Egerton Allcock (1736-1806) & Ann Annerley (1740-1808)
Egerton Allcock was baptised on 30 May 1736 at Hanbury, Staffordshire (St Werburgh parish records). Egerton’s father, also Egerton Allcock (1689-1766), was a yeoman from Hanbury who was baptised on 22 May 1689 and buried on 22 January 1766. His grandparents were Egerton Allcock (d.1719) and Sarah. The family connections to Hanbury dated at least to 1606, when there was the baptism of (another) Egerton Alcock, son of Christopher Alcock of Hanbury.
Egerton’s mother was Mary Bladon (1694-1772), the daughter of the Rev William Bladon (1662-1722), vicar of Hanbury and rector of Somersall Herbert, and Elizabeth Brown (1668-1728); Mary’s grandfather was the Rev. John Bladon (1610-1686) of Hill Somersal in Derbyshire. Mary’s brother was William Bladon (1691- 1763) who was rector of Carsington and perpetual curate of Hognaston, Derbyshire (CCEd).
Very few gravestones are now in their original place and many are obscured or damaged. Bladon family memorials in Hanbury church were lost in the 19th century restorations.
Ann Annerley was baptised on 3 March 1740 at Clifton Campville, Staffordshire (St Andrew parish records).
Ann’s parents were Hugh Annerley (1709-1769), a yeoman of Haunton in the parish of Clifton Campville, and Susanna Nevill of Hanbury, who were married in 1735. Hugh was the son of Thomas and Sarah Annerley, also of Haunton. The Annerley family was also connected with Newton Regis in Warwickshire, possibly dating at least to 1625 when “Thomas Aneley” was baptised there. Ann’s grandfather (Hugh’s father), Thomas died in 1713.
In 1715, Ann’s grandmother – Hugh’s widowed mother – Sarah, married Thomas Capenhurst at Lichfield. In his will, dated 1763, Hugh also referred to land and hereditaments in Nether Seal (Leicestershire) given to him by his “father Thomas Capenhurst”. The will also detailed land and property owned by Hugh in Haunton, Lichfield, at Hales Owen in Shropshire, and at Twycross and Newton Nethercoat in Leicestershire. In his will £500 was also given to each of his daughters (including Ann Allcock) (National Archives).
It is likely that Hugh and Susanna and their family lived at Bexsmore (or Becksmore) Farm at Haunton – continued residence there was given to Susanna in Hugh’s will. Hugh bought Bexsmore farm from Thomas Capenhurst in 1735 (Streethay, British History OnLine).
Hugh’s son (and so Ann’s brother), also Hugh, inherited these properties in 1769. Hugh (the younger) sold 21 acres at Becksmore in 1790 but remained in Haunton. In 1791 he was the chairman of Litchfield and Tamworth meetings (two of the four meetings in Staffordshire and Warwickshire) to petition for the repeal of the malt tax. Hugh eventually settled in Newton Regis in Warwickshire where he died aged 76 on 28 April 1827. [As brothers-in-law, Hugh Annerley (junior) and Egerton Allcock also had legal connections. Hugh was the executor of Egerton’s will; they both were executors of the will of Edward Farmer of Cauldwell, whose sister (Ann Farmer) was the mother of Sarah Jesson who married Egerton’s son, Charles Allcock, who also occupied Hugh Annerley’s farm at Newton in the early 1800s.]
Ann Annerley, of Haunton in the parish of Clifton Campville, and Egerton Allcock, yeoman of Hanbury were married on 1 May 1766 at St Andrew’s church in Clifton Campville, Staffordshire, by William Bladon, the curate of Hanbury.
Egerton and Ann’s eldest three children were baptised at St Werburgh’s, Hanbury – Egerton Allcock on 26 March 1767, Ann Allcock, on12 February 1769 and Hugh Annerley Allcock on 6 February 1771.
By 1772 they were living at Abbots Bromley Park, also in Staffordshire. Their four younger children were baptised at St Nicholas’s, Abbots Bromley – Charles Allcock on 3 December 1772, Maria Allcock on 7 January 1774, Susanna Maria Allcock on 15 August 1776, and Elizabeth Allcock on 13 June 1780.
Egerton’s will described the “messuage farm and land in my occupation called Abbots Bromley Park and which I hold as tenant to the Earl of Dartmouth”. In addition to this copyholding Egerton also owned freehold land in Abbots Bromley and in Worcestershire.
“Commonly called Abbot’s Bromley…is now a small market town. There is no manufactory carried on here, the bulk of the land…being chiefly occupied by farmers. The following are the principal inhabitants: …Traders &c: Allcock, Egerton, Farmer & Seedsman” (The Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce, and Manufacture 1790). The Land Tax register for Abbots Bromley in 1798 listed Mr Alcock as the occupier of the land owned by the earl of Dartmouth (£30 8s sum assessed, date of contract 21 December 1798). Also listed is land in Hanbury owned by Egerton Allcock and occupied by a tenant.
Staffordshire Game Certificates records listed Charles Allcock, gent of Bromley Hall in 1801, Hugh Thomas Annerley Allcock, gent, of Abbots Bromley Park in 1803 & 1804. Other records of this time were:
- 1803: Egerton Allcock of Bromley Park and Hugh Annerley of Haughton, gents, are executors of Edward Farmer deceased – he is the brother of Ann Jesson, whose daughter married Egerton’s son Charles
- 1804: On Tuesday last, Mr Charles Allcock of Newton Warwickshire, to Miss Sarah Jesson, daughter of Mr Jesson of West Bromwich (Northampton Mercury, Saturday 22 September 1804)
- 1805-7: Advertisements for the sale of timber: “a quantity of oak timber tress, adapted for Engine Timber, Ship Building, and other purposes, where Trees of large dimensions are preferred, now growing in Bromley Park…[it] may be conveyed to market by means of the Canals and Navigations which pass near to the Estate” (The Staffordshire Advertiser, on Saturday 5 April 1806)
- 1806: “Runaway Apprentice – Charles Jackson, aged about 14 years, about 8 feet high, light hair, grey eyes, fresh colour. Had on when he left his master (19th March) a fustian jacket and waistcoat, and took with him a blue cloth jacket and waistcoat. Whoever will give information to his master, Egerton Allcock, Abbot’s Bromley Park, Staffordshire, so he may be brought to justice, shall receive one guinea reward; whoever employs him after this notice shall be prosecuted.” (Staffordshire Advertiser 29 March 1806)
1812: In her will dated 1812, Susannah Annerly of Bole Hall in Warwickshire, spinster, left the interest of money to her sisters and then the money to the children of her brother Hugh Annerly and sister Ann Allcock.
Egerton Allcock died in September 1806, “Died – On Friday, Egerton Allcock, Esq of Bromley Park, Staffordshire” (Derby Mercury Thursday 11 September 1806), and was buried at Hanbury on 10 September 1806.
In his will of Egerton Allcock of Abbots Bromley gentleman, directed an inventory is taken, valued and appraised by “two indifferent farmers of good character”, of the “household goods, plate, books, linen, china, furniture, stock of cattle, horses, sheep, corn, grain, stay crops on the ground, waggons, carts, other implements of husbandry, and dead stock” at Abbots Bromley Park and gave enjoyment of these to his wife (for the herself and for the benefit of their children) and after her death to his son Charles, or until the lease of the farm is given up. His freehold messuages, lands, tenements and hereditaments in Worcestershire were given to his executors (his brother-in-law Hugh Annerley of Haunton, and Thomas Hart the elder of Uttoxeter, banker) to be held in trust and to be sold to pay for the legacies Egerton left to his children. His copyhold and freehold land in Hanbury to his son Egerton; the interest of £700 to his wife, and the sum thereafter to his son Egerton. £500 was given in trust each to his daughters Susanna Maria, Elizabeth and Sarah (£500 already having been given to his daughter Ann on her marriage to John Jennings). In 1802 a codicil to the original will of 1798 reduced the sum left to Charles to £200 as £1,000 had already been given to Charles, and revoked legacies to Egerton (the son) who had also been advanced £1,200. He left his 5 shares in the Birmingham and Worcester Canal Navigation Company and his recently purchased Page’s farm at Abbotts Bromley to be added to the items sold by the executors. The probate record stated that estate at Bromley Hurst was to be sold to cover debts and legacies.
Ann died in 1808, “Died – Mrs Allcock, relict of the late Egerton Allcock Esq of Abbott’s Bromley Park, Staffordshire” (Oxford Journal Saturday 9 January 1808), and was buried on 2 January at Hanbury. In her will Ann Allcock left £100 to her daughter Ann Jennings, and the interest of £500 until their decease or marriage to her unmarried daughters; the £500 then to be divided equally between Charles, Susannah, Elizabeth, Hugh T A, Sarah; plus items (chest of drawers, boxes, watch, books) to her daughters; any ready money to be shared between her grandchildren. Charles Allcock and Susan Maria Allcock are executor/rix.
In 1811 their son moved from Bromley Abbots Park and the house contents were advertised for sale, and this gives a glimpse of their life. “To be sold by auction all the modern household furniture belonging to Mr Hugh Allcock of Bromley Park…who is leaving the farm; comprising elegant mahogany four post bedsteads, salmon coloured moreen, printed cotton, white dimity and other furniture, fine feather beds, mattresses, blankets, counterpanes and quilts, dressing tables and glasses, handsome set of mahogany dining tables on pillars and claws, brass rollers, card and breakfast tables, several sets of handsome mahogany Grecian back chairs, black moulding, Trafalgar satin horse-hair seats, floor and bedside carpets, elegant mirror and chimney glass, rich gilt frames, thirty-hour clock. Kitchen dresser with drawers and shelves, pots, kettles &c, ale and wine glasses &c” (Staffordshire Advertiser Saturday 30 March 1811).