As described in my article for London Historians, ‘Charles Dickens in Camden’, the novelist had many associations with the area. Further links have been discovered by historian Ruth Richardson and are explored in her new book, Dickens and the Workhouse (OUP, 2012).

The exhibition is one of the largest I’ve attended at the Archives, and is well illustrated with copies of photographs, prints and drawings in the collections. Amongst the original items featured are letters by the novelist from the 1830s and 1855, an 1857 Tavistock House Theatre poster, a 1924 drawing of Mr. Pickwick by Joseph Clayton Clerk, and a Burial Register of Highgate Cemetery showing the April 1851 entry of Dickens’ baby daughter, Dora Annie.

All Dickens’ local residencies are covered, such as the now-demolished 16 Bayham Street with its views ‘over the dust-heaps and dock-leaves and fields . . . at the cupola of St. Paul’s’ (John Forster). For those unfamiliar with dust-heaps, the exhibition helpfully provides a print of those in Somers Town 1836 and displays Dickens’ description of them in Our Mutual Friend.

Streets of Dickens is open now until 21 December 2012. Camden LS & Archives, Holborn library, 32-38 Theobalds Road, London is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10-7; Saturday 10-5. Free entry.

The first series of Call The Midwife ended last night on BBC 1. The show was a huge ratings success, with its final episode being watched by 9 million viewers. Much of its appeal lies in the fairly accurate recreation of 1950s Poplar and of its realistic scenes of childbirth.

Today, with UK healthcare under threat from the NHS bill, this portrayal of the Service’s successful early years may hold some clues as to how it could more simply be reformed. There have already been calls for the NHS to go ‘back to basics’, with the return of matrons and a focus on patients’ essential needs. Could a return to 1950s methods of nursing care, whilst retaining 21^st century scientific and technological advancements, be the answer?

Decades before the NHS was created the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, regarded open windows as the hallmark of a healthy hospital ward. Open windows were much in evidence on Call The Midwife, both in the hospital wards and in houses of the East End.

This basic policy is supported by an article in today’s Independent, which reports on a microbiologist who believes air conditioning and an ultra-sterile environment are harming patients by contributing to infections. Jack Gilbert of Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago and head of the Earth Microbiome Project, explained the science behind his theory:

“Open windows let bacteria in from outside and you will either dilute out the pathogens, or you are not allowing the pathogens to establish themselves because there is too much competition for the nutrients and energy that the bacteria need to survive. . . There’s a good bacterial community living in hospitals and if you try to wipe out that good bacterial community with sterilisation agents and excessive antibiotic use, you actually lay waste to this green field of protective layer and these bad bacteria can just jump in and start causing hospital-borne infections.”

Contemporary scientists are not alone in their praise of basic practice, as seen on Call The Midwife. My godmother, a retired chief midwife, was impressed by the authenticity of the breech birth scene in episode two. Mothers on the babycentre.co.uk webchat, agree. They believe that the 1950s method of covering the baby’s head with a towel, in order to keep it warm and prevent it taking a breath in the birth canal, was preferable to their experiences, which had resulted in lung pumps and incubators.

Having been through childbirth twice, I agree that the birth scenes in this programme are the most realistic I’ve seen on any television drama. Happily, like mine, most of the births shown in the series ended successfully. However, one of the most tragic scenes was that in episode 4 where middle-aged headmaster David loses his beloved wife Margaret after she suffers eclampsia. Eclampsia and pre-eclampsia remain dangerous conditions. As now, good ante-natal care is key to identifying present and prospective complications. Sadly, Margaret was shown to have left her ante-natal appointment before being seen by the midwives.

In the early 1970s, my mother saved the life of a farmer’s wife from a remote area who was admitted with pre-eclampsia:

“We had to take her into a single room with the blinds down and keep her sedated. Suddenly she began fitting and her heart stopped. With no second to spare, I had to give heart massage until we felt a pulse. After this, she was given an emergency caesarean section, and both she and her premature baby survived.”

My mother, who began her training in 1963, warmly remembers the camaraderie of the early years:

“There was much more of a family feel than there is in today’s nursing. There were many people aged 18, mostly young women, with very very few men in general nursing. We were all enthusiastic, really loved the patients and all the young ones felt we were in it together.”

Like the midwives who lived together at Nonnatus House, my mother and her colleagues lived in a nurses’ home where hierarchy was much in evidence:

“We were awe of the sisters, and the matron could sometimes be quite terrifying! We were issued with so many dresses, so many hats and so many aprons. There were the hospital laundries which did all the laundry and starched your hats. This helped keep infections down. The matron and sisters were very strict about hair being kept back, and absolutely no wearing of jewellery.”

Community and personal relationships are seen as central to nursing care in the television series, and were very much key values for nurses of my mother’s generation:

“Everything was about caring for people, the care of the person. Especially as young nurses, we got to know the patients and their families. Great emphasis was put on nutrition - also the going out. The fluids in and the fluids out, as it were. Anyone who wasn’t up and about, we had their charts and went around making egg and milk drinks, making sure they were all well-nourished.

I trained in a big hospital where we rarely saw the matron, but the assistant matrons did daily rounds. We had to make sure that we knew everything about our patients. The senior staff would walk round and ask any question at all. We had to be particularly alert with one, who asked the blood results of each patient, which we had to know without looking. Also, we looked after the whole ward so we knew every patient there.”

This later changed, with nurses only being assigned a small number of patients on each ward.

Some viewers have expressed relief that they do not have to give birth, drug-free, in a bug-infested slum in the bomb-shattered East End of post-war London. But many more are attracted to the positive experiences shown on Call The Midwife: the strong community, inexhaustible humour, and, above all, the patient-centred nursing care. On a day when so many are criticizing and heckling the Prime Minister and the Health Minister for their planned reforms, it seems appropriate to remember the value of high quality nursing in those early years of our National Health Service.

The Guardian’s obituary of Jennifer Worth (Jenny Lee), who died shortly before the series was filmed, can be read at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/06/jennifer-worth-obituary

For more on the local history aspect of Call The Midwife, see the The Sugar Girls’ blog: http://www.thesugargirls.com/call-the-midwife/ 

As a genealogist and mother, I am keen to encourage my two boys, aged 6 and 8, to explore their ancestry in whatever way they can. So far, we have made family visits to exhibitions, living museums, and the former homes of ancestors. We watch history programmes on television, and period films. The 6 year old made a picture family tree chart by chopping up copies (I emphasize COPIES) of old photographs. And the 8 year old consulted census returns for a ‘family homes’ school project. But what they really, really like is playing with gadgets.

Imagine their excitement when they were let loose on my usually prohibited iPhone to test a new app, Records Their Stories. This app is designed to aid family historians interview and record their relatives’ memories, using a list of over 100 suggested questions covering a range of topics.

I gave the boys full control of the process. The 8 year old downloaded the app from iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/record-their-stories/id483574271?mt=8 He worked out how to select the questions he wanted to ask, and how to flip back to them during recording (press the question mark on the microphone). We found keeping all the questions on the phone easier and tidier than having loose papers everywhere. Once everything was downloaded and they had worked out what to press, the children found the app very easy to use. They could enter their own questions via ‘edit Questions’ but they were both happy with the range offered. Their grandfather also enjoyed the process, with the iPhone adding distraction and levity to the interview.

Although the app contains its own editing device to cut out all the pauses, coughs and interruptions that are inevitable when children interview their grandparents, we opted for the professional editing service from the Record Their Stories team. The finished edit included a polished mix of the interview, and numerous additions, such as the soundtrack to their grandfather’s favourite film – Singin’ In The Rain – and a bicycle bell and crashing noise to highlight his most embarrassing moment. Our edited version was just over 2 minutes long, but we’d recorded for at least quarter of an hour. In order to make the most of the professional edit you will need to record for as long as you can with as many relatives as possible.

When my grandmother was still alive, I tried recording an interview with her using a cheap cassette with sellotape over the holes. We gave up after a while, as she tired easily and became confused. Thinking back, I know I would have recorded more with her if I didn’t have to lug around a radio-cassette player. If I’d owned an iPhone then, I would definitely have used Record Their Stories to interview Grandma whenever I could. Even though I lived with her for 15 years, I’m beginning to forget the way she spoke and her many expressions that I never hear anyone use now – ‘Dolly Daydream’, ‘a five and twenty to six’ . . . My children have already backed up their interview with their grandfather, and plan to record interviews with other older relatives whenever they see them.

After listening to the edited interview, I asked the 8 year old how he had found the process and what he thought of the App. He replied simply: ‘Awesome!’

The Record Their Stories iPhone app is available to download now. Professionally produced bespoke CDs from the RTS team start at £90 per recording.

Website: www.recordtheirstories.com 

Demo Video: http://vimeo.com/32479136 

Fresh Air Production is a team of award winning radio and audio producers, with clients including The BBC, UKTV, BMW and Channel 4.

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Eliza Fay (1756-1816) is one of the best-known female chroniclers of European life in India during the late eighteenth 

century. Although she was no Jane Austen, Eliza’s writing was fresh and perceptive. What her letters lack in finesse, 

they make up in directness and humour. And, whilst she was not sophisticated, Eliza was adventurous and keen to learn

 about India, its cultures and people. Her enthusiasm is conveyed through the letters she wrote after her arrival  in India 

with her lawyer husband in May 1780. 

More than a century later, it was this freshness and eye for detail that inspired EM Forster to arrange for the British 

publication of Eliza Fay’s letters in 1925.

After their arrival in India, Eliza and her husband settled in Calcutta. It was there that she was living at the Christmas of 

that year. Eliza detailed her first Christmas in India in a letter to her sister on 27th January 1781 (Letter XVIII):

My Dear Sister,— Since my last we have been engaged

in a perpetual round of gaiety. Keeping Christmas, as it is

 called, though sinking into disuse at home, prevails here with

all its ancient festivity. The external appearance of the

 English gentlemen’s houses on Christmas Day is really

pleasing from its novelty. Large plantain trees are placed

 on each side of the principal entrances, and the gates and

pillars, being ornamented with wreaths of flowers fancifully

 disposed, enliven the scene.

All the servants, from the Banian down to the lowest menial,

bring presents of fish and fruit ; for these, it is true, we are

obliged in many instances to make a return perhaps beyond

the real value, but still it is regarded as a compliment to our

burrah din. A public dinner is given at Government House

to the gentlemen of the Presidency, and the evening concludes

with an elegant ball and supper for the ladies. These are

repeated on New Year’s Day and on the King’s birthday. I

should say have been, for that grand festival happening at the

hottest season, and every one being obliged to appear full

dressed, so much inconvenience resulted from the immense

crowd, even in some cases severe fits of illness being the

consequence, that it has been determined to change the day

 of celebration to the 8th of December which arrangement

 gives general satisfaction. I shall not attempt to describe

 these splendid entertainments further than by saying that they

were in the highest style of magnificence. In fact such grand

parties so much resemble each other that a particular detail

would be unnecessary and even tiresome.

Eliza then goes on to describe a social event of ’some time ago’ giving further insight into the social mores of the Georgian 

British abroad:

Mrs. Hastings was of the party. She came in late, and

happened to place herself on the opposite side of the room,

beyond a speaking distance: so strange to tell, I quite forgot

she was there ! After some time had elapsed, my observant

friend, Mrs. Jackson, who had been impatiently watching

‘ my looks, asked if I had paid my respects to the Lady

Governess? I answered in the negative, having had no

opportunity, as she had no chance to look towards me when

 I was prepared to do so. ” Oh !” replied the kind old lady,

” you must fix your eyes on her, and never take them off till

she notices you. Miss C— dy has done this and so have I.

It is absolutely necessary to avoid giving offence.” I followed

her prudent advice, and was soon honoured with a complacent

glance, which I returned, as became me, by a most respectful

bend. Not long after, she walked over to our side, and

conversed very affably with me, for we are now, through

Mrs. Jackson’s interference, on good terms together.

She also introduced me to Lady Coote and her inseparable

friend, Miss Molly Barrett. It was agreed between them

when they were both girls, whichever married first, the other

was to live with her : and accordingly when Sir Eyre took his

lady from St. Helena, of which place her father was

Governor, Miss Molly, who is a native of the island, accom-

panied them to England and from thence to India, where

she has remained ever since. Thus giving a proof of steady

attachment not often equalled and never perhaps excelled.

A few months after this was written Eliza Fay and her husband separated. The split left her struggling to maintain her 

social status. She tried her hand at a number of dubious business investments, several of which required her to continue

her travels. She was later to record journeys to England, New York and India. 

Sadly, after several bouts of bankruptcy, Eliza died insolvent on 9 September 1816 in Calcutta, where was buried 

the following day (British Library ref. IOR:N/1/9-10).

vice and virtue, guilt and innocence, repletion and the direst hunger, all treading

on each other and crowding together, are gathered round it. Draw but a little

circle above the clustering house-tops, and you shall have within its space,

everything with its opposite extreme and contradiction, close beside.

Master Humphrey’s Clock, 1841

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812, but lived much of his life in London. Although he died in Kent, his remains lie in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey where he was buried on 14 June 1870. The city fed his imagination and Dickens spent decades reproducing London’s streets, sights, smells, sounds and people in his many written works.

As part of the 2012 bicentennial celebrations mentioned in the previous blog, the Museum of London has created a stunning exhibition celebrating Dickens’ links with the capital. Exhibits are drawn not just from the Museum’s own extensive collections, but from museums and archives across Britain. There are also particularly notable items, such as Dickens’ writing desk, from private collections.

              Copyright Museum of London

From 1822, when the Dickens family settled in Camden, to 1860 when the author took permanent residence at his Kent home of Gad’s Hill Place, London was his home. He explored it by day and, often, by night. As he walked mile after mile he planned stories in his head. Visitors to the Museum can hear a reading of Night Works, Dickens’ description of London after dark, whilst watching William Raban’s 19 minute specially-commissioned film, The Houseless Shadow, made in October 2011.

Throughout those four decades, Dickens’ life changed dramatically. He went from schoolboy and then impoverished son of a prison inmate to the greatest celebrity of his time. His peers changed from workhouse orphans working alongside him at the blacking factory by Hungerford Stairs to famous authors, millionaires and aristocrats from across Europe and the United States.

Hungerford Stairs 1830 by John Harley. Copyright Museum of London

It is thus remarkable that the Dickens and London exhibition captures so much of his own varied life along with the lives of his characters. We see blacking pots, for example, like those Dickens’ worked with in his childhood employment, sitting not far from the author’s bank ledger - a reminder of his later riches. There are displays on the theatre, which Dickens adored, including a footlight from Wilton’s Music Hall. Also featured are themes of childhood, death, transport, wealth and poverty.

Copyright Museum of London

The full geographical area of the capital is covered: there is ‘A copy of Verses from the Year 1835, humbly presented to all the worthy inhabitants of the Parish of St Pancras’ in the north to household items excavated in 1996 from Jacob’s Island in Rotherhithe in the south east. St Pancras parish included Camden where Dickens lived and which inspired scenes from David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities. Jacob’s Island is probably most associated with scenes from Oliver Twist, particularly that of the dramatic death of villainous Bill Sykes.

Unlike in the British Library exhibition, the displays here are concerned with Dickens’ world - what many refer to as ‘Dickensian London’ - rather than a detailed focus on what he wrote. However, this does not detract from its success. And those who are interested in how Dickens wrote will delight in the presence of three original manuscripts: Dombey & Son (1847) and Bleak House (Nov 1851) from the Victoria & Albert Museum,

Bleak House manuscript. Copyright V&A Images

and Great Expectations (1861) lent by the Wisbech and Fenland Museum. Visitors can also experience Dickens’ work like its first readers by flicking through a replica copy of an instalment of Little Dorrit (Copyright V&A Images).

I once researched a family who lived around the corner from Charles Dickens in Holborn. One of my first thoughts was did he ever know them or see them? Did they inspire any of the characters in his novels or short stories? Although it is almost impossible to find out, this reminded me that many of those who inspired Dickens are the ancestors of people living today. That specific family would have recognized a watchman’s box in the centre of the exhibition, that stood outside Dickens’ old home at Furnival’s Inn - the home that neighboured theirs.

For family historians who have at least one ancestor who lived in London between 1820 and 1870, therefore, Dickens’ writing is a unparalleled source of relevant social and domestic detail. This exhibition provides an extension of that. The exhibits bring Dickensian London alive.

Overall, for anyone with even a passing interest in either Dickens or the social history of Victorian London, this exhibition is not to be missed.

Useful Links 

www.Dickens2012.org

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/dickens

http://www.dickensmuseum.com/

http://charlesdickenspage.com/dickens_london.html

http://charlesdickenspage.com/ruth_richardson-cleveland_street_workhouse.html

http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/january_seasons/dickens_on_screen

http://twitter.com/Dickensbookclub

Dickens and London tickets

Adult £8 (£7 advance booking);Child/concession £6 (£5 advance booking);Under 5s FREE; Friends of the Museum FREE; Flexible family tickets are also available

to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my 

readers out of humour with themselves, with each other,

with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses

pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

Preface to A Christmas Carol (December 1843)

If, like me, you are a fan of Charles Dickens, you have much to look forward to over the next year. In the run up to 7 February 2012, the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth, galleries all over the world are dusting off letters, books, and illustrations of the great author and his many works.

To start us off in London, the British Library have a smallish exhibition in its Folio Society Gallery - the perfect size for a lunch break visit. The rich Christmassy feel also provides welcome escape from currently chilly London streets.

Christmas permeates the display. There are several editions of A Christmas Carol, a theatre poster for an early performance, an oral recording by Ralph Richardson and Paul Scofield, plus a copy of the semi-autobiographical short story ‘A Christmas Tree’ (1850). Indeed, we learn that it was the ghost stories told around the fire in his childhood Christmases that first inspired Dickens’ imagination to ‘hanker’ after the supernatural.

Childhood influences are highlighted throughout: from the supernatural imagery of The Arabian Nights to the ‘fiendish enjoyment’ of young Charles’ nurse in relaying ghostly tales. But later, more tragic events were also to inspire his writing. The deaths of loved ones, like Mary Hogarth, were said to have ‘haunted his dreams’. Similarly, Ebenezer Scrooge was to be haunted at night by the ‘ghosts’ of those he had once cherished.

The Victorian obsession with the supernatural is highlighted through examples of spirit (or psychic) photographs and a display on spiritualism. Dickens satirized the spiritualists but was fascinated with the macabre. A close friendship with one of the finest exponents of the ghost story, Wilkie Collins, only served to further his interest. Although he sought to rationalise supernatural phenomena such as mesmerism, Dickens was not above sensationalizing them to terrify his readers. An original copy of Bleak House, for example, lies open on an illustration showing the spontaneous combustion of the alcoholic Krook.

Amongst featured items in the exhibition are illustrations, theatre posters and a letter written by the author to his wife, Catherine. One of my favourite items was a copy of The Terrific Register - a penny weekly magazine whose tales of horror haunted Dickens throughout his life. He later remembered ‘there was an illustration to every number in which there was always a pool of blood, and at least one body . . .’

The exhibition is free and runs from 29 November 2011 - 4 March 2012: Monday, Wednesday-Friday 9.30 – 18.00, Tuesday 9.30 – 20.00, Saturday 9.30 – 17.00, Sunday and Bank Holidays 11.00 – 17.00.

For more on Dickens, see my article ‘Charles Dickens in Camden’ at the London Historians website http://www.londonhistorians.org/?s=articles

The exhibition, Here and There, details the lives of members of Camden’s Bangladeshi Community through their experiences in both Bangladesh and London. Curated by the Bengali Workers’ Association, the exhibition focuses on the Community’s life in Camden from the 1950s to the present day.

Today the Bangladeshi Community is well-integrated into Camden life and many members now work as professionals in the area. Bengalis are well-represented politicially too: Councillor Nasim Ali OBE, the Leader of Camden Council, is featured in the exhibition; and Councillor Tulip Siddiq gave an introductory talk at the launch.

The exhibits themselves are comprised of oral testimonies, recorded as part of a history project by members of the Oral History Society. Robert Wilkinson of the Society told us how few recordings have been made of Bangladeshi memories. He welcomed the Lottery funding that enabled this exhibition and the opportunity to keep these stories alive.

One of the highlights of the evening was a fascinating talk by the founder of the Bengali Workers’ Association, Abdul Momen. Mr Momen is featured in the exhibition, and related to the audience some of his memories of growing up in Bengal and his esteemed work in Camden, which led to him saving lives through community action and welfare support.

Born near Calcutta in 1938, Mr Momen’s childhood was disrupted by his father’s career in the postal service. The regular moves across Bengal meant Mr Momen attended eight schools: the saddest part of this, he told us, was that he couldn’t play football as he was never at a school long enough to join the team. He also remembered dark times, such as the horrendous Bengal Famine of 1943. Mr Momen was horrified by the sight of extrememly thin women begging for the starchy water from cooked rice. Happier memories included those of summer holidays at his grandmother’s rural house, where every morning he ran out to collect the ripe mangoes that had fallen from the trees. His life changed completely in 1969 after he received a scholarship to do a doctorate in English at Leeds University. In 1971 he was appointed Asian Community Officer in Camden.

In February 1976 Mr Momen founded the Bengali Workers Action Group, now the Bengali Workers Association. This acted as an advice centre for issues such as immigration, accommodation and welfare. Today the Association continues to act as a support for members of the Bengali community as well as working closely with NHS Camden, the police, and local and national government. I met Tahmina Khanom who works with senior members of the community, helping to alleviate problems of isolation and language difficulties.

A wide range of topics are covered in the exhibition, including the themes of village life and education in Bangladesh, migration and the lives of Bangladeshi women; and aspects of life in the UK, such as community, marriage and employment.

Beside talks, we were also treated to poetry readings, Bengali dancing and wonderfully tasty samosas from the excellent caterers Ambala in nearby Drummond Street.  I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and learning more about my Bangladeshi neighbours.

The exhibition runs from 8 October to 19 December 2011, and is warmly recommended to anyone visiting central London over the next couple of months.

This continues the description of Camden parishes not found on www.ancestry.co.uk To help visualise where in London these are, take a look at the outline map of St Pancras parishes in 1903 at http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/StPancras/outline.htm

Walk from St Mary Brookfield downhill into Kentish Town and you will find St Benet & All Saints in Lupton Street, towering over the backstreets. Like St Mary’s and St Anne’s Brookfield it is a High Victorian church with a High Anglican heritage. Situated at the north end of Kentish Town, bordering the modern borough of Islington, the church was originally part of the civil parish of St Pancras and the Pancras registration district. At the front of the church is a small raised garden, which is open for public use. The church is also referred to as St. Benet and All Saints Lady Margaret Road, Kentish Town. [1881/85] but it is not included in London Metropolitan Archives’ (LMA) records.

The reason for the confused date of 1881/85 is that the parish has its origins in a mission church built on a small field given by St. John’s College, Cambridge “near a pond just off the Brecknock Road”. Father Frank Rowland opened the original church on 17^th July 1881, but it was soon outgrown by its congregation. Eventually, this chapel became the church hall.

The main church was designed by Joseph Peacock of Bloomsbury in 1884 and built quickly, with the foundation stone being laid on 13^th June 1885. The saint’s name was chosen with reference to the Church of St. Benet’s, Paul’s Wharf, Queen Victoria Street – itself a corruption of St Benedict. The then vicar, Frank Oakley Rowland, consecrated the church only months later on All Saints’ Eve. Within a few years, the church’s hastily constructed foundations and a spring under the church, were creating several structural problems.

In October 1908, the architects, Bodley and Hare, built a permanent chancel. But by 1925, the foundations of the whole were so unstable that the decision was made to take down the nave and rebuild it. London County Council condemned the old nave in November 1927. However, thanks to a legacy from a rich investor, Jeannette Elizabeth Crossthwaite (1845-1923), and “gifts of the faithful”, a new nave, with no aisles, was built in 1928 – again by Cecil G Hare. This was consecrated in November of that year by the Bishop of Willesden.  By the time of her death, Miss Crossthwaite was living at 51 St Charles Square, Notting Hill, but in 1871 she had been living at 106 Brecknock Road – not far from the site of St Benet.

Today St Benet’s is the parish church of Kentish Town. Kentish Town CofE Primary School in Islip Street (originally Kentish Town National School) is connected, and there are some records relating to this school at LMA http://search.lma.gov.uk The parish registers for St Benet and All Saints continue to be retained by the church. The church’s own website http://www.saintbenets.org.uk/ contains further details.

For more on the social classes of the parish in 1898-9, see the following page from Charles Booth’s Archive is at http://booth.lse.ac.uk/cgi-bin/do.pl?sub=view_booth_only&args=528970,185490,2,large,1 

Vicars:

1881 Frank Oakley Rowland (perpetual curate)

1887 Herbert Edward Hall

1901 George Villiers Briscoe

1906 Henry Tristram Valentine

1913 Robert Caledon Ross

1925 Harry Herbert Coleman Richardson

1947 Cecil Eskholme Charlton

Sources: the history section on http://www.saintbenets.org.uk/; Survey of London: volume 24: The parish of St Pancras part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood , Walter H. Godfrey and W. McB. Marcham (editors), 1952; John Richardson, A History of Camden: Hampstead, Holborn and St Pancras (Historical Publications Ltd, 1999); Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 4: North (Penguin) 1998; Camden Listed Buildings website; http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk

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Napoleon’s Bodyguards at Waterloo 2010

A recent trip to the battlefield of Waterloo in Belgium reminded me of a friend who had found a Napoleon Bonaparte JASPER/JESPER (1854-1918) in her family tree. As I explored the relics of Napoleon in the Waterloo Visitor’s Centre and watched films of his defeat by the Duke of Wellington, I began to wonder why any British parents of the 19^th century would wish to name their son after this great enemy of Britain and Europe. As Napoleon Jasper’s siblings had traditional English forenames like John and Mary, there seemed no obvious answer. By investigating further, I discovered that the reasons behind naming a son Napoleon were more complex than I could have imagined.

‘Napoleon Bonaparte’ Ancestors

According to the GRO indices, since 1837 there have been ten boys registered with the forenames, Napoleon Bonaparte. This does not include Napoleon Louis Charles Bonaparte NEALE (1857-1857), Napoleon Buonaparte Money (1827-1888), Napoleon Buonaparte Pugh (m. 1865, Liverpool), Napoleon Bonaparte/Buonaparte Smith (b. 1831, Hull), or Napoleon Buonaparte Soult Jones (b. 1838, London) – the last of whom appears to have been named after the Emperor and one of his leading generals. Beside Mr. Jasper (born in Dudley), the others were:

• Napoleon Bonaparte Clarke (1839-1917), who became a dock worker in his native Hull.
• Napoleon Bonaparte Farmer (1841-1889), who was later known as Napoleon Louis Bonaparte FARMER. His father worked as a farmer in Kent, but Napoleon and his brother, Beversham, became brewers.
• Napoleon Bonaparte Coldwell (1848-1904), who grew up in a weaving family in Huddersfield. The names of his brothers - Edwin, Wellington, Wallace and Albert - show clear military enthusiasm on behalf of someone in the family, but certainly not a complete lack of patriotism.
• Napoleon Bonaparte Gibb, who was born in Newcastle in 1850.
• Napoleon Bonaparte Johnson, who was born in Kent in 1853 to a Plate layer from Nottinghamshire. The family migrated to Australia a few months later.
• Napoleon Bonaparte BOTTOMLEY (1860, Keighley), who sadly died in 1869, but was clearly the child of imaginative parents. As well as Napoleon, Mr and Mrs Bottomley’s children included Inkerman, after a dubious success for the British and French in the Crimean War, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, after the American abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, who lived June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896. Mr Bottomley worked as a paper maker, possibly involving the books from which he gained inspiration for his children’s names.
• Napoleon Bonaparte Beaumont (1870, Durham), who died shortly after birth.
• Napoleon Bonaparte Burrows (born 1881 in Leicestershire), who became a carman and named one of his sons Arthur.
• Napoleon Bonaparte Soloman/Solomon (1890-1975), who was the son of Napolean (sic) [Bonaparte] Soloman (b. 1859), whose brothers included Wallace William (after the Scottish hero of Braveheart fame), Arthur Wellesley, and Charles Napier, born 1856 (apparently after Sir Charles James Napier [1782-1853], the British general and Commander-in-Chief in India). The Solomon family continued the tradition with further births of Napoleons in Suffolk.

Leaving aside the Bonaparte part of the name, there were even more Napoleons. I particularly like Napoleon Nathaniel Coffee (b. 1855, Westminster), and Napoleon The Great Lambeth (b. 1853, Chichester). Although Napoleon Lambeth was born in 1853, during the reign of Napoleon III, the epithet ‘The Great’ undoubtedly refers to Napoleon I.

It is interesting that only seven years after the Battle of Waterloo, the Boulton family of East London, chose to baptise their son after the defeated Emperor. The family clearly liked the name so much they used it twice: John Napoleon Boulton (bap. 1822) and Webber Napoleon Boulton (bap. 1829). Several of the Napoleons were also named after their fathers - perhaps indicating that being named Napoleon had done them no harm. Napoleon Bonaparte Jasper named his son, Henry Napoleon (1879- 1967). And there was also Napoleon Alfred Bowler (bap. 1853, Greenwich) son of Napoleon Alfred Bowler, and Napoleon Edward Bembridge (bap. 1872, Southwark St Saviour) son of Napoleon George Bembridge. Napoleon John Atkins, son of the same, was baptised in 1890 in Hoxton; Napoleon George Anderson, son of the same, was baptised 1854 in Lambeth; and Napoleon Edward Ainger, son of Napoleon Ainger (a Gentleman and sometime mercantile clerk), was baptised at St Luke, Old Street in 1848. Napoleon Ainger senior had been born in the City of London to a gentleman, William Ainger in 1817– just two years after Waterloo.

Could this naming, so close to the date of Wellington’s victory, indicate a lack of patriotism? Perhaps not, when you consider the number of Napoleons who are also named after feted British military heroes, like Nelson and Wellington: viz Napoleon Horatio Robert Wortley (b. 1854, Salisbury). Arthur was a common name in the 19^th century, but one of the main reasons for this was the popularity of long-lived war hero, Sir Arthur Wellesley (1769 – 1852), the 1^st Duke of Wellington, who later became both Commander-in-Chief and Prime Minister.

I found five Napoleon Arthurs in the GRO index:

Births Dec 1859 - Napoleon Arthur Jones, Salford  

Births Mar 1862 - Napoleon Arthur Murrell, Steyning

Births Dec 1869 - Napoleon Arthur Dubois, Holborn 

Births Sep 1876 - Napoleon Arthur Good, Pancras  

Births Dec 1902 - Napoleon Arthur B Shepperd, Southampton

And this does not include the many Napoleons with brothers named Arthur, including Napoleon Reybord of Lambeth (who also had a sister named Josephine), and the aforementioned Napoleon Bonaparte Soloman. Unsurprisingly, looking at English and Welsh birth registrations overall, there were many more Arthur Wellesleys than Napoleon Bonapartes. 

War heroes in general were popular, with a number appearing to be named after the ancient Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great - Napoleon Alexander Spicer, born to a Paper Manufacturer in Buckinghamshire in 1841 who went onto be a Naval Officer; there was also Napoleon Alexander Matley of Ashton (1842-1845) and Napoleon Alexander Cravino, who was born in the Lambeth area in 1842. Napoleon Cravino’s name can probably be explained by his father’s former career of Captain in the French Army. The Alexander theme was also clear in the 1840 naming of Arthur Wellington Alexander Nelson Hood of London. Not all Napoleons were influenced by military heroes, however. Some parents showed a sense of humour when naming their children, such as the artist who, in 1839, named his son Napoleon Tristram Shandy Inskipp, after the bawdy comic novel of 1760.

Who was Napoleon Bonaparte?

The great Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was born Napoleone Buonaparte on French-owned Corsica in 1769. Although a Corsican Nationalist and consequent hater of the French, Napoleon became an officer for the French Army at 16. Aged 20 at the time of the French Revolution, Napoleon witnessed the scenes first hand. He was also present when France became a Republic on 10 August 1792. Ascending swiftly through the French military ranks, Napoleon made his name repelling the British-supported Royalist invasion of Toulon in 1793. He later defeated Italy in 1796 (he became its King in 1805) and Austria in 1797. By 1799, he had overthrown the French Directory, become First Consul of France, and styled himself Napoleon I. In 1804, France became an empire and Napoleon its first emperor.

By 1812, Napoleon had conquered most of Europe and his strategic skill was evident to the world. Within the next two years, however, his power was to slip away amidst attacks by other European nations (notably, Russia, Britain, and Prussia), and he was forced to abdicate on the 6th April 1814. Despite being exiled on the tiny island of Elba, Napoleon managed to escape to France, gather supporters en route and march to Paris. Meanwhile, the Prussians and the Allies (the British Army, the King’s German Legion, plus several thousand troops from the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, and Nassau), led by the Duke of Wellington, were marching to meet him. This ‘Hundred Days’ period culminated in Napoleon’s final defeat on the 18^th June 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. After this, Napoleon was exiled to St Helena, where he died almost seven years later - possibly as a result of breathing arsenic from green wallpaper. Eventually his body was returned to France, where he was reburied in glory at Les Invalides, Paris.

So, why would anyone in Britain choose to name a child after him? European migrants made up some of the families of Napoleons, such as the 1838 Napoleon Joseph De Veaux born into cosmopolitan Holborn, or Napoleon Eugene Deshormes [De Cloislin], who was born in Shropshire in 1840 to a Professor of Languages from Paris. The defiantly named Napoleon Victor Renieuville was born in East London in 1856 to a Carpenter and Joiner from Normandy, France.

Although Napoleon was clearly a hero to the French, many British people also respected his achievements. Even Wellington described him as “the greatest general in the modern world”. Napoleon’s military prowess and qualities as a statesman were undoubtedly impressive - particularly as his success came from talent rather than privilege. His men admired him for guiding them to victory despite a lack of supplies, and for ensuring that they were paid fairly. Napoleon was also hailed in France for the end of revolutionary discord, and his introduction of a fair tax system, and an education system based on social equality. Across Europe, he was celebrated for his legal reforms: the Code Napoleon extended across Europe and is the basis of legal systems in many European countries today. Magnanimously, he also showed great personal qualities by forgiving those who betrayed him.

The Other Napoleon Bonaparte: Napoleon III

Confusingly we cannot be certain whether all the above Napoleons were named after the same person. Although Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821) is the most famous today, there were other Napoleons in his family. Napoleon I’s son, Napoleon II (1811-1832), became titular Emperor of the French on his father’s abdication in 1815. However, he never returned to France after his exile in Austria, and died soon afterwards of tuberculosis.

More significantly for the births in the 1830-1870 period, there was Napoleon III (1808 – 1873) - son of Napoleon’s brother, Louis (1778-1846), who had been born in Corsica as Luigi Buonaparte. Luigi later changed his name to Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and became a French Prince and King of Holland. In the 1840s and 1850s, contemporary newspaper reports reveal how French and European politics was dominated by the figure of Napoleon III, also known as Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, but originally born Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. The clue to his influence on the names can be seen with Napoleon Louis Charles Bonaparte Neale. It appears that Master Neale was named after this man in 1857. There was also the 1871 birth in London’s St Pancras area that included the names of both the recently deposed Napoleon III and the Prussian architect of his downfall - Napoleon Bismarck Du Cann.

After an early career in the Swiss Army and a brief exile in England, Louis-Napoleon took advantage of the family reputation and won a popular vote in 1848, becoming President of France’s Second Republic.  In 1851, demonstrating the ambition of his uncle, he then overthrew the state, and seized the French throne. He finally became Emperor Napoleon III on the 2^nd December 1852 (ruling until 4 September 1870). He is remembered as the last monarch of France.

Britain’s Armies had fought hard to prevent Napoleon I from seizing power across Europe, but in the 1850s, Britain united with France (and Turkey and Sardinia) against the Russians for the infamous battles of the Crimean War. Thus, in this period, the name Napoleon represented a friend of Britain, and a support in a notorious conflict. The Crimea is known today for the Charge of the Light Brigade (quickly immortalized in 1854 by the then Poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson), the balaclava, and the innovatory nursing of Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. Napoleon III, showing the military zeal of his uncle, participated in several other wars, including the Second Opium War, the Second Italian War of Independence, the Franco-Mexican War, the Taiping Rebellion, the 1866 campaign against Korea, the Boshin War, and the Franco-Prussian War. However, the 1870 Battle of Sedan was a battle too far, and proved the end of Napoleon III’s reign. In the aftermath of defeat, the territory of Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to the newly-formed German Empire – reinforcing an enmity between France and Germany that was to continue into the 20^th century.

Napoleons Today

Births of Napoleons continued to be registered in Britain throughout the twentieth century. The name has recently acquired a new audience through the cult film, Napoleon Dynamite. I spoke to a Mr Napoleon Russell Hill about why he was called Napoleon. He told me that his mother liked unusual names - his sisters having grand names also. When his younger brother was born, however, his father said “enough of the silly names”, and insisted the baby be called George. Mr Hill has no real problem with the name - other than its being so distinctive that everyone always knows who he is. Within the family, however, he is known as Leon.

 Naming Napoleons in the past seems to have been inspired by a variety of motivations. Clearly, Napoleon Bonaparte III had some influence on the Napoleons born in the 1830s through to 1873 (when he died - in England). Many Napoleons were named during the period of the Crimean War (1853-1856), when Napoleon III’s name regularly appeared in British newspapers. And the French participation in that war is probably also significant; especially when we consider the Bottomley family with their sons, Napoleon and Inkerman. On the other hand, regarding that same family’s admiration for the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, they may also have respected Napoleon I’s civil policies of social equality. Furthermore, some parents may have been inspired by tales they had heard when themselves children some twenty, thirty or forty years previously. Recruitment propaganda for the Armed Forces, and history lessons of military conquests by the likes of Alexander, Wellington and Napoleon, may also have contributed towards the names. Victorian society and culture held military heroes and reforming statesmen in high esteem. This regard is evident in the names the British Victorians chose to bestow upon their children.

The new website is now ready for use at http://postalheritage.org.uk

There are some great features to the website such as a blog (http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/women-in-the-post-office/), history of the post office (http://postalheritage.org.uk/page/history), galleries (http://postalheritage.org.uk/page/144/Online-Exhibitions) and the updated online catalogue (http://catalogue.postalheritage.org.uk/).

Family historians will probably be most interested in the Family History Research section (http://postalheritage.org.uk/page/genealogy) which includes examples of appointment books (http://postalheritage.org.uk/page/appointments).

If you are planning a visit to the Archive, I recommend ringing in advance and remember to take some ID! Overall, the Archive and its new website are excellent resources for anyone researching Post Office ancestors.