Archive for November, 2007

Friday, November 30th, 2007

John Watmough High Constable of Halifax

 ’From Hull, from Halifax, from Hell, ’tis thus
From all these three Good Lord deliver us’
 John Taylor 
Haifax in Tudor times was a very rough and ready place where a quarrel between two men could often result in a death. Even the clergy were  not safe. Vicar Robert Holdsworth was murdered when his vicarage was pillaged and […]

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Monday, November 26th, 2007

The Murder of William Whatmore at Barnby in 1858

Over the centuries it is inevitable that some members of the Whatmore family will have died violent deaths, but very few of these are documented. In the case, however, of the murder of  William Whatmore in 1858 at Barnby in the  Willows in Nottinghamshire, there is a lengthy item in the issue of ‘The Times’ for 23 […]

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Sunday, November 25th, 2007

Whatmore Township

In the parish of Burford in south Shropshire is the township of WHATMORE. For many years I believed that this was the place where the Whatmore family had originated, taking its name from the place, or the place taking the name from the family. Here are to be found Whatmore Mill, Whatmore Farm and Whatmore Court. […]

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Sunday, November 25th, 2007

William Lowe Bailiff of Shrewsbury

I hope I may be forgiven if from time to time I write a post about a non -Whatmore ancestor of a particular branch of the Whatmore family.  In the case of William Lowe, he is the ancestor of all those people who descend from the marriage of James Whatmore to Ann Lowe in 1819 at […]

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Saturday, November 24th, 2007

Anne Manning (1807 -1879) Novelist

One of the most prolific Victorian novelists, Anne Manning is little known today. Anne was a descendant of the Wiltshire branch of the Whatmore family. Her father was William Oke Manning and her mother was Joan Gibson.  Ann’s maternal grandparents  were Ann Whatmore and Frederick Gibson.
 Ann was educated by her mother who was an accomplished […]

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Thursday, November 22nd, 2007

Whatmore Family Branches

Looking closely at a mature tree it is easy to identify the individual branches and where each one starts out from the main stem. With a family tree, however, who is to determine what constitutes an individual  branch and   at what point it splits off from the main trunk?  Thinking in terms of family branches […]

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Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

Police Constable James George Whatmore (1867 - 1914)

I first heard of James Whatmore when a friend at Shropshire Archives told me that they had noticed him listed as a voter in the 1914 Electoral Register for Dawley (now part of Telford). I somehow managed to discover that he had been a Police Constable, but would have taken the matter no further had […]

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Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Commissioner Hugh Edward Whatmore

I have always had the greatest respect for the Salvation Army and the sterling work which they do for the homeless and destitute. It was thus with great pleasure that I discovered that Hugh Whatmore and his family had been distinguished members of the Salvation Army.

Commander Hugh Whatmore
Copyright : SA Collectables reproduced by kind permission of David […]

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Sunday, November 18th, 2007

Shropshire Origins

William Watmer, born 1569  at Stottesdon in Shropshire, notary and sometime Mayor of the City of Canterbury, told the Heralds on their Visitation of Kent in 1619, that he was the direct descendant of a William Watmoughe who was the third son of John Watmoughe of Eccleston. This William the third son, who died at Stottesdon […]

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Friday, November 16th, 2007

The Whatmore Family at Speke Hall, Liverpool

Only a few individual members of the Whatmore family possessed fine houses - Micklehead Hall, Lancashire, Thornton Hall near Bradford, Watmer Hall near Canterbury and Marshwood House near Wilton being some of these. The majority of family members owned or more likely rented farms and cottages in the countryside. Many family members, however, worked at […]

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