Articles, records and resources relating to the history of the Lancashire town of Preston
Pedder, Richard — 1693-1762
The Pedders of Preston Over the course of two hundred years the Pedder family rose to prominence in the town, founding its first bank and entering the ranks of the gentry. The main branch of the family faced ruin when the bank collapsed in 1861, but fortunes were salvaged and the family entered the 20th century with their privileges intact. The Pedders of Preston
Richard Pedder was baptised on 12 February 1692/3 in the parish church at Preston, the son of Richard Pedder1. He married Jennet, the daughter of John Reed of Preston, on 20 January 1711/2. The couple had 11 children, five of whom survived infancy: Richard (baptised 7 December 1712 2), Edward (baptised 7 October1717 3) Grace (baptised 1 December 1726 4), Thomas (baptised 27 April 1729 5) and James (baptised 25 July 1731 6).
He and his four sons are on the 1742 guild roll, where he is described as a common council man
From October 1719 he was serving on the town’s court leet jury, in October 1729 he was serving a term as an ‘affeerer and assessor’, and in October 1743 ‘Richard Pedder ye elder’ was a councilman. 7
The Preston Poor Tax Book of 1732 shows that Mr Richard Pedder owned a number of properties on the east side of Friargate and a field in the Maudland district, which together yielded an annual rental of £39 14s. 6d.; he had a lease on another field with an annual rental of 5 guineas. He was renting a workhouse at the back of the Anchor Inn on Friargate for £1 10s. a year.
The tax book entries do not reveal where he was living, but it would seem that in around 1749 Richard had a house in Ribbleton on the present Ribbleton Avenue, possibly the property called Abbotts mentioned in his will. 8
In 1750 he bought the perpetual advowson of the vicarage of Garstang from Silvester Richmond of Walton, Liverpool, for £600. In the conveyance he is described as ‘linendraper’. 9 Earlier in the negotiations, a price £500 was being set, and earlier still charges of defrauding the rightful inheritors of the advowson had to be defended. 10 Sylvester Richmond was the descendant of another Sylvester Richmond, who was born in Garstang and moved to Liverpool, where he became mayor and is known as the ‘father’ of Liverpool medicine. It was probably this first Sylvester who bought the Garstang advowson.
Richard Pedder and Sons were among the Preston merchants exporting cloth to the West Indies aboard the Clifton of Preston. 11
In June 1748 Richard Pedder ‘gentleman’ was elected alderman. 12 He was mayor of Preston 1748-9 and 1756-7 13 During his second spell as mayor Richard Pedder esq was involved in planning and financing, at a cost of £2000, the rebuilding of Penwortham bridge. 14
Jennet Pedder (wife) To his wife Jennet all his household goods, plate, linen, china and furniture, and after her death to be divided equally among his children. Also, land recently purchased from John Aspinall esq called Nearer Maudlands and Causey Meadow and tenanted by John Arkwright. And the house of his son Edward on the south side of Friargate.
Edward Pedder (son) On Jennet’s death, Edward gets his house and Nearer Maudlands and Causey Meadow. Also, a house in Ribbleton called Abbots; and a pew on the south side of the south aisle in Preston Church; a house on the north side of Friargate known as the Holy Lamb in the possession of Anne Gibson widow and a house on the backside in the possession of Richard Wakefield currier; Bellfounders Field in the possession of Peter Hodgkinson butcher; The Conduit field on south side of Maudlands Lane bought from Mr Mauleverer and now occupied by Mr John Derbyshire; pew on the north side of the north aisle of Preston church
Thomas Pedder (son) Thomas was left five houses on the north side of Friargate near the Brown Channel [opposite the present Lune Street] three facing the street and two behind, in the possession of James Hodgkinson, Agnes Pedder, James Taylor, Humphrey Moore and Robert Gath, along with their stables and gardens. Also, a warehouse in his own possession, and several houses and stables in St John’s Weind in the possession of Edward Whitehouse, Anne Gibson, Nathan Myers and Christopher Barlow. The will records that Richard Pedder built the property on land purchased from the representatives of Mr William Loxham deceased. Other property: the Crown Field near Sandy Lane which he bought from Mr Lawrence Wall deceased and now in the possession John Kay; Pinfold House near the pinfold at the bottom of Friargate; shares in the Common Maudlands on the road from Preston to Spittles Moss, bought from Edward Blackburne and Robert Brookes and now in the possession of John Hilton; houses on the south side of Spittles Moss in the possession of George Hilton; land purchased from Mr Thom [?document torn] and Robert Brookes on the north side of Maudlands Lane and an adjoining parcel bought from Mr Mauleverer, Richard occupying it himself; a pew on the north side of the middle aisle and a pew in the south gallery of Preston church. He gives Thomas the house he is living in along with a warehouse leased from Mr Jeoffrey Rishton deceased (no location).
James Pedder (son) The Ox Heys, divided into Ox Hey Brow, the Rough Field above the Nearer Ox Hey, the Woodburn Meadow, the Woodburn Brow, the Woodburn Bottom, the Gornall Meadow, the Gornall Brow and the Nearer Bottom; the Round Meadow on the south or south-east side of Broadgate Lane; about a rood and 34 perches adjoining westward to the Common Fields in Preston and eastwards to the Round Meadow occupied by James Greaves carrier; leasehold tenement not named held from Sir Henry Hoghton. These were in lieu of a bond for £1000 that he had given James on his marriage.
Grace Derbyshire (daughter) A trust fund was established for daughter Grace, wife of John Derbyshire grocer, with the three sons as trustees. This comprised: land in Avenham bought from John Aspinall esq, Mr John Walker and others and Mr William Hall and others in the possession of Edward Whitehouse and the Overseers of the Poor of Preston; two houses on the east side of St John’s Lane in the possession of Isaac Moss and Widow Harington; house on north side of Churchgate in the possession of Mrs Townley widow; lesser pew on the north side of the middle aisle and a pew on north side of south aisle in Preston church. Also £600, interest to be paid annually. The will makes clear that this is Grace’s inheritance, not her present or any future husband’s, and passes to her children on her death.
Grandchildren Edward, Charles, James, Jennett and Anne, the children of Edward,James, and James, Richard and Jennet Derbyshire, the children of Grace, each receive £100.
Sons Thomas and James Pedder receive £200 each, son-in-law John Derbyshire £500. And ‘The Poor of Preston’ get £20
The residue of the estate to be divided between Edward and Thomas
1 ‘St John, Preston, Baptisms 1642-1725, Page 384, Entry 18. Source: Original Register at Lancashire Archives’, n.d., https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/indexp.html.
2 ‘St John, Preston, Baptisms 1642-1725, Page 455, Entry 20. Source: Original Register at Lancashire Archives’, n.d., https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/indexp.html.
3 ‘St John, Preston, Baptisms 1642-1725, Page 475, Entry 18. Source: Original Register at Lancashire Archives’, n.d., https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/indexp.html.
11 M. M. Schofield, ‘Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax: Eighteenth Century Lancashire Exports to the Colonies’, Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 135 (1985): 80 Note 20.
12 W. A. Abram, Memorials of the Preston Guilds (Preston: Preston Guardian, 1882), 88.
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