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Hatton, John

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John Hatton lived in Widford, near Swinbrook, a small island of Gloucestershire that was, until it was finally engulfed in the 1840s, entirely surrounded by Oxfordshire. He had a paper making business with stock and equipment in Widford. His father appears to have been Thomas Hatton, also from that area, and so he may have been born locally.

You can discover more about paper making at the time on the site of the British Association of Paper Historians. The first 10 years of the 1800s saw dramatic changes emerging in the paper making industry with experiments in mechanisation and then the first mechanical paper making devices being patented around 1809. The scene was set for steam power to replace water power, perhaps prompting John's decision that after his death his business should be sold. By the 1840's the Widford Mill appears to have been miling corn and not paper.

John also owned property at Upton on the River Windrush (just upstream from Burford) and in Sheep Street the road that runs westward out of Burford and up the valley side to Upton. Other sources indicate that prior to 1800 there were three paper mills on the stretch of the Windrush near Burford. Their recorded locations were Little Barrington, Widford and Upton. The mill at Little Barrington has been the subject of much study and more information can be found at the website of the British Association of Paper Historians

John married Sarah Killmaster at Buscot in Berkshire. Buscot was later to become the home of Edward Loveden Townsend, the driving force behind the Thames and Severn Canal.

John left a will that was proved in London and remains on record. The following is a summary:

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John Hatton of Widford, paper maker

To Wife Sarah

* Interest dividends & produce of stock in the Long Anns (amounting to £50)

Residue entrusted to Wife Sarah & Son John to carry out the following

* Property in Sheep Street Burford (in tenure and occupation of Revd Thomas Andrews) to be sold when convenient

* To grant his Son Richard a lease (£100 per annum) on property (including Mill Lands) at Upton near Burford until his Daughter Martha reaches age 21. Richard to pay half yearly and be responsible for keeping in good repair. When Daughter Martha reaches 21 then Son Richard may apply (in writing within a month) to exercise a preferential option to buy the Messuage or Tenement Mills Heredits & Premises at Upton. The price to be set by two arbitrators chosen by the Trustees, or if they can’t agree then by an Umpire chosen by the Arbitrators. If Son Richard does not pay up within two months then the property is to be sold.

* Household Furniture Plate China & Linen to be enjoyed by his wife Sarah for her natural life, then sold.

* Stock & utensils in Trade in Widford & my Paper Making Business.

* & rest & residue of Goods Chattels Personal Estate & Effects, all to be sold.

* The monies raised by the various sales to be divided evenly between his children when the reach age 21. Any advances (marriage portions or advances to pay for education) made to the children to be deducted from their shares (Son William & Daughter Elizabeth specifically included).

Wife Sarah & Son John appointed as Guardians for the children and Executors for the Will.

Signed: 31 May 1810

Witnessed by J J Ansell, William Hallett his Clerk, John Patrick

Proved: 11 Jul 1811

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There is a full transcript of this Will.

The sale of John's property in Widford seems to have gone through in 1813 when the Freeman & Mitford families of Morton in the Marsh deposited the Title Deeds to land they had aquired at Asthall, Shipton & Widford. The Oxfordshire Records Office have these deeds amongst the Batsford Park Estate papers (ref D1447/1/260). The scope & content description refers to messuages, fields, Lower Ham, Cold Comfort, and Ten Acre Piece, 2 Cottages, a paper mill and a corn mill, all in Widford; messuages and land in Asthall; a small piece of land (abuttals) in Shilton.

A Sarah Hatton is listed at Widford Mill on an Excise list of 1816. This is likely to have been John's widow.

It appears that Richard Hatton took up the lease mentioned in John's Will, but that he failed to make a success of the business. There are, amongst the records of the Thames & Severn Canal company are letters of attorney in the bankruptcy of one "Richard Hatton of Upton in Burford, papermaker, dealer and chapman" (chapman in this context probably means a merchant, trader or agent, and 'dealer and chapman' was apparently often used by the bankrupt as a deliberately vague description of their trade). According to the Gloucestershire Records Office catalogue entry these records include leases (and drafts) of land and buildings at Brimscombe Port (nr Stroud), Cirencester, Lechlade, Minchinhampton (a couple of miles south of Brinscombe), Bisley (a couple of miles NE of Brincombe), Abingdon in Berkshire, and Latton in Wiltshire. I have yet to identify a date for these letters as the catalogue entry for these papers has a date range of 1795 - 1839. Of the places mentioned Brinscombe Port, Cirencester, Lechlade, and Latton are all on the route of the Thames & Severn Canal. More details & maps can be found on the site of the Cotswold Canals Trust. The canal itself only opened in 1789.

Elsewhere in the country water and wind powered mills of many types were also threatened by the encroachment of steam. By around 1760 it appears that many were going out of business.

John is burried in the churchyard at Swinbrook.

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References

Anonymous, 28 June 2004, Bankrupts and Insolvent Debtors: 1710-1869, The National Archives, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/Leaflets/ri2223.htm, (accessed 17 Mar 2006)

Any transcripts and images on this page are Copyright R I Kirby 2005 unless stated otherwise.

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