Catherine Digby

1773-1836

The Red Hall

One of the longest serving tenants of the Red Hall was Catherine Digby who went there as a young bride in 1796 and remained in occupation until her death in 1836. Although she had no formal title, she adopted the style of Lady Catherine by which she was known throughout the town where she earned a reputation as a kindly lady much given to good works.

She was born at Bourne in May 1773, daughter of the Rev Humphrey Hyde, the Vicar of Bourne and Rector of Dowsby, and his wife Catherine. Three years later, her father built the new vicarage at Brook Lodge and the family moved in during 1776. The couple also had a son, born in July 1767, who became the Rev John Hyde, curate at the Abbey Church and later a minor canon at Peterborough Cathedral, but he died prematurely on 9th February 1803, aged 36.

The Hydes were descended from the Ives family whose ancestors numbered among them several mayors of Norwich. Jeremiah Ives, born at Bourne on 26th March 1692, married Alice Black at Norwich on 10th September 1714 and they had ten children, among them Ann Ives, born at Bourne before 1726. She married John Hyde, a surgeon, at Bourne in 1744 and Catherine, their only child, born about 1745, married the Rev Humphrey Hyde on 4th September 1766. As they shared the same name it is most likely that they were related, perhaps even first or second cousins, but there is no evidence for this and it may have been a mere coincidence, the name Hyde occurring frequently in the Bourne area at that time, particularly at Langtoft from where her father had originated.

Catherine was still a young woman when she met James Digby who was living at the Red Hall. The Digbys had originated at North Luffenham in Rutland and James' grandfather, Kenelm Digby and his wife Elizabeth, had subsequently acquired large land holdings in the Bourne area which laid the foundation of the family fortune which was eventually left to his son James. He had four sons and the eldest, also James, inherited the Red Hall when his father died in 1777 together with a large part of his estates. James, a widower, proposed to Catherine and they were married on 29th July 1796 although he was much older, having been born in 1736 and was therefore 60 years old while she was only 23. The ceremony at the Abbey Church was performed by her brother, the Rev John Hyde, then the parish curate.

The marriage certificate

She took over the running of the Red Hall and also played an active part in the life of the Abbey Church where her father remained vicar until his death in 1807 when she was his sole heiress. James Digby died on 7th August 1811, aged 76, by which time he had built up a considerable estate in Bourne and Dyke and had become deputy lieutenant of Lincolnshire. There is evidence that he was a man of frugal habits, spending little, and the publication of his will on September 14th that year prompted one newspaper to report that "the penurious manner in which he lived little accorded with the immense property he has left, which is supposed to be a little short of £200,000" (The Bristol Mirror, 17th August 1811). In it, he left the Red Hall and a portion of his lands to his widow and so she was able to retain her home and a comfortable lifestyle with many servants.

By this time, she had become known as Lady Catherine, playing an influential part in the affairs of the town and although she had no right to any official title, she had gathered some prestige as a staunch Anglican, a thoughtful benefactress, both to the general community and to personal acquaintances, and a woman of strong feeling in family matters, and liked to be known as the Lady of the Manor.

Catherine died on 29th February 1836, aged 63, and many church officials, including senior bell ringers, were pall bearers for her funeral at the Abbey Church. After her death, the Red Hall and some land passed to her nephew, Philip Pauncefort Duncomb who already owned property inherited from his mother, Mrs Henrietta Pauncefort, who was James Digby's sister. Catherine was not too kindly disposed towards Philip and although she bequeathed him the furniture, plate and linen at the Red Hall, she refused to leave him any other part of her estates "on account of his very illiberal conduct towards me respecting a parcel of land after his mother's death".


There are two memorial tablets to the Digby family in the chancel of the church, one to James Digby and his father, also James (left), and another to Catherine who died 25 years later (right).

There are memorial tablets on the walls of the church to the Digby family who lived at the Red Hall circa 1730-1836. One of the most interesting is dedicated to Catherine who left £500 in trust towards the salary of an organist, the first instrument being installed in the west end gallery in 1830, six years before her death, by John Gray at a cost of £220, and it is therefore a valid assumption that she also financed the installation. This organ gallery was removed in 1870 when a public subscription of £1,200 financed extensions to the north aisle that was widened to provide a vestry and an organ chamber with a newly-constructed organ by Gray & Davison.

Her will was signed at Bourne on 25th May 1835 and shows exactly how diverse her holdings were and how wealthy she had become:

ESTATES AT West Deeping and Maltby le Marsh in the County of Lincoln; shares in or securities upon the rates tolls or other Resources levied or collected under the authority of certain acts of Parliament commonly known or called by the name of the Black Sluice Navigation or Drainage acts to my dear and respected friend Ann Monday widow for and during her life and from and after her decease I devise and bequeath the estates at West Deeping and Maltby le Marsh and the said Drainage or Navigation shares or securities and the principal monies thereby secured unto and to the use of the Reverend Kingsman Foster of Dowsby in the said County of Lincoln. I also devise unto and to the use of the said Kingsman Foster my estate at Croft in the said County of Lincoln subject to and chargeable with a yearly payment or annuity of twenty pounds sterling which I hereby give to Ann Phillips of Bourn widow/ the mistress of my late school, in case she shall happen to survive me for and during her life to be payable. I devise my estate at Morton in the said County of Lincoln unto and to the use of Ann the wife of Samuel Edwards Esquire of Spalding for and during her life and from and after her decease I devise the said last mentioned estate unto and to the use of their second son William his heirs and assigns for ever And I devise the five following parcels of land situate in the parish of Bourn viz. an allotment of freehold land in the East fields situate at or near the North end of the Town containing five acres one rod and thirty eight perches lately occupied by Thomas Palmer deceased another freehold allotment situate in the cross Drove (commonly called Barnes' Drove) in the North fen containing one acre three roods and four perches, and a copyhold allotment adjoining and open thereto containing eight acres two roods and fifteen perches late in the tenure of John Row deceased another copyhold allotment in the South fen near the Sheep wash or Sheep Dike containing one acre and thirty one perches adjoining and now open to an allotment to my late Grandmother Ann Hyde and now or late in the tenure of Edward Halford and an ancient Inclosure in Hazelland Field near Cawthorpe Wood containing about one acre and two roods also adjoining an allotment to my said Grandmother and late in the tenure of John Halford unto and to the use of John Osborn of Bourn aforesaid farmer & Grazier his heirs and assigns for ever. And I declare that the several articles of household furniture plate linen and other things (if any) enumerated in a certain Inventory or Schedule dated the thirteenth day of August 1823 and signed by myself and the aforesaid Ann Monday are her property and I desire my Executor to take notice hereof accordingly and to see that such property is delivered over to her the said Ann Monday And I give to the said Ann Monday all my printed books wearing apparel watches rings jewels trinkets and other personal ornaments and also my pony and pony cart or Chaise with the harness and other appendages thereto I give all the household furniture plate and linen purchased by or belonging to me in the Mansion House in which I reside to Phillip Duncombe Pauncefort Duncombe Esquire of Great Brickhill in the County of Buckingham (but the Estates I had intended to have given to him I hereby entirely withdraw on account of his very illiberal conduct towards me respecting a parcel of land after his mothers decease) And I give my close carriage and carriage horses harness and other appendages thereto to the said Kingsman Foster I give to the officiating Minister and Churchwardens for the [true ..cy] of the parish of Bourn the sum of five hundred pounds . . . for the perpetual salary or stipend to the officiating organist . . . Ann Monday - 250 pounds, Sarah the wife of Roger Baskett Esquire of Tickell in the County of York, Martha the wife of the Reverend Christopher Cookson, Jane the wife of James Tockington Esquire, Ann the wife of the said Samuel Edwards, Lucy the wife of William Augustus Johnson Esquire, Frances the wife of Benjamin Smith Esquire Ellen (or Helen) the wife of the Reverend Joseph Dodsworth and to William Hopkinson Esquire the sum of ten guineas each for mourning rings . . . Susan the widow of the late Reverend Thomas Foster the Younger the sum of one hundred pounds sterling, to the said Roger Baskett, and James Tockington the sum of one hundred pounds sterling each (as a mark of my respect and esteem and as an acknowledgement of their services as trustees under the will of my late father), To Sally Adair the daughter of the said Kingsman Foster the sum of five hundred pounds sterling, to my Godson Henry the son of the said Joseph Dodsworth the sum of two hundred pounds sterling, to William the son of my late servant Mary Harrison the sum of one hundred pounds sterling, to George the son of my Coachman John Gilby the sum of fifty pounds sterling, to Ann the widow of Edward Bollanyat late of Bourn aforesaid Miller the sum of twenty pounds, to Jane [Sanson] of the same place Spinster the sum of one hundred pounds sterling, to the two female servants who may be living with me at the time of my decease (except Mary Prestman who is hereinafter mentioned) and to the following Men servants viz. the said John Gilby my Coachman John Ashby my footman John Ward Wallis my second footman and Thomas Whittaker my under Gardener provided they shall respectively be in my service at the time of my decease) the sum of fifty pounds sterling each and to each of them my said Men servants and Maid Servants a suit of mourning. I give and bequeath to my Ladykeeper Ann Merryman widow and to my housekeeper Mary Priestman (in case they shall respectively be in my service at the time of my decease but not otherwise) an annuity of fifteen pounds each and to the aforesaid Ann [Bellany] widow an annuity of five pounds who also maintaining & taking care of my Dog "fflora" if then living. Sole Executor: Kingsman Foster (NOTE: Kingsman Foster was Rector of Dowsby, near Bourne (1807-67).

THE DIGBY FAMILY IN BOURNE
(circa 1730-1860)

JAMES DIGBY, born at North Luffenham in 1707, youngest of two surviving sons of Simon Digby (died 1729) and his wife Margaret (nee Saunderson) of North Luffenham. He married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Richard Warwick, of the Red Hall, Bourne. He died on 20th August 1751, aged 44, and is buried in the Abbey Church at Bourne where there is a monument to his memory. The couple had twelve children, many of whom died in infancy (including Joseph, Robert, Sarah, Catherine and Katherine) but four sons, John, James, George and Richard, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Henrietta, survived.

The sons:

1. JOHN DIGBY, their eldest son and heir, was born at the Red Hall in 1730, and survived his father and mother, acting as executor of his father's will which "for natural love and affection" settled on him the Red Hall and some 74 acres of land. He also became heir to the North Luffenham estates on the death of his cousin, John Digby, in 1758. He died unmarried on 9th January 1777.

2. JAMES DIGBY was born at the Red Hall, Bourne, in 1735. He was twice married, first to Mary, daughter of Francis Green at Dowsby, near Bourne, in 1757 and who died in 1792, then to Catherine, only daughter of the Rev Humphrey Hyde Vicar of Bourne, on 28th July 1796. There were no children from either marriage. James seems to have lived in some style and comfort at the Red Hall where he died on 7th August 1811, aged 76, and was buried at the Abbey Church where there is a monument to his memory, the last male in the North Luffenham branch of the family.

3. GEORGE DIGBY was born at the Red Hall in 1739 and died unmarried in April 1797 and is buried at the Abbey Church where there is a monument to his memory.

4. RICHARD DIGBY was born at the Red Hall in 1744 and died unmarried circa 1779.

The daughters:

1. ELIZABETH DIGBY was born at the Red Hall in 1731 and died unmarried on 28th May 1793 aged 62 and is buried at the parish church at Brickhill, Buckinghamshire.

2. MARY DIGBY was born at the Red Hall in 1733 and married at Bourne on 28th January 1763 to John Fowell Esq., of Blackhall and Diptford, Devon. They had three sons, the eldest being John (1765-1813) who on the death of his uncle, James Digby, in 1711, became representative of this, the third principal branch of the family of Digby deriving from the senior branch of Drystoke (Stoke Dry).

3. HENRIETTA DIGBY was born in 1750 and baptised at the Abbey Church on 10th June. She married George Pauncefort, a major in the army, of Witham-on-the-Hill, on 12th January 1769. He died on 8th October 1786, aged 41, and was buried at the parish church of Great Brickhill, Buckinghamshire. On the death of her last surviving brother, James Digby, of the Red Hall, the last male heir of the North Luffenham branch, Henrietta succeeded by a will dated during his last illness shortly before his death to the bulk of his long accumulated wealth. She died on 19th November 1822, aged 73, and was buried at the parish church of Great Brickhill. The couple had three sons and one daughter, the eldest being Philip Pauncefort-Duncombe.

NOTE: Reproduced from details in Burke's History of the Landed Gentry