Person:Sarah Unknown (2870)

Sarah's maiden name and origins have yet to be established. Her first confirmed sighting is on 18th December 1693 at Granby in Nottinghamshire, when she and her husband Henry Bonser had their son Henry baptised. Sarah and Henry appear to have been one of three couples called Bonser who appear in the south Nottinghamshire area around this time: Henry and Sarah in Granby, John and Mary in nearby Colston Bassett and Edward and Elizabeth in Kinoulton. Given the timing of this appearance, the fact that many of the family for whom occupations are recorded were weavers and the French style of the name (especially in some early records where it is recorded as Henri Bonsire), some authorities have suggested that the family were probably French Huguenot refugees, although absolute proof of this has yet to be found.^[3]

Sarah and Henry appear to have had seven children baptised at Granby between 1694 and 1706, although their sixth child, Richard, died as a baby in 1705. In 1701 Henry gave evidence in a court case in which he described himself as a farmer.

Sarah worked as a midwife in the villages around Granby. By 1726 she and Henry had moved from Granby to the nearby village of Colston Bassett. Sarah was involved in some form of investigation into her work by the authorities in 1726.

There are two possible burials which may be her in 1727 and 1738 at Colston Bassett, but no evidence to say which (if either) is her.

1.   Nottinghamshire Family History Society. Nottinghamshire Burials Database.

   There do not appear to be any plausible burials of Sarah at Granby, but there are a couple of possibilities at neighbouring Colston Bassett:
   bur. 27 Nov 1727, Colston Bassett: Sarah BONSUR
   bur. 2 Jan 1738 [presumably 1737/8 as this database normally uses 'new style' dates]: Sarah BONSOR
   One of these is presumably the Sarah the subject of this page, the other is probably the Sarah Bonser baptised at Colston Bassett on 4th February 1724/5.

2.   Archdeaconry of Nottingham, Libels, in Manuscripts and Special Collections Catalogue, (University of Nottingham)
   AN/LB 236/1/51, 5 Nov 1726.

   Certificate in cause Office v. Bonser (unlicensed midwives of physicians)
   Office (Correction) cause against Sarah, wife of Henry Bonser of Colston Bassett.
   Certificate that Sarah Bonser has 'practised chirurgery' and acted as a midwife for several years with good sucess; provides the names of six women she assisted at Granby, and three at Kinoulton, Thos. Poolll and Wm. Bonser, churchwardens, and marked by Elizabeth Orston, Grace Pritchet, Barbary Clark, Mary Hickman, Jane Moley and Ann Pare.

3. ↑ "The family of Bonser first appears in South Nottinghamshire in 1693, at Granby and Colston Bassett, the name being variously spelt as Bonsar, Bonsire, Bonsier, Bonsor. In 1717 the then representative was described as a weaver. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, drove many Protestants to England, where they found safe asylum, and many of them a livelihood by weaving. It seems likely that the Bonsires or Bonsiers were amongst those who came over." (County Pedigrees, W.P.W. Phillimore, 1909, London), accessed 6 June 2014