SOG-UK-L Archives

Archiver > SOG-UK > 2002-03 > 1015018559


From: "John Townsend" <>
Subject: Re: [SoG] Tipshall, Derbyshire
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 21:35:59 -0000


It sounds very much as if Tibshelf was intended, and there is no entry for
"Tipshall" in my 1887 Bartholomew's.

Tibshelf is where my great-great-grandfather, Samuel DOWNING, is stated to
have been born, circa 1831/2, in successive census returns, and on his
police record. In 1858 he joined the Notts. Constabulary. William
Goodacre, the Vicar of Sutton-in-Ashfield, gave him a reference. Samuel
eventually rose to Superintendent at Bingham. On the census returns of 1841
and 1851 he is shown living at Tibshelf with his uncle, Joseph Downing, and
Joseph's 2 sisters, Elizabeth and Mary Downing. I have never found his
baptism despite having searched the registers of Tibshelf and several
neighbouring parishes.

I reckon Mary was his mother. As for the father, who knows? Samuel's
marriage certificate gives blank for father's name - a pre-requisite for a
successful police career <g>

There is no clue in Mary Downing's will proved in 1861, but at the time of
her death Samuel resigned from the police and rejoined a few months later,
slipping a rank in the process. I take this interval to be connected with
Mary's death. The informant was Ann Downing, which was the name of Samuel's
wife.

I would be very glad to hear if anyone can throw any light on Samuel's
baptism, birth, or parentage. This might give me a run much further back in
time, as I strongly suspect that these Downings at Tibshelf came from nearby
Blackwell, where Downings had been settled for centuries.

John Townsend

>Do you, perhaps, know where "Tipshall" may be in Derbyshire? I suspect that
>it may be "Tibshelf".
>
>My third Rev. Thomas Feilde is stated in "Admissions to the College of St.
>John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge..." to have been "bred
>at Tipshall (Mr. Edwards)". This Thomas was orphaned at age 9 and left to
>the guardianship of John Edwards. At the time the will was made, John
>Edwards was curate to the second Rev. Thomas Feilde who was Rector at North
>Wingfield. When the father died in 1739, Edwards was the vicar at Tibshelf.






This thread: