FRANCIS KAIN OF STAPLAKE MOUNT, STARCROSS, 1831-33 research by Jon Nichol

 Historic Map covering Staplake Mount hand-drawn in 1888 - 1904 by the cartographers of the Ordnance Survey

http://www.francisfrith.com/staplake-mount/maps

Francis Kain was the youngest son [1] of a successful London ship owner and coal merchant, Joseph, who owned numerous coal barges [2], extensive buildings, houses, warehouses for storing coal, stables, wagons, 22 horses, a flour mill with a steam engine and a wharf at Ratcliff, Poplar on the river Thames [3]. Joseph had two sons, George and Francis [4]. Until 1830 Francis and his brother were partners, also as ship owners and coal merchants [5] until their business closed around then. apparently due to insolvency although the evidence is unclear about this [5].

We do not know why Francis moved to Devon soon after. In 1831 he and his wife came to live at Staplake Mount on the outskirts of Starcross. They seem to have chosen well - their home stood in 48 acres of land – it seems idyllic:

This delightful Villa stands on rising ground near the centre of the Estate, on a Lawn well ornamented with forest and other trees, commanding a fine view of the river Exe and the British Channel; is substantially built of the best materials, is well sheltered and in excellent repair.

The House has spacious and airy rooms, and no expense has been spared to render it a most convenient and comfortable residence for a large family.[6]

The highly detailed Tithe Map of Starcross [7] shows Staplake Mount standing in its grounds overlooking the Exe estuary with farmland on all sides: within a decade the building of Brunel’s atmospheric railway had somewhat obscured the view [8].

On arrival in 1831 in Starcross Francis made an immediate highly positive local impact as a charitable figure. In January 1833 a local newspaper reported he:

has very liberally distributed to the poor of that parish [Starcross] a quantity of prime meat, under his own superintendence. This much-esteemed gentleman, who has resided but two years in the neighbourhood, last season benevolently supplied the want of the poor at this season of the year and such is his general attention to the condition of the need in that place that he is already looked up to by the destitute as their benefactor and friend.[9].

Alas, the final newspaper mentions of Francis are three notices of his death seven months later on 3^rd September 1833. One describes his general character and reinforces the impression of him the January 1833 account conveys:

In him the poor have lost a kind benefactor and a real friend, as he was ever ready to relieve; and never more truly happy, than when the severity of winter called forth the active exercise of his bounty in administering to their general wants. [10]

Within two years of his death Staplake Mount was sold and Francis’s wife married a Mr. Bond of St. Thomas, Exeter [11], who may have been a solicitor.

Francis Kain and his wife now disappear from the record of Starcross’s history, but I am sure fond memories of him lived on in the minds of the poor of Starcross and his friends and neighbours who held him in high regard.

References

See page 3.

‘DOING LOCAL HISTORY’ – Francis Kain of Staplake Mount, Starcross, 1831-33

The Topic

Barbara’s request to the Starcross History Group was crystal clear ‘I would like to know if one Francis Kain is known to you in any capacity. He lived in Starcross, at Staplake Mount, for only about three years, possibly, up until 1833 when he died there…’

Asking Questions

‘Doing History’ means we have to ask questions. No questions, no answers.  So, to respond to Barbara’s query a stream of initial questions suggested themselves: What can we find out about Francis Kain? Who was he? What was he like? Did he have a family? Where had he come from? What job did he have or had? We then used answers we could find to some of these questions to ask new questions to widen our search to find evidence to create imaginatively a fuller picture of him and his life.

Searching For, Finding And Investigating Sources

To answer our questions we needed to find and investigate sources. We had just discovered one such mind-blowing source to explore: the on-line British Newspaper Archive [BNA] of newspapers from around 1700. Its millions of digitised pages contain information about hundreds of thousands of people, including Francis Kain.

Using key words, we  can search all digitised pages for references to them. MAGIC.

So, we typed into the BNA search engine for newspapers published from 1830-1833 the following clues - key words: Staplake Mount, Starcross, Francis Kain.

In addition, we studied two maps: the highly detailed 1840 Tithe Map of Starcross and the 1890 25 inch to the mile Ordnance Survey map, both showing Staplake Mount. I also did some fieldwork - looking for surviving evidence on the ground.

The Sources’ Evidence About Francis Kain

There were five newspaper entries about Francis Kain in Devon newspapers: one about his charitable activities in January 1833, three reporting his death in September 1833 and a detailed account of the sale of Staplake Mount in 1834. These sources gave ‘facts’ about how long he had lived at Staplake Mount, who his father and brother were and where they lived. The family ‘facts’ enabled us to further search the BNA for evidence to answer questions about Francis’s family background as coal merchants and ship owners from Ratcliff, Poplar in London.

The maps gave a clear indication of the location of the Staplake Mount Villa where Francis lived; a walk provided clues about the building of a Victorian later lodge on a new entrance to Staplake Mount perhaps to give better access to Starcross railway station built in the 1840s. The walk also revealed the survival of the iron railings that marked the boundary of Francis’s estate mentioned in the 1834 notice for the sale of Staplake Mount, railings now buried in hedges and the old entrance to the drive from the Exeter road to Francis’s villa – coincidentally opposite where I live.

Creating A Story: Writing The History Of Francis Kain at Starcross

The clues in the evidence about Francis enabled me to weave together an initial, brief account of his Starcross life from 1831-33 using deduction, inference and even the informed imagination to answer tentatively some of our questions about him.

References

(1)     7 September 1833. The Guardian and Public Ledger. British Newspaper Archive [BNA]

(2)     18 June 1833. Morning Advertiser. British Newspaper Archive               

       The evidence is indirect – his son, George Kain’s trustees advertised for sale a dozen coal barges in the Morning Advertiser; George was Francis’s older brother.

(3)   12 September 1833. The Guardian and Public Ledger. BNA

(4)   7 September 1833. The Guardian and Public Ledger. BNA

(5)   23 June 1831. The Guardian and Public Ledger. BNA [to be checked]

(6)   23 May 1834. Woolmer’s Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. BNA

       Detailed advertisement for sale of Staplake Mount

(7)   c. 1840. Kenton Tithe Map. Devon Heritage Centre http:/map.devon.gov.uk/Tithe

(8)   Paul Garnsworthy, ed. (2013) Brunel’s Atmospheric Railway Featuring the Contemporary Watercolours of William Dawson. The Broad Gauge Society

       This magnificent book contains the highly detailed watercolours of the railway’s route. The one for Starcross shows the railway running on top of an embankment built along the shore above the high tide level with a wall running along its estuary side.

(9)   19 January 1833. Woolmer’s Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. BNA

(10) 12 September 1833. The North Devon Journal and Advertiser. BNA

(11) 18 December 1844. The Exeter Flying Post. BNA