Religious Dissenters Among the Children of Charles Elliot and Lydia Bayley

Charles Elliot and his wife Lydia Bailey seem to have been lifelong Anglicans.  They married, baptized their children and were buried in Anglican churches (primarily St. Mary's church in Hayes).  However, many of their children became religious dissenters.  (A "religious dissenter" during this period in England can refer to a number of Christian groups with varied theologies, such as Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, or Quakers:  some of the following records refer to the Elliot family as dissenting Protestants).    I've written about Alexander Maxwell and his wife Mary Elliot's religious life in a previous post.  Here are some additional family records I have found on the database "All England and Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970" for the families of Charles and Lydia's children.

The records of these dissenting churches are in some ways more informative than the records I have seen kept by Anglican churches during this time period.  Particularly, they include the name of the paternal grandfather (sometimes both of the paternal grandparents) so that you know the mother's maiden name. That is an absolute gift.  The records also seem to mark three occasions:  the child's birth (always) baptism (sometimes) and date recorded, which could be many years after the event.

I have found records for these families in the non-conformist database:  Henry Hilton and Martha Elliot (4 children baptized between 1787 and 1792), Thomas Burton and Lydia Elliot (1 child recorded 1787),  William Elliot and Elizabeth Best (6 children recorded between 1798-1805), John Elliot and his first and second wives, Susanna Jones and Ann Best (7 children recorded between 1798-1812) and Robert Elliot and Ann Bland (1 child recorded, 1815).  These dates do not necessarily tell us when each family became associated with a dissenting church, but they at least pin down times when the families were definitely involved.  I also found a birth record for a child of of Mary Bailey, Lydia Bailey's sister or cousin, and her husband William Pontifex, indicating that the William Pontifex family was also dissenting.  The children of Charles and Lydia that I did not find dissenting records for were Thomas, Josiah and Charles Elliot and their families--perhaps these three men and their respective families remained Anglicans.

Here are the baptismal records I have found for the family of Alexander Maxwell and Mary Elliot.  The baptismal address was Carey Street, New Court.  Robert Winter calls himself a Protestant Dissenting Minister. 

Mary Maxwell, born December 17, 1808, baptized February 12, 1811.  

Lydia Maxwell, born December 2, 1810, baptized February 12, 1811.

Alexander Maxwell, born January 19, 1813, baptized April 19, 1813.

 Right next to each other on the register of Roger Flexman are Mary Hilton, the daughter of Henry Hilton and "Martha the Daughter of Charles Elliott" (sic), born July 31 1787, and Lydia Burton, daughter of Thomas Burton and "Lydia the Daughter of Charles Elliott" (sic).  They were recorded together on September 5, 1787.  I believe the additional women's names on the record are the midwives (the record refers to them as witnesses to the birth).  

Martha Hilton, born in Southhampton Street in St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, November 1, 1788. 

Rebekah-Sarah Hilton, born September 3, 1790, registered December 10, 1790.  One of the witnesses to the birth is Lydia Burton.  We have two separate records of Rebekah-Sarah's birth. St. Paul, Covent Garden, Middlesex.

John Hilton, born February 20, 1792, Registered April 9 1791.  St. Paul, Covent Garden, Middlesex.  Lydia Burton is again a witness to the birth.  Minister Roger Flexman. 

Next comes the family of William Elliot and his wife Elizabeth Best:
Thomas Elliot, born October 23, 1798,  registered March 7, 1799, Uxbridge, Middlesex.

William Elliot, born September 1, 1795, and Eliza Elliot, born February 27, 1799, both registered March 7, 1799.  Parish of Uxbridge.

William Elliot Jr.:

Eliza Elliot:

Sarah Elliot, born October 1, 1801, another William Elliot, born October 10, 1803, Mary Ann Elliot, born January 1, 1805, all registered July 9, 1816.  Parish of Uxbridge.


Sarah Elliot:

 

William Elliot (the first William Elliot must have died):

 Mary Ann Elliot:

Joseph Elliot, born July 28, 1809, and Rebecca Elliot, born May 2, 1811.  Both in Uxbridge, Middlesex;  both registered April 30, 1816

.

Joseph Elliot:

Rebecca Elliot:

John Elliot, son of Charles and Lydia, and his two wives Susanna Mary Jones and  Ann Best also have a number of children listed in the nonconformist records database.  Mary, Ann, and Jemima Elliot were all registered on October 21, 1819, although they were born in 1793, 1800, and 1804 respectively.  When Mary was born John and Susanna were living in St. Giles, Middlesex.  When John's next two children, by his second wife Ann, were born, he was living in Hampton Wick.  Notice that again Lydia Burton is present for a birth.  I wonder if she was a midwife?

Mary Elliot, daughter of John Elliot and Susanna Mary Elliot, daughter of Richard Jones.

Sarah Elliot and Catherine Elliot were also registered on October 21, 1819.  Sarah was born January 26, 1806, and Catherine was born April 1, 1802.

Henry Elliot, born April 26, 1814, registered June 30, 1820.  Parish of Hampton Wick, Middlesex.

Lydia Elliot, born March 3, 1818, registered Nov. 1820.

And finally:  ta dah!  It seems that Robert Elliot and Ann Bland were also religious nonconformists.  Josiah Elliot, January 24, 1815, Angel Row, Hammersmith, Fulham.  There was a Sarah Jane Bailey present at the birth:  was she a relative? 

I have found the names of some connections to the Elliot family as well.  William Pontifex and his wife Mary Bailey, daughter of Edmund Bailey and sister or cousin of Lydia Bailey, had two children within a dissenting church:

This is all of particular interest to me because of the light it sheds on the religious life of the Elliot family in Canada.  We know for certain that William Elliot, at least, belonged to a Christian church called the Disciples of Christ when he was a young man, and became a Baptist later in life.  I have no record of Robert and Ann's religious affiliations in Canada, but this family history makes me believe that William, who, after all, spent the first fifteen years of his life in England with his extended family,  would have grown up surrounded by some degree of religious conversation and debate, and that his family were not strangers to religious non-conformity.