Peter Hunnisett

Joseph & Sarah Manners, Yeoman Farmer of Blackland

Joseph Manners, a son of David and Mary, was baptised in Bishops Cannings on 7^th February 1737/8.

Sarah Clifford was probably a daughter of John and Hanna, baptised in Calne on 7^th July 1736.

Joseph and Sarah were married in Calne on 13^th April 1760 and are known to have had two children:

Joseph died on 12^th April 1791, aged 53, and was buried at Blackland on 15^th April where his headstone still stands.

JOSEPH MANNERS
died April y^e 12^th 1791
Aged 53 Years

[The verse completing this
memorial was unreadable
and partly missing]

Of Joseph’s and Sarah’s children:

• Benjamin married Ann Gleed in 1782 and farmed to the south of Blackland.
• Betty may have been the Elizabeth Manners who married Henry Carpenter in Calne on 31^st October 1784. Their children were:

A theory about possible further children

[This theory was proposed by Gladys E Manners in her book "Passage of No Return - Manners and Relations" privately published in Australia in 1981 and appears plausible]

It is possible that Sarah died soon after Betty was born and that Joseph remarried, although no burial or marriage has been found. If so they may have had these three children although, again, no baptisms have been found to support this:

These three all married in Bath and Henry and Jane are known to have lived in the area, possibly at Walcot where Jane's husband was from. One of Benjamin’s sons and some of his grandchildren are known from census records to have had links with Walcot, suggesting a family connection.

Of these children:

• Henry Manners married Sarah Phillips in Bath Abbey on 22^nd July 1784 where their 3 children were baptised: Sarah (1785), Henry (1787) and George (1789).
• Mary Manners married Ralph Hale Gaby in Bath Abbey on 12^th October 1786. They had a daughter, Mary Anne baptised in Chippenham, Ralph’s home town, in 1788.
• Jane married William Bower of Walcot in Bath Abbey on 11^th October 1787.