The following is printed in booklet form by Col Henry Byrde to be distributed amongst his friends. It began when Col. Byrde chose a friend to be his Chaplain when he was made High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1864 instead of the Rev. Thomas Evans. It was the cause of bad feeling between them which was never resolved.

Correspondence between The Rev Thomas Evans
Rector of Goytrey

AND

Lieut. Col. Henry Byrde
Late High Sherriff of Monmouthshire

1865

For Private Circulation Only

“I’ll hallod!!
if he be friendly he comes well; if not,
defence is a good cause and Heaven be for us.”

Introductory Remarks

Introductory Remarks

My Friends,

In requesting your perusal of a copy of a correspondence between the Rector of Goytrey and myself, I will ask your indulgence in making a few preliminary remarks in reference to the motives which have at length led me to submit it to you, and at the close I will add a brief explanation of one or two matters which have become mixed up with it.

It is generally known that the Rev. Mr Evans took offence at not being appointed my chaplain as High Sheriff of the County; – his letters to me on that subject are expressed in a very strong and offensive language, which he refused to retract, although assured that no slight was intended towards him in selecting another clergyman for the office; and he retains the same angry feeling that he shewed in the first instance, and neither time nor circumstances seem to have had any influence in lessening it.

So far, however, this disagreement between Mr. Evans and myself did not seem to call for that publicity which subsequently circumstances have forced upon me.

I refer to the fact, that members of my family and household have, by Mr Evans, during my absence, been excluded from the Sunday and weekly Schools in the Parish;- Schools composed in a great measure of the children of my Tenants and workmen, in which, with the full concurrence of Mr. Evans, all my family have taken an active and special interest, and I myself, been particularly identified; and I feel as if I continued separation from them was impossible, for the teaching in the Sunday school has been the joy and rejoicing of our hearts since we have resided at Goytrey, and we have had reason to think that our interest both in the weekly and Sunday schools has been valued by the Parents of the children, as well as a source of pleasure to the children themselves; while there never has been the slightest opposition to any desire expressed by Mr. or Mrs. Evans, but on the contrary a careful compliance with every wish made known by either of them.

So public an act as our ejection from the schools, under these circumstances, following Mr. Evans’s insulting letters to me, caused a feeling of just indignation on the part of members of my family, and a desire that I should explain to my friends the reason of this severance from the children of our parish, lest by remaining wholly silent, a misconception of the cause should obtain belief; and it can only be done by circulating among those esteem we value a copy of the correspondence referred to.

I should not, in the first instance, have made this correspondence known beyond the limits of my own family, out of deference to Mr. Evans position as clergyman of the Parish, had he not told some of the parishioners that I had quarrelled with him, and by this means attempted to throw responsibility on me which wholly appertained to himself, and, without an explanation, it might have been thought that this was the case, whereas the supposed grievance was entirely an imagination of his own, followed by a refusal to accept the assurance that no offence could have been intended.

With this notice of my motives in at length placing this correspondence before you, I need only ask your patient reading, to enlist your sympathy with the members of my family and myself in being so undeservedly subjected to such treatment.

The following is the correspondence referred to:-

No1. From Rev. T Evans to Lieut. Col. Byrde

Nanty Derri, 8^th February, 1864

Dear Sir,

I will thank you to let me know what I am in your debt for the bricks, &c., which you were good enough to spare me; and also to let your Mason with Wm. Jones (Mason Burgwm) value the paving stones I had from you. I trust you will soon attend to this my request as under existing circumstances, which have necessarily destroyed all friendly and neighbourly intercourse between us, I am naturally anxious to discharge at once every obligation to you however trifling.

I remain, yours truly

(Signed)    Thomas Evans

——————–

Answer No. 1 (From memory)

My Dear Mr. Evans,

I am quite at a loss to understand your note, and therefore address you as usual. Not being aware of any “existing circumstances” to destroy the friendly and neighbourly intercourse between us, I must beg for an explanation. I enclose a cheque for £4 as my school subscription, as I think it better to keep matters of this sort distinct from each other.

I am,

Yours Sincerely,

(Signed) Henry C Byrde

——————-

No. 2

Dear Sir, Nanty Derri February, 9^th 1864

I am astonished you should have asked me for an explanation. I am the Clergyman of your Parish. Had I been appointed in 1863 and therefore a comparative stranger to you, had I been on bad terms with your family and yourself, had I rendered no services to you when it was impossible for you to serve yourself to the farms you now possess, I should not have felt so keenly the slight and public insult inflicted upon me by you in unconstitutionally passing by your own minister, and going to an adjoining Parish to select a Clergyman to officiate at the assize. If it be an honor to be selected for such a purpose, by the universal custom of the country, that honor is due to the Clergyman of the Parish wherein the Sheriff resides, unless a Clerical relation should be in the way, having the claims of consanguinity. Not that I craved the compliment, far from it.

I should have deemed the duties in some measure inconvenient. But I do care to find a Parishioner so utterly wanting in the common respect due to his parochial minister as you considered you to be incapable of doing. On Saturday evening your aunt, without a single comment on the subject asked me, who I thought was your chaplain, I said “Walter Marriott of course.” Having received no intimation of your intention, the natural conclusion I drew was that either Mr. Marriott or Mr. John Mais had been fixed on. On hearing that the neighbouring Clergyman was fixed on because he was an old friend, my poor wife, who said nothing, who has said nothing since, turned as pale as death, and felt as I did, that Col. Byrde ought to be the last man to treat her husband with such indignity. I never mentioned the subject to my wife, nor does she know anything about my communication to you. This circumstance is the greatest mortification she ever had and certainly the most humbling and painful one I ever endured, and it is the more keenly felt because it is occasioned by one from whom I had a right to expect at least exemption from a public slight, a slight in the county where I am pretty well known as the Rector of Goytrey, where Goytrey House is situate.

Had you fixed on a relative, my feelings would have been spared and you would have preserved an outward consistency, and shewn that according to the spirit of your Master you “know him who labours among you, and is over you in the Lord” &c. I want no praise, but what by custom is my due. I am aware that some do pass by their Clergyman of their own parishes in this way, this however is the exception and not the rule, and where it is the case, it is traceable to some paltry private pique, or to the reasons referred to. After so unfriendly, un-neighbourly, unchristian and unfeeling act on your part, to use a common term a cut in the most public manner possible, it is utterly impossible that any friendly intercourse can ever again subsist between us.

The insult I will bear as a Christian, and trust in the spirit of my Divine Master, and will not I hope resent it with any bitterness, but will feel it to be a duty I owe to myself as a man and a gentleman, and to my position as the Clergyman of the parish, to mark it with lasting censure and condemnation and to regard it as the strongest proof that could be given that Col. Byrde was my neighbour, my parishioner, my communicant, in a certain sense, but never in my sense a real friend of mine.

Words would not have been plainer, than those used by you at our station as regarded the full and fair share of your liability in securing £30 per annum for Mr. Whitmarsh, cottage included. I have acted as collector and paymaster. The receipt of £4 is therefore on account. Should you write to me again I shall thank you to do so by Post on account of my wife, who must not be excited.
Yours truly,
Thomas Evans

Answer No.2. – Goytrey House, February 10th 1864
Revd. Sir,
I was perfectly amazed at the subject and tenor of the note I received from you yesterday. You have not asked me for any explanation of a supposed “slight” and “insult”, but on the contrary the decisive terms in which you have announced the termination for ever of any friendly intercourse, naturally precludes any further reference to the subject which has called forth so abrupt a decision on your part. I am nevertheless actuated by a sense of duty to myself to counter the explanation that might have been asked previous to your condemnation, as well as to remove from your mind, if possible, the erroneous assumption that any slight or insult could have possibly been intended by me. In the first place when the Deputy Sheriff was asked, whom it was usual to appoint as chaplain, he replied that it was quite optional, and instanced the late Sheriff who selected an old school fellow, I expressed the strong desire I entertained to pay a tribute of respect to one friend of my youth living here, and he at once said that I could not, under the circumstances, make a more appropriate selection.

Had I known it was customary to select the Clergyman of the parish I would have explained to you the peculiar circumstances under which I was induced to set aside even the claims of consanguinity, in the choice I had made; at the same time you are fully aware of the strong feeling of attachment subsisting between Gardner and myself, and must approve of the motives which actuated me in selecting him, as you well know he was the only one near my own age, who during my sojourn in Goytrey, in my youth, thought it worth while to cultivate my friendship, and with the exception of Mr Grieve’s family I may say with justice, that but for Gardner I should have been without a friend, beyond the range of my own family.

This claim on me therefore was of so sacred a nature that it could not be set aside with propriety, and I should have thought that such a sentiment would have found a responsive echo in your own breast, instead of the unmitigated censure the supposed neglect of yourself has called forth: – That I have not forgotten an older friend than yourself, and friendship formed under peculiar circumstances should have been an earnest to you, that I was not unmindful of such sentiments, and I cannot avoid the conclusion forced upon me that the friendship you professed must have rested on a very shallow foundation, to have been so readily, so summarily, and so irrevocably terminated.

I remain, Revd. Sir,
Yours faithfully,
Signed Henry C Byrde.
P.S. In sending my usual subscription to the School I had no intention to depart from the pledge I gave to share the deficiency of salary guaranteed to Mr Whitmarsh.

No.3 – Nanty derri February 11th 1864
Dear Sir,

I have read your letter of explanation. You could not have been ignorant of the fact that your passing by of your own Clergyman not withstanding the circumstances referred to, and which gave him a special claim on you, was a departure from propriety, and a violation if that feeling of common respect and courtesy which in all civilised society I had a right, as the parish priest to expect from a parishioner. The choice, of course, is, and must be optional. But you are not ignorant of what is due from one Gentleman to another, and what is proper and right, and what you would consider due to yourself if you were in my place.

If you had an ardent longing to bestow the honour on your very old friend (whom I do not blame, whom I respect) the least you could have done was to express to me that longing on your part. I was not before now aware that your friendship for Mr. Gardner was of so very “sacred a nature” that you could not with propriety set him aside, rather his claim!

He has of course laboured for you, travelled about the country for you, spent much of his valuable time in your service, taxed his brains in writing to Mr. Mais, to London lawyers, to Mr. Jones of Clythas agent and others, negotiated with award vendors, in short has acted for a considerable period as your faithful agent most disinterestedly and zealously, and with such success as rejoiced your heart, and secured for you through dint of perseverance the broad acres in Goytrey that now give you as you consider, great local importance: having been thus so generously served by Mr Gardner, it would certainly have been the height of ingratitude in you to have withheld from him the tribute of respect which he so deservedly earned.

Having given you in deeds, and such deeds which in every respect are far more valuable than words, proofs of real not “shallow friend-ship”, you could not, I must admit, think for an instant, of ignoring so “sacred a friend-ship” that has so materially and favourably told on your position and importance in the parish and county, and of returning to him evil for his disinterested good to you.

Men are sometimes actuated by motives that are obvious on the surface, and sometimes by motives and feelings that are deep in the strong under-current. It is observed by a Divine, that he had never seen in the long run a lasting blessing on those who are capable of, and guilty of, slighting and deprecating by word or deed, one, who in the Providence of God is appointed to minister to them in holy things.

Yours faithfully,
(Signed) Thomas Evans

No.3 Nantyderri, January 9th 1865
Sir,
I beg to remind you that your subscription to the school for 1864 is not yet received and that the account referred to in the correspondence of February last is still unsettled. At your wife’s request, I paid for you a subscription of £1. 1. 0 to the Bible Society Auxiliary at Llanover. As you have shown and may yet shew the correspondence, truth and justice to myself demand that I should notice an expression in your last letter which escaped my observation at the time, and which seems to me calculated to convey an insinuation inconsistent with fact.

It is this “I should have thought that such considerations would have found a responsive echo in your own great” &c. When I lived some eight months with my brother and guardian who was the clergyman here, and subsequently in the neighbourhood, I am not aware that I was specially in-debted to any people (out of my own family) for their thinking it worth their while to cultivate an acquaintance, which as the minister’s brother I naturally formed in the parish and neighbourhood, nor am I conscious of having received at any time any particular favours or patronage, except from the late Earl of Abergavenny. When you next exhibit the letters (to this I have no objection) I trust your sense of justice will induce you to show this also.
I am Sir,
Your Obedient Servant,
(Signed) Thomas Evans

To The Rev. T. Evans
Answer No.3 – Steamer Nyanza, January 18th 1864

Sir, – Having received your note just on the eve of leaving home, I was unable to do more than hurriedly send Mrs Byrde’s donation to the Bible Society and my annual subscription to the school, and whatever may be further due on the latter account I shall be prepared to pay on being furnished with a statement of the account.

I did not bring your note with me, but if my memory of its contents is correct, you refer to the following expression which I made use of it in reference to the exercise of the motives which actuated my own conduct viz.”which I should have thought would have found a responsive echo in your own breast.”

The meaning contended to be conveyed being simply that which the words themselves imply: that I had given you credit for appreciating generous motives, as well as candour or accepting the assurance of them, though to my disappointment, I have subsequently found that you were incapable of either.

I can have no possible objection exhibiting or even publishing, should it be necessary, your last note, and this reply with the previous correspondence,

I am Sir,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) Henry C Byrde

Copy of the Rev. T. Evans note to R.A. Byrde – Nanty Derri February 9th 1865

Sir, – In consequence of the rupture between me and your father and of which there is no prospect of its being healed, co-operation is become impracticable. Therefore it would be folly to put up a Finger Organ in the Gallery of Goytrey Church. I have therefore decided upon not allowing the Finger Organ to be put up and shall only retain the Seraphine which can be played under all circumstance.
I am Sir,
Yours Truly,
(Signed) Thomas Evans,
Rector of Goytrey

Rev T. Evans reply to letter of 18th Jane. 1865

No 4.      Nanty Derri, February 14th 1865

Sir, – Whatever meaning you attach to the words “responsive echo in your own breast” I maintain they are capable of being understood in the sense which I attached to them as being possible to be their meaning.

When equivocal language is used the writer must be prepared to receive a reply according to the various interpretations his words may bear, and my reply to this part of his letter has been more sparing than it might have been.

There may be distinctions here that I cannot unravel, a refinement of emotion which perhaps I am not able to fathom. But I hope with all my dullness that I am incapable of being blinded by plausibility. I hope I shall always be able to distinguish between pretence and reality, and between hypocrisy and sincerity; although I have not been abroad as you have been, still my knowledge of human nature is I trust, sufficient to detect affection, awesomeness and dissimulation.

I am reflected upon deeply in your last letter as to my capacity, and seems to be regarded more as a school boy than as a man or a minister. Be it so, I acknowledge my incapacity to under stand the matter in the extraordinary light in which you seem delirious to put it. It will take a long time to satisfy any man of common sense that there was any generosity of sentiment involved in the act of passing by your own Clergyman and appointing Mr. Gardner, particularly when that Clergyman had proved such a substantial friend in your absence. I acknowledge it was a kind of weakness in me to have written or said a word to you about it. I would have been perhaps more becoming in me and more dignified to have treated it with silent contempt, as clergymen do in general under such circumstances. My weakness however in this behalf will show perhaps that I am not so deficient in candour as you insinuate in your last.

To me indeed it would have been a burden and a nuisance to have been engaged as chaplain of the High Sheriff. Most probably I should have thought it necessary to decline it, had it been offered to me.

My fortune and position, I am thankful to say, are such that I could have nothing whatever to gain by an exhibition of myself on such an occasion, and what led me to notice the matter at all in my letter to you was that I could not brook dissimulation.

The entire absence of candour and generosity of sentiment as it appeared to me, and above all, of common gratitude in the transition was such as I thought at the time demanded of me either some written or verbal notice of it to yourself. When I at your special request from Ceylon devoted my time and attention for years in effecting the purchase of farms for you in Goytrey, many if not most of them still with or on heavy mortgages, indeed to the increase of the coolness which unfortunately but causelessly on my part existed between me and Lord Llanover, I was at a loss what motive could have induced you, under such circumstances to slight or pass over me, unless it was because you thought you might please Lord Llanover by it, or displease him by appointing me.

Whatever your motives were, it matters not to me, and I do not care what they were. But I look at the act itself. Ancient and “sacred friendship” has been put forward very emphatically in this correspondence, and in a very imposing manner. Mr. Gardner was known to you it seems 8 or 10 years perhaps before I was; as you have urged this point so very carefully that he was the friend of your youth &c., it is, I think a great pity that the people of this country do not give you credit for it, as none of them had ever observed or known of this extraordinary friendship. I can’t help it that they don’t , and if I am one of those unbelievers you must not blame me, for we all require in such cases not mere assertion but proofs. Indeed the proofs seem to be quite the other way, for I heard repeatedly members of your own family, when I boarded with them now more than 20 years ago, and with whom you yourself lived in your youth, say that they heard you frequently express a dislike* of Mr. Gardner and your words in those times as they are repeated to me I could quote if necessary at the present moment. So much for the ancient and sacred friendship so gravely put forward as an excuse.

I have given strict orders that no erections for the future of any sort are to be made in the church without my knowledge or concurrence, and I have written to your son to decline having a finger organ put up in the church instead of a Seraphine. Perhaps you think you might appear to great advantage before the public if all this correspondence were published, perhaps you are greatly mistaken herein, and after the receipt of this you will probably feel less disposed to have our correspondence published. For my own part I only intended it as a private communication between ourselves, an explanation of my first letter, at your request. I therefore though not afraid of you, decline becoming a public correspondence of yours, and decline any further correspondence or intercourse with you in any shape or form. I will give orders to Mr. Whitmarsh to supply you with the school account for the future, and am.

Yours truly,
(Signed) Thomas Evans

Note:- Not true that I so expressed myself, or ever entertained such a feeling. – H.C.B.

To the Right Reverend. The Lord Bishop of Llandaff.       Kandy, Ceylon, February, 28th 1865

My dear Lord,
I must beg you to permit an explanation of an inadvertency on the part of my step-father in forwarding to your Lordship a correspondence between the Rector of Goytrey and myself without the letter of explanation which was to have accompanied it, and which I had promised to send him for that purpose, whereas under the supposition that I had addresses your Lordship direct, he forwarded the correspondence without waiting for my communication.

An apology is also due to your Lordship for troubling you with a matter rather of private than of public interest, but so intimately connected with the well-being of the church of which I and my family are members, and of which your Lordship is the Spiritual Head, and with that of the Parish in which I reside, that I feel it due to myself and to them to represent the difficulty in which we are placed by the uncalled for conduct of the Rector of the Parish towards me.

I also feel it due to your Lordship to lay this grievance before you not so much for any remedy which you might be able to apply, but rather to enlist your sympathy with the uncomfortable position in which my family have by this means have been placed.

I have an aged mother residing with me who is unable to attend the ministrations of the Church and an invalid son is similarly circumstanced, and there is a natural delicacy  in asking on our part, or in acceding to a request for spiritual ministrations by neighbouring clergymen, and several members of my family as well as some of my dependants feel debarred from participating in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper at the hands of a clergyman who has evidenced, and continues to manifest, so hostile a feeling.

I am also desirous that your Lordship should be rightly informed on a matter which might otherwise lead to the conclusion that I had by some misconduct or other improper manner alienated the affection and friendship of the Rector of my Parish from myself and my family.

I will not deny that before I resided in Goytrey my representative was indebted to Mr. Evans, for some aid in the purchase of lands in the parish, and I have always expressed and endeavoured to show my sense of obligation for this assistance, and this has withheld me from even noticing several instances of unfriendliness and absence of confidence on the part of Mr. Evans, since I resided in his parish, with which, however, and other matters referring to Mr. Evans I refrain from troubling your Lordship, nor could I now have been induced to address you on so painful a subject but from a sense of duty I owe to the position, I had the honour to occupy as High Sheriff, and in justice to the several members of my family who occupy my residence.

I had hoped that, before I left England last month for a temporary residence in Ceylon, the assurance conveyed in my letter would, at length, have elicited some advance to a reconciliation on his part which would have spared me the pain of such communication as the present, but I regret to say that the same feeling as that expressed in his letter continued to be manifested by Mr. Evans on every available occasion.

I need hardly assure your Lordship that so far from mediating any possible slight towards Mr. Evans in soliciting another Clergyman to be my chaplain, I was so utterly unconscious of wounding his feelings that I could not imagine the cause of his first note to me, nor could any member of my family, and I never even imagined he would have valued the office, especially as he had announced his intentions of being absent in London for some weeks at the period of the assizes.

My reluctance in making this communication at all, has been the cause of the long delay in addressing your Lordship on the subject.

I remain, My Dear Lord,
Yours very faithfully
(Signed) Henry C. Byrde

11. To Lieut. Col. H. C. Byrde.  – Bishop’s Court Llandaff – April 7th 1865

My Dear Sir,

A few days ago I received the letter which you did me the favour of writing to me on March 1st. The packet of correspondence between yourself and the Revd. T. Evans had reached me in the month of January, but as no statement accompanied it, I could only conjecture from whom it came and for what motive it was sent. I do not hesitate to say that I read it with great regret, and that in my opinion Mr. Evans is entirely in the wrong as to the assumption that the fact of your not appointing him your Chaplain implied an intention to insult him. Further than this I form no judgement as to the relations that have subsisted between him and yourself, for I am without any knowledge of circumstances, and should not wish to come to any conclusion upon an expert statement on one side or on the other.

On the receipt of your letter of March 1st, I wrote to Mr. Evans to the above effect saying also that if I were in his place I should not hesitate to ask you to consider my letters as never having been written, and to apologise for the tune I had assumed. I added that I was quite sure he would in no way impair his dignity by so doing, and hinted that he should consider his position as the Christian Pastor of the Parish to which you belonged, I made also some extracts from your letter in which you positively repudiate the intentions of hurting his feelings.

You will, I trust, see that I have done all I could. His reply I am sorry to say, is not what I hoped and desired. He declines to comply with my advice. This conclusion I greatly regret, but however I may lament it, it is obviously a matter beyond my control. If a Clergyman thinks himself affronted, it is not an ecclesiastical offence, and if he thinks himself justified in declining to act upon his Bishop’s advice, the Bishop having no jurisdiction in such a matter, can do no more.

I can only therefore inform you of what has happened so far as I am concerned, and express my sorrow that I cannot send you a more welcome communication.

I remain, Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) A. Llandaff.

This closed the correspondence with Mr. Evans.

The following is an extract from a letter from my sister now residing at Goytrey.
On Saturday evening a note from Mr. Evans was put into my hands the following is a copy.

Nanty derri House June 3rd 1865

Madam,

I regret much to be compelled to intrude upon you the subject matter of this note. I can truly say that I regret the more because in all your endeavours for the success of the Sunday school you have shown commendable zeal, and perseverance. It is however my plain duty to be candid and explicit and convey to you my views and feelings. I have felt that the circumstances to which I need not allude has materially interfered with, I may say rendered it impossible that supervision of my Sunday school which before your brother came to reside in the parish I was in the habit of exercising over it as the Clergyman. Upon a careful and I can add serious consideration of the subject I have come to the conclusion that it is my bounden duty not to allow myself to remain any longer in an awkward position with respect to the Sunday and weekly schools. I am therefore under the self-denying necessity of foregoing for the future the advantage derived by the children thus far from the attendance of yourself and Miss Grieve or any member of your family. I beg to thank you and Miss Grieve for the kind and efficient services you have rendered the school.

The box containing your brother’s books I now send, having replaced it by another containing books of my own selection. I find the club money is £1. 7. 0. or thereabouts. I am prepared to continue the club so that the children shall not lose anything by the change, and the service hitherto so kindly rendered by Miss Grieve in the week will be performed by another person.

Thanking you again for the aid you have given which has not been unappreciated by me and trusting you will receive this communication in the spirit and christian feeling in which it was penned.

I remain Madam,
Yours truly,
(Signed) Thomas Evans.

Concluding Observations – In explanation of the foregoing I will offer a few remarks.

On receipt of Mr. Evans’s first note I was puzzled to imagine what could have happened to “destroy all friendly and neighbourly intercourse,” so little did I or any of my family dream of the cause of such a letter, and had Mr. Evans expressed himself clearly I should have tendered any explanation in my power to sooth his feelings, but under the circumstances, I could only write a friendly note in the usual terms of address. I may remark that I had the previous day spent the time between the afternoon school and the evening service at his house, and there being no difference in my cordiality of manner, he should have been satisfied that I could had no intention of slighting him.

I was therefore beyond measure surprised at Mr. Evans’s letter of 9th February and could hardly believe that I was reading a communication from him, and the members of my family were as much astonished at its tenor as I was, myself.

To accuse me of “unfriendly, unneighbourly, unchristian and unfeeling” conduct without ever asking for an explanation, and to say that it was utterly impossible that any friendly intercourse could ever again subsist between us, and marking the supposed slight of himself with his “lasting censure and condemnation,” was very strong language for a clergyman to use towards a member of his congregation who had always been on friendly terms with him, and such as only the most aggravating circumstances could justify.

I hoped his feeling of irritation would have been soothed when I volunteered the explanation contained in my letter of February 10th, and that he would have recalled the severe “censure and condemnation” he had denounced against me when assured that it was as undeserved on my part as the sentence of condemnation was unmitigated on his.

In order that it may not be thought that Mr. Evans was correct in supposing that it was the custom for the Clergyman of the Parish to be selected by the Sheriff for the office of Chaplain I must explain that an enquiry into the appointments that have been made for several years past has proved that the selections of the greater number of Chaplains by the Sheriff of Monmouthshire have not been the Clergyman of their own Parishes, and in exercising my right of choice in favour of a very old friend no indignity could possibly be cast upon Mr. Evans.

On referring to my letter you will see that I avoided every expression that could cause further irritation although I felt grieved at having even unintentionally given offence, and very sorely hurt at the strong terms used by Mr Evans, but I hoped that my explanation would have been met in a candid spirit, and have had the effect of leading to a right understanding.

You will, no doubt have been surprised at Mr. Evans’s reply. The style of his letter is intended to be sarcastic in pretending to detail the services that Mr. Gardner rendered to me to entitle him to my friendship and favour in the appointment of Chaplain instead of himself. Added to which the insinuation that I did not adhere to the truth when endeavouring to explain my reasons for the course which I had adopted, convinced me, that it was useless to continue a correspondence with him, even if he had not himself prohibited any further intercourse.

I would not attempt to disparage any services rendered to me by Mr. Evans and I always gave him credit for having aided my representative in purchasing property for me and I have given proofs that I was not unmindful of his assistance, but until reminded of it, I had not been aware of the amount of obligation I was under in this behalf.

Mr. Evans ignores obligation to any member of my family although I carefully refrained from such an insinuation.

In submitting the correspondence to the Bishop of the Diocese a hope was entertained that through his influence, some better understanding might have been brought about. His Lordship’s reply communicating the result speaks for itself. A Clergyman who could behave in this manner towards an unoffending parishioner would not be very ready to listen to the remonstrance and advice of even his Bishop.

I have been at a loss to understand what Mr. Evans refers to when he says he has given “Strict orders that no erections of any sort to be made in the church without his knowledge and concurrence.”

He may refer to our “family pew” which was made as early as possible to resemble the old one when the Church was rebuilt, as the arrangement admitted, and which was approved by me, under his and the Church wardens sanction some four or five years ago, and which he has now entirely altered, having removed my improvements and changed the original construction without any apparent object, and without reference to me or my family.

Or Mr. Evans may allude to the Monument, now completed, which I expressed an intention of placing in the Church in memory of my Father. Of this however he has left me in doubt, though his remarks appear to point to this object. Or he may refer to the “organ” for which one of my sons has collected subscriptions, and which was about to be erected in the church, except that he makes separate mention of this in one of his letters.

I have therefore been left in doubt to which he refers. The Pew, Monument, or the Organ.

I trust I have not been altogether regardless of the sacred injunction. “If it be possible, as much as Leith in you, live peaceably with all men,” nor have I, I hope, been wholly unmindful of the admonition to “render to all their dues,” but I have failed to discover how I could have acted otherwise than I did, when I offered, unasked, an explanation of an imagined offence that should, at least, have led, on the part of a Christian Minister, to an amicable reply.

Henry C. Byrde.

T195 (Not dated)

Dr Hobbes to Henry Bird- N.D.

Sale of Goytrey House £400

Late in tenure of Joshua Andrew or his under tenants

Late Wm Jenkins and now Edward Jones

Dr Hobbes, Jane Bosville and Wm Bosville

T64

Miss Charlotte Bird

1820 – July 20^th

Paid for you at Bromley as per Mrs Chalklen’s account 12 19 6

 

1821 – March

Paid for piano forte to Mr Phillips 10 00 0

 

1822 – September

Cash to go to Aberayron 11 00 0

 

December

Stamp for transfer of Midland Shares 2 0 0

50196

 

December 25

To 1 share in the Mon’shire canal transferred to you 170 00 0

To remain in balance of your share of the property listed

In the land by mortgage 512 10 11

6821011

Total sum paid to you and received in the land £733 10 5

 

It appears by the above account that I have the sum of £512-10-11 of your money in the land for which you have a joint mortgage with your mother, Lucy, Fanny and Maria and the interest I have to pay your mother for you on this sum of £512-10-11 at five pounds per cent per annum amounts to £25-12-6 a year which I shall continue to pay to her on your account till forbid by you to do so.

 

Henry Bird.

T16

Goytre House Estate Book

Inventory of Stock, Implements, etc at Pentre Farm in October 18^th 1895

3 horses 46

3calves 25

4 milch cows 40

One 2 year old heifer 7

One 3 year old heifer 6

4 yearlings 20

5 calves 15

3 rams 5

18 lambs 16

81 ewes 81

1 sow and 7 pigs 3 15s 9d

1 sow in farrow 3

1 fat pig 4

2 store pigs 3

 

Page 2

2 carts 11

1 spring 1 10s

1 waggon 3

1 plough 2 15s

1 bouting plough 3

1 cuffler 3

2 horse hoes 5s

1 pair of harrows 15s

1 chain harrow 2 10s

1 wooden rollers 2

1 sheep rack 1 10s

3 sheep troughs 15s

1 bambry 15s

1 pulper 3

1 mowing machine 10s

1 horse rake 1

1 chaff machine horse

Gear 3 10s

1 dipping machine 3

1 horse hoe sent to sale

1 chain harrow sent to sale

 

A letter from Dr Berney dated May 3^rd 1895 it appears that Col. Byrde owes Dr Berney £100 and that the interest was paid March 16^th 1895.

 

Valuation of Ricks and Corn:

In Rick at Goytrey House Farm

1. Oat rick 4 yards x 3, nearest bailiffs cottage £19
2. Oat rick 6 yards x 4 adjoining no.1 distance apart 1^1/2 yards £30
3. Wheat rick on stand round adjoining no.2 west side£32
4. Hay rick 7 yards x 3^1/2 7 tons at £3 10s adj no.3 west side £24 10s
5. Clover rick 4 yards x 4 10 tons at £4 – £40. £145 10s
6. Aftermath clover 6 yards x 3 – 8 tons at £3 10s end nearest farm yard £28
7. Stumps of old hay 6 tons at £3 10s opposite no 5. Other side of roadway to farm yard. £21

 

£194 0 0

 

Corn in barn at Church farm 5 loads oats/black £14

8 loads barley £24

 

£232 10s

 

Pentre Farm – ricks in rick field

1. 5 tons of clover in bottom of road at £4 and 5 tons of hay in top of same at £3 10s – £37
2. Rick of second crop of clover 5 tons at £3 10s – £17 10s – 1 rick of oat straw in barn 4 tons – £12

£65

Llwyn Celyn

In rick opposite side of road to Pentre House

1 rick of hay 6 tons – £21

1 tump of old hay 1^1/2 tons £5 5s

£26 5s

 

Memorandum of deeds &c contained in Oak Box

 

1. Draft agreement Mrs Elizabeth Bird & trustees of Major Bird for sale of real estate
2. Bond of H.C. Byrde to Trevor Fielden. Cancelled
3. Lease Earl Abergav^y of Gwellian Jenkins
4. Plans of leasehold property of Elias Bird etc
5. In chancery Bird v Lefroy?
6. In chancery Waddington v Mais
7. Will 1888 – draft will HCB
8. Letters on poor rates etc
9. Lease of Craig-yr-Alt 1782
10. Lease Joseph Lewis & HCB 1863 cancelled lease of 21 years
11. Sundry leases Earl Abergavenny to Wm Williams &c probate of will of Mary Williams
12. Lease Lewis Edmunds to HCB 1863 cancelled lease to HBC 1870
13. Maes y beryn mortgage to Mackintosh 1882
14. Old lease John Jeremiah x Walter Williams
15. Deed of declaration on change of name
16. Probate of will of Henry Bird 1799 and sundry deeds relating to Goytrey
17. Sundry papers including copy letter HCB to Henry Nesbit explaining land at Goytrey
18. Sundry papers &c Williams estate
19. Mr Wyllies papers
20. Commission of H Bird 1763 and various papers
21. Old pocket book of sundry papers left, belonging to Mr Cullis with copy of probate of H Bird
22. Byrde x Reid Lampola
23. Will of H Bird. Sale of £200 consoles
24. Bird to John Jenkins paid 1889. Draft will of HCB never signed
25. Copy letter to Charles Wyllie
26. Vicar &c churchwardens of Trevethin. Release to Exor’s of Thos Davies
27. Estate of late William Davies
28. The American claim
29. Estate of the late LGM Byrde
30. Wyllie
31. Mines
32. Mining &c
33. Settlement to secure £3000 to children of Charles Mais
34. Lease of a house in the Horsefair Bristol
35. Marriage settlement of Richard Colston and Rebecca Maunder
36. Probate of will of Richard Colston

 

Memorandum of unexpired leases:

Estate map 2,3,& 4

1.

Lease granted March 25^th 1820 to Philip Jenkins for lives of lessee 1 dead. John s/o Wm Jeremiah of Goytrey aged about 20 years and John Stephens son of Wm Stephens then aged about 8 years still living.

Reserved rent 1/6

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

2.

37 £46 on estate map & 39. (Maes y beryn)

Granted March 25^th 1860 to John Gwynn Herbert Owen Sol.^r of Goytrey for lives of Clara Stockwell, James Stockwell, late of Dimmock Co., of Gloster, then aged 20 and John David Robert Owen sons of the lessee then aged 12 and 8.

All lives in being.

Reserved rent 12/-

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

House and lands no 715, 717, 725, 727, 728, 730, 732, parish map containing 10a 2r 34p. Maes y beryn transferred to F G Chalken Esq.- HCB

 

3.

57, 58, 74 on estate map.

Lease dated 29^th September 1818 to Thomas Williams for lives of lessee (dead). Ruth his daughter then aged 8 and Abraham Morgan now of Govilon, miller, then aged 10.

Reserved rent 1/-

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

Cottage and lands no; 441, 442, 446 and 667 (part) 2a 2r 30p. Fields between bailiff’s cottage and Abergavenny road and front of 667 opposite Haymeadow. (Missing on main road towards Abergavenny on left before Maes y beryn and below Goytre House farm)

 

4.

59 & 60 on estate map.

Granted September 21^st 1861 to HCB for lives of Prince of Wales; Prince Alfred and Prince Arthur. All lives in being.

Rent 2/-

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

House and land; 443, 444, 445, on parish map. Bailiffs cottage land 3a 1r 3p. HCB (Goytrey House Farm)

 

5.

61 & 62; for same lives and date.

Rent 1/6

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

No 448 on parish map; 3a 1r 35p; HCB

 

6.

Estate map; 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75 – Purcas, on lives of Royal family.

Rent 10/6

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

Parish map; 455, 456, 668, 668A – 24a 1r 6p (now missing, below Logan’s re Richard Proger)

7.

Estate map 76 to 83 inc; Cottage and land late widow Lewis; same date as 4,5,6, on same lives; nos on parish map 462, 469. 5a 0r 11p

(Below Common Bach re Margaret James)

Rent 4/-

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

8.

March 25^th Ty Twmpin – no 89-93 on estate map; 494, 495, 496 & 500 on parish map. Same as 4 to 7

2a 0r 21p

Rent 2/6

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

9.

96 on estate map; Cae Sanna; same lives as 4-8 and same date. Parish map; 661, 663, 663A, 665.

Rent 4/-

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

10.

Estate map; 190 to 112 & 112A to 119 inc; under the canal, late Rosannah Watkins same lives and dates as 4 to 9. Parish map; 472, 476, 477, 487 & 488. 11a 3r 17p (land only)

Rent 2/-

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

11.

84 & 85 – Haymeadow. Parish map 491, 492, 493 & 665A. Lease granted September 29^th 1832 to William Williams.

Lives of lessee (dead); Rees David son of Rees David Hendreglyn Llanover, then aged 13 and William son of James Cobner shoemaker Goytrey aged 5.

Rees David and Cobner alive.

Rent 2/-

Alienation 2/-

Herriot 2/-

2a 3r 18p

 

12.

Estate map; 123-128 inc

Parish map 394, 395, 396, 412, 414 – cottage and land (Little Castle)

Lease 29^th September 1838 to William Phillips for lives of lessee aged 41

William son of Thomas Newman of Goytre, carpenter aged 6 and John son of Paul Hughes of Lanvair Kilgedin labourer aged 10 months.

3a

Rent 1/3

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

13.

Estate map; 187, 203,204,205,206. Parish map; 131, 241, 242, 244, 244A, 381

Bryn near Groesoped with Ton field near Foesybwch.

11a 2r 36p

Lease granted May 24^th 1859 to William Morgan of Llanfoist for the lives of William, son of Morgan Williams of Pont las Caer aged 7, Abraham, son of John Davies of Trevethin aged 10. Danzy son of James Shean of Llandilo Pertholey then aged 11 years.

Rent 5/-

Alienation 5/-

Herriot 5/-

 

26^th May 1925

Lease of Goytre House shooting rights to D F Pritchard Goytre. Dated 26^th May 1911 for 7 years from 1^st July 1911 for £180 by quarterly payment of 1^st day of October, January, April and July.

The trustees, on written request of tenant six calendar moths before fixing of lease grant the tenant a further term of 7 years at £200.

For a loss of sporting rights the trustees to allow a deduction of 1/6 for any areas taken away.

Estate area of 577a 1r 3p by letter agreement in lieu £1 of shooting rights.

 

June 1919

Sundries deposited in Mrs F W Byrde of Pentre.

2 books of Chinese furniture

Burks landed gentry (2 vols)

Crystal

Garden vols and ?

1 tin box of ? (Goytre House)

1 small fromister

4 boxes of family papers

 

7 Victoria Park

Goods from Saxonhurst drawing room;

1 writing table and ornaments

1 flowered jamarind table

1(?)

1 black wood chair

1 nest of tables

1 black pot stand and pot

1 oak pot and palm

2 brass (?)

1 chrome clock

7 photos and frames

2 cushions

1 eider down

 

Dining Room

1 Ivory ebony chair

1 rug

4 boxes of papers

1 clock

1 oval box

1 cushion

 

Furniture at the house Goytre and belonging to Miss A E Byrde.

Dining Rom

1 harmonium

1 armchair

 

Drawing Room

1 ebony table

1 carved table

1 tall table

2 worked stools

1 small Ceylon chair

1 whatnot

Cnterbury for music

Davenport

 

Study

1 folding chair

1 table (Sheraton)

1 sewing machine

 

Spare Room

Bow fronted chest of drawers

Small round table

 

Miss Byrde’s Room

2 worked chairs

Bedstead (oak) and mattress

 

Landing

Small round work table

Small ebony chair

 

Box Room

2 chapherwood boxes

 

Family furniture at the house in Goytre

 

Drawing Room

1 sofa

1 cabiet

2 Bombay wood chairs

2 Bombay work tables

2 Bombay flower stand

2 Bombay chairs

2 Bombay footstools

Olive wood tables

 

Dining Room

1 table

1 do small

Sideboard

5 Chippendale chairs

1 sofa

1 roll top desk

1 arm chair

 

Study

1 bookcase

2 walnut chairs

1 small Ceylon chair

 

Spare Bedroom

2 bedsteads

1 wardrobe

1 work stand

1 dining table

2 chairs (walnut)

 

Maid’s Room

1 bedstead

1 chair

2 chests of drawers

2 tables – dressing

1 wash stand

 

Miss Byrde’s Room

1 chest of drawers

1 wash stand

1 dressing table

1 small chair

1 olive wood table

 

Landing

1 small table

 

Box Room

1 book case

1 wash stand

1 gentleman’s wardrobe

1 chest of drawers

1 chair, walnut

 

Kitchen

1 table

4 chairs

 

Hall

1 hat and umbrella stand

1 half table

2 old chairs

1 gun stand

 

 

1921 – Mrs R A Byrde, widow of the Rev’d R A Byrde Widworthy Rectory House, died at Exeter 9 November 1921.

 

1922 – Col. Arthur N. Burne died at the Ham Thorne Hotel, Bournemouth on 18^th February 1922, was buried in the cemetery at Richmond Hill.

He was one of the trustees of the late Rev. R A Byrde’s estate with his sister Mrs R A Byrde.

 

June 16^th 1920

M/s Atkinson & Sons, solicitors, 19, Priory Place Doncaster, forward letters and administration to the estate of Ethel Grace Aldernon of Brickhill House, Brickhill, Yorkshire, wife of Jonathan George Aldernon.

She died 28^th July 1920 intestate at Larkhill. Her estate is given at £233 10 0.

Letters dated 14^th June 1920. Letters of administration granted to her husband by District Registrar of Wakefield.

 

June 1920

On the application of Miss C A Byrde by the Justice have agreed to pay an income of rent on the house at Goytre where Miss AEJ Byrde lives, so now the rent will be £50 a year instead of £40.

 

July 1920

Miss Louisa Marriott formerly of Old Gun House Hotel died on 22^nd July 1920 at 5 Argyle Terrace Plymouth, the residence. Miss Cordelia J Marriott funeral to be 27^th July.

 

1922

Miss A E j Byrde the only daughter of the late Col. H C Byrde of Goytre House died o 15^th June 1922 at Penybryn Weston-Super-Mare and buried in Goytre Churchyard 17^th June.

She was the eldest trustee of the Goytre House Estate.

Owen RA Byrde and Evan Maberly Byrde are the executors of the will.

 

Goytre House

The trustees agreed to sell Goytre House and the land round about 23a to RW Byrde of Ceylon and son of the late Col. H Byrde of Kandy Ceylon for £5305 and the money was duly paid, but owing to a nervous breakdown in Ceylo RW Byrde asked to have the sale cancelled and this the trustees consented to.

At this sale of freehold land by the committee of management of the Marquis of Abergavenny’s estate RW Byrde bought several lots in Goytre parish. At the sale of Pantysgarn Farm and the money paid for loans of the farm of the property held by the trustees, RW Byrde sold his right as well.

The freehold portion of Goytre House Farm was then sold by the trustees so all that was remaining is Goytre House and the freehold around it while at the sale did yet find any bidders.

The lawyer M/s Gardener, Hayward and Fry of Abergavenny has been paid up, all costs paid up to June 1922.

Evan M Byrde June 1922

 

October 1922

Family property in safe keeping of ORA Byrde, Heath School, Halifax, Yorkshire.

1. Silhouette of Elizabeth Hicks
2. Miniature of great grandmother
3. Miniature of great grandfather
4. Oval portrait of great grandmother 18”
5. Miniature do 5” square
6. Pencil sketch of great grandfather (from his portrait)
7. Small square water colour of an unknown child
8. Miniature of grandfather
9. Do of grandfather
10. Do of grandmother
11. Pencil sketch (Reynold and aunt Winstone
12. Pencil portrait R C Mais
13. Water colour of Goytre Church by C Dix
14. Pencil sketch of Goytrey

Miniature no. (9 & 10) may have been Miss AEJ Byrde by property.

EMB

 

Picture in safe custody of Rev. HW Byrde at Ilam Vicarage Derbyshire;

4 large pictures

8 about ½” the size of the large ones

Family pictures

EMB

 

1923

Goytre House Estate

Heirs of Col. Henry Byrde of Ceylon, eldest son of the late HC Byrde of Goytre;

 

1.

Mrs David Serimgson

10 Richmond Terrace

Magdalene Green

Dundee

 

2.

Miss K C Byrde

Sion Mansions

26, Sion Hill

Clifton

Bristol

 

3.

Rev’d H C Byrde

Ilm Vicarage

Nr. Ashbourne

Derbyshire

 

4.

RWL Byrde

Bracken House

1 Bracken Road

West Southbourne

Hants

Date of death in Ceylon 10^th July 1907.

Date of probate in Ceylon 9^th August.

 

Heirs of Charles Byrde – No. 2

2^nd son of HC Byrde

 

1.

Charles H Byrde

34 Hogarth Road

Earls Court

London SW 5

 

2.

Ethel Grace Alderson

Died 28^th February 1920 – intestate, husband (heir)

MJ Anderson

Jukhill House

Nr. Rotherham

Yorkshire

 

3.

WL Byrde

Les Villets

Forest

Guernsey

 

4.

Arthur Byrde

Slepher Syndicate

Udugarna

Ceylon – (may be incorrect, difficult to read)

 

Heirs of Frederick Louis Byrde;

 

1.

Ethel Byrde

Penybryn

Weston-Super-Mare

 

2.

Fred. Byrde – deceased

 

3.

Lillian Hutchinson

Lynton House

Abbots Ham Road

Biddeford

1. Devon

 

4.

Evan Wm Byrde

Cross Lanes Bungalow

Bridestown

Devon

 

5.

Rev. Louis Byrde – deceased

Date of death 3-6-1905

Date of probate 15^th July 1905

 

Heirs of Richard Augustus Byrde no. 4

 

1.

Gladys Frazer Smith

Ringles

Linden Gardens

Leatherhead

Surrey

 

2.

ORA Byrde

Heath School

 

3.

Evelyn Byrde

Ridge Cottage

Burleigh

Glos

 

4.

Herbert W Byrde

Godahind

Katugaslotu (?)

Central Province

Ceylon

 

Will dated 21^st December 1887

1^st codicil 3^rd Jan 1890

2^nd codicil 7^th Dec 1894

3^rd codicil 5^th May 1906

Died 20^th October 1906

Probate 13^th December 1906

 

Heirs of Francis William McAlpine Byrde;

 

1.

Frances Byrde

Penybryn

13 Cecil Rd

Weston-Super-Mare

 

2.

Constance Byrde

As above

 

3.

Prideaux Byrde

Sendmisham

Agrapatens

Ceylon

 

4.

Edwin A Byrde

Adra Membhoor District

Behar India

 

Died 24^th February 1919

Probate 15^th July 1920

 

Heirs of Annie Elizabeth Frances Byrde;

 

1.

Charles Byrde

34 Hogarth Road

Earls Court

London SW5

 

2.

Gladys Fraser Smith

(under Rev. RA Byrde)

 

3.

Guy Davies c/o Mrs Davies

The H ?

Colley Road

Epsom

Surry

 

4.

Miss Margaret Clougher

c/o M/s Grey & Co., solicitors

Weston-Super-Mare

 

5. Edwin A Byrde (under JWB)

 

6.

Mrs Goddard

1 Inboor Rd

Earls Court

London

SW5

 

7.

Ethel Byrde

Penybryn

13 Cecil rd

Weston Super Mare

 

8.

Edwin Hutchinson

Lynton House

 

 

9.

Miss Basil C Larke

Ardmore

Surbiton

Surry

 

10.

William L Byrde’s 3 children

Lucia Byrde

Aileen ( Mrs Guy Hutchinson

 

11.

Robin Justice

The Uplands

Ganges Britannia

Columbia

 

Died 15^th January 1922 at Weston Super Mare

Probate October 6^th 1922

 

February 26^th 1925

Goytre School trust fund granted by Col. H Byrde of Goytre House Mon is sent to the National Provincial Bank in Abergavenny for safe custody by the trustees.

Evan M Byrde

John Weeks of Penpellenny Goytre

Drawing Room

1 sofa 4/-

 

Hall

Umbrella stand 10/-

1 set pegs – fixture

Boot cupboard £1

 

Dining Room

1 writing table £2

Sheraton bookcase and secretare office £4

Writing desk chair 7/6

Ceylon wood chair (Alice)

 

Spare bedroom

Double walnut bedstead £2 and small mat

Mahogany table £1

2 ebony brackets £1

 

Spare bedroom no 2

1 maple chest of drawers £1

? 4/-

1 easy chair, leather 15/-

2 Windsor chair 10/-

2 Chippendale chairs £2

 

Aunt Louisa’s room

1 Almirah £1

1 chair (Sheraton) £2 10s

2 Chippendale chairs £2

 

Coach house

1 old table

1 ladder

1 rake

 

At Pentre

2 Chippendale chairs