Carved Horns - Help Needed!

[Daft Bat]

My friend Tim has been in touch again. This time, it's not silhouettes but carved horns, belonging to a friend of his:



The words carved into them say:



The "Melby" referred to in the first one is not Melby in the Shetland Isles but Milby in Yorkshire - Ripon/Harrogate way.

Tim and his pal are asking for any information that the super sleuths could shed on the folk mentioned, please.

Thank you - and good luck!

 

[MollyMay]

A start for someone (@burt? )
A Richard Walls of Milby died in 1800 and his will is on Anc. I haven't got time at the moment to try and read it all but this could be the maker of the first and third horn.

 

[AnnB]

A start for someone (@burt? )
A Richard Walls of Milby died in 1800 and his will is on Anc. I haven't got time at the moment to try and read it all but this could be the maker of the first and third horn.

I started trying to plough through that will, but it is a bit lengthy and difficult to read in places. The National Archives has and abstract of the will which you can download for free if you have an account. It begins


The rest of it isn't really helpful, he seemingly leaves everything to his wife (not named) and also mentions Ann Buttery and John Buttery, his niece and nephew.

As for the one with the inscription beginning "Steal not this horn.....", this was apparently an inscription commonly used on American powder horns, I can't find any mention of it being used in the UK, but there are several mentions on American websites such as that of the Museum of the City of New York

https://www.mcny.org/story/historical-and-personal-importance-engraved-powder-horns

Not much use, and I can't find anything in the papers which might help either

 

[janetbooth]

Don't know if this could be relevant at all, but there is a baptism at Sheffield St Mary on 30 March 1794 for a Matthias son of Matts MONILL and another on 23 August 1790 for a Mary daughter of Matthew MONIL, Shire Green.

Janet

 

[Daft Bat]

Thank you! This is all very helpful and I will start to pull it all together later. (Currently up to my eyes with sorting out tickets for a Jazz Night... )

 

[MollyMay]

The Walls family seemed to have been inhabitants of the Kirby Hill/Kirby on the Moor/Milby area for generations
Richard Walls married Ann Roper (Raper) 7/8/1737, they had 3 children that I can find
Richard 16/8/1738/9 - ? our horn inscriber
Ann bap 1/6/1741
Elizabeth bap 24/3/1742
Ann married John Buttery a yeoman on 10/1/1764 by lic. one of the witnesses was Richard Walls
Elizabeth married Thomas Stubbs a grocer from Ripon 27/12/1758 by lic. with consent of parent
one of the witnesses was Richard Walls jun.

So we now know that the nephew and niece mentioned in the 1800 will of Richard Walls were his sister's children.

I did notice that on the same page as the bap of 'our' Richard Walls s/o Richard there was another Richard s/o William Walls (who appears to sign many entries in the parish registers, so a church warden perhaps)

Looking for a marriage for Richard Walls - Kirby, I found banns.
One set to Jane Barker in 1761 I cannot find the PR entry for the actual marriage although Boyds record it as in 1762 at Kirby Hill.
Another to Mary Kemp in 1765, the marriage 24/11/1765 happened in Aldborough and one of the witnesses was William Walls, suggesting this is the Richard s/o William - no occupation given on the entry.

Although I can find 3 children baptised in Kirby to Richard Walls, none have a mother's name. All are after the 1765 marriage (1769, 1770, 1772)

So possibly the Richard we are looking for had no children, borne out by the will naming his niece and nephew, but where the PR of the marriage is I do not know.

All in all some info on Richard Walls but nothing that conclusively pinpoints him as being the maker of the horns.

An afterthought - if these are powder horns, then it is likely that the owners were military/naval men or land owners/gamekeepers perhaps

 

[Archie's Mum]

I think Mr Menill might have a story. A cukold or cuckold is the husband of a women who has relations with another man. He the cukold, she the cukold maker.

 

[Daft Bat]

Crumbs! Thank you so much! I will pass this information on to Tim today.

You lot really are stars.

 

[Daft Bat]

Message from Tim:

Wowzers,
Haven’t they done well…please thank all of them…
I shall pass the info on to Geoff.