Ossett - the history of a Yorkshire town

Ossett People - The Inghams

The Inghams are one of the oldest recorded families in Ossett, dating back at least to the time of the English Civil War. The earliest recorded Ossett Ingham is William Ingham (1615-1670) who was a felt maker, yeoman and Ossett landowner.

Descended from this same Ossett family are the Joshua Inghams of Blake Hall, Thornhill and the third Joshua Ingham of this line (1802-1866) was to employ Anne Brontë, who wrote the partly biographical novel "Agnes Grey" in 1847, describing her somewhat difficult time at Blake Hall as a Governess to the Ingham's two eldest children, Cunliffe and Mary. Master Tom, the brat-from-hell was actually (Joshua) Cunliffe Ingham and his precocious sister, Miss Mary Ann, was really his younger sibling Mary Ingham. In the novel, Blake Hall became Wellwood House and the Inghams, the Bloomfields. However, the Inghams, dissatisfied with their children's progress, dismissed Anne Brontë within a year.

Another son of Joshua Ingham III and younger brother of Cunliffe Ingham was William Bairstow Ingham (1850-1878) who it is said was the first "Crocodile Dundee" when he killed a 13ft man-eating, saltwater crocodile on the Barron River, near Cairns in Queensland. He first shot the crocodile but didn't kill it, so he dived on top of it as it escaped back into the river and then despatched it with his bare hands by plunging a hunting knife into its throat. The incident was reported in the London ‘Times’ by an unknown writer who described him as ‘very much a man – reckless and fearless’. Sadly, William Ingham met a very grizzly death, when he was killed and eaten by cannibals on Brooker Island in New Guinea in December 1878. The town of Ingham in Queensland is named after him.

Two of Ossett's most notable men, who are both descended from the same Ingham family above, were both called Benjamin Ingham, but lived at different times. Much has been written about the Benjamin Ingham, who formed the Inghamite Church and who came to prominence after going to the USA with the Wesley brothers. However, by far the most interesting of the two Ossett-born Benjamin Inghams is the younger Ingham (1786-1861), the great-nephew of the earlier Benjamin Ingham (1712-1762), but who is hardly known outside of Sicily, where he moved to live and work in 1806.

Not much has been written about this little-known Ingham, who it is said was possibly the greatest tycoon England has ever known. Ingham made his fortune in Sicily, but invested heavily in the rapidly expanding 19th century economy of the USA. In 1861, when he died, Benjamin Ingham left a substantial fortune valued even then at £12,000,000. By 2006, that would be the equivalent to well over £1 billion or possibly even more, depending on the method of valuation used. Ingham was a consummate but ruthless businessman and he was helped in the "concern" by five of his Ingham and Whitaker nephews who all moved to Sicily. When the first nephew, William Ingham Whitaker died mysteriously of fever in 1818, Ingham reputedly wrote home to his sister in Ossett "your son has died, please send me another one!" although this is probably family legend. However, the Whitakers were to inherit his massive fortune, which over the next 70 years or so, they proceeded to spend at an impressive rate.

In his mid-30s, Ingham met Alessandra Spadafora, the Duchess di Santa Rosalia, a widow six years his senior with four adult sons. He was to live with her quite openly for about 15 years. He allegedly married the Duchess in 1836, after first getting her to sign what must have been one of the first pre-nuptial agreements in history. A large quantity of the acerbic letters written by Benjamin Ingham survive him and are in the possession of the Whitaker family in the form of bound letter-books. They provide an amazing insight into his life, the turbulent history of Sicily and the way that Ingham expanded his extensive business empire. What follows is a brief history of Benjamin Ingham's life.

The Ossett Godfather

Benjamin Ingham of Palermo (1784 - 1861)

Introduction
Benjamin Ingham, the youngest of six children, was born into the family of Ossett cloth merchant William Ingham (1730-1806) on the 24th October 1784. It was this same family of Ossett Inghams that had produced another Benjamin Ingham (1712-1762), who went on to work with the Wesley brothers and form the Inghamite Church referenced elsewhere on this website.

Probably, the most notable of all Ossett’s sons, the life of Benjamin Ingham was more remarkable than that of his religious great-uncle and namesake who had died before he was born. In 1806, at the height of the Napoleonic wars between Britain and France, Ingham moved to Sicily as a representative of the Leeds-based family firm of Ingham Brothers & Co. after being jilted by the mercenary Anne Brook, probably because he lost all his money in a failed business deal.

In Sicily, he soon branched out in his own right to become one of the richest and most powerful men on the island. By today’s values, he was a millionaire many times over. Ingham built a huge business dynasty in Sicily with massive investments in the USA, all with the help of five of his Ingham and Whitaker nephews, three of whom died whilst working for him, one by committing suicide. He tamed the Sicilian Mafia, became a Sicilian Baron and moved in the highest circles of Sicilian society, commanding considerable respect by loaning money to some of the nobility. He learned to speak fluent Italian with a marked Sicilian accent, tinged with a touch of Yorkshire. His story is one of failed romances, family tragedy, business success by sheer ruthlessness and eventually, a putative marriage to a highly-sexed Italian Duchess, Alessandra Spadafora, Duchess di Santa Rosalia who was nearly six years his senior, but whom he plainly adored. Ingham’s delightful house in Palermo, Palazzo Ingham, became the city’s Grand Hotel et Des Palmes in 1874, and his hugely successful Marsala wine business was eventually nationalised by Mussolini in 1927 and is now owned by the Cinzano Company. 

Above: Benjamin Ingham aged 57 years at the height of his power. It is said that he was the richest man in Sicily in the 19th century and the leader of the British merchants based there.

Ingham had no children, so his Sicilian business empire and substantial fortune was passed on after his death in 1861 to his nephews, the Whitakers and the Inghams who all had strong Ossett connections through their parents and other close family members. What follows shows that Whitakers were not shy in spending the legacy that had been left to them.

Benjamin Ingham was always determined never to return to Yorkshire until he was rich enough to buy up the whole of his native Ossett. Within a couple of decades, he could have easily have been able to fulfil this ambition had he so wished. In the event, it was not until after his death that £1,000 of his fortune was bequeathed towards the construction of the new Anglican Church of Holy Trinity in Church Street, Ossett.

Ingham Family Tree
William Ingham and Betty Fearnley were married at All Saint’s Church in Wakefield on the 27th February 1769 and set up home in Ossett, where they had six children as shown in the chart below. Elizabeth Ingham died shortly after birth, but the rest of the children survived into adulthood. Three of the sons, including Benjamin were to form the family business of Ingham Bros & Co. in Hunslet, Leeds where several of them moved to live after leaving the family homestead in Ossett. The five nephews that worked for Benjamin Ingham in Sicily are shown with a link to their respective parents.

The Early Life of Benjamin Ingham
The Inghams were quite a wealthy Ossett family and Benjamin had acquired a taste for foreign travel when he was a teenager. Young and self assured, with a fashionable “first-consulate” haircut, he had travelled to Paris in 1802 after the Peace of Amiens. His elder brother Joshua Ingham had travelled to Rome in 1804 with a forged American passport and perhaps Benjamin’s subsequent interest in America was stimulated by his great-uncle’s religious reputation there? Ingham became a partner in the family business of Ingham Brothers & Co. based at Hunslet, Leeds who were merchants and cloth manufacturers.

1806 was a bad year for 22 year-old Ingham. He had been jilted by the mercenary Anne Brook (born 1789) of Healey Hall, Honley, near Huddersfield. Anne Brook was the elder sister of Thomas Brook (born 1798), who had married Benjamin’s niece Ann Ingham, the daughter of his elder brother Joseph Ingham. Miss Brook had loftier ambitions than young Benjamin Ingham and she decided against marrying him in 1806. She waited until 1821, when she was 32, before marrying her wealthy cousin Charles Brook (born 1792), a partner in James Brook Brothers and Bentley Silk Mills. It is possible that Anne Brook called off the marriage because in 1806, a ship in which Benjamin Ingham had invested all his money had been lost at sea.

Above: Benjamin Ingham aged 18 in 1802 pictured here in Paris with his then highly fashionable "first consulate" haircut.

Faced with these vicissitudes, Ingham readily accepted the opportunity of a working trip to Sicily in 1806, selling cloth and woollens, on behalf of Ingham Brothers & Co. in the wake of the British Expeditionary Force, that had occupied Sicily from the beginning of February 1806. These were difficult times for English trade when from the 21st November 1806, Napoleon had blockaded a large part of Europe in what was known as the Continental System. In the early 1800s, Sicily along with Malta became the centres of English trade in the Mediterranean. From these places, the products of the British colonies as well as those from British industry were smuggled into the blockaded ports along the coast of the Mediterranean. 

By 1811, British troops in Sicily numbered some 17,000. However, Ingham and his fellow English merchants were not there to satisfy the needs of the army and the Mediterranean fleet, but because the geographical position of Sicily was suitable for shipping goods secretly to the western coastline of Italy and even to southern France.

Ingham was captivated immediately by the beauty of Sicily in contrast to the grimy, smoke polluted city of Leeds that he had come from. Ingham wrote home in astonishment about Palermo and the view of Conca d’Oro, “more beautiful than the Garden of Hesperides” and that he could see from Monte Pellegrino, "the smoke rising from Mount Etna." He noted in his Will that 1812 was the year that he definitely decided to stay for the rest of his life in Palermo.

Above: Map of Sicily showing the location of Marsala on the west coast of the island. In the early days, the only way of travelling between Palermo and Marsala was by ship since the overland route was extremely difficult and the roads and tracks were poorly developed.

Almost from the start, Ingham, always the consummate businessman, had not only been acting as representative for Ingham Bros. & Co., but had also been carrying on trade on his own account. By 1809, Ingham was importing English merchandise and exporting Sicilian produce such as barilla, sumac, olive oil, citrus fruit, rags and sulphur to England and more especially to America.  Benjamin later visited Boston in the USA with a view to employing Messrs. Greenhough, a father and son, as his agents in New England. They had previously demonstrated their skills by disposing successfully of a modest shipment of oranges and lemons that Ingham had sent across the Atlantic a couple of years earlier. 

More Woman Trouble
In 1808, a couple of years after Ingham had arrived in Palermo, he was rapidly establishing himself as a successful merchant despite being only 24 years of age. One June evening that year at a 'flambeaux' procession along the marina in Palermo, Ingham was instantly captivated by the sight of Esther Maria (Estina) Fagan, the beautiful 16 year-old daughter of Robert Fagan and his attractive Italian wife Anna Maria, who had died in 1800. Fagan was a cultivated man of Irish descent, who had worked as a portrait painter in his earlier days and later became a noted archaeologist. He became the British Consul-General for Sicily and Malta in 1809. When the French had occupied Rome in 1798, Fagan made a fortune from some very shady art dealings, but his Bohemian lifestyle and continual money worries were to be his downfall. He committed suicide by jumping from a window in August 1816.

There were more trips with the Fagan family through heavily scented orange groves to Monreale and to Bagheria, where under enormous palms, the party ate sorbets made with snow-water from Etna. It was even suggested that they might make an expedition to the volcano. Sadly, Estina Fagan did not reciprocate Benjamin Ingham's love and Fagan didn't encourage it, since he had loftier ambitions for his daughter than this blunt, young Yorkshireman. They were awaiting the return of a much bigger fish; Estina's fiancé, William Baker, the grandson of the Governor of the Hudson Bay and East India Companies, who was an heir to 'Bayfordbury', an eighteenth century mansion, north of London. A year later, Estina and William Baker were married. It was thanks to William Baker's father that Fagan obtained his appointment as British Consul in 1809, before this the Fagans had lived in Rome.

Ingham was deeply upset with yet another romantic failure, and probably for this reason, he decided to escape to Boston in the USA where he set up an agency for his burgeoning export business. In fact, 1809 would be the only time that he ever visited the USA, despite the massive investments he made there in the next fifty years. After his failures with Anne Brook and Estina Fagan, there were no other recorded liaisons and Ingham stayed unattached until he met the Duchess di Rosalia around 12 years later.

Marsala
Soon after he arrived in Sicily in 1806, Benjamin Ingham visited Marsala on the western coast of the island where “Old John”, John Woodhouse (1766-1826) had established his 'baglio' producing the fortified Marsala wine favoured by Lord Nelson. Ingham knew immediately that he had stumbled upon a goldmine! So taken was Ingham with Woodhouse’s Marsala wine operation that in 1807, he arranged for his brother Joshua, who had recently been in America, to visit several leading wine makers in Spain and Portugal in order to study the methods employed there in producing fortified wines.

Woodhouse's success attracted competition and in 1812, Benjamin Ingham started building his own 'baglio'' just one mile down the road, much to Woodhouse's annoyance. Early on, Ingham employed a cockney called John Lee-Brown as his manager to run the new 'baglio' in Marsala. Almost from the start, there were problems with Lee-Brown. His presence at Marsala became more and more irksome, and Ingham was not one to hide his feelings.

Many of the first letters are to Lee-Brown or about him and trace the almost inevitable path to the great break-up. Ingham's forthright and impatient nature is revealed almost at once. His early letters also show the anxious time he was having, trying to establish a firm demand for his wine in the USA. This anxiety was to continue well into 1818, although by the end of the year, he was obviously more confident. Lee-Brown was permanently based at Marsala and would ship the wine to Palermo, where Ingham would find some sea captain willing to ship it to the USA or England. Woodhouse's marsala was undoubtedly the market leader and this was very annoying to Ingham. In February 1816, he told Lee-Brown that an American captain had arrived in Palermo wanting 50 pipes (500 gallons) of marsala, but "as usual will only have Woodhouse's."

In fact, it was Ingham who first established a series of rules and standards for the production of Marsala, and he and his nephew Joseph Whitaker, with the help of 'baglio' manager Richard Stephens, established what was to become the town's leading firm. The trade in Marsala wine prospered, peaking around 1870 at an annual production of some 50,000 gallons. Tastes and fashions changed however, and then at the beginning of the new century the phylloxera disease decimated Europe's vineyards and greatly reduced the production of Marsala.

"I cannot stand the fleas with which your house is pestered."
Ingham was irritated by Lee-Brown's complacency and his blind time-wasting and money-wasting ideas about alternative markets, which always failed. Lee-Brown wouldn't listen to advice. For instance, in spite of everything Ingham had said previously, he continued to make the wine far too dark. Ingham insisted that it should be the colour of madeira, since the buyers would not take dark coloured marsala. Lee-Brown was also extravagant and there was very little at all that could be found in his favour. Ingham couldn't bear the situation any longer and wrote:

"To John Lee-Brown,
Marsala

25th April 1816

I have received your several letters. I give no reply whatever to the first. Your drafts have been paid, but you must not draw for any more money as I have advanced already more than I engaged to do, and your conduct is not such as to induce me to go deeper, even if I had all the money in Palermo at my command.

I will endeavour to be in Marsala in eight or ten days time, but I request that you will procure a lodging for me in the town, as I cannot stand the fleas with which your house is pestered.

Benjamin Ingham"

The visit subsequently took place and Ingham found that Lee-Brown was shipping wine to Boston before it was properly matured. Ingham was incensed and very worried that the "Concern's" reputation in that city could be ruined forever. Lee-Brown for his part was grumbling constantly about overwork and the lack of staff at Marsala. Ingham knew he was a liability and had to go.

In June 1817, Ingham decided to get rid of Lee-Brown. The portly Abbot of Marsala was called in by Ingham to take temporary charge of the 'baglio'. No doubt, he was the distributor of the local "beni della chiesa" (goods of the Church), and as the local people held him in much awe, he must have been the equivalent of the 'Capo Mafioso'. A very useful ally, especially when it came to influencing judges and lawyers, so Ingham was always careful to flatter him.

It was the good Abbot who eventually drew Ingham's attention to the fact that there was, at the 'baglio' a young English clerk named Richard Stephens who was perfectly capable and trustworthy. Stephens, an earnest young man, though with some fire in his veins, was one of the type that Ingham seemed fated to attract. He had been hired by Lee-Brown the previous year, without Ingham's permission. Richard Stephens would become Ingham's business partner by 1826 when the firm Ingham, Stephens & Co. was established.

Lee-Brown took his dismissal badly. He tried to spread a rumour that Ingham was covered in tattoos, and that he was an escaped convict. The story took quite a lot of dismissing and rumours of it were whispered by Ingham's detractors right until his death. Lee-Brown's behaviour was getting increasing peculiar. One day he met Ingham in Palermo and started braying like a donkey. On another occasion, he danced a Highland Fling outside Ingham's counting house, his hat adorned with peacock feathers. He continued to stalk and insult Ingham for some years and tried hard to discredit him.

Meantime, the sly Abbot was trying to heal the rift between Ingham and Woodhouse. Woodhouse was a bachelor and probably homosexual, so the Abbot knowing of 'Old John's' penchant for fresh and youthful Englishmen sent Richard Stephens to inquire after Woodhouse's gout. The ruse worked miraculously, so much so that there were fears that Stephens might be lured to work at the Woodhouse 'baglio'. In the event, Stephens did continue working for Ingham, but it was a close run thing and Ingham wrote to the Abbot and asked him to tell Stephens "not to be so cheeky" when he was writing to Ingham, even if he hadn't been paid for several months.

Once Stephens got over any initial difficulties with his working relationship with Ingham, he started to manage the 'baglio' at Marsala with enthusiasm and not a little skill. Stephens had the 'baglio' buildings substantially enlarged over a five year period, no doubt with Ingham's prior consent. By 1826, there was a large cooperage shop employing as many as sixty men and boys. There was a smithy, a carpenter's shop, a canteen for the workers and two distilleries for making brandy. Coal to run the steam-powered machinery was imported from England. A special 'palmento' was built for treading out grapes and new rotary machinery had been bought for washing out wine casks. There were twenty-seven wine stores, not located underground, as they often are in Spain, but long, each about 150 yards, and lofty with picturesque vaulted ceilings, Gothic in style.

The storehouses are still in use today, but the central building where Stephens would have lived and where Ingham would have stayed on his trips to Marsala is now derelict. It was a fine looking building, almost on the scale of a colonial mansion in the southern states of the USA. It was flat-roofed with two storeys. A portico ran the length of the building downstairs to provide shade, whilst the first floor had seven French windows leading on to a balustraded balcony with eight pairs of columns. In front is a large courtyard, which used to have arcades along each side. In true Ingham style, the house was much grander than the house at 'Baglio Woodhouse'.

Stephens had an eye for landscape. He planted oleanders and fig trees in strategic places and made a pergola of vines. He also built a summerhouse to catch the breezes from the sea. In the centre of the garden, there was a large white 'gebbia' or Saracenic cistern, which was filled from a nearby well by a chain of buckets worked by a blindfolded mule.

Villa Ingham (left), known as 'Racalia', stands on a west-facing ridge overlooking the vineyards towards Motya, just two miles from the coast between the towns of Marsala and Trapani in Western Sicily. The central part of the Villa was built between 1790 and 1820 for signor Spano, the Bishop of Mazara. It was bought by Benjamin Ingham, in 1840 and he added the wings to the grand house, making it typical of an English expatriate's retreat, serene and unpretentious among tall trees, luxuriant shrubs, peacocks and fountains.

Ingham actually purchased 'Racalia' for his wife, the Duchessa di Santa Rosalia, who had taken an immediate dislike to Stephens and the 'baglio'. She hated the "trying fumes" of the fermented grapes, the noise of the workers hammering away making barrels from imported oak staves and the rolling out of the heavy 100 gallon barrels of wine for shipping, right there in front of the house at Marsala.

Although these were certainly good reasons for buying 'Racalia' as far as Ingham and the Duchess were concerned, perhaps just as important was the fact that the water supply for Marsala at that time came mostly, if not entirely, from the abundant spring in the grounds of 'Racalia', which thereafter Benjamin Ingham controlled.

Surrounded by trees, many of which are over 100 years old, 'Racalia' looks out over the sea to the Stagnone and Egadi Islands with a view to the fabled Mount Eryx away to the right. Below, are formal gardens which are presently being restored and, beyond them, a grove of young olives, planted in December 1999, and orange and lemon trees. The property covers about 40 hectares (100 acres) in all. Benjamin Ingham was the great, great uncle of the present owner, who inherited the house in 1977 from his cousin, Manfred Pedicini.

Marriage to the Duchess di Santa Rosalia
In 1836, Benjamin Ingham decided that he should make an honest woman of the Duchess and marry her, or at least enter into some kind of civil ceremony that had all the appearance of marriage. He had, after all, been living with her, in sin, for about fifteen years. It is true that no records exist of the ceremony and when the Duchess died in 1867, the name Ingham was not present on her death certificate. Clearly, some kind of ceremony did take place in 1836, but whether it was a true marriage has never been fully proven. Ingham did not claim any of the Duchess's titles, which would have been worth his while. He did take the trouble to obtain royal confirmation of the title of Baron of Manchi e Scala, his 580 acre Sicilian feudo carrying with it the right to the title. Palmeritan nobles found Benjamin Ingham too useful as a source of borrowing money (which Ingham was happy to do at 7% interest) to make any objection to the union.

Ingham referred to the Duchess in his Will as "my beloved wife" but it seems increasingly likely that they only went through with a civil ceremony giving the appearance of marriage to mitigate the perpetual gossip at the British Consul's office. There is a comment in a letter held by the Whitaker family that "before his marriage, Mr. Ingham with his usual forethought, made the Duchess sign a declaration renouncing all rights to any claim on his fortune." Could this be one of the first pre-nuptial agreements in history and a forerunner of what has become common today, particularly with celebrity couples?

When Ingham's nephew, Joseph Whitaker got engaged to Sophia Sanderson, the Duchess would have seen any chance of inheritance slipping away from her sons and their descendants. Ingham was now 53, a dangerous age for an active businessman, with the increased chance of a heart attack or worse. She must have insisted on the marriage ceremony and he in turn would have gone through the performance of drawing up the pre-nuptial agreement to satisfy Joseph. After the signing, the document must have disappeared or been destroyed, otherwise Joseph and his wife Sophia would not have worried so much about their inheritance when they started having children of their own.

However, it is certain that before the "marriage" with the Duchess in 1836, Ingham wanted any arrangements to be kept secret so he could announce the union afterwards. However, his nephew Joseph Whitaker, who was strongly opposed to the marriage, had learned of Ingham's plans. Part of a letter survives from Joseph Whitaker to his elder brother Joshua, who lived in Ossett (and later built Croft House). It shows that Joseph had more humour than one might expect from his looks.

"My Dear Brother

I now proceed to give you some domestic intelligence. In the first place, I regret to inform you that I am still kept at this place what with business and what with our interrupted intercourse with the continent owing to the cholera at Naples, while my intended better half is waiting for me in the city. And when I shall be able to join her, I do not know. My uncle, I believe, is determined not to let me go till April, which is the more provoking as in the course of a short time, we shall absolutely have nothing in the world in the way of business to prevent my going, but as the Sicilians say - pazienza - which you will not be at any great loss to guess, means in English, patience.

The Other Marriage in the Family will take place very soon if we are to believe what we hear on the subject. Should my uncle ever take it into his head to take the Lady over with him to England, you would of course have an opportunity of making the acquaintance of your new Aunt, and Ossett would no doubt be graced with her Grace's presence. You could not do otherwise than have the Old House put to rights somewhat to receive such a distinguished visitor, and I will take care to inform you beforehand in order that you may have plenty of time to order furniture, etc., of which you will need the value of a full £500 to make things at all befitting for the occasion.

And now my dear Jos, I must come to a conclusion for Ben is waiting for me to have our punch, which we take regularly almost every night - and I am besides tired of writing, not being accustomed much to it by candlelight. Pray give my best love to my mother and believe me always very truly.

Your Aff Brother,

Joseph Whitaker "

The Duchess di Santa Rosalia (pictured left) born 18th May 1778, had four sons of her own, Federico, Domenico, Carmelo and Carlo (Ascenso). The eldest, Federico was married to an heiress and had a daughter, Francesca, who was the Duchess's eventual heir. The other three were unmarried and penniless. Ingham's relatives in Palermo disliked her because, with her own children's future in mind, she was quick to point out any shortcomings in Ingham's nephews and their families. Joseph and Sophia Whitaker, whose children were the most likely heirs were especially wary of her.

The Duchess's real name was Alessandra Spadafora and she was also the owner of a long string of other titles: Princess of Venetico, Princess of Maletto, Marchesa of San Martino, Marchesa of Roccella and Baroness of Mazara. A little withdrawn, she had a typical southern European face, with black eyes and in her younger days, jet black hair. Her love of rouge made her an extraordinary creature to some, but there were plenty of men who found her attractive. The Duchess had a strong will and a sharp tongue for anyone who crossed her and there were frequent tiffs with Ingham. She didn't speak any English, but Ingham had learned Italian and spoke the language fluently with a Sicilian accent tinged with a touch of Yorkshire.

Her husband, Pietro Ascenso, the Duke of Santa Rosalia had died in 1821 in a sea battle against the Turks. Previously a baron, he had bought his dukedom in 1812, at the height of the British occupation of Sicily. It was his second marriage and he had been married previously to the sister of the Prince of Palagonia.

It is likely that Alessandra had begun living with Benjamin Ingham soon after the death of her husband. It is said that she was a very highly-sexed woman and Ingham plainly adored her and there was no other woman and never would be for the rest of his long life. She died on the 18th January 1866, nearly five years after Ingham, aged 87.

Ingham was obviously fond of her sons, however extravagant or un-businesslike they might have been and this was an ominous situation for his potential British heirs. The second son, Domenico had considered going to Marsala to work with Ingham's nephew Joseph Ingham to learn the wine trade. However, once he met the dour Joseph in Palermo, he soon changed his mind and clearly the two young men did not get on.

Building Ingham's Fortune
Ingham invested heavily in the USA, largely because he had a lot of capital as a result of selling significant quantities of marsala wine and other commodities like sulphur. The empty ships often carried back to Sicily oak staves for the manufacture of of wine barrels or 100 gallon "pipes" at the Marsala baglio. At the height of his career in the 1830s and 1840s, Ingham was an importer and exporter; he owned several ships in which he traded with England and America and provided shipping space for other mercantile houses in Sicily. In Palermo, he carried on a wholesale retail trade in a variety of products, engaged in the land mortgage business, and provided banking services. He had a joint venture with Prince Pantelleria in Sicilian sulphur mines and his Marsala winery became the largest on the island.

This coincided with the boom in American railway and canal building, but also with a period of great industrial development, especially in New England. In order to get any of his money from America, Ingham had to route it through London, thereby losing up to 20% in commission to middlemen. This, naturally did not play well with Ingham and he preferred to leave his money in America.

Much of the wine that Ingham, Whitaker & Co. sent to the USA was consigned to Barclay and Livingston, a New York firm of wine sellers. One of the members of this firm, Schuyler Livingston was to act for more than 20 years as Ingham's investment agent in the USA and as such was the real architect of his fabulous wealth. He was another of those office-bound "desk men" and his whole life, from boyhood, was devoted to the mercantile profession. He had no ambition outside of it was said that in the 43 years since he first swept out the office as an under-clerk, that he had never been out of the city of New York more than a week at a time. Livingston invested Ingham's money in real estate of Fifth Avenue and vast tracts of farmland in Michigan.

The bigger money rolled in during the 1850s. In the early days, Livingston wisely concentrated on making use of the canal boom, again mostly in the states of New York and Michigan. Thus Ingham in due course found himself owning stock worth $100,000 in the St. Mary Falls Ship Canal Company. By 1844, most of the canals had been dug, and Livingston turned his attention to the railways. In this he had a great asset, for Livingston was a close friend of Erastus Corning, a hugely wealthy merchant from Albany, NY and for a while a senator (1842 - 46). Corning was the President of the St Mary Falls Ship Canal Company and also the President of the Utica and Schenectady railroad, which was by far the richest and most powerful of the railroads between Albany and Buffalo in New York and in which Ingham obtained a majority holding of 669 shares. In 1853, Corning consolidated nine railways, including the Utica and Schenectady into one system; the New York Central Railroad. This new company was capitalised for $23,000,000 USD and thus became the largest public corporation in America. Ingham received compensatory stock, which by 1860 was worth $640,000 USD, equivalent to 3 per cent of the company.

Not all of Ingham's investments were in America. He owned stock worth at least £100,000 in the Lemberg and Czernowitz railway in the old Austrian Empire (now Ukraine) built by Englishman Thomas Brassey and almost as much in the Antwerp and Rotterdam railway. He had several properties in Paris and about £75.000 invested in the French railways. As far as England was concerned, he had £40,000 in 3% English Consuls plus railway and other sundry stock to the value of about £150,000. Mysteriously, when he died and when his Will was proved, his English estate was only valued at £14,000 suggesting some impropriety.

Public Acclaim for Ingham
The year 1839 was to be a landmark year for Ingham's business empire and it was announced that from the 30th June 1839, the firm of Ingham, Stephens would be opening a new London office. The London concern was to be run by Richard Stephens, who somehow had managed to escape from Sicily and return to London at the height of the cholera epidemic in 1837. It thus fell to Ingham's nephew, Joshua Ingham to take charge of the 'baglio' at Marsala.

Towards the end of 1839, and to massive public acclaim, Ingham's brig the 'Elisa' had arrived back in Sicily from Sumatra laden with pepper. This was the first such cargo to arrive in Sicily direct from the East Indies. Previously, all spices had arrived via New England and then usually via London. Such was the level of excitement in Sicily that the cargo was allowed to be landed free of any duty charges, which pleased Ingham greatly.

Above: Brig 'Elisa' in 1836.

Any prejudice the Italians had against the resident English merchants as a result of the sulphur dispute was shelved for the time being. Benjamin Ingham himself was honoured with the 'Order of St. Ferdinand' by King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, who was in Palermo at the time. The captain of the 'Elise' Vincenzo Di Bartolo was given the gold medal of civil merit and the second officer, Federico Montechiaro was granted the right to wear the uniform of the Royal Navy of the Bourbons.

Despite the great public acclaim in Sicily for Ingham's enterprise, in fact it was his nephew, Ben Ingham Jr.'s idea and he simply ignored the advice of his uncle who wanted to send 'Elisa' as usual to Cuba or Bahia in Brazil. Ben Ingham Jr, was based in the USA in 1838/39 as Ingham's business representative and he arranged for the 'Elise' to sail to Sumatra. At the time, Benjamin Ingham wrote this letter to his nephew dated 26th February 1839:

"I must say that I do not at all approve your determination to send Elisa to the East Indies for pepper, nor am I aware that I ever gave you the faculty to do so, as she is too small for such voyages, therefore nearly one eighth of her room is taken up with water and provisions for the crew. I expect, however, that after consulting Captain di Bartolo, you will have determined differently at the cost of sending her back to Sicily with oak staves from Boston or from Norfolk should nothing better have been offered, for instance cotton from some port in the south for Marseilles or Trieste."

Ben Ingham Jr.'s idea to bypass the New England merchants had been unheard of previously. The 'Elisa' had been built in Sicily, which was another source of great national pride. Ingham was part of a consortium of rich Sicilians who bought the first steamship for Palermo. The new steamship was built in Glasgow and was, not surprisingly, named 'Palermo'. She went into regular service in 1841.

When, in June 1851, Ingham officially retired and handed over the reins of running the business to Joseph Whitaker, Ingham could afford to live almost as well as the Neapolitan Viceroy. He had been created a baron, through his marriage to the Duchess and he was on familiar terms with the highest ranking families on the island, many of which owed him money.

Ingham's Last years
To most of the Inghams and Whitakers, Benjamin Ingham was regarded as a bit of a tyrant, and his temper was supposed only to be equalled by that of his paramour, the Duchess di Santa Rosalia. It is likely that he treated his family harshly and being childless, he knew that they were after his money. He therefore indulged in a cruel game based on the contents of his Will: cutting people out, putting others in, raising hopes and dropping hints about heirs, so encouraging people to dance to his tune, often in humiliating ways.

It was said that Ingham hated waste of any kind and he does seem to have had a parsimonious side to his character. As an example, he complained constantly in letters to Ben Ingham Jr. when he was working on Ingham's behalf in the USA about his habit of staying in expensive hotels. Ingham hated bores, humbugs and people who procrastinated and would have had a hard time with some of the British and Sicilian bureaucrats that he came into contact with. He didn't mind rivals in business, provided he was satisfied that they were playing it straight, although he himself was not shy in offering bribes to the right people if he thought it might oil the wheels of commerce in his favour. With simple, guileless folk, he could be extremely charming since they posed no threat.

Above: A portrait of Benjamin Ingham, date unknown, but clearly when he was into middle age. It is said that a single glance of his portrait was enough to show that he was a man of exceptional intelligence and vigour, without a vestige of pomposity and completely sure of himself. His features were regular, his mouth and jaw firm, his eyes and hair dark. His build was heavy, his fingers thick and stub-ended. In middle age, he seems to have developed a liking for horizontally striped waistcoats. But for the clothes, his picture might be that of any modern boardroom giant the world over.

In the 1850s, Ingham and the Duchess moved to a pleasant eighteenth century villa in the Piano Sant'Oliva overlooking what is now known as the Piazza Castelnuovo, then just outside the city walls of Palermo. There exists a letter, which describes a party that was held at the Ingham house in January 1852 written by a young English woman, Mrs Tidman, to her sister. She was the wife of the Reverend Arthur Tidman, who had come to Palermo that winter because of his health and was acting as chaplain to the Protestant community, with whom he was very popular.

Palermo 24th and 31st January 1852

My dearest Ellen,

We have been rather gay this week for us. On Tuesday, we were at a large evening party given by Mr. Ingham, the English Croesus of these parts and the Duchess di Santa Rosalia, his wife. He is the greatest grower of marsala wine on the island, which he asserts furnishes the greater part of the wine drunk in England as madeira. He has resided in Sicily for about forty years and by energy and capital has introduced immense improvements both in the growing and making of wine for which he has been rewarded by the the title of Cavaliere of the Order of St. Ferdinand and another, but I forget what. He accordingly, always wears a blue and red ribband in his buttonhole. He is also a Barone of Sicily. Most of his life, he lived at Marsala [sic], and for some years he has entirely retired from active business and settled in Palermo, where he has married the widow of a certain Duke of Santa Rosalia. In consequence of this connection, he has associated much more with Sicilians and much less with English society than any other of what we call the colony. Still, he is a very stout Protestant and he professes great attachment to the Church and subscribes 60 ounces a year (£36 UKP - a lot in those days) and he has presented a silver community plate.

He treated us with great courtesy, hoped soon to see us to dinner and made an offer, which all Arthur's friends owe him great gratitude. We have been very anxious ever since we have been here to prevail on someone to read the lessons, which would be a great relief to Arthur. We have nearly once or twice prevailed upon the British Consul, but would not. On Tuesday, Mr. Ingham with many expressions of concern for Arthur's health most kindly volunteered to undertake the office. He was very kind in his manners and rather more scrupulously polite than is customary in England.

I won't describe you the party. It was very like an English one - about eighty or ninety people, nearly half English, the rest Dukes and Princesses, Marquesses and so on, whom we thought rather better than we expected. There was some singing and some dancing, and an excellent supper, and only one thing (except the Dukes) to which we are not accustomed, and no amount of custom will induce me to like - one room was set aside for cards and was full of gentlemen playing whist all the evening. The room, by the way, was the Duchess's bedroom. Altogether we spent a very pleasant evening. The Duchess cannot speak a word of English or French, but was very polite and showed us all sorts of nooks and crannies in her house. And I was specially overawed by the magnificent array of essence bottles and all sorts of aids to attraction marshalled upon her toilet table.

The Death of Benjamin Ingham and the Aftermath
Benjamin Ingham died suddenly in Palermo on the 4th March 1861 at the age of 76. No cause of death is shown on his death certificate in Palermo and his death is unrecorded at Somerset House. It is known that Ingham was at the point of changing his Will, but there is mystery whether he had drafted another Will before he died. For at least a decade, the old man had been keeping the family on tenterhooks about his heirs. He wasn't saying whether the money would go to the Inghams, the Whitakers or even to the Ascensos (the fours sons of the Duchess di Santa Rosalia.)

Ben Ingham Junior and his wife Emily were childless. Joseph Whitaker's eldest son, Benjamin Ingham Whitaker (Benny), born 1838 seemed to be the most natural candidate. Ben Ingham Jr. was one of the executors of his uncle's Will and he had to sign an affadavit in London twenty months later, before the Will could finally be proven. Part of the affadavit is worth quoting, to give an idea of the furore that arose:

"13th November 1862

The said testator declared that he (Benjamin Ingham) had decided on making another Will and expressed his intention of placing it in the hands of the English Consul residing in Palermo. I further make oath that I have personally made enquiry of the English Consul, John Goodwin Esquire and have also made a diligent and careful search in all the places where the said deceased usually kept his papers of the moment and concern, in order to ascertain whether he had or had not left any other Will, but that I have been unable to discover any such Will."

The man whom Ingham had been threatening to nominate as his heir was his second cousin, aged 52, Judge Theophilus Hastings Ingham, a grandson of Ingham of the Inghamites. Although Ingham's second cousin, he had made quite a mark in his native Yorkshire, but was quite unsuited to inherit such a vast and complex business empire.

In the event, the eventual legal heir was Joseph Whitaker's second son William Ingham Whitaker (Willie), born 1841 and only 19 years of age at the time of his great-uncle's death. He was a lucky boy. How much Ingham left is difficult to say. Family tradition is that he left the equivalent of £4.5 million pounds sterling, but that is far below the actual figure, which is believed to be about £12 million pounds sterling at least. An incredible amount of money in 1861. The Italian estate alone was valued at well over £8 million and that excludes Ingham's huge American investments. Not that Willie Whitaker came into everything; he had to wait for others to die first, and then there were many individual legacies to be taken into account. Joseph Whitaker and Ben Ingham Jr. had life shares in their uncle's fortune.

The value of the railway shares in America and elsewhere had dropped by the time that Willie, over 20 years later, came fully into possession of his legacy. By inheriting Manchi e Scala, he had the right to the barony, though this was not confirmed by King Victor Emmanuel until February 1876. No provision was made in Ingham's Will for Ben Jr. and his wife Emily ever having children.

It is said that Joseph Whitaker's eldest son Benny was overruled as heir because of a talk he and Willie had been having with their great-uncle a few years previously. They had been discussing a journey, which the two boys had made. Benny had reached the destination first because he had paid to go over a toll bridge. Willie had preferred to walk the extra three miles to avoid paying the bridge toll. Such shrewdness on the part of Willie made an immediate appeal to Ingham's parsimonious nature, and he promptly altered his Will in favour of Willie Whitaker. Paradoxically, it was Benny who had a reputation in later life for being mean.

Actually, like all the younger Whitakers, Willie turned out to have little head for business and he left Palermo in 1877 and settled at Pylewell Park in Hampshire. Perhaps Ingham, sensing this before he died, had decided to leave his money to someone of his own name who had already proved himself a success in life?

The Nephews who went to Sicily

"Your son has died, please send me another one" - this is allegedly a quote from one of Benjamin Ingham's letters to his sister Mary Whitaker after the death of her eldest son, William who had moved to Sicily from Yorkshire to work for his uncle Benjamin. However, this is more likely to be Whitaker family legend and not true, but it conveys a sense of the ruthlessness that Ingham exuded in his business dealings. In fact, when William Whitaker died mysteriously of fever in 1818, Ingham was terribly upset and deeply moved by the loss of his nephew.

William Ingham Whitaker (1796 - 1818)
William Ingham Whitaker was the eldest son of Joseph and Mary Whitaker and was born on the 10th January 1796 at the family home in Woodkirk, near Leeds. He was the first nephew to be asked to go and work for his uncle Benjamin out in Sicily in 1816, mainly on Ingham Bros & Co. business. Shortly after arriving in Palermo, where he was very much on approval, he was sent to Naples on the delicate task of investigating the rumours that two firms that Ingham was doing business with; Leydings and Vallin were in financial difficulties.

During September and October 1816, whilst Whitaker was in Naples, he was bombarded by complicated letters full of instructions and even shopping lists from his Uncle Benjamin. He was expected back in Palermo by the end of October at the very latest, but William Whitaker had disappeared completely off the horizon or was simply stringing his uncle along to delay coming back. There were no replies to Ingham's letters and by November, he was furious and sent this letter to his nephew:

23rd November 1816

Dear William,

I have been looking out for you on every vessel from Naples, the more so as you were acquainted with the accident I met with by the fall on my horse, and were besides aware that your presence was absolutely necessary here. Imagine, therefore of my surprise and disappointment at your not coming all through this week. There have been three eligible English vessels arriving from Naples. I am frantic in consequence.

Really William, such conduct can neither conciliate my affection as a relative nor inspire me with regard to your attention to business. You ought to recollect that you are in the commencement of life and must do something to put yourself forward, for if you show no exertion, you cannot expect that my brother Joseph (in Leeds) will ever consent to giving you an interest in our business.

Although so much displeased with your inattention, and although my mind labours under the severest agony in consequence, I subscribe myself as usual.

Yours affectionately

Benjamin Ingham

December came and then finally some news from the missing William Whitaker in Naples. Leydings, by all accounts, had been giving him "trouble and vexation" so he had made the decision to ask his uncle to fire them. He told his uncle in a letter that he hadn't wanted to trouble him or cause any undue worry during the difficult dealings with Leydings. Of course, this is what Ingham would have wanted and he soon forgave William for his lack of communication.

Uncle Benjamin was never to know that the actual reason for William Whitaker's delay in returning to Palermo (confided later to a younger brother) was that he had fallen for the seductive charms of a married, black-eyed and raven-haired Neapolitan baronessa called Clotilde who had been keeping him warm during the chilly autumn nights in Naples.

During 1817 and 1818, Whitaker had done well at the office in Palermo and was quite highly regarded by his uncle. The letter he had written threatening William with dismissal was forgotten and the two men were getting on well and advancing the family business. Sadly, towards the end of 1818, William Whitaker contracted a mystery disease that the doctors couldn't diagnose. He suffered recurring bouts of very high fever and after making a temporary recovery, he died in Palermo on the 21st November 1818.

Ingham was bereft with grief at the loss of his nephew and he wrote to several of his business contacts explaining how badly he felt about William's premature death. Soon, another Whitaker from the same family was to follow in the steps of William and this was his younger brother Joseph Whitaker (of Palermo) who, in due course, was to inherit his uncle's business empire.

Joseph Whitaker (1802 - 1884)
Joseph Whitaker was baptised in the church at Woodkirk, just north of Ossett on the 17th September 1802, and like his elder brother William, he was the son of Joseph Whitaker and Mary Ingham, Benjamin Ingham's older sister. Joseph went out to Sicily from Woodkirk in 1819, at the tender age of 17, shortly after his brother William's death in 1818. He was to become the most successful and most valuable of Ingham's five nephews employed in the family concern in Sicily.

Joseph stayed in Palermo all of his working life and ran the office there with metronome efficiency. It was noted that he left for the office in his carriage on every day but Sunday at 7:30 am in summer and 8:00 am in winter so regularly that people could set their watches by his punctuality. In fact, he was the perfect "desk man" and ran the "concern" so well that on the 2nd June 1851, he was made a partner in the firm, now called Ingham, Whitaker & Co.

Benjamin Ingham was able to announce to his customers and clients that he had retired from the active management of "all commercial affairs", and that his nephew Joseph Whitaker would be running the business from then on. In reality, Benjamin Ingham's "retirement" was in name only, and like all very successful tycoons, he mastered the art of delegating work. In Joseph Whitaker, he had found a lieutenant only too prepared to beaver away at the very smallest details of the very varied business.

Whitaker married Eliza Sophia Sanderson, born 23rd July 1816 in Malta on the 18th March 1837 in Naples. Sophie's family came from Durham and her father was a naval captain with an exemplary war record. The Sanderson family had moved to Messina to live, it is thought for commercial reasons and partly because of the beautiful setting of the port, with the fine view of the Italian mainland three miles away across the straits. Joseph and Sophie had twelve children, which she bore over a period of 23 years and on average, one every twenty-one months. Sophie was a quiet, acquiescent woman who was probably slightly afraid of Whitaker. He normally stayed late at the office, which was next to the Plazzo Lampedusa, but expected his dinner to be ready the moment he returned home, and he preferred eating in total silence.

Above: Joseph Whitaker in 1841, aged 39 years. Whitaker was the most successful of Ingham's nephews and was thought to be "of the right stuff" by his uncle Benjamin. It was said that Joseph Whitaker was so dour, with rather hooded eyes and a sardonic mouth, such that even his mighty uncle Benjamin was afraid of him! Somehow, I doubt that was true.

His will made on 4 March 1884 at Palermo was proved on the 7th February 1885 by his sons Benjamin Ingham Whitaker of Hesley Hall and John Arthur Whitaker of the Inner Temple and 5 Elvaston Place, Hyde Park. The gross value was £640,390-19-4, which using the changes in the Retail Price Index is equivalent to £44,461,038.85 in 2005 values.

Joseph Ingham (1803 - 1833)
Joseph Ingham, the son of Benjamin Ingham's older brother also Joseph, came out to Sicily in 1823 at the age of 20 after his uncle Benjamin had returned home to Ossett and asked him to join the "concern". Joseph was a rather gloomy individual and regarded eventually as a bit weak. After first working at the 'baglio' in Marsala, where he was too ugly to be of interest to "Old John" Woodhouse, he was sent eventually to Boston in the USA to develop trade there. Poor Joseph was kept hard at work by his uncle Benjamin and was often the subject of severe criticism for making bad business decisions. In 1829, Ingham sent this letter to his nephew, which demonstrates the pressure he was under:

"To Joseph Ingham, Boston

June 1829

I beg you to be open and candid, and not expose yourself any remark which will injure your character and standing, for in a country like America such things have great and serious consequences. The 'Nestor' arrived here on the 31st May. It is a great pity that you asked for the staves and cloths to be sent to Marsala and not to Messina. As regards the staves, I have examined them and have found them fair, but nothing equal to the lot you sent on board the 'Pembroke' and many are knotty and not fit for casks. When we consider the high freight and duties (equal almost to the first cost in Boston) you will be aware that it is folly to ship to this country any other staves except those that are the very best dressed. The fact that you chose to send them in an American brig means that the seven bales of cloth will not enjoy the ten per cent reduction on duties allowed for British and other flags. You acted very wrongly in letting the wine on board the 'Pembroke' go in Boston at the miserable price of 80 cents a barrel and also in selling exclusively to the house of Munsen and Barnard. Now all the other buyers will be displeased."

Over the next few years, Benjamin Ingham saw to it that Joseph was kept very busy. With the market growing so quickly, he just couldn't afford to let him relax. Whilst in America, it is known that Joseph Ingham had some kind of 'deplorable accident' but the exact details are not known. A year later, he committed suicide in the City Hotel, New York on the 8th October 1833 by shooting himself. At his inquest, it was thought that he had been suffering from depression.

Benjamin Ingham (1810 - 1872)
Another nephew, Benjamin Ingham Jr. as he always signed himself or Ben as he was known in the family moved to Sicily in 1827 or 1828 to work for the "concern" and despite a few minor issues with his uncle, he became an essential member of the Ingham empire. He was sent to the USA in 1833 after his elder brother Joseph committed suicide and remained there for nearly two years, acting as a sort of roving business ambassador for his uncle. He was very successful in business matters in America, unlike his poor brother Joseph. After his work in America, Ben became the manager at Marsala 'baglio' from the 30th June 1834. He went back to America and was there in 1839 and 1840.

Ben was a genial looking person and was sturdily built. He was described as having a "mild and conciliatory disposition". Later in life, he became slightly bald and sported a flap of hair over the top of his head. It was thought that he would never get married, but at the age of 46 on the 29th March 1856, at the British Legation in Naples, he married 23 year-old Emily Bennett Hinton. Her stepfather was Mr Wood, the owner of the third largest British 'baglio' in Marsala and the family lived in the Palazzo Derix in Palermo. Later 'Baglio Wood' was absorbed by the Ingham, Whitaker firm, probably because of this marriage. A couple of years earlier, Ben took over the Saint Oliva villa in Marsala and from 1848, he was the acting British Vice-Consul in Marsala, protecting the interests of the British wine merchants who were based there.

Sadly, there were no children from his marriage to Emily Hinton and after his uncle's death in 1861, Ben was left the Palazzo Ingham in Palermo as well as a life interest in half of his uncle Benjamin's estate. After Ben's death in 1874, his widow Emily re-married General Medici and sold Palazzo Ingham to the Ragusas who transformed it in 1877 into the Hotel des Palmes, which is still in business today.

In April 186o, Ben Ingham visited Ossett on his way to the USA with his wife Emily and he subscribed £1,000 towards the construction of a church "more suited to the needs of a rapidly industrialising community" in the town of Ossett. This may have been a legacy from his uncle Benjamin, since Ben was born in Hunslet rather than Ossett. In the event, the donation helped with the construction of Holy Trinity Church in Ossett, which was completed in 1865.

Ben Ingham also donated £500 to the Ripon cathedral restoration fund. In 1871, he and Joseph Whitaker announced their intention of erecting, at their joint expense, a church in which "Services of the Church of England could be performed for the spiritual benefit of their protestant countrymen, whether resident or visiting Palermo". Ben Ingham donated the land in front of Palazzo Ingham to be used as the site for the new church. However, he died suddenly in Paris in 1872, before the work on the church started, but his widow Emily Ingham continued the good work and later, in 1872, the foundations were laid and building commenced.

All the expenses of the building of the Anglican Church in via Roma were paid for by the Ingham and Whitaker families. The chief architect was William Barber of London. Opening just after Ben Ingham's death in 1875, the church was incorporated into the Diocese of Gibraltar in 1876. Its Neo-Gothic grandeur, with pointed arches, stained glass, a rose window, creates a stunning effect.

On the 4th October 1872, Ben was having lunch in the Hotel Maurice in Paris when he suddenly choked on his food and by 2pm, he was dead. His English estate was less than might be expected at under £40,000. The eventual beneficiaries were the children of his sister Ann Brook, but naturally his wife Emily came in for the greater share including the Palazzo Ingham. Emily since the death of her stepfather was also now the owner of 'Baglio Wood' in Marsala and Palazzo Derix in Palermo.

Joshua Ingham (1811 - 1846)
Joshua Ingham was the youngest son of Benjamin Ingham's older brother Joseph and his wife Ann Hall. Joshua was born on the 2nd December 1811 at Hunslet in Leeds, where the Ingham brothers had moved from Ossett to set up the family business. He was the last of the nephews to join the "concern" and was in Sicily by 1829. Joshua was to replace his gloomy brother Joseph Ingham who had been sent to live in Boston as trade there was developing rapidly. Joshua spent almost all his time in Sicily at Marsala, where he successfully ran the winery.

Sadly, on the 22nd April 1846, Joshua Ingham died at Marsala after contracting TB. His uncle Benjamin was deeply upset by the loss of his "dear and ever to be lamented nephew", but Joshua's parents back in Ossett must have been even more upset after losing two of their sons in the employment of Benjamin Ingham. To make matters worse, Joshua Ingham died intestate. This caused complications since two of the "Concern's" wineries at Campobello and Mazara were in his name, and according to Sicilian law, the estate had to be divided equally between brothers, sisters and parents. How Benjamin Ingham managed to get around this not insignificant problem is not recorded. However, Joshua's estate in Sicily was valued at the then considerable sum of £30,000, which is an indication of how well Ingham's nephews were doing.

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Benjamin Ingham (1712 - 1762)

Founder of the Inghamite Church

The Ingham family remained in Ossett and were substantial landowners with property in the Towngate area. William Inghams great-grandson, Benjamin Ingham, born in Ossett in in 1712 and was the founder of the Inghamite Church. He was educated at Batley Grammar School and Queen's College Oxford where he became a member of the Holy Club. Ingham was ordained in 1735 and he joined the Methodists whilst at Oxford. He went with Wesley to Georgia in the USA spending 13 months there. He then visited the Moravian Settlement at Herrnhut in Germany.

Above: The William Ingham's house in Ossett where Benjamin Ingham was born in 1712. This drawing is how the house looked in the 19th century, but at the rear of the house were the remains of a 17th century building.

Ingham had a conversion experience in North America and after his return to England, he became Vicar of Ossett and preached in the area between Halifax and Leeds where he enjoyed great success. Later he was prohibited from church pulpits in the Diocese of York for his non- conformist views.

In November 1741, Benjamin Ingham (pictured left) married Lady Margaret Hastings, daughter of the Theophilus the 7th Earl of Huntingdon (herself the founder of another religious sect.) Following their marriage they lived at Aberford Hall, just outside Tadcaster and their only son, Ignatius, was baptised at Aberford in 1745.

During the early years of his evangelical ministry, he was strongly influenced by the Moravians and in 1742, he joined the Moravians and placed his 50 small societies in Yorkshire under their control. Two years later he gave them land for a settlement at Fulneck which became the Moravian headquarters in the North.

During the later 1740s, Ingham began to drift away from the Moravians. In 1753, he severed his connection with the Moravians and the following year set up a new organization whose discipline was based on that of the Moravians but was less strict. In 1755 there were at least 80 Inghamite societies, mostly in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

It was proposed by Charles Wesley at the Methodist Conference in 1755 that the eighty Inghamite congregations be joined with the Methodists, but this was rejected by John Wesley.

The Inghamites made a formal break with the Anglican Church in 1755 (25 years before the Countess of Huntingdon's and 34 years before the Methodists made their break) and started to ordain its own preachers. But from 1760, the Inghamites began to break up; some joined with a similar sect based in Scotland, the Sandemanians; some joined the Methodists and a few remained loyal to Ingham.

After Ingham's death in 1772, new societies continued to be founded, while others expired. In 1814, after a year of debate, the remaining 13 Inghamite societies (with 252 members) were united with the Scottish Daleites, a similarly Calvinist group with 15 societies and 512 members. In 1837, an Inghamite church was founded at Farringdon, Ontario in Canada.

After that growth, the societies started to decline in numbers and strength. By the 1960s, there were only seven left; in Colne, Wheatley, Winewall and Cotton Tree in Lancashire; at Kendal in Westmorland; at Salterforth in Yorkshire and in Farringdon, Ontario.

There are some Inghamite Birth, Marriage and Death Registers in the PRO Kew, Surrey, but there was no central control, so the collection is somewhat mixed. The registers were treated as the private property of the minister, which he took with him when he moved to a new appointment.

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