Sheffield Archives LD1567/1.

Sheffield Archives LD1567/1.

TRANSCRIPTION

To Mrs. Elliott at Stoney Stratford

Dear Daughter   Sheffield Park

I received yours and was glad to hear you was well and that your affairs is a little better settled, I wish a good agreement amongst you. I was very uneasy to hear of it. But you'll do werey well to take as little notice of it as possible. I would not have you fret and make yourself all nosey, things may take another turn if your brother should get married isu. Be in hopes of seeing you come to live at Sheffield which would be a great pleasure to me, being your sister is likely to settle so far off. George never took no notice of it nor I neither. Mr. Bagshaw and I have prevailed with your father to give your sister £20 for clothes and I think it would be better to be married before she comes down and hope you'll come down with her. Cousin Bridges I believe will marry Mr. White. Miss Woodhead is married to Mr. Stead. She went away to be married to another but was prevented. His father keeps a public house in Bradfield. His name is Parkin. I wrote to your sister last week by Thomas Buck with 3 shifts so hope that excuse me now. The gowns  is at the working but not done. Please to give my love to your sister and service to all friends who are dear and hope you'll except the same yourself, from your ever loving Mother

P.S. Mrs. Smith is gone to Ashborne. She desired her service to you and your sister.

COMMENTARY

Letter[i] dated : No date

To : Catherine Elliott, Stony Stratford

From : Dorothy Wright, Sheffield

Internal evidence suggests this letter was written between the marriage of Catherine Wright[ii] to George Elliott[iii] on 5 February 1742/43 and that of her sister Rebecca Wright[iv] to David Cooper[v] on 26 Oct 1743

Dorothy is again writing from Sheffield to her recently married daughter in Stony Stratford. She suggests that there is a possibility that her daughter Catherine “Kitty” and her husband would return to live in Sheffield. We saw in the previous letter that she was missing her children who had moved away from home. She acknowledges in this letter that Catherine’s “Kitty” sister, Rebecca, will settle in London which to Dorothy was “a long way off”.

The previous letter also suggested that Rebecca Cooper was staying with her sister in Stony Stratford as does this letter. She married David Cooper, in what is now Sheffield Cathedral on 26 October 1743.

According to the marriage licence and the parish register he was an iron monger from St Dunstan, City of London. He was the son of Francis Cooper[vi] and Mary Harris[vii]. David’s father, Francis had come to London from Derby as an apprentice in 1690, married the daughter of his master and stayed on in London. The half-brother of Francis was Samuel Cooper[viii] who had been the Mayor of Derby three times. As Alderman of Derby, Samuel Cooper was there when the Young Pretender arrived, and he was forced to proclaim the Prince.

"While the bells rang and the bonfires added a welcome glow and warmth to the dwindling daylight, Charles and his father were publicly proclaimed before the Town Hall on Market Place, now overwhelmed by the occupying army. As no magistrate was available, the common town crier did the honours, according to the Derby Mercury. However, Hugh Bateman recorded that the Jacobite officers had 'seized upon Alderman Cooper, too lame to run away, and obliged him to proclaim the Prince."[ix]

Francis went on to be very successful; being sworn in as Master of the Worshipful Company of Coopers on 5^th June 1745; involved with the vestry for St John at Hackney[x] together with Alud Denne[xi] who was a partner of Sir Benjamin Truman[xii]; and signed along with others the books[xiii] for the Truman Brewery as did his son, Francis[xiv] (David’s brother) who was a partner. Furthermore, Sir Benjamin’s father Thomas Truman mentions both Alud Denne and Francis Cooper in his will[xv] as being his friends which was signed on 20^th April 1719 and was probated in the Prerogative court of Canterbury on 15^th March 1720.

Dorothy is concerned about some family issue connected to her daughter Catherine “Kitty” but does not explain. This problem seems to encompass Jervas[xvi] as well. He was the eldest brother baptised in 1720 so would have been aged about 23 at the time of this letter. Dorothy suggest that he was thinking of marrying but, in fact, he did not marry until February 1749/50. It is possible to speculate as to what the dispute was about but that is all it will ever be – speculation and fantasy. Whatever the problem was it must have passed as Dorothy does not mentioned it again.

The £20 for clothes was a substantial sum! According to the Measuring Worth[xvii] website it equates to £3,270 using retail price index or £38,600 using average earnings. It is perhaps understandable that it took both Dorothy and Mr Bagshaw to persuade Thomas Wright[xviii] to give his daughter, Rebecca, this amount!

In this letter Dorothy mentions a number of people who are unknown. Certainly a Dorothy Woodward married a Benjamin Stead in Ecclesfield Yorkshire on 15^th July 1743. And a grand-daughter of Dorothy, Ann Wright, married a John White in 1774. This John White may well be related to the Mr. White mentioned herein.