This new settlement of intruding foreigners had naturally to be protected against the infuriated natives, and the castle was accordingly built c. 1113 by Gilbert de Clare, first earl of Pembroke, who subsequently conferred the seignory of Haverford on his castellan, Richard Fitz-Tancred. On the death of Robert de Hwlfordd, the benefactor and perhaps founder of the priory of St Mary and St Thomas, in 1213, the lordship of the castle reverted to the Crown, and was purchased for 1000 marks from King John by William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, who gave various privileges to the town. Of the numerous charters the earliest known (through an allusion found in a document of Bishop Houghton of St Davids, c. 1370) is one from Henry II., who therein confirms all former rights granted by his grandfather, Henry I. John in 1207 gave certain rights to the town concerning the Port of Milford, while William Marshal II., earl of Pembroke, presented it with three charters, the earliest of which is dated 1219. An important charter of Edward V., as prince of Wales and lord of Haverford, enacted that the town should be incorporated under a mayor, two sheriffs and two bailiffs, duly chosen by the burgesses. In 1536, under Henry VIII., Haverfordwest was declared a town and county of itself and was further empowered to send a representative burgess to parliament.
The town long played a prominent part in South Welsh history. In 1220 Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, prince of North Wales, during the absence of William Marshal II., earl of Pembroke, attacked and burnt the suburbs, but failed to reduce the castle by assault. Several of the Plantagenet kings visited the town, including Richard II., who stopped here some time on his return from Ireland in 1299, and is said to have performed here his last regal act—the confirmation of the grant of a burgage to the Friars Preachers. Oliver Cromwell spent some days here on his way to Ireland, and his original warrant to the mayor and council for the demolition of the castle is still preserved in the council chamber. The prosperity and local importance of Haverfordwest continued unimpaired throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and Richard Fenton, the historian of Pembrokeshire, describes it in 1810, as “the largest town in the county, if not in all Wales.” With the rise of Milford, however, the shipping trade greatly declined, and Haverfordwest has now the appearance of a quiet country town.
HAVERGAL, FRANCES RIDLEY (1836–1879), English hymn-writer,
daughter of the Rev. William Henry Havergal, was born
at Astley, Worcestershire, on the 14th of December 1836. At
the age of seven she began to write verse, most of it of a religious
character. As a hymn-writer she was particularly successful,
and the modern English Church collections include several of her
compositions. Her collected Poetical Works were published in
1884. She died at Caswell Bay, Swansea, on the 3rd of June
1879.
See Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal (1880), by her sister.
HAVERHILL, a market town of England, in the Sudbury
parliamentary division of Suffolk, and the Saffron Walden
division of Essex. Pop. of urban district (1901), 4862. It is
55 m. N.N.E. from London by the Great Eastern railway, on
the Long Melford-Cambridge branch, and is the terminus of
the Colne Valley railway from Chappel in Essex. The church
of St Mary is Perpendicular, but extensively restored. There
are large manufactures of cloth, silk, matting, bricks, and boots
and shoes, and a considerable agricultural trade.
HAVERHILL, a city of Essex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A.,
situated on the Merrimac river, at the head of tide and navigation,
and on the Boston & Maine railway, 33 m. N. of Boston. Pop.
(1880) 18,472; (1890) 27,412; (1900) 37,175, of whom 8530
were foreign-born (including 2403 French Canadians, 1651
English Canadians and 2144 Irish), and 15,077 were of foreign
parentage (both parents foreign-born); (1910 census) 44,115.
The city, 3 m. wide and 10 m. long, lies for its entire length
along the Merrimac river, from which it rises picturesquely,
its surface being undulating, with several detached round hills
(maximum 330 ft.). Like all old New England cities, it is
irregularly laid out. A number of lakes within its limits are the
source of an abundant and excellent water supply. There are
fifteen public parks, the largest of which, Winnikenni Park
(214 acres), contiguous to Lake Kenoza, is of great natural
beauty. The city has three well-equipped hospitals, the beautiful
Pentucket club house, a children’s home, an old ladies’ home
and numerous charitable organizations. The schools of the city,
both public and private, are of high standing; they include
Bradford Academy (1803) for girls and the St James School
(Roman Catholic). The public library is generously endowed,
and in 1908 had about 90,000 volumes. Almost from the
beginning of its history Haverhill was active industrially.
Thomas Dustin, the husband of Hannah Dustin, manufactured
bricks, and this industry has been carried on in the same locality
for more than two hundred years. The large Stevens woollen
mills are the outgrowth of mills established in 1835. The
manufacture of woollen hats, established in the middle of the
18th century, is one of the prominent industries. There are
large morocco factories. By far the leading industry of the
city is the manufacture of boots, shoes and slippers, chiefly
of the finer kinds, of which it is one of the largest producers in
the world. In 1905 Haverhill ranked fourth among the cities
of the United States in the product value of this manufacture,
which was 4.8% of the total value of boots and shoes made in
the United States. This industry began about 1795. In 1905
Haverhill’s manufacturing establishments produced goods valued
at $24,446,594, 83.9% of this output being represented by
boots and shoes or their accessories. One of the largest sole-leather
manufactories in the world is here.
Haverhill was settled in June 1640 by a small colony from Newbury and Ipswich, and its Indian name, Pentucket, was replaced by that of Haverhill in compliment to the first minister, Rev. John Ward, who was born at Haverhill, England. In its earlier years this frontier town suffered severely from the forays of the Indians, and in 1690 the abandonment of the settlement was contemplated. Two Indian attacks are particularly noteworthy—one in 1698, in which Hannah Dustin, her new-born babe, and her nurse were carried away to the vicinity of Penacook, now Concord, New Hampshire. Here in the night Mrs Dustin, assisted by her nurse and by a captive English boy, tomahawked and scalped ten Indians (two men, the others children and women) and escaped down the river to Haverhill; a monument to her stands in City Hall Park. In 1708 250 French and Indians attacked the village, killing 40 of its inhabitants. In 1873 a destructive fire caused the loss of 35 places of business, and on the 17th of February 1882 almost the entire shoe district (consisting of 10 acres) was burned, with a loss of more than $2,000,000; but a greater business district was built on the ruins of the old. Haverhill was the birthplace of Whittier, who lived here in 1807–1836, and who in his poem Haverhill, written for the 250th anniversary of the town in 1890, and in many of his other poems, gave the poet’s touch to the history, the legends and the scenery of his native city. His birthplace, the scene of Snow-Bound in the eastern part of the city, is owned by the Whittier Association and is open to visitors. A petition from Haverhill to the national House of Representatives in 1842, praying for a peaceable dissolution of the Union, raised about J. Q. Adams, its presenter, perhaps the most violent storm in the long course of his defence of the right of petition. Haverhill was incorporated as a town in 1645 and became a city in 1869. Bradford, a town (largely residential) lying on the opposite bank of the river, became a part of the city in 1897. In October 1908, by popular vote, the city adopted a new charter providing for government by commission.
HAVERSACK, or Havresack (through the French from
Ger. Habersack, an oat-sack, a nose-bag, Hafer or Haver, oats),
the bag in which horsemen carried the oats for their horses.
In Scotland and the north of England haver, meaning oats, is
still used, as haver-meal or haver-bread. Haversack is now
used for the strong bag made of linen or canvas, in which soldiers,
sportsmen or travellers, carry their personal belongings, or more
usually the provisions for the day.
