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Some of the early Characters
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| Baylies
Charity School,
Tower Street, Dudley
The school was established in 1732 by
Robert, Samuel and Anne Baylies for "teaching, instructing, and
clothing 50 boys, to be elected and chosen out of the parishes of
town and foreign of Dudley from such whose parents would not be able
to give them learning". |
Many local dignitaries have been members of the Society over the
years. Here are a few of them:
- Julia,
Viscountess Dudley and Ward - second daughter of
Godfrey Bosville of Gunthwaite, Yorkshire. Married August 1780
to William 3rd Viscount Dudley and Ward. She died 23 June 1833.
- W A Smith
- defeated opponent of Thomas Hawkes in the 1841 parliamentary
election.
- B Gibbons
- Perhaps the founder of the firebrick and foundry company
Gibbons (Dudley) Limited since this was founded in 1834, about
the time he was a member. [Chandler &
Hannah]
- Joseph Wainwright
- surgeon, also Colonel Commandant of the Dudley Volunteer
Infantry. Died 16 January 1810 aged 69. There is a memorial
tablet in St Edmund's Church, Dudley.
[Blocksidge's
directory 1914, p.47]
- Edward Jessop
- died 29 January 1822. Originally a cooper, later an
auctioneer; he acquired many properties and died wealthy, but
trusts of his Will were so complicated that a special Act of
Parliament had to be made to sort things out! [Chandler
& Hannah]
- Richard Moore
- Mayor of Dudley, 1817. [Chandler &
Hannah]
| Thomas Hawkes electioneering in
1834 | |
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- Thomas Hawkes
- Tory Member of Parliament for Dudley. First elected in 1834,
on the appointment of John Campbell as Attorney General, and in
1835, 1837 and 1841.
- J Rann
- printer and bookseller in Hall Street, Dudley.
- Edward Guest
- wealthy nailmaker and churchwarden. Mayor of Dudley, 1815.
[Chandler & Hannah]
- Luke Booker
- Vicar of Dudley 1812-1835, i.e. during the erection of the
present St Thomas's Church. Author of several books. Prominent
opponent of Reform. There is much information about him in
Clarke's 'Curiosities of Dudley' and elsewhere.
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"Tributes to the Dead:
consisting of more than two hundred Epitaphs, many of them
original compositions, suitable for persons of all ages and
circumstances." by Rev.Luke Booker; published J.
Hatchard and Son, London, 1830.
Booker was unimpressed by epitaphs "which
excite emotions certainly quite the reverse of seriousness",
so "to prevent their occurrence in my own parish, I
requested the different stone-masons always to let me see
the form of inscription brought to them, before they
transferred such form to its abiding station on stone... A
consequence ensued which I did not anticipate, namely, the
task of providing epitaphs...". |
- Samuel Wilmot
Hodgetts - Gentleman, "last representative of a
most ancient family". Lived in Wolverhampton Street,
Dudley. Houses belonging to him sold (on 6 August 1811) for £1,930.
- T Badgerm
- Dudley Magistrate in 1833. Tory. [Chandler
& Hannah, plate 157]
- James Bourne
- Solicitor in Birmingham Road, Dudley and Mayor of Dudley in
1829. (There were several local worthies of the same name.)
[Blocksidge 1913, p.81]
- J Hodgetts
- a copy of his will dated 1825 is preserved.
| Statues of 18th century 'Blue Coat'
schoolboys in their distinctive uniforms on the facade of
Baylies' Charity School, made by Coade of Lambeth in 1823.
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