"Memoirs of the Hartley Family of Bingley and Staveley,  Yorkshire"
by Minnie Growse (1864-1939),

Foreward
Introduction
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Low Hall
Notes
Hartley, Staveley
Hartley, Bingley

memoirs Continued 16

The Bishops

My Father's mother was Jane Bishop, the daughter of Nathaniel Bishop, who was a King's proctor, and a wealthy man.  He had married Jane Altham, one of the three daughters of Roger Altham.  We have a water-colour picture of great grandmother Bishop - and a very charming picture of his father, my great grandfather.

He had powdered hair and a delicate refined face and a blue coat.  There is also one of him as a boy, with hair to his shoulders touching a lace collar, and very pretty.  I think he was also a King's proctor.

The Bishops had a very large property in London in those days  and I believe they were one of the few families who were entitled to have their coat of arms over their seat in Westminster Abbey.

After my great grandmother, Jane Altham ,died, my grandmother, afterwards Jane Hartley, lived with her father and sisters in London until they all married.  They had one brother James, from his picture which my brother Harry possesses, a handsome fellow, who died unmarried.

Great grandfather Bishop must have been too funny for words. He had pots of money and lived in good style.  He retired and gave the goodwill of his lucrative profession to a friend whereas, had he sold it as he should, he would have made a big sum.

He was a three-bottle man, and on the occasions of his dining out, he would say to his butler, "Thompson, I am dining out tonight. Be sure that you are sober when you answer my ring - as I shall be drunk.' One occasion by grandmother and her sisters were leaning over the banisters to see how Papa came home and heard his indignant voice say, "Thompson, how dare you be drunk.  I told you that I should be, and that you should be sober."

Here the manuscript ends, as Minnie Growse was overtaken by her last brief illness before she could write any more.   She died on 26th July 1939, deeply loved by all who knew her.

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