The Hopewell Family
Noah Hopewell - Our friend and benefactor
Vice-President and Chairman of Committee
Published: Basford Bystander issue 132
The Hopewell Family
Noah Hopewell married Margaret Gardener from Glasgow in 1886. He was a builder and the owner of G. Hopewell and Sons, a thriving business situated on Lincoln Street, Basford, which he took over in 1936 when his father George Hopewell died.
After their marriage, Noah and Margaret Hopewell lived at number 19 Lincoln street, Basford where they were blessed with four children – Robert, Winifred, Jessie and Donald.
Noah was a philanthropic man and as well as being a kindly employer was greatly interested in the youngsters of the area. Becoming a great benefactor to the 44th Nottingham Scout Group — which was described in Issue 130 of the Basford Bystander.
He was held in great esteem and when he died at the age of 82 in June 1936 the funeral service at Mansfield Road Baptist Church was full to overflowing.
On Sunday 14 June, a few days after Noah's internment in Nottingham Road Cemetery, the local scouts celebrated his life by holding a memorial service in the Scout Headquarters
Noah and Margaret Hopewell's Children.
Their son, Captain Robert George Hopewell of the Sherwood Forester(Notts and Derby Regiment),was tragically killed in September 1916, during the second battle of the Somme. He was married and Noah paid his widow, Gladys, who lived in Mansfield a pension of £1.00 per week for life. There were no children.
At the time the telegram arrived at the house saying that their son was missing believed killed, a good friend George Spencer, founder of Vedonis, was paying Noah and his wife a visit.
Roberts sister was on a tram in Nottingham in the 1920's and she overheard two ex –soldiers talking together. One was telling the other about how the Germans had blown up a British position and that his officer, Captain Hopewell, had been blown to nothing. ”They couldn't even find his cap badge!”
Jessie went over to them and asked if Captain Hopewell was Robert Hopewell of the Seventeenth Battalion of the Sherwood foresters and the man said that he was. ”That's my brother”, she told him.
Noah's eldest daughter Winifred married and went to live in Hertfordshire but there were no children.
The youngest child Donald Gardner Hopewell, became a lawyer in Lancashire. He together with his sister Jessie opened the brand new Scout Headquarters of the 44th Nottingham Troop in May 1972. Appropriately, the new building was near to the Hopewells' original home.
Donald died in 1983 at the age of 92. In his will he bequeathed one of the country's finest collections of Georgian silver to his native city of Nottingham.
As for Jessie Hopewell she was born in Lincoln street, Basford in August 1888 and Baptised at Mansfield road Baptist Church in 1906. She married Arthur Bedward Spencer, the eldest son of the founder of Vedonis, George Spencer and Basford girl Clara Brown. Arthur inherited his mothers red hair and it was his father who was visiting the Hopewells when the fateful telegraph arrived.
Arthur joined the Spencer firm in 1910 when he was nineteen. He was sent to America soon afterwards and gained invaluable technical information that enabled his firm to excel rivals in quality control.
At the end of the war, Arthur re-entered the the Spencer family business and went on to become director of the George Spencer Ltd, Vedonis hoisery works at Basford and the subsidiary firm of W .E. Saxby Ltd, bleachers and dyers of Bar Lane Basford.
He and Jesse lived and farmed on an extensive scale at Blidworth Dale where they lived for the last 10-12 years of Arthurs life. They had no children.
Arthur was very interested in the Scouting Movement and became president of the 44th Nottingham Basford Scout Troop. Consequently he was happy to allow the youngsters to use his land at Blidworth Dale where the troop held regular Scout Camps.
In 1938,at the age of 48, Arthur Spencer died unexpectedly from peritonitis following an operation . His death was a tragedy for his family and his firm never recovered from his untimely death.
Jesse, now a widow, moved from Blidworth Dale to the Old Rectory in Linby where she lived until her death. She became a member of the Baptist Housing Association in 1969 and before she died in May 1978, set up the charity Jesse Spencer Trust. Even to this day the Trust continues to help people in the Nottingham area and recently contributed financially towards the building of “Spencer Court” a warden aided complex on Sherwood Rise.
Noah Hopewell and his wife Margaret would have been proud of her.
