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John Cossins Map 1722, courtesy of York Explore Archives

John Askwith: Trade: Woollen Draper Role: Searcher 1764-65, Warden 1766-69, 1787-88, 1791-93, 1796-97, Master 1772-73. Recorded on Pavement in the 1781 York Trade Directory.

John Hay: Trade: Woollen Draper Role: Warden 1776-77, 1779-80, 1792, 1800 (but refused to act), Master 1778-79. Recorded in the 1781 York Trade Directory on High Ousegate.

Leonard Terry: Trade: Woollen Draper Role: Master of the Company, 1783-84, Warden 1784-85, 1788-89, 1794-95 Registered in the 1784 York Trade Directory on Hosier Lane.

Richard Hobson: Trade: Woollen Draper Entry: 29th Mary 1778 Role: Searcher 1779-80, Warden 1780-82, 1786-88, 1795, Master 1785-86. Recorded in the 1781 York Trade Directory on Pavement.

Christopher Ash: Trade: Woollen draper Entry: 12th March 1713/14 Role: Searcher 1715-16, Warden 1718, Master 1718-19 Family: Daughter, Katherine Ash, a successful mantua maker, abled a master tailor in 1742. Recorded on the York Deed's Registers at Hundgate in 1722.

Jane Jackson: Trade: Mantua maker Entry: Abled a master tailor, 1719/20 Apprentices: 11 Recorded in the York Deeds Registers at Swinegate in 1725.

MARY KNAPTON:

Early Life:Mary Knapton was baptised Mary Merry at St Crux on 14th December, 1725. Her father was Samuel Merry, a weaver. Her mother was likely Mary Merry, a Merchant Taylor who had been abled as a master tailor on 18th October 1715. Mary Merry had several apprentices, including Elizabeth Varly in 1724, Rebecca Powell in 1730 and Jane Leak in 1750.There is no record of Mary’s apprenticeship. She likely learned her trade growing up in a family heavily involved in the York textile trade. It is unknown whether her mother was a mantua maker or not, though this is the profession Mary herself would take.Becoming a Merchant Taylor:On 3rd February 1750, Mary married Philip Knapton at All Saints Church, Pavement, York. Philip is recorded as a peruke maker, then also a mantua maker. It is probable that he adopted Mary's trade because she was successful.On 28th February 1753, Mary was admitted to the Merchant Taylor’s Company as a mantua maker. There is no evidence that Philip was ever admitted to the company. In total, Mary and Philip took on fourteen apprentices, with eleven being Mary's. This is one of the highest numbers in the Company for a woman. These included Alice Elston in 1753, Hannah Dale in 1757, Jane Bulmer in 1760, Mary Pallister in 1763, Elizabeth Waind in 1764, Ann Tuke in 1767, Dorothy Donn in 1769, Jane Ellis in 1770, Elizabeth Sadler in 1773, Catherine Brabb in 1774, Isabella Benson in 1777, Betty Cooper in 1779, Mary Kilner in 1781 and Ann Collings in 1785. According to the York Courant and York Deeds Registers, Mary and Philip worked out of a property on Davygate.Legacy:Mary and Philip had two surviving children: Samuel and Jenny/Jane. Samuel was baptised in 1756 whilst little is known of Jenny’s early life. Samuel went on to become a peruke maker and was made free of the city in 1777. According to an edition of the York Courant dated 8th May 1787, Jenny entered into the mantua trade in business with her mother, having trained in London. It is unclear when Philip himself died. He was taking apprentices until 1780, though Mary refers to herself as a widow in her will signed in 1798. In her will, Mary named her son Samuel as executor and left most of her possessions to him, including £110, “my two handled silver cups and two silver table spoons”. She left Jenny any money left over once her debts were paid off.

ELIZABETH ENGLAND:

Early Life:Elizabeth was baptised on 11 March 1767 at St Martin cum Gregory Church in Micklegate, York. Her father was Thomas England, a Butter Factor and Mary England (nee Thompson). Thomas and Mary were married on 9 August 1758. It is likely that Thomas England had a shop in Micklegate, listed in The York 1787 Trade Directory as Thomas England, Butter-Factor.Becoming a Merchant Taylor:Elizabeth England was taken on as an apprentice on 16 December 1782 by Jane Pearson, as noted in the Merchant Taylors’ Register of Apprentices 1751-1862, and found in Find My Past.Jane Pearson had at least 6 apprentices between 1776 and 1787. Elizabeth was the fifth of these. There is no existing record of Elizabeth becoming a master tailor but she could be the same Elizabeth England who had an advertisement in the York Courant on 3 July 1787 where she is listed as a Mantua Maker. Elizabeth spent two years with a Mrs Simons in South-Molton-Street, London and "has beeninstructed to finish, in the most elegant and fashionable Manner, Robe Tourkes, Chemieze, Sultan Dresses etc and also every other Species of Dresses now in Fashion, in the highest Taste".It goes on to say: "Those Ladies that choose to honour her with their Commands shall be immediately waited on, and theirorders punctually obeyed, with most grateful Thanks".It appears that Elizabeth died at 31 years old on 8 August 1798 and buried at St John’s, Micklegate.

Right: Elizabeth England's Advertisement in the York Courant.

ANN & JOSEPH DOUGHTY:

Early Life:Ann Doughty, or Ann Hood, was likely born in 1721/22. Her father was John Hood. In 1751, she married Joseph Doughty, a Merchant Taylor. In 1718, Joseph had been indentured as an apprentice to Thomas Wells, who would eventually go on to be Master of the Company in 1748-49. Joseph was made free of the city in 1727-28 through completion of his apprenticeship. On 30th April 1729, Joseph was enabled as a Master Taylor with the Company. He had several apprentices, including John Doughty, indentured in 1742. One can assume that they were likely related, though he was not Joseph’s own son also called John. Becoming a Merchant Taylor:Whilst Ann is not recorded on the apprenticeship register nor is there evidence of her receiving admittance to the company, we can assume that she was trained by her husband. This is because after Joseph’s death in 1759, she is recorded on the Company Apprenticeship Registers as a master. We can see this from the Merchant Taylor apprenticeship registers that Ann took over Joseph’s business and had two apprentices after his death. Ann could take on the responsibility of the business as common law allowed widows to trade without freeman status. In the first entry in 1763, John Willison is documented as being apprenticed to “Ann Doughty, widow of Joseph, MT”. In 1766, Ann took on a second apprentice, James Kempley.Ann and Joseph traded from Peter Lane. In 1742, 1751 and 1752 there are window tax payments from Joseph for a building in St Peter the Little yard, High Ousegate. This property also appears in the York Deeds Registers under both Ann and Joseph’s names, see the following description of the property: “tenement with a warehouse stable And yard there unto belonging situate and being in the parish Of saint Peter the Little of the said City of York…” York Deeds Register 1788, fol.71r, York Explore Archives.However, in both Ann’s will and the York Trade Directory 1781, Ann’s residence is listed as Pavement. It is likely that Ann acquired property there after Joseph’s death and used it to trade as a woollen draper. Ann’s descendants retained loose connections with the tailoring trade. Her granddaughter, Ann Doughty, trained as a mantua maker with Sarah Thompson in 1774. Her daughter, Sarah, married Robert Hoyland, a linen draper, in 1783.

FRANCES BECKWITH:

Early Life:Frances Beckwith was a mantua maker. She was born inn 1737 to parents Elizabeth and Joseph Beckett. She married Thomas Beckwith, a painter, in 1760. Becoming a Merchant Taylor:Frances was admitted to the Company as a mantua maker in 1761. However, she did not take up freeman's status (which gave someone the right to trade in York) and instead utilised her husband, Thomas's, freeman status. In 1764, Frances and Thomas Beckwith are noted as with apprentice Ann Hodgson, and in 1765 Frances Beckwith had an apprentice Sarah Bennet from Leeds.Frances took on an apprentice, Mary Halfpenny, on 9th February 1771. This was only a day after her husband had taken on a painter apprentice, Richard Thompson. Apprentices lived with their masters, so the household certainly expanded quickly!Frances was presumably related, by marriage, to a large family of Beckwiths, a number of whom were very involved with the Merchant Taylors.According to the York Deeds Registers, Frances and Thomas lived on Peter Lane.Frances died on the 29 March 1773, aged 36. She died in ‘childbed’ and is buried in St Mary Castlegate in the East End of the South Alley within the burial ground where the family of Barker are interred. Also buried in the same coffin is her daughter Catherine who died 28 th August aged 10 weeks, she died of ‘Inward Convulsions’ and was buried 31 August 1773.

ALICE MELLAR:

Early Life:Alice was baptised in 1700 in St Cuthberts, York. Alice’s father, John Mellar, was a fellmonger. Alice was apprenticed to John Walker, a Merchant Taylor, in 1714 for seven years. This would have made her 14 years old at the time, which was average for girls being apprenticed into tailoring. In 1729, Alice married William Waind at All Saints church, Pavement. He was a prominent silk weaver in the city, and would later be involved in the city council. Becoming a Merchant Taylor:Alice was abled as a Master Taylor on 13th June 1733. Her trade was marked as mantua maker. Alice often had multiple apprentices at a time, with Smith claiming that she apprenticed 11 girls in their article “Women’s Admission to the Guilds in Early-Modern England: The Case of the York Merchant Tailors’ Company, 1693-1776”. Some of her apprentices were as follows: Sarah Johnson, 1742, Alice Constantine, 1736, Hannah Ambler, 1750, Ann Brown, 1750 and Ann Corney, 1753.Alice had one of the highest number of apprentices in the company amongst both men and women.3 Alice Constantine, Sarah Johnson and Hannah Ambler all went on to have apprentices themselves. It is also interesting to point out Alice’s indenture fees in comparison to her peers. Mantua making was not a lucrative business, yet Alice charged £15 to apprentice Ann Brown in 1750 and £20 to apprentice Sarah Johnson in 1742. In comparison, Joseph Doughty, a male woollen draper, charged only £10 to apprentice both John Doughty in 1742 and John Herring in 1750. It is probable that Alice and William’s trades complimented each other well. As a silk weaver, William could provide Alice with fabrics to produce dresses for clients.Alice and William may have traded from a shop front on Pavement, as William is on the electoral register at that address in 1741. Pavement was a prominent area for textile trading in the eighteenth century. However, William clearly owned several properties in York, as he paid window tax in the Bootham Ward in 1745 and in Castlegate in 1762. The trade clearly made them more affluent as time went on.William was also a subscriber to the Assembly Rooms. Alice and William likely attended gatherings there, where they could meet potential clients. William is recorded as a subscriber on 6th December 1736.