Nat Gould

William Gould 1771-1826

Macclesfield School 1748

William Gould was baptised at Hartington in Derbyshire on 28 December 1771.

His family lived at the Lower House at Pilsbury Grange (1) in Hartington parish, which had been built in 1743 (2).

He was educated at Macclesfield School, which had gained a high reputation under its headmaster the Reverend Henry Ingles 1774-90 and his successor. Gentry families of Cheshire and neighbouring counties sent their sons to board there. His uncle Samuel Stone, the Macclesfield doctor, had recommended the school for its good order, discipline and care of the pupils.

After leaving school, William Gould went into the hosiery trade in Nottingham, an important centre of the industry. In 1794 his father invested £2,000 in his hosiery partnership. Nottingham had grown rapidly in the 1780s with the boom in cotton spinning and the increased demand for hosiery products. Local framework-knitters received high-wages, and so the number of people moving into the town increased (3). William Gould prospered in the hosiery trade, and had a warehouse in London (4).

Sedgebrook church

He married Mary Turney on 27 December 1804 at Sedgebrook near Grantham in Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of John Turney and his wife nee Anne Eminson.

St. Mary's church in Nottingham

They had the following children:

William Gould. He was baptised on 6 November 1805 in St. Mary's church, Nottingham. He was buried on 20 January 1809 at Sedgebrook.

Joseph Gould. He was born on 21 April 1807. He was baptised on 23 April 1807 in St. Mary's church, Nottingham. He died on 25 March 1852 at Pilsbury Grange aged 44 years. He was buried on 30 March 1852 at Hartington, where there is a gravestone inscribed to his memory. He was an heir of his uncle Joseph Gould, farmer of Pilsbury Lower House

Ludwell

Mary Gould. She was baptised on 4 September 1808 in St. Mary's church, Nottingham. She was buried on 5 October 1808 at Sedgebrook.

Frances Gould. She was born on 13 October 1809. She died on 6 January 1887.

John Gould. He was born in 1811. He was baptised on 25 January 1811 in St. Mary's church, Nottingham. He died on 5 April 1854 at Ludwell aged 45 years, and was buried at Hartington, where there is a gravestone inscribed to his memory and that of his wife. He had an estate at Ludwell, bequeathed to him under his uncle’s will. On 30 March 1830 he married Mary Prince at Sheen in Staffordshire. She was born in 1807, the daughter of Joseph Prince of Brund in Sheen parish. She died in 1881, and was buried at Hartington.

Anne Gould.

Richard Gould.

Bunhill Fields

William Turney Gould. He was born in 1818 in London. He was buried on 26 January 1819 in Bunhill Fields, London.

Their father William Gould died on 2 March 1826 aged 54 years at Gloucester Place in London, and was buried on 4 March 1826 at Bunhill Fields in London.

In his Will, dated 12 February 1826 from Gloucester Place and proved at London on 24 April 1826, he bequeathed to his widow and executrix "the annuity to me by the will of my elder brother Joseph Gould" and all his other property. Witnesses to the Will included George Johnson and Ann Falkner of 30 Southampton Place and Ann Fisher "servant to Mr Turney Esq" of Gloucester Place in London.

His wife Mary Gould died aged 84 years on 24 May 1862 at Manor Street, Clapham in London. She was buried on 30 May 1862 in Hartington churchyard.

(1) These names were those used by Thomas Bateman 1760-1847 when compiling the family tree in the 1820s. The Upper House stands on slightly higher ground than the Lower House. Bateman was following what was told him by William Gould 1755-1845 of Hanson Grange. The names refer to the height of the two houses above the river, rather than to their positions upstream or downstream in the Dove valley.
(2) Hartington Estate Accounts AS 1383: Devonshire Collections at Chatsworth.
(3) Thoroton Society Record Series volume 44 (2006). Ducal Estate Management in Georgian Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire: The Diary of William Gould, 1783-1788, edited by his descendant Michael Hanson, who owns the diaries and has extensively researched the history of the family. In 1845 the population of Nottingham had reached 52,000. However the demand for framework-knitters declined, and the town was then experiencing considerable poverty.
(4) The address of his London warehouse is given in directories as 18 Milk Street, Cheapside: Post Office Annual Directory 1805, 1807, 1808 1809, 1812 and 1813, and Kent's Directory 1807.The warehouse lay near St. Paul's Cathedral on the corner of Gutter Lane and Maiden Lane (which ran east-west at the north end of Gutter Lane). It lay near the inn called the Swan with Two Necks, as is mentioned in a letter dated 1806 from Richard Gould 1741-1820 to his son John Gould 1784-1814.