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On this day in history -- 7 May 1679


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.  

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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