Staniforthiana

Recollections of the Family of Staniforth

Of Darnall, In Yorkshire

Collected and Arranged Chronologically

F.M.H

“Have a regard to thy Name, for that shall continue with thee above a thousand great treasures of gold. A good life hath but few days; but a good name endureth forever.”

The family of Staniforth can be traced back, as being possessed of Darnall, in the parish of Attercliffe, near Sheffield, in the district of Hallamshire, and settled there as early as the reign of Richard II.

Mr. Hunter, in his history of that portion of South Yorkshire, says = “the principal freeholders of the Manor of Darnall and Attercliffe, were the families of Chapell and Staniforth; the name of the first has long been extinct, the Staniforths still remain and have a capital mansion in the heart of the village, built in 1723”.

The name was originally De Stonyford. By some it has been thought to have been spelled Stane-Ye-Furth, and the tradition was that one of the family obtained the name by being able to throw the “putting-stone” farther than any other man who attempted it. In course of time the y was altered into I, and the final d was softened into th, in conformity with the pronunciation usual in the north, and the name became what it is now, -Staniforth. The arms of Staniford were originally argent, 3 bars azure, on a canton or, a fesse, and in chief 3 mascles sable. The crest, a dexter mailed gauntlet, holding a sword rompu in bend; the motto, “Diligentia Omnia Vincit.” In the course of years no attention, it is presumed, having been paid to the armorial rights of the family, these arms got lost sight of, and in 1785 the then head of the family took out and registered as his own the arms of Mather (with a difference), which family he then represented. The arms assigned by the modern grant to the family of Staniforth, of Darnall are erminois, on a fesse wavy, gules, 3 lioncels argent, crest, on a mound, a lion sejant, gorged with a collar, studded with 3 bezants. Motto “Suivez raison.”

For much of the early part of the following account, we are indebted to Mr. Joseph Hunter, who, in his history of Hallamshire, gives a very correct pedigree of the family. He observes, page 252, that “they are a rare instance of a Hallamshire family, residing upon lands possessed by their ancestors in the reign of Richard II. They might, indeed, be much earlier; but from that period there is a regular succession of family evidences establishing their pedigree.”

It may be remarked that the reign of Richard II, is the period of legal memory. Beyond it is the time “de quo non exstat memoria hominis.”

Thomas De Stonyford

Of Darnall was living there in 1390 (13th of Richard II.) and also in (3rd of Henry IV.) 1403; he had three sons, William, John and Richard. This last son is sometimes called “of Attercliffe.” A deed of this Richard De Stonyford is important for establishing the first descents of the family. It relates that in the 3rd of Henry IV (1402) he granted to John De Stonyford his brother, and to John his son, and the longer liver, a messuage and croft in Darnall, which he had of feoffment of Thomas De Stonyford his father, and William De Stonyford, his brother, with a parcel of wood and meadow in Tinsley Park.

His wife’s name is not mentioned, but he had a son called John, who also had a son called William, named in a deed respecting lands in Attercliffe, 4th December, 1512 (3rd Henry VIII).

William De Stonyford

Eldest son of Thomas De Stonyford, is styled “Of Darnall” in some deeds of the 13th of Richard II. (1390) and also of the 3rd of Henry IV. (1403), by which it seems that on the death of his father he succeeded to the paternal estates. No mention is made of his having married, and according to Mr. Hunter’s account he certainly had no children. The pedigree, therefore, is continued from his next brother.

John De Stonyford

The second son of Thomas De Stonyford, who was living in 1411 (12th of Henry IV), when he had a grant of lands from Geoffry Lowther, Esq. He married the sister of the wife of John Smyth; her name is not given, but so much is proved by a deed of partition of lands between Stonyford and Smyth, in the 12th of Henry IV (1411). He had one son.

John De Stonyford

Of Darnall, living in 1390 and 1402 (the 1st and 3rd of Henry IV.) and named in a deed of the 20th of Henry VI (1442) forty-three years after, in which he is called “Senior” to distinguish him from his son John, who was living in 1434, the 12th of Henry VI, and also in 1473, the 12th of Edward IV. Nothing more is known of him, His son,

John Stanyford

Of Darnall, was living in 1481. He married twice; 1st Agnes Birley, from whom he was divorced 6th August, 1450. She was probably of the family of Birley, of Ecclesfield. There were several Altars in the Church of Ecclesfield, as appears by the will of Henry Birley, in 1391. He directs that his body shall be buried in the Church of St. Mary, Ecclesfield, and he bequeathed to the Altars of St. Mary, St. Catherine, St. Nicholas and St. John the Baptist, and to the Service of the Holy Cross in the said church, to each of them the sum of 6s 8d.

John Stanyford married secondly Margaret ----, who survived him and was executrix to his will, which was dated 1st May 1481. By his second wife he had four children – two sons, Thomas and Richard, and two daughters, Joan, who was joint executrix with her mother to her father’s will, and Catherine. All these children were living in 1481 (the 20th of Edward IV).

[A break here occurs in the pedigree and an interval of upwards of 50 years remains unaccounted for. An Edmund Staneforth was at the time Vicar of Millom in Cumberland (see Val. Eccles), but we cannot trace to whom he belonged.]

John Staniforth

Is the next of whom we find any notice. He is styled of Darnall, and in the 28th of Henry VIII. (1540) filled the situation of Master Cutler.

John married Joan, the daughter of Roger Fretwell, of Maltby, and apparently had no family, or certainly none who survived him, as on his death the family estate of Darnall devolved on his brother, from whom the pedigree is carried on.

Thomas Staniforth

Brother of John Staniforth, last named, married Margaret ====, by whom he had one son, an only child.

Lawrence Staniforth

Of Darnall, of whom we know nothing more than that he married and had three children, namely, John, Nicholas and Mary, and that he died before 1590. Of Nicholas and Mary nothing is recorded.

There were other families of the name of Staniforth who lived in the neighbourhood of Attercliffe besides the eldest branch, who possessed Darnall. About this time there lived at “Tanslow” a Mr. Staniforth, who was probably a descendant of Richard De Stonyford, mentioned as having property in Tinsley Park; he had a daughter Anne, who married at Sheffield on the 4th Aug, 1583, William Spencer of Bramley Grange. The Anne Staniforth (after-wards Spencer) was living 37 years after, in 1620; in 1624 her husband died, and was buried at Braithwaite, the 6th of June in that year. From them is descended the present family of Spencer of Attercliffe Hall and Bramley Grange.

John Staniforth

Of Darnall, the eldest son and heir of Lawrence Staniforth, was baptized at Sheffield, 28th January 1571.

He married (Aged 21) Jane, daughter of Richard Lewys, of the family of Lewys of Mar, and sister of Samuel Lewys of Thorpe Audline, Co. York (See Ped. Duc. Leod). She died at Carhead and was buried at Silkstone on the 2nd May, 1632.

There is a grant from George, Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1590 to Thomas Staniforth of Braithwell, of the custody and marriage of John, son and heir of Lawrence Staniforth of Darnall, deceased.

This Thomas Staniforth was probably of the family of that Anne Staniforth who married Mr. Spencer, who was buried at Braithwaite.

In 1618 the bridge over the river Don called Washford or Attercliffe Bridge being considered unsafe, it was determined to repair it. John Staniforth was appointed one of the persons to receive the money obtained for this purpose, and also to superintend the execution of the work.

Mr. Staniforth made his will on the 16th of June, 1630, and died soon after at the age of 59. He was interred at Sheffield on the 13th of October following.

By Jane (Lewys) his wife he had five children – two sons and three daughters, namely, John, his heir, of whom hereafter, and William, styled “Of Hull” in 1630 when his father made his will. No memorandum has been kept of him or his descendants. All that is positively known is that he was dead before the 1st August, 1633. From him are descended the present families of Staniforth of Hull and London, one of whom represented Hull in Parliament for fourteen years.

The three daughters of John and Jane Staniforth were-

Anne who was living in 1633
Dorothy, also living in 1633, She married George Pearson.
Mary, who married Michael Hyley of Attercliffe, and was living in 1633.

All three daughters were named in their father’s will, 1630.

In 1629 certain of the principal inhabitants of Attercliffe met together to consider about building a chapel, which was accordingly begun. The foundation stone was laid on the 15th of July, by a little before Christma the roof was put on, and about Michaelmas, 1630, the chapel was finished. It was opened for Divine Service by license of the Archbishop of York on Sunday, the 10th of October, but as this was only three days before the internment of Mr. Staniforth, he would not have the satisfaction of witnessing the completion of the work. His son-in-law Michael Hyley, was appointed one of the assistants “to help to provide things necessary for the work.” He also gave the sum of 6s. 8d annually towards the Endowment, which was only £10 per annum.

John Staniforth

Of Darnall, eldest son and heir of John and Jane Staniforth, was executor to his father’s will in 1631. He was a principal agent of Earl of Arundel.

The newly-erected Chapel at Attercliffe was consecrated on St. Matthias’s Day (Feb 24.th), 1630; John Staniforth then contributed towards the Endowment the sum of 10s annually. And it may be observed that only two other land-owners gave a larger sum and only one other gave the same.

Mr. Staniforth married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Stanley Gower, Rector of Brampton Bryan, in Herefordshire.

During the troublous times of Charles the 1st’s reign, Mr. Staniforth obtained from the Early of Newcastle, at Sheffield, in May, 1643, a “protection” in these words:-

“It is my expresse pleasure and command that no officers “or soldiers of his Majestie’s army under my command, presume “at any time hereafter to plunder, molest or trouble, the person, house, family, goods or chattles, of John Staniforth of Darnall, in this county, without particular order and special warrant “therein. “And hereof none of them may fayle at theire perils. “Given under my hand the 18th of Maye, 1643

“Wm. Newcastle”

At the time of Mr. Staniforth’s marriage with Mary Gower, her father was the curate of Attercliffe, where in 1630 a chapel had been built; he subsequently became Rector at Brampton Bryan, in the county of Hereford. Mr. Gower was a Divine of no small note in his day; he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and became domestic chaplain to Archbishop Usher. How long he remained with him or what occasioned the separation has not transpired, but as early as 1619 he came to England and was living in the family of the first Early of Devonshire, who kept a magnificent establishment at Chatsworth and Hardwick. In 1627 Mr. Gower was elected assistant minister of the church of Sheffield, and in 1630 he was nominated to the Curacy of the newly-erected chapel at Attercliffe.

Mr. Gower remained at Sheffield altogether eight years, and in 1635 he removed into Herefordshire, being presented to the living of Brampton Bryan by Sir Robert Harley, an ancestor of the Earl of Oxford and a great encourager of Puritan Divines.

Frequent notices of Mr. Stanley Gower occur in the correspondence of the Lady Brilliana Harley, published by the Camden Society 1853.

Five of Mr. Gower’s letters to his son-in-law, Mr. John Staniforth, have been preserved among the collections of autograph letters etc. made by Mr. Wilson of Broomhead, whose taste for archaeological pursuits acquired for him the distinction of being called “The Yorkshire Antiquary.” The earliest of these letters is dated from Brampton Bryan, 5th April 1636.

In one of them he names a son “Humphrey”, who by comparison of dates seems to be identical with the learned Dr. Humphrey Gower, Master of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity.

In 1643 Mr. Stanley Gower was plundered of everything by the Royalist party then at Brampton. In the same year he was called to London to join the Assembly of Divines at Westminster and assist in compiling the Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, composed by the Assembly, in which he distinguished himself. We find him also concerned in several public ordinations according to the new Directory as related in Calamy’s Continuation, pp 67 and 550., and his name appears among those of the preachers before the House of Commons. The thanks of the House were voted to him, and conveyed by Sir Robt. Harley and Mr. Hallowes, for a sermon which he preached before the House at the monthly fast on the 31st of July, 1644, and which he published with the quaint and absurd title “Things now a doing: or the Churche’s travail of the Child of Reformation, now a bearing” Another of his sermons is in print which was preached before the House of Commons on the 31st December 1646. About this time he had the church of St. Martin’s, Ludgate.

In 1650 he was presented to the Rectories of the Holy Trinity and St. Peter’s in Dorchester, and died there in 1660, the year of the Restoration, and so doubtless escaped being ejected or silenced by the Act or Uniformity, soon after passed.

Mr. John Staniforth, by his marriage with Mary Gower, had seven children, - four sons and three daughters. He died in 1661, and was buried on the 27th August in that year. His wife survived him fifteen years; her will was dated the 13th October 1676. Their children were,-

John, the eldest son, of whom we shall speak hereafter
Griffith “of Sheffield”
William “of Bakewell”
Mark “of Leeds”

All named in their mother’s will 1676. Mark was dead in 1700, and was believed to have married Phoebe daughter of William Milner of Leeds, by whom he had a son William of Leeds (heir in remainder to Samuel Staniforth, by the will of his uncle John Staniforth) who was living in 1715, and was probably the father of John Staniforth who married Elizabeth daughter of Henry Younge of Sheffield , and died the 10th of March 1765 and was buried at Attercliffe. The son of this Wm Staniforth also called William married Mary Macro of Norton near Bury. St. Edmonds, Suffolk of whom a more particular account will be given hereafter.

The three daughters of John Staniforth and Mary Gower, his wife were -

Mary, married to ---- Dixon of Wakefield, by whom she had a son called Staniforth Dixon, named in her mother’s will, 1676.
Sarah, married ---- Blake of Rotherham, by whom she had two sons – Joseph and Charles, and a daughter, Mary.
Ruth, baptized at Sheffield, the 19th of October, 1651. She died unmarried on the 25th of August, 1668, aged 17, and was buried in the Church at Wakefield.

John Staniforth

Of Darnall, the eldest son of John Staniforth and Mary (Gower), his wife, was baptized at Sheffield the 18th of September, 1636. He remained a bachelor till he was 50 years of age, and then on the 2nd of February, 1686, he married at Ecclesfield Church, Elizabeth the daughter of Thomas Wright, Vicar of Ecclesfield, who was one of the sufferers in the Great Rebellion. She was born in 1649 and therefore was thirty-seven at the time of her marriage.

After Mr. Wright had enjoyed the living a few years he was ejected by the Parliamentary Commissioners but he left Ecclesfield not without hope of returning, as he shewed by selecting for the text of his farewell sermon the last verse of the 126th Psalm “He that goeth forth and weepeth, hearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” His hopes were verified, and on the Restoration he returned to Ecclesfield and again took possession of his Vicarage, which he held for full 30 years after, dying in February 1691, aged 80. From the family papers and letters which were among the Wilson Collections, the Wrights’ seem to have been a cultivated and estimable family.

Mr. Staniforth died in April, 1704, and was buried on the 12th of that month, aged 68. His wife was executrix to his will and survived him 16 years. She remained a widow. She remained a widow for a year and seven months and then married on the 29th of December, 1705, Mr. John Grammar, of Bakewell, who was a widower with one son, John.

Some small houses at Darnall which were built by her to be inhabited by poor widows are still known as Mrs. Grammar’s Almhouses. To the chapel and poor of Attercliffe she was also a benefactress; to the former she gave in 1716 a silver cup and salver for the Communion Service, and to the latter she bequeathed in 1720 the sum of £50, in trust to the Overseers of Darnall-cum-Attercliffe, to be at interest for the benefit of the poor. She died on the 6th of December 1720, aged 71, having been married to Mr. Grammar 15 years.

By her marriage with Mr. Staniforth she had one only child, a son, John, born February 6th 1687 and baptized at Sheffield on the 23rd following. He died seven years before his father, aged 10, and was buried at Sheffield on the 14th of May 1697.

In consequence of this failure of heirs, the pedigree is continued from

Griffith Staniforth

The second son of John Staniforth and Mary (Gower) his wife. It is suggested by Mr. Hunter that he probably had his singular baptismal name from a Mr. Griffith, who was at this time a principal agent of the Howard family in the management of their estates in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, and with whom the Staniforths were probably intimate.

It is not quite certain whom Griffith Staniforth married, but there are strong reasons for believing that his wife was Mary, the fourth daughter of William Spencer of Bramley Grange, by Mary Westmby, his second wife, who was baptized the 19th of May, 1654, and was the great granddaughter of William and Ann Spencer mentioned at P. 9. The relationship was spoken of and acknowledged by both families, though in an indefinite way, within the memory of those now living (1856). Miss Elizabeth Younge (to be afterwards mentioned) has heard her great uncle Samuel Staniforth, who was the grandson of Griffith Staniforth, speak of it.

Griffith Staniforth had two sons only: 1. –Samuel and 2-Mark. The latter was baptised at Sheffield on the 12th of March, 1693, and that fact is the last we know of him. As he was never referred to by his nephews in any way it may reasonably be presumed that he died in infancy, nor has any memorandum been kept of the date of the death of Griffith Staniforth, but it appears to have taken place before that of his elder brother, John Staniforth, in 1701, and indeed before 1700, when John Staniforth made his will, by which he directed that Samuel, his brother Griffith’s son, should be brought up under the direction of his aunt (Mrs. Elizabeth Staniforth) at the University and Inns of Court; a direction which was not to be expected had his father been alive to take the charge of his own son.

Samuel Staniforth was 15 years old when his uncle died and 31 when by the death of his aunt Mrs. Elizabeth Grammar, he came into the possession of the Darnall Property.

Samuel Staniforth

The eldest son of Griffith Staniforth was baptised at Sheffield on the 28th of January, 1689.

Two years after the death of his aunt, Mrs. Grammar when he was 33 years of age, he married at Bradfield, near Sheffield, Alethea, 5th daughter of Thomas Macro, of Bury St. Edmunds, by Susan, his wife, only daughter and heir of the Rev. John Cox, Rector of Risby, near Bury, by Susan, his wife, the daughter of the Rev. John Allott, Rector of Little Thurlow, Suffolk, and sister of Anne Allott, wife of Rev. Charles Wilson, Vicar of Sheffield, which John Cox was grandson of the famous Dr. Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This lady was aged 24, at the time of her marriage, having been born on the 30th of May 1698.

It may seem almost unnecessary to say anything about a man so well known as Dr. Cox, but as the Staniforth family can show a direct descent from him, and are, with the Wilsons, of Broomhead, his only remaining representatives this narrative would be incomplete without a short notice of him. The following account is abridged and revised from the life of Bishop Cox, given at p. 183 of the 2nd vol. of the “Biographia Evangelica” by Rev. Erasmus Middleton.

Dr. Cox was born at Whaddon, in Buckinghamshire, of mean parentage, in 1499. He had probably his first education in the small priory of Snellshall, in the parish of Whaddon, but being afterwards sent to Eton, he was thence elected to a Scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge, of which he became fellow in 1519. Having the same year taken his Bachelor of Arts degree and being eminent for his piety and learning, he was one of those bright scholars who were invited to Oxford by Cardinal Wolsey to fill up his new foundation. He was accordingly preferred to be one of the Junior Canons of “Cardinal College” and on the 7th December 1525, incorporated Bachelor of Arts at Oxford, as he stood at Cambridge. On the 8th of February following he was licensed to proceed in Arts, in which he took the degree of Master, July 2nd 1526.

He was reputed one of the greatest scholars of his age, and his poetical compositions were in great esteem among the beset judges. His piety and virtue were not inferior to his learning. Showing himself averse to many of the ancient doctrines and declaring freely for Luther’s opinions he incurred the displeasure of the Governors of the University, who stripping him of his preferment and threw him into prison on suspicion of heresy. On his release he left Oxford, and sometime after was chosen Master of “Eton School” which was observed remarkably to flourish under his vigilant and industrious care. In 1537 he took the degree of D.D. at Cambridge, and on the 4th December 1540 was made Archdeacon of Ely; he was also appointed, in 1541, first Prebendary in the first stall of the same Cathedral, after the new founding of it by Henry VIII, on the 10th September, 1541.

He was likewise, on the 3rd June 1542, presented by the same King to the Prebend of Sutton, with Buckingham, in the Church of Lincoln, and installed on the 11th of that month. In June 1545, he was admitted as D.D in the University of Oxford. On the 8th January 1843/4, he was made second dean of the newly-erected Cathedral of Oseney, near Oxford, and in 1546, when that see was translated to Christ Church, he was also made Dean there. These promotions he obtained through the interest of Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Goodrich, to the last of whom he had been Chaplain. By their recommendation he was chosen Tutor to Price Edward, whom he instructed with great care and formed his tender mind to an early sense of his duty both as a Christian and a King.

On that Prince’s accession he was made a Privy-counsellor and the King’s Almoner. On the 21st May 1547 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford; on July 16, 1548 he was installed Canon of Windsor; and the next year was made Dean of Westminster. About the same time he was appointed one of the Commissioners to visit the University of Oxford, in which he is accused of having abused his commission. When the design of reforming the Canon Law was in agitation, he was appointed one of the Commissioners. Both in this and the former reign, when an act passed for giving all chantries, colleges, etc. to the King, through Dr. Cox’s powerful intercession the colleges in both Universities were excepted out of that act.

Soon after Queen Mary’s accession to the Crown he was stripped of his preferements, and on the 15th August 1553, committed to the Marshalsea. He was soon discharged, and foreseeing the persecution which was likely to ensue, he went to the Continent, from whence he did not return till after Queen Mary’s death.

After Queen Elizabeth’s accession he was appointed to preach before her on the first Sunday after her coronation (25th January 1559) for which purpose he returned expressly from Geneva. He often preached before her in Lent. He was one of the Divines appointed to revise the Liturgy, and when a disputation was to be held at Westminster between eight Roman Catholic Bishops and Doctors, and eight of the Reformed Clergy he was the chief champion on the Protestant side. When the new translation of the Bible was to be made, which was commonly known as “The Bishop’s Bible.” Dr. Cox’s share was the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistle to the Romans, the strict correctness and accuracy of which is said greatly to exceed all the other parts. He was also one of the principal persons employed in compiling the Book of Common Prayer, and also in the revision of it, in 1559. The metrical version of the Lord’s Prayer, commonly printed at the end of Sternhold and Hopkins’s version of the Psalms is his doing.

In 1559 Queen Elizabeth nominated him to be Bishoprick of Norwich, but, changing her mind, she preferred him to the See of Ely. His Congé d'Élire bore date July 15, 1559. He was consecrated at Lambeth on the 21st December following. Whitgift, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was his chaplain.

The town residence or “hostel,” as it was called, of the Bishops of Ely had frequently been occupied by great personages. “Time-honoured Lancaster” died there in 1399. In Bishop Cox’s time it was let to Sir Christopher Hatton, Queen Elizabeth’s handsome Lord Chancellor, who not satisfied with the use of the house alone, coveted, also, the gardens and pleasure grounds which surrounded it. These Dr. Cox was not disposed to relinquish, though the Chancellor’s wish was backed by a private message from the Queen. It was on his continued refusal that she wrote to him the following well known and piquant epistle:-

“Proud Prelate,

“You know what you were before I made you what you are now. If you do not immediately comply with my request, I will unfrock you, by G-

“Elizabeth”

Sir Harris Nicholas, in his life of Sir Christopher Hatton p. 36 gives the following version of the letter:-

“Proud Prelate

“I understand you are backward in complying with your agreement; but I would have you know that I, who made you, can unmake you: and if you do not forthwith fulfil your engagements, by G- I will immediately unfrock you”

“Elizabeth”

Sir Harris Nicholas does not think his own, nor any version, strictly accurate.

This letter, as may be supposed, produced the desired effect, and the Bishop resigned the twenty acres of gardens, together with the gate-house of his Episcopal Palace in Holborn. For this he demanded the annual rent of £10 in money, ten loads of hay and a red-rose; besides which he reserved to himself and his successors the right of walking in the gardens, and gathering twenty bushels of roses annually! (See Cunningham’s London Guide Art, Ely Place).

St. Etheldreda’s Chapel is all that now remains of the once princely residence of the Bishops of Ely, and by the names only of “Ely Place” and “Hatton Garden” are we reminded of the celebrated Chancellor and his favorite residence.

He ventured boldly to remonstrate with Queen Elizabeth on retaining the crucifix and lighted tapers in her Chapel, for which, it is said, she never forgave him. He died on the 22nd of July 1581, in the 82nd year of his age. By his will he left several legacies, amounting in all to the sum of £945 and died worth £2322 “in good debts.” He had several children. His body was interred in Ely Cathedral, near Bishop Goodrich’s monument, under the second arch, south-east of the transept. The place was marked by a brass on which was incised the figure of an ecclesiastic, and a long Latin inscription. The brass has long side been destroyed, but the inscription is given in Brown Willis’ “History of Ely Cathedral” It is as follows:-

“Haec ferme moriens fatus est:

“Vita caduca vale, salveto vita perennis;

“Corpus terra tegit, Spiritus alta petit.

“In terra, Christi Gallus, Christum resonabam;

“Da, Christe, in Coaelis te sine fine sonem.”

-------------

“Ricardus Cox, Preaestanti ingenio, multiplici Doctrina

“Insignis, duobus Christianissimis Regibus, primum Henrico

“VIII, deinde Edwardo VI., cujus et Institutor fuit, capellanus;

“post quinquennium eb Elizabetha Regina restitutus: mox

“hujus Ecclesiae Antistes factus est; quam quidem Dignitatem

“eum viginti duos annos honorifice tenuisset Octogesimo

“suae Aetatis anno obit

“22 die Julli A.D. 1581”

-------------

After the Bishop’s death the See was vacant nearly nineteen years, the profits going to the Queen. Before we return to the Staniforth family we must take some notice of that of Macro, one of whom, as mentioned at page 19, married Mr. Samuel Staniforth, in 1722.

This lady was Alethea, fifth daughter of Thomas Macro, Esq. Of Bury St. Edmunds, whose father, also called Thomas Macro, was a person of considerable opulence and importance in that town, having for many years been an Alderman and Chief Magistrate for Bury. He died on the 27th of September 1701, aged 86. His wife survived him 12 years, and died on the 27th April 1713, aged 88. The house in which they resided was situated in what is called the Meat Market, and may still be recognized by the observatory on the top of it. There were several names who distinguished themselves at Cambridge, both about this time and before, but they have nothing to do with this narrative. They therefore need not be particularly mentioned.

Mr Thomas Macro, son of the Thomas just mentioned, filled most of the offices of trust and responsibility connected with his native town. He was born in 1649 and married, on the 9th of Jan, 1678, Susan, only daughter and heir of John Cox, Rector of Risby, near Bury, by whom (who was born 3rd of August, 1660), he had nine children – three sons and six daughters. This Mr. Macro bought the estate of Norton and Little Haugh, a few miles from Bury St. Edmunds, of Milleson Edgar Esq. about the year 1680. He died on the 26th of May, 1787 aged 88 and was buried in the centre alley of St. James’s Church, Bury.

He had been five times Chief Magistrate of Bury, and was also one of the Governors of the Bury School. In 1701 he served as Sheriff for the county of Suffolk. His wife, Susan (Cox), survived him six years, and died on the 29th of April, 1743, aged 83. Their nine children were –

Cox, born 1683, of whom we shall have to treat at length hereafter
Ralph, D.Dm born about 1694, Preacher at the Rolls; was of Conville and Caius College, Cambridge; took his degree as B.A, 1716, M.A 1720, S.T.P. Com. Regiis, 1728. He died at Bath, and was buried there on the 19th of October, 1728, nine years before the death of his father.
Thomas, he entered the army as Ensign in the Coldstream Guards in 1720, which would place the date of his birth about 1702. He afterwards became a colonel in General Columbine’s Regiment. In 1736 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Gascoyne, Esq. and died three years after, in 1739, only surviving his father two years.
Susan, the eldest daughter of Thomas and Susan Macro, was born in 1685, and died unmarried during the lifetime of her parents, on the 24th September, 1730, aged 45; she was buried in St. James’s Church, Bury.
Elizabeth, the next daughter, was born in 1687 and died unmarried on the 5th March, 1767, aged 80, surviving her father 30 years and her mother 24 years; she was buried in the family vault in St. James’s Church.
Mary, the third daughter was born in 1688, and married her cousin, John Wilson of Broomhead, near Sheffield, Esq. who was the son of the Rev. Charles Wilson, Vicar of Sheffield by Anne Allott, her grandmother Cox’s sister; her husband was, therefore, her mother’s first cousin. She had four children, - two sons and two daughters and died June 18th 1761 aged 73, having survived her husband 26 years; she was buried in the middle alley of St. Paul’s Church, Sheffield.

John Wilson, the eldest son of John Wilson and Mary (Macro) his wife, was born on the 28th of April, 1719. He devoted himself to antiquarian and genealogical pursuits and acquired the name of “The Yorkshire Antiquary”. This taste had been fostered and encouraged by his uncle, Dr. Cox Macro of Norton, at whose death Mr. Wilson was 48 years of age. He was only 16 when his father died, and probably from that circumstance had been more noticed by his uncle than would otherwise have been the case. He married on the 11th of September 1718, when aged 27, at Kirkheaton, Susannah, daughter of Joseph Oates, of Nether Denby, near Wakefield, by Grace his wife, daughter of Bartin Allott, of Bilham Grange, Yorkshire, by whom he had six children. He died suddenly on the 3rd of March, 1783, being found on the morning of that day dead in his bed, having not quire completed his 64th year; he was buried in the chancel of Bradfield Church; his wife survived him 13 years, dying in 1796, age 74.

His eldest son John Wilson, was born on the 1st June 1747. He was brought up to the profession of the law and practiced in London as a solicitor; he married Rebecca, sister of General Gent, by whom he had three children – a son and two daughters. At his death in 1810 he left Broomhead, with all the other family estates, to his wife who sold Broomhead to a second cousin of her husband’s Henry Wilson, a merchant in London, the son of Christopher Wilson, who was first cousin to “The Yorkshire Antiquary” and son of the Rev. Charles Wilson and Anne Allot his wife. By this transfer the estate of Broomhead, which had been in the family ever since Edward the 1st’s time, was still retained to the name and race. Mr. Henry Wilson died unmarried, and Broomhead eventually became the property of his sister Mary, who married John Rimington of Sheffield, by whom she had an only son, James, who married Sarah daughter of Samuel Broomhead Ward, whose eldest daughter married, in 1848, Thomas Lord Northland (born 1816), eldest son of the 2nd Early of Ranfurly.

Thomas the second son of John Wilson and Mary (Macro) his wife, was born July 23rd, 1722, and died in April 1728, aged six years.

The two daughters of John Wilson and Mary (Macro his wife, were Susan, born 8th January 1712 and married at Attercliffe Chapel on the 13th of May 1742 to Gamaliel Milner of Attercliffe, she was his second wife and died 1769, aged 57 and

Isabella Maria, the youngest daughter born 7th August, 1729; she married first Jonathan Ellis of Sheffield, attorney, and secondly Robert Asline, of Sheffield, Merchant; she died in 1805 aged 76. These four children of John and Mary Wilson were first cousins of Thomas Staniforth (vide supra) P.59

Anne, fourth daughter of Thomas Macro and Susan (Cox) his wife, was married on the 9th of February, 1720 to Thomas Stewart of Whipstead, Suffolk, by whom she had two children, Thomas Stewart, of Bury St. Edmunds, surgeon, who died 30th December 1779, and Susan.

Mrs. Stewart was probably born about 1696; and died in September 1750, the same year in which her sister, Alethea Staniforth died, surviving her only three months.

Alethea, the fifth daughter of Thomas and Susan Macro, was born May 30th 1698, and married at Bradfield Church, near Sheffield (When on a visit to her sister, Mrs. Wilson, on the 19th of July 1722, aged 24), to Samuel Staniforth of Darnall, Yorkshire, Esq. by whom she had eight children, only four of whom lived to grow up and survive her. Some family letters, on the occasion of her marriage, were among the Wilson Collections, and show a degree of education and kindly affectionateness, which gives a very agreeable impression of the feelings which existed among the different members of the Macro family. Mrs. Staniforth died in June 1750, more will be said of her when her husband comes to be mentioned.

Isabella, the sixth daughter of Thomas and Susan Macro, was born in 1704, and died unmarried on the 12th of September 1771, aged 67. She outlived all of her family and was buried in the family vault in the middle alley of St. James’s Church, Bury St. Edmunds, where a large flat incised stone marks the grave in which so many of her family are laid. She was 33 when her father died.

Cox Macro, the eldest son of Thomas Macro and Susan (Cox) his wife, was born in 1683 and became eminent for his literary attainments. He finished his education at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of LL.B. in 1710, and S.T.P. Comittiis Regiis, 1717. It was currently believed by some of his descendants, and often repeated, that he had taken a Doctor’s Degree in law, physic and divinity, though he practiced in neither profession. However the LL.D. and M.D do not appear to have been taken either at Cambridge or at Oxford; yet it seems extraordinary that the assertion should have gained belief without any ground for it. At his death in 1767 he was the Senior Doctor of Divinity in the University. He was also Chaplain to King George the first.

Dr. Macro married Mary, daughter of Edward Godfrey, Esq. of King Street, Golden Square, in the parish of St. James’s Westminster, Under Treasurer to George the 3rd, when Prince of Wales. The marriage took place at Risby, the parish of which Dr. Cox Macro’s Grandfather was Rector. In the nave is a flat stone to the memory of Edward Godfrey, Esq. of St. James’s Westminster, who died on the 11th of May, 1727, and of Francis, his eldest son. These were, probably, Mrs. Cox Macro’s father and brother. She had only two children, a son and a daughter, and died on the 31st August 1753, and was buried at Norton.

The following account of Dr. Macro, and of his house at Norton, from the pen of the Historian of Hallamshire, Mr. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A, cannot but he interesting to all who claim relationship to him. It is taken from one of the Camden Society Publications, called “Ecclesiastical Documents,: edited by Mr. Hunter. See Preface to the Charters P. 46.

“Having inherited a considerable fortune from his family, who were opulent burgesses of the town of Bury St. Edmunds, he seems not to have taken upon himself in private professional study, and in gratifying his taste for curious literature and the arts of painting and sculpture, besides devoting himself to the improvement of his estate at Norton, to which he succeeded on the death of his father in 1737.

Dr. Macro’s house at Norton, about six miles from Bury St. Edmunds, was probably one of the best specimens of the time of the embellished residence of a country gentlemen of easy, if not affluent, fortune. He enlarged the house to adapt it to his purposes, laid out around it extensive pleasure grounds, and collected within numerous paintings (some of them very choice) and a few sculptures.

Peter Tillemans, of Antwerp, the celebrated animal painter, was much employed by him, and died in his house in 1734, having been working the day before on the portrait of a favorite horse, which remained at Norton in its unfinished state as a memorial of the circumstance. This picture was, in 1860, in the possession of Mrs. Patteson, of Cringleford, Norfolk. See notice of Little Haugh Hall, Norton, by Samuel Tymms, read before a meeting of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, etc. at Little Haugh Hall.

Dr. Macro’s Coins and Medals were choice. He had also some of the rarer productions of the early Foreign and English presses; and a collection, perhaps one of the best in private hands, of MS. Remains in volumes. Autograph letters, and Charters. [The latter seem to have been collected from various quarters, as opportunity was presented to him.] Several of his MS volumes had belonged to SPELMAN, others had formed a part of the library of the Monks at Bury.

A portion of the Charters was presented, soon after Dr. Macro’s death, in (1767) by his daughter, to a nephew of his, who strongly resembled him in his tastes and pursuits. This was Mr. Wilson of Broomhead, a Yorkshire gentleman, who was no mean antiquary, and had a most extraordinary passion for amassing and transcribing Charter evidence. This gentleman died in 1783 and his collection of written evidence remained as he had left it at the old Hall in which he had resided, in one of the wildest parts of the country, till 1806 (23 years after his death) when it was liberally thrown open to my [Mr. Hunter’s] inspection, and from that time I have found what it contained; a source of original information, extremely useful to me in my genealogical and topographical studies.”

Some of Dr. Macro’s MSS. Have been printed and published by the Cambridge Camden Society, under the title of “Ecclesiastical Documents” namely, a brief History of the Bishoprick of Somerset, from its foundation to the year 1174; and charters from the library of the Rev. Cox Macro, D.D. now first published by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A.

A catalogue of Dr. Macro’s treasures was made by his nephew, Mr. Wilson in 1766. The works of art are first mentioned, his bust of Rysbrach, his pictures and his drawings by the old masters, which had belonged to Sir James Thornhill. There was also a bust of Tillemans, by Rysbrach, and the inscription under the niche in which it was placed, at the top of the staircase, is yet visible “Tillemansio suo, Rysbrachius.” These two busts are now in the possession of the Patteson family. His autographs, were, some of them, of great historical value: there were many letters from the Protestant martyrs, probably inherited from his ancestor, Bishop Cox; and one from Cromwell to his wife, dated April 12th, 1651; besides many others from various sources, too numerous to particularize.

Mr. Tymms mentions in his account of Little Haugh that Dr. Macro, for many years before his death, had never gone beyond his house and gardens.

By right of his mother, who was an only child, Dr. Macro quartered the arms of Cox, with those of his own family, and with the quaintness which was then quite a fashion, he added the motto “Cocks may crow” which as may be seen by a reference to his arms, contained a punning allusion to his own name and the arms of Cox. Dr. Macro died in March, 1767, aged 84, and was buried at Norton. By his will he left a sum of money to be expended in annual donations of twelve coats, and as many petticoats to the poor of the parish.

By his marriage with Miss Godfrey, Dr. Macro had two children, a son and a daughter, Edward and Mary.

Edward was born about 1733. He “was for some time a student at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, with the advantage of having Bishop Hurd for his tutor” See Mr. Tymms’ Notice of Little Haugh. P.7, feeling more inclination for a military than a clerical life, young Mr. Macro joined the expedition to Flanders, on which occasion Mr. Alvis, Rector of Great Snoring, Norfolk, writes to him. “Your expedition to Flanders gives me, I confess, some uneasiness. I cannot help fearing that the life of a camp will disagree with the tenderness of your constitution; but whether you cross the sea, or continue in England, wherever you are, I most heartily wish you happy.”

Edward Macro is said to have died unmarried during the lifetime of his father, in April 1766, aged about 32, and to have been buried in St. George’s Church, Hanover Square. The death of his son, both as to exact time and also as to place, was involved in much uncertainty, which naturally gave rise to reports, and excited suspicions, the mysterious vagueness of which ensured their having long remembered, and often talked of, in the neighbourhood of Norton. His death certainly had taken place before the 19th May 1766 when Dr. Macro made his last will, in which there is no mention of his son. He was known to have attained the age of upwards of 30 years; and on the death of his father, it was naturally expected that he would have come from London, or wherever he was residing, and taken his place as heir to the paternal estate; bit to the surprise of every one, it was then announced for the first time, that he had died the preceding year; and it was evident to everyone as Dr. Macro died only ten months after the ostensible date of his son’s death, that no outward sign of mourning had marked their loss.

Under these circumstances, the sister Mary Macro succeeded to the property. It has been said that she fostered a difference in tastes and tempers, which unfortunately existed between her father and brother, until she accomplished a decided disunion; which, being herself anxious to possess the property, she took care should never be made up. Tradition even goes so far as to say that she was the means of his death on some occasion when he came from London in the hopes of being reconciled to his father.

At the time of her father’s death Miss Macro was engaged (privately) to be married to Mr. William Staniforth, of Sheffield. He was a distant connection of the Staniforths of Darnall; and for some reason, never of course divulged by Miss Macro, her father objected to the match.

It is related, that on the death of her father, Miss Macro immediately applied to a Mr. Green, a Bookseller, in Bury, to spare no expense in getting the announcement of his death inserted in every newspaper. This was in the hop of its falling under the notice of Mr. William Staniforth. Her plan succeeded, and the marriage took place within two months of her father’s death. The extraordinary haste which she shewed to fulfil her engagement, and the undisguised pleasure which she evinced at becoming possessed of all the property, occasioned at the time, many severe animadversions on her conduct.

She enjoyed her suspiciously-gotten property only eight years. After her death in 1775, the house underwent some alterations and repairs, when a closet, which had not been used for many years, was opened, and found to contain a box, in which were the bones of a human skeleton.

In 1859 two old people were still living in the village of Norton, who remembered having heard their parents and friends talk of the extraordinary circumstances and describe the surprise and horror caused by the discovery of the contents of the box. Very naturally, it was at once connected with the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Macro’s son and the belief became very general that the bones must be his. No light was ever thrown on this strange circumstance, and a few years since, Dr. Dicken, the present Rector of Norton (1861) having heard it spoken of by one of his aged parishioners, took the opportunity of looking over the Diary and correspondence of Dr. Macro, which was then in the possession of Mr. Dawson Turner, in the hope of finding some elucidation of the mystery, but pages and papers which might have contained allusions to the lost son had been carefully cut out and abstracted – a circumstance no less remarkable than suspicious. Dr. Macro’s collection of Autograph Letters was sold June 9th 1859 for £21.

Miss Mary Macro married on the 14th of May, 1767 (at Norton) Mr. William Staniforth of Sheffield, the son of John Staniforth of Attercliffe (who very probably was the same John Staniforth who is named at the laying the first stone of the new house at Darnall, in 1722 and who died March 10th, 1765) by Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Younge, of Sheffield, who died on the 17th of January, 1758, aged 67 and was buried at Attercliffe. Mrs. William Staniforth died of the small pox, on the 16th of August 1775, aged 56, s.p and was buried at Norton.

By the death of this lady without issue, the Staniforths of Darnall and the Wilsons of Broomhead, become co-heirs of the name and blood of Macro. See pedigree of Staniforth and Wilson, at the end of this Book.

Mrs. William Staniforth left all her property to her husband. At his death, which took place on the 14th November, 1786, when he was aged 70, eleven years after the death of his wife, he bequeathed it all to his brother, Robert Staniforth, of Manchester, entailing it after his brother’s death (which occurred on the 5th of March, 1788.) on his niece Elizabeth, the daughter of his brother Robert. She married John Patteson, Esq. for many years M.P. for Norwich, and by him had six children.

Dr. Macro left a small but very curious library of books, which was sold to Mr. Beatniffe, of Norwich, for about £150. Such was the rarity of some old poetry, that he is said to have realized upwards of £1000 by the resale of it. Some volumes having produced from £50 to £100 each. See p. 247 of “a concise description of Bury St. Edmonds and its environs 1827.”

Several of Dr. Macro’s manuscripts were sold in 1819, by Mr. and Mrs. Patteson, and have passed into the hands of Mr. Hudson Gurney and Mr. Dawson Turner, both members of the Camden Society.

The estate of Little Haugh was advertised to be sold on Friday, April 27th, 1804, and bought by Mr. Robert Braddock, of Bury St. Edmonds, who died in 1812, and left it to his nephew, Robert. The trustees of his son sold it to Peter Huddleston, Esq. the owner (and brother-in-law of the present Rector, Dr. Dicken.) who has added to, and considerably altered the buildings, so that little besides the stair-case and two or three rooms remain as they were in Dr. Macro’s time.

A description of the place as it was, so recently as 1847, given by Mr. Hunter, will be interesting to everyone connected with Dr. Macro:-

“A few years ago” said Mr. Hunter, writing in 1854, “On my way into Norfolk, I halted at Bury St. Edmonds for the purpose of seeing the house at Norton. I found it still retaining traces of Dr. Macro’s taste and skill, in forming what might be considered quite a model of the ornamental residence of a family of good fortune.

It was small, but every part which remained in the state in which Dr. Macro had left it, was finished to the highest possible point; the grounds, where not altered, were quite in unison. One of the avenues remained, and a parterre in the garden, which had evidently been made by himself, but all on a small scale of elegance, seldom equaled, and I could not but think of what Lady Hervey said of Chiswick, ‘that the house was too small to live in, but too large to hang to a watch.’ It must, however have been a perfect gem – a miniature of an Italian palazzo.

“Dr. Macro enjoyed the beautiful place he had erected to a good old age, dying when he must have been nearly 90:- J.H.

In another letter Mr. Hunter says – “I have a copy of a long account of the house at Norton, and its literary stores, made by Mr. Wilson, of Broomhead, during a visit which he paid to his uncle about a year before Dr. Macro’s death. It was from this that I prepared the paper on that subject, which I read before the Archaeological Institute, at the meeting in Norwich, in 1847, together with what I had just seen myself at Norton.

The papers were delivered in the usual course to the Secretary, but they were not published, and no one knows anything about them, and the gentleman who was the Secretary at that time has since died."

Mr. Hunter adds – “I have my own suspicions which way they went. I fear they are irrecoverable, or I would have sent them for your perusal.

I remember seeing amongst the papers of Mr. Wilson the friendly correspondence of his mother with that part of her family whom she had left in Suffolk. I looked them over more for facts than feelings, but I remember being struck with the evidence presented of the family being at that time united by strong bonds of affection and mutual solicitude, so as to give the idea of great amiableness and also of a state of cultivation, which would, I expect, contrast not very favorably with the society Miss Macro would find when she came to love at Broomhead, in the wilds of Bradfield. Her sister, Alethea, was on a visit at Broomhead Hall at the time she married Mr. Staniforth, of Darnall Hall” – J.H.

The parts of the house which still remain as in Dr. Macro’s time, are the staircase, the sides of which were painted by Tillemans, the ceiling and dome by Huysman. This appears to represent Fame (which is a likeness of Miss Macro) crowning Science, whose triumphs are represented on the cornice by the emblems of astronomy, sculpture, painting and architecture, accompanied by busts of distinguished professors; the carving was the work of David and the stucco of Burrough. There still remain a beautifully scrolled stucco ceiling in a lower room, and an upper room hung with tapestry of the same period and style as that remaining in the house at Bury, in which the father of Dr. Macro resided – (Timm’s Little Haugh, P.9).

There is a painting by Tillemans of Little Haugh House, with Dr. Macro and members of his family walking in front, 5 feet long and 2 feet 9 inches high, in the possession of the Rev. W.F. Patteston, of St. Helen’s Norwich, who has also eleven family portraits, three of the Cox, three of the Godfrey and four of the Macro family. A few of the pictures which belonged to Dr. Macro are still preserved by various members of the Patteson family. There are no handsome monuments in the church at Norton. The seat appropriated to the Little Haugh Estate is not unlike a minstrel’s gallery; it is on the north side of the chancel and raised several steps above the level of the Church; it is enclosed at the back and both sides, and the canopy or roof over is supported in front by two or three little twisted pillars, which at the top turn off into arches. One side comes immediately behind the pulpit and has a little door in it, probably placed for the convenience of hearing or seeing the preacher. Over this seat is a plain tablet, unadorned with any armorial bearings; it simply records that “near this wall are deposited the remains of Mary, wife of William Staniforth, Esq. and daughter of the Rev. Cox Macro, D.D. of Little Haugh, in this parish; she died the 16th August, 1775, aged 56 years. Also of William Staniforth, Esq., who died the 14th November 1786, aged 70 years. Also, in the church under the stairs of the family seat, are deposited the remains of Catherine, relict of Robert Staniforth, Esq.; she died the 24th October, 1800, aged 76 years.” In 1786 William Staniforth bequeathed £50 to the chapel wardens and overseers of the poor of Attercliffe-Cum-Darnall, to be at interest to keep a vault and two tombs in repair in the chapel-yard, the remainder of the interest to be divided amongst the poor of Attercliffe not assisted by the poor-rates, in sums not less than 2s, 6d to each family – (See Hunter’s Hallamshire, P. 242).

After this long digression we must return to Samuel Staniforth, the eldest son of Griffith Staniforth, who as has been said at p. 19, married Alethea Macro.

The house, which at the time of their marriage in 1722, was standing at Darnall, being very old and not sufficiently commodious for the requirements of the young couple, it was decided to pull it down and replace it with a new one. Accordingly the next spring, on the 22nd of April, 1723, the foundation stone of a plain, but solid and substantial mansion was laid by Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth which house is the one now standing at Darnall. Among the old memorials of the family in the possession of Miss Elizabeth Younge, the great granddaughter of Mr. Samuel Staniforth is the following note of the laying the first stone, but the writer has not thought fit to put a name to it:-

“He laid the first stone and she laid the second (probably meaning Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth) on a back corner, that cellar corner next way (or road) and corner as one goes from my gate to John Spartley’s. He gave half-a-guinea and she gave two half-crowns; John Staniforth one shilling, and John has a house fronting this and in the line; it was day, about three o’clock P.M”

The money was doubtless in coins of that year, places under the foundation stone, as is very commonly done and believed by the poor people to be “Luck money,” to keep the house from harm and the inhabitants from being bewitched. The John Staniforth named here was very probably the father of William Staniforth of Norton; he is styled “Of Attercliffe” and died 10th march 1765. – (See pedigree at the end of this book).

It is remarkable that this house was built and covered in one year, without any rain having fallen during its progress sufficient to interrupt the workmen for one day. This unusually long dry season is alluded to in four doggerel lines, run by the workmen in the lead on the roof of the house –

“This house was built as you may see

In Seventeen hundred twenty-three;

This house was built as you may hear

By Samuel Staniforth on one year”

Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth had six children, four sons, two of whom died in their infancy, and two daughters; namely,-

John born 29th October 1724, and died the 1st of January 1725, aged 9 months.
Samuel, born 6th July, 1726, and died 20th January, 1727, aged 6 months.
Thomas, born 27th March, 1735, of whom, being the eldest surviving son, we shall have to speak hereafter.
Samuel, born in July 1739
Elizabrth
Mary

The village of Darnall was at this time the residence of the descendants of two men who, in their day, obtained an unenviable and disgraceful notoriety. One was Chaloner, the Regicide Judge, and the other the executioner, of the unfortunate monarch Charles I, who ended his miserable days here in 1700, under the name of Walker. From the descendants of this man Mr. Staniforth obtained one of the caps, a white satin one, in which King Charles went to be beheaded. It is still carefully preserved by Mr. Staniforth’s great grandson the Rev. Thomas Staniforth. Its genuineness was established beyond any doubt by a paper which accompanied it, and which, though discolored with age and torn, was in 1850 perfectly legible.

The Chaloners had property in the neighbourhood of Darnall, and a friendship had always existed between them and the Staniforths, although their political opinions widely differed.

A few years since, Miss Chaloner, a descendant of the Judge, knowing the interest her friend, Miss Elizabeth Younge, took in antiquities, gave her the identical copy of the “Eikon Basilike,” which had been used by King Charles on the morning of his execution. It had been given to the Judge by Walker, and on a fly-leaf are written some curious revolutionary sentiments in the handwriting of the Judge. Although Mr. Hunter throws some doubt on the fact of Walker being the real executioner of King Charles, the information which Miss Chaloner derived from her father and grandfather, left no reason to doubt it. His manners and way of living were those of a man who had strong secret reasons for wishing to live in strict and unquestioned seclusion, and only one, or at most, two chosen friends, were ever known to gain admittance within his house, where he lived entirely alone.

During the “Rebellion” of 1745, when any house suspected of containing plate or valuable property was marked as a lawful object of plunder, the Chaloners proposed to Mr. Staniforth to bury his plate with theirs, in an orchard belonging to them, which, being further from the public roads than any of Mr. Staniforth’s property, was thought likely to be a safe and unsuspected hiding-place for it. The offer was accepted and the plate carefully buried.

Sometime afterwards, when the plate was disinterred, a curious silver seal, which had belonged to Judge Chaloner, was not to be found; it was searched for long, in vain, and at last search was given up. Forty-One years after (1786) when the Chaloner’s property had been purchased by Mr. John Younge (The grandson of Mr. Staniforth), the tenant who rented the orchard thought fit to plough up a part of it, in doing which he turned up the lost seal. It was brought to Mr. Younge, and was, in 1858, in the possession of his daughter Miss Elizabeth Younge.

Another curious relic was turned up by the plough in a field which had belonged to Walker. It was a signet of a curious shape, about the size of a half-crown, with the head of King Charles I engraved on it. Many antiquaries have seen it, but none could give any decided opinion as to its use; possibly it was a token or memento of Walker’s connected with the most memorable day of his life.

Mr. Samuel Staniforth, the second son of Mr. Staniforth and Alethea Macro, used to delight his great-niece, Elizabeth Younge, by telling her stories of the exciting times of ’45, and describing the alarm and consternation of the family at Darnall, the day after the plate had been buried, on seeing from the windows of the nursery, which was one of the upper rooms at Darnall-soldiers-galloping over the opposite hill, and entering the village by the Handsworth lane. Though only six years old at the time, he could point out the precise spot where they had first been seen, and remembered many particulars which had been impressed on his mind, from seeing the fear and dismay which their near approach caused in those around him.

Among the old family memoranda in the possession of Miss Elizabeth Younge, the great-granddaughter of Mr. Samuel Staniforth and his wife Alethea Macro, is the following giving a specimen of their style of housekeeping after their marriage; a Mrs. Huff seems to have been Mrs. Staniforth’s maid and housekeeper:-

“Kept three tables every day. 1st. Him and her (Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth), 2nd, - Mrs. Huff, her table. Last table, under maids, - Betty, Molly and men servants. Mrs. Huff went away 16th November following Nanny Fell came in her room, who is a relation to Mr. Wilson of Broomhead…Middle table dropped”

By referring to the pedigree of Wilson, of Broomhead, we see that Anne Fell, was born about 1708 and was sister to Elizabeth Fell, the first wife of Gamaliel Milner, whose second wife was Susan, daughter of John Wilson, of Broomhead, and her mother was Ellen Milner, the aunt of Gamaliel Milner. Probably owing to her connection with so highly respectable a family she was privileged to dine with Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth.

Mr. Staniforth did not live to old age; he died on the 15th November, 1748, aged only 59, and was buried at Attercliffe Chapel. His wife, Alethea, survived him one year and seven months, and died on the 29th of June, 1750, aged 53; she was buried at Attercliffe beside him. At this time their eldest son Thomas, was only 13 years old, and seems to have been placed under the guardianship of his eldest sister’s husband, Mr. John Travers Younge, whose house from this time till they married or settled in life became the home of him and his younger brother and sister. His sister, Elizabeth, was twelve years his senior, and at this time had been married about four years.

After the death of Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth the house at Darnall was let for many years. For some time it was the residence of Henry Howard, Esq. father of his Grace Bernard Edward, 12th Duke of Norfolk and of two other sons, of whom the youngest, Edward Charles Howard, was born there on the 28th of May, 1774.

“The birth in this house” says Mr. Hunter, in his history of Hallamshire p. 252, “of Edward Charles Howard, the youngest son of Mr. Henry Howard, a young but distinguished Fellow of the Royal Society, honorably connects it and the village in which it stands with the history of Modern Science and the Arts.”

Samuel, the youngest son of Samuel and Alethea Staniforth, was baptised at Sheffield on the 19th of July, 1739. He was only eleven years old when his mother and last surviving parent died, so he and his sister Mary were taken to the eldest sister, Mrs. Younge, who was at this time 27 years of age. For a great part of his life Samuel Staniforth lived in Sheffield, but after Mr. Howard left Darnall he became his brother’s tenant there, and died unmarried on the 26th of September, 1820, aged 81. He was the last survivor of that generation, having outlived his youngest sister 48 years, his eldest sister 34 years and his elder brother 17 years.

It is worth mentioning that the first umbrella ever seen in Sheffield was brought there by Mr. Samuel Staniforth. Unfortunately the date of its first exhibition has not been kept, but a droll story connected with it will never be forgotten in the family.

The umbrella was given by Mr. Samuel Staniforth to his servant to take to his sister’s, Mrs. J.T Younge, who lived in Union Street. On the way the man showed it to some friends, and willing to gratify their curiosity he opened it, easily enough, as he had seen his master do it; but when all were satisfied and he wished to close it, he found he had only learned half his lesson, and after many unsuccessful attempts, equally afraid of damaging the umbrella and of “trapping his fingers” as he himself expressed it, the man was obliged at last to set off for Mrs. Younge’s with the umbrella open, though the day was very fine. The novelty of the article soon attracted a crowd of idlers of all ages, some expressing curiosity, others entertaining themselves and those around by their facetious remarks. He hastened on to Mrs. Younge’s but his troubles were not ended when he arrived at her house, for the expanded umbrella could not be got through the door, and every unsuccessful attempt only served to increase the rather noisy amusement of the crowd. The indignant astonishment of the precise Mrs. Younge cannot be described. She sent Mr. Younge, in haste, to extricate the now penitent delinquent from his embarrassment and dismiss the entertained multitude, which was quickly done, the umbrella safely lowered and quietness restored.

Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Samuel and Alethea Staniforth, was born on the 31st of August, 1723, about four months after the foundation stone of the new house had been laid, and was christened on the 3rd of October following. She and her sister were remarked in their neighbourhood as being more highly educated than was usual at this time, for besides being well skilled in all the domestic knowledge which was considered so essential for a young lady, they were proficient in the more advanced branches of arithmetic, could play on the spinet, copy music and dance.

Elizabeth, the elder of these accomplished young ladies, married on Christmas Day, 1746, John Trevers Younge. Of Sheffield; she was aged 23, and he was four years older. Having been baptised on the 20th August 1719. Mr. Younge was descended from that Thomas Younge, Archbishop of York, who is supposed to have privately married the Earl of Shrewsbury to the Lady St. Loe; and died at Sheffield, 26th June, 1568. Another of the family Edward Younge was Bishop of Norwich in 1663.

To Mrs. John Trevers Younge’s granddaughter, Miss Elizabeth Younge, we are indebted for an account of her wedding, which will be amusing by its contrast with what is done in our days on a similar occasion.

Although it was Christmas Day, and the church some distance from Darnall, the ceremony took place at nine o’clock in the morning, at Attercliffe Chapel. The bridge-groom, John Trevers Younge, left Sheffield soon after eight, mounted his grey horse, with his sister Mary (who afterwards, in 18—married Mr. Sheppard) on a pillion behind him. When they reached Attercliffe hill-top they saw Mr. Staniforth trotting across the common with his daughter Elizabeth (the bride elect) mounted on a pillion behind him, while Mrs. Staniforth was in like manner taken care of by Mr. Steer, and old friend of the family. The attendant groom’s men had preceded them to the Chapel on foot, and were ready at the gate to hold the horses while the bridal party where within.

When the ceremony was concluded Mr. Younge and Mr. Staniforth exchanged burdens; Mr. Younge carrying back his bride, while Mr. Staniforth took charge of the bride’s-maid; Mrs. Staniforth returning as she came. On their arrival at Darnall they were met by the villagers, with bells in their hands and so escorted to the house, and at intervals during the day joyous peals were rung on the bells. At the house a substantial feast was prepared; the dinner for the family and select friends being at one o’clock; then came a tea at give and a supper at nine, the company receiving many additions at each meal; the most select and intimate only being asked to the first, while to the last came a more general and indiscriminate assemblage of friends, and even of acquaintances, who would probably only be invited on such an occasion. After supper the grey horse and pillion was again in requisition, and the new married couple went to their own house in Sheffield, “Sister Mary Younge” being left at “The hall” as a visitor,

After the appearance of the bride and bridegroom at Church (before which no one presumed to intrude on them) they “sat up” to receive company every day for a month. These visits involved a partaking of tea and cake at five o’clock. The bride was expected to appear arrayed in one of her new dresses, and the greater variety exhibited the great was the compliment paid to the visitors. The room at Mr. Younge’s in which the company was received had been elegantly furnished for the occasion. But it’s great adornment was a carpet, which just covered the centre of it, and as the guests were placed round the room they had an opportunity of admiring what then was a luxury only found in the houses of the affluent, and there only in the “best rooms.”

The bride’s wedding dress was a French cambric gown, made open in front, to show a white silk petticoat of a peculiar ribbed sort, called “Lutestring”; the sleeves were tight to the elbow, which they just turned, and were finished by threw rows of deep lace ruffles; the arms were covered with white silk mittens. The apron, which was an indispensable, and often a very expensive part of a lady’s full dress, was of embroidered muslin, trimmed round with fine lace.

She wore to Church a dove-coloured silk cloak, made round to the waist behind, with long ends in front, and trimmed with broad black lace; her bonnet was of white silk, with bows on each side, and in shape was not unlike that worn by Quakers. This dress, though it seemed so simply, was as expensive then as that of many a smart and fashionable belle of the present day. When she rode to Church it was covered with a camlet riding skirt, and the bonnet was protected by a hood, which was furnished with a deep cape covering the shoulders.

By her marriage with John Trevers Younge she had ten children, eight of whom survived their parents; Thomas and Susan died in their infancy; John, Samuel and Charles, Elizabeth, Mary, Isabella, Alethea and Anne survived. Mrs. Younge died on the 9th of February 1788, aged 62; and her husband, Mr. Younge, on the 19th of January 1807, age 87, surviving his wife twenty-one years.

John, the eldest son married in 1780, Mary Marriot, by whom he had eight children, two sons and six daughters, namely: =

1. John, born February 2nd 1785, who lived many years in America, where he married. He returned to England in 1853 a widower. – S.P. He died at Sheffield May 21st 1860 aged 75 and was buried at Ecclesall Church
2. Samuel, who died unmarried in 1855, March 3rd, at Wirksworth, Derbyshire. He was buried at Ecclesall Church

The daughters were,

1. Mary, who was born about 1781, in May, and married the 15th October 1801, Mr. Edmund Wilson of Stumperlowe Grange, and died in 1854. – S.P.
2. Elizabeth, born 15th May, 1782, unmarried, living in 1856, for whom see pp.43 and 46
3. Anne, who married Mr. John Schweitzer, of Southall Green, Middlesex, by whom she had one daughter who survived her, and four other children who died young.

Anne, who married twice; 1st, Rev. Nicholas Tindal, the youngest son of Chief Justice Sir Nicolas Tindal, and Vicar of Sandhurst, near Gloucester, by whom she had two daughters, Merelina-Frances and Adela-Rose-Ellen; and 2ndly Captain Thomas Edward Symonds R.N by whom she has no children (1861).

Isabella, 5th, Alethea, and 6th Ellen, all died young and unmarried. This concludes the account of the eldest son of John Trevers and Elizabeth Younge.

Samuel, the second son of John Trevers and Elizabeth Younge, married on the 6th of October, 1797, Lydia Marsden, of Sheffield, by whom he had seven children, five sons and two daughters. He died 20th July 1840; his wife died 24th July 1840; He was born Nov. 21st 1760 and died aged 80.

Samuel, the eldest son of Samuel and Lydia Younge, was born April 27th, 1799, and married at St. Mary’s Castlegate, York, 2st November, 1825, his cousin Catherine, ninth daughter of John Kearsley of Manchester, and Ann Younge, his wife. She died 14th February, 1848, leaving one daughter, Catherine. Mr. Samuel Younge, since the death of his father in 1840, has resided at Brinkcliffe Edge, near Sheffield.
Robert, the second son of Samuel and Lydia Younge was born 2nd February, 1801, and in 1861 was living unmarried at Greystones, near Sheffield.
John, the third son of Samuel and Lydia Younge was born on the 31st October, 1804 and died on the 19th of March following.
William, the fourth son of Samuel and Lydia Younge, was born on the 7th June, 1809, and died 12th September following.
Charles, the fifth son of Samuel and Lydia Younge, was born on the 19th of May, 1813, and died on the 25th of July, 1830, aged 17 years

Lydia, the eldest daughter of Samuel and Lydia Marsden, was born June 17th, 1802 and died July 8th 1813 aged 11 years.

Elizabeth, the only surviving daughter of Samuel and Lydia Younge, was born 31st August 1803 and married 20th May 1830, Francis Otter, of Gainsborough, attorney, and died 4th June 1836, leaving three sons, Francis, John and Robert, and one daughter, Elizabeth-Anne who died Aug 1th 1846 aged 13, This concludes the account of the second son of John Trevers Younge.

Charles, third son of John Trevers and Elizabeth Younge died unmarried in 1832 at Brinkcliffe Edge.

The daughters of John Trevers Younge and Elizabeth Staniforth, his wife, were-

Elizabeth, who died after a lingering illness, Nov. 3rd, 1793.
Mary, who was born in 1748, and died unmarried on the 4th March, 1828, aged 80.
Isabella, who died in June, 1804, also unmarried.
Alethea, who married on the 10th December, 1795, John William Wright, of Eyam, Derbyshire, who died in 1853, by whom, at her death in January 1811, she left eight children, two sons, namely, James Farwell and John and four daughters. 1st, Jane, born December 25th, 1796, 2nd Mary, 4 Dorothy, 5th, Elizabeth and 6th Alethea, who died young, 3rd Martha.
Anne, who married on the 18th November 1774, John Kearsley, of Manchester, by whom she had fifteen children, four sons and eleven daughters. She was born in 1757 and died at York in Oct 1839 aged 82.

The sons were,

John, born 16th March, 1787, and died in May, 1800 aged 13.
James, born 7th December, 1788, and died October 8th, 1794, aged 6
Charles Josiah, born 18th October 1791, and died 19th December 1791, aged 3 months.
Samuel, born 21st October, 1793, died October 8th in the following year, 1794, the same day as his brother James.

The eleven daughters of John Kearsley and Anne Younge, his wife, were –

Elizabeth, born 13th January 1776, and died at Scarborough, unmarried on the 4th of August, 1849, aged 73.
Margaret, born 13th December, 1776, married on the 13th January, 1806, John Gorst, of Preston, in Lancashire, Esq. who died 1st of May 1825, by whom she had three children, namely: -

John, born October 30th, 1806, unmarried in 1862.

Margaret, married September 1829, the Rev. William Breighton Russell, Rector of Turvey in Bedfordshire, by whom she has three daughters, 1st, Alethea, 2nd Emily Marian, 3rd Gertrude, besides two sons who died in infancy, namely William Henry, born November 26th, 1830 and died April 25th, 1831, and Herbert John, born October 4th, 1840, and died December 19th, 1840 And

Mary Anne, unmarried in 1862.

Mrs. John Gort died at her house in Winckley Square, Preston, on the 4th August 1852, aged 76.

Anne, third daughter of John Kearsley, and Anne Younge, married on the 16th October 1809, Septimus Gorst, younger brother of John Gorst, who married her elder sister, just named. He died 27th April, 1846. By him she had one daughter, Anne, born 17th September, 1810 who died unmarried 26th July, 1836, aged 26.

Mary, fourth daughter of John and Anne Kearsley, was born 29th September, 1779 and died at York, unmarried, in 1841, aged 62.

Alethea, fifth daughter of John and Anne Kearsley, was born 27th February, 1781m and died unmarried 6th March, 1800, aged 29.

Isabella, sixth daughter of John and Anne Kearsley, was born 15th August, 1782, and died unmarried, in 1800 aged 18.

Harriet, seventh daughter of John and Anne Kearsley, was living at Harrogate, unmarried in 1862.

Octavia, eighth daughter of John and Anne Kearsley, was born 27th September, 1785, and died at Ambleside, September 8th, 1827, aged 41; she was buried at Grassmere, where against the north wall of the church is a small tablet erected to her memory, she was unmarried.

Catharine, ninth daughter of John and Anne Kearsley, was born 28th September 1790, she married her cousin, Mr. Samuel Younge of Sheffield by whom she had one daughter, Catherine-Elizabeth and died 14th February 1848, and was interred at Ecclesall Church, the 18th following, aged 58.

Charlotte, tenth daughter of John and Anne Kearsley, married 23rd of April, 1822, Charles Robinson, Lieut. B.N. by whom she had ten children, three sons and seven daughters. She died on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1862 aged 64, born July 20, 1798. Captain Robinson died July 20 1864 at Ripon

Henrietta, eleventh daughter of John and Anne Kearsley, married November 30th, 1837, the Rev. George Alderson, Vicar of Hornby, in the county of York.

This concludes the account of the children of John Kearsley and Anne Younge his wife, and of the descendants of Elizabeth Staniforth and her husband John Travers Younge.

We must now turn to her sister

Mary, the second daughter of Samuel Staniforth and Alethea Macro his wife. She was born in 1741, and married on the 11th of January, 1759, aged 18, at Sheffield Parish Church, Thomas Younge, M.D, the younger brother of John Trevers Younge, her sister’s husband. She married from her sister’s house, which ever since the death of her parents when she was only nine years old, had been her home. Dr. Younge was born in 1721 and was therefore twenty years older than his wife. He finished his education at St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated as B.A in 1743 and M.A, in 1747, From Cambridge he proceeded to Edinburgh, where after give years’ study he took the degree of M.D, in 1752. Mrs. Thomas Younge died 11th July, 1772, leaving two sons and two daughters – Thomas and William, Mary and Sarah.

Dr. Thomas Younge was highly esteemed and respected, not only by his own family and immediate friends but also by his acquaintance in the town of Sheffield and among those of his own profession. He died of an attack of apoplexy December 14, 1784, with which he was seized about six o’clock P.M at the toll bar near Worsbro’ as he was on his way to Wentworth Castle, to pay a professional visit to Lady Strafford. He had survived his wife twelve years.

Thomas Younge the eldest son of Thomas Younge and Mary (Staniforth) his wife, was born in 1760, he finished his education at Peterhouse, Cambridgem and in course of time took holy orders. In a “Tribute” to his memory writteb by Mr. T.A. Ward, of Park House, Near Sheffield (who was great newphew to Dr. Thomas Younge), Mr. Thomas Younge is described as having been a very clever, eccentric and shy person. After having taken his degree “his natural diffidence prevented his taking any cure, but he was always ready to assist his clerical brethren, particularly in the offices of visiting the sick and comforting the poor, by whom he will long be held in remembrance.” He died unmarried on the 14th of November, 1823, aged 63.

William, second son of Dr. Thomas Younge and Mary (Staniforth) his wife, was born on the 30th of January, 1762. He went to Edinburgh in 1783, at the age of 21, to study medicine and in 1786 took his degree as M.D. in 1759 he returned to Sheffield, and practiced there many years as a physician. He never married, and employed his time and money chiefly in promoting by his influence and benevolence such plans as had for their object the benefit and improvement of his native town. To him Sheffield is indebted for large contributions to some of its most useful charities; to the infirmary, in particular, he was a considerable benefactor. He was a clever and agreeable man, very king-hearted, and a great encourager of the fine arts. It was to Dr. Younge, though the fact is not generally known, that Chantry was indebted for the encouragement and pecuniary assistance which enabled him to improve his talents for sculpture, and gave him the means of making his genius known in a higher line than making butter pats or carving figures in wood. The first bust in marble which Chantrey ever was of Dr. Younge, who sat to him that he might have something to exhibit which might bring him into notice and, it was to be hoped, into employment. Dr. Younge’s example was soon followed by others. The successful career of the late Sir. Francis Chantrey is well known. On the death of Dr. Younge his bust became the property of his niece Miss Warris. He died the 9th November, 1838, beloved and regretted by persons of all ranks and opinions, who felt that in him Sheffield had lost one of her most consistent benefactors. He was buried in the family vault on the west side of St. Paul’s Church, Sheffield.

Mary, the eldest daughter of Dr. Thomas Younge and Mary (Staniforth) his wife was born in 1765 and died on the 6th of June 1781, aged 16.

Sarah, the youngest daughter of Dr. Thomas Younge and Mary (Staniforth) his wife, was born on the 16th of June 1766, and married on the 14th of March, 1793, Mr. William Warris of Sheffield, by whom she had two daughters who survived her. She died March 1838 suddenly aged 72

Marian, married to Mr. John Jeeves of Sheffield and
Sarah, who married Mr. Russell of Blythe near Bawtry, in Yorkshire. Both of these daughters died in 1854.

This concludes the account of Mary, the youngest daughter of Samuel and Alethea Staniforth and her children.

Thomas Staniforth

Eldest surviving son of Samuel Staniforth and Alethea (Macro) his wife was born on the 27th of March, 1735, and was baptized at Sheffield on the 7th of April following; his father died in 1748, when he was only 13. His mother survived her husband only two years, and being so young his home seems to have been from this time with his eldest sister Elizabeth, who was twelve years older than himself, and had been then married four years to Mr. John Travers Younge, who from the control he immediately took of his young brother-in-law’s affairs seems to have been appointed his guardian.

Thomas Staniforth was placed in January, 1751 (seven months after his mother’s death, when he was nearly sixteen), in the office of Mr. Charles Goore, a Liverpool merchant of great eminence, with whom he lived till February, 3rd, 1758, when, his term of apprenticeship being ended, and having attained the age of twenty-three years, he left Liverpool and returned to Sheffield, bearing with him a letter to Mr. Younge from Mr. Goore (which is still in the possession of Mr. Staniforth’s grand-son) which expressed in the most gratifying terms Mr. Goore’s entire satisfaction with his conduct in every respect from the time of his becoming a member of his family.

It had been rather as a personal favour to his old friend Mr. Younge that Mr. Goore was induced to take the young Thomas Staniforth into his office, for he had often before refused similar applications on the plea of intending to decline business, as he was convinced Liverpool had risen then to its highest pitch of prosperity and any change must be for the worse. Mr. Goore lived long enough to see how much he was mistaken; and to those who are now living there seems no calculating the limits of such increasing prosperity as Liverpool seems to attract to itself.

The good feeling which Mr. Staniforth’s amiable and steady conduct thus created was most warmly felt perhaps by Mr. Goore’s only daughter. A seven years’ constant intercourse had made each acquainted with the many good qualities they both possessed, and their mutual interest was cemented by their marriage which took place on the 12th of June, 1750 at St. Thomas’s Church.

We must here make a digression on account of Mrs. Staniforth, to shew the relationships which her marriage brought into the family.

Her father, Mr. Charles Goore was born on the 11th of December, 1701, he was the third son of

Richard Goore of Goore House, in the parish of Alkar, near Ormskirk, who married on the 31st of December, 1690, Alice (Born Oct 6, 1663) fourth daughter of Mr. Thomas Mather of New Hall, Shropshire, and Martha, daughter of

Mr. Thomas Bunbury, by his first wife, -- Wilcox of Oakhall, Shropshire, which Alice was sister to Mr. Charles Mather of Teddington, and of Balderton, in Shropshire (who died 22nd of January, 1737-8 aged 70), from whom on the death of his widow, on the 27th January, 1749 her son Charles Goore inherited the estates of Balderton and Newton-on-the-Hill in Shropshire, which still remain in the Staniforth family.

Mr. Charles Mather, at his death, left the sum of £200 to the church at Preston Gubbalds, and £30 for the purchase of books for the use of the incumbent. A list of the books then purchased is to be seen in an old memorandum book in the possession of the Rev. Thomas Staniforth, written by Mr. Charles Goore, who added to his uncle’s donation the gift of a bookcase from himself, in which to keep them. Mr. Charles Gore was placed at the usual age as clerk in the office of Mr. Foster Cunliffe (son of the Rev. Ellis Cunliffe, B.D.), a gentlemen of large fortune, who had the most extensive mercantile concerns of any man who had at that time lived in Liverpool, in whose esteem Mr. Goore gradually rose, till he became deservedly his most valued and confidential friend. This friendship was further strengthened by Mr. Goore’s marriage, on the 29th of July, 1728, at Walton, with Mr. Cunliffe’s cousin.

Miss Margery Halsall, daughter of Henry Halsall of Everton, by Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of the

Rev. Thomas Marsden, B.D. Vicar of Walton-On-The-Hill, near Liverpool, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. John Cunliffe of the Hollins,

By Mary, eldest daughter and co-heir, after the death of her brothers (coel) Ralph Chetham of Turton Tower and niece of Humphrey Chetham, the eminent Manchester merchant, and founder of “Chetham Hospital” in that city.

Humphrey Chetham was the fifth son of Henry Chetham of Crumshall and Margaret Wroe, his wife, and was baptized at the Collegiate Church, Manchester, on the 10th of July, 1580. He received his education at the Free Grammar School, Manchester, and with his elder brother George and younger brother Ralph was afterwards apprenticed in the town.

He was eminently successful as a merchant, and no less remarkable for integrity and uprightness, than for piety, benevolence and charity. He amassed a large fortune and spent a considerable portion of it in the purchase of estates, residing principally at Clayton, near Manchester.

In 1634 Mr. Humphrey Chetham, being then a man of consideration in the town, was nominated to fill the office of High Sheriff of the county. From the modesty of his nature he sought to shun rather than court the honour thus pressed upon him, and foreseeing the difficulties and dangers of the office, he endeavored, through the influence of a friend, to induce the Privy Council to substitute some other name for his, but his application was unsuccessful. His appointment was confirmed by the King in February of the same year (1634), and in December following he was nominated collector of the first levy of the obnoxious tax of Ship Money.

Notwithstanding the general discontent of the people at this impost, Mr. Chetham so discharged his arduous duties as to retain the good-will of the county “insomuch” it is said, “that gentlemen of very good birth and estate did wear his cloth at the Assize to testify their respect for him.”

Indeed, during the whole of this trying period, the course he pursued was such as to gain the confidence and esteem of all parties, for on the establishment of the commonwealth he was called to the office of County Treasurer, his appointment not-withstanding his petition to parliament to be excused: on account of his many infirmities” being dated 6th September 1643, He was then aged 63.

He spent his latter years in the retirement of his country residence, Clayton Hall and on the 12th of October, 1653, he died in the 73rd year of his age. He was buried in the Lady Chapel of the Collegiate Church, Manchester, now known as the “Chetham Chapel”, where in November, 1853, a handsome monument was erected to his memory.

He never married, but adopted the children of his poorer neighbours, and throughout the greater part of his life he maintained a number of boys, paying for their lodging, food, clothing and education.

His last and greatest act was the foundation of the Hospital called after his name. He bequeathed the sum of £7000 for the purchase of an estate, the proceeds of which were to be devoted forever to the maintenance and education of forty poor boys, from the age of six years to that of fourteen, and on leaving the Hospital they were to be apprenticed or otherwise provided for.

He left, further, the sum of £1000 to purchase books, and £100 for providing a suitable building to keep them in, forming a library for the free and unrestricted use of the public forever. Further, he left the residue of his estate, amounting to £2000 and upwards after the payment of certain legacies, for the maintenance and continual enlargement of this library. He also left £200 for the purchase of “Godly English Books” to be chained upon reading desks in the churches of Manchester and Bolton, and in the chapels of Turton, Walmersley and Garton. Within the last fifty or sixty years the broken fragments of desks and chains, and a few tattered leaves of the books, were all that remained of the generous gift of the good old merchant.

The Chetham Hospital had been originally erected for the residence of the clergy of the neighboring Collegiate Church, on the same spot where the old Manor House of Manchester had previously stood, and which had been for centuries the residence of the Grellys and De la Warres, ‘Lords of Manchester’. The purchase was not completed till after Humphrey Chetham’s death; the boys who had been boarded at Mr. Chetham’s expense were then transferred to the Hospital, and the benevolent intention of the founder was consummated.-

Mrs. Goore’s grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Marsden, who married Mr. Chetham’s niece, was no insignificant man in his day and profession. He was the son of the Rev. Robert Marsden of Clithero, and was born at Standing near that town on the 23rd of December, 1637, He graduated at Cambridge and on the 28th of January, 1662, he went to Lisbon, having received the appointment of Chaplain to the English Ambassador, Sir Richard Fanshawe, and Preacher to the “English Factory” there. He returned to England in April, 1665, and soon after married Miss Elizabeth Cunliffe, who (as it appears from some letters to him from friends at home, which still exist) had long been the object of his admiration, though there was no acknowledged engagement between them. By her he had two sons, Robert and William, and one daughter, Elizabeth. Mr. Marsden married secondly Frances, widow of the Rev. Peter Staninough, Rector of Aughton, and died on the 25th of April 1720, aged 84. He is described as a “pious, learned, ingenious and great scholar.” His epitaph, which still may be seen at Walton-On-The-Hill, near Liverpool, is as follows:

Here lies the body of

Thomas Marsden

B.D

About 55 years Vicar of this parish

One of the King’s Preachers for this County, and often member of

Convocation for this Dioces of Chester

Greate he was

As an happy genius,

Hard Study,

An orthodox Faith

And heroick piety,

Much learning

And long experience, could make him

He was a neat Linguist

A profound Divine

A good Disputant,

And a nice Casuist

Geneva felt him, and was afraid,

And Rome tremble at his pen

He died April the 25th, 1720,

In the 84th year of his age

His son, Robert Marsden, B.D. the uncle of Mrs. Goore, was in his day a no less eminent than his father. He was born in 1667 and died unmarried on the 24th of August 1748 aged 81.

He founded the Marsden Scholarship at Cambridge, value £20 a year, the son of a living clergyman in Nottinghamshire or Lancashire has the preference. His living, Rempstone, was in Nottinghamshire and Walton, his birthplace was in Lancashire, which doubtless caused him to give the preference to those two counties, with which he was most intimately connected.

His lengthy epitaph, which still remains in the old churchyard at Rempstone, gives his character in full: it is as follows: -

Sacred to the memory of

The Very Rev. Robert Marsden, B.D

Son of a very worthy Divine, Thomas Marsden

Late vicar of Walton, in the county of Lancashire, formerly fellow and

An eminent tutor in Jesus College, in Cambridge,

Domestick Chaplain to those most learned and pious prelates,

Dr. Simon Patrick, late Lord Bishop of Ely,

And Dr. John Sharpe, late Lord Archbishop of York,

Rector of this parish,

Prebendary of the Collegiate Church of Southwell, and

Archdeacon of Nottingham,

Who by laudable and indefatigable study acquired an intimate knowledge

Of useful learning, especially divinity

(which he applied to promote Piety and Virtue)

And of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England,

Which he observed, defended and enforced.

A watchful Guide of his Parish,

Instructive in his Sermons and Admonitions,

(But more by his Example,)

A Loyal and Obedient Subject, Benevolent to all Mankind,

Extensively Charitable in his life and in his death,

A Sincere Friend and a Kind Neighbour,

Grave and Pleasing in his Conversation,

Esteemed and Beloved by all his Acquaintance,

And having spent his many years in doing all the good in his power,

He entered upon the reward of it August 24, 1748,

In the 81st year of his age.

“Go And Do Thou Likewise”

The old church at Rempstone in which the venerable Archdeacon instructed his parishioners by his “sermons and admonitions” has been pulled down, and a new one has been built, in a more convenient situation, nearer to the village. The churchyard of course still remains and in t may yet be seen the old Archdeacon’s high tomb, surrounded by rails, to the protection of which it is probably indebted for the tolerably good state of preservation in which it remains, being as yet little injured, except by the finger of time and the insidious encroachments of the creeping moss. In 1854 the old churchyard was in a very desolate and neglected state, and a water-course too sluggish and green to be called a stream, flowed lazily along, just about the very place where in by-gone years, the middle alley of the church once passed. A portrait of the archdeacon, which does full justice to his “gravity” is in the possession of the Rev. Thomas Staniforth. There is also a corresponding picture of his aunt, Miss Catern Cunliffe, who always lived with him and one of his father.

Of William, the other son of the Rev. Thomas Marsden, very little is known, but that after residing for some time in Liverpool, he seems to have settled in Chester and married, for in October 1744, we find his brother, the Archdeacon, was detained a few days beyond his intended visit, in order to marry his niece “Sally Marsden to Coz. Bower of Manchester”. This was Miles Bower, a Merchant, who was the son of Miles Bower of Manchester, baptized the 14th of January, 1696, and the grandson of Miles Bower, stated to be of Bridlington or Kirby Lonsdale, County York.

By his marriage with Miss Sarah Marsden of Chester, Mr. Miles Bower had four children, three sons and one daughter. Mr. Bower died March 22nd 1780 aged 83, his wife had died July 23rd 1779 aged about 80. His children were

John, born 21st March 1746, who was married on the 13th of January, 1775, at the old church, Manchester, by the Rev. Mr. Owen, to Frances eldest daughter and co-heir of Francis Jodfrell of Yeardsley, Cheshire, Esq. born in 1752, by whom he had five children.
On his marriage Mr. Bower, obtained the royal license for himself and issue to take the surname and bear the arms of Jodrell in addition to his own (See Book I, 32p. 148 in Coll. Arm). He died in Bath on the 4th November, 1796, aged 50. Mrs./ Bower Jodrell died 1st August, 1828, aged 76.

Their children were. –

Francis, born at Tabley, 21st March, 1776, married on the 24th June 1807, Maria, daughter of Sir William Lemon, Bary. Of Carclew, Cornwall, High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1813, and died 5th March, 1829, he had three children: - 1. John William Jodrell, of Yeardsley Esq. born 1808, died at Sheerwater House, near Byfleet, Surrey, 25th May, 1858, aged 50; he sold Henbury. 2. Foster, born in 1810, died at Oxford, in November 1830, and 3 Francis Charles born 1812.
Thomas Marsden, second son of John Bower Jodrell and Francis his wife, Captain 35th Regiment, killed in the Expedition to Egypt, died at Rosetta. The following epitaph on him was written by Dr. Jackson, late dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and is inscribed on a monument to his memory in Christ Church, Oxford: - (he was born at Tabley June 10th 1779)

Thomas Marsden Jodrell, Esq. M.A

Student of this house,

And Captain in his Majesty’s 35th Regiemtn of Foot,

In the disastrous attack up

Rosetta

April 8th, 1807

Though his own Regiment was not in the field, he offered himself

As Aide-de-Camp to

Brigadier General Oswald

And was the bearer of his orders to recall a body of our gallant troops

Who were suffering

Under a severe fire of marquetry from the walls of the town

He saw his danger;

Met it with the spirit of a soldier; and fell in the discharge of his duty

They who within these walls

Were the guardians and instructors of his Youth

And they who shared with him the endearing intimacies of early life

Have placed this tablet to his memory.

The third son of John Bower Jodrell, and Frances his wife, was Edmund Henry, born at Henbury, 21st February 1781, he was in the Guards.

The daughters were:

Harriet, born at Tabley, 30th March 1778, and married December 4th 1799, Shakespeare Phillips, Esq. of Barlow Hall, near Manchester, by whom (who died in 1855) she had two sons and two daughters, namely
Shakespeare, who entered the army
Thomas Jodrell, who became a barrister.
Harriet, who married Rev. H Tomkinson or Reaseheath Cheshire, Esq. and has two sons and two daughters. The eldest daughter married Dr. Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta and the second Cap “Thackwell 38th Reg” Francis-William the second son died May 26th, 1864 aged 35.
Maria, Unmarried.

The youngest daughter of John Bower Jodrell and Frances his wife, was Frances Maria, born at Henbury, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, on the 6th Sept, 1782, and married to John Stratton Esq. the second son of George Stratton Esq. Tew Park, Co Oxford, by whom she had four daughters, namely-

Mrs. Drake

Lady Hickes Beach

Mrs. Curteis and

Mrs. Martin

Foster, the second son of John Bower and Sarah (Marsden) his wife was born 6th May 1748. He was a barrister-at-law K.C, Bencher of the Inner Temple, Recorder of Chester, and Member of Lincoln’s Inn. From a notice of him which speared in the Gentlemen’s Magazine for March 1705, we find that he commenced his career in the law at a very early period, under the patronage of Sir Joseph Yates, and after exercising the laborious office of a special pleader during several years, at length practice at the Bar with such abilities and reputation as soon rendered him on of the brightest ornaments of Westminster Hall, secured him a great flow of business in all the courts above, placed him at the head of the Oxford Circuit, and entitled him to all honours and advantages of his profession. His high sense of honour, his masculine understanding, his unsullied integrity of conduct, and his great professional skill and experience, commanded universal respect and esteem. During several years he was in the professional receipt of between £3000 and £4000 per annum, the accumulations from which, with an additional sum advanced him by his maternal uncle, Mr. Marsden of Chester, he invested in the purchase of an extensive estate at Taxall, on the borders of Cheshire and Derbyshire, whose dreary and barren hills he improved and embellished with widely extensive plantations. Mr. Foster Bower died after a short illness at his Chambers in Lincoln’s Inn, on the 18th February 1795, aged 45, unmarried.

Miles, the third son of Miles Bower and Sarah (Marsden) his wife, was born on 20th July, 175. He married Mary Elliott, by whom he had one child, a daughter, Mary, born after his death in 1786, who married 11th Feb 1809.

Hambleton Thomas Custance, of Weston House, Norfolk Esq. and died in January 1851. Miles Bower died at sea in 1786, his widow re-married Nov. 25th, 1870, Mr. Hindle of Blackburne.

Mary, the only daughter of Miles Bower and Sarah (Marsden) was born 28th July 1751. She married Mr. Walmesley of Manchester, and died in 1804.

This concludes the account of the descendants of William Marsden, the youngest son of the Vicar of Walton.

We must now return to the Vicar’s only daughter.

Elizabeth, she married in 1699 Mr. Henry Halsall, of Everton, of the ancient family of Halsall, of Halsall near Ormskirk. There pedigree down to Sir Cuthbert Halsall in 1615 may be see in the Harl. MSS. 6159 fol. 426. They were a family of long established respectability and influence in and near Liverpool.

The date of Mrs. Halsall’s marriage has not been kept, but a congratulatory letter to her on that occasion from her uncle, Mr. Robert Hall of Mitton, dated 4th January 1700, still exists, Mrs. Halsall had six children, two sons, William and Thomas, and four daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, Margery and Anne. Her husband, My Henry Halsall, died on the 26th of July, 1743 aged 72. Mrs. Halsall survived him 13 years and died on the 19th of May, 1756.

William, the eldest son of Henry Halsall and Elizabeth (Marsden) his wife, finished his education at Cambridge, where he took his degree as B.A. in 1725 and M.A. in 1729, and became Fellow of Jesus College.

In January 1731 he was presented by the King to the joint livings of Wendron and Helstone in Cornwall, which he seems to have vacated in May, 1746, as there is no entry of his death in the Registers of Burials in that parish, and the last entry in his writing is dated May 9th, 1746. This, it will be observed was the year in which his brother died, from which time the charge and care of his two nephews seems to have devolved upon him. He appears to have had the management of the family affairs and to have taken all the necessary trouble for placing his nephews, Thomas and Henry, in their different professions, about four years after their father’s death. His wife Mary, who is distinguished as “Mrs. Halsall of Cambridge” died January 16th 1780 aged 83. Mr. William Halsall’s will is dated 18th February 1746.

Thomas, the second son of Henry Halsall and Elizabeth (Marsden) his wife, married Catherine, but her surname has not been preserved. She was living in 1766, when her eldest son died; her husband seems to have died in 1746, ten years before his mother, his last surviving parent, leaving two sons, Thomas and Henry.

Thomas was born about 1733, and was apprenticed on the 21st of August, 1750, to Dr. Broomfield M.D, to study Medicine. He died on the 28th of February 1767, of a fever, after twenty days illness s.p. His wife’s name was Sarah, but her surname is not known. By his will, which was dated June 7th, 1766, he left her all his Everton property without any reservations or restrictions. She afterwards married a Mr. John Shaw of Everton, who whom at her death she bequeathed all the Halsall property, which has been enjoyed by his descendants ever since. She died March 18, 1792, and was buried at Walton the 22nd following.

Henry Halsall, the younger son, was apprenticed August 21st, 1750 (at the same time as his elder brother), to Mr. Joseph Rutter, Merchant, in Liverpool. He married and at his death June 10th, 1789, left, inter alios, a son, Henry, who emigrated to America and in 1819 was married, living at St. John’s New Brunswick, and had two sons.

The daughters of Henry Halsall and Elizabeth (Marsden), his wife were: -

Elizabeth, who married Mr. William Lake, and died at Wavertree April 23rd, 1778, leaving a son Henry Halsall Lake, who died 30th October 1801.

Mary, who married William Cliffe, and had three daughters and one son. One of the daughters

Esther, married, first, Mr. Edmund Molineux (who was dead by in 1776, when her aunt Goore died, and she went to live with her uncle-in-law- Mr. Goore); and secondly, March 27th, 1780, My. Hardgreaves

Anne married Elijah Cobham. Merchant, of Liverpool, who died 1st July, 1767, s.p. His wife survived him twenty years, and died on the 21st of March, 1787. Mr. Cobham’s house was in Cable Street, and over the mantel-piece of his dining room was a curious piece of oak carving, representing “Elijah fed by ravens” which had been placed there by Mr. Cobham as being peculiarly appropriate in name and subject to his dining room.

Margery Halsall, was born on the 30th of July 1706. She married at Walton Church near Liverpool, on the 29th of July, 1728 at the age of 22, Charles Goore of Liverpool. He was one of the principal merchants at that time in Liverpool, and from his fortune and high character acquired a considerable influence in the town. He was an active promoter of everything which was likely to benefit and improve the town, and was constantly applied to, to fill offices of trust and responsibility connected with the various institutions of the place.

He was a liberal subscriber to the Blue Coat School and also to the Infirmary, which was begun to be built in 1745, When it was finished in 1748, Lord Derby accepted the office of President, Mr. Foster Cunliffe was appointed treasurer, and Mr. Goore one of the Deputy-Treasurers. In 1750 he subscribed towards the erection of St. Thomas’s Church, Park Lane, of which, when it was finished, he was appointed one of the Commissioners and Trustees.

In 1747 he filled the office of Bailiff; and no stronger proof can be given of the high esteem which was generally felt for him by the people of Liverpool than the fact of his having been three times chosen to fill the office of Mayor of that town:- the first time was in 1754; the second, from the 12th March, 1768, till St. Luke’s Day, the 18th of October following, when the Mayors were always chosen; the third time was from 7th December 1768, till the following October 1769.

On the second occasion, in 1768, it appears that previously to the 18th October, (the “Mayor Choosing” was it was called) Mr. Goore had been urged by several of his friends to offer himself as a candidate for Municipal honours, in accordance with the known wishes of the greater number of the electors, but feeling at the age of 67 the burthen of increasing years, he declined the invitation, and issued the following circular: - “To every unprejudiced Freeman of the borough

I have for some time past been urged to stand a candidate for Mayor at the ensuing election, and have, at two general meetings, declared against it; but as I find it is still persisted in, I make this public declaration:- That I am resolved not to take that trust upon me a second time, and hope all that wish me well will be satisfied with the public services I have done since my residence in this town, and not attempt to lay a burthen upon me in the decline of life, and you will oblige your fellow-burgees and

Most humble servant,

Charles Goore, Liverpool, Oct 16 1767”

The next day, which was the one immediately preceding the “Mayor Choosing” he issued the following, suggesting the nomination of Mr. Pownall:-

“To every friend of Charles Goore, who is a Freeman of the Borough and Corporation of Liverpool.

Yesterday I published a declaration that I would not take upon me the office of Mayoralty a second time, and that, in the decline of life; since which I have seen a paper published by Mr. Pownall, offering his services to take that office upon him. His character is too well known for me to enlarge upon it; the employment he gives to many makes him valuable to the community; and his sound judgement in trade and commerce call upon him to be a general arbitrator in matters of difference; these are valuable qualities, and I doubt not will be found in his public as well as private character. Therefore, my fellow freemen, pray give me leave to advice you unanimously to elect Mr. Wm. Pownall for your prime Magistrate, by which means you will preserve the peace of this great town, and save me from a burthen I should not be able to undergo. I write impartially to all of different sentiments, and were I not conscious of Mr. Pownall’s acting as an honest and worthy magistrate in matters relative to the ensuing general election for members of Parliament, I should think you justifiable in opposing him.

But, pray let me put the question – What partial inquiry, or particular service, can either Mr. Pownall or myself do to either party in the ensuing general election? Honorary freemen can be of no service; and what Magistrate would stand the punishment of a false return? I have consulted he public benefits of the town ever since my declining the West-Indian trade, which is near twenty-seven years, and now, pray let me enjoy rest-for which purpose, and to settle my concerns abroad, I’ve declined trade; therefore you that are my friends cannot show it, or oblige me more, than by electing Mr. Pownall for your Mayor, and you will thereby engage me in the interest of the gentlemen I declared for this day seven-night, and in continuing to be

Yr sincere Friend and most humble Servant, Liverpool Oct 17, 1767, Charles Goore”

Such an appeal proved irresistible, Mr. Pownall was accordingly elected, but dying only five months after, in the month of March following, Mr. Goore’s friends again renewed their solicitations that he would stand, and accordingly on the 12th of March, 1768, we find that he was duly elected to fill the Municipal Chair for the remaining seven months.

On the following St, Luke’s Day, Mr. Matthew Strong was chosen to be the Mayor of Liverpool, but not being able to attend to or fulfil the duties of his office, Mr. Goore, notwithstanding his previous appeals to be allowed to retire from public life and pass the remainder of his das in the peaceful enjoyment of that “rest” which he seems to have well earned, was unanimously elected to act in Mr. Strong’s place as Deputy Mayor, with the enjoyment of all the privileges and immunities connected with the office. The warrant is dated Dec 7th 1768.

However irksome Mr. Goore might have found it to be so often called upon to exert himself for the public good, the confidence and trust thus evinced could not fail of being in every way gratifying to him.

The house in which Mr. Goore resided, at this time, was situated in the “Old” churchyard, as St. Nicholas Church was called. It was fitted up in a very handsome and expensive style, according to the fashion of that day. Three of the rooms, one on each side of the entrance and one upstairs, were wainscoted with Dantzic Oak, which was then much prized. Mrs. Goore’s bedroom was hung with Spanish leather, embossed and gilt, the design on it representing a stag hunt. Through this room was a lesser one, which she used as her dressing room; it was fitted up with a variety of ornamental bijouterie. The toilette-table was old and curious; the hangings to the glass and dressing-table were of Indian muslin, trimmed, with old point lace; on the table stood some glass scent bottles, set in filigree silver strands. During the seven years that Mr. Goore survived his wife, he never would allow the arrangement of her dressing-room to be altered or the toilette-table to be despoiled of any of its ornaments. The room was not closed, and his grandchildren, when they came to spend a day with him, were allowed to go there and play, on condition that they did not touch or injure any of the ornaments.

By his marriage with Margery Halsall, Mr. Goore had four children – three sons, Charles Mather, Richard and Henry; and one daughter, Elizabeth.

Charles Mathew (so called after Mr. Goore’s uncle Mr. Charles Mathew of Balderton) was born on the 24th of July 1731, and died of the smallpox on the 22nd of November, 1732, aged only 16 months.
2. Richard was born 21st August 1732, and died unmarried, at the Hotwells, at Clifton, in 1759, aged 27. He had gone there for the benefit of his health, accompanied by his sister, and at first seemed to improve by the change; but one afternoon his usual rest on the sofa proving longer than common, she became alarmed, and, about half-past six, her attempts to waken him proving ineffectual, she at last withdrew the handkerchief which he was in the habit of throwing over his face when he slept, and discovered that he had breathed his last.

In this trying situation, young (for she was 22), alone, and far away from all her family, Miss Goore shewed that self-possession and quiet energy of character, combined with an excellent judgement, which in after years gained her in so great a degree the respect and esteem of all who knew her.

Mr. Richard Goore was buried on the 18th of October, 1759, in the middle alley of Clifton Parish Church, since destroyed. The new church does not stand on its site.

Henry, the third son of Charles and Margery Goore was born on the 10th of August, 1736, and baptized at Saint Nicholas Church on the 2nd of September following. He died on the 7th of August, 1771, aged 35 years, after a painful illness of about ‘three months’ duration, which he appears to have borne with the utmost patience and resignation. He was buried in the family vault, in St. Thomas’s Church, Liverpool.

Elizabeth, the only daughter of Charles Goore and Margery Goore, was born on the 15th of November, 1737, and married, at St. Thomas’s Church, Liverpool by the Rev. William Martin, on the 12th of June, 1760, to Thomas Staniforth, of Darnall Hall. We shall have to speak more particularly of her hereafter. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth lived for a year with her parents, in their house in the “old” churchyard, but after the birth of their first child, in 1761m they took a house of their own in Union Street, where they continued to live till 1774, when they removed to a house which afterwards formed the corner of Ranelagh Street, but which then stood in the midst of a garden.

Eleven years after Mrs. Staniforth’s marriage and only two months before the death of his last remaining son, Henry, in 1771, Mr Goore began to build an excellent house at the corner of Ranelagh Street, which was then quite on the outskirts of the town, on the road leading to the then little village of Everton. The building of this house was a constant source of amusement to Mr. Goore, who was now in his 71st year, and the object of his daily walk or ride, and when cold or rheumatism prevented his getting there in either of those ways, he was carried in a sedan-chair. So particular was he that everything should be thoroughly well done, that he provided himself with a stick ferruled in a peculiar manner, with which he used to test the bricks, and if he found one which was soft and insufficiently baked, he made the workmen take down the wall, wherever it might be, and replace it with a good one. He had also shoes shod in a particular way for the man to wear who “trod the mortar.” The house was finished in 1774 and on Saturday, the 10th of September in that year, Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth supped and slept in it for the first time.

In 1813 the house was let by Mr. Staniforth’s son for a hotel. During that period of time, only 39 years, Liverpool had so greatly increased, that the situation, which in 1771 was in the country, in 1813 was so surrounded by streets that it had ceased to be agreeable for a private dwelling, but was extremely well suited for a hotel, for which, from the size of the apartments and its general excellent arrangements, it was well adapted. The land all round had been sold bit by bit for building, the last piece left being a drying-ground which Mr. Staniforth had told a lady she should have for her life.

Mrs. Goore was 14 when her grandfather, Mr. Marsden, the vicar of Walton, died; she was 22 when she married; 37 when her father died; 42 when her uncle, Archdeacon Marsden, died; and 50 at the time of her mother’s death. Her daughter Mrs. Staniforth was 8 years old when her great-uncle, the archdeacon, died; she was only 6 when her grandfather Halsall died; 19 when her grandmother Halsall died; 39 at the time of her mother’s death; and 46 at her father’s. She was 23 when she was married.

Mrs. Goore died on the 12th of August 1776, aged 70, just two years after she had seen her daughter settled in her new house, having been ill for nine days previously of a low feverish attack. She was buried at St. Thomas’s on the 15th following. On the 9th of August only three days before her death, she had completed the 48th year of her married life. Two months after her death, Mr. Goore who was then 75 years of age, gave up all his commercial concerns into the hands of his son-in-law, Mr. Staniforth, whose wife had now been for five years his only surviving child.

For four years after Mrs. Goore’s death, her widowed niece, Esther Molineux, the daughter of her sister Mary Cliffe, took the charge of Mr. Goore’s house, and on her marriage with Mr. Hargreaves, March 27th, 1780, Mrs. Cobham (Mrs. Goore’s sister), who had been a widow since July, 1767, then 13 years, took her place, and remained with Mr. Goore till his death, which occurred on the 13th of March, 1783, at the age of 82. He had survived his wife seven years, and was buried with her and their two sons, in St. Thomas’ Churchyard.

A younger brother of Mr. Goore, Edmund, born 22nd March, 1706, who resided in London, married and had two daughters, Mary and Alice Mather, both named in the will of their aunt, Mrs. Charles Mather, 1749. Edmund Goore was dead before this time, one of these daughters

Mary Goore, married Mr. Matthew Atkinson of Liverpool; and their daughter.

Mary Goore Atkinson married Mr… afterwards Sir David Pollock Q.C and Chief Justice of Bombay, eldest son of Mr. David Pollock, of Piccadilly, London. It is equally remarkable and creditable that all the three sons of Mr. David Pollock, by their cleverness and abilities attained the highest honours of their professions: - Sir David, and his next brother, Sir Frederick, in the profession of the law; Sir George distinguished himself by his eminent military services in India in 1841, which were acknowledged with the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and rewarded with the G.C.B and other honours.

Martha Goore, born 5th May 1695, a sister of Charles Goore, married, 7th June 1720, John Dennet, by whom she had nine children, four sons and five daughters. One of these sons married, and had two sons.

Jonathan, born 1756, and died 12th of April, 1818, aged 62, having married, December 29th, 1786, Eliza, daughter of --- Greaves, Esq. by whom he had two daughters: -

Harriet, who married Richard Richards Esq. of Caerynwch, Co. Merioneth, eldest son of the Right Honourable Sir R. Richards, formerly chief Baron of the Exchequer. Mr. Richards died November 17th, 1860 aged 73.

And Frances, who married William Parry Richards, second son of Sir R. Richards, and younger brother of Richard Richards already mentioned. He died June 1860. Frances Richards and her sister Harriet, had died some years before their husbands.

Robert Dennet, barrister, of Lincoln’s Inn, younger grandson of John Dennet and Martha Goore, died unmarried.v

After this digression, which has been extended to some length for the purpose of shewing the various relationships with Mr. Staniforth’s marriage with Miss Goore brought into the family, we return to Mr. Staniforth.

He had married Miss Goore in 1760, and in 1774 they were settled in their new house in Ranelagh Street. In July of that year Mr. Staniforth was elected a member of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.

In 1783, his father-in-law died, and Mr. Staniforth by right of his wife, became the possessor of all Mr. Goore’s property, and the representative of his family.

Two years after this, June 7th, 1785, we find a memorandum of his having written to John Staniforth Esq. of Hull desiring “he would let him know whether he was in possession of the arms of his family.” No memorandum has been found of Mr. John Staniforth’s reply to this enquiry, and we may suppose that he was as ignorant on the subject as Mr. Staniforth of Liverpool, for soon after this Mr. Staniforth, humbly believing the Staniforths had no arms, entered in the College of Arms, as his own, the Mather coat, with a difference, which arms are now used by his grandson.

In some memorandum books which still remain, we find occasional notices of some Staniforths of London and of Hull, with whom it is evident a friendly feeling was kept up by the Staniforths of Liverpool.

August 29th, 1784, we find Mr. and Mrs. And two Miss Staniforths of Hull drank tea in Rangelagh Street, and remained in Liverpool till Thursday 2nd September.

On the 20th October 1787, and in 1797. “Mr. Charles Staniforth of London” came to Liverpool, and seems to have been hospitably entertained in Ranelagh Street. In the same year, October 23rd, a Miss Staniforth and Mrs. Flower of London passed ten days in Liverpool, and spent the greatest part of their time with Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth, It is morally certain that these Staniforths were an offshoot from that branch which settled in Hull in 1630; but, though enquiry has been made as recently as 1855, no satisfactory answers have been elicited. Probably, like a great many other excellent people in the world, they are too well satisfied with the realities of the present and the hopes of the future to care about the romance of the past. To others “The glory of children are their fathers.”

In 1796 Mr. Staniforth of Liverpool was chosen to fill the office of bailiff, and the following year he was elected Mayor. During his Mayoralty, in February 1798, the government being greatly in want of money to meet the expenses of the war, the inhabitants of Liverpool determined to get up a voluntary subscription in aid of it, and Mr. Staniforth, with his usual liberality, headed it with the sum of £300; his son, Samuel Staniforth, contributed £100 to the same cause. It was often remarked by his contemporaries that by no one had the duties which devolved on the Mayor by reason of his office been more ably and satisfactorily performed by Mr. Staniforth.

By his great ability and excellent judgement, added to the prompt attention which he impartially bestowed on the public affairs of the town – by the great liberality with which he contributed to the annual, as well as the occasional charities, and the kind consideration which everyone received from him, whatever was their station or position in life, he conciliated all parties, however opposed; and justly endeared himself, not only to his own friends and connections, but generally to all the inhabitants of Liverpool with whom he came in contact. To these and other good qualities, which carried their influence into his domestic circle, he added an unvarying good temper and quaint humour, which made him the delight of all the young people who came to his house. He died of a low fever, from which he had been suffering for several days, on the 15th of December, 1803, at his house on Ranelagh Street, aged 68 years. At the same time Mrs. Staniforth was so ill of the same fever that her death was almost hourly expected, and her husband’s funeral was postponed longer than it would otherwise have been, in the anticipation that both would have to be interred at the same time together. She, however, recovered, and survived Mr. Staniforth 18 years,

In the course of the following summer Mrs. Staniforth left her house in Ranelagh Street, of which her son took possession on the 17th of August, 1804 and went to reside at Broadgreen, a picturesque black and white cottage, near Childwall, which Mr. Staniforth had bought of Mr. John Chorley of Prescott, on the 30th January 1789. Until this time it had only been used as an occasional favourite country residence, where they went when they wished to get away from the bustle of the town, which was fast following them to their once country mansion in Ranelagh Street. During the sixteen years which Mr. Staniforth enjoyed the place, he had considerably improved it, and in 1796 he added to the house an excellent dining room.

For twelve years after the death of her husband Mrs. Staniforth made Broadgreen her constant residence, but in November 1816, she was induced to leave it, and go to her son’s house, who had for two years been living at Walton Breck, near Everton, and had long been of opinion, that his mother was becoming too old to have the troubles of a household to attend to, or to be herself left to the care of servants and that her comfort would be greatly increased, and his own anxiety on her account lessened, by their living under the same roof, where the affectionate feeling which existed between his wife and his mother would ensure to the latter the attention and care of a daughter.

Mrs. Staniforth died at Walton Breck, on the 26th of January 1822, aged 85, deservedly respected and regretted by a very large circle of friends. She was buried at St. Thomas’s Church, with the rest of her family, and beside her husband.

Mr. and Mrs. Staniforth had seven children, five sons and two daughters, but only two survived them.

Thomas, born 14th June 1761m baptised at St. Thomas’s Church by the Rev. – Martin. He only lived three years and five months and died on the 27th November 1764. He was buried on the 29th in St. Nicholas Churchyard by Mr. Lawton.
Thomas born 22nd of November, 1765, and died on the 29th of December, 1766m aged only one year and a month. He was buried in the same grave with his brothers, in St. Nicholas Churchyard, by the curate, Mr. Lawton.
Charles, born 14th of August, 1767 and baptised on the 16th following, by Mr. Lawton, and christened on the 11th of September, by Mr. Wolstenholme, rector of St. Nicholas. He died on the 8th January 1795, aged 27 in consequence of a chill, caught in hunting, and was buried at St. Thomas’s on the 13th following, by the Rev. Philip Kitchen, who, on the succeeding Sunday, preached a funeral sermon on his death.
Of Samuel, the fourth and eventually only surviving son of Thomas and Elizabeth Staniforth, mention will be made hereafter.
John, their fifth and youngest son, was born on the 1st of August, 1780. He died just six weeks before his grandfather Goore on the 1st of February, 1763, aged two years and a half, and was buried in the family vault, at St. Thomas’s Church.
Alethea the eldest daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Staniforth, was born on the 6th of July, 1764, and baptized at St. Nicholas Church. She died after a long illness, which she bore with the greatest Christian patience on the 13th February, 1791, aged 26.
Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Staniforth, was born on the 25th of August, 1770, and was christened by the Rev. Mr Bragg curate of St. Peter’s on the 15th September following, having been previously privately baptised by him on the day of her birth. She was four years old when her parents took up their residence at the new house at Ranelagh Street. On the 14th of October, 1799m she married, at St. Thomas’s Church. John Hext of Trenarren, in Cornwall, Esq. Captain in the 22nd Regiment of Foot, a Deputy-Lieutenant for the county of Cornwall, and one of the Deputy-Wardens of the Stannaries. He was born on the 15th of November, 1766, and died on the 30th of June 1838. He was much respected both from the long and high standing of his family in the county, and also from his own personal merits, being distinguished for his strict sense of honour and the unwavering rectitude and integrity of his character, which made his friendship and his opinions to be valued both by rich and poor. They had ten children, - five sons, four of whom survived them, and five daughters.

Thomas, born on the 10th of December, 1805, at Restormel, near Lostwithiel, in Cornwall, where his parents resided. He finished his education at Trinity College, Cambridge, and married, on the 21st of August, 1845, at Stock Gayland Church, Dorsetshire, Rhoda Charleton, third daughter of the Rev. Harry Farr Yeatman, LL.B. of Stock House, near Sherborne, by whom he has ten children, five sons and five daughters: -

Arthur-Staniforth, born at Trenarren, 9th September, 1817.
Henry-Yeatman, born May 22nd, 1849
Charles Hawkins, born June 1858
Edward-Tredenham, born June 1858
Francis Marwood, born January, 1860
Gertrude
Mary
Elizabeth
Eleanor-Margaret
Louisa
Seymour-Wolcot, born September 25 1863 Note by Nathan Staniforth - This one was written in by FMH in pen afterwards

Samuel-Henry, the second son of John Hext and Elizabeth (Staniforth) his wife, was born on the 9th of September, 1807. He was educated for the law. Is unmarried.

John-Hawkins, the third son of John and Elizabeth Hext, was born on the 5th of June, 1809. He was educated at Merchant Tailors’ School in London, whence he went to Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. In 1831, and M.A. in 1834.

He was ordained by the Bishop of Rochester, in 1833, to the curacy of Lanivet, near Bodmin, in Cornwall. In 1843, he was presented by the Lord Chancellor to the living of Morval, near Looe, whence he removed, in 1858 to the living of King’s Teignton, near Newton Abbot, Devon, on the presentation of the Bishop of Exeter. He was married, on the 19th of October, 1841, at Paignton Church near Torquay, by the Rev. John Francis Kitson, to Susannah Catherine, youngest daughter of the Rev. John Lane Kitson, vicar of Staverton and Ashburton, Devon by Georgiana, youngest daughter of William Buller, Bishop of Exeter’ grand-daughter of John Thomas, Bishop of Winchester; and great-granddaughter of the celebrated Sir Jonathan Trelawney, Bart, Bishop of Bristol, so well-known in the history of his country as one of the seven bishops who were sent to the Tower in 1688.

John Hawkins Hext has had thirteen children, one of whom is dead, namely, five sons and eight daughters:-

John, born at St. Veep, October 14th, 1842, entered the Royal Navy in 1858, as midshipman on board the Renown, 91 guns.
Edward-Staniforth, born at Morval, on the 27th of January, 1849.
George-Hawkins, born April 7th, 1854
Walter-Reginald, born at King’s Teignton, July 1859
Thomas-James-Kitson, born at King’s Teignton, May 8th, 1861
Georgiana
Elizabeth-Staniforth, mar June 15 1864 her cousin A.R. Boucher
Alethea
Charlotte
Frances-Anne, born December 29th, 1850 and died at Morval Vicarage, December 13th, 1857
Emily-Sophia
Constance-Henrietta
Lucy

Charles Staniforth, the fourth son of John Hext and Elizabeth (Staniforth) his wife, was born on the 13th February, 1811, and died on the 11th March following. He was buried in a vault on the east side of the south porch of Listwithiel Church, Cornwall.

Charles Staniforth, the fifth son of John Hext and Elizabeth (Staniforth) his wife was born February 5th, 1815. He entered the Army, in October, 1836, as Ensign in the 4th or King’s Own Regiment of Foot, from which he exchanged into the 8th, the King’s Regiment, in March 1850. He served all his military life abroad – in Australia and in all three Indian Presidencies. On his second voyage to India, via Australia, in charge of convicts for Sydney, he was wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope on the 28th August 1842. Out of 300 persons on board, 189 perished and the vessel, with everything in her was lost.

He died suddenly near Attock, in the Punjaub, where he was employed by the Government for engineering purposes, on the 26th January 1855, aged 40.

Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of John Hext and Elizabeth (Staniforth) his wife, married on the 5th of September, 1821, at Lanlivery Church, Cornwall John Daintry of North Rode, Cheshire Esq. for which county he is a Deputy-Lieutenant, and served as Sheriff in 1825. Subsequently. In 1828, he took Holy Orders, and after being successively curate of Easton, Crawley, and Shidfield in Hampshire, and rector of: Patney in Wiltshire, he returned in 1848 to North Rode, to officiate at a church which had been built on his property in 1847.

Mr Daintry graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge as B.A. in 1817 and M.A. in 1820.

Alethea, the second daughter of John Hext and Elizabeth (Staniforth) his wife, married December 10th, 1835, James George Crabb of Shidfield, Hants, Esq. who in 1837. In compliance with the will of his uncle Mr. Boucher of Jamaica, took the name and arms of Boucher in heir of his patronymic. Mr. Boucher died on the 12th of June 1851, leaving three children, and was buried at Droxford Hants.

John Charles, born 23rd September 1836, married April 16 1861, Beatrice Sudlow. He entered the Army as Cornet in the 1st Dragoons, 25th Dec 1855 from which he almost immediately after exchanged into the 3rd Dragoon Guards, in which regiment he became Lieutenant June 18th 1857 and captain November 18th 1859. He exchanged into the 5th Lancers in October 1861 and sold out of the service in March 1862.
Alfred Richard, born July 2nd, 1842
Elizabeth Louisa

Mary, third daughter of John and Elizabeth Hext, married on the 8th of May 1845 at Lanlivery Church, Cornwall. Samuel, youngest son of Edward Hawkins of Court Herbert, Glamorganshire, Esq. of the family of Hawkins of Newnham, in Gloucestershire and formerly of Marcham in Berkshire.

Gertrude, the fourth daughter of John Hext and Elizabeth (Staniforth) his wife, married on the 8th April 1845, at the Catholic Church at St. Nicholas, Exeter, Daniel Parsons of Begbrook House, Gloucestershire, only son of the Rev. John Parsons, of the Island of Barbadoes, M.A Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, vicar of Marden in Wiltshire and for a few years one of the Minor Canons of Bristol Cathedral.

Mr. Daniel Parsons was of Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1832 and M.A. in 1835.

Frances Margery, fifth daughter of John and Elizabeth Hext, unmarried in 1861, having made this compilation of the history of her mother’s family, a pleasant occupation for several years, cannot now conclude her account of Elizabeth Staniforth, wife of John Hext of Trenarren, without adding a few words as a just tribute to the memory of one of the best mothers with whom a family has ever been blessed. Her mind was of a very superior order, and was stored with a mass of varied information, which was a source of constant interest and amusement to herself and of instruction and admiration to her family. Possessing a vigorous intellect and great perseverance, she thoroughly mastered everything she undertook, and, as a consequence, excelled not only in the more solid studies of literature, but also in the lighter and more ornamental accomplishments which are generally expected to form part of a lady’s education, more particularly in those of music and drawing. Her charity and benevolence made her to be beloved by all the poor in the neighbourhood, whose sincere regrets at her death were augmented by their just appreciation of the discriminating judgment with which her bounties were dispensed, a merit of which none are more just judges than those who accept them.

In the perfect and unrepining patience with which though naturally active both in mind and body, she submitted to nearly four years of paralytic helplessness, retaining to the last a brightness and cheerfulness which were among her most pleasing characteristics, she shewed a Christian piety and resignation which was an example to everyone who was admitted to her society.

During the last few years of her life she was quite a picture of placid, contented and cheerful old age, thankful for all the blessings she had enjoyed, and in her constant and grateful remembrance of those which yet remained to her, seeming almost to forget the many deprivations which gently warned her, and those around her, of the gradual approach of the close of life to which she daily looked forward with the calmness which is the best evidence of a long life well spent. This “close of life” came on the 13th of December, 1851, after an illness of a fortnight’s duration, three months after she had completed her 81st year. She was buried beside her husband and infant son, in the vault in Lostwithiel Churchyard.

Samuel Staniforth

the third but only surviving son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Goore) his wife was born in Union Street, Liverpool, February 26th, 1769.

He was educated at Clitheroe School, which at that time had attained to a high reputation, under the able superintendence of the Rev. Thomas Wilson. He married on the 28th of April, 1800 (Six months after the marriage of his sister), at St. Thomas’s Church, Liverpool, Mary (born May 19th, 1773), second daughter of Henry Littledale of Whitehaven, Cumberland, Esq. by whom he had two children, a son and a daughter.

After the death of his father, Mr. Samuel Staniforth gradually withdrew from mercantile affairs and, in 1813, accepted the situation of Head Distributor of Stamps in Liverpool, which he retained until 1849, two years before his death. In 1845, he sold Broadgreen to the Dr. Brandreth, by whom the house has been greatly enlarged and altered.

In 1850, he rebuilt Mrs. Grammar’s Almshouses at Darnall, in a plain and substantial manner. His father had, on the 5th of April, 1786, sixty-four years before, given to each of the poor widows who occupied them, an annual donation of a guinea and a load of coals, to be bestowed on St. Thomas’s day, in addition to which he provided them with flax, which they spun and wove into a coarse, strong Damask, rightly considering that it was useless to expect to make the old people happy, unless a pleasant and profitable occupation was found them.

Mr. Samuel Staniforth, like his father and grandfather, was a member of the Liverpool Corporation, and was chosen to be the Mayor in 1812, filling the office with satisfaction to the town and credit to himself. Like them, he was a liberal friend to all the charitable Institutions of the town, and was deservedly esteemed and respected by all who could appreciate a character of such sterling worth as his, based as it was on the deepest religious feelings, combined with the highest principles of honour.

Our notice of him would be incomplete without the addition of a paragraph which appeared in the Liverpool Mail of March 31st, 1849, relating to his resignation of The Stamp Office, which will show the feeling which prevailed towards him, after a long life of usefulness, for he had at this time completed his 80th Year and had spent it entirely in Liverpool.

“Mr. Staniforth who for the last six and thirty years has held the office of Head Distributor of Stamps for this district will retire on the 5th of April next, from his public duties. Those duties and indeed all duties, whether public or private, he is known to have uniformly discharged in so exemplary a manner as justly to entitle him to the fullest confidence of the Government as well as to the universal and unfeigned respect of his fellow-townsmen. Owing, not less to his high personal character than to his connected with several of our leading families, Mr. Staniforth has been long and ultimately connected with the interests of the town. He has filled the honourable office of Mayor of Liverpool, as we believe his father had done twice before him. And, though he ceased to fulfil the more active duties of the Magistracy, his merits were gracefully acknowledged by his appointment to the higher office of a Deputy-Lieutenant of the county. Having already attained to and surpassed the ‘four score years’ ordinarily allotted to man, he retires into private life both full of years and full of honours, and amid the best wishes of the wise and good,, for search Liverpool through and it will be difficult if not impossible to find a more venerable and refreshing specimen of ‘the good old English gentlemen, all of the olden time’”

After this just encomium, we will only add a few lines of Armstrong’s which must strike everyone who knew Mr. Staniforth, for their wonderful applicability to him during his latter years.

------though old. He still retained his manly sense of energy and mind Virtuous and wise he was, but not severe; He still remembered that he once was young. His easy presence checked no decent joy. Him e’en the dissolute admired, for he A graceful looseness when he pleased put on, and laughing could instruct.

Mrs. Staniforth died, after a short illness. August 24th, 1846, aged 73. Mr. Staniforth survived her four years and a half, and died at his house in Everton Terrace, April 5th, 1851, aged 82. He was buried beside his wife in the family vault in St. Thomas’s Churchyard.

In the church of St. George’s, Everton, in which parish Mr. Staniforth had latterly resided for many years, over the south-east door a handsome painted glass window has been placed as a monument to the memory of her parents, by their daughter, Mrs. Greenwood. The subject is the three evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke, each figure filling a compartment of the window.

Sarah, only daughter of Samuel Staniforth and Mary (Littledale) his wife, married May 31st, 1828, at St. George’s Church, Everton, Frederick Greenwood (born January 15th, 1797), eldest son of John Greenwood of Knowle House, Keighley and Swarcliffe Hall, near Ripley, Yorkshire, Esq. by whom she had three children, one son and two daughters.

In 1856 Mr. Greenwood built and endowed, at his sole expense, a church and parsonage house at Birstwith, in the village beneath the mansion at Swarcliffe. The church is dedicated in honour of St. James the Apostle, and was consecrated on the 20th of August, 1857 by the Right Rev, Robert (Bickersteth) Bishop of Ripon. It is a beautiful specimen of the decorated style, every fitting and ornament is thoroughly good and handsome. The communion plate was the gift of Mrs. Greenwood.

In the church are several painted glass windows, in memory of different deceased members of the family. The two on the north side of the chancel are in memory of Samuel Staniforth, who died in 1851, and his wife, who died in 1846m the father and mother of Mrs. Greenwood. On the south side of the chancel is one in memory of Mrs. Barnardiston, who died in 1856, the mother of Mrs. John Greenwood. At the east end of the south aisle is a window to the memory of Edwin Greenwood, the younger brother of Frederick Greenwood, who built the present house at Swarcliffe in 1850, and died there September 28th, 1852. With him is associated a sister, who died in 1832, the wife of Rawdon Briggs Esq. The corresponding window at the east end of the north aisle is in memory of John Greenwood of Keighley, who died in 1846m the father of Frederick and Edwin Greenwood, and also of his second wife, who died in 1803. There are two other stained glass windows in the south aisle, one to the memory of two friends, and the other in memory of Rawdon Briggs, Esq. who died in 1859.

Mr. Greenwood added considerably to the beauty as well as the comfort of the village of Birstwith, by the erection of two drinking fountains. Over the smaller one, on the slab within the niche is the following inscription: -

‘Whoso comes here to drink, again shall thirst, But one has living waterl seek him first’

The larger one has four sides, on which is inscribed the following text:-

‘O Lord, how manifold are thy works, in wisdow thou hast made them all; the earth is full of thy riches’

On the trough in front the following ancient latin couplet is cut:-

‘Quae dat aquas saxo latet hospital nympha sub imo, Hic tu quum dederis dona latere velis’

These lines have been redered into the following English:-

‘From hidden springs learn thou the way, to give, and not thyself display’

For twenty years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood lived at Ryshworth Hall, near Bingley in Yorkshire but in 1848, his father being dead, which took from them their chief inducement for living in that neighbourhood, they removed to Norton Convers, near Ripon. In the spring of 1853, Mr. Greenwood met with an accident on the railway, by the overturning of te train as he was coming from Leeds to Norton. At first the accident seemed so slight as to cause no bad effects, nor give reason to fear any for the future, nor was he aware of having sustained any injury at the time; but gradually the fatal effects of the shock which his nervous system had received began to develop themselves by an occasional loss of power in his limbs, which after a time became established. He tried, with an unwearied hopefulness, every means which the skill and kindness of friends could suggest to restore him to a portion of his former health but unavailingly, and on the 28th of August, 1862m he expired at Norton Convers aged 65.

Not to say a few words about Mr. Greenwood, would seem to slight the memory of one who had justly gained the esteem and respect of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. To his family and dependents he was affectionate, liberal and considerate, and was constantly affording substantial proofs of the interests he took in their welfare and comfort. He loved nothing so well as to promote the happiness of all around him; and when obliged to adopt the habits of an invalid, he never allowed his own informative to interfere with the pleasure of those whom he delighted to invite to his house, which was known far and wide for the agreeable and kind hospitality always received there. Hos countenance was quite the index of his heart, and beamed with an affectionate cheerfulness, chastened, towards the end of his long trial, with a look of patient resignation, which was very touching to those who knew, by their frequent intercourse with him, how great had been the call for it in the course of the ten long years, during which he had been deprived of the power of joining in those active occupations and manly pursuits, which were so keenly followed by him in the days of his youth and health. He was peculiarly simple-minded and hopeful, and his perfect straightforwardness was almost a bye-word in his family; for he not only abhorred anything like duplicity, but seemed almost unable to comprehend it. His name will long be remembered, not only for his great work of founding the Church at Birstwith, and for many other acts of munificence for the Church in the Diocese of Ripon, but always as the benevolent friend to many, and the liberal and generous possessor of large landed estates in Yorkshire. Of him it may truly be said, that he did justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God.

Their children were-

John, born February 20th, 1829, at Ryshworth Hall, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1851 and M.A, in 1860. He was made a Deputy-Lieutenant for the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1850. He married on the 19th of February 1852, Louisa Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Nathaniel Clarke Barnardiston of the Ryes, Suffolk, Esq. of the ancient family of that name, settled at Barnarston or Barnston, near Ketton , of which they were proprietors from the conquest. The family of Barnardiston is one of the most ancient of the “Equestrian Order” in the Kingdom, having flourished in a direct line for at least twenty-seven generations.

Mr. John Greenwood was elected M.P for Ripon on the 27th of March, 1857 and again on the 30th of April 1859, both general elections.

Mr. and Mrs. John Greenwood have four children, three sons and one daughter.

Frederick Barnardiston, born at Swarcliffe, January 3rd 1854
Charles Staniforth, born May 1st 1857
Edwin Wilfred, born June 28th 1861
Clara Louisa

Mary Littledale, the eldest daughter of Frederick Greenwood and Sarah (Staniforth) his wife, married August 4th 1853 at Wath Church, near Ripon, Major Rohde (born 4th February 1821) fifth son of Edward Hawkins, Esq. (Eldest brother of Samuel Hawkins) by Elizabeth, second daughter of Major Rohde of Oakley, Kent, Esq.

Emily, second daughter of Frederick and Sarah Greenwood, was born at Ryshworth Hall, near Bingley, Yorkshire, September 26th, 1831m and died November 19th, 1834, aged 3 years. She was buried in Keighley Churchyard, and within the Church a neat Brass has been erected to her memory.

Thomas Staniforth

The only son of Samuel Staniforth and Mary (Littledale) his wife was born in Ranelagh Street, Liverpool. February 11th 1807. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree as B.A 13th May, 1830, and M.A. as Grand Compounder, June 13th 1833. He was ordained by Edward Archbishop of York to the Curacy of Marske, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, as Deacon, November 21st 1830 and Priest November 20th 1831. He was instituted to the living of Craven, on the 21st November 1831, and inducted January 7th 1832.

He married, on the 26th of September 1837, at Tandridge Church, Surrey, Harriet, second daughter of Charles Hampden Turner of Rooks’ Nest, Surrey, Esq. by Mary eldest daughter of Major Rohde of Oakley, near Bromley, Kent, Esq. Mr Turner died at Rooks Nest, March 17th 1856.

On the death of his aunt, his mother’s eldest sister, Elizabeth, the widow of John Bolton of Storrs, on the banks of Windermere Lake, Westmoreland, the Rev. Thomas Staniforth became, by her will, possessed of that place, where he resides, having in 1859 resigned the living of Bolton-By-Bolland.

And thus ends the family of Staniforth in its present descendants. “There be of them that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported, and some there be which have no memorial, who are perished as though they had never been.”

“My thoughts are with the dead; with them

I love in long-passed years;

Their virtues love, their faults condemn,

Partake their hopes and fears,

And from their lessons seek and find

Instruction, with a humble mind” – Southey

Notes

Stanford Arms

The ancient arms of Staniforth are similar to those borne by the family of Stainford and Stanford. In Dugdale’s “Origines Jurklieales” p. 329, Argt. 3 bars azure, on a canton, or a fesse, and in chief 3 mascles sable, are the arms given to William Stainford, Justic. Com. Babc.

In the north Transept of Tewkesbury Church is a monument to the memory of the Hon. Elianor Stafford. The inscription as given by Rudder, is this:-

Here lies the Hon. Elianor Stafford, daughter of Edward Stanford, Esq. of Lawford, in the county of Warwick, by his wife Katherine Cocks of Northey, in the county of Gloucester. She was the wife of the Hon. Francis Stafford, his wife, descended from the ancient Princes, the Staffords, Dukes of Buckingham and Earls of Stafford. She had issue by him one son, named Henry, who put this stone upon her in memory of a pious wife and tender mother. She departed this life the 26th day of October, Anno Dom, 1707.

The arms within a lozenge; per pale, Baron, or a Chevron gules for Stafford Femme, quarterly, 1st and 4th, 3 bars for Stanford; 2nd and 3rd, a Chevron between 3 stags attires for Cocks.

The Stanfords were a family of decided importance in their county. A Lieut-Colonel Stanford distinguished himself at the siege of Gloucester and tried to induce a rogue whom he knew in the city to surrender it to the King, unfortunately without success, Rudder, in his “History of Gloucestershire” gives his letter.

It will be observed that the arms in Dugdale and in Tewkesbury Church differ in respect of the canton- the latter seems to be Stanford without the canton, which may have been an addition borne by one branch of the family only, for succession to property. In the collection of book-plates belonging to Mr. Parsons, Is one with the Stanford arms complete, impaling for femme; or a lion passant guardant gules, on a chief azure 3 lozenges vaire argt and gules. The motto is “Diligentia omnia vincit” The helmet is mantled with Lambrequins, and the style of the book-plate is classed by Mr. Parsons as “fishskin”. Underneath the whole are the letters H. and S. one on each side, in F,M Hext’s collection of book-plates, is one in every respect that of Stanford, and under, the name “Thos. Stanyford Junr. Of Portsmouth”

Bishop Cox’s Will

Bishop Cox married twice. The name of his first wife is unknown, as is also the date of her death. The marriage took place while he was Dean of Christ Church. He married secondly, being the Bishop of Ely, Jane, daughter of George Auder, alderman of Cambridge and widow of William Turner, D.D. Dean of Wells (who died 7th July, 1568, when the Bishop must have been near 70). He died 22nd July, 1581. In his will dated 20th April 1581, and proved 10th August following, after some instructions as to his books, and after giving benefactions to the poor of several parishes, and to poor scholars in the University etc. he, bequeaths, to his wife, Jane Cox, alias Auder, 20 marks for a certain number of years.

To his son John, whom he makes one of his executors, 68 ounces of plate and goods at Fenstanton and London.
To his son Roger, besides the poor portion he had already given him, £100 and 28 ounces of plate
To his son Richard, besides what he had previously given him, £100, which, however, his wife was to hold until he came to the age of twenty-one, and gave security that she should enjoy a tenement in Ely during her life rent free. He also gives to his said son Richard 30 ounces of plate.
To his daughter, Joan Parker, £20; to his son-in-law, John Parker, a released of his debt of £100.
And To each of his two daughters Rhode Collett and Jane Bullingham, £20
To his daughter Rachel, £150, 47 ounces of plate, and £10 per annum towards her education

To John parker, Archdeacon of Ely, and to Richard Arkinstal, his nephews £10 each

To Ellen Mardon, his niece, £5

His executors were Dr. Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury; Dr. Cooper, Bishop of Lincoln; John Parker, Archdeacon of Ely; his son, John Cox; and Richard Upchare, Stewart of his Household – bequeathing to each of them a gold ring; as he did also to the overseers of his will, who were Lord Burghley, Sir William Cordell, and Edward Leeds LL.D

The son Richard was afterwards knighted, and resided at Brame, in Ely.

The daughter Joan was born 1st April 1551 and married John Parker, eldest son of Archbishop Parker, who was knighted in 1603.

Rhode Married - - Collett

Jane Married - - Bullingham

Rachel became the wife of John Duport D.D, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge and Canon of Ely. He died in 1617.

John Parker, Archdeacon of Ely, is called by the Bishop his “nephew” Can this point out the name of Dr. Cox’s first wife? The archdeacon died 26th May 1593, aged 59, and he was buried at Stretham in Cambridgeshire, where he had been Rector nearly twenty-two years. He was Canon of Ely, in 1565, and Archdeacon 21st October 1568, in the “Athenae Cantabrigienses,” from which this account is chiefly taken, Richard Cox is made older than Roger Cox; but it is plain in the will that Roger had his portion unrestricted, while Richard’s was to remain in Mrs. Cox’s hands until he became of age.

All the children may have been by the first wife. The Bishop could not have been married to his second wife more than thirteen years, as her first husband died 7th July 1568, and the Bishop on the 22nd July 1581; but as the bequests to Rachel are placed in the will immediately after those of the wife, and before the other children, it is not improbable that Rachel may have been her daughter. Richard also may have been her son.

Macros, Various

Ralph Macro of Trinity Coll. Cambridge B. Mid 1684

Thomas Macro, of Caius Coll. B.A 1704, M.A 1708, S.T.P 1722. He was a fellow of his Coll, and in 1718 was elected Librarian of the University, Another Thomas Macro, of Caius, took the degree of B.A in 1743.

(See also for others, Mr. Tymm’s “Notice of Little Haugh Hall, Norton” – P.4)

Thomas Macro

1728, April 24th, Thomas Macro (Brother of Cox Macro) was in London with “his Colonel, Lord Scarborow” Cox Macro, who lived at Norton, was at this time ill of a prevalent fever; and Ralph was Chaplain to the High Sheriff of Surrey.

John Wilson F.S.A

In 1741, when only 22, Mr. John Wilson, son of John Wilson and Mary (Macro) his wife, completed a Topological Survey of Hallamshire, which, though not quite perfect, was highly creditable to his industry and spirit of research. He occasionally contributed to the Gentleman’s Magazine.

Catalogue of Pictures at Norton

A description of the Pictures and Furniture in the house at Norton, in Suffolk, then the property of Dr. Cox Macro (whose sister, Alethea, married Mr. Samuel Staniforth of Darnall, Yorkshire) by John Wilson, his nephew, known as the “Yorkshire Antiquary.”

The Staircase

Is very finely painted by Hayman Tillemans – The story of Archimedes from his being first with the shepherds to his being carried up to the gods, where he is crowned. At the top of the Staircase is a dome, wherein painted the Nine Muses. Round the sides, are three busts of blind Sanderson, Archimedes, and Tillemans. In niches at the top and bottom of the staircase are two very large busts of Tillemans and Rysbracke, done by Tillemans- round them are most curious carvings; as are the banisters of the stairs, doors and windows. The chimney-pieces and hearths of all these rooms are marble-black, white, and grey-all very elegant. In the stucco Parlour there is an Egyptian marble slab, esteemed very rare. The frame of it is very finely carved; as is the frame of a very elegant looking-glass that hangs over it. All the cornices in the rooms are decorated with very fine china, some very old; among the rest is a china cup with a cover to it, and a rim of gold upon the edges. Both cup and cover belonged to Queen Anne, and which she always drank out of. Given my Aunt Macro by -----

Blue Room

Is hung with blue damask, the bed and chairs are the same. A piece of painting over the chimney piece is a representation of “Larder” where there are a crab, lobster, and mackerel hung up, a flask of oil and a bunch of asparagus. This piece has a very elegant frame of carved wood; and the chimney-piece cornice, are very finely carved.

Dining-Parlour

There are thirteen pieces of paintings- ten of which are family pieces; one of “Moses with the two Tables” reckoned very fine; the two others, history pieces.

Stucco Parlour

The furniture is crimson damask. The glass frame most elegantly carved; as are the doors, windows, mouldings and chimney-piece. The top of the room is the most elegant stucco work I ever saw. In this room there are twenty pieces of paintings, all intimately fine. The most remarkable one is “The Holy Family” painted upon --, which my uncle had been offered five hundred pounds for. “Our Saviour with the Crown of Thorns” most exceedingly fine. A representation of the moon’s rising behind a windmill, and the reflection in the water. Moses striking the rock, and water issuing out. A bridge with the water running under it, and which, to look through your hand at, you would be sure you saw the water running. In the closet to the Parlour there are five paintings; one of “Jesus raising up Lazarus from the Dead” very fine; the others, family pictures.

Court Parlour

Is furnished with crimson damask. There are in this room twenty-one pieces of paintings. The most remarkable is a picture of Bishop Gardiner.

In The Hall

There are ten pieces of paintings-one, in particular, very fine. A piece or birds and beasts- the sheep, in particular, very well done. Another piece worthy of notice is a man and horse, painted by the famous Tillemans, which is finished all but the bridle, the artist dying before he had done it. Over the picture is written the following:-

This picture was left thus unfinished by the justly-celebrated Peter Tillemans of Antwerp, it being the last picture he painted, and he working upon it the day before his death, which happened in this house, in Norton, in Suffolk, the 5th day of December, 1734

This hall is paved with stone and black marble. There is a beautiful model of the Weazle sloop, presented to Dr. Macro by Captain Gascoyne, brother to Mrs. Macro, widow of Captain Thomas Macro, valued at -----‘ with a glass case over it, the bottom of which is ornamented with shells, corals, pebbles and curious stones.

Dining Room

Here are twenty-seven pieces of drawings and one piece of painting, all exceedingly fine.

Chintz Room

Here are in this room nineteen pieces of paintings, one in particular esteemed very fine – a “Shipwreck” there is likewise a picture of my Uncle Macro, and another of Tillemans. The bed in this room is a most beautiful chintz, lined with blue satin; the chairs of white satin, with coloured flowers. One great chair is of nun’s work; as is a screen belonging to this room, which was taken in a French ship in the time of the war, and was intended for a present to the French king.

Yellow Room

The furniture is yellow damask. In it is a very curious cabinet, valued at fourscore pounds. It is mahogany, inlaid with agates in birds and flowers. A painting over the chimney-piece of flowers and fruits, with an exceeding handsome frame, finely carved; as is the whole room, in particular the chimney-piece. It is hung with tapestry reckoned exceedingly fine. The adjoining dressing-room is very finely carved, and fine stucco at the top. Here are two pictures – one of King William, the other a “Magdalen” the very finest fact I ever saw; it is an inimitable piece of workmanship, in particular the hollow of the hand.

Little Drawing Room – Twenty One Pieces of Paintings

Landscapes by three Masters…. Buildings and Figures (Bonaventure, Peters, Tillemans)

Painter’s Room, in which are

Portraits of Dr. Macro and Peter Tillemans, and Bishop Gardiner … … … Hans Holbein

Old Man … … … … … … … Fr. Halls.

Two Models of Prior’s Tomb.. … … … … Rysbracke

Bacchus and Ceres (Beautif) … … … … Thos. Ross.

Chemist’s Laboratory … … … … … Jacinto Jacomo.

Dutch Boors fighting … … … … … Hemskirk

Fruit and Bread on a Silver Plate … … … … Delft.

Bacchanal, from an Italian Design … … … … Tillemans

Boy’s Heads … … … … … … … Vandyke

Hunting the Stag … … … … … … Hougins

Old Man Reading … … … … … … ----

Christ Taken From The Cross … … … … … Luc. Van Leyden.

Little Haugh House… … … … … … Tillemans

Corns, de Wit’s Wife… … … … … … Hansballs

Baptizing an Adult (in Bassan’s Style) … … … Teniers

A Man’s Head … … … … … … Streker

A Vase for Chimney … … … … … … Thos. Ross.

Solders on March … … … … … … P. Tillemans

Nun and Friar … … … … … … Schaker

Sir Thomas Bendish … … … … … … Corn Janssen

Hall – Ten Pieces of Paintings

Unfinished Horses … … … … … … P. Tillemans

King Charles the First … … … … …Vandyke

Henrietta, his Queen … … … … … Vandyke

A Man’s Head … … … … … … ----

The Going into The Ark … … … … … Honderkoeter

A Man’s Head … … … … … Misovelt

Four Door Pieces of favourite Dogs of the family … … P. Tillemans

Large Drawing Room – Twenty Pieces of Paintings

Hunting Pieces (the Dogs, Lord Byron’s Pack) … P. Tillemans

Ecce Homo … Trevisani

Battle Piece … Tillemans

Moonlight Piece … Vanderweer

Water and Bride … Rwysdael

Emblem of Mortality … De Heim

Dying Philosopher … Poussin

Sea Calm … Zeeman

A Port, with many figures … Casteels

Battle of Turks and Christians … Boarginguon

Landscape: Cowhouse in Islington Road … Tillemans

Holy Family, on Black Marble … Stella

Harvest Field … Velvel Brughel

Landscape and Ruins … Greffier

Virgin with St. John (copy of Florentine Maddona)… Mich, Angelo Rochi

Port of Ancona … … figures … Vigano Bambotesthe

Dutch Man … … ----

Landscape (in Baasin’s manner) … Tillemans

Dutch Woman … ---

Moses striking the Rock … Martin du Vos.

Little Room

Venus and Cupid (Over the door) … Thos. Ross

Mr. and Mrs. Cox … Sir Godfrey Kneller

Christ Raising Lazarus … Meir

Bibtist May, Privy Purse to King James II & William III … Sir Peter Lely

Blue Parlour

Garrick in the Character of “King Lear” … Halman

Mrs. Macro … Riley

Mr. Edmund Macro … B. Wilson

Mr. Godfrey … Houseman

Mrs. Godfrey … Ditto

Mrs. Soame … Sir Peter Lely

Moses with the Tables ... Martin Du Los.

Mr. Cox … Walker

Simon and Alcibiades … Hayman

Mr. Allot … Vandyke

Mrs. Allot … Ditto

Master and Miss Macro, with dogs … Tillemans

Mrs. Looker … Murray

Mr. Macro, Senior … Brooke

Great Staircase

History of Archimedes … Figures … Tillemans

The Carving … … Dome … Hayman

The Stucco … Davis & Burroughs

A Bust of Tillemans … Rysbrack

A Bust of Rysbrack … Ditto

Yellow Bed Chamber

Tapestry: The history of Aurelias … ---

Fruit and Flowers … Old Babtiste

Dressing Room

Magdalen … Trevisano

Battle Piece … Tillemans

Chintz Bedroom

Handskirk’s Head … Old La Roan

Landscapes of the Setting Sun … Claude Lorraine

Morning in March, at Sunrise … Tillemans

A Landscape, Bridge and Rocks ... Jac Tillemans

Pope Innocent the XI … ---

Dr. Macro (on Copper) … Van Micris

A Canon Regular … ---

A Landscape and Beggars … Gerard Doww

Landscape with Water … Jac. Tillemans

A Battle Piece – very small … ---

Peter Tillemans, in Crayons … Jos. Goupy

Lobsters, Prawns and Lemons … A Nobleman

A Sea Storm … Old Vendervelde

Venus bringing Enaeas; Armour … T. Ross

Flower Piece … ---

Christ Healing the Blind … ---

A Landscape … W. Viruli

Sir Walter Raleigh’s Head (on Copper) … ---

Archimedes’ Court (Chimney) … T. Ross

Blue Bedroom

Lobster and Crabs … ---

King James II … Largelier

Solomon’s Idolatry … ---

Dressing Room

A lady in her Dressing Gown, with attendants … ---

A Woman reading by Candlelight … ---

Green Room

David and Nathan …. Rembrandt

In the Gallery: A Statuary’s Shop … ---

Servant’s Hall

A Landscape … ---

The Old Duke of Buckingham … ---

A Sea Calm … ---

Mr. Edward Godfrey … Thos. Ross.

Dining Room – Drawings

Last Supper on Blue … ---

Two small Battle Pieces … Tempesta

Saint Anthony … Hicronimo Mutiano

Ruins and Statue at Rome … ---

Penticost, 1654 … S. Brais

Christ Preaching on the Mount … Mar. D. Vos

Landscape … Saeft Leikanes

Christ in the Garden … ---

A Bachanal … ---

Landscape – Robbing a Coach … Tillemans

Landscape, Bear etc. … Jos. Goupy

Marriage … ---

Figure betwixt two Arches in the Vatican … Raphael

Holy Family (Spanish) … ---

Eight Cavaliers (Do.) … ---

Ship and Female Figure … G.R

Salutation … A. Zynor

Angel and Tobias … Guited Campo

Perseus and Andromeda … Ditto

Soldiers on March … Albani

Watering Court, at Newmarket … Tillemans

Spanish Tower … Ditto

Time Bringing Truth to Light … Pelletier

Rural Conversation (coloured) … Watteau

Nativity (blue paper) … ---

Richmond Ferry … Tillemans

Hunting the Wild Boar, part of the sketch of the Great Picture at Houghton … Rubens

Battle Piece … Tillemans

Conversation … Walleau

Aesop (Blue) … Johnson

Landscape – Villages etc. … Tillemans

Holy Family … Bischop

A Warrior (in pen and ink) … Goliziouns

Wise Men Offering … ---

A story of Aesop (blue) … ---

Four Views of Ruins in Rome … ---

Two Battle Pieces … Tillemans

An Isle in the Gulf of Venice … ---

Castle and Shepherds … ---

Landscape … Titian

Ships … Monomi

Virgin and Child … ---

Commandments … Beeckenger

Greenwich Park … Tillemans

The Ascension … Mutiano

Duke of Kingston’s Pointers … Tillemans

A Grey Horse … Ditto

Angels Visiting Mary … Pardoner

A Dead Christ (pen and ink) … N. Poussin

Bathing … Watteau

Landscape (Coloured) … ---

A Drummer … ---

Landscape of Death, in paper … Mrs. Macro

A Cardinal … ---

Landscape (Coloured) … ---

Country Diversions … Watteau

Copy of Statues, with the Engravings … ---

A Turkish Garden Entertainment … ---

A Landscape … L.B Guithart

The Delphian Oracle … Mar. D. Vos

A Sacrifice … Ross

The Creation of the World … ---

Death, cut in paper (2nd) … Mrs. Macro

Battle Piece … Tillemans

Battle Pieces … ---

A History Piece (blue) … Bickinger

Macro’s Arms … Buckinger

Over The Chimney

A Landscape Painting … Tillemans

T.S’s Note about Ed. Macro

Memorandum from Mr. Thomas Staniforth’s Pocket-book: - “When I was in London, October, 1763, Mr. Edward Macro, lodged at Mr. Farnbrough’s (cabinet-maker) Lower Brook Street, near Grosvenor Square: -T.S

Archbishop Younge and bishop Younge

Thomas Younge, 61st Archbishop of York, A.D. 1561. At this time the Papal authority was abolished in England. Drake says that the chief care of Archbishop Younge was to provide for himself and his family, and that he took down the great Hall in the old and magnificent Archieposcopal Palace at York for the sake of the lead with which it was converted.

This Thomas Younge is supposed to have been the person who married the Earl of Shrewsbury to the Lady St. Loe (the famous “Bess of Hardwick” who had been trice married before Sir William St. Loe became he husband, viz, first, to John Barley; and second to Sir William Cavendish). Thomas Younge died at Sheffield, 26th June 1568.

There was an Edward Younge, who was Bishop of Norwich in 1663.

Adela Rose Ellen Tindal’s Marriage

Married, October 6th, 1859, at St. Peter’s Church, Dublin, James Mouatt, Esq. Deputy Inspector-General of Army Hospitals, to Adela-Rose-Ellen, youngest daughter of the late Rev. Nicholas Tindal, and granddaughter of the late Sir. Nicholas-Conyngham Tindal, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas (See Times newspaper).

Octavia Kearsley’s Monument

Inscription at Grasmere Church, Westmoreland:-

In memory of

Octavia Kearsley

Daughter of John Kearsley, Esquire

Who departed this life at Ambleside, September 8th, 1827,

Aged 41 years,

Her mortal remains are deposited in the Burial Ground of this Parish.

Through life she was much beloved and respected by her

Numerous relations and friends

Her affectionate Mother, in remembrance of her

Filial piety, hath caused this tablet

To be erected.

Date at Balderton

Date on the wainscot over the Chimney-piece of the “Great-Parlor” N.A 1589

Charles Mather bought the Balderton Estate from Robert Heyward of Shrewsbury, about March 25th, 1736. He also bought from his elder brother, Thomas Mather, the estate of Preston Gubbalds, which formerly was his father’s. Mary Mather, the Widow of Charles Mather, had a life interest in the estate. She died January 27th, 1749, and left £50 at her death to the poor of the parish of Teddington. Mr. Charles Mather was also buried at Teddington.

Robert Mather was Mayor of Liverpool in 1601 (43 Q Eliz.)

Mather Arms; Ermine, on a fesse wavy, azure, 3 lioncels rampant argt, langued gules, - impaling, for Femme; Argt, a chevron sable between 3 cinquefoils gules, for Checkley.

Crest: On a mound vert, a lion argent sejeant, langued gules.

This example, painted on vellum, is in the possession of the Rev. T. Staniforth. Ormerod in his “History of Cheshire” gives a different coat for Mather of Cheshire, about 1715.

Balderton Rhyme

Shropshire Rhyme:-

Alderton, Balderton, Newton-O’-Th’-Hill,

Yorton and Broughton the Cliff and Greensill,

……….. And Hunt of Boreaton,

Chambre of Petton and Starkey of Stretton

Mary Mather’s Death

Mrs. Mary Mather was aged 85 when she died, January 27th, 1749; and Charles Mather, her husband, was 70 when he died, January 27th, 1737, twelve years before.

Foster Cunliffe’s Monument

In St. Peter’s Church, Liverpool, on the south side of the Chancel, is a costly monument of marble to the memory of Foster Cunliffe, merchant. On a medallion is his portrat, and on each side of a vase supposed to contain his heart is an orphan, well designed, lamenting the loss of his benefactor. The inscription is as follows:-

To the memory of

Foster Cunliffe of Liverpool

Son of Ellis Cunliffe, B.D

Whose sagacity, honesty, and diligence procured wealth and credit to

Himself and his country;

A magistrate

Who administered justice with

Discernment, candour, and impartiality;

A Christian

Devout and exemplary

In the exercise of every private and publick duty;

Friend to merit;

Patron to distress;

An enemy only to Vice and Sloth.

He lived esteemed by all who knew him (though few have been so

Extensively known), and Died lamented by the wise

And good, in the 73rd year of his age,

11th April, 1758

Other Cunliffes

Foster Cunliffe, Bailiff of Liverpool ….. 1737

Ditto Mayor dutto …..1729

Ellis Cunliffe, Bailiff ditto … 1750

Robert Cunliffe, ditto …. 1752

Robert Cunliffe, ditto ….(again)… 1747

Foster Cunliffe, ditto, ditto … 1708

Ditto Mayor ditto … 1715

In the church of All Saints, Weston, near Bath, in the north window, is a monument to a memory of Mary Cunliffe, daughter of Foster Cunliffe, Esq. of Liverpool; died April 28th, 1785, in the 65th year of her age.

Robert Marsden’s Sons

Robert Marsden of Standing, near Clitheroe (Living sept, 7th, 1663), besides Thomas, Vicar of Walton, had three other sons – Richard, George and John. The latter was married, and seems to have had two sons, Robert and John, and a daughter, Mary. A John Marsden was Mayor of Chester 1739.

William Marsden was Bailiff of Liverpool in 1716, when Robert Cunliffe was Mayor.

William Marsden was Mayor of Liverpool 1725

Richard Marsden of Brasenose Coll. Oxford, writes, June 23rd, 1664, to his brother, Thomas Marsden, at Lisbon “from his study, B.N.” This Richard Marsden came to Oxford with his “Coz Marsden” in April, and was entered 2nd May, 1664.

The Marsden arms were granted in 1733.

Miss Catern Cunliffe

Miss Catern Cunliffe, Archdeacon Marsden’s great aunt, who lived with him, was 98 when she died. His niece, Anne Halsall, seems to have been a frequent visitor at his house.

Archdeacon Marsdens Seal, 1747

1747, February 20th, Archdeacon Marsden, writing to his nephew, Charles Goore, thanks him for his kindness to the orphan Cliffs, and desires remembrances to “Cosin Marsden and Cosin Blundell”. He seals with argt, a fesse dancette, ermine, between 3 cross crosslets fichees de lia. Crest: A swan roussant. Motto: “Sancta Trinitatis sui…..’” and underneath “….. Initials”

Mem of Foster Bower

The following was taken from the “Obituary of Remarkable Persons” in the Gentleman’s Magazine for March 1795:- “On Wednesday, the 18th February, 1795, dyed, at his Chambers, in Lincoln’s Inn, aged 45, after a short illness (an inflammation in the bowels, after an obstruction of four days’ continuance, occasioned by close application to business), Foster Bower, Esq.

“He Commenced his career in the law at a very early period, under the patronage of Sir Joseph Yates, and after exercising the laborious office of a special pleaser during several years, at length practiced at the bar with such abilities and reputation as soon rendered him on the of the brightest ornaments of Westminster Hall, secured him a great flux of business in all the Courts above, placed him at the head of the Oxford Circuit, and entitled him to all the honours and advantages of his profession.

At the time of his death he was Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, Recorder of Chester, and one of His Majesty’s Council; and had not his life and heart been too honest to allow him to approve all the measures of Administration, he would long since have occupied a place upon the Bench.

Besides his professional qualifications, which ensured him universal esteem and regard, Mr. Bower was the favourite of ever company in which he appeared; quil walk of private life, his amiable and friend disposition made him the object of such general love and attachment as to warrant the belief that no one ever left this world more truly and universally regretted.

His high sense of honour, his masculine understanding, his unsullied integrity of conduct, and his great professional skill and experience, commanded universal respect and esteem,

His friendship, where he gave it, was strongly marked by its affectionate energy and sincerity; and in every relation of private life his actions flowed from the purest principles of religious benevolence. During several years, he was in the professional receipt of between £3000 and £4000, which, with an additional sum advanced him by his kind and maternal uncle, Mr. Marsden of Chester, he not long since invested in the purchase of an extensive estate at Taxall, upon the borders of Cheshire and Derbyshire, whose dreary and barren hills be had already improved and embellished with widely extended plantations.

To an only sister, whose husband’s affairs had been deeply involved by mercantile speculations, and to whom his benevolence had been since most affectionately extended, he has given a considerable annuity to the only daughter of a brother who died in rather necessitous circumstances, he has left a handsome independence; and the rest of his property he has bequeathed to his only surviving brother, who assumed the name of Jodrell upon marrying an heiress of that family, and who resides upon his estate of Henbury, in Cheshire, which he bought of the late Sir William Meredith”

Note by F.M.H – “The sister alluded to was Mrs. Walmesley of Manchester”

The niece was Mary, posthumous daughter of his brother Miles, who died at sea in 1786. She married, February 11th, 1809, Hambledon-Thomas Custance, Esq. of Weston Hall, Norfolk.

Miles Bower’s widow married, secondly, Mr. Hindle of Blackburn, whom she outlived.

Arms of Bower of Bridlington

The Bridlington Bowers bore – Sable a human leg couped at the thigh transpierced above the knee by a broken spear in bend proper; on a canton argent a tower gules.

William Bower of Bridlington, merchant, who died in 1672, married, previously to 1624, Thomasine ----, and she died September 1657, aged 59. On their gravestones are two shields – on a chevron, between three birds’ heads (eagles) three mullets impaling three bows palewise. On the other shield are the Bower arms as just given.

It is not known to whom the first shield belongs. The dexter coat is supposed to be Bower ancient and the impaling Bowes. No trace of Bowes has been as yet discovered by the representatives of Bower. Some of the Bowers still use the eagles’ heads.

Thomas Marsden

Thomas Marsden of Chester died at Newton, January 29th, 1801. He was the maternal uncle of John=Bower Jodrell and Foster Bower.

Mr. William Halsall’s Account of Helstone

Mr. William Halsall, in a letter to his father, dated January 20, 1731 says- “There are not above four or five houses about the Church, tho the parish be very large” In these days the coach took four days to get from London to Helstone. Mr. W. Halsall was presented by “The king”.

Other Halsalls

In Fuller’s “Worthies of England” 1662, Edward Halsall was mentioned as a “benefactor to the public,” before the reformation. (See Fuller’s Worthies of Lancashire.)

“Ed. Halsall, Recorder of Liverpool in Queen Elizabeth’s reign. He was Mayor in 1579, the 21st Elizabeth, and again in 1586, the 28th” (See Baine’s “The History of the Commerce and Town of Liverpool” p. 223, 1852)

“James Halsall was Bailiff for Liverpool 1717)”

S.S’s Commission in Liverpool Light Horse

In 1803, the Liverpool Light Horse Volunteers were embodied. Samuel Staniforth’s Commission as Cornet in it was dated September 10th 1803; as Lieutenant, 3rd February, 1806; and Captain, 1st January. 1820.

In the register of Baptism at St. James Church, Picadilly, London, is the following: - “1731, Oct 18, Baptized Thomas Staniforth, son of Thomas and Jane, born 24th September.”

Mourning Rings

List of Mourning Rings in the possession of Rev. Thos. Staniforth, at Storrs:-

1743 Henry Halsall, ob. 26th July 1743, aged 72

1748 Robert Marsden, ob. 24th August 1748, aged 80

1749 John Marsden, ob. 19th January 1749, aged 77

1758 Eliz. Staniforth, ob. 17th January 1758, aged 65

1763 J.D. Staniforth, Ob. 11th December 1763, aged 5 years 6 months

1764 T. Staniforth, Ob. 27th November 1764, aged 3 years 6 months

1771 William Shawe, Ob. 22nd April, 1771, aged 54

1775 Mary Staniforth, Ob. 16th August 1775, aged 56

1780 Mary Halsall, Ob, 16th January 1780, aged 33

1783 John Staniforth Ob. February 1st 1783, aged 2 ½ years

1784 Thomas Younge, M.D, Ob, 14th December, 1784, aged 63

1786 Elizabeth Younge, Ob, 9th February, 1786, aged 62

1786 William Staniforth, Ob, 14th November, 1786, aged 70

1795 Foster Bower, Ob, 18th February 1795, aged 46

1796 Henry Littledale, d 9th February 1796, aged 54

1796 John-Bower Jodrell, Ob. 4th November 1796, aged 48

1805 Rev. E. Wilkinson, Ob. 18th January 1805, aged 74

1807 Sarah Littledale, 18th May 1807, aged 61

1818 Jonathan Dennet, Ob. 12th April 1818, aged 62

1828 Mary Younge, Ob. 4th March 1828, Aged 80

1795 Charles Staniforth Ob, 8 January 1795, aged 27

1791 Alethea Staniforth, ob. 13th February 1791, aged 26

1803 Thomas Staniforth, Ob. 15 December 1803 aged 68

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