A Woman's Age in the Census - 1891.

March 21st this year was Census Day in ** England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so I just had to share this article I came across in a local newspaper - "The Kelso Chronicle" of 15th April 1891. 

"As a rule, men do not mind their real age being known and therefore they can scarcely appreciate what an awful ordeal the recent Census was for certain members of the softer sex. 

Girls in their teens and married women do not mind it much.  Young servant girls overrate their ages, with a tendency in the opposite direction once they pass five and twenty.

The women, however who are mostly averse to telling their ages are widows who hope to marry again, and maidens who have passed the first bloom of womenhood, who are, in fact, what is called in polite parlance "old young ladies". 

If their consciences are tough, when the Bogie Man,   that is the Census Man, comes round, they boldly lop off ten or fifteen years. 

 If their consciences are tender - a rare occurence - they will quit the neighbourhood where they are known and hide themselves in some big town.  

The worst of all these precautions is that they are of little use if the proverb be true that " a man is as old as the feels, but a woman is as old as she looks". 

The article must have been written by a man! 

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 Notes: 

** Scotland has deferred the 2021 census until next year, because of the Covid pandemic.

Silhouette Signatures is an idea  I came across  on Facebook genealogy pages, with Timothy J. Barron and Dana of The Genealogy Girl  introducing this concept of creating an image to illustrate an ancestor,  where  a photograph is not available.  

 

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A Jilted Bridegroom in Court: 52 Ancestors - Week 23

"Weddings" is the theme of this week's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge. What to choose?  I have written about family weddings down the decades many times in nearly  ten years of blogging.   So I decided to feature something a bit different - not an ancestral tale, but an entertaining account from 1871 of a  court case involving a Jilted  Bridegroom, as reported in  many newspapers across the country. 

A Breach of Promise of Marriage with a difference - for the innocent party here, is the jilted bridegroom, not the bride.

I came across this item by chance  in "The Border Advertiser" 18th March 1871 and  it made fascinating reading.  So here is a summary of a lengthy article. 

"In the Court of Common Pleas an extra-ordinary action for breach of promise was heard.  The plaintiff in the case Lewis Currie sued his cousin Mary Margaret Davidson Currie  and in his declaration alleged that they had during the infancy of the defendant  agreed to marry one another, and that after she became of age they duly ratified  and endorsed the promise.  Yet the defendant had refused to marry him. 

With regard to the young lady, she was possessed of considerable personal attractiveness and,  beyond that,  a dowry of £6000.  There had been a considerable correspondence between the couple, with letters read out in court to much laughter.  The defendant addressing her fiance as "My dearest George", and signing herself "Ever yours, dearest George - Yours till Death" before winding up  most appropriately with a bit of poetry.  Other  letters declared "Since you left, I care for nothing. I live for you".   "Oh my own very darling George.  I have given you my heart and with it my first and only love.  With heaps of love and millions of kisses, I remain my darling George, yours ever" 

The defendant, however, related also that at a the house of a recently married friend, she had met a young Spaniard who expressed the wish "to be the happy fellow in her locket".  

 Wedding Dress - 1879
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In further correspondence with her fiance George, she talked of being married in white silk and the 19th of January was fixed on for the wedding.  On that day the defendant married  - but not to the plaintiff (more laughter in  court).

On the 3rd of January she wrote to the defendant breaking off the engagement on  the grounds that "we are not in any way suited to one another".  She refused to meet the plaintiff who, the court was told,  had spent  £400  in preparing a residence for his new bride.  

The defendant became the wife of Mr J. Fernandez Martini on 19th January 1871 with the certificate of marriage presented to the court.  It was noted that he was in business partnership with a man who had borrowed money from the plaintiff.

It was acknowledged that the defendant had wronged the plaintiff, but no action of this kind brought by a man should be encouraged.

The jury after deliberating the matter for an hour found in favour of the defendant with damages awarded of £250."

This case reminds me so much of the Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operetta "Trial by Jury".  What would they have made of this reversal in roles?

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N is for Newspapers: A-Z Challenge 2020:

My Theme

Family History Meets Local History - 

Sources and Stories from England & Scotland 

N is for NEWSPAPERS - these  are near the top of my “must  check” record types, and a natural  part of my research routine,  when drafting an ancestor  profile. You never know what you might find and the findings can be  Illuminating.

If your ancestors were involved in the local community, whether in sport, music, social groups, parish affairs - or criminal activity, there is a good chance of seeing their names in print. 

For family historians,  newspapers offer an invaluable source of background information on events (local, national and international).   They also  enable us to experience the actual events described in the language and emotions of the time.   It is not textbook history, but it is full of vigour on many varied small aspects of life for ordinary people.  

 
The chief UK sources are:
British Newspaper Archives
British Newspapers Online 1710-1963  at FindMyPast 

Both offer various subscription options, with some public libraries offering free access.  I like the fact they do not concentrate on the major newspapers of the day but include the small weekly newspapers in rural areas.

How have newspapers helped my family history?

Preston Chronicle - Saturday 31st August 1867  reported:

"On Saturday 1st the directors of the Shard Bridge Company appointed Mr Henry Danson of Poulton-le-Fylde toll collector, vacant by the demise of Mr Thomas Moore."

Henry Danson was my great great grandfather and although I knew from census records that he had a change of occupation from farmer to tollkeeper  between 1861 and 1871, here was further confirmation. The Shard Bridge opened in 1864 across the River Wyre, near Poulton  to replace a ferry. 

•  A 1906 account in "The Fleetwood Chronicle and Fylde Advertiser""  of 28th September noted the funeral of my great grandfather James Danson (a local joiner),  which included a list of chief mourners.

"The deceased gentleman who was 53 years old was a native of Poulton. His father was toll collector at Shard Bridge for 14 years.  Mr Danson had been ill for seem time but had only recently taken to his bed.  The chief mourners were Mrs Danson (wife), Messrs Robert, John, Tom, Willie Danson (sons) and Mr John Danson (brother from Clitheroe), Miss Cookson (niece), Mrs Riley, Mrs Roskell and Mrs Geo Riley (sisters-in-law), Mrs Porter, and Mr Threlfall.  There were a number of beautiful wreaths.".

It was noticeable that missing from the list was eldest son Harry who died a year later aged 30, and James' three  youngest children,  Frank, George and Jennie who were all under  14 years old.   

• A poignant account of the death of my great uncle George Danson who was killed on the Somme, a week after his 22nd birthday.  I was particularly taken by the fact, (new to me)  that  George had sung in the local church choir , as had so manay of my family.

• Lenghy and colourful accounts of the weddings in the 1920's of my great aunt Jennie Danson and my mother's cousin Annie Danson - they are worth reading just for the journalistic "over the top" style in the description of the dresses - with such phrases as "gowned in delphinium blue georgette" and "Her hat was of georgette to tone with uneven pointed dropping brim, having an eye veil of silver lace and floral mount!"
  
  
• A graphic account of the inquest following the  death of Henry Lounds, a coach builder who took his own life, as a result of lead poisoning.
  
  

• Local newspapers  provided me with a wealth of information on the court appearances of my husband's great grandfather, miner  Aaron Armitage, who led a life of crime from poaching and stealing a pig to assaulting the woman whom he later married.

• I came across in the death announcements this short but beautiful testimony to my g.g.g. grandmother Elizabeth (Betty) Danson, nee Brown.

"Betty, widow of the late Mr. Henry Danson, yeoman, Trap Estate, Carleton, near Poulton-le-Fylde. She was much esteemed, and will be greatly regretted by a large circle of acquaintances".  (Blackburn Standard:  Wednesday 20 May 1840)

These  few lines, somehow brought Elizabeth (or the more familiar Betty) alive for me, as no other record had done.  I knew little about Betty, but this description inspired me to write a blog post  on her life.  Read it HERE.

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Inevitably as with all record sets, luck does play its part and in contrast nothing has turned up for my father's Weston family.

Some Pointers:  

• I  found  the entries above  by doing a "county" search, rather than  specific town/village or specific newspaper title.  The results  were often in newspaper titles I would not normally have considered as covering my Lancashire village.  So it is worth widening your search beyond the obvious.
   
• No doubt because of the cost, notices of births, marriages & deaths were often short merely stating - “On the 1st inst, a son named...."  with the mother’s name not always given!  Entries from the landed gentry and professions inevitably predominated, with reports on weddings and funerals  often lengthy.  
  Death notices came from a more varied social background and could include information on the burial place and on the circumstances of death.   But unlike in America,  here in the  UK obituaries are usually reserved for prominent people who in some way had made their mark in their community.

But even if you are unsuccessful in finding specific details on your own family, newspapers are an indispensable research tool in providing you with that essential background material and help you with compiling a timeline.

You can find out what was happening during the lifetime of your ancestors. 

You will find reports of military campaigns abroad, court cases, politics, royal visits, accidents (often with graphic descriptions), health, farming, trade, church activities, and  transport. 

Advertisements, generally on the front page for maximum impact, offer a valuable source of information on all aspects of life - railway timetables, market prices, local shipping agents offering passages to America, Canada, South Africa, India, Singapore and Australia, auction sales notices with lengthy details of estates and their contents on the market, bankruptcies, tradesmen, events such as balls and talks, and church activities plus new arrivals at shops from the last novel by Charles Dickens to India  rubber boots.

The classified adverts revealed households seeking housekeepers, cooks, parlour maids, scullery maids, between maids, laundry maids But life was changing in 1916, with an advert for a "Lady Motor Driver" and a "Lady Clerk - not under 30, must be a first class typist and shorthand writer and experienced in filing and indexing". Also seeking work was a "Gentlewoman, excellent cleaner of plate....speaks French and Italian, with own portable Corona typewriter".

You can find out through the adverts what your ancestors were eating, what was Christmas like in war-time, what was the well dressed lady wearing? 

Quirky  items might catch your attention and provide prompts for some interesting blog posts, such as:
Jilted Bridegroom suing for Breach of Promise:  1871 
Stories of hair-raising stagecoach journeys 
Tales of railway developments and railway journeys
Crime and punishment,  including reports of executions
Female Fashion in 1908
A Rant against Suffragettes, 1910 
Wartime newspapers, not only for their lists and profiles of casualties but for reports of military tribunals, and commentaries  on making the best of life on he home front. 

There  are lots of examples in posts written by many geneabloggers in this A-Z series of how newspapers have helped them in  their research and writing - the scope is endless....! 

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An Instance of Being Fruitful and Multiplying

This headline appealed to me when I came across it in my local paper "The Berwickshire News and Advertiser: 17th May 1881.


 "There died the other day at *East Morriston  a man named John Middlemass, at the very advanced age of 93. He was the father of 11 children. He had 70 grandchildren, 138 great-grandchildren, and 4 great, great grandchildren, making in all 223 descendants." 

*Near Earlston, Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders 


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So John Middlemass must have been born c.1788, just before the outbreak of the French Revolution.
 
He lived through the Napoleonic Wars, Crimean War and Franco-Prussian War, saw the railway reach his village in 1863 and the introduction of the penny post, general anesthetics and vaccination against disease. Among so many inventions in his lifetime were the steam powered ploughing machine, the sewing machine, typewriter, telegraph and telephone, and gas light.

Research online revealed John married his wife Janet Mallam in 1845 and spent his life in agriculture as farm servant, hedger and gardener. In the first full census of 1841, he was with his wife Janet and four children still living at home, Margaret aged 30, Jessie 21, John 18 and May 15.

By the time of the 1861 census John, a widower was making his home with his daughter Janet, her husband Archibald Mack, a shepherd, four young children aged 4, 2 1 and 1 month, a ten year old relative and a lodger - 9 inhabitants in what was described as a one room cottage.

Ten years on John was described in the 1871 census as an 84 year old gardener, living with his daughter Jessie, her husband Thomas McDougall, a coachman and their four children aged 8 to 21.

At the age of 93 in 1881, John, a retired gardener, was still with Jessie's family in a depleted household of son-in-law Thomas, a 70 year old farms servant, Jessie aged 56 and granddaughter Elizabeth aged 22.
 
Six weeks after the census, John died.

 

Earlston - early 1900's.

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Travel Tuesday - A Tragic Emigration Journey

I came across this item in a local newspaper  and it illustrates the hazards emigrants faced in their journey to a new life.


KELSO CHRONICLE. JULY 18, 1845.

“LOSS OF TWO EMIGRANT SHIPS. – The last accounts from St. John’s, Newfoundland, mention the loss of the two emigrant ships, the Rosebank, from Belfast, and the Rhydal, from Aberstwith, which occurred in the early part of May last, and was occasioned by their getting entangled among a mass of icebergs. The Rosebank was a ship of 600 tons. Fortunately no lives were lost, with the exception of one man, who, in getting into the boat, fell overboard, and was not seen after. The captain of the Rhydal (which was 200 tons only), in his letter to the owners, states that the emigrants last everything they possessed; and it is feared those on board the Rosebank fared little better.”

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Sympathy Saturday - Two Melancholy Deaths

A Rootsweb contact on the Fylde, Lancashire message board supplied these sad reports from a  local newspaper:  .

The Lancaster Gazette –  Saturday 14 September 1844

"Blackpool Churchyard  contains two inscriptions possessing melancholy interest. 

The first is on a tablet recording the death of Major Sparkes and Miss Leach, who were drowned while leaving a vessel that had brought them from Canada, in Oct last.  It was said that they had become attached to each other during the voyage, and contemplated being married on reaching England.  Alas! By what frail tenure are our brightest hopes held: Just as they were about to consummate their wishes, they were suddenly deprived of their existence; and now silently repose together in the same grave!

"The next memento in  this burying-place, is that recording the death of Betty Butcher, who died in the year 1829.  Betty was a neatly-dressing, good looking girl of 21; and had won the affections of Walter Cragg, the son of a neighbouring farmer.  Betty was only a fisherman's daughter, and her union with Walter Cragg was not approved of by his friends.  Walter, however, sincerely loved Betty; and she warmly reciprocated the feeling.  Going to the well one day to fetch her a pitcher of water, he unfortunately fell therein, and was suffocated before he could be rescued from his perilous situation.  This untoward event weighed heavily upon Betty's mind, and she pined and died a few months afterwards".

Both the surnames Butcher and Cragg appear in my Danson family history, and I have ancestors buried in Blackpool Cemetery. However I have not identified any direct connection with the tragic deaths here  of Betty Butcher and Walter Cragg. 

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Wedding Wednesday - A 1913 Wedding with a Sad End

Looking through old newspapers gives us such a picture of another age,  and here is a poignant tale of a wedding in 1913 - with a sad ending.  

In the "Berwckshire News" of 4th March 1913,  I  came across a full page account of a society wedding,   and great detail given on the guests,  the costumes worn, and the lavish  gifts.

The bride wore "a Princess robe of ivory velvet, with falling sleeves of applique, with pearl tassled ends.   The square decolletage being embroidered with pearls and Rhinestones.  The skirt drapery was caught up at one side showing an underskirt of lace. The train entirely of Brussels lace was lined with ivory chiffon.  The bridesmaids wore frocks of daffodil yellow satin, with soft ruffles of chiffon and sashes of blue to match blue suede shoes worn with shite silk stockings.  The costumes were comnpleted by white mob caps  tied with blue ribbons and they carried posies of daffodils." 

The list of presents  painted a portrait of the age, ranging  from an opulent platinum and diamond watch,and crystal cigarette case set with rubies, to the slightly more mundane - a pair of cartridge pepper pots, an ivory tusk corkscrew (now very  environmentally incorrect!),  a fitted motor valise,  an  Irish bog oak carved inkstand, a dark green Russian leather blotter. a mounted antelope  horn cigarette lighter, purple silk cushions embroidered in gold, a mauve parasol, a silver egg stand and  silver filigree  fan.  Of a more utilitarian nature were an umbrella, set of waistcoat buttons. a biscuit warmer, set of thimbles, paste shoe buckles,  and a dog's biscuit tin. 

Like many newly married couples, the bride and groom ended up with lots of duplicate  gifts -  blotters, inkstands, photo frames, cut glass bowls, and butter dishes with knives. 

The marriage had been delayed a few weeks, because the groom had suffered appendicitis. 

Perhaps this could be regarded as a portent.  For given the date of 1913,   further research gave this happy occasion a  poignancy in marking the end of an era.  Within three years the groom had been killed in Flanders, leaving a young widow and child. 

 Click HERE to see how other Sepia Saturday bloggers

are celebrating this months's prompt of  Love and Marriage

 

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