Category Archives: Dines Book

Family history

April 22, 2013 · 8:24 pm

Kings Walden in the 17th and 18th Centuries

One of my earlier posts featured the surnames of the many women who have married into the Dines clan but in many cases, even those of my direct ancestors, I have no information other than the name of the bride. Indeed my four times great grandmother, Mary Edwards (c1737-1808) is a case in point and then there is Elizabeth McNamara (c1825-1892) married to Richard Dines. Her father is named as Michael McNamara, a solicitor, in Richard’s will, but I have little additional information. I would like to hear from anyone out there who has more information.

Looking for new leads to help me in my search I have started with my very early research notebooks. Here I found some interesting facts about Kings Walden which I felt were worth sharing as it gives some idea of the village structure which John Dines entered in the late 1750s. The Hale family were very much the leading family in the village and the Dines were gamekeepers to the family estates for a number of years as well as supplying Home Farm with weaners and crops.

In one book, Hertfordshire’s Past by Audrey Grant and published in 1983 quotes from the Domesday Book when the village was called Walden Regis and included Ley Green, Wandon, Flexmore. Brach Wood appeared shortly after the Domesday Book and in later years had a town mill, a blacksmiths and several brickworks. In 1576 the Manor of Kings Walden was sold to Richard Hale, citizen and grocer of London, by William Burgh. The sale for £1,000 included ‘appurtenances’ in King’s Walden, Powles Walden and Pollitts (i.e. St Ippollitts)

A privately published book The History of Stagenhoe by Reginald L Hine, in 1936, quotes from the accounts of Rose Hale and the Hale Household covering the 1680s. This lists a quarter of beef, weighing 22 stone (about 140 kilograms) cost 40 shillings (£2.00). Occasionally the diet varied to include a whole sheep weighing 7 stone (about 44.5 kg ) and costing 20s (£1.00). The skin, worth 2 shillings (10p) was set aside “for the cook’s tea”. Other items included “brest of mutton, 2s 6d (7.5p); ribbe of lam 2 shillings; six chickens 3s 6d (17.5p); 300 pigeons eggs 2d each (1p); six hartechoke 2s; six cucumbers 2d; coleflower 8d; bunch of carats 2d.”
The farm accounts in the 1670s was selling wheat at 7s 6d a bushel; barley, 3s 6d a bushel; oats, 20s a quarter; maslin (a mix of wheat and rye) 6s 6d a bushel; pease 2s 6d; vetches, 2s 6d a bushel.
These accounts show that Georgian farming stock ate a much more varied diet than I had previously imagined.

* * *

Incidentally my apologies to my followers for taking so long between posts but apart from Easter in very chilly Devon I have been plagued with sciatica in the last three months. As modern doctors seem to say put up with it and eventually it will go away I looked to see what my relatives in 18th Century England would have used. I found one remedy in a very interesting book called Georgian Cookery, Recipes and Remedies from 18th Century Totteridge. It is by Veronica F O’ Donoghue and Philip N Donoghue. I have used their transcriptions into modern English for clarity. The cure for sciatica follows the recipe for gout the ingredients for which include hyerapica (cinnamon bark mixed with aloes), cochineal finely powdered, into best red port which had to stand for 24 hours. I recommend you buy the book for the full recipe but you may be put off by the fact that before you draw off any part of the tincture the bottle has to be shaken for three to four hours! The recipe adds that the mixture cures rheumatism, sciatica and swellings.

1 Comment

Filed under Dines Book, Kings Walden

February 3, 2013 · 6:22 pm

Richard Dines and highway robbery

We’ve just spent three weeks in Malta and, as it rained on a couple of days, I did some searching of http://trove.nrl.gov.au/  This is always a good way of passing a couple of hours if you are interested in the Dines family and Richard in particular.  He was still pulling mentions up to 50 years after his death, such was his interest in trying out new breeds of cattle, new methods of stock management and of course his influence on the New South Wales horse racing scene.

But Richard lived in dangerous times.  Take, for example, a piece in the Singleton and District Argus of December 9, 1905, in a column headed Looking back.  This reported that before dawn on the morning of April 16th, 1866 a daring highway robbery was committed by three men who “stuck up the Great Northern Mail” at Red Post Hill about five miles from Singleton and two miles from Glennie’s Creek.  “The villains were on foot when they called on the mailman to stop, enforcing their commands by pressing pistols at the heads of the driver and passengers.”

Everyone was then ordered to leave the coach and the passengers obeyed because “none of the passengers were armed.”  The report adds:  “The robbers had their scheme well planned and made provisions for tying up their victims as they had brought along with them a quantity of rope for that purpose,  (a personal note here, as an ex-journalist I can’t help wishing that I had been paid by the word as this reporter was.  I would simply have said that the victims were tied to trees!)and were not long before they had the driver and occupants of the coach secured to trees along the roadside.”

Mr Morse of Abingdon, New England attempted to escape and picked up a stick to defend himself but “the ruffians seized him and dealt him two murderous blows – one on the face, and the other on the back of the head.”  He was stunned and tied up with the others.  In his attempt he had managed to throw his purse away but they took his watch.

Mr Richard Dines was among the passengers “And they eased his watch and £15.”

After taking everything of value from the rest of the passengers they took the coach and drove off with the mails in the direction of Singleton.  Mr George Wyndham found the victims who by this time had released themselves.  After being told what had happened he rode to the top of McDougall’s Hill where he saw the coach and horses abandoned by the road.  There was no sign of the robbers so Mr Wyndham rode into town to alert the police who found rifled mail bags.  Inspector Harrison and a large party of police arrived by the afternoon train and “set off in pursuit.”

Mr Button, a railway mail guard, was one of the victims of the robbery.  He had his hat stolen But he was able to help identify the men.  Detective Camphin arrested three men in Sydney the following day.  They were James Booth, William Willis and Thomas Hampton.  They were charged with robbing the Singleton mail the previous day.  At their trial George Bered, one of the passengers identified Willis as the man who “threatened to blow the roof off his skull.”   Mr Morse identified Hampton as the man who “dealt him his blows.”  Other witnesses identified the three men as the robbers.

The three men were also charged with sticking up the Campbelltown Mail on the 10th April.  They were convicted on both charges and Willis was sentenced to ten years in prison with Booth and Hampton receiving eight years each.

One thing about having an ancestral relative as prominent as Richard is that there are acres of newsprint about him to explore.  So I can promise you more of him in later blogs.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Dines Book

Tagged as

December 10, 2012 · 9:22 pm

The divorce of Solomon Dines

I have been able to browse the papers of the divorce petition filed by Sarah Dines against Solomon Dines (c1835-c1916).  The last posting showed how Solomon had been convicted of bigamy but only served three days in prison.

It seems that Sarah Dines (formerly Nicholls) had petitioned for the dissolution of her marriage and for alimony to be paid to her.  She was represented by a solicitor Thomas Sampson of 252 Marylebone Road.  In her petition she said that she lived at 59 Saint John’s Wood Terrace in Saint John’s Wood, Middlesex; that she had married Solomon on May 9, 1863 at Saint Mary’s Church, Bryanston Square after which they had lived together at 2 Saint Ann’s Terrace and various other places but that latterly they had lived at 76 South Audley Street and they had two children, Alfred William Dines (10) and Ada Alice Dines (8).

Sarah’s statements as petitioner and Solomon’s as respondent make depressing reading and whatever the truth of the state of affairs you can judge for yourselves.

Sarah alleged that:

  • Solomon had treated her cruelly from the date of their marriage and used violent, abusive and threatening language as well as cursing and swearing at her
  • She has been forced to leave home in 1864 because of his cruelty and neglect to provide her and her child with the necessaries or money to procure the same
  • She stayed away for four months during which time she and her child were supported by her mother.  During this time she was also in the family way with her second child.  She returned home at the request of Solomon.
  • Solomon had returned to his former treatment of her shortly after her return and that he had refused medical attendancefor her at her confinement although he had the means to do so.  During her confinement he had called her a bloody swine, bloody whore and used other foul and unseemly language to her;  behaved with great violence and inhumanity making a great noise and knocking and banging the furniture about; put the fire out and allowed goods in the house to be seized for taxes.
  • While she was living with her mother Solomon had committed adultery at divers times with a woman who was believed to have been a prostitute
  • She left home again around 1866 because of her unhappy life and went into service as a wet nurse.  Solomon had not objected.
  • When she returned from service she stayed with her brother in Queen’s Terrace and Solomon called upon her there and pressed her to return to him.  She agreed to this when promised to treat her more kindly
  • In 1867 Solomon removed his business as a cab proprietor from Wellington Road to the Alexander Mews, Abbey Road.  At this time he was suffering from a venereal disease which he communicated to her and which she suffered for about three years.
  • In 1867 she was also taken ill with smallpox and Solomon neglected to provide her with a nurse or medical attendance and left her alone in the house of a night
  • In 1868 she was compelled to leave home again because of Solomon’s neglect of her and her children and she returned to her brother’s house.  From there she went to the Isle of Wight for about nine months, returning to London in 1869 when she took an apartment near her brother.  Solomon begged her to live with her mother until he made a home for her.  Solomon failed to do this so at the beginning of 1870 she had gone to live with her brother.  She stayed there until the end of 1871 when she went again to live with Solomon
  • They lived together until October 8 1873 but she was obliged to move out again because of his continued and systematic ill treatment and failure to provide her and the children with sufficient clothing or necessaries or resources to procure them.  Since then she had been living with relations and was supported by them.
  • From the date of the marriage Solomon had the habit of sleeping and being out at night and had committed adultery with certain females whose names are unknown to her.

In response Solomon contended:

  • He had never treated Sarah with cruelty and neglect and never used violent, abusive and threatening language and cursed or swore at her
  • He did all in his power to support and maintain his wife and she was never without all the necessaries that his means could provide.  Sarah had left the matrimonial home voluntarily, without his knowledge and although he had been told that she went to Brighton for about a fortnight  she returned to him without notice and did not tell him where she had been.  She had never left for a four month period but only for the fortnight in 1864
  • He said that she had left him again in 1865 for a period of nearly twelve months and returned at her own solicitation giving birth to the second child about a month after her return.  He had provided every necessary, according to his means, and believed the doctor who attended her confinement was paid by the petitioner’s mother and he never ill treated her.
  • During her confinement he had never abused, insulted her, used abusive language, acted with violence or inhumanity to Sarah and his goods were never seized for taxes as stated in the petition
  • He had never committed adultery at any time in his marriage and never in any way had he been known to any prostitute or prostitutes
  • He believed that Sarah, at the instigation of her mother, went to some place to act as a wet nurse and he didn’t know that she was about to leave his home and he had no idea where she had put the two children. Her mother, when he enquired, had refused to give him any information on where the children were
  • He had not asked Sarah to return but she had ‘intreated’ him to take her and the children back.  He had taken her in to the home where they lived previous to her leaving.  He left to live in Alexander Mews, Abbey Road
  • He had never had syphilitic venereal disease at any time in his life and it is perfectly false of Sarah to say that she took the disease from him
  • Sarah had caught small pox and Solomon assisted in attending to her personally and provided everything in his power for her including a nurse who was his next door neighbour.  He had contracted small pox from his wife and after recovering, while he was engaged in driving a customer to Tottenham in the County of Middlesex Sarah had taken all his household furniture, linen and effects from his rooms over the stables at Alexander Mews.   She had also taken away all the letters he had received from his wife and other documents and he had never seen them since.
  • He did not know where she had gone to and had never urged her to return but  while he was lodging, by the permission of Mr Reynolds at his stables situate in York Terrace, Regents Park, Sarah had importuned his to take her back saying that her mother had threatened to turn her and her children into the street.  He eventually consented and he and Sarah and the children moved in to New Street Dorset Square
  • He was then employed by Lord Roberts to take care of a house at 76 South Audley Street, which was to be let. He was paid ten shillings a week for taking care of the house.  The family lived there together until October 1873 then, while he was absent from the house, she had left again taking household furniture which she said belonged to her mother, Sarah Nicholls.  Solomon never knew where they went to
  • He did not remain out at night other than in his occupation of life and attending to his duties while he acted as coachman to Lord Roberts

The file, held in the National Archives at Kew has list of dates which include the following.

  • Her solicitor, T Sampson, filed the petition for the dissolution of marriage on July 17 1874, and filed a petition for alimony on July 28.
  • William Gilliam Slack of 91 Mount Street Grosvenor Square, solicitor, entered an appearance for the respondent.  And on August 5 filed an answer to the petition for alimony and on August 19 filed Solomon’s affidavit in response
  • On September 16 The Registrar, David Henry Owen, ruled that the case should be heard before the court itself.
  • On January 30 1875 the judge, Sir James Hannen, ruled that having heard the petitioner’s evidence and the witnesses on her behalf and having heard the counsel for the respondent who had not appeared in person the petitioner had not sufficiently prove the contents of the petition and dismissed the petition.

This is at odds with the court minutes the front page of which say:

In Her Majesty’s court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes – Dines Sarah v Dines Solomon

Court Minutes

Petition Filed 17 July 1874

Decree Nisi 30 Jany 1875

Final Decree

17 (handwritten and circled)

This would suggest that the divorce never happened because Sarah failed to take her petition before the court.  The decree nisi date given would appear to be an error.

Do any of you Dines readers have any comments on this or further information that I am not aware of?

2 Comments

Filed under Dines Book

Tagged as ,

November 22, 2012 · 3:34 pm

The many wives of Solomon Dines

My apologies go to those of you who have noticed a dearth of information from this source.  We went away for a week of R and R before welcoming our two granddaughters for a week’s holiday.  After a week sampling the culinary delights of Lincolnshire and Norfolk we returned home and Brian became ill and spent a week testing out the attractions of the Royal Albert Infirmary in Wigan.  While saying fervent thank yous to the NHS I also had time to reflect on the fact that like most pursuers of the dead I am not quite as organised when it comes to writing down my own memories and reflections on the changes in social history I have seen in my lifetime.  I am working on that one now that Brian is home and in convalescent mode.

*****

The strange case of Solomon Dines (c1838-1916) came to my attention via Michael Poole, a descendant of Charles Dines (1782-1815).  Solomon Dines is the son of John Dines (1788-1887).  He was born around 1835 in Bedfordshire and is seen at home with his parents and his brother Edward, 8, and sisters Hannah 4, and Rhoda 2 on the 1841 census.  By the 1851 census the family had moved to Lilley Bottom and Solomon is a 16 year old farm labourer.  He has moved by 1861 and is living with his aunt Sarah Stokes, a 61 year old dyer and calico flarer at 24 Grosvenor Mansions, St George Hanover Square, Westminster..  Solomon is listed as an unmarried nephew aged 24 and working as a porter.

Two years later on May 9, 1863 Solomon, a bachelor, of 28 Healshamlane Street married Sarah Nicholls, spinster at St Mary’s Church, Marylebone, Middlesex.  Both are said to be of full age.  Solomon’s father, is John Dines, a keeper, and Sarah’s is Nathaniel William Nicholls, attendant.  The witnesses were Nathaniel and Emily Martha Nicholls.

The marriage was obviously not a happy one because in 1874 the National Archives catalogue lists under reference J77/147/3329, Divorce Court File 3329 shows Sarah Dines suing Solomon Dines for divorce under a wife’s petition (wx).

Now the picture begins to get murky because, under the name of Charles Dines the freebmd shows a marriage to Maria Butler reference: Islington District, volume 16 page 644.  The Free BMD death index for July-September 1883 shows the death of Maria Dines aged 32 at Kensington, 1a, 83.  Shown on the same page is the death of a male Dines baby.  Two years later at All Saints Church in the parish of Kensington in the County of Middlesex on May 13, 1885, Charles Dines, 35, a widower and a builder of 188 Cromwell Road (father John Dines, labourer, is married to Clara Bercham, spinster, of the same address.  Her father is James Bercham, gardener, and the witnesses are James Bercham and Mary A Bercham.

What does Charles Dines have to do with Solomon?  You may well ask.  It is explained by the Central Criminal Court records (oldbaileyonline.org)

Dines, Solomon, pleaded guilty to, on July 8 1881, feloniously marrying Maria Butler, his wife being then alive; on May 25, 1885, feloniously marrying Clara Bercham, his wife being then alive

Mr Vesey Fitzgerald prosecuted, Sentence:  Three days imprisonment.

There are other questions it raises.  Did the divorce not go through?  Were the papers not signed properly?  If Solomon thought that he was divorced why did he change his name to Charles?  And why, if he had changed his name because he preferred Charles, did he change back again after the court case.  The Electoral Rolls of 1813, 1814, and 1815 show Solomon Dines living in Queen Street, Bryanston Square Ward in London.

It appears that Solomon died in 1916 but that is to be checked out in the future along with other details about the wives of Solomon.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Dines Book

Tagged as

October 3, 2012 · 8:04 pm

Who is Jane Dine(s)?

One of the beauties of researching family history are the little mysteries which keep getting thrown up.  Take Jane, the adopted daughter of Richard Dines (1812-1876).  I have three documents, a birth certificate, a marriage certificate and a transcript of Richard’s will.  I also have a source who is a walking encyclopaedia on the Dines families who settled in or near Singleton.

My researches in the New South Wales Record Office in Sydney led me first to the will.  Here Richard left £1,000 which was to be set apart and invested and the income from this was to be paid to his adopted daughter “Jane Dines,” during her lifetime, and after her death to her child or children in equal shares.  If there were no children, or if they died before the age of 21, then this sum also reverted to the residuary estate.  After the deduction of several bequests the remaining four fifths of his estate (the first fifth was to be invested on behalf of his wife, Elizabeth) was to be held in trust for all Richard’s children with the exception of his adopted daughter, Jane, for whom he had already made provision.

While in Singleton I visited the Family History Society there and was shown an index which showed Jane Dines who was born in 1845 and baptised on January 19, 1848 at St Augustine RC church with the father being named Richard Dines.  This information came from Dot Clayworth, the research liaison officer at the FHS.  Other family members seem to think they are descended from Jane Dine who was baptised in 1846 with the father named as Richard Dine and mother Elizabeth Dine.  I took this at face value to be our Richard with his surname misspelt, after all he had been entered in the St Augustine marriage record as Dynes.  The first rule of genealogy is that one should never make assumptions and I thought that I had learned this lesson, however further research shows me the trap I have fallen into.

First we look at Richard’s death certificate.  This said that he left six daughters while his wife, Elizabeth’s death certificate mentions only five daughters.  Richard and Elizabeth McNamara were married on February 2, 1846 in St Augustine’s RC church, Singleton, and their daughter Louisa Margaret was baptised in November that year.  This is the cue to return to my newly acquired certificate for Jane Dine. This shows that Jane was born on September 21, 1846 and was baptised on November 1, 1846 at the Parish of St Luke, County of Cumberland.  The County of Cumberland is in the environs of Sydney.  Her parents are given as Richard Dine, a labourer, and Elizabeth Dine who lived at Green Hills.  No sponsors names are given and the minister was J. Duffus, Church of England.  From what I have learned of Richard never in a month of Sundays would he have described himself as a labourer and there is nothing else in his history to suggest that he had ever lived at Green Hill.  At this time he was in any case living in Singleton, having married Elizabeth in the February.  St Augustine’s church is where he and Elizabeth were married and the marriage took place the year after Jane was born.

So on the evidence it seems that Jane was the one baptised in Singleton.  This begs the question as to why she was about three years old before she was baptised and why is there no mention of her mother.

The next document is the marriage certificate of Jane Dines, spinster,  and James Francis, bachelor.  They were married on December 14, 1868, according to the rites of the Wesleyan Church, Singleton.  His birthplace was said to be Homebush, NSW, and hers the McIntyre River, NSW.  Richard had a station up on the McIntyre River and Homebush, incidentally, according to Wikipedia, so it could be wrong, was established in the 1800s by the colony’s then assistant surgeon D’Arcy Wentworth. According to local government historian Michael Jones, “Wentworth is popularly credited with having called the area after his ‘home in the bush’…. A more logical origin of the name is to be found in the history of droving cattle and sheep to Sydney’s major sale yards, which were located at what is now Flemington markets, also known as Homebush West.  Drovers would camp in what was then a pastured terrain at the end of their long journey through ‘the bush‘ and may thus have adopted the name ‘home bush’  At the time of the marriage James was a stud groom at Hamildon Hill (sic).  His parents were John Francis, a publican, and Jane Landers.  Jane’s occupation was “private life” at Hamildon Hill (sic).  Her father was Richard Dines, a squatter.  The mother’s details are left blank.  James and Jane signed in the presence of Charles White (his mark) and Eliza White.  The officiating Minister was George Lane.  Richard was probably not present at the marriage because although he was squatting on some of the land at the time of their marriage he was a well-known breeder of racehorses including that year’s Melbourne Gold Cup winner Glencoe.  I think that he would have chosen a more upwardly mobile title than squatter if describing his own occupation.

There seems little doubt that this is the correct Jane Dines even though her age is given as 25.  Adoption in those days would not be a formal affair; in fact, it was not unknown for a relative to bring up someone else’s child as their own.  But who was she?  Was she Richard’s natural daughter who he took responsibility for?  (After all Richard was 34 when he got married.) Who was her mother? And why is there no mention of the mother on the marriage certificate.  Why did Richard wait three years for the baptism?

If anyone out there knows the answer to these questions please let me know, this is one mystery I would love to solve.

17 Comments

Filed under Dines Book

September 9, 2012 · 4:34 pm

Enter Edward T Dines

Just as the book, A Fascination of Dines was published along came some new information about yet another member of the Dines clan who ended up in Australia. This time it is Edward Thomas Dines son of Edward Dines, the brother of Richard and Joseph (Leigh Dines Halstead).
He is just a three line entry in the book on page 172. He was baptised on November 30, 1843, the son of Edward, a gamekeeper, and Mary Dines, Ley Green. The minister was T L Bayliffe. It was Dot Clayworth, the research liaison officer of Singleton Family History Inc, who alerted me to his existence in a letter thanking me for donating a copy of the book to the Society. Dot has copious knowledge of the Dines in Singleton and she was the one who showed me the map of the land LDH had once owned in the area which he called Kingswalden. Dot told me that there was an Edward S Dines in the Australian Death Indexes who had died up in Warialda.
Thanks to http://www.ancestry.com who hold the indices I was able to read the index for myself. I didn’t know who Edward S Dines was but as his father’s name was given as Edward I decided to invest 31 Australian dollars in a copy of the death certificate. Unfortunately I didn’t get all the information one usually expects to get from an Australian death certificate and it did point up that the close-knit Dines’ brothers did not share too much information with their children. The death certificate when it came was issued in New South Wales. It gave the date and place of death as January 16, 1867 at Coppymorimbilla, Warialda District. It gave his name as Edward T. Dines and from the formation of the letter T it is easy to see why it was misread as an S. He was a superintendent of a cattle station, but his age was not known, even though the informant was George Dines, of Tuloona, son of Richard and Edward’s first cousin. The cause of death was given as unknown, he had been seeing a doctor for seven days and last saw him on January 15, the date of his death. His father was Edward Dines, a gamekeeper, and his mother was unknown. She was actually Mary Ann Pryke
The death was not registered until April 15 but Edward had been buried at Boggabilla, undertaker R. Cook. There was no religion or minister, the entry of none was made in these spaces. The witnesses were T. Crompton and R. Cook. He was said to have arrived in Australia eight years previously.
The ever helpful web site http://trove.nla.gov.au/ once again filled in some of the blanks for me. The Queenslander, a Brisbane newspaper, for Saturday, February 9 1867, filled in some of the blanks. It was an article from a correspondent, from Goonwindi, which stated:

A malignant disease, fostered, no doubt, by the sultry weather of the last few weeks, has been making sad ravages in our neighborhood. (sic) Numbers of children have been affected – so far, happily, without occasioning any blank in their households. More susceptible to its virulence, the seniors have resisted the attack less successfully, and one from the ranks of manhood and strength, and youth and hopefulness has fallen. Poor Edward Dines! as his friends (and we all knew him so well) pathetically say; a nephew of Mr. Richard Dines, of Tulloona. In all the strength of youth! So lately the observed of all observers – as with a flush of triumph he welcomed his horses, the winners at the Christmas races. Busily intent on his duties as Superintendent on Mr. Brown’s station, fever overtook him, and in two short weeks no more.

It isn’t hard to work out from this entry that the correspondent was paid by the word!
It is likely that Edward T. Dines was one of the two Mr Dines who travelled out on the Duncan Dunbar which docked in Sydney in December, 1858. Also on board were the Birkenheads (Hannah was Edward’s aunt) and John and Frances Dines and their family. John’s father and Edward’s father were cousins. Now, who was the other Mr Dines on the Duncan Dunbar?

Leave a Comment

Filed under Dines Book

Tagged as ,

August 2, 2012 · 7:48 pm

Game Keeping Part Two – Shot by Poachers

Last time we looked at one side of game keeping but it was not always a safe rural occupation that gave a man some standing among his neighbours and some loathing by those out to nab one for the pot to feed the family.  Poaching was big business in the 18th and 19th centuries and organised gangs would go out armed with shot guns and game keeping became a dangerous occupation when a man could lose his life defending his employer’s property.

This was how Charles Dines, (1772-1815) gamekeeper to the Whitbreads at Southill, Bedfordshire lost his life.  Charles was a family man aged 43 when he was struck down, who left a widow and four children including a baby coming up to her first birthday.

I recently came across an entry in The Times, dated December 20, 1815 when I was browsing on http://www.ancestry.com which adds a bit more to what is reported in A Fascination of Dines.

The Times report gives extracts from the information of John Pryor, an under gamekeeper on Mr Whitbread’s estate at Southill, which was taken before the magistrate William Wilshere, Esq.  Charles Dines, the head gamekeeper of Southill, lived in the park.  Pryor lived about half a mile from the park, with James Gurney, who was usually employed by Dines as an assistant when they patrolled the grounds at night.  It was about half past eight on Saturday evening, 9th December, when Charles Dines arrived at Pryor’s cottage and told them that he had heard two guns fired in the park while sitting at home, and another as he was coming see them.  Dines and Gurney were each armed with a double barrelled gun  and Pryor with a pistol as they walked about the park till half past ten, without hearing anything.  They sat down to rest in a shed near the cottage, and almost immediately afterwards heard a gun, which they thought had been fired near the head of the Lake.

Pryor took the gun from Gurney and they ran towards the lake and a few minutes after arriving they heard the sound of footsteps, they heard another gun fired and after a short interval, a third in a thick plantation adjoining the park pales (fences).  Dines said, ‘I know they are here.’  He directed Gurney and Pryor to go into the wood abreast with him.  He said, ‘Mind what we are going about; don’t shoot at any man, unless you see him point his gun at you.”

‘I am a dead man’

Pryor heard ‘a rogue’ call out, ‘Come on,’ and saw some six or seven men about ten yards away.  There was a moon but the sky was cloudy; the men standing still in silence.  Dines told them they were ‘imposing’ on the manor and that they should leave.  He turned off to walk towards a park path and the men were about 50 yards from the fence.  Pryor was sent off to get help from the White House nearby and he was half way back when he heard a gun and at the same moment heard Dines saying: ‘Lord have mercy upon me, I am a dead man.’  Pryor ran forwards and heard two reports which he recognised as Dines’ gun.  He said Gurney had been knocked down and was moaning.  When Pryor reached Dines he was lying on the ground but managed to say: ‘My dear fellow given me your arm, I am a dead man,’  adding that after he had been shot he had fired both barrels and thought he must have wounded some of them.  Dines who had been shot in the belly died the following day at about six in the evening.

Coroner’s inquest

A Coroner’s inquest sat on Monday the 11th and a verdict of wilful murder by persons unknown was returned.  On the Monday evening warrants were issued against a gang of poachers at Bigleswade (sic) and six men were arrested:  Edmund Chamberlain, John Twelvetrees, John Hopkins, William Albone, Thomas Jefferies, John Sutton, and John Humberstone.  The Times reported that the gang had set out from Bigleswade about 10 o’clock on Saturday night (December 10) armed with guns and bludgeons, to shoot pheasants at Southill, about four miles away.  They had agreed to stand by each other and not to be taken.  They had killed two pheasants before they were pursued. Chamberlain, Twelvetrees, Hopkins, Albone, Jefferies were examined by Mr Wilshire before being committed to Bedford gaol together with Henry Albone (brother of William) who though not present at the time of the murder is implicated.

Chamberlain said he was the man who fired at Dines and Jefferies said that when Dines said that he would see them off the manor  Chamberlain had snatched a stick from Sutton and struck Gurney on the head knocking him down before throwing away the stick, and then, levelling his gun fired at Dines.  Dines, after declaring he was a dead man, sunk down one knee, and fired both barrels of gun.  He must have taken a very steady aim because he wounded Twelvetrees, Hopkins, Jefferies and William Albone.  Hopkins was found to have received more than 100 shot in his back spreading from next to the loins.  William Albone received part of the charge of the first barrel on his left shoulder, and part of the second on his right arm.  Jefferies was shot in the right shoulder and arm and one shot passed through his right ear.  Twelvetrees received a few on his loins and on his right thumb.  None were critically wounded.

The prisoners were conveyed to Bedford gaol under a military escort sent on purpose from Bedford, and numerous constables from Bigleswade, just as the delinquents were marched off to prison the bell commenced tolling for the funeral of poor Dines, who was a respectable character and faithful servant, and shortly afterwards they met the hearse on their way to gaol, conveying the body of the deceased for interment.

‘Don’t shoot until he points his gun at you’

Charles Dines was very careful to point out to Pryor and Gurney that they should only shoot if they were shot at.  This was to prove, if necessary, that they were acting in self-defence.  This was something that his nephew Richard was to fail to do 24 years later when he was way over on the other side of the world facing a charge of manslaughter.  But that is another story which you can read in the book.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Dines Book

Tagged as

July 16, 2012 · 7:02 pm

Gamekeepers Part One – and the strange case of Joseph Ansell

There are records at the Hertfordshire Record Office e dating back to 1719 that link the Dines (Dynes) name to game keeping.  The very early ones are Dynes alias Hancock(e) which seem to suggest illegitimacy or that they acquired a stepfather and began using his surname.  The earliest mention in the list of game keeping certificates collected in the Hertford Quarter Sessions printed volumes is an Edward Dynes, alias Hancocke who worked at the Hertingfordbury manor for James Selby, Sergeant at Arms.  It seems probable that there is some connection with the Dines family I researched, several generations of whom served in Kings Walden and surrounding areas as far as Knebworth, Pirton, and Southill in Bedfordshire.

Gamekeepers had the power to arrest a man on the spot and to search his cottage without a warrant.  Until the 1850s there was no rural police force and gamekeepers were front line of defence against poachers.

By the time John Dines (c1726-1810) was working for William Hale game keeping played an important part in estate management.  In the 17th and 18th Centuries game (which included hare, partridge, pheasant, red grouse, bustard, widgeon, wild duck and wild goose) belonged to the Crown.  The right to hunt, was from 1671 to 1831, was strictly reserved to those with freehold property worth at least £100 per annum or leasehold property worth at least £150.00 p.a.  The landholder could deputise another individual to hunt on his land but a game certificate was needed to shoot game.  What is more a game licence was needed to buy the killed game whether it was for your own use or to sell on.  Not to have a licence would be breaking the law.

This latter was probably at the heart of one case involving Joseph Dynes (Dines) in 1834.  An entry in the Recognizance Book Volume 2 refers to Joseph, John Dines and John Cotton, with Joseph being game keeper to ____Hale Esq.   Joseph Ansell, a gardener of St Albans, said that he was walking along a common footpath through Parsley Wood near to Ruddick Hall with a little terrier at his heels.  He was arrested by Joseph, accused of poaching, and he was searched by John Dines and John Cotton during which a shilling and a pocket handkerchief went missing.

He was taken to the house of Mr Brand at Kimpton Hoo.  Mr Brand was a magistrate who kept them waiting until 11 o’ clock at night because Mr Brand was playing cards and could not be interrupted.  Joseph Dynes told Mr Brand that he had found Ansell in the wood where several snares had been set the night before, that he had a dog with him and that  he was suspected of being a poacher.  Although Joseph Dynes had not found any snares on Ansell he had heard him say “chew” to the dog.  Then Ansell’s tale descends into farce.  He said that Mr Brand had offered to excuse him the penalty “if he would catch a hare and sell it to any unqualified person at St Albans for there were many persons from that place continuously destroying his game”.  Ansell said that he was told he could go and catch a hare anywhere but from Brand’s manors because, using oaths, Mr Brand said that he had steel traps and spring guns set all over.  Brand then added that if he were not a magistrate he would give Ansell a hare for that purpose, after which Ansell was released and told to attend again in a fortnight when, if he had failed to do it he would be fined 10 shillings.  Ansell asked where he was supposed to find that kind of money to which he was told he could go and rob the highway for all Mr Brand cared.

Ansell was not intimidated and told Brand that he had sureties and he would appear at Quarter Sessions to appeal his conviction at which, with many “horrid oaths”, Mr Brand said if he had known that he would have already sent him to gaol.  At the Quarter Sessions Volume One of the Presentment Book, page 455, reports that Joseph Dines, John Dines and John Cotton were all accused of assaulting Joseph Ansell, found guilty and fined 13s 4d each.

But being a game keeper could be a very dangerous occupation as the next posting will show

Leave a Comment

Filed under Dines Book

Tagged as

July 9, 2012 · 3:45 pm

Researching the Dines – and holidays!

We’ve just returned from a wet week in the Lake District and it was bliss.  For the first time in years my holiday didn’t centre round researching the Dines story, or editing the narrative, or searching the web for updates.  Instead it focused on relaxation and recharging the batteries for the next project.

Now that so many records are available on the internet non-genealogists, or people who collect ancestors in the manner they probably collected cigarette or Pokerman cards in their youth, think that all you need to do is click on the right site and you are back seven generations in one go.  Having first got interested in family history back in 1974 when computers still filled a whole room the only way to research if you didn’t have the dates to consult the right documents locally was to go to London and be prepared to heave bound indices, the size of several broadsheet newspapers bound together, around St Catherine’s House and to be prepared to stand while you waded through as many as you could in one visit.  When you lived in the North West London didn’t beckon very often unless you had business there.  Once the correct births, marriages and deaths were extracted then it was on to Kew and the national archives, or to the relevant county record office to add some flesh to the bare bones of these forerunners you had identified.

Holidays were booked in Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, and Yorkshire.  We walked the terrain our ancestors once trod and looked in the local museums for clues and photographs of how they might have lived.  Although I still let out a yelp of triumph if I track an elusive character down on the internet the excitement is nowhere near as great as that of finding a relevant nugget of information after three visits to a local library and ten films covering early editions of the local newspaper.

The research holiday bug even extended to visits to Australia and New Zealand and it led to making contact with distant cousins also researching the Dines.  It also led to some odd incidents.  In 2003 we took advantage of our antipodean travels to meet up with the Rantins whose interest was Joseph Dines also known as Leigh Dines Halstead.  We initially hooked up through the Hertfordshire Names List and so when we visited Auckland they invited us to lunch and arranged to meet us off the ferry.  As it was the Americas Cup week and the ferry terminals were busy I picked out a petrol blue trouser suit and red trouser suit so that they could spot me a mile away.  Sure enough as we got off the ferry a couple began waving and pointing to us and they swooped forward as we disembarked and the woman kissed me and then my husband and we shook hands with her husband and then we set off together to the car park.  “Norman doesn’t look a bit like I imagined him,” she said.  I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t introduced Brian properly and so did so.  “Your email said Norman,” she said.  “No, Brian,” I said.  She stopped dead.  “You’re not Daisy are you,” she said.  “No Mavis,” I said and the four of us turned round to meet our respective other halves. 
One disconsolate couple stood with long faces and the other two were laughing.  They thought that I had met an old friend and had temporarily forgotten them.  After a delicious lunch and a long chat about our respective families we then swapped information which proved invaluable in getting A Fascination of Dines together.

In 2005 we visited Australia and after a week in Port Macquarie getting over the jet lag we hired a car and drove around some of the sites so important to the early Dines settlers.  We spent almost a week in Singleton, New South Wales and made an invaluable contact in Dot Clayworth, Research Liaison Officer for Singleton Family History Inc.  She put me in touch with yet another cousin who we were able to contact when we got back home.  We then drove to Bendigo where Charlotte Dines, widow of William Lane, had settled with her three sons and daughter in the late 1850s early 1860s.  One day when the Bendigo Family History Library was closed we went up to the cemetery to take pictures of the graves and, with the help of the Friends of the Cemetery, found them all, save one.  We were standing outside the office, the Friends having all gone home, and were consulting a large map on the wall, when a car pulled up and the driver asked if he could help as was a Friend who happened to be passing.  He turned out to be descended from Charlotte just as we were.  He gave me photographs which had been passed on by another “cousin” who lived in Mentone and so our sources and living family grew yet again.

It is nice to see Australian newspapers on line and to be able to read them by accessing TROVE the Australian digitalised newspaper site, and if you have not yet discovered it  it is well worth a look.

As to which form of research I prefer then I plump for the speed of the internet followed up by the actual documents if they are not available on line, and a walk in the footsteps if I can possibly manage it.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Dines Book

June 26, 2012 · 3:30 pm

Another Special Offer

I have heard from Lulu.com that they are offering a 20 per cent discount on A Fascination of Dines on orders placed before midnight on June 29th.  Remember the book is print on demand so the offer of a fifth off is there if you want to take it.  Simply log on to Lulu, search for A Fascination of Dines, and follow the instruction using the code which will be provided.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Dines Book

Tagged as