NORTH TUDDENHAM

by Colin Cunliffe

The North Tuddenham sign by the busy A 47 in Norfolk displays a cottage with a man of the 18th century. Not a local man but William Cowper who lived in North Tuddenham for part of his life.

On the 15th November 1731 in a rectory in Great Berkhamstead, Anne Cowper, wife of Rev John Cowper gave birth to a boy, He was their fourth child and they named him William. When William was five, Anne gave birth to another boy, John. Complications set in and although the boy lived Anne did not survive. On her death only William and John of her five children were alive.

William now motherless was sent away to Dr. Pitman’s boarding school at Market Street in Hertfordshire. Not quite six years old he fell victim to a bullying pupil and suffered for almost two years before the matter came to light and the pupil expelled. William was also removed from the school.

At ten he was sent to Westminster School, here he fared much better and formed a strong liking for the classics, also excelling at cricket and football. Moving on from the school at the age of 18 he was articled to a solicitor named Mr. Chapman, who also gave him lodgings. Most weekends he spent at his uncle Ashley Cowper’s home in Southampton Row with a fellow cleric Edward Thurlow. Here they enjoyed the company of his cousins Theodora and Harriot. William was particularly fond of Theodora.

William entered the Middle Temple in 1748 called to the bar in 1754 and later made Commissioner of Bankrupts. In 1763 William was offered the post of ‘Clerk of the Journals of the House of Lords.’ However, the anxiety of having to pass an exam in front of the Law Lords made him suicidal. He made two attempts at suicide first by laudanum, but he could not find courage to drink the potion. The second time he hired a cab to take him to the river where he could drown himself. When the cabbie appeared to lose his way in the fog he became frustrated and ordered the cabbie to stop and let him out. On alighting from the cab he found himself on his own doorstep. This he believed to be an act of God.

For his own safety he was put into Dr. Nathaniel Cotton’s Asylum in St Albans where he stayed until 1765. Feeling stronger in mind, and now deeply religious he moved into lodgings at Huntingdon to be near his brother John. He also resigned from being Commissioner of Bankrupts. Here he made acquaintance with the Rev Morley Unwin, his wife Mary and family. Later that year he moved into lodgings with them.

Two years later Cowper was introduced to John Newton and they became great friends, Newton was an ex-slaveship captain, now reformed and a curate at Olney in Bucks. On the death of Rev Morley Unwin in 1767 Newton persuaded Cowper, Mrs Unwin and her daughter Susannah to move to ‘Orchard Side’ a house in Olney.

A close relationship between William and the widowed Mary resulted in an engagement, despite a ten year age gap. Shortly afterwards, when bouts of insanity returned the engagement was broken off. Mary also became very ill, William despairing that he may lose her wrote the hymn ‘Oh for a closer walk with God.' Fortunately, Mary recovered but William’s health remained unstable.

Newton persuaded him to stay at the Vicarage for a while to aid recovery. It was in this period that the Olney Hymns were written. Newton contributed 282 of which ‘Amazing Grace’ was the most popular. Cowper wrote only 66. The occupation with writing calmed William down and feeling much stronger returned to ‘Orchard Side’ to live with Mary again. At peace with himself he took to gardening and keeping hares, even a little joinery to make hutches for them. Using his spare time for writing which included the following.

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform

He plants his footstep on the sea

And rides upon the storm.

In 1780 John Newton left Olney for a post in London, his place was taken by Rev Thomas Scott who took in as a lodger Lady Austen. Cowper soon became very friendly with her and she often urged him to write verses for her. On one occasion she related a tale about a man called John Gilpin. Cowper enjoyed the tale to such an extent that he wrote a comic narrative titled ‘John Gilpin.’ His friendship with Lady Austen did not come between him and Mary Unwin. Both ladies used to dine with him on alternate evenings, but unknown to William Lady Austen had fallen in love with him.

In time Lady Austen realised her love for Cowper would not be returned, that he would remain faithful to Mary Unwin. Feeling spurned she left Olney to live in Bath. Cowper missing her company immersed himself in the translation of Homer and by the following year he had completed twenty-one books of the ‘The Iliad.’ Soon afterwards his cousin Harriot Cowper now the widowed Lady Hesketh, came to stay at the vicarage. Sensing William and Mary were tired of Olney she persuaded them to move to nearby Weston Underwood.

By 1794 Mary had suffered two strokes and was very weak, the following year it was decided that a change of air was required for both William and Mary. A cottage was found for them at North Tuddenham in Norfolk, which they settled in after a short holiday at Mundesley on the Norfolk coast. They were now in the care of Williams maternal cousin Rev John Johnson who preached at St Peter’s church in nearby Yaxham.

When their health did not improve they were persuaded to move into lodgings with the Rev Johnson at East Dereham and it was here that Mary Unwin died in December 1796. William now devoted himself to writing, penning his final piece of verse ‘The Castaway.’ shortly before he died on the 25 April 1800. William Cowper was buried in St Edmunds Chapel Dereham. Close by is Mary Unwin his companion of twenty-two years. William Cowper can also be seen on the Yaxham village sign.