About four months after the Battle of Waterloo, Mr William James, the land agent for the Earl of Warwick, travelled with two other officers from the Warwick Estate to the Clutton Estate (10 miles south of Bristol) to inspect the coal mines owned by the Earl. These three gentlemen spent the night on the 10th of October at the Talbot Inn in Bristol and presented the bill as part of their expenses claim.
On that autumn night they ordered three dinners: a beef steak, a pair of broiled soles in oyster sauce, and one ‘Broiled Griskin’. A quick Google search for the definition (from Oxford Languages) will tell you that griskin is ‘the lean part of a loin of pork’, what we would probably call a fillet. Collins Dictionary says griskin originated from griss, the old Norse word for pig.
In addition to the meals served, the bill includes the services of a waiter, chambermaid and ostler (‘Hostler’ on the bottom of the photo) as well as transport to Newport. Oh, and having their boots cleaned as well!
Unlikely to be quickly repaid by the Warwick Estate
In total, they paid £3 14s 6d (£3.73 in decimal), which equates to about £380 in today’s money. This was presumably not out of the way for senior officers of the Warwick Estate but, knowing the Earl’s financial affairs, they were probably not compensated all too quickly.
Bearing in mind that a labourer’s annual wage in 1815 was about £15, it would have taken nearly three months for most workers to pay for such an expensive overnight stay. The beds and meals comprised almost £2 of the total, of which nearly 11 shillings (roughly £45 today) was spent on alcohol—the beers, port, brandy and ‘cyder’. Not a bad evening.
Hopefully they were in a fit state to inspect the mines the next day!
Warwickshire County Record Office reference CR1886/503/2 (viii)
This article was originally published in the October 2024 edition of the Friends of the Warwickshire County Record Office newsletter
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