Speaker Bessie White will be joining HHS for a talk on Monday 20th April. Bessie will speak about her Victorian ancestor Joshua Toulmin Smith and his son Arthur. But who is Joshua and why did his family approach us?
Bessie White, Joshua Toulmin Smith’s direct descendant, was recently put in touch with HHS. Bessie informed us that in the course of doing some family research she had visited Toulmin Smith’s grave. It resides in the southern part of the churchyard of Hornsey Church Tower, next to the houses in Ferrestone Road.
‘It was sad to see that the stone is deteriorating with the lettering lifting and the end of the full inscription already lost’, she wrote. As members will be aware, Hornsey Churchyard suffers from long-term subsidence and dampness which contributes to this damage. Ray Rogers, HHS Conservation Officer, wrote in the 2025 September and December newsletters about the restoration in the Churchyard of Gerard van de Linde’s grave, a Dutch schoolmaster who ran a boarding school in Cromwell House, Highgate, in the mid-19th Century.
Like van de Linde, Joshua Toulmin Smith (1816-1869) lived in Highgate. He is one of the ten noteable Victorians about whom Joan Schwitzer wrote in her booklet, ‘An Introduction to St Mary’s Hornsey Churchyard.’ Smith was a barrister famous for his vigorous defense of local against central government. He was the first President of the Geologists’ Association and he became Chairman of Hornsey’s first Highway’s Board in 1854. One of his briefs as a barrister was to represent Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, who stayed with him in his home in Wood Lane, Highgate.
Bessie White’s Book
Bessie’s interest in Joshua came from studying his son Arthur, who studied German at Kings College and spent much of his career in Russia as an engineer before the First World War, regularly writing home to family members. These letters survive, and Bessie has used them to publish a short history of Arthur’s life and exploits. Copies of her book will be available for sale at during the event on 20th April.
Bessie’s ambition is to have the lettering which survives on the headstone redone and a new, upright stone of similar design with ‘First President of the Geologists’ Association’ added. This project will however be costly and require financial support. The Finchley-based Amateur Geologists’ Society has committed to provide a working party to tidy up the grave. The HHS Chairman and General Committee are keen to commit to, and support, this project. Watch this space for further developments.