Bartholomew Collingwood was baptized in St Mary the Virgin, Bampton, Oxfordshire on 10 Sep 1643. His father was Thomas Collingwood a yeoman farmer. Bartholomew became a glover and breeches maker, which was a significant trade in Bampton, based on the by-products of the wool trade and the blanket making in neighbouring Witney. Bartholomew left a will dated 1 Dec 1713. Like his father he was a literate man.
Gaps in the Bampton parish register mean that we do not know the name of Bartholomew’s wife. His will indicates that she was called Anne. Given other local wills, the best idea is that she is Anne Pauling or a relation to the Pauling family. They must have got married about 1667 and they had nine surviving children. Tobias Pauling of Bampton in his will of 7 Jan 1694 appoints Bartholomew Collingwood as trustee and overseer to his will alongside his brother John Pauling.
Two of Bartholomew’s daughters, Elizabeth Payne and Jane Eversuch (bap 16 Feb 1676), ended up living in Thame, the other side of Oxford. The rest of his children, it would seem, married and lived in Bampton.
It is not clear how Bartholomew became a glover or where or whether he served his apprenticeship. He was nonetheless a practising Master Glover in Bampton by about 1680. One of his apprentices was William Payne, himself probably from Thame. He probably served a seven year apprenticeship in Bartholomew’s workshops from 1686 to 1692 and subsequently married Bartholomew’s second oldest daughter Elizabeth on 4 Apr 1692. William Payne, his son-in-law, is explicitly mentioned in his will.
Anne Collingwood was his eldest child baptized 23 Jan 1668 in Bampton. We know from Bartholomew’s will that she married and became Anne Eivens. The implication is that she is already a widow by 1713 as there is no mention of her husband.
Thomas (bap 5 Feb 1670) was his eldest son and has a probable marriage to Jean Ossbussone in Bampton on 20 Apr 1693. Although still alive in 1713 he may have left Bampton. He like most of his siblings is simply left ten shillings in his father’s will together with his father’s working apparel.
Bartholomew’s second eldest son Bartholomew (bap 24 Dec 1673) seems to have died shortly before his father, buried in Bampton on 20 Dec 1713 just three weeks after his father had written his will. He was due to inherit the lease of Bartholomew’s house, probably in Bridge Street, Bampton, after the death of the widow, Anne. In the admon papers for Bartholomew (jnr) dated 18 Feb 1713/14 he is described as a glover from Lew and his wife (relict) is Hannah. Bartholomew (jnr) was to inherit “the copper furnace and ironwork all in my kitchen chimney”. This seems more significant an inheritance than the oldest son.
John Collingwood (bap 29 Jul 1675), the third son. married Priscilla Mace 6 Oct 1700. His will papers of 1721 show that he was in the glove related trade of fell mongerer. His wife Priscilla survived him.
William Collingwood (bap 4 Sep 1678) inherits ten shillings.
Mary Collingwood (bap 8 Jun 1680), the fourth and youngest daughter married Andrew Kendall on 2 Apr 1706. She died and was buried on 30 Sep 1710, aged 31. It would appear that Andrew Kendall, a legatee in Bartholomew’s will, died in 1730, leaving a relict Jane, presumably his second wife.
Benjamin (bap 20 Oct 1683) the youngest son was a tawer, someone who worked in white leather. Benjamin Collingwood married Eleanor Wright in Bampton on 14 Jan 1706. In his will of 1749, it gives this profession and the name of his wife as Eleanor. Elsewhere Benjamin is described as Leather dresser and tanner. Bartholomew singles Benjamin out to inherit all his “working tools, tubs and vats”
Bartholomew, senior, himself is recorded as being buried on 12 Apr 1714. His widow Ann probably is the Anne Collingwood buried on 30 Oct 1719.
Bartholomew Collingwood in his will names two trusted friends in Bampton. They are John Nabbs (will 1718) and William Lissett (will 1719)
Selected Sources:
- Parish Registers of St Mary the Virgin, Bampton, OFHS transcription
- Oxfordshire Wills, Findmypast
- BHO: British History on Line, Bampton and Weald from a History of the County of Oxford Vol 13,Part 1: London 1996