Whitwick Historical Group

Following publication of my research article Further Travels of Walking Boots (and its predecessor, Boots Made For Walking) that mentioned the Leicestershire village of Whitwick, I contacted the Whitwick Historical Group (WHG). Their invaluable help allowed me to push back even further with this 18th Century saga.

My previous article had made a tentative connection between my lineage and a prominent Hammond family of both Whitwick and the city of Leicester. The connection rested on John Hammond (b. c1796 in Whitwick), John³, being the illegitimate son of William Hammond (a woolstapler) and Sarah Knight. While the article presented evidence to justify this connection, the strength of that evidence fell below the level required for a reliable conclusion.

Maureen Partridge (WHG) provided me with copies of Leicestershire bastardy bonds related to the name Hammond for both the 18th and 19th Centuries. Unfortunately, though, they didn't include any of the names or parishes of interest, suggesting that if my tentative connection was correct then paternity may have been disputed by William Hammond.

Memorial inscriptions for members of this prominent Hammond family exist in the Whitwick St. John the Baptist church, and the following details are from the notes of John Colledge (WHG) used in preparation for his original 1964 guide book to the church, and from his updated 1994 edition.

On the south wall of the sanctuary of the south isle is a burial tablet to Alderman John Hammond (John¹) and his father-in-law George Moore:

Beneath lie the remains of George Moore, gent,

who departed this life May 6, 1724, aged near 30.

Also of Ann his wife :

she died the 2d of May, 1774, aged 74.

And also of Sarah their daughter, and wife of

John Hammond, one of the aldermen of the

Borough of Leicester, gent.

She died May 26, 1768, in the 49th year of her age.

Likewise of Henry-Moore Hammond, son

of the above John and Sarah Hammond.

He died April 27, 1778, aged 35 years.

In 1974, the base of the south isle altar had to be repaired, and underneath was found four gravestones: Thomas Thorpe (1800), John Hammond (1787), William Hammond (1812), and a damaged one from 1771. During this work, the entrance to the Hammond family vault was located, but it had been filled in as part of work during 1898.

The inscriptions on the two Hammond stones were as follows:

Beneath are deposited

the remains of

John Hammond

who departed this life

7th May 1787

aged 33 years.

Beneath

are deposited the

remains of

William Hammond

who departed this life

8th Nov. 1812

aged 49 years.

These are important because (a) they link the John² and William whom were shown to be brothers in my previous article, and (b) they confirm my suggestion that William died in 1812, aged about 48 (1812-1764).

One of the men who filled in the vault in 1898 had told John Colledge that one of the four coffins was made of wood rather than lead, and had consequently perished, but it contained the body of a man with a long red beard.

Figure 1 – Plan of Whitwick St. John the Baptist church.[1]

I had previously identified the parents of John¹ Hammond as a William and Catherine, and that John¹ was baptised at Leicester St. Martin. This was confirmed by information provided by Maureen:

"William Hammond became a member of the council in 1702, a chamberlain 1706 and an alderman 1712. By his wife Catherine, who died in 1733, he had several children. Some of his descendants were living later in Whitwick, co. Leics. Ald. Hammond died 3 and was buried in St. Martin's churchyard 5 January 1741-2 aged sixty three, M.I. to him and his wife formerly to be seen there. Administration of his personal estate etc. was granted at Leics, 6 January 1741-2 to his son John Hammond".[2]

The only plausible identification I could find for Catherine was Katherine Blount of Little Dalby, 24 miles E. of Whitwick, who married a William "Hammon" on 16 Feb 1703.[3] This identification of Catherine works in terms of dates, and sheer number of children (the extract did say "several"). The following is a list of the children baptised to William and Catherine "Hamond". Note that the naming of one son as "Blunt" (an alternative spelling of Blount, with both being pronounced the same in Britain) fits with her maiden name and so confirms that these are the children of that pairing.

Given name	Birth	Baptism	Archive ref	Notes
Elizabeth	25 Nov 1704	4 Dec 1704	DE1564/1
Henry	28 Oct 1705	30 Oct 1705	DE1564/1, p.137
Mary	ditto	ditto	ditto
William	1 Dec 1706	11 Dec 1706	DE1564/1
Frances	31 Oct 1707	4 Nov 1707	DE1564/1
Blunt	2 Jun 1708	8 Oct 1708	DE1564/1, p.139
Samuel	6 Sep 1709	18 Sep 1709	DE1564/1	Buried 10 Oct 1711 aged 3
Isaac	22 Aug 1710	30 Aug 1710	DE1564/1, p.140
Harry	1 Dec 1712	5 Dec 1712	DE1564/1
John	21 Jan 1713	16 Feb 1713	DE1564/1	This child can be matched with John1
Samuel	22 Jan 1714	5 Feb 1714	DE1564/1, p.143

Table 1 – Children of William Hammond and Catherine Blount.[4]

The administration document of William's estate is transcribed as follows:

Know all men by these present that Wee John Hammond

of the Burr or Leicester Hosier & Joseph

Denshire of the same Brazier

are held and firmly bound unto Dr Richard Grey official

of the archdeaconry of Leicester

in the sum of one thousand pounds

of good and lawful Money of Great Britain to be

paid unto the said official or to his

certain attorney his Executors Administrators or Assigns to which

payment will and truly to be made Wee Oblige our selves and each

of us by himself for the whole our and

each of our Heirs Executors and Administrators

firmly by these presents sealed with our seals dated the sixth

day of February in the fifteen

year of the Reign of our sovereign Ld. George the 2d by the Grace

of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of

the Faith and so forth And in the year of our Lord one thousand

seven hundred and forty one [1741]

The Condition of this Obligation is such that if the above bounden John

Hammond and lawfull son and Administrator of all and singular the goods Chattells

and credits of William Hammond late of Leicester Deceased do

make or cause to be made a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the Goods Chattells and

credits of the said deceased which have or shall come to the hands profession or knowledge of him

the said John or into the hands and profession of any

person or persons for him and the same so made do exhibit or cause to be exhibited into the Registry

of this court at or before the last day of

April next ensuing and the same goods chattells and credits and all other the goods

chattells and credits of the said Deceased at the time of his death which at any time after shall come

to the hands or profession of the said John or into the hands and

profession of any other person or persons for him do well and truly administer according to

law And further do make or cause to be made a true and just accompt of the said administra-

tion at or before the last day of February 1742 and all the rest and

residue of the said Goods Chattells and Credits which shall be found remaining upon the said

Administrators accompt the same being first Examined and allowed of by the Judge or Judges for

the time being of the said Court shall deliver and pay unto such person or persons respectively as the

said Judge or Judges by his or their decree or Sentence pursuant to the true intent and meaning of a

late Act or Parliament made in the two and twentieth and three and twentieth years of the reign

of our late Sovereign Lord King Charles the second (Intituled An Act for the better settling

of Intestate Estates) shall limit and appoint And if it shall hereafter appear that any last Will

and Testament was made by the said deceased and the Executor or Executors therein named

do exhibit the same into the said Court making request to have it allowed and approved accord-

ingly if the said Jn. Hammond above bounden being thereunto required do render

and deliver the said letters of Administration (approbation of such Testament first had

and made) in the said Court then this Obligation to be Void or Else to remain in full force and Virtue

Sealed and delivered being first                          John Hammond

duly Stamped in the presence of                           Jos Denshire

P. Stephens

Dep ty Reg.[5]

Notice that this identifies John¹ as a "hosier" in 1741.

The list of freemen for the city of Leicester contained some important entries:

Page	Date	Content
230	1721 Oct 21	William Hammond, mayor
231	1721 Dec 7	William Hammond eld. s. of William Hammond esq., mayor of Leics.
270	1737 April 21	John Hammond  2nd s. of Mr. Wm. of Leics. furrier
491	1757 Sept. 16	Henry Moor Hammond, s. of John of Leics. p. to Henry Gutteridge of same, brazier from 25 March last
324	1763-4 Sept. 29	Henry Moor Hammond, eld. so. of Mr. John of Whitwick Co. Leics. furrier
523	1767	John Hammond s. of John of Whitwick Co. Leics. gent p. to John Coleman of same, tallow chandler and ropemaker from June 24 last £25

Table 2 – Freemen of the city 1196–1770.[6]

Page	Date	Content
29a	Jan 24 1789	William Hammond, 3s of the late Mr. Ald. John Hammond late of Whitwick, decd.

Table 3 – Freemen of the city 1770–1930.[7]

[a] This entry appeared in both the index of 'Parents and Masters' and the index of 'Freemen and Apprentices' within the volume.

These documents contain many instances of the abbreviation "p. of ..." and "p. to ...". In this context, the 'p' is short for "prentice", which is an archaic form of apprentice.

From this, we can see that William, his son John¹, and his son Henry Moore, were all furriers. This is not in conflict with the previous identification of John¹ as a hosier since a furrier is simply someone who sells, makes, dresses, or repairs fur garments. Also, we can see that John² was a tallow chandler (maker of candles from animal fat) and rope maker.

The 1789 entry in Table 3 is important because it identifies the William who undertook the 7-year indenture of apprentice John Bonnett in Loughborough in 1796. Looking at the "Britain, Country Apprentices 1710-1808" database on Findmypast showed only the 1796 data already reported in the previous article, and no other William Hammond as either master or apprentice in Leicestershire.

Nearby Charnwood Forest was host to many mature deciduous trees, but by the end of the 18th Century most had been felled to supply wood and charcoal for the Industrial Revolution, leaving empty areas of pasture and moorland.[8] The land played host, though, to commercial rabbit warrens, and the rabbits would frequently escape their confines to compete with domestic stock for the limited grazing. In 1740, freeholders and commoners of Whitwick petitioned the Earl of Huntingdon to reduce his warren at Tin Meadow. In 1744, a further petition reminded the Earl that no action had been taken, and this resulted in a dispute between the petitioners and the warrener, a Mr. Hammond [almost certainly William, the father of John¹].[9]

According to John, the Whitwick tallow chandlery factory was built just outside the village in about 1740, and had passed from John Coltman to John² Hammond (son of John¹, furrier) in 1767 upon the death of the former. The factory was on the outskirts because of the terrible smell associated with the process of making candles from animal fat.[10] It had occurred to both John and I that the rabbits may have supported both local industries: furriers and tallow chandlers, with the waste carcasses being processed after skinning. I did wonder whether rabbits would have enough fat on them, but then I came across the following useful information which confirmed that it was possible:

Fat from goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas, deer, moose, elk, caribou and other ungulates is hard and when rendered is called tallow. Fat from pigs, bear, and rabbit is soft fat, and when rendered is called lard. Fat from poultry such as duck, geese, and chickens is called “schmaltz” and is soft, almost liquid, at room temperature. The fat is rendered the same way regardless of the animal that it comes from. Softer fats render faster.[11]

These rabbit warrens are still visible as a series of rectangular mounds in an area known as (unsurprising) Warren Hills, just slightly to the east of the junction between Abbey Road and Warren Hills Road.

Figure 2 – Warren Hills, Whitwick.

Mound no. 8 on this map corresponds to the location 52°43'50.3"N 1°19'17.3"W on a modern aerial view of the area. The general area is raised with the peak at about 240m elevation, and it is scheduled to be a heritage monument (list entry number: 1018001). It is currently a small nature reserve with public footpaths.

Figure 3 – Warren Hills nature reserve, 2007. Photo credit © Mat Fascione (cc-by-sa/2.0)

Incidental finds in the records include the following 1730 Leicestershire reference: "Hammond Samuel, son of William, Leicester, Leicestershire, furrier, to George Langthorne, 30 Apr 1730 [dead], Curriers' Company".[12] Leather was softened or beaten by people called curriers, or gurriers. Note that tallow can also be used for leather conditioners, and to make soaps.

Also, the following reference to William Hammond as a furrier in a 1708 document relating to the mortgage of land in Frolesworth, 20 miles S. of Whitwick.

Title     MORTGAGE OF LAND IN FROLESWORTH

Description    Mortgage in sum of £265

i. Wm. Hammond of Leicester, furrier and Benj. Gutheridge of Leicester, hosier

ii. John Ayre of Leicester grazier

One messuage in Frowlesworth with 1½ acres of land in occ. of Anne Wikes, wid. and a close of land divided into parcels called Two Green Ways, The Pessell Slades and Pessell Leys containing 22 acres adjoining the road to Hinckley formerly in the occ. of Wm. Wikes of Leicester, yeo.

Consideration: £250 and 5s.

Recited: Mortgage 3 March 36 Chas.II [1684], Lease and Release, 31 January 5 Anne [1707]

Date    1708

Extent 1 item

Physical Description           parchment

Access Status           Open [13]

In conclusion, we've established a further ancestral generation of the Hammond family, and confirmed that the William Hammond teaching the trade of woolstapler to John Bonnett in Loughborough during 1796 was the brother of Alderman John Hammond (John² in my previous article) of Whitwick, and hence the father cited in the marriage of John³ Hammond. None of the other source information encountered was in conflict with the material of my previous article.

What we have yet to confirm is that John³ was born to Sarah Knight.

My special thanks to Maureen Partridge and John Colledge of WHG for their help and effort in finding more source material and in providing me with much local information.

---

[1] Janet Cartlidge, Saint John the Baptist Church: Some of its history (Pukka, Nov 2015).

[2] "Roll of the Mayors and Lord Mayors of Leicester 1209 -1935", Leicestershire Record Office, p.299; extract provided by Maureen Partridge.

[3] Little Dalby Parish (Leicestershire), Marriage Register; “Leicestershire marriages”, database with images, Findmypast (www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 15 Apr 2019), entry for William Hammon and Katherine Bloant [Blount], 16 Feb 1703; citing archive ref. DE2702/1; Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland.

[4] Leicester St Martin Parish (Leicestershire), Baptism Register; “Leicestershire baptisms”, database with images, Findmypast (www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 15 Apr 2019), entry details as per tabluation; Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland.

[5] "Leicestershire Wills And Probate Records, 1500-1939”, database with images, Findmypast (www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 15 Apr 2019), entry for William Hammond, 1741, gentl of Leicester; citing archive ref. 1741 (A-S); Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland.

[6] Freemen of the city of Leicester 1196–1770, vol.1, Henry Hartopp ed.(pub. for the Corporation of the city of Leicester by E. Backus, 1927-33); abstracted from the borough records.

[7] Freemen of the city of Leicester 1770–1930, vol.2.

[8] John Crocker, Charnwood Forest: A Changing Landscape (Sycamore press, 1981), p.78

[9] Ibid, p.82.

[10] John Colledge, "The City of Three Waters: The Tallow Chandling Business ... 1, 2", unpublished notes; hand-written copy provided by Maureen Partridge, 21 Feb 2019.

[11] "Easy Guide to render fat into tallow", Joybilee Farm (https://joybileefarm.com/easy-guide-to-render-fat-into-tallow/ : accessed 16 Apr 2019).

[12] "London Apprenticeship Abstracts, 1442-1850", database, Findmypast (www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 16 Apr 2019), entry for William Hammond, 1730.

[13] "MORTGAGE OF LAND IN FROLESWORTH", item description from online archive catalogue, Record Office of Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland (http://record-office-catalogue.leics.gov.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DE3987 : accessed 16 Apr 2019).