Description:Richard Watkin wrote to Lord Gower at the end of the eighteenth century concerning cottages which his family had owned in Trentham. Richard’s letter tells us that his father had absconded from Trentham ‘on account of som difficulties he laboured under’. After Richard’s father had disappeared, Lord Gower purchased two cottages in the Parish of Trentham which Richard writes had been ‘erected by my forefathers’. Richard tells us that Lord Gower had also agreed to ‘contribute somewhat towards’ the maintenance of his Mother who was entirely dependent upon her son.
Richard was in a distressed situation, only able to provide for his wife and four children ‘by hard labor for sustenance’. He appeals to Lord Gower to contribute towards his Mother’s living expenses as the family had been promised.