Neil Stobbs

[Jill Mander of Main Street, Warton unearthed a diary for the year 1892, written by either William or James Whinnerah of Warton Hall Farm, Warton. They were noted Shire Horse Breeders. Jill made a good copy and passed it to the Mourholme]. The original is at Lancashire County Archives.

The diary of an unknown person provides considerable insight into the farming practices of the area in the late nineteenth century. It is thought that it was kept by a member of the Whinnerah family resident at Warton Hall Farm. The original transcriber thought that it may have been written by a James Whinnerah.

The family was not in the area in 1846, 1851 or 1881 from the various information available. They presumably moved into the area between 1881 and 1892 when the diary was written.

An entry dated 1st February says, “William went to Liverpool“; an entry on 1st March, “James went to London, arrived 7.30 am“. Could suggest that the diary is not that of James but of his father William. Various other entries seem to indicate that William was certainly the author. It seems unlikely that a second son would make entries in the style that many of them are couched. Many entries referring to the family members in a way in which a brother would not have written. The entries referring to William surely point to the fact that they were written by William Senior. James would never have written about his father as William, and William Senior is unlikely to have said, “William went to Liverpool” if he was the one to travel. There are records of the hiring of farm hands at various Hiring Fairs at Ulverston and Kendal, something a second son was very unlikely to have done.

From the 1891 census William Whinnerah (60) was resident at Warton Hall Farm with his wife Elizabeth (59) and with their eldest son Edmond, aged 30, and James the second son, aged 28, and two daughters, Jennet (24) and Anne (21). All the children are single There are two grandchildren, Harry (3) and Lucy (1). There is no indication of parents for the grandchildren living at the farm on the day of the census.

In the 1881 census it was possible to trace the family to Nateby Hall, Nateby, still in Lancashire. In this census there is another son Thomas, aged 17, obviously now aged 27, whose occupation is listed as grocer’s assistant. He could be the father of the grandchildren. The grandson was born in Lancaster, and the granddaughter in Sheffield. The grandchildren are not listed as visitors, so they must be resident at the farm full time.

On a name search in the 1881 census, another William Whiner ( ?? ) Was found, aged 13. He was a boarder at The School House, Over Wyresdale, Lancashire, together with four other male boarders, aged between 9 and 18, and two sisters also boarders aged 10 and 13. They were under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Phizackerley and their niece Miss Hannah E. Phizackerley. The school is listed as an Endowed school, so presumably it was a Church school. It is interesting to note that Mr. P. Aged 53 in 1881 came from Ellel, the same village as Mr. And Mrs. Whinnerah then aged 50 and 49. It would seem that they were contemporaries in Ellel, and that may be why William Jnr. was sent to school with them. By 1891 William would be 23, and could have been the father of one of the grandchildren.

Edmond apparently travelled a lot to various places. On 3rd February Edmond went to Bolton ploughing, (Bolton-le-Sands?); 10th Feb. Edmond went to Lancaster and got paid for two cows from Mr. Turner £35.10s (£1280); 11th Feb. Edmond went to Caton and Hall Gowan sale; 12th Feb. Edmond went to Skipton; 13th & 20th Feb. Edmond went to Lancaster; and on the 22nd Edmond went to London at midnight and got back from London on 27th Feb.

In searching the 1846 Tithe Book returns it has been possible to trace one of the field names, ‘Eldrams’ quoted in the diary as 18 acres, 3 roods, 31 poles. In the 1846 returns it is given as five separate fields Nos. 509-514, the first two pasture, the second three as meadow, with a total acreage of 17.164 acres or 17 acres, 3 roods, and 5 poles. Some discrepancy but it would appear that the five parcels of land had been consolidated into one field by 1892. Shades of the 1950’s? William Jonson occupied the fields in 1846 and the Rev. Watson was the landlord.

It appears from the entries that William Snr. had a number of horses on the farm. It also seems as if he ran stallions, because there is some indication that he used to send various horses on ‘walks’ around various districts of the area, providing ‘service’ to farmers’ mares.

The entry for 25th June says, “Lonsdale started travelling again“. Prior to that Lonsdale is mentioned on 4th April, “Lonsdale shod on front fee“. One entry which at first sight seems strange is: “Engaged J. Askew to travel to Lonsdale £1 per week“. I assume this is William engaging Askew to travel with Lonsdale on his ‘Stallion Walk’.

There are also entries which show that mares were brought to the farm to be served. One entry says that a mare and foal arrived. “Memoranda Mr. Mackereth’s mare and foal came on Friday 24th“. Other entries mention at least eighteen other mares brought for service. It is common practice to put brood mares back to the stallion as early as possible after they have foaled, as the conception rate is higher the earlier they are served after foaling. This is still the practice today. William also hired out his stallions to other breeders: 23 June “Hired Druid to Mr. Foster”.

The entry 13 Feb. says, “Thorough-bred shod“. This seems to indicate that as well as keeping ‘heavy horses’ William also kept lighter types which he calls thoroughbred, which in present times indicated horses derived from racing stock. The “thorough-bred” is mentioned again on 26 Feb .: “had thoroughbred examined” but for what reason is not mentioned! This horse appears again on 5 Apr. “Through-bred shod”. There is also mention of a “blood horse”. It appears that the “Thorough-bred was a stallion that “travelled”.

“Memoranda. Thoroughbred horse finished travelling 2nd July.” Such a stallion would have been used on heavy horse mares to produce a ‘hunter’ type foal, or on hunter mares to produce a light faster hunter. It is noted that he was turned out to grass the next day. “Summer holidays?”

He also dealt, buying and selling horses. 5 Feb. “Sold Yankee mare to Mr. Cape for 50 guineas.” If this were translated into approximately today’s equivalent value, the mare would have been worth £2000! This is based on data in Munby L. 1996. How Much Is It Worth?, British Association of Local History (BALH). Yankee must have been one of the stallions standing at the farm.

There is also mention of “the black stallion” and “Jewel” as they were being sod the next day. By the number of horses mentioned in the diary one wonders if the farrier came to the farm or if horses were taken to him. A memo in October says, “Sold and delivered 4 years old Garnet gelding to Mr. Aspinall, Rochdale on Monday 26 (Sept.) for £40 (£1500). If he delivered the gelding to Rochdale from Warton, did he use the railway? Or how did he do it?

There are entries which show that there was also young stock on the farm part of a breeding program to produce animals for sale and to keep the stud going forward. “9 Mar “Two year old stallion shod“. 6 Apr. “G. Beck paid for foal pasturing in ‘Gales’, 7s” (£12.56).

It would appear that he also took his young female stock to other breeders’ stallions, presumably to prevent in-breeding which may have produced poor stock. 27 June “Took two yearling fillies to Docker Hall”. On 8 August he says, “Took Mr. Mackereth’s mare home and fetched two yearling fillies back, away six weeks“. This would indicate that they had been to a stallion for service and had been kept over to see if they returned to heat or held service. He mentions turning two yearling colts into “Caley seeds“.

There is also evidence that he showed his stock at various ‘Shows’ 7 Apr. “Garstang Show Lonsdale 3rd, Colonel 4th. ” Apr. “Kendal Show Lonsdale 1st and Silver Medal. Colonel 3rd. There is mention that the Kendal Show judges were nominated on 13 Feb. There are mentions of other shows, which he or ‘Edmond’ attended including Manchester, Liverpool, Barrow, Ulverston etc.

Towards the end of the year entries show that he started to break the black horse, “Druid” to working harness. 22 Nov. “put the black horse (Druid) into chains and cart“, two days later “put black horse into roller“. A great deal more information can be extracted from the diary about other aspects of the everyday work on a local farm towards the end of the nineteenth century. This has dealt mainly with some aspects of the “horse” side of the business and some derived information about the family. If it were possible to find out the breed of heavy horse that William Whinnerah specialised in, it would be possible to find more information from the Breed Society “Year Books” and “Lists of stallions”. Kendal Show Society records may also give some indication of the breed in which he specialised , as could records of the Garstang Show.

Published in the Mourholme Magazine Issue 40 2000