Read Adams
When St Ives Town Council formed in 1874 there was never any doubt who would be the town's first Mayor. Pictured above at the time of his inauguration in 1874, Read Adams was immensely popular.
His explosive disagreements with the Vicar of All Saints Parish Church over 'Popish practices' and in defence of parishioners rights were one reason. His business acumen was another, resulting in the transformation of the parish church from one of the worst to the best-appointed church in the County. It is to Read Adams that we owe thanks for the four dial clock in the church spire which peels every quarter of an hour over the town.
Read on to learn more of the disagreements, good works and to view census records, newspaper reports and correspondence published.
Early life
Born in 1831 in Wisbech, Read Adams was the second youngest of nine children born to Joseph Adams, a schoolmaster, and Mary Ann Pridgeon. The family home was the Boys' National School House in Church Terrace, Wisbech. The origins of Read's business acumen showed in his father, who changed occupation after 1841 to become Secretary of the Schoolmasters' Savings Bank, later the Wisbech Savings Bank.
By 1851 Read was lodging at Regent Street, Cambridge. Some of his details in the 1851 Census are shown as unknown, indicating he wasn't present when the census return was completed.
A few hundred yard's walk in almost a straight line from Read's lodgings brings you to Sidney Street and the premises of James Dimmock, a perfumier and print seller. It was James' daughter, Georgina, that Read married in 1855.
By that date Read had moved back to Wisbech, working as a grocer with premises in the High Street. In 1854 he accused his shop assistant of theft after the assistant went absent, apparently with money from the till. When the case came up for trial there was a rather strange outcome. The assistant was acquitted.
Move to St Ives
Read judged he had a better future in our busy market town. In 1857 he took over the firm of Nix and Wasdale, wholesale grocers. Aged 26 years, Read owned one of the oldest businesses in St Ives, established in 1744.
He quickly got involved in local sport and public life. In 1859 he played in the St Ives Trade Cricket Club Married v Single fixture. The following year Read was one of several businessmen competing for the position of parish overseer. In the same year the Volunteer Force was created in response to a threat of invasion from France. At the initial parade of the First Huntingdonshire Rifle Volunteer Corp, Read was among the 103 volunteers.
In 1861 Read lived at his grocer's shop in the Bullock Market (today the Broadway). Residing with Read and his wife were a maidservant and grocer colleague.
Whatever the outcome of the 1860 selection for overseers, by 1862 Read was the parish churchwarden. He also presided over lectures in the Public Institution on such varied topics as 'Dr. Samuel Johnson' and 'Let not the shoemaker go beyond his last'.
Set up in 1847 to deal with problems in public health and highways maintenance, the St Ives Improvement Board was a precursor to St Ives Town Council. In 1867 Read was Chairman.
Whatever the outcome of the 1860 selection for overseers, by 1862 Read was the parish churchwarden. He also presided over lectures in the Public Institution on such varied topics as 'Dr. Samuel Johnson' and 'Let not the shoemaker go beyond his last'.
Set up in 1847 to deal with problems in public health and highways maintenance, the St Ives Improvement Board was a precursor to St Ives Town Council. In 1867 Read was Chairman.
By 1870 he was a Guardian of the St Ives Union Workhouse, sending gifts to inmates at Christmas. He was also Secretary of the Hunts Protestant Association.
Controversy at the Parish Church
In 1866 a new vicar arrived at All Saints Parish Church. Born in Paris, Charles Dashwood Goldie was educated at St Johns College, Cambridge. The energy and ability he displayed at St Thomas', Colnbrook, Bucks, earned him a move to the much bigger parish of St Ives at the age of 41 years.
Initially the Rev. Goldie's relations with his parishioners seemed positive. In 1867 he chaired a committee to consider extra burial space. As parish churchwarden, Read Adams was one of the committee.
Rev. Goldie started to make changes. From the 1850s there was a 'bells and smells' movement in the Church of England to reintroduce a range of Catholic liturgical practices, strongly opposed by traditional protestants.
St Ives was possibly the worst place in England to attempt the introduction of what were termed 'Popish practices'. Oliver Cromwell lived in St Ives for five years from 1631. One of the signatories to the death warrant of King Charles I, partly executed because of his leanings towards Roman Catholicism, Cromwell was a strict puritan opposed to any ritualism in church services. Those sentiments still ran strong in St Ives more than two centuries later. The town erected the only publicly funded statue of Cromwell in 1901. Even as late as 1920 there were strong objections to the design of the St Ives War Memorial as a cross.
Initially the Vicar's changes amounted to no more than rearrangement of furniture. This set off alarm bells amongst the congregation. Posters were displayed around St Ives urging parishioners to attend the vestry meeting. Read Adams probably organised these. In a stormy encounter Read attacked the Vicar. Already complaining to the Bishop of Ely by letter, he overturned the Vicar's changes.
Many of the congregation stayed away from the Parish Church. The Hunts Protestant Association was formed at St Ives in 1867 for 'counteracting the unremitting efforts of the Papacy...' Read Adams was present at the first meeting and became Secretary. He even 'outed' Lord Robert Montagu, MP for Huntingdonshire, in a series of letters, and demanded his resignation when Read learned the MP had converted to Roman Catholicism.
One thing was certain, and that was the popularity of Read Adams. Loud cheers greeted his reappointment each year as parish churchwarden. Rev Goldie, in contrast, attracted hisses and boos. Even when considering retirement in 1876, the meeting to re-elect Reed Adams as a churchwarden was riotous.
Taxing the parishioners
One of Read Adams' claims was that the Vicar had broken church law in the way he had spent money from the offertory collections. The Vicar got the parish into debt and the fabric of the Parish Church was in a poor state of repair.
Rev Goldie's answer was to impose a two penny church rate. Prior to 1868 vicars and churchwardens had a common law right to impose a tax on property owners in the parish to pay for services, repair of the church and salaries of officials. This right was abolished by statute in 1868, thereafter making it purely voluntary. So attempting to impose the tax a year after abolition was a particularly risky move on the part of the Vicar.
Read Adams ensured maximum opposition to the tax by distributing handbills around St Ives. Vestry meetings once attracted at most 40 St Ivians. For the February 1869 affair 400 residents turned up for 'one of the most stormy meetings' held in the town for some time. Only 2 of the 400 voted for application of the tax, being the Vicar's churchwarden and his sexton.
Not a man to back down, Rev Goldie even took on the local press. In a letter written to the editor he objected to the tone of the report on the February 1869 vestry meeting. A string of letters followed from Read Adams and supporters of both sides over the following weeks.
Enquiry into charity funds
The Vicar's attempt to apply the tax prompted Read Adams' curiosity about the various charities (called the Town Estate) set up to support the church and provide funds for the poor of the parish. Some of these dated from before 1632 and were administered by fourteen trustees. Only one of these was still living, though 'on the brink of the grave'. What had happened to the income from the Town Estate?
Following detailed analysis of documents, at a January 1870 vestry meeting Read questioned the probity of the trustees. They had levied a church rate tax in 1841 for repairs to the church. Was that tax unnecessary? What had happened to some of the £800 the Duke of Manchester paid for the old workhouse at the top of Market Hill, part of the Town Estate? Was this sale even legal? Read agreed a new set of trustees and a committee to investigate the Town Estate and sale of the old workhouse.
At the vestry meeting in April 1870 Read Adams read out a report on the Town Estate at some length, detailing the origin and status of each of the charities. Yet again there was disagreement. The Vicar and his churchwarden refused to sign the report.
Relations between the two adversaries were at an all-time low. Read Adams read out a letter from the Rev Goldie during the meeting which stated in future Read must not enter or touch the church without written permission from the Vicar. The reply was also read out. In typically combative fashion Read rebutted the Vicar's demand, stating as churchwarden he had the right to take the Vicar into custody.
Improvements to the parish church
The 1871 the vestry meeting was a more considered affair. Read Adams, having got the Town Estate charities on a much better footing, started to use the income generated to repair the outside of All Saints Parish Church. At the conclusion of Read's report the Vicar had a 'placid smile beaming upon his countenance'. This didn't stop Read complaining by letter to the Bishop of Ely about the Rev Goldie's 'Ritualistic practices' later the same year.
By 1872 Read was able to report further improvements, including reparation of the churchyard. The closing comments of the Vicar as chairman give an idea of the relationship they had come to: "You know me very well, and I know you, and I hope this meeting from its quietness and pleasantness will be the type of a good many more".
It was due to Read Adams' management of the Town Estate and a request for subscriptions in 1871 that by July 1872 the church tower had a brand new four dial clock costing £200 (today over £22,000), replacing the one which had stopped working twenty years before.
They might still have their disagreements over religious practices, but the Rev Goldie could not dispute that Read's business acumen and eye for detail had transformed the Parish Church. 'It was now the best looking church in the county of Huntingdon, it was almost the worst before.'
Elections for St Ives Town Council
When in 1874 it came time to elect Councillors to the newly formed St Ives Town Council, Read Adams was one of twenty-five candidates applying for the twelve seats. He came top of the poll by some margin. At the first Town Council meeting the following week Read was unanimously elected the first St Ives' Mayor.
A week later and a rather lyrical report described the events to celebrate the incorporation of the town. St Ives has always had a liking for celebrations involving fireworks, bonfires on Hemingford Meadow and crazy sports (think of the Boxing Day Hobby Horse race). The roots were sown in the celebration of the formation of St Ives Town Council.
The whole of St Ives celebrated despite inclement weather. With a crowd enjoying the fireworks of ‘at least 5,000’ (the town’s population was 3,000), it was ‘a day’s rejoicing never known on any previous occasion in St Ives’.
The article also highlighted some of the hard truths. Poor families, numbering 400, were issued with vouchers to buy meat so they ‘could have a substantial meal in their own homes’. That equates to about 1,600 residents, more than half of the population.
Continued service
Read Adams ignored encouragement to become Mayor for a second time, continuing as a Councillor for several years. He was never reconciled to what he believed were the illegal practices of the Rev Goldie.
After so many years in the post, by 1879 Read considered standing down as parish churchwarden. Encouraged to continue for another year, his business abilities were needed. The church spire needed rebuilding. In May 1879 a request for subscriptions was published to cover £600 of the £1,000 cost (today £125,000) for reconstruction.
In 1880 Read became an Alderman of the Town Council, an honorary position voted in by Town Councillors rather than the electorate.
The death of Rev Charles Dashwood Goldie
Read Adams' old adversary died in January 1886 from consumption (tuberculosis), aged 60 years. He was described as 'a very persevering man, one who seemed never to know what defeat meant'. No doubt the Vicar more than met his match in Read Adams.
The obituary mentioned stormy vestry meetings and stirring up the feelings of his parishioners to a pitch. It also went on to say 'the Vicar grew tired of being in opposition to the majority of his parishioners and in later years matters have been generally peaceful.' Also 'He at all times conducted himself with great courtesy to all, and there is no doubt that during his latter years he became respected and loved by many who did not altogether agree with him'. Read was not listed amongst the town officials who attended the funeral service.
Final years
Read Adams continued to serve as an Alderman until his death in August 1889, aged 58 years. He had been unwell for some time, practically retiring from business and public life. In his last few years Read travelled to improve his health. It is likely he also died of consumption (tuberculosis). In the 1800s it was the cause of up to one in four deaths.
After 1871 Read moved from living over his grocery business to Madeley Court in Church Street, Hemingford Grey, a 'valuable mansion house' with 9 acres demolished some time during the 1950s. Thus, he is buried beside the peaceful waters of the River Great Ouse in St James' churchyard, Hemingford Grey.
Read went into partnership with George Russell after 1873, and George continued the business. Read died a relatively wealthy man, his estate valued at more than £700,000 today, including joint ownership of the Hunts News and Peterborough Times. The generous nature of his hospitality was well known, an extensive cellar of wines and ports part of his estate.
Read and Georgina had no children. After Read's demise, his wife moved to live with her sister in Ashford, Kent. Later she lived in Hastings, Sussex. Georgina died in 1912 aged 78 years.
Click any of the links below to view original census records and newspaper transcripts in connection with this article.
Further reading
Below are links to copies of newspaper reports and original documents supporting the information in this article. Click any to view.
Below are links to copies of newspaper reports and original documents supporting the information in this article. Click any to view.
Photo courtesy of The Norris Museum.
Thanks to Bridget Flanagan for information about Madeley Court.
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