Fay Sampson’s Family History
This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back 30 generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)
RICHARD TOMLYN and MARY (9)
RICHARD TOMLYN. Richard and Mary had their first child in 1720. We should expect them to have been born in the 1690s, in the time of the joint monarchs William III and Mary II. This makes it likely that Richard’s is the following baptism.
Baptism. St Leonard, Deal
1694 Mar 11 Rich son of Rich Tomlin and Martha his wife.
His mother was Martha Pratt, also of Deal.
Richard was the seventh of eight children, an earlier boy called Richard having died.
His father was the master of the hooker Friends Adventure. He earned his living transporting consignments along the Kent coast, including packets for the Royal Navy. Richard junior almost certainly grew up in the seaside community of Lower Deal.
“Upper Deal, on a hill a mile or so from the sea, had originally been an agricultural village. The community of Lower Deal grew up along the shore. Leyland (c.1540) described Deal as a “fyssher village”, but much of the work of the local boatmen was related to the shipping in the Downs: ferrying pilots, crew and passengers to and from the shore; carrying stores and victuals to supply the ships; rescuing people wrecked on the Goodwin Sands; and salvaging ships and cargo from the “Shyppe Swallower”. In the days of sail, as many as 300 vessels could be seen lying at anchor in the Downs in bad weather.” [1]
It is likely that Richard junior too became a boatman.
MARY. We do not have a marriage for this couple, so we do not know Mary’s maiden name.
Their first child was baptised in 1720. It is highly likely that their children were baptised in the newly-built St George’s church in Lower Deal.
It is in Lower Deal, with its ready access to the sea, that we find most of our Cory ancestors. Edward Hasted’s history of Deal suggests that it had increased in population during Richard and Mary’s childhood. [2]
“The town of Deal became so populous in queen Anne’s reign (1702-14), that the inhabitants petitioned to have a chapel of ease for divine service, for which an act was obtained in the 9th year of that reign; it was dedicated to St. George the Martyr, and consecrated, together with the cemetery adjoining, by archbishop Wake, in 1716, who gave 100l. towards it, and several contributions were added by the inhabitants and neighbouring gentry.” [3]
St George’s, Deal [4]
The ceiling is supported by massive ships’ timbers.
The St George’s entries were copied into the register of the mother church of St Leonard in Upper Deal. These people were, in fact, living in Lower Deal.
Baptisms. St Leonard, Deal.
1720 June 19 Richard, son of Richard Tomlin and Mary his wife
1722/3 Jan 21 Mary.
Mary lived less than six months. She was buried on 8 July.
We do not yet know why there were only two children from this marriage. It suggests that one of the parents died soon after baby Mary. Mary’s burial has not been found.
Another possibility is that they moved away from Deal, but Richard junior was living there as an adult, so this is less likely.
There is a document from 1746 which could refer either to Richard or to his son.
1746 Feb 12: [5]
Thomas Corbett. We are to hire a Deal boat for Rear Admiral Mayne, similar to that arranged for Admiral Vernon and Rear Admiral Martin. The crew arranged for Admiral Mayne is; Richard Tomlin, John Howling, Stephen Norris, William Fleming, Abraham Walker and Edward Read, the same men as served Admiral Vernon. They should be entered on the books of the Princess Louisa for pay and rations. They have not been able to find men at a lower rate than 40s p.m. which we think unreasonable and ask for further instructions.
The fact that Richard’s name comes first suggests that he was the skipper. Richard senior would have been 52 and Richard junior 26. Either is possible.
Richard’s father, master of the Friends Adventure, had received a number of commissions for the Royal Navy from the Admiralty agent in Deal.
We do not know the result of the dispute over pay.
There is a possible burial for Richard in 1766
1766 Apr 18 Richard Tomlin
This would make him 72.
[1] Edward Hasted, ‘The town and parish of Deal’, in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 10 (Canterbury, 1800), pp. 1-23. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp1-23
[2] Hasted
[3] The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 10. Originally published by W Bristow, Canterbury, 1800.
[4] http://home.freeuk.net/eastkent/imgs/jpeg/stgeorge01.jpg
[5] National Archives: ADM 354/132/30
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