Robert GRADLEY

[Lindsay]

Name - "official" name and what they were known as
Robert Gradley/Grudley/Gridley
Date and place of birth
Names of parents
Date and place of baptism - if applicable
Not sure: there's a Robert Gradley baptised St Mary Whitechapel, Middlesex 8 March 1728/29, parents John Gradley and Elizabeth, but that would make him only about 15 on marriage if he baptised as a baby. Alternatively there's a Robert Gradley baptism in 1712 St Dunstan but that might relate to a burial in 1717 at St Mary Whitechapel.
Details of each of his or her marriages - if any
Married Ann Williams, St Mary Whitechapel 4 Sept 1743
Occupation(s) - if any
Ropemaker
Addresses where they lived (including county if in UK) - and please list which censuses you have or haven't found him/her on (if s/he lived in census times!).
1744-1756 baptised 4 children St Paul Shadwell, abode Sun Tavern Fields
Date, place and cause of death
Date and place of burial.
Two possible burials, not sure if either is correct:
1. 29 Jan 1769 St Mary Whitechapel Robert Gridley age 37 (doesn't really fit baptism or marriage dates)
2. 14 Aug 1775 St Paul Shadwell, Robert Gridley, no age given, address Elm Row
Details of will / administration of their estate - if applicable
Memorial inscription - if any

Link to son Robert: http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=11887&highlight=robert+gradley
Link to wife Ann Williams: http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=16846

[Lindsay]

H'mm, I've just found the burial of Robert's daughter, Ann, in 1749 - address Elm Row, the same as the 1775 death

[Shona]

Have you looked at the London Land Tax Records on Ancestry, Lindsay? Robert appears on them from 1744 until 1766 in Shadwell. If you look at the images, he is renting by a ropewalk, so likely to be him. If you look at these, the first date of 1715in the index seems incorrect to me because the writing on the 1744 document looks the same.

The death in 1769 in St Mary, Whitechapel could tie in with the birth of the Robert born in 1728/9.

I think that they 1775 death is the most likely.

[Shona]

There's a Robert Grudley baptised on 20 July 1712, St Dunstan, Stepney. Parents are John Grudley and Mary.

[Shona]

Oh! Check this out:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=View&r=5538&dbid=1624&iid=31281_A100671-00054&fn=Mary&ln=Grudley&st=d&ssrc=&pid=4655363

It's a baptism for a Mary Grudley, daughter of Robert Grudley at King David Fort, ropemaker, and Ann, his wife - 48 days old when baptised on 27 September 1721. She was baptised at St Paul's, Shadwell.

Must be connected. Now I'm wondering if that 1715 Land Tax Record was correct.

[Lindsay]

Thanks, Shone, I don't think I've looked at the Gradleys in the Land Tax Assessments before - looks like his son is also in there. More for me to follow up :D

Like you, I prefer a 30-something marriage for him. There is a burial 1717 St Mary Whitechapel (Robert Grudley a child) which could possibly be the Robert born 1712 - I need to look at it more closely to eliminate it.

[Shona]

There's a burial record for Ann, wife of Robert Grudley, King David Lane, ropemaker, 7 June 1725, St Paul Shadwell.

[Shona]

Interesting snippet from London Lives, although it's not your chap:

http://www.londonlives.org/browse.jsp?div=GLBAEP10323EP103230017

[Lindsay]

Oh yes, the name and job make it almost certain he fits in somewhere, I should think. A lot of the Gradleys were ropemakers, over several generations.

[Shona]

Here's an article on Shadwell which mentions how the rope-making business came to the area.

http://www.mernick.org.uk/thhol/shad1935.html

[Lindsay]

Does anyone know how the Land Tax Assessments worked?

I'm tempted to claim the 1775 burial, but Robert Gradley appears in the Land Tax Assessments in 1776 for the last time. Any chance they could run a few months late? Or that his son (another Robert) could have been listed in his place?

[Shona]

Tax years run from the beginning of April until the end of March the next year, so it is poss he appears on the records after he had died.

[Lindsay]

Thanks, Shona. I think I'll go with the 1775 death:)