Woodborough’s Heritage

Woodborough, a Sherwood Forest Village, recorded in Domesday


Bish Family History by Dorothy Thomas



My three times great grandfather, John Bish (1771-1842), married Elizabeth Donnelly on February 21st 1792. Would she have been related to the Donnelly family that built the small factory on Dark Lane?


In White’s Directory 1832 John Bish was listed as a carrier, he went to Nottingham on Wednesdays and Saturdays and to Tuxford on Mondays. They had five children.


My two times great grandfather John Bish (1804-1880) married Mary Clay on April 26th 1830. They also had five children, the second one, William (born 1833), caught my attention as I am afraid to say I did not know what a framework knitter was. He had quite a sad life. He got married in 1860 when he was 29 to a 39-year-old woman, Charlotte Marshall, who already had a son. They had one child, Mary, born in 1861. William died of typhoid fever in 1868 aged 36. Charlotte married for the third time in 1875 to Henry Clayton, a shopkeeper. What happened to Mary, I still have to discover.


William and Charlotte Bish lived on Pinchpenny Row (now known as Church Walk) so I was delighted to find a picture of these cottages. Hannah, the third child, married George Hurt. Jarvis the first child married Eliza Ashwell in Mansfield and died in 1894 in the Union Workhouse, also at Mansfield. Elizabeth the fifth child married Arthur Blagg in 1866.


John Bish senior, after the death of Mary Clay in 1854, married Ann Richardson who was 26 years old, half his age. They had a daughter Martha, born March 5th 1865. Ann died of scarlatina five days later aged 29. When Martha was 30 years old she married Edward Murfin on April 15th 1895 at St Swithun’s Church. The Reverend Walter Buckland conducted the service.


My great-grandfather John, fourth child of John and Mary, married Ann Hind. They had eight children, Sarah, who did not live long; Elizabeth born April 3rd 1871, died a year later of pertussis; Herbert, the first child, was my great uncle. He was originally a framework knitter and also a bag hosier mentioned in Kelly’s Directories. His name is on the list and again in 1912. He was also a market gardener and he, with Aunty Emma, had a stall in the Nottingham Central Market. He died aged 86.


I was also taken as a small child to the house called The Homestead and can remember as a teenager once camping in Woodborough and seeing a huge five barred gate with The Homestead in big letters across the top. On a visit in 2014 I found The Homestead still exists.




NOTE FROM THE WEB EDITOR: The following list of births, marriages and deaths, has been collated from Dorothy Thomas's recollections of her family past and present. Also transcriptions from the records of Woodborough's Parish Registers of births, marriages and deaths by the Nottinghamshire Family History Society. Where there is no record (NR) has been added, it should be noted that there are some differences/inconsistencies and where these occur (?).



1





John Bish (NR)

Born: 1771

Died: 1842 Jan 24

Aged 71



Married

1792 Feb 21

Five children


Elizabeth Donnelly

Born: 1771 (NR)

Died: 1856 July 30

Aged 85





2





Elizabeth Bish

Bap: 1795 Oct 24



Sarah Bish

Bap: 1801 July 06


John Bish

Bap: 1804 June 15


Charles Bish

Bap: 1808 May 10


Martha Bish

Bap: 1810 April 28



3





John Bish

Born: 1804

Died: 1880 Jan 27

aged 75



Married

1830 April 26

Five children


Mary Clay (NR)

Born: 1801

Died: 1854 Aug 28 aged 53




4




Jarvis Bish

Born: 1831



William Bish

Born: 1833

Died: 1868 age 36



Hannah Bish

Born: 1835


John Bish

Born: 1837


Elizabeth Bish

Born: 1839



5





Second marriage of John Bish

Born: 1804

Died: 1880



Married

1863 Feb 02

One child


Ann Richardson

Born: 1837

Died: 1865 Mar 10

aged 29





6






Martha Bish

Born: 1865 Mar 5







7





Martha Bish


Married:

1895 April 15

No children


Edwin Murfin




8





William Bish

Born: 1833

Died: 1868


Married: 1860

One child


Charlotte Marshall




9






Mary Bish

Born: 1861





10





John Bish

Born: 1837

Died: 1914

July 21 aged 77



Married: 1859 Oct 4

Eight children


Ann Hind

Born: 1839

Died: 1918

Nov 24 aged 80


Children below

some dates differ to our records


11


Herbert Bish

Born: 1860

Bap: 1860.09.30

Died: 1946 Dec 21

Aged 86



John Aldred Bish Born: 1862

Bap:1862. Jan 13

Died: 1929 age 67



Jarvis Bish

Born: 1863

Bap: 1863.10.25


Lucy Hind Bish

Born: 1870 (?)

Bap: 1869.08.15


Elizabeth Bish

Born: 1870

Bap: 1871.04.16

Died: 1872


Ann Mary Bish

Born: 1872

Bap: 1873.10.19




Ann Eliza Bish

Born: 1873


Sarah-Ann Bish

Born: unknown

Bap: 1873.12.28


12





John Aldred Bish

Born: 1862

Died: 1929 age 67


Married: 1889

One child


Sarah Ann Weston

Born: NR

Died: 1851 age 85




13






John Francis Bish

Born: NR

Died: 1914





14





Jarvis Bish

Born: 1863 Oct 8



Married

1893 May 16

Two children


Eliza Hallam

Born: 1872?

Bap: 1862






15





Grace Winifred Harriman Bish (NR)

Born: 1893 Dec 25




George Reginald Wilfred Bish

Born: 1896 Sept 23




16





Lucy Hind Bish

Bap: 1869


Married: 1896

One child

 

Henry Michael Chambers




17






Florence Monica Chambers





18





Ann Mary Bish

Born: 1872


Married: 1901

No children


John George Dring




19





Ann Eliza Bish

Born: 1872


Married: 1908 June 25

One Child


Charles Poole




20






Clarisa May Poole

Born: 1910





21





Grace W H Bish (NR)


Married

1916 Nov 23

No children



Parker Musson




22





George R W Bish

Born: 1896 Sept 23

Died: 1958 aged 61



Married

1925 Sept 12

Three children


Kate Stevens

Born: 1897 April 9

Died: 1989 aged 93




23







Audrey Margaret Bish

Born: 1926

Died: 1996 aged 70



Roland Bish

Born: 1929 Aug 10

Died: 1957 aged 58



Dorothy Doreen Bish

Born: 1932 April 13





24





Roland Bish


Married

1965 Dec 4

No children



Joyce Henshaw




25





Audrey Margaret Bish



Married

1953/4 March 30

Four children


Patrick O'Shea




26




Therese Mary O'Shea

Born: 1949? Sept 5


Louise Geraldine O'Shea

Born: 1957 Jan 8



Patrick Joseph O'Shea

Born: 1959 Mar 19


Jeremy Francis O'Shea

Born: 1964(?) Sept 12




27





Jeremy Francis O'Shea



Married:

2003 August 30

Two children


Georgina P.L. Atkins




28





Finn Michael O'Shea

Born: 2005 Aug 10



Remy Joseph O'Shea

Born: 2008 Nov 24




29





Therese Mary O'Shea


Married:1974?

Three children



Peter Thompson




30





Melanie Thompson

Born: 1979 Dec 30



Adrian Thompson

Born:NR


Sophie Thompson

Born: NR




31





Melanie Thompson



Married: 2012 Dec 01

One child


Anthony Greenfield




32






Gabriella Mildred Greenfield

Born: 2016 April 18





33





Louise Geraldine O'Shea



Married: 1975?

Two children



Philip Beaver




34






Andrew Beaver

Born: NR





Paul Beaver

Born: NR




35





Dorothy Doreen Bish


Married: 1956 Dec 28

Divorced: 1978 Apr 17



Stuart Snowball





36





Linda Jayne Snowball



Married:1979 June 30


John Smith




37





Dorothy Doreen Snowball 2nd marriage



Married:1981 Oct 2

Three children


Cyril Thomas




38





Anita Smith

Born: 1979 Jan 27



Martyn Smith

Born: 1980 June 9


Gina Smith

Born: 1981 Oct 13




39





Martyn Smith


Married: 2014 Aug 23

No children



Emma Gale




40





Anita Smith

Now Smith-Waite



Married:2006 March

Two children


Richard Waite




41





Drew Smith-Waite

Born: 2006 Dec 18





Ben Smith-Waite

Born: 2010 Dec 15




42





Gina Smith


Not married

Two children plus

one adopted




Tony Lowes





43





Shay Lowes

Born: 2003 July 26


Lee Lowes

Born: 2006 Feb 16



Faye Lowes

Born: 2009 Oct 14

adopted 2014




John Alfred Bish, the second child, married Sarah Ann Weston, who was married at Derby Register Office, when he was 27. (They had one son, John Francis Bish) and worked on the railway. He died aged 67 in 1929. Sarah died aged 85 in 1851.


John Francis Bish married in 1908 to Florence May Blackham. A son, John William Bish was born in 1911, Lucy Hind, the fourth child, was married to Henry Michael Chambers, and they had one girl, Florence Monica, in 1901 and lived in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. In 1911, Lucy is staying with her sister Ann Mary in Woodborough, Henry was a boarder and working as a railway drayman and Florence Monica after much searching, I found her living with her cousin, John Francis. Florence was 27 when she married Richard Douglas Waine at the South Shore Parish Church, Lancaster.


Ann Mary, the fifth child, who stayed at home until 1901, when she got married to John George Dring at St Swithun’s, the vicar who conducted the service was the Rev. Samuel Bond. When John Bish died in 1914 he left money to his son Herbert and Ann Mary’s husband J.G. Dring.


Ann Eliza Bish, the last living child was married to Charles Poole at St Swithun’s on June 25th 1908. The 1911 census reveals that they had a daughter, Clarissa May, born 1910, the family at that time were living at Cinderhill, Nottingham.


Jarvis Bish, the third child, was my grandfather, and he married Eliza Hallam on May 15th 1893. They had two children, Grace Winifred Harriman Bish and my father George Reginald Wilfred Bish. Grace married Parker Musson, they had no children, G.R. Wilfred married Kate Stevens on September 12th 1925. He was 29 and they had three children, Audrey, Roland and Dorothy.


Here I must say that as far as I knew I had no grandparents, so I was very surprised to find Eliza had died in May 1957 and Jarvis (Gervase) in May 1942. He lived in Derby, whatever happened to cause this separation I would dearly like to discover. I have a daughter, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, Audrey has four living children, seven great-grandchildren, I am the last of the old family.

Back to top Next page


Acknowledgment:


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________