Richard Hayter Jarvis, Esq - 1801 - 1877

Born  -  20 December, 1801 - Westminster, London, England. 

Richard Hayter was the first child of Richard and Anne Jarvis.

Baptism - 23 February, 1802 - St James, Westminster, London, England

St James Church

Source Citation: Place: Westminster, London, England; Collection: St James; -; Date Range: 1791 - 1816; Film Number: 1042309.

Richard spent his early years in Westminster and Willesden  and would follow his father into the family business.

Marriage - Richard Hayter Jarvis & Caroline Ferguson were married on the 29 August, 1829 at St Mary's Church, Willesden.

Caroline was the daughter of William and Frances Ferguson. She was born 17 June, 1810 and she and her sister, Frances were baptised on the 10 July, 1810 at St Marylebone Church, London.

Richard & Caroline's first home was at 139 Long Acre.

1841 Census.........Richard, Caroline , five of their children and Richard's sister Eleanor are at Broadwater in Sussex. This is a small village close to the coast so presumably they were on holiday.

1843 - London Post Office Directory

Jarvis, Richard & Son, Undertakers, 139 Long Acre

1851 Census.......Richard, Caroline and seven of their nine children at 139 Long Acre along with two house servants and a nursemaid. Richard snr has died and Richard now describes himself as a 'Master Undertaker employing 7 men and 50 occasional men'. Fifty! Business is obviously booming as funerals   become more and more expensive and ostentatious.

Interesting reading - Victorian Funerals and Mourning

The younger children are being educated at home which suggests private tutors or governesses.

It would not be long before the family moved to a new home in which they would live for about 10 years.

1851 London Post Office Directory

Jarvis Rd. & Son, Undertakers & Funeral Feathermen, 139 Long Acre

1856......London Post Office Directory

24 Dorset Square - Jarvis, Richard Hayter, Esq.

A Dorset Square residence today

Dec 5 ,1855 - elected Fellow of the Geological Society of London.

London Gazette March 1860........commissions signed by the Lord Lieutentant of the County of Middlesex - Queen's (Westminster) Rifle Volunteer Corps..

Richard Hayter Jarvis, Gent., to be Lieutenant. Dated 3 March, 1860

I have no idea what that means but in September he resigns....again in the London Gazette. Presumably the resignation was necessary because the family was moving out of London.

22nd Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps.

The Queen has been graciously pleased to

accept the resignation of the Commission held

in this Corps by Lieutenant Richard Hayter Jarvis. 

1861 Census..........Holmesdale House, Horton Kirby, Kent

By the middle of the 19th century London's ever-growing population, frequent cholera outbreaks and the stench from the Thames made it a less and less desirable place to live and Richard has made the move to Kent. On the census form N/A is listed as occupation - today we'd say he had retired but in 1861 it meant he'd made enough money to live on for the rest of his life and he could sit back and be a gentleman. The business passed into the hands of his eldest son Richard Ferguson Jarvis .

1871 Census........... as yet I haven't been able to locate their whereabouts but at some time after 1865 they moved to the Old Parsonage, Sutton at Hone, a village about 2 miles south of Dartford in Kent.

Richard Hayter Jarvis died at the Old Parsonage on  1 January, 1877, aged 75 years, and was buried in the churchyard at Sutton at Hone - Plot 107 , a coped cross -

Richard Hayter JARVIS of this Parish born 20 December 1801 died January 1 1877

The complete lack of any sentimental inscription seems strange for the time. Whether that was his wish or a sign of how his family felt can't be known but I do wonder why Caroline is not buried beside him.

1881 Census - Caroline is still living at the Old Parsonage with her second son, Edward, who must have retired from the Merchant Navy as they both list under occupation - Houses, Dividends etc....i.e. independent means. Also visiting is son Alfred's eldest daughter, eight year old Ada.

Caroline Jarvis died at the Old Parsonage on 8 Jan, 1885 . I have not been able to find where she is buried.

The Jarvis Family of London

The last three months I've been researching the Jarvis branch of my family and now it's time to start writing about what I've discovered. My mother's mother was a Jarvis but the only mention my mother made of this side of her family was....

• the family were wealthy
• they came from Kent

She was right about the first but only half right about the second.

Like most New Zealanders my forebears were farmers, agricultural labourers , carpenters, stonemasons - working class people with strong connections to the land and rural living so it was a surprise to find a family that were urban,  upper middle class.

The first Jarvis records I have place the family in the City of Westminster, London at the beginning of the 19th century - the marriage of Richard Jarvis and Ann Hayter....

and the first indication of their occupation in the 1811 London Directory of Professions and Trades

Jarvis, Son & Co. undertakers & patent coffin makers, 13, Piccadilly

Surprising in more ways than one! The term 'undertaker' was originally used to describe any person who undertook to provide a service and only later became used exclusively for funeral services.

At the beginning of the 19th century burials were still quite simple. The laying out of the dead was done by family or servants and coffins, plain wooden boxes, were provided by someone who constructed them as a sideline to their everyday work - carpenters, wheelwrights etc.

With its already rapidly growing population and the prevalence of disease London would have offered an opportunity to focus entirely on coffin making and perhaps offering other funeral services.

13 Piccadilly is an affluent address in the heart of what is now London's West End, which suggests the Jarvis family had been established in London for some time. As was usual for the time they would have lived above the business premises. It's a pity Mr Jarvis didn't add his christian name or even an initial to his listing - without it's almost impossible to discover which of the many Jarvis' he might have been.

Richard and Anne had 6 children that lived to adulthood.

Richard Hayter  - 1801 - 1877

Anne Gertrude - 1803 - 1887

William John - 1805 - 1883

Thomas -1807 - 186?

John - 1809 - ?

Elenora Grace - 1819 - 1879

1819 UK Poll Books and Electoral Registers

Richard Jarvis ------ 139 Long Acre ------- Undertaker

At some time between 1811 and 1819 the business has expanded and moved to larger premises at Long Acre and Richard and Anne are living there as well. 139 is circled in red and has a large court behind and a chapel close by. 

Later Anne and Richard will move to Willesden to live, in the 1820's still 'an oasis of rural tranquillity' and popular with well-off middle class families, while the business remained at Long Acre.

Anne Jarvis died aged 56 in Jan 1836 and was buried on 26 January,1836 at Kensal Green All Souls.

Source Citation: ; London Metropolitan Archives, All Souls Cemetery, Kensal Green, Kensington, Transcript of Burials, 1836 Jan-1836 Dec, DL/t Item, 041/004; Call Number: DL/T/041/004.

Richard Jarvis died aged 74 in February 1848 and was buried on the 7th February, 1848 at Kensal Green All Souls. Following Anne's death he had moved back into central London and his last address was 32 Cambridge Terrace, Paddington although I have had no luck finding his whereabouts in the 1841 census.

Source Citation: ; London Metropolitan Archives, All Souls Cemetery, Kensal Green, Kensington, Transcript of Burials, 1848 Jan-1848 Dec, DL/t Item, 041/016; Call Number: DL/T/041/016.

Marriage - Richard Jarvis & Anne Hayter

Richard Jarvis & Anne Hayter

were married on the 17th January, 1801 at

St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, London

Source Citation: London Metropolitan Archives, Saint James, Piccadilly: Piccadilly, Westminster, Transcript of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1800 Jan-1802 Mar, DL/t Item, 090/001.

Anne was the daughter of John (1741-1819) and Eleanora(nee Egan 1750-?) Hayter. She was baptised at St Marylebone on the 4th July, 1780 so presumably was born shortly before this date.

Richard's parents are as yet unknown but a birthdate some time during the 1770's is likely. The marriage of Richard and Anne is the first verifiable record of my Jarvis ancestry so is where the story begins.

Richard and Anne are my 3x great grandparents on the maternal side. 

Tombstone Tuesday - Thomas & Jane Tindall

AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE

OF

THOMAS TINDALL

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE

SEPT 12TH 1885

AGED 45 YEARS

ALSO JANE

HIS BELOVED WIFE

Geraldine Cemetery, South Canterbury, New Zealand

Portrait of Jane Tindall & Daughters

Jane Tindall (r) and her daughters - Jane (l), Mary Isabella (c) Elizabeth Ann (r)


The photograph was taken around 1894/95. What a pity Jane's sons aren't present as well. I don't know whether the family likeness between the girls comes from the Tindalls or Rutherfords but one thing's for sure - I see the resemblance to Alan and this is definitely the branch of the family he looks like.

Jane Tindall nee Rutherford 1842-1902

Jane was the youngest of the four children of Thomas and Mary Rutherford and she he was born in Felton, Northumberland . Thomas is listed in the census as an agricultural labourer and as the children were all born in different places it suggests he went where he could find work until finally settling in Chatton. I've written about Jane's early life in these posts.
Jane Rutherford - Toll Collector
Thomas Tindall

Following the unexpected and early death of Thomas , Jane had little choice but to battle on by herself. A world away from her family and with 6 children to raise it must have very difficult for her. I have great admiration for Jane and her fighting spirit. She remains , not only on the farm but as the hotel licensee and, fortunately for us, she has left behind quite a newspaper trail as she seemed to be forever taking someone to the Magistrates Court in Geraldine. If there were those who thought a widow was vulnerable and easy to put one across Jane wasn't about to let them get away with it.

Monday Dec 6th 1886 - Jane Tindall v F Ellery - Claim, $20, for wrongful detention of mare and foal and $5 damages sustained.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=THD18861207.2.26&srpos=3&e=01-01-1886-01-01-1903--10-THD-1----0jane+tindall--

This is a rather drawn out proceeding which came about from an incident the previous April during a sale Jane had to sell off 'her husband's effects".  From it comes the impression Jane is really struggling financially while adding to her grief is the necessity of the sale and particularly of a favourite horse.

Monday Jan 17th 1887 - Jane Tindall sought to recover possession of a smithy at Hilton because the rent hadn't been paid. This smithy was a part of the hotel.

On the same day small cases heard - W Davy v Jane Tindall - claim $9.9s.
Jane Tindall v W Davy claim $11.1.6d.

And - Jane Tindall of the Hilton Hotel was charged with keeping her licensed house open on Sunday January 2nd, also for allowing liquors to be sold on that day. Case was dismissed.
 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=THD18870119.2.19&srpos=4&e=01-01-1886-01-01-1903--10-THD-1----0jane+tindall--

I have a feeling the magistrate must have wanted to run a mile whenever he saw Jane coming.

Wednesday 28th November, 1888 - Jane Tindall v G R Meredith - Claim $3 for the value of a pig gored and killed by the defendant's bull.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=THD18881130.2.17&srpos=2&e=01-01-1886-01-01-1903--10-THD-1----0jane+tindall--

7th June, 1889 - Jane applies to the Raukapuka Licensing Committee to renew her license for the Hilton Hotel. They 'adjourn till Saturday week to consider Mrs Tindall's application'.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=THD18890607.2.20&srpos=17&e=-------10--11----0hilton+hotel--

Jane's application was denied and a man named Henry Septimus Decimus Homes was appointed as licensee. A decision I'm sure the committee deeply regretted as on the 9th November, 1891 Mr Homes burned the hotel down in order to claim the insurance.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=THD18911130.2.28&srpos=6&e=--1889---1903--10-THD-1----0hilton+hotel--

He was tried and convicted for arson.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=THD18911130.2.28&srpos=6&e=--1889---1903--10-THD-1----0hilton+hotel--

Jane continues to appear through the !890's but most of the time as a witness in some small disputes for her eldest son, John William.

I've never been able to find a death record for Jane and when she died has been a mystery which I've spent many hours trying to solve. She appears on the 1901 electoral roll but then disappears. But this week I had a major find - I was browsing South Canterbury records when I discovered the province had an online cemetery database which is doing a marvellous job along the lines of findagrave - whole cemeteries with their headstones being photographed. It's proved to be a goldmine of Toomey and Tindall information.

Jane died aged 60 in July 1902 - there is still no date of death but she was buried alongside Thomas in the Geraldine Cemetery on 18 July 1902.

Thomas Tindall 1840 - 1885

Thomas was the 6th child and 5th son of John and Mary Eleanor (nee Charters) Tindall. Born sometime during the first months of 1840 he was baptised in the Holy Cross Church in Chatton, Northumberland on 17th April, 1840.


One of what would eventually be 12 children he was raised at Broomhouse  . In the 1851 census he is listed as a scholar so he received an education and in the 1861 census he is working at home on the farm.

In the second quarter of 1865 he married Jane Rutherford  of Chatton . I haven't yet found the ship they travelled on but presumably they emigrated to New Zealand sometime during 1866.

The first sign of them here is the birth announcement of their eldest child, John William, - March 5, 1867 in Dunedin at the Auld Scotland Hotel. Considering what came later I think it's possible that they weren't just lodging there but Thomas was working at the hotel.

They then went to a small rural settlement called Hilton near Geraldine in South Canterbury where Thomas bought a farm of 186 acres. At some point he also became the licensee of the Hilton Hotel.
In the 1870's Hilton was an up and coming township with the prospect of becoming a boom town, with mineral, clay, coal and lime waiting to be railed out - the area attracted not only farmers but prospectors, sawmillers and construction workers. There was a PO and various stores including a barber's shop and a school. The school opened in 1875 and Thomas and Jane's older children were founding pupils. Unfortunately, the proposed railroad link between Hilton and Temuka failed to eventuate and neither did the township.

Thomas and Jane had 6 children..

John William Tindall  - 1867 – 1932
Mary Isabella Tindall  -1869 – 1958
Jane Tindall  -1870 – 1932
Thomas Rutherford Tindall -1877 – 1954
Robert Adam Tindall  -1879 – 1902
Elizabeth Ann Tindall  - 1881 – 1963

In April 1885 an advertisement in the Timaru Herald

I only found this recently and it was a huge surprise and raises the big question of why? It may have had something to do with his health and perhaps he felt Jane and the children would be happier and more secure back in England with family something should happen to him.

Sadly it was all too late - September 12 1885 -Timaru Herald

September 14th 1885 - Timaru Herald

Only 45 years old when he died Thomas is buried in the Geraldine Cemetery. 

Thomas Tindall is Alan's maternal great-grandfather.