The journals of Rev. Francis Kilvert (1840-1879), covering 1870-1879, are a delightful record of his daily life during his thirties and also demonstrate his eye for the natural world, with beautiful descriptions of weather and scenery. Kilvert was born in Hardenhuish, Chippenham; his father was the vicar at Langley Burrell just outside the town. Ordained in 1864, he was first a curate at Clyro in Radnorshire 1865-1872 (frequently returning to Wiltshire to visit the family); then curate to his father in the 1870s and, for the last two years of his life, vicar of Bredwardine in Herefordshire. He made frequent trips to Bath, so I’m going to choose a few of these extracts to share. This is the first, a day out to Bath Flower Show in Sydney Gardens.
Wednesday 18 May 1870 Kilvert gets the Excursion train from Chippenham to Bath. The train is full to capacity, hot, smoky and unpleasant. He finds some of the people ill-mannered (particularly those from Wootton Bassett, he remarks).
“It was very hot in Bath. Went into town, paid Titley’s bill, and got measured for a suit of clothes.” Titley’s is James Titley & Son, Tailors, Hatters & Outfitters, 19 Cheap Street.
At Amery’s (Tailors & Drapers, 10 Green Street), he finds he has lost his shopping list en route:
“… made a shot at the most likely things that would be wanted and found eventually that I had ordered the right things, but twice too much of everything.” Amery’s would have sold things like socks and handkerchiefs.
“Lunched at Thersie’s [his sister] and went with her and William to the Flower Show at 2.30. … Heat fierce and oppressive, the flower tents like furnaces. Enormous crowds, greater it is said than were ever seen at the Bath Flower Show – attracted probably by the splendid weather and excursion trains. Not a chair to be had, but happily we had taken a camp stool for Thersie. One saw everything but the flowers. It was almost impossible to get near the roses and the police kept on saying, ‘Move on, move on,’ so we could not stand still to admire anything a moment.”
During this exhausting afternoon they bump into some friends from Langley Burrell, Tom and Kitty Cockell, and the young woman is very flirty with him – “Kitty was rather demonstrative in her attentions to me”.
“I think it was a good show. The heaths [heathers], roses and azaleas were beautiful and the vegetables and strawberries fine … bright green grass and trees … masses of gay pretty dresses. I had some trouble to collect my many parcels at the Bath Station and to struggle to a carriage with my arms full of them, through the crowd, one of the parcels being a hot greasy pigeon pie fresh from the oven without any basket. This I carried in both hands from Chippenham Station to Langley.”
More information about Francis Kilvert can be found here.
Ann Cullis
Trustee & Friend July 2025