Langtons of Teeton / Ravensthorpe - Leatherland Ancestry

THE LANGTON FAMILY of TEETON and RAVENSTHORPE

One of the mysteries in my family tree is the origins of my great great grandmother and whether she was related to a gentry family whose surname she shared and who lived in the village where she was born.

Elizabeth Leatherland (nee Langton) (c.1795 - 1879)

Elizabeth Langton married my great x three grandfather Samuel Leatherland in Claybrooke, Leicestershire, in 1818. Samuel was a bachelor of Monks Kirby, Warwickshire. Elizabeth was a spinster of Claybrooke parish. Samuel signed the register, Elizabeth made a mark.

In the 1851 and 1871 censuses, Elizabeth said she was born in Ravensthorpe, a Northants village roughly midway between Northampton and Rugby, and near Hollowell. In 1861 she gave her place of birth as Teeton, a hamlet of Ravensthorpe west of the main village.

Based on her census ages, she was probably born around 1795, but I have not found an Elizabeth Langton baptism in Ravensthorpe or anywhere else, despite extensive searches. This includes viewing the scanned images of Ravensthorpe parish register on Ancestry (Teeton had no church). There do not appear to be gaps in the register. Of course it is possible that she was not baptised, or baptised in a nonconformist chapel whose records have not survived, or that her baptism was for some reason not recorded in the register.

After her marriage to Samuel Leatherland, Elizabeth lived in Pailton / Monks Kirby. She had nine children born between about 1821 and 1836, although no baptisms have been found, which may be further evidence that the family were nonconformist.

Elizabeth was married to Samuel for sixty years. They sadly suffered the loss of several adult children. In 1878 Elizabeth was admitted to Hatton Lunatic Asylum where she died there a year later. Asylum records at Warwickshire Record Office include her Admission Order which said that she was a pauper and a person of unsound mind needing to be detained under care and treatment as a patient. The Medical Certificate noted “incoherence both in manner and conversation using bad language". She alleged "that her husband was mad" and that he "threatened to kick her out of bed and stamp upon her". She was very anxious. It appears that she had dementia.

Elizabeth origins are shrouded in mystery. She was probably working as a servant, perhaps on a farm in Claybrooke, when she married Samuel. The fact that she married there suggests she was living there and the register describes her of that parish. Although Claybrooke is in Leicestershire, it is quite close to the Warwickshire border, and only four to five miles north east of Monks Kirby.

A Langton family was prominent local landowners in Teeton and Ravensthorpe in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, so it would be logical to assume that Elizabeth was connected to this family. But I have found no evidence of this, unless perhaps she was an illegitimate daughter. Samuel Leatherland was a farm labourer which perhaps makes it less likely that Elizabeth was from this prominent family who seem to have been quite wealthy.

I have spent years trying to solve this mystery and perhaps never will.

Ravensthorpe

I have visited the main Northamptonshire villages where my ancestors lived but have not yet been to Ravensthorpe or Teeton.

Ravensthorpe has a number of historic buildings including Coton Manor (a seventeenth century manor house with a datestone of 1662), the Old Forge House (two houses, now joined as one dating from the mid 18th century), and Fieldside (a former farmhouse with a datestone of 1733). Its parish church St Denys has a 13th century tower. In 1871 its population was 701 comprised of 155 houses.

Teeton is a hamlet of Ravensthorpe. Teeton Hall is a late 18th century manor house. The Old Stone House near the entrance to Teeton Hall was formerly Teeton Hall Farm. It was built in the 17th century and still has original features. It is reputed at one time to have been used as a court house.

The Langton family lived at Teeton Hall.

Teeton History

Northamptonshire Record Office has a Langton (Teeton) Collection, consisting mainly of deeds and charters for Teeton, Ravensthorpe and Long Buckby. The catalogue's description says that John Langton, a London merchant, purchased Teeton from the Breton family in 1718. The Bretons had been there since the 13th century. Teeton Hall was rebuilt in 1771. The executors of the late N.L. Langton Lockton, the nephew of the last Mrs Langton (died 1942) sold the Hall in 1954.

The catalogue describes Teeton as a small mainly farming community, which maintained steady population figures of around 100 for many years. In the mid to late 19th century the population was accommodated in just twenty three houses. At the beginning of the 20th century, Teeton consisted of approx 10 houses. Lying south west of Hollowell it is believed that the settlement of Teeton was formed as an estate for Teeton Hall. The Church Rooms (Chapel), The Mill and the public house still survive and have now been converted with some minor additions into three residences. This reference to Church Rooms / Chapel imply a nonconformist building, although I have not found any more information about this.

Langtons in Ravensthorpe

There are no Langton baptisms in the first half of the eighteenth century in Ravensthorpe. But there were fifteen baptisms in the neighbouring village of East Haddon : eleven to William and Martha Langton between 1710 and 1721, and four children to William and Ann Langton between 1729 and 1745. There are a number of Langton baptisms in Ravensthorpe during the later 18th century.

Thomas Langton of Teeton (died 1801)

Origins

Thomas Langton died in 1801. His age on the burial register (64) suggests that he was born around 1737. The only Northamptonshire baptism I can find which roughly fits is a Thomas Langton baptised privately in February 1735 in the parish register of Clipston which is eight miles north of Teeton. This boy's parents were Thomas and Grace Langton. However there is a note after this entry which I think says "died".

There are other Thomas Langtons baptisms outside Northamptonshire. For example a Thomas, son of Thomas and Martha Langton was baptised in February 1737 at St Martin in the Fields. The Northants Record Office notes say that the original Langton purchaser of Teeton Hall was a London merchant so perhaps Thomas was born in London ?

Marriage

Thomas's will and his children's baptisms show that he was married to Susanna(h), but no relevant marriage has been found in parish registers in Northants or elsewhere. The first child was baptised in 1762 so the marriage probably took place around that date. The only marriage of a Thomas Langton to a Susanna around that time is in Devon. A Thomas Langdon married Susanna Langdon in Doddiscombsleigh parish. The register says that Thomas was a yeoman although he made a sign rather than a signature. Having the same surname, perhaps Susanna was a cousin. This seems unlikely to be the right marriage.

The only Thomas Langton marriages around this time in Northamptonshire are :

A Thomas Langton / Mary Pen marriage in Kettering, but he was a forge (serge?) maker so this, plus the wife's name, means it is almost certainly not the relevant marriage.
Banns for a marriage between Thomas Langton and Mary More in Northampton, both of that parish, in 1763. Again her name means this is probably not relevant.

Searches have been conducted on all the major websites : Ancestry, Findmypast, FreeReg, Family Search, plus Alan Clark's indexes of Northants parish registers and Bishop's Transcripts.

One possibility is that Susanna was known by a different forename. There was a marriage of Thomas Langton to Ann Bassett in Weldon, Northants in 1770. Both were of that parish which is near Corby. Although it is possible that Susanna was also known as Ann, the date of this marriage is eight years after the first child's baptism. The LostLangtons website had a reference to "my" Thomas Langton marrying Susannah daughter of Thomas Bassett, although I cannot currently find this reference.

Thomas and Susannah's Children

Thomas's will names his children but it says that they were all "natural born" and "begotten and born on the body of my said wife before our intermarriage".

A natural child born of the body of the mother is usually a reference to the mother's illegitimate children. This suggests that the testator was not married to their mother when they were born. But given that there are eight children all described in this way, is it really possible that Thomas married a woman who had so many illegitimate children ? Perhaps she had been married before, with the natural born phrase meaning that they were his step children ? More mystery !!

Burials

Thomas Langton was buried in Ravensthorpe in 1801. The burial register says he was Thomas Langton Esq of Teeton aged 64. The Northampton Mercury reported his death as Thomas Langton, Esq of Teeton. The description Esquire meant that he was a gentleman / member of the local gentry.

His wife Susannah was buried in Ravensthorpe in 1813 as "Susannah Langton wife of Langton Esq. Teeton". The burial register gave her age as 75. A note of the death in the Northampton Mercury newspaper said she was in the 76th year of her age. No will has been found in PCC or Northants indexes.

Thomas Langton's Will of 1801

There is a very long legalistic and repetitive will which was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) in 1801. Wills where proved in the PCC where the testator was wealthy or owned assets in more than one county. I have transcribed much but not all of the will. It mentions his wife Susanna and many sons and daughters all described as natural born and "begotten and born of the body of my said wife before our intermarriage".

The eight children are :

Susannah Langton

Thomas Langton

Elizabeth Langton

Ann Langton

Stephen Langton

Jane Langton

Richard Henry Langton

Langton Langton (not a typo this is really his name !)

Two earlier Ann Langtons were baptised but probably died in childhood.

More on contents of will to come ...

Thomas Langton's Children

Susannah was baptised in Ravensthorpe in 1762 as "Susanna Langton Daughter of Thos Langton Esq and Susannah his wife - Teeton". In her father's will she is described as "my natural daughter Susanna Langton begotten and born of the body of my said wife before our intermarriage".

In 1805 there is a marriage by licence of Susanna Langton of this parish and the Reverend William Brotherwood of Rowell parish. The witnesses were her siblings : Richard Henry Langton of Teeton, Elizabeth Langton and Jane Langton. If this is her, she was forty three when she married which is very late for a first marriage (it can't be her mother remarrying as she died in 1813 as Susanna Langton). Her husband died in 1835 in Rothwell, the burial register shows he was the Vicar of Rothwell (surname Brotherhood) and aged seventy at death.

In the 1841 census 75 year old Susannah Brotherton is living at Teeton House (occupation Ind meaning independently wealthy).The household head is her brother Thomas Langton (70, farmer). Findmypast indexes her as Brotherton, although the image could be Brotherwood. Thomas was her brother. Susannah was buried in Rothwell in 1850.

The next child John Langton was baptised in 1763. He is named in his father's will. The LostLangtons site said that he had a relationship with Susan Chapman of East Haddon, daughter of Samuel Chapman and I did indeed find this marriage in 1808 at St Johns Clerkenwell, London. The register says John Langton bachelor of the parish of Ravensthorpe married Susanna Chapman spinster of this parish.

UP TO HERE

Notes to be amended below ..

The Elizabeth Langton mentioned in the will almost certainly married Henry Bullivant in Guilsborough in 1805. She is therefore not the Elizabeth Langton who married Samuel Leatherland.

There were several female Langton marriages in Ravensthorpe, some of whom were his children :

1805 - Susanna Langton of this parish to Revd William Brotherhood of Rowell (by licence) 1805

1809 - Elizabeth Langton of this parish to Henry Bullivant Esquire of Guilsborough (by licence)

1810 - Jane Langton of Ravensthorpe to Thomas Lockton of Church Brampton (by licence) 1810

The Old Stone House, Teeton

The Old Stone House in Teeton was on the market for sale for £650,000 several years ago. The sales particulars described it as “a handsome 17th century house, listed Grade II refurbished to a high standard and offering a wealth of period features in this popular village". The Old Stone House was formerly Teeton Hall Farm and is sited near the entrance to Teeton Hall.

Teeton House in the Censuses

The censuses show that the Langtons were substantial farmers and landowners. There follows a list of Langtons in Ravensthorpe and Teeton in the census years :

1841

Thomas Langton (70) – farmer
Stephen St Peter Langton (25) – no occupation, born outside Northants.
William Blencoe (15), Susannah Brotherton (70), Mary Wright (40), Martha Hickman (20), and Elizabeth Marsh (40).

1851

Thomas Langton (83) widower, farmer of 300 acres employing four labourers at Teeton Mill (born Teeton)
William Langton (70) ag lab and his wife Esther (77) at West Haddon (born Ravensthorpe).
R. Henry Langton (76) and wife Mary, in Spratton. Henry was an annuitant (living off the income of an annuity). He was born in Teeton.
Brooks Langton born Teeton 1820 with wife and children in Bryans Lodge, Teeton. His elderly widowed mother Ann Langton also living there (age 68 pauper, born Hollowell).
Thomas Powell (72) widower, landed proprietor and farmer of 289 acres employing four out labourers and three in labourers. He was living in Ravensthorpe with his 30 year old married daughter, Louisa R Langton, and 6 month old granddaughter Louisa I Langton. Louisa was married to Stephen St Peter Langton.

1861

William Langton (80) widower ag lab, at the Alms House, Town Street, West Haddon, born Hollowell.
Thomas Langton (78) widower ag lab, also at the Alms House, Town Street, West Haddon, born Hollowell.
Elizabeth Langton (55) widow, born Watford Northants, with three children all born West Haddon (the son was an ag lab, the daughters lace makers) at Town Street, West Haddon.
Thomas Langton (54) widower, retired farmer, born Barby, in Spratton as lodger in household of Charles Tyrrel (tailor).
Brooks Langton (42), married ag lab, born Teeton, with wife and children, at Spratton.
Perridge Langton (45) married farmer of 116 acres employing one man and two boys, born Whitton.
Mary Langton (44) married needlewoman, born Ravensthorpe.

1871 Census

Brooks Langton (51) an ag lab with his wife and a daughter in Teeton Village. It was noted in the census that the daughter suffered from epileptic fits.
Mary Langton (45) a widowed charwoman (the census seems to say 'chairwoman') with two sons and a daughter at Chequer Inn, Ravensthorpe.

1881 Census

Louisa Langton (30) and her mother Louisa R Langton, were at Teeton Hall, no occupation but both in receipt of “income from land and dividends”, both born Ravensthorpe with four servants.
Brooks Langton (61) an ag lab with his wife and daughter in Teeton.
Mary Langton (56) a char woman born in Coton. Living with her were her two sons both ag labs in their twenties and her daughter who was an unemployed housemaid. One of her sons, Joseph, remained in Ravensthorpe and appears below in later censuses.

1891 Census

Joseph Langton (38) an ag lab, with his wife Ann, three daughters, two sons and a lodger in Village Street, Ravensthorpe.

1901 Census

Joseph Langton (47) and his wife Annie still in Village Street, Ravensthorpe. He was a labourer in the waterworks. They had four daughters and two sons between the ages of 2 and 12. This was the only Langton family left in Ravensthorpe or Teeton.

1911 Census

Louise Isabella Langton (60) a widow of independent means, born Ravensthorpe, living with a companion and three servants in Teeton House.
Joseph Langton (57) a labourer was living in Ravensthorpe with his wife Annie and four children. They had been married for 30 years. The two boys were 12 and 14 year old errand boys.

The Northants Record Office holds deeds, manorial records, family and estate papers (including papers of the predecessor Breton family) for the Langton family of Teeton (from 1200 to 19th century). In due course I hope to find out more from these papers.

Stephen St Peter Langton

I own a unique handwritten unpublished book of poems by Stephen St Peter Langton. The sale particulars said : “UK, Unpublished. First Edition. Half-Leather, 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Approximately 200 pages, of which the last half or so is unused. The first half of the book contains a unique collection of unpublished poems by Stephen St. Peter Langton (1814-1851), all beautifully compiled in a small copperplate handwriting".

Stephen was baptised in Carmarthenshire, Wales in 1814, son of Thomas and Mary Anne Langton. The great-great grandson of John Langton of Teeton, he was educated at Guilsborough Grammar School and later at Oakham School before going up to Oxford.

In the 1841 census Stephen was 25 years old living at Teeton House with his father 70 year old Thomas Langton. In 1847 at the age of 33 he married Louisa Rebecca Powell in Ravensthorpe. She was the daughter of Thomas Powell, a landed proprietor and farmer of 289 acres who (in the 1851 census) employed four out-labourers and thirteen in-labourers. The marriage certificate described Stephen as a Gentleman residing in Teeton, his father Thomas Langton was also a Gentleman. Stephen and Louisa had a baby daughter also Louisa born in 1850.

In the 1851 census we find Stephen away from home occupation “XXXX of miner”, staying in Caldbeck, Cumberland as a visitor in the household of William Jefferson, a mining agent. Tragically, Stephen died in Cumberland in September 1851 at the age of 37. The cause of death on the death certificate is hard to read but was some sort of fever.

I notice from internet book searches that a bookseller has a first edition of 'The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York' by Daniel Defoe (1810 - two volumes) for sale. Both volumes are said to be signed by Stephen St.Peter Langton on the title pages on February 7 1822, with a family bookplate in the front of volume 2.

There is further evidence of Stephen St Peter Langton's occupation in a book 'The Gentleman's Annual Diary with Almanack for 1849' which has his name as owner in the front and contains a diary and cash accounts, all fully filled in with a fine Victorian hand in ink. The accounts section include cash accounts for three companies : the Whitbeck Mining Co, Barlocco Co and Driggith Company.

In March 2010 the Northants local press ran a story that various Lordships of the Manor were being sold including the lordship of the manor of Teeton. The Northampton Chronicle reported that : “Teeton village is in Ravensthorpe parish and is bordered by Guilsborough, Spratton, Creaton and West Haddon. The manor was held for five centuries by the Breton family, before being sold to John Langton after a failure in the male line in 1714. His heirs then conveyed it to the Agar-Robartes family, of Cornwall and Cambridgeshire, in the 19th century, under Lord Robartes, an extremely wealthy banker who later became Viscount Clifden.”

Bosworth (Highgate House) Collection

The Northants Record Office holds the Bosworth (Highgate House) collection. The catalogue description says that the Bosworths lived at Highgate House in Little Creaton. Highgate House was an inn on the main Northampton to Market Harborough road, malting, brewing and serving its own beer and providing limited accommodation to travellers. There was also a leasehold farm attached. The family papers mainly span the 19th Century and are dominated by the letters of two successive and overlapping generations.

Thomas Wright Bosworth, 1805-1856, his wife Matilda, nee Pearson, his unmarried sister Clara Bosworth at Cheltenham and his widowed brother in law, the Rev. John Owen of Thrussington, Leicestershire, form the focus of the older generation.

In the second are Thomas Wright Bosworth's five children, his eldest son Thomas Jones Bosworth, b 1843, Henry Wright Bosworth of Loughborough, a solicitor, 1847-1908, Col. Arthur Bosworth of the West Indian Regiment, 1852-1898, Helen Maria, Mrs Richard Worthington, b.1842 and Mary Louis, the wife of John Frederick Homan, rector of Chicklade, Somerset, b.1849.

Also conspicuous are their older cousins, the two daughters of the Rev. Owen, Selina and Matilda, the latter marrying the Rev. Henry Smith of St. Albans. The girls were old enough to be prolific correspondents with their uncle and aunt. Their letters in particular paint a vivid picture of life in Thrussington and mention many neighbouring Leicestershire families they were on calling terms with. Arthur Bosworth's letters home from Jamaica in the 1870s also stand out and he filled a book with notes on the history of the West Indian regiments. Arthur died of sun stroke in Sierra Leone in 1898.

Thomas Jones Bosworth's wife Annie left a series of diaries between 1877 and 1890 and a journal of her childrens' progress through the years 1882 to 1909. Their son Thomas Owen Bosworth, a teacher at Northampton Grammar School, was a notable geologist but sadly few of his papers survive in the collection.

One non member of the family features significantly amongst the papers, the Rev. Thomas Jones, 1745-1845, who lodged on a permanent basis at Highgate House. Jones was curate of Creaton from 1785, curate of Spratton between 1810 and 1825 and finally rector of Creaton from 1829 to 1833. He was an influential evangelical in the Church of England at a national as well as a local level who was instrumental in founding the first Bible Societies and who translated the Bible into Welsh. Amongst his papers are a notebook which includes the beginnings of an autobiography, and an 1811 census for Spratton and a diary for 1796-1799. Letters dominate again and are mainly addressed to Clara Bosworth between 1813 and 1840. Jones's biography was written in 1851 by the Rev. John Owen and a copy can be found in the Record Office library.

The collection includes papers from several related families as set out in the appended family trees and they naturally feature heavily in the correspondence. Thomas Wright Bosworth took his second name from his mother's family, the Wrights of Holdenby. Mrs Bosworth's father, Joseph Pearson ran a City business from Aldersgate Street and had himself married a Wright. Amongst the Pearson papers are letters concerning the death of a brother, George, in Spain in 1841. Preserved also is a little family history, a copy of a vivid report by Captain Richard Pearson of his engagement at sea with the American John Paul Jones in 1779. From the younger generation comes a double connection with the Worthingtons of Peckleton in Leicestershire, Thomas Jones Bosworth and his sister both marrying into the family. Matilda Owen married the Rev. Henry Smith, the son of neighbours of the Bosworths in Little Creaton. Smith became vicar of Christchurch, St. Albans and his autobiography of 1886 contains wonderful, descriptions of the Creaton neighbourhood, Thomas Jones and the Langtons of Teeton Hall as well as his own family. Letters from their children, the Rev. Henry Powell Owen Smith, vicar of Douglas, Lancashire and Mrs Luisa Isabella Salt occur in the main collection. Mrs Salt describes her time as a nurse in India in the late 1880s. A large part of the archive relates to executorships and trusteeships held by Thomas Wright Bosworth mainly for the Abbott family who were cousins. These consist of the executorship of the late John Winns Abbott of Barby who died in 1828 and trusteeships for his sister Mrs Sarah Pearce of Daventry and London, 1828-1832 and his granddaughter Matilda Bosworth Abbott, later Mrs Thomas Langton of Teeton, 1840-1841. A long run of bills from Daventry and Barby tradesmen represent the winding up of J.W. Abbott's affairs.

Thomas Jones Bosworth managed the Teeton hall estate for Miss Louisa Langton and there is a series of informative letters from her about matters at Teeton between 1877 and 1885. These include a plan of the garden. Bosworth moved from Highgate to Cadeby in Leicestershire in 1883. Later they moved to Peckleton, then to Leicester and on to Northampton.

Lost Langtons Family History Website

There was a Langton family history website www.lostlangtons.co.uk which is packed full of interesting Langton information. A feature on Northamptonshire Langtons is promised for the future. There is a brief reference in the coat of arms section which looks at Lincolnshire Langtons. The site shows the arms of Sir Thomas Langton who was Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1762.

The site says that the Langtons of Teeton did not seem to appear suddenly there around the time of the Sheriff. Apparently the family had lived in the area east of Teeton for generations, moving gradually toward Teeton over the years, appearing in the villages of Ravensthorpe, Haddon, Long Buckby, and Whilton. There is no doubt given the shield that these Langtons were of Lincolnshire originally.