Week 8: My ancestor was a servant

[Jill on the A272]

Week 8: Servant


This is an opportunity to showcase a servant from your family tree, you might want to offer a short biography and speak about their work eg
Name
Birth location/date
Family background
Where you've found them on the census
Their workplace/employer
Any tips on researching this occupation?

Trades and Occupations - Family Tree Forum

[Next week: Sailor]

[Jill on the A272]

I've been looking at the life of my great grandmother Alice Elizabeth Jarvis (1861-1902). In 1881 at the age of 20 she and her sister Sarah Annie were servants at Lancing College, (then known as St Nicholas College) a few miles from their home town of Arundel in Sussex. Alice was a scullerymaid while Sarah was a housemaid.

The teaching and other staff consisted of the Headmaster, his wife and two daughters, 9 masters most of whom were also clergymen, Matron, a Steward/secretary and his wife and a further secretary.

There were 181 boys ranging in age from 10 to 19.

There were 3 cooks
An Italian butler and 2 under butlers
12 housemaids
3 kitchenmaids
1 pantryman
1 boots
6 pageboys (similar ages to the pupils)
1 porter
1 engine driver
2 scullerymaids

Given the size of the establishment I think my great grandmother had a hard life there. Later, at 27 she married my great grandmother and often had to cope alone with her growing family - seven children (one set of twins) - while her husband Alfred Steel was away at sea. She died aged 40 of pneumonia when her youngest child was just four.

[Katarzyna]

My Great Grandmother Charlotte Smith - Servant and Great Grandfather George Adams -Servant and Baker..

Charlotte was born 15th July 1860 at Rushmere St Andrew, Suffolk to parents Joseph and Jane Smith.
On the 1881 census she was listed, age 21, as a servant at the Deptford Smallpox Hospital born Framlingham, Suffolk.

The Deptford Hospital opened on St Patrick's Day (17th March) 1877. A smallpox epidemic was raging at that time. The hospital was briefly closed later that year as smallpox cases declined and it was proposed to convert it into a female imbecile asylum. However, by early 1878 it was reopened due to a further outbreak. The 1881 epidemic caused many patients to be turned away which, according to Birmingham Mail 2 May 1881, led to perhaps infecting whole districts. 400 new beds were provided and it became the largest smallpox hospital in the Metropolis.
Quote "During 1881, as well as 146 fever patients, the Hospital admitted 3,185 cases of smallpox, of whom 552 (17%) died. The pressure of the epidemic meant that from 8th February until the end of October only smallpox patients were admitted."
The 1853 Vaccination Act had made smallpox vaccination compulsory for children but many parents ignored the ruling.

I cannot know what work Charlotte herself was instructed to carry out but I would imagine it to be cleaning of some kind on the wards or perhaps the laundry. During the epidemic some 9,000 articles were washed weekly in the laundry. That really would have been hard work but potentially dangerous too.

South Eastern Hospital smallpoxhttptranspontdotblogspot.dotcom .jpg
Photo of Deptford Smallpox Hospital
It was renamed the South Eastern District Hospital in 1883

George Adams, who had been described as a servant and baker on the 1881 census, was living at 24/25 Stone Street, Gravesend, the premises of baker John Vincent and family. George was age 23 and had been born in Ipswich, Suffolk to parents George and Mary Ann Adams.
We can only speculate about how he met Charlotte; whether it was before they left Suffolk or when they were both working 15 miles apart in London we cannot be sure but, stating on the census that she was born at Framlingham instead of Rushmere to me is a clue to her having prior knowledge of both George and Framlingham before the 1881 census. They married at Rushmere St Andrew by banns on 19th December 1883; George stating that he was a baker living at Framlingham. Their son, William, was born there in 1884 but they had moved to Ipswich by the time their daughter Nellie was born in 1886. Whether or not this was because the business had failed or had been sold I cannot say; I cannot find any bankruptcy or sale notice. George died in 1917 of heart disease and Charlotte in 1938 of acute bronchitis and arteriosclerosis.

Refs: https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/newcross.html
http://transpont.blogspot.com/2020/1...-hospital.html

[Jill on the A272]

Katarzyna Charlotte's work sounds both risky and hard. I visited the Royal College of Surgeons Museum a few years ago and saw old specimens of the skin of smallpox victims. quite gruesome. The photo of the Deptford Smallpox Hospital looks very similar in design to our local workhouse.

[PhotoFamily]

My 4th-great-grandfather was a Fishmonger in his working life, and had received an annuity for his work. His retired life appears to have been one of penny pinching and poverty. He was married twice, and his three youngest children were still living with him in the 1841 (he age "72", children 11-15).

in 1839, he petitioned the Company for relief:
"to clothe his 2 daughters, Eliz'th age 14 and Prudence, age 12 to enable them to be sent out to service..."

the daughters were admitted to the workhouse in 1847, "destitute" shortly after their father's death, occupations "Domestic Servant".

I've located Elizabeth in the 1851 - "house servant" and she later married.

I've been unable to locate Pru after the workhouse admission. (any takers?)

[Jill on the A272]

My 2x great grandmother Mary Burnip nee Sissons (1848-1928) returned to her home village of Epworth. Lincolnshire with her two children after the death of her husband Henry Burnip in 1880 and lived with her parents George and Mary, but after her father's death and when her children were old enough to earn in 1891 she was housekeeper to the widowed village doctor Henry W Pullan (who had also certified her father's death) and his two teenage daughters. Dr Pullan also had a live-in groom.

In the same year her daughter (my great grandmother) Rachel Annie Burnip was a general domestic servant in the household of Methodist minister Enoch Alty and his wife Margaret in Great Swinford, Worcestershire. That side of my family had and some still have a strong connection with the Methodists. The Altys later moved on to North Wales. Quite how Rachel obtained a post with them in Worcestershire and how she came to meet and marry my great grandfather in Lancashire six years later remains a mystery.

Her mother and brother both went to live in Lancashire, Mary Burnip had remarried in 1900 and been widowed for a second time in 1912 by the time of her death in Burnley General Hospital.

[Caroline]

My great x2 grandmother, Sarah Bradley née Gamson, was born into a weaving family in Kidderminster. Her father was a hand loom carpet weaver and will have worked at home with his family helping him, and Sarah is listed in 1851 as a carpet weaver's assistant aged 14.

Kidderminster weavers

Her mother died in 1852 and her father remarried to the widow of another carpet weaver in 1859. In 1861 her father was still listed as a hand carpet weaver but his son was a steam loom weaver, by this time the handlooms were being taken over by the factories for weaving carpet and by 1871 Thomas was listed as a labourer.

In 1861, Sarah is in Ladywood, Birmingham with her paternal uncle Henry's widow. Also in the household is a 4 month old child who is probably too young to have been Henry's wife's as she was in her 50s and like Sarah is listed as a visitor. There is no trace thus far of a birth or death registration for the child. Sarah's occupation then is given as a servant but no indication of whether house, domestic or otherwise. Did she leave Kidderminster to find work, because she didn’t like her step-mother or because of an unwanted pregnancy? I guess we will never know, but with no skills other than weaving, her only option for earning a living will have been to become a servant of some kind.

In 1863 she married Joseph Bradley - a drayman but described as a miller on the marriage certificate - in Ogley Hay, Shropshire and they settled back in Kidderminster where Joseph had also been born and both their fathers were living. They had 5 children at two year intervals and Sarah died of pneumonia/exhaustion aged 37 in 1875.

[jenoco]

My great grandmother, Martha Mead, was a servant before she married. She was born in 1841 in Writhlington, Somerset, son of Giles and Mary Ann (Snoswell) Mead. By 1861, she had left home and was a servant to Elizabeth Scott, wife of a sea captain, and her daughter, living at 1 Worcester Terrace, Walcot. She then moved and worked for a family in Kent, where she met and married my great grandfather, Nimrod Philbrook, in July 1868. They settled in Capel, Surrey. Martha had two sons and three daughters but, sadly lost her two eldest daughters within a year of each other when they were in their late twenties. After Nimrod's death, she moved in with her surviving daughter (my grandmother), and became bedridden in her later years. She died in January 1939.

[Jill on the A272]

My mother, Diana, was housekeeper to Richard Harvey, vicar of Turners Hill in Sussex from 1965-1973. He was a well off bachelor living in a six bedroomed vicarage with a huge garden, his mother had kept house for him and the house was filled with good quality Edwardian furniture and antiques which had belong to her. His father had been a butcher and must have done quite well for himself.

There had been an advert in the paper, Rev Harvey was willing to have the housekeeper's family living in too, my parents were looking to move to the area as my father had found a job nearby.

Mum's duties were to serve him breakfast in the dining room every morning (we ate in the kitchen) and tea and biscuits in his study mid morning, and to supply the same if he had visitors. He would take a two course lunch in the kitchen though once a week he ate out in East Grinstead. Afternoon tea was a savoury something with tea, bread and butter and cake and he would make himself cocoa in the evening.

Mum would order groceries and meat to be delivered or shop in person and charge it to his account. There was a charlady, Mrs Pemberton who came to do the heavier housework, cleaning the grates, hoovering , dusting, polishing the parquet floor and changing his sheets though mum took care of our bedrooms, the kitchen and the dining room which we used as a our sitting room once the vicar had breakfasted.

His washing went to the laundry and he would pack it to be sent himself but mum would unpack it and put it in his room. She would wash and starch his surplices. He had a winter bedroom over the kitchen which got the warmth of the Aga and a summer bedroom which had been his mother's which he called the Blue Room.

He also employed a local gardener and sons to cut the extensive lawns and hedges, though my father bought a motor mower to keep the grass down. When we first went there an old man called Mr Laker had part of the kitchen garden as an allotment, my father took it over when he left.

Mr Harvey struck me as very old, I was 5 when we went there but I now find he was only 50. He gave me and my brother books for birthdays and Christmas, I still have my copy of The Hobbit and the complete works of Shakespeare. After we left to live elsewhere he had another housekeeper, he failed to come down to breakfast, one morning and she and found him dead in bed, he had died of a heart attack aged 62. I went to his funeral, my parents sang in the choir but it all got too much sitting on my own and I fled to the vicarage garden before the service started. He left my parents £100 in his will.

[Gwyn in Kent]

My mother was born and raised in a small village in South Wales. She was the eldest child in the family and when she finished school she went to work at one of the village farms and was employed to help care for the children and generally help the farmer's wife. It wasn't long before more and more work was expected of her beyond her normal duties. She had to get up really early to feed the animals and do other farm duties before a full day working with the children and in the house. Eventually she told her family about this, although she was concerned about what her step father would think, as he could be a hard task master. Luckily another girl, who had lived in the village came back visiting from residential employment and mentioned that she knew of a job opportunity in Slough. This was a world away from the quiet life Mum had known, but she went off to be a maid at a titled Lady's house. Mum always spoke about how fair her Ladyship was and would go down to the kitchen to speak to Cook and ask to see the week's menu for the staff, as she believed that they couldn't work their best unless they had nourishing food. Mum spoke of a friendship between the Lady Mary Arkwright and Queen Mary, who would sometimes visit. In her later years, Lady Mary could be quite trying. She would call for Mum to come and put a log on the fire. Mum would duly fetch the log, only to be told "I've changed my mind, I think I'll have a piece of coal" Other servants said they wouldn't put up with it, but Mum just accepted the ways of the by then elderly lady. When Lady Mary died, Mum was invited to attend the funeral, as they had got on so well. She had to borrow a black coat from another staff member, as she didn't have the money to just go out and buy one. It was rather daunting for a village lass to meet so many titled people at one go, but they were kind and an Earl and his wife offered her employment, but she declined as she had already met Dad, when he visited Slough to see his sister, Mum's friend. Mum was so interested to read the account of the funeral, when we started our family history searches and found a report in The Times.

[Lin Fisher]

Jill and Gwyn, they are 2 lovely stories. You read about this in novels but lovely to hear first hand knowledge.

[Jill on the A272]

Aunty Annie was married to my great uncle Lawrence. She was born as Mary Ann Bennett in Warnham, Sussex in 1881, and moved to various places in east Sussex as her father James moved jobs, eventually settling in Edenbridge in Kent. The first record I have of her as a servant is in 1901, working for a young teacher Charles P Champion and his wife and baby in Teddington.

Luckily, she collected postcards which eventually came to me so I know she was working in East Street, Chichester from March to at least November 1904 which must have been where she met my great uncle who was from the nearby village of West Wittering.

I have a postcard addressed to her on 2 Sep 1905 at Pootings at Crockham Hill in Kent, the home of Willem Lodewyk Albert Van Oosterwyk Bruyn and his wife Helen Ada (they gave her various postcards for her collection addressed to their daughters) though she was also at Halstead Lodge, North Street, Carshalton home of the Oliver Pain, his children and his second wife Julia during 1906, who again, gave her postcards sent to the family.

During 1907 she was at her aunt's in the Bishopric, Horsham before returning to the Pain's new home in Carshalton. "Colebrook" in Park Lane where she was in April 1908.

Through 1909 she was at "Dunton", Bucks Green, Sussex, where my uncle sent her postcards, she was working for Mrs WH Hoare who gave her unwanted postcards addressed to her (she was French and began life as Emilie Louise Eugenie Napoleon de Marion De Gaja).

Her time as a servant ended on her marriage in 1910, she and Lawrence had no children but played a big part in bringing up one of her orphaned nephews.

[Lin Fisher]

MY G Grandmother Harriet Brown was born 1 June 1857 in Worksop, unfortunately her father died in 1860 and she was brought up with only her mother and siblings.
1871 she is a domestic servant but still living at home in Worksop
1881 she is a cook in a small school in Nottingham, her brother had moved to Nottingham and I think she probably followed him.

She married George Hurt on 6 November 1881 and her brother and his wife were witnesses. George was a widow with 2 small children and they went on to have 10 more children.
George died in 1903 and left her with some very young children. Dad was very fond of Grandma Hurt and spent a lot of time with her.

[Jill on the A272]

I have great aunt Elsie Crisp's Mrs Beeton cookery book, it is falling to bits and is held together by a piece of elastic. It dates from around WW1 and is filled with the sort of recipes I would never cook, many are for doing things with leftover cooked meat, rissoles etc but I guessed she used it a lot. She was born in 1885, her parents moved from Deptford to Sussex when she was a girl and although they were reasonably comfortably off after her mother had an inheritance the children had to make their own way in the world. Elsie started as a "mother's help" in 1901.

I can also track her whereabouts from the postmarks of postcards she sent home, she was in Hassocks, Sussex in Apr 1908 saying she was too busy to write properly as they were cleaning, and that Mrs J was ill in bed and the doctor had come. She sent another in May to say she was going to visit her sister and would write soon.

1911 saw her in the household of a RN officer and his wife in Chidham, then she was in Woking in 1918, Wandsworth in 1920 but returned to West Wittering for the 1921 census, before going off to Oxford in 1923. After the death of her mother in 1928 she lived with her two unmarried brothers, the three of them inherited about £80 each. By the outbreak of war she was a servant in the household of Lewis Lear in Itchenor.

During the war, in 1943 she gave my 13 year old mother one of her cookery books "Practical Cookery" published 1935 proce 2/6 , inscribed inside "for the lovely dinner you cook [sic] 5 Dec 1943". The recipe for cabbage says to boil for 20-30 minutes

I remember her at the end of her life when I was a small child, she left my mother some costume jewellery

[Paulc]

Elizabeth Lake was born 14th May 1845 in the Norfolk village of Attleborough, she was eldest of six children born to John Lake and Rebecca Lake nee Dixon. She was baptised in the beautiful village church of St. Mary's, in Attleborough on 19th April 1846, the informant at the time of the Baptism was her Mother Rebecca Lake. Her Father John is listed as a Labourer on the Baptism record.



(Norfolk, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915)



(St.Mary's Church, Attleborough)

Elizabeth is listed in the 1851 Census with her parents John and Rebecca and her two sisters, Mary Ann Lake and Sarah Ann Lake, the family are living at Havenscroft Street, Attleborough.

1851 Census



(Class: HO107; Piece: 1823; Folio: 17; Page: 14)

Between 1851 and 1861, the Lake family up sticks and move down from Norfolk to Essex, presumably for John Lake's agricultural work. By 1861 the family are residing at South Ockendon in Essex, the family home was listed as Peacock Farm and Elizabeth Lake was listed as a House Maid working at Mollands Hall, for a Farmer called Abraham Manning. Not much further down the lane, Matthew Chiddicks was residing at Little Mollands Hall in 1861 and it is presumably here that their two paths crossed.

1861 Census



(Class: RG 9; Piece: 1073; Folio: 60; Page: 6)

At the tender age of just 20, Elizabeth Married Matthew Chiddicks and the two were married at North Ockendon Parish Church on 7th October 1865. My original assumption had been that the couple had Married in South Ockendon, the Parish that they were living in at the time, but we can only speculate as to the reason they married in North Ockendon, rather than South Ockendon, the Parishes are that close together. All I can say is their first born child, William Chiddicks was born 18th March 1866.



(Elizabeth Lake Marriage Record)



(Original Parish Register entry -Essex Record Office; Chelmsford, Essex, England; Essex Church of England Parish Registers)



(North Ockendon Church)

By 1871 Elizabeth is living at Plough Cottages in South Ockendon and her occupation is listed as a Farm Labourer's Wife. She is listed at home with her Son William and two Daughter's, Elizabeth and Louisa as well as her own Sister Louisa. Her husband Matthew is counted as living two doors away and is listed with Elizabeth's own parents, John Lake and Rebecca Lake, the two families living just two doors away from each other.



(Plough Cottages are on the left of The Plough Public House in the picture)

1871 Census



(Class: RG10; Piece: 1652; Folio: 76; Page: 5)

In 1881 Elizabeth and the family are living in James Row, South Ockendon, just off the main High Road and counted at home with Elizabeth are husband Matthew and children William aged 16, Elizabeth aged 12, Louisa aged 10, John aged 4 and Alice aged 1.

1881 Census



(Class: RG11; Piece: 1752; Folio: 68; Page: 7)

By the time of the 1891 Census the Chiddicks family had grown quite considerably, the family home was still in the High Road, South Ockendon and living at home with Elizabeth and her husband Matthew are children William aged 25, Louisa aged 20, Polly aged 16, John aged 14, Alice aged 11 and Walter aged 8. Also listed living with the family at the time of the Census is Ethel Acton aged 10 who is listed as a visitor and is the future Niece of Louisa Chiddicks who later Marries William Acton. So we can see a family link and connection to the Acton Family from Sutton-at-Hone in Kent.

1891 Census



(Class: RG12; Piece: 1375; Folio: 35; Page: 18)

1901 brings a big change to the Chiddicks ,as the family have upped sticks and moved from South Ockendon, in Essex, to Watford, in Hertfordshire, we can only presume it was for Elizabeth's Husband Matthew's, pursuit of work. Still living at home in the family home are Sons John Chiddicks and Walter Chiddicks. the family are living at 7, Harefield Terrace, Judge Street, Watford.

1901 Census



(Class: RG13; Piece: 1316; Folio: 121; Page: 25)

In 1911, Elizabeth and Matthew are living alone in a 5 room house at 16 Southwold Road, Watford. Matthew is still working as a Labourer at the age of 67 and Elizabeth is still working at home carrying out her Domestic Duties.



(16, Southwold Road, Watford)

1911 Census



(Class: RG14; Piece: 7699; Schedule Number: 125)

Sometime between the 1911 Census and Elizabeth's sad Death in 1916, both Elizabeth and Matthew move to Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, at the time their Daughter Alice Dray (nee Chiddicks, was residing at 23, Shortmead Street, Biggleswade, Beds.



(23, Shortmead Street, Biggleswade from my collection)

Elizabeth sadly died on 23rd September 1916 whilst at her Daughter Alice's home of 23, Shortmead Street, Biggleswade, Beds. The cause of Death was Malignant disease of the stomach and exhaustion, present at her Death and the person who registered the Death was her eldest Son, William Chiddicks.



(Elizabeth Chiddicks Death Certificate)

Elizabeth was buried on 27th September 1916 at Drove Road Cemetery, Biggleswade in Plot Number 2125.

(Burial details provided by Biggleswade Town Council)

The story doesn't end there, as I was able to find this wonderful Newspaper Announcement of Elizabeth Chiddicks funeral. The detail included is pheneomenal and includes every last detail.



In case it's not that easy to see on your viewing device, I have transcribed the newspaper entry for the Funeral Announcement here;

Funeral of Mrs Chiddicks

We regret to report the death this week of Mrs Chiddicks, the Mother of Mrs Dray, of 23, Shortmead Street. Deceased has suffered from an internal complaint and passed away on Saturday at her daughter’s residence. The funeral took place Wednesday at the cemetery. The cortege consisted of a glass hearse and two mourning coaches. The Vicar impressively officiated at the services inside the chapel and at the graveside. The Coffin was of plain elm with black and gilt furniture and was inscribed : “Elizabeth Chiddicks died 23rd September 1916 aged 71 years”. The mourners were Mr.M.Chiddicks (husband). Mr Wm Chiddicks, Mr. John Chiddicks and cyclist Walter Chiddicks 2/25th London Cyclist Battn, (sons), Mrs E.Goode, Mrs W.Acton, Mrs MA Steward and Mrs EA Dray (daughters), and Mr W.Acton (son in law). Among sympathisers present were Mrs W.T.Skipp and Mrs H.Endersby. Floral tributes of great beauty were inscribed thus: In ever fond remembrance from her sorrowing husband; “Rest in peace” - With deepest sympathy and fondest memory, from her son and daughter; “Peace perfect peace” - in ever loving memory to our dear Mother, from her sorrowing son and daughter, Henry and Lizzie; “Thy will be done” - In loving memory of our dear mother, from Louie and William - With deepest sympathy, from her loving son Walter - With affectionate sympathy, from Jack, Kate and Reggie - In fond remembrance to our dear grandma, from her grandchildren, Harry, Cissy and Harold - In fond remembrance to our dear grandma from her grandchildren Doris and Gerald - With deepest sympathy, from Mr and Mrs Skipp, Messrs Styles and Son were the undertakers.

Whilst carrying out my research into the life of Elizabeth Lake and the Lake family in general, I was able to carry out some more detailed research into the Village that her family lived, Attleborough, in Norfolk.

The major employer in town is Banham Poultry and turkeys seem to feature quite prominently in the town history, as they appear on the town sign along with cider apples, as Gaymers Cider used to be in town too, but have long gone. All that's left is Gaymers Meadows a park left to the people of Attleborough.

There has been a settlement in the vicinity since Saxon times and there has been a place of worship here since those times, but St Mary's was built in the Norman period. There is one notable event in 1549 before my family were here, but still interesting. When the practice of enclosing off common land came in, the ordinary people of the country as a whole were not happy. A short lived revolt in the summer of 1549 started here. When the lord of Wilby Manor began fencing off parts of the commons of Attleborough and Hargham, the fury and anger against the landowning classes was unleashed. Attleborough men tore down these fences and hedges, the first demonstration of physical defiance. News of this soon travelled to the next town, Wymondham, where there happened to be a large gathering at Wymondham Abbey where they had been holding a special service. A chap named Robert Kemp latched on to this and led a huge band into rebellion. There was a battle at Dussingdale which is north of Norwich where between 2-3,000 men were killed by government forces. Attleborough men could well have been among them. This has become known as Ketts Rebellion. Needless to say he met an extremely unpleasant end being drawn and hung at Norwich Castle.

The first national Census, taken in 1801, listed the population of Attleborough as 1333 and by 1845 the population had grown to almost 2000, with an acreage of around 5,200 acres and a growing centre of trade and commerce. A thriving Market Town was developing and William White recorded in 1845 the following occupations:

2 Auctioneers, 6 Teachers, 5 Attorneys, 3 Bakers, 3, Blacksmiths, 6 Boot Makers, 4 Butchers, 3 Corn Millers, 33 Farmers, 4 Grocers, 2 Joiners, 2 Plumbers, 2 Saddlers, 2 Surgeons, 4 Tailors and 2 Watchmakers. All evidence of a thriving and growing community of which the Lake family were very much a part of.

There are some pictures of the Lake family homestead and surrounding area of the Village of Hargham which is where the Lake family originated from.



(Church Cottages, Hargham - from Sue Lake)



(Hargham Church Cottage - from Sue Lake)



(Swangey Cottage - from Sue Lake)

[Lin Fisher]

Thomas Priestley was born Dec 1865 in Barton in Fabis Notts. He moved to Chesterfield where he married Ellen Marrow on 5 Feb 1891. His occupation was a Butler, He is on the 1891 census still in Chesterfield 'living in' still as a butler. Ellen is living with his widowed father and siblings in Barton. By 1901 he is a licensed Victualler. He dies in 1939, just before the register was taken. Ellen in carrying on in the job.