Topper Thomas (1769-1838) Death certificate 1838

 

Superintendent Registrar's District Kensington 
Registrar's District South Chelsea 
1838 DEATHS in the District of South Chelsea in the County of Middlesex 
When died 28 September 1838 
Name and Surname Thomas Topper at 54 Lower Sloane Street 
Sex Male 
Age 69 years 
Rank or profession Telegraph Assistant 
Cause of death Apoplexy 
Signature description and residence of the informant Walter Topper Son 54 Lower Sloane Street, present 
When registered 1 October 1838

Pearce William (1760-1839) death certificate 1839

 

Superintendent Registrar's District St Mary Newington 

Registrar's District Trinity 

1839 DEATHS in the District of Trinity St Mary Newington in the County of Surrey 

When and where died The Twenty seventh of June 1839 Cottage Row Locks Fields 

Name and surname William Pearce 

Sex Male 

Age 79 years 

Rank or profession Gentleman 

Cause of death Natural Decay 

Signature, description and residence of informant Mary Ann Stoney Daughter Present at the death 1 Cottage Row Locks Fields When registered Second of July 1839

25.1 5xgreat grandfather Thomas Topper (1769-1838): Navy Officer and Telegraphist

 My 4xgreat grandfather Charles James Topper was born on 19 April 1801 in Chelsea, and baptised at St Luke, Chelsea, on 17 June that year, son of Thomas Topper and his wife Elizabeth Selway.

He had an interesting and varied career, starting as a lighterman on the Thames (having attended Greenwich Hospital School, son of Thomas Topper), then pursuing a long career as a Bow Street Officer before spending some 30 years as a Foreman of porters for the GWR at Brentford Docks. He died there after an accident in 1879. He married Susannah Griffin and had five known children, the youngest called Susan Selway Topper. This middle name was to help in confirming his mother’s maiden name. We also know that Charles James Topper had at least one brother, Alfred David/Davey Topper, who is mentioned as being apprenticed to his brother as a Lighterman.

A search for baptisms of other children of Thomas Topper and his wife Elizabeth in/around Chelsea in the late 1700s and early 1800s at FamilySearch found:

• Thomas Robert Topper baptised St Luke, Chelsea 14 April 1799 (born 20 March 1799) son of Thomas Topper and Elizabeth
• Alfred Davey Topper baptised 12 November 1806, St Mary Lambeth, son of Thomas and Elizabeth
• Walter Prest Topper baptised 23 November 1818, St Mary Lambeth, son of Thomas and Elizabeth

There is also a baptism for a George Prest Topper at St Martin at Palace, Norwich on 20 September 1811 (born 4 September), son of Thomas Topper and Elizabeth (late Selway).

There are records at TNA that show that at least three of these sons were educated at Greenwich Hospital School on petition of their father Thomas Topper (mother Elizabeth is also mentioned): Thomas Robert, Charles James and George Prest.

If son Thomas Robert’s birth is the first in this couple’s marriage, it would suggest a search for a marriage record before or including 1799.

Ancestry’s Westminster marriages collection has a record for St George, Hanover Square, for 12 April 1798:

It reads:

Thomas Topper and Elizabeth Selway, both of this parish were married in this church by banns this twelfth day of April in the year 1798 by me Thos. Ash Curate.

This marriage was solemnized between us Thos. Topper Elizabeth Selway

In the presence of Caleb Greville TH Thompson

So they married just under a year before their eldest son was baptised. Their son Charles James Topper gave his mother’s maiden name to his youngest daughter Susan as a middle name. Where the middle names of his brothers George Prest and Walter Prest Topper come from was a mystery.

There is a death index entry for Thomas Topper for 1838, just after the start of civil registration. The resulting deathcertificate shows that he died at No.54 Lower Sloane Street in Chelsea, aged 69, on 27 September 1838.

His youngest son Walter Topper of the same address was the informant. Thomas Topper’s occupation is given as Telegraph Assistant. He died of apoplexy. He was buried (FMP) at St Luke, Chelsea on 4 October 1838, his age given on the record as 69, and his address Lower Sloane Street.

Google Street View for 54-56 Lower Sloane Street (47 A3216 - Google Maps) shows an imposing red brick Victorian building of several stories, part of which is now The Sloane Club.

His age at death would suggest a year of birth of around 1769. A general search across the family history sites for a baptism for a Thomas Topper in London around that time finds an entry squeezed into a transcript (BT) of the Register of St Martin in the Fields, London, for 1769:

It shows:

[baptised Dec] 31 Thomas Topper of Thomas Walker & Elizabeth [born] Dec 3

The line is just squeezed in before the beginning of entries for 1770.

So my 6xgreat grandparents are Thomas Walker Topper and Elizabeth.

I am intrigued as to how a man who would send his sons to Greenwich Hospital School specifically to train for seafaring trades would end up as a Telegraph Assistant by the 1830s. Was he a waterman himself? None of the children’s baptisms give information about his occupation or even specific residence at the time. And what was he doing in Norwich for the baptism of his fourth son? So what more can the records tell us?

I looked at the various records found for his sons. No occupation is given in the Greenwich Hospital School transcripts (although the original records may have more information). The only clue is from the marriage certificate of his youngest son Walter Prest Topper in 1846, where his father is shown as ‘Thomas Topper, (late) Navy Officer’.

I then searched across all the family history sites to find any other mentions of him other than his baptism, marriage and death.

At The Genealogist there is a record from Newgate Prison (Calendar of Prisoners) for a Thomas Topper, aged 22, who was found guilty of stealing breeches (property of Mr Cookes) on 23 May 1793. He is described as ‘5’2”, dark hair and eyes pox marked born in London Mariner’. He was ‘sent to New Prison’ although the record does not say for how long. If this were my Thomas Topper he would have been about 24 years old rather than 22, but the occupation of Mariner may fit.

FindMyPast (British Newspaper Archive) has a report of a trial for attempted murder from the London Courier and & Evening Gazette of 14 October 1817, where one Thomas Topper is the first witness (extract below):

Other newspaper accounts state that Thomas Topper grabbed Owen - the accused - allowing others to capture him and take him in charge.

As he was described as a Telegraph Assistant on his death certificate, this may be the same man. Perhaps he gave up his work in the Navy (he would have been nearly 50 by this time).

A description of West Square, Lambeth at Wikipedia - West Square - Wikipedia – shows that “In 1812, the Admiralty erected a tower on No. 36, on the east side of the square, for the shutter telegraph apparatus used to convey messages between Whitehall and New Cross, and thence to and from Chatham and Sheerness.” Thomas Topper presumably worked this kind of telegraph for his Naval paymasters, at least in 1817. Optical Telegraph (vauxhallandkennington.org.uk) notes of the Telegraph Tower in West Square “The line through West Square (using shutters) was opened in 1796 and closed in 1814. It was reopened to Chatham (using semaphores) in 1816 and closed in 1822.”

Thomas Topper’s proficiency in telegraphy may also be the reason he and his family were in Norwich at the time of son George Prest Topper’s birth in 1811, The history of the shutter telegraph in Norfolk, in the fight against Napoleon’s army and other enemies, is nicely described and illustrated at the Colonel Unthank site - Norfolk’s Napoleonic Telegraph | COLONEL UNTHANK'S NORWICH (colonelunthanksnorwich.com).

He says “a naval base was established at Great Yarmouth in 1796 and rapid communication with the Admiralty in London required something more than flags and burning barrels of tar … Stations might consist of a living room, a room for operations, a small garden and coal shed. Four to six naval men ran the station in twos or threes with one manning the shutters while the other(s) looked through high-power telescopes … the 1808 line to Great Yarmouth involved intervals up to 11.7 miles and required three right-angle bends, including one at Norwich”.

Thomas Topper was perhaps proficient in both the shutter telegraph and semaphore.

BNA also has a notice from The Morning Advertiser of the 25 May 1825 asking for information on the whereabouts of his runaway son George Prest Topper (the one born in Norwich), who has absconded from The Royal Naval School Greenwich:

OUR HERITAGE - The Royal Hospital School explains that the School was established in 1712 as “a 'charitable institution for the aged, infirm or young', and was established to provide boys from seafaring backgrounds with the rare privilege of learning arithmetic and navigation. It was at this time located in the spectacular buildings which now house the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.”

On his widow's death certificate nearly 20 years later, she is described as Elizabeth Topper, widow of Thomas Topper, Manager of a Telegraph. 

The certificates and these newspaper clippings do seem to indicate that Thomas Topper was both in the Navy in some capacity, and also worked as a Telegrapher. Whether or not he also stole Mr Cookes’ breeches five years before he married is unclear!

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

23.2 The many children of John Windebank and Anne Ewen, born 1762-1784

 I have made an assumption that the parents of my 4xgreatgrandfather Jeremiah Windebank, baptised in 1780 in Empshott, Hants, son of John Windebank and his wife Anne, were the same John Windebank and Anne Ewen who married at nearby Hawkley, Hants in September 1762. They appear to have baptised children at Hawkley and thenEmpshott, although it is not known whether they lived in both or just one of those places, preferring to use one or other local church.

Although Jeremiah Windebank married twice and moved around Hampshire, Sussex and Berkshire in a career spanning the role of gamekeeper and publican, I do not know what his father did for a living. So what of the siblings of Jeremiah Windebank, the other children of John and Ann? Can any of their records give us more information?

1. Mary Windebank (1762-?)

Their first child was baptised on 27 October 1762 at Hawkley; they had married there just over a month earlier, on 20 September. As we don’t know who their parents or siblings were, we cannot tell whether her name was chosen in honour of either of their mothers or sisters. Ancestry has a marriage allegation transcript for what could be her marriage:

Priors Dean, Hampshire, 6 April 1799: Mary Windebank, age 36 (born around 1763) to William Baker, age 39 (born around 1760).

The transcript shows that William Baker was of Priors Dean, a Farmer, bachelor, and Mary Windebank was of the same parish, spinster. Mary’s age is quite late for marriage and child-bearing. Ancestry also has a transcript of the marriage record, from 9 April 1799.

Prior’s Dean is a tiny hamlet two miles from Hawkley. There do not appear to be any baptisms of children from this marriage in Prior’s Dean and I haven’t found any other obvious records for them either.

2. John Windebank (1763-<1784)

Their second child was John, probably named for his father. He was baptised at Hawkley on 30 November 1763. The couple had another son, John, baptised at Empshott in 1784, so presumably this first John died at a young age. If he died as a young adult rather than an infant, there are two possible burials for him:

·       John Windybank buried at Hawkley 26 July 1783 (FreeREG has him as Blacksmith, 1784)

·       John Windybank buried at Hawkley 7 July 1784

He would have been about 20-21 years old so not necessarily shown as ‘son of …’. But as we only have transcripts, it is possible one or both of these original records would give further information to be able to prove or discount them. The second John Windebank was baptised in October 1784.

3. James Windebank (1765-?)

James Windebank was baptised at Hawkley on 27 December 1765. I have found no further obvious records for him in Hawkley or Empshott, although there are several James Windebanks listed in marriage, burial and census records further afield in Hampshire.

4. Ann Windebank (1767-?)

Ann was the couple’s last child (as far as I know) to have been baptised in Hawkley; the rest of her siblings were baptised at Empshott. Her baptism date was 20 August 1767. I have not found a likely burial for her in infancy, and no marriage record at Empshott or Hawkley. There are several other marriage records, with Ancestry hints suggesting that she married a John Gregory at Ropley, Hampshire, in 1796, but there is nothing to prove or disprove this link.

5. Charlotte Windebank (1770-1788)

The only reference I have to Charlotte’s baptism is from another tree on Ancestry which gives a screen shot of a baptism record from the Hampshire Genealogical Society for a baptism on 1 January 1770 (so she was probably born in December 1769).

This tree also has a burial record from the same source for Charlotte Windebank, buried at Hawkley on 14 February 1788, aged 19, daughter of John and Anne. This record is also available as a transcript on FamilySearchand FreeREG.

6. Jemima Windebank (1771-)

Jemima was baptised at Empshott on 19 August 1771. There are various marriage records at Froxfield, Hampshire, but there are also baptisms for a Jemima there. It is possible that the daughter of John Windebank and his wife Ann married Noah Bond at Froxfield on 24 November 1791, and had at least two children, Noah (1792) and Jemima (1793), with him before she was buried in 1796, perhaps in or after childbirth. This Jemima, wife of Noah, was buried in Petersfield, where daughter Jemima was baptised. Jemima Bond junior married in Prior’s Dean in 1812 to Richard Hall.

By the 1841 census, she and Richard are living at Hawkley – which may provide a link to her mother’s family. Richard is a gamekeeper – so perhaps she met him via her uncle Jeremiah Windebank? They have four children aged 11-20 at home with them at Upper Green.

By the 1851 census, they are still at Hawkley but Richard is now a Publican, and Jemima is described as landlady; none of their children are at home. Ten years later, Jemima has been widowed. She is still living at Hawkley, her 29 year old son at home with her. She is now the ‘publican’ of the family. What may provide a further link to her mother’s family is that next door is a family with the surname Ewen – her maternal grandmother Anne Ewen’s relatives perhaps? She makes her final appearance in the censuses in 1871, still at the same address, Public House, Pocock’s Lane, where she is still landlady. She died in 1874. There is still a Hawkley Inn at Pocock’s Lane in the village, a few miles from Petersfield where Jemima was baptised. Whether this is the same public house run by Jemima Bond and her husband is not known.

7. Hannah Windebank (1774-?)

Hannah was baptised at Empshott on 21 March 1774. I have not found any further reliable records for her.

8. Benjamin Windebank (1777-?)

Benjamin may or may not have been the son of John Windebank and his wife Anne Ewen. I have not found a baptism record for him, but he appears in the 1851 census in Harting, Sussex, a Pauper born in Empshott, Hants around 1777. He is shown as a widower. The only Benjamin Windebank in the 1841 census is in Petersfield Union workhouse, formerly a Horse Dealer. There isn’t really enough to connect the man in the censuses with John Windebank, so he may be a red herring! There are various baptisms for children of Benjamin Windebank and his wife Mary (Panell?) with names used elsewhere in the family: Noah, Jeremiah, Jemima, but this doesn’t seem sufficient to tie them together.

9. Jeremiah Windebank (1780-1856)

My 4xgreat grandfather’s story has been told elsewhere.

10. John Windebank (1784-?)

John was – as far as I know – the youngest of the ten children born to John Windebank and his wife Anne Ewen. By the time of his birth, his mother would have been about 39-40. He was baptised at Empshott on 17 October 1784. Again, there are no burial or marriage records for him at Empshott. With several other Windebank families in the area, including marriages in Froxfield, it hasn’t been possible fully to tie them in with ‘our’ John Windebank.

This means that although I have been able to trace my 4xgreat grandfather Jeremiah Windebank fairly reliably, I haven’t had the same luck with his parents nor siblings.

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

23.1 5xgreat grandparents John Windebank & Anne Ewen, Hampshire

 My 3xgreat grandfather David Windebank was baptised in Basildon, Berkshire, in 1827, son of Jeremiah Windebank and his wife Eleanor. A Jeremiah Windebank, with wife Eleanor, appears at Basildon Park, Berkshire, in the 1841 census and again in 1851. He was a publican and gamekeeper, and I have traced his career particularly through newspapers at FindMyPast.

In the 1841-1851 censuses, his year of birth varies from 1782 to 1786; his death certificate suggests a birth year of 1782. There is a baptism transcript for a ‘J son of Jno and Ann Windebank’ in Empshott on 16 August 1780, at FindMyPast; the same record transcribed at FreeREG has the first name as Jeremiah. Assuming that he was born in the same year, this would fit with his age at death of 74 years (actually closer to 75).

His parents (and my 5xgreat grandparents) therefore seem to be John Windebank and his wife Ann who at least at the time of their son’s birth were living in Empshott, Hampshire.

A search for potential baptisms of the siblings of Jeremiah Windebank around 1780 in Emsphott (ie with father’s name John Windebank and mother’s name Ann/e) finds the following four results at FindMyPast:

• ·       Jemima Windebank baptised 19 August 1771 (Father John, Mother Anne)
• ·       Hannah Windebank baptised 21 Mar 1774 (Father John, Mother Ann)
• ·       J. Windebank baptised 16 August 1780 (Father John, Mother Anne)
• ·       John Windebank baptised 17 October 1784 (Father John, Mother Anne).

Ancestry has another family tree for what appears to be the same couple, which includes another daughter, Charlotte, baptised at Empshott on 1 January 1770, derived from the Hampshire Genealogical Society baptism CD. There is also a record in Ancestry’s 1851 census for a Benjamin Windebank, born at Empshott in 1777, although I have not found a corresponding baptism record for him.

A similar search at FreeReg and FamilySearch do not add any further baptisms or information. Unfortunately, there are no images attached to these records, they are transcriptions only.

So far, this would suggest that John Windebank married Ann before 1770, possibly in or near Empshott.

The only marriage found (FamilySearch) for a marriage of a John Windebank to an Ann/e between 1760-1770 in/near Empshott reveals only one result:

John Windebank married Anne Ewen at Hawkley, Hampshire on 19 September 1762

(Another transcription at FamilySearch suggests the marriage took place on 20 September that year. 20 September was a Monday which is less likely, as most working people did not have days other than Sundays off work). Hawkley is under 2 miles from Empshott, so perhaps was Anne Ewen’s home parish, so they married there. But what of the gap between this marriage and the first potential birth of daughter Charlotte Windebank at Emphott in 1770?

There are the following potential baptisms of a John and Ann Windebank at FamilySearch in Hawkley which may be children of the same John Windebank and Anne Ewen:

• ·       Mary Windebank baptised 27 October 1762
• ·       John Windebank baptised 30 November 1763
• ·       James Windebank baptised 27 December 1765
• ·       Anne Windebank baptised 20 August 1767

There is also a burial for Charlotte Windebank, born around 1769, on 14 February 1788, daughter of John Windebank, at Hawkley.

There are no baptisms at Hawkley or Empshott, children of John and Ann/e, before 1762, which would suggest that these are all children of the John Windebank and Anne Ewen who married at Hawkley a month before the baptism of their first known child Mary in October 1762, and presumably moved to – or preferred to baptise their children at – Empshott after 1767. They would appear to have had nine children in all; my 4xgreat grandfather Jeremiah Windebank was their eighth child.

FindAGrave has an image of a headstone for Ann Wife of John Windebank at Hawkley, inscribed:

Sacred to the Memory of Ann wife of John Windebank who departed this life February 10 1822 aged 77yrs.

There is a further inscription at the bottom of the gravestone which is illegible. As she is described as ‘the wife of’, John Windebank is likely to have still been alive at this point.

I have not found a baptism record for Anne Ewen/Ewin around 1745, her likely birth year if she were 77 when she was buried in 1822.

This would mean that she was about 17-18 years old when she married John Windebank and gave birth to their first child shortly after, about 39-40 when my 4xgreat grandfather was born in 1780 and about 44 at the birth of their last know child, son John in 1784.

I have not found a likely baptism for John Windebank around 1740-45 – assuming he was roughly the same age as his wife, nor have I found a burial for him after 1822, although there is a handful of burials for John Windebank in the 1780s-1790s. So for now, both of these 5xgreat grandparents remain brickwalls and, largely, the facts here are unverified.

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

22.2 Speculating on the origins of 5xgreat grandfather Richard Kemp (1741?-1812)

In the absence of baptisms for the Kemp family at Elsted, and given that Richard Kemp (my 5xgreat grandfather) married – I believe - at Trotton, Sussex, I have looked for baptisms and other records for the family there.

There is a baptism at Trotton (FamilySearch) for a Richard Kemp, son of Edmond Kemp, Labourer on 2 August 1741:

A search for other baptisms at Trotton where the father’s name is Edmond Kemp reveals six other children who could be Richard Kemp’s siblings (FamilySearch):

• ·       Thomas son of Edmond Kemp Labourer was baptised 12 June 1726
• ·       Elizabeth daughter of Edmond Kemp Labourer was baptised 31 March 1728
• ·       James son of Edmond Kemp Labourer was baptised 28 October 1732
• ·       John son of Edmond Kemp Labourer was baptised 19 October 1735
• ·       Ann daughter of Edmond Kemp Labourer was baptised 13 November 1737
• ·       William son of Edmd Kemp Labourer was baptised 8 September 1745

This would suggest that Edmond Kemp married before the baptism of his first known son, Thomas, in June 1726. Another search at FamilySearch for marriages between 1720-1726 finds that Edmond Kemp married Martha Bettsworth/Bottsworth at Trotton on 24 April 1726, just a couple of months before their son was baptised.

Edmond Kemp and Martha Bettsworth were married Apr 24 - 1726

If this is the correct family, Richard Kemp would therefore have been their sixth child and fourth son. There is no evidence of burials of any of the children in infancy at FamilySearch. Labourer Edmond Kemp and his wife Martha Betsworth could be my 6xgreat grandparents.

I have not found a likely baptism for Edmond Kemp at Trotton. However, Ancestry has the baptism transcript for a Martha Betsworth, daughter of Peter Betsworth, at Trotton on 3 December 1702, which would give an age at marriage of 24. The Parish Register transcript (BT) at FamilySearch shows that Peter Betsworth was a ‘day labourer’. 

There is a burial record for Edmond Kemp ‘a labourer’ on 8 November 1759 (FamilySearch).

 

Ancestry also has the burial of Martha Kemp widow, at Trotton on 13 Feb 1790 – she would have been 87 years old!

Without a baptism, we can’t go any further with the ancestry of Edmond Kemp, but can we speculate further on my potential 7xgreat grandparents, the parents of Martha Betsworth?

A Peter Bettsworth married Elizabeth Hammond in Trotton on 21 November 1697 – they may be the parents of Martha Betsworth. From FamilySearch and Ancestry, it appears that this couple baptised – and sadly buried - several other children at Trotton: all are shown as the children of Peter Betsworth, a day labourer of Trotton:

• ·       Peter, baptised 7 October 1698 (buried 22 April 1700)
• ·       Elizabeth baptised 22 April 1700 (buried 15 May 1700)
• ·       Mary, baptised 17 April 1701
• ·       John, baptised 3 March 1703 (buried 5 April 1706)
• ·       Elizabeth, baptised 23 Jan 1705 (buried 6 October 1706)

From this it seems that only two of their children – Mary and Martha – survived infancy, their parents losing two children in 1700 and in 1706.

A Peter Betsworth is listed in the UK poll book for Trotton in 1734. There is a burial record for a Peter Betsworth, Labourer, at Trotton on 25 November 1740.

Around 100 years before the marriage of Peter Betsworth and Elizabeth Hammond, Sir Peter Bettesworth of Milland purchased manorial land in Trotton (Vision of Britain). Whether the families are connected is unclear (although there is a Hercules Bettesworth amongst Sir Peter’s descendents … perhaps the name passed down to the Kemp family some 200 years later).

All this is, however, pure speculation. These Kemps and Betsworths may or may not be part of my tree. Researching them has been interesting, though.

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

22.1 5xgreatgrandparents Richard Kemp & Elizabeth Cawood (1740s-1812/3) and children

There is a baptism at FamilySearch in Trotton for (I believe) my 4xgreat grandmother Mary Kemp, daughter of Richard Kemp, Labourer, on 26^th January 1777. Research in the parish registers suggests that her parents were Richard Kemp and Elizabeth, formerly Cawood, and that her brother James Kemp’s widow Jemima was living near her and her husband John Hill in the 1851 census at Elsted in Sussex.

Mary Kemp appears to be one of seven children baptised as children of Richard Kemp and his wife Elizabeth in Trotton between 1772 and 1789. They appear to have married at Trotton in 1771, after banns:

The extract from the parish register at FamilySearch says:

Richard Kemp of Elsted and Elizabeth Cawood of this parish October 16 1771 by Banns.

Richard Kemp, then, was settled in the parish of Elsted at the time of his marriage. There are no obvious baptisms for a Richard Kemp/Kamp in Elsted 20-30 years prior to the marriage, but there is one in Trotton for Richard Kemp son of Edmund, Labourer, on 2 August 1741. This would mean he was about 30 when he married.

Searches at Ancestry, FamilySearch and FindMyPast have not found any Kemps in Elsted before the late 1700s, although there are several clusters of records at Trotton, Midhurst and Harting. This may be because they moved settlement, or that the records are missing. Either way, it is not possible to prove the connection with Edmund Kemp at present.

Richard Kemp died and was buried at Trotton on 6 January 1812. Elizabeth was buried there on 8 September 1813, aged 79.  

I have not found a baptism for Elizabeth Cawood (with variations in spelling including Caywood, Carwood, Keywood) for Trotton or elsewhere in Sussex, so her line is another brick wall.

The children of Richard Kemp, Labourer and his wife Elizabeth Cawood

As it is not possible to go back any further with this part of the Kemp line, let’s look to see if we can find anything further about the couple’s seven children.

1. Elizabeth Kemp (1772->1797?)

Elizabeth was baptised at Trotton on 3 May 1772, seven months after her parents’ wedding the previous October. Nothing more is heard of her until she baptises her own – illegitimate - daughter, Mary Kemp, at Trotton on 16 October 1796. She would have been about 24 years old. Sadly the child did not live long, as there is a burial record at Trotton for ‘Mary daughter of Elizabeth Kemp’ on 15 September 1797. I have not found any obvious burial or marriage records for Elizabeth after 1797. An Elizabeth Kemp was witness at James Kemp’s marriage in Elsted in 1807; this may have been James’ sister Elizabeth, still unmarried, or his mother Elizabeth who was still alive in 1807.

2. Susanna Kemp (1774-1789)

On 24 April 1774, Susanna Kemp was baptised at Trotton, daughter of Richard. She was buried, daughter of Richard Kemp, at Trotton on 7 December 1789, aged 15.

3. Mary Kemp (1776-1860)

My 4xgreat grandmother’s story has already been told elsewhere. She would have been about 13 when her older sister Susanna died, and 20 when sister Elizabeth had her illegitimate daughter.

4. James Kemp (1780-1861)

The image of the parish register of Trotton for 25 June 1780 at FamilySearch shows that James and William Kemp were twin sons of Richard Kemp.

He married Jane Glew in Elsted on 30 June 1807. From the Imagefrom FamilySearch, both were single and both ‘of this Parish’. The witnesses were William Agling/Ayling and Elizabeth Kemp – perhaps his mother or older sister.

Jane was baptised in 1784 with the surname Glue. The couple had four sons, the first – James – born in November 1807, five months after their marriage. John was born in 1809 and William in 1812. Their last son, George, was born on 28 May 1814 and was buried five days later, on 2 June 1814, with his mother. She was 29 years old.

The widowed James remarried a year later, on 28 May 1815, to spinster Jemima Wright Shepherd. The name of their second witness is illegible, the first was John Wallder.

The parish register shows that they married after banns at Elsted church. 

Parish records show that they had at least nine children: Daniel (1815-1816); Rose-Esther (1818-1848); George (1820); Cornelius (1823-1911); Alfred (1825-1908); Hercules (1828-1911); Dorcas (1830-1897); Lucy (1833-1837); Emma (1835-1836) and Daniel (1838-1883).

Their daughter Dorcas married William Doel in London in 1852, having worked as a servant in the capital for a while. William is initially described as a plasterer on the censuses, but as they move around the country it becomes clear that he is a ‘designer and modeller in clay and wax’, and his work particularly for the Ewenny company near Bridgend in South Wales is now highly prized as part of the arts and crafts movement of the 1880s-1890s.

James died before the 1841 census was taken, in January 1841. His young widow was left with six of her children still at home by then, living at Elsted next door to her sister, my 4xgreat grandmother Mary Hill, nee Kemp. In 1843, she married Thomas Tullett, a railroad labourer, and moved with him and her youngest son Daniel Kemp to Hampshire. She died, aged 80, in 1877.

5. William Kemp (1780-1827)

William was James’ twin. He married Mary Palmer in Trotton in 1816 ‘with consent of parents’. He would have been about 36 by then but perhaps his bride was under 21. I have not found an obvious baptism record for her. He was buried, aged 46, at Trotton (abode Elsted) in on 16 January 1827.

6. John Kemp (1783-?)

John was baptised at Trotton on 2 February 1783. He married Mary Page in 1816 in Hampshire, and is found in the 1851 census living with her in Terwick, Sussex, where he is working as an Agricultural Labourer. I haven’t found them in the 1841 or any other censuses, and no other obvious records.

7. Thomas Kemp (1786-1870)

Thomas was baptised at Trotton on 12 April 1786. He married Mary Harras at Trotton on 23 May 1807. They appear in the 1841-1861 censuses, where he is variously described as an Ag.Lab or Pauper Ag. Lab, in Rogate. They had two known sons. Thomas died on 28 June 1870 aged 84. Another family tree at Ancestry has an image of a cottage said to be in occupation by Thomas Kemp and his family at the time of the 1843 tithe map (below).

 

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

21.3 The children of Nicholas Hill and Mary Fossey

My 5xgreat grandparents Nicholas Hill  and Mary Fossey appear to have had six children, including my 4xgreat grandfather John Hill.

1. William Hill (1782-?)

Their first child was William Hill, who was baptised at Elsted on 19 July 1778, just over nine months after they married. Perhaps he was named for Mary Fossey’s father, William Fossey. Aged 22, he may have married Sarah Shire/Shine at Harting, Sussex, although both are said to be of that parish rather than Elsted. There are various records for a William Hill of about the right age in Harting censuses and baptisms of three children, but these are not proved.

2. John Hill (1780-1853)

My 4xgreat grandfather’s story is told elsewhere.

3. Mary Hill (1782-?)

Mary Hill was baptised at Elsted on 29 September 1782. I have not found any further obvious records for her marriage or burial.

4. Elizabeth Hill (1785-?)

Elizabeth Hill was baptised at Elsted on 14 August 1785. She may have married at Harting on 29 December 1802, aged just 17, to James Bowles, but other Hill families were living at Harting at the time, so the connection cannot be proved. There are no obvious burial or other marriage records at Elsted for her.

5. Charlotte Hill (1788-1788)

Nicholas Hill and his wife Mary Fossey’s fifth child was Charlotte, who was baptised in Elsted on 13 April 1788, and buried there a few weeks later on 8 May 1788.

6. Nicholas Hill (1796-1826)

Their last known child was born after an eight year gap in children, when his mother would have been in her early-mid 40s. It is possible that baptism records in the intervening years have not survived. Nicholas was baptised at Elsted 28 August 1796. I have found no further records about him apart from a burial record on 8 July 1826, at Elsted. The burial record at FamilySearch shows him as 29 years old and ‘of Elsted’.

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

21.2 5xgreat grandmother Mary Fossey (1752-1819) and beyond

My 4xgreat grandfather John Hill was baptised at Treyford cum Didling in 1780, the second child of Nicholas Hill and his wife, Mary Fossee/Fossey, who married at Treyford in 1777.

Her surname has variously been shown as Lopey, Jopey and Fossey in marriage record transcripts at FamilySearch and elsewhere. There is a baptism record for a Mary Fossee at Elsted at FamilySearch:

This shows (faintly): Feb 18 1752 Baptised Mary ye daughter of Willm & Elizabeth Fossee.  

Assuming she was baptised a month or so after birth, she would have been about 25 when she married Nicholas Hill in 1777.

A search for the marriage of a William Fossee/Fossey to an Elizabeth at FamilySearch finds a record at Elsted in 1747:

Oct.ber 18 1747 Married William Fossee & Elizabeth Goldring both of Elsted.

This couple are – possibly – my 6xgreat grandparents.
They appear to have had three children including my 5xgreat grandmother:

·       20 January 1748: John Fossey baptised at Elsted

·       16 February 1752: Mary Fossey baptised at Elsted

·       17 August 1760: Elizabeth Fossey baptised at Elsted

Their eldest child John Fossey may have married Elizabeth Hobbes at Harting, Sussex, in 1773.

Their second child, my 5xgreat grandmother Mary Fossey, died in 1819, aged 67, and was buried at Treyford cum Didling on 9 February 1819. Her husband, Nicholas Hill, pre-deceased her, dying in 1811.

Their youngest known child, Elizabeth Fossey, married Henry Elliot in 1782 at Elsted and had at least one son, Harry Elliot, baptised in 1786. This Harry married widow Jane Bachelor in Trotton in 1809. She was born Jane Goldring, possibly a relative of his mother Elizabeth Goldring. They appear in the 1841 and 1851 census at Little Langley, Rogate, where he is a farmer of 55 acres. In 1851, his wife Jane is 80, while he is 67. There is a headstone on another Ancestry family tree for the couple at Bramshott Cemetery, Hampshire; he died on 26 August 1852, she on 23 May 1855.

If William Fossey and his wife Elizabeth Goldring were in their 20s on marriage in 1747, they were likely born around 1720-1727.

I have not found a baptism record for William Fossee/Fossey in the online records. There are two possible baptisms for Elizabeth Goldring at FamilySearch and Ancestry:

1. Stedham, Sussex: Elizabeth Goldring baptised …. April 29^th 1723 (no parents listed on baptisms)

2. Rogate, Sussex: A Copy of ye Register for ye year 1727 Baptized … Elizabeth Dr. of Henry Golding Octbr 1st (see below):

Although the name in the image leaft has been transcribed as Goldring, it could just as easily be Golding. Rogate is about 6 miles from Elsted, in the River Rother valley. Stedham is closer, and an easier or, at least, more straightforward, journey.

However, neither can be proved as connected to ‘my’ Elizabeth Goldring, so this and the Fossey line will have to stop at another brick wall for now.

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

21.1 5xgreat grandfather Nicholas Hill of Elsted (1752?-1811) Another brick wall

 My great-grandmother was Susan Caroline Hill, born in London in 1875. Her father, grandfather and great-grandfather (my 2x, 3x and 4x great-grandfathers) were all called John Hill and were all born in the small rural village of Elsted, Sussex. My 4xgreat grandfather John Hill was baptised at Elsted’s Saxon church on 4 May 1780. The digitised copy of the parish register at FamilySearch is faint and not very legible, but shows that John Hill was the son of Nicholas Hill and his wife Mary.

I was lucky enough to visit Elsted in 2021 on the way home from a post-lockdown trip to Winchester and Chichester. 

Elsted – St Paul – Sussex Parish Churches website records that the nave is 11^th century, other parts from the 12^th and 13^th centuries.

In the doorway hang two lists of all the incumbents of the church, going back to ‘Ralph the Priest’ in 1086 and ending with the most recent – Mark Morton, appointed in 2011. 

The Sussex Parish Churches website also notes that “The parish was long united with Treyford and Didling and after a new church at Treyford was built in 1849, Elsted church fell into partial ruin.  It was only taken back into full use after the C19 church had been demolished in 1951”. At the time that my 4xgreat grandfather John Hill was baptised at Elsted in 1780, the vicar was Walter Islip.

Islip also married his parents, Nicholas Hill and Mary Fossey, at Treyford & Didling – Elsted’s sister church – on 28 October 1777.

FamilySearch has a copy of the page from the Parish Register which reads:

No 22 1777

Banns of marriage between Nicholas Hill & Mary Fossey of the Parish of Treyford cum Didling were published three several Sundays without impediment in the Churchs of Treyford & Didling and they were married this 28^th day of Oct. 1777 in the Parish Church of Treyford by me W.Islip, Curate.

This marriage was solemnized between us this 28^th day of October 1777

Nicholas Hill X his mark

Mary Fossey X her mark

In the presence of

Thos Snelling

Richard ?eall?

A search of the registers for more baptisms of the children of this couple indicate that they had at least six children between 1778 and 1796. John Hill, my 4xgreat grandfather, was their second child (and second son).

Assuming Nicholas Hill was about 21-25 when he married, he would have been born around 1752-1756. Unfortunately, I have not found a likely baptism for him. There is, however, a burial record for Nicholas Hill at Elsted on 25 April 1811; he is aged 57 (born around 1754). The image from FamilySearch shows the Bishop’s Transcript of this, the only burial in the parish by August 1811:

Unfortunately, no information is given on the children’s baptisms that would tell us what Nicholas Hill did for a living … although it is likely that he was an Agricultural Labourer like the majority of his descendents who were recorded in the 1841-1861 censuses in Elsted. While his baptism (and therefore parents) isn’t known, the Hill line for now ends with Nicholas Hill.

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