George Wilkinson ( -1762)

54. Exploring some theories – Thomas Meriton (?1710-1765) and son Bart Meriton (?1738 – ?)

In which we unpick some recent searches yielding further information about the origins of Thomas Meriton (?1710-1765) and his son Bart (?1738 – ?). Apprenticeship records offer clues as to their identities.

St Sepulchre and Snowhill lie north of Holborn Bridge, as described in the following extract from John Strype’s ‘A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster’  1720:

In my previous post I noted that ‘our’ Thomas Meriton, ironmonger of Bermondsey, who died in 1865, was shown in some Ancestry trees to have been baptised in 1710.  I had reservations, not seeing any link between ‘our’ Thomas and his putative father located north of the Thames.   However, now I am converted and set out my thoughts here.

The Baptism Register of St Sepulchre, Newgate, shows Thomas Meriton baptised on 28 May 1710 to Thomas and Elizabeth Meriton in Nags Head Court, Snowhill.  There is a similar baptism entry for John Meriton on 5 October 1707 and I have seen a written record for a Robert Meriton, son of Thomas and Elizabeth, on 13 December 1717.

St. Sepulchres Church, or St. Sepulchres in the Baily, seated on the top of Snow hill; a very large and spacious Church, with a lofty Towered Steeple, Spires at each corner, and Weathercocks on the tops. In which Steeple is a gallant ring of eight Bells; and in the Church is a pair of Organs. To this Church there is a large Churchyard both before and behind it; although not so large as of old time, good part being taken away, and converted into Buildings; so that now it is not enough for the burial of their Dead; and the Inhabitants are forced to make use of another large piece of Ground in Chick lane.St. Sepulchres Church.
Robert Lewis, Leather-seller, gave to this Parish 30l. a Year for Coals to the Poor.Benefactors.
Robert Dove, Merchant Taylor, gave 50l. for the Prisoners Bell. The Meaning is, that when the Condemned Prisoners are drawn to their Execution at Tyburn, there is a Man with a Bell, who stands in the Churchyard, by the Wall next the Street, and so tinkles his Bell, and repeats some Verses, to put them in mind of their Death approaching.
This Church was very much ruined in the late dreadful Fire; but by the Money raised from the Imposition on Coals, and the Charges of the Parishioners, and Benefactors, it is Rebuilt, and beautified both within and without.
Next to this Church is Sarazen’s Inn, very large, and of a considerable Trade for Wagons, Coaches and Horses.Sarazens Inn.
Church lane, adjoining to this Church Eastwards, which leadeth into Pye Corner; noted chiefly for Cooks Shops, and Pigs drest there during Bartholomew Fair.Pye Corner.
Nags head Court, long and ordinary. And opposite to this is Green Dragon Court, which is but small.

Extract from https://www.dhi.ac.uk/strype/TransformServlet?page=book3_283

A superb website hosted by the University of Sheffield, containing many digitised resources.  Content can be used through Creative Commons.  The home page for this project can be seen at https://www.dhi.ac.uk/strype/index.jsp

It then seemed wise to hunt for a marriage of Thomas Sr to the Elizabeth Howson whose name appeared on various Ancestry trees.  This proved to be the same couple as that mentioned in the baptisms above:  At St Nicholas Cole Abbey, a church still standing in the City of London, Thomas Meriton and Elizabeth Howson were married on 10  October 1700.  He was of the Parish of St Sepulcries London[sic], a Turner on Snow Hill.  She was of the Parish of St Botolph Aldersgate.  One more fact attracted interest – the marriage was conducted by ‘Mr Merriton’, who turns out to have been the longstanding Rector of this church, and surely related in some way to our protagonists.  He can be found on the CCED website ( https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/search/index.jsp ), son of Henry and brother of John, and even warranted a mention or two by Samuel Pepys (  https://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/10516/#references ), but I have not managed to link him directly with ‘our’ two Thomases.  He was buried at St Nicholas Cole Abbey in 1704/5.

So, we now have ‘our’ putative Thomas Jr being the son of Thomas, a Turner.  We can now use the London and Country apprenticeship records on Findmypast, where we find links which I believe bring those events north of the river into direct line with ‘our’ Thomas, ironmonger of Bermondsey, south of the river.  My theory is that he started life as an apprentice Turner,  and morphed into an Ironmonger outwith the City of London.

The records show that on 4 May 1726, a Thomas Meriton was apprenticed to his father Thomas, of the Turners Company, surely the same person as appeared in the marriage cited above.  If these are ‘our’ Thomases, the younger would have been about 16, which was a possible age for an apprentice to begin his seven years of apprenticeship.  If my theory is right, young Thomas would have completed his apprenticeship sometime in the 1730s, but I do not believe he did.  ‘Our’ Thomas married Sarah Wilkinson in 1831, when our putative Thomas would have been about 21.  Her father, George Wilkinson was an Ironmonger, and it seems possible that he might have helped to finance his new son-in-law’s ironmongery business south of the river.  ‘Our’ Thomas shows no sign of becoming a Turner, but we will see further Turner connections as the years pass.

Moving to baptism records for the children of Thomas Meriton (1710-1765) and Sarah (nee Wilkinson) Meriton, we find little to help us.  I now have nine possible offspring, most identified through marriage records and their parents’ Wills.  Not a baptism record to be found!   Here again, though, apprenticeship records help us on our way.  The first ones are intriguing, introducing us to a hitherto unidentified son Thomas, and also to the mysterious Bart.  They are as follows:

1 January 1752 Bart Meriton, son of Thomas, Bermondsey Surrey, Ironmonger, to Thomas Fowell, Turners’ Company.

5 February 1752 Thomas, son of Thomas Meriton, Bermondsey, Surrey, Ironmonger, to Thomas Fowell, Turners’ Company.

No ages are given.  Were they twins?  What happened to them?  Of young Thomas I can find no further definitive trace.  Of Bart we have seen in a previous post that his father in rather curmudgeonly tones left him ‘one annuity or yearly sum of £25’ to be paid by his wife as she saw fit for Bart’s support and maintenance, and there was to be nothing further, for ‘sufficient reasons’.  I have then identified a marriage for a Bart Meriton to Mary Baker in Warwickshire on 2 February 1766, a year after ‘our’  Bart’s father died.  Is this ‘our’ Bart?  There is no further sign.  He is not mentioned in his mother’s Will.  (As an aside, I believe his name ‘Bart’ might have been linked to the married surname of George Wilkinson’s second wife, Sarah Bart.  But I have nothing more about her.)

Note above, that Thomas and Bart were apprenticed to Thomas Fowell (or ffowell).  I infer (hopefully correctly) that he is the person mentioned as ‘my cousin’ in Thomas Meriton’s Will, proved in 1765, and also receiver of a small legacy as Thomas ffowell, Merchant, in George Wilkinson’s Will (1768).    Furthermore, Thomas ffowell is to become trustee and guardian of the under-age Meriton children should Sarah [nee Wilkinson] Meriton die before they reach 21.  But he died just three years after Thomas Meriton, having mentioned ‘cousin Thomas Meriton’ in his Will (proved 16 August 1768) which showed he was seriously rich, with properties in Coleman Street, London, St Petersburg and Epping Forest, plus legacies of very many thousands of pounds to very many people! In the event, his wife Sarah (nee Dudds) pre-deceased him by two years, and their daughter Sarah Buxton profited handsomely as a result, along with very many other legatees, including a modest £ 200 to ‘my cousin Sarah Meriton, widow of Thomas Meriton’.

Am I right in inferring that Thomas Fowell, Merchant, died 1768, is one and the same as Thomas ffowell of the Turners Company?  I don’t know.  Suffice to say that either he or they played a significant part in the Meriton saga.  A further Meriton son was apprenticed to Thomas Fowell of the Turners Company – Henry, on 3 February 1762.  He would go on to become free of the Ironmongers Company by redemption (paying a fee).  Thomas’ (1710-1765) brother John (1707- ?) was also apprenticed to his father Thomas, Turner, and became Master of the Company in 1749.  Further family links with the Turners. 

One final conjecture – the father of Thomas Meriton bap 1710.  Could he be the Thomas Meriton, son of John Meriton, Citizen and Girdler,  apprenticed on 7 Feb 1693/4 to Thomas Jorden, Turners Company?  I think it seems likely.  These dates would mean that the apprenticeship would have been completed by the time of the marriage to Elizabeth Howson in 1700.  I have found nothing about John the Girdler!

Any comments/observations on these thoughts are more than welcome. In the meantime I am going to go along with my theory and add these older Thomas Meritons to my tree.

52. Thomas Meriton ( -1765) and Sarah Wilkinson ( -1784) of Bermondsey – and Root: the power of Wills

In which we meet the parents of Sarah Meriton (1739-1798), wife of Apsley Pellatt (1735-1798). Six-times great grandparents Thomas Meriton ( -1765) and Sarah Wilkinson ( -1784) had eight known children whose fates we will briefly consider in our next post. But firs,t a quick look at some of the quite complicated relationships, including that of Sarah’s short-lived sister and brother-in-law, and their three children.

On the left of the tree we find Thomas Meriton ( – 1765) and his wife Sarah Wilkinson (- 1784). More about them in a minute. Of interest in the next generation down are, of course, oldest child Sarah Meriton (1739-1798), wife of Apsley Pellatt II (1735-1798) , and mother of Apsley Pellatt III (1763-1826). He in turn, with wife Mary Maberly (1768-1822), was father of 15 children – too many to show here! – including their oldest child, Mary Pellatt (1789-1857), who married Samuel Backler (1784-1870) – the Backlers being the starting point of this whole blog! Stay with this, because there are some cousin relationships coming up. (See https://backlers.com/2017/03/21/samuel-backler-1784-1870-family-thefts-and-a-changing-career/ )

Sarah nee Meriton and Apsley Pellatt II are also parents of Thomas Pellatt (1765-1829), who married Elizabeth Meriton ( – 1804), the daughter of Sarah’s younger brother Henry Meriton ( – 1826). Thomas Pellatt and Elizabeth were parents of, among others, Henry Pellatt (1797-1860), who married Mary Backler (1813-1882), daughter of Mary Pellatt and Samuel Backler. (See:https://backlers.com/2025/08/27/51-thomas-pellatt-1765-1829-clerk-to-the-ironmongers/ ) (See also https://backlers.com/2014/11/06/thomas-meriton-pellatt-or-sargeant-who-is-the-father/ )

Meanwhile, as I was making final preparations for this post, I reflected with some frustration that I had little information about Sarah Wilkinson’s origins. So I decided to try once more to find parents, using as a starting point the name of her brother, George Wilkinson Meriton -= surely named after his grandfather? And yes, so it proved. The story below of variously interconnected families is largely drawn from the Wills of the key players.

Thomas Meriton ( – 1765). Origins? Here I have found pretty much of a dead end. Various online trees show a christening at St Sepulchre London on 27 May 1710 of a Thomas Meriton, father Thomas, Mother, Elizabeth. Another possibility is the christening of a Thomas Merriton [sic] at Greenwich St Alfege, on 2 December 1696 to Henery Merriton and Johannah. Thomas and Sarah’s first son was named Henry. But I cannot find a Will or other evidence which would confirm either of these. So Thomas’ origins remain doubtful for the moment.

Rather more satisfying – at least one generation back – is the find of George Wilkinson ( – 1762) of Clerkenwell. As noted above, a search on Wills for George Wilkinson threw up one in Clerkenwell, where at St John the Baptist, Sarah Wilkinson ‘of this parish’ had married Thomas Meriton ‘of St Olave’s Southwark’ on 5 February 1731. This George Wilkinson Will was incredibly obliging. Written on 28 November 1759, it tells us that George was an Ironmonger of St James, otherwise St John, Clerkenwell. After certain bequests (see below), all the rest, residue, real and personal estate etc etc are left to ‘my Son in Law Thomas Meriton‘, sole executor of the Will. Rather handily, and just to make sure of our family connections, two of the three witnesses were Apsley Pellatt [II] and Sarah [nee Meriton] Pellatt. How satisfying! [The bold typeface throughout this post indicates my direct ancestors.]

Root: George Wilkinson‘s Will began with a bequest which aroused my curiosity. The very first Item reads: ‘I give to my Grand Son Samuel Root and to my two Grand Daughters Elizabeth Root and Ann Wilkinson Root the sum of One hundred pounds each’, when married or they reach age 21…and Thomas Meriton is appointed their Guardian. So, in 1759 when the Will was written, there were three children of a daughter of George Wilkinson, who seemed to be orphaned. Here is how it works: George Wilkinson had two daughters, Sarah (who married Thomas Meriton in 1731) and Elizabeth, who married widowed Mason Samuel Root in St Benet, Paul’s Wharf in 1748. Guessing back from their marriage dates, I infer that Sarah was born around 1711, and Elizabeth perhaps much later – perhaps with a different mother than Sarah? Their father George Wilkinson was widowed when he married widow Sarah Bart, also at St Benet Paul’s Wharf in 1731. (This historic Wren church is just north of the River Thames, opposite Southwark and Bermondsey. I am not sure why these marriages took place there.) I have not found an earlier marriage for George, nor have I found a baptism for either daughter.

But, back to the sad Root story. There are baptism records for Elizabeth (1750-1763), Samuel (1751-1764) and Ann Wilkinson Root (1752 -). Sadly, we find a Will for their father Samuel Root of the Parish of St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey, Citizen and Mason of London, written just five years after his marriage to Elizabeth, on 4 October 1753, and proved on 15 October 1753. Samuel appoints three executors – ‘my honoured father Roger Root of the Parish of St John [Horsleydown] in Southwark Carpenter, my father in law George Wilkinson of the Parish of St James Clerkenwell Ironmonger and my brother in law Thomas Meriton of the said parish of St Mary Magdalen…Ironmonger to be joint executors’…; After debts etc, everything is left to loving wife Elizabeth Root, the three children, ‘and such other child or children as my said wife is now pregnant with…’ The usual provisions are made for education and maintenance of the children.

So, one of the Executors was George Wilkinson, whom we have seen died in 1762. What about wife Elizabeth (nee Wilkinson) and the other grandfather, Roger Root? Well, he died in 1755, when only one son proved his Will as executor, since the other Executor, son Samuel, had already died. And Elizabeth? By the time of George Wilkinson’s Will, written in 1759, she is not mentioned. Nor is there a fourth child. I wonder if she died in child birth. This leaves just one Executor – and Guardian.

Thomas Meriton’s Will: And so we turn to Thomas Meriton. His Will was written on 28 January 1764 and proved by the sole Executrix, his wife Sarah nee Wilkinson Meriton on 6 November 1765. It makes no mention of the Root children, who are still minors. Why? Well, I think Elizabeth died in 1763 – there is a burial in Bermondsey for a 13-year-old Elizabeth Root. I think Samuel was buried in May 1764 in Bermondsey, brought from St John Horsleydown, in nearby Southwark, where there were Root relatives. But I am not sure about Ann Wilkinson Root, who was baptised on 12 November 1752 in Bermondsey. Presumably she was with some family member.

I think I will leave the rest of Thomas’ Will, and that of his wife in 1784, until my next post, where both Wills will introduce us to their many children. The Meritons were a prosperous family, he seeming to have been a successful Ironmonger, and she, perhaps, having inherited property and other things from her father, George Wilkinson. Considerable sums of money and jewels, and much property, feature in the Wills, as well as something of a mystery surrounding a child named Bart Meriton.