Richard Bane was born in 1840 into a Norfolk tailoring family and naturally tailoring was the trade he learnt from his father, Richard Bane Senior. Richard Junior though was more drawn to a life of adventure and at the age of 17 went off to the seaside at Great Yarmouth to secretly join the Royal Artillery. Richard was inspired by heroic tales of British campaigns and battles and especially the Crimean War which had been won just two years previously. The battle of Alma was engraved on Richards heart and he even called one of his daughters Alma and named his London home Alma House.
Richard's younger brother William followed suit in joining the military, and this is said to have been a way for another ancestor of our family too (but I don't quite know who yet). William was sent to India, that favoured jewel of the British Raj. Richard though had a different destiny, for rather than being sent east he was sent west to the tropical island of Barbados, and more than that he was stationed in different locations around Britain, being promoted again and again, from underage driver when he first joined, to the high rank of sergeant by the time he retired.
Royal Horse Artillery on exercise
Richard is remembered as being lovely and brawny, with fair complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair, reaching the height of 5ft 7. Richard, who was the fifth born child of his parents, began his life in the Norfolk village of Southrepps, recorded as being a baby there in the 1841 census.
Richard Banes baptism record in Southrepps on June 1st 1840:
Baptism of baby Richard on June 1st in Southrepps, born to Richard and Anne Bane, father being a tailor
1841 Census showing Richard as a one year old living with his family in Southrepps:
1841 Census for Upper Street, Southrepps when Richard was one year old, with his father Richard Senior working as a tailor, his mother Ann, and older siblings George, Mary Ann, Margaret, and Thomas
By the age of 11 his family had moved to the nearby town of North Walsham, which was where his mother Ann was from, their home now being Loads Buildings on Hall Lane.
1851 Census for Hall Lane, North Walsham, when Richard is 11 years old, his father working as a journeyman tailor
When Richard was 13 the smallpox vaccination became compulsory in England and Wales and a Vaccination Certificate was issued to the parents of each vaccinated child as proof that the this had taken place. This development had come about after it was observed that cow maids who caught the cow pox never went on to get the smallpox. Smallpox had been a destroyer of life up till this time.
The birth of smallpox vaccination
At the age of 17 Richard ran away to join the army. He enlisted in Great Yarmouth into the Royal Artillery for twelve years using the surname Bean rather than Bane, which had originally been used in older family records. In his signing up he took the oath of allegiance and fidelity, for which he was given the sum of two shillings and six pence. The bounty he received two days later was £3 along with the kit. Richard had to make a military service oath in which he promised to be faithful and offer true allegiance to Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, in person, Crown and dignity, against all enemies and to observe all orders of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and of the Officers and Generals set over him. He had a medical examination at the time of enlistment in which he was found to have no rupture, mark, of any old wound or ulcer adhering to the bone, that he was free from varicose veins of the legs and that he had full power of motion of the arms and legs. He was well formed with no scrofulous affection of the glands, scald head or other inveterate cutaneous eruptions. He was free from any trace of corporal punishment, and had not been marked as a deserter with the letter D. His respiration was easy and his lungs sound; and he had the perfect use of his eyes and ears. His general appearance was healthy and he possessed strength sufficient to undergo the fatigue to which soldiers are liable.
The appeal of adventure that was the Royal Artillery
Basic information Richard gave when signing up to the army
Richards impulse to join up was inspired by tales of heroism circulating, especially relating to the Crimean war, which he glorified in his mind and loved to talk about, eventually naming both his house, and his daughter, Alma, in memory of the great historic battle of Alma. Britain was throughout this time maintaining and expanding a colonial empire and public support for this was good, particularly with families whose members filled civil service or military officer positions. Britain's presence in the Crimea had been approved of as a means to limit Russian expansion. There was also plenty of support for the government's repression of the Indian mutiny of 1857.
A Royal Artillery hero from the Bean family was known to have fought at the battle of Waterloo and may have had some connection to our family, therefore being another inspiration, even so far as for Richard to reclaim this old spelling of the family name and to join up at the same age this relative had. This earlier Bean, name of George Beane, died at the Battle of Waterloo, and his memorial was at St Mary's Church in Richmond, London.
Captain George BEANE - Killed "Sacred to the memory of Major George Bean of the Royal Horse Artillery who was killed by a canon ball in the 26th year of his age at the head of his troop on the 18th June 1815 in the glorious battle of Waterloo. At the age of 17 he was, at his own request placed in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and served under Lord Nelson (another inspiration for Richard as he has also been a local Norfolk man) at the battle of Copenhagen. He volunteered to accompany the Expedition which was sent out to cut the boats at Boulogne for which he received His Lordships public thanks. He also particularly distinguished himself under Sir David Baird and the Duke of Wellington in Spain where he was 17 times successfully engaged with the enemy but signalised himself principally at the battles of Vittoria, Orthes and Toulouse. Unhappily his military career terminated prematurely; he fell, it is true, in the field of glory lamented by his surviving officers and men but alas left a widowed mother, an affectionate wife, with 2 infant children, to lament their irreparable loss."
In the earlier stages of Richard's military career he was firstly a driver (an underage one), and then a gunner. To be given the duty of driver while still so young shows that having grown up with horses Richard had a skill for handling them. Drivers were basic horsemen who moved around ordnance equipment. As a driver Richard would have had the care of two horses which he himself would feed, water and groom. A drivers duty was never to be involved in fighting but rather to keep the horses calm in battle and if a horse should go down to remove it's harness. For four years Richard was a driver.
Royal Artillery Drivers
Richard became a gunner in 1863. Guns were becoming more powerful at this time, firing more efficient munitions to longer ranges with increased accuracy and greater speed. Artillery men importantly provided the Army with the firepower needed in defence and attack. The Royal Artillery did not carry Colours. Its guns were its colours and it was these that were saluted on parade.
Royal Artillery Gunners
There were two companies of artillery, each of 100 men, in the famous barracks at Woolwich Common in south London, to ensure that a regular force of gunners was always available if needed. Woolwich was the spiritual home of the 'Gunners' , and it was at Woolwich that Richard was stationed. Though trained and awaiting challenges, Richard was never to be fight in any active campaigns. All was simply practice, simulation and being prepared.
Rocket practice on the riverside marshes at Woolwich
Hannah Bean was a girl to catch the eye of Richard while he was a Royal Artillery gunner based in London. She was also from a Norfolk family, having grown up in the village of Knapton.
Hannah Bean, aged 7, living with her family in the Norfolk village of Knapton, in 1851, her parents being Robert Bean from Bacton and Mary Ann née Empson from Stibbard, her siblings being Robert, Elizabeth, Mary Ann, James and Sarah (the father and oldest son working as agricultural labourers):
Hannah Bean at the age of seven, living in Knapton, as recorded in the 1851 census
When aged 19 Hannah had gone to London to work in the service of a military tailor, keeping house for him and his family. In such circles she must have surely met Richard who was also a military man trained in tailoring.
1861 Census showing Hannah living at Kendall House, Harrow Road, in Chelsea keeping house for Alfred Haines, a military tailor who employed 40 men in the tailoring, and his wife Mary, a wealthy family indeed, having also a live-in cook and a foot boy. Two nieces were staying at the time of the census - Louisa Lee and Mary Ann Mudd:
Hannah Bean aged 19 keeping house for the wealthy Haines's at Kendall House in Chelsea
Mary Haines née Mudd of Kendall House, whom Hannah worked for, was actually very sick, enduring a long and painful illness, from which she died in that same year in the month of November.
In the winter of 1866 Richard and Hannah married at St Johns church in Waterloo, noted as residing in this time at 8 Mason Street which was the home of Richard's brother George who had also moved to London and was working there as a blacksmith. George was a witness to their wedding, as well as Hannah's friend Alice Jane Carrington. In the marriage registration Richard classed himself as a tailor, like his father, and made no mention of the army.
St John's in Waterloo, inspired by Greek architecture, where Richard and Hannah married
Marriage of Richard and Hannah on the 2nd of December 1866 at St John's, Waterloo
Hannah was small, only five foot tall, or so, and she was lovely spoken. It has been said that there was not one thing coarse about her. She looked like Queen Alexandra, very strait laced and distinguished looking, and gave the impression of being a society lady.
In 1868 the governments usual displaying of hung felons in cages, hanging on gibbets in public, was stopped as it was having no deterrent on crime.
When in 1869 January 18th Richard set off with his wife Hannah on the ship 'Theresa' to Barbados he was, by that time, a corporal in the army. Their first baby, a boy called John, was born and died on that sea voyage.
Notes made on Richard's military papers give information about the dates of being in Barbados and there ship Theresa being the mode of transport there
St Anne's garrison in Barbados
The family's home for two years, on the island of Barbados, was a subtropical environment, considered overall to be healthy, particularly in its dry winter. But there were sometimes outbreaks of yellow fever, leprosy and elephantiasis (known as Barbados Leg), and hurricanes were a grand scourge for Barbados. The island had been colonised by the English since 1625, having previously been depopulated by the Spaniards. It had once been famous for its mahogany forests but these had been replaced considerably by sugar plantations. Really despite its reputation, the West Indies was not the best of places for European soldiers to be stationed. Men died of typhoid during the passage from Britain and of malaria and yellow fever, known as "Yellow Jack" while stationed in the Caribbean. The other killer was "New" Rum. The sugar producing machinery and distilling equipment had a high lead content which contaminated the rum. The rum was also improperly distilled and was therefore more of a "moonshine", containing deadly fusel-oil alcohols which were poisonous. This situation was not helped by the soldier's belief that drinking rum prevented them succumbing to yellow fever.
Barbados landsape
Barbados beaches
So successful were British colonial troop deployments to Barbados, that Barbados is the only country in the Caribbean region never to have changed hands since the British first landed and established the city of Jamestown (from the early 1600's) until independence. Barbados acquired the nickname "Little England". Hannah gave birth in Barbados to a surviving daughter, Alma, who was named after the Crimean battle. Richard and Hannah went on to have many children. They also had at least one black servant, as Hannah is remembered to have talked of having had her own 'black serving boy'. Richard and Hannah gave up on the tropics and returned to England, in 1871.
From underage driver to gunner, and from one year as a bombardier (junior to a corporal), Richard had become a corporal and after three years more was promoted to the position of a sergeant.
1n 1872 a son Ernest Anderson Bane was born to Richard and Hannah on 16th February at Shorncliffe Camp in Kent, baptised at the garrison church of Shorncliffe on 24th March. Richard Bane's occupation was given as a bombardier, G Battery, 1st Brigade of the Royal Artillery.
As a Corporal Richard had command of, and responsibility for the men and equipment of his own gun detachment. His duty was to check any stragglers and keep munition in travelling order. In battle practice he would follow the orders of his chief, aiming the munition, sighting it and giving orders for the firing.
Sergeants were the Chiefs, so that now Richard had the command of, and responsibility for the men and equipment of his own platoon. The personnel under him consisted of the gunner and his cannoneers, the chief of caisson and his drivers. The equipment under his control was one cannon, 9 to 13 horses, and all their harnesses and saddles. The sergeant assigned duty positions, insured that his cannoneers and drivers were properly trained, and that they could switch roles if necessary.
Royal Artillery
During battle practice the sergeant's duty would be to dismount, leave his horse with his drivers, and take his post in the rear of his piece. When marching he rode beside the left lead horse and performed his duty as guide of his platoon.
Royal Artillery sergeants
Since returning from Barbados Richard was not only stationed in the familiar Woolwich environs, but also spent some time at Shorncliffe Camp, in Kent, and up at Sheffield, in Yorkshire, both places being where his wife Hannah would give birth to a son, Ernest at the Shorncliffe Camp and Herbert up in Yorkshire. All in all there were nine children born, though three did not survive. Back in London came forth children Cicely and Roland, followed by a daughter Ethel who sadly died at the age of two, and finally twins only one of whom was strong enough to survive, my great grandfather D'Auvergne. D'Auvergne, being the artistic son, he is recalled as having painted his father, wearing his navy blue uniform and pill box hat, though this art and another done of his mother, Hannah, has since been lost, so that, myself, I have never seen them.
Being so long in the Woolwich area, Richard bought a cottage in Upper Paget Road (or Paget Rise as it is now called), within walking distance of the military barracks, and which he affectionately called Alma House.
Alma House
Here Richard revived his tailoring skills, with a mind to set up in business on retirement from the Royal Artillery. At the age of 39, after 23 years in the army, Richard retired on a pension. Despite all his longings for adventure, he had never been involved in any campaigns, though had earned a Silver Medal for long service and good conduct. The 1881 census shows the family in Alma House, Richard being both a sergeant and a Royal artillery tailor, both he and Hannah noted as having been born in Norfolk. The children at home are Alma, aged 17, and born in the West Indies, Ernest, aged 9, born at the Shornecliffe camp, Herbert, aged 6, born in Sheffield, Cicely, aged 3 and Roland, aged 1, both born in Plumstead.
1881 census showing Richard and family in his home 'Alma House', being a sergeant in the Royal Artillery and a tailor
By the spring of 1882 Richard had put Alma House up for sale:
In 1883 Krakatoa erupted, a spectacular destructive volcanic explosion that shook the world, and would have certainly been in everyone's conversation. It's one of the dates from history I have always remembered and just know that with their interests in the colonies and awareness of different peoples my family would have been reading about and discussing.
The big story of 1883, the eruption of Krakatoa
The dress style of English ladies in 1884:
English Women in the Louvre 1884 sketched by Renouard
The name that Richard and Hannah chose for their last child D'Auvergne (my ancestor), born in 1885, was a reflection of a close friendship they had, while in London, with the Anglo-Indian family of D'Auvergne-Barnards which Hannah's aunt Charlotte had married into. Aunt Charlotte had married George Jenkins Barnard, a billiard table proprietor born in Jabalpur, who came to England from colonial India where his father Henry Charles Clapton Barnard had been a colonel in the army of the East India Company. Charlotte had already herself borne a son called D'Auvergne, at that time 18 years of age, who went on to become a famous composer. A fondness for this talented boy inspired our family to also call their son by this name, likewise a boy to grow up with a love for music. Both families also named a daughter Alma. In sharing military connections Charlotte may even have been instrumental in introducing her niece Hannah to Richard in the first place. These families embraced a colonial British pride, quite apt for the times. I imagine the gentlemen playing billiards together at family reunions, a game which had even been invented in India. George Jenkins Barnard's hometown of' Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, was a town associated with billiards and snooker, also being the place where thuggee had been tackled by the Brits, all going on when George was there. There would have been many a tale to tell.
In his older years Richard went into business as a master tailor, which was the trade he had originally learnt from his father, his speciality being making the Norfolk suit. The style of the Norfolk jacket changed little overtime. The Norfolk suit was an indispensable part of an English gentleman's wardrobe in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was often associated with outdoor activities, especially shooting and fishing. A Norfolk jacket was a loose, belted, single-breasted jacket with box pleats on the back (and sometimes front), with a belt or half-belt. It was originally designed as a shooting coat that did not bind when the elbow was raised to fire. Usually it was worn with a stiff Eton collar which does not appear to have added to ones comfort when already encased in the redoubtable tweed suit, but it was much more common for people to be formally dressed in those times than in our modern era. Thus men and even young boys would wear the Norfolk suit and Eton collar for many occasions that would today call for casual clothes. Little boys of well-to-do families were often dressed as miniature versions of their fathers and the Norfolk jacket was a favourite with its belted waistline and box pleats.
Gentlemen wearing the Norfolk suit
Although Richard was the head of a well to do family, fortunes gradually changed, and this was for lack of his good business sense, said to be for accepting commissions without money upfront, bills that not everyone would honour. Alma House was abandoned and a new life tried out here, then there. By the time of the 1891 census the family was living in Leyton, in east London, at 55 George's Road. There they welcomed into their home, Richards ten year old nephew, Oscar Bane, who had till then only known life in India. Oscar had been born in Amritsar and his mother had just died. Oscar's father, William, was still busy serving in the army in India so could not look after him.
Richard and his family shown in the census of 1891, looking after an nephew Oscar from Amritsar, and working as a tailor cutter
Once Oscar's father, William Bane, had retired from his Indian military career, in which he had been a warrant officer, Oscar was reunited with him and together they made a home in Norwich. They had a housekeeper, Fanny Wilson, who the widowed William had an eye for, getting her with child twice, before eventually making all respectable and marrying her. Oscar was off as a young man with friends to America, settling in Canada for the remainder of his life, with wife and child, in the Ontario village of Ayr.
With all the children grown up Richard and Hannah moved to the seaside, to Dovercourt on the Essex coast, and there Richard worked a while for a high class gentleman's outfitter. By 1901, Richard and Hannah had moved to Grays, by the river Thames, closer to London, at 30 Clarence Road, and there Richard and his now grown-up son, Roland, worked together as tailors. By the time of the 1911 census Richard and Hannah were living with their married daughter Cicely, whose home by then was at the Gas Works in Arlesey, in Bedfordshire, her husband Fred Hotchkin being the gas works manager. There was a whole bunch of grandchildren for Richard and Hannah to delight over, there being Beatrice, aged 6, Fred, aged 5, Evelyn, aged 3, and a 6 month old baby boy named Aubrey. Richard was written to be an army pensioner and was now aged 71, Hannah being 68.
Richard and Hannah in the 1911 census at their daughter Cicelys home at the Gas Works in Arlesey, Richard being listed as an army pensioner
1911 Census's are always that much more interesting because they include not only how long a married couple have been together, in this case 44 years, but also how many children they've had and how many have not survived. This confirmed that Richard and Hannah had 9 children in all and that three of them had died.
In 1912 another shocking event in everyone's thoughts was the sinking of the Titanic on it's maiden voyage, none the less so for Hannah's nephew from Norwich, Edward Beane, being on a honeymoon on that very ship with his new bride, Ethel. For the family there would have been some uncertainty as to the survival of these younger family members, until that is they arrived in New York and were at last accounted for.
The Titanic on her fateful maiden voyage
Article in the Western Times relating to the unknown fate of Hannah's nephew Edward Beane and his wife Ethel who were on the Titanic
Richard and Hannah lastly lived at 28 Ferndale Avenue in Walthamstow with their other married daughter Alma. Richard died there in 1922 at the age of 82, Hannah having died just a year before him at the age of 77.
Richard shown in the 1921 census, aged 81 and a widower, a retired tailor working on his own account, living with his daughter Alma's family in Walthamstow:
Alma in Walthamstow with her husband, children and her widowed father Richard Bane
Richards body, I have discovered, was buried back in Plumstead, exact location not specified. His fondness for the part of London figuring so much in his life must have determined this.
Record showing that Richard Bane was buried in Plumstead
RICHARD BANE-----RICHARD BANE & ANN COOK----GEORGE BANE & MARGARET LINES---RICHARD BANE & MARY LIGHTNING---THOMAS BANE & MARGARET MASON----JOSEPH MASON-----NICHOLAS MASON-----JOHN MASON & ELIZABETH ADAMS-----WILLIAM & ROSE MASON------NICHOLAS MASON & CATHERINE BEALES