This page features potted biographies prepared by Allen Miller of many of the people connected with the building’s history in ‘order of appearance’ in the overall narrative. Clicking on a name will take you to the specific biography below, while any links within the biography itself will take you to supporting references/articles elsewhere.
| Henry Thompson Pearson Thompson Captain Layman The Duke of Wellington RW & C Jearrad Samuel Bendall Henry Margrett William Ruck W. F. Price Henry Ingram Charles Tilley Josiah Jessop Frederick Bennett Robert Steel Captain Webb John Maxfield Jeremiah Page Sgt. Major William Brill Frank Craddock Samuel Hicks John Neale Lillian Earl Davies AJ Dix Harry & Ruth Braint Mr & Mrs J Simcock Frank Ruck George Stretton | founder developer a disgraced sea captain a hero architects a well sinker and baker a miller and baker a medical galvanist another miller and baker an architect yet another baker manager a house decorator a greengrocer a swimmer another manager an unfortunate a soldier a caretaker/attendant a fruiterer an engine driver another unfortunate a craftsman superintendents another superintendent provider of electrical treatment yet another superintendent |
Henry Thompson
Founder and owner (until his death in 1820), Henry Thompson was a London merchant who purchased large parcels of land in Cheltenham in the first decade of the 1800s, chiefly the Montpellier and Lansdown areas but also parts of St. Luke’s and Sandford. Much of the latter was sold off as small building plots, but in early 1807 (possibly late 1806) he began construction of Hygeia House (later Vittoria House) in Vittoria Walk and a small bath house and laboratory for the production of what became known as The Real Cheltenham Salts. Hygeia House was originally intended as a spa with pleasure grounds but in 1809 Thompson built a wooden spa at Montpellier (on the site of what is now The Ivy) and made Hygeia his private residence.
Pearson Thompson
Pearson Thompson was born in April 1794 and practised as a solicitor, mainly in London, until 1820 when his father Henry, died (see above). Pearson and his brother inherited all Henry’s remaining lands in Cheltenham. The brother was not interested in property development and retired to the family’s country estate. Around 1825 Pearson bought out his brother’s share and commenced developing the Montpellier and Lansdown areas. He retained ownership of the Baths but he overcommitted himself financially, both in Cheltenham and in London. In 1850 he went to Australia and in 1855 the Globe Insurance Company foreclosed on mortgages he had taken with them. He was undoubtedly a bit of a rogue, even more so after his emigration! He died on 22 November 1872.
Captain William Layman
On Monday 22 May 1826, William Layman went to the Baths and ordered a bath for 4 o’clock the following day. He duly arrived on the Tuesday and requested to be left alone for an hour. When the hour was up, the attendant found him in the bath with his throat cut. Captain Layman had had a colourful past, during which he had been court-martialled twice. His behaviour had been strange whilst living in Cheltenham.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
The Iron Duke – who was then Prime Minister – visited Cheltenham for the second time for a holiday from 15 – 31 August 1828. He visited the Baths every day at 4 o’clock and took a warm bath in which he stayed for an hour. He brought a number of newspapers with him and had a wooden frame placed across his bath so he could read them whilst bathing without getting the pages wet.
RW & C Jearrad
Most historians of Cheltenham accept that there was period when the architect Jearrad brothers developed Montpellier Baths. Certainly the 1834 Stranger’s Guide Through Cheltenham states that the building ‘has also undergone some very important improvements, especially in its internal arrangements, since it became the property of the present proprietors, Messrs RW and C Jearrad’. However it is clear that they only leased the premises as the building was taken into the ownership of the mortgage company due to Pearson’s debts some 20 years later.
Samuel Bendall
Born in Randwick near Stroud in 1788, Samuel Bendall had an eventful life that encompassed serving on a slave ship before later becoming a devout Baptist. During his early years in Cheltenham he served as a well-sinker for Henry Thompson and later occupied the steam mill and bakery, going into a partnership later with Matthew Bluck. He was also involved in land deals and construction. He died in 1868.
Henry Margrett
Henry Margrett is acknowledged as resident miller and baker in the mortgage taken by Pearson Thompson in 1845 and was still there according to the census of 1851, married with 4 children. His wife was apparently 27 years old and his eldest son 23,so this must have been his second marriage. By 1857 he had moved to premises at 61 High Street (now between the Strand and Grosvenor Street but in 1857 it is likely to have been east of St. James’ Street). He was involved in a spat with his successor (see W F Price).
William Ruck
Some time between 1841 and 1846, William Ruck set up as a medical galvanist at the Baths. Following the flood of 1855 and the end of his tenancy he was involved in court cases involving the town’s new sewerage system and set up as a photographer but by 1871 had returned to his old occupation of medical galvanist, this time at the Cambray Spa in Oriel Terrace, and in 1872 he is listed in the Post Office directory as proprietor of that spa. He died in 1886 but his son Frank continued to run the Cambray Spa and later administered the medical treatments at the Montpellier Baths.
W F Price
Price already had premises at Gloucester Docks when he took over the mill in the spring of 1857, announcing it by way of an advertisement in The Cheltenham Looker-On that April. It was an eventful tenancy, during which he and his predecessor carried out a spat in the local press. In 1858, Price’s assistant was accused of embezzling from his customers, and in 1859 he was a witness to a brawl at the Bell Inn during which a policeman was assaulted.
Henry Ingram
In August 1857 the birth of a son to Mr & Mrs Henry Joseph Ingram at Montpellier Baths was announced in the Cheltenham Chronicle. Henry Ingram’s occupation was given as architect – he’d previously been a surveyor – but in Slater’s directory of Cheltenham of 1858 he is cited as proprietor of the Baths. His living at the Baths (presumably in 47 Bath Road) is confirmed by the 1861 census. He and his family had to vacate the property in 1862 when the Montpellier Gardens Company took it over.
Charles Tilley
Somewhere between 1859 and 1861, Charles Tilley became the baker at the mill, by which time he was in his 50s. Prior to this, he had been a labourer and then an engineer, living in Belmore Place with his wife and large family. Surprisingly, he was not connected with the later Cheltenham firm of Tilley’s Crumpets (ceasing business after 60 years in 1977) which also operated in Bath Road. The final baker at the premises, he left in either late 1863 or early 1864 when his tenancy was not renewed as the Montpellier Gardens Company had other plans for the mill and bakery (which never materialised). He died in 1865.
Josiah Jessop
At the end of 1861 Jessop was appointed Secretary of the Montpellier Gardens Company which had recently taken over the lease of the Baths. He was also to be manager of the Baths and, by 1871, was living there. Previously, he had given his occupation as seedsman and florist. He was a son of Charles Hale Jessop who founded and owned the nursery on what became the St. James’ station area (partly where Waitrose is now, hence Jessop Avenue). Josiah and his brother Jesse ran the aviary which was sited where the car park now is and their address was Aviary Gardens. They also ran the nursery business for a short while after their father died, but there were problems, many caused by the flood of 1855. Josiah died at the Baths after a short illness in 1881 aged 57.
Frederick Bennett
This name crops up in a newspaper item in October 1868 stating that the Conservatives objected to him being registered as a Liberal voter because he lived at the Baths but was not a ratepayer. He apparently agreed to pay £15 per annum to include rates. His presence is confirmed by the 1871 census where his occupation is given as house decorator, and his address as Oriel Terrace Shop. Then aged 32, he was married to Fanny and had 3 children. By 1881, he and his family are lodgers at an address in Walton in Suffolk.
Robert Steel
From 1871 to 1899 when the Cheltenham Corporation took over the premises, Robert Steel ran a greengrocer’s business from the corner shop – previously the bakery – and, to begin with at any rate, lived above the shop. He later moved to live over the shop at 1 Oriel Road (previously home to a gilder and, later, a house decorator) and moved again shortly after the death of his wife in 1890 to an address in Park Place. Despite moving homes he continued to retain the shop throughout this period and at some point moved back to live at 1 Oriel Road. He was still there when he sold the business to a Mr C Scrivens in November 1899 and at the time of the 1901 census.
Captain Webb
The first recorded person to swim the English Channel on 24/25 August 1875, taking him 21 hours 45 minutes to cover 39 miles due to tides and currents. Webb became a national hero and gave swimming exhibitions all over the country. He gave two exhibitions at the Montpellier Baths on Tuesday 19 July 1881. He died attempting to swim the rapids at Niagra Falls in July 1883 and, much later, was immortalised in a poem by John Betjeman.
John Maxfield
Born in 1850 to a coal mining family in Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, by April 1881 he was living at the Montpellier Baths with his mother where he was manager and instructor of swimming. His claim to fame was a dive from the roof of the swimming bath into the water during a swimming exhibition event which he organised annually for a few years. By 1891 he had moved to Gloucester and working as a gymnastic instructor. Ten years later he was superintendent of public baths in Gloucester, living at the baths in Barton Street. He died in 1921, aged 74, apparently never having married.
Jeremiah Page
Page was found lying face downwards on a heap of coke in the yard at the Baths in October 1887 apparently helplessly drunk. A policeman and a doctor believed otherwise and he died overnight in hospital. He was employed by a Samuel Hicks, a fruiterer.
William Henry Brill
Born in 1850 or 1851 in Fulham, by 1881, William Brill was a Sergeant Fencing Instructor to the 16th Lancers, based at barracks in Fulford, near York. He left the regiment in or about 1885 and came to Cheltenham where he was appointed Sergeant-Major of the Cheltenham troop of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. He was also appointed manager of the Baths sometime around 1885 where, in 1887, he found the unfortunate Jeremiah Page. According to the 1891 census, he lived in Painswick Mews with his wife, Janet, and family. It is not clear when he ceased to be manager but potentially he remained in post until the building closed in October 1898 following the sale of the property to the Corporation of Cheltenham. He died in February 1933 aged 82.
Frank Craddock
Born in 1856 in Rosehill Street Frank was a wood turner by the age of 15 and married Emma Whitaker of Charlton Kings in 1881. He became an attendant at the Baths around the same time and was appointed caretaker in 1891. His time at the Baths was marred by tragedy. In 1887 he and Sergeant Major Brill found the unfortunate Jeremiah Page and in 1893 he found the deceased John Neale. He was summoned to fetch a doctor to attend Lillian Davies following her fatal accident while his wife stayed with the poor child. Frank and and Emma do not appear in the 1901 census, and Emma alone as head of the household appears in 1911 where her occupation is baths attendant. This may be an error as she died in 1913 but Frank survived until 1921.
Samuel Hicks
The report on the death of Jeremiah Page stated that he was “employed by Mr. Hicks, fruiterer, at his stores adjoining the Baths”. According to censuses of the period, there was only one Mr Hicks in Cheltenham involved in that sort of business, and that is one Samuel Hicks, of St. James Street and Hewlett Street, whose occupation was variously greengrocer, fruit dealer and fruiterer. It would seem that Hicks needed more space than his shops afforded and used the former flour mill behind Robert Steel‘s greengrocer’s shop as his stores, with Page delivering the wares to Hicks’s shops and to other shops that he supplied. Steel was presumably also supplied by Hicks.
John Neale
John Neale (70) died at the Baths after apparently falling down the steps into the engine house. There was confusion at the inquest into his death as to the length of his actual employment as engine driver of the Baths. In 1851 he was single and a lodger at 4 Belmore Place, the residence of Charles Tilley who later became the baker at the mill. The following year he married Emma Artus; in 1861 they were living at 2 Eaton Place, Bath Road and by 1881 they resided at 6 Eaton Place.
Lillian Earl Davies
On Tuesday 28 January 1896 Lillian Davies, an 11-year old from Newport attending a Cheltenham boarding school was killed in a dreadful accident at the Baths whilst her school mistress was having a bicycle riding lesson. Despite having been told not to play with it, she had removed two pins supporting the legs of a gymnasium vaulting horse which then fell on her.
AJ Dix
AJ Dix was born in High Wycombe in 1861 and trained under A A Orr, but he seems to have become proficient at a fairly young age as there is a window in a Wolverhampton church signed by him dated 1881. By the late 1890s he was producing glass designed by other artists as well as his own from his studios at 54 Berners Street, London, where the stained glass in the Baths’ reception room was made. He moved to a new studio at Gower Street in 1906 and continued working there until his death in 1917, although the business carried on bearing his name until World War II.
Harry & Ruth Braint
Harry was born in Tewkesbury in 1866 and in 1890 married Ruth Fry (born 1868) in Cheltenham. In the 1891 census they are recorded as living in Gloucester, his occupation being gas fitter and bell hanger.
They were appointed at superintendent and matron for the refurbished Montpellier Baths in 1900 and according to reports of the official opening Mrs Braint gave ‘a clever aquatic exhibition’. In November 1900, a report of the first month’s receipts at the baths recorded that Harry had been severely ill but was on the road to recovery. They moved to Acton in early 1905 to undertake similar work at the baths there but eventually returned to Cheltenham, Harry dying in 1936 and Ruth in 1939.
Mr & Mrs J Simcock
According to a report in the Gloucester Citizen of March 1905, the Simcocks were appointed superintendents of the Baths from a field of ‘about 37 applicants’. Other than the fact they came from Stourbridge we know nothing more about them and they resigned their positions less than two years’ later. It seems Mrs Simcock seems to have taught swimming to girls without getting into the water herself, as in May 1905 the Mineral Waters & Baths Committee report that they had provided her with rubber boots and a rubber skirt for the purpose.
Frank Ruck
Frank followed in his father’s footsteps and not only continued to operate Cambray Spa but also administered and practised at the Spa Medical Baths from 1920-1934. In 1920 a promotional film was made by the Chamber of Commerce to promote the town and a short section showed some of the treatments being given at the Baths. Only Ruck or his (unnamed) male assistant were permitted to administer the Vichy douche shown here so this may well be an image of Frank.
George Stretton
Born in 1878 in Burton-on-Trent, George was appointed as superintendent of the Baths in February 1907 with his wife assisting due to her expertise in teaching swimming to girls. They resided in the superintendent’s house (47 Bath Road) which adjoined the property until his death in January 1931; he committed suicide in one of the baths, seemingly because his financial irregularities were about to be uncovered.