Author Archives: admin

Our Next Reunion Update

We are currently planning our next reunion tentatively being planned for the summer of 2023. As our plans begin to become more structures it is our intention to keep everyone involved. But should you have any questions or suggestions please share them with us.

Many of you will have seen the great work that Gladys has done to bring together the family tree in the MS Word format. Similarly, there is a version created in specific family tree software with a copy on the website in the About section. Should you have updates or corrections they are most welcome.

A Short history of Richardson Burtt Family Reunions Past

In 1990, a joint effort led by Burtt Richardson with the assistance of Ingram Richardson, Newall Woodworth, Bill Richardson, and others, proposed, and organized the first Family Reunion. Burtt identified all descendants of James Cope and Louisa Townsand Richardson, contacted and invited all the living descendants, including spouses and children, to attend the reunion on the coast of Maine. Funds, contributed by family members to subsidize the reunion, resulted in 125 family members journeying to Maine to “discover our amazing family,” share stories, food, laughter, and a sunset boat cruise on the coast where lively conversations continued far into the evening.

Five years later in 1995, we discovered our Burtt family roots, when 80 of us gathered in England, hosted by Jean and Dennis Burtt at the Burtt family lodge, and again shared stories, laughter, food, a tour of Lincolnshire and an impressive castle.

Reflecting our make-up as an international family, the 2000 Reunion, hosted by Maria and Alan Richardson was held in Montreal, where young and older member of our family shared common interests/experiences in careers, enjoyed a performance by younger members of the family, shared stories and food and toured the city.

Gathering around an evening campfire and sharing stories brought a close to the 2005 Reunion, hosted by Henry and Sarah Richardson, at their cabin, Quail Heath, nestled in a peaceful, isolated valley of the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. As in previous reunions, reconnecting with family and meeting other members for the first time, including Douglas Thomas, who had fulfilled a life dream of travelling from his home in South Africa, storytelling, and lawn games filled the day.

We were beckoned to Chicago for the 2010 Reunion, beginning with an evening of cultural entertainment, a lawn picnic and evening of music in Millenium Park, the 50th anniversary dinner celebrating Burtt and Gladys’s marriage, and a gathering at Katherine and Kevin Kenward’s home in Flossmoor, for a low-keyed day of re-connecting, a luncheon featuring salmon caught by Steven Masley on an Alaskan expedition, and memorable story telling that lasted all afternoon.

Our 25^th reunion in 2015 saw many off the Richardson relatives meet again in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Anne and Colin Williamson graciously opened their home to a wine and cheese gathering on the Friday evening where we renewed friendships and met relatives from Australia and Scotland for the first time. On Saturday, we gathered to re-connect, share stories and update the family tree. Some of the attendees also went on a visit to a Mennonite farm and other activities. Saturday evening, we gathered as a group for a BBQ dinner at the hotel and more visiting. Sunday was spent touring the neighbourhood and sharing stories. Sunday evening, we said our so longs until the next gathering.

The reunion planned for 2020 was disrupted due to the Covid pandemic. But with popular demand things came together in 2023. Our hosts Gary Richardson and Campbell Millar hosted our gathering in Stirling Scotland. Centered at the hotel located at the University of Stirling. The event started with being hosted by Gary and Campbell at their home. In addition to family gatherings at the University we had the opportunity to visit Stirling Castle and the Wallace National Monument.

Louisa Townsend Bakewell Richardson

Louisa Townsend Bakewell

Louisa Townsend Bakewell Richardson was born at Burton-on-Trent on October 3, 1838 and died at Brixton Deverell Rectory, July 25, 1926. In 1861, at the age of 23, she married James Cope Richardson at Tamworth, Staffordshire. With James Cope she had seven children, five sons and two daughters, Albert, Charles, Elsie, Louisa, Henry, Townsend and James.

Louisa and James children about 1875

Louisa remained at home and cared for the children when they were growing up.

When Louisa’s first great granddaughters, Phyllis and Margaret, were born, she sent Phyllis (the elder of the twins) a Baby’s Teething Whistle which had been given to her as a baby.

Etching of Louisa Townsend Bakewell Richardson

Louisa’s youngest son James was an artist of some note and prepared this etching to commemorate his mothers eightieth birthday.

James Cope Richardson

James Cope Richardson was born in 1840, the eldest son to Thomas Richardson, a solicitor of Uttoxeter. It was his intention to go to University with a view to follow Law or take Holy Orders, but the early death of his father when he was only 17, obliged him to abandon a professional career in order to supervise a small milling and artificial manure business in which his father had an interest.

In 1868, he moved to Lichfield and established the successful flour milling and baking business of which he was sole proprietor up to the year of his retirement in 1914 when he auctioned it off.
He was well known and respected in the trade as a shrewd, high principled business man. While in business, he was a member of the National Associations in both milling and baking, although he did not play an active role in either association. He also stayed out of municipal and political affairs, but he was an active and generous supporter of philanthropic, religious and temperance societies and institutions, not only in his life but also through his bequests at his death.

In 1861 James Cope married Louisa Townsend Bakewell. The couple had seven children, five sons and two daughters, Albert, Charles, Elsie, Louisa, Henry, Townsend and James.
Up until a short time before his death in 1919, of cerebral haemorrhage, he was actively employed in helping others whose circumstances, largely on account of the war, had become straitened. He was buried in the Brandwood End Cemetery, near Birmingham on Wednesday, May 7, 1919. James Cope Richardson Obituary was posted in the local paper on May 24, 1919. The Last Will and Testament of James Cope was also registered.

H. B. Bags Big Bertha

H. B. BAGS BIG BERTHA

(THE FISH THAT DIDN’T GET AWAY)

Henry B. Richardson

Other fishermen come home to tell of the big one that got away. Not so Henry B. Richardson, member of our board of directors and head of H.B. Richardson & Co., accountants and auditors. His professional passion for exactness and proving things carries right over into his fishing.

Didn’t he have a photograph, taken with him standing next to his fish with his hand on a flipper? Who could doubt his catching it after that?

And didn’t he give us, the exact dimensions – eight feet, eight inches high by six feet, six inches in girth (the measure round the body; as at the waist – Webster) and 766 lbs. in weight. She sure was a chubby little dickens!

Let’s hear H.B. tell us about it.

“We were off Wedgeport, Nova Scotia. The hook was baited. The bait was a herring which had been de-gutted (eviscerated – for the ladies). Then the hook was inserted and the herring was sewed up again. We had to make the herring skip over the waves as if it were alive. The tuna was supposed to leap out of the water after the herring.

“Well, sir, that’s just what it did. We were in this half-mile square of cross tide, (there are only about three places in the world where this type of cross tide exists and where tuna can be caught) when suddenly a tremendous form shot out of the water and snagged my herring. From then on out it was my game, with a very game fish at the other end of my 39 thread. For three-and-one half hours we played out the line, pulled it in and maneuvered [sic] the boat. Finally we boated the big fish seven miles from the point of strike. What a job! What a thrill! The girth of my chest almost equalled the tuna’s girth as my bosom swelled with pride!”

H.B. felt that this was an experience of a lifetime. After all, only 25% of the tunas that struck were finally boated. So he decided to call his wife – long distance. Through the rural telephone system at Nova Scotia, connecting with the Bell system in U.S.A. and then again to the local rural system at Sussex, N.J., where his wife was staying, he finally made contact with the nearest phone, a half mile away. They called his wife to the phone. ”I’ve got an 800 lb. tuna,” he shouted over the phone, “and next to getting married and having three children this is the biggest thrill I’ve ever had!” His wife responsed, “The idea! Comparing me with a tuna!”

Kinda reminds me of the fella who went fishin’ up in the North woods. He got a swell trout so he wired back to his wife?

“GOT ONE YESTERDAY, WEIGHTS SEVEN POUNDS, IT’S A BEAUTY.”

She wired back:

“I GOT ONE YESTERDAY TOO, WEIGHTS SEVEN POUNDS, TOO. NOT A BEAUTY. LOOKS LIKE YOU. COME HOME AT ONCE.”

Reprinted from the Richardson Scale Co. newsletter 50th Anniversary Issue of the Richardson beam, December 1951

A Baby’s Teething Whistle

A Baby’s Teething Whistle (Rattle)

A story compiled by Val Richardson, Generation 5 (wife of great grandson of Albert Richardson, son of James Cope Richardson)

I have had a chance to collate the information found regarding the baby’s rattle in Phyllis Lamb’s possession.

There are certain allegations concerning the possibility Louisa Townsend Bakewell (1838 – 1926) was abandoned and adopted by a Bakewell family in Uttoxeter. It has been further alleged Louisa’s father may have been one of the wealthy local Bagot family. The inference comes from the similarity of names of the silversmith E. (Elizabeth) Morley and the possibility of the curator at the Bagot house Blithfield Hall (variously spelt Blyth Held & Blyth Field) being an E. Morley.

Photo by David Lamb

My investigations appear to show none of this is true or at the very least most unlikely.

The family history appears thus:

The Richardson family has normally gone back to the marriage of James Cope Richardson (1840 – 1919) and Louisa Townsend Bakewell, (1838- 1926) the subject of this article.

This Louisa Townsend Bakewell was born 3 October 1838 at Bridge Street, Burton and registered in the Sub District of Burton On Trent. [1] Louisa’s birth was registered on 10 November 1838 and her parents were Henry Bakewell and Louisa Townsend. Henry’s occupation is recorded as a “stationeer” and Louisa is listed as deceased. This suggests she may have died due to childbirth. She is buried at St. Leonard’s Church, Blithfield, Staffordshire. The memorial inscription reads “Charlotte Dorothy, wife of Charles Dawson of Stafford and daughter of Charles Townsend of Abbots Bromley, 31^st August 1844 aged 37. Louisa, sister of the above and wife of William Henry Bakewell, 5^th October 1838, aged 33.”

Louisa Townsend Bakewell was christened on 12^th October 1838 in Burton Upon Trent and then again on 4^th November 1838 in Abbots Bromley[2]

William Henry Bakewell (25yrs and a stationer of Burton Upon Trent, son of Thomas Bakewell, Farmer) married Louisa Townsend (32yrs of Abbots Bromley, daughter of Charles Townsend, Farmer) on 30^th October 1837 in the Parish Church of Abbots Bromley[3]. Witnesses to the marriage were Charles Townsend, Charlotte Dorothy Townsend and Louisa Bakewell.

Louisa Townsend was the daughter of Charles Townsend and Dorothy Kent and she was christened at Blithfield on 12^th February 1806[4]. Also listed with the same parents are Charlotte Dorothy Townsend, christened Blithfield 15^th May 1803 and Ann Townsend, christened in Blithfield 9^th June 1804.[5]

The verification of Charles and Charlotte Dorothy Townsend on two occasions strongly suggests this is the same family.

Charles Townsend and Dorothy Kent were married in Blithfield on 29^th June 1802[6]. Dorothy Kent was possibly the daughter of Samuel & Dorothy Kent. If these are her parents then she was born on 26^th October 1780 and christened on 5^th November 1780 at the Castle Church, Staffordshire.[7]

In the Pigot & Co directory (1839) for Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire and listed under “Nobility, Gentry & Clergy” appears listings for Bagot, The Rt. Honourable Lord of Blithfield Hall, & Bagot, the Rt. Reverend, Bishop of Oxford, Rectory and, in the same grouping, Townsend, Mrs Dorothy of Abbots Bromley.

I have no further information at this stage of the Townsends or the Kents.

What became of the baby Louisa Townsend Bakewell/Richardson?

According to the 1841[8] census report Louisa was being looked after by her father’s sister another Louisa Bakewell, a woman of independent means in High St Uttoxeter. Living in the same street were Thomas Richardson, Attorney and his family, wife Elizabeth, and son James. Further research on the Bakewell family shows that William Henry Bakewell did have a sister Louisa. I cannot locate William on the night of the 1841 census which is strange as William Henry Bakewell remarried on June 11^th 1839[9] and he did not die until about 1858.

William married Mary Ann Coult, spinster of Uttoxeter (Father not listed). William’s occupation is recorded as Stationer. Witnesses to the marriage were Robert Wood and (name unclear). They were married by Licence in Uttoxeter.

By the 1851[10] census young Louisa is registered as living with her father. William is now a farmer in the Parish of Leigh with 90 acres employing 3 labourers. Louisa has a sister Mary, born 1846. Unfortunately William Henry dies in 1858[11]. On census night 1861, Mary Ann Coult/Bakewell is employed as a Housekeeper at Baldersby Park Hall[12]. Daughter Mary is a boarder at a school in Nottingham[13] but by the 1872 census Mary has married Thomas Thurman and her mother Mary Ann is living with them.[14]

I have located Louisa Townsend Bakewell/Richardson in the 1861 census (She is listed as Lovina Bakewell living with the “ARNOLE” family which should be ARNOLD) at Sherrall Farm, Drayton Bassett[15]. I know she married James Cope Richardson on April 30^th, 1861[16] at the Parish Church of Drayton Bassett in Stafford in the registration district of Lichfield. The certificate states James Cope Richardson, 21, bachelor, artificial manure manufacturer, living at Darisford?, near Lichfield. His Father is listed as Thomas Richardson, Solicitor.

Louisa Townsend Bakewell was living at Sherrall, Drayton Bassett and her Father is listed as William Henry Bakewell, Farmer.

Witnesses to the marriage were Jane Arnold and a Bakewell.

Louisa can be readily located in subsequent censuses.

I turn now to the current information I have to try to collate and verify the story about the “rattle’. One of the sources of information comes from a document I found at Spurs Farm in a pile of various papers entitled First Known Ancestors in the Richardson Family” (author unknown). It appears to have been typed as a collation from either verbal or written information from persons unknown. I have nothing more on the origin.

Photo by David Lamb

I also located a letter from Phyllis Lamb to Hugh & Beth Richardson, dated July 1976 which discusses the same subject.

The typed document alleges John B. Richardson (Phyllis’s Father) told Phyllis that Louisa (Louisa Townsend Bakewell / Richardson (1838 – 1926) had been adopted by a Bakewell family, a clergyman and his wife and the rattle belonged to the infant Louisa. The Bakewells lived in Uttoxeter. According to the story, there was a close connection between Louisa and the Bagot family who had lived at Blithfield Hall since 1087. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Bagot)

The rattle dated 1798-9 is a sterling silver engraved whistle with three bells. Originally there were nine bells and a pink coral handle which has since been replaced with a bone handle. (Ref: Phyllis’s letter to Hugh & Beth Richardson dated July 1976.)

According to a silversmith expert at the Royal Ontario Museum who examined it in 1970, it was allegedly made by a silversmith, E Morley. Hugh Richardson apparently found information that the curator of Blithfield Hall (1794-1799) was an E. Morley. This would have been during the tenure of William Bagot, 2nd Baron Bagot (September 11, 1773 – February 12, 1856).

From various sources it appears E. Morley is Elizabeth Morley, a silversmith, who was registered in that occupation after the death of her husband so it is highly unlikely she is identical to the curator of Blithfield Hall.

Conclusions

Whilst it is nice to think of stories of babies left on doorsteps and the possibility of illegitimate children of wealthy land owners there appears to be a much simpler explanation.

We know from the Pigot & Co. Directory of 1839 there was a Dorothy Townsend listed as gentry in the same grouping as the Bagot family. If she was the Grandmother of Louisa Townsend Bakewell/Richardson, she was quite possibly friendly with William Bagot. Did Bagot give the rattle as a gift to Louisa Townsend Bakewell Richardson as he knew her grandmother or he did give it to her Mother, Louisa Townsend, daughter of Dorothy Townsend instead? There is also a possibility he either had the rattle made or was given it on the occasion of the birth of his own daughter Louisa, who tragically was born and died in 1806?

We shall probably never know…………………….

[1] Birth Certificate BXCD014834

[2] IGI Batch CO35161 – source film 0435758, print out 0933177

[3] Marriage Certificate MXD654022

[4] IGICO37722, source 0417171, print out 1037079

[5] Ibid 4

[6] IGI MO37721 source 0417171,

[7] IGI CO 09881 source 0096882

[8] 1841 Census HO107,piece 1007,book 14,folio 15, ph 22

[9] MXD 654128

[10] 1851 England census .Public record Office ref : Ho107/2010

[11] Ancestry Mar1/4 1858 Uttoxeter, Vol 6b page 186

[12] 1861 Census RG9 piece 3200,folio 41 pg 16 GSU roll 543094

[13] 1861 census RG9 piece 2467,folio 37,pg 4 ,roll542975

[14] 1871 census RG10/3489

[15] 1861 census RG9/1971 Folio 65 page 4

[16] Marriage certificate AB001986

James Richardson

James Richardson was the youngest child of James Cope Richardson and Louise Townsend Bakewell Richardson. As a child, James lived in Borrowcop House, built by his father in 1885 in Lichfield, England. He left Borrowcop House to live in the Mill House with his wife Annie Burtt. The family photograph taken outside Borrowcop House in 1904 includes the children and grandchildren of James and Louise.

James was in the milling business with his father and traveled extensively by ship to Western Canada on business. On one of his trips he visited his son John Buckland Richardson in Stirling, Ontario. John’s wife, Edith, had recently given birth to twin girls, Phyllis and Peggy.

In late 1922, James retired from “Millennium Mills and Wharf’ and bought Wren House, built by Sir Christopher Wren in Warminster. James and Annie lived there until 1937.

James was an artist of some talent and enjoyed antique collecting. He made many etchings, including one of his mother on her 80th birthday, several of the interior and exterior of Wren House and several of Cathedrals in England.

In 1937, James and Annie came to Canada and the United States to visit their sons John in Toronto and Henry in Passaic. After six months James returned to England to sell Wren House and ship their furnishings to Toronto, where they had purchased a house. He even shipped his printing press, but it was never used as in less than a year James died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Annie Holmes Burtt Richardson

Annie Holmes Burtt’s parents and grandparents were Quakers. Her grandfather, William Daubeney Holmes was a Civil Engineer and Naval Architect of some note. Her father was Henry Burtt, a farmer and devout Quaker who regularly attended Friends Meetings for worship and for discipline until his death at the age of 95. (see “The Burtts – A Lincolnshire Quaker Family”)

Annie Holmes Burtt married James Richardson, son of James Cope Richardson at Fulbeck Church (Anglican) in Lincolnshire. Her older sister, Henrietta Mary was married in a Quaker Service at Broughton Meeting House in 1895 to Henry Richardson, son of James Cope and brother to James.

Annie Holmes Burtt and James Richardson had three children who survived, John Buckland, Henry Burtt, Margaret and a twin born prematurely when Annie was home alone. She told her granddaughter, Phyllis, she could only save one twin and chose the biggest baby.

Margaret emigrated to South Africa with her husband Godfrey Thomas. Annie twice visited her daughter when she was ill, travelling alone by sea for several weeks and was sea sick most of the time.

Annie also visited her Canadian grandchildren, her son John Buckland’s family in Belleville, Ontario when the twins, Phyllis and Peggy and John were young children.

After James died in 1937 in Toronto, Annie remained in their home with the companionship of her two granddaughters, Phyllis and Peggy who lived with her alternately until 1942 when Phyllis enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (Women’s Division) and Peggy went into training as a nurse.

Grannie on her 90th birthday

Annie Holmes Burtt Richardson, or Grannie, as she was known by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, lived independently in an apartment for some years. After which, she shared the home of her son John Buckland and his wife Edith. When she was 89 years old Annie came to live with her granddaughter Phyllis and her husband Bob in their home and remained there until her death in February 1970 at the age of 96.

Grannie was greatly loved by all who know her. She was always patient, uncomplaining and tolerant. She remained a Quaker at heart, although she attended the Anglican Church with her husband James.

Annie never returned to England but kept up correspondence with her daughter, Margaret, and grandson, Douglas in South Africa, her niece “Tommy” in England and her sister Henrietta in New Jersey until she was in her 90’s. She had good health, except for arthritis, until her death of heart failure.

The James Cope Richardson Family Tree

Welcome to the home page and first blog on the Richardson Burtt family history web site.

This web site is a history of James Cope Richardson and his wife Louisa Townsend Bakewell who lived in Staffordshire, England in the 1800’s. The Descendant Report for James Cope Richardson provides a listing of these people.

The idea for the website came from discussions at the 5^th Richardson-Burtt Family Reunion held on June 18^th, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. The reunions, started by Burtt and Gladys Richardson in 1990, have been held every five years. Our next reunion is scheduled for 2015.

Descendents of James and Louisa are encouraged to write their comments after any of the blogs, or complete the comment form below. If you have any stories, which can be published on this website or family tree updates, etc. please send them to david@richardsonburtt.org. Pictures can be either sent or placed on the Richardson Burtt Family Group site on Facebook.

As additional family history and stories are received, they will be included in the blog section of this website.

This website is currently being maintained by David Lamb, Generation 5 (son of Phyllis, grandson of Jack, great-grandson of James Richardson and Annie Burtt).