The Curator and the Curious

Miss Tothill, the first Curator of St. Nicholas Priory
with Ben Clapp on Thursday, 8 May 2025
at 7pm at Leonardo Hotel Exeter [Jurys Inn Exeter Hotel]

Following the discovery of a scrapbook kept by Miss Maud (sometimes Maude) Mary Tothill, Ben Clapp was able to give a revealing insight into her life and her dedication to one of Exeter’s most historic buildings. Delving into newspapers, census and birth and death records, he discovered that she was born on 4 February 1872. She never married and according to the census lived for quite a lot of her life with her parents Robert and Mary, younger sister Edith Bertha and younger brother Frederick Robert.

Their address in the 1891 census was given as 3 North Field Place Heavitree and Robert’s occupation as a joiner and subsequently builder. Robert and his children had all been born in Heavitree and Mary’s place of birth was St Agnes in Cornwall. In the 1891 census Maud was 19, a bookseller’s assistant in Exeter. Edith was 14 and a Scholar, as was Frederick aged 6. At this time the family were living at 20, Fore Street, Heavitree.

By 1901 the family’s address was 8 Cross Park, Heavitree. This recorded the residents as Robert, Mary and Frederick, who was then 16 and an Architect’s Apprentice. Maud had moved to live in the house of Ernest Ling a Printer and Stationer at 23 High Street, Dorchester, who also housed seven others and two servants. Maud’s age was given as 29 and her occupation was bookseller’s assistant. In verifying Ben’s research, I could find no trace of Maud or any of her family in the 1911 census, but Robert Tothill was recorded in the 1911 Electoral Register at 6 Port View Terrace. Robert Tothill died in 1915 aged 70 and Mary Tothill in 1919 aged 77. The 1921 census recorded Maud and her siblings living at 6 Port View Terrace, Maud Mary Tothill as the Head aged 49, Curator of Historical Building, whose employer was the Council of Exeter. Her place of work was listed as St Nicholas Priory, The Mint. Edith Bertha Tothill aged 44, jeweller’s assistant employed by Frederick George M. Towell at 2 The Arcade, and Frederick Robert Tothill aged 37, architect’s assistant working for Samuel Dobell at 11 Bedford Circus. All three were recorded as being single. The 1939 Register has the two sisters living at 122 Magdalen Road, Maud M. Tothill, born 7 February 1872, Curator (Retd.) single, and Edith B. Tothill, born 3 November 1876, jeweller’s manageress.

Maud had no formal education in history, but it was a subject she was passionate about. In 1912 Exeter City Council purchased St Nicholas Priory and started to renovate it. By late 1916 it was nearly ready to open and on 24 October 1916 Maud Mary Tothill was appointed initially as caretaker and then as curator. Ben speculated that Maud’s brother Frederick may have been responsible for putting her name forward by virtue of him being an architect.

The Priory opened on 1 November 1916 following refurbishment at a cost of £2000. The scrapbook included letters from the Mayor James Owen and the Visitors’ book recorded people from all over the world, surprisingly, given that it was during World War I. Thomas Hardy and his wife visited, as did the Marquis and Marchioness of Tavistock. Miss Tothill became a speaker at meetings all over Devon and took guide books to sell, for which she received a percentage. Many visitors gave donations to her, but she was keen to use the money by commissioning a sculpture of St. Nicholas by Herbert Read, who also did work on the windows at the Priory. There was an unveiling of the statue attended by many Exeter worthies. In 1924 Maud was the official greeter for a party of visiting schoolchildren from around the world. She also did interviews for BBC Radio and acted as spokesperson for the Priory on behalf of Exeter City Council, whose Minutes recorded that in 1924 her pay had been increased.

Maud looked after the Priory gardens, and planted some medicinal herbs, which would have been in keeping with monastic remedies. She also kept a rabbit, a guinea pig and the famous ravens. Initially she had two ravens, Martha and Rab gifted to her by a Mr H G Morgan in the mid-1920s. However Rab soon escaped, and Mr Morgan found a replacement, George, to keep Martha company. Sadly, Martha passed away in 1928, and she had become so well known that her obituary was printed in the Devon and Exeter Gazette. George was then quite lonely, until he was joined by another raven called Honk, donated by a Mr Grasseman, Honk was quickly renamed Georgina, and the two ravens entertained visitors, including Princess Katherine of Greece (a relative of Prince Philip) who enjoyed seeing them playing in the garden when she visited in 1932.

Another item included in the scrapbook was a train ticket Maud had purchased to travel to Exeter. During the 1930s various groups visited the Priory recorded by programmes and newspaper accounts. In 1936 two of the Carlyle Cousins visited and Ben played a short video which included a song by them.

Miss Tothill was evidently highly regarded and was invited to different functions to represent Exeter City Council. In October 1938 when aged 66 and about to retire, she fell and broke her leg. Maud showed her indomitable spirit, when she wrote to the Exeter Medical Association in appreciation of her treatment and referred to herself and two other patients with fractures, as the three graces.

Miss Tothill retired in 1938, leaving the Priory to her successor. At the time (Georgina having escaped) George, the remaining raven, was donated to St Luke’s College. There was no news of what happened to him during World War II but he may have become a victim of the Blitz or possibly have been rescued by one of the students.

Maud Tothill moved to Moretonhampstead but still gave many talks and visited the Priory on occasion. She moved to 11 Mont Le Grand and died of bronchial pneumonia in August 1959 and was cremated in Torquay. Her legacy is a stuffed Martha still on display at the Prior, and the scrapbook! This was given to Miss Upright, her successor, and passed to Jacqueline Warren (the final curator) in the late 1980s.

The scrapbook had been thought to have been irrevocably lost, but in a Zoom talk during lockdown, it was revealed that Jacqueline’s daughter Michèle Berry knew that her sister Nicole had the scrapbook. It was subsequently donated to the Devon Heritage Centre, prior to which Ben had been able to copy the scrapbook which includes 120 pages of valuable information.

As an epitaph to Miss Tothill, Ben ended his fascinating talk by reading a piece written in 1945 by a Moretonhampstead resident.

Sue Jackson