The term ‘yeoman’ is usually associated with the Middle Ages and was rarely seen by the 19th century. A yeoman would have been a freeholder, holding and cultivating a small area of land. He was in a social position between people like a Lord of the Manor and common labourers and workers. It was strange to see descriptions of yeomen in the Baptism Register in Wickhamford in the 1820s.
The occupations of the father of children baptised in Wickhamford and Badsey were not recorded in the Baptism Registers until 1813, when a new design of Register was introduced in England. In both villages, the majority of the fathers was entered as ‘Labourer’, with others recorded as having various trades. With men in just three cases in the Wickhamford Register, the father’s occupation was recorded as ‘Yeoman’. One such occupation is in the Badsey Register for a man in 1827 and 1831. In all cases, the entries were made by Charles Bloxham, the Curate of both Parishes.
Wickhamford Baptism Register entries
In Wickhamford, the three men concerned were:
- John Faulkenor, husband of Sarah, who had two children baptised – John on 14th September 1823 and Thomas Leigh on 26th February 1826.
- Samuel Taylor, husband of Ann, whose daughter, Mary Anne, was baptised on 28th November 1827.
- Joseph Taylor, husband of Amelia, whose daughter, Sarah Roberts Taylor, was baptised on 9th May 1830.
Joseph Taylor
Amelia Taylor died on 7th November 1857, aged 66, and was buried in Wickhamford Churchyard. Her husband, Joseph, had pre-deceased her and, at the time of her death, she was living at Owden Farm, Cleeve Prior (now Hoden Farm). Joseph had died in 1839, aged 41, and was buried in Wickhamford on 17th October. A large gravestone was erected to them in the Churchyard. She was not living in the village at the time of the 1841 census, the first one in which people’s names were recorded, so it can be assumed that Amelia left after her husband’s death. Where they lived in Wickhamford is not known, but may have been one of the farms. (At the 1841 census, a John Taylor lived at Elm Farm, so this may have been the home of Joseph and Amelia, if John was a relative.)
Samuel Taylor
Samuel Taylor is recorded on the Wickhamford Tithe Map on 1842 as the tenant of ten fields around Longdon Hill, totaling about 150 acres. The year before, at the 1841 census, he was recorded as the tenant of Wickhamford Manor. In 1851, he and his wife, Ann, still resided at the Manor and he farmed 790 acres, employing 25 men. It was recorded that he had been born in Oakthorpe, Derbyshire. He died in 1856, aged 58, and was buried in Wickhamford on 24th June. In his Will, he left his daughter, Mary Ann Duffun Taylor, residing in Ombersley, £200. The residue of his Estate was to be divided equally between his wife, Ann, and another daughter, Jane. Ann Taylor died on 27th October 1884, aged 87 years, and was buried with her husband.
John Faulkenor
John and Sarah Faulkenor had left Wickhamford by the time of the 1841 census, so it is not known where they lived in the village at the time of their children’s baptisms in the 1820s. As he was designated a yeoman in the Baptism Register, it might be assumed that he occupied one of the farms in the village.
At this time, there were a number of spellings of this surname in various Registers – Faulkenor, Faulkener, Falkner, Falknor, Faulknor and Falkenor – so identifying family members in later records is difficult to do with any confidence.
A footnote concerning the Sawyer family
At the 1841 census, Alice Sawyer lived at Pitchers Hill Farm (now Wickham Farm). She had two daughters baptised in the village, Marianne in 1818 and Alice in 1824. Her husband was Albert Sawyer (died 1830) and to add some confusion to the ‘yeoman’ story, he was recorded, on both occasions in the Baptism Register, as a farmer. Perhaps he wasn’t considered enough of a gentleman to be referred to as a yeoman by Charles Bloxham?
Badsey
In Badsey, only one yeoman is recorded in that village’s Baptism Register:
George Walter Smith, husband of Clementina, had a son, George Walter, baptised on 9th April 1827 and another son, Frederick William, baptised on 13th April 1831. George Walter senior died in Badsey in 1837, aged 65, so his residence at the time of his children’s births is not known. Clementina was living at Vicarage Cottage, Mill Lane, Badsey at the 1841 census, with a son, William, age 10, presumably Frederick William. This was a reasonable property and its occupant might have justified the term ‘yeoman’ in Charles Bloxham’s eyes.
Clementina Smith died in 1852 and, in her Will, she left her leasehold cottage and garden, with all her effects, in trust, to Joseph Taylor of Wickhamford, to sell for the benefit of her three children – George Walter, Christiana and ‘William Frederick’. The Joseph Taylor mentioned would have been the ‘yeoman’ referred to earlier.
Tom Locke, November 2025
Acknowledgements
With thanks to Peter Stewart for photos of the gravestones.