THE HUTCHBY FAMILY OF BREEDON ON THE HILL
by Gwen Johnson
The earliest reference to the antecedents of Thomas Hudsbe (1754) is a baptism of a son John to a George Hudspey in 1683 at Breedon on the Hill.
The birth and marriage of George have not been traced and since there are no records of wills for this family the information is confined to the parish registers.
There are baptisms of children of John, Richard and William any of which could have been his father. They were probably brothers since the baptisms of their children in the same decade. George's first child was called John- perhaps after his grandfather, and his second son was William.
There is the usual variation of spelling for surnames-Hudspey, Hudspith, Hutsby, Hustbe, Hudsbe, Hudsby, Hutchesby and Hudspitch and these names are found in neighbouring parishes to the nineteenth century - Staunton, Belton, Diseworth, Coleorton. The register of Breedon on the Hill gives the locality from which the families come:- Worthington, The Moor, Outwood, The Brand. The Hudspeys seemed to have several branches and must have made a good contribution to the size of the villages. In l564 there were 32 families in Breedon, 34 in Worthington, 10 in Wilson. The Parish of Breedon included the hamlets of Staunton Harold, Worthington, Breedon Brand, Wilson, parts of Coleorton, Launt and Diseworth.
In the Town Book of Worthington there is the record of the settlements and removals to and from the village. It is recorded "to receive George Hutsby from Breedon 25 Jan 1692/3" This is affirmed from the register of baptisms of his children -those from 1695 are recorded living in Worthington. "to remove Ellen Hudspy to Staunton 8 Oct.1744".
In 1804 Widow Hudsby had "a shift valued at 3s 0d". Also "A bond given to the town , Jno Sutton Jn Hudspitch to indemnify from Mary Barnet a por Childe."
George Hudspey and his wife Mary had four daughters Elizabeth, Dorothy, Sarah, Margaret, and three sons- John, William and Robert and it is from John we are descended. John was baptised in 1683 the same day as his brother William.
There are three marriages of a John Hudsby, to Ann Bodle in 1705 (the wife of a John Hudsbe died in 1705) at the age of 22, to Mary Clayton of Trowell in 1719 and to Sarah Ladyer in 1722. The children of John were Eliner 1720, Joach 1722, and John in 1725 (no burial of Mary Hudsbe has been found).
John the son of John and Sarah baptised in 1725 married Mary Bates in 1753 and Thomas was born the following year - an only child.
The names frequently found in the many entries are John, Thomas, Richard, Henry and George but in none of them is any occupation mentioned but it can be assumed that Thomas moved to Nottingham to work in the Frame Work Knitting industry where he married Anne Dennis.