Francis
Will of Francis Beardmore of Burslem, 1853
Francis Beardmore (1826–1853), bricklayer and beer seller of Burslem, made his will on 2 May 1853, a week before he died, aged 27. He signed it with his mark. This is the will Olive Dale called the “biggest snag” in George Cedric’s descent (her letter of 22 August 1967), because it names “my Brother George Beardmore of Burslem, Blacksmith” and his two sons John and Edward. The brother is George (1815–1895), not his uncle George (1787–1839), and the nephew John is John (1845–1908).
The original also settles the daughter’s name. The will calls her Margaret three times, so Olive’s copy was right. Francis’s first daughter Maria, four months old at the 1851 census, was buried at St John’s, Burslem, on 25 February 1852, aged 1. Margaret was a second daughter, whose birth was registered at Wolstanton early in 1853.
Source: Original will and executors’ affidavit, Lichfield diocesan probate records, held by Staffordshire Archives. Image on Findmypast, “Staffordshire, Dioceses of Lichfield and Coventry Wills and Probate 1521–1860”, film 007620652, images 336–341. The images are © Staffordshire County Council and are not reproduced here.
Transcription
This is the last Will and Testament of me Francis Beardmore of Burslem in the County of Stafford Bricklayer and Beer Seller made this second day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty three in manner following (that is to say)
I nominate and appoint my Brother George Beardmore of Burslem aforesaid Blacksmith and John Watkin of Burslem aforesaid Builder Executors and Trustees of this my Will and direct that all my just Debts my funeral Expenses and the Costs of proving this my Will be paid and discharged by them out of my personal Estate and subject thereto I give devise and bequeath All my Real and personal Estate and Effects whatsoever and wheresoever and of what nature or kind soever to them the said George Beardmore and John Watkin their heirs executors administrators and assigns In Trust at the discretion of them or the survivor of them his heirs executors or administrators to get in and sell and dispose of and convert into money all such Real and personal Estate or such parts thereof as they or he may deem expedient and to invest the proceeds thereof on Government or Real Securities with power to buy in and resell any property to vary or rescind any contract for Sale and afterwards at their or his discretion to vary the Securities upon which my property at my decease or afterwards may be invested
And to stand seised and possessed of my Real Estate until the Sale thereof and of the proceeds of my personal Estate after payment of all Expenses attending the execution of the Trusts of this my Will In Trust to pay the Income thereof or such part thereof as they my said Trustees shall think proper for the support education and maintenance of my infant Daughter Margaret Beardmore until she shall attain the age of Twenty one years or be married which shall first happen And after she shall attain the said age of Twenty one years or be married I give and devise the same to her her heirs and assigns absolutely
And I appoint the said George Beardmore and John Watkin Guardians of my said Daughter Margaret Beardmore Provided and I direct that the same shall be free from the Debts Control intermeddling or engagements of any Husband or Husbands with whom she my said Daughter Margaret Beardmore may hereafter intermarry
And I hereby authorize and empower my said Trustees at their discretion to allow my Wife Susannah Beardmore what Sum they shall think proper and needful during her Widowhood And in case my said Wife Susannah Beardmore should intermarry with any other Husband I authorize and empower my said Trustees at their discretion to give her out of my Real or personal Estate any Sum they shall think proper and the Sum they give her to be all that she shall be entitled to out of my Real and personal Estate And I also authorize and empower my said Trustees to continue or discontinue to carry on the Business in which I am now engaged in
Provided further that if my said Daughter Margaret Beardmore shall depart this life under the age of Twenty one years without leaving lawful issue I give devise and bequeath all my said Real and personal Estate unto my two Nephews John Beardmore and Edward Beardmore the two Sons of my Brother George Beardmore their heirs and assigns in equal shares and proportions as Tenants in common and not as joint Tenants And in case my said Nephews shall die without leaving lawful issue I give devise and bequeath the same to all my Nephews and Nieces share and share alike as aforesaid
And Lastly I revoke all or any Will or Wills by me at any time heretofore made and declare this only to be my last Will and Testament In Witness whereof I have hereunto set and subscribed my hand the day and year first before written.
Signed by the said Francis Beardmore the Testator as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as Witnesses: Chas. Hodges; Hamlet Beardmore. — The mark X of Francis Beardmore.
The executors’ affidavit
George Beardmore, blacksmith, and John Watkin, builder, both of Burslem, the executors, swore on 28 October 1853 that Francis Beardmore, late of Burslem, bricklayer, died on or about 9 May 1853, and that his estate was under the value of one hundred pounds. The probate docket reads “Newcastle 28th October 1853, Francis Beardmore de Burslem, 2 Ex[ecutors] … £100”. Francis was buried at St Paul’s, Burslem, on 12 May 1853, aged 27.
Olive Dale to George Beardmore, 22 August 1967
Written twelve years after the 1950s letters, when Olive and George were signing themselves cousins. The letter was typed on both sides of a long sheet.
Transcription
92 Hassam Parade, Newcastle, Staffs., 22nd August, 1967.
My dear George,
I was delighted to receive the autographed copy of your new book, and feel that it should be very successful indeed. I started to read it, but was reluctantly torn away to go with my husband to Stafford.
This morning he had a ’phone call from the County Librarian (several things she wished to consult him about, one thing being about him performing the official opening of the Barlaston Library – he is the Chairman of the County Libraries Committee, amongst so many other things, and has opened quite a large number of Branch Libraries, also the huge County Library Headquarters a few years ago.) We took the opportunity to take your new novel with us, and asked if the Library had any copies – of course, we do not wish to be accused of nepotism, but still –. They have got three copies, and I showed the County Librarian and her Deputy my copy. I also borrowed from their stock two of your previous novels. Some years ago I very much enjoyed “A Tale of Two Thieves” and was very anxious to obtain “The Staffordshire Assassins” but was unable to do so at the time. The two I have got out of County stock are “The Staffordshire Assassins” and “Madame Merlin”, which I should think are two of your best.
I will try whenever I can to find the baptism of William Beardmore born 1759, but he is not in the Alton register, where other children of Robert and Grace are, but their dau. Mary was bap. at Leigh, so one never knows. William & Mary had their banns read at Leigh, and their first son Francis bap. there, but have not yet asked at Draycott if the marr. actually took place there. Of course, when Jeremiah, John and my uncle George were trying to find their joint relationships, they deducted William’s death date wrongly, writing 1749 for birth, but if he was 65 at death in 1824, it would be 1759. On one sheet I have Mary died 1824 aged 65, so there may be an error there. If only they had had a marr. lic. and had been under age, the names of guardians would have been of help. However –
I have now run up against two or three snags for your modern descent. Old John of Hallfields (Brassfounder) stated that William & Mary had ten sons and three daughters, the latter all dying unmarr. He named them as Elizabeth, Mary and Kitty. From somewhere else (it escapes me for the moment) I had a list which gave Catherine B. as a sister, born June 5, 1785, which of course fits her in nicely between William b. Dec. 1784 and George b. Jy 18, 1787. One might have thought from other entries that the three entries within the end pages of your Bible shewed George d. Feb. 17, 1839 aged 50; Catharine d. Sept. 15, 1844, aged 58 and Mary sister to the above George died Feb. 17, 1860 aged 77 were two sisters and brothers. Have you by any chance misread or mistyped any of the dates you gave to me, do you think? Catharine Beardmore born June 5, 1785 is entered in your Bible but the will I have of Catharine B. of Audley is dated 14 Nov. 1832, pr. 2nd May 1833, and in it she refers to her brother Samuel, sister Mary (spinster) and sister Elizabeth, residue to surv. s. & b. share and share alike. All these were children of William and Mary.
Then in Mary’s will dated Feb. 13, 1860, pr. Mar. 5, 1860 she refers to Mary, dau. of my late nephew James B. (Farmer) decd., niece Eliz. Machin, wife of Alfred Machin of Talk o’th’ Hill, writing clerk, Eliz’s son Frank Machin (under age), makes the Rector and bro. Samuel exors., and if nephew Frank did before 21, residue equally between surviving bros. Samuel, Francis, John, and the children of decd. bros. William, George, and Francis [handwritten: Thomas]. Also will of Wm. B. (one of dec. bros.) d. 1857 [handwritten: will dated July 12, 1856, pr. May 1857] refers to his wife Mary, son John, daus. Eliz. & Martha B. and dau. Kitty marr. to Wm. Mason. But turn over for biggest snag.
[Overleaf] FRANCIS BEARDMORE of Burslem, Bricklayer and Beerseller. I nominate my brother GEORGE BEARDMORE of Burslem, Blacksmith, and JOHN WATKIN of Burslem, Builder, exors. and trustees, they or their heirs to sell, etc. and invest the parcels thereof in Govt. or Real Securities (the will gives £100 as value), income to be for “my infant daughter MARGARET until she shall attain the age of 21 years. George B. and John W. to be guardians. Refers to wife SUSANNA BEARDMORE. Also desires that if his dau. MARGARET shall die before 21, his said real and personal estate shall go to nephews JOHN BEARDMORE and EDWARD BEARDMORE, the two sons of my brother GEORGE BEARDMORE. Witnesses: CHARLES HODGES, HAMLET BEARDMORE.
Now sort that one out! You can see what a frustrating job genealogical research can be.
Your grandfather JOHN was born in 1848, EDWARD round the same time, so were infants when this will was made, but how do you account for the GEORGE dying 1839 Feb. 17 (presumably the one born July 18, 1787) being referred to as father of JOHN and EDWARD when they were born after that date. There must have been another generation, and old John (Brassfounder) who stated that Thomas b. 1789 was grandfather of John and Edward and the George who heads the list in your Bible must have been the anc. of Rev. W. G. If so, why did the Bible come to you? Or is the FRANCIS will above bro. as he says of your great-grandfather George, and not the brother of Mary, will 1860, etc. You will note she refers to her brother Francis as being alive in 1860. I think you will find after asking your cousin John of Burslem that your great-grandfather George had a bro. Francis who died 1853, and an uncle Francis alive in 1860. What a tangle!
Dates have been put wrongly before – for example, my ancestor JAMES FYNNEY born late 1739 is entered in the Cheddleton register as dying aged 74 in 1804, whereas he was only 64. And one of his brother’s WILLIAM is not entered in the Alstonefield register, although all the others are, even one born after him, and yet I have his wife and all his descendants, to say nothing of the fact that he is included in his father’s and his uncle’s wills in the correct order of age. Oh, oh, these careless parsons and parish clerks. To say nothing also of my ancestors Thomas Beardmore and Sarah Bostock entered in the marriages in both Kingsley and Leek, also another marr. in Caversall and Kingsley, and my g-g-g-g (I am not counting) uncle ROBERT SHENTON is entered as buried in Kingsley and Cheadle. The answer is that both parsons wanted their fees for the marr. and the burial was entered in both as Robert S. left a charity to both villages, but why couldn’t the Kingsley parson say “bur. this day at Cheadle”? I know he was there as his gravestone is in the tower of Cheadle church!!
Again many thanks indeed for the lovely book – Charlie Pocock seems like a Potteries character to me.
Must close now for the time being. If you can think of any clues, or if I can, letters must follow. I have a terrible tangle to sort for an Australian distant relative, who I have got back to 1529 without any doubt, but she now wants to link up another branch (one who had big ideas of their descent from a kinsman of William the Conqueror!) Heigh-ho!
Best love from
Your affectionate cousin,
Olive
What the letter tells us
More from George’s Bible. Olive quotes three entries from the end pages of George Beardmore’s family Bible, then in George Cedric’s possession: George died on 17 February 1839 aged 50; Catharine on 15 September 1844 aged 58; and George’s sister Mary on 17 February 1860 aged 77. Catharine, born in 1785, was too close in age to her supposed brother William (born December 1784) to be his sister; she was much more probably George’s second wife.
The wills of William and Mary’s children. Kitty (Catharine of Audley) made her will in 1832, naming her brother Samuel and sisters Mary and Elizabeth. Mary’s will of 1860 names her surviving brothers Samuel, Francis and John, the children of her late brothers William, George and Thomas, and her niece Elizabeth Machin. William’s will was dated 12 July 1856 and proved in May 1857.
The “biggest snag” – the will of a Francis Beardmore naming nephews John and Edward, sons of his brother George – was solved as Olive suggested: the will is that of Francis (1826–1853), brother of George (1815–1895), the father of John and Edward.
Olive’s own family. Olive’s husband Frank Dale was Chairman of the Staffordshire County Libraries Committee. Her other ancestors included the Fynneys of Cheddleton and the Shentons of Cheadle; she was also descended from Thomas Beardmore and Sarah Bostock of Kingsley.
George Beardmore’s family Bible
A page from the family register in George Beardmore’s Bible. The top and bottom lines are worn and partly lost; they are filled in from a transcript George Cedric Beardmore made in 1967, which also records three further entries in the Bible’s end pages.
Transcription
[George Beardmore, born July 18, 1787 – top line worn]
Married Jan 1 – 1811 in his 24 year of age
Mary Beardmore Born Nov 27 – 1811
Married July 30: 1835 in her 24 year of her age
George Beardmore Born Sept 20 – 1813
Died August 27: 1834 aged 21 years
William Beardmore Born July 9 – 1815
William Beardmore died June 24 – 1848 aged 27 years
Hannah Beardmore die[d] Nov 10 – 1816
Emma Johnson Born Decem 29 – 1803
[Newspaper cutting, dated in ink “September 1860”:] DEATHS. On the 14th inst., at Fegg Hays Villa, Chell, aged 56 years, Emma, the beloved wife of W. Ford, Esq., chief bailiff of Burslem.
Hamlett Johnson Born May 29 – 1805
Catharine Beardmore Born June 5 – 1785
Elizabeth [a word struck out, “Leigh” written above] Leigh Beardmore Born June 3 – 1818
Burslem Staffordshire
William George Beardmore. Born Nov[ember] 25th 1842 [the day and year are worn on the page, and are taken from George Cedric Beardmore’s transcript of 1967]
George Beardmore to Olive Dale, 4 August 1967
A carbon copy of George’s own letter, with the transcript of his family Bible that he enclosed. Olive’s reply of 22 August is the next letter.
Transcription
Burchfield, Four Marks. 4th August 1967
My dear Olive,
I’ve come unstuck somewhere. Would you mind helping out? Put very simply it is that my grandfather was John Beardmore, the ironmonger, of Burslem. He I guess is the man you call a “brassfounder, living in 1905”. (He died in fact in 1909.) Now his father was George: this is indubitably so, and I enclose a letter from my Aunt Agnes, John’s only surviving daughter, giving one or two charming reminiscences about her grandfather George. BUT you say John’s father was Benjamin, the man who married Hope Thomas. In fact, in the rough sketch of the family tree you were good enough to enclose with yours of the 13th July, you say that John (brother of the Barlaston Edward whom I vaguely remember) is the son of George. I wonder if perchance you are under the impression that my grandfather was someone other than the Pidduck & Beardmore JOHN? Because he was. I know this, having spent my childhood Christmases with his widow (born Emily Hancock) at 188, Waterloo Road.
It’s quite on the cards that somewhere I have misread your tables. Just put me right on this one point and I will trace the rest back from your comprehensive tables.
Needless to say I can’t thank you enough and am looking for ways to repay you. Would you for example like a copy of the book I’ve got coming out on Thursday next? Funny you should say that you felt a relationship with me: when I got back in the car I told the missis (this was at the School): “I know it’s absurd, but I feel I’ve known that woman all my life.”
I enclose a note of the handwritten entries made in a 1794 Bible I inherited.
Best wishes
Enclosure: Transcript of handwritten entries in a Bible printed by Mark and Charles Kerr in 1795, now in possession of George Beardmore, Alton, Hants., 1967.
George Beardmore born July 18 1787, married Jan. 1st 1811 in his 24 year of age.
Mary Beardmore Born Nov. 27 1811, married July 30 1835 in hir 24 year of hir age.
George Beardmore Born Sept. 20 1813, died August 27 1834 aged 21 years.
William Beardmore Born July 9 1815 ½ pas 8. William Beardmore died June 24 1848 aged 27 years.
Hannah Beardmore died Nove 10 1816.
Emma Johnson Born Decm. 10 1816 [the Bible itself appears to read December 29, 1803]. (Here is stuck in a newspaper obituary: “Deaths, On the 14th inst., at Fegg Hays Villa, Chell, aged 56 years, Emma, the beloved wife of W. Ford Esq., chief bailiff of Burslem”. Handwritten are the words: “September 1860”.)
Hamlett Johnson born May 29 1805.
Catharine Beardmore Born June 5 1785 [added in pencil: m. Thos Repton of Norton 6/6/1805].
Elizabeth Leigh Beardmore Born June 3 1818, Burslem, Staffordshire.
William George Beardmore. Born Nov 25th. 1842. 37 Isah., 9 II Kings, 32 II Cron.
William G. Beardmore, Northwood, 186?
Within the end pages: George Beardmore died February 17 1839 in his 51 year of his age. Catharine Beardmore died on Sunday September 15th. 1844, her end was peace, aged 58 years. Mary Beardmore, sister to the above George Beardmore, died February 17th. 1860, aged 77.
What it tells us
George and Olive had recently met in person (“this was at the School”), and George felt the same kinship that she did. Olive’s tables had confused two Johns – George’s grandfather John of Pidduck & Beardmore, and John the Hanley brassfounder – and George set her right from his own memories of Christmas at 188 Waterloo Road.
The enclosure is George’s transcript of the family Bible, which he had inherited. It gives the full entries, including William George Beardmore’s birth on 25 November 1842 and the three entries in the end pages. The pencilled note that a Catharine Beardmore married Thomas Repton of Norton in 1805 has not been explained.