John Cruse curate and schoolmaster of South Molton

I have always been intrigued to find out more about the Reverend John Cruse who has an intriguing memorial plaque inside the parish church of St Mary Magdalene in South Molton:

NEAR THIS
PLACE LYETH THE
BODY OF MR JOHN CRUSE CURATE
OF THIS CHURCH AND FIRST
MASTER OF THE NEW SCHOOL
FOUNDED & ENDOWED BY HUGH SQUIRE Esq
OF THE CITY OF LONDON WHO DIED
THE 24 OF MARCH 1691 AND WAS BURIED YE
29 DAY OF THE SAME MONTH 1692

QUI
EXIMIA VITAE PIETATE
ET LABORE PASTORALI INDEFESSE(?)
ANHELABAT
& TANDEM
PER VARIOS MORBOS IMMEDICABILES
ASPIRIBAT
AETERNITATUM

As can be seen from the photograph below the dates have not been mistranscribed because of course at this time the Julian Calendar was still in use and the New Year did not start until 25th March on the Feast of Assumption. John was therefore buried five days after his death not one year later!I was delighted to receive from Vanessa Goodwin an abstract of John Cruse's will. Sadly, as with so many of our Devon wills, the original was lost when the Exeter Probate Registry was bombed in World War II. Fortunately, however, Olive Moget and Oswyn Murray compiled abstracts of a small number of Devon wills and this particular will is included in their collection which is now preserved at the West Country Studies Library in Exeter. The abstract has enabled me to piece together a few fragments about John's life. Nothing of John's birth or parentage is known, though he is almost certainly descended from the Cruwys family of Cruwys Morchard. John married Sarah Shobrook, the daughter of Humphrey Shobrook. It would appear that Sarah was a widow when they married as the IGI has a record of the marriage of John Cruse and Mrs Sarah Musgrave on 15th December 1683 in South Molton. The IGI has a record of one son, John Cruse, who was baptised on 16th October 1684 and buried the next day on 17th October. Hugh Squier's new school was built and endowed in 1686 so John would only have enjoyed a short tenure as a schoolmaster, and he probably worked at the school until shortly before his death. Hugh Squier's school as it was known was founded as a grammar school. It was amalgamated in 1877 with the Blue Coat Schools and the National Schools to form the South Molton United Schools. We know from the above inscription that John died on 24th March 1691/2 and was buried on 29th March 1692. His widow appears to have married with somewhat indecent haste just six months later as the IGI shows that a Mrs Sarah Cruse married Thomas Easton on 5th October 1692 at South Molton. A transcript of John Cruse's will is given below. It would be interesting to know if the silver flagon is still in use today.

Cruse, John of South Molton, clerk

Date of Will, 18 March 1691

Proved 17 May 1692 by Sarah Cruse

To the ch[urch] of South Molton £15 to be bestowed in a silver flagon for the Communion table, & as for the management & Procurement of the s[ai]d flagon, I leave it to William Arundell, Rector of Filleigh & Lewis Southcombe, Rector of Roseash.

To my uncle John Williams of Lifton or his wife £5.

To John son of William Painter my godson of Lifton £3.

To the eldest son of Robert Williams of Milton Damarel £3.

To Mary sister of Robert Williams (now called as I suppose Makepowder) & to Deborah another sister (now called I suppose Deborah Hill) of the City of Exeter, each 40/-.

To poor of Tawstock 40/- & of South Molton £4.

To some poor families of South Molton £3 to be bestowed by 20/- a year in books called "The whole duty of man", the s[ai]d books to be given to such families as shall be thought fit by Mr Richard Musgrave, my father-in-law Mr Humphry Shobrook & the s[ai]d Mr Lewis Southcombe.

To Elizabeth wife of John Easton of South Molton 30/-.

Residue to my wife Sarah C, whom I make my ex[exutri]x.

Overseers, Mr Richard Musgrave, Mr John Hacche, Mr George Dean & Mr Humphry Shobrook.

(S[igne]d) John Cruse. Seal:-

(W[itnesses]) Nicho[las] Mallarre: John Odam.

Mark of Margaret Mildon.

Inventory 16 May 1692 by Mr Richard Musgrave, Mr Humphry Shobrooke & John Lewes, £732: 13: 5: (Appparel £6, Study of books £20. Furniture &c. Estate in house in South Molton £40, & in another house £50, & in one field £10, & in moiety of two fields £7 & in two fields called Common Moor in South Molton £12.)

Inheritance of a tenem[en]t called Blackpools £150. Debts due by bills, bonds &c £370)

Rev. Francis Cruse of Worthing, Sussex

I’ve now been in touch with Mel McNaught who is also descended from the Cruse family of Rode in Somerset. Mel’s great grandmother Annie Florence Cruse was born in Ceylon in 1874. Annie was the daughter of Alfred Brace Cruse, a civil engineer who went out to India in 1860. Alfred married Elizabeth Ann Fonseca in 1864 in Madras. I shall look forward to learning more about the Indian connection in due course.

Mel has kindly sent me this wonderful photograph of Francis Cruse, who was for many years the vicar of Worthing in Sussex.

Francis was born on 4th January 1823 in Warminster, Wiltshire. He was baptised on 1st January 1824 at St Lawrence, Warminster, along with his sister Frances Ann, who is probably his twin. Francis was the son of Jeremiah CRUSE (1781-1861) and Elizabeth KNIGHT (1783-1840) and the grandson of Jeremiah Cruse (1758-1819) the land surveyor.

Francis went to St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, where he matriculated on 5th March 1846 aged 23. He was awarded a BA in 1851. He took up a position as a curate in Earlstoke, Wiltshire, in 1851 and was ordained as a deacon later that same year in the Diocese of Salisbury. The following year he was ordained as a priest. From 1852 to 1856 Francis served as the curate of Great Warley in Essex. In 1853 he married Charlotte Augusta Brace in Bath. In 1856 he moved to London to become the curate of the parish of St Jude in Southwark, where he remained until 1864 when he was appointed as the vicar of Christ Church, Worthing, Sussex. Francis was awarded an MA from Oxford University in 1875. Presumably inspired by his studies Francis wrote a book in 1879 entitled A Few Facts and Testimonies Touching on Ritualism which was written under the pseudonym "Oxoniensis". If anyone is interested in reading Francis's masterpiece the Trinity Library in Toronto have a first edition of the book available online in their open libary. I would, however, not recommend it as bedtime reading!

We are most fortunate to have a contemporary description of the Reverend Francis Cruse and his wife Charlotte from Helen Roberts who lived in Deverell Cottage next door to the vicarage in Worthing. Helen contributed a story called 'The Parlour' to the Past Times Project in which she provides the following description of Francis and Charlotte:

The Vicar, the Reverend Francis Cruse, who had long white hair and a rather sheep-like voice, 'took' young gentlemen who were reading for the Universities. His wife had long grey curls, and must have been the last gentlewoman in Sussex to wear ankle length pantalets. When she walked down the road thus attired, holding her voluminous black skirts high in either hand, she created as much interest as the young gentlemen boarders. They would go down to bathe with bright coloured towel round their necks, or hurry to some tennis party in soft hats embroidered, 'Oscar-Wildely', with sunflowers.

Francis died in 1891 at the age of 67 years.

CruCou House, South Molton

Shirley Bray from the South Molton Local History Society has very kindly sent me a selection of postcards and photographs of East Street, South Molton, Devon. I am particularly pleased with the photographs because it has been possible to identify CruCou House, the home for many years of Edwin Cruwys, his wife Sally Cawsey Webber, and their faithful servant Eva Couch. I've now updated the posting on Edwin 'boss' Cruwys of South Molton to incorporate two of these new pictures.

Jeremiah Cruse the land surveyor

Considerable progress has been made in the last few weeks with the history of the Cruse family of Rode, Somerset. Russell Cruse has sent me a most fascinating article about the serendipitous finding of Jeremiah Cruse's life insurance certificate. The article, by H S Torrens, is entitled "A family's origins and an incredible coincidence: the Cruse family of Bath, Avon and Warminster, Wiltshire" and was published in the Journal of the Bristol and Avon Family History Society in 1984 (volume 34, pp 14-15). Mr Torrens had no ancestral connections to the Cruse family but was interested in them purely in a professional capacity as a historian of geology because of their work as land surveyors. Jeremiah Cruse (1758-1819) was the first in the family to work as a land surveyor, and Mr Torrens had always been curious to find out more about Jeremiah's origins. In February 1978, on a visit to Cambridge, Mr Torrens acquired a letter on a completely unrelated matter and, while attempting to investigate the date of the postmark on the letter, he discovered that one of his colleagues, Dr. Brian Holdsworth, had a particular interest in pre-1840 postal history. The next day Dr. Holdsworth brought into the office a whole package of 1810-1820 items which he had recently sorted. By comparing the handstamp on Mr Torrens' newly acquired letter with other letters of the period Dr. Holdsworth was able to confirm that the letter was dated 1819. By an astonishing coincidence Mr Torrens noticed that one of the letters in the bundle was addressed to a Mr Cruse of 26 St James' Parade, Bath. The letter was a life insurance policy certificate for none other than Jeremiah Cruse! The contents were very brief but provided confirmation of Jeremiah's baptism in Rode, Somerset, a small village some twelve miles south of Bath. Dr Holdsworth had paid four shillings for the letter when a schoolboy many years before for the sake of its Bath Penny Post handstamp. It was apparently the only item in his collection which was of absolutely no interest to read! Mr Torrens does not tell us if he managed to persuade his colleague to part with the letter and its present whereabouts are unknown.

It is probably now an opportune time to provide some details about Jeremiah Cruse's life. No doubt further information will become available as the research progresses.

Jeremiah Cruse was baptised on 9th July 1758 in Rode, Somerset. He was the son of Jeremiah Cruse and Mary Beman. His father was for many years the parish clerk for Rode. Nothing is known of Jeremiah's education and training. The first record we have is that of his marriage to Mary Macey in 1779. Their first two children, Ann and Jeremiah, junior, were baptised in Rode in 1779 and 1781 respectively. The family then moved to Warminster, Wiltshire, where two more children were born, Mary in 1782 and Henry in 1784. The following year they moved back to Somerset, settling in the market town of Frome which was then an important commercial centre with a thriving wool and cloth trade industry. Three further children were born in Frome, Robson in 1785, Elizabeth in 1787, and John in 1789.

The first record of Jeremiah's professional career dates from his time in Frome. In 1785, in partnership with a Mr Battle, Jeremiah produced a manuscript entitled "A Particular Account of the Number of Families & Inhabitants Within the Town and Parish of Frome Selwood in the County of Somerset". The original manuscript is held by the Somerset Archive and Record Service, but a complete transcription has been published online on the Frome Local and Family History website. The document is in effect an early census of Frome (or Frome Selwood as it was then known) and provides information about the names of the masters or mistresses of each family, their occupation, the names of the owners of the houses, the number of males and females in each family and the number of cows kept by each farmer. In addition information was recorded about the number of scribblers and shearmen employed by each clothier, and the number of looms employed by each weaver. Jeremiah appeared in the census as a land surveyor living at the Horse and Groom. The property was owned by George Rabbits and there were four males and four females in Jeremiah's family.

In about 1792 Jeremiah moved to Warminster to take up employment with the Marquis of Bath. His son, Jeremiah, junior, then aged about 12, was also found employment on the Longleat estate. Jeremiah's plans for Longleat were published in 1792 and that same year he also produced "A Plan of the Division of that part of Road [Rode] Common which lies within the Manor of Road and North Bradley in the Counties of Somerset and Wilts". The original watercolour on parchment map is held by the Somerset Archive and Record Service.

Jeremiah was by now moving in influential circles and his status was no doubt boosted by his membership of the freemasons. He was admitted to the Royal Clarence Lodge in Frome on 7th September 1792. By this time he was described as a "gent".

In 1802 Jeremiah went into partnership with William Smith in a land surveying business called Smith and Cruse. William Smith (1769-1839) is often named as the Father of English Geology. Smith and Cruse were based at 2 Trim Bridge, Bath. The original premises still exist today and the shop is now a Grade II listed building. There is a photograph of the shop on English Heritage's Images of England website.

In 1803 Jeremiah was commissioned to produce a "Plan of Part of the Turnpike Road leading from Wells towards Bristol and also of a proposed New Road leading through Walcoomb and through the Lands of P. Sherston & C. Tudway Esquires to unite with the Present Road near the 2.d Mile Stone". This plan also survives in the collections of the Somerset and Archive Record Service.

In 1810 tragedy struck when Jeremiah's wife died at the relatively young age of 50. His period of mourning was however short-lived and on 1st January 1811 Jeremiah married Mary Portus in what was no doubt a very grand ceremony at Bath Abbey.

In 1812 Jeremiah produced a large plan of the Somerset Coal Canal. This fine example of his work is today preserved in Bath Reference Library.

In 1813 Jeremiah compiled a detailed map and survey of landholdings in the parish of Frome, Somerset, with the names of the owners and occupiers of the various properties. A full transcription of the survey together with a high-resolution image of Jeremiah's map can be found on the Frome Family and Local History website in the section on property.

1813 was a busy year for Jeremiah also drew a map of the manor of Buckland Dinham, which was then the undivided property of Sir Henry Strachey Baronet and Sir Charles Warwick Bampfylde Baronet. Jeremiah also worked on a survey and valuation of Sparkford, in collaboration with John Davidge of Castle Cary, in preparation for the making of a poor rate in July 1813. In 1815 Jeremiah was commissioned by Sir Henry Strachey to produce a map of the manor of Elm, and in 1818 he produced "A map of the parishes of Berkley and Standerwick in the county of Somerset on which are delineated the Allotments of the Open and Commonable Lands and Exchanges made under the act of parliament by me Jeremiah Cruse, the Commissioner". All four maps are preserved in the collections of the Somerset and Archive Record Service.

There are no doubt many other examples of Jeremiah's work which are held in private collections or public archives elsewhere.

Jeremiah died on 11th December 1819 at his house at 26 St James's Parade, Bath. He was buried on 16th December at St James's Church, Bath. An obituary was published in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal on 20th December 1819.

On the 11th inst. died at his house in Bath. Mr. Jeremiah Cruse, landsurveyor, aged 61: he will be long and sincerely lamented; he was for years the highly respectable head of the Frome Lodge of Freemasons, and was present at a late masonic festival, attended by his five sons.

Jeremiah's fifth son is at present a mystery as no record of his birth has yet been found. He was probably born in Bath and was the product of Jeremiah's second marriage to Mary Portus. Many of Jeremiah's children also had very distinguished careers. Jeremiah junior served for more than 67 years as a faithful clerk, conveyancer and accountant in the stewardship of the Longleat Estate. Henry became an accountant and served as the parish clerk for the parish of Frome. Robson was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and fought at the Battle of Trafalgar. John became an attorney's clerk. Jeremiah's youngest daughter Marie Antoinette was a schoolmistress. Jeremiah, junior, Henry and John all became freemasons and, like their father, were members of the Royal Clarence Lodge in Frome. We will no doubt be returning to learn more of this illustrious family in the near future.