Lester

Submitted by edpope on

walk to Leadenhall with Cl(airmon)t 23.11.1801 / call on mrs Lester 27.11.1801 sleep at St Agnes / 2.12.1801 sleep at Baldock / 3.12.1801 again / 11.12.1801 again / 12.12.1801 sleep at St Agnes / 19.12.1801 again / 21.12.1801 Shoreditch Church &c with Ct (=Mrs Godwin) / 30.12.1801.call on Lester &c with Ct

William St Clair in The Godwins & The Shelleys suggests that Godwin (before his marriage on 21.12.1801) slept at St Agnes in order to fulfil the oath that he was "of this parish", the place being probably St Agnes Place or St Agnes Circus, Old Street Road in the parish of St Leonards Shoreditch. Godwin's second wife married him there by banns as Mary Jane Clairmont widow and on the same day at Whitechapel by licence as Mary Jane Vial spinster. He had obtained the licence on 23.11.1801, for which there were two documents, both of the same date, the allegation and the bond. One described Godwin as of St Marylebone and was signed by Thomas Joslyn, the other described him as of St Mary Whitechapel and was signed by Wm Ogilvie. There were only two appearances of Lester in the diary, the first as mrs Lester the same day he first slept at St Agnes and the second as Lester &c shortly after the wedding so she may have provided the accomodation or in some other way assisted their plan. A Jane Lester was assessed for Land Tax in Colchester Street, St Mary Whitechapel from 1791 to 1802. Baldock seems unlikely to have been the town in Hertfordshire, on 2.11.1801 Godwin would have had to travel there after going to the theatre, it may have referred to a place in Whitechapel, though technically Godwin had already sworn on 23.11.1801 that he had been resident in Whitechapel the past four weeks