Elnathan Ayres and Elizabeth Perry

St Mary Matfelon's footprint, Whitechapel
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Natasha Ceridwen de Chroustchoff - geograph.org.uk/p/1278357

Elnathan Ayres (b. 17 Jul 1752), Bachelor, son of Elnathan Ayres and Martha Travally, married Elizabeth Perry (b. ~1754), Spinster, at St Mary's, Whitechapel (St Mary Matfelon), Whitechapel High Street, both of that parish, on 3 Oct 1771. Witnesses were William Dalton and Sarah Dalton; Esther Travally (either Elnathan's aunt or his cousin) and an Ann Perry. Sarah Dalton (née Travally) was Elnathan Ayres' first cousin, daughter of Winnall Travally and Elizabeth Benbow. As both Elnathan and his father were shipwrights and since the Daltons later lived in a house built by John Perry (shipbuilder), the founder of the Blackwall Yard, which built ships largely for the East India Company, I'm certain Elizabeth Perry was related - she was around 11 years younger than John Perry, so could even have been his sister - just haven't [yet] found proof. And John Perry's mother was an Ann.

Elnathan Ayres had at least seven children with Elizabeth Perry:

1. Elnathan Boulton Ayres b. Saturday, 5 Dec 1772, son of Elnathan, Shipwright of Queen Street and Elizabeth, bap. 30 Dec 1772 at St Anne, Limehouse (at 25 days old). Elnathan Ayres of Queen St, aged 2 years, 6 months, was buried at St Anne, Limehouse on 4 Jun 1775.
2. Elizabeth Ayres (dates unknown, mentioned in will as eldest daughter)
3. Martha Travally Ayres bap. 8 Oct 1780 at St Mary, Redcliffe, Bristol
4. George Ayres (dates unknown, mentioned only in will)
5. Charlotte Ayres bap. 9 Jun 1784 at St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe
6. Sage Boulton Ayres bap. 2 Jun 1786 at St Mary's, Rotherhithe
7. Martha Ayres b. 1796 (Possible baptism at St Dunstan)

The last child born in 1796 suggests that Martha Travally Ayres born in 1780 had died and makes sense of the order in which the children are listed on Elnathan Ayres' will (see below), but this requires further investigation.

Eldest son and daughter Sage, were given the middle name Boulton, which has to be significant. Richard Boulton was one of four partners - all retired sea captains who had worked for the East India Company and were members of London's shipping community - who owned the Blackwall Yard (The Ownership of Blackwall Yard, 1724–79). Boulton, was a London merchant and an important figure in the East India Company, of which he was a director from 1718 to 1736 and on the Committee for Shipping from 1723 until 1726. He was also a member of the Honourable Company of Shipwrights.

Elnathan Ayres was listed among European inhabitants in Bengal, excluding those in the service of the East India Company or the Crown 1805.

The will of Elnathan Ayres is an eyebrow-raiser and probably creates more mysteries than questions it answers, but its highlights include:

In the Name of God: Amen: I Elnathan Ayres, Ship Wright of the Town of Calcutta Bengal being in bodily Health, and of sound and disposing memory; and considering the Evil, Dangers and other Uncertainties of this transitory life, do (for avoiding Controversies after my Decease) make, publish and declare this My last Will and Testament, in manner following:- that is to say, first I recommend my Soul to God, who gave it; and my body I commit to the Earth, or Sea, as it shall please God to order; and for and concerning all my Worldly Estate, I give bequeath and dispose thereof as followeth; that is to say; First I Will, that all my just Debts and funeral Charges be paid and discharged by my Executors hereinafter named and Secondly that my House and all my Effects be turned into ready money as soon as conveniently may be and Disposed in the manner following, Viz, I leave and bequeath to my son James Ayres, born in Calcutta the Sum of Sicca Rupees [1] three thousand five hundred to be laid out by my Executors, at Interest on good Security, for his Education (which is not to be under the charge of his mother), the principal not to be given to him untill (sic) he becomes of Age the remainder of my property I leave to my Wife Elizabeth Ayres of the parish of St Mary's Rotherhiethe (sic) London and in case of her Death to be equally Divided between my four children in England, Viz: George Ayres, Charlotte Ayres, Sage Ayres and Martha Ayres, of the parish Aforesaid and to my Oldest Daughter Elizabeth Ayres, I only leave one Rupee and in case of the Death of my son James born in this country before he becomes of age, then the property left him to go to my Children in England, to be equally Divided as above, and I do hereby nominate and appoint James Horsburgh and George Watson of the Town of Calcutta to be Guardians of my Son James and Executors of this my last Will and Testament ... dated 7 Jul 1808.

[1] Sicca Rupee - a rupee issued in Bengal before 1836 weighing more than the rupee of the British East India Company.

Elnathan Ayres died, on 9 May 1812, in Calcutta. The Executors produced an immensely detailed inventory of his possessions, right down to teaspoons and six pairs of cotton stockings and even 'a bag with salt'. It also showed that Elnathan Ayres' estate totalled £8282 3s 6d (well over a million pounds now), of which almost £5,000 was to be paid to the Ayres Family in England. Clearly he was no ordinary shipwright. Probate was granted on 2 Apr 1816.

From that Will, I'm reading Elnathan Ayres was acknowledging a, presumably illegitimate, child he fathered in Calcutta with someone other than his wife. Even without the details of his estate, we had to know he was wealthy enough to do so. We may never know who the mother was. Alas, I don't know what happened to young James either. One also wonders what eldest daughter Elizabeth had done to deserve the indignity of being left only 1 Rupee!

It appears that Elizabeth Ayres had died, aged 61, and had been buried on 6 Feb 1815 at St Anne, Limehouse, so probate had followed her death.

Even with this detail, I'm sure there's a much bigger story yet to uncover.

Elnathan Ayres and Martha Travally

The east end of St. Katharine's Church, the chapel of the hospice founded by Queen Matilda.

Elnathan Ayres (b. 1724), bachelor, married Martha Travally (b. 29 Jan 1716), spinster, daughter of Thomas Travally and Rachel Winnall at the Collegiate Church of St Katherine By the Tower, on 25 Sep 1748. (St Katharine by the Tower on map c. 1720. The church was destroyed in 1825 to make way for the new St Katharine Docks.) The licence says that Elnathan was 24 years old, and a Shipwright from the parish of St Anne's Limehouse. He paid a bond of £200, a huge sum at that time. Martha's age was listed as twenty-five. 

The only record of a child of this couple was their son:

1. Elnathan Ayres b. 17 Jul 1752, bap. 19 Jul 1752 son of Elnathan Ayres, Shipwright of Pump Yard (Pump Yard, Ratcliffe cross, was parallel to Narrow Street, as shown on the map here at In Search of Old Ratcliffe) and Martha, at St Anne, Limehouse (2 days old)

The burial of Martha Ayres at St James, Piccadilly on 6 Mar 1755 appears to relate. Not [yet] found any further records for Elnathan Ayres Snr.

(Elnathan Ayres b. 1724 would fit very neatly into this family - and I've seen suggestion that Martha's husband was born in America. It's such a distinctive name that it's hard to imagine he WASN'T connected, but we cannot assume and if he did, you'd think someone would have already found a record.)

Francis Robert Blazey and Maria Emily Andrews

Church of St Thomas The Martyr, Oxford
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Dixon - geograph.org.uk/p/2030942

Francis Robert Blazey (b. 1 Aug 1833), son of Francis Stephen Blazey and Hannah Minns, first married Maria Emily Andrews (bap. 22 Mar 1840 at St Thomas the Martyr, Oxford), daughter of Charles Andrews and Eliza Sparks, at St Thomas the Martyr's Church, Oxford, on 22 Aug 1859. Witnesses to their marriage were William Griffin and Mary Ann Griffin.

Francis Robert Blazey had five children with his three wives: 

1. Francis Charles Blazey b. 1860 J Quarter in OXFORD Volume 03A Page 543, died aged 4 in 1864 S Quarter in WITNEY Volume 03A Page 418, buried 1 Aug 1864 at St Mary, Witney (with Maria Andrews)
2. William James Blazey b. 1863 S Quarter in WITNEY Volume 03A Page 589. No further records found. Died an infant? (with Maria Andrews)
3. Alice Maud Stanley Blazey b. 21 Dec 1875, bap. 31 Jan 1876, in Dinapore, India. (with Louisa Susan Stanley)
4. Constance Ellen Blazey b. 1890 J Quarter in ISLINGTON Volume 01B Page 224, bap. 1 Jun 1890 in Holloway, Islington, with parents listed as Francis Robert Blazey, Licenced Victualler, and Margaret Matilda Eleanor Blazey, of 54 Hampden Road, Islington - formerly the address of the now demolished Royal Oak Tavern (with Elenora Audric)
5. Harry Robert Blazey b. 5 Apr 1899 J Qtr in KENSINGTON Vol 01A Page 103, bap. 6 May 1899, son of Francis Robert, Retired Engineer, and Ellen Nora Blazey of 155 Holland Road (with Elenora Audric)

In 1861, Francis Robert Blazey (27) Fireman, wife Maria (20) Dressmaker and their son, Francis Charles (1) and Samuel Blazey (19), Francis' younger brother, were living at 2, St Pauls Street, Blockhouse, Worcester.

Son, Francis Charles Blazey, died in Witney, Oxfordshire, in 1864, aged 4.

The next record tells us Maria Andrews Blazey, wife of F. R. Blazey, Driver E.I.R. (East Indian Railway Company), died from Cancer on 4 Sep 1873, aged 32y 7m, and was buried on 5 Sep 1873 at Dinapore, Bengal, India. (Dinapore was a British garrison town in the 19th century, now called Danapur, it's about 10km NW of Patna, and 500km NW of Calcutta, now Kolkata.)

On 9 Apr 1874, in Dinapore, India, Francis Robert Blazey, 41, married Louisa Susan Stanley, who was 16 (b. 21 May 1857 and bap. 25 Jun 1857, at Poona (now Pune), India), daughter of Augustus George and Eliza Jemima Stanley. 

Louisa's siblings: Morgan Stanley and Rosina Gelstow Stanley were born in Allahabad in 1859 and 1860, respectively, and Mary Augusta Stanley was born in Mirzapur in 1863. Brother, Augustus George Stanley, born 1862, died aged 3, from "Convulsions" on 6 Jun was buried on 7 Jun 1865, in Cawnpore (now Kanpur, famous for the 1857 Siege of Cawnpore). On the burial record, Augustus George Stanley's occupation is given as Tehsildar (A tehsildar is a tax officer accompanied by revenue inspectors, though I shall forever equate him to Joseph Sedley, the collector of Boggley Wollah in Vanity Fair.) Eliza Jemima Stanley, had died on 3 Sep 1867, aged 29, and was buried the next day, in Cawnpore. Under cause of death: "Uncontrollable vomiting from Hepatic congestion brought on by hard drinking." The death of an Augustus George Stanley in Bombay, India on 28 Apr 1878, may relate.

Alice Maud Stanley Blazey, daughter of Francis Robert Blazey and Louisa Susan Stanley, b. 21 Dec 1875 and bap. 31 Jan 1876, in Dinapore. Both the marriage record for Francis and Louisa and the baptism record for Alice Maud Stanley Blazey give their residence as Khagoul (now Khagaul). 

Louisa Susan Blazey died, aged 27, on 2 Mar 1884, at sea, from Softening of the Brain (Cerebral softening, also known as encephalomalacia).

Francis Robert Blazey (51), Widower, Gentleman, of 9 Union Terrace, then married Elenora Matilda Audric (24) at St James' Church, Norlands on 23 Apr 1885. The bride, of 161 Holland Road [Islington], listed as a Spinster, named her father as John [Jean] Baptiste François Audric, Cabinet Maker. 

In 1891, at The Swan Inn, The Common, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire were Francis R Blazey (57) Publican; Margaret M Blazey (30) from Whitehaven, Cumberland; Alice Maud Blazey (15), Constance Blazey (0), Elizabeth Stiles (28) and Elenor E Stiles (1) Visitors and Maud Millers (9) Stepdaughter. 

The Eastern Post of 3 Nov 1894 under Transfer of Licences in Tower Hamlets, "in the Parish of St Mary, Stratford, Bow: Milford Castle, Cadogan Terrace, Baptiste de Bolla to Francis Robert Blazey." This was a typo as it was the Mitford Castle, 129 Cadogan Terrace, Bow E9, a pub that, now gone, was already infamous then as the public house to which the victim, Thomas Briggs, was brought when his body was found on the tracks behind the pub on July 9 1864. He would later die and become the first ever murder victim on a British train. (An oddly ironic, if darkly appropriate, pub for an ex-train driver!)

In 1901, at 31, Sinclair Gardens, Hammersmith, were Francis R Blazey (68) Retired Engineer, Norah Blazey (39), Constance E Blazey (10), Harry R Blazey (2), daughter Alice Maud Trevail (25) - Alice married Herbert Fleming Trevail - Winifred S Trevail (0) Granddaughter, Katherine Pye (56) Boarder, Thomas R Cox (24) Boarder, Nellie Kent (19) General Domestic Servant, Margaret Bennet (56) Visitor and Kate Eames (47) Visitor - Sick nurse.

Francis Robert Blazey is said to have died around 1905. Although I can find no record to confirm this, he doesn't appear to be on the 1911 Census.

Norah Blazey died in 1909 M Quarter in ST MARYLEBONE Volume 01A Page 442, with her age then estimated as 45.