Catherine Hutton's Poem on Love & a Cosy Cottage

Held at Birmingham Archive in the Hutton Collection.

A watercolour of a small cottage accompanied by a five verse poem painted and written by Catherine Hutton (1756-1846) of Birmingham.

The poem reads:

Birmingham Women: Catherine Hutton, Writer and Home Crafter (1756-1846)

Catherine Hutton (11 February 1756 to 13 March 1846) was part of the Birmingham Hutton family, the daughter of stationer, book seller and historian William Hutton and his wife Sarah Cock.*1* Catherine was a weaver of tales as well as a needlecrafter, a weaver of threads, and was putting pen to paper right up to her death at the age of 91. She was particularly a fan of Jane Austen, as she explained 'I have been going through a course of novels by lady authors, beginning with Mrs Brooke and ending with Miss Austen, who is my especial favourite. I had always wished, not daring to hope, that I might be something like Miss Austen; and, having finished her works, I took to my own, to see if I could find any resemblance'.*2* In 1813 she published her first novel, The Miser Married (1813), and published two subsequent novels, The Welsh Mountaineer (1817) and Oakwell Hall (1819). Catherine published other fiction and articles in magazines, and her published letters outline the life of a middle-class woman at this time. 

Birmingham Objects: Catherine Hutton's Purse

Purse made by Catherine Hutton in the early 1800s.

Catherine Hutton was the daughter of the Birmingham's first historian William Hutton; she never married, and after the family home was burnt down in the riots of 1791, she took to company less and less. Two years after the riots she wrote to a friend: "Last Monday I broke the spell by visiting the Miss Mainwarings, and I was found so rusticated, so antiquaited, that the first thing they did was to take my cap to pieces and make it up in a different form. Now, mark my resolution. I visited three families on the three following days, and I have engaged myself for two evenings next week. Be so good when you write to say something about fashion, that I, who used to be an example, may not be quite a scare-crow".

Like her father, she was a prolific writer, and was putting pen to paper right up to her death at the ripe old age of 91. She was a particular fan of Jane Austen, as she explains "I have been going through a course of novels by lady authors, beginning with Mrs Brooke and ending with Miss Austen, who is my especial favourite. I had always wished, not daring to hope, that I might be something like Miss Austen; and, having finished her works, I took to my own, to see if I could find any resemblance". In 1813 she published her first novel, The Miser Married (view here), and other fiction was published in magazines, as well as articles and letters she wrote surrounding everyday matters.

The purse, above, is part of the Hutton collection at Birmingham Archive.

Catherine Hutton at ages 43 and 83, she was born 11 February 1756 and died 13 March 1846.

Birmingham Objects: William Hutton's Handkerchief

Tucked in the archive I found this handkerchief that once belonged to Birmingham's first historian, William Hutton. It would have probably been made in the mid 1700s, and he passed it down to his son, Thomas. I was surprised by the size of the handkerchief, it was about 1 1/2 metres square, and made from a very fine material, which I presume to be silk. It is lovely that these objects were handed through the generations, although, I personally wouldn't want to be given one of my dad's old hankies! Of course, the Georgian handkerchief could also be worn around the neck, which is probably why it is the size that it is.

William Hutton was very active in Birmingham life during his lifetime, he had moved to the town in 1750 and opened a book, stationary and paper shop on High Street, and was one of Birmingham's many examples of individuals who came to the town with little and did very well for themselves.

You can find out more about him here, he was also a 'commissioner' passing judgement at the Court of Requests, where the fate of debtors was decided.


William Hutton with books, dog, and his home at Bennetts Hill
in the background.

Tour of Lost Birmingham Nᵒ.26: "I have for ever quitted Birmingham as a home" (High Street)

William Hutton's house and shop in High Street, Birmingham, as it was
being taken down in 1928. It was the events that occurred at this house in 1791,
as well as elsewhere in Birmingham, that caused Hutton's daughter Catherine
to declare that she would never live there again.
Held at Birmingham Archive.

Catherine Hutton stated in 1791 'I have for ever quited Birmingham as a home', no-one knew if she meant it, but she never did return to live in Birmingham again, and she had good reason to want to stay away. The 14th of July 1791 was the day of the King and Country Riots, it all boiled up after a few men met at the Hotel to celebrate the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and the ideals of the French Revolution. Here, a few windows got smashed, but the riot soon spread across Birmingham and most houses did not get off so lightly, many were burnt to the ground, though William Hutton's house on High Street was saved that fate as the neighbours protested in fear that it may spread to their own homes. The rioting was targeted towards religious dissenters*; research and conjecture as to why this was the case could fill an essay in themselves, so here I will only note that William Hutton was a dissenter, and one, like many others in Birmingham, who had done well for himself in business. He ran his shop as a stationers on High Street, where he lived above, but also had a large house a little out of Birmingham on Washwood Heath where his wife, who suffered from illness, and daughter Catherine usually resided. That house did get burnt down, but here I will explore what happened on High Street.

Catherine was with her mother at Washwood Heath when the rioters called on her father and brother in High Street on the 15th, the day after the riots began. Dissenter Meeting Houses had already been burnt to the ground, as well as Joseph Priestley's, John Ryland's and John Taylor's houses. William Hutton had not been at the dinner at the Hotel, but he was a Unitarian (dissenter), and as well as that, he was also a Commissioner at the Court of Requests, dealing with those who owed debts. Hutton stated himself, that 'armed with [this] power, I have put a period to thousands of quarrels, have softened the rugged tempers of devouring antagonists, and, without expense to themselves, sent them away friends. But the fatal rock upon which I split was, I never could find a way to let both parties win. If ninety-nine were content, and one was not, that one would be more solicitous to injure me than the ninety-nine to serve me'. Hutton was known, when dealing with litigations, for his statement 'thee pay sixpence, and come again next Friday' (Friday was when the court was held); as the mob threw his possessions out of the windows of his house it was recorded that they shouted 'who bids for this?' to which the reply came 'thee pay sixpence, and come again next Friday'.

When the mob gathered before William Hutton's shop** on High Street on the afternoon of the 15th he tried to buy them off with money, even borrowing from neighbours to continue paying; they demanded alcohol and gave them all he could, but when he could give them no more they took him to a local tavern (against his will) and drank 329 gallons on his credit. The destruction of the house began by first only smashing windows and knocking loudly on the doors. Catherine Hutton's brother, Thomas, had gone out to try and deal with them but was nearly attacked with a bludgeon before a friend came to his aid. Thomas then went to try and help save Mr. Taylor's house, but on finding that futile turned back and discovered furniture from his house in Digbeth, thus realising that the crowds had managed to break through the doors of his father's shop. Those inside had thrown paper 'out of the drawing room windows, and women [had carried] out aprons full of [the family's] property'. The neighbours were unwilling to help; those nearby had pleaded for the house not to be burnt to save their own properties, and Thomas Carless,*** who lived opposite, refused to take in paper that had been thrown out of the shop, or to allow the young Mr. Hutton to escape from the crowds through his house. The mob continued through the night, as Catherine Hutton's aunt visited the scene at about 4am and saw 'drawers, wardrobes, and clothes [...] being thrown out of the windows and prints being trampled on the street'. The mob had threatened the life of William Hutton, so at this point the family, who were staying with that aunt, decided to flee to Sutton.

Once the soldiers were employed to restore some order to Birmingham on the 17th the family returned from their exile. On High Street, the rioters had 'demolished all the doors, windows, chimney-pieces, wainscotts, skirting boards, and banisters, together with the roof of the house'. They had also attempted to remove the staircase, but had only reached the sixth step (before, presumably, they realised that they should have begun from the top and worked down). The Beadle of the Court had managed to save some of the Hutton's property and keep it in the Court of Requests, which was very near Hutton's shop; Catherine was also reunited with her guitar which a friend had bought from a rioter for sixpence. By the 19th of July, William Hutton had completed some repairs and was able to 'appear at business'; soon Thomas and the servants could sleep in the house, but William preferred to retire with his family in the country. Slowly the repairs were completed until it was business as usual and William remained trading in High Street till 1793 when he handed over the business to Thomas.

NOTES
William Hutton bought a house on High Street in 1772, but the house in the photograph was the one that he had built on that site in 1775.
Photograph courtesy of the Library of Birmingham.
~ References on request.
* Dissenters were Christians who had separated from the Church of England, often due to dislike of state intervention into religious matters, or believing in varying doctrines.
** Hutton was a stationer, he was the first person to Birmingham to make paper and ran his paper mill just out of Birmingham. He also sold books and ran a lending library, at a small charge.
*** Thomas Carless was a druggist, and uncle to Richard Pratchett who I wrote about in the post Pratchett's Bull Ring.