After the daughters …
Richard and Ann Daykin’s (nee Clemenson) youngest son, Henry Frederick Daykin was born in the June Qtr.1852 (Ref.Basford 7b 102) and had moved with his parents to live in Little Hallam. He succeeded in his academic career from those early days as a “pupil teacher” in the 1871 census to being a “schoolmaster” by the time of the 1881 census. These simple descriptors of his profession actually belie his true integrity, distinguished career and success in education at the British School where he had a long attachment, becoming its headmaster after Mr. Wright Lissett resigned in 1873.
The re-opening of the British School in Ilkeston attracted much publicity in 1874, when it was stated that… “ Mr. Lisset’s successor to the headship of the British School would be Mr. Fred Daykin, second son of Mr. Richard Daykin, who was for many years one of the superintendents of the Old Cricket Ground Chapel Sunday School, Mr. Samuel Carrier being his colleague”…
According to a notice in the “Ilkeston Telegraph” dated January 3rd 1874
… “NOTICE ! REOPENING OF THE BRITISH SCHOOL
THE COMMITTEE are thoroughly Repairing, Cleaning and Painting the above schools, and the public are informed that they shall be Reopened ON MONDAY January 5th 1874. Mr. H.F. Daykin has been appointed Master, and it is hoped all the old scholars shall be in attendance that day.
W.N.CROCKETT, secretary”…
And so on Monday January 5th 1874 the British School was reopened, but not before it had been thoroughly cleaned and re-coloured by Henry Clemerson, painter and decorator of South Street – one door below the Post Office!!
Youngest child of Little Hallam joiner Richard Daykin and Ann (nee Clemerson), Henry Frederick Daykin had been appointed as its Headmaster, and upwards of 150 scholars attended. And at the end of that year the report on the school by Her Majesty’s Inspector showed it to be… “in an excellent state of efficiency”… reflecting well on the hard work of its master.
The corresponding report in 1875 offered similar encouragement to the school: … “the Infant classes are very well taught, and a large amount of very good standard preparation was observed, especially in the lower classes. The order is very good, the children being quiet at their work and smart in their movements”…
One thing that may have contributed to their “smartness”?
… “I remember a boy being kept in school after hours for inattention to his lessons. Geography had been the subject, the particular portion of which was related to the rivers. “Now tell me” said Mr. Daykin to the boy, “the name of a river running through Ilkeston”.
“Potter’s Cut”, promptly replied the boy, and he as promptly received a cut from the cane for his answer”… – (Sheddie Kyme) — Sheddie Kyme was a pseudonym for John Neal, who wrote a series of articles printed in the “Ilkeston Pioneer” in 1908 under the title, “Reminiscences of Ilkeston”. John Neal was the son of stationary engine driver John and Ann (nee Farnsworth) and had been born in Club Row in 1864, but left Ilkeston in 1883 for Newark then Lincolnshire where he worked as a compositor.
In January 1876 Henry Frederick received his… “certificate for the first division of the first class”… from the Education Department together with a testimony that he… “maintains good discipline, and both by his manner and his intelligence is fitted for his post”… He was then aged 23.
Sheddie Kyme recalls that the principle teachers under headmaster Henry Frederick were… “Arthur William Higgitt, born in 1859, the son of Bath Street tailor, Elijah and his first wife Elizabeth (nee Daykin). At the end of 1875 as a pupil teacher, he gained… “a first class honours in the late examination”… He made a career in education and later became headmaster at Chaucer Street Board School (mixed), erected in 1889, and then Gladstone Street School (mixed), erected in 1897. His home by then was at “Chistlehurst” in Nottingham Road”…
… “Arthur Henry Moon, born in 1862 at Mapperley, only son of grocer and chemist George and Eliza Eleanor (nee Daykin)…”
There appears to be a degree of nepotism surrounding the “British School” and its masters, as well as the painting contractor who undertook the refurbishment; Henry Frederick Daykin, headmaster, had Arthur William Higgitt, one of his brother-in-laws youngest sons, also Arthur Henry Moon, another brother-in-laws only child as masters; Henry’s mother, Anne (nee Clemerson) happened to be painter and decorator Henry Clemerson’s brother, whose daughter Mary Ann Clemerson became Elijah Higgitt’s second wife!!!
There were to be further accolades from various professional bodies bestowed on Henry Frederick Daykin, such as this from the “Derby Mercury” – Wednesday 12 June 1878… “The Chairman said the School Attendance Committee had done a good work in taking the census of the children in the town, which showed a deficiency of school accommodation for nearly 1,000 children.- The Rev. W. Shakespeare (Unitarian) paid a high compliment to Mr. Daykin, the master of the school, for the energy and zeal displayed by him in conducting the school, and said that his appointment had more than justified the most sanguine expectations of the committee.- Mr. Daykin, in proposing a vote of thanks to the chairman, said he and his teachers had worked hard in the school, and if they had been successful in teaching kindness, diligence, and punctuality to the children, they were satisfied with their reward. Songs and recitations were given at intervals, and the meeting closed by singing “God Save the Queen.”…
According to a report in “The Pioneer” in 1893 Henry Frederick’s career was described from when he came direct from college to the headmastership of the school, after it had been closed some months, and retained that position after the school was taken over by the School Board. His tenure was an apparent success story and … “For the last 13 years (up to 1893), without a single break the highest award of “excellent” has been yearly obtained; the Government inspector this year awarded the “excellent” merit grant without examination, as a compliment to the extraordinary success which the school has obtained for so many years”…
Henry Frederick was also the teacher of the Art class under the Technical Instruction Committee and outside of school he was a Freemason and a member of the Congregational Church, identifying himself with the Christian Endeavour Society and the PSA (Pleasant Sunday Afternoon) Movement.
Henry married a lady by the name of Annie Mary Bunting in the September quarter of 1876 (Ref. Basford 7b 225). Annie was born on June 13th 1855 (Ref. Basford 7b 92), the only child of pork butcher George Bunting and his first wife Ann Limbert, who he’d married on the 16th November 1853 in St. Mary’s Nottingham (Ref. Nottingham 7b 367).
The birth was reported in the first new edition (following the Newspaper Stamp Duty Tax being repealed) of the (now) weekly “Ilkeston News” on Saturday 30th June 1855… “On June 13th a daughter to butcher George Bunting and his wife Ann (Limbert) of East Street”…
According to information on the website “www.oldilkeston.co.uk” on 28/8/2013 the Buntings were supposedly quite comfortably well off, as a row of cottages in Ilkeston, known as Chain Row, was bought by George Bunting… “Pork Butcher of East Street” …in 1860. Chain Row was a group of seven houses erected in the 1830’s or 1840’s by William Beardsley, farmer and colliery agent of Shipley, on the site of a group of older buildings on the north side of Derby Road, between South Street and Albert Street. As the name implies, they were remembered by an old inhabitant, Adeline Wells, who wrote letters to the “Ilkeston Advertiser” during the late 1920’s and 1930’s, describing her memories of Ilkeston during her childhood, as being… “cottages having iron posts, and ornamental chains before their doors, but these got ill-treated, and they gradually disappeared”…
It is understood that these cottages eventually became the property of Ann Bunting (nee Limbert). Ann Limbert had been christened on the 1st July 1821 at St. Mary’s Nottingham to William and Ann Limbert (nee Tow) (Ref. C04487-3; 504071).
George Bunting (Jnr.) was the son of George Bunting (Snr.), a calico weaver, and Hannah Gamble and had been born at Steeplehouse near Wirksworth on the 20th December 1812 and christened on the 17th January 1813 at Wirkswoth, Derbyshire (Ref. C05949-1; 428955.
George Bunting (Snr.) had been born in Mugginton Derbys. and christened in 1779 to Thomas and Mary Bunting (nee Harrison) (Ref. J05561-2; f. 1041448; 2: iZ21DW1) . Thomas Bunting had married Mary Harrison on the 3rd of November 1775 at St. Peter’s Church, Derby (Ref. 2082436; 004454193).
George Bunting (Snr.) married Hannah B. Gamble on the 21st September 1806 in Duffield (Ref. f. 1041430; d. 004452020. Hannah had been christened on the 18th June 1786 in Ashover Derbys. to Stephen and Alice Gamble (nee Walker) Ref. C73819-1; f. 1041018). Hannah’s father, Stephen Gamble had been christened in Wirksworth on the 17th September 1762, where his father’s name had been given as Joseph Gamble, and he married Alice Walker in 1786 in Ashover (Ref. M13903-1; f. 1041018; 2:3Z8GTDM).
George Bunting (Jnr.) married Ann Limbert, daughter of lacemaker William and Ann (nee Tow??) on the 16th of November 1853, but she sadly died on June 3rd 1863 age 44 (Ref. Basford 7b 66), leaving him with his daughter Annie age just 8 years. George, however, was re-married the following year in the March quarter of 1864 to Mary Ann Gaskill Doxey (Ref. Nottingham 7b 314), the daughter of baker, later warehouseman, milliner and property owner Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Gaskill). Mary Ann Gaskill Doxey was born in Nottingham and christened on the 18th March 1834 in St. Mary’s Nottingham.
Two of Mary Ann Gaskill Doxey’s younger sisters, Harriett and Miriam Doxey had set up a “Dames School” in Bath Street in 1859 or 1860 before moving to Albion House in 1868, and were still there in 1875 when Miriam married book-keeper Edward Wood and moved to Bulwell. Two years later, in January 1877, sister Harriett moved into a large upstairs room in Wilton Place where she was teaching a dozen pupils and charging 12 to 18 shillings per quarter. Catholics, Baptist and Methodists had set up their own Sunday schools, but some children might also be taught in “Dames Schools”, so called because many of their teachers were old woman.
The three Doxey sisters, Elizabeth, Harriett and Miriam had apparently also set up a drapery and millinery business in the former school premises on Bath Street, which later became a public house after the sisters moved into one of Joseph Carrier’s recently constructed dwellings, where the three ladies were colloquially referred to as Misses Harriett, Lizzie and Minnie Doxey.
George (Jnr.) and Mary Ann Bunting (nee Doxey) are believed to have had at least five children together, although the first two, both sons, died in infancy. William Gaskill Bunting was born in the March quarter 1865 (Ref. Basford 7b 113) but died the same year on August 24th 1865 age 7 months (Ref. Basford 7b 59). The second son born in the March quarter 1866 was also named William G. (Ref. Basford 7b 120), but he died a year later on 10th March 1867 age 13 months (Ref. Basford 7b 430).
In the 1871 census for Market Place, East Side, Ilkeston, George Bunting is head of the household, age 52, born 1819; his second wife, Mary A. age 38, born 1833; and the daughter from his first marriage, Annie, age 15, and the children from his second marriage; Elizabeth Gaskill age 3, born in the June quarter 1867 (Ref. Basford 7b 430); George Neville age 2, born in the September quarter 1868 (Ref. Basford 7b 116), and a servant, Sarah Purdy, age 24, born 1847; all the household were born in Derbyshire.
The 1881 census reveals a confusing family relationship as George Bunting, 47, a farmer (Driffield Derbyshire), and Mary A. 47, along with their niece, Gertrude, age 7, a scholar born in Spondon, are now lodgers with brother/sister-in-law Joseph Smith, 53, his wife Sarah, 49, and their children; Joseph, 23; Edith, 21; Kate, 20; Ethel, 18; and Norman, 15, living at 4 Forest Road East, Nottingham St. Mary.
In the 1891 census for 3 Trent Junction Cottages, Trafalgar Square, Long Eaton, George is now 76, a retired farmer (Derby Shottel), Mary A. is 55, but Gertrude Bunting is now listed as their daughter, age 25, a Silk Lace Mender, born Kirk Hallam. The household is completed by a boarder, Annie Taylor (single), 25, another Silk Lace Mender, born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
George Bunting died at 14, Friar Street, Long Eaton in January 1892, aged 68 (Ref. Shardlow 7b 331), and in December of that same year, and from the same address, one of his daughters of his second marriage, Elizabeth Gaskill Bunting, married Kneesall-born farmer William Mosely (Ref. Shardlow 7b 876). George’s widow, and second wife, Mary Ann Bunting (nee Doxey) is believed to have died in the June quarter of 1901, age 67 (Ref. Nottingham 7b 232).
Henry Frederick and Annie Daykin (nee Bunting) had three known children; Margaret Ann, born June quarter 1879 (Ref. Basford 7b 145), Albert Henry, born March quarter 1818 (Ref. Basford 7b 135) and Bernard, born March quarter 1887 (Ref. Basford 7b 136), although (according to the 1911 census) there was a fourth child born but never survived infancy.
Apart from Henry Frederick’s success in his profession, he also became a prominent member of Ilkeston’s civic society with regular mentions in the local press;- … “Derby Daily Telegraph – Wednesday 6 July 1887… TOWN COUNCIL.- The monthly meeting of the above council took place on Tuesday, the Mayor (Alderman F. Sudbury) presiding. The other members present were -… The Town Clerk (Mr. Wright-Lissett) reported that Messrs. W. Smith and A. B. Wood had been elected revising assessors for the borough, and that they had respectively appointed Mr. H. F. Daykin and Mr. Wm. Frost to act as their deputies in case of necessity”…
… “Derby Daily Telegraph – Saturday 30 July 1887. ILKESTON BUILDING SOCIETY.- The thirty-fourth annual meeting of the shareholders of the Ilkeston Permanent Benefit Building Society was held in the Town Hall, Ilkeston, on Thursday evening. Mr. E. Higgitt in the chair…the retiring directors were Messrs. E. Higgitt, H. F. Daykin, and R. B. Daykin, and they were all re-elected”…
… “Derby Mercury – Wednesday 31 August 1887… FREEMASONRY.- On Tuesday evening the members of the Rutland Lodge of Freemasons entertained the members of the Mundy Grove Lodge, Shipley, at dinner… About sixty guests sat down to dinner, the presidential chair being occupied by the W. M. of the Rutland Lodge, Bro. H. F. Daykin”…
… “Derby Daily Telegraph – Thursday 14 March 1889…CIVIC FESTIVITIES AT ILKESTON. PRESENTATION TO THE EX-MAYOR…On Wednesday night there was a large gathering in the Town Hall, Ilkeston, upon the occasion of a complimentary dinner to the first Mayor of the town, Ald. Sudbury… and there were among the guests present… H. F. Daykin”…
… “Derby Daily Telegraph – Thursday 25 April 1889…ILKESTON LODGE OF MARK MASTER MASONS.- The anniversary of the Ilkeston Lodge (No 373) of Mark Masters took place yesterday (Wednesday) evening at the lodge room in the Rutland Hotel, and passed off most successfully… Brother Fletcher subsequently appointed his officers in the following order… Br. H. F. Daykin…Later in the evening the brethren dined together, Host Daykin providing an admirable report”…
By the time of the 1891 census on the 5th April Henry Frederick and his family had moved to live at number 28 Little Hallam Road Ilkeston, where he is listed as a 38 year old School Master living with his wife, Annie M. and their children; Maggie, 12; Albert, 10, Bernard, 4; all scholars born in Ilkeston. As well as his children he also had his nephew lodging with him, 28 year old Arthur N. Moon, born Maperly, who himself was a School Master, the only child of Henry Frederick’s eldest sister Eliza and her husband George Moon. There was also another lodger, a School Mistress from Bridport, 25 year old Rose S. Whittle (both lodgers listed as “single”). The last member of the household was Matilda Searles, a 36 year old (married) Domestic Servant from Ipswich.
There were further reports in the press regarding Henry Frederick’s professional successes;-
… “Derby Mercury – Wednesday 22 April 1891… With regard to the letter inviting the appointment of delegates to attend the congress on hygiene and demography, to be held in London, in August, which letter had been sent by command of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, your committee recommend that Councilors… be appointed delegates to attend such congress on behalf of the Council… H. F. Daykin, British School, Ilkeston, £5 10s.”…
… “Derby Mercury – Wednesday 8 July 1891… PRESENTATION TO A SCHOOLMASTER.- On Thursday, to commemorate the termination of Mr. H. F. Daykin’s headmastership of the British School, and the commencement of his services in a similar capacity now that the schools have been turned over to the School Board, a presentation was made to him by the scholars, teachers, and subscribers. Mr. H. Jackson performed the ceremony, the presents consisting of a marble timepiece with candelabra, and a hand-painted silver-mounted matchbox”…
Sadly, Henry Frederick Daykin could only savour his success for a couple of more years after this census as he died on December 16th 1893 (Ref. Basford 7b 89), and was buried in Park Cemetery, Ilkeston in grave number 4962 on December 20th 1893, the grave being purchase by his widow Annie Mary Daykin on December 18th. The grave had a green granite cross and kerb set memorial surrounding it.
There was an epitaph written some years later in 1929 in the
“Ilkeston Advertiser” presumably by a journalist as it is credited to “Tilkestune”, which gives a glowing synopsis of the man.
“Tilkestune” remembered Henry Frederick as a man of much… “internal and external energy, who was worn out in the middle of life and succumbed to a lung infection. In November of 1893, aged 41, he contracted pneumonia which a few weeks later triggered a fatal septicaemia infection. This was all the more sad because owing to the recurring high standard of efficiency in his school, he received a Government appointment as school inspector. He, however, died before he could start on his new duties”…
He was buried in Park Cemetery on December 22nd… “a Wednesday afternoon of bitterly cold inclement weather”…
According to the National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration)… “Daykin Henry Frederick of Little Hallam Ilkeston Derbyshire schoolmaster died 16 December 1893 Probate London 8 January to Annie Mary Daykin widow and John Llewellyn schoolmaster Effects £553 14s. 7d. resworn February 1894 £598 19s. 7d.”…
Following Henry Frederick’s death, his widow Annie M. Daykin moved to live in Nottingham with her children, and is recorded in the 1901 census on the 31st March as living at 42 Pym Street in Nottingham, as a 45 year old Widow, along with her daughter, 22 year old Margaret A. Daykin, who had followed her late father into education, working as a Teacher, and her eldest son Albert H. who had chosen a mechanical career and was now a 20 year old Engine Steam Fitter. They were still apparently a family of substance as they employed a 15 year old servant called Mabel M. Bowen, who, like all the children came from Ilkeston. The extended household included two visitors, 19 year old Beatrice I. Robinson and 32 year old Frederick Gould.
Annie also had her 34 year old younger sister Elizabeth Mosley (nee Bunting) and her 3 year old daughter (Annie’s niece) Kathleen A. Mosley visiting. Elizabeth was actually Annie’s stepsister, born to Annie’s father’s second wife, Mary Ann Gaskill (nee Doxey) in the June quarter of 1867 (Ref. Basford 7b 430) who had married William Moseley in the December quarter of 1892 (Ref. Shardlow 7b 876). Elizabeth Mosley (nee Bunting) had taken her mother’s middle name of “Gaskill”.
Annie Mary Daykin, Frederick’s widow was re-married in the September quarter of 1905 at Kirk Hallam (Ref Shardlow 7b 897) to widower and Land Estate Agent, John Vaughan Robinson. John was born in the December quarter of 1854 (Ref. Northampton 3b 56), the son of Joseph (1831-1903) and Zillia Robinson (nee Vaughan) (1830-1891), and had married Lizzie Elliot on November 11th 1876 (Ref. Northampton 3b 178).
John and Lizzie Robinson (nee Elliot) are believed to have had four children together prior to Lizzie’s death:- John Henry Woodford Robinson (1878), Sophie Alice (1880), Beatrice Irene (1882) and Percy Henry (1899).
Annie Mary’s remarriage to John Vaughan Robinson only lasted four years before he died aged just 53 years in the March quarter 1908 (Ref. Basford 7b 134) and was buried along with her first husband Henry Frederick Daykin on March 28th 1908 in Park Cemetery.
On the 1911 Census for Little Hallam, Annie Mary Robinson (nee Daykin formerly Bunting) was listed as Head of household, age 55 years, a Widow who had been married for five years, had born four children, with only two currently surviving, born in Ilkeston. Living with Annie was her daughter Margaret Ann Daykin, aged 32, Single, a Teacher in an Elementary School, City Council, born in Ilkeston; William Moseley, Brother-in-law, age 62, Married, a Farm Bailiff, born Kneesall, Notts; Kathleen Annie Moseley, Niece, age 13, Single, at School, born Rolleston, Stafford; Ada Nicholson, Servant, Servant, 23, Single, Domestic Service (General) born Nottingham.
The two children of Annie Mary Robinson (nee Daykin) that had died were the unknown infant and her youngest son Bernard, who had died in 1909, (Ref. Basford 7b 91) being buried on April 6th in grave no. 4962 in Park Cemetery alongside his father, Henry Frederick and his mother’s second husband, John Vaughan Robinson.
Annie Mary Robinson (nee Daykin) died March 27th 1919 age 63 years (Ref. Basford 7b 285) and was the last person to be buried in grave number 4962, on March 30th 1919.
The National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration) lists… “ROBINSON Annie Mary of Green Bank Little Hallam Ilkeston Derbyshire widow died 27 March 1919 Probate Derby 16 July to Margaret Ann Daykin spinster and Albert Henry Daykin engineer. Effects £117 6s. 2d.”…
Henry Frederick and Annie Daykin’s (nee Bunting) eldest son, Albert Henry married a lady called Gertrude Blood, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Blood (nee Rice) on the 15th February 1904 at Kirk Hallam (Ref. F.S. b. M001200-3; f. 1752115).
Gertrude Blood had been born on the 28th of February 1880 (Ref. Shardlow 7b 486) and christened on the 26th June 1891 at Kirk Hallam (Ref. C005543-4; f. 1041452 IT; 4-14), the same day as her two sisters, Elizabeth, who had been on the 20th of June 1875 (Ref. Basford 7b 210) and Ellen (Nellie), who had been born in the September quarter of 1878 (Ref. Shardlow 7b 454).
Gertrude Blood’ parents, Thomas and Mary Ann Rice had been married in the September quarter of 1874 (Ref. Shardlow 7b 615), and according to the 1881 census for Peel terrace, Long Eaton, Thomas and Mary Ann Blood lived at the address with their three daughters, Gertrude, age 1, Elizabeth and Ellen.
Henry Frederick and Annie Daykin (nee Blood) are believed to have had three children; Gertrude Mary Daykin, born in the March quarter 1908 in Sheffield (Ref. 9c 634); Thomas Bernard Frederick Daykin, born in April quarter 1910, also at Sheffield (Ref. 9c 602) and according to the “Free BDM” website on 15/9/2013 there was just one child born with the surname of Daykin and the mother’s maiden name of Blood, and that was Albert C. Daykin , born in the March quarter of 1917 in Sheffield (Ref. 9c 991).
Thomas Bernard Frederick Daykin married Elizabeth Betts in the March quarter of 1938 (Ref. Sheffield 9c 735) but was killed in action in World War II and is remembered in Catania War Cemetery… “Private 1658557 1st August 1943 aged 33 of Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment IV.F.50 at CATANIA WAR CEMETERY SICILY, Son of Albert and Gertrude Daykin Totley Rise Yorkshire and husband of Elizabeth Daykin, Totley Rise”…
Henry Frederick and Annie Daykin’s (nee Bunting) daughter, Margaret Ann Daykin never married, and died a spinster on November 11th 1935 aged 57 at Sunbury-place, Sunbury, Middlesex, (Ref. Staines 3a 6) leaving half of her estate to her brother Albert Henry Daykin and the other half to Lucy Ann Green.
According to the National Probate Calendar(Index of Wills and Administrations)… “DAYKIN Margaret Ann of 29 Welby-avenue Nottingham spinster died 11 November 1935 at Sunbury-place, Sunbury Middlesex Probate Nottingham 10 December to Albert Henry Daykin engineer and Lucy Ann Green (wife of George Green). Effects £1,925 5s 6d.”…
Anmd now the elder surviving son, Richard Birch Daykin.
