CAPTAIN EDWARD GOLDSMITH and FAMILY
UK CENSUS 1841
We extend our deepest thanks to Carole Turner, former resident of Captain Edward Goldsmith's home, Gadshill House, Telegraph Hill, Higham, Kent, who visited the grave of Captain Edward Goldsmith and family in March 2016 to take these photographs.
Above: Grave of Captain Edward Goldsmith and family
Large ledger with rocks and horizontal cross
St Mary the Virgin Church, Chalk Kent UK
Photo copyright © Carole Turner March 2016
Photographed here in March 2016 is the grave of Captain Edward Goldsmith, his wife Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day, his son Edward Goldsmith jnr and Edward jnr's wife, Sarah Jane Goldsmith nee Rivers in the graveyard of Chalk Church. Not included on the stone inscription here but included on the marble plaque inside the nave is the name of Richard Sydney Goldsmith (1830-1854), first child of Edward and Elizabeth Goldsmith who was born at Western Australia in 1830 and died of fever in 1854 at Hobart Tasmania. See plaque below.
Above: Grave of Captain Edward Goldsmith and family
Large ledger with rocks and horizontal cross
St Mary the Virgin Church, Chalk Kent UK
Four pots of flowers placed there by Carole Turner
Photo copyright © Carole Turner March 2016
Flowers on the gravestone were placed there by Carole Turner, former resident of Captain Edward Goldsmith's home, Gadshill House, Telegraph Hill, Higham, Kent, who took these photographs in March 2016.
Above: Grave of Captain Edward Goldsmith and family
Large ledger with rocks and horizontal cross
St Mary the Virgin Church, Chalk Kent UK
Photo copyright © Carole Turner March 2016
TRANSCRIPT
IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF
EDWARD GOLDSMITH
OF THIS PARISH
WHO DIED AT HIGHAM 2nd JULY 1869 AGED 65 YEARS
ALSO ELIZABETH
WIFE OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED 18th JANUARY 1875 AGED 73 YEARS
ALSO EDWARD
YOUNGER SON OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED AT ROCHESTER 8th MAY 1883 AGED 46 YEARS
AND SARAH JANE HIS WIFE
WHO DIED AT ST. LEONARDS ON SEA 8th NOV. 1926 AGED 91 YEARS
"The Lord is my Shepherd"
Source; Monumental Inscriptions of St Mary the Virgin Church, Chalk - recorded by D. E. Williams 2013.
https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/CHKb/01.htm
In the north arcade of the nave at Chalk Church, Kent UK, is a black and white marble plaque in memory of Edward Goldsmith and family. Included on the plaque but not on the gravestone outside in the church graveyard is Richard Sydney Goldsmith (1830-1854), first child of Elizabeth Goldsmith who was born days after their arrival on the James (Captain Goldsmith in command) at Western Australia in 1830 and died of fever in 1854 at Hobart Tasmania where he was buried at St. David's Cemetery opposite Captain Goldsmith's house at 19 Davey St. At the time of his death, Richard Sydney Goldsmith was a clerk at the Union Bank.
As the inscription on the plaque post-dates the death of Captain Edward Goldsmith's son, Edward in 1883, and the inscription on the gravestone post-dates the death of his wife, Sarah Jane Goldsmith nee Rivers in 1926, headed with the phrase "in affectionate remembrance", she most likely paid for the plaque in 1883, and her estate paid for the inscription on the gravestone in 1926 after burial.
Memorial plaque for Captain Edward Goldsmith and family
Nave of St Mary the Virgin Church, Chalk Kent UK
Photos copyright © Carole Turner March 2016
IN MEMORY OF
EDWARD GOLDSMITH
OF THIS PARISH AND GAD'S HILL, HIGHAM
WHO DIED JULY 2nd 1869 AGED 65 YEARS
ALSO ELIZABETH WIFE OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED JANUARY 18th 1875 AGED 73 YEARS
ALSO RICHARD SYDNEY BELOVED SON OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED IN TASMANIA AUGUST 15th 1854 AGED 24 YEARS
ALSO EDWARD YOUNGER SON
WHO DIED AT ROCHESTER MAY 8th 1883 AGED 46 YEARS
Bentley Goldsmith (1840)
There was a third son named Bentley Goldsmith (b. 1840) born ten years after the first, Richard Sydney Goldsmith (b.1830) and the second, Edward Goldsmith jnr (b.1836). Bentley Goldsmith was most likely conceived in March 1839 a few months prior to Captain Goldsmith's departure from London for Hobart in command of the Wave. Within weeks of his arrival back in London on the Wave in early December 1839, his wife Elizabeth (33 years old) gave birth, but Bentley survived less than a month. He was born in London on 17th January 1840 and died on 1st February 1840. He was baptised on 20th January 1840 at St Mary Rotherhithe where both Edward Goldsmith jnr (b. 1836) and his cousin Elizabeth Rachael Day (b. 1847, wife of Thomas Nevin in Tasmania 1871), were also baptised. Bentley was named after a close associate of Captain Edward Goldsmith's, silk and ribbon merchant Robert Bentley, whose son William Bell Bentley (b. 1833) also listed as silk merchant in the 1851 UK census, would become the executor of Captain Goldsmith's will in 1871.
CITING THIS RECORD
"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JM4K-BMG : accessed 5 April 2016), Bentley Goldsmith, 20 Jan 1840; citing , reference ; FHL microfilm 254,548, 254,549.
1841 Census: 7th June 1841
The UK census of June 1841 listed Captain Edward Goldsmith's wife Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day and their four year old son Edward jnr as residents of Surrey Place Rotherhithe with her servant Betsy Parryman, among several other members of the household, but not her husband or her eleven year old son Richard Sydney Goldsmith who was attending navigation training school in preparation for indenture with shipowner Robert Brooks. She had not accompanied Captain Goldsmith on his next command to the Australian colonies after the death of their new-born son Bentley the previous year. On the night of the census, 7th June 1841, Captain Goldsmith was six weeks out from London in command of the Wave, having departed Hobart (VDL) on 14th March, arriving back in London on July 22nd, 1841. Passengers included Captain William Bunster (1793-1854) and family, who was farewelled at a convivial dinner at the Union Club, reported at length in the Courier, 2nd March 1841. At the dinner attended by merchants, colonists and the Club's patron Sir John Franklin, Captain Goldsmith humorously remarked that he should be glad to take home to England with him all parties present, which was met with mirth and cheers.
Residents of Surrey Place, St Mary Rotherhithe 1841
Elizabeth Goldsmith, aged 35
Edward Goldsmith, aged 4
Betsy Parryman, servant, aged 15
National Archives UK Public Record Office HO 107/1067/5
Surrey Place, south of the Thames, appeared on some maps from the 1840s to this one by Weller, 1868. The houses overlooked Southwark Park to the west and the (Deptford) Lower Road to the east. Although heavily bombed during WW II, and rebuilt as a complex called the Ann Moss Way, it was originally located south of the Rotherhithe Workhouse and Somerset Place, facing the Uniting Church (the former Rotherhithe Church, perhaps) and the entrance to the Timber Docks on the Lower Road.
Surrey Place, south of the Rotherhithe workhouse, 1868
Source: london1868.com/weller58b
When Captain Edward Goldsmith's father, Richard Goldsmith, died in 1839 he was the listed licensee of the China Hall public house and tenements at 1-4 China Hall Place, Lower Deptford-road, Rotherhithe, London from 1822 (Petty Sessions) and from 1826 Richard Goldsmith was also registered as proprietor and licensee of the Ship on Launch at No. 9 Lower Deptford Road, Rotherhithe. The name Ship on Launch was changed to the Princess Victoria Inn in 1836 when construction began on the Brunel Tunnel - as a foot tunnel - diagonally opposite Richard Goldsmith's premises. On their father's death in 1839, Captain Edward Goldsmith's sister Deborah Meopham Goldsmith inherited the Princess Victoria Inn, 9 Lower Road, Rotherhithe, (SE16 in Pigot's Directory). In the 1841 UK Census Deborah Meopham Goldsmith was listed as resident of Paradise Row, which is now Union Road Bermondsey, its name changed in 1912. In 1842 she was listed as D. M. Goldsmith, licensee (Petty Sessions).
Elizabeth Goldsmith and her husband master mariner Captain Goldsmith resided on the Lower Deptford Road at Surrey Place, half way between the China Hall and the Princess Victoria when their second son Edward Goldsmith jnr was baptised at St Mary Rotherhithe on 24th December 1836, born on 12th December 1836. A handwritten note next to his name on this registration says "B not paid":
Baptism of Edward Goldsmith 24 December 1836
Source: London Metropolitan Archives, Ref: p71/mry/015
A decade later, in 1847, Edward's first cousin Elizabeth Rachel Day, who would later marry photographer Thomas J. Nevin in 1871 at Hobart, Tasmania, was also baptised at St Mary Rotherhithe, the "Mayflower Church." She was born at the same address - Surrey Place, (Lower) Deptford Road, to parents Rachel Day nee Pocock and Captain James Day, brother of Captain Edward Goldsmith's wife, Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day. Captain James Day's occupation was listed as "mate of a ship". He served with his brother-in-law Edward in command as navigator and first mate from the 1830s to the 1850s.
Baptism of Elizabeth Rachel Day 28 April 1847
Source: London Metropolitan Archives, Ref: p71/mry/021
The Bentley Brothers
When the administration of Captain Edward Goldsmith's will was listed in 1871 (National Archives UK Ref: C 16/715/G18) William Bell Bentley was named as defendant along with Captain Edward Goldsmith's widow, Elizabeth Goldsmith versus their son Edward Goldsmith jnr and Sarah Jane Goldsmith, his wife. William Bell Bentley and his brother Alfred Bentley were the named executors of the will, the latter better known as the father of William Owen Bentley, founder of Bentley Motors Ltd (1919) whose mother Emily Waterhouse was born in South Australia. Another of Alfred Bentley's sons, Alfred Hardy Bentley was added to the amendment in 1922.
1871: Goldsmith v. Goldsmith
Reference:C 16/715/G18
Cause number: 1871 G18.
Short title: In the matter of the estate of Edward Goldsmith late of Gads Hill Higham, Kent, deceased: Goldsmith v Goldsmith.
Documents: Administration summons.
Plaintiffs: Sarah Jane Goldsmith widow and Edward Goldsmith.
Defendants: Elizabeth Goldsmith widow, William Bell Bentley.
Amendments: Amended 1888. George Matthews Arnold named party. Amended by order 1894. George Edmeades Tolhurst added party. Amended by order 1922. Alfred Hardy Bentley added as defendant.
Provincial solicitor employed in Kent.
Date:1871
Held by:The National Archives, Kew
Legal status:Public Record
Source: National Archives London
Above: Summons from Edward Goldsmith jnr to his mother over his father's will, January 1871 (National Archives UK).
Elizabeth Goldsmith's son issued this summons (document above) to his mother as an annuant of his father's estate, even though both mother and son were listed as residents of the same address, 14 Piers Road, Rosherville, known for its fabulous pleasure gardens in Northfleet, Gravesend and close to St. Botolph's Church, Northfleet, Kent, where Captain Edward Goldsmith was baptised on 20th July 1804. She had vacated and put up for auction her two freehold houses at Gadshill - Gad's Hill House and Gad's Hill Cottage in May 1870 (see auction list below):
Last entry on left-hand page:
Goldsmith, Edward son of Richard and Mary Goldsmith was baptised on 20th July 1804.
St. Botolph's Northfleet Parish Records No.P270/1/4
Medway City Ark Archives P270_NORTHFLEET_ST_BOTOLPH_1539_1977/P270_01_04
Bleak Expectations 1872: Day v. Goldsmith
Elizabeth Goldsmith, William Bell Bentley et al and photographer Thomas Nevin and his wife Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day in Tasmania were named in this bill of complaint to Captain Goldsmith's will as defendants versus the plaintiff, Elizabeth Nevin's sister, Mary Sophia Day, who was born in Tasmania in 1853 and who was 19 years old when this suit was filed, but being under the age of 21 years and unmarried, the law described her as both an infant and spinster. Both of these nieces of Captain Edward Goldsmith, Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day (born Rotherhithe 1847) and Mary Sophia Day (born Hobart 1853) had received generous allowances from their uncle as children during his visits in command of merchant ships to Hobart, and in his will he not only designated them as annuants, he set aside for them as beneficiaries eleven cottages at Vicarage Row, Rochester. These two nieces were daughters of the brother of Captain Goldsmith's widow Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day, Captain James Day, who had married Rachael Pocock in Hobart in 1841. Their mother Rachael Pocock, who died of consumption in Hobart in 1857, was a grand-daughter [?] of Gravesend printer and naturalist Robert Pocock's second marriage to a Miss Hinde. Another plaintiff named in this bill of complaint in 1872 was George Matthews Arnold, eight times Mayor of Gravesend who was involved in litigation with Captain Goldsmith in 1856, and listed as a creditor in Goldsmith's will. George Matthews Arnold published Robert Pocock's diaries in 1883. Robert Pocock visited Gads Hill and Chalk Church on his walks in search of plants: he commented at length on the "buffoon", the same carving of a tipsy monk above the Church porch whom Dickens was known to greet on his walks back from Rochester.
Robert Pocock at Chalk Church
In Robert Pocock: The Gravesend Historian, Naturalist, Antiquarian, and Printer
by George Matthews Arnold. Published 1883
TRANSCRIPT Frontispiece 1872 Bill of Complaint
National Archives UK Ref C16/781 C546012
1872 D. 50Cause number: 1872 D50. Short title: Day v Goldsmith. Documents: Bill only. Plaintiffs:…
In Chancery
Between Mary Sophia Day (an infant under the age of 21 years) by Thomas Butler her next friend .. Plaintiff
and
Elizabeth Goldsmith, William Bell Bentley, Alfred Bentley, Edward Goldsmith and Sarah Jane his wife, Caroline Tolhurst, Matilda Tolhurst (inserted), Edward Tolhurst, Richard Tolhurst and Thomas Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel his wife (the four last named defendants being out of the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court) … Defendants
I the undersigned Thomas Butler of No. 9 The Grove Gravesend in the County of Kent Genteleman (inserted) hereby authorize and request you Mr Thomas Sismey of No. 11 Sergeants Inn Fleet Street in the City of London Solicitor to institute the above suit on behalf of the above named infant plaintiff Mary Sophia Day who is now residing at Hobart Town in Tasmania and is a spinster and to use my name as her next friend for such purpose
Dated this twenty fifth day of March 1872
Thomas Butler
Reference: C 16/781/D50
Cause number: 1872 D50.
Short title: Day v Goldsmith.
Documents: Bill only.
Plaintiffs: Mary Sophia Day infant by Thomas Butter her next friend (both struck through).
Defendants: Elizabeth Goldsmith, William Bell Bentley, Alfred Bentley, Edward Goldsmith and Sarah Jane Goldsmith his wife, Caroline Tolhurst, Matilda Tolhurst, Edward Tolhurst (abroad), Richard Tolhurst (abroad) and Thomas Nevin (abroad) and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin his wife (abroad).
Amendments: Amended by order 1888. George Matthews Arnold added as a named party. Amended by order 1894. Sarah Jane Goldsmith widow added as a plaintiff. Amended by order 1894. George Edmeades Tolhurst added as a party. Amended by order 1908. Sarah Jane Goldsmith widow as a defendant and William Bell Bentley, Alfred Bentley, Brownfield Tolhurst and George Phillips Parker added as co defendants.
For information on the Tolhursts, gold, silver, diamond and sapphire merchants, click here.
BENTLEYS: UK CENSUS 1851
Name: Robert Bentley
Titles and Terms:
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1851
Event Place: St Marylebone, Middlesex, England
Registration District: Marylebone
Residence Note: Cavendish Road
Gender: Male
Age: 51
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Silk And Ribbon Merchant
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Institution:
Birth Date:
Birth Year (Estimated): 1800
Birthplace: Helmsley, Yorkshire
Page Number: 42
Household ID: 678930
Line Number: 16
Registration Number: HO107
Piece/Folio: 1491 / 491
Affiliate Record Type: Household
Digital Folder Number: 101796319
Image Number: 00968
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Robert Bentley Head M 51 Helmsley, Yorkshire
Martha Bentley Wife F 47 Whitby, Yorkshire
Mary E Bentley Daughter F 25 Whitby, Yorkshire
Robert Bentley Son M 19 Whitby, Yorkshire
William B Bentley Son M 18 London, Middlesex
Martha Bentley Daughter F 17 London, Middlesex
Eliza J Bentley Daughter F 13 London, Middlesex
Emma Bentley Daughter F 10 London, Middlesex
Alfred Bentley Son M 9 London, Middlesex
Amelia Bentley Daughter F 7 London, Middlesex
Edwin Bentley Son M 6 London, Middlesex
Charles H Bentley Son M 4 London, Middlesex
Mary Smith Servant F 22 Kingswood, Surrey
Caroline Underwood Servant F 28 Greenfield, Bedfordshire
Citing this Record:
"England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKVK-FFC8 : accessed 6 April 2016), Robert Bentley, St Marylebone, Middlesex, England; citing St Marylebone, Middlesex, England, p. 42, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (https://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
Captain Edward Goldsmith's Estate 1870
Tasmanian photographer Thomas J. Nevin, his wife Elizabeth Rachel Day and her sister Mary Sophia Day were named as beneficiaries of Captain Goldsmith's will when he died at Gadshill, Higham Kent, on 2nd July 1869. The cottages at Vicarage Row, Rochester, were specified as his bequest to them, but by May 1870, those eleven cottages were up for auction along with Gad's Hill House, and numerous other properties in the parishes of Higham and Chalk, per this advertisement:
Auction of Captain Edward Goldsmith's properties
Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser 16 May 1870
TRANSCRIPT
Freehold Residences, Cottage Property, and Building Land, in the Parishes of Higham and Chalk, near Rochester and Gravesend.Auction of Captain Edward Goldsmith’s freehold properties
MESSRS. COBB are instructed by the Executors of the late E. Goldsmith, Esq., to SELL by AUCTION, at the Bull Hotel, Rochester, on TUESDAY, the 14th of JUNE, 1870, at 4 for 5 o'clock, in 18 lots.
IN THE PARISH OF HIGHAM
The valuable FREEHOLD RESIDENCE called "Gad's Hill House", with entrance lodge, lawn, gardens, shrubberies, and plantations (the whole containing 6a. 3r. 28p.), situate on an eminence commanding extensive views of the Cobham woods, the Rivers Thames and Medway, let on lease for the term of 14 years from Michaelmas, 1869, to Andrew Chalmers Dods, Esq., at a rental of £165 per annum, in one Lot.
The comfortable and well arranged FREEHOLD RESIDENCE, called "Gad's Hill Cottage", with 1a. 0r. 32p. of garden and orchard land, in the occupation of Mrs. Goldsmith, and of the estimated value of £70 per annum, in one Lot.
9 FREEHOLD COTTAGES, situate in Higham-place abutting on the turnpike-road, let at weekly rentals, together with 0a. 3r. 20p. of building land adjoining, amounting to £87 10s. per annum, in 4 Lots.
11 FREEHOLD COTTAGES, in the Vicarage Row, let at weekly rentals, amounting to £93 11s. per annum, in 3 Lots.
0a. 3r. 0p. of SALT MARSH LAND, near the River Thames, in the occupation of Mrs. Youens, in one lot.
IN THE PARISH OF CHALK
27 COTTAGES and GARDENS in the village of Chalk, held at rentals amounting to £196 15s. per annum, together with 2a. 0r. 0p. of valuable plantation, house and garden, and building land, in the occupation of Mr. John Craddock, at a rental of £30 per annum, in 8 Lots.
Particulars, conditions, and plans may be obtained at the Auction Mart, London; Bull Hotel, Rochester; G. M. Arnold, Esq., Solicitor, Gravesend; and of Messrs. Cobb, Surveyors and Land Agents, 26, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, and Rochester, Kent.
Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser 16 May 1870
Although both nieces were annuants under the terms of the will, Mary Sophia Day's bill of complaint was struck through in 1872, and Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin had made no claim. Lawyers may well have advised Mary Sophia Day to file suit because she was still eligible under British law: she was under 21 yrs old ("infant") and unmarried (she married Captain Hector Axup six years later in 1878), while her sister Elizabeth was both married and over 21 yrs old by 1872.
See this article and transcript of the will [click here] which details the number and extent of properties named in Edward Goldsmith's will as it passed through probate on 27th July 1869 to the bill of complaint, 1872.
Craddock's Cottage, Chalk, Kent
Photo copyright © Carole Turner March 2016
This was one of Edward Goldsmith's properties, Craddock's Cottage, believed to be where Dickens spent his honeymoon with Catherine Hogarth, April 1836. It was listed for auction in 1870 as "2a. 0r. 0p. of valuable plantation, house and garden, and building land, in the occupation of Mr. John Craddock, at a rental of £30 per annum". The land next door was known as Goldsmith’s Plantation until the 1930s. It is mentioned in Goldsmith's will on pages 6 and 8:
Due from John Craddock of Chalk Kent labourer and considered to be irrecoverable .... £40.0.0
TRANSCRIPT (page 8 of Captain Edward Goldsmith's will 1869-1872)
(10.) A piece of garden ground containing by admeasurement 1r. 30p. on the north side of the Gravesend and Rochester turnpike road with the cottage or tenement thereon erected and built situate in the parish of Chalk aforesaid and also a piece of orchard ground situate on the north side of the road leading from Gravesend to the village of Lower Higham and lying in the parish of Chalk aforesaid and containing by admeasurement 1a. 3r. 32p. all which premises are now in the occupation of John Craddock as yearly tenant at the annual rent of £30.Source: National Archives UK Ref C16/781 C546012
These two images date from the 1900s when a plaque of Dickens was placed above the front door of Craddock's Cottage. The land adjoining was still known as Goldsmiths Plantation in the 1930s.
Dickens's honeymoon and where he spent it
by Philip, Alexander J. (Alexander John), b. 1879
Published 1912
Kent Photo Archive
Ref. No: MMPC-Q500002
Location: CRADDOCKS COTTAGE CHALK KENT
Craddock's Cottage, Chalk, Kent, with plaque of Charles Dickens
Photo copyright © Carole Turner March 2016
The auction of Captain Goldsmith's estate took place at the Bull Hotel, Rochester, under the watchful eye of solicitor George Matthews Arnold. The Bull was Mr Jingle's "good house" in Dickens' Pickwick Papers and the hotel he named the Blue Boar in Great Expectations.
Source: The Victorian Web
View composer David Bowdler's video of the Higham Marshes and St Mary the Virgin Chalk Church where Captain Goldsmith's grave is located.
At Youtube: Video by David Bowdler, a musician and composer from Kent in England.
"A journey across the Higham Marsh to the Church on the Edge.Charles Dickens daughter was married at this Church, St Mary's"
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMpQPTarOhE
