John Farndale (1791 to 1878)

The Author

A man of enigmatic complexity who wrote extensively and has passed down stories of our family and of industrial change in early Victorian Yorkshire

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A storyteller is born

John Farndale, who wrote extensively about Kilton and Saltburn by the Sea, and the transition from a rural to an industrial Britain, was born into the Kilton 1 Line on 15 August 1791, the second son of William and Mary (née Ferguson) Farndale, farmers and business people.

He described his beloved Kilton where he was born as of great interest with a great hall, stable, plantation and ancient stronghold in ruins. It is still a small place he wrote.

In his Memoirs he recalled my first remembrance began in my nurse's arms when I could not have been more than 1 ½ years old; a memory as vivid as if it were yesterday. She took me out on St Stephen's Day 1793 into the current Garth, a small enclosure, with a stick and 'solt' to kill a hare. A great day at the time.

At the age of 14, after celebrating the victory of Trafalgar in 1805, he was found dangling head foremost down the draw well hanging by the buckle of his shoe.

I remember a draw well stood near the house of my father’s foreman. One day I was looking into this well at the bucket landing, when I fell head foremost. The foreman perceiving the accident, immediately ran to the well to witness, as he thought, the awful spectacle of my last end. I had on at the time a pair of breeches, with brass buckles on my shoes (silver ones were worn by my father and others), and to his great astonishment, he found me not immersed in water at the bottom of the well, but dangling head foremost from the top of a single brass buckle, which had somehow caught hold.

Since this accident I have ever been thankful for my wonderful deliverance, I am now an old man, yet I hope my humble production will by many be found worthy of perusal.

Those who descend from John Farndale, including the Ontario 1 Line, and the Richmond Line, would therefore not exist but for a brass buckle and some protrusion at the head of the well which caught it.

He described a very happy childhood and he clearly adored his mother. At this time I believe I loved God and was happy.

He remembered an old relation of my father. There were numerous Farndales in Kilton at that time. He criticised his elder brother George as a prodigal son, claiming that John was the son at home with his father, but this was probably just sibling rivalry.

He admits to having got up to many frolics and had some narrow escapes, although he was no drunkard or swearer.

His parents, he said, were strict Church people and kept a strict look out. I became leader of the (Brotton) church signers, clever in music and he immodestly claimed that he excelled his friends. He had a close friend, a musician in the church choir. One day he met him and said he had been very ill and had been reading a lot of books including Aeleyn's Alarum and others which nearly made my hair stand on end. Alleyn’s Alarm was a pious text from the time, which no doubt follows a tradition of somewhat threatening alarums since the seventeenth century.

His friend told him that he was going to alter his way of life and if John would not refrain from his revelries, he would be obliged to forsake your company. That was a nail in a sure place. I was ashamed and grieved as I thought myself more pious than he. Now I began to enter a new life as suddenly at St Paul's but with this difference, he was in distress for three days and nights but for me it was three months. He fasted all Lent and described his torment. How often I went onto the hill with my Clarinet to play my favourite tune.

John was clearly competitive and determined to be better than his peers at whatever challenges came his way. He therefore embarked on a phase of competitive piety. It appears to have been no more than a phase, since we have evidence of him picking up on his revelries again before long.

His companion lived a mile away, probably in Brotton, and they met half way every Sunday morning at 6am for prayer. He remembered well meeting in a corner of a large grass field. George Sayer began and he followed. When they finished they opened their eyes to see a rough farm lad standing over us, no doubt a little nervous. Next day this boy said to others in the harvest field 'George Sayer and John Farndale are two good lads for I found them in a field praying.' On the following Sunday they moved to a small wood and met under an oak tree and met an old man who wanted to join them. As usual George began and John continued when the old man began to roar in great distress.

In A Guide to Saltburn by the Sea and the Surrounding District, in 1864, John wrote When only four or five years of age I remember my father’s father telling what was done in those days and the old time before them. Many things then told were deemed most important to those of us who then lived together in a state of primitive simplicity, far removed from the occurrences which now surround us. I can refer back to what might have ended in death, but which by over-ruling Providence was otherwise ordered. It was ordained that even to me was given an errand to fulfil, which I am at this time feebly endeavouring to discharge:- namely, to do good in my day and generation.

In 1815, by then aged 24, he was celebrating the victory at Waterloo in Brotton where he led the singing as they burned an effigy of Napoleon. From Kilton How Hill we have a fine view of the German ocean, Skinningrove, Saltburn, Huntcliff, Roe-cliff, Eston Nab, Roseberry Topping, Handle Abbey and Danby beacon. Here, too, at not much distance from each other, may be seen no fewer than five beacons, formerly provided with barrels of tar to give the necessary alarm to the people if Buonaparte at that period had dared to invade our peaceful shores. After the great battle of Waterloo, and Buonaparte had been taken prisoner, that glorious event was celebrated at Brotton by parading his effigy through the street and burning it before Mr R Stephenson’s hall, amidst the rejoicings of high and low, rich and poor, who drank and danced to the late hour. The author formed one of a band of musicians that played on the occasion, and he composed a song commemorating the event, which became very popular in that part of the country. Brotton never before or since saw the like of that memorable day.

I am grateful to Dr Tony Nicholson who has explained that the hall was built by the Stephenson family in the 1780s after they had made a fortune as woodmongers, trading in timber as a fuel source, and then when timber became scarce, in coal. With the money from this trade, Robert bought a third of the manor of Brotton, and then built Stephenson’s Hall.

Regarding John Farndale’s account of the wild celebrations at Brotton after the battle of Waterloo, Tony elaborated that the old gentleman, Robert Stevenson, provided barrels of ale and a band of musicians headed by John Farndale, who then sang and danced till dawn.

When Robert Stevenson died in 1825, everything went to his daughter, Mary, who had previously married Thomas Hutchinson, a master mariner from Guisborough. Mary and Thomas settled in Stephenson’s Hall which soon became Brotton Hall and over the years they bought various properties in Brotton. Thomas was a close friend of John Walker Ord, the historian and poet of Cleveland, and in 1843, Thomas invited Ord to join him on a picnic to Tidkinhow which was then part of Hutchinson’s dispersed property. Ord composed a poem in honour of that day, which is transcribed at the Tidkinhow page.

In The Returned Emigrant, describing the church at Brotton, John wrote The church has been greatly improved, new slated roof and a most radical change in the interior; the old pews and pulpit are all gone, and from the walls Our Fathers’ prayer; the Belief; the ten commandments, in the xx chapter of Exodus, saying “I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; thou shalt have none other gods before me.” Had I not seen those well known tablets of young Squire Easterby, of Skinngrove Hall, and Wm Tulley , Esy of Kilton Hall, on beautiful white marble, I should have been at a loss to have known the old church again. I looked at the place where the old pulpit stood, and I remembered the ministers that once preached Jesus and the resurrection, among them my old master, the Rev Wm Barrick, of Lofthouse, - he would descend from the pulpit and join in the chorus of some twenty voices, 57 years gone, when I had the happiness to be their chieftain. The parishioners had … most gladly … and paraded down the mid street at the celebration of the great battle of Waterloo, and burned before Mr Stephenson’s Hall, when barrels of ale were given to the frantic multitudes, and the old gentlemen danced and sang until day break, and here we find young Farndale, once dangling at the mouth of the well, with his bugle and clarionet, the chief musician to the old gentleman, and who had also composed the following lines for the occasion.

His poem to the celebration of Waterloo went as follows:

Hail! Ye victorious heroes, England’s dauntless saviours, ye Who on the plains of Waterloo, Won that glorious victory.

It was a day the world may say, When Napoleon boldly stood, Upon the plains of the Waterloo, There flowed rivulets of blood.

Before the foe he bravely fought, And when he’d all but won the day, Would it were night, or Blucher up, Our hero Wellington did say.

But now behold in effigy, Him to whom kings such homage paid, Napoleon mounted on a mule As though he were on grand parade, Behold with joy all England sings, Brotton too is up and gay, The band, the flag, the ball, the dance Ne’er ceased till the break of day.

The Farmer

By the 1820s, John was a Yeoman Farmer but he left the Kilton farm to his younger brother, Martin Farndale (though his son, Charles would take on the farm in the following generation) and he moved to Skelton and Stockton and later became a corn and insurance agent, a merchant and an author. His association with Kilton was during his childhood, and through his authorship he revealed a nostalgic recollection of his childhood home.

Baines Directory for 1823 listed the inhabitants of Skelton, with a population of around 700, including John Farndale amongst the Farmers and Yeoman.

In the Skelton Parish Church Warden’s Accounts 1825 -1840, assessment for bread and wine at 8s per house and 12d per oxgang in 1825, John Farndale paid 5s 6d based on 1 Oxgang of land. In 1826 and 1827 he paid 1s 9d and in 1828, 5s 6d, all based on 4 oxgangs of land. He continued to hold 4 oxgangs of land in 1829, 1830 and 1831, paying slightly differing sums. An oxgang or bovate averaged about 20 acres, but depended on fertility of the soil. Rates altered marginally and John Farndale paid 3s in 1832; 4s in 1833; 5s in 1834 and 1835; 4s 6d in 1836; 4s in 1837 and 1838; 3s in 1839. His name is crossed out in 1840.

On 18 May 1829, John married Martha Patton of Yarm. The curate was John Graves and the marriage was witnessed by Rob Coulson and Elzabeth Patton. At Yarm, near Stockton, on Monday last, Mr John Farndale, of Skelton, near Guisborough, to Martha, fourth daughter of Masterman Patton, Esq, of Mount Pleasant, near Yarm. Martha was born in 1800, so she was 29 years old, and John was 38.

Their first son, William Masterman Farndale, was born in Skelton 24 March 1831, and they had seven more children, Mary, Elizabeth, Teresa, Annie, John, Charles and Emma.

By 1841, John was farming at Coatham Stob near Long Newton and Stockton. He was 45, a farmer and the census also listed William Farndale, 10; Mary Farndale, 9; Teresa Farndale, 8; John Farndale, 5; Charles Farndale, 3; John Farndale, 15, male servant; Matthew Farndale, male servant, 12; John Malburn, 25, male servant; Thomas Shirt, 15, male servant; Mary Disson, 24, housekeeper. It may be that Coatham Stob was the settlement where Martha’s parents came from.

The following year, in 1842, John was involved in the sale of another farm called Mount Leven. A Valuable Farm and also Productive Ings, Lande for Sale, To be sold by Auction. At the Vane Arms Hotel, in Stockton, in the county of Durham, on Wednesday, the 14th day of September, 1842, at Three O’clock in the afternoon. Mr J Baker, Auctioneer. A very valuable and highly productive freehold farm, called Mount Leven, situate at Leven bridge, in the parish of Yarm, in the County of York, consisting of an excellent farmhouse and outbuildings and of a Hind’s house, and one hundred and twenty two acres of land, of which 54 A, 1 R, 30 P, or thereabouts are excellent Old Grass, 15 acres or thereabouts turnip and barley soil, and the remainder good wheat and bean land. The farm is divided into 15 convenient sized fields or enclosures, all well watered and fenced, and is now in the occupations of Mr. John Colbeck, as Tenant to the Trustees of Mr Masterman Patton, deceased, the late owner thereof. The property is bounded by the River Leven on the east, and by the highway leading from Leven bridge to Yarm on the West and South. And also, either together with, or separately from the farm, all those Four Acres of Meadow, lying in a certain common field, called or known by the name of Yarm Ings, in the Township or parish of Yarm aforesaid; together with all such right and title of fishing in the River Tees at or near Yarm as has been usually enjoyed with the said premises. And also together with a Pew or Stall in the Parish Church appendent or appurtenant to the said premises, or usually enjoyed therewith. The Tenant will send a person to show the properties; and any further particulars respecting them may be ascertained of Mr Hugill of Eston; Mr. John Farndale of Coatham Conyers; of the Auctioneers; or of Messrs Wilson and Faber, Solicitors, Stockton upon Tyne Tees. Stockton, August 10th, 1842.

We know that John later farmed at Mount Leven himself, so perhaps he was involved with the auctioneers in that sale, and later took the tenancy in the farm at Mount Leven.

A decade after they were married, and almost certainly during the birth of their last child, Emma, Martha, wife of John Farndale of Coatham-Stob died aged 39 on 6 December and was buried on 9 December 1839. Their daughter Emma died a few days later, on 20 December 1839. Ther obituary read Dec 6th. At Coatham-Conyers, in Stockton Circuit, Matha, the wife of John Farndale. She was truly converted to God in the twenty sixth year of her age; and from that period she was a consistent member of the Wesleyan Society. Her death was rather sudden but she was found ready. Aware of her approaching dissolution she said, ‘This is the mysterious Providence; but what I know not now, I shall know hereafter.’ Some of her last words were, ‘Tell my dear husband for his encouragement, that I am going to Jesus. How necessary it is to live life for God? Oh Lord help me that I may have strength to leave a clear testimony that I am gone to Jesus.’ It was enquired, ‘Do you feel Jesus present?’ She replied, ‘Yes,’ and soon fell asleep in Him. MJ.

There was an entry for May 1846, Farndale, Martha (wife of John Farndale) of Coatham Parish, Long Newton, Co Durham showing probation for £1,000. It is not clear why probation of her will took so long.

So at the age of 48 he was a widower with a large family.

A newspaper article in 1904 recorded a case which John Farndale raised in 1840 against two cart racers who caused damage to John’s gig and harness. A Race In the Dark. 25th March, 1840. An old Cleveland newspaper gave the following: Stokesley Petty Sessions, present Edmund Turton and Robert Hildyard, Esquires. Upon the complaint of John farndale, of Coatham Conyers, in the county of Durham, against Thomas Hugill, of Bilsdale, and James S Keen of the same place, for having, on the night of the 21st January last, at the Township of Stokesley, obstructed the free passage of a certain highway, by riding a race in the dark, and damaging a gig and harness driven by J Farndale and James Drummond. Both were fined £2 and costs.

In 1864 John Farndale wrote, of about this time, when living in Coatham: How often here on a fine summer’s eve have I strolled to this most retired and enchanting retreat, Huntcliff, with my gun, to enjoy a sport of shooting the sea bird darting up the cliff over-head; an advantageous sport, when an ordinary marksman need not fail to bag a brace or two. This retreat was part of my Hunley Hall farm, and is only a short drive from Saltburn-by-the-Sea.

So in the 1840s, he seems to have moved to farm at Hunley Hall Farm, a farm of 476 acres, which is on the northern edge of Brotton during these years. So for a while, perhaps shortly after Martha died, John and his family were back close to Kilton, where perhaps he could rely on some support from his wider family.

In 1864, recalling these days, he wrote How often here on a fine summer’s eve have I strolled to this most retired and enchanting retreat, Huntcliff, with my gun, to enjoy a sport of shooting the sea bird darting up the cliff over-head; an advantageous sport, when an ordinary marksman need not fail to bag a brace or two. This retreat was part of my Huntley Hall farm, and is only a short drive from Saltburn-by-the-Sea. And on this retired place have passed many hundred horse loads of smuggled goods; this was the private road of old. I do not know any place equal for such an extensive view (if you step up to the beacon above) of sea and land. Here you stand 150 yards above the level of the sea, and here you stretch your eye on the German ocean from Whitby to Tynemouth, Sunderland and Hartlepool; and you can here view the counties of Durham, Westmoreland, and the Yorkshire hills; both sea and land are most interesting with a glass. From this hill you look down on the dark blue ocean below and you see a fleet of ships far and near, so near below you as to believe them sporting on those dangerous rocks, when again they reach away majestically, and you can hear and see the jolly tars, merrily employed in their dangerous seafaring life, shifting sail and mainsail, on the great dee below. You here stand on this mountain ridge apparently safe rom danger, yet danger is always near: even here I have suffered loss of stock. Once a fine colt somehow trespassed near the cliff, and fearful to say it bounced down this awful precipice twenty yards from the base below, its bowels gushing out yards beyond. On these rocks how many a seaman has found a watery grave, and many a fine ship has been wrecked.

He seems to have released the tenancy in Hunley Hall Farm in 1847. Farm to Let in Cleveland. To be entered upon at the usual Times in the Spring of 1848. Hunley farm, in the township of Brotton- in-Cleveland, in the County of York, containing 476 acres of excellent arable, meadow, and pasture land, with a capital dwellinghouse, and all requisite outbuildings, and also three cottages in the village of Brotton, all in the occupation of Mr. John Farndale, or his under tenants. Further particulars may be obtained of Mr George Pearson, land agent, Marske, near Guisborough, who will direct a person to show the farm, or at the offices of Mr Trevor, Solicitor, Guisborough. Guisborough, 12th or October 1847.

The Victorian Bankrupt

The 1851 Census for Danby End, Danby listed John Farndale, as household head but living alone, aged 60, working as an agricultural labourer.

He was clearly in financial difficulty and on 9 June 1851 at the Darlington Petty Session Before G J Scurfield, H P Smith, J L Hammkind, and E Backhouse, Esqrs, John Farndale, farmer, Long Newton charged by John Etherington with having discharged him from his service and refusing to pay the wages due to him, was ordered to pay the sum due and 6s 6d costs.

He became bankrupt and in the London Gazette 1851 there was an advertisement of a Petition of John Farndale , formerly of Coatham Stob farm, in the Parish of Long Newton, in the County of Durham, farmer, afterwards of Mount Leven farm, in the Parish of Yarm, in the County of York, farmer, afterwards of Hunley Hall Farm, in the Township of Brotton, in the same county, farmer, late of the Township of Middlesbrough, in the said County of York, farmer, and now in lodgings at the House of James Watson, at Middlesbrough, in the said County of York, labourer and merchant, an insolvent debtor, having been filed in the County Court of Durham, at Stockton, and an interim order for protection from process having been given to the said John farndale, under the provisions of these statutes in that case made and provided, the said John Farndale is hereby required to appear before the said court, on the 15th day of April next, at ten in the forenoon precisely, for his first examination touching his debts, state, and effects, and to be further dealt with according to the provisions of the said Statutes; And the choice of the creditors’ assignees is to take place at the time so appointed. All persons indebted to the said John Farndale, or that have any of his effects, are not to pay or deliver the same but to Mr John Edwin Marshall, Clerk at the said Court, at his office, at Stockton, the Official Assignee of the estate and effects of the said insolvent.

As Mr Micawber declared in Dickens David Copperfield, Copperfield, you perceive before you, the shattered fragments of a temple once call Man. The blossom is blighted. The leaf is withered. The God of Day goes down upon the dreary scene. In short, I am forever floored.

The entry in 1860 records that he was sent to Durham Prison for a period of time, for debt.

The Agent of Stockton

Within three years after his bankruptcy, he was working as a corn agent in Stockton. He advertised on 30 September 1854:

It was at the same time that John’s son, John George Farndale was fighting in the Crimean War. We have his letters home to his father and John George Farndale’s full story is told in another webpage.

On 21 April 1855, John advertised Turnip Manure. The Patent Sanitary Company’s Nitro Phosphorated Carbon or Blood Manure, Price Six Guineas per Ton; may be had of Mr Farndale, Stockton. The above manure contains upwards of 1300 pounds of dried blood in every ton! and is only half the price of guano. Four or five cwts per acre is sufficient for turnips.

Only five years after his bankruptcy, he was back in society, contributing to a significant statue project. At a public meeting of the friends of the late Most Honourable the Marquess of Londonderry KG, GCB, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Durham, and of those who respect his memory, held at the town hall, in the city of Durham, on Thursday the 6th day of March, 1856, to take into consideration the propriety of erecting a public monument in his honour of that distinguished nobleman. His grace the Duke of Cleveland KG in the Chair, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: moved by F D Johnson Esq of Askley Heads, seconded by the Right Worshipful the Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne: (1) That this meeting is of opinion that the high minded, generous, and benevolent character of the late Marquess of Londonderry, as a resident nobleman, his indomitable courage, and brilliant exploits as a soldier, and his bold and successful efforts to develop and extend the commercial, mining, and maritime resource is of this County, called for some public momento to hand down his memory to posterity. Moved by the Worshipful the Mayor of Durham, seconded by Ralph Carr Esq of Bishopwearmouth. (2) That to accomplish this object, a suitable monument be erected by subscription, the site and character of which will be determined at a meeting of the contributors to be hereinafter convened. Moved by R L Pemberton Esq of Barnes, seconded by Robert White Esq of Seaham. (3) That the following noblemen and gentlemen be appointed to a committee to carry out the object of the above resolutions, with power to add to their number, and to form local committees, viz: His grace the Duke of Cleveland, the Right Honourable, the Earl of Durham, F D Johnson Esq, William Standish Esq... The following sums were subscribed at the close of the meeting: The Duke of Cleveland £200, the Earl of Durham £100, J R Mowbray Esq MP, £25... LAND AGENT AND TENANTRY ON SOUTH ESTATES.... John Farndale, Long Newton £1 10s 0d...

By April 1859, he was practising as an insurance agent in Stockton. On 8 April 1859 John was an agent for Agricultural Produce and Farming Stock Insurance.

He was also an agent in the fertiliser and guano trade. On 16 April 1859 he advertised:

In July 1859 he advertised:

In March 1860, John Farndale featured as a witness, in his capacity as agent, in a trial. The article records that John Farndale had been sent to Durham prison for debt, presumably during his previous bankruptcy, although there is a suggestion in the article that it was in 1859 that he went to Durham Prison for debt. In the case of Braithwaite v The National Livestock Insurance Company, Mr Davison for The plaintiff, Mr. James QC and Mr Fowler for the defendants. On the part of the plaintiff it was stated that Mr Braithwaite was a farmer and a butcher residing at Stockton, occupying land in the immediate neighbourhood, for which he paid £114 a year rent. The plaintiff kept dairy cows, and for the last three years passed he had insured his stock with the National Livestock Insurance Company. The date of the policy was the 30th of June 1859. According to the regulations of the Society the cows were put in at a certain price, the plaintiff naming the cow in question as of the value of £16, though in point of fact she was worth £22. By the regulations of the policy of an insurer is entitled to recover three quarters of the value of which any animal is entered. The cow in question was called the Newsham cow, from the name of the farm on which she was bred, and the first appearance of illness was on the last day, or very nearly the last day, in July. Mr Braithwaite sent for Mr Eyre, an experienced veterinary surgeon, and he, after examining it, gave it his opinion that nothing particular was the matter with the cow. The cow went on feeding and milking until the 3rd of August when it was observed that she did not chew her cud. After Mr Eyre had seen her, the plaintiff gave notice to Mr Farndale, the local agent of the insurance society. Mr Farndale saw her, but he was afterwards sent to Durham prison for debt, and did not see her afterwards. The cow continued to be attended by Mr Eyre until the 29th of August when she died. A claim of £12 was afterwards made upon the Society.

The 1861 Census for 3 Alma Street, Stockton recorded that John Farndale, was married, 63 years old, and a corn merchant, living with Elizabeth Farndale, his wife, 68, born 1793 in Yarm. This is something of an enigma. Only Martha appears on John’s gravestone as his wife. The Yarm connection might suggest that Elizabeth was from Martha’s family. It seems unlikely that Elizabeth was married to John, there being no record of a wedding and I suspect she might have been from Martha’s family and mistakenly recorded as John’s wife.

An advertisement on 24 October 1862 appeared relating to Bishopton Lane, Stockton. To be Sold by Private Contract, a Good Dwelling House Situate in Bishopton Lane, called the Leeds Hotel. Apply to I (sic, recte J) Farndale, No 5, Stamp St, Stockton on Tees. Bishopton Lane is where Robert Farndale of the Stockton 2 Line operated his grocery business from, so John Farndale of the Kilton 1 Line was working in the same circles as his relatives of the Stockton 2 Line at this time. On 24 January 1862 there was another advertisement, To Let. With Immediate Possession. A Seven Roomed House, 21 Alma Street, Stockton-on-Tees. Apply Mr John Farndale, 5, Stamp Street. This same property was advertised by Robert Farndale in 1863, so presumably John Farndale was sellng it as an agent for his relative, Robert.

His agency next expanded from property agency to travel agency. Advertisements appeared in July 1863, For Sale, A Passage Warrant to Australia at Half Price. Open until July, 1863, for a single eligible young man. Apply (post paid) to John Farndale, 20, Park row, Stockton-on-Tees. John’s brother, Matthew Farndale and his family, had emigrated to Australia in 1852, so John was presumably aware of opportunities in an era of travel across the Empire.

On 21 November 1863, he advertised,

He seems to have been well travelled and in 1864 he recalled a visit to Edinburgh. I remember some years ago being at Edinbro’ when our beloved Queen first visited that city. Being an early riser, her Majesty was on her way to that place soon in the morning, and the provost and other civic authorities having laid so long had scarcely time to meet and present her with the keys of the city, a ceremony usually observed on such occasions. I still have a vivid remembrance of the festive rejoicings that took place at “Auld Reekie”, on the occasion of her Majesty honouring it with a visit. While there Her Majesty took up her abode at Holyrood Palace. It was her practice every morning during her stay to take a private walk in the suburbs. One morning she met an old Scotch woman advancing towards the Palace to offer poultry and eggs for sale, which she carried in a basket. Her Majesty stopped her, and, ascertaining the price of the articles, she bought the whole, to the great astonishment of the old dame, asking her, at the same time, if she ever tried to sell her produce at the Palace. The old woman replied in the affirmative, and added, “And unco weel they knaw how to mak a gude bargain! Bless ye, a puir body like me may well try t’ get bluid fra a post as try t’ get muckle from them.” Her Majesty smiling then slipped a sovereign into her hand, when the old dame exclaimed, “Aw canna brake this in twa, as I hae na got either sixpence or bawbee!” “Never mind,” said her Majesty, “keep the whole”. The old woman glad to meet with so generous a customer, then warmly thanked the Queen, and inquired where she was to take the articles. “Take them to the Palace,” was the answer, “and say her Majesty has bought them.” On amazement, and lifting her hands she exclaimed, “Bless me, bless me, wha wad a’ thought it, and are ye Missis Albert?”

By the 1860s he was an insurance agent and corn merchant. In his book on Saltburn, in 1864, he advertised, John Farndale. Corn Agent, Commission Agent and Agent. To the London General Plate Glass Assurance Company, capital £10,000. Yorkshire Fire and Life Assurance Company, capital £500,000. Norfolk Farmers Livestock Assurance Company, capital £500,000. And Accidental Death Assurance Company, capital £100,000. 20 Park Row, Stockton on Tees.

John Farndale was a witness to the Will of his sister, Anna Phillips (nee Farndale), in which he was recorded as a Corn Merchant. The Will of Anna Phillips late of Stokesley in the county of York deceased who died 22 November 1867 at Stokesley aforesaid was proved at York by the oath of John Farndale of Stockton upon Tees in the County of Durham Corn Merchant the sole Executor.

By 1868, John Farndale was in business with a man named Burlinson. An advertisement on 17 October 1868 appeared for

On 9 May 1868, to be sold by public auction at the Talbot Hotel, in Stockton, in the county of Durham, on Thursday, the 21st May, 1868, at six o’clock in the Evening, in the following or such other lots as may be agreed upon at the time of sale, and subject to such conditions as shall then be produced. Message Henderson and Hornby, Auctioneers, Lot 2 comprised All that copyhold Dwelling House, situate and being No 5, in Queen Street, Stockton, with the outbuildings and appurtenances, now in the occupation of Mr John Farndale.

In another advertisement on 30 January 1869 for Gypsum Manure or Sulphate of Lime

On 24 December 1869, they advertised, Important to Builders, Contractors and others. Portland and Light Roman Cements and Plaster of Paris are manufactured of first rate and warranted quality, at the Cleveland Cement and Plaster Works, South Stockton by Burlinson and Farndale. Also dealers in Lathes (Patent & Rivers), Cement and Marble Chimney Pieces (of every design and size) of first class finish, at most reasonable prices. Goods of their manufacture. Carriage paid in two ton lots. Price lists and terms on application. Sample orders promptly executed.

John and his business partner, Burlinson, seem to have been in financial difficulty again by 1870. A very large number of similar advertisements appeared in newspapers in 1869 and 1870. Sales by Auction. South Stockton. To Farmers, Manure Manufacturers and Others. Messrs Pybus and Son will Sell by Auction under a distress for rent, on the premises lately occupied by Messrs Burlinson, Farndale and Co, South Stockton, on Wednesday, January 26, 1870, about 50 tons of gypsum, in lots to suit purchases. Sale to commence at three o’clock in the afternoon prompt.

A Report of the Stockton Board of Health on 29 July 1870 ordered, Gentlemen, I beg to report that the levelling, paving, flagging, and channelling of George Street, King Street, and Thorpe Street have been completed, and I lay before you the amount of apportionment incurred by the Board amongst the several owners off premises fronting, adjoining, or abutting there on, as under, viz... Thorpe Street …John Farndale £3 8s 8 ¾ d.

A notice appeared on 24 October 1870 for non payment of rents. Messrs Burlinson and Farndale did not answer to a summons charging them with non payment of poor rate amounting £2 10s 10d. An order for the amount and costs was made, in default distress.

By 1871 John Farndale was continuing to work as an insurance broker, and was living on his own in Stokesley. The 1871 Census for 49 Back Lane, Stokesley listed John Farndale, a widower, aged 79, insurance agent living with Joseph Blackburn, his grandson, aged 9. Joseph Blackburn was the son of his daughter Elizabeth nee Farndale and Joseph Doutwaite Blackburn.

In 1873, he left Stockton to return to Kilton. On 21 February 1873, Back Lane, Stokesley. Mr Watson, of Guisborough, is instructed by Mr John Farndale, who is leaving the place to sell by auction, on Saturday, February 22nd, 1873, the following modern household furniture and effects: Eight days Clock in Mahogany case, Half chest of Mahogany Drawers, four Mahogany Chairs and one Arm ditto, pianoforte, Mahogany Desk and Drawers, Centre Table, 2 Oak Tables, Weather Glass, American Clock, four Kitchen Chairs and cushions, Secretaire and Bookcase, Camp Bedstead and mattress, Iron Bedstead and mattresses, Iron bedstead and mattress, Prime feather Bed, bolster and pillows, blankets, sheets, counterpanes, oak Washstand and Chamber service, Carpets, Druggets, Ma’s, Pier Glass, Dressing glasses, Stair carpets, and Brass rods, fenders and fire irons, several engravings, Rollin’s Ancient History, Wesley’s works, Fletchers works, Benson's commentary on the scriptures, Josephus on the History of the Jews, and a variety of other valuable works, Kitchen table with bottle rack attached, tea and breakfast services, plates and dishes, scales and weights, small anvil, garden tools, and a quantity of sacks and bags. The house to be let, and may be viewed on application to Mr F B Martin, and possession given immediately after the sale. Sale punctually at one o’clock. Cleveland sale offices, Guisborough, Redcar, and Stokesley.

John’s Works

By 1861, alongside his agency work, John Farndale was writing. A review of his Guide to Saltburn by the Sea appeared in the Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser on 21 Drecember 1861. Review. A Guide to Saltburn-by-the-Sea by John Farndale. The writer of this little book of some thirty pages is a native of Kilton, an adjoining village to Saltburn, and as a great part of the contents refers to this little village the book should be called “the history of Kilton, near Saltburn by the sea,” of which latter place he had said little, for what can be said of a place till lately scarcely heard of beyond its own fields. It is to become a noted place, for he informs his readers that a hotel is being built to cost £31,000, building sites are freely offered, and a building society is ready to advance money on easy terms to any person desirous of speculating in bricks and mortar. The description he gives of the surrounding country represents some fine scenery of hill and dale; wood and water, which must tend to make Saltburn by the Sea attractive to visitors. The writer of the “Guide” makes no pretensions to authorship, and presents his readers with a sermon at the end, occupying about a third of the book.

Hmm, a bit harsh perhaps.

Although he wrote, I only profess to commit to paper a few thoughts as they spring up in my mind, but what I relate may probably reduce the reader to seek other works for further information; my only wish at present being to draw public attention to this most interesting district in Cleveland, which has hitherto been little known, comparing modern with things in times of old, John was a prolific writer and also attempted some poetry of a flowery Victorian character.

Another review on 4 September 1863 commented on the second edition of John’s Saltburn book, and the reception was more encouraging. This little book has now reached a second edition, which we think rather extraordinary. The author makes no pretensions to a literary production, but has compiled an amusing book, and given a description of Saltburn and the surrounding country in his quaint manner. Having been born on a farm in the neighbourhood, and lived to be an old man, he has called up memories of the departed who had figured their little day unseen and unknown beyond the village or farm. The book contains a map of Saltburn, and the country round, with a plan of the intended town, and a view of Zetland Hotel. To most our of our readers in this in the distance, Saltburn by the Sea is a name almost unknown. The Stockton and Darlington railway company have made a line from Redcar to an out of the way place which possesses some extraordinary natural appearances and fine sea beach. Here they have erected a very spacious hotel to the east of some £30,000. A plan of the town has been laid out, and several houses have been erected, with the intention of making the place a summer resort for sea bathers. The author of the guide has described the roads around the intended town's drives for visitors, and has given matters matter which will afford amusement to the readers. At present Saltburn contains but few buildings, but every inducement is offered to encourage persons to build. The place is very is a very pleasant one and may someday become a town when this little book will be in demand.

On 10 March 1863 John Farndale had written some verse on the marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, which he presented to the Royal Household and which was acknowledged and forwarded to Sir Charles Phipps the verses, &c., of Mr John Farndale, which were sent by you for presentation to the Queen.

The verse he wrote was as follow.

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, England’s boast – a Nation’s pride, Son of the most beloved Prince, Welcome to England they bride.

Hail! – blest Princess of the Danes,- All hail! – Denmark’s sweetest rose; Albert, - Alexandria, - hail, - In joy, and peace t’ repose.

Blow ye breezes, soft and fair, Let old Neptune sweetly smile, Bring the precious freight he bears To Old England’s happy Isle.

Long live Queen Victoria, Long, long live the Royal Pair, Long live each, Prince and Princess. In this, or other lands to share.

It seemed to go down well and on 22 April 1863, Sir Charles Phipps wrote to John Farndale, Sir George Grey has forwarded me your letter, with accompanying verses, &c. I have had the honour to present the latter to Her Majesty the Queen, by whom they have been graciously accepted.

Once widowed, Queen Victoria had effectively withdrawn from public life. Shortly after Prince Albert's death, she arranged for Edward, later Edward VII, to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Istanbul. The British Government wanted Edward to secure the friendship of Egypt's ruler, Said Pasha, to prevent French control of the Suez Canal if the Ottoman Empire collapsed. It was the first royal tour on which an official photographer, Francis Bedford, was in attendance. As soon as Edward returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement, which was sealed at Laeken in Belgium on 9 September 1862. Edward married Alexandra of Denmark at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 10 March 1863. He was 21 and she was 18.

The marriage of the Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, took place in St George's Chapel, Windsor. Thomas was commissioned to paint the official picture.

By 1864, John was acknowledged as an author. He wrote a fourth edition to his small guidebook about Saltburn by the Sea in 1864, calling Saltburn but an embryo, but he complimented the Improvement Company, noting that they already made substantial progress as already the hand of improvement has effected a revolution at this place. The critics in September 1864 described the fourth edition as enlarged and with Additional Rambles, and an interesting brief supplement on the science of the animal, vegetable, and mineral Kingdom in the Cleveland district. May be had of all booksellers, Messrs Webster and Smith, High Street; And the author, John Farndale, 20 Park Row, Stockton.

I

n 1870 John wrote The History of the Ancient Hamlet of Kilton-in-Cleveland, also called The Returned Emigrant, by John Farndale and a further edition of A Guide to Saltburn by Sea. The Returned Emigrant was written anonymously by a returning traveller. It is not immediately apparent who this is, as it starts to be written in the third person. The text records that the Returned Emigrant was born in 1787. That was not the year of John Farndale’s birth, who was born in 1791. There are no Farndale born on that date who might have fitted a description of the Returned Emigrant, who also tells of his travels to America. John did not travel overseas as far as we know, but this was a time of emigration and his brother Matthew Farndale had emigrated to Australia in 1853 and his son, John George Farndale, after fighting in the Crimean War, emigrated to Ontario in 1870, the same year of publication. So it is not difficult to see why he may have written in the name of a person returned from an overseas adventure. The text writes extensively of the Farndales, as well as about Kilton. There is little doubt that the author was John Farndale. Although the text starts to be written in the third person, of the experience of the Returned Emigrant, it later turns to the first person. It adopts significant similarities in the language to the History of Saltburn. In the text in the first person it also repeats poetry which was written by John Farndale in his History of Saltburn, for instance the O Why did I ever leave home poem in this piece was lifted directly from a longer poem authored by John Farndale in his History of Saltburn.

John’s works have been transcribed separately and his record of the transition to a new industrial Age is summarised in Act 17.

A high minded squabble between two authors

In 1865 there was an extraordinary squabble between two authors, John Farndale, and a man named William White Collins Seymour, a well-known figure in Middlesbrough in the 1860s, who published a number of pamphlets deriding members of the Middlesbrough Corporation. William White Collins Seymour accused John of writing a defamatory work about him, probably titled Goliah is dead, advertised by a pamphlet which allegedly declared Shortly will be published the Life of the notorious Seymour, and then assaulted him in Stockton.

On 13 April 1865 there was a squabble between rival authors. At the Stockton Police Court, on Thursday, William W C Seymour, quack doctor, of Middlesbrough, author of “Who’s Who?”, “The Gridiron”, and “other “popular works” was charged with an assault on John Farndale, author of “A Guide to Saltburn by the Sea” and an unpublished work, to be designated “Goliah is Dead”.

The plaintiff, in narrating his complaint, said that defendant, a person to whom he had never spoke in his life, and with whom he had no connection whatever, assailed him on the previous day in the Market place. He used the most abusive language to him, charged him with being the author of a certain handbill entitled “Shortly will be published, the Life of the notorious Seymour”, and alleged also that he had been actively employed in circulating copies of that bill. Exasperated by the language which defendant had used he, (plaintiff) did call him a “wicked brute” when he (defandant) lifted his foot and kicked him behind (Laughter). The kick was a severe one; in fact it had inflicted a wound (Great Laughter). He had undergone a medical examination that morning, and intended to be examined again (Roars of laughter).

Defendant then addressed the magistrates at considerable length, premising that the charge was of such a paltry description that he had not thought it necessary to avail himself of professional assistance. He then proceeded to say that he had at one time been brought before the magistrates for using the language of an eminent statesman; the next day for reading Thomas Hood’s lyrics; a third time for calling a man a cobbler; and that day for inflicting a serious injury upon that eminent and distinguished, that moral and pious man, John Farndale. He then proceeded to enumerate his own publications – “Who’s Who” &c; stated that complainant, who was John Dunning’s protégé, had charged him with giving 2s for a dishonoured bill of a Middlesbrough magistrate; had circulated placards professing to give his (defendant’s) history in connection with certain electioneering matters in the county of Warwick, charging him with seducing a publican’s daughter, with sending his son away to die in a foreign land, &c. So far as electioneering matters were concerned, everything was fair, from kissing a man’s wife to knocking him down; but as regards the other charges they were totally unfounded, and while what he wrote was public property, parties who commented upon it must adhere to the truth. As regarded the assault, complainant first laid his hands upon his shoulders and called him a blackguard, and he then raised his foot, but did not strike complainant. Complainant called him a liar, and that was a monosyllable he would not submit to from any man in the country; neither would he suffer those who were dear to him to be held up to public ridicule by a contemptible nondescript like that.

Complainant “wished to say a dozen lines” but was told the case was closed.

The magistrates, by a majority, decided to inflict a penalty of 5s and 11s costs, the Mayor observing that but for the provocation the penalty would have been heavier.

William White Collins Seymour could not resist the final word. I bow to the bench. Such things generally prove a very excellent investment and are returned a hundredfold. Having paid his fine, he left the court, observing that a great statesman had said that there were only two ways of dealing with a rogue – one was a whip and the other something else. The Mayor said that might be so; but it should not be adopted if other means could be used.

William WC Collins was the author of The Evil Genius of Middlesbrough or Town Council Decadence. An epistle to Gabey Tyke and Who’s Who. How is Middlesbrough Ruled and Governed, 1864 and The Middlesbrough Pillory or Tommy ticket’s Disqualification for a magistrate with a satirical epistle to King Randolph on Brute Force, 1965.

Perhaps as a fellow authors in the same area at the same time, the two struck up a rivalry.

John’s last years in Kilton

On his 84th birthday, in 1874, he wrote his Memoirs when he said he was in good health.

He seems to have retained some interest in his old life in Stockton, for in May 1877 he intervened to prevent a domestic assault. On Saturday James Moss, Taylor, was brought up charged with assaulting his wife, Elizabeth, on the preceding day. Prosecutrix stated that her husband arrived home about three o’clock in the afternoon in a state of drunkenness, and after abusing her followed her into a neighbour’s house on the gallery, where he assaulted her. Prisoner was further charged with being drunk and disorderly at the magistrate clerks office at the same time. Mr Jennings, deputy magistrates clerk, deposed to the prisoner’s wife entering the office for protection followed by her husband, who made a great disturbance and attracted a crowd of people. Mr Farndale forcibly ejected him, when he pulled his coat off and wanted to fight. He was very drunk at the time. For assaulting his wife he was fined 10s 6d and 9s 6d costs, or in default of payment a month imprisonment; And for the second charge fined 5S and 4S6D costs, or seven days imprisonment.

The by then octogenarian seemed up for a fight or two in his old age.

He had returned to Kilton to live out his final years, and his son Charles Farndale was with him when he died of senile debility, aged 86 on 28 January 1878. He was buried at Brotton Old Churchyard on 31 January 1878. January 28th, at Kilton, aged 86 years, Mr John Farndale.

His gravestone reads In memory of Martha the wife of John Farndale who died 6th December 1839 aged 39 years. Emma their daughter on the 18th aged 18 days. Verse. (now unreadable). Also the above John Farndale who died 28th January 1878 aged 86 years, loved and respected. Thou hast been my Defence and Refuge in the Days of my thoughts.

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or

Go straight to Act 17 – John Farndale and the Industrial Revolution

Go straight to Saltburn by the Sea, Victorian new town

Go straight to Act 15 – The Lost Village of Kilton

You can read the Works of John Farndale.

The webpage of John Farndale includes research notes and a chronology.