Lady Emma Tankerville

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Updated Blog by June Watson, Doctoral Candidate, Northumbria University, October 21, 2021 

The Tankerville Collection, Northumberland Archives Ref. NRO.424. The collection contains the private papers of the Bennet family, Earls of Tankerville, whose family seat was Chillingham Castle, Northumberland. The collection was deposited by the Tankerville family at Northumberland Archives in the 1970s. 

Lady Emma, 4th Countess of Tankerville (1752-1836) 

Lady Emma Tankerville, with eldest daughters Caroline and Anna, by artist Daniel Gardner 
Private Collection Photo © Philip Mould Ltd, London/Bridgeman Images 

Elite women who collaborated in the male world of early modern science during the eighteenth-century Enlightenment left little public trace of their existence and their voices were airbrushed out of historical accounts of the development of modern science. For those intellectual women who tried; their efforts were often ridiculed. (1) The recovery of Lady Emma Tankerville as a significant botanist and artist is important. She was an exceptionally gifted woman at the forefront of discovering new scientific knowledge in the early modern period and deserves recognition. 

The impact of social history and the scope of archival material has shown how little was understood about elite women involved in science and new knowledge exchange. Only men could attend university and patriarchal culture made it impossible for women to upstage men of science or publish their contributions. My research into the private Tankerville family papers in Northumberland Archives has uncovered some remarkable correspondence about this amazing woman. 

The family correspondence revealed the inner life of a female intellectual described by her husband’s colleague as having ‘the most merit of any woman in England; is very clever and a great wit,’ who had a leading role in the world of gentlemanly science of the period between 1771 and 1836. (2) Lady Emma Tankerville née Colebrooke was accepted into the close scientific and aristocratic social circle of Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, at his home 32 Soho Square, London. The house was previously her Colebrooke family London residence before her marriage in 1771. Banks personally named a new Chinese swamp-orchid in honour of Emma, the Phaius tankervilleae. Emma was recorded as the first person to successfully cultivate the orchid after its introduction to England in 1778 by John Fothergill. (3). The only other woman to receive this honour was Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III.  Sir Joseph Banks wrote to a friend in 1788, “Emma knows plants well and paints them exquisitely.” (4)  

Emma’s letters reveal a pious woman devoted to her husband and mother of eleven children. She took an active part in managing the family estate at Chillingham, Northumberland with the aid of her trusted steward John Bailey. At her main residence Walton House, she cultivated and experimented with exotic plants in her hothouses in her gardens overlooking the River Thames with head gardener William Richardson, (an estate purchased with her marriage settlement in 1771). (5) Her husband Charles shared her love of natural history and was a collector of rare shells. Charles was also instrumental in drawing up the rules of the game of cricket. (6) 

In 1803 letters reveal Emma and Charles predicted their vast family fortune would be at future risk due to the extravagance of their son and heir Charles Augustus, Lord Ossulston, later 5th Earl Tankerville. His gambling took a significant toll on the family wealth. Significantly, after Emma’s death in 1836, her personal collection of 648 botanical drawings was locked away in the family archive. Walton House her beloved main home for sixty years was demolished by her son. In 1840 on the same site, he commissioned architect Sir Charles Barry to build him an Italianate styled house known as ‘Mount Felix.’ Emma’s premonition proved correct as her son ran out of money and the house had to be sold to pay the building costs. 

In 1932 all the contents of Chillingham Castle and her beloved botanical collection were auctioned, and the unoccupied castle fell into disrepair. Emma’s collection was bought at the sale by The Bentham-Moxam Trust and donated to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. (7) 

J Hassell 1822     Walton House – The Seat of Lord Tankerville, Walton on Thames 
© ‘Reproduced by permission of Surrey History Centre’ 

The Tankerville Collection of 648 botanical drawings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is one of their most important collections. Costly conservation work is required for the collection therefore it remains in a climate-controlled area unseen by the public. The lack of provenance has also blighted the use of the collection for research. Many drawings are by important artists of the period such as Georg Dionysius Ehret and Margaret Meen, however hundreds are unattributed. The drawings represented every flower cultivated by Emma at Walton and were said to be the largest and best collection in London at the time.  

My current exhibition has concentrated on the twenty-one botanical drawings painted by Emma during a stay on the island of Madeira between 1811-1812. What was especially exciting to discover whilst examining the drawings at Kew was Emma’s handwriting in pencil on the back of each drawing. She wrote about the potential economic and medical benefits of each plant and their uses as a food source, signed and dated each drawing, and scientifically classified each one according to Linnaean taxonomy. This information would enable her to have considerable influence acting as a go-between in metropolitan scientific and political circles. 

Madeira was a Portuguese island in the mid-Atlantic that was favoured by the wealthy in the late Georgian period as a place to recuperate from tuberculosis on account of its temperate climate. It was relatively safe under the protection of the British garrison stationed there who were helping Portugal defend the island from Napoleon. Emma accompanied two adult children to Madeira who were experiencing health problems. Tuberculosis was a common virus of the day that saw no barrier to class or race. Fortunately for Emma, the family members recovered, and she returned home to Walton with them in 1812, plus her twenty-one illustrations.

The Madeira Collection will be exhibited at the Alnwick Playhouse Gallery from Dec 1, 2021, until Jan 17, 2022 in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Northumberland Archives. Afterwards it will be exhibited at the Queen’s Hall, Hexham from March 7, 2022, until April 29, 2022. A booklet based on the Madeira drawings and my research will be available at the exhibitions. 

  1. Londa Schiebinger, The Mind has No Sex? Women in the Origins of Modern Science (Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 5. 
  1. Herbert Maxwell, (ed.), Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence and Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1903), p. 36. 
  1. Edward Smith, The Life of Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society with some notices of his Friends and Contemporaries (London: John Lane, The Bodle Head, 1911), p. 83. 
  1. Ibid. 
  1. ‘Walton House, the seat of Lord Tankerville,’ painted by John Hassell 1822. © Surrey History Centre, Ref. SHC/4348/4/30/3. 
  1. ‘A  Catalogue of the Shells contained in the collection of the late Earl of Tankerville 1825,’ https://ia800204.us.archive.org/3/items.catalogueofshell00sowe/catalogueoshell00sowe.pdf. Auctioneers G B Sowerby F.L.S., Regent Street, London. Accessed: May 5, 2021. 
  1. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ‘The Tankerville Collection.’  

About the Author 
June Watson is currently a Doctoral Candidate at Northumbria University. She has a special interest in recovering women of science of the late eighteenth-century. Her dissertation ‘Recovering the Women of Science in the Post-Colonial World of Empire’ was highly commended by judges for the Women’s History Network M.A. Competition 2021. She will continue to research and restore women to the narratives of early science, by investigating their social networks and the global trading activities of their families. This will show how their social networks served as an influential power base, becoming inextricably interconnected socially and politically, exposing women’s wider engagement in other disciplines.  

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 27TH OCTOBER 1921

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WOOLER’S FUR AND FEATHER SHOW

RECORD ENTRY-MANY LOCAL WINNERS

The promoters of the Wooler and District Fur and feather Show may be warmly congratulated on the success of their third annual Show, which was held in the Archbold Hall on Thursday last. Since the Society was inaugurated three years ago a number of shows have been held, but for entries and quality this Show surpassed all previous ones. This year it was confined to utility classes only, the exhibition classes being suspended. The Committee were fortunate in obtaining the services of Mr Powell-Owen, London, as judge in Poultry Classes, one of the best judges in the country. When his name appeared on the schedule sent out his was sufficient to bring a record entry. In the Bantam Class Mr G. Hall, Mindrum, was also an efficient judge. He was a wide experience I the poultry world and is an adept breeder of poultry, as those who have visited the poultry farm at Mindrum can testify.

Archbold Hall, Wooler Ref: BRO 426-1255

The large hall was filled with poultry, only space being left for the people to pass down, and the small room was used for the housing of the ducks. The Show, being an “open” one brought entries from all over the country, and it is pleasing to report that many of the local fanciers figured largely in the honours list. In the breeding pen class Mr W. Brown, Haugh Head, Wooler, lost the silver cup by one point, Mr Huntley, Hirsel, taking away this coveted prize. In this class two pullets and a cockerel constituted the pen. In each case the pullets were awarded equal points, but the decision was given to Mr Huntley as his cockerel gained one point more than the local. A very fine Wyandotte hen was on view belonging to Mr Wm. Harbin, Ashington, which was awarded first prize and four specials; also Mr G. F. bell, Mindrum, for a white leghorn cockerel was awarded first prize and three specials. Some of the classes were of such excellent quality that the judge awarded almost every bird a ticket. Mr Owen gave entire satisfaction throughout and had a most strenuous day. Starting his duties at 10am, he went on without a break until 4.10pm. Mr Hall also gave of his best as judge in the Bantam Class. It fell to a Woolerite to gain the special prize for the best bantam of the Show. This was with a white Wyandotte hen. Mr J. Wilkinson, Ashington Villa, Wooler, in the game cock or hen class, took first, second and third prizes with his well-known winning birds.

After the judging, Mr Owen, when asked his impressions on the Show, said: “It is one of the best I have attended of its class. The quality of the poultry was excellent, the white Leghorns and white Wyandottes being a very strong class. One of the special features of the Show was the ducks. It was evident they had not been handled much, as it was difficult to get them to stand up. Taking advantage of the ante-room, where they were shown. I took them out on the floor so as to get at their good qualities. I was quite pleased to see that, although produce had come from all over the country, the members’ poultry were much in evidence and to a very high standard.

In the evening Mr Owen gave a demonstration on a pen of five Rhode Island Red hens belonging to Mr G. bell, Mindrum, which had been awarded second position in the national laying list at Bentley, Suffolk. This test was open to all England. The total eggs laid by these five hens were 905 eggs for 48 weeks. It was explained, that, during the first two months, only 17 eggs were laid and 888 in 31 weeks, a record being kept on each hen during the test. Mr Owen demonstrated in in a most lucid manner, took each hen singly, and explained the merits and demerits of each of them. Many of the points he touched were invaluable to the large number of fanciers who were listening to the lecture. Out of the 905 eggs laid during the test only 75 eggs were second grade. After addressing the meeting for an hour, Mr Owen answered a number of questions asked him.

BERWICK SANITARY AUTHORITY

MEDICAL OFFICER’S REPORT

Dr P. W. Maclagan, medical Officer of health, in his report to 30th September, stated there has been little infectious disease in the Borough during the past quarter, one case of scarlet fever and four cases of diphtheria. Three cases of diphtheria occurred in Scremerston and were removed to Berwick Fever Hospital under the agreement with Norham and Islandshires. The Child Welfare Centre has been visited weekly and the attendance of mothers and children is well maintained. The question of the insanitary houses in the Borough on which Demolition Orders were served in 1914 has been reconsidered by the Public Health Committee. Some of them remain in habited and in view of the house shortage no action can be taken in the meantime. The others are to be dealt with. Water closets are being introduced in to several houses in Spittal and Tweedmouth, and as the cost of these improvements decreases this work should be carried out more freely in the future.

MOTOR CARS IN CASTLEGATE

The Mayor mentioned that the magistrates had recently been called upon to deal with a case of motor cars left standing in Castlegate. In that case the magistrates felt that it was an unpleasant duty to perform, for no one inside or outside the Council wished to do anything to prevent people coming into the town. At the same time the Magistrates had no other option but to administer the law. It had been suggested by the solicitor in the case that the magistrates might ask the Council to appoint a small committee to meet with a committee of the National Farmers’ Union and discuss the matter.

William Elder & Sons, 1904. Ref: BRO 1497-025

Councillor Campbell suggested that the committee might consider the removal of portion of the paved footpath and the cement block which marked the footpath near Messrs Elders’. This portion was where the police found difficulty when cars left standing encroached on that paved line, and he thought if necessary the committee might even consider the removal of the enclosed plot in front of Messrs Elders, so that an open space could be made and they could fall back on the old market character of the ground.

It was agreed that a committee consisting of Ald. Elder, Ald. Wilson, Councillor Darling and Councillor Campbell be appointed to meet with the Committee of the N.F.U. and report back to the Council.

War Memorial, Castlegate, Berwick-upon-Tweed. © Copyright J Thomas – (cropped image) Creative Commons Licence 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0).

The question of carrying through matters in connection with the War Memorial site was remitted to the Parks Committee with powers, and it was also agreed to grant permission for the temporary placing of a diagram barometer on the Scotsgate showing the position of the War Memorial Fund.

Legacy of Slavery: Rev. Edward Cooke, Bywell St. Peter, Northumberland – Part Two

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SANT/BEQ/18/7

Reverend Edward Cooke

The Clergy of the Church of England Database indicates that Edward Cooke was born 22nd December 1800 in Demereary. His qualification was noted as ‘lit.’, an abbreviation for literate or literatus, indicating that whilst Edward did not have a degree, he was considered by a Bishop to have sufficient learning to qualify for ordination. He became a deacon on 6th June 1824 at the Chapel of Christ Church, Cambridge and ordained as a priest the following year on 28th August by Bishop Shute Barrington of Durham. He was appointed as vicar of Bywell St. Peter 6th August 1828. The parish records held at Northumberland Archives confirm that Edward was connected to Bywell St. Peter prior to being appointed as vicar; in baptism records for 1824 he signs himself as ‘curate’, replacing this with ‘vicar’ by 1828. Edward appears in the Churchwarden’s minutes and accounts from 24th November 1825; as the Curate he signs the minute book to acknowledge attendance at a meeting held that day. He attends regular vestry meetings over the next twenty years discussing routine church business including who has been appointed as a churchwarden, monies or legacies received, monies spent on repairs or to assist poor parishioners and the purchase and maintenance of a ferryboat shared with neighbouring parish of Whittonstall to enable parishioners to cross the River Tyne to attend church services.

Whilst serving the parish, Rev. Cooke writes to the Trustees of Lord Crewe, (Lord Crewe, former Bishop of Durham died in 1721, trustees managed his legacy for charitable purposes for the benefit of the parish of Bamburgh and clergy in need). His letter to the Trustees dated 12th September 1829 seeks financial assistance, stating that his parish contains a population of one thousand, covering an area of 12 miles by 3 miles, “The value of the living being hardly one hundred pounds per annum, precludes a Clergyman the means of visiting, as frequently as he considers it his duty, the distant parts of such a parish”. The exact response to this letter is unknown, however, he writes a further letter to the Trustees on 30th November thanking them for the “kind benefaction of Twenty Pounds towards repairing the Parsonage House”. In September 1831 Edward advertised in the Newcastle Chronicle newspaper for a schoolmaster and clerk for the church, who could also teach the Sunday school. Further documents held at Northumberland Archives indicate that a cottage was annexed for the benefit of the Reverend and his successors in 1837.

During his time at Bywell St. Peter Edward marries and starts a family. A notice of Edward’s intended marriage appears in the Newcastle Journal newspaper in March 1841. Census records for the same year show Edward Cooke living at Bywell Vicarage with two female servants, Hannah Douglas and Margaret Robson, both aged 20. He marries Fanny Wallis at St. Hilda’s Church, South Shields on 8th June, days after the census was taken. In 1844 a daughter Anne or Annie Wallis Cooke is born, she is baptised on 2nd July.

On 23rd December 1844 it is noted in the Churchwardens’ minutes and accounts that “The vicar [is] absent on account of ill health”; notice of his death is recorded in The Gentleman’s Magazine as 7th March 1845. He was buried at Bywell St. Peter on 13th March 1845, aged 44, his death was recorded in Newcastle Journal newspaper a few days later on Saturday 15th. Fanny and Annie are also buried at the churchyard at Bywell St. Peter.

However, how is any of this related to a clergyman from Northumberland making a claim in the Virgin Islands for compensation following the abolition of slavery? The biggest clue came from the birthplace of Edward recorded in the Clergy database, Demereary, followed by the discovery of a notice in the Newcastle Courant newspaper dated 12th March 1831 confirming the marriage of Mr. Anthony Nichol to Mary, eldest daughter of Edward Cooke, Esquire, of Demerara, and sister of Rev. Edward Cooke of Bywell. It was also reported in the Newcastle Chronicle with added that information that Edward Cooke, Esquire, was deceased. Was Rev. Edward Cooke born in a British Colony to a father who was either a slave owner or trader? The 1841 Census records Anthony Nichol as a ship broker, as does the 1851 Census, with the addition that his wife Mary was born as a British subject in the West Indies. Anthony and Mary Nichol are buried in the churchyard at Bywell St. Peter.

There are three different Edward Cooke’s listed as Colonists in British Guiana (part of the British West Indies and included Demerara/Demerary); Edward Cooke, Esquire who died 2nd July 1808, seems like the most likely candidate, based on date, to be the father of Rev. Edward Cooke and his sister Mary. There is an E. Cooke recorded as a Militia Lieutenant in Demerary in February 1804 in the Essequebo and Demerary Gazette People. Guyana Colonial Newspapers reported in 1807 that Edward Cooke was a proprietor of a ‘runaway and arrested slaves’. In 1810 creditors to the estate of Edward Cooke are being asked to come forward in the Essequebo and Demerary Royal Gazette. A letter of manumission petition cited in the Royal Gazette in July 1817 states that “Thomas Frankland [petitioner], for the mulatto (a person of mixed black and white parentage) woman Kitty Gillian, otherwise Kitty Cooke, for herself and child, Maria Rosina, formerly the property of Edward Cooke, and sold after his demise”.

Evidence links Rev. Edward Cooke and slavery via his father and another possible indirect connection via his brother-in-law Anthony Nichol, a ship broker. It was relatively common for slave-owners to give their surname to their enslaved workers, it was also known for slave-owners to father children, with the notice relating to Kitty Cooke, a mulatto, is it possible that the Reverend had blood relations who were enslaved. The links between Edward and the island of Tortola are tenuous at best. Charles Robinson, one of the original executors of the Hetherington estates, took two enslaved females to Demerara. In the 1818 Registers, the plantation listed after the schedule for Richard Hetherington belonged to the ‘children of Thomas and Mary Frances Cooke’, could they be connected to Edward Cooke? Rev. Cooke’s approach to the Trustees of Lord Crewe demonstrates that he felt unable to complete his role as Clergyman to the best of his abilities due to financial constraints and received financial aid to repair property. Did the compensation claim represent an opportunity to ease these financial concerns? What exactly motivated Rev. Edward Cooke to make a counterclaim against the estate of Richard Hetherington, and only that estate in particular, for compensation are unknown. We do know that the claim was ultimately unsuccessful; so whatever lead to the claim being made did not come to fruition. The link between a Bywell St. Peter, Northumberland and Tortola, British Virgin Islands remains unclear.

Bibliography

Records held at Northumberland Archives: –

EP 45/7; Baptism register, Bywell St. Peter, Northumberland. Digital copy accessed via Reading Room.

EP 45/14; Burial register, Bywell St. Peter, Northumberland. Digital copy accessed via Reading Room.

EP 45/19; Churchwardens’ minutes and accounts, Bywell St. Peter, Northumberland.

NRO 452/C/2/2/5/451 [letter to Trustees of Lord Crewe, 12 September 1829]

NRO 452/C/3/1/90/36 [letter to Trustees of Lord Crewe, 30 November 1829]

DN/R/3/41/1 [deed dated 18 February 1837]

Online resources: –

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/ [Legacies of Black Slave-ownership, UCL database]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_British_Virgin_Islands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Look_Estate

http://en.wikipedia.org.wiki/Leeward_Islands

http://www.britishexecutions.co.uk/

“A report of the trial of Arthur Hodge, Esquire (late one of the members of His Majesty’s Council for the Virgin Islands) at the island of Tortola, on the 25th April, 1811, and adjourned to the 29th of the same month, for the murder of his Negro man slave named Prosper”, accessed via https://www.loc.gov

https://www.ancestrylibraryedition.co.uk/

“The Gentleman’s Magazine”, July-June 1845, Volume 24, accessed via https://www.hathitrust.org/

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/

https://bmscofe.org.uk/heritage/bywell-st-peter-s-graveyard

http://www.lordcrewescharity.org.uk/

https://vc.id.au/ [https://vc.id.au/tb/bgcolonistsC.html and https://www.vc.id.au/edg/indexes.html]

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

https://bvi.gov.vg/

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