Birth & early life
Born 21st of March 1825, the son of Adddison John Baker Cresswell and Elizabeth Mary, nee ?.
It may be worth listing his siblings. The following needs to be checked:
OSWIN ADDISON, born April 10, 1819.
FRANCIS JOHN, born Feb. 20, 1822 ; died March 20, 1827.
WILLIAM GILFRID, born March 21, 1825.
ANNA FANNY, born April 9, 1827.
HENRY ROBERT, born August 22, 1829.
[Source?]
His family's wealth appears to have derived from coalmines and a substantial inheritance in the recent past (after which the name "Baker" was added to Cresswell). [CHECK]
There is a fairly detailed history of the Cresswell Estate available online, derived from The History of Cresswell, Ellington, Linton, Lynemouth and Woodhorn, Leonard C. Leach, 1986. The Cresswell family was associated with the area from Norman times.
Fishing was the mainstay of the village of Cresswell. Cresswell Hall was built in the 1820's and it provided work for the people of the village. Cresswell's fishing industry went into a gradual decline as men forsook the sea for jobs in the coal pit...
Referring once more to the Cresswell pedigree, it will be seen that the family descended in the male line until the death of John Cresswell in 1781. He had twin daughters but no sons. Catherine Grace was the co-heir with her sister Frances Dorothea. Frances Dorothea married Francis Easterby, an Elder Brother of Trinity House and nephew of John Addison of Woodhorn Demesne. He purchased
his sister-in-law's moiety of Cresswell and assumed the name and arms of Cresswell in 1807.
His eldest son who was born in 1788 was named Addison John Cresswell. The name and arms of Baker were added in 1840, after his marriage to Elizabeth Mary Reed. John Baker was her cousin and on his death she inherited a considerable fortune. It was this money which enabled the new Cresswell Hall to be built in 1821, also the purchase of much of the surrounding land, together with
estates further afield. Old Moor was purchased for £11,500. He also bought an estate at Bewick as well as land at New Bewick, east Lilburn and Harehope.
The eldest son of this marriage was named Oswin Addison Baker-Cresswell who married Ann Seymour Conway, daughter of Sir William Gordon Cumming. Oswin Addison died in 1856.
Memorials to him and to his sister Emma Elizabeth, who died in 1820, and to his brother William Gilfred, who was a captain in the XIth Hussars and died in 1854 aged 29 (b.1825) before the battle of Alma in the Crimea, are in the church at Cresswell.
See below, for a slightly more detailed description of the memorials.
Query: wasn't WC's wife Adelaide also a daughter of Sir William? In which case, two brothers married two sisters. I have not tried to follow the details of the complex genealogy.
The book continues with information about several generations of Baker Cresswells in the Army and Royal Navy — another example of how military and landed interests become intertwined, often with examples of heroism and death.
The eldest son of Oswin Addison was born in 1844 and was named Oswin Cumming. The second son, Gilfred George was born in 1848. Oswin Addison died in 1856, within the lifetime of his father, so his son Oswin Cumming did not inherit the estate until the death of his grandfather in 1879 aged 91 (b.1788).
Oswin Cumming married Emma Georgina Denman. He died in 1886. In 1892 his widow married the 2nd Earl of Ravensworth who died in 1903. She then married Mr. James Wadsworth in 1904 and died in 1939 aged 97 (b.1842) at Hove, Sussex.
The eldest son of the first marriage was Addison Francis Baker-Cresswell, born in 1874. He married Idonea, second daughter of Major Widdrington of Newton Hall. Addison Francis died in 1921 and the estate was sold in 1924. The eldest son of this marriage was John, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Unfortunately he was drowned at Portsmouth when only 21 years of age.
The surviving son, Captain Addison Joe Baker-Cresswell, D.S.O., R.N., was born in London in 1901. His early years were spent at Cresswell and his career in the Royal Navy started after leaving Gresham School in Norfolk. As a Lieutenant he specialized in navigation, serving in many classes of ship from submarine to battleship.
[Source: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mwi/tynmouth.txt (accessed 14.7.2017)].
Details of Captain Addison Joe Baker-Cresswell's illustrious naval career (which included capturing the German submarine U-110, from which an Enigma machine and code books were recovered — "The most important single event in the whole war at sea...[complete quote?]", George VI) and those of other close relatives, follow. [Perhaps expand on idea of this demonstrates once again how families develop extraordinary military identities across many generations.]
- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lieutenant-commander-david-balme-leader-of-the-operation-which-captured-the-enigma-cipher-machine-a6946766.html (names Captain Baker-Cresswell as the commanding HMS Bulldog
- http://www.forces.net/news/navy/first-man-storm-nazi-u-boat-and-seize-enigma-machine
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/781858.stm
The Cresswell estate was broken into 50 lots in 1924, after the death three years earlier of Captain Baker-Cresswell's father.
One report mentions that the shipping magnate Sir Walter Runciman, who grew up at Creswell, considered buying the estate but withdrew because of the risks from coal mining (http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/a-potted-history-of-cresswell-1-7294471).
[Really? Which Walter Runciman? Disambiguation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Runciman. One source says "Baron Runciman of Shoreston founded the Moor Shipping line. He was born in Dunbar in 1847 but moved to the Coastguard Station, Cresswell in 1853. He ran away to sea when he was just 12 years old and was a master mariner by the age of 21."
It would in any case be interesting to now more about the connection between coal and the the family's fortunes. I assume this is an area where mines went far out under the North Sea?
Marriage
Date and place?
WC married Adelaide Eliza Gordon-Cumming [more].
Adelaide ? Cresswell [wife]
Captain Wm. G. Baker Cresswel, in Hart's New Army List, 1854.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Captain Cresswell's embarkation for the East was more widely reported than most other officers because he was accompanied by his redoubtable wife Adelaide, variously describd as "A Heroic Lady", "An English Amazon" and a "Modern Joan of Arc".
Dublin Evening Mail, Monday 22 May 1854:
(Click on image to enlarge)
Modern Joan Arc. — The wife of one of the officers of the 11th Hussars, and sister to the great African lion hunter, accompanies her husband to the East. Her habiliments are prepared for active service. She is to have a black belt, in which two of Deane and Adams's revolvers are placed. She has been practising daily at the shooting gallery in Dublin, and promises to avenge her husband's death should he fall by leading his troop against our common enemy. — United Service Gazette. correspondent of Saunders says:
"Among the many embarkations for the East few could have been more gratifying than that of Captain Cresswell's troop, 11th (P.A.0.) Hussars, which sailed 3 p.m. board the Panola. The perfect regularity and ease with which the embarkation of both men and horses was conducted were unexceptionable. But the enthusiasm on the occasion was more than usually excited by the gallant captain being accompanied by Mrs. Cresswell, daughter of Sir William G. Gordon Cumming, who, though the only lady, with the spirit of her race, accompanies the regiment to the East. Loud and long were the cheers of her gallant "comrades," re-echoed from the shore, which greeted her on reaching the vessel, and many were the heavy hearts and watery eyes that followed the vessel to the pier-head as the moved out Saturday."
[Source: Dublin Evening Mail, Monday 22 May 1854 ( http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000433/18540522/034/0003, accessed 12.7.2017). Similar quotes from Saunders e.g. in Tipperary Free Press, 24 May (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000790/18540524/025/0003), Dublin Mercantile Advertiser, 26 May 1854 (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000806/18540526/027/0003).]
Several reports told of her preparation for active service:
An English Amazon. — The wife of one of the officers of the 11th Hussars, and sister to the great African lion hunter, accompanies her husband the East. Her habiliments prepared for active service. She is to have black belt, in which two of Deane and Adams's revolvers are placed. She has been practising daily at the shooting gallery in Dublin, and promises to avenge her husband's death should fall by leading his troop against our common enemy. — United Service Gazette.
[Source: Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 27 May 1854.]
Similarly:
The Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday May 31 1854:
A Heroic Lady. — The United Service Gazette says, that the lady of Captain Cresswell of the 11th Hussars, and daughter of Sir W. Gordon G. Cumming, Bart, of Altyre, accompanies her husband to the East. Her habiliments are prepared for active service. She is to have black belt, in which two of Deane and Adam's revolvers are placed. She has been practising daily at the shooting gallery in Dublin, and promising to avenge her husband's death should he fall, by leading on his troop against our common enemy.
Notice the precise specification of the two revolvers she wore in her "back belt":
Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming, "The Lion Hunter" [Adelaide's brother]
Born on the 15th March 1820 in Scotland. Author of A Hunter's Life among Lions, Elephants and other Wild Animals. Roualeyn visited Africa between 1838 and 1843 several times before deciding on his career in hunting. Between 1843 and 1848, He hunted chiefly in Bechuanaland and the valley of the Limpopo River. After returning to the UK. His collection of hunting trophies was exhibited in London in 1851 at the Great Exhibition. In 1858 Gordon-Cumming came to live in Fort Augustus within the former soldiers barracks at the fort. Beside the Caledonian Canal he exhibited his trophies which attracted many visitors, before his death on 24th March 1866.
[http://abbeycottagelochness.co.uk/heritage-trail.php]
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roualeyn_George_Gordon-Cumming
- https://www.africahunting.com/threads/roualeyn-george-gordon-cumming-the-lion-hunter.3267/
- https://antiquarianauctions.com/lots/the-lion-hunter-of-south-africa-15741
- https://archive.org/details/cu31924031178456
- http://abbeycottagelochness.co.uk/heritage-trail.php
- images: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lion+hunter+gordon+cumming&newwindow=1&safe=off&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLi_OlkovVAhXpJcAKHVhGB2IQsAQIPw&biw=1177&bih=760
Death & burial
Most accounts say WC died of cholera off on board ship [name?] near the Alma. Loy Smith says WC was taken ill at Bulganak.[Dates?][
Leeds Times, 14 October 1854:
Captain Cresswell, of the 11th Hussars, according to a letter from the Crimea, died of cholera on the evening of the 19th ult.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Death of Captain Cresswell
Captain William G. Baker Cresswell, 11th Hussars, died of cholera, at the Alma, on the 20th September, and was buried just before the battle. The Captain was married only about two years ago to the second daughter of Sir William G. G. Cumming. Bart., of Altyre. Mrs Cresswell accompained her late husband to the seat of war, and was on board ship off the Alma when the sad event took place.
[Source: Inverness Courier, Thursday 19 October 1854 (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000446/18541019/016/0005, accessed 12.7.2017).]
St Bartholomew's Church
Lithograph of St Bartholomew Chuch, Cresswell. Presumably shortly after its completion in 1836.
Notice how close the church is to the sea. [Source: http://www.grosvenorprints.com/stock_detail.php?ref=35024]
Photograph of St Bartholomew Chuch, Cresswell, probably 2015.
Notice how close the church is to the sea. [Source: (accessed 15.7.2017)]
(Click on images to enlarge)
[Source: http://www.grosvenorprints.com/stock_detail.php?ref=35024]
According to Leonard Leach (above) there is a monument to William Cresswell in St Bartholomew's Church, Cresswell. I have not been able to find any confirmation or images (July 2017).
THE CHURCH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE AND MARTYR was built in 1836 through the benevolence of the Baker-Cresswell family. On the southside of the chancel there are two windows endowed by Addison John Baker-Cresswell in memory of his eldest son Oswin Addison who died at Harehope (one of the family estates) in 1856 aged 36, and to his sister Emma Elizabeth who died in 1820.
The memorial also includes the death of the third son William Gilfred who was a captain in the XIth Hussars. He died aged 29 before the battle of Alma in the Crimea. The windows have a shield with the family crest and the above inscriptions are repeated on a marble tablet between the windows.
The Churchyard has a memorial to Addison Francis Baker-Cresswell and to John Baker-Cresswell who was drowned age 20 whilst serving in the Royal Navy.
[Source: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mwi/tynmouth.txt
St Bartholomew's Church is one of two parish churches in the Parish of Cresswell & Lynemouth and serves the villages of Cresswell and Ellington. This grade II listed stone church was built in 1836 by the Baker Cresswell family and contains stained glass windows by Thomas Willement (1786-1871), Joseph Baguley (1834-1915) and Leonard Evetts (1909-1997).
[Source: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/cresswell-st-bartholomew/ (accessed 13.7.2017).]
See also:
Adelaide Cresswell's Will, 15th October 1870
(Click on image to enlarge)
