Succession to the Gosberton property being the sole reason for adding Everard to our surname some record of Gosberton must clearly be included in any account of our origins. My main sources of information on this part have been two documents which were amongst my father's papers; a book entitled "A brief history of the Church and Parish of Gosberton" by W. J. King F.S.A. printed in 1897 and a printed leaflet -"Part III. The Lincolnshire Calthrops," by Colonel Carr Calthrop, given by the author in 1906 to the Rev. E. Hudson at that time Vicar of Gosberton, which contains as an appendix a list of all the Calthrop baptisms, marriages and burials in the Gosberton Register from 1690. I have also examined the manuscript records of Everard Green's researches into a number of Lincolnshire families which he presented to the Spalding Gentlemen's Society.

The Calthrops were originally a Norfolk family a Lincolnshire branch being founded in Pinchbeck in the early 16th Century and spreading to Gosberton at the end of the 17th Century but I will start with John George Calthrop (b. 1749) whose father Richard died in 1762.

John George Calthrop's eldest son John (b. 1783) took holy orders and from 1805 was Curate of Gosberton Church living with his father in Gosberton House. John George's sister Barbara married Charles Bonner of London in 1781 and they had a son Charles and a daughter Barbara. In 1809 John George's daughter Ann married her first cousin Charles Bonner (junior) of Spalding and in 1810 the Rev. John also married his first cousin Charles Bonner's sister Barbara (The reason for mentioning this inter-marriage between the two families will become apparent later).

In 1813 John George's second son Richard (b. 1788) married Elizabeth Turfitt Everard daughter of Samuel Everard of Fulney (see Part II) and they lived at Swineshead Abbey, which was Calthrop property, while Richard also farmed Turner's farm, Swineshead the property of his father-in-law. In 1815 John George Calthrop died his Gosberton property passing to the Rev. John.

[I had understood from my father that the Calthrops sold up and left Lincolnshire because they ran into financial difficulties in partnership with someone else and when making enquiries from Calthrops, the Spalding Solicitors, I was put in touch with Mrs. de Suffield Calthrop who, in answer to my question, told me that the name of the partner was Bonner. Unfortunately, in spite of further research, I have not been able to find any definite information on the passing of Gosberton from the Calthrops to the Everards but in the account which follows I have assembled the relevant facts and have made it clear where I have made assumptions.]

In 1815 we have the Rev. John Calthrop, Curate of Gosberton, living in Gosberton House with his wife Barbara and two children later increased to six. From the History of Gosberton Church it seems probable that the Vicar, Philip Williams M.A., was non-resisident and that the Rev. John was virtually acting as the incumbent; in 1830 he was appointed Vicar and continued to live in Gosberton House until he died in 1846 when his successor built the present Vicarage. In 1882 the Rev. John in partnership with his first cousin and brother-in-law Charles Bonner, a Thomas Gaunt of Carmarthen and a Thomas Pulvertaft of Spalding, borrowed £2,000 from Henry Everard of Postland and Spalding (see Part I) and in 1836 was declared a bankrupt; this information comes from the original legal Bond dated 1822 and endorsed in 1836 by the Bankruptcy Court which I found amongst some miscellaneous documents concerning Henry Everard.

In 1830 Samuel Everard of Futney and Spalding died having made a new Will in 1826 of which his sons Samuel aged 34 and Robert aged 31 were joint Trustees. It is apparent from this Will, of which I have a copy, that he was then living in Spalding and that Robert had already succeeded to Fulney and his main estate so it is only reasonable to assume that Samuel, the elder son, had already taken over the Gosberton property. I also have a letter found amongst Samuel of Gosberton's papers postmarked Boston, 8 Ap., 1830., and delivered on 9 Ap. to William H. Booth, Esq., Lincolns Inn Square, London. This letter is headed "Calthrop's Trustees and Everard" and concerns the ownership of land adjacent to Gosberton House under Awards in 1776 and 1798 with the comment:-"All Parties are most anxious to settle this Business and it seems the whole of Mr. Calthrop's Trust concern is kept open on account of his Title. (initialled) S.H.J."

We can fairly safely assume that Samuel Everard of Fulney helped his son-in-law the Rev. John Calthrop financially, with the Gosberton property as security, at about the same time as his half-brother Henry lent £2,000 to the partnership and placed his eldest son Samuel in charge at Gosberton and made a new Will. The actual conveyance of the property was clearly delayed later than 1830 but we know that Samuel was living at Gosberton in 1831, when his youngest brother, Henry, went to Eton, as I have a series of letters addressed to Gosberton from Eton, Samuel remained a bachelor and presumably shared Gosberton House with the Rev. John Calthrop and family until 1846 when the latter died.

Samuel Everard of Gosberton, from the papers he left, seems to have been consistently troubled by the problems of the Calthrop family into which his sister Elizabeth had married. Richard and Elizabeth Calthrop had fourteen children (one died in infancy) their eldest son Richard George being born at Swineshead in 1819. In about 1840 they left Swineshead and went to live in Bath. Samuel in that year having taken over his brother-in-Iaw's mortgage of £2,000 on a Quadring Farm which had been called in. Samuel also in 1840 took over Turner's Farm, Swineshead, which had been valued at £7,000 in his father's Will and left to the Trustees for sale the proceeds to be invested for Elizabeth the capital to de divided amongst her children and Richard George Calthrop farmed Turner's Farm until he died in 1874 and was buried at Gosberton.

Richard Calthrop died at Bath in 1851 and Samuel then found himself handling the financial problems of Elizabeth and her children and it is clear that this was a great worry to him; towards the end of his life he complained of severe pains in the head and eventually in 1877 he shot himself at the age of 85. The Coroner at the Inquest was Joe G. Calthrop of the Spalding firm of Solicitors and I have his letter to Robert Everard of Fulney reporting the unanimous verdict of the Jury that Samuel was of unsound mind when he took his own life. Elizabeth Calthrop died the following year.

Samuel left the Gosberton property to his youngest brother Henry who, in 1847, had married Helen Maitland Stirling and lived at Leamington in Warwickshire. Although they retained their Leamington home they also took much interest in Gosberton and Helen, in particular, in the restoration of the Lady Chapel in the Church. They had one child Henry Stirling-Crawford Everard who married Annie Boothby of St. Andrews, Fife in 1880 and they lived at Afton House, St. Andrews; their youngest child Florence Madeline Everard (b. 1896) was still living in Afton House when we exchanged Christmas cards in 1979.

Henry Everard died in November 1893, aged 74, and, presumably because his own son was established in Scotland, left the Gosberton property to his brother Robert's grandson on conditions that started the Welby-Everards.