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St Mary, Church Road, Little Ilford - Chancel |
Mr Philip Perry (b. ~1678) married Elizabeth Flemming (purportedly b. ~1685) at St Mary the Virgin, Little Ilford, Essex, on 6 Feb 1706.
Philip and Elizabeth Perry had eight children:
- Thomas Perry b. 7 Dec 1708, bap. 14 Dec 1708
- Philip Perry b. 3 Oct 1710, bap. 22 Oct 1710
- John Perry b. 13 Dec 1712, bap. 1 Jan 1712/13
- Elizabeth Perry b. 27 Feb 1714, bap. 27 Mar 1714/15
- Susanna Perry b. 1 Mar 1715, bap. 27 Mar 1714/15
- Fleming Perry b. 4 Jan 1717, bap. 12 Jan 1717. Fleming, son of Mr Philip Perry, buried 21 Oct 1720 at St Margaret's, Barking
- Sarah Perry b. 27 May 1719, bap. 14 Jun 1719. Sarah, daughter of Mr Philip Perry, buried 26 May 1720 at St Margaret's, Barking
- Sarah Perry bap. 12 Mar 1720 (Julian) 1721 (Gregorian). Sadly, the church official had stopped putting in the actual birth dates.
All of the baptisms were at the church of St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich. Elizabeth and Susanna, baptised together in 1714/15, were presumably born in different years, but the record doesn't show which years. Elizabeth is listed first on the baptism, as well as later in her father's Will, so I'm assuming she was the older of the two. St Margaret's Church, Barking a.k.a. the Church of St Margaret of Antioch is where Captain Jonathan Collett, to whom Philip Perry left a bequest, was baptised and later buried. Susanna Perry would seem to have been named after Collett's wife, Susanna Hill (whom he had married at Saint Helen Bishopsgate, City of London on 6 Jul 1706).
The
Chronicles of the Blackwall Yard (PDF) by
Henry Green and
Robert Wigram (published 1881), claim that in 1708: "
About this time the manager of Sir Henry Johnson's Yard was a certain Philip Perry, whose history and introduction to Blackwall has been given as follows. In or about the year 1690, Philip Perry was a carpenter on board of one of His Majesty's ships. During a severe storm the vessel was in much danger of foundering from a bad leak, but in consequence of Philip Perry's skill and ingenuity the ship was saved and brought safely back to port. The Commissioners of the Admiralty, to mark their appreciation of his service, gave him an important post at Plymouth Dockyard, whence he was transferred to Deptford, where he greatly increased his reputation. This position he is said to have relinquished to superintend Sir Henry Johnson's business at Blackwall."
Ship's carpenters went on voyages to make running repairs, so I suspect there may be some truth in the story, but it bears all the hallmarks of family making it sound more dramatic than reality. If we were to be really pedantic, the reigning monarchs in 1690 were
William III and Mary II, who ascended the throne after the "
Glorious Revolution" of 1688, so a reference in 1690 should have been to one of '
Their Majesties' Ships'. It seems more likely this event was after the death of
Mary II in 1694, and before the accession of
Queen Anne in 1702. Of course this could all just be a completely romanticised family myth. And Green & Wigram's chronology is decidedly suspect.
The earliest reports confirm that Perry's career began in
Plymouth and this, I feel, helps make a case for him originally being from that area. Both
British History Online and
Three Decks think he was born in 1678 (the latter will have got the information from the former). If so, there's a potential baptism of Philip Perry, son of John Perry (and reputedly grandson of Philip Perry) in 1679, in
Maker, Cornwall (just across the
Tamar from Plymouth), which several people have accepted and I agree that, circumstantially, this looks incredibly reasonable, but may be unlikely to be absolutely proven.
"
Perry, a working shipwright, was employed in the Naval Yard at Plymouth during the first years of the eighteenth century.",
according to British History Online. He was then posted to
Kinsale in 1702, where he was appointed
Master Shipwright and there are references
to substantiate him being in Kinsale from Mar 1702 until Jun 1705. He'd been sent to Ireland with other shipwrights for the purpose of '
their taking shipping there' at the beginning of the
War of the Spanish Succession. Records listed at
The National Archives (not downloadable) also confirm these postings: on 18 Mar 1702 "
Plymouth Officers on behalf of Philip Perry, Shipwright. A testimonial of the good service of Phillip Perry." Then on 25 Sep 1702 "
Philip Perry, Shipwright, Kindsale, Petitioner. He asks to be registered at Kinsale as a skilled man and to receive a higher level of pay." And "
Kinsale Officers for Philip Perry, Shipwright, provide a Testimonial on behalf of Phillip Perry, Shipwright."
Then on 6 Aug 1705, "
Philip Perry, Sheerness. Regarding his service in Kinsale where he acted as Foreman and assisted in repairs to masts and boats. Requests an allowance to take into consideration his 13 years service, including two spells in Kinsale." And on 17 Aug 1705 "
Philip Perry, Sheerness. Further request for acting foreman pay for his time at Kinsale."
The other question that arises is, where and when did he meet Elizabeth? He'd only been in the London area for eight months when they married, but could he have known her longer? Could she have been from Plymouth? It seems that I'm not the first person to suggest this, but no evidence was offered.
The church where all of their children were baptised,
St Mary Magdalene Woolwich, is
right next to Woolwich Dockyard, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich, "
where many ships were built from the early 16th century". It's some distance (~4 miles) from
Deptford Dockyard, the nearest church to which is
St. Nicholas, on
Deptford Green, so surely attending the church in Woolwich suggested Philip Perry was employed at Woolwich? And indeed, confirmation is in a record listed at
The National Archives (not digitised so not downloadable), dated 1708, "
Folio 396: Philip Perry. Petition for employment as Boatbuilder at Deptford Yard. Places mentioned: Kinsale, Woolwich. People mentioned: Mr. Stacey, Mr. Philips, Commissioner Wright."
Mr. Stacey was
Richard Stacey, English shipbuilder and
ship designer. In 1695, Stacey was Master Boat Builder at
Plymouth Dockyard; "In 1698 he transferred briefly to
Kinsale (
until Apr 1705). He then worked for a few months at
Sheerness Dockyard in 1705 before being appointed Master Shipwright at
Woolwich Dockyard in November 1705." From 1709 until 1715, Richard Stacey was Master Shipwright at
Portsmouth Dockyard and this is the only time Perry doesn't go with him. Then in 1715, Stacy was Appointed Master Shipwright at
Deptford Dockyard. Stacey, being around 15 years older than Perry could have been his master (with whom Perry served his apprenticeship), or Perry was a highly trusted employee, but they must have known each other and Perry generally went where Stacey went.
In the parish registers of
St Dunstan's, Stepney is the record of the burial of Elizabeth Perry on 21 Apr 1734. I'm certain this is Mrs Philip Perry, because it says "
Elizabeth Perry of B'Wall to Poplar", indicating that she was buried at Poplar Chapel (
St Matthias Old Church) built by the
East India Company in 1654, where her husband, sons and grandson were also later buried.
In his Will, drafted on 20 Jun 1741, "Philip Perry the Elder of Blackwall in the Parish of Stepney in the County of Middlesex Shipwright" ... directed, "
My body I commit to this earth to be decently buried by walking burial in as frugal a manner as conveniently may be at the discretion and management of my sons Philip Perry and John Perry and my Son-in-Law John Brown (whom I herein make Executors ...)" A walking burial, I assume, is his coffin taken in procession on foot, without hiring expensive carriages. Philip left £120 to Abraham Cropp Esq., "
by borrowing securities to him for my late son Thomas Perry deceased". (Thus Thomas must have died before 1741, but I've not found when or where). He made bequests to his said son Philip Perry the Younger; his son John Perry; Son-in-Law John Brown; Captain Jonathan Collett;
Captain Richard Gosfreight (Collett and Gosfreight were the principal
ship's husbands for whom he'd built many ships); his sister Sarah Price, Widow; Philip Littlepage* (grandson of my said sister Sarah Price ten pounds to put him out apprentice); George Case the Clerk of Blackwall Yard; and his three daughters Elizabeth Brown, Susanna Perry & Sarah Perry. Philip Perry makes no mention of his wife in his Will, suggesting she pre-deceased him, adding circumstantial confirmation to the above. There are various stipulations as to how his estate should be divided among his children, depending upon what the total amounted to and it's obvious he was pretty well off.
*(Philip Littlepage bap. 3 Jul 1734, was the son of Sam Littlepage of Poplar, Gent, and Sarah Price, who married on 7 Feb 1728 at St John At Hackney, but I've been unable to find a marriage of a Sarah Perry to anyone named Price.)
The
Chronicles of the Blackwall Yard (PDF) claims that
John Perry and his brother,
Philip Perry, became Yard Managers at Blackwall when their father, "
Philip Perry, died on the 26 Sep 1732, at the age of sixty-one years, and was buried near the first Sir Henry Johnson, in the ground adjoining the East India Company's, or Poplar, Chapel, as it was now called. After his death the business was carried on by his son, who, as we learn from local records, had become by this time a person of considerable influence in the neighbourhood." Philip Perry died in 1742, not 1732 (although I suspect he retired in 1732, as
John Perry was managing the yard from then), and this is probably just a 'typo', but it's also not the first time details in Wigram & Green's account just don't add up and, at best, have probably been wrongly remembered.
