Volume 20 Number 3, September 2005

Blencowe Families’ Association Newsletter Volume 20 Number 3, September 2005
Des. Res.?   
See inside!
Table of Contents
Letter from the Editor
Reunion 2007 — Things to think about!
The Reunion in Dayton, Ohio
Blencowes in the English Civil War
Robert Blincoe – the Real Oliver Twist?
Milestones
Letters
Blencowe Hall Sale
Letter from the Editor

Dear Cousins,

The national press has done us proud this month and as a result I have received more e-mails than usual. As expected, following the death of Rodney Mann, Blencow Hall was put on the market and Colin Blencowe and Joan Martin both spotted the advertisement and sent me press cuttings. Joan also enclosed a two-page spread from the Daily Mail entitled The Real Oliver Twist; an account of the life and times of the foundling Robert Blincoe taken from a shortly to be published book by John Waller. Robert’s great-great-grandson Edward (who wrote his own account in our Blencowe book) had collaborated with the author, and his son Nicholas has written a review for us.

Next to appear was a full page account of Blincow Hall in the London Times. This brought me a string of messages and Joy Prudden sent me Marcus Binney’s article.

Some suggestions about the 2007 Reunion are also set out; clearly some definite decisions need to be made before long.

Jack Blencowe
Oxford, September 2005

Reunion 2007
Things to think about!

Our overseas members need to reach a consensus as to whether they want to plan for a one or two-week programme; local members can opt to join in all or part. If one-week I would suggest a single hotel booking within easy range of Marston St Lawrence, Sulgrave, Oxford and the many other places of interest in the South. Two weeks would allow a touring programme.

I visited Tappins (who arranged our 1993 tour) and was advised:

  • A 12-month lead time is desirable for planning a tour; block ­booking at hotels needs about 9 months. When Tappins arrange tours they do not usually require a deposit but the hotels do; this would probably be 10% of the cost of the tour or a fixed sum per person. There are usually surcharges for single rooms.
  • June & early July are less crowded than September, August is worse.
  • Tappins could arrange a tour, including hotels, or provide coaches if an overseas tour agent was making hotel arrangements. They would normally aim to provide a 4g-seater coach with air-conditioning and on-board toilet; this currently £500 per day. Airport pick-up can be arranged. Coaches are permitted to pick-up or set-down tour parties in central Oxford.
  • Members need to reach a consensus on accommodation standards: do they want to settle for a college, a city hotel, or a country hotel or motel?

It’s time to start forming opinions NOW!

The Reunion in Dayton, Ohio

On Wednesday, everyone arrived as expected and several stopped by the hospitality suite for a visit and to get an idea as to what was planned. Next day several groups met in the hotel dining area for breakfast before boarding a bus for a tour of the Dayton area and some of its significant sites.

A number of items on the tour surprised lots of people. Dayton has always been a real hot bed for invention. It wasn’t just powered flight that was invented here, it was also pop tops for cans, electric ignition and starters for automobiles, methods of flood control, code-breaking machines during WWII – the list continues.

On Friday, we headed off to an ancient Indian village that is being actively researched by archeologists; it dates from about 100 A.D. It has several reconstructed pole, daub, and thatched buildings. Numerous poles were also placed to mark significant seasonal events (summer/winter solstice, spring/winter equinox) which helped them know when to plant and harvest their crops.

After lunch at one of our local historical parks, we toured the park and learned even more about the area. Dayton at one time had six different automobile manufacturers, and they had one of the actual planes used by the Wright brothers to do their continuing research on powered flight (Charlie thought this was the greatest part.)

That evening was an evening of smooth jazz for several of us. Others were in the hospitality suite watching videos of the 1913 flood in Dayton as well as a program on the development of the code-breaking machine by NCR ( The Bombe).

On Saturday, we met and left for a day of aviation discovery with a long visit at the National Museum of the US Air Force. After returning, we met for our family dinner. At the Saturday evening dinner, Arthur Mussatt’s son and daughter-in-law who live in the area joined us. Bill Blenko and Dolores Hogan brought some colorful Blenko glass bowls as door prizes.

The business meeting concluded with a discussion on where to have the next reunion. The overwhelming opinion was in England. Make sure you check out the article in the last newsletter.

Blencowes in the English Civil War

Timothy Blencowe (c.1611-1669) was the seventh son of John Blencowe of Marston St Lawrence and his wife Mary Waleston. He was a student at Oxford and became a Fellow of New College*. In 1702 William Beaw, Bishop of Llandaff, told how Timothy came to join the Royalist forces: ‘In the beginning of the war between Charles I and the Parliament before the Battle of Edgehill’ he (Beaw, who had been made a Fellow of New College, Oxford in 1638), `left his studies and advantages and went into the King’s service, carrying with him of his Pupils and other scholars and gentlemen no less than twelve.’ Timothy was one of these: `Fellow of the same College, his Pupil and afterwards Major of Foot’. Blencow had also been a Fellow since 1638; he served under Colonels Edward Broughton and Richard Beard. It was probably Timothy (`Major Blyncott’) who was taken prisoner at Colchester in 1648. Certainly, in 1648, the Parliamentarians ejected him from his Fellowship, a post that was restored to him in 1660. Timothy seems to have remained in the Army; in 1661 he was a lieutenant of Captain Legge’s company in the garrison of Portsmouth. He died unmarried in 1669 leaving everything to the Mayor of Portsmouth.

The Robert Blencowe in the garrison of Banbury which `saw but little action until the stubborn defence of the castle in the autumn of 1644′ was probably Timothy’s elder brother who died unmarried in London in 1648.

*Clinton’s alma mater

[Based on extracts from Great Battles – Edgehill 1642 by Peter Young]

Stuart Blinco

Robert Blincoe – The Real Oliver Twist

It is gratifying to learn one is related to a world famous figure, even if the figure is fictional. Okay, Oliver Twist would not have been my first choice, but I am happy to take what I can get. The theory is that Charles Dickens used a contemporary book, The Memoirs of Robert Blincoe, to flush out the early chapters of Oliver Twist. A number of academic studies have suggested a relation between Twist and Blincoe, but the idea is taken up with gusto in a new work, The Real 0liver Twist by the Australia-based historian John Waller. The chimney-sweep incident appears in both books, though with radically different emphasis (the foolhardy Blincoe actually wanted to go up chimneys, the far wiser Twist resists). But the chief reason for believing that Dickens used Blincoe’s memoirs is that it was the only first-hand account of life in a workhouse. Dickens always did his research and, indeed, the book was mentioned in parliament at the time that Dickens was a parliamentary reporter.

John Waller’s book paints a vivid picture of an orphan’s life at the dawn of industrialisation, giving a far fuller account of Robert Blincoe’s adulthood than the original Memoirs … It is thrilling to learn that an ancestor was so heavily involved in the fight for shorter hours and children’s rights, and astonishing to read that his picture was carried on banners at political demonstrations. Waller’s rather ingenious strategy is to re-read Blincoe’s memoirs in the light of Oliver Twist. He notes that in the Dickens’ novel, Twist is able to resist the temptations of Fagin’s den because he comes of good stock. Waller shows how widespread this faith in ‘good blood’ was in the early nineteenth century. Robert Blincoe, on the flimsiest of evidence, always believed he was the orphan child of a vicar and seems to have gained his moral strength from this conviction. But is Blincoe the real Oliver Twist? As Waller points out, his memoirs undoubtedly provided the backbone of another best-selling novel, Life and Adventure of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy, by Frances Trollope, mother of Anthony. If Trollope’s book was remembered today, then perhaps we would have had The Real Michael Armstrong. But I am growing fond of Oliver.

The Real Oliver Twist: the story of Robert Blincoe, by John Waller (Icon Books)

[John Waller wrote to thank me for putting him in touch with Edward Blincoe when he started his project. If you want to know more about the book look at <www.amazon.co.uk> and by way of <www.iconbooks.co.uk> you can buy a copy post-free, world-wide Jack B.]

Milestones

<
Congratulations! To George Blincoe: Aileene wrote: “George and I, Paula, George jnr and Kristi celebrated George’s 90th birthday on 5 August, here on the 1869 Blincoe Farm [near Fort Scott in Kansas].

Angela Blencowe, who died aged 101, was born in Kidderminster Worcs. on IS Nov 1903, the youngest of six children. She proved an outstanding pupil at Kidderminster High School where she flourished academically and in the sporting arena where she played tennis, hockey and excelled in athletics. After obtaining her BA degree at Birmingham University she spent over thirty years teaching Latin and Sports at Stroud High School, eventually becoming deputy headmistress. She always declared her great love of teaching, and having fallen completely in love with the Cotswold countryside, was happy to remain there all her working life and for most of her retirement. For the last ten years she was blind and moved to a residential home near Bromsgrove, enabling her to be near four nephews and nieces and to take a special interest in the great great nephews and nieces! Her funeral at St Catherines, Blackwell, Worcs. was very much a celebration of her long and full life and was attended by many family and friends, who recalled her exceptional human qualities, her long devotion to her profession and her deep love of family. Angela’s 100th birthday was recorded in this newsletter in Autumn 2003.

Rob & Susan McClenaghan of Annidale NSW and their son-in-law Dave are coming to terms with the loss of their eldest daughter Susan who died, aged only 20, and less than two years after her marriage.

Letters

Kevin Mullins wrote from Salisbury asking for help in tracking his grandmother’s family whose surname is Eustace. He has drawn a blank so far, but the newspaper announcement of his grandad’s death gave his name as Charles Frederick Blencowe Eustace. He was buried in Warwick cemetery. Her name was Ellen Cooke, Charles also had a brother, William. The family is believed to have lived and worked in Oxfordshire all their lives.

Mary Van Gorden wrote from Wisconsin, recalling her visit to Oxford this time last year. ‘I am about to leave for a seminar in New York ‘Discovering New Netherland’ – a study of the early Dutch settlements in what is now New York. We will be in New York City, Albany, and the Hudson River Valley. I have several Dutch ancestors who were in New Netherland (including New Amsterdam) in the early 1600s, before the English took over the colony in 1664. Had it not been for Oliver Cromwell, that take-over may never have happened!’

It’s interesting to think that Mary’s Dutch ancestors pre-date the arrival of James Blincoe in Virginia by a decade or more.

Nicholas Blincoe (author of Burning Paris) sent an amusing anecdote about his wife’s reaction to the family name:

‘My wife is half Ukrainian, half Palestinian, with an attractive surname Sansour. But that’s not the reason she refused to take my name when we married. She told me Blincoe is the diminutive of blini in Ukrainian and she was not going to be called Mrs Little Pancake for anyone!

Blincoe may sound like a Ukrainian word, but that does not mean it has ever been used as a surname. But I thought I would check. On a Jewish genealogy site. I looked up Blinko and it does appear to be a Ukrainian Jewish name.’

Pat McClenaghan wrote from Armidale NSW; the letter was over-shadowed by news of the tragic loss of their eldest grand-child (see above) but, as usual gave a glimpse of a grazier’s life on the other side of the world.

Blencowe Hall Sale Advert

BLENCOWE HALL OFFERS an enthralling prospect, nothing less than nursing back to life a fortified house that, outside at least, has hardly changed in four centuries. The name goes back further still, Adam de Blencow so distinguished himself serving under the Black Prince, probably at the Battle of Poitiers, that he was granted his own coat of arms by the Lord of neighbouring Greystoke, whom he had accompanied to France.

Certainly the open farming country, measured out by straight stone walls, makes a good setting for stout walls and battlements, Ullswater Fells and the Lake District are just a few miles to the west and on a clear day there are even longer views east to the Pennines,
<
The thrill of Blencowe is the superb masonry, with every stone telling through variations in shape, size and texture with soft reds blending into dove greys. Over many of the windows there are conspicuous `relieving` arches taking the weight off the straight stone window heads. Many of these are Tudor-style hood moulds with ball-shaped `stops` at the corners carved with basketwork or lozenges.

The main south front gives the impression of being curiously slid open to reveal a lower, more domestic house within. The explanation is that Blencowe has not one but two of the fortified Pele towers that are common in these parts. The first southeast tower on the right is dated to 1475.

The intervening range has the date 1590 over the entrance door in the courtyard and the initials and coat of arms of Henry Blencowe. Above are the words vivere mori, mori vitae (a cryptic Latin tag that can be roughly translated as ‘live to die, dying is living’). This is held to relate to the words written by Lady Jane Grey to her sister on the night of her execution on February 12, 1554: ‘Live still to die, that you may by death purchase eternal life.’ It served as a subtle reminder that the Blencowes were related to Lady Jane Grey’s husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, who was put to death alongside her at the Tower of London. Henry Blencowe was a man of local standing. He had married Grace, the sister of Sir Richard Sandford of Howgill Castle, across the border in Westmoreland. From James 1 he received a knighthood, serving twice as High Sheriff of Cumberland. To him is also attributed the southwest tower of 1620.

Both towers are now little more than shells. The southwest tower has a savage gash running from top to bottom of the kind that Cromwell and Richelieu left when they ‘slighted’ castles held by their enemies, ensuring that they could never be used again. This is a strong possibility at Blencowe as Parliamentary forces under General Lambert took Penrith in 1648 and detachments were sent out to take Rose and Greystoke Castles, which were both burnt. As Blencowe was on the way from Greystoke to Rose, and traces of artillery platforms have been found in the fields nearby, there is every chance that Cromwellians savaged it.

Ruin certainly set in early, for as long ago as 1840 a local historian, L.W. Jefferson, observed a ‘picturesque’ and ‘luxuriant plane tree which had its root under the tower wall’. The last of the Blencowes, Henry Prescott BIencowe, sold the property in 1802 to the 11 th Duke of Norfolk who had earlier remodelled Greystoke Castle. For nearly two centuries it continued as a tenant farm until sold to the present vendors 17 years ago. The challenge at Blencowe is to bring these towers back into use. They potentially contain the best, and most interesting accommodation in the house. Even without floors or ceilings, fine stone doorways are visible as, well as several stone fireplaces suspended in mid air; though in the southeast tower a wooden floor remains beneath a corrugated roof (with handsome fireplaces peeping out above). Here there is also a fine spiral stone stair which could readily connect to the rest of house.

The entrance to Blencowe is, through an archway in the west-facing gatehouse wing. It opens into a courtyard once enclosed by buildings on four sides. An interesting detail is the two rows of sandstone tiles along the lower edge of roof with slates above. Only two ranges remain, with the former chapel on the north side announced by a twin-pointed arch window. Today it is just a rough cattle shelter.

The farm is still tenanted and Blencowe is offered for sale for, £1 million, with 125 acres, or for £675,000 with 25 acres. There are modern farm buildings to the north, partly shielded by a fine L-shaped range of stone barns with a date of 1703, and a duck pond in front. The barns have airing slits instead of windows (as well as clay drainpipes set into the masonry for further ventilation). Any alterations need to be made very carefully: A Knight Frank representative says that residential conversion would be contrary to planning policy, but that holiday lets might be a possibility. But for anyone wanting outbuildings, whether as studios, workshops or for a collection of vintage cars, they have an immediate appeal. The present owners have kept horses. This is well drained limestone country with quite an incline – ideal for gallops.

The front door opens on to a 19th century stair with a large drawing room to the left, and an old kitchen with characteristic large arch on the right. On the first floor are three modest bedrooms in the south range and three more large but bare in the gatehouse range.

Potential purchasers of this romantic place have a choice. Embarking on a full programme of careful repair and reconstruction could take two years and cost £1 million or more. Anyone willing to do the work gradually could move in at once and adopt a hands-on approach, which would be immensely rewarding because every day would bring fresh discoveries. If ever patience is exhausted, a trout stream beckons in a wooded ravine just to the south of the house. And for a quick getaway Blencowe is only four miles from Penrith, the M6, and fast trains to London and Glasgow.

I have reprinted in full the article above by Marcus Binney from The Times of 16 September. There are historical inaccuracies (see Jill Dudbridge’s~ contributions in our Blencowe book) but there are architectural details that I had not noticed when I visited. It should also be interesting for members who have not yet visited the ancestral home in Cumbria.

Whoever takes the place over faces a big challenge! Perhaps just finishing the modernising of the central home would be more practical than tackling the ruined towers!

Letters

Kevin Mullins wrote from Salisbury asking for help in tracking his grandmother’s family whose surname is Eustace. He has drawn a blank so far, but the newspaper announcement of his grandad’s death gave his name as Charles Frederick Blencowe Eustace. He was buried in Warwick cemetery. Her name was Ellen Cooke, Charles also had a brother, William. The family is believed to have lived and worked in Oxfordshire all their lives.

Mary Van Gorden wrote from Wisconsin, recalling her visit to Oxford this time last year. ‘I am about to leave for a seminar in New York ‘Discovering New Netherland’ – a study of the early Dutch settlements in what is now New York. We will be in New York City, Albany, and the Hudson River Valley. I have several Dutch ancestors who were in New Netherland (including New Amsterdam) in the early 1600s, before the English took over the colony in 1664. Had it not been for Oliver Cromwell, that take-over may never have happened!’

It’s interesting to think that Mary’s Dutch ancestors pre-date the arrival of James Blincoe in Virginia by a decade or more.

Nicholas Blincoe (author of Burning Paris) sent an amusing anecdote about his wife’s reaction to the family name:

‘My wife is half Ukrainian, half Palestinian, with an attractive surname Sansour. But that’s not the reason she refused to take my name when we married. She told me Blincoe is the diminutive of blini in Ukrainian and she was not going to be called Mrs Little Pancake for anyone!

Blincoe may sound like a Ukrainian word, but that does not mean it has ever been used as a surname. But I thought I would check. On a Jewish genealogy site. I looked up Blinko and it does appear to be a Ukrainian Jewish name.’

Pat McClenaghan wrote from Armidale NSW; the letter was over-shadowed by news of the tragic loss of their eldest grand-child (see above) but, as usual gave a glimpse of a grazier’s life on the other side of the world.

The usual problems with rainfall: they’ve been carting feed to all the stock since the end of January. A welcome 50 mm on Saturday has put water in some of the dams and the grass has started to green (a bit) but they’ll have to continue feeding for at least another three weeks.

Frank Blincow’s war-time tales in our last newsletter reminded her of a friend sending food parcels to bomb-damaged Coventry.

Called away from the typewriter, Pat had to go and warn traffic whilst sheep were being mustered across the main road, then drive the Land Rover whilst cotton seed was shovelled out the back for the cattle. A busy life!

Douglas Bain wrote: ‘I have never moved from Canada, I still live at my original address: 88 Bloor Street, East, Apartment # 3307, Toronto Ontario M4W 3G9’

Sorry Douglas, my mistake! He then goes on to ask: ‘Will there be an update of the Blencowe Families book?’

The answer to that one is that it would be hopelessly uneconomic. We still have some left of the original thousand and could never hope to sell as many of a second edition. A shorter print run would cost much more per copy. It might be practicable to produce a revised version for limited distribution on CD. (My son John put the original version on a disk for me.) It would be quite a lot of work and I can’t see myself contemplating it before some kind soul takes over the newsletter!

Judith Blinco responded to my request for suggestions of places to visit during family reunion: ‘Whilst I reside in America one of my favorite websites is the [UK] National Archives. This month’s email suggests visits to archives with details on <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/events/behindscenes.htm>’

Judith went on to tell me she would send further information about her father Paul Blinco, adopted son of George and Myrtle Blinco of Nebraska. She also raised the problem of a suitable repository for original family documents or their copies.

We have deposited a very large collection of transcripts at the Northamptonshire County Records Office and Jill Dudbridge’s collection of photocopies (from which many of the transcripts were made) are destined to go there too. Whilst this is a good centre for anyone researching their English roots, it wouldn’t make much sense to accumulate American documents there too. Somewhere suitable in North America needs to be suggested; I’ll follow this up in our next issue.

Judith’s letter reminded me that it would be good to track down a male descendant of her branch of the family for a DNA test (they emigrated from Mixbury to Elora in Ontario). Her father Paul was an adopted son so his descendant’s DNA would not reveal any clues to the ancestry of the Mixbury Blincos.

The correspondence continues with Thomas Grindley in Maryland and Jill Dudbridge in London about our Tolson family connections. Thomas suggested that John and Dorothy Tolson’s father Henry had married a sister of Anthony named Joan of whom we had no previous knowledge; Jill feels that evidence is circumstantial but will keep an open mind!

Meanwhile, I have another suggestion. In her will Margaret Rampston had also named Dorothy Tolson as ‘niece’. Margaret, a widow, had also named her daughter ‘Frances Smythe formerly Bateman’ and ‘son Nicholas Blincoe’. I had assumed Margaret was a widow of Bateman who had subsequently married a Blencowe and then Rampston. What if ‘Bateman’ was the daughter’s name by a first Husband? Margaret could have been the sister of Anthony who married Brodherst. The Blencowe arms she displayed on her tombstone would then have been in her own right, not that of a Blencowe husband. This still does not identify clearly who her Blencowe husband was! This may all seem a bit esoteric to many readers but Margaret had acquired considerable wealth from her successive husbands and her son Nicholas and his descendants were substantial landowners in London and Essex.