James Hall (historian)
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James Hall (20 February 1846 – 6 October 1914) was an English
antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic sit ...
, historian and schoolteacher, best known for his history of the
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
town of
Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture ...
, which remains among the principal sources for the town's history. He also edited accounts of the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
and documents relating to
Combermere Abbey Combermere Abbey is a former monastery, later a country house, near Burleydam, between Nantwich, Cheshire and Whitchurch, Shropshire, Whitchurch in Shropshire, England, located within Cheshire and near the border with Shropshire. Initially Congr ...
. Another work on the history of Combermere Abbey, Newhall and Wrenbury was never published; its manuscript has been lost. Hall is commemorated in Nantwich in several ways, including a street named for him.


Life


Early life and education

Hall was born in the Brayford Head district of
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...
on 20 February 1846.Nantwich Museum: James Hall
(Retrieved 3 April 2013)
Hall WJ, pp. 6–7 His father, also James Hall (born 1816), captained a steam packet which plied the
River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...
between Lincoln and
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, and his paternal grandfather, William Hall (born 1765), had been a waterman in Lincoln. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of George Markham, a farmer from the village of
Treswell Treswell is a village in north Nottinghamshire in England. The village is under the administration of Bassetlaw District, Bassetlaw Council and Treswell parish council. According to the 2001 United Kingdom census, 2001 census it had a populatio ...
in
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
. They had married in 1843; Hall was the second of their ten children, five of whom died in infancy, and their only surviving son. He grew up in Grantham Street in the centre of the city of Lincoln, where the family moved after his father gave up working on the river to become a rate collector and manager of the Lincoln and Lincolnshire Building Society. The family were
Wesleyan Methodists The Wesleyan Church is a Methodist Christian denomination aligned with the holiness movement. Wesleyan Church may also refer to: * Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, the Australian branch of the Wesleyan Church Denominations * Allegheny W ...
and worshipped at Clasketgate Chapel, where Hall's father taught at the Sunday school. From 1854, Hall attended the Wesleyan Day School in Grantham Street (later in Rosemary Street), rising to become a pupil–teacher. He received tuition on the piano from the well-known teacher C. A. Ehrenfechter, and was also taught the organ by the Clasketgate Chapel organist. Deciding to make his career in teaching, he joined the Wesleyan Training College at
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
in 1864, graduating first in his year in English two years later.


Educator

The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel of
Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture ...
in
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
was seeking a headmaster in 1866 for its elementary Day School to succeed the retiring Mr Mobbs; they required an incumbent who could also play the organ at the chapel. Twenty-years old Hall was appointed, and took up the position on 7 January 1867. He was to spend the rest of his life in Cheshire. The school had been founded in 1840, and stood on Hospital Street, opposite the chapel. In 1873, during Hall's time there, subjects taught included religion and reading, and both boys and girls attended. The present building on the site dates from 1909; the old school burned down in January 1908.Hall WJ, pp. 8–10 On 9 June 1870, Hall married Elizabeth Goy, daughter of Matthew Goy, a builder who lived near the Hall family in Grantham Street. Elizabeth later acted as Hall's secretary and proofreader for his history, and also administered his private school. The couple had four children: two daughters, the elder of whom, Margaret, assisted in school administration, and two sons, the artist Walter J. Hall (born 1875/6) and George (born 1883).Hall WJ, pp. 7–8 In 1874, Hall was appointed the first headmaster of the new Board School at Willaston, near Nantwich, built under the Education Act of 1870. Although the school was not formally opened until 28 June 1875, he began to teach 40 boys in the Congregational Schoolroom on Church Lane from the beginning of that year. He moved his growing family to rented accommodation in Broad Street (now Wellington Road), near the station, until the schoolhouse at Willaston was completed in March 1876. The number of pupils grew rapidly, with 132 the month after the school opened and later reaching 230; up to five other teachers were employed. In addition to the required curriculum, he taught singing, drawing and Latin.


Local historian

According to Walter Hall, his father's interest in local history was kindled in the early 1870s by Thomas Bolton (died 1877), a Nantwich boot-and-shoe manufacturer whose tales of Nantwich in the first half of the century piqued Hall's interest. His first publication was a Christmas tale, written for Bolton, which appeared under the pseudonym "Peter Plover". While living at Willaston, he also became a friend of the antiquary
John Parsons Earwaker John Parsons Earwaker (1847–1895) was an English antiquary. Life The son of John Earwaker, he was born at Cheetham Hill, Manchester, on 22 April 1847; his father was a merchant from Hampshire, and a close friend of Richard Cobden. Educated at ...
, FSA, the first volume of whose history of East Cheshire appeared in 1877. Hall started work on his history of Nantwich in the mid-1870s; it took nearly a decade to complete. The research included many visits to churches to document their architecture and to transcribe church registers and memorial inscriptions; he also consulted many library collections, travelling as far afield as Oxford and London. The text was finished on 10 December 1883, the 300th anniversary of the Great Fire of 1583 that destroyed much of the town. The manuscript ran to 1154 foolscap sheets; indexing it took a further month. Walter Hall states that shortly after the book's publication, the Society of Antiquaries offered to confer its fellowship on Hall, but his father declined the honour.Hall WJ, pp. 10–11


Musical activities

Hall was the organist of the Nantwich Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in 1867–75 and 1882–1907. He composed five hymns and three other works for the Nantwich choir. With Alfred Withinshaw, he founded the Choral Union of the Wesleyan Methodist choirs of Nantwich,
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
and
Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and civil parish on the banks of the River Tern in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is located between the towns of Whitchurch, Shropshire, Wh ...
in 1884, and organised three music festivals in 1884–85.Hall WJ, pp. 15–16


Difficulties in later life

In 1885, soon after the publication of Hall's ''History'', Willaston Board School received an "unsatisfactory" rating in its government inspection. In his biography of his father, Walter Hall claims that there was "certainly no neglect of duty as regards '' all's' teaching," and associates the poor report with insinuations circulating among some local residents that his father had been neglecting his headmaster's duties in favour of writing his ''History''. Walter cites contemporary local newspaper articles in support of his father, concluding that his work had been "widely appreciated." After an appeal failed, Hall resigned, leaving the post in June 1886. He moved back into Nantwich, initially renting 84 Welsh Row, and decided to open a private senior school for boys. He started to build Lindum House, a schoolroom and substantial master's house on Wellington Road. On 29 September 1886, while the buildings were still under construction, he opened the school on Welsh Row with six pupils. The new schoolroom was completed by the end of the year; by January 1887, the school had 17 pupils. The family moved into the master's house in April.Hall WJ, p. 13 Financial problems occurred from the outset when Hall fell into dispute with his architect, incurring legal expenses of more than £250 which meant that he remained in debt until 1901. Despite employing a drillmaster and offering French tuition, pupil numbers rose only slowly and then declined, with the school never having more than 35 pupils. By 1905, with only 12 pupils remaining, it was obvious that the venture had failed. Hall tried to sell Lindum House in May of that year, but it took two years for an acceptable offer to be received. The school closed on 19 June 1907.Hall WJ, p. 19


Retirement, death and legacy

In September 1907, Hall moved to Saughall Road in the north west of
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
. He remained active in retirement, joining the Chester Archaeological Society and the Society of Literature and Art, and undertaking cataloguing projects for the Corporation of Chester, Chester Archaeological Society and the Tollemache family, among others.Hall WJ, p. 20–23 His health declined in 1909–10; the condition recurred in February 1914, and the following September, his health deteriorated further. He died in Chester on 6 October 1914, and was buried at Chester New General Cemetery. A posthumous portrait of Hall, painted by his son Walter J. Hall, was presented to the town of Nantwich in 1943. It formerly hung in the Free Library and is now displayed in the main gallery of Nantwich Museum. The portrait depicts him sitting in front of two pictures of churches,
Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...
and
St Mary's Church, Nantwich St Mary's Church is an Anglican parish church in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It has been called the "Cathedral of South Cheshire" a ...
. At this time, Walter Hall wrote four biographical articles, published in the ''Nantwich Guardian'' in 1944 and subsequently collected into a brief biography by J. Lodge, headmaster of Nantwich and Acton Grammar School.Hall WJ, p. 3 He is also commemorated by a tablet in the porch of St Mary's Church, erected in 1946, the centenary of his birth, by Percy Corry, also a local historian. It describes him as "The Historian of Nantwich." A street in Nantwich is named for him.


Historical work


History of Nantwich

Hall is best known for his history of Nantwich.The National Archives: Notebooks of James Hall
(Retrieved 3 April 2013)
The first history of the town was published anonymously by the Reverend Joseph Partridge, master of the Nantwich Blue Cap Charity School, in 1774. A second history by John Weld Platt, published in 1818, is dismissed by Hall as "little more than an enlarged and better arranged edition of the former work," which fails to acknowledge its source.Hall J, p. xiii He calls Platt's description of
Nantwich Castle Nantwich Castle was a Normans, Norman castle in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, built before 1180 to guard a ford across the River Weaver. The castle is first documented in 1288. It was last recorded in 1462, and was in ruins by 1485. No trace now rem ...
"purely fictitious." Hall's history, entitled ''A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich-Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester'' but usually referred to as Hall's ''History of Nantwich'', was completed in December 1883. The first edition of 350 copies was financed by subscription; it was privately printed by local printer Thomas Johnson, bound by
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in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
and distributed early in 1884. Nearly four times the length of Platt's work, it covers the period from the
Domesday survey Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 to the date of publication, and additionally includes the nearby townships of Alvaston (now part of Worleston), Willaston and
Woolstanwood Woolstanwood (also Woolstan Wood) is a village (at ) and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, which lies immediately to the west of Crewe, 1½ miles f ...
. There are 29 line illustrations, some of which are not credited and might have been drawn by the author.Hall J, pp. i–xvi The book received reviews in national and local periodicals, including one in '' The Athenaeum'' on 7 March 1885, which praised the meticulous referencing and described the history as "able, clear and succinct" and its author as "conscientious and careful." Despite the positive reception, it was not reprinted in Hall's lifetime. Several replica editions have since been published, the first in 1972, and various online editions are now available. Though in part outdated, Hall's ''History'' remains the authoritative history of the town and is frequently cited by modern works.
Cheshire County Council Cheshire County Council was the county council of Cheshire. Founded on 1 April 1889, it was officially dissolved on 31 March 2009, when it and its districts were superseded by two unitary authorities: Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East. ...
and
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
stated in a 2003 report that Hall's history, with George Ormerod's history of Cheshire, are the "chief sources for the history of Nantwich."


Civil War journals

The great majority of Hall's other works as an author and editor relate to the history of Cheshire. He edited two accounts of the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
in the county as ''Memorials of the Civil War in Cheshire and the Adjacent Counties by Thomas Malbon and Providence Improved by Edward Burghall'', published in 1889. Thomas Malbon's Civil War journal was included in the Cowper manuscript collection of
Condover Hall Condover Hall is a Grade I listed three-storey Elizabethan sandstone building, described as the grandest manor house in Shropshire, standing in a conservation area on the outskirts of Condover village, Shropshire, England, four miles south of ...
, to which Hall gained access from its owner,
Reginald Cholmondeley Reginald Cholmondeley (20 April 1826 – 10 February 1896) of Condover Hall, Shropshire, was an English landowner, artist and collector. He was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Shropshire and held the rank of Major (United Kingdo ...
. "Providence Improved" by Edward Burghall, the
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
rector of St Mary's Church, Acton, incorporates a version of part of Malbon's writing. Hall gained access to the text from his friend, J. P. Earwaker. Hall's edition places the two diaries side by side, with his annotations, and also includes biographies of the two men.Phillips CB.
Burghall, Edward (bap. 1600, d. 1665)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) (Retrieved 6 April 2013)
C. B. Phillips, writing in the ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'', describes Hall's edition of "Providence Improved" as "well printed" but considers Hall's characterisation of Burghall's reworking of Malbon as plagiarism to "miss the point."


Combermere Abbey

Hall also edited "The Book of the Abbot of Combermere", published in 1896. The book is a collection of leases and rent rolls from 1289 to 1529 relating to
Combermere Abbey Combermere Abbey is a former monastery, later a country house, near Burleydam, between Nantwich, Cheshire and Whitchurch, Shropshire, Whitchurch in Shropshire, England, located within Cheshire and near the border with Shropshire. Initially Congr ...
, which owned a quarter of Nantwich, copied by the final abbot, John Massey, and others. Hall was granted access to the documents by Robert Wellington Stapleton-Cotton, Viscount Combermere, the abbey's owner. Stapleton-Cotton later gave him access to other material relating to the abbey – which resulted in the manuscript, ''The History of Combermere, Newhall Township and the Village of Wrenbury'' – but died in 1898 before this history could be completed. It was never published, as Hall had been relying on the viscount's sponsorship of the project. Walter Hall attempted to bring the work out in 1939, but was prevented by paper shortages during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.Hall WJ, pp. 18–19 At this date, the Reverend A. L. Moir, vicar of St Mary's and St Michael's, Burleydam, also attempted to obtain the manuscript for publication without success.Latham 1999, ed., p. 49 The manuscript, which ran to 780 foolscap sheets and covered many of the small settlements near the abbey, has since been lost.


Other

Hall published articles in many historical and literary journals, including '' The Athenaeum'', ''
Notes and Queries ''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inner ...
'', ''Palatine Note Book'', ''Local Gleanings of Lancashire and Cheshire'' and the ''Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society'', and also a chapter in the book ''Memorials of Old Cheshire'' (1910).Hall WJ, pp. 16–17 The last gave rise to controversy as Hall inaccurately stated that Tabley Old Hall was "ruinous" when at that date it remained in reasonable repair; its owner, Lady Leighton-Warren, complained and it emerged that Hall, whose health was failing, had based his opinion on postcard images without visiting. Hall gave lectures to many local societies on topics ranging across music and literature as well as local history. Thirty volumes of his unpublished notebooks are archived in
The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...
. These and other unpublished notes include research on
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
architecture,
misericord A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a p ...
s in local churches, Acton and Dorfold Hall, and the history of the Delves family of Doddington Castle. He served as the honorary local secretary for Nantwich of The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire from around 1889 until his death, and was elected to the council of the Chester Archaeological Society in 1908.The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire: Preliminary List of Honorary Local Secretaries: 1889
(Retrieved 3 April 2013)
The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire: Report, &c.: 1914
(Retrieved 3 April 2013)


Selected publications

*
A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich-Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester
' (1883) *
Memorials of the Civil War in Cheshire and the Adjacent Counties by Thomas Malbon and Providence Improved by Edward Burghall
' (Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society; 1889) '' s editor'
The Book of the Abbot of Combermere 1289–1529
(The Record Society; 1896) '' s editor'
Cheshire and its Families
in ''Memorials of Old Cheshire'', Barber E, Ditchfield PH, eds, pp. 194–206 (George Allen & Sons; 1910)


Notes and references


Sources

*Beck J. ''Tudor Cheshire''. ''A History of Cheshire'', Vol. 7 (Series Editor: JJ Bagley) (Cheshire Community Council; 1969) () *Hall J. ''A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich-Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester'' (E.J. Morten; 1972) () *Hall WJ. ''James Hall: 1846–1914: A Short Biography'' (1946; reprinted from the ''Nantwich Guardian''; 29 January – 18 February 1944) (OCLC 499765659) *Hodson JH. ''Cheshire, 1660–1780: Restoration to Industrial Revolution''. ''A History of Cheshire'' Vol. 9 (Series Editor: JJ Bagley) (Cheshire Community Council; 1978) () *Latham FA, ed. ''Acton'' (The Local History Group; 1995) () *Local History Group, Latham FA, ed. ''Wrenbury and Marbury'' (The Local History Group; 1999) () *Morant RW. ''Monastic and Collegiate Cheshire'' (Merlin Books; 1996) () {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, James (historian) 1846 births 1914 deaths 19th-century English historians English antiquarians Schoolteachers from Cheshire People from Lincoln, England People from Nantwich Local historians of England