Notes for Thomas Barstow: Per Roger Beament Notes "Thomas Barstow was born in Danzig on 16 June 1788, presumably at the family house in Landgarten. He was under 5 when his father died, leaving a widow with 5 small children aged from 7 to just under 2. Eighteen months later, his mother remarried. Her new husband was Count Cornelius von Almonde, the Dutch consul in Danzig, who inherited the 5 step-children. He and Maria had a further seven children, but only one survived childhood.
When he was 9, Thomas was sent to England to live with his Uncle, the Rev. Thomas Barstow,
Vicar of in Essex. Here he spent his holidays when he was at Felsted School, a small
public school with an average intake at that of just 4 new pupils a year. The Treaty of Amiens in 1802 provided the opportunity for his three younger sisters to join him at the Parsonage. With the invasion of Holland by Napoleon in , the Queen of Holland and her two daughters took refuge in Danzig in the Almondes (once the Barstows) house in Landgarten. It was in gratitude to their hospitality that she gave Mary Maclean Almonde the ring
From Felsted, Thomas gained admission to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1806 and was elected a scholar in 1808. His tutor was Reverend. Tavel and contemporaries included Byron, Thomas Backhouse and George Shotto Douglas, later Earl of Munster. In 1810 he gained his BA and on 15 February 1810 he was admitted at the Middle Temple, 'as the only son of Michael(Barstow) of Fulford Hall Esq. deceased.'
In her reminiscences, Elizabeth Barstow says that her father experienced four disasters in his life. The frrst was when he was a minor, a tenant living in Fulford Hall died intestate and in debt. The creditors "seized my father's property, furniture and pictures: in this was he lost a very valuable Hogarth, two Jansons, two Sir Godfrey Knellers and other pictures." This must have happened before 1809 when Thomas reached 21. The following year, he wrote to his mother in Danzig to ask for his father's valuables to be returned. These had been walled up in the house at Landgarten and with great difficulty and at considerable risk, Count Almonde managed to get them on a ship bound for England. It was said that the ship sank and the valuables lost, but Elizabeth reckoned that they were stolen. That was the second disaster. The Treaty of Tylza of 1807 banned trade with England by the merchants in Gdansk, as part of the French blockade of England. It must have been very dangerous for von Almonde to act as he did.
It is not clear where Thomas was living during after 1809 when he became 21. There is a hint that he was living in London in 1814, but other documents in the same year refers to him as Thomas Barstow of Fulford and Essex, and of Skipton Bridge. It is possible that it was about then that he purchased or rented the house there, and there is evidence that he was selling property in Fulford, perhaps to raise money for the Skipton Bridge House. This seems to be the house to which he brought his newly married wife, Anne Suzannah Jones, in 1817."It would seem that they lived at Skipton Bridge for some five years and moved to Naburn, south of York, in 182224 with their two baby sons, aged about 3 and 1. I do not know where Mary Ann was born in 1822, but the next 4 children were born at Naburn Hall: Michael (1824), George (1826) Elizabeth (1827) and Lewis (1829). In 1831 the family moved into York to Blossom Street, just by Micklegate Bar, and it was there that Amy was born on 15th December 1831. Why they moved into York is not clear. What is apparent is that Thomas Barstow was becoming increasingly involved in business and other commitments in York and he may well have wanted to be nearer to them than Naburn, which was between 4 to 5 miles from the city centre.
I cannot as yet discover what Thomas' job was after he came down from University - if he had one. It may be that despite the various disasters, he still had sufficient private income to live the life of a gentleman. He was qualified as a barrister, but I do not know whether he practised as such. From 1818 he was a magistrate in the North Riding of Yorkshire but that was not a paid job.
From 1824 his business commitments in York began to expand. He was probably one of the founder members of the Yorkshire Fire & Life Insurance Company established in Coney Street in 1824. "It was felt by a group of local businessmen that the 'large and opulent county of Yorkshire should have its own insurance organisation. Public meetings were held, the necessary capital of £500000 was quickly forthcoming and the company was formed. ",25 Thomas became Deputy Chairman in 1837. In 1848 the Chairman was Thomas Price of Clemen thorpe and Thomas 'Barstow was one of two deputy chairmen. Other directors included Samuel Tuke (of the Retreat) and John Agar (Hazel Bush).
Then in 1830, the York City and County Banking Company was established. Samuel Tuke presided over a general meeting of the shareholders at which the organisation of the new company was arranged. There would be 7 directors: Henry Croft (Stillington Hall) Thomas Price (Clementhorpe) Thos. Barstow (Naburn House), Thos Laycock (Appleton Roebuck), Thos Backhouse (York), Benjamin Harris (Fulford Grange) and Robert Walker (York). Many of these names recur as directors of York businesses: there was a close knit group of businessmen of which Thomas Barstow was a leading member.
Other organisations, he was involved in included the York Institute of Popular Science and Literature. It evolved out ofthe Mechanics Institute set up in 1833. Its purpose was to provide an educational facility for the working class particularly as the Yorkshire Courant has reported that 28% of children, aged between 5 and 15 received no education at all. By 1840 evening classes had been well established. Thomas Barstow became Vice President ofthe Institute. By 1837 he had also become Vice President of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society under the Presidency of Earl Fitzwilliam. The Society had been founded in 1821 "to promote science in the district by establishing a scientific library, scientific lectures and by providing scientific apparatus for original research. Its more particular object was to elucidate the geology ofYorkshire.,,26 Thomas Barstow was a member of the council in 1827 ,serving for three years. In 1828 he contributed £ 15 to the building fund, with a second subscription of 5 guineas in 1829. Gifts rolled in from various sources: Miss Rodder gave 16 sea weeds from the Yorkshire coast, Mr. Holden a large bamboo. In 1837 the Yorkshire and North Midland Railway gave a Roman altar which they had dug up whilst constructing the new railway.
His most interesting involvement was with the York and North Midland Railway Company, which held its fIrst formal meeting in August 1836. The story of George Hudson's involvement with this company which became the springboard for building his railway empire between 1837 and 1850 and his and the Conservative rise to power in and control of York in these years need a separate section. It is not clear whether Thomas Barstow was one of the original members of the provisional committee of the company but ifnot, he soon became one of its directors.27 Further research is needed here to explore Thomas' role as a director and how much he might have been associated with or knew of Hudson's fmancial malpractices and embezzlement of certain funds. In certain cases, Hudson acted unilaterally, but on one occasion the directors had secretly voted themselves a hundred extra shares each at Hudson's instigation28• Thomas Barstow was not seemingly one of a small group of directors who were guilty of other improper actions, but when Hudson's empire began to crash around him and he resigned from the board of the Yorkshire and North Midland Railway, Thomas Barstow also resigned. Why? Because he had been involved? Or because he was dismayed at what Hudson had been doing and the chaos into which the company's affairs had descended, including an overdraft of £100,000 at the bank? I have no doubt that Thomas Barstow had done well out of the railways and with his investments would continue to do so. Railway shares were the mid nineteenth century equivalent of the IT boom.
The Barstows spent four years in their house no. 44 Blossom Street. It was a new house built in the early years of the 19th century and was part of the property of St.Mary's Convent or Nunnery as it was called. It was a Roman Catholic Convent founded in 1686. The nuns ran a boarding and a day school for girls with about 50 pupils in each. 29 We can identify location of the house accurately [see Fig. 6 above], with the descriptions of the fIre which bumt it down in 1835.
Move to Garrow Hill.
The move to Garrow Hill was precipitated by the fourth disaster that Thomas Barstow experienced. This was the ferocious fIre which destroyed their house in Blossom Street on the night of Thursday 8th• January 1835. That week had been election week in York. The election for the two Members of Parliament for York had started on Monday, 5th January, which had been nomination day. Thomas Barstow had himself proposed the Conservative nomination of John Henry Lowther which was seconded by Mr. Joseph Agar. Two other candidates were nominated, Dundas and Barkley, both Whigs. All three then spoke. After the speeches, the crowd were asked to 'vote' which after a show of hands "was declared in favour of the two Liberals, the friends of these two candidates holding up for one another." Thomas Barstow immediately demanded a poll which was to start at 9 o'clock the following morning and continue until Wednesday. The declaration of the poll and return would be made on Thursday 8th• January. The press reported that polling continued" with very great spirit throughout the day.,,3o There was, of course, no secret ballot and the choice of each of the voters was recorded in the poll book. Some of these poll books have survived. WE know that Thomas Barstow had voted for Lowther (Conservative) and Dundas (Whig) in 1832,31 as he almost certainly did again in 1835. Ciyt of York returned two members, so each voter had two votes. There was only one conservative candidate, and in this election Thomas Barstow would have voted for Dundas to keep out the more radical Whig, Barkley.
Thomas Barstow would have been delighted with the result which represented a gain for the Conservatives. No doubt there was celebration at the Barstow's house that evening. But that night fire broke out and the Barstow's house was burnt to the ground. The Times, quoting the Yorkshire Courant, reported that:
"On Thursday last a fife broke out in the house ofT.Barstow Esq. near the Nunnery without Micklegate Bar. The flames soon communicated to the adjoining house ofE.Prest Esq. Both houses were totally destroyed notwithstanding the engines were worked with great energy. In short it was not until morning that the fife was got under control. The buildings which were nearly new, are now in ruins."
In her memoir on her mother, Elizabeth Barstow stated a rather different explanation, that the fire was caused by 'overheating by their neighbours which spread to their house.
On the following Tuesday, Elizabeth Agar records that she "called with Mrs Barstow on the Lady Abbess about fire." It seems reasonable to assume that Anne Barstow went to thank the Lady Abbess for her help, perhaps for taking in the children, particularly the four youngest including baby Charles, looking after them for the night and providing food whilst the parents made plans to fmd temporary accommodation.
The immediate problem was to find somewhere to house the family of two adults, nine children and their servants. Thomas Barstow owned several properties but they, no doubt, had tenants in them. Three months after the ftre Thomas Barstow found a house for the family. In April 1835, he purchased Garrow Hill in Thief Lane just off the Heslington Road, near to the Friends Retreat, a private lunatic asylum. The previous owner, Henry Bland, a banker and partner in the firm of Messrs Swann, Clough & Co. from 1828, had died in January and the property had become vacant.32 Clearly work needed to be done to accommodate the large family and in March 1836 Elizabeth Agar went with her father over to Garrow Hill to ftnd "The Barstows in a happy state, Ii house full of work people & dirt, furniture & cleaning." In early April, a party offtve Barstow children were brought over to Brockfteld from Jerry Hall "to be taken care of during the removal and on Monday 11 April 1836 the ftve children went home" and settled into their new home.
By mid April, the family were installed in Garrow Hill, ftfteen months after the ftre ~ and Anne Barstow was already four months pregnant with child number 10. This was John born on 23 September. Three more children were to be born at Garrow Hill: Henry Clements in 1838, Mathilda Emily in 1842 and ,fmally, Flora Maclean in 1845. Anne was by then aged 47 and Thomas 59.
Garrow Hill was built as a private house in the early nineteenth century. It is two storey house with walls of white brick and low pitched roofs with slates. The main part of the house is a rectangular block built around a central hall which is lit from a lantern projecting above the main roof. It remained in the family until 1926, when it was sold by Michael Barstow following the death of Thomas' last surviving daughter , Lizzie, in 1926.
Thomas is buried in the Barstow monument in York Cemetery. This also contains his wife and 8 of his 13 children, his grandson Ulick Francis and his sister in law, Frances Jones. Extract from Cambridge alumni Thomas. Barstow College: TRINITY Entered: Michs. 1806 Died: 1866 More Information: Adm. pens. at TRINITY, Jan. 27, 1806. [S. and h. of Michael, Esq., of Fulford Hall, Yorks. School, Felsted.] Matric. Michs. 1806; Scholar, 1808; B.A. 1810; M.A. 1813. Adm. at the Middle Temple, Feb. 15, 1810, as ?only s. of Michael, of Fulford Hall, Esq., deceased.? Succeeded his father as Lord of the Manor of Ryton, Yorks., in 1794; made a conveyance of the Manor in 1812. Sometime of Garrow Hill, Fulford. Died 1866.
Christopher Barstow To: "Timothy Duke" cc:
04/08/2004 09:28 Subject: Barstow family(Document link: Christopher Barstow)
Dear Mr. Duke,
I refer to our telecon yesterday, and was most interested in what you said.
I looked up the reference to Clapham last night and the following extract from my great great Aunt Liz's (1827-1926) memoir is very much in point
"Owing to the disasters that befell my father during his minority, an old carved oak press that we have in the hall at Garrow Hill is the only piece of furniture we posess that belonged to my great Grandfather. Miss Clapham who was my Grandfather's cousin asked him to give it to her as a keepsake. Father inherited it again as heir at law on her death in 1832. The Claphams lived in the Minster Yard, in that house which was conspicuous from its having stone lions rampant on the gate posts, they being the Clapham arms."
Imight also mention here that the silver kettle emblazoned with the Barstow and Barnard arms, now in the posession of my youngest brother Henry, was left by will in 1730, by Edward Barnard of North Dalton to his dearly beloved brother in law Michael Barstow and to Ann his wife, this also came again into our family through Ann Clapham"
This extract probably explains how the coffee pot came back into our family. I also noted the reference to the stone lion rampant One of my cousins has the silver kettle
Christopher Barstow Direct Line 0207 759 4902 Fax 0207 759 4954 ----- Forwarded by Christopher Barstow/CTEMEA/CTGroup on 26/08/2004 14:52 -----
"College of Arms" rms.gov.uk> cc: Subject: Barstow 26/08/2004 14:07
From: Timothy Duke Chester Herald College of Arms Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4BT
e-mail timothy@duke8550.fsnet.co.uk
Tel: 020 7236 7728
Dear Mr Barstow,
Thank you for your e-mail of 4 August. Searches have been carried out in the official registers of Arms and pedigrees to identify the armorials engraved on the coffee pot hallmarked 1738, and I now write to report the results.
The Arms are impaled, that is to say two coats are shown side by side, in this case within a cartouche. This method of display represents marital Arms, with those of the husband on the dexter (the left from the view point of the observer) and those of his wife on the sinister. His Arms may be blazoned Argent on a bend Azure six fleurs de lys Or two two and two. Her Arms may be blazoned Ermine on a fess cotised three crescents, although it is difficult to determine all the tinctures from the conventional hatching marks. The vertical lines may indicate the colour red (Gules), but I suspect they were not so intended by the engraver. Above the cartouche is his Crest, A lion rampant grasping in the forepaws a sword. Below is the motto IN ARDUA VIRTUS.
The Arms on the dexter and the Crest were recorded at the Heralds' Yorkshire Visitation of 1665/6 for Sheffeild Clapham, then aged 36, the son of Sir Christopher Clapham of Beamsley near Knaresborough, then living aged 57 (Coll Arm C40, 32). The Crest can be fully blazoned from this MS as A lion rampant Sable grasping in the forepaws a sword Argent hilt Or.
The Arms on the sinister are similar (but not identical) to those illustrated at the head of the printed pedigree of Barstow of Holme House which you sent to me, taken from The History and Antiquities of the parish of Hemingbrough in the County of York (by Thomas Burton, edited and enlarged by James Raine, York, 1888), bound between pages 216 and 217.
Judging from the printed pedigree, I believe that the coffee pot was engraved for ..... Clapham who married Anne, daughter of Michael Barstow (died 15 May 1751) or for ..... Clapham who married her sister Elizabeth. There are no later pedigrees of this family of Clapham on official record here, and these two marriages do not appear in the published pedigree of Clapham of Ilmington in Burke's Landed Gentry (1952), who stem from the Claphams of Beamsley.
If you would like to identify precisely the two Claphams who married Anne and Elizabeth Barstow, you will probably have to make use of original sources in the national and local archives. For example, you could search for any wills left by these two men, which would have been proved in York or London.
You also asked what may be recorded here for your own family. A full search of the official registers of Arms and pedigrees has revealed no entries for your Barstow forebears. However, I notice that the Arms on the sinister side of the cartouche on the coffee pot are similar to those allowed to Nicholas Bristow of Ayot St Lawrence co: Hertford by Christopher Barker (Garter King of Arms from 1536 to 1550), Ermine on a fess cotised Sable three crescents Or. At the same time he was allowed the Crest Out of a crescent Or a demi eagle displayed Azure (Coll Arm EDN 56, 2b). I do not know whether your family use this Crest. According to Burke's General Armory (1884), the name Bristow is a variant of Burstow, whose pronunciation is close to that of Barstow. Your family may well have assumed these Arms in good faith, but did not seek authority from the Heralds by recording a pedigree at the College of Arms.
Yours sincerely,
Timothy Duke Chester Herald
----- Forwarded by Christopher Barstow/CTEMEA/CTGroup on 26/08/2004 18:02 -----
Fascinating. That explains why our great grandfather's second eldest brother was called Robert Clapham Barstow (he was the one that went to New Zealand)> Hetta has the oak chest. Catharine the kettle, of course. I've got a photograph of Henny's wedding for you (showing the diamonds in their full glory - Brigid has them!) Your contribution towards the wedding costs made a huge difference. Love Mary
More About Thomas Barstow: Burial: Unknown, York Cemetery. Residence: Garrow Hill, York.
More About Thomas Barstow and Anne Susanna Jones: Marriage: September 1817
Children of Thomas Barstow and Anne Susanna Jones are:
Thomas Barstow (b. June 16, 1788, d. January 16, 1868)
Notes for Thomas Barstow: