Excerpts From The Book
Chapter One
Personal History And Establishment Of The Tolhurst Family Firm Of Solicitors; The Tolhurst Children
Tolhurst, the second youngest of seven children, was born in Westfield a village near Hastings, Sussex, in 1834. In June of that year he was baptised in the local church and christened Alfred (hereafter AT). His father Spencer, the eldest of ten children, was born in 1791. His mother Mercy Philcox Barnes was born in 1793 at Brede where the church registry records at her baptism that she was `base born` an expression used in those days to describe those born out of wedlock. This would no doubt be the reason why she had two surnames, for each parent. Spencer, his father, grandfather and great grandfather were all born at Westfield making it very much a Tolhurst stronghold.
Spencer and Mercy were married in 1815 at Westfield Church. Mercy signed the registry with a cross, indicating that she was illiterate. AT's future success in life must have been founded on the teaching he received at the local school to which he walked five miles there and back each day. By the time he was seven his father, a farm labourer, had been appointed bailiff to a large estate at Udimore with a house provided called Little Udimore situated some five miles from Westfield.
Over the next nine years, under the influence of his father, he built up a great knowledge of farming and developed a long lasting love of the countryside giving him a sound base for many public statements he made on the subject in later years. By 1851 Mercy Tolhurst, following the death of her husband, was now living in Ore with her daughter Henrietta, married with five children, and two of her other daughters.
From an early age AT was determined to succeed in life being fully aware that hard work and self-discipline would be the only way to achieve it. Aged sixteen, a penniless boy, he decided after the death of his father to leave home and seek his fortune. He walked forty miles to Gravesend and arrived late afternoon at the offices of Hilder and Arnold, a firm of solicitors. He asked George Arnold if he would take him on as a junior clerk. Arnold asked him when could you start to which the reply was `at once sir I'll will start now if you like`. The response, which was indicative of his future career, so pleased Mr. Arnold that he was engaged on the spot and as it was too late to find lodgings Arnold told him to spend his first night on the floor.
In 1857 AT married Sarah Ann Edwards at the Old Christ Church, Hastings, and lived in Wellington Street, Gravesend. Her father was a master builder in Hastings employing forty craftsmen. By now AT realised that if success in life was to be achieved he would have to study for the legal profession. Office hours were from nine o'clock to eight in the evening sometimes longer six days a week so he was well aware of the effort he would have to make to be admitted. Fortunately he had the full-hearted support of his wife which continued throughout his business life, being a vital contribution to his success in the years to come. After many years he was given articles by Arnold which, due to a lack of resources, had up to now eluded him and was admitted a solicitor in 1865 at the age of thirty-one. That year AT after a dispute with Arnold decided to gain more experience and worked in London for two years.
In 1867, as a result of encouragement from friends in Gravesend who offered to support him with their legal work, he returned and set up practice at 77 New Road. He was under a covenant not to practise in the town, which Arnold rescinded for the sum of 350 paid in monthly instalments of 25 plus interest. When relations between the two became more amicable Arnold offered to waive the second half of the payment much to the annoyance of AT but with the intervention of Edward Lovell, who worked in his office, he accepted this concession gracefully. By now AT and his family was living at Darnley House in Northfleet.
It did not take long for the practice to flourish due to his prodigious work output. In later years when asked what he attributed his great success in life to, his reply was `To concentration, to hard work, to regularity of habit, and to simplicity of living`. He also had a great belief in courtesy and was known for his kindly bearing to all he met. His daily routine started with a cold bath followed by breakfast at eight. He would then walk one and a half miles to his office arriving at nine. At five o'clock he went home for dinner, having only two meals a day, and by seven he was back in the office. Passers-by would say they could set their watches by him. By seven o'clock in the evening the post arrived from London. The staff stayed on till all letters were ready for the ten o'clock post, ensuring first delivery the next morning.
AT, who did not have a holiday for thirty years, gave all his staff two week's annual leave with full pay, which was most unusual in the nineteenth century. But for the other fifty weeks of the year they were expected to work all hours even to the extent of coming in after church on Sunday if required. He was by now starting his second business buying land and building houses in Northfleet and Gravesend and in 1874 the family moved to Burch House in Rosherville.
In 1882 he took into partnership Edward Lovell, to whom he had given his articles and was admitted in 1877, and George Clinch, who was admitted in 1876. The firm became `Tolhurst Lovell and Clinch`. Lovell did the conveyancing and Clinch was responsible for the advocacy litigation. Lovell was a strict evangelical and a pillar of St James Church whereas Clinch, who like AT was a Roman Catholic, was a great patron of the clubs and pubs and had a reputation of being able to obtain a suitable bench when required from his drinking friends. Only Lovell did not work on a Sunday it being against his principles but always took The Law Times home on a Saturday night so that the Sabbath was not wasted.
THE MIDDLE AND LATER YEARS
AT became the tenant of Northfleet House in 1883, by which time most of his large family of 10 children was growing up. Thomas Sturge, cement manufacturer, had built this grand mansion to the south of the High Street, in 1853.
For the major part of AT's business life, his property investments, rents, and Red Lion business, together with the law activities, were all conducted through the office at 77 New Road. It seems that Mr Lovell each year estimated the practice income, from the (mixed) ledger book, and divided the law firm's income between the partners, according to their shares. At one time, around 1900, a dishonest clerk (Holmes) `fiddled` the books. Lovell found him out, and thereafter a chartered accountant dealt with the finances, setting up separate private and client accounts. Under the old system, they were nearly always in overdraft, and probably most of the time under the new.
AT built and dealt in a great variety of properties (see Appendix) in and around Gravesend, particularly from about 1875. He would advance the money to build houses to a local builder on mortgage, and then ended up as mortgagee in possession if the builder failed. One such development was on New Inn fields, at one time a bowling green, behind the present Methodist church. It consisted of Berkley road and Wilfrid and Bernard Streets, named after his sons, and a hall for the Anglo-Saxon Friendly Society for whom the firm acted. Another interesting small development of artisans' houses was Woodville cottages, a small row near the Ship and Lobster Inn at Milton, close to the river. They were said to be the first working-class cottages in the town to have baths, which could be filled from the copper, after washing the clothes. No sensible person would heat water just for bathing.
Bernard and later Francis went down to the branch office that Alfred set up at Southend in 1892, moving Bernard over from Gravesend to run it. At the time it was hardly more than a village, but developed rapidly as an estuary seaside resort. AT correctly saw its potential and bought land. He built property on the Kursaal, Seaway, Warrior Square, and parts of Southchurch. In 1900, at a cost of 300,000, the Palace Hotel, one of the largest in its day, was built by a developer. He leased the land from AT and was financed by bankers Jamesons. Soon after it was built the developer went into liquidation and it was taken over by the bankers who themselves went into liquidation in 1910 with the result the Tolhurst family became owners and ran it. The practice flourished. Bernard went to America and acquired a `Boston Correspondent`, which interesting fact appeared on the Office headed paper. Meanwhile, Ignatius stayed in Gravesend with his father. He was taken on as a partner in 1900. AT and Ignatius had a third share between them, with the proviso that, whereas the other three should give their full time to the law business, AT should only give such time as he thought fit.
In 1903 AT gave a complimentary dinner apparently to mark his intended retirement from active practice. The `programme` of this event survives (see Appendix), and gives a wonderful insight into such an evenings` entertainment, with guest list, menu (sumptuous), programme of songs (four sung by Clinch) and toasts. The new branch of the London and County Bank has its picture on the front (see below), together with the Old Falcon Hotel where the dinner was held. Unlike the Three Daws next door, it did not survive.
Ignatius became increasingly eccentric, causing Edward Lovell to leave and set up a new firm with his son Edward at 8 Wrotham Road, Gravesend. As a result of these problems, around 1906, Ignatius was invited to leave the firm and went down to Southampton, later settling in Swanage. The youngest son Francis who returned from Southend replaced him. At this time, continuing to invest in the future, AT rebuilt the New Road Office, on the old site, which was known as the `flat-iron` as it was triangular.
An extra awkwardness arose from the water closet being in the apex of the triangle where it could only be reached through the senior partners` room.
The office had been an early subscriber to the telephone connection: for 10 they were linked to Northfleet and other local towns, having the numbers `Gravesend 9` and `Southend 10` respectively ; for an additional 6d a three minute call to London
The new building was the first and only purpose built solicitors` office in the town, constructed withal in solid quality materials. There were stone mullions, wood block floor, and leaded lights, one with three ships over the stairs, acquired from the East India Company. AT reputedly said the motto `I saw three ships come sailing in` related to the Red lion Works, his property investments including the Palace Hotel in Southend, and his law firm. Around the same time, having fallen out with the London and County Bank (later the National Westminster), AT persuaded the Capital and Counties Bank, forerunner of Lloyds, to come to Gravesend and move into the new premises he had built next door, taking over his account with its standing overdraft. (This entire collection of buildings was demolished in 1971).
Having rebuilt the office, AT retired, leaving the firm in the hands of his son Francis, as `Tolhurst Son and Clinch`. The latter left in 1908, and Bernard and Francis amalgamated the Southend and Gravesend offices, as `B and F Tolhurst`, taking on three other partners who appeared on the Southend notepaper.
As had always been the practice of the firm all conveyances over 1,000 were hand engrossed on skin. The firm used hand-made paper, produced by the Law Society, for all their correspondence, with the Tolhurst crest embossed on all the envelopes. `Gravesend` was the only word on the envelopes for the address. New clients had to be told where to find the office as it had only a small brass plate carrying the firm's name beside the front door, partly obscured by evergreen shrubs in the front garden. A brief outline of the subsequent history of the family firm follows:
Harold Tatham became a partner in 1922 and in 1924 the firm became `Tolhursts and Tatham`, separating from Southend although Francis remained a partner there until 1946. In 1932 Francis took his son Thomas, one of four children, into the partnership and the next year Harold Tatham died. In 1936 the firm became `Tolhursts`, and in 1938 Robert Hiscock joined them as an articled clerk.
Robert Hiscock became a partner in 1948 and in 1953 he was appointed the first Notary Public in Gravesend. After the death of Francis Tolhurst in 1958 the firm became `Tolhurst and Hiscock`, although the London office which opened in 1953 remained `Tolhursts`. Arrangements for the amalgamation with Martin Son and Allen had been made prior to the sudden death of Thomas in 1969, and so the old firm came to an end after just over one hundred years. The Southend office with a branch in Chelmsford still flourishes today under the name of `Tolhurst Fisher`.
Besides everything else, AT was also appointed (or `pricked`) as a JP in 1903 was a member of the local Chamber of Trade; and was the last Perpetual Commissioner in Gravesend, under the Married Woman's Property Act of 1882.
He sometimes attended meetings of the Conservative Association, but was not really active politically. One of the few reports of AT indulging in interests other than business, family life and politics appeared in January 1893. A public meeting took place to amalgamate three formerly separate societies into the Gravesend, Northfleet and District Horticultural Society. Together with Councillors Buchard and Edmonds he helped to appoint a Finance Committee, for which the Mayor thanked them. Generally, he did not care to participate in ordinary social activity amongst either the minor aristocracy of Northfleet or his various acquaintances in Gravesend.
At the end of AT's long working day, Mr Henry Porter, who founded Porter, Putt and Fletcher Estate Agents, would usually call, and they would walk together out of town along the Overcliffe, until Porter turned off down Lennox Road towards his house, Druy lodge (now replaced by a block of flats). As men of business, property was no doubt one of their topics of conversation. Porter also became a Councillor, though after AT's era in the Court.
The Tolhurst Children.
Alfred and Sarah Ann had five sons and five daughters born between 1858 and 1875. Both, who had been brought up in the Church of England, decided to become Roman Catholics and were received into the church in 1858. As a consequence of this conversion all the daughters were educated at Saint Leonard's school, run by the nuns of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, and all the sons were sent to Beaumont College, a Jesuit boarding school, at Old Windsor. By the time Beaumont closed in the 1960s some twenty-six of their descendants had passed through the school.
Emma the eldest child was born in Gravesend. At the age of twelve she went with her two younger sisters to St Leonard's school where her humility, loyalty, and self-sacrificing charity endeared her to both nuns and children. Five years later having been First Blue and head of the school she left to spend her last year at the Society's convent in Neuilly, France. At the age of eighteen she returned home and became her mother's right hand in the management of the big household and became a devoted second mother to her younger brothers and sisters.
It was a great loss to the family when in 1883, aged twenty-five; she joined the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and received her postulant's hood at Mayfield. Of these uneventful days nothing has been recorded except her great fondness for reading Rodriguez, a book written by an early Jesuit of that name, setting out all the virtues. She often carried it about to enjoy in spare moments and one day, having arrived to ring the office bell a few minutes early, sat down on the stairs opened her book and at once became so absorbed the bell was forgotten.
At her Clothing the following year she received the name of Sister Mary Francis and after her First Profession in 1885 was sent to Neuilly. Here she spent many years working long hours, doing heavy laborious work in the dark basement of the Convent with total commitment to the Will of God and never complaining. In 1890 she made her Perpetual Vows at Mayfield and returned to Neuilly where, while nursing several cases of typhoid fever, she herself was struck down with it. Only just recovering from her illness she had to take over from her dying Superior (for she had now become her assistant) the whole care and responsibility of the house. At the following Chapter in 1898 she was elected Superior, much to the great joy of the community. By 1904 the French Government was enforcing its unjust war on the Religious Orders in the country and in the summer of that year they all left for Mayfield Convent.
A fortnight later the General Chapter took place and she was elected Superior General of the Order, much to her surprise. She had hoped on leaving France to fill the post of Clothing Sister in one of the schools. She knew few members of the Society except those with whom she had lived at Neuilly. It was said of her term in office that she had inherited the clear logical mind of the lawyer, which, with her wisdom, her sound judgement, her broad views, and her large-hearted charity inspired great trust in those that she governed. A great desire she had was the establishment of the Mother House in Rome. This was achieved in 1923 when 10 Via Boncompagni was opened and occupied as the new Generalate.
There are no more fitting words to describe her life than those of a colleague who recounted `The crowning virtue of her was her all-embracing charity. It was immeasurable.` With remarkable powers of observation, a rare quality it has been said, she quickly discovered the needs of those about her and promptly set herself, as far as possible, to supply them. Nuns, children, servants, and often too their relatives all shared her thoughtful kindness. She died on 10th May 1951.
Agnes Sarah was born in 1861. After leaving school she, like Emma, helped her mother in the running of the household. At the age of twenty-six she decided to join the Benedictine order of nuns and entered Stanbrook Abbey in 1887 as Choir-Postulant. A year later she was Clothed receiving the name Domitilla. The following year she was Professed receiving on the day a very thick gold ring from her father with the lettering Jesus Domitilla on it. She spent the next fourteen years carrying out various duties and in her last year at the Abbey became novice mistress.
In the early 1900s the Benedictine Congregation in Brazil had decided it was prepared to establish the first female Benedictine Abbey in the country. Miss da Silva Prado, a Brazilian heiress, had an overwhelming desire to be the foundress and help with the funding of it. Her only stipulations were that the Foundation would have to be in Sao Paulo and that the Stanbrook nuns, if they were willing, would need to appoint someone to be Abbess, as she had made up her mind never to be a superior. In 1907 she applied to the Lady Abbess at Stanbrook Abbey asking if she could join the Order, explaining her reasons. The reply came from the Abbess that she was quite willing to receive her as a member of the Community with the ultimate view of beginning the Foundation in Brazil. She was asked that if anything unforeseen should happen to make the Foundation in Brazil impossible she would be willing to remain a nun at Stanbrook. Her reply was `Yes` but she added that, `I feel certain God wishes me to go back to Brazil`. Four years later Miss da Silva Prado, now known as Sister Gertrude saw her wish come true. Dame Domitilla Tolhurst was chosen as Prioress to lead and govern the Foundation at Sao Paulo.
On 29 September 1911 Dame Domitilla, Sister Gertrude, and five others, two of whom were novices, sailed from Southampton on the steam ship Aragon for Rio de Janeiro. The voyage had gone well until an epidemic of tonsillitis broke out, striking some sixty passengers during the voyage, most of who recovered quite quickly. On the ninth of October Domitilla complained of a pain in the throat which rapidly worsened to the point where a Doctor was called. A spray used to alleviate the throat seemed too strong for she immediately fainted and showed signs of choking. An Argentine physician managed, with great difficulty, to revive her but by now she was in high fever suffering acutely and unable to swallow. The nuns at once organised nursing arrangements and tended their Mother day and night. All on board manifested their kindest interest and sympathy while a party of Argentine ladies went in a body to the Doctor and begged leave to assist in the nursing. The Doctor thanked them but said that the patient had better be left to her own sisters.
On the thirteenth, hearing that the Brazilian coast was in sight, Domitilla insisted on being raised up in order to see it and exclaimed, `This is the land of all lands, the land of all the world`. By 15 October the Doctor found Domitilla`s heart to be weak and that she had double pneumonia. Abbot Kruse, their spiritual father who accompanied them on the journey, immediately administered Extreme Unction (the last rites) after which each nun kissed her hands hallowed by the holy oils. One nun recounted that Mother Prioress, who knew her quite well, with great energy, turned her hand round and lifted to her lips the spot that had been anointed. She then pointed up with her finger as if to say, `I am going to Heaven`.
Domitilla was unconscious and apparently suffering no pain, when at five minutes to midnight in the midst of a terrific thunderstorm, she died. Her last words to Father Dunstan Sibley, on the day of her death, were `Ask that I may live to do this work, if God wills it, only if He wills it`, she added with a smile. She had won the respect of the whole ship by her sweet amiable manners and lady-like bearing. Expressions of condolence and of personal regard for her whom they had lost poured in on the little community. The stewardess, a Protestant, went in tears to Father Sibley, saying, `We all want to say how sorry we are. She was so sweet, she was a dear! `
The Aragon was not due at Rio until the evening of the 16th and there was great anxiety with regard to the burial. The Captain declared that unless the Abbot could guarantee that the remains would be taken ashore immediately on arrival Domitilla must be buried at sea. As soon as it was possible to get communications with the shore by telephone negotiations were begun and soon the Archabbot, Mgr. van Caloen, had kindly arranged for the Requiem and funeral to take place at nine o'clock the next morning at his monastery, Sao Bento, Rio. The coffin, covered with the Union Jack, was taken from the dock enclosure in procession through the streets to the Abbey. All the traffic stopped to let it pass and everyone uncovered their heads as it went by. Word must have travelled fast in Rio for over two hundred and twenty people signed the attendance book at Domitilla`s funeral, and many others were present, most of whom had never met her.
Mother Gertrude da Silva Prado became Prioress, her change of mind never to be a superior no doubt resulted from the death of Domitilla. Five years later to the day, when it became legal to do so, the coffin of Domitilla was removed from Sao Bento and taken to the new monastery of Santa Maria in Sao Paulo for burial. In 1976 the community of Santa Maria moved to a new monastery further out from the city where they have a room dedicated to her, containing many of her belongings, including the Union Jack flag that draped the coffin.
On the morning of Domitilla`s death Abbot Kruse said an early mass for the nuns. It was the feast day of Saint Teresa of Avila the foundress of numerous monasteries of Carmelite nuns. After the gospel in a short address he reminded them that all the Saint's foundations had been so surrounded by difficulties as to make each one of them a miracle. These were to be prophetic words. The English seed planted at Santa Maria has since given growth to a further twenty-three female Benedictine Monasteries in Latin America.
Mary Katherine, known as Kay, was born in 1863. Not a great deal is known about the household and bringing up the children. Then at the age of 21, like her elder sister, she joined the society of the Holy Child Jesus at St Leonard's. At her Clothing a year after receiving her postulant's hood she chose to be known as Sister Mary Bernard and a few years later made her Perpetual Vows. She was a very exuberant fun-loving person possessing a great sense of humour, which may have contributed to being asked to leave the Society. She left in 1892 and lived alone in St Leonard's. Around 1928 a house was built for her on a plot beside No. 4 Springfield Road in Northfleet, not far from the Catholic Church. The occupants of No. 4 had used the land, rented from the Tolhurst family, as a tennis court. Here she stayed until falling out with the local priest, when she returned to St Leonard's.
Deeply religious, she wrote a letter to the Lady Abbess at Stanbrook on hearing the news of her sister Domitilla`s death. Midway through it she wrote, `It seems like only the other day we were altogether so bright and happy congratulating our dearest and saintly sister on the great work in front of her. God wanted her to give her life back to him perhaps for the good of the foundation, perhaps, and it is only my thought, that she was allowed to give her life for my beloved father's soul`. It is not known why she should have written this. Later she was to become a second mother to one or two of AT's grandchildren, particularly Philla Tolhurst whose parents Philip and Molly died when she was young. Her niece Catherine, daughter of Philip (see below), mentioned more than once that Kay, much to the annoyance of her brothers and sisters, had a habit of giving away the family silver. She died in 1944.
Bernard, the first son, was born in 1865. After leaving school he worked in his father's office at Gravesend and qualified in 1887. When At opened a branch office of his legal firm in Southend, he sent Bernard over to take charge there. In 1897 at the age of 32 Bernard became Mayor of Southend. Bernard and Emily his wife remained in the prospering new seaside town until 1913, when they moved to Meopham near Gravesend after the death of AT. Their two sons Bernard and Wilfred should be mentioned here. Bernard served in the Royal Flying Corps and the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regt. He was an officer and gunner of a fighter plane in the First World War. He and his pilot Sergeant John Hollis were serving with No 11 Squadron stationed near a small village called Izel-le-Hameau, about ten miles west of Arras. They flew F.E.2b`s in the Squadron. On a photographic reconnaissance they found themselves heavily outnumbered by German fighters while their escort of fast scouts was nowhere to be seen. They were fired on from all sides, with severe damage to the plane and to themselves, with Hollis receiving three bullet wounds and Bernard many, some of which hit his stomach. Despite his condition Bernard managed to carry on firing at the enemy until further enemy gunfire dropped him to the floor. Their engine had stopped and at 3000 feet a German plane, no doubt thinking them both completely out of action, came down in front of them to the right. Much to Hollis` surprise Bernard struggled on to his knees and fired a good fifty rounds right on target. Despite his condition he had shot well as the enemy plane went down totally out of control. Both men were unconscious after their plane hit the ground but it was not long before the German medics were working on them. Placed near to Hollis, Bernard asked him how he felt. `I feel shot all over` was his reply to which Bernard replied `so do I`. A doctor said to Hollis `Your friend, I am afraid, is going to die. He has three bullets in the stomach`. By then Bernard was unconscious but not in pain for his features were quite relaxed and he appeared to be sleeping. Suddenly he flung his left arm across the chest of Hollis who caught his hand and held it. Bernard was now muttering `Got un, got un`, his voice becoming fainter till he died, fighting until the end. Hollis recounted that he owed his life to Bernard's fighting and staying powers. The death of their son must have been a great blow to Bernard senior and Emily, but no doubt they found consolation in the way he had conducted himself.
Wilfred joined the RAF and became a Major before retiring to take over as Managing Director of the family Palace hotel at the time of the depression. Though times were hard he managed to run it without a loss till he retired in 1936 after the death of his father.
Alfred Ignatius, known as Ignatius, born two years after Bernard, was a character. As a child the African Blondin carried him on his shoulders from cliff to cliff at Rosherville Gardens on a tight rope. His school days at Beaumont were a challenge for his impish high spirits. The Jesuits were well known as great disciplinarians, punishment being swift and harsh but usually fair. The weapon used for this was called a ferula consisting of a flat piece of whalebone covered in leather some three inches wide and ten inches long. The recipient would hold his hand out flat while the master struck blows to the palm. There were three levels of punishment, twice three being three on each hand for minor offences, twice six for serious and twice nine for very serious.
One term Ignatius`s high spirits got the better of him. The Jesuit headmaster, known as the Rector, summoned his father to the school for a discussion about his son's misdemeanour without explaining what it was. Convinced the only reason for such a meeting could be that Ignatius had put a local girl in the family way he went down armed with his chequebook only to be told that his son had started a revolution. AT was not pleased and let the Rector know in no uncertain terms that he considered this a complete waste of his precious time and that the school should have dealt with the matter in the usual way without recourse to him. Ignatius was not expelled. It was certainly a twice nine offence and like all twice niners would make him a hero among the boys of the school. This was to be one of the many irritations inflicted by Ignatius on his father in the years to come.
Perhaps this rebellious streak runs in the family: The co author David Tolhurst and another pupil managed a successful revolution at Beaumont in their last year during the summer term of 1956. They were under the impression that the Army Cadet Corp would cease by mid term due to the hot weather. It didn't so they moved swiftly into action sending the word round to all not to attend the next parade. The revolution was a success with only the senior Cadet Corp Officer appearing on parade but the consequences were dire for Tolhurst who was summoned to appear before Major Roddy the master who ran the Cadets. Informers had given him away and the Major duly rewarded him with twice six, six strokes on each hand. His father was not told and indeed never knew. The accomplice, whose father was the maths teacher, remained unpunished. On a Sunday soon after, one of the hottest days of the year, the Rector arranged for the whole school to be drilled for two hours by the Welsh Guards.
On leaving Beaumont Ignatius joined his father's law firm and qualified in 1889. On a visit to the Derby, having backed the winner he proceeded to over-indulge and the next morning found that he had signed a contract to buy the Clarendon, a substantial hotel on the river-front in Gravesend, which contract his father had to complete. One morning, he purloined a horse-drawn tram and drove it from Northfleet to the office in Gravesend on his way to work, then phoned the Tramway Company to remove the car from outside his office. On another occasion he let off a shotgun at the ceiling in the office and had also been known to lock his family out of the house.
As he became more eccentric and disruptive in the office relations between himself and his father became intolerable with communications reduced to letter writing. Matters grew worse and Ignatius agreed to early retirement in 1906. His brother Francis was brought in from the Southend office to take his place, as previously mentioned. He was known, in a loveable way, as `wicked Uncle Ignatius` to his nephews and nieces who enjoyed his naughty sense of humour, fun, and the many laughs he gave them. His niece Kitty Tolhurst, aged seven at the time, remembered sitting on his knee while, with a twinkle in his eyes he swung his gold watch by the chain back and forth much to her delight and amusement. He was a man with a great sense of humour and charm but unfortunately irresponsible, a trait which inevitably led to the break between him and his father. With his wife Ada he had four sons and two daughters.
Emily Teresa Frederica was born in 1869. She married John Dobson from Nottingham, who like her was from a devout Catholic family that gave generously to the Church. They lived in Ruddington house, Nottingham, with their seven children, the youngest being John who did not survive. It must have been rather daunting to leave her family in the South of England to live in Nottingham but being devoted to her parents she and her children made regular visits to them in Northfleet. She oversaw the schooling of her children and later that of her grandchildren. Her two sons went to Ampleforth and the girls, accompanied by their nurses to look after them, to Mayfield where one of the dormitories was known as the Nursery. Though small in stature, Emily was fun to be with, had a great presence, enormous energy, and a strong personality and possessed an irrepressible sense of joy and gaiety. She ran the always-immaculate house with the help of maids who had been educated at the local convent school and recommended by the nuns. Ruddington House was filled with laughter; music and dogs that always went to church and quietly sat at the back during mass. A priest would often join the family for meals, with the bishop a regular on Sundays. Though it became a family joke that Emily and the Bishop ran the diocese, it may well have been true. Emily was faced with a problem when her eldest daughter Cecelia announced that she and her school friend Winnie Rochford were determined to become nuns at Mayfield. Emily was furious having expected Cecilia to help her with the family and running the house. The two girls with the help of Mrs Rochford made it to Mayfield where they became noviciates. Emily did not talk to her daughter for two and a half years. She was finally persuaded to attend her clothing when all was made up. With the death of Alfred Tolhurst in 1913, his estate was split between the married brothers and sisters, each receiving one seventh, a considerable sum of money. With part of this inheritance Emily bought Peveril, an enormous house, said to be the largest in Nottingham if not the county. Soon after her husband died she moved to a smaller house, and then later lived with her son Willie and his wife.
Wilfrid was born in 1870. After leaving Beaumont he trained as a brewer then went on to manage the family cement works at Northfleet up to the time his brother Philip took over. Eventually he moved to Clacton with his wife and their six children.
Cecilia was born in 1871. She married Doctor Charles Flood who had a very busy practice in Gravesend and Northfleet, as well as being Medical Officer to the Strood Union Workhouse where his father-in-law was a Guardian (see later section on The Public man). They had three sons and two daughters. About their youngest son Charlie there is an important story to tell: When he came home from Ampleforth College for the Christmas holidays in 1925, aged 14, all his family remarked how well he was looking. His health was normal until, as usual, a week before returning to school when he visited his dentist in Ealing. Mr Green was most perturbed to find a swelling on his jaw, and recommended he see a specialist as soon as possible. The next day Charlie saw a Mr James who after an x-ray took a very serious view of the case. He advised him to have an immediate operation to establish whether it was, as he suspected, an Osteosarcoma, a malignant bone cancer. Five days later Mr Green carried out the biopsy procedure at home which showed this beyond doubt. At Mr James request he was seen by Mr Handley of the Middlesex Hospital and also by Doctor MacDermott his father's old partner. The question then arose as to whether he should be treated with radium only or whether this should be preceded by the serious operation of excising the mandible or jawbone. All the doctors were agreed that he could not be left and decided on the radium treatment. Mr James said that the most that could be hoped for was two years or so, but the shorter time he lived the better, as it must become more painful. He was against the major operation, describing it as a `mutilation` resulting in terrible pain with scarcely a hope of complete eradication of the cancer. At home Charlie underwent the radium insertion procedure under the supervision of Mr James and Mr Handley, after which his face became very swollen. The doctors had warned that the radium would cause some pain and after a time the part of bone treated would break down. However at this stage he had very little pain and no apparent breakdown of the bone. Mr James and Mr Handley were not satisfied and recommended more radium. At this point Charlie's brother, Philip, a medical student at St Thomas` Hospital, intervened, refusing to allow any further treatment until after a visit to Lourdes. There he was seen by a doctor who said he must be returned home for a further operation, as he could not be left as he was. However, seeing Charlie again just before departure he did not take a hopeless view of the case.
Returning to England, everyone remarked how well Charlie looked. The next day he was seen again by Mr James and Mr Handley who were surprised at the truly remarkable change in their patient. No further treatment was ever needed and by September Mr Handley regarded his case as totally cured. Charlie lived the rest of his life without a day's illness.
Francis Joseph known as Jo was born in 1873. He joined his father's practice at Gravesend and, on qualifying in 1897, was sent to join his brother Bernard in Southend. He married Mary Read and they had a daughter Peggy and three boys, Tom, Frank, and Gerard. When still at Gravesend they employed a nursery governess called Dorothy Moriarty, a girl in her early twenties, to look after the children and help with their early learning. Her parents were friends of the Tolhurst's, who on hearing she was looking for work offered her the position. AT, now a widower, would often collect Dorothy and Peggy to take them for a ride in his open carriage as a treat. For Dorothy and Peggy these rides were no fun at all but put up with as a duty. On one of these trips AT placed his arm around Dorothy's shoulders. She recounts that she could hardly slap her grandfather's face in front of Peggy so she flung herself out of the carriage - an easy feat, for the ancient horse was no believer in speed - and made for home across the fields. Long after a fable grew up that AT had made an offer of marriage to her parents but she never did know for sure. She left soon after to become a fully qualified nurse before marrying Oliver Moriarty. At the age of a hundred she wrote her fascinating life story called Dorothy. Francis returned to the Gravesend office when Ignatius left and his subsequent career is described in the section concerning the Tolhurst legal firm.
Phillip, the last child, was born in 1875. After leaving Beaumont he acquired a civil engineering degree at university with the express purpose of working in his father's cement works where he eventually became manager and a director. Prior to the sale of the Red Lion works in 1911 he spent several weeks visiting cement works throughout Europe, making drawings and taking notes of all the most up-to-date machines being used for the manufacture of cement. In 1912 as co-founder and one of the major shareholders he built the Aberthaw Portland Cement Works in South Wales and by 1913, with some of the staff he brought with him from Northfleet, it went into production. Later it combined with the Bristol Channel Cement Company to form the Aberthaw and Bristol Channel Portland Cement Company Ltd.
Having been fitted out with the best equipment of the day it became by 1921 one of the most important and prosperous companies in the industry. Just when Philip saw all his hard work and effort come to fruition he was struck down with appendicitis and died aged forty-seven. Death duties followed by the 1929 stock market crash changed the family fortunes considerably. Philip's wife was left to bring up a son and four daughters and later James, by now a civil engineer, joined the board of Aberthaw as a non-executive director helping him to look after the interests of the family shareholdings. Abberthaw was eventually taken over by APCM who were then bought out by Blue Circle which is now owned by the French company Lafarge.