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Chapter Three
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William Lea & Elizabeth Pinkney
William Lea b. 1808 d.1891
m. 15 March 1832
Elizabeth Pinkney b. 1808
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Ann William Eliza John Julie Henry
William was born in the beautiful unspoilt Cotswold village of Ashton Keynes, being
baptized on the 17th of November 1808. Like his father John there is little of a personal
nature we can find out about him. He worked as did most young men at that time as an
agricultural labourer, probably with his father, until he met a young lady from the village of
Brokenborough, called Elizabeth Pinkney.
They were both twenty four years old when they decided to get married and as was customary,
William moved to his future wife's parish for the wedding.
The parish church for Brokenborough is in Malmesbury, two miles distance, and was called St.
Mary’s of Westport. St. Mary's has a history going back hundreds of years and in fact in
1709 when the church was built by "Aldelm" abbot of Malmesbury and of royal decent he was reputed
to have performed a miracle. It seems that whilst the church building was in progress one
of the beams for the roof was found to be too short, after prayers and manipulation by Aldelm it
was tried in place again and found to fit perfectly (Ref: The History of the Abbey and Town of
Malmesbury by Richard H. Luce).
William and Elizabeth were married at St. Mary's church on the 15th March 1832 after the calling
of banns and from then on spent their lives living, working and bringing up their family in a cottage
called "The Cottage" at Backbridge.
Backbridge is at one end of Brokenborough village, and what a wonderful surprise to find that
the cottage has survived the last one hundred and sixty years at least, if not much longer.
Much activity must have taken place there concerning the Lea family over many years as William
and Elizabeth were still living there in 1871 with the last of their children Julia, who was then
twenty and Henry, fifteen years of age. Altogether they had six children, Anne, William,
Eliza, John, Julia and Henry. It is possible for anyone with patience and time to follow
the lives of all these children through the census information, as the information contained in
them was fairly comprehensive by the time they had grown up. For instance, records show
that Anne worked at Beakley Farm as a house servant at eighteen years old for a farmer, Robert Loyed.
William, her brother, at fourteen was working as a farm servant at Bishops Farm in Hankerton,
Wiltshire. But our main concern of course is that of her brother John, born on the 3rd of
December 1843, for he is next in line for our family tree.
"The Cottage" Backbridge, near Brokenborough, Wiltshire.
Home of my great great grandfather William Lea and my great great grandmother Elizabeth (nee
Pinkney). Also birthplace of my great grandfather John Lea. Photograph 1990
Backbridge, still unspoilt countryside looking exactly as it did in 1830.
William and Elizabeth's wedding certificate.
Photograph taken by amateur photographer Raymond Ealy, a friend
of the family. Photograph 1990.
Julia & Bessie Lea
This most beautiful photograph is of Julia Lea and daughter Bessie Lea. Julia was the
youngest daughter of William and Elizabeth Lea. She was born at "The Cottage" at Backbridge
in 1850. She later lived in a cottage opposite the "Rose and Crown". Only the
well and footings of the cottage are visible today, the cottage having been pulled down some forty
years ago. Photograph taken approx 1900.
Bessie Lea and husband James Clark of Malmesbury.
Aubrey Clark and Nellie, his wife
Aubrey was the son of Bessie and James, great grandson of William and Elizabeth
St. Mary's Church, Westport of Malmesbury, 1990
Scene of William and Elizabeth's wedding in 1832, and later
of their son John's marriage to Sarah Hannah Gladwin, 1864.
St. Mary's once boasted a huge spire, pulled down because of
its unsafe condition due to the constant battering it incurred
during civil conflicts in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. Time has taken its toll on the building and
it is now only used as a church hall, but at least it is still
standing, even if it is only a shadow of its former self.
~~oo0oo~~
Additional material in the folder, not showing on this page due to copyright regulations:
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Birth certificate (of her son) showing Elizabeth's mark, dated 1884
Photographs of Fields around Backbridge
Titles Preface Chapters: 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
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This page was last updated on 10th April 2007.