11: Alice Bonny of Blackpool (1788-1865) : mother of Alice Dewhurst

John Dewhurst's second wife Alice Bonny was born at her father's farm in Blackpool in 1788 to John Bonny and Jennet Bickerstaffe.  

Their little hamlet lay among the other small settlements in the parish of Bispham (pronounced Bisp'm) on the western edge of the Fylde, the wide, flat plain between the Irish Sea and the Bowland Fells.  She was baptised at All Hallows' church in the nearby village of Bispham on 12 November 1788.

Blackpool & area in 1830
National Library of Scotland

The manors of Blackpool, Bispham, Marton and Layton had been owned by the Fleetwood family since 1550.  Towards the end of that century, the Fleetwoods began creating freeholds in the manors and local farmers bought up the land 

• the surname of Alice's maternal grandmother Jennet Warbrick seems to be a toponymic name, suggesting strongly that her family had lived in the area of Warbreck for generations 

• her paternal grandmother was Jane Bamber – a William Bamber bought land in Layton and Bispham from the Fleetwoods in 1576

• the registers of Bispham are patchy, but they show that there were Bickerstaffes among the yeomen of the parish from the 1590s and Bonnys by the mid-1600s

• by the mid-1600s, a John Bonny was a trustee of the local free school

• John Bonny, yeoman of "Warbreck gin" – ginn meant a road leading to the sea – died in 1660 

• an Edward Bonny was still a yeoman at Warbreck Gin in 1741, 60 years later – which I think is marked on the map of 1830 as Ginn

• on 9 May 1725, William son of John Bonny of the farm called The Hill at Warbreck was baptised (it's marked on the map above) – he was Alice's grandfather

Picture postcard of Foxhall farmhouse
see Tyldesley Family History 

The people of the parish had always been fishermen, labourers and farmers 

• their homes were low cottages made of clam, staff and daub – the Lancashire version of wattle and daub – usually thatched with rushes, with a few more substantial cruck-built houses for the better-off

• The gentry houses – Fox Hall and Layton Hall – had become farmhouses by the time that Alice was born 

• by far the most gentleman-like house of the neighbourhood by then was Raikes Hall, built in 1769 by William Boucher or Butcher.  He was a man of suddenly acquired fortune – according to the Revd William Thornber, the rather unreliable author of a history of Blackpool, the villagers speculated that he had got his riches by finding the treasure of three sisters lost in a shipwreck on one of his many visits to the seashore

This supposition seems perfectly reasonable when one considers this sort of advertisement from the Chester Courant of 27 November 1770, which begins 

Whereas there is great Reason to apprehend, that large Quantities of rich Silks, raw and thrown Silks, Gold and Silver Watches, Silver Plate, plated Goods, Thread and Silk Laces, Woollen Cloths, Jewellery and Haberdashery Wares, and other valuable Effects, have been taken from the Wreck of the Trevor, Wm. Totty, Master, bound for Dublin, and lost in the Storm on the 20th of October last, near Blackpool, in the County of Lancaster, and which are supposed to be concealed ...

and goes on to threaten "the utmost Severity of Law" against anyone concealing the cargo, offers rewards for finders and warns 

All Jewellers, Goldsmiths, Silversmiths, Watchmakers, and particularly Travelling Chapmen to be cautious in purchasing any Part of the said Cargoes as the Shippers are determined to spare no Pains or Expence to bring to Justice all Persons who shall be discovered offending against the Law in this Respect

Smuggling was common along this coast, with cargoes run in from the Isle of Man to be hidden among the sand dunes ready for dispersal inland.

Catholicism had remained strong in this remote part of Lancashire 

• Fox Hall, a small mansion built by the Royalist and Jacobite Tyldesley family, was known for its priest holes 

• Bispham had a large number of recusants but, in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, five Bickerstaffe men and one Rowland Bonney signed the Protestation Oath required by Parliament – "to live and die for the true Protestant religion, the liberties and rights of subjects and the privilege of Parliaments" at Bispham Church in February 1642

To the south of the cottages of Blackpool lay the dark peaty pool that gave the hamlet its name – and which was nearly dry by the time Alice was born – and the flat, sandy common land called Layton Hawes   

• every year, the gentry used to run their horses at a race meeting on the Hawes – gambling, drink & riotous fun – and before Fox Hall, which stood near the Hawes, became a farmhouse, it became an inn.  It was much patronised at the time of the races and, when sea-bathing began, for a while it was the only place to stay

• in the summer months there were lively fairs every other Sunday, with stalls, and plenty of drink, and bare-knuckle boxing matches – behaviour that called for intense disapproval from the clergymen who wrote the later histories

Then the medical fashion for sea-bathing and drinking the sea water began, and by the 1750s it had reached Blackpool.

At that time, a yeoman farmer named John Hebson and his wife Margaret ("Margery") lived at Blackpool

• they had the farm that had been bought by William Bamber in 1576

• as well as farming, they ran a beerhouse and, when visitors began to come for the sea-bathing, they diversified into offering accommodation for the season 

• their place became known as "Old Margery's" – it can be seen on the map below, marked by a black square between the words Old and Margery's

• John Hebson died in 1766 and Margery in 1767 and "Old Margery's" passed under John's Will to his great-niece Jennet Bickerstaffe.  Jennet (also called Jenny) was Alice's mother

• Old Margery's was run for Jennet by her father Robert Bickerstaffe until her marriage to John Bonny

• Robert Bickerstaffe, yeoman of the parish of Bispham and township of Layton, had married Jennet Warbrick, spinster of the same place, on 3 June 1758 at Bispham parish church

• Jennet was baptised a few months later, on 15 October – this time, the register makes it clear that Robert lived at Blackpool

From Yates' map of Lancashire, 1786

In those early days, accommodation in Blackpool was fairly basic.  Visitors of all classes had to stay where they could – packed into cottages, in the little hotel built by Mr Forshaw, in Fox Hall.  But trade was increasing and in 1781 it was worthwhile for some coach operators to lay on a service: 

Manchester Mercury, 19 June 1781

Manchester and Blackpool

COACH,

Sets out from Mr Dixon's, the Lower-Swan, Market-Street-Lane, Manchester, on Monday the 4th of June, 1781, and will continue to run from the same Inn every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at Two o'Clock in the Afternoon, by Way of Bolton, Chorley, Preston, and Kirkham to Blackpool; it arrives at Mr Cooper's, the Black Bull Inn, Preston, the same Evening; joins the Coach or Diligence to Lancaster, Kendal, Shap, Penrith, Carlisle, Dumfries, and most of the principal Places in Scotland, which sets off the Morning following, at five o'Clock.  This Coach sets off at seven o'Clock to Blackpool the same Morning, stays about two Hours, and returns to Preston the same Evening; joins the London and Manchester Coaches, and Liverpool Diligence, which sets off the Morning following, from Mr Cooper's, at six o'Clock.

INSIDE

Fare from Manchester to

Bolton 3s

Chorley 6s

Preston 8s 6d

Kirkham 11s

Blackpool 13s 6d

OUTSIDE

Fare from Manchester to

Bolton 2s

Chorley 4s

Preston 5s 6d

Kirkham 7s

Blackpool 8s 6d

The table of fares shows the difference in price between travelling inside the coach, or the top.  Passengers could be taken up on the way, and there was a luggage allowance:

Short Passengers taken up on the Road at Threepence per Mile.  Each Passenger allowed 14lb Weight of Luggage, all above to pay One Penny per Pound; and so in Proportion to any Part of the Road.

With the quality trade to Blackpool increasing, Lawrence Bailey set up a high-class establishment in a substantial three-storeyed Georgian house built for the purpose – most of Blackpool's trade came from Lancashire, especially Manchester, but here he's advertising in the Leeds press:

Leeds Intelligencer, 26 April 1785

Blackpool, April 25th, 1785

Mr BAILEY,

Takes the Liberty of acquainting the Public, That he has fitted up a commodious and genteel House in an eligible Situation, and that he hopes by his Accommodations and Attention, to merit the Encouragement and Support of such Ladies and Gentlemen as may be pleased to favor him with their Company. 

He ends his advertisement with a prime inducement

On 17 May 1785, Jennet Bickerstaffe married John Bonny, husbandman of Bispham parish.  She was 27 and he was 24.  A few months later, on 13 November, their first child Jenney was baptised.

John Bonny was the son of William Bonny of the Hill and his wife Jane Bamber, and he was baptised at Bispham on 5 April 1761.  

They had 11 children, born between 1785 and 1804:

Jennet Bickerstaffe (1785-1831)

daughter of Robert Bickerstaffe and his wife Jennet Warbrick 

&

John Bonny (1761-1819)

son of William Bonny (1725-1816) & Jane Bamber

|

Jenney (1785)

Nancy (1787)

Alice (1788) who married John Dewhurst of Skipton

William (1791)

Robert (1792)

Betty (1794)

John (1796) who married Ann Dewhurst of Skipton

George (1798)

Edward (1799)

James (1801)

Richard (1804)

Next:  12: John Bonny & the Blackpool holiday trade