Category Archives: Freemen

1823 – 24 Westgate Street

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At this point, the relationships between the persons mentioned in the documents and the property become increasingly confusing.  Hannah Sadler appeared back on the scene and on 12th February 1823, leased the property for a year to Charles Hough, son of the former John James Hough.  The following day, the property was released to him, for a peppercorn rent.

Charles was a stationer and printer like his father.  He was made a freeman of the city of Gloucester in July 1805.  John James Hough had died on 1st December 1821 leaving his estate to his youngest son, Arthur, according to the custom of Borough English.  But Arthur died on 12th January 1822 having left a will leaving his estate to his brother Charles Hough.  At some point in his career, Charles set up a partnership with Thomas Jew but this was dissolved in 1829. 

Around this time, Charles moved to Monmouth where he established a partnership with Reginald J Blewitt, and purchased the Monmouthshire Merlin Newspaper from T A Stinson, the first edition of which appeared in May 1829.

Charles Hough was presumably not a very good businessman as he was made bankrupt in 1831; the partnership with Blewitt did not survive Charles’ bankruptcy and he left the newspaper business.

Less than two weeks after the Westgate Street property was transferred to Charles Hough, on 25th February, a mortgage for securing £550 was issued on the premises between James Abell, gentleman, his mother Ann Abell  and his sisters, Ann, Maria and Caroline Abell.  Was the property sold off because of Charles’ bankruptcy? There is mention in the documents of Elizabeth Martin and Thomas, her son, who inherited the property in the will of Thomas Martin, senior, in 1812, but there is no mention of Charles Hough!

James Abell inherited the property from his father according to the custom of Borough English.  James believed that the house, etc., was intended for his mother and his sisters and was willing to fulfil his father’s wishes but his mother preferred to have an annuity of £27 10s and the sisters wished to share the sum of £550.

1794 – 24 Westgate Street

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John James Hough was named on the Westgate Street documents from 1794 until 1799, along with various others.  He was described then as a bookseller but later was also called a stationer and printer.  John James (always recorded with the double name) was born around 1758.  On 7th January 1774, he was apprenticed to Thomas Dunn, a book binder and stationer, for the sum of £20.

When his seven year apprenticeship ended, on 15th January 1781, John James Hough was made a freeman of the City of Gloucester.  Later that year, he married Sarah Pace, on 25th October 1781 at St Nicholas Church.  The couple produced eight children over the next 15 years:  Charles, Mary, John James junior, George, Henry, Helen, Arthur and Ellen.  Of these, Charles and Arthur followed their father into the book binding and stationery business;  John James junior went into the Royal Navy as a Lieutenant and George went off to Oxford where he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree, becoming a clerk.

In 1796, the Mayor and Burgesses of the City of Gloucester re-leased their part of the property to John James Hough and, three years later, in 1799, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester Cathedral conveyed the other part to him.

When he died in 1821, John James Hough left a will, originally written in 1812.  The will, proved in London in 1822, was much edited, with deletions and insertions, both in the text and in the margins.  The widow, Sarah Hough, her son Charles Hough and sister in law Mary Hobbs all had to swear that the alterations were made in the hand of John James Hough with which they were very familiar.

John James Hough senior and his wife Sarah were both buried in the Chapelry of the Hospital of St Mary Magdalene.  The inscription on their tomb reads:

Underneath this stone are deposited the remains of

John James Hough of the City of Gloucester Bookseller

who departed this life Dec 1st 1821 aged 63 years

Also Arthur son of the above John James Hough

who died on the 12th Jany 1822 aged 27 years

Sarah relict of the above named John James Hough

who died May 5th 1825 aged 70 years.

1790 – 24 Westgate Street

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The next person to occupy the premises was one Charles Cooke.  On the documents, he was identified as a surgeon and apothecary so the shop returned to the trade it was used for in 1721 when Nicholas Lane first transferred it to his wife and children. 

Again, because he has a rather common name, details of Charles Cooke’s family are difficult to confirm but it seems that he married Catherine Smythe in St Mary de Crypt church in 1790 and they had six children over the next 18 years:  Thomas, Charles Turner, George, John Freeman, Albina and Henry George Pauncefoot Cooke.  Of these, Thomas became a clerk at Oxford University and Charles Turner followed in his father’s footsteps and became a surgeon.  Both became freemen of the city of Gloucester.

When he took over the house and shop in 1790, Charles senior took on an apprentice called William Jones so he was obviously setting himself up in the area and feeling the need to develop his business.  At the time, he called himself surgeon, apothecary and man midwife.  In 1809, he took on another apprentice, this time one Nathaniel Mills.  A year later, Charles’ wife, Catherine died at the age of 44 years and was buried in St Mary de Crypt churchyard.  It is not known when Charles Cooke died or where he is buried.

In the ‘Notes of Henry Yates Jones Taylor’, there is an interesting story relating to the son, Charles Turner Cooke.  It states: “He was a regular attendant at the Cathedral Sunday services. Very frequently in the middle of the services his servant or one of the vergers crept noiselessly and timidly along to his seat and tapped him on the shoulder when he immediately left and got into his carriage at the porch, and drove away to some case of emergency. This occurred so often that persons began to get doubtful or sceptical as to the genuineness of the calls upon his professional skill and attention. So a vigilance committee was extemporised. One Sunday the old performance was repeated with a great deal of fuss and ostentation. The carriage with the Doctor drove all round the town and returned, but it was noticed that he neither left his vehicle nor made a call. He resumed his seat and his pious devotions. The humbug was so effectually exposed that he did not repeat those tricks by which he had endeavoured to impose upon the religious fraternity and the general public to induce them to believe that his services were so important as to necessitate a perpetual interference with his devotional exercise.”  Apparently, Charles Turner Cooke  also wrote a book which made several editions on the efficacy of white mustard seed.  

Guilds

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Early tradesmen and women were organised into guilds.  Today, there are over 100 guilds, each with its own crest and associated patron saint, a list of which can be found online.  Some archives exist, consisting of information on apprentices, freemen, minutes of meetings and requests for help from petitioners.  However, there is no central repository of their records; most are based in London at their guild headquarters.  Some information, particularly on apprentices and freemen may be found locally.  For Gloucestershire, we have two good books which contain transcripts on apprentices between 1595 and 1834 and their masters and one which lists freemen from 1641 to 1838.   These records don’t necessarily relate to a Gloucestershire person – either the apprentice, the master or even the freeman could be from another county.  An example of an entry in the Apprentices book is:

Ref: 1/549         1641 Nov 1

Draper, John son of Thomas, upholsterer, dec’d, of Gloucester to Plomer, Robert & Christian, 8 years, pewterer, 20s.

Check out my chapter on Apprentices and Freemen to find out more about guilds, apprentices, masters and freemen.

 

Gloucestershire Apprentices

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One way to trace the parents of your ancestor is by looking at records concerning their apprenticeships.  There are two useful books for Gloucestershire Apprentices, both produced in the Gloucestershire Record Series by the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society.

They are: “A Calendar of the Registers of Apprentices of the City of Gloucester 1595-1700″  edited by Jill Barlow, M.A. and ”A Calendar of the Registers of the Freemen of the City of Gloucester 1641-1838′ transcribed by Peter Ripley and revised and edited by John Jurica.

The first book deals with the apprenticeship registers and has entries such as:

1690 Nov 1 Gwinnett Francis, son of Lawrence, gentleman of Great Shurdington, to Newman, Samuel 7years baker

1680 Apr 12 Gwinnet, Richard, son of George, gentleman of Badgeworth, to Randle, Josiah & Margery, 7yrs baker 2s 6d.

the second line giving the name of the apprentice’s master, the length of time of his apprenticeship, the trade and sometimes the amount paid to the master.  At the end of the apprenticeship, the apprentice was entitled to become a freeman of the city.

The second book, listing the Freemen, has entries such as:

1757 Oct 24 Button Gwinnett, son of Sam., clerk
1806 Apr 14 Sam. Gwinnett, writer, son of Chas., victualler

(There is a note that Button was a signatory on the American Declaration of Independence of  1776.)

A man could become a freeman in four ways, by apprenticeship, by patrimony, by purchase or by gift of the city corporation.  Although the books, available via Amazon.co.uk, specify the city of Gloucester there are entries for people from the whole county of Gloucestershire as well as a few from elsewhere.