Allpress

Allpress: A Fenstanton family /  by Emily Randall

Fen Stanton: Watercolour (1941) by Edward Walker at The V&A

Fenstanton is a village in the historic county of Huntingdonshire (now in Cambridgeshire), to the south of St Ives. Its two most famous residents have been Lancelot “Capability” Brown, a renowned landscape architect and gardener, and John Howland, one of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower.(1) Fenstanton was also the site of a Roman settlement circa 100-400 AD. Here, archaeologists recently unearthed the skeleton of a man with a nail through his heel, who had been crucified as a form of punishment and death. This article from the BBC shows a facial reconstruction of the crucifixion victim. Could this be one of my ancestors?(2)

Phillip Allpress: Fenstanton farmer

My 4th great-grandmother Mary Ann Allpress (1786-1830), who married Charles Randall in 1812, was born in Fenstanton. She was the daughter of Phillip Allpress (1753-1838), a farmer, and his wife Elizabeth Taylor (1764-1843). Phillip and Elizabeth were married in August 1786, and they baptised their first child Mary Ann in December. (3, 4) I think it’s safe to say they “knew” each other before their wedding. Phillip and Elizabeth went on to baptise 11 more children in Fenstanton: Elizabeth (born 1788), Sarah (born 1789), Thomas (born 1790), John (born 1792), Phillip (born 1794), John (born 1796), Robert (born 1797), Catherine (born 1799), Rivers (born 1802), William (born 1804), and George (born 1806).(5)

In 1803, Phillip Allpress had to sell his livestock due to an inclosure act passed by Parliament the previous year.(6) These acts converted common lands and open fields into private enclosures.(7) Phillip had to part with 220 sheep, 6 cows, 4 calves, 3 horses, 1 mare, 2 pigs, and 10 hogs. I’m not sure whether this was most of his livestock or just a portion of it, but the sale gives us some insights into his farming operation. His death notice, published in 1838, suggests that he was a well-liked and well-respected man.(8)

Livestock auction advertised in the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, 8 October, 1803

Phillip’s death notice in the Huntingdon, Bedford, & Peterborough Gazette, 17 March, 1838

Tracing the Allpress surname

Phillip’s wife Elizabeth was originally from Ely, but Phillip’s family had been in Fenstanton since at least the early 1600s. I haven’t done a proper One-Name Study on his surname (I may in the future), but the Allpress name has been one of the easier names to research in my tree. All lines seem to go back to Huntingdonshire, with the earliest mentions of Allpress (sometimes spelled Alpress) recorded in Fenstanton in the early Jacobean era. According to the Bishop’s Transcripts (9), John Allpress married Joane Hutton on the 9th of February, 1605/6, in Fenstanton. I believe this couple are my 10th great-grandparents, but the further back I go the less confidence I have due to missing records. I have not been able to find a will for this John Allpress (died 1668), his first wife Joane (died 1619), or their presumed son John Allpress (died 1673). But I have found wills for various other Allpress men of Fenstanton. I believe the line leading to my ancestor Phillip Allpress (and beyond) is as follows:

My Allpress to Randall line (Note: birth years are approximate when baptism records could not be found)

Protestation Returns

The name Allpress appears in the Protestation Returns of 1641-1642 for the parish of Fenstanton. These documents listed the adult males in England who took an oath "to live and die for the true Protestant religion" prior to the start of the English Civil War.(10) Only one-third of the lists survive. The images were previously hosted at the UK Parliamentary Archives, but those links are now dead as the collections are moving over to the UK National Archives at Kew.(11) Luckily, I downloaded the images previously and can show you some screenshots here.

Excerpt from the Protestation Return for Huntingdonshire, Toseland Hundred, Fen Stanton (1641-1642). I think the mark of John Allpress, overseer, looks like a pair of spectacles. What do you think?

The list for Fenstanton is in great condition. The majority of the men made a mark for their name rather than signing. The list includes two men named John Allpress. Based on available parish records and wills, I think the one named as an overseer of the parish is the man who died in 1668 (my 10th great-grandfather), while the other John is the man who died in 1673 (my 9th great-grandfather).

The list also includes Henry Allpress (probably the one who died in 1651), Myles Allpress (probably the one who died in 1673), William Allpress (probably the one who died in 1697), and two men named Thomas Allpress (one of these men died in 1664; I can’t find a burial for the other Thomas).

Excerpt from the Protestation Return for Huntingdonshire, Toseland Hundred, Fen Stanton (1641-1642) featuring the marks of Wylliam (William) and John Allpress

Allpress today

Nowadays, if you search on the name Allpress in Google most results will be for Allpress Espresso, a coffee company started in New Zealand by Michael Allpress. Michael is the son of the late actor Bruce Allpress, who starred in The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers.(12) I haven’t been able to link this Allpress line to my tree (yet), but surely we are distant cousins?

Do you have the surname Allpress in your family tree? I’d love to hear from you! I have a small collection of digitized and downloaded Allpress wills that may be useful for your research.

Sources

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenstanton

  2. Prickett, K. (2024). Face of Fenstanton Roman crucifixion victim revealed. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67943596

  3. Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 on Ancestry

  4. Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1950 on Ancestry

  5. See Emily Randall’s Family Tree on Ancestry

  6. Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, October 8, 1803

  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclosure_act

  8. Huntingdon, Bedford, & Peterborough Gazette, March 17, 1838

  9. Bishop’s Transcripts for Fenstanton, 1604-1854. FamilySearch Film #007562846, Item 2

  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestation_Returns_of_1641%E2%80%931642

  11. HL/PO/JO/10/1/91/127 Protestation Return - Huntingdon - Toseland Hundred - Fen Stanton. As of February 2026 this document is awaiting a new home at the UK National Archives. See https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/accessing-parliaments-archive-collections/

  12. Stuff digital. (2020). https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/121275446/kiwi-actor-bruce-allpress-dies-aged-89

Charles Randall and the case of the mixed-up wives /  by Emily Randall

For roughly 100 years (from 1750 to 1850), the homebase of my Randall family line was Huntingdon, England. My 4th great-grandfather Charles Randall was born in 1784 and baptised at All Saints church in Huntingdon. In 1806 he married Mary Pattison, who was from the nearby town St Neots. When I started my genealogy journey, I thought Mary Pattison was the mother of all of Charles’ children. So did everyone else researching this line. But I soon noticed some red flags that led me to dig deeper.

St Mary’s church, Huntingdon

Charles and Mary (Pattison) baptised their first child at St Mary’s church in Huntingdon. It was a boy named Henry Randall, born in 1807, but not baptised until January 1809. Later in 1809 Charles and Mary baptised a girl named Mary; she died a few months later. Then there is a gap in the baptisms for children of Charles Randall until the baptism of Charles Jr in 1815 at All Saints, Huntingdon. These records do not include the maiden name of the mother. It sure would help if they did. But it is important to note that on these later baptisms the mother’s first name is recorded as Mary Ann, not Mary.

The 1817 baptism record for John Randall (sometimes called John Henry Randall) at Huntingdon All Saints (second line). Image from FamilySearch (Parish registers for All Saints' and St. John's Church, Huntingdon, 1558-1876).

In total, Charles and Mary Ann Randall baptised 8 children at All Saints, Huntingdon. The youngest child, Phillip, used the name Phillip Allpress Randall throughout his life. Where did this middle name of Allpress come from? It didn’t come from Mary Pattison. There was no one named Allpress on her side.

I also saw the Allpress name listed in a transcribed death record for Fred Randall, who died in 1885 in Maldon, Victoria, Australia, at the estimated age of 65 (Australia Death Index, 1787-1985, Ancestry.com). Father’s name? Charles. Mother’s maiden name? Allpress. This death record didn’t include a birthplace, but it was a match for Frederick Randall, who was baptised at All Saints, Huntington, in 1822, to parents Charles and Mary Ann.

I searched for a marriage of Charles Randall to a Mary or Mary Ann Allpress in Huntingdon but did not find it. I did, however, find the marriage mentioned in a newspaper. 

The marriage of Charles Randall and Mary Ann Allpress noted in the Stamford Mercury, 31 Jul, 1812

I expanded my search area and found the parish record for their marriage in Potton, Bedfordshire. I had never heard of this town before, but I would later learn that the Randalls have roots in Bedfordshire. Potton was the hometown of Charles’ grandmother Martha Edwards, who married John Randall, of nearby Sandy. Mary Ann Allpress was originally from Fenstanton but was probably working in Potton as a servant. Why Potton? Her father’s cousin John Lucas lived there with his wife Mary Randall. Mary (Randall) Lucas was Charles’ aunt. Now it starts to make a bit more sense why a man from Huntingdon met and married a woman from Fenstanton in the completely different town of Potton.

The 1812 marriage record of Charles Randall, widower of St Mary’s Huntingdon, and Mary Ann Allpress, spinster of Potton. Image from FamilySearch (Parish registers for Potton, 1614-1948).

So what happened to Charles’ first wife Mary Pattison? She passed away in 1810 of an unspecified “lingering” illness and was buried on the 25th of February at St Mary’s Huntingdon. She was just 25 years old.

Mention of the death of Mary (Pattison) Randall in Drake’s Stamford News, 23 Feb, 1810

Thus, the mother of Charles’ oldest son Henry was Mary Pattison (1785-1810), but the mother of his other surviving children, including my direct ancestor John Henry Randall, was Mary Ann Allpress (1786-1830). These findings are backed up by the wills of the children’s grandparents (as found in Probate Records of the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon, 1585-1858). Mary Pattison’s father Robert passed in 1821 and mentions grandson Henry in his will, while Mary Ann Allpress’s father Phillip died in 1838 and mentions in his will his various grandchildren with the surname of Randall. (Lucky for me, the grandfathers in this case lived long enough and had sufficient means to leave something to their grandchildren in their will.)

Thankfully I had not researched the Pattison line in-depth before realizing that I was instead an Allpress descendant. After I got my tree sorted and assigned Mary Ann Allpress as the mother of my ancestor John Henry Randall (1817-1849), I was able to embark on research of her paternal (Allpress) and maternal (Taylor) lines, which I will present in a future blog post.

If you are working on your family tree, make sure you properly record all of the marriages of your ancestors. Be sure to differentiate between birth parents and stepparents. If parish records do not state the maiden name of the mother on a child’s baptism, it is up to you as the researcher to uncover the mother’s identity.

Things to look out for in a family’s baptism records: 

  • Gaps in time

  • Changes in baptism location (switching to a different church)

  • Changes in the mother’s first name. For example, Mary and Mary Anne are not the same name. Eliza and Elizabeth may be different women as well.

  • Unusual or uncommon first or middle names given to children. These are often a surname from the mother’s side!

Other Records to check:

  • Newspapers

  • Grandparents’ wills for mentions of their grandchildren.

  • Burial records for the family’s surname in your place of interest to find wives and children who passed away. Best care scenario: a child’s burial record lists both parents’ names (e.g., “Robert, son of John Parker and his wife Anne”) or at least the name of the father. A married woman’s burial record will (hopefully) list the name of her husband (e.g., Anne Parker, wife of John). For UK research, I prefer to do these searches in Find My Past, but parish transcripts may be available in FreeReg and at local archives and family history societies.

  • Look for subsequent marriages of your ancestors after the death of a spouse. Expand your search area to include marriages that took place in another town.

Sources

  1. As of early 2025, transcribed parish records for Huntingdon All Saints and Huntingdon St Mary’s can be found on Ancestry.com, FindMyPast, and FreeReg. Parish images can be viewed on FamilySearch, but only from an Affiliate Library.

  2. Transcribed parish records for Potton can be found on Ancestry.com or FindMyPast (they are not on FreeReg). Parish images can be viewed on FamilySearch, but only from an Affiliate Library.

  3. Huntingdonshire wills (pre-1858) are available on FamilySearch and are easier than ever to locate with the new Full-Text Search.