The Lingham Story

My great grandfather Charles Lingham Hardy was given the Lingham family name. I expect this was at the request of his mother Alice. The name Lingham came from Alice's maternal grandfather George Augustus Lingham.

Thanks to the years of research conducted by Dulcie McClure I have been able to compile this story of Alice Frances Hardy my great great grandmother and our Lingham ancestors.

In researching and writing this blog I have found that my ancestral connections with the city of London go deeper than I had been aware. This great city has always felt special to me. Now I know that in walking certain streets of London I have been in the footsteps of my ancestors from both my Hardy and Austen families.

My great grandfather Charles Lingham Hardy

Alice Hardy

Alice was born on 31 July 1843 at Islington London. Her parents were Frederick William Thomas and Emma Lingham Thomas. They had married on 23 May 1840 at Stoke Newington Parish Church Middlesex England.

Frederick and Emma had 6 children including Alice. Their other children were;

Emma born 1841

Frederick William born May 1842

Rosalie born 28 July 1845

Maria born September 1845

Harry Mordant born 8 July 1849

Frederick Thomas was an auctioneer. He was in partnership in a firm called Thomas and Woodgate Estate and House Agents at 11 Upper St, from 1841 to 1845. He and Emma were then living at 10 Barnsbury Place, West Islington. This is in north London. Frederick had business addresses of 3 Union Court, Old Broad St, London and from 1853 at 22 Leadenhall Street, London. In 1856 he moved to 4 Grays Inn Square, London. These addresses are all in central parts of London. Frederick's brother Edward joined him in the auctioneering business when it was located at Leadenhall St. Edward's two sons also joined that same business and later started their own auctioneering business at 35 Leicester Square.

Frederick's father Alexander Thomas was a silversmith, goldsmith and planisher. A planisher works with metals, bending and working the metal into a desired shape. Alexander was born 3 December 1788 at Southwark , London. He and his wife Martha had 9 children.

Alexander's father was John Thomas. He was born in 1754 at All Hallows Barking. He married Elizabeth in 1780 and they had two children, John and Alexander. Coincidentally All Hallows Barking is where the Lingham family lived from around the 1780s.

A copy of Alice Hardy's Birth Certificate

Alice and her sister Emma had a very close relationship. They both married in the same church, the Church of Saint Philip and St James, Whitton, Middlesex on the same day 5th June 1865. This is evidenced in the marriage record shown below. The marriage certificate indicates that at this time Charles is living in Salisbury which is where his brother Robert is working as a chemist. Alice and Emma are both recorded as being resident at Whitton, as is Emma's husband William Dunlop. Whitton is very near Hounslow where Emma is known to have taught at a school for young ladies.

The church of St Philip and St James, Whitton.

Alice's sister Emma

The above photo of her sister appears at the very front of Alice Hardy's photo album.

Emma was a teacher. She taught at a Boys school in the 1860s and it is believed she also had a school for young ladies at Vambrugh House, Malvern Villas, Hounslow. Emma's husband William Dunlop is shown as being a musician on their wedding certificate. We have no information about any children of Emma and William.

Alice like her sister had a keen interest in education. She and Charles ensured that a school was built on the land she and Charles owned at HorseShoe Bush in Albany. This school enabled her own children and the others located in the HorseShoe Bush to have easier access to schooling than had previously been the case.

The Lingham Family

Alice and Emma's mother was the second child of George Augustus Lingham and his wife Mary - maiden name Teale. They had 8 children; Augustus, Emma, James, William, Randle, Georgiana, Mary and Thomas Alfred.

George and Mary are recorded as first living at Mark Lane, All Hallows Barking, East London. George is recorded as having been christened at All Hallows Church, as were most of his brothers and sisters. He was born in 1786 and was christened on 20 July 1786. The map below shows Mark Lane and its proximity to All Hallows church.

George's parents were William and Sarah Lingham. Below is a copy of their marriage record

from 9 August 1772. Note reference to William being from the parish of All Hallows. The wedding was in The First Portsea Church.

Above is a current view of All Hallows Church looking across Byward St towards the Thames River. This is the oldest church in London. It is said to have been founded in AD 675. Note the modern glass towers in the background. The spire of the Shard building can be seen in the background pointing into the clouds.

All Hallows suffered major damage from a direct hit by a bomb during WW2. It was basically just the tower and exterior walls that survived. The link below wii take you to an interesting history of the church and its restoration.

https://alondoninheritance.com/london-churches/all-hallows-by-the-tower/

The Lingham Wines and Spirits Business

The Lingham Wines and Spirits business was established by George's father William Lingham. It was located in Beer Lane just a short distance from All Hallows Church. I have not been able to establish exactly when the business commenced. My guess is that it might have been at some time during the 1780s given it is from around this time that birth and christening records indicate that William and his wife are living in All Hallows Barking.

William senior and his three sons George, William and Thomas were all involved in this business. All were members of the Worshipful Company of Vintners, the organisation controlling the training and licensing of sellers of wines and spirits. It is one of the oldest guilds in England with history as early as 1363 when its first charter was granted.

Membership of the Worshipful Company of Vintners is recorded in the Guilds "Freedom Register". This record indicates completion of the individual's period of "Servitude"or apprenticeship. For each of William's sons we have dates from the "Freedom Register" as follows:

William; 4 January 1799 (age 25)

George; 3 May 1809 (age 23)

Thomas; 4 September 1811 (age 21)

In each case the address recorded is 18 Beer Lane. The origins of the street name are not clear. I have seen suggestions it might connect with the name Beer Quay on the Thames River which was nearby. Another suggestion was a connection with Bear Pits in the Tower grounds. I note that there is a Water Lane also running off Lower Thames St. Perhaps someone with a sense of humour thought a Beer Lane next to a Water Lane was a good idea.

The map below dating from the 1860s shows the location of Beer Lane (next to the red pin) which runs between Great Tower Street and Lower Thames Street. Just above the red pin is Seething Lane. Moving to the left of the map the word "Mark" can be seen indicating Mark Lane.

The map below is dated 1950 and shows the extent of the ruins left following the bombing of London in WW2. Note that the corner of Beer Lane and 52 Lower Thames St is shown. This was the location of the Public House owned by William Lingham. The other property owned by William was at 18 Beer Lane. Obviously this was next to 17 Beer Lane which is indicated on the map.

The map below dated from the early 1800s shows the same area of Beer Lane with the numbers 17 and 18 Beer Lane clearly visible.

The current map below indicates that Beer Lane has gone and instead there is a large modern building covering most of that area. The modern building on the right hand side is the London offices of the global insurance broker Marsh. This is a company I worked for for many years. My son Nick currently works for them and has worked in that building.

William Lingham's Will

An insight into William's business and the lives of his family is provided by the copy we have of William Lingham's Will.

Transcript of the above

       Points of interest in William's Will

1. Daughter Harriett who never married, receives all of William's furniture, plate, linen and china from the house William occupies in Beer Lane. She was to also receive 60 pounds per annum for her lifetime. The funds for this were to come from interest on the lease of the Public House at the corner of Beer Lane and Lower Thames St and "hold of interest on lease by Mr Parker". Harriett was christened in 1783. We have no date of death for her.
   

2. William's wife Sarah had died before him. William had married Sarah Ansell on 9 August 1772 at Portsea St Mary's Hampshire. Sarah died in 1825. William left a sum of 50 pounds per annum to his wife's brother William Ansell. This seems unusual. Perhaps a business connection existed between William Lingham and William Ansell.
   

3. William's son William had died in 1818 at the age of 44. His daughter Francis (Fanny) was left 5 shillings by her grandfather on the basis her late father had already sufficiently provided for her. Fanny inherited her father William's property on his death. However the property was "tied-up" for the benefit of Fanny's children and the children's children. Fanny married Edward Tyrell in October 1823. William required under his Will that Fanny's marriage would be subject to the approval of her uncles George and Thomas.
   

4. Son Thomas was given the leasehold house and vaults that William "occupies" at 18 Beer Lane. The records of birth places for the children of Thomas and his wife Sarah suggest that they never lived at 18 Beer Lane. In the main their children are recorded as being born at Tower St or Little Tower St with one birth at Mark Lane and their first child Fannie born in 1818 at Kensington, Surrey.
   

5. Daughter Sarah Crowley was to receive the suite of rooms she occupied at the leasehold house at the corner of Beer Lane and Thames St No 52. Sarah was also to receive the "remaining interest" in the Public House after payment of the amount already being paid to Harriett. All we know about Sarah is that she married Mr Crowley of Upper Thames St and that she died in 1825.
   

6. After the above is provided any remaining estate income was divided into seven equal shares between the seven surviving children for their lifetimes. On the deaths of any of William's married daughters their children were to receive their mothers share of income "independent of their husbands".
   

7. Daughter Elizabeth had in 1810 married Frederick Purdy a stockbroker. Frederick played a role in the management of the estate left by the death of his wife's brother William. Frederick's mother was a partner with Fredrick in the stockbroking firm called "Purdy Widow and Son".
   

8. George is provided with one share of the property that remained after the specific provisions for Thomas, Sarah, Harriett and William's daughter Fanny. George is also an executor of the Will along with Thomas and Sarah. It appears that Thomas and George ran the ongoing business. It is not clear whether Sarah also worked in the business. Some more background There were two distinct properties, namely the Public House on the corner of Beer Lane and Lower Thames St No 52 and the leasehold house and vaults at 18 Beer Lane. Daughter Sarah lived in a suite of rooms at the Public House and William lived at 18 Beer Lane. I assume the vaults at 18 Beer Lane provided storage for the wines and spirits that were supplied by the family business. No doubt the Public House was as its name suggests a "Pub". Perhaps it included rooms for rent in addition to those occupied by Sarah. Dulcie's notes record that George was listed in the Guildhall Directories for 1830 as a Wines and Spirits merchant at 88 Beer Lane, London. I think this is an error and should be 18 Beer Lane. There is no 88 Beer Lane on the maps. George and Mary's daughter Georginia was born at Mark Lane, All Hallows on 15 October 1822. Their daughter Mary was born on May 4 1841 at Budge Row, London and son Thomas Alfred was born June 26, 1848 at Bethnall Green. George died on 23 July 1864 (age 78) at 3 Edwin Place, Park Rd, Peckham Camberwell, Surrey. The notes on Thomas indicate that he and his wife Sarah had 11 children and all except 3 were christened at All Hallows. Daughter Maria was born at Little Tower St in 1832. Daughter Mary was born 28 December 1839 at Shewington Place, Kensington and christened February 1840 at St Ann, Blackfriars. There is no date or place of death recorded for Thomas. A note in the information recorded by Dulcie McClure advises that.... "William's estate went insolvent 10 years after his death. The Public House was sold and the money went to Harriet." This suggests that perhaps the Wine and Spirits business founded by William went into decline and by 1835 the Public House had to be sold. It does seem that George and Thomas moved out of the Beer Lane, All Hallows area at some stage in the late1830s or early 1840s.

A succession of William Linghams!

The name William was popular in the Lingham family. The oldest identified was William Lingham who was married to Mary Lew on 1 October 1723 at Littleton, London. He died in 1736. They had two children Elizabeth and William.

The second William married but the name of his wife is unknown. He died 28 April 1822. They had 3 children; William, Mary and Thomas.

The third William is the founder of the wine and spirits business and had married Sarah Ancell. They also had a son named William who was a brother to George Augustus Lingham.

George Augustus Lingham also had a son called William. We do not have any information on any children of this William. We do know that he married Harriett Augusta Keep in March 1853.

Alice Hardy's mother Emma Lingham Thomas called her second son Frederick William. That seems to be the last use of the name William by the Lingham family.

I do have a grandson called William. His other grandfather is also called William. Perhaps a new line of Williams is on the way!