Looking for Birth of William Kirby Methodist Preacher.

[Taylor94]

Hi
I'm searching for the birth of my 5th grt grandfather but I'm not sure If I have the correct one or if he was born non conformist.

He marries Ann Goodman 24 Nov 1806 Great Glen. Both are listed of the Parish.

On the Wigston Wesleyan Chapel site it lists this -
'1819 – William Kirby of Great Glen, a nearby village, began to preach in Wigston Magna.'
On the 1841/51/61 census records his birthdate is listed as 1786 and birth location as Great Glenn or Glenn Magna. Occupation is Framework Knitter and Preacher.

I cant see any birth relating to this time frame in Great Glenn. I think William dies 1865 Blaby, Leic aged 79 according to GRO which would put him as born 1786 consistent with Census.

Only record I can see is a William Kirby bapt 3 May 1786 Medbourne, Leic son of Thomas Kirby and Elizabeth Payne. Medbourne is only about 10 miles away walking. Does this seem the most likely?

[ColC]

Two An...…..y trees note that William born Medbourne died the same year?

The only other I can find is on freereg:

William KIRBY Baptism 23 Jun 1786

Ashby-de-la-Zouch : St Helen, Leicestershire

Colin

[Annie65115]

I've looked on the LFHS noncon disc; there was a William Kirby baptised on 24 July 1786, parents Thomas and Dorothy, but in the Presbyterian church, and living at Ibstock and thus nowhere near Gt Glenn 

There was a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at GG but the disc mentions baptisms only between 1826-1837.

[dcbnwh]

There is a death for William Kirby of Medbourne in 1786 but there is a birth of a William in Blaston, near Medbourne, on 13 Oct 1788 1788, son of Henry and Mary.

David

[Annie65115]

I don't know much at all about how the non-confomist system worked; but studying my disc again, it seems that outside the city, there were at least 3 geographical "circuits" - Loughborough, Coalville and Market Harborough. The first of these two are labelled "PM circ" (primitive methodist, maybe?) -- Market Harborough is "WM circ" (wesleyan?) or I (independent?)

Anyway, if Great Glenn fell under any of these at the relevant time, I imagine that it would be Market harborough. There are 3 file references given for this - presumably these relate to files that are probably available at the record office in Wigston - they are:

Market Harborough   I   1786-1802   R51(3) 1459 A or MF 17
Market Harborough   I   1753-1781   R51(3) 1631 A or MF 17
Market Harborough   I   1782-1786   R51(3) 1631 B or MF 17

(I've copied these exactly as they appear on the disc).

Maybe the staff at the RO could help with this?

[Taylor94]

I did also see the Ashby baptism but there looks to be a later burial relating to a William Kirby born 1786 who dies in Ashby de la Zouch.

William might not have been originally non conformist as he marries Ann Goodman in the Anglican church at Great Glen.

So it seems he adopted Methodism/Wesleyan Preaching in 1819 but I would have thought later children would be baptised non conformist but this doesnt seem to be the case as all the Children to William and Ann through out 1808 to 1825 are all baptised Anglican at Great Glen?


The only other Kirby I can see is a Robert baptising in Great Glen the same time as William.
Robert Kirby marries Mary Bird 1798 Great Glen. His baptism looks to be -
Robert Kerby bapt 26 Apr 1772 Great Glen, son of Robert and Elizabeth.

There maybe some connction between my William and this Robert, They are both Framework Knitters and on Robert's Will in 1829 he is listed as 'Robert Kirby Framework Knitter and Preacher of the Holy Gospel'
Both Preachers?

[dcbnwh]

I don't know if this is significant but some of the baptisms for Great Glen seem to be missing in 1786.

Those for 1785 are in a printed register and finish in February 1786. An additional record has been added, in a different hand, for John Esom in September. This then appears in a hand-written page, followed by three more for 1786.

This means that there may be seven months of baptisms missing from Great Glen for 1786 and perhaps one of those may be for William Kirby.

David

P.S. - The same applies to burials and marriages, nothing between March and September 1786.