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The Jane Letts Trust – the tale of a Victorian Laundress and her Joiner Brother

Village Hall Quiz Night

After relaxing during one of the first sunny days of the year, the pace picked up considerably one evening in early March, when Hollowell residents arrived at the Village Hall with competition in their hearts.

A brilliantly devised quiz tested the wits of the teams, all of whom represented different areas of the village.

Teams battled it out over six rounds on varied subjects: London Underground stations, famous Davids and a North to South geography round.

However, by far the most wonderful round was when Quiz Master and professional trumpet player, Paul Mourant took up his instrument to give us live exerts of pop songs, operatic arias and television themes, in a Name That Tune round. At one stage the whole room was singing along under its collective breath to Bohemian Rhapsody. The enthusiastic applause was very well deserved!

As the evening drew to a close, The Hillbillies (pictured left) drew ahead to end the evening victorious. Most importantly a wonderful evening was had by all thanks to the efforts of the organisers, question setters and the multi-talented quiz master!

Please join us for our next Village Hall event, the Big Breakfast on Saturday 26th April 9.30 to 12 noon - hot filled rolls, homemade cake, tea and coffee

We are also keen to add some fresh faces to the Village Hall Management Committee.   We meet about once every 6 weeks to plan events and take care of the management of the hall, and occasionally eat curry.   If you are interested in finding out more, or helping away way, please contact Hannah Oswin: oswinhannah@gmail.com.

You may have seen the annual advert in this magazine, for the Miss Jane Letts Charity; a small trust fund set up in 1941 and overseen by three Hollowell Parish Councillors. Jan, Emily and Viv from Hollowell have done some research.

The Charity’s original objective was to purchase coal or blankets for distribution amongst ‘poor widows and other deserving poor’ of the parish.

In the 1990s, the terms were amended to enable the Trust to contribute to electricity bills. But who was Jane Letts and who set up the Trust?

A search of the census records established Mary Ann Jane Letts, known as Jane, was born in Guilsborough in 1856. Her parents were James William Letts, a carpenter from Guilsborough, and Elizabeth  from Wellingborough. She had a brother James and a sister Sarah.

Jane and her sister lived together in Guilsborough. Jane was a laundress but also an employer. Then, some point during the 1890s, Jane moved to Rickmansworth to work as a laundrymaid at The Lodge, Loudwater. We have not been able to discover why she left Guilsborough, but it seems a step down from being an employer to being a laundrymaid. Her death certificate shows she died in 1899 in Guys Hospital, London, of Pernicious Anaemia, aged 43.

Of James William Boothe Letts’ life we have been able to establish the following. He was a lodger, living first in Northampton and then in Kingsthorpe and worked as a joiner. He became known as‘ Boothe Letts’.

In 1915, aged about 57, he retired to Abthorpe. He lived in a cottage at the end of the village variously called Letts Cottage, Heggs Cottage, Brackley Road Cottage, Sheppard House and now Grafton View.  

He did carpentry jobs around the village and was known to be a spiritualist. He ate and drank well but  always                              pleaded poverty and when he grew ill, tried to                              get public assistance with his care and was                              eventually taken in by a local nurse in the                              village, who cared for him during his last 10                              days.

An elderly resident of Abthorpe recalled that ‘Old Mr Letts’ kept the house in good order, doing all the repairs himself. The orchard was spectacular, and he had a huge pear tree near the road and encouraged the children of the village to help themselves to the fallen pears.

He would take the bus into Northampton on Saturdays to carry out business deals, have lunch/dinner in town and catch the late bus back. The local postmaster was also sending off telegrams for him ordering the sale and purchase of stocks and shares. She said that it was not a secret in the village that he was wealthy, but he dressed more like a tramp. She could also recall his sister Sarah. She was a Medium and a number of people visited her when their family members ‘passed over’. Old Mr Letts was devastated when  his sister Sarah died and wore her cape forever afterwards.

James William Boothe Letts died on 16 December 1940, aged 82, and his death was recorded at nearby Towcester.

To everyone’s astonishment, his probate record showed he had left £13,948.

He left all his tools to the Dr Barnardos Homes, £500 was to be used to set upt the Jane Letts Charity and £3000 was to endow a trust for three beds at Northampton General Hospital, the beds to be placed on the middle floor of Grafton Ward with brass plates to say “This bed is endowed by James William Boothe Letts in memory of his mother Elizabeth Sykes Letts” - but these were lost until they turned up in a cupboard amongst a collection of 73 more plaques.

The rest of the estate was to be divided between Guy’s Hospital and the Salvation Army. So, we learnt a lot about the Letts family but are left still with big questions.

None of the three siblings ever lived in Hollowell, but all three are buried and commemorated in Hollowell Churchyard.

Why, having lived in Guilsborough all their lives and appearing to be doing well, did both girls move away in the 1890s?

Why, in 1933, did James Letts make a will in aid of the poor of Hollowell?

What caused him to specify in his will, that no one from the church could be a Trustee? Was there a serious disagreement with the Guilsborough Vicar? Was it because of his interest in spiritualism?

We remain intrigued by this interesting character.

Research by - Jan Craig, with assistance from Emily Curtis & Viv Benjamin.

Wool-worked pictures donated by James Letts to Northampton Art Gallery  pictured here with Emily, Jan and Viv

Grafton View

Hollowell Lent Lunch

Hollowell will be holding a Lent Lunch on Saturday 12th April in the Village Hall from 12 o’clock.

A lunch of soup, cheese and cake will be served to support the Church and WaterAid. This is a great opportunity for people from different villages to meet together during the period of Lent.

We would suggest a donation of £8.

Please let Gill Brown know if you will be coming; she can be reached on 07833 321448.

It will be lovely to see you there.