William Winstanley 1628-1698 was a second rate poet and a bit of a plagiariser, but collected a mass of country customs and ways, particularly relating to Christmas which had been banned by the Puritans, to the extent of the churches being locked so no-one could even have a celebratory service!
His nephew, Henry was a painter, poet, engineer and all round renaissance man who built the first Eddystone lighthouse, and died in it too, so confident of it's suitability to withstand the 'storm of the century'.
They had relatives in Essex (Saffron Walden area) and London which is where they moved to from Lancashire when their branch of the family based in Winstanley, Braunstone Hall, fell on hard times. There were definitely Winstanleys still in London related to William and Henry, and one of them (no connection proved yet) was Ann Winstanley c.1714 to 1760ish.
Ann Winstanley married a Richard Richardson in the Fleet Prison in 1733. He wasn't actually in prison for debt (at least I don't think so), the Fleet area was common for underage, clandestine and later a huge number of regular marriages before the rules were tightened up. For a fee, you could find a (hopefully genuine) priest to do the ceremony, a pub to have a meal in and then go home with the licence so Mum and Dad couldn't argue. Especially if there was baby on the way!
Anybody got any more on the London Winstanleys? Ann is listed as being from the parish of St. Gregorys. But I know there were a lot in the Westminster area.