This is the story of Abraham Clavey who died in gaol

Abraham Clavey
(1764 - 1818 )

This is the story of Abraham Clavey who died in gaol.

Abraham was born in 1764, one of 8 children of Abraham & Betty. Abraham senior was a yeoman of Stoke Lane who lived to the age of 90 and was a son of William Clavey who was in the carrier business and almost certainly related to the Claveys who lived at Clavey’s Farm.

The family appear to have been quite prosperous, holding freehold property & many acres of land around Stoke Lane. Later generations were farmers and shop owners. They married into similar yeoman families, including the Greens, Padfields and Lewises.

Abraham himself married Mary Lewis of Downhead in 1794 and they had 7 children between 1795 and 1815. Most of their married life was spent in Mells where Clavey Farm is situated and it would seem that they moved there because of this connection. Six of their children were born at Mells before they moved back to Stoke Lane about 1815 where the last child Mercy was born.

Then four years later in 1819 Abraham was unable to repay a debt to a certain William Brown. A warrant was raised and Abraham was committed to Ilchester gaol by the sherriff. His crime or offence was debts amounting to £30 and upwards. Bail was set at £30.

The prison records spell out the rest of the story:

10 June Abraham Clavey received in Ilchester gaol at 3pm.

23 June Abraham Clavey was admitted a patient .... Abraham Clavey, a debtor having stated to me that he was very ill and that he wished to see the Surgeon to attend him, sent a messenger, the surgeon and his assistant attended....

24 June Ab’m has a slight fever.

25 June Clavey very ill .... Clavey, a debtor being seriously ill, I sent in the town for a Surgeon & W Shoreland attended. I sent a messenger at the same time (half past nine) to W Bryer the gaol Surgeon at Somerton....

26 June Clavey removed to infirmary ....the Surgeon visited & attended the sick & directed that Abram Clavey be removed to the infirmary ward and he is removed accordingly ....

27 June Ab’m Clavey died in the infirmary at 2pm

28 June Inquest by Mr Carrier holden on body of Ab’m Clavey when the jurors returned a verdict that he died by a Visitation of God. Buried the remains of said Clavey in Ilchester Churchyard. Ceremony performed by T Ebsey - Rector

We shall probably never know the true story behind this sequence of events. Who was this William Brown who caused Abraham to be sent to gaol? Well, there was a William Clavey Brown, the son of John Brown who married Betty Clavey in 1769. Betty was a distant cousin of Abraham ...

Why didn’t the family, particularly his father, help him out? One explanation is that Abraham senior would then have been 87 years old. Another might be that they appear to have been a quarrelsome family - in Abraham senior’s will he set out certain conditions should his other children Virgin and Austin “refuse to abide in freehold dwelling house quiet and peacable”

Abraham’s mother, Betty died just days before Abraham was committed to gaol and was buried on 3rd June 1819. Was this just a coincidence or does it reflect the problems the family had at the time? Abraham senior died in 1822 at Stoke Lane, leaving his estate called Southways to William, Abraham’s elder brother. Abraham’s wife Mary lived on another 30 years dying in Stoke Lane at the age of 78 in 1849.