John Shaw, Grocer and Tea Dealer, Uttoxeter

John Shaw of Carter Street, Uttoxeter, was principally a grocer and tea dealer with a side line in the manufacture of sewing cotton and linen thread, the latter probably in association with Robert Shaw. Apart from John, the 1818 trade directory lists a number of other Shaws: Robert Shaw, linen and cotton manufacturer, Sheep Market; Mary Shaw, lace worker, Pinfold Lane; and perhaps most significantly because it may have enabled John to access workhouse contracts, a Job Shaw, governor of the House of Industry, Uttoxeter Heath.

Like many nineteenth-century grocers, Shaw carried a range of foodstuffs: loaf sugar, moist sugar, mixed tea, Congou tea, coffee, treacle, ginger, pepper, mustard, rice, saltpetre, black pepper, currants, raisins, and clove pepper. He also stocked soap, candles, tobacco, black lead, soda, whiting, starch and blue.

Shaw was prosperous enough to have illustrated pre-printed billheads such as the one dated 30 November 1835 which provides further evidence of the goods he stocked including tobacco, pickling vinegars, and ‘every description of eating and other oils, butters, hops, seeds, &c’.

There is a stylised westernised depiction of a ‘Chinaman’ dressed in flowing robes and wearing a bamboo dŏulì or rice hat. He is sat by the coast on chest of Fine Hyson tea with his left arm resting on a canister of ‘Turkey and all other Coffees, Cocoa &c’. Behind him is a pagoda, similar to the one at Kew Gardens in front of which is a large six sided, oval jar. Out at sea is a tea clipper.

Representations of Chinamen are seen on other billheads, often in conjunction with other generic figures (see ‘Advertising a Global Outlook’ post), and raises interesting questions relating to national sentiment.

Transporting tea was hazardous, with ships subject to storms, shipwrecks and smuggling. To compensate for erratic supplies to the domestic market, tea was often adulterated, reused and imitated. There was a thriving trade in second hand tea purchased from servants working in grand households, or from hotels to which the unscrupulous added a range of adulterants to ‘improve’ its colour and taste: ferrous sulphate, verdigris, and carbon black, were favourite additives. Such adulteration was widespread and often commented upon, but only occasionally was action taken against those involved: in 1818 eleven people were tried and convicted in London for adulterating tea. But it was not just that adulteration existed but who was believed to be doing the adulteration. Thomas Short’s A Dissertation upon Tea (1730) and John Lettsom’s Natural History of the Tea Tree (1772) both alleged that it was the Chinese. Such accusations grew during the rest of the century, increasing significantly in the nineteenth. The reality was that most of the adulteration was carried out in Britain by domestic dealers and suppliers eager to overcome shortages.

Shaw’s representation of the ‘Chinaman’ as a means of advertising his wares comes just prior to the introduction in the late 1830s of Indian and later Ceylon tea from Britain’s expanding empire. Purchasing and consuming products from the empire was regarded as patriotic; Indian and Ceylon teas were increasingly associated with Britishness whilst Chinese tea was regarded with suspicion. Like the representation of the Chinese figure in ‘Advertising a Global Outlook’, Shaw’s ‘Chinaman’ is presented as placid and unthreatening. It would be interesting to know whether later bills presented by Shaw continued to adopt the ‘Chinaman’ as a sales technique, or whether he had succumbed to national sentiment.

Sources

John Burnett, Plenty and Want: A Social History of England from 1815 to the Present Day (London: 1989)

Peter Collinge, ‘Chinese Tea, Turkish Coffee and Scottish Tobacco: Image and Meaning in Uttoxeter’s Poor Law Vouchers’, Transactions of the Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society, XLIX (June 2017)

Frederick Filby, A History of Food Adulteration and Analysis (London: 1934)

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)

Liza Picard, Dr Johnson’s London: Life in London 1740–1770 (London: 2000)

Erika Rappaport, ‘Packaging China: Foreign Articles and Dangerous Tastes in the Mid-Victorian Tea Party’ in Frank Trentmann (ed.), The Making of the Consumer: Knowledge, Power and Identity in the Modern World (Oxford: 2006).

SRO, D3891/6/42/75, Bill to Overseers from John Shaw, 30 November 1835

James Walvin Fruits of Empire: Exotic Produce and British Trade, 1660–1800 (London: 1997)

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

Michael Clewley (c.1781-1853) of Uttoxeter

Michael Clewley married Elizabeth Goodwin (c.1791–c.1846), the daughter of Thomas Goodwin the elder of Trentham, Staffordshire. Over the next eighteen years Elizabeth gave birth to seven children: Thomas Mallabar (b.1816) who became a surgeon in Warwickshire, Mary (b.1817), Elizabeth Goodwin (1819–1833), Edward (1821–1832), Edna (June–July 1823), Susanna (b.1824), and Michael Hugh (1826–1850).

Like other Uttoxeter traders, Clewley was a man with multiple business interests and civic responsibilities. Trade directories list him as an ironmonger in High Street (1818) and as a grocer, tea dealer and proprietor of the stamp office (1828). At the end of May 1831 he invoiced the parish overseers for £3 8s 8½d for grocery goods including blue, ginger, tea and tobacco. According to the 1832 Poor Rate Assessment, in addition a house in Carter Street, he was leasing cottages, and a malthouse. He served as a jury member at Stafford Quarter sessions in 1821.

In January 1831 Michael Clewley and Mr Bladon (churchwardens) placed a notice in the Staffordshire Advertiser. They wanted to borrow money in any amounts but not exceeding £1,000 for which annuities of any age would be granted and secured upon Uttoxeter’s church rates. This appears to have been a very unusual move.

In August 1831 Clewley was offering houses to let in the Market Place, late in the occupation of Mrs E. Clewley deceased. With ‘sufficient buildings behind’, these were well adapted for a retailer, a leather cutter, or currier. An adjoining shop in the occupation of George Burton, clock and watchmaker was also being offered to let

Within a bill for a large number of services submitted to the parish overseers by solicitors Bedson and Rushton Michael Clewley crops up again. On 29 April 1833 the solicitors had written to Clewley requesting payment of a debt for bricks totalling 3s 6d supplied by the workhouse. The following month on 18 May Bedson and Rushton drew up a notice of vestry meeting to be held on 24 May regarding the brick bill. Clewley was refusing to pay. On the day before the meeting Bedson and Rushton interviewed witnesses regarding Clewley and the brick bill so that they could report the particulars at the meeting. The solicitors attended vestry meeting, drew up resolutions demanding that Clewley paid up. He did so.

As part of the Clewley-Goodwin marriage settlement Clewley gained an interest in the White Hart and New Star Inn in Carter Street. Initially, this was run by Clewley in partnership with Esther Wilkinson under Wilkinson’s name. The partnership was dissolved by mutual consent in March 1844 with Wilkinson retiring from the business on account of ill health. All debts from the business were to be received and paid by Clewley who continued the business.

In 1840 the Goodwin family brought a case against Clewley over the latter’s lending of trust money without their consent and without proper security. Clewley had, in fact, agreed to loan money on a declaration by the borrower to raise the money. The court found in favour of the Goodwins.

By the time of the 1841 Census Michael’s and Elizabeth’s children Mary and Susanna were living with their parents alongside domestic servant Dorothy Deakin and washerwoman Elizabeth Blood. A decade later, Michael was a widower living in Balance Street with his daughter Susanna and a servant Mary May.

Sources

1841 Census, HO 107/1007/14

1851 Census HO107/2010

London Gazette, June 1844, p.2275

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).

SRO, D4452/1/15/2/11, Settlement by Lease and Release of a Moiety of the White Hart and Star Inn, Uttoxeter, previous to the marriage of Elizabeth Goodwin and Michael Clewley, 25 May 1815.

SRO, D3891/6/70, Poor Rate Assessment, Uttoxeter, 1832

SRO, D3891/6/41/7/75b various dates 1833, bill for legal services submitted to Uttoxeter Overseer by solicitors Bedson and Rushton

SRO, D4452/1/15/2/17, Mortgage of a Moiety of the White Hart Inn, Uttoxeter, 23 March 1850

SRO, Q/RJr/1821, Quarter Sessions

Staffordshire Advertiser,  1 January 1831, 22 June 1850

S. Sweet, The Jurist, vol 3, 1840

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Two: Who were the Elsmores?

The Elsmores were Roman Catholics. As a result of Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act, between 1754 and 1837 all marriages had to take place in the Church of England. The Catholic registers that do survive for this period contain records of illegal marriages. Several Elsmore marriages took place at the parish church of St John the Baptist, Tixall, Staffordshire. White’s 1834 directory notes, however, that adjoining the south wing of Tixall Hall ‘is a modern Catholic chapel, a handsome Gothic structure, with an octagonal tower, and beautiful stained glass windows. The parish church … is a small edifice dedicated to St John the Baptist’. For several centuries Tixall had been a safe haven for Catholics. In 1827 the Clifford family, who lived in the hall, built the chapel. By 1835 they had left the area giving the chapel and an acre of land to the Catholics of the area. In 1845 the chapel was taken down and rebuilt in Great Haywood.

William Elsmore (b.1783) married Susan or Susanna Dale on 13 February 1809. The marriage was recorded as having taken place at St John the Baptist church. Susanna was around six months pregnant at the time. Their son James was baptised 23 July 1809 at St John’s. Susan Dale and her sister Frances were confirmed on 5 May 1802 at Tixall chapel.

For Colwich, the 1841 Census (when ages for adults were rounded down to the nearest five years) lists William (55) a cordwainer, his wife Susanna (50) and five children: Stephen (25), Thomas (20), Mary Ann (16), Frederick (15) and Francis (13). Living next to them was another William Elsmore, (30) a joiner and carpenter; his wife Anne (32), and children Teresa, (4); Louisa, (2) and Ann (1).

The 1851 Census reveals that William, aged 68, was born in Stafford, and Susanna, aged 67, was born in Tixall. Stephen (38), born in Baswich, was a cordwainer like his father. No other children of William and Susannah are listed but living with them were two grandchildren, Cecily aged nine (born in Stowe) and Edward Brian, aged two, born in Campden, Gloucestershire. This may explain the connection with Chipping Campden of Thomas Elsmore, a bricklayer, lodging at an inn in High Street, noted in the 1851 Census.

Another child of William and Susanna was Charles, born 1814. At the time of the 1851 Census he was a ‘post’ boy living in St John Street, Lichfield, along with his brother Francis, an ostler and general servant; and an extended family that included their sister Mary A. Brian (37), a victualler’s wife, born in Great Haywood; her sons William (3), born in Longton; Charles (1), born in Great Haywood; and Henry (6 months), born in Lichfield. Also living at the same address was brother-in-law Edward Guy (36), an agricultural implement maker, born Boston, Lincolnshire; and niece Teresa Elsmore (14), a nurse. Visiting when the census was taken was cousin Harriet Dale (30), born in Tixall.

White’s 1851 directory informs us that William Brian was the innkeeper of the Lord Nelson, St John Street, Lichfield.

James Elsmore (b.1809)

Also in the 1841 Census for Colwich are James Elsmore, a cordwainer, his wife Pamela and their children James (b.1836), Robert (b.1837), Pamela (b.1838) and George (b.1840). James and Pamela (née Wood) were married at Painswick, Gloucestershire, on 15 July 1833.

In the 1871 Census James (61), a master cordwainer employing one man, and Pamela (60) and two of their children, Monica, aged 25, a machinist and Francis, aged 15, a cordwainer were all living next to Great Haywood Catholic school and chapel. On the other side of them were William Elsmore, (60) a joiner and carpenter; his wife Anne (67), daughter Martha, (28) a certified schoolmistress; son William (26) also a joiner and carpenter, and a grandson, Francis (3), born in Broughton, Yorkshire.

Jane, Brian and Ann Elsmore

1841 Census for Great Haywood at Norton Land are Henry and Mary Yates and their children John and Ann; and a Mary Elsmore (30). Henry was an agricultural labourer. Next to them at Swansmoor Farm were Robert Cliff [?] aged 70, a farmer; Jane Elsmore (60); Jane Elsmore (26); Brian Elsmore (24); and Ann Elsmore (20).

In 1861, at Swanmoor Farm, Colwich, were Brian Elsmore, (47) farmer of 114 acres employing one labourer and one boy; and Brian’s sisters Jane (49) and Ann (44).

White’s 1834 directory notes that Swanmoor was three miles north-west of Colwich with two large farms. One belonged to Sir T. A. Clifford, constable, and the other to William Moore.

George Elsmore (b.1814)

In 1861, at Billington, Bradley, lived George Elsmore (47), a cordwainer; wife Ellen, (38); Thomas (12), a cordwainer; and Ann (9).

By 1871 George Elsmore (57), born at Little Haywood, his wife Ellen (48), born Stafford, and their children (all born in Bradley) William (16); Thomas (22), an indoor farm servant; Ann Eliza (19); George (18), a ‘farmer’s son’; Ellen (15); Elizabeth (13); Emily Jane (11); Alice (8); and John (5) were still resident at Billington, Bradley.

By the next census (1881) many of George’s and Ellen’s children were no longer living in the family home. George (67) and Ellen (58) were living with their unmarried son William (26), an agricultural labourer; and a grandson Edward B. Elsmore (5) in Berry Ring, Bradley.

Joseph Elsmore (Farmer)

In 1826 Joseph Elsmore of Swanmoor was appointed as a juror for the Quarter Sessions.

Joseph Elsmore (b.1814)

Joseph was born in Fradswell and became a farm bailiff in the parish of St Andrew, Shifnal, Shropshire, living at Hatton School. His wife Elizabeth (b.1823) was the school mistress and was assisted by their daughter Margaret (b.1857). Living with them was Herbert Merriman (b.1853), and agricultural labourer; and Richard Wedge (b.1861), a groom and domestic servant.

Thomas Elsmore (b.1821)

In 1841 in the parish of St Mary, Stafford, shoemaker Joseph, born around 1821, was living with his wife Mary and their two children William, aged two; and Bernard, aged one.

Joseph Elsmore (b.1821)

Living in the same street in Stafford as Thomas Elsmore (b.1821) was shoemaker Joseph, his wife Caroline and their son Thomas, aged one.

Frederick Elsmore (b.1828)

Like his father William, Frederick became a shoemaker. He appears to have moved around a great deal. In 1841 he was an apprentice shoemaker in Stafford living in the household of his master Samuel Mountford. In 1851 he was lodging in St Peter’s parish Derby. Ten years later he had moved to Walsall Wood. He was still a shoemaker and still living in digs.

Robert Elsmore (b.1784)

In 1851 at Mavesyn Ridware, Staffordshire, Robert Elsmore (67), born in Colwich and his wife Sarah (51) were in receipt of parish relief. Their 14-year-old daughter Rebeccah was dressmaker’s apprentice, and their 11-year-old-son Henry was an agricultural labourer.

William Elsmore (b.1816)

Living at Ellastone, Staffordshire, were William Elsmore (35) a bookkeeper to a builder, (born in Bradley, Staffordshire); his wife Charlotte (42) born in Ellastone, and their children William H. (12), born in Colwich; Bryan T. (9); Jane (7); Frederick J. (4); and Louisa (1). The last four children were all born in Ellastone.

John Elsmore (b.1814)

John Elsmore was born in Great Haywood. By the time of the 1851 Census he was a widowed a farm labourer living in Armitage. His daughter Elizabeth (b.1828) was a laundress, and his son, Thomas (b.1829) was a farm labourer.

Sources

Birmingham Archdiocese Archives, P162/1/2, Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages, Deaths, Roman Catholic Parish Marriages, 1798–1853

Gloucester Archives, P244, IN 1/16, Gloucestershire Anglican Parish Registers, Painswick

www.stjohnsgreathawood.org/history

SRO, Q/Rjr/1826, Quarter Sessions Jurors Lists (Staffordshire Name Index)

The National Archives, ‘How to look for records of Catholics’

TNA, HO 107/994/11, Census 1841

TNA, HO, 107/1010/1, Census 1841

TNA, HO, 107/1999, Census 1851

TNA, HO, 107/2014, Census 1851

TNA, HO, 107/2015, Census 1851

TNA, HO, 107/2076, Census 1851

TNA, HO, 107/2143, Census 1851

TNA, HO, 107/2146, Census 1851

TNA, RG, 9/1908, Census 1861

TNA, RG, 9/1909, Census 1861

TNA, RG, 9/2018, Census 1861

TNA, RG, 10/2819, Census 1871

TNA, RG, 10/2820, Census 1871

TNA, RG, 11/2634, Census 1881

TNA, RG, 11/2687, Census 1881

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, Great Haywood, Shoemakers, Part One

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