MISCELLANEA PEROWNEIANA
1. In Mackie’s "Norfolk Annals" for 1823 appeared the folowing notice:
"October - Died in London, aged 62, WILLIAM PEROWNE, formerly an actor in the Phoenix Company."
The Phoenix Theatre in London formerly the Cockpit, we know to have been situated in Drury Lane, while other records at Norwich make mention of several provincial touring companies. The hey-day of the provincial theatres is said to have lasted from 1750 to 1810, in the second and third decades of the XIX Century they - like the metropolitan companies - suffered a rapid decline.(“The Oxford Companion to the Theatre”, 1951) Our William, born in 1761, will, therefore have performed during a period of peak popularity, but was evidently a player of no very great consequence, for Professor KalmanA.Burnim, of the Department of Drama, Tufts University, Medford, Mass., has "no record of any Perowne acting in London, 1660 - 1800, nor .... in the provinces. I have checked”, he continues, “the Minute Books of the Norwich Theater and find no mention of a Perowne there either".(letter d/ 25th June, 1973) The British Theatre Museum and the Society for Theatre Research are no more able to throw light on the question, but we have for the part two possible candidates:
WILLIAM PEROWN, +1761, at St Martin@Palace, NorwichA; m. 11-Nov-1787, at St Lawrence, Norwich, Elizabeth Marshall
WILLIAM PEROWN, son of Michael Matthew Peroone; m.5-Dec-1779, at St Martin@Palace, Norwich, Esther Jackson.
Of neither of these branchlets do we hear again, nor do we have sufficient information on which to base an attribution. With this begins and ends our family's professional connection with the Stage.
2. On 29th April, 1965, the "Eastern Daily Press" published an article by H.O.Mansfield under the title "When Norwich had its Jeremy Crunchers”, in which the writer observed that bodies for anatomical dissection were in great demand by the medical profession in the first two decades of the XIX Century, and goes on to tell how 'Resurrection Men', or body snatchers were active in Norwich and its surrounding villages. Surgery had begun to stir from its mediaeval torpor and dissecting schools, not all of them reputable, had sprouted by the dozen. The Anatomy Act of 1832 ordered the registration of all such schools, but this did not deter inquisitive individuals from conducting their own autopsies when opportunity offered. One of these was GEORGE (1795 - 1844), who appeared before the Magistrates in July, 1838, accused of just this offence. Apparently, the defendant “had friends at court, for no bill was presented and Perowne was discharged". This squalid affair was reported at length in the local papers at the time:
" On Monday last Mary Maxey who stated that she lived in St Saviour's came before John Angell and M.Money at the Guildhall and complained that the body of her husband, James Maxey who died on the Sunday week previously, had been stolen from her house on the preceding Wednesday. The person who she alleged had taken it away was Mr George Perowne, veterinary surgeon, who lived in the parish of All Saints. The magistrates heard what she had to say; and then sent the police to request Mr Perowne to come up and meet the charge. The officers however soon returned and stated that Mr Perowne was in a state of intoxication at the Nelson Tavern, and when they told him he was wanted by the magistrates, he answered that they might go to Hell. The magistrates than ordered the depositions of the woman to be taken, which were to the following purport:-
Mary Maxey stated that her husband was a shoeing-smith and was occasionally in the employ of Mr Perowne. He had been ill for some time, and on Sunday the 8th instant he died. Mr Perowne called on her the day after his death to ask her how he was to be buried, and she told him she should make application to the Union where he belonged for something to pay the expenses of the funeral. Mr Perowne replied that he should not be buried by the Workhouse but like a gentleman and a Christian, and she thought Mr Perowne was a gentleman, and that it was very kind of him. On the Tuesday Mr Perowne sent his carpenter to measure the body, and in the evening the coffin was sent and the body of the deceased, shrouded, was put in. She bought the shroud with her own money and made it and put it on herself. She also produced a band, which was all bloody, which she said she had put round his neck. On the Wednesday she went out and locked the door, and in the course of the day Mr Perowne went and put a boy in at the window, who, slipped the lock and let Mr Perowne in. He then put his hand into the coffin and, finding the corpse there, went out again and put a padlock on to the door so that no person could get into the house, and in the evening he drove down with his horse and gig, and took the coffin and body away. When she went home the corpse was gone. On the following day, on learning where the body was, she called and saw it, when it seemed to be alright, and Mr Perowne desired that the Clergyman and bearers might be ready to bury it on Sunday. On Saturday she saw it again; the heart was cut out, and it was otherwise much "cut and hackled", in a way we can not describe. She still understood that it was to be buried on Sunday, and the bearers came for the purpose. On that day they went for the purpose when they found the coffin lid closely nailed up. Suspecting that all was not right, she demanded to see her husband but Mr Perowne said that he was in too putrid a state and refused to let the lid be undone. She and several others insisted and the coffin was taken back. Mr Perowne then took his gun and drove them all out of the yard and locked the door. While they were there outside they heard him beating the coffin with a bout hammer and then they heard him throw away some large stones. In an hour Mr Perowne opened the gate and told her she might see the body, and on going to look at it she found a quantity of horse muck and large stones in the coffin. She had no doubt the coffin was full of them when it was first about to be taken away by the bearers. Part of them only had been removed and then the corpse laid up three or four inches above the top of the coffin. The corpse was naked too, but it was ultimately adjusted and Mr Cadywold went to Mr Angell's the Magistrate. While he was gone Mr Perowne again broke open the coffin. He said they should not take the body away for it was his property and he had paid for it; the coffin was also his, he said. To bury the deceased Mr Perowne had made a subscription amongst his friends which amounted to twenty-three shillings. She did not believe that there was any bargain of the sort and Mr Perowne had nothing to show. He stated it was sixteen years ago. She did not give consent for him to take the body. She gave 2/4d for the flannel for the shroud. She remonstrated with him and he threatened to kick her. She then left the premises. The body was ultimately taken to All Saints Church and there it still was, in the steeple and without any shroud upon it. The magistrates at once gave orders for it to be interred. Mr Perowne at length made his appearance in an intoxicated state, and it was with some difficulty he could be managed so as to understand anything from him. He stated, however, that he had bought the body; that it, the coffin and the shroud were his. He paid eighteen shillings for the coffin, seventeen shillings for breaking up the ground, and four shillings for plum cakes; that he paid the bearers, and paid for five gallons of ale. He acknowledged that he had collected twenty-three shillings, but he did intend to bury it, and he denied that the coffin was filled with stones; there were only a quantity put in to weight it. He cut the body open and took out the contents of the stomach etc. The man died of the same complaint as William IVth, of ossification.of the heart. He denied that he had taken the shroud, and said if it had not been taken away it would still be found in the coffin. The magistrates sent to ascertain this and the shroud was found in the coffin. Mr Perowne was very noisy in the magistrates' room and threatened to prosecute the wife for taking away the property from the house. Ultimately the magistrates sent Mr Perowne to the gaol so that he might be sober the next day to answer the charge.
On the following day Mr Perowne was again brought up, and in quite a sober state, when thq depositions of Chas Cadywold and John Maxey, the brother of the deceased, were also taken, which only went to corroborate different parts of the above evidence. Mr Perowne persisted in having purchased the body of the deceased during his life, and contended that it was his property. He cut up the body for the purpose of science, but the Magistrates reminded him that although all knew him to be a very clever man if he could keep himself sober, .yet he was not in any practice that required a knowledge of the anatomy of the human body; and his premises were not licensed for anatomical studies. Mr Perowne called Thos Shalders, who said he did not know anything about the deceased selling himself; but he heard the woman give Mr Perowne leave to take the body away. Mr Perowne said he was a member of St Bartholemew's Hospital. He was ultimately bound over to answer the charge at the Assizes, himself in £80, and two sureties of £40 each. (“Norfolk Chronicle", 28th July, 1838 – page 2. Col.6)
NORWICH SUMMER ASSIZES. On Monday morning at half past ten o'clock Mr Justice Littledale entered the Court of the Guildhall ….The Learned Judge, in his charge to the Grand Jury, said: "Gentlemen of the Grand Jury. I am happy to say that there is nothing in the Calendar requiring your consideration, and I have nothing to say to you. There is not a single prisoner in custody for trial; there are two cases, but I understand that there will not be any bills presented. If you have any presentment of your own, you will make it". ... Mr Perowne appeared when called upon and was discharged. (“Norfolk Chronicle", Saturday, August 11th, 1838)
3. Before the sport of fist-fighting was rationalized in its modern form, prize fighters engaged in public encounters for money, usually in the open air and with bare knuckles. Each round ended when either contestant fell or was knocked, or thrown, down; and the match when one of them was no longer able to come to the centre of the ring at the call of the referee. Gradually, the public became disenchanted by the brutality and unfair practices of the professional 'bruisers' and the.laws against prize-fighting were increasingly more rigidly enforced. In the 1860s were introduced the Queensberry Rules', compiled by John Graham Chambers and named after John Sholto Douglas, 8th Marquess of Queensberry and pugilism gave way to boxing (i.e. fighting with gloves). That the 'fancy' was not wholly in favour of these progressive and humane measures can be deduced from the following extract from Mackie’s "Norfolk Annals" for October, 1852:
"A prize-fight took place on St Andrew's Green, near Bungay, between JAMES PEROWNE, of Norwich, and James High, of Ellingham. The former was seconded by a man named Mace, and the other by Smith, of Ditchingham. The police endeavoured to take possession of the ring, but were put to flight by the mob; and the men fighting to a finish, High was declared the victor. Principals and seconds, with the exception of Mace, were subsequently committed for trial, and at Beccles Quarter Sessions, on October 18th, were bound over to keep the peace. Jim Mace was apprehended at Litcham on November 2nd, and at Beccles Quarter Sessions on January 3rd, 1853, was ordered to enter into his own recognisances to be of good behaviour.”
There are several James Perownes in our Pedigrees (with one among the Fragments) of suitable ages at the time in question, but there is no means of telling which one of them this was. It is probable that his second was the great Jem Mace, of Beeston, Norfolk, later to become English Champion (1861 - 1803), and known to some (letter d/20th February, 1973, from F.H.Attoe, 27, Sewell Road, Norwich) as "former Champion of the World”, though the "EncyclopediaBritannica” does not accord him this title.
4. WILLIAM, GEORGE and JAMES PEROWNE were all real people, even if we cannot identify positively two of them. In fiction, the name occurs here and there - notably in Rudyard Kipling's “Stalkey & Co.” (1899) - and in at least one case as the ‘nom-de-plume’ of a successful writer.1 BARRY PEROWNE, the author, has this to say (letter d/26th June, 1973):
“My real name is Philip Atkey. When I began to sell stories, which was when I was about sixteen, my uncle Bertram Atkey was a well-known writer, so it seemed politic to use pseudonyms on my own efforts. In those early days my stories were published in magazines under various names – ‘Philip Mostyn’, ‘Wyllis Adair’, ‘Barry Perowne’, ‘Pat Merryman’ and others I have now quite forgotten. Some of these names were the inventions of editors and arbitrarily put on my work for reasons best known to themselves, but as far as I can recall, the ‘Barry Perowne’ name was of my own concoction and was probably arrived at because, as far as I knew, there was no other Perowne writing at that time. What I do distinctly recall is that a couple of characters in a ‘Perowne’ story developed into a series, so the ‘Perowne’ name appeared more frequently and gradually ousted the other pseudonyms.”2
5. Others make use of our name not always with a convincing reason, and sometimes accompanied by an element of mystery. There are, of course, godsons with the given-name of Perowne and daughters proud enough of their maiden name to hyphenate it with that of their husbands (cf. PEROWNE-ABEL), but E. PEROWNE-CLOGG, of 9, Broadwood Avenue, Ruislip, explains that he was so christened on account of his father's life having been saved during World War I in India by someone (possibly a doctor) of that name, unidentified. It transpires that PHILIP PEROWNE(Cameras), Wealdstone, Harrow, Middlesex, is a partnership comprising Clogg and a colleague called Philip, who carry on business under that 'convenient' trade-name. Possibly PEROWNE ESTATES, who made a mysterious and momentary appearance in Market Street, Brighton, in 1973, use the name as one of convenience, though with that organization we have been unable to establish any contact whatever. "What, and whose, Estates, one asks one's self?" (Leslie Perowne, 2nd March, 1973)
6. A somewhat similar circumstance emerges in the story of LUNN, & PEROWNE in which enterprise both JOHN THOMAS WOOLRYCH PEROWNE and his brother CONNOP were involved with Dr Henry S.Lunn in his early ventures in organized tourism, beginning under the style of 'Co-operative Educational Travel’ in the early 1890s. The Boer War intervened, but the connection was maintained; writing from South Africa, Connop explains how Lunn "allows me £1100 p.a. for the use of my name". After that War, the association was resumed; from Lunn & Perowne evolved in the fulness of time the firm of Sir Henry Lunn Ltd., Travel Agents, to operate in a much wider and more popular field. JTWP was the first to drop out, absorbed by then in politics and with his growing family; Connop continued until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, when tourist operations had again to be suspended. Inevitably, the business passed in time out of the control of the Lunn family, as did also another of his foundations, The Hellenic Travellers Club, which for many years flew a pennant bearing the Perowne family crest (a Harp) on a blue and red ground. It would seem that these two brothers were in at the start of a good thing which they had neither the acumen nor, perhaps, the endurance to exploit to their ultimate advantage.
7. Somewhere in the Parish of St Saviour’s, St Pierre Port, Guernsey in the Channel Islands, there stands a stone upon the face of which can be made out the legend “Peron-du-Wa”, from which it might be surmised that some early bearer of our name at one time sojourned in those parts. Enquiry reveals, however, that this monolith has no connection with any family, being in fact an object of ancient pagan worship known to archaeologists as a 'menhir'. It appears that it was transposed to its present position in the year 1754 for use as a mounting-block, and at that time marked "PERRAON”, - the Norman-French term for a step, or stair -to which were added at some later date the words duRoi” (“duWa”). For this information we are indebted to Mr R. W.J.Payne, Secretary and Librarian of La SocieteGuernesiaise. (letter, 15th August, 1973) Philologically his explanation is of interest in relation to the possible derivation and proper pronunciation of our name, both of which have been examined in some detail in "Origins of the Name & Family of Perowne” (see especially pp475 and 11 ‘et seq’. The exact location of the Guernsey 'menhir' is thus irrelevant, and the circumstances in which it came to be designated "The King's Mounting-block" can be left in its obscurity.
8. Widespread in churches, churchyards and public cemeteries are to be found numerous Perowne monuments, of which some are mentioned in proper context in the tabulated pedigrees. Among the more interesting way here be itemized two (among others) erected at Stalham, in Norfolk, to the memory of Isabella Perowne (1726 - 1828) and her daughter Margaret (1752 - 1816), devoted nurse and companion to the poet William Cowper; and to her son JOHN PEROWNE (1761 - 1826), Freeman of the City of London. The RosaryCemetery in Norwich is prolific in Perownes, while in HolyTrinityChurch, Cambridge, a stained-glass window commemorates JOHN PEROWNE (1794 - 1882) and Eliza, his wife. The remains of their son JOHN JAMES STEWART PEROWNE (1823 -1904), Bishop of Worcester, rest under a massive granite cross in the churchyard at Hartlebury, and both the Perowne Bishops are remembered on the walls of Worcester Cathedral. Tablets to the memory of JOHN THOMAS.WO0LRYCH PEROWNE (1863 - 1954), Edith Marione (1874 - 1947), his wife, and CHRISTOPHER, their son- all, distinguished members of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem - can be seen in the crypt of the Priory Church at Clerkenwell, in London. A simple headstone in the English Protestant Cemetery in Rome, near to that of the poet Shelley, marks the last resting place of JOHN VICTOR THOMAS WOOLRYCH PEROWNE (1897 - 1951), Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Holy See.
9. The names approved by Local Authorities for new streets and roads within the Districts over which they exercise jurisdiction are (where not dictated by ancient usage) generally to be traced to the original owners of the land, a speculative builder, a local personality (e.g. Councillor, Priest, Schoolmaster, Benefactor &c), or granted by way of compliment to some associated celebrity; some commemorate events of national significance, such as coronations, jubilees and victories in battle. In the case of Perowne Street in Cambridge, neither the Town Clerk nor the City Librarian (letter d/7th May, 1973) are able to confirm the derivation. This unobtrusive residential 'cul-de-sac' leads off Mill Road, almost opposite Fenners and, perhaps, half-a-mile distant from the Railway Station, and extends some eight chains in a north-easterly direction to terminate abrubtly at the cemetery wall. It does not appear at all in the Cambridge Directory of 1874 and is first mapped, in an early stage of development, in that of 1878, at which date EDWARD HENRY PEROWNE was Tutor of Corpus Christi College and about to become (1879) Master and Vice-Chancellor of the University. JOHN JAMES STEWART PEROWNE was also in Cambridge at the time, but it is probably the former that the inhabitants of Perowne Street a century later unwittingly honour in their postal address. Further research might well establish that the land on which their houses are built belonged at one time to the College.
10. Hard by the old Cavalry Barracks at Aldershot, Hants, another Perowne Street, links Alexandra and Queen's Roads;
a mean assembly of small slate-roofed red-brick dwellings served by a humble provision store standing on the corner. The local Board of Health (as it then was) passed plans for the building of it on 5th March, 1890. The land was formerly owned by Henry Nichols, of Farnham, Surrey, who died in 1874, when the property passed to two of his nephews, James Stevens, also of Farnham, and Marlow Osmond Stevens, of Weston-Supermare, Somerset, a Clerk in Holy Orders. They then partitioned the land and the part which includes the whole of Perowne Street came into the ownership of James. He then disposed of building-plots, mostly in or about 1890. Until 1879, the land had been Copyhold, held of the ecclesiastical Commissioners for England. A list of those who held the land back to 1755 does not include either the name of Perowne, or any mention of the University of Cambridge (letters d/21st and 30th August, 1961, from H.S.Sales, Town Clerk, Borough of Aldershot). Lieutenant-Colonel H.N.Cole OBE, TD, author of the “History of Aldershot”, finds no Perowne’s among the incumbents of the old Paarish Church of St Michael and none in the Town's Census Returns for 1851; he confirms that CambridgeUniversity never owned land at Aldershot. "Prior to the coming of the Army in 1854/5 it was either common land, or owned by the Alden, Eggar, Newcombe, Tice, Lloyd and Pharo families." (letter d/10th September, 1961)
11. Peronne Road, on the former Hilsea Lines at Portsmouth, is sometimes supposed to have something to do with us, but enquiry reveals that it was constructed by the War Department between 1928 and 1931 and, jointly with the adjacent Bapaume Road, named after the great battles which took place in France in August, 1918, towards the end of the First World War. It was for many years a private road of military quarters, and was adopted by the City Council in 1960.(letter d/ 14th September, 1973, from J.R.Haslegrave, Town Clerk)
12. In that same year (1960), provision was made for an independent field squadron of Gurkha Engineers to be permanently stationed in Hong Kong and the planning of new barracks for it at Tai Lam, in the NewTerritories, was set in hand. The project was financed by the Hong Kong Government and was completed by May, 1963, at a cost of £400, 000. Soon after construction began a proposal was advanced on behalf of the officers of the Regiment to name the new lines after their first Colonel, Major-General L.E.C.M.PEROWNE and, On 5th April, 1962, His Excellency the Governor signified his approval of the designation Perowne Barracks. The architect was Mr G.I.Whiston ARIBA, who.
"allowed himself much freedom of expression in the contemporary idiom, influenced refreshingly by civilian domestic practice. The medium employed throughout was reinforced concrete, flat roofs displaced an earlier convention of French tiles, and all structures were finished in gleaming white. .... effective use was made of pierced concrete grilles, stirring echoes of the marble ‘jali’ work in the palaces of Shah Jehan. .... Commanding the entrance from the coastal road an adventurous circular guard-room was not the least impressive of many original, features. Beside it stood a massive stele of squared masonry from which a board blazoned the, .badge of the Gurkha Engineers, proclaimed the name of Perowne Barracks, and made certain that none should pass by in ignorance of who dwelt in them." ("Gurkha Sapper”, byL.E.C.M.Perowne)
13. Traversing the northern outskirts of Worcester the routes from Ombersley and Droitwich converge on Barbourne Road, on the western flank of which the traveller may perceive BishopPerowneSchool.This building, set back from the road and alongside the City & CountyEyeHospital, housed the Worcester Girls' Grammar School until 1963, when the Local Education Authority translated the latter to new and larger premises elsewhere. The Director of Religious Education at that time was Canon Rees-Jones, who inspired the foundation in the City of an Anglican Voluntary (Aided) School and persuaded the Diocesan Education Committee to acquire the old Barbourne Road buildings for the purpose. Canon Rees-Jones further proposed that the school should be named BishopsPerowneSchool to commemorate both the father (JJSP III.C.1) and the son (AWTP III.D.4) who had in turn occupied the See. For some reason unexplained the plurality became lost in the process of converting the concept into reality; BishopPerowneSchool to-day acclaims as its patron prelate Dr A.W.T.Perowne (Bp.of Worcester 1931 - 1941). (letter dated 10th May, 1973, from K.G.Tyson BA, Headmaster)