Stoneleigh

Ancestors of the Stone family had once been resident in Cumnor Hall, otherwise Cumnor Place, Berkshire, reputed to have been haunted by the ghost of Amy Robsart, the ill-fated wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who was found dead there at the foot of the stairs. The property fell into a state of disrepair during the 18th century and was demolished by the Earl of Abingdon in 1810.

Edward Stone (16 May 1767 to 1846 - death reg. Shipston on Stour, 12/1846), described as 'of Chawley [a tithing - Anglo Saxon division consisting of ten freemen landholders answerable to the king for each others good conduct - of Cumnor], Berks., and afterwards Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire,' took Elizabeth Hooper as his second wife in 1809. Elizabeth Stone (born at Moreton, Glos., in 1787) survived her husband by 28 years before dying at the age of 87 [reg. Shipston on Stour 12/1874]. Two of the issue from their union were brothers Frederick William Stone (1814-1895) and John Jeffries Stone (1817-1879), another Henry Robert Stone (1831-1876).

Edward and Elizabeth's eldest child had been Ann Hooper Stone, baptised 5 August 1812 at Barton on the Heath, Warwickshire, who on 1 August 1829 married, in Calcutta, William Greenaway of the firm Gunter and Hooper. The latter, described as 'grand purveyors of Calcutta, first class wines and provisions procured in abundance', seem to provide a link to the Stone family's later mercantile interests in India because its partners appear to have been Thomas Gabriel Gunter and John Jeffries Hooper of Moreton in Marsh [seemingly Elizabeth Hooper's brother]. Mr Greenaway himself subsequently became a partner in the re-named Messrs Gunter Greenaway & Co. Earlier, on 10 December 1816 in Calcutta, Thomas Gabriel Gunter had married Sarah Hooper, an elder sister, born 1785, of the Elizabeth who became Edward Stone's wife. Sarah died in India, 21 January 1822.

St David's church at Moreton in Marsh contains a memorial tablet, carved by Soward & Son, to Thomas Gabriel Gunter, 'formerly of Calcutta and afterwards of this town' [who died at Brompton in the 51st year of his age], as well as his deceased wife, Sarah, 37. Also in that church may be found the following inscription:-

'John Jeffries Hooper, Esquire, native of this town, 9 January 1845, 62. This tablet is dedicated to his memory by his affectionate widow, Henrietta, who, desirous of fulfilling the wishes of her much lamented husband, has invested in the name of Revd. Samuel Wilson Warneford, LL D, Rector of Bourton and Moreton in Marsh, with five other gentlemen the sum of two hundred pounds in 3 per ct. consols of the Bank of England, in trust. The interest thereof for ever to be distributed by the Rector, Churchwardens of this parish for the time being on the 3rd day of December annually in fuel and clothing to ten poor persons of the town and parish of Moreton in Marsh.'

[In the mid nineteenth century the Hooper Charity was producing £5 annually, used to buy clothing.]

Frederick William Stone, senior, migrated to Canada in 1831 and eventually established himself as a stock-breeder at Moreton Lodge Farm, Puslinch Township, Guelph, Wellington County, Ontario - www.clarksoftomfad.ca/FrederickWilliamStonefiles.htm

In 'The Story of the Herefords', published in 1914, it is explained that:-

"Mr. Stone was born at Barton-on-the-Heath, Warwickshire, England, in 1814 [baptised there 6 October], and came to Canada in 1831 at the age of sixteen along with the Arkells. He took up 200 acres on the Puslinch Plains, which he afterwards increased to 248 acres. Some years later he returned to England with the idea of going to Calcutta where his brother had offered him a position as an East Indian merchant. However, he changed his mind and returned to Canada and opened a store on the Brock Road, still retaining his farm. His business prospered and he acquired the estate of 583 acres, 550 of which he sold to the Ontario Government in 1873 for the agricultural college. The entrance to the main building is the original entrance to the house called by Mr. Stone Moreton Lodge, in honour of his mother. After selling this farm to the government, Mr. Stone bought an adjoining place of some 200 acres, which he farmed along with one of 248 acres at Arkell until the time of his death in 1895, at the age of eighty-one."

From Guelph Museum it had been established that the small party which arrived in 1831, and included cousins John and Thomas Arkell, was led by Henry Arkell of Gloucestershire, England. The latter, in 1870, was employed as foreman and manager, in charge of stock-breeding, at Moreton Lodge.

We are also told that after 5 years of clearing and unprofitably farming his land, Stone sold his farm and came back to England [around 1836], intending to take a position with the East India company, as mentioned above. Having changed his mind, however, he returned to Canada opening the "Stone Store" on Brock Road near Guelph's city limits. In 1842 he married Miss Eliza Clark, daughter of Aeneas Clark of Ireland, and stepdaughter of John Caulfield of Puslinch. Of their 11 children, 5 died young. The business prospered so that, by 1855, it became possible to acquire more real estate to raise his pure-bred livestock close to the market in Guelph. The new land was named Moreton Lodge Farm in honour of his mother's farm in England (Moreton in Marsh). During 1857 he bought a herd of shorthorn cattle from John Howitt, the first in Canada. In 1861 he was unanimously elected President of the Arts and Agricultural Association of Canada. He was also president of the Wellington Fire Insurance Company, a representative of the Guelph branch of the Canada Life Assurance Association until his death, and a magistrate and an active warden in St. George's Church. In the 1871-72 County of Wellington Gazeteer and Directory, F.W. Stone was described as a "general merchant, importer, breeder of Durham and Hereford cattle, Cotswold and South Devon sheep, Berkshire and Yorkshire pigs, Suffolk horses, and an agent for Canada Life Insurance Co. of Hamilton". In 1871, he had a large 18-room stone house built on the site of Johnston Hall on the land which became the University of Guelph campus. In 1873 the province bought the house and 550 acres for $75,000 as the site of the "School of Agriculture and the Experimental Farm" for the purpose of improving agricultural products and standards. His house served as the lecture hall for the first (28) students the following year. When the college was enlarged the next year, the house formed the nucleus to which wings and storeys were added. Mr. F.W. Stone died at age 81 in 1895 to be interred at Woodlawn Cemetery.

One of the sons of F W Stone and his wife Eliza, nee Clark, had been Frederick William Stone, junior, born 16th October 1848, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He returned to England to enter as a student of Lincoln's Inn on 11 January 1869. He became a scholar at Brasenose College, Oxon., in 1872 and was called to the bar, 26 January 1875. The younger Frederick may not have prospered in his profession because for the 1881 census he is found enumerated as a lodger in 6 Albert Street, St Pancras, the home of a railway clerk.

Meanwhile, John Jeffries Stone (born Donnington, Glos.), the brother of F W Stone, senior, had established himself in business - by 1842 as John J Stone & Co., East India merchants, at 16, George Street, Mansion House, London. The firm were merchant bottlers of Bass and Guinness under their Stork and 3 Crossed Scissors Brands.

The marriage of John Jeffries Stone to Mary Mulready Leckie was registered at Kensington for the April Quarter 1844. The bride is believed to have been the natural daughter of William Mulready, RA, and became the artist's ward.

Edward Mulready Stone, the couple's first child was born on 29 March 1845. He was sent to be educated at Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancs., leaving in 1862.

When the Jorehaut Tea Co., Ltd was formed in 1859 part of Stone's premises in George Street were sub-let to the company for use as its registered office. By 1867, John J Stone had been appointed a director of that company and his brother Henry Robert joined him in 1868.

Evidently John Jeffries Stone had made his fortune before purchasing real estate in 1860 for £19,000 in order to build his mansion, 'Stoneleigh' in Ewell on farmland near Nonsuch Park. In the same year he had purchased Hereford cattle at the sale of Lord Bateman's herd to be sent to his brother Frederick William in Canada [Full particulars published in The Canadian Agriculturalist, Vol.12, are accessible in an ebook].

John Jeffries Stone was himself already engaged in breeding Herefords on his country estate at Scyborwen [Ysgvbor-wen - The White Barn], Llantrissant, Monmouthshire - and winning prizes. On 16 January 1868, he withdrew from the London business partnership, which by then included his younger brother Henry Robert Stone, in favour of his son Edward Mulready Stone of Cumnor, The Drive, Sydenham.

Henry Robert Stone, of Stone Cot Hill [possibly the house later known as Stonecot Hall], Sutton, Surrey, formerly of Calcutta, married Georgiana Jane Parker, nee Jessop, at Dibden, Hants., 23 March 1862. He purchased Bedfords, Havering-atte-bower, Essex, in 1870 but died on 16 May 1876, aged 44.

Edward Mulready's marriage to Alice Maria Browning was registered at Lewisham for the September Quarter 1872. They had six sons and a daughter.

Mary Mulready Stone's death, at the age of 58, may be found listed in Greenwich for the June Quarter 1878. J J Stone, widower, died at Ashton Villa, Wickham Road, Deptford in his 61st year [reg. Greenwich 9/1879].

His estate was valued at under £140,00 for probate purposes [Some £75 million in present day terms, as measured by reference to the growth in average earnings]. By a will dated 5 July 1879, with two codicils, the assets were reportedly left in trust for 4 sons and 2 daughters - proved by the Excutors, Edward Mulready Stone, 16 George street, Mansion House, London, and Frederick William Stone, barrister at law, 7 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn on 4 September 1879.

In turn, Edward succeeded his father as a Director of the Jorehaut Tea Co. Ltd. to serve in that capacity for another 47 years until his death, 26 October 1926.

On 20 February 1883, Frederick W Stone, junior, of St Matthew's Oakley Square, St Pancras, had married his cousin Edith Hooper Stone at St John's Deptford. The younger daughter of the late John Jeffries Stone, she had been christened at St Mary the Boltons, West Brompton, 5 November 1851 when her parents were residing at Brecknock Villa on the corner of Old Brompton Road and Finborough Road.

Frederick William Stone of Ampthill Grange, Ampthill, Beds., died on 29 September 1915 and was buried at Flitwick Church aged 67. His relict, Edith Hooper Stone, survived until 31 January 1941 when her demise was recorded at Ravenswood, Coonoor, Nilgiris, South India. [Probate Llandudno 7 October 1941. Effects in England £10,114:14:8]