Whatmore Family History

One of the most unusual Christian names I have come across when researching the Watmough/Watmore/Watmore/Whatmore family is that of CRISPIN. There were in fact three Crispin Whatmores. The first was baptised on 25 August 1802 at St John Bedwardine, Worcester, the second (his son) was born at Great Malvern in 1844, and the third, Alfred Crispin Whatmore (grandson of the first Crispin) was born in Birkenhead in 1872.

Why would a child be called Crispin? St Crispin was believed to have been a shoemaker and became the patron saint of shoemakers. His saint’s day was 25 October – the day of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.  It seems unlikely that the first Crispin was born on 25 October as his baptism would have been nearly a year later. Was perhaps his father a shoemaker?

Crispin the First was the son of James Whatmore who married Ann Rowley on 24 May 1788 at St John Bedwardine, Worcester, the church where John was buried on 10 November 1807.

James Whatmore was baptised on 30 May 1762  at Old Swinford, the son of a John and an Elizabeth. This  was probably the John Whatmore who married Elizabeth Best on 9 June 1759 at Ribbesford, Bewley.

The chart below attempts, speculatively, to trace the ancestors of Crispin the First back to Stottesdon.

James and Elizabeth Whatmore had six known children, all baptised at St John Bedwardine, Worcester. The children were:

Elizabeth born 1790, who had an illegitimate son Joseph born 1806. Elizabeth later married someone whose surname was Freeman. Her son Joseph became a Carriage proprietor and lived at Graham Place, Great Malvern. He married an Eliza – probably the Eliza Lavender who married a Joseph Whatmore on 26 May 1830 at Ribbesford, Bewdley. They do not appear to have had any children.

 Click to enlarge

St John Bedwardine, Worcester   Photograph Copyright: Phillip Halling    Source: Geograph website and reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the site licence which can be viewed at this link:   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

James born 1794 headed for London where he was a confectioner, living with his wife Sarah at Islington. James and Sarah do not appear to have had any children.

Mary Ann born 1796 married John Wilkes, a master tailor, on 27 October 1823 at St Martin’s Worcester. They lived at Great Malvern.

Fanny or Francis born 1799 who had an illegitimate son George in 1824. Fanny died unmarried aged 26 in 1826 at Great Malvern. George, who began as an apprentice shoemaker, was later a gardener, a labourer and a well sinker,  married Mary Preece in 1848. They lived at Great Malvern and do not appear to have had any children.

Crispin born 1802

Eliza born 1805 married William Laugher, a tailor, on 6 June 1822 at St Martin’s Worcester.  They had nine children. One of their grandchildren, James Layland,  married an Emily Turner and emigrated to Australia.

Returning to the first Crispin, born 1802, he lived all his life at Great Malvern working as a gardener, labourer and agricultural labourer. The 1871 census states that he was blind from birth, but this is not mentioned in the earlier censuses.

Engraving of Great Malvern Priory  Source: ‘Collections for the History of Worcestershire’ T Nash  Second Edition 1799

Crispin married Charlotte Tudge on 10 August 1824 at St Martin’s Worcester but tragically she died aged 20 less than a year later and was buried on 19 June 1825 at St Mary’s Great Malvern. (Malvern Priory)

Crispin remarried only three months after the burial of his first wife. His second wife was Ann Laugher from Wapping, London. They were married on 10 September 1825 at St Martin’s Worcester. As there were no children from his first marriage, one wonders about Crispin’s haste to remarry! Ann died in 1870 and Crispin ten years later in 1880.

Crispin the First and Ann had six known children, all born at Great Malvern.  These were:

Ann Whatmore born 1827

John Whatmore  born 1829 who was a labourer who lived at Wych. He married Jane Compton on 11 February 1849 at St Mary’s  Great Malvern.

James Whatmore born 1831 who was a brickmaker and lived at Colwall. He married an Emma in 1860. One of their children – Ernest Alfred Whatmore, baptised at Colwall on 10 July 1870, was killed in France on 8 April 1917, aged 46. He was Private 4157 of the Royal Scots 2^nd Bn. Attd 24^th Bn. He is buried in Grave  O. VIII. C 11  in St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen.  He had married Susan Jane Cooper in 1897.

Jane Whatmore born 1835

Mary Whatmore born 1841 married William Wilkins, a blacksmith. They had two known children – Crispin Wilkins  born 1869 and William  Wilkins born 1870.

Crispin Whatmore born 1844 of whom more below.

Crispin Whatmore the Second, born 1844 became a bricklayer. He married Ellen Humphries on 9 August 1869 at St Martin’s Worcester. Their first child was born at Malvern in 1870, but by 1872 they had moved to Birkenhead and by 1875 to Panteg in South Wales where they remained for the rest of their lives. Ellen died in 1901 and Crispin the Second in 1911.

  Click to enlarge

St Mary’s, Panteg    Photograph Copyright: Robin Drayton    Source: Geograph website and reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the site licence which can be viewed at this link:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The children of Crispin the Second and Ellen were:

Francis Harry Whatmore was born at Malvern in 1870. He was at home with his parents until at least 1891, but married in the West Bromwich Registration District in 1898 to Sarah Roberts from Pontypool. In 1901 they were at Wednesbury where Francis was working as a foreman bricklayer. Eventually the family moved to Wales. Francis died in 1923 in the Swansea Registration District, but Sarah lived on to 1968, dying at the age of 95 in the Swansea Registration District.

Alfred Crispin Whatmore was  born in 1872 at Birkenhead. In 1891 he was at home at Panteg and working as a Buster in a Tin Works.  Like his brother Francis, Alfred was living at Wednesbury in 1901 and working as a bricklayer, but in 1905 he married Anne Elizabeth Richards in the Swansea Registration District and their two daughters were both born in the Pontypool Registration District in 1922 and 1924. Alfred and Anne had no sons so Alfred was the last of the Crispins. He died in 1950 in the Pontypool Registration District.

Arthur Whatmore was born in 1875 but died a little over a year later in the Pontypool Registration District.

Robert Whatmore was born in 1879 in Panteg and seems to have resisted the lure of Wednesbury, remaining all his life in South Wales.  In 1901 he was at home in Panteg working as a builder and a grocer. He married  Louisa Fowler in 1903. They had one son and one daughter. Robert died in  1948 and Louisa in 1968.

Ellen Mary Whatmore was born in 1883 in the Pontypool Registration District and married William Charles Garrett in 1910.

Alice Whatmore was born in 1885 in Panteg

Allen Whatmore was born in Sebastopol, Panteg in 1877. In 1891 he was at home at Panteg working as a Bundler in a Tin Works, but in 1901 he was with his brother Francis at Wednesbury working as a bricklayer and an improver. He married Matilda Fletcher in 1918 in the Dudley Registration District and their only child, a daughter, was born there in 1919. The family later moved to the Pontypool Registration District where Allen died in 1944 and Matilda in 1960.

The Whatmore name has died out in South Wales amongst the descendants of Crispin the Second. In Worcestershire and Herefordshire, however, the Whatmore descendants of Crispin the First are still flourishing.