Chapter II: THE ALPHINGTON PONIES
The Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) was a local writer, novelist, antiquarian and folk song collector and one of those clergy of the Victorian era who tried his hand at all things.[1] An Anglican priest, he lived at Lew Trenchard in Devon where he had been born. The writer of hymns - most people over 50 can recall some lines from Onward, Christian Soldiers – and westcountry lore, in 1908 he produced an anthology of curious stories connected with the west country, Devon Characters and Strange Events.[2]
Fig. 1: Lithograph
view of the Durnford Sisters for Cockrem
The
book is available at various on-line sites and can be enjoyed by all.[3]
However, one of the more interesting stories is that of the Durnford Sisters in
Torquay under the title of The Alphington Ponies. I hope I can be forgiven
for quoting the story in full, together with the two illustrations which
accompanied the story (Figs 2 and 3).
DURING the forties of last century, every visitor to
Torquay noticed two young ladies of very singular appearance. Their residence
was in one of the two thatched cottages on the left of Tor Abbey Avenue,
looking seaward, very near the Torgate of the avenue. Their chief places of
promenade were the Strand and Victoria Parade, but they were often seen in
other parts of the town. Bad weather was the only thing that kept them from
frequenting their usual beat. They were two Misses Durnford, and their costume
was peculiar. The style varied only in tone and colour. Their shoes were
generally green, but sometimes red. They were by no means bad-looking girls
when young, but they were so berouged as to present the appearance of painted
dolls. Their brown hair worn in curls was fastened with blue ribbon, and they
wore felt or straw hats, usually tall in the crown and curled up at the sides.
About their throats they had very broad frilled or lace collars that fell down
over their backs and breasts a long way. But in summer their necks were bare,
and adorned with chains of coral or bead. Their gowns were short, so short
indeed as to display about the ankles a good deal more than was necessary of
certain heavily-frilled cotton investitures of their lower limbs. In winter
over their gowns were worn check jackets of a "loud" pattern reaching
to their knees, and of a different colour from their gowns, and with lace
cuffs. They were never seen, winter or summer, without their sunshades. The
only variation to the jacket was a gay-coloured shawl crossed over the bosom
and tied behind at the waist.
The sisters dressed exactly alike, and were so much
alike in face as to appear to be twins. They were remarkably good walkers, kept
perfectly in step, were always arm in arm, and spoke to no one but each other.
They lived with their mother, and kept no servant. All
the work of the house was done by the three, so that in the morning they made
no appearance in the town; only in the afternoon had they assumed their
war-paint, when, about 3 p.m., they sallied forth; but, however highly they
rouged and powdered, and however strange was their dress, they carried back
home no captured hearts. Indeed, the visitors to Torquay looked upon them with
some contempt as not being in society and not dressing in the fashion; only
some of the residents felt for them in their solitude some compassion. They
were the daughters of a Colonel Durnford, and had lived at Alphington. The
mother was of an inferior social rank. They had a brother, a major in the Army,
10th Regiment, who was much annoyed at their singularity of costume, and
offered to increase their allowance if they would discontinue it; but this they
refused to do.
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Fig. 2: THE MISSES DURNFORD. THE ALPHINGTON PONIES
From a Lithograph (from Baring-Gould)
When first they came to Torquay, they drove a pair of
pretty ponies they had brought with them from Alphington; but their allowance being
reduced, and being in straitened circumstances, they had to dispose of ponies
and carriage. By an easy transfer the name of Alphington Ponies passed on from
the beasts to their former owners.
As they were not well off, they occasionally got into
debt, and were summoned before the Court of Requests; and could be impertinent
even to the judge. On one occasion, when he had made an order for payment, one
of them said, "Oh, Mr. Praed, we cannot pay now; but my sister is about to
be married to the Duke of Wellington, and then we shall be in funds and be able
to pay for all we have had and are likely to want!" Once the two visited a
shop and gave an order, but, instead of paying, flourished what appeared to be
the half of a £5 note, saying, that when they had received the other half, they
would be pleased to call and discharge the debt. But the tradesman was not to
be taken in, and declined to execute the order. Indeed, the Torquay shopkeepers
were very shy of them, and insisted on the money being handed over the counter
before they would serve the ladies with the goods that they required.
They made no acquaintances in Torquay or in the
neighbourhood, nor did any friends come from a distance to stay with them. They
would now and then take a book out of the circulating library, but seemed to
have no literary tastes, and no special pursuits. There was a look of
intelligence, however, in their eyes, and the expression of their faces was
decidedly amiable and pleasing.
They received very few letters; those that did arrive
probably contained remittances of money, and were eagerly taken in at the door,
but there was sometimes a difficulty about finding the money to pay for the
postage. It is to be feared that the butcher was obdurate, and that often they
had to go without meat. Fish, however, was cheap.
A gentleman writes: "Mr. Garrow's house, The
Braddons, was on my father's hands to let. One day the gardener, Tosse, came in
hot haste to father and complained that the Alphington Ponies kept coming into
the grounds and picking the flowers, that when remonstrated with they declared
that they were related to the owner, and had permission. 'Well,' said father,
'the next time you see them entering the gate run down and tell me.' In a few
days Tosse hastened to say that the ladies were again there. Father hurried up
to the grounds, where he found them flower-picking. Without the least ceremony
he insisted on their leaving the grounds at once. They began the same story to
him of their relationship to the owner, adding thereto, that they were cousins
of the Duke of Wellington. 'Come,' said father, 'I can
believe one person can go mad to any extent in any direction
whatever, but the improbability of two persons going mad in
identically the same direction and manner at the same time is a little too much
for my credulity. Ladies, I beg you to proceed.' And proceed they did."
After some years they moved to Exeter, and took lodgings in St. Sidwell's parish. For a while they continued to dress in the same strange fashion; but they came into some money, and then were able to indulge in trinkets, to which they had always a liking, but which previously they could not afford to purchase. At a large fancy ball, given in Exeter, two young Oxonians dressed up to represent these ladies; they entered the ballroom solemnly, arm in arm, with their parasols spread, paced round the room, and finished their perambulation with a waltz together. This caused much amusement; but several ladies felt that it was not in good taste, and might wound the poor crazy Misses Durnford. This, however, was not the case. So far from being offended at being caricatured, they were vastly pleased, accepting this as the highest flattery. Were not princesses and queens also represented at the ball? Why, then, not they?
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Fig. 3: THE MISSES DURNFORD. THE ALPHINGTON PONIES (BACK VIEW)
Lithographed by P. Gauci, Pub. Ed. Cockrem (from Baring-Gould)
One public ball they did attend together, at which,
amongst others, were Lady Rolle and Mr. Palk, son of the then Sir Lawrence
Palk. Owing to their conspicuous attire, they drew on them the attention of
Lady Rolle, who challenged Mr. Palk to ask one of the sisters for a dance, and
offered him a set of gold and diamond shirt studs if he could prevail on either
of them to be his partner. Mr. Palk accepted the challenge, but on asking for a
dance was met in each case by the reply, "I never dance except my sister
be also dancing." Mr. Palk then gallantly offered to dance with both
sisters at once, or in succession. He won and wore the studs.
A gentleman writes: "In their early days they
made themselves conspicuous by introducing the bloomer arrangement in the nether
latitude.[4] This,
as you may well suppose, was regarded as a scandal; but these ladies, who were
never known to speak to any one, or to each other out of doors, went on their
way quite unruffled. Years and years after this, you may imagine my surprise at
meeting them in Exeter, old and grey, but the same singular silent pair. Then,
after an interval of a year or two, only one appeared. I assure you, it gave me
pain to look at that poor lonely, very lonely soul; but it was not for long.
Kind Heaven took her also, and so a tiny ripple was made, and there was an end
of the Alphington Ponies."
The girls
were, indeed, twins; Arabella
and Eliza Durnford were born on 30th December 1800 and
were christened at St Clement's, London, the daughters of Lieutenant-Colonel
Andrew Montague Isaacson Durnford (b.1774, London) and
Barbara Ann Blake Shea (b.1779 in Dublin). Barbara Ann was the illegitimate
daughter of Sir Patrick Blake by Peggy Shea, “a Mulatto woman” on
Patrick’s plantation in the West Indies. Andrew and Barbara married in St
Clement Danes, London in 1796.[5]
The family
lived for a time at Alphington, part of Exeter, but had moved to Torquay by
1834. The twins apparently had three siblings who were not living with them at
the time they moved to Torquay. Furthermore, their father Andrew Montague
Isaacson Durnford had further children: five children with Mary Hadley; and six
more with a woman called Harriet. When he died in 1858, his last will and
testament (written in 1854) named all his children with Barbara.
According to Baring-Gould
they lived in one of the two
thatched cottages on the left of Tor Abbey Avenue when they relocated to
Torquay from Alphington, Exeter. According to Arthur Ellis[6] this
was Lavender Cottage in Avenue Road, close to the gates to Tor Abbey. As they
had no servants, all three shared the housework which clearly identified their
social status to others. The ponies they brought with them had to be sold to
make ends meet; although it is interesting to note that the idea of carriages
as tourist taxis was just beginning to flourish in Torquay at this time.
The sisters became
notorious for their antics, but not all the stories can be corroborated and
many of the episodes recounted by Baring-Gould were simply repeated by others. The
tale of the “half a 5 pound note” is curious: no one questions how you can get
hold of only half a bank note of that denomination in those days. The story of
the Duke of Wellington is not so far-fetched. One legend surrounding them was
omitted by Baring-Gould but mentioned by Ellis[7]
and is frequently recounted; their eccentricities were due to a tragedy in
their lives - they were supposedly engaged to two brothers, one of whom
accidentally shot and killed the other, and who then died of a broken heart.
Certainly by
1834 they had moved to Torquay and were being summoned to court. A short
announcement that Eliza Durnford, late of Tormoham, the County of Devon,
spinster, (sued with Arabella Durnford) were due to be heard at the
Court-house at Exeter, in the County of Devon, on the 23rd day of June, 1834,
at 10 o'clock in the morning appeared in Western Times of Saturday
31 May 1834.
The stories of the
sisters´ financial escapades is substantiated by another account in the papers
of October 1850.[8]
In a case brought by Mr Broad, a grocer, one of the sisters first attempted to
claim she was the victim of mistaken identity as she was called Burrough.
Then she alleged she had changed her name in anticipation of being wed to a
rich gentleman. As Mr Broad was loathe
to see the two women committed to prison (on a debt of £10 17s 6d), he proposed a two
week “stay of execution” and the judge granted the same. However, the ladies
answer was to say “If we don't then pay the money we will with
pleasure go to prison” at which they then left the Court and entered a first
class carriage for Torquay, by rail.
The 1841 census
records the family as resident at Balsdon Terrace (along with a number of other
families). This address was probably just one very large Victorian villa along
Abbey Road and is listed in Westley´s plan published in the 1880s (Fig. 4).
Their mother died in 1851 and they moved back to Alphington. Their father died
in 1858 and left the sisters money in his will. At the time of the 1861 census
the sisters, still together, were visitors at the White Hart Hotel in St John´s
Street, Salisbury.[9]
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Fig. 4: Balsdon
Terrace is House 14 on Abbey Road (K7, green).
The two sisters were
still listed as spinsters in announcements concerning savers in the West of
England and South Wales District Bank in 1860[10]
and still infamous due to their clothing excesses as late as 1863.[11]
At the Bath & West of England Agricultural Society show of that year there
was a detailed account of the women´s fashion sense.
Among the greatest curiosities of the day were a couple of ladies known
in the ancient city as “the Alphington Ponies." These fair damsels, who
were the observed of all observers, seem to have a very remarkable fondness for
contrast in colour. They had each a dress of silk Velvet magenta, surmounted by
a peagreen mantle, with parasols of the same. Their hats were á la mode,
coming close to their flowing ringlets, and showing off to the full the whole of
their faces. The countenances vied in colour with the magenta of the silk
velvet. In their hats they had decided yellow feathers, and their pretty hands
were covered with gloves the same colour. Just peering below, reaching to the
very heel, were what appeared to very long continuations, also of the favoured
magenta; but whether silk velvet, or thin fabric, our opportunities of knowing
do not enable us to state. The whole costume was exceedingly “loud,” and as
they kept moving throughout the day there was no one in the field but what had
an opportunity of admiring them.
When Eliza died
suddenly in 1866 her death was reported in many local papers (Fig. 5).[12]
SUDDEN Death.—An inquest was held on Friday afternoon at the Red Lion
Inn, St. Sidwells, … on the body of Eliza Durnford, a maiden lady, residing at
No. 8, St. Sidwells. Arabella Durnford said: l am sister to the deceased. We
have lived together since we were children. My sister had not been well since
Tuesday night when she took to her bed. I thought she had a cold. … About half past
eight on that evening she became much worse. She said she thought she was dying
and asked me to lift her up in bed. I rang for our landlady, Mrs. Brice, but my
sister did not speak afterwards, and died immediately in arms. … The deceased
and her sister were well known in this city from the eccentric way in which
they dressed. We believe they were twins, and were born in the year 1800. They
were the daughters Colonel Durnford, of Stonehouse.
Arabella died only a
few years later, in 1871.
Fig. 5: Newspaper announcement on the death of Eliza Durnford in Exeter 1866.
The two illustrations which accompanied Baring-Gould´s accounts, both taken from contemporary lithographs, caught my eye. It would seem that the first was published by Edward Croydon in the 1840s (Fig. 6). The dealer who sold an original from which Baring-Gould´s illustration was probably taken writes: a rare original lithograph published at Croydon's Circulating Library Torquay of Twin Ladies - reverse is inscribed in old ink pen Miss Durnford (measuring approx. 35 x 25 cm incl. margins).[13]
Fig. 6: Lithograph
view of the Durnford Sisters by Croydon.
Croydon also
issued a matching view from the back and a copy is held at the Devon &
Exeter Institute. This has the sisters in similar, but different, attire. In
both pictures the paving stones are shown but no buildings (See Chapter III:
Croydon, Elliott and Ardley). Edward Croydon of Teignmouth was, from the beginning,
Cockrem´s main competitor and his Guide to the Watering Places … Between the
Exe and the Dart as well as The Teignmouth Guide were very
successful.[14]
Edward had premises at Regent Place, Teignmouth, but his eldest son (also
Edward) opened his own shop in Torquay and library on Victoria Parade. This
print was published by Edward at Croydon´s Circulating Library 10 Victoria
Parade Torquay.
The view from
the back in Baring-Gould´s publication is more intriguing. The lithograph (I
have a copy in full colour) measures approximately the same as the Croydon view
(37 x 26 cm) but is signed in the picture R P Yeo del. There are three
lines of text below: Signature P Gauci, lith, North Crescent, Bedford
Square, London; Title TORQUAY; and an imprint Published by Edward
Cockrem. Besides the two ladies, the most prominent feature of the view is
the advertisement for Cockrem´s Directory Office below the attractive
shop front window.
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Fig. 7:
Torquay and Tor Directory issued by Croydon, Nov. 1845.
A copy of the
Torquay and Tor Directory for November 1845 carries a page of
advertisements for Cockrem´s various wares. Almost lost at the bottom is a
short insert announcing: Just Published – A Portrait of the Misses Durnford,
by C Woolnoth, Esq. One of the pictures adorning the walls of the Devon and
Exeter Institute happens to be an image of the sisters. Drawn from the life
by Woolnoth the picture was Pubd by E Cockrem, Bookseller & Stationer,
10 Strand. The print is also signed Gauci, lith, North Crescent, Bedford
Square, London. (Fig. 7). It would appear that Gauci, a well-known
and respected London lithographer was specially commissioned to print these
portraits (Fig. 8). This is certainly one of the best images of the
sisters and it is not inconceivable that this is the counterpart to the view
from the back used by Baring-Gould.
Charles Woolnoth was a landscape and portrait painter. He offered his services to instruct in figure and portrait painting in crayon and black lead as well as oils. He would also exhibit his views in his home at 5 Park Street.
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Fig. 8: Lithograph view of the Durnford Sisters by Woolnoth.
Certainly,
the two ladies were renowned for their daily stroll around the harbour area and
it is hardly surprising that several portraits of them were published by local
companies. A rather simpler view was published by Ardley of Torquay. He is
known to have published books of prints and added his own imprint to several
(see Ardley and Other Torquay Booksellers). The two ladies even apperared briefly in a vignette by Townsend executed
for Henry Besley of Exeter.
Fig. 9: Staffordshire pottery figurines created between 1838 and 1850.
The ladies
must have attracted some attention at the time. In addition to the two
lithographs in the text, Staffordshire potteries were soon selling figurines of
the two sisters (Fig. 9)[15]. Various colour combinations have been seen, and with or without Souvenir
of Torquay written on the base. Most of these are dated to 1838-40. The
Staffordshire wares show Arabella (Annie) Durnford (1800-1871) and her sister
Bertha (Eliza) Durnford (1800-1866): known as The Alphington Ponies. Rather
coyly the description reads: The two sisters standing arm in arm, in
top-hats, long jacket, short skirt, and pantalettes and carrying sunshades.
It fails to notice the underwear hanging below their skirt seams (the nether
latitude) which seems to have been rather provocative to some.
Rather surprisingly, the ladies get no mention in any of the contemporary histories and guide books of the day. Neither Croydon (1854) nor Cockrem (1855-56) in their guides mention the ladies and J T White´s History is also silent. Arthur Charles Ellis, compiling his An Historical Survey of Torquay in 1830, was given access to many pictures from the collection of W Winget of the Torquay Directory and includes two further views which are well worth noting. There is an interesting view of The Strand and Harbour in 1840 and the two sisters are clearly seen on the quayside (Fig. 10).[16] The more interesting view has the ladies passing Elliott´s Library on Vaughan Parade (See Chapter III: Croydon, Elliott and Ardley).
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Fig. 10: View
of the Durnford Sisters and Strand illustrated in Ellis.
The sisters were possibly around just too early for a real photograph. Recently I came across a page from a scrapbook. Making scrapbooks was a popular Victorian hobby and we know that H M A compiled a scrapbook of cuttings, including various views of Torquay and Neighbourhood in the 1860s. Along with two views cut from Croydon prints there is the obituary of Eliza Durnford from a local newspaper. However, there is also an original photograph which shows two women, who could be twin sisters, in identical outfits and is typical for photographs taken in the late Victorian period. Unfortunately, it has the style of photographs of the 1880s, so it does not actually show Eliza and Arabella: it would be nice to find one (Fig. 11).
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Fig. 11:
Victorian photograph of twin sisters, c.1880.
Click
to return to start or go to next chapter:
Chapter I. Edward Cockrem: his life and publishing output
Chapter III. The Strand Torquay: the main thoroughfare in the mid-1800s
Chapter IV. Croydon, Elliott and Ardley: and the Durnford Sisters
Appendix I. Cockrem´s published works 1829 – 1873
Appendix II. Croydon´s prints, 1817 - 1860
NOTES:
[1] The on-line catalogue, JISC, has over
3000 entries for Baring-Gould.
[2] Text
and illustrations as in S. Baring-Gould; Devonshire characters and strange
events (with 55 full-page illustrations reproduced from old prints, etc.);
London & New York; J Lane; 1908. The printer was local: William Brendon and
Sons of Plymouth.
[3] Read the stories for example: (https://archive.org/details/devonshirecharac00bariuoft) or Gutenberg Project at
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48507/48507-h/48507-h.htm; go to
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabine_Baring-Gould) for the life of Sabine
Baring-Gould.
[4] The footnote here reads: They are not so
represented in the three lithographs that were published at Torquay. But two
others beside this correspondent mention their appearance in
"bloomers."
[5] See especially the Durnford Family
Website at https://edurnford.blogspot.com/which has a tremendous amount of
information on the rather promiscuous Durnford males! See also the website
https://www.durnfordfamily.com/ponies.html which has been posted by Cynde
Durnford-Branecki (who notes Eliza Durnford as christened in 1813 at Oswald's
Church, Ashbourne, Derbyshire).
[6] Ellis, Arthur Charles; An Historical
Survey of Torquay; Second Edition; Published by the Author at the Torquay
Directory offices; Torquay; 1930.
[7] Ellis, Arthur Charles; 1930; page 341.
[8] See for example, Western Times of
Saturday 12th October 1850, from which this account is taken.
[9] Note that in the 1841 census Ann is 50,
while the girls are only 20 years old. This is repeated in 1861: the girls ages
are entered as 37. The White Hart is a late Georgian listed building today and
still an hotel.
[10] Monmouthshire Merlin and Western Times in February 1860.
[11] Western Daily Mercury of Tuesday 9th June 1863, for example.
[12] Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of Friday 12th October 1866.
[13] From the Worth Point Corporation website in Atlanta,
Georgia, USA, see
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/torquay-twins-alphington-ponies-1777637147.
[14] See Batten, Kit; Tourist Maps of Devon;
Entries on the two Croydons are combined (August 2022).
[15] The images are from the National Trust at
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/341671 and the
website of Bearnes, Hampton and Littlewood, auctioneers of Exeter. See also
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/news/staffordshire-portraits-of-the-great-and-the-good-and-the-very-bad.
[16] Ellis, Arthur Charles; 1930; page 341. From an engraving lent by Frank Clark, who bought a number of properties in Tormohan (from the Haldon estate) in the early 1900s. The source of the illustration is not clear but probably was in the possession of Mr W N Winget, who had taken over the Torquay Directory after Cockrem´s death
Sources of Illustrations:
Fig. 7: Courtesy of the Devon and Exeter Institute, Exeter. Coloured copy Frontispiece in author´s collection.
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