Rev Alexander Titley Hall

A merchant of Liverpool?

It has been said that Rev Titley Hall had some guilt that his family wealth had derived from slavery and plantations and wished to use his wealth for good projects. A published source [ “Finding Margaret” by John Hussey. Published 2011] states that Bernard Hall (ATH’s father) was “… born in Cheadle, Staffordshire in 1813, six years after the abolition of the slave trade”, and that “Bernard moved to Liverpool as a young man to take over the family business, a West Indian Merchant Company set up by his father John Hall.” This might indicate a connection to slavery and plantations.

That second quote does not appear to align with other information. According to Bernard Hall’s 1813 baptism register entry and his 1843 marriage register entry, his father was John Hall, who on both documents has his occupation recorded as “Farmer”, rather than as a merchant. Bernard Hall did become a merchant - that is the occupation recorded on his marriage record. It is difficult to trace Bernard Hall prior to that marriage. There is, however, a strong connection to the West Indies for the Hall family.

In December 1865, the Liverpool Town Council held a meeting to discuss the recent rebellion in the Mount Bay area of Jamaica. A newspaper report [The Liverpool Albion, 18 Dec 1865] quoted Mr Bernard Hall as saying that:

“…he knew something about Jamaica, that he had travelled through the island in the course of the present year, that he had been connected with Jamaica for thirty years. That his firm had been connected with the island for fifty years.”

This suggests that Bernard Hall had dealings with Jamaica since around 1835 when he was in his early twenties. “His firm” referred to in 1865 is Bernard Hall & Co, a merchant operation importing and exporting goods to the West Indies. It is unclear when Bernard became the owner of the company, or who operated the company before his acquisition.

As noted above, Bernard’s father was a farmer, as were his elder brothers, so it seems that any West Indies connection was not direct through the paternal line, but possibly through another family relative, possibly via John Hall’s wife (confusingly referred to as Ann or Mary in different sources) – her family name was Titley.

The firm of Bernard Hall & Co does not appear to have been prominent until after Bernard’s 1843 Liverpool marriage as no references to him appear in digitised newspapers prior to that point. Did his marriage provide a means to gain success? As well as any connections since around 1835, Bernard’s marriage strongly links him (and ATH) to the West Indies, as can be seen in announcements, like this one in the Liverpool Albion of 7th August 1843, reporting the event.

Note that this marriage announcement, like those in other newspapers, has Bernard’s wife’s name mis-spelt as ‘Mariana’, and her father’s surname as “Tetley”; “Mary Ann” and “Titley” are the spellings in the marriage register entry and other documents. How did the Titleys and Bernard Hall become acquainted? Did Hall travel to the West Indies in the 1830s when starting his career as merchant? Did he meet Mary Ann Titley there? Or did William Titley bring his daughter to Liverpool to marry her to a up and coming merchant? As noted earlier, William appears to have been the brother of John Hall’s wife, so Bernard could be his nephew. It could be that Bernard Hall’s move to Liverpool had been to function as the British agent for merchandise shipped by Wiilliam Titley, his uncle and father-in-law?

This differs from the format used in other entries, e.g. “Elisabeth, the daughter of William Liddell and of Anne his wife.”

The format used suggests that William Titley was not married to Mary (Cockburn) Craddock. Looking at the Baptism register for Mary Craddock, Mary Ann’s mother, it is seen that her entry reads:

Marriages and children

Bernard and Mary Ann, his Jamaica-born wife, were in residence in Catherine Street, Liverpool when their first child, William Titley Hall died at 3 months old in 1847. Another family event occurred in Liverpool that year as, reported in newspaper wedding notices, David Hamilton, a merchant from Glasgow married Grace Elizabeth, the second daughter of William Titley, a merchant of Kingston Jamaica. It might appear that William Titley was trying to establish strong trading links with merchants in England through the marriages of his daughters.

Four years later, at the 1851 Census, David and Grace Hamilton were living in Royal Crescent, Glasgow. The household also included their two young sons, a cook, a house maid, and a nursery maid. Further, on that Census Day, a visitor to the address is also listed – Sarah Titley, like Grace (and Mary Ann) born in Jamaica.

Was it the case that another of William Titley’s daughters had been sent to England to become the wife of a merchant? As it transpired, this did not happen, probably because William Titley died later that year in Kingston, Jamica. Sarah did marry, as reported by the London Evening Standard of 7 Apr 1854: “On the 5th inst., at St. Gabriel's Church, Pimlico. Henry Batley, Esq., of Somerset-terrace, St. George's-road, to Sarah, third daughter of the late William Titley, Esq., late of Kingston, Jamaica.” Documents indicate that Henry was a military tailor. Sadly, less than a year later, the Morning Chronicle of 27 Feb 1855 records a death: “On the 23d inst., Sarah, wife of Henry Batley, of 84, Warwick-street, Pimlico, aged 27, and third daughter of William Titley, of Kingston, Jamaica”.

Mary Craddock, the mother of Mary Ann, Grace Elizabeth, and Sarah, also bore a son, William Alexander Titley, by William Titley. This son continued his father’s merchant business and was also a magistrate in Kingston. When the younger Titley retired from the merchant operation, the company was acquired by Arnold Louis Malabre, a well-respected employee of Titley. Arnold L. Malabre & Company Limited continues as one of the oldest Steamship agents in Jamaica to the present day.
Meanwhile, in Liverpool, Bernard Hall had become engaged in local politics, as well as donating to local causes. A son, Bernard Vincent Hall, was born in 1848; he would go on to work in his father’s merchant company. In 1849 Bernard is a successful candidate in the Liverpool municipal elections. He is listed as a member of the common council attending a meeting of the Liverpool Protestant Defence Committee in January 1851, formed as a result of "papal aggression" arising from Pope Pius IX’s setting up of a hierarchy of dioceses in England and Wales which was met with widespread hostility that led to serious anti-Catholic riots taking place in November 1850 in Liverpool and other cities.

Bernard and Mary Ann’s third child, Alexander Titley Hall was born in Liverpool in May 1851. The birth announcement merely reads: “On the 3rd instant, the wife of Bernard Hall, Esq., a son.”   

Although his will was submitted for probate in 1851 with his son (William Alexander Titley) as Executor, William Titley’s assets were not distributed until 1877. 

The Morning Journal of Kingston for July 1872 reports a Coroner’s Inquest into the death of William Alexander Titley. The jury returned a verdict of suicide by pistol shot to the temple “whilst labouring under temporary insanity”.

The January 4, 1877, edition of the Colonial Standard and Jamaica Despatch carries a full column article regarding ‘The Estate of William Titley, Deceased’ which reports Jamaica’s Administrator-General seeking advice from the Vice-Chancellor to resolve the outstanding distribution of assets from William Titley’s will following his death 20 years earlier.  The report indicates that there has been a number of issues regarding claimants and the actions of the Executor, William Alexander Titley (the deceased’s son) with various assets having been disposed of by the son prior to satisfying the will’s instructions. Two of several legatees to the 1857 will are mentioned: Miss Georgiana Titley and a Mr Hamilton (possibly the husband of Grace Titley?). Other records show that Georgiana Titley was born in Jamaica in 1817, with the indication that she was another daughter of William Titley. Part of the 20-year long proceedings have involved securing funds from the estate to pay her an annuity as per the will’s instructions. The Administrator-General is given direction on resolving the outstanding issues and to advertise for all claimants to come forth in order that the assets could finally be distributed.

During this protracted administration of the Titley will, an announcement in the 22 October 1860 London Morning Post and other newspapers reports the marriage of “Robert Hall Titley, Esq., son of the late William Titley, Esq., of Kingston, Jamaica to Annie Norton, daughter of William Mannings, Esq.”  Twelve years later, when Robert’s death (at Ventnor, Isle of Wight) is reported, he is referred to as the third son of the late William Titley, indicating the existence of another son in addition to the above William Alexander Titley. That second son appears to be Thomas Walter Titley born in Kingston in 1833. In 1851, the Census records a Robert H Titley as a 13-year-old schoolboy boarder at an establishment in Great George Street, Liverpool run by a William Fisher, Professor of Languages. While most of the 17 students are from Great Britain, they also list India, the USA and Jamaica (for Robert) as their birthplaces. The same 1851 Census also lists a Jamaican-born Caroline Titley as a boarder at another educational establishment in Liverpool. No direct link with William Titley is identified; however, other records show the marriage of a Caroline Hall Titley in Jamaica in 1857.

Deaths and remarriage

Bernard and Mary Ann’s fourth child, Emilia, was born in 1853, but she died only 2 years later, and this was followed later that same year by Mary Ann’s own death. Bernard married his second wife, Margaret Calrow, at Walton-le-Dale, near Preston in 1860. It is noted that in newspaper wedding announcements, Bernard is referred to as “… of Liverpool, merchant, and Kingston, Jamaica.” Bernard’s second family comprised of six children: Percy Bernard, Margaret Bernardine, Florence Bernardine, Douglas Bernard, Evelynne Bernard, and Muriel Bernard.

Hall was associated with many companies in his business dealings; among others he was the chairman of the Queen Insurance Company (“Capital of £2 Million Sterling” read its adverts) and a director of the Callao Dock Company (Liverpool board), of the West India Pacific Steamship Company, Ltd, and of the Chester Boat Company, Ltd.

Bernard Hall’s political career in Liverpool continued alongside his business activities, he contested various wards as councillor, became an alderman, and was elected Mayor of Liverpool in November 1879. His year in office was significant as it marked the naming of the diocese and the elevation of Liverpool to city status. Hall’s generosity and benevolence were shown by his spearheading a town meeting to raise funds for Ireland's famine distress, resulting in a substantial donation of £3,700 from Liverpool.

Hall was actively involved in promoting education, contributing funds to Liverpool Council of Education, and helping establish University College. After retiring from active business, he continued to aid the poor, particularly the children, by donating the Florence Institute for working boys in Liverpool. The institute, costing about £15,000, and benefited boys as a home and club for almost a century before it closed in the late 1980s, but a dedicated group of trustees raised funds to reopen the building in 2012. The institute had been named for Bernard and Margaret’s’ daughter Florence who had died at the age of twenty-two.

In his later years, Bernard Hall took to spending the winter at his own villa, Mariposa, Cannes, in the South of France which is where he died in May 1890. His four surviving sons [Bernard Vincent Hall, Rev Alexander Titley Hall, Percy Bernard Hall, Douglas Bernard Hall] each received a share of the residue amount of his assets after various bequests had been fulfilled. His second wife, Margaret, received an annuity of £4,000 for the remainder of her life. According to probate records, his personal effects were valued at £533,000 (equivalent to almost £86 million today).

Rev Alexander Titley Hall – his life and times

Alexander Titley Hall’s early education included time at at a residential school in Birkenhead where he is listed as a pupil in 1861. His older brother was at another residential school in Sevenoaks, Kent. Alexander entered Magdalen College, Oxford in 1871 and received a B.A. degree in 1875, followed by a M.A. the following year. 

Rev Alexander Titley Hall was ordained as a deacon at Lichfield in 1876. He was then a curate at Yoxall, Staffordshire, from 1876 to 1878. There then seems to be a gap in his clerical role as he is not recorded as holding any recognised position from 1879 to 1885. The 1881 Census does record a “Alex Hall” of the appropriate age with the occupation of “clergyman Church of England MA” and born in Liverpool, being a lodger at the Tavistock Hotel in The Piazza, Covent Garden, London. However, ATH takes up a clerical post in Messingham, Lincolnshire from 1886 to 1889, during which (on June 5th, 1887) he is ordained priest at Lincoln Cathedral.

After 1889, there appears to be another “leave of absence” for the clergyman. Notably, in its 10th November 1891 edition the Homeward Mail from India, China and the East newspaper lists “Passengers who have engaged Passage by the P. and O, Co.’s Steamers”, and the listing includes from London for Colombo: Rev Alexander T Hall and manservant (identified in a later issue as Mr H Bosanquet).

Has this voyage been paid for by part of his inheritance from his father’s will? Presumably ATH completed his trip and returned to England in 1892, as in that year he took up the post of Vicar at the church of St Bartholomew in Appleby, Lincolnshire where he served as parish priest until his retirement in 1912.

After retirement from his role in Lincolnshire, in 1913 ATH moved into Coombehurst House which sat in 29 acres of grounds to the south of Basingstoke town. He was supported by four servants (2 of whom had been on his staff in Appleby), three gardeners and a chauffeur. It is reported that although retired, he was granted permission to preach by Winchester Diocese. It is not known if he preached at All Saints’ during his retirement. Rev Hall was present at the dedication of the new church at 5pm on Thursday, Sept 27th, 1917. He is listed as one of the “priests-associate of All Saints'.”

Rev Alexander Titley Hall’s eldest half-brother, Percy Bernard Hall, had two sons, the eldest Percy Shene Bernard Hall was a career soldier and in 1916 was serving as a Captain in the East Kent Regiment (The Buffs), attached to the 2nd Hants, when he was killed near Ypres on the 9th August. Also killed in the same action on the same day was Private Paul Raynbird of Basingstoke. Both are buried close to each other in Potijze Chateau Wood Cemetery near Ypres. Paul Raynbird is listed on All Saints Memorial Board whilst Percy Shene Bernard Hall is commemorated in one of the windows of the Memorial Chapel.

ATH’s other half-brother, Sir Douglas Bernard Hall, although approaching 50 years of age at the time, also served in the First World War, originating a system of hospital barges for conveying the wounded from the frontline. At his death, in 1923, a Bible was presented to All Saints in his memory.

Even with the combined purchase/upkeep of the Coombehurst property and his contribution to Basingstoke parish by paying for the construction of All Saints’ church, Rev Alexander Titley Hall’s financial status does not appear to have been dented. Probate information shows that on his death (25 May 1929) his effects were valued at £214,000 (equivalent to £17 million in 2024).

ATH’s will made bequests to all his staff based upon their length of service. His chauffeur, Horace Stacey, received a lump sum of £6,000 and an annuity of £500 with both his wife and daughter also receiving smaller payments as well as annuities on Horace’s death. ATH also bequeathed to Horace “…my motor car with all accessories and also such of my outdoor effects including livestock garden and farm implements fodder and such furniture personal effects and contents of my house Coombehurst as he may select … to the value of £500…” Additionally Horace was also given the option of continuing the use of the house he occupied, cow stable and piggeries, all the fields and farm buildings owned by ATH and use of all roads giving access to them free of rent rates and taxes for 6 months after the priest’s death!

More than twenty other individuals received bequests in ATH’s will, including £100 to both Rev J F Fuller and Rev Evan Jones, who each had been priest-in-charge of All Saints’ church 1915-1924 and 1924-1928, respectively.

The church of St Bartholomew in Appleby (where ATH had been parish priest) received £300 to be invested and the income to be used for the upkeep of the churchyard.

The Vicar and Churchwardens of Basingstoke received £1200 to be invested and the interest to be used … 

“…for the purpose of repairs to the fabric or to the Rood or to the  Reredos of the church of All Saints’ Basingstoke… or to the restoration of the painting of the Rood or of the Reredos of the said church such at any time be required but the said interest shall in any case be used for defraying the cost of ordinary church cleaning.”

ATH authorised his trustees that “… in the event of All Saints’ Church being separated from the Mother Church of St Michael Basingstoke and a separate parish being formed…”, the £1200 should be paid over to the Vicar and Churchwardens of the parish of All Saints’ Basingstoke.

There were several other bequests to various religious and charitable organisations totalling over £2,000. This included a payment to the Florence Institute in Liverpool that had been founded by ATH’s father, Bernard Hall in 1889.

The larger bequests in ATH’s will were of: £10,000 to be divided equally between three of his cousins, all then living in Brooklyn, New York City, USA; £30,000 to Neuone Innes Melville, the widow of ATH’s late friend, Dr Gordon Moncrieff Melville, which was to be invested with half of the interest being paid to her; and the residue of the estate (probably in excess of £100,000) going to Douglas Montgomery Bernard Hall (son of ATH’s half-brother Sir Douglas Bernard Hall).

The funeral service for the Rev Alexander Titley Hall was held at All Saints’ church on May 29th, 1929, and he is buried in the Worting Road cemetery, Basingstoke.

This article would not have been possible without reference to a piece written by Graham Osborne on Rev A T Hall for the Centenary of All Saints’ Church, Basingstoke in 2017, and for the research undertaken by Brian and Susan Johnson of Canada into their family histories with links to a sibling of Bernard Hall.