Background
Author: Nev. Ramsden
The Gale Family of Whitehaven
Sir John Lowther appears to have been reasonably tolerant in his religious outlook. The Gales who became one of the leading local families, were non-conformists, as were the Lutwidges. Owing to the fact that they were excluded from offices of state and of command in the armed forces by the Test Act, non-conformists found an outlet for their talents in business. In 1672 the house of Isabella Dixon was licensed as a Presbyterian meeting house in Whitehaven. Twenty-three years later Elisha Gale, Henry Palmer, William Atkinson, William Feryes and John Shepherd had collected money for a chapel to be used by Protestant dissenters.
Sometime around 1663 to 1665 John Gale, the Elder, (c1620-1680) moved with his family from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Whitehaven, Cumberland, an ancient harbour town isolated by mountains and located not far from the Scottish border. Situated on the Irish Sea with the Isle of Man visible in the distance, it began as a small fishing village of about 50 cottages.
This family group developed to become one of the must successful Merchant families in the expanding port of Whitehaven which was based in the beginning on the export of coal from the Lowther coal pits to Ireland and elsewhere.
JOHN GALE, Senior (1641 - 1716) of Whitehaven was born in 1641 to John and Elizabeth [Ghiver] Gale. He married Mary CARLISLE (?? - 1703), daughter and co-heir of Lancelot Carlisle and his wife Barbara Johnstone of Brydekirk, Co. Dumfries, Scotland, and had 11 children. Mary Gale died on 6/24/1703 and her burial was noted in the parish register of St. Bees.
In the fall of 1677, John Gale Senior was employed as the Steward for Sir John Lowther and held the post until 1707. Lowther, the dominant figure behind the town's development, continued to expand his territory with an eye to a monopoly in the coal trade. His family lived much of the time in London, but he purchased property on the southeast border of Whitehaven on 10/1/1675 and built a manor called The Flatt, later called Whitehaven Castle, where John Gale was a frequent visitor. In 1683, under Lowther's employ, John Gale had a causeway constructed to enable horse-drawn carts to transport coal from the pits to ships waiting in the harbor. Although primitive, the causeway significantly reduced transportation costs and was heralded as the forerunner of early railways. Another step in expansion of Lowther's coal trade was the "Act for Enlarging the Pier and Harbour of Parton in the County of Cumberland," passed during the reign of Queen Anne in 1705-06. Signers on the document included Ebenezer, Elisha, and John Gale, Jnr.
Members of John's family were members of St. Nicholas’s Church, originally built in 1693 to replace a smaller chapel. It has stood on Lowther Street for almost three centuries. The original Catholic Church in Whitehaven, located on the east end of Chapel Street at Lowther Street, was known as the Old Chapel. It can only be assumed that sometime after the 1693 building of St. Nicholas that the burials at Old Chapel churchyard were transferred to the St. Nicholas churchyard.
A third structure, built in 1883, replaced the second but a fire destroyed most of the building in 1971. All that remains of the original structure is the clock tower and the main entry. John Gale was characterized as a "bigoted Anglican" hostile to Whitehaven Dissenters, including his mother Elizabeth and youngest brother Elisha. A memorial to the family is located in the central part of the church. Known as the Washington Memorial Plaque, it is dedicated to Mildred Warner Washington Gale, widow of Lawrence Washington and grandmother to George Washington, who married John's grandson, Colonel George Gale of Whitehaven and Somerset County, Maryland. Mildred Warner Washington Gale is buried in the gardens behind St. Nicholas along with her infant daughter and her female slave, Jane.
In 1665 a 99 year lease of the property known as Old Hall was granted to John [the elder] and Elizabeth Gale at £11 per annum by Sir John Lowther (1642 - 1705), Lord of the Manor of Whitehaven and St. Bees. Formerly the residence of the Wybergh family and of Sir Christopher Lowther, it was located on a plot of land bounded by Poe Street and Swing-pump Lane south of the Market Hall. On a town plan of 1699 after the elder Gale's death, the triangular plot # 17 included a stable, barn, tithe-barn, horse mill, and gardens on the western side of the road that stretched to the foot of the hill. A grant in 1686 for Sir John states that it is made "for and in consideration of the good and faithful service of the said John Gale." The property was granted or sold at various times to both John Gale the Elder and his son, John.
To the south of the Old Hall and to the left were two warehouses and buildings thought to be stables. Behind these was a house with gardens at the rear extending up the hill. John Sr.'s brothers, Elisha and Ebenezer, owned property to the northwest of Old Hall and on 2/14/1694 Lowther granted land to Elisha Gale, a staunch churchman, in order to establish a chapel.
When John Gale died in 1680 his three sons quarrelled about the subdivision of the property, and to please John Gale Sr., who was already in his service, Lowther granted to him and his heirs the reversion of the premises, after the expiration of the 99 year lease, for 1,000 years. (Whitehaven Town Book, Old Town nos. 17, 18, 19) On 4/26/1768, at the death of Matthias and Dorothy Ponsonby Gale's son John, properties including Old Hall, Cleator Hall and Catgill Hall were sold out of the family.
Elisha GALE Merchant, was born c.1640 to John and Elizabeth Ghiver Gale. He married Elizabeth CRISP, daughter of Peter Crisp, "gentleman", at St. Nicholas Parish, Whitehaven in 1685, and had children.
Elisha was owner and master of the pink Crowne, weighing 134 tons and equipped to carry a crew of 14. In July of 1689 the ship was at Hoylake transporting 36 horses and 50 men to the army in Ireland. During the mid-1690s privateers were a threat to shipping. William Gilpin wrote, "Since our late losses here the Crown (sic) mounted 6 small guns, and has supplied herself with some small arms; and I believe if wee knew where to be supplied with more guns, some others would follow the example?" (Hainsworth) In 1691-92 the Crowne transported Irish Jacobites to France and while in Brest Elisha and his crew loaded the vessel with French goods for Whitehaven. They were seized by a man-of-war on return and taken to Kinsale where the ship's cargo was confiscated. After an appeal to the Navy Board the vessel and goods were restored to Elisha. On 3/30/1703 the Crowne was in port on the Rappahannock River and on 12/12/1716 she sailed with a cargo of tar, boards, walnut logs and staves. Elisha, listed as master of the Crowne in 1716, 1717, and 1720, was also part-owner of the ship Edgar, in partnership with William Feryes and William Tyson of Whitehaven, and had a share in the ship Kent. In 1715 Elisha was listed as master of the Restoration at Jamaica.
A Presbyterian, Elisha was one of five residents who collected subscriptions and were empowered to build a "house or chapel in a decent manner" to be used by Presbyterian Dissenters including Elizabeth Gale, Roger Anderton, Mary Addison, Henry Palmer, William Atkinson, William Feryes, John Chapelow, John Shepherd, Thomas Monk, Nathaniel Massar, Richard Scott, and others.
EBENEZER GALE Merchant was born c.1650 to John and Elizabeth Ghiver Gale, and married Isabella Tickell, daughter of Thomas Tickell of St. Bees Parish c.1685, and had children. He was a staunch Anglican and Ebenezer was one of the first churchwardens of the "Old Chapel" after its rebuilding in 1693. A merchant, builder, and ship-owner he was active in the affairs of Whitehaven and in 1694-95 was named as an equal shareholder and managing partner in the rope trade with John Lowther, Mr. Addison, Mrs. Mary Addison, Mr. Lows, Mr. Kelsick, and Mrs. Tubman. A letter from William Gilpin to Sir John Lowther dated 2/2/1697-98 stated that Elisha Gale, Ebenezer's brother, and his brother-in-law William Ferryes were also interested in becoming business partners.
These three men were the foundation of the Gale merchant dynasty lasting for at least six generations. The probate records of the early members of the Whitehaven Gale’s have been published in:-
- Visitation of England and Wales Notes: Volume 3 1898 by Joseph Jackson Howard, Frederick Arthur Crisp