Jonathon BISP of Winterbourne, 1754, makes an appearance in a list of Bristol seamen in my Kingswood Index which can be found elsewhere on this site.  Going through some old research papers recently I have come across him again in a notice  headed “Merchants Hall, April 11th, 1758”.

“The Trustees for the Relief of Seamen, &c, there met:

Mr Abraham ELTON, Master; Mr Richard COMBES, Warden; Mr Thomas FARR, junior, Warden; Mr Cranfield BECHER; Mr Henry SWYMMER;Mr James LAROCHE;

Mr Richard FARR; Mr William REEVE; Mr John FOY; Mr Nathaniel FOY; Mr George DAUBENY; Mr Wm WARSIP; Mr Thomas WILLOUGHBY; Mr Chr: WILLOUGHBY

No. 61: Jonathan BLISS (see note below **) late cook on board the ship or vessel called Duke of Cornwall belonging to the Port of Bristol whereof David JENKINS was Commander having the misfortune to have his left arm broke and his right hand shattered so much as to render it useless and his body and face burnt by the sudden going off of a gun aboard the said ship applying for relief and the same being certifyed (sic) to the satisfaction of the Trustees it is ordered that the said Jonathan Bliss be allowed two shillings a week to be paid Quarterly upon the General Quarter days the first payment to be made on the twenty fourth day of June next.

No 62: Betty BRUMAGE, Widow of Pierce Brumage late Chief Mate and afterwards Master of the Ship Nonpareil belonging to the Port of Bristol who was lost in the said Ship on her passage from Cape Fear to the said Port of Bristol some time in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty four petitioning for relief and the proper certificates being read whereby it appears that she hath one child living named Elizabeth aged about three years. It is ordered in consideration of her having had no relief hitherto and that Pierce Brumage was Master of the said ship at the time of his death that Betty Brumage be allowed two shillings a week to be paid quarterly……” (same conditions as above.)

Undated – a later occasion:

“The Trustees for the relief of Seamen &c then met:

Mr Isaac BAUGHTON, Master; Mr Jos: DALTERA, Warden; Mr Rd FARR, Warden; Mr Hry. CASAMAJOR; Mr Nathaniel FOY; Mr Wm REEVE; Mr Hry SWYMMER;

Mr Jas. LAROCHE; Mr Wm. JONES: Mr William HILHOUSE; Mr Henry DAMPIER: Mr James DALTERA; Mr Wm WANSEY: Mr Chr.WILLOUGHBY

No. 2: Thomas WEAVER – allowed to reside in or near Waterford and to be paid quarterly

No.5: Joshua HOLLAND – did not appear being ill.

No. 19: Rachel DAVIS is now married to Methusaleh DYER, a seaman now on board a Man of War

No. 22: John FLING – does not reside in Ireland

No.27: Mary GARDNER did not appear

No. 28: John HEALY – it appears that he is not quite dark and is able to get four or five shillings a week his pay therefore is reduced to two shillings a week from next (illegible) (I can’t understand what “not quite dark” means.)

No. 32: Rebecca RUTH did not appear. She lives at Westbury

No. 38: John THOMAS did not appear, being ill

No. 50: Robt BARKER did not appear

No. 53: The Pension paid to Mrs EDWARDS in respect of Richard LARKWORTHY ordered to be discontinued he being admitted into Mr Colston’s Hospital

No. 61: ** Jonathan BISP hitherto by mistake called BISP

No. 63: Jas. PITMAN did not appear.”

I am indebted to Mrs WALSH, a descendant of the Bisp Family who sent me this copy document from an original at the Society of Merchant Venturers in 1996. NB. in “Bitton Parish Chronicles” – lifted without acknowledgement from my “Annals of Kingswood” the writer has seen fit to “correct” my spelling of Jonathan’s name having decided it is a misprint and calls him “Bishop”.  Whenever a name is sufficiently unusual, it is always worth looking to see if there is any further information to be had. I’m sorry to say that in this case Jonathan Bisp, if this is the same man, came to an unfortunate end, as described in the London Chronicle of 1762:

“Bristol, October 30th. Saturday night a fray happened in Nicholas Street between the butchers and a party of the Glamorganshire Militia.in which Jonathan BISP, butcher, had his skull fractured so that he died next morning and several others were wounded on both sides. One Robert WILLIAMS who struck the deceased with an iron bar is committed to Newgate.”

Then: Bristol Gaol Delivery, Saturday 28th May, 1763. Robert Williams convicted on the wilful murder of Jonathan Bisp. Let him be hanged by the neck until he be dead and let him body be delivered to Mr TOWNSEND, surgeon to be dissected and anatomized. But execution to be respited until 24th day of June next. (From Bristol Gaol Delivery Fiats 1741-99 .)

Every cloud has one they say. Following the “demo” on 18th August my granddaughter and I went to the meeting at The Pilgrim. En route I met Heidi of Milbanke Close, with her children. She is one of the organisers and I thanked her and promised support to Protect Brislington’s Green Spaces.  At the pub we signed the petitions. Not that petitions do much good from my experience of working for a Member of Parliament.

The Pilgrim has Pillinger connections – the widowed Maria Pillinger (her husband was accidentally killed on Brislington Hill) was landlady there in the middle of the 19th century.

In the pub, I struck up a conversation with a kindred spirit, Jill Jacobs. Much to my surprise, after such a brief acquaintance, Jill thrust a sheaf of old photos into my hand and said she would trust them with me, until we should meet again.  I must have an honest face.

The photos were of the Burt family who lived in Brislington at the turn of the 20th century. I scanned the photos – see below. The family groups, Bob & Agnes Burt and their children were dated 1914 and 1905, making them ideal for census investigation.

In 1911, the family is listed as follows:

Robert Burt, head, married 36, bricklayer, born Bristol

Agnes Burt, wife, 37, born Wellington, Somerset, and their children:

Elsie, 14, scholar, born Taunton, Clifford, 13, scholar, born Taunton, Hilda, 11, scholar, born Taunton, Gladys, 10, scholar, born Bristol and Ivy, 8, born Bristol.

And here’s the surprise. They were living at Nelson’s Glory, Brislington. So what, you may say. Readers of The History of the Pillinger Family, Part 2, will know that Nelson’s Glory, in the 1820s was the abode of Henry Pillinger and his family! Synchronicity, or what?

So there we have Maria, the landlady of the Pilgrim and Henry at Nelson’s Glory, not to forget Julia from Bath in a previous post, I can’t help thinking that they’re all upstairs holding a Pillinger symposium to which they are trying to invite me. Not yet, I earnestly hope.

The following are the photographs of the Burt family:

In 1905: Mother : Agnes Burt. Father: Bob Burt

children from left to right Hilda, Ivy, Elsie, Gladys, Clifford.

In September, 1914:

Mother: Agnes Burt; Father Bob Burt and in between, Lena, the latest arrival.

adult children, from left to right: Hilda, Elsie, Cliff, Gladys, Ivy

Gladys Burt in 1922, with unnamed boy friend at Poplar House, School Road,  Brislington.

Bob Burt, 1935 at Poplar House.

Agnes Burt, with “Bob” – a grandson? and John Evans also at Poplar House

Agnes & the family dog, what a shame we don’t know its name.

Robert Burt married Agnes Thorne in 1897 at Wellington and by 1901 they were living at 34 Sandgate Road, Brislington. As a bricklayer, perhaps Bob had a hand in the building of these new houses. It must have been a recent move for as we have seen their children, aged 3, 2 & 1, Elsie, Clifford and Hilda, had all been born in Taunton.

In 1891 Robert, then about 14, was living at Road, Stoke St Mary, Taunton with his elder brother Albert (18) and widowed mother Sarah, aged 44. Though the two boys had been born in Bristol, Sarah’s birthplace was Old Cleeve in Somerset. Robert and Albert were the sons of Sarah’s marriage to Robert Burt and she had a previous son, William Tarr, born 1863.  Robert senior died in 1876, the same year that his son and namesake was born.  In 1881, Sarah, then 36, was living at 14 Kenilworth Terrace, St Philips, and working as a charwoman. Two of her sons were with her, William Tarr, aged 18, (a porter in a printing office who was born at Washford in Somerset) and young Robert, a scholar of five. Brother Albert, aged seven was staying at the time of the census with his paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Burt, aged 60, a widow, who was farming at Thurlbear in Somerset, assisted by her son, Andrew Burt.

In 1871, young William Tarr, aged seven, was a boarder at a house at St Decumans, Highbridge, belonging to a Sarah Sully, aged 68. Among other boarders was a John Burt, a freestone sawyer, born Montacute, but without further research I cannot say whether John Burt and Robert Burt senior were related or if this was simply coincidence.  Meanwhile, Robert, senior, 21, was living on his father’s farm, Netherclay, Thurlbear with six brothers and sisters. His father, Worthy Burt, born about 1823 married Mary Ann Williams at Taunton in 1847. Her father, Robert Williams, an “Ag lab” born 1789 was living with the family in 1871.  I have yet to establish with any certainty the whereabouts of Sarah Burt, formerly Tarr in 1871.  

In order to find more about Agnes Thorne, I would need her marriage certificate to discover her father’s name. So far, census searches have proved inconclusive.