If the lower part of this page is 'greyed over', please refresh the page to overcome this temporary fault
Reverend William Adamthwaite (1779-1849)
son of Thomas Adamthwaite and Mary (Pearson) - OLIVE line
In 1826 Rev. William Adamthwaite was the Vicar of West Stockwith, a pleasant village on the West bank of the Trent – four miles NNW of Gainsborough at the southern extremity of the Isle of Axholme. It contained 90 houses & 618 inhabitants. A fair was held annually on the 4 (wk??) of September for horses and horned cattle. In 1714 a ships’ carpenter left by will certain lands and 740 pounds in money for the purpose of building a Chapel of Ease for the maintenance of a minister and for erecting 10 cottages
![wstock[1]](/communities/7/004/006/871/327/images/4524294240_pre.jpg)
for the village, each to receive 10 pounds per annum. He also directed the sum of 5 pounds to be paid to a schoolmaster for the children of shipwrights and seamen to read and write. In 1826 there were William Farr shipsmith, William Cullwood, Mariner, Robert Brown mariner in the village. In 1841 the Rev. W. Adamthwaite was still the Vicar.
There were Bomforth and Taylor boat builders, Thomas Wagstaff boat owner and Wm. Waterhouse wharfinger.
In 1826 Goods carried by water to Retford Wed. & Sat. 5am returning ½ past 8 in the evening. Gainsborough Tuesday and Thursday 8am to 6pm. Goods also conveyed by the Chesterfield Canal to Retford.
But as well as his parish, Rev William also had an interest in the Academy at Winton, run by his brother, Rev John Adamthwaite, or so it appears from the advertisements placed in the Times (see Press articles).
In 1818, William married Sarah Flower in Misterton, and they had three children: Edwin, Emma and William (though the youngest, William, died at the age of three). It is possible that the two older children were named after the ill-fated lovers in the then popular 'Ballad of Edwin and Emma' by David Mallett.
![edwinemmagrave[1]](/communities/7/004/006/871/327/images/4524294239_pre.jpg)
From census information, it looks as if Sarah and William may have separated, as in the 1841 census Rev William is living in West Stockwith, but his wife Sarah was living in Frances St, Kingston upon Hull with her married daughter Emma Raynes and her son Edwin was also living there.
Sarah Adamthwaite died at 2 Bickley Road in Rotherhithe, London in January 1846 aged 56 years, the cause of death was 'Hypertrophy of the heart, several years' and the person who reported her death was Mary Thorndike, present at the death, of Cow Lane Rotherhithe. Perhaps she was living in Rotherhithe with her daughter, as Emma's son William Adamthwaite Raynes was born in Rotherhithe the following year.
Rev William died in May 1949 at West Stockwith aged 69 years, occupation Clergyman, cause of death decay of nature. The death was reported by his daughter Emma Raynes, present at the death.
Whilst Emma went on to a life in America (see Miscellany 3) her brother Edwin seems to have been passed around the family! In 1851 he was living in Winton with his aunt Hannah Burrell. We have not found him in the 1861 census in England, but we did find an Edwin Adamthwaite of the right age on a passenger ship to America in September of 1851. Did he travel to visit his sister?
In 1871 Edwin was back in England living with his cousin Ann Lord in Winton and in 1881 with his cousin William Burrell in Winton (in all these entries he was described as an annuitant, or of 'independent means' - so clearly his father left him financially independent - see Rev William's will.
By the time of the 1891 census, Edwin was a patient in St Cuthbert's Lunatic Asylum in Whitehaven, Cumberland and later that year he died there.
We have recently discovered a poem written 'to Edwin Adamthwaite Esquire' by Jarvis William Close (who was also a patient at St Cuthberts), and the text of this will shortly be included in a new Miscellany section 'an Adamthwaite Anthology'. Jarvis Close was the son of a very popular poet of the time named John Close.
The tragedy was based on a real life event which took place in Bowes (where Rev William's brother Rev Joseph was curate from 1797 to 1810) and the young lovers are buried in Bowes churchyard.
The Bowes Parish Records record the real-life tragedy thus:
"Roger Wrightson, jun and Martha Railton, both of Bowes, buried on one grave; he died in a fever; and upon hearing his passing bell, she cried out, My heart is broke, and in a few hours expired supposed thro' love, March 15th 1714, aged about 20 years each"
You can read the Ballad of Edwin and Emma, courtesy of Google Books, here.
calling all Adamthwaites:
Adamthwaite Forum
the Adamthwaite quiz
contact details:
adamthwaite @ one-name.org
site redesigned in Jan 2009, using SiteMaker 4.0
at moonfruit.com
comments welcome
You are viewing the text version of this site.
To view the full version please install the Adobe Flash Player and ensure your web browser has JavaScript enabled.
Need help? check the requirements page.
