Peter Hunnisett

Thomas & Mary Winchester of Bletchingley

Thomas Winchester, illegitimate son of Jane, was baptised in Bletchingley on 3 March 1776.

Mary Stone was born in Lingfield around 1779 according to the 1851 census.

Thomas Winchester married Mary Stone in Godstone, Surrey, in January 1804. They are known to have had the following children baptised:

Thomas was a farm labourer and lived in Bletchingley. In 1816 he was recorded as one of two householders in a cottage in Church Lane, Blechingley. This may have been a 14^th or 15^th century cottage now called Obberds, between the Butchers and what is now Nicholas Wolmer's cottage.

In 1841 Thomas and Mary were living in what was probably the same house, along with two grandchildren; Margaret, aged 9, and Kenrick, 6, and their married daughter Harriet and her family.  Margaret’s parents are not known but Kenrick was the son of their daughter Eliza. Thomas was buried in Bletchingley on 29 September 1844 and was said to be 71.

By 1851 Mary was living in the Almshouses with her granddaughter, Margaret, aged 19. Mary was buried in Bletchingley on 18 October 1857, aged 78.

Of their children:

• William married Sarah Parsons and they lived in Bletchingly.

• Mary married Stephen Bashford, a farm worker, in Bletchingley on 8 November 1830. They lived in Bletchingley initially, where Stephen apparently worked on Pound Hill Farm, and later in Outwood Common, Burstow. Their children included:

  George

  ca. 1831

  Burstow

  William

  15 Nov 1835

  Blechingley

  Ann

  6 May 1838

  Blechingley

  Thomas

  20 Sep 1840

  Blechingley

  James

  21 May 1843

  Blechingley

  Benjamin

  Q1 1846

  Blechingley

  Eliza

  Q1 1851

  Burstow

  Mary died in 1868.

• Eliza had a son, Kenrick Curtsoy? Winchester, baptised in Bletchingley on 29 March 1835, who appears to have been brought up by his grandparents. On 13 November 1839 Eliza married a widow, James Roffey, in Bletchingley. Neither has been located in the 1841 census and in 1851 Eliza and Kenrick were in Bletchingly, but not James. Kenrick died in 1860 and in succeeding census records Eliza was found to be living as housekeeper to a bachelor, Charles W Pimm, a retired farmer who also worked for a time as an Inspector of Sewers. They were in Caterham in 1861, Croydon in 1871 and Bletchingley in 1881. Eliza was buried in Bletchingley on 8 April 1891. James Roffey re-appeared lodging in Godstone in 1871 and Bletchingley in 1881, where he was buried in 1885.

• Thomas was a farm labourer and married Emily Christmas (born ca.1824 in Capel) in Bletchingley on 17 August 1845 and they had children baptised as follows:

  Edmund

  29 Mar 1846

  Blechingley

  Emma

  20 Aug 1848

  Blechingley

  William

  3 Aug 1851

  Godstone

  Thomas

  8 Jan 1854

  Godstone

  James

  18 May 1856

  Godstone

  Louisa

  8 Aug 1858

  Godstone

  Elizabeth Ann

  9 Jun 1861

  Godstone

  Emily Christmas

  14 Feb 1864

  Godstone

  Kate

  12 Aug 1866

  Godstone

  Minnie

  9 May 1869

  Godstone

  The first two children were baptised in Bletchingley and the rest in Godstone where the family were living in 1851, 1861 and 1871. Thomas died in 1875 and Emily re-married in 1878 to George Harris.

• Harriet married James Buckland and they lived initially in Bletchingley and later at Brookers Cottages, Cormongers Lane, Nutfield with their children:

  John

  bap. 28 Jan 1838

  Bletchingley

  James

  bap. 28 Jun 1840

  Bletchingley

  George Ezekiel

  bap. 12 Jun 1842

  Bletchingley

  William

  ca.1845

  Allan

  bap. 30 Apr 1848

  Nutfield

  Sarah Ellen

  bap. 6 Oct 1850

  Nutfield

  Harriet was widowed before 1861 and died in 1884.

• Richard was staying at Knights Farm, Bletchingley, in 1841 where he was working as a farm labourer. Also working there as a servant was Elizabeth Wilson (born 1826) to whom he married at Christchurch, Spittlefields, London, on 4 October 1850. However, at the 1851 census they were shown separately, Richard lodging with James Hayne and Elizabeth working as a servant for Sophia Bond. In 1861 the family were at Little Harbour Farm in Bletchingley.

  Their children were:

  Amelia

  bap. 5 Dec 1852

  Bletchingley

  Caroline

  bap. 25 Jan 1857

  Bletchingley

  Alice Elizabeth

  bap. 5 Dec 1858

  Bletchingley

  Emma

  bap. 25 Nov 1860

  Bletchingley

  Leonard Richard

  bap. 27 Nov  1870

  Esher    (d.1895)

  In 1871 they were at Esher Place Lodge in Esher, as they were in 1881 and 1891.

  Richard appears to have died in 1899.