This week we hear from Library and Digital Assistant Kirsty Lodge, on an intriguing discovery that wasn’t a discovery, but which turned out to be another discovery entirely – leading to some inspired cross-departmental working…

When departments collide! Sometimes the most interesting discoveries, come about because of chance, coincidence, or serendipity.

When the Music department discovered the name ‘Florence Wickham’ on some old sheet music, thoughts initially turned to opera singer and composer Florence Wickham – Florence Pauline Wickham Lueder (1880 – 1962) was an American composer and contralto who made an international career at major opera houses in New York, London and Berlin. After retiring from the stage, she composed several ballets and operettas.  

The Music Librarian passed the bound collections of sheet music onto Local and Family History for further scrutiny, Did Florence have any links to Leeds? Were there any connections to be discovered? What was the significance of this music? The music comprised popular Music Hall songs from the 19^th and early 20^th century, waltzes from a range of European composers, much of the music is written for piano and voices.

Studying the sheet music volumes further, revealed references to the following – Alice Wickham, Katie/Katharine/Kallie/KL Wickham. The address Chestnut Grove appears twice. Dates range from August 1891 to July 1928. Using this information, plus census records, local newspaper archives, and online research tools, including the library version of Ancestry, a more detailed picture began to emerge.

It soon became clear that the Florence Wickham whose signature embellishes the sheet music, was not the American composer. However, this Florence’s story provides an interesting glimpse into a prominent north Leeds family in the 19^th and early 20^th century.

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Florence and her twin sister Alice were baptised at Wetherby 6/6/1875. Their parents were William Wickham Wickham (so good they named him twice) and Katharine Henrietta Wickham (Fairfax as was) – however her name is spelled differently on nearly every census record. They lived at Swinnow Hall near Wetherby. William’s profession on Florence’s baptism record was ‘gentleman’, but newspaper reports of his death in 1919 identify him as the senior magistrate for the West Riding.  The family seem to have been extremely well off and more than a little complicated.

Census Records are an ideal starting point to get a picture of who was living where, when and with whom – using the Ancestry Library edition we were able to discover the various houses the Wickhams lived in, the range of servants and any visitors they had at the time of the census being taken.

On the 1871 census they reside at Swinnow Hall. William is a JP. The family have nine servants and a visitor – Georgiana H Hodson.

By the time of the 1881 census, they had moved to Newton Kyme Hall, where they had thirteen servants including a governess and a schoolroom maid. Two visitors, Evelyn Constance Lamb an artist; and her sister, Florence.

Newton Kyme Hall parkland and garden is situated on slightly elevated ground on the west bank of the River Wharfe west of Tadcaster, adjacent to the church at the east end of the village. The existing Hall was built by Admiral Robert Fairfax about 1720. At the same time the grounds were landscaped to include formal gardens on three sides of the Hall with orchard to the north.

By 1891 they had moved to Chestnut Grove, Boston Spa (where William would stay) with fourteen servants – fewer nursery maids now, and more ladies’ maids. Chestnut Grove House no longer stands but maps of the area show Wickham Avenue and Wickham Close next to a street named Chestnut Grove.

In 1901 there were ten servants and assorted offspring and their spouses living with William – although Katharine Henrietta had died.

On the 1911 census, William is living alone with ten servants. This census also contains the information that Chestnut Grove has forty-one rooms. Because the information about length of marriage and children born and living is to be completed for women only, we don’t get this information about William and Katharine’s marriage.

The number of servants they keep, and the subsequent marriages of the children suggests that William and Katharine were in the very top tier of society.

William Wickham Wickham lived to 84, his obituary was published in the Yorkshire Evening Post on the day of his death Thursday 25 September 1919, listing his residences, children and their titles and occupations.

William and Katharine had several children: here are the boys – many of whom served in the military.

Captain Thomas Lamplugh Wickham-Boynton (1869-1942) who married Cycely and lived at Burton Agnes Hall a Norman Manor House built by Roger de Stuteville in 1173. Had issue.

Reginald W Wickham (1871-1952) married to Kathleen, no issue.

Colonel Henry Francis Wickham (Dragoon Guards) (1874-1931). Never married, no issue.

Lieut.-Col Charles George Wickham DSO (Norfolk Regiment) (1880-1971) Married to Phyllis Amy Rose, and then again, had issue.

But it’s really the girls we are interested in.  Music belonging to all three was bound together. Here are their stories:

Alice Wickham (1875-1956)

Alice married Charles Algernon Walker in Boston Spa in 1897. She died in 1956 with no issue.

Florence Wickham (1875-1956)

The majority of the music in the collections seems to belong to Florence.  In 1908, Florence married Henry Maxwell Stewart.  The Yorkshire Post of 12 February 1908 details the “spring-like weather with strong sun in a clear sky” and describes Florence as “Tall, she looked charming in an Empire gown of soft ivory satin trimmed with Brussels lace and adorned with pearl and diamond embroidery.” The newspaper goes on to list the presents to the bride and groom including such items as a carved writing desk from the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk and silver candlesticks from Lord and Lady Harris.

The Maxwell Stewarts of Scarthingwell Hall were a prominent Catholic family, indeed, the Hall and its estates were bequeathed to the diocese in the 1950s.  The family seem to have Constable as a middle name or possibly another hyphenated name, so perhaps the HCC who gives Florence music in 1901 could be her husband?  They honeymooned at Traquair House, Inverleithan – the family get a mention on the history page, the Henry Constable it starts with is Florence’s father-in-law:

“Traquair was then passed to the nearest cousin, Henry Constable Maxwell of Terregles. He added the name Stuart to his own.

The Maxwell family were also recusant Catholics who had remained faithful to their religion and they had great respect for Traquair. He and his wife, Juliana Middleton brought up their large family between Yorkshire and Scotland.”

This could be the Scottish connection with Herbert Oakley. It is unlikely that Florence met him – he died in 1903, before she married into the Maxwell Stewarts, but as what looks like the family music enthusiast, if anyone was going to pounce on that piece of paper it would have been her.  Henry died in 1932 and Florence stayed with his family, living with two of his brothers at Scarthingwell Hall at the onset of WW2. She died in 1956 and was buried at St Mary the Virgin in Boston Spa – the Wickham family churchyard. According to probate Florence left £27,390 15 shillings and 4 pence to her daughters. She had three children. Alice was a nurse during WW2 and died unmarried in 1985. Clare married James Patrick Cafferky but had no children, dying in 2010, and Charles changed his name to Walter and became a Benedictine Monk at Ampleforth, dying in 1994.

Katharine Louise, later Lady Allerton (1878-1956)

Katharine married George Herbert Jackson in 1899. He was the son of William Lawies Jackson, the famous Leeds industrialist and member of parliament.

George inherited his father’s title of Baron Allerton, and Katharine was known as Lady Allerton. They had two children – Dorothy Grace never married, but George W Lawies Jackson did (repeatedly) and his line continues, although the title died with him.  There is a picture of her here: Person Page (thepeerage.com)

Our search for Florence Wickham became a study of a prominent North Leeds family

Not, Florence Wickham the composer, but Florence Wickham of Boston Spa, seemingly a lover of popular music and linked to several significant families of Leeds.