Henry Roberts

Buried in the 'middle', ie inside the church, at St Margaret Lothbury, November 1st 1729.

See will attached, in which she leaves her Gold Watch to Sonn Henry and also mentions daughters Hannah, Ann Fuller, sons Gearing and John, sister Fisher and brother Edward Roberts (presume she means brother in law?).

The addendum to the will confirms Mary Fisher as a spinster - which I had thought meant Ann’s maiden name was Fisher, however other evidence suggests otherwise. The addendum also confirms Ann’s date of death.

His will, attached, links up with the will of Hannah Vertue spinster in 1817 with many of the same people mentioned.

Mentioned in the will of Ann Roberts 1729 and Gearing Roberts 1783

The Reverend John Fuller of Hatfield, Hertfordshire was named in Gearing Roberts will of 1783

Mentioned in Gearing Roberts’ will, see attached.

Presumed to be the brother of Gearing Roberts, from names of cousins, nieces, etc named in his will. Also, Gearing was mentioned in Simon’s will of 1742. Parents assumed to be the same, due to burial in the 'middle', inside St Margaret Lothbury church in London. In his will he expressed his desire to be buried close to them.

Simon was a Merchant Tailor living in London according to attached will believed to be his which also shows he married Hannah Roberts in 1733. At that time (1733) he subscribed to poems on several occasions according to records on Ancestry.

In the will he also mentions cousins Stephen Abbott and John King.

Gearing Roberts. The Mark of Bridget Couttier. Benja Cooke - the last line of the will, witnesses. Gearing Roberts died in 1783 at the age of 78 and was presumably a relation of his wife, see also attached burial record and FMP have probate records for him.

See also attached Indenture, in Ancestry’s Freedom of the City section. For the cost of £35, quite a large sum at the time, Simon signed 7 years of his life away to become an apprentice Merchant Taylor. 

”This indenture witnesseth, That Simon Vertue son of Simon Vertue late  of Doabauch in the County of Suffolk Yeoman deceased (the sum of thirty five pounds being paid or secured to the Master ...) ... to Philip Glass – Citizen and Merchant Taylor of London ... 7 years ... He shall not commit Fornication nor contract Matrimony within the said Term. ... He shall not haunt Taverns or Play-houses, nor absent himself from his said Master’s Service Day nor Night unlawfully: But in all Things, as a faithful Apprentice, he shall behave himself towards his said Master, and all his, during the said Term...” Extract - view image for full story.

Hannah Vertue left a sizeable will, see attached. Also was named in will of Gearing Roberts as his niece, see attached.

Gearing Roberts was buried in St Margaret Rothbury and asked to be buried near his mother and father and was located in the middle. John Roberts also named on his will but died shortly before him aged 72 was also buried in the middle. The only matching Roberts buried in the middle who could have been their parents were James, buried 3rd June 1723 and Ann, widow, buried November 1st 1729 - both in the middle - see attached images.

I originally thought Ann Vertue was a pseudonym for Marie Anne L’Heureux. But further evidence shows this not to be the case. From the baptism records of her second husband Peter Guillebaud, the church was the French Church of Threadneadle Street and Peter Guillebaud’s name was “Frenchified” to Pierre — hence the mistake in thinking she had been Frenchified too.

Hannah Roberts in her will of 1818 describes Peter Guillebaud as her brother-in-law, even though by then he had remarried. Gearing Roberts describes Ann as his niece in his will of 1782. Both these factors make me sure Ann is daughter of Simon Vertue and Hannah Roberts.

Ann’s burial at non-conformist Bunhill Fields, 10th May 1813, put her age as 71. This is how I arrive at her birth in 1742.

Buried “in the middle” of St Margaret Lothbury, City of London, 14th January 1783 aged 71. His brother Gearing and parents were also buried there. The middle is taken to mean in the church itself, although no gravestone can be found there with the Roberts names on. The church was designed by Christopher Wren and would have been fairly new when his parents were alive/died.