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The SHIERS/SHEERS Family
C16th London & Great Bookham (Surrey), C17th Bicester (Oxfordshire) then
C17th-C19th Nuneaton, Warwickshire

Name is pronounced "shears", and can be found in variants including SHEAR, SHEARS, SHEARE, SHEARES, SHEER, SHEERS, SHEER, SHEERES, SHERE, SHERES, SHIER, SHIERS, SHIERE, SHIERES, SHIRE & SHIRES.

The name probably derives from the village and Manor of Shere, near Guildford in Surrey, England. The village is also known as Shier or Shire. SHIERS families probably originally took their surname from their village of origin, which means that they are not necessarily genetically related. Whether the original lords of the manor took the surname SHIER is unclear. The village did exist in the 1086 Domesday Book. By 1614, the George SHIERS, below, was a substantial land & property owner in Surrey & Yorkshire. In the early C17th a George SHIERS was an apothecary in London and one was named in court records in 1603 and being granted the title of perfumer to the Queen and Prince of James I of England. Perhaps his wealth was acquired through royal patronage and started the story below.

The story outlined below is a combination of documents from the UK National Archives and church records. It is far from complete, however there is sufficient evidence to make this the most likely outline. More information will probably emerge over time as archive material comes online.

Head of family is George SHIERS of London, my probable 10xGGF. George was probably born c1585. He may have been the London apothecary and perhaps thereby was also the perfumer to the Queen & Prince of James I of England, which could account for his wealth in the early C17th. He married Mary RUTLAND (probably d/o Francis of Mitcham, Surrey) on 19.1.1607 at St Michael Bassishaw, Cornhill, London.

In November 1614, the Manor of Great Bookham (Bookham Magna) in Surrey was sold by Henry BRETON for the sum of £380 to the above George SHIERS, who died in 1642/43, leaving his second son, Robert SHIERS, as heir. George SHIERS was a Londoner and became the Lord of Slyfield Manor in 1614 through this purchase.

[Great Bookham, Surrey - Slyfield House [Manor] 1550+: Bought by Henry BRETON 1614. Sold 1614 to George SHIERS (d. 1642). Rebuilt by George SHIERS ca. 1620. Conveyed to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1715. Let since then. VCH Surrey, Vol. III. E.W. Brayley, Surrey, IV, 1841, 473.]

Two coats of arms "SHIERS of Slyfield" have been recorded in Slyfield House and are described as "Rutland of Mitcham impaled by SHIERS", confirming the above marriage.

Various records suggest George & Mary had 4 surviving children, 2 boys and 2 girls over an extended period. Other children may yet be identified:

• Edward SHIERS (16xx-83); Not described in terms of position, his birth year is unknown, however based on the description of Robert is assumed to the first son until such time another son can be identified. Based on documents concerning the Yorkshire property (see below) his wife is identified as Abigail BUSSBEE or BUSBY. Their marriage occurred at St James Clerkenwell, London on 14.11.1672 and confirmed in "Le Neve's Pedigrees". Based on the Will of Edward it is assumed they were childless;

• Maria or Mary SHIERS (1612-17). Commemorated on a monumental brass in the church of Great Bookham, who died on 7.6.1617 aged 5 years;

• Robert SHIERS (1616-68) Commemorated on a monumental brass in the church of Great Bookham, he was a member of the Inner Temple, the royal courts. He married Elizabeth WELD (?) about 1656, and is referred in records as the second son of George. Their family is described below, however Elizabeth & their son George is also commemorated in the church;

• Anne SHIERS (1628-58); Lineages ("Le Neve's Pedigrees") refer to her as the second daughter of George, who married Charles FITCH of Woodham Walter, Essex on 13.5.1646 at St Peter, Pauls Wharf, London;

In addition to Surrey and Oxfordshire properties (described below), George SHIERS also had property in Kirkby Misperton in Yorkshire. Archive records suggest that after financial problems of one Thomas PHELIPPES in 1620 it was acquired by George who was still in possession upon his death in 1642. It seems he was always quick to profit from other financial misfortunes and his connections at court may have assisted him in this. The property was managed by his son Edward in 1648 & 1671, and then after his death in 1683 passed to his nephew, the baronet George SHIERS of Slyfield House, Great Bookham, the son of Robert SHIERS, who died only two years later.

There are various accounts of what happened to the property and some confusion over the identity of Elizabeth SHIERS who inherited all the SHIERS property at this time. She is always identified as the d/o Edmund DICKENSON M.D., of St. Martin's Lane, Middlesex, physician to Charles II, however in some recent historical accounts is incorrectly taken to be the widow of Robert SHIERS. Court records identify the mother of George junior and wife of Robert as Elizabeth WELD. The George SHIERS = Elizabeth DICKENSON marriage occurred shortly before the baronet's death and matches other records that George junior bequeath all his lands to his wife Elizabeth and died childless. At the time of her husband's death, widow Elizabeth was only 17 years old. She later married Charles John, Baron Blomberg, s/o Nicholas Count de Blomberg 'President of Prussia', and married for a third time after his death.

The SHIERS family were also associated with Bainton, just 2km north of Bicester. In the 1600's the manor was owned by the EWER family, however due to financial difficulties it was sold to George SHIERS in 1637. Upon his death in 1643 it was left to his son Edward SHIERS of Hadham, Herts. In 1683 it passed to his nephew Sir George SHIERS, Bt., son of Robert, who was created a baronet on 16.10.1684 and died childless on 18.7.1685, leaving the property to Elizabeth SHIERS (a benefactor of Exeter College, Oxford). In 1690 (after Sir George's Will was confirmed by a decree in Chancery) it is reported that Sir George bequeathed a rent-charge of £24 2s in the parish of Fetcham, Epsom (payable out of a farm at Welwyn in Herts.), for apprenticing boys and marrying maids who had lived in the same family for seven years, and for relieving the poor not in receipt of parish relief (a charity which exist today as Reg. Charity No. 204831). A plaque commemorating the Will can be found on a tablet in the porch of St. Mary's church, Fetcham.  In 1715 the majority of Elizabeth's estate was passed to trustees for charitable uses, including Exeter College. The manor was sold in 1690 before his mother's death in 1700, coincidentally round about the time other SHIERS (no doubt minor relations based on naming patterns) settled in greater numbers in the Nuneaton area.

The differing accounts of bequests to an Elizabeth SHIERS suggest part may have been given to his mother and part to his young wife. Further clarifications are being sought.

At Slyfield House (itself a small remaining portion of the original house), it was reported two rooms had the arms of SHIERS "Gules a fesse engrailed argent between three saltires or". The baronetcy lasted only 9 months and expired with George's death, therefore being one of the shortest in English history. The shield below is the Coat of Arms sold by commercial firms, but is not believed to be this SHIERS family (at least not identified yet).

Suggestions of earlier involvement in Warwickshire by the George SHIERS above are only hinted in the following Deeds relating to Cryfield, in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire  (DR 18/10/32  1611-1682) in the National Archive, and suggest another part of George's property empire:

Papers relating to a suit in Chancery concerning Cryfield alias Gratebridge - John BOUN of Coventry, gent, complains that George KEVETT esquire was seized of the manor of Finham in Stoneleigh, Kingshall, Griffields, alias Cryfield Dam, alias Gatebridge, in Stoneleigh; George by deed 20 Nov 1611, conveyed the same to Robert HEATH esquire and George SHIERS esquire, in trust for Simon CHAMBER gent and his heirs who was evicted by a statute of £2000 to Joane his mother in August 1609 and a further statute to Christopher STACE gent husband of Joan. Now Mary HAUPERT alias HOOPERT, of Kentish Town, dau: of George, and Frederick DOVER her son, seek redress.  

Robert SHIERS, a member of the Inner Temple, married by 1656, was the second son of George SHIERS. His wife was Elizabeth WELD (my potential 9xGGPs). The move from Bicester to Nuneaton may be related to parts of George SHIERS property empire, which is only hinted at in available records. Family included:

• Elizabeth SHIERS (c. 30.5.1657, Bicester);

• Clement SHIERS/SHIERES (c. 13.12.1658, Bicester), may have married Catrina and had the following family in Nuneaton (my probable 8xGGPs):

  • Catrina / Catherine SHIERS c. 19.6.1709, m. 29.6.1731 = Marmaduke DUFFKIN (my 7xGGPs) ;

  • Elizabeth SHIERS c. 31.3.1712;

  • Robert SHIERS c. 25.5.1715 = Elizabeth HILTON m. 23.3.1733 Nuneaton. Nuneaton children:

    • Robert SHIERS c. 13.11.1734, d. young;

    • Robert SHIERS c. 21.3.1735, d. young;

    • George SHIERS c. 6.9.1738;

    • Clement SHIERS - ? see note with *Frances, below;

    • William SHIERS c. 13.9.1743;

    • Elce SHIERS (Alice SHIERS) c. 2.3.1745;

    • Thomas SHIERS c. 22.10.1748;

    • Michael SHIERS c. 20.2.1750

    • Robert SHIERS c. 20.2.1750;

  • Mary SHIERS c. 28.9.1718;

• Robert SHIERS (c. 18.12.1660, Bicester);

• George SHIERS (c. 23.8.1662, Bicester). Knight, died aged 25 in July, married Elizabeth DICKENSON at Temple Church of England, London on 3.6.1685. At the time of his death, Elizabeth was aged 17. They had been married for only 45 days;

• Cathryn SHIERS (c.2.5.1665, Bicester);

• Benjamin SHIERS (c. 17.3.1668, Nuneaton);

Children of George, above, show either late or second marriages, or the possibility of a missing generation. The family boy's names of Clement & Durham survive into the 1800's as shown by the 1855 mortgage deed & marriage entries below. 

 One of the George SHEERS was a baker in Coventry in 1730's & 1740's.

Home Page & Contact Info

Some Nuneaton (& Mancetter / Coventry) family groups (not an exhaustive or necessarily correct list):

• George SHIERS (n. by 1700) & Elizabeth (m. by 1718):

  • William SHIERS c. 19.10.1718;

  • Clement SHIERS c. 20.11.1720 = (1) Elizabeth WATTS m. 1.10.1755:

    • Robert SHIERS c. 7.1.1756;
                                            = (2) Alice TRUSSWELL m. 4.7.1762 Nuneaton:

    • Sarah SHIERS c. 15.5.1763;

    • Michael SHIERS c. 26.12.1764, d. 13.9.1770;

    • Thomas SHIERS c. 28.7.1765;

    • George SHIERS c. 10.5.1767;

    • Alice SHIERS c. 14.5.1769, = Joseph DENT m. 16.5.1793;

    • *Frances SHIERS c1770 = Thomas WASHINGTON ? [Contact: JC Washington on Ancestry]
      Frances possibly d/o Clement & Alice, with Clement s/o Robert & Elizabeth HILTON;

    • Minney SHIERS c. 30.8.1772;

    • Michael SHIERS c. 5.5.1776;

    • Dudley SHIERS c. 19.7.1778 = Hannah:

      • Michael SHIERS c. 13.10.1798;

  • George SHIERS c. 26.12.1728;

  • Robert SHIERS c. 19.8.1733;

  • Durham SHIERS c. 21.7.1735 = Sarah JOYCE m. 16.10.1759:

    • Elizabeth SHIERS c. 5.11.1760;

    • Sarah SHIERS c. 26.9.1764;

    • Durham SHIERS c. 11.2.1767, d. 7.6.1767;

    • William SHIERS c. 15.5.1768;

    • Durham SHIERS* c. 5.1.1774 = Hannah CRAKE m. 11.7.1800 St John Ousebridge, York;

      • George SHIERS c1815;

  - 14.1.1866: George SHIERS, 51 (n. c1815), widower, weaver of High Street Nuneaton, s/o of Durham SHIERS, weaver to Martha PEARMAN, 43, widow, weaver of High Street Nuneaton, d/o Joseph PARKER, watchmaker.

  - Nuneaton Apprenticeship: Margery BROOKS on 12.9.1765 to Robert SHIRES, Ribbon Weaver.

  - *Durham SHIERS, born Nuneaton, served in 18th Dragoons (Light); Rutland Fencibles, Discharged aged 40. [The Rutland Yeomanry Cavalry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised as the Rutland Fencible Cavalry in Rutland in 1794 and finally disbanded in 1825.]

  - UK National Archive: A mortgage dated 14 February 1855 refers to properties in Chilvers Coton including two messuages (with a brewhouse) occupied successfully by Joseph WAGSTAFF, then Clement SHIERS, then Alice with Thomas SHIERS in or near Bulkington Lane.
  

• George SHIERS & Sarah:

  • George SHIERS c. 17.3.1762;
    

• George SHIERS & Ann SIDWELL m. 1.6.1761:
  • John SHIERS c. 28.12.1761, d. 28.3.1763;
  • Robert SHIERS c. 15.5.1763;
    

• George SHIERS & Elizabeth (probably the George SHIERS of Nuneaton who m. Elizabeth RICHARDSON, spinster, 16 Nov 1767 at Grendon, Northamptonshire (witnessed by John BLAKELY & Edward COLEMAN)) :

  • William SHIERS c. 19.11.1769;

  • John SHIERS c. 29.9.1772;

  • Sarah SHIERS c. 15.5.1774;

  • Jane SHIERS c. 17.5.1776;

  • Elizabeth SHIERS c. 30.9.1778;

  • George SHIERS c. 29.9.1780, d. 19.8.1783;

  • George SHIERS c.21.11.1787;
    

• George SHIERS & Mary BANBURY m. 7.7.1800 (St. Michael, Coventry);
  

• George SHIERS & Sarah CROSS m. 26.12.1813:

  • John SHIERS c. 23.3.1817;

  • Sarah SHIERS c. 7.2.1819-73 = William CURTIS m. 26.3.1837 Nuneaton;

  • John SHIERS c. 20.8.1821;

  • Hannah SHIERS c. 27.12.1823, d. 8.1.1824;

  • Ann SHIERS c. 16.5.1825;

  • George SHIERS c. 16.7.1827;

  • Michael SHIERS n. 31.12.1829, c. 25.7.1830;
    

• George SHIERS (n. 22.2.1775 according to family, therefore probably s/o William & Dorothy, whose son George (below) was baptised 5 days later) & Elizabeth CAPNER of Solihull (1779), m. 17 Sep 1816 Burbage, LEI: witnesses William PINCHBECK (brother-in-law) and Mary ?? (at Zion Independent, Nuneaton, with up to 10 birth & baptisms there):

  • George SHIERS n. 28.2.1819, c. 5.7.1819;

  • Thomas SHIERS n. 1.11.1820, c. 15.12.1820;

  • Edward SHIERS n. 19.5.1822, c. 8.7.1822;

  • John SHIERS n. 17.7.1823, c. 9.6.1824 (Zion Independent);
    - A family from Chilvers Coton, who emigrated to the US 1832; resident in West Roy, New York

  - Possibly George SHIERS, born Nuneaton who served in Oxfordshire Militia (1794-1818) & discharged aged 45.
  

• George SHIERS & Mary:

  • John SHIERS n. 13.4.1852, c. 26.12.1852;

  • Thomas SHIERS c. 10.9.1854;

  • Sarah SHIERS n. 5.5.1859, c. 19.5.1860;

  • Samuel SHIERS c. 19.5.1860;
    

• George SHIERS & Ann Maria:

  • George Henry SHIERS n. 1.1.1874, c. 22.2.1874 (HT, Coventry);
    

• Michael SHIERS & Jane CLEAVER m. 15.12.1817 (s/o Dudley & Hannah?):

  • Jane SHIERS c. 14.12.1818;

  • Amelia SHIERS c. 30.9.1821;

  • Michael SHIERS c. 1.7.1825;
    - Michael senior owned a bakery in Nuneaton. Michael junior ran a boys home [Contact: Barbara LINCOLN]
    

• Robert SHIERS & Susanna:

  • Elizabeth SHIERS c. 17.8.1683;
    

• Robert or Richard SHIERS & Hannah HARRIS m. 14.8.1755 (Nuneaton) as Robert:

  • Catharine SHIERS c. 19.4.1756 d/o Richard, m. 27.1.1777 (both at Mancetter) = Joseph ALBRITTON;
    

• Robert SHIERS & Elizabeth HURST m. 29.4.1781:
  

• Robert SHIERS & Francis SIMPKINS m. 8.11.1786 (all at Mancetter, near Nuneaton):

  • Ann SHIERS c. 23.3.1788;

  • James SHIERS c. 7.6.1790;

  • Reuben SHIERS c. 18.7.1791, m. 9.1.1832 = Susanna MOORE;

  • George SHIERS c. 10.2.1794;

  • George SHIERS c. 27.1.1797;

  • Sarah Ann SHIERS c. 8.8.1800;
    

• Robert SHIERS of Mancetter & Lydia JEFFCOT of Ansley, m. 1803 Ansley:
  

• Robert SHIERS & Sarah BUTLER m. 27.10.1806 (Mancetter):
  

• Robert SHIERS & Ann GREEN m. 19.9.1815:
  

• Thomas SHIERS & Sarah:

  • Elizabeth SHIERS c. 17.4.1720;

  • Robert SHIERS c. 19.8.1725;
    

• Thomas SHIERS & Sarah WAGSTAFF m. 26.3.1786:

  • Elizabeth SHIERS c. 26.12.1786;

  • George SHIERS c. 29.12.1788, d. 3.4.1789;

  • George SHIERS c. 9.4.1792;

  • Sarah SHIERS c. 29.11.1797;

  • Sarah SHIERS c. 15.5.1798;

  • Thomas SHIERS c. 7.10.1799;

  • Sophia SHIERS c. 18.12.1800, m. 15.5.1823 = Thomas TEARFIELD;

  • Thomas SHIERS c. 15.4.1804;

  - UK National Archive: Marriage settlement of William Ellis of Nuneaton, butcher, and Elizabeth, daughter of John WAGSTAFF of Nuneaton, weaver, 13 June 1732. Referring to Sparrow Hall there was Tan affidavit by Thomas SHIERS of Nuneaton, yeoman, about the WAGSTAFF family (CR 715/217-221). 
  

• William SHIERS & Elizabeth FORD m. 14.10.1717 (all at St. Michael, Coventry):

  • Samuel SHIERS c. 20.1.1719;

  • Elizabeth SHIERS 14.2.1721;

  • William SHIERS c.28.4.1725;
    

• William SHIERS & Mary Sarah:

  • George SHIERS c. 13.3.1747;

  • William SHIERS c. 10.5.1752;
    

• William SHIERS & Elizabeth: 
  Robert SHIERS c. 8.3.1761;
  

• William SHIERS & Sarah HUNTER m. 3.1.1739:

  • Ann SHIERS c. 24.5.1741;

  • Elizabeth SHIERS c. 3.12.1745;

  • Sarah SHIERS c. 8.6.1755;
    

• William SHIERS & Dorothy SUFFOLK m. 22.10.1772:

  • ?William SHIERS c. 14.11.1773, d. 16.5.1778 (William only);

  • ?George SHIERS c. 27.2.1775 (William only);

  • ?Sarah SHIERS c. 4.11.1776 (William only);

Ann SHIERS = Samuel WAGSTAFF m. 29.9.1817 (connected to National Archive of 1825?)
Ann SHIERS = Nathan KELSEY m. 8.12.1799
Ann SHIERS = Richard HOPKINS m. 13.12.1778 (Mancetter)
Ann SHIERS = William PETTEY m. 21.10.1764

Elizabeth SHIERS = Thomas LENTON m. 6.8.1768
Elizabeth SHIERS = Nathan WHITE m. 23.4.1771
Elizabeth SHIERS = William FLOWER m. 25.12.1743
Elizabeth SHIERS = Edward BAKER m. 13.4.1819
Elizabeth SHIERS = Joseph HOOD m. 13.10.1788
Elizabeth SHIERS = Henry TAYLOR m. 7.6.1720 St Michael, Coventry
Elizabeth SHIERS = John BURBERRY m. 11.4.1776

Francis SHIERS = Sarah ROGERS m. 19.1.1671 St Michael, Coventry
Hannah SHIERS = William GIBBS m. 10.2.1749 St John, Coventry
Katherine SHIERS = Joseph MARSON m. 5.5.1751

Sarah SHIERS = William STARKEY m. 2.12.1793
Sarah SHIERS = Robert JONES m. 2.10.1788
Sarah SHIERS = James VARDEN or VARDIN m. 18.12.1824
Sarah SHIERS = Benjamin REW m. 6.11.1760 St Michael, Coventry

Sophia SHIERS = Henry EARP m. 2.12.1792 St Michael, Coventry
Sophia SHIERS = Thomas FAIRFIELD m. 1823 Nuneaton

Other Researchers:

• Matthew CLEMPSON - GGPs George & Catherine SHIERS. George's father (given as George SHIRES) was born in Nuneaton, probably around 1810.

 
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