Matthew Gumbley and Esther Gumbley nee Bacon
The Gumbley surname is often spelled in variant ways, appearing in documents as Gumly or Gumley.
Matthew Gumbley was one of the sons of William Gumbley and his wife Mary nee Lee, and several of the family were farmers on the Leigh estate or surrounding areas. Matthew's father farmed at Tocil, for example, and his brother William eventually farmed at Claverdon.
Matthew was the uncle of William Gumbley who is buried at
C 13.4 and who was a Broad Lane farmer.
The date of Matthew's birth is unknown as no record has yet been found. Four siblings have been discovered. He was married on 2 August 1768 at Stoneleigh, to Esther Bacon, who was born at Radford Semele. He appears on Jurors' Lists for Stoneleigh in the 1790s as a yeoman farmer at Canley. He died in 1796 and was buried at Stoneleigh on 5 July; he seems to have followed in his father's footsteps as the register notes him as "of Tocil".
As this appears to be a double headstone it is likely that Matthew's wife Esther is also buried here, though the stone is too badly eroded to read. She died in 1819 and was buried at Stoneleigh on 1 December. The register states that she is of Kenilworth, late of Stoneleigh and is a "widow farmer".
