THE MUDDLE FAMILIES

THE LINEAGE & HISTORY OF THE MUDDLE FAMILIES OF THE WORLD

INCLUDING VARIANTS MUDDEL, MUDDELL, MUDLE & MODDLE

 

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THE KENT MUDDLE FAMILIES

THE HARRIETSHAM MUDDLES

 

Introduction

Andrew & Isabella Muddle’s Family

Richard & Elizabeth Muddle’s Family

John & Rebecca Muddle’s Family

Arthur & Bridget Muddle’s Family

William & Elizabeth Muddle’s Family

Edward & Ann/Alice Muddle’s Family

James & Ann Muddle’s Family

Nicholas & Susannah Muddle’s Family

Stephen & Eliz:/Eleanor Muddle’s Family

James & Elizabeth Muddle’s Family

William & Christian Muddle’s Family

James & Susannah Muddle’s Family

William & Ann/Sarah/Jane Muddle’s Family

John & Mary Jane Muddle’s Family

Arthur & Elizabeth Muddle’s Family

Edward & Mary Muddle’s Family

Index of Family Members

Charts

 

 

Stephen & Elizabeth/Eleanor Muddle's Family

 

Chart of Stephen & Elizabeth/Eleanor Muddle's Family

 

Stephen Muddle married Elizabeth Austen at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 27 February 1677. They lived at Boxley where they had eight children born between 1678 and 1685; four of whom died in infancy. Twelve years after the birth of their last child Elizabeth died and was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 6 October 1706. The following year Stephen married Eleanor Baker at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 12 October 1707. They lived at Boxley where they had six children born between 1708 and 1716; three of whom died in infancy including the first two who were twins. About eleven weeks after the birth of their last child Stephen died, at the age of about 60, and he was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 28 June 1716. In his burial record Stephen was described as a poor householder. Three years later Eleanor died and she was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 29 September 1719.

 

Their children were:

John 1678-1707  Mary 1680-1683  William 1683-?  Elizabeth 1685-1689

Stephen 1687-1688  Mary 1689-1689  Dorothy 1691-?  Stephen 1694-1712

Richard 1708-1709  John 1708-1708  Elizabeth 1710-?  Stephen 1712-1712

William 1713-1756  Stephen 1716-1746

 

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s eldest child was John Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 27 January 1678. When he was 23 years old John married widow Jane Milton at the Church of St Martin in Detling, Kent on 14 December 1701 by license. The license issued by the Archdeaconry of Canterbury on 20 December 1701 (either the marriage date or the date of the license must be wrong) described John as a husbandman and bachelor of Boxley and Jane as a widow of Boxley. They lived at Boxley where they had two children born in 1703 and 1705. Then two years after the birth of their last child John died when he was just on 29 years old, and he was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 9 January 1707. John’s burial record described him as a householder. Two years after John’s death Jane married Daniel Walter at the Church of All Saints in Frindsbury, Kent on 4 May 1709 by licence.

 

 

 

John and Jane’s eldest child was William Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 7 March 1703. When he was 29 years old William married Ann Crayford at the Church of St Margaret of Antioch in Rainham, Kent on 15 October 1732. They lived at Gillingham in Kent where they had three children born between 1742 and 1745; the last two of whom died in infancy.

 

 

William and Ann’s eldest child was Ann Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 21 March 1742.

 

William and Ann’s second child was William Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 29 January 1744. William died when he was about 18 months old and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary Magdalene at Gillingham on 12 June 1745.

 

William and Ann’s third child was John Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 10 November 1745. John died when he was 3 years old and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin at Chatham, Kent on 8 August 1749.

 

 

John and Jane’s second child was John Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 18 February 1705. John died when he was 21 years old and he was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 20 February 1726.

 

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s second child was Mary Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 22 August 1680. Mary died when she was only 3 years old, and she was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 14 October 1683.

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s third child was William Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 14 January 1683. William must have died by 1713 when his father used the name William again for another of his sons.

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s fourth child was Elizabeth Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 11 June 1685. Elizabeth died when she was only 4 years old, and she was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 7 July 1689.

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s fifth child was Stephen Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 1 May 1687. Stephen died when he was only a year old, and he was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 5 August 1688.

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s sixth child was Mary Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 21 April 1689. Mary died when she was only about 4 months old, and she was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 11 August 1689, about 5 weeks after her sister Elizabeth.

 

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s seventh child was Dorothy Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 26 November 1691.

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s eighth child was Stephen Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 11 November 1694. Stephen died at Rochester in Kent when he was 17 years old, and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Margaret of Antioch at Rochester on 7 February 1712.

 

Stephen and Eleanor’s eldest child, one of twins, (Stephen’s ninth) was Richard Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 30 May 1708. Richard died when he was only about eleven months old, and he was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 24 April 1709.

 

Stephen and Eleanor’s second child, one of twins, (Stephen’s tenth) was John Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 30 May 1708. John died when he was only about a month old, and he was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 27 June 1708.

 

Stephen and Eleanor’s third child (Stephen’s eleventh) was Elizabeth Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 5 February 1710.

 

Stephen and Eleanor’s fourth child (Stephen’s twelfth) was Stephen Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 4 March 1712. Stephen died when he was only a few days old, and he was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 9 March 1712.

 

Stephen and Eleanor’s fifth child (Stephen’s thirteenth) was William Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 13 May 1713. When he was 22 years old William married Elizabeth Cooper at the Church of St Alphege in Canterbury, Kent on 14 December 1735. They had four children; the first was born at Canterbury in 1736 and died there when only about two months old. Their next two children were born at Chatham in 1737 and 1739, and their fourth child was born at Boxley in 1741 and died there when about 6 months old. William died at Chatham, at the age of 43, and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin at Chatham on 30 November 1756. Twenty years later Elizabeth died and was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin at Chatham on 28 April 1775.

 

 

William and Elizabeth’s eldest child was Elizabeth Muddle who was born at Canterbury in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Alphege in Canterbury on 8 August 1736. She was baptised a second time at the Church of St Mary Northgate in Canterbury on 5 September 1736. Then about three weeks later Elizabeth died when she was about two months old, and she was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary Northgate in Canterbury on 26 September 1736.

 

William and Elizabeth’s second child was William Cornelius Muddle who was born at Chatham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Chatham on 3 November 1737. When he was 24 years old William married Elizabeth Cook at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham, Kent on 1 May 1762. They had two children; the first born at Gillingham in 1764 and the second at Chatham in 1766, who died there in 1771, at the age of 4.

 

 

William and Elizabeth’s eldest child was William Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 27 April 1764.

 

William and Elizabeth’s second child was Sarah Muddle who was born at Chatham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Chatham on 13 July 1766. Sarah died when she was 4 years old and she was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin at Chatham on 4 April 1771.

 

 

 

William and Elizabeth’s third child was Stephen Muddle who was born at Chatham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Chatham on 30 March 1739. Five months after his father’s death Stephen had been working as a weaver when, at the age of 18, he enlisted as a Drummer in the Chatham Division of the Royal Marines on 5 May 1757. He was described as having a swarthy complexion and brown hair.[1] Stephen initially served for nearly 6 years in the 98th Company of the Royal Marines. He was initially stationed with them on shore at Chatham, and was recorded there in the surviving musters for all of 1758.[2] He was again recorded on shore at Chatham with the 98th Company from 1 January 1763 to 30 April 1763.[3] During these times Stephen was paid 8d per day, the same as a Corporal and 2d more than a Private. No shore musters for the 98th Company survive for the intervening period of 1759 to 1762, so it has been impossible to determine if Stephen spent this time on shore or was, for at least some of the time, on board a ship or ships.

Stephen married Mary and they had four children. They were living, or at least Mary was, in the parish of Christ Church Spittlefields, London when Mary, at the age of 19, was admitted to the Laying in Hospital in Holborn, London on 16 February 1763 and gave birth there to their first child on 9 March 1763. Mary and child were discharged from the hospital on 26 March 1763.[4]

On the 1 May 1763 Stephen transferred to the 25th Company of the Royal Marines and was stationed with them on shore at Chatham until 26 June 1763.[5] The following day he was part of a complement of 17 marines that joined HMS Fortune then moored at the Nore in the Thames Estuary. Fortune had originally been called HMS Falcon when launched as a 14-gun sloop at Harwich in 1744; she was captured by the French in 1745 and recaptured by the Royal Navy in 1746. She was then renamed Fortune and converted to an 18-gun sloop.

When Stephen joined Fortune she was commanded by Captain Thomas Bishop, her master was Frederick Henderson, and she in the process of victualling for a voyage to North America. This voyage, which lasted for three years, was to do hydrographic survey work, first along the south coast of England, particularly in Portland Road, Torbay and Plymouth Sound. Fortune then sailed across the Atlantic to Boston to do survey work along the coast of New England up to Nova Scotia. Some of the places Fortune visited were Nantasket Road and Spectacle Island in Massachusetts, Casco Bay in Maine, and Halifax and Annapolis Basin in Nova Scotia. The Fortune then sailed back at Woolwich, England where the crew were discharged on 15 September 1766.[6] During this voyage 28 seamen and 8 marines were recorded as jumping ship.[7]

After returning from the voyage on the Fortune it seems that Stephen was probably station on shore at Chatham for several years as Stephen and Mary’s other three children were born at Chatham between 1768 and 1773. Their first child, who had been born in 1763, died at Chatham in 1768, at the age of 5, and their fourth child died at Chatham in 1774, at the age of 1.

In the surviving on shore musters Stephen was a Drummer at Chatham with the 25th Company in 1778 and 1780, then on the 18 December 1780 he became a member of a recruiting party.[8] Stephen remained with the recruiting party for just over two years, returning to Chatham Barracks on 9 February 1783 and then being discharged as an invalid on 14 February 1783, after nearly 26 years service with the Royal Marines.[9]

It's thought that Stephen and Mary had separated by 1780 and that Mary may have returned to what is thought to be her place of birth, Middlesex, and that it was her who was the Mary Muddle recorded as a vagrant in Middlesex in 1780 and 1783 and both times sent back to Boxley in Kent as her legal place of settlement. As a wife Mary would have taken her husband's place of settlement and although Stephen had been born in Chatham he had probably inherited his father's place of settlement, which was Boxley. The Session Papers of Middlesex Sessions of the Peace recorded that on 25 July 1780 Henry Adams, the Vagrant Contractor for Middlesex, on the orders of magistrate Richard Hassell, conveyed vagrant Mary Muddle, whose settlement was Boxley in Kent, from the House (the Middlesex House of Correction) to St Botolph, which was the point on the County of Middlesex border with the City of London that was on the route to Boxley, and where the next vagrant contractor or parish constable would have taken over responsibility for transporting Mary on the next stage of her journey to Boxley. As Mary had been in the Middlesex House of Correction she had this time been detained as a vagrant in that county.[10] Three years later on 25 April 1783 Henry Adams, on the orders of magistrate H Dunster, conveyed vagrant Mary Muddle, whose settlement was Boxley in Kent, from the Enfield in Middlesex to St Botolph. In this case as Enfield is on the northern border of Middlesex it seems that Mary had been detained as a vagrant somewhere further north and she was being conveyed through Middlesex by vagrant contractor Henry Adams as one part of her journey to Boxley.[11]

With his length of service in the Royal Marines Stephen would have been granted a pension on his discharge as an out-pensioner of Greenwich Hospital, but as he was an invalid with no one to look after him, as he was presumably separated from his wife, he applied to become an in-pensioner at Greenwich Hospital, and he was granted admission on 8 May 1783, as a Marine afflicted with rheumatism.[12] Two days later, on 10 May 1783, Stephen, at the age of 44, entered Greenwich Hospital.

Stephen son William had died in Bermuda on 1 March 1783, at the age of 15, while serving as a Drummer in the Royal Marines. Then later that year, on 2 December 1783, Stephen as the sole executor and beneficiary of his son William's will, was paid £12 12s 9½d by the Admiralty as the amount they owed his son in wages. After being in Greenwich Hospital for nearly 16 years Stephen died on 6 March 1799, when just on 60 years old.[13] He was buried in the Greenwich Hospital Burial Ground (then known as Goddard’s Garden and is now King William Walk) on 8 March 1799.[14]

 

 

Stephen and Mary’s eldest child was Ann Muddle who was born at the British Lying in Hospital, Endell Street, Holborn, London on 9 March 1763 and baptised there on 17 March 1763. Ann died at Chatham in Kent when she was only 5 years old, and she was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin at Chatham on 22 August 1768.[15]

 

Stephen and Mary’s second child was William Muddle who was born at Chatham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Chatham on 7 February 1768. William, like his father, became a Drummer in the Chatham Division of the Royal Marines. On 27 March 1778, at the age of 10, William enlisted as a Drummer in the 89th Company of the Royal Marines and was described as then being just 4ft 0½ins tall with dark brown hair, a fresh complexion and to have worked as a labourer.[16] For the next eighteen months William was a Drummer in the 89th Company stationed on shore at Chatham.[17] Then on 19 September 1779, he was part of a complement of 20 marines that joined HMS Cerberus then moored at the Nore in the Thames Estuary.[18] The Cerberus was in the process of victualling and she sailed on 23 September 1779; in 1781 she was at Spithead off Portsmouth.[19] William made his will on 16 September 1782 while serving on the Cerberus captained by Jacob Wheate; this was probably because the Cerberus was going into active service in the Blockade of Newport, Rhode Island, during the last stages of the American War of Independence. The Cerberus sunk on 21 February 1783 when she struck rocks while leaving Castle Harbour in Bermuda. William and the other Marines transferred to HMS Mentor and just 8 days later William was still a Drummer in the 89th Company when died on 1 March 1783, at the age of 15, on the same day that several other marines that had been serving on the Cerberus also died.[20] In his will William left everything to his father who was also sole executor. The will was proved by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 13 October 1783.[21] Then on the 2 December 1783 the Admiralty paid William’s father the £12 12s 9½d that they owed William in pay.[22]

 

 

Stephen and Mary’s third child was Stephen Muddle who was born at Chatham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Chatham on 16 December 1770.

 

Stephen and Mary’s fourth child was Edward Muddle who was born at Chatham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Chatham on 25 April 1773. Edward died when he was only 17 months old and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin at Chatham on 2 October 1774.

 

 

William and Elizabeth’s fourth child was Elizabeth Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 19 April 1741. Elizabeth died when she was about 6 months old and she was buried in the Churchyard of All Saints at Boxley on 26 October 1741.

 

 

Stephen and Eleanor’s sixth child (Stephen’s fourteenth) was Stephen Muddle who was born at Boxley in Kent and baptised at the Church of All Saints in Boxley on 8 April 1716. When he was 22 years old Stephen married Elizabeth Holland at the Sun Coffeehouse in London on 2 October 1738. They were married by minister Walter Wyatt under the Fleet Prison rules; they were both living at Chatham in Kent and Stephen was a husbandman.[23] They had four children born at Gillingham in Kent between 1739 and 1745, three of whom died in infancy. Nine months after the birth of their last child Stephen died at the age of 30, and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary Magdalene at Gillingham on 6 July 1746. Sixteen years later Elizabeth died and she was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary Magdalene at Gillingham on 8 May 1762.

 

 

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s eldest child was Hannah Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 14 January 1739. Hannah died when she was about 1 year and 9 months old, and she was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary Magdalene at Gillingham on 19 October 1740.

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s second child was Elizabeth Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 31 January 1742. In 1763 Elizabeth at the age of 21, who had been an orphan since her mother’s death the year before, gave birth at Gillingham to an illegitimate son. This son only lived for 6 months.

 

 

Elizabeth’s illegitimate son was William Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 5 April 1763. William died when he was only 6 months old and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary Magdalene at Gillingham on 14 October 1763.

 

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s third child was William Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 16 October 1743. William died when he was about 7 months old, and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary Magdalene at Gillingham on 1 June 1744.

 

Stephen and Elizabeth’s fourth child was Michael Muddle who was born at Gillingham in Kent and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Gillingham on 13 October 1745. Michael died when he was 3½ years old, and he was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary Magdalene at Gillingham on 9 April 1749.


[1] TNA ADM 158/3 Royal Marines Description Book, Chatham Division, 25th Company.

[2] TNA ADM 96/146 Musters of Royal Marines serving on shore in 1758.

[3] TNA ADM 96/150 Musters of Royal Marines serving on shore in 1763.

[4] TNA RG 8/55 Particulars of Patients at the British Lying in Hospital.

[5] TNA ADM 96/152 Musters of Royal Marines serving on shore in 1763.

[6] TNA ADM 346/9/6 Hydrographic Department Ships’ Remark Book for HMS Fortune, and

      TNA ADM 346/9/7 Letter from commander & master of HMS Fortune on survey work done.

[7] TNA ADM 36/5572 & 5573 Musters of HMS Fortune March 1763 – September 1766.

[8] TNA ADM 96/153 Musters of Royal Marines serving on shore from 1772 to 1780.

[9] TNA ADM 96/154 Musters of Royal Marines serving on shore from 1781 to 1790.

[10] LMA Ms.MJ/SP/1780/09 p.75 Middlesex Sessions of the Peace, Session Papers, 1780.

[11] LMA Ms.MJ/SP/1783/04 pt.1 p.13 Middlesex Sessions of the Peace, Session Papers, 1783.

[12] TNA ADM 6/225/52 Register of candidates for admission to Greenwich Hospital 1781-1784.

[13] TNA ADM 73/38 General Entry Book for Greenwich Hospital 1764-1812.

[14] TNA RG 4/1671 f33 Greenwich Hospital (Anglican) Burial Register.

[15] TNA RG 8/62 Births ans Baptisms at the British Lying in Hospital.

[16] TNA ADM 158/4 Royal Marines Description Book, Chatham Division, 89th Company.

[17] TNA ADM 96/153 Musters of Royal Marines serving on shore from 1772 to 1780.

[18] TNA ADM 34/184 Pay Book for HMS Cerberus 1 October 1780 – 31 January 1781.

[19] TNA ADM 36/9950 & 9953 Musters of HMS Cerberus July 1779 – October 1782.

[20] TNA ADM 34/214 Pay Book for HMS Cerberus 1 January 1782 – 18 October 1783.

[21] TNA PROB 11/1109 Will of William Muddle proved by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

[22] TNA ADM 34/214 Pay Books for HMS Cerberus 1 January 1782 – 18 October 1783.

[23] TNA RG 7/165 f198, RG 7/167 f42, RG 7/701 f11, Fleet Marriage Registers.

 

Copyright © Derek Miller 2009-2014

Last updated 12 February 2014

 

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