On 28 December 1826 a Mr Crutchley supplied 81lb of cheese at 5½d per lb to Tettenhall workhouse. The following year on 5 April 1827 a Mr Crutchley supplied 20lb of mutton at 5d per lb. Was Mr Crutchley both a supplier of meat and cheese, or are we talking about two different Crutchleys? Census returns, trade directories and parish registers offer some possibilities, but no definite answers.

White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (1834), lists four butchers in Tettenhall: Charles Hayward, Thomas Matthews of Tettenhall Wood, John Moore, and Thomas Moore of Compton, but no Crutchley. Thomas Crutchley of The Wergs, farmer, and a cheesemonger Henry Crutchley of Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton, are listed in White’s 1834 directory. Pigot’s 1828–1829 directory also lists Henry Crutchley, grocer, in Lichfield Street.

The Spectator (1845) reported the death of a Thomas Crutchley of The Wergs in his ninetieth year and there is the burial of a Henry Crutchley (1794–1847) of The Wergs recorded in the parish register of St Michael’s and All Angels, Tettenhall, 4 February 1847.

For Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton, the 1841 Census notes grocer Henry Crutchley (b.1796), his wife Harriet (b.1806), daughter Laura (b.1838), and two servants Martha Walker (b.1817) and Mary Perry (b.1797). The will of Henry Crutchley, grocer, Wolverhampton, was proved on 3 June 1847. All his real and personal estate was left to his wife Harriet, who was also the sole executrix.

The 1841 Census for Compton lists Thomas Crutchley [wheelwright?] (b.1791), his wife Lucy (b.1796), their children Sarah (b.1821), Henry (b.1829), Lucy (b.1832) and Mary (b.1838).

On 2 July 1821 John Jones of Cheswardine, Shropshire married Jane Crutchley of Tettenhall by licence. It was witnessed by Elizabeth Crutchley and Henry Crutchley. On 17 April 1823 the marriage of Thomas Pickstock of Penkridge and Elizabeth Crutchley was witnessed by Elizabeth Gardner and Charles Crutchley and on 19 April 1824 the marriage of George Blakemore of Tettenhall and Mary Anne Mason of Wolverhampton was witnessed by Thomas Crutchley and Lucy Crutchley.

Seemingly, there were many people who went by the surname of Crutchley; several of them called Henry or Thomas. It may not be possible to determine which of the Crutchelys operated as a supplier to Tettenhall Workhouse.

Sources

Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory [Part 2: Nottinghamshire–Yorkshire and North Wales] for 1828–29 (London and Manchester: J. Pigot and Co., 1828), p.756.

Tettenhall Parish Registers vol II, Marriages 1745–1839 (printed privately by F.J. Malton and Co., Willenhall, Staffordshire, 1966)

The Spectator vol. 18 (1845), p.67.

Staffordshire Record Office, D1364/1/18, St Michael’s and All Angels, Tettenhall, Parish Register.

TNA, HO 107/998 and HO 107/1000 Census 1841

TNA, Census 1851

TNA, RG09/1984 Census 1861

TNA, PROB 2057 Henry Crutchley, grocer, Wolverhampton, proved 3 June 1847

William White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (Sheffield: 1834), pp.289, 290.

This is a work in progress subject to change as new research is conducted.