Benjamin NICHOLS ⁴

  Notes:

Benjamin's place of birth is not known. In 1771 he married Mary Greenley (qv), who was buried seven years later in Northington, a village near Winchester in Hampshire. When he remarried in 1781 to Sarah Tomkinson, a widow who was housekeeper to the Bishop of Winchester in Farnham, he was described as a yeoman. They settled in Farnham, where he was a hop planter and the Proprietor of the Bush Hotel and Posting House, previously leased by Sarah's first husband William Tomkinson. Benjamin purchased the Inn in 1808.

Benjamin' had two sons with his first wife Mary, and a daughter with his second wife Sarah. His eldest son Benjamin jnr inherited the Bush Inn, married Ann Birch the daughter of a builder in Castle Street, and bequeathed the Inn to his only surviving child Ann. Benjamin snr's younger son Henry (qv), was a wine merchant. The two sons inherited their father's land and property in Farnham. His only daughter Jane married Thomas Boniface, a grocer in Havant, Farnham and Jersey: after their death their two children, Mary and Ben, emigrated with their families from the Channel Islands to Victoria in Australia.

PCC: Benjamin Nichols PROB11/1598 dated 18-11-1817

Additional sources:
Heather, P. (2019). The Town of Farnham. Vol 1 A History of The Borough and Castle Street. Farnham and District Museum Society.
PCC: Benjamin Nichols PROB11/1796 dated 22-2-1832 (son)
Immigrant passenger lists for Australia

Benjamin married Mary GREENLEY on 16 May 1771 in St George Hanover Square, Westminster.¹ (Mary GREENLEY was buried on 24 Oct 1778 in St John, Northington, Hampshire ³.)

Benjamin next married Sarah on 17 Mar 1781 in St John, Northington, Hampshire.^{2 3} (Sarah was born in 1741 ⁷ and was buried on 19 Apr 1795 in St Andrew, Farnham, Surrey ⁶.)