Events in Norfolk lead to a breakdown in trust

Ludham Bridge on the River Bure. Jane Betsy's brothers in law Sherwood William Page and Alfred Neave are from Ludham. Also from there,  her aunt or cousin Charlotte and her son Alfred Norton Huke.

Nearly all the people mentioned in the story of the fortunes and misfortunes of my Norfolk ancestors are related to them in some way. Edward Dennis Ballinger and Alfred Norton Huke are no exceptions. These  two people are the reason my 2nd great grandmother, Jane Betsy, made a revised will.

   Edward Dennis Ballinger, of Gloucester, was Jane Betsy's son in law, related to her by his marriage to her youngest daughter Rosa May. Specifically cut as a beneficiary, this may be why neither she, nor the daughter she was living with in Stoke Newington,  Emma Jane, were informed of Rosa May's death.

   Alfred Norton Huke first came to my notice in Georgie Lesbini's (Jane Betsy's cousin) letter to Tunstall, in which she has heard a rumour he is engaged to Ann Boult, but doesn't believe it. Alfred Norton Huke is also a cousin through her aunt Charlotte Crow's marriage to Samuel Taylor Huke, a surgeon from Ludham. There are a couple of recipes for hair wash in Emma Jane's Tunstall book from Mrs Huke.

   After learning the trade, working in a bookseller and stationers in Gloucester, Charlotte's son Alfred Norton Huke opens up a bookseller and stationers in Market Row, Great Yarmouth. He often advertises in the Norfolk Chronicle, which he is agent for, and he invites local people to bring their snippets of local news into his shop. Huke & Co runs a printers and library as well. They publish diaries, Almanacks, guide books and Christmas cards.

   Not long after the libel case which money lenders, with branches in Norwich, Yarmouth and Gloucester, bring against the publishers of the Daylight, a cheque which A. N. Huke makes out to W. L. Shrubsole, photographer, is the subject of a forgery charge. The photographer has employed the solicitor Stanley to prosecute his canvasser Newman. He asserts Newman has forged his signature on the cheque for 1s/9d from A. N. Huke and cashed it. At a second hearing A. N. Huke says the cheque, was returned to him by Newman, because the bill was for 3s/1d, but that he had returned some of the photographs and 1s/9d was then owing. The manager of Gurney's Bank said the cheque was paid by the London agents Messrs Barclay and Co at the Limehouse Branch of the London and Counties Banking Company. Newman was bailed.

   The case went to the Norwich Assizes in November 1884. Newman was acquitted when it was discovered the photographer owed him £12 in commission and he had been in the habit of cashing cheques and taking his commission that way.  

   After this A.N. Huke is in partnership with John Samuel Meacock, a stationer and bookseller from Brixton. In April 1889, a notice appears in the press to announce the partnership is dissolved and that all credits and debts will be received by or paid by Mr Meacock. Yarmouth solicitor G. F. D. Preston has witnessed the statement. In October 1889 at a meeting of the Ancient Order of Foresters, Mr A. N. Huke, Mr J. S. Meacock and Sir E. Birkbeck Bart are made honorary members at the Masonic Hall, St Georges Paved Row.

  In November that year A.N. Huke advertise diaries for 1890, "Huke's Library" and Christmas and New Year cards. At the beginning of April 1890 a notice appears in the local press to announce the will of the late John Samuel Meacock  has been proved by solicitor G. F. D. Preston. In the same newspaper, Henry Bailey is advertising immense reductions at his bookseller and stationary shop, previously A. N. Huke, during alterations to the premises. Advertisements for his take over of A.N. Huke and Co of 12 and 14 Market Row, Great Yarmouth include "Depot of Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and also custom house forms used in Great Yarmouth." All correspondence for the Norfolk Chronicle to H. Bailey successor to A.N.Huke and Co. Later in the year Bailey is advertising artistic die shaping, stamping, engraving and printing.

    In March 1891, Alfred Huke's mother Charlotte Crow Huke died in Chester in her 85th year. Shortly afterwards premises at Victoria House, Regent Road, Great Yarmouth and Marine Parade, recently occupied by Messrs. Huke and Co, are to be auctioned at the Star Hotel.

   Under the headline "Revelations of a Stationery Business" in mid December 1892, Henry Bailey is in the Yarmouth bankruptcy court in the town hall. Solicitor G.F.D.Preston appears for his creditors.

   Jane Betsy signed her revised will two months later.

   Less than a month afterwards, a letter to the editor appears in the Yarmouth Independent of the 11th March:  "Henry Bailey bankrupt, purchased the business A.N.Huke from the late J.S. Meacock, not from A.N.Huke, signed A.N.Huke, China, 27th January 1893.

  Perhaps it was because cousin Alfred was living in China, Jane Betsy felt he could no longer be a trustee of her will. Another relative, brother-in-law, Sherwood William Page, trustee of my 2nd great grandfather, James Pollard Skinner's will, is not mentioned in any letters or documentation I have, except as one of the plaintiffs in the chancery case. I think I have identified the reasons for this.

    Picture below of Market Row, Great Yarmouth is from a recent issue of the Eastern Daily Press.