Home Parents Grandparents Grandma May's  Family Great Grandparents Lander, Nell & Australia 2x Great Grandparents 3x Great Grandparents 4x Great Grandparents 5x Great Grandparents Census Records St Cuthbert's Church St Wilfrid's Church Pywell's Lock

Pywells in Leicestershire

Underlined text in red is a link to a document

Matthew (or Mathew) Pywell:

• Born 8 March 1814 in Great Glen, Leicestershire
• Died 22 November 1852 in Leicester, Leicestershire.

Date of death (not year) from inside leaf of the family bible

Mary Ann Smith:

• Born c1815 in Leicester
• Died 25 February 1895 in Leicester.

Matthew Pywell was born on 8 March 1814 in Great Glen, to Edward Pywell (a grazier and farmer) and Ann Hodgkin. He was baptised on the 18 March of the same year at the parish church, St Cuthbert’s

Matthew Pywell married Mary Ann Smith on 8 August 1837, this date I have also found in the family bible.

At the census of 1841 Matthew’s occupation was baker, and he and Mary Ann were living in Frog Island, Leicester with their children Ann age 2 and Elizabeth age 7 months. There was also Joseph Pywell who, at 12 years old, was clearly not one of their children, and Jane Smith age 20, quite possibly Mary Ann’s sister.

By the census of 1851 the family had moved to Burgess Street, with the addition of Martha age 7 and 1 year old Edward (my great grandfather). There were also two servants registered at the address.

Matthew died soon after in 1852, but Mary Ann lived to be 79.  Her daughters Ann and Martha were still living with her in 1881, indeed Ann still lived with her in 1891 at the age of 48, and remained unmarried throughout her life. Martha I believe died in 1886.

Matthew’s older brother Joseph who was born in 1802 was also a baker - and flour seller - at least during the 1840s, and in 1846 he was recorded as the Miller at the nearby Castle Mills in Leicester.  Having already been married to Martha Hair, in August 1848 widower Joseph married Mary Hair in All Saints Derbyshire.  This would seem to fit with the sale of the Castle Mill in 1849. In the marriage register both of their fathers were shown as farmers, although Edward Pywell had died some ten years earlier.  

The occupation of baker clearly ran in the family, because Matthew’s younger brother Edmund was also a baker for a while before he moved during the 1850s to Warwickshire, where he was first a farmer and then a Licensed Victualler.  They can all be found in the Leicester Directory for 1846.

Children:

Originally I was aware of only the four children that are commonly shown in many other family trees, but having re-discovered the family bible there are two more named - John and Jane.  Neither lived long enough to appear on a census which would partly explain why they had mostly been missed.

The complete list I believe is as follows:

• Ann Pywell: Born 1838 in Leicester (there is an entry in the family bible - the date isn’t clear but it was almost certainly December). She was baptised 3 February 1839 at St Leonard’s in Leicester. She died (I believe) in 1931.
• Elizabeth Pywell: Born 1840 in Leicester (again the date in the bible is unclear, but the month was November). She too was baptised at St Leonard’s, on 1 September 1841. Her date of death is so far unknown.
• Martha Sarah Pywell: Born 10 June 1843 in Leicester, died c1886.
• John Pywell: Born September 1845, died 1849 being buried at St Margaret’s church 22 April 1849.
• Jane Pywell: Born 30 December 1848, died 1849 and was buried at St Margaret’s church 7 January 1849
• Edward Pywell: Born February 1850 in Leicester (date 2 or 22 -  source family bible). Died 1936 (my Great Grandfather)

Matthew’s Parents

• Edward Pywell: Born c1776 in Great Glen. Died 31 May 1838 age 62 in Great Glen, Leicestershire (date of death also verified with family bible)
• Ann Hodgkin: Born c1778 in Tur Langton. Died 22 Mar 1841 in Great Glen, Leicestershire

Mary’s Parents

• Father: John Smith?
• Mother: Unknown

Great Great Grandparents

Great Great Grandparents - Marston & Deacon

Joseph Marston Born 24 November 1842 Nuneaton. Died 12 April 1924 Leicester.

Charlotte Nixon Born 15 April 1845 Bethnal Green Died 31 August 1921 Leicester.

They were married in Nuneaton in the second quarter of 1864

Children:

• James William Marston: Born 1864 Died 1942 (my Great Grandfather)

• Mary Ann Marston: Born 1869 Died 1941 Leicester
• George F Marston: Born 1871 Died 1923 Leicester
• Edward Marston Born 1873 Died 1874
• Charles Edward Marston Born 1875 Died 1878
• Frances Ellen Marston: Born c1880 Leicester

• Hannah Marston: Born 1883 Died c1946 Leicester
• Joseph R Marston Born 1890 Leicester

However, the 1911 Census shows that Joseph and Charlotte had been married for 49 years, and had 12 children born alive, 7 died and 5 living.

That leaves four children unaccounted for.

George Deacon  Born c1833 Fleckney. Died 7 May 1901 Leicester.

Elizabeth Ward Born c1831 Twyford. Died 4 January 1899 Leicester.     

• Key Child: Mary Jane Deacon Born c1872 - my Great Grandmother

Great Great Grandparents - Cowell & Hubbard

Thomas Cowell Born 1819 in Leicester. Died 17 Jan 1879 age 59.

Baptised 2 February 1819 St Mary de Castro Leicester

Eliza Hubbard Born c1826 in Leicester. Died 15 June 1912 age 86.

They were married 19 July 1841 St Mary de Castro Leicester

Children:

• Luke Fisher Cowell Born c1846
• Salome Cowell Born c1847
• Eleanor Cowell Born c1849
• Thomas Cowell Born c1851 Died c1890
• Eliza Cowell Born c1852 Died 1922 (my Great Grandmother)
• Mary Ann Cowell Born c1853
• Harry Cowell Born 1855 Died 1857
• George William Cowell Born c1858 Died c1890
• Frederick Cowell Born c1859
• Emma Jane Cowell Born c1860
• John Arthur Cowell Born 18 June 1862 Died 1950
• Ada Eliza Cowell Born c1865
• Walter E Cowell Born 1866 Died 1868
• Clara Cowell Born 1867 Died 1868
• Ernest Albert Cowell Born c 1869 Died 1869

All of the children were born in Leicester

Great Great Grandparents - Coleman & Hillman

Thomas Coleman Born c1843 Newton Abbott, Devon

Mary Unknown Born c1841 Ipplepen, Devon

• Key Child: William Henry Coleman Born c1870 -  my Great Grandfather

John Hillman Born c1821 Launceston, Cornwall . Died 22 June 1889 Cornwall

Mary Ann Scown Born 15 August 1824 Launceston, Cornwall.  Died 27 December 1878 Launceston.

• Key Child: Jessie Hillman Born 1867 - my Great Grandmother

Great Great Grandparents - Myring & Casey

John Myring Born c1841 Leicester. Died 7 October 1914 Leicester.

Harriet Spencer Born 24 August 1842 Leicester. Died 1907 Leicester

• Key Child: John Myring Born 1871 - my Great Grandfather

Unknown Casey

Unknown

• Key Child: Ellen Casey Born 1870 - my Great Grandmother

Thomas and Eliza Cowell(Hubbard)Gravestone Welford Road Cemetery Leicester

Between Matthew’s birth and his move from Great Glen to work as a baker in Leicester, the population of the town had roughly doubled to around 51,000 (census of 1841)  

Frog Island where he lived in 1841 lies to the north of central Leicester, and to the south of the River Soar and Leicester Abbey (between North Gate and Wood Gate). The site was not an island before the late-eighteenth century, but was created as such upon the completion of the improved Soar Navigation between Loughborough and Leicester in 1794.  The Navigation involved constructing a new section of canal to by-pass a meander in the River Soar.  The area enclosed by the River Soar and the canal is Frog Island.

A map of the town dated 1828  gives an idea of the size of Leicester at Matthew’s time.