COLTON COTTON GREENAWAY GREENWAY GRENAWAY RUTHERFORD TAYLER TAYLOR TIBBURY TILBURY

 
 
 

 
AT LAST

My Very Own Family Skeleton?

or just another brickwall...

My received family mythology includes a Scottish great-grandmother on the TILBURY side:

"Grandmother? Oh ... eh, RUTHERFORD I think it was."

Which, at least, turned out to be correct - when I eventually found her, c.2000.

Lydia RUTHERFORD m. 3Q 1880 Fulham
Robert (b. cert. "Bob") TILBURY

However, I could not find Robert TILBURY and family in the 1881 census (the only one I had access to then). Eventually, after two years of fruitless enquiries within the family, I took an 1881 census 'walk' up and down Faroe Road, Hammersmith, where a Lydia and James RUTHERFORD were living at no. 7 - and discovered my 2gp Robert and wife Lydia living on the other side of Faroe Road at no. 6, and hiding as "TIBBURY". (I was a bit of a newbie then, didn't expect people to change their name.)

1881: 6 Faroe Rd, London, Middlesex [LDS online version]
Robert TIBBURY, Head age 21 b. Hammersmith, Middlesex (Painter)
Lydia TIBBURY, Wife age 21 b. Hammersmith, Middlesex

Having looked at two copies of the "original" record since, one appears to be "TILBURY" - and the other is definitely "TIBBURY".

Circumstance and Probability

My family history budget is of the 'church-mouse' variety and, living in France, I use the Internet for research and contact, rely greatly on the consultable databases (censuses, bmd, document references), have many web-pages in preparation, and work on each as information becomes available.

Another part of the mythology had been The Black Watch, Queen Victoria's bodyguard, Windsor Castle, and horses, so I sat back and waited thinking that with time the origins of Lydia senior and husband James RUTHERFORD would appear. That method failed so, as the censuses came online (in two complementary formats) and FreeBMD progressed, I tried another approach.

Lydia + Hounslow (her birthplace in 1881-1901) + c.1837

The only possible to appear was GRENAWAY. Five baptisms are listed in the IGI:

Father: William GRE(E)NAWAY, Mother: Sarah
- William GREENAWAY b. 10 January, Chr. 20 February, 1822 Isleworth, London
- Benjamin GRENAWAY b. 13 July, Chr. 8 August, 1824 Isleworth, London
- Sarah GREENAWAY b. 6 October, Chr. 10 November, 1826 Isleworth, London
- James GREENAWAY b. 7 July 1831, Chr. 26 August 1832 Isleworth, London
- Lydia GRENAWAY Chr. 17 December 1837 Hounslow, London
Isleworth - All Saints - baptisms: William, father, Labourer
Hounslow - Holy Trinity - baptism: William, father, Horsekeeper
For more information about Isleworth, Hounslow and Heston churches, baptisms (courtesy of Hounslow Local Studies), see "The descendants of James and George Greenaway", link below.

However, Ms. Lydia GREENAWAY appeared to continue through the censuses as just that, then vanish before 1881: no marriage, no death. So, I sat back and waited some more. I thought I had one other clue from my TILBURY family, in a book of Robert Burns' poems:

"H. E. McQUARRIE, Belfast, 1881"
"Oh, that: belonged to a great-aunt - I think."

Whose great-aunt remained unspecified, and whoever knew, they took the knowledge with them to their cremator. H. E. McQ. was just another TILBURY family spectre to haunt my computer night-hours - until I discovered a tiny card notifying the marriage of Emily WATERMAN and Alexander McQUARRIE. Effectively Emily was a great-aunt - Millie TAYLOR's (wife of Arthur TILBURY)!

In near despair of discovering my 2gm Lydia RUTHERFORD's origins, a couple of years further on again, I went back and still found only Ms. Lydia GREENAWAY as a possible 3gm, so, thanks to a few days' freebie from Ancestry, explored her family.

I didn't find them in 1841, and by 1851 mother Sarah GREENAWAY was a widow in St. Marylebone, with five children, four of whom were male and horse-keepers (so, at least the horsey part was right).

1851: 16, Victoria Stables, St. Marylebone, Middlesex
Sarah GREENAWAY age 57 b. Berkshire, Head (Widow - Married)
- William GREENAWAY age 29 b. Hounslow, Son (Horse Keeper)
- Benjamin GREENAWAY age 29 b. Hounslow, Son (Horse Keeper)
- James GREENAWAY age 20 b. Hounslow, Son (Horse Keeper)
- George GREENAWAY age 16 b. Calbrook, Son (Horse Keeper) [Colnbrook?]
- Lydia GREENAWAY age 15 b. Hounslow, Daughter

My probable (seemingly only possible) 'death' for Sarah's husband, was not, so no progress there.

I have found nothing more about Sarah's sons William and Benjamin after 1851, and have been unable to find mother Sarah in 1861. Sons James and George appear to have married and raised families:

The descendants of James and George Greenaway
 

Sarah GREENAWAY's sixth child was Lydia - who seems invisible in 1861, and reappears ten years later as a "wife" with four children: but no name-change....

From Penn, Buckinghamshire, in at least 1600, my TILBURY ancestors register as a squeaky-clean family of upright citizens: yeomen, brickies, bakers, grocers, with one ginger beer manufacturer and one Metropolitan Police Constable, and one who played the bassoon in church and was a reputed psalm-singer. An unconfirmed branch may have had a member in jail for a year (but with a "good character") due to turning a blind eye to a truss of hay falling off a cart.... Was I on the track of a family skeleton AT LAST? Or am I just maligning a most respectable and hard-working lady? There was something in the family reaction to the mention of "Shepherds Bush"

"Oooh... do you remember?"
"Oh dear (laugh) ye-e-es..."

- had me wondering - or did they just disapprove of the wallpaper?. Was there, perhaps, a little something to brighten up my family history trail (other than some 'sleight of name' with a few grandchildren). It's not that I'm disrespectful or morbid, but I do look with a faint shade of envy at those other TILBURY lines whose death certificates include falling off a cart into a pond, taking a terminal walk down a railway line (a short-cut home?), or being interred between wives and sister-in-law.... Psalm-singing is all very pleasant, but, surely, my ancestors had some fun too?

The suitcase of mementoes which I received fourteen years ago, contained many old photos, and, of course, scarcely a name to be found amongst them.... Some I had seen as a child:

"Who's that?"
"Oh, nobody you know."

- was the usual useful reply; or

"Were they in your family?"
"Mmmm."

One of the few to have some indication of a name stated it was of "Lydia". The dress is c.1855-6, and shows a tall, demure lady. Certainly an ancestress on the TILBURY side, since a member of my generation has the same distinct brows and eyes. Face-to-face with it in the collection was a photo of a young man of some allure, similar age and style of dress. Sadly there was no suggestion of his name. Might he have been James RUTHERFORD? Did Lydia marry James - in Scotland? What happened to her mother Sarah, where did her brothers William and Benjamin go? Did they all travel with whatever horses William and Benjamin were looking after? With four children by 1871 Lydia would have needed more than her Laundress's pay to bring them up - and in 1871 all her children are listed as born in Middlesex....

1871: Victoria Cottages, Hammersmith (St. Stephen's), London
Lydia GREENAWAY age 32 b. Hounslow, Wife (Laundress)
- Alice GREENAWAY age 15 b. [c.1855/6] Shepherds Bush, Daughter (Servant)
- Lydia GREENAWAY age 12 b. [c.1858/9] Shepherds Bush, Daughter (Scholar)
- James GREENAWAY age 8 b. [c.1862/3] Shepherds Bush, Son (Scholar)
- Annie GREENAWAY age 4 b. [c.1866/7] Shepherds Bush, Daughter (Scholar)

Looking for birth registrations, my 'best match' to the 1871 listing, are these:

4Q 1859 RUTHERFORD Lydia Sarah (Kensington 1a/114)
4Q 1862 RUTHERFORD James William (Kensington 1a/137)
[4Q 1866 Annie E. RUTHERFORD (Marylebone 1a/55)]
(The last a possibility since James RUTHERFORD was in barracks at Regent's Park.)

In the next census:

1881: 7 Faroe Rd, London, Middlesex
James RUTHERFORD, Head age 45 b. Scotland (Laundry Man)
Lydia RUTHERFORD, Wife age 43 b. Houndslow, Middlesex (Laundress)
- Alice RUTHERFORD, Daughter (U) age 25 b. Hammersmith, Middlesex (Laundress)
- Annie RUTHERFORD, Daughter age 13 b. Hammersmith, Middlesex
- Rose RUTHERFORD, Daughter age 3 b. Hammersmith, Middlesex
   (b. 2Q 1877 RUTHERFORD Rose Louise, Fulham 1a/223)

Was James the father of all Lydia's children? James wa not in the 'Black Watch' of my received mythology (December 2010: that was Alexander Fisher McQUARRIE, m. Emily WATERMAN). Despite my small family-history budget, on this occasion I can't resist ordering (6 November 2007) - Lydia Sarah RUTHERFORD's birth certificate, and the certificate of Lydia's marriage to Robert TILBURY.


Alice GREENWAY [Lydia's daughter?]
m. [John James TAYLER] 1Q 1882 (Brentford 3a/106)
John James TAYLER
m. [Fanny ALEXANDER] 1Q 1877 (Brentford 3a/70)
A Fanny TAYLER d. 1Q 1881 age 27 (Brentford 3a/67)

Since, as usual, I can't afford to buy the certificate, I am only able to speculate on the high probability of Alice [GREENAWAY] [RUTHERFORD]'s having become the second wife of John James TAYLER/TAYLOR of Turnham Green and Chiswick:

1881: 12 Devonshire Place, Chiswick, Middlesex
John T. TAYLOR, Head age 56 b. Hammersmith, Middlesex (General Labourer)
Harriett TAYLOR, Wife age 58 b. Binfield, Berkshire
     - Harriett L. TAYLOR, Grand Daur age 6 b. Newnham, Gloucester (Scholar)
- John James TAYLOR, Son (W) age 25 b. Turnham Green, Middlesex (Carman)
     - Harriett E. TAYLOR, Grand Daur age 3 b. Turnham Green, Middlesex (Scholar)
     - John J. TAYLOR, Grand Son age 1 b. Turnham Green, Middlesex
Albert CHAMBERLIN, Lodger (U) age 20 b. Richmond, Surrey (Grocers Porter)
1891: Chiswick, Middlesex
John J. TAYLOR b. c.1856 Chiswick, Middlesex (Head, spouse of Alice A.)
Alice A. TAYLOR b. c.1855 Shepherds Bush, Middlesex (Wife of John J.)
- Harriett E. TAYLOR b. c.1878 Chiswick, Middlesex
- John J. TAYLOR b. c.1880 Chiswick, Middlesex
- William A. TAYLOR b. c.1883 Chiswick, Middlesex
- Alice A. TAYLOR b. c.1885 Chiswick, Middlesex
- Rose E. TAYLOR b. c.1888 Chiswick, Middlesex
- Lydia F. TAYLOR b. c.1890 Chiswick, Middlesex
1891: 132 Blythe road, Hammersmith, London (+ 2 other households)
Lydia RUTHERFORD age 53 b. Hounslow, Middlesex (Head, Widow) (Laundress, Wash - Employer)
- Annie RUTHERFORD age 23 b. London (Unmarried) (Laundress, Wash - Employee)
- Rose RUTHERFORD age 13 b. London (Scholar)
Rose Louise RUTHERFORD
m. 4Q 1897 Frederick Radnor COTTON* (Fulham 1a/562)
(Father: Ephraim Radnor COLTON, Mother: Elizabeth Ann BLACKWELL)
* COLTON - see Guestbook entry of September 2008

1901-1910

1901: Hammersmith, London
Lydia RUTHERFORD age 62 b. Hounslow (Laundress)
1901: lvg. Chiswick, Middlesex
John Jat. TAYLER age 45 b. Chiswich Middx (Egg Salesman)
Alice Amelia TAYLER age 46 b. Shepherds Bush London
- Wm Artt. TAYLER age 18 b. Chiswich Middx (Lab)
- Rose Emily TAYLER age 13 b. Chiswich Middx (Juvenile)
- Lydia Flo. TAYLER age 11 b. Chiswich Middx (Juvenile)
1901: Hammersmith, London
Frederick Radnor COLTON age 25 b. London Fulham (Olimans Manager)
Rose Rutherford COLTON age 24 b. London Hammersmith
- James COLTON age 2 b. London Hammersmith
Rose Emily TAYLER
m. 2Q 1907 [Charles Alfred WISEMAN] (Brentford 3a/141)

1911 CENSUS
- place of residence: administrative district, county -

1911: lvg. Brentford, Middlesex
John James TAYLER b. c.1856 age 55
Alice Amelia TAYLER b. c.1856 age 55
- William Arthur TAYLER b. c.1883 age 28
- Alice Amelia TAYLER b. c.1885 age 26
[?1911: lvg. Kensington, London]
[?Lydia Florence TAYLER b. c.1890 age 21]
1911: lvg. Brentford, Middlesex
Charles WISEMAN b. c.1887 age 24
Rose WISEMAN b. c.1888 age 23
- Ivy WISEMAN b. c.1909 age 2
- Doris WISEMAN b. c.1910 age 1
1911: lvg. Fulham, London
Frederick Radna COTTON b. c.1877 age 34
Rose Louise COTTON b. c.1878 age 33
- Frederick James William COTTON b. c.1899 age 12
- Connie Rose May COTTON b. c.1903 age 8

James RUTHERFORD b. Scotland

Just who was the original RUTHERFORD of the story? I thought he'd have to wait a while longer before I might discover his origins - apart from knowing he was born in Scotland. However, since Lydia's brothers were all horse-keepers, and there was supposed to be a military connection, I took another look at the censuses.

1861: Regents Park Barracks, St. Pancras, Middlesex
James RUTHERFORD b. c.1835 Scotland
1871: Royal Horse Guards Barracks, St. Pancras, Middlesex
James RUTHERFORD b. c.1835 Scotland (Soldier)

Was this 'my' James? He seems the only possibility in England in 1861-71. When and how did Lydia and James meet? While Lydia's brothers were caring for the horses? So many questions... so few answers!

There were several James RUTHERFORDs of the right age and born in Scotland so that as yet I have no way of identifying his parents. I have to wait for daughter Lydia Sarah's birth certificate to arrive, to perhaps learn whether he was in the Horse Guards, and whether I shall (sadly for me) have to search again for a "family skeleton" and honour Lydia senior as a faithful and hard-working spouse.

Maybe one day I'll even discover when and where James took his Lydia to bride.

The RUTHERFORD clan motto is:        "Neither by chance nor fate".

Were all Lydia GREENAWAY's offspring fathered by James RUTHERFORD, that would be true.

Rutherford

There seem to be two main 19th century legends around the origin of the name; historians point out that the existence of 'King Ruther', of a battle on the Tweed, is unproven....

From "The Scottish Nation" by William Anderson, 1863 (Fullarton) - google books online.

A border surname, borne originally by the ancient Teviotdale family of Rutherford of that ilk.

"The surname is traditionally said to have had its derivation from the circumstance that their ancestor guided Ruther, one of the Scots kings of "hoar antiquity," through a ford in the river Tweed, in an expedition against the Britons, and the lands adjacent being conferred upon him were thereafter called Rutherford, which name his posterity adopted, when surnames became hereditary in Scotland.

Another traditionary story, — which, if correct, must refer to a time preceding the epoch of authentic border history, — gives a different account of the origin of the name. It says that an English army once occupied for several days a position on a rocky height, overhanging the Tweed, in the parish of Maxton, Roxburghshire, called Ringly Hall, when, finding itself confronted by a Scottish force ensconced on the opposite bank of the river, it forded the Tweed, and was defeated after a severe encounter. The spot was afterwards called Rue-tie-ford, on account of the disaster sustained by the English in fording the river, and the name, altered into Rutherford, was transferred to the lands around it, and to a village, now extinct, in its vicinity."

 
A more basic derivation from the situation of the ford is in this brief history:

The ford in the red land

 
Academic research offers documented evidence of West Flanders' families migrating to Scotland from the hamlet of Ruddervoorde (Bruges), resulting in the name of Rutherford. A fascinating and detailed account may be read here:

Flemish Roots and Scottish Branches

It should perhaps be remembered that, before the era of civil registration and censuses, documents were created for the wealthier families; while the history of the majority poor was transmitted orally, with the inevitable transmogrifications, but perhaps not less founded on a real event, although with time deformed.

The above website includes an interesting page of genealogy:

Chief of Clan Rutherfurd
 


21 November 2007

Promptly as indicated by the General Register Office, the certificates arrived today.

Certified Copy of an Entry of Birth Given at the General Register Office
Registration District: Kensington
1859 Birth in the Sub-district of St Paul Hammersmith in the County of Middlesex

No. When and
where born
Name, if any Sex Name and surname
of father
Name, surname and
maiden name
of mother
Occupation
of father
Signature, description and
residence of informant
When
registered
Signature of
registrar
 
459 Twelfth
October
1859
1 Cambridge Place
Uxbridge Road
Lydia
Sarah
Girl James
Rutherford
Lydia
Rutherford
formerly
Greenway
Private
in Her
Majesty's
Horse
Guards
L Rutherford
Mother
1 Cambridge Place
Uxbridge Road
Hammersmith
Twentyfirst
November
1859
Daniel T. Roy
Registrar
 

So, my speculation based on probability and circumstance has produced a positive - and for me joyous - result, confirming the adult identity and occupation of James RUTHERFORD, and, above all, the maiden name of his wife Lydia.

Thus my 2gm Lydia Sarah RUTHERFORD was born in the same district as her husband-to-be Robert (Bob) TILBURY, and just a few months previously. Their marriage certificate brings a further bonus of probability enhancement, in Witnesses Robert PINNER (whom I have earmarked as the 1875 husband of Robert's elder sister Flora) and Alice GREENWAY (whose family name suggests she may have been born 'early' - while James was away?).

I wonder, did Lydia decide to use her maiden name of GREENAWAY in 1871 to protect Alice, who was working as a servant? (Or did James' engagement with the Royal Horse Guards oblige him to remain celibate?)

Certified Copy of an Entry of Marriage Given at the General Register Office
1880. Marriage solemnized at The Parish Church in the Parish of St. Matthews Hammersmith in the County of Middlesex

No. When Married Name and surname Age Condition Rank or Profession Residence at the time of Marriage Father's Name and Surname Rank or Profession of Father
 
323
August
22nd
1880
Robert Tilbury
 
Lydia Rutherford
20
 
20
Bachelor
 
Spinster
Decorator
 
——
St. Matthews
 
do.
Thomas Tilbury
 
James Rutherford
Bricklayer
 
Soldier
 
Married in the    Parish Church    according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church,        after    Banns    by me,    William A. [Nayler?]
This Marriage
was solemnized
between us,
Robert Tilbury
 
Lydia Rutherford
in the
Presence
of us,
Robert Pinner
 
Alice Greenway  X  her mark
                

16 December 2007

Today is my lucky day: "A gift from findmypast: 25 free units with our compliments!" - needless to say, the chores were immediately set aside as I sat glued to the computer, using up those units as fast as possible... and of course James RUTHERFORD in 1861 and 1871 was a target.

1861: James RUTHERFORD, U[nmarried] age 26, Private Royal Horse Gds., b. Scotland
1871: James RUTHERFORD, Unmar[ried] age 36, Private Soldier R.H.G., b. Scotland

(Of the twenty-five listed on the census record page, in 1861 nine were born in Scotland, and in 1871, eight.)

Shall I ever discover the truth of Lydia and James' relationship? Surely there must be another descendant, whose family was less 'economical' with their family history? In case one of them reads this, below is a letter from me to Lydia senior:

Paris, 16th December 2007
Dear Great-Great-Grandmother Greenaway-Rutherford,
When I was a very small child my Aunt, your Great-grandaughter, Rhoda Tilbury took me to London to see the Horseguards on duty. I was too young to remember all she said, but as I viewed the great black charger and its impeccable rider with shining breastplate and unmoving eyes, the idea registered (and has remained), that there was a connection between myself, and that horse and rider. It has taken me nearly sixty years to discover how - but I remember the picture as I saw it from child-height!
While you were laundering, James was grooming his horse and spending long hours in the saddle - until he retired and joined you as a launderer. Did he miss his horse? Was he sad without his uniform, the routine of barracks and duty?
I shall try to buy James' death-certificate (since I can't find his birthplace), and the children's birth certificates, but I hope above all else to learn more of your life together. Did you love horses too? Were you lonely sometimes, as you cared for the children, and awaited his visits, or did James sleep out of barracks as often as possible? Did you take the children to visit the stables, sit in the saddle - was such allowed in your time - so much I would like to ask you, but I must continue to search. Perhaps somewhere letters remain still?
Your affectionate great-great-grandaughter, Caroline

Was it James RUTHERFORD of the Horse Guards who, as a member of her bodyguard and a signal favour, was invited to 'take wine' with Queen Victoria at Windsor? This too was part of my received mythology, and since so much has proved correct (and infuriatingly so when I consider the growing probability that three centuries of oral family history went up in smoke at Arthur Robert Fuller TILBURY's funeral) then it may have been so. Or was it William GREENAWAY who was in the Black Watch and received that favour? So many mysteries, such a fun treasure hunt!

5 May 2009

Another bonus allowed the buying of two more certificates:

Certified Copy of an Entry of Death Given at the General Register Office
Registration District FULHAM
1889. Death in the Sub-district of St Paul Hammersmith in the County of London

No. When and
where died
Name and surname Sex Age Occupation Cause of death Signature, description and residence of informant When registered Signature of registrar
 
317
27th September 1889
7 Faroe Road
James Rutherford Male 54 Years Laundry man Pneumonia 1 Week
Certified by
J. R. Payne L.R.C.P.
L. Rutherford
Widow of Deceased
Present at the Death
7 Faroe Road
Hammersmith
30th September 1889 William B. Croft
Registrar

Certified Copy of an Entry of Death Given at the General Register Office
Registration District FULHAM
1906. Death in the Sub-district of South Hammersmith in the County of London

No. When and
where died
Name and surname Sex Age Occupation Cause of death Signature, description and residence of informant When registered Signature of registrar
 
32
23rd September 1906
60 Faroe Road
Lydia Rutherford Female 64 Years Widow of
James Rutherford
a Laundry Proprietor
Carcinoma Recti 2 years
Certified by
H. T. E. Harrison L.R.C.P.
R. Colton
Daughter
In attendance
2 Mortimer Road
Notting Hill
25th September 1906 [F. R. Bramier]
Registrar

The mention of "laundry proprietor" is interesting - my family made vague allusions to the laundry in Hammersmith, and I have wondered since childhood what the connection was! Now I just have to find the name of the laundry - possibly the "Model Laundry" where our sheets were laundered each week, perhaps the reason why they went from Hounslow to Hammersmith? (I still have the laundry box.)

N.B: find Lydia Rutherford's Will.

If by chance your family line is related to any of the above people, please do contact me - I would so like to learn more of the history of my ancestors. Oh, and as for H. E. McQuarrie of Belfast - turns out to be an ancestor of the WATERMAN family (see TAYLORs): another family 'red herring'.

(Now, let me see, Sarah of Berkshire married William GREENAWAY... where are those Census listings - and surely I could find a marriage, or death....)


The Royal Horse Guards (Blue)

This cartoon from an 1857 Punch shows cavalry-men on black horses, which only the Blues rode; the comment by two soldiers in the background is "Yes very handsome, but ever so much too Big". Together with the drawing it may be deduced that the Blues recruited tall men?


 

The Riding Master of the Royal Horse Guards

From "A Dictionary of the Military Science" by E.S.N. Campbell, 1844*

"Household Troops
The Regiments of Life Guards and Horse Guards, together with the Foot Guards, are called the Household Troops. To these Corps is committed the duty of guarding His Majesty's person, and they enjoy many privileges and immunities."

From "Historical Recollections of Hyde Park" by Thomas Smith, 1836*

"The Horse-Guards barracks, south of the Serpentine river, is a fine range of brick building, capable of accommodating 500 horses, and 6OO men, consisting of an oblong square parade, an extensive range of stabling, a noble mansion for the use of the officers, riding-school, powder magazine, &c. A more salubrious situation could not have been selected for a barracks; the First regiment of Life Guards, until within these few years, had been permanently stationed here; but the three regiments of Horse Guards, alternately occupy the barracks in the Regent's Park, those at Knightsbridge and at Windsor, shifting quarters every six months."

From "Stanford's New London Guide" by Stanford Edward, Ltd, 1860*

"The Household cavalry consist of three regiments, two called the Life Guards, whose uniform is scarlet, and one named the 'Royal Horse Guards Blue.' The Royal Horse Guards were raised in 1661, out of some troops of the Commonwealth's army; Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford, being the first colonel. Their uniform consisting of blue coats with buff belts, they were then called the 'Oxford Blues.'"

From "The Medical Times and Gazette" of May 29, 1858*

"The writer of a letter in the Times last week draws attention to the occurrence of three deaths in one family in the Hyde-park Barracks; and in connexion with this circumstance, he describes the sanitary condition of the locality.

'On the right hand side of the public street of Knightsbridge is a high dead wall. Some twenty or thirty feet behind that wall are the buildings in which the officers, men, women, children, and horses of the Life Guards and Blues live. The narrow, close space between this wall and these buildings is used as a receptacle for the manure of the stables. The latrines of the men and officers, the urinals, and the airing-ground for the notorious wooden conveniences which still infect the barrack-rooms by night and this small yard by day, are also located therein. ... The steam and smoke of these abominations may be seen any morning curling heavily over the dead wall, and infecting the air of the neighbourhood. The wonder is not that three poor children have died within the last fortnight of scarlatina behind that wall, but that the vicinity of the place is not chronically infected with typhus.'

The writer, in the same letter, intreats the Inspector-General of Cavalry, whom he often sees riding in Rotten-row, to cross over and inspect the barracks. It is, indeed, a disgrace to the authorities that such a state of things is allowed to exist, and that not even a fatal epidemic can awaken the slumbering energies of the Horse Guards. Since the first letter to the Times was written, it is recorded that a fourth child has died of scarlatina in the same locality, being the whole of the children cut off in one family!"

* Google Books Online


Brief Quotations

...Aubrey de Vere, the twentieth and last Earl of Oxford ... Colonel of the first or royal regiment of horse-guards, which to this day is denominated from his title the Oxford Blues. He died March 12, 1702-3... (1830)
...on the 2d of August, 1830, a general order was issued for the whole of the cavalry, with the exception of the Royal Horse Guards (Blues), to be dressed in red...
...two soldiers of the Blues, in casque and cuirass, sat as sentinels, motionless, on their coal-black chargers..." (London, 1836)
...in England, the Horse Guards and the Oxford Blues are the only troops of heavy horse... (1839)
...the present uniform consists of a steel helmet, with plume, a steel cuirass over a blue coatee, leather breeches, and knee-boots; the horses are black. The establishment of the regiment consists (1862) of 47[0] of all ranks, with 275 horses, exclusive of officers' chargers...

The descendants of James and George Greenaway

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