Family History Fun: A-Z Challenge 2023: Family Traits

My Theme for the A-Z Challenge 2023
Family Traits, Quirks and Characteristics

U for UNETHICAL

Two tales of UNETHICAL behavior (in the conventions of the times) -

fathering a "bastard child" and conducting a secret marriage to an heiress.

John Danson, the eldest son of my great, great, great grandparents - Henry Danson and Elizabeth Brown of Carleton, Lancashire, was the Black Sheep of my Danson family - as evidenced in this document which I was delighted to find at at Lancashire Record Office.

For John, in 1810 at the age of 21, was served with an affiliation order ordering him to contribute to the upkeep of his “said bastard child” - a daughter by Ann Butler of Marton. The poor child was repeatedly given this tag in the document below which is fascinating on its choice of language:

“Ann Butler, single woman, was upon the 27^th day of August last, delivered of a female bastard child in the said township of Marton…and that John Danson, husbandman of Carleton did begot the said bastard on her body and is the father of the same.

Thereupon, we order… for the better relief of the said township…and the sustenance and relief of the said bastard child…John Danson pay unto the churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor…the sum of One Pound Eighteen Shillings for and towards the charges and expenses incident to the birth…further sum of four shillings towards the cost of apprehending and securing the said John Danson….the sum of Two Shillings weekly…towards the keeping, sustenance and maintenance of the said bastard child”.

In 1810, £1 18s 0d would have the same spending power of today's £131. with 2s 0d being worth today £6.88 - not much for bringing up a child! (http://www.measuringworth.com)

Unfortunately I have been unable to trace anything further on this story. A search for an Ann butler brought no results - she could well have married and be known by a different name. John Danson died in 1836, aged 46, as far as I know unmarried, and he predeceased his father Henry by three years.

Does anyone have any thoughts where I could turn to next?

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"Butler's Secret Marriage to an Heiress" was the headline when this Downtown Abbey style story came to be revealed.

It came to light when a cousin asked me to help trace information about his maternal grandmother Sarah Haydon Lounds who married my great uncle John Danson (below). My cousin knew very little apart from the fact the family came from Lincolnshire/Nottinham shire area and there was a scandal involving a Henry Lounds who worked as a butler in a large house.

John's wife, Sarah was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire in 1884. Sadly she died at the young age of 21 in 1905, soon after the birth of their daughter Annie. My cousin was keen to find out the background to Sarah's middle name - Haydon. He knew little other than of family connections with Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire and that there was some kind of scandal with a member of the family who had been a servant in a large country house.

Using standard online resources, I traced Sarah''s father to be George Haydon Lounds and her brother Haydon Lounds (1873-1947) who was named after his grandfather - another Haydon Lounds, a coach builder in Grantham, Lincolnshire. The Haydon name came from two generation further back when in 1814 a Thomas Lounds married a Sarah Haydon. The name Haydon was passed down through many generations and branches of the family.

I was grateful to an internet contact for filling me in with details on this "black sheep" of the family.

For it came to light that butler Haydon Lounds had secretly married heiress Miss Maud Ward Fox - the daughter of his employer, a wealthy widow.

Henry Lounds - a photograph in my cousin's family collection

On her death in 1911 Mrs Eleanor Ward-Fox left in her will £13,000 to her daughter, Maud, with a legacy of £200 to "my butler Lounds in my service at my death". (. £. In today’s money terms)

A Secret Marriage Ceremony in 1909: However not known at the time of Mrs Ward-Fox's death was the fact that butler Haydon Lounds, "a good looking and well educated man", according to a newspaper report, had been for three years the husband of Maud, following a secret marriage ceremony in Devon in 1909. The online Index to marriages confirms this event.

Single in the Census of 1911: But in the 1911 census Haydon was still describing himself as single - a 38 year old bachelor, still working as a butler for the Ward-Fox family - Mrs Eleanor Ward-Fox, her older daughter Gertrude and Maud, 30, (also cited in the census as single) all living at Bramhope, Torquay in a household that included a footman, groom, cook, kitchen maid and two housemaids. Mrs Ward Fox died later that year at the main family home in Bakewell, Derbyshire.

Change of Name: The wedding was kept a secret for three years and was first reported in the then "Morning Post" Feb 9th 1912 when Haydon changed his surname by deed poll to Haydon Stephen-Fox.

No children were born to the marriage, with Maud dying 1945 and Haydon two years later.

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Onto V for VALIANT