Other than her name on the baptisms of the 13 children she had with my 6xgreat grandfather Thomas Walker Topper, Footman and Groom in the Royal Household Mews of George III, little is known of Ann Peat before or after her marriage.
As her
husband does not mention her in his will of 1806, it is likely that she
has already died. There is a burial for an Ann Topper at St Margaret,
Westminster on 24 September 1801, just a few months after Thomas Walker
Topper was ‘put to pension’. There is no other information on the
transcript to confirm or otherwise, but she was buried in the same location as
her husband.
Her
brother-in-law Penniston Topper is listed on the warrants of
appointments in the Royal Household at the Index of Household staff at FindMyPast
in 1769. On the opposite page is Sarah Peat, ‘Water heater’.
Is it
possible that this is the same Sarah Peat who witnessed the marriage of Thomas
Walker Topper and Ann Peat in 1767? Could she be her sister
and, if so, was this how Thomas Walker Topper and Ann Peat met,
and could this help us find their parents?
The summary
record for Sarah Peat’s career in the Royal Household at FindMyPast is
informative as she is shown as ‘Heater of the Water at the Mews, vice Mary
Peat’ (although the record above says vice Elizabeth Crouch deceased, so the
summary may be incorrect). There are no other records in the Household records
at FindMyPast for a Mary Peat, and no burial record around 1769. It also
shows that she worked as a heater of water for the horses in the Royal Mews
from 1769-1802.
On 27 March 1802, the then Master of the Horse signs a warrant appointing Mrs Martha Phillips as Water Heater ‘in the room and place of Sarah Peat, deceased’.
At FindMyPast, a search for baptisms in London in the
1730s-40s of children with the surname Peat reveals many (even excluding
surname variants). There is only one set of baptisms for Ann Peat and Sarah
Peat with the same parents. It’s possible they were cousins, or even that Sarah
is Ann’s sister-in-law, or mother - although she is not shown as ‘Mrs’ like
other married women in the Royal Household index.
There is a probate record at FindMyPast in 1802 for
Sarah Peat, which would tie in with her death that year. At TNA, an
abstract of the record is for ‘Sarah Peat, Widow of St Martin in the Fields’,
from April 1802. The date and location would fit with a Sarah Peat who worked
at the Royal Mews until March 1802.
Under the heading London Consistory Court 1802 Abstracts,
the relevant section reads:
|
Date of probate and sum sworn: |
Name and description of testator or testatrix: |
Name and place of abode of executor or executrix: |
Name of
the legatees, distinguishing the residuary legatee: |
Amount of legacy or annuity: |
Particulars or the several specific legacies,
bequests in trust and of the residue: |
|
Apr 6th, £100 will 18 |
Peat Sarah late of the King’s Mews Charg Cross
St Martin in the Fields Middlesex Widow
|
Robert Spencer the Elder (Nephew) |
Robt Spencer
junr
|
£20
|
3 pr ? Consols … a Mahog. Bureau Bedstead and a
Walnut tree chest of drawers A night chair Five china plates One old carpet A
striped satin gown One pair of sheets and two pillow cases |
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth Sarah Wife of Wm Gilbert (Niece) Residuary
legatee |
£100 |
3 pr ? Consols together with the residue after
payment of debts One legacy of £10 |
Unfortunately this doesn’t give any indication of her
relationship to Ann Peat or the Topper family, but does confirm that she is the
same Sarah Peat who was Water Heater at the King’s Mews.
A reconstruction of the families with surname Peat baptising
children including an Ann Peat around the mid-1740s in the St Martin in
the Fields/St George Hanover Square areas suggests two possible families at FindMyPast:
1. Robert & Sarah Peat baptised children in ‘London’ or
‘Westminster’ between 1734-1748, including Ann Peat on 13 June 1734, a Sarah in
1745, and sons Robert (1742), Joseph (1747) and William (1748). As we now know
that Sarah Peat was a widow, she can’t be the daughter of these parents; and
the baptism for Ann in 1734 seems a little early for a marriage date of 1767.
2. George & Bridget Peat baptised children at St George
Hanover Square between 1741-1749, including Ann Peat, born 15 December 1742/3
and baptised 7 January 1743/4. Their other children are George (1741), William
(1745), Thomas (1747) and Francis (1749).
Did any of these boys grow up to marry a Sarah? As far as I
have been able to find out, the answer is no. So we are still no nearer finding
a connection between Sarah Peat and Ann Peat. It is possible, however,
that Ann Peat is the daughter of George and Bridget Peat, who baptised
their children at St George Hanover Square. But for now, she has to remain a
brick wall.
For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view
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