[Source for the following is Descendants of Thomas Ransome (downloaded as descendants-of-thomas-ransome.pdf).]
RICHARD RANSOME
9-Richard Ransome [1,14,27,71,112] was born on 11 Jun 1798 in St. Margaret's, Ipswich, died on 19 Jul 1867 in Rushmere, Wandsworth Common, Surrey at age 69, and was buried in Wandsworth.
Noted events in his life were:
— He worked as an Artist & Copper Plate Engraver in Rushmere Cottage, Wandsworth Common, London.
— He was Quaker but was disowned for marrying-out.
Richard married Eliza Wilder Rayner [14,71,112] in 1820. Eliza was born in 1801, died in 1830 in Bergues, France at age 29, and was buried in Bergues, France. They had three children: Edwin Rayner, Ellen, and Eliza.
Noted events in her life were:
— She worked as a Visitation gives EW Rayner. Milligan gives E Wilder. [Meaning?]
EDWIN RAYNER RANSOME
10-Edwin Rayner Ransome [1,29,36,71,112,120,219,220] was born on 28 Jun 1823 in Colchester, Essex, died on 17 May 1910 in Rushmere Cottage, Wandsworth Common, London at age 86, and was buried in FBG Wandsworth.
General Notes: Edwin R. Ransome, 86 17 5mo. 1910 Wandsworth. A Minister.
Edwin Rayner Ransome, a man who served his generation faithfully and energetically during a long life of almost eighty-seven years, was the son of Richard and Eliza Wilder Ransome, and was born at Colchester in 1823. He came of Quaker ancestry; Richard Ransome, his forefather, was one of the early Friends and suffered a long imprisonment for his faith. And yet Edwin Ransome himself was born outside the Society, his father having lost his membership through marrying a lady who was not a Friend.
His father was an artist by temperament, and an engraver by profession; he was a great lover of music also, and himself an accomplished player on the flute, a gift which in those days met with scant sympathy amongst Friends. His work took him from place to place, and he seems never to have settled down long anywhere during his son's boyhood.
Edwin was the eldest son, an alert, observant boy. There was never anything vague or indefinite about him. His impressions even in early childhood were sharply and clearly defined and remembered vividly long years afterwards. He could always distinctly recall the setting of a broken arm when he was between three and four years old.
In some notes of his life, Edwin R. Ransome wrote:
"Some of my very early associations were connected with the dear little village of Rushmere, near Ipswich, where my uncle, James Ransome, lived. My dear cousins, Hannah (afterwards Hannah Stafford Allen) and Jane (afterwards Jane Corder) were like mother and sister to me." In their walks together, he adds, "we sometimes took messages to Thomas Clarkson, of anti-Slavery fame. I remember him as a kindly old man patting me on the head and telling me to be a good boy."
In 1830, when Edwin R. Ransome was seven years old, his family were living at Brussels when the Revolution broke out which separated Belgium from Holland. He always retained vivid memories of the time; of the fighting, which they could see from their windows, of the wounded being carried on litters to a nunnery next door to be cared for; of his parents being required to feed some twelve or more of the fighters, and to keep lights burning in every window through the night; of being very nearly struck himself by part of a bursting shell.
When, after a few days, a truce was agreed upon, his father succeeded in conveying his family across the frontier, but it was too late to save the young mother from the consequences of this time of terror. It brought on a fever from which she died at Bergues, in North France, and she and a baby daughter, only a few months old, were there buried in the same grave.
After being at various other schools at Ipswich and Rotterdam, the little boy, when only ten years old, was taken by his father to the Moravian School at Neuwied on the Rhine, where he remained for over three years, without once going home or seeing any relative. But he was very happy there; his nature responding readily to the kindness and affection with which he was treated. Though he left Neuwied before he was thirteen years old, the time spent there had a powerfully moulding effect upon his mind and character, and the influence of the Evangelical Moravian Brothers, their simplicity, faith and fervour, remained with him through life. He was a loyal member of the "Society of Old Neuwieders,"' rejoicing to attend its gatherings in London, and to join with its members in occasional excursions to Kew or Hampton Court.
In 1835, he came back to England under the kind care of Adam Black, the publisher, a journey which then occupied a week. After his return he was sent to a school in Bow, in a fine old house built for Admiral Blake. He records that "Canes of varying length and thickness formed important factors in driving knowledge into us; some portion of which, beginning at the bottom, was driven by cane through the soles of our feet, we having first taken off our boots or shoes. Next to this style of instruction the event (best) remembered by me was a notable eclipse of the sun in 1835, when a number of ladies and gentlemen came into the garden to watch it through a telescope. During the ensuing holidays my father took us for a walk over London Bridge, to see the marvellous sight of a railway on arches, then the wonder of London, from London Bridge to Greenwich. At that time we lived in Hoxton, where I remember watching from our windows a field of oats swayed by a gentle wind. In this year (1835) I remember also seeing Hancock's steam coach running along the City Road."
A little later his parents went abroad again to reside, and happily for him, their son was sent to his kind uncle, James Ransome, at Rushmere, which thenceforth became his home. He was then for the first time sent to a Friends' School- at Ipswich. It was only for a few months, but he was able afterwards to record that
"William Gill, by thoughtful influence, impressed me for good, more than either of my previous school masters had done by liberal use of the cane."
Whilst at this school he listened to a Temperance lecture which deeply impressed him, and which decided him to give up the use of intoxicating beverages. He remarked in his old age that he had "become a teetotaler before Queen Victoria came to the throne."
Soon after this he was apprenticed for six years to Charles Dix, a Friend at Haverhill, in whose family he lived. He was very happy there, with plenty to do. He was expected to attend the little Haverhill Meeting and was kindly welcomed by the Friends, both at Meeting and socially.
When he was seventeen years old, the Friends of his Monthly Meeting did a kindly, and as it proved, a wise thing for themselves and the Society, in deputing two of their number to visit him and invite him to join them in membership. Before this it had never occurred to him to think seriously of joining Friends, but he felt it "so kind of them to invite him" that he gave the matter earnest consideration and decided to apply for membership, and he was duly received in 1840. More and more he grew to love the "Friends," and throug
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Secretary. Some of the older Friends were inclined to feel the advocacy of Teetotalism "an invasion into the rights of individuals," but the young apprentice succeeded in winning his employer to his side, and the Association prospered. Some time after his apprenticeship expired, and after further useful business experience, he was offered, much to his satisfaction, a post at his uncle's foundry at Ipswich, and he removed there in 1848.
"In those days," Edwin R. Ransome wrote, "the Meeting at Ipswich was large and influential, including such Friends as Ann Tuke Alexander, formerly of York, a Minister of note in her day, who was the originator in 1813 of the Annual Monitor; William Henry and Sophia Alexander, the latter a Minister greatly esteemed; and John Talwin Shewell, a very spiritually-minded minister. Besides these, there was old Dykes Alexander, Richard Dykes and Samuel Alexander, Bankers, together with James, Robert and Allen Ransome and their respective families."
Resourceful, efficient, and willing, Edwin Ransome soon came to fill a useful place in the meeting. On one occasion his knowledge of German led to his being sent to Harwich to assist ninety-nine shipwrecked German emigrants, and accompany them to Ipswich, where they were kindly cared for and sent on their way cheered and comforted.
"In 1851," Edwin R. Ransome records, "a considerable number of professors and learned men visited Ipswich whilst the Meeting of the British Association was being held. Many of these wished to inspect the Orwell works, and it was my privilege to have to act as guide on such occasions. It was exceedingly interesting to note the different standpoints from which some of these clever men viewed things. A considerable company of them went a trip by steamer to Bawdsey Ferry. It was quite a treat to hear Professors Owen, Sedgwick, Phillips, Forbes, and others, dis- course about the Suffolk Crags as we passed by the Felixstowe cliffs, which then stood in their natural beauty."
In the seventh month of that year Prince Albert visited Ipswich and was greatly interested in the Museum, which had made for itself a name as an educational establishment, under [the] direction of my cousin George. As a steward at the head of the staircase, I was greeted by the Prince with a polite bow, and I was struck by the pleasant tone of his voice and the elegance of his language. "One day I took a young man down the Orwell to dredge from the bottom of the river; he was full of life and energy, and he developed into Professor Huxley.
'Old Landseer,' the painter, proved an interesting companion as I escorted him to local points of interest; and Professor Bowerbank, of 'London Clay' celebrity, also proved a genial and humorous visitor, whom my Uncle Robert entertained as guest.
On his arrival, taking a cab, the vehicle somehow was upset, and the driver asked him if he would not like to get out whilst it was being lifted on to the wheels again, but he told him he preferred staying comfortably where he was, and so they had to put things right thus, the Professor all the while looking at the crowd of people through the jaws of an enormous shark which he had brought with him. It was quite amusing to witness the enjoyment of unbending in some of these talented men; they seemed like a lot of schoolboys out for a holiday."
We see from these notes that Edwin R. Ransome's capabilities as a guide were early discovered and turned to account, and it was an occupation in which he always delighted. When in later years he became a Director of the Wandsworth Gas Company, he used to invite his friends to go round the works with him. A young American lady, who was a guest at his house with her father, wrote after his death, "I recall the day when he took us through the Gas-works, - and was as enthusiastic as a boy over the different processes and machinery. The dirt and grime did not appeal to me, but his radiance did."
In 1852, he and his cousin, Sheppard Ransome, started a hardware business in London, and in the following year Edwin R. Ransome was married to Elizabeth Hunton. After a short stay in Camden Town, he removed with his bride to Wandsworth, "very thankful to be within walking distance of a meeting."
The young couple were "received very kindly" by Wandsworth Friends, who at that time were much more numerous than a few years later. "In those days," Edwin R. Ransome wrote, "Wandsworth was comparatively a village with about 12,000 inhabitants, and w& seemed to be quite in the country. One medical man used after dark to carry a lantern in one hand and a pistol in the other, as he went to see some of his patients." But the happy union proved very short, and within a year he was left alone with a little motherless boy.
Perhaps it was well for him that for several years the necessary travelling for the business fell to his share. In course of time he had visited most of the principal towns between Aberdeen and Penzance. Wherever he went he was a regular attender of Meetings, and he was received with great kindnesss and hospitality by Friends. Once, at Penrith, he was laid up with a sort of cholera, then very prevalent. A local Friend, Thomas Altham, hearing of his illness, removed him to his own home, and he and his wife nursed their stranger guest back to health again. In after years he passed on abundantly to others the kindness he had hmiself received, and "his hospitality was unbounded."
"During the six or seven years of my travelling," Edwin R. Ransome wrote, "it was my unflinching rule to let business matters stand aside on First-days, for I had, and still have, great faith in the old saying that - 'A Sunday well spent Brings a week of content, And health for the toil of to-morrow."
Peace man though he was, Edwin R. Ransome was also a good fighter. He records that "in the late fifties" he was engaged in a strenuous opposition to local church rates along with another Wandsworth Friend, John D. Watlock. This brought him into close and happy association with the Watlock family; and in 1859, the eldest daughter, Elizabeth, became his wife. Two years later her father died, and her two sisters came to live with her and her husband.
This addition to the household, with his own increasing family, necessitated a larger dwelling, and led ultimately to the building of Rushmere Cottage, into which they moved in 1865, and which was Edwin Ransome' s home for the rest of his life. He records in his Notes of this period, that "After prayer-fully looking at the matter all roimd, we concluded that the right thing for us to do was to remain at Wandsworth . . . We had thought we should like to . . . live more in the country, perhaps at Esher . . . but we did not like the idea of leaving poor little Wandsworth Meeting, and so we resolved to remain here and do what we could in helping^ to build it up. I believe this resolution was right and has been blessed by the Lord. " . . . Afterwards, wlien we annually went to the seaside for summer holidays, it gave us much pleasure to lend our house to Friends from the country thus securing their attendance at our little meeting. Amongst those who came were Samuel Bowly, Marriage Wallis, Alfred Wright, and others."
In 1864, Edwin R. Ransome was one of the sufferers from a serious railway accident. At the time he thought that his injury might prove fatal, and his mind turned, he records, "to the dear wife at home, with a dear little one-day-old daughter," yet with it all he could add,. "I felt marvellously upheld by Divine power, and my heart was lifted up to my Saviour and my Heavenly Father, in a way tliat I can never forget, with a quiet sense that all would be rightly ruled . . . . The peace then felt was beyond human power of expression."
Hs was moved in a helpless condition to the nearest town, and medically attended till he was able to travel to London in an invalid carriage. With tender thoughtfulness, he contrived to keep from his wife all knowledge of his accident until his return by writing to her daily of other things. About this time he took a leading part in obtaining a Meeting-house for Friends at Hastings, and it was a great satisfaction to hina when it was opened in 1866.
A few years later he was engaged in a long and arduous struggle for the preservation of Wandsworth Common from the encroachments of builders, and it is mainly to him that Wandsworth residents owe what remains of it. For several years he was Chairman of the Board of Conservators of the Common.
He was also most actively engaged on the Committee of the War Victims' Fund during the Franco-German War, purchasing and sending out stores at a time when Friends were entrusted with more than £80,000 for distribution. This meant, of course, much laborious and responsible work. . . .It would be impossible to enumerate Edwin R. Ransome's many activities on behalf of his fellow men, both in his own religious communion and outside it. His own Notes pass briefly over these efforts, whilst dwelling at length on many of his earlier memories. He was always ready to join with his fellow men in any movement that appealed to him as being for the uplifting of others. He held out the hand of fellowship to the Salvation Army at its rise, persuading Wandsworth Friends to lend their Meeting House during some week evenings until the Army could secure rooms of its own. He did much to help the cause of Temperance, making himself responsible for a Temperance Coffee House in the High Street. He was much interested in the London City Mission, and had the oversight of a local missionary.
For thirty-three years he was Clerk of the Continental Committee of the Meeting for Sufferings, for "corresponding with and having a care over Friends" residing abroad. Beginning with the Friends of Pj^rmont and Minden alone, the Committee came later into friendly touch and sympathy with members of the Society of Friends residing in many parts of the world, particularly with those in Australia. He was like a father to these scattered colonists, sparing no pains to inform himself accurately concerning their position and surroundings, with the conditions of life in each district, till, as an Australian Friend remarked, it was almost impossible to believe that he himself had never crossed the Equator. He did much, however, to promote the visits of others, bringing the need for these before the Yearly Meeting, and succeeding in interesting Friends on behalf of their brothers in other lands, and particularly in the necessity for making provision for the education of the children. . . .It would be impossible to chronicle here all he did for Hobart School, in the welfare of which he took the keenest interest Another school which he helped to start, and in which he took a warm interest, was the Priends' School for Girls at Nimes, which he visited in company with Joseph Bevan Braithwaite and one of his sons. After a suitable building had been found, it fell to Edwin R. Hansome's share to superintend the necessary alterations and to provide furniture and fittings, a task for which his experience, executiveness and faculty for detail well qualified him. He had inherited not only his father's versatility, Taut something of his grandfather's inventive faculty. His grandfather had discovered a method by which the blade of a ploughshare "was made to sharpen itself automatically.
Whilst at Nimes the party visited Thomas Hanbury at Ventimiglia, and amongst other pleasures greatly enjoyed their exemption from the attentions of the mosquitoes. Thomas Hanbury had exterminated them "by stocking the water with carp fish, which swallowed the larvae suspended just under the surface."
In nothing, however, was Edwin R. Ransome more interested than in the meetings of his own Society; his Meeting for Worship, his Monthly or Quarterly Meeting, the Meeting for Sufferings, and Yearly Meeting. He never missed attending these except when prevented by ill-health. He spoke helpfully in our Meeting, literally as a voice froin the lowest seat, long before he was recorded a minister in 1889, after which he was at last persuaded to take a seat facing the meeting. His preference for a seat near the door, and consequently behind all his hearers, rose from his desire to be out quickly when the meeting broke up, in order that he might welcome strangers and offer them hospitality. His ministry was always marked by freshness of feeling, simplicity and absolute sincerity of tone. Always it was bright, encouraging and full of hope, like himself. Indeed, its keynote was encouragement to all in trial or difficulty, to trust in and follow the ' ' guiding hand of God," sure of His love and care, and sure that for every sincere follower of Christ all would turn out for the best. His prayers, too, were marked by the same childlike trust and simplicity. After meeting closed, he was out of the room almost before anyone else, speaking to no one till he was outside, and then his greetings were delightfully bright and cordial. Indeed, nothing was more characteristic of Edwin R. Ransome than his joyous buoyancy of spirit. He was full of the joy of living, and seemed always alive himself in every corner of his being, taking keen interest in all experience, and never knowing what it was to be dull. To serve his Lord through serving his fellow men was a constant joy to him. He delighted in his home, in his large family, and in the loving loyal responsiveness of his children as they grew up around him.
He had knowm heavy sorrows. The dearly loved mother of his eight younger children was taken from him soon after the birth of her youngest daughter in 1875, and at no time in his life was Edwin R. Ransome more nearly overwhelmed than by this crushing blow. He was left with so many little children, and their need of a mother's loving care weighed upon him till he knew not what to do.
He afterwards married Jane Henrietta Dawson, and when, after a union of fifteen years. he was once more widowed, his eldest daughter was able to be his companion and secretary, and with her sisters to watch over him with loving devotion to the end of his life. He retired from business in 1887, but found full occupation for his time in voluntary work for others, and especially for Friends. Those who knew him only in these later years were struck by his youthfulness of spirit, his kindly joyousness of manner, and the many interests and hobbies to which his leisure hours were devoted. A sympathetic visitor would be shown books in which a neat record was kept of every day's weather, and of the date when the first flower and even the first leaf of tree or plant appeared. He would be invited to examine the collections of fossils, etc., found at Felixstowe, where the summer holiday was usually spent; and where, as the wonderfully active white-haired old gentleman was watched striding along the beach, hammer in hand, and a Scotch cap on his head, he would be taken for some retired Scotch general, instead of the peaceful Quaker he was.
The stones and pebbles he collected were patiently ground and polished at home by his own hands, with quite professional skill. Many geological specimens were sent out to Hobart School for its museum.
He loved his garden and kept it in order himself. He liked to show his friends the wild ferns he had collected, and to offer them seeds from "Luther's Tree," as he called it, a Senna Bladder Acacia, grown in his garden from seeds which he had brought from Worms. He always had something of interest to tell.
One experience he specially liked to recall was that of seeing his own shadow in the clouds from the gallery of St. Paul's Cathedral. It was towards sundown, when suddenly he saw the shadow of the building on a dark cloud over the city. In the shadow of the building he could see his own; and to make sure it was really the figure of himself which he saw, he waved his arm and the figure did the same. The effect only lasted for a short time, but he was keenly interested in having seen for himself and in such a place, something analogous to the Spectre of the Brocken.
Edwin R. Ransome was exceedingly independent in his opinions, and he held to them tenaciously whether others agreed with him or not. It was not easy to him to put himself intellectually, in the place of others, so as to understand their point of view; but however much he might differ in opinion from some of his friends, he was one in heart with them still. His affection remained as warm and true as if they had never disagreed in opinion. And in practice he was equally independent. When his Preparative Meeting decided to hold the mid-week meeting in the evening, he approved the change for others, but announced that as he himself could not come out in the evenings, he should hold his meeting in the morning as before, and should be perfectly happy to hold it alone. And he often did hold it alone and then came away with shining face. It was an hour he would never miss if he could avoid it, and it helped him to spend it in a place endeared by long associations of worship, where naturally "the habit of the soul Feels less the outer world's control."
Edwin R. Ransome retained his activity and vigour till the early months of this year. His last illness was a time of frequent suffering and increasing weakness. But his patience and cheery brightness never failed. To him, it seemed that he was no longer able to do anything for others, but in reality it was a time of crowning service; for the fovmdations of his faith and ministry were then severely tested, and he was enabled to stand the test, and to the last to bear witness to the sustaining presence of his Lord, and thus to set the seal on what he had so long believed and taught. Frequently he would send messages of hope and encouragement to the Wandsworth Friends at their Sunday morning Meeting for Worship.
He sank peacefully to rest on the eve of Yearly Meeting. His body was laid in the quiet little grave-yard behind the Meeting-house, in the presence of many Friends from far and near, who united in thanksgiving for a long life of service completed and ministry fulfilled.
Noted events in his life were: — He worked as an Ironware Factor in London.
— He was Quaker in 1840 in FMH Haverhill.
— He worked as a Director of the Wandsworth Gas Company.
— He worked as a Quaker Minister.
Edwin married Elizabeth Hunton, 1,14 daughter of Joseph Hunton [14] and Fulleretta Sewell [14] on 16 Jun 1853 in FMH Stoke Newington. Elizabeth was born on 12 Nov 1820 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, died on 10 Apr 1854 at age 33, and was buried on 13 Apr 1854 in FBG Stoke Newington. They had one son: Arthur James.
11-Arthur James Ransome1,112 was born on 14 Mar 1854 in Wandsworth.
Noted events in his life were:
— He had a residence in Aviemore, Court Hill, Banstead, Surrey.
Arthur married Ida Schelp, 1,112 daughter of Ernst Schelp, on 1 Jun 1877 in Minden, (Westphalia), Germany. Ida was born on 27 Nov 1852 in Minden, (Westphalia), Germany. They had three children: Ernest Edwin, Bernard, and Edith Margaretha.
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