Third Generation

He presumably took some interest in the affairs of his local church, and shared the enthusiasm of the parishioners for the planned extensions, for which Thomas Cockshutt, incumbent, had sought permission from the Archbishop of York which was granted as follows:

“…where ye said Inhabitants being thrice publickly called & none appearing to show cause to the contrary We have decreed and do by these presents grant this Our Order unto you ye said THOMAS COCKSHUTT Clerk to erect or build or cause to be erected or built a convenient Loft or Gallery near ye Belfry of the said Church to contain in length Twenty foot and in breadth Seventeen foot or thereabouts for the use of ye Parishioners and Inhabitants of ye said Parish To sit kneel and hear Divine Service and Sermons…Given at York under ye Seale of Our Office this Nineteenth day of August in ye year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty.”

However, it is not likely that Robert made any direct financial contribution towards the extensions because he was not, at the time that the ‘rewards’ were handed out, one of the recipients. On 23 January 1731(/32) Thomas Cockshutt reports and assigns the pews to be allocated to those whose donations made the work possible:

“Whereas I THOMAS COCKSHUTT have erected a Loft or Gallery in ye Church of Cawthorne…And whereas ye persons whose names are hereunto subjoyn’d have paid ye due proportion to ye expense of erecting ye said Loft upon condition of their having ye seats pews or closets therein…for ye use of themselves their heirs or assigns for ever…Now ye seats pews or closets hereby appropriated and ye persons to whom they are so appropriated are as follow viz ye seats on ye North side of ye said Loft or Gallery…"

Robert Fretwell did eventually secure a pew in the Church, by assigned transfer in 1738 from Mr James Oates.

Shortly after his second marriage we find him having moved from Cinder Hill, and now involved in the tanning business, which he carried out at Potterton, an outlying hamlet in the township and parish of Barwick-in-Elmet, liberty of Pontefract, 7 miles from Tadcaster.

Robert also acquired property in the Barwick-in-Elmet area after it had passed through a series of complicated transactions. William Ramsden of Longley in 1610 held the manor of Barwick, with other other property, and one Edward Copley also had a substantial holding, which was acquired by the Ramsden family by 1633. The property, described as the

“…capital messuage or manor house of Potterton with its lands and ‘all the pews, closets, seats, forms and stalls’ in Barwick Church usually occupied with the manor house…”

then passed through a number of hands until it came into the hands of Robert, who had already purchased the tannery.

There had been a tanning enterprise at Potterton for some time before Robert took over the business. Before him, the Vevers family had been connected with tanning in Potterton—the first known being one Richard Vevers, a tanner who in 1608-9, acquired by fine from John Gascoigne lands in Potterton including a messuage, a barn, garden, orchard, 47 acres of land, 3 acres of meadow, 30 acres of pasture, and common on turbary and pasture, paying the sum of £60 sterling. Another Richard Vevers, probably a grandson of the former, received from John Gascoigne of Parlington, on 20 July 1706, an assignment of a small part of the lord’s waste in Potterton, presumably for the purpose of extending the tanning yard. In 1732 Richard Vevers mortgaged this enclosure to John Shackleton of Ripon for £100 and he, in 1744, sold it to Robert Fretwell who also bought from Shackleton other lands which had been mortgaged to him in 1732 by the Rev. William Vevers. Robert settled the tanning yard and these other estates on his wife, Alice.

But Robert had a number of business interests apart from the tanning operation, and his property interests in Potterton. The extent of Robert’s wheeling and dealing is confirmed by the numerous deeds relating to Robert’s transactions. Apart from Potterton Hall, Robert had widely spread property interests. He acquired Cinder Hill farm Hall Royd Farm in Cawthorne, and Bickerton Hall from his cousins. In addition, he had property at Mirfield, the birthplace of his mother, at Kexby, west of York, and at Tadcaster, where water and windmills formed a part of his property at Tadcaster Grange Farm. From Tadcaster he carried on the business of a lighterman and carrier. Here he owned wharves and warehouses and his sloops, lighters and other vessels were trading between Tadcaster and Hull. He also had waggons and carts employed in the carriage of goods between Tadcaster and Leeds, and quantities of cut timber, leather, hides, bark, and utensils belonging to the trade of a tanner.

Parish Church - Barwick in Elmet

As a mark of his social standing and the esteem in which Robert was held, or perhaps because he could afford the honour or it was his by right of ownership, he was, in 1749, allotted a pew in the Parish Church. The citation reads:

Matthew by Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of York to our well beloved in Christ Robert Fretwell Gentleman a parishioner and inhabitant of and within the parish of Barwick-in-Elmet in our diocese of York Greeting. Whereas by our right as Ordinary it does and ought to belong to us to assign allot and confirm convenient seats stalls or pews and sittings to all and singular the parishioners and inhabitants of every parish or chapelry within our diocese of York. And whereas it hath been made known to us on your behalf that there was and now is a certain seat stall or pew situate in the south side of the north Isle [sic] of the parish church of Barwick-in-Elmet adjoining on the east to the seat or stall of Robert Dawson on the west to that of John Wood and John Varley on the south to that of Mr Vevers and opening on the north into the north Isle containing in length six feet two inches and in breadth three feet eleven inches. And whereas we have been petitioned on your behalf that we by out authority would assign and confirm the above to you and your family to sit kneel and pray and hear divine service and sermons. We therefore being willing to comply with your request do by these presents assign allot and confirm the said seat stall or pew to you the said Robert Fretwell and your family for the uses aforesaid so long as you shall continue to be a parishioner and inhabitant and duly frequent the said church.

Given at York under the Seal of our Consistory Court the tenth day of November, 1749”

The Church records also show that it was an occasional customer of Robert who, in 1752, received £1-0-8 for the sale of two horse hides.

The extent of Robert’s wheeling and dealing is confirmed from comments in a letter from WEF to the incumbent of the Barwick in Elmet Church referring to the account of Reverend Colman. WEF states that the deeds relating to Robert’s transactions are numerous and he had seen a good many of them at Wakefield. Several of the Spencer Stanhope Collection title deeds to Hall Royd Farm make reference to Robert Fretwell and by 1751 he was raising money on a mortgage of his Potterton property, and in 1757 he conveyed it to trustees for the benefit of his creditors. In one such deed, dated 1758, it is duly recorded that Robert Fretwell with a wife Alice, late of Cinder Hill, now of Potterton in the parish of Barwick in Elmet, Yorks, tanner, with a number of other persons, sells Hall Royd to John Spencer. Hall Royd Farm appears to have been part of the estate Cinder Hill estate. The Barr family bought back Cinder Hill from the Spencer Stanhopes around 1960.

Hall Raw (Royd?) Farm
From a selection of John Nattes Drawings of Cawthorne (1808-1809
reproduced in Barry Jackson, Cawthorne 1790-1990

This financial disgrace was further compounded when he was removed from the ranks of the Conservators of the Tadcaster Wharfe, a position he is recorded as holding in 1758.

The following references are to deeds held in the Hull University Manuscripts and Archives database, and attest to a flurry of land and property transactions over the period 1753 to 1760.

8-9 October 1753; Lease and Release for £1200: John Cleaver to Robert Fretwell of Potterton tanner and wood merchant

1-2 November 1753; Mortgage for £2000: Robert Fretwell to Katherine Nevile of Chevet widow

12 June 1754; Agreement for Sale: £1200: Robert Fretwell, gent., to Dame Sarah Dawes of Escrick: messuage and lands in Kexby

3-4 July 1754; Lease and Release:

 John Baird of Brayton esq, and wife Mary
Jeremiah Rawson of Bradford esq
John Fretwell of London (1st cousin, once removed to Robert) now of Tadcaster gent, and Robert Fretwell of Potterton gent
Francis Fretwell of Kirk Hamerton gent (1st cousin, once removed to Robert, brother of John)

For £2850: freehold parts of parts of messuages and lands at Priestly Green in Hipperholm and at Sowerby; and messuage and closes at Kexby. In trust for R.F.

30 July 1756; Mortgage for £600: Robert Fretwell to William Read jnr., of Leeds Merchant
1-2 February 1760; Lease and Release for £2800 in all: Katherine Nevile, William Read, Robert Fretwell and trustees for his creditors to John Stanhope of Horsforth esq., John Spencer of Cannonhall esq., and Edmund Lodge of Leeds merchant.

A notice in the Leeds Intelligencer of Tuesday 27 July 1762 advised :

"To be let on Monday the sixth of September next, at Mr. Todd's the "White Horse" in Tadcaster, the Navigation from Hull to Tadcaster and the Mills, Grounds, Wharfs and Wharehouses there used, in carrying on the said Navigation. In attendance will be given for purpose, by ten o'clock in the morning, Sir William Wentworth, Mr. Lascelles, Mr. Glover and Mr. parker, the acting trustees of the Estates and effects of Mr. Robert Fretwell having entered upon the said Navigation, Mills, Grounds, Wharfs and Wharehouses."

At the end of 1762, when he was approaching his 50th year, Robert sailed for India, having appointed as his attorneys his son Thomas, William Hill of Tadcaster, and his nephew, John Fretwell of Tadcaster, Mercer. On 15 September, 1766, Robert Fretwell, now of Chittagong in Bengal, released the mortgaged premises to Robert Denison of Leeds in consideration of £1,160. In 1771, Alice Fretwell, widow of Robert, with her son Thomas, conveyed to Robert Denison her life interest in Potterton. The details of these holdings acquired by Robert Dennison are: the dwelling house in Potterton with 18 acres of ground, and the adjoining estate, mainly farming land, consisting of 135 acres 2 roods 4 perches. Thus Robert not only lost his own substantial holdings, but he was also forced to surrender the properties, including Cinder Hill and Bickerton Hall, which, as we shall see, had been the birthright of the nephew of his cousin Francis.

The Ancestry India Deaths and Burials, 1719-1948, lists Robert Fretwell as having been buried at Calcutta, Bengal India, on 24 February, 1769. His occupation was recorded as Free Merchant. The Leeds Intelligencer of 22 May 1870 belatedly confirmed Robert's death.

The last ship arrived from Bengal brings advice of the death of Robert Fretwell, Esq; formerly of Poterton [sic], near Tadcaster, in Yorkshire, well known in that county for his extensive connections in trade, in which meeting with a continued series of misfortunes, about seven years ago, at an advanced age, he determined to quit his native country and go to the East-Indies, with a fixed resolution to re-establish his family in that affluence from which his many heavy losses in trade had reduced them, or perish in the attempt; his death is greatly lamented by all his acquaintances as in him were united the tender husband, the affectionate parent, the sincere friend, and the agreeable companion..

Alice Fretwell, left no doubt in straitened circumstances, outlived Robert by nearly twenty-one years, her death being reported in the Leeds Intelligencer of Tuesday 5 January 1790.

Sunday se'nnight died at Chesterfield, aged 87, Mrs. Fretwell, the widow and relict of Mr. Robert Fretwell, formerly of Potterton, near this town.

Mary Fretwell

Mary was the first born of Johannes (John) Fretwell and Ann (née Woodhead), and was baptised in December 1689 (or 1690, as there are two references) at the All Saints Church, Cawthorne.

MARY FRETWELL baptized Decem the 28^th
MARY FRETWELL bapt December the 27

Just two months before her 18th/19th birthday, on 23 December 1707, she married, the event being recorded in the Cawthorne Parish Register.

THOMAS FAWLEY & MARY FRETWELL. Octob’r the 23^nd

Thomas Ffawley, is described as Yeoman, of Hollinhouse and High Hoyland, a parish-town situated a mere 1½ miles from Cawthorne, and, in another source, as Thomas Fawley of Hall House, yeoman. I have postulated 1681 as the year of his birth from an entry, the only one for a Thomas in the appropriate time-frame, in the Cawthorne Parish Register, but have no confirmation that this is a correct assumption.

THO FAWLEY bap Decem the 1

In fact, we know virtually nothing about Mary, and not much more about her husband Thomas, except that the Fawleys were well established in the district. An earlier born Thomas was one of the Churchwardens who attested, on July 9 1689, to the collection of funds for the “Just Protestants” referred to earlier. The Fawleys were also connected to the Webster family, and thus to the Halliley family, who, in turn, were one-time owners of Bickerton Hall near Bilton. Subsequently, Mary’s brothers Francis and John, were the owners of the Hall.

George Webster was the administrator of the estate of John Fawley of Cawthorne. John Fawley had married Ellen Webster, George's sister in about 1668. George's nephew, Thomas Webster of Featherstone, later of Bickerton, signed the bond as well as George, presumably after the death of John Fawley. Thomas Webster’s wife Elizabeth, née Halliley, probably inherited the Bickerton Estate around 1700 from her father, Robert or Thomas Halliley.

Thomas Fawley was, in all probability the son of the above mentioned John Fawley of Barnby in Cawthorne and Ellen née Webster. If this was so, then Thomas Webster and Thomas Fawley were cousins, and Ellen was Mary’s mother-in-law. It is interesting to note that the continuing Webster-Fawley-Fretwell links continued through to at least the next generation. Anthony Webster son of Thomas and Elizabeth, and Mary’s nephew by marriage, was appointed as Executor of her brother John’s Will. Definitely a case of ‘keeping things in the family’.

According to her brother Francis’s will, drawn up in 1727, by which bequests were made inter alia to the children of his sisters Mary, Grace, and Ann, there was at least one child, and maybe more, from the marriage of Mary and Thomas Fawley, which, if they lived together until Mary’s death, lasted almost 30 years. But there is nothing in the family papers to indicate who the offspring may have been. But, given the date of the above-mentioned will, it is reasonable to assume that there were some children of Mary and Thomas still living in 1727. Mary died in 1736 aged 47, and her burial was recorded in the Cawthorne Parish Register.

MARY wife of THOMAS FAWLEY (from Hoyland) June 24^th

If we accept the 1681 birth date, widower Thomas would have been in his mid-50s when he married for a second time, to Marg(a)ret Hirst of Cawthorne, in 1737/38.

THOMAS FAWLEY of High Hoyland and MARGRET HIRST of Cawthorne by Banns publish’d certify’d by Mr Burton Cur’t marry’d by me Tho: Cockshutt Jan.31st

Francis Fretwell

The ‘hatched, matched and duly dispatched’ information for the second child and first son of Johannes Fretwell and Ann Woodhead, Francis Fretwell of Bickerton, in the County of the City of York, Gentleman, is : baptised 24 October 1691, married in late 1718; buried on 26th January 1727/28. Here we have another Fretwell who was ‘going places’—and in every sense, since Bickerton and Bilton are more than a stone’s throw away from the Cawthorne district, lying some 30 miles north east as the crow flies.

Francis, by the age of 33 when his father died, was a ’man of substance’. Confirmation, as we have seen, of Francis’s relatively comfortable position is found in the terms of his father’s will. John Fretwell of Cinder Hill, Cawthorne left to his son Francis one penny "as he was so well provided for". As indeed he was, for not only did he inherit Bickerton Hall, but five other properties one of which, in Messingham, he acquired by marriage.

In late 1718, when Francis was 27, he married Elizabeth Huntington of West Stockwith, Co. Notts., a widow who had lost her first husband four years earlier. Dates for her birth and death are not known but the latter event would have occurred after Francis’s death on 9 January 1727/28. It was likely that the ceremony was held at Bilton as the marriage was commemorated with a Marriage Tablet in the chancel near the south wall of the Bilton. Unless there was a big disparity in age between herself and her first husband, Elizabeth would have been some years older than Francis.

William Huntington, the second son of John and Mary Huntington, died on 24 December 1714, aged 41 years and three days later was buried, at Misterton. Some years after this, on 1 October 1722, his body was removed to his own chapel at West Stockwith. The consecration of the new chapel and the relocation of its patron’s remains is recorded by James Fretwell (a scion of another Fretwell family) who wrote in his diary :

“Sunday, September 30th, 1722. - My brother John and sister Mary went to Stockwith, to see the ceremony of the consecration of the new chappel, built there pursuant to the will of the late Mr. William Huntington ship-wright, whose body was removed from the parish church of Mysterton and laid in his own chappel, the following day.”

The reason for this relocation is interesting. An inscription around the basement of a marble effigy in the chapel reads :

Here lieth the body of William Huntington, late of this place, ship carpenter, second son of John and Mary Huntington: who, by his last will and testament after the death of his mother and the marriage or death of his widow, gave seven hundred and forty pounds for ye building of ye chappall and hospital round about it, and for ye support of a minister, school-master, and ten poor ship carpenters' widows, and other charitys, bequeathed all his lands in West Stockwith, Gunhouse and Misterton, for ever. He dyed Decembr. the 24th, 1714, aged forty-one years. The executing of his will was committed by ye founder to ye care of William Sampson, junr., gent., Matthew Sampson, gent., Thomas Donekin, mercht., Henry Shaw, gent. of Gainsborough.

Before their marriage Francis entered into a Bond, dated 18th October 1718, with William Sampson Jnr of Gainsborough County, Lincoln, Gentleman, and Matthew Sampson, brother of the foregoing, in the sum of £2,000 that he would leave his wife, if she survived him, £1,000, and all such goods and chattels, as she was possessed of before her marriage with him.

After a no doubt comfortable, but, seemingly, childless marriage of just less than 10 years, Elizabeth was once more a widow, with the death of Francis in his mid-30s, a young age even for those days. His passing was commemorated by a monumental inscription on the floor of the South Aisle of St Helen’s Church:

Mr Francis Fretwell (37) of Bickerton Hall, died 8 Jan 1728

and from the Burial Certificate :

“Burials in the Parish of Bilton-in-Ainsty, in the County of York, in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty eight. Mr Francis Fretwell of Bickerton was buried Jan^y 9^th.”

Only two months before his death Francis drew up his will on 10 November 1727. Sole Executor was his brother John Fretwell, Gentleman, and the Witnesses were William Carrick, William Carrick Jnr., and Richard Turner. The will was proved on 26 January 1727/28. Not only was Francis true to his bond, but he also left to Elizabeth all his lands in Messingham.

Apart from the bequests made to Elizabeth, Francis provided for other members of his family. Among those to benefit were :
John and Francis Fretwell -  brother and nephew, son of John
Mary, Grace and Ann -  sisters, and wives respectively of Thomas Fawley, George Walker, Stephen Arnold
Mary Fretwell -  niece, daughter of John
Matthew Fretchwell  - uncle

The beneficiaries also included the children of his sisters Mary, Grace, and Ann, and his cousins Robert and Susannah - son and daughter of Robert, and William and Ann — children of Matthew. And Francis did not forget the loyalty and service of his servants, William Bell and Ann Clithers, who were also provided for.

John Fretwell

John Fretwell of Bretton, and later of Bickerton Hall, in the parish of St.Helen’s, Bilton, Co of York, Gentleman, was baptised according to the Cawthorne Parish Register in October 1693.

JOHN son of JOHN FRETWELL bap Octob’r the 19^th

He married Mary, about whom nothing is known at present, probably around 1723, at the relatively late age of around 30. John was another Fretwell to move away from home territory, following his elder brother Francis to Bickerton. Over a period of 9 years four children were born to John and Mary.