Richard Guise was choir master and organist at Westminster Abbey until his death in 1806. He is also buried there. He was also known as a composer, although not much survives.
Through his great-granddaughter Mary Cutler Paulin, his great 3x grandson George Paulin was also a composer and organist. He was organist at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria BC.
Newly discovered is another organist and composer, Edward Cutler, KC, who was Richard’s great-grandson. While professionally Edward was a lawyer he was known as an organist and a composer.
I have actually found a recording of one of his compositions on You Tube – here
Here is his obituary:
Harrow Observer, 29 December 1916, page 8
Mr E Cutler, KC
Mr Edward Cutler, KC, of Little Stanmore, died in London, on December 22, aged 85. Mr Cutler was the son of the late Mr Edward Cutler, surgeon to St George’s Hospital, and grandson of Sir Thomas Plumer, first Vice-Chancellor of England and afterwards Master of the Rolls. He was educated at Eton, Paris, Dresden, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained honours in classics, and was called to the bar in 1857. In his practice he devoted himself particularly to copyright law, and this, with his knowledge of music, led to his writing a “Manual of Musical Copyright Law” (1906) and collaborating with Mr Eustace Smith and Mr FE Weatherley in a “Treatise on Musical and Dramatic Copyright.” Mr Cutler, who had taken “silk” in 1884, was on the Imperial Commission for Copyright in 1909, and was employed in the International Copyright Bill. He wrote many songs and pieces for full orchestra, organ, and pianoforte, of which, perhaps, the best known is a song called “Golden Years.” He was Grand Organist of English Freemasons in 1892-3, and at one time gave frequent recitals in public. He also wrote pamphlets in French on educational and other subjects.
Mr Cutler married Ellen Mona, daughter of Major Larkins, who was murdered at Cawnpore, and leaves one son and two daughters.
Letter from Mary Cutler Paulin to Frederick A Paulin, 2 Dec 1886
[1]
Henley Lodge
December 2nd/86
My dearest Fred,
Just a few lines to tell we are thinking of you. Dad has been hurrying us very much as he wishes all letters to be posted to night for BC. The children have been talking of writing for love him but it has been a very busy time for them and Mother so you will I know e[illegible]
[2]
All [illegible] I am thankful in being able to tell you we are all well and all wishing the very best of wishes for all our dears out in BC. Will write of love sir [illegible]
Your Mother
Love to George + Herbert – cannot get trice so write to them.
Letter from Mary Cutler Paulin to Frederick Paulin, 18 April 1883
Acock’s Green
April 18th/83
My dear Fred,
I feel [illegible] that we have not written to you before this but you will have had letters from the Bordesley folks, all we have thought of is looking for letters from you. Nancy thinks for them we could last help feeling very [illegible] about you it was such terrible matter the [illegible] of March and altogether we are getting frigid and the wind is very cold, your father is better but is bothered as usual with business – we think you must have suffered [illegible] no board that terrible [illegible] hope with may be repaid for all it
[2]
Will be a long time before you feel settled or comfortable and we do trust you will folks keep well we keep having colds here, no cry has colds Miss Shearman is getting better but looked very ill for three weeks after [illegible] left but kept to her duties poor girl, she says why did you go from all your best friends we only wish we were with you we should not much how rough it was. Your father has been getting seeds garden, George has worked being well too Saturdays he is getting £1 per week now [illegible] will be able
[3]
To manage. I must try and let some news Uncle William writes he is passing his bill in the House of Lords commuted yesterday will send my dividend the end of the week. Grandpa sent £5 unknown to Grandma because copperman is so long lending the tent, very kind poor old gentleman. Mrs Grant so as here yesterday looking very well for her letter I have [illegible] I went to see her with your first letter – Lizzie and Polly came on & after Sunday and staid till Monday evening they were both pretty well but we [illegible]
[4]
Right since you left – I have it a busy long time getting use to your absence. Papa says you have done quite right to go and he wishes he was with you. I think Birmingham will soon be blown up. A parcel coming from Auntie Bessie this week. Louise is very busy getting ready to go. We have sending you kind enquiries after you kind see take greater interest in the postman. [illegible] with united love and kindest wishes now and after Mother
Who is Who:
Nancy – no idea
Miss Shearman – Miss Louise Shearman ran a private school in Acock’s Green, in the 1890 s she boarded young George Rutherford when he was a student
Mrs Grant – no idea
Grandpa and Grandma – George and Sarah Paulin, resident in Henley-on-Thames
Uncle William – Mary’s brother William Henry Cutler, who at the time was fighting the government over their takeover of the Windsor and Eton Waterworks, a Cutler family business he inherited when their father died in 1842
Aunt Bessie – Mary’s paternal aunt Elizabeth Cutler Bennison (1806-1887)
Yesterday, after coming back back from seeing my four children off to your destination, I found a letter from you dated to 9th March Just 22 days coming so as dear George started [illegible] on the 10th March by this time he is with you I trust as he is with you and I hope well he must have had a rough journey – I quite think you the lone of your [illegible] that you are far from well and you think of [illegible] change I wish you
2
Very new to come home the journey would I hope will not be so bad, [Illegible[ was a gentleman had the fever in Victoria the same time that you did and was decided to come to England for his health you will hear from George the party we are sending now they all intend working and having a good try to get on it so as a terrible parting yesterday but I have good faith and really look forward to seeing them all again some happy
3
Day I feel glad they are coming your way as I know you will advise them I can hardly tell you all the [illegible] by you have gone through to get them under way and May you send them in the prayers of all kind friends here they are young but have good courage. I went home with Louise after seeing them off you will be glad to hear she has a happy home with a Mrs Lilly. The M[illegible]t Sutton Coldfield there is plenty of work for her to do but they are kind to her and it is a very healthy place. I am expecting
4
The old people to come and stay with me it is not a very cheerful prospect but must manage as well as I can – you talk of Summer and flowers it is winter here now and looks like its to be for some time. I shall feel very anxious till I hear how the travellers get on so I shall all look forward to the pleasure of seeing you but not if you think the money would be too much for you. If ever we can get the money we shall all come to you
Kindest love and wishes to all my children and hope you will all be happy
1 – written across text
Together. I hope George will be able to do your work and you have a rest
Love and prayers
Your affectionate mother
I am sorry your letter came just so late to get the letter you wanted.
[Cheat sheet – Mary Cutler Paulin to Frederick Arthur Paulin
Letter sent the day her son Ernest, his wife Emma, her sister Amy and Ernest’s Brother Herbert left England for Canada. George another son had just arrived in Victoria.
Reference to the old people is to her in-laws from Henley-on-Thames, and Louise is her daughter. It appears Louise went into service with Mrs Lilly.]
Second Map in the series – where Frederick and Mary Paulin lived, between 1860-1920. The map is fairly large and covers both Vancouver Island and England. Enjoy the journey.
I had been looking into where the Paulin family lived when they were in Birmingham and trying to ascertain how they lived. My main focus was on their economic or social position. After Frederick’s bankruptcy in Peckham and the Anchor Brewery, I wasn’t sure if they were doing well, especially with 13 children in the home. I had seen the census – and they had two servants. So I was confused a bit – good or bad?
I started an internet search to see if I could find “Henley Lodge” which was the name of the house they lived in, which was in Acock’s Green. There was nothing extant that was called that, but I did find the website for the Acock’s Green Historical Society: http://aghs.jimdo.com/ . I decided to write them and ask if anyone knows if this place still existed. I got such wonderful assistance from Mike Byrne of the Society; it was as if my problem became his problem. Such a great collaborative research process! And as a result I have a pretty good idea of where they lived, and what kind of neighbourhood they lived in.
So here are my initial sources for the place:
1901 Census listing Ernest and Emma Paulin with their five children at “Henley Lodge” Yardley Road
1886 Birmingham City Directory listing Frederick Paulin, accountant, living at Henley Lodge, Yardley Road
And – 28 July 1888 Reading Mercury notice of the marriage of Louise Mary Paulin to Robert Rutherford, stating that she was the daughter of Frederick Paulin of Henley Lodge
Mr. Byrne first went into the sources for the 1881 Census, and looked at where the Paulins lived at that time – which was not Henley Lodge. Here is what he found:
“The 1881 census has Frederick as an accountant on the Warwick Road with his family. There are some records on the internet saying the family lived in a grocer’s shop, but whoever did this had read the previous entry and not noticed that the census was describing the property next door. Looking at the sequence of records, he would have been in quite a good house, which later became a shop, somewhere to the left of or maybe indeed the house with the tall chimney on the left in the 1936 picture and on the right in the 1953 image. However these have been replaced by modern shops as shown in the Google streetview screen shot.”
Warwick Road today – Google – courtesy of Mike Byrne
Warwick Road 1936 – courtesy of Mike Byrne
Warwick Road 1953 – courtesy of Mike Byrne
As for Henley Lodge, he wasn’t sure given what he knew of Yardley Road, so he asked for a picture, so I sent him my lone outdoor shot which I thought had been taken when they lived in Birmingham because of the age of the children in the image. Apparently this was the help he needed.
“I think I can be reasonably confident that the building Henley Lodge is now called 162 Yardley Road. It was probably built in the early 1880s, which may be why it was not on the 1888 map, which itself was surveyed over a period of time. As you can see from the 1904 map, it stands back from Yardley Road on the corner of Francis Road. This is confirmed by a directory of 1905. In 1900 it was occupied by George Perkins, a well-known local chemist from the Warwick Road near where your family lived in 1881. In 1905 it was occupied by George Hill. Today it is part of a garage business, and the front and back have been covered by extensions, but you can see that it was a large enough house to match the photograph.”
Paulin family in Birmingham, c 1890s – collection of K Paulin
Smith’s Garage courtesy of Mike Byrne, where you can see the likely location of Henley Lodge with a big garage butting onto it.
162 Yardley Road today from Google, courtesy of Mike Byrne. You can imagine that the house must have had a lovely yard at one point – now it is all garage really.
Map of Yardley in 1904.
Needless to say this picture of how they lived could not have happened without the knowledge and assistance of Mike Byrne. Clearly they were living an upper middle class lifestyle. Not sure how they financed this completely, but most likely from sources other than his salary as an accountant. He just was not that good at money. Some of the money might have come from his adult sons working, or his wife’s inheritance from her mother, or help from his Dad. All possible! He named his home after his birthplace, and frankly the name made his place sound a bit posh.
Thank you Acock’s Green Historical Society and Mike Byrne! Thank you.
Excerpt from a document dealing with the trust originally created in 1859 when Frederick Paulin was courting Mary Cutler. This trust was created to protect the interests of Mary Cutler Paulin and her children. I am not sure why it was done, or why it took another two years for the couple to marry (after the birth of their daughter Louise and three months before the birth of their son Frederick Arthur Paulin) but it was done with her mother Louise Freak Cutler, brother William Henry Cutler, and brother in law William Churchill Longman as the original trustees. On the death of Freak Cutler and Longman, George Paulin, Frederick’s father, and George Bennett his brother in law were named as trustees. Later on J Walter Fry became a trustee.
So as seen above, Redcliffe House on New Street in Henley-on-Thames was part of the trust. It is possible that this was also the house that Frederick and Mary lived when they were resident in Henley. Several censuses and city directories stated that they lived on New Street, as did Frederick’s father, George. No street numbers were provided. Their home “Henley Lodge” in Acock’s Green, Birmingham, where they lived before they emigrated to Canada was also owned by the trust.
Family photo – Frederick Paulin Sr is the dapper man at the end in the nice suit with a cigarette. Mary Cutler Paulin is in the centre in a black dress. Amy is the lady to Mary’s left in a lovely hat. the rest?
The Amazing Paulin(e) Family 