James Hall

James Hall (20 February 1846 – 6 October 1914) was an English antiquary, historian and schoolteacher, best known for his history of the Cheshire town of Nantwich, which remains among the principal sources for the town's history. He also edited accounts of the English Civil War and documents relating to Combermere Abbey. Another work on the history of Combermere Abbey, Newhall and Wrenbury was never published; its manuscript has been lost. Hall is commemorated in Nantwich in several ways, including a street named for him.

Life Early life and education Hall was born in the Brayford Head district of Lincoln on 20 February 1846. His father, also James Hall (born 1816), captained a steam packet which plied the River Witham between Lincoln and Boston, and his paternal grandfather, William Hall (born 1765), had been a waterman in Lincoln. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of George Markham, a farmer from the village of Treswell in Nottinghamshire. They had married in 1843; Hall was the second of their ten children, five of whom died in infancy, and their only surviving son.

On 9 June 1870, Hall married Elizabeth Goy, daughter of Matthew Goy, a builder who lived near the Hall family in Grantham Street. Elizabeth later acted as Hall's secretary and proofreader for his history, and also administered his private school. The couple had four children: two daughters, the elder of whom, Margaret, assisted in school administration, and two sons, the artist Walter J. Hall (born 1875/6) and George (born 1883).

In 1874, Hall was appointed the first headmaster of the new Board School at Willaston, near Nantwich, built under the Education Act of 1870.

Hall started work on his history of Nantwich in the mid-1870s; it took nearly a decade to complete. The research included many visits to churches to document their architecture and to transcribe church registers and memorial inscriptions; he also consulted many library collections, travelling as far afield as Oxford and London.

Musical activities Hall was the organist of the Nantwich Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in 1867–75 and 1882–1907. He composed five hymns and three other works for the Nantwich choir. With Alfred Withinshaw, he founded the Choral Union of the Wesleyan Methodist choirs of Nantwich, Crewe and Market Drayton in 1884, and organised three music festivals in 1884–85.

Difficulties in later life In 1885, soon after the publication of Hall's History, Willaston Board School received an "unsatisfactory" rating in its government inspection. In his biography of his father, Walter Hall claims that there was "certainly no neglect of duty as regards [Hall's] teaching," and associates the poor report with insinuations circulating among some local residents that his father had been neglecting his headmaster's duties in favour of writing his History. Financial problems occurred from the outset when Hall fell into dispute with his architect, incurring legal expenses of more than £250 which meant that he remained in debt until 1901. Despite employing a drillmaster and offering French tuition, pupil numbers rose only slowly and then declined, with the school never having more than 35 pupils.

Retirement, death and legacy In September 1907, Hall moved to Saughall Road in the north west of Chester.

His health declined in 1909–10; the condition recurred in February 1914, and the following September, his health deteriorated further. He died in Chester on 6 October 1914, and was buried at Chester New General Cemetery. He is also commemorated by a tablet in the porch of St Mary's Church, erected in 1946, the centenary of his birth, by Percy Corry, also a local historian. It describes him as "The Historian of Nantwich."

Historical work History of Nantwich Hall is best known for his history of Nantwich. The first history of the town was published anonymously by the Reverend Joseph Partridge, master of the Nantwich Blue Cap Charity School, in 1774. He calls Platt's description of Nantwich Castle "purely fictitious."

Hall's history, entitled A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich-Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester but usually referred to as Hall's History of Nantwich, was completed in December 1883. The first edition of 350 copies was financed by subscription; it was privately printed by local printer Thomas Johnson, bound by Macmillan and Co. in Manchester and distributed early in 1884.

The book received reviews in national and local periodicals, including one in The Athenaeum on 7 March 1885, which praised the meticulous referencing and described the history as "able, clear and succinct" and its author as "conscientious and careful." Despite the positive reception, it was not reprinted in Hall's lifetime. Several replica editions have since been published, the first in 1972, and various online editions are now available. Though in part outdated, Hall's History remains the authoritative history of the town and is frequently cited by modern works. Cheshire County Council and English Heritage stated in a 2003 report that Hall's history, with George Ormerod's history of Cheshire, are the "chief sources for the history of Nantwich."

Civil War journals The great majority of Hall's other works as an author and editor relate to the history of Cheshire. He edited two accounts of the English Civil War in the county as Memorials of the Civil War in Cheshire and the Adjacent Counties by Thomas Malbon and Providence Improved by Edward Burghall, published in 1889. Thomas Malbon's Civil War journal was included in the Cowper manuscript collection of Condover Hall, to which Hall gained access from its owner, Reginald Cholmondeley. "Providence Improved" by Edward Burghall, the Puritan rector of St Mary's Church, Acton, incorporates a version of part of Malbon's writing. Hall gained access to the text from his friend, J. P. Earwaker. Hall's edition places the two diaries side by side, with his annotations, and also includes biographies of the two men. C. B. Phillips, writing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, describes Hall's edition of "Providence Improved" as "well printed" but considers Hall's characterisation of Burghall's reworking of Malbon as plagiarism to "miss the point." Hall was granted access to the documents by Robert Wellington Stapleton-Cotton, 3rd Viscount Combermere, the abbey's owner. At this date, the Reverend A. L. Moir, vicar of St Mary's and St Michael's, Burleydam, also attempted to obtain the manuscript for publication without success. The manuscript, which ran to 780 foolscap sheets and covered many of the small settlements near the abbey, has since been lost. The last gave rise to controversy as Hall inaccurately stated that Tabley Old Hall was "ruinous" when at that date it remained in reasonable repair; its owner, Lady Leighton-Warren, complained and it emerged that Hall, whose health was failing, had based his opinion on postcard images without visiting.

He served as the honorary local secretary for Nantwich of The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire from around 1889 until his death, and was elected to the council of the Chester Archaeological Society in 1908.

Selected publications A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich-Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester (1883) Memorials of the Civil War in Cheshire and the Adjacent Counties by Thomas Malbon and Providence Improved by Edward Burghall (Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society; 1889) [as editor] "The Book of the Abbot of Combermere 1289–1529" (The Record Society; 1896) [as editor] "Cheshire and its Families" in Memorials of Old Cheshire, Barber E, Ditchfield PH, eds, pp. 194–206 (George Allen & Sons; 1910)

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