| Name |
William Winterbotham |
| Prefix |
Rev. |
| Born |
15 Dec 1763 |
Aldgate, London, England  |
Address:
Mansfield Street off Rosemary Lane, Little Minories |
| Christened |
25 Dec 1763 |
Whitechapel, London, England |
Address:
St Mary |
- Address at the time, recorded as Mansfield Street but could be Mansell or Mansel Street.
|
 |
Christening Record: WINTERBOTHAM, William 17631225
|
| Gender |
Male |
| Christening |
1789 |
| Criminal Charges |
26 Jul 1793 |
Exeter, Devonshire, England |
Address:
Exeter Assizes |
- William was a Baptist Minister at Plymouth, in Devonshire. He was fined £200.00 and imprisoned for four years after being found guilty of preaching a sermon "advocating an extension of civil and religious liberty". In addition to his prison sentence, William was also bound over to be of good character for a further 5 years after his release. Initially imprisoned in Clerkenwell prison, after a short period, William was was transferred to Newgate prison where, it is said that anything aside from freedom itself, could be bought. William enjoyed the company of intellectuals in Newgate and shared an appartment there with 3 others for which he paid 8 shillings per week!
|
![Obverse and reverse of a copper halfpenny token manufactured in the names of Henry Symonds, William Winterbotham, James Ridgway and David Holt, 1794. [Note: Earlier - and much rarer examples, show the Newgate gaol image with a flat roof]](documents/thumbnails/thumb_1794%20Newgate%20Prison%20Halfpenny.jpg "Obverse and reverse of a copper halfpenny token manufactured in the names of Henry Symonds, William Winterbotham, James Ridgway and David Holt, 1794. [Note: Earlier - and much rarer examples, show the Newgate gaol image with a flat roof]") |
Obverse and reverse of a copper halfpenny token manufactured in the names of Henry Symonds, William Winterbotham, James Ridgway and David Holt, 1794. [Note: Earlier - and much rarer examples, show the Newgate gaol image with a flat roof]
Trials for sedition in late-eighteenth-century England were not uncommon, and the country could in no way be considered a safe place to speak out against government (or indeed, the Church). Those who continued to express dissent, however, did so not just in printed works and pamphlets, but also in metal.
Whether for collectors or for commercial use, the possibilities of a freely-circulating medium, almost impossible to police, were obvious to those who wished to spread propaganda against the state, and although the manufacturers and engravers of tokens would happily take commissions from such parties, the issuers could if necessary acquire the necessary machinery to manufacture them alone. Associations of dissenters who felt themselves particular notable, therefore, or those who wished to celebrate one of the few triumphs against the status quo, often had recourse to this form of advertising in copper.
The danger and isolation of dissent led to a grimly humourous camaraderie that makes these tokens witty, but often hard to grasp. This coin or token, for example, mimics the commercial issues that invited the buying public to redeem their tokens for silver at the issuer's business address ("Payable at the residence of..."), but the 'address' given by the reverse design is Newgate Gaol, because the four men named had been imprisoned there for sedition the previous year.
The joke hangs on the assumption that the prisoners' names would have been known to anyone who happened to receive the token. This is evidence in itself that the doings of revolutionaries were the subject of common report in London.
Source: The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England; Tokens of Revolution |
| Occupation |
From 1804 to 1829 |
Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England |
| Baptist Minister |
Address:
Shortwood Tabernacle |
| Died |
31 Mar 1829 |
Shortwood, Gloucestershire, England |
| Buried |
Apr 1829 |
Stroud, Gloucestershire, England |
Address:
Stroud Cemetery |
| Siblings |
6 siblings |
| + | 1. John Winterbotham
b. 1765, The Minories, London, England
d. Mar 1828, Whitechapel, London, England (Age 63 years)
| | | 2. Sarah Winterbotham
b. 1770, The Minories, London, England | | | 3. Joseph Winterbotham
b. Sep 1771, The Minories, London, England
d. Apr 1772, The Minories, London, England (Age ~ 0 years) | | | 4. Benjamin Winterbotham
b. 1772, The Minories, London, England | | | 5. Elizabeth Winterbotham
b. 1774, The Minories, London, England
d. Jan 1776, The Minories, London, England (Age 2 years) | | | 6. Thomas Winterbotham
b. 1779, The Minories, London, England |
|
| Headstones |
 Submit Headstone Photo |
| Notes |
- Baptism registers at St Mary Whitechapel suggest that William and his family lived previously in Mansel Street, off Rosemary Lane, maybe still scraping together the capital for their shop. Mrs Winterbotham took on the fostering of the (presumably illegitimate) child of a merchant, and William was sent to his grandparents in Cheltenham.
He did not return until the age of ten, when, accompanied by a maiden aunt, he was set down at the 'Bolt and Tun' in Fleet Street amid the "noise novelty and confusion" of a London Saturday evening. He "found it very tedious to await the customary hour of a London Sunday morning" to meet his parents properly. As he settled in, he loved to watch the ships on the Thames and imagine the different continents of the world.
William's experiences at school might resonate with any era. He was ribbed for his country accent, and the teachers assumed (wrongly) that he could not have been taught to London standards. After a caning for a misdemeanour he had not committed, William refused to go back to school. His exasperated parents tried everything, including grounding him and giving him irksome chores. He found a way out through apprenticeship to a Silversmith, William Harrison of Monkwell Street.
It is hard to know how typical William's experience was; this was long after the heyday of London apprenticeship, but it does seem an informal affair. He appealed to a friend of his father's who was seeking an apprentice, and his parents eventually consented, with no fee being paid. He therefore had to carry out some menial tasks, such as cleaning shoes and knives, sweeping the shop and making his own bed! Having been taken on at the age of 13, below the City's statutory age (14) for indenture, his master agreed that he should be paid for his work in the last year of his seven year term, or be at liberty to go elsewhere. William was a keen negotiator. At only 14, he claims, he learned that a master might expect the work of an apprentice to bring in 15/- a week, and asked successfully to be paid for any work he accomplished beyond this value.
As a journeyman, Winterbotham writes that he was drawn into a dissolute life (the details of which are, alas, no longer extant), resulting in illness and a long spell being nursed back at home by his long suffering parents. He was subsequently in and out of work, with the silver trade suffering in the mid 1780s. He appears to have joined in the Gordon Riots.
Out of sceptical curiosity he attended a non-conformist service in Pennington Street and shortly afterwards joined the congregation. In 1789 he was baptised by Mr Fleming in the river at Old Ford. Although still suffering mental illness, he became a successful preacher, and left this second phase of London life to act as Assistant Baptist Minister in Plymouth.
Taken from an article for "London Lives" written by Melanie Winterbotham, a descendant and historian.
|
| Person ID |
I14071 |
Winterbotham Families |
| Last Modified |
2 Apr 2012 |
| Family |
 Mary Brend (ID:I14075)
b. 1768, Devonport (Plymouth), Devonshire, England
d. 25 Aug 1833, Plymouth, Devonshire, England (Age 65 years) |
| Married |
26 Nov 1797 |
Holborn, London, England |
Address:
St Sepulchre's Church |
- The marriage was conducted by the Chaplain of Newgate on the day of William's release from Newgate prison. The church stood directly opposite the prison which was finally demolished in 1902 to make way for the Central Criminal Court.
|
 |
Marriage Record: WINTERBOTAHM, William and BREND, Mary 17971126
|
| Age at Marriage |
He was 33 years and 11 months - She was 29 years and 11 months |
| Children |
| + | 1. Rayner Winterbotham (ID:I15534)
b. 21 Aug 1798, Plymouth, Devonshire, England
d. 12 Jan 1879, Bedminster - Bristol, Gloucestershire, England (Age 80 years) |
| + | 2. Lindsey Winterbotham (ID:I14070)
b. 9 Dec 1799, Plymouth, Devonshire, England
d. 25 Dec 1871, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England (Age 72 years) |
| | 3. Lauriston Winterbotham (ID:I15535)
b. 27 Dec 1801, Plymouth, Devonshire, England
d. 27 Mar 1826, England (Age 24 years) |
 | 4. Carlina Brend Winterbotham (ID:I15536)
b. 14 Aug 1803, Plymouth, Devonshire, England
d. 2 Sep 1885, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England (Age 82 years) |
| + | 5. John Brend Winterbotham (ID:I15533)
b. 12 Aug 1805, Inchbrook, Gloucestershire, England
d. 27 Feb 1881, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England (Age 75 years) |
| + | 6. Mary Brend Winterbotham (ID:I15537)
b. 8 May 1807, Inchbrook, Gloucestershire, England
d. 17 Oct 1879, Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England (Age 72 years) |
|
| Last Modified |
17 Jan 2011 |
| Family ID |
F3555 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
1763 - 1829 (65 years)
Has 4 ancestors and 300 descendants in our family tree.
1759 - 
