Christopher Oates

1795 – 1867

✓ Validated against records · 2026-07-10

Christopher Oates was baptised at Holy Trinity, Hull, on the 7th of October 1795, the youngest son of Christopher Oates, a master cordwainer of the town. His own father died the next year, and in 1807 the boy was bound apprentice to a sailmaker — “Christopher Oates, son of Mary Oates, widow.” A sailmaker he became, and stayed; but he never learned to read or write, and that fact runs through every record of his life.

In 1819 he married Maria Baistin at Holy Trinity. He made his mark against the register; she signed her own name. For a decade he worked at his trade in Hull, and then, some time around 1831, he moved his growing family across the Humber into Lincolnshire, to Scawby near Brigg, and set up as a grocer as well as a sailmaker — a small tradesman reaching for something more.

It failed hard. In the summer of 1838 he stood before the Lincolnshire Insolvent Debtors' Court at the Castle in Lincoln, committed to prison over a debt of a little under twenty-four pounds to a Hull grocer he had dealt with for eight years. The report, carried in full by two Lincolnshire papers that August, is one of the plainest things in this whole history: the creditor, calling on him just after he had been sold up “stick and stower,” asking whose the children round the hearth were, and Christopher's answer. He had, it emerged, signed away his goods years before on a sleeping bill of sale; he could neither read nor write, and his accounts had been kept by a boy. He was discharged.

Ruined at forty-three, he went back to the sea he had first known as an apprentice in 1815. His seaman's ticket, taken out in 1844, draws him to the life: an Able Seaman and sailmaker, five foot seven, grey-haired, blue-eyed, fresh of complexion, no marks — and, in the clerk's hand, “Can write: No.” He served in the merchant navy through the 1845–1854 registers. His wife Maria kept the household in Hull; Christopher died away at Brigg, in Lincolnshire, at the close of 1867. Through his eldest son, William, the line runs on to Mary Elizabeth and the Richmonds.

Composed from validated records · 2026-07-10

Baptism: October 7th 1795, Holy Trinity, Hull
Marriage: September 5th 1819 to Maria Baiston in Holy Trinity, Hull
Death: December 30th 1867, aged 72, Brigg, Lincolnshire
Parents: Christopher Oates and Mary Allison
Siblings: Thomas Oates baptised February 16th 1782, Holy Trinity, Hull, burial April 28th John Oates baptised May 10th 1784, Holy Trinity, Hull William Oates burial September !st 1789, Hull Richard Oates baptised April 10th 1787, Holy Trinity, Hull, burial March 5th 1790 Stephen Oates baptised October 1 Ith 1792, Holy Trinity, Hull Bartholomew Oates baptised September 18th 1793 Holy Trinity, Hull Christopher Oates baptised October 7th 1795, Holy Trinity, Hull
1807: Registration of persons bound apprentices to Freemen 22nd April 1807 Christopher Oates , son of Mary Oates, widow, to William Gibson, Sailmaker, witnesses, James Evans, Mary Oates. (similar apprenticeship for Stephen Oates: 4th February 1806)
1819: Marries Maria Baiston in Holy Trinity Church, Hull Christopher Oates of this parish, Sailmaker, and Maria Baiston of this parish, spinster, were married in this church by banns, with consent of parents, this fifth Day of September, 1819, by H. Bromby, Vicar, in the presence of John Oates and ? Christopher made his mark (x); Maria wrote her name
Children: William Oates baptised November 27th 1821, Holy Trinity, Hull Christopher John Oates baptised February 10th 1823, Holy Trinity, Hull Henry Oates baptised December 25th 1828, Holy Trinity, Hull Maria Ann Oates baptised April 23rd 1833, Holy Trinity, Hull; born Dec 14th 1829* Emma Oates baptised April 23rd 1833 Holy Trinity, Hull; born Brigg Jan 30th 1832 Charles Alfred Oates baptised July 21st 1837, Holy Trinity, Hull Edwin Oates born 1835, Brigg Charles Oates baptised January 24th 1837 Wesleyan Methodist NC, Brigg *Baptism record says Maria Ann daughter of Christopher and Maria Oates of Glanford Brigg, Sailmaker
1838: Bankruptcy proceedings (see newspaper article)
1845-1854: Merchant Navy Seamen Records Christopher Oates: birthplace Yorkshire: birth year 1795 military service 1845-1854
Death: 'December 30th 1867 aged 75, Christopher Oates of Brigg', January 3rd 1868 Stamford Mercury

In your grandmother’s words · from her notebook

Family

Parents

COFatherChristopher Oates1758–1796

The children of Christopher & Mary Hicks

· · ·

The children of Christopher & Mary Allison

· · Christopher Oates b. 1795this page

Marriage

MBSpouseMaria Bayston1798–1875

Children

WOChild · the line continuesWilliam Oatesmain line1821–1883

Life

Confirmed — anchored to a recordEstimated — inferred

1795

Baptised at Holy Trinity — son of the cordwainer

7 October 1795 at Holy Trinity

7 [October 1795] — Christopher, son of Christopher Oates.— Baptism — Holy Trinity, Hull (7 October 1795)

Read at the image record Evidence

Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:

Baptism — Holy Trinity, Hull (7 October 1795) — Holy Trinity, Kingston-upon-Hull, parish register of baptisms, 7 October 1795; East Riding Archives PE 158/6, page 54. findmypast Yorkshire Baptisms (id GBPRS/YORKSHIRE/BAP/207588226), image PE-158-6/00054, read at the leaf 10 July 2026. The Hull register names the father only; the mother, Mary Allison, is Mum's separate finding (from the 1788 Louth marriage and the 1807 apprenticeship). read at the image

1807

In 1807

1807

Registration of persons bound apprentices to Freemen, 22nd April 1807 — Christopher Oates, son of Mary Oates, widow, to William Gibson, Sailmaker; witnesses James Evans, Mary Oates.— Apprenticed to a sailmaker (1807) — a widow's son

Mum’s record Evidence

From Janet Brock’s research, cited — not yet re-verified at the image:

Apprenticed to a sailmaker (1807) — a widow's son — Registration of persons bound apprentices to Freemen, Hull, 22 April 1807 — Mum's transcript. His father had died in 1796; his mother Mary was by now a widow. (A brother, Stephen, was similarly apprenticed in 1806.) from Mum’s research

1819

Married Maria Bayston

5 September 1819 at Holy Trinity

No. 636 — Christopher Oates of this Parish, Sail-maker, and Maria Baistin of this Parish, Spinster, were married in this Church by Banns with Consent of [the printed clause's blank left unfilled — on this entry and on all six across the opening; no consenting parent is named, and Maria at twenty-one needed none] this fifth Day of
September in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and nineteen. By me J. H. Bromby, Vicar. Solemnized between us: Christopher ✕ Oates, his Mark — Maria Baistin [signed]. In the Presence of: Ruth [Guyinne?] — John Norris.
— Marriage — Maria Baiston, Holy Trinity, Hull (5 September 1819)

Read at the image record Evidence

Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:

Marriage — Maria Baiston, Holy Trinity, Hull (5 September 1819) — Holy Trinity, Kingston-upon-Hull, marriage register, entry No. 636, 5 September 1819; East Riding Archives PE 158/29, page 126. findmypast Yorkshire Marriages (id GBPRS/YORKSHIRE/MAR/500185817/1), read at the leaf 10 July 2026. Christopher makes his mark; Maria signs her name — the literacy contrast at the leaf. (Mum's uncertain witness “John Orres” reads John Norris.) read at the image

1838

The Insolvent Debtors' Court — Lincoln

1838

Christopher Oates, of Scawby, grocer and sailmaker. Mr. Smith, of Hull, grocer, with whom insolvent had traded for eight years, committed him to prison on the 15th of
June, for a debt of 23l. 19s. 10d. … Insolvent said that his creditor called on him in his rounds, just after he had been sold up “stick and stower,” and said, sorry to find you in this way — whose poor bairns are these? pointing to seven children who were round the hearth. “They are mine,” insolvent replied, “and I have nothing to put into their mouths.” … [He] had given a bill of sale, three years ago, to Messrs. Hall and Burton … he could neither read nor write, and his accounts had been kept by a boy. — Discharged.
— The 1838 insolvency — “whose poor bairns are these?”

Read at the image record Evidence

Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:

The 1838 insolvency — “whose poor bairns are these?” — Stamford Mercury, Friday 3 August 1838, page 2 — “Lincolnshire Insolvent Debtors' Court,” before the Commissioner at the Castle, Lincoln, case 2; findmypast British Newspaper Archive (BL/0000237/18380803), read at the page 10 July 2026. The insolvency drew five notices in all — Stamford Mercury (13 July and 3 August), Lincolnshire Chronicle (3 August, giving the debt as £20 19s 10d), Perry's Bankrupt Gazette (21 July) and the Law Chronicle (19 July). read at the image

1845

In 1845

1845

No. 6328 — Christopher Oates. Born at Hull, County of York, 5th day of Octr 1795. Capacity: A.B. & Sailmaker. Height 5 ft 7¼ · Hair Grey · Complexion fresh · Eyes Blue · Marks none. First went to Sea as an apprentice in the Year 1815. Royal Navy: no. Foreign Service: no. When unemployed, resides at New Gravel Lane. Age when Ticketed: 49. Can Write: No.
— Merchant seaman's ticket No. 6328 (1844) — a portrait

Read at the image record Evidence

Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:

Merchant seaman's ticket No. 6328 (1844) — a portrait — Register of Seamen's Tickets, ticket No. 6328, issued London 30 December 1844; The National Archives BT 113/4. findmypast Britain, Merchant Seamen 1835–1857 (id TNA/BT113/2132606604/1), read at the leaf 10 July 2026. read at the image

1867

Died at Brigg — a sailmaker of Hull

30 December 1867 at Brigg

Christopher Oates — Male — Age 73 — Glanford Brigg registration district, Lincolnshire — December quarter 1867.— Death — Glanford Brigg (December quarter 1867)

Confirmed in index record Evidence

Found in an index or transcript — the original page not yet read:

Death — Glanford Brigg (December quarter 1867) — England & Wales Deaths (GRO index), Glanford Brigg registration district, December quarter 1867, vol. 7A, page 387, age 73 (findmypast, read 10 July 2026). The recorded ages at death disagree — the GRO index 73, the Stamford Mercury notice of 3 January 1868 “aged 75,” Mum's page 72 — but his documented baptism and ticket fix the birth at October 1795. index entry — original not yet seen

1867

Died at Brigg — a sailmaker of Hull

30 December 1867 at Christopher Oates of Brigg'

'December 30th 1867 aged 75, Christopher Oates of Brigg', January 3rd 1868 Stamford Mercury— From Janet Brock’s research

Mum’s record Evidence

From Janet Brock’s research notebook.

Our research

Christopher, sailmaker and castaway of trade

Research · Hull, Scawby, and the sea

His baptism (1795), his 1819 marriage, the 1838 insolvency report and his 1844 seaman's ticket are all read at the images this pass; his apprenticeship (1807) rests on Mum's transcript, and his death (Brigg, 1867) on the GRO index.

The Brigg death certificate. The GRO death of December quarter 1867 (Glanford Brigg) would give the place, cause, and informant — and might explain why the sailmaker died in Lincolnshire while his wife Maria kept house in Hull. A purchase.
The bankruptcy, in full. The two 3 August 1838 reports (Stamford Mercury and Lincolnshire Chronicle) can be clipped in full; the debt figure differs between them (£23 19s 10d / £20 19s 10d). The three earlier notices (13, 19, 21 July) trace the case from committal to hearing.
His mother, Mary Allison. Named on the 1788 Louth marriage and the 1807 apprenticeship; a Louth-side Allison line for a later pass, with the marriage-licence bond as its first document.