20.1 5xgreat grandfather William Pearce (1760?-1839) Wool Stapler of London and his wife Alice? (1766-1846)

When my 4xgreat grandmother Mary Ann Pearce appeared in the 1851 census with her second husband William Moorhouse Stoney, she gave her birthplace as Bermondsey, as she does as a widow in the 1861 census. Both her marriages took place in London; the first, to James Rowney, in St Mary’s, Newington in 1819 was witnessed by her sisters Amy Pearce and Catherine Merryweather. Her husband died within a year, and she married again to my 4xgreat grandfather William Moorhouse Stoney at St Giles, Camberwell in 1825. Sister Amy Pearce is once again a witness, alongside a William Pearce. He may have been her father, or more likely her brother William John Pearce.

She was baptised aged 2 on 1 May 1796 at St John Horsleydown, Bermondsey, on the same day as her younger brother Joseph Pearce; her birth date is given as 8 April 1796 and her mother’s name is Alice. Her father’s occupation is shown as Wool Stapler. There are five other baptisms at St John Horsleydown, Bermondsey between 1788 and 1800 for the children of William Pearce and his wife Alice, where the father’s occupation is either Wool Sorter or Wool Stapler.

What did a Wool Stapler do?

I initially thought that Wool Stapler would be someone who stapled (ie fixed together) bales of wool before or after treatment for being turned into cloth, a rather humble manual worker. However, Wikipedia describes the occupation of Wool Stapler as “a dealer in wool. The wool-stapler buys wool from the producer, sorts and grades it, and sells it on to manufacturers.”  Staple in this context meant a market. A Bermondsey Street Trail available to download as a PDF adds that “Woolstaplers bought wool from sheep farmers and local fellmongers (leather skin scrapers). They sorted, graded and processed it for onward sale to hatters and woollen and worsted manufacturers. The wool trade with other countries was fundamental to Britain’s wealth.”

The Guide also notes that “Woolstaplers were trading in wool and wool products in Bermondsey St as early as the 15th century. By the late 18th and 19th centuries, there were many wool staplers and wool processors in the area. The Woolyard was named after Healey’s Woolstaplers which was nearby in the 18th century.”

Some staplers apparently went on to amass great wealth, although it’s doubtful this was the case for William Pearce. But perhaps this area is where he worked.

Bermondsey Street now runs under London Bridge Station, between the Thames and the Wool and Leather Market areas of Bermondsey. The church of St John Horsleydown (built in the 1720s and demolished in the 1960s) sits between the edge of the Thames near London Bridge and Bermondsey Street. As all the children of William Pearce were baptised at this church, it is likely that they lived (and he worked) nearby. Unfortunately none of the baptism records give their place of residence.

It is likely that William Pearce died between 1800 (when their youngest known child was baptised) and the first few months of 1841. His wife Alice is shown as a widow, living with their married daughter Mary Ann Stoney (my 4xgreat grandmother) at Sion Place, St Mary Newington in the 1841 census. Her age is given as 75 which, rounded in accordance with the instructions for the census, would give a possible birth year range of 1761-1766. Given that their first known child was born in 1788, her birth year is likely to be later in this range; her husband may well have been older. She is described as ‘Independent’, so perhaps her husband left her reasonably comfortable.

There are several potential burial record transcripts at FindMyPast between 1800-1841 in and around Bermondsey:

·       28 Oct 1818, St John Horsleydown, Bermondsey, William Pearce

·       29 Jan 1826, St John Horsleydown, Bermondsey, William Pearce

·       29 Mar 1835, St John Horsleydown, Bermondsey, William Pearce

·       4 Aug 1839, St John Horsleydown, Bermondsey, William Pearce

None of these give any age, occupation or address information which might help us be able to confirm which if any is ‘our’ William Pearce and only the last happened after the start of Civil Registration. I thought it worth ordering the death certificate anyway if only to eliminate that record. The GRO index places the death registration at St Mary Newington, and the deceased was 79 years old (ie born around 1760), so it was a possibility.

When the certificate arrived today (PDF), I was delighted to find that this was indeed the correct William Pearce, as his daughter Mary Ann Stoney, my 4xgreat grandmother, was the informant on registration of death:

The certificate provides the following information:

William Pearce, Gentleman, aged 79 years, died at Cottage Row, Locks Fields, St Mary Newington on 27 June 1839, of ‘Natural Decay’. The informant was Mary Ann Stoney Daughter, present at the death, 1 Cottage Row, Locks Fields; she registered the death on 2 July 1839.

The occupation ‘Gentleman’ is somewhat different from a Wool Stapler, but presumably nearly in his ‘80s he had ceased working but was of independent means and, therefore, a ‘Gentleman’. Interestingly, the burial record at St John Horsleydown which prompted the purchase of this certificate gives a burial date of 4 August, which is over a month after his death. As this is only a transcript it is possible that the details are incorrect, and should read 4 July 1839, two days after his death was registered by his daughter.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find a baptism record for William Pearce around 1760, and I have also failed to find a marriage record for him and Alice before 1788 although Boyd’s Marriage index has a William Pearce marrying an Alice Dell in 1788 at St Mary Aldermanbury. As this is North of the Thames, it is unlikely, but as yet difficult to prove or disprove.

There is a death index entry for Alice Pearce, aged 80 (b1766) at St Mary Newington at the GRO which might be her. Again, this was a speculative purchase by proved to be £7 well spent.

The death certificate shows that Alice Pearce, aged 80 years, widow of William Pearce, Wool Stapler, died on 21 October 1846 at 4 Cottage Place, Locks Fields, St Mary Newington. The cause of death was ‘debility, certified’ – another term for old age. 

The informant several days later is Amy Rowe, her married daughter, present at the death and of 2 Cottage Place.

So, although we now know how their lives ended, the origins and marriage of William Pearce and his wife Alice remain brickwalls.

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