BENNETT - Cullompton, Devon 1700-1800

[MarMnkly]

Hello, I am looking for any information on the Bennett family from Cullompton in Devon. The family line I am researching relates to:

Embling Pedlar Bennett[b. 1806] and Mary Ann Bennett [b. 1804] whose father was John Bennett Jnr [1775 - 1839].

Embling married my g.g.g. grandfather, Samuel Massey at Hanley, Stafford in 1834. My g.g. grandfather Ambrose Shere Massey was born there in 1847.

best wishes
MarMnkly

[Paul Bennett]

John Bennett Jnr (known to us as John Pedler Bennett) is my five times great grandfather.  Mary Ann married Ambrose Shere so it is strange that Embling used that name for her son.  We do not know why she moved from Cullompton to Staffordshire, but she obviously kept in touch.  She is buried at Sandy in Bedfordshire after a sojourn in London (the family were butchers).  Samuel left less than £200, so perhaps they were forced to seek shelter from friends.  Almost all the Bennetts stayed in the west country until me, so she remains a mystery!

[MarMnkly]

Hi Paul
Thanks for your reply. I have Emblings marriage (sometimes calling herself Emaley or Emily) in 1834 at Hanley, Stafford, but I do not know why she had gone from Cullompton. I wondered whether she had gone to work there?
The family seem fairly comfortable in the 1841, 1851 and 1861 census, with their own butchers business supporting servants and apprentices.
When Samuel dies, it seems that their older son George, continues to manage the business as he is listed in Parliament Row, Hanley in 1871 as master butcher. Again, his wife Lucy and him, have servants and apprentices.
Embling, as a widow, is back in Samuel Masseys birth place of Stoke Heath, Stoke Upon Tern in 1871 as a farmer of game (I think it reads). All three children born to Samuel and Embling were christened in Stoke Upon Tern.
In 1881,  I can see Embling living with her son, George, and daughter in law, Lucy, in Camberwell, Surrey. George is described as 'of private means'.
I unfortunately have no information of how Embling is in Sandy, Biggleswade, when she dies in 1885, this is 50 miles from Camberwell? I have looked for a monumental incription online, but havent found anything yet.

I had assumed that Emblings youngest son, was named after his uncle Ambrose Shere, maybe as Mary Ann did not have any children with her husband? Embling named her first son after her husbands father George, who farmed in Stoke Upon Tern, and the middle son after her father, John.
Best wishes
Mar

[Paul Bennett]

Hello Mar

Thank you for your quick reply.  My interest is really in the Bennett line, of course (we cannot get beyond John Bennett of Halberton 1748? - 1831 who married Mary Pedler), but the oddness of Ambrose's name has led me to look at him a bit more closely.  Apart from the fact that the original Ambrose's father (also Ambrose) put an advert in the local paper that his second wife (not A's mother) had eloped 20 times, we learn that Ambrose Shere Massey became a civil engineer and founded a company in India where he married an Anglo-Indian named Mary.  There is a notice in The London Gazette Jan 26 1897 about his estate.

Best

Paul

[Paul Bennett]

I notice that Ambrose Shere Massey is not on the 1851 census return.  Could he really be Mary-Ann's son? Both Mary-Ann and Embling would be in their 40s at his birth.  I can find only two children to Samuel  and Embling.

[MarMnkly]

Hi Paul
I am as certain as I can be that Ambrose is the child of Embling and Samuel Massey.
Ambrose is with his grandparents, George and Jane Massey at Stoke upon Tern in the 1851 census, although mistranscribed as Ambcas on one family history site. His birth place is listed as Hanley - where the family butchers business was located.
Ambrose is baptised on 10 July 1847 in Stoke Upon Tern to Samuel and Emely, in the same church as the other children. He also names Samuel as his father on his marriage certificate in 1890.

[mshere]

Sorry, a bit late coming to this.

Ambrose Shere b1798 was my several greats uncle. He married Mary Ann Bennett, the sister of the splendidly named Embling Pedler Bennett. As someone said, they had no children, so it is rater sweet that Embling named her second son after her brother-in-law as Ambrose Shere Massey.
I have taken the Bennetts back a bit further. Her Father was, as you say John Pedler Bennett 1775-1839. His Father was John Bennett 1748-1831 born in Crediton. His Mother was Mary Pedler 1746-1821. He had 5 siblings Mary 1780, Sarah 1782, Thomas 1784 another Embling 1786 and William 1777. John's Father was another John Bennett born in 1702 in Halberton, Devon and his Mother was Mary Nicks 1711-1782 born in Crediton.
None of these are my relatives, but I was interested because they perpetuated the Shere surname.
If Ambrose Shere Massey was your direct ancestor, you probably know that he had a son - Arthur Shere Massey 1882-1964 and he had a son Vivian Shere-Massey 1915-1988, so the Shere name had now become part of the surname. There seem to be lots of Shere-Masseys descended from this line from Devon now.