The Centenarian "Bodle" Holmes & his long-life Family
Before I narrate the events of 1839, it suits my whim to notice a few matters which have been brought before me in connection with what has already been stated. An old friend, who was somewhat amused with the Priory-bridge anecdote with which was associated the name of James Hammond, tells me that he was well acquainted with the injudiciously good-natured driver of the "Royal Blue," and that during the eighteen years in which "Jimmy" handled the reins he never once wore gloves. Many a night of drenching rain, or of blinding snow, or of pelting hail, or of nipping frost it was his lot to encounter, yet he never flinched in his determination to do battle with the "pitiless elements" with gloveless hands. Another topic for a little extraneous gossip is that of long life. In a digressive chapter on extraordinary instances of longevity at Bexhill, I mentioned some ten or twelve persons of the name of Mitten whose ages ranged from three-score-and-ten to upwards of one hundred years. This statement having met the eye of a Mr. Mitten, of St. Leonards, induced him to communicate to me the fact that he had a great-uncle still living - not at Bexhill, but at Heathfield, and not of the name of Mitten, but of Holmes. James Bodle Holmes, it was said, would be 102 years of age if he lived till the 1st of May 1881. He was at the time in good health and capable of outdoor exercise. Some months before when his grand-nephew journeyed from St. Leonards to pay him a visit it was rather amusing to hear the woman with whom he lodged - who, by the bye, was 82 years of age, whilst her husband was 84 - express her solicitude for the centenarian in the following manner - "I told your uncle last night that I didn't like his getting so far away from home, because he is now beginning to get old." To the ordinary reader this remark might appear to be a piece of womanly wit; yet bearing in mind, as she doubtless did the disparity of twenty years between herself and her lodger, there is no cause to suspect that she spoke in any other mood than that of seriousness. With the remembrance also that a Lucy Luck had previously died in that parish at the reputed age of 108, she might have regarded her own age of 82 as juvenility itself by comparison. She might also have been thinking of the patriarchal ages to which most of the Bodle-Holmes's kith and kin had attained. His great-grandmother was buried at Heathfield in 1812 at the age of 103, and his grandmother at a later period at the same extraordinary age. His mother lived till she was 91, and he had two aunts who died at the respective ages of 99 and 97. He had also an uncle living at Burwash, bordering on 90. Mr. Mitten had an uncle living at Rushlake Green, who, during a residence of 66 years in one house, had only slept one night away from home. He had also a great aunt who was 82 years old, and who had constantly resided in her present habitation during a period of 51 years. She was the widow of George Keeley, and the name is a reminder that Richard Keeley, aged 94, his son George, aged 70, Mrs. Keeley aged 70, and Mrs. Runney aged 99, lived at one time all in the same house together. These are certainly remarkable instances of longevity and love of home; but there is still a more striking instanc (sic) of the latter idiosyncrasy in that which was reported in the London Times. It was to the effect that on the 21st of December 1880, a Mr. Joseph Hubard died at Seaford, Sussex, in his 99th year. He was the oldest inhabitant of that town, had died in the house in which he was born, and had lived there all his life. Fancy a man taking a long lease of his house and his life for ninety-nine years, and being permitted to carry out the engagement to the full! But in the same journal was reported a still later case of extreme longevity. "We have to record to-day, (says the Times of Jan 4, 1881) the death of a venerable lady, Miss Macleod, who has passed away almost painlessly, at Manners road, Hampstead, in her 101st year." The same paper states that the deceased lady was born on the 31st of December 1780, that she celebrated her hundredth birthday on New-Year's Eve with her nephew and niece - Major-General and Mrs. Douglas Hamilton, and that she died two days after.
But, to return to Bodle Holmes, his death occurred on May 5th, 1885, at the reputed age of 107 years, whilst the parish register showed him to be 102. His own contention was that he walked to the church to be christened when he was 5 years old. The annexed portrait is from a photograph taken shortly before his death. Interesting details of this remarkable man and his equally remarkable family will appear in a later chapter.
And now, as ' has again digressed, and "capital punishment" still wanting in one phase of its abolition, he thinks he may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. Indeed he can hardly avoid that metaphorical crime; for will-he-nil-he,(sic) the cases of longevity seem to force themselves upon him just now in an almost epidemical form. "Death of a centenarian" is the heading of a paragraph in the Evening Standard, the said paragraph being as follows :-
"A certificate of death was received on the 16th inst. at the Board of Health, New York, stating that a woman named Ellen Moriarty died at No. 1524, Second-avenue; at the advanced age of 111 years. Her maiden name was Ellen Hennessy, and she was born at Kilmallock, co. Limerick, Ireland, in the year 1769. Her age is well authenticated by her family. She had nine great grand-children, and was herself the mother of seven children, five of whom are living. Her eldest son is 76 years old, and a daughter, Margaret O'Brien, is 69. She came of a family remarkable for longevity. Her mother lived to be 96 years of age, and her grandmother died at the age of 106. Up to a few weeks ago she was able to go about the house, and retained the possession of all her faculties unimpaired. She came to this country in 1850, and had then been a widow for ten years.”
My record of centenarians (published and unpublished) amounts to over a thousand, the ages varying from 100 to 160 years; but just now I will instance only one more case of longevity, and I shall have then done with that subject for a season at least. By the kindness of a lady who knew the late Mr. Bramall, and has annotated the obituary notice in the Tamworth Herald, I am put in possession of some interesting facts in the life of that gentleman, who died on the 28th of November 1880, at the great age of 98 years. Mr. Bramall was the son of an ornamental gardener of Lichfield and was married to a daughter of George Robins, the celebrated auctioneer who had purchased from the Townshend family at Tamworth a residence known as the Castle Keep. He was born a few years after America had declared her Independence and several years before the French revolution, when neither Napoleon nor Wellington had entered upon their great military careers; also before the birth of that great statesman, the late Sir Robert Peel, with whom Mr. Bramall was known to have great influence, and from whom he always received the highest respect. At the end of last century, when quite a young man, Mr. Bramall was sent to Ireland as a Volunteer to assist in putting down the rebellion; and he has died at a time when Ireland is again on the verge of another rebellion. He took up his residence at Tamworth in 1822, and up to the day of his death he exhibited a constant thoughtfulness in the advancement and best interests of that town. He was thrice Mayor, and had the honour of presenting the keys to the Queen when Her Majesty visited Drayton in 1843. It appears to have been his object to make Tamworth a "model borough" both in sanitation and morals. He filled up an unsightly marsh and built thereon a handsome terrace. He next turned his attention, as a member of the Corporation, to the improvement of the public thoroughfares. He was one of the founders, and for 50 years an office of the Tamworth Savings' Bank; he was also joint founder and for 40 years a treasurer of the friendly Institution, and a hard-working Poor-law Guardian. He was also a church-warden and a Justice of the Peace. He filled the posts of director and treasurer to the Gas Company, and when he severed his connection with the undertaking he was presented with a costly piece of plate. Other testimonials were also presented to him in acknowledgement of his general integrity and worth. He not only went to Ireland as a volunteer but when only 17 years of age he raised a body of 600 Volunteers to assist in the defence of the country when threatened with invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. For this loyal and chivalrous act he received from George III. a direct commission as captain and adjutant. Mr. Thomas Bramall is said to have done everything that came within the sphere of his energies in an honourable, benevolent and willing spirit, giving his time and services for the public good, and striving always to carry out the golden rule of doing unto others as he would they should do unto him. He was twice married, and had a family of about a dozen children, three of whom became clergymen. That a man should have lived to within two years of completing a hundred, and should have devoted so long a life to the benefit of his townsmen and his country, is, methinks, worthy of a passing notice in these allusions to instances of longevity, even though it be but an incidental and not very close association with the subject upon which I profess mainly to write. I conclude this chapter with the intimation that according to information received, Mrs. Button, who lived in the Hastings "Noah's Ark" many many years ago, completed her 92nd year yesterday, the 7th of January. The said "Noah's Ark" consisted of a double habitation composed of two boats, one upon the other the site of which is now occupied by Wellington place. This last item brings me nearer home, and to home matters my next chapter will be exclusively devoted.
