Charts 17—25. The Birmingham Families.
All the Pemberton families of Birmingham itself, with one exception, are descended from Roger Pemberton, who was Mayor of Walsall in 1509, and who, in tum, could probably trace his descent from one, Thurstan de Pemberton, who married Emma de Winstanley, at Lichfield in 1417. This Thurstan may be the son of Richard Pemberton, of Pemberton (Chart 2, No. 5), who was living at that time, but the identity cannot be proved at present, though there can be little doubt that these Pembertons came of the original Lancashire stock. Other Pembertons are found in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, as may be seen in Chart 21, and these were probably connected with the Walsall group. The origin of the Leicestershire groups (Chart 24) is as yet unsolved. Roger Pemberton, of Walsall (No. 1) had two sons, Thomas (No. 4) and Humphrey (No. 5), of whom Thomas moved to Bordesley and Humphrey to Birmingham. Thomas had seven sons, three of whom left no descendants. The remaining four are Roger, Richard, William, and Abraham Nos. 8, 10, 11 and 13), and it is with the descendants of these that the first ensuing charts deal. William’s family soon died out (Chart 18). Roger, a goldsmith, had only one married son (Chart 18, No. 2), but three of his grandsons, John III. (Chart 18, No. 8), Thomas VI (No. 9), and Nathaniel II. No. 11), became heads of important branches of the family. John and his son were well-known, the latter living at No. 2 The Square. Thomas and his descendants were noted as ironmongers, goldsmiths, and quakers. One of them, John V. (No. 21), lived at No. 1 The Square,* (which he was largely instrumental in building), and later in Bennett’s Hill. He was the first of the family to marry a Lloyd. This family, as well as that of his cousin John, is now extinct, so far as the male line is concerned. Nathaniel, the third grandson of Roger the goldsmith (No. 11), was a cutler, from whom descended the jewellers and toymakers of Snow Hill and Five Ways (Chart 22). This family has many living representatives, all descended from Thomas Pemberton XVI., of Five Ways (Chart 22, No. 24), through his two sons, Samuel VII. (No. 34), and Thomas Hooke Pemberton (No. 35), ironmasters, of Smestow and Sedgeley.
We return now to Richard, the third son of Thomas of Bordesley (Chart 17, No. 10). He was a mercer of Bordesley, but most of his descendants lived in Deritend, one member, James II. (Chart 19, No. 18) possibly moving to Handsworth. Besides the known descendants, there were numerous other Pembertons in Deritend, who were probably also of the same family. Further, there was the family of Abraham Pemberton, of Deritend, sheathmaker (Chart 20), and it is quite possible that the first Abraham of this line was the son of Richard I. of Bordesley, who was baptised at St. Martin’s, Birmingham, in 1597, but whose Christian name is illegible (see Chart 19, No. 5). The Pembertons of Curdworth and Sutton Coldfield also seem closely connected with this family, but no proof of this has yet been obtained (Chart 21).
We said above that all the Pemberton families in Birmingham, with one exception were descended from Roger of Walsall. The exception is the best known family of all, that of “Thomas Pemberton and Sons,” the famous brass founders, which included Charles Reece Pemberton, the “Wanderer” and Dramatist, and Dr. Oliver Pemberton, the famous Surgeon and City Coroner. This family almost certainly came from Leicester, and the reasons for this conclusion will be given in the note to Chart 23, and a Leicester Chart is added (Chart 24) to help towards the further investigation of a problem which is as yet not quite solved. The family of Mr. Max Pemberton occupies Chart 25. The compiler and editor of these notes have received the greatest assistance from Mr. A. Weight Matthews, of Herne Bay, and Mr. P. W. L. Adams, of Woore Manor, Crewe (both members of this family), in connection with the work on this branch.
* See Jos. Hill's “Memorials of the Old Square.”