Person:Mary Lane (87)

Mary Lane was baptised on 11th December 1746 at Bishampton in Worcestershire, England, daughter of Elizabeth Lane, formerly Emms, and her husband Robert Lane.

Mary’s father died in 1767.

Mary was married at Bishampton on 11th August 1770, aged 23, to a wheelwright named Edward Dingley, who was from the nearby parish of Cropthorne.

Mary and Edward appear to have had four children together. Their eldest child, Nancy, was both born and died in 1771. They then had a daughter Ann in 1772 and a son Robert in 1774. Sometime between 1774 and 1778 the family left Bishampton and moved to Cropthorne, where Edward was from. Their daughter Ann died at the age of six in 1778 and was buried at Cropthorne.

After a fifteen year gap, Mary and Edward had another daughter, Ann Maria (or Hannah Maria), baptised at Cropthorne in 1789. It is possible they may have lived elsewhere in this time, as a fifteen year gap between children is quite rare, albeit not impossible. However, Mary’s mother’s will, written in 1791, names Robert and Ann Maria as being “her two children”, implying that they were Mary’s only children still alive in 1791.

Back in Bishampton, Mary’s mother died in 1791. Her will left five pounds indirectly for Mary – it was left to Mary’s brothers Robert and Thomas as trustees, to be paid by them to a person of Mary’s choosing, and if Mary did not choose such a person then the money was to be split between Robert and Ann. This unusual mechanism appears to have been designed to prevent Edward (or perhaps his creditors if he was in debt) claiming control of the money.

Mary’s son Robert married in 1800 and Mary’s first grandchild was born later that year, although her daughter-in-law died either giving birth or shortly afterwards. Robert remarried in 1805 and had another six children with his second wife between 1806 and 1816.

Edward died in 1815, aged 66.

Mary’s daughter Ann married in 1818.

Mary died aged 72 and was buried at Cropthorne on 18th October 1819. Eight days later her daughter Ann’s first child was baptised at Cropthorne.

1. ↑ Bishampton, Worcestershire, England. Parish Register Transcripts.

   ch. 11 Dec 1746, Bishampton, Worcestershire: Mary daughter of Robert & Elizabeth Lane

   This baptism has been linked to the Mary Lane who married Edward Dingley on the basis that it is about the right age to correspond to the age quoted for the Mary Dingley who died in 1819, plus in 1773, three years after Mary and Edward married, Edward witnessed the marriage of a Robert Lane at Bishampton, and this Mary had a brother called Robert.

2. ↑ England. National Burial Index.

   bur. 18 Oct 1819, Cropthorne, Worcestershire: Mary Dingley, aged 74 [1744/5]