This is a short piece about a letter from the Balfour Papers. It’s short because we have a fascinating letter about which we know very little and we’re hoping that by throwing that little out to all of you, someone’s going to come back with some or all the missing pieces of the jigsaw.
In Box 22, bundle 10, item 15, of the Balfour papers, there
is a letter from Mary Checkley at the Malt Shovel, Solihull, near Birmingham,
to Colonel Belford, Cork, Ireland.
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| Orkney Archive Reference: D2/22/10 Item 15 (Click on photo to enlarge) |
Sir,
I have a Husband in
your Regiment if living but have sent several letters but can get no answer
from him so must conclude he is dead – which if so, please to give me a line
and your petitioner will ever pray,
I am Sir Your most
Hble [humble] Serv, [servant]
Mary Checkley
I’ve rooted about in Google and have found lots of
references to the Malt Shovel at Solihull and it’s clearly an inn dating back perhaps to the 17th
Century but have not yet found a history of the Inn and who might have owned it
in 1796, and what Mary Checkley’s connection to it is.
Similarly I’ve looked for Mary herself but other than
finding lots of Checkleys around the Midlands, both as a place name and a
surname, I’ve not found Mary herself or her husband, alive or dead.
I’ve not found Mr Checkley yet in the records of the North
Lowland Fencibles Regiment. He may be in future boxes, still to yield up their
many secrets, but he’s not obviously in boxes 1 to 21.
So …….. who is Mary? Who is her husband? Was he dead? Where
and when and under what circumstances? Or was he just a bad correspondent? The
Regiment was safe enough in Ireland, albeit illness might easily consume a man
in the late 18th Century British Army.
And how much concerned was Mary that he might be dead? Did
she mind? Was she bereft? Did she have another plan and her Checkley husband
was surplus to requirements? Did she have children needing their father home
again? What were her financial circumstances? Why had he taken the King’s
shilling and left?
She has an elegant and strong hand, if Mary herself wrote
the letter, and she expresses herself well, if baldly. She writes with some
maturity, but did she write the letter? She doesn’t quite get the surname Balfour
right, but even addressed to Colonel Belford, the letter gets to the Thomas
Balfour, and she knows she has to write to him at Cork.
These are the bare bones of it all. Can anyone help add to
the story? We would very much like to hear from you.
Posted on behalf of the Balfour Blogger.
I may have a lead.
ReplyDeleteI don't know where to find the rolls for the regiment online (if they are even available online). These two seem to fit the timeline and lived in the area. They had children after 1796 (James born 1797), if they are the right couple, he came home.
Mary Cheesewright 1762 -1827 (Warwickshire) buried Foleshill
William Checkley - 1765 -1823 (Nottingham) (Warwickshire) buried Foleshill
I found an alternative lead to Wendy’s. Mine is a Mary Martin who married a John Checkley in Solihull on 1st June 1781. Both were noted as being “of this parish”. I also found baptism records for five children at the same church, born to a John Checkley and his wife Mary, who may reasonably be accepted as the same couple. The baptisms are as follows: Anne (26 Dec 1781), Mary (13 Jul 1783), Sarah (9 Jan 1785), Thomas (8 Apr 1787) and William (3 Jan 1790). As was fairly common, Mary was already pregnant when she married. There is a burial for a Mary Checkley, wife of John Checkley, in Birmingham St Mary on 19th June 1833 which could be our Mary, the burial record states “Cheapside” in Birmingham as the place of death and her age as 70. If this is our Mary, she moved from Solihull to Birmingham, possibly to live with one of her children. I will follow up on the children to see whether I can shed any light on their further lives. One last point of note is that both John and Mary sign the marriage registry entry with an “X”, so if this is the right Mary, she must have had help with the letters. This is not to say that Wendy’s lead is incorrect; she may well have been passing through Solihull when she wrote and not resident there at all. I’ll report back if I find any developments.
ReplyDeleteI love this sort of stuff. Just wonderful and so interesting.
ReplyDeleteFlora