The ‘Neyland Sensation’: the Rise and Fall of John Henry Coram (1847-1907)
By Simon Hancock
Image: Formal study of Coram probably taken in his study and possibly commissioned when he was newly-elected as a county councillor.
The self-made man was a heroic figure in the middling and upper ranks of Victorian society. A propensity for hard work, thrift and self-denial, coupled with a desire to advance through a programme of self improvement worked wonders for an individual’s social status. The Gospel of work delivered standing, peer respect and an increased sense of self worth which combined with free market economics to produce a distinctive middle-class ideology. ¹ Respectability presented a pervasive value system which made for cohesion and stability which Bailey has identified as a distillation of moral rectitude and economic self sufficiency. ² The almost obsessive concern for respectability had great ideological power which demanded middle-class compliance, although this could also work in the context of leisure. ³ There is copious evidence to suggest that individualism was abundantly displayed by many Pembrokeshire men and women engaged in trade, industry, commerce, and for men, the professions. ⁴
Unlike the extremes of social stratification, gentry on one nexus and the labouring poor and paupers on the other, the middle ground was fluid as men and women (the latter highly gendered and restrictive employment opportunities) and were a residual category, a convenient description of those who were neither manual workers nor aristocrats. ⁵ This is a rich seam for historians with Perkin, Thompson and McGibbin describing the nature of social mobility. ⁶ Writing in his Principles of Political Economy, John Stuart Mill conceded how economic growth was undermining the old social hierarchy so that ‘human beings are no longer born to their place in life.’ 7
The life of John Henry Coram, a nineteenth century Pembrokeshire ship owner, contractor, haulier and ferry proprietor could almost be a paradigm for the doctrines espoused by Self Help (1859), a Victorian best seller penned by Samuel Smiles (1812-1904) in which thrift and personal improvement could lead to prosperity. If not exactly a rags to riches tale Coram’s life demonstrated an unusual degree of commercial and political success, although his later, spectacular fall from grace displayed a fatal flaw in his personal character. ⁸
Coram’s career is typical of middle-class fortunes, the middling sort being a rather shadowy group in the history of Wales. ⁹ A great deal has been written about the Welsh working class but the historiography of the middle classes is sparse. Light contends how an understanding of their class is essential for an appreciation and understanding of urbanisation and society in Wales. ¹⁰ They provided the personnel that formed the urban elites who were active in the social, cultural, economic and political life of the towns. ¹¹
John Henry Coram had humble beginnings. He was the son of John Coram (a native of Somerset) and was born on 18 September 1847 at Llandefriog, Cardiganshire, where his father was an ostler. ¹² The 1851 census found the Coram family grown through the birth of James in 1849. They resided at Pendre Street, St Mary’s parish, Cardigan. Later siblings of the marriage included Sarah, Mary Ann and Charles, all born at Newcastle Emlyn. A decade later the family had removed to Adpar, Newcastle Emlyn, where fourteen-year old John was given the usual and universal appellation of ‘scholar.’ The highly fluid nature of male occupations was demonstrated by John’s father who was described as a coachman. ¹³
In the mid 1860s the elder two Coram boys, John and James, left their sylvan abode on the borders of rural Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire to seek employment in Pembrokeshire where the opening of a railway branch line at Neyland a decade before had created a localised economic boom. Economic migration is an articulation of various push and pull factors. The advent of a new railway terminus and steam communication to Waterford and Cork, coaling, hotel facilities and a myriad of ancillary occupations needed to sustain this new principal travel route were considerable. Moreover the labour-hungry dockyard at Pembroke Dock made the Haven a tempting prospect for rural job seekers keen to escape the usual poverty of agricultural employment.
According to Neyland’s first chronicler and town clerk, John Griffiths (1861-1940) who wrote a remarkable series of articles about his reminisces (1930-38), John Henry Coram came to Neyland and started his employed life as a telegraph clerk running errands and working in the first post office selling stamps. ¹⁴ The postal enterprise was the brainchild of the distinguished entrepreneur and Coram’s future mentor, Captain Thomas Thompson Jackson (c. ¹⁸¹2-81), a native of Whitby and who, with his partner Robert Ford, ran the passenger steamers which ran between Neyland (soon to be renamed New Milford) to Waterford and Cork. The Great Western Railway purchased Jackson’s interests in 1872.
Coram’s place in his new adoptive community is shrouded with uncertainty, supposition and conjecture which are poor substitutes for certain facts. One of the first contemporary references to him alludes to his fine singing voice. The 20-year old Coram performed at the Llanstadwell National School on 9 March 1869 during a Penny Reading entertainment during which the schoolroom was ‘tolerably well filled with a respectable audience.’ 15 Young Coram entered the service of Captain Jackson who saw in the youth qualities of diligence and enterprise which earned the Yorkshire man’s favour and earned rapid promotion. In 1871 23 year-old Coram and his brother James, a ship’s steward, were lodgers at the home of James Warlow, a master mariner, at Cambrian Street. ¹⁶
The arrival of the railway had exerted powerful forces promoting economic development, resulting in, inter alia, a substantial population increase. The population of the parish rose from 905 in 1851 to 1,745 in 1861. ¹⁷ Migrants of all trades, occupations and callings came from a wide geographic background so that within a few short years the old established parish families had lost their pre-eminence. Conspicuous among the latter were the Gaddarn family, chiefly represented by the brothers James (1822-90) and Charles (1819-98). Their shipbuilding yard turned out craft which plied the world’s major trade routes, including a splendid number of clipper ships in the 1860s. It was into this family that John Henry Coram married Emma Gaddarn at Llanstadwell Church by licence on 24 June 1873. Coram was described as a 26-year old clerk while his father’s occupation was given as butcher. ¹⁸ The union produced three offspring. The eldest child Sydney, was baptised on 9 November 1874, with Emlyn following two years later (baptised 25 October 1876) and their daughter Caroline Jackson Coram baptised on 28 January 1879. ¹⁹ The girl’s Christian names bore ample testimony to her father’s powerful protégé and benefactor, Captain Thomas Jackson and Caroline his wife. ²⁰ John’s brother James and his wife Maria Ann also celebrated the arrival of progeny, a son James Henry who was christened on 8 June 1874. ²¹ Tragically James senior died at Newcastle Emlyn on 6 February 1875 aged just 26. This was the beginning of an awful catalogue of early mortality which haunted the Coram family.
Image: Family study taken in the grounds of Neyland House circa 1900. Left to right: (standing) Sydney Coram, Caroline and Emlyn. John Henry and his wife Emma are seated.
Despite the small physical size of the community Neyland had a marked zoning of skilled occupational and socially concentrated groups. Artisanal and other modest dwellings, most with wretched environmental conditions, were in sharp contrast to the higher status housing at Neyland Terrace and elite rural residences to be found in rural Llanstadwell at Hayston, Scoveston and Newton. The 1881 census found Coram and his family at Neyland Terrace, where, as an accountant, he was in the employ of Captain Jackson. He engaged the services of a servant, a 22-year old housemaid Mary Ann Davies, one of the marks of middle class status along with income and employment. ²² Burnett notes the correlation between increasing numbers of servants and the growth of the middle classes. ²³
Coram’s interest in shipping began in the 1880s, doubtless fostered by the perspicacious Captain Jackson. In 1880 the former became the owner of a 93-ton steam trawler, the Express. ²⁴ The following year the community was deeply shocked to learn of the sudden death of Captain Jackson which occurred at the Langham Hotel, Portland Place on 3 October 1881. He had largely divested himself of several major commercial interests by this date although he left a substantial estate worth £14,286 5s. 3d. ²⁵
Coram, who was Jackson’s manager, purchased his Neyland-based business operations in an agreement contracted between himself and Caroline Jackson, the captain’s sold executrix dated 17 November 1882. This important document, (newly brought into the public domain by David Sandy of Burton) disclosed how Coram paid the consideration of £10,000 plus an annuity of £500 per annum for ten years to Jackson’s widow. The first schedule listed the steamers and barges he acquired including the Guide, Express, Milford Haven, Long Ditton and Pembrokeshire in the list of the former. His barges were listed as the Pennar, Bombay, Neyland, Dispatch, Mary, Pembroke, Crane Barge, Goods Barge and the hulk Jean Lithgow. All in all this was a sizeable little fleet of craft. Coram also acquired Jackson’s late interests in leasehold properties (including the ‘capital messuage’ Neyland House and also New Milford House in High Street) held under lease from the Picton and Lawrenny Estates. A later indenture dated 11 November 1887 assigned the outstanding, unexpired terms of the leasehold properties in Neyland from Caroline Jackson to Coram for £2,000. At that stage Caroline Jackson had left Neyland and resided at 18 Observatory Avenue, Kensington. By 1890 Coram was the undoubted commercial and social personality of the community. There were few aspects of civic life where his protean reach did not stretch. Coram became the establishment figure and the essential adornment to every public occasion. On 2 May 1888 he opened a fancy bazaar held in aid of the Llanstadwell Church renovation fund held at the National schoolroom. The event realised a very worthwhile £162. ²⁶
Coram was soon initiated into the rites of freemasonry and he was present at the South Wales Hotel to witness the installation of Thomas Poulter as Worshipful Master in January 1879. ²⁷ He became Worshipful Master of the Lodge in 1881. ²⁸ At one particularly striking installation banquet (held on 26 February 1888) Mr Anthony James, Coram’s clerk, opened the lodge to which Coram became the treasurer. ²⁹ A close business relationship developed between the two men which had mutually disastrous consequences some twenty years later. Interestingly both men displayed musical aptitude at a sacred and secular concert held on 28 November 1879. Mr James gave a cornet solo of some proficiency, while Coram far exceeded the expectations of his most sanguine friends as he gave a rendition in a clear bold voice with much feeling. ³⁰
The advent of the Local Government Act in 1888, creating directly elected county councils, provided at least a limited measure of democratic local governance which represented an advance on the time honoured institutions whereby Justices of the Peace transacted local business at Quarter Sessions. Local elites were quick to advance their claims for the new and coveted elected posts. Thus Sir Charles E.G. Philipps of Picton Castle offered himself as a candidate for the Slebech and Martletwy electoral division while Richard Carrow, Sackville Owen and John Worthington were nominated for the Johnston, Amroth and Fishguard Wards. No less an eminence than Lord Kensington was induced to stand for Dale, Marloes, St Brides and St Ishmaels. At Llanstadwell, which also covered Neyland township, John Henry Coram, Liberal, described as a steamship owner and coal merchant, was proposed by William Williams and Edwin Cornelius and seconded by George Lewis and his clerk; Anthony James. ³¹ Coram was opposed by Donald Alexander McAlpin, assistant paymaster in the Royal Navy, retired.
Polling day came in January 1889, the Neyland polling station being located at the Board school. Coram was victorious with 232 votes to McAlpin’s 133; a decent majority of 99 votes. ³² When the public declaration of the poll was made Mr Coram made a speech expressing the hope, prophetic as it turned out, that they ‘would never have cause to regret their selection.’ He was chaired and carried on stalwart shoulders in triumph through what passed as streets in Neyland, cheered on by hundreds and accompanied by a band. He was set down in the grounds of his own residence where the cheering was kept up for some time. ³³
John Henry Coram was well placed to dominate Neyland’s fin de siècle. In 1891 the 43-year old ship owner still resided at Neyland Terrace and employed two female domestic servants. His household comprised his wife and children and also his father-in-law, Charles Gaddarn, living on his own means, aged 71. ³⁴ Coram’s neighbours comprised the highest ranks of skilled and professional men who resided locally. They included Alexander Christison (mechanical engineer), William Harris (marine engineer), Edwin Cornelius (marine engineer) and Thomas May 9steamship captain). Coram’s chief clerk, 51-year old Anthony James also lived in the terrace. Coram’s business concerns flourished in the late nineteenth century eventually encompassing the Neyland to Hobbs Point ferry service, general contract work, coal shipping and government haulage. On 24 August 1889 Messrs Coram and Company entered into an agreement with the Great Western Railway Company giving the former the right to use the landing stage at Neyland for the transit of cattle. The privilege was granted for a moiety of £1 1s. per annum. ³⁵ Later, on 21 August 1890, another agreement contracted between the same parties related to the conveyance of the important fish traffic landed at the port. ³⁶
Coram’s elevated status ensured he was regularly rubbing shoulders with the county elite through his business concerns, county council duties and freemasonry circles. On 20 September 1892 he achieved coveted recognition of his standing when he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. He was sworn in, probably at the Shire Hall, on 18 October 1892. ³⁷ He had previously been appointed a conservator of the Cleddy fisheries at a county council meeting held on 3 May 1892. ³⁸ His dominance of the locality’s commercial and political life was now assured. The ostler’s son from Newcastle Emlyn had certainly done very well for himself. He was invariably called upon to perform honorary functions at sporting and charitable events. He was one of the judges at the Neyland Athletic Sports, Bicycle and Pony races which attracted crowds numbering over 2,500 people. ³⁹ The Neyland sports became perhaps the most successful and popular events of their kind anywhere in Pembrokeshire. Coram obliged with the same duties at the sports held on 18 July 1894. ⁴⁰ He did so again on 28 June 1899. ⁴¹ He had the privilege to be the starter at the first recorded Hazelbeach Regatta held in 1894. ⁴²
John Henry Coram was a prominent Liberal, described as such in his county council nominations, although he was a staunch churchman rather than Nonconformist. Neyland had a reputation for radical politics; a Conservative representative would have been an alien concept for such a proletarian community. Coram’s tenure as a county councillor was a far from easy one. He attracted a fair degree of criticism due to the persistently wretched environmental conditions. Urban development had been sporadic and largely unplanned leaving Neyland shorn of the rudiments of modern life, sanitation, lighting, paving and street cleaning. In 1888 one correspondent complained about the presence of dangerous dogs which roamed with impunity giving the locale such an awful reputation. ⁴³ One correspondent, writing to the Western Mail, deplored the disgraceful streets where a pedestrian walking from the South Wales Hotel up to High Street had to contend with a sea of mud which might be better negotiated by swimming rather than wading. It was a wonder why the inhabitants were required to pay highway rates when they seemingly received nothing in return. The question was posed whether Mr Coram, ‘our popular councillor’ might interest himself in the matter and rectify the worst kept streets in south Wales. ⁴⁴ The lack of a foot bridge at Church Lakes which separated Neyland from rural Llanstadwell was another bone of contention. In 1892 the beach road was considered deplorable with road scrapings left on the roadside. ⁴⁵ Another correspondent, styled ‘straight forward,’ thought how Mr Coram ought to do more. ⁴⁶
In fairness to Coram the administrative apparatus and structure of local government as it then existed did not facilitate speedy action at the parochial level. This changed to a degree with the arrival in 1894 of parish councils directly elected by local ratepayers, providing they met a property qualification. A meeting for Llanstadwell ratepayers was held at the Board school on 4 December 1894. In a splendid example of ecumenicalism and of how well he bridged the sectarian divide, it was proposed by the Rev William Powell (Congregational minister) and seconded by the Rev Rumsey (vicar) that Coram (effectively the local padrino or ward boss) should chair these novel democratic proceedings. ⁴⁷ Nominations were handed in and the first parish council meeting was held on 28 December 1894. Coram’s chief clerk, Anthony James, was elected chairman. He made the position his own, being elected nem. con annually until 1900, when the urban portion of Neyland was separated from Llanstadwell to form a new urban district. Even then he became chairman of the first Neyland Urban District Council. Some measure of James’ popularity can be gauged by the triennial election results held in 1896 when he topped the poll with 321 votes. ⁴⁸ In his youth Anthony James had been a bugler for the Pembrokeshire Volunteers, playing a silver bugle with a chromatic attachment under the direction of Mr Harding, the bandmaster. ⁴⁹
Under the chairmanship of Anthony James, and presumably working in tandem with Mr Coram as county councillor, the parish council attempted to deal with the challenge of providing a modicum of public services. They did much to their credit although by 1898 stones were still strewn around the streets while in Frederick Street there were holes so large that they were jocularly thought suitable for the contemplative recreation of fishing. ⁵⁰ Further, Neyland did not possess any street lighting. ⁵¹ One of the most protracted issues was the lack of a police station or lock up for the township which had a population of around 3,000 and a steamship service to Ireland involving 18 voyages each week. In cases of emergency the police sergeant was obliged to house prisoners in his own house, a far from satisfactory state of affairs. Representations were made to the Pembrokeshire Standing Joint Committee. ⁵² Despite criticism that Coram could have been more energetic in pursuing this urgently required facility (which was achieved in 1900) he was, nevertheless, returned unopposed as county councillor in 1892 and again in 1895. ⁵³ During the latter elections, a contest at Walwyn’s Castle brought the exasperating plea ‘Can nothing be done by the leading men of both parties to suppress and blot out a system of corruption and bribery which will compare with that of Ancient Rome.’ 54
John Henry Coram’s unchallenged position as county grandee was further emphasised by his uncontested re-election to Pembrokeshire County Council in March 1898 during which time there were fourteen electoral contests. ⁵⁵ His position as the principal local employer of labour outside the Great Western Railway Company and Pembroke Dockyard helps to explain this pre-eminence. He and his family by then resided at Neyland House, the town’s most elite residence, previously occupied by Captain Lecky. On 23 May 1894 the captain’s household furniture including walnut writing desk, piano and fine Chippendale chairs were sold by public auction. ⁵⁶ Coram employed a coachman, Mr Frank Perkins, perhaps a conscious inversion of his former social position where his father had once followed that occupation in the 1860s. Neyland House had once been the residence of Captain Jackson and it was no accident that the illustrious captain could have seen his fine Irish steamers from his own lawn.
In March 1899 Coram fell dangerously ill with pneumonia, news which created panic in the town. His grave illness brought a realisation among Neyland people of his excellent qualities as ‘the good natured and kind gentleman of Neyland House.’ 57 The town figuratively gathered around his bedside. He made a full recovery and continued to enjoy the affections of his electorate. He was returned again, inevitably without contest, in March 1901. Across Pembrokeshire there were eleven contests which eventually resulted in a Liberal majority of two securing control of the council. ⁵⁸ The decennial census of 1901 was in many ways Coram’s ne plus ultra. He could go no further, except perhaps the ultimate accolade and mark of distinction as the netting of a deputy lieutenancy (DL) which his mentor Captain Jackson had once enjoyed, or his election as a county alderman. His business continued to prosper as Emlyn had joined the family firm. The household continued to enjoy the services of two faithful female house servants, Mary Ann Davies and Annie Cooper. ⁵⁹
Nothing could have prepared the people of Neyland or indeed the county of Pembrokeshire for the sensational news that on 20 August 1901 Mr Anthony James, Coram’s principal if not his own clerical assistant, together with Charles Ewart Davies, a sergeant in the Army Pay Corps, had been arrested by Sergeant Stockley a detective from Scotland Yard. The arrest warrants charged them with obtaining a cheque for £180 7s. 7d. by false pretences from His Majesty’s Secretary of State, presumably for War. ⁶⁰ The pair were taken to London with Coram travelling on the same train. On 22 August Coram was formally arrested on the same charge. ⁶¹ Coram’s business often transported government stores to forts around the Haven, charging set freightage rates. The accusations included the systematic and deliberate overcharging by weight of goods transported, allegedly due to the culpability of the owner and clerk of the firm with Davies making subsequent alterations in the carrier’s notes.
Coram appeared at Bow Street before Mr de Rutzen when only evidence of arrest was presented. The detective stated how James first claimed that ‘the head of the firm’ (i.e. Coram) was the person to see about this affair. ⁶² When he was apprehended Davies, the soldier clerk, replied how ‘It is a pity that the people who started this business are not in it.’ Coram and James, both serving Justices of the Peace, were remanded on bail in two sureties of £1,000 each, which sums were immediately forthcoming. The case did indeed constitute the ‘Neyland Sensation’ and made national headlines including The Times and The Irish Times. The latter reported the prosecution’s allegations of how Coram had charged for work which had never been carried out or fraudulently overcharged the amounts carried. ⁶³ At Bow Street Police Court on 26 August Mr Bodkin, on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions, levelled the charges against the defendants of forging receipts and receiving money by means of forged instruments. The three month account for the period up to 30 June 1900 amounted to a smidgeon over £180 including the large sum of £41 claimed for transporting a ‘Richardson’ record target (used in gunnery practice) to Popton Fort. In fact this target had been towed by the government vessel Drake. ⁶⁴ When the civilian foreman at the Ordnance Department wharf at Hobbs Point pointed to a disputed claim for £6 3s. 4d. Davies asked him if he could square (implying forget the matter?) for a £5 note. ⁶⁵
The acute embarrassment felt by Coram and James is difficult to overstate. On 2 September 1901 the members of the Neyland Urban District Council discussed a letter of resignation dated 28 August 1901 penned by their chairman Anthony James, tendering his resignation. Members declined to accept it. ⁶⁶ It transpired that the enquiry into Coram’s accounts began in May 1901. This revealed a number of instances where overcharging had occurred for various sums including £179 18s. 5d., £218 0s 3d. and £127 17s. 11d.
Image: Sketch of the three defendants, Charles Ewart Davies, Anthony James and John Henry Coram in the dock in court. The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times, 31 August 1901
The trial of the three defendants took place at the Central Criminal Court (popularly known as the Old Bailey) on 30, 31 October and 1 November 1901, before Mr Justice Bingham. Anthony James was tried on three indictments and Coram and Davies on one. The latter pair faced a charge of conspiring and agreeing to obtain and obtaining by false pretences from the principal Secretary of State orders for various sums with the intention to defraud. ⁶⁷ The Solicitor General, Mr Charles Mathews, and Mr Bodkin conducted the prosecution. Anthony James strenuously denied any knowledge of malpractice. He earned £2 10s. a week as Coram’s managing clerk and did not, he asserted, benefit from any overcharging. During work he sat in an outer office as a clerk while Mr Coram occupied an inner office, very much the nerve centre of the business. James reiterated the absence of any motive he had for committing fraud. ⁶⁸
Charles Ewart Davies had, it seems, rather more to answer. Despite only receiving 3s. 9d. a day in salary, plus government rations, he managed to purchase a bicycle costing £15 4s. from William Luther Silcox of Pembroke Dock and a further £31 19s. 6d. was spent on items from Frederick John Tallett, jeweller of 14 Dimond Street in the same town. ⁶⁹ This pattern of expenditure seemed highly unusual, as were his frequent and unauthorised trips across the ferry to Neyland. It was alleged that the extra cash was given to him by Coram as his share of the fraudulent claims. The successful coal merchant and carrier seldom had less than between £3000-£6,000 credit balance in the company bank account. ⁷⁰
During the defence of Coram Mr Muir, his barrister, disclosed how his client had been working at Neyland for 35 years which would put his arrival at 1866 when he was a fresh faced country lad of nineteen. Coram denied any link to Davies and maintained that throughout his conduct was that of an innocent man. ⁷¹ The jury retired to consider their verdict. After an absence of 25 minutes they filed back into court, finding Davies and Coram guilty while they acquitted James. Mr Justice Bingham was quite satisfied that justice had been done, agreeing that Davies had deliberately falsified the accounts to get money out of Coram, thereby ensuring that the latter received more than he was legally entitled to. Charles Ewart Davies received a sentence of nine months in prison in the Second Division ‘so that he should not be injured more than need be during the time he was in prison.’72
Addressing Coram, His Lordship said his case was far worse. His position in the community and his affluence ought to have prevented him from perpetrating these miserable frauds upon his country. He tempted ‘the boy’ (meaning Davies) from the paths of honesty. Coram received a sentence of eighteen months imprisonment with hard labour to be served at Pentonville. ⁷³ James had been in Coram’s employ for more than 30 years. It must have been a bitter-sweet experience as he left court, a free man while Coram was led down. It seems that James was an innocent dupe who had been sucked into the vortex of the scandal by his closeness to Coram.
The sentence passed on 4 November 1901 was far from the end of the matter. For failing to figuratively fall on his sword along with Coram, Anthony James was seen as committing, very unfairly, an act of betrayal. The acquitted man returned home by the Cork Boat Express on 6 November. His arrival at the station caused a real stir. A crowd of between 50-60 men and boys followed James up the hill and despite the presence of a sergeant and two police constables the sibilant crowd displayed their dislike by shouting and groaning ‘traitor.’74 On the following day an unlawful assembly occurred near James’ house. An effigy of James was burnt in Mr Coram’s garden directly opposite his house. The head of the effigy carried a likeness of James painted on an empty oil can while it bore a hat of a kind favoured by James. There was a very real threat of disorder despite the presence of fifteen policemen. A number of men were charged with public order offences. Fifteen were summonsed but most of the charges were dismissed although four men, Warlow, Harries, Lewis and Brooks, were bound over in sureties of £10 each to keep the peace for twelve months. A highly vocal audience of Neyland residents occupied the Shire Hall during the proceedings, greeting the verdicts with applause. ⁷⁵
The continued residence of Anthony James in Neyland was clearly untenable. Despite, or more probably, on account of his acquittal, he was the object of intense community hostility. Thus within a week of the court case he left Neyland never to return. ⁷⁶ He died at Southsea, Hampshire in 1912 as a sad exile. Although a demonstrably innocent man, the urban council gave his second letter of resignation rather different treatment on 2 December 1901. It was accepted without comment and Mr George Mumford Voyle was elected in his place. ⁷⁷
Although in deep disgrace, Coram was not without a cohort of influential friends. Even at his trial Mr Wynford Philipps, MP for Pembroke Borough, and Dr Griffith of Milford Haven, Chairman of Pembrokeshire County Council, gave character statements on his behalf. Over 200 gentlemen gathered at the South Wales Hotel on 12 February 1902 for the purpose of taking steps to promote a petition to the Home Secretary praying for the release of Mr J.H. Coram or the shortening of the term of his imprisonment from penal servitude. The large and representative gathering from across Pembrokeshire bore ample evidence of Coram’s popularity and included such worthies as Mr R.T. P. Williams, the town clerk of Haverfordwest, Mr T. Rule Owen, W.H. George (Mayor of Haverfordwest), Mr J.H. Whicher of Milford Haven and Mr F.B. Mason of Tenby. Two separate committees were agreed upon and the whole proceedings were characterised by the heartfelt unanimity which was a striking demonstration of Coram’s enduring respect ‘among all classes in the county.’78 A general committee meeting of the Coram petition movement held on 24 February 1902 adopted the draft form of petition and it was decided to ask General Laurie and Mr Wynford Philipps to present the petition to the Home Secretary. Signatures from persons over the age of 18 of both sexes were solicited. ⁷⁹
Despite their valiant efforts it would seem unlikely that they met with any success. Licenses for male prisoners (1902-8) record very few prisoners released from Pentonville and nothing relating to Coram. It seems probable he completed his 18-month sentence, although perhaps not all of it with hard labour, and he would have been released in 1903. ⁸⁰ There might have been even more ramifications from this sorry affair. In September 1902 it was reported how further police enquiries into government contract fraud were set to expose further culprits. Action would be taken to ensure a great haul. According to one unnamed detective ‘It will be a much bigger thing than the Pembrokeshire business and bigger men in it.’81 There was no further elaboration on this cryptic reference to further criminal proceedings and nothing more is heard.
It would be difficult to overstate the trauma and humiliation of Coram’s period of incarceration at Pentonville nor indeed the physical exertion of the hard labour required of him. Victorian and Edwardian prisons were not renowned for their ease and comfort. Much of Coram’s businesses were sold off. The Neyland and Hobbs Point Ferry was purchased by Mr Frederick Hitchings in 1902 and it remained in his management until the early 1930s. What remained of Coram and Company (then styled E. Coram and Co.), coal haulage and the like, was sold off to the same purchaser in 1923. ⁸² Although very nearly a hopeless task, Coram attempted to regain a measure of respectability. However, many erstwhile friends treated him as a pariah. In 1903 he was one of the subscribers to the reprint of Fenton’s A Historical Tour Through Pembrokeshire (1810) and he relived old times when he was asked to be a judge at the Neyland Annual Athletic Sports on 12 July 1905. ⁸³ He still remained an important employer of local labour. In July 1904 his workmen enjoyed their annual outing to Fishguard. ⁸⁴ He also still retained shipping interests. In 1906 he was the co-owner of the 212-ton trawler Neyland along with David Pettit of Milford Haven. ⁸⁵ Even so, the last sad years of his life echoed the death throes of Neyland’s golden age.
The transfer of the GWR Irish steam traffic to Goodwick in August 1906 was a shattering loss to Neyland which paralysed trade and spawned gloomy prognoses about the town’s demise. In the event the Cassandra’s over-stated their case as a considerable industrial workforce remained. ⁸⁶ The death of Coram’s father John (1822-1907) on 19 January 1907 ushered in a frightful five years for the Coram family. John Henry Coram died suddenly at Newcastle Emlyn on 2 February 1907. There was no question where his mortal remains would lay. He was buried at Neyland cemetery on 6 February 1907. ⁸⁷ He was still a wealthy man leaving estate valued at £20,492. His business was left in trust to his wife during her lifetime with his second son, Emlyn, having the option to purchase later. He left a legacy of £500 to a faithful family friend, Thomas Baker of Little Haven. ⁸⁸
In the dark shadows of their father’s disgrace both Sydney and Emlyn Coram took wives. Sydney married Eva Mary Newport at St Pancras in 1903. He had been intended to study medicine but the rebellious youth would have none of it, running away with a boyhood friend, William Lloyd of Cambrian Road before they were brought back. Emlyn met Carrie Phillips of Redruth, Cornwall, when she worked as manageress of the South Wales Hotel. The couple married at Redruth in 1905 and had one child, John Henry (1909-95). Emlyn died tragically young aged 33 on 22 October 1909. ⁸⁹ His older brother, Sydney, farmed at Dairy Park, Steynton. His wife Eva died of typhoid in February 1912. The same disease carried off Sydney a fortnight later on 21 February 1912. ⁹⁰ Coram’s widow, Emma, nursed her son steadfastly through his illness before she was too struck down. In 1911 63-year old Emma Coram, described as a coal merchant, was living at Neyland House with her unmarried daughter, Caroline. ⁹¹ Emma died on 10 April 1912. ⁹² probate was granted to the sole surviving child Caroline, who had fearfully tasted of the cup of suffering. Caroline received her mother’s estate worth £3,125 10s.and jewellery and wearing apparel. ⁹³ Not that this was much consolation. Caroline had witnessed the disgrace and death of her father, the untimely deaths of her two brothers and loss of her beloved mother. A deserved glimpse of happiness shone into her life in 1913 when Caroline married Grenville Harries of Solva and came to reside at Neyland House. Tragically they lost a daughter, Yvonne Jordan Harries, only a few weeks old. Happily a second daughter, Joan Coram Harries, born in 1918, survived. ⁹⁴ Caroline was a gifted, sensitive woman, who excelled at tennis and music and other genteel pursuits. She was later elected president of the Neyland Institute.
Caroline’s life was still not free from heartache. Her husband Grenville died suddenly at Neyland House on 8 May 1923 in his thirties. ⁹⁵ Bearing such loss proved an immense strain and Caroline was herself released from her suffering at Tenby on 4 August 1925, only 46 years of age herself. ⁹⁶ The Coram’s star had risen far but fallen with Icarian suddenness, a parallel to the fortunes of Neyland itself, their joint fortunes a stark reminder of the capriciousness of life.
This article, “The ‘Neyland Sensation’: the Rise and Fall of John Henry Coram (1847–1907)” by Dr Simon Hancock, originally published in the Journal of the Pembrokeshire Historical Society, Vol. 22 (2013), pp. 47–68, is reproduced here with the kind permission of the author.
Notes
1. Lawrence James, The Middle Classes. A History (London, 2006), 240.
2. Peter Bailey, Leisure and Class in Victorian England. Rational Recreation and the Contest for Control, 1830-1885 (London, 1978), 175.
3. Mike Huggins, More Sinful Pleasures? Leisure, Respectability and the Male Middle Classes in Victorian England, in Journal of Social History, 33:3, (2000), 585-600.
4. Simon Cordery, Friendly Societies and the Discourse of Respectability in Britain, 1825-1875, in Journal of British Studies, 34:1 (1995), 35.
5. G.R. Searle, A New England? Peace and War 1886-1918 (Oxford, 2004), 96.
6. R. McGibbin, The Ideologies of Class: Social Relations in Britain, 1880-1950 (Oxford, 1990); A. Miles, Social Mobility in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century England (Basingstoke, 1999); F.M.L. Thompson, The Rise of Respectable Society: A Social History of Victorian Britain, 1830-1900 (London, 1988).
7. Martin Daunton, An Economic and Social History of Britain 1851-1951 (Oxford, 2007), 402.
8. James, The Middle Class, 259.
9. W.D. Jones, Banqueting at a Moveable Feast: Wales 1870-1914, in G.E. Jones and D. Smith (eds), The People of Wales (Llandysul, 1999), 153.
10. Julie Light, The Middle Classes as Urban Elites in Nineteenth-Century South Wales, in Welsh History Review, 24:3 (2009), 29; Neil Evans makes an important contribution to the discussion in The Welsh Victorian City: The Middle Class and Civic and National Consciousness in Cardiff, 1850-1914, in Welsh History Review, 12 (1984-85).
11. Ibid.
12. 1851 Census returns for Cardiganshire. For national statistics PP (Cd. ¹⁶³2) Census returns for Great Britain.
13. ¹⁸⁶1 Census returns for Carmarthenshire. National statistics are to be found in
PP (Cd. 3056) census of England and Wales for the year 1861.
14. Pembroke County Guardian, 2 May 1930.
15. Pembrokeshire Herald, (hereinafter PH) 12 March 1869.
16. 1871 Census returns for parish of Llanstadwell. For national statistics: PP (c. ⁶⁷⁶) 1872 Census of England and Wales.
17. PP 1861 (Cd. 3056).
18. Pembrokeshire Record Office (hereinafter PRO) HPR/131/105. Llanstadwell parish marriage register 1837-92.
19. PRO HPR/31/100 Llanstadwell parish baptismal register 1879-1904.
20. The links between Jackson and Coram were undeniably strong. It would be useful if some picture of their financial arrangements whereby Coram acquired much of his business interests could come to light.
21. PRO HPR/31/99 Llanstadwell parish baptismal register 1850-78.
22. 1881 Census returns for the parish of Llanstadwell.
23. John Burnett, Useful Toil: Autobiographies of Working People from the 1830s to the 1920s (Harmondsworth, 1984), 135.
24. www.http://llangibby.eclipse.co.uk/Milfordtrawlers.
25. www.http://ancestrylibrary.com. England and Wales National Probate Calendar (index of Wills and Administrations) 1861-1941.
26. Haverfordwest & Milford Haven Telegraph (hereinafter H&MHT) 9 May 1888.
27. Pembroke Dock and Tenby Gazette, (hereinafter PD&TG) 9 January 1879.
28. W.M. Childs, Centenary of Neyland Lodge of Freemasons (Haverfordwest, 1964), 29.
29. Ibid., 10-11.
30. PD&TG, 4 December 1879.
31. Pembroke Dock and Pembroke Gazette, 10 January 1889.
32. PH, 18 January 1889.
33. Ibid., 25 January 1889.
34. 1891 Census returns for the parish of Llanstadwell.
35. The National Archives, (hereinafter TNA) RAIL/252/915 Agreement between the Great Western Railway Company and Messrs Coram of Neyland to use a landing stage, 29 August 1889.
36. TNA RAIL/252/942 Agreement between John Henry Coram (coal merchant and steamship owner, New Milford (Neyland), Pembrokeshire and the Great Western Railway Company for conveyance of fish and other traffic at New Milford. 21 August 1890.
37. PP 1895(45) Justices of the Peace (Counties and Boroughs) returns showing names, addresses and date of appointment of magistrates between 1 July 1892 and 31 August 1894.
38. PH, 27 May 1892.
39. H&MHT, 31 August 1892.
40. PH, 27 July 1894.
41. H&MHT, 5 July 1899.
42. Ibid., 8 August 1894.
43. Ibid., 16 May 1888.
44. Western Mail, 29 January 1891.
45. H&MHT, 10 February 1892.
46. Ibid., 9 November 1892.
47. PRO HSPC/76/1 Llanstadwell Parish Council minute book 1894-1908.
48. H&MHT, 1 April 1896.
49. PCG, 15 August 1896.
50. H&MHT, 18 January 1899.
51. Ibid., 26 January 1898.
52. Ibid., 3 June 1896.
53. Ibid., 6 March 1895.
54. Ibid.
55. Ibid., 9 March 1898.
56. PH, 18 May 1894.
57. PCG, 25 March 1899.
58. H&MHT, 13 March 1901.
59. 1901 Census returns for the urban district of Neyland.
60. The Times, (hereinafter TT) 23 August 1901.
61. Ibid., 2 November 1901.
62. Ibid., 23 August 1901.
63. The Irish Times, 27 August 1901.
64. TT, 27 August 1901.
65. Ibid.
66. H&MHT, 4 September 1901.
67. TNA CRIM/9/47 Calendar of Prisoners. Central Criminal Court, 1901.
68. TT, 2 November 1901.
69. www.http://oldbaileyonline.org Proceedings of the Central Criminal Court. Twelfth session 1900-01.
70. Ibid.
71. TT, 5 November 1901.
72. Ibid.
73. TNA CRIM/9/47.
74. H&MHT, 18 December 1901.
75. Ibid.
76. PH, 22 November 1901.
77. H&MHT, 4 December 1901.
78. Ibid., 19 February 1902.
79. PH, 28 February 1902.
80. TNA PCOM/6/21 Licenses of Male Prisoners 1902-08. No reference to John Henry Coram inevitably means he served his full sentence of eighteen months hard labour which probably did much to undermine his health.
81. H&MHT, 10 September 1902.
82. PRO D/RTP/3/41 Sale of E. Coram and Co. to F.W.P. Hitchings, 1923.
83. PH, 14 July 1905.
84. H&MHT, 27 July 1904.
85. www.http://llangibby.eclipse.co.uk
86. H&MHT, 24 October 1906.
87. Ibid., 13 February 1907.
88. Ibid., 1 January 1908.
89. Ibid., 13 October 1909.
90. Ibid., 28 February 1912.
91. 1911 Census returns for the urban district of Neyland.
92. H&MHT, 17 April 1912.
93. Ibid., 27 November 1912.
94. Pers. com. Late John Henry Coram (1909-95).
95. Pembrokeshire Telegraph, 9 May 1923.
96. Ibid., 20 August 1925.
This article, “The ‘Neyland Sensation’: the Rise and Fall of John Henry Coram (1847–1907)” by Dr Simon Hancock, originally published in the Journal of the Pembrokeshire Historical Society, Vol. 22 (2013), pp. 47–68, is reproduced here with the kind permission of the author.