On this day in history ------
Looking for an “OTDIH” event amongst the Holylands, I found the
baptism of Thomas Holyland, who was baptised on 6 May 1679 in Desford,
Leicestershire, the son of William Holyland.
There’s nothing particular about Thomas or his family, but
perhaps their very “ordinariness” makes it worthwhile to look at their lives.
Thomas’s father, William (my 10th great uncle!!) was baptised in Desford in 1625. He married relatively late, the marriage of William and
Elizabeth Elliott taking place in the nearby village of Rearsby in 1658;
William was described in the parish register as a “yeoman”. This however was a
shortlived marriage as “Elisabeth ye wife of Willia Holiland” was buried in
Desford only 15 months later. There is no record of any children of this
marriage; the timings would make me suspect that Elizabeth may have died in
pregnancy or childbirth and the child not survived.
William then left Desford – why, I do not know. He next
reappears in the records 26 miles away in Shenstone, Warwickshire, where in
1662 he married Katherine Whitall. The growing family stayed in Shenstone until
at least the end of 1666; by 1669, they had returned to Desford where William
and Catherine had four more children to add to the two daughters who had
returned from Shenstone with them. Thomas, with whom I started the story, was
their youngest child.
Thomas’s mother died in early 1707, and Thomas was a farmer
living some 7 miles away in Glen Parva when he was executor for his father’s will
in 1710. He married Margaret Halford in
the nearby village of Newton Harcourt in 1712; their first child was baptised
8+1/2 months later. The family briefly lived in the village of Stanton before returning to Glen Parva, where Thomas died in 1728, age only 49. He
was buried in the parish church of Aylestone, and was survived by his widow and
four children.
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| Thomas's signature on the marriage licence, 1812 |
It all sounds innocuous, bland, no story here. Perhaps the
only point of note is the way the family’s surname cycled through several
variants –Holiland, Holliland and Holyland (Thomas himself had a confident signature and used
“Holyland”). But think what was
happening in England during those years. Thomas’ parents spent their early
adulthood living in a republic, in the time of Cromwell. Which side were they
on? I would guess that many people only “took sides” when forced to do so –for
the majority of people, the aim was to keep out of trouble and keep their
families fed. His father left his home parish in the early years of the
Restoration and was living in his wife’s parish through the outbreak of bubonic
plague in the mid 1600s, and by the time Thomas was born England was again going
through a period of religious unrest with the embracing of Catholicism by King
James. How much did these events impinge on the ordinary yeoman and his family
in the midlands? Without our current sources of ever-updated news, did they
even notice the changes?
Thomas, his parents and his siblings may have had a
superficially uneventful life; but they lived through a time of great civil and
religious upheaval as well as a pandemic. Thomas himself lived through the
reigns of 7 different monarchies. Even ordinary lives can be interesting!
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