On a deed, circa, 1400, On the Ancient Seal of the On an incised slab in All DEBIE. DERBYE. Saints' Church, circa, 1400 DERBEY. In the will of the celebrated Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, and mother of Henry VII. 1508, and on other Documents, Seals, &c., of the same family. In Valor. Eccles., 1535. On the Ancient seals of the College of All Saints' On a receipt of the Earl of DERBY. DERB' & DERBEYE. DERBY. On the Ancient Seal of the Borough DERBI. On a Grant of Queen Mary, 1555 DERBY. In the "Benefit of the Auncient In a letter of Sir Ralph Sadler DARBY. Mary Queen of Scots, 1585 DERBIE. On the Seal of Ashborne Free DERBY. DERBIÆ. . DERBY. .. DARBYE & DERBIE, .. DARBYE. In the Charter of James I., 1611. DARBYE & DERBIE DERBY. In the Charter of Charles II. DERBY. tion, 1682.. DERBY. In Leigh's Derbyshire, 1700 DERBY. Postman, 1727 In the Derby Mercury, first DERBY. number 1732,and ever since DERBY. On Emanuel Bowen's Map DERBY. On Morden's Map In Hutton's History of Derby, 1790 DARBY. DERBY. On Moneypenny's Map, 1791. DERBY. DERBY. I have heard it said that it is more "aristocratic" and "more genteel" to call it Darby than Derby, and that the latter is at least a vulgarism! I hope the above list, which I have arranged chronologically, will shew that age and custom of many centuries are in favour of Derby, and that if there is any vulgarity at all in the matter it is in the use of the perverted mode of spelling that for a short time prevailed. Antiquity, usage, and custom, are all on the side of Derby, and I hope the examples I have selected as proofs will prove interesting to the readers of the Derbyshire Gatherer. LL. JEWITT, F.S.A. Winster Hall. NOTES FROM PARISH REGISTERS. In "Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire," by Mr. J. C. Cox, in the account of St. Werburgh's Church, Derby, we are told :-The earliest register is a small parchment volume, in poor condition and badly kept. It begins in 1588 and ends in 1642. There is a leaf missing between 1586 and 1587. The second volume extends from 1652 to 1721. 66 Memorandum that According to an Act of Parliament beringe date the 21 of August 1653 that Thomas Inkershel of Darbie was chosen Register for the Parish of Warboro And approved of and swore before mee J. W. Dalton In the third volume occurs an entry which imparts considerable value and interest to its page-viz., the marriage of Dr. Johnson : "July 9, 1735. Mar' Samll Johnson of ye parish S. Marys in Lichfield and Elizh Porter of ye parish of S. Phillip in Burmingham.” From the registers of West Hallam the following entries are copied :— 1698. April 13. Katharine the wife of Tho. Smith als Cutler was found felo de se by ye Coroners inquest & interred in ye crosse ways near ye wind mill on ye same day. 1712. Robt Cop Chirurgeon found drowned in the Park Mill Brook January the 11th and allowed to be buried Jan. 16th. by Mr. Arthur Dakin Coroner. 1745. Old Sarah Baldack of Dale Parish aged 103 buried Apr. 22. 1747. Joseph Mottershaw, John Owen, and Charles Bennet all three killed by falling in a Pitt and all buried in one grave June 7th. 1815. Revd. Thomas Bloodworth, clergyman of the Romish Faith or Church, buried Jan. 31st aged 56 years. DERBYSHIRE WOMEN. In the seventeenth century the women of the county appear to have been models of their sex, if we are to believe Philip Kinder, in the preface to his intended "History of Derbyshire," which he wrote and left in manuscript about the period of Charles III. He there says: "The countrie women here are chaste and sober, very diligent in their housewifery; they hate idleness; love and obey their husbands (it is to be feared that, in the quality of obedience, they are not now more conspicuous than their sisters in other counties); only in some of the great townes, many seeming sanctificatious (a very good word, that might be introduced into modern parlance), used to follow the Presbyterian gang, and upon a lecture day put on their best rayment, and hereby take occasion to goo a gossiping. Your merry wives of Bentley will sometimes look in ye glass, chirpe a cup merrily, yet not indecently. In the Peak they are much given to dance after the bagpipes. Almost every town hath a bagpipe in it.” A DERBYSHIRE MAN IN LONDON. In the Derbyshire dialect the word "neukin," as elsewhere in the North and in Scotland, with slight variations, signifies a corner. A native of the county being in London on one occasion wanted to go to Amen Corner, and got to St. Paul's Churchyard, having been told that it was near there, when he asked in vain off the puzzled policemen and shopkeepers for "Amen Neukin," none of whom had ever heard of such a place, and he was nearly giving up the quest in despair, when he chanced to meet with a fellow-countryman, who put him right. THE LATE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, AND THE LATE SIR JOSEPH PAXTON. The following is a copy of the original passage in the Duke's diary relating to the late Sir Joseph Paxton : "Joseph Paxton was born the 3rd of August, 1803. I made his acquaintance at the Horticultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick, where he was placed in 1823. He was chiefly employed then in training the creepers and newly-introduced plants on the walls there, which first excited my attention, and, being in want of a gardener at Chatsworth, I asked Mr. Sabine, who was then at the head of the establishment, whether he thought that young man would do? He said-' Young and untried,' but spoke so favourably that I had no doubt. "The young man had made a large lake in 1822 at Sir Gregory Page Turner's place, near Woburn. He came to Chatsworth in 1826. You shall have it in his own words :-'I left London by the Comet coach for Chesterfield, and arrived at Chatsworth at half-past four o'clock in the morning of the 9th of May, 1826. As no person was to be seen at that early hour, I got over the greenhouse gate by the old covered way, explored the pleasure grounds, and looked round the outside of the house. I then went down to the kitchen garden, scaled the outside wall, and saw the whole of the place, set the men to work there at six o'clock; then returned to Chatsworth and got Thomas Weldon to play me the waterworks, and afterwards went to breakfast with poor, dear Mrs. Gregory and her niece; the latter fell in love with me and I with her, and thus completed my first morning's work at Chatsworth before nine o'clock.' "He married Miss Sarah Brown in 1827. In a very short time a great change appeared in pleasureground and garden. Vegetables, of which there had been none, fruit in perfection, and flowers. Twelve men with brooms in their hands on the lawn began to sweep, the labourers to work with activity. The kitchen garden was so low and exposed to floods from the river, that I supposed the first wish of the new gardener would be to remove it to some other place, but he made it answer. In 1829 the management of the woods was entrusted to him, and gradually they were rescued from a prospect of destruction. Not till 1832 did I take to caring for my plants in earnest. The old greenhouse was converted into a stove, the greenhouse at the gardens was built, the arboretum was invented and formed. Then started up orchidaceæ, and three successive houses were built to receive the increasing numbers. |