Author: Drayton, John Box
Biography:
DRAYTON, John Box (1778-1857: ancestry.co.uk)
The son of George Drayton (d 1789) and Sarah (Box) Drayton (d 1827), he was baptised (with a twin sister, Anne) at Gloucester, Gloucestershire, on 14 July 1778. His parents had married in Gloucester on 4 July 1773. He was apprenticed to Thomas Holloway, a skinner, in London on 15 Sept. 1790 and was granted the freedom of the city on the expiration of his apprenticeship in Dec. 1797. He married Elizabeth Wells at St. James's, Westminster, on 18 Oct. 1808; they did not have children. Likely they converted to the Baptist church from the established church while they were living in London. It is not known when they moved to Cheltenham but Drayton was living there at the time of the 1841 Census by when Elizabeth had died. He was recorded as living at 18 Montpelier Terrace, Cheltenham, with two lodgers and several servants in 1851. He died in late 1857; his will is dated 17 Oct. of that year. He left his estate, including the "handsomely bound" copies of his books, to his sisters, friends, and other family members. He also made bequests to the British and Foreign Bible Society, the London Missionary Society, and the dissenting Religious Tract Society. Drayton directed that he should be buried with his wife at the Baptist church in Cheltenham. (ancestry.co.uk 25 Oct 2018, 7 Aug. 2025) SR
Other Names:
- J. B. Drayton