Shearsby

Shearsby is a village about nine miles south of the centre of Leicester and contained about 41 householders according to the hearth tax returns in 1670. The Shearsby parish registers survive only from 1658, but references have been found to the Howcutt family there as early as 1610. In that year, John Howcott witnessed the will of Jane Marshall, a widow. There is evidence to suggest that this John Howcott was related to the Howcott family at Bruntingthorpe and at Bitteswell and will be included in an expanded version of this article in due course.

The first reference found to George is when he was a witness to the nuncupative (i.e. verbal) will of William Marshall of Shearsby, which was declared on 24 March 1618. George was described as the son of John Howcott of Shearsby when he presented the account of his administration of John's estate in 1620 (1); the administration Bond itself does not survive.

The surviving bishops' transcripts for Shearsby include the baptisms of the following children of George Howcott:

Bishops' transcripts for Shearsby cover only 20 of the years from 1600 to 1639 and do not survive at all for the period between 1639 and 1660. Therefore, it is likely that George had other children baptised during the missing years. When Robert Seale of Shearsby made his will on 20 July 1629, he left 5 shillings to be equally divided between "George Howcoat's children"; the number and names of these children are not stated in the will, but the size of the gift may indicate that by then George already had five living children.

When Elizabeth's baptism was recorded, George was described as a butcher. The same entry is the only one to name the child's mother - Mary. On 2 December 1665, Mary Howcut, a widow, was buried at Shearsby. It is probable that she was the mother of all six children and that George had died before the surviving parish registers began in 1658.

William Howcott of Shearsby married Anne Garrett at Willoughby Waterless on 31 May 1658. Their children who were baptised or buried at Shearsby were:

Yeomans Cottage, Church Lane, Shearsby

The tie-beam of the half-timbered house opposite Shearsby parish church and which is now known as Yeoman's Cottage, Church Lane bears the date 1669 with the initials "WHAH".

This without doubt refers to William and Anne Howcott - when William paid tax on three hearths at Shearsby in Michaelmas 1670, he was the only householder (either liable or exempt from payment) in the village whose surname began with an "H".

It is not clear if the date carved in 1669 indicates that the house was built or extended or merely occupied by the Howcott family in that year; the Michaelmas 1664 hearth tax list also shows William Howcott as having three hearths at Shearsby and it may refer to the same building.

In 1673, William was a churchwarden and served as "register" of Shearsby. The two copies of the Shearsby bishop's transcripts for that year are in his fluent handwriting, as are the entries in the portion of the parish register from which they were copied.

In 1680, Israel Elkington, an apprentice of "William Holcot", butcher of Shearsby was made free for market day at Leicester - clearly William's business took him at least that far from the village.

Anne Howcott was buried at Shearsby on 28 October 1675. However, William had left the village by the time of his death. His daughter Anne married "Will Linfield" at Shearsby on 9 February 1692/3 and on 15 December 1701 "William Howcoate" was buried at South Croxton, administration being granted to his daughter, Anne Linthwaite. The Bond describes William as "of South Croson lately S", with the last "S" crossed through. Presumably, the clerk had intended to mention Shearsby but changed his mind. The inventory of William Howcott's chattels recorded:

	£	shillings	pence

His purse & apparrel	0	13	4
Fifteen sheep	3	0	0
His book being Desparet Debts	5	8	0
All the rest of his goods seen & unseen	0	1	6
Total	9	2	10

In 1697, "William Howcot" served as churchwarden, signing the bishop's transcript for that year – though the text of the record itself is not in his writing.

No record of William's burial can be found at Shearsby but there is an indication that he may have met with an early death. On 27 September 1704, the overseers of the poor for Shearsby issued a settlement certificate acknowledging their parish to be responsible for Sarah Howcott and her son James, should they require poor relief. This was addressed to the parish officers of Market Harborough where they were presumably going to live. The certificate does not mention William, implying that he was not around at that time.

On 26 January 1712/3, James, son of William Howcutt was apprenticed from Shearsby to Henry Drake, a weaver of Foxton, Leicestershire for a term of 7 years from the date of the indenture. The consideration was £5 and duty of 2 shillings 6 pence was paid on 28 January 1713/14 (2). From the available circumstantial evidence, it is most likely that this James was the same person as "James Haucote" of Oxendon who married Mary Ward of Brixworth at Oxendon on 28 August 1720 - which is seven months after the apprenticeship was to expire. Oxendon is only about six miles from Foxton.

When William is noted as James' father in the apprenticeship duty register, his name is not qualified as "late", which appears in the records of some other apprenticeship payments. This suggests - but does not prove - that William was still alive at that time.

It is feasible that the Sarah Howcutt who married John Sanderson at Arnesby Baptist chapel on 1 December 1719 could have been the widow of William of Shearsby, but there is no positive evidence for this possibility.

(1) Leicestershire Record Office: DE66 Box 3502 - deposited by Bray & Bray, solicitors of Lutterworth