History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

MRS BUCKLEY (WESTERHALL) 289
and A Discourse on the Phenomena of Sensation as connected with the Mental,
Physical, and Instructive Faculties of Man. He was Senior Governor of King
Edward's School in Birmingham for some years, and his classical attainments
and strong opinions on the subject of education gave him a prominent voice in
the development of this important foundation, and the establishment of the
commercial and elementary schools for both boys and girls, in addition to
the original Classical department, which has educated so many distinguished
men. He also filled other public trusteeships in Birmingham, but refused
several times to be either a county or burgh magistrate. Johnstone was also
chosen for the Harveian lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians, but it was
in a year of domestic anxiety, and he declined it.
When dining at Solihull Rectory with Mr and Mrs Archer Clive, Dr and
Mrs James Johnstone met Mrs Buckley, the eldest daughter of the late Sir
John Lowther Johnstone, who, on hearing the name of her fellow-guest, at once
recognised him as the descendant of her grandfather's and uncle's great friend.
Mrs Buckley, who still retained some of the good looks which had made her the
beauty of the London season when she was introduced, had, through a piece of
girlish obstinacy, failed to make the brilliant match which was expected, and
married a clergyman (her cousin) at the end of the year, to pass the great part
of her life, perhaps as happily, in a village. She was staying with an aunt
in London, and, returning from a drive, disappeared for two hours, and declined
to give any reason for it. Young girls were very strictly watched and educated
in those days, and though it transpired too late that her errand was an act of
kindness it was enough to injure her. Her daughters, to some extent,
inherited her charms. Two were married on the same day, June 14, 1859, to
Messrs G. E. Ranken and R. A. Farquharson, and the youngest, Lilias Charlotte,
a month later to Edgar Disney.
It was not till 1832 that Birmingham demanded a representation in
Parliament, and by a meeting of 100,000 men on Hall Hill alarmed the
Government lest there should be a repetition of the riots of 1791 ; and the
Reform Bill was passed at once. Some years later the new borough set up a
mayor, town council, and magistrates. In 1839 what seemed likely to be
a serious disturbance began. Johnstone, among others, was sworn in as a
special constable. Railings were pulled up and houses battered in the Bull
Ring. No regiment was in the town, and a troop of Scots Greys were
summoned from Coventry. A county magistrate was secured in Mr Webster.
He happened to be riding from Penns to Edgbaston Hall (nine miles) to see his
daughter (who, with her children, had gone there for the summer), and passing
through Birmingham found the town in unusual confusion, increased by fighting
men from South Staffordshire. He waited till the military arrived, and in
company with the officer, the Hon. G. M. Yorke (afterwards Rector of St. Philip's
and Dean of Worcester), rode at the head of the troop to the Bull Ring,
where he read the Riot Act, 1 and the mob dispersed. This was the last time
1 When Mr Muntz, one of the earliest M.P.'s for Birmingham, died, John Bright, who had
lost his seat for Manchester, was nominated as a candidate. He was too ill to appear. As