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Edward Iggulden
24 Lower Street
Occupation: Brewer, Shipping Agent, Mayor, Magistrate, East India Agent
In his will, dated 1778, Edward’s grandfather, John Iggulden, along with property, investments, personal and household items left substantial amounts of money to his four children. To his naval officer son Captain Edward Iggulden and his spinster daughter Mary, he left a total of £1,800 each, to his widowed daughter Elizabeth Fleetwood he left £1,300 as well as making provisions for the care and upbringing of her daughter. To Edward’s father, also named John, described as a Brewer, he left £500. These financial bequests alone total £5,400 which in today’s money is approximately £465,000.
Brewers
The earliest mention of Igguldens’ as brewers in Deal, that we can find, is in the Lambeth Palace online catalogue regarding a property in Jews Harp Alley (South Court) owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury and leased to ‘John Iggulden of Deal, Brewer’ and dated 1735. In other Lambeth Palace leases he is described as a bricklayer. One of many later leases, dated 1771, for Public Houses it states ‘John Iggulden, of Deal, Kent, brewer, son of John Iggulden, bricklayer’. This may indicate that as Edward’s father, the younger John, was only bequeathed £500 in his father’s will that he had already taken over the brewing business as well as being a Shipping Agent and later a banker.
The family also owned land all around the local area from which they probably grew the barley and maybe even the hops from which they produced their beer. The brewery sat on today’s Stanhope Road area extending from High Street to West Street.
It is more than clear then that our Edward was born into an already successful business and brewing family.
Shipping Agents
Edward, like his father, was also a shipping agent and as such had the responsibility of recovering and replacing the lost anchors of merchant ships in the Downs and the recovery of the cargoes of those wrecked on the Goodwins and elsewhere along the coastal region of Deal and Walmer.
Losing an anchor was an occupational hazard at this time, sometimes caused by poorly maintained rope, sometimes intentionally cut due to not being able to reel in the anchor fast enough during rough weather and, as Deal Boatmen were sometimes accused of doing, they were cut for financial gain. The boatmen would be employed to dredge the seabed to retrieve the lost anchors and take them to the anchor fields in and around Deal.
Retrieval and sale of wrecks and their contents were another shipping agent’s duty, and we can see from the local newspapers of the time that Edward diligently performed his task.
Anchors with their ropes take up a lot of room and they, as well as other salvaged items all needed to be stored until they were required or were authorized to be auctioned off by the insurers. As such the Igguldens had their ‘Anchor Fields’ alongside the Brewers yard where they stored the recovered Anchors and the larger non-perishable items.
By 1814 Edward seems to have been running the brewery and shipping agency in his own right as his father wrote in his Will that he had “..sometime since gave unto my son Edward Iggulden … Brewer…the use of my freehold Brewhouse, Malthouse and stables …” and that he had had “…likewise gave … all my Anchors, Cables, Bouys and Ropes…”
Edward also received all his father’s Public Houses, tenements and Capstan Grounds in Deal and Walmer that he either leased or owned. The estate at the time of John’s death was vast. He had property and land all over Deal, Walmer and Ringwould and others in Buckinghamshire and Surrey. These he apportioned out to both his sons, Edward and his solicitor brother, John. His Will also mentions the investments of capital giving figures of £5,000 and £8,000. These investments were to be used “…for the benefit of…” his daughter Mary Ann Griffith and Charlotte Backhouse.
Dutch Commercial Commissioner
The country that we know today as Holland was conquered by France in 1795 and named the Batavian Republic. For the next eleven years, the Dutch Government was allied to France and on the whole it had to first gain French approval on the governance of the country. In 1806 Napoleon placed his brother Louis on the Dutch throne and the country was renamed the Kingdom of Holland. Louis ruled for only four years before being ousted by his brother for not putting French interests before Dutch ones. Holland was then incorporated into the French Empire until the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
On 27 March 1802 Great Britain signed the Treaty of Amiens which led to a fourteen month peace with France and the territories it then controlled which included the Batavian Republic. The Dutch Government took advantage of the cessation of hostilities and started to rebuild trade links.
In the Star (London) – Friday 30 July 1802, we found an announcement that listed those men who the Dutch Government had appointed to be their 
‘Commercial Commissioners’ in England. Edward was amongst them.
Part of the reason we decided to research Edward Iggulden was because we purchased a letter written to Messrs. Louviek and van Lennip in Amsterdam and signed by father and son, John and Edward Iggulden.
The letter was fulfilling one of the roles of a Commercial Commissioner which was offering assistance and passing on information whenever it was needed. In early 1802 Captain Godfried L. Schonbeck had to bring his ship, ‘De Onderneming’, into Ramsgate harbour to await favourable winds. Edward wrote to the ship’s owners on 31 January informing them of this. Luckily for Schonbeck the winds changed a few days later, and he was able to set sail once again to Cayenne in Suriname, known today as French Guiana. Our letter dated 15 February 1802 was written from Deal to inform Messrs. Louviek and van Lennip in Amsterdam of his departure. Quite who these two men were or what they were trading in is not clear. Though sugar and the slave trade do have to be considered.
We found, on an online auction site, a description and images of an insurance policy bearing the names of Louviek and van Lennip and that of Captain Schonbeck. Dated July 8, 1802, it was drawn up for the “De Onderneming” for a total of 20,000 guilders. The insurance was to cover the hull of the ship, its guns and ammunition during its voyages between Amsterdam, Suriname, the West Indies and North America.
Marriage and French Hostilities Resume
In November 1802 Edward married seventeen year old Dorothy Leith in St. Leonard’s Church. Her uncle was George Leith who owned much of the parish of Walmer and was Captain of Walmer Castle at the time. In September the following year Mary Elizabeth, their only child was born.
This was a worrying time for the country. France was again threatening Britain and in May 1803 Britain declared war on France. By June Napoleon was threatening to invade Britain and in August Edward attended a meeting with many of the leading dignitaries of the area to discuss proposals made to defend the county. Earlier in the year Acts of Parliament had been passed to raise men to form a Volunteer ‘Home Guard’. The meeting was held to outline the objectives required to protect Kent’s vulnerable coast. Training of Volunteers with regular troops is obvious but conveying them to and from the training grounds was also necessary, so “…one waggon with four horses to every 30 men…” was required for the 15,000 volunteers of the county and the 5,000 men of the Cinque Ports. This alone came with a financial cost so a subscription was set up to help fund this, along with defraying the costs of the Government allowance for a uniform.
For the next sixteen years war with France once again loomed large in everyone’s minds and it has to be said during that time many businesses thrived and some, like Edward’s, did very well.
The town’s population swelled with the thousands of military and naval men stationed or passing through. The vast majority would have spent their spare time in the town’s many Public Houses, Inns and Hotels of which many were owned and supplied by Edwards’s Brewery.
The ships in Downs would also have required beer and water, clean water that is, both of which the brewery could and would have supplied.
Mayor
By the early 1800s Edward was showing himself to be a man of good standing and authority. He was doing well in business and it seems in local politics too. In August 1806, when he was thirty-three years old, he was elected Mayor for the first time and according to the Kentish Weekly Post his election was a unanimous one.
That December he was to show that he was a man who was cool in a crisis. On the evening of the second shouts of “…murder…” were heard from the Royal George which then stood on the corner of Water Street and Lower Street (High Street). Being Mayor and Chief Magistrate he was informed of this “…most violent riot…” between the 3rd Regiment of the Buffs and some of the town’s inhabitants. Far from instructing others as to what to do he took action himself. He called together the nearest Constables and together they proceeded to the Royal George. On arrival several soldiers came out of the public house with drawn bayonets making several thrusts at the constables. After some resistance the soldiers were arrested but on their way to the gaol one escaped but was soon taken back into custody. At which point two Lieutenants of the Buffs appeared on the scene. However, instead of assisting to quell the riot, they too joined in calling upon the guard that was then stationed at the Customs House to advance with bayonets. Apparently they came within a few feet of Edward who “…desired them not to come further at their peril…” At which point one of the lieutenants drew his sword and “…abused the Mayor in the grossest manner…” they then carried off the arrested men in triumph.
The next morning Edward took legal measures and informed Colonel Blount, the commanding officer of the Buffs, of the conduct of the officers and men involved, who duly sent a guard to the barracks for their arrest. Following this violent altercation, Edward’s year as Mayor continued in an orderly fashion but a good impression was nonetheless made as he was offered, but he declined, re-election. His father was elected in 1807 in his stead. Edward went on to serve as Mayor a further three times in 1817, 1823 and 1832.
East India Company Agent
Flag of the British East India Company, 1801–1858
In 1807 he was appointed joint agent for the East India Company with his father who had by then been an East India Agent for at least sixteen years. The Universal British Directory of 1791 lists him as a Brewer and Agent to the East India Company in Deal.
During their time as East Indian Agents they helped with the receipt of Gold and Silver which was landed at Deal and then with its transfer by wagons to London. On one occasion there were thirteen wagon loads carrying two million Mexican dollars in gold and gold dust, weighing 48 tons of which half a million went to the Government.
In 1808 John Iggulden went into the banking business with William Hulke Senior, John Sampson, John Hollams which traded under the name of Hulke & Company. It later became the Deal Naval, Military & Commercial Bank. Although Edwards business career was following the same path as his father’s he wasn’t to go into banking himself. The Hulke family bought out their partners sometime before 1821 and as there is no mention of the bank in John’s Will dated 1817, it is probable that he had already sold his shares by the date the Will was written.
The 25 October 1809 was George III’s Golden Jubilee and celebrations were held throughout the day. Edward gave a dinner for his employees at which he presided over and after the toasts were made “…retired for the purpose of enjoying the remainder of the day in a higher sphere…”. No doubt his employees were grateful not just for the meal but to be left to enjoy themselves without the ‘boss’ looking down on them!
To celebrate Napoleon’s abdication of April 6 1814, on the night of 20th, many of the town’s houses and buildings were brilliantly illuminated. Edward, somehow, had the motto “Louis XVIII. Huzza!” lit up in variegated lamps across the front of his house.
King Louis XVIII of France travelled from London to Dover and embarked from there on April 24th. He was to enjoy his reign for the next 100 days as Napoleon, who had been sent into exile on the island of Elba, escaped in February 1815. In March he once again entered Paris but his hope of lasting power was short lived as following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo he abdicated again, on June 22nd. He was then sent into exile again, this time to Saint Helena where he died on March 5, 1821. Louis XVIII was again King of France.
Peace
With peace came trade and Edward was appointed vice consul to the King of Two Sicilies in May and the Spanish Consul in August. In Deal and Walmer, as in many other places, trade was not enough for the common man. With the thousands of Naval and Military men no longer passing through the town it steadily went into decline. So Edward, like many rich people of his time, often supported those in need.
With Deal’s main industry reliant on ‘favourable winds’, poverty in the winter months was always a heartbeat away for the Boatmen and their families. In the winter of 1814 Edward distributed coal to over 250 needy families in Deal and along with other notable men of the town he paid a subscription towards the continued supply of soup throughout the ”..inclement weather…” for the relief of the poor. Soup kitchens and distribution of bread and even the loan of blankets was a common factor of daily life up and down the country for decades to come.
No wonder many men turned to the crime of Smuggling. This trade had been carried on for centuries and attempts to curtail it often resulted in violence and even murder. The last major attempt to deal with this ‘Trade’ was the Coastal Blockade for the Prevention of Smuggling.
With the final defeat of Napoleon, the ‘Trade’, which had continued throughout hostilities, again came under scrutiny. Within a year of Waterloo, and no longer concerned with watching the French, the government renewed their efforts against smugglers. The Blockade was entirely manned by the Navy whose responsibility it was to patrol the coasts of Kent and Sussex.
Kent Smuggling gangs soon realised what the Blockade’s Commander, Captain William McCulloch, meant when he said he wanted “…to make grass grow in the streets of Deal…”. Firearms had been carried in the past, but the Blockade escalated their use. The smugglers, knowing that they were up against the fully armed Navy and that Captain McCulloch was not to be trifled with, especially as he took the initiative to patrol on land too, turned to whatever arms they could lay their hands on.
Edward, it seems, was not a fan of the Blockade. He could see at first hand the effects of the growing poverty amongst the ordinary people of the town and although a man of his position would never face starvation he perhaps understood what risks men would take to feed their families. Perhaps he benefited from the ‘Trade’ as the owner of half to three quarters of the Public Houses in Deal & Walmer. It is not inconceivable that the smugglers supplied him with Spirits.
Now obviously not all smugglers were simply trying to feed their families; many were what we would call today hardened criminals and even murderers, who we, perversely, look back on as romantic local heroes.
Edward, as a Magistrate, came under fire from letters, on several occasions, sent to a London newspaper called the Sun. In these letters Edward is definitely portrayed as someone supporting the smugglers against the Blockade. In January 1818 he was presiding as Magistrate over a case where two Naval men from HMS Severn, were imprisoned after opening fire, when giving chase to a ‘smuggler’ almost opposite Edward’s house in Lower Street.
Captain McCulloch had been informed that certain ‘smuggled’ goods were to be moved from their hiding place in Middle Street. He therefore stationed two young midshipmen, Nicholas Robillard and J. Arquinbau, to keep watch. When they saw the goods being moved by several men, they attempted to seize the men and the goods. Other Naval men were also surrounded by townspeople in the defence of the smugglers.
Giving chase to a boatman named Worthington, one midshipman drew his pistol in self-defence and firing slightly wounded the servant of Lady Harvey. Worthington, resisting arrest in the ensuing scuffle was also injured.
The naval men eventually took cover in a shop from where they were taken into custody and to the town gaol on Edward’s orders. At the trial, despite all the evidence being that the Naval men were acting within their legal duties and despite the Solicitor of Government urging for bail, Edward had them committed to trial on a capital offence from which they were eventually acquitted.
A few years later in 1820, Edward was again sitting as a Magistrate, one of three that day. The case once again involves naval men from HMS Severn discharging their duties under Captain McCulloch’s orders. The arrested smugglers were taken under a strong Coast Blockade escort to the Town Hall. There the escort was withdrawn, and witnesses were called for examination. At this point a number of Deal Boatmen suddenly rushed in and demanded the prisoners release shouting “ …Come along my boys your dinners are ready…” No resistance was apparently made and the prisoners and their rescuers escaped. A reward for their apprehension was made but to what avail we don’t know.
It has to be said that both these accounts come from letters sent from an unknown person in Deal who each time specifically highlights Edward’s involvement in a detrimental way.
In June 1832 the Reform Act which was also known as the Representation of the People Act 1832, was given Royal Assent. This introduced major changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. Amongst the changes were the abolishment of tiny districts which led to Deal, Walmer and Sandwich for the purpose of Representation by an MP becoming one borough. Cities, who previously had no MPs, likewise were given representation. The right to vote was also given to small landowners, tenant farmers, shopkeepers, householders who paid a yearly rental of £10 or more, and to some lodgers too. It also made it clear that only qualifying men could vote and Act introduced the first statutory bar to women voting, by defining a voter as a male person.
To celebrate this event, the Freemen and Electors of the new Borough held a ‘Grand Dinner’ in the Assembly Rooms at Deal with a sumptuous dinner being served at 4 pm. During the morning Edward had distributed a considerable quantity of bread and ale to the poor and a new silver cousin was given to each of the boatmen.
During the speeches after the ‘Grand Dinner’ Edward again referred to the Boatmen who he considered to be an “…oppressed and injured race of men…” and that he would do all he could for them and that he had already “…brought their case under the serious consideration of the government…”
Quite what was said to the government or what influence Edward had we don’t know but we do know that at this time, the Boatmen and their families and indeed much of Deal’s working and poorer classes were suffering from a severe poverty. Within two years of his ‘Grand Dinner’ speech, two things happened that were to eventually help turn the tide, though it would take decades for real change to happen.
Public Improvements Committee and the Select Committee Report into Pilotage
Although not directly involved with the Public Improvements Committee Edward was affected by it. To enable the building of a sea wall and promenade the committee went about purchasing land and property all along the beach. Edward owned the capstan ground that sat opposite the Lord Keith and the public house the Admiral Rodney and at least one other property, these he eventually sold to the Public Improvements Committee. But we have to remember that the loss of these holdings would affect those he was leasing them to far more than it did him.
These improvements were brought about under the instigation of Edward Boys with the view to turn Deal into a respectable watering place bringing in much needed prosperity to the town. The years following the ending of hostilities with France had plunged Deal into a period of decline. Military and Naval presence had dramatically reduced which had an effect on many of the towns businesses small and large. The boatmen suffered from the loss of hovelling due to the decline in Naval shipping and the improvements in maritime safety & the use of iron linked anchor chains meant fewer were lost so the opportunity for salvage work was greatly reduced. The Pilotage Acts meant that the boatmen could lose money and suffered greatly from the loss of income. With hundreds of boatmen in the town at the time not earning money meant they were not contributing to the economy of Deal. Overall the working-class families of Deal during this period in the town’s history were in a sorry state.
A Select Committee Report looking into Pilotage was held in 1833 and Edward, like all the townspeople, would have been well aware of the reasons behind it and probably followed the proceedings and the outcomes with great interest.
Poverty was still prevalent just over a decade later and the people were still on Edward’s mind. According to a letter signed “ From a Correspondent” printed in the Dover Telegraph and Cinque Ports General Advertiser in January 1847 the price of beer was being increased by the brewers of London. Edward, the Correspondent says, was acting with “… honorable fairness…” by keeping his beer prices low and was “…exercising a considerate and especial regard towards the poorer classes in the town whose burdens are already sufficiently heavy…” Mr Thompson of Walmer also followed Edwards example.
The First Regatta
In 1826 Deal held its first Regatta and Edward played his part in its foundation. During the toasts held after a dinner at The Three Kings (now The Royal) in April he announced himself to be “…The Representative of the Boatmen of Deal…” and went on to “…eulogise in glowing language …” saying that a “…more skilful enterprising and honest class of Boatmen could not be found in the King’s Dominions…” he went on to recommend the suggestion by a Mr Grice for a subscription for a Rowing Match to be held in the Downs for the Boatmen with the prize of a 36 ft Galley. Mr Curling thought a sailing match more appropriate, but the Rowing Match was decided upon.
We don’t really know who this Mr. Grice was, but one possibility is that he was William Grice, who died in 1842 and was Master of the North Sand Head, Light Vessel.
The first Deal and Downs Regatta was held on Thursday, August 10th over a six-mile and a Lithographic plan was made showing its course. Edward was made Treasurer. To fund the organising of the race as well as the prize money arrangements were made for subscriptions to be collected in Deal, Sandwich, Ramsgate, Margate and Canterbury.
Instead of a Galley as a prize, there were two prizes for each race with purses of newly minted sovereigns and half sovereigns with silver coins for the losing boats. All in all the Regatta was designed to help the boatmen and the town in general. Such was its success that the Regatta, though not in its original form, carries on today.
Glenfall House
In 1819 Edward purchased Glenfall House, a beautiful country residence in Charlton Kings near Cheltenham. He began to make improvements to the house and began to landscape the grounds. He laid paths through the hazel coppice which lined the steep-sided valley and built bridges across the Ham Brook creating a walk along the glen both above and below a large waterfall. This formed the pleasure ground that Edward opened up for the public to visit. The waterfall, it seems, is now all but dry, certainly there was a reduction in the volume of water over the fall from 1824 onwards as a result of extraction from the wells above by the Cheltenham Water Works Company which Edward opposed.
Mary Elizabeth, Edward’s daughter, had married Captain William John Hakswell Bowen, of the 77th Infantry, in February 1823 in St. Leonard’s Church, Deal. The 77th soon after left for Jamaica where Mary Elizabeth gave birth to their son, Edward, in 1824. Sadly in April 1825 William died and Mary Elizabeth, with her son, returned home to England. Then while residing at Glenfall, on November 2 1829, Mary Elizabeth married Captain John Molyneux of the 37th Regiment of Foot in the parish church of St. Mary’s Cheltenham. Glenfall was to become their country estate, and her father, Edward, left it to her in his will in 1852. The house and grounds were eventually sold after Mary Elizabeth’s death in 1889.
Mary Elizabeth’s Loss
Edward and Dorothy remained in Deal and almost certainly travelled to Glenfall and to London to visit their daughter and her growing family. Sadly, in 1841 George their second grandchild died aged seven years. Edward Bowen was living or at least staying with them in 1841 when the census was taken.
Poor Mary Elizabeth was widowed again in 1852 when John died in Dover, where they were living at the time with their family. He was buried in Deal on 14 July. A month later she was to lose her father too. He was buried alongside his son-in-law in the Iggluden family Vault, in St. George’s Burial Ground, on August 6th.
Later Mary Elizabeth had tribute erected to them both saying –
To the memory of EDWARD IGGULDEN. Esq’re for many years a magistrate of this town who departed his life
August 1st 1852 in the 80th year of his age.
Also of JOHN MOLYNEUX Esq’re Son in law of the above named EDWARD IGGULDEN late a Capt. in H.M. 37 Reg’t, second son of General Sir THOMAS MOLYNEUX. Bart. of Castledillon in the county of Armagh, Ireland who died
JULY 10th 1852 aged 55 years.
This tomb is erected as a tribute or respect and affection by MARY ELIZABETH MOLYNEUX widow of the said JOHN MOLYNEUX
and only child of the above named EDWARD IGGULDEN.
At a special meeting of the Council, held on Monday 9 August, which was held to vote in another Alderman to fill the void left by Edward’s death the Mayor, Thomas Reakes, spoke warmly of Edward, describing him as a friend and benefactor who he had “…born testimony to some private acts of charity conferred on those who were in needy circumstances…” Edward, it seems, had never wavered from his belief in the need to care for others far, far, less fortunate than himself.
His large estate, in and around Deal, no longer of interest to his daughter was gradually put up for auction.
The Capstans grounds, dwelling houses and warehouses in Deal went up for sale first in March, In May Foulmead Farm, The Coach and Horses public house, properties and land in and around Sholden was next
Quite when Charles Hills bought Edward’s brewery is unclear. It is possible though that Edward had sold it to the Hills family sometime just before his death.
The Brewery was then run by Daniel Mackintosh Hills until 1901 at which time it was sold to Thompson & Son’s of Walmer. Soon after the Brewery buildings were demolished and eventually Stanhope Road was laid out and the houses, theatre and post office that we know today were built.
As for Dorothy, we surmise she left Deal for London in October 1852 when she put up for sale furniture and personal items including 600 volumes of books. She died in Warwick Street, Golden Square, London in February 1853.
Tragically, Mary Elizabeth had lost her husband, father and her mother within a space of eight months.
Mary Elizabeth died in Kensington in 1889. She was survived by her seven children.