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William LISEMORE (c.1808–1878)
His wife Mrs Mary LISEMORE, née Poultney (c.1808–1883)
St Paul section: Row 28, Grave H16 (St Paul section G/T25)

William Lisemore was born in Long Whatton, Leicestershire in c.1808 (but age fluctuates in the censuses).

Mary Poultney was born in Hinckley, Leicestershire in c.1808.

On 29 January 1832 at St Nicholas's Church, Leicester, William Lisemore married Mary Poultney, and they had the following children:

• Eliza Lisemore (born in St Margaret's parish, Leicester in c.1834)
• John Lisemore (born in Leicester in early 1837 and baptised at St George's Church there on 22 February)
• Emma Lisemore (born in St Mary's parish Leicester in 1839, reg. second quarter; died end of 1846)
• Mary Ann Lisemore (born in St Mary's parish, Leicester in 1842, reg. second quarter)
• William Lisemore junior (born in St Mary's parish, Leicester in 1844, reg. third quarter)
• Unnamed baby girl (born and died in Leicester in 1847, both reg. first quarter)
• Emma Lisemore TWIN (born in St Mary's parish, Leicester in 1848, reg. second quarter)
• Betsy or Elizabeth Lisemore TWIN (born in St Mary's parish, Leicester in 1848, reg. second quarter; died 1851)
• Harriet Lisemore (born in St Mary's parish, Leicester in 1853, reg. fourth quarter).

At the time of the 1841 census William and Mary Lisemore were living at Reeding Street, Leicester with their first three children Eliza (7), John (4), and Emma (2): William was working as a cotton brace maker, and Mary as a brace sewer. Emma (the first of their two daughters given that name) died near the end of 1846 at the age of seven.

By 1851 William and Mary Lisemore were living at 10 Walling Road, Leicester with their children Eliza (16), John (14), Mary Ann (9), William (5), a second Emma (3), and Betsey (3). Four members of the family were engaged in textile manufacture: William and their 14-year old son were setters, while Mary was a reeler and their 16-year-old daughter was a worsted spinner.

Their daughter Betsey died at the age of three near the end of 1851.

Their youngest daughter Harriet was born near the end of 1853, and their eldest daughter Eliza was married around the same time:

• On 21 September 1853 in Leicester, Eliza Lisemore married Joseph Soden, a chimney sweep, born in Hinckley, Leicestershire in c.1835, the son of the framework knitter John Soden. Both signed their name with a cross.

By 1861 William was a licensed hawker, living at 10 Watling Street, Leicester with his wife Mary and his children John (24) and William (16), who were also licensed hawkers; Mary Ann (18) was a shoe binder, and Emma (13) and Harriet (7), who were at school. Their daughter Mary Anne was married the following year:

• On 15 December 1861 at St Mary's Church, Leicester, Mary Ann Lisemore (19) of Watling street married Daniel Bell (23), a hawker of Luke Street and the son of the glove hand William Bell. Daniel was able to sign his name, but Mary Ann just put a cross.

By the beginning of 1862 William & Mary Lisemore's daughter Eliza Soden had moved with her husband Joseph Soden down to Banbury, where Joseph's brother was already operating as a chimney sweep. By the end of 1863 the Sodens had moved to Jericho Street in Oxford, and around the same time William and Mary Lisemore moved down from Leicester with their children John, Emma, and Harriet and settled in the same street. Their children Mary Ann, William, and Emma remained in Leicester.

Three more of their children were married in the 1860s:

• On 10 September 1864 at St Clement near Truro, John Lisemore married Ellen Arnold;
• On 12 March 1866 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, Emma Lisemore (19) married William Soden, a chimney sweep, the son of the Banbury sweep Abraham Soden (who was the brother of her sister Eliza's husband Joseph Soden and was living with her family at the time of their marriage);
• In 1869 (reg. second quarter) in Leicester, William Lisemore junior married Mary Ann Faulkner;
• On 24 March 1870 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, Harriet Elizabeth Lisemore (19) (with name in register and on marriage certificate spelt Lisomere) married George Garthwaite Bidmead, a chimney sweep of Jericho Street, the son of the French polisher Henry Garthwaite Bidmead.

At the time of the 1871 census William Lisemore, described as an earthenware dealer, was living at 3 Jericho Street with his wife Mary.

William died in 1878:

† William Lisemore died at Jericho Street at the age of about 70 on 8 March 1878 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 12 March (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

At the time of the 1881 census Mrs Mary Lisemore (73) was living at 2 Jericho Street with her daughter Mrs Eliza Soden and her family.

Mary Lisemore died in 1883:

† Mrs Mary Lisemore née Poultney died at Jericho Street at the age of 75 on 5 May 1883 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 9 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

Children of William and Mary Lisemore

• Eliza Lisemore, Mrs Joseph Soden (born c.1834): see separate grave
• John Lisemore (born 1837): see separate grave of his wife Ellen
• Mary Ann Lisemore, Mrs Daniel Bell (born 1842) was aged 28 in 1871 and living at 2 Flora Street, Leicester with her husband Daniel (34) and their children Clara (9), Daniel (7), Alfred (3), and Lillia (seven months). In 1881 they were at 108 Charnwood Street, Leicester with Clara (19), who was the forewoman at a glue works; Daniel (17) who fitted in braiding on shoes; and Alfred (13), Lily (10), George (8), and Angelina (6). By 1891 they had moved to 60 Prospect Hill, Evington, Leicestershire, and six children were still at home: Clara (28), William (20), and Angelina (16) all worked in a warehouse; Alfred (23) was a clerk; George (19) was a baker; and Florence (9) was at school. By 1911 Mary Ann (68) was living at 22 Newport Street, Leicester with her husband Daniel (72), who under “Occupation” wrote “Too old to work”. Mary Ann died in Leicester at the age of 68 later that year, while Daniel Bell died there at the age of 91 in 1930.
• William Lisemore junior (born 1844) was a glass & china merchant in 1871 living at 21 Kate Street, Leicester with his wife Mary Ann, their children Sarah (3) and Kate (eleven months), and Mary Ann's widowed mother and her brother. In 1881 they were living at Lutterworth Road, Aylestone, Leicestershire with their daughters Sara (14), Kate (11), and Ethel (six weeks). In 1891 they were living at 9 & 11 Applegate Street Leicester with six of their children: Sarah (23), Kate (21), and William (19) were assisting their father in his glass & china business, while Albert (14), Fred (12) and Ethel (10) were at school. In 1901 William Lisemore (57) was living off his own means at a house in Leicester called Brookside with his wife and his daughter Ethel (20). William Lisemore junior died at Arundel House, 80 Hinckley Road, Leicester at the age of 63 on 25 October 1908, described as a gentleman. His effects came to £2,671 12s. 11d., and his executors were the stonemason Tom Edwin Banbury and the fruit salesman John Edwards Walker.
• Emma Lisemore, Mrs William Soden (born 1848) was aged 24 and living at Pepper Alley, Banbury in 1871 with her husband William (27), who was still working as a chimney sweep, and their daughters Lydia (4), Amelia (3), and Ada (1), and a chimney sweep was lodging with them. Emma died in Banbury at the age of 29 near the beginning of 1877. At the time of the 1881 census he was still living in Banbury with their six children: Lydia (14), Amelia (13), Ada (11), Selina (9), Arthur (7), and William (5).
• Harriet Elizabeth Lisemore, Mrs George Bidmead (born 1853) was living at Wootton near Woodstock in 1871 with her chimney-sweep husband and their son Alfred (eight months) and her husband's 21-year-old unmarried sister and her two-year-old son. By 1881 they had moved back to Oxford and were living at 41 Walton Street with their children Alfred (10), Lucy (6), Albert (5), and Katherine (1); and they were still looking after their nephew, who was now a 13-year-old errand boy. In 1901 their address was given as 40 Walton Street and George was now dealing in old iron as well as sweeping chimneys. Four of their children were still at home: Alice (15), Margaret (13), who was a paper-folder at the printing works, John (11), and Ethel (8). Harriet Bidmead died in Oxford at the age of 55 in late 1909, and her husband George died at 40 Walton Street on 13 March 1910 aged 59: his effects came to £1,609 19s. 1d.