TAYLOR Elizabeth Taylor and William Coatsworth and James Smith On 23 November 1801 James Smith (a prominent member of Mrs Sarah Baker s theatrical company, based in Canterbury) married Elizabeth Coatsworth, widow by banns at St Paul s, Canterbury. The Kentish Chronicle of 1 December announced: Monday se nnight was married at St Paul s Church in this city Mr William [sic] Smith, of Mrs Baker s Company of Comedians, to Mrs Cotesworth of Broad Street. 1 Elizabeth was the mother of twin boys James and George, base born in late 1799 or early 1800 and baptised in the name of Coatsworth on 4 May 1800 at St Paul s, but always afterwards called Smith. 2 On 30 November 1790 Elizabeth Taylor of St Martin s, Canterbury had married at St Martin s William Coatsworth, a wine cooper of St Mary Magdalene s (the Burgate area within the city walls): the marital status of neither was stated, William signed while Elizabeth marked and the witnesses were James Price and Elizabeth [...]. 3 Elizabeth bore William two sons: William (baptised at St Paul s on 23 September 1792); and James (baptised at St Paul s on 22 December 1793). Elizabeth s husband William Coatsworth died in August 1794 and was buried at St Paul s on 28 August, leaving her with their two sons aged 2 and 1. Elizabeth Taylor was baptised at Hackington, Canterbury on 18 December 1768, a daughter of William Taylor of Hackington and his wife Susannah Dove. 4 Origins The name Taylor is, of course, a simple occupational one. 5 The earliest Taylors occurring in the Hackington registers were John (marrying Jane Clement, widow on 5 May 1580); William (churchwarden in 1604); John (marrying Ursula Rosam on 25 October 1636). A Perticular of Heckington for 1653/4 shows several Taylors. 6 Mr Edward Taylor married Mrs Catherine Skelton on 1 September 1706. James Taylor married Lydia Williams on 16 April 1711. One William Taylor was assessed on 10 rent as an outdweller in Hackington for the poor rate from January 1673/4 until February 1675/6, but not thereafter. One George Taylor was assessed from 1674 1691, on a huge rent of 50 (reducing to 45 from 1675). In 1686 there were enries for Mr Geo. Taylor ( 45) and George Taylor ( 3). One Thomas Taylor was one of those signing to approve the assessments of 1693 and 1694/5. 7 William Taylor and Susannah Dove William Taylor and Susannah Dove, maiden were married at Hackington by banns on 26 November 1765. William signed, while Susannah marked and the witnesses were Joseph Dove and Thomas Fuller (clerk). Their children were baptised at Hackington as follows: John (20 July 1766); Elizabeth (18 December 1768); William (17 March 1771 21 February 1775); Sarah (15 August 17 December 1773); Mildred (13 November 1774); Mary (13 April 1777); William (19 September 1779); Jane (7 April 1782); Sarah (8 May 1785). We shall see that the marriages of Elizabeth, Jane and Sarah have been found, but not those of John, Mildred, Mary or William. A large house (with a garden spot ) was built c. 1767 by one J. Nicholls on Hackington Common and sold to Thomas Fuller by 1770). William Taylor and Aylin were tenants of the front rooms in 1767: and John Gammon and Dadd at the back. In the 1770 tithe account for Fuller s new house on the Common William Taylor is noted as he who married Sus. Dove. The vicar was to note later that the new large house on the hill hath never paid me [tithe compositions] since it was built. 8 1
William Taylor first appears in the Hackington window tax records in 1769, paying 3s per annum for 3 lights. He was not listed in 1770 1773, but was paying 3s for 4 lights in 1774.: this assessment was for Mr Taylor in 1775 1778 and subsequently for Stephen Taylor. 9 William Taylor was assessed on a 3 rent for the 1775 poor rate and Stephen on one of 2 10s: neither occur in the only other assessments for the period (1767 and 1768). 10 On 17 December 1773 William and Susannah s four-month-old daughter Sarah was buried at Hackington: William (almost four) was buried on 21 February 1775. (We have seen that a second William was born in 1779 and a second Sarah in 1785). William Taylor was assessed at 3s (for 3) in the 1775 poor rate of Hackington. Later on the vicar noted (in respect of the new house on the Common built by Thomas Fuller, Wm Taylor, tenant hath paid me nothing. 11 By 1795 Mr Taylor was assessed on a 2 10s rent for poor rate: it was probably the same property for which one Stephen Taylor was assessed from November 1802 until April 1814. 12 In 1784 Wm Taylor was paying 3s tax on five windows at Hackington (and Susannah Taylor and sisters, poor on four in Longport, Canterbury). 13 One William Taylor was buried at St Paul s in 1785 and 1791. By Lady Day 1788 Susanah Taylor was assessed for 2s 6d tithe payments on a 2 10s rental house in Longport, St Paul s, between those of Richard Head and Richard Pierce. Her payments fell behind from 1790 so that she owed 12 quarterly payments when she was listed for the last time on Lady Day 1792. 14 Mrs Susannah Taylor was buried at St Paul s on 11 May 1800. It seems unlikely that Susannah Taylor s husband could have been the William Taylor who was licensee of the Royal Oak in the borough of Longport, Canterbury from 1779 to 1794 or of [obviously another] William Taylor, licensed to the Eight Bells, in St Dunstan s, Canterbury from 1790 to 1801. 15 No Taylors appear in the Hackington land tax returns from 1732 onwards and neither William nor Susannah was buried at Hackington in the period to 1812. 16 It is also the case that the only occasion when someone named Taylor acted as a witness at a marriage in Hackington from 1757 (the year such witnesses were first recorded) until at least 1800, was on 22 January 1791 when Thomas Taylor marked as witness for John Parker. No Taylors are mentioned (even as witnesses) in any of the wills of Hackington residents proved in the Canterbury consistory or prerogative courts in the entire period 1660 1800. 17 The daughters and sons of William and Susannah Taylor On 30 November 1790 Elizabeth Taylor (22) married William Coatsworth, wine cooper at St Martin s, Canterbury. Elizabeth was to marry James Smith in 1802, moving with him from Canterbury to Norwich in 1804, where she died in 1838. James Smith died at King s Lynn in 1851. On 31 July 1800 Jane Taylor, now 18 and a spinster of St Mary, Northgate, Canterbury married Thomas Banister after banns at St Mary s: Banister signed, while Jane marked and the witnesses were William Rawlis and William Bligh (the clerk). 18 After Banister s death Jane (by then in London) married Thomas Goss, a surgeon and then Robert Thomas Crucefix, also a surgeon. Jane retired with Robert from London to Kent (Milton, near Gravesend), living on there after his death in 1850 and dying there in 1869. On 11 January 1806 Sarah Taylor married James Dennis, a gunsmith after banns at St Peter, Cornhill. One of the witnesses was Mary Taylor, perhaps Sarah s older sister. The couple lived in London, where Sarah died in 1818 and James in 1829. We have observed that of the three daughters of William and Susannah Taylor who can be followed beyond childhood (Elizabeth, Jane and Sarah), all married and moved away from Kent. Eliza[beth] moved to Norwich and Jane and Sarah to London. We have seen that their sister Mary (by then 29 and still unmarried) was a witness at Sarah s wedding in London. 19 It is possible that two of the brothers of Elizabeth, Jane, Sarah and Mary are to be found in the 1841 and 1851 census returns. In 1841 one John Taylor was a silk weaver (c. 75) living with Elizabeth (c. 55) in 2
North Lane, Canterbury (in the parish of Holy Cross, Westgate Without, close to St Stephen s [Hackington] Road). In 1851 John Taylor (87, two or three years older than we might expect) was a silk weaver and pauper (born in Canterbury ), with his wife Elizabeth (58) at the same address. In 1861 Elizabeth was 77, a Norwich-born widow, still at North Lane. Elizabeth may have been the 79-year-old widow of that name living in St Mary, Bredin parish when she died, but buried at St Gregory s, Canterbury on 28 February 1865. 20 In 1841 William Taylor (c. 60) was a lodging house keeper living at 9 South Parade, St James, Bath with Mary (c. 65), George (c. 35, a musician), William (c. 30) and Jane (c. 25). By 1851 William (72, only a few months older then we might expect), was a widower, his address and occupation unchanged, living with his son George (musician, 47) and daughter Jane (35) and Daniel Martin a visitor, general annuitant and widower. The last three were all Middlesex born: George may have been the son of William and Mary Taylor, baptised at St George s, Hanover Square on 14 February 1805. Some other Hackington Taylors Lucy Taylor of Canterbury was buried at Hackington on 25 October 1744. A little older than William and Susannah Taylor were Thomas and Mary Taylor (of Hall Farm, 1759) whose children Elizabeth and Thomas were baptised at Hackington on 18 February 1759 and 7 August 1763. Mary Taylor, married woman was buried on 3 October 1765. It was probably Thomas and Mary s son Thomas who was married to Rebecca Parker on 23 July 1787. Their children James, Johnand Mary Taylor were baptised on 6 February 1788 (buried 11 February), 28 December 1788 and 2 November 1790. A little younger than William and Susannah Taylor were Stephen and Hester/Esther Taylor. Stephen was born c. 1745 and was of Boughton-under-Blean when he married Esther Johncock of Sturry on 14 February 1774 at Sturry. In 1774 Stephen rented land at Tyler Hill, Hackington from John Nicholl. 21 Children of Stephen and Hester were baptised at Hackington (Thomas, 7 May 1775; Hester, born 22 March 1778; James, 2 September 1780, Stephen, 18 May 1783; John, 13 December 1789 and Mary Ann, born 12 January 1794). Hester died at four and was buried on 10 February 1782, James at seven (buried 10 February 1788). Mr Taylor was listed next to Joseph Dove in the window tax returns of 1774 1778: from 1779 this listing is for Stephen Taylor. In 1775 and thereafter until April 1814 one Stephen Taylor was assessed for poor rate on a rent of 2 10s at Hackington. 22 One Stephen Taylor was buried at Hackington in 1803 and on 11 April 1813 was buried there Stephen Taylor many years at Tyler Hill [Hackington], but lately in the workhouse in the borough of Staplegate : he was 68. He was perhaps the son of William and Rebecca Taylor of Elham, baptised there on 27 June 1742. William Taylor and Rebecca Ayres were married by licence at Elham on 12 August 1740. [One Stephen Taylor was a Hackington freeholder in 1832 and was probably a brother of George Taylor of Canterbury, gent. who died in 1823. On 14 August 1746 one William Taylor, bachelor and gardener of Canterbury (23) and Ann Austen, spinster of St Paul s, Canterbury were married by licence at Hackington.] 23 One Sarah Taylor was one of the six almspeople occupying houses in Sir Roger Manwood s Hospital at Hackington from 1755 1771. Sarah Taylor, one of the almspeople was buried at Hackington on 22 September 1771. Sarah s hospital house was held by the husband of Sarah Taylor, deceased for the one year 1772. and and Lee Taylor, widower was buried on 24 January 1772. 24 Elizabeth Taylor, spinster of Hackington married Henry Saffery, a Blean bachelor after banns on 15 February 1790. It seems likely that she was the widow (c. 65 and 79 ) living in Blean in 1841 and 1851, born in Sturry and buried at Blean on 24 April 1853, aged 83 and thus born c. 1770. Mary Taylor, buried on 22 May 1798 may have been the daughter of William and Susannah (by now 21), or Stephen and Hester s daughter Mary Ann (4) or Thomas and Rebecca s daughter (7). A younger Stephen Taylor was born at Hackington c. 1814. He married Mary Ann and had at least eight 3
children, living at Tyler Hill in 1861 and 1881 and at Briton Farm, Hackington in 1871. Stephen died at Hackington on 25 January 1885. His widow Mary Ann was at Tyler Hill in 1891 and died at Dover on 3 February 1894, aged 76: she was buried at Hackington. (adjacent parishes: Blean, Sturry, Canterbury, Canterbury, Dunkirk) T.M. Steel (5 September 2013) 4
1 For christenings, marriages & burials [hereafter cmbs] St Paul s, Canterbury: Canterbury Cathedral Archives [hereafter C.C.A ], U3/81/1; Broad St lies beside & outside city walls 2 C.C.A., U3/81/4 (Cs 1792, 1793 & 1800; Bs 1794) 3 For cmbs St Martin s: C.C.A., U3/96/1 4 For cmbs Hackington: C.C.A., U3/39/1 (/1/2 to 1791); [archdeacon s tss also checked 1753 1799: K.H.L.C., Dca/BT/82, folder 2] 5 C.W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English & Welsh Surnames (London, 1901), p. 739 6 K.H.L.C., U214/E19/15 7 C.C.A., U3/39/12/1 (Hackington overseers accs, 1667--1696) 8 C.C.A., U3/39/3/1 (Tithe acc. bk 1, c. 1763 c. 1784, pp. 121--122) 9 K.H.L.C., Q/CTw (Hackington) 10 C.C.A., U3/39/3/1 (in Hackington tithe acc. Bk, 1763 1784, f. 161; U3/39/3/2 (tithe acc., 1776 1798, ff. 107 & 109) 11 C.C.A., U3/39/3/2 (p. 109) 12 C.C.A., U3/39/12/3 & 12/2 13 K.H.L.C., Q/CTi (1784 window tax return, wrongly filed with inhabited house tax returns) 14 Susannah was replaced by Sarah Taylor (another defaulter) for 1 year, but from Michaelmas 1793 neither Taylor nor their neighbours Head & Pierce are listed 15 K.H.L.C., Q/RLv 4/3-4 (film Z2186--2187); recognizance for Wm at Longport was Wm Cornwall, shoemaker (1789), Jas Abbott of Canterbury, baker (1790 & 1795, while Jas Rufford of Canterbury, corn factor stood for Wm of St Dunstan s (1790 & 1795): Q/RLv 2 (searched 1771 1814). Abraham Taylor was at Robin Hood & Little John, Longport 1748; Stephen Taylor was at Eight Bells, St Dunstan s 1751 1753, with a note 1754 that he had removed ; Thos Taylor of St Paul s gave recognizance for Robt Costen at Royal Oak, Longport 1758 & 1759, as hop-planter 1758 & labourer 1759; 1795 Thos Taylor, Holy Cross (Canterbury) had the Blue Anchor (recognizance by Jas Abbott) & Edwd Taylor succeeded Wm at Longport (until 1801); Wm Taylor was at Pelham & at Blean (1797 only) & at Herne 1802 1806: Q/RLv/2 & Q/RLv 4/1--4 16 K.H.L.C., Q/CT1 (1723 1779) & Q/RP1/153; in 1789 there were many Taylors paying land tax as occupiers at Milton next Sittingbourne (Q/RP1/254). Madam Katherine Taylor occupied 13 rental land under Sir Jn Hales 1723 1730; H. Taylor was one of those certifying land tax assessments 1739 & 1747 17 K.H.L.C., PRC 17 & 16 & T.N.A., PROB 11 18 C.C.A., U3/103/1/3* 19 Mildred also probably survived childhood (she was not bur. Hackington in this period), but we have no further record of her 20 Grave no. E469 21 Info. from Janis Kirby 22 K.H.L.C., Q/Tw (Hackington); C.C.A., U3/39/3/1 23 C.C.A., Dcb/MB alleg only 24 St Stephen s church, Hackington, Minute Book 1 of Manwood s hospital