1810 - Pearce, Cope, Amor and Houghton families

In the 20th century there were three Pearce families in Wilcot. Two were definitely related, both being descended from John Pearce, born 1815, who married Elizabeth Smith and had both Henry George and Tom among his children. The third Pearce family was not descended from John, but may well have been related from further back.

The first was that descended from Henry George Pearce, 1857-1927, who married Sarah Jane Allen in 1877. They had nine children including Charles (1886-1976) who married Margaret Sims. Charles and Margaret lived for many years at 10 Wilcot, and died within a few days of one another in 1976.

Their children included:

• Leslie (1907-88), who married Nellie Cook and lived with his large family at 24 and 28 Wilcot and then 10 and 8 Alton Road
• Wilfred (1908-97), who thatched with his cousin Sid, wearing the Pearce trade-mark bowler hats
• Lewis (1910-56)
• Olive (1913-88), who married Bill Amor and lived at 38 Wilcot
• Douglas (1916-), who was deaf and dumb and a skilled carpenter
• Doris (1918-91), who married first Bert Garrett (killed in WWII) and then in 1944 Reg Houghton from Oare, and lived with her family at 12 Wilcot
• Jean (1921-), who married Bill Cope and lived with her family at 45 Wilcot
• Alan (1923-91) who lived at Rose Cottage and was gardener at the Manor
• Beryl (1927-) who married Dennis Harding

Many of these Pearce connections are still in or around Wilcot.

Reg Houghton started a building business from 12 Wilcot in 1949, and it continued in the family till 2007. Reg kept pigeons, started the Youth Club, kept the village hut going, and was a stalwart of the Cricket Club.

A second Pearce family was descended from Tom Pearce, born in 1840. His youngest son Joe Pearce (1881-1938)  married Annie Eliza Guley in 1903. They had at least six children, including Sid (1910-2000) who married Muriel and thatched with his cousin Wilf. Joe Pearce and his family lived at 50 Wilcot, and according to Min Waite the family sang in the church choir with Joe beating a large drum.

The third Pearce family is descended from a William Pearce, who was baptised in Wilcot on 5th October 1794.  His parents were John and Ann Pearce. William’s wife Elizabeth, who was born in Wilcot, died in late 1863. William Pearce died in 1875 age 80.

In the 1841 census William was a 45 year old agricultural labourer living in Wilcot with his wife Elizabeth and their three children, Jacob, John and Elizabeth.  Ten years later, in 1851, the second son John was an agricultural labourer and the only one of the children living with William and Elizabeth; in 1861 he was a groom living next door with his wife Hannah (who was born in Rainscombe) and their six children.

In 1845 William’s first son Jacob married a Sarah Amor from Huish. They had six children and continued to live in Wilcot throughout their lives. Jacob died in 1892 age 69, and the widowed Sarah stayed on in Wilcot, at no.17. Her son William and his wife, another Sarah Amor whom he married in Wilcot Church in 1867, lived at no.13.

William’s daughter Ada was born in November 1876 and it was at her home 4 Station Road, Pewsey that he died on 4th August 1935 aged 87.