Great, Audlem.
Richard Baker
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) married
Jane Dod (d 1783), the elder daughter and sole heiress of George Dod,
barrister-at-law, of Highfields, Audlem, Cheshire, on 17 January 1736 at
Bridgnorth.
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068)
acquired Highfields, Audlem, Cheshire after his marriage to Jane Dod in 1736
and his son Richard would inherit Highfields in time. It has been said that he
inherited Highfields in 1744. Jane Dod’s father had died in 1713, and
his grandfather had outlived him and died in 1727. So it might be
supposed that William would have acquired Highfields directly on his marriage
in 1736, but perhaps matters were not formalised until later. William and Jane
moved into Highfields and some alterations were made, including the addition of
a rear wing. He combined his work as an architect and contractor with the life
of a gentleman farmer, and the usual activities of running an estate. His
accounts books 1748 to 1759 provide a picture of the country squire in the
eighteenth century.
William was employed as a joiner and later foreman by
the noted architect, Francis Smith of Warwick.
1738
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) started to
work on projects on his own account after the death of Francis Smith.
Dr John “Cockfighting” Belyse, King of Cheshire’s cock
fighting fraternity, was born in 1738 and lived to be ninety. His home was the
16th century house now known as the Lymes.
1739
The Great Frost in Britain
The War of Jenkins' Ear, with Spain, 1739 to 1740. Britain
went to war with Spain over Captain Jenkins’ ear, claimed to have been cut off
in a skirmish at sea.
Formation of Methodist Societies around London.
Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged at York.
1740
The death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in 1740 led
to the European War of Austrian Succession in which the British and Dutch
supported Marie Theresa’s claim to the Austrian throne against the Prussians
and French. George II personally led his troops at the Battle of Dettingen in
1743, becoming the last British monarch to lead his troops into battle.
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) set
up his own business as architect and surveyor in about 1740. He also acted as a
building contractor.
William Baker had a kiln at Highfields and sold bricks,
payments for which are recorded in his account books with details of numbers
made. In the parish there are a number of Brick Kiln Fields, indicating that
local clay was frequently used for the purpose.
1741
The Foundling Hospital opened in London, with outposts
elsewhere across the country.
1742
Dr
William’s
Library recorded a general register of births of Protestant Dissenters of the
Three Denominations of Baptists, Presbyterians and Independents.
1743
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) had a close relationship with the innovative
Shrewsbury architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard and in 1743 at Ludlow, both
Prichard and Baker put forward plans for the Butter Cross, but it was Baker who
was selected to do the work. It was designed by William Baker and built in 1746
in the classical style. The Buttercross is considered by most Ludlovians to be
the centre of the town. The ground floor was originally a butter market and
today it is still used on market days by traders. The upper rooms have had a
variety of uses, the chamber for the Town Council, a boys’ charity school and
today the Ludlow Museum.
Richard
(“Dick”) Dod Baker (BAK00083) was baptised
at St Mary Magdelene, Bridgnorth on 20 July 1743.
1745
The
Jacobite Rebellion of Forty Five. The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, in which
Charles Edward Stuart (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’) landed in Scotland and marched
with a Highland army into England, was defeated at Culloden in 1746 and
Scottish opposition brutally suppressed by George’s second son Prince William,
Duke of Cumberland.
The
Crown and the Phoenix public houses in Audlem were built by William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) in 1745. Both are said to
have been of a similar design. From 1745 until 1808 it was known as Baker’s
Tenement and was then renamed. The Lamb hotel once bore the distinctive
name Goat’s Head, the crest of the Baker family of Highfields, once owned by
William Baker.
There
is a record of an exchange between John Capper and Joby Buckley at the Crown: A
shoot was held at Highfields, and William Baker asked Joby if he would take a
brace of hares to Mr Cartlich at Woore. On arrival he knocked on the door which
was opened by Mr Cartlich. “Mr Baker’s sent thee these ‘ere ‘ares” Joby
said. “That’s not the way you bring a present from ne gentleman to another”,
was the reply, “you step aside and I’ll show you how it should be done.”
Mr Cartlich knocked and Joby thereupon opened the door. “With Mr Baker’s
compliments and will Mr Cartlich kindly accept these hares.” Joby, quick
thinking and not to be outdone, “Oh yes, come inside and sit yersel down,
‘ave something to eat and drink, and ‘eres two ‘alf crowns for thee”.
William
Baker II of Fenton (BAK00084) was baptised at Bridgnorth on
18 April 1745.
1746
Battle
of Culloden, 1746 - Scots defeated at the Battle of Culloden. Duke of Cumberland,
the King's 2nd son, ruthlessly represses the rebels and Scottish traditions.
In 1746 William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) was paid for the plans and
work at the Royal Shrewsbury Infirmary, but the plans are signed by Thomas
Farnolls Pritchard. It is likely that Pritchard was working under Baker on this
project.
1747
A tax was imposed on all horse drawn carriages.
1748
The survival of his payments book for the years 1748-59
provide evidence of the range and balance of William Baker The
Architect (BAK00068)’s activities. He
had many influential clients. Most of William’s journeys to his clients would
have been made on horseback and he appears to have been an extremely active
man. He sometimes took a somewhat relaxed approach to
balancing his accounts – in 1759 at the end of the year, he simply wrote: “payment
seems overs – done by some mistake” and left it at that. His practice
covered a wide area across the north west Midlands including Cheshire,
Staffordshire, Herefordshire and also Wales. The Biographical Dictionary of
British Architects suggested that William Baker had a significant role in the
development of the Georgian style of architecture.
Between 1748 and 1758 Henry Herbert got William Baker
The Architect (BAK00068) to alter his house at Oakly Park
at Bromfield, just outside Ludlow. Then, between 1748 and 1754, Baker undertook
repairs at Powis Castle, possibly in preparation for Herbert to move in. Also
in 1748, Herbert got William Baker to design and build Montgomery Town Hall.
The new Town Hall was intended to accommodate the Court of Great Sessions when
it met at Montgomery and over which Herbert presided as Custos Rotulorum. At
Bishops Castle Baker submitted designs for a new Town Hall to Herbert in 1745,
but it was slightly later that the Town Hall was built and to modified designs.
Montgomery Town Hall is said to be William Baker’s most
important work, built originally in 1748 to the design of William Baker as a
Market Hall, with a low upper storey above.
William Baker the Architrect
1749
Richard
Baker (BAK00060) died
on 24 May 1749. He was buried at Leominster on 26 May 1749. His son William
later recorded that he was buried “In the covered Isle of Leominster Church
near the row of pillars and about the middle.”
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068)
was High Constable.
The
earliest references to angling at Audlem come from Wiliam Baker’s diary, when
he notes on 7 March 1749 that he “killed one carp out of Brew House field”
and a further entry for 11 May 1750: “from Old Pitt in gate house ground.
Took a carp 2 ft 3 inches.”
1750
The population of Great Britain reached 6.5 million.
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) designed a house at Wood Eaton for the Rev
William Astley, the headmaster of Repton School. William sent his oldest son, Richard (“Dick”) Dod Baker (BAK00083),
to Repton and his fees and board for the first two years were paid by deduction
from what the headmaster owed the architect.
1751
The Army introduced Regimental numbers instead of being
named after the colonel in command and were soon given official titles such as
the “King’s Own”.
1752
Estates forfeited by the Jacobites were bestowed to the
Crown.
14 September 1752, England and Wales adopted the
Gregorian calendar.
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) noted on 5 June 1752: “Died at Raby Castle
Aunt Charity Dod aged 69, she left Chatty (his daughter) £9 and some jewels.”
1753
The Bow Street Runners were appointed to patrol
London’s streets.
The Licensing Act required the recording of full
registers of victuallers, to be kept by the Clerk of the Peace as Quarter
Sessions.
1754
Hardwicke’s Marriage Act required marriages to take
place in the parish where either bride or groom had been born. Parties to a
marriage were required to be 21 years old or have parental consent and marry in
a licensed church.
The first printed Army Lists.
1756
The Seven Years' War against France, 1756-1763
On 18 May 1756 William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) recorded that “warr was proclaimed at London against France.”.
In July 1756 he recorded “Island of Minorca was taken by the French. Admiral
Bing is disgract for running away with 13 men of Warr from 12 French – he is
brough to England and tried & shott to death for his cowardice.”
The Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756
Clive secured Bengal at the Battle of Plassy, India,
1757
The start of privateering from Alderney.
1757
The Militia Act revived county militias. 30,000 men
were raised between 1757 and 1763.
1759
Capture of Quebec by General Wolfe
In October 1759 William Baker The
Architect (BAK00068) recorded that “Port of
Quebec taken”. In November 1759 he recorded that “French fleet beat by
Admiral Hawke.”
1760
The industrial revolution began about here.
Robert Bakewell began pioneering innovative
agricultural practices including the selective breeding of sheep.
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) worked
with Sir John Astley Bt on Patshull. He was on good terms with Sir John who promised him
a legacy in his will. William sometimes supplied the Baronet with chocolate and
his daughter Charity (“Chatty”) Baker (BAK00081) lived at Patshull for a time.
George
III, 1760 - 1820
1761
The Parliamentary Enclosure Acts between 1750 and 1845
legalised the enclosure of landowners’ property, transforming the countryside.
The Bridgewater Canal opened, followed by a period of
canal building.
John Harrison’s chronometer allowed the determination
of longitude at sea.
1762
Records were required to be kept in metropolitan
parishes of parish poor infants.
1763
Mortimer’s Universal Directory listed retail shops in
London.
William Dade, a Yorkshire clergyman, started the practice to keep detailed parish registers, which practice spread.
1764
James Hargreaves’ Spinning Jenny.
Lloyds Register of Shipping.
1766
Hanway’s Act required all pauper children under 6 from
metropolitan parishes to be sent to school in the countryside, separating the
children from their parents.
Mary Baker (BAK00082) married
Captain Edward Thorley of Colchester, of 2nd Queen's Royal (Tangier) Regt. and
commander of the Essex Militia, the son of Rev. Thomas Thorley, Master of
Audlem Grammar School on 28 August 1766 at Audlem.
1767
William
Baker The Architect (BAK00068) purchased
the manor of Fenton Culvert in Staffordshire, with its pottery works, for his
son William Baker II of Fenton (BAK00084) in 1767 together with the pottery
factory. The Bakers also purchased a considerable amount of land
associated with Fenton.
This was a period of technical
development in the manufacture of pottery and the industry was expanding. It
was generally felt to provide a suitable career for the second sons of wealthy
gentlemen farmers. At the time Fenton comprised the two manors of Fenton Vivian
(or Great Fenton) and Fenton Culvert (or Little Fenton).
William
Baker II of Fenton (BAK00084) came to Fenton in 1767. He
married Sarah Bagnall (d. 1833) that year. Sarah was the daughter of Thomas
Bagnall, lord of the Manor of Shelton and the Bagnalls
were a well known local
family, some of who had been mayors at Newcastle under Lyme.
William
became a potter, initially in partnership with his father in
law, as Baker & Bagnall of Fenton, Staffordshire from 1767.
1769
Captain James Cook claimed New Zealand for Britain.
Richard Arkwright patented his water frame.
1770
Captain Cook landed in Botany Bay.
A rise in grain prices saw the potato surpassing bread
as the staple of the working man’s diet.
First water powered mills begin the age of mass
production in factories.
1771
William Baker III of Fenton (BAK00106) was baptised
at Fulford, Staffordshire on 25 November 1771.
1772
The first Navy Lists were published.
Publication of the first Morning Post.
William Baker The Architect (BAK00068) died on 29 November 1771. He was buried at St James
the Great, Audlem.
Charity (“Chatty”) nee Baker,
now Barrow (BAK00081) inherited her
father’s estate at Woodhouse, Audlem. Her husband, Lawrence Barrow, a banker,
having died young, Chatty Barrow had returned to Highfields and managed the estate for her father and later
for her brother while he was away.
Richard Dod Baker (BAK00083) inherited
Highfields but practised as an architect at Stratford upon Avon where his
children were born, so Chatty also managed Highfields for him.
Chatty Barrow had as reputation as a
forceful lady, and later became known in Audlem as “Madam Barrow”.
1773
The Boston Tea Party, 1773
Captain Cook reached Antarctica.
1774
The Madhouse Act required all ‘madhouses’ to be
licensed, and aimed to counter abuses including imprisonment of rejected
spouses. The Act remained in force until 1959.
1775
Watt’s steam engine was patented.
The American War of Independence, 1775-1783
1776
The Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776
An Act which allowed decommissioned ships to be used as
prison hulks.
1777
A tax was imposed on male servants.
1778
James Cook and George Vancouver were the first
Europeans to reach British Columbia.
Louis XVI of France declared war on Britain.
1780
Methodist registers began.
The Gordon Riots in London protested against the Catholic
Relief Act.
1782
Gilbert’s Act allowed parishes to form unions to
maintain workhouses for the elderly and infirm.
1783
The Stamp Duty Act introduced tax on baptisms, marriage
and burials (not paupers).
The volcano Laki erupted in Iceland which had
catastrophic effects on European weather and caused many deaths.
The Treaty of Paris created the United States.
After his mother died in 1783,
Richard Dod Baker (BAK00083) moved to Highfields, and he was probably responsible for
the modernisation of the house which took place around that time. It is thought
that Richard had the central doorway at the entrance front and the panelling in
the hall installed.
1784
The invention of the threshing machine.
The first mail coaches were introduced.
A Game Tax was levied on all qualified to kill or sell
game.
Taxes introduced on owners of hoses used for transport
or racing.
William Pitt was Prime Minister, 1784-1801
William Baker II of Fenton (BAK00084) died on 25 November 1784. His son
was only aged thirteen years old. His widow, Sarah nee Bagnall Baker later remarried on 21
December 1793 to Ralph Bourne (d. 1835) of Hilderstone
Hall, Staffordshire, with whom she had a further family.
Ralph
Borne was a man of consequence, who was also a Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice
of the Peace, who lived at Hilderstone Hall. Ralph’s
father, James Bourne had come to the area to join the pottery industry. Ralph
Bourne was a potter and a philanthropist. Ralph became partners with his step son, the third William Baker and they traded as Bourne
and Baker. The business made staple products and exported them on a
considerable scale. It was later said that unglazed clayware
was exported to Africa. The business flourished and by 1829, they had expanded
to a second factory and acquired a flint mill. A History of Stoke on Trent by
Ward referred to very extensive earthenware manufactories, which for many years
were carried on by the firm of Bourne, Baker and Bourne (Ralph’s brother John
had also joined the business) and raised the proprietors to the first rank
among the preeminent and opulent potters who flourished during the by-gone
portion of the [nineteenth] century.
William Baker III of Fenton (BAK00106) with his step
father, Ralph Bourne, built themselves
houses near to the new factories. Simeon Shaw in Staffordshire Potteries
refers to them as spacious mansions which were square houses with hipped roofs.
“Mr Baker’s was spacious and commodious surrounded with gardens and pleasure
grounds and enjoying a tolerably extensive prospect.” It became known as Fenton
House and continued to be occupied by the family until the end of the
nineteenth century. The house still existed in 1960, but
has since been demolished.
1785
First edition of The Times.
A tax was imposed on female servants.
1787
William Baker (alias Hassall) the Elder (BAK00102), who would be
the oldest surviving son and therefore inherit Highfields, was baptised on 17
January 1789. His mother’s surname was Hassall.
1788
A penal colony was established in Botany Bay in
Australia.
1789
The French Revolution began.
1790
The invention of a new surfacing treatment for roads by
John McAdam.
1791
Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man was
published.
The Canada Act divided Canada into Upper and Lower
Canada.
The Universal British Dictionary
in 5 large volumes gave details of counties, schools and other facilities.
1792
The first Regency Crisis
1793
War with the French Republic, 1793-1797
The Friendly Societies Act.
1794
William Baker III of Fenton (BAK00106) a
potter, married Molly Bourne (born 1773), the youngest sister of his
stepfather, on 12 October 1794. They had ten children.
1795
The Speenhamland system for poor relief was introduced offering
financial assistance linked to the price of bread, but this effected the south
of England.
The Quota Acts forced counties to supplement
recruitment to the Royal Navy.
Food riots and widespread famine in England following
poor harvests and high prices caused by the war with France.
1796
Chaplains’ Returns recorded baptisms, marriages and
burials overseas.
Edward Jenner’s first vaccination against smallpox.
The Retreat near York opened, offering a more humane
approach to the treatment of persons with mental illness.
The Supplementary Militia Act raised an additional
64,000 men, by ballot, to serve in the war against France.
The Army began to record deaths of serving personnel.
1798
Introduction of income tax.
First War with Napoleon Bonaparte, 1798-1802
Battle of the Nile, 1798
Thomas Malthus’ An Essay on the Principle of
Population.
William Baker III of Fenton (BAK00106) was
appointed to be a Deputy Lord Lieutenant and JP and in 1798, he joined the
Staffordshire Volunteer Cavalry. The unit had been formed by Josiah Spode when
Napoleon threatened to invade Britain, and William was a Cornet, or fifth
commissioned officer.
1800
Pitt's Bill for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland
into the United Kingdom.
William Baker IV of Fenton
and Hasfield Court (BAK00301)
was baptised at St Peter Ad Vincula, Stoke on Trent on
2 February 1800.
1801
United Kingdom population was 16.3 million.
Richard Dod Baker (BAK00100),
born in 1784 entered Brasenose College, Oxford and matriculated in October
1801.
Brasenose
College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford. The history of
Brasenose College, Oxford stretches back to 1509, when the college was founded
on the site of Brasenose Hall, a medieval academic hall whose name is first
mentioned in 1279. Its name is believed to derive from the name of a brass or
bronze knocker that adorned the hall's door. The library and chapel were added
in the mid-17th century. The college was associated with Lancashire and Cheshire,
the county origins of its two founders – Sir Richard Sutton and the Bishop of
Lincoln, William Smyth – a link which was maintained strongly until the latter
half of the twentieth century. After 1785 the college prospered under Principal
William Cleaver. The college began to be populated by gentlemen, its income
doubling between 1790 and 1810, and achieved considerable academic success.
1802
The Health and Morals of Apprentices Act 1802 improved
conditions of apprentices working in cotton mills.
William Baker (alias
Hassall) the Elder (BAK00102)
was admitted to Shrewsbury School.
Ralph Bourne Baker (BAK00302) was baptised
at St Peter Ad Vincula, Stoke on Trent on 31 October 1802.
1803
Richard Dod Baker (BAK00083) was buried
at Audlem on 9 July 1803. He is buried at St George’s at Stratford upon Avon. William Baker (alias Hassall) the Elder (BAK00102) inherited Highfields
1804
The first railway steam locomotive.
Napoleon became Emperor of France.
One sixth of British men served in the army or navy.
The younger Richard
Dod Baker (BAK00100) was
commissioned into the 17th Regiment. He sailed with his Regiment for India in
July 1804 on board the Worcester.
Richard Dod Baker
1805
1805 - the Battle of Trafalgar
In 1805 (it is suggested that this was when celebrating
the Victory of Nelson at Trafalgar, though he would have been 14 then) John
Farndale (FAR00217) fell down a well but was saved by his buckle. But
for that buckle, those Farndales who are descended from John would never have
been born!
1805-1815 - Second War with Napoleon, now Emperor.
1806
A military academy opened at Woolwich for the training
of officers.
Napoleon’s attempted economic blockade of Britain.
The younger Richard
Dod Baker (BAK00100), heir to
Highfields, died on his way home from India on 12 August 1806.
1807
The import and use of slaves in Britain was outlawed,
but continued in the colonies.
1808
1808-1814 - The Peninsular War
The County Asylums Act encouraged the construction of
private asylums for the mentally ill.
Hannah Mary Baker (BAK00101) eloped with
and married Dr John Bellyse (1774-1850) of Dorfold
Cottage, Nantwich, Cheshire, the son of Dr John 'Cockfighting' Bellyse of Woodhouse,
Audlem, on 27 September 1808 at Mucklestone,
Staffordshire. The marriage caused tongues to wag in the district when John
eloped with Hannah from Highfields. Hannah climbed from her bedroom window and they departed for the church by post chaise. They
went no further than was necessary and were married at Mucklestone
Church. The following morning, having read the farewell
letter, it is said that Richard Baker her father, decided that a visit
to the old cockfighter would not go amiss. He found the gentleman reading by
the open window and expressed himself with some force on the
subject of the good doctor’s son. Bellyse waited for a period of silence
before observing “the gander’s as good as the goose, sir” and returned to
his book. The story is no doubt apocryphal, since Richard Dod Baker had in fact
died in 1803, so there must be some factual inaccuracy.
1809
The Battle of Corunna
The Battle of Talavera
1811
Population of the United Kingdom reached 18.5 million.
First Luddite activity, in Nottingham.
William Baker IV of Fenton
and Hasfield Court (BAK00301)
was educated at Manchester Grammar School.
Ralph Bourne Baker later of Fenton and Hasfield Court (BAK00302) was educated
at Rugby and later Trinity College, Cambridge. Ralph appears to have been taken
up by the Bournes.
1812
Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow
The Framebreaking Act imposed the death penalty for Luddites.
Gas lamps became widely used to light streets.
1813
William Baker (alias Hassall) the Elder (BAK00102) seems
to have used his mother's maiden name from time to time, and when he married
Anne Hough (1793 to 1854) at St James the Great, Audlem on 9 August 1813 he was
called William Baker alias Hassall. He is not known to have followed his
father and grandfather into architectural practice or surveying.
1814
James Pigot published national directories comprising
information about professional people, gentry and nobles, clergy, and coach and
carrier services.
1815
The Battle of Waterloo. The names of soldiers are
recorded in medal rolls.
Impressment into the Royal Navy ended.
Mass unemployment followed demobilisation of the army.
First of the Corn Laws helped farmers, but disastrously
impacted upon the poor.
1816
The ‘Year without a Summer’ led to dire harvests.
William Baker the Younger (BAK00121)
was born on 3 September 1816 at Buerton,
Cheshire. He was baptised at Audlem on 5 December 1816.
1817
Maps of most English counties published by the
Greenwood Brothers.
1819
The Peterloo Massacre – 15 dead and several hundred
injured.
George
IV, 1820-1830
1820
The Cato Street Conspiracy was an attempt to
murder all the British cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in
1820. The name comes from the meeting place near Edgware Road in
London. The police had an informer and the plotters fell into a police trap and
13 were arrested, while one policeman was killed. Five conspirators were
executed, and five others were transported to Australia.
How widespread the Cato Street conspiracy was is
uncertain. It was a time of unrest; rumours abounded. Malcolm Chase noted
that, "the London-Irish community and a number of trade societies, notably
shoemakers, were prepared to lend support, while unrest and awareness of a planned
rising were widespread in the industrial north and on Clydeside."
First Europeans settled in New Zealand.
In 1820 there was a visit by the Duke of Wellington to Combermere Abbey for the christening of Combermere’s
son in December 1820. During the visit the entourage went to Audlem where Combermere’s brother was the vicar. Combermere
had been at the Audlem grammar school for a period with William
Baker (alias Hassall) the Elder (BAK00102) and they carried on to
Highfields, bringing the Duke with them. Combermere’s
sister, Hester lived at the vicarage and carved a mantlepiece, commemorating
the occasion and when the vicarage was demolished some years later, the
fireplace was removed and placed in a bedroom at Highfields.
Jane Baker (BAK00103) became the joint
owner with Dr John 'Cockfighting' Bellyse (1738-1828) of Woodhouse, Audlem,
which they purchased in 1820 from the Trustees of Mrs. Barrow's Charity and
sold in 1849 to Lord Kilmorey.
1821
Population of the United Kingdom was 20.9 million.
Michael Faraday invented the electric motor.
The Greek War of Independence attracted people from
Britain including Lord Byron.
1823
The requirement that either bride or groom were to have
been resident in a parish for 4 weeks was reduced to 15 days.
1824
The Ashanti War
Act to repeal the law allowing magistrates to fix wages
of workmen.
Act repealing law preventing workmen seeking work
from travelling to different parts of the country.
Repeal of the Combination Laws (preventing fixing
of wages by 'combinations' or masters and workers) enabled workers to establish
trade unions.
1826
White’s first commercial directory published for Hull
and listing names and addresses.
1827
Greenwood’s Map of London.
The Shepherd’s Calendar,
a poetic account of the cotemporary farming year by John Clare, was published.
Burke and Hare murders in Edinburgh.
1828
Perry’s Bankrupt and Insolvent Gazette published
monthly.
An Act to Regulate the Carrying of Passengers in
Merchant Vessels regulated the safety of emigrants to the colonies.
1829
The first Bobbies appointed by Sir Robert Peel.
Stephenson’s steam locomotive won the Rainhill Trials.
1830
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened.
A significant rise in those emigrating from Britain
following the agricultural depression.
The Plymouth Brethren established in Plymouth.
Rural Rides by William
Cobbett published, a detailed account of the English countryside.
Rev. Ralph Bourne Baker of
Fenton and Hasfield Court (BAK00302)
was Rector of Hilderstone
from 1830 and became rural dean of Stone in 1852 and examining chaplain to the
Bishop of Meath from 1852 to 1872. Unlike his rather taciturn
unmarried brother William Baker IV, Ralph held forth at length and on one
occasion William had to stop him by saying I think you have talked enough.
1830-1837
- William IV
1831
Opening of the first great railway between Liverpool
and Manchester
The Parish Register Abstract collated all parish
records before 1813.
The Royal Geographical Society was formed in London.
Population of the United Kingdom was 24.1 million.
Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of England
provided details on towns and villages in England.
1832
The Third Reform Bill, the "Great Charter of
1832". This brought significant change to the electoral system including
the abolition of ‘rotton boroughs’.
Electoral registers compiled.
1833
The Factory Act 1833 attempted to regulate factory
hours in the textile industry.
The abolition of slavery in British Colonies (780,993
slaves were freed). Canada (as part of the British Empire) became a destination
for American slaves to escape on the “Underground Railroad”.
William Baker III of Fenton (BAK00106) died
in 1833, and his partner, John Bourne, died the same year.
William Baker IV of Fenton and Hasfield
Court (BAK00301) was
a pottery and encaustic tile manufacturer, in partnership with Ralph Bourne and
John Bourne as Bourne, Baker & Bourne at Fenton until it dissolved 1833.
They employed 500 employees. By 1840, William Baker IV was running the business
alone as William Baker & Co.
A History of Stoke on Trent by Ward commented that
these manufactories combine every advantageous arrangement, with millwork and
machinery for the exercise of potters’ operations. It was said that the factory produced an
ordinary class of printed, sponged and pearl-white granite ware, suitable for
the British, North American, West Indian, African and Indian markets. William
was very successful and made a large fortune from pottery. Wedgwood were said to have offered to take him into partnership, but
William declined, saying there was more money to be made in selling chamber
pots to Canada.
1834
The New Poor Law Act led to the construction of over
300 workhouses over the next five years. Outdoor relief forced all paupers into
workhouses. There was considerable opposition particularly in northern England.
1835
The Merchant Shipping Act led to the listing of all
crews.
1836
The Tithe Commutation Act ended the ancient system of
paying tythes in goods. Fixed charges were introduced. Tithe maps were prepared
across the country.
1837
Queen
Victoria, 1837-1901
London’s first railway station (Euston) opened.
Beginning of civil registration of Births, Marriages
and Deaths (“BMD”).
Burke’s Commoners of Great Britain
and Ireland published details of land owners
and holders of high rank outside the nobility.
1838
Chartists’ petitions.
Outbreaks of smallpox.
Samuel Morse demonstrated the telegraph.
The Public Record Office established in Chancery Lane.
William
Baker the Younger (BAK00121) married Prudence Cliffe, the daughter of William Cliffe and
widow of John Baker (1806-37) (BAK00304) of Fenton Culvert,
Staffordshire on 18 June 1838 at St Nicholas, Liverpool, but Prudence died in
1840.
1838-1846
Free
Trade and the repeal of the Corn Law.
1839
The Anti-Corn Law League, formed in Manchester in 1839.
The corn laws were heavy duties levied on imported
corn. The landowners and agriculturalists wished to keep foreign corn out of
the country, by imposing duties on imported corn, so that the price of home
grown corn would be kept up. The Corn Laws however caused suffering among the
poor and crippled trade.
The new Postage Scheme
1839-1841 - First War with China (the “Opium Wars”).
1839-1842 - First Afghan War
The County Police Act allowed voluntary rural forces.
William Baker (alias Hassall) the Elder (BAK00102) was
a JP for Cheshire.
1840
Introduction of the Penny Stamp.
Henry Mayhew described the condition of the poor in
London in articles for the Morning Chronicle.
1841
The first national census to record more detailed
information.
The first excursion by rail organised by Thomas Cook.
Launched by cabinet-maker Thomas Cook in Leicestershire in 1841, the business
originally focused on one-day rail excursions.
Richard Beard opened the first photographic studio in
Regent Street, London.
Population of the United Kingdom was 26.8 million.
1842
First Edition of the Illustrated London News.
Britain gained Hong Kong.
The retreat from Kabul during the First Anglo-Afghan
War.
The Mines Act 1842 outlawed the employment of women and
children under 10 in mines.
1843
The New Zealand Wars
1844
The Companies Act 1844 required the registration of all
companies.
The Factories Act 1844 restricted hours of work for
women and children and required registers to be kept listing child employees.
Friedrich Engels published The Condition of the
Working Classes in England, based on his work in Manchester.
The Railways Act 1844 extended rail travel. 200,000
‘navvies’ were employed to construct new lines across the country.
The Bank Charter Act 1844 allowed only the Bank of
England to issue banknotes in England.
1845
Failure of the potato crop in Ireland, leading to the
famine. Ireland lose 16% of its population between 1845 and 1852.
The General Inclosure Act. An Act to facilitate the
Inclosure and Improvement of Commons and Lands held in common. Enclosure, or
the process that ended traditional rights on common land formerly held in the
open field system and restricted the use of land to the owner, is one of the
causes of the Agricultural Revolution and a key factor behind the labour
migration from rural areas to gradually industrializing cities.
Kelly’s Directories began.
The Lunacy and County Asylum Acts described those with
mental illness as patients and provided for inspection by Masters in Chancery
of asylums. Mentally ill persons in workhouses were moved to asylums.
The first Medical Directory published with names,
addresses ad qualifications of medical practitioners.
1846
There was a very hot summer.
1847
A typhus epidemic killed more the 30,000 people.
The Consolidated General Order regulated life in
workhouses across the country.
1848
The Californian Gold Rush.
Year of Revolutions across Europe.
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels’ The Communist
Manifesto.
Cholera epidemic claimed 52,000 lives.
Public Health Act 1848.
Mary Frances Baker (BAK00307) was born in
Dublin on 21 April 1848.
1849
The first edition of Who’s Who.
First edition of quarterly Notes and Queries.
William Baker the Younger (BAK00121) married
his cousin Henrietta Louisa Bellyse (1830-80), the daughter and heiress in her
issue of Dr. John Bellyse of Dorfold
Cottage, Nantwich, who was a surgeon, at Westminster on 8 February 1849. She
was the granddaughter of Dr John “Cockfighting” Bellyse.
The name Bellyse was passed down through the male line
of the Basker family from this point and the name Louisa was adopted by many
Baker girls.
1850
The first emigrants arrived in New Zealand.
The first census in the United States to name all
household members.
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00151) was born on
17 August 1850 and baptised at Audlem on 17 November 1850.
1851
Population of the United Kingdom was 27.5 million.
The Great Exhibition
The first Canadian census.
The first Religious census was
held on 30 March 1851 recording all places of worship across England, Scotland
and Wales.
William Baker the Younger (BAK00121) was described
as a fund holder in the census.
1852
The Burials Act allowed local authorities to open
cemeteries to relieve the over crowding of churchyards.
George
Baker (BAK00127) was admitted
as a solicitor in 1852; and became a partner in Machin & Baker of Audlem.
He was a clerk to Audlem Petty Sessions.
1853-1856
The
Crimean War
A
London cholera epidemic killed more then 10,000 people.
Records for naval ratings began to give details of
birth, physical appearance, occupation and ships where
served.
Vaccination against smallpox, administered through
workhouses, became compulsory and registers of those vaccinated were kept from
1862.
William Baker IV of Fenton and Hasfield
Court (BAK00301) financed the
building of the Athenaeum in Fenton. It was a ‘nicely Italianate” building and
houses a library, public lecture room and assembly room, also used as a school
room.
1854
The Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead.
William Baker the Younger (BAK00121) built
Kynsal Lodge, Audlem, the architect being William’s
younger brother, Thomas Baker (BAK00128), the third
and last of the Baker architects. William’s family lived at Kynsal until William inherited Highfields, Audlem, from his
father in 1863.
Thomas
built a number of country houses in the area, including Hillside, Green Lane
(later the home of Arthur Baker (BAK00155) and his
family) and the Cedars (later the home of the three rather eccentric sisters,
Poppy (BAK00150), Totty (BAK00157) and Emily (BAK00158) and the
bachelor Richard Dod Baker (BAK00154). The
inhabitants of the Cedars were: Richard Baker, 1892; John Bellyse Baker and the
Misses Baker in 1914; The Mises Baker in 1939 and Arthur Baker lived
at Hillside.
1856
The
Second War with China
The County and Borough Police Act 1856 required the
compulsory establishment of county forces.
William
Baker the Younger (BAK00121) was
Master of Fox Hounds on the Albrighton Hunt.
1857-1858
The Indian Mutiny
1857
The East India Company passed control of India to the
British government (“the Raj”), which lasted from 1858 to 1947.
The Matrimonial Causes Act allowed divorce on grounds
of adultery.
Rev. Ralph Bourne Baker of Fenton and Hasfield Court (BAK00302) married
Frances Crofton Singer, the Bishop of Meath’s daughter.
William Meath Baker of Hasfield
and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) was born on 1
November 1857. He was baptised at Christ Church, Hilderstone,
Staffordshire on 10 January 1858.
1858
The Great Stink in London accelerated the construction
of sewers.
1859
Disraeli's Reform Bill.
Diphtheria epidemic.
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was
published.
Medical registers began to record medical
practitioners.
1860
William Baker (alias Hassall) the Elder (BAK00102) from
a photograph on glass taken about 1860.
Arthur Baker (BAK00155) was baptised
at Audlem on 12 April 1860.
1861
Population of UK was 29 million.
Rev. Ralph Bourne Baker of Fenton and Hasfield Court (BAK00302) by Camille
Silvy, 1 August 1861
1861 to
1865
The American Civil War
The American Civil War led to a blockade of cotton
exports which had a devastating effect on the English textile industry. This
led to riots in 1863.
In Russia, Alexander II emancipated serfs.
1862
The Land Registry Act 1862 led to recording of the conveyance
of land. The system was improved in further Acts in 1875, 1897 and 1925.
The last recorded slaving voyage left from Liverpool.
Prince Albert died of Typhus.
Charity Baker (BAK00130) married Henry
Onslow Piercy (1835-1909), son of Rev John Piercy on 19 February 1862.
1863
The first urban underground railway opened from
Paddington to Farringdon.
The Confederates defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg.
William Baker (alias Hassall) the Elder (BAK00102) died on 8
July 1863. He was buried at St James the Great, Audlem on 13 July 1863. It was
reported that his life was highly and deservedly esteemed, not only for his
readiness to do any act of kindness for his neighbours, but when officiating in
his judicial capacity in variably tempering mercy with justice, which gained
for him the goodwill oof all men. He was indeed a true specimen of a fine old
English gentleman, and his name will be long remembered. One of the stained glass windows at Audlem church has the inscription: To
the glory of God, and in memory of William Baker who died AD 1863, and of
William Baker his son, who died 1876, both of Highfields in this parish,
justices of the Peace, this window is dedicated.
William Baker the Younger (BAK00121) inherited
Highfields from his father, and seems to have been a conventional country
gentleman, interested in field sports and farming; indeed, he may have been
primarily interested in field sports since he was Master of the Albrighton
Foxhounds in 1856.
Mary Baker (BAK00125) married John
Beaumont Piercy (1834-1900), an architect and later secretary of the
Staffordshire Waterworks Co, eldest son of Rev. John Piercy, rector of Rushock, Worcestershire, on 22 April 1863 at Audlem.
William Baker IV of Fenton and Hasfield
Court (BAK00301) had
inherited Fenton House from his father in 1833 and purchased the Hasfield Court estate, in Gloucestershire in 1863 for
£42,500. William had stayed there as a boy and had memories of it. There is a
family story that he bought it in order to grow exotic
fruits, including banans in greenhouses on the
estate. The original medieval house was probably moated and the Paucefoot family owned it from 1200 to 1598 when they had
to see during the ‘persecution of the recusants’. He
had planned to reface the brick walls with stone and add a porch, but he died
before he could do so, and his brother Ralph did the work, along with the
addition of bay windows.
1865
William Baker IV of Fenton and Hasfield
Court (BAK00301) died,
unmarried, on 16 August 1865, aged 65, and it was said that the day of his
funeral was a day of great mourning in Fenton. All the blinds were drawn, no
courts were held and the workers from the factories attended the funeral. He is
buried in Fenton churchyard.
At his death his property of Fenton, Hasfield, and Doveridge Woodhouse
passed to his next brother, Rev. Ralph Bourne Baker of Fenton and Hasfield Court (BAK00302).
1866
A cholera epidemic killed 5,500 people in London’s East
End.
Jane Baker (BAK00126) married her
first cousin, Joseph Hayward Bellyse of Blandford Forum, Dorset, solicitor, son
of Richard Baker Bellyse, surgeon, on 24 October 1864 at Audlem.
1867
The Second Great Reform Act enfranchised male town
dwellers and widened eligibility for men in rural areas.
Bill passed for the Confederation of North American
Colonies - united under the name, the Dominion of Canada
The Abyssinian Expedition
The Agricultural Gangs Act 1867 regulated the
employment of women and children and required licences for gang masters.
1868
The abolition of public executions.
The transportation of convicts to Australia ended.
1869
The Debtor’s Act 1869 ended imprisonment for debt.
The completion of the Suez Canal. This led to a strong
presence by Britain in Egypt, Sudan and East Africa.
1870
The Married Women‘s Property Act 1870 gave married
women the right to keep their own earnings and property inherited after
marriage.
Women now admitted to Oxford and Cambridge
Universities.
The Agricultural Depression – land values dropped and
extensive bankruptcies amongst farmers.
The Franco Prussian War 1870 to 1871.
Teachers were required to keep attendance lists and log
books of events on a weekly basis.
1870-1871
The Franco-Prussian War.
William Baker’s second son, the eccentric Richard
(“Dick”) Dod Baker (BAK00154), was rather
unusual for his day and age, insomuch that not only did he take no interest in
field sports, but took great delight in making fun of those who did. In the
early 1870s the Cheshire Hounds met regularly in Audlem Square, under the mastership of H R Corbet, father of the late Reggie Corbet
of Adderley, a meet which Richard’s father and eldest brother Jack always
attended. Unknown to them there was an occasion when he ‘borrowed’ a top hat,
pink coat and white breeches, also a penny farthing
bicycle from Mt Moseley in the village. When the meet assembled below the
church at eleven, he duly arrived in full hunting kit, riding the penny farthing and raising his hat to the mounted company.
Finally, when performing a specially deep bow to the
master, he fell off at the feet of that gentleman’s horse. Old
“Regie” Corbet, the Master was equal to the situation. Turning to the youth’s
father: “Really, Will”, he said, “I should have thought you could
have turned your son out better mounted for an Audlem meet.”
1871
Population of UK was 31.6 million
Bank holidays were introduced for bank workers and soon
were practised more widely.
The Trades Union Act
The Regulation of the Forces Act 1871 (“the Cardwell
Reforms”) created a regimental structure for the army.
1872
The Ballot Act (secret ballot)
1873
The Second Ashanti War
The Panic of 1873 was the start of an economic
depression from 1873 to 1877.
The Returns of Owners of Land listed those with more
then one acre in England and Wales.
1874
The Public Worship Regulation Act
The Factory Act 1874 introduced a 56 hour week.
The Births and Deaths registration Act made
registration compulsory, within 42 days.
1875
Rev. Ralph Bourne Baker of Fenton and Hasfield Court (BAK00302) died on 16 August
1875. Ralph was the first Baker to live at Hasfield, and was buried
there.
William Meath Baker of Hasfield
and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) inherited
Hasfield Court and Fenton House from his father in
1875 and came of age in 1880. The nineteenth century pottery near the
centre of Fenton has wrought iron gates in the central archway with William
Meath Baker’s initials, “WMB”, and the initials also appeared on the upper
front of terraces of houses around the factory.
1876
Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.
The Battle of Little Big Horn in USA.
Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India.
William Baker the Younger (BAK00121) died
on 19 May 1876. His will was proved on 21 July 1876.
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00151) inherited
Highfields, Audlem from his father in 1876 but leased the house out until he
sold the estate in 1884, though he was living there in 1881.
1877-1878
The Russo-Turkish War.
In the middle years of the
century most of the rural villages in the area relied almost wholly on
agriculture for their livelihoods and yet farming was becoming less profitable.
The depression worsened from 1875 onwards and reached its peak in about 1878.
Several diaries that have survived give some ideas of how families lived during
these fifty years.
For an Audlem history the diaries of the
three Baker girls: Emily Baker (1868-1941)(BAK00158), Charlotte
Baker (1866-1918)(BAK00157) and
Charity Baker (1862-1881)(BAK00156), who
were all brought up at Highfields, are of
particular interest. They cover the period from 1878 to 1882 and were probably
instigated by their much loved governess,
Miss Evans.
All went to church regularly,
“except when it was rainy”, and all read books eagerly, many of a
religious nature. Charlotte, aged 12, in particular, wrote down
her “thoughts”. In 1878, she decided to “try to turn over a new leaf
and read my scripture more regularly”. She worried constantly “about
God's will” and “wished they had family prayers at home”. “If God
allows me to grow up and have a family, I think I shall have prayers”. She
thought “a lot about Martin Luther and his domestic life, and that he must
have been a very good husband.”
The next year following the
early death of Princess Alice, she commented: “I think it shows us that we
ought always to be prepared for death, for it may come so suddenly upon us; Oh!
how I wish that I was.”
However, by this time she no
longer had doubts “that she would go to heaven”. All this sounds rather
morbid, but in those days death was ever
present. She was then only thirteen years old. Her father had died three years
earlier, and her mother was to die in 1881. Diptheria,
and less serious ailments, were more commonplace than they are today, and
Highfields was regularly visited by Doctor Jay, later Doctor Newman. Remedies
included mustard poultices for coughs and colds; also
lozenges and cod liver oil. For hoarseness, throats were rubbed with
belladonna.
Nevertheless, their lives
were generally carefree, and their activities were probably the same as those
of other young teenagers of the day. They had lessons at home, with many long
holidays. They spent much of their time gathering flowers and mushrooms, doing
crochet work and sewing and pressing
wildflowers. In 1878 they bought a new piano which was much used for
accompanying singing and musical evenings. They also had a pet lamb called to
Jerry, which all the girls wrote about.
There was much delight
when 10 year older Emily received a
Valentine in 1878, which probably led to her entry for 7 January 1879. “Little
Georgie sent me half a sheet of kisses, so I wrote to him today”.
Curiously, none of the Diaries mentioned Christmas festivities, although all
record the sending of cards for New Year's Day.
The
girls’ three brothers, Jack (1850 to 1932), Dick (1856 to 1902) and Arthur
(1858 to 1916), were older and would have been in their 20s when the diaries
were written. From the entries it is clear that they lived outdoor lives and
enjoyed the traditional country sports. There are many references to their days
spent hunting and shooting. July visits to the races at Market Drayton, cricket
in the summer and skating in the winter, usually at Adderley and Shevington.
For them, oyster suppers seemed to have been popular.
Richard Baker Bellyse (1809 to 1877), son of Dr John
Belyse the Younger, died on 11 January 1877. He was a surgeon. There is an
inscription in the square at Audlem which reads “In memory of Richard Baker
Bellyse, who practised as a surgeon in this town for 40 years. Born 17th May
1809. Died 11th January 1877. In appreciation of a life spent in relieving the
sufferings of his fellow creatures. A man he was to all the country dear. By
medicine life may be prolonged, yet death will seize the doctor too.”
1877
Britain annexed the Transvaal.
1878-1879
The Second War with Afghanistan
1878
The Factory and Workshop Act 1878 consolidated previous
legislation and applied it to all trades. The minimum working age was raised to
10 years old and children under 10 were to attend school. The age was later
raised to 11 in 1891 and 12 in 1901.
In
the middle years of the century most of the rural villages in the area relied
almost wholly on agriculture for their livelihoods and yet farming was becoming
less profitable. The depression worsened from 1875 onwards and reached its peak
in about 1878. Several diaries that have survived give some ideas of how
families lived during these fifty years. In the south of the county some
farmers sold their land and emigrated.
1879
The Zulu War
A public telephone service was introduced in Britain.
1880
The First Anglo-Boer War.
The Elementary Education Act 1880 made schooling
compulsory for 5 to 10 year olds and children under 13 in work had to
demonstrate a certain standard.
Greenwich Meantime (“GMT”) was introduced across
Great Britain.
The first British telephone directory.
1881
The UK population was 35 million.
Letitia Jane Dorothea Baker (BAK00309) married
Richard Baxter Townshend in July 1881 at Hasfield,
Gloucestershire.
Regular house parties were held at Hasfield.
On one occasion there was a call for someone to play the part of an old man.
WMB’s brother in law, Richard Baxter Townshend,
Letitia Baker’s husband was persuaded to take the part. His voice was too high
falsetto and soft for the role and he attempted a deeper voice,
but was unable to keep it up and the audience were in tears with
laughter. Townshend had been a cattle rancher and gold prospector and was a
good shot. He had a weather-beaten face and was known to ride about Oxford on a
tricyle. As he was somewhat deaf, he invented a
bicycle bell that sounded continuously.
1882
The Married Women’s Property Act 1882 gave married
women in England, Wales and Ireland the same rights as single women to control
their financial affairs, including ownership of property, running a business,
being liable for debts and making wills.
1884
Gordon reaches Khartoum
The Berlin Conference divided Africa among the European
colonial powers.
The Third Reform Act 1884 gave the vote to most male
householders in the countryside.
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00151) under
the pressure of the Agricultural Depression, sold Highfields and emigrated to
New Zealand, where he became a sheep-farmer and grazier.
W W Kellock was a JP, born at Halewood in 1862. He was senior
partner of C W Kellock & Co,, shipbreakers of Liverpool.
He was the brother of Charles Walford Kellock, also of Highfields who was
described as the owner of the Highfields Estate. The main window at Audlem
church was given by three sons in memory of Charles Walford Kellock JP of
Highfields who died on 22 February 1897 aged 65, and Catherine, his wife, who
died on 29 January 1903. There was a heavy handed restoration to
Highfields during the Kellock era including the addition of high extensions to
the chimneys in Ruabon brick.
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00151) married Richmal Mangnall
(1858-1934), the daughter of William Mangnall, architect, of Prestwich,
Lancashire, at Audlem on 23 June 1884.
William Meath Baker of Hasfield and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) married Hannah Corbett, daughter of Captain R J Corbett of Hyeres, France in 1884.
1886
Gladstone's Home Rule Bill for Ireland.
Bellyse Baker (BAK00165) was born at
Wanganui, New Zealand on 23 June 1886.
William Meath Baker of Hasfield
and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) was
educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge and gained his MA in 1886.
1887
Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
1888
The first Kodak camera.
Jack the Ripper murders began in Whitechapel.
The start of professional football.
Dorothy (“Dot”) Baker (BAK000167)
was born at Wanganui, New Zealand on 10 October 1888.
1889
First moving pictures recorded on celluloid.
The Prevention of Cruelty to and Protection of,
Children Act 1889.
Charles Booth began a detailed survey of the London Poor
including a map (The Life and Labour of the People).
1890
By 1891, John (“Jack”) Bellyse
Baker (BAK00151) had returned to England and
was working as a farm bailiff at Hindley, Lancashire.
William Mangnall Baker (BAK00166) was born on
22 August 1890 in Gateforth, Yorkshire and baptised
at Audlem on 1 November 1890.
Bellyse Baker (BAK00165) was
educated at Christ's Hospital School.
1891
The population of the United Kingdon was 37.8 million.
200 lost their lives in the Great Blizzard.
Hasfield
Court was about ten miles from a village called Red-Marley d’Abitot
where a friend of Mary Frances Baker (BAK00307) lived.
The friend was Caroline Alice Roberts, daughter of the late Major General Sir
Henry Gee—Roberts of Indian Mutiny and Sikh Wars fame.
Mary and
Alice studied geology together with the local rector who was known as ‘the
Professor’ and they would often go fossil hunting on the Severn.
Alice
Roberts started to take music lessons from an Edward Elgar who taught the
violin at Worcester High School. Despite a lack of talent, she tried hard at
her lessons and the reason soon became apparent. She became engaged to Edward
Elgar. When they visited Hasfield Court, Mary Baker
found Edward rather shy. Alice Robert’s family, including two rather severe
aunts were horrified at the idea that Alice wanted to marry a music teacher and
she was cut off from various wills and ostracised. Of course
the snobbery was misplaced since Sir Edward Elgar would become one of the country’s
most famous composers!
However William
Meath Baker of Hasfield and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) and Mary continued to welcome the
Elgars and their friends to Hasfield. Mary Baker took
them on holiday to Germany in 1892 and they visited Bayreuth, Heildelberg and the Bavarian Highlands.
1893
The Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act 1893
raised the school leaving age to 11 (and in 1899, to 12) years.
The Independent Labour Party was founded in Bradford.
1894
The Parish Councils Bill
The Royal Mail started to deliver picture postcards.
The Local Government Act 1894 established Urban and
Rural District Councils and Parish Councils elected by rate payers.
1895
The Factories and Workshops Bill
The notification of infectious diseases became
compulsory.
The first Dictionary of National Biography.
Richmal Charity (“Chat”) Baker (BAK00168) was born on
23 July 1895 at Hindley Green, Lancashire and baptised at Audlem on 1 September
1895.
Mary Frances Baker (BAK00307)
married on 28 August 1895,
Canon Alfred Penny (1845-1935), prebendary and Rural Dean of Lichfield, son of
Rev. Charles Joseph Penny, rector of Bubbenhall,
Warwickshire in Tewkesbury, probably as Hasfield
Court.
Dora Mary Powell, nee Penny, born 8 Feb 1874 was
the daughter of Rev Alfred Penny and Dora Mary Heale by his previous marriage.
Following the death of her mother, she had lived at Highfield with her
grandmother while her father served in missionary work in the Melanesian and
Solomon Islands. She rejoined her father at Wolverhampton, where he had been
appointed Rector in 1895.
As well as being stepmother of Dora Powell, Mary was
the sister of William Meath Baker, and sister-in-law to Richard Baxter
Townshend, and a close friend of Isabell Fitton, all of whom would feature in
Elgar's 'Enigma Variations'. Through this group, Dora Penny became acquainted
with the Elgars and was to be characterised as 'Dorabella' (Variation 10) of
the Variations.
Dora later wrote “Edward Elgar, Memories of a
Variation” which includes many stories about life at Hasfield.
William Meath Baker of Hasfield
and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310)’s pottery
business continued to trade as William Baker & Co and continued to make
printed, sponged and pearly white granite war for export, mainly to Canada from
one factory and encaustic tiles at the other factory. WMB did not take an
active role in running the factories, but made regular
visits to Fenton and was involved in the development of public and private
buildings in the town. He built Fenton Town Hall. Many of the extensive works
bore his initials WMB.
Dora Penny described WMB as “a small wiry man, very
quick and energetic.” He spoke incisively and laid down the law. The Elgars
called him the Squire. He was always well turned out and wore his hunt coat and
knew breeches at dinner. He was an admirer of Wagner and said no other operas
were worth listening to.
WMB
He was a keen climber and had regular trips to the
Welsh hills and to Switzerland.
1896-1899
The Sudan War
1896
The Jamieson Raid in South Africa
The invention of the wireless telegraph invented by
Marconi was first used in England.
Mary Frances Baker (BAK00307) were
by now great friends with the Elgars. She described how Edward Elgar would
bring in hedgehogs from the woods at Hasfield and
feed them in the house. There is a story of him sitting in a strawberry bed and
wishing that someone would bring him champagne in a bedroom jug. When he
visited the potteries in October 1896, the first performance of Edward Elgar’s
oratorio, King Olaf was performed at the Victoria Hall, Hanley. The work had
been commissioned for the Hanley Festival. It was conducted by Elgar himself.
After the performance, Elgar wrote “If ever I may come to the Potteries again I may come among friends.” William Meath Baker of Hasfield and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) was in the
audience and had already been a friend of Edward Elgar for many years.
William Meath Baker of Hasfield
and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) became
High Sheriff of Gloucester in 1896.
1897
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00151) was still
involved in shooting parties. A frequent guest at shooting parties was Dr
Stain, the local medic who, although popular in the district, had a reputation
for claiming any game as his if more than one gun fired. On one occasion Jack,
Arthur Baker’s brother, quietly took a hare that had already been shot and
‘legged’, and set it up in a realistic position on the
far side of the hill. As the guests breasted the mound the hare appeared. The
doctor fired, as did someone else who was in the know. “My hare, I think,
said the doctor as the animal dropped”. “Great Scot”, said Jack, as
he retrieved the corpse. “He’s not only shot it this time,
but legged it as well.”
1898
The Battle of Omdurman
The value of total estate was shown in probate indexes
in England and Wales.
Arthur Baker (BAK00155) married Marianne Hall (HAL00103), the daughter of James Hall (HAL00093) of Kynsal Lodge,
Audlem at Audlem on 16 August 1898.
Arthur
Baker Marianne
Hall About
1898 The wedding of
Arthur Baker and Marianne Hall on 16 August 1898
R B Townshend, Dora Penny and William
Meath Baker of Hasfield and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) would be immortalised in
consequence of Edward Elgar’s visits to Hasfield. In
October 1898, Edward Elgar was at his piano one evening and his wife liked a
new theme and asked what it was. He replied, ‘nothing, but something might
be made of it.” He played some more and asked Alice who it was like. Alice
replied that “it is exactly the way WMB goes out of the room.”. She
added “surely you are doing something that has never been done before.”
This was the origin of the Enigma Variations, one of the greatest orchestral
works written by a British composer. Elgar dedicated the variations to ‘my
friends pictured within’.
He called the third variation “RBT” and his funny voice
and his bicycle bell can be heard in the music. The piece remembered Richard
Baxter Townshend, a friend whose caricature of an old man in an amateur theatre
production is captured in the variation. The variation depicts an amateur actor
and mimic, capable of extreme changes to the pitch of his voice, a
characteristic which the music imitates.
He called his fourth variation “WMB” and the variation
is highly energetic and includes a sharp bang of the door. The piece recalled
William Meath Baker, 'country squire, gentleman and scholar', informing
his guests of the day's arrangements. The piece depicts a country squire,
gentleman and scholar who has just forcibly read out the arrangements for the day
and hurriedly left the music room with an inadvertent bang of the door.
He called the tenth variation “Dorabella” after Dora
Penny, which was her nickname from Cosi Fan Tutte and
the music parodies her youthful stammer.
But for the Bakers and Hasfield
Court, the Enigma Variations would not have been what they were.
1899
The Victoria County History
provided detailed commentaries on each county including details of buildings of
historical note. See also British History on
line.
Hilda Baker (BAK00170) was born on 2
July 1899.
1899-1902
The Second Anglo-Boer War.
1900
Higher elementary schools provided education from 10 to
15 years old.
1901-1910
- Edward VII
Highfields in about 1900
1901
The 1901 Census asked for the first time if respondents
worked at home.
Population of the United Kingdom reaches 41.6 million.
Thomas Baker (BAK00128), the third and last of the Baker architects, had
built a number of country houses in the area, including Hillside, Green Lane
(later the home of Arthur Baker (BAK00155) and his family) and the Cedars. By 1901, the
Cedars was the home of the three rather eccentric sisters, Henrietta (“Poppy”)
(BAK00150), Charlotte (“Totty”) (BAK00157) and Emily (BAK00158) (known as the ‘Miss Bakers’) and the solicitor and
bachelor Richard Dod Baker (BAK00154).
A kindergarten was run at the Cedars, the residence of
Richard Dod Baker, solicitor, by the Miss Bakers.
The Miss Bakers perhaps, Henrietta (“Poppy”), Charlotte
(“Tottie”), Emily Baker.
Margaret Louisa (“Peggy”) Baker (BAK00002) was born at
Audlem on 24 February 1901. “I was
born on St Matthias’ Day, you know” and then add with a mischievous grin and a roll
of the eye, “Haven’t a clue who St Matthias was though!”
1902
Balfour’s Education Act provided for secondary
education.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show toured England.
1903
The first flight by Orville Wright made on 17 December 1903
Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women’s Social and
Political Union in Manchester.
Hilda Baker (BAK00170) perhaps about
1903 Arthur and Marianne Baker with
Margaret and Hilda
1904
By 1904, William Edward Farndale,
son of William Farndale,
a local methodist preacher and later a town missionary in Macclesfield,
Cheshire (K1),
the Whitby 5 Line
entered the Primitive Methodist ministry in 1904
after training at Hartley College.
1905
Albert Einstein published is theory of relativity.
Margaret Louisa (“Peggy”) Baker (BAK00002) with Hilda
Baker (BAK00170) and
with their parents, Arthur Baker (BAK00155) and Marianne nee
Hall Baker (HAL00103).
1906
Marianne Baker with Geoffrey Baker (BAK00172) perhaps
1907
Midwives and parents were now required to notify the
local health ministry of births, to prevent missed registration.
The Deceased Wife’s Sister’s Marriage Act 1907 allowed
a man to marry his dead wife’s sister.
New Zealand became self-governing within the British
Empire.
1908
The London Olympics.
Mass production of the Model T Ford in USA.
The captain of Audlem at this time was Arthur Baker (BAK00155) of Hillside,
youngest son of William Baker of Highfields. Some idea of the quality of the
Audlem side may be gathered from the fact that the captain’s 13 years old
nephew Bellyse, on holiday from school, was brought in to complete the team.
Indeed, the main purpose of the game, a single innings match, was to allow the
spectators to watch the great Lancashire stars in action. Audlem, however,
possessed a fast bowler. He was one of the Shuker brothers, the local blacksmiths,
whose cannon ball deliveries were only exceeded in speed by their usual
inaccuracy. Audlem went in first and were dismissed, with little difficulty,
for 13 runs. The spectators settled down to watch the great men perform. Shuker
opened the bowling, and with his lighting delivery removed the batsman’s middle
stump. This success inspired him to hitherto unknown heights,
and helped no doubt by the un-Old Trafford like ground, he dismissed
Market Drayton for 11 runs. The captain then came over to Arthur Baker and
said, “Well, Arthur, it’s been great fun. I suppose we’d better make it a
two innings match?” “We’ll both go in again by all means,” was the
reply, “but as far as the match is concerned, it’s all over and we’ve won.”
“If that’s Audlem’s idea of good sportsmanship”,
said their captain, “Market Drayton will never play them again.” And for
all is known to the contrary they never did until the middle of the 1960s, when
the club revised after a lapse of twenty five years.
1909
Lloyd George introduced old age pensions to alleviate
fear of entering the workhouse.
William Meath Baker of Hasfield
and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310)’s wife Hannah
had died and he married Sybil Agatha Wyrley of
Norfolk. She was an amateur singer with a lovely voice and a pianist.
George
V (1910 to 1936)
1910
Start of a survey of land ownership (“Lloyd George’s
Doomsday”) to support the Finance Act.
Audlem
Garden Party in 1910 with the message on the back of the postcard addressed to
Kit Lynham (LYN00002) the daughter
of Skipper Lynham (Charles Cotterill Lynam)(LYN00001), founder
headmaster of the Dragon School, at Oxford and Catherine Alice Hall (HAL00100):
Buerton 12 July
1910. Very pleased to receive your PC. Did Sir Robert’s photo come out? We have
had heaps of tennis, played on the Congleton tournament last week only reserved
1st day. Glad to hear you are coming in august. How may do you
recognise in the photo!! Love from Annie.
“Heaps of tennis”
1911
The Parliament Act
Population of the UK at 42.1 million.
The National Insurance Act 1911 with some sickness
benefits and access to a doctor.
Unemployment benefits introduced.
Mother’s maiden names added to GRO indexes.
The Society of Genealogists was established.
Arthur Baker (BAK00155) was a JP. The
family lived at Swanbach Villa and later at Hillside,
Audlem.
Swanbach Villa, Green Lane,
Audlem (an early seventeenth century farmhouse, with nineteenth century
additions)
Marianne
Baker, perhaps at Swanbach Villa
Arthur Baker
William Mangnall Baker (BAK00166) was a bank
clerk, living in St Annes, Lancashire.
1912
14 April 1912 - the sinking of the Titanic
Scott's Expedition to Antarctica
1913
Suffragette demonstrations in London
Bellyse Baker (BAK00165)
married Lillian (“Lily”) Crosland
(1884-1971), daughter of Joseph Crosland of Blackpool, Lancashire on 16 June
1913.
1914
The start of the First World War
The First Battle of Ypres
The Battle of Loos
Notice of official changes in name now published in The
London Gazette.
Emily Baker (BAK00158) was Emily was
a Red Cross volunteer nurse, 1914-19.
Bellyse Baker (BAK00165) served
in the First World War in the Royal Field Artillery.
Francis (“Frank”) Ralph Meath
Baker of Hasfield (BAK00320)
served in the Royal Field Artillery, 1914-16 as a
Lieutenant.
1915
Evacuations from Gallipoli.
First Zeppelin raid on Great Britain.
1916
27 January 1916 – The Military Service Act imposed
conscription on all single men aged 18 to 41 with exemptions for medically
unfit, clergymen, teachers and certain industrial classes.
The first Battle of the Somme
The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele).
Arthur Baker (BAK00155) died on 29 April 1916. His
will was proved on 25 May 1916: Baker Arthur, of Hillside Audlem Cheshire
gentleman died 29 Aril 1916 Probate Chester 25 May to Arthur John Hall esquire
a lieutenant colonel in His Majesty’s Army. Effects £10587 15s 3d.
1917
The Russian revolution.
USA joined the First World War.
Richmal Charity (“Chat”) Baker (BAK00168) was
a cook at the Cheshire Branch of the British Red Cross Society Volunteers,
from, January 1917 to May 1919.
Margaret Louisa (“Peggy”) Baker (BAK00002) was head girl
at school (centre right).
1918
11 November 1918 - The Armistice.
1918 to 1919 – The ‘Spanish’ Flu killed 228,000.
Representation of the People Act 1918
In 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed
which allowed women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to
vote. Although 8.5 million women met this criteria, it was only about
two-thirds of the total population of women in the UK. The same Act abolished
property and other restrictions for men, and extended the vote to virtually all
men over the age of 21. Additionally, men in the armed forces could vote from
the age of 19. The electorate increased from eight to 21 million, but there was
still huge inequality between women and men.
After William Meath Baker of Hasfield
and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310)’s eldest son
Rev William George Corbett Baker (BAK00319) joined the Roman
Catholic church in 1918 they agreed to break the entail on the estate so that
it could be left to his second son, Francis (“Frank”)
Ralph Meath Baker of Hasfield (BAK00320).
1919
Soldiers discharged from service after the first world
war.
Britain adopted a 48 hour working week.
The Treaty of Versailles.
The
Twenties
The Roaring Twenties brought about several
novel and highly visible social and cultural trends. These trends, made
possible by sustained economic prosperity, were most visible in major cities
like New York, Chicago, Paris, Berlin and London. "Normalcy" returned to
politics in the wake of hyper-emotional patriotism during World War I, jazz blossomed, and Art Decopeaked.
For women, knee-length skirts and dresses became socially acceptable, as did
bobbed hair with a marcel wave. The women who
pioneered these trends were frequently referred to as flappers.
The era saw the large-scale adoption of automobiles, telephones,
motion pictures, radio and household electricity, as well as unprecedented
industrial growth, accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, and significant
changes in lifestyle and culture. The media began to focus on celebrities,
especially sports heroes and movie stars. Large baseball stadiums were built in major U.S. cities, in
addition to palatial cinemas.
Most independent countries passed women's suffrage after 1918, especially as a reward for
women's support of the war effort and endurance of its deaths and hardships
1920
Bellyse Baker (BAK00165)
worked for a cotton
manufacturing firm, initially as a clerk was later Sales Director.
1921
Population of the United Kingdom reaches 44 million.
Ellen Baker (BAK00162A) and Richmal Charity (“Chat”)
Baker (BAK00168) were
both governesses.
Richmal Charity (“Chat”) Baker (BAK00168)
1922
Irish Free State gains independence from the
United Kingdom in 1922.
The Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (Soviet Union) is created in 1922.
Inauguration of the British Broadcasting Corporation (“BBC”).
First public radio broadcasts.
1923
The English Place Name Society was founded.
1924
Margaret Louisa (“Peggy”) Baker (BAK00002) was a
physical education teacher at Malvern Girl’s College.
1925
Demonstration of the television by James Logie Baird.
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00175) was born on
29 November 1925.
1926
The General Strike of 1926
The Births and Deaths registration Act 1926.
The Legitimacy Act 1926.
Margaret Louisa (“Peggy”) Baker (BAK00002) bought and
car. She was, after all, the first of her peers to have her hair cut short
in the flapper style; and the first to buy a car which she said she never
learned to drive properly because, with no other traffic on the road, there was
no need.
1927
On Peggy
Baker’s (BAK00002) engagement to
Alfred Farndale (FAR00683), Poppy Baker
(BAK00150) wrote to
Peggy: “I am a very poor one to make pretty speeches, but I can only say
dear old Peggy that if you are as happy as I wish you to be, you will indeed be
so, without any more words about it! Knowing what you say about Alfred (excuse
me being so familiar), he sounds very nice and as you are such a cheeky little
woman you will make up for it, if he is, as you say, rather shy, won’t you? How
quickly the years do pass, to be sure; it only seems the other day since you
were a wee child and now you are engaged to be married. My word it makes one
realise what an old woman I must be.”
1928
Women over 21 years old received the right to vote.
The discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming
leading to the antibiotics revolution.
Hilda Baker (BAK00170)
Margaret Louisa (“Peggy”) Baker (BAK00002) married
Alfred Farndale (FAR00683) and they went
to set up a new life on the prairies of Alberta. They had four children. They
later returned to Yorkshire. Their story is told in the Wensleydale Line.
1929
The Local Government Act 1929 abolished workhouses
(though many were renamed Public Assistance Institutions and continued under
local council control).
The
Thirties
Aunt Emily (BAK00158) and Aunt
Poppie (Henrietta) (BAK00150) at Audlem
1930s
1930
One fifth of the British male population was employed.
William Gregory Francis Meath (“Gregory”) Baker (BAK00330) as born on 22
April 1930.
1931
Population of UK reaches 46 million.
26 April 1931, the National Census, but all records for
England and Wales were destroyed in a fire at Hayes in Middlesex.
Westminster recognised the independence of Canada
Australia, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, South Africa and Newfoundland.
1932
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00151) died
on 15 April 1932. His widow, Richmal died 26 December 1934.
1935
William Meath Baker of Hasfield
and Fenton (“WMB”) (BAK00310) continued
to be associated with Fenton up to his death in 1935. In 1933, his name appeared
on a list of patrons of the Christmas fair and bazaar at the church. However the factory ceased trading in the depression year of
1932 and the family interest in the factory reduced after that.
1936
King
Edward VIII, January to December 1936
The
Abdication
George
VI, 1936 to 1952
The Spanish Civil War
The Battle of Cable Street, London
A series of clashes that took place at several
locations in the inner East End, most notably Cable Street, on Sunday 4 October
1936 related to a march by the British Union of Fascists.
1937
Mary Frances Baker (BAK00307) died
in Lichfield on 30 December 1937, and probate was given on 15 March 1938 to
Frances Ralph Baker and Sir Morgan Singer KCB KCVO retired admiral RN
(presumably her mother’s brother).
1938
“Peace in our time”
1939
1 September Start of World War 2
29 September 1939 – mini census and issue of identity
cards
Evacuation of women and children from London.
By 1939, Dorothy (“Dot”) Baker (BAK000167) had become a
school teacher and lived at Nantwich, Cheshire, after the war living at Old
Colwyn, Denbighshire. She also did Air Raid Patrol work.
1940
May 1940 - Winston Churchill, in his first address as
Prime Minister, tells the House of
Commons of the United Kingdom, "I have nothing to offer you
but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
Dunkirk Evacuation – May to June 1940
The Battle of Britain was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which
the Royal Air Force (RAF)
defended the United Kingdom (UK)
against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. It has been described as the first major military
campaign fought entirely by air forces. The British officially recognise
the battle's duration as being from 10 July until 31 October 1940, which
overlaps the period of large-scale night attacks known as The Blitz, that lasted from 7 September 1940 to 11 May
1941.
Blitz over Swansea
Francis (“Frank”) Ralph Meath Baker of Hasfield (BAK00320) died
at Cheltenham on 7 June 1940. He was buried on 10 June 1940 at Hasfield.
1941
December 1941 – The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
1942
2 December 1942 – The Manhattan Project: Below
the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led
by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear
chain reaction
1944
6 June 1944 – D Day landings
1945
8 May 1945 - Victory in Europe Day
The National register of Archives was established to
collect manuscript information outside public records.
From 1945, the Australian government encouraged British
citizens to emigrate to Australia under an assisted passage scheme.
6 to 9 August 1945 - Atomic bombing of Nagasaki and
Hiroshima.
15 August 1945, Victory in Japan Day.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm published.
1946
The New Towns Act led to 27 new towns.
Family Census carried out for the Royal Commission on
Population.
Bellyse Baker (BAK00165) repurchased Highfields, Audlem.
Highfields
1947
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst opens.
Education now compulsory up to age 15.
Bellyse Baker (BAK00165) died
on 17 November 1947. John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00175) inherited
Highfields.
1948
The National Health Service started.
Summer Olympics in London.
The Poor Law abolished.
1949
February 1949 - First round-the-world nonstop flight.
Capt. James Gallagher and USAF crew of 13 flew a Boeing B-50A Superfortress
around the world nonstop from Ft. Worth, returning to same point: 23,452 mi in
94 hr., 1 min., with four aerial refuelings en route
Formation of NATO
1950
Korean War (1950–1953)
Aunty Dot (BAK00167) with Margot Atkinson
(FAR00952), 1950s Chat
(BAK00168), Dot and Peggy
Baker Chat
1951
Population of UK reached 50.2 million
8 April 1951 – the first full census since World War 2.
The first volume of Nikolaus Pevsner’s The Buildings
of England published with detailed surveys of all significant historical
buildings
1952
Elizabeth
II, 1952 to 2022
The
Second Elizabethan Age
The great smog of London.
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00175) married
Josephine May (“Jo”) (1929-2016), the only daughter of Joseph Henry Henderson
of Roseneath, Wilmslow, Cheshire on 4 October 1952.
1953
29 May 1953 - Hilary and Tenzing reach the suit of
Everest.
2 June 1953 - Elizabeth II’s Coronation
Francis Crick and James Watson discover
the double-helix structure of DNA.
1955
The Vietnam War began.
1960
British Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan delivered his Wind of Change speech in 1960.
1961
First man in space
The Berlin Wall was built.
The data from the 1961 census was entered onto a
computer for the first time.
1962
The Cuban Missile Crisis (16–28 October 1962)
1963
Kennedy was assassinated and replaced by Vice
President Lyndon Johnson.
1966
A mini census was held based on 10% of the population.
1967
The Public Record Act 1967 reduced the length of time
records were closed to 30 years, except for census data to remain closed for
100 years.
1968
The assassination of Martin Luther King junior.
1969
The Apollo 11 mission landed the first humans on the Moon in
July 1969.
The Representation of the People Act 1969 extended the
vote to women and men over 18 years old.
The Divorce Reform Act 1969 made divorce easier from
1971.
British Troops deployed to Northern Ireland.
Audlem’s first
pageant was performed at Highfields on Thursday 24 July 1969. The event was
initiated by the Audlem’s Women’s Institute
to mark its golden jubilee. John Burton was the pageant master and wrote the
script. There was a cast of 150 adults and children. The BBC’s Judith Chalmers
narrated.
1970
The age of majority reduced from 21 to 18 years old.
1971
Population of UK was 55.9 million.
Decimalisation of the currency.
Bellyse Baker (BAK00165)’s widow,
Lily, died on 28 December 1971.
1972
Bloody Sunday
1973
Britain and Ireland joined the European Economic Union
(“EEC”).
1973 Oil Crisis
The pocket calculator
1976
Deaths exceeded live births in England and Wales for
the first time since records began.
1977
Opening of The National Archives (“TNA”) at Kew.
1979
Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative party rose
to power in the United Kingdom in 1979, initiating a policy of reducing
government spending, weakening the power of trade unions, and promoting
economic and trade liberalization.
SAS storm the Iranian Embassy
Lord Mountbatten murdered by the IRA.
1979–1989
Soviet–Afghan War – a war fought between
the Soviet Union and the Islamist Mujahideen Resistance in
Afghanistan.
1981
UK population 56.3 million
The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after
engine ignition, 1981
1982
The Falklands War.
1983
A second pageant was held at Highfields on 16 July 1983
re-enacting some famous events including the visit of Prince Rupert during the
Civil War and the coming of the canal and railway.
1984
GRO and BMD registers now arranged annually not
quarterly.
1985
The Bradford City Stadium Fire
Toxteth, Liverpool and Broadwater Farm, Tottenham Riots
1987
Legal restrictions between Children born to married and
unmarried parents removed (The Family Law Reform Act 1987).
U.S. President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary
Gorbachev signing the INF Treaty, 1987
1989
The Fall of the Berlin Wall. Anti communist revolutions
across Europe.
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The development of the World Wide Web (Tim
Berners-Lee).
1990
Germany reunified on 3 October 1990 as a result of the
fall of the Berlin Wall and after integrating the economic structure
and provincial governments, focused on modernization of the former communist
East. People who were brought up in a socialist culture became integrated with
those living in capitalist western Germany.
Peggy
Baker (later Farndale)(BAK00002) and Martin
Farndale (FAR00911) at Highfields
in about 1990
A visit
to Highfields – Peggy Baker (later Farndale) and family
First Gulf War 1990
1991
21 April 1991. The Census. About 1 million went
uncounted due to Poll Tax related refusals to participate.
1992 - 1995
Bosnian War
1994
The end of Apartheid in
South Africa following the release of African National
Congress leader Nelson Mandela from jail in February 1990 after
thirty years of imprisonment for opposing apartheid and
white-minority rule in South Africa.
1995
Any suitable privately owed premises could be licensed
for marriage ceremonies which led to increasing number of marriages away from
places of birth/family home.
1996
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00175) and Jo with
their family in 1996
William Gregory Francis Meath
(“Gregory”) Baker (BAK00330)
was appointed as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire.
1997
The Scottish Parliament established following
a referendum in September 1997, the 1997 Scottish devolution
referendum was put to the Scottish electorate and secured a majority in
favour of the establishment of a new devolved Scottish Parliament, with
tax-varying powers, in Edinburgh.
Death of Princess Diana.
2000
The Millennium
2001
UK Population 59 million
29 April 2001 – the National Census – about 94% of the
population completed the survey
11 September 2001 attacks in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Shanksville, Pennsylvania
2002
The
Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
2003
Start of the Second Gulf War
2004
Mars Exploration Rover
2005
7 July 2005 – Terrorist attacks in London
2007/8
Economic crisis
2009
Barack Obama, the first African American president of
the United States, was inaugurated in
2009
2010
John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (BAK00175) died
on 3 June 2010.
2012
Summer Olympics held in London
Diamond
Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
2015
Population of London reaches 8.6M (uf you scroll to the
start of this timeline, that is nearly double the national population in 1600!)
2016
The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union
(“Brexit”)
Jo Baker died on 2 July 2016.
2018
The Human Genome Project completed in Cambridge
2017
The beginning of the Trump Administration in USA
2019
William Gregory Francis Meath (“Gregory”) Baker (BAK00330) died on 12
September 2019.
2020
31 January 2020, The UK formally withdraws from the
European Union.
The start of the Covid 19 Pandemic in UK
2021
The Biden Administration in USA
2022
24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Charles
III, 8 September 2022 to date
The
Future?
A giant leap?
“New Highfields”?