THOMAS UTTING
Personal Life - It is probable that Thomas Utting was baptised to Charles and Mary Ann Utting nee Whaites, at St Mary, Wroxham, on 25 August 1776. His uncle, Robert Whaites, had purchased the Canal House estate in 1797 as detailed above, and Thomas was living there when he married Elizabeth Whaites - daughter of Robert and Bridget Whaites nee Johnson, gentleman of Ingham - by Licence on 6 January 1798 at St Margaret's church, Witton by Blofield.
The Land Tax assessment for Ashwellthorpe taken in 1798 at 4 shillings [20p] in the £Stg to raise revenue for the national Exchequer, also confirms that Thomas Utting was the occupier with uncle Robert Whaites still being the proprietor of Canal House. The sum assessed for this property was £10. 8s. 0d. [£10.40], which illustrates the size of the estate, as that was the second-highest valued assessment in Ashwellthorpe. Robert Wilson Esq. of the Berners' barony family of Ashwellthorpe Hall, who was assessed as the owner of seven properties, had only one of a higher value, i.e. at £14.
Thomas and Elizabeth Utting nee Whaites had children baptised to them at All Saints', Ashwellthorpe: Thomas Waites Utting born 3 October and privately baptised 7 October 1798 (it is possible he died in 1813 as "an infant", a Thomas Whaites Utting, was buried at All Saints on 15 January that year), and Mary Anne born and baptised on 21 June 1804. Sadly Elizabeth Utting died in Ashwellthorpe on 20 April 1805 aged 29 and was buried on 24 April at St Margaret's church, Witton by Blofield.
Norfolk Chronicle 27 April 1805 via findmypast.com
Politics - At the 1802 election, Thomas Utting did not have the vote as Robert Whaites was still alive, but in 1806 Thomas, now the owner of the Canal House estate, had the right to vote in the Parliamentary Election held on several days in the middle of November 1806. The candidates were Thomas William Coke of Holkham (4118 votes) Whig, Rt. Hon. William Windham of Felbrigg (3722 votes) Whig, and the Hon. John Wodehouse then of Witton Park. Thomas voted for Wodehouse (3365 votes) who, at that time, sided with the Tory interest. So, the two owners of Canal House, Ashwellthorpe, in 1802 and in 1806 voted for the Hon. John Wodehouse – this might have been due to shared political views, or that Wodehouse with his connections to nearby Kimberley Park was well-known in the neighbourhood, or that there were family connections between these three families.
Thomas Utting was active in Norfolk agricultural politics becoming involved in a dispute between the farmers/growers and the corn merchants/brewers/millers in October 1808 who, at their 15 October meeting at St Andrew's Hall, had altered without notice, their practice of paying growers ready money for corn and were now to purchase corn only on terms of one month's credit. The cutting below is from Bury & Norwich Post 26 October 1808 via findmypast.com. It is interesting to note that one of the Millers who passed these Resolutions at the 1808 meeting , was Jeremiah Colman who had been born in Ashwellthorpe in 1777 and had become a corn miller at Bawburgh and Pockthorpe mills; he later became the mustard manufacturer in 1814.
The farmers and growers immediately set up a meeting at the Rampant Horse Inn in Norwich for 22 October to discuss this trade restriction and Thomas Utting was appointed Chairman. Twelve Resolutions were passed as also detailed in the Bury & Norwich Post of 26 October 1808 via findmypast.com and the situation led to stalemate, with a further meeting of the farmers/growers on 29 October 1808 deciding that they would "transact business on the old-established customs and on NO OTHER TERMS.
The whole matter was taken to the Court of King's Bench for a ruling, as the Buyers etc. were accused of a conspiracy which would have the effect of raising the price of corn and acting in Combination against the agricultural and community interest. This led to the case being heard at the Assizes – The King v William Palgrave and Others (merchants/buyers) in August 1809.
In his findings, the Judge reprimanded the conduct of the merchants/buyers in the strongest terms and declared how severely the law would punish such illegal proceedings. He went on to say "Either, these Defendants are the most ill-advised, or the most foolish, and the most perverse of men. They say they have already desisted from their combination – let them tell the world so – and if ever they dare again to revert to it, most severe will be their punishment". [from report of proceedings in Hampshire Chronicle of 14 August 1809]
Thomas Utting was much praised by the farmers/growers for his assistance "and manly perseverance" and at their meeting at the end of December 1809 - reported in London newspapers Westminster Journal, British Press, The Statesman and The Morning Herald, as well as the locals - he was one of several speakers from the farmers/growers, raising toasts to all other supporters of the agricultural interest. In turn, the Health of Mr Thomas Utting was proposed and drank with three hearty cheers and thanks given to "that Gentleman, to whose uncommon exertions, in the first instance, in a great measure, was to be attributed the successful termination of the contest in which the Land Occupiers had been engaged" [Morning Herald, London, 30 December 1809]
In his response, Thomas Utting returned thanks and observed "that he ever was and ever should continue stedfastly[sic] attached to the landed interest, and more particularly to the interests of the community. He had been guided in his motives from a principle which told him it was his duty to act as he had done, and to find his conduct had merited approbation was a sufficient remuneration for his exertions" [Morning Herald, London, 30 December 1809]. He then proposed the toast - May those who would illegally deprive others of their just rights, ever be defeated in their attempts – which was loudly applauded.
Personal Life - On 1 May 1810, Thomas Utting married Maria Hunt by Licence at All Saints' church, Old Buckenham with the consent of her parents, John and Mary Hunt. Thomas and Maria returned to Canal House where they remained until c. 1821. Their children were baptised in All Saints, Ashwellthorpe: Maria Elizabeth (20 March 1811), Thomas (20 December 1812 born 14 December), Mary Elizabeth (2 October 1814) – she may have died aged 11 weeks as there was a burial on 4 December 1814 but for a Mary Ann!; Mary Ann (16 February 1816) and Thomas Charles (30 November1817).
It was while Thomas and Maria Utting and their family were living at Canal House that John Thirtle, the watercolour artist and leading member of the Norwich School, painted the picture of Canal House which features at the beginning of the Canal House ownership articles.
Politics – The question of the price of corn became ever more prominent after the end of the Napoleonic Wars when cheap grain imports could again be expected; this would have harmed the interests of landowners/farmers. Laws were passed whereby tariffs were placed on imported corn with no imports until the price of home-grown corn was over 80 shillings(£4) per quarter (1 Quarter = 8 bushels; 1 bushel = 56 lbs. or 25.4 kgs) which also had the effect of keeping prices artificially high. The price of bread and other costs of living, for example, thus rising beyond the reach of the poorer population. Thus, discontent was spreading in rural areas and more were migrating to industrial centres leaving a shortage of labour in the countryside. Various agitations to retain/remove this protectionism, with the merchants petitioning Government, demanding free trade and an end to protective tariffs, and the landowners/farmers/growers petitioning for protection. Such disagreements and protests continued until these Corn Laws were removed in 1846
Thomas Utting was Chairman of the Norfolk Agricultural Association at their meeting held at the Rampant Horse Inn, Norwich, on 6 November 1819. This meeting addressed, "with unfeigned regret" the "continued distress of the Agriculturists of England and the consequent stagnation of trade immediately attendant thereon". It also resolved to present to the House of Commons in its next Session a petition from the Proprietors and Cultivators of Soil asking "for relief from their continued hardships arising from the want of adequate protection of the produce of the soil commensurate with taxation" and "from the admission of such immense quantities of foreign corn into our markets, duty free. The effect of which has been, and still is, the depreciation of corn of our own growth, the non-employment of the poor and a continued increase of Pauperism". [Bury and Norwich Post, 27 January 1821]
Personal Life – In May 1821, Thomas Utting put his estate at Canal House up for sale by private contract; the acreage had grown to 160 Acres by this time and a full description of the property was given in the Norfolk Chronicle weekly, for four weeks. It did not sell and was advertised again for sale by auction in March 1822 as an excellent mansion house fit for the accommodation of a gentleman's family, with, amongst other attributes, an entrance hall, breakfast parlour, dining and drawing rooms, eight bedrooms, five attics and a complete set of "domestic offices". Presumably after Thomas Utting sold Canal House as he was "changing his residence", the livestock and "valuable" household furniture were offered for Auction on 7 to 9 May on the premises.To give an idea of the type of farming carried out in Ashwellthorpe in 1822, the livestock for sale were: fat bullocks; 10 Galloway Scots cattle; 3 prime "milch" cows; 38 swine; bay saddle horse and bay mare; grey pony; 2 riding fillies; cart, brown and chestnut colts and "superior" Pointer bitch and 2 pointer dogs.
I do not know where the Utting family moved to immediately on leaving Ashwellthorpe, but I think that Thomas was giving up the rural life of a proprietor/farmer and moving to the city as a leisured gentleman* [see * below], because many other items were included in the auction: pony gig, luggage cart, riding saddles, sporting gig, double-barrel and single barrel guns and a pellet-bow [which shoots small clay pellets or stones, instead of arrows]. A pleasure boat with sails and oars, which had no doubt been used on Canal House's "handsome piece of water". Much, or all, of the Canal House furniture was to be auctioned:
Bury & Norwich Post 4 May 1822 via findmypast.com
The gravestone at St Margaret's church, Witton by Blofield, which is dedicated to Elizabeth Utting, Thomas's first wife, also bears the inscription to Maria Utting who died on 10 May 1837 aged 47 and Thomas Utting who died on 16 September 1839 aged 66. According to Electoral Registers for Norwich for 1835 and 1837, Thomas and Maria lived in Newmarket Road, Norwich, for some time before Maria's 1837 death, and then widower Thomas moved to Bracondale Green. The Norfolk Chronicle of 2 September 1837 advertising an Auction at the "late residence of Mr Thomas Utting at 10 The Terrace, Newmarket Road" gives a very detailed list of all the "Valuable household furniture, Elegant plated goods, Richly cut glass, Piano Forte", all to be sold without reserve as "Mr Utting has completely furnished his present residence".
[*Other evidence that this was indeed the case: Thomas Utting's burial at St Margaret's, Witton by Blofield on 23 September 1839, stated that he was of Bracondale Green, Lakenham, Norwich. On 2 July 1840, a marriage took place by Licence at St John and All Saints church, Lakenham, between Mary Ann Utting of full age, from Bracondale Green, Lakenham, daughter of Thomas Utting, Gentleman deceased. The groom was Henry Thompson, a druggist of All Saints, Norwich. Two of the witnesses were Maria Utting and Thomas C Utting – all these people and details fit the Utting family of Ashwellthorpe]
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Sources: Original Parish Registers at the Norfolk Record Office and on www.findmypast.com and www.ancestry.com ;Ashwellthorpe original land tax returns at NRO; Electoral Lists on www.findmypast.com and newspapers on www.findmypast.com