Skip to main content

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!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The vaccine-refusing Holylands!

  With all the talk about how different countries approach COVID vaccination, it seems timely to remember that vaccination against smallpox was compulsory in England in the past Between 1853 – 1947, parents or guardians were obliged to have their children vaccinated against smallpox within the first few months of life. Failure to comply could lead to a fine or even imprisonment. The Holylands were amongst those who were sometimes slow to have their children vaccinated, and the Leicester Mercury lists at least 3 instances: 1877 – Thomas Holyland was fined 10 shillings (it is not clear which Thomas this was, there being several possible candidates!) 1884 – Alfred Holyland of Wharf St, Leicester,   was fined 10 shillings with the threat (or option?) of 7 days imprisonment in lieu of the fine 1885 – Joseph Henry Holyland was summonsed and given one month in which to get his children vaccinated. Joseph and Alfred were brothers. Alfred’s first child was born in 1883, t...
Post a Comment
Read more

When the Internet has it wrong! The real father of Mary.

  This lovely young woman was Mary Carmichael Smyth, the wife of James Carmichael Smyth, physician extraordinary to King George 111. Mary married James, who was several years her senior, in Gretna Green in 1775; the couple had 10 children and Mary apparently died in 1803 or 1806. This portrait was painted around 1788 by George Romney and is the possession of the National Gallery of Scotland . Multiple internet sources state that Mary's father was Thomas Holyland of Bromley, and her mother Mary Elton (eg, here: http://www.thepeerage.com/p20538.htm#i205375 ). However I am certain that these internet sources (many of which have probably been copied from each other) are wrong, and that Mary’s father was actually Christopher Holyland, a vintner of Cheapside in London, who died in 1769. Here’s my evidence. Firstly, I can find no baptism for a Mary Holyland (or variant on the name) to a father named Thomas in the south east of England in the mid 1700s. There was a baptism of Mary ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Swimming lessons

Arthur Holyland was born in 1877 in Wortley, a village to the north of Sheffield, in Yorkshire. Like his father and grandfather before him, Arthur trained as a blacksmith. When he was a child, Arthur's family moved from the rural setting of Wortley and into the heavily industrialised centre of Sheffield, which at the time was one of the world's leading centres for the manufacturing of steel items. In August 1899, Arthur enlisted into the Royal Marines, giving his age as 2 years younger than his baptism proves. He served on a variety of vessels before being invalided out of the Marines in 1908. My eye was caught by a small box at the bottom of the Marines enlistment form . "Able to swim?" – Yes, Arthur could swim – he was tested on this in December 1899, in Deal, Kent, four months after joining the Royal Marines. How did a blacksmith from a heavily industrialised town in a landlocked county learn to swim, I asked myself. It transpires that in 1892, a tidal swi...
Post a Comment
Read more