James Watmough was baptised on 2 February 1616 at Leigh in Lancashire. He was the son of Robert Watmough of Lowton who had married Elizabeth Sorrocold at Leigh on 19 October 1613. Their known children were Robert 1614, James 1616, Margaret 1621 and Robert 1627.

Robert Watmough  Senior was born in 1589. He and his family lived on the edge of Chat Moss  and in 1526, after heavy rain, he witnessed the moss break out and slide into the river. The eyewitness accounts of this cataclysmic event were recorded and Robert Watmough  stated,’ I thought it was Doomsday’. Robert was involved in a radical Puritan movement at Winwick in the 1640s. 

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Chat Moss     Copyright: Keith Wilkinson     Source: Wikopaedia 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/

Robert Watmough Senior was the son of Richard Watmough who married Margaret Gellybrand in 1588.  This Richard may be the Richard Watmough who took the ‘Oath of Protestation’ at Leigh in 1644. 

The father of Richard Watmough is not known but it may have been the Thomas Watmough who took part in an affray at Leigh in 1534. The Under Sherriff had gone to church during High Mass to arrest a Thomas Pomfret, a carpenter, and two of his friends. Whilst Thomas Pomfret was willing to go quietly, the folk of Leigh had other ideas. About a hundred of them, including a Thomas Watmough, armed themselves with staves and swords and attacked the Sherriff’s men who took refuge in a nearby house. The crowd broke into the house and ‘sore wounded’ the men. The attackers were brought before the Justices of Peace but presented in evidence a long series of justifications and alibis. Obviously, you didn’t ‘mess’ with the folk of Leigh!

Returning to James Watmough born 1616 – he matriculated at Brasenose College Oxford on 20 March 1634 aged 19 and obtained his BA on 27 October 1638.

We do not know where James Watmough spent the next few years but in 1647, the vicar of Bowden in Cheshire, William Domville, was ejected from his living due to the influence of Sir George Booth, the local squire who was a Puritan. The Church Commissioners examined ‘James Watmough’ and described him as a ‘godlie and orthodox divine’ and appointed him to Bowden in place of William Domville.

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Bowden Church   Copyright: N T Stobbs   Source: Geographia website and reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the site licence which can be read at this link:  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Details of the church at Bowden can be read  at this link:

http://www.andrewspages.dial.pipex.com/photo/chs_bowdon.htm

 There is an old Cheshire saying that ‘ not every man is born to be vicar of Bowden’. If this meant that the parishioners were tough cookies then James Watmough must have been a strong man since many of his congregation would have regarded as him as  an interloper who was occupying the rightful place of another. Yet James served as vicar of Bowden for the rest of his life – some fourteen years - so he must eventually have been accepted by his flock.

The period of the Puritan ascendancy cannot have been much fun for common folk. Most activities, including walking, were banned on a Sunday, adultery was punishable by death, theatres were closed down and ‘tippling’ (excessive drinking) was banned. It was even suggested that cathedrals should be demolished.

James made many friends locally, including Thomas Brereton of Ashley who made him the gift of a walking staff. It seems likely that James’s Puritanism was tempered by compassion and commonsense. Although he was not required to do so, James kept the parish registers up to date whereas in many places the appointed ‘registrar’ failed to do so.

In about 1651, James married a Margaret, probably Margaret Lowndes of Ashley. Marriage was now a civil ceremony, conducted by a Justice of the Peace, and Bowden marriages were carried out in the market place at Altrincham although no record has been found of the marriage of James and Margaret. They had four known children – John in 1652, Robert in 1653, Elizabeth in 1655 and James in 1658.

In 1654 there was an epidemic at Bowden and the parish registers are full of pages of deaths including that of Robert, the vicar’s son.

James and Margaret will not have been well-off as the Bowden living provided only £80 a year and this arrived sporadically if at all. Later the amount was cut to £20 which may reflect an increase in the amount of tithes paid to the vicar of Bowden.

As time went on, people became increasingly weary of the Puritan restrictions and the stream of edicts regulating worship and conduct. Even the local squire, Sir George Booth had had enough and in 1659 he led a local rebellion aimed at the return of the monarchy but he was defeated and captured. Within the church the Presbyterians and the Independants were quarrelling. Then in 1660, Charles the Second was restored to the throne and an Act of Uniformity was prepared requiring all ministers to accept Episcopal ordination and to give assent to the Book of Common Prayer. James Watmough was, however, spared this last trial of a troublesome life as be died on 22 September 1661 – another victim of the Civil War.

This account is James’ life is taken from ‘Wat’s Brother-in-Law’ by Geoffrey Whatmore. I am most grateful to Geoffrey for his kind permission to include this account on my blog. Geoffrey’s publications about the Watmough/Watmer/Watmore/Whatmore  families are full of fascinating true stories. Further details of these publications can be found at this link: http://www.genfair.co.uk/supplier.php?sid=115