Wednesday 16 July 2014

(129) Anderson of Jesmond House

The city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and its hinterland have been home to a number of prominent families by the name of Anderson between the 16th and 20th centuries. Almost certainly, they are related in some way, but previous antiquarian writers have failed to demonstrate the connections between them, and so have I; if any reader knows more, please get in touch!


Anderson of Jesmond
The Andersons of Jesmond descend from Thomas Anderson (1679-1744), who settled at North Shields and was probably involved in the Russia trade like the succeeding generations of his family. His son, Thomas Anderson (1710-83) was a Russia merchant and in the next generation the second son, Matthew Anderson (1754-1834) was despatched to St Petersburg to manage the Russian end of the business, and married within the ex-patriot community in that city. The English end of the business passed to John Anderson (1757-1829), who in 1809 purchased Jesmond House from the Coulson family.  Jesmond House was a fairly modest Georgian building which as the map below shows was one of a number of gentry houses set either side of a narrow lane at right-angles to the river in Jesmond.  In 1823 Anderson and his neighbours secured compensation for subsidence caused by coal mining activity in the area, and this may have permitted a remodelling of the house, which by 1827 had been "much adorned and beautified".

John Anderson was succeeded by his son Thomas (1789-1872), who seems to have moved the headquarters of the family business to London, where he had a house in Clapham in the 1830s. It is not clear how much use the family made of Jesmond House thereafter, and it may have been let, but the family retained ownership until the 1870s. Thomas Anderson and his youngest son, Charles King Anderson (1836-76) retired from the family business in 1867 leaving his eldest son, John Soulsby Anderson (1828-1916) to carry on alone. J.S. Anderson seems to have diversified the business: he was already a partner in the Consolidated Bank and Anderson & Sons were operating as commission agents as well as Russia merchants in the 1870s.  Exactly what happened next is a little unclear: in 1875 Anderson was accused of involvement in a fraud case and in the Victorian business world where reputation counted for so much he was ruined, although he seems never to have been convicted. Later that year he was bankrupted and his assets, including a house at Sydenham in Kent and Jesmond House were sold to meet his debts. In 1878 he was discharged from bankruptcy and returned to business, but without capital or reputation he was obliged to find employment as a book-keeper, and when he died in 1916 his estate was worth only £169.  At least two of his sons sought new lives in the colonies, and the connection of this family of Andersons with the Newcastle area died with him.

Jesmond House (alias Jesmond Manor House), Northumberland
Jesmond House from the 1st edition Ordnance Survey 6" map of 1864.

Jesmond House lay just north of where the present Manor House Road joins Grosvenor Road, and was built by William Coulson in 1720 on the site of Nicholas Grenville's 12th century manor house. In 1809 it was purchased by John Anderson (1757-1829) who was said in 1827 to have "much adorned and beautified it"; perhaps after he was awarded compensation for subsidence in 1823. By the time it was recorded in the early 20th century, the house consisted of a four bay two-storey centre with dormers in the roof, and possibly later two-bay wings to either side.


Jesmond House. Image: Newcastle City Libraries

The house became a nursing home in the early 20th century and was demolished in 1929. Its splendid iron gates were re-erected in 1996 as a feature of the Byker Wall housing development. Four gate piers arranged in a semi circle survive at the end of the lane north of Grosvenor Road, which leads to St. Mary's Well.  

Descent: William Coulson (fl. 1720)... sold 1809 to John Anderson (1757-1829); to son, Thomas Anderson (1789-1872), who let it c.1868-71 to William Adamson; to son, John Soulsby Anderson (b. 1828), who sold c.1887 to Col. Coulson; sold to James Laing; sold to Sir Herbert Babington Rowell.

Anderson family of Jesmond House

Anderson, Thomas (1710-83) of North Shields. Son of Thomas Anderson (1679-1744) of North Shields and his wife Jane, daughter of John Aisley of Wolsingham (Durham), born 6 June 1710. He married, 1736 at Tynemouth, Eleanor Soulsby (1716-87) of Newcastle, and had issue:
(1) Thomas Anderson (d. 1789); died unmarried;
(2) Matthew Anderson (1754-1834), merchant at St. Petersburg (Russia); married and had issue three sons and one daughter;
(3) John Anderson (1757-1829) (q.v.);
(4) A daughter;
(5) A daughter.
He died 15 June 1783. His widow died 17 November 1787.

Anderson, John (1757-1829) of Jesmond House. Third son of Thomas Anderson (1710-83) and his wife Eleanor Soulsby, born 1 November 1757. He married Hannah (1763-1847), daughter of James King of Newcastle, and had issue:
(1) Thomas Anderson (1789-1872) (q.v.);
(2) Anne Anderson (b. 1790); baptised 1790;
(3) Matthew Anderson (1792-1881) of Jesmond Cottage, baptised 16 May 1792; JP for Newcastle; died unmarried, 14 January 1881; will proved 19 February 1881 (estate under £800);
(4) Mary Anderson (b. 1794), born 14 July and baptised 2 October 1794;
(5) James Crosby Anderson (1795-1837) of Little Benton, born 12 September 1795 and baptised 21 January 1796; married, 1 August 1822, Alice (1802-58) (who m2, Henry Player, and had further issue), daughter of William Losh of Point Pleasant, Wallsend (Northbld) and had issue three sons and two daughters; died 1837;
(6) John Anderson (1797-1857) of Coxlodge Hall (Northbld), born 22 December 1797 and baptised 26 April 1798; JP for Newcastle; sheriff of Newcastle, 1820; married, 11 October 1827, Dorothy Diana (b. 1809), daughter of Charles Dalston Purvis and sister of Thomas Purvis QC, and had issue one son and six daughters; died 1857;
(7) Eleanor Anderson (b. 1799).
He purchased Jesmond House in 1809.
He died 6 May 1829. His widow died 9 February 1847.

Anderson, Thomas (1789-1872) of Jesmond House. Eldest son of John Anderson (1757-1829) of Jesmond House and his wife Hannah, daughter of James King of Newcastle, born 21 September 1789. Russia merchant (retired 1867). He married, 1827, Isabella (1807-85), daughter of Robert Simpson MD of St. Petersburg (Russia), and had issue:
(1) John Soulsby Anderson (1828-1916) (q.v.);
(2) Robert Gerard Anderson (1830-89), born 9 June 1830; married, July 1858, Fanny Anne Hay (1833-1922) and had issue; died in Bath, 20 April 1889;
(3) Thomas Goldsborough Anderson (1833-1903), baptised 4 July 1833; wine merchant at Newcastle; married, 5 January 1859 at Upperby (Cumbld), Cecilia Hitchinson and had issue ten children; emigrated to New Zealand, c.1890 and died there, 1903;
(4) Charles King Anderson (1836-76), born 24 August and baptised 27 October 1836; partner with father and eldest brother in family firm (retired 1867); married 1st, 1860, Caroline Green (c.1838-65), and 2nd, 6 September 1866, Anne Gertrude Markham (1842-1930), and had issue; died 16 January 1876; will proved 18 February 1876 (estate under £5,000).
He inherited Jesmond House from his father in 1829. He also had a house in London.
He died 28 May 1872 in Brighton (Sussex). His widow died in 1885.

Anderson, John Soulsby (1828-1916), of Jesmond House. Eldest son of Thomas Anderson (1789-1872) of Jesmond House and his wife Isabella, daughter of Robert Simpson MD of St. Petersburg (Russia), born 22 June and baptised at Holy Trinity, Clapham (Surrey), 4 September 1828. Partner in Consolidated Bank, 1864, and trading as a Russian merchant and commission agent as John Anderson & Sons from 1867; bankrupted 1875 (discharged 1878). He married, December 1858, Emma Jane (k/a Emily) (1837-1919), daughter of Thomas Tallemach, and had issue:
(1) Isabella (k/a Belle) Anderson (1859-1938), born 4 October 1859 and baptised 4 January 1860; married, 21 November 1883, Henry Kearns Hamilton Field (1861-1922) and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 9 May 1938; will proved 10 June 1938 (estate £13,846);
(2) John Tallemach Anderson (1861-1937), born 23 February and baptised 3 July 1861; emigrated to South Africa; married and had issue; died in 1937;
(3) Vincent Moberley Anderson (1862-1935), born 29 July and baptised 3 September 1862; died unmarried, 23 June 1935; will proved 11 September 1935 (estate £10,132);
(4) Frederick B. Anderson (b. c.1865); living in 1881;
(5) Henry Knight Maime Anderson (b. 1866), baptised 16 December 1866; married, 31 May 1901, at Christ Church, Enmore (Australia), Jane Finlay;
(6) Hugh Soulsby Anderson (b. 1870); born 17 November 1870 and baptised 6 January 1871;
(7) Ethel Tallemach Anderson (b. c.1873-1919), baptised 14 September 1873; died unmarried, 16 February 1919; will proved 8 May 1919 (estate £245).
He inherited Jesmond House from his father in 1872, but sold it following his bankruptcy in 1875 to Col. Coulson.
He died 4 April 1916, aged 87; his will was proved 20 June 1916 (estate £169). His widow died 13 March 1919; her will was proved 13 May 1919 (estate £2,513).

Sources
Burke's Landed Gentry, 1850, i, pp. 16-17; E. Mackenzie, Descriptive and Historical Account of the Town & County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1827, p.193; T. Faulkner & P. Lowery, 1996, Lost Houses of Newcastle and Northumberland, p 23;

Location of archives
No significant archive is known to survive.

Coat of arms
Per chevron nebulée azure and vert, a bugle horn stringed between three bucks lodged or.

Revision and acknowledgements
This post was first published 16 July 2014 and was revised 6 June 2017. I am most grateful to Jane Thomas for additional information and for supplying an image of this family's correct coat of arms.

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