Last updated 05:33, Friday, 04 July 2008

A ccording to the Analytical Review in 1797, the Cumberland-born land surveyor, John Housman “wrote with meritorious exactness and he has not unfrequently, with great judgement, offered hints for improvement in cultivation of the different neighbourhoods he visited”.

In his introduction to the 1974 reprint of William Hutchinson’s History of Cumberland, Roy Hudleston said: “I conclude that Housman was the son of James Housman, gardener of Corby Castle, who in 1762 married Hannah Morley of Cumwhitton.”

This was partly confirmed by John Housman’s obituary in the Carlisle Patriot, which stated he was “born in an obscure district, Cumwhitton in this county, of parents, who, though respectable, knew little beyond the art of tilling the soil.”

Housman’s youth did not prepare him for his future career. The Patriot said: “The advantages which he derived from school education were very trifling.”

Housman himself, in a letter to the Cumberland Pacquet in 1791, said that the inhabitants of Cumwhitton “look upon books as the toys of children, or the puerile amusement of effeminate and crack-brained men.”

But he persisted in his studies “by close application and uncommon industry”, and was largely self-taught.

The newspaper said: “His rural abode was not unknown to the sciences and to his literary attainments were added eminent skill as a land surveyor and a practical agriculturist.”

“In 1790 Housman is described as of Cumwhitton,” said Hudleston and it was there he married Elizabeth Blacklock on November 22, 1791. She was the sister of James Blacklock, a Cumwhitton-born London bookseller and publisher.

Soon after his marriage Housman was “employed by the editor of the History of Cumberland to make a statistical survey of the different parishes in the county, which he completed with much accuracy and truth,” said the Patriot.

A long review of his contribution to William Hutchinson’s work warmly praised his “intelligence and usefulness”.

While Housman said of Cumwhitton “the air is remarkably salubrious which makes the inhabitants healthy and long-lived,” this did not prevent his wife dying on June 9, 1794 aged only 30. She was buried with other members of her family at Cumwhitton. John Housman was later described of Great Corby.

With his previous experience Housman had no trouble in getting work and the Patriot stated: “He afterwards was employed by Sir Frederick Eden [not Henry Howard as some thought] to make statistical observations on the different counties of England and part of the South of Scotland,” something he did in 1797-8.

This he achieved, said the newspaper “within a very limited period, though all his journeys were performed entirely on foot”.

Some “short abstracts of this tour”, stated the Patriot, “were published in the Monthly Magazine and are remarkable for fidelity and close observation”.

The only book Housman wrote, A Descriptive Tour of the Lakes of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, including a journey to the Caves of Yorkshire, was published in 1800 by Francis Jollie.

This was a great success and Jollie wrote in 1811: “Respecting the merit of this work it is only necessary to remark that the whole impression was sold in the course of a few months and that portion of it which related to the Tour of the Lakes has gone through three large editions.”

Remaining at Great Corby, Housman “was a commissioner for the Castle Carrock enclosure,” stated Hudleston and the second edition of his Descriptive Tour has an introduction signed by Housman at Corby on June 15, 1802.

But he did not remain long for it was at Great Corby, the Patriot said, “where his merits attracted the attention of Henry Howard of Corby Castle by whom he was recommended to the late Duke of Norfolk as land-steward and he continued to serve the deceased and present Duke in that capacity till his demise”.

When Housman remarried he was described on the marriage bond as a widower “late of Lopham Park,” one of the Duke’s Norfolk properties.

His marriage to Mary Wilson of Biglands, near Oulton, was solemnised on September 26, 1808 at Aikton Church, Housman then being from the “parish of St Cuthbert’s, Carlisle”.

Where the Housmans lived after marriage is unknown but the couple were back at Aikton Church when their son John was baptised on May 12, 1816, their abode being given as Biglands and the father’s occupation was still “land-surveyor.”

John Housman’s death was announced in the Patriot on August 27 1819 aged 55, “last week at Sheffield,” where he was “principal agent of the Duke of Norfolk for the Sheffield manor of his Grace’s Yorkshire estates”.

The obituary ended: “Few men have enjoyed a more equable and happy life and few have left behind a purer memory.”

However, in the Patriot on September 4, in a letter received from Sheffield, was the news that the reported death was premature.

“On Monday,” said the letter, “he was walking about his grounds: he has, indeed, been very poorly and is much reduced, but is now a good deal better and in a fair way to recovery.”

The editor stated: “The account [of his death] which we inserted was sent to us by a friend of Mr Housman’s who, in common with almost everyone at Wetheral and Corby, believed it to be true.”

But the “tedious illness,” as the Carlisle Journal described it, got the better of him and he died on October 16, 1819 aged 56.

In an obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine it was stated: “J Housman Esq was for many years agent to the Dukes of Norfolk, in which respectable capacity he was highly esteemed for his integrity, knowledge of business and for his general conciliatory demeanor.”

He left a widow, Mary, and she never remarried, living at Market Hill in Wigton until her death in 1865 aged 85.

In her will, Mary Housman mentioned two nieces to whom she left all of her possessions valued at under £200.

No mention was made of her son John who must have died young.

Her wish was to be buried at Aikton was carried out on December 13, 1865.