Emma Jackson

Lady’s maid

The 1851 Census for Burton Constable in Yorkshire lists Emma as lady’s maid to Miss Chichester.

Both of George Jackson's children, Emma and Albert may have attended the little school in Templeton and been taught by Mrs Cottrell. But Emma's future probably owed as much to Calverleigh Court. Quite how regular this employment was is unknown but in 1851 she was employed by Miss Chichester, probably the eldest of the four 'legatees' whose income partly depended on the Templeton estates left to them by their father, as a lady's maid. The occasion was a visit to the estate of Burton Constable just a few miles north of Hull in Yorkshire.

;A personal recommendation is perhaps a possible reason for her move to Arundel within a few years of this visit to Burton Constable. It is given as her place of residence on her marriage certificate but the nature of her employment is unknown. However, all the places in West Sussex where she is known to have been, Arundel, Slindon and later Burton Park were ancient Catholic centres, each based on a big house. It was a small, close-knit world of Catholics who knew each other well and usually intermarried as they were not generally accepted in the wider society.

Marriage to George Mason

It was in Slindon that on 5 Sep 1855 Emma Jackson married George Mason, a gardener living at Barlavington on the edge of Burton Park in the district of Petworth.

George had been baptised on March 20^th 1825 in the parish church of Bloxham, Oxfordshire. The Mason family still lived in that area. His father was a ‘private gardener,’ living at 19, Back Lane, Banbury with his daughter Ann. His mother Kezia was a ‘live-in’ maidservant in the village of Neithrop, a couple of miles away, her employer being a young woman of 25 who was rather well-off as a ‘house-proprietor’ and owner of railroad shares. The separation implies that the Masons were not finding life easy.

In the summer of 1851 George sent for his baptismal certificate to Bloxham in Oxfordshire. The certificate is dated August 4^th 1851, and the cost is quoted as 2/6. The most likely reason, especially living on an estate so steeped in Catholicism, is that he was a convert to the Catholic faith.

George Mason was 30 and Emma Jackson 28 when they were married in the Catholic chapel at Slindon, the ceremony being performed by Fr.John Sheehan, the parish priest. The witnesses to the wedding, Mary Anne Guilfoyle and T-M. Charlier, sound interesting but they have not so far been traced, though they were presumably living locally. Guilfoyle is an Irish name so not surprising to find in such a Catholic centre after ten years of a huge influx of Irish after the years of famine and starvation in Ireland.

The children of George Mason and Emma

1. George b. 1857 'of the parish of ' Barlavington
2. Ann b. 1858
3. Alice b.1859
4. Mary Amy b.1860
5. Richard Andrew b. 1866 d. 22 Sep 1899 bur. at SS Anthony & George in the family grave
6. Agatha b. 1866, twin to Richard, d. abt 1950 in Nazareth Ho. Southwark SRY
7. Peter b. 1869 d. 16 Feb 1950, bur. 23 Feb 1950 (recorded in my own diary)
8. Agnes b. aft 1870
9. Mary b. aft. 1871, m. O'Neill
10. Francis (Frank), b. aft 1872

*In 1881 George, 24 was a carman at 5 Queen Street, St Pancras, London. He was married to Caroline, born in St Pancras and had three children, George, 2, Frederick 18 mths and Albert 2 mths. His place of birth was given as Burton although the others found were listed as born in Petworth.
*Alice, 22, was working as a housemaid in the household of a Polish merchant and his mother.
*Amy (entered as Mary A.) was 21 and member of the community of nuns at the convent attached to St Elizabeth' s House in Kensington, London along with Frances Dean aged 30 from Duncton.
*Peter was then a student aged 12 at St Mary's School, a junior seminary at Woolhampton in Berkshire.
*Some account of Agatha continues below as she remained with her parents during their lifetime.
*None of the other children have been found on the 1881 census. Ann could have been married by then, and Agnes is said to have become a nun but is thought to be still a child at this time. Richard, (whose gravestone tells us he died in 1899), Mary and Frank remain a mystery. Mary's married name, obviously much later, was O'Neill. Mary had three children as far as is known, including a son Frank and daughter Kathleen. Kathleen, who did not marry, kept in regular contact with a Jackson cousin throughout her life.

Continuing the story of George, Emma and Agatha, the Census of 1861 has yet another intriguing twist. With their three children they were now resident at Newpiece Lodge on the west side of Burton Park, the larger area being known as 'Newpiece'. There is still a group of old brick cottages here, quite near to the big house and it is possible it was one of this group. Emma was described as a ‘schoolmistress.’ The likelihood is that she ran a small school for the children on the estate.

The owners in the 19th century were the Wright-Biddulphs who had taken the name Biddulph on inheriting from cousins. The family probably spent weeks or months in Scotland and perhaps also in London and letting their house while they were away was quite a common practice. In 1861 the big house itself was let to a non-Catholic, Richard Denman, the barrister, with his 6 children, a household totalling 22 people so perhaps Emma ran the 'school' in her own house. It may at that time have numbered no more than a dozen pupils but nothing positive is known of it.

It is claimed in CRS Vol. 22 of Recusant History, May 1994, that a school was held in the basement of Burton House from about 1869 to 1880. This is almost certainly an underestimate of its age as it surely must be where Emma taught in 1861.
See the school next to the church

The new church

See the new churches

By 1871 George and Emma had moved to Burton Park Lodge. Their children now numbered seven. Friends and Neighbours James Budd, gardener, lived at 9 Crouch Cottages within the park on the north side in 1851. At no.12 Lodge Green cottages that year on the south side of the house was another ‘Budd,’ a gamekeeper, who is buried in the graveyard of the old chapel.

Nearby also lies John Gerke, the Biddulph’s German butler who is listed on the 1891 Census. The Budd family must have been well-known to the Masons. Francis Budd, born at Burton, was a footman at Slindon House in 1851. Another servant at Slindon born at Burton was Lucy Greenfield, aged 45, a housemaid.

In one of the Lodge Green cottages at Barlavington, still within the park on that side near to ‘Lodge Copse,’ lived a family of Sherwins, Henry Sherwin, 51, an agricultural labourer, his wife Sarah, 50, and their four children. When George Mason was Bailiff, and living at the Bailiff’s house, he was, according to the 1881 census, Henry's next door neighbour. Arthur Sherwin, aged 18, served in the pantry at the big house.

Reunion

	In the next few years the Jacksons were once more reunited as a family. It is probable that George Jackson, the steward, was the first to follow Emma to Sussex. The last entry in the accounts book for Templeton was November 1864. When he left Templeton is not known, but by the 1871 Census he was resident scarcely three miles walk from Emma, at The Round House, Upper Horncroft, a hamlet on Horncroft Common. He described himself as ‘formerly Bailiff and Gamekeeper.’ By 1875 he had moved to Sutton End, just beyond the end of the village of Sutton. Here there were two neighbouring cottages on the east side of the park. They are described on the estate documents as ‘stone-built and slated double tenements, with 3 bedrooms, kitchen, scullery and good gardens.’ The rents were one at £8 and one at £4. There is no trace of them to be seen for new ‘executive-style’ cottages now stand on the site.
During this period George Jackson and Mary Anne travelled into Petworth for these photographs to be taken. Another one of George, now unfortunately lost showed him at a different period with his beard very long, looking very patriarchal.

In September 1875 Albert arrived, having received his final discharge papers from the army by the 7th. He was 40 years old, 5' 8 " with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair, by trade a carpenter. He travelled from the army camp at Weedon, Northants by train to Pulborough, a few miles to the north-east, his intended place of residence named as Sutton End. The papers do not mention his wife and two children, Albert's stepdaughter Minnie now aged 13 and son George Albert who was 7. It is quite possible that they had gone on ahead for they had been in England since the summer of 1873.

George Jackson died 19 April 1879 aged 83. The informant of George’s death was Sarah Sherwin who, being illiterate, made her mark. Mary Anne, George’s widow, moved in to live with the Masons for another three years until her death in 1882 at the age of 75.

By 1881 George Mason had become Bailiff of the Burton Park estate as well as still being a gardener, and had moved to the Bailiff's House, probably this one, directly opposite Henry Manning's old church at Barlavington. (Manning was now a Cardinal) Of the ten Mason children only Agatha, now 15, remained at home. In the days before mass-produced garments her occupation of dressmaker would keep her very busy. Also in the other half of the Bailiff’s house in 1881 was the coachman, George Kinsbury with his wife and five children. George Mason's house, could be the right hand one of this 'pair' of brick-built houses. There is evidence of rebuilding work in more recent times. Henry Sherwin was the next door neighbour on the other side, living at Lodge Green, the cluster of houses next along the lane.

Beyond Lodge Green, Burton House is the next dwelling place listed, rented in 1881 by an army officer, Richard T. Godman, with his wife, six children and 16 servants. The Wright-Biddulphs who also had estates elsewhere were frequently away and often went north in the hunting season.

Burton Park 1891

By 1891 the Biddulphs, who owned several other properties, were once more in residence, their only child being the 14 year old daughter of Anthony’s second wife by her earlier marriage. Diana Biddulph was more than twenty years her husband’s junior. He died on August 8^th 1895.

Mrs Wright-Biddulph moved into a house on the northwest corner of the estate known as ‘The Chalet’ where George Mason continued to be employed as head gardener until his death in 1907. The estate of Burton Park was sold at the turn of the century. Across the lane on the north side of the estate however, Burton Hill became a rest home for the Jesuits, and although the parish officially moved to Petworth, many other priests - and the Catholic poet and writer Hilaire Belloc - were frequent visitors to ‘Burton Park.’ as it continued to be known. The Lord of the Manor was now Douglas Bernard Hall, Esq. and not part of our story.

	The church of SS Anthony and George, hidden by trees and hedges, is easily missed by the cars passing on the road below the bank. There, in the graveyard, a few feet away are the simple stone crosses with their inscriptions. Here were first buried (right) George Jackson, died 10 April 1879, aged 83 and Mary Anne ‘relict of the above’ who died 28 June 1882 aged 75. Richard Mason, Agatha’s twin brother, died at the age of 33 on 22 September 1899 and was buried (left) with the inscription: Oh for a touch of the vanished hand and a sound of the voice that is still. RIP
George Mason died 1 June 1 1907 and Emma on 8 May 1914. They are both buried in the same grave as their son Richard

It was on Boxing Day 1902 that Albert died. George and Emma did not make it to the funeral on Dec. 31^1str, but it was reported in the Woking newspapers the following week that Mrs Mason, (sister), and Mrs Mason (niece) sent floral tributes. Perhaps the niece was George junior's wife. The only one of the children still at home was Agatha who would of course have been ‘Miss Mason.’ Or perhaps the reporter made a mistake, putting Mrs for Miss. Agatha’s brother Peter, now an ordained priest, assisted at the requiem Mass. (A full report of this funeral with its military escort and hundreds of mourners will appear later)

Agatha, known to the Jacksons as ‘Cousin Ag’ lived till almost 90 and loved to talk about her big family at Burton Park. She always referred to it as ‘Petworth’ as did all the Jackson family, which led them to believe that George was gardener on the vast Petworth estates until the systematic research into the family began in the 1980’s. Agatha treasured a photo of her parents with their ten children in front of an ivy-clad door, and described how, when the ‘family’ were away the Mason children would play round the statues in the Great Hall. It is possible that the Masons visited friends or acquaintances among the staff there, which would explain Agatha’s description of ‘busts standing on pillars.’ Burton Park had a gallery, but nothing on quite such a grand scale as Petworth’s Great Hall.

Fr. Peter Mason

Peter Mason, born in 1869, was ordained priest at Southwark cathedral and assisted at the funeral service for his uncle Albert on Wednesday, December 31^st 1902. He served at one time as secretary to Bishop Peter Amigo and used to joke about them being known as 'Big Peter and little Peter', which did not refer to their respective sizes. In 1914, just three months before his mother, Emma, the last of that generation of Jacksons, died,he was appointed as parish priest at English Martyrs, Streatham, a large parish in South London which had opened on the feastday of the English Martyrs in 1888. Peter himself died on February 16^th 1950, (recorded in my own diary), having been at Streatham exactly 36 years to the day.