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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Colin Cruddace on Tuesday 11 October 16 23:11 BST (UK)
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Hello All,
My FHS magazine has a list some events outside of the area for local (North East) people. One entry has me intrigued, and I wonder if anyone else might be as I no longer have any subscriptions to anything :(
A Monumental Inscription from East Knoyle, Wiltshire (and an added note that the Seymours lived at Knoyle House)
George, son of William and Elizabeth WRAY born Thoralby Yorkshire on 6 Aug 1798 and died 1 Aug 1843 sincerely regretted by his master Henry SEYMOUR in whose service he had been nearly 40 years.
I have no connection with any of these people, but the dates jumped out at me. Going into service of what I guess to be a well off family at the age of about 7, and for them to have an intimate knowledge of his birth details sounds very suspicious.
Well, I suppose it's over to anyone who is also curious and has access to more records than I do ;D
Colin
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and for them to have an intimate knowledge of his birth details sounds very suspicious.
Wife & 6 children on the 1841 census. Perhaps his parents moved to Wiltshire to work for the Seymours and George was on the estate from an early age
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Thoralby is in North Yorkshire and its people usually attended Aysgarth church.
Familysearch has George son of William & Elizabeth WRAY chr Sept 3rd 1797 Aysgarth a year before that given on the headstone.
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Going into service of what I guess to be a well off family at the age of about 7, and for them to have an intimate knowledge of his birth details sounds very suspicious.
Allowing for an extra year or two (as found above) I suppose George may have 'gone into service' as young as that, but I would prefer the idea that his whole family moved (a long way) to another position where his parent(s) were the servant(s) and the children part of their entourage. After a few years George probably found employment on the estate, becoming a proper 'servant'. Some landed gentry took great interest in the lives of their servants, as can be seen visiting such places as Erddig near Wrexham.
A James Robinson on my wife's tree grew up in rural Suffolk but by his early twenties had become a valet at one of the Duke of Northumberland's places south of London. Ten years later he wanted to marry and return to Suffolk, which they did, as butler and housekeeper to a well-off lady.
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Thank you all for your help and suggestions, I really appreciate it. It would make sense for George to have moved with his parents and any siblings, and for his master to (apparently) foot the bill for the burial and headstone in recognition of valued service and loyalty.
However, (isn't there always an however!), I've just had a quick check on FreeCEN and found George with his family, and no sign of the Seymours. The odd thing is that George and his wife and also the 2 eldest children were not born in County, William age 13 being the youngest. The next was George age 12 which would mean that they moved there in the late 1830s unless he married a widow.
Thanks again and best wishes,
Colin