The Carr and Kent Families of Cheshire
Previous research had shown Michael Gregory to be descended from a Cheshire family of landed gentry. One of these ancestors,
John Glegg (b.1712) had married Mary Carr, whose father was unknown at this time. John’s father was Edward Glegg (b. ca
1681) who married Elizabeth Kent, daughter of John Kent of Tranmore [Tranmere]. Further research was conducted in 2009 to
see if these lines could be traced further back in time. As will be seen below, this proved largely unsuccessful.
Ormerod’s History of Cheshire (vol. 2, p. 492) showing the descent of the Glegg family of Grange simply records that the mother
of William Glegg, Michael Gregory’s ancestor, as “Mary, dau ….. Carr of Liverpool ob. Feb 28, 1758, aet 39). It is known that
she married John Glegg (1712-1749).
Who was Mary Carr? What was her ancestral line? Did she come from a landed family. This might be expected as she married
into the Gleggs of Grange.
It is known that John Glegg did not leave a will which was proved following his death in 1749. Only an administration was
granted on his estate by the Consistory Court of Chester, dated 1749. Similarly, it is now known that when Mary died in 1758,
she too left no surviving will. Rather an administration was granted in 1759 by the same ecclesiastical court for Mary “of
Grange”.
No marriage can be located for John Glegg and Mary Carr in the International Genealogical Index or the British Vital Records
Index. Such a union may have provided a clue to the home parish of the bride. No candidate for the baptism of Mary Carr can be
found in Lancashire from 1713 to 1723, especially in Liverpool, in the IGI. The BVRI does include a baptism of Mary Carr,
daughter of Robert and Anne at Downham. This took place on 3 rd October 1723. This parish is on the far eastern border of
Lancashire next to Yorkshire and many miles from Liverpool. Surprisingly, no baptisms can be found for the five recorded
children of John and Mary Glegg in the mid 18th century in either index.
The National Burial Index includes the burial of John Glegg on 26th April 1749 at St Bridget, West Kirby. This parish is in the
north-west corner of Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula. The burial records of all Glegg(e) in West Kirby have been extracted. One
Mary Glegg was buried there on 4th November 1749. However, this does not agree with the date shown in Ormerod’s Cheshire or
the date of her administration which both give the year as 1758/9.
The search for the elusive marriage was extended to other indexes. There is no union recorded for John and Mary Glegg(e) in
Boyd’s Marriage Index, the allegations issued by the Faculty Office or the Vicar General of in the licences issued by the courts of
York and now held at the Borthwick Institute there. No success was achieved either using the Cheshire Marriage Index compiled
by Bertram Merrill.
There are monumental inscriptions for West Kirby. These were transcribed and published and can be viewed at the Society of
Genealogists (CH/MI/73125). No Glegg(e) inscriptions are included.
Were there any published account for the Carr family of Liverpool which would record the parentage and ancestry of Mary Carr?
Using Marshall and Whitmore, the genealogical guides, many references to printed material on families of Carr were listed.
Some were examined to see if the articles were relevant.
Harleian Society volumes 16, 21, 37 & 38, include Carr pedigrees which are not relevant to this family. The references in the
Genealogist, volumes 1, 3 & 4, New Series, volumes 6 and 8 were examined without success. New Series, volume 8 was missing.
No relevant information was found in Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 4th Series, vol. 5, p. 164.
There is a volume of the Victoria County History of Lancashire (vol. 4) which includes Liverpool. This is indexed by surname.
None of the Carr references relate to Liverpool itself.
Was there any probate material relevant to this problem?
The index to wills and administrations of the Consistory Court of Chester can be searched online. From 1718 to 1770, there were:
John Carr
Richard Carr
John Carr
Tattenhall
Chester
Broxton
yeoman
flaxdresser
yeoman
1722
1734
1736
will & inv
adm
will
None was of apparent interest at present.
For Lancashire wills, now available in the archives at Preston, there are published indexes to wills and administrations. From
1718 to 1780, there were references to those of Liverpool as:
1
Diana Carr
Margaret Carr
William Carr
James Carr
William Carr
John Carr
Lawrence Carr
Robert Carr
William Carr otherwise Creamer
William Carr
spinster
mariner
mariner
merchant
mariner
merchant
mariner
mariner
mariner
1724
1738
1739
1742
1754
1760
1762
1762
1763
1773
adm
adm
adm
adm
From this listing of those from Liverpool, the documents for the two merchants were selected and their wills were copied.
William Carr of Liverpool made his will on 29th January l749. He had a wife named Mary as well as sons called Lawrence and
William and daughters named Margaret and Alice. He also left bequests to the three children of his late sister Fryer. William had
property at Huckings Hey, a brewery and shop. His appointed executors were William Pole and Ralph Mercer as well as Mary,
Lawrence and William Carr. He added a codicil on 5th May 1752 and the will was proved by Mary and Lawrence Carr on 3 rd
August 1754. Power was reserved to the other three executors.
Lawrence Carr made his own will on 16th September 1762. He referred to the will of his father, William. Presumably, this was
the will proved in 1754. He had a brother named William and sisters who were not individually named. There were also
references to his brothers-in-law, William Gregson and Thomas Wilson, and Spencer Steers, merchant of Liverpool. The
executors appointed were his two brothers-in-law, Spencer Steers and his own wife, who was not specifically named. He also had
four children, all under 21 in 1762. They were William, the oldest(?), Catherine, Anne and Robert. The will was proved on 12 th
November 1762 by Alice Carr and his three named executors.
In neither will was any mention made of Mary Carr later Glegg.
The superior ecclesiastical court to the Consistory Court of Chester was the Prerogative Court of York. For that court, there is an
index to both wills and administrations online through British Origins for the period of 1731 to 1858. This index included 222
references to probate documents for those called Carr from 1731 to 1800. None were for inhabitants of the county of Cheshire.
Only one lived in Lancashire in that period. This was James Carr of Preston whose will was proved in March 1795.
As Mary was stated by Ormerod to be the daughter of a Mr Carr of Liverpool, attention now turned to the parish registers of the
ancient churches of that City. These were St Nicholas, St Peter and St George.
The last parish, that of St George, has its marriage records included in Boyd’s Marriage Index. These had already been searched
without success. There are no other records for that church available in London archives.
For the parish of St Peter, there are marriages and baptisms in the London LDS library taken from the bishop’s transcripts (mf
1068921, items 2-11). The marriages for 1737 to 1742 were searched without finding the union of John Glegg(e) and Mary. The
baptisms from 1717 to 1720 include:
Bap 10 Apr 1717 born ? 25 Margt dau of Will Carr
Bap 13 Jan(?) 1720
Lawrance d (sic) of Willm Carr
Dale St
Poole Lain
labr
For St Nicholas, there are microfilm copies of the baptisms and marriages in the LDS library. For marriages, there are entries for
1663 to 1766 (mf 0093834). This in indexed by name and includes four Carr brides, being Alice, Catherine, Esther and Margaret.
There was however one Glegg male. This was John described as “Esquire”. The entry was examined and copied. It proved to be
the elusive marriage of Michael Gregory’s ancestors.
On 14th February 1740/1, “John Glegg of Grange in the County of Chester Esqr and Mary Card of this Town sp” married. The
bride was indexed, as the entry clearly reads, as Card.
The baptisms were now searched from 1717 to 1720 (mf 0093832) finding:
Born 27 Aug 1718, baptised 18 Sep 1718 Alice dau of William Carr Poollane
merchant
This child and the two christened at St Peter’s were the offspring of the merchant of Liverpool whose will had been copied. Mary
Carr or Card was not baptised in the same church where she was to marry in 1741. However, she may have been related to the
other family of Carr which was recorded there in the early 18th century.
Neither the IGI nor the BVRI contains any baptism for a Mary Card in the counties of Lancashire or Cheshire between the years
1708 and 1728.
Attention now turned to the Kent family.
2
The Glegg line of Michael Gregory’s ancestry had been extended using original and manuscript sources back to the 16th century.
This was mainly achieved using Ormerod’s History of Cheshire which, on page 492, records the Glegg family of Grange which
extends from John Glegg of Gayton down to William Glegg and his wife, Frances Jennings, who were Michael Gregory’s
ancestors. The grandparents to William Glegg were recorded as Edward Glegg (born c. 1681 to 1714) and “Elizabeth dau and
heiress to John Kent of Tranmore”. They are stated to have married by licence dated 28th July 1696. Edward Glegg was buried at
West Kirby. No other information was recorded about the Kent family. Was it possible to extend this line of ancestry?
The first approach was to look for other printed material on the Kent lineage which may be available at the library of the Society
of Genealogists in London. Using the genealogical guides produced by Marshall in 1903, Whitmore in 1953 and Barrow in 1977,
access can be achieved to significant pedigrees and other genealogical material, such as listings from major sources or
information recorded on heraldic monuments, which have been reproduced in the genealogical periodicals of the 18 th to 20th
century as well as the heralds’ visitations and other antiquarian accounts.
From the listings for Kent, a number of citations were examined to see if they shed light on the family of Tranmere, the modern
spelling of the place name in Cheshire.
Cheshire Visitation Pedigrees of 1663 (Harleian Society, vol. 93, p.58) depicts a family of Kent of Congleton. This did not
include the Tranmere family. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica 5 th Series, vol. 7, p. 177, shows the Kent family of Lincoln,
whilst The Genealogist, vol. 2, p. 185, records the Kents of London. References to Kent pedigrees in Harleain Society volumes
17, 19, 22, 40 and 105 are not for families of Cheshire.
Ormerod’s History of Cheshire, vol. 2, p. 445, includes some information on a Kent family. However, this dates from a period far
too late to be of interest in this investigation. It shows that Randle Kent of Knutsford married Catherine Green, who died in 1777.
The had children named Richard of Liverpool, who died in 1790, married to Elizabeth Robinson, and Thomas, who was married
to Elizabeth Bagg.
Both the Special Collections index and the content of the Documents Collection at the Society of Genealogists were examined.
Neither included material which was relevant to the Kent family of Cheshire, especially Tranmere.
To date, the volume of the Victoria County History for the area of Cheshire of the Wirral, where West Kirby and Tranmere are
situated, has yet to be produced. This is often an excellent source of information about the ancient and established families of a
particular parish.
Was there any extant probate material which would shed light on the ancestry of Elizabeth Kent?
The highest ecclesiastical court of England and Wales was the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. The index to the wills proved by
that court include two men called John Kent of Cheshire from 1650 to 1750. Was either the father of Elizabeth, to whom she was
described as an heiress? Such a term may reflect that she inherited his property but more likely indicated that he was an armiger,
having a coat of arms, which in the absence of his male issue, could descend and be used by his grandsons through Elizabeth.
Both PCC wills were examined to see if Elizabeth was named.
The will of John Kent of Northwich was proved on 13th April 1732 (PROB11/651). He had a wife named Mary, who was made
his executrix. He also made bequests to his children, Edward, Mary Park, Annabella, Elizabeth and Richard. There was also a
legacy to his grandson, John Kent. This testator is rather too late to be of relevance. The relevant Elizabeth Kent would have
been born about 1680 and was, by 1732, the widow of Edward Clegg.
John Kent, yeoman of Elton, made his will on 11th December 1658. It was proved by his wife, Jane, and his oldest son, John, on
8th March 1659 (PROB11/288). He referred to an indenture dated 13th March 1633 to raise £200 for his younger children. He
specified that his four children, John, Samuel, Nathaniel and Jane were to receive £180 from it. He also made bequests of his
ploughing machinery to his oldest son, John, and 100 marks each to his sons, Samuel and Nathaniel, and his daughter, Jane. The
residue went to his wife. He held a reversion of a close named The Lambested of Richard Shawe which went to his wife. He
requested that his three youngest children should have a chamber in his house whilst they remain unmarried.
This will does not appear to provide any additional information on Michael Gregory’s family unless the son John was the father
or grandfather of Elizabeth who married Edward Glegg.
For the Consistory Court of Chester, the index to wills and administrations is available online. A listing of all Kent references has
been extracted. From 1670 to 1750, there were two references of great interest. These were for John Kent of Tranmere in 1685
and 1687. On examination of the information about the documents concerned, that of 1685 was a will and inventory whilst that of
1687 was only an inventory. The former was copied as it may contain important genealogical clues.
John Kent of Tranmere made his will on 27th December …… (the right hand edge of this document is missing). He was a
gentleman of Tranmore. He named his three relatives as his wife, Elizabeth; his son, John, and his unmarried daughter, Susanna.
His wife was to act as his executrix. The will, which was witnessed by Alice and John Dunn and Thos Leadbeater, was proved on
8th April 1685 by his widow. An inventory of all his possessions was appended.
3
Could this man, who lived at Tranmore, have been the grandfather of Elizabeth Glegg? He certainly did not name a daughter as
Elizabeth in his will which may prelude him as her father. Was she the daughter of John Kent junior, who was named in this
document? It is not known when the will was written as that important date is missing through damage. By the date of the
probate, Elizabeth would have been a young girl. She was to marry eleven years later.
Superior to the Consistory Court of Chester was the Prerogative of York. The available index to the wills and administrations of
that court covers the period only from 1731 to 1858. It is on the British Origins website. In the years of 1731 to 1760, there were
17 references to those with the surname of Kent. None were for inhabitants of Cheshire. Indeed, in the whole period from 1731 to
1858 none of those called Kent, whose probate documents were recorded by this court, lived in that county.
For the earlier period of 1688 to 1730, there is no index available outside the Borthwick Institute in York, where these records are
housed. Instead, it is necessary to use the original calendars. These can be searched on microfilm at the LDS library in London.
Searching from 1688 to 1731 (there being gaps in the calendars 1691-1697 and 1700-1704 and some years being partly illegible),
there were nine references to those names Kent. The only testator named John Kent lived at Kirston and his will was proved in
1710/1. None lived in the area of Cheshire around Tranmere.
The printed abstract for the marriage licence issued to Edward Glegge and Elizabeth Kent was copied from the volume of Chester
Marriage Licences. It shows that the licence was issued on 28th July 1696. Both were then living at “Tranemoore” and were
single. They stated that they would marry at Bebington. An attempt was made to order a copy of the bond and/or allegation
relating to this licence from Cheshire Archives. Unfortunately, they were unable to find any documents relating to the marriage
and suggested that neither the bond nor allegation appear to have survived.
Attention now switched to the parish registers of Bebington, which included Tranmore. There is a modern copy of the parish
registers which is available for research in the library of the Society of Genealogists (CH/R5). It includes baptisms, marriages and
burials 1558 to 1701. This was searched for any reference to the surname of Kent using its index. Surprisingly, very few
references to the surname are included. These are:
Buried
Buried
Baptised
Buried
Elizabetha filia Johannis Kent Gener de Tranmore Feb 10 1681/2
Johannes Kent gener Beb Feb 1 1684/5
Elizabetha filia Johannis Kent Gener June 22 1686
Johnannes Kent de Tranmore gener Nov 21 1686
No marriage of Edward Glegg(e) and Elizabeth Kent took place at Bebington, as was suggested would be the venue when they
applied for permission to marry by licence in July 1686. Why did they not marry there? Where had they married instead if indeed
they went through a formal ceremony in church?
Two men called John Kent, both described as gentlemen, were buried there in 1685 and 1686. The former must have been the
man whose will was copied. The other man may have been the person whose inventory survives from 1687.
The page with the baptismal entry for Elizabeth Kent has been copied. This has been annotated in the modern transcription with a
footnote stating that the Kents of Tranmere held lands there for several generations and that Elizabeth carried her father’s
property with her to her marriage with Edward Glegg of Grange. This is rather strange but appears to confirm what was also
recorded by Ormerod. It is a great pity that the source of this intriguing annotation was not included. How did the editor of the
transcription know that detail? Furthermore, if this was the baptism of the future wife of Edward Glegg, it took place only ten
years before the date of the marriage licence! Was this baptism for a young girl rather than a baby? If so, it may be expected that
her age would be recorded at her christening. Did her parents have another child named Elizabeth who died and was buried in
1681/2? No other children named Kent are included in the parish records of Bebington and none were baptised in the church.
Where were they christened? Could the family have been nonconformist and used a chapel of another denomination for their
other ceremonies?
The following page of this baptism register transcript (110) contains an interesting entry relating to the Glegg family and this has
also been copied.
The transcription of the Bebington registers also includes a reference to:
July 13 1691 John Kent licensed to practise the Arts of a Surgery and Medicine throughout the whole Diocese of Chester on
Testimonial from Allan Penington and Robert Oldfield, Doctors of Medicine.
Who was that John Kent? Clearly he could not be either of the men who were buried at Bebington in 1685 and 1686. Was this
doctor, who was licensed by the ecclesiastical court, the father of the future Elizabeth Glegg?
The Cheshire Marriage Index, compiled by Bertram Merrill, was searched for the union of any John Kent which took place in the
17th century finding:
1660
1661/2 Jan 31
1699 April 1
John Kent & Sarah Brown
John Kent & Ann Leversage
John Kent & Alice Jennings
Barthomley
Prestbury
Wistaston
banns
banns
licence
4
Could any of these marriages be relevant to this research?
Google Books was searched for any reference to this family. It indicated that Burke’s Landed Gentry, vol. 2, p. 1005, included a
reference to the marriage of Edward Par to Susannah, sister of John Kent Gent of Tranmere about 1685 and had issue. The
relevant section has been copied. It relates to the Parr family of Liverpool, formerly of Rainford. As can be seen, they are shown
to have produced five sons and a daughter, namely John, Edward, Samuel, Jonas, Kent and Elizabeth. No additional information
on the mother’s family is included.
The International Genealogical Index shows no baptism for Susanna Kent in Cheshire from 1650 to 1690. There is a baptism for
John Kent, son of John Kent and Elizabeth Barker at Warmingham on 27th November 1665, submitted by a member of the
Mormon church, and a baptism of John, son of Jno Kent, on 16th May 1684 at Wybunbury. Another submitted entry also suggests
that John Kent married Elizabeth Barker at Warmingham on 20th December 1664.
No useful baptisms or marriages are included in the British Vital Records Index.
A modern transcription of the parish registers of Wybunbury, a parish which lies in the south-east corner of Cheshire, many miles
from Bebington, have been filmed by the LDS church. They are available for research in their London library (mf 0215615 item
6). They were searched for baptisms, marriages and burials from 1653/4 to May 1655. There is then a gap to 1666 from which the
search was extended to Lady Day 1700 finding:
Buried
Baptism
Buried
Baptism
Baptism
Baptism
Baptism
Buried
Baptism
Baptism
Baptism
Baptism
Buried
Baptism
Baptism
Baptism
Buried
Buried
Buried
Buried
Buried
Married
Buried
8 Oct 1654
Jane d/o Raudle Kent
31 Mar 1668
Thos s/o Wm Kent
19 Dec 1669
Mary wife of Wm Kent
4 Apr 1676
Margery d/o Will Kent
4 Jun 1678
Alice d/o Wm Kent junr
21 Jun 1680
Will s/o Will Kent junr
4 Aug 1680
Ellen d/o Wm Keat
4 Apr 1682
Ellen Kent (spin)
13 Feb 1682/3
Abigaill d/o Wm Kent Senr
21 Sep 1683
Sarah d/o Wm Kent Junr
19 May 1684
Jno s/o Jno Kent
2 Apr 1686
Robt s/oWm Kent Senr
29 Oct 1686
Wm Kent Senr
17 Nov 1686
Jno s/o Wm Kent
21 May 1689
Martha d/o Jno Kent
17 Mar 1689/90 Jas s/o Wm Kent
12 Jun 1691
Robt Kent
23 Dec 1691 Wm Kent
14 Sep 1692
Jas s/o Ann Kent wid
29 Sep 1692
Ann Keat spin
22 Jul 1693
Sarah d/o Ann Kent wid
25 Apr 1698
Jno Walleg & Alice Keat
5 Oct 1699
Elizth Kent
Hough
Shaw
by banns
Chorl
As can be seen, the surname of Kent was frequently recorded at Wybunbury in the late 17 th century. Two boys called John Kent
were baptised there in 1684 and 1686. One was the son of John and the other the child of William. The christening of the John,
son of John, in 1684 was copied from a film of the original parish registers (mf 2068758). As can be seen, the date was clearly
19th May 1684 and the surname was recorded as Kentt. He had a sister named as Martha in 1689. We have no knowledge if this
family was related to the Kents of Tranmere.
The National Burial Index was searched for all Kent in Cheshire before 1750. The list is included herewith. The surname is
frequently found in that period in Barthomley where many people with the surname were buried in the 16 th and 17th centuries. As
was known, the surname only appears at Bebington on three occasions.
Any surviving documents relating to the Kent family of Tranmere would probably be deposited at the Chester Record Office. The
Access to Archives website allows access to any surname indexes in local record offices which have been made available online.
The references to John Kent in Cheshire are:
Mary Barker of Sandiway (Weaverham?) will 20 Jan 1683/4 includes bequests to Mary Kent, d/o John Kent of Elton, John Kent
& his wife
Consistory Court, Chester 1684
Warmingham John Kent, prohibition (1682-19)
5
Consistory Court, Chester 1682-19
responsions, allegations
John Kent & Ralph Furnival for not providing bread and wine for communion – libel,
Crewe Collection - John Crewe Offley leased to John Kent a messuage in Elton DCR/32/1/11 1692
John Crewe
“
DCR/16/5/5
1662 20th Sept
John Crew
“
DCR/32/5/14
1718 May 20th
John Crewe
“
DCR/32/5/15
1719 Feb 26th
Licence papers
EDC9/1691/1 [n.d.]
John Kent surgeon 1691
Mortgage by Peter Venables on a messuage late in the tenure of John Kent 17 Oct 24 Car II
Tranmere and Bebington apart from the medical licence of 1691 referred to in the parish register transcription.
Date of Report: 10 December 2009
6
The Carr and Kent Families
EDWARD GLEGG of = ELIZ, dau
Caldey Grange, esq.
and heiress
obiit Aug 4, 1714,
of John
aged 33 years, buried
Kent of
at West Kirby
Tranmore
b. ca 1681
m. 28 Jul
1696 (licence)
JOHN GLEGG = MARY CARR (or CARD), dau
of Grange, esq.
… Carr of
born 1712, ob.
Liverpool
April 23, 1749
b.1718/9
m. 14 Feb 1740/41 St Nicholas, Liverpool
ob. Feb 28, 1758, aet 39
Sidney Lloyd
b. 1752/53
m. 1774
d. 27 Mar 1822
bur Neston
Admon. 1822
=
William Glegge
b. ca 1750
d. 1785
=
Frances Jennings
Emily
b. 1775
d. 20 Feb 1843 (Cheshire)
Thomas Glegge
b. ca 1775
Mariner (1800)
Mariner (1806)
d. 4 Feb 1818
=
Catherine Davies
Francis Glegge
dau of Wm Davies
d. By 1851?
(Ropemaker)
b. 1777 (St John’s Liverpool)
m. Nov 1793
d. 4 Nov 1859
Living at Elm Terrace
Tranmere (1851) Proprietor of Houses
Thomas Glegge
b. 1800 (Liverpool)
Master Mariner
d. 18 Aug 1848
=
Mary Miller
b. 1808 (Liverpool)
Living 5 Osborne
Terrace Liverpool
(1851)
William Glegge
Emily
b. 1838 (Liverpool)
b. 1834 (Liverpool)
Living at 5 Osborne
Living at 5 Osborne
Terrace, Liverpool (1851) Terrace, Liverpool
(1851)
Ralph Abraham Blake
b. ca 1850
=
Frederick John Hall Gregory
b. 1884 d. 1929
Mary Glegge =
b. 22 May 1806
m. 3 Jan 1828
d. 7 Jan 1885
William
Humphrey Thomas
b. 1 Jan 1807
m. 3 Jan 1828
d. 13 Jan 1877
Thomas Glegge Thomas
architect
b. 11 Jun 1829
Tranmere, Cheshire
d. 18 Nov 1881
Tranmere (age 52)
=
[-?-]
[-?-]
William
b. 12 July 1803
d. By 1836?
Eliza Catherine George
b. 9 Sep 1826
m. 25 Sep 1851
Walton on the Hill
Lancashire
Mary Catherine Thomas
b. 1853
=
Annie Blake
b. 1885
Frederick William Gregory =
Margaret Mary O’Neill
b. 25.12.1906
d. 01.03.1975
b. 24.11.1909
d. 10.07.1987
Malcolm Peter Gregory
b. 26.02.1935
Frances
= Bernadette Caffrey
b. 13.04.1934
d. 2001
Michael Peter Gregory
b. 25.06.1957
7