This page shows the text of a pamphlet by R W Goulding with additional comments. The original is shown in red. Goulding’s manuscript list of Louth publications dates it 1896.

THE LATE JAMES WAKELIN

Voce magna et bonis lateribus.

JAMES WAKELIN, one of a family of twelve or thirteen children, was born on the 28th March, 1815, in a house which stood on the site of what is now No. 28, Mercer Row, Louth. His father, Charles Wakelin, a shoemaker, had a shop there, and he, as his son James related, was the first tradesman in Louth who exposed ready-made boots for sale. His grandfather, William Wakelin, was a barber as well as Warden’s man, parish beadle and chief constable. His uncle, Richard Wakelin, a tailor by trade, went as a soldier to the French wars and was wounded in one arm; subsequently he kept the toll bar at Stanmore Hill, and was Town Crier from 1812 to 1836, when he was succeeded by James Turner.

Wakelin was a common name in Louth and attempts to work out in detail the relationships between the Wakelins are unlikely to be productive. If James really had about a dozen siblings, they were not all baptised. James’ father, Charles, appeared as a shoemaker in directories from 1822 to 1842, and R1823 showed him occupying a house and shop in Mawer’s Yard, off Mercer Row; by 1834 he had moved to Aswell Lane. Goulding hints scepticism about James’ statement that his father was the first to sell ready-made boots; this was unlikely to be correct, since there was already an established market in ready-mades in the eighteenth century (J H Clapham Economic History of Modern Britain (1930) vol 1 p167) and it would have been surprising if the trade had not reached Louth.

Other records confirm that James’ grandfather William Wakelin, described in 1794 as a “peruke maker”, but presumably mainly a barber, was in effect the part-time corporation bailiff from 1795 to 1816. Richard Wakelin (1778-1836) was given a medical discharge from the army in 1803 (“having lost his right arm when serving in Egypt”) and was later town crier.

For some years James Wakelin attended a dame’s school, and then, for one term, he was sent to a school kept by Mr Lucas in Lee Street. Leaving school when he was ten, he followed his father’s trade, and for seven years it was his duty to go to Spilsby market, where he had charge of a stall. He was never allowed to take money with him, but was always expected to bring some back. The last time he went on this business he effected no sales, and so during the whole day he had nothing to eat or drink (except water from the public pump). When night came he fell in with two Louth men who persuaded him to join them at a hot supper at Alford, his share being entered to his father’s account. Wakelin senior coming to Alford next day, and hearing that his son had ventured to incur a debt without his leave, was highly displeased, and the result was that James declined to go to Spilsby again unless he were permitted to take 2s. or 2s. 6d. to spend at his discretion. To this his father did not consent, and James left home soon afterwards. For a while he lived at Tothill, and afterwards at Reston, where he married in 1835. After no long time he returned to Louth.

“Mr Lucas” was John Lucas, shown by baptismal and directory entries to have been a schoolmaster. He was shown by R1823 (which did not recognise Lee Street as a separate street) occupying a small house in Kidgate Lane.

In the 1820s it was common for boys of ten to leave school and start work; indeed James may have learnt some of the simpler processes in shoemaking at an earlier age. He probably transported his boots and shoes to Spilsby on a carrier’s cart; the trip (16 miles, or, via Alford, more miles but fewer hills) would have been too arduous for a hand cart. White’s 1826 directory listed ten shoemakers in Spilsby, including one with a “warehouse” (= shop); so the appearance of a Louth trader on the Monday market day may not have been altogether welcome.

James (“of South Reston”) married Mildred Adlard in Withern in 1835. R1838 did not show him in Louth (the James Wakelin listed in Upgate was a different person, a painter). The 1841 census showed James as a shoemaker in Walkergate, perhaps working for his father.

In 1849 James Turner, who had been Town Crier for thirteen years, died, and Wakelin was one of the four candidates for the post. His three rivals were John Lanes, a milkman, John Wilson, commonly called “Naupy,” and one Evans, a shoemaker. Each had a turn for a week, and Mr. Wakelin liked to relate how he stood in front of the Masons’ Arms “crying his first cry,” about some sheep that had been lost when coming from Spilsby fair, and how he was on that occasion gratified by hearing some farmers say “that’s the boy for us.” He was appointed Town Crier on the day that Field Flowers Goe was elected Mayor. Mr. Goe signalised the coincidence by giving him a livery, at the same time expressing a hope that every new Mayor would also give him a new suit, but Wakelin used sadly to add “none of them ever did.”

Field Flowers Goe was elected mayor for the first time on 9 November 1849. Mercury confirmed James’ account of the election of the town crier. (To judge from R1851 James’ competitor, John Lanes, milkman, had a respectable house and a five acre field; but his occupation is not supported by directories or the 1851 census.)

In the capacity of Town Crier Mr. Wakelin was an excellent public servant. For nearly half-a-century he performed all the duties appertaining to his office in a thoroughly efficient way, and he gained the respect of all who had dealings with him.

Goulding assumes that his readers know what a town crier’s duties were. The following are illustrations:

On Tuesday last, the welcome information was sounded through the town of Louth by the clever and sonorous public crier that flour had settled [ie been reduced in price] fourpence a stone … (Mercury 28.5.1847).

Wakelin, the town-crier went round with his bell crying some fish for sale at the shambles, whilst a well-known character named Wilson was also announcing a sale of furniture on the market hill. It appears that Wakelin, the appointed town-crier, had offended Mr Ryall, auctioneer, on account of some alleged overcharge…. (Chronicle 15.6.1855)

People walking the streets ringing hand bells and shouting might give rise to complaints and so it was desirable to have an officially licensed town crier. As well as oral advertising, James was a bill poster. He also ran a business delivering coal and wood. He lived in Upgate in the 1850s and then in Enginegate.

Some of his reminiscences of the men of a former generation were very quaint. Two instances may be given. One of the earliest incidents he could remember was connected with an illness of his mother which occurred when he was a small boy. While he was “minding the house” he heard a knock at the door, and, thinking one of his father’s apprentices was there, in impudent terms invited him to enter. Then he caught sight of the awful form of Dr. Pettener, and at once fled into the coal-house. The doctor thrust in his hooked stick, caught him, drew him forth, stood him upon the kitchen-table, and said that he would teach him a lesson. Instead, however, of receiving the expected castigation, James was asked how many times he could open the door, immediately after hearing a knock, for a penny, and the Doctor proceeded to give him sixpence, saying that he ought to be willing to open it a great many times for that sum. James, of course, professed his readiness to comply, and he never forgot the satisfaction he felt at his unexpected good fortune.

Another of his early recollections was that he was once aroused from sleep by shouts of fire. Going to his bedroom window he saw that the shouter was William Allison, the banker, and he speedily awakened his father, who rendered active help in endeavouring to extinguish the fire, and in removing goods from the bank. The next morning, when the Wakelin family were seated at breakfast, Mr. Allison walked in and placing “a golden guinea on the table” said, “Well, Charles, I am very much obliged to you for your help, and I hope that will reward you.” Of stories such as these he told many, their merit being that they generally embodied some of those personal details that enable us to realize other people as living human beings, and not mere abstractions. [The fire, apparently not very destructive, was in June 1821: Mercury 15.6.1821]

Manifold infirmities afflicted Mr. Wakelin during the last few years of his life, and he passed away on the 6th January, 1896.

R. W. G.

From about 1883 some of Wakelin’s town crying work was performed by a deputy, John Norton Blythe (1860-1946), who succeeded him after his death and was active into the 1920s (Louth Standard 19.8.1922, 16.2.1946).

Goulding’s pamphlet included reproductions of a poor quality photograph of James shortly after his appointment as town crier and a reproduction of a drawing of his grandfather, William; the latter is also to be found in Goulding 1891 p 27.

One copy of the pamphlet has a manuscript addition in what appears to be Goulding’s handwriting:

“I can’t cry today, my wife’s dead” was the answer given by Wakelin to some one who wished him to “cry” a certain forthcoming event on the day of his wife’s death.

Wakelin’s wife, Mildred, died on 16 February 1879.