10. BEARDMORE-GRIFFIN

Tootle Tree

THOMAS BEARDMORE and MARY GRIFFIN (10)

 

THOMAS BEARDMORE.  Thomas and Mary Beardmore are the most likely parents of Sarah Beardmore who married Isaac Kirkham in the Staffordshire town of Leek in 1760,

Thomas and Mary raised their family in Newcastle under Lyme, 11 miles SW of Leek, and close to Stoke on Trent. It is a market town lying alongside the Lyme Brook, which is a tributary of the River Trent.

We have been unable to find a convincing baptism for Thomas. He married in 1718, so is likely to have been born in the 1690s. There were no Beardmores in the 1666 Hearth Tax return for Newcastle under Lyme so either Thomas or his father was a newcomer to the town.

The nearest baptism we have found is in Norton in Hales in Shropshire, 10 miles SW of Newcastle under Lyme. This Thomas Beardmore was the son of Richard Beardmore, baptised in Jan 1681. This would make him a rather improbable 37 when he married Mary Griffin.

Thomas became a felt-maker.

The most notable industry in Newcastle during the 17th and 18th centuries was the making of felt hats. As early as 1570 a hatter, Richard Norton, is met with and another in 1612, John Riggs. The existence of hatters presupposes that of feltmakers, of whom, in the 17th century, there was a considerable number as may be gathered from parish register entries. Late in the century the trade encountered difficulties because ‘servants and others of inferior quality’ had ceased to wear felt hats; at that time (1699) it was stated that there were numerous master hat-makers in the town who each employed nine or ten journeymen and many other persons, i.e. feltmakers, in producing the materials for hat making. Despite temporary setbacks the hat industry continued to flourish. At a borough election in 1734 out of 436 burgesses on the roll 159 were described as hatters. In the late 18th century the number of hat manufacturers totalled 27, while in 1822 out of 1,000 householders in the borough, 307 were described as hat manufacturer, feltmaker, or hatter. [1]

Thomas would have seen the building of the new Guildhall in 1713. The open ground floor served as a market hall.

Thomas spent his adult life in Newcastle under Lyme, and married in 1718.

 

MARY GRIFFIN. Mary married in Audley, just north of Newcastle under Lyme. We have not found a baptism for her there or nearby. From the date of her marriage, we would estimate a birth date around 1693.  It may be in a parish whose registers do not go back that far,

Marriage Allegation.  We know about their marriage from an allegation made when they applied for a marriage licence. Thomas signed an affirmation that the marriage could be lawfully entered into. His name appears alongside a seal and a wavy line that may be his mark.

1718  Thomas Beardmore de Novo Castello  and Mary Griffin to be married in Audley or Keele. 25 October 1718.

Novo Castelo is Newcastle.

We have not found a record of their marriage.

In 1721, soon after Thomas and Mary married, the church of St Giles was built over the site of a medieval church. It was here that the Beardmores were baptised and buried.
The church was rebuilt in the 19^th century, but the original tower remained.

There are no baptisms for children of Thomas Beardmore in Audley following this marriage, but many in Newcastle under Lyme. There is a period in the 1720s and the early 1730s when the parish register gives the occupation of the fathers having children baptised. After that, there is simply the father’s name. 

Baptisms. St Giles, Newcastle under Lyme.
1720 Sep 27  Thomas son of Thomas & Mary Beardmore. This is the only entry that gives the mother’s name.
1722 Dec 26  Robert the son of Thos Beardmore Felt-maker
1725 Mar 31  Mary the daughter of Thos Beardmore Felt-maker
1727 Jul 12  Anne daughter of Thomas Beardmore Felt-maker
1729 Oct 15  Elizabeth
1731 Jan 4  Margaret the daughter of T Beardmore Hatter
1732 Nov 18  Sarah daughter of Thos Beardmore Hatter
Sarah. Buried 1732 Nov 30.
Margaret was buried on 24 July 1733
1734 Apr 24 William
1736 May 1  Sarah
1737 Oct 16  Daniel. Buried 1739 Feb 4
1739 May 29  Betty
1741 Nov 4  Daniel
1744 Jul 1  Aaron

We might wonder whether the felt-maker and the hatter were two different people, but there is no other marriage for a Thomas Beardmore, and no overlap between the baptisms, We may perhaps think of Thomas graduating from making felt to shaping the felt into hats. But in the 1720s there are many felt-makers and only one hatter. In the 1720s, there are hatters but no felt-makers. It would seem that the terms were used interchangeably, and that the same man pressed layers of animal fibres into felt, and then used steam to mould the felt into hats.

In 1747, Thomas Beardmore married Margaret Whittington in Newcastle under Lyme. This is probably Thomas and Mary’s eldest son. The next baptism is for a child of Thomas Beardmore junr. After that, the father is simply Thomas Beardmore. By now, Mary was probably getting beyond childbearing age, and the baptism are more likely to be the next generation.

1747 Aug 30  William son of Thomas Beardmore junior
1748/9 Feb 26  John
1750/1 Feb 26  Thomas. This Thomas was buried on 8 Oct 1752.
1753 Apr 24  Thomas
1759 Ocf 26  Thomas 

Thomas and Mary appear to have lived on into their eighties. 

Burial. St Giles, Newcastle under Lyme.
1772 Nov 10  Thomas Beardmore
1775 Sep 1  Mary Beardmore widow

 

[1] A History of the County of Stafford: Vol 8. Victoria County History, London, 1963