Person:Mary Burrows (22)

Mary Burrows' origins have yet to be established. Her first confirmed sighting is on 1st October 1772 when she married Francis Dingley at Cropthorne in Worcestershire. Mary was described as being a spinster of Fladbury at the time. Francis was 59 years old and a widower, with several adult children from his first marriage.

Francis wrote his will in 1783, describing himself as a gentleman of Charlton in the parish of Cropthorne. Most of his property was left to his children, but he had secured an income for his wife Mary for the rest of her life by selling a piece of copyhold land in exchange for an annuity of £54 17s 6d for their lifetimes - enough to live very comfortably on. He also left her five guineas and "the use of all such household goods and furniture as belonged to her before we were married".

Francis died in 1786, aged 73. It is not clear when Mary died; there were two widows called Mary Dingley buried at Cropthorne in the years after Francis's death - one on 11th November 1795 and one on 7th February 1796. Insufficient information is given to say which, if either, is her.

1.   Church of England. Parish Registers of Cropthorne, 1557-1992. (Worcester: Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service).

   Two equally plausible burials:
   Buried 1795 / Mary Dingley Widow Nov[em]b[e]r 11
   Buried 1796 / Mary Dingley Widow Feb[ruar]y 7th