Nat Gould

Richard Edensor 1700-1776

Richard Edensor 1700-1776 was baptised at Hartington in 1700. He became known as Richard Edensor of Congleton, esquire. He married Ann Mills, the daughter of William Mills of Leek and his wife Dorothea, and the sister of Sir Thomas Mills of Barlaston in Staffordshire.

Richard Edensor of Congleton owned a considerable amount of property, including a share in the rectorial tithes of Eccles church near Manchester and the right of presenting a priest to be the vicar of the parish From the Crown these rights had passed through several hands until in 1723 they were bought by Francis Colstone of Holborn in London, whose heir sold “all the great and small, predial, personal, mixt, and all other Tithes” to Richard Edensor of Congleton and John Cooke of Salford for the sum of £5000, subject to their paying the vicar £16-13-4d annually and providing wine for the Holy Communion in the church (1).

Richard Edensor Tablet

Ann Edensor Tablet

Why Richard Edensor bought this very expensive property in Lancashire is unknown, but may have been because of his industrial interests, as Eccles is near the Bridgewater Canal and the Worsley coal mines. If so it signifies an early interest of the family in industrial development, particularly in canals and coal mining. At least it indicates that Richard Edensor of Congleton was a gentleman of very considerable means.

By 1813 this property had passed to his nephew Sir John Edensor Heathcote, the son of his sister Rachel, and thence inherited by Richard Edensor Heathcote of Longton Hall in Staffordshire, the son of Sir John Edensor Heathcote.

His wife Ann Edensor died on 10 September 1762, and was buried at Hartington on 14 September 1762. She has a memorial tablet inside Hartington parish church.

Richard Edensor died on 1 July 1776 aged 76 years and was buried at Hartington on 9 July 1776.

His Will is dated 26 August 1765, and has four Codicils. It was proved on 13 November 1776.

In it reference is made to the conveyance to him on 26 August 1765 by Mary Comyn widow of the impropriate rectory of Eccles in Lancashire and all tithes and other property there. John Cooke of Salford in Lancashire had later become entitled to a share in that property. The remainder was willed to his brother-in-law Thomas Mills of Barlaston in Staffordshire esquire, Richard Gould of Pilsbury Grange (son of Richard Gould of the same place deceased), Richard Rowe of Bakewell (son of Richard Rowe of the same place deceased) and William Seaman of Stanton near Middlewich in Cheshire gentlemen as trustees and executors. [Richard Gould senior was his first cousin, whose father was the brother of his mother Elizabeth Edensor née Gould.]

A bequest was made of £2000 (left to him by his late brother William Edensor to be disposed of among the issue of his sister Rachel Heathcote) to be shared equally between his nephew John Edensor Heathcote and his niece Betty Heathcote (or Elizabeth Heathcote). Other bequests were £4500 to Thomas Mills, Richard Gould, Richard Rowe and William Seaman to be administered so that interest raised would pay for the education and maintenance of Betty Heathcote; £125 to Hugh Henshall of Newchapel in Wolstanton parish in Staffordshire and Thomas Furnival of Congleton gentlemen as trustees so that £50 was to be paid to each of the General Infirmary at Chester and that at Manchester, £5 each to the Overseers of the Poor at Hartington, Sandbach, Congleton, Talke-on-the-Hill in Staffordshire, and Clifton in Lancashire.

£30 was to be added to the £320 of his late wife, of which £350 total £150 was bequeathed to his sister-in-law Elizabeth Houghton (widow of his late brother John Edensor) and £200 to his nieces Elizabeth Mills and Esther Mills. Other bequests were made to Charles Greenwood of Rood Land in London, his kinsmen Joseph Edensor, John Edensor, Abner Edensor [sons of Thomas Edensor late of Littleover farmer, who was his father's first cousin] and their sister [left blank, but actually Mary (2)] Moseley wife of William Moseley, and the daughter of their late brother [should be father]Thomas Edensor; Thomas Mills, Richard Gould, Richard Rowe and William Seaman (30 guineas each); Richard Taylor of Clough Hall in Audley in Staffordshire; Rebecca Booth (widow of John Booth late of Clifton); Hugh Henshall and Thomas Furnival; his servants Elizabeth Plant and Joseph Rigby; his sister Rachel Heathcote; and his cousin Mary Snow of Cawton.

His copyhold property in Hartington was bequeathed "unto my Trusty Friend and Kinsman the said Richard Gould of Pilsbury Grange" gentleman in trust to keep it in good repair, the surplus going to his nephew John Edensor Heathcote. £600 was directed to building a chapel at Clifton in Lancashire and supporting a curate there.

At Buxton, [left blank] Goodwin and John Trott, both of Buxton, were to hold the house and lands demised to them by Michael Heathcote of Hartington gentleman, and closes called the Knowle Doles also demised.

The first codicil, dated 22 January 1773, varied the trust of Richard Gould, the profits from the Hartington property now being directed to the benefit of Rachel Heathcote during the minority of John Edensor Heathcote.

The second codicil, dated 22 November 1763 [should be 1773], added a further £500 to Betty Heathcote payable on her marriage; £20 was bequeathed to his sister-in-law Dorothy Beard for mourning; and he desired that John Edensor Heathcote change his name to Edensor. [This he did not do.]

The third codicil, dated 26 September 1774, bequeathed £10 to the child of his cousin Mary Snow, and additional bequests were made to Joseph Rigby and Joseph Edensor.

The fourth codicil, dated 31 January 1776, varied the terms of the bequest for maintaining Betty Heathcote.

Inside Hartington church there is an inscription recording his benefaction to the deserving poor of the parish (3).

Eventually his estate passed to his sister Rachel Edensor, heiress of all her brothers.

(1) Notitia Cestriensis: or Historical Notices of the Diocese of Chester Francis Gastrell volume 19 page 47.
(2) Mary Edensor of Littleover was married to William Moseley of Chaddesden near Derby on 1 October 1758 at Littleover.
(3) The Inscription reads: "RICHARD EDENSOR OF CONGLETON GAVE BY WILL DATED 10TH OF APRIL 1764, THE SUM OF L.2.12.0 PER ANNUM, TO BE DISTRIBUTED IN BREAD, BY THE CHURCHWARDEN, TO THE DESERVING POOR OF HARTINGTON TOWN QUARTER. THE ABOVE GIFT IS CHARGED UPON TWO CLOSES (BY ESTIMATE 7 ACRES) CALLED CROSSSTONE SIDES, SITUATE IN THIS QUARTER, AND ALSO ENROLLED IN THE HIGH COURT OF CHANCERY."