The Prodigal Rector Returns

by Barbara Hornby

Based on a talk given to the BLISWORTH HERITAGE SOCIETY on Friday, 27 February 2004

George Freeston often prefaced what he wrote about Ambrose with a description of the times of his predecessor, The Reverend Nathaniel Trotter. I am sure George could actually feel what Trotter felt when the canal builders descended on his front garden. In addition to having a delightful name, Mr Trotter seems to have led a blameless life, keeping records of the baptisms of babies, some of them born in fields to wives of the navvies building the canal. He had the Baptists to contend with but all seemed to go rather peacefully. Mr Trotter died in February 1797 and his successor, the Reverend John Ambrose, was to become notorious and mysterious.

According to the book on Oxford alumni, John Ambrose was the son of John Ambrose of London, Gent. Young Ambrose started at University College, Oxford, in April 1784, aged 16, so he was born in about 1768. He obtained his BA in January 1791 and his MA in June of that same year. The first question about him is: what was he doing between 1784 and 1791, a long period before obtaining a first degree? It is interesting to note that his name is also spelled Ambrosse in the French style in the Oxford alumni book. Was he in France during this period? A rather unhealthy period for an Englishman to be there.

John Ambrose was ordained priest by the Bishop of London at St James's Chapel Royal in 1792, just a year after he obtained his MA at Oxford. This indicates that he was probably resident in London at the time.

He was instituted to the Rectory and Parish Church of Blisworth on 19 April 1797. We fortunately have the presentation papers, the most important of which is the certificate of his patron, George Finch Hatton, presenting Ambrose to the Bishop of Peterborough. We also have testimonials from a previous parish, Poulten, now Gloucestershire, then Wiltshire, saying he lived piously, soberly and honestly and did not hold, write or teach anything contrary to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England. His entry in the book on Northamptonshire and Rutland clergy by Isham Longden is as brief as can be: Ambrosse (again in the French spelling), John. – R. of Blisworth, 19 April 1791-1839 (died). Perhaps the author was influenced by Ambrose’s reputation.

In an attempt to find out more about his parents, I consulted the IGI and found a John Ambrose, married to Jane Bradbury in December 1764 at a church in Finsbury, London. Could they be our John's parents? Possible as he was born in 1768. His version of his parentage is a bit more romantic as we shall see.

And so things changed in Blisworth with the advent of Ambrose. Following a relatively peaceful, traditional rector there arrived a man with an agenda of his own as they say today. As early as the 1970s, George became interested in John Ambrose, his curiosity being aroused by entries in the parish registers. The first inkling of this change which George found was that Ambrose's last signature in the registers was for a baptism in 1807. The first Archdeacon's Visitation he did not sign was in 1812 and was signed by Sturges, the curate, crossed out and re-signed by Maria Ambrose, perhaps John's wife? After that the registers were regularly signed by the curate. However, Ambrose must have been around sometime in 1808 because George had evidence that in that year Ambrose paid for two subscriptions for the militia for R. Campion and R. Rogers to the tune of £64.2.6.

As George said, "It was now obvious that the Rector had absented himself from the village, for at the 1811 assessment of the Rev. Ambrose's rates for £5.12.3d, the cash was not forthcoming .. and neither was he. Also, at this same time, a Sequestrator was appointed to handle the affairs of the church in the Rector's absence". Ambrose sold his right to the tithes and took out an annuity for £100. There was speculation that he was resident in Paris.

Then we have the great discovery by George of a piece in a book published in 1888 entitled The Pytchley Hunt, Past and Present by H.O. Nethercote. The author devotes a great deal of space to John Charles, Viscount Althorp and eventually 3rd Earl Spencer who was a keen sportsman. It will repay us to have a look at the 3rd Earl before we move on. He was born in 1782, first son of George John, 2nd Earl, the famous bibliophile who built up the library at Althorp to be unrivalled in the country. His descendant, the present earl, says of him, "By a lucky stroke, George John was to be succeeded by one of the few heirs to the great estates of the time who was not interested in perpetuating extravagance; one who also had a remarkably firm grasp of fiscal discipline – John Charles, the leader of the House of Commons during the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832 and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Because of the excesses of his father, John Charles inherited the estate with a £500,000 debt but he never contemplated selling off the library which he felt it was his duty to keep intact. By taking some drastic steps with Spencer holdings, he managed to pass on the estate to his brother, Frederick, without any debt.

As John Charles did not inherit the title until 1834, he was Viscount Althorp when we meet up with him in about 1808-1811.

      Nethercote says that Lord Althorp's leading passion was to see sporting dogs hunt. "Not inheriting his father's (the great bibliophile of the day) love for books, he patronised all athletic exercises and made a real study of boxing, taking lessons from the best instructors. He had many a set to with his fellow Harrovian, Lord Byron – a very handy man with his fists -- and so hard did he hit, that it used to be commonly said of him that he was a prize fighter thrown away."  (Read from the Pytchley, p. 34 to 35.)

      Nethercote quotes Denis Le Marchant's Memoir of the 3rd Earl. Le Marchant tells of a close friend of Spencer's who was speaking to him about Spencer's love of sport. Spencer became eloquent. It was the one time in his life, in the House of Commons, or out of it, that he had heard Spencer speak with eagerness and almost with passion. He gave accounts of prize fights he had attended. And then comes the account which George discovered first in the book on the Pytchley.  Nethercote described the fight between Gully and the Chicken: how he rode down to Brickhill; how he was loitering about the inn door, when a barouche-and-four drove up with Lord Byron and a party and Jackson the trainer; how they all dined together, and how pleasant it had been. Then the fight the next day: the men stripping, the intense excitement, the sparring; then the first round, the attitude of the men – it was really worthy of Homer.

Some explanation is needed here. Gully was John Gully, a famous boxer of his day. The Game Chicken was Henry (Hen) Pearce. Both were Bristol men. Gully found himself in debtor's prison because of a failed butchery business. Pearce went to visit him, being friends from Bristol days, someone suggested a fight, mufflers (boxing gloves) were produced and they so impressed boxing patrons that Gully's debts were paid and they went off on the boxing circuit.

In an attempt to find out more about the boxing scene, I retrieved a book of illustrations of boxing in which I found a marvellous picture of a fight in 1789 in Banbury. So famous was the fight that it was depicted on a Staffordshire tankard. I also contacted Dennis Brailsford, author of Bareknuckles: A Social History of  Prize-Fighting. After much thinking about it, he says that the fight between Gully and the Game Chicken took place in Sussex in 1805. He thinks the reference by Spencer is to a fight between Gully and a man named Gregson on 8 May 1808. It was supposed to take place at Ashley Common on the Bucks/Beds border and enormous crowds had gathered at Woburn and other places the day before, filling the inns to bursting point. Magistrates interfered, boxing being illegal in those days, and the fight eventually took place at Sir John Sebright's park in Hertfordshire. The Game Chicken was there but as a spectator, having retired at the end of 1805 due to ill health. Others present included Jackson, boxing impresario, and Byron. Brailsford goes on to say that Lord Althorp does not appear in any list of notable patrons of pugilism of the day. Perhaps he kept his identity private; his biographer says "Lord Althorp made acquaintances among the pugilists, but no friends. Mr Jackson, although a frequent guest at the table of Lord Byron, was certainly never at a party at Spencer House." So there.

Now we get to the bit concerning Ambrose. This is in a footnote which Le Marchant says he owes to an old friend of Althorp's: “When the party assembled at the ‘George’, they found that there were not beds enough for them, so they tossed up, and the winners went to bed first, and were called at a certain hour, when the losers took their places. Among the company was the Rector of Blisworth, in Northamptonshire – Parson Ambrose – a man too well known in sporting circles. He disgraced a profession which he ought to have adorned, for he was clever and had a remarkably fine delivery. Macklin, the actor, left him £50 to preach his funeral-sermon. He passed as the natural son of an Irish peer, whose loose morals had descended to him. Obliged at last to fly from his creditors, he died abroad in obscurity and want.”

So there we have it. End of Ambrose. But of course it wasn't. George discovered to his great delight that Ambrose had returned in 1836, began to sign the registers and finally died there in 1839, aged 71, and was buried in Blisworth churchyard. So what had he been up to and where? Had the story of his death been hatched up to silence his creditors? We will see soon how possible that could be.

Because of more entries in the Blisworth baptism register, we know where Ambrose was for part of his stay abroad. In March 1837, there are two entries for Emma and Juliana, daughters of Ambrose and Juliana, his considerably younger wife. Both the entries say that this child was born in Nantes, there being neither Protestant place of worship nor Protestant clergyman. But they were both baptised at Blisworth by their father. Even more of a surprise is a baptism entry on 11 June 1837 for Julia, daughter of the Reverend John and Julia Ambrose. Interesting to note the change in spelling of his wife's name and the great age for the time (approximately 69) of the father!

Just on the chance that we could find something in Nantes, I asked French friends to try and get birth certificates for the two girls, which they did. Daughter Juliana sadly died a year after her baptism and is buried in Blisworth churchyard. But by then the new baby, Julia, had been born.

There were many questions unanswered. Why had Ambrose gone to France? When and why was he in Paris? This was a strange time for an Englishman to be in France. Was he a spy?

These remain unanswered. However, out of the blue I was given a list of entries about John Ambrose which had been found in London Gazette entries for Northamptonshire. Perhaps not surprisingly, Ambrose had spent quite some time in debtor's prison, firstly in Horsham and then in the infamous Fleet Prison in London. A précis of the entries is as follows:

Dated January 6, 1814, six or seven years after his last register entry and six years after the prize fight: A list of persons being prisoners for debt in the Fleet prison in the City of London includes John Ambrosse (two s) (sued by the name of John Ambrose – 1 s), late of Brighton in the County of Sussex and formerly of Blisworth in the County of Northampton, clerk, who on the 4th day of October 1813 was charged in the custody of the keeper or gaoler of His Majesty's gaol of Horsham … and removed from thence by habeas corpus and committed to the custody of the warden of the Fleet prison on the 1st day of December 1813.

The Fleet prison belonged to the Court of Common Pleas and people were committed there for contempt of orders, etc.; or upon debt, when, by a writ of habeas corpus, they removed themselves thither from any other prison, i.e. Horsham in Ambrose's case.

A word about Fleet Prison. It was off Farringdon Street and was originally called Fleet after the River Fleet running by it and emptying into the Thames just about opposite London Bridge. Originally built in 1197, it was destroyed first in 1381 during the Peasant's Revolt, then again in 1666 in the Great Fire. It was burned down but rebuilt. During the Gordon Riots of 1780 it was destroyed again and immediately rebuilt. In 1842 it was consolidated with several other prisons and finally closed, being pulled down in 1846, not that long after Ambrose was there. It was five stories high, including the cellar in which were incarcerated the poorest prisoners, and contained some 300 prisoners and possibly their families. Some prisoners were forced to beg from their cells from gratings which overlooked the street. Because prisons in those days were money making propositions for the wardens, there was a distinct hierarchy of wealth among the prisoners. Some were even let out to ply their trade within the Rules of Fleet which was a network of surrounding streets. The Fleet is best described in Dickens' Pickwick Papers.

Ambrose is listed again in the Gazette in an entry for January 22, 1814. Then there is a notice of April 2, 1814 that the creditors of John Ambrose, late of Brighton, … last a prisoner for debt in … the Fleet, discharged therefrom under an Act passed in the 54th year of his present majesty's (George III) reign entitled An Act for the Relief of Certain Insolvent Debtors in England, are desired to meet at Mr Smeath's Kings Arms Tavern, Golden Square, Marylebone at 5 o'clock in the evening to choose an assignee of the estate and effects of the said John Ambrose.

Four years later, there is a notice saying that a master of the court of chancery will take account of the incumbrances affecting the rectory of Blisworth.

In January 1820, another meeting of creditors is called and then silence. We know from the birthdates of his daughters that he was in Nantes in 1825 and again in 1833, possibly during that whole period.

Finally, 18 years later, in 1838, two years after he reappeared in Blisworth, there is an entry for the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors to be heard in Lincoln's Inn fields on 24 February 1838 naming John Ambrose, formerly of Dean Street, Soho, Middesex, then of Paris, France, afterwards of Pall Mall, Middlesex, since of Nantes in France, then of Blisworth, Northants, and lately staying at the Cathedral Coffee House, St Pauls Churchyard, London, clerk 

These addresses are very interesting. Brighton is not mentioned but two addresses in London, Paris and Nantes are confirmed and then the coffee house. There was a coffee house in St Pauls churchyard called Childs which was frequented by the clergy so perhaps it was that one. A later entry for a meeting of the court on 22 March 1838 lists all the above addresses but ends by saying "lastly a prisoner in the Fleet Prison, London".  So it seems Ambrose returned to Blisworth in 1836/7 and began signing the registers again, including the baptisms of his three daughters, then returned to London and eventually incarceration in the Fleet. He must have returned to Blisworth in 1839 just long enough for one more signing of the register and then his own death in June.

We wonder what became of his wife and two daughters. Perhaps they lived with him in the Fleet. In any case, it seems a sad end to an adventurous life and bears out the comment that he disgraced a profession he should have adorned. His reputation lingered on. In a letter dated 1845 from the Duke of Grafton regarding a proposed new school in Blisworth, he is concerned about the running of the school  being exclusively in the hands of a clergyman without a layman on the board, saying "who knows but another Parson Ambrose may spring up again". Incidentally, owing to the Duke's discontentment, the building of the school was deferred.

Finally, there is the memorial tablet in Blisworth church to Joseph Ambrose Lawson, born in Waterford in 1806, died in 1864. Why is this tablet in Blisworth church? Could there have been some connection with John Ambrose, perhaps through the Irish peer who he claimed was his father?

Trevor Freeston suggested we should check on the Scrope Davis papers. You may remember they were found in the 1970s in a London bank and contained letters about and from Byron. Scrope Davis fled to the continent to escape creditors at about the same time as Ambrose. I found a book called The Rise and Fall of a Regency Dandy about Scrope Davis but it did not shed any light on Ambrose. It did give a good picture of the times and the journeys of Byron and his set.

Postscript  We quoted above that “Macklin the actor left him [Ambrose] £50 to preach his funeral-sermon”. To find out more about this I wrote to St Paul’s Church Covent Garden where Macklin is buried. They replied that he was buried under the “common” (communion) table and had been 107 when he died. Further information was available from the City of Westminster Archives Centre so I consulted them and this is what they sent me concerning the funeral oration:

It had always been the actor’s wish to avoid useless pomp and, accordingly, only three coaches followed the hearse. But at St Paul’s [Covent Garden] a great number of spectators had gathered, and a delegation of friends from the Antelope. Prayers were recited by an ex-pupil, the Reverend Mr. Ambrose, ‘in an impressive and pathetic manner’ which would no doubt have displeased him. He was buried in the vault beside his son.[1]

The “ex-pupil” description intrigued me and I went back to Macklin’s entry in the DNB [2] where I discovered that in 1753 he had established in Covent Garden what he called “a magnificent coffee-room and a school of oratory”.  Macklin returned to the stage after this but he resumed giving acting tuition at the end of his stage career in 1789. As Ambrose was not born until 1768, he must have been a pupil during this latter period.

So the mystery continues: a man, either the son of John Ambrose, Gent. of London or the natural son of an Irish peer (Ambrose’s version), who in his early 20s, after entering University College, Oxford, in 1784 at the age of 16, obtaining his BA and MA in 1791 and being ordained priest in London in 1792 is apparently also getting tuition in acting from one of the most famous actors of the period. In the previous article we commented on the long period of seven years between his matriculation and obtaining BA and wondered what he was up to. Perhaps he was learning to act, a skill that may have served him well in later life! In 1797, the year that Macklin died and Ambrose recited prayers at his funeral, Ambrose was presented by George Finch Hatton to the living of Blisworth which is where this story began.