Plummer, William

Submitted by edpope on

SOCIETY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION: William Plummer merchant of Lime Street proposed member 5.6.1780 by Joseph Parker 2nded Edward Bridgen. Resigned 16.4.1784

William Plummer son of George Plummer of Evington, Leics, grazier apprenticed 1746 to Edward Aldridge of Clothworkers Co. George Plummer of Glen Magna voted for the losing Whig candidate Waring Ashby in the Leicestershire election of 1742. Will PCC 25.6.1754 of George Plummer of Evington, grazier dated 21.5.1754 mentioned sons Thomas & George, daus Mary and Alice, and son William to get £60 a year "after he is out of his time" (i.e.apprenticeship). William Plummer of Clothworkers Co took appr 1757 Robert Metham, and William Plummer of Gutter Lane citizen & clothier took appr 1766 John Preedy, premium £21. William Plummer merchant 48 Lime St 1783 directory. There seems to have been only one directory entry of a William Plummer at Lime St, while William Plummer silversmith was at 47 Gutter Lane, Cheapside from 1783 to 1790. His will PCC 18.10.1791 citizen and Clothworker of Gutter Lane dated 21.6.1791 mentioned his dau Elizabeth Plummer, John Waldron of the Bank of England, and his son Michael Martindale Plummer. Michael Martindale son of William & Esther Plummer was bapt 8.6.1759 at St Vedast Foster La, and Elizabeth dau of the same was bapt 22.10.1765 there. The only possible marriage of a William Plummer and Esther I found was to Hester Robison on 25.6.1758 at Baldock Herts. The will PCC 23.12.1802 of George Plummer of Evington, Leics gent dated 31.8.1802 mentioned his nephew Michael Martindale Plummer, his nieces Elizabeth (nee Plummer) wife of Field Dunn Barker of Cambridge (will PCC 1823), Elizabeth (nee Stretton) wife of Richard Barry of Hitchin, Herts (will PCC 1808), and Faustina wife of Henry Sykes of Skeffington, Leics, his sisters Mary Plummer and Alice Stretton, his late brother Thomas, and his relation Thomas Plummer of Hungerton, Leics.

There was a Thomas Plummer merchant of 48 Lime St in directories 1782 to 1786. He may have been a relative of the above William Plummer, they were both in the Clothworkers Co, but Thomas Plummer was a prosperous West India merchant active in many London charities and the two families didn't apparently feature in each others wills, so perhaps they have become confused (in the 1783 directory and the SCI address lists). Thomas Plummer was made free of the Clothworkers Co in 1771, as appeared on the records of freedom by patrimony of his two sons, Thomas William bapt 17.12.1776 St Andrew Undershaft of Thomas & Sarah, and John bapt 11.7.1780 there of the same. In John's freedom record he was stated to have been born at Lime St. Thomas's own freedom record I couldn't find, nor his marriage to Sarah. An ad in the London Chron 8.4.1778 about the elopement from his parents of a lad of about 14 who wanted to go to sea and was a good scholar in Latin, Greek and French gave the address of Mr Plummer, merchant 48 Lime St. This fits better with William Plummer son of William & Esther born 11.5.1763 and bapt 18.5.1763 St Vedast Foster Lane than with any son of Thomas Plummer, who from his age at burial would himself have been only 16 when the runaway boy was born. Thomas Plummer merchant of Lime St took appr James Gibson in 1777 for a premium of £420. He was in the list of subscribers to the Socy for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor as having joined in 1772, with the address of 48 Lime St in 1782 to 1786, of 5 Billiter Sq in 1788, and of Peckham in 1795. He was on the Committee of the Sunday School Society fom 1785 and with the address of Billiter Sq in 1793 and Fenchurch St in 1797. He was a perpetual director of Royal Humane Society (Lime St 1785), on the committee for West India calamities (London Courant 30.1.1781), in the petition of West India merchants for military help (Lond Chron 3.1.1782) and their address of thanks (Parker's Gen Adv 17.3.1783), steward of Orphans charity dinner (World 14.5.1788), subscr 2 gns to Socy for relief of poor C of E clergy (Billiter Sq 1792?), subscr to Neal's History of Puritans (Camberwell 1793), Land Tax Commisssioner, Fen Court 1795, Governor for life of London Hospital (Fenchurch St 1796), member of Philanthropic Socy (Peckham 1796), Voluntary Contribution for defence of the realm £100 (True Briton 12.3.1798), Asylum for Deaf & Dumb (Fenchurch St 1797), sub to Royal Literary Fund (Fenchurch St 1799), sub to John Townsend's 9 Discourses on Prayer (Peckham 1799). He was also an East India Co director and a City alderman, and supported alderman William Curtis in his successful election as an MP for London 1790 (St Jas Chron 29.6.1790). Thomas Plummer West India merchant of Fen Court, Fenchurch St took apprs William Wilson 1799 & Thomas Morris 1801, both for a premium of £300. His will PCC 27.4.1818 Thomas Plummer of Camberwell and Fenchurch St (formerly of Fen Court and Philpot Lane) dated 5.12.1817 mentioned his son John and John's wife Mary. He was buried 13.4.1818 at Carshalton (as directed in his will) age 69 years from Camberwell. His son Thomas William died at Abbeville, France in November 1816 owing his brother John over £2000 (Nat Arch PROB 31/1249/1296) and will PCC 12.10.1818 of Thomas William Plummer of Camberwell dated 19.4.1816 mentioned wife Elizabeth Margaret and brother John. Thomas William must have been the Thomas Plummer junior of Fenchurch St whose Inconsistencies of Pitt 1797 was dedicated to Charles James Fox, which from the above details of his father's political activities I would guess was not entirely to his father's taste. However the SCI member could have been Thomas Plummer (except that the first name is an unlikely mistake), as he resigned from SCI in 1784.