Few people approach the state of grace we have come to know as saintliness and perhaps only one person in the history of Bourne is so remembered. She was Jane Redmile, daughter of a yeoman farmer from Dyke, whose unyielding faith, selfless service and sense of charity singled her out as a special person in her lifetime and her memory shines undimmed today as an example of the perfect life.

In the closing years of the 19th century, her name conjured up the quaint figure in homely garb, often seen on errands of mercy or attending the church she loved so well and which she had served for 65 years, a stooping form because she lived to be old and bent and grey but it had been a life spent in all things good and true. “She could neither strive nor cry”, wrote her biographer Benjamin Wyles, “but the unobtrusive, gentle influence of her life was potent for good.”

Jane was born at Dyke on 10th May 1800 in the stone cottage that still stands overlooking the village green. Her father, William Redmile (born 1772), had moved there from Ryhall, near Stamford, after marrying a local girl, Ann Campin (born at Bourne in 1776). They had six children, Jane being the eldest to Campain (sic), John, Mary Ann, Elizabeth and Harriet.

In November 1817, tragedy struck the family when her father was badly hurt in an accident while blasting for a new well on the farm. He survived his injuries after being nursed by Ann for fourteen weeks but lost his sight and so the breadwinner had been struck down at a time when a vexatious lawsuit threatened the future of their home. Jane, then only 17, took over the responsibilities for home and family, looking after her five brothers and sisters, while her mother opened a shop to raise sufficient money for their needs.

Every avenue to earn a penny was explored, selling sugar at one penny a portion while living themselves on dry bread and Jane even took in additional home employment known as down work, plucking geese for the fine feathers to make quilts, exacting work by candlelight so repetitive that she often fell asleep but dreamed of the task in hand and woke to find that her work of past hours had been plucked to pieces. Eventually, she was forced to abandon this labour for fear of fire if the candle wax burned too low.

Jane’s teenage youth was passed in continual labour yet she found time to attend the Baptist Church at Bourne, walking the two miles there and back twice on Sundays for school and service. Meanwhile, the other children were growing up and beginning to leave home and so Jane opened a grocery shop in Eastgate, Bourne, where she soon became known among the neighbours for her charity and goodwill. Most lived in unsanitary conditions and drunkenness was rife but Jane spread the gospel of cleanliness and temperance and then decided that education would also be a benefit.

She added a small circulating library to the business and tried her hand at composition and, still fired by her religious fervour, set herself the task of learning Greek and Hebrew in order that she could read the bible in the languages in which it was originally written. Soon, her reputation spread and both clergy and laymen with widely divergent views sought her company for discussion and debate, always conducted with patience and tolerance and her personal humility could only leave others with a deep feeling of love and respect.

During this period, Jane had been saving money with one purpose in mind, that of opening a Baptist chapel at Morton, two miles north of Dyke. She felt that the village was enclosed in a moral and spiritual darkness and although services had been held in the homes of various non-conformist believers, they had been vigorously opposed by the parson, the Rev Thomas Holdsworth, and the squire, William Parker, who controlled most of the land and properties. But Jane had bided her time until she heard of a cottage for sale and bought it for use as a chapel and soon services, prayer meetings and a Sunday School were being held there regularly.

Jane had resisted attempts by the squire to purchase the cottage and thwart her scheme but as time went by, he began to see the fruits of her labour in improving the morals of the village and withdrew his opposition. But the small chapel soon became inadequate and land was offered by John Gibson, a corn merchant from Bourne, for a new one that was opened on Sunday 21st June 1846 after Jane had taken on the burden of raising most of the money herself. The old chapel, lighted by dripping candles, continued in use until April 1876 when a more commodious building with schoolrooms was opened and this building continues in use today.

By now, Jane needed to spend more time at home to care for her ailing parents, one blind the other weak, and so she turned her attention to Dyke. She had already established a school in the village at her own cost and in 1843, a building was completed and this continued in service for 27 years but was eventually demolished because it lay on the route of the new Bourne to Sleaford railway line. Then in 1861, she bought a small property for Sunday School meetings that were held until the present Baptist Chapel was opened in 1879 and is still in use.

She was now comfortably situated, the owner of 61 acres of land at Dyke that was rented out and brought in a modest income, as well as the proceeds from the shop in Eastgate. After the death of her parents, her mother having died on 18th January 1846 and her father on 5th September 1858, Jane lived for a while with her nephew William Garner at his home in Dyke and then retired from business and left the village for Bourne, living alone at a small house in Church Street for several years, busy with her reading and bible study, her patchwork and sewing, visited by many friends and still doing good works, quietly and unobtrusively, paying pressing debts for others, sending parcels of necessities to needy people and always ready with a word of sympathy or compassion for those bereaved or distressed by the ills of the world. Yet she still had the time and mental energy to ponder on questions of faith, meeting regularly with theologians, scholars and writers on Sunday afternoons.

But her health began to decline and she suffered spasms and fainting fits and with some reluctance, in 1880 was persuaded to go and live with her sister Elizabeth who had married a Bourne merchant, William Wyles, at their home in Elm Terrace. She resisted the idea of losing her independence for some weeks but finally succumbed and went quietly, knowing there was no sensible alternative. She was now an old woman who needed care and attention although no invalid and her faculties were in full vigour, still attending religious services and prayer meetings and maintaining an active interest in the Sunday School where she continued teaching as long as her strength allowed. On her way home, Aunt Jane, as she had now become known, would be followed by a number of young people wanting to speak with her and although far removed by reason of age, she felt sufficiently young in heart to be one of them.

On Saturday 16th June 1883, the day before she died, there was a characteristic incident at the Baptist Church where she had offered a bible as the prize to the scholar completing the best set of texts on the subject of baptism. Jane was so satisfied with the work submitted that she decided each should have a bible and the books were distributed as she lay dying.

Her declining physical condition, complicated by a severe cold that threatened bronchitis, finally took its toll although she had already anticipated the end and had settled her affairs, giving instructions to relatives about her estate. After breakfast on Sunday, she had her will read over again and signed it then had a period of reading and conversation, her mind as active as ever. She retired to rest but suffered a new attack and went into a coma and in the afternoon, the pulse fluttered, hesitated, stopped and all was over. The cause of death was certified as senile decay and that a small clot of coagulated blood lodged in the brain due the exhausted state of the heart. Today, this would be known as a stroke.

The minister at the Bourne Baptist Church, the Rev William Orton, later wrote these lines which stand as her epitaph: “The gentleness and refinement of her character were shown in courtesy to all, in esteem for the poorest, in her recognition of the use of the lowest, both in human life and material things. Nothing was high enough for pride, or low enough for contempt. Outwardly, her life taught that true dignity is irrespective of rank or fortune, that with care and thrift, the lowest may rise, that adverse circumstances may be controlled, that it is in the power of all to inform themselves for the benefit of others. Seeing her virtues, knowing that the same sources of strength are open to all, those who honour her piety may follow her and, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.”

The funeral was on Thursday 21st June and afterwards Jane was buried in the town cemetery where several other members of the family are also interred. Since then, the Redmiles have become part of the history of Dyke village although there is no one with that name living there today. Life was hard during the latter years of the 19th century and many emigrated seeking new opportunities, to Australia, Canada and the United States, and descendents are now numerous. Jane is remembered in Dyke by a new housing development called Redmile Close, named in her memory by Bourne Town Council and the developers, M Parker and Sons (Builders) Ltd, when the work was completed in November 2000, while on the other side of the Atlantic, a proud family tradition continues.

Despite her simple lifestyle, Jane Redmile was a wealthy woman which was revealed soon after her death when the trustees of her will sold off many valuable family properties from which she had been paid an income during her lifetime.

ESTATE SALE: Mr F G Shilcock offered for sale by auction, at the Angel Hotel on Thursday last week, a valuable estate belonging to the trustees of the late Miss Jane Redmile, of Dyke. Lot 1, a parcel of arable land containing 9a. 3r. 2¼p. situate in the West Field, in Bourne, and occupied by Mr Henry Goodyear under a lease expiring the 6th April 1886, and which lot is copyhold of the Manor of Bourne Abbots, was withdrawn, the last bid being £450 by Mr John Redmile, of Spalding, and the reserve £500. Lot 2, a close of freehold pasture land containing 4a. 2r. 10p. situate in the East Field, in Bourne, and occupied by Mr W R Garner, was sold to W R Wherry, Esq., for £450. Possession of this lot is to be given at Lady-day, 1885. Lot 3, a parcel of arable land containing 11a. 0r. 5p. (2a. 1r. of which is freehold and the remainder copyhold), situate in the Bourne South Fen, and occupied by Mr George Brudenell, was withdrawn, Mr Sims, of Dyke, being the last bidder at £365, and the reserve £420. Lot 4, a parcel of freehold arable land containing 12a. 3r. 35p., situate in Morton Fen, and occupied by Mr Edward Scotney, was also withdrawn, the last bid of £460 being by Mr Wm. Wyles, of Bourne, and the reserve declared £520. S W Andrews Esq., was the solicitor for the vendors. - news report from the Grantham Journal, Saturday 6th October 1883.

PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM
This remarkable photograph which is believed to be that of Jane Redmile (seated) with a relative or friend and a bible before her, was taken by William Redshaw in the late 19th century and was unknown until his granddaughter, Mrs Heather Nash, now living in Canada, visited Bourne and brought with her copies of several glass plate negatives that had survived from his archive and gave them to me for research. The picture was most probably taken in the closing years of Jane's life and I have dated it circa 1880, perhaps in May that year to celebrate her 80th birthday.
The cottage overlooking the village green (above) where Jane Redmile was born from a photograph taken by her nephew, William Redmile Garner, son of Harriet Redmile, who had married John Garner in 1840. This copy of the picture was taken to America by her grand-nephew, Henry Herbert (Bert) Inkley, son of her niece Mary, when he emigrated in 1888, and is now in the possession of his descendants. Cottage and barn conversions abound in the villages around Bourne and this one in the main street at Dyke (below) is among the most attractive. The property before the work started was quite dilapidated and work was prolonged because of planning restrictions but even the thatching has been completed in a sympathetic manner and the restored building, now known as Redmile Farm, adds grace to the street scene. The original Redmile Farm was broken up during the 19th century and census reports over the years have noted at least two Redmile Farms in the area.
Jane was buried in the town cemetery at Bourne on 21st June 1883 and a stone memorial marks her last resting place, the inscription now badly eroded by wind and weather. She shares the grave with her father, William Redmile, who died in 1858 but it is not known where her mother, Ann, is buried. The burial would also have been marked by a graveside service, as was the custom of the day, and when the funeral cortege passed through the town to the cemetery, blinds were drawn in the houses along the route as a mark of respect for Aunt Jane.
A new housing development completed in Dyke in 2000 was named after Jane Redmile to acknowledge her tireless work for the Baptist cause. The name was chosen on the insistence of Councillor Don Fisher who admired her contribution to the wider community.

REVISED MARCH 2011

See also     William Redmile Garner     Dyke village

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