The Buckinghamshire Carvers
Hi all,
I posted earlier about a George Carver who had a Bedford jail prison record (1851) and this stated he was living in Leighton Buzzard and was born in Newport Pagnell, which got me thinking because Newport Pagnell is in Buckinghamshire and I could not recall any previous discussion on these pages about Carvers in Buckinghamshire. As I was passing through the county last week, I did a 'splash and dash' stop at the County Records Office in Aylesbury to see what they might have. The good news is that a lot of their stuff is being placed on line by the Buckinghamshire Family History Society and this is searchable. From this I have been able to build-up a high-level summary of Carver activity in Bucks, of which we seem have the following people active in these parishes between these dates...
Ann, (Taplow, Gt. Missenden),1858
Charlotte, (Gt. Missenden, Masseydon), 1849-1859
Edward, (Chesham Bois, Taplow, Gt. Missenden, Chenies), 1810-1854
Elenor, (Taplow), 1822
Elizabeth * 2, (Newport Pagnell, Gt. Missenden, Chenies), 1807-1864
Ellen, (Upton),1844
George, (Newport, Linslade), 1834
Henry, (Chesham Bois), 1854
James, (Newport Pagnell), 1845
John, (Newport Pagnell, Hanslope), 1800-1851
Joseph, (Between Wendover & Ayle, Aylesbury), 1823
Margaret, (Etonwick), 1838
Mary, (Gt. Missenden), 1847-1848
Richard (Langley Marish), 1864
Rosamond (Newport Pagnell), 1851
William (Simpson, Newport Pagnell, Linslade), 1828-1864
The records include baptisms, marriages, burials and censuses but I would emphasize it is by no means complete and exhaustive and some records relate to being witnesses at marriages, etc.
So could these be Carvers straying over the Bedfordshire border westwards?
There are two pieces of evidence which supports this. The Bucks CRO had a dinky application which mapped geographically onto a county parish map records returned in a search. It immediately struck me that all the Carver activity was occurring in the east of the county and none in the west. Secondly the Buckinghamshire Posse Comitatus lists no Carvers in Buckinghamshire in 1798 which the researcher thought significant. Put together, this is implying a recent move into Buckinghamshire circa 1800 from the east.
I was able to look at a couple of census returns.
George Carver (b. abt 1832 Newport Pagnell) was in St. Pancras (22 Southampton Street) , London on March 31st, 1851 as a lodger and coach painter. He entered prison in Bedford later that year. I found the 1841 census return for him and this places him in Newport Pagnell with his parents and siblings:
John, 35, Coach painter
Elizabeth, 33
Rosamond, 11
George, 9,
William, 7
Henry, 1
All except John are born in the county(of Bucks) – so was John born in Bedfordshire around 1805?
I have been checking for matches to my existing tree for him and others and let’s just say I’m keeping my powder dry before going into print...(oh you tease!).
Another family unit might be Edward and Elizabeth; children - Ann, Elizabeth, Mary
So, this is how far I got and is as far as I can go right now. If anyone else does have further info on these people and/or observations, all welcomed.
Some notes:
Posse Comitatus was a military census of able-bodied men aged between 15 and 60 made for the Napoleonic Wars. Apparently, Buckinghamshire is unique, as its list is the only one that has survived.
I can not locate a present-day Bucks Taplow, but there is a Taplow just inside Berks. I am assuming this was previously in Bucks. The same applies to Etonwick, a.k.a. Eton Wick.
I think ‘Masseydon’ is a mangling of ‘Missenden’ as I can find no Masseydon.
I think the ‘Newport’ referred to is probably ‘Newport Pagnell’.
Langley Marish is more commonly referred today as Langley.
Coach painting seems to have been the Newport Pagnell Carver’s family business - (pushing the envelope out here) not a trade a million miles away from wheelwrighting methinks.
Hmmmm...whilst Rosamond is a new forename to me, the male forenames are all consistent with forenames in use by the Bedfordshire Carvers.
Rosamond is recorded this way and not as ‘Rosamund’.
Elenor is recorded this way and not as ‘Eleanor’.
Some of the people listed above could conceivably relate to more than one person of the same name. The above represent my best guess.
Cheers all,
Neil.
