Thomas Pigot (1777 - 1840)

Born 1777 in Peplow, Shropshire, England

Husband of Mary Ann (Kearsley) Pigot — married 23 Oct 1816 in St Mary the Virgin, Deane, Lancashire, England

Died 1 Feb 1840 at about age 63 in Blymhill, Staffordshire, England

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Biography

Thomas Pigot was born in Shropshire, England.

One of our very, very many Pigot vicars.

Born circa 1778, Peplow, Shropshire, England, the son of Thomas Pigot and Charlotte Tayleur. Baptised 14 Jan 1778, Hodnet, Shropshire, England. ^[1]

Obtained a B. A., Christs, Oxford, 1802.^[2]

Married Mary Ann Kearsley, 23 Oct 1816 St Mary the Virgin, Deane, Lancashire, England. ^[3][4]

He was perpetual Curate of St. Helen’s, Lancashire, and Chaplain to the Earl of Balcarras for 21 years^[5], before becoming curate at Blymhill, in Staffordshire, England in 1836. . ^[6]

Supported the Tory Party. ^[7]

Died 1 Feb 1840. Blymhill, Stafordshire, England, aged 62 years. ^[8] Buried 5 Feb 1840 St Mary the Virgin, Deane, Lancashire, England. ^[9]

His Will ^[10], written 12 Dec 1836, and proved 10 Mar 1840, makes mention of:-

• I, Thomas Pigot, Clerk, Rector of Blymhill
• my most dearly beloved wife - deceased and buried at Dean, Lancashire, England
• my children
• my sister, Charlotte Pigot
• my eldest son, Thomas Pigot
• my only daughter Mary Anne Kearsley Pigot
• my brother, Creswell Pigot
• my late parents - interred at Hodnet, Salop
• my sister-in-law, Margaret Kearsley
• my brother-in-law, John Hodson Kearsley
• my friend, Peter Greenall of St. Helen's

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources

1. ↑ Hodnet Parish Registers - Transcripts Mel Lockie's Shropshire Site
   Baptised: 14 Jan 1778; Thomas, son of Thomas and Charlotte Pigot
   Digital Folder Number: 004133148; Microfilm Number: 908234; Originating System: ODM; Indexing Batch: P00873-1
2. ↑ "OXFORD, SATURDAY, DEC. 3." Jackson's Oxford Journal [1809], 3 Dec. 1836. British Library Newspapers.
   “ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS
   The Rev. Thomas Pigot (M.A. of Christ in 1802), has been instituted by the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry to the Rectory of Blymhill, Staffordshire, on the resignation of the Hon, Rev. H. Brdigeman; patron Earl of Bradford.”
3. ↑ https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Search/indexp.html
   Marriage: 23 Oct 1816 St Mary the Virgin, Deane, Lancashire, England
   Thomas Pigot - Clerk, Bachelor, St Helens Parish; Mary Ann Kearsley - this Parish [Deane]; Witness: James Kearsley; Margaret Kearsley; Frances Kearsley; Josiah Kearsley; A. Boardman; Witness: J. Hodson Kearsley; Married by Licence by: George Bridgeman Rector of Wigan; Notes: [Bride's condition is not recorded. Other witnesses were Thomas Kearsley and EH? Bridgeman]
   Register: Marriages 1813 - 1818; Source: Manchester Archives microfilm
4. ↑ "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries." Chester Chronicle, 1 Nov. 1816, p. 3. British Library Newspapers.
   “MARRIAGES – On Wednesday, October 23d. at Dean, by the Hon. & Rev. George Bridgeman, the Rev. Thomas Pigot, perpetual Curate of St. Helen’s, Lancashire, and Chaplain to the Earl of Balcarras, to Miss Mare Anne Kearsley, second daughter of the late Edward Kearsley, Esq., of Hulton, in the same county.”
5. ↑ "Local Intelligence." Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 30 Dec. 1837, p. 3. British Library Newspapers.
   “TRIBUTE TO THE REV. THOMAS PIGOT – Among the characteristics of the times and evidences for good, amidst many concurrent dangers and causes of apprehension with which the present period abounds, we may notice the increased and increasing frequency of grateful tributes paid to ministers of the established church, by those who have had the best means of estimating their worth, and who have best profited by their pastoral labours. A few days ago, a very handsome silver table centre-piece, with some smaller articles, to the value of £70, were presented to Rev. Thomas Pigot, M.A., late incumbent of St, Helen’s, and now rector of Blymhill, in Shropshire. This tribute of regard to one who had made full proof of his ministry among them for more than twenty years, in season and out of season, was to paid, in the warm and overflowing feelings of regret, at the moment of separation, it was the act of his parishioners above a year after they had been separate, and was the result of their deliberate gratitude and sense of obligation to one who had fed them with the bread of life. In the spirit of a true and faithful shepherd, who watched for their souls, as one that knew he must give an account for them to God.”
6. ↑ "Multiple News Items." Lancaster Gazetter, 3 Dec. 1836. British Library Newspapers.
   “PREFERMENT – The Rev. Thomas Pigot, A.M., formerly curate of the Parish Church of Wigan, and twenty-one years incumbent of St. Helen’s, has been presented by the Earl of Lichfield and Coventry, to the Rectory of Blymhill, in the county of Stafford, vacant by the resignation of the Honourable and Reverend H.E. Bridgeman.”
7. ↑ "TORY DOINGS AT ST. HELEN'S." Liverpool Mercury, 13 Feb. 1835. British Library Newspapers.
   “TORY DOINGS AT ST. HELEN'S
   TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL MERCURY.
   Sir, - In your paper last week I find a letter from St. Helen’s signed Veritas, containing not a few insidious reflections upon a clergyman residing within forty miles of that place, meaning, no doubt, myself. I could not wish to harbour any vindictive feelings either towards yourself for publishing, or against Veritas for writing this letter; but only to place yourself for a moment in my situation, and what would be your feelings under such malignant aspersions! I have little in this world but my character, and that character is dear to me and may children too; and I beg leave to say that a more atrocious heap of falsehoods never came before the public, and which I suppose will now be published in every paper on your side of politics.
   I never yet consigned to “eternal perdition” any human being. I have always cautioned those committed to my care against the said excesses of Newton race week, and I always will, because I know full well the accompanying demoralization. Very many poor sinners have confessed to me on their death beds that they commenced their wicked career at Newton races. – With respect to the sad sin of waving a blue flag, (of which I have no reason to be ashamed,) you shall have a true and authentic history of this very wicked transaction, as it seems to be so considered by this same Veritas. Standing on the balcony of the Leigh Arms, at Newton, with a few friends, an immense army of Blues came up, headed by another friend, who carried this dreadful blue flag, and who asked the party on the balcony to take care of it while he and his party went to the poll, which was done; but while we were all trying to fix it in the window till he returned, unfortunately the wind blew very hard; and, more unfortunately for my reputation, the blue flag (horresco referens) waved in the wind; and I might possibly lay my hand upon the flag staff to keep it steady, but I really cannot charge my memory whether I did or did not omit an act so very infamous. With respect to drunkards, here I am serious. I would not, if I knew it, ever give any, the least sanction to anything like intemperance at anytime, as I should thereby make myself a partaker of the sin which I abominate, and which I believe to be the prevailing sin of the day. Will you believe me upon the word of a Christian, when I say that I do not recollect seeing one single individual drunk on any one of the days of the election? – But to enumerate my other delinquencies, I had the audacity to go into the public-house at Newton where I had left my horse; and, to add to my delinquency, I went to find out (but in vain) our own committee; but when a friend, who accompanied me, had read to the Blues assembled there the sad state of the poll, we left the house together. On my return home, also, I stopped within twenty or thirty yards of another public-house, but it was to attend the bed of death. May my friend Veritas, before he lies on his death bed, have come to a better mind, for he must certainly have been qualifying himself somewhere for seeing double; at all events, he must have been under an optical illusion. Believe me, Sir, I bear him no ill will, quite the contrary, though he has done his best to injure my character and ministry. If he write again I hope that he will have the goodness to sign his proper name, for certainly Veritas is a misnomer; and I trust you will agree with me that a common highwayman is much more respectable than a skulking anonymous character-killer.
   Yours, &c. Thomas Pigot, Minister of St. Helen’s, St Helen’s Parsonge, February 12, 1835.”
8. ↑ "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries." Liverpool Mercury, 7 Friday, Feb. 1840. British Library Newspapers.
   “DEATHS – On Saturday …Same day, the Rev. Thomas Pigot, Rector of Blymhill, Staffordshire, aged 62.”
9. ↑ https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Search/indexp.html
   Burial: 5 Feb 1840 St Mary the Virgin, Deane, Lancashire, England
   Revd. Thomas Pigot; Age: 62 years; Abode: Blymhill, Staffordshire; Buried by: J.A. Cotton Off. Min.
   Register: Burials 1834 - 1844, Page 185, Entry 1480; Source: LDS Film 2113076
10. ↑ https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D67122 Reference: PROB 11/1924/331; Description: Will of Reverend Thomas Pigot, Clerk, Rector of Blymhill , Staffordshire; Date: 10 March 1840; Held by: The National Archives, Kew