The Staple Trittons

The Staple Trittons'

From original articles  by

Patricia Tritton

Tritton Family History No 5:

Nov 1991 and No. 6: May 1992).

The family's life centred around the Black Pig Brewery & Shop at Barnsole, Staple, and the hamlet of Summerfield. 

The branch descended from Henry Tritton of Wickhambreaux, but it was at Sturry church that Henry's 3 x great-grandson Robert Tritton married Sarah Richardson on April 2, 1772.  The couple had two children, John (baptized July 12th, 1772), and Sarah.  Sadly, Robert's wife died young - possibly in childbirth, as records show that she was buried on November 28th, 1773, the day on which their daughter was christened.   


Nine years later, Robert married Sarah Marsh, a widow.  They had four sons and two daughters.  The eldest son, William, became a baker and founded the branch of the Trittons that lived at River (near Dover).  The second son, Robert (baptized 1792) was the forefather of the 'Staple Trittons', and was a shopkeeper and grocer.

Robert married Thomasin Hatton, a 22 year old spinster from Westbere, at Wickhambreaux church on October 13th 1814.  They had eight boys and four girls.  The eldest three: William, Thomas and Charlotte, were christened at Woodnesborough church; but by the time the fourth child, Richard, was born, the family had moved to Staple and it was here that the remaining children were baptized.   


Quite when Robert became a brewer is not known; but the 1851 Census return shows that Robert, Thomasin and five of their children were living at Barnsole, where he was 'Brewer and occupier of 28 acres.'  Sons Thomas (24) and John (20) were described as 'brewers' and George (27) and Henry (22) were farm labourers.  Frances (17) was employed 'at home'.  Of their other children, three had died in infancy and the remaining four had married and left home.   


Robert was obviously a man of some means, because when he died in 1858 he bequeathed to his son, George, all his 'Estate term and interest in and to a messuage or tenement and five acres of land in the parish of Staple' and 'To my dear wife, Thomasin' (sic) all his freehold and leasehold estates at Staple, Dover, Swingfield and Deal, and all his goods, stock, livestock, furniture, brewing utensils, farming implements and the remainder of his personal estate and effects.  Robert was described in his will as a farmer and general dealer.   


He was anxious to ensure that his property remained in the family, because he stipulated that after Thomasin's death the freehold house and land at swingfield be shared equally between 'My dear son William and my dear daughter Frances, the wife of Thomas Seath.  He also requested that after Thomasin's death, his land and brewery at Staple, and his houses at Deal and Dover, and any other personal estate and effects be shared between his son, Robert, and his son-in-law, Thomas Hopkins (husband of his daughter Charlotte), in trust to 'Permit and suffer my sons Thomas, Henry and John to have, hold, use, occupy, possess and enjoy the said house, land and brewery.'   


He also instructed that his sons Thomas, Henry and John should pay, after the death of Thomasin, £100 to each of their sisters: Charlotte (Hopkins) and Matilda Ann (Jay) by six annual installments of £16. 13s. 6d. 


Three years after Robert died, the Census return of 1861 shows that Thomasin was carrying on the trade of brewer at Barnsole.. helped by her unmarried sons Thomas and Henry, while her son John was living at The Black Pig with his wife Charlotte, where his occupation was given as 'grocer and beer retailer'.     


Thomasin survived her husband by 21 years.  She died in 1879 and was buried in Staple churchyard. on March 18th.


Several mementoes remain of Robert & Thomasin; among which are some handsome silver spoons, engraved 'R.T.T. 1801', a beautiful bureau, lovingly cared for by one of their great-grandchildren, and a silver medallion containing a photo' of their son John.   


After Robert died in 1858 his widow Thomasin carried on the trade of brewer at Barnsole, Staple helped by her unmarried sons, Thomas and Henry.  However, Henry died in 1865 at the early age of 36 and Thomas married Alice Kidham Cork in 1867, so it is likely that araound this time Thomasin's third surviving son, Robert, took over the brewery.  Thomasin, by now 75 years old, was probably glad to relinquish all her chores and spend the remainder of her retirement enjoying the company of her many children and grandchildren.


Robert jnr. had married Susana Bachelle at Staple on August 2nd 1848.  They were to have 16 children, six of whom died in infancy.  The first eight were baptized at Ash, where Robert was a pork butcher.  Their third son, Henry, was the first of their children to be baptized at Staple (on july 19th 1860) where Robert was now a labourer, and it was here that all the remaining children were baptized.


Robert's brother, George, was living with his wife Sarah Ann and their first six children at Summerhill, just up the road from Barnsole, where he was farming five acres of land bequeathed to him in his father's will in 1858.  George and Sarah Ann eventually had nine children altogether - six six sons and three daughters - though their last two sons, Richard Henry and Edward Bray died in their early twenties.


Robert and George's younger brother, John, was living at the Black Pig pub with his wife Charlotte, and their three sisters were married and living nearby.  Their other brother, Thomas and his wife Alice were running a market garden at Preston, near Wingham. 


The Trittons were a close-knit family and, with the exception of Robert's eldest brother, William, all its members stayed in and around Staple. 


William had married Rebecca (maiden name unknown), who came from Newington and they lived at a pub at Swingfield, near Folkestone, called The Horse and Groom Inn (or in some records, The Black Horse).  If you go to the pub, you'll see its history and references to the Trittons on a framed document in the bar.  William was a victualler and farmer of 20 acres.    Rebecca helped in run the pub and in the 1851 census was described as 'an employee and labouer'.  Rebecca died childless in 1854 at the early age of 36, and three years later William married Olive Adams at Folkestone.  They had two sons, William (baptized 1861) and Robert (baptized 1863).


William snr. died in 1879 and was buried in Swingfield churchyard.  William jnr. (an engineer) died in Huston, Texas, on August 23rd, 1881 in circumstances as yet unknown.  His mother, Olive, remained at the Black Horse.  She died in 1894.   


William and Olive's second son, Robert, was a carpenter and before he died in 1901 he appointed 'My dear wife Rose' and his cousin Robert Tritton of Dover, baker, as executors of his will.  Robert was buried in Swingfield churchyard and shares a grave with his son, Robert Eustace William Tritton, who died in 1914, aged 19.


Rose obviously still retained some connection with The Black Horse.  The records of the Mackeson brwery show that in 1901 Rose and Robert Tritton leased, from the brewery, THe Black Horse and about seven acres of pasture land on the opposite side of the road for a period of 14 years. 


For personal memories of the Staple Trittons I (Pat Tritton) went to see Olive Cumberland, Robert and Susanna's grand daughter.


" Grandfather had a farm at Shatterling, near Ash, and my father, Frank Vincent Tritton, was born at Barnsole.  By the time my father was born in 1870 some of his brothers and sisters were married and he did not know much about them.         


" My aunt Fanny married William Makey of Ash.  They had a daughter, Rose.  Another of dad's sisters, Emily, married, and had a daughter, Belle.


"Aunt Kate (Catherine) had two children, a boy and a girl.  Uncle Henry married Minnie, and they had six children, one of whom, Robert Edmund, was killed in a submarine.  Uncle Henry took a long time to accept Robert's death. 


"I was named after my Aunt Olive.  My Uncle Robert fought in the Boer war, but was the black sheep of the family.  My father paid his fare to go out to New Zealand.  I don't know why.  He never married over there.  Someone we know went out to New Zealand and made enquiries for us.  They found Uncle Bob's grave and discovered that he had died in a sort of British Legion home."


" I was born at The Black Pig.  Dad was married twice.  My brother Frank's mother died 17 days after he was born and Frank was brought up by the wagoner's wife.  When my Uncle Tom (Dad's brother) married Aunt Lizzie at Aylesbury, dad was their best man.  He went out with Annie (Lizzie's sister) and they married, but she died soon after Frank was born.  Her other sister, Mary, came down to see Uncle Tom and Aunt Lizzie one day, and went out to see my father.  My father asked her to be his housekeeper so that he could have little Frank home.  So she came down and looked after them.     


Eventually, Frank Vincent married Mary.  Olive was born a year later.  "So two brothers married three sisters" said Olive.  "My Great Uncle John who ran The Black Pig dropped down dead in there one day, and because he didn't leave a will, dad had to borrow the money to but the business.  My mother used to laugh about Uncle John and his wife Charlotte - she said she used to go behind him with a dustpan and brush because he was so untidy."


"Frank, my brother, never married - he was called up during the First World War and his girlfriend married someone else.  I think that put him off girls."


"The Black Pig was originally two houses.  Aunt Fanny lived in one side and ran the shop part, and my mother and father lived in the other and ran the pub.  Uncle tom ran The Coach and Horses pub at Lyminge had a daughter, Ursula."


"Sally Ann (George and Sarah Ann's daughter) was two years older than dad but their birthdays were on the same day.  Sally Ann married Frank Barr, the Headmaster of Staple school." 


"Frank Vincent Tritton sold The Black Pig to Gardners' brewery in 1912 and moved to nearby Church Farm.  The pub had sold its beers in bottles carrying the Tritton name, but sadly after the sale the entire stock of empties was destroyed."