Arriving at Peterborough bridge from the south in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century you would have been dazzled by the wealth of the Squires. They not only owned the countryside that you had just travelled through south of the Nene, but they owned the two buildings you were about to pass between like two enormous gatehouses into the city. As if that wasn’t enough, they also controlled the river that you were standing above and many of the buildings in the city too. You were in Squire country.
The
building to the right of the bridge is, thankfully, still standing and is still
as delightful as ever. It’s currently known as the Customs House or Old Customs
House and is used by the local Sea Cadet unit. References in documents and
books show it has had different names over the years including the Wharf and
later Old Wharf. The construction date of the building is hugely debated, with
1790 being the most common belief, but early eighteenth century stated on the official
listing (grade II). I have it on good authority that the original plans of the
building exist with the correct date somewhere between the two and will report back when I have seen it!
The
building to the left of the bridge, known as Bridge House, was sadly destroyed to make way for the
Rivergate complex. For older Peterborough citizens, they would have
walked or driven past Bridge House, or even been in it as a shop, and not
realised that they were passing by a significant Georgian mansion as featured
in the painting of the Squire children in Peterborough Museum (always worth a visit to see it in person).
In its
glory it would have looked incredible overlooking the Nene and the town bridge.
South-facing, the honey-coloured ashlar sandstone façade would have appeared to
glow in the summer sun and provided an excellent vista for a visitor arriving
to the city, whether by land or water.
The family who lived there were hugely influential and, as you might imagine, had lots of business connections across the city and beyond. Wright Squire appears to have been the first of the Squire family to move to the city, although his father or another relative might have preceded him. He had been married to a woman called Ann, but tragically he lost Ann in 1751 and also his daughters Ann and Elizabeth. Wright married again and wed Mary Campin at St John's by licence in 1761. They had three sons; Wright Thomas Squire, (also known as both Wright and Thomas) who worked alongside his brother William as merchants, and their youngest brother John. I haven't been able to find a huge amount of information about John. In Wright's will of 1790 he left his property, lands and goods to Wright Thomas and William, but money to John and Mary. Another son Matthew died in 1779.
Wright Thomas and William continued the family mercantile business and were exceedingly fortunately placed when the decision was made to build the Norman Cross Prisoner of War Camp. It was the Squire family who met all of the camp's needs and Wright Thomas who mustered the officers who were staying in the city. And it was on their land – Squire Close – that the new arrivals for the camp disembarked and walked to their new prison. There are some great books on the camp, so I won't elaborate any further here.
Wright Thomas married Lucy Bigland in the city in 1778. The Biglands were a big deal in the city. Lucy's father loved to race his horses at the Peterborough Races and would compete against a William Squire and other landed gentry. Sadly Lucy’s father had died when she was only five years old. Lucy had
only sisters, but their name and reputation would have had weight, as well as
her 3,000 guinea dowry! If you’re doubting the importance of the Biglands
because you’ve never heard of them, it might be worth knowing that they were
descended from the Orme and Kennet families and you’ve possibly walked over them, because
they have a ledger stones in the new building in the cathedral.
Wright
and Lucy had five children; Lucy was born in 1780 followed by Mary Anna, Wright
Thomas, William Walcot and Charlotte Sarah in 1791. Wright
Thomas and Charlotte are the two children who feature in the portrait atop a
horse in the museum. If you’ve heard of any of the Squires it is probably
Charlotte, who was briefly married to Thomas Alderson Cooke, but she was the
least significant of the Squire offspring. Wright Thomas – the heir to the
Squire empire – sadly died in 1810, leaving wife Mary and two small children
Fanny Eliza and William Thomas.
Wright
Thomas senior had died in 1802, so William Walcot suddenly found himself as
head of his family. He had thankfully been working with his father and uncle
and appears to have been already involved in the running of their joint
ventures. Wright Thomas junior had died without a will which ended up causing an
argument in the family as William and William Walcot were taken to court by
Lucy (sister-in-law and mother) on behalf of her grandchildren. They squabbled over
land and money, Lucy being determined to ensure that her infant grandchildren
weren’t left without, after a lengthy and expensive court case.
The
Squires were involved in a variety of businesses and lots of different parts of
city life. Not only did they run Squire and Co, which was split into ‘Wine and
Ale’ (including a significant brewery and lots of pubs), and mercantile
elements, but they ran the Peterborough Bank too. William, Wright and Wright
Thomas (as it was written) were all on the board of Improvement Commissioners
when it was first created, Wright Thomas being only 18 or 19 at the time and
the role being one for life.
You’re
probably wondering why you haven’t heard of the Squires and why their names
have almost vanished from the city when others have remained. Something I am
investigating is the level of animosity between the Cookes and the Squires
after Thomas and Charlotte’s marriage was annulled. William Walcot had married Julia Cooke shortly before Thomas and Charlotte's wedding and later
wills etc. showed a deep connection across the families and that they still relied and trusted each other, but I’m not
convinced that William had any time for his father-in-law. Any event that
William supported, Thomas stayed away from and vice versa. This could simply be a
coincidence or that the men had differing interests, but when these are
subscriptions for books and charities, it does seem a little strange.
The main
reason they’ve vanished from the city consciousness is because William Walcot sold
up in the late 1830s. All of his businesses and concerns were sold on or passed
to business associates. All of the land he owned (everything he could have seen
from his front door and more, which was a vast amount) was sold off in portions
for properties and small pastures. He sold off the brewery, the river tolls (he
was forced to in the 1820s following the case against his nephew and niece),
his mercantile business, and his house and contents. He moved, with whatever he
had remaining, and started a new life in Cheltenham, in a beautiful house that
is now a B&B! It was a slow decline, but the death of his uncle John in 1834 does seem to spur him on to leave the city.
With
Wright Thomas already dead and buried in St John’s, there was no one left with
the Squire name. Lucy had married John Turner Hale and lived in Norfolk.
Charlotte, being covered in the stench of a failed marriage and the fact she
was unable to have children, never married again and was therefore living at
the will of her brother. There are no clues as to where she goes between her
annulment and the first census, but she does spend the last few decades of her life in
Cheltenham, a short distance from William and Julia.
Mary
Anna was, it could be argued, the most successfully married of all the Squires.
She caught the eye of Charles Mansfield Clarke, a noted surgeon from a family
of surgeons specialising in obstetrics. He was later awarded a baronetcy, after
attending to Queen Adelaide, elevating Charles to Sir and Mary to Lady! Their
children and grandchildren continued to marry well, with a nod to the family history
popping up in the name of their great grandson Sir Orme Bigland Clarke, the 4th
Baronet. Orme married Elfrida Roosevelt, (yes, of THAT Roosevelt family) meaning
that any descendants have the pedigree of centuries of British and American heritage
in their blood.
As an
additional fact it’s worth mentioning that Mary Anna left her own personal
memory of her life in Peterborough. Before she married, she painted an image
from the front of Bridge House. It captured the life that she could see from
her window and details the bridge over the river, people possibly waiting for a
boat to Wisbech and horses and wagons going about their business. As artwork
goes it is certainly not the work of a great master, but it is honest and
original and provides us with the view from Bridge House that I alluded to
earlier. I won’t reproduce it here, but you can find it in the Pitkin book on
Peterborough or on the back cover of Peterborough Through Time by June and
Vernon Bull. The image has always been attributed to MA Squire but I am
possibly the first person to publicly name Mary Ann as the correct artist. Hunt
it out and enjoy it, and remember the family that’s all but vanished from the
city.
