TRUE OR FALSE

In the Groves's family, there were two stories of real prominence.

1. That we were related to Alderman Thomas Groves  Mayor of Shrewsbury it is unclear which my family would have been talking about because father and son became Mayors, although I assume it was the son.  Thomas the elder was Mayor between 1844-45 and Thomas the son was Mayor 1867-68. 

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find the link although I do feel this is probably true because my Mum and Aunties where taken to see his picture at Shrewsbury Museum many times when they were little.  Nobody can remember what the link was. 

2. The second story was that the Groves' boys attended Shrewsbury School and use to arrive on horseback. They were there at the time of Charles Darwin.  It certainly would not have been my Gt Gt Grandfather, as he was not born until 1825. The girls I believe attended 'Dame' schools this was a great source of pride for my Nan who constantly reminded us that the girls in her family had all been educated.

THOMAS GROVES c1750

I do not have any information at this time of Thomas my understanding from a member of the Groves family is that he started out as a Farmer and became a Builder.  If this is correct then that would link him to my Groves family as they were Farmers.

THOMAS GROVES 1786 - 1867

Thomas Groves was born 3rd April 1786 and married Elizabeth Morris of Great Hanwood 29th August 1808.  Thomas was sworn as a Burgess on 7th September 1819.  My first recorded evidence of the family that I came found is the 1841 census when Thomas then aged 55 shown as 'Head' and his occupation Builder.  His wife Elizabeth (nee Morris) then aged 55 where living at St Mary's Place Shrewsbury.  At this time Thomas and Elizabeth had five children living at home.  Mary then aged 30 with no occupation and John aged 25 then a Stone Mason.  From this census it would appear that three of their children were all aged 20 which make their year of birth 1821.  Their daughter Anne (20) with no occupation, James (20) occupation then a Joiner and William (20) occupation then a Painter.  Source: HO 107/927/13

Thomas was Mayor of Shrewsbury 1845 - 1846.

Thomas was the Architect of Royal Shrewsbury Hospital known as locally as Shelton.  Originally: Shropshire and Wenlock Borough Lunatic Asylum which was built in 1845 and housed 800 patients. 

Thomas was also listed in Trade Directory for 1850 under Brick Makers entry reads: Groves Thomas & John, St Austin's Priory.

The 1851 census shows a very different picture.  Thomas is then described as Alderman and Proprietor of House and Land.  He and Elizabeth had moved from St Mary's Place to 1 Holywell Terrace Shrewsbury.  Three of their children where living at home Mary then aged 41 and unmarried, Anne aged 32 and unmarried and William aged 29 occupation then Painter and Glazier.  Note here the difference in Anne and William's ages in the 1841 census their ages were the same.  Source:  HO1071992

The 1861 shows Thomas still living at 1 Holywell Terrace, Elizabeth had died.  His occupation described as Alderman and Gentleman.  Two of his daughters Mary and Anne both unmarried where still living at home as was his son William then aged 39 and working as a Painter and Glazier.  Source: R.G. 9/1872

The last Will and Testament of Thomas dated 10th November 1862 is a fascinating read my copy is 12 A4 sheets with the Probate.  The Will lists all his properties and land and is bequested to his family.  He held shares in the Abbey Cemetery Company, Public Rooms in Shrewsbury, Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company, The Great Western Railway Company, The London and North Western Railway Company and the Shrewsbury Water Works Company.  He left seventeen house to his children.  My thanks to Nick for supplying this information.

Thomas died on the 13th June 1867.  Source: probate and GRO Vol 6a, page 416.

His eldest son Thomas and other children I have written about below, John as we can see from the census was a Stone Mason.  James married Sarah daughter of Mr. C. Russell of Forstall, Aylesford, Kent on the 4th September 1851.  William, Painter and Glazier was sworn as a Burgess on the 3rd May 1842.

THOMAS GROVES c1813

Thomas Groves was born c1813 and I do not have a lot of information before the 1841 census.  He was sworn in as a Burgess 27th July 1835.

On the 1841 census Thomas then aged 25 living with his wife Mary Ann and their two children Thomas aged 4 and John aged two at Friars in the Parish of St Julian Shrewsbury.  His occupation the a Builder.  Source: HO 107//926/10

Strangely I can not find a an entry for Thomas and his family on the 1851 census for England.

The 1861 census shows the family where living at St Austin Friars with six children.  Thomas then aged 48, described as a builder employing 6 boys and 45 men.  Mary Ann then aged 50 and the following children John (22) Annie (19) Mary (17) whose occupations where given as 'Builder' which would have been unusual for the women at that time.  The other three children all Scholars and were George James (15), Alice (13) and Harriot (10).  Note that Thomas who appeared on the 1841 census aged 4 died in 1841.  Source: R.G. 9/1873

There is a printed letter of application dated 20th November 1866 for the post of County Surveyor, of Thomas Groves, The Priory, Shrewsbury, and testimonials including one from Edward Haycock.  Source: Shropshire Archives Catalogue Ref: 2756, File Ref: 3217/56.  There are also several references held at the archives to his other business dealings.

The 1871 census shows Thomas as a Widower as Mary Ann had died.  Still living at St Austin Friars Thomas had become a Justice of the Peace and County Surveyor.  Somewhere I have seen a note that shows his letter of application for the job as County Surveyor which if my memory serves me right is held by the Shropshire Archives.  (If I can find this in my files I will add at a later date).  Living at home with Thomas at that time where the following children: John (32) Builder, Elizabeth A (29), Mary (27), George James (25), Alice (23), and Harriot (20).  Source: RG10/2776

By 1881 Thomas had followed in his father's footsteps and was described as Magistrate, Alderman and County Surveyor.  Only three of his children where still at home George James (35), Builder and Harriott (30).   Source: RG11/2653 

Thomas does not appear on the 1891 census and I am still looking for the date of his death.

A Burgess was a citizen of a borough having full municipal rights.  Or a Member of Parliament for a borough or corporate town.  Sometimes the word was used to describe a person elected by a borough to represent them in Parliament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page under reconstruction

 

 WELCOME TO MY GROVES FAMILY - my maternal side

 

My direct line

William Groves died 1798

Samuel Groves c1752 -

William Groves c1780

Joseph Groves c1825 - 1866

William Groves c1850 - 1927

Mary Jane Groves 1882 - 1975 my Grandmother

The Groves family is the family that I grew up knowing quite a lot about or at least that is what I thought.  My Nan always had a story to tell and she had such a way with words.  I loved every moment I spent in her company and as a very young child; I did spend a lot of time with her.  As far as I can remember, my mum took us to see her nearly every day.  In the week, we use to have our tea there, jam butties and cake.  Sundays and special occasions we would have cucumber sandwiches, the cucumber steeped in vinegar all day and the crusts cut off the bread.  The best china and silver would be in use and as a special treat; we would be allowed to eat the sugar cubes.  You have to remember the early fifties sugar was a luxury it had been rationed up until 1953 and nobody would dream that it would not be good for your health. 

As I researched the Groves family, they became more and more of a mystery.  In the beginning I found it very hard to prove the stories my Nan told me.

I grew up with stories of belonging to Landed Gentry of the family living in a large Hall although nobody seems to know where.  That the children had Nannies and there were many servants.  However, I do know that they were Farmers and many farms had servants be it that they would often be family members.  The land always seemed to be left to the oldest boys and the later you were born the less likely, that you would receive anything.  That is the way it was in my family.  It was highly likely that girls would not get anything.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in my research was to do with Joseph Groves born 1825 because his birth was at Chirbury.  My family insisted that the Groves's were from Church Stoke in Montgomeryshire.  The further back in time I was able to get the more I found links with Churchstoke and Chirbury.  I have now discovered that the Groves family were indeed 'Landed Gentry' and were a very substantial family in the areas of Chirbury, Church Stoke, Priest Weston, Shelve and Wotherton.  I will add the maps to this page to that you can see how close all these places were in South Shropshire and near to the Welsh Border of Montgomeryshire.

I must mention some additional help that I have received.  Sitting on my desk I had reams of paper research on the Groves family because names like Samuel and William kept cropping up I had great difficulty in connecting all the information and I wasn't even sure at times whether I was on the right track.  Therefore because I have two aunties in their 99th and 93rd year I decided to enlist the help of a research firm.   This for me was extremely helpful, not as expensive as I thought and turned out to be good value for money and the research they did on my behalf tied together all the fragmented pieces of information I had collected.  The one I used was www.tree-tracers.co.uk you can contact Heather on tree-tracers@blueyonder.co.uk for me it was certainly a productive move.  So thank you to Heather.

WILLIAM GROVES

William Groves of Shelve, yeoman born () and died 1798. Letters of administration were granted to his widow Mary Groves on 26th December 1798.  Source: National Archives Catalogue Ref: IR 26/348. Image Ref: 362/132

Shelve was part of the lower division of the parish of Chirbury Hundred in the County of Shropshire.  It is situated 16 miles from Shrewsbury and 7 miles north east of Bishops Castle.  It was mostly inhabited by agricultual workers.

From the A2A Archives catalogues are held with details of land transactions of the Groves family these are the copyright of Shropshire Archives. 

The catalogues show that William Groves of Shelve conducted several transactions with The Earl of Powis and others which includes property and lands in the Townships of Great Weston known also known as Priest Weston and Little Weston all in the Parish of Chirbury. Below are listed the dates and File numbers:

22nd October 1771 Ref: 2873/2-49

24th and 25th March 1772 Ref: 2873/4-5

26th September 1772 Ref: 2873/6

26th December 1798 Ref: 2873/8-9

The above catalogue numbers also show that William Groves had land called Horsemoore and properties in Aldress Close.  William Groves granted a lease of water right to Robert Bemand for 99 years.

William and Mary had at leaset one son Samuel details below: 

SAMUEL GROVES

Samuel Groves was baptised 27th June 1752 and these details can be found in the Worthen Parish Records and Family Search index.  Samuel married Margaret Bady (also spelt Badey and Beady) on 28th April 1776. 

In documents held at Shropshire Archives Samuel Groves of Priest Weston is described as a farmer, and the eldest son and heir of William Groves, late of Shelve, yeoman, deceased.  Source: File ref: 2873/10 date 1st June 1815.

As far as I can tell they had the following children;

Mary was baptised 25th September 1780.  She first married Edward Wynne Williams.  Edward died and was buried 17th February 1812.  Mary then married Samuel Groves on 30th December 1813.  They farmed at Heightly and it is this Samuel who is referred to as "relation" in William Groves will dated 20th July 1938.  On the 1851 census Samuel, Mary's second husband is shown as born in Ratlinghope.  Baptisms prior to 1794 are not shown on the IGI.

Margaret was baptised 18th October 1778 and she married George Harris 22nd April 1816.  Margaret is also referred to on the A2A catalogue reference 2873/ 16-20.

Samuel baptised 28th July 1782 and he married Hannah Williams. (details to follow)

Sarah no baptism found but married Thomas Gough and is also referred to on the A2A site catalogue reference number 2783 14/15

William married Ann Hotchkiss and is my direct ancestor and his details given below.

Robert baptised 26th December 1789 and married Harriet Groves in 1818 and is the Robert referred to as of Rockley in William's will.

WILLIAM GROVES c1787 - 1838 

William Groves was the son of Samuel and Margaret Groves (nee Bady).

William Groves married Anne Hotchkiss in the parish of Church Stoke on 21st February 1805.  William was described as a batchelor and Anne as a 'Minor'.  Witnesses at their wedding were Benjamin Hotchkiss, Mary Groves and Joseph Hotchkiss.  William and Anne as far as I am aware had fourteen children.

The children of William and Anne were baptised in the Parishes of Church Stoke and Chirbury and details below:

Church Stoke Register

Samuel 29th August 1806        Mary 8th February 1808

Sarah 3rd February 1808          Martha 9th September 1810

Hannah 13 January 1812          William 9th March 1813

Robert 3rd March 1815             Michael 9th May 1817

Chirbury Register

Margaret 3rd Sept 1820            Edward 22th Sept 1822

Benjamin 30th January 1824    Joseph 11th April 1825

Thomas 22nd November 1827

William and Anne also had a daughter called Anne possibly born in Church Stoke and probably born between 1818 and 1819.  The reason we know this is that she appears on  the 1841 census when the family were living in Wortherton, Chirbury, Shropshire.  At that time Anne's age was shown as 20. 

Two of William's and Anne's boys died in childhood.  Benjamin was just two weeks old and buried on 12th February 1824. Thomas died aged 7 years and was buried 4th April 1835.  The address given for both boys at the time of their death was Timberth.

William's name appears in the Quarter Session Records under the name of Groves of Timberth.  From December 1833 - March 1834 he was described as Juror/Farmer.  From January 1835 - October 1835 he was described as Chief Constable of Chirbury. 

On various online documents William was known as William Groves of Timberth.  Timberth is a place about 1 mile south, south west of the village of Chirbury and about 1 3/4 miles due east of Montgomery Church.  At this time it probably only has one main farm.  In the past Timberth was the smallest of 8 townships in the parish of Chirbury.  Each township had its own Chief Constable responsible for minor law and order and for reporting breaches up the chain and to the manorial court.  The title of Chief Constable at the time William held the post would have been before a police force and normally given to the head officer for the "hundred" who reported to the Hundred Court.

In 1871 the area of Timberth was 257 acres and part of the Chirbury section of the estates of the Earl of Powys, inhertied from the famous Lords Herbert of Chirbury.  From the A2A searches it shows that William Groves had several transaction with the Earl of Powys at that time.

William Groves made his Will dated 20th July 1838 in which he named his executors as Robert Groves his brother and Samuel Groves a relation.  He left all his freehold property at Priest Weston to Robert and Samuel Groves in trust to sell.  William died on the 22nd November 1838.  (I have a copy of William's Will and in due course will put the details on this page).

Just to clarify things Robert was William's brother and Samuel a "relation" was William's sister Mary's second husband.