Whatmore Family History

In 1810 the Whatmore family had been the tenants of Detton Mill in the parish of Neen Savage, Shropshire, for  74 years. The initial lease had been taken out by James Whatmore (born 1697 at Cleobury Mortimer)  in 1736. When he died in 1781 the tenancy passed  to his son James (born  1724 at Stottesdon). He died in 1811 but before then the mill had been taken over by his son James (born 1768 at Detton Mill).

The miller was usually one of the richest men in the parish, and the returns from Detton Mill must have been substantial since the leases required the outlay of significant sums of money by the tenants to pay for major improvements and repairs. (See the earlier post on Detton Mill)

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Detton Mill House     Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

By 1810, however, the income provided by the Mill must have declined and money must have been tight in the family of James Whatmore born 1768. He had married Mary Haycox in 1786 and it seems likely that most of their large family of children were still at home. These were:

James born 1787

Jonathan  born 1789

William born 1791

Elizabeth born 1793

Ann born 1795

Mary 1797

Samuel born 1799

Abraham born 1802

Joseph born 1804 (died 1807)

Thomas born 1808

 It is probable that James’ father (born 1724) was also living at the crowded mill house.

We know that this Whatmore family were well respected locally as the first and second Jameses served as Parish Constable – in 1754, and 1764. The third James was Parish Constable in 1802 and on several other occasions to 1814 and the fourth James was Parish Constable in 1820. The second James also acted as Overseer of the poor, and served as a churchwarden. (Research by Geoffrey Whatmore)

When times are hard, however, the temptation make a little extra money becomes more difficult to resist. This is the only reasonable explanation for the theft from Stottesdon during the night of  6/7 March 1810 of two wether sheep worth 60 shillings, the property of John Bluck, a farmer at Prescott in Stottesdon parish. The culprits were James Whatmore Senior and Junior and William Whatmore of Detton Mill. Their ages make it clear that these were James born 1768 and two of his sons.

The Whatmores were only amateurs at thieving and the following day they were arrested and charged with the crime on the oath of John Bluck, the owner of the sheep. They were committed for trial by the Rev. Thomas Moses Lister, at the next session of Shropshire Assizes. No doubt they were lodged in the Gaol at Shrewsbury, which stills exists, serving its original purpose, on Howard Street near the station.

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Entrance to Shrewsbury Goal   Prisoners were executed on the top of the two towers flanking the doorway    Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

It could have been a long wait in goal for the prisoners, but luckily the Lenten Session of the Shropshire Assizes was held on 24 March 1810. The venue would have been the court room in the old Shire Hall which stood in the Square in Shrewsbury. The site is now occupied by an exceptionally ugly modern building called Princess House.

Evidence was provided at the trial by John Bluck, by John Brown and by John Mitchell, John Bluck’s shepherd. The judge was Sir Soulden Lawrence (1751 –1814), Justice of His majesty’s Court of King’s Bench.

The Whatmores were found guilty and were sentenced to death. Such was the harsh sentence for sheep stealing in the statue book. Thankfully, by this date, there was reluctance to impose the death penalty for such offences, otherwise the Whatmores would have have been executed in public on one of the two towers which flank the gateway to the Gaol. The Whatmores were given an immediate reprieve from the death sentences. This  was duly reported in the relevant issue of the ‘Shrewsbury Chronicle’ and is recorded in the ‘Calendar of Prisoners’.

The usual alternative to the death sentence for sheep stealing was transportation  and the Whatmores were sentenced to be ‘sent out of the Kingdom’

The judge and the jury may have been satisfied with these sentences but the good people of Neen Savage were not. Twelve farmers of Neen Savage parish submitted a petition calling for clemency for the Whatmores and a further petition was submitted by a Thomas Pemberton.  These petitions were considered in June 1840 and in February 1811. The Whatmores  would have been housed in Shrewsbury Goal in the meantime.

Although the reports made by Sir Soulden Lawrence on these petitions have survived they are in a fragile state and are currently undergoing conservation and are not available for copying.  We do know however the recommendations he made:

1.       ‘No mercy, but makes suggestions as to alternative punishment should recognizances be given for the prisoner.

2.        No reason at present to think differently from previous report’. Annotated: ‘ To be done, a …… pardon to be delivered to Mr Pemberton who has engaged to get him into the army’.

Records of those transported to Australia show:

James Whatmore tried 18 March 1810 at Shropshire Assizes and transported to New South Wales in January 1812 on board  the ‘Guildford’.

James Whatmore the Younger  tried 24 March 1810 at Shropshire Assizes and sentenced to life transportation to New South Wales and departed Aug 1811 on board the ‘Guildford’

This suggests that both James Whatmore Senior and James Whatmore Junior were transported.  But were they? 

James Whatmore Senior  was buried at Neen Savage in 1820. If he went to Australia he soon returned. 

Of  William Whatmore there is no further trace so he may well have joined the army.

JamesWhatmore  Junior born 1787 appeared to have married and had a son called James in 1814, as there is a James Whatmore at High House, Kinver in the 1851 census, born at Upper Neen in about 1814. This James, a shepherd, is almost certainly the one who married Mary Ann Bird on 8 September 1845 at Belbroughton in Worcestershire, as it states on his marriage certificate that  his father was a James Whatmore, a miller. James and Mary Ann had one son – Alfred born about 1848 at Kinver and who died in 1924 at Brierley Hill.

 But was James Junior was definitely transported as there are records of him in the New South Wales Colonial Secretary Index 1788 - 1825:

On 1 April 1821 he is on a list of prisoners transported to Newcastle per Elizabeth Henrietta

In October 1822 he is on a monthly return of prisoners punished at Newcastle (shown as John)

On 15 September 1823 he is on a list of convicts removed from Newcastle to Macquarie per Mermaid.

The records state that this was the James Whatmore Junior who was transported on the ‘Guildford’.

The convict death register for New South Wales records the death of James Whatmore in the Port MacQuarie District on 6 October 1831, aged 48 - so the younger James never made it back to Shropshire!

 

James Junior’s son James must have been conceived before his father was transported and it would have been James Junior’s son who took over Detton Mill whenhis grandfather died and who was still there in 1828.

 

 

James and Mary’s descendants are shown on the chart below.

Of the other children of James Whatmore Senior we only know that Joseph died in 1807, Samuel in 1818 and Jonathan between 1841 and 1851 whilst Abraham esatblsihed himself as a clockmaker at Bewdley, owned land at Lodge Farm in Wyre Forest , never married and died in 1871. (Research by Geoffrey Whatmore)

If any one knows any more about this strange story of  well respected folk stealing sheep, please contact me with the details. Many thanks.

rhyswhatmore@btinternet.com