I’ve discovered two ‘new’ records which throw fresh light on the life of my paternal third great grandfather, Charles Edward Stuart Robb. I’ve written about Charles in a number of earlier posts, but it might be useful to provide a brief recap here on what we already know about him.
Born in rural Aberdeenshire in 1779, Charles was the son of a man, probably George Robb, who is said to have been involved in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, which presumably explains why he named his son after the Bonnie Prince. Charles’ siblings included William, who became an Episcopalian minister and a published poet, and George, who was a merchant in Glasgow. In 1802, when he was twenty-three years old, Charles married the twenty-year-old Margaret Ricketts Monteith in Glasgow. According to a memorandum in the family Bible, she was the daughter of John Monteith and his wife Matilda, who was said to be the daughter of Viscount Stormont, another former Jacobite, though I’ve yet to find any documentary evidence of this relationship.
The dates and locations of their children’s baptisms, recorded in the same memorandum, suggest that Charles and Margaret spent the early years of their married life moving around Scotland. In 1805 they were in Aberdeen for the birth of their eldest daughter Matilda; in 1806 in Alloa for the birth of George William, who died in infancy; and in 1808 in Kilmarnock for the birth, and sadly also the early death, of Isabella Maria.
By 1810, however, they had crossed the English border and relocated to Yorkshire, where they would spend at least the next decade. In 1810 they were in Whitby for the baptism of their son Charles Edward; in 1811 in Richmond for the birth of a second George William; they were still there in 1813 when William, my great great grandfather, was born; however, by 1816 Charles and Margaret were in Malton for the birth of John, and they would still be there in 1820 when their youngest child, Elizabeth, was born.
Wheelgate, Malton, Yorkshire (undated postcard)
At some point in the next twenty years, and probably before William’s marriage there in 1836, Charles, Margaret and their children made a final move to London. The 1841 census finds them living at Charing Cross, at the upper end of what is now Whitehall. Margaret would die two years later, at the age of 61. By 1851, Charles was living in Lambeth, where he passed away two years later, at the age of 74.
These are the bare facts of my 4th great grandfather’s life, but gaining an understanding of the kind of life he led, and specifically of the kind of work he did, is more difficult. The 1841 and 1851 census records describe him simply as a ‘clerk’, while his death certificate gives his occupation as ‘law clerk’. A number of his children, including my great great grandfather William, would be employed in the legal profession in some capacity. However, in his last will and testament, Charles describes himself as a ‘gentleman’. Certainly, the status of a humble legal clerk, and the rented accommodation in which he lived in London, are at variance with what we know about his family of origin. His brother Rev William Robb was chaplain to Lord Elibank and his other brother George married into the wealthy Glasgow merchant class.
Some indication of these possible class tensions is provided by a note in the above-mentioned memorandum, in a section written by my great great grandfather William Robb, in which he recalls: ‘The last I remember of my Uncle William is when I was 3 or 4 years of age seeing him on a visit to my Father’s at Malton in Yorkshire, when he stopped some time and used to take me on his knee and tell me to be a good boy and he would make a Gentleman of me’. My great great grandfather would have been three years old in 1816 and four in 1817. He may be misremembering the date, since we know that his uncle, Rev. William Robb, was actually in Malton in 1819, when he was recovering from a serious illness. The evidence for this visit can be found in William’s last poetic composition, A monody in the prospect of death, while labouring under a dangerous illness. Two of the pieces that make up this collection are described as having been written in Malton in 1819, one in May and the other in July, while a third was composed in nearby Scarborough in September.
A few years ago Glyn Jones, the husband of my cousin Barbara and sadly no longer with us, contacted me to tell me that he had found a reference to Charles Robb in a trade directory for Malton, published in 1823. Charles is listed as an ‘accountant and engraver’ living in Newbiggin, one of the main roads running through the town. I understand that nineteenth-century accountants were engaged in much the same kind of work as their modern equivalents: that’s to say, maintaining and auditing the accounts and financial affairs of professional people and their commercial concerns. Engravers, on the other hand, were those who cut or carved lettering or designs in metal or stone. Perhaps the best-known engraver, from the generation before Charles Robb’s, was William Blake. Apparently, engravers had to serve an apprenticeship before they were able to practise their craft or trade. This suggests that Charles may have moved to Glasgow as a young man to train for one or other of these professions.
Via Facebook
However, the two records that I came across recently suggest that, on first arriving in Malton, Charles pursued a very different occupation. Via Ancestry, I’ve found baptismal records for Charles’ and Margaret’s son John and daughter Elizabeth. John was christened at St Leonard’s church, New Malton, on 24th March 1816, having been born on 5th March, while Elizabeth was baptised at St Michael’s, New Malton, on 12th July 1820, having been born on 21st June. When John was born, the Robbs were apparently living in Newbiggin (spelt ‘Newbegin’ in the parish register), but by the time of Elizabeth’s birth they were in Wheelgate, which is a continuation of Newbiggin and, then as now, recognised as the ‘high street’ of Malton. In both instances, Charles’ occupation is given as ‘schoolmaster’.
St Michael’s church, Malton (via https://www.british-history.ac.uk/)
This intriguing new information prompts a host of questions. Where exactly did Charles teach in Malton? I wondered if he had been a master at Malton Grammar School, which was founded in 1547 and is still in existence today, but his name doesn’t appear in a list of masters from the period, most of whom seem to have been clergymen. Was Charles working as a schoolmaster when the family lived elsewhere in Yorkshire, and in the years when he moving around Scotland? Does this suggest that he was an educated man, and if so, at which Scottish establishment was he educated? And, finally, what caused him to leave his teaching post and set himself up as an accountant and engraver? All questions for further research!
As an intriguing footnote to this discovery, I was interested to learn of Charles Dickens’ association with Malton, through his friendship with local solicitor Charles Smithson. Apparently Dickens used Smithson’s chambers in Chancery Lane, Malton, as the model for Scrooge’s office in A Christmas Carol, while the bells that the repentant miser hears on Christmas morning are said to be based on those of St Leonard’s church. Of course, all of this happened some time after the Robbs left Malton for London: Dickens’ novella was published in 1843. However, I’ve always been fascinated by the overlaps between my Robb ancestors’ lives and the world of Dickens, and as I wrote in an earlier post, my 4th great grandfather’s story is very reminiscent of that of Newman Noggs in Nicholas Nickleby, another well-born ‘gentleman’ who seemingly fell on hard times.