Figure 1.--I have been reading Ellen Shearer's writing about her childhood at Turton Tower Bolton Lancashire between 1895 and 1903. Here is the Rigg family portrait. Here we see Ellen's family on vacation in Wales during 1885. |
|
We have been reading Ellen Shearer's writing about her childhood at Turton Tower Bolton Lancashire between 1895 and 1903. Here is a family portrait. The people in the photographare: back row father holding Ellen; middle row nurse Dean and Trissie, mother and Aunt Lizzie; and front row William with Nurse and Florrie. The photograph was taken at Llandudno, Wales in 1885. They were on vacation. The book is a fascinating account of childhood in turn of the century England.
Here is a portrait of the Rigg family. William Rigg lived in the latter part of Queen Victoria’s reign. He had a textile manufacturing business in Lancashire. The photograph was taken at Llandudno, Wales in 1885. He had a wife and four children. They lived in a mansion called Turton Towers from 1895 to 1903.
The photograph was taken in 1885 when they were on holiday at a seaside town called Llandudno, Wales. The people in the portrait are: back row father holding Ellen; middle row nurse Dean and Trissie, mother and Aunt Lizzie; and front row William with Nurse and Florrie. In the photograph William seems to be wearing a sailor suit, ankle socks and shoes. He wears a bow tie and a straw hat. He wears what looks like an Eton collar. His hair is cur short. William looks to be 5 years old. Every one is well dressed and this might suggest that they were there in early spring rather than the summer months.
The children were William Rigg, Ellen, Trissie and Florrie. Their mother was called Augusta.
I have been reading Ellen Shearer's writing about her childhood at Turton Tower Bolton Lancashire between 1895 and 1903. It is a wonderful account of children from a wealthy family in turn of the century England. Her book is titled Children at Turton Tower.
Ellen wrote about the life the children lived at Turton Tower.
This then is Ellen’s story of her Lancashire childhood. It was one in which she did activities and mischief more associated with boyhood than play girl’s got up to at the time.
The Rigg children appear to have had a carefree childhood that was filled with exploits that fill the pages of the Just William stores or are similar to the adventures The Railway Children had. The only difference with literature was that Ellen Rigg’s adventures really happened.
Ellen tells about an adventurous occurrence. In the early hours of the morning her father was awakened by noises in the yard. It was discovered later that someone had been stealing coal. After a few more coal raids a trap was set and two children were caught. Their father had made them go out to steal coal.
When the children were little they had a mail cart. It was painted yellow and varnished. It held two children who sat back to back. Another child was between the shafts to pull. The children had a great deal of fun with the cart. They had more enjoyable walks when their governess allowed them to take it.
Ellen had a pet dog. It was a cocker spaniel. Its name was Topsy. Ellen did not like leaving her dog behind when she went on holiday. She smuggled the dog onto the train and hid it under the seats.
The governess was called Miss Rose and she liked to practice playing her violin. The children found this unpleasant and schemed to stop her practicing. Her brother had the bright idea of putting pins inside it. It took the governess awhile to discover what had happened to her voilin. She was very angry with the children. William was in trouble with his father.
The fresh water came from a well in the garden. The children thought frogs in the well would keep the water pour. They searched the fields for frogs and dropped them down the well. Shortly afterwards the servants discovered the frogs and they were not amused.
The Rigg children enjoyed playing in the farm buildings. There was a cess-pool by these buildings. One game was to walk on the narrow boards by its edge. On one occasion, the board on which William was walking broke and he fell into the filthy pool of manure. His sisters helped him back to the house. They got him into the bathroom for a good scrub. Ellen took his wet smelly clothes and through them into the cess-pool.
After a visit to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show they played a game called the circus. The idea was to ride the pigs. When they opened the door the pigs escaped and they had to chase them round the garden as they tried to capture them. They could not capture the animals so the girls went to get help. It took the servants quite awhile to capture the pigs. The children got into big trouble for this escapade.
When William was 9 years old he went to a boarding school at Lytham St. Anne’s. This is near Blackpool. Notably his sisters were not set away to school. At the time, educating boys was seen as much more important than educating girls. The three girls were educated at home. There was a room at the top of the house which was their school room. The three girls and William when he was younger were taught by the governes. This was common for affluent children at the time.
Father was a good sportsman. He liked to play all kinds of Sport. He taught his children a number of them William enjoyed cricket. Trissie and Florrie became expert tennis players. Ellen much preferred jumping contest in gymnastic games.
One walk in the country lanes Ellen found a wasp's nest. William took his stick and pocked it into the nest. Swarms of wasps came out and William was badly stung. Ellen helped dab ointment onto his stings to relieve the pain.
No English manor house (or prep school with a manor house) was complete without its ghost. Turton Tower had its requisite ghost called ‘The White Lady. It was supposed to walk up and down the creaky oak stairs. The children were quite pleased to live in a haunted house. They spent many a night ghost hunting but they never saw the White lady. Ellen once gave a policeman a fright one night. She heard the dogs barking and went to see what had disturbed them. She put on a white coat. When she opened the door a policeman was just about to knock. He got the shock of his life. He said he thought she was the white lady ghost.
Ellen said she loved to climb and was always up trees, roof or the tops of walls. The children liked to climb onto the roof of the manor house. Here they had a good view. They played a game of firing bows and arrows at targets in the garden. They became expert at archery.
They liked to explore the oldest part for secret passages. On one occasion they found a hole they believed led to the dungeon below. They found a rope and tied it around Trissie. They lowered her down the hole but there was nothing at the bottom. The problem was in pulling Trissie up again. After a struggle they managed to haul Trissie out.
Aunt Forshaw came to stay and while mother was out shopping leaving the children to play cowboys and Indians. They rushed into the room where their aunt was and tied her up. Mother released her when she came back from the shops.
A railway was near by. The Manor had its own station. There was a bridge over the railway. It was very ornate. It had towers on it. One had steps to the top. This gave you a splendid view of the railway. The children liked to watch the trains go by. They played a game here. This was to spit down the funnel of the railway locomotives as they came by.
The children did not like the gardener so they played tricks on him. On one occasion the children watched him go into the potato loft. Once he was inside they locked the door. He was locked in for most of the day. The under gardener let him out. The children were in trouble with their father. Shortly afterwards a new gardener came who they liked.
Shearer, Ellen. Victorian Children (Blackburn Recreation Department
, 1982).
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main English 19th century family page]
[Return to the Main English family page]
[Return to the Main Lancaster page]
[About Us]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Essays]
[Girls]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]