SUMMERFIELD

On Ebay there's currently an "acknowledgement of deed by a married woman", specifically a document signed in 1861 by a Caroline Sophia SUMMERFIELD, wife of Arthur, regarding a property in Wing. Other names on the deed are Mary Faulkner, John Archer, Henry Charles Adams, George Capes & Charles Evans.

I won't be able to buy it, but if someone else out there does get it I'd love to know the specifics of which property it was and how the other names tie in (tenants?). Mary FAULKNER and Henry Charles ADAMS both lived at Burcott in the 1861 census, the other names don't ring a bell. So if the lucky buyer does read this blog post, please leave a comment with the details!

Lawrence FAULKNER

I've been doing a bit of digging into Wing brickmaker Lawrence FAULKNER's origins. I was trying to link him back to the earlier Faulkners circa 1800 - while I don't know that there is a connection, I've at least figured out who he was, maybe!

He was a bit of a mystery as he's living with his grandparents George and Jane CHAPPEL in 1881, then just with widowed Jane in 1891 and 1901 (by which stage he's 24). I couldn't find a baptism for him in Wing, or a direct link between the Faulkners and Chappels.

However I suspect he is the Laurance Boyd Faulkner whose birth is in the GRO registers in the September 1876 quarter. From there it is a short hop to further suspect he may be the son of Lawrence Boyd Faulkner and Mary Ann B CHAMBERLAIN who married somewhere in the Birmingham registration district a couple of years earlier. And there is a marriage between a George Chappel and a Jane Chamberlain in the Leighton Buzzard district in 1871. All supposition at this stage of course, but it looks promising!

The question that has me pondering now, is why was Lawrence jnr living with his grandmother? Lawrence snr and wife Mary Ann are still alive and well and living in Walsall Staffordshire in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 census (which also advise that Mary Ann was born in Leighton Buzzard while Lawrence was a Londoner), and the couple have further sons who are at home with them.

If there's anyone out there connected to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Brickmakers

A descendant of the GODMAN family recently contacted me - they were brickmakers so it's prompted me to look at brickmaking in Wing. Perhaps you can help?

* Any descendants of Richard HARRIS, George TRUEMAN, or Laurence FAULKNER out there?

* Does anyone have any photos of the brickworks at Littleworth, or of anyone known to have worked there?

* Does anyone know when the yard finally closed? And does anyone have any snippets of evidence to suggest there was brickmakers or brickmaking in Wing prior to 1859?

* It would be nice to have a photo (old or new) of a building in Wing known to be made of bricks from the Littleworth brickworks - I dare say there are probably a lot that fall into this category.