Background
Author: Nev. Ramsden
The Gilpin Family of Whitehaven
Proceed with care! When compared to other Whitehaven families there appears to be more variations in the details provided by the various authors writing on this family. Trying to resolve any differences is also not easy, if not impossible, because of the Gilpin family affiliation to the Presbyterian & Quaker religions.
Any researcher looking into the Gilpin families of Whitehaven has to read the early parts of the “Memoirs of Dr.Richard Gilpin of Scaleby Castle”, edited by William Jackson, & pub. by TCWAAS in 1879, 190 pages; and which was first written in 1791. This volume provides pen-portraits of many of these families.
John GILPIN (1669—1732]
John Gilpin was ‘a reputable merchant at Whitehaven’ where he made a considerable fortune in the tobacco trade. Thomas Story, the well- known Quaker of Justice Town in Carlisle, refers to Gilpin affectionately as ‘my old friend and school fellow and he stayed at Gilpins house during his several visits to Whitehaven [see Journal of the Life of Thomas Story].
Gilpin's father was the Revd. Dr. Richard Gilpin of Scaleby Castle; a physician, divine and ecclesiastical author. He married Hannah daughter of Robert Cay of Newcastle. It is claimed that one of their sons emigrated to North America and was a distant relative of the painter Benjamin West [incorrect as this was another another branch of the family !]. John Gilpin‘s daughter [Justice?] and his sister Anne Sawrey of Broughton were also active in the Quaker movement.
Several other merchants named Gilpin traded in Whitehaven during the first half of the eighteenth century including William, Thomas, and Richard Gilpin. William and Thomas were the son and grandson of William Gilpin, a former coal steward to Sir John Lowther during the 1690’s. The family connections between these individuals and John Gilpin is not clear. See Beckett, Coal and Tobacco - ed. Hainsworth. p675.
....... Sir John Lowther (1642-1706) was developing the town of Whitehaven, not personally but by his two Stewards, William Gilpin and John Gale. Nevertheless, it has some significance for urban history, in that Sir John was fostering the development of Whitehaven as a planned town, one which was perhaps unique outside London .............
from the correspondence of Sir John Lowther of Whitehaven, 1693-1698.
Richard Gilpin 1625-1700 of Scaleby, Cumberland
- taken from Dictionary of National Biography
Richard Gilpin M.D. was an English nonconformist minister and physician, prominent in the northern region. He was twice married; his second wife, who survived him, was Susanna, daughter of William Brisco of Crofton, Yorkshire. She removed to Scaleby Castle, and died on 18 Jan. 1715. There were twelve children starting with William born in 1657 to Thomas born in 1677.
The ninth child was John, born 13 Feb. 1670, who grew to become a merchant at Whitehaven and made a fortune in the Virginia trade; he married Hannah, daughter of Robert Cay of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; buried 26 Nov. 1732.
A William Gilpin purchased Tangier House, Whitehaven, Sept. 9th, 1725, and on July 3rd, 1745, inconsequence of his having been bound for Richard Gilpin, the same was sold after his decease by his son William to William Hicks a merchant of Whitehaven.
William Gilpin 1657 to 1724 and his family
Three Pen-Pictures of three of his sons.
Richard Gilpin, a barrister, who died in 1745
"I shall however say no more of Richard Gilpin the eldest son of this family - for tho, he never did any thing worthy to record; yet he had a goodness of nature about him, which I shall draw as a skreen over his imperfections."
William Gilpin
William, the next son was a merchant at Whitehaven, where he lived a few years, in good credit; but dyed young. He was a sensible man, and much esteemed by all who knew him.
Henry Gilpin
Henry has been favourably mentioned already as a young officer in the Navy: but during the time of Sir Robert Walpole’s peaceful ministry, not being able to get forward in his profession, I believe he went into ‘the merchant-service'; and dyed young at Jamaica.
The Will was proved Aug. 30th:, 1753. What he may have done with his property in the interim I do not know, but in the will he gives and devises Scaleby Castle and the appurtenances to his brothers John and Thomas Gilpin, his brother in law William Hicks, and his cousen Joseph Dacre, as trustees to sell the same. Entailing the rest of his estates to his sons, failing them, his daughters, then to his nephew William Gilpin etc. To my loving wife £80 PA, his furniture etc - “Plus a lot more information”. Taken from: Memoirs of Dr.Richard Gilpin of Scaleby Castle
Previous to 23 October 1751, William & Thomas Gilpin had become bankrupts, for on that day their assignees disposed of the building then used as a sugar boiling house, situate at the corner of Duke St. & Tangier St. in Whitehaven. We can conclude that William was in a business partnership with his uncle Thomas.