Nunn wills: Middlesex, 1831-1857

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  7. Nunn wills: Middlesex, 1831-1857

The year is the year of probate, which is not necessarily the same as the year of death.

James Nunn of Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, bookseller, 1831

  • Mary Ann Nunn: daughter, exec
  • Elizabeth Ann Nunn: daughter
  • Sarah Low widow of Hugh Low, late of Holborn, bookseller: daughter
  • Jane Pattrick wife of Thomas Pattrick of Walton, Essex, miller: daughter
  • Richard Priestley of Holborn, bookseller: exec
  • Miss Sophia Nelson daughter of Mr Nelson of Hyde Street, Bloomsbury
  • Francis Hicks of Bartletts Buildings, solicitor: witness
  • Thomas W. Randall, Frederick Charles Steggall: witness
  • Source: PCC
  • Biographical notes: James Nunn of Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, was buried at St Dunstan’s in the East in the City of London on 28 May 1831, aged 76 (born about 1755). His daughter Sarah married Hugh Low in 1812 at St Bride’s, Fleet Street. His daughter Jane married Thomas Pattrick of Thorpe, Essex, at St Giles-in-the-Fields, Holborn, in 1815 (witnesses: Joshua Nunn, Elizabeth Ann Nunn, Grimwood Foaker, Mary Ann Nunn).

Susannah Nunn, spinster, late of Ampton Street, Grey’s Inn Lane, now of Bradfield, Essex, 1838

  • Susan otherwise Susannah Nunn, widow: mother
  • Mary Ann Nunn, spinster: sister
  • George and John Blomfield: witnesses
  • Source: PCC

Anne Nunn, widow of Islington, 1840

  • Formerly of New North Road, late of Copenhagen Street, Pentonville, parish of St Mary’s, Islington
  • Widow of Henry Nunn esqr
  • Louisa Elizabeth Clarke, spinster: daughter
  • David Brooks, Mary Howe: witnesses
  • Source: PCC

Jonathan Alexander Nunn of Regent’s Circus, Oxford Street and Haven Cottage, Ealing, straw hat maker, 1842

  • Eliza Victoria Nunn: wife, exec
  • George Smith of Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, dyer: exec
  • Robert Turner of Blandford Street, Portland Square, plumber: exec
  • William Martyn of 38 Davies Street, Berkeley Square: witness
  • Elizabeth Horton, 8 Smith Street, Manchester Square: witness
  • Source: PCC
  • Biographical note: according to the GRO index, he was 43 at his death in 1842 (born about 1799)

See Jonathan Alexander Nunn of London for more information.

William Nunn of 119 Church Street, Bethnal Green, grocer, 1844

  • William Carr Barry of 33 Spital Square, Middlesex, gent: exec
  • Robert Young of 34 Coal Harbour Street, Hackney Road, Middlesex, undertaker: exec
  • Selina Andrews: servant
  • William Burt of Cambridge Road, Middlesex, schoolmaster: son of his late wife
  • R Taylor of 26 Middleton Road, Queen’s Road, Dalston: witness
  • John Child of 120 Church Street, Bethnal Green, tailor: witness
  • Source: LMA

Transcriber’s notes: at the same address in Robson’s Directory, 1820, as a silk manufacturer.

The testator married Mary Birt, widow, at St Matthew’s Bethnal Green in 1828. St Matthew’s is on (what was called at the time) Church Street, presumably giving it its name.

On the 1841 census, William Nunn, living on Church St, Bethnal Green, is 55 (or more), a greengrocer, who had been born in Middlesex. He is probably the son of John and Elizabeth Nunn of Coopers Gardens, baptised at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, in 1781. He was 63 when he died in the Bethnal Green registration district in 1844.

Ann Nunn of Mile End, widow, 1845

  • Two addresses: Saville Place, Mile End and 4 Wades Place, Mile End
  • Mary Harris wife of James Harris of Globe Lane, Middlesex: daughter
  • Sarah Nunn of Walworth, Surrey: daughter
  • Mr Isaac Buxell: formerly his servant
  • Mary Scotney wife of Charles Scotney of 6 Wades Place, Mile End
  • Avis Cole wife of Henry Cole of 4 Wades Place, Mile End
  • William Hart of 83 Whitechapel High Street, Middlesex: exec
  • James Jones of 4 Freemans Place, Mile End Road, grocer: witness
  • Frederick Cock (or Cork?) of 3 Freemans Place, Mile End Road: witness
  • Source: LMA

Thomas Nunn of 19 Great James Street, Bedford Row, grocer, 1845

  • Susannah Nunn: wife, exec
  • Susannah Nunn: daughter, exec
  • Thomas Nunn the younger and John Nunn: sons, execs
  • William Nunn of Suffolk Street West, St Pancras, his wife and children unnamed: brother
  • Susanna Snaire wife of James Snaire of No. 8 Regent Street, Mile End Road: sister
  • Daughter of Susanna Snaire, now married, living with her mother: niece
  • Mr Joseph Francis Burrell of No. 9 Great Titchfield Street, Marylebone. Mr Burrell’s Chapel at same address
  • Mr Richard Dore of No. 49 Sholdom Street, Marylebone
  • John Gore: servant
  • Thomas Hancock of Marlbro’ Cottage, Stoke Newington: exec
  • George Hume of Great James Street, solicitor: witness
  • John Proctor Bird, clerk: witness
  • George Boughton Hume: witness
  • Source: PCC

Transcriber’s notes: a “grocer and oil merchant” according to adverts placed in newspapers in 1844 for “Thomas Nunn & Sons”, advertising their wares, including “Nunn’s Vegetable Oil”, which they claimed gave “economy and brilliancy of light.” The advert also said they had for “upwards of 32 years [been] purveyors to the Hon. Society of Lincoln’s Inn.”

The testator died on 7th Dec 1844 in his 68th year, having lived at the same address in Holborn for 38 years, according to his obituary in the Morning Post on 11th December that year.

He was a bachelor when he married Susannah Marks at St Pancras church on 8th September 1811. The witnesses were Walter Chatfield and Mary Armstrong.

On the 1841 census, we find the testator and his family at 19 St James’ Street. Thomas is 60, a grocer, not born Middlesex, but the rest of the household were: Susannah 55, Thomas 25, John 25, Susannah 20, with Samuel Matthew, a 15-year-old grocer’s apprentice, and Maria Hancock, 20, of independent means (neither born Middlesex), and one servant. Maria Hancock is presumably a daughter or other close relative of Thomas Hancock, one of the executors of the will

On the 1851 census, we find the testator’s sister living at No. 4 Regent Street with her husband James Snare, 71, a bricklayer born in Brandon, Suffolk. Susannah is 70, born Linton, Cambridgeshire.

This means that the testator and his siblings are the children of John Nunn of Linton, Cambridgeshire, and his wife Susannah – or Elizabeth (her forename changes through the baptisms). John Nunn is one of the sons of Joshua Nunn of Withersfield, Suffolk.The testator was baptised Thomas Mundy Nunn on 5 Nov 1777, son of John and Susannah Nunn. Then came Susannah 1780, Elizabeth 1784, John 1786 (mother’s name given as “Elizabeth” for these three baptisms), Elizabeth 1790, and William 1792 (mother’s name “Susannah” for the last two).

The testator’s sister, Susannah, stayed in Cambridgeshire for a while. Her first husband was James Salmon who she married in Linton. Then in 1810, after James’ death, she married James Smith, a widower, also in Linton. Then she married Mark Benton in 1820 and Cambridge Holy Trinity. After Mark’s death, she married James Snare of Brandon, Suffolk, a widower, on 5 March 1833 at Cambridge St Andrew’s the Less. They then moved to London.

On the 1841 census, we find the testator’s brother William Nunn at Suffolk Street West, St Pancras. He’s aged 45, “Taylor J” (probably “journeyman tailor”), not born Middlesex. The rest of the household were all born in Middlesex: Mary 50, Thomas 25 an engineer, John 12, Elizabeth 9, and James 4. At the same address, but in a different household were Margaret and Mary Rowe, laundresses.

Samuel Nunn, surgeon of Duke Street, 1846

  • Ann: wife, exec
  • Children (unnamed), some or all under 21
  • William Ling of Moore Place, Lambeth, Surrey: exec
  • J Smeaton, Samuel F Dendy: witnesses
  • Source: PCC

Elizabeth Nunn of No. 96 Shoreditch, milliner and dressmaker, 1847

  • Sarah Nunn: daughter: exec
  • Unnamed: her other children
  • Frederick Parks of No. 76 Shoreditch, draper: exec
  • Frederic Wildbore, surgeon of 180 Shoreditch: witness
  • Mary Griffin, Red Lion Street, Spitalfields: witness
  • Source: PCC
  • Biographical notes: Elizabeth was born Elizabeth Griffin in 1801 in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, the daughter of Daniel Griffin and Sarah Fowler. She married David Nunn at St George Hanover Square when she was seventeen. They had ten children. Her husband was an oilman and chandler, but after his death the family turned to millinery and dressmaking, perhaps influenced by many of Elizabeth’s siblings who were drapers. Mary Griffin, one of the witnesses to her will, was the wife of Elizabeth’s brother, Thomas. Elizabeth was buried at Abney Park cemetery, aged 46. Her husband had predeceased her in 1841 and didn’t leave a will. His admon should be at The National Archives but on enquiry, they have been unable to find it.

Samuel Nunn of Homerton, St John’s Hackney, builder, 1851

  • Charlotte Nunn: wife
  • Ann Nunn: daughter
  • Benjamin Hitchcock Nunn of Brighton, Sussex, builder: son
  • Joseph Nunn of Homerton, builder: son
  • William Nunn of Hackney, painter, plumber and glazier: son
  • Charlotte Smither, deceased, late wife of Thomas Robert Smither of Bethnal Green, Dissenting Minister: daughter
  • Samuel Smither, son of Charlotte: grandson
  • Isaac Marchant, smith and bellhanger; William Rogers; John Moon; Daniel Gramson; Charles Rutter, sawmaker; John Gorbell, broker: occupiers
  • Benjamin Brett, Thomas Brett: witnesses
  • Source: PCC
  • Probate: 16 April 1851

Transcriber’s notes:

Samuel married Charlotte Hitchcock at St Saviour’s, Southwark, in 1810.

Their son, Benjamin Hitchcock Nunn, was born in Musgrove’s Buildings, Homerton, in 1819. This non-conformist birth record from Dr Williams’ library tells us that his mother’s father was Benjamin Hitchcock. He died in Brighton in 1904. Their daughters were also born in Hackney: Charlotte in 1814 and Ann in 1821. There was another daughter, Catherine, born 1816, and their son Joseph was born in 1826.

In 1841, the family were living on Bridge Street, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, with Samuel and Charlotte (neither born in Middlesex), their daughter Ann, and sons Benjamin and Joseph.

Samuel’s wife Charlotte predeceased him, dying in February 1851. On the 1851 census, taken on 30 March, his forename is given wrongly as “Daniel”. He was living at 4 High Street, just around the corner from Bridge Street and Musgrove’s Buildings, with his daughter Anne, a house maid, and a “lunatic’s assistant.” In the disability column beside Samuel’s name, it says “lunatic.” He was a retired builder, and his place of birth is given as “Cambridge”, perhaps meaning Cambridgeshire. The precise place isn’t stated. His death certificate says that he was “formerly a carpenter and builder” and died at High Street, Homerton, from “a apoplectic fit in a state of insanity.”

Samuel was 73 (according to his death certificate) when he died in 1851, so he was born about 1778, although the burial register for St John’s, Hackney, says that he was 75. There are couple of possible baptisms for him Cambridgeshire – the most likely appears to be one in Caxton, the son of William and Catherine Nunn, in 1777. See FamilySearch, scans of Bishop’s Transcripts for Caxton, film 007562714, image 643.

John Nunn, gent of White Lion Street, Islington, 1852

  • Rebecca Colls of same: friend, exec
  • Ann Robertson, widow of Exmouth Place, Limehouse Fields: sister, exec
  • Benjamin Brown, Elizabeth Sellick: witnesses
  • Source: PCC

Transcriber’s notes: the 1851 census places John Nunn at Rebecca Colls’ home at 88 White Lion Street as her lodger. Her servant was Elizabeth Sellick, who witnessed John’s will. His place of birth is given as Colchester, Essex, but this might be a mistake. He’s at the same address in 1841, with Rebecca Colls, Martha (perhaps her daughter) and two women of independent means: Selina Child and Bridget Wyman(?). John has an N in the column asking if he was born in the county he was living in.

John’s sister, Ann, married Archer Robertson at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, on 24 Dec 1800. Their daughter Ann Elizabeth Robertson was baptised on 11 Aug 1805 at St Anne’s, Limehouse. Archer died in May 1805, and was buried as Thomas Archer Robertson at St Anne’s. He was 36 years old. Only a few months later, in August, the couple’s daughter Ann Elizabeth was baptised at the same church. He left a Prerogative Court of Canterbury will (Archer Robertson of Globe Alley, Limehouse, treenail maker), which mentions his wife Ann, then his brother John Roberston, blacksmith, and sister Sarah Bird, widow, both of Great Waltham, Essex. He also mentions an Elizabeth Nunn of Globe Alley, although doesn’t state their relationship. John Nunn was named executor along with his wife Ann.

While John Nunn’s place of birth is given as Colchester on the 1851 census, his sister Ann’s is given as Limehouse, and we find her baptism at St Anne’s on 11 March 1778, as the 13-week-old daughter of John and Elizabeth Nunn of Noah’s Ark Alley. He was a sawyer. I can’t find John’s baptism, so perhaps he was born in Colchester after all, but the only baptism of a John Nunn in Colchester at the same time as he would’ve been born (he was born in about 1781) is the son of Joshua and Esther Nunn, who was friends with Patrick Bronte at Cambridge and became a vicar.

William Nunn of 25 St Paul’s Terrace, Camden New Town, 1854

  • Sarah Ann Nunn: wife, exec
  • William Martin of 16 Gloster Terrace, Vauxhall Road, Pimlico, gent: exec
  • James Moody of 15 Hardings Terrace, Albert Street, ? Newington (not clear if Stoke Newington or St Mary): exec
  • Source: PCC

William Nunn’s first wife was Hannah Elizabeth Howard, who he married at St Pancras church in 1839. She died in 1841. As a widower, giving his occupation as “greengrocer”, William (son of William Nunn, a tailor), married Sarah Ann Fidget, spinster, daughter of William Fidget, farmer, at St Marylebone church on 16 April 1843. On the 1851 census, they were living at 22 Myddleton Street, St James Clerkenwell; William was 36, working as a draper’s collector, and the couple had three children living with them: Harriet 7, Mary Ann 5, William Henry 2.

Sarah Ann was born in Hadleigh, Suffolk, and was baptised there on 12 Oct 1818, the daughter of William and Sarah Fidget. Her father was a labourer. Her parents married in Hadleigh on 12 Oct 1805. Her mother’s maiden name was Cobbold.

Holden Nunn of Northampton Livery Stables, Compton Mews, Canonbury Square, Islington, 1857

  • Eliza Nunn: daughter, exec
  • Robert Nunn: son
  • William Nunn: son, exec
  • John Hudson, solicitor of 4 Fenchurch Buildings: witness
  • William Good, clerk: witness
  • Source: PCC

Transcriber’s notes: The testator is likely to be Holden Gooch Nunn, who was baptised at Great Whelnetham, Suffolk, on 23 Dec 1794, the son of Robert Nunn and his wife Sarah (née Baker).

Holden Nunn married Mary Denny at Great Whelnetham, Suffolk, on 12 June 1821.

Appears on the 1851 census with wife Mary and the three children mentioned in the will. His place of birth is given as “Great Wellnothern”, presumably Great Whelnetham. Halden Nunn of Canonbury Square and Worcester was buried at St James’, St Pancras, on 4 May 1857, aged 66 (born about 1791).

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