The Goddards and Ilkeston Brass Band

Moving on along Burr Lane, we come across …

The Goddard family

Adeline writes that “in the second house lived Mr. John Goddard, a machinist at Carrier’s.”

John Goddard, lacemaker son of Jonathon and Kitty (nee Daykin), was one of at least ten children, born on March 30th, 1804. John’s line of Goddards goes back in Ilkeston, through many Johns and Jonathons, at least until 1700. He married Ruth Brown on April 11th, 1830. His wife was one of at least eight children of Thomas, stockingweaver, and Ann (nee Rawdin) and thus sister of John Rawdin Brown whom we met in Burr Lane.

Misleadingly Adeline continues that “John had three sons and one daughter.

The Goddard children
In fact John and Ruth had at least 12 children — the first two, both daughters, born before the couple were married.

—  Catherine Goddard alias Brown married draper’s assistant Norman Straw in 1855 and went to live in Extension Street.

—  Ann Goddard alias Brown married sinker maker Elijah Trueman in November 1849. He died on October 14th 1860.

Gap alert!!
Did widow Ann marry labourer William Henry Gibson in 1877?
If so then she lived the rest of her life at Back Lane off Heanor Road, and died in 1906, aged 76.

—  John, the eldest son, worked at Ball’s, and became the first landlord of the Anchor Inn, Market Street, (according to Adeline’s recollections)

We shall meet lacemaker son John when we stop in Market Street.

—  Aged 19, daughter Hannah gave birth to her illegitimate son Joseph on August 23rd 1852 but he died, five months later, on January 20th 1853 from ‘convulsions and water in the head’. He was an ‘enfeebled’ child and an inquest was informed by Dr. George Blake Norman that his condition could have been due to the habitual use of laudanum which the child had been given from three weeks after his birth. Hannah produced an unlabeled bottle and argued that she had been persuaded by neighbours to dose Joseph with laudanum to relieve his pain, not knowing the possible effects of doing so. Once more a general caution was issued to shopkeepers to label clearly bottles containing poisons and harmful substances.
Just over one year after Joseph’s death Hannah married tailor George Brannan (sometimes as Branham) on February 27th 1854 and went to live the rest of her life in Nottingham.

 Mary was one month old when she died in September 1835.

—  Fanny gave birth to at least two illegitimate daughters before she married coalminer Thomas Lacey in August 1869.
The first of these was Ellen Goddard, born in 1860 and who, on Christmas Day 1879, married butcher William Henry Hardyman of Little Hallam, living close to the Bull’s Head Inn.
On the date of the 1881 Census (the night of Sunday April 3rd) Ellen was at the family home, shared with her parents-in-law, fellmonger Frederick and Jane (nee Kirchen), brother-in-law Frederick junior, and ten-month-old daughter Millicent Eva Hardyman.
Question; But where was husband William Henry?
Answer; He was in the police cells at the Town Hall in the Market Place, (at 2A Market Place).
On the Saturday evening, about 11 o’clock, he had had a visit at his shop from Charles Haslam, Ilkeston’s Inspector of Nuisances — the latter accompanied by three police officers. They had come to seize some ‘diseased meat’. The butcher denied this charge and to prove his point picked up a piece of kidney — (he was later violently sick!!)
Leaving Constable Smith to guard the rest of the offending meat in the shop, Sergeant Handley, Constable Ashton and Charles Haslam paid a visit to William Henry’s slaughter house, close by. When they returned Smith had been thrown out of the shop and the butcher was now inside, behind a locked door, armed with a saw, and threatening anyone who tried to enter.
Well try they did!!
An entry was forced and the result was an asaualt upon Smith and Ashton.
William Henry was carted off to the police cells and on Monday appeared at Heanor Petty Sessions where he was fined £1 with 10s costs.

Fanny’s other illegitimate daughter was Harriett Goddard who on June 14th 1881 married Chapel Street grocer Samuel Smith, a first cousin of George Clay Smith. At her marriage Harriet named her father as ‘John Neal, publican’.
(Samuel had previously been married to Betsy Hollis (nee Solomon alias Charlesworth) who had died on October 5th 1880)
The family continued to keep a grocer’s shop at 1 and 2 Chapel Street into the next century.

After a short spell in Eastwood Thomas and Fanny Lacey settled back in North Street and then Byron Street where they both died at Number 15; Fanny on October 20th 1909 and Thomas on November 27th 1919.

—  Lacemaker William Rawdin married Maria Ball, eldest child of Francis and Eliza (nee Meakin)  on July 19th 1859 and by the end of the century were settled at 23 Wood Street where they remained – and died….. William Rawdin on June 24th 1924 and Maria on March 19th 1923.
They are buried together in Park Cemetery (grave number 10081), next to that of their daughter Annie May who had married Arthur Reuben Johnson.

—  George and Isaac “worked at Carrier’s for some time, but both were very musical, and succeeded in gaining appointments in the Duke of Devonshire’s Band at Buxton. George became the conductor of the band, holding that position for many years”.

In August 1853 the Ilkeston Brass Band entertained the Rutland Lodge of Nottingham Oddfellows at their anniversary meeting where ‘George Goddard…. a lad about ten years, performed with great taste a solo on the cornopean’. (NG)
In the early 1860’s George was a piano tuner in North Street.
Later in the 1860’s he left to settle in Buxton where he married Emma Vickers and raised a family.
In 1868 he started a business as a music dealer with £120, and by 1888 was trading at No. 1 Devonshire Colonade.
In that latter year his financial situation was exceedingly precarious and resulted in an appearance at the Stockport Bankruptcy Court. By then he was supporting a wife and nine children, aged 17 to one year. His income was revealed as £75 per year while his expenditure was £156, … not a sustainable situation, especially as his liabilities were five times his assets !!
George died in Buxton in 1915.
From 1881 to about 1885  he was the conductor of the band which played daily at the Buxton Pavilion and Gardens, played the violin there and made out the band’s music.

 —  Gap alert! What happened to son Isaac Goddard

Isaac was born on March 9th 1845, when he was registered as ‘Isaac Goddard‘. He appears to have stayed with his family in Ilkeston, at least until 1861. And thanks to the research of Pam Bates, (someone who has sent many valuable contributions to Old Ilkeston), this gap has been filled. Pam tracked him down on the 1871 and subsequent censuses where he appears under the name of Frederick Isaac Goddard. I have included her findings (with a few notes of my own) ….

about the Goddard brothers (of the Ilkeston Brass Band) who went to Buxton to live and perform ..  I did some research last night (Jan 28th 2020) and below is what I discovered about him. 
His given name was Frederick Isaac Goddard.  It appears he stayed living in Buxton for the majority of his life.

ISAAC GODDARD married: 

1) on September 13th 1869 in Sculcoates, Yorkshire to Gertrude Campbell Craven (baptised 24th Oct 1852, at Barrow upon Humber, Lincolnshire … father John, mother Mary (Wright)); they had 4 sons on the 1891 census, but at least 6 children altogether.  Gertrude died in Buxton, July 1892, aged 39 (Chapel en le Frith Registration District).

Their eight children were Frederick Herbert (1870), Arthur Campbell (1872), Albert Edward (1874), Louise Adelaide (1876), Charles Harold (1878), John Granville (1880), George William (1882), and Henry Beaumont (1885). 
2)  on January 20th 1897, at St. James Church, Buxton, widower Frederick Isaac married spinster Edith Hobson — daughter of  George Hobson, the proprietor of the Queen’s Head Hotel in Buxton;—- they had two sons, Reginald Thomas (1898) and Ederic (1899) …..  both died in infancy.
  (Edith died in 1900, aged 25)
3) on February 24th 1903, again at St. James Church, Frederick Isaac then married spinster Alice Maud Jeens (and had no further children)

 In all cases on the census returns,  his work is shown as “musician or Music Professor or Professor of Music” !  (Likewise with brother George.) … and residing at Buxton.

 I found only one plausible death entry for “Frederick Isaac Goddard”, 26 June 1918 in Charlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester. 

Pam also discovered a couple of interesting photos, showing three Buxton Pavilion Orchestra Members, 1891, (one with hats on, the other with hats off) labelled as “The Goddard family, who played in the Spa Orchestra. Showing, Fred (with beard), George Brown Goddard, and Vincent. (Information very kindly supplied by Maureen Davies)”. The photos are under copyright but can be found on Picture the Past. The ‘bearded Fred’ is probably Isaac Frederick but this begs the further question  — Who was Vincent ??!!
(One gap is filled while another opens?)

 —  Ruth, “the daughter, was a very popular singer. She married Mr. Harry Beaumont, who was for many years organist at St. Mary’s Church”.

There is more detail on Ruth and her husband Harry on the next page.

—  Ruth’s elder twin sister Mary, died in 1855, aged 1. Another unnamed child died in 1848 after two hours of life.

————————————————————————————————————————————–

Ilkeston Brass Band

The Ilkeston Brass Band was held in high esteem by the Pioneer which at the end of July 1857 enquired “where is there a country band to equal that of Ilkeston?”
The newspaper had learned that the musical ensemble had recently acquired a serious debt after a purchase of new music, triangles, cymbals etc. and prefaced its public appeal for donations with a eulogy to the group.
“Who, among our 7000 inhabitants, has not frequently been captivated by its dulcet and enlivened strains? Do not townsmen and strangers alike bear testimony to the high musical skill displayed in the performances of the Ilkeston Band?”

It continued … music has asserted its right place as a great moral educator; it is no longer a superfluity of the rich, but is finding its way into every nook and corner of Old England, and acting as an antidote to the grosser pleasures of life; we therefore feel no hesitancy in urging the public to render our musical townsmen that material assistance which will not only enable them to meet their engagements, but will stimulate them to rival in their profession the performances of those highly-cultivated bands allied wth the proud yeomanry and military of the nation. P.S. John Goddard, Frederick Flint and Samuel Aldred will be in charge of soliciting subscriptions !!

It appears that the appeal didn’t bear immediate positve results. Some bright spark, in a follow-up letter to the Pioneer, three weeks later, suggested that the musicians should take their band practice outdoors in these warm summer months, to elicit more public donations.

A few months later and the same newspaper was floating the idea that the band should extend its practice venues.
The musicians had been frequenting the town’s taverns and playing to the clientele therein. Perhaps there was a hint of self-interest in this choice of venue?….it is said that one Vicar of St. Mary’s, James Horsburgh, referring to the band a few years later, remarked that it and the bell-ringers ‘would drink ale until it came out of their boot-tops’.
The Pioneer suggested that the group should play on the Cricket Ground to a wider, more diffuse audience which would doubtless pay “to a general fund for the use of the band, as some compensation for the satisfaction they had thus enjoyed”. It felt that the experience would be morally uplifting for the town’s population.
And almost at the same time the band did indeed begin to play at the Cricket Ground venue, every Monday evening, weather permitting.


Lacemaker John Goddard of  North Street was a member of the band for many years and bandmaster since about 1853.
On his death on January 2nd, 1877 the Pioneer referred to him as ‘the father of music’ in Ilkeston and one of the principal promoters of the band. His funeral at St. Mary’s Church was attended by all the band’s members.
His stone can be found in the church extension graveyard. The inscription also notes the resting place of Ruth, his wife.

Four of their sons, at one time or another, played in the band.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Ilkeston Brass Band members, 1864, as recalled by an Old Resident (1917)…

James Baker, lacemaker of Chapel Street, sons James (born 1839), Matthew (1844) and Aaron (1847).
Frederick Flint, tailor of Lawn Road.
Brothers John and William Rawdin Goddard, lacemakers and two of John Goddard’s sons.
Alfred George Branham, son of George and Hannah (nee Goddard) and nephew of the brothers Goddard.
Weaver Row resident, lacemaker Henry Harrison (big drum).
John Phillips, mining contractor, and Amos Boam, miner.
Samuel Aldred, lacemaker, for many years of Spring Garden Terrace. He later became leader and retired in 1876. On his retirement, after a 30 year career, a party was held at the Prince of Wales in Bath Street where he was presented with an ink stand with a walnut surround, inscribed …
“Presented by the Ilkeston Brass Band to S. Aldred, late bandmaster, January 22nd 1876”.

Joining later were….
George Goddard, lacemaker and a younger brother of the same Goddards. (cornopean)
Henry (Harry) Isaac Goddard, son of Catherine Goddard (who later married Norman Straw) and nephew of the Goddard brothers.

At the time of his recollections in 1917, Old Resident thought that William Rawdin Goddard was the only member of the band surviving: he died on June 4th 1924 at 23 Wood Street, aged 84, just over a year after his wife, Maria (nee Ball), died at the same address, and also aged 84.

Old Resident was present when the Band played to celebrate the end of the Crimean War, 1856. The players were accommodated in a farmer’s wagon, painted blue, which stood ‘on the junction’, now part of the Market Place.

In 1877 members of the band were kitted out in a new military-style uniform which made its debut appearance at the General Havelock Inn when the band played for the ‘Prince of Wales’ Lodge (G.U.O.)

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Another brick in the wall … the continuing story of the Goddard family.

Sean Patrick Goddard is a proud member of the Goddard line and wrote (September 1st, 2023) ….

George Brown Goddard was my great, great Grandfather. (He was an older brother of Ruth Veranna Goddard)
My Grandfather was Ernest Neville Goddard(He was a son of Henry Ernest Goddard and Maud Eleanor Buxton; he married Betty Vivien Marsland in 1940)
I was christened Cronston, but as my Grandparents brought me up, I took the Goddard name, something I am intensely proud of.
My sister has George Browns sons violin. My Grandfather cherished that violin as his father’s thumb print is worn into the case as the clasp is broken and he had to hold it closed with his thumb.
My Grandparents both passed within 3 days of each other in 2006, and I still miss them both very much.
My Grandfather was my best friend, and my Hero. He was a brilliant artist, but mechanically a disaster (God bless him).
His father, drank heavily and could repair ANYTHING and I am exactly the same.
I said to my Grandfather “I would have been proud to have you as my Father”. His last words to me, in reply, were “I’ve always thought of you as my Son”. He passed the next morning.
I am honoured to bear the name Goddard, and do my best to show the Family in a good light.
(Perhaps other family members can add more bricks?)

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Let’s pause for a closer look at Ruth Veranna Goddard and her musical husband

The Grand Tour                                             Home Page