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F rancis Severne After Napoleon’s occupation from 1808 to 1814 Spain entered a period of instability with a series of civil wars. In 1822 (one year after Napoleon’s death in exile) the Congress of Verona authorised France to intervene in Spanish affairs and re-instate the authority of the monarchy. The English representative at the Congress was non-other than the Duke of Wellington whose instructions were to express the uncompromising opposition of the United Kingdom to the intervention. Nevertheless, in April 1823 the French army crossed the Pyrenees into Spain. The Derby Mercury of 9th July 1823 brought the following to its readers’ attention; The Public are respectfully informed that an opportunity is afforded them of manifesting those sentiments so natural to Englishmen of all parties, on the subject of the violent and most unprincipled invasion of Spain by the French government, and of lending assistance to the brave Spaniards struggling in defence of their Native Land and Constitution, by subscriptions in aid of the fund now accumulating … The article was scathing of the French and urged all right-thinking people, “each according to his ability”, to contribute to the fund and the names of 15 people are listed with their donations. One of those names was that of Francis Severne who gave one pound and a shilling; a guinea. A few years earlier, with Napoleon at the height of his power, Francis was perhaps concerned that the French emperor might invade England itself because he joined the Derby Regiment of the Local Militia. He would have worn the red jacket and white breeches at the regular drills while his several years in possession of a game licence would have stood him in good stead with a firearm. In 1813, the Royal Military Panorama or Officer’s Companion reported that Lieutenant Francis Severne, Derby Regiment, was to be promoted to Captain. He was then 35 years old. Francis was born around 1780 and a good candidate record for his baptism is given by the registers for St Bride’s, Fleet Street in London. These show a baptism on 2nd April 1780 for “Francis, son of Thomas and Eliz Severn, born Mar 1”. He was one of five children, the other four being; Thomas (who became what is known as a Blackwell Hall Factor1), James, John (who would later be called a scapegrace2 by another family member) and Hester. Their father, Thomas Severne from Abberley in Worcestershire, had married a widow named Elizabeth Madden (formerly Bushell) in the parish church of St. Martin In The Fields, London. Documents known as Marriage Bonds and Marriage Allegations provide the earliest yet found evidence for Thomas’ profession as a Jeweller. They also show that, had the intended marriage failed because of any “impediment” Thomas stood to lose £200 “of good and lawful money of Great Britain” to the church as penalty – a very large sum when these documents were drawn up in 1776. 1A trader in cloth and wool, similar to a modern-day worker in the Stock Exchange. 2A wild, unruly person. Literally, someone who has “escaped the grace of God”. 1 2 The Marriage Allegation of Thomas Severn(e), dated 28th June 1776. Thomas Severne’s children James and Hester were both baptised in Derby, indicating that the family moved from London to that city somewhere between 1780 and 1784. Thomas continued with his trade as jeweller and prospered. In Holden’s Triennial Directory of 1809 there is a listing for “Severne & Son – Manufacturers of Jewellery” which suggests that by that year Thomas was part of a family business with his son, although the retail part of the company had been sold to Robert Moseley the previous year. The 1829 Directory of Derby gives the names of the then present lapidaries and jewellers as Mr. F. Severne, Mr. E. Simpson, and Mr. W. Moore, employing approximately 100 people between them and paying wages ranging from 12 to 22 shillings a week. The quality of the manufactured jewellery was said to be equal to that produced in London. Francis had become a successful Derby businessman. William Bemrose’s treatise on Bow, Chelsea and Derby porcelain published in 1898 purports that … it is certain that many china trinkets, such as seals, smelling bottles, tooth-pick cases &c, were mounted in gold, at Derby, by Mr. Severne and others, from the middle of the last century until the early part of the present century. It may not be generally known that about the time the Derby china works came into note, the jewellery trade of Derby was a most important one. A jeweller named Simpson was one of the earliest manufacturers; he employed about thirty hands. Severne & Co. gave employment to eighty or ninety hands, beside outworkers. The town is still noted for the production of excellent paste jewellery. Quoting from an original document dated 1793 Bemrose relates one businessman discussing wholesale prices for china items treated with gold and explaining the delay in supply because “Mr Severne who is yet in London.” Thomas Severne3, who was born on 17th February 1744 in Abberley, Worcestershire, died in the same year as the Holden’s listing and was buried in Osmaston-By-Derby on 7th January 1809. Only the year before, the Derby Mercury of 5th May 1808 contained an obituary for Thomas’ scapegrace son, John … [Deaths] A few days since at Woodbridge, after a short illness, in the 25th year of his age, Mr. John Severne, surgeon, son of Mr. Severne, of this place. 3Thomas’ wife Elizabeth survived him by 7 years and was buried in Osmaston By Derby on 27th January 1816 aged 73. There is no longer any trace of St. Osmond’s and its cemetery. 3 Portrait of Thomas Severne, oil on canvas, unsigned. Inscribed "Thos Severne, Agd. 50, 1796, Derby, Oct 30th - Dec 1808" (Lot 1631 Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc. June 2014) Francis was so successful, having amassed a “considerable fortune”, that in 1823 he was able to build a new house on the Osmaston Road in Litchurch, a village and hamlet in the parish of Derby Saint Peter, but outside Derby’s borough boundary. The location of Francis’ new home was a plot of land called “The Field”, between Bloomfield Street and Bateman Street (the house itself became known as “Field House”) and his new neighbours were Richard Becher Leacroft esquire, major of the Derby militia who owned a mansion, and Mr. John Byng, a fellow officer of the Corporation of Derby. This new residence for Francis was to cause, after his death in 1832, some problems for those who had been apprenticed to him and who later made application to be enrolled as Burgesses. A bye-law of the corporation, passed in 1701, required that for an apprentice to be entitled to his freedom in Derby he must serve as apprentice to some burgess dwelling in the borough for the space of 7 years. Francis was a burgess, and an officer of the Corporation (a town councillor) but, while his jewellery workshops were located on Osmaston Street in central Derby, his residence was, technically, out of the borough. There was a heated debate in the Revising Barristers Court for the Borough of Derby in November 1836 when objections were raised in the case of a former apprentice of Francis becoming a burgess himself. The bye-law was upheld and as a result the applicant Henry Adams and approximately 50 other individuals in similar circumstances were denied burgess status. Francis was very active in his public life putting his name, and money, forward in support of various causes for the benefit of the people of Derby and, it must be said, to further 4 his own personal interests. Examples include; subscribing to the relief of the poor; donating to the Royal Lancastrian School for the education of the poor; petitioning the legislature against the proposed renewal of the tax on income, commonly called the Property Tax; becoming a Trustee of the Turnpike Road from Derby to Ashbourne; and petitioning Parliament for the repeal of existing laws regarding insolvent debtors. One other public spirited gesture, in which Francis made a financial contribution, involved a balloon. Field House, Osmaston Road, Litchurch. Francis Severne employed the services of architect Alderman Richard Leaper. Location of Field House, Osmaston Road, Litchurch. On the 2nd September 1813 the Derby Mercury reported on a fund-raising venture by - Mr. Wilkes’ Air Balloon in which he intends to ascend for the benefit of the General Infirmary. The balloon was more than 100 feet in circumference, containing 20,000 cubic feet and one of the largest ever made. It was constructed of Irish linen of different colours, covered with 5 varnish and furnished with an elegant carriage to hold two persons. It was exhibited at Hollingshead’s timber yard in Thorn Tree Lane where each person was charged one shilling to see it. In addition, subscriptions of £1 or higher would secure a perpetual ticket of admission to view the apparatus and the preparations for the ascent. The one condition stipulated by Mr. Wilkes was that he be indemnified for the necessary expenses in filling his balloon, which were expected to be over £150. Francis was one (in a published list of subscribers) who thought it a pound well spent. On the day of the ascent, from a plot of Burgess land called The Siddals (a section of flat land, part of the river Derwent’s flood plain, used for public events such as horse racing) there was a veritable fiasco. It was reported by The Monthly Magazine Volume 36 and (more fully) by the London Times of Saturday 25th September 1813 which itself quotes from the Derby Mercury. It is worth giving the full text of the Times’ article:- DERBY, Wednesday September 22nd We have seldom seen so large a concourse of people collected together in this town as were assembled to witness the ascent of Mr Wilkes’ balloon on Monday last. From nine o’clock in the morning till twelve, the streets of Derby, and the various roads to The Siddals, the place of its ascent, were crowded with passengers of all kinds in every species of conveyance: they all seemed abundantly happy with the thoughts of the day’s amusements; and certainly the fineness of the weather, the excellence of the ground from which the balloon was to ascend, and the well concerted arrangements adopted by the Committee who managed the business on the part of our Infirmary, offered every reasonable expectation that the public would have been fully gratified: but is was fated otherwise; for, although the process of filling went on for a short time in the best manner, and the proper gas continued to be produced by the sulphuric acid and zinc with such rapidity as to endanger the bursting of the apparatus, the balloon filled to a certain point, and then continued stationary, in consequence of its being full of small holes which let out the gas as fast as it was generated. We must not blame the committee on this account, for they had been at much trouble for three days preceeding to cover every hole which could be found with fresh linen, so that the balloon seemed sufficiently air tight; but when they came to fill it with the thin, light and piercing gas, with which it was to ascend, many rents and fissures were observed which rendered the filling impracticable, and the process was then discontinued. After this, the Committee came forward, and assured the spectators, as a recompense for their disappointment, that they would endeavour to bring Mr. SADLER to the town with his balloon, and that he should ascend without any more expense to them. They appeared to be perfectly satisfied with this declaration, and, although so great a number of persons was collected, they began to disperse quietly, and everything would have terminated peaceably, had not a few ill-advised individuals excited a disposition to tear in pieces the balloon, which was properly quelled by the dragoons who were present; but this called down the vengeance of the people upon them, although they had only done their duty, and were not at all instrumental in the disappointment. They were obliged to guard the balloon from the Siddals to the Town-hall; but as they passed over the canal bridge, and down the Siddals-lane, they were assailed from behind the hedges with showers of stones, which wounded several, and made it absolutely necessary for one of the Magistrates to order them to clear every place at all hazards4. No person, however, was materially hurt; and this is to be attributed to the good temper and address displayed by Major HANKIN, and the Scots Greys, who bore the 4at all hazards: with no regard for danger; at any risk. We would say “at all costs”. 6 intemperance of the mob for a considerable time before they began to act. They deserve equal commendations for the dexterity with which they put to flight the disorderly without injuring them, striking with the flat sides of their swords, and almost teaching their horses to be as careful as they were themselves. We were sorry to see two or three dragoons with severe wounds on their heads, and their cap-plates beaten in, besides one who had his finger dislocated by a stone. – Derby Mercury. Uniforms of the Scots Greys (Dragoons). The commanding officer, named Major Thomas Hankin, was present at the Battle of Waterloo two years later. Although the version of the event as reported by the Monthly Magazine is less detailed than the above it does refer to the failure of the Committee’s “Plan B”; It appears, however, that Mr. Sadler and the committee have been unable to agree on terms, and Mr. S. proposes to ascend from Nottingham. The Mr. Sadler referred to was England’s first “Aeronaut”, James Sadler, who had first gone up in a balloon in 1784 and had several flights to his name, some more successful than others; an attempt to cross the Irish Sea in 1812 nearly saw him drowned. The negotiations between Derby Corporation and Mr. Sadler went on for some time but were not concluded successfully. His balloon only appeared in Derby for display purposes, shortly after the flight from Nottingham on 1st November 1813. The advertisement inviting Derby residents to view Sadler’s balloon included an illustration that actually shows his ditching into the Bristol Channel in 1810 and is based on an aquatint painting by E.M. Jones. (See page 27) It would be another ten years before the residents of Derby would see a Sadler attempt a balloon ascent from their own town and that was by James Sadler’s son, William Wyndham Sadler. In recognition of James’ exploits King George IV entitled him to membership of the Charterhouse (a form of retirement home) where he stayed for a time. William continued in his father’s footsteps until his own tragic death in a ballooning accident in 1824. 7 “Magnificent Balloon & Car” The illustration accompanying the Derby Mercury article of 11th November 1813 (Compare with painting on page 26) After the Derby debacle, in the same newspaper announcing the forthcoming ascent from Nottingham by Sadler, there appeared an advertisement showing Mr. Wilkes’ attempt to cut his losses; To be sold by auction … Balloon Covering; about 300 yards of canvas cloth … property of Mr. Wilkes. As far as the Derby General Infirmary was concerned, (the intended beneficiary of Mr. Wilkes’ endeavours), matters were left in a very unsatisfactory state. A letter to the editor of the Derby Mercury was published on 4th November 1813; As I begin to despair of seeing a balloon, of recovering my money, or hearing of its being contributed to the Infirmary, I take the liberty of requesting (through your paper) that some public spirited Gentleman of the law will inform me, and others in like situation, whether those who received the money at The Siddals on 20th September, are not liable for indictment for obtaining money under false pretences. The Derby Severnes and the Abberley Severnes remained in close contact. Several members of the Severne family, going back generations, were clergymen; Francis’ cousin Reverend Francis Severne (born 1785), Francis’ uncle Reverend Francis Severne (born 1749), Francis’ grandfather Reverend Thomas Severne (died 1780) and Francis’ great grandfather Reverend Joseph Severne (born 1665). It was cousin Francis, Rector of Abberley, who made the journey from Worcestershire to Derby on a number of occasions to officiate at the marriage ceremonies of some of his cousin’s children. Whether the journey was undertaken by horse and carriage or by the rapidly developing new railway network is unknown, but Birmingham was probably a stop along the route, being a major conurbation between Abberley and Derby. 8 James Sadler, England’s first Aeronaut (1753 – 1828). However, he was prepared to travel even further to perform these ceremonies for his family; on 10th February 1835 at St. Andrew’s Holborn, London, he presided at the marriage of “Thomas Severne Esquire of Newent, Gloucestershire, to Hester, only daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Severne, of this place.” This announcement in the Derby Mercury of 4th March 1835 does not mention the parish or the minister, but inspection of St. Andrew’s book of Banns for this marriage clearly shows Abberley’s Rector as the officiating minister. This Hester was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (formerly Madden and Bushell) and the couple were first cousins. Such a marriage between cousins was a common means by which wealth could be retained within the family. Chapel interior of St. Michael’s Church in Abberley, Worcestershire. Several generations of Severnes were clerics here. It was on 27th November 1810, at Saint Peter’s, Derby (three years before he wasted a guinea on the ill-fated balloon) that Francis Severne married Louisa, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Wright. (Sarah’s ancestry has been researched by others back to the year 1450.) Before their deaths (Francis on 24th July 1832, Louisa on 16th April 1851 due to “disease of the brain”) they were to have nine children which would include individuals who, for one reason or another, would give cause for sadness. 9 The property named “Stardens” in Newent, Gloucestershire, taken in the 1950’s. Extended by later owners, Thomas and Hester Severne farmed 120 acres here in 1851. Their firstborn was Francis Leigh Severne, born 1812, who initially pursued a career in law but also tried his hand at poetry. Like his father, he joined up with a military unit, this time it was the Derby and Chaddesden Troop of Yeomanry Cavalry5. He married Mary Killer in Derby on 16th April 1839 (seven years after his father’s death) in a double ceremony; … [Marriages] at St. Werburgh’s Church, in this town, by the Reverend Francis Severne, Rector of Abberley, Worcestershire, Mr. George Morton Perns of Stockport to Jane, the second daughter; and, at the same time, Mr. Francis Severne, of this town, to Mary, the third daughter of John Egerton Killer Esq. of Friar Gate. The following example of Francis Leigh Severne’s poetic work6 was highlighted by a 19th century antiquarian7 as worthy of note: The dead – the dead decay; And those warm cheeks with health and beauty glowing, And those dear lips with kindness ever flowing Must fade and pass away. The dead – the dead decay; And that fair brow, those spirit beaming eyes Which seem but to reflect those deep blue skies Must die and fade away. The dead – the dead decay; And that light form of Beauty’s chastest mould In the white shroud of burial must be roll’d; Even that must pass away. 5Despite his initial dislike of Queen Victoria it was a great source of pride for Francis junior when, with his fellow troop members, he escorted her and Prince Albert during their visit to Derbyshire in 1843. 6Another of F L Severne’s poems may be found in the Appendix p 107 7For the antiquarian’s comment, see Appendix p 102 10 The dead – the dead decay; And those small fingers delicate and white Which make sweet music oft for my delight Must die and pass away. The dead – the dead decay; I shall become all stark and ghastly cold, And o’er my limbs the black earth shall be roll’d I too shall pass away. Around 1842 Francis Leigh Severne started to document his family background and, in writing to his young son “for his future use or amusement”, provides corroborative information and rare commentary that is never written down within the official record of births, marriages, property etc. The following is what he says about his father’s line. My paternal great grandfather was Rector of Abberley in Worcestershire; his wife was Anaretta8 Clutton daughter of Clutton of Pensax near Abberley; a well connected, wealthy and respectable family. My great grandfather had 12 children of whom Frank succeeded his father as Rector of Abberley and was also vicar of Kyre; Thomas, the youngest, my grandfather, was a manufacturer of jewellery in Derby, and lived for some time in the house which I now inhabit; he married a widow lady by the name of Madden; I have now in my library the pictures of both9; They had four sons Thomas, John, James and Frank (my father) and one daughter, Hester, wife of Mr Thomas Severne of Newent, Gloucestershire. Thomas, the eldest, lives in London and is what is called a Blackwell Hall Factor; he has one son and three daughters; John was apprenticed to a surgeon, but was a random harum scarum10 sort of fellow and not liking his profession went to sea, went to India, returned to England and died; he was a duelling, drinking scapegrace. James married, lived in London, died and left two children, my cousins Louisa and Elizabeth Severne. My great grandfather was an extravagant man, fond of the society of titled people, kept a pack of hounds and sadly neglected his children. His son, my great uncle, Frank, was a learned man, an excellent classical scholar and lived on terms of great intimacy with the best of the County families; Southey the poet was his friend and used to visit him at Abberley. At the time this was written, Field House had likely already been sold. Certainly four years later in 1846 Francis Leigh Severne was living at Ivy Cottage, a short distance away down the Osmaston Road. At some point, probably assisted by the £6000 inheritance from his father’s will, they moved to Amroth, South Wales where Francis Leigh Severne tried his hand at farming. It was here, in 1854, that he was involved in a scandal, having an affair with the governess of his children and seventeen years his junior; Caroline Bingham Yelverton. Caroline’s background was, like that of Francis, also one of privilege, if anything to a greater extent than his. But there also existed individuals and episodes that, while many family members would have preferred to forget, nevertheless preoccupied scandal-loving Victorians the world over. Caroline was related to the Yelverton viscounts of Avonmore, who are documented in detail within Burke’s Peerage beginning with Barry Yelverton, the first Viscount 8Named as Hester Clutton in other sources. Anaretta (nee Morgan) was actually her mother. 9Could the portrait of Thomas sold at an American auction in 2014 be one of these? 10 Meaning reckless, irresponsible. 11 of Avonmore. His grandson, (not first-born and therefore not in line for the title), the Hon. Augustus Yelverton, married Sarah Whiteside in 1825. Their children included William Henry Yelverton (baptised 21st September 1825 at Kirk Rushen, Isle of Man), Augustus Barrymore Yelverton and Caroline Bingham Yelverton, both baptised on 18th August 1829, also at Kirk Rushen. The Rushen parish record states that Augustus and Caroline were twins but this is contradicted by the 1841 census which also shows that Sarah’s husband was absent from home on that night; he was in prison. Just three years after that census, Caroline’s mother, Sarah, died aged 38. Within two years, on 4th June 1846, widower Hon. Augustus Yelverton remarried, to Jane O’Keefe (later called “Jenny Keefe”). This marked the beginning (or the continuation?) of a decline in family life which resulted in younger members, including Caroline, being taken and cared for by others. The situation deteriorated over many years and culminated in the deaths of Caroline’s father and step-mother in 1864. The Liverpool Mercury of 23rd February in that year reports the - SAD END OF A YELVERTON If, about two or three o'clock on the morning of Saturday last, any one had chanced to wander down Barrack street, one of the vilest of the many vile back slums in Douglas, Isle of Man, he would have found, lying in the gutter, the stinking half-frozen refuse water flowing over and around her, the body of a woman, literally half-naked, and actually frozen to death, the night being piercingly cold, with a hard frost. If the wanderer had been an inhabitant of the town he would, immediately on looking at the face of the dead female, have recognised the depraved, besotted, bloated countenance of the drunken and dissolute Hon. Jane Yelverton, alias Jenny Keefe, by which name she was better known, the widow of the Hon. Augustus Yelverton, brother of Lord Avonmore, and fellow uncle with that nobleman to the notorious Major Yelverton, whose celebrated marriage case and lawsuit have for the last five years occupied the attention of the public. At an inquest held on the body of the woman on Saturday, it was stated that the Hon. Augustus Yelverton, the husband of Jenny Keefe, to whom he was married about 25 years since, died in Liverpool about two months ago ; that he left her a considerable sum of money for her maintenances which was to be paid to her in instalments by a lawyer in Liverpool, from which town she had arrived in Douglas on Tuesday last, her fare to the island (according to a statement she made to a woman in a low public house on the night before her frightful death) having been paid by the lawyer in question. The inquest was held by James Gol, Esq., high bailiff of Castletown, and during the proceedings he stated that the Hon. Augustus Yelverton and the deceased had lived in Castletown for many years, and that so dissolute and depraved were they in their habits that he had committed them to prison fully a hundred times for being drunk and disorderly. At this time they were allowed by Lord Avonmore, it was understood, an ample income to keep them comfortably, but they were in the habit of spending it in drink as quickly as they got it, and they scarcely ever had on them sufficient rags, let alone clothing, to cover their nakedness. Jenny Keefe, who was a low-born woman, was the third wife of the Hon. Augustus Yelverton, he having previously been married to a Spanish lady and an Irish one. He had no children by his last wife, but he had several by his former wives. In consequence, however, of his depraved habits, they were taken from him, and they now occupy respectable positions in life. Although in rank and in education also there was such a difference between Jenny Keefe and her husband, yet they were greatly attached to each other; they invariably accompanied each other in their orgies, and if one of them was sent to gaol for some outrage against the peace, committed during a drunken fit, it 12 was the practice of the other to smash some shop windows, or make a disturbance in the streets, for the sole purpose of getting committed to gaol also, in order that they might keep each other company. They scarcely ever had a place to lay their heads in, and they lived the greater portion of their time either in the streets or in prison. Such were the Honourable Augustus and Jane Yelverton; and their dissolute lives and frightful fate - one dying in a low lodging house in Liverpool, and the other frozen to death in the streets of Douglas - convey a striking lesson of the evils of intemperance. All the clothing that Jenny Keefe had on when she was found dead was an old gauze frock which did not reach to her knees, and was no thicker than a piece of paper, an old pair of socks that just reached above her ankles, and a pair of thin slippers. A few hours before her death she was seen standing in a house door close to where she was found dead, and was heard trolling out, in a voice husky with drink, a street ballad called " True blue for ever." The jury returned a verdict of "death from exposure." As this 1864 newspaper article explains, Caroline had found sanctuary elsewhere, and her absence from the 1851 England & Wales census might be explained (as noted in her obituary) by her education in Paris. An extremely good candidate for her “sanctuary”, that is the family that took her in and likely sponsored her education abroad, is her uncle the Hon. William Henry Yelverton (1791-1884) who, through his marriage in 1825 to Lucy Morgan, came into possession of the Whitland Abbey Estate near Narberth and Amroth in South Wales. Caroline’s residence here with its proximity to Craig y Borion would certainly explain how she may have been engaged as Governess by Francis and Mary Severne. The Whitland Abbey Estate, near Narberth. Caroline possibly stayed here with her uncle, the Hon. William Henry Yelverton. Caroline’s brother Augustus left for New Zealand some time before 1859 where he married Eliza Ridge in Wellington. How much detail either Caroline or her brother knew of the above newspaper account is uncertain but around the same time there was a bigger scandal within the family (referred to in the above article) which filled many column inches in Victorian newspapers around the world – the infamous Yelverton bigamy case. Caroline’s first cousin Major William Charles Yelverton became 4th Viscount of Avonmore and his affairs with the fairer sex, and several drawn out legal proceedings, were the inspiration for their own ballads and the basis for popular fiction. This case is too well documented, copiously, elsewhere for this history to do it justice and only the briefest of 13 summaries is attempted, starting with the ironically named James Whiteside11 who was appointed Attorney-General in 1858. It was in this capacity that Whiteside became involved with the Yelverton Case. Major William Charles Yelverton (1824 - 1883), 4th Viscount Avonmore, was born on 27 September 1824. He was educated for military service at Woolwich and became a Major in the Royal Artillery. He served in the Crimea, fought in the Battle of Inkerman and won medal and clasps at the Siege of Sebastopol. He was awarded 5th Class Knight of Medjidie in Turkey. On 15th August 1857, he was married in Rostrevor, Co. Down, to Marie Theresa Longworth. This marriage would form the basis of Thelwall v. Yelverton. The 4th Viscount had met Theresa shortly after the battle of Balaclava. He was a decorated officer and she a nurse who had tended to the wounded in the aftermath of the battle. She was born at Chetwode in Lancashire, the daughter of a silk merchant, and educated at a French convent with her sisters. She became a Roman Catholic during her teenage years and spent two years in Italy completing her education. One of her sisters married Monsieur La Favre of Boulogne. It was during a return to England from a visit to the Le Favres that Theresa met Major Yelverton. They were married by Scots Law in April 1857 and again at Killowen in August 1857. However, after what must have been a serious fall out, Yelverton abandoned Theresa, now pregnant, and, on 26th June 1858, he was married again, in Edinburgh. His second wife was Emily Marianne, the youngest daughter of Major General Sir Charles Ashworth, KCB. Theresa Longworth and Major William Charles Yelverton When Theresa began legal proceedings against her husband he countered that their so called marriage had not taken place. Although the legal question of the case concerned events which occurred in Britain after the war, the trial nevertheless focused much attention on Yelverton's alleged seduction of the nurse. Mrs. Yelverton claimed she and her husband did not "cohabit" until after the Roman Catholic ceremony, but Major Yelverton testified that after determining in a Crimean hospital to make Theresa Longworth his mistress, he "attempted her virtue" on a transport ship to Constantinople. She became, he said, "a slave of her passion for him," while in the Crimea. Chief Justice Whiteside delivered a hugely popular speech in which he found in Miss Longworth's favour. He said that even though Major Yelverton was a Protestant, and Miss Longworth a Roman Catholic, and that they had been married by a Roman Catholic priest, their marriage was still valid. Major Yelverton was court-martialled for conduct 11 It would indeed be ironic if the man to make a legal judgement in this case, James Whiteside, was related to Caroline’s mother, Sarah Whiteside, herself a victim of another errant Yelverton. 14 unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and suspended from military service. Whiteside's verdict was greeted with cheers in the House of Commons. However, on 28 July 1864, Whiteside's decision of Thelwall v. Yelverton was reversed when the House of Lords decided 3-1 that the marriage was illegal. The Irish Times noted that "more than one enthusiastic sympathiser wrote to Mrs. Yelverton offering marriage as soon as the decision of the Lords was known; thus adding injury to insult". After visits to America and elsewhere Theresa Longworth moved to South Africa and died at Pietermaulzburg, Natal, in November 1881. Such was the background to the family of Caroline Bingham Yelverton who, not long after her education in Paris, secured12 a “subordinate position” as governess to the children of the Severne family in Amroth. Her romantic involvement with Francis Leigh Severne resulted in a series of events she could never have imagined. When the affair was uncovered by Francis’s wife, Mary, she called upon the local Welsh tradition in circumstances such as these, and engaged a gang of local men to parade Ms. Yelverton through the streets fastened to what was called a “Wooden Horse” (Ceffyl Pren in Welsh). The Ceffyl Pren was derived from an ancient Welsh law, abolished during Tudor times, and was a wooden frame on which an offender was bound and carried through the streets to be publicly humiliated. The wrongdoers were generally those whose misconduct offended the strong rural sense of morality and justice: wife beaters, adulterers, young men refusing to marry girls made pregnant by them, or else neglecting to support their illegitimate children. Among the papers of the Mathias family of Pendeilo there is the following vivid description of the Ceffyl Pren: “Wooden horse: a ladder used as a stretcher in former years for carrying a person, tied thereon, around the district so as to expose them for some great sin, or disgraceful act which they had committed. The leading carriers were all masked so as to disguise their identity, and it was part of their programme to stick pins in the person tied on the wooden horse, as well as to torture them in other ways…” Francis Leigh Severne Caroline Bingham Yelverton 12 Perhaps via an advertisement in the local Narberth newspaper? 15 Around ten years earlier the agricultural communities of south Wales were in dire poverty. The raising of toll-gate charges by a group of English toll-renters caused outrage and the farmers’ response was to form gangs called Merched Beca (Welsh for “Rebecca’s Daughters”) and lead attacks against the toll gates to destroy them. There are similarities between the Ceffyl Pren and the Rebecca Riots in that the male protagonists in both dressed in women’s clothing and wore masks or blackened faces. Perhaps this is the reason why the account of Francis and Caroline’s humiliating experience, (in The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser of 12th May 1854), mentions Rebecca; as a means to refer to the mob - NARBERTH. REBECCA RIOT. On the evening of the 4th inst., "Rebecca", with nine of her renowned followers, attired in female apparel, wearing bonnets, and having their faces blackened, assembled at Craigyborian, before the residence of a leading resident in the parish of Amroth. At this time the gentleman in question, with his two sons and the governess, were walking in a road over-looking the plantations, to which spot the Rebeccaites wended their way in procession, and on approaching at once informed the party in question that he was their man for that night, at the same time taking hold of him. The astonished captive resisted at first strenuously, but "Rebecca" maintained her powerful grip, and eventually succeeded in tying his hands behind his back, upon which he earnestly expostulated and inquired what mischief he had done. It was replied that he had violated the Welsh laws by not living with his wife, and had taken unto himself another woman, which was an insufferable offence in the Principality, and the punishment to be inflicted on all such heinous offences was to ride on the "Ceffyl Pren." The fair lady in attendance was immediately fastened to a ladder by these executors of "Lynch law," who then directed their steps towards Colby Lodge, carrying their female freight hoisted like the coffin of Mahomet between Heaven and Earth. From Colby Lodge they proceeded in like manner to the Burrows, and from there up the new road to Tinker's Hill, and to Killanow Gate. By this time a large crowd of persons had congregated, making loud shouts; and when the procession came near the Craigyborian entrance the captive gallant offered £6 for the liberation of himself and his frail partner in durance, which compromise was in a great degree accepted, but ultimately the Rebeccaites thought better of the matter and refused the money as a bribe. So they went on to Lanteague, and from thence to Tavernspite, where they arrived about 11 o'clock at night, when the gentleman and his beloved were set at liberty, having to walk back a distance of 10 miles to their home. The gentleman then addressed the crowd, saying he forgave them for what they had done, and should bear no malice in his heart, wishing God's blessing upon them all, and promising that the fickle fair one should leave his fireside on the following day. Upon this understanding his hearers gave hearty cheering, and all departed peacably to their respective homes. The marriage at an end, Francis and Ms. Yelverton left the community for Cong13, Co. Mayo, Ireland where, over a period of around ten years, Caroline bore five children by Francis. They then emigrated to New Zealand and became teachers. However, tragedy followed them. In 1894 Francis’ son Henry Leigh Severne shot himself; using a length of string tied to the trigger of a shotgun and also to his foot, he discharged the weapon between his eyes. Seven years later 13 Although Caroline was born on the Isle of Man, the Yelverton family held estates in Co. Mayo (totalling 2696 acres in 1876) and this may explain why the couple went there, perhaps encouraged by Caroline’s uncle, after the debacle in Amroth. Cong was the location used for the 1952 film “The Quiet Man” starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. 16 another son, Herbert Longford Miller, died in a boating accident14, despite being a strong swimmer. Francis died in Havelock, New Zealand in 1900 aged 88 and eleven years later the Colonist Volume 53, Issue 13168 reported of Caroline: SEVERNE - On July 13 1911 at her residence "Creevagh15 Cottage", Hampden Street, Nelson, Caroline Bingham, relict of the late Francis Severne, in her 82nd year. The Nelson Evening Mail, on 20th July 1911, reported her funeral with a few details of her bereaved children: The funeral of the late Mrs. Severne on Sunday was attended by relatives and immediate friends. The deceased lady, who with her husband and family arrived in Nelson from England in 1864, was the only daughter of the Hon. Augustus Yelverton and cousin of the late Viscount Avonmore. Mrs. Severne, being educated in Paris, was a proficient French scholar. There are six daughters (Mesdames Monro, Pickering, Hughes, Grant and Misses Augusta Yelverton and Florence Bingham Severne) left to mourn the loss of a kind and loving mother, she being predeceased by her husband and three sons. Caroline Bingham SEVERNE in later life, (possibly after the death of Francis in 1900) and some other family members. 14 For the contemporary newspaper report, see Appendix p 108 15 Named after Creevagh, Ireland which, presumably, had some significance. Did they live there at some point? 17 As for his wife and five children under nine that Francis Leigh Severne abandoned in South Wales back in 1854, the census record reveals that Mary left Craig-y-Borion and took up residence at “Town Moor” in nearby Narberth. The 1861 census shows her there with two daughters, Florence and Eleanor, a new Governess named Margaret Batchelor, together with a Cook and a Housemaid. In the intervening years her son Charles Maxwell Severne had died (in 1857) and two other sons (Frederick Herbert Severne and Albert Edward Severne) had both commenced theological studies at St. John the Baptist in Gloucester, as live-in pupils. They were aged just 10 and 13. (See Footnote16) The same census of 1861 for England & Wales has not yielded Francis and Mary’s first two sons Francis Egerton and Henry Leigh Severne, which might suggest they accompanied Francis and Caroline to Ireland. Mary did not re-marry but moved in with her brother in Knaresborough where she died in 1893. Returning to Francis senior and Louisa, two other children of theirs died young. Their first-born daughter, named Louisa after her mother and born around 1813, died at the age of 18. Fifth son William, born around 1822, had a promising start to a career as a surgeon in Birmingham. In that city’s Theatre of Anatomy and Medicine William was a pupil of Mr. Thomas Green, one of several surgeons in Newhall Street. In June 1840 William was awarded the prize in the Materia Medica Class by his lecturer but he didn’t complete his studies, taking his own life with cyanide two years later at the age of 20. His brother Arthur (see later) had died only two months previously. Their second daughter, Elizabeth Emma Severne, born around 1819, married Reverend John Maxwell Dunn (of Exeter College, Oxford) on 8th October 1839 at St. Peter’s, Derby. The officiating minister was her father’s cousin, Reverend Francis. Francis and Louisa’s son Thomas Herbert Severne, often just called Herbert and born around 1826 (the year before the death of Beethoven), once considered the Law as a profession to go into after his schooling. His older brother Francis, a practicing solicitor at that point with the firm of Dunnicliffe & Severne, was the natural choice to whom Thomas could be “Articled” (i.e. apprenticed). However, affairs of the heart came to the fore and Thomas made the journey to Nottingham on 18th October 1842 with Mary Ann Crocome17, who was also under 21 years of age. There, Mary falsely swore an affidavit to the effect that they were both over 21, procured a marriage licence from a Nottingham Surrogate18 named Mr. Almond and underwent the marriage ceremony that same day without the knowledge or consent of Thomas’ widowed mother. Louisa was outraged by the underage marriage and she eventually went to the courts so that … … it might be declared that M.A.Severne [nee Crocomb], having offended as aforesaid, had forfeited all estate, right, title and interest in any property which had accrued or should accrue to her by force of the said marriage; and that all proper directions might be given by the Court for securing all such estate, right, title and interest for the benefit of T. Severne and the issue of the said marriage, or some of them, in such manner as the Court should think fit, for the purpose of preventing the said M.A. Severne from having any interest in any real or personal estate, or any pecuniary benefit from the same marriage. 16 Although Frederick Herbert Severne remained in the clergy for many years, his brother Albert Edward decided it was not for him and joined the Merchant Navy. By July 1862 Albert had demonstrated First Class Proficiency in Seamanship in Liverpool (UK) and between 1873 and 1879 he acquired First Mate and Master Certificates. Captain Albert Edward Severne died in 1927, Liverpool (NSW). 17 A candidate for Mary is found in the 1841 Census registration of Mary Crocome, born between 1822 – 1826 outside Derbyshire (possibly Devon) in the Elleby household in Brook Street, Derby. 18 In the Christian church a “Surrogate” is a Deputy of the Bishop who can issue marriage licences. 18 In other words, Louisa did not want Mary to benefit from the legacy (£7000) that Thomas would receive on him reaching the age of 21. The case (Attorney-General v. Severne) came before the courts on 3rd July 1844 but in consequence of there not being sufficient evidence to show that Mary Ann Crocome was the same person as the defendant, Mary Ann Severne , the case was ordered to stand over and adjourn so that all parties may have time to acquire and present further evidence. Several witnesses were subsequently examined, and their evidence fully proved the facts. As a result, Knight Bruce (Vice Chancellor) declared that the defendant, Mary Ann Severne, has, by virtue of the statute made and passed in the fourth year of the reign of King George IV, intituled “An Act for Amending the Laws respecting the Solemnisation of Marriages in England,” incurred a forfeiture of all estate, right, title and interest in any property that hath accrued or shall accrue to the said Mary Ann Severne by force of such marriage. The case is covered in the Law Journal Reports published in 1844 where the arguments for and against are discussed at great length and also in Equity Reports, Volume II, published 1845. Regardless of the outcome at Court, Thomas and Mary Ann were able some years later to move to Carmarthenshire, South Wales (not very far from where his brother Francis had made his new home) and their status allowed the keeping of several servants. Whatever the reason for Louisa’s dislike of her, Mary Ann Severne later became a victim of one of her own servants, her cook Elizabeth (Betsy) Gibbs. The Glamorgan, Monmouth & Brecon Gazette of 12th October 1850 reported: THE LATE POISONINGS AT LAUGHARNE Greatest excitement continues to prevail in this little village, in consequence of the recent disclosures relative to the poisoning by arsenic. It will be remembered that Gibbs, the cook of the family of Mr T Severne, stands already committed for the wilful murder of one of her fellow servants. The inquest on the body of Mrs Severne which had been exhumed, and in which Mr Herapath of Bristol found traces of arsenic, has been again adjourned for the production of expected material evidence. Severne deposed that his wife had been subject to bilious attacks. On the Friday or Saturday before her death she was unwell and took some rabbit broth which he had no doubt was prepared by the cook (the prisoner Gibbs). Afterwards she complained of being very weak and bad and went to bed. On the Sunday morning she seemed better, and expressed a wish to go to Church with him, but as she had been poorly the day before, he thought she had better not do so until the afternoon. He ordered a cup of tea to be prepared and sent up to her; it was made in the kitchen, and no doubt by Gibbs. He went to Church, and left Gibbs in the house with no other servant but an old man he employed about his farm. On his return home, he found Mrs. Severne very much worse, and he asked her if she had taken anything that disagreed with her. She replied that she had taken nothing but gruel and broth. Gibbs had been waiting on her. He found Gibbs upstairs with her when he went home, and he saw her go up and down several times. He ascribed her illness to a bilious attack. Gibbs made her some more tea. After that she was sick, and vomited a good deal of matter of a yellow colour. Her bowels were also very much affected, and she complained of pains in her stomach and head. Towards five or six o'clock in the evening she began to get very cold, and her body assumed a blue appearance, which frightened him very much. He had previously sent his boy for Mr. Hamilton, the surgeon, but he 19 now mounted his horse and rode after him himself. He tried to give her some castor oil, but she could not swallow it. She was frothing at the mouth. During the night she died … The article continues with more statements from witnesses, including … Ann Beynon, a servant in the house, deposed that she had heard Gibbs say she would not submit to be ordered about by Mrs. Severne, and she had frequently heard her answer her mistress improperly. She was also anxious that no one should wait on Mrs. Severne but herself. She had heard Gibbs speak about being married to her master, and she had said that when she was Mrs. Severne she would give [the] witness a plaid gown of hers. Elizabeth Gibbs19 was committed for trial on 23rd September 1850, when she was just 28 years old, for the wilful murder of Rebecca Uphill and Mary Ann Severne. The trial took place on 18th March 1851 and her surprising acquittal outraged many. The Reynolds Newspaper of 13th April 1851 reported what happened after she returned home to Laugharne; The excitement consequent upon the return of Elizabeth Gibbs to reside in the picturesque watering-place continued unabated for more than a week after the Assizes, and many of the families who are located in Laugharne seriously contemplated removing from such proximity. This circumstance still further aroused the popular indignation, and on the night of the 27th ult. Gibbs’s effigy was duly suspended upon a gallows, which was erected in front of her dwelling, and afterwards set fire to, amid the exultation of the mob. On the following evening a lengthened mock funeral procession paraded up and down the street where Elizabeth Gibbs resided, which, by the bye, has had its cognomen metamorphosed into that of ‘Scape-the-Gallows-Street. These reiterated annoyances induced her to leave the town, and accordingly she passed through Carmarthen on her way to Merthyr, again exciting the disgust and indignation of a tumultuous assemblage, who crowded to satiate their curiosity by gazing on the woman whom the law had pronounced innocent of the murders which excited their horror. Thomas later married again, to Ellen Maria Sowdon, and moved to Dringhouses near York where he became a landowner and an officer of the Rifle Volunteers. While there were no children from the first marriage, the 1861 census shows Ellen and Thomas with their three children Herbert London, Ellen Frances Louisa and Agnes Mary Grace. The Yorkshire Herald of 27th January 1893 reported the Death of Thomas Herbert Severne, late of Dringhouses, York, on 23rd January 1893, aged 67, at Barrow Hill House, Overton, Gloucestershire. The four remaining children of Francis and Louisa (all sons) were: Edward, born around 1818; Frederick, born around 1829; Arthur, born around 1821; and Henry De Milt Severne, born around 1816 (he was christened on 17th January 1816). 19 A contemporary newspaper states that at one point Eliza Gibbs was sacked from her position of Cook at Laugharne by Mary Severne of nearby Craig y Borion, the wife of Francis Leigh Severne (Thomas’ brother). 20 Edward, Arthur and Frederick each decided, either collectively or independently, to pursue their fortunes in Australia and two of them died there tragically in that pursuit. Edward placed the following advertisement in the Derby_Mercury of 27 February 1839 – That this is attributable to Edward is demonstrated by: - - - his brother Francis’ comment on the 5th March – “Ned has had several applications”; his brother Francis’ comment on 2nd April – “Ned sailed yesterday with a fair S.E. wind”; his name on the passenger list of the barque Mary Ann which sailed from Liverpool on 1st April 1839 and arrived on 24th July at Hobart en-route to New South Wales. Within three years Arthur was also on Australian soil and working in the District of Liverpool Plains, New South Wales. He suffered an untimely death on 29th September 1842, aged just twenty one, at a place named Dural, NSW. For some reason, the executors of his will, his mother Louisa and brother Henry De Milt, failed to administer his effects of less than £300. It would not be until 1876 that Edward would be appointed to do this. The journey in 1839 was not Edward’s only return trip to Australia and the passport application he made on 10th December 1856 at the same time as his younger brother Frederick suggests the intention was to go together, presumably to manage their farming investments in person. (Frederick had become a surveyor by 1851 and was then living with his widowed mother, Louisa, and his brother Henry De Milt.) Whatever the purpose of their simultaneous passport applications, in May of the following year it was only Frederick that left England on the Clipper named the Dunbar for an 81 day voyage to Sydney, Australia. On 20th August 1857, as the Dunbar approached Sydney Harbour (Botany Bay) in atrocious weather, an error by the captain resulted in the ship hitting rocks and breaking up. There was only one survivor but Frederick lost his life with 120 others. His death is commemorated by a donation made by members of the Severne family to the parish church of Dringhouses (St Edwards), near York, of a brass lectern which is inscribed: In memory of Frederick Severne born Dec 24, 1828, died August 20, 1857 The Yorkshire Gazette of 21st November 1857 reported his death and in so doing suggests that Frederick, like his brother Thomas Herbert, had also joined a military unit … On 20th August last, in the wreck of the Dunbar, on Sydney Heads, aged 28, Frederick Severne, Esq, 1st Regiment of the Stafford Militia. 21 The Dunbar sailed from Gravesend 24th May 1857, then from Plymouth on 31st May, arriving off Sydney 20th August. So it was that, by not travelling with his brother on the Dunbar, Edward “dodged a bullet” and it is most likely that it was he that arranged for the commemorative lectern at the church in Dringhouses. Edward had moved to this village on the outskirts of York and is where his brother Thomas owned some land and was living with his second wife, Ellen. However, there is reason to believe that Edward was expected to be on the ill-fated Dunbar by his business associates in Australia. A pioneer of “Tuggeranong” and owner of “Gudgenby”, in the confusion surrounding the Dunbar disaster it was the name Edward Severne that appeared in one of the lists of victims given in the local Australian press. The choice of second name (De Milt) for Francis and Louisa’s son Henry is very unusual and the derivation has proved difficult to ascertain. However, a descendant of Henry is in possession of family knowledge that the name is from that of Henry’s Dutch godfather. It is extremely unlikely that this would have come to light without the contribution by Henry’s heir who, at the time of initial contact, was aged 88 and quite computer literate20. The name “De Milt” repeats in subsequent generations of the male Severne line right up to the present day where the gender restriction seems to have been relaxed. Henry continued with the family jewellery business, with clients in London, Birmingham and also America. A New York based customer21 was English-born businessman Francis Tomes (1780-1869) whose firm imported British manufactured goods and exported cotton from the United States to England. The Birmingham clients were most likely in the Jewellery Quarter of that city to which Henry made many visits by train from Derby. 20 AVM Sir John De Milt Severne passed away in October 2015. See Page 40 21 From an entry in the FLS Journals, 3rd November 1840 – “I saw Mr F Tomes from New York at the counting house this morning; he is the eldest son of one of De Milt's American customers; his parents are English, he has lived much in this country yet you could at once detect that he is no 'true Briton'; there is a disagreeable peculiarity in the language and manner of all the Americans I have seen which stamps them at once as foreigners; I have seen several, but never one that I liked, they seem to smell of a new country.” 22 Henry’s proposal of marriage to devout Mary Walmsley, although initially accepted, was later rescinded by mutual consent. However, on 20th April 1852 the Rev. Francis Severne would again make the journey to Derby. [Marriages] On Tuesday 20th Inst. , at St. John’s Church, Derby, by the Reverend Francis Severne, Vicar of Abberley, assisted by the Rev. Alfred Hubbard, Henry de Milt Severne Esq. to Emily, youngest daughter of John Henley Esq. of St. Petersburgh. Emily was born around 1827 in St. Petersburgh, Russia, to John and Anastasia Henley. John Henley was formerly a great horseman and Steward to Countess Potosky outside Kiev and later became a merchant. He was originally from Dorset. Anastasia (formerly Wishaw) was herself born a British Subject in Russia. Before Henry De Milt’s early death (aged 43) in Torquay on 1st April 1859 due to tuberculosis, his wife Emily bore him three children; Emily, Arthur De Milt and Henry. Young Henry became an engineer, arriving on the west coast of Vancouver Island in 1886, and he played a significant role in the settlement of Thetis Island. His drowning on 22nd January 1891 in a boating accident is reported in the Victoria Daily Colonist of 28th January 1891 which describes how he was found on a beach, his dog defending its master’s body from anyone who dared approach. He was 37 and unmarried. The personal diary of Rev. Robert James Roberts for the year 1891, written at Lamalchi Bay on Kuper Island, has the following entry; January 27. Tuesday: This morning Percy went to Thetis Island with our large boat to assist in taking Severne's body down here for burial. I interred it in our little cemetery this p.m. I employed an Indian to dig the grave. About 30 people (chiefly Whites) came in boats to the funeral, most of whom afterwards came to our house to get something to eat and warm themselves, for the weather had suddenly become quite cold …. This sad accident has cast a gloom over the neighbourhood. All the Indians are especially grieved on account of Mr. Severne's death, for he was always very kind to them. Just what Henry De Milt Severne was doing at No. 16 Victoria Parade, Torquay when he died is unclear. His death was reported in the Derby Mercury of 13th April and states that it was after a long and protracted illness while the death certificate gives the cause as; (a) Pulmonary Consumption, 3 years. (b) Disease of Kidney and Dropsy. When his Will was proved three weeks after his death, the value of his estate was determined to be just under £7000, a little more than was left him by his father and a significant sum of money. The other surviving Executor, after Henry’s wife, was his brother from Dringhouses, Thomas Herbert Severne. Henry’s Will included instructions for his Executors to re-invest any monies arising from the management of his estate into government securities or into debentures of “any approved line of Railway” and to pay any interest, dividend or other proceeds so generated to his wife Emily. The burgeoning railways provided an ideal means for those with money to accumulate some more. Enlarged image from an 1860 Derby newspaper advertisement promoting excursions to North Wales. Notice the passenger cars with luggage and coachmen on top. 23 Being from a privileged wealthy family it might be expected that no expense would be spared to ensure his burial back in Derby. However, his interment actually took place in a consecrated section of Torquay Cemetery, on 6th April 1859, and a possible explanation for this is the cause of death; tuberculosis. It is probable that with such an infectious disease as TB the authorities would insist on a prompt burial in the nearest cemetery. As for Emily, she remarried seven years later (on 1st February 1866 at St. John’s, Derby) to a Scottish born civil engineer named Alexander Buchanan. She died in 1912 aged 85 and is buried at Uttoxeter New Road Cemetery, Derby. Victoria Parade, Torquay, taken around 1880 - 20 years after the demise of Henry De Milt Severne in one of the buildings behind the boat. It’s possible that Henry De Milt Severne was in the south of the country, by the sea, to take the better air, alleviate his symptoms and buy a little more time. This was quite common for people with Tuberculosis, like Henry. However, following a lead provided by Henry’s death certificate, in particular the person who registered the event with the authorities (a woman named Eliza Peeke) reveals an interesting fact. The 1861 census (two years after Henry’s demise) shows Eliza Peeke living in Torquay with her mariner husband and three children. In the property next door is the Keetley family which includes two jewellers who were born in Osmaston, Derby – the very same profession and district of Derby as the Severnes. This is corroborated by the 1851 census of Osmaston, Derby, which shows one of the Torquay Keetleys (John) as an apprentice jeweller. It is difficult to believe that this is all coincidence and that Henry De Milt Severne’s presence in Torquay in 1859 is not in some way connected to the Keetley jewellers. But before all this, before even his marriage to Emily, Henry De Milt Severne met a girl called Millicent. 24 In the foreground: The final resting place of Henry De Milt Severne in Torquay cemetery. Note how the top has shifted left, overhanging the inscribed name. View of the grave’s end, underneath the overhang. 25 John Egerton Killer 1768-1854 (Francis Leigh Severne’s father-in-law) Herbert died in a boating accident at Kenepuru, Pelorus Sound despite being a good swimmer An aquatint painting dedicated to the Mayor of Bristol showing Sadler’s ditching into the Bristol Channel after his launch from that city on 24th September 1810. This painting was copied as an etching and appeared in the Derby Mercury 11th November 1813. (See Page 8 ) 26 Another balloon ascent by Sadler, this time from Hackney, on Monday 12 August 1812 (the year before Wilkes’ failed attempt at Derby). 27 Frontispiece to Sadler’s own account of one of his Irish Sea crossings. 28 Location of The Siddals – Burgess land between the canal and the river Derwent. Used for horse racing and, in 1813, the attempt to launch a balloon by Wilkes. 29 Major Thomas Pate Hankin. The commanding officer of the Scots Greys present at The Siddals in 1813, it was his troops that were called upon to quell a riot after Wilkes’ balloon failure. Hankin was present at the Battle of Waterloo two years later. 30 31 The dissolution of the Bushell – Severne partnership. Extract from the London Gazette, 2nd April 1822. The precise family relationship between James Bushell and Elizabeth Bushell (Thomas Severne’s wife) is, so far, undetermined but a likely possibility is that of nephew and aunt. T. J. Severne would later become bankrupt. 32 Hester Price – great grandmother of Thomas Severne (Jeweller) Hester married into the MORGAN family which includes in it’s lineage:- Thomas Morgan (a Captain serving under Lord Protector Cromwell) and Henry Morgan AKA Captain Morgan the Buccaneer (i.e. pirate) The Craig y Borion farmhouse; Home to Francis Leigh Severne, his family and the governess Caroline Bingham Yelverton. 33 Francis Leigh Severne’s account of his own ancestry, from his journals. These entries were made in 1842. Note his error in naming Anaretta Clutton as the wife of his paternal great grandfather, Rev. Thomas Severne. It was in fact Hester, the daughter of Anaretta. 34 35 Self portrait – Francis Leigh Severne (1840). The Derbyshire Yeomany Cavalry in 1864. This troop subsumed, amongst others, the Derby & Chaddesden Troop (in which Francis Leigh Severne had served) with a modified uniform. The first part of the route taken by the Rebeccaites during the Ceffyl Pren (marked by red dots). The total distance travelled was approximately 6 to 7 miles. If the procession had continued in the same direction they would have reached Caroline’s uncle in Whitland. Is this coincidence? 36 A contemporary image of the Rebecca rioters (or “Merched Beca”) protesting against unfair tolls and other taxes on the agricultural workers. Notice the men dressed as women, some wielding axes. Close-up of the inscription to Frederick Severne who died in the shipwreck near Sydney Harbour (Botany Bay), Australia in 1857. Brass lectern in the parish church of Dringhouses (St Edwards), near York. 37 38 Full view of the brass lectern in the parish church of Dringhouses (St Edwards), near York 39 Two photographic images of Caroline Bingham Severne nee Yelverton. Both taken in New Zealand with perhaps 30 or more years between them. 40 … and the front cover of his memoirs. See Page 22 Air Vice-Marshall Sir John De Milt Severne. 

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