Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label Benbow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benbow. Show all posts

Monday 18 September 2023

Richard Benbow and Elizabeth Cowtley

St Dunstan & All Saints, Stepney
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/3477077
This beautiful church is often spoken of as the Mother Church of the East End. It is, of course, one of the 'Oranges and Lemons' churches, ("When will that be/ Said the bells of Stepney").

Richard Benbow of Ratt. (Ratcliff), Bricklayer, and Elizabeth Cowtley, a pair of my 7th Great-Grandparents, married on 18 Sep 1714 at the parish church of St Dunstan's, Stepney. Elizabeth Cowtley, daughter of John Cowtley and Mary Pateman, was said to be 21, but her baptism in 1696, would suggest that she was a minor, only around 18, at the time of her marriage.

Less than six months later, on 4 Mar 1715, under Burials in the Parish of Stepney, we find listed the burial of Richard Benbow, Ratt, Bricklayer.

Their only child Elizabeth Benbow, was born in 1715 - one imagines posthumously - and baptised on 5 Aug 1716 at St Dunstan's, Stepney, listed as Elizabeth [daughter] of Richard and Elizabeth Benbow, Ratt, Bricklayer.

I've found no further records for Elizabeth Benbow (née Cowtley), so I cannot [yet] say what happened to her or whether perhaps she remarried.

Richard Benbow's age was listed as 24 at the time of his marriage in 1714, which would take his birth to 1690 and that could be an approximation. It is reputed that his father was John Benbow and suggested that his baptism was that on 7 Nov 1693, at St Paul's, Deptford, which thus makes him the son of then Captain John Benbow. If true, it would make the infamous Admiral my 8x Great-Grandfather.

Friday 28 April 2023

John Benbow Gabbedy and Isabella Cleghorn

St Bride, Fleet Street, London EC4 - East end
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/1213706

John Benbow Gabbedy (b. 1771) son of John Gabbdey and Elizabeth Travally, married Isabella Cleghorn, daughter of Anthony Cleghorn and Margaret Jane Murray on 28 Apr 1795 at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street - the church with the famous "wedding cake" spire, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Quite what any of my Eastenders were doing "up west", I've no idea.

John and Isabella had at least six children:
  1. William Anthony Gabbedey bap. 8 May 1796 at St Dunstan's, Stepney. There is a note on the baptism record which says that the child was 93 days old, which suggests he was born on 5 Feb 1796.
  2. John Cleghorn Gabbedey b. 25 Feb 1798, bap. 8 Apr 1798 at St Mary Magdalene Woolwich
  3. Margaret Elizabeth Gabbedey b. 1800, bap. at St Mary Magdalene
  4. Charles Gabbedey b. 23 Dec 1803, bap. 5 Apr 1812 at St Dunstan's
  5. Henry Ralph Gabady (sic) b. 18 Dec 1807, bap. 17 Jan 1808 at St Dunstan's, Stepney
  6. Anne Elizabeth Gabbaday, b. 23 Feb 1811, bap. at St Anne's Limehouse on 14 Apr 1811
On William Anthony's baptism, the family's address was given as 'Rat' (Ratcliff, between Limehouse and Shadwell), son of John, a Shipwright and Isabella. In 1808, John Benbow Gabbedy's occupation was again listed as Shipwright and on Henry Ralph's baptism, their address was Poplar. In 1811, John's occupation was listed as a Mariner, living in Gill Street, Limehouse. At the time of Charles' baptism in 1812, their address was listed as M.E.O.T. (Mile End Old Town) and John was again described as a Shipwright.

It seemed a strange career change for John to suddenly be a Mariner, when he already had a skill as a Shipwright, and the more so as he'll have already been 40. There's a record in British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations in around 1810, where he's listed as John Gabidy (sic), with rank Co Mate, allotting part of his pay to his wife, Isabella. This records shows that he was with HMS Tortoise, an ex-East IndiamanSir Edward Hughes (1784 EIC ship). "Between March and July 1808 Tortoise was at Woolwich being fitted as a storeship for the Royal Navy." It would then make total sense if he was involved in that conversion. The record suggests John was Invalided on 27 Sep 1811.

John Benbow Gabbedy seemingly died in 1841 and Isabella on 20 Feb 1852.

St Anne, Limehouse - Interior
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/4559597

Monday 9 November 2020

Winnall Travally and Elizabeth Benbow

St Dunstan's Church, Stepney
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Marathon - geograph.org.uk/p/6294631

Winnall Travally (1715–1783), son of Thomas Travally and Rachel Winnall, married Elizabeth Benbow (1715–1779), daughter of Richard Benbow and Elizabeth Cowtley, (although I've not [yet] found a record of the marriage).

Winnall Travally and Elizabeth Benbow, it appears, had four children; 
  1. Sarah Travaly (1739-1792)
  2. Winnall Travally (1741-1741)
  3. Elizabeth Travally b. 3 Sep 1742 in White Horse Street, Limehouse 
  4. Esther Travally (1744-1821) 
Winnall Travally, was a Waterman on the Thames, as was his father, Thomas Travally. With their only son not surviving infancy, sadly, that looks like the end of the line for the Travally's association with the river.

Elizabeth Travaly died, aged 63, and was buried on 24 Jun 1779, in Stepney.

Winnall Travally reportedly died of Consumption (Tuberculosis). He was buried, on 18 Jul 1783, at St Dunstan's, Stepney.