Old Ilson Quiz … Part 12

In his letter John mentioned that he had received several letters from 'Old Ilkestonians, and quoted from one sent to him by Philip Straw, now living in London. I have been reading a few of the interesting letters .. The first I had the pleasure of reading was dated May 31st (Letter 41) in which you mention several names well known to me. Speaking of the Gibsons (sic) for instance, Jim and Joe. Ought not this to be Tom and Joe ? Tom played the small bass and Joe the fiddle, when I was in the choir (of the Wesleyan Chapel). I am glad you pointed out "Bullock-Edge Nook's" error in speaking of Mr. Freeman being superintendent with Mr. Samuel Carrier. It was probably a printer's error (this was the case, as was Jim instead of Tom),  for no one, I am sure,  could either forget the name or the happy face of Elijah Trueman, a very upright man, who was dearly loved by the scholars 'An Old Scholar' mentions about the stocks being removed in 1842, but Mr. Trueman's History must be wrong in this particular, for I saw someone in them a few years later than that, but could not say who. (As Philip Straw was born in 1842 and if his recollection is correct, then the stocks must have been removed after 1842) Amongst my earliest recollections re our Sunday School in the old Chapel, was being in old Mr. Butt's class, standing on a form, learning letters out of the old letter box; the death of old Mr. Carrier, when the children had buns given to them, and once when I was at a tea-party, and was called out by Mr. S. Carrier to sing some school song, and, in getting up, broke my mug. Mr. Carrier said "Never mind, lad, come and sing so and so, afterwards giving me 6d., saying, "Now go and buy another mug, which I did at John Child's shop fo 4d., and had 2d. to the good. Another thing I remember was when the 'Reform' movement was on, and the head minister of the circuit, the Rev. Mr. Hume, came to the school to turn us out.                                                                                    Question 231. Philip Straw mentions that John Cartwright got the first names of the 'Gibsons' wrong. But ironically he was also guilty of an error !! The family he was writing about was not the 'Gibsons' but the ... who ? Question 232. Who was 'old Mr. Butt' ? Question 233. And who was 'old Mr Carrier' ? Question 234. And in what year was his death ? Question 235. What relation was 'old Mr. Carrier' to Mr. S. Carrier ? Question 236. In what year (approximately) did the Rev. Hume try to impose his authority ? John then continues his letter by describing the background of Phillip Straw ... Mr. Straw will be remembered by many in connection with Messrs. H. Carrier and Sons, of Ilkeston and Nottingham, with whom he passed over 16 years. He now holds a responsible post as manager and traveller to a large Yorkshire firm, whose principal warehouse is in London, and with whom he has spent close on 20 years. He refers to his good old mother ... She is a wonderful woman for 85, having on her last birthday visited Dale Abbey and the West Hallam, where her son ( ...?... ) resides. Question 237. Who were Phillip Straw's parents and where, in Ilkeston, did they live ? Question 238. Which of their sons lived in West Hallam ? Phillip then continues in his own words ... I went to the British School uner Mr. and Mrs. Engle, and Mr. Walton. The latter removed to Derby-road School, Nottingham, afterwards keeping a private school at Grantham ... I remember your (John Cartwright's) father at the mill down Stanton-road -- 'down the lane', as we used to call it. Question 239. Mr. and Mrs. Engle ?? .... another printer's error ... what should the name be ? Question 240. What was the name of Thomas Walton's private school ? Question 241. What was the name of the lane, later to be Stanton Road ? There was a long 'P.S.' for this letter in which John copies from a letter he has received, written in a bit of "Ilson" language. Dear Chappy .... you used to live in a house back oud Sojer Jack, what lived a x o Bobby Burrows in South street afore Wesley Chapel wor built  it is a long time sin and your father used to work a wind mill for Hobson. You had a brother Tom, a bigger chap thasn yo, and he had a badly bout when you lived in that house and you used to go to school up steps o'er oud Froggatt's, and a man as yoused to teache had a peg-leg .... .... And more I remember ... yo used to talk to a lot o girls when yo used to go up steps to school. They was Ruth Gamble, Fanny Lowe, Marina Burgin,  Kezia Leivers, Mar Ann Aldred and Lizzie Milner. You used to go to another school where yo used to talk to gals. After you come out yoused to go to Hilly Holy we some o' them and yo used to talk to Kitty Naylor, Betsy Carrier, Jane Rowley, Liza Ann Severn, Fanny Beardsley &c.  And if its same chap you used to be at Merry's when you catched a woman taeing money out of till. I think you left soon after and I hope you are as well now as yo waz then. Question 242. What house was later built on the site of the windmill where John Cartwright's father, Richard, worked ? Question 243. Where was the school attended by John Cartwright, 'o'er oud Froggatt's' ? Question 244. ... and who was the 'peg-leg teacher' ? Question 245. What was the name of the other school, later attended by John Cartwright ?

I went to the Sunday School near the Old Cricket Ground at the same time that our chief letter writer (Mr. Cartwright); also Job Derbyshire, Henry Straw, William Rice, Thomas Potter, Henry Shaw, Henry McDonald, Frederick Emminson, &c. The superintendents, who have already been named, were Samuel Carrier and Elijah Trueman; and I do not think they have ever been excelled. The teachers were James Chadwick, William Hudson, Joseph Carrier, John Childs, Richard Daykin (who became a superintendent when Elijah Trueman left the town), Wheatley Straw, John Shaw, Samuel Cope, and old Mr. Butt .... a little later on John Neal, Solomon Beardsley, Thomas Wheatley, and James Butt. The last four are still alive. I remember going to school the first Sunday over fifty years ago, and Mr. Butt was the teacher of the infant class where I was put, and I rose from class to class until I was the first in the top Bible class. In after years we had an adult class, and the teacher was the late John Richards. He was about our own age, but far more learned. He was a young man with a great mind. He married Tomison Birch, and died at Heanor a few years ago -- a self-taught man. As regards day school, I was a Pittite, and attended William Pitt's school several years. Question 246. As his name might suggest, what was one of William Pitt's main interests ? Question 247. ... and where was William's school ? In his letter, A Pittite nows takes a walk down Bath Street, from just past the north side of Station Road to Awsworth Road and then on to the Erewash Canal. Most of the following people/families he mentions can be found on the 1841 Census, as you follow his route. When I went to school there were about thirty houses from the corner of Chapel-street (Rice's lane  as we then called it) to Barker's Bridge. I think the first was Wilson's, then Moses Mason's, Twells, Healey's, James Chadwick's, and Richard Straw's. The last named lived in a small house where the Midland Town Station is, and worked the engine belonging to the pit that was nearly opposite the Rutland Hotel. Then there were Dodd's and Molly Chadwick's (who sold ale), then the pinfold, and the pinfold houses. The pinder lived in one. .... The pinfold was opposite Hewitt's factory. The next house was Jenny Penman's, who kept an infant school: then West's, Whitehead's, Thomas Potter ("Drummer Tom" as they called him); the German Burrows. The next house was James Hofton's. The letter ends with a few anecdotes concerning the 1841 General Election and then a story about the Hinds family Question 248. Why was Barker's Bridge so-called ? Question 249. What was the name of the Ilkeston street 'built by the Wilson family' ? Question 250. Molly Chadwick can be found on Middle Lane (Awsworth Road) in the 1840's. Who was her husband ?