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We whose Names are hereunto subscribed do enter upon a Club to be held every Fortnight from this day forward for Twelve Months and subject ourselves to the Articles and Forfeitures aforementioned _ And We Do hereby constitute and appoint The Revnd Mr: Thos: Atcherley our Steward for the year 1766 – Proposals for a Pamphlett Clubb to be held at the Red Lyon Inn in Ely every Fortnight on the Thursday night from Jany: 9th 1766 to Jany: 8th 1767.
The names of the eleven men who, along with the Rev Thomas Atcherley, subscribed to Ely’s new “Pamphlett Clubb” were as follows (reproduced as written, and in the order in which the signatures were added): James Gallaway, Thos: Gotobed, John Rayner, Isaac Cockeram, William Marshall, George Muriel, Worth Marshall, Thoms Poole junr., Danl. Dickins, Willm Drage, and Will Groom. Who were the people behind these names?
When historian John Feather wrote a paper about the Ely Pamphlet Club in 1980, he observed that Thomas Atcherley was the only one of the twelve original members who could be identified with any certainty. The others could not be found amongst known university graduates, or members of the Inns of Court, or members or Fellows of the Royal Colleges. John concluded that “they were probably tradesmen” and that the “mixture of traders and a few professional men” that characterised the Ely club over the period of its existence “was typical of the small town book clubs”.
Nearly 40 years later, with the benefit of so many digitised and indexed records and other sources of information (particularly wills, parish registers, apprentice indenture duty registers, books and newspapers), the task that defeated John Feather is a lot less problematic. Let’s meet the ‘Ely Literati’ of 1766, the men whose company Thomas Atcherley kept at the meetings of the pamphlet club he helped to found.
James Gallaway identified himself as a Gentleman of Ely when he made his will in December 1776, but he was described as a Draper in the register of Ely Holy Trinity (the cathedral church) when he was buried there on 31 May 1777. He appears to have died ‘without issue,’ but in his extensive will (the Prerogative Court of Canterbury’s copy extends to nine and a half pages) he made reference to brothers, sisters, in-laws, nephews and cousins (and also his late father and two deceased uncles). Interestingly, one of the brothers-in-law named by James in his will appears to have been a fellow founder member of the Ely pamphlet club: John Rayner, husband of Susanna, née Gallaway. After James’s death, notices appeared in The Ipswich Journal advising that the following property was to be let or sold:
AN Old and very good accustomed Shop, in the Linen and Woollen-drapery business, as carried on by the late Mr. JAMES GALLAWAY of Ely, deceased, with which may be had the stock in trade and furniture, if desired, at a fair appraisement. The dwelling-house belonging to the above shop is in exceeding good repair; has a large yard and garden, and very commodious buildings for carrying on the woolcombing business and butter factory, in both which articles Mr. Gallaway was largely concerned, and which will, if desired, be made over to the tenant or purchaser of the estate.
Thomas Gotobed was almost certainly the Thomas Gotobed, of Ely, Attorney, whose letters to the first Lord Hardwicke (in the years from 1761 to 1763) are (like the Ely Pamphlet Club register) held at the British Library. Most likely he was also the Thomas Gotobed who, with others, addressed a “Declaration concerning title in messuages and lands, part freehold, part copyhold in Badlingham and Chippenham” to Walter Orbelle of Herringswell, Suffolk in 1780; the Thomas Gotobed Esq who served as Chief Bailiff of Ely from 1783 to 1791, and the 65-year-old Thomas Gotobed Esq who was buried on 9 January 1792 at Ely St Mary (pictured below) – the Kentish Gazette reported the death, at Ely, of “Thomas Gotobed Esq. High Bailiff and one of Justices of the Peace of the Isle of Ely, and a Commissioner of the Lottery.” Just to cast a little doubt on this however, there was also a Thomas Gotobed who was buried at Ely St Mary on 4 June 1770, and he was a maltster.
John Rayner, as we have seen, was described by his brother-in-law James Gallaway as a Merchant. James had acted as bondsman for John when the latter obtained a marriage licence for his marriage to ‘Susan’ (Susanna) Gallaway in 1763. “Mr. John Rayner, Merchant, at Ely” – and “Mr. Robert Rayner, Merchant, London” – subscribed to Miscellanies In Prose and Verse, Original and Translated, published in 1767 and compiled by the Rev William Rayner, B.A., of Caius College, Cambridge, then Curate of Worlingworth in Suffolk. Were these three Rayners brothers? If they were, John and Robert shared with William (who was born in Norwich) a father who was a librarian. The burial of 76-year-old John Rayner, merchant, took place at Ely St Mary on 28 March 1811; his death sadly merited only the briefest of mentions in The Monthly Magazine.
Isaac Cockeram began his apprenticeship with Augustus Caesar Thompson, Gentleman (an attorney) in 1751, and as an attorney in his own right Isaac took on his own apprentice, Thomas Boyce, in 1765. A second apprentice, Austin Drage, followed in 1770 (I have not been able to discover whether Austin was related to William Drage of the Ely Pamphlet Club). Isaac was 25 (and described himself as a Gentleman) when he applied for a marriage licence to wed Mary Taylor in 1761 – based on the foregoing his baptism would therefore be that of “Isaac [son] of Isaac & Ann Cockeram” at Downham Market, Norfolk, on 9 March 1736.
Isaac senior was quite possibly the man of that name who was buried at Downham Market on 24 January 1780. Sadly, Isaac junior died when he was only 39. He made his will on 7 February 1775 and appointed his friend (and fellow book lover), James Gallaway, as trustee, guardian of his children John and Mary, and also as sole executor. The latter role was one which James failed to undertake, which meant the administration of Isaac’s will was granted to one of James’s executors after James died in 1792. Isaac Cockeram, Attorney, was buried at Ely Holy Trinity on 18 February 1775.
Interior of Ely Cathedral.
William Marshall would have been known to Thomas Atcherley, as he was one of the lay clerks or “singing men” of Ely Cathedral. He was appointed to a ‘half place’ on 14 June 1758, and a whole place 5 April 1759. William and Thomas would therefore have seen each other, and sung together, on a regular basis. William Marshall, age 59, lay clerk, was buried at Ely Holy Trinity on 4 August 1796. His age at death indicates that he was the William Marshall, son of William and Anne, who was baptised at Holy Trinity on 11 October 1738. In his will, made on 23 January 1796, William Marshall of Ely, “one of the Lay Clerks of the Cathedral Church of Ely”, made provision for his wife Susanna, and a son and daughter named after himself and his wife.
George Muriel. In an 1872 edition of Notes and Queries it was stated that: “The family of Muriel has been settled in Ely, Cambs., for rather more than a century. George, the eldest son of Rev. George Muriel, rector of Chatteris, having come to that city circa 1750, and adopted the medical profession, which has been carried on by his descendants to the present time.” The Ipswich Journal of 24 Jun 1769 reported that “Last Saturday morning died at Ely, Mr. George Muriel, an eminent surgeon of that place.” The burial of Mr George Muriel, surgeon, took place at Ely Holy Trinity on the 22nd of that month. The Ipswich Journal of 8 July 1769 (and subsequent editions) then carried a notice which sheds a little more light on George’s work and family. It began as follows:
ELY, June 27, 1769.
ROBERT MURIEL, of Somersham in the County of Huntingdon, Surgeon, Apothecary and Man Midwife, […] having taken the Shop and House of his late Brother, Mr. George Muriel of Ely, Surgeon, Apothecary and Man Midwife, deceased, begs leave to request of the Friends of his late Brother and others, the Benefit of their Favours, as they may depend on being attended and served in the several branches of the Profession with the utmost Care and Assiduity, […]
Quite by chance, I came across details of a monumental inscription for Robert in Ely – see the copy here, and spot the transcription error!
Worth Marshall was, like the aforementioned William Marshall, a lay clerk and singing man of Ely Cathedral. Zuzanna Shonfield, in her 1987 book The Precariously Privileged: A Medical Man’s Family in Victorian London, noted that “Worth Marshall, whose talents extended to the composition of chants and hymns, sang in the choir for just under half a century, from 1763 to 1812.” He had been appointed to his position at the cathedral on 14 June 1763; on 10 September that year when he applied for a licence to marry Elizabeth Jefferys, his bondsman was John Elborn of Ely College. Worth Marshall, age 79, lay clerk, was buried at Ely Holy Trinity on 31 August 1812. He would therefore have been the Worth Marshall baptised at that place on 22 October 1733, son of Wm and Anne Marshall – and therefore also elder brother of the aforementioned William Marshall.
Thomas Poole of Ely described himself as a draper when he made his will on 8 December 1764, a little over a year before the formation of the Ely Pamphlet Club. In that will he made provision for his wife Mary, son Thomas, and daughters Sarah, Ann and Elizabeth. Thomas lived for nearly ten years after setting out his last wishes: the burial of Thos Poole, gent, “an imenent linin draper” according to a transcription from the parish register, took place at Ely St Mary on 14 March 1774, and his will was proved on 6 April that year.
Daniel Dickins is the one member of the Ely Literati whose identity I am having real trouble with. There were two men with that name for me to choose from, neither of whom have many records to their name. One was “Daniel Dickins of Ely Cambridge Cordwainer” who took on John Aggus as an apprentice in 1764. He was buried at Ely Holy Trinity on 3 February 1771, his entry in the parish register noting that he was a shoemaker. Two years later at the same church however, a Mr Daniel Dickins, noted as being a “common brewer”, was buried. Given that the brewer was the only one of the two to be given the prefix ‘Mr’, I suspect he was the pamphlet club member.
William Drage’s occupation was first revealed to me by a death notice for his wife, published in the Bury and Norwich Post of 3 June 1801: “On Sunday se’nnight died at Ely, aged 87, Mrs. Drage, relict of Mr. Wm. Drage, surgeon.” (A ‘se’nnight’, incidentally, was a week – half a fortnight, if you will.) In his will of 12 June 1770, in which he made his wife Martha his sole beneficiary and executor, William described himself as being “of Ely in the Isle of Ely Gentleman”. However when William Drage applied for a licence to marry Martha Pigott in 1768, and when Mr William Drage was buried at Ely Holy Trinity on 2 January 1775, he was described as a surgeon.
Boats on the river at Ely – not quite as they were in William Groom’s day!
William Groom did not serve as or take on an apprentice, nor did he leave a will that I can find a trace of. However, a notice in The Ipswich Journal of 18 August 1750 naming him as an executor of “Mr. Thomas Kempton, of Ely, Boatwright” led me to the will of the latter gentleman, in which “William Groom of Ely aforesaid Waterman” was named. He appeared in “A List of the Posts, Carriers, &c. that come to and go from Cambridge” published in 1753 as a carrier of Ely. “William Grooms boats” offered a service to the Great Bridge at Cambridge on Tuesday and Friday evenings at 6pm, with return journeys on Wednesdays and Saturdays at noon. I believe he was the William Groom who died at the grand old age of 92 and was buried at 22 April 1787 at Ely Holy Trinity. If so, he had changed his trade from waterman to coal merchant – probably using his boats to haul the coal he sold. William was of Ely, and a freeholder of land, when the general election of 1780 took place, according to the poll book for the election of Cambridgeshire’s two representatives. The same poll book included other Ely residents whose names will by now be familiar: “Atcherly, T. Clerk”, “Marshal, Worth” and “Rayner, John”.
These, then, were the men who, with the Rev Thomas Atcherley, founded Ely’s “Pamphlet Clubb” in 1766: two lay clerks (who were also brothers), two surgeons, two attorneys (or, possibly, an attorney and a maltster), two drapers (one of whom was also a woolcomber and butter maker), a merchant, a waterman who became a coal merchant, and either a brewer or a shoemaker. What they read as members of this club, will be the subject of the next part of this story.
To be continued.
Picture credits.Ely: Photo by Nick Ford; taken from his Flickr photostream and used under the terms of a Creative Commons licence. Ely St Mary: Adapted from a photo by Robert Cutts; taken from his Flickr photostream, modified, used and made available for re-use under a Creative Commons licence. Ely Cathedral interior: Photo by Gary Campbell-Hall; taken from his Flickr photostream and used under the terms of a Creative Commons licence. On a mural monument: From The History and Antiquities of the Conventual and Cathedral Church of Ely, second edition, published 1812 and therefore out of copyright. Boats on the river at Ely: Photo by Mariusz Kluzniak; taken from his Flickr photostream and used under a Creative Commons licence.
References.
(See also these references from Part 1 of this story: 2, John Feather (1980), The Ely Pamphlet Club 1766-1776; 18, in respect of the appointments of William and Worth Marshall at Ely Cathedral.)
[1] British Library, item ref Add MS 44973: Register of a Pamphlet Club, which met every fortnight at the Red Lion Inn at Ely, co. Camb. […]. ff. 1-15 Thomas Atcherley, alias Atcherly; Canon of Ely: Records, as steward of a pamphlet club at Ely: 1766. Indexed at the British Library website. Digital copy supplied to me by Carole Steers, Ancestry Examiner.
[2] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref PROB 11/1032/88: Will of James Gallaway, Gentleman of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Copy viewed at Ancestry – England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. Also available from The National Archives website.
[3] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1777. Entry dated 31 May 177 for burial of James Gallaway. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[4] The Ipswich Journal, 16 Aug 1777, page 3. “[To] be LETT or SOLD”. Copy viewed at British Newspaper Archive.
[5] British Library, item ref Add MS 35680: (VI. ff. 405). July, 1784-1788.includes:ff. 1, 16, 17, 19-21, 27, 103, 104, 113, 129, 198, 209, 210, 254, 270, 271, 289, 371 Thomas Gotobed, of Ely, Attorney: Letters to the 3rd Lord Hardwicke: 1780-1789 […]. Indexed at British Library website.
[6] Cambridgeshire Archives, Item ref R/55/7/4/(c)/20: Thomas Gotobed of Ely and others to Walter Orbelle of Herringswell, Suffolk. Indexed at The National Archives website.
[7] William Stevenson (1817), A Supplement to the Second Edition of Mr. Bentham’s History and Antiquities of the Cathedral & Conventual Church of Ely. Page 40. Copy viewed at Google Books.
[8] Ely St Mary, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1792. Entry dated 9 Jan 1792 for the burial of Thomas Gotobed Esq. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[9] Kentish Gazette, 10 Jan 1792, page 3. “DEATHS.”. Copy viewed at British Newspaper Archive.
[10] Ely St Mary, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1770. Entry dated 4 Jun 1770 for the burial of Thomas Gotobed. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[11] Cambridge University Library, ref EDR G2/39a: Marriage bond / allegation for John Rayner, marriage licence date 9 Oct 1763. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire, Ely Diocese Marriage Licences 1684-1811.
[12] William Rayner (1767), Miscellanies in prose and verse, original and translated. Page iv. Copy viewed at Google Books.
[13] Person: Rayner, William (1765 – 1801). At: Clergy of the Church of England Database (accessed 17 Nov 2019).
[14] Ely St Mary, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1811. Entry dated 28 Mar 1811 for burial of John Rayner. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[15] The Monthly Magazine, 1 May 1811, page 390. “Died.] […] At Ely, Mr. J. Rayner, 76.” Copy viewed at Google Books.
[16] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref CP 5/29/20: Articles of clerkship (as a solicitor or attorney) for Isaac Cockeram, articled to Augustus C Thompson. Indexed at The National Archives Website.
[17] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref IR1 (Board of Stamps, Apprenticeship Books) Piece 19, folio 44: Entry for Augustus Caesar Thompson, Gentleman (Master) / Isaac Cockeram (Apprentice). Copy viewed at Ancestry – UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures, 1710-1811. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Britain, Country Apprentices 1710-1808.
[18] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref IR1 (Board of Stamps, Apprenticeship Books) Piece 24, folio 105: Entry for Isaac Cockram, Attorney (Master) / Thos Boyce (Apprentice). Copy viewed at Ancestry – UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures, 1710-1811. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Britain, Country Apprentices 1710-1808.
[19] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref IR1 (Board of Stamps, Apprenticeship Books) Piece 26, folio 204: Entry for Isaac Cockram, Attorney (Master) / Austin Drage (Apprentice). Copy viewed at Ancestry – UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures, 1710-1811. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Britain, Country Apprentices 1710-1808.
[20] Cambridge University Library, ref EDR G2/39: Marriage bond / allegation for Isaac Cockeram, marriage licence date 3 Mar 1761. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire, Ely Diocese Marriage Licences 1684-1811.
[21] Downham Market, Norfolk, parish register covering 1736. Entry dated 9 Mar 1736 for baptism of Isaac Cockeram. Copy viewed at Ancestry – Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812.
[22] Downham Market, Norfolk, parish register covering 1736. Entry dated 24 Jan 1780 for burial of Isaac Cockeram. Copy viewed at Ancestry – Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812.
[23] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref PROB 11/1004/377: Will of Isaac Cockeram, Gentleman of Ely in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Copy viewed at Ancestry – England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. Also available from The National Archives website.
[24] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1775. Entry dated 18 Feb 1775 for the burial of Isaac Cockeram. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[25] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1796. Entry dated 4 Aug 1796 for the burial of William Marshall. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[26] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1738. Entry dated 11 Oct 1738 for the baptism of William Marshall. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Baptisms.
[27] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref PROB 11/1284/75: Will of William Marshall, [one of the] Lay Clerks of the Cathedral Church of Ely of Ely in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Copy viewed at Ancestry – England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. Also available from The National Archives website.
[28] Notes and Queries, 31 Aug 1872, page 173. Copy viewed at Google Books.
[29] Ipswich Journal, 24 Jun 1769, page 3. “Last Saturday morning died at Ely […]”. Copy viewed at British Newspaper Archive.
[30] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1769. Entry dated 22 Jun 1769 for the burial of Mr Robert Muriel. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[31] Ipswich Journal, 5 Jul 1769, page 4. “ELY, June 27, 1769. ROBERT MURIEL, of Somersham […]”. Copy viewed at Newspapers.com.
[32] Zuzanna Shonfield (1987), The Precariously Privileged: A Medical Man’s Family in Victorian London. Page 34. Snippet viewed at Google Books.
[33] Cambridge University Library, ref EDR G2/39a: Marriage bond / allegation for Worth Marshall, marriage licence date 10 Sep 1763. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire, Ely Diocese Marriage Licences 1684-1811.
[34] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1812. Entry dated 31 Aug 1812 for the burial of Worth Marshall. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[35] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1733. Entry dated 22 Oct 1733 for the baptism of Worth Marshall. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Baptisms.
[36] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref PROB 11/997/19: Will of Thomas Poole, Draper of Ely within the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Copy viewed at Ancestry – England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. Also available from The National Archives website.
[37] Ely St Mary, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1774. Entry dated 14 Mar 1774 for the burial of Thomas Poole. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[38] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref IR1 (Board of Stamps, Apprenticeship Books) Piece 24, folio 16: Entry for Daniel Dickins, Cordwainer (Master) / John Aggus (Apprentice). Copy viewed at Ancestry – UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures, 1710-1811.
[39] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1771. Entry dated 3 Feb 1771 for the burial of Daniel Dickins. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[40] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1773. Entry dated 24 Feb 1773 for the burial of Daniel Dickins. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[41] Bury and Norwich Post, 3 Jun 1801, page 2. “On Sunday se’nnight died at Ely […]”. Copy viewed at British Newspaper Archive.
[42] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref PROB 11/1005/55: Will of William Drage, Gentleman of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Copy viewed at Ancestry – England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. Also available from The National Archives website.
[43] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1775. Entry dated 2 Jan 1775 for the burial of Mr William Drage. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[44] Ipswich Journal, 18 Aug 1750, page 3. “ALL Persons indebted to the Estate of Mr. Thomas Kempton […]”. Copy viewed at British Newspaper Archive.
[45] The National Archives, Kew. Item ref PROB 11/778/385: Will of Thomas Kempton, Boatwright of Ely Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Copy viewed at Ancestry – England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. Also available from The National Archives website.
[46] Edmund Carter (1819), The History of the County of Cambridge. First Printed in 1753. Page 51. Copy viewed at Google Books.
[47] Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire, parish register covering 1787. Entry dated 22 Apr 1787 for the burial of William Groom. Abstract viewed at Findmypast – Cambridgeshire Burials.
[48] Unknown (1780), The Poll Book for the Election of Two Representatives in Parliament for the County of Cambridge, On Thursday, Sep. 14, 1780. Pages 27-29. Copy viewed at Ancestry – Cambridgeshire, England, Electoral Registers, Burgess Rolls and Poll Books, 1722-1966.
