Category: People

Elizabeth Dawes, Grocer, Lichfield, part II

By Peter Collinge

Elizabeth Dawes’ husband, Benjamin, died in 1817. In his short will dated 14 July 1813, witnessed by William Willdey and Thomas Roberts, he left his wife all his goods and property.[1] His wearing apparel was to be distributed by Elizabeth at her discretion to Benjamin’s brothers, William, Edward, Joseph, and James Dawes, and to his sisters Sarah Bradney and Anna Bradeny. The sisters lived in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. If Elizabeth remarried the property ‘she was then worth shall be held in trust for Ann Willdey my niece but not to be paid to the said Ann Willdey till my wife Elizabeth Dawes’ decease’.

Elizabeth was appointed as the sole executrix giving an indication of Benjamin’s confidence in his wife to settle his estate and to manage her own finances. As suspected (see the entry for Elizabeth Dawes, 9 July 2019) Benjamin and Elizabeth had no surviving children to whom the grocery business could be left.

William Willdey, who witnessed Benjamin Dawes’ will, was most likely the father of the Ann Willdey included in the 1841 Census who was living with Elizabeth Dawes.[2] William Willdey married Ann Barisford on 23 June 1799.[3]

[1] SRO, P/C/11, Will of Benjamin Dawes, 1 September 1817.

[2] TNA, HO107/1008/3, 1841 Census, Elizabeth Dawes, Lichfield.

[3] SRO,  D20/1/4, St Mary’s, Lichfield, Parish Register.

William Snape (c.1774-1833), Mercer and Draper, Lichfield, Staffordshire

By John Hughes

William Snape was a mercer and draper in Market St, Lichfield, who was used by the overseers to supply fabrics, cloths and threads to the workhouse. He supplied fabrics such as blue linen, drab calico, Irish linen, blue print, buttons and thread.[1] This suggests that the workhouse may have been making some form of uniform or sets of apprentices’ clothes (see ‘Blue Duffle’ entry 28 March 2019). We have vouchers for him supplying the workhouse between 1824-1830. The bill from 1824 has a pre-printed ink header across the top. It shows a tombstone with a shrouded urn on top with two figures either side one of which represents Liberty with her scales and sword. This suggests that his business was doing well as he could afford to add the headers.[2] The bills are still hand signed though by him, proving that he was literate. The header also states that William furnished funerals meaning that he supplied all the drapes, clothes and fabrics used in the funeral and he would rent them out. This at the time had become a lucrative business.

William Snape, son of Isaac Snape, was baptised on 24 July 1774. William Snape’s registered age in the calendar of wills was 59. This would mean his year of birth would be 1774. William Snape the elder married Anne Jackson in 1801 in St Mary’s, Lichfield.[3] We believe that they had a son, also called William, as there is a baptism that took place in May 1806 with reference to them.[4] At the moment we have no evidence suggesting that the son carried on the business or went into the same profession as he is not listed in any trade directories and we have no vouchers after the date William dies. There is however, a Mrs Anne Snape listed in White’s 1834 directory. She is not listed under any business, and had moved from Market St to Beacon St. This suggests that she was living off independent means.[5] There is a possibility that it could be the widow of William Snape as she is listed as Mrs Anne Snape. William did not leave a will when he died, however, letters of administration were drawn up after his death.[6]

The vouchers suggest that the business of William Snape was lucrative and successful as the total amount paid for the four bills we have is £22 9s 6½d. It is then surprising to find that on 17 April 1821 there was a bankruptcy case in the London Gazette for William Snape, ‘of the City of Lichfield, Mercer, Draper, Dealer and Chapman’.[7] There were then three meetings arranged on the 14, 15 and 29 of May at the Talbot Arms, Rugeley, Staffordshire. The first meeting was for Snape to make a full ‘disclosure of his estate and effects’ and also for any creditors to prove their claims. The second sitting was to choose assignees, who were responsible to gather in all the debts owed to William Snape and the administration of his bankruptcy. The final sitting on the 29 was to finish the examination and for William Snape to declare everything he had, to state all his debtors and creditors. The solicitors for the case were Mr Thomas Gnosall Parr, of Bird Street, Lichfield and Messrs. Constable and Kirk, solicitors, Symond’s Inn, Chancery Lane, London.[8] The date for the final dividend to be paid was 16 December 1822 at the Talbot Arms, Rugeley, where all creditors should prove their debts. Any claims after that date would be disallowed.[9] This suggests that it brought an end to everything that the commissioners were going to do, therefore, freeing Snape from the bankruptcy. We know that he recovered as the vouchers state that he was supplying the workhouse just two years after being cleared of his bankruptcy.

William Snape died and was buried in March 1833 at St Michael’s, Lichfield.[10]

[1] Staffordshire Record Office (hereafter SRO) LD20/6/6 no item no., Lichfield, St Mary’s overseer’s voucher, 1824; SRO LD20/6/6 no item no., Lichfield, St Mary’s overseer’s voucher, 1830.

[2] SRO LD20/6/6 no item no., Lichfield, St Mary’s overseer’s voucher, 1824.

[3] SRO D20/1/9, Lichfield, St Mary’s Parish registers, 1801.

[4] SRO D20/1/3, Lichfield, St Mary’s Parish Records, Baptisms, 1806.

[5] William White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (Sheffield: 1834).

[6] SRO P/C/11, Lichfield, Calendar of Peculiars, 30 August 1833.

[7] London Gazette, 17 April 1821, 877.

[8] London Gazette, 16 October 1821, 2059; London Gazette, 17 April 1821, 877.

[9] London Gazette, 23 November 1822, 1929.

[10] SRO D27/1/9, Lichfield, St Michael’s, Burials, 29 March 1833, 191.

Elizabeth Dawes (1769-1852), Grocer, Lichfield, Staffordshire

By John Hughes

Elizabeth Dawes was a grocer in St John’s Street, Lichfield, who was used by the overseers of the workhouse to supply groceries and sundries such as rice, oatmeal, potash and salt from June to September 1823.[1] The workhouse made 22 purchases from her business between these months suggesting that her business was in frequent contact with the workhouse. In a second bill from February to March 1823, she was selling the same items: rice, black pepper and treacle. Although it is a shorter bill it proves that she was in business with the workhouse for at least nine months.[2] The first bill was not written by her but by another party. The second, however, was written and signed by her as demonstrated by a comparison between the handwriting on the bills and her marriage certificate.[3] This means that she was not illiterate but that she possibly employed someone showing that the business must be stable and possibly profitable.

Elizabeth Dawes was registered under ‘Shopkeepers and Dealers in Groceries and Sundries’ in Pigot and Co.’s 1828 directory and White’s directory of 1834.[4] In Pigot’s directory she is registered along with 16 other ‘Shopkeepers and Dealers in Groceries and Sundries’, three of whom were women and nine were men. Twelve grocers were also listed separately, none of whom were female. As she was listed in Parson’s and Bradshaw’s 1818 directory as a ‘Grocer and Tea Dealer’, this means she was running the business for at least 16 years.[5]

Elizabeth Barisford was born in 1768.[6] She married Benjamin Dawes on 24 September 1797 in Lichfield at St Mary’s.[7] Benjamin died and was buried in St Michael’s, Lichfield, in 1817.[8] We do not think that they had any children as there are no baptisms recorded for the Parish of St Mary’s with a reference to them.[9] However, in the 1841 Census there is a Jane Wildley, 20, listed as living with her but the connection between Elizabeth and Jane is not stated.[10] Elizabeth is also listed as having a female servant, called Mary Hall, aged 13, living with her. This is an indication of her middle class status as she could afford to employ a servant. A servant would free up Elizabeth’s time allowing her to focus on and run her business instead.

By the 1851 Census Elizabeth was 83 and registered as an inmate annuitant which means that she was living off the profits of her investments or savings suggesting that her business had been successful enough to support her retirement. She had also moved address and was now living on Tamworth Street. She was now a member of someone else’s household possibly family but we do not know.[11] Whilst she was no longer working, the fact that she was also no longer living in her own house suggests that she might be living in reduced circumstances.

Elizabeth died on 10 July 1852 at the age of 84. She was buried in St Michael’s. Lichfield alongside her husband Benjamin.[12]

[1] Staffordshire Records Office (hereafter SRO), LD20/6/6 No item no., Lichfield St Mary’s overseer’s voucher, 1823.

[2]SRO LD20/6/6 No item no., Lichfield, St Mary’s overseer’s voucher, 1823,

[3] SRO, D20/1/9, Lichfield, St Mary’s Parish Register, 24 September 1797.

[4] John Pigot and Co., Pigot and Co.’s National Directory, 1828-1829, part 2 (Manchester and London, 1828), 717; William White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (Sheffield: 1834), 161.

[5] W. Parson and T. Bradshaw, Staffordshire General and Commercial Directory (1818), 186.

[6] St Michael’s Church Yard, Lichfield, Gravestone; D20/1/9, Lichfield, St Mary’s Parish Register, 24 September 1797.

[7] SRO, D20/1/9, Lichfield, St Mary’s Parish Register, 24 September 1797.

[8] SRO, D/27/1/9, Lichfield, St Michael’s Parish Register, 1 April 1817.

[9] SRO, D20/1/9, Lichfield, St Mary’s Parish Register, Baptisms.

[10] TNA, HO107/1008/3, 1841 Census, Elizabeth Dawes, Lichfield.

[11] TNA, HO107/2014, 1851 Census, Elizabeth Dawes, Lichfield.

[12] Lichfield, St Michael’s Church Yard, Gravestone.

Jane Davidson (1748-1827), Grocer, Brampton, Cumberland

By John Hughes

Jane Davidson was a grocer who was used by the overseers of Brampton to supply the workhouse with standard dry goods such as tea, sugar, barley and tobacco.[1] For one bill in 1819 she received £1 6s 11 ½ d. This was for supplies of grocer’s goods that she had made on 11 occasions between January and April. Although we only have one voucher, this shows that she was in regular contract with the workhouse. It gives the impression that she was not just used once and was actually a frequent supplier to the workhouse. The supply of tea in a small amount such as 2oz, as written in the voucher, suggests that it was not for the general use of the inmates and that it was more likely used for medicinal purposes, or for the use of the master and mistress of the workhouse.

Davidson was born in 1748.[2] She married Robert Davidson, a grocer, however we do not know when but we know it was before 1816 as this was when Robert passed away.[3] Jane Davidson had two daughters and a son; Mary who married George Hadden; Jane who married Thomas Hobson; and Thomas. [4] As well as this she also had at least 13 grandchildren, eight by Mary and George Hadden, and five by Jane and Thomas Hobson.[5] She also had a stepson via Robert’s first wife of which nothing is known.

In his will Robert Davidson left the business to his wife Jane and not to his eldest son.[6] This suggests that he had trust in her to run the business and to look after it. The stereotype is that the eldest son would inherit the business, however, it was quite common that businesses were inherited by widows. Robert was illiterate as he signed his will with a cross. This probably meant that the accounts and the books for the business were not done by him but most likely by Jane. This could be why he trusted her to run the business.

Jane Davidson, grocer, is not registered in either Jollie’s 1811 directory or Pigot’s 1828-29 National directory.[7] This suggests that their business could have been a more stable, locally based one so therefore they did not need to advertise nationally, and even after the death of Robert in 1816 Jane Davidson did not place herself in any other directory suggesting that she had maintained the stable business.

Jane Davidson used at least one local shop to maintain her stocks. The ledgers of Isaac Bird, grocer, Brampton, state that she settled a bill adding up to 15s 11d in 1819.[8] One example of this is that she bought ¼ stone of shag tobacco at 2s 7d presumably to stock her own shop as the amount is too much for her own personal use.[9]

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

[1] Cumbria Archives, PR60/21/13/5/101, Brampton overseers’ vouchers, Jane Davidson, 20 January-6 April 1820.

[2] In the Burial ledger her age was given as 79. Cumbria Archives, G.Bell and C. Yellowley (eds), Brampton Denary Burials Part 1, 1813-39, 49.

[3] Cumbria Archives, G.Bell and C. Yellowley (eds), Brampton Denary Burials Part 1, 1813-39, 49.

[4] Cumbria Archives PROB/1816/WI462A C/1/18/9/5, Will and Inventory of Robert Davidson, 9 September 1816.

[5] Cumbria Archives, G.Bell (ed.), Brampton Baptism, Marriage and Burials, 1813-39.

[6] Cumbria Archives PROB/1816/WI462A C/1/18/9/5, Will and Inventory of Robert Davidson, 9 September 1816.

[7] F.Jollie and Sons, Jollie’s Cumberland Guide and Directory 1811 (Carlisle:1811); John Pigot and Co., Pigot and Co.’s National Directory, 1828-1829, part 1 (Manchester and London, 1828).

[8] Cumbria Archives, DCLP8/38, Isaac Bird, Grocery, Brampton, Ledger, 1817-19.

[9] Cumbria Archives, DCLP8/39, Isaac Bird, Brampton, Ledger, 1817-19.

Sarah Oliver (c.1778–1852), Grocer, Brampton

By Peter Collinge

The reconstructed life of Sarah Oliver is a combination of a few ‘definitelys’ and many ‘maybes’. She is most visible in historic records as a widow, but even then the traces she left are few. She has come to attention because she supplied Brampton’s overseers with groceries.

The Marriage Bond Index held at Carlisle, lists Sarah Bell, a minor, who married Henry Brough Oliver, bachelor.[1] The bond was dated 22 October 1798. Sarah’s mother Jane was her guardian and the bondsman was Thomas Bell. This may be Thomas Bell the younger who ran the Howard Arms in Brampton and or Thomas Bell the elder, of the Bush Inn and a carrier operating a service between Carlisle, Brampton and Newcastle.[2] There were, however, many people in Brampton with the surname ‘Bell’.

There is a record of a Henry Brough Oliver born 11 November 1776, baptised 10 December 1776, at St John’s, Smith Square, Westminster, the son of Richard and Jane Oliver.[3] A Henry Brough Oliver and a Richard Oliver served as officers in the Eighth (King’s) Foot Regiment c.1792–98.[4] Henry and Richard Oliver of Intack, Cumberland, both held game certificates and were thus licensed to shoot game.[5] Henry Brough Oliver died in 1808, and was buried in Knarsdale, Northumberland.[6]

Henry and Sarah Oliver had several children: twin sisters, Elizabeth and Jane, baptised in Brampton 24 March 1803; and two other twin sisters Isabella and Sarah baptised in Brampton 13 March 1807.[7] There was possibly a fifth daughter Mary born 1 September 1808, in Knarsdale. There was also a son Richard Brough (23 January 1800) who became a doctor with a practice in Carlisle, before becoming the medical superintendent of Bicton Heath Lunatic Asylum, near Shrewsbury.

The Olivers are not listed in the Universal British Directory of the 1790s, but S. Oliver is listed as a grocer in Jollie’s 1811 directory.[8]

Henry was a cotton manufacturer, but a notice in the Tradesman or Commercial Magazine, and later in the London Gazette show that a commission of bankruptcy was brought against him in July 1808.[9] In 1811 the London Gazette, carried the following notice:

The Commissioners in a Commission of Bankrupt, bearing Date the 6th Day of July 1808, awarded and issued forth against Henry Brough Oliver, late of Brampton, in the County of Cumberland, Cotton-Manufacturer, Dealer and Chapman, intend to meet on the 26th Day of December next, at Eleven of the Clock in the Forenoon, at the Bush, in the City of Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, in order to make a Final Dividend of the Estate and Effects of the said Bankrupt; when and where the Creditors, who have not already proved their Debts, are to come prepared to prove the same, or they will be excluded the Benefit of the said Dividend. And all Claims not then proved will be disallowed.[10]

Despite the declaration that a final dividend was to be paid on this occasion, this was not the end of the matter. Fifteen years later, another notice in the Gazette called the creditors of Henry Brough Oliver to a meeting at the Office of Messrs. Mounsey, Solicitors, Carlisle, ‘to take into consideration and determine upon the best mode of proceeding as to a certain sum of money, lately become due to the said Bankrupt’s estate; and on other matters and things relative thereto’.[11]

As a grocer, Sarah Oliver was in regular contact with Brampton’s overseers between 1818 and 1820.[12]  In the 139 days between 22 December 1818 and 10 May 1819, for example, purchases were made on 70 separate occasions. Some of her stock came from fellow Brampton grocer Isaac Bird. She settled her account with him in cash, and once in tobacco.[13]

Oliver supplied Brampton’s workhouse with imported items including tea, coffee, sugar, and pepper; and domestic items including, candles, soap, starch and flour.[14] Oliver did not sell a more restricted range of goods than male grocers also located in Brampton. Her goods were identical in name to the flour, soap, starch, blue, candles, tobacco, barley, tea, coffee and sugar supplied by Joseph Forster.[15]  Moreover, prices paid per stone, pound or ounce, were very similar. It is entirely possible that the quality of goods differed, but neither the vouchers nor Forster’s ledger make such distinctions possible.

In the early 1820s Oliver moved her business to Scotch Street, Carlisle, where she acted as agent to the London Genuine Tea Company.[16] Daughters Elizabeth and Jane, became milliners and dressmakers; they are listed in Jollie’s1828–29 directory, as also being resident in Scotch Street.[17] In 1834 Richard Hind, ironmonger, of English Street, Carlisle, married Mary Oliver, of Scotch Street.[18]

Sarah Oliver died Carlisle in 1852.  Her death was reported in the Carlisle Patriot: ‘Yesterday, in this city, aged 52, Sarah, relict of the late Mr. Henry Brough Oliver, of Brampton, deeply lamented by her family’.[19]

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

[1] Cumbria Archives, Carlisle, Marriage Bond Index.

[2] Peter Barfoot and John Wilkes, Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce and Manufacture, 5 vols. (London: c.1795), V, Appendix, 27–9. 

[3] St John the Evangelist, Smith Square, London, born 11 November, Baptised 10 December 1776, Henry Brough, son of Richard and Jane Oliver.

[4] Historical Record of the King’s Liverpool Regiment of Foot; http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U197827 accessed 12 Feb. 2019

[5] Carlisle Journal, 4 September 1802, p.1; Carlisle Journal, 24 September 1803, 3.

[6] The Monthly Magazine, vol. 26 (R. Philips, 1808), 492.

[7] Cumbria Archives, PR60, Brampton, St Martin’s Parish Registers, 1663–1993.

[8] F. Jollie, Jollies Cumberland Guide & Directory (Carlisle: 1811)

[9] Tradesman or Commercial Magazine, 1, (July–December 1808), (London: Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 1808), 271.

[10] London Gazette, 26 November 1811, 2301.

[11] The London Gazette, 25 February 1826, 437.

[12] Cumbria Archives Service, Carlisle, PR60/21/13/5/100, 6 April 1819; PR60/21/13/5/124, 8 January 1819; PR60/21/13/6/710 February 1820, Brampton Overseers’ Vouchers, Sarah Oliver.

[13] Cumbria Archives Service, Carlisle, DCLP/8/38, Isaac Bird, Grocer, Brampton, Ledger, 1817-19.

[14] Cumbria Archives Service, Carlisle, PR60/21/13/5/124; Brampton Overseers’ Voucher, Sarah Oliver, 8 January 1819.

[15] Cumbria Archives Service, Carlisle, DCL P/8/47, Joseph Forster, grocer, Brampton, ledger, 1819–31; William Parson and William White, History, Directory and Gazetteer of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds: Edward Baines and Son, 1829), 426.

[16] Carlisle Patriot, 30 August 1823 and 3 December 1825.

[17] J. Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory [Part 1: Cheshire – Northumberland] for 1828–29 (London and Manchester: J. Pigot and Co., 1828), 71; W. Parson and W. White, History, Directory & Gazetteer of Cumberland & Westmorland, (Leeds: Edward Baines and Son, 1829), 165

[18] Carlisle Journal, 1 November 1834, 3.

[19] Carlisle Patriot, 27 October 1832, 3.

Tinniswoods of Waygill Hill, Talkin, Hayton Parish

By NMDEA
Waygill Hill, Talkin, 2019

Waygill Hill was a farm near Talkin Village. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was owned by the Tinniswood family; one of the principal families in the area. Other branches of the Tinniswood family lived at Cumcatch and Boothby.

Wills going back to the early 1700s suggest they had a comfortable income. The Reverend Whitehead writes about the Tinniswoods of Waygill Hill in 1879 alluding to their importance in the area and the subsequent loss of the farm.[1]

Waygill Hill passed into the custody of Robert Tinniswood (1752-1820) and his wife Dorothy Bell (1759-1829) although the exact date is unknown. They appeared to be prospering, owning other farms in the area. Subsequently property sale announcements begin to appear for the farms in the local newspapers. Far Tarn End Estate was put up for sale in 1814. [2] Ash Tree Farm and Waygill Hill (which had already been re-mortgaged in 1809) followed. [3] When Robert Tinniswood died in 1820 there was very little left. [4] Robert was described by the Rev Whitehead as ‘an extravagant man‘. Robert’s widow moved to nearby Brampton, possibly to live with two of her children Jane and Elizabeth.

The first voucher referring to the Tinniswoods and settled by Richard Brown is dated January 1833. [5] It relates to Robert and Dorothy’s oldest son John Tinniswood (1772-1831) who probably expected to succeed his father at the farm. One of the items on the voucher refers to

‘a journey to Carlisle to consult Mr Saul [solicitor] about E Tinniswood 4s.0.’

A report in the Carlisle Patriot provides the probable circumstances which the voucher relates to. [6] Kirkbampton Parish faced with the financial care of Elizabeth Tinniswood’s unborn child were seeking her removal to Hayton where they felt her settlement lay. Witnesses were called, amongst them Elizabeth’s mother, now called Mrs Thompson. She explained that she married John Tinniswood at Gretna but he soon left her. She gave birth to Elizabeth in Dumfries and took her to John Tinniswood in Hayton. As her marriage had no legal standing, she was encouraged by a magistrate to pursue John for money. An 1816 bastardly order for St Mary’s Within, Carlisle, named John Tinniswood as the father of the child of Elizabeth Calden. [7] Mrs Thompson said that John Tinniswood subsequently married at least twice more at Gretna but on each occasion left his wife.

Cross-border marriages were common at this time due to the difference in English and Scottish marriage laws. Brampton and Hayton were foremost amongst English border settlements taking advantage of irregular marriages on the Scottish side of the border. It was a booming business.

Young Elizabeth Tinniswood was taken to the workhouse in Hayton where she lived until the age of 11. She explained that she left the workhouse and went into service. For two years she had been at Elizabeth Proud’s  Hardbank Mill working, as she said, for ‘her meat and clothes‘. 

John Tinniswood died in 1831. There are no records of his marriages or any other children he may have had. No decision was reached in Elizabeth’s case. It was due to be heard again at another session. This may not have happened. Elizabeth Tinniswood gave birth to a daughter named Eliza on 30 July 1832 in Hayton. She was baptised privately but died 2 August 1832. [8]


PR102/114/4, Hayton Overseers’ Vouchers, 17 January 1833.

Robert Tinniswood (1773-1861), the second son, was an innkeeper at Low Gelt Bridge with his wife Christina Brown. In January 1817 they were faced with the prospect of bankruptcy. His effects and estate were assigned to Joseph Cox and Thomas Halliburton for the benefit of Tinniswood’s creditors. [9] The property itself was not put up for sale but all the goods in it were. In May of the same year his father was attempting to sell Waygill Hill.

A voucher dated 1821 ‘to buy clothing for ‘Tinniswood Child at 2s’ may refer to Robert’s children.[10] Robert, now working as an agricultural labourer, and his family remained at Bye Gelt.

George Tinniswood (1798-1859) was the fourth born and third surviving son. He never married. He worked on the Brackenthwaite Estate at Cumrew.[11] Like his two brothers, he was an agricultural labourer. By this time their parents’ farm was owned by Mr Graham of Edmund Castle.

Margaret was the eldest daughter born in 1780 but nothing can confidently be attributed to her life or her sister Mary. Mary (1782-1818) died 2 years before her father. The Carlisle Patriot describes her as dying after a lingering illness.[12]

Another daughter Dorothy (1785-1858) married first Thomas Simpson Wills (1774-1809) then after his death the Reverend John Leech (1793-1864) on 9 August 1820. They moved shortly after to Berwick upon Tweed. Her son, Edmond Wills, appears in another voucher.[13]

‘Rec’d Apr 10 1833 of ‘David Watt [Parish Clerk] the sum of £1.15s for Henry Browns House due to Edmond Wills for whose use received the same E Tinniswood’.

It has been assumed this is Elizabeth Tinniswood, Dorothy’s sister. Edmond Wills (1808-1856) subsequently entered the clergy living in Barkstone, Lincolnshire.

The two unmarried sisters, Elizabeth Tinniswood (1787-1870) and Jane (1789-1863) were left £20 by their mother in her will of 1831. Around this time they began trading as confectioners and grocers in Brampton [14]. They were still trading at Front Street when Jane died in 1863. [15] She left her estate of less than £200 to her sister Elizabeth. [16] When Jane died they had been trading at the same place Front Street, Brampton, for around 35 years. Elizabeth left her estate of under £100 to her surviving brother William (1794-1878). William, having moved to Leeds, Yorkshire, was an excise officer.[17]

Thomas (1791-1851), the other brother, had married Betsy Watson and had a large family. He was first surveyor of taxes for Eskdale Ward which included Brampton and Hayton then from 1820 Berwick upon Tweed. [18] He died at 31 King Street, Carlisle in 1851. [19]

Waygill Hill still stands near Talkin village today. The Tinniswood sons perhaps hoped for a future on their father’s farm but it was not to be. An epitaph to their father was placed in Hayton Church. [20] although I couldn’t find it in April 2019.

‘Farewell vain world, I’ve seen enough of thee’ And now am careless what thou say’st of me;. Thy smiles I court not, nor thy frowns I fear, My cares are past, my head lies quiet here. What faults you view in me take care to shun, and look at home; enough there’s to be done’

Former Workhouse Hayton Cumberland April 2019 Photo taken by M Dean April 2019
Former Workhouse Hayton, Cumberland, April 2019 Photo taken by M Dean

Sources
[1] Carlisle Patriot, 12 December 1879
[2] Carlisle Journal, 16 July 1814
[3] Carlisle Patriot, 11 December 1829
[4] Cumbria Archives, PROB1826/AB(38) Administration Bond, Robert Tinniswood
[5] Cumbria Archives, PR102/114/4, Hayton Overseers’ Vouchers, 1 January 1833
[6] Carlisle Patriot, 7 July 1832
[7] Cumbria Archives, CQ 5/7 Carlisle, Quarter Sessions, Bastardly Recognitions, Midsummer 1816.
[8] Cumbria Archives, PR 102/8 Hayton, St Mary Magdalene Parish Burial Register 1811-1879
[9] Carlisle Patriot, 18 January 1817
[10] Cumbria Archives, PR102/110/2, Hayton Overseers’ Vouchers, December 19 1821
[11] Carlisle Journal, 25 March 1859
[12] Carlisle Patriot, 7 February 1818
[13] Cumbria Archives, PR102/114/8, Hayton Overseers’ Vouchers, 10 April 1833
[14] Parsons, W. M. & White, W.C., History, Directory and Gazetteer of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Pigot & Co., 1829)
[15] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1863/W125a, Will of Jane Tinniswood
[16] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1870/W653a, Will of Elizabeth Tinniswood
[17] www.findmypast.co.uk accessed 1 June 2019
[18] Carlisle Patriot, 19 February 1820
[19] Carlisle Journal, 28 March 1831
[20] Cumbria Archives PR 60/5

Various reference to the Tinniswoods in Catalogue of the Howard Family papers related to Cumberland. Durham University Library accessed at www.http://endure.dur.ac.uk:8080/fedora/get/UkDhU:EADCatalogue.0154/PDF accessed 1 June 2019

Elizabeth Overing, sent to Bedlam (1746- 1815)

By Elizabeth Hughes

Elizabeth Overing was probably the Elizabeth, daughter of John and Mary Overing, who was baptised in Wilmington on 21 September 1746.  Her parents had married in Wilmington in 1740 and she had three siblings also christened there: Thomas (1741), Mary (1743) and John (1745).  Her father died in 1773, leaving a will which reveals that he was a bricklayer and glazier in Wilmington who held several copyhold properties of the manor of Wilmington.  The will acknowledged all four children and left £3 a year for Elizabeth but only after her mother’s death. 

View of Bethlem hospital from Moorfields
Most of Bethlehem Hospital by William Henry Toms for William Maitland in William Maitland’s History of London, 1739.

Things seem to have gone wrong fairly soon afterwards as she was admitted to Bethlem Hospital, colloquially known as Bedlam, on 17 May 1774 by Wilmington parish. Originally founded as the Priory of the Church of St Mary of Bethlehem near Bishopsgate in 1247, Bethlem was being referred to as a hospital to house the insane by 1403.  Patients came from across the country and were often poor.  In the 17th century it moved to new premises in Moorfields, and it was to this incarnation of the hospital that Elizabeth Overing was admitted.  It was usual for new patients to spend about a year in the hospital’s general ward after which, if they were not cured, they were assessed as to whether they were ‘fit’ to receive the hospital’s charity in the incurable ward.  Elizabeth Overing was discharged ‘not fit’ on 19 May 1775.

Removal order, Wilmington in Sussex, 1775. East Sussex Record Office: QR586/19

She returned to Wilmington and by 3 September 1775 she was the subject of a removal order from Wilmington to East Hoathly.  The order records that Mary Overing, Elizabeth’s mother, was examined as to her daughter’s settlement.  Since Elizabeth would by now have been 29, this suggests that she may not have been considered able to answer for herself.  East Hoathly appealed the removal order at Quarter Sessions in October 1775 but the order was confirmed.  There is no explanation as to how she had gained a settlement in East Hoathly but gain it she did.  From this time, Elizabeth appears regularly in the East Hoathly overseers’ accounts, where payments record her maintenance by John Tampkin and John Watford at 3s 6d a week, later increasing to 5s. 

By November 1781, Elizabeth was beginning to prompt additional activity: John Burgess, innkeeper, incurred expenses in travelling to Uckfield on business concerning her, probably with the local magistrates.  By January 1782 the process had begun to admit Elizabeth Overing to Bethlem Hospital once more and the timeline can be traced from the East Hoathly accounts and Bethlem archives. 

John Watford’s maintenance payments for her ended on 12 January 1782, which was the original date for her planned admission to Bethlem.  Instead, she was conveyed from Uckfield to Hoxton, where she was maintained by a Mr Robert Harrison from 12 to 26 January at 10s 6d a week.  A London Fire Insurance Policy register places a Robert Harrison, gentleman, in a business property near the Jewish burial ground in Hoxton in 1781.  The burial ground was next to Hoxton House, one of a number of mad houses for private mental health patients situated there at the time.  Hoxton was also known for its houses to which London parishes could send their poor if they did not run workhouses, a system known as farming.  It may be, therefore, that Elizabeth was accommodated in one or other of these institutions until Bethlem was able to accept her. 

Meanwhile, on 17 January, Robert Hook, shoemaker, obtained a settlement certificate for Elizabeth Overing from the Uckfield magistrates, acknowledging East Hoathly as her place of settlement and this was lodged with Bethlem Hospital when she was finally transferred there from Hoxton and admitted as an incurable on 26 January 1782. 

East Hoathly Overseer’s Voucher, East Sussex Record Office: PAR378/31/3/19/18.

The parish appears to have appointed representatives to act on its behalf since on the same day of her admission, a bond was entered into between the Bethlem authorities and two residents of the City, Robert Morphett, hosier, and Frederick Smith, gentleman, stating that they had requested Elizabeth Overing’s admission to the hospital as an incurable and obliging them to pay 2s 6d per week for her board and to cover clothing bedding and funeral expenses.  That these expenses were passed on is clear from the East Hoathly vouchers, which show that the parish paid deposits of £4 1s 0d towards her board and £3 3s 0d towards her bed, bedding and funeral if she were to die at the hospital.  In 1789 the parish seems to have changed its local representatives as a second bond was taken out with the Bethlem authorities, this time by John and Thomas Russell, carpenters.  By now the weekly fee had gone up to 5s. 

Bethlem Hospital, printed list of apparel for patients, c1790. East Sussex Record Office, Parish of East Hoathly, PAR378/31/3/21/24.

Invoices for expenses were regularly passed on to East Hoathly.  For example, in the year ending 28 December 1784, the parish was invoiced £6 10s 0d for board and £2 15s 0d for clothing, which included shoes and stockings, a gown, petticoat and undercoat, shifts, caps, aprons, handkerchiefs and buckles, provided at Bethlem’s standard charge.  In the year ending 31 December 1793 the costs had risen to £15 2s 2d for board with £2 10s 11d for clothing, a rise of almost 100% in nine years though the sums involved were not, in terms of board, any higher than the parish had been paying Tampkin and Watford.

Nothing else survives to indicate how Elizabeth was treated at Bethlem.  However, we know that patients were held in cells in the wings of the hospital off long galleries.  Until 1770, when the practice was ended, these galleries were open to visitors and the inmates were something of a tourist attraction. At least Elizabeth did not have to suffer that indignity.  However, witness statements given to the Committee on Madhouses in England in 1815 reveal that many patients were kept in bed, especially women; that some patients were found naked and covered only by straw on the floor of their cells; that there was inadequate medical supervision; and that some were kept in chains.  The Matron reports that she had 66 women in her care, four or five of whom were restrained.  She continues:

One of the female patients has been confined a long time, chained by the leg, as much as five or six years, I have been told; and we have another constantly chained by the hands, that came in about two months since, two of the other blanket patients are only chained at times. I have them loose, to walk about occasionally.

In August 1815 Bethlem’s patients were transferred to new premises in Southwark (on the site of what is now the Imperial War Museum) because the old building was considered beyond repair.  Elizabeth did not live to see it: she died on 2 June.  Her burial place has not so far been identified.  It was not generally the responsibility of the hospital to bury its deceased patients and it did not have its own dedicated burial ground.  Her burial is not recorded at either Wilmington or East Hoathly.

Christopher Crozier (1783-1839),Blacksmith, Brampton

By NMDEA

Voucher PR60/21/13/5/52, 17 September 1817, Expenses to take Christopher Crozier from Carlisle to Newcastle

Christopher Crozier was a blacksmith by trade like his father William, and his brother William (1783-1856). Christopher and William were baptised on the same day 2 February 1783. Their mother was Arabella or Isabella Hetherington. Two other brothers Joseph (1790-1842) and Quintin (1788-1823) were also smiths: Joseph a blacksmith, and Quintin a whitesmith. All operated within the town of Brampton. Christopher also had 3 sisters: Mary (1784-1851), who married John Aikin; Isabella (b.1795) and Margaret (b.1798).[1]

A voucher for Brampton parish dated 17 September 1817 although torn and missing the lower half gives an insight into a brief period in Christopher’s life.[2] Expenses had been incurred by an unknown person for the taking of Christopher from Carlisle to Newcastle. They include:-
⦁ Burns Coach to Carlisle 2s 6d Driver 6d [Coach Carlisle to Newcastle[3]
⦁ Supper 1s 6d Ale 1s
⦁ Breakfast 1s 3d Gin 4d
⦁ Paid Wm Jackson Jailor 8s 6d
⦁ Turn key for Irons 2s
⦁ Hector Glendinning [blacksmith] for Iron Crozier 2s
⦁ Coach Fare to Newcastle £1.12s.
⦁ Bread cheese & Ale for Crozier at Carlisle 1s 2d

The assumption from the items on the voucher is that Christopher had committed a crime. Court records (15 April 1817) show that he was accused of larceny (theft), but received no punishment.[4 ] The Carlisle Patriot gives a little more information reporting that Christopher had stolen some bank notes and when asked how he would be tried replied ‘By the Spirit‘. No further court proceedings took place as he was considered not to be of sound mind.[5 ] It is possible that owing to his state of mind and his family being unable to help him that Christopher was placed in safe custody. Guidelines of the Safe Custody of Insane Persons Act 1800 allowed for this.[6]


Another voucher dated two years earlier (2 December 1815) is for eleven weeks board for Christopher Crozier at a cost of £4.8s.[7] The other named parties being Messrs Pow and Cook (grocers in Mosley Street, Newcastle) and Drs Wood and Glenton, which suggests this is not the first time that Christopher has had some aberration.[8] In 1817 there was no mental health facility near to Brampton, the nearby city of Carlisle’s Garlands Hospital not being opened until 1862. The Asylum at Warden Close, Newcastle was the nearest, where Dr J. Wood and Dr F. Glenton were physicians.

Examination of military records reveals that Christopher, like his brother William, joined the army on 26 September 1807 serving in the 1st Battalion, 5th Foot Regiment. The Peninsular War saw Wellington’s Anglo-Portuguese force besiege Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain from 7-20 January 1812. One of those injured was Christopher, suffering a gunshot wound to the leg on 19 January 1812. He was considered unfit for further service and discharged on 1 April 1812. [9] Whether he suffered any mental affliction as well as physical injury as a result of his five and half years army service can only be speculated upon.

Voucher /21/13/5/114 5 January 2019 13 weeks Board for Christopher Crozier in the Lunatic Hospital

Problems with overcrowding at Warden Close Asylum in Newcastle may explain why another voucher for grocers, Pow and Cook dated 5 January 1818 is for 13 weeks board at a cost of £5.4s ‘for Christopher Crozier in the lunatic hospital. [10] Thomas Bells’s name appears on the back of the voucher. [11]

One more voucher headed ‘Parish of Brampton to Thos Bell’ suggests that Christopher recovered enough to return to his family in Brampton.[12] It is for 15s 9d ‘Expenses when C Crozier returned’ on 11 July 1818. Christopher’s and Joseph’s names appear in the 1828-29 trade directories as blacksmiths at Back Street, Brampton, suggesting Christopher was either working or attempting to do so.[13]

Christopher Crozier died in 1839 his brother Quintin had already died in 1823.  Brothers Joseph and William appear on the 1841 Census in Brampton, Joseph still a blacksmith with his wife Mary Moffit, William (who had also been injured during his army service in the 21st Foot Regiment) an Army Pensioner with his wife Susan.[14]  After Joseph died in 1842 his widow Mary made a living in Brampton as a publican .One establishment she ran being the Jolly Butcher.  Prior to 1841, William his eldest brother was found guilty of steeling sovereigns from Thomas Knott  and was sentenced to transportation for life in March 1836, but this was later commuted to a 6 month prison sentence. He died in 1856. and by 1861 his widow Susan was an inmate in Brampton Workhouse. Mary, his sister, moved to Newcastle with her surviving children after her husband John Aikin’s death. [15]

Footnote
Dr James Wood died in 1822,[16 ]and Dr Frederick Glenton 1824.[17] Whilst they had their supporters, [18] in 1824 Newcastle City Council on advice given in a report into the running of Warden Close Lunatic Asylum concluded that it had been run as a private asylum for the benefit of the physicians and action was taken to redress this. The morals of treatment turned towards non restraint, provision of more space , land for gardens and access to sewing, music and reading. It eventually closed around 1855.[19]

Sources
[1] Cumbria Archives, PR 60/2, Brampton, St Martin Parish Register of Baptisms
[2] Cumbria Archives, PR60/21/13/5/52 Brampton Poor Law Voucher, 7 September 1817
[3] Carlisle Patriot, 26 April 1817
[4] England & Wales Crime, Prisons Punishment 1770- 1935 Cumberland Court records, 15 April 1817, accessed at www.findmypast.co.uk, 20 April 2019
[5] Carlisle Patriot, 19 April 1817
[6] www.oldbaileyonline.org, accessed 20 April 2019
[7] Cumbria Archives, PR60/21/13/5/22, Brampton Poor Law Voucher, 2 December 1815
[8] Tyne Mercury, Northumberland & Durham & Cumberland Gazette, 17 January 1804
[9] The National Archives, Kew, War Office Armed Forces Judge Advocate General and Related Bodies, 1807-1813, WO 121/129/134, Christopher Crozier, accessed at www.findmypast.co.uk, 20 April 2019
[10] Tyne and Wear Archive Service Catalogues, H O S N, St Nicholas Hospital Gosforth, 1829-2005
[11] Cumbria Archives, PR60/21/13/5/114, Brampton Poor Law Voucher, 5 January 1818
[12] Cumbria Archive Service, PR60/21/13/65, Brampton Poor Law Voucher, 11 July 1818
[13] Parson W. M. & White, W. E., History, Directory & Gazetteer of the Counties of Cumberland & Westmorland (1829) . Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory Cheshire- Northumberland for 1828-29 (J Pigot & Co).
[14] The National Archives, Kew, War office Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General and Related Bodies, WO 97/1184C/227, William Crozier, 1821, accessed at www.findmypast.co.uk, 20 April 2019
[15] Carlisle Patriot 10 April 1846, p 2-3.  Carlisle Journal 26 March 1836 p 2.   www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed 20 April 2019
[16] Tyne Mercury, Northumberland & Durham & Cumberland Gazette 11 February 1822
[17] Newcastle Courant 10 April 1824
[18] Tyne Mercury, Northumberland & Durham & Cumberland Gazette 19 February 1822
[19] Tyne and Wear Archive Service Catalogues H O S N, St Nicholas Hospital Gosforth 1829-2005

 

 

This is a work in progress subject to change with new research

Elizabeth Fox. Overseer of the Poor, 1838.

By Malbedenk

Gnosall Poor Law Vouchers contain one (Reference D951/5/81/147) which names Elizabeth Fox as the Overseer of the Poor. As it is rather unusual to find a woman I looked to see what I could find out about Elizabeth Fox.

Not knowing if she was married or single I first looked for a death in Gnosall 1838-1841 and as none appeared I started with the 1841 Census which revealed two Elizabeth Foxes in the area.

  1. Elizabeth Fox, born circa 1781 a Farmer at Coley Hall with no apparent husband.

Thomas Fox of the Parish of Newport [Salop] married Elizabeth Whittler of this Parish, at Forton (an adjoining Parish to Gnosall) on 5 Oct 1801 both signing X.

Thomas was buried at Forton on 4 Oct 1831 aged 51with an abode of Coley.

All their children were baptised at All Saints, Forton

The 1851 Census only has one Elizabeth Fox which is the retired Farmer, living at Moreton Park, Moreton, Newport. [Moreton is one of the Quarters of Gnosall] By 1861 this Elizabeth is back at Coley Farm with her son and was buried on 17 Aug 1861 at Forton with an abode of Coley.

2.Elizabeth Fox, born circa 1791 in 1841 is living with Thomas Fox a shoemaker in Gnosall

Thomas Fox of the Parish of Eccleshall married Elizabeth Edge of this Parish at Seighford on 17 Jan 1825. Both signed with a Mark. Seighford is about 6 miles from Gnosall. This may be the one who moved to Gnosall but no children have been identified from this marriage in any parish.

Thomas Fox of Gnosall was buried in St. Lawrence, Gnosall on 6 Feb 1844 aged 66. (DOB about 1781)

As she does not appear in the 1851 Census, or to have died,  I looked for a marriage and found one in Gnosall on 1 April 1844 when John Moore a widowed shoe maker, with an abode of the Hollies [part of Gnosall] married Elizabeth Fox a widowed Housekeeper, with an abode of Gnosall. Both signed with a mark. The service was conducted by the Rev. Fearon Jenkinson and the witnesses were Ann and Martha Jenkinson

None of this is making it easy to identify which Elizabeth is the Overseer. Neither the Order Book of Select Vestry for the Concerns of the Poor 1821-1838 Ref. D951/4/5 nor the Vestry Minutes 1835-1952 Ref D951/4/7 make any reference to the Appointment of Elizabeth Fox as Overseer of the Poor.

At a Vestry Meeting on 23 Dec 1835 Thomas Fox signs as one of the Ratepayers but this is no help as both Elizabeths married Thomas’ and Elizabeth the farmer had a son Thomas who could have succeeded his Father who died 1831.

On the face of it Elizabeth the farmer is more likely to be the Overseer as she probably is more likely to be a Ratepayer. However all the official record such as BMD records are in Forton Parish. 

On the other hand Elizabeth the wife of the shoemaker lives in Gnosall and her second husband has appeared as a supplier in the Poor Law vouchers.

Any further information will be posted later.

Peter Burn (1792–1877), Gardener, Brampton

By Peter Collinge

Two vouchers have come to light showing Peter Burn supplying seeds and plants to Brampton workhouse. The first from 1816 includes early cabbage plants, onion, Welsh onion and leek seeds and ‘green plants’. The second from 1819 included early cauliflower. Such information adds to the current understanding of pauper diets which, derived from workhouse dietaries or daily allowances, often do not specify vegetables other than potatoes.  

Even though Burn’s bills to the overseers were modest in amount, totalling £1 5s 6d, his business was evidently profitable as he held more than £1000 of stock in the Carlisle City and District Banking Company.[1] In 1851 he employed two men and two boys.[2] He was still working in 1871, employing five boys.[3]

Burn is listed in Parson and White’s 1829 directory as a gardener with premises in Front Street.[4] By 1851 he was living in Church Lane with his wife Margaret.[5]

Burn was born in 1792 in Bellingham or Ridley, Northumberland.[6] His wife Margaret (née Johnson) was born in 1797 at Alston, Cumberland.[7] She may have been his second wife. The 1841 Census for Brampton does not list Margaret Burn, but does list a Peter Burn, and children Thomas (15), Peter (10), Elizabeth (20), Sarah (15) and Margaret (14). As was the practice at the time, most of these ages have been rounded. A quick search through FindMyPast and Ancestry show that a Peter and Sarah Burn’s children were Thomas (bap. 13 September 1822), Peter (bap. 8 September 1830), Elizabeth (bap. 20 August 1819), Sarah (bap. 13 June 1824) and Margaret (bap. 17 November 1826).[8] Sarah Burn the elder died in 1838.[9]

Living with Peter and Margaret in 1871 were his widowed brother Bryan, a retired railway guard, and two unmarried granddaughters, Sarah aged 22 (a housekeeper), and Elizabeth aged 15.[10]

Peter Burn died on 19 February 1877. His will contains three codicils and was proved at Carlisle on 26 April by two of his executors; his son Peter, a draper, and John Armstrong, a gardener. Burn’s effects were under £600.[11]

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

[1] Anon, A List of the County Banks of England and Wales, Private and Proprietary (London: M. A. Marchant, 1838), frontispiece, 138.

[2] TNA, HO 107/2427, 1851 Census; RG 9/3907, 1861 Census.

[3] TNA, RG 10/5209, 1871 Census.

[4] W. Parson and W. White, History, Directory & Gazetteer of Cumberland & Westmorland, (Leeds: Edward Baines and Son, 1829), 417.

[5] TNA, HO 107/2427, 1851 Census.

[6] The 1851 Census records Bellingham, the 1861 Census, Ridley. TNA, HO 107/2427, 1851 Census; RG 9/3907, 1861 Census.

[7] TNA, HO 107/2427, 1851 Census; RG 10/5209, 1871 Census.

[8] Ancestry.co.uk; FindMyPast.co.uk, accessed 25 April 2019.

[9] Buried 26 February 1838, Ancestry.co.uk; FindMyPast.co.uk, accessed 25 April 2019.

[10] TNA, RG 10/5209, 1871 Census.

[11] National Probate Calendar, Peter Burn, 26 April 1877.