MEN AND WOMEN.
"To live in hearts we leave behind, is not to die."
We do well to remember and remind ourselves of the good deeds of departed men and women who have sought to be of use to their fellows. We need not adopt their politics, or their creeds, nor must we expect that they were faultless in their lives. They were men and women of like passions with ourselves, and the best of them were the most conscious of their failings; but where they did good deeds we may say to our young people—"Imitate," "Follow." It would be well if every church had in its vestry the portraits of such persons, with their names underneath, and the offices they held, and the deeds they wrought, stated thereon, " Lest we forget."
The Rev. Samuel Cotes (or Coates), M.A., of Cambridge University, was Rector, or rather Minister of West Bridgford in 1650, or earlier, to 1652. He was brought up with his uncle, who may have been the Rev. George Coates who was Rector of St. Peter's, 1617-40, and of whom it is recorded that when on his death-bed he began preaching on the text Jeremiah xlviii. 13, and continued preaching from November 5th to 15th, when he died (Carpenter, p. 6). Both the Rev. S. Coates, of Colwick, the uncle, and his nephew of West Bridgford, took an active part in the attempt to settle Presbyterianism as the form of government in Nottingham, and the latter preached at St. Beter's at an ordination. The Parliamentary Commissioners described him as "a godly, able preaching minister." In 1662 he was ejected for not making his declaration of his "unfeigned assent, and consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the book entituled the Book of Common Prayer," &c, and having a good estate in Yorkshire, he removed there, and preached gratis. He is described as being a profound scholar, and a solid, judicious divine. He went into Derbyshire to preach, fell in a fit of palsy, and died with his notes and spectacles in his hands, 1688, aged 69.
George Ingman, gentleman, and land surveyor, Mr. Stretton says, was an original compiler of the Gents.' Diary, and he gives a copy of the inscription on the gravestone, 1778:—
"Go home Dear friends and weep no more,
I've left you Much gold in store;
I could no Longer with you Stay
I Suddenly was snatc'ht away;
Contented be, and shed no tears,
I Must lie here till Christ appears."
John Billings, who died in 1785, at 82, has on his gravestone, near the chancel door, some beautiful lines from Dryden's OEdipus, copied by Throsby in his History:—
"He fell like autumn Fruit, that mellowed long,
Much wondered at because he dropt no sooner,
Fate wound him up for three score Years and ten ;
Yet freshly ran he on some Winters more,
Till like a clock, worn out with beating time,
The Wheels of weary Life at length stood still."
An artistic Sculptor. There must have been an artistic sculptor—possibly called a gravestone cutter—residing in, or near to Bridgford, from about 1760, to 1803, It is worth going into the churchyard to notice the slate gravestones on which are inscribed the names of Hearson, Morris, Billings, Cooley, Smitburst, Shipman, Wheatley, Smart, Daykin, Chapman, and others, who died within the period named, and to admire, and for young people to imitate, the script hand, like copperplate, and the ornamental designs on the borders of the stones beautifully executed. It is evident that the man who executed the work was one who believed that if it was worth putting up a stone, it was worth doing his work well, so that it could be said of it, "a thing of beauty is a joy for ever." School boys— please copy.
The Rev. William Thompson was Rector of Colwick and West Bridgford from 1770 to 1803. He had apparently previously been Master of the Endowed School at Wilford, and probably the Rev. B. Carter's example there influenced him, for by his Will in 1802 he gave to his wife for life the dividends arising from £1,000 three per cent, consols, and after her death to John Musters, Esq., and his heirs, and to the Rectors of Bridgford and Colwick, in trust, to pay two-thirds of the dividends, or £20 per annum; to a proper person to be by them elected, to instruct the children of such labourers and manufacturers, in Bridgford and Colwick, as should be deemed too poor to pay for them, in the rudiments of the Christian religion, reading, writing, and accounts; and one-third, or £10, towards the clothing of the most necessitous, or to the purchase of books for their use, or to the repairs of the school and dwelling-house, then inhabited by Samuel White, which with the assistance and permission of the said John Musters the testator had built on the waste, for the purpose of a schoolroom, and a dwelling for the master, and his particular request was that the trustees should be very attentive to the conduct of the said master that he performed his duty well.
It was an awful time for the poor, and the nation, when Mr. Thompson founded and endowed the school, for the bread was bad, and the price was from two to four times its present cost, and in addition to famine, fever of a typhoid character was attacking the starving poor.
Mr. Thompson died on May 4th, 1803, aged 61, and Sarah, his wife, died September 9th, 1820, aged 88. A tablet in Colwick Church states that "he was also an active, intelligent and upright Magistrate for the County." On his widow's death £100 of the stock was sold for £80, to pay the legacy duty of £70 6s. 0d., and £12 of the stock was re-invested.
According to the testimony of Mr. J. Cooper, Mrs. Barwick, and other old inhabitants, the School house stood on the north side of what is now called Village Place, between the two new streets called Albert and Davies Roads, and was called Ivy House. It appears to have become disused as a School about 1865. when the National School was built, and the premises were for some years let as cottages, now pulled down, but the endowment remains, although no new scheme has been formulated. The £912 is invested in the names of the public Trustee of Charitable Funds. Half the income is applied in repairs and improvements of the Rectory Road School premises, and £11 12s. 10d. yearly is paid in half-yearly instalments to the Rector of Colwick, and forms part of the income of the National School there.
Lewis Heyman.
Lewis Heymann was head of the firm of Heymann & Alexander, lace manufacturers, Stoney Street, residing from about 1840 at Bridgford Hall. He may be regarded as the pioneer of the Nottingham Lace Curtain industry, from its infancy, when it was confined to dress goods used for hangings. The expansion began by extended facilities from the brass rod to the spool, thereby enabling the design to be expanded to meet all requirements of the trade. The firm exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851 a curtain 90 inches wide, 14 point, the design being composed of the rose, thistle, and shamrock, one of the first ever made with this capacity. Mr. Heymann from this time made the Curtain trade his speciality in quality and design. His high business qualifications, and good taste, established a reputation over the whole world. He was one of the few manufacturers who appreciated Textile Industrial Art. An instance of this was shown in the fact that at his reception, when he was Mayor, his invitations included all the senior students at the School of Art, a step not often, if ever repeated by others. With a view to producing the best work he had a most efficient staff of designers and draughtsmen, and paid them in that department most liberal salaries. In this respect his method was in marked contrast to some more modern manufacturers, whe buy cheap and "sweated" designs. He was very kind to his employees, and it was considered lucky to "get into Heymann's." One feature was the encouragement he gave to the younger members of the staff, and he always remembered those who were in sickness or trouble. He was scrupulously regular in "cash payments." He could always be relied on each morning in walking at 8.30 from Bridgford, and be kept at business, or official duties, until 6.30, and Saturday half-holiday's were then unknown.
He was an Alderman, and Magistrate, and was Mayor in 1857. He took an active part in social reforms, and especially in the "Association for the Promotion of Social Science." There was great distress in the town in the winter when Mr. Heymann was Mayor. He promoted a subscription, and granted the use of the Exchange as a workroom for the women who had no work, there being sometimes four hundred of them, and the articles they made were sold in the room. In January, he at his own cost, distributed bread and soup to more than 2,000 persons. The distress was such that 804 persons were in the workhouse, and 5,191 receiving parochial relief (D.B. 503). He largely helped a fallen fellow manufacturer. He died in 1869, aged 66, and was buried in the General Cemetery. Mrs. Heymann died in 1874. Mr. Mundella succeeded to the vacant Aldermanship.
Mrs. Catherine Peatfield, daughter of Clifford and Catherine Caunt, of West Bridgford, and widow of the Rev. John Peatfield, who for twenty-nine years was Curate-in-charge of the parish, and was also Incumbent of Edwalton, built in 1892 six almshouses. They were built in memory of her daughter, Alice Gertrude, and are superior houses, in which comfort has been studied. They are vested in Trustees, Messrs. H. E. Thornton, J. T. Forman, C. W. Wright, and J. Howitt being the present ones. Mrs. Peatfield endowed them with £1,000, which sum has been increased by Miss Katherine Peatfield. They are intended for women of over sixty, and of good character. Each occupant has 2s. 6d. a week, and an allowance of coals. The adjoining Mission Church iron building was also built by Mrs. Peatfield, who died in 1898. Mr. Caunt was the owner of an estate of fifty-seven acres in the parish.
John T. Hill.
John T. Hill was a coal merchant. His father was the. first Superintendent of Arkwright Street Wesleyan Sunday School, and his son one of the first scholars, where afterwards he became teacher, secretary, and eventually superintendent, with other offices, taking a profound interest in the welfare of the children that passed under his care. He was a manager of the Day School, and was in 1894 co-opted on the City School Board. At the first election of a School Board in Bridgford in 1893 he was returned at the head of the poll, and became the first chairman. To obtain a fairly full knowledge of educational acts and codes and rightly to administer them, he wrought strenuously, and when illness came, with calmness laid aside his manifold labours without a murmur. He died in 1898, aged 47. The ebb of his life was—
"Such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound or foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home."