1-s, ne Freeland Great-great granddaughter of Robert Raper senior. Great-great-niece of Sir Robert and cousin of his wife. Great-granddaughter of Ann Thornton Freeland, ne Raper. Cousin of James Bennett Freeland.
ROBERT GEORGE RAPER, my great-great-uncle, was born on 8th May l827 and christened on the 26th May at The Close, Chichester. His parents were ROBERT RAPER, solicitor, aged 27, of South Street and his wife, MARY ANN, aged 37.
Mary Ann was the daughter of JAMES BINSTEAD who kept several lodging houses in Bognor, where members of his family ran a library patronised by Princess Charlotte and Lord William Lennox. Binstead was landlord of The Dolphin, Chichester, from l808 until 1812, when he was made bankrupt. This was in spite of the fact that the Dolphin was highly respected by the "first families" travelling through Chichester. Binstead died of a burst blood vessel at Globe Street, London, on 8th November 1816. On 12th May 1812, at St. Peter the Great, Mary Ann married Lt. HENRY FAIRTLOUGH of the 59th Foot stationed at Chichester Barracks. The brief marriage ended with Henry's death in November 1812. On l6th October 1816 Mary Ann gave birth to a daughter in London. The child, also named Mary Ann Fairtlough, died a spinster in 1890. On 28th February 1822, when the young Mary Ann was five years old, her mother remarried. The wedding, to Robert Raper, took place at St. Andrew's, Holborn. James Binstead's widow, Maria, returned to Chichester to be near her children. Peter Pindar Binstead was a law stationer and writing clerk, Samuel a saddle and harness maker, William an auctioneer and Benjamin was Clerk to the Commissioners of Land and Assessed Property Tax, agent to the Sun Fire and Life Insurance Stamp Distributor, and Clerk to Richard Dally. When Benjamin died in 1880 he left a personal estate of 14,000.
The Rapers can be traced back to Ainderby Quernhow, Pickhill, Yorks, where William Raper was baptised in 1630. He was a merchant, ironmonger and Alderman of High Ousegate, York. He was buried in the middle aisle of All Saint's Pavement, on 13th January 1712. His detailed will mentions by name the children of his younger son, Reverend Henry Raper of Finghall, Yorks. Henry was baptised on 27th November 1668 at All Saints Pavement. He was ordained priest in 1692. The original ordination book at the Borthwick Institute, York, shows that Henry graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge.
The Chapter decree book at Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire, shows that in July 1694 Rev. Henry was admitted as a Vicar-Choral. He and his wife, Sara, remained at Southwell almost seventeen years. Their nine children were baptised there between 1694 and 1710 and their son, Henry, was admitted chorister in 1708.
In 1710 Henry was appointed Rector of Finghall, near Bedale, where his father had purchased the advowson. He was Rector there until his death on 13th November 1735, when aged sixty-six.
Henry's oldest son, William, my five greats grandfather, was born on 10th December 1694. When he was seventeen he was admitted to Peterhouse College, Cambridge, where he was a scholar. However, he came down without proceeding to a degree, probably because his grandfather died and he inherited an occupied property with thirty-three acres at Green Hammerton. William appears to have had a family in Finghall, as five children were born to "William, farmer" between 1718 and 1726.
After 1726 he disappears from the registers, turning up in Portsmouth in 1748 with a son, Francis, born 15th August 1734. Army records show that William was commissioned into the 41st regiment of Invalids at Portsmouth on 23rd July 1748. In 1755, William the Ensign also held the office of Adjutant, whilst his cousins in York had been Lord Mayor (1745) and Town Clerk (1749).
Documentary evidence shows that by 1731 two of William's brothers, John aged 29 and Robert aged 20, were living in "Charles Town", S. Carolina. In 1729, John Raper, a vintner, bought a number of slaves and a half share in a 22-ton sloop, "Sarah". In 1731 he made his "beloved brother" Robert of Charles Town one of his two attorneys, giving them the power to recover debts owed to him.
John's son, William, born in England in 1725, had a family of three daughters and three sons, from whom are descended many Rapers now spread throughout America. William died in Abbotts Creek, N.C. in 1795. Robert never married but he became a very successful lawyer in Charleston and managed estates for English landowners. He was also Naval Officer, responsible for recording vessels and their cargoes under the Navigation Acts. He regularly sent money to his family and to the poor of Finghall and chided his brother in Portsmouth for not doing the same. To his cousin John in York he sent a large bear skin and a Cherokee Indian belt and a letter saying "I have had a very angry letter from brother William which I am very sorry for. He finds fault with one for desiring him to be charitable to our poor brother and sister. If he had any regard for the honour of our family and name he would think otherwise. I hear from his son (Captain Francis) often who I believe is a very discreet young gentleman. I have thanked him for his generosity to the poor at Finghall of which I am well pleased."
Francis, my four greats grandfather, joined the army as a Brevet Lieutenant on 25th September 1757, shortly after the outbreak of the Seven Years War. He was promoted to Captain on 23rd March 1761, six days before his Regiment, the 67th Foot, South Hampshires, sailed to the capture of Belle Isle.
In June 1762, Portugal was threatened with invasion from Spain and the Belle Isle garrison was sent to Lisbon. Captain Francis's letters from Lisbon and Portalegre to his C-in-C, Lord Loudon, are in the British Manuscript Library. They show Francis as a capable manager. In January 1763 he wrote from Portalegre:- "I have sent your Lordship a return of the number of sick left at this place. We have procured fresh provisions for all the sick hitherto and nothing shall be omitted that can be of use to them ... Mr. Hayes the surgeon thinks that about Friday next 40 men will be able to go to Abrantes ... Col. Sherman has at my request asked the Magistrate to procure carts by that time, tho' I fear we shall not get them as there is none in the neighbourhood."
On 8th October 1765, at Chidham, Sussex, Francis married MARY SONE, daughter of the late RICHARD SONE, yeoman, of Chidham Mere, now Chidmere House, and his wife, MARY, n e MIDLANE. The Sones had originated from Stoughton in Sussex but had spread to neighbouring parishes, including Havant and Warblington, where Mary and Richard had grown up.
On 4th March, 1766, Captain Francis's Uncle Robert wrote from Charleston:- "Dear Nephew, I read your extraordinarily agreeable letter of 19th June last, acquainting me of your being married to my favourite Miss Sone which gives me perfect pleasure. I assure you I shall always have great regard for you both. You may depend on it. Inclosed I send you a bill on John Heron for 12. 10s and when Curling sails I will send you another for 87. 10s more, together making 100 which I desire you both to accept on this happy occasion."
On 12th April, he wrote again: " I have been perusing the latter part of your letter of 14th October, which I have not answered before and I do now assure you that I am at a loss to advise you about the matter you mention. Whilst the regiment stays at Portsmouth no doubt but you will continue in it, this I suppose will be so but as you seem much inclined to quit and exchange I may be mistaken. Upon the whole I advise you to consult your father who is a better judge of these affairs than I am and whatever is agreeable to him and also Mrs. Raper will be agreeable to me."
Francis eventually retired from the army in 1769. His father, William, died in 1771 and was buried in Chidham. Francis, in his will of 1772, mentions his freehold properties in "The West Street" Chichester and the house and offices he is building in West Street to the design of Thomas Andrews. Francis died on 26th October, 1773, aged 39, and is buried at Chidham. He left two sons and a daughter, Mary, aged three months.
The 1780 Land Tax shows Francis's widow, Mary, living at what is now Langley House in West Street. This may be the house built by Captain Francis, as it remained in the family's ownership until Sir Robert's death in 1901 and was extended by him. The family Coat of Arms can be seen set in the wall at the rear. Joseph Freeland, who occupied the house for some years, was the father of Frederic Freeland, who married Robert George Raper's sister, Ann Thornton Raper. Joseph and Robert Raper senior were two of my great-great grandparents.
Francis Raper's oldest child, Robert was declared a lunatic in 1788, when he was 21. The second son, WILLIAM, born 24th June 1768, became a tanner, farmer, coal merchant and brewer. On 4th October 1798 at the Subdeanery, he married ANN, the daughter of his business partner, GEORGE THORNTON, tanner and farmer. The Thorntons were Presbyterians, as was Joseph Freeland.
In 1789, ten years after his great-uncle Robert's death in Charleston, William obtained Administration of his estate. The process had been delayed by William's being a minor, his having to get his older brother certified, one executor having died, another having disappeared and a third refusing to serve. The exercise was further complicated by the confiscation of Robert's assets by the victorious Revolutionary Government in America in February 1782. It is not known how much William managed to recover. William was a Freemason for upwards of fifty years, celebrating his jubilee in 1838 and also being Provincial Grand Secretary. He died of apoplexy on 15th January 1842 at Westgate, aged 73.
Robert Raper, born 6th March 1800, in Chichester, was William and Ann's only child. He was educated at the Prebendal School and then became a clerk to Messrs. Johnson, Price and Freeland, an old established firm of solicitors in North Pallant. In l827 the firm moved to West Street, next to the Cathedral, and the twenty-seven year old Robert became a partner. In 1831, he replaced James Bennett Freeland as personal solicitor and Conservative Party agent to the Duke of Richmond. He was a very able man and became Clerk to the Westhampnett Union, Superintendent of Births, Marriages and Deaths, and Clerk to the Magistrates. His Minutes for the Poor Law Union were meticulously prepared and recognised as one of the best examples in the country. In 1845 he was elected Mayor.
In 1830 the Conservatives were replaced by a Liberal Government. In 1836, as a result of the Municipal Reform Act of the previous year, the City councillors decided that extravagance was to be a thing of the past and they voted to sell off the City Mace and most of the Plate at auction. A small group of Conservative gentlemen, concerned to maintain the City's heritage, purchased the Mace and items of Plate and formed the Citizens' Mace Society. Robert Raper and James Bennett Freeland were two of the fifteen founder members but at the first Annual Meeting of the Mace Club on 3rd October 1836, there were some seventy shareholders who sat down to a dinner consisting of "every delicacy that could be procured." The Hampshire Telegraph reported that "The harmony and good feeling that prevailed throughout the evening encourage those who are desirous of establishing this society to hope that it will long remain a memento of days of glory that are passed away."
In 1855, when my grandfather, FREDERIC FREELAND, was three years old he was passing Robert Raper's West Street office with his nurse when he saw his grandfather standing at the door. Robert looked down and said "Well my boy and what do you want?" "I'd like a rocking horse, Grandpa," said Frederic and he was sent 'a fine, large one immediately.'
On 3rd December that year Robert died and my grandfather was taken by his mother, Robert's daughter, to the upper floor of the office from where he watched the funeral procession start for Chidham.
The Sussex Agricultural Express reported:- "We have this week the melancholy task of recording the sudden death of Robert Raper Esq., the senior partner in the firm of Raper and Johnson, Clerks to the County Bench of Magistrates, which took place on Monday. He had been engaged in his weekly attendance as Clerk to the Westhampnett Union in his usual health and afterwards in transacting business at the office, where he complained of a pain in the head. Later in the day, he was at home in his room and the servant on going there found him lying on his face. Dr. McCarogher was quickly in attendance but without avail, for Mr. Raper did not recover. He was much respected in his profession."
Robert was buried at Chidham. His wife and five of their seven children survived him. In the Church at Chidham there is an intriguing brass plate. "In memory of Robert Raper of Chichester, solicitor, who died 3rd December and is buried without these walls. This slab is erected by his children. 'How oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Not until seven times but until seventy times seven.' St. Matt. Ch, xviii. v.21".
Robert's will holds a clue, for he cuts his elder son, Francis William, out of it. However, in a letter to the Duke of Richmond dated 25th June 1828 Robert writes requesting a presentation to "The Charter House" for 1833, as he is anxious to give his son a good education. As there is no evidence that Francis ever went to Charterhouse he was probably educated at the Prebendal which was becoming fashionable with the local gentry.
A further letter to the Duke in 1837 states that Robert plans to take Francis to Paris for a year's "Private Instruction". He writes: "He is too young to mix at all in Society but if Your Grace would pardon my taking the liberty of asking for a letter of introduction for him to someone in that City I shall be much delighted."
In 1844, Francis married Rebecca Linzee Giles, daughter of Samuel Giles, a retired Royal Navy purser. At the time of his marriage Francis was a clerk at the Audit Office in London and was living in Stafford Place. In 1878, the recently widowed Francis, then a mariner, married Miss Abigail Watts. In the 1881 Census they were shown as living in Twickenham with their year old son Frank. Francis died at the London Hospital on 13th August 1894 and his death certificate shows him as "Formerly a ship's steward."
On 4th March 1851, at St. Peter the Less, Robert George's sister, Ann, married Frederic Freeland, who later became the first Medical Officer of Health for Chichester. Seven months later, on 11th October 1851, at Fishbourne, Robert married Frederic Freeland's third cousin, Elizabeth Freeland. Like his father, Robert George married a much older woman. He was twenty-three and his bride was thirty-six.
Elizabeth was born in 1815 in Bedhampton, where her father was a miller and later "Yeoman of Stockheath." She was descended from John Freeland of Singleton and the Bennetts of Boxgrove. She was a niece of James Bennett Freeland whom Robert George's father had succeeded as agent to the Duke of Richmond. Her brother, also a solicitor, was Town Clerk of Saffron Walden and her first cousin, Humphry Freeland, a gifted barrister, was to become M.P. for Chichester (1859 - 1863) and Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex. In 1855, following his father's death, Edward Johnson took the twenty-eight year old Robert George into partnership.
In 1858 and 1859, and again in 1874 and 1888, Robert George was Mayor of the Corporation of St. Pancras. This Tory dining club was founded as an Orange (anti-Jacobite) society in 1689. In its offices of Mayor, Town Clerk and so forth it parodied the City Corporation. It became known as the Wheelbarrow Club from the transport said to be necessary to take the members home after dinner. Still in existence today, it is the oldest society of its kind in the country.
In 1861, Robert George was elected City Mayor. This was the year that the cathedral spire fell in and he helped to raise funds for its repair. In 1867, Robert was again Mayor but in September 1868 he was obliged to resign on becoming political agent to Lord Henry Gordon Lennox. Also in 1867 Robert's sister, Emily, married Hume Bryan Dering Edwardes in Kensington. They had two daughters and one son.
By 1871, the family had split up geographically. Robert George's mother and his unmarried sisters had gone to live in Wormley, Herts. Robert and his sister Ann remained in Chichester. Ann and her husband had purchased 43, North Street and were living there with their eleven children aged from two to twenty, though Frederic, the eldest child, was now at Magdalen College, Cambridge.
In August, 1872, Robert George's sister, Georgina, married Alan Bailey at Wormley. Bailey was a twenty-six year old architect eight years her junior. Sadly, Georgina died eleven months later. She and her mother and her sisters, Emily and Mary Ann Fairtlough, are all buried at Wormley.
His father's premature death in 1855 had paved the way for young Robert George to succeed him as Clerk to the Westhampnett Union and as political agent and personal solicitor to the Duke of Richmond. When his partner, E.W. Johnson, died in 1874, he became District Registrar of H.M. Probate, Clerk to the Dean and Chapter and Secretary to the Bishop. He also held office as Steward of St. Mary's Hospital, Steward of Bosham, Registrar of the County Court, Returning Officer to the West Sussex County Trustees, Clerk to the Commissioner of West Sussex Sewers and President of the Elizabeth Johnson School. He was legal adviser to the Magistrates for forty-five years.
Robert was a deeply religious Anglican and was a Church worker from early life. He was a member of the Subdeanery choir and founder of the Honorary Guild of Bellringers. He was President of the cycling, cricket, football, tennis and athletics clubs. Robert was also Captain of the Chichester Company of the Sussex Light Infantry Volunteers.
As a Freemason he was made First Principal of the Cyprus Chapter of Royal Arch Deacons. He was twice made Worshipful Master of the Lodge of Union No. 38 and in 1881 he made Lord March his successor. Sir Walter Burrell made Robert Junior Grand Warden of Sussex.
Robert's devotion to his beloved City and his desire "To do everything I can to add to its prosperity" resulted in a request by the City for a knighthood. This was turned down by Gladstone of whom Robert's sister, Ann, once wrote, "A nice muddle Gladstone is making of it, is he not? He really ought to be hanged".
In 1885 Robert's position was weakened due to an increase in the number of councillors from the Liberal opposition. However, when Lord Salisbury came into power, he knighted Robert, who had been Mayor of Chichester no less than nine times. Queen Victoria dubbed him Sir Robert at Windsor in March 1886.
The West Sussex Gazette reported that on his return, "The Prebendal School assembled at the station and gave the worthy knight a warm greeting, while the Honorary Guild of Bellringers of which Sir Robert is the founder and President, rang out a joyous peal from the campanile". Sir Robert was nearly fifty-eight. He resigned as Alderman, as he was less able to exert his influence over the new Liberal Council
In April 1887, Sir Robert was asked to attend the Prebendal School for the purpose of presenting the annual prizes for the third time. He told the boys that he had left school at fourteen to begin the business of life. He cautioned them against freedom of thought in religious matters and the breaking away from established doctrines to the truth of which many of old had laid down their lives. He commended them to "Fear God, honour the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change." He told them to "Abjure the trash of the shilling novel" and to build up a small library to include Scott's works, the "ever blooming Pickwick", Keble's "Christian Year" and the lives of great men, especially that of Izaak Walton.
After encouraging the boys to learn a musical instrument, to keep up their sport and to remember that diligence and perseverance must succeed, he presented the prizes, including the Raper History Prize, and requested, to tumultuous applause from the boys, that the Jubilee year be marked by adding one week to the holidays.
In December, 1887, after nineteen months as Lady Raper, Elizabeth died at the old family home in West Street. She was seventy-two and had been ill for some time. At her funeral at North Mundham the church was filled with family and members of the local gentry, Lord Algernon Gordon Lennox representing the Duke of Richmond. The local paper paid tribute to Lady Raper's "counsel and womanly help" to which Sir Robert "owes much of the success which has attended his professional and public career."
In 1888 Sir Robert was elected Mayor of St. Pancras for the fourth time and in 1889 he became Mayor of the City for the tenth time. The Council was evenly divided over the supply of proper drainage to the City and as Sir Robert was no longer a Council member he was called upon to mediate in this dispute. One might suppose Sir Robert to be well-informed since his brother-in-law, Dr. Freeland, was Medical Officer of Health.
By 1895, the City Council had come to believe that the Mace and Plate auctioned in 1836 belonged to the Corporation. Sir Robert set about to disabuse them of this notion. However, he reconvened the Mace Club which had not met since 1853 and it was agreed that the Mace and plate in its possession should be give to the City Corporation in perpetuity, subject to the terms of this gift being permanently and publicly displayed.
One condition was that "The ancient custom of the Mayor and Corporation attending Divine Worship at the Cathedral (preceded by the Mace Bearer) at least one Sunday in each year may never be discontinued." The Town Council objected to this clause but was told by Robert Raper, "The attendance at Cathedral I consider to be a crucial point in the whole. It keeps up the traditions of the Mace Society - it emphasises the idea of our connection with the Established Church of the Country and we ought not to qualify or lessen that condition in any way." At this the somewhat acrimonious dispute came to an end and the Deed of Gift can be seen in the old Council Chamber in North Street. The Cathedral procession now takes place each Trinity Sunday, which is known as "Mayor's Sunday".
On 27th February 1996, the Mayor, Councillor James Payne, held a dinner, in the Council Chamber, to celebrate the centenary of the return of the Mace and plate, to which I was honoured to be invited as a representative of the Raper and Freeland families.
As the nineteenth century grew to a close, Sir Robert's health began to decline. He died on 12th July 1901 at his residence in West Street. The West Sussex Gazette reported that the seventy-four year old Sir Robert "fell victim to a general paralysis probably brought about by his devotion to business which he pursued with but few holidays during a long and exceedingly active career. The disease first manifested itself three years ago, an increasing difficulty in articulation being observed. For nearly twelve months he had been compulsorily absent from his office, his powers gradually failed and he passed away quietly. He was a good example of a 'fine old English gentleman' both physically and intellectually."
Sir Robert George Raper was buried on l6th July at North Mundham, close to his country residence "The Hermitage". His wish was to be buried "along with my dear wife in a very plain and simple way."
Was it because Sir Robert and his wife had no children that he devoted so much energy to serving the City of Chichester? His sister, Ann Freeland, outlived him. She died at her home in North Street on 9th December 1913, aged eighty-two and is buried at Appledram. Nine of her children survived her but that is another story.
Yorks, W. Sussex, Hants and Herts Record Offices
York City Library
Portsmouth Reference Library - Army List
South Carolina Historical Society - Charleston
Chichester Papers
Robert Raper's Letter Book, W.S.R.O.
City Council Minutes
Wills
The Story of the Corporation Plate by G.A.R. Purchase
Barry Fletcher
Personal family records and photographs
W. Sussex Gazette and Sussex Agricultural Express
Anne Thornton Freeland, ne Raper