John GARNER was born in Burbage, Leicestershire, during the first decade of the nineteenth century, probably in 1806 based on census returns.
The best theory is that John's parents were John and Mary GARNER. John was a regular soldier in the Grenadier Guards and was at Waterloo. Their marriage in Burbage was recorded in the regimental records along with travel expense payments for returning to Hinckley when Serjeant John was discharged in 1821. The couple baptized three children at Burbage, despite the regiment being based in London, but with a gap between 1802 and 1808 where the 1806 christening of John would naturally fit.
There is a Burbage christening record that fits except that the surname is given as "GRANGER". The christening date is 19 May 1806 with parents John and Mary Granger. The original bishop's transcription of the record definitely says "GRANGER" but it may possibly have been a mistake by the parish vicar/clerk. From the handwriting and ink it is clear that one individual copied many years of records from original documents at one sitting, so mistakes were inevitable, especially if the copy was made many years after the actual events. This transcription hypothesis is supported by the fact that there are no records of a John and Mary GRANGER marrying or christening any further children in the East Midlands around that time, but there was a John and Ann GRANGER who baptised another John in August 1807...so there were definitely GRANGERs in Burbage at that time, but no John and Mary.
The current thinking is that John and Ann GRANGER did baptise a child in May 1806, shortly after John and Mary GARNER baptised their son John. Later, when the transcript was prepared, the transcriber momentarily lost his place and the two entries were combined, i.e.:
19 Apr - John son of John and Mary Garner was baptised
2x Apr - ???? son of John and Ann Granger was baptised
became
19 Apr - John son of John and Mary Granger was baptised
As a young boy, he would most likely been living with his father in London, but when his father, Serjeant John GARNER, was on campaign abroad - i.e. during the majority of his boyhood years between 1809 and 1816 - he may have been sent to live with relatives in Burbage. It is perhaps how he picked up his trade as the framework knitting skills - possibly from his grandfather or uncles - his father having given up framework knitting when he joined the army.
John married Hannah WELDON on 15 Nov 1826 in Burbage. Martha GARNER and John DAWSON were witnesses. Martha would be John's younger sister. John and Hannah had 7 children: William, Martha, Esther Elizabeth, Richard, John, Stephen and Ann.
John (and later his son Richard) was the framework knitter while Hannah and the younger children were seamers sewing the finished cloth into stockings. John appears in his son John's apprenticeship indenture. This indenture was witnessed by the Willoughby BALFOUR, Rector of Burbage.
John GARNER died on the 13 Jan 1865, a patient in St Mary's Infirmary in Leicester, of a kidney infection. He was 60 years old.
He was buried on 16 Jan 1865 in Burbage. The 1871 census has his wife listed as a widow.
