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The Beardmore Story explores the history of the Beardmore family covering 12 generations from Thomas Beardmore of Farley, North Staffordshire, whose will was proved in April 1573, down to Francis Alan Beardmore and his youngest brother George Cedric, a successful late 20th century novelist.
The website has been created on behalf of George’s daughters Anthea Francis Meadows and Victoria Helen Knowles, and Alan’s son John Richard Beardmore, who has two sons and two grandsons set to continue the Beardmore name.
Much of what we know about the early Beardmores comes from Olive Dale (Mrs Olive A. Dale, née Beardmore) of Newcastle-under-Lyme, who researched the Beardmores of North Staffordshire from the early 1950s; by 1970 she had spent eighteen years on it, according to a note by Dennis Beardmore. It is remarkable that she was able to put together such a detailed picture of the family long before the internet and genealogy websites existed. Some of her typed family trees are on Thomas Beardmore’s page, and her letters to George Beardmore have a page of their own.
For more than four hundred years the Beardmores stayed within 20 miles of Farley, moving from Farley to Alton and then Leigh. Towards the end of the eighteen century they were in Audley and Talke, and then the area known as ‘The Five Towns’ after Arnold Bennett‘s 1902 novel ‘Anna of the Five Towns‘. By then Frank Beardmore, Alan and George’s father, had married Bennett’s sister. As a young writer, George hoped for Bennett’s guidance, but found him intolerant and over-bearing.
You can find out more about Arnold Bennett on Wikipedia, or from this Radio Four programme.
Frank’s business was actually in Fenton, the ‘forgotten’ sixth town which Bennett left out simply because he believed ‘Five Towns’ sounded better than ‘Six Towns’. In 1910 the six towns, Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Langton and Fenton, were unwillingly united to form one city: Stoke-on-Trent. The older borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, a mile or so to the west, retained its independence. Sometime after the Fenton pottery business closed down Frank moved to London with his wife and four young children.
The places that feature most prominently in The Beardmore Story are shown on this map:
The Beardmores of South Staffordshire: Dennis Beardmore’s sheet
A large hand-lettered family tree, “The Beardmore Family of South Staffordshire, England, Sheet No. 1”, compiled by Dennis W. Beardmore of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and revised seven times between July 1958 and November 1972. It traces a different family: the descendants of Benjamin Beardmore, a stocktaker who died at Deepfield, Sedgley, in 1839 aged 76, who lived around Sedgley, Coseley, Bilston and Wednesbury and, from about 1900, in Newport, Monmouthshire. Dennis found no connection between his family and ours, and they are not in our tree.
This copy belonged to Rick Beardmore. Beside “George Beardmore, the novelist” he has written “MY UNCLE (JRB)”.
What it says about our family
Among his notes of June 1970 on other Beardmore families, Dennis wrote this paragraph. The right-hand edge of the copy is blotchy, and words that cannot be read are marked [?].
There are many Beardmore families in North Staffordshire. One of [these], the Beardmores of Farley, Cotton and Alton can trace their line as far back to a Thomas Beardmore who died at Farley in 1568. [This family] seems to have descended from a Richard de Berdmore who died [in 1295?]. These Beardmores are listed in the Kingsley Parish Registers as early as [?]. Two members of this family, in 1905–6, tried to prove a connection between them and Lord Invernairn and the Beardmores of Uplands House, but there was no proof. Anyone interested in this branch of Beardmores [should contact] Mrs Olive A. Dale (née Beardmore) of 92 Hassam Parade, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs. Mrs Dale has carried out 18 years of research on the Beardmores of North Staffs. At one time, this family owned a considerable amount of land in Farley, [Cotton and?] Alton, North Staffs, and their pedigree contains many eminent people, including George Beardmore, the novelist.
Lord Invernairn was Sir William Beardmore (1856–1936), head of the Glasgow shipbuilders William Beardmore & Co., after whom the Beardmore Glacier in the Antarctic was named. The Beardmores of Uplands House, Fareham, Hampshire, appear in Burke’s Landed Gentry. The 1905 attempt is probably the work behind the notes of Jeremiah Beardmore of Bucknall, dated 1905, that Olive used on her sheet about Jeremiah of Kingsley.
The rest of the sheet
Dennis also noted that the Beardmore name first appears in the Sedgley registers in 1777, and that the earliest family story, that this Beardmore family came from Scotland, could not be proved. His notes on the origin of the name repeat the derivation given above: ‘berd’, an edge or rim, and ‘more’, a moor.
Descent from Thomas Berdmore of Alveton, from Olive Dale’s papers
A typescript sheet from Olive Dale’s research, probably from the 1960s. It combines Thomas’s will with notes made in 1905 by Jeremiah Beardmore of Bucknall (“J.B. Notes”; a copy of them is on William’s page), the Lichfield calendar of wills and the Kingsley parish registers. The handwritten notes are Olive’s.
Transcription
[Handwritten at top:] This page fits somewhere
Will dated (proved) April 10, 1573 of THOMAS BERDMORE of ALVETON and notes from JEREMIAH BEARDMORE, BUCKNALL, dated 1905, shew descent as under:–
- THOMAS BERDMORE of ALVETON
- JEREMIAH BERDMORE (my sonne)
- ROBERT (grandson) of FARLEY (?selling tithes 1613?)
- J.B. Notes: ? JEREMIAH (say 1650?)
- Cal. of Wills: ROBERT (Alton), will pro. 1684 (but not in bundle at Probate Office, Birmingham)
- J.B. Notes: ?above ROBERT (actual) 1680–1730 ?will pr. Aug. 18, 1702
- Cal. of Wills: ROBERT (alive 1755) and JEREMIAH, 1705–1755 (will pr. Nov. 6, 1755) (of Kingsley) = ELIZABETH
Regs. at Kingsley, children of Jeremiah and Elizabeth:
- ELIZABETH, bap. Sep. 1, 1745, bur. Dec. 10, 1781, aged 36 yrs.
- ROBERT, bap. July 5, bur. July 6, 1747.
- JEREMIAH, bap. Mar. 12, 1748/9 = ELIZABETH LOCKER Mar. 13, 1773. C/Warden at Kingsley, 1795. Bur. at K. Dec. 8, 1836.
- ELLEN, bap. Mar. 22, 1752.
Children of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Locker:
- CATRINE, bap. June 22, 1775.
- MARTHA, bap. Sept. 13, 1777.
- BETTY, bap. May 25, 1783.
- JEREMIAH, 1790–1868, bap. Nov. 28, 1790.
- HANNAH, bap. Oct. 9, 1795.
- ELLEN, bap. Mar. 22, 1788, bur. at K. Dec. 8, 1826, aged 38 yr.
Children of Jeremiah (1790–1868):
- HELEN
- JEREMIAH, born 1844, died
[Handwritten:] I have seen Jeremiah’s will dated 17[5]5 and he mentions his brother Robert in it, so our Jer. (1905) wondered whether we were related here, but no, as appears from the second sheet attached. OD
What it tells us
The early generations come from the 1905 notes and are marked with question marks. Later research, which this page follows, found no Jeremiah among Thomas’s children: the line runs through his son Francis.
The later part fits the registers. Jeremiah of Kingsley was baptised at Alton on 2 May 1715 (not 1705), a son of Robert and Joyce, and married Elizabeth at Alton on 20 August 1744. The brother Robert named in his will is Robert (baptised 1719), the father of William (1759–1824). So Jeremiah’s descendants at Kingsley were cousins of our line. The Jeremiah born in 1844 is very probably Jeremiah Beardmore of Bucknall himself: in a letter of 1955 Olive describes him as an architect whose sister was Miss Helen or Ellen. Olive’s note seems to say the opposite, on the evidence of a “second sheet” that we have not yet found.
A few dates differ from the Ancestry index of the Kingsley register: it gives Elizabeth’s baptism as 5 September 1745, Robert’s as 5 July 1744 (probably a misreading of 1747) and Hannah’s as 9 October 1785. The burial on 10 December 1781 is indexed as “Bety, daughter of Jeremiah”, with no age, so it may have been an infant daughter of the younger Jeremiah rather than his sister Elizabeth.
Jeremiah Beardmore’s notes, 1905
A typed copy, from Olive Dale’s papers, of the “rough sketch of the Beardmore family tree” made by Jeremiah Beardmore of Bucknall, the architect who was working on the family history with John Beardmore of Hanley in 1905. Olive has added the handwritten corrections and the note at the foot.
Transcription
Mr. Jeremiah Beardmore’s Notes. ROUGH SKETCH OF THE BEARDMORE FAMILY TREE.
1337–1360. N.B. In the reign of EDWARD III the Vicar of Leek was one William Beardmore. He was afterwards made BISHOP OF LLANDAFF. Hence the family crest, which is a bishop’s mitre. Motto: “PROVIDENTIAE ME COMMITTO”.
(Supposed) JEREMIAH BEARDMORE, of the Side or Upper Cotton [Olive: say 1650]. His children:
– (Supposed) JEREMIAH BEARDMORE (probably disinherited on account of his becoming a Catholic.)
– ROBERT (actual), say 1680 to 1730
– (Supposed) MICHAEL
– (Supposed) RALPH
– [“Supposed” crossed out by Olive, “Actual” written in] THOMAS whose will is dated 1742 (is he the g.g.gfthr of Mr. GEORGE?) [Olive: “No.”]
ROBERT’s children:
– JEREMIAH (actual) 1705 to 1755 → JEREMIAH 1748 to 1836 → JEREMIAH 1790 to 1868 → JEREMIAH born 1844, livg. 1905.
– (Supposed) William → (Actual) WILLIAM 1759 to 1824, marr. MARY CRITCHLOW Dec. 26, 1780 (had 13 children, FRANCIS, WILLIAM, GEORGE, THOMAS, JOHN, SOLOMON, SAMUEL, DANIEL, JAMES, and FRANCIS (2nd); MARY, KITTY and ELIZABETH).
WILLIAM’s descendants:
– JOHN b. 1792 → BENJAMIN → JOHN, now living at Northwood (1905)
– THOMAS → GEORGE → JOHN at Burslem and EDWARD at BARLASTON
– GEORGE → WILLIAM → Rev. WILLIAM, London
Query: Where does Mr. GEORGE, of Kingsley, come in?
For answer see notes accumulated by O.A.D.
[Olive’s handwritten note on the bishop:] I can as yet find no trace of this William Beardmore (or de Berdmor) being appointed Bp. of Llandaff. He was, I think, undoubtedly Rector of Leek, and gave lands to the chantry etc. and also something to Abbey of Dieulacres. I think he is the Wm. described as “under age” as under: (1) Matilda = Richard de Berdmor = (2) Philippa (sued for dower 1297). Children: Richard de B. [of ?] by Matilda; William ([1297?] under age) and Robert ([1297?] under age) by Philippa.
What it tells us
Jeremiah’s own line is the one on Olive’s sheet about Jeremiah of Kingsley’s family, ending with himself, “born 1844, livg. 1905”. That confirms he was the Jeremiah born in 1844.
Like John, he could not find William’s parents. He guessed at a “supposed William”, son of Robert (say 1680–1730), whose son was William (1759–1824). Our tree instead makes William a son of Robert (1719) and Grace; neither link has been proved, and in 1955 Olive was still looking for William’s parents.
Olive could not confirm the Bishop of Llandaff, the crest or the motto (see her letter of 1955). Her note identifies the William of Leek as a son of Richard de Berdmor and his second wife Philippa.
Olive Dale to George Beardmore, 27 March 1955
Transcription
Telephone: Newcastle, Staffs. 69015
“Kingsley,” 92 Hassam Parade, Newcastle, Staffs.
27th March, 1955.
Dear Mr. Beardmore,
I was glad to hear that your nephew Richard Beardmore is interested in his family tree. Oddly enough, I had just had a letter from my only nephew asking how I was getting on with my digging into the past history, and asking me not to go too far, otherwise I might find our ancestors wearing tails and swinging from trees – in the next line stating that I was not to worry, as they were not believers in the Darwin theory!
You may tell your nephew Richard that the first definite ancestor of the Beardmores that I have so far traced was Richard de Berdmor (or Bordmor) acting as a Juror in 1280 at the time that Edmund the King’s brother proposed to endow a chantry at St. Mary’s, Tutbury; this Richard died in 1295, leaving a son Richard by his first wife Matilda, and sons William and Robert by his second wife Philippa. My working out of dates, etc., makes me believe that the William was the one who was Rector of Leek, stated by Jeremiah in 1905 to have become Bishop of Llandaff. I have looked up the Llandaff Bishops, and oddly enough one was appointed in 1361, whilst William is supposed to have died 1360, but no note of William de Berdmor amongst the list of Bishops. I went to Llandaff Cathedral last Whit.; three generations of us went; my sister her son and his wife and three boys, my husband and myself. It was badly bombed in 1940, but services are held in part of it. However, I have now got acquainted with the Diocesan Registrar’s Secretary at Lichfield, and knowing that the secret of William de Berdmor must lie entombed in two large volumes lying there – the registers of the then Bishop, Roger de Norbury (Northburgh, Northbury) I shall make another endeavour to find definite information.
With regard to his crest, I can find nothing as to where Jeremiah got this from – nor the motto. A Bishop’s mitre is not handed down to descendants, and in any case William a priest at that period, would hardly be married. Another crest, the stag’s head, which my uncle claimed we had, (also another, a boar’s head my sister vaguely recalls) is given on a seal attached to documents bearing this William’s name, as “W. de Leke”, but it might have been a Rudierd, of Rudyard. A stag’s head caboshed is also the crest of the de Bougheys of Whitmore, and one John Berdmor of Frogholle (with “lands lying in the lordshippe of Kingsley”) married Margaret Boughey. I enclose a draft of his will which I have examined at the Probate Office, B’ham, which may be the son of John and Margaret, or the Elizabeth mentioned may be John’s second wife. However, I am again “taking steps” to see what I can prove about this. I wondered whether Jeremiah’s notes might be a bit of “wishful thinking” and taken from Sleigh’s book, which is not too well-referenced, but I have examined both Sleigh’s big and little volume for all the references to William de Berdmor, but nary a mention of any crest or motto.
Jeremiah was an educated man, an architect, and of good position, and his sister is quoted on two occasions in the history of the Adams family, as Percy Adams visited her when writing it. She is referred to as Miss Helen, which might be correct, but the usual spelling in their branch was Ellen.
In Jeremiah’s notes which you quote, he was evidently trying to attach both John and Uncle George’s branch far too soon. On the copy I sent you, I think I had written “No.” where Jeremiah asks about the old will possibly being Uncle George’s g.g.g’fth’s. I did not know then that Ralph’s wife (my great-great-grandmother) was a Beardmore before she married Ralph, so that sent me off on another branch of the Beardmores, to discover that the will is that of her grand-father, therefore my four-greats and a grandfather’s. To be clear, I am the seventh generation from the Thomas, whose will it is in that branch, whereas Ralph’s immediate ancestors for three grandfathers, that is his father Thomas’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all George Beardmores.
Going back to Jeremiah and his note, he asks “Where do Robert and Mary come in”? Well, Robert and Mary were the parents of Mary who married Ralph, as you will see from the enclosed sheet, quoting notes from the will dated 1742. Unfortunately, Mary’s two brothers Robert and Thomas died in infancy, so your line is not connected through them nor is Jeremiah’s. I have had one or two Wills of Jeremiah’s line out, and found out the information about his family through these and the registers, which gives a lot more information about him that he knew before, but still nothing whatever to shew who were the parents of your William born 1759. Have none of your family any idea at all? However, I shall be getting hold of the Cheadle registers sometime and will let you know if I have any success there. He was not bap. at Alton, nor Kingsley; of course, he might not have been born at Cotton, although living there when he married. We might have to advertise yet, but shall see.
Rychard Berdmore [handwritten: bur. at K. 1575. I have seen his will at B’ham] was the Lord of the Manor of Lutley, otherwise Litley, Cheadle, in Elizabeth’s day, and you may tell Richard that there was a Richard and also a Robert from the Hundred of Totmanslow mentioned in the famous Muster Roll of 1539 as being liable for “a hors and harnesse for a man” which meant all war-harness for the horse and man, and this was the height of importance, some only producing a “bowe” or a “chiefe of arrowes”, or a “byll”. I feel so frustrated sometimes, but progress keeps progressing slowly. Shall eventually write a book on the Beardmores, I think. What do you say? I have a large family tree written out of my own folks, and you have William’s from 1759, and I have some of Jeremiah’s, but want William’s parents!
Yours sincerely,
O. A. Dale
What the letter tells us
Rick started it. Olive was writing because George’s nephew Richard (Rick) had become interested in the family tree.
The earliest Beardmore. Richard de Berdmor, a juror in 1280, who died in 1295, is the Richard de Berdmore mentioned on Thomas Beardmore’s page.
Jeremiah’s 1905 notes. (A copy of his notes is on William’s page.) Olive describes Jeremiah as an architect whose sister was Miss Helen or Ellen. He is very probably the Jeremiah born in 1844, with a sister Helen, at the foot of Olive’s sheet on Jeremiah of Kingsley’s family. She doubted his claims that William de Berdmor became Bishop of Llandaff and that the family had a crest and motto.
The enclosed will. The “draft of his will” she enclosed is very probably her sheet on the Bougheys of Whitmore and John Berdmor, which asks the same question: were the two Johns one man, or father and son?
Olive’s own descent. Her great-great-grandmother Mary Beardmore, daughter of Robert and Mary Beardmore (whose will is dated 1742), married Ralph Beardmore, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all called George. Mary’s brothers died as infants, so Olive concluded that neither our line nor Jeremiah’s joined hers there. This is the “but no” in her note on the Kingsley sheet.
William’s parents. In 1955 Olive could find nothing to show who the parents of William (1759–1824) were. He was not baptised at Alton or Kingsley. Our tree now makes him a son of Robert (1719) and Grace, who married at Leigh, where William was living when he married; the evidence for that step still needs to be pinned down, and her later letters may show how it was found.
Rychard Berdmore, Lord of the Manor of Lutley (Litley), Cheadle, in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, was buried at Kingsley in 1575. A Richard and a Robert Berdmore of Totmonslow Hundred appear in the Muster Roll of 1539.
The Bougheys of Whitmore and John Berdmore, from Olive Dale’s papers
Another typescript sheet from Olive Dale’s research, also marked as fitting in “somewhere”, with her handwritten notes. It is drawn from the wills of Humphrey Boughey, his wife Joyce and John Berdmor of Whitmore. She very probably sent it to George Beardmore with her letter of 27 March 1955, which mentions “a draft of his will”.
Transcription
[Handwritten at top:] This page fits in somewhere
HUMPHREY BOUGHEY, Lord of Whitmore. Will dated 10th Aug. 1539, proved 25th Sep. 1539. Buried at Whitmore.
= JOYCE. Will pr. Jan. 26, 1539/40.
[Handwritten:] both these wills refer to John Berdmore as husband of their dau. Margaret
Their children:
- ROBERT, and 6 other sons. Robert’s daughter ALICE married (2nd husband) EDWARD MAINWARING: the Mainwarings of Whitmore.
- MARGARET, and 2 other daughters. Margaret = (1) JOHN BERDMORE (of Froghall), marr. before 1539.
(2) JOHN BERDMOR of WYTTMOR = ELIZABETH. Will dated 13 May 1558, proved 20 Oct. 1558. “To be buried at Wyttmor.” Beq. all lands, etc. lying in the lordshippe of Kingsley to his wyffe ELIZABETH, and (see children below):
- (3) JAMES BERDMOR (my sonne), to have all lands lying in the lordshippe of Kingsley after the death of his mother (ELIZABETH, above)
- (4) STEPHANE (my sonne), £4 of lawful money of England
- JONE (my doghter), £4 of lawful money of England
All grandchildren to have 1 Lambe.
Elizabeth Prachett to have 1 Yewe and 1 Lambe, etc.
[Handwritten:] (1), (2): Are these the same John or father & son?
(3), (4): James & Stephane were “frankpledges” of Whitmore & appear in Newcastle Court Rolls.
More anon.
What it tells us
These are the earliest Beardmores in the family papers, a generation before Thomas. Before 1539 John Berdmore of Froghall, in Kingsley parish, had married Margaret, a daughter of Humphrey Boughey, Lord of Whitmore. A John Berdmor of Whitmore, who died in 1558, held land in the lordship of Kingsley, which was to pass to his son James. Olive could not tell whether the two Johns were one man or father and son.
The Lichfield probate index also lists wills of John Beardmore of Froghall (1562), James Beardmore of Whitmore (1572 and 1613) and Stephen Beardmore of Whitmore (1604). No link to Thomas of Farley is known yet, but the Kingsley land ties these Beardmores to the parish where later generations of the family lived.