Young men in London: 1860

On 1 February 1860 John and his sister Alice arrived in London at the house of their cousin Jane Hirst.

Jane had married Charles Stewart Stubbs (her second cousin once removed) and was known in the family, to distinguish her from the many other Jane Stubbs, as "Mrs Charles".  A tragic accident left her widowed in 1848, only four years after her marriage.  Charles's death in a riding accident in the Park left Jane at the age of twenty-four with their two very young children and pregnant with the third.  She remained in London near her husband's family and must have had the financial benefit of her marriage settlement and the support of her father and her father-in-law.

In February 1860 she was aged thirty-six and lived with her son and two daughters in Islington at 15 Cloudesley Square.

Islington was on the cusp of change.  Cloudesley Square was some thirty years old, in an area of pleasant terraces laid out with gardens in open countryside from 1825 onward, with the Holy Trinity Church designed by the young Charles Barry.  The rural quality of Islington began to disappear from the middle of the century, when it became rapidly built up.  A fashionable shopping "bazaar" had been built on the High Street in 1850, and in 1860 the Grand Theatre or Philharmonic Hall was under construction, while the open land remaining at Stoke Newington was soon to be built over.

London was already beginning to undergo the vast changes that would create a modern city.  Huge trenches were being dug to house the new underground railway and the Houses of Parliament, destroyed by fire a few years before John was born, had been rebuilt.  After the Great Stink of 1858, plans were afoot to create the sewerage system that would rescue the city from stench and disease, but it would be ten years before the opening of the Albert and Victoria Embankments began to create the riverside panorama that we know today.

Alice, aged fifteen, was on her way to school in Blackheath – accessible by train from London, growing rapidly and with many schools, it was an ideal place for her and her cousin Polly Redmayne to complete their education and broaden their experience. 

John was twenty-one and after his years in Uncle Hirst's office was in London to complete his law studies and take the examination which would qualify him as a solicitor.  He would be in London for the next four months, so Mrs Charles helped him to find lodgings with a Mrs Pirmiger at 23 Upper Islington Terrace, just north of present-day Cross Street.

Transcription of John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1860

3 ½ in x 6 in black notebook:  “Renshaw’s Diary and Almanac for 1860”

Sunday January 1
In the morning to Aldbro church  in the afternoon to Kirby Hill & In the eveng to BB church

Monday January 2
To office   At night Steele Sedgwick  Scholfield  E.C.Clark & I dined at Owens & a very pleasant evening we had   got home about 12.  At Noon walked to Langthorp  Miss Stamper left them today

Tuesday January 3
To office.  At night Lizzie & I dined at Dr Sedgwicks   Had a rubber  got home about ½ past 10

Wednesday January 4
To office.  At Night Read law at the office   attended a Meeting at the Newsroom  bought the Times for Mr Hirst at 22/-    Supped at Uncles

Thursday January 5
To office.  At night Read law at the office

Friday January 6
To office   At noon walked with Joe to Langthorpe   at night Drove Capes as far as Hazel Bank  he had tea with us

Saturday January 7
To office.  Capes went by noon train to York & was met at Cattal & from there he drove to Minskip   I drove the trap   Capes came from Knaresbro in to Minskip & we both had tea at Clarkes & attended a sale of township property     after the sale I went home with Capes to Knaresbro to stay till Monday

John Richard Stubbs' diary for 1860

The Redmayne family of Stainforth

Update: A much more detailed account of the life of Thomas Redmayne is to be found in the article by Catherine Vaughan-Williams published in 2020 in the Journal of the North Craven Heritage Trust.  The article is called 'Thomas Redmayne of Taitlands'.  

In it you will find full details of the Redmayne family of Taitlands and their connection with the Henlock family of Great Ouseburn and the Stubbs family of Boroughbridge.

Thomas Redmayne of Taitlands was born in Stainforth in about 1797 and died on 23 February 1862 at the age of 65.

Thomas was the first cousin once removed of the prosperous London silk mercer, Giles Redmayne (1792-1857), who bought the Brathay Hall estate, beside Windermere; Thomas Redmayne's executors were his wife's nephew Joseph Stubbs and John Marriner Redmayne, son of Giles.  The relationship may look a little distant but Thomas and Giles were close.

Thomas was one of the children of Richard Redmayne and Ann Batty.  Richard is commemorated in Giggleswick church by a brass inlaid in the floor: Richard Redmayne of Stainforth died 13 Jun 1799 age 31.

By the time the cousins Thomas and Giles Redmayne were in their thirties, they were both creating country estates/houses for themselves – Thomas at Stainforth and Giles at Brathay.