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Families and Commercial
The Winter Family
Memories of Ock Street 1930’s to 1980’s
Written by John Winter
I was born in Abingdon in 1933 and although we did not actually live in Ock St all the rest of my relations did live in Ock St. or near by. I can trace my ancestor, James Winter 1648, who lived in Ock Street.
My grandparents Harry and Annie Winter lived in 137 Ock St. and that is where my father Bert Winter was born.
Two of my relations are named on the Abingdon War Memorial.
All my early life I had connections with the street. I went to primary school in the Council School Infants in Conduit Rd and from there to the Junior School in Mayott’s Rd. From there I won a scholarship to Abingdon School, where I completed my education.
I also joined the 2nd North Berks Scout Troop, firstly as a cub scout and finally as a scout and senior scout. The HQ of the troop met in one of the Old Brewery Rooms in Ock St. opposite to the “Happy Dick” Public House. The Scout HQ was quite large and rambling, with several rooms. It was very cold in the winter months as only a single coke stove heated the whole place. It also filled the HQ with terrible fumes and smoke. We scouts loved the place and met there at least twice a week. The first Group Scout Leader (GSM) was Miss Mercy Challenor who founded the Group in ca 1918. My GSM was Mr Jack Gray, a senior master at the Council School. He was aided by Harold Treadgold, Jack Venn and an American Airman “Doc Lewis” The combined strength of the Cub & Scout Section totalled around 70 boys.
My early school days were spent in almost blissful ignorance of the War that was raging at the time. We did wear our gas masks to school and we did do air raid drill but really our most immediate worries were the meagre sweet ration. Promptly at noon most of the children would rush at top speed to Exon’s Bread Shop. Here Mrs Exon tried to keep order and sell the wonderful “fatty cakes” and jam puffs to all the children. We spent our dinner money there instead of using it for the dreadful school dinners. For the sum of four pence one could buy two “fatty cakes” and two jam puffs. But there was an alternative: two “fatty cakes” and a quick run to Wright’s shop for a two penny blackcurrant fizzy drink! Hoping it was Mr Wright who would serve us, as he was more generous with the cordial.
When I was about 12 years of age I joined the Scout Section of the Abingdon British Legion Rifle Club. The rifle range was in Ock St. also in a disused part of the old Moreland’s Brewery. There were two 25 yard ranges and a small clubroom. We scouts were trained by Mr Tom Holloway and Mr George Barnes in the skills needed for competition shooting. In 1949 our scout section won the Duke of Connaults Shield for Scouts of the British Empire. This was a truly wonderful achievement for Abingdon.
My interest in rifle shooting continues to this very day.
I can recall clearly the shops along Ock St, most of which I had to be sent on errands. One shop, on the corner of Mayott’s Rd. was Miss Blizard’s little sweet shop; she would give us children large red gooseberries to eat. There was Mr Shaler’s shoe repair shed in the “Air Balloon” Yard, he kept all of Ock St. shod.
My Grandmother always insisted that when we had fish and chips we had to buy the fish from Ruddocks and the chips from Reeves, that way provided the best value for money.
The two Hemmings brothers, who had a lovely little shop near to Wright’s shop, repaired our cycles. A charge for mending a puncture was about sixpence and was always done very quickly.
During the war years when sweets became very scarce the school children would go to Mr Drew’s shop and buy a halfpenny carrot. He always selected the very large ones for us children.
Our playground was the Albert Park where we could enjoy space to play impromptu games of football and cricket. We often played until sent home by the Park Keeper when it was almost dark.
My Aunt, had married into the Hemmings family, always went to the “Happy Dick” pub on Sundays for a large jug of ale to be used with Sunday dinner. (Note: the term for the midday meal was always “Dinner”). Sometimes I was allowed a small glass of this wonderful drink. Actually I thought it was too bitter ! But I drank it because it made me feel grown up.
My connections with Ock St. ended in the 80’s when my Aunt, Uncle and Grandmother were rehoused in Boxhill Walk and the Scout troop had long moved to Sellwood Rd. I no longer have any relations left in Abingdon as all the associated family children moved away.
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The Wiblins of Ock Street
Written by Sue Matthews nee Wiblin
My father was John Norman Wiblin born on Thursday 9th May 1929 in Northcourt Road. He was always telling me when I was a child, that at one time every other person in Ock Street was a Wiblin. Of course, I took it all with a ‘pinch of salt’, until I was referencing the 1901 census and noted the residents on just one page.
Number 60 Henry James Wiblin, married, aged 29, a Butcher Slaughterman, with his wife Elizabeth, aged 31, sons Alfred aged 5 and Harry, 3, and baby daughter Gladys, 7 months.
This was my great grand father Henry James Wiblin, born on 10 October 1871. He worked for Cotterels in Stert Street when my father was a boy. With him was his wife Elizabeth, nee Wilcox. According to the census Elizabeth was born in London. Dad always said she was a Cockney, but actually she came from Haggerstone, Shoreditch. They also had their three eldest children living with them:
- Alfred George was born 15 Jul 1895. He was better known as Alf and was a bit of a character by all accounts. After serving in WW1, he worked for many years at Abingdon School as a handyman but he was also their Army Cadets’ RSM. He was disappointed not to be able to serve in WW2 so joined the Home Guard. As far as I know, Alf didn’t live in Ock Street, after he married.
- Harry was born in 1898. Harry’s is the last name on the Abingdon War Memorial. He died in Boulogne Hospital on 13 December 1917.
- Gladys May was a baby on the census, but died 2 December 1901.
Later on, Henry and Elizabeth had two more children:
- Arthur Harold born 28 March 1903 and Nellie May born 26 March 1906. Arthur was my grandfather.
Henry and Elizabeth moved down the road to Number 126 about 1910 and this remained the family home for the next 50 years. Henry died 13 October 1935 and soon after this my grandparents Arthur and Maggie nee Cripps moved into Number 126 with their children Harry born 29 March 1924, Joan Margaret born 31October 1925 and my father John Norman.
Elizabeth was also a character according to my Dad. She used to smoke a pipe and he would be sent to Mr Warwick Arms to get her a jug of beer when he was a teenager. She had a scar on her forehead in the shape of a round hole, probably due to chicken pox, but she would tell my father not to go too near to the river Ock or the ‘Water big’ would get him and she told him that is how she got the hole in her forehead. Elizabeth died in 1945 leaving the rest of the family at Number 126.
I have very vague recollections of the house. It was three stories and it was very basically furnished and decorated. I seem to remember lino on the floor and bare wooden stairs. My grandfather had various jobs, but I know that he worked for Morlands before the war. He was called up during WW2, although he must have been almost 40, but as far as I know he never left the country. After the war Arthur got bowel cancer and was probably one of the first patients operated on under the NHS. They must have done a really good job as he lived for another 20 years, remarkable when you think there was no radiotherapy or chemotherapy in those days. After he recovered he worked for the council and I remember him working at the council yard in Wootton Road. One by one the children married and left Ock Street, but Arthur and Maggie stayed on until they were moved out and 126 demolished to make way for Mayott House. Now back to the census, next to Number 60 was the entrance to Court 4 with 2 houses.
Court 4, Number 1 Jane Harris, widow, aged 75, Smockmaker sic her daughter Sarah Ann Harris, single, aged 37, Laundress and grand daughter, Beatrice A Harris. aged 5
Court 4, Number 2 Caroline Trafford, widow, aged 67, Trouser Finisher
Number 62 Thirza Wiblin, widow, aged 52, coat machinist and daughter, Alice, aged 18, a tailoress and mother-in-law, Martha Wiblin, widow, aged 82.
My great great grandmother Thirza Wiblin, nee Stimpson, was born 10 December 1848. My great great great grandmother Martha Wiblin, nee Faulkner, was born 20 Feb 1820, at Thrupp, near Radley.
I think at this point I will come forward first. Alice married William Francis John Patey in 1916, and from what I can tell from the Abingdon directories, they were still living at 62 Ock Street after Thirza died in 1930. So I assume that Alice was looking after her mother in her old age. Both Numbers 60 and 62 were demolished in the clearance of the 1930’s.
Thirza was born in Ottwell Lane, but she had lived in Ock Street all her married life and most of her family also moved into Ock Street. Thirza married James Wiblin on Christmas Day 1870. James died 01 Feb 1884 leaving Thirza with 6 children. I remember my grandfather telling me that his father went out to work at 10 to look after his brothers and sisters. This was a bit of an exaggeration - he was 12 and two of the younger children seem to have been looked after by relatives.
Martha Wiblin nee Faulkner had married James Wiblin on 31 May 1841 at St Peter le Bailey in Oxford and they had bought up 3 children in Ock Street. The eldest, Susan Faulkner Wiblin had been born a year before they married, this was probably why they married in Oxford.
Number 64 George Tyrrell, aged 42, clothiers cutter and his sister Ellen, aged 33. housekeeper.
Number 66 Esther Bright, nee Stimpson, a widow, aged 45, a machinist (tailoress) and her niece Ellen Wiblin, aged 22, tailoress.
Esther was Thirza Wiblin’s sister and Ellen had also been living with her in 1891. Another of Thirza’s children, Heber, had been bought up by his Aunt Susan mentioned above and another had died aged 18
Number 68 ‘The Fox’ Ann Green, a widow, aged 76, licensed victualler. William Tubb, aged 70, married lodger, general farm labourer and George Fisher, aged 50, lodger, a Fellmonger.
Number 70 Hannah Short, a widow, aged 79, needlewoman
Number 72 Harriet Ridge, single, aged 39, machinist
Number 74 William Prior, married, aged 66, road labourer and his wife, Emma, aged 56
Number 76 Empty
Number 78 Alfred Wiblin, married, 26, masons labourer and his wife, Sarah (nee Batten), aged 24, and children, Albert, 2, and Doris, 6 months.
Alfred was the second son of James and Thirza Wiblin. He went on to have 10 children, Albert was killed during WWI, and one of their daughters, Phyllis, was born in May 1905 and is still living in Mayotts House in Ock Street, aged 102.
So there is probably some truth in stories told to me by my father. He had probably been told the same thing by his father, who could probably remember all his relatives living nearby as a child. |
The Berry Family in Ock Street
Written by Maureen Hudson
John Berry was born in 1842 in Drayton and was christened in St Peters Church the same year. He was the son of Matthew Berry and Esther Bunce, who were the landlords of the Wheatsheaf public house on Drayton Green, so he was no stranger to the publican’s way of life.
John married his wife Elizabeth Ann Lamsdon in 1860. Elizabeth Ann was born in 1839 and was brought up in Ock Street by her parents William Lamsdon and Eliza (nee Lawrence). John started married life as a “Journey-man Baker”. This is evident from the records of his marriage in Reading , and from the birthplaces of their eight children, who were:
- Stephen b 1861; m 1887; d 1910;
- John Matthew b 1864; d 1871;
- Alfred Edward b 1867; m 1889; d 1916
- Rosa Ann b 1869; m 1888; d
- Esther Ann b 1872; m 1894; d
- Ellen Elizabeth b 1874; m 1895; d 1915
- Elizabeth Ann (Jnr) b 1876; d 1884;
- Laura Kate b 1879; d 1879.
Although the couple came back to Abingdon for the birth of their first two children, their next four children were all born in London in different residences, located in the Marylebone, Holborne and St Pancras districts. Whilst in London, their second child, John Matthew, died and was interred in Finchley cemetery, aged 7.
The family returned home to Abingdon when John was in his mid 30’s and they took up residence at 152 Ock Street. According to the 1881 census, John had a bakery business there and was employing one man. His son Stephen, was also recorded as a “Journeyman Baker” at that time, aged 19.
John had an extension built on the back of 152 Ock Street to house an over-sized oven and this could still be seen at the beginning of the 21st century. (He probably purchased his flour from the Drayton flour mill, since his elder sister Martha was married to Robert Rust, whose parents John and Maria (nee Filby), owned a flour mill there.) John continued to trade as baker at this address for around eight years.
In 1884, John and his wife Elizabeth decided to become publicans. They moved into the Ock Street Horns at 204 Ock Street with their youngest children, leaving their eldest son, Stephen, to carry on living at No 152 and continue with the bakery business.
John was landlord of the Ock Street Horns for 25 years, until his death in 1906.
A wonderful photograph of the family came to light as a result of the Ock Street Heritage project. It was found hanging on the wall of one of the pubs in Ock Street. It had been taken almost 120 years ago, circa 1890, and shows John and Elizabeth in the back yard of the Ock Street Horns with a number of members of their family. Son, Stephen, is in the photograph in his bakery “whites”, standing in front of a horse and cart. Third son, Alfred is also there with his soon-to-be-wife, Harriet, and her father. John’s daughter, Esther, is there holding a baby in her arms. An unidentified young boy is sitting in the cart, and he is thought to be a young brother of Harriet. Also in the picture are two pet dogs and the family parrot!
Stephen Berry had initially followed in his father’s footsteps as a Journey-man baker, but three years after he took over the bakery at 152 Ock Street, he married Ellen Jane George of Kirtlington, Oxford. Ellen had worked as a machinist in Abingdon and was lodging with a Mrs Winders (nee Rust). Mrs Winders also owned a bakery shop and grocery store in Ock Street at that time and was a relative.
Stephen continued to produce bread for his wife Ellen to sell in their shop. Stephen and Ellen had 3 children of which, the youngest daughter Jessie Rose, died in 1906, aged 13.
Stephen died in 1910, aged 49, but the house and bakery remained in the name of his wife Ellen for several years. His son Matthew was living there in 1911, when he married Elsie Young from across the road at 157 Ock Street, but they later moved away to live at 88 Ock Street. Furthermore, Stephen’s daughter, Annie, was living there in 1916, when she married Elsie’s brother, Frederick Young.
In the same year that he married Annie, Frederick went off to war to serve in France in the First Royal Berkshire Regiment. John Matthew joined the 9th Tank Core in 1918 and served in both France and Germany. Both men returned in 1919.
For a while the bakery was in the name of Annie Young, but it returned to the Berry family name when John Matthew came back from the war.
Alfred Berry, my great grandfather, was the third son of John Berry. He was born in Dove Cottage in Marylebone, London. Alfred Berry also worked in the bakery trade for a while, probably in the shop at No. 152. In 1889, he married Harriet Froude, of Hanney in St Michael’s church. They had ten children between 1891 and 1907. There are records of the family living at The Ock Street Horns and also in Marcham Road, in Victoria Road, in Turnagain Lane and in Stert Street, Abingdon.
Alfred went away to serve in the Defence Corps in the First World War. Unfortunately in 1916, he was fatally injured in an accident that happened whilst he was on duty, guarding the railway at Bitterne Park, near Southampton. He was just 49 years old at the time.
Rosa Ann married George Baguley, a butcher’s assistant from Hungerford. They married at the Independent Chapel, Sheep Street, Abingdon and moved away to live. They had 7 children.
Esther Ann married Ernest Arthur Simmons a carpenter by trade. They started married life by living in the Ock Street Horns, helping John and Elizabeth run the pub. The couple had 5 children.
Ellen Elizabeth married Joseph Gibbens Jnr. and for a while they lived at 210 Ock Street, where Joseph was recorded as being a Baker/Confectioner in the early 1900’s. The same premises were subsequently used by Benjamin Exon, the baker, before he moved across the road to his premises at No. 113. Joseph Jnr. was the son of Joseph Gibbens the harness maker on the corner of Broad Street and Bath Street. Most Abingdonians will also remember their son’s shop, Gibbens Tobacconist, located on the Square. Ellen Elizabeth and Joseph Jnr had 9 children.
Elizabeth Ann and Laura Kate, the two youngest were both born in Abingdon but died as young children.
Many descendents of the Berry family remain living in the Abingdon area.
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The Wiggins Family in Ock Street
My name is Marian Normington and I went with my sister,Valerie Penton, to talk to our Uncle, Fred Wiggins, at his home, 39 Ock Street, on the 3rd May 2005. Fred told us about the family history as far as he could recall. We have added some information which was supplied to us by Colin Wiggins (Fred's nephew, living in the USA, who has done some work on the family tree). I have also inserted some of the memories that he recalled when talking to Angela Smith. Mrs Smith interviewed Fred on two occasions and his memories of Ock Street from childhood to the present day are recorded on tape. I have also done the transcripts of these tapes.
From Census information, Fred's grandfather, Harry Wiggins, was married in St Michael's Church in 1875 and took up residence in Ock Street. His son (also named Harry) was born later that same year. Harry (Jnr) was Fred's father and he was one of seven children born to Harry and his wife, Elizabeth Jane Gardner (Bessie). As far as we can ascertain, Harry and Bessie lived at 179 Ock Street. Harry (Jnr) aged 15 is listed as a carpenter's apprentice. Hooke's Guide for 1903, which shows Harry Jnr to be living at 177 Ock Street, has an advertisement for his father's business - "Carpenter & Joiner" at 179 Ock Street. From The Hooke's Guide 1905, the address for the business is given as 39 Ock Street.
Fred told us that he understood that it was when his grandfather died (1923) that the carpentry/joinery/building business operated from 39 Ock Street. At that time there were four cottages in the yard on the left hand side and the residents shared the washhouse and toilet at the other end of the yard. On the right hand side there were two cottages (39 being one of them). When one of them became vacant, Fred's father knocked the two cottages into one. The four cottages on the lefthand side of the yard eventually became two cottages (as they are today).
Fred said that his father, Harry Wiggins, married Julia Ellen Molden (b. 1878) on June 16th 1900. Until her marriage, Fred's mother had been a linen maid at Abingdon School and from there she went into service in Oxford. Harry courted Julia probably by either walking or cycling to Oxford to see her. The marital home was 177 Ock Street. They had thirteen children, all born at home. Julia had twins who did not survive beyond infancy. There were eight boys and three girls who grew up to adulthood, namely, Harry, Louise, Arthur, Stan, Tom, Norman, Ethel, Bob, Edith, Fred, Alan. Harry, the eldest, was born in 1901 and their youngest son, Alan, born in 1922, was killed in action, shot down over Belgium in 1944. Fred was the second to youngest of the family, born in 1916.
Fred remembers 177 Ock Street and how hard his mother had to work with such a large family. He remembers that there were six cottages in the row at that end of Ock Street (next to land belonging to the White Horse Public House) and each pair of cottages shared a washhouse and toilet. Each washhouse had a copper and a cold water supply. The toilet was also alongside the washhouse. Fred said their father built an attachment to their house which was in effect a bathroom! The hot water from the boiler in the washhouse had to be carried from there to the bath so at least the family didn't have to share the bath with the neighbours but just with each other! He remembers very well his mother doing the washing in the washhouse using a tin tray in the sink and often doing this by candlelight. When possible the washing was dried outside on a clothes line but of course this wasn't always the case and it had to be dried indoors. To this day, Fred doesn't like to see wet washing hanging around in the house!
To help feed this big family, his father had an allotment off the Marcham Road (on land behind where B&Q now stands). There was a big shed there where the garden tools were stored. Fred remembers going there with his brothers and helping to dig up potatoes. His mother had a solid fuel stove with an oven at the side. He remembers that they were fed well. Fred's father was a keen fisherman and so was one of his brothers (Fred's Uncle Fred) who lived in Swindon. Fred's father did have a little fishing boat which was housed at the old Culham bridge. Many times Uncle Fred would come by train from Swindon, get off the train at Steventon and walk from there to Sutton Courtenay and meet Fred's father there. They would spend a whole day fishing and would bring back fish home to be cooked. Fred well remembers descaling and cleaning the fish prior to his mother cooking them. Sometimes one of his father's customers would give him a hare or a brace of pheasants and when Fred's father was satisfied that the pheasants had hung long enough, Fred and his brothers had the job of plucking and preparing them for the table.
One of Fred's aunts used to live in a house in Edward Street and sometimes some of his siblings would sleep there.
All the children attended the Council School in Mayotts Road. Seven out of the eight sons passed the scholarship and were educated at Abingdon School (known as Roysse's then). The girls had their secondary education at the Council School. (Another member of the family thinks that the girls also passed the scholarship but in those days it was expected that the girls of the family would help at home and they did not take up grammar school places.)
At the time of war, Fred's father was with the Territorial Army (1914-1918) and was awarded the Efficiency Medal and Campaign Medal for his service. Fred still has these medals.
Fred's oldest brother, Harry, was part of the River Patrol in World War 2, Arthur was seconded to the Ministry of Works, Tom served for a time in the Army, Norman was in the Navy, Bob served for a time in the RAF, Stan served with the Navy, Edith was with the ATS,and Alan, who volunteered, was in the Airforce. Ethel was already married to Bill who was in the RAF and they were in Singapore. When Fred left school, he joined the Army in 1934 and was based at Woolwich.
After Fred left the Army in 1946, he worked for the MOD and came back to live at home. After his father died in 1947, he and his sister, Edith, remained at home and looked after their mother. At that time the business was being run by his brothers - Arthur, Bob and Norman. When the business became no longer viable, the outbuildings were leased to different firms.
Fred later married Mary Widdows on the 6th March 1965 and she came to live at 39 Ock Street until her death in March 2003. Fred's sister, Edith died in 1992.
In 2007, Fred is in his 92nd year, and is marvellous for his age! He has been kind enough to talk to my sister and I recalling many memories of life in Ock Street where he was born and has lived all his life, apart from his service in the Army. He is a true native of Ock Street and an Abingdonian through and through!
Thank you Fred for taking the time and trouble to talk to us. |
Charlotte Cox - A Crimean War Nurse from Ock Street
 | Drawing by Marjorie Stephen
The drawing above is an artist’s impression of Charlotte Cox wearing the distinctive brassard or sash of Scutari Hospital. This was the barrack hospital near Constantinople that was run by Florence Nightingale and to which sick and wounded soldiers were taken during the Crimean War in the mid-1850s. Charlotte’s face is based on a photograph of her taken later in her life.
Only five Scutari brassards are known to have survived to the present day, and the one belonging to Charlotte Cox, then Mrs Charlotte Wilsdon, is the only one that can be linked to a particular nurse. A very faint ‘C W’ is still visible close to one of the side seams.
The following article was researched and written by Anne Smithson
Charlotte Cox was born on 30 April 1817 in Ock Street in Abingdon. Her parents were Stephen Cox, a carpet weaver, and his wife Ann. In the 1841 census they are still recorded as living in Ock Street, and Stephen is described as a weaver and sacking manufacturer.
In March 1837, a month before her twentieth birthday, Charlotte married William Higgins, a carpet weaver, at St Helen’s Church. The 1841 census shows them living in Ock Street with their two daughters, three year old Harriet and ten month old Selina.
The marriage was short as William died in December 1843 at the age of 38, leaving Charlotte a widow of 26 with two young children. A little over two years later Charlotte married again. Her second husband was William Wilsdon, a gardener. The marriage took place in St Ebbe’s Church in Oxford where they were both living. This marriage was also short as William died in 1850. The 1851 census shows Charlotte living in Friars Wharf in Oxford with her two daughters and two lodgers, and working as a tailoress. Her daughters, Harriet, aged 13 and Selina, aged 10, are both listed as scholars.
The Crimean War broke out in 1854. Reports in The Times described the appalling living conditions that British soldiers were having to face, with deaths from disease and malnutrition much higher than those from battle. Florence Nightingale was appointed ‘Superintendent of the Female Nurses in the Hospitals in the East’ and arrived at the hospital in Scutari (near Constantinople) in November 1854 with the first 38 nurses. The nursing care she organised led to a dramatic improvement in the survival rate of wounded soldiers.
Charlotte must have volunteered to join the Crimean War nurses. She was recommended by Dr H Acland, the Reverend J West of Holy Trinity, St Ebbe’s and William Parish of Speedwell Foundary. Maybe she had gained some nursing experience and also become known to Dr Acland during the cholera epidemics in Oxford in 1849 and 1854.
Charlotte was one of a party of twenty-seven women who travelled together to Constantinople to join the Crimean War nurses. They went via Folkstone, Boulogne and Marseilles, a journey that took twenty-three days. When she arrived, Charlotte was employed at the General Hospital in Scutari and was paid eighteen shillings per week. Florence Nightingale, in a letter, described her as ‘a kind, active, useful nurse and a strict sober woman’.
In May 1856, after a little over a year at Scutari, Charlotte was invalided home. Three years later, back in Abingdon, she was married for a third time, this time to William Andrews, widower, an engine driver. The 1861 census shows that Charlotte and her husband were living in a house in Railway Terrace in Abingdon and that she had taken over the care of three young step-children then aged 5, 7 and 10. A brother-in-law of her husband’s was also living in the house. The following year Charlotte’s daughter Harriet married a neighbour, Thomas Brown, a railway engine cleaner, and over the next fifteen years had six children who were born in Paddington, Wallingford, Abingdon and Oxford.
Charlotte was widowed again by the time she was 52. In the 1871 census she is living as a visitor at the Race House (later the Horse and Jockey) in Bath Street and is described as having independent means. Ten years later she was living in the Vineyard.
Towards the end of her life Charlotte lived with her daughter, Harriet, who by then had moved to Swindon. She died in Swindon on 22 March 1896 at the age of 78 and is buried in the Civil Cemetery on Radnor Street.
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The Pleydells of Abingdon
 | Copyright David Jarman
‘Pleydell’ is not a common name. So far as the Pleydell Society presently knows, all Pleydells are descended from one couple – William (c. 1425-1494) and Isabella Pleydell of Coleshill. The family prospered in Tudor times, were early Dissenters, and gradually spread through the Vale of the White Horse. By the mid-17th Century there were two local branches (3rd cousins) –one at Northmoor and the other in Ock Street in central Abingdon.
The most noteworthy scion of the Northmoor branch was the Revd. Richard Pleydell. He was born about 1649 and received his MA in 1672.[1] Thereafter he took Orders and was Usher of Roysse’s School 1676-1684; Blacknall Reader at St. Nicholas Church 1676-1686; and Headmaster from 1684 – 1716. He never married.
The Revd. Richard leased property from the Corporation of Abingdon - on 26 Nov 1690 he was granted a lease of a property in The Bury, formerly leased to Thomas Bisley, and in 1719 of a property in The Vineyard. In 1706 he was granted by St John’s College, Oxford, a 10-year lease of the Parsonage House in Northmoor – the living was owned by the College, and it had no resident vicar or curate: services were taken by visiting Fellows. He also owned property in Witney – his will in 1722 refers to an estate and a house there. He retired in 1716, died and was buried at Northmoor in 1722.
On 10th June 1689 he was present in the Guildhall together with the vicar of St. Helen’s and members and officials of the corporation, when they and all ‘loyal’ subjects took the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance to the new King William III and Queen Mary II. Also present on that day was the Revd. Richard’s 3rd cousin, Harim Pleydell (1658-1738) (my wife’s 5th Great-Grandfather) who signed the Oaths with Henry Forty, the Baptist Minister, and some fifty members of his congregation. We know a fair amount about Harim and his family, but there is much more yet to be discovered, and research continues.
Harim was the second generation of his branch of the family to live in Abingdon. His father, Samuel Pleydell (1611-1663) was the son of Edward Pleydell of Cricklade, and moved to Abingdon shortly after receiving a legacy of £100 in 1633 under his Father’s will[2]. He set up in business as a grocer, and married Sarah Stacey from Stadhampton[3]. Samuel’s activities in Abingdon are presently the subject of further research but we do now that he became a Burgess and that his wife was probably related to another Burgess[4]. We know that Samuel was in a fair way of business, because in the Corporation accounts there is an entry in 1643, recording that Samuel was to be paid £5.4s.1d for supplying beer to that value to Sir Edward Fairfax’ Parliamentary troops when they entered the town[5].
I believe that Samuel may have chosen to come to Abingdon as it had a strong tradition of religious dissent. Samuel’s ancestors were tenants of Lord Protector Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. A family member, Gabriel Pleydell, was Chief Ranger of Savernake Forest and Receiver-General to Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset, and also Member of Parliament for Marlborough. He was part of the Parliamentary Opposition to Queen Mary I, and on one occasion spent two months as a prisoner in the Tower of London for, as he later claimed, “speaking his conscience” and voting against a Government Bill.
Samuel knew his Bible well: his son Harim’s name (“snub nosed”) is taken from Ezra 2:32. Dissenter Samuel may have been, but he was a conforming one: the majority of his eight children were baptised, married or buried in St. Helen’s Church. Of these children, two (James and Joshua) died young; Samuel (?b.1637) and Richard (b.1640) were framework knitters; Sarah married James Courteen of Abingdon, vintner; Hannah married Richard Perry of Abingdon, maltster; John became an official of the Court of Exchequer in London; Mary married John Hucks of Abingdon; and Harim (b.1658) followed his father’s occupation as a grocer. There were other marriages into the brewing and grocery trades in Abingdon in the next generation.
We know where Samuel and Harim lived, as they both in turn leased the Corner House, Ock Street (probably on the site of Barclay’s Bank)[1] first granted to Samuel on 6th August 1658 at a rent of £1.8s. 0d. a-year. Samuel died in 1663[2] but his wife Sarah continued in business and in 1667 issued a half-penny token (one of which is owned by my wife - see illustration). Harim renewed the lease in 1682 and again in 1717 and 1733.
Harim Pleydell is mentioned in a number of Abingdon wills. On 14th June 1689 he witnessed the will of R. Greene; on 20 April 1700 that of Philip Lockton, senior, mercer; he was a beneficiary under the will of Ed. Pearson, made 7th March 1717; of Elizabeth Smith of Abingdon, his wife’s sister, made on 12th February 1720; and of J. Payne of Abingdon, made 3rd March 1725. The will of John Lisssett of Oxford, yeoman, (Archd. Oxon. wills series II vol. 14 p. 101) mentions his friends John Pain [sic] of Abingdon, maltster, Richard Belcher of Abingdon, yeoman; Joseph Tesdale of Abingdon, draper, and Harim Pleydell of Abingdon, grocer. R. Greene signed the 1689 Oaths as a member of Henry Forty’s Baptist congregation, along with Harim; whilst the known founders of the Presbyterian or Congregational Church in 1700 include both John Payne and Richard Belcher[3].
Other Corporation leases granted to members of the Pleydell family were, 4th January 1708, Boar Street, Sarah Pleydell of Buckland, Surrey, widow (not yet linked with Harim – his mother Sarah is thought to have died in 1704); and 6th September 1726 Elizabeth Pleydell, spinster, who took a lease of property in the Bury. She may be the same given by Dale as “Elizabeth aged 26 in 1717, unmarried”. An Elizabeth, spinster, was buried in St Helens on 21st May 1756.
Harim married Margaret, daughter of Edward Cleeve of Wootton, at Sunningwell on the 2nd Jan 1683. Like his father, Harim had a large family – seven daughters and three sons – between then and 1704. Of these, Sarah, Harim, Margaret and Martha all died young; Abigail (b 1684) married Benjamin House of Sutton Courtney, maltster, in 1712; Elizabeth (b 1691) and Sarah (b 1704) did not marry; Hannah (b 1702) married John Davis of Abingdon in the chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1728. Of their sons, Samuel (b.1687) moved to London, married there in 1728, was in Anstruther, Fife, in 1738, and has
many descendants today, including my wife; Harim (b 1695, the second of that name, replacing his brother who died aged 1 year in 1691) also moved to London, but may be the same as the Harim who was buried at St Helens on 20th January 1724; and John (b 1702) was also apprenticed in London was in Scotland with his brother in 1738, but is known to have married three times in Abingdon, and who died and was buried at St Helens on 24 October 1753. John had 7 daughters and 1 son by his marriages, but which child was born to which marriage is at present not always certain.
Harim’s will, dated 10 August 1736, was proved in Oxford on the 21st October 1738. He left many money legacies; and his son Samuel was to have the two adjacent messuages occupied by Sam. Hosegood and John Peart. The executors were his sons John and Samuel and his son-in-law Benjamin House. The will was, however, proved only by Benjamin House: “John and Samuel now residing at Edinburgh out of the jurisdiction nominated Benjamin House and Henry Kempster in Abingdon, grocer, for citation if any required”. Henry Kempster was married to Mary Pleydell, the daughter of Harim’s brother Richard.
It is not clear why John and Samuel had gone to Scotland – John clearly returned, but Samuel was there for some years before 12th April 1733 and until at least after 1746, during which time he had several children. It may have been connected with his father-in-law’s business as a coal mine owner and coal factor, for Samuel married, in 1728, Mary Smith, daughter of William Smith of the Liberty of the Tower and sister of Edmund Smith, a founding member of the Coal Exchange in London, whose firm ultimately became part of Charrington’s. So my guess is that Samuel was the Smith family’s representative in Scotland. The Smiths also leased a coal mine on Tyneside. Samuel was dead by 1760, but no other details are yet known.
Thereafter, the Pleydell family’s presence in Abingdon was much reduced: the Reverend Richard’s brothers’ interests lay largely in London and in Gloucestershire; whilst the last known living member of Harim’s family alive in Oxfordshire was his son John’s daughter Sophia, bap. 21st Jan 1738, who lived in Oxford, but who was buried at St. Nicholas Church, Abingdon, on 21st April 1806. During the years from 1635 to 1738 they would have seen many noteworthy things – the occupation of the town in the Civil War; the religious troubles up to 1689; the building of the new County Hall, and the steady growth of the town.
If any further information about the Pleydells is required, or can be given, please contact david.jarman@merton.oxon.org The Pleydell Society is always pleased to hear from those interested in the family, and we know that at least one other of Samuel and Sarah’s descendants is living in Abingdon today!
Notes:
[1] See Alumni Oxonienses. Also A.E.Preston’s History of St Nicholas, Abingdon.
[2] Will proved at Salisbury 5 March 1633; See also Inquisition post mortem at Wilts 1633 p.164 .
[3] Place and date of marriage not presently known: this information comes from the Pedigree Book of Sir Mark Pleydell of Coleshill, for whom Robert Dale, Richmond Herald, carried out investigations between 1711 and 1717. The marriage was before 1645, however, as “Sarah Pleydell, wife of Samuel Pleydell” witnessed the will of Martha Church of Abingdon on 28 June 1645. Further, Sir Mark’s Book includes a tree drawn for him which shows that one son, Samuel, was born in about 1637, and another son “Richard Pleydell, Framework Knitter, [ was] alive in 1717 aged 76” – so he would have been born in about 1640. He may be the Richard who took a lease in 1719 of a property in East St. Helen’s Street from the Corporation.
[4] Information from Dr Manfred Brod.
[5] Per Meineke Cox, “The Story of Abingdon” Part III.
[6] Per Dr Manfred Brod, who has made a close study of the history of this property, which was featured in the Ock Street Exhibition in September 2006. He has kindly made available to me a draft of a chapter of his “History of Ock Street”.
[7] Per Anthony Dale, Richmond Herald in 1717. Presumably he got his information at first hand. I have not found any entry in the Parish Record, however!
[8] “Two Centuries Young” Dr John Stevens, London, 1900. Henry Forty was the Baptist Minister from 1675. Presumably these Dissenters may have moved from one Dissenting sect to another?
© David Jarman, 2007
The Token
The obverse of Sarah Pleydell’s token. It reads “Sarah Pleydell”, and has the London Mercers Company’s badge of “The Maiden” in the centre. The legend on the reverse reads “Abingdon, 1667, Her halfe penny, S.P.”. Research in London has shown that neither Sarah nor her late husband Samuel were members of the Mercers Company of London! Greatly enlarged from the original. Such tokens were issued to overcome the local shortage of small change.
©Brenda Jarman, 2007. |
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