by David FERRAND
It was in 2001 that i discovered the considerable archive of business and family records, in the Rotterdam City Archives, extending from the early 18 th century for about 150 years. The Hudig family did not throw away the letters from the english cousins.
The first contacts would appear to have been at the beginning of the 18 th century when we find Ferrand Whaley, who lived from 1682 to 1734, resident in Rotterdam with his sister Abigail keeping house for him. He was the son of Thomas Whaley & his wife Lydia Ferrand and a nephew of her brother Edward Ferrand of Harden Hall Bingley. This must have been around 1705. He was to marry Esther Larwood, the widow of Caspar Hudig, in Rotterdam in 1711.
John Ferrand (1697-1729), Edward Ferrand’s younger son, was brought up in Bingley and apprenticed in Hull, perhaps through the good offices of Ferrand Whaley his first cousin , trading in grain and other commodities as is shown by their correspondence in 1719. He must have arrived in Rotterdam by about 1720, when he would have been 23 years of age, as he was to marry Maria Hudig, his cousin’s niece by marriage, in Rotterdam in 1722. But by November 1723 they were in Stockton on Tees as their son RIchardson was baptised there; There was no previous family link with Whaley and Hudig relations in Rotterdam.
Richardson Ferrand (1723-1769) – ‘Tichy », The only surviving child of John & Maria had an affectionate friendship for nearly 20 years from the early 1750’s with his first cousin Ferrand Whaley Hudig (1734-1797) involving both social and business visits to Rotterdam and London. This is recorded in a detailed cashbook and diary in English kept by FWH. He married Anne Walker of Stockton and was Mayor of Stockton in 1751 and 1762.
John Ferrand 2 (1747-1790), the 2nd son of Richardson Ferrand, makes his first visit to Rotterdam, lasting some three months, shortly after his father’s death in 1769, but is unable to speak Dutch. However he, his mother and his brother Richardson Ferrand correspond with Ferrand Whaley Hudig in Rotterdam over the following 20 years. His father had twice inherited money from his Dutch relations ans it is therefore likely that he was able to set himself up in business in Barnard castle. His mother dies two years later when he is 24 years old and not long afterwards he marries Sarah Dale of Stockton and they live at Barnard Castle.
George Ferrand (1746-?1787), the elder brother of John Ferrand 2, resided in Rotterdam for part of his life and otherwise in Stockton. He died unmarried having made his will in 1780 in Rotterdam when he was unwell. He returned to Stockton in April 1781 but was still confined to bed in November. However he was back in Rotterdam in 1784 although again unwell! He was the fourth generation of the family to be associated in business with the Hudig family.
Samuel Whaley (1689-1764) was a younger brother of Ferrand Whaley and managed and developed the St Ives estate at Bingley probably from 1711 when Benjamin Ferrand (1676-1731) became life tenant the death of his father. BF’s first wife, Anne, died without issue in 1727 and he remarried the following year, Sarah Dobson, and she produced a son and heir for hil in 1730 also christened Benjamin. But Benjamin senior was to die 18 month later and so the successful management of the estate became even more important. In 1737 she married Gregory Rhodes of Ripon and Samuel Whaley moved into St Ives effectively as Trustee until Benjamin Ferrand 2 came of age in 1751. He pukked down the old St Ives (was the name a corruption of south Ives?) and built a beautiful new house designed by the well-known architect James Paine. The Ferrand family therfore had good reason to be grateful to the brothers Ferrand and Samuel Whaley. Interestingly, as Benjamin Ferrand 2 was a bachelor, The St Ives estate was eventually inherited by John Ferrand’s great grandson, ERdward Ferrand (1777-1837), in 1803.
Sarah Ferrand (1783-1854) a younger sister of Edward Ferrand was the next life tenant of the St Ives estate under the will of Benjamin Ferrand 2 and she was to inherit in 1837 when she was a widow. She had married Currer Fothergill Busfeild in 1805 and had had 5 sons and 8 daughters. It was her 8th daughter, Emily Lucinda Busfeild (The composer of the St Ives Polkas) who had marries Christopher Cresswell Fenwick in 1840 and went to live in Canada. But sadly he was drowned in a boating accident 2 1/2 year later and she with her two infant daughters returned to England to live with her mother at St Ives in a letter from Sarah Ferrand dated 17 April 1848 to Francina Hudig she says « Emily hopes you received the music safe which was sent about a fortnight ago ».Francina and her niece Sara Havelaar had stayed at the St Ives for a month in 1846, so it is probable that the music – The St Ives Polkas – was published between 1846 and 1848. her copy is in the Hudig archive. The Ferrand family have always been interested in their family history and relations and this is very evident from the correspondence which Sarah Ferrand started in 1841 with Jan Hudig and continued until she died. From these letters we learn that it was she who commissioned the armorial windows in 1841, which must first have been in St Ives and then moved by William Busfeild Ferrand after her death to Harden Grange. She visited Rotterdam in 1842 and was always pressing her Dutch relations to visit her at St Ives in the summer. She spent the winters in the south of England. It was to be 155 years before the Ferrand and Hudig families were to meet again in Rotterdam and renew their friendship!
See Hudig Archive ref. 412 and Coopstad & Rochussen Archive ref. 68 at Gemeentearchief, Rotterdam.
The St Ives Polkas were published by Metzler & Co of 37 Great Marlborough Street, London
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