I was intrigued when I found a William Whatmore in the 1911 census who was described as ‘ pensioned from Asiatic Home’, and I decided to investigate further.

William Whatmore was born on 26 February 1838 at Paddington and was baptised on 11 March at St James’ Church. His parents were a John Whatmore, (born about 1808 at Marylebone) and  Elizabeth.  They seem to have lived all their married life in the Paddington / Marylebone area where John worked as a Labourer and a Coal Porter.

John and Mary had nine known childen: These were Marianne 1831, Anna 1834, Elizabeth 1835, William 1838, Rose 1840, Joseph 1834, Henry 1849, Caroline 1852 and James Henry 1854.

John died in 1878 in the Marylebone Registration District.

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St James’ Church Paddington    Copyright: Matti Matila  from his Flikr photostream  Reproduced here under the terms of the site licence which can be read at this link: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/2580060800_0f06d9dddf.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattimattila/2580060800/&usg=__-FHo3QMgaeLAl-BtC2CK6AVuJUg=&h=500&w=333&sz=143&hl=en&start=59&tbnid=QJs1GtewrMcP9M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSt%2Bjames%2BPaddington%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D42

William Whatmore, born 1838, was at home at the time of the 1851 census. He has not been traced in the 1861 census and may have been in the Merchant Navy, but he was in Stepney by 1867 as in that year he married Ann Gravestock from Watford, Hertfordshire. By 1871  William and Ann were living at Great Francis Street, Limehouse.  William’s occupation is shown as ‘Steward’ so by now he was an officer of the ‘Strangers’ Home for Asiatics’.

In the eighteen and nineteenth centuries, Indian and Chinese sailors were employed on ships bringing cargoes back from the East to Britain. These sailors known as ‘lascars’ were paid only about a sixth of the usual European rates of pay.

Whilst there were strict rules about the employment of lascars, these were often broken. They were often mistreated on the ships and then abandoned in Britain without money to live on – often their wages being withheld. By the 1780s there were many starving lascars on the streets of London.

In 1785, a group of 5 lascars, including one named Soubaney,  mainaged to get legal assistance and successfully sued a shipowner for unpaid wages, but most lascars failed to get any help. In 1786, concern about the lascars led Jonas Hanway, a businessman, to set up a group to raise funds for them. This became the ‘Committee for the Black Poor.’

Whilst the East India Company started to provide lodgings for lascars in Britain no checks were made on these and in the 1850s, lascars were still living in appalling conditions in lodgings.

It was in 1856 that a group of philanthropists launched an appeal for a purpose built boarding-home for the lascars. Prince Albert acted as the patron. Money was raised, including a £500 donation from the Maharajah Duleep Singh and the ‘Strangers’ Home for Asiatics’ was opened in West India Dock Road in Limehouse in 1857. The total cost was £16,000.

The Strangers’ Home for the natives of India, Arabia, Africa, China, Straits of Malacca, the Mosambique, and the Islands of the South Pacific,  West India Dock Road, Limehouse   E.L. Bracebridge Architect           Artist: Anon  Publisher: Day and Son   Date of Execution: c 1857  Copyright of  City of London, London Metropolitan Archives and reproduced here by their kind permission. The City of London LMA on-line image database an be viewed at this link:   http://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk

( The Whatmore family lived in the house on the right of the Stranger’s Home)

The institution offered accommodation for a small weekly charge to sailors, servants and others from the East. It also provided interpreters, information and advice. Unfortunately, the residents had little say in the way the institution was run. It acted as a clearing house for the recruitment of seamen on departing ships, but above all ‘the administrators saw it as a centre for the propagation of Christianity to those of non-Christian faiths, especially Muslims.  Those whom stayed at the Home were force-fed with scripture whether they were willing to listen or not’ (‘The Infidel Within’ Humayan Ansari).

Even in the Victorian era, however, there was those who recognised that such religious interference was wrong’. Cama and Co, a Parsee firm, offered to pay off the mortgage on the Home  providing that the first rule in its deed trust – that Christian instruction be given to those needing its protection and assistance – be abolished. The Home’s directors refused to arrange this. (‘The Infidel Within’ Humayan Ansari).

Extract from: Chapter XI of “Off the track in London” by George R. Sims, published by Jarrold & Sons, 1911. Originally published in “The Strand” magazine, July 1905.Threading our way back through the lane into the broad highway we pass the Chinese Mission, and come on the opposite side of the road to that admirable institution, the Strangers’ Home. Within its walls Asiatics of all creeds and callings are housed and catered for. The arrangements are in every way admirable, and are highly appreciated by the sailors and travellers who seek shelter here.When we enter the spacious general room a little group of Lascars is seated by the fire chatting. Lying at full length on one of the benches is a Cingalee. On a table in the centre of the room are Chinese and Japanese books and periodicals, and these are being eagerly perused by the Orientals who have just come off their ships. There is a bagatelle-board in a corner. A Parsee is amusing himself by playing while he waits for a friend who has given him an appointment at the Strangers’ Home.In the dining-rooms there are a number of long tables at which the castes and creeds eat separately. In the kitchen arrangements are made that each creed can cook according to its ritual.The dormitories and cubicles are airy and comfortable. In one, an Arab sailor, who has been taking a long rest in his first bed ashore for many weeks, is just thinking of getting up and going out for a stroll.Some of the Asiatics who patronise the home are sailors who “come with nothing and go with nothing,” but many of them are men with a little means - small traders visiting London, who prefer the cleanliness, comfort, and security of the home to the risks of the lodging-houses and boarding houses with which Limehouse and Poplar abound, and of which they have possibly heard terrible tales. No one in the old days suffered more than the Asiatics at the hands of the “crimps.”The men who accept the advantages of the Strangers’ Home and pay the moderate price asked are, as a rule, quiet and orderly and well-mannered, and the superintendent has little difficulty in maintaining harmony among men who belong often to creeds violently opposed to each other, and who might sometimes be expected in the heat of argument to let their angry passions rise.But the privileges of the Home are too greatly appreciated to be lightly abused, and it is not until you pass out of Asia, which is the institution, into Europe, which is the street, that you pass from peace to unrest, from the quiet of a haven to the storm and stress of a turbulent sea of humanity.

In 1901 William and Ann Whatmore were living at 13 West  India Dock Road in the house next to the Asiatic Home and this was to remain their home until at least William’s death in 1918. In 1901 William is shown as  Steward to Asiatic Home. By 1911 he had retired.

In 1901 on census night at the Stranger’s Home for Asiatics were:

 Matthew Johnson, Superintendant aged 55 with his wife Emily, son Hugh and daughter Dorothy Mariamme

F Smith 20 General Domestic

Samuel Venning 46 Porter

Joseph Cocklingham 25 Cook

Frederick Nicholls 19 Dormitory Attendant

C St Clare  28  Cook’s Mate

Harry Shelburn 19 Dining (?) Room Attendant 

The boarders were:

 John Jackson 16  Ship’s 3^rd Cook  Born Rangoon

Pedro Somandy 26 Able Seaman  Born Mainde

Viz Thelengum  45 Ship’s Cook  Born India

Togu Anderson  40 Ship’s Steward  Born Africa

James Manning  50 Ship’s Fireman  Born Africa

J D Beshman 25 Ordinary Seaman Born Africa

Charlie Musse 15 Ship’s Crew Assistant Born Africa

William Matabele 16  Ship’s Crew Assistant Born Africa

TachIbara 19 Able Seaman Born Japan

Antonio dela Coug 22 Able Seaman Born Manilla

Anathio Costochs 45 Able Seaman Born Manilla

Abdullah Mohamed  31 Merchant  Born India

Khasima 19 (Wife of Abdullah) Born Cape Town

Fatima 2 (daughter of Abdullah) Born Cape Town

Hrahim 11  months (Son of Abdullah) Born Cape Town

Nurzeed Hamid  28 Merchant  Born IndiaSuked

L Dean      27 Merchant  Born India

Raheem Buksh  23 Merchant Born India

Jacobus G Fontana 17  Ship’s Steward Born Cape Town

Irwhir 20 Ship’s Steward  Born India 

William and Ann Whatmore had 8 known children, all born at Limehouse. These were: Amy 1868, Jessie 1870, William 1872, Ernest 1874, Emma 1876,  Harry 1878, Rose Florence 1881 and Alfred 1883.

William Whatmore, Steward of the Strangers’ Home died in 1918 in the West Ham Registration District and his wife Ann died in 1928 in the West Ham Registration District.

Views of the interior of the Strangers’ Home can be seen at these links:

 http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museumoflondon/images/microsites/derivatives//movinghere/mh3/mid/0121.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Collections/OnlineResources/RWWC/objects/record.htm%3Ftype%3Dobject%26id%3D718180&usg=__216J1tyqbY6kbT64IuM-IojFtRM=&h=252&w=358&sz=41&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=PyPU6×5YAa31PM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstrangers%2Bhome%2Blimehouse%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADBF_en-GBGB292GB292%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/3325388.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DViewImages%26k%3D2%26d%3D86F19F6C94FCC84FA64D6B67CA69E1D6A55A1E4F32AD3138&imgrefurl=http://www.jamd.com/image/g/3325388&usg=__HlqpJNZdREesFf_Br-IXFRxuTQw=&h=415&w=594&sz=71&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=SC68tWziwqdbzM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstrangers%2Bhome%2Blimehouse%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADBF_en-GBGB292GB292%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

  William and Ann’s youngest child Alfred joined the Merchant Navy and was killed when his ship the SS Gafsa was torpedoed and sunk on 28 March 1917 off Kinsale Head, Ireland. This boat of 4,021 tons had been launced in 1906 as the ‘Dominion’ but was renamed in 1916.

 The information in this post about the Strangers Home is mainly derived from ‘The Infidel Within’ by Humayun Ansari , the article on ‘Black and Asian Londoners: The Lascars’ on the London Metropolitan Archives Learning Zone website and the London Docklands History for GCSE Website of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. There is also an extract from ‘Off the Track in London’ by George R Sims, published by Jarrold and Sons in 1911. I am most grateful to the authors of these accounts for the interesting and helpful information which they have provided.     

Jemima is not a common name in our family. The International Genealogical Index of the Mormon Church lists only 7 in the British Isles:

Jemima Watmore baptised 11 September 1787 Middleton Scriven, Shropshire

Jemima Whatmore baptised 8 June 1794 Ringley, Lancashire

Jemima Watmore baptised 17 May 1804 Ludlow, Shropshire

Jemima Watmore baptised 29 October 1818  Spa Fields, Lady Huntingdon’s,   Clerkenwell, London

Jemima Watmore baptised 13 February 1825 Barnby in the Willows, Nottinghamshire

Jemima Watmough  baptised 20 December 1829, Shinfield, Berkshire

Jemima Whatmough born 1840 Lancashire

The Jemima born in 1804 at Ludlow has been described in an earlier post. See ‘ The Whatmore Families of Ludlow Part 2’, posted on 1 February 2008

This post sets out what is known about the Jemima born in 1787 who belongs to my branch of the Whatmore family

Jemima Watmore baptised 1787 at Middleton Scriven

This Jemima was the daughter of a Thomas and Ann Watmore who do not otherwise feature in the Middleton Scriven parish registers. Research has, however, provided good evidence that she was the daughter of the Thomas Watmore who married Ann Brooks on 27 May 1785 at Kinlet. A Jemima Watmore brought her illegitimate child Harriot Watmore  to be baptised at Kinlet  on 1 December 1809 and was a witness at the marriage of  a James Shineton to an Ann Brooks at Kinlet in 1810.

Middleton Scriven is only a couple of parishes to the north of Kinlet, and there is a gap in the pattern of births of children to Thomas Watmore and Ann Brooks into which Jemima’s birth fits neatly.

Thomas Watmore, Jemima’s father, is almost certainly the one baptised in 1757 at Cleobury Mortimer and  Ann Brooks, her mother, is almost certainly the one baptised in 1758 at Cleobury Mortimer. The known children of Thomas and Ann were George 1786 at Kinlet and buried there the same year, Jemima 1787 at Middleton Scriven, William 1790 at Kinlet, James 1795 at Ribbesford, Bewdley, Sarah 1798 at Kinlet and Thomas 1804 at Kinlet.

Thomas Watmore was a thatcher  and from at least 1804 until his death in 1829, he lived with his family at Button Bridge in the parish of Kinlet.

Cottages at Button Bridge, Kinlet, Shropshire     Copyright: Rhys Whatmore

Nine years after the birth of her illegitimate daughter, Jemima Watmore married Robert Hinton at St John Bedwardine, Worcester on 23 December 1819. Robert was an agricultural labourer and had been born about 1788 at Littlehampton in Gloucestershire.

Jemima appears to have spent the whole of her married life in the parish of St John Bedwardine. In the 1841 and 1851 censuses the family were living there at Bransford Road. In 1841 she is described as a laundress. Her illegitimate daughter Harriot was with her in 1841, also working as a laundress and by now she had an illegitimate child of her own – William Watmore, baptised on 7 October 1835 at St John Bedwardine. In 1841 he was with his mother and grandparents. In 1851 Harriot was no longer at home but William (shown as John) was still with his grandparents. He has not been traced thereafter.

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Church of 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 read at this link:  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Harriot Watmore  married in 1849 in the Martley Registration District to a Thomas Everton. Thomas was born about 1798 at Holloway in Worcestershire and was a widower with several children, working as an agricultural labourer when he married Harriot. His first wife was Susannah Dovey born 1795 at Kempsey, Worcestershire. She married Thomas on 31 August 1818 at Hallow. She died on 16 April 1840 at Martley.

In 1851 Thomas Everton and his second wife Harriot were at Hallow with Thomas’s son Thomas from his first marriage and his daughter Clara born at Hallow in 1850 – his child by Harriot.

Thomas Everton died in 1858 in the Martley Registration District and Harriot, who was at Hallow in 1861 working as a Florist, seems to have remarried in 1864 in the Martley Registration District to a Henry Sylvester, an agricultural labourer born about 1813 at Ripple in Worcestershire. Harriot must have died before 1871 as in the census for that year Henry is shown as a widower.

Clara Everton married Thomas Owen in 1878 in the Kensington Registration District. Thomas a gardener, born in 1845 at Wistanstow, Shropshire. There known children were:

Ernest Owen born 1881 at Notting Hill and died 1882 at Notting Hill.

Albert Amos Owen born 1883 at Notting Hill. He married a Rose about 1808. She was born about 1887 at Notting Hill. There children by 1911 were Albert Owen born about 1908 at Notting Hill and Winifred Owen born about 1910 at Notting Hill.

Agnes Jessie Owen born about 1886 at Acton. She married an Edwin Brown in 1906 in the Kensington Registration Ditsrict.  Edwin, born about 1882 at Hampstead, was a labourer. By 1911, the children of Edwin and Agnes, all born at Notting Hill, were Agnes born 1907, Robert born 1908 and Florrie born 1910.

Osbourne Owen born about 1890 at Notting Hill who died 1891 at Notting Hill.

Robert Owen born about 1893 at Notting Hill.

Thomas Owen died in 1904 in the Kensington Registration District. In 1911, Clara Owen, all her surving children and their spouses, and her grandchildren were living at 3 St Martin Street, Notting Hill.

Clara Owen died at the age of 80 in 1930 in the Kensington Registartion District.

Returning to Jemima Watmore and her husband Robert Hinton – their known children were:

William Hinton 1820 St John Bedwardine who was buried there in 1821

Robert Hinton 1823 St John Bedwardine  who married a Mary Ann. Their known children were Sarah F Jemima Hinton 1854 and Ann Bertha Hinton  1863

Sarah Ann Hinton 1825 St John Bedwardine

Bertha Hinton 1829 at Powick who married Richard Esprey on 21 September 1856 at St Peter’s, Worcester. Richard and Bertha’s descendants have been traced down to the present day.

Jemima died in 1852 in the Worcester Registration District and her husband Robert, who went to live with his daughter Bertha after the death of his wife, died in 1866 in the Worcester Registration District.

Jemima Watmore  was my great x 3 grand aunt (i.e. she was the sister of my great x 3 grandfather)

At the risk of upsetting some of my readers I must confess that I have never been a fan of the Stuart dynasty, the monarchs of which attempted to emulate their successful Tudor predecessors without possessing either the skills and intelligence of the Tudor kings and Queens. Falling back on the outdated idea of the ‘divine right of Kings’ the Stuarts attempted to pursue personal agendas which were out of step with the needs and interests of their subjects. My dislike of this dynasty was reinforced by the discovery that the last Stuart monarch, James II was personally responsible for the removal from office of  a member of our family – Thomas Watmore born in 1645 and who was a burgess of the town of Bewdley.

Thomas was the last of a line of Watmores who had served as burgesses  (Council members) of Bewdley. The first of these was Humphrey Watmore, born in Stottesdon in 1598 who married Elizabeth Yeates and who settled at Bewdley where he established a successful tannery. The descendants of Humphrey are shown in the chart below.

Chart devised by Geoffrey Whatmore    Typeset by Rhys Whatmore

The Thomas Watmore who is the subject of this post was the son of Humphrey. Thomas married a Joyce and their known children were Humphrey 1669, Thomas who died in infancy in 1674, John 1673-1682, Thomas 1675 who died in 1695 the year after he matriculated at  University College, Oxford, Mary 1677, Elizabeth 1680 and Joyce who died in infancy in 1684.  These children would have been baptised at Ribbesford church which is some way out of the town, as at that time there was only at Chapel of Ease in the town itself.

Thomas became a burgess in 1669 when he was twenty-four. The bailiff  (mayor) of the town was elected annual from among the burgesses and Thomas served in this role in 1676 and again in 1685 and during these two years in office he would  probably have lived in the magnificent half-timbered Baliff’s House which still exists in the main street of Bewdley.

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The Bailiff’s House, Bewdley    Photograph Copyright: Phillip Halling      Source: Geograph 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/

The town of Bewdley received its first charter in the 12^th year of the reign of Edward IV. (1472). Additional privileges were granted to the borough  by Henry VII and were confirmed by Henry VIII in 1509 and again in 1525. The borough of Bewdley was incorporated anew by James I in 1606. This charter conferred for the first time the right of the borough to return a member to sit in parliament. The ruling body of the borough was to consist of a Bailiff and 12 capital burgesses and Parliament later confirmed that only these 13 people had the right to vote for the MP. However there was also a class of Free or Honorary Burgesses and these tended to be wealthy landowners who paid to become burgesses.

Tensions arose when the Capital burgesses and the Honorary burgesses had different interests. By 1676 the Capital burgesses tended to be dissenters whereas the Honorary Burgesses tended to be High Tories. It appears however, that the latter could not vote for the MP.

Charles II and his successor James II, scheming to get their own way, sought to pack parliament with their own supporters. One way to do this was to annul the charters of Boroughs and grant new ones in which people from outside the towns could become Capital burgesses who would then have the right to vote for the local MP.

In 1684 Charles II annulled the charter of Bewdley and prepared to issue a new one. On this occasion the Bailiff and Capital Burgesses  voluntarily surrendered  the old charter – perhaps influenced by the fact that the new one laid down that all boats going under Bewdley bridge should pay a toll to the Corporation and that the Bailiff and burgesses should have the power to make themselves into companies  and to keep all strange traders from coming into town.

 Bewdley Bridge    Source: ‘A History of Bewdley’ by John R Burton  Publsihed for the author by William Reeves of Fleet Street 1883

The records of the burgesesses include the following:

 ‘1684. Agreed that the charter of James I be surrendered to King Charles II and that the Bayliffe do attend our Recorder Sir Thos. Walcot and deliver to him our charter and instrument of resignation, who is desired humbly to present the same to his mat^ie.’

Peter Branch    Bayliffe                        John Bury        Justice 

Charles II died before the new charter could be issued and James II granted one dated 4 May 1685. James II at once set to work to undermine the powers of Boroughs using a committee of seven people, including the infamous Judge Jeffries, which sat in Whitehall and regulated municipal elections.

By 1688, the Bailiff and Capital burgesses of Bewdley had had enough and refused to relinquish further powers to the King. James II’s immediate response was to order the remove of Thomas Watmore and some of  his fellow burgesses  from the Corporation of Bewdley. It is said that the official instruction, was accompanied by a letter in the king’s own handwriting.

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Portrait of James II   circa 1680   from the studio of Sir  Godfrey Kneller    Image in the public domain from Wikopaedia

The Corporation records include the following:

 ‘Sept. 12 1688.   4 James II.  In obedience to an order of his Maj^ty’s Privy Council  Tho: Watmore, Tho: Burlton and Sam. Sandys Esq. 3 Burg. & Henry Townshend Esq^re Chief Recorder were all of them voted and removed out of their s^d several places And in accordance to his Maj^ty’sLrs of Recommendation to us directed John Bury  Humfry Yarranton &Higgins James Esq^re were elected & chosen Burg. Instead of Watmore, &c, and John Soley Esq elected recorder in stead of Townshend’. 

The country’s patience with James II was, however, rapidly running out, and realising this, the King hastily issued a proclamation promising to restore the ancient charters. It was too late for the King, however, as William of Orange was already on his way and James II was deposed by Parliament in the ‘Glorious Revolution’.  There were to be further disputes over the Bewdley charter later on, but never again was there royal interference on such a scale.

 Thomas Watmore died in 1693 and it would seem that by 1700, there were no longer any members of this Watmore branch at Bewdley.

Taking a ‘leap of faith’, I have assumed that the John Watmore born at Bewdley in 1666, the son of Humphrey Watmore  and Ann Bourne, is the John who married Sarah Doolittle on 24 May 1688 at Kidderminster, thus continuing  the Bewdley branch elsewhere. John and Sarah’s descendants include the members of the ‘Malvern’ branch of the Watmore family.

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This post is based on the research of Geoffrey Whatmore which is set out in ‘Wat’s Brother in Law’ – available as a CD ROM. Further details can be found at this link: http://www.genfair.co.uk/product_list.php?sid=115&page=1

I have also made use of ‘A History of Bewdley’ by John R Burton, Rector of Dowles, published for the author by William Reeves of Fleet Street in 1883.

The following table shows the numbers of Watmoughs and Watmoughs in the 1911 census of England.

The spread of those families with the older spelling of the family name is, as expected, mainly across counties in the north of England. It is interesting to note how many of these families had inserted an ‘h’ in their name.

The following table gives total figures for Watmough, Whatmough, Whatmore, Watmore and Wadmore:

Please note that these figures include wives whose maiden name was not one of the above forms of our family name.

The life of a Methodist minister in the early days must have been a tough one, moving between the towns in his circuit, preaching at each in turn, sometimes dealing with hostile crowds, often working in the open air, and always with the hostility of the Established Church at his back.

The Church of England was not well equipped to deal with the great changes in society that were taking place in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and as the industrial revolution gathered pace and more and more people crammed into the growing industrial towns, there was little provision for their spiritual needs.

The Methodists and the non-conformist sects saw it as their duty to minister to those whom the Established Church seemed to be neglecting and there were many brave men and women who spent their lives reaching out to the lower classes of society with support for both body and soul.

I was interested to discover that not one but two Watmoughs from Rochdale in Lancashire became Methodist Ministers. One of these was Abraham Watmough who was born in 1787. The other was Edwin Whatmough born on 15 September 1809 at Rochdale, the son of a Joseph and Sarah. Since Joseph Whatmough was born about 1777 it seems probable that he and Abraham were closely related.

Abraham Watmough

Born in 1787 in Rochdale, Lancashire and baptised on 3 February 1788, probably at St Chad’s church, Abraham was the son of Abraham and Betty Whatmough. He was the second of their five known children, the others being Elizabeth 1784, James 1790, Ann 1793 and Sarah 1795.

Abraham Senior is probably the Abraham who was baptised at St Chad’s Rochdale on 20 September 1755, the son of a James and Mary.  Their other known children were Grace 1742, Mary 1743, Betty 1747, Mally 1750 and Sally 1753.

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St Chad’s, Rochdale   Photograph copyright: Alexander P Capp     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/

Abraham born 1787 was converted to the Methodist cause by the Weslyan Minister Alexander Suter when he was 17 in 1804.  Abraham entered the Methodist itinerancy in 1811 when he was 24 and pursued an active ministry in England and in the Isle of Man.

This engraving is from the Engravings of British Methodist Clergy Collection of Pitts Theology Library, Emory University, Atlanta and is made available through the generosity of the E Rhodes and Leona B Carpenter foundation

In 1816 an Abraham Watmough, Wesleyan Minister, registered a house for Wesleyan Methodist worship at Oxenhall, Gloucestershire.

Abraham married an Ellen but it is not known whether they had any children.

In  1824, Abraham joined the Great Yarmouth circuit and in addition to his ministry he began to research the history of Methodism in Great Yarmouth and the places round about. The result was his ‘History of Methodism in the Town and Neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth including  Biographical Sketches of some of leading characters who have been among the Methodists at that place’. This was published in 1826. They didn’t go in for snappy titles at that time!

This work shows considerable scholarship and a professional writer’s comment of English, so Abraham had clearly received a good education. This book can be downloaded at this link:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fRUHAAAAQAAJ&dq=abraham+watmough&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=Ch9Wzk7MY7&sig=NjmDMg2rs2M7_BEP2bSEJKJTx1g&hl=en&ei=sf3mSdrZKIaGtgf6-JXSBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1

In 1851 Abraham and Ellen were living at Edensor, Longdon, Stoke on Trent. Abraham was 63 and Ellen 66. They had one female servant.

In 1852 and 1853, Abraham and his wife were in the Isle of Man where Abraham was a Minister on the Ramsey – Peel Circuit.

In 1856, Abraham was forced to retired due to failing health and he and Ellen went to live at St Helens in Lancashire. They were there in 1861 at 45 Rigby Street, with one female  servant.

Abraham died in 1863 at St Helens and Ellen in 1868, after many many years of unfailing service.

Edwin Whatmough

Edwin   was born on 15 September 1809 and baptised on 11 November 1809  at Blackwater Street Presbyterian Church, Rochdale. His father Joseph married Betty Fletcher on 29 July 1798 at Rochdale. They had five known children: Sally 1800, Hannah 1802, Daniel 1804, Jane 1807 and Edwin 1809.

Edwin married Sarah Riley on 29 June 1829 at St Chad’s, Rochdale. They had a large family of children: Elizabeth 1830 Rochdale, Mary 1832 Rochdale, James Riley 1835 Rochdale, Alice 1838 Clitheroe who married a Richard Clark, Sarah A 1840 Prescot, Jane M  1843 New Mill, Derbyshire, Edwin 1848 Nantwich, Hannah 1850 Lanteglos by Camelford, Cornwall.

The Rev Edwin Whatmough was living with his family  at the Malthouse at Lantelos by Camelford in 1851 and is decribed as a Wesleyan Methodist preacher. In 1861 he was at Highfield Terrace, Barnsley and is described as United Methodist Free Church Minister. His wife in 1861 was on a visit to her married daughter Alice, at West Derby Liverpool.

In 1871 Edwin and Sarah were at Back Lane, Badsworth, Yorkshire. In 1881  they were at Queens Place, Allerton,  Leeds. Edwin, who was now 72, had retired.

Edwin’s wife Sarah died at Allerton in 1882 aged 72.

In 1891 Edwin aged 82 was living with his daughter Jane at Everton, Liverpool. He died in 1896 aged 88 in the West Derby Registration District.

The Rev Edwin Watmough’s son Edwin, born 1848 married Mary Anne Williams  in 1873 at Knighton, Radnorshire. Their children were Percy William Whatmough 1874 Knighton, Edwin Humphreys Whatmough 1876 Knighton and Dora Mildred Whatmough 1879 Knighton.  Edwin’s wife died in 1880 aged 41 and in the 1881 census Edwin is shown as a widower at High Street, Knighton, Linen Draper and Milliner employing 3 female assistants and one boy.

Edwin Whatmough remarried to a Martha – probably the Martha Williams who married an Edwin in 1883 in the West Derby Registration District.

Edwin cannot be traced in 1891 but in 1901 he was with Martha at Northwick Cottage, Burford in Shropshire and was working as a Rent Collector. By 1911, the family had moved a couple of miles to Tenbury Wells on the other side of the river Teme. Edwin aged 64 is described as a Rates Collector. He died in 1912 aged 64 in the Tenbury  Registration District.

Of Edwin’s children –

Percy William Whatmough married either Cecilia Annie Chisholm or Mary Elizabeth Hurn in 1904 in the Birkenhead Registration District, but there is no trace of them in the 1911 census

Edwin Humphreys Whatmough married Caroline Mary Corfe in 1900 in the Liverpool Registration District. In 1911 they were living at 163 Seaview Road, Liscard, Birkenhead, Cheshire and Edwin was working as a Cotton Salesman. With them were their two children - Mabel Irene born 1904 at Egremont, Cheshire and Edwin Charles born 1908 at Liscard, Cheshire.

Dora Mildred Whatmough married Thomas Charles Oldbury in 1904 in the Tenbury Registration District. In 1911 they were living in the West Derby Registration District.

To contemporaries, the punishments meted out by English courts in the early nineteenth century appear merciless and out of all proportion to the crimes committed. Many of the so-called ‘crimes’ were most probably  acts of desperation by starving and destitute people. An earlier post told the story of James Watmore of  Detton Mill, Neen Savage in Shropshire, who was transported for life for stealing two sheep. In ‘Whatmore Panorama’ Geoffrey Whatmore tells the story of another member of the Whatmore family who was transported.

On 2 March 1829, a John Whatmore was convicted at the Surrey Quarter Sessions of stealing some brass and lead pipes. For this crime he was sentenced to fourteen years transportation to New South Wales. His voyage began on 20 May 1829 on the transportation ship ‘The Norfolk’.

John Whatmore was not a Surrey man, for at his trial it was stated that he was born in Worcester and that his occupation was a glass cutter. John was 23 years old at the time of his trial so he was born about 1806, but I have been unable to trace definitely his baptism. There was a John Watmore baptised on 25 April 1806 at Doverdale near Worcester, the son of a Hannah Watmore – possibly the Hannah baptised on 12 December 1790 at Upper Arley. This John, however, seems likely to be the one who married an Eliza and who lived at Yardley, Warwickshire with his wife and four children.

We do at least know what  the John who was transported looked like – he was five feet three inches tall and had light brown hair and grey eyes (‘Whatmore Panorama’). Geoffrey Whatmore’s researches also show that he was not a habital crimal as he obtained his ticket of leave in 1832 for apprehending two bushrangers and eleven runaways. He married Sarah Chapman (born at Benenden, Kent) on 18 August  1845 at Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.

  Click to enlarge

Source: ‘History of New South Wales’  Volume 2 by Thomas Henry Braim  Published by Richard Bentley  London 1846

Information submitted to the Rootsweb World Connect Project provides further information about this family.

John and  Sarah had a large family all born in New South Wales. The children were:

Mary Ann Whatmore born 1845  and died 17 September 1862 at Castle Hill

Eliza Whatmore born 21 August 1848 at Dural

Sarah Whatmore born 1850 and died 1862

Elizabeth Whatmore born 1852 who married Samuel Sherwood in 1873 at Newton

Louisa Whatmore born 19 March 1855 at Duval

John Whatmore born 24 August 1857 at Box Hill. He married Mary Jane Curtis on 15 April 1885 at Pitt Town. John died on 17 June 1904 at Rouse Hill.

Charlotte Whatmore born 30 October 1859 at Box Hill. She married Thomas Ross on 1 January 1881 at Parramatta. Charlotte died on 9 May 1944 at Windsor.

Rachael Whatmore born 1862 who married Samuel J Sprowles in 1884 at Central Cumberland.

Robert Whatmore born 1864 who married Harriet Susanna Sherwood in 1885 at  Central Cumberland.

Hannah Amelia Whatmore born 1865 who married Harry Josiah Sargeant in 1883 at Winsor.

Samuel Thomas Whatmore born 21 July 1868 at Rouse Hill and who died in 1880 at Rouse Hill.

William Henry Whatmore  born 14 November 1870 at Box Hill who married Elizabeth McIntosh in 1898 in Sydney.

John Whatmore from Worcester died in 1871 and his widow remarried on 25 February 1877 to a Henry Nichols.

Several members of this family were recorded at times as Whitmore.

If you know anymore about this family please contact me at rhyswhatmore@btinternet.com

An account of convict life in New South Wales can be downloaded at this link:

http://www.archive.org/details/convictlifeinne00whitgoog

If you would like to read other stories of Watmoughs, Watmers, Watmores and Whatmores, why not order a copy of ‘Whatmore Panorama’. For details follow this link: http://www.genfair.co.uk/product_list.php?sid=115&page=1

My second cousin Thomas (Tom) William Whatmore had a childhood which many of us will envy. He was brought up at one of England’s most spectacular stately homes – Speke Hall near Liverpool.

Thomas’s father, another Thomas Whatmore, born in 1880 at Upper Arley, Worcestershire, was appointed as butler at Speke Hall in 1920. His son Francis was born there in 1920 and his other son Thomas William in 1922.

Initially Thomas Senior and his family lived at the West Lodge on the Speke Estate but when his employer Adelaide Watt died, she left the Hall to a Trust and Thomas was asked by the Trustees to act as caretaker. In 1926, Thomas and his family moved into the Hall itself.

Thomas William Whatmore has written a fascinating account of life at Speke Hall. This was originally published simply for his family, (see earlier post about Speke Hall)  but a much expanded account of his life at Speke Hall has just been published by Countryvise Publications. This new edition contains 165 pages of texts, maps, photographs and drawings.

This new publication will be of interest to all those who have visited, or plan to visit Speke Hall (now a National Trust property), to anyone interested in the last days of a great country house, and of course to members of the Watmough /Watmer /Watmore/ Whatmore family.

The book can be ordered from good book shops or on-line at Amazon. Copies will shortly be available at National Trust Bookshops.

 ‘My Life at Speke Hall’  by Tom Whatmore  3rd edition revised and reset January 2009

Published by Countryvise Limited, 14 Appin Road, Birkenhead, Wirral CH41 9HH

 ISBN 978 1 906823 1 77

The 1911 census of England and Wales site now shows details for all the English counties. The chart below shows the counties not included in my earlier post on mumbers of Whatmores and Watmores.

Given the wealth of information provided in the more recent censuses of Canada and the USA one would expect the information to be accurate. Perhaps in most cases it is, but for recent immigrants there was perhaps a reluctance to provide true dates of birth. Perhaps immigrants did not want their precise origins to be revealed. Certainly it is true of the Whatmores and Watmores who emigrated from England to Canada in the years immediately before the 1911 cenus. Of the three families and one individual who  had arrived recently, I was only able to trace one family back in England. I will give details first of the elusive folks. If any one knows who they are please contact me at rhyswhatmore@btinternet.com

 At Victoria in the state of Alberta were: 

William Watmore, a farmer born June 1877, arrived in 1908, with his wife Lucy born August 1877 who arrived in 1906 and their children Robert W born September 1897 and Ivy W born October 1898, both of whom arrived in 1908. I wonder why the wife went to Canada first?

 At Nelson, Halton in the state of Ontario was: 

Alfred Watmore aged 41, born in January 1860, unmarried, who had arrived in 1908.

  At South Vancouver in the state of British Columbia were: 

Robert Watmore, a bookmaker born August 1845, arrived 1871 and his wife Alice born July 1854  who also had arrived in 1871.

 At Toronto North in the state of Ontario were: 

Percy Whatmore, a leather manufacturer, born in April 1876 who arrived in 1906, together with his wife Louise A born February 1878 who arrived in 1907, and their children Percy  born August 1897, Kenneth born January 1900 and Eric aged 3, all of whom had arrived in 1907.

Percy Senior turned out to be the Percy Whatmore who was born in 1873 at Darenth, Dartford, Kent.  He had lived at Sutton at Hope and had worked as a baker and a grocer prior to emigrating. Percy had married Alice Louise Hinkley in 1896 in the Medway Registration District. Their children shown in the GRO were Percival Sidney Whatmore born 1898 in the Dartford Registration District and  Kenneth Neri Whatmore born in 1900 in the Dartford Registration District.  Eric Whatmore, aged 3 would have been born in Canada.

Percy Whatmore Senior’s line can be traced back to a Phillip Whatmore who was born at Bolton in Lancashire about 1816. By 1848 he had migrated to North Wales since he married Maria Strange in that year in the Wrexham Registration District. In 1851 they were living at Cefn y Bedd just north of Wrexham. Phillip was working as a Paper Maker. By 1861 the family had moved to Dartford in Kent where Phillip continued to work as a Paper Maker.

Phillip and Maria had quite a large family: Margaret Ann 1841, Mary 1845, Elizabeth 1851, Phillip 1852, Hannah 1854, Maria 1857 and Oliver 1860.

Phillip Whatmore Junior, born 1852 near Wrexham continued in his father’s footsteps as a Paper Maker at Sutton at Hope near Dartford. He married Minnie Lester in 1871 in the St Olave Registration District (Southwark). Phillip Junior and Minnie were the parents of the Percy Whatmore who emigrated to Canada.

The wealthiest of all the members of our family whom I have yet come across was almost certainly JAMES WADMORE The Younger. His family name was originally WATMOUGH and  his line can be traced back to Sandy in Bedfordshire in the 1500s. It would seem, then, that the Wadmores are part of the Watmough family of the north of England. The Wadmores themselves certainly believed so and adopted the coat of arms of the Watmough family of Prescot.

It was the James Wadmore  the Elder, born at Bedford in 1747 who founded the Wadmore family of London. He married Mary Allison on 7 January 1776 at  St Marylebone’s Church in London.

James and Mary had five children all born in London – Mary 1777, John 1778, Susanna 1780, JAMES WADMORE The Younger, born 4 October 1782 at Hampstead Road, and Thomas Wadmore 1785.

Both James and Mary died at Southgate, Middlesex, Mary in 1831 and James in 1839.

We owe our knowledge of James Wadmore The Younger to the research carried out by John Grosvenor Laing  which was published in 1953 as ‘The Wadmores of London’. I are deeply indebted to the work of John Laing. The illustrations in this post are reproduced from his book.

James  Wadmore The Younger was sent, with his brother Thomas, to school at Bowes Farm near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire. There they were taught, fed and clothed for £20 a year. At the age of about twelve, James returned to London and initially worked as a clerk at the Stamp Office, Somerset House but on 3 November 1795 he was apprenticed to John Pricket of Highgate, a land surveyor.

When his apprenticeship ended in 1803, James Wadmore commenced business on his own account and was greatly assisted by his uncle, Sir Thomas Foster who introduced him to a number of prospective clients. At this time James also obtained the Freedom of the City of London and membership of the Skinners Company.

In 1804, James joined the St Pancras Volunteers. In 1806 he was appointed Ensign and in 1808 he was commissioned Lieutenant. He resigned in about 1814.

On 3 November 1808, James Wadmore married Hester Sarah Fry at St Marylebone’s church, London, but the marriage does not seem to have a particularly harmonious one and Hester suffered from ill health. She died on 24 January 1820. James and Hester had no children.

By 1809, James’s business was thriving and he was able to take a 14 year lease on a house in Lisson Grove, Paddington. His clients now included the Marquis of Devonshire, Lord Darlington and Lord Jersey.

James’ relationship with his uncle and benefactor Sir Thomas Foster was not always an easy one and James resented being at his uncle’s beck and call as a companion. Their relationship was threatened by a furious row in 1811 which was healed by the gift to James of a half-share in Old Fulham Bridge (worth about £700 at that time).

James was now an increasingly wealthy man owing to contracts such as that with the Ombersley estate in Warwickshire in 1814 and the death of his uncle the following year brought  James a considerable estate. He was now able to indulge his taste in the Fine Arts, acquiring pictures by Rowlandson, Gainsborough and Poussin amongst others.

By 1818 the neighbourhood of Lisson Grove was deteriorating so James Wadmore took a 21 years lease on 40 Chapel Street, Marylebone, a large mansion with a garden.

In 1821, James Wadmore remarried to Henrietta Robinson at St Marylebone’s church in a clandestine ceremony, probably due to embarrassment at Henrietta having broken off a previous engagement only a short time before.

James and Henrietta had two children – James Foster Wadmore born on 4 October 1822  and Henry Robinson Wadmore born on 7 July 1824.  Henrietta died of puerperal fever only eleven days afterwards.

In 1829 James was elected Renter Warden of the Skinners company, then Third, Second and First Warden and then in 1834 he was elected Master.

James was one of the Guardians of the Poor for the parish of Marylebone and during the cholera outbreak of 1832 he fearlessly visited, on a regular basis,  the wards of the Poorhouse checking that the needs of the sick were being met.

When the lease of the house on Chapel Street expired, James moved again – this time to Grosvenor Lodge in the High Road at Upper Clapton. He paid 2100 guineas for the remaining 95 lease. The ground rent was £20 a year. As it was a smaller house than his previous home he had a large picture gallery added to the building in 1843.

James Wadmore passed away on 24 December 1854 at Grosvenor Lodge. The funeral possession, led by the hearse drawn by horses clothed in velvet with black ostrich plumes on their heads, made its slow way to Highgate Cemetery where he was buried. (Square 27  No. 5507)

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At the time of his death, James was a member of the Astronomical Society and of the Graphical and Numismatic Societies, Chairman of Fulham Bridge, Hon. Member of the Royal Jennerian society and of the London Vaccine Institution, a member of the Board of Guardians of St Marylebone, Hon. Governor of Middlesex Hospital, past master and member of the Court of the Skinners Company and Freeman of the City of London.