Tom Stephenson's birth was registered in York during the July-September quarter of
1856. The register has him 'Tom' not 'Thomas'. His parents, who I will discuss
in a future post, were William and Jane. His father was a shoemaker living in
the village of Askham
Bryan about 6 miles south west of York (it's now a suburb).
In the 1861 Census the family is mis-named 'Stephson'.
They're living at 26, Askham Bryan - as in some of the small East Anglian
villages where Thomas and Harriet lived in the late nineteenth century, there
was no need for a street name - and William is still a shoemaker. Tom has three
older brothers who are called 'scholars' but he and his younger sister Eliza
have no designation so they presumably haven't started school yet. His oldest
brother and oldest sister are labourers. The family is having is a typical
working class experience in the mid-Victorian period: a brief period in
education followed by a life of hard work.
The 1871 Census shows that William Stephenson is still iving at Askham Bryan and he's described as a
shoemaker/farmer - he's trying to better himself in other words, and has found
the money to rent or buy 15 acres. Jane is now 47. Thomas is 14 and still at home, as are his older brother William
(17 - I think he's a 'groom', but the word isn't clear) and four younger
siblings, Eliza 11, Annia (sic, 9), Emily
(6) and Arthur (4). At some time before the next Census Tom would leave home,
marry and move south (not necessarily in that order).
The 1861 Census tells us Eliza Hobden was born in Newick,
close to Uckfield in Sussex
about 1853 to John Hobden, an agricultural labourer, and his wife, also an Elizabeth.
In 1871 she was an under housemaid
in the large establishment of Robert Willis Polman at the Hooke (Hall) in Chailey , Sussex
The area she was working in was the heartland of her family, But she was about to leave not just this small part of Sussex but the whole county.
A member of the Hobden family tells us what happened next:
....Eliza as a young
girl had chance of employment with a family of good standing i the county of
Durham...and it being such a great distance from the Lewes, Newick, Chailey
area of Sussex where all had been born and had largely remained rooted, there
was much weeping and wailing at the possible thoughts of never seeing Dear
Eliza again. At Durham on her employer's estate was working a clever young gardener,
named Thomas Stephenson... Tom had a
fine tenor voice and was chorister at Durham
Now, it's perfectly possible that Tom had moved north to Durham at some point
after the 1871 Census. However, given the fact that his family had been in
Askham Bryan for at least two
generations before him I think it's also possible that the Cathedral choir he
sang in was York Minster's.
In either case they had moved south before the next Census:
Eliza...had the reasonable
idea that openings for advancement in her husband's wok were more likely in Sussex
The 1881 Census finds them living at Hurst Wood, Buxted
with their son William born in Buxted 10 months before. Thomas aged 25 is
described as a gardener and in 'domestic service'. Buxted is about 9 miles from Chailey, the
place where Eliza was working in 1871:
In the 1891 Census the family - disguised as 'Stephson'
again, presumably due to a mis-hearing - are living at Court House Cottage,
Beddingham. Tom is still a gardener. William is 10, Bessie 8, Blanche 6 and
Alice 3 - all are at school, while little Emily is only 10 months. Blanche,
Bessie and Alice were born in Uckfield, but Emily at Iford.
This enables us to track the family's movements during the
1880s. As far as I know at the moment, they went from Buxted to Uckfield, a distance of no more than 3.5 miles:
It seems as if Tom needed to move around a lot to stay in
work, and by the time of the next Census he's moved again. The previous moves weren't very long ones, but this time they travelled almost 50 miles to a town on the Sussex coast:
In 1901 Tom
Stephenson aged 45 'gardener (domestic)' and Eliza aged 48 are at 1, Station Rd., Selsey St. Peter , Sussex , in the Westhmapnett
District. William, Blanche and Bessie have left home but their daughter Alice
is living with them. She was 13 and born in Uckfield. Other sources give the date as January 1,
1888. As we shall see, Emily was probably one of those many nineteenth century
children who did not survive onto adulthood.
Tom died at the end of 1907 or the start of 1908 - his
death was registered in the Westhampnett District, which includes Selsey, in
the first quarter of the latter year.
At the time of the 1911 Census Eliza was in Selsey on a visit. She was in the
household of Harriet Arnell, an 84 year old lady of private means, so she was
most probably visiting Lily Russell, her 34 year old servant. Both women are
described as widows and domestic servants. Eliza, it is recorded, has 6 children born alive, 4
still living and two dead - these figures have been crossed out, but not, I
think, because they were inaccurate. My guess is that Emily and one child who
had not been recorded in a census had died. The four living ones were William, Blanche, Bessie and Alice. I think it is most likely that Eliza was in domestic service in the Selsey area, having been forced to return to work by Tom's death.
Alice was a domestic servantin London in1911 and the next year would marry a soldier. Some time during the first three
years of WW1, probably when her husband was in France ,
she moved her three children to Windsor .
Eliza came to join them and spent her last years there. Her death was
registered in the first quarter of 1917 and she's buried in Clewer St. Andrews
- the last time I was in this beautiful churchyard was for the wedding of one
of her great grand-daughters![5]
It seems that she had had a hard life, but she was much loved by
her extended family and the way she bore the deaths, illnesses and other
problems that afflicted her was inspirational.[6]
[1] Number
62, the School House, now seems to be 3, Main Street https://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/propertyDetails.do?previousCaseType=Application&previousKeyVal=9702352TCA&activeTab=summary&previousCaseNumber=97%2F02352%2FTCA&keyVal=001YQXSJLI000
[2] The Old
Vicarage is now 87 Main Street - https://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/propertyDetails.do?previousCaseType=Application&previousKeyVal=M0YZKUSJ06C00&activeTab=summary&previousCaseNumber=12%2F01099%2FTCA&keyVal=001ZQLSJLI000
[3] Eric's
letter.
[4] Eric's
letter.
[5] Wilfred
Edgar's letter.
[6] Eric's
letter.
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