The following touching report appears in the Bristol Mercury of 6th May 1837:

“On Monday, May 1^st, Stephen Cave, esquire and his lady of Cleve Wood celebrated the 50^th anniversary of their marriage by inviting all the old couples of Mangotsfield who had been married fifty years and upwards to their mansion to partake of a comfortable repast. Five couples attended and after dinner were presented with a liberal donation of £5 each. The good old gentleman was highly affected at meeting on such an occasion his aged neighbours and gave them some excellent advice which greatly affected all present concluding that the only way that he and they could hope to meet in heaven to celebrate the grand jubilee there would be by repenting their sins and throwing themselves wholly on the merits of their Redeemer.

“The party including Mr & Mrs Cave consisted of seven couples, their combined ages reaching 1,036 years.

“On the same day, 180 children of the school established by Mr Cave twenty five years ago assembled on the lawn for plum cake and cider after which he presented each with a shilling. The appearance of the children was neat and clean and they conducted themselves with credit to the pleasure of their patron. They sang “God Save the King” and were joined by Mr Cave and his family for whom they gave three hearty cheers.

“This excellent philanthropist also gave a handsome present to every one under his employ and his benevolent lady gave articles of clothing to some of the girls and to poor widows. In compliment of the occasion the bells of the village rang a merry peal.”

According to my “Kingswood Index”, Stephen Cave and Ann Daniel were married at St Augustine’s Bristol on 1^st May 1789, and if the entry is correct (I have been known to err!) the above Golden Wedding anniversary celebrations appear to have been a little premature.

I am sorry to say that I rather maligned Stephen Cave in one of my early efforts, “The Budgetts of Kingswood Hill” noting that in 1816, he chaired a meeting devoted to the suppression of the “Cock Road Gang”. These people, largely consisting of the Caines family and their relatives and friends became notorious in the first quarter of the 19th century: several ended their miserable lives on the gallows and others were transported to Australia. I compared Stephen, a Tory paternalist, somewhat unfavourably with the self made Kingswood grocer and philanthropist Henry Hill Budgett. In hindsight, I realise that the men had more in common than I thought, each believing that education would improve matters among the ignorant poor of the neighbourhood and both founded schools.

Stephen Cave died on February 18^th 1838 at Cleve Wood, aged 75. He was described in his obituary, (Bristol Mercury 24.2.1838) as “a most worthy and honourable man in all relations of social life and one of the best of our citizens.”

Stephen’s widow Ann went to live with her daughter Harriet and son in law John New at Craddock House, Ulfculme, Devon and it was there that she died on January 5^th, 1851 aged 86, described as the relict of Stephen Cave, esq., and sister of (Alderman) Thomas Daniel of Bristol. (obit. Bristol Mercury 11.1.1851). Being interested in family trees, I was pleased to find that the surname Cave was long commemorated in Thomas Daniel’s family. His descendant, living 1952, was called Henry Cave Daniel.   

(For additional information on the Cave family see “Mangotsfield” by Andrew Plaster, BAFHS Journal 125, September 2006)