George Skinner Yates, b.1791, CORDWAINER of Drury Lane, St Giles in the Fields, Middlesex.

Frances Harriett Yates (Fanny) grew up in Drury Lane, London. She was one of the youngest of several brothers and sisters, some of whom didn’t survive childhood.

In 1817 the birth record of one of her older siblings describes their  father, George Skinner Yates, as a Cordwainer for the first time.

Cordwainer statue by Alma Boyes on Watling Street, in the Cordwainer ward of the City of London. Photo by Oxyman. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer

The following description of a Cordwainer is from Wikipedia:

A cordwainer (or cordovan) is a shoemaker/cobbler who makes fine soft leather shoes and other luxury footwear articles. The word is derived from “cordwain”, or “cordovan”, the leather produced in Córdoba, Spain. The term cordwainer was used as early as 1100 in England. Historically, there was a distinction between a cordwainer, who made luxury shoes and boots out of the finest leathers, and a cobbler, who repaired them. This distinction gradually weakened, particularly during the twentieth century, when there was a predominance of shoe retailers who neither made nor repaired shoes.

In London, the occupation of cordwainers was historically controlled by the guild of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers. There is a ward in the City of London named Cordwainer which is historically where most cordwainers lived and worked.

Further historical information about Cordwainers can be found at The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers website http://www.cordwainers.org/history.aspx

So who was Fanny’s mother?

Baptism records show that Frances Harriet Yates’ mother was called Sophia Yates.

In 1809 marriage records show that a George Yates married a Sophia Woodness. I know that our George and Sophia had their first child the following year in 1810, so it is highly likely, but not absolutely certain, that this is the right marriage record and the right Sophia.

London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 Record for George Yates and Sophia Woodness

George and Sophia Yates Marriage 1809. Source Citation: London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Marylebone, Register of marriages, P89/MRY1, Item 182.

You can also see this image on one of my Frances H Yates family tree at Ancestry.co.uk

St Martin in the Fields, London

Frances Harriet (Fanny) Yates, the youngest of several brothers and sisters, was born in 1828.

At this time George, Sophia and their family were recorded living in St Giles in the Fields so it is likely that their address (from baptism records of previous children) is still Princes Street, Drury Lane.

Frances was baptised a month or so after she was born on 21^st December 1828 in the Parish of St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, Middlesex, England.

London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 Record for Frances Harriet Yates. Westminster St Martin in the Fields 1828.

Frances Harriet Yates Birth 1828.
Source Citation: London Metropolitan Archives, Westminster St Martin in the Fields, Register of Baptism, DL/T/093, Item 051.

You can also see this image on one of my Frances H Yates family tree at Ancestry.co.uk

And who were Fanny’s brothers and sisters?

George and Sophia Yates had a number of children after they married and before their last daughter Frances/Fanny Harriet was born. Between 1810 and 1815 they baptised three children at Piccadilly St James. In two of the three records Sherrard Street (now Sherwood Street) in Piccadilly is given as their abode. It’s worth noting that at this time George was describing himself as a Shoemaker, not a Cordwainer.

Sadly, it is likely that their first two children, Charles W and Frances Sophia, died very young; George and Sophia baptise other children with the same first names later on. More research is needed here, but I have found burial records that could be theirs.

The table below compares the information provided by the baptism record of each individual in George Yates’ family from 1810 to 1815, before their move to Drury Lane. It shows the baptisms (and deaths) of the Yates family while they were living at Sherrard Street near Golden Square.

In 1815, just before the death of their second child and the birth of their third, I discovered something I hadn’t expected……..

George Skinner Yates, aged 23, was himself baptised in the parish of St. Marylebone.

For that reason the table below is laid out in order of baptisms and not births.

Please click on the image to enlarge it.

George and Sophia’s third child, Georgianna Phebe, thankfully survived childhood, married, and lived to the age of 44.

Next: The Yates family move to Drury Lane. More children are born and survive before Fanny comes along.

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