Thomas Stalker, Gamekeeper – Part 2 – the children, 1875 – 1900

From January 1875, when daughter Catherine’s name is first recorded in the Register, all the Stalker children would become borrowers. Except for Thomas jnr. who was aged 16, the first time their names appear they were all between 9 and 13 years of age. Many of the dates recorded indicate that several family members often visited the library together.

Catherine (Katie) borrowed books on nine dates during her first year. Throughout her borrowing her reading choices were nearly all stories for older children and some light novels. Her name appears only once in both 1876 and 1878, twice in 1880 and then disappears from the Register until she is borrowing again between July 1896 and March 1897. She borrows once in December 1898 and then from January to March 1900, her last entry. It was probably around 1880 that she left home to go into domestic service and her later borrowings were most likely when she was at home again, either between jobs or working more locally.

John’s name is first recorded in the Register in October 1878, joined by William in 1879, and their names appear regularly each year until 1885. They both borrowed stories for older children, such as ‘Alfred in India’, ‘The Swan’s Egg’, ‘Little Robertson’. They also regularly borrowed Chamber’s ‘Book of Days’ and Chamber’s ‘Repository’. Their interests began to widen over the years and by 1882 William was borrowing predominantly history books, including Samuel Fergusson’s ‘The queen’s visit and other poems; with copious historical notes’ and the novels of Sir Walter Scott, whilst John had progressed to reading Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott’s novels.

In January 1885, John’s occupation is recorded in the Register as a Clerk, living at home, but this is his final entry. On the 1891 Census he is lodging in Glasgow and is recorded as a ‘Coalmaster’s Clerk’. After 1885 William’s name does not appear again until an entry in July 1891 and another in June 1893, when he was, presumably, visiting his parents. On the 1891 Census he is recorded as lodging, seemingly with a Stalker relative in Glasgow, and his occupation is recorded as a ‘Light Porter’.

Jessie’s (Janet) name first appears in September 1886 when she borrows Parley’s ‘Christmas Tales’, and she continues to borrow regularly until July 1900. However, in September 1892, she had obviously moved out of the family home and is recorded in the Register as the ‘Housekeeper, North Mains, Innerpeffray’. This would remain her address until 1896, when she returns to living with her parents at Parkneuk Cottage. Her reading choices were almost all light novels, with an occasional delve into Chamber’s ‘Book of Days’ and Sir Walter Scott’s Poems. In the later 1890s she was borrowing, as were the rest of the family, numerous magazines which the library was obviously acquiring on a regular basis, such as Harmsworths, The Royal Magazine, The Windsor Magazine, Longman’s Magazine and My Picture Magazine.

‘Cleopatra’ by Rider Haggard was the last book that Jessie borrowed.

Margaret (Maggie) began her borrowing in February 1891 and was joined by her sister Jane in July 1891. Maggie repeatedly borrowed both Chamber’s ‘Papers’ and ‘Repository’ and in 1893 ‘The Glasgow Infant School Magazine’, whilst Jane read various novels for older children, ‘Poems for the young’, Robertson’s ‘History of Scotland’ and Rapin’s ‘History of England’. Maggie continued to borrow until August 1898, after which she probably went into Domestic Service. Jane’s final entry in the Register is January, 1900.

Thomas (junior) began his borrowing in December 1891, with Sir Walter Scott’s “Tales of a Grandfather’, and his occupation is recorded as a Clerk. That was the only record for him that year and this was followed by three entries in 1893, four in 1894 and then none until a further three in the autumn of 1898 and a final entry in November 1899. Others of Scott’s novels, ‘The Life of Nelson’ and Buffon’s ‘Natural History’ featured on his reading list.

Buffon’s Natural History series ‘Birds’

The Stalker children borrowed too many books for them all to be listed here but the following extracts from the Borrowers Register, give an insight into their choice of reading and illustrates how several members of the family often visited the library together. (Note: Extracted entries are transcribed as they appear in the Borrowers Register.)

Unfortunately many of the books that they borrowed are no longer in the collection and, as we have no evidence to suggest that they were not returned, we can only suspect that  they were ‘read to death’. Nor does the library have any of the many magazines that are recorded in the Register.

GF

1891 (Full entry for all the family for this year)

13-1	Thomas	‘Arighurst tu tuk’ and ‘Woodstock’
17-2 /	20-3 / 18-6
	Maggie	Chambers Papers
1-7	Thomas	‘Memorials of the Late War’ and Allan’s ‘Life of Nelson’
	Maggie	Chambers Papers
	John	The Swan’s Egg
9-7	Thomas	Life of Wellington
13-7	Jane	Poems For Young
	Maggie	Chambers Papers
16-7	Mrs Stalker	Cave’s Lives of the Twelve Apostles
27-7	Jane	History of Scotland
1-8	Maggie	Chambers Papers
	Mrs Stalker	The Family Expositor
5-8	Maggie	The Swan’s Egg
8-8	Maggie	Chambers Repository
18-8	Maggie	Book of Days

22-8	Jane	Alfred in India
	Mrs Stalker	The Family Expositor
	Maggie	Chambers Papers
2-9	Jane	History of England	Paul de Rapin
	Maggie	Chambers Miscellany
8-9	Maggie	Duty and Affection
18-9	Mrs Stalker	The Family Expositor
	Jane	Clever Boys
	Maggie	Chambers Repository
5-10	Jane	Sunbeams on the Cottage
19-10	Mrs Stalker	The Family Expositor
	Maggie	Chambers repository
	Jane	Moral Courage
21-10	Thomas	Scotts Poems
24-10	Maggie	Sunbeams on the Cottage
29-10	Thomas	Adam Bede
6-11	Jane	Steadfast Gabriel
	Maggie	Chambers Repository
12-11	Thomas	Tales of a Grandfather	Sir Walter Scott
20-11	Mrs Stalker	The Family Expositor
	Jane	Chambers Papers
5-12	Maggie	Antiquary
10-12	Jane	Old Mortality	Sir Walter Scott
	Maggie	Chambers Papers
14-12	Thomas jnr	Tales of a Grandfather	Sir Walter Scott
21-12	Jane	Tales of a Grandfather
22-12	Mrs Stalker	The Family Expositor

1893 (Extracts from this year)

13-6    Jane        Chambers Repository Jessie           Summer Time in the Country

Maggie       Anderson’s Story of my Life

20-6    Mrs Stalker                    Apolisticia                                              Cave

1-8     Thomas        The Scots Magazine

4-9     Jane             Chambers Repository

Mrs Stalker          Apolisticia

Thomas jnr   Castle Dangerous

Jessie          Success of Mohamet      Washington Irving

Maggie          Chambers Papers

Thomas        The Scots Magazine and ‘Essays Moral and Humorous’ 26-10

Mrs Stalker                               Burnets History of the Reformation

Jessie           Antiquary

Jane             Wide Wide World Thomas jnr Tales of a Grandfather

31-10 Maggie          The Glasgow Infant School Magazine

8-11          Maggie          Dora

19-12 Thomas        School Magazine and Nation’s History

Maggie                     Sheltering Arms

Mrs Stalker          MacCaulay’s St. Kilda

Thomas jnr. Buffon’s Natural History

Jessie           Redgauntlet

1899 (Extracts from this year)

17-2    Thomas jnr. The Bride of Lammermuir 28-2   

Jessie         Duty

Jane             Robert Martin’s Lesson

Thomas jnr. Life of Sir William Wallace

27-3    Thomas jnr. Our Trip North

Jane             Pearson’s Magazine and The Lady’s Christmas 2 vols.

Jessie                     Eugene Aran

15-4    Jane             Windsor Magazine and The Munsey Magazine

31-8          Jessie           Cleopatra

Thomas jnr. Nickolas Nickleby

2-10    Jessie           The Windsor Magazine

17-11 Thomas jnr. The Kings Own

Tour of the Tops – Episode 1 “Initial Inquiries Lead to Historical Hilarity”

Welcome to a new series of blogs that will be appearing throughout the year to interest, intrigue and, one hopes, entertain followers of the goings-on of Innerpeffray Library. The theme is a general one, but should deliver up something to pique everyone’s interest at some point. For those of you lucky enough to have visited the Library, you will have noticed that the shelves really do go from floor to ceiling and, as a result, there are some shelves that really do not get the attention that they perhaps deserve. This series aims to remedy this injustice by dragging out the ladder and going for a quick Tour of the Tops to see what gems there are awaiting true recognition! I will note, this is very much based on what grabbed my attention whilst atop a ladder, so apologies to those who love sermons, or meaty Latin texts – I left those where there were! So without further ado, let’s get climbing and see what’s lying in wait.

The first book to grab my attention was “A Complete History of the Inquisition in Portugal, Spain, Italy, the East and West-Indies…”, written by the Reverend Mr. Baker, M.A. in 1736. What really helped this book’s case was, of course, the promise of “several Copper Plates, representing their Manner of Punishment, etc. etc. etc.”! So I had a quick read through the book and found a rather interesting account of an interrogation of a chap by the name of Louis Ramé. As you may have guessed from his name, he was neither Portuguese, nor Spanish, nor Italian, but French. Again, this intrigued me as France was a mostly Catholic country, but on reading his account, it seems that he was a French Protestant from the Southwest and he had been picked up by the Inquisition in Mexico, then part of the Spanish Empire. The book provides a gripping account of the interrogations (one does have to wonder HOW Mr. Ramé managed to remember it all verbatim years later…) and some interesting facts are thrown up. He reveals that he has 18 (!!!) siblings and most seem to still be alive, although he’s less sure how many cousins he has; when asked how many children his aunt and uncle have, he responds “five or six daughters”. Reading through the full story, it turns out that he was stuck in prisons for over nine years before being eventually taken to Spain and released. All in all, a most fascinating book on the Inquisition with plenty on offer to terrify the average British reader… One does have to wonder, however, how much was truthful and how much had been exaggerated to heighten fears of what would happen to the country were a Catholic power ever to conquer it. The book was taken out 14 times according to the Borrowers’ Register – all between 1804 and 1863. One chap, a John Dougall of Muthill, clearly enjoyed it a lot as he took it out four times!

The next book to catch my eye entertained me immensely once I opened it to the frontispiece. Welcome to the catchily titled “Family Expositor” a “Paraphrase and Version of the New Testament with Critical Notes and a Practical Improvement of each Section” (my italics). Yes, the author, the most wonderfully named P. Doddridge, D.D., has decided that the work of the disciples could be improved and so decides to tell his readers exactly how they could be. He clearly had a high opinion of himself, as the opposing page has a picture of “The Author’s Head supported by Faith and Piety, accompanied by Benevolence”, as you can see below…

I took down the first volume (of six!) and began to read. His improvements prove to not be quite what I expected. I had hoped that it would be his attempts at trying to rework the Bible, but instead they seem to be more along the lines of ways to improve the reader’s approach to life. A good example of this is in the “Improvement” from the Feeding of the Five Thousand. He focuses her on churchmen, saying that “Ministers of the Gospel have it in their Power to assist Men in their Temporal, as well as Spiritual Necessities” (very much HIS italics!). His style is very preachy at times – another Improvement begins “Alas, how prone are our foolish Souls to relish and regard the Things of Men, rather than those of GOD!”. I may have been highly amused by how time has worn away the strength and meaning of a lot of what was written here, but it is, in truth a fascinating insight into the kind of book that people were reading at this time. In fact, it must have been quite popular at one point, because whilst I was reading through it, a fellow volunteer noticed that we have a second full set of the “Family Expositor” about six shelves down from where I had found him! Clearly a most popular chap indeed – his works were borrowed over 30 times between 1776 and 1895 with a number of repeat borrowers, including a certain Mrs. Stalker, wife of Thomas Stalker whose story was introduced in a previous blog post! In fact, possibly playing on the fact that it was aimed at families, there were six different women borrowing the book out of twenty individual borrowers.

The final book in this first post is easily my favourite of the three, and a perfect example of the title betraying little of the wonders within the book! Welcome to “An Easy and Compendious Introduction For Reading all sorts of Histories: Contrived in a more facile way than heretofore hath been published”. This was the fourth edition of Mathias Prideaux’s work and was printed in 1664. I am quite the history fan and historical history books always fascinate me, so I started to flick through the pages and, well, came across this:

Yes, read it again, it does indeed say:

So, in utter bafflement as to how a history book could be discussing this topic, I found that this was a chapter title and it turned out to be about none other than the Popes! Yes, for those not in the know, the “Luxurious Sodomites” came just after a sequence of “Usurping Nimrods” and began with the infamous Pope John VIII, also known as Pope Joan! Historians now doubt the existence of a female Pope, but it was a well-told story by Protestant writers trying to discredit the Catholic Church, so it is unsurprising that she gets a mention in here, especially given the obvious bias that this author has against the Catholic Church! Not being the greatest expert on the papacy, I then turned to read about one Pope whose actions had quite the impact on English history; namely Clement VII, who denied Henry VIII a divorce from Catherine of Aragon and led to the creation of the Church of England. I was not disappointed by the description of Clement “crossing our King Henry the eighth and deluding him in the Divorce from his Brothers [sic] Wife, Queen Katherine, he lost his supremacy here in England, and for his lewd life otherwise, made his See infamous.” But… My eye then glanced down the page onto the description of his successor… “Paul the third, who prostituted his sister Julia Farnesia to Alexander the sixth that he might be made Cardinall, committed incest with his own daughter Constantia, and poysoned her husband Bosius Sforsia, to enjoy her the more freely”. Goodness me! Obviously, a huge pinch of salt should be taken here – the author has a very clear bias against the papacy and is clearly repeating any rumour he can find about them, but still! The accusations being levelled almost beggar belief. I intend to return to this book later as there were sections on other areas of history later on, so watch out for more coming from this book in future articles. Just remember the title of this book: “An Easy and Compendious Introduction For Reading all sorts of Histories”. I don’t know about you, good reader, but I’ve not read THAT sort of history before! Fascinatingly, this book appears to have never been borrowed – so maybe this book has been on a top shelf for most of its lifetime in the Library!

And thus, we come to the end of the first ‘episode’ of our Tour of the Tops. I hope you’ve found it intriguing so far and that it’s piqued your interest to maybe have a look up there the next time that you are in the Library. The next episode will talk about Scotland’s most remote island, hint at perhaps an early attempt at Instagram in 17^th Century India and reveal some utterly delightful cityscapes! RS

Thomas Stalker was the Gamekeeper at Innerpeffray for over 30 years. He began borrowing books from Innerpeffray Library soon after taking up the employment, in the early 1860s, and continued to do so throughout his time in the area. In December 1864 he married Ann McLean and they brought up their family in Parkneuk Cottage.

The first time Thomas appears in the records is on the 15th April 1865, when he borrowed the ‘Fortunes of Nigel’ by Sir Walter Scott. Throughout 1865 he borrowed a further five of Scott’s novels and another five of them in 1866. Scott’s novels remained a favoured choice of reading throughout his borrowing and, over the years, he would often return to some of them several times. Robert Burns was another long term favourite, as was Shakespeare.

As the years progressed Thomas’s choice of reading matter began to expand and by the early 1870s, although still borrowing the occasional novel, he is clearly developing interests in a much wider range of subjects. The history of England and Scotland, as well as that of the wider world, became his main reading list. Add to that historical and critical accounts of the life of Oliver Cromwell, Nelson, Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington, Ferdinand and Isabella, and other notables. He borrowed books about adventures at sea and to places such as Arabia and America, This increased desire for knowledge of the wider world continued throughout his borrowing but there were also books that he returned to regularly for reference, such as Robert Chambers’ ‘The Book of Days’ and William Chambers’ ‘Papers’.

In 1875 the Stalker children began to borrow books from Innerpeffray and an insight into their choice of reading will be covered in Part 2.

Thomas Stalker borrowed so many books for them all to be listed here but the following extracts from the Borrowers Register, 1865 to 1878, give an insight into his choice of reading during these years. (Note: Extracted entries are transcribed exactly as they appear in the Borrowers Register.)

15-4-1865	Fortunes of Nigel	Sir Walter Scott
03-May	Five years of a hunter’s life	Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming
03-Jun	Red Gauntlet	Sir Walter Scott
01-Sep	Burns Life and Works
12-Nov	The Lamplighter	Maria Susanna Cummins
19-Dec	Queechy	Methade
16-2-1866	Old Mortality	Sir Walter Scott
26-Feb	The Talisman	Sir Walter Scott
16-Apr	Anne of Geierstein	Sir Walter Scott
20-9-1867	Life of Nelson	Allan
6-1-1868	Russel War 1853, 1854
08-Dec	Rob Roy	Sir Walter Scott
12-1-1869	Quentin Durward	Sir Walter Scott
29-Dec	Life of Napoleon
4-2-1870	Life of Oliver Cromwell	William Harris
29-Apr	Life and Works of Robert Burns	Alan Cunningham
15-4-1871	Memoirs of Englishwomen	Louisa Stuart Costello
20-May	Shakespeare’s Plays
14-5-1872	The Roving Englishman
07-Nov	St. Ronans Well	Sir Walter Scott
2-10-1873	Waverley	Sir Walter Scott
19-Nov	Scotts Poems
6-1-1874	Lives of the successors of Mahomet	Washington Irving
29-Jan	Conquest of Florida
10-Feb	Ferdinand and Isabella	William Prescott
12-Mar	The Book of Days	Robert Chambers
07-Apr	Arabian Tales and Anecdotes Conspiracies – 15/16/17 centuries	John Park Lawson
19-May	Adventures of British Seamen Robertson Adventures in America
21-7-1874	Bird Architecture
14-Nov	Waverley	Sir Walter Scott
04-Dec	Chambers Papers	William Chambers
25-5-1875	Stewarts Queen Mary	Gilbert Stuart
01-Jul	The Memoirs of Sir James Melville	James Melville
24-Aug	Elise or Innocencie guilty	Jean Pierre Camus
20-1-1876	The History of England	Thomas Macaulay
04-Jul	Memoirs of the Duke of Wellington
20-Jul	The Roving Englishman
2-1-1877	Men of the Time	Alaric Watts
10-May	Burns Life and Works	Alan Cunningham
27-Nov	Scotts Prose Works
2-7-1878	Chambers Papers	William Chambers
04-Jul	Memoirs of Englishwomen	Louisa Stuart Costello
17-Oct	Life of Wellington