GENERATION 5 - THOMAS E.QUINE AND ELIZA A.CORLETT

Thomas Edmund Quine (also Tom or “T.E.” as he was known in later life) was the youngest of ten children, and the fourth surviving son of his parents. He was born in his mother’s family home at Ballachrink. He recounted to his own children an early memory of the funeral cortege of his paternal grandfather, old John Quine of Arderry, winding down the Arderry hillside on its way to Old Kirk Braddan. Because he was the youngest of his generation, T.E. was in the same class at Baldwin School as his orphaned niece Catherine Quiggin, who lived with the Ballachrink family. The old school was on the site of the Victorian East Baldwin School, although later members of the family were unsure whether T.E. had been taught there or in the St. Luke’s schoolroom. The family still have the copy-books on which his elder sisters Jane and Elizabeth laboured to perfect their copper-plate hand and long division. When he was young, Tom made a garden by the riverside at the bottom of Arderry - the thorn hedging is still to be seen - but surely this was a frost-prone spot?

As the fourth surviving son, Thomas Edmund would normally have been expected to take up a trade, with no expectation of inheriting the family farm. However his situation was altered by his two oldest brothers remaining batchelors. By the time T.E. turned 21, his brother John was in his 40’s, living at home, and seemed unlikely to marry,. The second brother, William, who had been apprenticed to a saddler in Douglas, died the next year, 1873. John and Jane executed a sale in trust of all their property, on 14th January 1873. In this they disinherited their eldest son, John, except for an annuity of £20, commencing after they had both died. The property was then left jointly to Benjamin Samuel and Thomas Edmund with the proviso that if either of them died without issue, the surviver would inherit all. There was no provision for a widow of a childless son.The third brother Ben got married to Jane Kelly later that year, and moved into Ballagarey, adjoining Ballachrink. There was enough land for both Ben and T.E., taking into account Ballagarey. The boys’ Uncle Robin was childless at Arderry, and T.E. started farming on his own account in 1874. His pocket almanac for that year listed the acreage he was farming;

LAND HOLDINGS OF T.E.QUINE, 1874 M[oaney Carraghyn] 97 E[gypt] 84 B[allachrink] 44 C[reg y Cowin] 26 C[arraghyn] I[ntack] 15 264

The almanac also gave some idea of gross cash income for the year; which totalled £674 19s, of which £117 was for the wool crop of 360 quarts, the remainder for livestock ‘sold and butchered’. As a result, some money was saved and banked; ‘Lodged in the Isle of Man Banking Company Limited January 25th 1873 the sum of 40£.’ By 1876 £115 had been saved by the 25 year old Tom. It was around 1880 that Tom began his courtship of Eliza Ann Corlett, of Cooil Roi, Baldrine.

They shared a lifelong religeous belief, and comittment to the Wesleyan Methodist movement. T.E. was strong in non-conformity, and a reluctant tithe and cess-payer. He approvingly noted the’First Nonconformist Funeral in St. Luke’s Baldwin June 9 1881 John Cannell of Douglas, conducted by Rev. H. Douthwaite Wesleyan Minister Douglas’ It is surprising that when he married Eliza on 1st September 1886 it was at the new Parish Church at Braddan, rather than in Thomas Street Chapel in Douglas. The young couple were to set up home with old John Quine and his oldest son John in the new farmhouse at Ballachrink. Eliza was moving from a larger and grander home at Cooil Roi, and some new furniture was acquired for the bride’s bedroom;

May 1885 Paid for dressing table and wash stand to match £11 0 0

Looking Glass 12s 6d

Towel rail 6s 0d £12 18s 6d

A large family bible was also acquired; printed in Dublin in 1739, it had previously belonged to the Quillin family and had probably been bought second hand. T.E.Quine recorded his marriage to Eliza Ann and the birth of their five children;

Amy Elizabeth 16th July 1887 6.30 A.M.

Gertrude 3rd Oct 1889 3.00 P.M.

Edmund Corlett 1st June 1891 before 1.00 A.M.

Annie Isabel 10th July 1893 2.00 P.M.

Thomas Harold 9th June 1898 2.00 P.M

Thomas and Eliza’s circumstances were helped by the property in Douglas which Eliza had inherited from her father. Robert Corlett had set up a trust into which he placed all his properties, in order that he might be able to deal freely with them. He left his parents’ former home in Strand Street, Douglas, to Eliza for her life, and then to her descendants. T.E. Quine’s personal account books do not include the rents of the Strand Street shop, and this income was handled by his wife. She seems to have been responsible for the childrens’ clothes, and for their school fees once they started attending school in Douglas. In 1894 the rateable value of 91 Strand Street was £32, reflecting its annual net rental value. The property increased substantially in value thanks to the prosperity of the Douglas as a holiday resort, and the income doubled in the next decade. Although Thomas and Eliza could both speak Manx gaelic, they chose not to pass on the language to the next generation. Manx was used by the parents for talk which was not meant for the childrens’ ears

At the turn of the century, the Quines still only owned less than half of Ballachrink. Below the East Baldwin road was a holding known as The Curragh or Quiggins’ Place. This was sold off from the main farm by the Craines to Nicholas Fayle in 1734. Nicholas left it to a niece Ann Cannell, who married Thomas Q uiggin of Ballagarey. Their eldest son Thomas was the heir to Quiggin’s Ballagarey but The Curragh passed to a younger son, Robert Quiggin, who was succeeded by his son Robert Cain Quiggin. The Quiggins were a hard-working and God-fearing family, but their croft was encumbered with a mortgage to T.E. Quine, and the interest of four pounds ten shillings had to be found every year. Mr. Quiggin died in the prime of life in 1896, seemingly a victim of T.B., leaving his widow Sophia Jane with a large family. Mrs. Quiggin's brother-in-law came back from Australia to help her, and at this time the thatched cottage and barn were improved with upper floors and slate roofs. Many years later Harry Quiggin wrote

our old house in Baldwin was about ready to fall down when Uncle Tom came, but he got busy and raised the roof and covered it with slate and made it look like a mansion at no cost to mother

 

Despite her best efforts, Sophia was unable to keep up interest payments on the mortgage after her eldest son Bob left for Australia, and the property had to be sold, T.E. Quine buying it in from the Coroner in 1908 to secure his existing investment. The Quiggins stayed on as tenants until Mrs Quiggin re-married to John Kermode, and moved to Eary Ween. A parcel of intack land on the west side of the ‘top road’, alongside Piscoe, belonged with Quiggin’s place, but was acquired from T.E. Quine by Douglas Corporation to form part of the catchment for the new reservoir. After T.E. bought the Curragh, he spent some money on modernising, but their was never any running water or indoor sanitation.The cottage was demolished in the mid-1960’s, and the barn somewhat later. One gate-post belonging to the garden still stands, together with a length of the back, retaining wall of the cow-shed. RIGHT: KEY PLAN OF BALLACHRINK RED: Jane Quine nee Callow's inheritance 1838 PURPLE: Purchased by John Quine junior 1832 GREEN: The Curragh, purchased by T.E.Quine 1908

After the death of Tom’s father old John Quine, all the legacies and charges became payable. Considerable financial transactions are recorded, throwing light on how such matters were handled. First T.E. called in a loan which he had made to J.T. Kelly of Renscault for some £200. This helped pay out J.T.’s son Robert Q. Kelly of Renscault who signed his receipt 4th October 1889. It was the same year that R.Q. bought Ballamoda, Baldwin, for his younger sons. More funds were raised by borrowing £100 from Eliza’s brother Tom Corlett, repaid two years later. There wasn’t enough ready cash to pay the Cryes immediately, so a ‘note was passed’ for £270 - repaid in 1893. Similarly the Cowins were ‘passed a note’ for £170 in 1889 which was redeemed in 1892. Interest was due at 4.5%A few years after their marriage, the Quines bought an upright piano - a sign if any was needed of the passing of the old culture of the fiddle and carval book. A collection of Manx Music Festival (‘Guild’) programmes for years between 1904 and 1925 was recovered from the attics of the old house at Ballachrink, and bears witness to the Quine’s interest in the new music. Isabel was a competent pianist, and competed in solo and piano classes. The upright piano which the Quines bought for the girls to learn on is still in the family - it was manufactured by John Brinsmead and Son about 1890. A letter which T.E. Quine wrote to a friend, Adam, in 1915, gives us an insight into some of the family’s activities at that time:

Dear Adam

Very pleased to here from you and to know you are keeping well. I am glad to say I am enjoying good health and all the family except Eddie he is still suffering from his accident. There are not many changes in Baldwin. Alfie Quirk has staid on in the Vooilvane I think he has got the rent redused. Mr and Mrs Kermode keeps just as usual Lissie Kelly has taken a house in Blackburn and has taken her father to live with her so Allin is left alone. Mr. R.Q. Kelly is very poorley the boys are going to town a night each to [be] with him Robert Edward and Ben. You will likely have heard that Minnie got married a few week ago. You have heard of Amy[s] wedding she has gone to Michel to live. I do not suppose you knew Frank Crow[e], himself and Charley his brother are great dealers in cattle horses and sheep constantly buying and selling. It is possible he may have to go to the War. This war is a terriable afare things look very bad at present. Prises of everything is up. I was at a sale the other day a calved heifer done calving about ten days sole for £36: 10 and the calf for £3: 10. Another heifer calved abouit the same time £34 and the calf £3. A two and a half year old colt for £65 a mare £95. Oates are now selling at £1: 13 per boll feeding stuff is from twise to three times as mush as before thge War. I bought a pedigree shorthorn bull 15 months old four week ago for £29: 10. Eddie saw a calving cow sold in Ramsey mart last Monday for £46: 10

In 1915 T.E. acted as executor and trustee of his brother in law J.E. Crye, and sold the Crye family property at the Garey, Lezayre for the benefit of Uncle Crye’s relations. Jane Leonora Quine died at Albert Terrace, Douglas, on 15th December 1915. T.Q. had been paying her an annuity of £26 on the 12th November each year, for her life interest in Ballagarey etc. Later in the month she died, he repaid his brother in law T.C.Cannell of Jurby £1000 which was the outstanding mortgage on Ballagarey and The Place. In 1920 more litigation loomed following the death of T.E.’s sister in law, Jane Leonora Quine. Nephew Ben Kelly commenced a law-suit against his uncle for the recovery of some of B.S.Quine’s property. Nothing was recovered - perhaps Ben discovered that there would be a £2000 mortgage to repay! The same year T.E. and his sister Esther Cannell inherited some £320 each as administrators of their cousin Miss Jane Kelly of the Dollagh (formerly of Lhergy Rhenny). They were entitled as the last survivers of their generation, their remaining first cousin Thomas Kelly having died in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1917.

WRITINGS FROM T.E.QUINE’S ACCOUNT BOOK

1920 January wet and windy February much as January. 1 March very mild misty with a little rain bees out although no sun. Grass very good. Rained heavily at night. Ground covered with snow morning of 9th with hard frost. 12th very wet and windy and cold. Commenced planting potatoes 17th finished 22nd. Continued wet and mild. Last day of March as mild as first with more rain, cut some lambs. 6 th April commenced sowing corn. 6 th late in afternoon. A wet night after kept wet did [not?] sow any more then.

The Quines made friends with a number of Methodist families, and some were regular visitors, staying in Douglas and coming out to service at East Baldwin.Among these friends were the Greens of The Elms, Horbury, Yorkshire. In September 1922 a deputation of the Local Preachers’ Mutual Aid Association visited East Baldwin on a pleasure excursion. The party were entertained by the Quines, and included Sir Robert and Lady Kay and their daughter, Mr. & Mrs. George Green and their two daughters, Mr. & Mrs. A.J. Cash, and Mr. Brooks. Seemingly an enjoyable time was had by all. The following Sunday, Mr. Green preached at the East Baldwin chapel in the afternoon, and Lady Kay in the evening. Lady Kay also rendered “Rock of Ages”

Eddie was courting Margaret Killip from Lonan, and in 1925 the Quines bought ‘Ivor’ Cronkbourne Road, Douglas, in preparation for moving down to town on Eddie’s marriage. T.E. was still very active, and proudly recorded his achievement in walking over the mountains to Ramsey on 25th April 1925, leaving home at 23 minutes to 8 in the morning, and arriving at Wattleworth’s Cafe at 24 minutes past 11. Chapel activities contin ued at East Baldwin, and on 3rd March 1926 Gertrude [ ‘Mrs Philip Crowe’] spoke to the Wesley Guild on “The Influence of Heredity & Environment on Character”. The Manx Wesleyan Church Record’s reporter described this as an admirable paper in which ‘Mrs. Crowe dealt with her subject in a very logical manner and drew many experiences from nature and history and from her own experiences when following her profession as a teacher in Manchester...’ Eddie married in June 1926, and he and his wife Margaret made their home at Ballachrink, with Eddie’s bachelor brother Harold. T.E. and his wife moved to Douglas with their unmarried daughter Isabel.. The income from the Strand Street shop had trebled over the first thirty years of the 20th century. Notes made by the Quines for income Tax purposes show that roughly 30-40% of their income after they retired from farming was drawn from the Strand Street property. The tenants and rents received were as follows

 

1903 A Chappell £60

1906 E Butterfield £65

1929 B Broadbent £135

1932 B Broadbent £180

 

In 1932 The buildings were insured for £1200.

Once the Quines moved into Ivor they changed the name of the house to Arderry. It was a sizeable semi-detached house, stone-built and rendered, with three reception rooms, kitchen and pantry on the ground floor, and four bedrooms, bathroom and lavatory upstairs. There was a small garden at both front and rear, with a wash-house and outside toilet. They were able to enjoy the modern conveniences of mains gas for light and cooking, replacing the oil lamps and coal range at Baldwin. Now they had no maid, and Mrs. Quine and Isabel had to do the cooking.. There was no need to keep a pony and trap as the cable tramway passed along Woodbourne Road within a few yards of the top of Cronkbourne Road. The T.T. Course passed close by at the end of the road, but otherwise the area was still attractively semi-rural. The Quines kept up their church activities, transferring membership to Rosemount Wesleyan Chapel (now Trinity Methodist Church). Pew rent had to be paid for ‘sittings’ in the chapel. There the Quines became part of a large congregation, and Isabel took up teaching work in the Sunday School. A special tribute was paid at the Quarterly Meeting in June 1927, when an illuminated address was presented by the local preachers to Mr and Mrs Quine in appreciation of their hospitality at Ballachrink;

‘....for three generations your home has been “The Preachers Home” and our association with you and your family has been a veritable means of grace.’

While living at Baldwin, T.E. had subscribed to the ‘Daily News’ but in January 1931 the family acquired a battery powered radio from Hinton’s for £29 12s. The ‘Wesleyan Record’ was also taken. Electricity did not come to Cronkbourne Road until 1936.

G****** Crowe lived with her Quine grandparents and aunt at Cronkbourne Road during the week while attending school in Woodbourne Road, Douglas, from the age of 8 onwards (1927+). She remembered her grandfather as a tall, erect man, reminiscent of an Army Officer in his bearing. He died during one night at the end of September 1932 at the age of 81 His grand-daughter slept through the unaccustomed activity, her parents having arrived at "Arderry" during the night, and Philip and Gertrude Crowe arriving soon after. Isabel broke the news to Gwelda when she came down for breakfast.

T.E. Quine's will was drawn in generous terms, making provision for his widow during her life-time, then leaving the farms at Baldwin free and debtless to his two sons, and his house at Douglas, with his savings and other assets, equally among his daughters.

A fulsome tribute to his contribution to the Methodist movement appeared in print a few weeks later, when an obituary appeared in the Manx Methodist Church Record.

Eliza Ann sustained the double blow of losing her husband, and younger son Harold, within a week. She continued to live at Cronkbourne Road with Isabel, regularly visiting the farm at Baldwin, and her daughters at Kirk Michael. She celebrated her 80th birthday at Erinville in 1934.

SEE - Obituary notice for Eliza Ann Quine, 1937 & her Last Will & Testament.

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