Stockport : Stockport St. Mary’s Church (Grave of William Davenport)

Located at St. Mary’s Church in Stockport, this is the grave of William Davenport, who died on 15 July 1799 at the age of 61.

William had been born in 1738 in Northenden, with his father also being William Davenport and his mother Mary, being baptised on 31 August 1738.

He married Hannah Hardey, who was around five years younger, in Stockport on 19 January 1776. More on her in a later post. At least I think this is the correct marriage, it’s the only one of a William Davenport in Stockport and the name of his wife matches, so that’s a decent start. The gravestone also notes that he lost his daughters Molly and Ann, both at a young age.

I can’t find out anything else, but that’s not entirely surprising as the archives aren’t packed with on-line records from this period. I can’t find any evidence of him having children who survived him, but I suspect that his wife died as a result of child birth, as she was just 38 years old. He had married aged nearly 40, later than usual for the time. I like that his marriage record survives though, to be able to see his signature on the document.

This is a good example of my limited knowledge as there are a couple of elements that I don’t understand here. I don’t understand the reference to the junior sadler on the grave and I don’t understand who Esther Nixon is. Maybe one day I’ll come back to this and try again to work it out….