Biographical notes on those commemorated by the Windows of St. Mary's:

Adams - In 1862, George Harwood, described Thomas Adams as "A man of character, and a man of business, a man of position in the town, and a man of respectability, influence, and gentlemanly bearing, is vastly superior to any Whig in the whole Corporation, or any three Whigs put together. This really excellent, and in every way qualified man is passed by, is ignored [as Mayor] and why? Simply because he is a Conservative." Obviously a biassed description but nevertheless Thomas Adams & Co. were major players in the Victorian lace boom, and established a large American export trade following the American Civil War, producing a "low class cheap effective article", which was what the major consumer markets required. Although the British domestic trade had its seat in London, the sales offices of Adams, Birkin and others in what, thus, became known as the Lace Market attracted German, American and other buyers, becoming the centre for export (Beckett, 308, 336ff).

Barnett - a former hosier, Absolem Barnett was appointed by the Vestry to the post of Overseer of the Poor for St. Mary's Parish, in 1819, when he was aged 34. He held the post for over thirty years, and allthough far from popular among the poor in the Parish was nationally well-regarded, and his "views were instrumental in shaping the 1834 New Poor Law". Among his methods was the advocation of "food for work" compelling the able-bodied poor, as determined by a "labour test", to work on road construction and the like; for instance, the road across Mapperley Common, or Plains. He did not shrink, however, from criticising the very poor quality housing "erected by greedy speculators" between 1820 and 1830, such as in the Narrow Marsh area, and condemning the practice of paying wages in pubs. (Beckett, 207, 210, 401).

Bradshaw - Mr. Job. Bradshaw, solicitor, of Nottingham, was for several years a member of the Town Council and a JP. The son of John and Ruth Bradshaw, he was baptised in St. Mary's on 11 May 1804; an earlier son also named Job had been baptised on 17 July 1799. On 31.7.1832, he married Mary, daughter of Ellen & John Mills, of Nottingham, with whom he had a large family. From 1841, he was proprietor and "conductor" of the Nottingham Journal, from which he retired in 1866, in favour of his sons. He died at his residence, Standard Hill, on 31.12.1877, his wife having already died, on 13.8.1873. Although the stained glass memorial is here, they were both interred in a vault in St. Nicholas's churchyard. (Godfrey, 72)

Brooks - the Rev. Joshua William Brooks, Vicar 1843-1864, was the incumbent during perhaps the greatest period of restoration of the church. He was appointed following the resignation from the Vicarage, in frustration, of Archdeacon George Wilkins. Previously he had been Vicar of Clarborough.

Fellows - Samuel Fellows (1687-1765) was a wealthy hosier who moved to Nottingham from London (Beckett, 159), he was Sheriff in 1729 and Mayor in 1755, his monument is (was?) on a family vault in St. Mary's churchyard, near the north-west corner of the church. The vault also bears the names of later members (1823-59). Samuel's son, John, died on 18.12.1791, aged 63, he too was Sheriff, in 1752, and Mayor, in 1775, 1782 and in 1790, and was described as a "gentleman of great integrity and worth", having continued his father's manufacture of silk. A son of John, George, was buried on 12.6.1796 (Godfrey, 91, 101, 103). Curiously, the family became leading members of the High Pavement Chapel in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1737, Samuel Fellows built an impressive three-storey town house in High Pavement, he was on the registry of the High Pavement Unitarian chaple. Hart, Fellows & Co., a silk and hosiery company, started a bank in 1808 (Beckett, 338, 345). Charles Fellows was knighted on May 7, 1845 (DB, 469) [the family was involved with the banking firm of Hart, Fellows & Co. of Bridlesmith Gate, DB, 521; which later became part of Lloyd's Bank]

Halford - one Edward Halford was baptised, as an adult, in St. Mary's on 8.4.1789.

Hall - The Hall family of Basford were in the cotton spinning and lace industry. Samuel Hall, Esq., "formerly of Basford Hall, near to Nottingham, brother to the late Marshall Hall, Esq., and the inventor of the process of gassing lace, and many improvements in the process of bleaching, etc." died on November 21, 1863. He built a large factory in Lenton in 1822. The business of Samuel & John Hall, however, declined into bankruptcy in 1840. (DB, 526; Beckett, 326). The plaque notes that "They are buried in a vault within this church and near this place".
Also bearing the name Hall, there are monuments in the north aisle to Francis Hall, gent., died 14.2.1801, aged 84, and to Thomas Hall (born 13.3.1743 and Died 1.10.1835) and Elizabeth, his wife (died 28.4.1814, aged 74). Francis Hall was the only surviving child of Thomas Hall, Esq, of Nottingham and his wife, Sarah. Thomas and Elizabeth ahd two sons, who both were officers in the army, from the younger of whom Montagu Haffenden Hall, of Whatton Manor was descended (alive in 1901) (Godfrey, 103-4).

Jesse Hind - in 1865, the Nottingham Joint-Stock Bank was opened by the lace manufacturer, Thomas Adams, and the entrepeneurial lawyer, Jesse Hind. Their best known customer was Jesse Boot, until 1905, when the Boot empire outstripped their capacity and Boot moved his account to the National Provincial Bank (Beckett, 345).

Thomas Chambers Hine (1813-99) shown (right) sitting in his conservatory at Park Row, was responsible for many notable buildings in Nottingham, including the Great Northern Station, East Croft, and the "Lunatic Hospital" (Coppice Hospital) (1857, DB, 502). He also played a major part in the development of The Park, a deer park to the west of the Castle, developed as a prestigious residential estate in the 19th Century by The Duke of Newcastle. About 200 of 650 houses were built by T.C. Hine, who was the estate surveyor from 1854 (Weir, 1990).

Kelk - William Kelk, buried at St. Mary's on 6.3.1789, appears in the Register as "Churchwarden" (Godfrey, 99).

Smith - The Date Book (DB, 555) relates how Mr. F.C. Smith, MP, stated that he had been looking at the balance sheet of one of his forefathers, who kept the Nottingham Bank, and who died in 1727 (Thomas II, see below). It showed £40,000 of deposits, which included deposits made by gentlemen from Manchester, Leeds and other towns, as he believed there was no other bank north of London. The balance sheets of the Nottingham banks would now (1869) show about two millions of money. Thomas (1631-99) "merchant turned banker", was the first to offer a country banking service (i.e. outside London). The business expanded under his sons, Thomas (1682-1727) and Abel (died 1757), in premises on Timber Hill. Thomas II is commemorated at St. Mary's by a resplendent memorial, now above the tower door in the south aisle, whereon one reads how he "acquired a handsome fortune". Abel opened the London Bank of Smith & Payne in 1758, and was MP for Nottingham in 1778. Robert Smith, Whig MP for Nottingham, was raised to the peerage as the first Lord Carrington in 1796/7. In 1806, John Smith followed as MP for Nottingham, being re-elected in 1812. (Beckett, 115, 118, 160, 295, 342). The founder banker, Thomas, was the son of John Smith, of Cropwell Butler, Notts., his burial (16.7.1699) is registered in the St. Mary's register, as of St. Peter's church (Godfrey, 38).

Strutt - Edward Strutt, First Lord Belper, was elected Liberal MP for Nottingham in 1852, became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on January 1, 1853) and elevated to the peerage in 1856 (DB, 484, 486, 497). He was Lord Lieutenant of the County and his residence was Kingston Park (Kingston-on-Soar?). An ancestor (?) Jebediah Strutt invented the stocking frame mechanism for making ribbed stockings and fabrics, the "Derby Rib" mechanism. He went into partnership with Samuel Need, Nottingham's leading merchant hosier in the 18th century. Need & Strutt made a considerable fortune, and supplied much of the capital for Arkwright when he brought the roller-spinning technique to Nottingham in 1768 (Beckett, 320, 321).

Watson - Thomas Wright Watson, a hosier, built Lenton Firs; on land, now in University Park, bought at auction from Lord Middleton in 1797 (Beckett, 205).

Wright - in 1877, John Player purchased as a going concern, the tobacco manufactory of William Wright, the factory having been established in the Broad Marsh in 1823 and already employed 150 workers (Beckett, 489). At the west end of the north Aisle is a collection of wall tablets of the Wright family. Ichabod Wright (died 2.9.1777, aged 77)and Elizabeth, his wife (died 6.10.1782, aged 82), were married for 56 years and had three surviving sons and three daughters. The eldest son, John, was the ancestor of the Wrights of Lenton, and his second son, Thomas, was the ancestor of the Wrights of Mapperley, Notts. The third son Henry Horatio was buried at St. mary's on 23.1.1806. A tablet to John (died 17.12.1789, aged 66) and his wife Ann (died 5.3.1792, aged 70),who were married 42 years and had three sons and four daughters is near the parents. A memorial to Thomas (died 20.7.1790, aged 65) and Mary, his widow (died 19.5.1817, aged 79), plus two of their children, is near Ichabod's. Mary was the daughter of John Smith of Nottingham (Godfrey, 95, 98, 100, 106). Ichabod owned ten acres of land, just north of the Forest and west of Mansfield Road (six acres of which he had purchased from Robert Smith in 1798), there he planned a "model village", which he named after Smith, by then Lord Carrington (Beckett, 215).

References
Anonymous (1874) St. Mary's Church, Nottingham: Its Past and Present History. Allen & Son, Nottingham. Based on a paper given by Archdeacon Edward Trollope to the Lincoln Archaeological Society (1870) and that earlier written by Thomas Close (in Allen, 1866). Illustrated by some of the earliest photographs of the Church. Contains some curious transpositions of north and south, especially as regards the two transepts.
Henry Field (1880) The Date-Book of remarkable & memorable events connected with Nottingham and its neighbourhood, 1750-1879 from authentic records. Published by the author. (DB)
John T. Godfrey (1901) Notes on the Parish Registers of St. Mary's Nottingham, 1566 to 1812. Saxton, Nottingham.
J.C.F. Hood (1910) St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Cooke & Vowles, Nottingham. Possibly the best of the several guide books. Has the only published list of the stained glass.
Harry Gill (1916) Windows? Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 20, xx-xx.
John Beckett (ed.) (1997) A Centenary History of Nottingham. Manchester University Press.

Compiled by Brian Taylor, published September 2000      Comments to dr.brian.taylor@ntlworld.com

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