The only son of William Ginn of Walthamstow (see post of 24th October 2012) William Ginn here was fairly fortunate in that although his father
had fallen on hard times by 1730 or so, in 1732 William here was apprenticed
in the City of London into the Company of Barber Surgeons.
The person that William was apprenticed to for 7 years was a
certain Daniel Blanker, Daniel being a Peruke or Periwig Maker in St Swithins
London Stone, off of Cannon Street in the City.
William obviously went to live there as an apprentice and his apprenticeship with his signature is below.
William completed his apprenticeship in 1739, though as yet I have not found an entry of his being granted Freedom of the City and Citizenship of London, both necessary for him to set up and work on his own account. It seems clear, in fact, that he never did, almost certainly working for Blanker until Daniel died in 1770 (Will National Archives).
At some point by no later than 1749, William formed a relationship with Sarah Edwards here who came from Whitechapel as per the couple's marriage licence. But she was not born there, the Moravians (see below) have her born in August 1726 in Walthamstow. She was actually born there in August 1725 to John Edwards and his wife and it seems likely she was known to William Ginn for some years prior to their marriage.
There was a flurry of frenzied activity in early January 1750, as on 6th January their daughter Elizabeth was baptised at St Swithins, whilst the next day, on the 7th January, William attended at the necessary offices and was furiously trying to obtain a marriage licence, which he did (see above). It confirms him as 28 and a Periwig Maker and, like his apprenticeship document, has his original signature.
The London Land Tax records make it possible to track
William and Sarah’s movements precisely.
They set up home in St Swithins as soon as they married and lived just
south of Cannon Street, going down to Upper Thames Street.
In bustling, dangerous, stinking London, where they lived
was quite decent, John Strype saying of the area in 1720 -
Great Bush Lane comes
out of Cannon Street and falls into Thames Street, but the Part in this Ward,
goeth no farther than Scotch Yard, which is a good large open Place well
inhabited. This Lane is but narrow, but well inhabited by Merchants and Persons
of Repute. Out of this Lane on the said side, is Chequer Yard, which hath a
Passage into Dowgate Hill, and is a pretty good open Place, in which is seated
Plumbers Hall, a good handsome Building. Likewise on the South side is a
Passage into Hand Yard, which is but ordinary, and falls into Thames street.
And on the same side is the Cheker Inn, which hath a Gate or Passage into
Dowgate Hill, an Inn of no great Account, being chiefly for Livery Stables and
Horses.
In the early 1750s I knew that they had flirted with the Moravian Church which had (and still does have) a chapel in London with a burial ground with the lovely name "God's Acre".
Original Moravian Chapel at Fetter Lane
This had already been written up in the blog, but in 2022, pleased at having found an original deed signed by this chap's father, I explored further and contacted the Moravian Archives who were very helpful.
In the early 1750s I knew that they had flirted with the Moravian Church which had (and still does have) a chapel in London with a burial ground with the lovely name "God's Acre".
This had already been written up in the blog, but in 2022, pleased at having found an original deed signed by this chap's father, I explored further and contacted the Moravian Archives who were very helpful.
The Moravian Church (think broadly of the Wesleys and the Methodists with something of the Quakers) had come to England from the Continent with a view to sending preachers to the then slave colonies in the West Indies. They were a brethren, pacifists, who were a bit of a challenge for many believers in that their followers were to be certain of God's existence, which took the word "faith" to a new level. Doubt, and the Brethren were not for you.
They set up a chapel in Fetter Lane in 1742, established quite a congregation of English as well as immigrant worshipers and were attended by, among others, the preacher John Gambold (1711-1771 below) who was a Church of England Minister who attended Oxford University with John Wesley, Wesley introducing Gambold to the Moravian Church. Wesley himself attended Fetter Lane in the early days, but before Bill Ginn's day the Methodists had split from the Brethren, although the latter still had some affiliation with the Anglican church.
John Gambold
William Ginn had something of an epiphany in 1750. In my experience people do that when someone close dies. But it may have been the birth of their first child which acted as the catalyst. He started to attend the Moravian Chapel. The Moravian records show that Brother William Ginn was "received into the congregation" (ie baptized) in the chapel (see above) on 2nd November 1750 and immersed himself in the Brethren as he took his first Communion (ie he had been confirmed as an adult member of the Church) in October 1752. Sarah was more reluctant, and this likely caused a rift between them. She was not baptized until June 1752 and afterwards there is a note - she "stayed away" William persisted and it was John Gambold himself who baptized their daughter Sarah at Fetter Lane in 1753. But the link was broken, Sarah had prevailed and afterwards William is noted as being "out of the connexion".
William and Sarah moved in 1768
and appear to have taken rooms above a stables near Joiners Hall in Upper
Thames Street until 1783 when William sadly died, he was 62.
St Swithins in 1831
Sarah moved to a property in Great Bush Street/Lane, near
the corner with Upper Thames Street (it is still there) and was there until
1796 when she obviously could no longer afford it. She died at St Swithins in 1799 with a quoted
age of 74 – exactly correct.
William and Sarah only had three children, none of whom died in infancy:
William Francis - untraced, although I have a theory as to what happened to him
Sarah - untraced
Sarah - untraced
Elizabeth - untraced
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