Thomas Baker From Staple Near Sandwich In 1798, Related To The Nethersole Family

A Memory of Staple.

In 1798 my Ancestor Thomas Baker was a boy of 6 years and was living in the village of Staple with his parents and younger siblings. Thomas Baker's eldest brother was Richard aged about 16 and unmarried and in 1798 may have been farming a peice of land mentioned in tax registery of that year as occupied by a Richard Baker. Thomas's elder brothers John, Lawrence & James who were also born in Staple were aged about 14, 10 and 8. However there is no record of the survival of his sisters born in 1784, 1796 and 1798, namely Elizabeth, Sarah & Elizabeth. Considering most of his siblings signed their names on the their marriage records showing that they were literate, where were they educated? Perhaps they attended the Free Grammer School in Sandwich, which was only 5 miles away? The village boasted a school in the 1870's which stood in what is now School Lane at the East end and ran North to Rookery Farm. This lane met with a road leading from Shatterling Common to Gilton village. In the late 18th century, life a village like Staple usually revolved around the Church & Public Houses. The Church of St James, a 14th century edifice, which we know was used for this family's christenings, may have been in bad repair in the early 19th century, for it was restored in Victorian Times. The men and working boys would have met at the Three Tuns pub at the West end, or the Black Pig Pub which lay in Barnsole known then as Barnswell towards the East. The bigger settlement of Woodnesborough was accessible further along this road. In the 1890's out on the way to Barnsole was Waverley cottage, where a nursery business was started, and further along was the Baptist Chapel . Staple is situated on high open ground, and a road leads to Wingham, through Twitham, called Tweedham in 1806. In earlier times Staple was an extension of Wingham which lies to its West. To Staple's East the Durlock Bridge goes over a Brook which takes the stream back through Wingham to flow eventually into the Stour River and through to Sandwich. The dwellings of the village mainly follow 2 roads from the West and North which meet at a South East corner where a Smithy once stood. The Roman Road a few miles to the North, traverses the countryside from Canterbury to the coast and there is another way to the walled town and port of Sandwich through Ash . The Black Pig which is now the only pub in England with that name, was supplied by the Staple Brewery to its south and both were run by Robert Tritton. They stood in an area known then as Sumers Field. A Windmill could be seen to the West. In 1798 the Parents of this Baker family were William aged about 40 and his wife Mary nee Wanstall aged about 42. When they married in 1778 they both were from the parish of Worth, and they signed the register. Their first 2 children were born in Worth before they moved to Staple. The 1798 tax register shows that William Baker had a considerable amount of land that he owned and occupied, and also worked on land owned by Lady Hales, she was born Mary Heyward, daughter of Gervase Heyward of Sandwich. Jane Austen wrote of this Lady Hales who visited her in 1796, at Jane's brothers home at Goodnestone, which is about 8 miles to the south of Staple.
Thomas Baker lost Mary his mother in 1798, and she was buried at Worth where she had grown up, the burial had a note, saying that at her death she had come from Staple . Two years later, her widowed husband William Baker remarried in Staple in 1800 to an Ann Goodber. But, at the beginning of 1802 , after having 2 more children by Ann, born in the village, named Ann & Edward. In 1800 at his marriage in Staple other attendants as witnesses were Mary & Benjamin Atkins who had christened a son in that village in 1796. They may have been connected to the Baker family for in 1798 Benjamin Atkins occupied land owned by a Thomas Baker? We don't know when the Baker family left Staple, but by 1806 Richard was settled in Sandwich, John was a married bricklayer in Walmer in 1813, and Lawrence was a married Carpenter in Upper Deal. Thomas Baker was a Labourer in Westcliffe when he married in 1820 and lived in St Margaret's at Cliffe. However, his brother James could have been a Staple resident for some time into the 19th century, for we have no later record of him until his marriage in 1838 when he was a Miller of Sandwich.

---

---