St. Peter’s Church, Claybrooke Parva, Leicestershire
Clara Benford, born 1836, was one of 10 children born to Nathaniel and Ann Benford of Claybrooke Magna, Leicestershire over a span of 21 years. She was my Great Grandmother and married John Perkins in St. Peter’s Church June 6, 1859. I have spent the past 10 years researching this family and have traced many of the lines into the 21st Century.
At the same time, I was working backwards to discover the origins of this family in Leicestershire. There appeared to be no Benford’s in the Claybrooke/Ullesthorpe Parish records in the early 1700’s and I had decided, it was possible that a Benford had married into the villages from elsewhere. Warwickshire and Northamptonshire were good possibilities. There were Benford’s in earlier Parish Records in both these counties.
On my visit in 2013, I was able to visit the County Records Office in Leicester and discovered a document known as a Settlement Certificate. These were documents issued by Church Wardens and Overseers of the Poor in a given Parish, to prove in which Parish a Family was legally settled and to indicate, that should Poor Relief be needed, the family could be returned to that Parish. These certificates weren’t only provided to paupers. Regular Families often obtained them if they were moving to a new parish, and subsequently, if they fell on hard times, that Parish would know where to return them to obtain Poor Relief. This document helped me break through one of the many Brick Walls I had encountered in my research. 
In 1745, one such Certificate was issued to Benjamin Benford and Sarah (Page) Benford of Kettering, Northamptionshire and was addressed to the Church Wardens of the Parish of Ullesthorpe in Leicestershire. Benjamin had been born in Kettering in 1714 to Thomas and Sarah (Stanley?) Benford. On January 3, 1745 he married Sarah Page of Ullesthorpe. In order to settle in Ullesthorpe, the family would need a Settlement Certificate. This Certificate answered my question….Was Benjamin was from eleswhere? It seems this was the case… And just like like in the Bible…Benjamin begat Nathaniel in 1748, Nathaniel begat Nathaniel in 1774, and Nathaniel begat Nathaniel in 1804 who begat the 10 children I am going to tell you about.
I will begin with William Benford. He was christened April 3,1833 at St. Peter’s in Claybrooke Parva. His life was short and he died in August 1847.
Anne Marie Benford, the first daughter, was christened September 28, 1834. She married John Malliband in 1855 and on the 1861 census, she is living with husband John (27) and daughter Ann Eliza (10 months) in Walworth, Southwark, London. John is a leather dresser and next door is Thomas Malliband (24) a skinner and a brother. By 1871, the family has moved to Kingston on Hull in Yorkshire and John is still working in the Wool and Leather trade. They remain there for the remainder of their lives and Anne Marie dies in 1898. They had 6 children but not all survived to adulthood. (Anne Eliza 1861, John Thomas 1863, Charles W 1865, George Henry 1868, Herbert 1870, Eliza Jane 1874)
My Great Grandmother Clara Benford was born in October 27,1836. She married John Perkins in St Peter’s Church June 6, 1859. Her two sons, John Thomas (2Jun1863) and Walter Joseph (4th Qt 1864) were born in Claybrooke Magna, where John was the village Blacksmith. On the 1891 Census she and her husband have taken in 3 children of her brother Thomas Benford who died in a railway accident in Cheshire. They are Ellen (13), Alfred (7) and Annie (5). Ellen, later known as Nellie, remained a spinster and stayed with the family her entire life. Clara died in 1910.
Wedding of John Thomas Perkins and Sarah Jane Sleath… June 5, 1901. Clara Benford Perkins (front row), Nellie Benford, John Thomas Perkins, (Clara’s Son), Sarah Jane Sleath and Bessie Tyres. Walter Perkins (Clara’s second son) standing just left of Nellie.
John Thomas Perkins Blacksmith Shop on Main Road Claybrooke Magna c. 1898
Next came Edwin Benford. He was christened 14 February 1841. He married Ann Hollier of Sharnford in 1865 in Hinckley. On the 1871 census he is in Claybrooke Magna listed as a Publican and Carpenter. By 1891, he is a farmer and Carpenter at High Cross and is living with his 5 children and niece Mary, 11 year old daughter of his brother Thomas who has recently died. At age 70 on the 1911 Census , he is still at High Cross and living with his 2 children Clara (36) and Leonard (33). When he dies in June of 1912, these two inherit the Farm. (Katie 1866, Lucy M 1869, Ada Florence 1873, Clara Jane 1875, Leonard 1878, Ernest Ernel 1880)
Field’s once owned by Edwin Benford at HighCross along Fosse Way
Caroline Benford is the 5th child to be born in 1843. She has a daughter by Michael Spawnton in 1862, but they don’t marry until May 1866. On the 1881 Census they are in Brinklow running the White Lion Inn. By 1901 Caroline is a widow and is living with her sister Clara Perkins in Claybrooke. On March 29,1902 she marries Thomas Brooks, a widower and a tailor from Ullesthorpe, in St. Peter’s Church, Coventry. One of the witnesses is Tom Ashmore, her daughter’s Ellen’s husband. (Ellen 1862, Joseph 1867)
Fields at High Cross
Eliza Benford is christened September 14, 1845. On the 1871 Census, following the death of both her parents, 26 year old Elizabeth (Eliza) is living with her brother George. William Bird, a Blacksmith, is a lodger next door. In 1875 she and William marry. Their first child Annie was born in 1877. William was from Brinklow, Warwickshire and was apprenticed to John Perkins, the village Blacksmith. S0metime after 1881, the family moves to the Plough Inn, Willey where they remain for the rest of their lives. They have 5 children…Ann 1877, John 1881, Charles 1883, William 1887 and Ethel 1889.
Clara Blockley Benford (wife of George) outside the Royal Oak with some of her children…Lizzie, Amy and Fred in back, Mabel Herbert, Ethel, Tom and Harry
George Benford, was christened August 20, 1848. On the 1871 Census he is an Innkeeper and has taken in his 3 siblings, Eliza (25), Frederick (18) and Elizabeth (Betsey) (16) following the death of their parents. In 1873 he marries Clara Blockley (Parish of Markfield) and they have 10 children. He owned the Royal Oak and worked as a carpenter. He dies 17 Oct 1912. (George 1877, Amy 1879, Frederick 1880, Lizzie 1882, Thomas Blockley 1884, Harry 1886, Mabel 1887, Herbert Lewis 1889, Ethel 1891, Harrold 1893)
Royal Oak owned by George Benford.
Thomas Benford was the 4th son. He was christened September 29,1850. He had moved to Witton, Cheshire and was working as a Railway Clerk. On September 22, 1875 he married Elizabeth Chadwick at St. Nicholas Church in Halewood, Cheshire. He had been promoted to a Station Master. On the 1881, the family was living in Northenden. There were 3 young children along with Elizabeth’s widowed mother Mary. The family would be struck by a double tragedy in 1890. In April as he was walking beside the Cheshire Railway Lines, Thomas was struck and killed by an express train from Manchester. He was 40 years old and left a widow and 5 children. Tragedy struck again in June when Elizabeth died leaving the children orphans. Mary Hannah went to live with Edwin Benford, Nellie, Alfred and Annie go to live with Clara Benford Perkins and Elizabeth , the eldest Elizabeth, was adopted by the Station Master from Northenden, Thomas Senior and Emily, his wife. She was 14.
Alfred Frederick Benford was christened in 1852. Following the death of his parents, he went to live with his brother George. On the 1871 Census he was working as a carpenter. He died at age 22 in 1874.
Elizabeth (Betsey) Benford was born in 1854. Following the death of her parents she went to live with her brother George. On the 1871 Census age 16, she is working as a dressmaker. In June of 1878, she marries Arthur Edwin Richards. By the 1881 Census the family is living in Leicester. Arthur is an Ironfounder, son of William Richards, owner of W. Richards and Co which was founded in 1844. They eventually have 5 children. There were a number of Iron Foundries in Leicester and Richards, in later years, the company specialized in steel roofing, railway and road bridges, and engine and wagon turntables. They eventually have 5 children…Elizabeth 1880, France M 1886, Grace Hilda 1888, Ellen A 1891, William Benjamin 1892 and ida Doris 1899.
Clara Benford Perkins’ son John Thomas, His wife Sarah and son Tertius at their home in Canada in 1929.
This is the story of a large family that grew even larger in the next generation. These 10 siblings born during the mid 1800’s went on to have 41 children. They and their children would grow up in an England very different from that of their parents. Many of the young men would go off to fight in the Battlefields of France during WW1 and some would not return. Others would come back scarred by what they had seen. Increasingly they would move from the villages to the bigger centres…Leicester, Coventry, Birmingham, London and beyond…to find new opportunities. Their story is one for another time……
There is also the story of the first Benford’s back in the 1600 and 1700’s…this one is more difficult to research and tell, but it is not impossible. Were the Leicestershire Benford’s connected to the Benford’s in the Parish Records for the Silver Street Baptist Church in Kettering in the 1700’s as I believe? There was a Thomas born c. 1710, a Benjamin born c. 1716 and a John born c. 1719. There is also a Nathaniell Bendford? christened at Theddingworth in 1714….were they all Children of the same parents…Thomas and Sarah Benford?
If anyone reading this blog notices mistakes in dates, names or other details or can add to my information, please let me know. I would als0 like to thank those that had posted pictures on the Old Pictures of Claybrooke Facebook page. I have included a couple to put faces to names.
A Genealogist goes Wandering 