The Cheques of Robert Yelf Jnr (1797 -1882)

Last year my brother was fortunate to spot someone on e-bay selling a cheque issued by Robert Yelf in 1838. After successfully winning the auction he was talking to the previous owner about where they had acquired it and found that it was part of a stash that had been dumped when Kirkpatricks Bank (or rather it's eventual successor) was having a clear out. As it happened they had a few more and would my brother be interested? As a result my brother bought a handful of very well preserved documents, all apparently from around 1838, which show that Robert Yelf was regularly dealing with considerable sums of money. I believe that this particular Yelf was Robert Yelf Jnr (1797-1882) and were in relation to his businesses, notably in the Wine Trade. I have scanned the twelve cheques and include images below with basic information beside them. I'm not to good at deciphering the copper-plate writing so if you are interested I would suggest you CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE A CLOSER VIEW. Maybe you'll have better eyesight than I do! I seems that Kirkpatricks were a Newport Bank and would be interested to discover if any of the payees are known, either as local big-wigs in the business world or as tax collectors (at least one mentions payment of tax)
Cheque 1 - August 30th 1838 Mr Gordon Knight £41- 17-6d
Cheque 2 - October 25th 1838 Pay J. Chippes or bearer the sum of £123-11-0
Cheque 3 - December 13th 1838 'A bill at ten days after the date payable to Mr/s? Rogers to the order of Messrs George Hathorn for £60'
Cheque 4 - January 18th 1838 Payments to several individuals - Geo Ridell or Riddett £32-15-6d, Edn Harrington £14-14-6d, J. Dempster £22, Waldo Silthorp £25 and cash £25. Also a bill after that dat to J G Ramsay for £51-0-09d
Cheque 5 - May 5th 1838 Pay Robert Baker for assorted? taxes £46-16-11d
Cheque 6 - 23rd June 1838 Southampton. Mr Robert Yelf Wine Merchant (payee indecipherable by myself, but might be ??? of the exchequer) £2-1-0. Cheque is also crossed but I can't read that either.Cheque 7 - September 13th 1838 Mr J. King or bearer £99-2-0d (interesting note that might say 'West Dean Solicitors' but obviously doesn't. The cheques is also crossed with the name of ' Something Hector'. Any ideas?)
Cheque 8 - August 28th 1838 Mr Robinson or bearer £7-3-6dCheque 9 - November 30th 1838 Gordon Knight £42-6-0d
Cheque 10 - Undated Jos. Prestwich £69-8-0d (check name for spelling)

Cheque 11 - December 13th 1838 Self or Bearer £100


Cheque 12 and 12a - June 30th 1838 Mr Evans £21-15-3d ( the obverse side mentions Mr Evans and Southampton but is very difficult to read.

Who's the Daddy? Louisa Yelf and George Rendall

Looking back through my old notes and records (as I now find myself doing) I came across an intriguing encounter I had in 1994 whilst waiting for a copy of a Yelf will in Somerset House. It led to some interesting and intriguing information being passed on that I was, unfortunately, unable to bring to a satisfactory conclusion at the time. I offer all the information I have to any budding Sherlock out there who might wish to take up the challenge...

After hearing the name Yelf called out when my will arrived, I was approached by a professional genealogist cum journalist who was there researching background information on Lady Bienvenuda Buck (remember her?). It turned out that he had an ancestor called Louisa Yelf who had married James Henderson some time in the 1830's. However Louisa had always maintained that she was, in fact, the daughter of George Rendall, a wealthy and prominent Isle of Wight businessman. George was apparently a stalwart of the local church, a Mason and an investor in the Ryde Pier Company who, it was claimed, had conducted a steamy and tempestuous affair with the wife of his friend and business partner, Mr Yelf (this would have been Robert Yelf Jnr. of Ryde, Isle of Wight)

This seemed to be too good a story to pass by so I went to see what I could unearth to flesh out the story.

Looking first at the IOW births between 1759-1832 I could find no mention of a Louisa Yelf. Nor could I in the Catherine’s House records. However a Louisa was baptised in 1835, but she was certainly not getting married at the time, as this Louisa seems to have been. There was a baptism for a Louisa in London in 1827 but I couldn't find any more information on her at the time.

Then an extract from the IOW Family History Journal caught my eye which read -

‘In that year (1859) the town commissioners elected by the rate payers were: Geo. Rendall, Robt. Yelf (and 25 other names)’ It then went on to describe the formation of the Pier Company, 2,500 shares at £50 each and construction began on 31st June 1813.

This certainly confirms some of the details in the story, confirming that there was indeed a George Rendall who would have known Robert Yelf but whether the child might have been born 'off the Island' and not recognised by Robert Yelf Jnr., I could not say. Nevertheless with these details and the greater accessibility to records it just might be the time to start looking again.

The Yelf Collection - Isle of Wight Archive

I've transcribed the archive document mentioned in yesterdays entry and you can read it below. However as it's an awful lot of text I thought I'd include a photograph that my brother took some years ago in the foyer of Yelf's Hotel in Ryde. Although not particularly clear it shows some cheques written by Robert Yelf. My brother was later able to buy a number of other of Roberts cheques on ebay and it might be interesting to post up the details if I can get hold of them. As is apparent from the transcript below he wasn't short of a bob or two!

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"THE YELF ARCHIVE - This collection was deposited in 1982 by William V. Pearce, 53A Union Street, Ryde.

Robert Yelf was born in 1761, the second son of John Yelf. Robert married first Ann Goodall (d.1812) and secondly Jane Wavell, widow. He died 15 April 1834.

Robert first came to Ryde in 1794, when upon the death of Miss Margaret Collier, he took over her cottage in Upper Ryde. He was an executor of Miss Collier’s will and there was a connection with the Goodall family. In 1800 he took a lease upon some property on the west side of Union Street. He opened a business selling wines, spirits and tobacco in 1801 (YEL/A/1). At the same time he rented the hotel next door for £75 per annum from John Cooper, brewer, of Ryde. In 1804 Robert purchased the hotel and outbuildings for £2,200. (YEL/A/1)

In 1805 Robert had a Tap Room built at the hotel at a cost of £468, and in the following year had new stables and coach houses built. Mrs Jacob’s dwelling house (George Street) was purchased in 1807 for £345 and in 1809 it was rebuilt using stone taken from Puckpool Cliffs.

After a rest of some eleven years, Robert Yelf continued his expansion by purchasing in 1820 for £123, the carriage house, cottage and land of Thomas Bush, Cross Street. In 1827 new coach houses and stables were built on the site. Clifton Cottage, Upper Ryde was purchased in 1821 for £203, and became the house of Robert Yelf. In 1824 a cottage in West Street was purchased for 215 and £350 was spent on it. A house called ‘Shattons’ was purchased in 1830 for £800(?) and in the following year Robert had a house built on Union Street, adjoining (?)detts, for a post office, at a cost of £435. (YEL/A/1)

In addition to his town property, Robert had considerable farming interests. At one time he held Mumhouse Bargain, including West Field, which he later disposed of to Earl Spencer in 1810. Little Haylands came into Robert’s hands in 1801 and by the time of his death in 1834 he farmed Whitefield, Millhouse, Haylands and Play Street farms. (Yel/B/1)

The business and farming interests passed to his eldest son, Robert Yelf, junior, who in 1822 married Sarah Mew, and died 21 November 1882 aged 85 years.

The main series of cashbooks (YEL/C/- and YEL/D/-) were introduced when Robert Yelf, junior took over. The son had been taken into the business prior to his father’s death and had in 1832 reached an agreement with the Postmaster-General to carry the Royal Mail between Ryde and Newport. In 1836 this slide of his interests expanded further with him starting a stage-coach service from Ryde to Ventnor. The stage-coach was called “Felicity” and ran daily, Sundays excepted, until the coming of the railway in August 1864. The coach was sold to Thomas Vanner, who ran a stage-coach service from Ryde to Newport, for a total of £40. The Bought ledger (YEL/K/4) shows the stage-coach receipts for 1861-64 and the Letter book (YEL/M/1) gives details of the stage-coach duty payable under Act 2 & 3 Victoria, CAP. 66, 6 Oct 1839. Most of the receipts and expenditure concerning posting and stage-coach working were accounted for under “Hay and Crops”.

Sturbridge House was built for Robert Yelf, junior, from 1861 to designs by Thomas Hellyer, architect. (YEL/K/4)

No accounts for the hotel appear to have survived but about 1862 the hotel was disposed of to John Wavell. In 1874 Robert sold Sturbridge House to Sir William (?)utt and moved to Uplands, Bullen Cross, near Ryde, which remained his home until his death.

The accounts have been listed in the collection to try to show the various sections of the Yelf’s business. The bulk of the collection deals with the selling of wines and spirits. (YEL/C/- and YEL/D/-). In an effort to deal with wine and spirit deliveries to houses let on very short leases, Robert Yelf, junior, introduced ledgers headed and indexed under the address (YEL/G/1-3). At the same time he had another ledger headed and indexed under the surname, for customers who were thought to be resident in the town (YEL/F/4-10)

The farming and property interests of Robert Yelf, senior, are to be found in YEL/A/1 and YEL/B/1, those of his son are contained in YEL/D, YEL/J and YEL/K. The Farming Record and Account Books (YEL/?/1-4) give details of cropping, labourers and wages on the farm.

The letter books (YEL/M/1-10) are a near unbroken run from 1832 to 1877 and give a good insight into the wine and spirit business of the 19^th century.

The Account of the Receipts etc., by the executors of the late R. Yelf (YEL/L/1) are very helpful when trying to sort out the various interests of Robert Yelf, senior.

The odd item in the collection is YEL/N/1, which is the valuation of the property in the parish of St. Helens. It is thought to be in the collection as Robert Yelf, junior, was a Guardian of the Poor.

After the death of (Robert Yelf, junior?) in 1882 it would appear that the business was disposed of and toward the end of the 19^th century came into the hands of W. Pearce (YEL/K/2), a decendant (of whom posited?) the collection."

The Robert Yelfs of Ryde

Robert Yelf (1761-1834) is widely viewed as one of the most significant of the eighteenth & nineteenth century Yelfs. Living on the Isle of Wight as a resident of Ryde he seems to have made his fortune through property, his Hotel, Wine Business and a range of canny investments and along with William Wheeler Yelf in Carisbrooke, (who founded the Yelf printing business) provides a great deal of the wealth and political influence that made the Yelfs such a significant Island family. After his death his son, Robert Yelf Jnr took over the running of the business and continued in much the same vein as his father

I was particularly fortunate then to come across two pieces of information about this father and son that might be of interest to anyone looking to investigate them further. The first was the ‘So Near Yet So Far’ experience of finding a painting listed on the Denhams auction house website. ‘So Near’ was an oil of Robert Yelf Jnr that wouldn’t, I hoped, go for too much. I was just working out how much I could put on the credit card when, sadly, the ‘Yet So Far’ let-down kicked in with the realisation that the auction had taken place a month or so previously! Still, a photograph is better than nothing and I’ll just have to keep my eyes peeled in case it comes up again some time.

The second item is more for the active researcher and consists of two, faint and photocopied A4 sheets of paper I have tucked away in a folder. On the top is written ‘This was sent to me by Yelf’s Hotel in Ryde’ but sadly I didn’t think to write the name of the kindly donor beside it, so apologies for not crediting whoever sent it to me. The document is a summary of the Yelf Archive held, presumably, at the Isle of Wight Record Office and detailing all the documentation of the Yelf’s Hotel, Wine & Spirit business, farming and land interests. W. Pearce, who is described as ‘a descendant’, deposited the records ‘towards the end of the 19^th century’. I will be transcribing what I can of this fascinating document before posting it up over the next few days. Sadly there are some blank patches on the photocopy, but even without referring to the archived documents themselves the summary gives a real insight to the range and scope of the Yelf business interests over many years.