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A Guide To Local History In The Holsworthy Area.

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1801-1899 AD
1805    Phillip Henry, 5th Earl Stanhope, born.
1805    Battle of Trafalgar.
1806    First Methodist Society in Holsworthy formed.
1807    Four Friendly Societies in Holsworthy with a membership of 200.
1807    Mr M.G. Woodward wrote in his “Eccentric Excursions” — “It is a well known fact that the people of Holsworthy are never so happy as when they are going to law or drinking brandy. The latter they do in a manner peculiar to themselves. The addition of the simple element of water they abhor, and consider the liqour spoilt if diluted. They have another curious liqour called ‘tear brain’, composed entirely of rum and brandy. The women take their brandy to the amount of two or three.
1807    Abolition of the Slave trade.
1808    Repairs carried out to the church in a manner very injurious to the fabric.
1808    Holsworthy and West Devon Bank established. (Pearce, Cory, Fry and Co.)
1808    Old Poor House, Guildhouse, Churchhouse. Amount raised by Poor Rate for the year was £650; of this £200 was spent in the workhouse, £241 was spent out of the workhouse and £180 was spent on the church, highways, bridges and the militia.
1809    The Ducking Stool was used in England for the last time.
1811    “National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principals of the Established Church” was founded.
1812    Ann Bayley left in her will a field called “Little Buddle” to her brother William Carlisle and his heirs subject to a sum of 30s.0d. per annum to be paid to the church minister to give 1s. each to 30 poor people not already receiving relief, and also a payment of 30s.0d. per annum to the Friendly Society for Women for as long as that society should exist.
1812    Thomas Harvey owned Ratherton.
1812    Napoleon retreated from Moscow.
1812    End of the Napoleonic Wars bought mass starvation as the price of wheat rocketed.
1815    19th May. William 0'Bryan, founder of the Bible Christian Connexion, first preached in Holsworthy.
1815    Robert Fulton, the American canal engineer, Died.
1815    Corn Laws instituted.
1815    Battle of Waterloo ended the war between France and Britain, as a result of which bonfires were lit and church bells were rung in Holsworthy, to celebrate the end of the war.
1816    Charles, 5th Earl Stanhope, died.
1817    Holsworthy Agricultural Union formed.
1817    Holsworthy and West Devon Bank closed.
1817    Wesleyan Chapel founded.
1818    John Hoskin Parish Clerk.
1819    Act of parliament passed for the cutting of the Holsworthy to Bude Canal.
1819    The Bude Harbour and Canal Co. formed.
1819    First mention of the New Inn.
1819    Rev. Owen Lewis Meyrick died.
1819    Roger Kingdon instituted as Rector of Holsworthy. He was burled in Holsworthy 25th November 1857.
1819    First crossing of the Atlantic by steamer.
1820    Land acquired on which to build the Wesleyan Chapel.
1821    "Viscount Mahon, (son of Earl Stanhope)
1822    Walter Dobie of The Globe inn first mentioned (Dobles Lane).
1823    Rev. John Kingdon held Manworthy.
1823    First mention of The Crown and Sceptre and The Kings Arms.
1823    Heggadon Common was hedged.
1823    First mention of The Stanhope Arms.
1823    July 8th. Holsworthy to Bude Canal opened.
1824    Ugworthy belonged to Sir Arscott Molesworth and John Cole.
1825    Posting Office at The White Hart.
1825    Rev. William Holland Coham died.
1825    First railway line, Darlington–Stockton, opened.
1828    Independant Chapel founded, it opened in 1836.
1828    First Chilsworthy Chapel built.
1828    William Holland Blckford Coham born.
1830    Farm machinery riots.
1832    Coles Mill bridge built at a cost of £350.
1834    Poor Law Act led to the building of Workhouses.
1836    Eight new bells made for church by Thomas Mears of London.
1836    Bread riots in Sheepwash.
1836    Benedictus Marwood Kelly, father of Admiral Benedictus Marwood Kelly, founder of Kelly college, died.
1837    Holsworthy Union formed.
1837    February 1st. First meeting of The Board of Guardians of Holsworthy Union. Mr. John Vowler elected as Chairman in The White Hart.
1837    Pillories abolished.
1838    Letter box put at The White Hart.
1838    Four-horse coach running from Plymouth to Bideford via Holsworthy.
1838    Arthur Phillip 6th Earl Stanhope born.
1838    William Oliver Harvey owned Ratherton, he died in 1862.
1838    First mention of The Golden Fleece.
1838    Mary Bickford died.
1839    First Foot-and-Mouth epidemic.
1839    Rev.R. Kingdon sold the advowson to Rev. Henry Frederick
1839    Thorne Manor owned by Mr. John Vowler.
1840    First School Room established in the Bible Christian Chapel.
1841    Rev. Thomas Meyrick gave government stock to the value of £3.l0s.0d. to provide the income for the Pretty Maid Ceremony.
1841    Bible Christians erected first Chapel in Bodmin Street.
1842    Area of churchyard enlarged when cottages at the North East of churchyard were demolished.
1842    Tithe Book published.
1842    Parish Constables appointed by Court Leet until this date, after which appointments made by the parish.
1842    Rev. Thomas Kingdon held Manworthy Mill. Manworthy owned by Richard Preston.
1843    Rev. William Bickford Coham died.
1843    Earl Stanhope built school.
1844    Phillip Henry, Earl Stanhope owned 2,327 acres in Holsworthy Parish.
1844    Bible Christian Chapel licensed for marriages.
1844    Stanhope family owned Simpson (179 acres) and West Simpson (272 acres).
1846    Mumpers Lodge first mentioned. A mumper was a tramp.
1846    Phillip Henry, Earl Stanhope, gave part of Fair Park for the building of a school for the poor.
1846    Corn Laws repealed.
1847    John Cole Jr. died.
1847    School built in Fair Park Road.
1848    Holsworthy Rural Deanery changed from Totnes Archdeanery to Barnstaple Archdeanery.
1848    Land at Croft Road granted for school.
1849    Black Torrington National School opened.
1850    1850– George Braund Clerk to Rural Sanitary Authority.
1850    Government Post Office kept by George Dacone, saddler.
1850    Globe Inn at 21, The Square.
1851    Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace.
1852    Meeting to discuss the building of the railway held at the Stanhope Arms.
1854    Crimean War broke out.
1855    1855-88 George Bray Slee Town Cryer.
1855    Phillip Henry, 4th Earl Stanhope, died.
1855    Holsworthy and Stratton Agricultural Association formed.
1856    Dingley & Co. opened their bank.
1856    Coach called “Emerald” left The White Hart for Copplestone on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and for Bude of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
1856    Church House was established to house the poor.
1857    Wesleyan School was built In Chapel Street.
1857    Workhouse built.
1857    Fire at Leworthy Farm, the home of Mr. Thomas Kierville. The house was destroyed but the furniture and money were saved.
1857    Fire at The White Hart in the chimney which was blown up by gun powder to prevent the fire spreading.
1857    The new Market Hall was built at a cost of £450.
1858    Ann Hart’s will gave £580 3% Consols on Trust, the income to support The National School and the same sum to support the Poor House, also the income from £100 to support the Church Sunday School.
1858    23rd Feb. Christopher Clarkson was Instituted as Rector, he was buried in Holsworthy 10th October 1859
1859    Arscott William Henry Dickinson born.
1859    Lump sum of £34 redeemed payment of annual Fair and Market rights of £l.6s.8d. per year.
1860    Fire at Dunstaple Farm. House and outbuilding destroyed.
1861    Ann Earl was the last person in England to be put in the stocks. Magistrate John Vowler said he was at a loss to know how to prevent her from standing on her head for a glass of gin and doing cartwheels for a glass of beer.
1861    American Civil War.
1863    First Highways Board in Holsworthy constituted.
1863    Bread and Ale Assizes abolished.
1864    26th July. A letter to The Western Times with reference to the excessive dry weather and the plight of those without water.
1865    “Holsworthy Bells” was written by Dr. Samuel Sebastian Wesley, organist at Exeter Cathedral, and was played at the dedication service.
1865    Miss Jane Meyrick’s will left £3 yearly to The Penny Clothing Club.
1865    Weslyan Methodists erected Chapel Street Chapel.
1865    Church organ bought from Bideford Church at a cost of £300
1866    Major Henry George Dickinson died.
1867    Admiral Benedictus Karwood Kelly died. He left £132,000 to build Kelly College, he had wanted it built in Holsworthy but the roads were too bad, so it was built in Tavistock instead.
1868    1868-85. Walter William Melhuish was chairman of The Holsworthy and District Highways Board.
1868    George Braund clerk to The Holsworthy and District Highways Board.
1868    Earl Stanhope owned Chilsworthy.
1869    East Cornwall Bank ( Robins, Foster, Coode and Bolitho ) opened an agency in Holsworthy.
1869    Church clock changed at a cost of £80.
1869    Gas Company established.
1870    George Wright Thornton instituted as Rector of Holsworthy.
1870    Bible Christian Chapel at Anvil Corner first mentloned but it had been there for some time as the first baptism record is dated 1857.
1870    The Conscience Clause was added to the Education Act. It allowed children to be withdrawn from religious instruction in a church school if the parents so wished.
1870    Windmill on Windmill Hill first stated as being unused.
1870    Forster’s Education Act. Setting up districts for elementary schools. Boards were established to administer these schools and so the first Board Schools came into being.
1871    For stealing a piece of cloth from a trap, a woman from Holsworthy was sentenced to seven years penal servitude.
1871    Post Office in Holsworthy was first opened for telegraph business.
1871    Fire at Winscott, the house was completely destroyed.
1872    Waterloo Bridge built, previously there was only a wooden bridge for pedestrians.
1872    National Agricultural Labourers Union formed.
1873    John Hoskin was Parish Clerk.
1873    1873-1905. John Fetherstone was Parish Clerk.
1873    Devon and Cornwall Banking Co. established an agency in Holsworthy.
1874    At a meeting of the Holsworthy Sanitary Authority the following applications were received for the appointment of Medical Officer of Health:- Dr. E.L.Pearce at £30.0s.0d. per annum, Mr. E.Rause at £70.0s.0d. per annum and Mr. T.L.Ash at £10.0s.0d. per annum. Mr. Ash’s offer was accepted.
1875    Phillip Henry, 5th Earl Stanhope, died.
1875    10th March. The Rural Sanitary Authority resolved that dung should not be carried through the town between the hours of 10a.m. and 8p.m. as it was injurious to health.
1875    9th December. An order was made closing the church for burials and putting restrictions on burials In the church yard due to overcrowding and possible pollution to drinking water.
1875    New School opened at Black Torrington.
1875    Public Health Act passed.
1876    New Bible Christian Chapel in Bodmin Street licensed.
1876    Francis Thorn Honey died, the Vestry window is dedicated to his memory.
1877    1877-80. John Vowler was chairman of the Holsworthy Rural Sanitary Authority.
1877    1877-80. William Holland Bickford Coham chairman of the Holsworthy Rural Sanitary Authority.
1878    Rebuilding of the Stanhope Arms. (now Barclays Bank Chambers)
1878    Opening of Bradford School.
1878    January 5th. Market Report:— Cows and Calves, 18—20 guineas, sucker pigs, 10—12 shillings each, ducks, 516d—6.0s per couple, woodcock 3s, pheasants 4s, snipe 14d each, butter 16d/lb. Cod 4d/lb, conger 3d/lb, pilchards 40 for 1s.
1879    Holsworthy was reported by The Devon Records Office as being top of the league for church weddings. Unfortunately the number is not stated.
1879    20th January opening of the railway.
1879    May 13th. Foundation stones laid for new Bible Christian Chapel at St Giles in the Heath.
1879    Ground Game Act introduced. Thomas Petherick and Stephen Sloggett were imprisoned in Exeter for killing a hare on land their fathers rented. (All game belonged to the landowner). There was such a hue and cry about the incident that questions were asked in Parliament and the law was changed to allow tenants to kill ground game. When the pair were released they were met by crowds of people and carried shoulder high through the city whilst the band played. This law made a great difference to tenants as they could then kill ground game for their own consumption or to sell. Many a tenant paid his rent with money made by killing such game.
1879    Holsworthy Viaduct opened.
1880    Fredrick Slee, son of Frederick Slee, became Town Cryer after his father.
1880    First systematic drainage scheme began in Holsworthy at a cost of £850.
1880    School attendance to the age of 10 became law. However if a childs attendance had been poor then he or she was required to stay longer.
1880    James Richard, 7th Earl Stanhope, born.
1880    William Holland Bickford Coham died.
1881    l881-87. Walter William Melhuish was chairman of The Holsworthy Rural Sanitary Authority.
1881    Plantation at Halsdon Farm set on fire by a school boy.
1881    August 3rd. Rural Sanitary Authority resolved that offal should be removed from the slaughter house in covered wagons during the day, or In open waggons between the hours of 9p.m. and 6a.m.
1882    Rev. Thornton dedicated St Mary’s Well, on the glebe land at the top of Victoria Hill.
1882    April 20th. Daniel Henry King of Thorne died
1882    Sundial on the wall of the Church was removed during restoratlon.
1882    Organ chamber added to Church.
1882    John Grigg Parsons appointed Portreeve.
1883    1883–1904. John Aspinall carved the oak pulpit in the Church. It was presented to the Church by his family in his memory.
1883    National School closed owing to an outbreak of Diptheria.
1883    August 20th. Holsworthy Fire Brigade set up.
1883    Act of Parliament passed to allow building of the Holsworthy to Bude railway. (Acts 46 & 47).
1884    North Aisle added to the Church.
1884    First Exhibition of Holsworthy Agricultural Association.
1884    Alterations to and reseating of the Church. £2,250 was spent by Rev Thornton of his own money, in memory of his parents. Bosses and carved angels in the roof are the work of John Northcott of Ashwater, also the choir stalls. During the restoration a human skeleton is said to have been found. Font in the Church was built at a cost of £30.
1885    Cecil Bray was Clerk to the Holsworthy and District Highways Board.
1885    Holsworthy-Bude Canal ceased working.
1886    New Chapels built at Chilsworthy and Soldon Cross.
1887    Estimate from Mr Beckley that the cost of draining Holsworthy would be £850.
1887    St George’s Well and St James’s Well first mentioned in town.
1888    1888-94. James Higgs was Chairman of the Holsworthy Rural Sanitary Authority.
1889    The Board of Education was established and empowered to levy a 1d. rate to provide technical education.
1889    Infectious Diseases (Notification) Act.
1890    May 31st. North East pinnacle of the church was struck by lightning on Whit Monday.
1890    Windmill stated as derelict and removed.
1890    29th October. At a meeting of the Rural Sanitary Authority the following resolution was proposed regarding the sewage of Deep Lane Head. It is highly expedient to bring the drainage from the houses towards the town of Holsworthy as complaints are at present existing of the river pollution on the east and south sides of town.
1890    Wesleyan Day School closed for one month owing to an outbreak of Whooping Cough.
1890    Housing of The Working Classes Act was passed.
1890    April 9th. Secretary of State altered the April 15th–l6th and September 20th–2lst Fairs to be one-day Fairs.
1891    Miss Hester Ann Meyrick’s will gave £1,500 on Trust to the sick and aged poor of Holsworthy, also for poor girls going out into employment.
1891    Elementary education was provided free.
1892    Holsworthy Agricultural Union was formed.
1892    Window in chancel dedicated to Francis Fry who died this year.
1892    There were six public pumps in the town.
1893    The Public Officer of Health reported that there were 38 births in the town for the month of March and 12 deaths.
1893    The school leaving age was raised to 11.
1894    Amalgamation of The Holsworthy Agricultural Union and The Stratton Agricultural Society.
1894    Thomas Samuel Kendall Instituted as Rector of Holsworthy.
1894    Holsworthy Parish Council formed.
1894    Holsworthy Cricket Club formed.
1894    1894-95. John Rowland Clerk of Holsworthy and District Highways Board.
1894    1894-96. John Henry Stranger Chairman of Holsworthy Parish Council.
1894    1894-1900. John Rowland Clerk to Holsworthy Parish Council.
1895    Earl Stanhope gave extra land for an extension to the school.
1895    Holsworthy Rural District Council formed.
1895    Dr. T. Linnington Ash Chairman of the Holsworthy Rural District Council.
1895    First milking machine produced.
1895    1895-99. Cecil Bray Clerk of The Holsworthy Rural District Council.
1896    Trustees of John Vowler’s widow sold Chilsworthy National School house and teachers house to the Rector and trustees for £105.
1896    1896-98. Joram Littlejohn Chairman of the Holsworthy Parish Council.
1897    £347 paid out for bells account.
1897    Lily Penwarden appointed Pretty Maid.
1897    Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
1898    22nd March. Derriton Viaduct opened, the first work of such size to be built of concrete.
1898    Lucy Ann Risdon appointed Pretty Maid.
1898    The daily four-horse coach from Bude to Holsworthy and return was stopped.
1898    August. Holsworthy to Bude railway opened.
1898    Market Report:— Cows and Calves £13–£18, Fat beasts 54s–56s, Ducks 6s.–7s.6d. a couple. Snipe 8d.–9d. each, Bread 6d. per 4lb loaf, Eggs 24–26/1s, Potatoes 20lbs/1s.
1898    1898-1900. Richard Penwarden Chairman of the Holsworthy Parish Council.
1899    16th July. Death of Mr. Cecil Bray, a member of the Council for fourteen years.
1899    The school leaving age was raised to twelve.
1899    Mary Ettle Stone appointed Pretty Maid.
1899    Boer War began.
1899    1899-1903. John Rowland Clerk of the Holsworthy Rural District Council.