From Slough to Winkfield – and Back Again

(1736–1843)

The Nixey family are first found in Buckinghamshire in 1765 with the marriage of John Nixey and Elizabeth Hissey on 14th May at St. Lawrence’s Church, Upton-Cum-Chalvey. A note on the Buckinghamshire Family History Society’s transcription of their marriage states that Elizabeth signed her surname as “Hessey” rather than Hissey. The witnesses to their marriage were Thomas Druce and his wife Mosia née Simms, who had also been married at Upton-Cum-Chalvey on 28th November 1756.

Sadly, to date I have been unable to trace Elizabeth Hissey or Hessey’s family with any certainty.

John Nixy had been born at Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire, and was baptised there at the All Saints church on 4th September 1737. He was the first of three sons born to John Nixy and his first wife Mary née Saunders who had been married on 14th October 1736. His two younger brothers were William, who was baptised at Cuddesdon on 24th April 1739, and Thomas, who was baptised there on 27th September 1741. Six months before Thomas was baptised, their grandmother Joan Nixey née Saunders died at Cuddesdon Mill, and was buried at the All Saints church on 27th March. Thomas’s baptism entry shows that his parents were also living at Cuddesdon Mill, and other Cuddesdon parish records indicate that from 1742 onwards, William Webb, his wife Mary late Crips formerly Nixey, and their children were also living at the Mill at that time. Very sadly, Thomas died at the Mill while still a young child, and was buried on 1st May 1743 at Cuddesdon.

In 1753, when John was about 15 years-old, he was apprenticed for 7 years to a Wheelwright named Richard Worth of Milton in Oxfordshire. Evidently he didn’t complete that apprenticeship, as the following year he’s found being apprenticed for 7 years to another Wheelwright, William Cox, at Brightwell in Berkshire. Also during 1753, his mother Mary née Saunders died in late July at Cuddesdon Mill, and was buried at the All Saints church on 1st August.

A couple of years later, John’s widowed father married his second wife, Mary Stevens, at Cuddesdon on 24th July 1756, in the presence of John Bigges and John Ambrough. Over the next few years, John and Mary had three children, who were all baptised at the All Saints church in Cuddesdon: Anne on 20th March 1757, Thomas on 1st October 1758, and Mary on 19th March 1760.

When their grandfather John Nixey died in January 1759, John and his brother William discovered they had each been left £5 in his will. Although £5 doesn’t sound much in today’s money, back then it would have been worth the equivalent of about £1,220.

John Nixey and Elizabeth née Hissey raised their family at Slough, all seven of their children being baptised at the church of St. Lawrence at Upton-cum-Chalvey:

Name  |  Approx. Birth Year

John and Elizabeth’s first three children were all girls. Elizabeth was baptised on 26th October 1766, Mary on 21st April 1768, and Sarah on 13th October 1771. Next came my great great great grandfather John, who was baptised on 17th October 1773, then their daughter Anne on 31st March 1777 (who died as an infant, and was buried on 12th November 1777). Their youngest daughter, Ann, was baptised on 6th September 1778, and their final child, another boy, Thomas, was baptised on 26th September 1781. There was also a James Nixey born at Slough around 1787/88, but no baptism record has been found for him. As every other child of John and Elizabeth was baptised, and the fact that Elizabeth would have been about 48 years-old when James was born, it leads to the conclusion that James was most likely an illegitimate son of one of their older daughters.

During 1778, John began his own business as a Wheelwright at Ivy Parade, Slough, and expanded the business some years later by opening a branch at Winkfield in Berkshire. Both of John’s sons, John and Thomas, were involved in the wheelwright business.

The first of John and Elizabeth’s children to be married was Elizabeth who became the wife of James Burrows on 9th January 1791. They were married at St. Anne’s, Soho, London, in the presence of John Hill and Joseph Radford. It appears they had just one child, a daughter named Elizabeth, who was baptised on 27th March 1796 at St. Lawrence’s. Very sadly, Elizabeth Burrows née Nixey died at London a little over two months before her daughter was baptised, and was buried on 27th January 1796 at St. Lawrence’s.

Little else is known about Elizabeth Burrows junior. She received a letter dated 15th January 1816 from John Audley, the executor of the will of Judith Brown (her great aunt), informing her of legacies that had been left to her and her father James. Her uncle John Nixey replied to that letter on 4th February 1816, in which he gave evidence of Elizabeth’s age by providing details of her baptism from the parish register, and also included details of the whereabouts of her father James. Some months later, John Nixey also provided details of the parish register of Fulbourn in Cambridgeshire, which gave the baptism date for James Burroughs as 2nd August 1767.

Apprenticeship registers from 1791 show that John Nixey was recognised as a Master Wheelwright. On Saturday 23rd July, the appropriate premium was paid, and Richard Spurling was taken on as an apprentice.

John and Elizabeth’s daughter, Mary, died unmarried in 1793, and was buried at St. Lawrence’s churchyard on 2nd March. Their daughter Sarah also died unmarried, and was buried at St. Lawrence’s on 23rd December 1797. Their youngest daughter Anne married Jonathan Chappell on 11th February 1798 at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, in the presence of Rebecca North and John Taylor.

Jonathan Chappell was born at Slough and baptised at St. Lawrence’s on 3rd September 1776. He was the son of Jonathan Chappell and Susanna née Robertson who had been married on 7th August 1770 at St. Lawrence’s. Jonathan and Anne née Nixey had just two children, a son named William who was baptised on 28th April 1799, and a daughter named Anne who was baptised on 9th April 1801, both children being baptised at St. Lawrence’s. Very sadly, Jonathan’s wife, Anne née Nixey, died in 1803, and was buried on 8th April at St. Lawrence’s. The following year, their daughter Anne also died, and was buried on 4th August 1804 at St. Lawrence’s. Jonathan Chappell died in 1815 aged 39, and was buried on 26th August at St. Lawrence’s. Their son William died at Slough at the age of 23, and was buried on 22nd April 1822 at St. Lawrence’s.

The first of John Nixey and Elizabeth née Hissey’s sons to be married was John, who became the husband of Elizabeth Randall when they married at St. Bride’s, Fleet Street, London, on 13th September 1794. John Nixey was one of the witnesses to his son’s marriage, the second witness being Jonathan Gilder.

St. Bride’s, Fleet Street was the same church where Elizabeth Randall had been baptised on 27th May 1773. It was also where her parents, Thomas Randall and Ann née Burnell, had been married on 10th March 1768. They were married by George Applebee, in the presence of John Burnell and Jane Randall, Thomas Randall being a Haberdasher of the parish of St. Bridget (otherwise known as St. Bride’s), London. Elizabeth Randall had been born on 29th April 1773, and was Thomas and Ann’s third daughter. Her two older sisters were Ann (who was baptised on 5th February 1769), and Mary (who was baptised on 27th October 1771). She also had a younger sister Frances (who was baptised on 31st May 1774).

In total, John and Elizabeth née Randall had eight children, five of whom were born at Slough and the remainder at Winkfield in Berkshire:

Name  |  Approx. Birth Year

John and Elizabeth’s first child, a son who they named John, was born at Slough, and baptised at St. Lawrence’s on 13th July 1795. Very sadly, over the next few years, their next two children died at a very young age, Edmund who had been baptised on 24th April 1798, and Emma Randall who was baptised on 20th March 1800. They were both buried at St. Lawrence’s, Edmund on 15th January 1800, and Emma Randall on 30th November 1801, both being described as a “child.”

Their fourth child, a son who they named Edward, was born at Slough, and baptised on 14th May 1803 at St. Lawrence’s. The family soon moved to Winkfield in Berkshire, where three more children were born, all of them being baptised at the church of St. Mary the Virgin: Thomas on 13th February 1808, Mary Ann on 28th April 1810, and William George on 23rd September 1812 (who had been born on August 12th the same year).

Meanwhile, John and Elizabeth née Hissey’s younger son, Thomas, married Martha Styles on 24th June 1804 at St. Nicholas, Shepperton, London, in the presence of James Scott and Sarah Singer. Thomas and Martha baptised seven children, the first three at St. Lawrence’s, and the rest at St. Mary’s, Winkfield, Berkshire: Sarah Anne on 21st August 1808, William on 21st October 1810 (who died aged 4 months on 24th January 1811 and was buried at St. Lawrence’s on 30th January), Thomas on 25th December 1812, Ann on 25th December 1814 (who was buried at St. Mary’s, Winkfield on 2nd June 1817), William on 28th February 1819, Mary on 7th April 1821, and Ann on 21st September 1823.

In 1815, William Hunt and Thomas Nixey pledged £10 each for a licence to keep a common alehouse at “The Squirrel” in Winkfield. It’s believed that the pub is actually far older than that. Thomas worked as a Wheelwright and lived at Hatchet Lane in Winkfield where he died in 1824 aged 42. He was buried at St. Mary’s on 29th February. His wife Martha née Styles died at Winkfield about 16 months later at the age of 43, and was buried there on 26th June 1825.

When William George was almost 7 months old, his grandmother Elizabeth née Hissey died on 3rd March 1813. She was 73 years-old, and was buried at St. Lawrence’s on 10th March. Soon after her death, John and Elizabeth née Randall moved their family back to Slough, where their youngest child, Joseph, my great great grandfather, was baptised on 16th October 1814 at St. Lawrence’s.

A little over two years later, on 26th December 1816, John Nixey passed away at the age of 79, and was interred with his wife Elizabeth on 2nd January 1817. Unfortunately, it appears that the stone mason made an error by inscribing the year of John’s death as 1817 rather than 1816.

A few weeks after John’s burial, the Windsor and Eton Express in its issue of Sunday 26th January published the following:

William George Nixey was nearing his eighth birthday when his eldest brother John married Mary Ann Parke Franklin on 27th June 1820 at St. James’, Westminster, London, the witnesses to their marriage being Mary Ann’s parents, Isaac Franklin and Mary née Pearce who had been married on 16th July 1799 at St. Marylebone, London. Mary Ann had been born on 23rd October 1803 and was baptised on 28th November 1803 at St. Ann’s, Soho, London.

When he was 9 years-old, William George became an uncle for the first time with the birth of John and Mary Ann’s daughter, Mary, who was baptised on 1st May 1822 at the All Saints church in West Ham, Essex. In fact, between 1822 and 1863, he became uncle to 15 nieces and 22 nephews, 6 of whom died in infancy:

Name  |  Approx. Birth Year  |  Mother’s Maiden Name

William George Nixey’s second oldest brother, Edward, married Eliza Silver at St. Marylebone, London, on 15th March 1827, in the presence of their cousin Joseph Oulds and his wife Letitia née Read. Eliza Silver had been born at Langley Marish, Buckinghamshire, and was baptised there at the church of St. Mary the Virgin on 23rd April 1802. She was the daughter of William Silver and Anne née Pitt who had been married on 11th February 1799 at St. Lawrence’s, Upton-Cum-Chalvey.

In the Windsor & Eton Express of Saturday 7th April 1827, the following announcement was printed:

The following year, their eldest brother John had an announcement published in the Windsor & Eton Express of Saturday 9th February 1828:

Edward and Eliza’s only child, a daughter who they named Eliza, was baptised on 20th April 1828 at the church of St. Mary the Virgin at Langley Marish, Buckinghamshire, when Edward’s occupation as a Wheelwright was recorded for the last time. From 15th April 1829 to 6th April 1836, Edward is found in Sun Fire Office insurance documents at 46 Monmouth Street, Soho, London, where he was registered as an Oil and Colourman and Tallow Chandler. Meanwhile at Slough, his father John appeared as a Wheelwright in the Pigot’s directory for 1830.

About a year after the birth of their youngest child in 1830, John Nixey and Mary Ann née Franklin left Winkfield, as can be seen from an announcement printed in the Windsor & Eton Express of Saturday 23rd April 1831:

From Winkfield, John and Mary Ann moved their family back to Essex, where their son Alfred (by then known as William) died at the age of just 5 years. He was buried at All Saints church, West Ham, on 7th October 1831.

John Nixey next appears in the 1832 Poll Book at Slough, where his occupation was again recorded as a Wheelwright. It wasn’t long before two more of his children were married in London. Firstly, Thomas married Louisa Lucy Hart at St. Stephen’s, Coleman Street on 11th January 1834, the witnesses to their marriage being John Heath and Marian Hart. Louisa Lucy Hart had been baptised on 13th September 1805 at the church of St. Mary in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. She was the daughter of Joseph Hart and Susan née Northcroft who had been married by Licence on 3rd May 1800 at Datchet, Buckinghamshire. Thomas and Louisa Lucy returned to Slough where they began raising their family.

The next year, John and Elizabeth Nixey’s only surviving daughter, Mary Ann, married John Deverill at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden on 12th August, the witnesses being her brother Edward Nixey and her mother’s sister Frances Oulds née Randall. John was born at Eton, Buckinghamshire, and was baptised there on 28th October 1810. He was the youngest child of Thomas and Eleanor née Smith who had been married on 5th November 1792 at Langley Marish. Just like her brother and sister-in-law, Thomas and Louisa Lucy Nixey, John and Mary Ann returned to Slough where they began to raise their family.

It’s apparent that William George Nixey had moved to London by the time he was in his early twenties, because Electoral Rolls show that in 1835 he was living at 26 Keppel Mews South, Finsbury, Holborn. His brother, Edward, is next found at 6 Glasshouse Street, Regent Street, London in Sun Fire Office insurance documents dated 6th December 1837 where he was registered as a Grocer and Italian Warehouseman and Oilman. Intriguingly, this property was destroyed by fire as reported on in The Times of Saturday 18th November 1837:

In Bell’s Weekly Messenger of Sunday 19th November, the fire was reported on as follows:

Following that fire, the 22 Moore Street address makes its first appearance, when in the Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser dated Wednesday 31st January 1838, “Mr. Nixey, 22 Moore-street, Soho” is listed amongst around forty suppliers of a “liquid and paste blacking” that was manufactured by “Way and Collings” and “sold in bottles of 6d. 12d. and 18d.”

The 1837 and 1838 Poll Books for Slough give a specific address for John Nixey of Regent Place, and the nature of qualification is given as “Copyhold houses and land.” Then in Robson’s 1839 directory for Buckinghamshire, his sons Thomas and Joseph were recorded at both Slough and Salthill as “Grocer” and “Tailor” respectively.

William George Nixey’s only younger sibling, Joseph, married Martha Blincoe on 12th April 1841 at St. Andrew’s, Holborn, London, in the presence of Henry Lovegrove and Elizabeth Heavingham. Their fathers were named as John Nixey, Wheelwright, and William Blincoe, Foot Guardsman. Chelsea Pensioner records show that on 19th July 1799, at the age of 22, William Blinco was enlisted at Dover, Kent for unlimited service in His Majesty’s 35th Regiment of Foot. He was recorded as a Private when he was discharged on 18th March 1818 after 18 years and 242 days of service.

Martha Blincoe had been born at Langley Marish, and baptised there on 1st July 1821. She was the eldest child of William Blincoe and Elizabeth Carter, who had been married on 4th November 1820 at Langley Marish, in the presence of William East and Elizabeth Crowder. Just like his siblings Thomas and Mary Ann, Joseph began raising his family at Slough.

When the 1841 Census was taken on the night of 6th June, there were many Nixey family members living close to each other: Thomas and Louisa Lucy née Hart with their children Thomas Hart, Elizabeth, George, and Emily Emma (Ref: HO107 piece 61 book 11 folio 5 page 14); Mary Deverill née Nixey and her husband John and their children William Baxter, Edward, and Fanny (Ref: HO107 piece 61 book 11 folio 5 page 14); the newly weds Joseph and Martha née Blincoe (Ref: HO107 piece 61 book 11 folio 7 page 18); and their parents John and Elizabeth née Randall (Ref: HO107 piece 61 book 11 folio 5 page 14). In this census, their father John is recorded as an “Independent” rather than a Wheelwright, meaning that he didn’t have to work for a living. It most likely indicates that he was living off investments and/or rents from property that he owned. Edward and Eliza née Silver were very close by in the household of Henry Luff at the Pied Horse public house (Ref: HO107 piece 61 book 11 folio 4 page 13). Also with Henry Luff were his three Pitt step-children, Elizabeth, William Francis, and, most notably, Charlotte. Their eldest brother John was found away from his wife and family, working as a wheelwright at Datchet in Buckinghamshire (Ref: HO107 piece 60 book 2 folio 7 page 8). Meanwhile, William George Nixey was working as an oil and colourman at the 22 Moor Street address in London (Ref: HO107 piece 673 book 18 folio 86 page 9), and with him were two servants, Arabella Brooksbank and J. Glover.

Later the same year, John Nixey was assaulted as he walked along a public footpath. This is how it was reported on in the Bucks Herald of Saturday 16th October:

Early the next year, the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette of Saturday 29th January 1842 printed the following article, which could possibly explain the reason why Edward Nixey chose to move his family to Southampton:

The following month, John Nixey, William George’s father, passed away. He was 69 years-old, and was buried on 27th February at St. Lawrence’s, in Slough. There seems to be a slight discrepancy on the date that John died, his memorial inscription giving the date as 18th February, while his entry in the Death Duty Register gives the date as 19th February. An announcement of his death appeared in the Windsor and Eton Express in its issue dated 19th February, which gave his date of death as the 18th February, while incorrectly giving his age as 72.

As already mentioned, Edward had moved his family to Southampton, where he kept a warehouse and worked as an Oil and Colourman. But as reported on by the Hampshire Advertiser in its issue dated Saturday 25th February 1843, Edward found himself facing another of his properties being badly damaged by fire:

Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle, in its issue of Sunday 26th November 1843 printed the following advertisement, which shows us just some of the items that could be bought from W. G. Nixey:

References

Unless otherwise stated, all newspaper articles can be found at the British Newspaper Archive.

Credits

The photograph of St Lawrence’s churchyard and church is a Flickr photo by Diamond Geezer.