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St Mary, Church Road, Little Ilford - Chancel Photo available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence. |
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, bap. 27 Mar 1714/15
- Susanna Perry b. 1 Mar, 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 - well, I hope it wasn't twins born 5 days apart - but the record doesn't say which years. 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 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.
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| A view of the Thames and Woolwich Dockyard in 1698, prepared for King William III. The church of St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich is on the mound to the left. |
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.
"During the 1720s he [Perry] worked as manager for John Kirby and was later employed in a similar capacity by Collett and Boulton." (As an aside, but nevertheless important to note, Philip Perry's granddaughter, Elizabeth Perry and her husband (my cousin) Elnathan Ayres, gave the middle name Boulton to two of their children.) The baptisms in Woolwich suggest the Perrys were still there until around 1720/1, which confirms the statement, "there is no evidence of his being at Blackwall before 1722". By 1722 Perry was living in Blackwall Yard, where he occupied the mansion house 'and garden adjacent with the garden and terrace walk on the east side of the same'.
In the parish registers of St Dunstan's, Stepney is the record of the burial of Elizabeth Perry on 23 Dec 1735. I'm certain this is Mrs Philip Perry, because it says "Elizabeth Perry of Pop[lar] 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.
Philip Perry died on 26 Sep 1742 and was buried on 2 Oct 1742. The parish records of St Dunstans, Stepney lists, "Philip Perry of Blackwall at Poplar", indicating he too was buried at Poplar Chapel (St Matthias Old Church).