Richard Wilton and Mary Robinson

St Mary, Sawston - East end
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/4970953

Richard Wilton (b. 1737), son of Henry Wilton and Martha Douse, married Mary Robinson on 30 Mar 1762 in Sawston, Cambridgeshire. Only two miles from Great Shelford and Stapleford, is Sawston, where there were many Wiltons, going back to the early 1600s - just haven't tied them all together. 

They had at least four children, all baptised at St Mary's Church, Sawston.

1. Elizabeth Wilton bap. 4 Jul 1762
2. Henry Wilton bap. 30 Oct 1768
3. Stephen Wilton bap. 25 Dec 1777
4. Hannah Wilton bap. 7 Jun 1779 (buried 17 Aug 1779)

Mary Wilton, wife of Richard, died and was buried on 10 Apr 1780.

Richard Wilton, Widower, was buried in Sawston, Cambridgeshire, in 1797.

Sawston, Cambridgeshire is notable as one of the very few industrial villages in the county that take advantage of the clean water supply, one of the principle industries being leather. There are two sites in Sawston which support or have formerly supported Tanning facilities and there may have been leather-workers in the parish in the Middle Ages. This very likely explains why Henry Wilton (1768) and his nephew, Henry Wilton (1809) became saddlers and my 3rd great-grandfather, Richard Wilton, a harness maker.

The River Cam (or Granta) near Sawston
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Sutton - geograph.org.uk/p/2860358

George Wilton and Susan Robinson

The 'Blind Beggar', Whitechapel Road
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Dr Neil Clifton - geograph.org.uk/p/594557
If one must have a stereotypical image from Bethnal Green.

George Wilton (b. 3 Feb 1860) illegitimate son of Catherine Wilton (who 'invented' a father, George Wilton, Carman, for the certificate), married Susan Robinson (b. 1860), who listed her father as William Robinson, Carpenter, at St Thomas, Bethnal Green, on 21 Dec 1884. (Undoubtedly, she'll have been the same Susan Robinson, Match Maker, born in Bromley, Middlesex, who had been a boarder in George's mother's household in Poplar, in 1881.) Witnesses were William Campling and Maria Campling, George's step-sister. 

George and Susan Wilton had three daughters:

1. Catherine Wilton b. 10 Dec 1886 (1887 M Qtr in POPLAR Vol 01C Page 632), bap. 20 Jan 1887 at St Mary's Church, Bromley St Leonard's
2. Elizabeth Wilton b. 1888 S Quarter in POPLAR Volume 01C Page 600
3. Margaret Wilton b. 21 Jul 1891 (1891 D Quarter in POPLAR Volume 01C Page 588), bap. 5 Dec 1909, at 18, at St Mark's, Battersea Rise

The birth registrations all have the mother's maiden name ROBINSON and both of the baptisms found list their parents as George and Susan Wilton.

In 1891, living at 6, Tibbatts Road, Bromley-by-Bow (Poplar) were George Wilton (29) Carman (as had been his mother's brother, his Uncle John Byatt), with his wife (wrongly) listed as Catherine Wilton (30) from Essex, with Elizabeth Wilton (4) and Catherine Wilton (2), whose ages have been transposed. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that this is the correct family, but with that many mistakes, I'm wondering if they'd been on the sauce.

George Wilton died at 30, in 1892 S Qtr in POPLAR Vol 01C Page 356. 

In 1901, all three girls, Catherine (14), Elizabeth (12) and Margaret (9), were listed as Inmates of Forest Gate District School, which functioned as an industrial school, orphanage or workhouse for children, in West Ham. 

There's a record of a Susan Wilton, birth year listed as 1865, from the parish of Bromley-By-Bow, being discharged from Poplar Workhouse at her own request on 24 Aug 1901. There is then an entry on the Register of Deaths in Poplar Workhouse of a Susan Wilton (37), again from Bromley, who died there on 15 Jul 1902 and was buried in the East London Cemetery. There's no corresponding civil record of the death at the GRO. Susan Wilton is not a common name at the time, so, sadly, I believe these relate.

In 1911, Caroline Kathleen Wilton (24) from Bromley-by-Bow was a General Domestic Servant in Tooting Bec Gardens, Streatham. (Margaret Wilton married in Streatham, in 1919, which places the girls in that area and there are several instances, in various different parts of the tree, where Catherine and Caroline are used interchangeably, including that the girls' grandmother was listed as Caroline on their father's birth certificate); In 1921, again as Caroline Wilton (34) was a Domestic Servant at 68, Herne Hill, Lambeth; In 1939, Caroline Wilton, who gave her date of birth as 10 Dec 1887 - one year out - was a Housemaid at 75 Ashburnham Road, Southend-On-Sea. Catherine Wilton died, at 85, in Southend-on-Sea in 1971.

[So far] I've been unable to isolate further records for Elizabeth Wilton.

Henry Wilton and Mary Barton

The King's Head (closed), Great Dunmow. Photo © Robin Webster (cc-by-sa/2.0)

This pub and hotel on North Street has been closed and boarded up for some years, with signs of abandoned or postponed building work. It is grade II listed, the oldest parts from the 15th century. Conflicting reports suggest it has since been demolished or converted into flats.

Back on the family pub crawl ... Two things listed in Pigot's Directory of Essex 1823 relate to another Henry Wilton. One is a listing as a saddler, the other, under Taverns and Public Houses, is for 'Henry Wilton, King's Head'[1]. This Henry Wilton is clearly not Henry Wilton (1809-1890), saddler, the elder brother of my 3x great-grandfather, Richard Wilton, because that Henry Wilton would have been merely 14 years old in 1823. We have to go back another generation: this is their uncle Henry, brother of Stephen Wilton. 

Henry Wilton, son of Richard Wilton and Mary Robinson, was baptised St Mary's Church, Sawston, Cambridgeshire on 30 Oct 1768. In 1783 he was apprenticed to Matthew Norris in Shelford, as a Collarmaker. Then on 20 Sep 1810, he married Mary Barton in Great Dunmow. Both were described as being "Of This Parish", so had been in the town since at least then. 

In 1841, Henry Wilton (73) Ind (Independant means?) and his wife Mary (61) were living alongside his nephew, Henry Wilton, saddler in the High Street, Great Dunmow. They were one side - of Geo. Saich, ostler (the census records don't provide any clues as to which hostelry), and his wife Charlotte (née Thorogood) - on the other was Robert Hockley, tailor and draper.

"Uncle" Henry Wilton died in 1846 J Quarter in DUNMOW UNION Volume 12 Page 49. He will have been 78.

In 1861, Mary Wilton (80) with birthplace given as Ruislip, Middlesex, was a Lodger in the High Street, Great Dunmow.

Mary Wilton died, at 81, on 8 Nov 1861 (1861 D Quarter in DUNMOW UNION Volume 04A Page 214). Probate was granted to John Barnard Grocer and Sole Executor. John Barnard (1799-1872), was a grocer (later also wine & spirit merchant) in the High Street, Great Dunmow. It's not known if there was any familial link or what the reason was for appointing him.

[1] Also listed in Pigot's Directory of Essex 1823 at the King's Head is William Cock, who was listed as the Licensee or Tavernkeeper from 1815 until at least 1829. It isn't clear what role Henry Wilton played in this business. 

Jane Rundle Trevail and James Robinson

Eastern Monarch (ship, 1874)

Jane Rundle Trevail, youngest daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, aged 14, embarked on the Eastern Monarch, one of seventy-four single women, mostly domestics, all as Assisted Immigrants to Canterbury, New Zealand. In Jane's case, it would appear that the New Zealand Government bore the whole of the cost of her passage. The ship sailed from Plymouth on 7 May 1874 and arrived in Lyttelton, New Zealand on 22 Jul 1874. (Jane's two eldest sisters, Ellen Higgs and Mary Ann Bawden and their husbands, had emigrated together, to Lyttelton, New Zealand, at the end of 1862.)

The initial report, on 23 Jul 1874, on the ship's arrival, said that "During the voyage (73 days) fifteen deaths, principally infants, occurred." A subsequent report, on 24 Jul 1874, called it a floating village with talk of entertainments. It also remarked, "The Eastern Monarch brings 552 souls, representing 473 statute adults. They appear to be a well selected and healthy-looking lot of immigrants ..." which makes them sound like little more than slaves!

In 1875, when Jane must have been no more than 15, she married James Robinson, in New Zealand. Later records suggest that he was born in 1854, so will have been 21. Unfortunately, there are far too many people called James Robinson and no other clues, to be able to trace his origins.

The records I could find point to James and Jane having five children:

1. James Robinson b. 1876
2. Elizabeth Jane Robinson b. 1878
3. Alfred Trevail Robinson b. 1888
4. Mabel Eveline Robinson b. 1890
5. Eva Mary Robinson b. 1891 (appears to have died 1891 or 1892)

James Robinson died on 16 Jul 1945, aged 91. He is buried at Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch City. Jane Rundle Robinson died on 9 Jul 1947, at 87. She also, is buried at Linwood Cemetery, alongside her husband. 

Jane's will appoints daughters, Mabel Evelyn Price and Elizabeth Estall as the Executrices and Trustees of the Will. To Mabel she left properties at 241 Hereford Street and at 244 Hereford Street, Christchurch and to Elizabeth Estall her property at 242 Hereford Street. Jane also left a property at 49 Keppel Street, New Brighton, to her son Alfred Trevail Robinson. Son James isn't mentioned, so may also have predeceased her. Again, as there are too many people called James Robinson, it's not possible to identify the relevant record to confirm. There are no records to suggest what James or Jane did for a living, but to have property they seem to have done pretty well on it.