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Henry Kelham
1845-1916
One of the stalwarts of religious life in Bourne during the late
19th century was Henry Kelham who was born in 1845 and worked as a
tailor and outfitter from shop premises in North Street, Bourne.
Henry was one of the eight children of George Kelham
(1800-1854) and Sarah Burgin (1812-1845) who were born at Waltham in the Wolds,
Leicestershire but after Sarah died, the family appears to have hit hard times because the census of 1851
lists three of the children, Robert Henry (born 1841), Joseph (born 1843) and
Henry (born 1845), as inmates of the workhouse at Melton Mowbray. There was a
previous son called Henry (1838-1844) who died in infancy but a second Henry,
the subject of this article, was born in 1845 and it was a custom of the time
to name subsequent sons after those who had previously died.
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Henry Kelham and his wife Charlotte who lived with
their family at a house in North Road, then a much sought after location
by local dignitaries and businessmen. These photographs appear to have
been taken by William Redshaw. |
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John (born
1831), William (1833) and James (1835) all emigrated to Australia in the hope
of seeking their fortunes in the goldfields and Robert sailed for America
only to die of typhoid fever in 1865 while serving with the Union army during
the Civil War. He had married by this time, Matilda Grant (1845-1935) and had
one son, William Robert Henry Kellham (1863-1947). Their descendants still
live in the USA while there are also relatives of William and James living
in Australia, including Murray Bryan Kellam, a judge of the Supreme Court,
both now
using a different version of the name although the English family believe that
this was the original spelling.
Henry remained in England and worked as a tailor and outfitter, establishing a successful shop in North Street
which he ran for thirty years before retiring in 1906 when he made his
youngest son, Robert, a partner and handed over to him the day to
day running of
the business. He was also closely associated
with the Wesleyan [Methodist] chapel in Abbey Road where he earned a
reputation as a preacher on the local circuit. In his book Methodist Memories,
published circa 1923, Henry Sneath (1860-1931) remembered
outstanding local men who preached at chapels within the Bourne
Methodist Circuit and he said of Henry Kelham: "He spoke with an air
of authority and always gave you something to think about." He was a member of the Liberal party and
although he took no active part in public political life, he was a
voluntary
worker at election time and once stood, unsuccessfully, for a seat on
Bourne Urban District Council. Mr Kelham died at his home at Burghley
Villa, North Road, on
Friday 21st July 1916, aged 70, after a long illness which had confined
him to his bed for three months.
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LAST RESTING PLACE
The grave of Henry and Charlotte Kelham in the town
cemetery at Bourne. The plot is untended, the stone surround sagging and
the memorial plaque collapsed, cracked and eroded by wind and weather
although the lettering survives on the kerbstone at the two ends. |
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Henry was buried in
the town cemetery after a funeral service at the Wesleyan chapel conducted
by the Rev R B Saul, the circuit minister, when the coffin, made of elm
with brass fittings, was borne by four friends. He left a widow, Charlotte (born 1846-1933), three sons
and one daughter, including Robert, Arthur and Herbert Kelham
(1875-1960), a well-known solicitor practising in Stamford but also
with offices in Bourne at No 4 Abbey Road. Herbert was prominent in
public life, becoming a town
councillor at Stamford and serving two terms as mayor, eventually
being made a Freeman. A daughter, Kate Emma Kelham (1871-1890),
had pre-deceased him. Charlotte died on 11th January 1933, aged 81, and was
buried alongside her husband.
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Business display advertisement from 1909. |
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The shop in North Street,
pictured here on the right, was taken over by
Mr Robert Kelham when his father retired in 1906 and so this photograph
must have been taken after that date because his name is on the sign
board. The building was demolished in 1920 to make way for the Tudor
cinema which is used today as a Chinese restaurant. |
Henry's son Robert Ernest Kelham was
born at Bourne in 1881 and died at Stamford in 1964. He married Ruby
Mould at Nassington, Northamptonshire, on 7th September 1910, and
they had three children, Raymond (1913-1993), who ran a grocery
store in Stamford for many years, John Francis (1914-1942), who was
killed while serving in the Royal Air Force during the Second World
War, and a daughter, Joyce, born 1917 but date of death unknown.
The law firm Kelham and Sons survives as Kelhams, solicitors, practising
at 9 Broad Street, Stamford.
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A LETTER TO AMERICA
Henry Kelham kept in touch with his relatives
in the United States, particularly his nephew, son of his brother
Robert who had died during the American Civil War, by writing
occasional letters and in 1909 sent a long account about his
circumstances with a request for a loan, the letter being addressed
to William Robert Henry Kellam, then
running a boat hire business at Bar Harbour, Maine. The letter said:
Dear nephew
and nieces
I have no doubt you will think it a long while since I wrote you or
answered your last letter. I will say that Herbert, my second son,
passed and also got honours [in his law examination]. He has had a
struggle since, being short of capital. He started to practice in
this town of Bourne but the people here are very clannish and
conservative and would not patronise him as they ought. Plenty of
them commended him for his high attainments but that don’t get him a
living. Nevertheless, he has won six out of eight of his cases in
court but it is the conveyance of property that pays the best.
This last April he went in partnership with another solicitor at
Stamford but he is a drinking man and yet he has been a perfect
gentleman to my son and now Herbert is buying the practice off him
at a five year rate, him to have half profits for that time or pay
him so much in that time, at any time in that period, and it would
be entirely his own. Of course, my son would rather buy it at once
but cannot and so it makes it an easier way in the period of time,
not having any capital.
Of course, we are doing our very best for him but our money is so
tied up with credit. I don’t like to ask you if you have a matter of
a surplus £200 you may not be using as a loan for two years. It is a
very good practice he is taking to and you may rest assured it would
all be safe as he is an abstainer from drink and an assiduous
worker, but the first year seems the hardest. I thought you may be
able to spare it.
Our youngest son, Bob [Robert Ernest Kelham], is about to be married
next spring and then the old folks will be alone. I am sixty-four
years old on Friday 29th October and Mrs [Charlotte] Kelham
sixty-four years old in February. Enclosed are portraits awaiting
you when convenient. I went to my native place [Waltham on the Wolds,
near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire] in September. I have one cousin
left on my mother’s side and one on my father’s.
The great topic politically is the budget in this country.
I might say Herbert has four little sons, seven, five, three and one
year respectively. Arthur has two sons and two daughters,
so you see they mean to perpetuate the name of Kelham.
As soon as I can, will send remainder of portraits. I have your
father’s taken [with] fixed bayonet going to the war. Is Mrs Robert
[Matilda], your
mother, living yet? If so, give my love to her. I lost in your
father [Robert Henry Kelham] a man worthy of the name of a brother,
six of us left orphans to battle through life alone, and it was no
little thing to do. But we have a great deal to be thankful for in
health and pluck. I have had a good run of health which has been a
great blessing.
Of course, the profits of a solicitor are great when they get a
footing. Herbert has opened an office at Peterborough and one here.
But now he will concentrate a greater part of his efforts at
Stamford [at 26 St Mary’s Street] and come to his office here [at No
4 Abbey Road, Bourne] once a week and Peterborough twice a week or
two days or one as the case may be, as the practice at Stamford is
an old established one.
The lady that Bob is about to marry [Ruby Mould] is twenty-one, he
is twenty-nine.
The population of this town is 5,000, not a large town. Stamford is
10,000, Peterborough 27,000. I have been here thirty-eight years,
thirty years of it in business. But the competition here is keen. I
get a few orders from my native place, Waltham, by going once a
year. It is about thirty miles from here. I like to go when I can to
look at the place. It is a village.
When can you pay us a visit? I should be pleased to see you, in fact
we all would.
I have no doubt Herbert sometime will write. I enclose his card. You
will see on the card that Herbert was only a partner at
Peterborough, the practice of which is small. Burrow had a larger
one at Stamford and now he is leaving Stamford. I have done as much
as I can and would not trouble you but for mine being such a credit
business. I see no fear of him getting on when he has got a start,
it is a chance of a lifetime. Awaiting your reply with love to all
and your dear mother.
Yours affectionately
H & C Kelham
NOTE: I have made small editorial
amendments to this letter to make it more accessible to
the modern reader and added explanatory notes in square brackets. |
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