Marian, eldest daughter of Wm Henry and Hannah was know later as Aunty Mamey. Her letter of February 1874, along with Peter Lindsey-Renton's notes, is quite fascinating; it paints a vivid picture. It also confirms other information I have including her father's account book.
Imagine it is February 1874. Mamey will be 26 in seven day’s time and she is going out to South Africa to get married. Also sailing are her step-mother, Francis, who is only 2 or 3 years older, her father and two of her brothers, Humfrey and Ernest Hedley. This must have been quite an adventure in those days. Wm. Henry is 57 and Francis (Fanny) is 28. They have two sons who they have left a home at Bridge House, Wallingford: Rayner who will be four in a few day's time and Clement Henry who will be two in September. Sunnie will be born in eight and a half months time in October just after they get back to England. Mamey's brothers, Humfrey and Emest Hedley are 24 and 15 respectively.
Back at Bridge House are Rose, 22, and Florence, 15, to whom Mamey is writing. I expect Bertha aged 12 and the youngest of Hanna's children, are there as well. I think Newton, Wm Henry’s eldest son, has already died in an accident at Twyford Mill. Wm. Henry sold the mill to Lawrence, now 30, back in early in 1868 granting him a private mortgage to do so. This was probably at about the time of Lawrence's marriage and was certainly in the year of Hannah's death in January 1868. Wm. Henry probably moved to Bridge House just after he sold Twyford Mill to Lawrence.
I do not know where Clement, 28, and William Howard, 20, are but I do know that Wm. Howard will become a miller too. Wm. Henry bought Lechlade Mill in October 1875 and let it to Wm. Howard. It is interesting that Peter Lindsey-Renton tells us that Wm. Howard was a sponsor at Clifford Button's baptism in 1882 so he at least made a trip to South Africa as well. Another little snippet in the letter is about Rose looking forward to a visit from "her dear Willie". This must he William Hazel whom she married. Their son, Emest, was a partner in a firm of Solicitors in London and maybe William was before him. I have a letter written by Emest Hazel to Leslie Naish in 1927 on the partnership letter heading.
Was this Humfrey's first trip to South Africa or had he been before and returned to accompany those making this trip? Peter Lindsey-Renton tells us that Humfrey was already ordained and was an Assistant at Springvale Mission from 1874 to 1880. From 1880 till 1882 he was Parish Priest of the newly established parish of Kokstad in the Diocese of St John which had been established in 1873. He returned to England in 1882. He was Rector at St Just-in Roseland, Cornwall, from 1901 until his death in 1930.
Marian was engaged to the Rev Smith, the Parish Priest at Escourt, but she changed her mind. Was she being prophetic in her letter? It is not totally clear if she had met the Rev. Smith before but one story I remember was that she did meet him for the first time on her arrival in South Africa and was put off because he had soup in his beard. Any way Wm. Henry and Fanny returned to England and Marian and Hedley stayed with Humfrey at Springvale. Marian met the Rev Thurston Button, priest of the newly established Parish of Clydesdale in the Diocese of St John and they were married in July 1875. The witnesses were Humfrey Davis, A. Button and Donald Strachan. I assume that Donald Strachan was the father of Douglas Strachan who married Bertha's daughter, Bertha Kathleen Roe-Scott. I remember Kathleen well when she came to Bristol and her fascinating reminiscences; I am sure others can relate these better than I.
Thurston Button died in March 1886 after being thrown from his horse. Mamey went back to England with her four children and later returned to South Africa with her sister Bertha. She married again, to the Rev. James Chater. Hedley established a store on the mission at Clydesdale and in 1882 went in to partnership with Horace Whyte and George Scott. Bertha and George Scott were married in April 1888 and Hedley married Horace Whyte's sister.
In the meantime back in England the eldest sister, Florence had married Charles Priday. He became very important in due course to my Grandfather, Thurston, because he lent Thurston the money to buy a partnership in Hall and Fitzgerald. I am told that the Priday family has a very impressive record of their Family Tree. Fanny had six children in all and the last, Leslie Naish, was born on 24th May 1883 forty years after Newton was born on 8th March 1843. Wm. Henry and Fanny moved to Bristol sometime between 1876, when Thurston was born at Wallingford, and 1894, when Wm. Henry died at Shirehampton, Bristol. I have no idea why they moved to Bristol. Fanny died 1927.
There is a memorial to Hannah, Wm. Henry's first wife, and her parents, Richard and , at Britwell Salome Church. This is a lovely little church in a tiny community that presumably served a wider farming community. I have heard it said that Newton objected to the way Wm. Henry treated Hannah and that this contributed to Newton's death. However Marian's letter suggests that she and Fanny got on well together and certainly Marian, in her letter, expresses affection for Rayner, Fanny's first child.
Letters to Thurston from Rayner and Clement Henry show that after Wm. Henry died Fanny was in considerable financial trouble. Rayner, her eldest, was in the Navy and not able to send money home. Clement Henry was in South Africa trying to establish himself. He was rearing sheep and, in 1901, was completely without funds until he went to market and then he would still owe money to his half-brother, Ernest Hedley. There is no suggestion in these letters that Sunnie should contribute but a few years later she and Thurston are taking control. In 1901 Thurston was recently married, had a daughter and was busy building his career. However he was also very much involved in his mother's finances. Francis Madresfield is not mentioned in the letters which suggests that he was contributing to his mother's up keep. In 1901 Leslie was too young to be able to play a part; later he did so.
INTRODUCING MARIAN