The Mapleys of Great Linford

The Mabley family spread from Wavendon in the late 18th. Century to Little Linford, then nearby bustling Great Linford. Significantly, Mabley changed to Mapley with this migration.

Thomas Mapley's son William became employed as a servant in nearby Great Linford, settled there in the early 1790's, and started his family. He was listed in the Posse Comitatus as a resident of Great Linford in 1798. He was later joined by several siblings (Thomas Mapley et al.), given the commercial opportunities in Great Linford, thus starting new generations.

Great Linford is a village in the Borough of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, on the Grand Union Canal. The name Linford is thought to derive from the crossing point over the Great Ouse which now separates Great Linford from Little Linford to the north, where there were Maple trees - the Saxon word for Maple being hlin. The first reference to Linford occurs in 944, when "King Edmund gave to his thegn Aelfheah, land at Linforda with liberty to leave it to whom he wished"; it appears in the Domesday Book as Linforda.

Great Linford was once a bustling centre of commerce, with shops, farms and a variety of trades represented, including brick kilns, a stone mason, baker and a blacksmiths; there was even a bank run by the Lords of the Manor. The arrival of the grand junction canal in 1800 brought huge change, with an influx of new people and business.

Between 1817 and 1864 the village was the site of the junction between the Newport Pagnell Canal and the Grand Junction Canal. For a hundred years (1867 to 1967) Great Linford was served by Great Linford railway station on the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell branch line. The village became home to many men who were employed at the vast railway works at Wolverton.

The parish church is dedicated to St Andrew, and dates from 1215. In the early sixteenth century, the rector of this parish Dr Richard Napier was widely known as a medical practitioner, astrologer and curer of souls. Sir William Pritchard, Lord of the Manor and who was also president of St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, established a charity school in 1702 in the Almshouses he had founded. Annie mapley is named as one of two teachers at the school in 1871. A Lace making school provided some education for village girls, although boys also learned lace making. St. Andrews Church of England Infant School, on the High Street, opened in 1875.

The congregational chapel, built in 1833, served religious dissenters as well as providing a Sunday School. By 1851, 16% of the parish population was attending sunday service at the chapel. At some point ownership was transferred to 2 High Street, owned by Alfred John Mapley in the late 20th Century.

The village High Street that can be seen today once had a number of “yards” on both sides, containing additional dwellings and perhaps some light industry. Bird’s Yard, Chapel Yard and Pinney’s Yard are long gone, but Rivett’s Yard, situated between number 27 and the stone built house known as The Salt Box, survives still as a private drive. Resident village photographer Harry Bartholomew (1862-1934) had his dark room in Rivett’s Yard, and is said to have dried his photographic plates there in the sun.

The village High Street was once a quite industrious place, with many trades represented. Alongside Harry Bartholomew’s photography business, there was at one time or another a general store and post office, a butchers, a bakers and a blacksmith’s forge. The pub in the High Street now known as The Nag’s Head has long served the village and is certainly very old, having gone through a number of name changes; it was the White Horse in the 1750s and the Six Bells in the 1760s, the latter name undoubtedly a result of the recasting of the 5 church bells in 1756 and the addition of a new sixth bell. Several other public houses were established in the parish along the route of the Grand Junction Canal, though of these only The Black Horse continues to trade, the Wharf Inn having closed and been converted to a private residence. Pubs were more than a place to drink, and were frequently used for sales, and places for coroner's juries to convene.

Go to Great Linford Censuses 1841 - 1921 ==>
Go to Buckinghamshire ==>

1st. Great Linford Generation

Little Linford ==> William Mapley (5/5/1779 - 26/1/1851) m. Alice Holway ( - 1806) in 1801
He was mentioned in Posse Comitatus. Their Children :-

  • James (1797 - )
  • Thomas Mapley (1802 - 1881) m. Mary Penn (1814 - ) in 1831
  • Mary Mapley (1804 - 1870's) m. Charles Reynolds (1811 - 1880's)
  • John Mapley (1806 - 1806)

William Mapley m. Hannah Yates (1778 - 1861) in 1806 after Alice & son John's death
Their Children :-

  • William Mapley (1805 - 14/6/1818)
  • George (1808 - 1884) m. Sarah Reynolds (1808 - 1886) in 1833
  • Richard Mapley (1808 - 10/11/1851) m. Frances "Fanny" Goss (1808 - 13/3/1878) in 1828 ==> Australia 1845 & 1849
  • John Mapley (1812 - 1891) m. Ann "Nancy" Goss (1817 -) in 1836
  • Edmund Mapley (31/7/1814 - 21/6/1845) m. Elisabeth Dolton (1819 -) in 1838
  • Sarah Mapley (29/12/1816 - 25/4/1819)
  • William Mapley (1820 - 1898) m. Mary B Dolton (1819 - 1892) in 1842 ==> Market Harborough, Leics.

Little Linford ==>Thomas Mapley (1795 - 1838) m. Sarah Pindar (1795 - 1849)
Children :-

  • Henry Mapley (1823 - 7/10/1824)
  • Willian Mapley (1822 - 1871) m. Mary Pettit (1828 -)
  • Henry Mapley (6/12/1824 - 10/12/1824)
  • Thomas Mapley (25/12/1825 - 4/1894) m. Phoebe Barker (1825 - 1896) in 1849
  • Edwin Mapley (25/2/1827 - 7/1900) m. Hannah Smith (1828 - 1904) in 1848
  • Henry Mapley (13/7/1828 - 1915) m. Harriett Lee (1833 - 1871) in 1853 ==> Great Woolstone
  • Emanuel Mapley (12/9/1830 - 10/1871) ==> Crimean War => Newport Pagnell

2nd. Great Linford Generation
George (1808 - 1884) m. Sarah Reynolds (1808 - 1886) in 1833
Children :-

  • Elizabeth Mapley (30/11/1834 - ) m. George Gaskins (1832) in 1856
  • Jane Mapley (15/10/1836 - 20/3/1837)
  • Charles Mapley (21/10/1838 - 1881) m. Ann Mapley (29/1/1843 - 1881) in 1866
  • Eleanor Mapley (28/3/1841 - ) m. Samuel Haines (1839 -) in 1864
  • William Mapley (6/8/1843 - 1914) m. Sarah Goodman (1845 -)
  • George Mapley (22/3/1846 - )

John Mapley (1812 - 1891) m. Ann "Nancy" Goss (1817 -) in 1836
Children :-

  • William Mapley (1839 - 10/1/1841)
  • Ann Mapley (29/1/1843 - 1881) m. Charles Mapley (21/10/1838) in 1866
    Annie Mapley, schoolteacher
  • Hannah Mapley (15/6/1845 - ) m. James Compton (1844 - ) in 1866 ==> Castlethorpe ==> Australia
  • William Mapley (13/2/1848 - )
  • Fanny Emma Mapley (19/5/1850) m. Henry Beckham Rose (1848 -) in 1869
  • John Mapley (30/1/1853 - 1897)
  • Joseph Mapley (1855 - ) m. Elizabeth Stanton in 1877
  • Jane Mapley (8/11/1857 - ) m. John Willcox Mills (1854 - ) in 1877

Edmund Mapley (31/7/1814 - 21/6/1845) m. Elisabeth Dolton (1819 -) in 1838
Children :-

Newport Pagnell ==>George Mapley (17/7/1777 - 5/1851) m. Ann Webb (1779 - 1862)

3rd. Great Linford Generation
Charles Mapley (21/10/1838 - 1881) m. Ann Mapley (29/1/1843 - 1881) in 1866
Children :-

  • Elizabeth Mapley (6/11/1870 - )
  • Harry Charles Mapley (18/5/1873 - 7/7/1939) m. Gertrude Sarah Attwood (5/3/1871 - 15/2/1898) in 1898
    m. Louise Oliver (16/10/1870 - 20/6/1938) in 1901 ==> Newport Pagnell
  • Sarah Jane (19/3/1875 - ) m. Frederick H Tabram in 1913
  • William Mapley (18/1/1880 - ) m. Annie Hinde
  • George Mapley (1883 - )

4th. Great Linford Generation
Harry Charles Mapley (18/5/1873 - 7/7/1939) m. Gertrude Sarah Attwood (5/3/1871 - 15/2/1898)
in 1898, m. Louise Oliver (16/10/1870 - 20/6/1938) in 1901 ==> Newport Pagnell
Children :-

  • Gertrude Louisa Mapley (15/2/1898 - 1987)
  • Dorothy Gertrude Pearson Mapley (15/2/1898 - 1988) m. Allan Lambert
  • Alfred John Mapley (14/6/1902 - 21/4/1979) m. Ella May harper (1903 - 1931) in 1926
    m. Muriel Janet Shrimpton ( - 1980)
  • Charles William Mapley (1/5/1905 - 29/6/1981) m. Mabel Anne Lathall (6/1/1906 - 17/8/1975) in 1932 ==> Olney, Bucks.
  • Ada Louise Mapley (8/8/1907 - 17/5/1986) m. Robert Goldstraw (23/4/1904 - 25/5/1995) in 1937

5th. Great Linford Generation
Alfred John Mapley (14/6/1902 - 21/4/1979) m. Ella May harper (1903 - 1931) in 1926
m. Muriel Janet Walker (1906 - 1981)
Children :-

  • Maurice Henry Mapley (15/5/1927 - 20/4/2007) m. Mary Margaret O'Hanlon (8/12/1936 - 31/1/1998) in 1958 ==> Liverpool