The parish of Arley, previously known as Over Areley or Areley is situated about 6 miles to the north west of Kidderminster. The parish was in Staffordshire until 1895 when it was transferred to Worcestershire. The greater part of the parish is on the east side of the river Severn where the village of Upper Arley is located. The part of the parish the west side of the river is shown as ‘Woodseaves’  in the 1841 census and contains scattered farms and the hamlet of Pound Green, previously known as Browns Green (1868). Presumably this part of the parish was the  ‘Lower Arley’ though this name does not appear on old or current maps. 

From at least 1323 (Close Rolls) the two parts of the parish were linked by ferry, but this closed in 1964 and was replaced in 1972 with a footbridge.  Members of the Whatmore family operated the ferry for many years in the twentieth century. The Severn Valley Railway runs through the western part of the parish where Arley station is located.

Wheat, barley, oats and beans were grown in the parish and vines and cider apples were also cultivated. A quarry at Hextons Farm, still operative, supplied grindstones, mill stones and building stone. In the nineteenth century a thin seam of coal was worked. In former times there was a large amount of trade on the river and in 1851 there were 5 public houses serving the bargemen in the parish including ‘The Harbour’ which stills exists.

Arley   Painting by Robert Kirk     Copyright: Robert Kirk and reproduced here by his kind permission.

Robert Kirk lives in South Shropshire and is a well known painter of local scenes. If you would like to see some more of his paintings,or would like to purchase a copy of one of them, please follow this link:

http://www.robertkirk.co.uk/index.htm

Arley was home to members of branches of the  Watmore and Whatmore family over several hundred years, but today there are only three individuals with that surname in the parish. What happened to these Whatmore families and how were they inter-related? Using the research by my distant cousin Geoffrey Whatmore as a starting point, I decided to try to find out the answers to these questions.

The parish registers of Arley, extant from 1564, indicate that, apart from a few individuals who drifted in and out of the parish at various times, there were four separate Whatmore families who lived there. The first three of these families are directly, if distantly related. The origin of the fourth family has not been traced.

The families were:

The family of Humphrey Watmore (born 1654 at Cleobury Mortimer)

The family of John Watmore (born 1685 at Cleobury Mortimer)

 The families of Thomas Whatmore (born 1831 at Chelmarsh) and his brother of Samuel Whatmore (born 1838 at Chelmarsh). 

The family of John Watmore, Waterman (born about 1761)

  The family of Humphrey Watmore (born 1654 at Cleobury Mortimer)  

Humphrey Watmore married Mary Cound on 8 May 1683. Although their five known children were all baptised at Cleobury Mortimer, the names of three of these occur later at Arley. It would appear that either the whole family, or just some of the children moved to Arley between 1693 and 1712.  Humphrey and Mary’s children were: 

Thomas bpt 1764 at Cleobury Mortimer and buried 1743 at Arley

Humphrey bpt 1686 at Cleobury Mortimer and buried 1712 at Arley

Mary Watmore bpt 1688 at Cleobury Mortimer

Joyce Watmer bpt 1691 at Cleobury Mortimer, married to John Jones at Arley in 1716 and buried in 1773 at Arley

William Watmore bpt and buried 1693 at Cleobury Mortimer.

The only grandchild traced of Humphrey and Mary is Mary Jones, baptised at Arley in 1717.

  The family of John Watmore (born 1685 at Cleobury Mortimer) 

John Watmore married his first wife Mary Browne on 21 April 1707 at Cleobury Mortimer, but by 1712 they had settled at Arley as their first known child, John, was baptised at Arley in that year. Mary died in 1721 and John remarried to Catherine Beetley in 1723.  Descendants of John Watmore and Mary Browne remained at Arley for at least five further generations but my main interest has been in what happened to the last generation known to have been brought up at Arley. These were the children of Richard Watmore (1781 – 1849) and Sarah: James (born 8 Feb 1806) Ann who was born in 1808, Elizabeth (born 7 Nov 1811) Mary (bpt 9 Nov 1814) Charlotte (bpt 20 April 1817) Harriet (bpt 26 Dec 1819) William (bpt 13 Oct 1822) James (1806) married a Maria (born about 1806 at Dalling, Norfolk) and settled in Finsbury, London where he was a bricklayer). Maria died in 1854 and James in 1862. No children of James and Maria have been traced. Ann born 1808 was buried at Arley on 8 May 1825 aged 16. Elizabeth (1811) had an illegimate daughter Charlotte Watmore who was baptised in 1839 at Arley.  The following year Elizabeth married George Blount (born Bewdley 1817). George Blount was a wood collier, agricultural labourer and charcoal burner. They lived first at Arley, then at Hartlebury and finally probably at Ribbesford where George was buried in 1885. Elizabeth then went to live with her daughter Charlotte at Hereford and died there in 1891. Elizabeth and George had three children – James (1846) who in 1901 was at Hereford, unmarried and working as a builder’s labourer – Phillip born 1848 who died aged 12 in 1860 – and Elizabeth (1850) about whom nothing further is known. Elizabeth’s daughter Charlotte Watmore married a George Booth in 1862. George Booth was a railway pointsman and signalman. They lived first at Holmer, Herefordshire and then at Hereford where George died in 1891 and Charlotte in 1900. No children have been traced. Mary (1814) married a John Broadhurst in 1842. They appear to have remained in Arley for the rest of their lives.  John was a Wood Labourer and an agricultural labourer. Mary died in 1877 and John in 1886. Mary and John had several children but by 1901 only four descendants were still at Arley. These were Mary and John’s son Bartholomew (born 1843), Barthomew’s sons John born 1868 and Harry (1872) and Bartholomew’s nephew Henry (1882).   

Charlotte Watmore (1817) was buried in 1836 at Arley aged 18

Harriet Watmore (1819) – not traced later.

William Watmore (1822) married an Ann, probably Ann Etheridge. They lived at Kidderminster, Stourport and Stourbridge before settling in Birmingham. William was a bricklayer. Ann died in 1885 and William in 1901. Of their six children, only William Whatmore (born 1860), who was a brass worker and a glassworker in Birmingham, seems to have survived until 1901. He married Augusta Edith Vick in 1893 and they had two known children – Ellen (1893) who married a John W Sly in 1918 – and Frances Annie (1894) who married a James Cotterill in 1914.

 Thomas Whatmore (born 1831 at Highley) Thomas was baptised on 25 September 1831 at Highley. His parents’ address at Highley is not given in the register but the family were probably still living at the Court House.  In the 1841 census, Thomas was living at home with his parents at Hampton, Chelmarsh. In 1851 he was working as an agricultural labourer at Bowhill, Romsley. 

At the time of the 1861 census, Thomas was living as a lodger in the house of Hannah Sheward at Arley. He is shown as an unmarried labourer, aged 29.

 Thomas married Hannah’s daughter Susan Sheward on 21 May 1861 at Upper Arley. The witnesses were Henry Jordan and Phoebe Phillips. The married couple lived at Arley for the rest of their lives. 

Susan Whatmore died aged  68  on 20 April 1904 and was buried on 23 April 1904 at Arley. Thomas died  aged 79 on 14 January 1911 and was buried on 18 January  1911. Their grave, the earliest of  my branch of the Whatmores that has been traced, is just to the north of the church tower.

The descendants of Thomas and Susan will be described in a future post.

 Samuel Whatmore (born 1838 at Highley) Samuel was baptised on 16 September 1838 at Chelmarsh. This entry is missing from the parish registers but is in the Bishops’ Transcripts. Samuel was at home at the time of the 1841 and 1851 censuses. At the time of the 1861 census Samuel was working as a groom at Rea Hall, Highley. He married Catharine Mary Hardwicke on 10 July 1866 in the parish church at Kidderminster. The witnesses were his brother Thomas Whatmore, and Eliza Hardwicke..  In 1871 Samuel and his family were at Hextons Upper Arley where he was working as  groom. 

 An issue of the ‘Kidderminster Shuttle’, for May 1871 reports;

‘Another accident has been added to the long list of casualities happening in the ancient Borough of Bewdley within the last fortnight. On Tuesday evening about eight o’clock a man named Watmore, [ Samuel Whatmore or possibly his brother Thomas] a waggoner in the employ of Robert Woodward Esq. of Arley Castle, left Arley in the afternoon  with a load of bark which he was to take to the Price’s works in Bewdley. Having unloaded the wagon it was taken to the weighing machine in accordance with custom. Passing the Severn Bridge while in the act of taking a pole out of the wagon, he fell and broke his leg below the knee. He was at once removed to Mr Gabb the surgeon who was successful in setting the leg and Watmore was conveyed home in a boat along the Severn’

This report is from ‘Hide to Leather’, by Angela Purcell. I am most grateful to Sheila Kirk of South Shropshire for copying and sending me this account.

 In the 1881 census, Samuel and his family were still at Hextons. In 1891 and 1901 Samuel and Catharine were living  at Nash End. Catharine was buried aged 63 on 5 January 1904 at Arley. Samuel was buried aged 96 on 27 June 1935 at Arley. The burial place of Samuel and Catherine has not yet been traced in Arley churchyard. 

The descendants of Samuel and Catherine will be described in a future post.

 The family of John Watmore, Waterman, born about 1763 

John Watmore married a Henrietta. She died aged 70 in 1833. If we assume that John was born about the same time as his wife, or a little earlier, he is most likely to be the John baptised at Morville in 1761, the son of Thomas and Jane, although he could be the John baptised in 1770 at Ribbesford, the son of Thomas and Mary.

If John was in fact the son of the John and Jane of Morville, then he links in to all the other Whatmore families at Arley, sharing a common descendant from Thomas of Curdale and his wife Joan.

 Henrietta would have been about 32 at the time of the birth of their first known child – so she may have been John’s second wife, or John and Henrietta may have had earlier children whose baptisms have not been traced. 

 Arley Church    Photograph copyright: Geoff Pick and reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the site licence which can be read here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

The known children of  John and Henrietta, all baptised at Arley, were:

Sarah Watmore (1795)

Georgiana Watmore born 1798

Mary Watmore (1801)

Sarah (1795) had an illegimate son John Watmore baptised at Arley in 1815, but nothing further is known of her.  John is probably to be identified with the John Watmore who later lived at Stone on the outskirts of Kidderminster. Athough his ages in the censuses never really tally they indicate a birth in about 1820. His birth place is given variously as Arley, Chelmarsh, Cleobury Mortimer, Kinlet, Broome and Shropshire. It is clear that John was confused about his true age and the exact location of his place of birth. There is, however, a place called Broom Green in the 1841 census, located in the Woodseaves part of the parish of Arley, close to the boundaries with the parishes of Chelmarsh and Kinlet. This would seem to match John’s recollections of his birth place.

John (1815), son of Sarah, married  a Mary Ann and brought up a large family of children at Stone. He worked as an agricultural labourer. None of the children lived at Arley and they and their families mainly ended up in Birmingham  Their daughter Elizabeth, born 1850, married William Head the son of George Head and Louisa Whatmore. Louisa was the sister of the Thomas Whatmore and Samuel Whatmore who lived at Arley  so we have yet another link between the Arley families.

Mary  Ann died in 1892 and John  in 1910.

 Georgiana Watmore born 1798 married Edward Stretch at Claines on 30 June 1822. They lived at Worcester where Edward was a Glover. Edward died in 1855 and Georgiana in 1857. Edward and Georgiana had seven known children, all of whom married. None of these children lived at Arley.

Arley   Photo copyright: Matt Fascione  and reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the site licence which can be read here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Conclusion

 Although it appears that only one direct descendant of these Whatmore families still lives at Arley (and his wife and his brother’s widow), there may be others with various surnames still there but it would take a lot of work to research this. There were however periods when descendants of different branches of these Whatmore families lived side by side at Arley, albeit with other surnames. Did they know they were related? It is hard to tell. It seems that the descendants of Thomas Whatmore and Samuel Whatmore  bearing the name Whatmore were not in close touch in the twentieth century despite living in the same parish. Even in cases where individuals from one branch were well known to members of another branch – the family relationship was unknown. Dolly Bagley, born in 1911 lived, unmarried all her life at Arley until her death in 1993, yet descendants of Thomas Whatmore had no idea that she was a descendant of Samuel Whatmore. In the days of large families it was probably hard enough work keeping track of one’s own direct family let alone the members of another branch.   

Perhaps in years to come there will be other branches of the Whatmore family who will settle at Arley and will perhaps ponder on the names on the graves in the churchyard and speculate about how they might be related.