John Stainsby was the third child of Thomas Stainsby & Elizabeth Sunley christened June 22nd, 1806 at St Peter’s, Pickering, Yorks.
In the 1837 Poor Law Valuation of Whitby John Stainsby was mentioned as occupier of a public house and stable, “Duke of Wellington” with a rateable value of £10, owned by Ann Moore. It was also noted that two tenements over part of John Stainsby’s stable were unoccupied. The address was given as Kiln Yard, near to Church St, Whitby. The following is an extract from the transcription made by Steven Whitaker from the original document held at the National Archives, Kew:
The funds to pay for the relief of the poor were collected from the population of the township or parish, according to the value of the property they occupied. The value of each property, or more particularly, the rent it would fetch if rented for a year, was assessed. The local Board of Guardians would decide how much they needed in each year and each householder was liable for a proportion of this, depending on the annual rateable value of his property. In 1837, the Board of Guardians for the Whitby Union came to the conclusion that the rateable values that they had been using prior to that date was out of date. They requested permission from the Poor Law Commission to conduct a new valuation. When this was granted, in order to record the annual rateable value of each property, the Board of Guardians appointed a valuer. He wrote a list of properties with their owners, occupiers and their rateable values, presumably by walking around the town and interviewing people. This list was published by a local printer so that people could check that their rateable value was correct and also that no-one else was being charged too low a rate.
John is again listed in Whites Directory of Whitby for 1840 under the section Hotels, Inns & Taverns. The entry is: King’s Head John Stainsby (& farrier), Church Street. (The Duke of Wellington is no longer mentioned at this time.)
John married Priscilla Wood in April-June, 1839 at Whitby. Priscilla was born November 11th, 1798 at Ugglebarnby, near Whitby, Yorks, the daughter of James & Elizabeth Wood.
By 1841 John & Priscilla were living at Church St, Whitby where John was a publican with a 1 year old son, Thomas.
In 1851 John & Priscilla were still at Whitby living at St Ann’s Staith & John was described as an inn keeper. They had a son John (9) at home.
John & Priscilla were living at Howergate, Whitby in 1861 & John had now become a butcher. There were no children at home. Intriguingly John was also recorded in the 1861 census as being with his mother Elizabeth Stainsby at North Side Potter Hill, Pickering. (As the details for the 2 Johns are identical i.e. a married butcher aged 55 born at Pickering it is presumed that he was visiting his mother & was therefore entered twice in the census.)
Priscilla died in January to March 1865 at Whitby.
The children of John Stainsby & Priscilla Wood were:
sb.3.1 Thomas Stainsby born Jan- March 1840 at Whitby
sb.3.2 John Stainsby born July- September 1841 at Whitby, died Oct-December
1879 at Whitby
John could not be found in the 1871 census but in Oct-December 1873 he married Margaret Ward at Whitby. Margaret was born at Hawsker, near Whitby & christened May 17th, 1822 at Whitby. She was the daughter of William & Elizabeth Ward.
John & Margaret were living at 12 York Terrace, Ruswarp, Whitby in 1881 & John was described as a retired butcher. Margaret’s sister Mary Ward, aged 71, was with them at the time of the census.
John died in July-September 1883 aged 77, his death being registered at Whitby & Margaret died, aged 63, the following year in July-September, also registered at Whitby.