The Blackford Family

Introduction

Blackfords resided in Oxhill for at least 400 years, from the early 16^th until well into the 20^th century and may well have been there in the late medieval period.  Baptismal and hearth tax records indicate that it was the village’s largest family in the 17^th century, accounting for 10 to 15 percent of the population. Moreover, Oxhill was the site of the most Blackford baptisms of any parish, certainly in Warwickshire and possibly in all of England. Their Oxhill presence declined in the 18^th century, but in the meantime their progeny had settled across southern Warwickshire and beyond. 

Medieval Roots

Blackford is not a common surname, held by perhaps 200 individuals in England at the end of the 16^th century, and may well have originated with one or at most a few individuals when surnames came into common use in late medieval England. It is believed to have appeared first as “de Blakeford”, a nom de terre reflecting the bearer’s residence or place of origin.  Robert de Blakeford, a knight mentioned in numerous 13^th century records is the earliest documented to date. Most of these records relate to southwest England and it is possible that the name derived from one of three eponymous manors in Somerset. Tenuous evidence links Robert’s son John to Blackford Manor in Selworthy near Minehead.          

Although parish registers were not widely implemented until the late 1500s, two centuries after family names were in general use, they provide a guide to surname distribution. These records indicate two principal Blackford clusters at the time – the larger in the southwest, centered in Devon, and the other in south Warwickshire. The former is consistent with the numerous medieval references, but the origin of the Warwickshire cluster is unclear. Several early 14^th century documents refer to “Blakeford”, a locality in the ancient parish of Tanworth-in-Arden. This area near Dickens Heath appeared as “Blackford” in 18^th century documents and on 19^th century Ordnance Survey maps. It was linked to Robert de Blakeford in The Place-Names of Warwickshire, citing the 1262 Assize Rolls.  Whether the Blackford name arose independently in South Warwickshire or migrated from the southwest remains an open question.      

The Blackford Clan of South Warwickshire

Regardless of how the Blackfords came to be in south Warwickshire, by the mid-16^th century most were living in the neighbouring parishes of Oxhill, Butlers Marston, and Halford. It stands to reason that families in these parishes were related but precisely how is unclear. The earliest documented occurrence of the surname in the county dates from 1479 and refers to John Blakeford [sic], a miller residing with wife Alice in Halford, and concerns their membership of the Guild of the Holy Cross.  In 1503, Alice Blackford, by then a widow, granted one-third of a messuage in Sheep Street, Stratford to son Thomas, also of Halford.  The family retained the property until the end of the century, although there is no evidence of their living there. In 1579 it passed from Richard Blackford of Butlers Marston to his brother Thomas, who in turn sold it in 1598 to Daniel Smith of Stratford. The latter transaction was witnessed by Hamnet Sadler, a baker with premises in Sheep Street and godfather of William Shakespeare’s twin children.

The Blackfords appear to have left Halford and Butlers Marston by the early 1600s, leaving Oxhill as the family’s “epicenter” in Warwickshire, accounting for about two-thirds of Blackford baptisms in the county in the 17^th century.  The parish had recorded 61 Blackford baptisms by 1700, five times more than any other parish in the county. Although there is evidence of Blackfords having resided in at least 32 Warwickshire parishes by 1800, only in Oxhill did they have a continuing presence.

The Blackfords of Oxhill

The earliest records of Blackfords in Oxhill are will calendar entries for Thomas (1557) and John (1559). The earliest surviving parish register from the Church of St. Lawrence dates from 1568 and includes a Blackford baptism in that year, and three more over the next decade.

I have compiled a family tree for the Blackfords of Oxhill accessible at Ancestry.co.uk. Although based largely on parish registers, numerous legal documents, especially those held by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Warwickshire County Record Office, are critical to understanding family relationships. Those interested in the underlying evidence are referred to the family tree. Subscripted forenames in the following narrative are keyed to the tree and included to distinguish among like-named individuals. This genealogy will evolve as additional evidence comes to light, but several conclusions are possible in the meantime.  

All the Blackfords born in Oxhill in the 17^th and 18^th centuries probably descended from John₍₁₎ (d. 1604) through his sons Richard₍₁₎ (1571-1642) and John₍₃₎ (1576-1649). Richard₍₁₎ married Elizabeth Walton in 1601. Born in Tredington, she came with her family to Oxhill in about 1590. The couple had three sons and four daughters. John₍₃₎ married Elizabeth Bishop in 1609.  Her family held The Grange manor in Oxhill from 1559 through 1631. The Bishop pedigree, showing Elizabeth’s marriage to John₍₃₎, was recorded by the College of Heralds in Warwickshire in 1619. She was the daughter of Matthew Bishop and Bridget Butler. The manor was held by Mathew’s older brother Richard at the time, but the latter died childless in 1619 and the manor passed to the late Matthew’s son Anthony.  John and Elizabeth had five sons and three daughters.

Although their father was a husbandman, both Richard₍₁₎ and John₍₃₎ became yeomen and freeholders. As was the custom, most of their land passed to their eldest sons, John₍₄₎ and Anthony₍₁₎, respectively. Primogeniture prevailed over subsequent generations.  While some younger sons remained in Oxhill, many settled elsewhere, some farming, others taking up a craft or trade. Such mobility of those lacking property was characteristic of the period.

John₍₃₎’s third son Daniel₍₁₎ is mentioned in most historical accounts of the village. He served as quartermaster in the Earl of Northampton’s Regiment of Foot and was taken prisoner in 1644 during the siege of Compton Wynyates, a seat of the Earl situated about 4 km from Oxhill. Daniel’s Royalist leaning was contrary to the prevalent mood in the area and has been attributed to his mother’s social standing.  In any case, he survived to return to Oxhill where he served as church warden. There is no record of Daniel marrying or having children. He was interred inside the church and his epitaph has been widely quoted:

When I was young, I ventured life and blood

Both for my king, and for my country’s good;

In elder years, my care was chief to be

Soldier to him who shed his blood for me.

Mathew₍₁₎, the fourth son of John₍₃₎ Blackford and Elizabeth Bishop, was probably the same Mathew Blackford who became a prominent resident of Stratford-Upon-Avon in the second half of the 17th century. A maltster by trade, he served many civic roles in Stratford: Borough Highway Surveyor (1651), church warden (1672-73), alderman (1673), and mayor (1676-77).  His record was not unblemished, however, as indicated by the following vestry-book extract:

Burgesses fined. – Mathew Blackford and Thomas Woolen departing the Hall, and goinge too bowls, are fined 6d. a peece, 31 May 1667. D. 152.

Female lineages are difficult to follow but one exception is John₍₃₎’s eldest daughter Elizabeth₍₂₎. She married yeoman Edward Eden of Oxhill with whom she had five children.  The Edens appear to have been relatively prosperous. Elizabeth₍₂₎, by then a widow, was listed with five hearths and son Edward with two hearths in the 1663 rolls. The latter’s headstone in the churchyard is Grade II listed and grandson Edward was styled a gentleman in the 1720s.

Hearth tax rolls indicate that Richard₍₁₎’s three sons all settled in Oxhill. His grandson Daniel₍₂₎ apprenticed as a goldsmith in London earning his freedom in 1664. Although direct evidence is lacking, Warwick clockmaker Anthony₍₂₎ Blackford (1639-1679) was likely Daniel₍₂₎’s younger brother. Anthony was virtually unknown until 2007, when one of his clocks made £110,000 at auction.  His son Anthony₍₅₎ (1680-1715) became a goldsmith in London. Coincidentally, like his father, Anthony₍₅₎ died relatively young whilst his second wife was expecting his son and heir. Widow Dorothy Boyse soon returned to Warwickshire.  Thomas₍₂₎ and Samuel_(1), grandson’s of Richard₍₁₎ and John_(3), respectively, were shoemakers in Oxhill in the 1670s. Thomas₍₂₎’s son Mark (1678-1726) became a skinner in London.  

Richard₍₁₎’s great grandson John₍₈₎ married Elizabeth Potter of OverTadmarton , Oxfordshire. Her father William was an early leader of the Quaker community in Tadmarton. He was fined for Sabbath-breaking, specifically riding his horse to a Quaker Meeting, was imprisoned twice, and had property seized regularly as a result of his refusal to pay tithes. John₍₈₎’s brother Daniel₍₃₎ Blackford (1666-1718) was a chandler in Oxford, and the latter’s son Bonniwell (his mother’s surname) apprenticed as a carpenter in London.

The two Blackford family groups remaining in Oxhill in the 1740s were headed by yeomen John₍₁₁₎ and Anthony₍₆₎, whose land had passed down through several generations from Richard₍₁₎ and John₍₃₎, respectively. Both died childless and their real estate passed to their younger brothers’ lines.

William₍₄₎, second son of John₍₈₎ Blackford and Elizabeth Potter, was a master joiner in Chipping Norton but returned to Oxhill by about 1750 after the death of older brother John_(11). William₍₄₎’s son Ben₍₂₎ had been born in Chipping Norton and was a cabinet maker in Worcester before moving to Oxhill in 1765, presumably to assist his 73 year old father with the farm.  Ben remained for a few years after his father’s death in 1768, but sold the Oxhill property in 1775, netting £1,300 after retiring the mortgage. He and three of his sons eventually settled in London.  

Anthony₍₁₀₎ Blackford born in Oxhill in 1727, had grown up in Pillerton Priors and was living in Stoneleigh, north of Warwick, when his uncle Anthony₍₆₎ died in 1751. Following the departure of Ben₍₂₎ Blackford, Anthony₍₁₀₎’s was the only Blackford family remaining in the village.

As a yeoman farmer, Anthony₍₁₀₎ was presumably reasonably comfortable: land tax records place him mid-range in Oxhill. He lived well into his eighties and it is likely that son Anthony₍₁₁₎ (b.1755) had taken over the farm at some point. Both were residing in Tysoe at the time of their deaths in 1815 and 1839, respectively, where the latter’s son Thomas₍₈₎ was a freeholder. It appears that a generation of Blackfords was absent from Oxhill following the turn of the 19^th century. This may have resulted from the Enclosure Act, implemented in Oxhill in 1797, which

“took away from the labouring class any rights in those fields and they became dependent agricultural workers, living a life of great poverty, overcrowding and disease, and the infant mortality rate was high in Oxhill. The stream was the main water supply but it was polluted by sewage from Tysoe.” (Oxhill Parish Plan - 2014)

Although freeholders, the Blackfords may have depended on access to the commons for their livelihood.  No Blackfords were recorded in Oxhill in the 1841 census but Thomas_(8)‘s second son John_(17), an agricultural labourer was living with his wife in the village by 1850 and their descendants were in Oxhill well into the 20^th century.

Murray Duke

Ottawa, Canada

(6x great grandson of John₍₈₎ Blackford and Elizabeth Potter)

This site is maintained by villagers of Oxhill for the benefit of the community and those interested in the history, news and activities that make the village such a pleasant place to live.

Send mail to historian@oxhill.org.uk with questions or comments about this web site.

Last modified: November 26, 2020