The Battle of Bunker('s) Hill

The regiment that was known until 1960 as the Lincolnshire Regiment was formed in 1685 as The Earl of Bath’s Regiment, in 1751 it was renamed the 10th Regiment of Foot.

In 1767 the Regiment sailed to the British Colonies in America. While they were there the “Boston Tea Party”, otherwise known as “The Destruction of the Tea”, occurred, as a protest over the Tea Tax instituted by the British Government in London.

The escalation of the crisis resulted in the start of the American Revolutionary War on 19th April 1775 near Boston with the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The British forces suffered a defeat and marched to Bunker and Breeds Hills to prevent the colonists from bombarding Boston from Breeds Hill which stands on a peninsular overlooking the City. Although it was seen as a victory for the British armies, their numbers of killed and wounded were far higher than those of the colonists, of which officer casualties were disproportionately high.

The result was seen as a victory at home and to commemorate it a hill on Wragby Road, Lincoln was named Bunker’s Hill, in honour of the Lincolnshire forces that fought at the battle – a name it retains to this day.

The 10th had the name “North Lincolnshire Regiment” added in 1782, in 1881 it was renamed as the “Lincolnshire Regiment” and in 1946 became the “Royal Lincolnshire Regiment”. Following a series of amalgamations, the regiment became the “Second Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment ‘The Poacher’s ” in 1992.

Incidentally, the term “Yeller-Belly” is said to come from the yellow waistcoats of the 10th Regiment of Foot soldiers, there are also other explanations.

The Lost Houses of Lincoln - Eastgate House

Eastgate House was built about 1750 for Sir Cecil Wray, the man who had the Roman east gate demolished in 1763 because it was partly in his garden!

Arthur Trollope, stamp distributor, a member of the Lincolnshire Trollope family lived here from about 1840 for 30 years 

Robert Gardiner Hill, of the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum, used part of the house for private mental health treatment.

Lincolnshire Chronicle 30th December 1853

Septimus Lowe, the Lincoln Coroner, bought the house in about 1880. Michael Drury designed alterations and additions to the house. Tenders ranged in price from £2,134 to £3,666, the lowest tender was accepted.

​Alfred Shuttleworth, the son of Joseph Shuttleworth bought the house in August 1888 and made several additions and improvements to Eastgate House: William Watkins designed additions in 1888, possibly the west wing; Otter and Broughton erected an engine house in 1890; Mortimer and Sons designed a billiard room in 1896.

The Dolphin*, one of the oldest inns in Lincoln, stood at the corner of Eastgate and Priorygate. Alfred Shuttleworth purchased it in about 1892 and had it demolished as it spoilt his view of the Cathedral from his home, Eastgate House, now the Lincoln Hotel. Although the demolition of the Dolphins caused much distress among the people of Lincoln at the time, it is obvious that the northeast view of the Cathedral was considerably improved. It also left room for the erection of Tennyson's statue in 1905. 

Alfred Shuttleworth paid for the restoration and half-timbering of the 17th century building on the opposite side of Priorygate. It became known as "Shuttleworth's Rest" and "The Rest". The interior of the ground floor was fitted out with fixed benches so that those who had walked up the hill from lower Lincoln could have a rest.

It now houses the property department of Lincoln Cathedral.

There was a robbery at the house on 17th December 1909, Shuttleworth offered a £100 reward for the conviction of the culprits and recovery of his 27 snuff boxes, valued at over £1,000.

Eastgate House
from Northgate

Alfred Shuttleworth passed away in 1925.  Alfred Shuttleworth's executors offered the house for sale in July 1926 with J D Wood & Co of London and J Peacock Rayner of Lincoln. The description included: "Four spacious reception rooms, billiard room, five principal bedrooms, four secondary bedrooms, seven servants' bedrooms. Electric light, central heating, stabling, garage, outbuildings. Delightful pleasure gardens. Fruit and kitchen gardens, glasshouses, etc. in all about 4 1/2 acres.

Alfred Shuttleworth's pictures and art treasures were sold at Christie's in London. The first day's sale on 3rd February 1926 included old French and English snuff boxes, bonbonnieres, scent, seals, etc. On the Thursday Chippendale, Sheraton and other English furniture, Persian carpets and rugs. On the 5th February modern pictures and watercolours by many well-known English artists of birds landscapes and Cathedral cities.

Eastgate House became home to Thomas Maynard-Page (1854-1941), a Lincoln solicitor. Part of the house was The Eastgate Court Cafe, operated by "the Misses Green", the cafe was still in business in 1959.

Part of the house became an officer's club during World War 2. The Page family lived in the west wing adjoining East Bight.

Alfred Shuttleworth's west wing,
the only surviving part of Eastgate House.

The main part of the house was demolished in the early 1960s and the reinforced concrete Eastgate Hotel was constructed. The wing that Alfred Shuttleworth built was retained and a new section was built to join the two halves together. Trust Houses bought the hotel when it was completed.

* See also The Castle, the King of France and the Dolphins

Other Lincoln Houses

The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Boultham Hall
The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Hartsholme Hall
The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Monk's Tower
The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Monk's Manor

The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Cold Bath House

The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Sibthorp House

The Lost Houses of Lincoln - Eastcliffe House

The Old House on Corporation Street

The Crooked House and the Harlequin

Grand House Built on the Sale of Drugs

Lincoln Companies - Henry Poppleton & Sons Ltd

Henry Poppleton was born in Hull in 1829.  Within a few months of his birth the family moved to Lincoln, living in Sincil Street. William Poppleton, Henry’s father, was a shoemaker and Henry followed him, as an apprentice, into the trade, but realising it was not for him he worked for Thomas Hibbert at 36 Sincil Street as a baker at a wage of 4/- (20p) per week.

Henry worked for Hibbert for a number of years, eventually running the shop in his own name from about 1850, as a baker and flour dealer, when Hibbert moved to Canwick windmill as a miller. Henry married Thomas Hibbert’s daughter, Elizabeth Sarah, on Christmas Day 1851 at St Swithin’s church.

Henry was appointed secretary of a local bakers organisation in 1855 with the aim “that some uniform understanding should be come to respecting the retail price of flour, in order that something like unity should prevail in our charges to the public”. By 1859 Thomas Hibbert was back running the shop in his name, as a baker and biscuit maker, and Henry moved to 9 Guildhall Street, the Yorkshire Bank now stands here at numbers 8 to 10. He set himself up as a baker at Guildhall Street but soon saw confectionery as a more profitable business.

He was a Victorian entrepreneur, seeing the advantages of expanding the range and breadth of products offered in his shop, but this involved another move, this time to 198 High Street; confectionery included cakes and biscuits, bride (wedding?) cakes; pound, sponge and tea cakes; pastry; Rich Mixed Biscuits; Keiller’s marmalade; jams, jellies, Little John’s Rusks. Poppleton’s Butterscotch and Penny Cough packets. Number 198 was in a prominent position opposite the Cornhill and next to the Black Bull Hotel, it was demolished for the building of the British Home Stores department store

His ambitions soon outgrew the High Street shop, and in 1885 he bought premises, behind the shop, at Brayford Head to expand production of his range of sweets, the shop continued as a retail and trade outlet until it came into the possession of Samuel Patton, another confectioner, in the early 1890s. (There is an interesting and tragic post about Samuel Patton on the It's About Lincoln group page, click this link to view http://bit.ly/s-patton

At about the same time a John Chynoweth and Giles Jory Lockwood Lang (brother-in-law of George Poppleton) became partners with Henry Poppleton and his sons, George and Henry William, and company became: Chynoweth, Poppleton & Co. The partners needed land to build a factory and the Ellison family were selling land at the northern part of their estate for industrial development. Their new factory was built on the north side of Beevor Street, New Boultham in the early 1890s, there was a railway line on the south-side of the factory connected to the Midland Railway, giving the factory access to the rest of the UK. The architect was James Whitton and the builder, Crosby and Sons.

The partnership was dissolved in 1901 and the name of the business returned to H Poppleton & Sons. The business was turned into a limited liability company in 1910, becoming Lindum Confectionery Ltd; Henry Poppleton was Chairman, Henry William Poppleton was manager of the works and George and Frederick Lister Poppleton were commercial travellers selling to retail shops.

Henry Poppleton died on 21st September 1912. He was a Free Methodist preacher for over 60 years only retiring a year before his death. Henry and Elizabeth had eight children, four sons and four daughters, of the sons George (1855-1921), Henry William (1861-1932) and Frederick Lister (1869-1927) joined their father in the business, Charles Herbert (1857-1940) was a Methodist minister.
In the 1920s the address of the works became Rich Pasture Works, New Boultham, Lincoln.

Edward Ernest Tweed, solicitor, was chairman of the company from 1917 to 1933, he was succeeded by George Thomas Lawrence.

The business continued until 1936, when the company was voluntarily liquidated. Poppleton’s buildings stood until the 1970s and the site is now occupied by James Dawson's offices, car park and the west side of Tritton Road.

Why was such a successful company wound up? I speculate that after the death of Henry's three sons who worked in the business there were no family members interested in managing it, or it may be that Dawson's made an offer for the factory that was too good to pass up. Who knows, do you?

The research of the Poppleton's has been very interesting, do you have any photos of the factory, interior and exterior, of the people who worked there? Did you have relations who worked there? I have built a family tree from William Poppleton (1796-1867), Henry's father, are you researching the family? Please contact me via comments at the bottom of the page.