John Shelton
A search of trade directories at Guildhall Library unearthed several mentions of John Shelton, the husband of Walter and Ann Newbon’s daughter Susannah. The latest date searched was 1836, when he was listed as a ‘scavenger [i.e. street cleaner] of 73 Great Suffolk Street, Borough’.

April 2011
Milford Haven Dock Company
During a visit to Wales it was possible to view and make a photocopy of a letter written by Charles Evans Newbon in 1897, when he was Chairman of the Milford Haven Dock Company. This letter is housed at the Pembrokeshire Record Office along with many other records (minute books etc.) of the company, which also had premises in London.

Henry George Newbon was living at Milford Haven during the 1890s, when he was a ship owner. The Lord Nelson Hotel, where he can be found on the 1891 census, still exists.

John Shelton
A further search of trade directories at Guildhall Library showed that John Shelton’s name disappears from the records around 1840. While some volumes list him in that year, he is absent from others. By this time he had gone into partnership with James Bowes Kitchener, who is listed as a dust contractor at 73 Great Suffolk Street in 1840.

Northamptonshire Record Office
A visit to the Northamptonshire Record Office for a further study of the court records of the manor of King’s Cliffe resulted in several interesting discoveries, as follows:

Mrs Mary Newbon of King’s Cliffe
An entry for 1752 runs:
‘At this court came in their proper persons Francis Rowles and Mary his wife formerly Mary Newbon widow of James Newbon deceased and William Newbon eldest son and heir of the said James Newbon and Ann his wife customary tenants of the said manor....’.  This William is William Newbon the miller, the father of Walter Newbon of Blackfriars (1750-1798) and the husband of Ann Swepston. The entry refers to the sale of a cottage lying near the water mill of King’s Cliffe which Mary and William sold to one Edward Applegarth, miller. William Newbon was herself a miller.

The Swepston family in Redbourn, Hertfordshire
One of the reasons for the trip to the Northamptonshire Record Office was to try to find a reference among the King’s Cliffe manorial records of the Dixon family of Redbourn in Hertfordshire. Ann Dixon, who married William Newbon of Blackfriars in 1772, was born and grew up in Redbourn but it is not known how she met the family of her two future husbands, distant cousins William and Walter Newbon, who were born in the City of London and King’s Cliffe respectively. Given that William’s aunt Ann Newbon married a John Dixon it remains a possibility that this was one of the links, although the King’s Cliffe manorial records have so far not revealed any clear evidence of this couple living in Redbourn.

Instead, however, a quite different reference to Redbourn was forthcoming:
‘At the said last day of adjournment of this court’s it was certified by the said steward that on the seventeenth day of April in the year of the our Lord 1752 William Swepson of Redburn in the County of Hertford Baker a customary tenant of the manor aforesaid nephew and devisee of William Goodyer late a customary tenant thereof deceased.......’. The entry refers to property in King’s Cliffe which was sold by William Swepson to Thomas Law, which had originally been inherited from his uncle William Goodyer.

This shows that the link between King’s Cliffe and Redbourn was well established by the time of Ann Dixon’s marriages to William Newbon in 1772 and to Walter Newbon in 1775. My theory that William Newbon’s aunt and uncle Ann and John Dixon (mentioned in a Chancery document of 1745-6) were also the parents of his wife Ann Dixon is perhaps strengthened by this discovery, since it is established that inhabitants of Redbourn were indeed known in King’s Cliffe at almost exactly the same time. It is, of course, still not at all conclusive.

It had previously been noted that a Swepston family was resident in Redbourn. Since this is such an unusual surname, it has come as no surprise that the Swepston families of Redbourn and King’s Cliffe were  closely connected. William Swepston may well be a brother of Ann, the wife of William Newbon the miller. How he came to be living in Hertfordshire is not yet known.

Barbara Stonehill (née Newbon)
The manorial court records of Redbourn and various parish registers show that Barbara Newbon and her husband Richard Stonehill (or Stonell) lived at Great Gaddesden, the neighbouring parish to Redbourn. Richard’s will, which was written in 1766 and proved in 1772, reveals that he was a yeoman. After his death Barbara married John Betts, a widower, at Great Gaddesden in 1779. She died in 1783 and was buried at Great Gaddesden, 3 years before her second husband. It seems that Barbara had no children.

The burials of Ann Edge and Susannah Shelton at Nunhead Cemetery
Following a visit to the Lambeth Archives, an Internet search of the records of Nunhead Cemetery revealed the burials there of two of the daughters of Walter and Ann Newbon.

Ann Edge ‘of Brunswick Cottages, Counter Hill, New Cross’ died on June 21 1846 at the age of 72 and was buried at Nunhead Cemetery on June 26.

Susannah Shelton ‘of Selhurst Road, Croydon’ died on January 1 1864 at the age of 86 and was buried at Nunhead Cemetery on January 7.

A trip to the Southwark Local Studies Library revealed that the two sisters were buried in the same grave (no.638).

Great Suffolk Street, Southwark
John Shelton, husband of Susannah Shelton, ran his business of a street cleaner, or scavenger, from 73 Great Suffolk Street in Southwark. A study of the will of Susannah’s sister, Ann Edge revealed that Ann owned 74 Great Suffolk Street as a leasehold property, and that she left it in her will in 1846 to her sister Susannah.

Further trips to the Lambeth and the Southwark Local Studies Libraries revealed more information about John. It is now clear that he worked and lived at the same property for at least the majority (if not the entirety) of his married life: this property was originally in Gravel Lane, Southwark but the point at which Gravel Lane changed to Great Southwark Street changed while John was living there and his address was thereafter 73 Great Suffolk Street. This property was evidently very large (which must have been the case if he was stabling around 50 horses there as the TNA documents reveal), its value being at least 5 times that of any other property in the area. John disappears from the St Saviour rate books during 1838. Was this when he died?

Ann Sharpe, formerly Charles, née Newbon
A visit to the Northamptonshire Record Office unearthed a manorial court roll for King’s Cliffe in which mentioned cam be found of Ann, wife of Anthony Sharpe, formerly Ann Charles, the daughter of William Newbon. This may be the original link between King’s Cliffe and Redbourn. This is most likely the aunt of William Newbon, the Miller and would help explain the Redbourn connection with the Swepston family.

Death Certificate of Susannah Shelton, née Newbon
On her death certificate in 1864 Susannah Shelton was listed as ‘widow of John Shelton, dust contractor’. It thus seems most unlikely that they parted company late in life.

Surrey History Centre: the trial of John Shelton
The Surrey Quarter Sessions records for 1810 record the following details:

Tuesday 9th January (Epiphany session at Newington)
No. 23: John Shelton of St George Southwark scavenger for an assault upon James Goddard at Christchurch on 19th December 50.G.3 [i.e. the 50th year of the reign of George III, or 1809]

5th March (Epiphany session)
Pleaded not guilty

16th July (Midsummer session)
The like imprisoned for 3 months fined £10 and to enter into recog.ce himself in £100 and two sureties in £50 each to be of good behaviour for 3 years.
Thomas Belcher of the same for the like
John Gibbons of the same for the like