William Gillett [34]

  General Notes:

Christening indexing CO3656-1,
System England ODM
GS film 355633.
Marriage by Banns,27 October 1761 performed by John Chawner,Curate.
Witnessed by Edward Pierce and William Exeter.
Note that the records around this time spent the surname as Gillet,Gillott,Gillot,Gillet and Gillett.
Results of research done by Rosemary Mountjoy;

Information relating to Edward Gillett,son of William.
There are more details about some of the following generation of Hawkhurst Gilletts, but I am trying to stop this email growing out of hand. However, I think that I might have found a reason for the family getting the extracts of Parish Registers in 1853/4. I found the following item in the London Gazette:

"PURSUANT to a Decree of the High Court of
Chancery, made in a cause William Edward Gillett
against Elizabeth Gillett and others, the creditors of Edward
Gillett, late of Brighton, in the county of Sussex, Gentleman,
who died in or about the month of June, 1850, are, by
their Solicitors, on or before the 20th day of November,
1854, to come in and prove their debts at the chambers of
the Vice-Chancellor, Sir William Page Wood, No. 11, Newsquare,
Lincoln's-inn, Middlesex, or in default thereof they
will be peremptorily excluded from the benefit of the said
Decree.
Monday, the 11th day of December, 1851, at twelve
o'clock noon, at the said chambers, is appointed for hearing
and adjudicating upon the claims.-Dated this 8th day of
August, 1854."
[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/21583/pages/2549/page.pdf]

So then I looked for information on the above people using familysearch,ancestry.co.uk and Google. Edward Gillett was baptised on 25 April 1773 in Hawkhurst, son of William and Elizabeth Gillett, as above. He married Elizabeth Munn in Hawkhurst on 3 March 1795. and he died Q3 1850 in Brighton, as far as I can tell without issue. Pigot Directory 1840 shows Edward Gillett Esq of 180 Western Rd, Brighton [http://www.sussex-opc.org/Pigot1840/BrightonPigot1840.htm]. The 1841 census shows him at Western Rd, Brighthelmstone (old name for Brighton), Sussex, age 65 (rounded), not born in Sussex, Independent.
He died Q3 1850, Brighton, Sussex, vol 7, p225 (so it might be worth getting his death certificate, although I don't know what that would prove at this stage).

I was then really pleased to find that his memorial inscription had been put online, which gave a date of death of 19 June 1850: MI St Nicholas Rest Garden, Dyke Rd, Brighton, No. 259: Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth, widow of Edward Gillett died August 29th. 1859 aged 91 years, also Elizabeth Miles, sister of Mr Edward Gillett, died November 9th 1852 aged 72 years, also of Mr Edward Gillett Gentleman who departed this life June 19th 1850 aged 77 years. TOMB TO BE LEFT (sic). [Recorded by SNCGSA Heritage Group 2008] [http://mortiquarian.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/rest-gardens-inscription-records.pdf]
At this point I changed tack and moved on to the Hawkhurst family and tried to find as much as I could about them, to see whether I could find anything which would prevent William Gillett from being 'ours'. The family definitely exists and at the moment, with one exception - the year of the marriage of William Gillett and Elizabeth Howe - the information matches that provided by HEC! That marriage is listed with the same day and month but differs by one year: 27 October 1760 or 1761. I attach a comparison between HEC's information and that which I have found online about the family, and have marked the points of agreement.

Working from this information I looked for Elizabeth Miles (sister of Mr Edward Gillett, as MI), which led to Elizabeth Gillett, born 18 Nov 1775, Hawkhurst, daughter of W&EG. She married Stanley Mantle Miles 18 June 1809 at St Mary, Harrow, Middlesex (unlikely, I thought, but stuck with it). Their third child, a daughter, Maria Miles was in Brighton with Edward and Elizabeth Gillett on the 1841 census, not born in Sussex. In the 1851 census she was still with them (and her entry shows that she was born in Harrow, Middlesex!) and they had been joined by her widowed mother. Maria married in Q2 1851 to Edward Edwards, and if you look back at the sheet of Gillett dates, there is an item dated 1869 showing Mr Edward Edwards and his wife alive and living at "Gillett's Cottage" 192 Western Road, Brighton!

So, my assessment of the above is that William Edward Gillett was sufficiently sure of his relationship to Edward Gillett (his uncle) to get the extracts of Parish Records to prove the relationship (perhaps so that he could make his claim?). Quite what the significance of getting Henry Gillett's baptism (as distinct from any of the other siblings), I am not sure, but it seems he may have gone to Devon as well. HEC gives a death for HG on 10th March 1836 at Colyton, which if accurate would rule him out of any claim, and might be able to be checked. The only other thing I have found which might be relevant, or might be totally unconnected with this family is in the National Archives: Item Reference C 15 / 112 / G22, a case in Chancery for 1854 Gillett v Gillett, which is held by National Archives, Kew and I have attached the reference (I wish they had been more detailed in their summary and had given forenames for the Gilletts). I think this may require a trip to the National Archives at Kew!

Comment from Stephen Thomas;
Interesting thoughts on Hawkchurch. It is interesting though that there is
a William in Hawkhurst and I wonder just what was available in index form
that Mary Edwards could consult before 1926. Not much I should have
thought.
Yes I agree that William was probably living close by in 1801 which is
another (together withe occupational discrepancy) for supposing that it is
quite a leap to the Hawkhurst William. I wonder if anyone has ever looked
to see if William lived on in Hawkhurst which would of course rule him
out and either put that theory to rest or reinforce it. The thing with the
Harthill/ Sheffield Gillats is that they were in Hammersmith/ Westminster
and connect with the William who lived in Brackley, Northamptonshire who
had a daughter who moved to and married in Clapton where your William
Gillett worked in Brooke House. This girl, Emily Gillett, had a
grandmother, Sarah Gillett nee Jennings who was born in Taunton in 1763.
She married Thomas Gillett in Hammersmith/Fulham in 1794.

William married Elizabeth How(e) [35] [MRIN: 23], daughter of Unknown and Unknown, on 27 Oct 1760 in Hawkhurst, Kent.

William next married Ann Burgess [1392] [MRIN: 468] on 22 Apr 1756 in Hawkhurst. (Ann Burgess [1392] died before 3 Apr 1760 in Hawkhurst and was buried in 1760.)