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James Douglas, chorister and tobacconist
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James Douglas was on born 25th Dec 1837, and baptised
21st January 1838, the son of James Douglas, clockmaker, and Martha Ann
Boyce, the youngest daughter of George Boyce, the baker of Middle Hill.
In January 1901 James Douglas, former chorister in the St George’s
Chapel choir, wrote an account for his daughter of the years he had
spent at Windsor, from 1847. Over a century later, their descendants
gifted a copy of this account to the St George’s Chapel Archives [SGC
M.1061]. It provides a fascinating account of life in St George’s
College at that time through the eyes of a young boy who was “always
sent out spick and span” by his mother and whose grandparents and aunts
granted him “many indulgences”.
James tells how he and his fellow choristers were remunerated for
singing in the Chapel with 18s a month and their schooling. For the
occasional singing they did at Eton, however, each boy was paid with a
1lb loaf, 1lb of meat and one quart of beer for the day. At this time
James was only ten years old.
Many of his recollections seem to be connected with food; buying
freshly-baked ½d sausage rolls from a shop in Windsor; being treated to
a large bowl of “strawberry mess” (strawberries beaten up with sugar and
cream) by a kindly Etonian; visiting the Deanery each year on stir-up
Sunday (traditionally the last Sunday before Advent, when Christmas
pudding is made) and being given a mince pie “about the size of a large
cheese plate”.
Of the pass-times of the choristers, who spent most of their days
between 7am and 5pm in a mixture of school-work, singing in the Chapel
and practising and learning to sing, James says that they mostly played
marbles and went fishing. He attributes these choices to there being no
cricket ground for them to use, a fact that he seems to regret. The
choristers also took an unusual interest in candle-wax – James reports
that they often “watched the candles more than thinking of the service
that was going on” – because they could collect the drippings from them
and, when they had enough, sell the old wax. Accordingly, they looked
forward to draughty nights and James reports that some of them secretly
wedged their candles with small pieces of paper so they would tilt
slightly and drip more frequently.
The memoir also gives accounts of some of the men living and working in
St George’s Chapel at the time. Notable amongst these is Sir George
Elvey, then organist and master of the choristers, whom the boys liked
very much because he very rarely punished them. Nevertheless, he was
known to use a paper knife to hold their tongues down if they were not
opening their mouths properly when singing. He also boxed the ears of
any boy who sang carelessly or out of tune in a Chapel service – James
recalls that this usually seemed to happen in the afternoon services and
never in the morning. Other colourful characters include a rather lazy
lay clerk, described as “one of the biggest men I ever saw”, who paid
James 6d a month to hang his hat upon its peg and hand him his surplice;
a virger with a fondness for long words but little idea of when best to
use them; and a devoted member of the congregation, who could repeat any
verse of the Bible correctly and would call out to any canon who made a
mistake in the collect or readings during a service, “you’re wrong!”
James Douglas remained a singer throughout his adult life but, despite a
glowing testimonial from Sir George Elvey and his own childhood habit of
making a wish every time he tasted a fruit or vegetable for the first
time in a season, he never made it into a Cathedral Choir as an adult.
He ends his recollections of Windsor by saying they were “happy, very
happy days, such days as few boys are privileged to have, and tho’ my
life has not been at all what it should have been, yet the influence of
those days has I think often helped me strive against evil.”
James married Emily Ann Harris on 16th Apr 1862 at Weybridge. They had 7
children.
He opened the first tobacconist’s shop in Torquay.
See also:
• The account of James
Douglas's life as a chorister
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Sources
Sources for this article include:
• The Chapel of the College of St George.
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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