1812.] BIRTH. 9 



Prestwich, all unselfishness and gentleness, and full of 

 though tfulness for others. The Blakeways had been 

 connected with the Church for many generations, and 

 a kinsman, the Rev. John Brickenden Blakeway, rector 

 of St Mary's, Shrewsbury, was joint author with Arch- 

 deacon Owen of a ' History of Shropshire.' 



Mr and Mrs Prestwich had ten children, three of 

 whom died in infancy. The eldest surviving was our 

 geologist, who was born at Pensbury, Clapham, on the 

 12th March 1812, and whose death took place at 

 Darent-Hulme, Shoreham in Kent, on the 23rd June 

 1896. He was the second of the name, the first-born 

 Joseph having lived only a few months. Thus the two 

 sons and five daughters were Joseph, Isabella Civil, 

 Catherine, Eliza, Emily, Edward Elias, and Civil Mary. 

 The two survivors are Eliza (Mrs Tomkins) and Emily 

 Prestwich. 



Among the family papers there are forty-two little 

 volumes of pocket-books containing brief diaries which 

 were kept by our Joseph Prestwich's mother, and which 

 date from the year of her marriage, 1809, to 1850, the 

 year of her death. The entries are short, being only a 

 few sentences recording the events of each day. But 

 the volume for 1812 has a pathetic interest: when a 

 second little Joseph had arrived to replace the first- 

 born, the daily entries betray the constant motherly 

 anxiety, and every symptom of the health of the 

 infant is recorded. We give no extract : the reading 

 was intended for a mother's eyes. In the diaries of 

 the next few years there is only occasional allusion 

 to little Joseph, since other children had been born 

 to share in and claim the maternal care. It is evident, 

 however, that the boy was, like most healthy little 

 boys, restlessly active, with a tendency to lead his 



