Hendre House and Oaklands

Historical Hendre House - once the home of naturalist John Blackwall, and still host to eco-friendly events. Oaklands, now the centre of outdoor activities, was also home to the Blackwell family. Pentre Mawr, part of the Hendre House property, was home for many years to the Williams family.

HENDRE HOUSE FOR SALE - TO BE AUCTIONED AT THE EAGLES HOTEL, LLANRWST
3.00 p.m. 20 and 21 January.

Don't rush - the year was 1821.

DENBIGHSHIRE

VALE OF LLANRWST

TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION,

BY MR. THOMAS JONES,

At the Eagles Inn,

In the Town of Llanrwst, in the County of Denbigh,

On the 20th and 21st Days of JANUARY, 1821,

At the hour of Three o’Clock in the Afternoon of each Day,

In the following and such other Lots, and subject to such conditions as shall be then agreed upon,

The following most valuable, compact and desirable

FREEHOLD ESTATES,

Late the property of WILLIAM EDWARDS, Esq. Deceased

LOT 1

All that capital Mansion House, called Hendre House with the Demesne and other Lands, Garden, Plantations, Out Buildings and Appurtenances thereunto belonging, late in the occupation of the said William Edwards; together with the Farm of Hafod, and the Dwelling House, and other Buildings appurtenant thereto, lying near to Hendre House aforesaid, in the occupation of the Rev. Robert Hughes, and containing by admeasurement 121 a. 1R. 2P. of excellent Arable, Meadow and Pasture Land, in a high state of cultivation, and 84a, OR, 18P of Woodland, (more or less,) in a very thriving state.

LOT No. 2.

A capital Messuage, Dwelling House, Farm, and Premises, with the Appurtenances called Pentre Mawr, otherwise Hendre Mawr, lying near to Hendre House aforesaid, and containing by admeasurement about 80 Acres of Land, in the occupation of a Tenant from year to year.

LOT No. 3.

A piece of Arable and Woodland, called Brynmelin, lying near to Hendre House aforesaid containing by admeasurement 5a 3R 10P (more or less,) late in the occupation of said Wm. Edwards, deceased.

WHO LIVED WHERE?

From the above, it is apparent that the owner of Hendre House prior to 1821 was William Edwards.

Pentre Mawr (also known as Hendre Mawr) was part of the property, and occupied by a tenant.

The Tait Family:

Phyl said: My family were tenants at Hendre House from 1830 to about 1840 - children were born there and registered at Capel Garmon in 1830, 1831, 1833,and 1836. Their name was Tait - father was William Kelsall Tait from Staffordshire. I don't know why he went there but by 1841 he was back in Staffordshire. There are records of his tenancy in the Record Office in Denbigh, also records of his children's christenings.

In the 1850s farmer William Williams of Carreg Lleon, Capel Garmon, lived at Pentre Mawr for the rest of his life after his marriage in November 1848 to Elinor Hughes of Tyn y Capel, daughter of Morris Hughes, Carpenter and Shopkeeper, and the birth of their first daughter, Jane, at Bryn Pwn.

They raised their family in Pentre Mawr, and William died aged 70 in 1883.

Nearby Hafod was occupied by clergyman Robert Hughes.

 

 

Above: Pentre Mawr

TO LET: HENDRE HOUSE (1830)

Hendre House, near Llanrwst, Denbighshire.

TO BE LET, WITH IMMEDIATE POSSESSION.

The above excellent Dwelling house, fit for the residence of a Gentleman’s Family, and occupied by the proprietor, the late William Edwards, Esquire, until his death. It contains a spacious Dining and Drawing rooms, and suitable Bed-rooms, with Stables, Coach-house, and other convenient out-buildings, and an excellent Walled Garden attached. The House stands in a fine Lawn in the beautiful Vale of Llanrwst, within about a mile of the Town, where there is a plentiful market. - The roads in the vicinity are good, and the neighbourhood is respectable. - The Tenant may at his option be accommodated with 32 acres, or any less quantity, of excellent Land adjoining the House.

For further particulars apply to Mr JONES, Plas Iolin, near Pentre-foelas, the Receiver of the Rents of the Estate, under an order of the Court of Chancery; or to Messrs. EVANS and WILLIAMS, Solicitors, Denbigh.

Denbigh, March 9th, 1830.

The above advertisement appeared in 1830.

The Tait Family:

Phyl said: My family were tenants at Hendre House from 1830 to about 1840 - children were born there and registered at Capel Garmon in 1830, 1831, 1833,and 1836. Their name was Tait - father was William Kelsall Tait from Staffordshire. I don't know why he went there but by 1841 he was back in Staffordshire. There are records of his tenancy in the Record Office in Denbigh, also records of his children's christenings.

At some later date Thomas Blackwall took up residence there.

HENDRE HOUSE and THE BLACKWALL FAMILY

Mr John Blackwall, famed as a naturalist, was born January 20, 1790 and died May, 1881 in Crumpsall, Manchester.

John Blackwall took an interest in natural history from his youth on, and published an article on spiders in 1827.

He went on to publish 'A History of the Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland' (2 vols., 1861-1864), describing 304 species of British spiders, the most useful book on the subject until that time.

He corresponded with Charles Darwin on the variation among spiders, and said that adult spiders of the same species differed so remarkably in size and colour, no matter where found, that he was unable to explain it.

His name appears in the names of spider species such as Salticus blackwallii, Scotophaeus blackwallii and Idiops blackwallii.

John Blackwell, then resident in Crumpsall Hall, also used to write about birds in the Manchester area (Manchester Chronicles)in the 1820s. One such article appears in 1830 in The Magazine of Natural History.

John Blackwell's writings on birds in the Llanrwst area in the 1840s were said to be the continuation of work he started at the suggestion of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

He also wrote on birds for the Edinburgh Journal of Science.

The Penny Cyclopedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge quoted him in an article on birds.

His name also appeared in 1834 in Researches in zoology, illustrative of the manners and economy of animals, London.

In 1846: Notice of Spiders captured by Professor Potter in Canada, with Descriptions of such Species as appear to be new to Science. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.;

1853: Descriptions of some newly discovered Species of Araneida. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.;

1854: Descriptions of some newly discovered species of Araneida. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist.

1861: A history of the spiders of Great Britain and Ireland;

1862: Description of newly discovered Spiders captured in Rio de Janerio, by John Gray and the Rev. Hamlet Clark. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist;

1865: Descriptions of recently discovered Spiders collected in the Cape de Verde Islands by John Gray, Esq. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.;

1866: List of spiders captured in the southeast region of equatorial Africa, with descriptions of such species as appear to be new to arachnologists. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist.;

1867. Notes on Spiders, with Descriptions of several Species supposed to be new to Arachnologists. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist;

1868: Notice of several Species supposed to be new or little known to Arachnologists. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist;

1870a: Notes on a Collection of Spiders made in Sicily in the Spring of 1868, by E. Perceval Wrigth, MD, with a list of the Species, and Descriptions of some new Species and of a new Genus. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist;

1870b: A list of Spiders captured by Professor E. Perceval Wrigth, MD, in the Province of Lucca, in Tuscany, in the Summer of 1863, with Characters of such Species as appear to be new or little known to Arachnologists. Journ. Linn. Soc.;

1877: A List of Spiders captured in the Seychelle Islands by Professor E. Percival Wrigth, MD, FLS with Descriptions of Species supposed to be new. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad.

His name appears in a checklist of Kansas Jumping Spiders - Habronattus decorus (Blackwall).

His obituary appeared in "The Entemologist" and is reproduced at the bottom of this page.

 

LIVED WHERE EXACTLY?

Information has been published in the past indicating that from 1833 until his death John Blackwall the naturalist lived at Hendre House.

However, according to the census records, it was a Thomas Blackwall who was living at Hendre House in 1841 and 1851, while John Blackwall was recorded as living at Oaklands, as seen below.

Jesse Hutchinson, nee Kitts, of Australia wrote in 2004 about the Moulsdale family, and said that John Blackwall (1790-1881) lived at Oaklands and Hendre House near Llanrwst in the Conwy Valley from 1833 until his death.

That would appear to be correct, but it seems that this statement has been misread and condensed by contributors to Wikipedia who state that he lived at Hendre House from 1833 until his death, which error has been copied by others and spread on the Internet.

ROOTS: THE BLACKWALLS

In 1775 John Gartside acquired Crumpsall Hall, Manchester, a property of 60 acres, and sold it to Thomas Blackwall of Manchester in 1806. John Blackwall, the naturalist, died there in 1881.

Blackwalls had lived in various places in Derby since the 1500s, in Blackwall Manor, Kirk Ireton, Wirksworth and Ashford. John, Thomas, and William were family names back then, also.

A Robert Blackwall, gent., receiver, died 1520 or earlier at Wiboston, Beds., with property in four counties including Derby. He seems to have been the third son of Richard and Agnes Blackwall. The church at Taddington has a plaque (with family crests) and brasses to Richard and Agnes Blackwall, of Blackwall, dated 1505. Agnes vowed perpetual widowhood after Richard's death.

The Blackwall family was of Blackwall in the Peak in the reigns of Henry II and III. There were four brothers of this family in the reign of Henry VIII.

A descendant of the elder was father of Wensley Blackwall and grandfather of Sir Thomas Blackwall, a zealous loyalist, who became impoverished in the civil war, in debt to the tune of £130,632 7s 10d. and died in reduced circumstances in the reign of Charles II.

The manor left the family's possession in 1702.

A Robert Eaton Blackwall was a linen merchant like Thomas and John Blackwall. In the census of 1841 and 1851 he was in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. His wife, Maria, died in Wirksworth in 1826 at the age of 30.

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Family Historian Judith Mair of North London writes as under:

This week I received a death certificate of a Mary Ann Griffith, who lived at Henar (sp? difficult to read!) House, Denbigh Street, Llanrwst in 1854. Looking her up in the 1851 census she is living there with her mother, Elizabeth Hughes, widow, aged 71, born 1780 Llanllyfni, Land proprietor, and John Robert Griffith, aged 19, b 1832, Solicitor's Articled clerk b Bangor, named as grandson (of Elizabeth Hughes). Mary Ann was born at Capel Curig c 1807.

In 1858, John Robert Griffith married Mary Blackwall and by the 1861 census they were living at Beaver Grove, Garth Garmon, with daughter Frances Mary Griffith and son Thomas Blackwall Griffith. On the 1871 census they are living at Brynderwen, with a further 6 children, John William Griffith, Arthur Ernest Griffith, Walter Wynne Griffith, Frederick Ashley Griffith, Ethel (also recorded on future censuses as Edith) Louisa Griffith and Catharine Maud Griffith.

John Robert Griffith was a Solicitor in 1861 and an Attorney Solicitor by 1871, and I am wondering if anyone might know how I could find out where his practice was. At least 2 of his sons went on to become a solicitor and a barrister, having been sent to school at Beaumaris Grammar School.

I am keen to find out more about the Griffith family, for example whether Mary Ann was actually John Robert's mother, as she is recorded as being unmarried on the 1851 census. It has taken me quite a time to find her and it was a mourning ring with the following inscription that set me off on this journey of discovery:

'In memory of M.A.Griffith died 14th Jany 1854 aged 48'.

I had no idea who this person was, where they came from, or which part of Britain they lived in, and it is a mystery as to why my late mother had it among her possessions.

Looking on BMD threw up many M Griffith deaths for the 1st quarter of 1854, but having found 6 for M.A Griffith, the Llanrwst one seemed a possible link with my family in North Wales. The Registrar at Llandudno was able to confirm that the death date was the same as on the ring, and I was thrilled to have at last found the person it commemorated.

I believe that generally mourning rings were given to family members or friends, and would probably indicate that the family were comfortably off financially. It is in the shape of a buckle with a channel for a plait of the deceased's hair, but no hair remains.

If anyone could help me shed any light on this Griffith family or know more about this mourning ring, I would be very pleased if they could get in touch with me: jpmair @ tiscali.co.uk

I have enjoyed finding out about the Blackwall family from the Melin y Coed website and finding a picture of Brynderwen as a residential nursing home.

Thanks for any help, Judith Mair ( N. London)

Judith also says:

I have literally just been on your website again, having looked for information on the Rev Robert Hughes, (who I see was living at Hendre House. This gives another link with the Blackwall family)

Since writing to you I have been in touch with Pat Rowley, of Llanrwst, to find out more about Henar House, which was the place of death for Mary Ann Griffith. She put me in touch with a Griffith descendent, so it has all been very exciting.

He has suggested that Mary Ann was married to a Thomas Griffith, and they had a son John Robert Griffith baptized 16.4.1833 at Bangor Cathedral. This Thomas was a surgeon, but I can't find any trace of him in censuses or trade directories.

Anyhow, I knew from the 1851 census that Mary Ann was living with her mother, Elizabeth Hughes, but she is listed as unmarried. (I had half expected that John Robert Griffith might turn out to be her son.)

So I hunted for Mrs Hughes and found in the 1829 Llanrwst (Pigots) directory a few Hughes listings, including Rev Robert Hughes of Capel Curig and the Rev Morris Hughes of Beaver Grove.

Knowing that Mary Ann had been born at Capel Curig, it set me wondering. It turns out that a Mrs Hughes, firstly widow of Joseph Griffith, (the 1st landlord of the Capel Curig Inn which later became the Royal Hotel, now Plas y Brenig) and then widow of her 2nd husband Rev Robert Hughes, Capel Curig, took over the Pen y Gwryd Inn c 1843. (This is all getting very confusing!!) It would seem therefore that Mary Ann was the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth.

I also found a listing for attorneys in Llanrwst - John Griffith (and proctor) and William Griffith, who I am wondering if they are related to John Robert Griffith and they are who he was a solicitors articled clerk for. Possibly Mary Ann was his aunt all along.

There is also a reference in the directory to a Miss MA Hughes, who is living at Dolgam, which I see is near Capel Curig. Could this be Mary Ann having taken on the Rev Hughes' surname?

Incidentally, a couple of days ago I found Mary Ann Griffith's gravestone at Llanrwst, and it describes her simply as 'daughter of Mrs Hughes, Plas Henar.'

Lots to think about still , but I am no closer to working out why we have the ring!

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KIN TO THE BLACKWALLS - By Stuart Flint

My 12XGrandfather was Robert Blackwall who married Isobell Lytton. They lived at Blackwall a hamlet near Kirk Ireton, Wirksworth.

Robert and Isabell's daughter Margery married Sir Ralph Gell of Hopton Hall whose heirs are of my kin via Wigley's of Wigley, a hamlet near Chesterfield, and by the 1500s of Seniorsfield Cromford and Wigwell Grange, Wirksworth Moor.

Wigleys gained Wigwell Grange when Anthony Babbington, whose family owned Wigwell, was hung, drawn and quartered for his part in the plot to murder Elizabeth I and his support for Mary Queen of Scots. Thomas Babbington, whose allied family were the Dethicks of Dethick near Holloway, sold Wigwell Grange to the Wigley family.

Another Grand forebear of mine was John Brunson of Glasgow. The name became Brownson, and he was a Steward to Mary Queen of Scots when she was held by the Earl of Shrewsbury at Wingfield Manor and Tutbury Castle just before she was beheaded.

Wigleys by the 1650s married into my Simpson family, one of whom, Mary Simpson, born 1755, married Richard Arkwright, son of Sir Richard Arkwright.

Mary was the great-niece of my 5XGrandfather Peter Simpson, a Fulling Miller at Mill House, Green Wirksworth, in 1720, he leasing the land upon which his Mill stood from his kinsman, John Gell. This John Gell was the Grandson of Sir John Gell who led the Derbyshire Regiment of Foot for Parliament in the 1642 Civil War.

By 1770 Sir Richard Arkwright built a Cotton Mill on the same site which I can see from my home today. Richard and Mary Arkwright lived at Willersley Castle, which is a few hundred yards from where my Wigley family lived at Seniorsfield (Bridge House, later renovated by Peter Nightingale, the Great Uncle of Florence Nightingale and where the Evans family who owned Cotton Mills near Derby lived).

My son, daughter and wife are now employed at Willersley Castle, it being owned by The Methodist Church (The Wesley Guild) as a Holiday and Conference Centre. My daughter is Senior Receptionist, son Woodsman / Gardener /Handyman, and wife, although of retirement age, part time assistant.

Thomas and John Blackwall of Hendre House and Oaklands were of this Blackwall family. Indeed, a friend of mine today is a direct heir of the same Blackwall family. Her father and my father were co-founders with four other gentlemen of Wirksworth Rotary Club in the 1940s.

By the mid 1800s the Blackwall house at Blackwell was inhabited by a Rev Evans, allied kin of John Blackwall Evans Blackwall who lived at Biggin Hall, Biggin near Hulland Ward, which is about 2 miles form Kirk Ireton. I have a feeling that Rev Evans was from North Wales?!

I know Llanrwst, as my cousin had a Guest House there in the 1970s. My sister is Vice President of The Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir at Blaenau Ffestiniog. Her son was at one time a Lecturer / Manager at Bangor University, living at the foot of The Crimean Pass. I also have distant kin living at Blaenau, Anglesey and Porthmadog. My sister was married to Rev Arthur Macgregor-Brown, a Methodist Minister deceased, and she a trained nurse.

In 1987 my friend and my wife's relation, Louis Spencer, and I co founded The Dalesmen Male Voice choir at Mount Zion Methodist Church, Middleton By Wirksworth, the church built by my Grandfather. John Walker. in 1905. He was a founding Trustee with my Grandmother. Louis and I have sung in choirs from our youth, his father, Choir Master at Zion Methodist Church, being my singing tutor.

My Welsh Grandmother was born at Blaenafon South Wales (dare I say), her father a Works Manager at Blaenafon Iron & Steel Works. She lived in her formative years with her Uncle Rev Thomas at Clifton Street, Aberdare, where he was a Baptist Minister and also a Pit Deputy at Aberdare Colliery. Before she married my Grandfather, William Flint of Middleton By Wirksworth in 1886, she was Governess to Lord Llangattock of The Hendre, Monmouth, he the Uncle, I believe, of Charles Rolls who with Henry Royce founded Rolls Royce.

My family and I often holiday at Harlech, Llandudno and Betws y Coed and, indeed, my wife and I spent our Honeymoon at Betws Y Coed in the late 1960s.

Stuart G Flint

Thanks to Mr Stuart Flint for that fascinating account.

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DESIRABLE RESIDENCE TO LET: OAKLANDS

At about the same time as the other advertisements, the interest in the lease of Oaklands also came up for sale.

DESIRABLE RESIDENCE IN DENBIGHSHIRE, NORTH WALES.

To be SOLD, the INTEREST in the LEASE of the MANSION-HOUSE, called OAKLANDS, together with twenty Acres of Land, and a large Garden beautifully situated in the Vale of Llanrwst.

The House consists of three sitting rooms, four Bedrooms, Kitchen and Garrets. There are extensive Outbuildings, consisting of Dairy, Bakehouse, Brewhouse, Coach house, and Stabling for all kinds of Cattle. There are 30 years of the Lease unexpired, at the rent of $40 per annum. The House is situated two miles from the Market-town of Llanrwst, and two miles from the Holyhead-road.

The above is well worth the attention of any person requiring a country Residence.

 

For further particulars apply to Mr. FANNIN, Oaklands, Llanrwst, or at 41, Grafton-street, Dublin.

 

CENSUS RETURN 1841 - OAKLANDS - BLACKWALL FAMILY.

1841 Oakland, Garth Garmon - John Blackwall, 50, of independent means, born in Manchester, wife Jane, 20, born in Aberystwyth, John, 4 (likely the John Blackwall JP who was born in 1837 named in the Blackwall Memorial Inscription on a gravestone in St Mary's Church, Llanrwst, and who died in 1905), Mary, 2, and brother Thomas, 50, linen maker, all Denbighshire born. Thomas, John Blackwell's brother, died 24 March 1854 aged 65 years.

 

OAKLANDS

(Parish records for Capel Garmon record that in 1837, on 28 Feb, John Blackwell, son of John and Jane of Oaklands (gent) was baptised, and in 1839 on 18 Feb Mary Blackwell, daughter of John (gent) and Jane of Oaklands, was baptised, having been born on the 10th. This coincides, apart from the "e" instead of an "a" in the name, with the census returns.)

 

CENSUS RETURN 1851: OAKLANDS: FAMILY OF JOHN BLACKWALL

Census for 1851: Oaklands, Garth Garmon, John Blackwall, 61, retired Linen Merchant (Manchester), wife Jane, 32, (born in Aberystwyth), John, 14, scholar, Frances, 8, Thomas, 5 (note - no Mary). Thomas, 62, brother (retired linen maker), Mary Jones, 23, house servant (all born in Denbighshire), Elinor Roberts, 34, cook, born in Caernarfonshire. This is the family recorded as living at Hendre House in 1861.

 

It appears that the family business was in the linen trade and that the work in natural history was out of interest rather than as his paying profession.

 

He kept a list of the periodical birds observed in the area in 1843 and 1844 which was read at a variety of associations, such as the British Association for the Advancement of Science in York, a continuation of former observations started at the suggestion of the British Association to create "tables of the period of arrival and disappearance of periodic phenomena in the organic kingdom".

 

CENSUS RETURNS 1871: OAKLANDS : JOHN BLACKWALL JUNIOR (34)

In 1871 John Blackwall junior was married and living at Oaklands; he was 34 and a magistrate. His wife Margaret Sarah, nee Moulsdale, was 27 and recorded as having been born at Llandrygarn, Anglesey. They now had three young children, all born locally - John B. aged 4 and described as a scholar, Margaret Jane. aged 3, and Robert M, aged 1.

 

Their servants were Mary Lewis of Llanrwst, 55 and single, the cook, Grace Roberts of Llanrwst, 28 and single, a nurse, John Jones, born in Yspytty Ifan, aged 18 and a bachelor, who worked as a groom, and Margaret Hughes, 19, of Llanrwst, a housemaid and unmarried.

 

Baby Robert's second name was Moulsdale, and in time, for the purposes of inheritance, he would have Moulsdale added on to the end of his name so that he became Robert Moulsdale Blackwall Moulsdale. (One family researcher, Marie Marcelle Stollery, thought it was a John Blackwall who had the Moulsdale added to keep the family name going, but this has been shown to be an error; she was referring mistakenly to Robert's father). More information about Robert's family appears below.

 

Above: Hendre House

CENSUS RECORDS 1841: HENDRE HOUSE: THOMAS BLACKWALL (80) AND WILLIAM BLACKWALL (45)

In 1841 - An 80 year old gentleman of independent means, Thomas Blackwall, was living at Hendre House, with merchant William Blackwall (45), Mary Blackwall (55), also Elizabeth Blackwall (40) and Emma Chawner, both of independent means. Servants at the property were Mary Allen (45), Maryanne Thorpe (40), Edward Thomas (25) Gwen Thomas (25) and Elizabeth Thomas (30).

 

CENSUS RETURNS FOR 1851: HENDRE HOUSE: THOMAS BLACKWALL (91)

In 1851: Thomas Blackwall, 91, and widowed, described as a landowner of 57 acres, lived at Hendre House. He came from Blackwall, Derbyshire. His unmarried daughter Mary, 65, was from Derby, and housekeeper Mary Allen, 56, from London. Housemaid Mary Anne Thorpe, 56, was from Barnsley, the remaining staff were from Llanrwst; Margaret Hughes, 31, a cook, dairy maid Anne Jones, 27, and Morris Williams, 25, footman. (Mr Thomas Blackwell died 25 Oct 1852 aged 93; Mary Blackwall died February 23, 1860, aged 76)

CENSUS RETURNS FOR 1861 : HENDRE HOUSE : JOHN BLACKWALL (71)

In 1861 Hendre House was recorded as being occupied by John Blackwell, Esq., aged 71, Landed Proprietor born in Manchester. His wife Jane (born in Aberystwyth) was 43.

Their son John Blackwall was now 24 and single, son Thomas Blackwall was 15 and still at school, and daughter Frances was 18 and single; all were recorded as having been born in Garth Garmon.

Their servants were Mary Jones from Eglwysbach, Housemaid, 33 and single; Barbara Williams from Ysbytty Ifan, Dairy Maid, 28 and also single, Jane Davies of Capel Curig, Cook, 24 and single, and Evan Williams of Garth Garmon, 22, a bachelor, working as a footman.

Jane, the wife of John Blackwall, died on the 4 September, 1867 aged 49

CENSUS RETURNS 1881 : HENDRE HOUSE : JOHN BLACKWALL (91)

In 1881 In Hendre House John Blackwall was 91 and stated to have been born in Manchester. His unmarried cousin Mary Eaton, 60, from Derby, was present, as was Londoner Mary A. Brown, a 40 year old spinster and trained nurse. Kate Ball, 22 and unmarried, of Grange, Lancashire, was housemaid and Margaret Hughes, 66, of Llanddoget, was Cook.

John Blackwall, the naturalist, died 11 May 1881, aged 91, in Crumpsall Hall, Manchester. His obituary from "The Entemologist" appears at the bottom of this page.

Edith Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Blackwall of Bryn Afon, died 30 July 1877, aged 32 years.

 

CENSUS RECORDS 1881 : LOCATION OF THOMAS BLACKWALL (35) : ASHOVER, DERBY

Meanwhile in 1881 in Ashover Prospect House, Ashover, Derby, 67 year old widow Sarah Haslam was proprietor of a Hydropathic Institution (SMS). Her daughter Mary, 40, was an assistant there, and her son in law, 35 year old Thomas Blackwall of Llanrwst, was a Civil & Mining Engineer, while his wife Elizabeth, 30, born in Ashover, was an Assistant Waitress, likely at the Institution her mother owned. Thomas and Elizabeth moved to North Wales in time, lived for at least part of their lives in Belmont, Capel Garmon, and are buried in Capel Garmon cemetery.

 

In Hendre House Lodge lived farm servant John Thomas of Capel Garmon, 62, and his wife, 59 year old Capel Garmon woman, Cathrin. Their bachelor son Edward, 23, was also a farm servant.

CENSUS RETURNS 1891 : HENDRE HOUSE : JOHN BLACKWALL (54)

In 1891 John Blackwall, 54, of Llanrwst was head of household at Hendre House, living on his own means. His wife Margaret Sarah (nee Moulsdale), 47, was from Anglesey and two locally born children were still at home, Margaret Jane, 23, and scholar Hugh Eric, 15.

Visiting them was Agnes Elliott Campbell, 24, of Rutland Uppingham.

The cook was June Griffith, 36, of Caernarfon, housemaid Margaret Williams, 27, of Anglesey and stableboy / groom Hugh Andrew, 15, of Llanrwst.

 

CENSUS RETURNS FOR 1901 : HENDRE HOUSE : JOHN BLACKWALL (34)

In 1901 John Blackwall, 34, born locally, was living on his own means at Hendre House. His wife Christiana, also 34, was a foreign subject from Chile, South America.

They had no dependant children living with them, and employed Margaret J Williams, 34, of Llandudno as a parlourmaid, Margaret J Jones, 23, of Birkenhead as a housemaid.

Mary J Roberts, 36, of Ffestiniog cooked for the household, and local William Bickers, 18, was their coachman.

Christiana spoke English, the others were bilingual.

This John Blackwell had three younger brothers, Thomas Wendesley, William Stuart and Hugh Eric, who all moved to Canada.

WHO LIVED WHERE WHEN?

Thomas Blackwall Sr. may have lived in Hendre House from 1833 until his death on 25 Oct 1852 aged 93.

His son John then lived at Hendre House with his wife Jane.

After that, the next John lived there with his wife, the former Margaret Sarah Moulsdale of Bryn Dyffryn.

The next generation also saw a John Blackwall living there, this time with a Chile-born wife.

One at least of Thomas senior's descendants lived at Belmont, Capel Garmon, another Thomas Blackwall, who died in his early 60s on May 10th, 1907? and was buried at Capel Garmon cemetery, later to be joined by his wife Elizabeth.)

BLACKWALLS AND MOULSDALES UNITE - HENDRE HOUSE AND BRYN DYFFRYN ARE FAMILY

Margaret Sarah is described as the daughter of Robert Owen Moulsdale JP, born at Bryn Dyffryn in 1806, who married Jane Hester Hughes of Amlwch in St Asaph in 1841. Jane Hester died in 1886 and Robert Owen in 1883. Besides Margaret Sarah, they had a son, Robert Owen Moulsdale Jr. BA, Barrister at law, d. 1880.

The children of John Blackwell and Margaret Sarah were the following:

John, born 1 November 1866 and died 16 August 1936;

Margaret Jane (Mela) born 29 Feb 1868, who married E A W Fayler of Musselboro around April 1898. She died in Los Angeles, USA.

Robert Moulsdale Blackwall (later Moulsdale) was born 17 February 1870 in Bryn Dyffryn, Melin y Coed. He died 21 October 1951. In September 1896 he married Mabel Florence Wraight, born in Liverpool, who died 25 June 1944.

Thomas Wendesley Blackwall, born 31 Jan 1872. He died in Canada.

William Stuart Blackwall born 14 September 1875. He died 17 September 1953 in Iroquois Falls, Ontario.

Hugh Eric Blackwall was born 4 August 1877.

The children of Robert Moulsdale Blackwall Moulsdale and Mabel Florence Wraight were the following:

Robert Valentine Moulsdale, born 14 February 1898, in Bryn Dyffryn. He married Enid Owen of Ysgoldy, Melin y Coed, on 26 July 1950.

John Reginald Moulsdale, born 21 August 1899. He married Barbara Madeleine Thackeray of Stafford on 12 August 1925. They had three children.

Marjorie Gwenllian Moulsdale born 23 January 1902, who married Leslie Huckle of Ilkeston, Derby.

Eric Moulsdale born 10 March 1906. He married Eilene Florence Evans, daughter of Edward Tansley Evans of Bidston Hall, Bidston, Cheshire. They had two children.

BLACKWALLS ABROAD

A Mrs Fanny E. Penny of Ealing wrote in 1922 of the Blackwall family back to 1692 in India. Her niece Emily Ruth Keppewa Farr married Stuart Blackwall of Llanrwst. Emily's father Charles founded the town of Haileybury in Ontario on Lake Temiscaming. (Robert Roberts of Nebo - "Uncle Bob Canada" - moved to live near there at the beginning of the century). Stuart Blackwall went out to Charles and married Emily, becoming one of the influential men of Haileybury.

Fanny wrote to Captain Blackwall in December 1922 saying she was interested in the family tree and was sure Stuart would be the same. Stuart's eldest brother, she said, (meaning John) married a South American lady (meaning Christiana), but they were not likely to have children. She understood that Stuart would inherit Hendre. His younger brother Eric was in Haileybury, Ontario, with his family, and had lost everything in a fire that had occurred a few months previously. Stuart and his wife did suffer, but they owned land "in all directions" and were very well off. Stuart and Emily had visited England on their honeymoon in 1901 or 2 and stayed with Fanny in London. They had two daughters, Christiane and Georgina aged 18 and 14. Stuart had been away from home with his Government occupation when the fire occurred; he had left a large car behind and his family escaped in this. Eric, his wife and child escaped by boat to an island in the lake.

Christiane Blackwall married Arthur Moss and Georgina married Arthur Little.

Hugh Eric had two children, a daughter and a son called John Blackwall.

--------------- MI -----------------------------

These Memorial Inscriptions are in St Mary's, Llanrwst:

 

St Mary’s Churchyard

Grave no 434

In loving memory of Margaret Sarah the beloved wife of John Blackwall, J.P. of Hendre in this parish, born November, 1843, died July 31, 1894. Also John Blackwall, of Hendre, J.P. for the counties of Denbigh and Caernarvon born February 18, 1837, died November 16, 1900. Also John Blackwall J.P. their beloved son, born November 1, 1866, died August 16, 1936.

Grave No 390

In memory of Thomas Vernon Blackwall, died October 31, 1896, aged 24 years.

Grave No 411

In memory of Thomas Blackwall, of Hendre House in this parish, died on the XVth day of October, MDCCCLII, aged XCIII. Also his son, Thomas Blackwall, who died on the 24th day of March, 1854 aged 65 years. Also Mary Blackwall, died February 23, 1860, aged 76 years. Also Jane, the wife of John Blackwall, died on the 4 September, 1867 aged 49 years. Also of John Blackwall, who died 11 May 1881, aged 91 years. Also of Edith Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Blackwall, of Bryn Afon, died 30 July 1877, aged 32 years.

 

John Blackwall of Hendre, Justice of the Peace for the Counties of Denbigh and Carnarvon. Born February 18th 1837 Died November 16th 1905. "Thy will be done".

 

John Blackwall JP lived from 1866 to 1936.

--------- Hendre House in the 2000s -------------------

Hendre House in recent years has been the site of a number of events promoting practical aspects of land use, such as Adding Value to Farm Timber, and Alternative Land Use.

 

Thanks to Patricia Willliams and Maggi Blythin for finding certain items of information.

Rowena Evans

mail@ melin-y-coed.co.uk

OBITUARY OF MR THOMAS BLACKWALL FROM "THE ENTOMOLOGIST"

Vol. XIV.] JULY, 1881. [No. 218.]

JOHN BLACKWALL, F.L.S.

(obituary notice.)

On the 11th of May, 1881, and in the ninety-second year of

his age, a veteran in natural science, John Blackwall, passed

away from us. The gap made by the loss of a scientific worker

at so advanced an age is perhaps less (at any rate it is usually

less immediately felt) than that created by the death of one

called away in the prime of life and in the midst of work; still

the loss we are now deploring is great, and cannot but be very

deeply felt both by science and the more immediate circle of

friends and relations. Few lovers of Natural History have

enjoyed the advantages of leisure and locality in the abundance

enjoyed by the late Mr. Blackwall. From a very early date the

ties of professional business gave way to to those merely of family

affairs, though few, even so disengaged, have left so many

marks behind them of an active scientific mind and patient

observation.

Mr. Blackwall was descended from an old Derbyshire family,

taking its name and rise from Blackwall (or Blackwell) in that

county ; but the family had, previously to the birth of the late

Mr. John Blackwall, migrated to Lancashire, where, at Crumpsall

Old Hall, near Manchester, he was born on the 20th of January,

1789. Here the love of Natural History and Science became

very early evident in a devotion of his leisure to Ornithology,

as well as to Botany, Astronomy, and Meteorology, on all which

subjects he has left published records.

Various phenomena connected with spiders and their webs,

particularly in the form of gossamer, led Mr. Blackwall to turn

his attention to the little spinners themselves ; but to his

surprise, with the exception of the work, in Latin, of Martin

Lister, published by the Royal Society in 1678, he found

scarcely any authorities from which the information he so

much needed could be obtained. This, however, determined

the main lines along which his subsequent Natural History

work was directed. Thenceforth, from about the year 1820,

if not earlier, the Araneidea (or true spiders) became the

objects of an intensity of interest which never afterwards

flagged ; even continuing unabated long after defects of sight,

and other concomitants of advanced age, prevented any actual

work among them. As time went on other works on spiders,

notably those of Baron Walckenaer and C. L. Koch, made their

appearance, and, as well as their authors, came under Mr. Black-

wall's notice ; but his singularly retired and unobtrusive life led,

in some instances, to a complete and unfortunate isolation from

both authors and works in this branch of Natural History ; and,

with perhaps no more than two or three exceptions, Mr. Blackwall's labours were for a long time equally unnoticed, even

probably unknown, by foreign workers. Thus, to note one

instance only, the materials for the great work of this portion

of Mr. Blackwall's life, his 'History of the Spiders of Great

Britain and Ireland,' were accumulating, pari passu, with those

in Sweden of Nicolas Westring, for his invaluable work, 'Aranese

Suecicse,' the two works being published in the same year, 1861 ;

and yet these two authors were, up to that time, wholly unknown

to each other, either by correspondence or in the results of their

several labours. Working on, almost wholly unaided by any

other English worker, for forty or more years, in the investigation

of the spiders of his own immediate localities, and their habits and

economy, Mr. Blackwall published, besides an independent work,

'Researches in Zoology' (1834), (chiefly occupied by very in-

teresting chapters on ornithological subjects), numerous papers

on Araneology in different Natural History and scientific

journals, recording many species of spiders met with, and the

observations made upon them. It may not be uninteresting to

note these papers in some detail, as a proof of this constant and

unwearied work. Among the earliest papers published on

spiders are six which appeared in vols, iii., viii. and x., Edinb.

Philosoph. Mag., 3rd ser., 1833 — 36 (some of the contents of the

earlier of these papers were reprinted in ' Researches in Zoology').

Contemporaneously with some of these, and also following them,

were six other- papers in Trans. Linn. Soc, vols, xvi., xviii., xix.

and xxi. (1833 — 1855). Meanwhile, with a view to stirring up an

interest in the study of our indigenous spiders, fifteen articles

from Mr. Blackwall's pen appeared in the Annals and Mag., N. H.,

1851 — 1857, giving a catalogue of all the then known British

spiders, with remarks on their structure, functions, economy and

systematic arrangement. It was during the publication of some of

the later of these articles that — through Mr. R. H. Meade, of Brad-

ford, Yorkshire — I first became acquainted with Mr. Blackwall ;

in fact it was chiefly owing to an interest awakened by this series

of articles that I was myself first induced to take up the study of

spiders; and from that time, to a short time only before his death,

our correspondence on this subject was constantly carried on. It

is scarcely necessary, at any rate for those who knew Mr. Black-

wall, to say that he never spared time or trouble, and frequently

cost also, in giving his most valuable, and valued, assistance.

Besides the papers and articles already noted, thirty-three

others connected with spiders appeared in the Annals and Mag.,

N. H., 1841—1847; three in Journ. Linn. Soc, vol. vii. (1864)

and vol. x. (1870). Mr. Blackwall also contributed papers to the

Proceedings of the British Association for the advancement of

Science in 1833, 1842, and 1844; the last of these appeared

under the title of "Some recent researches into the structure,

functions and economy of the Araneidea, made in Great Britain."

Among the latest publications from Mr. Blackwall's pen is one

on the spiders of the Seychelle Islands; this appeared in the

Proc. of the Roy. Irish Acad., 2nd ser., vol. iii., 1877. It had,

however, been written in 1871 or 1872; and in 1877, in the then

declining state of the author's health, this paper was, by his own

wish, submitted to myself for such revision as might be needed,

owing to the changes in the state of araneological science since it

was penned. A short paper, entitled "A concise notice of

observations on certain peculiarities in the structure and

functions of the Araneidea," appeared in the Annals and Mag.,

N. H., 1874. This is, I believe, the last that proceeded from

his pen.

The above brief summary shows how constantly and actively

Mr. Blackwall was engaged in his favourite branch of natural

science up to the great age of, at least, eighty-six years. His

interest in the subject, however, by no means ended then, for I

myself continued to receive letters from him upon it up to

September 18th, 1879. This is the date of his last letter, and in

this letter he kindly permits me to dedicate to him a work then

in the press, 'The Spiders of Dorset,' of which the second (and

concluding) part was published only a few days after his decease.

Anything like a minute account or criticism of Mr. Blackwall's

works is impossible here. Without a doubt his chief work is that

published by the Ray Society, 1861—64. This appeared under

circumstances of great disadvantage: not only had the MS. been

in the hands of that Society for ten years before it was published,

but just at a most critical point the serious and prolonged illness

of Mr. Tuffen West, the artist engaged upon the plates, threw

the whole into a confusion, from which it was my own happiness

and privilege to be able to lend a hand in its extrication. This

Work sums up all Mr. Blackwall's previous labours in the investigation of British spiders; and if it has not served to advance, as much as from its own merit it ought to have done, the popularity of Araneology in England, this may be set down mainly to

its unwieldly size — large folio, to its great cost, and the difficulty of getting copies of it.

With regard to the quality of Mr. Blackwall's works in

general, evidences are everywhere abundant of a clear and logical

mind, most conscientious and painstaking in the elucidation

of facts by actual experiment and in the description of

details. To the ordinary reader these details may be perhaps

at times somewhat wearisome, and bearing the appearance

of unnecessary repetition; but to the scientific student they

present an almost photographically-true picture of the object

under notice. This character in the descriptions of our spiders

in the Ray Society's volume has been objected to as a defect,

and as hindering the popularity of the work ; but although

a certain amount of breaking-up into paragraphs would have

made these descriptions more easy of reference, yet such real

objection as there may be in this goes merely to the manner, not

to the matter, of the work. There can be no hesitation in saying

that taken in consideration with its actual date (which, as before

observed, must be set at least ten years previous to publication)

and with the disadvantages of isolation from other authors and

works, this volume on the spiders of Great Britain and Ireland

will yet go down to posterity, both in England and in foreign

countries, as one indispensable to every student of Araneology.

It should be mentioned that in the investigation of the structure

of spiders Mr. Blackwall almost entirely lacked the help of a good

microscope, nearly all his work being effected by means of a

strong pocket-lens; yet he was the first observer who ascertained

and used the minute and often complex structure of the male

palpi of spiders as a most important character for the determina-

tion of very similarly coloured and closely allied species. This

use of the palpi, although abundantly taken up since by all

continental araneologists, has never, I believe, been credited to

its discoverer as it should have been.

Mr. Blackwall's labours in British Araneology would, doubtless,

have become more completely serviceable to students and collectors

if he had paid greater attention to the formation of a collection of

British spiders. His habit was, when new or rare species were found

and described, to place the type specimens in "magazine bottles,"

all mixed together, with perhaps hundreds of others of common

species: this rendered it a very tedious matter to hunt out and

refer to any particular specimens, besides subjecting them to

injury and great liability to loss. Thus, as might be imagined,

some unique examples were not forthcoming at all for the

illustration of the 'History of British Spiders'; and very many

more, placed in the artist's hands for this purpose, were mislaid,

and eventually lost and destroyed during the illness of the latter,

above referred to. In extenuation of this want of care in

preserving his types, it should be remarked that the present very

satisfactory method of keeping spiders separated in glass-tubes

was unknown at the period of Mr. Blackwall's most active

operations, being due to Mr. R. H. Meade in 1853 (see

'Zoologist,' 1852, p. 3676).

It will have been gathered from what has been said that

Mr. Blackwall's chief investigations were occupied with British

spiders ; descriptions, however, of numerous exotic species are

contained in some of the papers above recorded, but these have

never been brought into any systematic or connected form.

Although Mr. Blackwall may (without the remotest idea or

intention of reproach) be classed among naturalists of the " old

school" of thought, yet his mind was of a truly fair and just

calibre, and could fully enter into the positions and arguments of

the more modern school. It happened to myself to be staying

with him in 1860, just after the appearance of Mr. Darwin's work

on the 'Origin of Species,' many points in which became the

subject of long and frequent discussion between us. Although

Mr. Blackwall could not see his way to an acceptance of Mr.

Darwin's views, yet their importance as offering a theory for the

solution of problems hitherto insoluble on any scientific hypothesis

struck him as worthy of the closest attention of every naturalist.

His idea, at that time, was that Mr. Darwin's views were more

assailable on psychological than on other grounds. He appeared to be

impressed with a conviction that if the theory of " natural selection" be a true one, it must be true psychologically as well as physically.

It has been already remarked that Mr. Blackwall's early life

was passed in Lancashire ; from thence his residence was trans-

ferred to North Wales, where, first at Oaklands (about 1832), and

afterwards (from about 1854) at Hendre House, near Llanrwst,

and not far from the picturesque district of Bettws-y-coed, the

remainder of his long life ran out. Although attaining so great

an age, Mr. Blackwall was in this respect outdone by his father,

who reached the still greater age of ninety-four years.

It should be noted that as lately as 1873 Mr. Blackwall

published a second edition of his 'Researches in Zoology'; but,

so far as I am aware, the chief difference between this and the first

edition consists of the omission of the numerous technical descrip-

tions of spiders, which had become out of place by their incor-

poration, meanwhile, in his 'History of British Spiders.'

It will be a source of happiness to all who knew him to hear

that, although weighed down by great physical prostration, his

usual strength and clearness of intellect remained to the last, and

the end of the long life, we have been thus very inadequately

noticing, came as calmly, quietly, and peacefully, as its many days

had passed by. His family and friends have to mourn a good

man, and the scientific world a bright ornament.

Mr. Blackwall had been a member of the British Association

for the advancement of Science from the commencement, and was

at his death very nearly the oldest Fellow of the Linnean Society,

having joined it April 17th, 1837.

0. Pickard-Cambridge.

Bloxworth Eectory, near Blaudford, Dorset, June 18, 1881.