Foster

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N22. MARY SPENCE born FOSTER

Mary Foster was born on the 2^nd May 1790, at Hebblethwaite Hall, Sedbergh, Yorkshire. Still normally resident at Hebblethwaite, in 1802 she began school at Trinity Lane Friends’ School, York.¹

In 1808, with her sister Elizabeth, she went on a visit to Newcastle, Shields and Sunderland, when friendships were formed which led eventually to the marriage of Elizabeth to Anthony Clapham of Newcastle (1809), and of Mary to [N2] Robert Spence. Two days before Elizabeth’s wedding, with others, Mary gathered two clothes baskets full of nuts, for her wedding dinner; she was a bridesmaid at the wedding. Mary’s own wedding took place on the 29^th August 1810, at Brigflats meeting house.²

The couple had 18 children, though not all survived: Mary (1811), Mary (1813), [N1] Sarah (1814), Elizabeth Foster (1815), Rachel (1816), Robert (1817), John Foster (1818), Joseph (1819), Thomas (1821), Jane (1822), Ann (1824), Margaret (1824), Ann (1825), Margaret (1825), Hannah Maria (1827), Frances (1829), Emma (1830), and Lucy Fisher (1832); all were born at Howard Street, North Shields. Before the birth of Lucy Fisher Mary was in very delicate health for 8 or 10 weeks, arising from a severe cold taken whilst paying a visit at Tynemouth, and "a very troublesome cough had harrassed her exceedingly" until about eight days before the birth; she had convalesced at Benwell.³

In 1827 she inherited Robert Foster’s dwelling house in Northumberland Street, Newcastle, under his will. In 1841, living in North Shields, Northumberland, she was named as co-executor in the will of her husband Robert Spence.⁴

From 14 to 23 August 1834, with her father and two of her sisters, she toured Scotland, taking in a visit to General Meeting for Scotland.^4A

By the beginning of August 1838 she had subscribed 10s. to the Royal Victoria Asylum for the Blind.^4B

She was an overseer in Shields meeting from 1821, and an elder by 1837. She attended Newcastle Monthly Meeting in February 1835, and, with Robert, regularly attended the Monthly Meeting of Ministers and Elders—in June, September and December 1837, then every quarter until June 1846, only missing March 1842, June 1843, June and December 1844, and March 1845. In December 1840 she signed the Monthly Meeting testimony to Margaret Bragg.⁵

In October 1845 she was co-executor of her husband’s will, proved at Durham. As beneficiary, she was left furniture and personal effects of her choice to the value of £1000, plus £800 p.a. for life, payable twice yearly in two equal instalments. She died on the 6^th October 1846, after eight days of continued fever, at Howard Street, Tynemouth.⁶

Mary Foster was the sixth child and second daughter of [N23] Robert and [N139] Mary Foster.⁷

1 PRO RG 6/1073, /1074; Dictionary of Quaker Biography (Friends' House Library, typescript); The Mount School, York. List of Teachers and Scholars 1784-1816, 1831-1906 (1906) York: Sessions;  RG 6/1073, /1074

2 Philip Spence (1939) Robert and Mary Spence; Robert Spence Watson in John William Steel (1899) A Historical Sketch of the Society of Friends 'in Scorn called Quakers' in Newcastle & Gateshead 1653-1898. London & Newcastle, Headley Bros. : 116-7; RG 6/710, RG 6/1562; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster; minutes of Newcastle Monthly Meeting, TWAS MF 168

3 Dictionary of Quaker Biography; Robert Spence letters in possession of Peter Robson; RG 6/628, /775, /1149

4 Durham Probate Records (Robert Foster 1827), Death Duty Registers, PRO (IR 26&27)/1722

4A Philip Spence (1939)

4B The Newcastle Courant, 1838-08-03, issue 8542

5 The British Friend; minutes of Newcastle Monthly Meeting, TWAS MF 169; minutes of Newcastle Monthly Meeting of Ministers & Elders, TWAS MF 180; Robert Spence letters to Robert Foster, in my possession

6 husband’s will in TNA PRO PROB 11/2080; Spence, op. cit., death certificate, death/burial digest, The British Friend

7 DQB (Friends' House Library, typescript)

N23. ROBERT FOSTER

Robert Foster was born in Lancaster on the 24^th April 1754, and was brought up in a Quaker household.¹

He spent seven or eight years at the school of John Jenkinson, of Yealand Conyers, where he acquired a good English education and the rudiments of Classical knowledge. He afterwards went to the Free School at Sedbergh, where he boarded with James and Mary Burton, at The Hill, whose daughter Mary he subsequently married.²

By 1771 he had been marked out for a career as a physician, but this was not to his liking.^2A

When he was about 18 years old he went to sea, and after making three voyages to the West Indies with Captain Roper, in the Marquis of Rockingham, he was apprenticed, at the beginning of 1772, as a storekeeper in St John's, Antigua by his grandfather and great-uncle, [N94] Myles and James Birket, who were then West India Merchants; this would have been seen as part of his own training as a young merchant. In Antigua (Lat 17^o 05, as he noted) he lived amongst slaves in the towns, and frequently went into the country to collect debts and visit slave managers. In 1774 after paying a short visit to Lancaster, he went again with Capt. Roper for the last time to Antigua, as supercargo. In March 1775 he was on the Dolphin, bound for Dominica.³

In late 1775 he surprised his family by writing home for a gun and bayonet. At this time he stayed in Antigua, against his masters’ wishes, and in breach of his apprenticeship. His actions were already sufficiently distressing to his family that his grandfather told James Birket that he thought it was a more severe stroke to him than when he lost his only son. About the end of May 1776, at the start of the American dispute, he made up his accounts, quitted his store, collected together a few sailors from the Lancaster ships, and entered on board the government brig Endeavour, Lieut. Francis Tinsley commander, carrying four guns, which was fitted out in Antigua to cruise against the American privateers; the brig saw several severe actions. His friends did not hear of his going on the Endeavour till the 9^th March 1777, when James Birket wrote as follows in his Diary:

There is an account in town from the West Indies that Robert Foster, my nephew, has entered on board a Man of War's Tender, as mate and midshipman, to the inexpressible grief and anxiety of his father, grandfather, relations and friends. Oh foolish boy! Farewell! every tender reflection and connection with his best friends.⁴

He had fallen so far in the family’s esteem that in August 1778 James Birket described his actions as being ‘for the sake of a little illgotten pelf’. Foster was clearly already expecting to inherit Hebblethwaite Hall, and was explicitly warned that he was putting his inheritance in jeopardy.^4A

Foster himself later testified that he had been a midshipman, second master and pilot of the Endeavour; while on the Endeavour, again, he used to spend a great deal of time among slaves, having been acquainted with them before. On the 20^th June, 1778, he left the Endeavour at Spithead, and went on board the Defiance (64 guns, Samuel Cranston Goodall, Esq., commander), laying in Portsmouth Harbour on the 21^st. On the 8^th July he entered as master's mate on board the Jupiter, 50 guns, Francis Reynolds commander. He was probably induced to make this change to the Jupiter from his father, grandfather, and great uncles being well known to Capt. Reynolds, they having been amongst his most influential supporters in several contested elections in which he stood along with Sir George Warren for the Borough of Lancaster. The Jupiter was a new ship, launched at Rotherhithe in 1778. On 8 July that year she was moored at Deptford Dockyard. The Lieutenant's logbook for that day only records "Received some men from the Rendezvous" - it is not clear whether this was an event or a ship, but certainly there is no mention of either Robert Foster or the Defiance. The ship lingered at Deptford till the 27^th July, before beginning her cruise, which took her to Finisterre in October, after a number of extended moorings at Long Reach, the Nore, Spithead, Bouly Bay, Jersey, Guernsey Roads and Plymouth Sound. On the 21^st October 1778 the 'Jupiter' had an engagement - described as 'warm' in the logbook - with the French ship Triton, 64 guns, at the very time she saw her consort going off. Six men were killed; Mr Roberts, the master, and eight men were wounded. Mr Roberts died the following day, and Captain Reynolds immediately sent for Foster from his quarters, and appointed him Master; he managed the ship for the remainder of the action.⁵

Between 1772 and 1778 Robert Foster visited Dominique, Grenada, and all the British islands of the West Indies except Jamaica.

On the 21^st April 1779, on the principle of rewarding merit, Reynolds, who had the command at Lisbon, appointed Robert Foster acting Lieutenant of the Pelican, 24 guns, Henry Lloyd commander, in the place of Mr Sumpter, deceased. He served in this capacity until the 31^st July. From his appointment until mid May the ship was moored in the River Tagus. She then went to sea, cruising off the Portuguese coast. Foster recorded in his logbook a number of incidents of giving chase, etc., and on the 7^th June guns were fired and a ship was boarded. Discipline aboard ship may have been a problem - Foster recorded a number of incidents of his giving a dozen lashes for offences including drunkenness and desertion. Towards the end of June the ship moored for a week off Alcantara, before a further three weeks' mooring in the River Tagus. On the 21^st July Foster noted laconically, "at 9 PM engaged a French ship of 40 Guns - ¾ past 10 left off with 5 Men Killed & 19 Men Wounded, [;] Reparing the Rigging - ". During the last week of July the Pelican was moored at Spithead.⁶

Foster had not sufficient service for the appointment as Lieutenant, and was disgusted when the Lords of the Admiralty would not confirm him in the position. By August 1779, though he had talked of returning home and taking up farming, was expected to go as 5^th Lieutenant aboard the Marlborough, sailing to join the grand fleet under Sir Charles Hardy.^6A He stayed behind at Portsmouth, however, probably having heard the news of the death that month of his only brother Myles, at Ulverston. His sister Elizabeth wrote to her brother, urging him to endeavour to obtain leave to visit his father. On the 5^th September, as her father and herself were on their way to meeting in Lancaster, they met him. They immediately turned back much affected, and his father retired to his room quite overcome. Robert took off his sword and tossed it under a book-case, where it remained during his stay. The following Sunday he went to meeting in the uniform of a lieutenant of a man of war, to the great surprise of Friends. He withstood all the remonstrances and solicitations to quit the service, and returned to Portsmouth the next day. It appears from his log-book that he went on board the Hornet sloop of war, 14 guns.⁷

The Hornet was moored in Portsmouth Harbour until the beginning of November. Foster remained in the navy for this period, after his visit to Lancaster. It appears that Admiral Sir Thomas Pye offered him a Lieutenant’s commission aboard the Ajax, 74 guns; but on the 3^rd November his uncle James Birket wrote in his diary, "Robert Foster came home this morning after a long fighting campaign in sundry Men of War. He quitted the fighting trade at his grandfather's request, and seems to be a very sensible youth." His friends, who had been greatly distressed by his desertion from those peaceable principles in which he had been carefully educated, no doubt laboured earnestly while he was with them to induce him to leave the service; and their labours, seconded by his own convictions, seem to have wrought a wonderful change in this young officer. He became a man of peace, and in after life avoided conversation about his naval career, and certainly never gloried in his former exploits. Robert Foster was never disowned for his violation of Friends' principles - in May 1781 he was visited by sundry Friends appointed by the Monthly Meeting, to whom his acknowledgments appear to have been satisfactory, as no further notice seems to have been taken of his case.⁸

Over January and February 1780 Foster spent seven weeks at Kendal, also visiting the Rawlinsons at Graithwaite and his cousin James Birket at Birket Houses, as well as skating on Lake Windermere. In April he went with his uncle to the Quarterly Meeting at Kendal. On the 24^th he set off on foot for Sedbergh, to see after some repairs of an old peathouse, and the gable end of the kitchen at Hebblethwaite. It is probably that he was most of his time at Sedbergh, as his uncle James Birket – who appears to have recorded in his diary most of his movements – does not mention him again till the 3^rd of October, when he recorded that Robert Foster and Mary Burton came there from Sedbergh, then set off again for Sedbergh by way of Milnthorpe on the 17^th.^8A

In August 1780 he was still hoping for a position as master of a merchant ship, but the opportunity never arose. Instead, his maternal grandfather wanting a manager for his estate near Sedbergh, in Yorkshire, which Foster afterwards inherited, he went to reside at Hebblethwaite Hall, and settled down as an agriculturist. His grandfather gave him the stock and let him have the farm of 331 acres rent free. No one could know much less about farming than he did, but he had the assistance of an excellent bailiff, John Cooper. He was industrious and worked hard. His style of living was much that of other north country farmers; masters and servants taking their meals at the same table in a room called 'the house,' a little superior to the kitchen, but with a stone floor and no carpet. ‘Rob^t Foster often had company, then the servants except perhaps his Housekeeper, took their meals in the Kitchen. he had also a small carpeted room call’d the parlour, but the “House” was always the dining room, and when he had visitors used to carpeted rooms, peices of Board cover’d with carpet were placed under the table for their Feet. He used to say “When we are at Rome, we must do as they do at Rome.”’ A black fleece and a white fleece from his own sheep, carded and spun by his housekeeper and woven in the neighbourhood formed the cloth (called self grey) for his working clothes. Amongst his various acquirements he had gained some knowledge of medicine and common law, - the first he made useful in prescribing for the poor and the second in drawing out Wills and settling the disputes of his neighbours. It was once said of him that "Where mystery was to be unravelled, confusion brought into order, or truth made conspicuous, he was capable above most men." He erected a mill on the estate, for the better employment of the poor; established a school for their education, and became a sort of father, physician, lawyer, and judge among his dependents and country neighbours.⁹

Robert Foster would seem to have filled quite a public position in the locality. He would seem to have received the money for taxes: land tax, window and constable taxes. He received a warrant for the Surveyor of the High roads; and he lets the repairing of conduits on the Turnpike to J. Blackburn for 42/–. When there is an exceptional fall of snow he raises the Hamlet to cut drifts. He goes to town for the auditing of the Parish accounts. He attended a vestry meeting for putting out parish apprentices. He signs a bond for the suppression of thieves; and gives 7/6 towards a charity for the relief of the poor. Busy as Robert Foster must have been as an agriculturist, he was assiduous in his attendance at every Meeting at Brigflats, the Monthly, the Quarterly, and the General, besides going to Meeting at many of the other towns; yet he found time for study and for reading: he was a member of the local Book Club.9A

Having while in the navy painfully felt the want of good water, he often regretted seeing so much running to waste. He was of a very kind and benevolent disposition, and thought of having painted on the door of his house:

To every housless child of want
	My door is open still
And though my portion be but scant
	I give it with good will.

– but his sister Elizabeth said she thought he had better not, as it might subject him at times to very undesirable company.

In March 1781 he was bitten by a suspected mad dog, taking medicine in case of infection, at the request of his uncle James Birket, though the skin had not been broken. In May 1782 he injured his thumb, and though he treated it with camomile and wormwood he eventually had to send for a doctor from Kendal, who laid open the ball of the thumb, with apparent success, and received a guinea for his service.^9B

At the beginning of September 1783 he attended the funeral of his grandmother Jane Birket. That year he succeeded to 'The Wood' estate, in Cartmel, by the will of his great uncle James Birket.¹⁰

On the 1^st March 1784 he married [N139] Mary Burton - who had been his housekeeper, and had nursed him in his illness in spring 1782 - at Brigflats, near Sedbergh, Yorks. Many of his relations thought that, situated as he then was, he had made a judicious choice. His old friend Prof. Adam Sedgwick was of opinion that Foster proved "that love is in conflict mightier than fire and sword, for he was smitten by one of the youthful Sisterhood as by a fire from a masked battery, and brought to the ground, never again to rise to his former strength."  Their children, all born at Hebblethwaite Hall, were: Myles Birket (1785), Dodshon (1786), James (1787), John (1788), Elizabeth (1788), [N22] Mary (1790), a stillborn child, Jane (1794), Isabel (1796), and Sarah (1797).¹¹At the end of the March 1784 he canvassed for Wilberforce, in the county election.^11A

In the Spring of 1785 Myles Birket died, leaving him both the Hebblethwaite Hall and Sarthwaite estates, as well as various houses & iron furnaces near Lancaster. After the land became his own, he let it, retaining in his own hands only sufficient for the keep of two cows and two horses, besides the woods and plantations in which he took great interest, planting thousands of trees, chiefly larch, with his own hands. It was a saying of his, that "a larch would buy a horse before an oak would buy a saddle." He cut down a great quantity of old trees (principally oaks), and what was left, after timbering a substantial farmhouse, barn, &c., that he was then building, he sold. John Hunter, a friend from Wensleydale, became his tenant, and removed with his wife and ten children to the new farm house at Hebblethwaite in the spring of 1788. There were some poor families in the neighbourhood of Hebblethwaite, living an idle life, the children uneducated and unemployed; with a view to raise their condition, he built a small mill for spinning coarse woollen yarn. This gave employment to some, and others at their own houses by knitting the yarn into large stockings (called “bump stockings”), such as were worn by men engaged in the Greenland Fishery; also into caps, gloves, mittens etc. Their children got some education, and in many respects their condition became much improved. When a stock of knitwear had accumulated Foster took a journey on horseback to Newcastle, for the purpose of disposing of them. His first call was on William Spencer, a slopseller on the Quayside, who, without giving him time to speak said "I cannot attend to you, I am engaged." Foster bid him "Farewell" and was leaving the shop, when he called him back and said "You are not like other travellers, I see you take an answer when it is given to you, what have you got?" On seeing the samples he asked the prices, and Foster told Spencer that it was his first journey on a business of which he was very ignorant, and which he had entered upon mainly for giving employment to some poor families. He then asked Spencer's opinion as to prices and he not only gave him an order, but mentioned some shops at Shields, where he might use his name as an introduction. He added “Now my good Sir, let me tell you, without you get somebody to join you, that understands the business better than you do, I fear you will be a loser by your actions.” Spencer continued to be his best customer. Foster proceeded on horseback to North Shields, where he arrived in drenching rain. In searching for an inn at the Wooden Bridge, he lost his way, and continued along the Low-street to the extreme end of the town. Seeing a bridge at a distance he urged his horse through a high tide to reach it and then found it to be the Low Lights Bridge, far beyond the point he aimed at. He asked a man if he knew any inn where he could put his horse and get something to eat. The man said he did not think there was one, but seeing that Foster was a Friend, said "There's Mr. Taylor, one of your sort of people who lives upon the bank, I daresay he will give you something to eat, and I think they have a stable." (Taylor, incidentally, was a friend of Captain Cook). Foster then did what was not known to have been done before - rode up to the Low Lights Stairs to Henry Taylor's back door, told him his adventures and said "being wet and hungry and almost at my wits end what to do, I was advised to come here, Wilt thou take pity on me?" Taylor said "Yes, but thou had better go into the kitchen and get thy clothes dried, and they will give thee something to eat." After a while Taylor looked in upon him and said he was going out to call on Bartlett Gurney, a friend from Norfolk then in town on a visit. Foster said "I know him." Taylor, looking at his rustic-clad visitor, rejoined "Why, does thou know Bartlett Gurney?" He said "Yes, and I should like to see him if thou has no objection to take me with thee." They then went together and Taylor was much surprised to see the cordial way in which Gurney received Robert Foster and introduced him to his relative John Walker, of Dockwray Square. Taylor finding his visitor of a different class to what from his dress he took him to be, invited him to stay all night promising not to put him into the kitchen again. Foster said, In the condition I was in, it was the best place. This singular introduction was the origin of an intimacy between them and their families which continued for many years.¹²

In 1787 he purchased the Dovecot Gill estate.¹³

Around 1790 George Birkbeck – later to be the pioneer of adult education – resided at Hebblethwaite Hall while at school in Sedbergh. In 1791, at the request of William Wilberforce, he gave evidence before a Select Committee of the House of Commons on the slave trade. Myles Foster recounts an incident from this visit:¹⁴

He was waiting in the Lobby of the House. several friends were there, but they took no notice of their rustic looking brother, untill they saw a very cordial meeting take place between him and Captⁿ Reynolds, who was in the uniform of a Post Captⁿ in the Navy. Who said to him,

		Why Foster, whatever are you now?
Foster. 	I’m living in the West riding of Yorkshire on an Estate my Grandfather left me, near Sedbergh
Reynolds.	Are you married?
Foster. 	Yes. And I have six children, and there’s another on the stocks. I lost one.
Reynolds.	Then I insist upon standing Godfather to your next child.
Foster. 	But I am a friend, and we don’t baptize our children.
Reynolds.	I know you don’t, but I had forgotten that. What are you doing here?
Foster. 	I came up to give evidence of what I saw of the slave trade, when I was in the West Indies.
Reynolds.	I am very glad I met with you. we have seen some service together. How are your frds at Lancaster.

When Captⁿ Reynolds left him, the friends flock’d round him, and he received so many invitations, that he said he need not have gone without dinner for a week. But he refused them all, and said, What makes you so very kind now? You saw me before and took no notice of me. Why do you do it now?

In 1793 he took his son Myles to John Hall’s school at Newton in Bolland. On the 30th December 1795 he witnessed the marriage of John Laycock and Ann Winn, at Brigflatts.^14A

In February 1796 he took into partnership Joseph Dover, who had been brought up in the woollen trade, and greatly extended his business, built another mill and manufactured several kinds of coarse woollen cloth: travelling into adjacent counties, particularly into Cumberland, to see his purchases of wool weighed and packed, and also to pay for it (it was Fosther who attended to the books), he formed wide acquaintances and made many friends. At this period Foster took great pleasure in his plantations, and in botany and teaching it to his children, often taking some of them with him in his country rambles for that purpose, in which he found some rare plants.¹⁵

In the spring of 1799 his wife, in returning with him on horseback from Kendal Quarterly Meeting, was exposed to wet, and took a severe cold which terminated in consumption. She died on the 9^th November 1799, aged 46. After this afflictive bereavement Robert's sister Elizabeth went to live with him. She was a very superior woman, and her society was a great advantage to his daughters and a comfort to himself. She continued to be a frequent visitor to Hebblethwaite Hall after Robert's second marriage, at Brigflats, on the 25^thFebruary 1802, with Margaret Burton, the widow of John Burton, brother of his first wife. This marriage produced no children.¹⁶

In 1802 he was described as a yeoman, of Hebblethwaite Hall, West Riding, Yorks. He continued an active, useful, and benevolent life at Hebblethwaite, in the enjoyment of domestic happiness and of social intercourse with the worthies around, who were attracted by his accomplished mind and genial disposition, to his retired but hospitable dwelling, till the autumn of 1812.¹⁷

William Wordsworth spent a week at Hebblethwaite in 1804 or 1805, having first met Robert Foster in 1804. Of the first meeting Dorothy wrote: "a very pleasant conversation we had - he is a very sensible and entertaining Man and seems to have an independent Manly Mind, intended for something better than bartering for wool. We were very much pleased with him." Wordsworth gave Foster a letter of introduction to Robert Southey, who wrote to Richard Duppa on the 23^rd March 1806:

Oh! Wordsworth sent me a man the other day, who was worth seeing; he looked like a first assassin in Macbeth as to his costume - but he was a rare man. He had been a lieutenant in the navy; was scholar enough to quote Virgil aptly; had turned quaker, or semi-quaker, and was now a dealer in wool somewhere about twenty miles off. He had seen much, and thought much; his head was well stored, and his heart in the right place.

It is five or six and twenty years since he was at Lisbon, and he gave me as vivid a description of the Belem Convent, as if the impression on his memory was not half a day old. Eldridge's acquaintance, Thomas Wilkinson, came with him. They had been visiting an old man of a hundred in the vale of Lorton, and it was a fine thing to hear this Robert Foster describe him.¹⁸

In 1808 Dorothy Wordsworth referred to him as "our good Friend". William Wordsworth later wrote, in a letter to Robert Spence in 1829, of "your excellent Father in Law - whom I was always so glad to see on his periodical visits to my neighbours. I have not forgotten my own visit to Hebblethwaite . . ." And in a later letter to Robert Foster's grandson Dodshon he wrote: "I can assure you I not unfrequently recall him to my mind and with much pleasure."¹⁹

Coleridge was also an acquaintance. Another of his intimate Cumberland friends was John Fletcher of Greysouthern; they corresponded in Latin. He used to read Greek with [O2] Edward Richardson.²⁰

Adam Sedgwick recalled:

. . . ‘sometimes when he drove over to visit the brotherhood in Kirthwaite, or at other times when, tempted by the bright weather, to make a short
cut over the hills on foot to the old  vicarage of Dent, he would halt a few hours in friendly intercourse with my father. I remember his presence
well, when I was but a little boy: his dark complexion which had been made darker by a tropical sun; his small and regular features; his dark and
bushy eyebrows; his earnest and grave look, which at first sight gave to me an impression of sternness. But all that feeling went off when he began
to speak; for his voice was pleasant, and his discourse at once earnest and genial. Even in my childhood I felt joy whenever he came to the vicarage;
and I used to creep behind his chair that I might hear him talk. He wore a broad-brimmed hat, and a grave outer garb of a quaker cut; but I never
thought that he looked quite like a quaker. He had not the soft, bland expression of a good old quaker Statesman; and he had a confirmed habit of
slovenliness, which was utterly unlike the precise and perfect neatness of all other men of his grade in the Society of Friends.
	. . . He loved the society of boys who had risen to the upper classes of the [Sedbergh] school; and he had resumed his study of the classics and
become a very accomplished Latin scholar. Sometimes he half alarmed us, when he took down some ancient classic and began to discuss a point of
criticism. We thought we had enough of such matters when before our Schoolmaster. But our fears were of short duration; for he was soon carried
on by his love of the author; and then, in a way peculiar to himself, he would roll out a noble translation of some favourite passage. It might
be from one of the orations of Cicero, or some pregnant and pithy chapter out of the works of Tacitus, or it might be some burst of indignant
scorn and mockery out of one of the old Roman Satirists. These were days of delight to the schoolboys who had the honour of being admitted to
such genial and healthy visits.
	Sometimes, but rarely, he and my father had discussions at the vicarage on subjects of religious ordinances; but I think I may say with full
assurance that no word of bitterness ever escaped from the tongue of one or the other. They agreed in many of the great essentials of Christian
truth: and they agreed that the end of all religious ordinances was to bring the heart—the fountain head of all true religious emotion—into
conformity, both in thought and outward act, with the revealed will of God.20A

In mid-May 1809 Robert Foster went on a visit to London, with his son Myles, in quest of a possible position for him. They stayed principally at Bromley, where Robert was confined by illness for a few days. In mid-June they moved on to Bristol, staying a few days with George and Hannah Fisher at Hillside; then visited their cousins Samuel and Rachel Lloyd at Birmingham, followed by a night in Liverpool, before reaching home again on the 28th June.20B

In June 1812, Foster had a severe attack of rheumatic gout, a complaint to which he was subject. This appears to have decided him to sell his landed estates, which he carried into effect the following February. Hebblethwaite Hall, Sarthwaite, Gill House, Burnt Mill, and Dovecoat Gill estates were sold by auction at the Kings Arms in Sedbergh, to Warwick Pearson, Esq., of Kirby Lonsdale, for £10,800; The Wood went to John Wakefield of Kendal, for £5,000 or more. It was with great regret he parted with Hebblethwaite Hall: his grandfather Myles Birket had wished him to entail Hebblethwaite upon his eldest son, Myles Birket Foster, and it had been a hundred years in the family, but the step seemed necessary to enable him to make a fair disposition of his property. Early in November 1812 Robert Foster, with his wife and daughter Sarah, removed to a house in Northumberland Street, Newcastle, which he afterwards purchased; the move to Newcastle was so that he could be near his children, who had most of them removed to that locality. His removal certificate, dated 29^th December 1812, was received by Newcastle Monthly Meeting, and David Sutton and Daniel Oliver were appointed to visit the family. Robert’s son John, who had become a partner with Anthony Clapham in the soap making business, then went to reside with his father. Here he maintained the same character of active usefulness and benevolence as long as his health permitted.²¹

In February 1814, April 1815, and July 1816 he was one of two Newcastle representatives to Monthly Meeting. In July 1815, with George Binns and four others, he was appointed to a committee of Monthly Meeting to attend to the Friends’ schools. He and David Sutton were two of the four representatives from Newcastle at Quarterly Meeting in September 1815. His daughter Mary Spence related that, as they were returning from meeting one Sunday morning in heavy rain, a neighbour offered her father an umbrella. Foster's answer was civil, but emphatic: "I am obliged to thee, James, I despise them!"²²

On the 9th January 1818 he suffered a very afflicting bereavement by the death of his son John of typhus fever, aged 30; John had lived with him, and died at his house in Newcastle.^22A

Sedgwick recalled, again:

The last time I saw Mr Robert Foster was at Newcastle, I believe in the year 1821, while I was upon a geological tour. The load of years had then been resting upon him: but his heart had not become cold; for the old man received me with the warmest welcome; and then he walked with me, (no longer with his firm step of former years,) and shewed me some of the neighbouring establishments on the river Tyne. He seemed to be again in his own element; and all the persons connected with the shipping interests of the river treated him with marked respect and confidence. After a while he said, “We will go and rest ourselves at the study of one of my friends. You will like to know him, for he is a man of genius and a great humourist.” It was Bewick, the well-informed naturalist and celebrated engraver upon wood; and we had a long and delightful interview with that great artist and humourist of Newcastle. It was I believe on the day following that I saw for the last time my aged and honoured friend Mr Foster; whose name I retain in grateful memory, associated with many endearing thoughts of the friends and scenes of my early years.^22AA

Foster had for some time entertained an opinion that the Society of Friends had not good ground for its scruple against the payment of Lay Impropriate Tithes. He wrote his reasons at great length, and sent them to several influential members of the society. Some of them agreed with him, others did not; and the Society was not prepared to let go a testimony, on account of which many of its members had suffered persecution. A change afterwards took place, and a few years later, on the subject being brought before the YM an alteration was made in the rules respecting Impropriate Tithes very much in accordance with his views.^22AAA

In July 1821, February 1822 and November 1823, Robert represented Newcastle at Monthly Meeting. During his residence in Newcastle he was a frequent attender of the Yearly Meeting in London, an additional inducement being to visit his son James, who had settled in the metropolis. He was accustomed to make these journeys by sea in a collier, sometimes taking his wife or daughter with him; he also went three or four times to Holland, his object being chiefly to obtain a more perfect knowledge of the Dutch language. He was a director of the Newcastle 'Savings Bank,' which he attended diligently while health permitted. He made his will in 1821, having already provided for Myles, James and his sons-in-law Anthony Clapham and Robert Spence. In April of that year he was visited in Newcastle by James Losh, who had tea with him; Losh found him ‘a singular person, formerly a very active and gallant officer in the Navy, a good classical scholar and a considerable mathematician.’ In March 1823 he attended his sister Elizabeth’s funeral at Lancaster; then in May he attended his son James’s wedding to Rachel Foster, combining this with a visit to Yearly Meeting. In March 1824 Robert was a signatory to an open letter to the Mayor of Newcastle, requesting that he call a meeting for the purpose of petitioning Parliament for the Improvement and gradual Emancipation of the Slave Population of the British Colonies. By March 1825 he had subscribed £1 to the Infant School Society, in Newcastle. In February 1824 he had had a slight attack of paralysis, and a few weeks afterwards his wife had a stroke of the same character, but much more severe. Notwithstanding this however, she survived her husband eight years. Robert also recovered from his slight attack, but his general health was shaken and gradually became more and more feeble. His last illness continued for many months and was attended at times with severe bodily suffering, which he bore with great patience, and though always diffident of speaking of his religious attainments, and for several weeks before his decease deprived of the power of speech, yet he evinced great tranquillity and sweetness of spirit, in the near prospect of his final change. Nurse Chicken, who was engaged when his wife was taken ill, was most kind and attentive to both the invalids.²³

The 1827 History, Directory and Gazetteer of Durham and Northumberland describes him as a gentleman, of 53 Northumberland Street, Newcastle. At his death, which occurred at Newcastle on the 15^th June 1827, he was again described as a gentleman. He was buried on the 20^th in plot 19 of the old graveyard in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. His will was proved at Durham on the 25^th August, his estate being sworn under £4,000. He left to Mary Spence his freehold dwelling house in Northumberland Street, as well as £1,200 to Robert Spence, from which to pay an annuity of £40 to Margaret Foster; the residue went to Sarah Foster, except that Margaret had her choice of furniture, and Sarah was also to pay an annuity of £60 to her.²⁴

The Annual Monitor wrote of him:

Robert Foster was a man of extensive classical attainments, yet of unaffected humility. His inflexible integrity and watchful circumspection of conduct were conspicuous, and endeared him to various ranks. In fulfilling the duties of social life, he was an amiable example; he was especially careful not to speak evil of any one, and to discourage the practice in others. In the exercise of Christian hospitality he was liberal, but those who could not return the obligation were the peculiar and tender objects of his care.²⁵

The Newcastle Courant, on the 23^rd June, reported:

He was a man of extensive literary and classical attainments, remarkable for his unaffected humility, his inflexible integrity, and for the sincerity and simplicity of his character. He was particularly careful not to speak evil of any one, and equally so in discouraging this practice in others. In fulfilling all the social duties of private life, he was a bright example, and his memory will long be cherished and revered by a numerous circle of friends.^25A

The Kendal Chronicle on the 30^th June 1827 reported:

The late Robert Foster was a scholar, a gentleman, and a philosopher, in the most expanded sense of the word, and last and most valuable of all, a Christian. It may with justice be said of him, that he was a man cautious in advising, scrupulously honourable in promise, and capable above most men, when mystery was to be unravelled, confusion brought to order, doubt made certain, or truth conspicuous. He has lived to a good old age, and has gone down to the grave with a character free from stain or reproach, dearly loved by many, and esteemed by all.²⁶

Robert Foster was the eldest child of [N24] Dodshon and [N93] Elizabeth Foster .²⁷

1 Dictionary of Quaker Biography (Friends' House Library, typescript); Percy Corder (1914) The Life of Robert Spence Watson. London: Headley; PRO RG 6/1616A, RG 6/1209

2 Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon; RSW in John William Steel (1899) A Historical Sketch of the Society of Friends 'in Scorn called Quakers' in Newcastle & Gateshead 1653-1898. London & Newcastle, Headley Bros. : 111; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

2A Robert Foster's shorthand notebook, James Birket letter to Francis Farley 1772-02-15; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

3 Joseph Foster: The Fosters of Cold Hesledon, 1862; RSW in Steel (1899): 111; Evidence given by Robert Fo(r)ster to the House of Commons Select Committee on the Slave Trade, 1 Mar 1791; MS poem by Myles Foster (at Lancaster Maritime Museum); Elder, Melinda (1997) 'Dodshon Foster of Lancaster and the West Indies (1730-93)', Lancaster Maritime Journal, Vol. 1, p. 17; Robert Foster's shorthand notebook; James Birket letter to Robert Foster 1775-03-24; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

4 Foster, op. cit.; RSW, loc cit.; James Birket letters to Robert Foster 1775-09-29, 1775-10-27, and to Francis Farley 1776-10-07; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster - has the date of James Birket's diary entry as 3^rd September

4A James Birket letter to Robert Foster 1777-08-06

5 Foster, op. cit.; RSW in Steel (1899): 112; Lieutenants' logbooks at the National Maritime Museum, ADM L/P/60 (Pelican), ADM L/J/144 (Jupiter), and ADM L/H/113 (Hornet); Evidence given by Robert Fo(r)ster to the House of Commons Select Committee on the Slave Trade, 1 Mar 1791; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

6 Foster, op. cit.; RSW, loc. cit.; Lieutenants' logbooks at the National Maritime Museum, ADM L/P/60 (Pelican), ADM L/J/144 (Jupiter), and ADM L/H/113 (Hornet)' Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

6A James Birket letter to Thomas Backhouse 1779-08-30

7 Foster, op. cit.; RSW, loc. cit.; James Birket letters to Thomas Backhouse 1779-08-30 and Absalom Thornton 1779-09-07; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

8 Lieutenants' logbooks at the National Maritime Museum, ADM L/P/60 (Pelican), ADM L/J/144 (Jupiter), and ADM L/H/113 (Hornet); RSW, loc. cit.; Foster, op. cit., James Birket letters to William Thornton 1779-11-09, Absalom Thornton 1779-12-10, Robert Foster 1781-01-03, 1781-04-11, 1781-04-28, 1781-06-07; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

8A Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

9 Foster, op. cit., RSW, loc. cit.; James Birket letters to Thomas Backhouse 1780-02-23 and Robert Foster 1780-09-15; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

9A Madge, Mrs BH 'Notes on the Diary Kept by Robert Foster, at Hebblethwaite Hall', typescript

9AA Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

9B Madge, Mrs BH 'Notes on the Diary Kept by Robert Foster, at Hebblethwaite Hall', typescript; James Birket letters to Robert Foster 1781-03-11, 1781-04-11

10 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.; Madge, op. cit.; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

11 Dictionary of Quaker Biography (Friends' House Library, typescript); RSW in Steel (1899): 113; Corder (1914); Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster; Adam Sedgwick (1870) Supplement to the Memorial of the Trustees of Cowgill Chapel. Cambridge: CUP: 57; PRO RG 6/1081, RG 6/851, RG 6/155; Foster (1871), op. cit.; Foster (1862); Robert Spence Watson in Steel (1899): 113; Madge, Mrs B.H. 'Notes on the Diary Kept by Robert Foster, at Hebblethwaite Hall'; PRO RG 6/1081

11A Madge, op. cit.; James Birket letter to Robert Foster 1782-07-25

12 RSW in Steel (1899): 113-5; Frankland; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

13 Foster (1873); Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

14 Godard, John George (1884) George Birkbeck, The Pioneer of Popular Education. London: Bemrose: 11; Foster (1873), op. cit.; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

15 RSW in Steel (1899): 116-7; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

16 RSW, loc. cit.; DQB (Friends' House Library, typescript); Foster, op. cit.; RG 6/1562, RG 6/710, RG 6/851; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

17 PRO RG 6/1562; Foster, op. cit.; RG 6/710, RG 6/851

18 Ernest de Selincourt, ed. (1967-82) The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, 2^nd edⁿ, Oxford; RSW, loc. cit.; Foster, op. cit.; Southey, Charles Cuthbert, ed. (?1849) The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey. London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, Vol. II, pp. 29-30; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

19 Ernest de Selincourt, ed.: The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, 2^nd edⁿ, Oxford, 1967-82

20 RSW, loc. cit.; Ann R. Foster in Steel (1899): 155; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

20A Sedgwick, op. cit.: 54-5

20B Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

21 RSW, loc. cit.; Foster (1873), op. cit.; Foster (1862), op. cit.; sale poster; Frankland; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster; extracts from deeds, in possession of current owner of Sarthwaite (2003); list of removals, and testimonies & certificates 1812–1820, TWAS MF 168 & 188

22 Anne Ogden Boyce (1889) Records of a Quaker Family: The Richardsons of Cleveland. London: Samuel Harris: 24; minutes of Newcastle Monthly Meeting, TWAS MF 168 & 169

22A Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

22AA Sedgwick, op. cit.: 58-9

22AAA Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

23 minutes of Newcastle Monthly Meeting, TWAS MF 169; RSW, loc. cit.; Death Duty Registers, PRO (IR 26&27)/1125; Foster (1862), op. cit.; Durham Probate Records (Robert Foster 1827); Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster; Journal of the Friends’ Historical Society 50.3: 183, 1963; The Newcastle Courant, 1824-03-27, issue 7694, and 1825-03-19, issue 7745

24 History, Directory and Gazetteer of Durham and Northumberland; DQB; Death Duty Registers, PRO (IR 26&27)/1125; Spence, op. cit.; Steel (1899): 219; Durham Probate Records (Robert Foster 1827); PRO RG 6/228, /778; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

25 Foster (1862), op. cit.; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

25A The Newcastle Courant, 1827-06-23, issue 7863

26 Foster (1862), op. cit.

27 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

N24. DODSHON FOSTER

Dodshon Foster was born on the 1^st November 1730, at Hawthorne.¹

He maintained links with Furness throughout his life, and also with Kendal, where an aunt had settled. Around 1751-2 he was made a freeman of Lancaster. As Melinda Elder, historian of the Lancaster slave trade, tells it:

He was, at this time, not only purchasing land along the quayside but also making his first investments in Lancaster shipping. Clearly not without some initial resources, he must be regarded as the archetypal entrepreneur of his day. His earliest known investment was in the Barlborough, a brand new vessel built at Lancaster and fitted out for the African slave trade. This small 40-ton snow made four successive voyages to Africa and the West Indies between September 1752 and October 1757. During these years the Barlborough transported over 550 slaves to Jamaica and Antigua, which was a considerable number given the size of the ship. Foster also had shares in a second, larger, slave ship, the Bold, which sailed for 150 slaves in 1755. With five successful voyages in as many years, his youthful opportunism had clearly paid off handsomely. It also enabled the captain who had served him on both these vessels to become a prominent slave merchant himself in time.

As the senior partner in both these vessels, Dodshon would have been one of Lancaster's foremost slave traders at a crucial time when the trade was being firmly established at Lancaster and when lucrative profits could most easily be made. In his early twenties he was also the youngest. This did not prevent him from serving as Port Commissioner in 1755 as one of an elected team concerned with the running and development of the port. Dodshon had already earned himself both money and status within the established merchant community at Lancaster.^1A

The Barlborough was probably the first Lancaster guineaman to visit Jamaica, which she visited three times, in 1753, 1754 and 1756. In 1753 she stayed 17 days, and returned with 10 puncheons of rum. In 1754 she stayed 63 days, and returned with 62 hogsheads and tierces sugar, 5 tons fustick, 40 bags ginger, 40 tons mahogany, 23 bags cotton.^1B

A merchant of Lancaster, he married [N93] Elizabeth Birket on the 3^rd July 1753, at Lancaster Friends' meeting house. Their children, all born in Lancaster, were: [N23] Robert (1754), Myles (1759), Jane (1756), and Elizabeth (1764).²

Foster also invested in the Bold, 70 tons, which in 1756 cleared Barbados for Lancaster with 64 hogsheads and 19 tierces sugar, 11 puncheons rum, 7 tons logwood, and 14 bags cotton. Dodshon Foster, with John Heathcote, were Lancaster's youngest entrepreneurs in the African trade.

As Quakers, their involvement in the slave trade is particularly interesting, since Friends' consciences were frequently scrutinized, as evident in the Lancaster Meeting House records. . . . Their interests were not, however, long-lasting. By April 1758 Dodgson [sic] Foster was advertising the Barlborough for sale [by auction at the Sun tavern in Lancaster] and his fellow Friend had been dead for a month. Foster's enthusiasm for slaving may have been dampened by Heathcote's departure, but, in any case, the trade had come to a near stand-still at this time as a result of the Seven Years War, and once the initial panic was over, war-time trade, away from the more vulnerable south, was on offer once more at Lancaster. Foster was by this time concerned in a West Indiaman, the Hawke, with his father-in-law, which had sailed between the islands and South Carolina in 1757.

The number of apprentices Dodshon enrolled as owner of this vessel suggests he had already fared extremely well as a merchant. Moreover, his marriage into an established merchant group trading direct with the West Indies would have given Dodshon ample opportunities for investments outside the slave trade should he need them.^2A

In 1759 Foster is known both to have bought furniture from the Lancaster firm of Gillows and to have supplied them with mahogany.^2B

'His obvious and early successes may well explain why his name does not figure prominently in later mercantile records.'^2C They also meant he was at liberty to accompany his ailing wife Elizabeth on a lengthy health-seeking stay in Bristol from May to July of 1766. The diary he kept at this time still exists. During this period his young family were no doubt sent off to stay with relatives as he himself had been many years previously and this practice evidently continued, to an extent, with his wife's death later that year.^2D

Around 1772 he decided to move out of his house on St George's Quay, his home for almost 20 years. Inn fact he held on to the family dwelling together with its adjoining three-storey warehouse, leaving them to his unmarried daughter Elizabeth when he died. Still fronting the quay today, adjacent to and upriver from the Custom House, both had been erected on the lots he had purchased at the very start of his merchant career. On Mayday 1772 he removed to Parvus Hall.^2E

In August 1778 he wrote to Capt. Francis Reynolds, RN, to thank him for obtaining a transfer from the Endeavour to the Defiance, for his son Robert, though he disapproved of Robert going to sea. In late August 1779 he received the news of the illness of his son Myles, setting off with a doctor in the early hours of the following morning, but receiving news of his death, en route. In 1790 the grandson who bore his name died at his house in Lancaster, aged just four. Dodshon himself died at Lancaster on the 2^nd January 1793, and was interred on the 6^th next to his grandson in the Quaker burial ground in Lancaster.³

Dodshon Foster was the third child and third son of [N25] Robert and [N90] Elizabeth Foster.⁴

1 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England

1A Elder, Melinda (1997) 'Dodshon Foster of Lancaster and the West Indies (1730-93)', Lancaster Maritime Journal, Vol. 1, pp. 14-5

1B Elder, Melinda (1992) The Slave Trade and the Economic Development of Eighteenth-Century Lancaster, Halifax: Ryburn, pp. 66, 96, 127

2A Elder (1992): 127-8; Elder (1997): 15

2 PRO RG 6/1209, /1616A; Foster (1871), op. cit.; Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

2B Letter to me from Susan Stuart (Gillows historian), 2000-05-05

2C Elder (1997): 16

2D loc. cit.; Dodshon Foster's diary (Lancaster Maritime Museum); PRO RG 6/1209

2E Elder (1997): 17; Myles Foster poem (Lancaster Maritime Museum ms)

3 www.a2a.org.uk/search/documentxsl.asp?com=1&i=0&nbKey=1&stylesheet=xsl/A2A_com.xsl&keyword=dodshon%20foster&properties=0601; Foster (1862); Foster (1871); PRO RG 6/1168B, /1562, Elder (1997): 17-8; James Birket letter to Robert Foster 1779-08-24

4 Foster (1871), op. cit.

N25. ROBERT FOSTER

Robert Foster was born at Hawthorne on the 4^th August 1694.¹

He married [N90] Elizabeth Dodshon on the 10^th November 1726, at Shotton. Their children, all born at Hawthorne, were: Thomas (1727), Robert (1729), and [N24] Dodshon (1730).²

A merchant, he died at Hawthorne (where he had been living in 1753)on the 16^th February 1755.³

Robert Foster was the eldest child of [N26] Thomas and [N88] Sarah Forster.⁴

1 PRO RG 6/1579; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England

2 Foster (1871); Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon

3 RG 6/1209; Foster (1871); Elder, Melinda (1992) The Slave Trade and the Economic Development of Eighteenth-Century Lancaster, Halifax: Ryburn, p. 127

4 Foster (1871), op. cit.

N26. THOMAS FORSTER

Thomas Forster was born at Hawthorne on the 10^th May 1662.¹

He married [N88] Sarah Hornsby on the 22^nd July 1691, at Wallnook meeting. Their children, all born at Hawthorne, were: Margaret (1692), [N25] Robert (1694), Hannah (1696), Thomas (1698), Sarah (1701), Mary (1702), Margaret (1705), Frances (1707), Joseph (1709), Mary (1710), and Alice (1713).²

He died on the 24^th September 1728, at Hawthorne.³

Thomas Forster was the eldest child of [N27] Robert and [N85] Margaret Forster .⁴

1 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England

2 Foster (1871); Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon

3-4 Foster (1871)

N27. ROBERT FORSTER

Robert Forster married [N85] Margaret Robinson on the 20^th November 1659, at Shotton.  Their children, all born at Hawthorne, were: Margaret (1660), [N26] Thomas (1662), Robert (1664), Mary (1666), Richard (1668). He lived in Cold Hesledon, in the County Palatinate of Durham.¹

He was an early follower of George Fox.²

He died at Hawthorne in December 1674, his burial on the on the 10^th being recorded by Shotton monthly meeting.³

Robert Forster was the son of [N28] Thomas and [N83] Alice Forster.⁴

1 PRO RG 6/1579; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon

2 Foster (1871)

3 RG 6/1579; Foster (1871)

4 Foster (1871)

N28. THOMAS FORSTER

He married [N83] Alice ____. Their children were: [N27] Robert, Thomas, and Alicia (bapt. 1628, Easington).¹

He lived in Cold Hesledon.²

1 Easington parish register (Durham RO EP/Ea 1/1 M42/967); PRO RG 6/1579; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England. In late 2000 I purchased a copy of this work to which Joseph Foster himself had made marginal notes in pencil. These make it abundantly clear that Foster no longer accepted that the connection could be made to the earlier extensive Forster lineage included in the version of this work as published. In view of this, and until further work can be undertaken on this line, I have curtailed the Forster line at the point indicated by Joseph Foster's notes.

2 Foster (1871)

N83. ALICE FORSTER born ____

Alice ____ married [N28] Thomas Forster. Their children were: [N27] Robert, Thomas, and Alicia (bapt. 1628, Easington).¹

She lived at Cold Hesledon.²

She was buried at St Andrew's, Dalton-le-Dale, on the 21^st December 1682.³

1 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; Easington parish register (Durham RO EP/Ea 1/1 M42/967); PRO RG 6/1579

2 Foster (1871); RG 6/1579

3 Seaham Super Index

N85. MARGARET FORSTER born ROBINSON

Margaret Robinson married [N27] Robert Forster on the 20^th November 1659, at Shotton. Their children, all born at Hawthorne, were: Margaret (1660), [N26] Thomas (1662), Robert (1664), Mary (1666), Richard (1668).¹

She died on the 25^th January 1710/11, at Hawthorne.²

Margaret Robinson was the daughter of [N86] Thomas and [N87] Ann Robinson .³

1 PRO RG 6/1579; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon; Foster (1871) says Margaret was born in 1674.

2 RG 6/1579; Foster (1871)

3 Foster (1871)

N86. THOMAS ROBINSON

Thomas Robinson of Hawthorne married [N87] Ann ____. Their children included Anthony (b. 1636 Shotton) and [N85] Margaret.¹

He was still living at Hawthorn in 1659.²

1 PRO RG 6/1579; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England

2 RG 6/1579

N87. ANN ROBINSON born ____

Ann Robinson of Hawthorne married [N86] Thomas Robinson. Their children included Anthony (b. 1636 Shotton) and [N85] Margaret.¹

In 1636 she was living at Hawthorn.²

Of Hawthorne in 1659, she died on 10 June 16xx [year illegible].³

1 PRO RG 6/1579; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England

2-3 RG 6/1579

N88. SARAH FORSTER born HORNSBY

Sarah Hornsby married [N26] Thomas Forster on the 22^nd July 1691, at Wallnook meeting. Their children, all born at Hawthorne, were: Margaret (1692), [N25] Robert (1694), Hannah (1696), Thomas (1698), Sarah (1701), Mary (1702), Margaret (1705), Frances (1707), Joseph (1709), Mary (1710), and Alice (1713).¹

She died at Hawthorne on the 1^st April 1738; her death was recorded by Shotton monthly meeting.²

Sarah Hornsby was the daughter of [N89] Michael Hornsby .³

1 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon

2 PRO RG 6/1579; Foster (1871)

3 Foster (1871)

N89. MICHAEL HORNSBY

Michael Hornsby lived at Witton Gilbert.¹

1 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; PRO RG 6/1579

N90. ELIZABETH FOSTER born DODSHON

Elizabeth Dodshon was born on the 28^th February 1702, at Lowhills, Durham.¹

She married [N25] Robert Foster on the 10^th November 1726, at Shotton. Their children, all born at Hawthorne, were: Thomas (1727), Robert (1729), and [N24] Dodshon (1730).²

She died at Hawthorne on the 1^st November 1730, at Dodshon's birth.³

Elizabeth Dodshon was the daughter of [N91] Nicholas and [N92] Elizabeth Dodshon.⁴

1 PRO RG 6/1341; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England

2 Foster (1871); Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon

3 RG 6/1579; Foster (1871)

4 Foster (1871)

N91. NICHOLAS DODSHON

Nicholas Dodshon married [N92] Elizabeth ____.  Their children included: Elizabeth (1702/3), Nicholas (1705), Ann, and William. He lived in Shearborn from 1702 to 1705.¹

1 PRO RG 6/1341; Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England. Vol. I – Lancashire: London; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; PRO RG 6/1341; Anne Dodshon, widow of Shearborn, buried on 21 Dec 1696 (RG 6/1341) may have been his mother.

N92. ELIZABETH DODSHON born ____

Elizabeth ____ married [N91] Nicholas Dodshon. Their children included: Elizabeth (1702/3), Nicholas (1705), Ann, and William.¹

1 PRO RG 6/1341; Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England. Vol. I – Lancashire: London; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; I have a note that she was born Elizabeth Radclyffe, but have lost the source of this information.

N93. ELIZABETH FOSTER born BIRKET

Elizabeth Birket was born at Lancaster on the 3^rd February 1729.¹

Described as of Lancaster, she married [N24] Dodshon Foster on the 3^rd July 1753, at Lancaster Friends' meeting house. Their children, all born in Lancaster, were: [N23] Robert (1754), Myles (1759), Jane (1756), & Elizabeth (1764).²

From the end of May to at least mid July of 1766 she was on a visit to Bristol with her husband. Throughout this period she was ill with a griping digestive disorder, and subject to all manner of treatments, from issues being cut in her arms, with issue plasters of orange and common pease; to bleeding; to drafts of asses’ milk; to camomile tea; to chalk, cinnamon, brandy and nutmeg in hot well water. The symptoms of her malaise, and her treatment, all described in great detail in Dodshon Foster’s diary, which ends with her still sick.^2A

She died on the 11^th September 1766, at Lancaster, and was buried on the 14^th in the Moorside burial ground.³

Elizabeth Birket was the eldest child and eventually sole heiress of [N94] Myles and [N136] Jane Birket .⁴

1 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; PRO RG 6/1616A

2 PRO RG 6/1209, /1616A; Foster (1871); Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon; RG 6/1616A, RG 6/1209; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

2A Dodshon Foster's diary (Lancaster Maritime Museum)

3 PRO RG 6/1209, /1616A; Foster (1871)

4 Foster (1871); Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England. Vol. I – Lancashire: London

N94. MYLES BIRKET

Myles Birket was born at The Wood on the 21^st September 1697, his birth being registered by Swarthmoor monthly meeting.¹

When he was seven years old he was sent to his Uncle Willans at Castlay near Sedbergh, and went to school to Chas Winn of Milnthorpe. He took learning exceedingly well, and was also a stout husbandman, being the best mower in that part. ‘He afterwards went to Amsterdam, Dantzick, Hamburgh, &^c and stay’d some time, where he learned the Teutonick through the medium of the Latin, in both of which languages he was a great proficient.’ On his return, he settled as a West India merchant, in partnership with his brother James.^1A

He married [N136] Jane Westray, and was given Hebblethwaite Hall, in Yorkshire, by his father, on his marriage. Their children were: [N93] Elizabeth (1729/30), James (1730/1), Deborah (1738), and Margaret (1746); all births were recorded by Lancaster monthly meeting.²

A prominent Quaker merchant (freeman of Lancaster, 1724–25), he appears in the Barbados records of the 1730s, and was concerned with his son-in-law Dodshon Foster in a West Indiaman, the Hawke, which sailed between the islands and South Carolina in 1757. He was not among the Lancaster merchants who engaged in the slave trade, but there were pragmatic considerations as well as moral, for not participating. In 1746 he shared ownership of an ironforge with Abraham Rawlinson. In 1750 he was one of the port commissioners appointed by the act originating that body.^2A

In 1771 he bought the Sarthwaite estate, for £386.^2B

In 1777 he was much distressed by the actions of his grandson Robert Foster, which had ‘gone near to bring thy Grandfather’s gray hairs w^th sorrow to the grave, for he mourned day and night for a long time, and he told me that the death of his only son he thought did not affect him so deeply.’ About 1780 he appointed Foster as manager at Hebblethwaite. He also owned property at Sarthwaite in Lancashire.³

In May 1782 he gave Robert Foster 12 guineas. In June of 1783 (?), on an excursion with Foster, he lost his gold watch; on his return home he was described as ‘much fatigued and very ill.’ James Birket’s letters show that he had been unwell on a number of occasions from 1781 onwards.⁴

He died at Lancaster on the 3rd October 1785, and was buried at the Friends' burial ground there on the 6^th. He left Hebblethwaite Hall, Sarthwaite, and various houses and iron furnaces near Lancaster to his grandson Robert Foster.⁵

Myles Birket was the eldest child of [N95] James and [N133] Elizabeth Birket .⁶

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England. Vol. I – Lancashire: London; PRO RG 6/1267, /1616A

1A Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

2 RG 6/809; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; Frankland; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

2A Elder, Melinda (1992) The Slave Trade and the Economic Development of Eighteenth-Century Lancaster, Halifax: Ryburn, pp. 27, 116, 117, 128, 213; Elder, Melinda (1997) 'Dodshon Foster of Lancaster and the West Indies (1730-93)', Lancaster Maritime Journal, Vol. 1, p. 16; Hamer, Philip M. & George C. Rogers, eds (1970) The Papers of Henry Laurens. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, p. 50n; Gentleman's Magazine, 1785, Vol.55, p 836; PRO RG 6/998, /1209.

2B Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

3 Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon; The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752, ed. J.D. Marshall (Manchester, 1967): 267; Foster (1873); James Birket letter to Robert Foster 1777-08-06

4 Madge, Mrs B.H. 'Notes on the Diary Kept by Robert Foster, at Hebblethwaite Hall'; James Birket letters to Robert Foster 1781-04-28, 1781-07-27, 1783-03-11

5 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; Gentleman's Magazine, 1785, Vol.55, p 836; Frankland; PRO RG 6/1168B; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

6 Foster (1873)

N95. JAMES BIRKET

James Birket was given The Wood by his father, in 1692. On the 8^th June 1693 he married, as his first wife, Elizabeth Goad, at Swarthmoor meeting. She died in 1694, and he married, secondly, [N133] Elizabeth Hinde , at Lancaster meeting house, on the 15^th September 1696. Their children were: [N94] Myles Birket(1697), Margaret (1699), Thomas (1701), James (1706), John (1709), and Richard (1712).¹

From 1694 to 1712 he lived at The Wood, in Cartmell Fell, Lancs. In 1696 he was described as a yeoman.²

He purchased Hebblethwaite Hall in 1712, for £840, from Wm. Godsalve, of Rigwaden.³

In June 1713 he attended London Yearly Meeting.⁴

In 1719 he was a part owner in the Betty gally, which was lost on its first voyage, "by the carelessness and negligence of the master, to the total loss of the owners."⁵

In 1722-3 he was described as a freeman, of the Wood in Cartmel, merchant. In June 1722 he witnessed his daughter Margaret's wedding at Height meeting house.⁶

The autobiographer William Stout, of Lancaster, tells a sorry tale of Birket's mismanagement of his and his wife's affairs:

But her husband James Birket being then possesed of a very good estate, both reale and personal, to the value of one hundred pounds a year, and supposed to be improving, and very capable to manage this concern, we thought our trust was needles[s]. And with the consent of his said wife, we assigned over the trust to him, and tooke yearly for some years a declaration in writing under his wife's hand, of her satisfaction of her husband's management of this concern. And it continued so for above twenty years, but, in this time, the said James Birket undertook merchandizing and other projects he did not understand, and engaged in partnership with men of declining circumstances and expensive company, so as to waste his estate and what he had in trust for his wife, and became bankrupt [...] considering that her husband had with her a good portion at marriage, and at her brother's death a good estate, in all, first and last, the value of two thousand five hundred pound. And in makeing up the bankruptcie, there was no more than five shillings in the pound for the creditors.⁷

In 1729 he gave Hebblethwaite Hall to his son Miles, on his marriage.^7A

He died before the 10^th March 1739/40^7B

James Birkett was probably the eldest child of [N96] Myles and [N130] Elizabeth Birket .⁸

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England. Vol. I – Lancashire: London; The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752, ed. J.D. Marshall (Manchester, 1967); PRO RG 6/998, /1616A; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

2 The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752; RG 6/998, /1084, /1267, /1616A - which gives surname as 'Berket'

3 Foster (1873); Frankland; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

4 The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752 :169

5 Marshall, ed., op. cit.: 179

6 Marshall, ed., op. cit.: 270; PRO RG 6/1616A

7 Marshall, ed., op. cit.: 157-8

7A Frankland; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

7B RG 6/1616A

8 Foster (1873)

N96. MYLES BIRKET

Myles Birket was born in 1640.¹

He married [N130] Elizabeth Birket in 1666. Their children were: [N95] James, William, and perhaps another.²

In 1678 he purchased Birket Houses, in Cartmell Fell. The following year he purchased the Wood estate, in Cartmell Fell, for £240; he removed there with his family, and lived there till at least 1693.³

In 1685, with four others, he was ‘prosecuted in the Exchequer for Tithes, at the suit of Thomas Preston, of Holcar, Esq; and by a false Return of Non est Inventus (though they were so far from absconding, that they offered themselves to the Bayliffs) a Sequestration was obtained against them, by which their Cattle and Goods were carried away to the Value of 82 l. 1s. 8d.’^3A

In 1696 he was a witness as his son's wedding. He made his will in 1717, leaving his gavelock and iron mell to his grandson Myles.⁴

Late of Birkethouses, Myles Birket died at Crook End at Ed: Harrisons, on the 27^th February 1719/20, and was buried at Height in Cartmell on the 1^st March.^4A

Myles Birket was the eldest son of [N97] James and [N102] Esther Birket.⁵

1-2 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England. Vol. I – Lancashire: London

3 Foster (1873); PRO RG 6/1616A - which gives surname as 'Birkett'; Myles B. Foster (1860): Ms Memoir of Robert Foster

3A Joseph Besse (1753/2000) Sufferings of Early Quakers. Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham & Northumberland, Isle of Man, Lancashire. ed. Michael Gandy. York: Sessions: 329

4 RG 6/998; Foster (1873)

4A RG 6/1084, /1267, /1616A

5 Foster (1873)

N97. JAMES BIRKET

James Birket of Birket Houses was born in 1622-3. He married [N102] Esther Sandys on the 28^th November 1637, at Hawkshead parish church, Lancs. Their children were: [N96] Myles (1640), William and James.¹

James Birket was the son of [N98] Myles Birket .²

1-2 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England. Vol. I – Lancashire: London; E.S. Sandys (1930) The Family of Sandys, Barrow in Furness; privately printed.

N98. MYLES BIRKET

Myles Birket, of Birket Houses, in Cartmell Fell, Lancashire, was the son of [N99] John and [N101] Mary Birkhead .¹

1  Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England. Vol. I – Lancashire: London

James de Leybourn was the eldest child of [N127B] Nicholas and [N127P] Katherine de Leybourne.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127B. NICHOLAS de LEYBOURN

Nicholas de Leybourn married [N127P] Katherine ____. Their children were: [N127A] James and Mary.¹

He paid tithes in 1431 and 1435, and was on inquisitions post mortem in 1435 and 1437. In 1447 and indenture was made between him and John de Washington.²

Nicholas de Leybourn was the son of [N127C] Sir Robert and [N127O] ____ de Leybourn.³

1-3 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127C. SIR ROBERT de LEYBOURN

Sir Robert de Leybourn married [N127O] ____ ____. Their only known child was [N127B] Nicholas de Leybourn.¹

He was a Knight of the Shire in 1404, 1410 and 1422. He was recorded as holding Sleddale and Cunswith in 1404 and 1407. He was a witness in 1411, 1431 and 1437.²

Sir Robert de Leybourn was the son of [N127D] John and [N127N] de Leybourn.³

1-3 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127D. JOHN de LEYBOURN

John de Leybourn married [N127N] ____ ____. Their only known child was [N127C] Sir Robert.¹

He was on inquests post mortem in 1390, 1407 and 1411.²

John de Leybourn was the son of [N127E] Thomas and [N127M] Johanna de Leybourn.³

1-3 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127E. THOMAS de LEYBOURN

Thomas de Leybourn married [N127M] Johanna of Cunswick. Their only known child was [N127D] John.¹

He was a witness in 1374 and 1377, and in 1378 owed Wm. 40/-. In 1390 he held Cunswick and Sleddale.²

Thomas de Leybourn was the son of [N127F] Sir Roger and [N127L] ____ de Leybourn.³

1-3 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127F. SIR ROGER de LEYBOURN

Sir Roger de Leybourn married [N127L] ____ ____. Their only known child was [N127E] Thomas.¹

Of Skelsmergh, he is mentioned between 1332 and 1369.²

Sir Roger de Leybourn was the son of [N127G] Nicholas and [N127K] Margaret de Leybourn.³

1-3 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127G. NICHOLAS de LEYBOURN

Nicholas de Leybourn married [N127K] Margaret ____. Their only known child was [N127F] Sir Roger.¹

He was in suits against Margaret de Ros in 1280, Thomas of Kentmere in 1282, Roger de Cosin in 1294 and 1297. He held lands of William de Lyndsay in 1283. He obtained a messuage in Strickland Ketel in 1287, and free warren in Skelsmergh in 1301; he was granted Sleddale in 1306. He was a Knight of the Shire in 1304-5.²

Nicholas de Leybourn was the eldest son of [N127H] John and [N127J] Joan de Leybourn.³

1-3 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127H. JOHN de LEYBOURN

John de Leybourn married [N127J] Joan ____. Their known children were: [N127G] Nicholas and Robert.¹

He was the son of [N127I] Robert de Leybourn.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127I. ROBERT de LEYBOURN

Robert de Leybourn had grant of Skelsmergh from William, duke of Lancaster, between 1238 and 1246.¹

1 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127J. JOAN de LEYBOURN born ____

Joan ____ married [N127H] John de Leybourn.¹

Their known children were: [N127G] Nicholas and Robert.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127K. MARGARET de LEYBOURN born ____

Margaret ____ married [N127G] Nicholas de Leybourn.¹

Their only known child was [N127F] Sir Roger.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127L. ____ de LEYBOURN born ____

____ ____ married [N127F] Sir Roger de Leybourn.¹

Their only known child was [N127E] Thomas.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127M. JOHANNA de LEYBOURN born ____

Johanna of Cunswick married [N127E] Thomas de Leybourn.¹

Their only known child was [N127D] John.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127N. ____ de LEYBOURN born ____

____ ____ married [N127D] John de Leybourn.¹

Their only known child was [N127C] Sir Robert.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127O. ____ de LEYBOURN born ____

____ ____ married [N127C] Sir Robert de Leybourn.¹

Their only known child was [N127B] Nicholas de Leybourn.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127P. KATHERINE de LEYBOURN born ____

Katherine ____ married [N127B] Nicholas de Leybourn.¹

Their children were: [N127A] James and Mary.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N127Q. KATHERINE de LEYBOURN born BELLINGHAM

Katherine Bellingham married [N127A] James de Leybourn.¹

Their children were: Thomas, [N127] Isabella, and Jenet.²

1-2 Margaret Ward (2001): The Leybournes. A Family History Spanning Ten Centuries; York: Mrs M. Ward

N128. ANN SANDYS born DALSTON

Ann Dalston married [N104] Adam Sandys. Their children were: Esther, William, Christopher, [N103] David , Robert and Myles.¹

1 E.S. Sandys (1930) History of the Family of Sandys. Barrow-in-Furness

N129. ____ SANDYS born ____

____ ____ married [N103] David Sandys. Their children were: Anne (1611), [N102] Esther (1613/4), Frances (1616), Robert (1618), Adam (1621), Elizabeth (1625), Myles (1627), William (1628), and Christopher (1628).¹

1 E.S. Sandys (1930) History of the Family of Sandys. Barrow-in-Furness

N130. ELIZABETH BIRKET born BIRKET

Elizabeth Birket married [N96] Myles Birket in 1666. Their children were: [N95] James, William, and perhaps another.¹

She moved to the Wood estate, in Cartmell Fell, Lancashire, after 1679.²

Elizabeth Birket was the daughter of [N131] John and [N132] Mary Birket .³

1-3 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.

N131. JOHN BIRKET

John Birket of Crook, in Westmoreland, married [N132] Mary ____ .¹

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.

N132. MARY BIRKET born ____

Mary ____ of Crook, in Westmoreland, married [N131] John Birket .¹

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.

N133. ELIZABETH BIRKET born HINDE

Elizabeth Hinde married [N95] James Birket in 1696, at Lancaster. Their children were: [N94] Myles Birket(1697), Margaret (1699), Thomas (1701), James (1706), John (1709), and Richard (1712). Throughout this period she lived at the Wood, in Cartmell Fell.¹

After 1707, she consented that her husband should manage her mother's trust fund. This continued for above twenty years, when her husband became bankrupt. William Stout tells what ensued:

Upon which [bankruptcy] we were called upon by his wife to produce her mother's will and inventory, and make clame of what was comited to our trust. Which we were very ready to do, but it put upon her to consider that [as] she always acknowledged her satisfaction in her husband's management, and never intimated to us any dissatisfaction or danger before he became insolvent or a bankrupt, it would not be taken well by the creditors or commissioners of bankrupt, to make a demand of it. Which, haveing considerd with her sones, who were at age, she and they gave us a discharge, and did not make any demand of it befor the commissioners; which was much to her reputation, considering that her husband had with her a good portion at marriage, and at her brother's death a good estate, in all, first and last, the value of two thousand five hundred pound. And in makeing up the bankruptcie, there was no more than five shillings in the pound for the creditors.²

She died at Lancaster on the 8^th March 1739/40, and was buried on the 10^th.^2A

Elizabeth Hinde was the daughter of [N134] Thomas and [N135] Margaret Hinde.³

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.; PRO RG 6/998, /1616A

2 The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752, ed. J.D. Marshall (Manchester, 1967): 157-8

2A RG 6/1616A

3 Foster (1873)

N134. THOMAS HINDE

Thomas Hinde of Crosgill, in Littledaile, married [N135] Margaret ____. Their children were: Richard, and [N133] Elizabeth.¹

On the 20^th January 1660/61 it is recorded that

at Lancaster, a Party of Soldiers, some with Swords drawn and Pistols cockt, others with Muskets and lighted Matches, came to the Meeting and took away all the Men they found, and carried them to the Castle. On the 27th, the Meeting consisting of Women, only one Man, they took them also, and sent them to the same Prison with some others whom they had taken from their own Houses. The Names of the Men so committed were, . . . Thomas Hinde, . . .²

Thomas Hynde of Crossgall in Littledall, Caton, Lancs. was a witness at his daughter's wedding in 1696.^2A

Thomas Hynd of Littledell died on the 28^th July 1700, and was buried in the Friends' burying ground at Lancaster on the following day.³

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.; The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752, ed. J.D. Marshall (Manchester, 1967); PRO RG 6/1616A

2 Joseph Besse (1753/2000) Sufferings of Early Quakers. Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham & Northumberland, Isle of Man, Lancashire. ed. Michael Gandy. York: Sessions: 307

2A PRO RG 6/998

3 PRO RG 6//998, /1616A; Foster (1873); The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752, ed. J.D. Marshall (Manchester, 1967)

N135. MARGARET HINDE born ____

Margaret ____ of Crosgill, in Littledaile, married [N134] Thomas Hinde. Their children were: Richard, and [N133] Elizabeth.¹

Margaret Hynd of Littledell widdow died on the 28^th September 1707, and was buried at Lancaster on the 30^th. Her will was proved in the same year; her estate amounted to £470, held in trust for her daughter Elizabeth Birket.²

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.; The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752, ed. J.D. Marshall (Manchester, 1967)

2 PRO RG 6/998, /1616A; The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster 1665-1752, ed. J.D. Marshall (Manchester, 1967)

N136. JANE BIRKET born WESTRAY

Jane Westray was born around 1705.⁰

She married [N94] Myles Birket in May 1729, at Whitehaven. Their children were: [N93] Elizabeth (1729/30), James (1730/1), Deborah (1738), and Margaret (1746); all births were recorded by Lancaster monthly meeting. In 1738 she was described as of Lancaster.¹

In 1777 James Birket told Robert Foster that ‘Thy Grandmother is very weakly and has been above a y^r occasion^d by something of a paralytic so that she can but with difficulty walk cross the room.’ In March 1783 she was ‘as weak as ever.’ She died on the 30^th August 1783; her funeral was at the meeting house at Lancaster, where she was buried on the 2^nd September.^1A

Jane Westray was the daughter of [N137] James and [N138] Deborah Westray .²

0 PRO RG 6/809; the IGI has a baptism for a Jane Westray, daughter of James Westray, on the 24^th Jan 1705, at All Saints, Cockermouth, Cumberland

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.; Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; RG 6/998, /1616A; Myles B. Foster (1860): MS Memoir of Robert Foster

1A RG 6/809, /1168B; Robert Foster's shorthand notebook, James Birket letters to Robert Foster 1777-08-06, 1783-03-11

2 Foster, loc. cit.

N137. JAMES WESTRAY

James Westray of Cockermouth married [N138] Deborah Biblands.¹

James Westray’s death on 21 January 1721/2 was recorded by Cockermouth Preparative Meeting.²

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs. The IGI has the marriage of James Westray to Deborah Robbison on the 23^rd March 1705, at All Saints, Cockermouth

2 PRO RG 6/1025

N138. DEBORAH WESTRAY born BIBLANDS

Deborah Biblands of Cockermouth married [N137] James Westray .¹

1 Joseph Foster (1873) Pedigrees of the County Families of England, Vol.1, Lancs.. The IGI has the marriage of Deborah Robbison to James Westray on the 23^rd March 1705, at All Saints, Cockermouth.

N139. MARY FOSTER born BURTON

Mary Burton was born at Sedbergh on the 12^th February 1753.¹

She knew Robert Foster by October 1780, when they visited James Birket and Dodshon Foster.^1A

On the 1^st March 1784, at Brigflats meeting house, near Sedbergh, she married [N23] Robert Foster , whose housekeeper she had been. Their children, all born at Hebblethwaite Hall, were: Myles Birket (1785), Dodshon (1786), James (1787), John (1788), Elizabeth (1788), [N22] Mary (1790), a stillborn child, Jane (1794), Isabel (1796), and Sarah (1797).²

In the spring of 1799, returning with her husband on horseback from Kendal Quarterly Meeting, she was exposed to wet, and took a severe cold which terminated in consumption. She died at about five in the morning of the 9^th November 1799, in the presence of her family.³

She was buried at Brigflats on the 12^th. A great many friends and neighbours assembled at the house to attend the funeral and to assist in carrying the remains. Brigflats was 3½ miles from Hebblethwaite, but even at that distance it was the custom of the neighbourhood to place the coffin on a bier, and for the men who attended the funeral to carry it on their shoulders. Robert Foster with his son Myles beside him on the same horse rode next the coffin, followed by his sister Elizabeth, his daughters Elizabeth & Mary and William Jepson of Lancaster in a post chaise, and some of the friends from a distance on horseback. They were met at Brigflats by several relations and friends from Kendal, who returned with the family to Hebblethwaite to dinner.^3A

Mary Burton was the daughter of [N140] James and [N141] Mary Burton .⁴

1 Joseph Foster (1871) A Pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England; Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; PRO RG 6/731, /1143

1A Myles B. Foster (1860): MS Memoir of Robert Foster

2 Foster (1871); Joseph Foster (1862) The Fosters of Cold Hesledon; Robert Spence Watson in John William Steel (1899) A Historical Sketch of the Society of Friends 'in Scorn called Quakers' in Newcastle & Gateshead 1653-1898. London & Newcastle, Headley Bros. : 113; Madge, Mrs B.H. 'Notes on the Diary Kept by Robert Foster, at Hebblethwaite Hall'; PRO RG 6/1081; Myles B. Foster (1860): MS Memoir of Robert Foster

2A Madge, Mrs B.H. 'Notes on the Diary Kept by Robert Foster, at Hebblethwaite Hall'

3 Foster (1871); Steel (1899): 116; Myles B. Foster (1860): MS Memoir of Robert Foster; RG 6/731, /1143

3A Myles B. Foster (1860): MS Memoir of Robert Foster; RG 6/731, /1143

4 Robert Spence Watson in Steel (1899): 111; RG 6/1081; Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD

N140. JAMES BURTON

James Burton was born at Dent on the 16^th December 1705.¹

He married Sarah Wilson on the 14^th December 1731, at Stramongate Friends’ meeting house, Kendal, Westmorland. Their children were: William (1732, Dent), James (1734), Sarah, John (1739), and James (1742). A yeoman, he lived in 1732 at Stonehouse, Dent, Yorks., and later – from 1746 to 1780 – at Hill, Sedbergh, Yorks. He was widowed when his wife Sarah died on the 18^th March 1747.²

James Burton married [N141] Mary Atkinson on the 27^th April 1749, at Brigflatts. Their children were: Isabel (1750), James (1751), [N139] Mary (1753), and John (1756), all born at Sedbergh.³

He died on the 29^th June 1780 at Hill, Sedbergh, and was buried on the 1^st July at Brigflatts, at which time he was described as a husbandman. His will – made on the 21^st January 1778 – was proved at Richmond on the 26^th September 1780, on the affirmation of his son John.³

James Burton was the son of [N140A] William and [N140B] Isabel Burton.⁴

1-2 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD, PRO RG 6/155, /1081, /1246, /1282, /1543, /1547

3 Robert Spence Watson in John William Steel (1899) A Historical Sketch of the Society of Friends 'in Scorn called Quakers' in Newcastle & Gateshead 1653-1898. London & Newcastle, Headley Bros.: 111; Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; RG 6/1235; LaDonna Young gedcom 1732273 www.ancestry.co.uk

4 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD, RG 6/1081, /1246, /1547

N140A. WILLIAM BURTON

William Burton of Dent married [N140B] Isabel Thistlethwaite on the 4^th October 1704, at Leeyet, Dent, Yorks. Their children were: [N140] James (1705), and William (1707). He died in 1706, his body being buried at Dent on 24 July that year.¹

1 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; PRO RG 6/1246, /1547

N140B. ISABEL BURTON born THISTLETHWAITE

Isabel Burton was christened on the 27^th October 1682 at Dent, Yorks. She was mentioned as a beneficiary in the will of her father [K17] Richard Thistlethwaite on the 19^th November 1686. In 1703 she was a Quaker Minister.¹

Of Dent, she married [N140A] William Burton on the 4^th October 1704, at Leeyeat Friends’ meeting house, Dent, Yorks. Their children were: [N140] James (1705), and William (1707).²

She married Richard Burton on the 3^rd December 1712, at Leeyet. Their children were: John (1713), Richard (1715), Margaret (1718) and Ann (1720).³

A Public Friend, she died on the 25^th October 1753, and was buried on the 27^th, Dent monthly meeting.⁴

Isabel Thistlethwaite was the daughter of [K17] Richard and [K18] Margaret Thistlethwaite.⁵

1 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD

2 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; PRO RG 6/1246, /1547

3 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; RG 6/1281

4 RG 6/1246, /1547

5 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD

N141. MARY BURTON born ATKINSON

Mary Atkinson was born about 1725, and married [N140] James Burton at Brigflatts, Sedbergh, Yorks., on the 27^th April 1749. Their children were: Isabel (1750), James (1751), [N139] Mary (1753), and John (1756), all born at Sedbergh.¹

She died at Brigflatts on the 18^th March 1802.²

Mary Atkinson was the daughter of [N142] John and [N143] Mary Atkinson.³

1 LaDonna Young gedcom 1732273 www.ancestry.co.uk; Robert Spence Watson in John William Steel (1899) A Historical Sketch of the Society of Friends in Scorn called Quakers in Newcastle & Gateshead 1653-1898. London & Newcastle, Headley Bros. : 111; Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; RG 6/1235

2 PRO RG 6/1081; LaDonna Young gedcom 1732273 www.ancestry.co.uk

3 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; RG 6/1013

N142. JOHN ATKINSON

John Atkinson was born on 12 May 1694 (or 1695), in the catchment area of Sedbergh Monthly Meeting.⁰

Of Stockton, he married [N143] Mary Cockfield on 14 July 1723, at Norton. Their children were: Elizabeth (c. 1724), [N141] Mary (c. 1725), John, James, Thomas, and Ruth. She was alive in 1777.¹

Late of Corn Close, but now of Mathews in South Lordland in Dent, he made his will on the 12^th December 1777. Of Leniker in Dent, he died on 26 May 1779, and his body was buried at Brigflatts on the 29^th. Following the taking of an inventory on the 18^th June 1779, the will was proved on the 23^rd.²

John Atkinson was the son of [N142A] John and [N142E] Sarah Atkinson.³

0 PRO RG 6/1013, /1075, /1082, /1246, /1285

1 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; RG 6/1013; information from Brian Davey; Edward H. Milligan (2007) Biographical Dictionary of British Quakers in Commerce and Industry, York; LaDonna Young gedcom 1732273 www.ancestry.co.uk;

2 Information from Brian Davey; RG 6/1075, /1082

3 RG 6/1013, /1075, /1082, /1246, /1285

N142A. JOHN ATKINSON

John Atkinson was born at Sedbergh on 11 August 1660.¹

Of Frostraw, Sedbergh, he married [N142E] Sarah Pinder on 6 May 1686, at Brigflatts Friends’ meeting house. Their children were: Joseph (1692), [N142] John (1694 or 1695), and Edward.²

From 1694 until his death he lived at Side, in Frostraw. His body was buried on 13 May 1728, the event being recorded by Sedbergh Monthly Meeting.³

John Atkinson was the eldest child of [N142B] Edward and [N142C] Mellery Atkinson.⁴

1 PRO RG 6/1246, /1285

2 RG 6/105, /1010, /1013, /1246, /1285

3 RG 6/1247, /1285

4 RG 6/1246

N142B. EDWARD ATKINSON

Edward Atkinson of the Side in Frostray, Sedbergh, married [N142C] Mellery Mason on 1 May 1659, near Sedbergh. Their children were: [N142A] John (1660), Thomas (1661/2), James (1663/4), and Samuel (1669).¹

Of Side in 1686 and 1688/9, his body was buried at Brigflatts on 14 March 1688/9.²

1 PRO RG 6/1246, /1285

2 RG 6/1246

N142C. MELLERY ATKINSON born MASON

Mellery Mason married [N142B] Edward Atkinson on 1 May 1659, near Sedbergh. Their children were: [N142A] John (1660), Thomas (1661/2), James (1663/4), and Samuel (1669).¹

As Mellera Atkinson, her burial on 25 December 1679 was recorded by Sedbergh Monthly Meeting.²

Mellery Mason was daughter to [N142D] Thomas Mason.³

1 PRO RG 6/1246, /1285

2 RG 6/1246

3 RG 6/1285

N142D. THOMAS MASON

Thomas Mason was of Kirthelt (?) in Dent in 1659.¹

1 PRO RG 6/1285

N142E. SARAH ATKINSON born PINDER

Sarah Pinder, of the Warth, Ravenstonedale, Westmorland, married [N142A] John Atkinson on 6 May 1686, at Brigflatts Friends’ meeting house.¹

Of Frostraw, their children were: Joseph (1692), [N142] John (1694 or 1695), and Edward.²

Her burial on 22 February 1713/4 was recorded by Sedbergh Monthly Meeting.³

1 PRO RG 6/1246, /1285

2 RG 6/1010, /105, /1246, /1285

3 RG 6/1246, /1285

N143. MARY ATKINSON born COCKFIELD

Mary Cockfield was born at Norton on 8 December 1703.²

She married [N142] John Atkinson at Norton, on 14 July 1723. Their children were: Elizabeth (c. 1724), [N141] Mary (c. 1725), John, James, Thomas, and Ruth.²

She died in 1764, her body being buried at Brigflatts on 25 May that year.^2A

Mary Cockfield and her twin sister were the youngest children of [N144] Nicholas and [N145] Margery Cockfield.³

1 TNA PRO RG 6/1013

2 Brian Davey: Thistlethwaite CD; information from Brian Davey; Edward H. Milligan (2007) Biographical Dictionary of British Quakers in Commerce and Industry, York; LaDonna Young gedcom 1732273 www.ancestry.co.uk; PRO RG 6/1013

2A RG 6/1246, /1285

3 RG 6/1013, /1074

N144. NICHOLAS COCKFIELD

Nicholas Cockfield married [N145] Margery Ward at Norton, on 2 June 1684.Their children were: Zechariah (1685/6), Joshua (1687/8), Caleb (1689), Thomas (1691), Alice (1692/3), Nicholas (1694), George (1695/6), Elizabeth (1697), Nicholas (1699), Heron (1700), Martha & [N143] Mary (twins, 1703). All births were registered at Norton^.1

From 1684 to at least 1719 he lived at Stockton.²

1 PRO RG 6/1013, /1474

2 RG 6/1474

N145. MARGERY COCKFIELD born WARD

Margery Ward married [N144] Nicholas Cockfield at Norton, on 2 June 1684.¹

Their children were: Zechariah (1685/6), Joshua (1687/8), Caleb (1689), Thomas (1691), Alice (1692/3), Nicholas (1694), George (1695/6), Elizabeth (1697), Nicholas (1699), Heron (1700), Martha & [N143] Mary (twins, 1703). All births were registered at Norton, her residence till at least 1719 being at Stockton.²

1 PRO RG 6/1013, /1474

2 RG 6/1474

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