Warleigh Manor

Do you like British historical TV shows about upstairs/downstairs stories like Downton Abbey?  It turns out my ancestor was part of the "downstairs" staff in a grand English country manor.

Family member name: Charles King

Lifetime: 1775 - 1868
Tree branch: Bromley
Places lived: Near Bath, England

Relation: My 5x great-grandfather (my dad's mom's mom's dad's mom's dad's dad)

An Ancestry.com member kindly posted this scan of some old King family notes.  Notice the area I highlighted in red.  It mentions Charles King, born in 1775, was "for over 50 yrs. valued servant of Skrines, Warleigh M[anor]."

Warleigh Manor is just outside of Bath, England.  It was built in 1815.  If Grandpa Charles was hired as a servant at Warleigh as soon as it was built, he would have been 40 years old at the time.  

I have questions!!!  

What were his duties? Was he the butler? Did he live on the grounds? Or were there servants quarters inside the Manor House? He must have been very "valued" if the family kept him on for 50 years.  He would have been 90 years old when he retired!  Maybe the Skrines thought of him as part of the family, like Carson on Downton Abbey.

Whatever his profession in "service", he did it well.  Congrats Grandpa Charles!

PS: More about Warleigh Manor

* Warleigh is a small parish outside of Bath with a population of 1,759

* The Skrine family bought the land in the 1600s 

* Henry Skrine finished building the current Manor house in 1815 

* It is a lovely early example of a Tudor villa with Victorian additions

* It remained in the Skrine family for seven generation, until the early 1960s

* From the 1960s until the late 1990s it was a reform school for the most emotionally troubled pre-teens in England

* Around 2000, it was sold and underwent a fabulous restoration and now is broken up into luxury "apartments", one that is 4,500 square feet

Links to sources and pictures:

The Bathford Society

Video: Flying around Warleigh Manor, Bath

2018 pics of renovated interior

Descendant of Kings

Yes! I finally found a British King in my family tree!  I am a descendant of Kings!

Family member name: Charles King

Lifetime: 1775 - 1868
Tree branch: Bromley
Places lived: Bath, England

Relation: My 5x great-grandfather (my dad's mom's mom's dad's mom's dad's dad)

Sorry to get your hopes up, but he's not a member of the royal family. heehee. His last name is King.  But, this post is NOT just about a play on words.

Charles was born in Bath, England in 1775 and lived for 93 years, long enough for photography to be invented.  Another descendant of Mr. King generously shared his family photo online for others to see.

This post is simply to say:

* I can't believe that we have a photo of someone born in 1775.  

* And that person is my 5x great-grandfather.  

Here he is!  What do you think?? Is he a sweet grandpa or a curmudgeon?  Please leave a comment below!

Bath time!

My dad's middle name is Bromley.  It is his grandmother's maiden name.  I knew that the Bromleys were from England.  It's time to see life through their eyes.

Family member name: William and Anne Amelia Bromley and their son Henry Bromley

Relation: My 2x great grandfather (Henry) and my 3x great grandparents

William and Anne lived in Bath.  Ah, Bath! Known for its beautifully preserved white Georgian style buildings and its curative hot springs, Bath has been a destination for who's who of British society for centuries. 

And the Bromleys lived right in the middle of it. Anyone who has lived in Bath or has ever visited Bath for even one day is familiar with where they lived. 

In 1858, they moved into the downtown area of Bath.  They lived on the 3rd and 4th floor attic of 25 Union Street.  The ground floor and second floor was used for retail.  Union Street is a pedestrian shopping area in the heart of the town. And just across the street is the Roman hot baths along with the famous Pump Room restaurant. The Pump Room is named for the actual water pump that brings the mineral water up from the deep spring below directly into the restaurant. Centuries old plumbing! 

Here I am directly below their apartment. Downstairs is now a clothing store called COS.  Their windows would have been the ones above the letters COS. The Bromleys were so downtown.

Jane Austen, who lived in Bath from 1801 to 1806 wrote about the Bromleys' corner.

From chapter 7 of Northanger Abbey:

Half a minute conducted them through the pump-yard to the archway, opposite Union Passage; but here they were stopped. Everybody acquainted with Bath may remember the difficulties of crossing Cheap Street at this point; it is indeed a street of so impertinent a nature, so unfortunately connected with the great London and Oxford roads, and the principal inn of the city, that a day never passes in which parties of ladies, however important their business, whether in quest of pastry, millinery, or even (as in the present case) of young men, are not detained on one side or other by carriages, horsemen, or carts.  This evil has been felt and lamented, at least three times a day, by Isabella since her residence in Bath.

In the 1860s, William was the manager and editor of a newspaper, also listed as a printer, which I think is fantastic since I also work for a publishing company. Maybe that's where I get some of my obsession with grammar and punctuation. (I know I get some from you too mom!) That profession meant he was educated and no doubt well-known around town. Anne Amelia was a dressmaker. Did she create fashion-forward clothes for the high society ladies to show off at the theatre? How cool would that be?  Anne made enough to support herself since William moved out of the home in the late 1860s. We don't know why.  Anne lived there until 1874. 

Here are some pictures of the sources I found at the Bath Records Office.

Bath City Directory 1860-1861

Bromleys listed in Bath 1860 Directory at 25 Union Street

1852 map of Bath.  I added the star at 25 Union Street.