The Pub Landlords

The Champion

Robert Spence – Robert Spence 1798 – 1869

Sarah Spence 1795 – 1877

The largest memorial in the churchyard is located in the centre of the south churchyard, and is that of Robert Spence, his wife Sarah and their daughter. Robert, the son of William and Dorcas Spence, married Sarah Gotch on the 30th October 1822 at Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire. In 1848 Robert, a “Baker, Grazier & Beer Seller”, was the landlord of the Champion Inn on the corner of Loughborough Road and Checketts Road (named after the horse that won the Derby and St. Leger races in 1800).

When Robert died in 1869 he was a significant property owner in Belgrave, and was succeeded by Sarah as “Publican and Baker” at the Champion Inn . In his Will, written in 1864, one of his executors was named as “his friend, George Harrison”. See the History page for a link to George Harrison: https://belgraveheritagetrust.org/history/george-harrison-1824-1881/

The Talbot

Thomas Kirby 1797 – 1849  Ann Kirby 1808 – 1887

Thomas, the son of Thomas Kirby, “Innkeeper and Farmer” married Susannah Fowler on the 19th October 1826 at St. Peter’s. Thomas was the landlord of the Talbot Inn and also a farmer, like his father. After Susannah died in January 1842, Thomas married Ann Gothard Tharme of “Stone, Staffordshire” in December 1844 at St. Margaret’s, Leicester.

Following Thomas’s death in April 1849, Ann became the landlady of the Talbot Inn until at least 1881. Ann was living at Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, when she died in June 1887.

In Campton’s “History of Belgrave”, it is recorded that “William Ball of Rothley was transported on the 27th June, 1843, for fifteen years for sheep stealing, the property of Thomas Kirby”.

William Glover 1750 – 1787 (36)

William Glover was the landlord of the Talbot Inn (which at that time was owned by St. Peter’s). The Parish Register for 1784 records that the “Parish house known by the name of the Talbot Inn was newly built in the front by Mr. William Glover, the tenant”. The cost was £270 and was paid for by a loan from the “Parish Lands for 23 years commencing on Lady Day 1784”.  William died on the 24th June and was buried on the 26th June 1787.

In the western liturgical year, Lady Day is the traditional name in some English-speaking countries of the Feast of the Annunciation, which is celebrated on the 25th March, and commemorates the visit of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, during which he informed her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ.