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Richard Balcomb and Elizabeth Fuller ©

Ancestry Family Trees suggest Richard, who was the son of Richard Balcomb and his wife Elizabeth (nee Carter), was baptized on 24^th July, 1737 in Burwash¹. 

A record of Banns for a marriage between a Richard Balcomb and an Elizabeth Fuller, appear in the Burwash Parish Records on 22^nd February, 1^st & 8^th March, 1761².    Richard and Elizabeth were then married on the 22^nd March.  The record states Richard was a Bachelor from Heathfield, and Elizabeth a Spinster from Burwash.   They were married, after Banns, by R S Edwards, the Curate.  Both Richard and Elizabeth signed their names, indicating they were both educated to some degree.  The witnesses were John Fuller, possibly Elizabeth's father or her brother, and a Thomas Vigo.

To-date, no record of Elizabeth’s birth, baptism, or parents have been located, but it is estimated she was older than Richard and born about 1735, in or around Burwash, and possibly the daughter of John Fuller and his wife Elizabeth (nee Longley).

Records indicate Richard and Elizabeth had one son and five daughters baptized in Burwash¹: Richard 1761; Mary 1764, she married Thomas Hawkins 1781; Sarah 1776; Elizabeth 1768; Jane 1771; and Hanna 1773; and one daughter baptized in Ticehurst: Nemy 1776.

Apprenticeship Indentures, 1772-1778³, indicate Richard’s occupation was a Cordwainer and that he paid for three apprentices, which suggests he possibly followed an occupation closer to that of his grandfather who it is believed was a Clothier, rather than that of his father who is thought to have been a butcher.   A Cordwainer was a shoemaker who made fine soft leather shoes and other luxury footwear articles. The word is derived from ‘cordwain’, or ‘cordovan’, the leather produced in Córdoba, Spain.  The term cordwainer (also ‘Corviser’) was used as early as 1100 in England.  Historically, there was a distinction between a cordwainer, who made luxury shoes and boots out of the finest leathers, and a cobbler, who repaired them.  This distinction gradually weakened, particularly during the 20^th Century, when there was a predominance of shoe retailers who neither made nor repaired shoes.

Elizabeth is believed to have died in 1815, at the age of 88, and buried in the Burwash Parish Churchyard on the 23^rd December.  Richard survived his wife by two years and at the age of 78, he was buried in the Burwash Parish Churchyard on the 26^th April, 1817.  The actual location within the churchyard, is not known, nor if there is, or was a marker for their graves. 
 

References:
1. Parish Baptism Record via Sussex Record Office
2. Parish Marriage Record via Sussex Record Office

3. Apprentice Indentures Via Ancestry.co.uk https://www.ancestry.co.uk
4. Parish Burial Record via Sussex Record Office

Other Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk https://www.ancestry.co.uk 
FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/search/  

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