CHAPTER II
The Children of Thomas Shelacres and Mary Green
After their marriage in the November of 1762, Thomas and Mary continued to live in Ridlington in the County of Rutland, where Thomas was employed as a labourer. Records indicate they had at least six children, although it is possible, but more likely very probable, they experienced the pain of stillborn children during their marriage.
The 1st Child of Thomas & Mary Shelacres
Their first child was ANNE who was baptised on Monday 24th October 1763, the year following the wedding of her parents. A record of her baptism, as with all the children of Thomas and Mary, can be found within the Ridlington parish records. The section of those records which records Anne’s baptism is below on the second and third lines. Anne lived into adulthood but was to remain unmarried.
1763 – Ann the Daug’r of Tho’s Shellaker & Mary
his wife was baptised Oct’r 24th 1763
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
Mary Shelacres of Ridlington is Baptised
The year after the baptism of her first daughter in the village of Ridlington, Mary (née Green) Shelacres herself was baptised as an adult in Lyndon, the home village of her husband, on Sunday 7th October 1764. As can be seen in the record below from the Lyndon parish records, Mary is interestedly described as being ‘of Riper Years’ and was probably in her early twenties at this time.
Although the Church of England encourage infant baptism, provision is made for the baptism of older people – “those of riper years” as the Book of Common Prayer calls them. This situation is likely to have arisen when arrangements were being made for the baptism of her first daughter in October 1793 which possibly revealed she herself had not been baptised – something she, or most certainly the local parish priest, would wish to remedy.
1764 – October 7th. Mary Shelacres of riper years, the Wife
of Thomas Shelacres was baptised
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
The 2nd Child of Thomas & Mary Shelacres
The second recorded child of Thomas and Mary, another girl, was baptised on Monday 1st December 1766 in the parish church at Ridlington. This girl was named MARY. The record of Mary’s baptism is shown below. At this time their first child Anne was around 3 years old.
1766 – Mary the Daug’r of Tho’s Shelacres & Mary
his wife was baptised Dec 1st 1766
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
The 3rd Child of Thomas & Mary Shelacres
Around 18 months after the birth of Mary, their second child, Thomas and Mary had a third child. This was their first son who they named JOHN. He was baptised on Sunday 27th March 1768, again in Ridlington. The record showing his baptism is shown below.
1768 – John the Son of Tho’s Shelacres & Mary
his wife was baptised March 27th 1768
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
The 4th Child of Thomas & Mary Shelacres
The fourth child of Thomas and Mary Shelacres, another girl, was given the name HANNAH. She was baptised in Ridlington Church on Friday 15th December 1769. At the time of Hannah’s birth their other children, Anne, Mary and John had reached the ages of 6 years, 3 years and 18 months respectively.
1769 – Hannah the Daughter of Thomas Shelacres &
Mary his wife was baptised Dec’r 16th 1769
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
The 5th Child of Thomas & Mary Shelacres
In 1771 a record can be found of the baptism of a second son, and fifth children of Thomas & Mary Shelacres. This boy was was baptised in Ridlington Church on Sunday 9th June 1771. He was named RICHARD.
1771 – Richard the Son of Thomas Shelacres & Mary his
Wife was baptised June 9 1771
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
However this young boy lived for less than a year as he died in infancy in the Spring of the following year. The infant Richard was buried on Monday 11th May 1772 in the graveyard of Ridlington church at around the age of 11 months. The record of his burial is below and is the third entry on this section.It is worth noting the funeral of another child, a Edward Harrison, took place on the same day. This is possibly an indication both children died as a result of a fatal illness affecting the village.
1772 – Richard Shelacres, an Infant,was buried May 11.
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
The 6th child of Thomas & Mary Shelacres
We now move from one May to the next. It is Spring again, but four seasons have passed since Thomas & Mary buried their infant son Richard. The parish records for the year 1773 show the baptism of another child for Thomas & Mary. This baptism took place on Friday 28th May 1773 and was their fourth daughter and sixth child – she was named ELIZABETH. The entry for her baptism is on the middle rows of the extract below from the Ridlington parish record.
1773 – Elizabeth the Daughter of Thomas Shela-
cres & Mary his Wife was baptised May 28th 1773.
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
But as with her male sibling, Elizabeth also died in infancy. She lived for only around four months and was buried, as was the brother she never knew, in the graveyard of Ridlington church. The date was Tuesday 16th November 1773.
1773 – Elizabeth Shelacres, an Infant, was buried Nov 16 1773
Reproduced by permission of Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
There are no records of further children of Thomas and Mary. Following the deaths, in infancy, of Richard and Elizabeth, Thomas and Mary had four surviving children; ANNE, who at the time of her sister’s death in November 1773 was aged ten years old, MARY who was approaching her seventh birthday, JOHN who was five years old and HANNAH who was baptised four years and one day prior to the funeral of her baby sister Elizabeth.
Below is the a section of the family tree showing Thomas & Mary Shelacres and their children in the November 1773 at the time of the death of their daughter Elizabeth. Click on the family tree to view a larger version of this tree.
Next Page; The Children marry and start families of their own