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Brentford Families - Callis

Henry Cox & Mary Ann Callis – before immigration

Mary Ann was born on 24th March 1816 at Brentford, Middlesex, a village about halfway between London central and what is now Heathrow Airport.

The highest concentration of Callis’ in England around this time was in Leicestershire and it might be that this is where this family was originally from. Richard Callis, Mary Ann’s grandfather, was in Brentford by 1773 when his first child was born. He might have moved there to join his older brother, Thomas, who started his family with his wife Mary in Brentford in 1767. The connection between Richard & Thomas, however, remains unproven.

Richard Callis & Martha West, were both born in the late 1740s and married on 25th July 1773 at St Botolph, London. One of the witnesses at their marriage was Joseph CLARK and there is a possibility that he is the father of Mary Ann CLARK who later married their son, Richard Callis.

Richard Callis senior was a carpenter at the time of his first son’s birth. Richard & Martha’s children, born between 1773 & 1792 were: John (who was baptized a few weeks before his parents married), Bridget, Richard, Martha, a second Martha, Lucy, Thomas and a third Martha. Bridget and the first two Martha’s died in their first 2 years of life.

Mary Ann’s father, Richard Callis, was born on 2nd June 1781 at Brentford, the 3rd of their 8 children. His father, Richard died in January 1821 at the age of 72 and his mother, Martha in March 1830, at the age of 82. They are both buried at St Mary, Ealing.

By 1801, there were 2 households of Callis’ living in Old Brentford, comprising of 4 families: Richard Callis’ household of 2 families and John Callis’ (quite likely Richard’s oldest son, 8 years ‘our’ Richard’s senior) household of 2 families.

By 1811 these 4 families had moved into 3 homes, Lucy (probably Richard’s younger sister) having moved out with another woman, quite possibly her younger sister, Martha (who was a witness at her marriage 2 years after this).

Richard, son of Richard & Martha, married Mary Ann CLARK on 16th July 1815, at St Mary’s Church, Mortlake, Surrey, which was probably Mary Ann’s hometown. Richard was 34 & Mary Ann 25.

They lived at New Brentford, in outer west London, where Richard worked as a furniture broker & appraiser with his nephews (his older brother, John & his wife Ann Tovey’s children) Charles & Richard. Richard and Mary Ann had 9 children between 1816 & 1829: ‘our’ Mary Ann, then Sarah, Richard (who died at the age of 5), Thomas, Caroline, William, Richard & Eliza.

Mary Ann’s mother, Mary Ann died in August 1834, at the age of 45, a couple of months after her youngest son, Richard (who died at the age of 8), and 13-year-old Eliza went to live with her sister, Sarah & her new husband, George WARE.

Eliza worked as a servant for a number of rectors and deacons before marrying John Earl TITLEY when she was 43, moving to John’s hometown in Staffordshire and having 2 children in her late 40s.

Thomas and Caroline married siblings, Emma & Alfred PEACOCK and both had children in Middlesex , as did Sarah & George. Thomas died at just 36. Mary Ann’s father, Richard died at the age of 59 in November 1839 in Brentford, only months after Mary Ann and Henry’s marriage. He was buried at St Lawrence church, Brentford.

Life must have been difficult and it is not surprising that Henry & Mary Ann were lured by the prospect of a better life in the new colony of South Australia, half a world away.

Henry & Mary Ann moved back to Burbage Wiltshire briefly after they married and this is where their first child, Ann Selina Wilcox Cox, was baptized in March 1840, 10 months after they married. Two months later, on 4th May 1840 they boarded the “William Mitchell” in London and, after nearly 4 months at sea with their baby daughter, arrived at Port Adelaide on 27th August 1840.

The Callis family of Brentford

THOMAS CALLIS maybe bap 1/6/1742 St Nicholas Shepperton Surrey, son of John Calliss & Mary married Mary ?; Thomas & Mary had 8 children, all baptized at St Mary Ealing, Middlesex :

• William (Calliss) bap 25/12/1767; maybe m Sarah SKINNER 5/7/1787 St Marylebone Westminster, d Oct 1824 St Marylebone. Can’t find any children.
• Thomas bap 15/10/1769 Maybe married Jane & had a son called John bap 6/6/1806 St Pancras Camden Middlesex. Maybe also a daughter, Hannah who married John Dennington Joseph FARR in 1839 Camden….& a daughter Mary who m Joseph Samuel CANTY in 1853 Camden; John became a bootmaker & didn’t marry. He was living alone in Brentford in 1841 & 1851
• Lucy bap 17/3/1771 Maybe m Thomas GOLDSMITH 1794 Camden
• Ann bap 10/6/1772
• Sarah bap 4/8/1773
• Thomas bap 1/7/1776
• Charlotte bap 20/4/1778
• RICHARD bap 16/1/1780 (b 8/1/1780); there is a possibility this is ‘our’ Richard who married Mary Ann CLARK. Or this might be the Richard Callis, 73yo (actually 81 yo – could they be this far out in age?) widower bricklayer in 1861 in Old Brentford, fa of Eliza DAVIS & Thomas???

RICHARD CALLIS b c1749, d age 72, bur 3/1/1821 St Mary Ealing; m MARTHA WEST (b c1748, bur 7/3/1830 age 82 St Mary, Ealing) on 25/7/1773 at St Botolph, London (witnesses James LATHAM & Joseph CLARK). Both able to sign. 8 CHILDREN:

• John Calliss bap 4/7/1773 St Lawrence, New Brentford, d either 1851 or 1857 Brentford m Ann TOVEY on 10/5/1795 St Mary Ealing; this is probably the John Callis living in Brentford in 1801 & 1811 (household of 4 males & 4 females). I can’t find him after this; John & Ann had 7 children, all baptized at St Mary, Ealing, Middlesex:
  • Charles bap 14/2/1796, bur 6/9/1839 age 43, probably one of the furniture brokers, poss m Charlotte CLARKE 9/10/1819 Camden or Ann Harriet WALKER 29/8/1830 or Sarah or all 3?
  • Lucy bap 8/7/1798
  • Ann bap 2/2/1800 In 1851 a servant to Jane PENN. In 1871 a lodging housekeeper in Kensington, Charles Penn a visitor. At 81 (census 1881) Ann was single & an annuitant living with Charles Penn & his family in Hammersmith.
  • Bridget bap 8/11/1801
  • Richard bap 27/11/1803, d 1881 Fulham workhouse probably the Richard who married Esther WEBSTER on 13/10/1830 St Mary, Lambeth, Surrey. Furniture appraiser. In 1851, 47 & living with wife, Esther 46 in Brentford. In 1871, 67 & living with wife, Esther, & Richard’s sister ?, Mary ROGERS (an annuitant) & her family at Queen St Brentford. In 1881 at 77, he was an inmate at Fulham Union Workhouse, Hammersmith, London.
  • Martha bap 14/4/1805
  • ??? John Callis b c1806-07, bur 1851 age 45 St George Old Brentford shoemaker on High St in 1841 & 1851 age 44 in 1851
  • Emma bap 27/6/1810
• Bridget Calliss bap 12/5/1776 St Lawrence New Brentford, d infancy, bur 28/9/1777
• RICHARD CALLISS b 2/6/1781, bap 24/6/1781 St Lawrence, New Brentford, bur 1/11/1839 (of Twickenham) St Lawrence, New Brentford (age 59), m MARY ANN CLARK (b c1789?, bur 19/8/1834 New Brentford age 45) on 16/7/1815 at St Mary’s Church, Mortlake, Richmond upon Thames, Surrey; Richard was 34 & Mary Ann 25. Mary Ann might have been bap 27/9/1789 (b 7/8) Westminster London, daughter of Joseph Clark & Mary or bap 1789 Soho Middlesex, daughter of Joseph & Elizabeth Clark; Richard was a furniture broker & appraiser. In 1816 working as ‘a broker’ in New Brentford. In 1839 ‘a furniture broker & appraiser’ in Hammersmith; 8 CHILDREN:
  • MARY ANN bap 24/3/1816 St Lawrence church, New Brentford, Middlesex, d 16/5/1868 Noarlunga age 52(buried Old Noarlunga Cemetery); m HENRY COX on 21/5/1839 St Mary, Hanwell
  • Sarah bap 26/10/1817 New Brentford, St Lawrence, Middlesex; m George WARE on 24/9/1838 St Mary, Ealing; Sarah & George had at least 5 children: Mary Ann, Lucy, Francis E, Emily & George. In 1841 Sarah’s 13yo orphaned sister Eliza was living with them in Windmill Lane, Brentford. In 1851 they were in Camden Town, Middlesex, with their children, aged between 9 & 1. In 1861 they were in Islington. In 1871Emily & George were still at home. In 1881 Sarah was 63 & a widow, living with 21yo George & 2 lodgers in St Leonard, London.
  • Richard b c1819, d 1824 St Lawrence age 5
  • Thomas bap 29/7/1821, d 1860 age 36; in 1841 Thomas was a 20yo labourer living alone in Hammersmith; m Emma PEACOCK (b 1822 Ealing) in July 1841 at St Mary, Ealing; in 1851 he was living with Emma & their 5 young children in Chiswick, Middlesex. By 1861 Emma was widowed & living with Thomas 17, Frederick 13 & Richard 10, still in Chiswick. By 1881 Emma was a laundress & living with her 30yo son Richard who was a servant. Richard & Thomas were living together in Chiswick in 1891. Thomas & Emma had 6 children between 1842 & 1850:
    • Emily b 1841 Brentford
    • Thomas b 1844 Chiswick
    • Mary Ann b 1847, d 1930 age 83; m Samuel TAYLOR in 1871 and had 5 children in Middlesex between 1874 & 1890: Catherine, William John, Sarah A, Samuel T & Frederick
    • Frederick b 1848 Chiswick, d June 1926 Brentford – m Caroline WOOLER (b c1852, d June 1927 Brentford) on 15/6/1873 Ealing lived in Acton – son Frederick, a furnaceman
    • Richard bap 25/12/1850 Chiswick, Middlesex
    • John bap Oct 1853
  • Caroline bap 2/2/1823 New Brentford, d Sept 1904 age 81 Middlesex; m Alfred PEACOCK (Emma’s brother) in Jan 1849 Brentford; Caroline & Alfred had 8 children between 1849 & 1866: Alfred, James, Louisa, Maria, Frederick, Frank, William & a second William; in 1841 Caroline was 17 & a servant living with the NYE family in Ealing. In 1851 she was in Brentford with her new husband & their 1 yr old son, and Alfred’s 2 brothers. By 1861 they had 6 children. In the censuses of 1871 Maria was either away or no longer alive. In 1881 Caroline was 58 & living with her husband, 19-year-old Frank & 15-yr-old William. In 1891, she was 67 & with Alfred & 26yo William.
  • William bap 28/11/1824 New Brentford; Maybe m Margaret LEONARD in 1844 at Clerkenwell Middlesex; There were a number of criminal hearing for a William Callis of Middlesex (b 1824) for larceny… 1847 & 1875
  • Richard bap 15/7/1827 New Brentford St Lawrence, d age 8, bur 18/6/1834 St Lawrence New Brentford
  • Eliza bap 6/9/1829 New Brentford St Lawrence, d Jan 1909 Chippenham Wiltshire age 79; m John Earl TITLEY on 19/12/1872 at St George, Old Brentford, age 43; Eliza & John had 2 children, William & Amy, the first born when she was 44; in 1841, 11 & living with her sister Sarah & her husband. In 1851, 21 & working as a servant for deacon James Collins in Donington Shropshire. In 1861, 31 & working as a cook for rector William Eskows in Long Newnton Wiltshire. In 1871, 41 & a shopkeeper, living with a 21yo boarder. In 1881 Eliza & John were living with their 2 children in Tettenhall, Staffordshire (where John was from). They were in Pattingham in 1891.
• Martha bap 4/1/1784 St Lawrence New Brentford (died in infancy), bur 31/12/1785
• Martha bap 22/5/1786 St Lawrence Brentford, died in infancy, bur 11/2/1787
• Lucy bap 23/3/1788 St Lawrence Brentford; this might be Lucy Callis who was living in Brentford in 1811 & who married William WATSON on 28/10/1813 St Martins in the Fields Westminster (witness Martha Callis). In 1841 Lucy was a 53 yo ‘stay maker’ living in Old Brentford with daughter Ann & 15yo servant Harriet Smith. A 53yo visitor Lydia Hutchinson was visiting.
• Thomas bap 21/2/1790 St Mary, Ealing; this might be the Thomas that in 1841 was a 45yo contractor, living with 25yo Elizabeth & 3yo John & 49 yo ‘Bridges’ in St Pancras, Middlesex. Buried 31/12/1852 St Pancras, Middlesex OR Thomas who m Sally SHROBB 1811 Ealing, or Thomas who m Letitia PRICHARD 1828 Ealing (or both?)
• Martha bap 13/5/1792 St Mary, Ealing possibly m Henry PARSONS 14/9/1815 at St Martin in the Fields, Westminster, Middlesex

Richard Callis (1740/1775) married Lydia THOMAS at St Mary Ealing in 1793 (witness Joseph TUCKFIELD); no baptisms found, burial of Lydia not found

Richard Callis (c 1762-), a widower when he married Mary WEEDEN, a spinster, at All Saints Isleworth in 1806 (NB John WEEDEN witnessed Callis marriage in 1795); witnesses: Mary PEARCE, Sarah JONES, William TAYLOR; burial at St Leonard Heston in 1832 of a Richard Callis, age 70; four baptisms at St Leonard Heston to Richard and Mary Callis:

• Mary Ann Callis (1806-)
• William Callis (1808-)
• John Callis (1811-); possibly remained in Heston, in 1841 an agricultural labourer; living with him was Mary Callis, age '60', his widowed mother? and Jane '20', presumably his wife; marriage to Jane not found; in 1851 his mother-in-law lived with the family: Sarah Sanger, age 76, farm labourer, born Portsmouth; in 1861 John is recorded away from his family, his wife and two youngest children live at Boston Road, Brentford; baptisms at St Leonard, Heston to John and Jane Callis:
  • Jane Callis (1834); baptismal name looks more like James but 'Jane' is recorded in 1841 and 1851 censuses at home
  • William Callis (1838-); at home in 1851
  • George Callis (1840-): at home in 1851
  • John Richard Callis (1842-); presume died in infancy
  • Henry Callis (1844-); at home in 1851
  • Sarah Callis (1846-); at home in 1851
  • Elizabeth Callis (1848-): at home in 1851 and 1861
  • John Edward Callis (1851-); at home in 1861
  • Sarah Callis (1813-); her father was described as 'labourer' and 'husbandman' in copies of the parish register
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  1801 and 1811 census entries

  The following heads of household all lived in the lower part of Ealing parish, ie Old Brentford.

  1801
  Richard Callis, 2 families, 5 male, 4 female, 3 in trade and 6 other
  John Callis, 2 families, 3 male, 3 female, 2 trade and 4 other

  1811
  Richard Callis, 2 families, 5 male, 4 female, 3 in trade and 6 other
  John Callis, 1 family, 4 male, 4 female, 1 trade and 7 other
  Lucy Callis, 1 family, no men, 2 females, 1 trade and 1 other

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  Page published August 2011; updated August 2012