Commonplace book of Samuel Stonham of Beckley (1787-1866)

Samuel Stonham was baptised at Beckley on 26 July 1787, the son of John Stonham the younger and Sarah, daughter of Peter Dulvey, the tenant farmer of Knellstone in Udimore; John and Sarah were married there in 1776. John Stonham had succeeded his father as tenant of Hayes Farm in Beckley in about 1770, and was still at Hayes when he made his will, which was proved in 1827

In 1851 Samuel Stonham was living at Main Street, Beckley, with his wife, young daughter and two servants; he described himself to the census enumerator as a land proprietor

The attribution of the commonplace book to Samuel Stonham relies on his signatures against three notes of wagers on the outcome of hop-growing in 1861 (f39), a note of the purchase of Knellstone by 'Grandfather Dulvey' (f34v), and a note of the building of a brick wall 'between self and Mr Stephen Pain'; Pain, a brickmaker, was enumerated three doors away from Stonham in 1851. The copy letters on folio 40 from a Southwark hopfactor to 'G Stonham', with an account for hops at the watermill, is clearly to Samuel's son Gilbert Stonham, a miller

Hayes Farm had belonged to Sir Henry Thomas Gott, which perhaps accounts for the transcription of the detailed particulars for the sale of his entire estate in 1810 (f1-25). The text may be contemporary, or may have been transcribed from annotated particulars in the family's possession; some but not all of the purchasers' names are written in the same ink. For a survey and valuation of the same estate by Robert Clarke in May 1810, annotated in pencil with the lot-numbers for the same sale, see AMS3712

Stonham died on 26 Sep 1866 and was buried at Beckley on 3 Oct, aged 79. His will was proved by his widow Mary, son Godfrey Stonham of Beckley, miller and John Collins Henley of Udimore, miller, on 23 Jan 1867. The entry on folio 52v was clearly added after Stonham's death

<p>For a small group of papers of the Stonham and Henley families of Beckley and Udimore, see AMS5822/1-20</p>

Records purchased 7 Apr 1994 (A6290)