Model T Ford from an advertisement in Life MagazineOctober 1 1908 issue. via Wikimedia Commons
The New Year of 1900 passed without particular celebration, but several of Thomas Ruddy’s journal posts heralded a new century in technological innovation. Some things did not change, however, and friends who knew Thomas’ passion for collecting continued to send him treasures and items of interest from near and far:
Thursday the first [February]. I had a small box of minerals this morning from Mr Barr through his sons. One a peculiar piece of limestone from Kettle Point, Lake Huron, Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It is called a concretionary limestone. He had it from Mr Wolverton, a geologist. Another is a piece of elaterite; it is hard and glassy looking; 4×2 and ½ inches thick. It is from Utah, United States. Another is a slaggy looking stuff without a label. The last is called a meteorite; it is oval shaped three quarters of an inch long by half an inch wide. It looks like a mass of angular rough sand fused together by iron. It is a quarter of an ounce weight. I never saw anything like it. The meteorite is said to be one of hundreds of like size found on the plains near Peublo, [sic] Colorado, America. Obtained by Mr Wm. MacMillan from Mr Robert Nesbit who picked it up. Mr McMillan gave it to Mr Peter Barr. I am highly pleased to have it.
Later in the year, Ruddy experienced the use of a hand held Kodak camera. Well used to the static studio cameras which had provided family portraits, and professionally used tripod mounted models which recorded scenes at Palé, he now saw a fellow amateur geologist and naturalist use one:
Saturday the 21st[April]. My friend Mr H.E. Forest; author of the Fauna of Shropshire came to see me. We spent a very interesting evening together. I got lodgings for him as my guest at Bryntyrion.
Sunday the 22nd. Mr Forrest and I went to Mynyllod to see the gulls. It was a beautiful day, and we much enjoyed our visit. We saw coots and a drake pochard there. We were glad of a very substantial tea on our return home. We had a pleasant evening walk after, and ended with a long chat. Monday the 23rd Mr Forrest and I had rambles about. He took several photos with his Kodak or hand camera. He was obliged to leave in the evening. He said he highly enjoyed his visit to us. Francie managed the meals very well for us.
In January 1901 the Victorian era came to a close. Queen Victoria’s reign had been the background to Thomas’ life, and he greatly treasured the memories of his meeting with her, and her gift to him of a gold pin at the end of her visit to Palé . Thomas gives much detail in his journal of the events surrounding the Queen’s passing and of her funeral. This is probably copied from a newspaper, perhaps The Times, as was his habit regarding significant national events.
He sums up his assessment of the reign that has passed and a cautious optimism for the future: Queen Victoria has been the best sovreign ever reigned in England, and probably in the world. Her memory will be handed down to prosperity for goodness, virtue, kindness, and humility. Since she began to reign, great strides have been making everything good for the nation, perfect freedom to her people, railways, telegraph, wonderful engineering works, free trade, electricity, Arts and sciences, literature, Commerce and great expansion of the Empire. Religious freedom and education are now everyone’s inheritance.
Friday the 25th . The Prince of Wales was yesterday declared king as Edward VII. I feel sure he will follow, to the best of his ability, in the footsteps of his good and noble mother.
Crowds line the route of Queen Victoria’s funeral procession. Public domain
The Queen’s death was on everyone’s mind, and Thomas was happy to recount his own experience with her: Tuesday the 5th February. Miss Williams, a friend of Lady Robertson, wished to see my fossils and eggs. She was a very amiable young lady and took great interest in the collections. She chatted about the visit of the Queen and the interest she took in the fossils. I told her some of what the Queen had said about the things which delighted her very much.
Much was changing in the world around him, and the increasing independence of his children changed the aspect of his fatherly duties. His eldest son by his late second wife Frances was studying at Aberystwyth, eldest daughter Francie had become the principle keeper of house and family cook. Carrie (16) Millie (14) and Alfie (11) were relatively self sufficient.
Some of the children accompanied Thomas on his walks, it appears that they were free to choose whether to join, although Francie was perhaps too occupied with household duties to take part regularly. On September 10th Henry, still home for the holidays from Aberystwyth and Millie joined Thomas on what turned out to be a very long expedition to the waterfall Pistyll Rhaiadr. Setting out at 8.40 am, the first part of the day became foggy and damp, and they gave up the attempt once reaching the top of the Bala – Llangynog pass. However, after eating their lunch, the weather changed for the better.
Path below Craig Rhiwarth, Richard Park, via Geograph.
They continued towards a recently closed lead mine, found rock specimens and continued to the nearby summit of Craig Rhiwarth where they examined the remains of an ancient ‘British camp’ finding circular hut foundations etc. this time the day was beautifully fine, so they decided to make a dash the 3 miles to the waterfall as Millie had not seen it. They commenced a ‘toilsome climb’ over the hill getting to the falls at 3.47 and leaving at 4.37. Thomas gives much description of the view from the top of the falls, the surrounding botany and geology and includes a field sketch.
Indefatigable, they commenced the lengthy walk homewards, coming across a stone circle and avenue of stones which Thomas measured and sketched. This is an extensive description of a very long and arduous walk of at least 25 miles with two of his children. He comments that he needed to rest several times on the homeward journey. Aged 59, there are hints that his enormous energy is diminishing and he may be expecting too much of himself. Nevertheless, his enjoyment of walking in his beloved landscape in the company of his children is undiminished. So too is his interest in geology, Botany, ancient history and his love of the Welsh landscape.
Thomas Alexander, probably about the time he began work at Plas Power
In 1897 Thomas Alexander, Thomas Ruddy’s elder son by his first marriage, was 28 years old. Since the age of 17 he had been working as a clerk in the Plas Power Colliery, near Wrexham, owned by his father’s employers the Robertson family. His work caused him to travel locally on business from time to time, when he would sometimes call in on the Ruddy family at Palé. he would also spend at least part of his holidays and Christmases there.
Events changed dramatically when in April 1894 he married Elizabeth Ann Roberts, which Thomas in his journal records tersely as ‘against our will‘. The reason for this rupture in family life is lost in the mists of time, but no mention is made in the journal of the couple in the two succeeding years. This is particularly saddening as in March 1895 a son, named after his father, Thomas Alexander was born and died on the same day. His father makes no mention of this, nor of the birth and immediate death of a second son, Francis Herbert (note the similarity of his names to those of his stepmother, Frances Harriet. Of course the lack of mention in the journal does not automatically preclude there being family contact and support at the time.
A new event in Thomas Alexander’s life is announced on 14th April 1897 when Tom came alone to spend two days with his family. However, no mention is made of the fact that two months previously Elizabeth had given birth to her third, and first surviving son, Edgar Wilfred, Thomas Ruddy’s first surviving grandchild.
Wednesday the 14th.[April 1897] Tom here in the evening. He has obtained an appointment under the Monserrat Limejuice company in the West Indies.
A few days later, Thomas gives more detail about his progress:
Tom went to London on the 20th; stayed with Francis’s brother and left by train for Southampton next morning to sail on the Royal Mail steamship Oronoco for the West Indies. The ship sailed in the afternoon. May the first– The Orinoco arrived at Barbados at 8am. Here Tom would have to go in another steamer to his destination, the island of Monserrat. He will have the management of stores, the payment of those on the estate, and keep all accounts etc. Mr Sturge the secretary of the Plas Power Coal Coy. got him the appointment; he being a director of the Limejuice company.
Sadly, Thomas makes no mention of his daughter in law and very young grandson Edgar, then about two months old.
Nothing further is heard about Tom until the beginning of the next year, 1898. Thomas Alexander seems to have coped with his father’s reservations and sent a gift, which was well received.
Friday the 28th [January] Received two boxes from Tom from Monsarrat, West Indies. They contained limes, very large shaddock oranges spices, arrowroot, etc and beautiful specimens of white coral come like madrepore coral. The coral is pure white and branching with pore faces all over it. The ship Netherton of Caernarfon then was at Monsarrat for lime juice in the middle of December, so he took the opportunity to send the boxes with it to Liverpool. There was also a Quassia cup which gives a strong bitter taste to water when poured into it. This water is a very good tonic. The wood seems to retain the bitter taste indefinitely. There is no news given of the family.
Another gift was received in February 1899: Friday the 10th. We had a box from Monserrat, per King Arthur ship to Liverpool. It contained two bottles of tamarind syrup for drinks, oranges, limes, one shaddock orange, arrowroot and the complete jaws and the fin of a shark. The shark’s teeth are ivory white 5 to 6 rows all round; that one row lying flat; the edges are sharp and serrated. The fin (pectoral) is strong and ribbed, 17 inches in length by 12 inches and of the triangular shape. Tom sent off the box from Monserrat on the 19th of last month. Tom obviously took trouble to include in his gifts things that would interest his father, such as the corals and shark jaws and fin.
Further gifts arrived in May, which Thomas was no doubt proud to share:Tuesday the 30th. We had some (a dozen) pineapples from Montserrat per my brother-in-law from London. They are very good this dry weather. I sent one to Uncle, 2 to Lady Robertson, and one to Mr Cleveley and one to Mr Armstrong.
Troubles In Montserrat
Although not mentioned in the journal, Thomas Alexander and Elizabeth were to lose another baby in Montserrat in 1899, a son named Norman Frederick. Then in 1899 several disasters hit Plymouth, Montserrat, an earthquake, hurricane and fire. See here:https://mountainaglow.com/article/the-1899-hurricane/
By April 1900 Tom and family had returned. Again Thomas mentions only Tom. Monday the 16th[April]. Tom here for the day. He and Willie left in the evening. Tom was obliged to leave Montserrat as the great hurricane destroyed most of the estate of the Company. He came home by New York, where he stayed for a few days. He has got back to his old office at Plas Power again.
Thomas does not mention that Tom and his wife were again expecting a child at this time, Reginald Harold Ruddy, born on July 6th 1900 in Southsea near Wrexham, a fact not mentioned in the journal. Reginald survived and lived until 1975, marrying and having a daughter. I have been in touch with members of this family. They think there were letters kept from Tom while he was in Montserrat, but unfortunately they can’t now be traced.
Thomas Alexander only visited his father for a day April, but by June he was back to stay over a couple of nights, and obviously bonded well with his step siblings.
Friday 22nd [June] Tom came to stay a day or two. Saturday the 23rd. Tom, Henry and Millie over Crogen hill. Monday the 28th Tom left by the first train.
A reminder that Tom went on to lead a fulfilling and respected life in his local community.
The images in this post are taken from a report in the Wrexham newspaper The Leader, on 13th February 2019 by Jamie Bowman. No copyright infringement is intended.
Volunteers working on restoration of the Minera Works, 2019
Thomas’ employer Henry Breyer Robertson owned or part owned a number of industrial, mining and rail enterprises over a wide area. Thomas’ sons Thomas Alexander and William were given clerical employment in the Plas Power works. H. B. Robertson’s uncle, Mr Dean, obviously had influence in the Minera Lime works, in the same area. In 1892 Mr Dean invited Thomas to view a newly discovered cave at the works.
Wednesday the 27th I left here by the first train for Minera. On arriving at Plas Power station I first went to see Tom who was in bed with the measles since Saturday. Mr Dean kindly had his trap in waiting for me to take me to Minera. He asked me to go to see the recently discovered cave there, from which he sent me the stalagmites. He said he would send the trap to meet me. I was sorry Tom was laid up, and he was very sorry too, for he would have liked to help me in any way. I was much interested in what I observed all the way to Minera. I passed near a coal pit, and the village. I saw Minera Church; a nice one it is. Minera Hall was close to the roadside; a moderate sized place.
I got to the Lime Works at twenty minutes to eleven o’clock. On getting to the Office, Mr. Lewis the Secretary, and his clerk, Mr. Wilkins got ready to go over the works with me. They first took me to the stone crushing mill: here the limestone is prepared for road metalling and for glass works. It was a noisy and dusty place, but of much interest. I next inspected the lime kilns: there are two large buildings on the Hoffmann principle. The buildings are in the form of a long square with the circular ends. The chambers in which the limestone is burned, are arched over all round the sides of the buildings and the doors are bricked up until the operation is over. The fire never dies out but it keeps travelling from one chamber to another all the year round; small coal (slack) is introduced into the chambers by means of iron tubes so as to feed the fire. There is a huge chimney to one of the kilns; it is 225 feet in height, by 15 feet in diameter. The kilns cost the company £20,000 to construct, but they can turn out an unlimited quantity of burnt lime.
Our next move was to the cave; it was not very inviting, but like an man of science, I wished to explore it. Mr Lewis got me leggings to cover my legs, and coat to cover my body, so as to keep me clean. I doffed my own coat, and with a lighted candle, I followed Mr Mr Lewis and Mister Wilkins into the cave. I had to lie on my right side and drag myself down slope, with scarcely enough room for me to wriggle through. After a few yards of this, I got to a wide passage where I could stand nearly upright. I was then conducted into a large chamber, long and wide and with a lofty roof. Numerous stalactites were hanging from the roof; they were long tubes of transparent calcite. Pillars of stalagmites word dotting the floor, and most of the floor was covered with thick stalagmitic crust. The floor was uneven and slippery, being here and there composed of soft red earth.
I was next taken to another large chamber, but to get to it I had to clamber on my hands and knees over the wet clay floor. In addition to the usual stalactites and stalagmites, the walls of this chamber one much encrusted with stalactites which oozed from the rock. We returned to the entrance to the first chamber and turned to the right where we got to a large chamber by again crawling over the wet rough floor. This was very uneven, the floor sloped much, and was nearly all covered with a thick stalagmitic crust. From this we went up an narrow flue-like passage on hands and knees into a large space with very lofty roof and the floor much encumbered with fragments of rock. There were a good pillars of stalagmites, and a tiny stream flowed over a gravelly bed on one side. The cylindrical tubes of calcite fell from the roof in hundreds in each of the chambers and got firmly fixed in the stalagmitic floor. It was a rough place to explore and our heads received many hard knocks, but the air was nice and cool. There is a great depth of stalagmite and clay all over the floor of the cave, and the whole bears the impress of great antiquity so that if properly explored, important scientific results might be attained. The entrance is too difficult at present, and it would be expensive to widen it. It was quite accidentally discovered when some rock was taken away.
The Minera site is now owned by the North Wales Wildlife Trust to be used as a nature reserve.
In September 1888 The fourth International Geological Congress was held in London, and following that, smaller groups of international Geologists dispersed to various places of interest around Britain. With his talent for being in the right place at the right time, Thomas found himself invited to attend a Conversazione of the Chester Society which was attended by various international delegates, taking with him a large collection of his Bala fossils. See https://wp.me/p5UaiG-q6
Here he met Charles Doolittle Walcott, who from 1907-1927 was administrator of the Smithsonian Institution in the USA. He had previously worked with the United States Geological Survey, and became it Director in 1894. At the time of his meeting with Thomas Ruddy in Chester, Walcott was 38 years old, and focussing on Cambrian strata in the USA and Canada. He would have found Thomas’ carefully identified and labelled collection of Bala fossils of great interest.
Walcott was to go on to enjoy a highly distinguished career. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences of the USA in 1896, and in 1901 served as president of the Geological Society of America. By 1907 he had become Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The pinnacle of his career came in August 1909, when in the Canadian Rockies he discovered the Burgess Shale, a fossil-bearing deposit At 508 million years old (Middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fossil beds containing soft-part imprints. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils.
Walcott, left at the Burgess Shale in 1910 with his son and daughter
Back in 1888, Walcott expressed and interest in having some Bala fossils for the Smithsonian. It was not until March 1891 that Thomas amassed a collection he deemed suitable to send to Walcott. Some he had gathered in an expedition on 28th February 1891:
Saturday the 28th. I left here at 3:35, got to the bridge over the Hirnant Stream Garth Goch by 4.30 and to the fork of the road near Brynyraber, a little se of the Lake by 5.5. I lost about 10 minutes examining specimens on the way. I got specimens ofthe “little ash’ at the fork of the road where stone was quarried some years ago to build the Workhouse at Bala. Most of the rock has been taken away. I found a few of the fossils that usually are associated with this ash rock, such as the Orthis alternate, O. elegantula, O vespertilio, Glyptocrinus, etc. I went next to Penygarth, then through the field at Garnedd, and on to the road at the bridge over the Hirnant again. I got a few specimens, notably a very fine Cythere which I was glad of for Washington.
He carefully parcelled up the specimens:
I sent him a good series of specimens, many of them of great interest, and difficult to get. The box measured 14 inches in length, 10 and a half wide, and 12 deep. It weighed 42 lbs. I also sent him two of my reprints, one a list of my Bala fossils, and the other a paper of mine on the Bala beds, from the Geological Journal, London. Mr Walcott has written several papers on the geology of America; and quite recently has discovered a fish bed of great interest in Colorado, on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The fish remains are supposed to be the oldest known placoids, and are found in Upper Silurian or Devonian.
Added to my research is now to contact the Smithsonian to see whether they still have those Bala specimens in their collection.
Sunshine recorder invented by John Francis Campbell (1821-1885) Thomas must have used such an instrument, as he records monthly hours of sunshine. (Science Museum)
By 1891 Thomas was 49 years old, settled with his second wife Frances Harriett and father of eight children, ranging in age from 22 years old to a few months. His employer, Sir Henry Beyer Robertson, son of his original employer at Palé, had himself become a family man. There was a settled air about the estate, although perhaps its most affluent days were already waning. Thomas had needed to lay off some of his garden staff after the death of Robertson senior.
The white hot days of geological investigation were over, although its study would continue for the rest of his lifetime. The investigation of the Silurian geological period, to which his collection of fossils and in depth understanding of the strata in the Bala area had contributed so much, was largely settled. People continued to call by appointment or at random at Thomas’ door to view his fossils, and he continued, although less frequently to lead occasional geological and botanical expeditions for various scientific and field study clubs.
His mentor, Professor Thomas McKenny Hughes received the Lyell Medal for geology in 1891, and as well as his professorial duties and family commitments (he had three sons) he was deeply involved in fundraising for the new Geological Museum in Cambridge which was to be named the Sedgwick Museum in honour of his distinguished predecessor. Thomas had supplied fossil specimens to London, Cambridge, some are in the University collection in Swansea, and I suspect he had provided some to his Swedish contact, Professor Törnquist.
After the intense excitement and activity of Queen Victoria’s visit in 1889, Henry Beyer Robertson’s Knighthood and marriage in 1890, the fourth volume of Thomas Ruddy’s journals is more settled and domestic in tone. We do find new aspects of Thomas’ careful observation of the natural world, however. He has obviously been recording bird observations for some years, although he records only occasional sightings prior to 1891.
Now, with his children growing up, he records a number of ‘birding’ expeditions, alone or accompanied by Frances and one or more of the children. He obviously shared his interest with his employer, Sir Henry. Egg collection, sadly, was commonplace and not regarded as improper.
Sunday the 19th [April] After tea I went along the railway to near Garth Goch. It was very nice walking, clean and dry. I found the nest of a thrush ready for eggs, and to my surprise saw a flock of about fifty field fares. Sir Henry has seen a few at Gaerwen on the 21st last year, but I have no record of seeing them myself so late. Saw no other birds of interest.
Fieldfare
Saturday the ninth [May] I got Willy and Henry to go with me bird nesting up the hills. We went as far as Tynant old slate quarry. We found the nest of carrion crow about 30 feet up a birch tree; it had five eggs, and as they were quite fresh we took them for my collection. We also found the nest of a ring-ouzel with four eggs; these we left in the nest. We saw a flock of a dozen goldfinches high up the Brook (Calethor).
As well as interest in and records made of the local bird life, Thomas had obviously been recording the weather on a daily basis, and he now begins to give a weather summary of each month, in particular rainfall and sunshine – measured no doubt on a device such as that shown above. He looks back over his records to comment on particularly extreme events, remarking on when such a record was last made. Temperature is, of course, in Fahrenheit.
Tuesday the 12th [May] This has been a very warm day –74 in the shade. It has only been twice so warm as this so early in May since I began to record the temperature in 1875. May fourteen, eighteen seventy-five, it was 77° in the shade, and on 11 May 1884, it was 75° in the shade.
1891 it would seem, was a year of extreme weather events. Thomas records them throughout the year. Sunday the 4th. [January] Roads very slippy; icy almost all the way. Some of us managed to go to church; Frances went with us to the laundry gate, fell down once, but not to hurt, and as she could not walk without slipping, even when holding my arm, I got her to return home.
Saturday the 28th.[February] I observed a good specimen of the Painted Lady Butterfly (Cynthia cardui) on the violets and walk near the fruit room. I disturbed it several times, but it soon returned to the violets again. It was sunny and fine at that time, but there had been 7° of frost in the morning. It must have been hibernating somewhere and was tempted out by the warm sunshine. I never remember seeing a specimen of the above earlier than May. The month of February has been sunny and fine, and it has been the driest month on record here. Rainfall 0.19 inch.
Exceptionally warm weather was followed by equally unseasonable cold, and Thomas hears a sad story from the past:
Sunday the 17th [May] This has been an exceptionally wintry day for the middle of May. The hills were covered with snow in the morning, some snow during the day, and a heavy fall of snow between 4 o’clock and 6 o’clock. The snow fell in large flakes, just like half crowns, and soon covered the ground and trees, although much of it melted as it fell. In the evening, the surrounding country had a beautiful but very wintry appearance. Frost is set in in the evening.
Some of the old people about here tell me that there has not been such a snow in May since 9 May, 1854. Edward Evans, one of the gamekeepers at Palé tells me that he and his younger brother came over the Berwyns from Llanarmon D.C. on that day; the snow was blinding and drifting, as it was freezing on the mountains he and his brother were up to their waists in snowdrifts at times, because the mountain road from Llanarmon to Llandrillo was obscured with the snow. It was a fearful journey, and after hours of it, the brother became so exhausted that Edward had to carry him on his back. Edward too began to get exhausted about 3 miles from Llandrillo (he was then about 19 and his brother that about 17 years of age), but his cries brought a shepherd from the farm of Hendwr to his assistance. But by that time his brother was dead.
Monday the 18th. [May] The snow on the ground and the fruit trees in bloom with icicles hanging to them. There were only 5° of frost, but the bush fruits and some of the apple trees in bloom were so wet that all froze and destroyed the fruit crops wholesale. It was the same all over England. The young gooseberries and currents dropped off like hail under the bushes a short time after. I have never seen anything like it since I came to Wales.
Wednesday the 24th [June] we had a severe thunderstorm in the afternoon. The lightning was frequent and seemed very near and the cracks of thunder shook the ground and kept roaring fearfully loud and prolonged. The rain fell in torrents for a time, accompanied by large hail– Nearly an inch of rain fell in about an hour. The lightning struck an ash tree at the entrance to the station; it went through the tree, came out in three places and then rang down the tree into the earth, tearing off a strip of bark in its course and also making a groove in the solid wood.
The intemperate weather continued through the summer, with yet another tragedy:
Wednesday the 26th wet and stormy yesterday and the same all-night, 1 ¼ inches of rain fell since 9 am yesterday morning; this has brought down a heavy flood and did much damage to trees, flowers, vegetables and fruit. Some trees were torn up by the root and many large limbs were broken off. The flowers were almost all disfigured and the trees have been much denuded of their leaves. I have seldom seen so much damage done.
A sad fatality happened at Brynselwrn this morning. Our family from Crosby, Liverpool, occupy apartments there; the family consists of father, mother, two daughters, and two sons. All are grown up and the sons have been in the habit of swimming in the Dee every morning, and went this morning as usual, much against the wishes of their parents.
After entering the water, they were carried away by the swift current for about 300 yards, when the younger one got out by being cast against a projecting tree and bank. The other was carried away and drowned, and his body was found entangled in a tree about an hour afterwards, and about 300 yards from where the other brother got out. When carried away, they kept well together, swimming with the flood, and for a time a younger one supported the elder one as he was getting exhausted; they tried to reach the side but failed, and at one place they held on for a few seconds to the overhanging branches of a tree; when they let go they were sucked under water under a tree that leaned over the river, and immediately after the one got to land, he gave the alarm, and the father with Mr Hughes the farmer of Brynselwern with his ploughman searched the river sides, and the ploughman found the body near Tyndol, and nearly opposite Palé.
The month of October has been unusually wet, the wettest on record here, with the one exception, and that was January of last year. Rainfall 9.11 inch; nearly 3 ½ inches of it fell in two days; that is 1.69 inch on the 13th and 1.76 inch on the 14th. Registered sunshine, 76 hours. The corn crops were out in an almost continuous rain for about three weeks; it was much knocked about and had commenced to sprout before it was got in in the last week of the month.
And so to December:
The weather during the month–we had the heaviest rainfall in any month since I began the record in 1874. Rainfall 10.42 inch. Max temperature in shade, 57 deg. Min 10 deg – 22 deg of frost. Registered sunshine, 32 hours.
Total rainfall during the year 1891: 57.00 inch, being 8.50 inch above the average of the last 15 years. Rainy days 231.
Duck Row, Jedburgh, where Thomas’ mother and siblings lived in 1871
In 1861 Thomas’ parents and siblings were living in Bedrule parish, four miles from Jedburgh, whilst Thomas had already embarked on his gardening apprenticeship at Minto House. His father died in 1865, and by the 1871 census his mother and his brother James were living in Duck Row in Jedburgh.
The address seems a very pleasant one, the short row of houses shown above currently command a higher than average sale price for the town. However, the census document shows that 1 Duck Row, now a Category B listed building called The Pipers house, with its own commemorative plaque to Robin Hastie, the last Town Piper, was in 1871 a house of multiple occupation. Four ‘households’ lived there; 12 people in all.
1871 census
A recent brief visit to the town suggested that this was a very appropriate area to nurture early interest in a budding geologist.
From the Castle Museum, Jedburgh
A successor to the ‘Borders Enlightenment’ scientists in the mid 19th century was local millwright and amateur archivist and geologist Adam Mathieson, who became a good friend and mentor to Thomas.
It is not possible to be certain exactly when and under what circumstances Thomas’ family left Ireland, although letters between Thomas’ daughter Caroline – ‘Carrie’ and a Ruddy relative still living in Westport Co. Mayo in 1916/17 confirm that the potato famine was the cause of their emigration. This retrospective reflection is prompted by my first visit to the Jedburgh recently. I thought I might have found Thomas’ childhood home ( picture above) but close examination of the census shows that a further visit will be necessary.
We pick them up again in the 1861 census, living in Bedrule. There are Thomas senior and his wife Mary, and Thomas junior’s siblings James and Annie. The youngest son John had died the previous year, aged 12, and our Thomas was already working as an apprentice at a Minto house. We find him there on the 1861 census, the only time he states Ireland as his place of birth on a census.
The census above details the family as living in Newton, part of the central hamlet at the centre of a larger parish area of the same name but to the north of the main hamlet.
Bedrule is a tiny village four miles from Jedburgh, but it has a proud and interesting history. Thomas senior and his son James are recorded as labourers. Several children from the census, including Annie Ruddy are recorded as scholars. Where did they go to school? For it was surely there that Thomas received the quality of education that prepared him to study confidently French, Latin and Geometry while living in the garden bothy at Minto House.
It also laid down the sophisticated writing style which characterises his journal, as in this reflection on his Bedrule childhood:
By this time we were living at Menslaws by the side of the Rule, a little above where it enters the Teviot, and in sight of Minto, a famous garden of the seat of the Earl of Minto. It was on a pleasant May evening that I went with my father and Robert Daniel to see Mr. Williamson the gardener of Minto. He received us very kindly, took us through the garden, and explained everything. I looked on the inside of this grand garden with awe, I admired in silence; the feather-likeAsparagus astonished me – I was so pleased with everything, that I thought it must be very pleasant to be a gardener; and then there was Mr Williamson going about “dressed like a gentleman”, and the young gardeners looked so very neat and smart that I formed a high opinion of the whole.
Bedrule parish, showing Jedburgh to the east and Minto to the west. Newton is on the road and river, north of Bedrule hamlet.
Queen Victoria about 1889 (not taken at Palé Hall)
27th AUGUST 1889
AFTERNOON
At 4.30 the Queen accompanied by the Princess Alix and Lady Churchill passed out at my house on the way to see Bala Lake. Mr. Savage told us to expect the Queen to pass out at the above time. Frances (TR’s wife) got the three little ones (Frances Harriet, Caroline Elizabeth and Amelia Agnes ) to stand in a group with Amelia in the middle on the table in front of the parlour bow window to see the Queen pass. The three were not close to the window for fear it might be offensive to Her Majesty, but they could easily be seen, and they looked a pretty group with their smiling faces. When the carriage was passing the Princess saw them and smiled at them, and then pulled the Queen by the sleeve so as to call her attention to them; when the Queen saw them she smiled at them and nodded to them very pleasantly. We all had a good view of her, and we thought it very gracious of herself and the Princess to take such notice of the children.
After tea, Frances took Henry as far as Tyndol for a walk, on returning the Queen’s carriage passed them, Frances bowed, and Henry touched his cap, Her Majesty acknowledged them by bowing to them. During the afternoon, Mr. Robertson told him the Queen had been talking with him in the morning, and that she asked him about me,and was very pleased to hear him say I came from Scotland. Mr. Robertson also said that when the Queen glanced at the fossils on entering the fruit room and before I got there, she remarked how very like an Ammonite my specimens of Lithuites were – a remark which shows Her Majesty has a good eye when looking at such things. Mr. Robertson also added that he was very pleased to see the Queen take such deep interest in my collection, and he said he did not think the Queen was much of a geologist but that she was certainly much interested.
At 6.30, Mr. Hugh Brown, Her Majesty’s Highland attendant came to me and giving me a small brown case, said “The Queen bid me give you this”, on opening it I found it to contain a very beautiful gold and pearl scarf pin. I was highly pleased with my present, and asked him how I was to thank Her Majesty, at which he said, “I am to do that for you, for I know the lassie gie weel.” I felt most grateful, and will all my life value it and treasure it as a precious relic, given to me by the best Queen who has occupied the throne of England for centuries, and perhaps the best that ever occupied it.
Hugh Brown was the brother of the more famous John Brown. See a letter from Queen Victoria to Hugh Brown here
Thomas left the scarf pin in his will to his eldest son by his second marriage, The Revd. Henry Ruddy. I do not know what then happened to it thereafter, but it was not amongst the objects left in the will of Henry’s only son Denys.
Her Majesty would have given it to me from her own hand if there had been time to do so, and I understand it is her usual custom to do so if at all convenient. The pin is heavy, of very good gold, horseshoe shape,* [*footnote Mrs. Wilson (Mr. Robertson’s sister) told me that the Queen is fond of giving horse-shoe articles, because it is thought they bring good luck] and is studded with nine large and beautiful pearls. It has quite a striking and handsome appearance. I learned from one of Her Majesty’s attendants that the Queen had been reading the chapter on the Silurian rocks of the Dee valley, which Mr. Darlington of Llangollen got me to write for insertion into his Guide to the Dee Valley. The queen remarked to the attendant that it was written by the gardener here, and added “And he comes from Scotland.”
Mr. Francis Clark told me that I got through my interview with the Queen very well, considering I came from Scotland! Both Highlanders are evidently valued and faithful servants of Her Majesty, and both were good natured and free in manners. Mr. Grant, a Queen’s Messenger was also very good nature, and so were nearly all the attendants.
Tuesday Evening At 9.30 we went to the station to take our places so as to witness the departure of the Queen and her suite. There were 400 or 500 persons present some of them from Bala. The Llanderfel choir were on the stand in their costumes, and had Chinese lanterns. Banners were everywhere to be seen, and when the time for the departure was near, the heather arch near the station was illuminated, but the wind was rather high for it to look well. All the houses in the village and neighbourhood were illuminated, which had a very pretty effect. On Moel Calch there was a bonfire which burned brightly and added very much to beautify the scene. A little before ten o’clock an outrider came up and shortly after theQueen came in an open carriage with the Prince and Princesses. The people were most enthusiastic and cheered loud and long and the Choir sang the National Anthem. The Queen bowed to the people and was evidently well pleased. The members of her household were also cheered, and when the Queen alighted from her carriage, she walked with the aid of the stick which she accepted from the Llanderfel people. There was a mottoe (sic) spanning the way to the train which said “Come again!”
The Royal train left the station two or three minutes past ten, the Queen put her head out at the carriage window and said “I Thank you all very much”. The people cheered again and again, the choir sang on until the Royal train went from sight, and nothing could be nicer than the whole scene, a scene which all can never forget. The loyalty and behaviour of the people could not be better, and after the Queen left, all dispersed quietly to their homes. Crowds of people cheered the Royal train at every station on the way to Chester.
Photograph of Queen Victoria in 1889 (not at Palé ) taken by Princess Beatrice
Queen Victoria’s visit to Palé Hall, August 1889 was made using the Royal Train, as the Queen was en route from Osbourne House to Balmoral Castle. Many of the Royal Household arrived with her and are mentioned in Thomas Ruddy’s account.
Thomas Ruddy (1842-1912) 