If your ancestor was an agricultural labour you would not expect him to be mentioned in the local newspaper unless he had been involved in criminal activities, so when a friend at Shropshire Archives told me that she had found a James Whatmore of Hampton in Chelmarsh parish, Shropshire, mentioned in the issue of the ‘Shrewsbury Chronicle’ for 25 July 1856, I wondered what on earth he had been up to. This James Whatmore was born at Bewdley in 1795 and died at Hampton in Chelmarsh parish in 1877 and was my  great great great grandfather.

The news item turned out to be a report of a court action brought by Mr Martin (plaintiff) against Mr James Randall (defendant) for the sum of  £20  2s  9d of which £2  6s  8d had already been paid into the court.

Mr Martin kept an Inn and a malthouse at Hampton Loade. Mr Randall was a woolstapler at Kidderminster.

 

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The Unicorn Inn at Hampton Loade which was run by John Martin in the 1850s

Copyright: The Unicorn Inn and reproduced here by kind permission of the Manageress

Mr Randall had taken on a farm at Hampton Loade for three years, from Mr Whitmore’s agent. [This would be Mr Whitmore, the local magnate who lived at nearby Dudmaston Hall. There is no connection between this Mr Whitmore and the Whatmore family]. It had been Mr Randall’s intention that his son John William Randall should look after the farm.

It was claimed that it had been agreed that Mr Martin should supply malt and other necessities for the farm which he had done to the value of £10  11s 9d. It was further claimed that on Mr Randall’s behalf, Mr Martin had hired a threshing machine for three separate seasons at a total cost of £8.  Mr Martin was also claiming £1  13s  112d for the use of the ferry  boat for Mr Randall, his servants and his cattle. He had further supplied beer to the value of £1  3s to Mr Randall’s servants and had paid 15s 412d  as tax for a dog owned by Mr Randall.

There was some argument in court about who had ordered the malt and authorised the other expenditure and about who was responsible for the debt.

To quote directly from the news report:

‘James Whatmore, a labourer, said that he had been engaged by the defendant to work on the farm at Hampton Loade and to look after the sheep,. The son was on the farm but defendant said that he would not look after them. Defendant used to pay the wages and he did so for some months. After then, the son sometimes paid. Witness worked on the farm about 12 months, when he left. After being away a year he went again and the wages were paid sometimes by Miss Randall and sometimes by defendant. In December 1854 the stock and furniture on the farm were sold. In answer to Mr Huddleston [Counsel for the defendant] witness said the sheep were marked J W R by order of the son who had the mark made. Could not say how the carts and wagons were marked’

Mr James Randall, defendant, explained to the court that he had taken the farm from Mr Whitmore’s agent but had had nothing to do with the running of the farm until November 1853 when his son had run away. Mr James Randall denied ever asking Mr Martin to supply malt. He said that Mr Martin had never told him that his son owned him money. Mr James Randall claimed that the debts were his son’s.

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The Hampton Loade Ferry   Copyright: David Stowell      Picture from the Geograph website and reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the site licence which can be viewed at this link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

To cut short a long newspaper account, the jury after a brief consultation, returned a verdict for the plaintiff, deducting the 15s 412d for the dog tax.

In reading this account one is unsure who displayed the greatest naivety – Mr Martin for supplying goods and incurring expenditure without securities, or Mr Randall Senior for trusting an apparently untrustworthy son.

The Unicorn Inn is located near the river Severn on the west bank and still exists today. The 1851 census shows the occupants as John Martin Innkeeper, aged 35 born Wrockwardine, his wife Mary Ann aged 30 born Glazeley, 4 children, 2 servants and 2 travellers.  1851 James Whatmore was living close by, also on the west bank. It is possible, however, from the references to the use of the ferry, that the farm referred to in the court case was on the east bank of the river. Although the name Hampton Loade is given for the location of the farm and the Inn, technically Hampton Loade  is on the east bank and the hamlet on the west bank is called Hampton (previously ‘Hempton’). The confusion was not helped by the decision to name the station built in the nineteenth century on the Severn Valley railway line, ‘Hampton Loade Station’, even though it is located on the west bank.

The ‘Hampton Loade’ ferry still exists, the last working ferry in Shropshire on the river Severn . It is well worth a visit as is a trip on the steam operated Severn Valley Railway which runs from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster