The Westons - parents and six of their nine children
James Weston was born in Over Whitacre and baptised at the adjoining village, Shustoke, on 18 May 1766, the second son of the ten children of Edward and Catharine Weston. (A new church at Over Whitacre was being built in 1766). The Westons were principal landowners in the area.
On 12 June 1799 James married Mary Clarke at Arley.
Mary Clark was baptised on 16 April 1773 at Nether Whitacre, the settlement next to Over Whitacre. This was where her parents Isaac and Elizabeth nee Ratheram farmed.
The young couple moved quickly to Stoneleigh after their marriage as their first child, Edward, was born here in 1800. Thereafter they farmed at Stivichall Grange where Mary's uncle Thomas Clark (
D 6.4) had farmed until his death in 1791.
James lived to be 88, dying on 6 November 1854 and being buried at Stoneleigh on 11 November. His wife Mary lived for four more years: she died on 11 April 1858 at the age of 85 and was buried on 17 April.
James and Mary had nine children, six of whom are commemorated on this box tomb. Their eldest son Edward farmed and died at Over Whitacre, having inherited property there from his unmarried uncle Edward; their eldest daughter
Mary married
Thomas Richard Farmer and is buried at
D16.6; the second daughter
Anne married
Joseph Swinnerton and is buried at
D 7.13.
James, the second son, was born in 1808 and baptised at Stoneleigh on 4 September. By the 1851 census he had taken over the farm at Finham Park, where he continued, unmarried. Three of his unmarried sisters lived there with him at the time of the 1871 census, but by the 1881 census he had retired and was living with his sister Emma at Keresley House in Coventry. This was his address when he died on 18 January 1892. James Weston Junior appears in many newspaper articles as one of the principal tenant farmers on the estate; in 1871, as one of the churchwardens, he gave the welcome to
James Wentworth Leigh, vicar of Stoneleigh, when he brought home his American bride,
Frances Butler. ( both buried at
D 22.18). he was buried at Stoneleigh on 21 January 1892.
Sadly the third son,
John, had just a short life. He was born in 1810 and baptised at Stoneleigh on 8 March, but was to live only until the age of 26. He died on 15 April 1836 and was buried on 19 April, his address being given as Stivichall.
All four unmarried sisters are commemorated on the tomb:
Catherine, the third daughter, was born in 1805 and baptised at Stoneleigh on 18 May, when her name was given as Katherine. In both the 1841 and 1851 censuses she was at home at Stivichall Grange, but died aged 56 on 15 January 1861 and was buried on 19 January. She had been living with brother James at Finham Park, as her address was given as Finham in the burial register.
Jane, the fourth daughter, was born in 1811. She was baptised at Stoneleigh on 16 May. Her sister
Frances was born in 1813, and baptised at Stoneleigh on 5 October. They both lived for most of their lives with their brother James. Frances died on 7 February 1881 and was buried at Stoneleigh on 10 February. Jane on 17 February 1884 and was buried on 21 February, her address given as Stoneleigh.
Three of the siblings, Frances, James and Emma, moved away from Stoneleigh after 1871: At the time of Frances' death she was living at Keresley House, and this was her sister Emma's residence.
Emma was born in 1817 and baptised at Stoneleigh on 5 October. Interestingly she had initially been baptised on 15 April that year, at Stivichall. By 1881 she was the owner/occupier of Keresley House in Coventry and was the head of the household, though James was there too. It would seem that Frances had been living there with them until her death earlier that year. After James' death in 1892, Emma continued to reside there until her death at the age of 83 on 4 April 1900. She was buried at Stoneleigh on 9 April. The last of her siblings, her estate was worth more than £53,000; probate was granted to her nephew Edward of Over Whitacre, her oldest brother Edward's son.
[Keresley House, on the Tamworth Road, Coventry, still exists and is locally-listed. Its gardens are reputed to have been laid out by Joseph Paxton.]
