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:
Sally
8 Jul 1804
Godstone
Mary
1 May 1808
Horne (b. 3 Apr)
Ann
25 Mar 1810
Horne (b. 23 Feb)
Eliza
ca. 1812
Blechingley
Charlotte
27 Feb 1814
Blechingley (b. 7 Feb)
Thomas
9 Apr 1815
Blechingley
Harriet
3 Aug 1817
Blechingley
Edmund
29 Aug 1819
Blechingley
Richard
3 Mar 1821
Blechingley
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 14th or 15th 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:
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William married Sarah Parsons and they lived in Bletchingly.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.