LOCAL MEMORIES: By

Young Miss Kirkham on Broadway

Penny

All researchers of Thomas Bulman Kirkham (Lucy’s father) and his 19 children conclude that his 15th child – Lucy Kirkham – emigrates to America on board ‘The Gertrude’, arriving on 4th February 1848, presumably following her older brother, Arthur Anderson Kirkham (13th child). It is thought that Arthur was probably given his middle name in honour of his famous uncle and aunt, George and Lucy Anderson, respectively director of music and pianist to Queen Victoria. Having such an unusual middle name makes family research so much easier and we can follow Arthur’s emigration to America with his wife and two children, the death of his wife soon after their arrival and his remarriage and birth of seven further children with his new wife. Arthur made the most of opportunities in his new country, continuing his trade as an upholsterer, moving to a good address in Manhattan with a live-in servant. Arthur died in 1889 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where some of his famous (deceased) neighbours include, Irving Berlin and Miles Davis.

However, it has not been possible to locate Miss Kirkham at any of Arthur’s well documented addresses over the years, so the presumption that Lucy had followed her brother to America is perhaps not correct. Me and Wayne, my cousin in Australia, simply could not accept that Lucy Kirkham had just landed on the quayside in New York, all be it that this had happened 175 years ago, and nothing was ever heard of her again. We even researched the young lady whose name was next to Lucy Kirkham’s on the passenger list, but there was no connection.

You remember from the last story that Lucy may (or may not) have been pregnant, so potentially we could have been looking for a record of the birth of a child. However, I felt all along that this was a ruse, cooked up by her mother, to extract more financial damages from my three times great grandfather, but this was all speculation and was not getting us any closer to finding out what happened next to Miss Kirkham.

Perhaps, I thought, a trip to the Royal College of Music, might give some clues. Miss Kirkham was a singer of some repute in the Sacred Harmonic Society and their records are held at the RCM. Train ticket booked, new phone-app railway station carparking navigated with only a minor nervous breakdown! A couple of hours in the Royal College of Music library, with a soloist singing in one room nearby and a trumpet voluntary going on in another – what could get better than this! The records of the Sacred Harmonic Society for 1843 – 1848 were placed in front of me and I scoured them for mention of Miss Kirkham, but I could not find her. Oh dear! Had all record of her been expunged, due to her disgrace? The other girls, whose names were familiar to me from all the newspaper articles, were there and I was just about to give up - when - “We then come to the other movement, the trio of angels, while Elijah sleeps under the juniper tree, ‘Lift thine eyes’ which was sung by Miss Kirkham, Miss Duval and Miss Dolby without accompaniment…..It was most perfectly executed by the three ladies and on their account, no less than on its own, most rapturously encored. Miss Kirkham sang with more confidence and better intonation. This young lady has a very clear and telling voice and by cultivating a good style, will become a valuable acquisition to our list of English sopranos”. She was there! Lucy did exist –but, the same as I had found from the newspaper archives, in mid-1847 she disappears, no explanation, she had gone. None the less, a lovely day in London, I had found Lucy Kirkham’s name in print, at possibly the most famous music academy in the world. Lunch with a glass of wine followed and some shopping after, finished off a memorable day; but in terms of finding Lucy Kirkham – back to the drawing board.

Then, out of the blue, came a letter from America, or rather today’s equivalent, an email! I had thought of contacting the correspondent, Richard Banks, a distant cousin, who bizarrely had found me, six years ago, from a DNA test Dad had done back in 2006 (at my instigation) for a guy in America called Ray Banks, who was researching the ‘Banks name’ worldwide. At the time there was great excitement as the results showed that this was a new strain of Banks, never seen before! They had been living in Hail Weston, Huntingdonshire for 500 years and Dad was part of the group who had never moved more than a few miles away all their lives, whereas others scattered to the winds and this Richard Banks’ ancestors had made it across the pond, and he had proved a very close match to Dad. Sadly, at the time of the original contact in 2017, we had lost Dad only two months earlier and Richard was disappointed at not to be able to speak to his new-found cousin. However the two of us remained in contact, emailing every few months or so. I had wondered whether to contact this Richard and ask him if he could help try and find out what had happened to Miss Kirkham after she arrived in New York on 4th February 1848. But before I could even begin to compose an email – one popped up in my inbox from Richard, enquiring after my health and telling me that he had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was going through a whole barrage of treatment but was trying to keep busy with his family tree research.

‘In for a penny’, nothing ventured, nothing gained etc. – I took the plunge and asked Richard if he could help me with this ‘brick wall’. I gave Richard a potted history of Charles William Kendall and the elopement with the famous singer, Miss Lucy Kirkham, and her banishment to America. I told him that she may, or may not have been pregnant, which I know does not sound very helpful, but might open different areas of research. Richard was very excited and said that this was exactly what he needed, to take his mind off his treatment, a juicy research story to get his teeth into.

A few days later – a copy of a marriage register with a Lucy Kirkham marrying a William Abraham Moore at an Episcopal Church in New York on 24th February 1848 – just 20 days after ‘her’ arrival in New York. Wayne in Australia had already found this record some months earlier and had persuaded me that this was not ‘our Lucy’ – but next came two Broadway theatre bills with a Miss Lucy Moore taking leading parts in operettas at the Lyceum Theatre Broadway.

My goodness – have we hit the jackpot again with Lucy – Yes Yes Yes – we find proof that it is her!

More next time.