BOBBY SHAFTO AT SEA by Robert Shafto, 7 Walkerscroft Mead, Dulwich, UK. SE21 8LJ. -------------------------------------------------------------- With a name like Shafto, it does not matter what your Christian name is; whether you are male or female, you will always be known as Bobby Shafto. In fact, Bobby Shafto was a member of Parliament for Durham in the eighteenth century, and the song may have arose as an election ditty. The Shaftos were an old Northumbrian family, and their roots can be traced back to the 13th century, when they took their name from their residence at Shafto Crag in Northumberland. My great great grandfather, John Shaftoe, was a builder in York. Family tradition said that he or his father came down to York from Northumberland, where he lived at Bavington, the ancestral home of the Northumbrian Shaftos. A few years ago I started to investigate my ancestry, and in particular, when and why John Shafto came down to York. Certainly, the Northumbrian Shaftos can be traced in the York church registers, when they came down to York to marry their brides. However, the ancestry of John Shaftoe was quite easy to discover back to 1668, thanks mainly to the freeman's records for the city. John Shaftoe was the son of pipemakers. From 1675, the Shaftoe family were making clay pipes in York for almost 200 years, with a break when there was a decline in the pipemaking industry. An outline of my family history in this period can be found in two excellent articles, which recently appeared in this magazine, on the history of pipemaking in York by John Andrews. *** *** [ I also received one the mentioned articles, I have snipped the Shafto relevant part of the article, the rest of the article was very similar, but treating other unrelated families. John W. Shafto ] George Shaftoe, son of John Shaftoe, a sailor in Walmgate who went into the army as a substitute in 1806, was born in 1788 and apprenticed to Mark Hesp in 1802, Married Hanna Gowland in 1809, and established a pipeworks around 1814 (he applied for his freedom in 1814, and although the application states 'admitted 17th February' he is not listed in the Freedom Rolls). He took on Robert Rochester as apprentice in 1815. George had a large family; John (born 1810), George (born 1812), Henry (born 1814), Mary Ann (baptised 1815, buried 1816), Thomas (baptised 1817), Hannah (baptised 1819, buried 1820), Joseph (baptised 1821). George Shaftoe died 1821, aged 32 and widow Hannah ran the business between 1823 and 1838 when son George took over. On his death, due to acute bronchitis, in 1846, aged 33, younger brother Henry (freed 1839) continued the business until about 1871. In 1861 he was the owner/occupier of a large house in Walmgate, and owned nine other properties in Shaftoe's Yard, although renting the pipeworks, the property of Richard Moon. Henry died as a 'Gentleman' in 1879. JOHN ANDREWS, 39 Chatford Dr., Meole Brace, Shrewsbury, Salop. SY3 9PH ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *** The furthest back I can trace my ancestry with any certainty is to 1668, when John Shafto married Susan Hanworthy at Holy Trinity Micklegate on 22nd September. John was not a freeman, but he may have been involved in pipemaking. He lived in the parish of St. Mary Bishophill Junior, which I believe would have been an exempt liberty, where he could have traded without being a freeman. The following year at Holy Trinity Micklegate, Richard Shafton married Sarah Hanworth. Richard may perhaps have been his brother or cousin. Richard was a pipemaker, and purchased his freedom in 1675. Where did Richard and John come from? Did they perhaps come from Northumberland, as the family tradition asserts, albeit six generations earlier? The church registers for the period of the Civil War and Commonwealth are often deficient and I have not been able to find conclusive evidence. I searched for other records of other Shaftos in York in the 17th century. In 1652, during the period of the commonwealth, Christopher the son of Thomas Shafton at St. Maurice's in Monkgate. Another son of Thomas, George, was buried at St. Martin Coney Street in 1655. Thomas himself was still in St. Maurice's parish in 1671, when he is listed in the hearth tax records as having two hearths. In the same year his wife Margery died. Thomas died in 1683, and his son Christopher in 1696. Thomas's occupation in York has not been identified. In 1632, Thomas Shafton, a yoeman of Ripon, had a licence to marry Margery Applegarth of Kirk Hammerton. The combination of a Thomas marrying a Margery suggests that Thomas may have given up farming, and moved into the city, sometime after they were married. Perhaps John and Richard were sons of Thomas and Margery; there are no entries in St. Maurice's registers until 1651, and John and Richard would have been born before then. In the Leeds parish registers there are numerous entries for a Shafton family, who lived at Holbeck for generations. Further, the prime names in this family are John, Richard, and George, the same as for the Shaftons' of York. However, somewhat tantalisingly, none of the combinations could have produced a John and a Richard, who were born in the 1640s. I have unearthed a surprising number of Shaftons' in the Vale of York in the early 17th century. Richard and John may have been born, for example, in Clareton, Flaxby, Goldsborough or Weatherby and simply not recorded. However, the parish register of Knaresborough is of special interest. In 1640, a daughter of John Shafton was buried; then on May 9th 1641, John the son of John Shafton was baptised. In 1652, a child of Richard Shafton was buried. In the hearth tax records, Richard Shafton is shown as having one hearth in 1664. This Richard died in 1669 and Ann, his widow, stayed on in the house until she died in 1680. John, who was baptised in 1641, could have been the John who was married in York in 1668. Richard, the York pipemaker could have been his brother or cousin. He may have been a little younger; at the probable time of his baptism, the Knaresborough register shows that John was an important Christian name, as is the case with the York Shaftoes, right through to the present day. The first John in York tried hard to get a son called John, and only succeeded when his third son survived. However, I cannot ignore the marriage of John Shafton to Elizabeth Lancaster at Hunsingore in 1662. Hunsingore is a neighboring parish of Knaresborough. The marriage appears not to have produced any children. Elizabeth Lancaster was born in Hunsingore in 1628. She would have been a bit of a baby snatcher if she had married young John from Knaresborough, when he was only 21 and she was 34. However, there was a another John Shafton, who was born in Wetherby in 1627. The wedding could, therefore, have been between two adults in their early thirties. Elizabeth died in 1693/4. John then remarried Hannah Swail in 1719/20. If he had been the John born in Wetherby, he would have been 91, when he died. If he had been the John born in Knaresborough, he would have been 78; in either case this is very old for this period. I believe that on balance there is a high probability that John Shafton, who was born in Knaresborough, married in York, as did his brother or cousin Richard. But, if this was so, how did Richard and possibly John learn the pipemaking trade? As Richard purchased his freedom, he must have been apprenticed outside York. He would only have been a second generation pipemaker in York. Perhaps he started in an exempt liberty, where the apprenticeship would not have counted for freedom. There are other entries in for Shaftoes in York in the late 17th century, and these are probably for the marriages of the children of Thomas Shafto mentioned earlier. However, an Innkeeper, Mary Shaftoe, signed a petition sometime after 1688, complaining about the excessive billeting of troops in the city. There was often a tie up between the pipemakers and the innkeepers, who sold the pipes. However, Mary does not yet fit into any of my Shafto trees. The search goes on.... by Robert Shafto, 7 Walkerscroft Mead, Dulwich, UK. SE21 8LJ. --------------------------------------------------------------