21 St John Street
Owners
No. 1 St John Street
No. 1A St John Street
No. 3 St John Street
No. 5 St John Street
No. 7 St John Street
No. 9 St John Street
No. 11 St John Street
No. 13 St John Street
No. 15 St John Street
No. 17 St John Street
No. 19 St John Street
No. 21 St John Street
No. 23 St John Street
No. 2 St John Street
No. 4 St John Street
No. 6 St John Street
No. 8 St John Street
The deeds show the house being owned by the following people:
James Withers - the earliest document is an indenture dated 24th March 1812 between James Withers of Thornbury, a carpenter and John Niblett of Thornbury, a glazier. This confirms that the property was built by James Wither and describes the property in the following terms:
"all that messuage or dwellinghouse wherein Mark Williams lately inhabited and Isaac Pullen doth now dwell lately erected and built by the said James Wither on part of a piece or parcel of land or garden ground containing about twenty one perches situate in the said Borough of Thornbury which the said James Wither purchased of Thomas Rolph and also the garden attached and belonging to and used with the said messuage or dwellinghouse all which said messuage or dwellinghouse and garden above mentioned and described and hereby bargained and sold or intended so to be are situate and being in the said Borough of Thornbury and adjoin to a certain street called Saint John Street on the Southward part to another messuage or dwellinghouse there lately erected and built by the said James Wither on the other part of the said parcel of land or garden ground and wherein he the said James Withers doth now dwell on the Westward part to a small piece of inclosed copyhold garden ground late of William Taylor deceased on the Eastward part and to the land of the said Thomas Rolph on the Northward part thereof and are now in the occupation of the said Isaac Pullen as tenant thereof to the said James Wither".
We know a little more about James and his family - click here to read more
A document dated 25th March 1812 shows that a mortgage was arranged with John Birt of Thornbury, innkeeper and Samuel Thomas of Thornbury, a yeoman, enabling John Niblett to purchase the property for £160.
John Niblett - we don't know any more about John, except that on 22nd February 1815, he sold the property to John Neal of Thornbury, yeoman.
John Neale - according to the Scribes Alcove website, John died in Thornbury on 23 October 1832 aged 84 years. An 1834 indenture however refers to John Neale's will, which it says was executed on 8th June 1832. He gave and devised the property to George William Parker, late of Thornbury plumber and glazier, now of Dursley, and his wife, Mary.
George William Parker - George acquired the property in 1832 or 1833 (whichever year John Neale died - see above). George was a plumber and glazier. We think he may have been born in Thornbury on 4th December 1790, the son of William and Elizabeth Parker. By the time he acquired the house, he had married Mary and they were living in Dursley. On 16th April 1833, George appears to have raised a loan of £100 using the house as security. On 25th March 1834, George sold the house to Charles Hopton a labourer of Thornbury who was already occupying the house. The loan was paid by the sale of the house to Charles.
Charles Hopton -Charles bought the property on 25th March 1834 when he was already occupying it. The property was conveyed to Luke Prosser on 30th August 1841. Click here to read more about Charles Hopton
Luke Prosser - in the 1841 census Luke Prosser lived in Buckover with his wife Ann. Their ages are shown as 75 in this census. Luke acquired the property on 30 August 1841 when the previous owner, Charles Hopton, defaulted on the loan of £140. Of this £140, Luke himself had borrowed £70 from John Smith, a maltster from Tytherington. On 30th April 1842, the property became vested in John Smith because Luke's outstanding debt to John Smith had not been be paid. In August 1842 he made a will leaving the property to his daughter, Ann White and her husband, Charles White of Buckover, tiler and plasterer and he died shortly afterwards. At this time, the house was occupied by John Thurston as tenant.
Charles and Ann White - Charles was a tiler and plasterer, born in Wickwar. He married Ann Prosser from Buckover. In 1841, they were living at Buckover, next door to Ann's parents, Luke and Ann Prosser. Charles and Ann had children: Louis or Lewis baptised in 1843, Thomas baptised in 1836, Mary Anne aged 3 but baptised in 1840, and George aged 10 months. They later had another another daughter, Elizabeth, in 1843.
Charles and Ann inherited the property from Ann's father, Luke Prosser, in 1842 following his death, subject to their repayment of his loan of £70 from John Smith. They never occupied the house, letting it out instead to Lewis Davis. It is possible that Lewis may have been related as both he and Charles White came from Wickwar and Charles White named his first son, Lewis.
On 26th August 1851 Charles and Ann sold the property to George Wiltshire, a mason from Thornbury. The proceeds of the sale were used to clear the debt owing to John Smith. By 1871 they had moved to a house in Grovesend - their widowed son, George and his three children were living with them. By 1891, Charles and Ann were living on their own in their three roomed house in Grovesend. Ann and Charles both died in January 1892, Ann aged 82 years and Charles aged 86 years. They were buried on 18 January and 27 January respectively.
George Wiltshire - George was the son of William Wiltshire, a mason and his wife, Mary. He was baptised in Thornbury on 9 July 1815. George never married - in the 1841 and 1851 censuses he was a mason lodging with William Alloway who was living at 19 St John Street.
On 30 August 1851 George Wiltshire borrowed £50 from Luke Withers using the house as security. By 20th January 1860, although George had paid the interest to the loan, he had still not been able to repay the £50. George borrowed £60 from John Horatio Thurston, gentleman from Kington and used this to pay off his original debt to Luke Withers leaving him with £10 to meet other requirements. At this time, George Wiltshire was living in the house. The 1861 census shows George as a stonemason living on his own in number 21 St John Street. On 25th March 1865 George Wiltshire had paid the interest owing to John Horatio Thurston but had not repaid the capitol sum of £60. He contracted with Thomas Wilson, beerhouse keeper of Thornbury for the purchase of the property for £130. Of this sum, £60 was paid to John Horatio Thurston to clear the loan and the remaining £70 went to George Wiltshire. George died in 1870 aged 55 years. He was buried on 7th April at St Mary's Church in Thornbury.
Thomas Wilson - in 1865, Thomas purchased number 21 St John Street from George Wiltshire at a cost of £130. He never lived the house, continuing to live St Mary Street, and allowing the house in St John Street to be let to tenants.
The 1876 Rate Book shows that Thomas Wilson owned the house which was then being rented to James Underhill. By his will dated 2 January 1880, Thomas Wilson, described as a grocer and beerhouse keeper, bequeathed his estate to his wife, Anna Maria. The 1880 Rate Book shows that Thomas Wilson is the owner of the house. Thomas died on 4th January 1882 aged 51 years. The Rate Book of 1885 shows that Mrs Wilson became the owner.
Anna Maria Wilson died on 16 November 1885 aged 54 years. Her will was proved by George Wilson, her brother-in-law and Thomas Honeybourne on 9th February 1886. The Rate Books of 1890 and 1894 show that the owners of the house are the Trustees of Mrs Wilson. Thomas sold the house on 25 March 1896 for £212 10s to Albert Edward Bevan, a boot and shoe maker from Thornbury. Click here to read more about Thomas and Anna Maria Wilson
Albert Edward Bevan - Albert was born in Thornbury in
September quarter 1878. He was the son of James Bevan, boot and shoe
maker from Thornbury and his wife, Ann from Pedington near Berkeley. James had his
shop on The Plain and the family were living there in 1891.
On 25 March 1896, when Albert was just 18, his father bought him a house, 21 St John Street. The house was to belong to Albert, but James Bevan paid £212 10s for the property from Thomas Honeybourne, the trustee for the estate of Anna Maria Wilson.
It does not appear that Albert ever lived in the house. At the time of the purchase, the indenture mentions it was occupied by 'Representatives of the late Joseph Stevens'. It is interesting to note that on 26 March 1896, the day after the purchase, Albert borrowed the sum of £150 from Frederick Jones with James Bevan acting as guarantor. The Rate book shows the owner of the house as James Bevan. This is presumably because Albert Bevan is still not of full age. However it does not explain why the 1905 and 1910 Rate Books still say that James Bevan is the owner. Perhaps James Bevan was paying the Rates for his son. By the 1901 census, Albert is still living with his parents on The Plain at which time Albert is described as a musical student.
On 1 September 1908, Albert, now a teacher of music and living in Maida Vale, London, repaid the loan in full to Frederick Jones. On 4th June 1926, the house was sold by Albert Edward Bevan to Miss Elizabeth Grace for £350.
Elizabeth Haley (nee Grace) - Elizabeth was the daughter of Frances Henry Grace and his wife, Elizabeth. She acquired the ownership of 21 St John Street for £350 when she bought the property from Albert Edward Bevan. She married Dennis Haley who was a pilot officer in the RAF and after the War we understand he took over the management of the Saw Mills. She continued to own the property, although she never lived there until at least 1963. During this period it was let out to Charles Staite, an employee of the Saw Mills.
About 2003 the house was bought by Brian and Jeanette Cason and merged with number 19 next door into one house.
This page was last updated: 31/10/2008