The Truro cordwainers' play: a "new" eighteenth-century Christmas play - Research article: focus on traditional drama

A general pattern emerged of the names appearing in ones and twos in scattered locations and dates throughout Cornwall. However, all the names did come together convincingly in relative abundance during the period in one place. That place was not Mylor. A few isolated records were found relating to Mylor, for people named John Rowe and William Williams, but both these names are common in Cornwall, and the occurrences at Mylor appeared no more significant than other isolated records elsewhere in the county. The place where the actors' names did come together was in Truro (SW8244), particularly the central Truro parish of St Mary's, and the extensions of Truro in the parish of Kenwyn [6]. Together, these formed the manor of Truro and Kenwyn, which was owned by the Enys family [7]. These districts were investigated in more detail.

The distinctive name Pentecost Langdon turned out to be not quite as unique as it first appeared. Pentecost was a traditional family name passed from father to son over a 200-year period, and similar situations also applied to the other actors' names. This was potentially a problem because there could have been several generations with parallel names that might have been possible teams. However, fortunately, there was only one generation where all the names were synchronised; the generation born between 1768 and 1772, which for brevity I shall call the generation of 1770.

Four of the five names come together impressively in one document--the Constable's List for Truro compiled in 1803 (Constable's List 1803a) [8]. There are six entries in the Truro list for men with our actors' names, of whom three were enrolled in the Truro Light Infantry Volunteers. Four are listed as cordwainers (that is, boot-makers and shoe-makers)--Henry Crossman, John Rowe, William Solomon and William Williams. The remaining two are another William Willams (servant) and another John Rowe of unstated trade. It seems probable that the latter John Rowe was a cordwainer too, because six other Rowe men are listed as cordwainers, as are two more Solomons. There can be no doubt that members of the generation of 1770 are present in this list. It is also certain that they all had cordwaining family connections, whether or not they were cordwainers themselves

In total there are eighteen entries in the Truro list for men of the four families. By contrast, the Constable's List for the neighbouring parish of St Clements (Constable's List 1803b) has only five, three of whom are called John Rowe, of diverse trades, including a father and son. The absence of any Langdons from either list is probably because they lived in the neighbouring parish of Kenwyn, for which no list is available. (Martha Langdon, a daughter of Pentecost, was christened in 1806 in Kenwyn.)

Pentecost Langdon was christened on the 29 May 1768 in Gwennap (SW7340), about 6 miles south west of Truro. However, both his parents--Pentecost senior and Susanna--hailed from Kenwyn, Truro. Also, by the time he married Jane Vivian on the 24 October 1791, he was living in Truro. All their children were christened in Truro or Kenwyn, which takes us to the year 1808. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find the date and place of his death or burial. Pentecost senior was born in 1728, and will have been too old to have performed in this play. Pentecost junior interrupted the family tradition by not naming any of his sons Pentecost. His youngest son John resumed the tradition in 1846. However, this Pentecost is too recent to have been the actor in the manuscript.