Heaton
The family line of Heaton of Birmingham includes several successful inventors, engineers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs. It was said that the patented Heaton machine for making button shanks could produce three quarters of a million brass wire shanks per day. The Heaton Mint became one of the largest private mints in the world. The head of the family line was
Ralph HEATON (1755-1832). The connection with the Merediths is through the marriage of
John Howard HEATON, the great-grandson of Ralph Heaton, to Emily Ethel Lucy Aston, the great-granddaughter of
John MEREDITH (solicitor of Birmingham).
Aston
Three generations of the Aston family were involved in button manufacture in Birmingham, through the firms Samuel and Thomas Aston, and John Aston & Co., at their peak employing more than 300 people. The family was also involved in siilver plate manufacture, through the attempted rescue of the ailing Soho Plate Company that had been established by Matthew Boulton. The head of the family line was
William ASTON, born in the early part of the 18th C. The connection with the Merediths is through the marriage of his grandson
John ASTON to Lucy Louisa Anne Meredith, the daughter of
John MEREDITH (solicitor of Birmingham).
Whitcott
An old established family name in Herefordshire, three generations of which married Merediths:
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Anne WHITCOTT, the daughter of William Whitcott, to Josiah Meredith;
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Edward WHITCOTT, the grandson of William Whitcott, to
Sarah Meredith, the granddaughter of Josiah Meredith;
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Catherine WHITCOTT, the great-granddaughter of William Whitcott, to David Meredith, the great-grandson of Josiah Meredith.
Jukes
Joseph Jukes was a Plater in Birmingham during the second half of the 18th century, and his son John expanded the business as a Button Manufacturer. The connection of the Jukes family line with the Merediths was through:
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Alfred JUKES, the son of John Jukes, who was a distinguished surgeon in Birmingham and who married Sarah Meredith, the great-granddaughter of Josiah Meredith;
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Joseph Beete JUKES, the grandson of John Jukes and a renowned geologist and Director of Her Majesty's Geological Survey of Ireland, who married
Georgina Augusta Meredith, the niece of Sarah Meredith who married Alfred Jukes.
Scholefield
Joshua Scholefield was an iron manufacturer and a Member of Parliament for Birmingham. The connection of the Scholefield family line with the Merediths was through:
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Eliza SCHOLEFIELD, the granddaughter of
Joshua Scholefield, who was married to
George Frederick Meredith, the grandson of James Meredith (1753-1848), varnish manufacturer of Birmingham and Swedenborgian;
-
Vincent Cotterill SCHOLEFIELD, the grandson of
Joshua Scholefield, who was married to Annie Sabina Aston, the daughter of
John Aston and Lucy Louisa Anne Meredith.
Other connected families
- Frederick DOULTON - - a Member of Parliament for Lambeth and son of John Doulton, the founder of the pottery firm that later became Doulton & Co. and Royal Doulton, he married Sarah Saunders Meredith.
- Edith Mary KEILLER - - the daughter of William Keiller, a director of James Keiller & Sons, the well-known marmalade and jam manufacturer, she married Edward William Meredith from the line of Merediths who settled in London.
- Isaac WHITEHOUSE - - an Enameller in Birmingham in the 18th century, he married Sarah Meredith, the granddaughter of Josiah Meredith of Brampton Bryan. Their son James emigrated to America and founded a line of prominent Whitehouse descendants there, including a Bishop of Illinois and members of the New York Stock Exchange.
- James Peck POYNTER - - born in London, England, he emigrated to Tasmania where he married Sarah Westall Meredith, the daughter of George Meredith (1778-1856), Tasmanian pioneer. He was the manager of the Bank of Australasia in Hobart.
- John BOYES - - born in Scotland, he emigrated to Tasmania ca. 1818 where he married Sabina Meredith, the daughter of George Meredith (1778-1856) , Tasmanian pioneer. The family returned later to England.
- John TURNER - - a buckle maker of Birmingham, his daughter Sally married John Meredith, the Birmingham attorney whose son George Meredith was an early Tasmanian pioneer. A different John Turner was a Birmingham button maker and a partner with Samuel HAMMOND in the firm Hammond, Turner & Sons. It is not known if the two Turners families were related.
Possible connected family
- Merediths of Presteigne & Kington - the Meredith families who lived near the border between England and Wales, in Radnorshire and Herefordshire, are perhaps connected with the branch descended from Josiah MEREDITH, although a direct connection has yet to be found. The ancestry of the Merediths of Presteigne & Kington goes back to Hoel ap Herast in the 14th Century. His descendants are shown graphically in the following Indented Chart.