Little is known of the early life of Arthur Osborne’s Grandfather William Monk, who was born in 1796, but we do know that he had a varied career. In the recorded baptisms of his four children his occupation is given as a Cooper of Davington. This was probably at the gunpowder works in Oare because we find his next employment is as a clerk there, and later becoming the Manager, later still he is a brick maker and property developer.
In 1837 William bought the sailing barge Industry (54 tons, built at Bankside in 1825). He began his career as a local property developer in 1846 by rebuilding 9 Market Street Faversham whilst still Manager of the gunpowder works
In October of 1847 he bought premises at 44-45 Court Street in Faversham, from Zachariah Warren’s widow, Martha, for £330 as well as taking over a £500 mortgage, and it was here that his son (Arthur’s father), Frederick William Monk, started work, at the age of fifteen, as a bookseller and printer. For a while, Court Street became ‘The’ area for bookshops.
In 1850 William Monk bought the site of 1 to 13 Albion Terrace (now 11-13 South Road) and developed it for housing, he remained the owner of all the houses until his death. At this time, William Monk was living with his wife and three surviving children (two sons had died in infancy) at The White House, Oare, Davington.
In mid-1855 William Monk sold his printing business to a John Sherwood, who announced in the Faversham and Sittingbourne Gazette of July 2nd 1855, that he was shortly moving to Court Street.
Frederick William Monk had followed his father’s example, at some time around 1855 and also became a property and landowner [census 1861]. He had married a local girl, Jane Dan, in the Spring of 1854.
When Arthur’s birth was registered on the 20th of August 1855, Frederick William Monk gave his occupation as “gentleman, of Ospringe Road” and in 1861 he is recorded as a property owner [census 1861] at that time living at 7 Albion Terrace, Faversham. His parents, William and Elizabeth Monk, were living at number 3.
Freed from the mundane chores of bookseller and printer, Frederick threw himself into parish affairs, being elected as a borough Councilor in 1859 and becoming Mayor in 1862 and again in 1863 [Faversham Mercury: 1862-1863]. He is mentioned as active in Faversham Institute affairs from early 1855 being its vice-president in 1856 and president in 1857.
Also in 1857, William Monk commissioned the sailing barge Harriet (34 tons) from John Mathew Golfinch of Faversham. This sailing barge was to blow up in an accident at the powder magazine of William Hall at Erith on the 1st of October 1864.
Land for the new Faversham Institute building was sold for £200 to the Institute Management committee by William Monk in 1861 and he developed Newton Terrace on either side of the new Institute building; the new Institute opened in June 1862. At this time William was living at 3 Albion Terrace with his wife Elizabeth, daughter Julia, and two domestic servants.
Frederick William was the builder of some of the more imposing buildings in the town, including the block at the junction of Preston Street and Market Street, (Geerings and J High, opticians), the three-story part of Lloyds Bank and some of the residences in Albion Terrace, South Road, in one of which he lived.
Frederick William Monk’s parish involvement reached its peak between 1863 and 1864: director of the Faversham Water Company and secretary of the Faversham Horticultural Society from 1863; and chairman (and director) of the Faversham Cattle Market Ltd in early 1864. He was from July 1864 the secretary of the Kent Association of Institutes.
In 1866, along with his son Frederick, William Monk commissioned construction of the sailing barge Star ( 37 tons ) built by J Goldfinch of Faversham, and in the same year, also in a joint venture, commissioned construction of the sailing barge Breeze ( 38 tons ) again by J. Goldfinch.
Both William and Frederick William Monk had run into financial difficulties in 1867, if not earlier. Frederick William Monk resigned as managing director of the Faversham Institute early in 1867 and as the secretary of the Kent Association of Institutes later in the same year. The sailing barge Star was sold on the 15th of July 1867
On the 22nd of November 1867 William Monk conveyed 44-45 Court Street to his son’s father-in-law, Osborn Dan, who had agreed to purchase the properties for the sum of £2000 and also take over of the mortgage of £500.
Both the sale of the Court Street properties and the cessation of references to Frederick William Monk in the Faversham Institute Monthly Journal seem to suggest that he left Faversham sometime after 1867.
By 1869 the family were living at 14 Oxford Terrace in Clapham Road, London where their sixth daughter Gertrude was born on the 3rd of December.
On the 11th of January 1869 William Monk died, leaving his estate to his widow Elizabeth, now residing at Upper Norwood Surrey.
In early March William Monk’s creditors began proceedings in respect of his debts and on the 20th of March a court order was made against Elizabeth and F.W Monk for William Monk’s estate to be applied in discharge of debts he had incurred through the partnership of Monk and Son.
Frederick William Monk sold the sailing barge Breeze on the 4th of July 1869 and in that same month was made bankrupt.
From the London Gazette:
Frederick William Monk, surviving partner of William Monk, and the said Frederick William Monk lately carrying on business in copartnership at Davington, near Faversham, in the county of Kent, and No.2 Bouverie Street in the city of London, as Brickmakers and Dealers under the style or firm of Monk and Son, and residing at Norwood, in the county of Surrey, Brickmaker, Dealer and Champman, having ben adjudged bankrupt under a petition for adjudication of Bankruptcy, in London, on the 5th day of July, 1869, is hereby required to surrender himself to the Registrar of the said Court, acting in the prosecution of the said Petition, at the first meeting of the creditors to be held before the said Registrar, on the 22nd day of July instant, at one o’clock in the afternoon precisely, at the said Court. Mr. Peter Paget, No. 22 Basinghill Street, London, is the Official Assignee, and Messrs. Kingsford and Co. of No. 23 Essex Street, Strand, are the Solicitors acting in the Bankruptcy.
On the 27th of October in the same year, FW Monk made application as a Bankrupt for the discharge of his debts. An Order of Discharge was granted by the Court of Bankruptcy on the same day.
A Dividend meeting under both the joint estate and the separate estate of FW Monk was arranged for the 19th day of January 1871. On the 16th of May 1871 a First Dividend at the rate of 3s 3d was now declared payable to creditors upon proof of the debt owing.
There appears to have been no record of any further or final dividend being paid.
In the London publication ‘The Antiquary’ for 4th of January 1873 there appeared a prospectus for the sale of shares in The London Co-operative Printing and Stationary Company Ltd. This prospectus in its preamble stated that: “This Company is projected for the purpose of acquiring a large and well-established printing business in the City of London, and for carrying on and extending the same in accordance with the principles of sound co-operative trading. A provisional agreement dated the 8th day of November, 1872, for the sale and purchase of the same, has been entered into between William Wilfred Head and James Hole of the one part, and Frederick William Monk, on behalf of the Company of the other part;…”. The secretary of this enterprise was Frederick William Monk of 176 Fleet Street. The Company printed ‘The Antiquary’ from 11th January 1873, and its imprint from the 24th of May was “published for the proprietors by Frederick William Monk. 81a Fleet Street”.
There the trail of Frederick William Monk ends.
It is said that Frederick William Monk emigrated with his family to America and changed his surname to Osborne (after his father-in-law Osborn Dan). No evidence has been found to support this claim, apart from the fact that his son returned to Faversham as Arthur Osborne and died as such. **
*Excerpts from Faversham Papers No 51 by Richard Goulden, with later additions in 2003.
** Research since 2001 now enables us to update this information.
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The Monk family could not be found at the Fleet Street addresses in the 1871 census and a search of other places proved unfruitful, but they do appear to have lived in London somewhere, and between 1873 and 1878 they emigrated to Canada, changing their surname to Osborne at the same time.
Frederick Monk, his wife, and children next appear in the 1880 census for the Boston Massachusetts area, living at number seven Riverside Square in Hyde Park. Frederick Monk is listed as F.W.A. Osborne – the ‘A’ has probably been added to distinguish him from his son who has the same Christian names.
F.W.A. Osborne’s occupation is described as ‘Author’ while that of his two oldest sons are shown as sculptors, the youngest son, Reginald, is still at school.
The trail then again becomes vague, the 1890 U.S census records having been largely destroyed in a fire, but we do know that at some time between 1880 and 1901 F.W.A. Osborne died, because Jane Osborne was listed in the 1901 census as a widow.
In 1885 Arthur Osborne married Susan Todd and in 1887 a daughter Blanche Marguerite was born, prior to the birth was another marriage, when in 1886 Arthur’s brother, Frederick William, married Nellie M. Tibbetts also of Hyde Park.
At some time around 1893 Reginald Osborne married Alice, and in 1894 a daughter was born.
By 1891 three of Arthur Osborne’s sisters had returned to England, so it may be safe to assume that F.W.A. had actually died at some time between 1880 and 1891. By 1897 the remaining members of the Osborne ( Monk ) family, with the possible exception of Arthur’s brother Frederick William, returned to England, and Faversham.
The 1901 census reveals Arthur and his daughter living in East Street with his mother and two of his sisters, Marion and Ellen, while his brother Reginald was living with his wife and daughter in Briton Road. One of his other sisters, Gertrude, was living with her Aunt and Uncle in East Street, and the last two, Elizabeth and Clara, were living in Canterbury. None of the sisters ever married.