Gray Blanford and Sarah Jones
Gray Blandford is the furthermost person on my Blandford tree. I dont have much on him, I have one document showing his Christening on 30 January 1767 in Wokingham Berkshire England and his parents as Jasper and Ann Blandford. The dates are close to ones I have but I cant confirm this information .
This Document was found on the following site
https://familysearch.org
Produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the International Genealogical Index
( IGI ) is one of the best free index site online. It was first published in 1973 and is continuing to grow It contains several hundred million entries, each recording one event, such as a birth, baptism (christening), marriage, or death.
The information on IGI came from two sources:
1 Indexed by the genealogical community from collections of vital and church records .These records are a valuable sources of primary information.
2.The 2nd source of the information of the IGI was contributed by members of the Church about their ancestors. The quality of this information varies. Duplicate entries and inconsistent information is common.
This is a great site and is free to view
"England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,"
Name: Gray Blandford
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 30 Jan 1767
Baptism/Christening Place: WOKINGHAM,BERKSHIRE,ENGLAND
Birth Date:
Birthplace:
Death Date:
Name Note:
Race:
Father's Name: Jasper Banford
Father's Birthplace:
Father's Age:
Mother's Name: Ann
Mother's Birthplace:
Mother's Age:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: P01860-1
System Origin:
England-ODM
Source Film Number: 0088477, 0088478
Reference Number:
To look at the original document go to
Source Citation
"England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JW66-2WY : accessed 6 July 2012), Gray Blandford, 1767.
There is very little on Gray Blanford as a young man except on 22 February 1786 in a trial at the Old Bailey London Gray Blandford and another man Thomas Jones were indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 12th day of January the same year one half pound weight of stone blue, value 1 s. the property of Edward Dyson and Robert Boyfield .a grocer on Ludgate Hill
What is Stone Blue?
At his trial Gray said he was out of work and living with his mother who worked as a nurse for a young women in Wine- office court,Fleet street .Also mentioned was that there were 5 other children in the Blandford home. Gray claimed his mother had asked him to buy some blue that day and had given him a Shilling to do so. Tried by the London Jury before Mr Rose each of the accused were found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation to the colonies
In 1786 the War of American Independence was on so no prisoners couldnt be deported there as was the usual destination and deportation to Australia did not start until later ie 1789 . The usual holding prison for those sentenced to deportation was a ship hulk moored in the Thames river but in 1786 because they could not be sent to America these were very crowded and Gray spent the first 6 months of his sentence in Newgate prison, a notorious place at the time.
It is a mystery where he spent the rest of his sentence and if he was transported after August 1786 but if he was transported how was he able to return to England and marry in 1796.I haven’t been able to find any records of him in Australia
If you wish to see details of the case look on the internet at “ The Proceedings of the Old Baily, London 1674 to 1834” www.oldbaileyonline.org
Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 08 July 2012),
February 1786, trial of THOMAS JONES GRAY BLANDFORD (t17860222-46).
This website is a fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of
non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
What is Stone Blue?
At his trial Gray said he was out of work and living with his mother who worked as a nurse for a young women in Wine- office court,Fleet street .Also mentioned was that there were 5 other children in the Blandford home. Gray claimed his mother had asked him to buy some blue that day and had given him a Shilling to do so. Tried by the London Jury before Mr Rose each of the accused were found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation to the colonies
In 1786 the War of American Independence was on so no prisoners couldnt be deported there as was the usual destination and deportation to Australia did not start until later ie 1789 . The usual holding prison for those sentenced to deportation was a ship hulk moored in the Thames river but in 1786 because they could not be sent to America these were very crowded and Gray spent the first 6 months of his sentence in Newgate prison, a notorious place at the time.
It is a mystery where he spent the rest of his sentence and if he was transported after August 1786 but if he was transported how was he able to return to England and marry in 1796.I haven’t been able to find any records of him in Australia
If you wish to see details of the case look on the internet at “ The Proceedings of the Old Baily, London 1674 to 1834” www.oldbaileyonline.org
Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 08 July 2012),
February 1786, trial of THOMAS JONES GRAY BLANDFORD (t17860222-46).
This website is a fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of
non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
Gray Blanford and Sarah Jones were married in 1796 .I have 2 documents relating to this event.( 1 ) There Banns of marriage which were published on the 17 and 24 of April and the 1 May 1796 and also there( 2 ) marriage document. They were married on the 15 May 1796 at St Dunstan and All Saints Stepney Middlesex
Banns of marriage
The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as "the banns" (from an Old English word meaning "to summon"), are the public announcement in a Christian parish church that a marriage is going to take place between two specified persons. It is most commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church and with other denominations whose traditions are similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church.
The purpose of banns is to enable anyone to raise any canonical or civil legal impediment to the marriage, so as to prevent marriages that are invalid. Impediments vary between legal jurisdictions, but would normally include a pre-existing marriage that has been neither dissolved nor annulled, a vow of celibacy, lack of consent, or the couple's being related within the prohibited degrees of kinship.
Roman Catholic Church
Traditionally, banns were read from the pulpit and were usually published in the parish weekly bulletin. Prior to 1983, canon law required banns to be announced, or "asked", in the home parishes of both parties on three Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation prior to the marriage. Under the 1983 Code of Canon Law, publication of banns is no longer required.
There is only one thing I dont know about these Banns of marriage and that is, what does “ MEOJ” mean ?
The original document was found at
www.ancestry.com
Since its launch in 1997 Ancestry.com has grown from 472 million text-only records to more than 10 billion online searchable documents and images, including prison logs, ship manifests, historic newspapers and a collection of almost 2.6 million convict records.
Ancestry.com holds many world wide data bases some of which include the 1861 to 1901 census for England and Wales,these are a goldmine of genealogy information. Taken every ten years they give you details like a person's age, parent's birthplace and more. Birth Death and Marriage records between 1837 and 1983 let you pinpoint the dates, places and people in your genealogy search more accurately. and UK and Ireland Parish and Probate records to name just a few
I can only give you a link to the Home page of this site not a link to the original documents on this site as this is a pay to view site so I cant show you the original on my web site
If you would like to see a copy of the original document that I have, contact me
M Hyde at
hydefam05@yahoo.com.au
Banns of marriage
The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as "the banns" (from an Old English word meaning "to summon"), are the public announcement in a Christian parish church that a marriage is going to take place between two specified persons. It is most commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church and with other denominations whose traditions are similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church.
The purpose of banns is to enable anyone to raise any canonical or civil legal impediment to the marriage, so as to prevent marriages that are invalid. Impediments vary between legal jurisdictions, but would normally include a pre-existing marriage that has been neither dissolved nor annulled, a vow of celibacy, lack of consent, or the couple's being related within the prohibited degrees of kinship.
Roman Catholic Church
Traditionally, banns were read from the pulpit and were usually published in the parish weekly bulletin. Prior to 1983, canon law required banns to be announced, or "asked", in the home parishes of both parties on three Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation prior to the marriage. Under the 1983 Code of Canon Law, publication of banns is no longer required.
There is only one thing I dont know about these Banns of marriage and that is, what does “ MEOJ” mean ?
The original document was found at
www.ancestry.com
Since its launch in 1997 Ancestry.com has grown from 472 million text-only records to more than 10 billion online searchable documents and images, including prison logs, ship manifests, historic newspapers and a collection of almost 2.6 million convict records.
Ancestry.com holds many world wide data bases some of which include the 1861 to 1901 census for England and Wales,these are a goldmine of genealogy information. Taken every ten years they give you details like a person's age, parent's birthplace and more. Birth Death and Marriage records between 1837 and 1983 let you pinpoint the dates, places and people in your genealogy search more accurately. and UK and Ireland Parish and Probate records to name just a few
I can only give you a link to the Home page of this site not a link to the original documents on this site as this is a pay to view site so I cant show you the original on my web site
If you would like to see a copy of the original document that I have, contact me
M Hyde at
hydefam05@yahoo.com.au
The 2nd document I have is the marriage document. Also found at
www.ancestry.com
this document is very interesting in that it shows the following..The marriage was solemnized between us Gray Blandford (he signed Gray Blanford) and Sarah Jones (she signed an X) in the presence of John Joiner and Daniel Price.
Gray must have had some sort of education....In a few years time when his children are born documents of the children s christening has him working as a sawyer , I would think a educated skill. It looks like he changed his life around after his run in with the law .I do not know who the 2 witnesses were and I still don’t know what “MEOJ” means ?
On this document there is also a line that I have not been able to read but I think it say’s
“By me the ? city rector.”still having problems with it.
It was also in the Pallots Marriage Index, once again twice and with 2 different original records, this time a slip of paper handwritten with the names Blandford Gray and Sarah Jones (both MEOJ) and stamped with St Dunstan, Stepney 1796.
I can only give you a link to the Home page of the ancestry site not a link to the original documents on this site as this is a pay to view site so I cant show you the original on my web site
If you would like to see a copy of the original document that I have, contact me
M Hyde at
hydefam05@yahoo.com.au
On all of the records I have found Gray Blanford was a Sawyer ( person who cuts wood ) not a Lawyer as I thought for 2 or 3 years.
Working as a Sawyer was for a person in middle to lower class where as a Lawyer was a person of Means
I do not know if our family had money???? Gray signed his name when he got married but his wife didn’t so he did have some education … Thomas`s father in law Richard Fitch was a Gardener, he also signed with a “X”
Part of a Email I got from a person researching the Blandford tree reads as follows
“She did tell of a story that Lord Gray Blandford sent his illegitimate son James Blandford to NZ as a remittance man, but I don't know about the truth of that. I haven't heard of a Lord Gray Blandford????”
A Remittance Man …..A British immigrant who was supported by Remittance from Britain
Remittance......The sending of money or credit to a person
My family also told me a story that they had heard about the Blandford family
When the Blandford first came to New Zealand they spelt their surname without a “D” Blanford At sometime a Lawyer came to New Zealand asking for them they thought it was bad news so said No we are not the Blanford you are looking for we spell our surname with a “D” Blandford.....They do not to this day know what information the Lawyer had Good or Bad
Gray Blandford was buried 25 Jul 1832 in the parish of Limehouse St Anne, Tower Hamlets, Middlesex aged 65.
