Whatmore Family History

 I had never heard of the Wadmore family prior to a suprise telephone call in Spring 2008 from Mark Williams, a previously unknown distant cousin who is descended from the Belbroughton branch of the Whatmore family.

Mark asked me if I had heard of a book called the ‘The Wadmores of London’. He had managed, some years before, to obtain a copy of this limited edition book which traced the history of a family from the sixteenth century through to the mid twentieth century. What was intriguing was that embossed in gold on the front cover of the book were the arms of the Watmough family of Prescot.  I am deeply indebted to Mark to his forethought in acquiring the book, for drawing it to my attention, and for most generously lending it to me to copy.

 ‘The Wadmores of London’ was compiled by John Grosvenor Laing, the son of Blanche Viola Wadmore and her husband George Dawson Laing. The book was published in 1953 in memory of Blanche Viola Wadmore and to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of James Foster Wadmore and the centenary of the death of James Wadmore Junior. 

In his preface, John Laing explains that his book owed its conception to a manuscript by James Wadmore the Younger – ‘The Annals of the Wadmores’. Using this as a framework, John Laing carried out extensive research not only on the Wadmore family but also into other branches of the Watmough family.

 Stevington, Bedfordshire    Copyright: Oliver White    Photograph from the 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/ 

There was clearly a belief in the Wadmore family that they were descendants of the Watmoughs of Prescot since both James Wadmore Junior and James Foster Wadmore used the coat of arms of the Watmoughs of Prescot as their book plate. Unfortunately neither these two individuals nor John Laing  was able to trace a definite link of their line back the Watmoughs of Prescot  but they were able to trace their descent from a Robert Wadmough who is mentioned in a document as a late tenant of Sandy in Bedfordshire in 1569. The names of Robert Wadmough’s descendants have various spellings, but are mainly shown as Watmore and Watmough. It is not until the time of James Wadmore the Elder, born at Bedford on 14 January 1747, that the spelling Wadmore was finally and exclusively adopted. 

A family with the Watmore / Watmough spelling, traced back to the 16^th century and located in Bedfordshire seems to me to have a fairly good claim to be a branch of the Watmough family of the north of England. We know that by the mid 1500s the original family in Lancashire and Yorkshire was beginning to spread out quite widely. By that time a branch was established at Tuxford in Nottinghamshire, at Aldridge, Barr and Tamworth  in Staffordshire and the Watmore / Whatmore family of Shropshire, who have a proven direct link  to the Watmoughs of Prescot were already at Stottesdon, Shropshire by 1500. We know also that there was a Watmore  family at Micheldever in Hampshire as early as 1567 and at Reading in Berkshire by 1565.

  Details of these families can be found in ‘Wat’s Brother-in-Law’ by Geoffrey Whatmore which is available as a CD ROM at www.genfair.com 

At present it is probably impossible to link all these branches with certainty to the Watmoughs of Lancashire and Yorkshire, but as the costs of DNA testing become cheaper and the techniques involved more sophisticated, it may well become feasible to join up these branches in a meaningful way. In the meantime we must be most grateful to Mark Williams, John Laing and James Wadmore the Younger for enabling information about the distinguished Wadmore branch to be shared more widely. This has added significance because all the research papers of John Laing were destroyed after his death at Nottingham in the 1950s. 

James Wadmore the Elder    Painting by S P Denning, from ‘The Wadmores of London’ by John Grosvenor Laing

The earliest traced member of this branch is Robert Wadmough of Sandy, Bedfordshire, born about 1518.

The next member traced is Richard Watmore born about 1580  who was buried in 1616 at Stevington, Bedfordshire. This Richard was probably the grandson of Robert. 

From here onwards I will only outline the Watmough/Wadmore line which migrated into London, taking the line only as far as the migration itself in this post. 

Richard born 1580 married an Anne. Their son William Watmough was born about 1613 and died in 1643 in Bedford. William married an Alice.

 William and Alice’s son Thomas Watmough was born in 1641 in Goldington, Bedfordshire and died in 1703 in Goldington. Thomas married a Mary Clark. Thomas was a farmer and his house had two hearths in 1671 (Hearth Tax Returns). In 1676 he was one of Overseers of the Poor and in 1680 he was one of the two Parish Constables. 

Thomas and Mary’s son James Watmough was born in 1677 at Goldington and died in 1725. He married Anne Smith on 9 June 1714 at Willington, Bedfordshire. James was a yeoman. 

James and Ann’s son James Wadmough was born in 1716 in Renhold, Bedfordshire. He married Mary King on 29 May 1738 at Little Barford. James was a yeoman farmer and had the tenancy of a house in Bedford.

 James and Mary’s son James Wadmore the Elder was born on 14 January 1747 at Bedford.   It was James Wadmore the Elder who migrated to London and his descendants will be described in a later post. James married Mary Allison on 7 January 1776 at St Marylebone, Middlesex. James died on 24 December  1839 at Southgate, Middlesex.   

At the time of the 1841 census, a Whatmore family was living at Baveney Wood in the east of the parish of Neen Savage in south Shropshire. Although the members of this family did not necessarily remain there I have termed this the ‘Baveney Wood’ branch of the family.

 In 1841 the ‘Baveney Wood’ family consisted of James Whatmore aged 70, a thatcher, Sarah Whatmore aged 40, Benjamin aged 35 and William aged 15. Despite the fact that in 1851 Sarah was described as Benjamin’s sister, she was in fact only a very distant relation. She was probably the Sarah Whatmore born at Quatt and the William who was at Baveney Wood in 1841 was her illegitimate son. William’s life is described in an earlier post. Sarah was acting as  housekeeper. So who exactly was James Whatmore? From his ages in the censuses he is probably to be identified as the James who was baptised on 19 June 1768 at Neen Savage. His father was a Thomas Watmore who married Mary Cassel at Rock, Worcestershire on 13 April 1751. 

Thomas Watmore’s origin has not been proved, but I think it is highly likely that he was the Thomas Watmore baptised on 17 April 1719 at Ribbesford, Bewdley, the son of Francis Watmore and Sarah Burnoll. From Francis Watmore a clear line of ancestry can be traced back to Thomas Watmore of Curdale and beyond. 

Thomas Watmore and Mary Cassal had three other known children besides James of Baveney Wood. These were George 1752 who died the same year, Ann 1757 who married John Green in 1779 and William 1764 who married a Sarah.

James Watmore married Martha Walford in 1794 at Bewdley. Although the 1841 census describes James as a thatcher, the tithe map of Neen Savage of 1839 shows him as the tenant of  seven plots of land all lying between the main road down to Cleobury Mortimer and the lane leading to Yew Tree Farm. James’s holdings were: 

Plot  323 No Name  (Arable)   3 rods 32 perches

Plot 324 Square Meadow  (Pasture)  3 rods 12 perches

Plot 325 Meadow     (Meadow)  2 rods 30 perches

Plot 328 No Name  (Pasture)   2 rods 26 perches

Plot 329 Cottage and garden (Pasture)  1 rod 27 perches

Plot 330 No Name  (Arable) 1 acre 6 perches

Plot 372 Close  (Arable) 2 rods 8 perches 

Rods and perches seem to be different names for the same unit of measurement. A rod was about 16 and half feet long. An acre was 160 square rods. 

The tithe assessment of 1839 gives James’s total amount of land as 3 acres 21 perches for which he paid 2 shillings and sixpence (12 and a half new pence) annually to the Vicar. The landowner in 1839 was a Joanna Soley. James thus had a smallholding surrounding the cottage in which he lived. 

James and Martha had nine known children. These were Margaret 1796 who married William Parton in 1829 at Bewdley, Mary 1798 who died in 1804, Joseph 1799, Benjamin 1801 who never married and died in 1883, Mary 1804, Martha 1804, Eleanor 1808 who married a John Smith, Martha 1811 and James 1814. Martha died in 1828 at the age of 56 and James died in 1842 aged 74. 

Joseph Whatmore born in 1799 migrated to Harborne, Birmingham. He married Hannah Parsons in 1850 in the Kings Norton Registration District. Joseph died in 1878, but Hannah, who was much younger than her husband (she was born in 1831 at Tardebigg, Worcestershire) survived until 1910, dying in the St Asaph Registration District.  The children of Joseph and Hannah were Joseph John 1851 and Elizabeth 1856. Joseph John married Selina Baker in 1876. They went to live in Toxteth Park in Liverpool, but Joseph John died in 1914 in the St Asaph Registration District. Selina died the following year at Toxteth Park. Joseph and Selina’s children were all born in Liverpool – Joseph James 1880, Selina Hannah 1883 and William David 1884. The two boys did not long survive their parents – Joseph Junior dying in 1918 and William in 1916. Selina Junior married  an Ernest Skyner in 1914 in Toxteth Park. 

Neen Savage Church   Painting of 4 July 1791 by the Reverend Williams  Copyright: Shropshire Archaeological Society and reproduced here by their kind permission.

One would not expect parents to give a newly born child the same name as one who was still living. Nevertheless it would seem that James and Martha’s daughter Martha born in 1804 survived to marry a Thomas Noakes on 3 July 1838 at Chetton. Their daughter Martha born in 1811 married an Edwin Baker in 1859, probably in Bridgnorth. Curiously the 1861 census shows them as both unmarried and as living at different addresses in East Castle Street, Bridgnorth. Was it a clandestine marriage despite the fact that they were both well above the age of majority? I also wonder if Edwin ever found out that his wife was actually a good ten years older than she made herself out to be!  

James Watmore Junior, the youngest child of James Senior and Martha married Mary Ann Tolly at Stottesdon on 15 May 1851. James was living at Stottesdon at the time and was employed as a Journeyman Shoemaker. In 1861 he is described as cordwainer and was living at Baveney Wood. James Junior remained at Baveney Wood for the rest of his life, being described as a thatcher in 1881 and as a shoemaker in 1891. He died in 1892 and his wife went to live with her married daughter Mary Ann at the Paper Mill, Neen Savage. Martha died in 1908 aged 85. 

The known children of James Junior and Martha were Benjamin 1851 who died the same year, Martha 1852 who never married and died in 1927, James 1854, Ellen 1857 who died aged 5 in 1861, Mary Ann 1860 (whose illegitimate son John was born in 1883 but died when he was only aged 8 in 1891) who married Aaron Walker on 16 June 1888 at Neen Savage and Margaret 1862 who never married and who died aged 28 in 1891. 

James born 1854 married Jane Crowder Green, although the marriage has not been traced. James and Jane lived in various places during their married life – Wribbenhall in Worcestershire, Billingsley and  Stottesdon before finally settling down at Baveney Wood. Jane died in 1918, but James, who was an agricultural labourer, survived until 1936. James and Jane had a large family of children. These were Helen Elizabeth 1875; Joseph L 1877 who married Emma Southall (one of the three Southall sisters who all married Whatmores) and whose children were Fanny, Mary and John; James 1879 who went to Birmingham where he was working as a Railway Carter in 1901; Edwin 1881; William 1883; Arthur 1887 who emigrated to Australia; Henry 1889; Ernest 1892 who married a Susan Jane  Edward 1892; Sarah Ann 1893 who emigrated to Canada and Alfred Thomas  1899. 

Arthur Whatmore, born 11 September 1887 at Stottesdon, emigrated to Australia in 1912 and lived and worked on a large farm at Dalby, Queensland. He married Anna Wilhelmina Esbensen on 17 June 1916 at  Paddington, Brisbane, Queensland Australia.  Anna died in 1966 and Arthur died on 18 April 1984 at Brisbane, Australia.  

Arthur and Anna  had 4 boys and 2 girls, of whom one is still living. The male children of their sons keep the Whatmore name thriving on the other side of the world.

The life of a travelling fairground man in Victorian times must have been a hard one. Quite often the same families seem to have  worked on the fairgrounds for several generations, but MARK WHATMORE,  born in 1850 in the township of Pilkington at Radcliffe in Lancashire 7 miles north west of Manchester, was the first of his line to do so.

Mark’s father was George Whatmore, baptised 21 June 1807 at Ringley, Farnworth. He worked as a Dyer and married  Catherine Connor on 8 April 1849 at St Mary’s, Prestwich. Catherine was born in Manchester about 1808 and who died between 1851 and 1861. Mark had a half sister called Susannah Connor who was born about 1842 at Kearsley, so Catherine may have been a widow when she married George.

Mark’s grandparents were a George Watmough who married an Alice – probably Alice Morris married on 2 Jan 1803 at Deane by Bolton.  

It is interesting to note that even within Lancashire – the Watmough spelling was capable of changing to Watmore or Whatmore during the nineteenth century. 

Mark was at home at Radcliffe at the time of the 1851 census. He was still at home aged 11 at the time of the 1861 census and employed as a cotton spinner. In 1871 he was lodging at Radcliffe with his half sister Susannah and working as a coal miner. 

In 1874 Mark married Alice Sixsmith in the Bury Registration District. In 1881 they were living at Radcliffe and Mark was employed as a general labourer.  By 1891 Mark had joined a travelling fair and in 1891 they were living (presumably in a horse drawn caravan) on spare ground facing Kay Street, Ashton Road in Openshaw and in charge of a ‘steam horse’ – presumably a steam carousel.

 The fair, which must have been quite a small one, consisted according the census of an Aunt Sally, three Shooting Galleries, three Steam Horses, a Toy Stall, a Photographer and – surprisingly – a Fine Art Exhibition.  

Alice died in 1900 and in the 1901 census Mark is shown as a widower at the Queens Road Fairground, Harpurhey, Manchester, running a coconut shy.

This wonderful photograph was taken in 1886 at Wirksworth in Derbyshire by Elizabeth Wright who married William Nowell-Usticke at Wirksworth in 1889. Copyright: Brenda Pearson and reproduced her by her kind permission.

To see further pictures from Elizabeth Wright’s photograph album, please follow this link: http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/B67-ALBM.htm

There was a Whatmore listed under ‘other amusements’ at the Hull fairground in 1914 and this may have been Mark or one of his sons. Mark died in the Sheffield Registration District in 1918. 

The known children of Mark and Alice, all born at Radcliffe, were Ellen 1874, Alfred 1878 Ernest 1880, Catherine 1881, Walter 1884 and Thomas 1888.

  Radcliffe Parish Church  Copyright: Alexander P Knapp   Phtograph from the Geograph website and reproduced here under the terms of the site licence which can be viewed at this link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ 

Ellen married an Horatio Manders on 5 Feb 1908 at St Matthews Methodist church in the Chorlton Registration District. They had several children.  Alfred married Margaret Mather in 1900 in Bury Registration District. In 1901 they were at Harpurhey and Alfred was employed as a travelling showman. Their known children were Alice born 1901 in Manchester who married  Joseph Harrison, Alfred born 16 October 1903 at Blackburn who married Alice Holland in 1925, Ernie, Tommy and Walter If anyone knows any more about Mark Whatmore and his family I would be grateful if they could please contact me at rhyswhatmore@btinternet.com  Many thanks.    

Only one Shropshire Whatmore family ever seems have set up home in Shrewsbury, the county town. Whilst Watmores and Whatmores are to be found at various times in the various towns in the south of the county, they do not seem to have lived in any of the towns north of Wenlock Edge. This post is about John Watmore of Shrewsbury, the exception to the rule and about the Fewtrell family into which his daughter married. The story of John Watmore has been researched by Geoffrey Whatmore and appears in his publications ‘Whatmore Panorama’ and ‘Wat’s Brother-in-Law’. These can be purchased at www.genfair.com  I am most grateful to Geoffrey Whatmore for his permission to make use on this blog of yet another of his stories.

 John Watmore was a cooper – a maker of barrels - which were used for many purposes and were essential to the vintners of the Shrewsbury. Geoffrey Whatmore suggests that John was born about 1585 at Chorley, Stottesdon, the son of Francis Watmore and his wife Ann (who were involved in the Cowslow Close affair - see ‘Whatmore Panorama’). This would make John the great great grandson of the William  Watmough who migrated to Shropshire from Prescot in Lancashire. Francis and Ann had five known children – Francis, John, Richard, Alice and Jane. One would expect Francis to be the first of their male children but we know nothing about him other than his name and the year of his death – 1627. In addition, the records are so far silent about the fate of  Richard. We know, however, that Alice and Jane both married into the West family of Stoney Stratford in Leicestershire.

 For reasons unknown, John received a good education at Shrewsbury School where he was a student in 1593. On 26 August 1610 he married Mary Morley at St Julian’s church in Shrewsbury. 

For some forty-three years John was a churchwarden at St Julian’s. The records show him as John Ottmer, paying bread and wine fees in 1621. It was at St Julian’s that John was buried in 1653, when the sum of 6 shillings and 8 pence (33 new pence) were paid for his burial within the church and for tolling the bell.

St Julian’s as John Watmore would have known it     A drawing by John Homes Smith  Copyright: Shropshire Archaeological Society and reproduced here by their kind permission  

St Julian’s was originally St Juliana’s. The reason for the change of name is unknown. The church has had quite a chequered history. The tower dates from about 1200 and was intended to support a spire which was never built. The rest of the church was rebuilt in 1749 – 50 to a design of Thomas Farnolls Pritchard and the south side facing the High Street was ‘beautified’  (Nicholas Pevsner’s description) in 1846. In the 20^th century the church became redundant and the nave was turned into a craft centre. This eventually closed down and the church was bought by Andrew Wright and his wife who have restored the nave into an evangelical church, whilst they live in the tower! 

The congregation of St Julian’s included members of the Fewtrell family who were vinters in Shrewsbury  and who owned property in the town and also owned Easthope  Manor Farm just below Wenlock Edge.

John and Mary Watmore’s daughter Dorothy  married John Fewtrell of Easthope in 1641 at St Julian’s in Shrewsbury and Dorothy went off to live at Easthope Manor Farm.  John Fewtrell’s ancestor Edward Fewtrell  had purchased Easthope Manor Farm  from the Crosthwaithe family in about 1557. It seems to have passed to Roger Fewtrell (probably Edward’s son) and was probably sold to Roger’s brother John in about 1588. In 1610 the farm belonged to Edward Fewtrell, the son of John. This Edward married Elizabeth Crowther on 21 September 1613 at Ludlow. Thereafter the farm passed to their son John (born about 1622) who married Dorothy Watmore. Easthope Manor Farm passed out of the hands of the Fewtrell when it was sold by John Fewtrell’s grandchildren Samuel Fewtrell and Mary Harris in 1712. The purchaser was William Russell of Enchmarsh. The farm house  still exists, standing close to the church at Easthope. Nicholas Pevsner  (‘Buildings of England: Shropshire’ Penguin Books 1958  ) states that the present building  was built about 1600 and possesses a plaster ceiling of a similar design to one at nearby Wilderhope Manor. Madge Moran (‘Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire’ Logaston Press 2003) reports that much of the timber framed medieval manor house remains including the screens passage and spere-truss. My own impression is that the fine windows at  the front of the house look as if they were inserted in Georgian times. 

Easthope Manor Farm - front

Easthope Manor Farm - rear

Unfortunately the church at Easthope, which originally housed the Fewtrell family tomb, was very badly damaged by fire in 1923.

Easthope church

John Fewtrell had a large number of siblings and at least one of them emigrated to America. His brother Thomas who was baptised at Easthope on 14 April 1628  was buried at Surry in Virginia, USA in 1693. His son Thomas, born 1659 at Chetton in Shropshire, settled at Northampton, Virginia, USA. There are references on the internet to other members of the Fewtrell family from Easthope settling in America but unfortunately their descendants do not seem to have researched properly their ancestors precise origins as the dates given seem to be just guesses. 

Dorothy and John had a large family, all born at Easthope. Their known children were: Elizabeth 1642, Mary 1644, Martha 1646, Hannah 1648, John 1649 the twins Timothy and Joshua 1650, James 1651 Benjamin 1642 and Lydia 1643. Sadly Dorothy died in 1643, possibly from complications following the birth of her last child.  In seems likely that Dorothy’s parents also went to live at Easthope Manor Farm – we know that Mary Watmore was there in about about 1642 and is buried in Easthope churchyard. Dorothy’s husband John Fewtrell remarried within 3 months of the death of his first wife. His second wife was Eleanor Watson. John Fewtrell died at Easthope in 1690.

When Dorothy’s father died in 1653 he left twenty pounds to each of his surviving grandchildren and most of his houses, lands and rents to John Fewtrell. Strangely he left only 40 shillings to his eldest grandson John with a note stating that this bequest was not to be increased! We know a little more of what happened to the children of Dorothy and John Fewtrell (See Family chart in this post). Of the male children, however, we only know that John born 1649 married a Sarah and  had a son Samuel born 1686. This son married an Anne and their two known children were Hannah born 1705 and Thomas born 1709 who took Holy Orders and died in 1764 at Easthope. In Thomas’s will of 1643 he refers to his sister Sarah (otherwise unknown) and also to his sister Blakeway. He also refers to his Blakeway nephews and nieces – Thomas, Richard, Ann and Charles. There is also a reference to Samuel Blakeway. I have assumed, perhaps unjustifiably, that Thomas’s sister Hannah married a Samuel Blakeway although I have been unable to trace the marriage.  

The parish of Neen Savage is situated between the parishes of Stottesdon and  Cleobury Mortimer in South Shropshire. In the 1841 census there was a Whatmore family at Overwood  in the north of the parish and one at Baveney Wood in the east of the parish. Although the descendants of these families did not necessarily stay in these two locations later on, for convenience I have termed these the ‘Overwood’ and the ‘Baveney Wood’ branches. This post is about the ‘Overwood’ branch.

 Overwood      Copyright: Sheila Kirk and reproduced here by her kind permission

 At Overwood in 1841 was a James Watmore aged 71, a thatcher, living with his married son George. This James would have been born about 1770 and we know that he was married to an Elizabeth who was buried at Neen Savage aged 66 on 15 February 1841, just before the census.

 There was a James Watmore baptised at Neen Savage on 18 February 1770, but he appears to have married a Joyce Hyde in 1793. They had known two children – James baptised in 1795 and Catherine baptised in 1797. Joyce (nee Hyde) died in 1793 when James would still have been a young man so it seems reasonable to assume that he remarried and that this second marriage was to Elizabeth.

  If I am right about James Watmore the thatcher being the same James who married Joyce Hyde then we can trace the origins of the ‘Overwood’ branch back through James’ parents – George Watmore (1725) and Catherine Crow, his grandparents William Watmore (1687) and Catherine Powlter, and his great grandparents Edward and Margaret of Cleobury Mortimer. Beyond this we cannot go as Edward’s baptism and marriage have not been traced (See earlier post on the Margaret Watmore who was ex-communicated).

We do not know what happened to James’ children by Joyce Hyde. He had seven known children by Elizabeth. These were George 1802, William 1807, Samuel 1809, Elizabeth 1811, Sarah 1815, Eliza 1819 and John 1821. We only know what happened to two of these children. Eliza married William Worrall in 1838 and their descendants still live in the area. George married Mary Ann Haycock in 1827 – and it is their descendants who carried the Whatmore name forward in Neen Savage and Cleobury Mortimer. 

James Watmore the thatcher was buried  aged 77 on 6 Feb 1847 at Neen Savage. His son George continued to live at Overwood with his wife Mary Ann and family. George and Mary Ann had five known children – Sarah 1828, William 1832, James 1836, George 1838 and Betsy 1842. 

 Sarah Watmore  born 1838 married Thomas Owen in 1848. Thomas was a paper maker from the Paper Mills at Neen Savage.

 William Watmore (1832) married Margaret Bywater in 1857. Originally a thatcher, William moved eastwards to Baveney Wood and became a farmer at Yew Tree. William and Margaret’s children were Amelia Jane born  1858 died aged only 7, Sarah Jane (1860) and Anne Elizabeth (1864) who married William Bowen , a mason, in 1886. 

James Watmore  (1836) married Eliza King in 1869 at Hayfield in Derbyshire. They lived, however, at Baveney Wood where James was a thatcher and a mole catcher. Their children were George Edward (1870), Mary Ann (1872) and Flora (1875) who married Charles H Hughes, a Brewer’s Drayman, in 1897.

 Betsy Watmore (1842) died when she only 3 years only.

 George Watmore born 1838 married Phoebe Coles in 1862. They lived at Baveney Wood where George was a farmer. Their grave in Neen Savage churchyard, up against the hedge near the entrance gate, is one of the very few early Whatmore graves to be found in Shropshire. Phoebe died in 1897 and George in 1914. 

 The grave of George and Phoebe Whatmore at Neen Savage

 The children of George and Phoebe are still remembered by people living in this part of Shropshire and I am deeply indebted to Barbara Davies (nee Whatmore) of Kidderminster – great grand daughter of George and Phoebe, who has very kindly typed up her memories of members of this family specially for inclusion in this post. Barbara has also provided copies of the majority of the photographs reproduced here.

George and Phoebe’s eldest child was Arthur William Whatmore (1865) and Barbara’s grandfather. He married Sarah Southall in 1892 – one of the three Southall sisters who all married Whatmores!. George Herbert, Arthur’s brother, married Emma Southall, whilst Harriet Southall married a member of the Baveney Wood branch of the Whatmore family. 

 Arthur William and Sarah had three children – Henry (1893 – 1976) who married Emily Louisa Pugh , Benjamin (1895 – 1956) who married Laura Jane Morgan – these were Barbara’s parents, and Phoebe (1897 – 1976) 

Arthur William and Sarah Whatmore with their children   Copyright: Barbara Davies and reproduced here by her kind permission

Arthur William and Sarah lived at Clee View, Baveney Wood, a three mile walk from the town of Cleobury Mortimer. When Barbara was a child, Sarah did this walk twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, always bringing Barbara’s mother a bunch of flowers from the beautiful garden at Clee View.  Sarah supplied Barbara’s parents with eggs and she cooked the most delicious chicken that Barbara has ever tasted. Arthur and Sarah’s house was a two-up two-down stone cottage with a smallholding where Arthur kept a cow and a pig. Arthur often worked for his son Benjamin. Arthur William was a Methodist and because there was no non-conformist church nearer than Cleobury or Chorley, he and Sarah held a service each Sunday afternoon in their living-room. Benches would be brought in from the barn and a reading desk for the Methodist or Baptist local preacher. Arthur’s sister Phoebe Whatmore would play by ear Sankey and Moody hymns on the harmonium and between 12 and 20 local people would form the congregation. Arthur died in 1942 but Sarah and her sister in law Phoebe Whatmore continued to live at Clee View. Benjamin would cycle over to keep the small holding in good shape. When Sarah died in 1944, her sons bought their aunt Phoebe, who had never married, a cottage in Cleobury where she lived until her death in 1976, providing a home for her elderly Aunt Tilly (Matilda Whatmore born 1874).

 Benjamin Whatmore had a milk round and his wife Laura Jane also did a round every day, carrying a can of milk with a ladle to measure it into the customers’ jugs. Barbara, their daughter, remembers how she loved to go with her parents on their rounds at weekends and holidays. Benjamin died in 1956 and Laura Jane in 1981. 

Benjamin Whatmore on his milk round in Cleobury Mortimer  Copyright: Barbara Davies and reproduced here by her kind permission

The following orbituary for Benjamin Whatmore appeared in the local paper: 

CLEOBURY FARMER’S DEATH   Mr Whatmore’s eventful life 

‘ The death occurred on Sunday at his home, 14, Lower Street, Cleobury Mortimer, of Mr Benjamin Whatmore, at the age of 61. He had been in poor health for several years. Mr Whatmore, who was born at Baveney Wood, had led a not uneventful life. He served with the KSLI during the first world war and was wounded in the leg during the campaign on the Somme. In 1919, shortly after being demobilised, he went to live at Cleobury Mortimer, farming first at Rose Hill and later adding Mortimer Hill to his holdings. Some years before the outbreak of the second world war, he was nearly drowned whilst trying to rescue some cattle during a severe flood. He was carried downstream several hundred yards before he managed to grasp a branch of a tree where he was stranded until rescued with ropes. About 15 years ago he had another miraculous escape when his car was hit by a train at the level crossing at Neen. His car was completely wrecked. Mr. Whatmore, who retired from farming three years ago when his health failed, had been prominently connected with Cleobury Mortimer Methodist Church since his arrival in the town, and for most of the time had held some office within the Methodist community. He is survived by his wife, who is superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School, and one married daughter.’

Cleobury Mortimer. The house on the left was the home of Harry Whatmore and the house on the right was the home of Benjamin Whatmore Copyright: Sheila Gammon and reproduced here by her kind permission

Henry Whatmore (Harry)  (1893 – 1978), Benjamin’s older brother had a fruiterer’s business for many years. He used to go in his lorry (one of the very few in Cleobury at that time) to pick up eggs and in-season fruit – blackberries, blackcurrants, plums and damsons – in the country around Hopton Wafers, Farlow and Catherton Common. Farmers’ wives would bring eggs to him on a Wednesday, which was market day. Harry would then sell this produce to shopkeepers in the Black Country. During the season the family would help pack the fruit, often daily, to go by train to these shopkeepers. Barbara, his niece, remembers writing innumerable labels for the boxes.

Harry Whatmore   Copyright: Barbara Davies and reproduced here by her kind permission

Later on, Harry became interested in canning damsons and other fruits in an outhouse by his home in Lower Street, Cleobury Mortimer.  He and his wife worked very hard at this business with the help of family and friends and ‘Whatmore’s Shropshire Damsons’ was born. By the time of the Second World War the business was known as H. Whatmore Ltd  and the produce canned included beans in tomato sauce.  Eventually Harry sold the business to  a businessman called Harold Hall and Harold’s brother-in-law  who kept the name of the business and extended it to a nearby disused school building. Harry Whatmore acted as manager and the firm employed some 20 women who canned fruit in the summer and vegetables in the winter. When Harry retired sometime in the 1960s, the firm closed down and the factory was sold to a wood firm.  

Returning to the previous generation – George and Phoebe’s second son was Thomas Alfred Whatmore (1868 – 1954). He had a farm at Pinkham, Cleobury Mortimer . He was much loved locally by all who knew him as Superintendant at the Methodist Church Sunday School. Thomas Alfred married Mary Ann Bird in 1903, but she died in 1919 when she was only 50. They had one child – another Thomas Alfred (known as Fred) born in 1906. Fred was a smallholder and postman. After Mary Ann died, her niece became housekeeper for Thomas Alfred Senior and Fred. When Fred married in 1928 to Gladys Wilhemina Jay, he and Gladys took over part of the family home and eventually Thomas Alfred went to live with three of his nieces in a new house which he had built in the garden. 

Thomas Alfred and Mary Ann Whatmore with their son in 1909   Copyright: Barbara Davies and reproduced here by her kind permission

George and Phoebe’s third son – George Herbert (1870 – 1949) who married Emma Southall, eventually took over the Southall family’s farm. (Upper Baveney Farm). Barbara Davies used to walk through the fields to visit them and remembers the delicious homemade cakes which they always provided. George and Emma had two children – George born 1910 and Mercy who married a William Morris. 

George and Phoebe had two daughters – Matilda (Tilly) who has already been referred to, and Mary Ann Whatmore (Polly) born 1872. She married George Grosvenor who was chauffeur for a doctor in Kidderminster – Polly becoming the doctor’s housekeeper. Tilly lived with them for much of her life, going in her old age to live with her niece Phoebe. 

The two other sons of George and Phoebe were Charles Albert Whatmore born 1877 who died in 1892 when he was only 15 and Charles Samuel Whatmore (1880 –1953) who married Elizabeth Owen in 1915. It is believed that they went to live in the Worcester area. 

The ‘Overwood’ branch of the Whatmore family was deeply involved in the local community and its members were greatly respected and loved by their neighbours. Descendants of the family still live in the Cleobury Mortimer and Kidderminster areas.          

Protestantism wasn’t really established in England until after the death of Henry VIII. His son Edward VI was only 9 when his father died  and he was only 15 when he himself  died, so that during his reign, England was governed by a Council of Regency led at first by Edward Seymour, First Duke of Somerset and later by John Dudley, First Duke of Northumberland.

 It was this Council of Regency which imposed Protestantism. Whilst many of the former  trappings of the parish churches, especially the Roods, were ordered to be removed, a considerable proportion of the vestments and plate were allowed to remain. 

In 1552, The Council of Regency decided to check on what was still left in the churches and Commissions were sent out to persons of note in every county or towns, ordering them to survey what remained in the local churches, and send in returns.  In January 1553 a new Commission was sent out – this time authorising the appointment of deputies to carry away things which were deemed unnecessary for the divine service. In May of that year, a further return was made from each church listing what vestments and plate the churches still retained.

In many churches, the Rood Screen, and the Rood (the figure of Christ on the Cross with accompanying figures) was replaced at a later date. This fine Rood Screen  was installed in 1890 and the Rood in 1919 at Brant Broughton Church in Lincolnshire. It gives some idea of what the original Rood and Rood Screen at Stottesdon would have looked like. The picture is the copyright of Richard Croft and is taken from the Geograph website under the terms of the licence which can be read at this link  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ 

The return for the church at Stottesdon in Shropshire has been preserved and is as follows:  STOURTON 

The  Inventorie of the Juelles Belles ornaments & vestments belongyng to the seid pe’sche churche exibetyd unto the kyngs co’missions by John Hamonde clerke Thomas Watmore & Thomas Hankyn p’yshonrs the Xth day of Auguste in the vjth yer of the Reign of or sou’aign lorde Edwarde the vjth by the grace of god kyng of englonde, ffranc and Irelonde Defender of the faith & in earth next under god the sup’eme head of the churche of englonde & Irelonde.

 Imprmis a chalice of sylur & a patten

A cautyll cope of red cassay

Itm a vestime’t of tawny velvet

Itm a vestime’t of Whytte satten of brugges

Itm awter clothe of diaper

Itm iiij belles and a lttel bell. 

From this list it would seem that there were very few trappings left at Stottesdon church. 

The witness, THOMAS WATMORE, who is referred to as a parishioner, would be Thomas the son of Humphrey Watmore and grandson of the William Watmough who had come to Stottesdon from Prescot.  This Thomas married Anne Grove and died in 1565 at Stottesdon.

 Not all the confiscated  trappings of the churches were taken away – some found their way into private hands by means fair or foul. In some cases, the process was carefully monitored by third parties who noted those items which seemed to have gone astray. As late as 20 Dec 1571, a Thomas Middleton (presumably a resident of Shrewsbury) listed in a letter the names of persons who had received items taken from the Shrewsbury churches, or had received money from the sale of these items. His list includes the following: ‘William Alowe and Richard Powell detain obligacions of £140 made of the ornaments and Jewels of the Church of St Chad’s and delivered by several oblications to divers men of the parish’ Since William Lowe was a wealthy draper, a Warden of the Draper Company, a burgess and sometime Bailiff of Shrewsbury (see earlier post on William Lowe – Bailiff of Shrewsbury), I feel that it is unlikely that he had been a party to any underhand dealing – especially since he is one of my own direct ancestors!    

I have been off-line for several weeks now due to moving house, but are now settled in my new home and in the coming weeks will be adding more stories of the Whatmore family to this blog. If you would like any of the free CD ROMs referred in in earlier blogs, please send your details to my new e-mail address: rhyswhatmore@btinternet.com

Whilst I was off-line, I received no fewer than 800 comments on the blog. Unfortunately the system couldn’t cope and I was unable to open any of these when I came on-line once more. In desperation I contacted the blog administrator who has very kindly deleted these comments for me. Whilst the great majority of these comments were undoubtedly spam, there will have been some messages from readers which I would have liked to read and respond to. If you have sent a comment during the last few weeks, I apologise for having to delete it. Please do write again and I will attend to the comments every few days. Many thanks for your help.

 Rhys D Dyson Whatmore

Mary Ann (Polly) Dyson was my paternal grandmother. She was born on 6 February 1876 in Attercliffe and married Noah Whatmore in 1905. She died on 8 December 1936 aged 60 and is buried in the churchyard of St Thomas’s Brightside Sheffield. Whilst to me Mary Ann Dyson is a very special person even though I never met her, the DNA of her Dyson male ancestors are of interest to all those interested in genealogy and in DNA testing.

Mary Ann Dyson   Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

I am not a scientist and thus I shall only try to give a brief explanation of what DNA testing involves and what it can tell us.

The simplest way to collect DNA is to obtain a swab from the mouth of a particular person of interest. The cells collected on the swab can then be analysed.

 There are two chromosomes which are of particular interest to family historians:

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is obtained only from the egg cell of the mother. Only females can therefore pass mtDNA on to their offspring.  A test can be used to show which of the seven main ‘clans’ a female line belongs to and can be used to confirm that two individuals share a common female direct maternal line ancestor.

Y chromosome DNA (Y-DNA)  which exists only in males. It is passed from male to male via a sperm cell which contains the Y chromosome of the father. The information carried by Y chromosomes is inherited largely intact over time. The genetic material on the Y chromosome is not mixed with each new generation.  A test can show if two individuals have a common ancestor. Mutations occur to the Y chromosome over time. The rate of mutations is roughly known. The number of mutation found in a Y chromosome can be used to determine roughly when a common ancestor lived.

 More information can be found at this link: http://www.oxfordancestors.com/

I am most grateful to my cousin Hazel Wells (nee Dyson) who first drew my attention to DNA testing when she sent me a tape recording of a radio programme featuring Professor Bryan Sykes, Professor of Human Genetics at Oxford University. During the programme he explained that he had done some research on the Dyson family and this had indicated that 90% of the men tested had a common ancestor.

In his book ‘Adam’s Curse’ published by Bantam Press 2003, Professor Sykes goes into some detail about his Dyson family research.

Professor Sykes had been researching his own family from Yorkshire and had found not only that they were prolific but that they had tended to produce more sons than daughters. Looking for another prolific Yorkshire family he chose the Dyson family. It had been thought that the name meant ‘son of dyer’ and since there must have been a great many dyers in medieval Yorkshire – the surname Dyson was believed have multiple origins.

Bryan Sykes obtained DNA samples from 23 male Dysons and to his surprise 9 had exactly the same Y-chromosome signature and a further 11 had chromosomes that were very closely related to it. This meant that nearly 90% had the same or related Y – chromosomes and therefore had a common ancestor.

Could the common founder be identified?

Looking through court and estate records George Redmonds, the Yorkshire surname expert had came across a lady called Dionissia  of Linthwaite. She had been convicted more than once for cattle rustling and other crimes.  She appears in the Wakefield Court Rolls in 1286 as Dyonisia–de-Lynthayth and in 1306 as Dye-de-Lyntwayt. She had a son, John, who was known as John Dyson. He appears in the Court Rolls in 1316 as John Dyson of Lyntwayt. The later Court Rolls have the following names:

1379 Adam Dison (Crosland)

1492 John Dyson (Linthwaite)

1545 Edward Dyson (Crosland)

According to one Dyson family historian, Dionysia’s husband was Peter Mallesheved (Moleshead) and they had a daughter Agnes as well as their son John.

An Adam de Mallesheved appears in the Wakefield Court Roll for 1274.

Linthwaite   Photograph by Nevin Arrow 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/2.0/

Bryan Sykes now did some rough calculations as to the time when the common Dyson ancestor had lived. He multiplied the number of mutations which had taken place in the Y-chromosome of the Dysons (11/20) by the mutation rate (1 change per 50 generations) and calculated that the common ancestors had lived 27.5 generations ago. Allowing 25 years for a generation, 27.5 generations takes us back 687 years.  The calculation was done in 2001 so that date of the common ancestor came out as approximately 1314. So was John Dyson of Linthwaite the common Dyson ancestor? We know he was around in 1316, so there is a reasonable possibility that he was.

Returning to my own grandmother, what do we actually know about Mary Ann Dyson’s direct ancestors?

Mary Ann’s  father was George Dyson born in Sheffield in 1850. He married Rebecca Glaves in 1872. George died in December 1938 at Sheffield.

George Dyson’s father was another George Dyson, born in 1814 at Eckington, Derbyshire, a few miles south of Sheffield. George married Mary Anne Whittaker in 1838. he died in Sheffield in 1860.

George Dyson’s father was a Joseph Dyson who was living with his wife Elizabeth at Mosborough, Eckington Parish when their son George was born. Joseph was a scythe maker. His death has not been traced.

Mosborough, Derbyshire  Photograph by Andrew Loughran 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/2.0/

Although Joseph Dyson could have originated in nearby Sheffield, it seems more likely that he was the Joseph who was baptised at Staveley in 1778. Staveley is the next village to Eckington. The parents of the Joseph Dyson born at Staveley were a Thomas and Ann.

Thomas Dyson was baptised in 1735 at Staveley and married an Ann. His parents were a John and Ruth.

 Staveley church   Copyright: Peter Saunders and reproduced here by his kind permission

John and born about 1711 and lived at the Forge, Staveley, hence he must be the son of John and Elizabeth whom we know from baptismal records were living at the forge in 1705

There was a John Dyson baptised at Staveley in 1664.His father was a Robert Dyasson, described in the parish register as ‘pregini’ i.e. pilgrim or traveller.  We cannot be certain that this John Dyson was the same one that married an Elizabeth and lived at the Forge.

In ‘Adam’s Curse’, Professor Sykes explains that some surnames tend to ‘daughter out’ over time – If a family has only daughters then the surname will of course disappear. One would expect the selection of those surnames which survive over time and those which ‘daughter out’ to be a random process but there are some surnames which seem to have proliferated far more than can be expected by chance. Professor Sykes thus speculates whether there are some Y chromosomes which have mutated in such a way as to be more likely to produce male rather than female children. He calls these the ‘selfish Y chromosomes’ He has studied his own Sykes family and has found that there is a small but significant trend towards more male than female children. This trend would obvious lead to far more Sykes family members over a period of time than would otherwise be the case. There may also be ‘selfish mitochondria’ in some females which ensure that more girls are born than males.

If we look at Mary Ann Dyson’s family we find the following:

John Dyson (born  about 1664) and Elizabeth had 3 sons and one daughter

Their son John (born about 1711) and Ruth had 3 sons and 7 daughters

Their son  Thomas (born 1735) and Ann had 3 sons and 3 daughters

Joseph (son of Thomas and Ann) born 1778 and Elizabeth had 2 sons

Thomas (son of Thomas and Ann) born 1804 and Ann had 7 sons and 1 daughter

George (son of Joseph and Elizabeth) born 1814 and Mary Ann had 4 sons and daughter

Their son George (born 1850) and Rebecca had 4 sons and 3 daughters

George Henry (son of George and Rebecca) born 1874 and Florence had 4 sons and 1 daughter

William (son of George and Rebecca) born 1882 and Phoebe had 7 sons and 2 daughters

James (son of George and Rebecca) born 1885 and Gertrude had no children

Joseph (son of George and Rebecca) born 1888 and Ivy had 3 sons and 4 daughters

The above information for the earlier generations does not take into account possible still births  or possible additional children whose births are not recorded on the IGI - nevertheless the data does suggest a certain trend.

I am not a statistician, so I will leave readers to work out whether or not there is a ‘selfish Y chromosome’ in this branch of the Dyson family.

Although there were other Whatmore families living in Sheffield at various times, it was only Joseph and Esther Whatmore that put down roots and whose descendants still live in the area, so I trust I am justified as regarding Joseph and Esther’s family as the ‘Sheffield branch’ of the Whatmore Family.  

Joseph was baptised on 26 June 1843 at Chelmarsh in Shropshire. His father is unknown although it might have been Benjamin Vale whom his mother married two years later. According to tradition, Joseph spent his early years at Hampton, Chelmarsh, which is where his grandparents lived, but by the time of the 1851 census he was living with his mother and step-father at Halfcot, Prestwood, Kinver. He is shown in this census as Joseph Vale. He is described in the same way in the 1861 census when he was still living at home at Prestwood. By now he was working as a puddler.  

Joseph was in the army for several years and has not been traced in the 1871 census. If he had an 11 year commission he must have joined the army in about 1861/62 as by 1873 he was working as a puddler in Sheffield.  Nothing is known about Joseph’s army career as his papers were lost to the family when his son Noah died in 1955. 

Joseph married Esther Manuel on 7 April 1873 at Brightside Church in Sheffield. The witnesses were Alfred Grant and Elizabeth Grant. Esther’s address is given as Brightside Lane which suggests she was living away from home at the time of the marriage. Joseph’s address is given as Fell Street  which was where Esther’s parents were living.  Joseph might simply have moved into Fell Street for a few weeks to avoid paying for a second set of banns to be read, or he may have been a lodger there which could explain how he met his wife. Presumably Joseph had decided that Sheffield was the best place to seek work as a puddler when he left the army.

Esther’s father had come to Yorkshire for the same reason. Esther’s father had been born in 1824 in Trefeglwys in Montgomeryshire, Wales – so a Welsh strain now enters this branch of the Whatmore family. Esther herself had been born at Rawmarsh, Rotherham in 1853.  A grand daughter remembers Esther as being quiet and gentle, and she liked her hair being combed. Another family tradition states that Esther was over fond of the bottle and would pawn anything she could get her hands on.  

Joseph and Esther were living at 40 Carlisle Street East at the time of the  1881 census. This very long road was lined with steel works and it must have been a most unattractive place to live. 

At the time of the 1891 census, Joseph and his family were living at 26 Mountain Street Attercliffe. They were still there in 1901 when Joseph was described as  boiler firer at steel works.  

By October 1915 Joseph and Esther Whatmore had moved to 31 Uttley Street, nearby, where Joseph died. He was buried on 11 November 1915 in Tinsley Park Cemetery, Sheffield. Esther continued to live at 31 Uttley Street until her death. She was buried aged 79 on 16 July 1932 in Tinsley Park Cemetery. 

Joseph and Esther’s children were: 

1. Harriet Whatmore was born in 1874 in Sheffield. She was at home at the time of the 1881 census but has not yet been traced in 1891. She married Harry Hearnshaw in the June Quarter of 1894 in Sheffield.

At the time of the 1901 census Harriet and Harry were living at 101 Wincobank Lane, Brightside, Sheffield. Harriet died in 1944 in Sheffield. Harry died in 1949 in Sheffield. 

The known children of Harriet and Harry Hearnshaw were: 

Nellie Hearnshaw (1895) who married Arthur F P (Fred) Ball in 1916

Mabel Hearnshaw (1897) who married Ernest Richardson in 1925

Florence Annie Hearnshaw (1899) who married Frederick S. Biggs in 1920

Esther (Tessa) Hearnshaw 1908 who married Charles W Bull in 1932. 

2. Noah Whatmore

Noah was born on 10 April 1875 at 40 Carlisle Street East, Attercliffe, Sheffield. He appears twice in the 1881 census – once with his parents and once again with his grandparents at Fell Street. The reason for this is not known.

At the time of the 1891 census he was at home and working as a labourer in an iron works. In 1896 when he was 21 his parents commissioned an oil painting of him, which I still possess.

 He was still at home in 1901, having delayed marrying as he was expected to support his parents. Noah married Mary Ann Dyson in 1906. The Dyson family lived next door but one to the Whatmore family. 

On the right of the photograph are Noah and Mary Ann Whatmore. On the left of the photograph are Emily (Mary Ann’s sister) and her husband Arthur Holmes  Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

After the marriage the family lived at 30 Brook Street, Hoyland – north of Sheffield. Noah was working as a miner at either Hoyland or Elsecar. They were at Hoyland in 1909 when their daughter Hesse was born. Noah is described on the birth certificate as a Blacksmith’s striker.

Whilst living in Hoyland, Noah, who was a prize swimmer and boxer, rescued a woman from drowning in the nearby reservoir at Elsecar.   

Elsecar reservoir, Yorkshire   Copyright: Steve Fareham and reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the web site licence which may be viewed at this link:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

By 1914 the family were living in the parish of Brightside, Sheffield, probably at 11 Margate Street, Brightside. They were certainly at this address just  after the First World War. 

During the First World War, Noah was out of work so he took his family to Shropshire for a time. They stayed at the home of his aunt and uncle Emily and Charles Wilson at Smythy Cottage, Morville near Bridgnorth. One of the local gentry, who was childless, wanted to adopt my father Eric, but my grandmother wouldn’t part with him. When they returned to Sheffield it was some 86 years before a member of the ‘Sheffield branch’ returned to live in Shropshire – I moved to Shrewsbury in July 2001. 

In about 1931 Noah and Mary Ann moved from Margate Street and Mary Ann set up a drapers shop at 91, Darnall Road, Attercliffe.  It seems that they lived over the shop. Unfortunately a branch of Woolworths was established close by and this drove Mary Ann out of business. This must have been a heavy blow at a time when she was already suffering from the cancer which was to kill her. She died  on 8 December 1936 aged 60 and was buried at St Thomas’s, Brightside.

Mary Ann (known as Polly) is remembered with affection by her nephews and nieces who have told me many stories about her loving and caring nature. 

Noah’s last workplace was Hadfields in Sheffield. After his wife’s death he was looked after by his daughter Hesse and when she married in 1943 he moved to 45 Vivien Road, Firth Park, Sheffield with Hesse and her new husband. Noah remarried  at the age of 70 to Elizabeth Ellen Smith on 6 April 1946 at Holy Trinity Church, The Wicker, Sheffield. The witnesses were Henry Smith and H. Smith. Elizabeth is described as aged 59, a spinster and Pastry Cook , living at Flat 3, 9 Burngreave Road, Pitsmoor. This is almost certainly where they lived after their marriage as I remember visiting them at an address in Pitsmoor. 

Both Noah and Elizabeth (known as Auntie Betty) were very well built and I remember an outing with them to Sherwood Forest in the early 1950s. I sat in the back of a model T Ford sandwiched between the two of them. We visited the Major Oak which is the reputed meeting place of Robin Hood. The Oak is hollow and very large and you can climb inside. I did so, followed by Noah who got stuck in the entrance due to his girth! Noah and Elizabeth later moved to a flat at Frecheville, Sheffield.

Noah died from throat cancer aged 79 on the 14^th January 1955 and was buried with his first wife at St Thomas’s, Brightside. Elizabeth died aged 72 in the June Quarter of 1961. It is not known where she is buried. 

The grave of Noah and Mary Ann Whatmore and their daughter Hesse, St Thomas’s Brightside Sheffield  Copyright: Paul Whitaker of Chapeltown Sheffield and reproduced here by his kind permission

The children of Noah and Mary Ann Whatmore were: 

An unregistered child  about 1907 which died soon after birth 

Hesse Whatmore (11 July 1909 –1966) who married Victor Rowan Belk in 1943. They lived first at 45 Vivien Road, Firth Park, but later swapped homes with Margaret and Frank Preston. Hesse worked as a shop assistant and Victor was a painter and decorator. Hesse was unable to have children and they adopted a boy, Terence (Terry) Michael Morgan  born 15 February 1947 at Barnsley.

Hesse Whatmore  Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

They lived at St Joseph’s Road, Handsworth, in a small cottage, 2 up, 2 down, with an outside toilet.  

 21 St Joseph’s Road, Handsworth, Sheffield - the home of Hesse, Victor and Terry Belk Copyright: Peter Saunders and reproduced here by his kind permission

I spent a lot of time with my cousin Terry. We went to the same primary school in Handsworth close to where my aunt and uncle lived and my aunt could come and collect us both after school. She would take us home and try to get us to have a nap, which we never did, before taking us to ‘The Wreck’. To begin with I thought that this must be some sort of pirate ship, but on arriving there discovered it to be a recreation grounds which had swings and slides for children.

Hesse and Victor Belk with Terry in 1951 Bridlington  Copyright; Rhys Whatmore

I missed my cousin very much when my parents moved to Wales in 1953 but Terry would come and spend long holidays with us in Aberystwyth and we would go swimming in the river or the sea or sit and fish off the harbour jetties.

Terry died unexpectedly on 3 May 2007 when he was only sixty, whilst he was on holiday in Devon with his wife. Terry and his wife have two sons and a daughter and six grandchildren.

Terry never moved away from Handsworth, Sheffield where he was brought up by my aunt and uncle. He was a family man who was contented with his life and he had simple pleasures – an afternoon’s fishing was his idea of heaven. He was greatly loved by his family and friends and at his funeral no fewer than 30 of his work mates turned up! On his grave in Handsworth Cemetery is a little carving of a fisherman. 

Rest in peace Terry – we will never forget you. 

Neither of Terry’s adoptive parents lived to enjoy old age. Hesse died in 1966 when she was only 57. She is buried in the same grave as her parents at St Thomas’s Brightside. Victor had only been retired a short while when he passed away.  

Margaret Whatmore (15 January 1912 – 1997) who married Frank Preston in 1937.

Margaret and Frank lived first at Handsworth and then swapped houses with Hesse and Victor and lived at Vivien Road, Firth Park. Frank was a maintenance engineer in the steels work and was skilful and highly thought of, and eventually became one of the directors of Osborne Steel Works. He came from a local family and his brothers and sisters all lived locally and I knew several of them well and they made a great fuss of me when I was little. They were all kind and affectionate.

Margaret and Eric Whatmore   Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

 In the 1970s, Margaret and Frank moved to live at High Storrs, Eccleshall. Their house there had a marvellous view across to Fulwood and down to Ringinglow Common. They then bought a house in Bridlington  and eventually retired there. Margaret died at Bridlington in 1997 and Frank died there only a few months later in 1998. 

Margaret Whatmore could not have children so she and Frank adopted a daughter who is still living.   

Eric Whatmore  (23 February 1914 – 10 March 2003) 

 Eric Whatmore was my father. He married Elsie Eileen Whatmore on 16 September 1939 at the family church of St Thomas’s Brightside. We 1953 we moved to Aberystwyth where Eric and Elsie remained until Eric passed away. Elsie then came to live with me in Shrewsbury. Elsie passed away on 1 January 2005 in Shrewsbury.  Eric and Elsie had only one child – myself – Rhys David Whatmore, born in Sheffield on 31 March 1947. 

The life story of Eric Whatmore has been told in an earlier post. 

3. Benjamin Whatmore is only known of through the National Burials Index. He was born in 1877 in Sheffield and buried aged 1 on 9 May 1878 at St Thomas’s, Brightside. 

4. Hannah Whatmore was born 1878/79 at Brightside. She was at home at the time of the 1881 and 1891 censuses. She gave birth on 27 April 1899 to an illegitimate daughter – Esther Whatmore. who  married  Samuel Richmond in the December Quarter 1924 in the Sheffield Registration District. 

Hannah married James Harvey on 13 August 1900 at Darnall Church in Sheffield. The witnesses were Harriet Hearnshaw (Hannah’s sister) and Ann Cheney. In the 1901 census, Hannah and James were living in Attercliffe, Sheffield. My father recalled that they lived at Darnall at some time.  

Hannah and James Harvey had a daughter Jessie Harvey in 1914, but I have been unable to trace further children

5. Joseph Whatmore (Junior) was born in 1880 in Sheffield and was at home at the time of the 1881 census. He was buried aged 10 months on 14 July 1881 at St Thomas’s, Brightside, Sheffield.  

6. Annie Whatmore is only known of through the National Burials Index. She was born in 1882 in Sheffield and buried aged 1 on 7 May 1883 at St Thomas’s Brightside, Sheffield.

7. Ellen Whatmore was born in 1883 in Sheffield. She was at home at the time of the 1891 census. In 1901 she was living and working as a cook in the home of George S. Young at 977 Abbeydale Road, Sheffield. Her sister Sarah Ann was working as a nurse in the same household. 

Ellen Heap (nee Whatmore)  Copyright: Norma Rice and reproduced here by her kind permission

Ellen married Frederick Heap in the September Quarter of 1910 in Sheffield. They later lived at Pitsmoor and/or Fir Vale, Sheffield. 

The children of Ellen and Frederick Heap were: 

Alice E. Heap (1913 – 2004)

Fred Heap  (1916 – 1987)  

8. Sarah Ann Whatmore was born on 21 September 1884 in Sheffield. She was at home at the time of the 1891 census. In 1901 she was living and working as a nurse in the home of George S. Young at 977 Abbeydale Road, Sheffield. 

Sarah Ann and Frank Hearnshaw (centre of picture) with their daughter Marian (Mary) and son in law John         Copyright: Janice Cantwell and reproduced here by her kind permission

Sarah Ann married Frank Hearnshaw on 2 August 1913 in Sheffield. Frank Hearnshaw was the nephew of the Harry Hearnshaw who had married Sarah Ann’s sister Harriet.  Frank died in 1951 in Sheffield.

I remember Sarah Ann, who was my great aunt, in the 1950s when she lived in a terraced house in Darnall. She had a small stocky figure and was very warm and affectionate. She always made a great fuss of me. We would go up the tunnel between the houses, through the back door and into her kitchen where she had a traditional black-leaded cooking range. 

Sarah Ann died in the March Quarter of 1971 in Sheffield. The children of Sarah Ann and Frank Hearnshaw were: 

Frank Hearnshaw ( 1914 –1990) who married Lucy White in 1936

Marian ( Mary) Hearnshaw (1916) who married John Thompson in 1940

Hilda M. Hearnshaw (1919) who married John R.W. Chapman in 1950.  

9. Lucy Whatmore was born in 1887/88 in Sheffield. She was at home at the time of the 1891 census. In 1901 at the early age of 13 she was working as a servant. and was living with her married sister Harriet Hearnshaw at 101 Wincobank Lane, Brightside, Sheffield.  Lucy clearly had a mind of her own and she was something of a  worry to her parents.

Lucy Whatmore  Copyright: Marion Whitham and reproduced here by her kind permission

In 1903 or 1904 she was sent away to work for Mrs Burgess at Shawfold Farm, Heaton Moor, Stockport. Mary Ann Dyson (my future grandmother), who was already working in Manchester, was asked to keep an eye on her. The arrangement didn’t work out and Lucy was returned home. A letter of 9 July 1904 from Lucy’s parents to Mrs Burgess tells the story clearly. 

Letter from Joseph and Esther Whatmore regarding their daughter Lucy   Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

Lucy had an illegitimate child born on 26 September 1911 – Mabel Whatmore.  At the time, Lucy was working as a domestic servant. Mabel  married Frederick Whitham in the June Quarter 1936 in the Sheffield Registration District. 

Lucy married Charles C. Naylor in the March Quarter of 1913 in Sheffield. Charles suffered from spells of mental illness and spent many years in Middlewood Hospital and Lucy must have had a struggle to bring up her family of children.  Charles became institutionalised and refused to leave the safety of the hospital when he was given the chance.  Lucy died in 1964 in Sheffield. The children of Lucy and Charles Naylor were: 

Lucy Naylor (1913)

Joseph W. Naylor (1917)

Charles Naylor 1918

Ernest Naylor (1921)

Harold Naylor (1925)

Clifford Naylor (1930) 

10. Kate Whatmore was born in 1891 in Attercliffe, Sheffield. She was at home at the time of the 1891 and 1901 censuses. She married Joseph H. Ryalls in the March Quarter of 1911 in Sheffield.  Kate died on 14 (?) December 1969. Joseph died in June 1977. 

Joseph Ryalls (on left wearing glasses) and his wife Kate (nee Whatmore) (on left of groom) at the wedding of one of their sons  Copyright: Chris Landers and reproduced here by her kind permission

The children of Kate and Joseph Ryalls were: 

Walter Ryalls (1912) who died in infancy 

Joseph Henry Ryalls (1913) who married Elsie Robinson in 1937. Joseph was leading Aircraftman 1239961 Pilot, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Joseph was tragically killed in a training exercise somewhere in Wales on 6 December 1941. He was buried at Intake Cemetery, Sheffield. 

Colin  Ryalls (1915 - 1992) who served in Palestine during the Second World War. He married his brother’s widow, Elsie Robinson, in 1945. 

Allan Ryalls (1917 – 2001) who married Dorothy W. Bowers in 1940 

A daughter  who is still living 

Ronald Ryalls (1922 – 1989 ?) who married Margaret Bullass. 

11. Harry Whatmore was born in 1893 in Sheffield. He was at home at the time of the 1901 census. He left home when he was quite young to join the army and served in the Royal Field Artillery. He married Minnie Drusilla Carter in the June Quarter of 1919 and thereafter lived at Barrow Hill, Chesterfield. In 1937 he was seriously injured in an accident at the Ireland Colliery where he was working and this led to his death the same year. Minnie died in 1969 aged about 71. 

Harry Whatmore   Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

The children of Harry and Minnie Whatmore were: 

Violet M. Whatmore (1921-1921)

Muriel J. Whatmore (1922 – 2006)

Vera Whatmore (1926 - 1977)

A son who is still living  (1927)

A daughter  who is still living (1933)

A daughter  who is still living (1935) 

12. Ivy Ernest Whatmore was born on 27 April 1897. Presumably the Ivy was short for Ivor. It was not a name which he seems to have used – being known as Ernest. He was at home of the time of the 1901 census. Ernest married Emily Bamford in the December Quarter of 1933. My father believed Emily to be a widow with several children.

This is probably a photograph of Ivy Ernest Whatmore with his nephew Eric Whatmore (my father)  Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

Ernest and Emily lived at Shire Green and were not well off. Ernest made frequent use of the pawn shop and on one occasion he pawned a pair of trousers which had a ten shilling note in the pocket. He had to wait until the following week until he could recover his money together with his trousers.

Ernest died in the December Quarter 1944 aged 49 in the Sheffield Registration District. Emily died in the December Quarter of 1974 aged 82 in the Sheffield Registration District.

Ernest and Emily did not have any children.

The second of the children of William Watmore and his wife Catherine Butcher to take up the new opportunities available in the town of Ludlow was John Watmore, born 1776 at Stottesdon.

John Watmore married Elizabeth Ward on 18 February 1797 at Ashford Carbonell near Ludlow.  They lived in Raven Lane, Ludlow, where John was a Shoemaker. Elizabeth died aged 64 in November 1836 and John moved into the Hosiers Almshouses next to St Laurence’s Church and he remained there for the rest of his life. He died there aged 80 in 1856.

John and Elizabeth Whatmore had a large family of children all baptised in Ludlow. They were Elizabeth 1797, Sarah 1799, Henry 1801, William 1803, Jemima 1804, John 1805, Ann 1807, Mary 1809, Edward 1811, Thomas 1813 and  John 1815.

This fine drawing of Raven Lane, Ludow is by the artist William Albert Green. It is the copyright of his son Edwin Green by whose kind permission it is reproduced here. William  Green was born in 1907 in Birmingham and moved to Ludlow in 1952 where he died in 1982. He worked in pencil and in water colour, but in later life he concentrated on pen and ink drawings. His life story can be read at this link, where there are more of his drawings and an opportunity to purchase copies: www.ewgreen.org.uk

We know more about some of the children of John and Elizabeth:

1. William Whatmore, born 1803, son of John and Elizabeth, married Mary Jones on 27 June 1832 at Ludlow. They lived at Ludlow until at least 1855 where William worked as an agricultural labourer.  By 1861 they had moved to Ladywood, Birmingham where William was employed as a mason’s labourer. Their children, all born at Ludlow, were Ann 1833, Mary 1835, Elizabeth 1838, John Samuel 1840, William 1842, Edwin 1845, James 1847, Emma 1849, Herbert 1852 and Alice 1855.

Elizabeth Whatmore, daughter of William and Mary, born 1838 married Thomas Swain.

John Samuel Whatmore, son of William and Mary, born 1840 married Hannah James. They lived in Birmingham and at Hanley Castle and at Malvern. John Samuel is described in the censuses as a Baker, Confectioner and Bread and Biscuit maker. John Samuel died in 1917 in the Kings Norton Registration District and Hannah died the same year in the Birmingham Registration District. Their children were Alice Louisa Whatmore born 1874 who married Arthur Yates, George Frederick Whatmore born 1876, William John Whatmore born 1877 and Arthur Henry Whatmore born 1885.

Edwin Whatmore, son of William and Mary, born 1845 married Sarah Jane Cook in 1868. They lived at Leckhampton, Cheltenham where Edwin was a baker.  Sarah Jane died in 1889  and Edwin remarried in 1893 to a Fanny. Edwin died, aged 56, in 1901. Edwin had three children by his first wife – Annie Whatmore 1870, William Whatmore 1873 who was a brass finisher and who married an  Annie Manning, and Mary Whatmore  1877 who married a John William Stanton.

Herbert Whatmore, son of William and Mary, born 1852 was an Iron Roof Fitter and seems to have moved about a lot. In 1881 he was at Cliffe in Kent, in 1891 at Darlaston and in 1901 at Wednesbury. He married Esther Prentice in 1877 in the Bromsgrove Registration District. Herbert died in 1922 in the West Bromwich Registration District and Esther in 1930 in the Walsall registration District. Their children were William Whatmore 1879 and Amy Whatmore 1881.

2. Jemima Whatmore, born 1804, daughter of John and Elizabeth, had an illegitimate son George Whatmore, born at Ludlow in 1839 who died the same year. A Jemima Whatmore married in the Ludlow Registration District in September Quarter 1844. Since Jemima is an uncommon name in the Whatmore family, it would seem that this was the Jemima born in 1804. Her spouse would have been Thomas Colton, Henry Davies, Benjamin Powell or Thomas Rawlings. Unfortunately, in the 1851 census there is no Jemima with any of those surnames. There is however a Jemima  Meredith of about the right age, married to a Thomas and living at Ludlow. The GRO shows that a Jemima Powell married a Thomas Powell in the Ludlow Registration District in March Quarter 1848. I suspect that our Jemima married Benjamin Powell, and when he died soon after the marriage, remarried to Thomas Meredith. Jemima Meredith died in the Ludlow Registration District in December Quarter 1870  and although her age at death of 55 doesn’t  quite fit, Jemima Meredith is shown in the 1851 census as 45 which is a reasonable match for the Jemima born 1804. Perhaps she shed a few years as she got older!

Ludlow     Painting by the Rev. Edward Williams   Copyright: Shropshire Archives and reproduced here by their kind permission.

3. Edward Whatmore, born 1811, son of John and Elizabeth, married a Mary. They lived at various locations in Herefordshire and by 1861 had settled at Luston, where Edward was employed as a painter. Edward died at the age of 56 in 1866 and Mary died aged 62 in 1874.

The children of Edward and Mary were

Emma Whatmore 1838 who married someone with the surname Clayford and went to live in Marylebone, London,

Alfred Whatmore 1842 who married an Agnes and lived at Dorstone, Herefordshire and later at Bradford where Alfred worked as a railway porter. Their children were William Whatmore 1866, Clara Whatmore 1868  and Edwin Whatmore 1870);

Charles Whatmore 1846 who died in 1867,

Harriet Whatmore 1849,

Maria Whatmore 1852 and died the same year

Sophia Whatmore 1857.

4. Thomas Whatmore, born 1813, son of