Charles CHRISTOPHER (c1705-1791)
Agricultural Labourer
of Fordington

The church of St Mary and St James - Hazelbury Bryan
where Charles Christopher grew up

© Picture Copyright Trish Steel and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence.
[More pictures of the Church and Font can be accessed via this link.]

Marriage 1727:

The church of St George - Fordington as it looked
when Charles Christopher & Elizabeth Allen married there on 27th Dec 1727
© Copyright Michael Russell FIPD - Picture taken prior to 1905

Charles CHRISTOPHER (1728-1814) named after his father was baptised on 30th June 1728. Like many others in the family when he grew to adulthood he moved around the area in search of employment and was working in nearby Broadway when he met and married Ann GAPE the eldest child of Andrew GAPE of Cerne Abbas . They married on 12 June 1755 in the tiny church of St Nicholas in a small hamlet to the west called Buckland Ripers. They raised a family of 4 children in Radipole and Kimmeridge⁽³⁾ before Ann was buried on 22 Aug 1787 in St Peters church Winterbourne Came . Many of the family ended up in this parish where Charles lived until he was over 86 being buried there on 16th Feb 1814.⁽⁴⁾

James CHRISTOPHER (1732-1818) was baptised on 26th April 1732. In 1758 he was listed along with 75 other individuals by the parish constable as being fit for service in the Militia and a labourer living within the parish. He also married that year⁽⁵⁾ to a lady known throughout the family as 'Holloway' and they produced a family of 9 children all baptised in Fordington between the years 1759 and 1779⁽⁶⁾ . James, also an agricultural labourer, lived with his wife in Fordington until her death in 1794 her burial being in the graveyard at St Georges Church Fordington on 18th May that year. He acted as a witness at the wedding of his grandson John Dart in the church of St Michael in nearby Stinsford on 9th April 1810. Towards the end of his long life when he became too old to work, he moved to Upwey to live with his son James and his wife Hannah where he died, but his body was returned to Fordington for burial with his wife on 11 Nov 1818 when his age was given as 93 although in reality it was nearer to 86.

John CHRISTOPHER (1734-1804) was baptised on 7th Nov 1734. As a young man he went to live in Cheselbourne, 8 miles north-east of Dorchester, probably staying with his aunt Joan CHRISTOPHER. She already had two illegitimate children by a member of the TRASK family who lived in the village (these being William Trask Christopher bap 12 July 1741 and Jenny Christopher bap 19 May 1745). Here John met a young widow from that family called Elizabeth TRASK (c1725) whom he married in Cheselbourne on 30 Aug 1760. She was known locally as 'Betty' a colloquial form of Elizabeth and had three children by her first marriage ⁽⁷⁾ . The Trask family had been in Cheselbourne from before 1734 and Fordington prior to 1706 so it looks like the two families knew one another over a long period. Her husband John Trask had obtained work on a large estate at Milton Abbas located only a couple of miles north-east of Cheselbourne and they had the first of their 3 children, Sarah TRASK, baptised in the Abbey on 7th August 1751. The following year the estate was sold to Joseph Damar who later became Lord Milton. He set about restoring the house and Abbey and landscaping the grounds a task so extensive that it lasted many years and involved moving the existing village to a new location. It was probably John Trask that drew John Christopher into working on the estate as well. A lot of the landscaping work was done during the summer months with labourers returning to their home parishes in the winter. Although I have not located his death, John Trask must have died shortly after their last child was born in 1755 as the overseers accounts for Cheselbourne for the following year suddenly show quite large payments being made each month to his wife and children. It was in the interest of the Overseers for Elizabeth to remarry and payments to 'Betty Trask' cease in the month of her marriage to John Christopher.

On 27th June 1761 John CHRISTOPHER attended the meeting of the Dorchester subdivision of the Dorset Militia which was held at the 'Antelope Inn' in Dorchester and from the minutes of that meeting it is clear that he had earlier volunteered to be a substitute for someone else who had been selected by ballot to serve for 3 years in the Militia Regiment. Failure to serve when balloted resulted in a fine of £10 and sometimes imprisonment so a system of accepting able substitutes arose for the more wealthy. Its not clear from the minutes but I think he probably volunteered prior to his marriage in 1760. John would have taken the oath as a substitute in exchange for a fee of £10 (or less) but was granted a discharge as ' he had a large family to support' but he also had to pay £10 which they used to recruit another volunteer. This is interesting in itself as John acquired a family of 3 girls on marriage now aged 10; 7 and 4 and his wife Elizabeth was 8 months pregnant with his first child at the date of the meeting. He may also of course have been playing some role to help support Joan and her two children as Joan like the rest of the poor in the parish only received 1 shilling a week to live on. Its clear from later returns that it was standard practice in Dorchester and Fordington to exclude men who had more than a wife and one child to support from the Militia Ballot so there would have been little problem apart from John's need to pay the £10 back which was a lot of money to poor families at this date. I find it surprising that he was able to do so. The repayment of this money seems to have dropped John and his family to subsistence level and he seems to have been working away as ' Elizabeth Christopher and her children' received 4 shilling and six pence support from the Overseers of the Poor of Cheselbourne in Nov 1761 and they also paid for nine and a half yards of cloth (at 7 pence a yard) to cloth her children.

John Christopher had three children of his own with Elizabeth these being:- Thomas Christopher (1761-1819) Bap Cheselbourne 21 Jul 1761 who married and raised a family of 6 children ; Sarah Christopher (1764-1799) bap Milton Abbas 29 Jul 1764, a spinster who was buried in Cheselbourne on 15 Dec 1799; and Joanna Christopher (1767-1770) named after his aunt, bap Milton Abbas 3 Jun 1767 still under the age of 3 when she was buried in Cheselbourne on 22 Mar 1770.

After the birth of John's 1st child they moved to live in Milton Abbas before returning to Cheselbourne after the birth of their 3rd child there, arriving by September 1767. John was ill in 1774 for 3 months and the Overseers for Cheselbourne paid for him to be bled, after which he seems to have recovered.⁽⁸⁾ On 18th December 1775 Joan became ill and John seems to have attended her as he too received payment 'in his illness' the following month. Whilst he then recovered, his son Thomas fell ill in February followed by his wife Elizabeth in March after which all seems to have been well. In late April 1780 however Joan Christopher again became ill this time gradually getting worse. She obviously needed constant care as the Overseers paid for seven consecutive weeks for John Christopher to attend her before she passed away and was buried in Cheselbourne on 17th June 1780.

Elizabeth Christopher, John's 1st wife, died between 1767 and 1785 as at the age of 51 on 5 Feb 1785 John married for a second time to a 46 year old widow called Susannah HANNAM [HARRAM]. ⁽⁹⁾ She was past child bearing age so there were no children by the 2nd marriage and she died at the age of 82 in Cheselbourne being buried there on 28 Jul 1821. John Christopher lived until he was 70 being buried in Cheselbourne on 9th December 1804 by GW Langdon Curate of St Martins church.

Elizabeth CHRISTOPHER (1735/6-1815) named after her mother she was baptised on 21 March 1735/6. She married when she was 32 years old by licence in Winterborne Came on 20 Jun 1768 to a Francis FURBER [ Bap 25 Jul 1739 Godmanstone Dorset the eldest son of Ellis Furber and Elizabeth Caines]. They had at least 1 child Elizabeth Furber Bap Winterborne Came 4 Mar 1771. Elizabeth herself was buried in St George's churchyard Fordington by the Rev John Palmer on 5 Mar 1815 when her age was given as being 81.

Thomas CHRISTOPHER (1738/9-) baptised12 March 1738/9. No trace has been found of him after his baptism. It is possible that he may have died during one of the missing years in the registers eg. 1744/1745;1752 etc.

Joseph CHRISTOPHER (1741/2-1747/8) baptised 15th Feb 1741/2 and buried still a young boy on 19th January 1747/8.

William CHRISTOPHER (1745-1802) ⁽¹⁰⁾ baptised 7th July 1745 of parents legally settled there ; he lived with them until he was fifteen or sixteen and then hired out to a Mr Head at the 'Crown' in Blandford for 40 shillings, for one year; he then moved to Bridport and worked for Mr Harber at the 'Goulston Lyon' as a Chaise driver; later moving to Dorchester where he lived with a Mr Bryer⁽¹¹⁾ at the 'Kings Arms' for a quarter of a year as Chaise driver; then Blandford Forum for Mr Charles Voss for about a year.

Kings Arms Dorchester - built 1720

Joseph CHRISTOPHER (1748-1776) bap 14th Sep 1748 he grew up in Fordington but moved to live and work in the adjacent parish of Holy Trinity Dorchester. On 28 Jun 1772 he married in All Saints Church Dorchester to a Martha SIMMS. [also baptised Fordington, on 4 April 1743, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Simms ] They had only one child Elizabeth Christopher whom they had baptised in All Saints Church on 29 Sep 1773 but she died an infant being buried there on 8 June 1775. Joseph, still only 28 died the following year and was interred in St Georges churchyard Fordington on January 16 1776. Martha re-married on 8 May 1780 to a Robert HAYWARD in All Saints Church Dorchester.

Before control measures were developed most people in populous areas contracted smallpox and of those approximately 20% died. The survivors were often terribly scarred, and blindness was a common complication. It is estimated that 200,000 to 600,000 people were killed annually by smallpox in Europe in the 18th Century, and it was a major killer of children. Smallpox caused about 10% of all deaths and 25-35% of deaths in children. With its characteristic appearance it was realised that those who survived smallpox did not get it again, and this led to a greater willingness to employ servants etc with pock marks because of their immunity. Prevention of smallpox by isolation of patients required some idea that the disease was specific and had a specific transmissible cause, and predated proof of the germ theory of disease. It also required specific knowledge of the infectious period which was from about the time the rash appeared until after the scabs dropped off. Such knowledge was acquired gradually and as presented by John Haygarth in his 'Rules for the prevention of Smallpox (published 1785)' meant that by this date many villages had an old cottage or similar on the outskirts of town that was used to immediately isolate individuals suspected of having the disease. Dorset was at the forefront of many of these developments. William Trask CHRISTOPHER (Joan Christopher's son mentioned above) was to die from Smallpox in the year 1785. he contracted the disease whilst he and his family were working in Morden Dorset and he was isolated in just such a cottage. After his death his wife and family were inoculated and returned to his place of settlement which was Cheselbourne.

Deliberate infection as a preventative measure was practiced in India and China centuries before it was introduced to Britain by Lady Mary, wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey. The process involved deliberate inoculation of smallpox material into the arm in the hope that mild smallpox would develop. The practice was called inoculation later called variolation. Lady Mary had her son variolated in Constantinople in 1717 and on her return to England she had her daughter variolated in 1721 and so introduced the practice to London Society. A successful trial on six prisoners soon followed and in 1723 two children of Caroline on Ansbach, Princess of Wales were variolated. Initially Variolation was used mainly only in populous areas and when epidemics threatened but became increasingly common in the 1760's. Dorchester and Fordington of course sat at the crossroads of major trade routes not just throughout Dorset to places like London, Oxford and Exeter but also with the continent through the nearby coastal ports as many of the merchants in Dorchester imported wine and other produce from the continent. Protection was therefore a major concern and not just for the rich.

There is no doubt that inoculated smallpox produced a less severe effect reducing mortality significantly, but there were occasional disasters such as at Blandford in 1766 when many were very ill and 13 out of 384 died. There was particular concern about the fact that those in contact with variolated individuals caught smallpox which was fully virulent and fatal and this was a major barrier to its widespread use. Individuals could be isolated but few could afford it so the practice arose for a whole village to be inoculated so that everyone was infectious at the same time.

Although Edward Jenner (1749-1823 ) is credited with the widespread introduction of vaccination using cowpox he did not carry out his first vaccination until May 1796. The use of cowpox was in use in Dorset well before that date mainly because of the work of Benjamin Jesty (1736-1816) who was using the practice some 22 years earlier. Jesty and two of his female servants, Ann Notley and Mary Reade, had been infected with cowpox. When an epidemic of smallpox came to Yetminster in 1774, Jesty decided to try to give his wife Elizabeth and two eldest sons immunity by infecting them with cowpox. He took his family to a cow at a farm in nearby Chetnole that had the disease, and using a darning needle, transferred pustular material from the cow by scratching their arms. The boys had mild local reactions and quickly recovered but his wife's arm became very inflamed and for a time her condition gave cause for concern, although she too recovered fully in time. There is a blue plaque commemorating Jesty's pioneering work at Upbury Farm at Yetminster. Jesty's experiment was met with hostility by his neighbours. He was labeled inhuman, and was "hooted at, reviled and pelted whenever he attended markets in the neighbourhood’". The introduction of an animal disease into a human body was thought disgusting and some even "feared their metamorphosis into horned beasts". But the treatment's efficacy was several times demonstrated in the years which followed, when Jesty's two elder sons, exposed to smallpox, failed to catch the disease.


Benjamin Jesty (1736-1816)

(1). So what leads us to believe that Charles was a surviving son of Humphrey and Ann Christopher from Hazelbury Bryan?.

Possible origin of the name: - Charles is not a common christian name in the Christopher family yet it runs back through the generations in this family. It is clear that his great grandfather Robert CHRISTOPHER (born circa 1598) was also known as Robert CHARLES. His marriage in Edmonsham in 1625, and the baptism of the first two of his sons there in 1625 and 1627 all record him as Robert Christopher alias Charles. The most likely reason for this is that we think his father was named Charles Christopher but simply known locally as "Charles" and as sometimes happened it also became used as a surname. We are talking about the reign of Charles I here when the use of an alias was not uncommon and had no untoward connotations. We then have what we think is his fathers burial in Edmonsham as 'Charles Christopher buried 29th Aug 1629'. Robert and his wife Elizabeth then have their 3rd son baptised in Edmonsham in 1630 and name him 'Charles' after his recently deceased father and for this baptism Robert has now dropped the alias. There is no further evidence of use of the alias in the family.

Parentage:- His father Humphrey Christopher junior had 8 children and named his first son Charles Christopher and had him baptised at Hazelbury Bryan on 30th Apr 1701 but he died being buried there on 19th Apr 1702. The next child another son they baptised Joseph on the 12 Mar 1702/3 so we conveiniently have the two names that we have been searching for for many years together. There is then a gap of 7 years before the birth of Humphreys next child and it seems likely that they had another son that they renamed Charles during this period. We know they were likely to do this as Humphrey and Ann had three daughters they named Anne before one lived beyond infancy. So at the moment the hunt for Charles baptism possibly around 1705 somewhere in the area goes on.

Reason for the move: A baptism around 1705 would make our Charles in fordington aged 22 years at marriage to Elizabeth Allen, who was also aged 22. We know Charles arrived in Fordington before 1727, and Joseph arrived in Chesselborne prior to 1728 and the likely trigger for the break up of the family is the death of their father Humphrey in 1724 and the need to find work and establish their own families.

Continued family association: Charles brother Joseph had settlement in Chesselborne prior to his marriage to Joan Hooper in Hilton in 1728 so Chesselborne became her place of Settlement as well. After Joseph died (we think in the 1730's when Chesselborne parish records are missing) Joan had to return to Chesselborne when she needed support. In 1741 and 1743 she has 2 illegitimate children by a member of the Trask family who appear to have been established in the parish for many years. When he reached adulthood Charles son John CHRISTOPHER moved to Chesselborne where he probably lived with Joan until he married a widow Elizabeth Trask a member of the same family. John & Elizabeth name one of their daughters Joanna after Joan and when Joan falls ill John is paid by the Overseers of the poor to nurse her for 7 weeks prior to her death.

(2). Betty is a colloquial form of Elizabeth and in this case we know they used both. On more formal occasions such as baptisms they used Elizabeth but when Charles died for example the overseers refer to her as Betty.

(3). Their children were (a) Elizabeth Christopher (1755-aft 1788) bap Radipole 27 May 1755 who married James Buckler in Winterbourne Came 25 Nov 1777; (b) James Christopher (born Radipole c1757- he married 1st Martha Winzar in Fordington 19 Oct 1789 by whom he had 3 children in Fordington before Martha died. He married 2ndly Mary Bishop in Fordington on 23 Feb 1803 and moved to Winterbourne Came where another child was born; (c) Joseph Christopher born Radipole c1759 died a bachelor 12 Mar 1793 in Winterbourne Came; (d) Charles Christopher bap Kimmeridge 12 Jun 1761 died a bachelor 21 Nov 1791 in Winterbourne Came

(4). His age in the burial register of St Peters Church in Winterbourne Came is actually given as 90, but appears to be an approximation made by the priest after his death.

(5). James and Holloway Christopher had nine children baptised in St Georges Church Fordington:- Mary Christopher bap 25 June 1759 (She married James Dart in Fordington 26th Jan 1777 and raised a family of 5 children in Fordington followed by another 3 in Stinsford, she was buried at Bockhampton at the age of 74 on the 2 Sep 1833; John Christopher bap 14 Sep 1761 (buried 15 Sep 1764); Thomas Christopher bap 23 Oct 1763 (He married Ann Chalker in Cheselbourne 17 Feb 1800 and had 4 children); Elizabeth (Betty) Christopher bap 10 Nov 1765 (She married William Lucas in Fordington on 31 May 1787and had 11 children in Fordington and Puddletown where she was buried 18 Dec 1833) ; Ann Christopher bap 14 Apr 1768 (She married William Harden 13 Jan 1788 and had at least 1 child before her burial in Fordington on 16 July 1791); Sarah Christopher bap 24 June 1770 (She appears to have died young before 1779); Holloway Christopher bap 21 June 1772 (no subsequent trace); James Christopher bap 4 June 1775 (He moved to Upway and married Hannah the daughter of William & Hannah White there 18 Jan 1798. they raised a family of 10 children there before James burial 22 Sep 1848 at Broadway); Sarah Christopher bap 21 Nov 1779 she also died young being buried in Fordington 28 Aug 1781.

(6). On the baptism of all nine of their children the name of James wife is clearly given as 'Holloway' . They also name their 7th child, a girl, Holloway after her mother but I can find no other trace of her, and James wife is eventually buried under the name of Holloway Christopher in Fordington in 1794. There is some confusion however over her exact name. There is only one unallocated marriage for a James Christopher in the database covering the whole of Dorset (or on a UK basis in the IGI) and that is for a James Christopher of Fordington to an Olive Stone on 26th June 1758 in East Lulworth a small parish 9 miles east of Dorchester. We are fortunate that this marriage record has been transcribed by OPC and confirmed by the Federation of Family History society database some years ago. The entry states that James Christopher's home parish was Fordington and this can only be his marriage as he is the only James Christopher living in Fordington at or anywhere near that date. The marriage also occurred one year before the birth of their first child exactly where we would expect it to be. The IGI run by the Church of Latter Day Saints however records her name as Elizabeth Steer so the original records held at the Dorset history Center need to checked to confirm that it should be Olive Stone. The Christian name of Olive is very unusual at this date in Dorset and most families named their children after themselves and their parents. None of James & Holloway's children name any of the girls Holloway but two of them (Mary & Elizabeth) name one of their girls Olive.

(7). Elizabeth had been married to a John Trask and already had three girls (Sarah Trask bap Milton Abbas 7 Aug 1751; Mary Trask born c1754 - died unmarried in Cheselbourne 15 May 1784; and Susannah Trask bap in Cheselbourne on 29 May 1757).

(8). Mary Trask the daughter of Elizabeth by her 1st marriage had four illegitimate children in Cheselbourne the last of which was recorded under the surname Christopher. Mary who was described as a child of John Christopher (i.e. by his marriage to her mother) was buried 15th May 1784. One child was named Joanna after Joan Christopher and she died aged 7 on 1st May 1785. Another child was called William possibly after Joan's son or his father and was buried in Cheselbourne on 8th Sep 1785.

(9). Susannah Groves had married Robert Hannam in Piddletrenthide on 21st April 1772. They had 3 children (Betty Hannam bap Piddletrenthide 24 Oct 1774) (James Bap Alton Pancras 18 Nov 1776) and ( Ann bap Alton Pancras 19 Nov 1780) before Robert Hannam died and was buried in Alton Pancras 13 Dec 1780

(10). Information from a Settlement Examination transcribed on the Blandford Forum OPC web page.

(11).This is likely to be Edward Bryar and his son William who were Innholders and admitted as Freemen of Dorchester on 14th April 1755.

(12). The 7 children baptised in Blandford Forum were:- John Christopher bap 14 Aug 1774 buried 7 Jul 1782; Elizabeth Christopher bap 10 Jan 1778. (She married there on 27 Dec 1797 to Henry Stainer and had at least 3 children in Ashmore Dorset by 1805); Mary Christopher bap 3 Mar 1780 (she married there 13 June 1815 to John Clench); Susannah Christopher bap 24 Dec 1783 buried 8 Sep 1786; William Christopher bap 24 Dec 1785 buried 1 June 1791; Hannah Christopher bap 11 Aug 1787(she married in Tarrent Crawford 13 Oct 1802 to John Adams); Thomas Christopher bap 18 Feb 1791, buried 19 Nov 1791.