Cork-Cutters by Royal Appointment     Notes on the Key Family William Key – PCC Will (National Archives) will dated 28 July 1785, probate date 24 December 1785. The burial of William Key, aged 56, on 10 November 1785, was recorded in the parish of St Andrew Hubbard with St Mary-at-Hill, City of London (London parish registers, Ancestry).     Will Summary William Key of Little East Cheap in the parish of St Andrew Hubbard, London, cork-cutter. brother Thomas Key. "esteemed friends" Mr Thomas Mottershaw of Derby, upholder; and Mr Henry Milton of Birchin Lane, London, banker; executors. property in Trotter Alley, Bermondsey Street. son William Key, "who is at present unhappily insane". beloved wife Sarah Key. son Philip Key, under 21 years. daughter Sarah Elizabeth Key, under 21 years. Codicil dated 22 August 1785       "Since the signing the above I have sold my stock in trade to       Mr Joshua Hardy and let him my house for the term of the lease". Codicil dated 4 October 1785       dear wife Sarah Key. On 23 December 1785 James Andrews, a printer of Little East Cheap in the parish of St Andrew Hubbard and Joshua Hardy, a cork-cutter of Little East Cheap testified "that they both knew and were acquainted with William Key, late of the parish of St Andrew Hubbard, London" and they were certain that the two codicils to the will were "all of the proper handwriting and subscription of the said William Key, deceased."     Family History Notes William Key, cork-cutter, 26 Little Eastcheap was listed in Kent’s London Directory 1780, 1782, 1784. No entry for William Key appears in London directories before 1780 – searches were made in Kent’s London Directory 1775, 1777, 1778, 1779, and Lowndes’s London Directory 1779 (London Directories, London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library, Ancestry online). William Key’s cork-cutter shop at 26 Little Eastcheap was located near the site of the church of St Andrew Hubbard. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt; the parish was united with that of St Mary-at-Hill. A marriage on 4 November 1766 at St Mary, Lambeth [South London]:     William Key of St Andrew Hubbard, London, bachelor, and     Sarah Alloway of Lambeth, spinster; by licence; witnesses: George Keriar, [?] Bull. (London parish registers, Ancestry online). A baptism on 31 July 1745 at Christ Church, Southwark, Surrey [South London]:     Sarah, the daughter of Philip and Susannah Aloway, born 5 July 1745. (London parish registers, Ancestry online). In the London parish registers from the London Metropolitan Archives, digitized at Ancestry online, there are separate registers for St Andrew Hubbard and St Mary-at-Hill that appear to be duplicate copies of one another. Baptisms - St Andrew Hubbard with St Mary-at-Hill, City of London Children of William and Sarah Key 14 Jun 1768 William Key born 16 May 1768 4 Nov 1769 Philip Key born 28 Sep 1769 1 Mar 1771 Sarah Elizabeth Key born 28 Feb 1771 10 May 1772 Ann Key born 9 May 1772 [buried 20 Jul 1774] 24 Aug 1774 Mary Key born 12 Aug 1774 [buried 12 May 1779] 26 Jan 1777 Charlotte Key born 18 Jan 1777 [buried 09 Sep 1778] Burials - St Andrew Hubbard with St Mary-at-Hill, City of London 4 Jul 1773 John Hanson Key infant 20 Jul 1774 Ann Key infant 9 Sep 1778 Charlotte Key infant 12 May 1779 Mary Key aged 5 10 Nov 1785 William Key aged 56 A marriage on 17 March 1801 at St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, Southwark, London:     Jehoshaphat Aspin, of St Leonards Shoreditch, widower, and     Sarah Elizabeth Key, of Bermondsey, spinster; by licence;     witnesses: Jehoshaphat Aspin, junior, Elizabeth Aspin. (London parish registers, Ancestry online). Some family history was outlined in a notice in the The London Gazette, 15 August 1812. This described a court case with Jehoshaphat Aspin and his wife Sarah Elizabeth [the daughter of William and Sarah Key] as plaintiffs. The notice was: whether Philip Key, son of William Key, formerly of Little Eastcheap, in the parish of St Andrew Hubbard, London, cork-cutter, deceased, is living or dead; and if dead, whether he died in the lifetime of Sarah Key, the widow of the said William Key, and whether he left any issue. The said Philip Key served his apprenticeship to a cabinet-maker at Derby, afterwards worked as a journeyman at York and Manchester, and in the month of November 1795, came to London on a visit to his mother (who then resided in John Street, Blackfriars Road, in the county of Surrey) and left the same on the Christmas Day following, and hath not since been heard of, but it is supposed he either went to sea, or returned to Derby, York, or Manchester. The said Philip Key, if living, is therefore to come in [to the solicitor in London] . . . . and if dead, any person or persons who can give any information respecting the said Philip Key, and when he died, they are requested to give such information. To confirm details in the above notice, there is a record that Philip Key served as an apprentice to John Gould, cabinet-maker of Derby; payment date 3 May 1785 (Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures, Ancestry database). Advertisement in the Derby Mercury newspaper, 21 November 1755 William Key, Cork-Cutter from London, In the Iron Gate, Derby, Cuts and Sells all Sorts of Corks, or, Sheet Cork, Wholesale or Retail, as Cheap as in London.     from The British Newspaper Archive, accessed at FindMyPast. The town of Derby, on the banks of the River Derwent in Derbyshire, was a centre of Britain’s Industrial Revolution. In 1759 a Derby firm patented and built a machine for making knitted stockings (Derby at Wikipedia). William Key served as an apprentice to John Corker, a cork-cutter of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire; the payment date was 14 April 1742. (Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures, Ancestry database). Possibly, but not confirmed, he was the William Key who set up business as a cork-cutter in London and Derby. Derby is located east of Uttoxeter – the travel distance by modern roads is about 20 miles (32 kilometres). When William Key, the London cork-cutter, was buried on 10 November 1785 his age was recorded as 56. This could mean that he died in his 56th year so that at his last birthday he turned 55. In his will, he named his brother Thomas Key. Baptisms at St Mary, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire         Children of William and Elizabeth Key:     29 May 1730   William Key     18 July 1732   Thomas Key (Staffordshire Parish Register Collection, FindMyPast website). Another Key family was located in nearby Cheshire. Baptisms at Wrenbury, Cheshire         Children of William and Hannah Key of Newhal [Newhall]:     22 Jun 1729   William Key     21 Mar 1730   John Key     08 Apr 1733   Thomas Key (FamilySearch includes digitized images). Copyright © WhistlerHistory 2021.