The BURTON family from
Nottinghamshire
Commemorative stone in
the
United reformed Church,
Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham
dedicated to my 2 x
great grandfather, the Revd Thomas Blount BURTON
1787 - 1860
BURTON Family Tree
(1) (reserved)
(2) (3)
John BURTON = Sarah BLOUNT
of Trowell ¦ of Nottingham
b 1745 ¦ b 1750
Yeoman, d Nott ¦ m St Mary's, Nottingham
about 1796 ¦ 15 June 1772: d Nott about 1794
_______________¦______________________________
¦ (4) ¦ (5) ¦ (6) ¦ (7) (8)
Sarah John John Rev Thomas = Mary
Blount of Nottingham Blount ¦ VARNHAM
of Nottingham of Nottingham Artist? of Nottingham ¦ of Nottingham
ch 28 Oct 1774 ch 24 Jan 1777 ch 21 Jan 1781 ch 6 April 1787 ¦ b 1791/2
d ? d ? d 13 Nov 1855 St Mary's ¦ m Independent Chapel
elsewhere? Minister of ¦ Castle Gate Nottingham?
Independent ¦ 1809/10?
Chapel, ¦ d 24 Feb 1868
Hyson Green ¦ Nottingham
1823 - 1860 ¦ Int Ind Chapel Cem
d Nottingham ¦ Hyson Green?
22 Dec 1860 ¦
Grave 'D-21-2' ¦
_____________________________________________________________¦_________________cont>
¦ (9) ¦ (10) ¦ (11) (12) ¦ (13) (14) ¦ (15)
Thomas John Henry = Amelia Thomas = Mary George
of Radford of Radford of Radford ¦ ? of Radford Ann of Radford.
c 31 Aug Artist/ Lace ¦ of Nottingham Clerk THORNTON Artist
1807 Photographer Manufacturer ¦ b 1813/14 b b ? c 20 April
St Mary's c 30 Dec 1810 c 24 Mar 1813 ¦ m ? c 5 Mar 1815 m? 1817
d before d Nottingham d Nottingham ¦ Nottingham d Islington d Nott d ?
1815? 4 May 1891 13 June 1876 ¦ 4 Nov 1891 6 Dec 1884 10 Feb 1889
Grave 3478 Grave 3479 ¦ Grave 3479 Grave 3478 Grave 3478
General Cem. General Cem. ¦ General Cem. General Cem. Gen Cem.
_______________________________________¦
¦cont>_____________________________________
¦ ¦ (16) ¦ (17) ¦ (18) ¦ (19) (20)
¦ Mary Benjamin Alfred Walter [m1] = Sarah WHEELDON
¦ of Radford of Hyson Grn of Hyson Grn. of Hyson Grn ¦ of Beeston, Notts.
¦ Milliner/ b June 1827 Warehouseman Lace ¦ c 6 Feb 1836
¦ Dressmaker d 6 May 1828 b 1829-32 Designer/ ¦ m Nottingham
¦ b 1826 Int Ind d 22 Oct 1900 Draughtsman ¦ Reg. Office
¦ d 5 Mar Chapel Cem Nottingham /Lace ¦ 2 July 1854
¦ 1879 Hyson Grn. Grave 3479 Manufacturer ¦ d Nott July-Sept
¦ Int Ind Gen Cem b 1836 ¦ 1876 Int Ind Chapel
¦ Chapel d Union ¦ Cem Hyson Green?
¦ Hyson Grn. Workhouse ¦ [m2] = Sarah Eliza (21)
¦ Nottingham ¦ ¦ CRAWFORD
¦ 22 Sept 1902 ¦ ¦ of Loughborough
¦ Int paupers ¦ ¦ Leics
¦ grave ¦ ¦ b 1853/4
¦ Basford Cem ¦ ¦ m St Peter's, Nottingham
¦ Nottingham ¦ ¦ 28 Aug 1877: d ?
¦ ¦ ¦ _____________________________ ***
¦________________________________________________________¦ ¦____
¦ ¦ (22) ¦ (23) ¦ (24) ¦ (25) ¦ (26) ¦(27)
¦ Clara Florence Arthur Ada = Thomas Sarah (unknown male
¦ of Nott of Radford Blount Maud * Thompson of Radford child?)
¦ b 1859 of of Radford of Rad. * FLETCHER b & d
¦ -60 b 1863 b Jul-Sep b 26 * of Nott 1876
¦ d 12 Oct d 2 Feb 1865 1866 Oct 1870 * (see 3
¦ 1869 Nottingham d ? m Derby FLETCHER
¦ Nott Int Ind St Luke Tree)
¦ Int Ind Chapel HG 7 Jan 1889
¦ Chapel HG d 1 Sept 1943, London
¦_________________________________
¦ (28) ¦ (29) ¦ (30)
Emma = Joseph Albert Herbert = ?
Ann * ORCHARD of Radford Edwin
Mary b 1845 of ?
of Radford Lace
b 1842/3 Manufctr.
d ? b ?
d ?
NOTES
1) (reserved)
2) John and Sarah were married by licence at St Mary's parish church which
is in the Lace Market. A transcript of the licence from Nottingham University
confirms that a bond of £200 was to be paid paid by John and an 'Isaac Burton,
Cordwainer (Guild shoe maker) of Nottingham.' Was this a brother? John was a
Yeoman from Trowell, Notts.
3) Sarah BLOUNT's family is not in the IGI and therefore, I think they were
probably non conformist, or might have come into the county from elsewhere.
So far, I haven't been able to trace her and John's burial. Clues about their
death dates are given in the Congregational Year Book, 1862.
4) Sarah, however, was in the IGI, recognisable from the middle name,'BLOUNT.'
5) The two Johns were also in the IGI , although there was no middle name
'BLOUNT.' John and Sarah may just have named the first and last child this way.
The first John probably died in infancy.
6) I am speculating that the second John was an artist - see note 9 below.
7) The Rev Thomas Blount BURTON was the first Minister of the Independent
chapel at Hyson Green (Forest Terrace) 1831 (when he was ordained) to at least
1860 when he died. I have been told by the retired secretary of the United
Reformed Church at Hyson Green that Thomas helped form the which broke away
from the chapel in Castle Gate, Nottingham. He was apparently buried in a
graveyard alongside the original chapel, but the area was redeveloped long ago.
There is a plaque dedicated to Thomas in the church and I have visited and
taken some photos. Dr William's Non-Conformist Library in London has sent me
an obituary from the Congregational year book, 1862. This tells how Thomas was
orphaned at a young age and brought up by relatives at Strelley.
There is an amusing account of his early days: 'Unhappily, his sociability
found it's principle opportunities of gratification at the public house.'
He was fond of dancing and a very daring rider! His mother's favourite saying
was: 'Cards are the devils books!', so he avoided them! He was educated at
Roggins, although I have to discover where and what this was.
Apparently, a few years ago someone (from the Oxford area?) visited the church,
took photos of a memorial plaque and obtained a photo of Thomas (origninally
taken by his son, John?). This was probably a distant relative. I have
advertised in the Family Tree Magazine (early 1995) and in the Oxford press,
with no success.
8) Mary Varnham appears in the IGI where I found most of the early baptisms
of her children. Later christenings after 1831, when the family was involved
with the new Chapel, were probably there and, sadly, records of baptisms are
missing.
9) I have found this entry in the IGI for St Mary's church with the parents
Thomas and Mary. I am speculating that this could be a first born who died
before the second Thomas in 1815 who was baptised at the Wesleyan New
Connection (Methodist) in Parliament Street, following Thomas's joining that
church about 1811. I am speculating that he was an artist from information
gained from the United Reformed Church.
10) I discovered basic details of the family through the 1841 and 1851 census
and the the retired secretary of the United Reformed Church off Gregory
Boulevard was able to confirm details and provide some dates of deaths. It now
seems that Walter's eldest brother John, Artist, was the portrait painter
referred to in a thesis on local Victorian artists sent to me by the
Curator of Nottingham Castle museum when I first enquired about any BURTONs
exhibiting there in line with family tales. The BURTON family address at
Forest Terrace ties in with the references in the thesis regarding John's
entry as a portrait painter in a Nottingham directory of the time.
The thesis holds that John (senior) had a son, John Burton (junior) who
continued his father's firm, John Burton and Sons, portrait painters and
photographers, which had other branches in Derby, Birmingham and
Burton-on-Trent. He exhibited paintings at the Castle Museum and died in 1891.
He lived at 50 Portland Road, Hyson Green, with his brother Alfred. Having now
checked the 1881 census for this address, I find that John and Alfred's birth
years coincide with census entries for the BURTON household at Forest Terrace.
Also, Alfred was still a 'Warehouse man.' I am now convinced that there were
no John BURTONs senior and junior: they were the same person!
However, the URF Church provided an earlier date for another John BURTON,
artist, and I hypothesised that this could have been Thomas's brother, a
Master who may could have trained John and George.The 1866 Wright's Directory
shows a John Burton of J.Burton & Sons residing at Welbeck Terrace,60
Mansfield Road. In the 1861 census, Alfred is head of household at Portland
Road with his widowed mother Mary and sister Mary. John is not there, although
by the 1871 census he is with Alfred at 50 Portland Road and head of household.
11) John's grave is in the General Cemetery, Nottingham near Henry's grave
which also contains his wife, Amelia, and brother Alfred. When Henry died in
1876 he was quite well off, according to a copy of the will which is in the
Nottingham Archives. One of the Executors was brother Alfred and the
Housekeeper at the school of art.
The details reveal names of Henry's wife and children although I also found a
reference to the family in one of the censuses.
12) See above.
13) I discovered Thomas in the graves register. Previously, he had not shown
up in the censuses. He seemes to have gone to London. I found his baptism in
the IGI.
14) Mary Ann is probably a Thornton, according to notes held by the United
Reformed Church.
15) George was in the 1841 census but then disappeared. The IGI shows the
baptism.
16) Mary's death turns up in the church records, again.
17) I found this entry in the Rev's own hand in the death register which
survives via micro fiches in the Nottingham Archives.
18) Alfred is readily identified in the censuses. He was quite a rich man
when he died without a will in 1900. The strange thing is that my gggf Walter
would have been the next of kin, but there is no way of knowing whether he
benefited. Alfred was a Lace Warehouseman (in charge of the sales of finished
lace) at Messrs Ball & Willkins, Broadway, in the Lace Market.
19) I found Walter's weddings via the Notts Family History Society who
searched the St Catherine House indexes for me. I then traced the second
wedding entry in the parish record for Radford (St Peter - the parish church).
This showed Walter and Sarah's ages and their respective fathers' details.
Walter's father was a Minister and as I couldn't find a trace of the first
wedding, I thought a non-conformist church was involved.
A search at the Records Office identified Thomas Blount BURTON as the Minister
of the Independent Chapel at Hyson Green. Strangely, in Walter's second
marriage entry his father's middle name was 'Brown.' I soon realised this was
a mistake by the then vicar. At Ada's wedding, one of the witnesses was an
Arthur Blount BURTON,so I knew I had got the right family! I rightly suspected
that BLOUNT was a maiden family name (Walter's grandmother's).
When daughter Ada Maud got married, Walter was described as a 'Draughtsman.'
However, on the second wedding certificate (to Sarah CRAWFORD) he was
described as a 'Lace Manufacturer.', as was Sarah's father, Edward. A
directory for Nottingham in 1854 show that there was a lace designer's firm
(W. Simpson) and lace manufacturers at Aspley Terrace, where Ada was born
(1870). In the 1877 Morris & Co Directory and Gazetteer, Walter is included as
a 'Lace Machine Holder' at Carrier's Factory, Peverill Street (still there).In
the year of Walter's second marriage (1881) another directory shows that
Walter was still a 'machine holder'at Carriers Factory, Aspley, and lived at
Byfield House, Outgang Lane (no longer there).
In the 1881 census, Walter's household is at Byfield Place, which I think was
a new property near his former. He is described as a 'Lace draughtsman.' His
second wife Sarah CRAWFORD from Loughborough is there, as is Ada and her
brother Arthur (who was a witness at Ada's eventual wedding in Derby), 4 years
older. Arthur is neither at school at the age of 14, nor working!
In January 1995, we found Walter's death in the GRO death index at the
Church of Latterday Saints Family History Centre in Leicester. I sent off for
the certificate & was astounded to find that he died in the Union Workhouse
in Nottingham from Epilepsy.
The original registers showed he was buried in a paupers grave at Basford
Cemetery, Nottingham, although sadly the grave index does not include his
name. The irony is that Walter lived in Cairns Street near the location of
the original workhouse. I searched back in the admissions register and found
he was admitted before lunch on Monday 6 May 1901. He was described as a
draughtsman; C of E (?); born 1837; class for diet '2', suggesting he was
infirm. There is an entry in the records for Arthur Burton, although this
does not appear to be Walter's son. What happened to him remains a mystery!
20) The wedding entry for the first wedding to Sarah WHEELDON at the
Nottingham registry office shows that her father was James, Lace Maker. Sarah
signed her mark with a cross unlike Sarah Blount back in 1772. She died in
childbirth (see note 11).
21) From the IGI it seems that Sarah's CRAWFORD's parents were Edward and
Hannah LARKIN.
22) This name appeared in the church records and the 1861 census suggesting
that this was Walter and Sarah's first child.
23) Another name from the church records that is probably another sibling.
24) The 1881 census shows Walter's family at home and confirms that Arthur
was Ada's elder brother!
25) My great granny Ada Maud BURTON is said to have ran away to Derby,
probably to her friend Henrietta's home at 185 Parliament Street (near
Thomas's home at 1119 - or 169 - Stockbrook Street). Henrietta was a witness
at Ada's marriage, as was Arthur Blount BURTON. Her family were lower middle
class as her father and his second wife had a domestic servant. It is still a
mystery why Ada kept her family a closely guarded secret.
26) A daughter who died at birth, with Sarah and obviously named after her
mother.
27) From what my mum told me, although I have yet to discover who. Apparently
the child was a male and wore leg irons.
28) Gained from her parents' wills.
29) Found in a census entry for the household.
30) Gained from his parents' wills.
From notes by Mike Casselden November 1995