The Allinson Family of the Black Lion Hotel, Finkle Street, Richmond The Black Lion has been a hotel since Georgian times, and then as now one of the more prestigious places of hospitality in Richmond. Thus to be its licensee for some years was a status of some distinction in the town. John and Elizabeth Allinson were successively to fulfil that role for nearly 30 years. John and Elizabeth were married at St Marys Church in Richmond on 12 April 1879. He was about 29 and already living in Richmond, and his occupation was given as a coachman. His father Joseph was also an innkeeper at that time, though apparently not in Richmond. Elizabeth Carr, aged about 21, came from Kirkby Ravensworth where her father Robert was a blacksmith. After they had been married over four years, their only child was born and baptised in Richmond parish church on 16 December 1883, their son was named Robert Carr Allinson after his maternal grandfather. By this time Johns occupation was given as innkeeper, though he seems not yet to have held the licence for the Black Lion. He was apparently a supporter of the parish church, contributing to the appeal for new bells in 1905, and also the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cyclists Meet - now known as the Richmond Meet - he advertised in their programmes 1907-11, the large numbers of visitors the Meet brought to the town would be good for business. John Allinson died 7 January 1913 aged 62, and Elizabeth carried on at the Black Lion, continuing to support the Meet 1913-19. Son Robert became a veterinary surgeon. On 16 April 1921 when he was 38 and a Captain in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps he married Margaret Ethel Johnson in Richmond Church. Her father William was also an innkeeper somewhere outside Richmond, but she was working here as the bookkeeper at the Kings Head Hotel. Robert and Margaret quickly had two children, John Carr Allinson and Margaret Ethel Elizabeth Allinson. The family lived at the Black Lion with his mother Elizabeth, but sadly this was not destined to last long. Elizabeth died on 1 April 1924, and only 3 weeks later Robert died on 22 April at the age of 40, leaving Margaret with a two-year old son and daughter a few months old. Robert was buried in his parents grave in Richmond Cemetery on Reeth Road, and a tombstone commemorates the three of them. Margaret and the children presumably now had to move out of the Black Lion, and a long line of innkeepers in the family was broken.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 21:11:04 +0000
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