Wedderburn book > History

THE WEDDERBURNS IN LANCASHIRE. 505
Sect. II. — The Wedderburns in Lancashire. Part vi.
Chap. IV.
As already stated (p. 499), an account of a Manchester family of the name, now
settled in South Africa, will be found in the next chapter. In addition to it, however, I
have notes of other persons bearing the name in and near Liverpool and at Ulverstoue.
Sub-sect. fa). The Wedderburns in Liverpool and West Derby. }
William Wedderburn, mariner, died at Liverpool, 4 March, 1S44, ait. 46. He is probably identical
with the William Wedderburn, mariner, who married Mary Tilsley or Tinsley, and had issue :
1. John Wedderburn,- born 1836 ; of 28, Virgil Street, Liverpool, collector for a burial society ;
married (a?t. 26), at Everton, Walton-on-the-hill, co. Lancaster, 28 April 1862, Mary Gill, daughter
of John Gill, millwright, and by her, who died early in 1864, ait. 21, at 7, Anderson Street, Everton,
West Derby, had issue :
William Wedderburn, born at 7, Anderson Street, West Derby, 19 Dec. 1863, and died at
74, Cornwall Street, West Derby, 1 March 1864.
Ada Mary, died ret. 12 weeks, at 7, Anderson Street, 9 April 1863.
2. Robert Wedderburn, born at Ellison Court, Hodson Street, Liverpool, 7 July 1839, died at
Cresswell Street, Everton, West Derby, 19 March 1850.
3. William Wedderburn, born at Beau Buildings, Bean Street, Liverpool, 1 Oct. 1844, died at
Everton, West Derby, 31 Oct. 1848.
Sub-sect. fb). The Wedderburns at Ulverstoue. 3
Robert Wedderburn, iron miner, Dalton, who died at the Union Workhouse, Ulverstoue, 25 May
1882, get. 81, married Mary , who died at the same place 16 Sept. in that year, ret. 78. He is no
doubt the father of
William (or Peter) Wedderburn 4 (for he is called both), iron miner, who married, ret. 29, at the
parish church, Ulverstoue, 22 June 1S62, Elizabeth Bains, and by her (who died at Chapel Street, Dalton,
Ulverstoue, ret. 47, 29 June 1881), had issue two sons,
1. William Wedderburn, born at Dalton, 3 March 1868.
2. Isaac Wedderburn, born there, 29 Oct. 1870.
and a daughter,
Elizabeth, who died at Chapel Street, Dalton, 27 Oct. 1876, ret. 11.
Sect. III.— Robert Wedderburn, "the Black Preacher," and his descendants, 1762—1890
This individual, whose descendants in the South of England are now numerous, was
a man of colour, born in Jamaica in about 1762, and was the son of a slave there
belonging to a Lady Douglas and named Rosanna. . He was then employed on the
estates of James Wedderburn (afterwards Wedderburn-Colvile of Inveresk), whose name
he assumed. Later on he came to this country and was at one time occupied as a tailor,
and lived in Clare Market, off the Strand. He seems to have been a person of some
talent and energy, and was for a time licensed preacher at a chapel off Berwick Street,
London. In 1820 he was tried for blasphemy and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, 5
after which he wrote and published in 1824 a pamphlet entitled "The Horrors of
Slavery," 6 in which he purported to give an account of his origin and career.
I have not been able to ascertain whom he married, but he had issue 7 : —
1 West Derby is a suburb, lying a little east of Liverpool.
- He is, I think, identical with the John Wedderburn, tobacco merchant, who died ret. 48, at 11, Starkie
Street, West Derby, 11 Jan. 1884 ; information of the death being given by his sister, Ann Turnbull
(Reg. Somerset House). Administration of his estate, granted to Thomas Cope of Liverpool, a
creditor, describes him as a bachelor (L. W. 49), owing no doubt to the fact that he had long been a
widower and childless.
s I have also a note of the death, ret. 60, of Thomas Wedderburn, of Barrow in Furness, at the Lancashire
Lunatic Asylum, 10 July 1885; and see as to other Wedderburns in Ulverstone, 1801-5, post, p. 510, n. 1.
4 His marriage certificate gives his father's name as " Robert."
5 See Gent. Mag., 1820, p. 465. "May 10. In the Court of King's Bench, Robert Wedderburne, a man
apparently of considerable talent, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in Dorchester Gaol for
uttering blasphemy at a chapel in Berwick Street where he was a licensed preacher." See also
J.W. 118.
6 There is a copy of this pamphlet in the British Museum (press mark ^S), catalogued s. Wedderburn.
7 The following account of his descendants is founded for all dates from 1837 onwards on the registers at
Somerset House, Loudon, and on information given me by Jabez William Wedderburn. He is positive
that there are no living descendants of his great uncle Jacob, and as there is no mention of any such in
the Somerset House registers, this is no doubt correct. The descent, it should be noticed,
is not traced beyond 1890.
3 R