Family History

JOHN WINCHURCH WEBSITE

FAMILY HISTORY

I have compiled a table of known Winchurch/Winchurst births, baptisms, marriages and deaths from 1549 – 2007
Please contact me at johnvwinchurch@btinternet.com for more information

The following mostly refers to the male (Winchurch) line of my family.
I also have extensive material on other branches, particularly that of my maternal Grandmother, Marion Brown including, (in
addition to the Browns) – Sternberg, Plucknett and other related families in Devon and Northampton.
Much of the material used here was originally researched by my father, the late Francis Victor Winchurch.

Francis Victor Winchurch 1914-1997

Thanks also to Jeremy Ward and Sheila Williams for their assistance and input to this project.

A word of caution at the outset.
I have tried to verify information and check sources as exhaustively as is practicable. However, as with any Family History project, guesswork plays a part. The blind certainties of some documents and sites must be viewed with caution. There is also an increasing risk, with greater use of the internet, that mistakes and possibilities purporting to be facts will simply be carried from one site to another. I shall endeavour to present guesswork as simply that, but hopefully with reasons that make it ‘informed’
I maintain an open mind with regard to all information not directly verifiable and welcome any new input or corrections from any reader or source.
John Winchurch

The Origins
The name Winchurch, or Winchurst, or Winsthurst is believed to be Saxon in origin.
The earliest records are from Dudley, Rowley Regis and Walsall in the West Midlands of England. The Winchurchs were involved in the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, in what became known as the ‘Black Country’, to the North West of Birmingham.
The family members’ primary occupation by the late eighteenth century was nailmaking.
They moved to glass manufacture and coal mining in the early eighteen hundreds with a my Great Great Grandparents migrating to Aston, North Birmingham.
In all probability the newly constructed canal system through the Midlands played a major part in this.

The Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
31 Jan. 1462/3
Gift by Richard Normon of Duddeley and Alice his wife to William Wynneshurst and Agnes his wife of a messuage in le Smythylone, parish of Dudley, St.Thomas
I have copies of both this document, in Latin, and an associated document transferring a ‘parcel of land’ in Smythylone.
A ‘Messuage’ was a dwelling.

The very helpful notes supplied with the copies by Dudley Archive and Local History Service and written by N.W.Alcock, add that a medieval ‘Gift’ is not as we understand it today, but was in effect a ’sale’ although the sum involved was often (as in this case) not specified.
This entry records the family name with the ‘-hurst’ ending, not recorded again for a hundred years and raises some interesting questions. For example:
Duddeley is derived, it is believed, from ‘Dudda’s Leah’ (a Leah being a clearing in a wood). Wood was vital to iron smelting until Dud Dudley, Abraham Darby etc developed the coke process. The insatiable demand for wood and resulting large scale felling over a number of centuries led directly to their experiments.

If Dudda had a Leah, it seems very likely that Wyn(ne) could have had a ‘Hurst’ or clump of trees.
‘Wynne’s Hurst’
And taking this wild speculation a step further, the last Saxon Lord of Duddeley ( when it was still a village, remember) was Edwin…..
Edwynnes hurst ?

Maybe this was where Edwin settled when evicted from the site of the future Dudley Castle by his Norman successor.
It is also worth remembering that ‘Win’ was Old English for a ‘friend’, so there are many possibilties for the derivation.

Basically though, the original Winchursts probably arrived in the Dudley area when the Saxons came over from North Germany around 700 AD.

DUDLEY CASTLE – A BRIEF HISTORY

The first mention of a castle at Dudley comes with the arrival of “a great and powerful prince of the Kingdom of Mercia” called Dudd, Dodo or Dudo circa 700 A.D. “who raised a strong fortress here, which remained until the Conquest.” Add the suffix “ley” or “lea” (which means land) to the man’s name and you get the likely origin of the area’s name. There is also a claim that someone called Athelstan (not the king of that name) might have been responsible for the castle, but the weight of preference lies with Dudd.

When William the Conqueror crossed the English Channel and defeated Harold in 1066, he distributed the spoils of victory among those who had supported him. One of these was Ansculf from a village near Amiens, who was assigned a barony of more than 80 manors scattered across several counties. This fragmentation was William’s deliberate policy to prevent his gifts being turned into mini-states to continue the pattern of feuding then found in France. In his collection, Ansculf was awarded Dudley and recognised that its hilltop site was ideal for Norman-style fortifications. At that point the Saxon fortress was held by Edwin, possibly a grandson of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, but the Conquest meant that Ansculf could simply dispossess him.

taken from Dudley Mall with thanks
for a full version and other aspects of Dudley life visit http://www.dudleymall.co.uk

Moving forward a hundred and forty years ( it is unusual to have any records from this period, due amongst other things to the dissolution of the monasteries.)
Dudley, Saint Edmund’s Parish register:
1605 Humphrey Winsthurst buryd October the XXIIjth
This burial was followed by a Grant of Administration :
England: Canterbury – Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1596-1608
Index to Acts of Administration in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1596 – 1608
County: General
Country: England

Winch als. Winchurst, Humphrey, Dudley, Worcs. To Geo. W. als. W., k., dur. min. Jn., Isabel & Cath. W. als. W., chn., Nov 1605 , p. 23. To Isabel W. als. W., rel. (by Decree), Jul 1606 , p. 46.

I have obtained a copy of this from the National Record Office It is written in Ecclesiastical Latin and very difficult to read, let alone translate, but in some form a version will appear in these pages eventually. I just need a practised translator. Volunteers welcome !

The interesting reference is to ‘Winch als. Winchurst’ Als is the abbreviation in these documents for ‘Alias’
So, it seems that earlier records in Dudley of ‘Winsts’ may be the same family. Why ?
My own guess was that there is some connection with ‘Hurst Hill’ in Dudley and that Humphrey Winst added his place of residence to his surname, however with the discovery of the earlier references to ‘Wynneshurst’ noted above the story may be more complicated!
I will report more on this if the contents of the grant shed any further light.

If indeed, the earlier records of Winsts are relevant, then the earliest is that of ‘Thomas, son of Jhon’ (sic) Winst baptised on 21 September 1549 at St Thomas Dudley.
Thomas died soon after in infancy, being buried on 3 October at the same church.
‘Jhon’ then has five further children between 1553 and 1562 with baptisms sometimes at St Thomas, sometimes St Edmunds. The spelling of his Christian name changes to the more familiar ‘John’ for some of these entries.

Perhaps most significant for the purpose of this history is the following entry from Dudley St Edmunds for 17 September 1559 :
‘ Homforri sonne to Jhon Winst baptized September xvij th ‘
This may well be the ‘Humphrey Winchurst, alias Winch’ mentioned above, who died in 1605

In 1608, John Winchurst married Christian Bate at Rowley Regis and a fairly solid Winchurst line emerges ( being recorded as the spelling variant ‘Winchurch’ at times during the 1700s, but almost exclusively so after about 1790 ). One of John and Christian’s grandchildren was also Christian (m Thomas Freeman)
Christian Winchurst (née Bate) was almost certainly the burial described in Dudley St Thomas register in March 1664 as being that of  ‘Old Widow Winchurst’

I like that !..somehow it turns a name into a real person.

The Winchurst family, with all its spelling variants, was deeply involved in the iron founding which had started in Dudley in the thirteenth century. Initially, charcoal was used for the smelting process, but stripping of the native woodlands hastened the search for an alternative process. The use of coal for this is well documented see, for example http://www.blackcountrysociety.co.uk/articles/duddudley.htm , one of the Black Country Society’s  many interesting features on the history of the area

William Wynneshurst’s location in Smythylone (Smithy Lane) also suggests connections with iron in the 1460s.

The London connection
The Winchursts were certainly making nails before the 1600s and an interesting link was forged with Stepney on the Thames in the heart of London’s expanding docklands.
Jeffrey Winchurst, (who was probably a son of Jeffery Winchurst of Rowley Regis, but ths link is, as yet unproven) set up a smithying business which specialised in the manufacture of anchors – an Anchorsmith. Jeffrey seems to have prospered and maintained his links with the Black Country, presumably at least in part because of his need of a ready source of iron and coal. He was named as an executor of the will of Robert Winchurst of Stourbridge, an Ironmonger, who died in 1661 and several legal cases arising out of the contents of that will. I do not have all of the archive records yet, but my father transcribed some and listed the PRO – now National Archive references. Six Chancery Proceedings resulting from the will of Robert Winchurst indicate that the acquisition of wealth by this branch of the family was not without its problems !

The National Record Office has the will of Jeffery Winchurst, Anchorsmith of Ratcliffe London.
Jeffery was born in about 1611, probably in Rowley Regis or Dudley. I haven’t yet found a record of a birth anywhere that corresponds, but he could have made the move to London with his younger brother Thomas, whose birth is recorded at Rowley Regis -

‘Thomas son of Jeffery Winchurst bapt.April 1625′
Jefffery jnr. married first Miriam, with whom he had six children
At the age of fifty seven, Jeffery married again, this time his wife was Elizabeth Harris. Perhaps unsurprisingly this union produced no children, but Elizabeth already had a son Charles, of whom mention is made in Jeffery’s will if 1674
Jeffery also confirms the status of John Winchurst as his eldest son, who took over the business of Anchorsmith.
Extract from Jeffery Winchurst’s will of 1674 to show the style of legal documents in the seventeenth century. Click to see in full

Will of Jeffery Winc hurst

Jeffery’s family relationships are extracted as follows:
I give and bequeath unto my dear and wellbeloved wife Elizabeth Winchurst forty pounds in lawfull money of England and twenty pounds in household goods …I give and bequeath unto my said wife Elizabeth Winchurst the upper rooms or chamber in my dwelling house or Tenement wherein I usually ? to have and to hold the same and enjoy the free use and benefitt thereof without any impediment for the space of one whole year after my decease

.. I give and bequeath unto my oldest Sonne John Winchurst the lease of the messuage or tenement shopp and premises now in my occupation situat lying and being in Ratcliff aforesaid provided that my said sonne John Winchurst does not and shall not bargain, sell or assign over the lease or ? or of the said messuage tenement or shoppe….and shall not take partners without the consent of my executors (paraphrased)
I give and bequeath unto my said sonne John Winchurst my shop tools and utensils or working instruments
I give and bequeath unto my sonn Jeffery Winchurst the sum of ten pounds
I give and bequeath unto my sonn Charles Winchurst the sum of four pounds
I give and bequeath unto my sons in law Edward Walker, George Tyte and Anthony Foster twenty shillings a piece to buy each of them a fine item.
I give and bequeath unto my wife’s sonn Charles Harris to buy him a fine item.
I give and bequeath unto my daughters Susanna Walker and Miriam Foster the sum of five pounds apiece.
I give and bequeath unto my sister Elizabeth Perry? widow the sum of five pounds
I give and bequeath unto Mary Robbinson ? the ???which I ???the sum of five pounds.
And ????I the said Jeffery Winchurst am possessed and ? of a ? mesuage or tenement called Brambles (?) with Lands and premises to the same belonging, lying or being in the parish of Upminster in the County of Essex, now or late in the ? of Thomas Thomson (?) which I formerly ? upon my loving wife Elizabeth Winchurst by way of ? for and during her natural life and after her decease to the issue of her body to be begotten by me the said Jeffrey Winchurst Now in default of such issue I doe hereby will order and appoint that the said messuage ? lands and premises called Brambles(?) with the ? named(?) shal be granted ? and sold for the best advantage with the most ???? after my wifes decease And I do name make and appoint my loving friends John Cooper of Ratcliff. Merchant and John Bradley of Wapping , Anchorsmith to be trustees for the sale and disposal of the said messuage or tenement and lands

..absolutely give will … and bequeath to my grandchildren
Jeffery Winchurst, Elizabeth Winchurst, Sarah Winchurst, Thomas Winchurst, Mary Winchurst, Isaack Walker, Thomas Tyte, Sarah Foster and Elizabeth Foster…

By contrast, when Jeffery’s widow Elizabeth made her will in 1688, there was no mention of the Winchursts. A large part of the administration and proceeds went to Elizabeth’s maid !
I am not yet sure about the details of what seems to be two families in London at this time, Jeffery’s above and Thomas’s who was contemporary and probably a cousin.
A Naval record in the National Archives provides another clue :
Folio 117.
Covering dates1674 Sept. 3
Thomas Winchurst. Details concerning Robert Foley’s supply of ironmongery to Chatham. Foley will keep on his own hands all such produced but not contracted for. Gives a list of this.

The Foleys were based in the Midlands and built up an Iron empire
The principal members were Richard Foley (1588 – 1657), Thomas Foley (1616 – 1677), Robert Foley (1627 – 1677) Paul Foley (1650 – 1699) and Philip Foley (1653 – 1716).
Stourbridge was the centre of the iron manufacture in the Midlands and Richard Foley worked in one of the numerous branches of this trade – nail-making
This provides more evidence of the continued link that the Winchursts maintained with their Black Country roots.

It is fascinating to reflect that these people were living and working in a place and time which saw the Great Fire of London and the Plague of 1666.

John Winchurst, who continued the Anchorsmith tradition tarted by Jeffery, had married Frances Vavasor on 28 June 1664.
Frances seems to have come from a landowning family in Yorkshire. There is a record of one of John and Frances’s children being christened as ‘Maior Winchurst’ which seems to have been a traditional name in her family. There are also records of Vavasor involvement in the Civil War on the parliamentary side, which may be why the family moved to London.

After Frances’s death, John married Rachel Doorset on 16 June 1680, but there is no record of children from this marriage.

Whilst Jeffery continued the iron founding tradition of the Winchursts as an Anchorsmith, Thomas began trading as a draper and evidently did well.
A will of Thomas Winchurst junr prepared in 1699 anticipated what seems to have been an early death in 1701. Thomas junr was about to depart on a journey to India with goods to the value of three hundred pounds.
Thomas junr appears not to have returned from this voyage.
He left a widow Phebe and children, Thomas, Jane and Phebe.

A little more is known about the fate of these three children:
Thomas was apprenticed George North of London Gent, for £107-10s by his uncle William Winshurst of London, marriner in 1712.
Jane Winchurst dau of Thomas of St Giles Cripplegate was apprenticed to Thos Chamberlain of London for £20 in 1712.
Phebe, dau of Thomas Winchurst late of London (Gent) was apprenticed to Walter Griffiths, cit and salt (?) for £40 in 1714

However, Thomas came to a sticky end as the Court proceedings of the Old Bailey reveal

Johnson Burdet, Thomas Winchurst, Killing – murder, 11th January 1717

Johnson Burdet , and Thomas Winchurst , of the Parish of St. Giles in the Fields , Gentlemen , were indicted, the former for an Assault and Murder committed on the Body of Robert Faulkner , Esq ; on the 30th of December last, by giving him a Mortal Wound with a Sword value 5 s. on the Right side of his Body, near the Right Pap, of the Breadth of half an Inch and the Depth of 12 Inches, of which he instantly died: And the latter for an Assault and Aiding and Abetting in that Murder .

See account online at  http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17170111-21&div=t17170111-21&terms=winchurst#highlight

Thomas Winchurst was hanged at Tyburn on 2 February 1717.

Thomas Winchurst of London (the grandfather) had died in 1701 or, to be more accurate, his will was proved on 2 June 1701. He left goods and money to his son William Winchurst and to three grandchildren, including the ill fated Thomas.
William, in turn died in 1707 and much of the proceeds of his estate passed to Thomas too.
No wonder he was described as ‘gent’ at his trial. Assuming that he was born about 1695, he was 22 when he was hanged and Thomas Winchurst’s male line seems to have ended, leaving Jeffery’s sons viz John. Jeffery and Charles to provide future Winchursts in and around London.
John Winchurst, who continued the Anchorsmith tradition started by Jeffery, had married Frances Vavasor on 28 June 1664.
Frances seems to have come from a landowning family in Yorkshire. There is a record of one of John and Frances’s children being christened as ‘Maior Winchurst’ which seems to have been a traditional name in her family. There are also records of Vavasor involvement in the Civil War on the parliamentary side, which may be why the family moved to London.

After Frances’s death, John married Rachel Doorset on 16 June 1680.

The link with the Midlands
George Winchurst’s will of 1647 provides one of the clues to how his branch of the family prospered :

Summary of Will of George Winchurst, Yeoman, 7 March 1647
Probate granted 3 July 1647
Eldest Son William
Son Robert
Son George Winchurst
Dau Susanna Dalton w of James Dalton. Children Thomas James & Mary Dalton
Dau Margery Winchurst
Brother Humphrey Winchurst 40/=
Brother Jeffery Winchurst 40/=
Sister Mary, w of Thomas Lowe
Sister Elinor Horne
Grandchild Elizabeth Gosling dau of Richard Gosling
Edward and Sarah Lullidge children of dau Isabell Lullidge wid
Children of dau Elizabeth w of Henry Haden viz Thomas, Elizabeth, Mary and Henry Haden
Grandchild Mary, w of Henry Fewtrill

Jeffery was George’s brother and Robert’s uncle (and later his executor).
George’s youngest son George settled in Abingdon. He opened ironmongers shops in Oxford, Abingdon, Henley on Thames, Windsor and Guildford.
I think Robert, Jeffery and George arranged deliveries of pig iron and goods across country and then via the Thames. More on that story later … !

George of Abingdon prospered too. His son John, born in 1653, entered Pembroke College Oxford on 17 December 1669 at the age of 16.
Gaining his BA in 1673, he became a Fellow and his M. A. followed in 1676. After short period in Devon he became Vicar of Radley in Oxfordshire until his early death in 1682 at the age of 29.
John was buried in Radley church on 14 September 1682.
As far as I know he was the only child of George Winchurst of Abingdon.and died without issue. Thus the Abingdon Winchursts may have died out.

Robert and William in Stourbridge and Oldswinford
Robert Winchurst and his brother William built up iron based manufacturing and trading around Stourbridge. Both brothers made considerable fortunes as a result and the wills of both were the subject of bitter court cases when distribution of money and goods were contested.
As previously mentioned, ‘Jeffery Winchurst of London’ was an executor of the will of Robert Winchurst and is named in the ensuing court case between Robert’s daughter and her mother!
In another proceeding in the Court of Chancery in 1670, Jeffery of Ratcliffe’s (London) daughter, Susanna and her husband Edward Walker and others were in dispute with Robert’s widow Joan about his will. By this time Jeffery was dead as well as Robert, so the Stourbridge – London link continued, in the courts at least !

Back to Dudley

Leaving the ‘London connection’ and returning to the main area where Winchursts were to be found around Dudley, we find that
by the end of the seventeenth century occupations are often included in Parish Register entries
e.g.: 1698 15 January, Humphrey, the son of Thomas Winchurst, naylor and Elizabeth his wife.

The working of iron in the Dudley area made it an important place for the manufacture of items such as nails and later chains, especially in Cradley Heath. (Chains for the Titanic were made there in a later century)

A will which is almost certainly that of my direct ancestor, and namesake (give or take a spelling variant !), John Winchurst dates from 1700

Will of John Winchurst of Dudley, Naylor 1700
Wife Jane to hold during her life all that messuage etc where I now dwell
and all that dwelling house where Richard Holmes (Holmer?) does now dwell
situate in Castle St otherwise called the New Horse Fair in Dudley
between the house and land late of Roger Bolton and the house and land of William Winchurst.
After her decease my house etc where I now dwell to my s Thomas W and the heirs male etc.
and for want of such to my s John and heirs male
and for want of such to my s John and heirs for ever.
Thos within 12m of wifes decease to pay John £5
within 18m ditto to pay to dau Christina Southall, w of William Southall 50/=
House where Richard Holmer dwells to wife to be sold for payment of debts.
1st June 1700
Witnesses
William Winchurst sen
Joseph Bolton
Joseph Cardale
Thos Oliver Pro Reg
Note1: John was buried on 5 June 1700
Note 2: There is an anomaly here, since John’s only recorded marriage was to Ann Freeman. Jane may have been his second wife. Enlightenment sought !

Another useful document from the point of view of lineage dates from 1718 :-

INDENTURE MADE 26th APRIL 1718
Between William Winchurst of Dudley in the County of Worcester
s & heir of Wm W late of D aforesaid Nailor decd
who was one of the sons of Humphrey W formerly of Dudley aforesaid Nailor decd.
and John Carcles (?) of Birmingham in the County of Warwick Ironmonger of the other part
for £30
All that Messuage, Burgage Tenament or Dwelling House in Dudley between the house and lands late of John Winchurst decd
and the houses and land now or late of Oliver Shaw
the land of Joseph Bolton
and the street called Castle Street
or all some or most parts thereof
all of which said premises are now in the posssesion tenure or occupation of the said W.W.

(In law, the term messuage equates to a dwelling-house and includes outbuildings, orchard, curtilage or court-yard and garden)
(The property (“burgage tenament”) usually, and distinctly, consisted of a house on a long and narrow plot of land, with the narrow end facing the street. Rental payment (“tenure”) was usually in the form of money, but each “burgage tenure” arrangement was unique, and could include services. As populations grew, “burgage plots” could be split into smaller additional units. Burgage tenures were usually monetary based, in contrast to rural tenures which were usually services based. In Saxon times the rent was called a landgable or hawgable).

So, taking the threads of evidence and drawing them together into a family tree,my Winchurch / Winchurst ancestors and wives look something like this :
It is worth remembering that this tree simply tracks the Winchurch line with wife named.
My total of ancestors for around the year 1550 would be in excess of FOUR THOUSAND, even allowing for some inbreeding !
…and that is going back less than five hundred years, a relatively short period of Human History.

Back to the Winchursts (and Winchurchs as they had mostly become by 1780) -

One of the outstanding question marks in the above tree is the Thomas born in 1708

The line is fairly robust until we get back toThomas 1734 (m Phebe Jewkes.)
Thanks to Sheila Williams whose Winchurch branch coincides at this point
Thomas signed his name. This is the earliest ancestral signature that I have seen so far.
Notice that he was Thomas WINCHURCH not Winchurst. The spelling varies for the rest of the century before settling as the ‘church’ form

Now we have a problem, because although several trees seem to agree to this point, Thomas 1734 was probably the son of Thomas and Hanah Benson.But when and where was Thomas Snr born? 1708 (19 June ‘Thomas, son to Thomas Winchurst Naylor and Elizabeth his wife).seems the most likely, since by this time Thomas and Hanah had had a Thomas, who died the following year -
(Thomas Winchurst b 1705 died in 1706 ‘A child of Thomas Winchurst’)
(All from Dudley St Thomas parish registers or transcripts)

Our Thomas could be the unnamed male birth July 1697 to William Winchurst and Mary (IGI), but this is more likely to be William who survived and married Mary and whose birth.as ‘William’ is not recorded. (A son, Samuel was born in 1731 to ‘William and Mary’)

The most problematic entry is – ‘18 Feb 1715 Thomas a childe of Thomas Winchurch buried’ (FVW has note of 10/3/1965 that he has checked this against Bishop’s transcript)
Most likely this ‘childe’ was not Thomas son of Thomas, but possibly a child of Joseph. Joseph also had a wife called Elizabeth, so at a time of high infant mortality, maybe an error was made in the parish Register and thus copied to the Bishop’s Transcript.
1715 was in any case fairly late for Thomas and Elizabeth to have had a child ( they married in 1694 and there is no record of births to them after 1708) and the fact that the burial is of ‘a childe’ rather than ’son of’ suggests the death of an infant (as was the case in 1706).

In 1734, Thomas Winchurch SENIOR was buried, implying that he had a living son called Thomas.
Anyway this Thomas and Hanah produced nine children between 1731 and 1742, so he must have existed !

I did wonder if one of the ‘London Winchursts’ might have returned to Dudley, but Thomas Winchurst b c 1695, the most likely candidate, was the one who was executed !

So,1708 seems the most likely birth year for the Thomas Winchurst who married Hanah Benson.

By the time we reach 1780, the facts become clearer:
On 9th July 1780, Paul Winchurch (b 1759) married Sarah Shaw. They had eight children, five boys and three girls.
The eldest son, Thomas, born in 1787, married Mary Holt in Dudley 1808 and they had two daughters, both called Sarah (the first Sarah dying in infancy) Mary died in 1812 and eight years later, widower Thomas took as his second wife widow Ann Shakespeare.
Ann had been married to Joseph Shakespeare, so this was not her maiden name, which was possibly Brooks.
Joseph Shakespear married Ann Brook at Clent on 24 Nov 1812 Could this be her aged 19 ?

Why Clent ? It is even now a small village ( about 10 kilometres SW of Dudley )

Until the 19th century, Rowley church was a chapel of ease belonging to the parish of Clent. The distance between the two (some 9 kilometres) gave rise to much inconvenience, particularly with the growth in the population of Rowley. They were separated by a Private Act of Parliament in 1841. Before this the Vicar at Clent was prone to insist that Rowley people went to him at Clent for a marriage rather than him going to Rowley to perform the service. Clent was a good long walk away and some people chose to “live” in Halesowen parish and get married there rather than go to Clent.
All of this points to Ann being Brook(s) who married Joseph Shakepear and then as a widow married my GGGrandfather Thomas Winchurch at Tipton on 25 March 1820.

This union produced four children, Thomas, William, Ann and Benjamin and it is at this point that registry entries start to become part of family memory, because Benjamin was my Great Grandfather.

Benjamin Winchurch about 1880

Benjamin Winchurch's two pint mug with the Cross Keys logo, dated 1860 and 'Windsor' incorrectly spelt !

Benjamin's mug -Cross Keys

click for larger pictures

He was born in Birmingham in 1829 and christened on 1 January 1830 at St Philip’s Birmingham.
In 1861 he married Ellen Eliza Tester in London.

Ellen Eliza Winchurch née Tester 1911

(pictured here at Percy and Marion’s marriage in 1911)
A glassblower by trade, Benjamin and Eliza lived at the Cross Keys in Upper Windsor Street in Aston. The landlord of this public house was firstly Thomas Winchurch. Benjamin’s father and when he died in 1856 Ann, Benjamin’s mother became landlady until her death, of ‘Old Age’ (she was 82) in 1875.
Percy, my Grandfather, their second youngest of eight children became a life long teetotaller because of witnessing as a child, the effect that alcohol could have on the way people behaved.

Roland is at the bottom; then Percy; Charles; Benjamin and Harry. The elder two brothers, Frederick and Albert are not in the picture.

Family photo of the Winchurch brothers; dated 1886.
(Thanks to Jeremy Ward, Roland’s grandson, for copy of original photo)

Benjamin and Eliza’s children were:
1 ) Albert Edward b. 26 March 1865 d.3 March 1902 He had three sons and one daughter

2 ) Alice Ann b. 9 January 1867 d.in 1949. Alice married Frederick George Shaw. They had one son and one daughter

3 ) Frederick William b.12 March 1868 died 1950. He married Jennie Twist. They had two sons and three daughters.

4 ) Harry Edgar b.11 June 1870. Married Clara Elizabeth Goodyear on 5 July 1896.They had one daughter.

5 ) Benjamin Ernest b.18 December 1873. He married Lizzie Eastwood and they had one son and three daughters

6 ) Charles Herbert b. 23 November 1879 and died in 1909. He married Amy Eastwood ( Lizzie’s sister ). They had two sons.

7 ) Percy Walter b.15 April 1882 d. 9 September 1953. He and Marion Brown married 10 April 1911. They had one son Francis Victor and one daughter Jeanne Marion.

8 ) Roland Victor b. 14 April 1883 d.1955 he married Alice Wood . They had one son and three daughters.

The two youngest brothers, my grandfather Percy and Roland founded the motor engineering business ‘Winchurch Brothers Limited‘, which is where this story continues

Last updated 1 May 2009