Sign In Sign-Up

Welcome!

Close

Would you like to make this site your homepage? It's fast and easy...

Yes, Please make this my home page!

No Thanks

  Don't show this to me again.

Close

 

It was on the evening of Wednesday 16th November 1869 that those present in the small village of Whitstable were witness to the worst fire in living memory, the scene of the incident being the closely built area along ‘The Wall’, west of the Harbour. The Harbour itself had been completely renewed some years earlier in 1832, and given the population then of a little under two thousand it must have been big news at the time as the event drew a crowd of ten thousand. Yet on that fateful night of 1869, it was at about 10.45 P.M. when Coastguard Edwin George Lane, on duty nearby first observed flames from the roof of Mr. Hoults shop. He at once raised the alarm and within a short time a considerable and somewhat excited crowd of people had hurried to the spot, though amid the general confusion little could be done effectively to arrest the progress of the fire, which as soon as it had burst through the shop roof rapidly spread to other parts of the building under the aggravated influence of a brisk north easterly wind then blowing.

Telegrams and mounted messengers were dispatched to nearby Canterbury and Faversham calling for the assistance of those Fire Engines available. Although the Whitstable Fire Engine had made its appearance on the scene, time had been lost in obtaining water and getting the hose into use. This objective at last accomplished, was shortly thereafter once again curtailed by a fouling of the Engine from sand and seaweed drawn up with the water from the beach. The flames now had it all their own way, devouring the tarred timber buildings with a terrible avidity which was next to impossible to withstand. The excitement of the crowd increased moment by moment, confusion and distress being heightened by the terrors of the unfortunate people whose dwellings and property were either being consumed or in imminent danger of burning.

Superintendent Walker of the Home Division and a number of Constables arrived to give support to the unfortunate victims of the blaze and to protect whatever property remained from looting, and also set about discovering other sources of water available, in anticipation of the arrival of the Canterbury and Faversham Fire Engines, they were assisted in this task by the Coastguard. The spectacle presented by the great mass of blazing buildings was ‘magnificently terrible’ and if the spectator could only divest his mind of the thought that it entailed so much destruction and distress, he could hardly look upon it, as it vividly lit up the surrounding countryside and reflected itself in the waters of the bay, that lay beneath the gloomy reddening clouds like a sea of molten gold.

Despite the combined efforts of the four Fire Engines the fire continued unabated from the Harbour gates on the right as far as the premises of Mr. Josiah Reeves, Mast and Block Maker on the extreme left, where owing to the interposition of a wider break than the usual between the lines of buildings, its further progress in that direction was halted. It had however by the veering of the wind to the north and subsequently to the north east, been carried across to Marine Street, into Harbour Street beyond, and had in both localities done great damage especially in the intervening space where almost all of the buildings were devastated and many more were more or less seriously damaged by the furnace like heat to which they were subjected. The fire extended along Harbour Street to a point nearly opposite the residence of Mr. Hayward, the Surgeon, which was greatly damaged by the extreme heat of the burning buildings opposite. The adjoining house and shop of Mr. Goodwin the Greengrocer, suffered fire damage in the roof and upper rooms, it only being by the incessant exertions of the occupier, that it was saved from destruction. It was not until nearly Eight O’clock on the Thursday morning that the fire was extinguished and their were for several hours thereafter smoldering embers that required the continuing attention of the Firemen.

The total number of buildings destroyed was stated to be no fewer than 71 of which 25 were inhabited houses of various dimensions, the remainder being stores and workshops along the seawall and in Marine Street. Their were destroyed, some Thirty~Six Stores, Sixteen Cottages, Three Sail Lofts, Two Innes ; the ‘Victoria’ and the ‘Spread Eagle’, one Blacksmiths Forge, one Ships Chandlers Shop and Timber yard, probably belonging to William Holbourn, One Auction Mart, One Shipping Office and three Cobblers Shops and in Harbour St. Their were consumed four dwelling houses and shops and three private dwelling houses. It is difficult to assess the costs of the damage to the town, but it is estimated to have been not less than £10,000/~ and perhaps as much as thirteen thousand pounds. 29

 

13th February of 1870 saw another Great Storm buffeting the East Kent coast. It was its worst perhaps in the Channel where within the space of half an hour it had wrecked five ships on Kingsdown beach. “So strong was the wind that chimney pots collapsed, windows were blown in, and roof slates were torn away by the dozen.”30 That summer also witnessed the death of the author and journalist of some local repute, Mr. Charles Dickens.‘Dickens died on 9th June 1870 ; at Gads Hill, Higham near Gravesend, of a stroke. At Six O’clock on the morning of June 14th ~ a plain coffin left Gads Hill for Higham Station. There it was put on a special train to Charing Cross. Charles Dickens was buried in Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey’.31

Thomas Holbourn, of ‘Northern Belle’ fame sadly does not appear on the Census for 1871, and Elizabeth, his wife has become a widow. This incident may have influenced his brother William to depart Thanet soon after. The inquest into Thomas’s death is not pleasant reading, but appeared in ‘Keebles Gazette’ and hints at a possible injury sustained on the Lifeboat mission that has been hitherto overlooked. To quote directly from the Gazette of that 19th of August 1870 ; ‘Thomas Hobourn, boatman; committed Suicide, by cutting his throat. Inquest at the ‘Rose Inn’. Solomon, the deceased’s brother said the deceased was 36 years of age in August.

“I last saw him alive at 10.30 am yesterday morning, at that time he was lying in bed with his throat cut and two stabs in his stomach. On the previous evening I saw his wife and she told me to make haste to her house and her husband had cut his throat. On arriving at the house I found he was lying on the floor and that he had cut his throat, on assisting in placing him on the bed I found he was stabbed in two places. He died at about Noon on Thursday. He received an injury to his head 14~15 years since and was always greatly affected after partaking of a small quantity of drink, I never heard him threaten to commit Suicide.”

Further evidence by Jane Wales and Richard Long, and Surgeon, Mr. Raven. Verdict of the jury that Thomas Holbourn died of injuries inflicted by himself while in a state of temporary insanity.’ This was less than a year after William had returned from the fires at Whitstable. 1869 was not a good year for boat builders what with the devastation at Whitstable and the closure earlier in the year of Woolwich and Deptford shipyards. 1869 was the first year in which the RNLI stationed a Lifeboat in Broadstairs, the boatmen there having for some time apparently requested the RNLI to place one of its self righting Lifeboats with them ~‘it being considered that such a boat might be useful, in addition to those already stationed in the neighborhood of the Goodwin Sands.’

This request being complied with, they received a ‘very fine Lifeboat’, clench built, 36 foot long by nine foot wide, and with a pull of twelve oars. “Its cost had been contributed to the society by a lady, a friend of Captain Fishbourne, RN, CB, in memory of her deceased son, after whom the boat was named the ‘Samuel Morrison Collins.’” ~An interesting coincidence for the reason that Thomas’s widow was formally christened Eliz. Collins. Unfortunately, at the time their was no site to hand on which to build a boathouse and so the ‘Samuel Morrison Collins’ was kept on the pier under a tarpaulin cover, the requisite permission having been kindly granted by the Pier and Harbour Commissioners who had also given over a storeroom on the pier for the use of the Lifeboatmen.

My first employment, after leaving School, in 1979 was as a Nursing Assistant at a County Lunatic Asylum, where I learnt compassion and understanding toward the mentally infirm. It never occurred to me that the traits I was observing then, were infact recorded in 1879 as an hereditary condition attached to my own family history!

The case of Ellen Holbourn, sister of Solomon, Bradstowe, Shipwright and freemason is somewhat of a puzzle to me. Her other brother, Thomas was said to have died in a pique of temporary insanity, some years before, and this may not have been much comfort to her physician Dr. Raven. Ellen was admitted to Chartham, a Kent County Lunatic Asylum, or St. Augustine’s Hospital, near Canterbury on March 29th 1879, at 1.30 that afternoon, she was never to see home again, which her brother the Harbour Master may have thought a good thing under the circumstance !?

She appears on the Register of Admissions as suffering from ‘Mania’ but of good health and education. She was not considered as being suicidal or otherwise dangerous. She was clean in presentation aged 50 and single. Her occupation had been as a Domestic Servant and she lived close by her family in Broadstairs at Thanet. She had been suffering at home, from these attacks for six weeks before the consultation process begun. The cause of her illness was put down as hereditary, yet I have so far only Sir Alexander of Southwark to compare her to, and this may be a connection not to be overlooked in searching for clues that link the two distinct Holborne families! It must be said however, this is a rather tenuous link, and I consider Alexander’s 33 imprisonment the probable cause of his illness, if indeed illness it was? I further consider Ellen’s treatment as ‘insane’ an example of one of the more barbaric symptoms of the ignorance of Victorian society. The classification ‘hereditary’ may only be a misplaced reference to her brother Thomas’s demise.

Ellen demonstrated strong indications of paranoid delusion, either that or dark occult forces were at work. Quoting brother Solomon, Ellen ‘says that people are always walking past the house, (trying) to get in her room, she is in a state of defection, refuses to get up or go out, say’s that she saw the Queen in Church, that she has seen the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) in a balcony at Broadstairs (and) says that she can sometimes see through a brick wall’. Other facts communicated by her brother include that ; ‘she states that I am concealed in the house, that persons have passed through the wall, latterly she has become violent and has broken a plate and a glass by throwing them from her.’ (no doubt because no one could understand her frustrations and insights.)

Being a tad skeptical of the motivations and the interests of secret societies I have found myself at times wondering at those dark occult forces? Nevertheless one of Ellen’s first efforts at gaining some attention from her new keepers, was to be noted in her files, as on an occasion one night she woke the other inmates by violently ringing the bell and screaming “Murder!”

At her admission she only weighed 7 stone and 1 pound, this may have also contributed toward her supernatural visions. She was very restless and sleepless before she began to settle into the Hospital’s routine. On January 14th 1880 a friend of Ellen’s, a Mrs. Bartlett, fellow Domestic Servant went to visit her, she stated to the Superintendent that Ellen had suffered a stroke of paralysis which caused her to loose the use of the left side of her body, but that Ellen had recovered from this by resting up in the countryside. She must have been under some considerable pressure at home as by 1880 her symptoms had begun to abate, and she had become very industrious, still very depressed but physically stronger. 1881 saw her very much improved, quiet and industrious.`

Yet on the 15th May 1882 she reported that she again had seen persons go through a wall and remembered seeing the Prince of Wales at Broadstairs, it sounds as if she had been sedated for those years and that the medications were becoming ineffectual. Having myself worked at such an institution I can vouch for those who would call such places brutal and uncompassionate, where inmates are stereotyped and generally treated with derision, I have also visited Chartham when it was still operational and the atmosphere was quite disturbing. Although I have read her case notes, no medications are listed in that Volume, I did observe however that she appeared quite out of place amongst many of the other inmates, who were violent, unkempt and generally in much more need of attentions offered by such a place, it would however represent a breach of confidentiality for me to cite examples.

By 1883 Ellen had taken up needlecraft and had an improved state of health, but was still somewhat quick tempered, but the following year she had suffered the same type of ‘delusions’ as before, although her recovery was quicker and she soon resumed her needlecraft. 1885 she continued to hear voices which made her ‘hot tempered’ and depressed. In 1887 she was still hearing voices and sometimes excitable she continued with her occupational therapy and also helped out on the ward. In 1888 she had fair health and was continuing with her needlework, and although hearing voices still reported that they no longer distressed her, she was reported as being quiet, orderly and clean with no habits and a tidy person. Why they did not then try to return her to the community remains an anathema, their is no doubt in my mind as to the folly of some Victorian values.

1889 passed quietly for Ellen, until on the 16th December she suffered a slight Apoplectic Seizure, and was confined to bed. By Christmas Eve she had recovered sufficiently to take up the easy chair, but when in bed a relapse brought on by Cerebral haemorrhaging led her into total unconsciousness and paralysis.34 Becoming gradually comatose Ellen Holbourn died on the morning of Christmas Day at 4.30 A.M. Ellen’s name appears in the Hospital’s Register of burials as Entry 532, laid to rest in the grounds of Chartham, the cost being chargeable to the Thanet ‘Poor’ Union, it would appear she had been sadly overlooked by her ‘friend’ and brother Solomon, and the rest of the family.

The works of Solomon, son of Solomon may best be understood by reference to his obituary which appeared in the pages of ‘Keebles Gazette’, the Thanet journal of the times, on Saturday 11th May 1901, from which I quote;

‘News of the death of Mr. Solomon Holbourn, the esteemed Harbour Master at Broadstairs, which took place at his residence, High Street, Broadstairs, on Saturday last, has been received with deep regret by all who knew him. The deceased filled the position of Harbour Master for twenty two years, and the conscientious and painstaking manner in which he discharged his duties won for him the respect not only of all the Pier and Harbour Commissioners, but of the inhabitants and visitors to Broadstairs generally, and his kindly presence will be much missed during the coming season. the deceased was ill for about two months, from a paralytic seizure, and though he rallied enough to go out for a drive, the improvement was not for long, a relapse followed and the end came on Saturday.

The funeral took place at St. Peters churchyard, yesterday (Thursday), the service being read by the Rev. F.T. Mills, Rector of Broadstairs. The coffin, which was covered with the Red Ensign, was borne into the church by six of the Pier and Harbour Commissioners. Amongst the members of this body present were Messrs. J.Newling, J.T.May, J. Lasham, J. Whitehead, W.Watts, A.H.Clarke, J. Emery, S.Nash, R.S. Dawson, J.P. Swaine, A.J.Holt, S. Smith, H.C. Styles, E.F.Croome, L. Vernon, H.B. Langham, (clerk) and B.Cock (Assistant Harbour Master). As the deceased was an old and respected freemason, being a PM of the Royal Navy lodge, no. 429, Ramsgate, there was a numerous attendance of members of the Ramsgate and Broadstairs lodges, as well as of tradesmen and boatmen of Broadstairs. Amongst the many floral tributes were wreaths from the Broadstairs Pier and Harbour Commission, the ‘Royal Navy’ lodge, and the ‘Bradstowe’ lodge, no. 2448 (Broadstairs). the funeral arrangements were carried out by Mr. G. Blackburn, Broadstairs.

Reference to Mr. Holbourn’s death was made at the meeting of the Broadstairs Pier and Harbour Commissioners, on Monday night, which will be found in our report on page 6.’ So to conclude; Broadstairs Pier and Harbour Commissioners monthly meeting reported, :

‘A letter was received from Mrs. C. Gillette, daughter of Mr. S. Holbourn, the late Harbour Master, thanking the Commissioners for their note of condolence, wreath and attendance at the funeral, and stating that it was gratifying to the family to know that their father was so much respected by all.’

Further research taken from the Freemasons Handbook (with the list starting 1902) cites that the date of Warrant for the RN lodge 429, Ramsgate was 1835. The date for the Warrant, that is, the foundation of the Bradstowe lodge no. 2448 was much later in 1892. It has been said that Solomon was one of the founder members of this Guild. When I entered the Ramsgate Temple on the occasion of their open day in 1998 I noted Solomon’s name on their hallowed list of Grand Masters for the year of 1890/1. 

It has been said that ‘the Freemason builds his life around the moral principals that lie at the heart of the Craft, and becomes in his every word and deed the epitome of brotherly love, relief and truth ~ he will thus respect the rights of others to hold beliefs and attitudes that differ radically from his own, for he knows that tolerance is an essential part of brotherly love.’35 

The need for vigilance in the defense of human liberty is as great in society as it is said to be within the craft, yet by means of an increased compatibility with the common aims of human achievement the freemasons have indisputably laid the foundations for very many of the cultural norms prevalent in the western World. The duty of masons to “give to the cause of Charity” was stressed by William Preston, in his ‘Illustrations of Masonry” of 1772, when he wrote : ‘To relive the distressed is a duty incumbent on all men, but particularly on Freemasons, who are linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries and to restore their troubled minds, is the great aim we have in view.’

A masons duty is also in his loyalty, as a peaceful subject, to the civil authority found wherever he resides or works, and it is on these grounds, restrained from pursuing any means of disrupting the established rule of law, that Freemasonry is a reformist institution, its members abstaining from any thought of association with rebellion, the cause of the common man, when oppressed. ‘Masonic Ritual’ is reported as an aspect of the craft that reinforces its Spiritual dimension and is Biblical in origin, (but derives from sources of a pre Christian age, whence evolved Cabalistic thought). A legend considered of great import to the Masonic Rite is that of the story of the building and reconstruction of King Solomon’s Temple, ~ as an allegory of the creation of a new, just and more tolerant society.

Thus with the ancient craft of boat building a part of his legacy, Solomon Holbourn with his family’s clear involvement in the saving of life imperiled upon the sea, and with his name also having been passed down through many generations appears to have found a path into this ancient guild that hindsight might consider inevitable. Yet what bearing this fact has had on later generations of the clan is somewhat difficult to define. His sister Ellen was quietly institutionalised as insane and forgotten amongst other reasons for her visions in Broadstairs of the Prince of Wales, Edward VII, (1841~1910) who was then the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England. (1875~1901).

Despite the contradiction displayed in the Thanet Lodges, upon my petition for further details on that ‘esteemed’ Harbour Master at Broadstairs ; concerning ‘Brotherhood, relief and truth’ the written word on these matters declares : ‘Wisdom means the constant striving after the good.’ In conclusion however it can be no bad thing, that ‘the ‘Duchess of Kent’ (Lifeboat), funded by the United Grand Lodge of England and named in April 1982 by the Duchess of Kent (was presented) at a cost of upwards of £650,000 to build, (and being) one of eleven Lifeboats funded by the United Grand Lodge’ (The Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, the Duke of Kent also being the President of the RNLI.). ~

Two of William’s four sons were to carry on in the family tradition of boatbuilding. Frederick George was a Shipwright all his life, born in Ramsgate in 1863. Some confusion or deliberate misinformation arose about his death and an odd family story developed that he died of sunstroke whilst working on Southend Pier, whereas records prove infact he did work on renovations to Southend Pier he actually died in 1919. In 1881 he would have been no older than 18, in a year that was said to have been the hottest summer on record in England up to that point and infact many fatalities were incurred by inappropriate dress in this heat~stroke and one imagines as a result of the wide publicity given to this occasion at that time he would have been aware of the dangers of working exposed and unprotected against the blistering effects of a hot summer. At the Greenwich Observatory the reading was 91.7 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade! Further readings at Wimbledon revealed that the thermometer registered 140 degrees F. in the sun and deaths from sunstroke were unusually commonplace. The Kentish Observer for July reported that in Deal Mr. Thomas Wratton, a local Brickmaker, a Miller by the name of Pope, and Thomas Reading of the Coastguard all befell to the heat in this manner. The story of Frederick’s own early demise from such effects shades a mystery of some intimate nature and has no foundation, Frederick was buried with his father William in Orsett, Essex.

Elizabeth Baker with her Mother (about 1871). During his lifetime William’s son was betrothed to a cook, she had been working for the Dawson family in Gravesend in 1891, she and Frederick married the following year. Named Elizabeth Baker, of Cliffe at Hoo, Rochester, his wife was born in 1869 36, and the daughter of Lydia nee Simpson (b.1842) and John Baker of Allhallows. Baker had become a brother in law to John Robert Filmer (b.1844), an ancestor of the long standing well known family of farmers at Cliffe.

Frederick had an elder sister Ellen born in 1860 at Ramsgate. It is clear that by 1866/7 William and Mary Anne had made the move to Whitstable. This is the year and location of the birth of their second son Albert, who started out as an apprentice Shipwright as a lad in his fathers own Shipbuilding yard, but in 1887 he entered the Royal Navy and found himself serving on board H.M.S. ‘Hawke’ as a Petty Officer. He also later worked with the Coastguard along the British and Irish coasts, to retire later in life back in Thanet where he became a steward at ‘North Foreland Golf course’. During this time he met Admiral Lord Sir John Jellicoe (1st Earl b.1859 d.1935) whom commented to him that he remembered Albert from the time Holbourn served under him during the battle of Jutland, where Lord Jellicoe was commander of the ‘Grand Fleet’. Albert died about 1933, being aged approximately sixty eight years of age.

At about the time of the Great fire of Whitstable, Mary Anne delivers her third son into this life, he is named Thomas William and born in Whitstable. Despite all the setbacks they seem to have faced William and Mary had two more children ; Alice (b.1872), and Arthur James (b.1874) both at New Brompton or Gillingham Green as the old town later became known.

TOP