Fined 6 pence

Whilst exploring the National Archives catalogue I came across an extract from the Lostwithiel Sessions which opened a really complicated can of worms!

On 11 January 1781 Richard Lanyon and his wife, Elizabeth, charged with assault against Sarah Bishop, base child of Richard Lanyon, changed their plea to guilty and were fined 6d each. (Source – QS/1/4/292-298)

That was the first mention of Richard Lanyon’s illegitimate daughter, I had to find out more!

It didn’t take long to find the baptism of Sarah Lenyne Bishop at Newlyn East on 14 March 1774, the base daughter of Mary Bishop. Assuming that Sarah was baptised shortly after her birth that would make her just 6 or 7 at the time of the assault. At a time when it was common for children to be chastised this must have been far more serious to lead to an actual charge of assault.

Who was Richard Lanyon?

He was baptised on 1 January 1749 at St Allen, the son of John Lanyon (Lanion) and Sarah Straight. John and Sarah had six children: Margaret 1736-1802, John 1740-1771, William 1743-1763, Richard 1746-1747, Richard 1749-1838 and Henry 1752-1838. The three surviving children married into the Searle family. Margaret married John Searle and Richard and Henry married two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary Searle.

Elizabeth and Mary Searle were the children of William Searle and Isabella Stephens. William Searle jr was the son of William Searle 1675-1736.

Richard Lanyon was a yeoman and his mother, Sarah Straight (Lanyon) bought the farm Polstain, at Zelah near St Allen, for him. He later bought the farm Lanner. On 18 April 1774, just four months after his illegitimate daughter Sarah was baptised, he married Elizabeth Searle at St Allen. He and Elizabeth had 10 children. Elizabeth died in 1825 and in 1827 Richard married again to a widow, Catherine Charles. He died on 17 February 1838 at the age of 89.

Polstain still exists today.

So why is this a ‘can of worms’?

Richard Lanyon’s mother, Sarah Straight was the sister of Mary Bishop’s grandfather, making Richard and Mary first cousins, once removed. The family connections don’t end there.

Poor old Ancestry’s family tree templates can’t quite cope with that! Richard appears twice!

But it gets even more complicated because Mary Bishop’s grandmother is Jane Searle (Straight) 1704- and Jane was the sister to Richard Lanyon’s father-in-law, William Searle 1708-. So Mary Bishop’s granny was Elizabeth Searle (Lanyon)’s aunt!

To complicate things further Mary Bishop had a brother called Richard (1759-1848) and Richard Bishop married Elizabeth Gill. Their daughter Elizabeth Gill Bishop married William Lanyon, the grandson of Richard Lanyon and Elizabeth Searle!

So that’s all clear then?

So what of Sarah Lenyne Bishop?

Her existence can’t have been a secret, the whole family are interrelated and must surely have known about Mary Bishop’s illegitimate child. When Sarah was born Richard Lanyon was unmarried, why did he not marry Mary? We’ll never know.

We’ll also never know the reason for the assault but just a few months after the Lostwithiel Sessions Sarah Lanyon Bishop was apprenticed to James Richards of St Erme, a carpenter. Did Richard Lanyon pay for her apprenticeship?

Carpentry is an unusual job for a girl but not completely unknown, the other female apprentices were training to become mantua-makers and milliners, why did Sarah end up as a carpentry apprentice?

Is there a family connection between the Lanyons and Richards families? Richard Lanyon’s son William married a Peggy Exter Richards, could she be related to James of St Erme? That’s a question for another day!

Sadly we don’t know what happened to Sarah. There is no trace of a Sarah Lanyon/Lenyne Bishop marrying or being buried in England. There are lots of Sarah Bishops the name is quite common and it’s not possible to prove if any of them is our Sarah Bishop.

Sarah’s mother, Mary, died unmarried in 1810 at Newlyn East. She was buried on 4 August.

Richard Lanyon left a will but there is no mention of Sarah. His estate was valued at under £300.