The Petherbridge family

From Judy Buckley, the 3x great granddaughter of Lydia Petherbridge:

'Thomas Petherbridge (c. 1761-1837), a wool stapler in Ashburton, and his wife Judith (nee Woodley 1765-1828) had four children: Elizabeth, William, Lydia and Ebenezer, who, with some cousins, moved quite long distances from the town of their birth in the early 19th century.

Elizabeth (1790-1868) and William (1797-1877) were already living in Plymouth by 1812, where William was in a haberdashery partnership with London draper Joseph Pope, and they joined the Baptist Church at Morice Square, Devonport. The Plymouth partnership was dissolved in 1819 and by 1822 both of them had moved on to London where William married Mary Pope (1794-1871).

Lydia (1796-1868) joined them in London. The two sisters ran a millinery warehouse in Cheapside until 1824 when both of them married. Elizabeth, who married Robert Millar (1799-1878), a draper/businessman from Jersey, continued the warehouse for a while, and lived in Lambeth. Their only daughter, Elizabeth Petherbridge Millar, married a Wakefield businessman and spent the rest of her life in Yorkshire.
Lydia married another draper, John Robert Overton (1783-1847), who had a large shop (which included a branch of the Reigate Bank), in the High Street in Dorking, Surrey. The Overtons had five children. Lydia carried on the shop after her husband's death, then ran a boarding house until her death.

Above the Overton shop was a girls' day school run by Jane Petherbridge (nee Ireland, 1785-1864), widow of Lydia's cousin. Her husband Edward Collings Petherbridge (1782-1828) had been an excise officer. They married in Ashburton in 1812, then moved to Walberton in Sussex. By 1828 Edward had retired and they lived in Dorking. Jane lived with Lydia until she died.

Wiliam's wholesale drapery in the City of London supplied their younger brother Ebenezer, who had a shop in Newton Abbot. In 1831 both brothers filed for bankruptcy, and their case was so complicated that it featured in law books.

Ebenezer (c1800-1838) married Louisa Lyne (c1806-1833) of Blackawton. They had two daughters in Newton Abbot, but after his bankruptcy and Louisa's death, Ebenezer seems to have moved to Lancashire (home of cotton textiles, or "Manchester Goods"), leaving his younger daughter (in 1851 anyway) in her aunt Elizabeth's household. Perhaps her teenage sister went north with her father, but so far no trace of her can be found.

William continued with another draper's shop in Southwark until the early 1840s, then moved to Croydon and became a coal merchant - Mary died in 1871. They had six children: the youngest, Samuel, was a draper and it was at his home in Barnes in Surrey that the widowed survivor of the older generation died, 58 years after he left Devon. '
Very many thanks to Judy Buckley for this account

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Records connnected to the above account:
Thomas Petherbridge, of the parish of Ashburton, married Judith Woodley, a sojourner of the parish of Bovey Tracy, at Bovey Tracey on 28th April 1789. They married by licence.
Parish records

Their daughter Elizabeth was baptised at the Morice Square Baptist Chapel, Devonport, in 1790. Thomas and Judith are of the parish of Ashburton.
Morice Square Baptist Chapel records
Record supplied by Judy Buckley

Lydia Petherbridge, the daughter of Thomas and Judah, was baptised at Hen Street Baptist, Bovey Tracey, in  1796 (record on Familysearch says birth date 31st May).
https://www.familysearch.org

William Petherbridge was baptised at the Morice Square Baptist Chapel, Devonport, in 1797.
Thomas and Judith are of the parish of Ashburton.
Morice Square Baptist Chapel records
Record supplied by Judy Buckley  
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On the 17th March 1824 Elizabeth and Lydia Petherbridge gave notice that their partnership at 37, Wood Street, Cheapside, London, was dissolved by mutual consent. They had been flower, feather and fancy ornament dealers. All debts due and owing were now being handled by Elizabeth, who was carrying on the trade.
Record supplied by Judy Buckley

Elizabeth Peterbridge married Robert James Millar in August 1824, in St Alban Wood Street, London.
https://www.familysearch.org

In the 1841 census Robert Millar, a draper, and Elizabeth Millar are living in King Street, Hammersmith, London. With them is ten and a half year old Lydia Petherbridge.
1841 census HO1107, piece no. 690, folio 25, p7

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A marriage licence was issued for John R Overton and L Petherbridge on 27th March 1824
Faculty Office Marriage Licences, available through https://search.findmypast.co.uk

In 1834 John Robert Overton put a notice in the County Chronicle, Surrey Herald and Weekly Advertiser for Kent that he and Thomas Evershed had been assigned the effects of John Trimmer, of Dorking, in trust for themselves and other creditors. John Overton was a linen-draper of Dorking.

County Chronicle, Surrey Herald and Weekly Advertiser for Kent, 11 February 1834, p1 col2

In 1846 Sarah Edwards was convicted of stealing 7 pillowcases and other articles from John Robert Overton, an agent to the Reigate Bank at Dorking. She was found guilty, but Mr Overton 'appealed very fellingly' [feelingly?] for leniency. Sarah was given three months' hard labour, with two weeks' solitary confinement.
Kentish Mercury 28 March 1846, p3 col4

Lydia Overton, born in Ashburton, was a widow in Dorking in the 1851 census. She was a retired linen draper.
In 1861 Lydia (Ovelton) was a lodging house keeper in South Street, Dorking. 64 years old, she had been born in Ashburton.
1851 census HO107, piece no. 1598, folio 382, p9
1861 census RG09 piece no. 441, folio 52, p44

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Ebenezer Petherbridge married Louisa Hyne, by licence, at Blackawton in April 1827. Ebenezer was of Wolborough Parish, and Louisa was of Blackawton.
Parish records

In December of 1827 Susan, the daughter of Ebenezer and Louisa Petherbridge, was baptised at Wolborough. Ebenezer was a mercer.
Bishop's transcript records, available via https://www.familysearch.org

Lydia Overton Petherbridge, the daughter of Ebenezer and Louisa, was baptised in Wolborough in May 1832. Ebenezer was a linen draper.
Parish records


Louisa's abode was Newton when she died and was buried at Blackawton in October 1833. She was 27.
Parish records

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The partnership of Petherbridge and Pope is listed under Dissolutions of Partnerships in the Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser of 4th October, 1819

Record supplied by Judy Buckley

William Petherbridge, of Whitechapel, Middlesex, linen-draper and also 'carrying on trade at Newton Abbot, Devonshire'  with Ebenezer Petherbridge, linen-draper and co-partner, is listed under bankrupts in September 1829.
Perry's Bankrupt Gazette, 5 September 1829, p4 col2

Further details of the case
emerged in the law books. 'Up to December 1827 William Petherbridge carried on business in copartnership with Haynes and Price of Whitechapel, linen-drapers; that William Petherbridge, and his brother Ebenezer Petherbridge, commenced a partnership as linen-drapers in Newton Abbot, in Devonshire, which was carried on under the name and was conducted by Ebenezer Petherbridge alone...'
Record supplied by Judy Buckley


1836. An advertisement for Wm Petherbridge and Co., 'pre-eminent for superior qualities at low prices', said that a new consignment of fancy cassimeres, Buckskire, Zebra Stripes and Railroad Cords were in stock. The company operated from British Cloth Hall, 18, Blackman Street, Borough, 18 doors from St George's Church.
Morning Advertiser 20 October 1836.

Record supplied by Judy Buckley

By 1851 William Petherbridge was a coal merchant in Croydon. Aged 53, he was born in Ashburton. His wife, Mary A, was 57
1851 census HO107, piece no. 1601, folio 356, p7

A directory of Croydon for the same year has William Petherbridge, coal merchant, at 72, North End, and 1, Medmore Place, Parson's Mead.
The Commercial and General Directory of Croydon, 1851
Record supplied by Judy Buckley
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1746 Nicholas, the son of John and Margt. Pethebridge, was baptised at Buckfastleigh in October 1746
Parish records

1782. Edward Collings Petherbridge, the son of Nichlos and Ann, was baptised at Holne in June 1782.
When their son John was baptised in Holne in 1773, the couple were said to be of Buckfastleigh.
Parish records

Edward Pethebridge, an 'Officer in the excise', married Jane Ireland on March 23rd, 1812, at Ashburton. He was of Walberton in Sussex; she was of the parish.

Parish records

He was 46 when he died in 1828, in Dorking, Surrey
National Burial Index for England and Wales.

75 year old Jane Pethybridge is living in South Street, Dorking, in the 1861 census, living off 'Interest of money'.
With her are two daughters, who were both born in Emsworth, Hampshire; Jane was born in Ashburton.
1861 census RG09, piece no. 441, folio 54, p47