William Breakspear was buried in Chipping Norton on 30 Nov 1838. His age is recorded as 91. He was the father of John Breakspear who predeceased him by eight months.
Originally he appears to have been a farmer, but most importantly he acquired and owned the Blue Boar Inn in Chipping Norton from around 1779 up to 1838. It was sold at auction immediately after his death in 1839.
He left a will in 1838 where it states that he was resident in Deddington, some ten miles east of Chipping Norton. This may be that he was living there with his oldest daughter Ann Churchill, widow of Benjamin Churchill of Deddington. The Blue Boar is mentioned as his most important asset and with all his other property is charged to his two trustees, his son in law William Colegrave and his surviving widowed daughter Ann Churchill. It is clear that his daughter Mary Colegrave is also still alive. After the sale of the Pub the two trustees are instructed to pay the remaining assets in three equal parts to Ann Churchill, Mary Colegrave and John Breakspear(deceased), the latter’s share divided equally between his surviving children.
The baptisms of William’s children in Chipping Norton show that his wife was called Elizabeth and the most likely marriage is the one found at Stretton-on-Fosse in Warwickshire (about twelve miles north of Chipping Norton). Here, a William Breakspear of Bledington marries Elizabeth Webb of Stretton-on-Fosse on 9 Sep 1770 (Lord Hardwicke form).
In support of this, there is a baptism on 7 Apr 1749 recorded in Bledington, Gloucestershire of William Breakspear, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Breakspear. This would put his Breakspear line with a series of families in Bledington and Oddington to the west of Chipping Norton on the Gloucestershire border. Many of these families were blacksmiths and farriers.
The will is notable in that it does not mention Jemima Stuchfield, his youngest daughter. The presumption would be that she had already died and without children. The same has to be said of other baptisms recorded in the 1770’s where the children of ‘William and Elizabeth’, did not survive into adulthood.
It is not clear how William acquired the Blue Boar. His family would not appear to have had much wealth. He can first be identified as proprietor in a newspaper in 1779. The most likely explanation is that it is through his wife’s family and that might be the best way to corroborate the Webb marriage as being the correct one. That is a further line for research. Another reason to suppose that the pub came through Elizabeth’s family is the reference to ‘Mrs Breakspear’ being the landlady of the pub (and not her living husband being the landlord); this in a further newspaper reference in 1807.
It is clear Elizabeth must have died some time around 1820.The pub was evidently rented out in these later years, latterly to a Joseph Mallins.
The parish register shows that William was buried in Chipping Norton, aged 91, but gives his place of abode as Deddington.
Sources and Notes
- Will of William Breakspear, Yeoman of Deddington, Probate 6 Feb 1839, Oxford
- Ancestry.com, findmypast.com Oxfordshire Parish Registers and Marriage Banns
- The marriage to Elizabeth Webb works well but there may be others, and one that would put the ancestral line back to the Breakspear families of North Leigh just outside Chipping Norton. Nothing, though, would seem to bring him close to the Breakspear family of Henley who founded the still well known brewery there.
- A public notice in The Oxford Journal of 20 Jun 1779 posts the loss of a gold watch on the coaching route from Woodstock to Chipping Norton. Respondents are requested to contact ‘Mr Breakspear at the Blue Boar in Chipping Norton’
- A marriage notice in The Oxford Journal of 19 Sep 1807 announces the marriage of William Colegrave and Mary Breakspear, the second daughter of ‘Mrs Breakspear, the landlady of the Blue Boar Inn, Chipping Norton’ (sic)
- Auction Particulars for the Blue Boar, Oxford Journal, 16 Feb 1839 (see below)
