THE NIAS STORY

Newbury, Berkshire is west of London

John Nias was married to Sarah (unknown) about 1682 and had at least eight children between 1684 and 1699.  The family lived in Enborne, Berkshire which adjoined Newbury, the largest area in western Berkshire.  William Nias and his wife Margery (unknown) had several children and lived in Wantage, about 15 miles north of Newbury and Enborne.  John Nias the elder died 8 April 1718 at the age of 55 (according to inscriptions on monuments and gravestones in the churchyard which were leveled during reconstruction).  John Nias the younger, died in 1731 at Enborne and was buried 3 November.

Joseph Nias, grandson of John Nias of Enborne, was a butcher apprentice under Jonathan Farrow.  His apprenticeship occurred in Newbury and Farrow was paid by his father John Nias on 31 July 1735, who himself appeared to have been a yeoman farmer (though researchers previously thought Joseph the son of William, this document proves the Joseph-John connection).  Joseph may have had a first marriage about 1737 from which a child Elizabeth was born in 1738.  However, on 17 October 1742 Joseph Nias married Ann Somerset (Sumercett) in Thatcham, just east of Newbury, Berkshire.  To this union was born one known child – Joseph Somerset Nias.  Joseph Nias the elder and younger were both living in Newbury during 1765 (1765 Laudable Annuity Society).  The elder was a butcher and the younger was an ironmonger.  Joseph Nias the elder of Newbury, Berkshire wrote his will on 7 March 1769 and named his wife and Joseph Nias the younger his only heirs.  His will was probated on 13 May 1769.

Bridge over the Kennet in Newbury, built in 1769

Joseph Somerset Nias the younger was a butcher like his father during the years after his father’s death (London Lives database, 1777-1780 Fire Insurance Policy Registers).  In 1768, he was living in Newbury, Faircross and Kintbury-Eagle Hundred, Bedfordshire Parish, Berkshire where he owned his own home and surrounding land.  He remained a butcher for some time but at some point (at least until 1780, he had possibly taken over his father’s business after his death), returned to his normal profession as an ironmonger (will and Universal British Directory).  In about 1763 Joseph Nias married Sarah (unknown surname).  They attended Northcroft Lane Chapel or Meetinghouse, a Baptist congregation in Newbury.  Joseph Somerset Nias was a trustee (elected in 1770) and gave an invitation, as the church representative, to Reverend James Bicheno in 1780 to become their minister.  Joseph and Sarah Nias raised a family of at least five children.

Their first child’s birth was recorded at the Lower Meetinghouse in Newbury, an independent chapel.  According to the “register of Children Baptized by Mr. Thomas Reader:”

William, son of Joseph and Sarah Nias, born Jan 8th, was baptized Jan 28 1765

William Nias grew up in Newbury and probably completed an apprenticeship as a linen draper (his later profession).  By 1789, he had established himself as a linen draper in Soho, Westminster, London, advertising in the London Times.  He announced on 24 March 1789 that he had opened a linen store at Number 12 Cockspur Street at the intersection of Haymarket and Pall Mall.

London Times 24 March 1789

Cockspur Street at the intersection on Haymarket and Pall Mall (marked red), just a block from the Thames River and within a short walking distance from Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey

Picture of Cockspur Street at Haymarket

The London Times 25 May 1789

The London Times 15 June 1791

In 1793, William Nias, as a master linen draper, took an apprentice Henry Slade.  Nias had become a successful business man in London.  But in 1795, he moved from Cockspur Street to Leicester Square at St. Anne’s, Soho, Westminster, London.  His business location adjoined The Panorama, a large rotunda building set up in 1793 to display a panoramic view of London, as depicted by Robert Barker.  While he operated his business at Leicester Square, his family made a home at Cranbourn Street near Cranbourn Alley in St. Anne’s, Soho, Westminster (home according to baptismal records).

The London Times 5 October 1795

The Panorama at Leicester Square.  William Nias’ business was adjacent to the Panorama and it seemed probable the one of the two business in this picture was William Nias’ business

Old Bailey Proceedings: Accounts of Criminal Trials – 18 February 1801

While living in St. Anne’s district in Westminster, William Nias became a successful man which allowed him to come into contact with successful men who sought the same for their eligible daughters.  As it happens, the daughter of John Warren, esquire, a successful weaver of Bishopsgate, was courted and then married by William Nias.  Elizabeth Warren was born in 1775 (daughter of John Warren and Mary Raymond) and lived in a wealthy area called Sandys Street (now gone but south of Middlesex Street just east of Bishopsgate without Aldgate Street).  They may have been connected via the Blackfriars Presbytery since the Warren family was also known to have been connected to that chapel.  William Nias and Elizabeth Warren’s marriage was performed at St. Anne’s Church in Soho, Westminster on 14 March 1798.  The following year their first child was born – Elizabeth Nias.  Her baptism occurred at Blackfriars Presbytery, located at the corner of Carter Lane and Knightrider Court in London, England.  This church was identified as an independent chapel and was actually the same church in which Elizabeth Warren Nias was baptized as an infant.   While they lived in London, William and Elizabeth Nias would have a total of six children who were baptized as Blackfriars Presbytery (below).

Elizabeth Nias – born circa 1798 London (never married)

William Nias – born circa 1799 London (classified as imbecile)

Benjamin Friend Nias – born circa 1801 London (died 1801 in London)

Edward Warren Nias – born 1801 London

Henry Nias – born 1803 London (became a surgeon)

Mary Nias – born 1805 (died March 1827 & buried with brother John)

St. Anne’s Church (red), Soho, Westminster borough, London prior to renovations to the tower that began in 1800.  This was the location of the Warren-Nias marriage in 1798.

Carter Lane (horizontal yellow) and Knightrider Court (verticle yellow) were at Blackfriars in “The City” area of London

In 1806, William Nias paid taxes in London (1 January 1806 paid for tenement at Leicester Square) for his linen shop in Leicester Square but at some point moved his family to Bridgwater, Somersetshire.  In Bridgwater, Nias again set up a linen business and was known as a linen draper (1811 London and County Directory).  The Nias family continued to grow while in Bridgwater (1811 London and County Directory – Wm Nias a linen draper in Brdigwater).  At least six more children (below) were born to William and Elizabeth Nias, all baptized at Christ Church Chapel, a Presbytery on Dampier Street in Bridgwater.

John Nias – born 19 September 1806 Somerset, baptized 6 November 1806 (died in 1826 unmarried)

Emily Nias – born 3 April 1808 Somerset baptized 25 December 1808 (married Thomas Howell Watson)

Sarah Ann Nias – born 24 September 1809 Somerset baptized 15 December 1809 (married Hill in 1836)

Eleanora Martha Pickard Nias – born 10 December 1811 Somerset baptized 17 January 1812 (died 1882 unmarried)

Christ Church Chapel in Bridgwater, Somersetshire

In 1806 (through at least 1813) they were in Bridgwater, Somersetshire and attended the Christ Church Dampier Street Presbyterian Church.  Life was not all wonderful for the Nias family as financial trouble came to a head for William Nias in 1812.  Nias had accumulated outstanding debts that he had trouble fulfilling.  Though this trouble culminated with a bankruptcy in 1813 as evident by the notices in newspaper (below), William Nias remained a linen draper and shopkeeper according to The Salopian Journal (2 March 1813).

The Commissioners in a Commission of Bankrupt, bearing Date the 19th day of January 1813, awarded and issued forth against William Nias, of Bridgwater, in the County of Somerset, Linen Draper, Shopkeeper, Dealer and Chapman, intend to meet on the 29th day of June instant, at Twelve of the Clock at Noon, at the Commercial-Rooms, in the City of Bristol, in order to make a Dividend of the Estate and Effects of the said Bankrupt; when and where the Creditors, who have not already proved their Debts, are to come prepared to prove the same, or they will be excluded the Benefit of the said Dividend. And all Claims not then proved will be disallowed. (London Gazette 1813)

January 22-26, 1813 Edinburgh Gazette Front Page

By 1815, William Nias had removed his family from Bridgwater and settled further north in Somersetshire at Westmoreland.  The family lived in Avon Lodge on the River Avon in the northwest area of Bristol, Somersetshire. Their religious necessities were satisfied at the Frog Lane Presbyterian Church on Trim Street.  It was here the last Nias child was born, Joseph Somerset Nias, named after William Nias’ father.

Joseph Somerset Nias – born 5 March 1815 Somerset baptized 14 April 1815 (died 1899 in Devonshire)

William Nias was connected to several southern England parishes

Within five years, the Nias family removed to a home at 1 Westmoreland Place (now street) and Lower Bristol Road in Lyncombe and Widcombe District, Bath Parish, Somersetshire, about 10 miles southeast of Avon Park (wife Elizabeth Nias wrote her will in 1820 and her home was Westmoreland Place).  By 1820, William Nias was known as William Nias, esquire but to what he owed that designation is unclear (Elizabeth Nias will states he was William Nias, esquire).  Lyncombe and Widcombe was active in the Industrial Revolution, particularly for the manufacture of woolen cloth. 

The family seems to have undergone an economic transformation around this time which may have been related to the Warren family.  The John and Mary Warren family (William Nias in-laws), seems to have been well-to-do in London.  John Warren, esquire died prior to his wife and in 1817, the widow Mary Warren wrote her will, leaving a large inheritance to her children.  The estate included money, parliamentary stocks, public funds, and governmental securities.  When Elizabeth Warren-Nias wrote her will in 1820, she mentioned the same assets as well as her mother’s will of 1817.  Therefore, between the Nias bankruptcy in 1813 and 1820, The William Nias family elevated into a different social status.

By 1830, William Nias was listed in as Bath, Somersetshire nobility and was called William Nias, gentleman (1830 Pigot’s Directory).  He and his wife and aging children remained at Westmoreland Place.  In April 1834, Elizabeth Warren-Nias passed away leaving William Nias a widower.  She was buried at the Trim Street Presbytery Chapel in Bath (location E1 and E2) on 28 April 1834.  Shortly after his wife’s death, Nias wrote his own will (15 August 1834) leaving the inheritance from his wife as trusts to their children.

Over the next two decades, William remained a widower living at the same home at Westmoreland Place (1832, 1835, 1837, 1841 Electoral Registers in Lyncombe and Widcombe).  He was found in the 1841 and 1851 census living with his two unmarried daughters and house servants:

1841 Lyncombe and Widcombe Parish, borough of Bath
Name of house – Westmoreland Place
Name	Age	Gender	Profession	Born in County
William Nias	75	M	Independent means	N
Elizabeth Nias	40	F		N
Eleanor Nias	25	F		Y
Elizabeth Storey	40	F	Family servant	Y
Hannah Smith	20	F	Family servant	Y

1851 Lyncombe and Widcombe Parish, city of Bath
Name of house – Westmoreland Place
Name		Age	Gender	Profession	County of Birth
William Nias	Widow	86	M	Fund holder	Newbury Berkshire
Elizabeth Nias	Dau	52	F		St. Anne’s, Middlesex
E. M. Nias	Dau	39	F		Bridgwater, Somerset
Sarah Bennett	Servant	25	F	Cook	Westerlodge, Gloucester
Eliza Tinsbury	Servant	24	F	General servant	Bath, Somerset

William Nias died 18 November 1856 in Lyncombe and Widcombe, Bath.  He had reached the ripe age of 92.  The Spectator (volume 29, page 1243) reported his death:

“On the 18th, in Westmoreland Place, Bath, William Nias, Esq.: in his 92d year.”

His will was probated 2 January 1857 at which time, his surviving children inherited the estate which allowed them to live without worry.  As evidence of the family’s status, the oldest and youngest daughters Elizabeth and Eleanor Nias were living in 1871 and 1881 Westmoreland Place.  This is presumably the same location in which they lived with their father.  They were both living as annuitants, benefiting from the fund left to them by their father.  Both were still single and being taken care of by two female servants.