Person:Alfred Whitaker (1)

Alfred Whitaker was born on 27 Jul 1799, at Bratton, Wiltshire, England, the son of Philip Whitaker and Anne Andrews.

Career

The first recorded evidence that Alfred Whitaker was practising as a solicitor in Frome, Somerset is on May 6, 1823, Alfred Whitaker, Solicitor, Frome and his clerk J. Buller are witnesses to the will of James Clement, Clothier of Frome. Both of them were also witnesses to a codicil to the will dated March 22, 1825. The will was proved on May 11, 1825 by the executors at PCC London.

On Monday, August 29th, 1825 the Salisbury and Winchester Journal reported the forthcoming sale of the Estate of Messrs. C. and R. Willoughby on Thursday the 20th day Of September, 1825. Mr.Whitaker, solicitor of Frome is given as one of the solicitors, ‘at whose respectable Offices plans of the Estates may be seen’.

In 1827 a rate of 1s 6d was being charged for a house and office, etc., in Cork Street occupied by Whitaker and owned by a Thomas Bunn.

The Robson’s 1839 Directory, the 1840 and 1842 General Directory for the County of Somerset list Alfred Whitaker of Cork Street as Solicitor, Master Extraordinary in Chancery, Perpetual Commissioner, Commissioner of Bankrupts & Clerk to the Trustees of the Bath & Warminster Roads. In the 1843 Law Lists, Alfred Whitaker is listed as a Country Attorney practising at Frome and is the agent for the London Solicitor, E.T. Whitaker. (Probably his brother, Edward Thomas Whitaker).

Family

According to Pallot’s Marriage Index for England: 1780 – 1837, Alfred Whitaker of Froome (sic) Selwood married Sarah Waylen at St. John the Baptist, Devizes, Wiltshire,England in 1823. This was on or after June 10, as the Wiltshire Family History Society records a Marriage Licence Bond for the same couple dated Devizes St. John, June 10,1823 , Alfred Whitaker Attorney of Frome Selwood, Somerset, a batchelor and Sarah Waylen a spinster of Devizes St. John, Wiltshire. The Bondsman was Robert Waylen Jun., Silk Throwster of Devizes. In 'The House of Wayland' published by James Waylen in 1886 he states: 'Sarah, born 1800; mar. 1823 to Alfred Whitaker of Frome, solicitor, and died three months afterwards'.

Pallot’s Marriage Index for England: 1780 – 1837 records the marriage of Alfred Whitaker of Froome Selwood, Somerset to Catherine Mary Woolbert a minor at St.Mary, Stratford Le Bow in 1828 (consent of Thos Dedrich Woolbert the father)

On March 5, 1835 the Bath Chronicle reported the death of Alfred Romilly Whitaker on March 1, the eldest child of Alfred Whitaker, esq; solicitor, Frome, aged 4 years and 10 months. I was probably this event which prompted the mass baptism of the remaining children. On August 5, 1835 three children were baptised at St. John the Baptist, Frome to parents Alfred and Catherine Whitaker, Edgar (born 26 Sep 1831), Edward (born 11 Mar 1833) and Edith Rose (born 31 Mar 1835).

Documentation

Census Returns

1841 United Kingdom

1851 United Kingdom

Pallot's Marriage Index

1823 Marriage

1828 Marriage

Directories

1830 Pigot's Directory, Somerset

1842/4 Pigot's Directory, Somerset

1. ↑ Church of Later Day Saints, International Genealogical Index, Batch C152351.
2. ↑ General Register Office, England and Wales, Civil Registration Indexes, Frome Volume 5c Page 364.