Robert Mollett jr. - marriage no. 1

Robert Mollett 1783-1866 Childhood

Robert Mollett 1783 or 4-1866 Marriage no. 1

Lambeth & Smithfield ca1800-1809?

So what about this Freedom document, which I confess, I had assumed signified the end of an apprenticeship.

However, when I revisited this document I found that it was Freedom by Redemption - which means that he bought it - for the princely sum of 46 shillings and 8d, which roughly translates to about $600 in today's Australian money. Not an inconsiderable sum for a young man recently married and father of two aged just 22. The document also notes that "Robert Mollett be admitted into the Freedom of this City by Redemption in the Company of Cooks".

According to London Lives:

"The candidate was presented to the Court of Aldermen by a Corporation officer or another person, who had been granted the right to present a limited number of candidates in lieu of a salary or as a reward for services. The candidate needed to pay the person presenting them an additional fee on top of the usual freedom fees. Admission to freedom by redemption was at the discretion of the Court of Aldermen, who recorded the admission or rejection of candidates in court orders. These account for about 5% of the total."

So not a common way of getting your Freedom. In this instance the person presenting Robert was the Chamberlain of the City of London - effectively the Treasurer, who at this time was one Richard Clark - a lawyer by trade and unlikely, I would have thought to have been personally connected to Robert. I can only assume that Richard applied and was accepted. But did he pay to get into the Company of Cooks as well? I think the only way I shall find this out is to get somebody to check for me in England. For I can find no other apprenticeship records, either for Norwich or London. It is entirely possible though, considering his age that he had completed an apprenticeship somewhere - most likely in Norwich and that on arriving in London he paid for the Freedom so that he could set up a business for without it this was not allowed. It also gave him various privileges such as there right to vote, and exemption from paying various tolls. Essential though for setting up a business, so I am now thinking that he had completed an apprenticeship in Norwich and had come to London to make his fortune. Which he did.

When and where, even how, Robert learnt his ultimate trade of pastry cook is becoming increasingly unclear to me. So what are the associated facts?

On February 12 Robert marries Elizabeth Foster at St. Mary's in Lambeth, on the south bank of the River Thames in England. He was 21 years of age. In the following year on July 9th he becomes a Freeman of the City of London by Redemption.

Nowhere do I have any evidence of an apprenticeship either in Norwich or London.

But you can't just walk into a pastry cook's shop and start making pastry. He must have learnt his trade somewhere. The London Lives site explains that the Guilds were gradually losing control over who could and could not practise their particular skill, and apprentices from elsewhere were some of those admitted to the London Guilds. So maybe Robert served an apprenticeship in Norwich, although I can find no evidence of this. I am not aware of any family member in whose shop he could have learnt, so it's all a bit of a mystery

Normally a child began an apprenticeship around the age of 12 or 13 - although younger has been heard of. They then worked as an apprentice for seven years which would take Robert to the age of 19 or 20. At the age of 21 he was in London getting married so it is indeed possible that he learnt his trade in Norwich.

It's an important document for the family history though as it is the only proof we have that Robert's father was also Robert who was a cow keeper in Norwich. And a cow keeper at the time of this elevation in status for Robert, and not someone higher up the social ladder.

But let's return to Robert's personal life and his first marriage.

As mentioned above, on Feruary 12 1804 he married Elizabeth Foster. Both of them were single and both of them could write. And they were married in St. Mary;'s Lambeth - so two questions to answer here. Who was Elizabeth and why Lambeth?

But let's return to Robert's personal life and his first marriage.

In answer to the question of why Lambeth, truth to tell I have no idea. I have looked at other Molletts in the area at the time, but nothing springs out at me. There are several Malletts but no Molletts. Suffice to say that like the rest of London it was an area changing from being largely rural to becoming urbanised. So let us assume that Robert landed here when he came to London, through some kind of personal contact.

As to Elizabeth we can make a 95% (say) guess. For one of the witnesses at the wedding was William Kirkman Foster - a thankfully unusual enough name to enable us to find out more.

William Kirkman Foster was born in 1771 and is therefore too young to be Elizabeth's father. So I started looking for a sister - and indeed there is one, born two years later than William in 1773 and christened in St. James, Westminster. I suppose the flaw in this argument is that this makes her around 10 years older than Robert. Not impossible though, especially as I read somewhere in one of those articles about apprentices, that apprentices often married their masters' daughters - or, in this case, sisters, as a way of securing future work and/or patronage. Of course if you follow this logic, then Robert would have to have been William's apprentice, but I can find no evidence of this, and moreover his shop was on the other side of the river in the Finsbury area. So how come Elizabeth was in Lambeth? Nevertheless the fact that William was a pastry cook has to be significant surely?

Did Robert get Elizabeth pregnant and therefore have to marry her? Well I don't think so although, yes it is possible. They were married in February and in December two boys were christened in the church of St. Sepulchre in the Hoborn/Smithfield area of London. I only have a transcription but it's an official one from the Guildhall and in that it states that the two boys were born on the 3rd December and baptised on the 30th and that the parents were from Smithfield. One assumes that Robert was born first as he is described as the oldest son in Robert's will.

Smithfield, of course, is famous for its market which in those days - the painting is dated 1810 - was a really big livestock market. And this must be where Robert must have been working at the time. Given that he did not receive his Freedom of the City until the following year, he cannot have had his own business at this stage for until you have your Freedom you cannot have your own business. Besides he was still young - only 21 and where on earth would he have found the money anyway? I gather it would have taken anywhere from £100-£300 to set up a shop at that time and he would only have been earning around £20 per annum, plus board. It would have taken him years to save enough - and yet, as we shall see, within a few years he did indeed have his own business. How come?

The answer to this question is that currently I have absolutely no idea. His father, as we have seen from his Freedom papers was a cow keeper, so unlikely to have been much help. His wife's father, John, was a carpenter, so also unlikely to be able to help. Unless he was a carpenter employing many men. I have not investigated, but I do not think so. Brother William? Maybe. But money he must have somehow obtained because just a few years later he had a substantial shop.

But back to our personal story. Here I have a confession to make. I am absolutely sure that the street names of Long Lane and Cock Lane can be associated with Robert at this time in his life. But I have lost the evidence somewhere in my maze of files and notes. I am sure I am right though. Both of them - Long Lane on the right and Cock Lane below, are very close to Smithfield market. Long Lane leads out of it on the northeastern side and Cock Lane is to the southwest.

The answer to this question is that currently I have absolutely no idea. His father, as we have seen from his Freedom papers was a cow keeper, so unlikely to have been much help. His wife's father, John, was a carpenter, so also unlikely to be able to help. Unless he was a carpenter employing many men. I have not investigated, but I do not think so. Elizabth's brother William? Maybe. Money he must have somehow obtained because just a few years later he had a substantial shop, but I fear we shall never know quite how he got it.

But back to our personal story. Here I have a confession to make. I am absolutely sure that the street names of Long Lane and Cock Lane can be associated with Robert at this time in his life. But I have lost the evidence somewhere in my maze of files and notes. I am sure I am right though. Both of them - Long Lane (the two pictures above right) and Cock Lane (above left), are very close to Smithfield market. Long Lane leads out of it on the northeastern side and Cock Lane is to the southwest.

In 1806 their next child - William - was born. Again I have no original image, but the transcript states that they were still in Smithfield. He was born on New Year's Eve, and christened a few weeks later in St. Sepulchre on January 26th. I have used that name - William, to confirm in my mind that William was Robert's grandfather, but I am now wondering about this for various reasons which I will go into when I come to writing up Robert senior. Maybe he was really named for Elizabeth's brother. Particularly if he had helped Robert to set up a business.

The next big question is was there another child? I cannot find one - either a birth or a death, but Elizabeth certainly died. Because of the times I sort of assumed that she died in childbirth - sooner or later many women did then. And having twins as your first effort at motherhood can't have helped. To be perfectly honest I am not absolutely sure when Elizabeth died, but the last reference we have to her is William's birth in 1806. There are two possibilities for her burial - at St Sepulchre sometime in 1808 - the records are illegible or rather more likely on October 22nd 1809 in Spa Fields aged 36. The age fits, the record states that she was from St. Sepulchre and her other brother Jacob is well-known non-conformist preacher later in life. I really do think this is her - but there is no accompanying baby, at the same time or a little earlier or later. In a way this is a pity as the name of the child may have given more clues about ancestors.

Poor Robert. He was still a young man in his early twenties and here he was with three small boys a three year old and two five year olds trying to establish himself as a pastry cook. Initially I confess I thought that Elizabeth had died when William was born, but I still can find no evidence of this, and this would have been even worse for Robert - who would have fed the baby? But it wouldn't have been much better having three little ones. The picture at left is not really apposite I suppose - the children are slightly the wrong age, and maybe even the wrong sex - is the one on the right a boy or a girl? - and also rather better off than Robert would have been, but it does give some idea of the problem he faced. Not to mention losing a wife. Of course we have no idea what kind of a marriage it was, perhaps particularly because of Elizabeth being ten years older than Robert, but everything else we know about Robert points to him having been a loving and responsible person, so the loss would have been great - if only on a practical level.

The other reason for guessing that there may well have been love, was that, unlike many other men of his time in his position he did not remarry for some time. So who stepped in and looked after the children?

Links

London Lives: Guilds - London Lives 1690-1800 to give it it's full title is a wonderful resource - information, links to manuscript resources, pictures, further reading. It's run by Sheffield University. This page is all about guilds and apprenticeships and where you can find further information.

National Archives Research Guide on Apprenticeships - where to find records of apprenticeships, plus access to some online records.

Links

Marriage no.1

Mollett

Robert Mollett 1783 or 4 - 1866

Robert Mollett 1746 or 48 - 1816 or 1829