Pepper DNA Project

John Pepper was born in 1749 in Keele, Staffordshire, England. He married Catherine Garner, daughter of Roger Garner and Mary Vernon, on 1 January 1772 in Newcastle under Lyme, Stafford, England.

John was a builder and architect of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, where he built the Theatre Royal in 1787 [Newcastle Borough Reporter, May 1992, 6]. Pepper Street, which he presumably built as a speculation, commemorates his name.

In 1796 he patented an improvement in the structure of kilns for firing china, etc. (Patent no. 2140). In 1802 - 3, with advice from J. H. Haycock (q.v.), he altered and improved Maer Hall, Staffs, for Josiah Wedgwood [Eliza Meteyard, A Group of Englishman, 1871, 306-7].

John died on 11 June 1811 in Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, England. He was buried on 27 June 1811 in Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, England. A tombstone in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, Newcastle-under-Lyme records the dates of his birth and death [ex inf. Mr. Maxwell Craven]