The Hermitage Alan Payne July 2022
The Hermitage is a Grade II listed masterpiece stated by Historic England to have been partly built in the mid-1700s.[1] It has been the home of some of the most intriguing residents ever in Box, probably the most notable of whom was in 1841 when Brunel’s right-hand man, William Glennie, lived there. Almost certainly, it was the lodgings used by Brunel himself when he stayed overnight in the village, but there is a caveat because the house was unnamed until later.
William Glennie at The Cottage
In 1840 the house appears on the Tithe Apportionment map as reference 198d Dwelling house and coach house with tithes of 7s payable to the vicar, Rev HDCS Horlock. It was occupied by William Glennie (1798-1856), Brunel’s personal assistant. Whilst the Box Tunnel was being excavated, Glennie was one of the most important people in Box and much of the management of the work depended on him.
Glennie was an unconventional man, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy who had spent ten years in Mexico. At that time, he was on a project to reopen a silver mine and, whilst there, he acted as a spy for Lord Palmerston, then Foreign Secretary, later Prime Minister.[2] In 1824, Glennie headed a contingent of Cornish miners to launch an invasion of the area by the Company of the Gentlemen Adventurers in the Mines of Real del Monte on behalf of the British United Mining Company. The surname Ludlow is still common in the area and it is reported that Cornish pasty is the traditional dish of the region.
Back in Britain in June 1836, Glennie applied to Brunel for the position of assistant engineer with responsibility for Box Tunnel.
To do the work, Glennie tenanted a house in Box with his wife Elizabeth Catherine and their four small children, together with two servants. The house was named The Cottage in the 1841 census and William was described as civil engineer. We can see that reference 197 was The Bear Inn; references 198a-c were cottages now called Gael and Hermitage Cottages and adjacent dwellings; and 198d was the Hermitage, set back from the main road.
There is no evidence of the work William undertook in Box but we can make guesses. Possibly he authorised the building of the High Street to by-pass the old Market Place by improving a new road close to the Manor House. It is likely that William was responsible for altering the road outside of The Hermitage and altering the height of the Georgian external wall of the property (Grade II listed in its own right), which was so much of a problem when it partly fell down a few years ago.
Eventually, Glennie left Box and followed Brunel. They were working together in 1844 on the South Devon Railway from Exeter to Plymouth, including the Teignmouth section, which runs along the hazardous foreshore beneath the cliff, originally designed to be operated by atmospheric power.
In 1840 the house appears on the Tithe Apportionment map as reference 198d Dwelling house and coach house with tithes of 7s payable to the vicar, Rev HDCS Horlock. It was occupied by William Glennie (1798-1856), Brunel’s personal assistant. Whilst the Box Tunnel was being excavated, Glennie was one of the most important people in Box and much of the management of the work depended on him.
Glennie was an unconventional man, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy who had spent ten years in Mexico. At that time, he was on a project to reopen a silver mine and, whilst there, he acted as a spy for Lord Palmerston, then Foreign Secretary, later Prime Minister.[2] In 1824, Glennie headed a contingent of Cornish miners to launch an invasion of the area by the Company of the Gentlemen Adventurers in the Mines of Real del Monte on behalf of the British United Mining Company. The surname Ludlow is still common in the area and it is reported that Cornish pasty is the traditional dish of the region.
Back in Britain in June 1836, Glennie applied to Brunel for the position of assistant engineer with responsibility for Box Tunnel.
To do the work, Glennie tenanted a house in Box with his wife Elizabeth Catherine and their four small children, together with two servants. The house was named The Cottage in the 1841 census and William was described as civil engineer. We can see that reference 197 was The Bear Inn; references 198a-c were cottages now called Gael and Hermitage Cottages and adjacent dwellings; and 198d was the Hermitage, set back from the main road.
There is no evidence of the work William undertook in Box but we can make guesses. Possibly he authorised the building of the High Street to by-pass the old Market Place by improving a new road close to the Manor House. It is likely that William was responsible for altering the road outside of The Hermitage and altering the height of the Georgian external wall of the property (Grade II listed in its own right), which was so much of a problem when it partly fell down a few years ago.
Eventually, Glennie left Box and followed Brunel. They were working together in 1844 on the South Devon Railway from Exeter to Plymouth, including the Teignmouth section, which runs along the hazardous foreshore beneath the cliff, originally designed to be operated by atmospheric power.
Naming the house
Like most houses before the Victorian period, the house had no distinguishing name, just called The Cottage. It had little need of a name, it was built by the Northey family, and let out as a prestigious property to whoever wanted to rent it. The tenants were eminent, middle-class Victorian families, whose reputation went before them, often their presence recorded in the local newspaper and whose name would always be known by the Post Office and local shop traders, who needed to check on their status before offering credit.
The house was most prestigious, on the coach route to London and easily accessible to Bath after the Station Road was built going past The Railway Arms (now called the Northey Arms). As a convention of naming was adopted in the mid-1800s, a suitably distinguished house name was needed for a property on the western outskirts of the village, almost the last property before leaving Box for Bath. It acquired an aura of Romantic intrigue, and was named The Hermitage, a secluded, rural house in which to relax in middle-class grandeur.
Notorious Death of Alice Sudell
The next occupant of the house Alice Sudell (16 July 1797-2 January 1858 buried 7 January) was not famous for anything she did but for her death, reputed by some to have been murdered by her brother-in-law, the Box vicar, Rev HDCS Horlock. Alice was the oldest daughter of a Blackburn textile magnate, Henry Sudell, who had made, then lost, a fortune and retired to a rented estate at Ashley House, Box.
The family were calico cotton traders of Blackburn, Lancashire, who lived in the stately mansion of Woodfold Hall and Park, enclosed by a wall of four miles long, nearly nine feet high.[3] Although it is difficult to see through the obsequiousness of local newspapers, Alice’s father appears to have been generous to his workers and local poor, with Christmas gifts of food and money and caring for the family’s long-term servants. But economic depression in the cotton trade in the 1820s and poor overseas investments led to Henry Sudell mortgaging his estate and going bankrupt in 1827 when he defaulted on the loans. Unable to bear the disgrace, the family moved out of the Blackburn area and rented Ashley House, Box in the late 1820s.
Middle-aged and unmarried, Henry’s daughter Alice took the tenancy of The Cottage and it may have been she who renamed it The Hermitage, a suitably mysterious Gothic name, as befitted a lady of her status in declining circumstances. It was conveniently close to Box House where vicar Rev Dr HDCS Horlock and his wife, Elizabeth Sudell, were in residence. In 1851 Alice was named as living in The Hermitage with her 16-year-old nephew Darrell Horlock scholar at home possibly being educated by his aunt of independent fortune (various sources). They were supported by two servants, a housekeeper and a cook. It all sounds peaceful and very middle-class but it did not last. The death in 1858 of Alice and her sister Elizabeth Horlock after a dinner party in Box House brought suspicion of foul play by the Rev Horlock and led to the closure of the churchyard and the opening of the cemetery on the A4.
Doctors in the House
Bearing in mind how few medical practitioners have lived in Box, it is strange that the next four inhabitants of The Hermitage were doctors. The building was convenient as a surgery, easily accessible to residents. The first doctor to rent the property was Thomas Fitzherbert Snow, who was born in Aberystwyth in 1821, son of Thomas Rollo Snow, Royal Navy Lieutenant. Thomas was well-connected as the brother-in-law of Dr Joseph Nash of Kingsdown Asylum and son-in-law of the Holworthy family, who lived at Ashley House at one stage. Thomas’ marriage to Christiana Amelia Nash was unusual in that it involved a licence from the Faculty Office at Lambeth Palace because one partner was within the York Diocese and the other in Canterbury.
There are few details about Thomas Snow’s life in Box despite his residence for nearly 40 years from 1858 until his death in 1894. In 1880 he was a founder member of the Conservative Club, in 1889 he was feted for his twenty-year association with the Six Bells Friendly Society of Colerne and in 1894 as medical officer for the Chippenham Board of Guardians of the Poor Law.[4] The details we do have about Dr Snow mostly involve his work as expert witness in legal matters. At this time, the doctor’s practice in Box was a private business and Dr Snow’s local authority medical appointments were sold to Dr Martin in 1894.[5]
Following Dr Snow, came another doctor, John Anstruther Mulville Thomson (1847-19 July 1913), widower, from Dublin, who moved into The Hermitage with his children. He had been a physician in Shropshire until his wife died when he moved to Bradford-on-Avon and became chairman of the Wiltshire County Poor Law Officers.[6] He lived in the house from 1901 until 1903 when he re-settled in Bath, referred to as retired surgeon major, in respect of his service with the 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry until 1885. Mulville Thomson appears to have been a rather forthright person, writing to the Bradford Town Council in 1901 to complain about the unsanitary condition of the River Avon using words such as filthy and disgraceful condition with the sewage emptied into its long-suffering bed, decrying the stinking old dens called slaughterhouses and suggesting the tumbledown insanitary tenements (dwellings) be pulled down and replaced.[7] His period of residence in Box was also somewhat marred when he wriggled his way out of a position as public vaccinator for the village in 1901. He tried to involve
Dr Martin as his unpaid deputy but omitted to tell him about the plan, then asked for more salary himself before finally declining the post.[8]
In 1897-99 another doctor, Dr C H Hill, resided in the house but I could find nothing about him other than his attendance at local accidents.[9]
The last doctor was Ernest Symes (1872-), physician and surgeon. He married Emily Maud Burnley (1867-1930) on 12 May 1898 in Scarborough, Yorkshire and practised there before coming to Box in 1908. He had the unpleasant duty to report on the case of Lucy Geraldine Deykin, an inmate of Kingsdown House Asylum, who jumped to her death in front of a train at Box Railway Station in 1912.[10] Twenty-three-year-old nurse, Miss Elizabeth Holley, got onto the rail line as the train approached to try to save her. She failed to achieve this and only escaped injury herself by jumping onto the footboard between the two rails.
Dr Symes appears to have joined in village life taking a prominent part in the annual fete and procession of the Box Lodges of Oddfellows and Foresters in August 1913 and 1914. But the First World War altered everything. Ernest moved to Cinderford and acquired substantial debt. He was sued by his creditors and his assets put into the hands of the Official Receiver in December 1915.[11] That was the last record I could find of him.
Hermitage after World War I
The Northey family was obliged to sell most of its properties in the recession which affected the landed classes around the First World War years. The Hermitage was part of their 1923 sale and, rather ominously, was described as a comfortable, old-fashioned residence with a lift and speaking tube down from the dining room to the kitchen. We might imagine that it was in need of considerable restoration at that time. Much was made of the gardens pleasure grounds, gardens, garage, stables, thatched summer house etc. A hand-written note on the sale brochure says that auctioneer, Charles Oatley, purchased the property for £1,300, presumably acting on behalf of the subsequent owner, Inez Story-Maskelyne, as she was already the tenant with a lease expiring September 1924.[12]
Like most houses before the Victorian period, the house had no distinguishing name, just called The Cottage. It had little need of a name, it was built by the Northey family, and let out as a prestigious property to whoever wanted to rent it. The tenants were eminent, middle-class Victorian families, whose reputation went before them, often their presence recorded in the local newspaper and whose name would always be known by the Post Office and local shop traders, who needed to check on their status before offering credit.
The house was most prestigious, on the coach route to London and easily accessible to Bath after the Station Road was built going past The Railway Arms (now called the Northey Arms). As a convention of naming was adopted in the mid-1800s, a suitably distinguished house name was needed for a property on the western outskirts of the village, almost the last property before leaving Box for Bath. It acquired an aura of Romantic intrigue, and was named The Hermitage, a secluded, rural house in which to relax in middle-class grandeur.
Notorious Death of Alice Sudell
The next occupant of the house Alice Sudell (16 July 1797-2 January 1858 buried 7 January) was not famous for anything she did but for her death, reputed by some to have been murdered by her brother-in-law, the Box vicar, Rev HDCS Horlock. Alice was the oldest daughter of a Blackburn textile magnate, Henry Sudell, who had made, then lost, a fortune and retired to a rented estate at Ashley House, Box.
The family were calico cotton traders of Blackburn, Lancashire, who lived in the stately mansion of Woodfold Hall and Park, enclosed by a wall of four miles long, nearly nine feet high.[3] Although it is difficult to see through the obsequiousness of local newspapers, Alice’s father appears to have been generous to his workers and local poor, with Christmas gifts of food and money and caring for the family’s long-term servants. But economic depression in the cotton trade in the 1820s and poor overseas investments led to Henry Sudell mortgaging his estate and going bankrupt in 1827 when he defaulted on the loans. Unable to bear the disgrace, the family moved out of the Blackburn area and rented Ashley House, Box in the late 1820s.
Middle-aged and unmarried, Henry’s daughter Alice took the tenancy of The Cottage and it may have been she who renamed it The Hermitage, a suitably mysterious Gothic name, as befitted a lady of her status in declining circumstances. It was conveniently close to Box House where vicar Rev Dr HDCS Horlock and his wife, Elizabeth Sudell, were in residence. In 1851 Alice was named as living in The Hermitage with her 16-year-old nephew Darrell Horlock scholar at home possibly being educated by his aunt of independent fortune (various sources). They were supported by two servants, a housekeeper and a cook. It all sounds peaceful and very middle-class but it did not last. The death in 1858 of Alice and her sister Elizabeth Horlock after a dinner party in Box House brought suspicion of foul play by the Rev Horlock and led to the closure of the churchyard and the opening of the cemetery on the A4.
Doctors in the House
Bearing in mind how few medical practitioners have lived in Box, it is strange that the next four inhabitants of The Hermitage were doctors. The building was convenient as a surgery, easily accessible to residents. The first doctor to rent the property was Thomas Fitzherbert Snow, who was born in Aberystwyth in 1821, son of Thomas Rollo Snow, Royal Navy Lieutenant. Thomas was well-connected as the brother-in-law of Dr Joseph Nash of Kingsdown Asylum and son-in-law of the Holworthy family, who lived at Ashley House at one stage. Thomas’ marriage to Christiana Amelia Nash was unusual in that it involved a licence from the Faculty Office at Lambeth Palace because one partner was within the York Diocese and the other in Canterbury.
There are few details about Thomas Snow’s life in Box despite his residence for nearly 40 years from 1858 until his death in 1894. In 1880 he was a founder member of the Conservative Club, in 1889 he was feted for his twenty-year association with the Six Bells Friendly Society of Colerne and in 1894 as medical officer for the Chippenham Board of Guardians of the Poor Law.[4] The details we do have about Dr Snow mostly involve his work as expert witness in legal matters. At this time, the doctor’s practice in Box was a private business and Dr Snow’s local authority medical appointments were sold to Dr Martin in 1894.[5]
Following Dr Snow, came another doctor, John Anstruther Mulville Thomson (1847-19 July 1913), widower, from Dublin, who moved into The Hermitage with his children. He had been a physician in Shropshire until his wife died when he moved to Bradford-on-Avon and became chairman of the Wiltshire County Poor Law Officers.[6] He lived in the house from 1901 until 1903 when he re-settled in Bath, referred to as retired surgeon major, in respect of his service with the 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry until 1885. Mulville Thomson appears to have been a rather forthright person, writing to the Bradford Town Council in 1901 to complain about the unsanitary condition of the River Avon using words such as filthy and disgraceful condition with the sewage emptied into its long-suffering bed, decrying the stinking old dens called slaughterhouses and suggesting the tumbledown insanitary tenements (dwellings) be pulled down and replaced.[7] His period of residence in Box was also somewhat marred when he wriggled his way out of a position as public vaccinator for the village in 1901. He tried to involve
Dr Martin as his unpaid deputy but omitted to tell him about the plan, then asked for more salary himself before finally declining the post.[8]
In 1897-99 another doctor, Dr C H Hill, resided in the house but I could find nothing about him other than his attendance at local accidents.[9]
The last doctor was Ernest Symes (1872-), physician and surgeon. He married Emily Maud Burnley (1867-1930) on 12 May 1898 in Scarborough, Yorkshire and practised there before coming to Box in 1908. He had the unpleasant duty to report on the case of Lucy Geraldine Deykin, an inmate of Kingsdown House Asylum, who jumped to her death in front of a train at Box Railway Station in 1912.[10] Twenty-three-year-old nurse, Miss Elizabeth Holley, got onto the rail line as the train approached to try to save her. She failed to achieve this and only escaped injury herself by jumping onto the footboard between the two rails.
Dr Symes appears to have joined in village life taking a prominent part in the annual fete and procession of the Box Lodges of Oddfellows and Foresters in August 1913 and 1914. But the First World War altered everything. Ernest moved to Cinderford and acquired substantial debt. He was sued by his creditors and his assets put into the hands of the Official Receiver in December 1915.[11] That was the last record I could find of him.
Hermitage after World War I
The Northey family was obliged to sell most of its properties in the recession which affected the landed classes around the First World War years. The Hermitage was part of their 1923 sale and, rather ominously, was described as a comfortable, old-fashioned residence with a lift and speaking tube down from the dining room to the kitchen. We might imagine that it was in need of considerable restoration at that time. Much was made of the gardens pleasure grounds, gardens, garage, stables, thatched summer house etc. A hand-written note on the sale brochure says that auctioneer, Charles Oatley, purchased the property for £1,300, presumably acting on behalf of the subsequent owner, Inez Story-Maskelyne, as she was already the tenant with a lease expiring September 1924.[12]
Story-Maskelyne Family The Story-Maskelyne family was unbelievably accomplished, arguably the most academically successful of any connected with Box. To understand the family’s significance, we need to go back to Edmund’s father, Antony Mervin Reeve Story who married into the Maskelyne family when he wed Margaret Maskelyne, the heir of the Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, from whom the family's estate at Basset Down, Stratton St Margaret, Swindon was inherited. Their oldest son was Mervin Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne (1823–1911), a truly remarkable person, a polymath whose list of achievements is staggering. He lectured in mineralogy and chemistry at Oxford University before becoming Professor 1856–95; he was Keeper of Minerals at the British Museum from 1857 to 1880, where he collected the largest number of meteorite-falls in the world; and he was pioneering in photography as an associate of Fox Talbot, where he achieved some of the earliest photographs of the moon. He was immortalised by Henry Fox Talbot in the attached photograph of about 1845. The image was probably taken at Lacock Abbey, where Fox Talbot lived. |
After retirement, Nevil became Liberal Member of Parliament for Cricklade in 1880 and, on the breakup of the party over the Great Reform Act 1884, he stood as Liberal Unionist when he was re-elected until 1892. Mervin Storey-Maskelyne and his wife, Thereza Mary Dillwyn-Llewelyn, were at the centre of the London scientific elite for many years. She was an eminent Victorian scientific expert in her own right – astronomer, botanist, botanical illustrator and photographic pioneer. Their friends included Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin, Matthew Arnold and Thomas Huxley.
Story-Maskelyne Family in Box
It was the second son, Edmund Mervin Booth Story-Maskelyne, who came to Box. He was a barrister from Lincoln’s Inn, London, and he lived at Hatt House for nearly forty years from about 1882 until 1920 with his wife Martha Bangar Russell (1836-1920). He was active on the Box School committee restoring the school clock to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.[13]
Edmund’s daughter Inez Agnes Mary lived at The Hermitage after the death of her parents about 1920 until the mid-1950s. Before the First World War, she was a strong supporter of the suffragette movement, mentioned many times in the society’s records in 1912-13, working as a supporter in the Bath area, donating, collecting and writing articles. I haven’t been able to trace a connection with the Blathwayt family at Batheaston but it seems likely that she had connections with the suffrage movement at Eagle House. After the war, Inez led a much quieter life, performing the usual middle-class female duties but still leading her own highly-individual life. She wasn’t altogether typical of her generation, a scientific sceptic of religion and not involved with Box Church, to whom she donated a shilling for the Church Heating Fund in 1926 (about the smallest donation that could be made and something of an insult) and nothing to the Electric Lighting Fund in 1935.
The house was occupied by the Special Operations Womens Auxiliary Air Force during the Second World War. Joan Trevitt who was billeted there recalled it as: an empty house, dusty and obviously very well used by the last resident’s cats! With a team of orderlies we scrubbed floors and cleaned up ready for beds to arrive and occupation. The kitchen was in the basement and the cooks and staff hated it saying it was haunted. It is likely that Inez didn't reoccupy after the war. The building was in great need of restoration and architects Stockford, Careless & Ashwell of Stroud designed a make-over of the property in 1955, which featured in the 1958 book Modern Homes and Homemaking Illustrated (unfortunately not yet traced by me), an incongruous acclaim after such a history.
Conclusion
The Hermitage is a jewel in the centre of Box village but its national importance has been largely undervalued. It seems rather strange that its main claim to national recognition was being called an example of 1950s modernity. It surely is a fabulous Georgian property and lays claim to some of the most intriguing Victorian tenants.
It was the second son, Edmund Mervin Booth Story-Maskelyne, who came to Box. He was a barrister from Lincoln’s Inn, London, and he lived at Hatt House for nearly forty years from about 1882 until 1920 with his wife Martha Bangar Russell (1836-1920). He was active on the Box School committee restoring the school clock to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.[13]
Edmund’s daughter Inez Agnes Mary lived at The Hermitage after the death of her parents about 1920 until the mid-1950s. Before the First World War, she was a strong supporter of the suffragette movement, mentioned many times in the society’s records in 1912-13, working as a supporter in the Bath area, donating, collecting and writing articles. I haven’t been able to trace a connection with the Blathwayt family at Batheaston but it seems likely that she had connections with the suffrage movement at Eagle House. After the war, Inez led a much quieter life, performing the usual middle-class female duties but still leading her own highly-individual life. She wasn’t altogether typical of her generation, a scientific sceptic of religion and not involved with Box Church, to whom she donated a shilling for the Church Heating Fund in 1926 (about the smallest donation that could be made and something of an insult) and nothing to the Electric Lighting Fund in 1935.
The house was occupied by the Special Operations Womens Auxiliary Air Force during the Second World War. Joan Trevitt who was billeted there recalled it as: an empty house, dusty and obviously very well used by the last resident’s cats! With a team of orderlies we scrubbed floors and cleaned up ready for beds to arrive and occupation. The kitchen was in the basement and the cooks and staff hated it saying it was haunted. It is likely that Inez didn't reoccupy after the war. The building was in great need of restoration and architects Stockford, Careless & Ashwell of Stroud designed a make-over of the property in 1955, which featured in the 1958 book Modern Homes and Homemaking Illustrated (unfortunately not yet traced by me), an incongruous acclaim after such a history.
Conclusion
The Hermitage is a jewel in the centre of Box village but its national importance has been largely undervalued. It seems rather strange that its main claim to national recognition was being called an example of 1950s modernity. It surely is a fabulous Georgian property and lays claim to some of the most intriguing Victorian tenants.
Family Trees
Snow Family
Thomas Fitzherbert Snow (1821-11 June 1894) married Christiana Amelia Nash (1825-) in 1849. Children:
Christiana F (1851-); Thomas F (1853-); Alicia J (1855-); Annie K (1857-); Harry Bernard (1860-); Marian L (1864-); Constance P (1867-)
Story-Maskelyne Family
Antony Mervin Reeve Story married Margaret Maskelyne, the daughter of the Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne. Children: Charlotte Sophia (1822-92); Mervin Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne (3 September 1823 – 20 May 1911); Margaret Merviana (sometimes Mervinia) (1824); Anna Maria Antonia (1827-1909); Edmund Mervin Booth (1829-1915); and Agnes Lucy Meta (1830).
Edmund Mervin Booth (1829-20 August 1915), barrister, Martha Bangar Russell (1836-1920) on 25 October 1860. They moved to Hatt House from about 1882 until 1920. Children: Anthony St John (1861-1938) went to Rugby School, read History at King’s College, Cambridge (1880-84) and was appointed Clerk in the Public Record Office in 1890; Agnes Mary (1870-1948) went to Maputo, Lorenzo Marques in 1932; Inez Agnes Mary (22 March 1870-1958).
Snow Family
Thomas Fitzherbert Snow (1821-11 June 1894) married Christiana Amelia Nash (1825-) in 1849. Children:
Christiana F (1851-); Thomas F (1853-); Alicia J (1855-); Annie K (1857-); Harry Bernard (1860-); Marian L (1864-); Constance P (1867-)
Story-Maskelyne Family
Antony Mervin Reeve Story married Margaret Maskelyne, the daughter of the Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne. Children: Charlotte Sophia (1822-92); Mervin Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne (3 September 1823 – 20 May 1911); Margaret Merviana (sometimes Mervinia) (1824); Anna Maria Antonia (1827-1909); Edmund Mervin Booth (1829-1915); and Agnes Lucy Meta (1830).
Edmund Mervin Booth (1829-20 August 1915), barrister, Martha Bangar Russell (1836-1920) on 25 October 1860. They moved to Hatt House from about 1882 until 1920. Children: Anthony St John (1861-1938) went to Rugby School, read History at King’s College, Cambridge (1880-84) and was appointed Clerk in the Public Record Office in 1890; Agnes Mary (1870-1948) went to Maputo, Lorenzo Marques in 1932; Inez Agnes Mary (22 March 1870-1958).
References
[1] Allegedly it was the home of a Georgian man who disliked his wife greatly. She said when he died she would dance on his grave, so he had a pyramid headstone commissioned. Now seen in the very south-east corner of Box Churchyard.
[2] https://ironandsteam.com/indexes/biographical-index/biographical-index-g/william-glennie/
[3] Blackburn Standard and Weekly Express, 23 November 1889
[4] The Bath Chronicle, 11 November 1880, Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 15 June 1889 and 7 July 1894
[5] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 23 June 1894
[6] Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 15 December 1900
[7] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 15 September 1900
[8] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 9 March 1901
[9] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 22 May 1897
[10] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 30 November 1912
[11] The Western Daily Press, 6 January 1916
[12] Brochure courtesy Margaret Wakefield
[13] Parish Magazine, July 1930 and October, 1935
[1] Allegedly it was the home of a Georgian man who disliked his wife greatly. She said when he died she would dance on his grave, so he had a pyramid headstone commissioned. Now seen in the very south-east corner of Box Churchyard.
[2] https://ironandsteam.com/indexes/biographical-index/biographical-index-g/william-glennie/
[3] Blackburn Standard and Weekly Express, 23 November 1889
[4] The Bath Chronicle, 11 November 1880, Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 15 June 1889 and 7 July 1894
[5] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 23 June 1894
[6] Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 15 December 1900
[7] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 15 September 1900
[8] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 9 March 1901
[9] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 22 May 1897
[10] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 30 November 1912
[11] The Western Daily Press, 6 January 1916
[12] Brochure courtesy Margaret Wakefield
[13] Parish Magazine, July 1930 and October, 1935