Robert PROCTOR (c1780-before 1841) and his descendants

Robert Proctor (c1780 – before 1841)

Robert Proctor was my great, great, great grandfather and he was also Neil's – see the chart on the right. 

We do not know when or where Robert was born, although there is a story within the wider family which suggests that he could have been an illegitimate child from the Scottish Hay Clan. He died before the first census in 1841, so the formal documentation about him starts with the records of his children. These supply the name of his wife and certain locations which have enabled some successful further probing.

In 1803 Robert married Sarah Wellard at St George in the East, Stepney. Pallots marriage index does not give the date. Nothing that we know gives any significance to the choice of the church.

The following year, the first of their children were born – see the next section.

Although Robert's sons John Wellard and Edward (and in due course their own offsprings too) went on to become Fruiterers, working at both Borough Market in Southwark and Leadenhall Market in the City of London, Robert himself is described on both his wife Sarah's death certificate and his son Edward's marriage certificate to his second wife as a Salesman, perhaps indicating that he had sold other commodities prior to his family specialising in fruit.

The Post Office (PO) Trades Directories between 1790-1838 strongly indicate that the Proctors, and possibly Robert himself, were previously Grocers/Tea dealers and importers of wines/spirits. There are other Proctors trading as Grocers/Tea dealers out of another prime market, Covent Garden, and in other locations in East London. There are also other Proctors trading in the area around this time as Wines and Brandy Merchants and also Brewers. In the 1827 PO Directory, there is also a J. Wellard, more than likely Sarah's father John, trading as a Wines and Spirits merchant in Borough Market. Close by to where Robert and Sarah's first daughter Elizabeth Ann got married in St Brides Church, just off Fleet Street, a George Proctor traded, and in 1838 he is listed in the PO London Directory as being Snuff Manufacturer to the Queen and the Royal Family.

As can be seen from the following section on Robert and Sarah's children, the move into selling fruit may be explained by the families they married into. Elizabeth Ann's husband Thomas Ingledew traded on Borough Market as a Pea Salesman, whilst Jane Hay's husband Caleb Bath traded there too as a fruit salesman; other members of his family traded there also as fruit and vegetable salesmen. Daughter Sophia married into the Jull family from Kent and they had large tracts of land in Wrotham where they had fruit orchards, including grapevines. These marriages were probably of mutual benefit to all the families as the land owners/growers then had established outlets on the main London markets to sell their fruit produce and vegetables etc. Robert's son John Wellard is listed in the 1851 census as having 70 acres of land in Plumstead, employing 7 labourers, whilst also being listed that same year as a fruit trader on the Borough Market, so presumably this too was a fruit orchard.

The earliest record of where Robert lived while a Salesman gives Lowfield Street in Dartford Kent, which is where five of his six children were born. The exception was his first daughter Elizabeth Ann, who is listed as being born in the area of Marylebone the year after Robert married Sarah. 

The death certificate of Robert's wife, Sarah, shows the couple were living at 11 Greys Terrace, Great Dover Street Southwark in 1845. Son Edward's marriage certificate to first wife Mary Haime, also in late 1845, also shows Great Dover Street. Great Dover Street leads into Borough High Street which, in the 1800s, led into Borough Market. Edward's marriage to Mary Haime reinforces the mutual benefits of marriage as her father, Victor Haime also worked as an egg salesman on Borough Market. Robert's oldest son John Wellard moved into the Haime's property on the Borough Market once Edward had moved to Leadenhall Market

Robert died sometime before 1841 and Sarah outlived him to die on 28 Oct 1845.

• Elizabeth Ann Proctor was born on 10 May 1804 in Dartford, Kent. On 3 Jun 1804 she was baptized  at Saint Anne Soho. This was also where Lady Mary Elizabeth Hay, the sister of Lady Augusta Hay of the Hay-Proctor story, baptised her son James Moore. By that time the Moores had moved down to Wrotham Kent, next door to the Julls. It is noteworthy how many Proctor and Hay marriages / christenings there were in Saint Anne Soho, going way back for the Proctors, so obviously it was 'Proctor Central' in terms of the place to go.

Elizabeth Ann Proctor married Thomas Ingledew in St Bride's Church in Blackfriars, just off Fleet Street, and had the following children:

• Ann Ingledew was baptised on 6 March 1825 at St Saviour Southwark.

• Sarah Frances Ingledew was baptised on 6 January 1828 at St Saviour Southwark.

• Eleanor Craike Ingledew was baptised on 8 January 1830 at St Saviour Southwark. See below for more in the Craike connection.

• Elizabeth Ingledew was baptised on 19 October 1831 at St Saviour Southwark.

• Jane Hay Proctor was born on 28 Jun 1806 at Dartford, Kent, and baptized on 20 July 1806 at Saint Anne Soho - the significance of which is outlined above for her elder sister Elizabeth Ann. Jane was Neil's great great grandmother who married Caleb Bath, who has a page on his Bath line.

• Sophia Proctor was born on 20 Mar 1809 and baptized the same year at Lowefield Street Independent, Dartford, Kent. She married John Jull on 15 Jan 1833 at St Saviours, Southwark, and it is through descendants in that line that the Hay story has come down. She had the following children:

• John Jull was born in 1833

• Sophia Proctor Jull was born in 1835 and died in 1918

• Proctor Jull was born in 1837 and died in 1886

• Richard Jull was born in 1838

• Thomas Jull was born in 1839

• James Jull was born in 1843 and died in 1930

• Naomi Jull was born in 1840

• Rosa JaneJull was born in 1843 and died in 1901

• Georgina Jull was born in 1845 

• John Wellard Proctor was born in 1812 in Dartford, Kent. He married Sarah Harman and had the following children:

• Ann J Proctor was born in 1847

• Ellen Proctor was born in 1848

• Alice Proctor was born in 1850 and died in 1911

• Louisa Proctor was born in 1856

• Robert Proctor was born in 1857 and died in 1869

• Andrew Hay Proctor was born in 1859 and died in 1908

• Laura B Proctor was born in 1860

• Ruth Proctor was born in 1866

• Sarah Proctor was born in 1815 in Lowefield Street, Dartford. For some time I wrongly thought that she had married a William Newns and lived in Albert Rd, Bexley Kent. This was based around the following facts: Edward's daughter Alice Proctor was living with the Newns in the 1881 and 1891 censuses. She was present at Sarah's death in 1888 where she is listed as the niece on Sarah's death certificate, perhaps surprisingly given that there were other blood relatives. Alice is also buried in the same grave as Sarah and William. Edward died in Bexley in 1875 and Sarah witnessed his death. It was only when matching with other Newn relatives on Genes/Ancestry that I was presented with convincing evidence that Sarah Newns was in fact Sarah Allen prior to her marriage, not Sarah Proctor. I have not been able to trace the 'real' Sarah Proctor after the 1841 census in either census records or birth/marriage records, so her whereabouts and whether she had descendants remains a mystery.

• Edward Proctor was born about 1819. He was my great great grandfather. His first marriage to Mary Haime was in 1845 and his second marriage to Mary Ann Duncan was in 1861. With Mary Haime he had the following children:

• Annie Proctor was born in 1845

• Robert Walter Proctor was born in 1846

• Mary Anne Proctor was born in 1848

• Ann Haime Proctor was born in 1850

• Walter Hay Proctor was born in 1852 and died in 1887

• Jane Augusta Proctor was born in 1853. She is shown in the 1871 census as being a Boarder in Bucbridge Villas in Kensington, the Head of the family being Richard Woodison, a letter carrier. He was born in Wrotham Kent where the Julls lived. The roads and houses nearby in the Kensington census show Ingledews and Wards, who are listed as 'Gentlemen', ie of independent means. Proctor Jull was married to a Martha Ward Cook and their children are listed as Gentlemen. So a connection between families in that close proximity may exist. Edward's son Walter Hay Proctor was a postman rather than a fruiterer, which may too may have been a family link.

With Mary Ann Duncan, Edward Proctor had the following children:

• Robert Proctor was born in 1862
• Herbert Proctor was born in 1864
• Sidney Proctor was born in 1865
• Emily Proctor was born in 1868
• Sophia Mary Proctor was born in 1868
• Alice Proctor was born in 1870
• Louse Proctor was born in 1872

Edward Proctor died on 7 Sep 1875 at Building Fields, Bexley, Kent of emphysema of the lung and shock. He was 56.

The ancestry of Sarah Wellard

There is a question mark over Sarah's birth and ancestry. Since there is a connection between the Proctors and the Bath family of Eynsford, Kent – see the Bath page, it is tempting to assume that the Sarah Wellard was the one who was baptised in Eynsford on 10 September 1780 to Thomas Wellard and Jane – and this may indeed have been the case. However, my shift to Sarah Wellard, daughter of John Wellard was the 1801 census for Dartford which shows Sarah Wellard living with John Wellard, wife Elizabeth and a Frances, born in 1780. Allied to the fact that John Wellard Proctor was the first named son of her and Robert, it swung my research that way. I also found a J Wellard working on the Borough Market in the 1827 local census as a Wines/Spirit merchant in Southwark Library. John Wellard also lived in Dartford (at Lowefield Street) where the Proctors were born). So I also concluded this would have presented a better opportunity for them to have met, either at home or work. The counter argument is that John himself was born 1751 in Eynsford! Another pro-argument is that the Harmans are next to John/Sarah in Dartford and Sarah's eldest son John Wellard Proctor married a Sarah Frances Harman.

Other Proctors who may be related

There is no shortage of records showing individual Proctors. In view of the story about the Hay connection, the following may be significant:

• John Proctor married a Jane Hay Smith (born 1813 in Banchory Aberdeen) 1837 in Fraserburgh Aberdeen

• George Proctor married a Christian Hay in 1785 in Gartly, Aberdeen

The following may also refer to relatives, although the family link is unclear:

• Thomas Proctor and Elisabeth christened their daughter Louisa Bignell Proctor in 1804 in St George in the East, the year after Robert married Sarah Wellard there

• Ansel Proctor and wife Sarah also had daughter Rebecca Fenn Proctor christened there in 1807

• There are numerous Proctors shown as marrying and having children christened in Saint Anne Soho going back to the 1600s, indicating that this was a historically 'special' place for the Proctors

• The same applies to Saint Clement Danes in Westminster

• A Sarah Proctor born 1841/2 in Maidstone Kent is listed in the 1881 census as living at 118 Lowfield St Dartford, which is where Robert and Sarah lived with their children in the early 1800s. Sarah's husband is shown as a James Proctor and her maiden name was Agate. This Sarah is later shown as living in Keighley, Yorkshire in the 1901 census.

Interesting facts about the Proctors

The Proctors in the London/Kent areas appear were trading in the 3 main London markets of Borough, Leadenhall and Covent garden. Although they later traded in fruit, for which both Edward and John describe themselves as Master Fruiterers, earlier records show they traded in Wines/Spirits and Beer. As already stated, a George Proctor traded in Fleet Street and in 1838 he is listed in the PO London directory as being Snuff Manufacturer to the Queen and the Royal Family.

Proctor distribution across the UK by county

According to the National Trust Names website, the main clusters of Proctors were in Blackburn in 1881. By 1998 the distribution listed Stoke-on-Trent as being the top area. 97.86% of Proctors are listed as of English origin (or unknown) whereas only 0.41% are Scottish.

The Craike / Craik / Crayke connection with the Proctor family

In the 1851 census, after Robert Proctor's death, his wife Sarah was living with on Borough Market with the Craike family. This held clues to the Scottish side given that Thomas Craike and his wife said they came from Scotland. This was only part true as when I found them in the 1851 and 1861 censuses, they were 'back' in Scotland but with Thomas declaring that he was born in England. It was his wife who was from Scotland. Tracing his family back showed they came from Yorkshire, and by all accounts quite a well known family. When I was fishing back through Lady Augusta's parents, her father being James Boyd (later Hay) 15th Earl of Erroll, his Great Great Grandad, also a James Boyd, 9th Lord of somewhere or other, had married a Catherine Crayke of Yorkshire (Craike/Crayke interchange, also Craik).

Robert's first daughter Elizabeth Anne married a Thomas Craike Ingledew and Jane Hay went on to name one of her children Thomas Ingledew Bath, for whom we have a picture. Although I can't find the Craike/Ingledew connection prior to that, it's obviously there in the names.

The Duncan connection with the Proctor family

The Duncan Clan sit right next to the Hay Clan on the maps of Scotland, which could explain why my Edward Proctor's father-in-law Robert Duncan came down to Kent.