Me, a sofa and Miss Whiplash ...
I was born in Daventry which, according to Thomas Pennant, writing in 1811 in The Journey from Chester to London, was "populous and carried a considerable manufacture of whips".
Another travelogue, The British Gazetteer written by Benjamin Clarke in 1852, claimed that there was a "large manufacture of whips near the suburbs" of the town.
Well, the nearest that I, as a Daventrian, ever got to that industry was when, in my days with BBC Radio Northampton, I interviewed Lindi St Clair, known as Miss Whiplash.
She had bought the title of Lady of the Manor of Laxton, near Corby, and we sat on a sofa in the front hall of the Chronicle & Echo building, with not a whip in sight, chatting about her amazing career.
I was terrified of her and completely forgot to tell her about my birthplace and its historic links with whips.
From the 1730s to the mid to late 1850s, Daventry was the centre of the whip-making trade.
Northamptonshire thrived on industries based around leather production and a branch of that industry, whip making, had grown out of Daventry's strategic position during the great coaching days.
It was at the crossroads of four major routes with about 80 mail and stage coaches passing through the town every day.
Sooner or later, every coachman needs a new whip!
In 1849 there were still two whip makers left in Daventry.
Thomas Dickins in the Market Square and his brother, William Dickins the High Street.
The Dickins company had been set up back in 1800 by their father, John Dickins, and he called his business, The Original Whip Manufactory.
Quite how it justified that title no one really knows, especially when you consider that 25 years later, John Dickins was at the centre of a juicy bit of scandal and no, it didn't involve a Georgian Miss Whiplash!
The Corporation of Daventry brought a bill of action against Dickins that claimed he, Dickins, "not being a Freeman of the Borough of Daventry did presume to set certain ancient customs at defiance, and exercise his trade of a whip-maker in the said town; for which the plaintiffs claimed damages to the amount of 500".
The Bailiffs, Burgesses and Commonality of the Borough had resorted to a charter of 1575, granted by Queen Elizabeth I, which clearly stated that, "within the said Borough . . . no person not being a Freeman of the said Borough should use or exercise any Art, Mystery or Trade within the said Borough . . . or keep any house or shop for selling any wares or merchandise . . . except on public stalls at fair times and on market days".
Dickins refused to pay for his Freedom (costing some 50) and was brought to trial in March 1825 before Sir Richard de Capel Brooke of Great Oakley Hall, William Cartwright of Aynhoe Park and Thomas Samuel of Upton Hall. After listening to some lengthy arguments from defendant's counsel they returned a verdict for the plaintiffs . . . damages one farthing!
I think someone had it in for Mr Dickins.
Anyway, soon the railways took over and the coaching days declined and Daventry became a shoe-making town.
Coaching inns like the Saracen's Head, the Dun Cow, the Coach and Horses and the Wheatsheaf still retained their characteristic arched entrances and yards until well into my lifetime.
The most famous of all the Wheatsheaf, where King Charles slept, now provides accommodation of a more modern kind, as a very successful residential care home.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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