The Earliest Fardons of Temple Guiting

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Chapter Three : The Earliest Fardons of Temple Guiting

The first known Fardon arrived in the area around 1698 and became Constable of Hailes. One of his sons moved to Temple Guiting, the head of a branch of the family that would be in the parish for two centuries. His son, and perhaps also he himself, was a farrier, which set the pattern for the family trade of blacksmith over several generations.

A - John (Constable of Hailes)

The first known Fardon in the North Gloucestershire area was John, who had been born in around 1673 at an unknown place. and who in 1698 married Ann Dobbins at Weston sub Edge, a village in the north of the county near the border with Warwickshire. A son, also John, was then baptised at Weston in the same year. In 1704 he had moved slightly to the south and was in Hailes, a village just north of Winchcombe, where another child was baptised. He then moved to Didbrook, a nearby village, where further children were baptised between 1707 and 1714.

At some stage he was appointed Constable of Hailes, and in this capacity was present at Beckford on 15th January 1715 to take the oath of allegiance to the new King, George I. He and his family, except for second son James who moved to Temple Guiting, may then have lived in Hailes until his death there in 1743; his daughter Mary died there in 1737 and his son Richard was married there in 1757.

Details of the decree summoning John to Beckford to sign allegiance to the monarch, and a transcript of his will, are given at the end of this chapter.

I have not researched the office of Constable and its responsibilities, but it was clearly a public office, perhaps an office of the Crown. Presumably John must have had some education to hold such an office. He shows in his will that he was able to sign his name, rather than placing a cross as his mark, which was all too common. There is no information from material seen so far as to what trade he practised.

Some financial acuity may be suggested by a phrase in his will. When “forgiving” his first son for what was due for board and lodging of himself and his maidservant, he knows to the day how long they have been living at home rent-free (“eight years ye third of May next”), and thus presumably exactly how much is owing.

The children of John

There were five known children, baptism records as shown:

A1 John

1699

Weston sub Edge

 

A2 Hannah

1704

Hailes

 

A3 James

1707

Didbrook

 

A4 Mary

1709/10

Didbrook

 

A5 Richard

1714

Didbrook

 

There are just glimpses of these in parish records and, most usefully, from references in their father’s will. Apart from James, they seem to have remained at Hailes. Mary died there in her late twenties, Richard was still there in the 1750s, after his father’s death. But James moved to Temple Guiting, to become the head of a branch of Fardons that would be in the village for two centuries. There is no information on occupations.

A1 - John

John was baptised in Weston sub Edge in February 1698 or 1699 and presumably lived with his parents in Didbrook and Hailes during his childhood. There is no more information on him until 1743, when he was mentioned in his father’s will. Here, like his siblings, he was left ten shillings. He had clearly been living at home, with a maidservant, at his father’s expense, for as part of the terms of the will his father forgave him the cost of board and lodging for the two of them over the previous eight years. He seems to have been unmarried, and there were certainly no living grandchildren who, by analogy with his siblings, would have been left five shillings in the will. There is one more reference to James, as witness at his brother Richard’s wedding in Hailes in 1757.

A2 - Hannah

Hannah was baptised in Hailes in 1704. The next and only record of her was in her father’s will in 1743. By then she had married a Mr Burford (first name not shown) and had three children, Anne, Henry and Mary. As with her siblings, her bequest was ten shillings, with five shillings to each of her children. There is no further information.

A3 - James (the first Temple Guiting Fardon)

James moved to Temple Guiting, where he settled and brought up a family, which I dub below as the first Temple Guiting generation. He was baptised in Didbrook in 1707. The next record is of his marriage in 1730 to Ann Harvey, in Tewkesbury Abbey no less. From at least 1731 he was living in Temple Guiting, where four children were born between then and 1748. There is no further information on him at present.

James was the first Fardon known to have settled in Temple Guiting parish - it is not certain whether this was in the village itself or in Ford, Kineton or Barton. The further generations stemming from James are detailed below.

A4 - Mary

Mary was baptised at Didbrook in 1709/10. She died in Hailes in 1737 and was thus probably still living at home with her parents. She died before her father and thus did not appear in her father’s will. There is no more information.

A5 - Richard

Richard was baptised in Didbrook in 1714. The next information is a reference in his father’s will in 1743. Unlike his siblings he was not named as an inheritor, but instead became joint executor with his mother.

He was next seen in 1757, still in Hailes, when he married Mary Cummings. Seven years later a son, also Richard, was baptised in Hailes 26th Feb 1764. Nothing more is known after this date.

The descendants of James and Ann

the first Temple Guiting generation

There were four known children

B. John

1731

 

Elizabeth

1742/43

Anne

1733

 

Anne

1748

Little is known of the girls. The first Anne died in her second year; Elizabeth was mentioned in her grandfather’s will in 1743, but there is nothing further; Anne was born too late to be mentioned in the will and died unmarried in Temple Guiting in 1770, probably in her early twenties.

John is better documented. He spent all his life in Temple Guiting. He was baptised there in 1731, and was mentioned in his grandfather’s will in 1743. In 1760 he married Hannah Bayliss in the village, and between 1760 and 1773 eight children of theirs were baptised in Temple Guiting. He died in 1785 and was buried in the village on Christmas Day. He was the first of the family to be identified as a farrier (his father’s occupation is unknown). The children were, with their baptismal years:

the second Temple Guiting generation

B1 Mary

1762

 

B5 Hannah

1768

B2 Elizabeth

1764

 

B6 Jane

1769

B3 John

1765

 

B7 Richard

1771

B4 James

1766

 

B8 Sarah

1795

Nothing is known about the girls other than their baptismal date, except for Sarah, who died and was buried in Temple Guiting in 1795. Presumably they were married and disappear from Fardon records. One of the boys, James, died in early manhood, at the age of 20, and he is unlikely to have had descendants.

The remaining two boys, John and Richard, survived, and took up their father’s profession of blacksmith, John in Temple Guiting (presumably carrying on his father’s business), Richard down the road in Ford. Between them they produced 21 children. These children include the heads, for the purpose of this account, of the various branches of the Fardon family of Temple Guiting. They are dealt with in subsequent chapters, as shown in the following tables

B3 John

Like his father John probably spent all his life in Temple Guiting. He was baptised there in 1865, and in 1792 married Mary Seebright there. Thirteen children followed, all baptised in Temple Guiting and for at least the last three, and possible all, the family was resident in the village itself. He died in the village in 1845, his wife five years later.

The following table lists the children, showing year of baptism in Temple Guiting and the chapter below in which their families and descendants are detailed:

name

baptism

chapter

 

name

baptism

chapter

C James

1793

4  

J Emanuel

1808

11

D John

1794

5

 

K Joseph

1810

12

E William

1797

6

 

L Daniel

1812

13

F Sarah

1799

7

 

M George

1816

14

G Mary

1801

8

 

N David

1816

15

H Henry

1803

9

 

O Moses

1818

16

I Lucy

1805

10

       

B4 James

James was baptised in Temple Guiting in 1866 but he died before his 29th birthday and was buried in the village. There is no evidence to suggest that he was married.

B5 Hannah and B6 Jane

Hannah and Jane were baptised in Temple Guiting a year apart (1768 and 1769). Nothing further is known about them, presumably they got married and disappear from the Fardon records.

B7 Richard

Richard, the second son to produce a large family of children, was baptised in Temple Guiting in1771. He married Mary Griffin in 1794 at Salperton, a village to the south of the Guitings and the pair settled in the Ford hamlet of Temple Guiting parish. The following year a son, also Richard, was born, but within a few days Mary died, presumably as a result of the birth. Nothing more is known about the child, and it may be that he also died.

Richard remarried in 1805, by licence to Susannah Baylis at Fulbrook near Burford in Oxfordshire. They returned to live in Ford, where Richard carried on his trade as blacksmith, and here brought up nine children. Susannah died there in 1841, Richard two years later.

The following table lists the children, showing year of baptism in Temple Guiting and the chapter below in which their families and descendants are detailed. The first is the child of first wife Mary, the remainder of second wife Susannah. The family address was Ford in the case of the baptism of the first and last five - and thus probably all - of the children:

name

baptism

chapter

 

name

baptism

chapter

P. Richard

1795

17

 

U. Sarah

1813

22

Q. John

1806

18

 

V. Ann

1815

23

R. James

1807

19

 

W. William

1816

24

S. Isaac

1809

20

 

X. Jane

1822

25

T. Joshua

1811

21

 

Y. David

1825

26

Supplementary detail

John Fardon, Constable of Hailes : oath of allegiance to George I

The first John Fardon’s claim to fame was as Constable of Hailes. There is a document (Gloucestershire Records Office reference Q/A94) containing a record of the events of the Epiphany Court sessions at Gloucester “Ano [sic] 2 Georgii Re[gis] 1715" (ie in the second year of King George, 1715). Part of this concerns oaths of allegiance to King George I, who ascended the throne the previous year, and it lists those swearing allegiance. The oaths were sworn at Gloucester on 10th January, and then at various places in the county. John Fardon, “Constable of Hayles” was recorded (page 494 of the document) as one of those swearing the oath at Beckford on 16th January.

The list of names is headed:

The names of those who took the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to His Majesty King George, and the Abjuration Oath, pursuant to the Statute made in the first year of the present Majesty’s reign, instituted an Act for the further security of His Majesty’s person and Governt, and the succession of the Crown in the heirs of the late Princess Sophia, being Protestants, and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales and his open and secret abettors, at this Epiphany Sessions held at Gloucester the 10th day of January 1715

The Will of John Fardon

In ye name of God Amen. I John Fardon of Hails in ye county Gloucester being aged but of sound and perfect mind and memory do make and ordain this my last will and testimony in manner and form following:

First I commend my soul into ye hands of Almighty God hoping through ye Merits and Mercy of my Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ to inherit everlasting life. And my body I commit to ye earth to be buried at ye Discretion of my Executors hereafter named in hopes of a joyful Resurrection. And my worldly goods, horses, cattle and money I dispose of in manner following:

Imprimis. I give and bequeath to my son John Fardon ten shillings, and also forgive him what is and shall be due to me for ye Board of him and his maidservant eight years ye third of May next.

Item. I give unto my son James Fardon ten shillings and to my grandson John and my granddaughter Elizabeth Fardon five shillings each.

Item. I give unto my daughter Hannah Burford ten shillings and to my granddaughter Anne and to my grandson Henry and to my granddaughter Mary Burford five shillings each.

And I do constitute and appoint my loving wife Anne Fardon and my son Richard Fardon joint Executors of this my last will and Testament revoking all Wills and Testaments by me heretofore made. In witness whereof I have set my hand and seal this twenty seventh day of January in ye year of our Lord 1742-3.

Signed, sealed and delivered [signed] John Fardon

in ye presence of

[signed] Joseph Callow,

[signed] Edmund East.

19th May 1743

The mark of Mary South

The above named Richard Fardon one of the Executors was sworn before me [signed] N Weston Surrogate

This will was proved the 19th day of May in the year of our Lord 1743 before the Worshipful Sir Henry Penrice Knight Doctor of Law Vicar General in Spirituals and of the Right Reverend Fathers in God Martin by Divine permission Lord Bishop of the Diocese of Gloucester and of his Episcopal Consistory Official Principal lawfully constituted by Richard Fardon son and one the executors and so forth to whom and so forth having first sworn well & faithfully Adminstor to the said Will and also to exhibit an Inventory and render an account and so forth.

This page was last Updated 28 August 2021