- ADVERSITY AND RECOVERY
- ABOUT EDITH
- AN EVENT OF IMPORTANCE
- THE HAND OF FATE
- RISE OF THE COMMON MAN
- SOUTH OR NORTH
- A GREAT UNHAPPINESS
- A NEW BEGINNING
- A POLITICAL PROPOSITION
- THE ADVANCE OF AGE
- RECTIFYING A MISDEMEANOUR
- CHANGING TIMES
- GREAT UNCLE ROBERT
- A LIFE OF SAMENESS
- KEEPING THE FAMILY HONOUR
- THE PRICE OF INDEPENDENCE
- FINDING A SOLUTION
- LIFE AND DEATH
- A FAMILY DISGRACE
- LIVING A NEW LIFE
- FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL
- THE LAST POST
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
With a gradual improvement in the circumstances of the family and additional domestic help in the form of a scullery maid afforded, Mr Watts proposed in early spring of the following year that his two daughters should take a change of air. This generous offer he outlined in recognition of two years of unremitting diligence on their part, selfless in their support for the family.
“I recommend you stay with your Aunt Amelia at Rotherham for a month,” he said. “My sister will be happy to have you.”
Edith, who had recently been unwell and was not yet fully recovered was most receptive to her father’s suggestion, whereas Lavinia by contrast was not so.
“I would prefer to stay here with you and mama,” she said to her father. “I am not at all in need of a change in scenery.”
Her father looked at Edith who was also well aware of the reason for Lavinia’s preference in remaining at home. Mr Mascall had become a regular visit to the Watts household especially so in the past two months and Lavinia’s wish to remain at home was therefore unsurprising.
“I can well travel alone, papa,” said Edith. “If you will see me to the coach and Uncle Bertram meets me in Rotherham that will be quite suitable. I would really like a change of scenery as I feel it would greatly benefit me.”
This was agreed, and a letter was sent by courier to Mr and Mrs Pemberton at Rotherham informing them of the position a few days later.
On the following Friday she climbed aboard a coach which was heavily laden with packages, parcels, various types of baggage and people for Rotherham. Edith would have preferred to have had the experience of travelling by train, but the cost of using the railways even third class was still too expensive for her at 1d per mile so she had taken the cheaper option. In any event Rotherham was not such a long distance from Sheffield and only some seven miles from her house to a set down point nearest to the house of her uncle. Provided there were no unforeseen accidents the journey should at a maximum take no more than two short hours.
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It had been some six years since she had visited her Aunt Amelia, her father‘s sister and Uncle Bertram. How long ago it seemed. Then, their circumstances had been much enhanced. They had been better provided for and had enjoyed the luxury of a carriage for the whole family taking them to Rotherham.
With a lurch the coach started as the horses lunged forward. She sat by one of the windows hemmed against the door by a portly lady and her daughter, while opposite sat a gentleman intent upon the task of reading a newspaper as the vehicle swayed from side to side.
She marvelled at the change of scenery but found it not very pleasurable. The cementation furnaces seemed to be creeping from Sheffield ever further into the countryside itself, the air was murky with the smell of soot and sulphur, the narrow houses were grimy and the people they passed, especially the children, appeared wretched. She had known that the steel mills were insidiously eating into the countryside, clawing at every morsel of flat land available, but here was her experience of seeing it, and the reality was startling. All this was so different from just a few short years previously when the change had been less noticeable. If this is the future, she thought, I do not care for it.
As they travelled further along the road whole families met them. Older children carrying younger ones, dirty, barely clothed, shoeless, the parents loaded with their meagre worldly possessions trudging towards the city in the hope of finding sufficient work to ward off starvation. She eyed the passers-by and shuddered. She thought of the pecuniary difficulties that had befallen her own family, and felt a pang of deep sympathy for the walkers. Where, she wondered, were all the poverty-stricken rural labourers living and working in the community, who since the abolition of the Poor Law Amendment Act no longer received provision assistance? Now if a man was unable to support his family and applied for provision assistance there were no funds available to supplement his income. He would only receive indoor relief. Were they all in the workhouse with their families, forever separated in different parts of the workhouse? Her father had said that the 1834 Amendment Act was hailed at the time as a great saving to the taxpayer, but it had presented the pauper family with the stark choice of unity in starvation or separation forever in stigmatism. Such an alternative meant that fewer applied for aid.
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She had visibly noticed the population of Sheffield rapidly growing and in fact from 1800 to 1840 the population of Sheffield had swollen from 45,000 to 110,981. Now in the year 1846 Sheffield was still burgeoning with the expanding population that was placing great pressure on the amenities of sanitation, quality of water and living conditions. Migrants were arriving in the city forced to seek employment to resist the harsh reality of a changing economic cycle. In the countryside agricultural improvements both in farming methods and the upgrading of machinery had resulted in the farmer paying minimum wages to an oversubscribed workforce of labourers. Faced with starvation or the necessity to move, many made their choice to leave.
The coach left the valleys behind, climbing past the wretched hovels of the cutlers at the edge of the roadway. With the horses heaving and blowing the coach mounted the ragged hills surrounding Sheffield towards sweeter smelling air leaving that great town (for it did not become a city until 1897) basking in a grey halo of industrialisation.
The journey was as wicked as she remembered, and time had not improved the condition of the roads. The coach rolled from side to side lurching into the well-rutted craters, jolting its occupants and ensuring that they remained uncomfortable at all times. On several occasions the vehicle stopped to negotiate a turnpike where an appropriate fee was payable to allow passage through.
She noted how there were fewer coaches on the roads carrying passengers than she could remember previously and commented to herself that this was probably due to the improving railways. Now, coaches seemed to be in demand for very local travel only with the railways accounting for the long distance journeys. With train travel steadily replacing road travel and consequently less funds being obtained by the Turnpike Trusts she wondered vaguely what would happen eventually to roads like this one. She had heard that some Turnpike Trusts had ceased to exist and that minor roads were falling into complete neglect as a result.
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
The pace of the coach proceeded slowly but steadily without any untoward interruption such as a broken wheel or worse and towards midday she arrived at Rotherham where Uncle Bertram greeted her. He handed her down from the coach with much aplomb in his neat and tidy manner, kissed her on the cheek, gathered up the baggage fussing round her, asked about the journey and then assisted her into his own carriage. The journey had made her feel quite nauseous, and seeing her discomfort Uncle Bertram patted her hand and said that a change of air would soon bring the roses back into her cheeks.
He was a much respected little man in Rotherham and a grocer by trade as had been his father who originally set up the family business with two shops. Since that time Mr. Bertram Pemberton had acquired four more shops of a pleasing appearance designed to attract the connoisseur and was ever hopeful of widening his empire, his status in the community enhanced with every new acquisition. Three of his “centres of trade” as he called them were in Sheffield so he, and often Mrs Pemberton as well, would come to Sheffield on business. They would always call on the Watts family though they usually stayed with other relations who were able to supply them with accommodation.
As the carriage passed through the town at a very sedate pace Uncle Bertram took great delight in pointing out to her places which he considered would be of interest to any esteemed visitor. However he did not comment when they passed the Station Inn where only some six years earlier the landlord had reported overhearing the Chartists outline the Sheffield Plot for proposed violent confrontation. Such political information would not be of interest to a young lady.
“Good afternoon, Mrs Biggs.” He interrupted his commentary of their tour and raised his hat, as a plump lady, almost as rotund as the one with whom Edith had shared her coach, passed by. Attention to detail was Mr Pemberton’s greatest asset. He could spy a customer from fifteen hundred yards away, or so his elder son Jack would say, and always made a point of exchanging pleasantries regardless of any immediate pressing problem.
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Edith was suitably impressed with her tour. She emitted exclamations of astonishment and delight as they passed through the town centre, noted where the Market was and the best shopping areas for future discovery and generally pleased her host by displaying her very best interest in the environs. The circular tour of the town completed, the carriage struck out east and shortly thereafter arrived at its destination namely the home of Mr and Mrs Pemberton and their two sons Jack and Matthew.
Mrs Amelia Pemberton was most pleased to see Edith. “But my dear,” she said, once Edith had alighted from the carriage and affectionate remonstrations had taken place. “You are so pale. We will need to remedy that.” Together they conversed at length of family members and mutual friends, partook of high tea and were eventually joined by Jack and Matthew, by which time Edith was feeling as near to normal as she had been recently.
Jack had studied at the bar and was now qualified much to the delight of his father who considered that having a member of the legal profession in the family was an achievement of some note and of increased social significance. He had purchased his own small house two years previously, but had decided to rent it out, since he preferred to live at home. “It is far more comfortable,” he said, and he enjoyed the luxury of being fussed over by his mother.
Matthew was engaged in his father’s business and appeared satisfied with the position. He was in all respects like his father small, precise and amiable. It was some years since Edith had seen her cousins but she found them tolerably good company, the years between had not radically altered them, though perhaps Jack was a little more arrogant in his manner.
Edith retired early to bed in the evening feeling somewhat fatigued. Her bedroom was large and in a good state of repair. The house is what mama would call a goodly size, she thought. (Mrs Watts, always conscious of her social position had felt greatly put out when the family had been forced to move to a smaller dwelling some five years previously).
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
The Pemberton house was significantly larger than the one in which Edith and her family resided. It was a comfortable house and well furnished. With only Jack and Matthew to clutter the rooms the house was spacious and quiet. Edith had noticed at least three servants and suspected that there were probably more, so at least she would be able to have a rest from the continuous round of cleaning and household duties.
She slept later than her usual rising hour of six thirty and found only her aunt at the breakfast table. After enquiries about health and sleep her aunt suggested that they take the time to visit the town so that Edith could recall her understanding of the area and view the shops, and they duly set off in the carriage in the late morning.
On their way to town her aunt talked almost continuously about Jack, how he had studied at the bar in London, then returned to Rotherham and now had excellent prospects in a firm in the town. He was also associating with a Miss Jane Butterworth, daughter of Mr Joseph Butterworth, who was the owner of a substantial brass foundry business in Rotherham. She was an extremely wealthy and well-connected young lady. Poor Matthew was scarcely credited with a sentence and Edith felt some sympathy for him.
The carriage set them down in the main shopping thoroughfare and although Edith had not thought of buying anything at this stage and was simply window shopping, she dutifully followed her aunt from one shop to another. They made about half a dozen calls at shops and had just left a drapery shop when they were accosted in the street.
“Good morning ladies,” said a voice and they both looked round to see an agreeable looking young man who duly raised his hat to them.
“Why Mr Butterworth. How pleasant to see you,” said Aunt Amelia with genuine enthusiasm. “Edith, this is Mr Richard Butterworth. He has been a friend of Jack‘s for many years and studied law with Jack in London. This is my niece Edith Watts from Sheffield Mr Butterworth.”
Mr Butterworth looked at Edith with some interest, raised one eyebrow and smiled. “Good morning Miss Watts,” he said. “I hope you are enjoying your stay in Rotherham.” And then he added, “Have you recently arrived?”
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
“Only yesterday,” Edith replied.
“And are you staying for long?” he asked rather pointedly and looked directly at Edith.
“Until the end of next month,” she replied. She felt a slight nervousness at his directness and wondered why this should be so.
“Then I expect we will meet again since I appear with monotonous regularity at the home of Mr and Mrs Pemberton. Indeed, so much so that Mrs Pemberton has kindly offered me room as a paying guest,” he smiled again.
“You are always jesting Richard,” replied Mrs Pemberton and she laughed at his notion.
“Are you partaking of coffee or tea this morning, Mrs Pemberton?” he enquired.
“Indeed yes Richard. I expect we will have coffee,” she responded, “at Roundhays in possibly half an hour.”
“Then I hope you will allow me to accompany you,” he said. He was talking directly to Mrs Pemberton, but Edith had the distinct feeling that he was addressing his words to her. He seemed so very pleasant, she thought. Surely that was not his normal self. He made her feel unsettled. There was something rather disturbing about him, but she had nevertheless taken an instant liking to him.
Mrs Pemberton looked at Richard and the way he was beaming at Edith. “I have only two more shops to visit,” she said. “Perhaps you would like to escort Edith to Roundhays Richard and I will join you there in a short while. That will save you both trailing round after me,” she said, being a very practical person.
“I would be delighted,” he said. He offered Edith his arm and gave her a very cheeky smile. Mrs Pemberton moved off down the street, but then she turned and looked back at Richard and Edith as they walked towards Roundhays and her face broke out in a significant smile of amusement.
Richard took hold of Edith’s hand and placed it on his arm. “This is really most amazing,” she thought. “He treats me in a very familiar manner as though he has known me for years,” and yet she did not object. He was so singularly pleasant and rather nice looking so how could she object? He was quite tall, a little under six foot, with light brown hair and a laughing mouth. Indeed it was this particular feature about him that caught her attention.
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
Roundhays the department store was only a short distance from where they were standing but Richard seemed in no hurry to arrive. He sauntered along as though he was spending a leisurely afternoon on the promenade, idly chatting of local sights. Edith who was used to a faster pace of walking found it difficult to adjust to his style.
“Could we walk a little faster?” she enquired. “I find walking so slowly extremely tiring.”
“Of course,” he replied, and increased his speed. “Do you do much walking?”
“Yes, possibly more than most,” she answered. “I like the exercise and sometimes there is little choice in the way of an alternative to reaching your destination.”
“Have you done any riding?” he enquired
“No,” she said, “but I should like to try one day. As a special treat I used to drive my father’s open carriage in the days when we had one, but that is as near as I have been to having much to do with horses.”
“Horses are splendid beasts,” said Richard. “We will have to see that you get the opportunity to try riding one day.”
She dismissed this gesture as inconsequential polite small talk to placate the womenfolk and changed the subject.
“It is six years since I was last in Rotherham. There have been significant alterations since then,” she said.
“Not all for the better, I fear,” said Richard. “We are passing through changing times, and it is not always possible to note their significance until they are history, and we are just remembered dots in the minds of our descendants. I hope that future generations will be able to look back on these days and consider that they were the start of more prosperous times to come. But enough of this solemn talk for now, we have arrived,” and he opened the door and they entered the tea room of the department store before she was able to reply.
They ordered a pot of coffee for two and scones and Richard was just about to have a second cup of coffee when Mrs Pemberton arrived. A further ordering took place and half an hour ensued before Richard declared that he must reluctantly leave. Some additional pleasantries were exchanged, then he raised his hat once more and left them to continue with their shopping expedition. As soon as he had left Edith felt calmer but wondered whether her erstwhile chill was returning.
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
The tour of the shops took much longer than expected since they made an unplanned visit to the main centre of trade owned by Mr Pemberton that had recently been refurbished. Edith was indeed impressed. It was a building of considerable size with walls in green and cream, lit by flickering gas domes hung at regular intervals and lined with wooden shelves piled high with canned fruit, preserved onion, tomatoes and gherkins, jars of dried herbs and tins of biscuits. The shop was full of customers.
On three parts of the building were thick slabs of marble serving as counters, the sides of which were of mahogany so well polished that Edith could see her reflection quite clearly. One end of the shop was hung with enormous hams and sides of bacon being weighed and cut by young men in crisp white shirts wearing spotless white aprons. On another counter were displayed cheeses in varying shapes and sizes, some still with the cotton cloth bound tightly around them to preserve them, others exposed to entice the customer, with a morsel cut as a sample. A third side of the area was allocated to a variety of dried goods including sacks of flour, rice, sugar, lentils, barley, oats and pulses ready for measuring out to requirement together with shooks of tea and sacks of coffee beans. These were carefully weighed out on enormous scales and the coffee beans ground to customer demand. On entering the shop it was the smell of tea, coffee beans, chocolate and cheese that assailed the senses.
In the afternoon Mr Pemberton joined them at home. Edith always enjoyed his company. He made her feel most welcome and she felt he missed the presence of a daughter. Mrs Pemberton, in common with her own mother, had suffered numerous miscarriages and loss of children in infancy, all of which were regarded as part of the hazard of the reproductive function. It was simply part of the awesome burden which women bore at that time.
Before dinner she settled down on a large sofa in the drawing room and for half an hour quietly picked her way through the latest book she was reading on the science of politics. When Mr Pemberton entered the room he noticed the title of her book and said with genuine surprise. “I did not think that young ladies read books on politics or were interested in such matters.”
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
“Politics are an integral part of living are they not uncle?” she enquired. “Every facet of society appears linked to politics these days. If a government can decide whether or not we are able to eat bread then we must have some understanding of the subject,” she replied.
“And do you subscribe to the abolition of the Corn Laws?” he enquired.
She pondered for a moment and said. “In principle, yes, since I fear that unless we are able to supply people with bread at a cost they can afford, we might indeed face the same sort of revolution that has befallen France. In any case my father believes that it is against God’s will to withhold food from the labourers. I am fearful though that eventually the farmers may suffer if they do not have a guaranteed stable price for their grain, and we will be unable to feed ourselves.”
“I am for it,” replied her uncle. “I believe our opportunities of trade will widen. If people need to spend less money on bread they will have more money to spend on other merchandise. I am hopeful that the recent free trade policy introduced by Peel will start to be felt shortly. The economy has been in dire straits for nigh on a decade.”
“Has it affected your business?” she asked.
He faltered slightly before replying. “Perhaps in some ways, yes. I have been unable to expand and have had to adopt a more conservative view to the business.” In fact had she known, her uncle had incurred considerable debt in order to maintain his present quota of businesses and would be forced to forfeit at least one of these in the near future if the economy did not improve.
They were at this stage joined by Mrs Pemberton, Jack and Matthew and the latter insisted upon knowing her movements during the day. Edith made enthusiastic remarks concerning Mr Pemberton’s main “centre of trade” which brought a smile of pleasure to the faces of Mr Pemberton and Matthew.
“Well, my dear.” said Mrs Pemberton addressing Edith. “We are to have a few friends to dinner tomorrow night. I hope the occasion will not be too strenuous for you Edith?”
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
“I am sure I will be quite well,” replied Edith. “I am truly feeling so much better than I did when I arrived,” which was in fact quite the case. The changed environment, pleasant company and most of all the absence of continual physical work had greatly relieved her tiredness. She had not really noticed how unwell she was looking until the last few days. Obviously her father had noted it more than she. Dear papa, she thought. He was more observant than she gave him credit for.
By the following evening she was looking forward to the event. She was beginning to feel more like her old self, and the constant fatigue that had plagued her recently was beginning to dissipate. She had not asked her aunt who the expected guests were for dinner, not wishing to appear intrusive, but wondered vaguely whether it would be anyone she knew. She dressed for dinner as she always did in a plain unadorned dress, without jewellery and descended the stairs in the early evening upon hearing the arrival of guests at the door and the sound of cheery laughter. Jack and Mr Pemberton were at the front door greeting their guests.
“Edith,” called out Jack. “Come and let me introduce you to our friends.”
He then proceeded to introduce her to Miss Jane Butterworth, her parents Mr and Mrs Joseph Butterworth, Miss Alice Crimes and Mr Thomas Crimes and last but not least Mr Richard Butterworth. The latter smiled and said, “I have already had the honour of meeting your cousin. Will you take my arm, Miss Watts?” He then took her hand and placed it firmly on his arm and led her into the drawing room before she had the opportunity to say anything further. He was quite astonishing.
At dinner he was seated next to her and took the opportunity of talking to her more than protocol would allow. They held a full conversation for most of the time interspersed with the odd outside remark to their companions. Mr Richard Butterworth found Miss Watts quite delightful. She was studious, a great deal more knowledgeable than other young ladies he knew, unintentionally amusing and with a sense of humour. She was something of a rare occurrence. Even his sister, of whom he was very fond, was not endowed with so many attributes.
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
“I hope you will allow me to call upon you,” he said to her after they had been seated at the table for only a very few minutes, and were on the first course of the four course meal.
She was taken back at his alacrity and said, “Of course, if you wish,” before she had time to think of the matter or contemplate a refusal. What nice eyes he has, she thought. There was then a pause before she asked. “But tell me are you practising law in the town?” as she attempted to adopt a more indirect approach.
“No, not now. I was doing so in London for two years and then my elder brother Edward died and my father asked me to return to Rotherham. I am the only son left now and he wishes me to learn the business prior to his retirement.”
“Are you happy with this prospect?” she enquired.
“Not entirely,” he said, “but I feel it is my duty to follow his wishes. It is a business with a future and there are many workers in the town who can only live by it. In some ways I miss the combative struggle of the law though it could be said that I am now facing this same problem in certain respects in connection with the business itself.”
The conversation changed to the removal of the Corn Laws and the possible impact this would have upon business. Richard’s views were similar to those of her uncle. He was hopeful that lower bread prices would result in wider trade and reduced wages, since industrialists were finding it increasingly difficult to afford to pay the current higher wages.
After dinner the party adjourned to the drawing room and Edith was able to make the acquaintance of the other guests. Mr Thomas Crimes had sat opposite her at dinner and had attempted to converse with Edith, but on each occasion Mr Richard Butterworth had with some subtlety manoeuvred the conversation back to just Edith and himself, which point did not occur to Edith until she thought about it later. Richard Butterworth is a person who likes to make a firm and positive imprint she thought. Mr Crimes seemed a fairly pleasant young man but there was something of the blandness of Charles Ibbotson about him that did not draw her to him.
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She wandered round the room but spoke little to Miss Jane Butterworth and Miss Alice Crimes who were idly discussing domestic issues, new bonnets, the recent fashions from London and the latest place in Rotherham to partake of afternoon tea – not the type of conversation to which Edith was inclined to be a full participant.
Eventually she spent her time talking to Matthew, her aunt and uncle, Mr and Mrs Joseph Butterworth, Jack and Richard. Mr and Mrs Butterworth she liked immensely. “They were down to earth Yorkshire folk,” to quote Mr Butterworth and there was nothing underhand or devious in their approach to life. They were not “simple folk” but were just candid, capable business people who had achieved their place in society through hard work and ability.
In contrast, something of a Machiavellian description she thought could be applied to her cousin Jack, who had all the makings of a politician, in that he would make an argument and then shift the content of his argument when it was repudiated in order to maintain his ground. With Jack there was no right or wrong, black or white, everything was defined in shades of grey and some were darker than others.
Richard, like his parents was straightforward and easy to talk to. It was plain to see he was used to contact with a wide variety of people, but he had no aside and was uncomplicated in his approach. Edith had the impression that he could mix easily with all and every level in society, but that he had certain determined principles. Towards his parents she thought he seemed most respectful and a very caring son. On a couple of occasions she caught him looking at her in a rather penetrating manner and he smiled shyly at her when she noticed him.
In total it was a most pleasant evening, though perhaps Richard Butterworth held her hand for a little too long before he departed and she almost had to snatch it back in case it was lost.
“Really, Mr Butterworth,” she said. “I do think you ought to return my hand. I am beginning to wonder whether you have some evil intent for it.”
CHAPTER TWO - ABOUT EDITH
“I thought I had made my intentions quite clear this evening, Miss Watts,” he replied with open-eyed innocence and a twinkle in his eye. He kissed her hand and returned it to her. “It has truly been a delight meeting you,” he said, then he smiled at her again. He seemed reluctant to move away from looking at her.
“Are you coming, Richard or staying?” asked his father, who with his wife, was already half way through the front door.
The spell was broken. Richard turned and thanked Mr and Mrs Pemberton for their usual excellent hospitality, his face maintaining a fixed smile, said goodbye to Jack, and left.
Edith went to bed in excellent spirits feeling far better than she had been for months and quite cured of all ills.