RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Dorset => Topic started by: B.E. on Tuesday 22 December 09 08:21 GMT (UK)
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Hi,
I understand Beaminster Gallery Quire have attempted in the past to trace some detail about Samuel Wakely, supposed organist and composer of Bridport in Victorian times. What I don't know is whether or not they've tried the rootschat route.
His dates are listed as c.1820-1882, but I can't find him using standard ancestry.com searches. Does anyone maybe have any more information about him?
Thanks,
B.E.
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Hi,
FreeBMD have this marriage:
Samuel Wakely SepQ 1859 Bridport 5a 727
bride either Sarah Matthews or Selina Pomeroy.
Could that be your man?
Nanny Jan
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Nanny Jan,
Thanks - yes I'd spotted that one earlier, but there have been so many Wakelys around Bridport over the years it's rather difficult to tell for certain. I was puzzled that I couldn't find any census info on him when he apparently lived in the area through at least four censuses. He apparently played the organ at one of the local churches during much of that time.
Other hints have been a Samuel Wakely (Snr?) b 1788 and a Samuel Wakely (Jnr?) b 1839 - the latter maybe linked to the marriage you mentioned? There's also a Samuel Wakely on the Symondsbury Tithe Map of 1839.
Do you have access to the 1841 census record than includes SW Jnr? Could you possibly tell me where he lived and who else was in the household?
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Sorry but I can only access 1881 census. :(
Nanny Jan
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No probs. I've started looking at other spellings. It looks as though SW Jnr was "Wakley" in 1861, when he was living in South Street, Bridport, with his wife Selina (nee Pomeroy, presumably).
I still can't find any obvious candidates for my man in 1841 or later as either Wakley, Wakely or Wakeley.
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Have you looked at the Bridport page on the Dorset OPC site?
Nanny Jan
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Yup, that's where I got Samuel and Selina from.
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Hi,
If you think he was born/baptised in Bridport then Dorset FHS have transcribed some Bridport parish registers and offer a search service. Unfortunately their hq is now shut until 4th January but you could send them an email.
Nanny Jan
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Nanny Jan,
It's not important enough to justify either shelling out for a search or traipsing to Poole. If I can't get a free answer from the comfort of my own armchair, then it will spoil the fun entirely!
I'm actually acquainted with a Wakely (from the Bridport Funeral Directors dynasty) and am following up on that front too.
But I'm grateful for the trouble you've taken to respond.
Merry Christmas! :)
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Three members of Beaminster Gallery Quire have been trying to find Samuel Wakley/Wakely recently, we now know that his dates as suggested of 1820 to 1886 must be wrong - some of his music was published in 1818! We now think he must have been born some time around 1770 to 1785. We think the most likely candidate could be the Samuel Wakley who married Martha Bools in 1809 with children born between 1811 and 1815, recorded on non-conformist listings. At the time of the 1815 birth he was listed as Samuel Wakely. I also found him listed as a cordwainer. At least we know he could write, because he signed his name on his marriage record (Martha signed with X).
Further observations most welcome!
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The 1809 signature certainly looks educated; slightly surprising since this Samuel was born the illegitimate son of Ann Wakely in Netherbury, Dorset in 1787. She may be the Ann Wakely who marries William Sargeant in Netherbury in 1794 If so, Ann was also able to sign her name.
Martha Wakely, the mother of George (1811) and Mary Ann (1815), died in Bridport in 1820. Samuel remarried an Ann Butler in Rockbourne, Hampshire in 1822, where he lived for the rest of his life.
In the 1841, 1851, and 1861 censuses, as well as in his will (1865), he is described as a cordwainer/shoe maker (as in the 1811 baptismal entry). In 1841 his daughter, Mary Ann, is still living with him; but, more interestingly, in 1851 he is described as a 'shoemaker and schoolmaster', so he is clearly educated.
This Samuel certainly seems worth following up more. I have seen one printed reference to the organist being the one who was born in Swanage in 1703, but that one died in 1705 (so wasn't mentioned in his father's will, where his siblings were).
Richard
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Thank you so much for all these details! I have only used the records I found on ancestry.co.uk so I was not able to be sure that the Netherbury Samuel was the one married to Martha. I certainly didn't pick up (or even deduce) that Samuel remarried when Martha died. Another Gallery Quire member has trawled through records in the Dorset History Centre and found that Samuel was a member of the Barrack Street chapel congregation. He (or at least the Samuel we are looking for) published anthems and psalms in 1818, but we haven't managed a sighting of the copy held in the archives in the museum in Dorchester...
How do you know so much about Samuel, am I missing a trick somewhere? We will plod on in our quest!
Best wishes, Judy
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How do you know so much about Samuel, am I missing a trick somewhere? We will plod on in our quest!
It is all on Ancestry. I looked for Samuels of about the right age in the censuses and was lucky that his daughter was living with him in 1841, so confirming he was the right one. Later censuses gave the place of birth.
I don't think it's of any help, but it's likely that Ann Wakely, his putative mother, was the daughter of George and Ann (nee Barrett) Wakely who married in Bradpole in 1763. They also had a daughter called Sarah, who was the witness at Ann's later marriage to William Sarg(e)ant. William and Ann had two children (Elizabeth, 1794; William, 1797); but no evidence of anything musical!
There are a lot of Dorset wills on the site. I looked through a few and saw that Thomas Barrett of Bradpole, who died in 1784, left money to Ann (daughter of his brother Henry B), wife of George Wakely. It shows there was a bit if money around in the family, so some extra evidence of possible education.
I had hoped to find something about Samuel's involvement in music in Hampshire, but no luck so far.
Richard
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Thank you Richard for your contribution to the search for Samuel Wakely of Bridport. We think the one born in Netherbury and marrying Martha in Bridport IS our man. When we are sure I will let you know.
Judy
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Further to my recent post, we can confirm that Samuel Wakely, living in Rockbourne from 1822 until his death in 1865, subscribed to the publication by Edward Thorne, organist in Bradford Abbas (sorry, can't remember date, but Edward was much younger than Samuel). This is the clincher above all else that the Samuel Wakely living in Rockbourne had church musical connections. Edward Thorne subscribed to Samuel Wakely's publication 'A Village Harmony' published in 1846. The distribution of subscribers to 'A Village Harmony' included many more choirs and individuals around Rockbourne, including Fordingbridge and Wilton (where Samuel's son George was a schoolmaster) than the previous 2 publications.
Samuel Wakely was the schoolmaster of a day school in Rockbourne with upwards of 30 pupils. Reminiscences of Rev W J Yonge's grandson include a memory of the said school, and the pride taken in their singing. On his death certificate Samuel is simply listed as a master shoemaker, which didn't help our research! Apparently there is nothing existing in St Andrews Church, Rockbourne, referring to Samuel Wakely. Even his grave is not listed (though both his son George and his granddaughter Sarah Charlotte Wakely were buried there before him; I have yet to check on burials).
Members (past and present) of the Beaminster Gallery Quire, namely Ros Clements, Fred Dawson, Judy Oliver, Eve Higgs and our leader Ronald Emett, have contributed to this research, and independently Edmund Gooch of the Crediton Gallery Quire has come to the same conclusion. We now need to track down copies of Samuel Wakely' publications. Next year is the bicentenary of his first publication 'New Congregational Music' so we would like to organise a concert dedicated to his music.
Judy Oliver