"THE CALLING OR VISITING BOOK"
ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL"

Outside Cover of Calling Book

"MODE OF USING THE CALLING OR VISITING BOOK

The instruction at the front of the Calling Book is as follows:

"After receiving or making a call, insert the name of friend in the "From or On" column,
and fill in the date in the column headed “Received" if the call is received, or in the
column headed "Made" if the call is made,which in either case leaves the column on the
opposite side of the page free for the insertion of the date when the call is returned.
A glance at the dates will show whose turn it is to call."

Entries in the Calling Book I - first entry in the book Mrs St Barbe

Entries in the Calling Book II - Meeting at Efford Cottage

Visits to Lymington

The following photographs are of places that the Victorian Lady that kept a Calling Book is likely to have visited in Lymington:

Highfield (mentioned in the Calling Book)

*First View of Highfield

*Second View of Highfield, Number 6 is on the left

*Third View of Highfield

*St Thomas' Church

*Monmouth House

- on corner of St Thomas Street and Church Lane

*Grosvenor House in the High Street

Note:

*taken on Market Day Easter Saturday 2004

Woodside Gardens, Lymington

The Victorian lady who kept the Calling Book met members of the Rooke family including the owner(s) of Woodside Gardens, which were bequeathed to the people of Lymington by Colonel Henry Douglas Rooke:

Memorial to Colonel Henry Douglas Rooke

- taken on Sunday 29 May 2005

Milford (later Milford on Sea)

Newlands Manor

It appears that the Victorian lady met members of the West (later Cornwallis West) family who lived in Newlands Manor where many famous people were entertained, including the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII:

- taken on Saturday 14 May 2005

All Saints Church, Milford on Sea

Memorial to Theresa John Cornwallis West in All Saints Church
(born Theresa Whitby who married Frederic West)

Memorial to Admiral Cornwallis & the Whitbys in All Saints Church

Simple gravestone for Mary "Patsy" (FitzPatrick) Cornwallis West in All Saints graveyard
- wife of William Cornwallis West

Milford House

- where William Talbot and Sarah Frances Agar lived in 1881

- taken on Bank Holiday Monday 30 May 2005

Donation of Calling Book 21 February 2006

The 21st February 2006 was a great day for me, as I donated the Calling Book to the St Barbe Museum in Lymington with a copy of my interim report.

My mother had bought the book on Lymington Market about 20 years before and it had been my intention that the Museum should have the book as there are a number of references to Calls to and from members of the St Barbe Family.

In fact the very first entry is a meeting between the Victorian Lady and Mrs S St Barbe in Lymington, with the Call made on Mrs St Barbe on 21 March 1883. (Mrs Sr Barbe returned the Call on 29 March 1883.)

It's official! The Calling Book is donated with Steve Marshall the Curator of the Museum completing the necesary paperwork.

The little Calling Book has been a lot of work! And the search goes on for the Victorian Lady who kept it.

The colourful displays of life in the Lymington area, in the Museum, provided a suitable backcloth for the presentation of the Calling Book and Interim Report to the Museum.

Afterwards Chris and I walked back up Lymington High Street on a cold and wintry day, and the deed was done (by 3 pm judging by the clock in St Thomas' Church).

The Shrubb & Fluder Families

In 2008 a descendant of John & Sibella (Fluder) Shrubb sent me a series of interesting documents about the Shrubb and Fluder families who lived in Boldre and Lymington respectively.

He sent me two photos of Sibella Shrubb and her daughter Ida Marcia Shrubb who had a lavish wedding in Boldre:

Visit to Hinton Admiral 2008

We were able to visit Hinton Admiral when its gardens were opened on a lovely Sunday afternoon in early May 2008. Hinton Admiral is near to Chewton Glen and New Milton and has been the home of the Meyrick family for many years:

The name Meyrick does not appear in the Calling Book.

The Murrays of Hoopers Hill, Milton (later New Milton)

In 2017 I was offered a condolence envelope from Cambridge addressed to the daughter Ruby at Hoopers Hill, New Milton and dated May 1908.

The back of the envelope indicates that the envelope was received at Brockenhurst Railway Sub Office postmark May 5 1908.

Graves of Henry & Mary Murray

A a member of the Milford on Sea Historical Research Discussion Group contacted me. He had indexed the graves at All Saints Church in Milford on Sea and spotted the graves of Mary and her husband. The graves had been grassed over but the headstones were temporarily revealed so that the inscriptions could be read.

The Graveyard of All Saints Church, Milford on Sea with the graves grassed over

 

Henry & Mary's headstones

 

Inscriptions

IN LOVING MEMORY OF
HENRY STUART MURRAY
AT REST 18TH NOVEMBER 1843 AGED 82
BELOVED BY ALL

AND OF
MARY FLORENCE
HIS WIFE FOR 62 YEARS
24.4.1862-1.10.1958
'IN PERFECT LOVE'

Visit to Galway 2017

Henry & Mary Murray visited Galway with Henry's Regiment.

Mary recorded calls made and received in her Calling Book whiule they were there.

On a holiday in Ireland, we made a very interesting visit to Galway and saw some of the places mentioned in the Calling Book.

Visit to Galway

Colin Bower
20 August 2020