18th Century

Thomas Styles was probably born in the small Worcestershire village of Kington in 1739. Importantly his will of 1811 identifies his surviving children. These include Sarah Evans, wife of Richard Evans, to whom he left £1000 and who was in fact to die in the year following her father. Thomas Styles was a wealthy inn holder and his family formed a very natural alliance with the Evans’s of the Red Lion in Wolverhampton. The picture below shows the “Crown Inn” in Stone Staffordshire that he appears to have acquired later in his life. It is more than likely, in fact, that he had it built as the image would appear to be advertising a new inn and its strategic position as an interchange of coach routes between Chester, Liverpool, London, Bath and Bristol Continue reading →

Thomas Shaw was baptised on 1 Oct 1732, the son of Thomas Shaw of Sinder Hill, Sedgley. His father is incorrectly given in some nineteenth century publications of Staffordshire families as James Shaw (1710-1776) of Dudley, an attorney by training. This was in fact his father-in-law as in about 1756 Thomas Shaw married Mary Shaw, James Shaw’s eldest daughter.  Continue reading →

Mary Evans was born Mary Owen, probably in about 1743 and must have come from a wealthy family, receiving a good education. She was a key figure in establishing the Evans family in the coaching business in Wolverhampton. Because a Daniel Banton was guardian to her children and executor of her husband’s will, it has long been speculated that her maiden name was Banton. Continue reading →