Scope and Content
Introduction
The Metcalfe Family of Roxton
Anyone who has visited the village of Roxton has probably seen the charming thatched Congregational Chapel there. This chapel was provided by the lord of the manor, Charles James Metcalfe, who, in 1808, transformed a barn into a private chapel for occasional preaching as it was more convenient to worship at Roxton than for him and his family to continue as members of the St Neots congregation.
The Metcalfe family apparently came to Bedfordshire at some time between 1687 and 1717 when James Metcalfe, the great grandfather of the above mentioned Charles Metcalfe, bought the manors of Roxton and Netherbury from William de Laune, the son of Gideon de Laune, a French apothecary, who had held the appointment of surgeon to Queen Anne of Denmark and who was Master of the Apothecaries Society in 1637. James Metcalfe, supported by the third Duke of Bedford, a Whig, sat for the borough of Bedford in the Parliament of 1727, after an enquiry into the conduct of the election in which John Thurloe Brace, Metcalfe's opponent, was disallowed. James Metcalfe died and was buried at Roxton on 4th December 1730, thus occasioning a bye-election.
It is not clear whether the Metcalfe family remained at Roxton after the death of James Metcalfe. Certainly manorial courts were held in the name of William Metcalfe, the son of James Metcalfe, but William's Will, dated 27 October 1778, and proved 23 February 1785, describes him as being of "Fordham Abbey, Cambridgeshire", and William's wife, Catherine, was buried at Fordham on 21 May 1760. However their only son, James, is described as being "of Roxton House, Bedfordshire" in his Will, proved on 14 June 1793, but his eldest son, Charles James Metcalfe, is given in the 1851 census as having been born at Fordham, so the family must have been living there at the time of his birth in 1787.
This Charles James Metcalfe married Elizabeth, the daughter of John May of Maldon, Essex, in 1813, and the couple had several children, of whom the eldest was a son, also called Charles James Metcalfe. Both Charles James Metcalfe and his bride, Elizabeth May, would seem to have had connections with non-conformity before their marriage, for one of the trustees to their marriage settlement was the Reverend William Carver of Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, a dissenting minister. One of Charles' sisters, Katherine, who lived at Chawson House after her brother's marriage, herself married the Reverend Joshua Penuel Dobson of Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire, in 1822. He was apparently one of the tutors there. Another sister, Susanna, was already married to a non-conformist minister, the Reverend Thomas Morell of St Neots.
Charles converted the barn at Roxton into a private chapel as early as 1808 but it did not become independent until 1822 nor did it have a regular minister until 1823, to whom the Metcalfe family appear to have paid a salary, and both Charles James Metcalfe and his son, Charles James, served as deacons. Charles James senior also served as Sheriff of the County in 1834-5 and 1835-6.
It would seem from the above that no difficulties were likely to face such a respectable family but as a result of increasing financial troubles, Charles junior moved from his residence at Chawston House in the spring of 1850 and went to Guernsey and his father resigned as deacon after twenty six years. The church book of Roxton refers to the "Painful circumstances" which occasioned the separation of Metcalfe from his son but the precise nature of these is not mentioned. However an undated memorandum survives which states that on 20 March 1851 a Fiat in Bankruptcy was issued against Charles May of Norwich, William Leopold Metcalfe of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk and Charles Metcalfe of Roxton carrying on trade as soap manufacturers at Great Yarmouth, and a statement made by Anna Sophia Metcalfe, one of Charles senior's daughters, in connection with another matter, includes the fact that her father lost his money through speculations, being surety for a relative for a large sum. The minister at Roxton, Henry Winzar, resigned from his pastorate in January 1851, presumably because the Metcalfe family could no longer afford to pay him. The church book comments: " No reason being recorded for Mr Winzar's resignation it seems necessary to allude to the reverses which were permitted to befall the family who had chiefly supported a settled ministry for many years. This circumstance makes it necessary to depend for the present on occaisional preachers".
The financial position of the family really was serious; although the Roxton estate was sold for £68,250 in 1852, apparently most of this went to pay off the mortgage. A deed of 5th June 1854 shows that William Whitbread, Blyth Foster,, Thomas Turnley and Henry Sewell raised £867-19s by subscription for Charles Metcalfe his wife and daughters, and that the money was invested for them in £3% consolidated annuities. The family seems to have continued to live at Roxton fro Charles Metcalfe senior was buried there in 1855.
Nothing further was known about the fate of the other members of the family until a deposit was made to the County Record Office of the papers of a Biggleswade solicitors. Among these papers were some which referred to the two daughters of Charles Metcalfe, Anna Sophia and Fanny. They had started a girl's school in Hendon whose privacy was threatened by the building of the Hendon Railway Line, and Mr Hooper, the Biggleswade solicitor, had acted for them in opposing the line. In order to do this the Metcalfe sisters had to show how they had built up their business and the evidence of Anna Sophia Metcalfe includes the following information: "On our father's death in 1855 we found that thro' speculations being surety for a relative for a large sum, we had to face the world and we decided we would take up education. We went abroad for seven years and studied in Berlin and Paris" There seems to be a mistake here for it would appear that the girls went abroad in 1851 and not in 1855, for they returned to this country and opened a school in 1858. In 1859 they moved to "Highfields" in Hendon, which was built for them, with 16 pupils and a staff of 3. An additional wing was built in 1869 as the school increased to 35 boarders and it was again enlarged in 1875. The school was for young ladies from 12 to 20 and as a result of their success the Misses Metcalfe opened a junior school in 1873 in two semi-detached houses. This was also successful and a purpose built building was erected for them in 1877-8, known as "Little Highfields", which held 40 scholars, 7 governesses, a matron and ten servants. They later expanded further and purchased other premises as a laundry, sanatorium, governesses' residence, and rooms for secretarys, out of door servants and artisans. At the time of giving her evidence in 1884 Miss Metcalfe said that the school now had 118 pupils, 22 resident governesses, 10 professors and 6 visiting mistresses, 14 men servants, 31 maid servants and 10 laundry maids. Their out door staff consisted of 2 coachmen, 8 gardeners and 2 yardsmen, besides 8 artisans who were permanently employed. Another person giving evidence stated that the fees were "Equal to if not higher than those at Eton for Boys". He valued the estate at £50,000 and it consisted of 31½ acres. The railway required 3 acres for their line which would sever a further 7½ acres from the main body of land and make it useless to the Misses Metcalfe. Miss Metcalfe protested, "In a short time a school which was noted for its perfect arrangements indoors and out, and which has hitherto been quite secluded, will become known and common to the ordinary excursionist public". The sisters did not succeed in resisting the incursion of the railway line but they did receive some compensation for the loss of their property.
Their mother, Mrs Elizabeth Metcalfe, lived with her daughters in Hendon, but on her death in December 1885, her body was brought from Hendon by train to the family vault in the churchyard at Roxton. The Bedfordshire Mercury of 19 December 1885 has a long account of her funeral, mentioning that Mr Foster of Sandy Place, although over 85 years of age, "to show his great regard for an old and valued friend, was taken in a bath chair to Sandy Station to see the coffin". It concludes, "Great grief was felt at the loss of one who in former days had endeared herself to and was beloved by the whole community, and who had been as it were the "mother" of Roxton. It was also manifest to all, that by the death of this venerable lady, although she had come to her grave in full old age, yet the greatest link which bound the Metcalfe family to the hearts of the people of Roxton had been severed".