Foulsham – Holy Innocents Church (Grave of William Mays 1720-1805, Mary Mays 1733-1797 and Ellen Colville)

This is the ledger stone of William Mays (1720-1805) at Holy Innocents Church in Foulsham. There are a collection of these stones in the church from this date, but that’s perhaps likely as a huge fire in 1770 gutted much of the interior and so many older ones might have been badly damaged.

William was baptised in the church in Swanton Morley on 8 March 1720, the son of John Mays and Margaret Mays and he married Mary (nee Brown) in Thurgarton, Norfolk on 25 April 1756.

William died on 16 January 1805 and he was buried on 21 January 1805, his wife Mary having died on 8 June 1797. The name of their daughter has been completely mauled about on the grave, it’s Ellen Colville and it’s quite clear in the church records.

This is another instance where I suspect I’ll find out more at some point in the future, but as there are no newspaper articles about him and he pre-dates the census, there’s not much more of excitement that I can find at the moment.