d.10/08/1868
Surveyor of Taxes from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, moved to Berkhamsted 1841
Relatives
Research:
John HYDE was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire in 1781. Gainsborough was a thriving market town on the River Trent and was a trading point for navigation inland as far as Leeds and Bradford carrying wool and returning with coal. It was also a North Sea trading port: boats sailed to and from London and across to the continent. John was brought up as a non-conformist, probably a Baptist.
John married at St Nicholas’ church, in the parish of Bawtry, on 21st July 1801. Bawtry, some 20 miles from John’s home town of Gainsborough, was the parish in which John’s bride, Hannah Bathwell lived. The newly married couple settled in Gainsborough. Seven children were born to them: Henry, in 1804; Elizabeth, 1806; Charles, 1807; Anna (or Hannah), 1810; Edward, 1811; George, 1814; Frederick, 1815, and twins, John and Alfred in 1817. Of those seven, only Edward, George and Frederick survived infancy, and John’s wife Hannah herself died in 1817, shortly after the birth of John and Alfred, who themselves died shortly afterwards.
John was initially a stationer, but we know that he went on to work as an auctioneer in Gainsborough. There are newspaper references to a John HYDE working in Gainsborough as an auctioneer from 1803, and a report in May 1817 of the sentencing of one George MARSH, clerk to MR John HYDE of Gainsborough, to three months for embezzling and stealing money from his master. After that there is no further mention in the press of John HYDE in his capacity as an auctioneer.
As well as working as an auctioneer John was also a surveyor of taxes, a reference in Hansard revealing that he had “… been in office since 1803.”
By 1821 he had become the surveyor of taxes at Bristol and in that year he married again in Bristol, in St Michael’s church. His bride was Mary Neilsen [sic], born circa 1784. There is a baptismal record of “Mary, daughter of James Nelson mariner of St James and Susanna his wife”, who was baptised on 25th August 1782 at Lewins Mead Chapel, Bristol, and this may be the Mary Neilson who married John.
Whereas John was noted on the couple’s marriage certificate as a widower, Mary is described as a spinster, that is to say she had not previously been married, but we know from later records that Mary had a daughter, also called Mary, who was born in 1814. When Mary’s daughter married William Watson in 1843, her marriage certificate named her as “Mary Neilson Hyde” and John was given as her father. Similarly in the 1851 census, she and her husband William were living in John’s household, and she is noted as “daur.” (i.e.“daughter”) to John as head of the household. It would appear therefore that when John and Mary Neilson married, Mary’s daughter was passed off as the daughter of John. We do not know exactly when John became the surveyor of taxes at Bristol, but if it was around 1813 or so, it is possible, albeit by no means definite, that he was her natural father.
By 1821 John had also come to the attention of the tax authorities in London because he was called to give evidence to a select committee set up by the Chancellor of the Exchequer[1] to investigate the costs and efficiency of the tax collection system. He reported that his salary for 1820 was £90, supplemented by £250 which was the percentage of revenue increase year-on-year that he had managed to procure. He also told the committee that for some time he had another source of income from a business 200 miles away from Bristol but that a clerk had looked after it for him during the week. It therefore seems likely that up to 1817 he had income from both the Gainsborough business as well as his work for the tax authorities.
By 1826 John had been sent to Liverpool as a Surveyor of Taxes. He was not very welcome. A newspaper report[2] in 1828 details the disquiet expressed by the parish chairman who wanted to record his “strong feeling of surprise and indignation at the conduct of Mr John HYDE and his official superiors, in subjecting the population to tax surcharges and furthermore to preventing any appeal process”.
John HYDE’s reputation did not improve. In November 1828 he was charged with a serious sexual assault of a young woman. The case caused a great deal of interest in both the local and national papers. When the case came to trial in the Spring of 1829, some decided that the details of the case were unfit for publication and others published the details that they thought their readers could bear.[3] The essence of the case was that John HYDE arrived at the home of Fanny FISHER, a dressmaker and requested permission to inspect her windows from the inside. He particularly wanted to look at her blocked-up window – was it blocked with bricks or wood? – because this would determine the payable tax. Whilst in the house he assaulted her in a “scene of the most gross and undisguised indecency which could be conceived”. Fanny was a newly married 23 year old and he, by her description was an “odd-looking, bald-headed man” twice her age. He did not seek to deny the assault, only the extent of it. Even his defending counsel said that “Mr HYDE had made himself obnoxious by the discharge of his disagreeable but very necessary duties”. He told the court that the problem was that the people and newspapers of Liverpool were determined to undermine his client’s character. The jury took two minutes to find him guilty at the Lancaster Assizes and his case was sent to the King’s Bench in London for sentencing.
At the Court of the King’s Bench in London[4] an affidavit was presented on behalf of the defendant. Again, he did not dispute the offence, only the details. The affidavit further stated that the defendant had been a surveyor of taxes for a period of 2½ years, and that by his assiduity in detecting frauds, and making the proper assessments, he had incurred great public obloquy among some of the inhabitants of the town of Liverpool, in which place he had been made the subject of abuse and ridicule, and held up to odium and contempt by the Liverpool Mercury, and another local newspaper. Nine other affidavits were presented on his behalf to defend his character. Mr Justice BAYLEY, having taken all facts into account fined John HYDE £20. He paid immediately and was discharged.
By 1837 he had moved to Berkhamsted and by1839 he had been promoted to Receiving Inspector of Taxes for Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. and was in trouble again. This time there were questions in the House of Commons about his conduct.[5] He was accused of using foul language and behaviour caused by a perception that the people of Bedford were determined to insult him. He described himself as a “dissenter and a man of strong feelings and political bias” and he objected to a petition raised in Bedford which criticised the government. HYDE had his supporters, including the MP for Hertfordshire and Hansard reports that the matter was dropped.
By the end of John HYDE’s career he had been appointed to the supervision of the assessed taxes collection generally throughout England.[6] So it seems that his criminal record did not impede his progress through the ranks of the tax inspectorate..
In 1848 he wrote and published a pamphlet entitled “Opinions and Observations on National and Local Taxation, on the Property of Labour, and the application thereof”.[7] The newspaper report about the pamphlet says that “Mr John HYDE of Great Berkhamstead, who has been in the service of the Government for pretty nearly half a century, and for a long time past in the responsible office of Inspector and Collector of Assessed Taxes for a number of counties, . . . qualifies him to have and to promulgate an opinion on this subject.” His main proposition is that a property tax would be fairer than the £22m of taxes which press unequally on various classes of the community. He is against taxing man’s wants as opposed to his means and proposes a reform of the whole taxation system.
By 1851 he had retired, having worked in government service for many years and he was then living in some style .They were then occupying the newly built Highfield House, at the top of what is now Highfield Road.[8] This was a substantial villa with a conservatory and detached service buildings to the north. The landscaped grounds extended to Three Close Lane. Living with the couple were Mary’s daughter, her husband, William WATSON, and their three children under 7. Also in the house on census night are a visitor and five servants.
For some reason, John and Mary went back to Gainsborough before the 1861 census. They lived in Lea Road, near to the railway station with three servants, including their cook from Northchurch who they have presumably brought with them. Meanwhile, Mary and William (John’s daughter and son-in-law) have moved out of Highfield House and were living with their three children in the High Street back in Berkhamsted. In August of the next year John appears to be still living in Gainsborough where he seems to be respected. A newspaper report states that “We are happy to learn that Mr John HYDE, who fell from his chair in a fit on Sunday week, is rapidly approaching complete convalescence.”[9] A year later a couple of his servants were in trouble with the law for assaulting a local publican on two separate occasions.
In August 1868 John HYDE’s Gainsborough house was sold and on 10th August John died, aged 87, back in Berkhamsted. His death certificate says his cause of death was senile debility. The only obituary is printed in the Lincolnshire papers and says that “Starting as the local assessor at Gainsborough he soon, by his ability and indomitable perseverance, gained the notice of the authorities in Somerset-house, and he was appointed to the supervision of the assessed taxes collection generally throughout England, in which capacity he increased the revenue many hundred thousand pounds. In politics he was a thorough-going Radical. While in Gainsboro’, up to within a few years of his death, he took an active part in local affairs, his career in that respect being, in fact, notorious far and near.” Notorious indeed.
John HYDE’s estate was valued at less than £200 and probate was granted to his wife, Mary on 26th October 1868. Mary HYDE lived on in Berkhamsted. At the 1871 census she was living in the High Street with her daughter Mary WATSON. Mary died on 14th April 1878 at the age of 96 in Berkhamsted, She and John are buried together in the churchyard.
Mary WATSON, John’s widowed daughter, stayed in Berkhamsted with her own unmarried daughter, Elizabeth WATSON. They lived for a while in the High Street then moved to 1 Boxwell Road (until recently Boxwell Road Surgery). Mary died in 1905, aged 90 and Elizabeth, after moving to a house further up Boxwell Road, died in 1929, aged 83. Both Mary and Elizabeth WATSON were buried in Grave no. 188 with William WATSON, Mary’s husband and an infant son buried in 1850.
So the family lived on in Berkhamsted well into the 20th century. It is worth noting that Mary HYDE, Mary WATSON and Elizabeth WATSON never had any occupation recorded on a census – they were all independently wealthy.
[1] Parliamentary Papers 1921 Volume 8, page 96 “On Receivers General of Land and Assessed Taxes” – minutes of evidence taken before Select Committee
[2] Gore’s Liverpool General Advertiser 17/04/1828 “Annual meeting of the Parish of Liverpool”
[3] Liverpool Mercury 20/03/1829 “Curious assault”
[4] The Times, London 22/05/1829 “Report on King’s Bench proceedings, The King v John HYDE”
[5] Hansard 10/06/1839 “Report of proceedings in the House of Commons”
[6] Lincolnshire Chronicle 21/08/1868 Obituary of John HYDE
[7] Banbury Guardian 17/02/1848 “How we ought to be taxed”
[8] Berkhamsted Conservation Area report, published March 2010, page 14
[9] The Lincolnshire Chronicle 15/08/1862
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Highfield House
Personalities of the Past
Memorial Symbolism
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