Figure 1.--Here we see the Marshall family in 1897. They aqre a wonderful large Victorian family. The children's clothing illustrate many of the popular styles of the day. We see school caps, Norfolk and Eton suits, blazers, and sailor suits.

Edward Marshall married Lucy Knight in 1879. He was the vicar of St. Andrew’s Church in Sutton. This was a large village about 6 miles from Ely in East Anglia, England. The children were born between 1880 and 1889. There were 9 children in all. The reason we know so much about this family is that the youngest daughter kept all the letters she wrote to her brothers and sisters. It was a correspondence that lasted 60 years and came to an end with her death in 1980.The correspondence began in childhood and these letters tell about the things the children did and the correspondence continued into adulthood. This story is about the beginning of the correspondence in 1900. A HBC reader has provided us a useful review highling the life style enjoyed by the children and the clothes that they wore.

Patriarch

Edward Marshall married Lucy Knight in 1879. He was the vicar of St. Andrew’s Church in Sutton. This was a large village about 6 miles from Ely in East Anglia, England. The children were born between 1880 and 1889. There were 9 children in all.

Hemrietta's Correspondence

The reason we know so much about this family is that the youngest daughter kept all the letters she wrote to her brothers and sisters. It was a correspondence that lasted 60 years and came to an end with her death in 1980. The correspondence began in childhood and these letters tell about the things the children did and the correspondence continued into adulthood. Henrietta’s letter writing started in 1900. It began when she wrote to Evelyn and Henry at Repton then and continued for 80 years. When the correspondence started the World War I had not started. Two of the Marshal children would serve in this war but it seems a good place to end with the boys at Repton writing to their sister about they life they and the things they did. In 1900 it looked as if they had a very secure future in a country with an Empire, that every schoolboy knew that the sun never set. After 1914 the world changed and was not the secure place it had seemed then.

Chronology

This account is about the beginning of the correspondence in 1900.

The Children

The Reverend Dr.? Marshall had a very substantial family, The last family photograph was taken in 1897 (figure 1). It shows the parents with their children. It is a formal picture but it is clear it was a happy family. The children’s pet dog is included in the picture. It is not often that everyone in a family photograph can be named and their lives known. This is a rare exception. The children in the photograph are: Frederic (born in February 1880), John (born in June 1881), Frances (born August 1882), Hannath (born in August 1883), Arthur (born in September 1884), Russell (born in September 1885), Evelyn (born January 1887), Henry (born in February 1888), and Henrietta (born in July 1889).

Home

The family lived in a very large house. This was the vicarage and it belonged to the church. Reverend Marshal would make his home here and live in this property until he retired. The house had no electricity in 1880. Oil lamps were used to light the rooms at night. Hot water was brought up to the bathroom in buckets and the dirty water was carried down again after the bathing. The rooms were heated by coal fires. Many of the upstairs bedrooms would not be heated, unless there was illness in the family. All the children had their own bedroom. There was a nursery for the younger children and this room would be heated.

Grounds

There were extensive grounds. There was a large greenhouse. Here fruits were grown. These were grapes, peaches and other fruit. Most of the vegetables the family are were home grown too. The family kept a cow for the milk as well as a pig and chickens for fresh eggs. When the pig was going to be slaughtered the children were taken away for the day because of the dreadful sounds and sights..

Nanny

Nanny Field looked after the children. She had extra help from young girls employed from the near-by village. The younger children spent most of their time in the nursery with nanny.

Servants

The Marshalls employed servants to help room his household. There was a cook, a maid and a gardener. A local boy helped the gardener.

Childhood

The land surrounding the rectory was a spacious and there was much room for the children to play. Frances sketched and painted a scene on the lawn. Henrietta is playing tennis while her mother is snoozing in the sunshine.The children did not mix with the village children. They were from a different social class and at this time richer and poorer children did not mix. The Marshal children played together and were closer to each other than children would be today. Evelyn and Henry were very close and did everything together. The boy’s played football in the colder months and in summer played tennis and croquet. They learnt to ride bikes. By the time the children were 10 they rode about the countryside and often cycled the 6 miles to Ely. Returning home at dusk could be exciting. Sometimes when the boys switched on their cycle lamps they blew up because they were lit with acetylene.All the children were encouraged to sketch and paint. Frances seemed to have had an artistic talent judging the art work she did. Some of her paintings and sketches record the things the family did. A photograph from 1907 shows local children enjoying ice skating. This was a winter time activity. All the boys are wearing caps. They own a pair of skates only one of the boys is wearing a heavy overcoat. The other boys are wearing jackets and breeches. The jacket is not always buttoned up. The jersey worn by the boy wearing his jacket unbuttoned can be seen. They wear a variety of footwear. It is included to illustrate an event that involved Evelyn and Henry. In winter the children got lots of chances to skate along the many frozen drainage dykes. These were wide straight drainage ditches. There was the time when Evelyn and Henry awoke to find everything was frozen hard. After breakfast they went out skating. They were 9 and 8 at the time. They skated from one dyke to the next. Soon they were a long way from home. They had told no-one that they had gone skating. It was late afternoon when the boys headed back home. The boys did not know that when they failed to come home for lunch their parents had become worried by their absence. When it started to grow dark late afternoon a search party was organised. The first Evelyn and Henry knew about the search was when they saw the lights of the searchers. There was much rejoicing when the boys were found. Their parents gave them a good talking to about the worry they had caused that day.

Education

When the boys were 7 years old they were sent to a boarding school. At 13 they went to public school. There would be a university education. After which they would take up employment. It was the boys who went away to school. The girls were educated at home. The boarding school selected for the boys was Llandaff Choir School in South Wales. When the boys were 13 they went to a public school called Repton. This school is in Derbyshire. It was the school that their father and before him, their grandfather had attended to. The boys travelled to these schools by train. These were long train journeys and the boys travelled alone. The young boy’ journey to their prep school is well documented. They left home at 6am and travelled by horse drawn trap to Ely station. The guard looked after the children as far as Cambridge. He made sure they boarded the London train.At king’s Cross they were met by their aunt who looked after them while they travelled across London to Paddington station. She saw the children onto the Cardiff train. The guard looked after them and made sure they caught the Llandaff train. The headmaster met them and took then to the school.

Clothes

Up until five the boys would wear dresses. They would be breeched and begin to wear trousers. A family photograph taken in 1890 shows three of the boys in the garden with their bicycles. Arthur who was 5 is sitting on a bicycle that had a horse’s head bike frame. This is more a tricycle because there are three wheels. Arthur has been breeched and has short hair and he is dressed in a sailor’s suit. He has long stockings and wears black strap shoes. The other boys in the photograph are Charlie who was then 10 and Jack aged 9. Both boys wear school caps. Jack’s Eton collar can clearly be seen. They are wearing long trouser suits and a front buttoned waist coat (vest). They are wearing shoes. Jack has a staff. They have modern bicycles. It is possible that the boys were home for the school holidays. The boys look happy to be playing together. For the older children they could spend a great deal of the summer cycling about the countryside. A readr writes, "A wonderful photo, Dennis. A couple of comments or questions: Notice that the boy sitting down in the front row on the left without a cap on is wearing a white sailor suit with knee pants and long stockings whereas the other boys in his age range seem to be wearing close-fitting knickers. Do you think this difference represents age-grading>? I assume that all these boys wear black long stockings, but the difference between knickers and knee pants seems worth commenting upon." HereI think our reader is correct, but we are not entirely sure. We do see younger English boys wearing knee pants, but boys a public (selective secondary) schools normally wore either knickers or long pants. Another interesting observation here. We note in images from the 1860s and 70s, most boys English boys wore long pants. Yet note here how common kneepants ad knickers had become. We do note younger boys wearing bloomer knickers in the 1860s. A good example is a Cambridge family. Most boys in the 60s and 70s, however wore long pants. A good example are the children in several families included in the Capper family album. This also appears to have been the case in a pastor's family during the 70s and 80s.

Church of England

A reader provides us some information on the Church of England, "It is incorrect to refer to a clergyman, especially a Church of England priest, as "Reverend". The word "Reverend" is always an adjective, never a noun, so we must always say "The Reverend Mr. (or Dr.) Marshall." High-church clergy in the Anglican communion are referred to as "Father", but I think the term "Father Marshall" would be misleading in this case. In the 19th century the term "Father" for C of E clergyman was only used for High Chruch or Anglo-Catholic priests, and probably wouldn't have been acceptable to Marshall. NOwadays, it is much more common to refer to Anglican priests as "Father" in both the U.S. and England--in fact "FAther" is more of less standard for Episcopal priests except in places like Virginia which are very low church."

Source

Nell Marshall, Neil. Letters to Henrietta (Cambridge University Press, 1998). ISBN 0-521-47625-9

William E. Ferguson

Created: 5:45 AM 4/4/2006
Last updated: 5:45 AM 4/4/2006