52 



ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



30 guineas. He sent it to his brother, Mr. Francis 

 Plummer, living at New Parks, Shij^ton, York.' Now 

 the fact is Mr. John Pkuiimer was never a ' carrier ' 

 (which I take as an obvious misprint for currier). It 

 was Mr. Francis Plummer who was a currier at Collier 

 Gate, York. Then the ' firm still being in existence ' is 

 not veracious. The firm really expired when Mr. Francis 

 Plummer died in 1891. Mr. Francis Plummer lived at 

 Layerthorpe Grove, York, and Alice Hawthorn was 

 there for years as a brood mare, and had all her produce 

 there. The beautiful little place is now rather spoilt bv 

 the railway company having a cattle market branch 

 through it. It was Mr. John Plummer who lived at 

 New Parks, Shipton, and not Mr. Francis Plummer, 

 the latter, as already stated, being the currier at Colher 

 Gate, York. Then as to the story about naming Alice 

 Hawthorn, your correspondent stated that Mr. Francis 

 Plummer stood godfather to the child named Alice 

 Hawthorn. He did nothing of the sort, for the little 

 lady was seven years old when he met her at the house 

 of a friend, Mr. Hawthorn, who was one of the heads of 

 the great Newcastle engineering firm of that name, and 

 which, now being an extended company, is known as 

 ' Hawthorn, Leslie & Company.' The real facts of the 

 naming of Alice Hawthorn are briefly as follows : — Mr. 

 Francis Plummer saw a little girl seven or eight years 

 of age (too old to require a godfather, one would think) 

 at his friend Hawthorn's house. He had not found a 

 name for ' Old Alice ' then. Being pleased with the 

 child's manners, he asked her name. ' Alice Hawthorn,' 

 was the reply. Thereupon he resolved to name his 

 filly after the child, and, as history proves, a lucky 

 piece of nomenclature it was. The date of that incident 

 would be 1839, when ' Old Alice ' was a yearling. 



