Category: Staffordshire

George Alsop (1776–1847), Surgeon and Apothecary, Uttoxeter

By Peter Collinge

George Alsop was born in 1776. By 1799 he had qualified as a surgeon and took on John Roe as an apprentice. He took on a second apprentice, George Roe, in 1802. He married Susanna Christiana Mountford (b.1786) at St Peter and St Paul, Aston, Birmingham, on 8 May 1803. In the 1841 Census George and Christiana were recorded as living in Balance Street along with their children Mary Ann Alsop (25); Susanna Alsop (20) and Edward Alsop, also 20. They had two servants, Elizabeth Thawley (20) and John Brassing[?] aged 15.

He formed a business partnership with James Chapman and between them they provided medical services, pills and powders to the parish poor on behalf of the parish overseers (see entry ‘The Price of a Broken Leg). Alsop also became embroiled in a minor cause-celebre of the early nineteenth century. It was a case that had attracted considerable public attention and was authenticated by numerous highly respected people of ‘rank, talent, and scientific attainments’. Alongside Elias Sanders, curate of Church Broughton; John Webster, surgeon of Burton; Frederick Anson, rector of Sudbury; and George Watson Hutchinson, vicar of Tutbury, Alsop was one of the people who, watching ‘most diligently and attentively’, witnessed the supposed abstinence of Ann Moore of Tutbury, Staffordshire. Moore had constantly asserted that excepting a few blackcurrants, she had not eaten any solid food since the spring of 1807, nor had she taken any liquid since the autumn of 1808. By 1813 the case had attracted such widespread publicity that an investigation led by Legh Richmond sought to determine the truth of Moore’s claims. Richmond published his findings in A Statement of Facts, Relative to the Supposed Abstinence of Ann Moore of Tutbury, Staffordshire and a Narrative of the Circumstances which led to the recent Detection of the Imposture (Burton-upon-Trent: 1813). The title says it all.

In 1821 Alsop was listed amongst a number of other residents of Uttoxeter as a jury member at the Staffordshire Quarter Sessions. Other jury members included William Porter, Thomas Earp, William Garle and Michael Clewly.

Despite having a long-standing contract with the parish overseers, Alsop was declared bankrupt in 1831. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings land held by Alsop at Hockley was passed to his assignees and to a Mr Wilkinson, and Lanes End Croft to Mr Lassetter. A settlement was reached with creditors and a final dividend was paid in 1842[?].

At the end of December 1840 the long- standing partnership between Alsop and James Chapman was dissolved. Both men declared their intentions to carry on as Surgeons. Apothecaries and midwives independently.

His death was announced in Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal on 3 December 1847. George was 72 and declared to be ‘Universally esteemed and respected by all who knew him, and his death will be a cause of regret to an extensive circle of friends and acquaintance’.

In his short will Alsop left his plate, linen, old furniture, book debts and securities for money, and all personal effects to his ‘beloved wife’ for her sole use, and mad her the executrix. The will makes no mention of any real estate.

Sources

1841 Census HO 107/1007/15.

Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, 3 December 1847.

Parish Register, St Peter and St Paul, Aston, Birmingham.

Legh Richmond, A Statement of Facts, relative to the supposed abstinence of Ann Moore of Tutbury, Staffordshire and a Narrative of the Circumstances which led to the recent Detection of the Imposture (Burton-upon-Trent: J. Croft, 1813).

London Gazette, part 3, (T. Neuman: 1842).

Staffordshire Adevrtiser, 27 February 1841.

Staffordshire Record Office, D3891/6/70, Uttoxeter Poor Rate assessment, 1832.

SRO, Q/RJr/ 1821.

TNA IR/38 & IR/70 Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures 1710–1811.

TNA, PROB 11/2086/6 Will of George Alsop, Surgeon of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, 4 January 1849.

N.B. This biography is a work in progress and will probably be amended as further information from vouchers and other sources becomes available.

Samuel Garle (1792–1867) of Uttoxeter, So Much More than a Draper

By Peter Collinge

Samuel Garle was born in Uttoxeter the son of William and Ann Garle.

He had seven siblings, although not all survived into adulthood: William (1786–1856), Elizabeth (1787–1789), Richard (1788–1848), Thomas (1790–1793), Ann (b.1793), John (1795–1857), and Thomas (b.1796).

Samuel Garle married Sarah Fox on (b.1802) on 16 April 1825 at Gayton, Stafford. They do not appear to have had any children. He is listed in trade directories as a linen and woollen draper and hosier in Uttoxeter’s Market Place, but bill heads for his business also note that he furnished funerals, provided stays and supplied charities at wholesale prices.

By the time of the 1851 Census, he had retired and both he and Sarah were living in Balance Street, in a freehold house, along with a servant Elizabeth Blow or Bloor. Ten years later, they were still in Balance Street with a servant, Ellen Spare.

He died aged 75 on 14 April 1867. His will was proved at Lichfield by his widow Sarah and his nephew William Garle of Millwich, a farmer. The value of Samuel’s effects was under £6,000, indicating a successful businessman. However, Garle’s interests extended beyond his drapery business and supplying the parish overseers. Samuel and William (probably the brother and not the nephew) Garle were on the provisional committee of the Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield, and South Staffordshire railway, also known as the Leeds, Wolverhampton and Dudley Direct Railway, and the Direct East and West Junction Railway. Samuel Garle’s and John Garle’s names could also be found amongst the list of proprietors on the deed of settlement of the North and Central Bank of England. In 1826 he was listed as one of the jurors in the Quarter Sessions alongside John Garle, innkeeper.

Sources

Anon, Deed of Settlement of the North and Central Bank of England (Manchester: printed by Henry Smith, 1835)

William James Adams, Bradshaw’s Railway Gazette, vol 1 (Manchester: Bradshaw and Blacklock, 1845)

HO107/2010 1851 Census

RG/9/1954 1861 Census

England and Wales FreeBMD Index, 1837–1915

UK Poll Books and Electoral Registers 1538–1893, Uttoxeter, 1861

National Probate Calendar 1858–1966, Samuel Garle late of Uttoxeter gentleman, 14 April 1867

W. Parson and T. Bradshaw, Staffordshire General and Commercial Directory presenting an Alphabetical Arrangement of the Names and Residences of the Nobility, Gentry, Merchants and Inhabitants in General (Manchester: 1818)

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

Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory, [Derby–South Wales] (London: J. Pigot and Co. 1835).

Staffordshire Record Office, D3891/6/70, Uttoxeter Poor Rate Assessment, 1832.

SRO, Q/RJr/1826.

St Mary’s Parish Register, Uttoxeter

N.B. This biography is a work in progress and will probably be amended as further information from vouchers and other sources becomes available

An Apprentice and an Anonymous Letter: Eli Wood of Uttoxeter

By Peter Collinge

There is a common assumption, probably derived from Dicken’s Oliver Twist who was taken from the workhouse to be indentured to an undertaker, that by definition parish apprentices were orphans. This was not always the case. In early 1829 Eli Wood of Uttoxeter, aged about 16, was bound to W. Appleby of St Mary’s parish Stafford. Uttoxeter’s parish overseers received a bill for the drawing up of the apprentice order, the indenture and the associated paperwork. Nothing more is heard of Eli Wood until the Uttoxeter overseer received an anonymous letter, dated 3 March 1830. The informant, who clearly knew something of the family and its history, told the overseer that Eli had had a work-related accident. He had been thrown off his master’s horse and although hurt, the injury was considered to be slight.

In the letter, written in a semi-literate hand, possibly in an attempt to disguise the author’s identity, we are told that Wood is apprenticed to a Mr R. Thorpe, a last-maker, not the Appleby named in the bill for the justice’s clerk’s fees. It could be that in the intervening year Appleby had died and that Wood’s apprenticeship had been transferred to Thorpe.

The letter continues: Wood’s parents had been in Stafford to see another son ‘woe I am informed is in gale’, and called upon Eli. Seeing Eli unwell they decided to take him back to their house in Pinfold Lane, Uttoxeter. The letter writer was of the opinion that any application made by Eli Wood or his parents to seek financial assistance from the Uttoxeter overseers as a result of the accident should be resisted. Signed ‘Well Wisher’, the clue as to the possible identity of the anonymous writer comes towards the end of the letter; Wood’s master had a great deal of work that needed to be completed and was in need of him. It seems likely that ‘Well Wisher’ was R. Thorpe who having invested time and money in Wood’s apprenticeship, now wanted to ensure that the errant Wood (who had effectively absconded) returned  to his duties. So why be anonymous? Probably it was an attempt to ensure that upon Wood’s return, the master/apprentice relationship could be repaired.

Thomas Steeple Flint (1788–1851) of Uttoxeter

By Peter Collinge

Between 1827 and 1836 Flint, listed as a basket, sieve, white cooper and turner in Pigot’s directory, supplied the parish overseers of Uttoxeter with a range of chandlery goods including baskets (described as wiskets), bowls, a ‘pump basket’ for the workhouse, and scuttles and sieves for the workhouse’s brick kiln. Spoons and large baskets were provided for the workhouse. Repairs were sometimes made to baskets. Like many traders and shopkeepers of the period the submission of most of his bills came in January each year, suggesting that he operated a system of credit. His premises were in the Market Place Uttoxeter, although the 1841 Census gives his address as Spiceal Street where he was living with his son William aged 10 and Mary Moore aged 23. By the time of the 1851 Census he was living in Balance Streetand listed as a ‘proprietor of houses’. This switch into rentier property was a common business strategy.

On occasion the receipts were signed by A. Flint. This could be Abraham or Augustus Flint. Both were attorneys. Abraham is listed in Pigot’s directory for 1828 – 29, whilst Augustus, alongside yeoman William Steeple Flint and jeweller Benjamin Bell was one of the three people who applied for letters of administration following Thomas death in April 1851. The ‘A’ could also be Flint’s wife Ann. Flint’s probated estate amounted to £200.

One bill submitted to the overseers from the attorneys Bedson and Rushton indicates that Flint, or one his many relatives in the Uttoxeter area, became involved in a land dispute. Their bill lists ‘Attending Mr Thos Kynnersley & Mr Wood respecting dispute with Mr Flint in regard to the situation of lands near Uttoxeter Mill occupied by him.’

Thomas and Ann Flint held an insurance policy with Sun Life. It was not for property in Uttoxeter, but for a house and printing office at 6 Nassau Street, Soho, London. Insured for £800, the brick built property was not used for drying paper neither did it contain a stove. Had it done so, the insurance value would have been increased as both represented ‘hazardous’ circumstances. The ownership of property in London may have enabled Flint to move from basket maker to ‘proprietor of houses’.

An auction advert in the Derby Mercury in 1838 provides details of Flint’s premises in Uttoxeter Market Place and an explanation for his move to Spiceal Street.

Flint’s property had ‘two commanding fronts, one opposing the Market Place, having a frontage of 28 feet; and one facing the Sheep Market, with a very handsome Private Entrance and a Frontage of 45 feet’.

The house consisted of a ‘Front shop 21 feet by 16 feet … with a sitting room at the back …together with a handsome parlour, neatly fitted up with cupboards … There is cellaring under the whole; part thereof is now used as a workshop, and a kitchen well supplied with soft water … Over these apartments is an elegantly fitted-up dining room 20 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 6 inches … with marble chimney piece, and two sleeping rooms, one of which is 19 feet by 11 feet 6 inches’ also with a marble chimney piece. The other room was smaller but had a large closet attached. Above these rooms were another six sleeping rooms and above those an attic measuring 43 feet by 21 feet. Outside there was a garden and stabling for four horses.

Towards the end of the advert Flint availed ‘himself of this opportunity of returning thanks to the public at large, for the very liberal support he has received since his commencement in business, and respectfully informs them that he is now declining the same in favour of his journeymen John Wyatt and Simeon Johnson’.

Sources

Derby Mercury, 31 October 1838

London Metropolitan Archives, CLC/B/192/F/001/MS11936/553/1245849,  Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group, Insured, Thomas Steeple Flint, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire,  basket maker, and Ann Flint his wife, 15 Mar 1837

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

Staffordshire Record Office (SRO), B/C/11, Thomas S. Flint of Uttoxeter, Admon, 29 Oct 1851

SRO, D3891/6/33/6/006, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, Aug 1827–May 1828

SRO, D3891/6/34/12/090, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 18 Nov 1829

SRO, D3891/6/35/3/32, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 27 Jan 1831

SRO, D3891/6/37/10/49, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 28 Jan 1832

SRO, D3891/6/39/16/33, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 30 Jan 1833

SRO, D3891/6/40/10/18, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 15 Jan 1834

SRO, D3891/6/41/5/5, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 17 Jan 1835

SRO, D3891/6/41/7/75a, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 26/2/1834–16/12/1834

SRO, D3891/6/42/47, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 20 Jan 1836

TNA, HO/107/1007, Census 1841

TNA, HO107/2010, Census 1851

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

Jane Baxter (1792–1867) and the Brick-Makers of Uttoxeter

By Peter Collinge

Uttoxeter had a number of brickworks situated on the Heath near to the workhouse. It is almost certain that most of the bricks were used locally. Indeed, Kingman has calculated that as around 40 per cent of a brick’s cost could be accounted for by its transportation the distance between production site and final destination was often short. The poor law vouchers contain payments for the digging out of clay, for the transport of other raw materials, particularly coal from Stoke-upon-Trent and Cheadle, and for brick production, but not for transportation. The latter costs may have been covered by the purchasers. Pitt’s history of Staffordshire (1817) notes that in the town ‘The houses in general are well built of brick, and commodious. The wharf belonging to the Grand Trunk Canal Company, with several large warehouses enclosed by a brick wall, … has contributed much to the prosperity of this small but flourishing town … There are several neat mansions of brick, built in the vicinity of the wharf’.

Until mechanisation in the nineteenth century, brick-making was both relatively small-scale and seasonal with manufacturers often engaged in other occupations. Clay tended to be dug between autumn and spring, with the actual process of brick-making occupying the summer and autumn months.

The only Utttoxeter brick-layer noted in the 1793 Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce and Manufacture was William Hubbard who also doubled as a maltster. No brick-makers were listed. What is perhaps surprising is that even by the time of Parson and Bradshaw’s 1818 directory although the number of brick-layers had increased there were still no brick-makers listed. John Allen of Balance Hill, John Allen of Pinfold Lane, William Blurton, John Chatfield, William Eglison, William Hubbard, Neville Newbold, and John Walker were all brick-layers. Edward Hooper was both a bricklayer and builder, and more unusually John Tunnicliffe of High Street was listed as a brick-layer, grocer and flour dealer. Thomas Salt is described as the ‘agent for the sale of tiles of all descriptions, fire and floor brick, & Quarrie’s patent water, etc, pipes’. Many of these items are listed amongst the overseers’ vouchers.

The situation had shifted considerably by 1834. Brick-layers included Joseph Blurton, Anthony Chatfield (who crops up many times in the vouchers), Edwin Chatfield, John Chatfield and John Chatfield junior. A number of brick-makers are also listed. They included Clement Baxter, John Hudson, Margaret Parker and (unless this was a place rather than a person) the unlikely sounding Parish Yard. All were located on the Heath. In Uttoxeter were John and William Hales.

Jane Baxter, the daughter of George and Jane Baxter, was baptised on 3 February 1792. Her siblings included Clement (1780–1841), George (1786–1852), James (baptised 13 October 1789), Peter (baptised 17 October 1796) and Edward (1794–1859). George Baxter, a yeoman, died in 1802. In his short, probated will (£100) he left all of his real and personal estate to his ‘loving wife Jane’ for her own enjoyment and disposal. No mention was made of any children. His executors were William Chatfield, yeoman, and William Rogers, gardener (see entry 2 Feb. 2018)

At what point Clement Baxter entered upon the brick trade is unknown. The earliest reference we have is in the 1834 directory. His will of 1841 (£200) described him as a brick-maker. He bequeathed all his real and personal estate to his sister Jane appointing her as his sole executrix. We may ask why Jane was bequeathed the brickworks ahead of her brothers. Although it is often thought that males always inherited businesses before females, this was not necessarily the case. If it was felt that the men in the family were already established in their own occupations, or regarded as feckless or lazy, women often inherited. It may also have been a way of securing an income for the unmarried Jane thus reducing or eliminating her dependence upon the family. She also had practical experience in the brickworks operated by Clement. Her name appears in a number of overseers’ vouchers showing that she was dealing with the accounts. On 14 July 1829 there is a settled bill for 300 bricks costing 8s, whilst in March 1830 she received £5 8s 0d for a delivery of dung. This involvement would have placed her in a good position. She knew who the customers were and more importantly those who paid on time and those who did not. She would have known where raw materials could be obtained and the price to pay for such items.

In both the 1851 and 1861 Census returns Jane Baxter is recorded as being unmarried and living alone on Uttoxeter Heath. In 1851 she is listed as a brick-maker mistress. She is also listed as a brick-maker in White’s 1851 directory alongside Porter and Keates who by then had added brick and tile making to their other activities as grocers, tea dealers, ironmongers, chandlers, hemp and flax dressers, and nail manufacturers.

Following Jane Baxter’s entry in the 1851 Census is the entry for Peter Baxter, a brick maker journeyman; his wife Charlotte and their son Isaac, a cordwainer journeyman, and brick-maker journeyman John Norris. In all likelihood Peter was working for his sister. Whilst Peter was a brick-maker journeyman in 1831 he applied to the overseers for a pair of new shoes for his wife costing 6s. In 1835 he received £1 0s 0d for clothes for an apprentice. Clearly, although in work, his income was insufficient at times. The 1851 Census also lists widow Elizabeth Baxter (69) living on the Heath with her sons Thomas (35) a carter and labourer, and Edward (33) a brick-maker journeyman. Both were unmarried. Elizabeth was possibly the widow of Jane’s brother George. Other brick-makers on the Heath were Thomas Parker and his son Charles described as a brick-maker/servant, and master brick-layer William Godrich.

By the time of the 1861 Census much had changed. Jane was out of business; Peter, now widowed, had become a servant, and Isaac has disappeared from the record. Norris was still a brick maker. Also listed as a brick-maker was G[iddeon?] Prestbury.

Jane died in 1867 and is buried in the churchyard of St Lawrence, Bramshall.

Sources

Peter Barfoot and John Wilkes, Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce and Manufacture (1793)

Bramshall, St Lawrence Memorial Inscriptions

Mike Kingman, ‘Brickmaking and Brick Building in Staffordshire 1500–1760’, (Unpublished PhD Thesis, Keele University, 2006)

Mike Kingman, ‘The Adoption of Brick in Urban Staffordshire: the Experience of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1665–1760’, Midland History, 35:1, (2010)

C. C. Owen, The Development of Industry in Burton-upon-Trent (1978)

William Parson and Thomas Bradshaw, Staffordshire General and Commercial Directory, 3 vols (Manchester: J. Leigh, 1818), II

William Pitt, A Topographical History of Staffordshire (Newcastle-under-Lyme: J. Smith,1817)

SRO, D3891/1, Uttoxeter Parish Registers

SRO, D3891/6/34/12/040, Uttoxeter Overseers’ Vouchers, 14 Jul. 1829

SRO, D3981/6/36/1/22, Uttoxeter Overseers’ Vouchers, 7 Mar. 1830

SRO, D3891/6/36/6/21, Uttoxeter Overseers’ Vouchers, 20 Nov. 1831

SRO, D3891/6/43/3/7, Uttoxeter Overseers’ Vouchers, 30 Jun. 1835

SRO, D3891/6/42/19, Uttoxeter Overseers’ Vouchers, 6 Oct. 1835

TNA, IR27/360, Court of Probate, Wills and Probate

TNA, H.O. 107/2010, Census 1851

TNA, R.G. 9/1955, Census 1861

William White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (Sheffield: 1834)

William White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (Sheffield: 1851)

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

The Elsmore Family Part Three: Apprenticeships

By Peter Collinge

Searching the apprentice records on the Staffordshire Names Index reveals the names of nine Elsmores from the Colwich area: Ann, Francis, George, James, John, Mary, Sarah, Thomas and William. Either it was common for people to pay a fine for not taking apprentices, or some of the Elsmores proved, on occasion, to be unsatisfactory in some way. Looking at the dates of the apprenticeships it seems that 1828 was a crucial year.

In 1828, aged 11, Ann Elsmore the daughter of Mary Hawthorn (late Elsmore) was apprenticed to housewifery to farmer James Astley of Hixon. The apprenticeship did not actually take place as another source notes that Astley paid £10 instead of taking an apprentice.

With his parents deceased, in 1832 Francis Elsmore, aged 10, was apprenticed to farmer Charles Haywood. However, the following year Haywood paid a £10 fine instead of taking Francis. On this occasion Francis’ age was given as 13. Instead, Francis (13) was apprenticed in husbandry to Samuel Buttery, another farmer on 13 July 1833. In 1835 Francis, (age given as 11 so it might be another Francis Elsmore) was apprenticed to farmer William Smith. In all instances, however, the sources note that Francis was an orphan.

George Elsmore was apprenticed to Thomas Aylsbury of Taft Farm in July 1823, but like Ann and Francis, by December his master had paid £10 instead of taking George. The following year George (11) was apprenticed to cordwainer John Elsmore.

Nine-year-old James Elsmore was apprenticed in husbandry to William Masters in 1823 on the same date that George had first been apprenticed.

In 1808 John Elsmore, the son of Thomas and Ann Elsmore of Bishton was apprenticed to farmers John and Thomas Bould of Hixon until he reached the age of 18.

Aged 10 Mary Elsmore (parents deceased) was apprenticed to John Day, a butcher in Great Haywood, in 1819.

In 1827 Sarah Elsmore, aged 10, was apprenticed in housewifery to Viscount Thomas William Anson of Shugborough. This arrangement does not seem to have worked out as in the following year Sarah (of Sitch Lane) became apprenticed in lace-making and housewifery to Henry Cox of Great Haywood (who is recorded as a baker so perhaps it was Henry’s wife who was to instruct Sarah). After this Sarah was to be assigned to James Elsmore.

Thomas Elsmore was apprenticed to James Trubshaw at his new house in Little Haywood in 1821.

William Elsmore (11) son of Sarah Elsmore of Hixon was apprenticed in husbandry initially to Henry Churchill, a schoolmaster. The apprenticeship them seems to have been transferred to Walter Yates, a farmer, of Coley.

Sources

SRO, D24/A/PO/2809, John Elsmore, 9 Apr. 1808

SRO, D24/A/PO/2721, John Elsmore, 9 Apr. 1808

SRO, D24/A/PV/1, John Elsmore, 9 Apr. 1808

SRO, D24/A/PV/1, Mary Elsmore, 27 Oct. 1819

SRO, D24/A/PO/2722, Mary Elsmore, 27 Oct. 1819

SRO, D24/A/PV/1, Thomas Elsmore, 15 Sep. 1821

SRO, D874/7/6/23, James Elsmore, 5 Jul. 1823

SRO, D24/A/PV/1, George Elsmore, 5 Jul. 1823

SRO, D874/7/6/27, George Elsmore, 18 Dec. 1824

SRO, D24/A/PO/2833, Sarah Elsmore, 4 Jul. 1827

SRO, D24/A/PV/1, Sarah Elsmore, 14 Aug. 1827

SRO, D24/A/PV/1, Sarah Elsmore, 16 Jul. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PO/2838, Sarah Elsmore, 16 Jul. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PO/2723, Sarah Elsmore, 2 Aug. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PO/2723, Ann Elsmore, 16 Jul. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PV/1, Ann Elsmore of Princes End, 16 Jul. 1828

SRO, D874/7/6/29, Ann Elsmore, 16 Jul. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PO/2723, William Elsmore, 16 Jul. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PO/2839, William Elsmore, 16 Jul. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PO/2840, William Elsmore, 16 Jul. 1828

SRO, D874/7/6/30, William Elsmore, 8 Nov. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PV/1, William Elsmore, 8 Nov. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PO/2723, William Elsmore, 8 Nov. 1828

SRO, D24/A/PO/2723, Francis Elsmore, 21 Jan. 1832

SRO, D24/A/PO/2723, Francis Elsmore, 11 Apr. 1833

SRO, D24/A/PO/2723, Francis Elsmore, 13 Jul. 1833

SRO, D874/7/6/34, Francis Elsmore, 13 Jul. 1833

SRO, D24/A/PO/2723, Francis Elsmore, 11 Jul. 1835

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

The Elsmore Family, Great Haywood, Shoemakers, Part One

By Peter Collinge

The family name has various spellings including Ellsmere, Ellsmore and Elsmon. Most frequently it appears as Elsmore. Vouchers relating to the Elsmores survive for the period 1817–1834. The earliest, for the repair of shoes for Ann Gooding costing £0 1s 8d submitted by William Elsmore, is dated 2 July 1817.

The Elsmore name crops up frequently in the Colwich overseers’ vouchers, both as makers and repairers of footwear, and as recipients of parish relief. It was a very extended family so disentangling the precise relationship between one member of the family and another is not always straightforward. Nor is it always easy to determine precisely which member of the family was in receipt of poor relief. The first entry on the Elsmores looks at their visibility within the overseers’ vouchers for Colwich. The second is an attempt to establish the connections between the various branches of the family.

Some members of the family seem to have been prosperous; others relied more heavily on parish relief. Yet more dipped in and out of the parish system. Parson and Bradshaw’s, Staffordshire General and Commercial Directory, (1818) lists John Ellsmere and Thomas Ellsmore as shoemakers, whilst William Elsmore is listed as a shoemaker in White’s directory of 1834. Inclusion in a trade directory however, was no guarantee of business success.

The vouchers suggest that some of the Elsmores survived on the margins. Indeed, some rather poignant survivals indicate that whilst the Elsmores were shoemakers, they could not afford to provide shoes or even repair them for their own children without recourse to the parish. In 1821 John Elsmore was paid for repairing the shoes of four people including ‘William Elsmore’s Girl’. William and John Elsmore received work from Colwich’s overseers, usually in the form of carrying out shoe and boot repairs throughout the 1820s, if not always consistently. Perhaps, by providing work, it was in an attempt by the parish to reduce the number of occasions when the Elsmores sought parish relief. If so, it was not entirely successful. In 1828 Sarah, William and James Elsmore were the beneficiaries of two pairs of shoes and the repair of shoes. In the same year James Elsmore was paid for resoling and heeling Sarah Elsmore’s shoes and John Elsmore for shoe repairs for ‘Sarah Elmore’s girl’ and for Mary Elmore’s girl’.

In 1831 William was paid for repairing the shoes of ‘Francis’ and ‘Frederick’. Although many people had the names ‘Francis’ and ‘Frederick’, they were also the names of two of William’s children. One bill for the provision of clothes covers the period from 1823 until April 1832. Amongst the 34 names listed (some appear more than once) as beneficiaries, the Elsmore name occurs on four occasions: Widow Elsmore’s son; George Elsmore[‘s?] widow (it is not clear whether this refers to George himself or to his widow); Francis Elsmore; and Frederick Elsmore.

On one occasion a bill for repairs, dated 1830, was not settled until January 1832 when it was paid to a ‘Mrs Elsmore’.

Sources

William Parson and Thomas Bradshaw, Staffordshire General and Commercial Directory, (1818)

SRO, D874/1, St Michael’s and All Angels Parish Register, Colwich

SRO, D24/A/Po/1136b, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 2 Jul. 1817

SRO, D24/A/Po/1282, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 21 Jan. 1821

SRO, D24/A/Po/1561, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, Jul.–Aug. 1828

SRO, D24/A/Po/1519, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 28 Oct. 1827

SRO, D24/A/Po/1529, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 26 Feb. 1828

SRO, D24/A/Po/1567, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 21 Sep. 1827

SRO, D24/A/Po/1623, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 18 Oct. 1829

SRO, D24/A/Po/1641, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 9 Mar. 1830

SRO, D24/A/Po/1695, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 10 Mar. 1831

SRO, D24/A/Po/1748, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 6 Jan. 1832

SRO, D24/A/Po/1760, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 20 Mar. 1832

SRO, D24/A/Po/1761, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 20 Mar. 1832

SRO, D24/A/Po/1777, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 16 Apr. 1832

SRO, D24/A/Po/1778, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 21 Apr. 1832

SRO, D24/A/Po/1964, Colwich Overseers’ Vouchers, 7 Mar. 1834

William White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (Sheffield: 1834)

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

Jonathan Leese/Lees and his yo-yo family.

By Malbedenk

Jonathan Leese and his family are the subject of at least 2 removal orders during his life which are found in the Poor Law Vouchers in Stafford Record Office for Sandon, Staffordshire.

D22/A/PO/1-2 item 43

Removal order for Jonathan Leese (Lees) wife Ann and 5 children (William 10, Mary 8, Sarah 5, Jonathan 3 and Hannah 18 months) From Stoke on Trent to Sandon. Dated 10 Jan 1810

D22/A/PO/1-2item 51

Removal Order for Jonathan Leese/ Lees wife Ann and children (Jonathan 8, Hannah 6, Mariah 4, and Ann 2) From Stoke on Trent to Sandon. Dated 5 June 1817.

The name is spelt variously as Leese or Lees even on the same document

Jonathan Leese (Senior) of Sandon married Mary Parker in St. Michael’s, Stone on 20 Jan 1761 and they had 2 children baptised in All Saints, Sandon

1. Ann 18 July 1762 where the place of residence is given as Hardywicke Heath

1. 13 Sept 1778 Jonathan

2. 13 Aug 1780 Hannah

Jonathan Leese (junior) married Anne Hazlehurst in St. Michael’s, Stone on 8 May 1797 (both signed X)

They then had either 10 or 11 Children. It is not clear if they had 1 or 2 Hannahs as the removal orders indicate one born circa 1808 and the second born circa 1811. Only a baptism for the 1808 Hannah is found but as the second one appears to date from around the time of the first removal order it could have been that she was not baptised.

Children

1. William Bapt. Stone St. Michael’s 29 May 1798 born 27th Mar s/o Jonathan and Anne Leese of Sandon.

2. Mary Bapt. Stone St. Michael’s 16 Nov 1800. born 12 Nov. d/o Jonathan and Anne Leese of Stone.

3. Richard Bapt. Sandon, All Saints 14 Mar 1803 s/o Jonathan and Hannah Leese. (This cannot have been Jonathan senior as his wife is buried in 1817 aged 80 making her DOB as 1737)

4. Sarah Bapt Stoke St. Peter’s 18 Mar 1804 d/o Jonathan and Anne Lees of Shelton

5. Jonathan Bapt Stoke St. Peter’s 16 Nov 1806 born 3 Oct. s/o Jonathan and Anne Lees of Black —-.

6. Hannah Bapt Stoke St. Peter’s 27 Nov 1808 born 6 Nov d/o Jonathan and Anne Lees of Black Lion. (Possibly buried as Ann Lees in Stoke 29 May 1810.)

7 Hannah dob abt 1811 NOT FOUND

8. Maria Bapt Stoke St. Peter’s 19 July 1812 d/o Jonathan and Ann Lees

9. Ann Bapt Stoke St. Peter’s 15 Apr 1815 d/o Jonathan and Ann Leese of High Croft

10.Jonathan Bapt Sandon, All Saints, 17 Aug 1817 s/o Jonathan and Ann Leese of Sandon, Labourer.

11. Harriot Bapt Stone St. Michael’s 14 Dec 1817 d/o Jonathan and Anne Lees of Stone, Labourer

After repeated attempts it looks as if the family finally made it out of Sandon as the last child is baptised in Stone and Jonathan and Ann are still there in 1841 and 1851.

1841 Census HO107/2000 folio 96

Address – Church Street, Stone, Staffordshire

Jonathan Lees aged 60 occupation Ag. Lab born Staffordshire

Ann Lees aged 60 born Staffordshire

Henry Lees aged 4 born Staffordshire

In the 1851 Census Henry is stated to be a grandson and Henry was baptised in St. Michael’s, Stone the son of Jane Leese Spinster but I cannot find a baptism for a Jane Lees / Leese to Jonathan and Ann. However in the 1841 Census there is a William Leese born 1797-1801 and a Jane Leese also born 1797 -1801 living with the family of Benjamin Till in Weaver Street, Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire. So Henry could be the son of Jonathan’s son William.

1851 Census HO107/2000 folio 96

Address – Church Street, Stone, Staffordshire

Jonathan Leese Head age 73 occupation Pauper Labourer born Sandon, Staffordshire

Ann Leese wife 73 born Stone, Staffordshire

James Lydall lodger unmarried age 71 Pensioner E I C Service born Leicestershire

Henry Leese Grandson age 13 Pauper Child born Stone, Staffordshire

Mary Rowley Granddaughter age 9 Pauper Child born Stone, Staffordshire

Ann Leese was buried at St. Michael, Stone 3 Sept 1855. age 76 (dob 1779)

Jonathan Leese was buried at St. Michael, Stone 6 Jan 1857 age 79 (dob 1778)

Richard Bills (1777–1849), Ironmaster, Darlaston, Part Two

By Peter Collinge

Richard Bills’ will (proved 1849) shows him to have been a substantial business and property owner in Darlaston. In the Jackson’s Fold area were three houses with shops and outbuildings ‘now or late in the occupation of my brother Samuel Bills and Joseph Paulton and [blank] Page. Also the dwelling house, shop and appurtenances situate at Butt Cross, Darlaston, and now or late occupied by Thomas Cooper, and land in Kingshill Field now in my own possession’. These were to be given, upon trust, to Samuel Messon[?] gent and John Foster Adams both of Darlaston, who were instructed ‘as soon as convenient after my death [to] sell and dispose of the same by public auction or private contract’.

Richard’s wife, Elizabeth, was given his ‘moiety and other share estate and interests of and in all those erections and buildings knowns as Darlaston Gun Ironworks and Steelworks’. This included messuages, mills, forges, shops, warehouses, counting houses and all steam engines, machinery, implements, utensils, chattels and moveable effects. Elizabeth was also to receive his stock-in-trade, debts and effects which ‘shall then belong and be due and owing to the co-partnership carried on between me and my son-in-law Samuel Mills [and] all the mines minerals and collieries with the engines, gins, machinery and apparatus belonging thereto …’ She was also bequeathed ‘all the residue and remainder of my messuages, buildings, lands and other Real Estate … To have and to hold, receive, take and enjoy … absolutely’.

Richard bequeathed all his ‘household goods and furniture, plate, bedding, linen, china, and other household effects and his money, securities for money, and other personal estate ‘unto my wife absolutely’.

From sum of £500 bequeathed to his trustees, one fourth was given to his sisters Ann Bill (wife of Samuel Bill); one other fourth to Sarah Bill (wife of William Bill) and one fourth to ‘such of my nephews and nieces the children of my late sister Elizabeth Cartwright as shall be living at the time of my death in equal shares’. The remaining fourth was to be placed in trust and invested in ‘freehold, leasehold, personal or any other security or securities as my said trustees or trustee shall think proper in their or his names or name and to pay the interests and dividends thereof unto my said brother Samuel Bills during his life’. But, Richard stipulated ‘if the same shall not amount to ten shillings per week then upon trust from time to time to make up and pay that sum out of the principal money’. If Samuel Bills’ wife outlived her husband she was to receive 5s a week. After their deaths the money was to be placed ‘in trust for my nephews and nieces the children of my said brother’.

At the end of his lengthy will Richard nominated and appointed his wife sole executrix. There then followed three pages of codicils.

‘I Richard Bills Ironmaster do declare this to be a codicil to be annexed and taken as part of my last will and testament bearing date11 September 1839. Whereas I did by my will give, devise and bequeath unto my wife Elizabeth all that my moiety and other share estate and interest of … the Darlaston Green Iron works and Steel works situate in the parish of Darlaston … Now, in case it shall happen that my said wife shall die in my lifetime I give devise and bequeath unto my said son-in-law Samuel Mills all my said moiety and other share estate and interest of and in the said iron works, steel works … and premises and also my said residuary messuages, buildings, lands and real estate’.

In the event of Elizabeth predeceasing Richard, Samuel Mills was also to receive all Richard’s household goods, personal estate, money and securities for money that he had bequeathed to Elizabeth.

Since making his will, Richard’s sister Sarah (the wife of William Bill) had died. Her share of the £500 was now to be divided equally amongst her children.

The codicil was dated13 January 1844

Sources

Staffordshire Record Office, BC/11, Will of Richard Bills, Ironmaster, Darlaston, 1849

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

Richard Bills, 1777–1849, Darlaston, part one

By Peter Collinge

The overseers’ vouchers for Darlaston contain a number from Richard Bills for flour, household items, provisions and grocery goods including sugar, tobacco, pepper, tallow soap, oatmeal, treacle, yarn, a brush, and candles. From such goods it might be expected that Bills was a grocer and provision dealer, but there is also a voucher for 500 bricks, others for ‘interest paid to the lodge’ and one that includes ‘26 weeks pay for Mrs Dixon at 2s 6d’. Given the variety of receipts, questions arise as to who Richard Bills was and what business or businesses he traded in, particularly as his will of 1849 describes him as an ironmaster.

For what follows it is helpful to have a simplified family tree of the Bills family. The family relationships are derived from the wills of Richard Bills the elder (proved 1819) and Richard Bills the younger (proved 1849). The situation is complicated by the fact that two of the daughters of Richard Bills the elder (Ann and Sarah) married men with the surname of Bill. Not all dates for family members have been traced; others need to be double-checked.

Richard Bills (d.1818) = Mary

They had Richard (1777-1849) who married Elizabeth Mills; Samuel; Ann (who married Samuel Bill), Sarah (who married William Bill of Brownhills); and Elizabeth who married Abel Cartwright. Elizabeth and Abel Cartwright had four children: Francis, Richard, George and John.

Richard’s (d.1849)  wife,  Elizabeth, was the widow of Thomas Mills, by whom she had had a son, Samuel (d.1864). Richard became Samuel’s step-father, although some documents refer to Samuel Mills as Richard Bill’s ‘son in law’.

After the just debts funeral charges and expenses had been paid, the will of Richard the elder stipulated that his real estate and ‘the use wear and enjoyment of all my stockhold goods, money, securities for money, personal estate and effects’ should go to his wife Mary, and after her death to ‘my son in law Samuel Bill and Thomas Harper of Darlaston gunlock filer’ upon trust. They were instructed to sell and dispose of his real estate and premises either by public auction or private contracts as they thought proper.

One third of the money raised was to be given to ‘my said son in law Samuel Bill and Ann his wife to and for their own use and benefit’.  One other third to ‘my son in law William Bill of Brown Hills, Staffordshire, and Sarah his wife to and for their own use and benefit and to my son in law Abel Cartwright of Darlaston, hinge-maker, the sum of £50 to and for his own use and benefit’. The residue and remainder of the money was to be put and placed ‘at interest on freehold or government security or securities’ and the interest paid to ‘my daughter Elizabeth Cartwright for and during the term of her natural life for her own sole separate use and benefit and not to be subject to or liable to the debts control or engagements of the present or future husband or husbands’. If Elizabeth died before her father, then her share of his estate was to pass to her children.

There is no mention in the will of Richard the younger.

Richard the elder nominated and appointed his wife Mary, Samuel Bill and William Bill as executors. There then follows a number of codicils. By the time of Richard’s death both his wife Mary and his daughter Elizabeth Cartwright had died. Consequently, all real and personal estate left to his wife was now bequeathed unto his son in law Samuel Bill and Thomas Harper upon trust. The £50 previously bequeathed to Abel was revoked (clearly Richard thought little of Abel), and the portion left to Elizabeth was now bequeathed to her children Francis, Richard, George and John equally to ‘share and share alike when and as they shall severally and respectively attain the age of twenty one years’.

Sources

Staffordshire Record Office

SRO, D1149/6/2/1/1/3, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 6 April 1816

SRO, D1149/6/2/1/1/19, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 4 May 1816

SRO, D1149/6/2/3/295, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 2 December 1817

SRO, D1149/6/2/3/280, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 11 December 1817

SRO, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, D1149/6/2/3/228, 13 January 1818

SRO, D1149/6/2/3/330, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 18 February 1818

SRO, D1149/6/2/3/157, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 4 September 1818

SRO, D1149/6/2/3/85, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 12 December 1818

SRO, D1149/6/2/4/57, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 19 May 1819

SRO, D1149/6/2/1/6/32, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, n.d.

SRO, D1149/6/2/7/5/39, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 21 November 1822

SRO, D1149/6/2/7/5/22, Darlaston Overseers’ vouchers, 25 November 1822

SRO, BC/11, Will of Richard Bills, gun lock maker, Darlaston, 1819

SRO, BC/11, Will of Richard Bills, Ironmaster, Darlaston, 1849

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