William Parkinson (MMFMF)

[Mary from Italy]

Name - "official" name and what they were known as
William Parkinson

Date and place of birth
13th September 1770 in Quorndon, Leicestershire

Names of parents
Thomas Parkinson and Sarah Crofts

Date and place of baptism - if applicable
Not known. His parents were Baptists, and his birth was registered on 3 April 1786 (Dr Williams' Library), so perhaps that was the date of baptism

Details of each of his or her marriages - if any
Married Ann Fletcher on 15th January 1803 at All Saints parish church, Loughborough, Leicestershire

Occupation(s) - if any
1803: farmer
1830: maltster
1841: maltster
1851: beadsman, late farmer and maltster
1852: yeoman

Addresses where they lived
1770: Quorndon, Leicestershire
1803: Rothley, Leicestershire
1813: Rothley, Leicestershire
1830: Rothley, Leicestershire
1841: Church Lane (East side) Rothley, Leicestershire
1851: Cave's Charity House, Beadhouse or Hospital, Church Lane, Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire
1852: Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire

Date, place and cause of death
Died on 5th January 1852 at Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, aged 81.
Cause of death: old age.

Date and place of burial
Not known; possibly the Baptist cemetery in Rothley, where he lived for many years, but no headstone found there.

Details of will / administration of their estate - if applicable
Will dated 16th December 1845; probate 1852.

Memorial inscription - if any
Not known

What happened to William's money is a bit of a mystery.
In 1822 he was left some land and orchards, and a legacy of £780, by a nephew who died young; he owned land in 1830 according to the list of freeholders, yet he died in a charity house. He left a will himself, in which he left legacies to his children, but the copy at the Leics. RO doesn't say how much his estate amounted to.

These almshouses were founded in 1686 by Humphrey Babington in memory of his Uncle, Theophilus Cave. They were built in 1694 and were known as the Old Men's Hospital. According to Babington's will they were meant to house "six poor widowers or bachelors to be selected from among the aged and impotent persons of good character from Barrow and Quorndon in the proportion of five from the former to one from the latter". The occupants were to be called Theophilus Cave's bedesmen. Each bedesman was issued with a blue cloak faced with white and was required to attend church every Sunday.

http://www.heritage-explorer.co.uk/w...d=8836&large=1