Descendants of the Berkshire Bints

  

 

THE BINT FAMILY OF LAMBOURN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

Lambourn Church

 
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St Michael & All Angels Church

The site  is extremely ancient and probably dates to pre-Christian times. This Saxon church is believed to be dated from before the reign of King Alfred who mentions Lambourn in his will. By 1032, it had become the local Minster, serving many villages in the area. The building is still officially known as the Minster Church of St. Michael in Lambourn

 

 

Dolphin was christened at Lambourn in November 1840 the second son of gamekeeper Charles Bint (born 1802) and Mary Legge (1810) who were married at Childrey in 1836.  His older brother was Francis John (born 1837) Another brother, Charles (born 1836) was alive in 1841 but apparently not around in 1851. I suspect he died as there is no mention in his father's 1852 will. Francis John and Dolphin were both probably born at their Grandmother's home in Childrey but baptized at Lambourn church. 

Lambourn is situated in the Lambourn Valley, Virtually at the source of the river Lambourn and at the edge of the Berkshire chalk downs. The Village is within a few miles of the Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire borders at the north east extremity of the county. The name of the village is thought to have originated from sheep on the downs and the stream. The parish covers an area of 14,000 acres and has a population of around 3000.

The first mention of Lambourn village in historical records was at the time of Alfred the Great. It has even been suggested that he was born in Lambourn. One thing is certain, he owned land there which was left to his wife. The first parish priest was Croc in 1017. The numerous ancient barrows close by are proof of much earlier settlement in the area, as are finds of Roman pottery in the vicinity. Norman invaders later made their presence felt and indeed the nave of St Michael and All Angels Church is 12th Century Norman. By the 13th Century Lambourn had assumed some importance and a charter was granted to allow a market and two sheep fairs a year to be held.

One of landmarks of the village is the lovely Market Cross in the Square, erected around the time that Henry VI granted the charter for the market and fairs. Across the land by the side of the church there are still some traces of the cobblestones that once covered all the village streets. This land leads to the almshouses founded by John Isbury in 1502 and largely rebuilt by Henry Hippisley in 1852. The houses were further modernized in 1956 to make homes for 8 almsman.

 

The current Ordnance Survey map for that location today shows a feature called Bint's Bank which is a raised field area and may indicate the site where their original farm stood or maybe the grazing ground for sheep. It is bordered by Upper Lambourn Road, the address of Dolphin's family in 1851.

On the older 19th century map there does not appear to be any buildings near to Bint's Bank unless those black marks immediately above the name are significant. The current aerial view on the right reveals the site as now heavily wooded and the field in front (unless there's a more modern reason for those lines) appearing to be part of a more ancient medieval strip farming system.

"Between 1700 and 1900 the landscape of Berkshire was transformed. The open fields (particularly predominant in the north), common lands and manorial wastes were swept away, to be replaced by small fields surrounded by hedgerows. During these two centuries over half of the county was thus affected. The process which brought about this change is known as enclosure. Legally enclosure means the abolition of rights of common enjoyed by tenants of a manor over some or all of the open lands in a parish, and the redistribution of the land into individual ownership. Practically, it meant the end of strip farming, of common pasture, and of rights over the waste. Physically the change was dramatic. Huge social, economic and technological changes also followed enclosure, the effects of which historians continue to debate. Apart from a few isolated parishes elsewhere, activity in the period before 1800 concentrated in the downland parishes of Lambourn and East Garston, and in the Vale of White Horse."

Coppington Down

A view across rolling pasture with the village of Lambourn to the left. © Andrew Smith

 

19th century

Today from the air

 

 

The first Bint family member recorded on the local parish register was Edward Bint in February 1599. He was the son of Edward Bint. 

William Bint and Magdalen Hansaker were married at Lambourn in 1673. We have no indication from which of the Berkshire families he originated. We do know that she was christened at Lambourn in 1655 the daughter of Charles & Joan Hansaker.                                                        

They did not have a long marriage as William died in February 1685 leaving her with six children, one of them being Dolphin's ancestor William who was born in 1675.

Magdalen herself only lived till February 1687 but left a will bequeathing everything to her mother who was to take care of the children. 

She seems to have been reasonably wealthy as the estate was valued at 480 pounds which was a fair amount  in 1687. Her clothes were worth 10 pounds. 

Wills from these and other Berkshire Bint sheep farmers show a link with the village of West Ilsey where our name first appears in 15th century manor records. The spelling then seems to read Bynde which may justify the "name origins" textbooks theory that it was first derived from the occupation of binding, or possibly from the Old English word "boenet" meaning "dweller at an open grassland area.

The area in Upper Lambourn marked on the map as Bint's Bank may indicate a rough location, perhaps the building below the name, of the original farm.

 

 

 

Dolphin's father was Henry Hippisley's gamekeeper for at least 10 years. He is listed under that occupation in the 1841 census at his employer's in Goose Green, Lambourn. His home address then was the same as in the 1851 census.

Gamekeepers look after "beats" (areas of countryside) in order to provide game for shooting and maintain a balanced habitat and wildlife population.

In Victorian times he would be ever watchful at all hours for poachers or sheep and cattle thieves.

Planning for the shooting season includes sowing and drilling game crops such as maize and kale and preparing woodland to feed and shelter birds throughout the year.

As well as encouraging game which breed in the wild, many gamekeepers hatch and rear young game birds like grouse, partridges and pheasants. They are then released while continuing to feed them at carefully selected locations.

Another part of their job especially in the breeding season, is the monitoring and culling of predators such as foxes, stoats, crows and magpies and pests like rabbits and pigeons.

Other responsibilities would be gun maintenance, arranging shoots, hiring beaters and training and feeding the dogs.

 

Section of an 1883 map showing remains of a  field structure along Upper Lambourn Road and opposite Bint's Bank. A part of Upper Lambourn Road is in the top right hand corner.

 

 

 

 

Dolphin's father Charles is shown as a 44 year old widower on the 1851 census. He is a gamekeeper for Henry Hippisley and his address is 124 Upper Lambourn Road, Lambourn. His 38 year old wife Mary died whilst giving birth to Jonathan in 1849. Their baby died a few days later. 

In the earlier 1841 census gamekeeper Charles Bint is the only male adult listed at the Hippisley's Goose Green, Lambourn residence. There are 3 female servants and two Hippisley babies, 18 month old Henry, and 5 month old Catherine. Down at Upper Lambourn Road is 30 year old Mary Bint with Charles (6), Francis John (5) and Dolphin (7 months) with Ann Adams a 15 year old nursery maid.

Charles himself only lived till 1852 and made a death-bed will leaving  goods to the value of under 100 pounds, to be held in trust for his young sons, Francis John aged 15, and 11 year old Dolphin, by his friend and employer the local Justice of the Peace, Henry Hippisley, of Lambourn Place.   The will also made Henry, the boys' guardian.       

Henry Hippisley was a wealthy landowner and the same age as Charles. His first wife had died young in 1839. He is mentioned in Lambourn's history for rebuilding the local almshouses and donating stained glass windows to Holy Trinity Chapel and in nearby Sparsholt for forming the nationally famed West Berks United Archers in 1834. In 1881 he had 7 servants and some stable-hands at Lambourn Place and also estates at nearby Sparsholt. Henry's elder son, also named Henry, and the same age as Dolphin, appears on London's 1881 census as a captain in the Royal Navy and a Rear Admiral in 1894.

Dolphin's grandfather Charles Bint  born in 1768, was a carpenter, and in later years a cooper. His mother Elizabeth Salt died in 1778 when he was only 10 years old. He married Jane Higgs in 1792.  They had at least eight children between 1795 and 1811.  He died in 1850,surviving his wife Jane by 18 months. His will only mentions three remaining children, Charles, John and Hannah, and the estate was valued at just under 450 pounds.

Dolphin's great-grandfather was Charles Bint (born 1740) who married Elizabeth Salt at Lambourn in 1763 and had at least 5 children.

His father was William Bint (born 1704) who married Mary Winkworth at Lambourn in 1735 and had two sons John (1736) and Charles (1740)

His father William Bint (1675) was one of William and Magdalen's children.

 

            Bint's Bank in the background

 

 

 

 

Last Will & Testament of Dolphin's father, Charles Bint 1852

 

This is the last will and testament of me Charles Bint of Lambourn, Berkshire, Labourer.

I devise and bequeath all the real and personal estate to which I shall be entitled unto Henry Hippisley of Lambourn Place, Berkshire,Esquire, in trust for the benefit of my two sons Francis John and Dolphin William.

I furthermore appoint the said Henry Hippisley to be sole guardian of my two sons above named, as also the sole executor of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all other testamentary writings. Lastly I desire that my executor do reimburse himself for all expenses which may be incurred in the execution of this my will. In witness hereby I have set my hand this sixth day of September in the year of Our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and fifty two.

Charles Bint    

Signed in the presence of William Curtis and James Mildehall            (Charles died four days later on the 10th of September 1852.)

 

 

Dolphin's brother Francis John Bint (1836 - 1906) who was born at Lambourn, lived in the town of Henley on Thames, in Oxfordshire. He was a butcher who married a Henley grocer's daughter Elizabeth Giles (born 1834). They had three daughters, Fanny (1859), Emily (1860), and Mary (1864). Elizabeth died in 1870 and Francis remarried in 1871. His new wife 19 year old wife Emily from nearby Greys, produced another eight children. Their eldest son Francis John (born 1875) married innkeeper's daughter Caroline Pickernell (born 1876) and was himself a butcher at Greys, Henley in 1901.

Francis (1836) had lived for some time during his first marriage at the village of Childrey, near Wantage and his first daughter Fanny (1859) was born there. Dolphin's Texas descendents recall him or his wife Fanny having regular correspondence with someone at Childrey after settling in the USA, and also receiving a monthly pension (or an annuity?) from the UK. My guess is that the money came from his Aunt Hannah's estate bequeathed for her natural life by Dolphin's grandfather Charles in 1851 with the request that it should be shared by her two brothers when she died. On the 1851 census a few months later, she was 42, single, living at Goose Green, Lambourn and giving her occupation as "annuitant" (living on an annual allowance or pension). Her brother Charles, Dolphin's father, died in 1852 and his two sons would have shared his entitlement.

 

Lambourn Place, a large Tudor mansion, situated on the north side of Lambourn church, was owned by Sir Thomas Essex who died in 1558.

In the time of Sir Thomas Essex's great grandson, Sir William, Lambourn became the scene of much local revelry, as the lord of the manor's great friend, William Bush, attempt to travel in the same vessel, by air, land and water! Mr. Bush had built a fine ship in Essex's garden at Lambourn Place and festooned it with flags and coats of arms. In July 1607, he brought it forth to the adjoining churchyard, amongst a great crowd of people. By means of some form of winch system, the ship was raised to the top of the church tower! But the crowd got nasty and demanded that Bush repeat this feat of daring whilst personally on board.

 

 

Lambourn Place

Next day, the crowd wanted still more entertainment and it was not until several of them were almost killed by the collapse of the tower pinnacles that Bush was able to proceed to the next stage of his task. The ship was then given a series of wheels and William travelled in it across the Downs to Childrey Aldworth and down to Streatley. There, the vessel entered the River Thames, but Mr. Bush was so harassed by a group of local bargemen, that, in fear for his life, he was forced to flee to his lodgings. The bargemen, meantime, scuppered his ship with staves and hooks and pikes, so that it took him a month to make repairs. Eventually, however, the ship sailed for London, where he was finally welcomed at the Customs Quay and wined and dined by the officers.

 

 

Lambourn Place then passed to Sir Thomas Wilmot for most of the 17th century and eventually to the Hippisley family who rebuilt it in Victorian times. Henry Hippisley made over his Lambourn and Sparsholt estates to third son William Henry in 1886 who then sold Lambourn Place to his brother-in-law Charles Edwards, thus ending nearly 250 years association with the Hippisleys. Used as racing stables in the late 1880's by James Humphrey a prominent trainer, it was pulled down in 1938 after falling into decay.

 

Texan descendants of Dolphin Bint, Robin and Lee Harris, pictured at Upper Lambourn with Bint's Bank in the background. November 2010.

 

 

 

 

CHILDREY - a nearby village.

Francis, Dolphin's brother was in that village when his eldest daughter Fanny was born in 1859, and the mother of his first wife Elizabeth Giles was also born there, but he had moved permanently to Henley by 1861 to live with his shopkeeper in-laws.   Dolphin's mother Mary Legge was from Childrey and she married Charles Bint there in April 1836. The Legges were established throughout Victorian times as farmers, bakers, coal merchants, and shopkeepers. Jonathan Legge (born 1781) was a popular Methodist preacher. Childrey is around 8 miles from Lambourn. 

 

tom.bint@tiscali.co.uk