Hutton in the Forest (the parish church, not the pictured hall) was the venue for ‘an uncommon occurrence’ just before Christmas 1808.
Hutton in the Forest parish register, 1808.
December 15.
On this day, and at the same time, were christened in the parish church of Hutton:
Frederick Henry, son of Sir Frederick Fletcher Vane, baronet, and of Dame Hannah, his wife;
Michael Solomon and John, sons of Solomon Lewthwaite, clerk, rector of this parish, and Mary his wife;
Elizabeth Varty, a servant with Mr Richardson at Hutton Hall, aged about 13, born and baptised privately at Penrith;
John, son of John Harrison and Ann his wife;
James and George, sons of John Hodgson and Elizabeth his wife;
Ann, daughter of Richard Bell and Sarah his wife;
Jane and Anne, daughters of Edmund Dennison and Mary his wife;
Jane, daughter of William Scott and Jane his wife.
The sponsors and parents dined and passed the evening and a great part of the night at Hutton Hall.
An occurrence so uncommon in a very small parish may appear not unworthy of being recorded.
S Lewthwaite
My first thought was that either there were three sets of twins (unlikely), or a few ‘catch-ups’. IE baptising children who’d slipped the net as babies.
But why were they all ‘done’ on the same day?
It would have been nice if the Reverend Solomon Lewthwaite had explained this ‘occurrance so uncommon’.
I mean, if you are going to go to the trouble of pointing out that it was unusual…
Perhaps the rector said to Sir Frederick: “I’ve got my own boys and seven other littles ones, AND a young servant to slot into the calendar before Christmas, as well as your delightful son… who of course takes priority…”
And Sir Frederick replied: “I’ve got a capital idea. Why not do them all together next Thursday? “The parents and god-parents can all join us at the hall afterwards for a bit of a party.”
Turns out, not so simple.
Hutton in the Forest (‘Hutton Hall’)
According to his Wikipedia entry (for whatever that is worth): ‘In the words of his grandson, Sir Frederick Fletcher Vane
‘was not without the faults and passion of youth’.
He has also been described as a ‘colourful and difficult character’ – and that’s by Hutton in the Forest’s own website!
In 1802, it was reported he had assaulted a Cockermouth attorney called Benson (as he was getting out of his chaise), during a legal dispute over the status of ‘certain lands’ (freehold or copyhold).
He’d thought Benson was insulting him, and ‘in the heat of an unguarded moment’ had ‘pulled him by the nose’.
(He was also that year involved, as a magistrate, in the famous case of the Beauty of Buttermere).
The entry also says that Sir Frederick had bought Armathwaite Hall, on the shore of Bassenthwaite, in 1796, because Hutton Hall was
‘in a parlous state’.
And that the family mostly lived there.
He is recorded in 1810 as being ‘of Armathwaite’ (sic).
What state was Hutton in the Forest in for the post-baptisms party, one wonders?
Sir Frederick Fletcher Vane
Sir Frederick Fletcher Vane, 2nd baronet, was born in 1760 at Hutton-in-the-Forest, and died in 1831.
Sir Frederick had had two children by Hannah Bowerbank: Hannah in 1794 and Walter in 1795, with both baptised on the same day in London. The register records them as the children of Sir Frederick ‘by Hannah Bowerbank’.
Not the ‘base-born children/bastard children’ approach, with the ‘wanton’ mother’s name first, that you see in many registers. But then, he was a baronet.
Frederick and Hannah married in the capital in 1797, three weeks before the birth of their third child, Francis.
In 1802, the Hutton register records the burial (on January 4) of Sir Frederick’s mother, the widowed Lady Rachel, age 72.
And then a happier event, the birth (March 10) and baptism (March 22) of Sophia Mercy, daughter of Sir Frederick and Hannah, with both taking place at Armathwaite Hall.
Frederick Henry Fletcher Vane – he of the December 15, 1808 ‘mass’ baptisms – was the first son conceived after his parents’ marriage.
This was to cause trouble when Sir Frederick died: Francis, as the older son, assumed the title and the family estates. Not without legal objections from Frederick Henry, over the question of Francis’ legitimacy.
The Hutton in the Forest register for 1807 records that:
Frederick Henry, son of Sir Frederick Fletcher Vane, baronet, and of Dame Hannah, his wife,
was born at Armathwaite on May the 10th and baptised there on May 13.
So when baby Frederick Henry was baptised with the other ten babies/children, he was 19 months old. And this was kind of an ‘official’ baptism into the church attached to the family estate. After the private one when he was three days old.
However, despite it all being a big event, Frederick Henry’s sister Sophia didn’t get to be part of the ‘big day’ at the font.
Perhaps this was because she was now aged six? Or perhaps because she was a girl, not the ‘spare’ heir to the estate?
So what of the others?
The Lewthwaites
Well, sadly for Michael Solomon Lewthaite and John Lewthwaite, they were to lose their father less than two years later.
The register records that the Reverend Solomon Lewthwaite was buried on October 29, 1810, aged 56.
Rewind to 1788, and we learn that Solomon Lewthwaite, at that time the curate at Hutton in the Forest, was inducted as rector of the parish on December 21, taking over from the Rev Browne Grisdale.
The clergy database shows he’d been at Hutton since 1777.
Rewind to 1805 and we find the baptisms of Michael Solomon Lewwthaite, son of the Rev Solomon Lewthwaite and his wife, Mary, late Mary Wilson.
He wasn’t the first Michael: the 1803 register has a baptism for Michael on April 21, with his burial on July 13.
In 1792, they’d buried a daughter Mary, aged ten months
They’d had a son Musgrave Lewthwaite in 1794, followed by Thomas in 1795, followed by William in 1798.
But again, at the ‘mass baptism,’ both boys had already been baptised:
John on October 17, 1808.
And Michael Solomon on May 5, 1805.
So why were they both christened again on December 15, 1808?
Young Elizabeth Varty had also been ‘born and baptised privately at Penrith,’ presumably as a baby.
There’s a James, son of John Hodgson and Elizabeth his wife, baptised in March 1807; brother George was baptised in September 1808.
John, son of John Harrison and Ann (late Toppin) had also been baptised already, in September 1808
Anne, daughter of Edmund Dennison and Mary (late Carr), had been baptised in January 1808. Sister Jane had been baptised in the parish of Hesket in the Forest, three years earlier.
Ann, daughter of Richard Bell and Sarah (late Mattinson), had been baptised in May 1808.
Jane, daughter of William Scott and Jane (late Saleby) had been baptised in March 1808.
‘An occurrence so uncommon’
And clearly, so artificial! All eleven infants and children had already been baptised.
So, why were they being baptised again?
Why all on the same day?
And why THEM?
Why not Richard Bell (baptised 1806), or Margaret Scott (also 1806), with their sisters?
Why not Barbara Mitchell, or John Harrison, or Ann Nichol, or Jane Miller, or any of the other (numerous) children baptised between 1805 and 1808?
If only Solomon Lewthwaite had thought it worth recording.