Edward Augustus Lamb
- Born:
19 Jun 1813 1
- Baptised:
4 Aug 1813, Iden, Sussex 2
- Died:
36, Beaufort Street, Chelsea, London 3
- Buried:
8 Sep 1882, Brompton Cemetery, London 4
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Edward
was educated at Westminster School starting there in the Michaelmas term of
1824 and leaving in 1829.5 A year
or two later, in Jan 1834, he was admitted to Lincolns Inn and was called to
the bar five years later.6
There does not seem to be much evidence of Edward ever having practised law
as a barrister in chambers but no doubt his training helped him in his
dealings with commercial companies and also his role later in life as a JP
for Sussex.
For a while he seems to have lived at Westfield, near Battle, probably in the
property of his late grandfather but that may have been let go at some stage
and certainly from 1851 onwards, he was resident at Iden Rectory until his
father died in 1864.
When Edward's father wrote to a friend bemoaning the fact that his efforts to
reduce family debt were being undermined by family imprudence, he probably
had Edward in mind as the latter seems to have been much involved in
speculative investments in railways and elsewhere in the 1840s and 50s.
Contemporary newspaper reports show that Edward was involved in several
unsuccessful and, possibly even fraudulent projects during that time. He was
at various times a subscriber and director of the Staffordshire and
Shropshire Junction Railway (a company that never got off the ground and was
wound up under the cloud of malfeasance); a subscriber and the secretary of
the Tunbridge & Rye Harbour Direct Railway, another short lived company
in which he also persuaded his father to invest;7 a
subscriber with his brother William to the Dover and Bristol Railway;8 9 and,
perhaps, worst of all a subscriber and director of the Merionethshire Slate
and Slab Company.
In the case of the Dover and Bristol Railway, the company that was unable to
comply with the standing orders of the House of Commons and was wound up
after spending £4000 on advertising, the cost of which, it is reported, was
to be borne by the initial 200 subscribers who included Edward and William.
The Merionethshire Slate and Slab Company failed after a few years and in the
court proceedings to establish its shareholders — it was a joint-stock company
and in those days such a company's shareholders were responsible for all its
debts10 — it
transpired that Edward had improperly put his father down for 100 shares and
his brother for 50. His father had refused pay for these but his brother had
reluctantly done so to save Edward embarrassment.11 Nevertheless, as a consequence, the Lamb
family were judged to have held 350 shares and they, with other shareholders,
had, in the end, to pay £5 10s. per share to clear the company's debts. (It
is not clear how much of the full subscription amount of £20 per share had
been paid before the company folded but the family would have lost that money
too).
By the mid-1850s, Edward seems to have given up subscribing to railway or
other investments offers but there is an interesting case reported where he
is involved in trying to sell the advowson* of his brother's
benefice, West Hackney, or, at least, suggesting to a firm of clerical agents
that it was up for sale. In fact, he did not own the advowson but, it
appears, hoped to acquire it from the then owner — there was in those times a
ready trade in advowsons, which often changed hands for substantial sums. In
this case, the sale did not proceed and the clerical agents sued Edward for
their expenses and were awarded £50 damages by a jury.12
After his father's death, Edward moved to London where at the time of the
1871 census he had a house in Brompton, Kensington.13 At that
time, he seems to have been comfortably enough off as his household comprised
four servants and a lodger. Interestingly, he is shown with a child of three
years old who, extraordinarily, is recorded as his daughter named Nepenthe
Lackland, a person, incidentally, who does not appear in any other statutory
records. Things must have gone downhill for him financially during the next
10 years as in 1881, he is shown as a lodger in a house on Brook Green Road,
Hammersmith, a year later he is reported to have died at 36 Beaufort Street,
Chelsea. He did not leave a Will.
Note
* "Advowson: The right to present a member of the clergy to a
particular benefice or living. Also occasionally more generally:
guardianship, protection, or patronage of a church or religious house; an
instance of this. Also figurative.
In English law an advowson is a property right and, as such, may pass by
gift, by inheritance, or (until 1923) by sale (see Oxf. Dict. Christian
Church (1997) (ed. 3) at advowson)." — OED
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Sources
1 Westminster School Alumni (Online Catalogue
for Westminster School's Archive & Collections — People & Organisations
—
Link: http://collections.westminster.org.uk/index.php/actor/browse), (See
below).
2 Parish Registers of England and Wales,
Parish Church of Iden — 1813 — No. 8. …
Augst 4th - Edward Augustus - Geo: Augt & Julia Louisa - Lamb - Iden -
Clerk - Geo: Augt: Lamb
.
3 The Driffield Times and General Advertiser
(Published in Yorkshire 1869–1937), Saturday 9 September 1882, Page 3 — DIED. …
At 36, Beaufort Street, Chelsea, London, in the 70th year of his age, E. A.
Lamb, Esq.
4 "Cemetery", Register of Burials In West
of London and Westminster Cemetery, Earl's Court, Old Brompton. …
Edward Augustus Lamb (112849) - 36 Beaufort Street, Chelsea - [buried 1882]
Sept 8 - 69 years - Revd J. Martin - Private Grave (Y63.9 x 1052.6) - Chelsea -
Church - No extra depth.
5 Westminster School Alumni (Online Catalogue
for Westminster School's Archive & Collections — People & Organisations
—
Link: http://collections.westminster.org.uk/index.php/actor/browse), Lamb,
Edward Augustus, 1813-1882 — GB-2014-WSA-10670. …
LAMB, EDWARD AUGUSTUS, second son of George Augustus Lamb (qv); b. 19 Jun 1813
(Stelfox's); adm. 16 Jan 1824; left 1829; adm. Lincoln's Inn 21 Jan 1834,
called to bar 28 Jan 1839; d. unm. 1882.
6 Morning Post and Gazetteer (London),
Monday, January 30, 1839, Page 5. …
LINCOLN'S INN, Jan 29.- The following gentlemen were this day called to the degree
of Bachelor at Law by the Hon. Society of Lincoln's Inn, viz:… Edward Augustus
lamb, Esq., ….
7 Caledonian Mercury (Published in
Edinburgh), Thursday, October 16, 1845 — Advertisements. …
TUNBRIDGE & RYE HARBOUR DIRECT RAILWAY. (Provisionally Registered)
Frederick Lawrence, Registered Projector. CAPITAL
L500,000 in shares of L20 each. DEPOSIT, L2 2s each.
PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE
… William Phillips Lamb, Esq., Ockham House, Sussex, Director of Staffordshire
and Shropshire Junction Railway, Rev. G. A. Lamb, D.D. Iden, Sussex ……
Secretary E. A. Lamb, Esq.
8 The Times (London), The Times Tuesday,
October 7, 1845, Page 2, Col C. …
DOVER and BRISTOL RAILWAY, in continuation of the South-Eastern Railway from
Reigate to Bristol upon the Narrow Gauge. (Provisionally Registered) Capital
£1,500,000, in 75,000 shares of £20 each. £2 2s. per share.
PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE
… William Phillips Lamb, Esq., Ockham House, Sussex. Edward Augustus Lamb,
Esq., Westfield, Battle, Sussex, Director of Staffordshire and Shropshire
Junction Railway, …….
9 Sherborne Mercury, Saturday 3 January 1846,
Page 3 Col E. …
DOVER AND BRISTOL RAILWAY COMPANY. — This company has been unable to comply
with the standing orders of the House of Commons. The liabilities are somewhat
heavy — as much as £4000 having been expended in advertising; but we understand
that the Provisional Committee (200 in number) intend to defray the whole of
the expenses from their own pockets, and not call upon the shareholders for a
single farthing. This is highly creditable to the Provisional Committee. - Devizes
Gazette .
10 Daily News (London), Thursday, March 13,
1851, Page 2. …
WINDING-UP JOINT STOCK COMPANIES. MERIONETHSHIRE SLATE COMPANY. - Yesterday, there
was a meeting of the parties interested in the settlement of the affairs of
this company before his Honour Sir Wm. Home. Mr. Hetherington appeared as
counsel for Mr. Ernest, the official manager. The first case taken was that of
Rev. Dr. Lamb, of Battle, whose name appeared in the company's deed in respect
of 100 shares, and for whom an affidavit was put in, representing that he had
never authorised his son to place his name to that document. … The Rev. T.
Davies Lamb, of Hackney, for whom Mr. Smith appeared, was called on to show
cause why he should not be held liable for 50 shares. Mr. Lamb, on being
examined, said his brother, Mr. E. A. Lamb, had paid the deposit for him on
these shares, but that his brother had not his sanction either to apply for or
to apportion him these shares. ...
11 Morning Post and Gazetteer (London),
Thursday, March 13, 1851, Page 7, Col A — Queen's Courts of Chancery - March
12. MONMOUTHSHIRE SLATE AND SLAB COMPANY. …
Mr Edmund [sic] A. Lamb, who has himself been placed on the list as a director
holding 200 shares, was examined by Mr Hetherington relative to the fact of his
signing the name of his father, Dr Lamb, in the deed, in respect of shares. ……
His Honour animadverted upon the improper conduct of Mr Lamb in writing down
the name of his father in the deed without the latter's knowledge or authority,
and considered that what had passed clearly exonerated Dr Lamb who had
repudiated the transaction, from all liability in respect of these 100 shares.
….
12 Stamford Mercury (Stamford, Lincolnshire),
Friday, March 9, 1855. …
An action brought in the Court of Queen's Bench, and tried last week,
illustrates the practice of selling next presentations. Moses. Simpson,
clerical agents, sued Edward Augustus Lamb to recover damages for refusing to
sell the next presentation to the living of West Hackney for 3000l., according
to agreement. ….
13 National Census, 1871 — Parish: Brompton
Holy Trinity; ED: 3a; Piece: 50; Folio: 30; Page: 52.
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