A Great Deliverance -
Uppingham’s typhoid epidemic 1875–7
By Nigel Richardson
Privately published 2021. ISBN 978-1-9196205-0-3
and
A Spring Invasion -
Uppingham School at Borth 1876–7
By Nigel Richardson.
Privately published 2021. ISBN 978-1-9196205-1-0.
Both publications are A4 and illustrated. They are free on-line at
http://uppinghamhistory.org.uk/pubs/borth.pdf
.
Has
enough
already
been
written
about
the
uncomfortable
years
of
typhoid
outbreaks
at
Uppingham
in
the
1870s
and
Edward
Thring’s
controversial
flight
with
his
school
to
Borth
on
the
Welsh
coast,
not
least
by
the
author
of
these
two
parallel
publications?
Nigel
Richardson
taught
history
at
Uppingham
from
1971
to
1989
and
was
thus
well-placed
to
take
advantage
of
the
school’s
archives
to
document
the
fractious
relationship
between
the
personalities
of
town
and
school
such
as
Thring
and
the
rector
William
Wales,
the
insanitary
conditions
exacerbated
by
the
growth
in
pupil
numbers,
and
the
conflicts
between
institutions
such
as
the
local
Rural
Sanitary
Authority
and,
in
London,
the
Local
Government
Board.
This
he
did
to
good
effect
in
Rutland
Record
21
(2001)
and
26
(2006),
and
Social
History
of
Medicine
20.2
(2007)’
This
was
followed
by
his
University
College,
London,
doctoral
thesis,
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/42578116.pdf
,
which
in
turn
became
a
book,
Typhoid
in
Uppingham:
Analysis
of
a
Victorian
Town
and
School
in
Crisis
1875–1877
(Pickering
&
Chatto
2008);
see
also
his
study
Thring
of
Uppingham:
Victorian
Educator
(University
of
Bucking-ham
Press
2014).
Nor
is
he
the
only
writer
to
have
put
pen
to
paper
about Thring and Uppingham in recent years: but yet we can welcome these two volumes.
Especially
in
Deliverance
we
have
a
useful
overview
of
conditions
in
the
town
in
the
1870s,
giving
a
sense
too
not
just
of
relationships
between
town
and
gown
but
of
the
society
of
the
place
as
a
whole.
There
is
a
feeling
of
what
it
would
have
been
like
to
live
there
with
livelihoods
threatened
by
the
transhumance
of
the
school
away
from
Rutland,
and
by
foul
drainage systems and contaminated water supplies.
Thring’s
temperament,
vacillating
between
energetic
optimism
and
fearful
depression,
emerges
clearly
from
the
original
sources
which
are
so
fruitfully
used;
so
too
do
the
obstinacy
and
belligerence
of
the
various
conflicting
parties.
Officials
of
the
Local
Government
Board
remain
largely
anonymous,
but
one
can
only
sympathise
as
they
received
yet
another
bombardment of letters, requests and complaints from Uppingham.
The
two
volumes
might
have
been
better
presented
as
one.
Separately,
there
is
a
fair
amount
of
repetition
between
the
two,
especially
with
regard
to
Borth,
both
in
text
and
illustration,
but
those
with
access
to
the
earlier
Rutland
Record
articles
will
find that here there are rather more illustrations.
There
is
also
more
in
the
way
of
quotation
from
contemporary
sources,
but
the
short
reading
lists
are
selective
and
there
is
minimal
referencing
in
the
text.
It
would
have
been
helpful
to
cite
and
indicate
more
clearly
the
whereabouts
of
specific
sources such as Dr Bell’s letterbook.
Overall,
one
is
left
with
a
sense
of
admiration
for
Thring’s
determination
to
overcome
the
threats
facing
his
school,
and
the
logistical
achievement
of
translating
the
school
lock,
stock
and
barrel
to
Borth,
nearly
200
miles
away
on
the
Welsh
coast
–
never
mind
the
language
barrier!
Nowhere
is
this
better
illustrated
than
in
the
elections
to
the
board
of
guardians
in
1876
when
voting
papers
were
taken
to
Borth
by
overnight
train
from
Rugby
and
returned
just
in
time
for
the
count
(
Deliverance
,
pp63–4;
Invasion
,
pp23–4).
A
little
earlier
this
could
not
have
happened:
there
would
have
been
neither
railway
nor
telegraph
–
even
today
the
journey
by
train
from
Rugby
to
Borth
via
Birmingham
takes
up
to
four
hours
(and
there
is
no
overnight
train).
Sixty
years
ago,
this
reviewer
was
an
Uppingham
School
boarder.
Borth
was
more
than
just
a
distant
memory
of
something
that
had
happened
in
the
remote
past.
It
was
present
to
the
extent
that
he
and
his
fellows
were
expected
to
learn
and
to
sing the words of the
Borth Lyrics
, set to music by Paul David: -
Never, oh never, was heard before,...
...That a school as old as an old oak tree,
Fast by the roots was flung up in the air,...
... And ... Pitched on its feet by the sea.
Tim Clough (OU, Meadhurst 1957)
Researching Rutland
Copyright © Rutland Local History and Record Society. - All rights reserved
Registered Charity No 700273
Book Review
Researching Rutland
© Rutland Local History and Record Society
Registered Charity No 700273
Book Review
William Browne’s Town: The Stamford Hall Book 1465-1492
Stamford Survey Group in association with Stamford Town Council and
Stamford Civic Trust
Stamford is fortunate to have a Hall Book, a record of the council minutes
of the town. Until now it has remained in the town’s archives only to be
seen by historians with an appointment. With this transcript Alan Rogers
has made the first part of the Hall Book accessible to all and we are given
the opportunity to step back in time and discover what life was really like
in the fifteenth century. Future volumes are planned which will continue
the story of Stamford’s town affairs.
The book gives a remarkable insight into the lives of townspeople in
medieval England covering the years from 1465, shortly after the town’s
incorporation, until 1489 just after the death of William Browne. William
Browne was a very rich and important Merchant of the Staple. He
controlled the affairs of the town during this period, serving as Alderman
on several occasions. His legacy to Stamford is All Saints’ Church and
Browne’s Hospital.
As today, rules and regulations governed the lives of townsfolk. The
minutes record laws forbidding Sunday trading and fines for leaving
horses tied up in the wrong places on market days – as the editor
comments, ‘There were parking penalties even in medieval Stamford’. We
also find that there were designated places for dunghills and times when
animals could be brought into town. From this book we learn how law
and order was enforced and the punishments meted out to wrongdoers.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the volume is the tremendous
number of different trades pursued in the town. The wardens strictly
controlled the craftsmen to ensure the quality of goods and there was a
diversity of rules governing the guilds and the pageant of Corpus Christi.
Alan Rogers has had close links with Stamford and readers will no doubt
be familiar with his books The Medieval Buildings of Stamford
(Nottingham 1970), The Book of Stamford (Buckingham 1983) and, with
JS Hartley, The Religious Foundations of Medieval Stamford
(Nottingham 1974). He has also been closely involved with local history in
Rutland, most recently in Uppingham, inspiring and encouraging local
historians to record aspects of the history of that town.
For this volume Professor Rogers has written an excellent introduction
including the insight he has gained about the role of William Browne in
making the transcript. He also adds useful comments throughout the
volume and there is an excellent index. It is a shame that the Editorial
Conventions are not at the front of the book and a glossary would have
been useful for those less familiar with the legal terms of the medieval
period. Do not however be deterred by the plain cover: inside it is a
fascinating record not just for people in Stamford but for anyone
interested in town life in the Middle Ages. It is a book to dip into, and read
aloud it comes to life. It certainly merits a place on the bookshelf of
anyone interested in history.
Jean Orpin