14.3 The 13 children of Jeremiah & Eleanor Windebank: Education, nursing, smithing and engineering, gamekeeping and innkeeping

This is a necessarily long post, given the number of people covered!

My 4xgreat grandparents Jeremiah Windebank and Ellen/Eleanor Wilson married in August 1810 in Basildon, Berkshire. He had a long career as both gamekeeper and Publican. Nine months after their marriage, they baptised their first child, a daughter. They baptised another 12 children over the next twenty years, between 1812 and 1833. Their first three children were all girls, the next four all boys.

1. Eliza Winterbank [sic] was baptised on 5 May 1811 at Basildon, daughter of Jeremiah Windebank and his wife Eleanor. FindMyPast has a Sarum Marriage Licence Bonds record (jurisdiction of The Bishop of Salisbury in Wiltshire and Berkshire) which shows that Eliza Windebank, aged 19, spinster and daughter of Jeremiah Windebank, of Basildon, was to marry William Shilton (or Shelton), bachelor of Bradfield, Berkshire. The Bond is dated 14 September 1829. They married about a week later, in Basildon, on 28 September 1829. They appear together living at various addresses in Basildon in the 1841-1871 censuses. William is initially described as an Ag. Lab, but by The 1851 census he is working as a ‘Plate Road Man’. Ten years later he is a ‘Disabled Labourer’ and Eliza is working at an Infant School. More information is given in their entry in the 1871 census on Ancestry. Whereas in earlier censuses they are living with their growing family, by now they are on their own.

Aged 64, William Shelton’s entry is annotated with what looks like ‘Rheumatism, Chest Disease, Not able to walk or stand’:

In the occupation column, he is described as ‘Infirm not able to follow any occupation’, while Eliza ‘Keeps a deaf school for children’.

 

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find anything about this school for deaf children and Eliza’s role in ‘keeping’ it. Eliza’s disabled husband clung to life for another seven years, his death aged 70 registered in Bradfield district, Berkshire, in the first quarter of 1878. The couple had at least seven children between 1832 and 1849, before William became disabled. The majority of them went into service, including positions as housemaids, cooks and valets, and settled in places as far away as Lancashire, as well as London. Oddly, two of them (Hannah and George) give their father’s occupation on their marriage certificates in London in 1876 and 1869 respectively as Chemist. These may be the children of a different William Shelton, but their other details in the censuses appear to be consistent with those of the children of William and Eliza Shelton. By the 1881 census, Eliza appears as an inmate at Westminster Union workhouse. She is now aged 70, a Widow. Perhaps she had moved to London to be closer to her children who had moved there for work but then needed care in the infirmary. I have not yet found a record of her death.

2. Ann Winterbank [sic] was baptised on 3 December 1812 at Basildon, daughter of Jeremiah and Eleanor. The records are silent about her until her marriage, aged 17, to Edward Cummins Parsons on 21 December 1829. They baptised 12 children between 1831 and 1852. Her husband Edward was a Smith and at the time of the 1841 census, her younger brother David Windebank is shown as his 13 year old apprentice. In October 1858, he was tried at Reading’s quarter sessions for ‘embezzlement of funds by a servant’, listed under his full name of Edward Cummins Parsons, but was found not guilty. The name of his ‘master’ is not shown in the record at Ancestry. A search for a report of the crime at the British Newspaper Archive at FindMyPast reveals that he was accused of embezzling £2 and £5 8/- and 9d from Robert Toomer and another (Reading Mercury, dated 16 October 1858).

The Berkshire Chronicle of the same date gives a much longer account of the proceedings for committal for trial and the granting of bail, of which the extract below is the first paragraph:

This explains the change from his employment as a Smith to working for Coal Merchants as a Clerk. The account describes how he received payment from customers for his masters’ goods, but did not pass on the payments in the usual timely manner and appears to have gone away around the time of the discovery. However, a week later, the Reading Mercury carried a report of the Not Guilty verdict, recommended by the Recorder (Reading Mercury, 23 October 1858).

 The trial does not seem to have harmed his prospects. By the 1861 census, he is working as a Blacksmith for the GWR. Twenty years later he is described as a ‘Retired Engine Smith’. The couple lived in Berkshire all their lives. All their sons carried on in the Engine Smith trade, and several daughters married Railway Clerks, Engine Smiths and a Railway Station Master. Edward Parsons died in 1888, aged 83. I haven’t yet found a death entry for Ann.

3. Caroline Windebank was born in October 1814 and baptised a month later in Basildon, daughter of Jeremiah and Eleanor Windebank; this time their surname is correctly spelt. On 30 May 1836, she married John Riches, a Gamekeeper from Norfolk. Perhaps they met through her father’s gamekeeping activities. After their marriage, they settled in Norfolk and in the 1841 census they are living at Keeper’s Lodge, Gasthorpe with their three sons, Jeremiah (named after her father), John and George. Ten years later they are living half a mile away at Knettishall, just over the border in Suffolk. John is still described as a Gamekeeper. They are still there, at Keeper’s House, in 1861 and 1871, with John continuing his work as Gamekeeper. John Riches died in October 1878, leaving a will for effects under £300, his widow Caroline being the sole executrix. In the probate record he is described as a Farmer, of Hopton, Suffolk. He was buried in his home parish of Riddlesworth, Norfolk, under two miles away.

Of their five children, eldest son Jeremiah and youngest son David also became Gamekeepers; Samuel John joined the Household Cavalry in 1859, but then disappears from the records; George died young, aged just 14, in 1854 and daughter Ellen Riches, their youngest child, worked as a Cook for the Rector of Brinkley, Cambridgeshire, later married a Farmer, Stephen Howard (originally from Cambs), and raised a family of seven with him on their farm in Hopton, Suffolk. By the 1911 census, she has been widowed and is described as a Farmer in her own right.

The widowed Caroline seems to have returned to her own home county of Berkshire, at least at the time of the 1881 census when she is living with her brother William Windebank at The Bull Inn, Swallowfield Road, Arborfield, where he is the landlord and also widowed. She is described as ‘Sister, Housekeeper’. The Arborfield Local History Society - Properties Bull PH (arborfieldhistory.org.uk) has a page about the chequered history of the pub, which is now a flourishing gastro pub, but dates back to the 17^th century (in parts). She may not have stayed in Berkshire long; her death was registered in Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1882 and she was buried at Riddlesworth on 23 June 1882, her name inscribed on the same gravestone as her husband (a photo is available at FindAGrave).

4. John Windebank was the couple’s first son. He was baptised at just over a week old on 27 October 1816. He does not appear with his parents and younger siblings at the time of the 1841 census, and I have failed to find any further record of a John Windebank born in Berkshire around 1816 on any records. Other family trees on Ancestry suggest he died in 1887, but these are private trees, so sources cannot be examined.

5. George Windebank was baptised on 3 July 1818, son of Jeremiah and Eleanor Windebank. He married Eliza Wilbury at St Mary’s, Reading, 22 May 1843, when he was 25. In the 1851 census, he is described as a Gamekeeper, living with wife Eliza – but no children – at Sulham, Berkshire, about 4 miles from Basildon. Sadly, he died aged 41 in 1859. Eliza, his widow, remarried aged 45 in 1865 to John Bushnell.

6. William Windebank was born on 11 November 1819 and baptised on 9 January 1820 at Basildon.  He was 22 when he married Louisa Smith on 23 May 1842, when his occupation is given as Gamekeeper. At the time of the 1851 census, he and his family are visiting his parents at The Red Lion, Basildon. He is described as ‘Visitor Gamekeeper’ and ‘Son’, with wife Louisa, who comes from Hereford, and their three children, Jeremiah, 7 and Eleanor, 6, both born in Pangbourne, Berks, and Caroline, aged 4, born in Wolverton, Hampshire. Ten years later, William has taken over as publican at The Red Lion, Basildon, after the death of his father in 1856. His widowed mother Eleanor is living with him. As well as the three children listed in the 1851 census, they now have another son, William, aged 6, born in Darrington, Hertfordshire. William’s mother died in 1862, and by the 1871 census he, Louisa and family have moved to Stratfield Mortimer, where he is ‘Innkeeper’ – although the pub’s name on the census page is illegible. By the time of the 1881 census, Louisa has died and his children have left home. He is listed as Publican at The Bull, Arborfield, living with his housekeeper, widowed sister Caroline Riches. Louisa died in 1879 at The Bull. He remarried, aged 60, in September 1881 to Ann Braxton, aged 40. She was a spinster, and daughter of a Millwright. They were still at The Bull Inn, Arborfield in 1883, when the Berkshire Chronicle of 23 September reported fines meted out to two would-be customers who were refused service, being ‘the worse for drink’.

It seems that it was Ann, William’s second wife, who refused to serve the men and her husband who told them to leave. A year later, in September 1884, the same paper recorded a short announcement of the transfer of the licence of The Bull, Arborfield from William Windebank to Charles Malins. 

William’s death, aged 67, was announced in the Reading Mercury on 15 October 1887; he died on the 6^th of that month at the Queen’s Head Inn, Mortimer, where he was Innkeeper, and was buried on the 10^th October at St Bartholomew’s, Arborfield. Of their four children, Jeremiah followed his father’s early career as a Gamekeeper, living and working in Norfolk, and retiring to Dorset; Eleanor, born in 1845, died in her early 20s in 1872; Caroline married her cousin, Elijah Parsons, son of her Aunt Ann Windebank and her husband Edward Cummins Parsons, a Smith, in 1866. After Elijah’s early death, she remarried in 1877, aged 30, to Charles Matthews and ran the Wheelwrights Arms in Hurst, Wokingham, with him. She was only 36 when she died in 1883. Their youngest son William Windebank became an Engine Fitter and married twice, moving in his later years to Ashford, Middlesex.

7. Jeremiah and Eleanor Windebank baptised their seventh child, James, at Basildon on 12 April 1822; he was born on 21 March that year. When he married Mary Ann Allum in 1848, at Moulsford, Berkshire, he was working as a Labourer. At the time of the 1851 census, he is described as a Road Labourer, and by 1854, he has died, aged just 31. They had one daughter, Sarah.

8. Maria Windebank was born in August 1823 but not baptised until January 1824. She married Frederick Noke in 1843, when she was 19 and their first two known children, Charles and Frederick, were born in Basildon in 1844 and 1848. They then appear to move to Cheshire, where two more children are born. By the time of the 1851 census, they are living at Sutton, South of Macclesfield, Cheshire. Frederick is working as a House Carpenter, and was born in Droitwich, Worcs. They had three more children (the youngest, Kate, born in 1858), but by the 1861 census, her husband Frederick has died. She is living at Coventry Street, Birmingham, with five of her children, working as ‘Servant in Hospital’. Two single teenage women lodgers are also in the same household, one of whom has a one-year old son listed as ‘bastard’. Ten years later, she is enumerated amongst the staff at The Queens Hospital, Birmingham as a Nurse, widow. On Boxing Day 1871, she married for a second time, aged 48, to Thomas Glover, aged 52, an Engine Driver. I haven’t found them on the 1881 census yet, although there is a Thomas Glover, aged 60, listed in HM Prison Winson Green, Birmingham at that time. His occupation is Bricklayer’s Labourer, so perhaps not the same man. In any case, he appears to have died before the 1891 census, as Maria is once again listed as a widow, lodging with the family of a shoemaker and his outfitter wife in Birmingham, described as a ‘Retired Hospital Nurse’. By the 1901 census, she is listed as an inmate in Birmingham workhouse, aged 77, a Domestic Nurse. I have not found her death record yet.

9. Sarah Windebank was born in November 1825 and baptised the following January. She appears with her parents at Basildon Park, aged 15, at the time of the 1841 census. She married in the last quarter of 1843, aged 18, to Charles Pocock, who was some 12 years her senior. She probably met him through her father’s trade as publican. At the time of the 1851 census, he is described as ‘Beer Seller’ at ‘The Cunning Man’ inn at Burghfield, Berkshire and he and Sarah have three children at home. The pub sits close to the river and collapsed after repeated flooding. The Cunning Man Pub & Restaurant in Burghfield Bridge - Vintage Inns has now been rebuilt (2001) ‘in the original style’ and looks a very handsome property. Charles is still listed as Beer Seller at The Cunning Man beer house at the time of the 1871 census. They have a seven year old son and two year old grandson living with them. Ten years later, Charles has given up selling beer and is now listed in the 1881 census at Kennetts Cottages, Burghfield, as a General Dealer. Their son Frederick is 17, a ‘Garden Help’. In the 1891 census they are enumerated at Mapledurham, Newbury, Berks, at ‘The Lodge’, where Charles is now working as the lodge keeper. Mapledurham Estate has extensive grounds and a grand house; Geograph has a photo of The Lodge, Mapledurham © Graham Horn :: Geograph Britain and Ireland which echoes the chimneys and gables of the mansion. Her death was registered in the Reading district in Oct-Dec 1892; Charles Pocock had died a few months earlier. They had seven known children.

10. My 3xgreat grandfather David Windebank was his parents’ tenth child, born and baptised in Basildon in 1827. His oldest sister, Eliza, would have been about 16 years old at the time.

11. Georgiana Windebank was born in 1829, the same year that her eldest sister Eliza married. She married Thomas Hands, a Veterinary Surgeon, in July 1850. They are living with – or visiting – her parents at the time of the 1851 census. Ten years later they are living in Yattendon, Berks. Thomas is now working as a Farrier, and they have two young sons. Georgiana died young, aged 41, in 1870. Her widower is still in Yattendon at the time of the 1871 census, once again described as a veterinary surgeon. He has four children aged 4-16 at home with him. He died five years later.

12. Benjamin Windebank was born in 1831 and by the time of the 1851 census is working as a Blacksmith, still at home with his parents. He married Elizabeth Brooker in 1855, daughter of a gamekeeper. They are living or visiting her parents in Basildon at the time of the 1861 census, when Benjamin is described as an Agricultural Labourer; they have two young children. Ten years later, Elizabeth’s widowed father is living with them, ‘an Old Gamekeeper’; Benjamin is still working the land, and they now have four children at home. At the time of the 1881 census, their home has a name: Windebank House. It seems others in Basildon Street also have names rather than numbers. Benjamin is a Farm Labourer, as he still is in the 1891 census. Although he is said to be married, his wife Elizabeth is not with the family on census night. She died in 1887. Their daughter Harriet, aged 26, is shown as ‘Housekeeper’. Benjamin died in 1895, aged 64.

13. The last, thirteenth, child of Jeremiah Windebank and Eleanor Wilson was born on 25 June 1833 and baptised on 21 July that year. Sadly, her burial is also recorded in the parish register on 31 August 1833, aged just two months.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view