Albert Ivall (1839-97) : Farmer, haulage contractor and dairyman

I have recently found some new information about Albert's life and so am re-issuing this item.

Albert Ivall was born 26 January 1839 in St Pancras, the youngest of seven children born to David Ivall (1795 - 1850) and his wife Martha nee James (1796 - 1853). He was christened on 22 February 1839 in St Pancras Church. Albert’s father David was the younger brother of Thomas Ivall (1781 - 1835), my great, great, great grandfather. Albert’s siblings were David James (1830-73), Martha James Brisco (1831-99), James (1832-96), Laura (1833-39), Emma (1835-86) and Kate Bainbrigge (1836-1917).

The 1841 census shows David Ivall aged 45 a coach maker living at 158 Tottenham Court Road, St Pancras with his wife Martha (45) and their children Emma (6), Kate (4) and Albert (2). In 1845 the family moved to 14 Blomfield Road, Paddington, a large house which still exists (it has been renumbered as 24).

David Ivall (Albert’s father) died in 1850 and left an estate worth £35,000 (about £2,100,000 in modern terms). This was administered by the Court of Chancery. In the 1851 census, Albert (aged 12) is shown at Streatham Academy, Croydon Rd, Streatham. The school had 3 teachers and 30 pupils aged 9-16.

Martha, Albert’s mother, died in 1853 when he was 14. David James Ivall, his eldest brother aged 23 in 1853, was appointed as Albert’s guardian together with Anne Caroline Kingston (aged 38 in 1853), the wife of William Wykeham Kingston (51). In 1853 the Court of Chancery awarded £80 pa for the future maintenance and education of Albert.

The Court of Chancery records contain a document stating that Albert was to be apprenticed to James Rock of Hastings, Coach Builder, for 5 years from 26 January 1855 (Albert’s sixteenth birthday). James Rock was paid £250 and Albert’s wages were set at 6s per week in the first year, 7s in the second, 8s in the third, 10s in the fourth and 12s in the fifth. The amount that his guardians were allocated to spend on Albert’s maintenance and education was increased to £130 pa. The 1861 census shows James Rock Jnr, aged 42, a coach builder master employing 50 men. He was also an Alderman of the Borough of Hastings.

Albert inherited £5,000 (equivalent to about £320,000 now, calculated in relation to average earnings) from his father’s estate in 1860 when he was 21. The 1861 census shows Albert, aged 22, as a lodger in the house of John and Harriett Hogg at 7 Trinity Street, Hastings. It seems that coach making did not appeal to Albert - his occupation is given as “retired coachman”.

Later in 1861 Albert married Maria Streeter (b1840 St Leonards, Sussex) in Hastings. She was 21, the daughter of a baker and confectioner. He was aged 22. They had four children, namely Albert (1862 - 1905), Emma (1863 - 1904), David (1867 - 1897) and Harry (1869 - 1935).

Kelly's Post Office Directory for 1867 has the following entries :

Private : Mr. Albert Ivall, 2 Blomfield Terrace, St Leonards-On-Sea
Commercial : Albert Ivall, dairy farmer, Chapel Farm, Bohemia, Hastings

The London Gazette of 6 December 1867 contains a bankruptcy notice for James Ivall, Albert’s brother. It says that all of James’s estate and effects had been assigned to Albert Ivall (of Chapel Farm, Hastings, a farmer) as his Trustee to be administered for the benefit of his creditors.

The Sussex Advertiser dated 7 December 1867 contained the following item :

“George Bond, labourer, on remand from Monday charged with stealing two fowls belonging to Mr Albert Ivall of Chapel Farm, was again brought up. Prisoner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one month’s hard labour.”

In 1870, Albert was taken to court over some cattle he had sold. A newspaper report on the case begins as shown below

 Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 18 June 1870 

The judge did not think the evidence conclusive that the heifers were in calf at the time that they were sold and so rejected the claim against Albert.

The 1871 census lists Albert Ivall aged 32 as a farmer of 110 acres employing 5 men and 2 boys. He was living at 12 Magdalen Terrace, Hastings with his wife Maria, their children Albert (9), Emma (7), David (4) Harry (1), a general servant and a nurse.

Later in 1871, Albert gave up the tenancy of his farm to Charles Gilbert Eversfield and Walter Harris. The East Sussex Record Office in Lewes has a valuation book with an entry dated Nov 6^th 1871 giving an inventory and valuation of the livestock, crops and equipment on the farm (Hulls or Fieldings) in the parish of St Mary in the Castle, Hastings. The total value was £570-1-5, which the new tenants paid to Albert.

Albert became a haulage contractor. In 1872, one of his employees was prosecuted for ill-treating a horse that was pulling a cart but was unfit for work. He pleaded guilty but said that he was acting on the instructions of his master. As a result, Albert was charged with cruelty to the animal. He pleaded not guilty. The court found Albert guilty of the charge and fined him £1. The case was reported in detail by the Hastings & St Leonard Observer dated 2 March 1872.

Albert worked as a contractor for Mr Moreing, a wealthy Hastings builder and landowner. Mr Moreing wanted a large quantity (6,000 cart loads) of soil removed from a site near the sea front and instructed Albert to deposit it on the beach, hoping that the tide would wash it away. In fact it caused a considerable nuisance and the council filed a bill stopping further deposits. Mr Moreing contested the council’s order in Albert Ivall’s name and “Mayor and Corporation of Hastings v Ivall” was heard in the Vice Chancellor’s court in London in 1874. The case lasted 9 days and was reported in the national (The Times and Daily Telegraph) and local press. Both sides were represented by QCs. The Hastings and St Leonards Chronicle of March 11^th 1874 reported :

“Mr Albert Ivall was cross examined by Mr Glasse QC. He said he was in Hastings for 19 years and he ought to be there now. Before he went to Hastings he was a schoolboy. He and four others were now carrying on the business of a dairyman at Bayswater. He superintended the business. He was a married man and his wife and family lived at Kingston-on-Thames. The business belonged to his brother. His remuneration was uncertain. Sometimes he got £1 a week. He was indemnified by Mr Moreing so far as concerned his counsel’s fees but not as to any costs the court might award against him.”

(Albert’s brother was James Ivall (1832 - 1896). His dairy business was at 120 Talbot Road, Westbourne Park, which is north of Hyde Park in London.)

When Vice Chancellor Sir R Malins delivered his judgement in June 1874 it was in favour of the Hastings Corporation. Part of his judgement was :

“The defendant Ivall is now engaged as a journeyman milkman in the neighbourhood of London at the wages of 20s to 30s a week and may possibly never see Hastings again, so he has not the slightest interest in the result of this enormous litigation and has certainly no means to pay the costs of it, though he has an indemnity, as he states, from Mr Moreing. He is in fact the mere tool of Mr Moreing, who carries on the contest as he likes, and thereby escapes the peril of having to pay costs, though he may have the benefit of the litigation…
…The defendant must pay the whole costs of this suit. In making the order that he must do so, I am aware of its futility, and I regret that it is not in my power to make Mr Moreing pay the costs of this enormous litigation.”

The costs awarded against Albert resulted in his bankruptcy. The London Gazette of 9 April 1875 announced that a meeting of the creditors of Albert Ivall, of 10 Thames Street, Kingston-upon-Thames was to be held on 1^st May 1875.William Maton of 151, Gray’s Inn Road, an auctioneer, was appointed Trustee of Albert’s property. 

The Post Office Directories for 1874 to 1884 have the following entries for Albert :

1874	Albert Ivall, 4 Kings Rd, Kingston
1877	Albert Ivall, dairyman, Portsmouth St, WC
1878	Albert Ivall, 12 Silchester Rd, St Leonards
1880	Albert Ivall, dairyman, 132 Salmon’s Lane, E
1881	Albert Ivall, dairyman, 132 Salmon’s Lane & 5 Dock St, London Docks
1882, 83	Albert Ivall, dairyman, 145 Manor Place, Walworth
1884	Albert Ivall, dairyman, 145 Manor Place, Walworth & 10 York St, Walworth
1885 on	No entry for Albert Ivall

The Hastings and St Leonards Observer dated 15 June 1878 contained the following item :

“ACCIDENT – A serious accident happened on Thursday to Mr Albert Ivall, living in Silchester Road. He fell down two steps outside his house and, after being seen by Dr Ticehurst, was removed to the Infirmary, where it was found that he had fractured both bones of the right leg. He is now progressing as favourably as possible.”

The 1881 census shows Albert aged 42, a dairyman, living at 3 Long Lane, Southwark with his children Albert (19, also a dairyman), Emma (17), David (14, a solicitor‘s clerk) and Harry (11). Albert’s wife, Maria, is listed as a visitor at her mother’s address in Hastings.

Albert’s son, David married in 1886. The marriage record lists his father as Albert Ivall, retired, so he had ceased work as dairyman by then.

In 1891 Albert (aged 52, no occupation given) was living at 33 Manor St, Clapham with his wife Maria (50), their sons Albert (29, a grocer’s assistant) and David (25, a boot salesman). Also listed at the address was their grandson William A Freestone (3), the son of their daughter Emma who had married William Stafford Freestone in 1886.

Kelly’s 1896 Directory for the Southern Suburbs of London lists Albert Ivall at 55 Studley Rd, Clapham.

It seems that Martha, Albert’s eldest sister, lent Albert some money. Her will, dated May 1897 says “I forgive and release my brother Albert from moneys due from him to me at the time of my death” (she died in 1899).

Albert died on 22 June 1897 aged 58 at 55 Studley Rd, Clapham. The death certificate gives the cause of death as phthisis (chronic), debility, exhaustion. This corresponds to progressive wasting disease caused by pulmonary tuberculosis, which was common at this time. The informant was his daughter Emma Freestone, who was present at the death. There is no record of probate being granted on his estate. His wife Maria lived until 1921 when she died aged 81 in Upton Park, West Ham. Probate was granted to Harry Ivall, a draper’s assistant, who was the only one of her children still alive. The value of her estate was £217.