1751 - 1824 (73 years)
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Name |
Blenkin William |
Birth |
1751 |
Mappleton, East Yorks. |
Gender |
Male |
Death |
1824 |
Person ID |
I162 |
My Genealogy |
Last Modified |
18 Oct 2023 |
Family |
Hobson Elizabeth, b. 11 Jul 1754, Aldborough d. 3 Nov 1802, Ottringham, Yorkshire (Age 48 years) |
Marriage |
1773 |
Aldborough |
Children |
+ | 1. Blenkin George, b. 1788, Ottringham, East Riding of Yorks d. 23 Nov 1837, Kingston upon Hull (Age 49 years) |
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Family ID |
F73 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Last Modified |
24 Nov 2012 |
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Notes |
- William is described as a seed trader in Hull high street in 1822, and a 'gent' in an 1807 poling record. He was possibly a farmer earlier in his career?
He and his wife Elizabeth had 16 children (!), and the 11th one George is the significant one to carry on this family tree.
In the 1807 voting records (see image above), William is described as a 'gent' who was a freeholder living in the Lissett area of Hull.
The mark in the 'W' column meant he voted for William Wilberforce (the famous anti-slavery campaigner) in that vote. Wilberforce won the seat.
W stands for Wilberforce, M for Viscount Milton and L for Lascelles.
1807 was the same year the Slave Act of 1807 was passed, which prohibited the slave trade in the British Empire. However slavery was not abolished by an act of parliament until 1833.
William Blenkin died in 1821
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Growing of commercial seeds was mainly undertake in southern England from the 1500s onwards, driven by the Dutch who came with their knowledge of seed growing. Vegetable seeds were also imported from the continent, and Hull as a port would have been a transit point. "Onion seed was fre-quently imported: a hundredweight was landed at Hull in September I541 and £770 worth passed though the Port of London at customary values in 1565..." source: https://bahs.org.uk/AGHR/ARTICLES/38n1a4.pdf
However, for Hull the main activity connected with seeds was seed-crushing, as the following excerpts from a very interesting article on it by Paul Gibson shows:
"Hull's industrial history has been dominated by two industries - the timber trade, which I have covered briefly in the page of that name on this website ? and oil seed crushing, from which many subsidiary industries have come. In 2012 those two industries still provide a huge contribution to Hull?s economy, and historically Hull may never have achieved the success as a port that it has enjoyed, had these industries not been based - and chosen to remain - in Hull.
Few studies have been made that enforce the importance of seed crushing to Hull, as little or no detailed records have survived from the companies involved. What follows is a summary, compiled mostly from secondary sources, of the massive influence this trade has had on the city and port of Kingston upon Hull. Oil has always featured highly in the commercial history of the city; rape and other seeds were imported into Hull in the Middle Ages, and the only purpose for this was to extract the useful oil by crushing. In 1969, the compilers of the Victoria County History for Hull noted:
The raw materials flowing into Hull gave rise to a number of industries engaged in processing and refining. The oldest of these was the oil-seed extracting industry. There are references to the milling of rape-seed in Hull from the early 16th century and by the middle of the 18th century the industry was well established. As early as 1740 Joseph Pease, later head of the banking firm, had built an oil-mill at the corner of Lowgate and Salthouse Lane, and by the end of the century, when there a growing demand for linseed oil for cloth-making processes, for paint, and for soap, there were numerous such mills. In 1796 in one street alone, Wincolmlee, there were 'three wind oil-mills, one belonging to Messrs. Jarratt & Coates, worked by a steam engine, besides horse-mills for the same purpose'.
The growth of the extracting industry is reflected in the quantity of cattle cakes exported; this rose from about 150,000 in 1717 to over 400,000 in 1737. Thereafter exports were recorded in tons, 52 tons being exported in 1758. Similarly, the quantity of linseed brought to Hull rose from 1,902 bushels in 1725 to 18,800 in 1758 and over 66,000 in 1783. English oil-seed was also being brought from East Anglia and from those parts of Yorkshire where flax-growing was developing. Two industries which arose in connexion with the oil extracting industry were the manufacture of paint and the production of machinery for the extraction process. Samuel Tudor is reputed to have founded a paint firm in Hull in 1749, which later became Tudors, Mash & Co. The main development of the industry however came in the early 19th century; in 1803 Sissons Bros. began manufacturing paint in Hull, and in 1811 Henry Blundell. White lead was made in Hull from at least the 1740s, and Pickard?s factory was established in 1791.
From that short passage you will see it is almost impossible to write of Hull?s history without mentioning the seed-crushing industry, as its effects have been felt so widespread throughout the city, its industries, mercantile success, and more broadly - its social conditions. For those of you who dislike the new generation of wind turbines appearing on the horizon [I quite like them myself] it may surprise you to know that Hull was once dotted with large brick-built windmills - many later converted to steam and other power. Several of these were located near to the city centre, and often within areas of dense housing, often belching out smoke around the clock, as well as deafening those closest with the thump and grind of the machinery. Such industries also caused other nuisances, and in the 17th Century the Corporation forbid the burning of rape-cakes owing to their 'filthy smell'...
...White's 1826 trade directory listed four seed crushing companies in Hull. By 1838 there were 13, 19 by 1846, and in 1858 there were 28.... The construction of more and more seed crushing mills along the banks of the River Hull, where they could take their raw material from barges, had begun with a single horse powered mill, but by 1840 there were ten wind-powered mills, and by 1878 that figure had increased to 45. ?By the 1860s seed crushing was well-established in Hull and in the subsequent decades it drew its supplies from further and further afield. By the end of the century imports of linseed came not only from Russia but from the East Indies, the Argentine, Canada, and the United States; there was considerable trade for example between Hull and the River Plate before 1914?...
...The industry reached its peak in the late 19th Century, and it was during that period that many of the large oil mills were constructed ? many of which survived until very recently.As such, the seed crushing industry was a huge employer, and literally thousands of locals made their living in the mills or the many associated industries.... Although the many old-established High Street offices of the oil merchants and brokers have gone (in 1892 there were at least 53 firms involved in the oil seed crushing industry occupying properties in High Street alone), a very small number of buildings related to the oil seed crushing industry remain.
source: https://www.paul-gibson.com/trade-and-industry/oil-seed-crushing.php
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Parish Baptism record for his son which mentions William
Name: George Blenkin
Gender: Male
Baptism Date: 17 Aug 1788
Baptism Place: Ottringham,York,England
Father: William Blenkin
FHL Film Number: 990841
source: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/55802648:9841?tid=&pid=&queryId=809ccb5fd62f2ad065aa4b9d9ed1f8bb&_phsrc=lVG2&_phstart=successSource
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Marriage record for William and Elizabeth
Name: William Blenkin
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Birth Date: 1752
Marriage Date: 9 Oct 1773
Marriage Place: Church of Aldbrough, York, England
Spouse: Elizabeth Hobson
source: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/24822813:9852?ssrc=pt&tid=159791968&pid=362352032427
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Floor stone memorial in St Wilfreds Church, Ottringham, Yorkshire which mentions William and Elizabeth:
Inscription
"Here [lieth the] remains / of Elizabeth Blenkin / wife of William Blenkin / and daughter of / Christopher and Ann Hobson / of [Ottringham] who departed this life / the 3rd November 1802 / aged [ ] years / 4 line verse eroded / Also the remains of / William Blenkin husband / of Elizabeth Blenkin / who departed this life/ [ ] 1821 / aged [ ] years / 4 lines eroded / Also [ ] daughter of [ ] departed this life Sep [ ] / aged [ ] years."
Gravesite Details
St. Wilfrid's Parish Burial Register: 1802 Nov 5 Elizabeth wife of Mr. William Blenkin, farmer"
source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93130651/bl
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