BENTLEY OF LEEDS
The 1738/39 will of Zechariah Rayner of Eccleshill names his wife Dorothy and a document of 1764 mentions Dorothy Rayner of Eccleshill, relict of Zachariah Rayner.[1] No marriage entry has been found for Zechariah and Dorothy but the 1786 will of Ann Comerford de Blancford of Leeds provides evidence of Dorothy’s origins. Ann mentions her deceased brother Matthew Bentley and many other individuals including, of particular relevance here: “To my Cousin Sarah the Wife of [blank] Bickerdike of Bowman Lane Leeds Linen Weaver I give and bequeath the Sum of forty pounds and the Sum of Twenty pounds to her Sister Susannah White Widow of Allerton near Bradford. To Isabella Smith of Wetherby Widow the Daughter of Zachariah Rayner late of Ecclesall I give the Sum of forty pounds and to Dorothy Turalay [sic] the Wife of John Turlay of Wetherby Mason I give the Sum of Twenty pounds”.[2] Sarah, Susannah and Isabella were daughters of Zechariah and Dorothy Rayner, and Dorothy Turlay was one of their granddaughters. There is no apparent relationship between Ann and Zechariah and it is evident that the link was through the latter’s wife Dorothy.
Ann (Bentley) Comerford de Blancford was a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Morkill) Bentley of Leeds. I have not been able to find a suitable Dorothy among the Morkills but Joseph Bentley had a sister Dorothy, born in 1682/83, an excellent fit to be the wife of Zechariah Rayner.
Ralph Thoresby’s Ducatus Leodiensis, published in 1715, mentions this family: “Matthew Bentley of Leeds, has had nineteen Children (but by two Wives) of which, Eleven (by Mary his second Wife, yet living) were born in the space of twelve Years and a Quarter, and were all single Births, some of them now living, lusty young Men, The said Matthew was the first who kept a Hackney-Coach in Leeds”.[3]
Matthew Bentley’s age is given as twenty-three in abstracts of marriage licence records for his second marriage in 1675 but this seems to be incorrect as his first marriage took place in 1663/64. The age might be an error for thirty-three, in which case he could be “Mathew S of Doratie Bentley alies Miles Lollie” who was baptised at Hampsthwaite on 26 December 1642.[4]
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BENTLEY
MATTHEW BENTLEY of Leeds, Yorkshire, slaymaker, married first, on 28 January 1663/64 at St Peter, Leeds, GRACE LUDLAM.[5] She was buried on 10 August 1675 at St Peter, Leeds.[6] He married second, ca 23 August 1675, MARY HUTTON.[7] She was born ca 1648.[8]
Children of Matthew and
Grace (Ludlam) Bentley:
i HANNAH BENTLEY, b 29 Aug 1664,
bap 4 Sep 1664, St Peter, Leeds,[9]
bur 18 Mar 1746/47, St Peter, Leeds;[10] m
13 Nov 1688, St Peter, Leeds, JOHN TEALE.[11]
ii JACOB BENTLEY, bur 30 Apr 1666, St
Peter, Leeds.[12]
iii MATTHEW BENTLEY, b 6 Jan 1667/68,
bap 6 Jan 1667/68, Leeds.[13]
iv JOSEPH BENTLEY, b 6 Jan 1667/68, bap
6 Jan 1667/68, Leeds,[14]
bur 24 Jul 1673, St Peter, Leeds.[15]
v GRACE BENTLEY, b 8 Sep 1670, bap
18 Sep 1670, St Peter, Leeds,[16]
bur 7 Apr 1709, St Peter, Leeds;[17] m
31 Aug 1693, St Peter, Leeds, THOMAS BUTTERFIELD.[18]
vi MARY BENTLEY, b 16 Oct 1672, bap 31
Oct 1672, St Peter, Leeds,[19]
bur 26 Oct 1673, St Peter, Leeds.[20]
vii DAVID BENTLEY, b 4 Aug 1674, bap 13
Aug 1674, St Peter, Leeds,[21]
bur 17 Aug 1674, St Peter, Leeds.[22]
viii CALEB BENTLEY, b 2 Aug 1675, bap 7 Aug
1675, Leeds.[23]
Children of Matthew and
Mary (Hutton) Bentley:
ix JOHN BENTLEY of Leeds, chandler, b
27 Jul 1676, bap 6 Aug 1676, St Peter, Leeds;[24] m
11 Nov 1703, St Peter, Leeds, ELIZABETH SUGDEN.[25]
x JOSEPH BENTLEY of Leeds, b 13 Jun
1677, bap 25 Jun 1677, Leeds,[26] d
29 Jul 1746, bur 31 Jul 1746, St Peter, Leeds;[27] m
26 Nov 1702, St Peter, Leeds, ELIZABETH MORKILL.[28]
xi DAVID BENTLEY of Leeds, patten
maker, b 3 Sep 1678, bap 12 Sep 1678, Leeds,[29]
bur 6 Dec 1749, St Peter, Leeds;[30]
m(1) 8 Apr 1703, St Peter, Nottingham, ELIZABETH SKINNER;[31]
m(2) 12 Nov 1739, St Peter, Leeds, AGNES MASON.[32]
xii LYDIA BENTLEY, b 3 Nov 1679, bap 11
Dec 1679, Leeds;[33]
m(1) 29 Nov 1699, St Peter, Leeds, WILLIAM AIRTON;[34]
m(2) 31 Dec 1717, St Peter, Leeds, MATTHEW WATSON.[35]
xiii REBECCA BENTLEY, b 10 Nov 1680, bap 22
Nov 1680, Leeds,[36]
bur 15 Jul 1755, St Peter, Leeds;[37] m
5 Apr 1708, Headingley, WILLIAM FENTON.[38]
xiv MARY BENTLEY, b 8 Feb 1681/82, bap 19
Feb 1681/82, St Peter, Leeds;[39] m
22 Sep 1703, St Peter, Leeds, JOHN MUSGRAVE.[40]
xv DOROTHY BENTLEY, b 12 Jan 1682/83,
bap 21 Jan 1682/83, St Peter, Leeds,[41]
bur 22 Apr 1766, Bradford;[42] m
ZECHARIAH RAYNER[43]
(see here).
xvi MARTHA BENTLEY, b 18 May 1684, bap 15
Jun 1684, St Peter, Leeds.[44]
xvii BENJAMIN BENTLEY, b 10 Aug 1685, bap 16
Aug 1685, St Peter, Leeds,[45]
bur 2 Apr 1686, St Peter, Leeds.[46]
xviii MICHAEL BENTLEY, b 12 Nov 1686, bap 2 Dec
1686, St Peter, Leeds,[47]
bur 1 Jan 1687/88, St Peter, Leeds.[48]
xix RUTH BENTLEY, b 14 Feb 1688/89, bap 7
Mar 1688/89, St Peter, Leeds,[49]
bur 29 Dec 1689, St Peter, Leeds.[50]
[1] West Yorkshire Archive Service, catalogue entry for STST/2/327.
[2] Will of Ann Comerford de Blancford of Leeds, dated 7 Apr 1786 and proved 18 Nov 1786 (Borthwick Institute).
[4] Hampsthwaite parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[5] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[6] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[7] Archbishop of York Marriage Licences Index, 1613-1839 (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); John W. Clay, ed., Paver’s Marriage Licences, vol. 3 (Worksop, 1912), 10.
[9] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[10] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[11] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); will of John Teale of Leeds, dated 29 Mar 1722, proved 20 May 1723 (Borthwick Institute).
[12] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[13] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[14] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[15] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[16] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[17] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[18] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[19] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[20] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[21] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[22] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[23] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[24] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[25] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); Archbishop of York Marriage Licences Index, 1613-1839 (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); John W. Clay, ed., Paver’s Marriage Licences, vol. 3 (Worksop, 1912), 117.
[26] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[27] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); monumental inscription at St Peter, Leeds.
[28] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com). The parties are given as “John Bentley of Low Briggate & Eliza: Morkill” but the bridegroom’s forename seems to be an error for Joseph. It is known from a monumental inscription that Joseph married a woman named Elizabeth and the will of his daughter Ann (Bentley) Comerford de Blancford of Leeds, dated 7 Apr 1786 and proved 18 Nov 1786 (Borthwick Institute) mentions multiple Morkill cousins. Additionally, Joseph had a child named Morkill Bentley, baptised on 31 Oct 1706 (St Peter, Leeds, parish registers, online at www.ancestry.com).
[29] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[30] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); St Peter, Leeds, bishop’s transcripts (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[31] St Peter, Nottingham, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com). Elizabeth, wife of David Bentley, was buried at Leeds on 11 Oct 1739 (St Peter, Leeds, parish registers, online at www.ancestry.com). There is an occupational link to support the identification. The records of High Pavement chapel, Nottingham, show the baptism on 26 Apr 1704 of John, son of David Bentley, journeyman to Thomas Herson, and the same records describe Thomas Herson as a heel maker (National Archies, RG 4/1587). David Bentley of Leeds is later described as a patten maker in quarter session records of 1709-11 (West Yorkshire Archive Service, QL/1/2).
[32] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[33] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[34] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[35] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); Archbishop of York Marriage Licences Index, 1613-1839 (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[36] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[37] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); will dated 15 Oct 1753, proved 28 Aug 1755 (Borthwick Institute).
[38] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); Archbishop of York Marriage Licences Index, 1613-1839 (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); John W. Clay, ed., Paver’s Marriage Licences, vol. 3 (Worksop, 1912), 140.
[39] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[40] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); Archbishop of York Marriage Licences Index, 1613-1839 (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); John W. Clay, ed., Paver’s Marriage Licences, vol. 3 (Worksop, 1912), 118.
[41] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[42] Bradford parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[43] See the discussion above.
[44] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[45] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[46] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[47] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[48] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[49] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[50] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
