Skegness Through The Years: Part 2
This is an extract from the book "Skegness Through The Years"
People
Skegness Parish Register: 1653 to 1812
The rector of the parish of Skegness kept records of baptisms and burials from 1653 onwards. There is also a record of marriages for the early part of the period. A copy of the records between 1653 and 1812 is kept in Skegness Library [1]. The table in Annex 2 analyses the information on baptisms and burials in arbitrary 10-year periods between 1653 and 1812. This information is based on individual entries in the register [2].
[1] An exact copy of the Skegness Parish Register 1653 to 1812: BL. SKEG. 929. 3/1.
[2] While the records of burials should be accurate, subject to possible clerical errors, including those on the part of the present researcher, the records for baptisms may be understated, in the very early years. A footnote to the copy of the Register explains: “In 1644 for the first time ministers were ordered to record births as well as baptisms. In 1653 a fee of 4d. was ordered to be paid for every register of birth and burial and 12d. for marriage certificates. The registers were kept by laymen 1653-1660 and as no fee was ordered for registering baptisms in many cases they omitted to record them.”
Overall trends
Over the 151-year period [3],there were 368 baptisms and 300 burials. Prima facie this would indicate a growing population. However, the figures take no account of inward or outward migration. The only Census figures available for the period covered by this register are for 1801 and 1811. These show a small decrease of the population of Skegness from 134 in 1801 to 132 in 1811. The crude annual figures from the registry, on the other hand, would indicate an increase in population over the same period: the figures for the years 1802 to 1811 show 37 baptisms and only 24 burials. These burials include four unidentified corpses washed up and one drowned sailor, four of whom, at least, were obviously not Skegness residents. Clearly, therefore, crude estimates of trends have to be treated with some caution.
[3] The records for 1700 to 1708 have been lost.
It is, however, interesting to note – though it may be coincidental – that the total baptisms for the 70-year period from 1732 to 1801 is 200 [4]. When the 49 children who died during this period are subtracted, then the figure of 151 is only a little higher than the Census figure for 1801 of 134. If the same formula (total baptisms minus child burials) were applied to the 70 years for which records are available between 1654 and 1731, the total population in 1731 would have been around 90. Comparison with other population studies for this period might show whether this possible population increase is consistent with a general trend elsewhere in the country.
[4] Three score years and ten has been used as the traditional age of man; at this period it was probably lower than this.Three score years and ten has been used as the traditional age of man; at this period it was probably lower than this.
Child mortality
The figures for burials of children are mainly based on entries which say “son of” or “daughter of”, but also include, for example, “boy drowned age 9”. It is well known that in earlier times, infant mortality was higher than it is today. The figures show that just under a third of the burials were of children.
Occupations
Usually, the former occupations of men who were buried were entered in the register from 1777 onwards. These included:
Poor man/pauper – 3;
young man – 1;
labourer – 3;
rector – 1;
grazier – 4;
shepherd – 3;
fisherman – 1;
publican – 1;
sailor – 5 (all 1804 –12).
Apart from the rector and the publican all these occupations are rural.
Women were generally described as “wife of”, “spinster”, “poor woman” or “widow”.
Information is also provided of the occupations of the fathers of children baptised between 1800 and 1812. These show 25 children fathered by labourers, 8 by graziers, 4 by publicans (including 2 illegitimate children (same mother)), 1 each by a shepherd, a fisherman and a sojourning soldier.
Names
The most common surnames featuring in the earlier part of the register are: Chapman, Dyan (or Dyon), Hudson, Porter, Thompson, Warner, Whitlam (or Whitelamb), Waterman and Wilkinson.
Churchwardens’ surnames between 1672 and 1744 were: Green, Whitelamb, Chapman (3), Wright, Dyon, Cotman, Bowrin, Lawrence, Barnaby, Martin, Enderby, Weldale, Everington.
A sad tale
There was no doubt a scandal in Skegness in 1674, which, unfortunately, appears to have had a sad ending. [5]
[5] Ruth Neller has commented, however, that it was quite common in pre-Victorian times for couples to find out whether they could have children, before deciding to get married [personal comment given to Skegness U3A Local History Group, 9 February 2005].
The marriage register for 1674/5 shows: “Thomas Whitelamb and Ann Hudson marry’d Apr. 27”.
The baptism register for the same year shows: “William son of Thomas Whitelamb and Anne his wife baptized May the 31”.
The burial register for 1674/75 shows: “Willm son of Tho : Whitelamb and An his wif. bury’d Jan 15th”.
The register was signed by Tho : Thompson Rector and Tho : Whitelamb Churchwarden.
Information taken from the Census
In 1801, with 23 houses and a population of 134, Skegness was smaller than the neighbouring Wainfleet All Saints (population 506), Wainfleet St. Mary’s (population 421) and Winthorpe (40 houses and a population of 221). [6]
[6] Winston Kime: Skeggy, op.cit.
By the time of the Census of 1841, Skegness had a population of 316, of whom only 28 were born outside Skegness. At that time Skegness was still a very rural community. The vast majority of the working population worked as Farmers (12), Agricultural Labourers (24) or Shepherds (2) on the dozen or so farms. There were also 17 males and 30 females listed as Servants.
Skegness had one Butcher, Grocer, Shoemaker, Bricklayer, Sweep, Attorney, Nurse, Chemist, Parish Clerk and School Teacher. There were also the Lifeboat Keeper and three Fishermen as well as two Innkeepers, a Governess, a Housekeeper, a Customs Official and a Carrier.
In 1818 only four people in Skegness were entitled to vote in the parliamentary election. In 1832, the number had increased to seven. [7]
[7] Ruth Neller: op. cit.
The population of Skegness did not increase significantly between 1841 and 1871, by which time it had reached 349 (see Annex 1).
Land, Buildings, Transport and Amenities
Land and Sea
A new sea defence was built east of and parallel to Roman Bank in 1670. The land in between was reclaimed. [8]
[8] Ibid.
The land came into the hands of the ancestors of the Earl of Scarbrough in 1690[9]. According to Whites Directory, in 1856, Lord Monson was lord of the manor, though a great part of the soil belonged to the Earl of Scarbrough[10].
[9] G.H.J. Dutton: Scrapbooks, op. cit.
[10] William White: op.cit.
In November 1810, there was widespread flooding, with damage to Skegness sea banks[11]. Similarly, on the night of August 30th 1833, a violent storm arrived: several vessels and many lives were lost. The lifeboat saved ten lives and 15 to 20 bodies were washed ashore in the neighbourhood[12].
[11] Ruth Neller: op. cit.
[12] William White: op.cit.
In 1829, Oldfield wrote:
This part of the Lincolnshire coast is thought to have extended formerly to a sand called Dowsing … The parish at present contains 1630 acres of land and a border along the sea coast, in a state of waste, which is not rated. The land is of excellent quality and is well adopted for the feeding of sheep; from its contiguity to the sea, water is occasionally brackish and consequently dangerous to horned cattle. The pastures are universally fenced by ditches, there being scarcely a quickset hedge in the parish.
He went on to describe the ditches, which divided the fields as wide and dangerous and, with no trees or hedges, the place was “altogether destitute of shelter”. [13]
[13] Winston Kime: Skeggy, quoting from Edmund Oldfield: A Topographical and Historical Account of Wainfleet, 1829.
In 1845, Skegness was described as having “rich alluvial soil yielding abundant crops of grass … when converted to tillage, the products were equally strong and good”. [14]
[14] Ruth Neller: op. cit.
Buildings
In 1772, Joseph Dickinson advertised the Skegness Hotel, later the Vine, as “standing on as clean a shore as any in England”. Already in 1784, a bathing machine and post-chaise were available at the hotel. In 1813, New Hotel, later called Hildred’s, was being advertised with seawater baths and bathing machines. In 1820, the Skegness Hotel was described as “well known for the resort of fashionable company”. In 1828, the Skegness Hotel changed its name to Enderby’s Hotel and in 1851 it was called the Vine Hotel. In 1862, Hobson Dunkley built the Sea View Hotel. His daughter managed it. [15]
[15] Ibid.
Around 1780, McKinley House, also known as Moat House, was built in Drummond Road, not far from where the old Arcadia theatre was subsequently built [16]. This was described in an advertisement in the Stamford Mercury in 1810 as “a most commodious house with accommodation for a family, stables, coach-house and grass for horses”. It was further claimed to command the finest sea view with the most safe and desirous bathing on the Lincolnshire coast. The Moat House was demolished towards the end of the nineteenth century [17].
[16] Winston Kime: The Book of Skegness, pp. 20-21.
[17] Ruth Neller: op. cit.
Around 1836, a Primitive Methodist Chapel was built on Roman Bank, north of the present Seathorne Methodist Church [18]. The Wesleyan Methodists erected a chapel in the High Street in 1837. In 1848, a larger Wesleyan Chapel was built, possibly out of wood, nearer to the present railway station [19].
[18] This was called the Bank Chapel. It was demolished in the 1920’s [Winston Kime, pers. comm.].
[19] Winston Kime: The Book of Skegness, p. 70.
A Penny School opened on the west side of Roman Bank, on the site of the present School Cottages [20]. It was said to be not very good. In 1850, the Penny School building was enlarged, but it was still described as a “poking little hole” [21].
[20] Mr. Kime has commented “School Cottages are on the left of School Passage (no name plate), proceeding from Roman Bank to reach Cavendish Road opposite the Infants School and could well have been the site of that first Skegness school.”
[21] Winston Kime: The Book of Skegness, p. 77.
The first Skegness Post Office was opened in the High Street in 1870 [22].
[22] Ruth Neller: op. cit.
Transport and Amenities
In the 1790s, a diligence ran from Skegness to Boston on Sundays and Thursdays and daily during the summer season. In 1848, the East Lincolnshire Railway opened with a station at Burgh. A horse-drawn omnibus from Skegness met the trains twice daily.
[23] Ibid.
There was horse racing on the north beach at least from 1829 [24].
[24] Ibid.
In 1842, Skegness is recorded as being used as a port, with over 6000 tons of coal being landed there each summer [25].
[25] Ibid.
In White’s Directory, in 1826, the village of Skegness is described “as an excellent bathing place, where there are two large inns for the accommodation of visitors” [26]. An anonymous writer in 1827 said: “for a place where ease and quiet can be obtained at reasonable expense, few places can compare with Skegness” [27]. White’s Directory, in 1856, describes Skegness as a pleasant village and bathing place. It has in its parish 1644 acres of land and 366 inhabitants. A lifeboat and bathing machines are stationed on the beach.[28]
[26] White’s Directory, 1826, entry for “Wainfleet”.
[27] Winston Kime: Skeggy, quoting from The Lincoln and Lincolnshire Cabinet, 1827.
[28] William White: op. cit., 1856.
Continued in Part 3: Skegness 1873 to 1939