The Early Ringers

Little is known about ringing at St Peter’s before the building of the new tower. There are records of bells being rung for services and special events, although it appears that in the years immediately prior to the rebuilding, the state of the tower was such that only a single bell could be rung. There are no records of any change ringing taking place, but there are references to the bells being 'raised' which does suggest that they were hung for full-circle ringing.

These ringers lived in the local area, although many of their homes have since been swept away due to various 'improvements'. Several appear to have had other connections with St Peter’s, such as being in the church cricket or football teams. Most were in their late teens or early twenties when they joined, and with one exception appear to have had no previous ringing experience.

The information in this article has been compiled from publicly available sources (e.g. census returns, newspaper articles, annual reports), and the tower record books.

Walter Henry Joseph Cartwright was elected as the first tower captain of the new St Peter’s team in 1902. He rang in the first quarter peal on the bells, but no other records of his involvement in peals or quarter peals have been found. He remained a member of the band until 1906, and the minutes of the 1910 meeting state that he wished to rejoin the band.

Walter was the oldest of seven children. He was born in Nottingham on the 24th August 1865, to Walter (a print compositor) and Alice (neé Bostock). In 1871, Walter was with his parents and one sister at 3 Brighton Place, Winson Green Road, Birmingham. They were still there ten years later, by which time Walter was working as a die sinker. By 1891, there were four of Walter’s brothers and sisters living there with his parents and grandmother, but Walter himself was in lodgings nearby, at 30 Hingeston Street, and was working as a barman. Later that year, Walter married Eliza Moore (born 1869 in Glamorganshire).

Walter and Eliza had moved to Derby by 1901, living at 65, Leonard Street (largely but not entirely, removed during redevelopment). Walter was then working as a railway toolmaker. They had two sons and a daughter, but sadly the oldest son, also Walter, was to die that year, aged just six.

They had another son in 1907, born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, but the family was back in Derby by 1911, at 43 Ambrose Street (which disappeared when the area was cleared following the closure of Offiler’s Brewery, to be replaced by small retail or industrial units and car parking), and Walter was working as an Electrical Fitter. The temporary change of location explains why Walter is absent from the tower minutes around 1907-1909. By 1921 they had moved to 71 Melbourne Street (the first of at least three St Peter’s ringers to live in that street), and they were still there when their son Albert was married at St Peter's in 1931.

At some point, Walter was a churchwarden at St Peter’s and took some services during the interregnum after the Rev F Harris Gibson left in 1933. Walter was present at the funeral of fellow St Peter’s ringer William Holbrook in 1935. He had retired by 1939 when Walter and Eliza were living at 4, Turner’s Almshouses, Ashbourne Road. Eliza died in 1947, and Walter died in 1952.

Francis Edwin Wormington was elected as the first secretary of the new team of ringers in 1902 and was tower captain in 1903 and 1904. He rang in the first peal on the bells, in 1906, and four quarter peals between 1905 and 1907. The minutes of the 1908 AGM state that he resigned from the team during the previous year.

Francis was born in Derby on the 10th July 1880. In 1881 he was living with his parents, Arthur and Mary (neé Porter) at 54 Borough's Walk, Derby. This road was later removed to make way for the Main Centre car park (now the site of a Marks & Spencer store) and the realignment of Traffic Street. Francis’ father was a locomotive fireman and later became a driver.

By 1891, Francis and his parents were living at 10 High Street, Litchurch, and ten years later they had moved a short distance to Oxford Street. By then, Francis had a younger brother and sister and was working as a plumbers shop assistant. Both roads have been almost entirely lost to redevelopment.

Francis married Clara Annie Ball (born in Derby, in 1881) at St Peter’s church on the 15th September 1909. The 1911 census shows them living at 28 Arboretum Street (the road still exists along with several of the original houses, but the site of number 28 is now a car park). Francis was working as a commercial traveller, which might explain why he had resigned from the St Peter’s ringers a few years earlier. A son was born in 1911, and two daughters, in 1915 and 1919.

Francis was widowed in 1927. In 1939 he was working as a technical buyer, and living in Alfreton Road, Little Eaton, near Derby, along with his son’s family. He died in Little Eaton on the 23rd December 1956.

William Henry Roome is featured in the minute book until 1908 No records have been found of him ringing in any peals or quarter peals at the tower. There are however records of his involvement in other church activities such as the choir.

He was born in Derby in 1880 to William and Phoebe (neé Read), and baptised on the 5th September. In 1891 he was living at 85 Borough’s Walk (no longer in existence, as noted earlier) with his parents, sister and two brothers. One of these brothers, Arthur Francis Roome, was also to become a ringer at St Peter’s.

By 1901 the family lived at 6, Park Street (still in existence, but partly renamed as Liversage Street/Castleward Boulevard and with few original buildings,). William then had another brother and was working as a Coach Bodymaker. It seems likely that this was at the nearby coach building works of Herbert Holmes, the donor of one of the bells at St Peter’s. William’s father (also William) was a Coach Builder’s Clerk. The family were still at the same address in 1911.

In 1919, William married Clara Edith Evans (born in Derby in 1881), By 1921, William and Clara were living at 9, Crewe Street. They were still there at the time of William’s death on the 11th July 1940. His obituary indicates that he had been working as a bus driver for the Derby Corporation. Clara died in 1965.

William Henry Holbrook rang in the first peal on the bells, and another peal at St Peter’s in 1908. He also rang in 12 quarter peals at the tower between 1906 and 1916.

He was born in Ashbourne in 1878, to Henry, a baker and confectioner, and Sarah (neé Fearn). By 1881 the family had moved to 8 Parliament Street, Derby. Parts of that road still exist but all of the houses have been replaced. In 1891 they were at 29 Siddals Road. That road also still exists but the only buildings remaining from that time are the Alexandra public house and a lodging house provided by the Midland Railway for locomotive crews stopping in Derby overnight. By this time, William had a younger brother and sister. William’s father was able to employ an assistant baker, who was lodging with them, and they also had a servant.

They are still at Siddals Road in the 1901 census. William had another sister by then and was working as a baker and confectioner alongside his father. The family had a different servant, Gertrude Harriet Evans (born 1879). She was the sister of Clara Evans, who was later to marry William's fellow ringer, William Roome.

After William’s father died in 1906, Wiliam carried on as a baker and confectioner and was still living at Siddals Road at the time of the 1911 census. His mother and one of his sisters were living nearby, in Carrington Street. Gertrude Evans was still at Siddals Road, but she was no longer the servant, having married William on the 12th February that year. Their son (another William) was born on the 28th December.

By 1921, William, Gertrude and their son were living with William and Clara Roome, at 9 Crewe Street. They were still there when William Holbrook died on the 9th February 1935. His obituary says that he was an employee of Bemrose & Sons Ltd. A muffled quarter peal was rung at St Peter’s in his memory on the 17th February 1935.

William Willett only appears in the minute book in 1902 and 1903. He does not appear in any peals or quarter peals at the tower.

He was born in Coalville, Leicestershire on the 8th December, 1877, the second child of Henry and Ann Willett (neé Beard). Henry was a general labourer. In 1881, the family were living at the back of Nottingham Road in Derby. William was baptised at St Alkmund’s, Derby, on the 11th May 1882.

In 1891, they were living at 42 Old Chester Road, and in 1981 they were living near St Peter’s, at 19 Devonshire Street (a road wiped from the map in the 1970s by the development of the Eagle Centre). William was working as a Waggon Repairer’s Labourer.

He had moved away from Derby by the 1911 census and was living with relatives in Queen Street, Long Eaton, and working as an advertising contractor. He married Avis Louisa Sweet in Wandsworth in 1919, and they were living at 20 Hampton Street, Warwick by 1921. They were still there in 1939 when William was working as an Advertisement Canvasser. William died in Warwick, either in 1949 or 1950. Avis died in 1959, also in Warwick.

Note: There was also a Walter Willet living in the Derby area in the early 20th century, but it does not seem likely that he is the ‘W Willett’ referred to in the minutes. He joined the 3rd Leicestershire Regiment on the 19th July 1899, and the Grenadier Guards on the 26th January 1900, so would in all probability not have been available to join a new team of ringers.

Robert George Basson (known as George) resigned from the St Peter’s team in August 1903, the year after it was formed, but had rejoined by the time of the meeting at Easter 1905. He rang in the first peal on the bells in 1906 and went on to ring nine more there. His last peal at St Peter’s was on New Year’s eve 1947, 36 years after his previous peal. He was not due to ring on that occasion but left a social event to ring at short notice when he found out that another ringer had failed to turn up. He also rang in twelve quarter-peals at St Peter’s, between 1905 and 1912. Annual reports list him as a ringer at St Peter’s until 1972, 70 years after he first joined the team.

George was born on the 2nd July 1881 at Darley Abbey and was baptised there on the 2nd October. His parents, Frank and Alice (neé Noakes) already had four children, all daughters. They were living on Duffield Road, close to the junction with Mile Ash Lane. George’s father was a nursery gardener, as were several of their neighbours, so it seems likely that they were working at the nearby Mile Ash Nursery (now the site of school playing fields).

They had moved to 34 Cedar Street by the time George began attending the Walter Evans Boys School in Darley Abbey on the 6th February 1888. They were still there at the time of the 1891 census when George had two more sisters. They moved again later that year, to 55 Osmaston Road, and George enrolled at Christ Church National Boys School. They were still there in 1901, when George was working as a railway carriage trimmer. His parents were working as greengrocers at that address, assisted by two of their daughters. While most of the buildings of that era have survived on that part of Osmaston Road, number 55 was replaced in the 1930s.

In 1911, George was working as an Upholsterer, living with his parents, five sisters and a cousin at 33 Provident Street. He married Rose Wickman (born 1882) at St Peter’s on the 2nd August 1911. He joined the National Union of Railwaymen in 1915, working for the Midland Railway as an Assistant Trimmer.

During WW1, George served as a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, with the service number 154575. He enlisted on the 17th November 1915 and was discharged on the 20th May 1918, due to having been wounded. He was awarded a Silver War Badge on the 4th June 1918 and was also awarded the War Medal and the Victory Medal (a pairing often referred to as 'Mutt and Jeff'). He was not awarded the 1914/15 Star, so presumably did not enter the theatre of war until 1916.

By 1920, George and Rose were living at 18 Whitaker Street, and were still there in 1939, when George was working as a coach trimmer. As well as being a ringer, George was a deputy churchwarden at St Peter’s during the 1930s.

Rose Basson died in Derby in 1964, while George died in Southport, Lancashire, on the 24th December 1978.

Sampson Kniveton Smedley was present at the first AGM, but there is no further record of him as a member of the St Peter’s band until the 1908 AGM. However, he does not appear in the minutes after that, and there is no record of him ringing in any peals or quarter peals at the tower.

Sampson was born in Duffield, near Derby, on the 14th December 1880. His father, Edward, had died before he was born, and in 1881 he was living at 18 Parcel Terrace, Derby, with his mother, Ann (then working as a dressmaker), and five siblings, one of whom was from his mother’s previous marriage (her previous husband’s surname appears variously as Buxton/Bexton/Baxton/Baxter). The road is still there, but all houses have been demolished and replaced by industrial units. Ten years later they were still in Parcel Terrace but at number 43. By 1901, Sampson was working as a rivet maker. He was still living in the same house with his mother, two brothers, and a cousin.

Around 1905 he married Alice Maud Peatson (born 1880 in the Little Chester area of Derby). A daughter, Alice Maud, was born in 1906, but sadly she died just 14 weeks later.

A second daughter, Emily, was born in 1908. The 1911 census shows Sampson living in Ticknall and working as a GPO Mail Driver. His wife and daughter were still living in Derby, but now with Alice’s mother, Sampson mother having died in 1908. There is some evidence that there was another daughter, Florence, born in 1914.

During WW1, Sampson was a Private in the Yorkshire Light Infantry (service number 34182) and was awarded the War Medal and the Victory Medal.

The 1933 Kelly’s Directory shows Sampson working as a Motor Driver, and living at 5 Parliament Street, Sheffield. His wife was living there at the time of her death on the 11th July, 1943. Sampson moved to live with his daughter Emily and her husband at 93 Montague Street, Sheffield, but he died a few weeks after his wife, on the 28th September.

Albert Edward Thompson was the only one of the original ten ringers known to have any previous ringing experience. He rang his first quarter peal on the 13th April 1884, at St Werburgh’s, Derby. He was elected as the first secretary of the ringers at the (now demolished) St Alkmund’s church in Derby in 1885. His obituary (which can be seen in the ‘St Peter’s Tower in the News’ document) suggests that he remained as a ringer at St Alkmund’s while also being a member of the new team at St Peter’s. He also served as secretary of the Derby branch of the Midland Counties Association of Change Ringers.

Albert rang three peals and seven quarter peals at St Peters, including the first peal and first quarter peal in the tower, both of which he conducted. A peal that he rang there on the 8th June 1908, was his 100th.

The minutes of the 1903 Annual Meeting give Albert the title of ‘instructor’, so it may be that he had been engaged specifically to train the new ringers. Paid instructors were not unknown at the time, and the St Peter’s ringers had some generous sponsors in the form of the churchwardens Sir Edwin Ann and Robert B Chambers, so they might well have employed him. He seems to have been a fairly effective instructor, as the first peal and quarter in the tower both included five of the ‘first ten’ ringers in addition to Albert. He had previously been responsible for training a team of ringers at Wirksworth.

Albert was born in Derby on the 3rd July 1862 to John and Emma (neé Tallents). He was the fifth of seven children, although one of his sisters had died shortly before he was born. His father was an engine fitter. In 1871 the family were living at 10, Morleston Street, in the Litchurch area of Derby. Albert enrolled at Christ Church National Mixed School in 1876. In 1881, Albert was working as a fitter, and living with one of his sisters and her husband at 25 Douglas Street. His parents and his two younger siblings were living in the same street, at number 81.

In 1884, he married Alice Newham (born 1862), and by 1891 they had four children and were living at 14, Derwent Street, Draycott. They had probably been living elsewhere in the meantime, as one of their children was born in Warrington in 1887. By 1901, Albert was working as a Steam Engine Fitter, they had three more children and were living at 52, Silver Hill Road, Derby. Several handbell peals were rung at this address.

By 1911 Albert and his family were living at 29, Strutt Street. Alice died on the 15th June 1937. Albert died in 1949.

Albert’s nephew, George Thompson, joined the team at St Peter’s in 1903. Other members of Albert’s family were also ringers in the Derby area: his brother, John William Thompson; another nephew, John Alton Thompson; and his grandson, Albert Charles Thompson. Their names appear in quarter peals and peals at St Peter's, and Albert’s name appears in the tower visitor’s book on the 16th December 1950.

William John Bidgood was elected as secretary of the St Peter’s ringers in 1903, and rang in the first peal on the bells, in 1906. That was the only peal that he rang at St Peter’s, but he also rang seven quarter peals there between 1905 and 1907. He was removed as a member of the band in 1908, due to not having rung since June 1907. Presumably, that just referred to service ringing, as two of his quarter peals in the tower were rung in September and November 1907.

William was born in Mitcham, Surrey, in 1884, to John and Isabella (neé Ellison). He was baptised on 31st August that year at Christ Church, Mitcham, where his father, John James Bidgood, was a verger and scripture reader. By coincidence, some 80 years later, the Vicar of another church in Mitcham, the Ascension, had a son who was also to become a ringer at St Peter’s.

William’s sister, Minnie Isabella Bidgood, was born in 1888, and in 1891 they were living at 3 Flint Cottages, Church Road, Mitcham. John Bidgood died the following year, the Bell News recording a 720 being rung at Mitcham on the day of his burial. In 1881, before working in Mitcham, John Bidgood had been a scripture reader in Derby, and lodging at St Werburgh’s vicarage with his sister, who was a cook and domestic servant there. After John’s death, his wife and children returned to Derby. In 1901, William was working as a railway clerk, living with his mother, grandmother, sister and a cousin, at 2 Argyle Street, Derby. By 1911, William was working as a train controller, and lodging at 46 Wellington Street, Whittington, Derbyshire - a reason for his not being able to ring regularly at St Peter’s by 1908. In 1912, William married Florence May Morris at Christ Church, Derby.

He might have served in the army during WW1. There are two medal cards for soldiers named William Bidgood. The first is for a Private in the Rifle Brigade, with service numbers 560 and 200521, and relates to the War Medal and the Victory Medal, although they were returned as unclaimed. The second is for a Private in the East Yorkshire Regiment with service number 6227, and is for the Silver War Badge, indicating that he was discharged due to a wound or illness. Both may be for the same person if he transferred between units.

By 1922 they had moved away from Derby and were living at 58 Broadgate, Beeston, Nottingham, and were in Zouch, Nottinghamshire, by 1931. William was present at the funeral of fellow St Peter’s ringer William Holbrook in 1935. Florence died in Nottingham in 1961, and William died there in 1968.

George Tomlinson resigned as a member of the St Peter’s ringers in August 1903, the year after the team was formed, but had rejoined by Easter 1905 (George Basson did the same, but it is not known if these events were related). He was elected as secretary in 1906, a post he held until at least 1912. Between 1905 and 1921 he rang in 12 peals and 13 quarter peals at St Peters, including the first peal and quarter peal on the bells, and one peal as conductor.

He was born in Derby on the 26th February 1882. His father, William, a general labourer, died in 1890, and the 1891 census shows George living at 43 Devonshire Street, with his widowed mother, Ann (neé Allsop) and six siblings. This is the same (now demolished) street where William Willett lived in that year, so they might well have known each other before the formation of the St Peter's ringers. George was still living there in 1901, working as a gas engineer’s assistant.

George married Edith Louise Wagstaff (born in 1883) on the 14th October 1908, at St Luke’s church, Derby. Their son, Leslie George was born on the 20th March 1909. In 1911 they were living at 19, King Alfred Street. George was then a gas engineer, no longer an assistant. By 1933 they had moved to ‘Wayside’, Littleover Lane.

By 1939, George and Edith had left Derby, and were living in St Albans, at 15 Beechwood Avenue. George was then working in a gas drawing office. Their son was still living in Derby, with his wife Agnes. George died in Derby in 1969, the year after his wife Edith.