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PROCTER CHRONOLOGY AND DOCUMENT LINKS

LINKS TO DOCUMENTS & PHOTOS RELATED TO PROCTERS, DOBSONS, STRINGERS ...

Recent Ancestors (with Portraits)     Fletcher / Procter ancestor chart     Fletcher Early Chronology and Document Links     Later Fletcher Stuff     all bmd links

Photos and Procter church records from Barnard Castle      Scarborough Trade Directories 1823 - 1905      Robert Procter's Descendants

STAINDROP, (OLD) BRIGNALL, ROKEBY & BARNARD CASTLE

STAINDROP (St Mary)

The Nevilles and Gaunts are not part of our family, but Procter descendant Fletch was chuffed with the photo.

The 6th Earl, Charles Neville (1543-1601 (58)) sadly lost the lot - titles and lands - in 1571, as a result of trying to liberate Mary Queen of Scots.

Now, here's the extraordinary thing - the Westmoreland Earldom was revived in 1624 in favour of Sir Francis Fane, product of Maidstone Grammar and Queens Cambridge, and later inter alia MP for Maidstone.

The Fane family lived around Ightham (Kent) and were still enjoying what remained of the mega moolah generated by an earlier Fane, who was involved in the capture and ransom of King John II le Bon of France at the battle of Poitiers in 1356 when he fought with the Black Prince in the 100 years' war.

In addition Francis was the only child / heir of his dad Thomas' second marriage to Mary Neville (yes as above), (La) Baron le Despenser etc and one of England's richest.  Francis' parents in-law were the Mildmays, who owned Apethorpe House et al which he also inherited.  Two generations previously Thomas Mildmay had been in charge of monastery closing for Henry VIII.

Francis (1580 - 1629 (49)), who it transpires was Adrian's 10x grt grandfather, had 7 sons and 6 daughters.  Son number 7 (Robert) married  Dorothy Sedley, and their daughter Elizabeth married Lewis Incledon (1636 - 1698 (62)) of Braunton (Devon) and they became Adrian's 8xgrt grandparents.  And all of this before any of the Procters even appeared on our radar!

and here is how all this translates into the 1510 - 1736 Fane / Incledon family tree

link to Incledon memorials in St Brannock, Braunton

Our first recorded Procter event in Staindrop is in 1730 - the christening of 5xGrt Grandfather Robert Procter on 21 July 1730.  Presently we do not have any christening or marriage records for his parents Robert Procter snr and Ann Musgrave - they must have married c1726, but this may well have been in another church (ie her parish).  

Ann Procter (Musgrave) was buried here on 10 June 1733 (unsurprisingly, no gravestone has been found). 

6xgrt grandfather Robert Procter Snr married second wife Mary Calvert here on 6 February 1734.  They later moved on to Brignall (see below).

St Mary, Staindrop in 1949 - photo from Bev Wilkin collection. 

(OLD) BRIGNALL

The mill and village of (Old) Brignall were on the River Greta near Greta Bridge.  Today's Brignall is at the top of the hill and has a Victorian church (consecrated in 1834).

All that is left in the valley are the minimal ruins of Old Brignall Church and a couple of small stone farm-huts at the end of a long, beautiful but very slippery and muddy walk down into the Greta River valley near Barnard Castle, whence Adrian was directed by a local who (luckily) lied about the distance and the degree of difficulty. 

The church was in much better nick (and still in use) when it posed for JMW Turner's 1800s etching (lower right), though even then there was no sign of the mill or its village.

Robert Procter Snr had moved here from Staindrop a hundred years' earlier in the early 1740s, and became variously Church Warden, Overseer (of the poor) and Constable.  Records from the parish accounts book are included here.

One of his sons, another Robert Procter (1730 - 1799 (68)) who had been christened in Staindrop in 1730, married Elizabeth Hall in the little Brignall church on 15 May 1758. 

There is a burial record for a Robert Procter in SS Peter & Felix, the parish church of Kirkby Ravensworth, on 22 January 1770 – if this is our man he would have been about 70.

ROKEBY

The Rokeby church of old was a bit further back down the Greta River than Old Brignall - near the Dairy Bridge at the junction with the River Tees.  As the 1700s unfurled it was getting distinctly tatty.  From the end of the 1720s the “diplomat/amateur architect” owner of the Rokeby estate, Sir Thomas Robinson, poured all his resources into his self designed “Palladio-Burlington” palazzo, and it was not till 1740 that work started on a new church in a new location, by which time the old one was all but unusable. 

Things moved slowly, not helped by the fact that money was so tight that in 1769 Sir Thomas sold Rokeby to John Bacon Sawrey Morritt.  Morritt completed the “nave only” north-south orientated church, and it was consecrated in May 1776.  Robert Procter jnr was one of the signatories to the formal petition to the bishops asking for the consecration of the church, which Dr Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle did on 30 May 1776.  The Morritt family added a chancel in 1877.

Robert jnr's 4th child and Adrian's 4xgrt grandfather Joseph Procter Snr was christened in the Rokeby Chapel on 21 January 1764 (before it was completed / consecrated!).

Rokeby vicars were seconded from the canons of nearby Egglestone Abbey (below right), and when they passed on upstairs they were coffined up in an enclosure at the corner of the churchyard (right).   BUT NO - HANG ON - Big King Henry had closed down Egglestone in 1540, well over 200 years before this site existed ..... beware taking web "facts" at face value!

The Rokeby churchyard does definitely contain three "cadet line" Procter graves from the 1800s which we have photos of.

Robert jnr was described as "A Farmer" when he was buried in Barnard Castle St Marys on 14 April 1799.  His widow Elizabeth was buried there on 16 December 1805.  No gravestone survives despite there being one for their daughters in  law, the three wives of Joseph Procter Snr (see below).

Rokeby Chapel - now stripped of old trees, bell, ivy etc, locked and apparently unused,

and fronted unpleasantly by a single carriageway stretch of the heavily trucked A66.

Things looked a lot less bleak and much more friendly in 1949 - photo from Bev Wilkin collection.

Egglestone Abbey - set above the River tees

1828-29 Joseph Procter Snr, Chemyst and Grocer (65)

LINK

is recorded in the small but fascinating 1828-29 commercial directory which lists the occupations of the tradesmen who drove the small early Victorian market town of Barnard Castle.  Joseph Procter was also listed as a Chemyst in the 1834 Pigots Directory of Barnard Castle.  His shop is still there - the opticians near the market cross.

1841 - Joseph Procter Snr,

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Robert and Harrison's father, retired from his Barnard Castle shop and aged 77, being looked after by daughter Jane in Broadgate, Barnard Castle.  Grandson Michael Dixon (from a daughter of his third marriage) also in residence.

1843 - Joseph Procter Snr signs a will on 9 June 1843

FULL WILL

A super family document - this is a direct copy of the original including Joseph's signature.  By the time Joseph Snr died in 1847b (aged 83) less than £100 remained to go round.

1847 - Joseph Procter Snr dies on Christmas eve and

LINK

is buried in St Mary, Barnard Castle, on December 28th aged 83 - he probably joined in the wives' grave.

1850 - 23 July,  probate granted on the less than £100 estate

of Joseph Procter, druggist of Barnard Castle - to be spread (very thinly) between 7 surviving children / their wives.

YORK, BUBWITH & HAXBY

LINK TO MAP OF ROBERT PROCTER'S YORK

In York c1830 Robert Procter (b1794), son of Joseph

and Adrian's 3xgrt grandfather, is operating as a chemyst in Walmgate, York, but does not get picked up in any directories.  Walmgate was one of the poorest slums in England, and it is probably best not to speculate what Robert's work involved !

EARLIER IN YORK

1801 - Elizabeth Procter (Ashton) baptised on 6 September

at this font in St Olave, York, the most evocative of York's old churches.

Elizabeth's father John Ashton was a coachman

and the family came from Bubwith , on the River Derwent just south of York.  We have tracked a few of them back a couple of generations.

Bubwith - the Parish Church of All Saints

22 January 1819 - Robert Procter (25) (son of Joseph Snr)

LINK

marries Elizabeth Ashton (17) under the hammer beam angels of the (now) posh All Saints Church (North Street), York on 24 January 1819

Their first child, daughter Mary Harrison Procter was christened here on 30th April 1820.  On 24 November 1843 she married an Australian surnamed Harrison - thus becoming Mary Harrison Harrison!  She died in Liverpool in November 1867 aged 47.

1831 - Robert and Elizabeth's only son, Joseph Procter, born in Walmgate, York, on 7 July 1831, and later christened in the "Percy Family Church" of St Denys Walmgate.

St Denys - Today's church is only half the length of what it used to be, and if you are lucky enough to get inside you get more of a feel for its grand width.

1834 Pigot's York Directory

No mention of Robert the Chemyst either here or in the 1840 York Whites Directory.  The only description we have of what Robert did for a living comes posthumously from the 1859 wedding record of his son Joseph in Scarborough where he was described as a "druggist" - as Walmgate was one of the poorest slums in England, what this meant is open to speculation!

1841 Census - Robert & Elizabeth Procter & Family in George St, Walmgate, York

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Robert Procter is living with wife Elizabeth (Ashton) and 4 children including Joseph in George St, Walmgate, York (at the Fishergate end, now completely rebuilt though some of the Pub might just be a survivor).  What people did for a living was not included in the 1841 census.

This is Fishergate Bar, which leads directly into George St.  All the old slum houses were dozered and replaced with a council house estate, but it's possible that the pub was there in Robert's day.  The grave of the highwayman Dick Turpin is further down the road on the left, except that we got diverted to undertake a lengthy photo shoot of the Romanesque porch of St Margaret's church in the other direction, plus a lazy lunch on Walmgate, and then forgot about old Dick.

LINK TO MAP OF ROBERT PROCTER'S YORK

1842 - Robert Procter(48) dies suddenly on 2 August 1842.

 

Luckily for us there are gravestone transcripts in the York Cemetery records which were done a few decades ago when the grave-stone inscriptions were less weathered.  Light type indicates information which we have added from other sources.  Robert's headstone reads:

In memory of Robert Procter who died August 2nd 1842 aged 48 years Also Elizabeth second daughter of the above who died May 28th 1865 aged 43 years Also Martha youngest daughter of the above who died Oct. 14th 1867 aged 32 years Mary Harrison, daughter of the above who died Nov. 19th 1867 aged 47 years Also Elizabeth widow of the above Robert Procter who died Sep. 22nd 1873 aged 72 years.

York Cemetery guardians Hugh and David

LINK

The Procter family is living at the Fishergate Bar end of George Street, in Walmgate, York, one of the poorest urban areas in England, and he is buried at a cost of four and six (4s 6d) with 9 complete strangers in a public grave in York Cemetery.  Some years' later there was a memorial headstone erected probably by his only son - Joseph Procter jnr - which included the names of other dead Procter family members at that time.   A transcript is shown on the left.  Thanks to Wendy, Hugh and David for all their help in relation to York Cemetery and the Robert Procter grave.

Of the people listed on the headstone, only Robert is actually in the grave, along with 6 unrelated infants and 3 unrelated adults.

The last lines on the gravestone relate to the death of Robert's wife Elizabeth, and are in good condition after lying buried before David exposed them (wish he had come with us to Barnard Castle) !  Elizabeth's grave, which by contrast looks like new, is in St Mary Haxby (see lower in page).

The children of Robert & Elizabeth Procter were:

*Mary Harrison Harrison (Procter) Ch 1820 All Saints, North St, York.  Died in Liverpool in November 1867 aged 47.

*Elizabeth Lazenby (Procter) Ch 1820 St Mary, Barnard Castle.  Died May 28th 1865 aged 43 years, also buried in York (6733).

Sarah Procter Ch December 1823 in Barnard Castle Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.  Death date not known.

Ann Procter Ch 1826 St Mary, Barnard Castle.  Death date not known.

Joseph Procter, Adrian's 2 x grt grandfather.  Ch Jul 1831 in nearby St Denys. Bu Manor Rd Cemetery, Scarborough, November 1902

      (see lower in page).

*Martha Britton (Procter) Ch February 1835 on York.  Bu St Mary, Haxby October 1867 (18/10) aged 32.

* also commemorated on this gravestone.

As revealed above, Robert's mother's gravestone in St Mary, Barnard Castle, also has a memorial statement for Robert - probably done well before this one in York.

1861 - Elizabeth Procter (60 - widow of Robert)

LINK

remarries much later.  The groom is retired farmer George Kettlewell.  The wedding on October 16 1861 was in St Marys, Birkenhead (witnesses Benjamin Bake and Sarah Bake).   Later a son of Joseph and Elizabeth Procter is given "Benjamin Bake" as a Christian name, and he (but not Sarah) lies in the family grave in Manor Rd, Scarborough.  We know no more about the Bakes.

HAXBY

Elizabeth Kettlewell (formerly Procter formerly Ashton)

 

In Memory of George Kettlewell many years churchwarden of this parish who died June 24th 1876 aged 78 years Also of Elizabeth his wife who died Septr 22nd 1873 aged 72 years.

dies on 22 September 1873 aged 72, and George dies on 24 June 1876 aged 78.  Their shared grave is in St Mary, Haxby (grave 22/09).  Elizabeth and Robert's youngest daughter Martha Britton, who probably died in child birth, is also buried at Haxby (grave 18/10) but we did not have time to locate the grave.

The Fletcher's town of Oxenhope is between Hebden Bridge and Haworth

NOTE THAT FLETCHER DOCUMENTS ARE NOW ON A SEPARATE PAGE

SCARBOROUGH

LINK TO MAP OF PROCTER AND FLETCHER SCARBOROUGH

1803 - Elizabeth Dobson (Stringer) is baptised

LINK

in the beautiful old Parish Church of Saint Mary, Scarborough  where at least three generations of Stringers before her had also been baptised and wed (and probably buried).

The beautiful old parish church of St Mary has been there in various forms since at least the early 1100s.  In 1189, shortly after Richard I acceded to the throne, it is said that whilst he was hangin out in Dover waiting to take off on the Third Crusade, he granted the revenues of St Mary's to the Abbot of (Cistercian) Citeaux.  A big aisle building campaign in the early 1200s was a bit of an on again / off again thing because of Innocent III excommunicating King John and trying to financially ruin the Cistercians etc

, but it was finished post John (and Innocent) in 1225.  The aisles were further augmented

It took more than the most powerful Pope in history to stop the Scarborough masons, who eventually went for the jackpot by doubling the length of the church with a Quire.  This was all completed by 1450, and in use for nearly 200 years until, in 1645, one of O Cromwell's artillery officers sneaked a brace of canons into the church at night, and at daybreak opened fire on the royalist held castle.  The castle returned fire enthusiastically and the when the smoke cleared the castle keep was ruined as was the "new" choir, the western church towers and much else in the church.  When things settled down again there was not enough money to rescue the east end or the western towers, but the rest of the church was lovingly rebuilt.  In the mid 1800s there was a Victorian clean out and all the medieval clutter of galleries, box pews etc were removed.  What was left is a most beautifully proportioned space that Adriano found  a lovely place to just sit and be!

27 December 1827- Elizabeth Stringer (24)

LINK

marries Matthew Dobson, Master Mariner, in the Parish Church "on the hill" of Saint Mary, Scarborough.  Their daughter Elizabeth will marry Robert Procter's son Joseph, but by this time the venue has switched to the Wesleyean Methodist Hall - possibly more satisfying spiritually, but not in the same league as a space.

1832 Young Elizabeth Dobson (Procter to be)

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christened in St Mary's Parish Church, Scarborough.  After this there were no more Dobson children and the likelihood must be that Matthew disappeared or was lost at sea in the next year or two.

1840 Elizabeth Dobson snr in

1840 Whites Scarborough Directory under "miscellany of trades".

1841 Census - Elizabeth Dobson (Stringer) aged 36 and

LINK

2 daughters in Scarborough - husband (sailor Matthew Dobson) was not around, in fact we have no evidence of him after the 1832 birth of second daughter Elizabeth.  She is shown here as having "independent means". 

1845 - The railway comes to Scarborough but

LINK TO MAP OF PROCTER AND FLETCHER SCARBOROUGH

afterwards it takes over 50 years for the town's retail centre to move west to "outside the walls" Westborough (where the railway station is).

Today's Scarborough steam rail link (link to attribution) pulled by the "Duchess of Sutherland" - back in the '50s my main Hornby Dubloo engine was the Duchess class "Duchess of Montrose" - a beautiful scale model which can still be found on e-Bay today.

Back in York, just to show that team Fletcher is capable of more than churches and restaurants, here is the LNER Mallard class engine - world speed holder and part of the magnificent York Railway Museum.

1851 Census - Elizabeth Dobson in Scarborough

LINK

- now the mother and one daughter (who will marry Joseph Procter) milliner team living together.  The handwriting is difficult to read but she seems to be described as a widow - it is likely in fact that Master Mariner Matthew had died / disappeared long ago in the mid 30s.

1851 - Joseph Procter Jnr ........

has so far avoided showing up in any of our 1851 census searches.

1859 - Joseph Procter (27) marries Elizabeth Dobson (26) in Scarborough.

LINK

Draper (son of druggysts of Barnard Castle then Walmgate, York - where did he learn draping ?) and Milliner (daughter of a milliner and a master mariner) combine forces in the 1,800 seat Centenary Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Queen Street Scarborough.  Witnesses William Frear(?) and Mary Purnell.

1861 Census - Joseph & Elizabeth Procter start a family

LINK

and a drapers shop in Newborough, Scarborough, "inside the walls".

1861 Census - Elizabeth Dobson in Scarborough

LINK

Now just Elizabeth snr (retired seamstress and widow) as jnr has become Mrs Procter and the master mariner has long died.  She is probably living at Milson's Hospital / Almshouse.

1867 Whites Scarborough Directory lists

LINK

Procter, Jsph, Linen and Woolen , Silk Mercer, Milliner &c, 54 Newborough.

1871 Census - Elizabeth Dobson in Milsons Almshouse

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Living with her is Mary Salmon her 19 year old milliner granddaughter. 

1871 Census - The Procter family at Scarborough,

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Langham House, Westborough (108 probably).  Joseph Procter is a master draper and wife Elizabeth a milliner.  Their daughter Elizabeth Stringer Procter will marry Frank Edward Fletcher, son of Maria and John, whose ironmonger shop will be in nearby North Street.  108 Westborough is outside the old city wall (which was roughly at North Street).  The Newborough Gate or Bar was the main entry point through the walls of Old Scarborough.  It was rebuilt in mid-Victorian times, but then got demolished in 1890.

1872 - Kellys Scarborough Directory lists

LINK

Procter, Jsph, Linen Draper, Westborough and 54 Newborough

19 February1880 - Elizabeth Dobson, the 78

 

In Memoriam   Elizabeth   relict of Matthew Dobson who died February 19th 1880 aged 70 years   “Return unto thy rest O my soul, ….. the day break and the shadows flee away

PHOTOS & NOTES

year old Relict of long evaporated sailor hubbie Cap'n Matthew, dies in Scarborough after living in a home for distressed gentle-folk for many years.  Her grave is to be found as No C 15 - 23 in Scarborough's Dean Road Cemetery (which is next door to the later Manor Road one).  More information.

1881 Census - The Procter family at 108 Westborough 

thanks to the Scarborough Library for this c1900 photo

the distinctive cast iron window frames can be seen on the mid-right

 

Photo appeal     There must have been Procter family photos ....  especially the marriage of Elizabeth Procter to Frank Fletcher on 24 April 1889 in the Wesleyan Methodist Queen Street Chapel, Scarborough.       email: afletch at paradoxplace dot com

LINK TO MAP OF PROCTER AND FLETCHER SCARBOROUGH

LINK-1

LINK-2

Scarborough with 8 kids living over their Drapers shop.  The shop is still there, though no longer a draper, its elegant cast iron window frames a beautiful contrast to the square ordinariness of surrounding redevelopments.

Doreen Mary, one of the granddaughters, remembered that "it was quite a big establishment and it was said that a coach and horses could be housed over the shop in uncle Matthew's (eldest son of the Procter family) and Aunty Lizzie's lounge.  Other children of the Procter family were Uncle Joe , Auntie Patt and Auntie Lily.  My father was the youngest child. I remember I had three girl cousins of Uncle Matt.  They were Lily, Loise and Lucy.  Uncle Joe was the next son of the family.  He had one daughter Muriel.  Auntie Lily (married name Fletcher) lived in Folkestone and had four sons (ed: and two daughters!).  Auntie Patt married Uncle Tom Miller and they had a son Max and a daughter Edna.  They lived in Leicester and owned a restaurant and home made chocolate business.  Tom Miller used to go to Grindlewald every winter curling, and he brought back an expert in chocolate making etc and consequently had a very thriving business.  We used to go there for Xmas sometimes and I remember he used to have a decorated boar's head on the sideboard which was delicious to eat and lots of chocolates etc.  Procter & Co were draper's and outfitters etc and when I visited Scarborough Uncle Matt and Uncle Joe used to be in the shop."

The gatherings would have taken place on the second floor - the first being the cutting room we think.

The Uncles and Aunts (Joseph and Elizabeth's children) were Matthew Dobson "Uncle Matt" (b1860), Robert Ashton (b1863, d1883 and later buried with parents), Joseph Edmund "Uncle Joe" (b1864), Elizabeth Stringer "Aunty Lily" (Fletcher) (1865 - 1953 (87)), Benjamin Bake & William Harrison (twins b1868, Benjamin also buried with parents), Martha "Auntie Patt" (Miller) (b1870), John (father of Doreen Mary) (b1872).  It's interesting that Martha and John did not get a second christian name - all but one of the ones given were were surnames.  There are still (2011) some Procters around Scarborough.

24 April 1889 - Frank Edward Fletcher (25) marries Elizabeth Procter (23).

If only we could find that wedding photo - there will be one somewhere!

All four parents were alive then.

LINK

On Wednesday 24 April 1889 in a corner of the huge (1,800 people capacity) Centenary Wesleyan Methodist "Chapel", in Queen Street, Scarborough, where Frank Edward was an organist. 

thanks to the Scarborough Library for this image

Today's grim looking and impenetrable chapel is an early 1900s rebuild after severe damage caused by a major fire in next door Boyes store.

Then Lily moves far south to Folkestone, where Frank has become the organist and choirmaster of Christ Church.

1890 - Scarborough 

Newborough Bar looking East (towards the sea)

from Westborough c1885

The 1890 Scarborough Post Office / Bulmers Trade Directory lists both Procter, Jsph, Draper & Milliner, 108 Westborough, and Fletcher, John, Ironmonger – 20 North Street.  In 1890 the Victorian Newborough Gate or Bar, whose predecessor was one of the two gated entrances to town, is demolished, the Westborough / Newborough roads are seamlessly joined and North Street is opened up.  Mind you, the bar had obviously been no barrier to Frank Edward's romance with Elizabeth Procter.

Scarborough Trade Directories 1823 - 1905

NOTE THAT FLETCHER DOCUMENTS ARE NOW ON A SEPARATE PAGE - CLICK HERE

1891 Census - The Procter family still in Scarborough (shop on the left at the end of the street - which is still there today and in good nick in a sea of redbrick mediocrity, but no longer a draper!).

thanks to the Scarborough Library for this photo.

LINK

Mr & Mrs P, nearing 60, are still drapering at 108 Westborough, helped by sons Matt and Joe and Elizabeth's niece Mary Salmon.  They place an ad in the 1892 Hagyards Trade Directory.

1890s Daughter Elizabeth Stringer Fletcher (Procter)

is now  living in Folkestone - first child, Adrian's grandfather Frank Rex Fletcher, arrives on 9 January 1890 - quick work!

1901 Census - Joe Procter Snr (69) and Lizzie (68)

LINK

still living over the shop at 108 Westborough, Scarborough.  Joe dies on 17 November 1902 aged 71, and Lizzie keeps on until just before the 1911 census.

1911 - Elizabeth (Lizzie) Procter (Dobson)

 

In Memoriam Robert Ashton M.S. son of Joseph & Elizabeth Procter, who died June 13 1883, In the 21st year of His age   Also of the above named, Joseph Procter, born July 7, 1831, died Nov 17 1902   Also of Benjamin Bake, son of the above, died Dec 22, 1908, aged 40 years   Also of Elizabeth, widow of the above Joseph Procter, died Feby 16, 1911 aged 78 years     C.P.

dies in Scarborough aged 79.  She is buried with Joe, Robert and Ben in Manor Rd Cemetery, Scarborough - grave O 0-4.

Photo courtesy Scarborough Council with thanks

Many thanks to Bill Harrison, Martin Wolfgang, Bev Wilkin, the York Cemetery Trust and the Scarborough Library and Council for providing invaluable material for this page.

On to the Fletchers, establishing a new life down south

Link to Photos of more Recent Ancestors of Angela Williams (Fletcher) & Adrian Fletcher