Death by accidental burning – Matilda Bunce

Whilst searching for information about my Bunce ancestors in Westmill I came across a sad story from the “Hertfordshire Mercury and Reformer” in December 1845.

An inquest had been held at The Red Lion in Aspenden as Matilda Bunce, aged 8, had burnt to death in the family home.  On the Friday, she had been left in the care of her older sister when their mother went out.  A spark had flown from the grate and set fire to her clothing, “frightfully burning her person before it could be extinguished”.    She “lingered” until the Saturday, when she died.

The verdict of the Coroner, Thomas Sworder Esq, was “Accidental Death”.

Although Matilda isn’t one of my direct ancestors this was such a sad story that I felt that I had to find out whether she was related to my Bunces.

I couldn’t find a birth record for a Matilda Bunce within the right time frame, but a Mary Matilda Bunce, daughter of   George (a  labourer) and Mary Bunce of Westmill, had been baptised on October 15th 1837 at Westmill.   In December 1845, Matilda Bunce, of Aspenden,  aged 8, was buried at Westmill.

This family could possibly  be related to my ancestors in some way. George and Mary (nee Head) had married in Westmill in 1831, and in 1841 they lived at Knights Hill in the parish of Westmill.  Transcribed as “George Bund” by Ancestry, he was living in Westmill in 1851 and in 1861 the family was living at Westmill Green.

According to the censuses,  George was born in Layston, which is just a short distance from Westmill and now forms part of Buntingford. So far, though, I can’t trace any record of his birth so I can’t determine whether or not he is related to my branch of the Bunce family.

A snippet about my 4x great grandfather, John Saunders (c1794-1824)

After struggling for years to find out anything at all about my 4x great grandfather John Saunders I was delighted to find a couple of snippets about him from the Hertfordshire records which are now available on Find My Past.

The surname Saunders is fairly common in Hertfordshire which, combined with the first name, John, has made it quite a challenge to discover anything about his origins.  At the time of his marriage in 1818 to Charlotte Palmer of Cottered,  John was described as a bachelor, living at Westmill.

John died at the age of 30 and  was buried at Cottered in April 1824, which suggests that he was born around 1794.  I haven’t been able to identify a possible birth record for him so far.

St John The Baptist Church in Cottered

© Copyright John Salmon and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

John and Charlotte had two sons, Nathan, who was baptised at Cottered on September 29th 1820, and my 3 x great grandfather Nathan, baptised at Cottered on March 10th 1822.  The first Nathan had died in 1821, aged just 3 months.   These two baptismal records gave me the information that John Saunders was a shepherd – a new fact , and one which I hope may eventually lead me to further information about where he might have come from, and who his parents were.

Westmill Church, Hertfordshire

A couple of photos of the church of St Mary the Virgin, Westmill, taken on a cold spring day in 2009.

The church is a Grade 2 listed building, probably dating from the 11th century. Like many Hertfordshire churches, it’s built of flint rubble. It was repaired and restored in 1875.

I visited specifically to find any tombstones relating to the Bunce family, and although the light wasn’t good – it rained really hard not long after these photos were taken – I managed to get a few decent pictures. The graves in the foreground of the second photo are Bunces.   Now that I know more about the family, I’ll visit again this year.

Tombstone Tuesday: another Bunce gravestone at Westmill, Hertfordshire

This is another “Bunce” gravestone from the churchyard at Westmill.  Unfortunately when I took the photo I didn’t transcribe the inscription which is almost impossible to decipher from the picture.   The new Hertfordshire parish records on http://www.findmypast.co.uk have come to my rescue: this is the gravestone of 3 male members of the Bunce family who died within a few months of each other in 1883.

William, aged 65, was buried on 16th March; another William, aged 30, was buried on 25th May, and Walter, aged 36, was buried on 1st (or possibly 3rd) June.

I think the elder William is the brother of my  3 x great grandmother, Eliza, and William and Walter are his sons.  The two Williams can be found in 1881, living in Buntingford, but I haven’t managed to find Walter in 1881.  He was in Worcester in 1871, working as a decorator.

I’m now off to send for some death certificates – was it just coincidence that they all died in such a short space of time,  or did they have some infectious illness?  Whatever happened, it must have been a blow for the family. I wonder who erected the headstone?

The Bunces of Aspenden and Westmill

Having spent a lot of time recently checking my records in order to write about my great great grandmother on my paternal side, it’s time to take a look back at my maternal ancestors.

One line that seems to be well documented back to the 1600s in the Bunce / Bunch family of Hertfordshire, the ancestors of my 3 times great grandmother, Eliza Bunce (1822-1899).

The family lived in the Westmill / Aspenden area of Hertfordshire. The earliest record I’ve found so far is that of Richard Bunce who married Susan Barnes at Westmill Parish Church on 16^th October 1681. Their first son, also named Richard, was baptised on July 10^th 1682. We know that this Richard was a woolcomber, as he is described thus at the time of marriage to Elizabeth Holbean at Throcking, Hertfordshire in 1709.

Richard and Elizabeth’s son William was baptised at Aspenden in 1714. The surname is given as “Bunch”. It appears that William, a carpenter, married Joanna Lamb at Aspenden church in 1740. My initial research suggested that they had at least 7 children born between 1741 and 1758, but it now appears that the parents of the first two children were William and Joanna, but the rest were the children of William and Hannah. At the moment I can’t find any record which suggested that Joanna died and William married again to Hannah, so perhaps the two names refer to the same woman?

St Mary’s Church, Aspenden

© Copyright Catherine Edwards and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Eliza’s father, William Bunce, was baptised in the church at Aspenden on July 27^th 1783. His parents were Henry Bunce and Jane Poulter, who had married at Aspenden on 4^th February 1774.

William, a carpenter,  married Keziah Clear on June 2^nd 1803 in Standon.

Tombstone Tuesday: Dinah Bunce at Westmill, Hertfordshire

I’m not quite sure where Dinah fits into my family tree but she must be connected to my Westmill Bunces in some way.  She was buried on February 18th, 1896, aged 73.  Her “place of abode” is given as “Wood Green, Tottenham”.

She was the wife of William Bunce, a carpenter, who was born in Westmill  c 1818. They are listed in Buntingford on the 1871 and 1881 censuses.  I believe that she married William in 1863; he was a widower, his first wife, Elizabeth,  having died in 1856.

If I’ve got the right family, William was the brother of Eliza, my 3x great grandmother.

Mystery Monday: Researching “Mrs Wakerley”, Part 4.

Trying to trace the origins of my great great grandmother Mary Ann(e) Mason, previously Wakerley and formerly Davis has been a real nightmare.

At her first marriage (to John Blenchall Wakerley) she gave no father’s name – a line is drawn through the box.  

On her 2 marriages to John Thomas Mason in 1883 she gave the following details of her father’s name:

• John Buckner, a cattle dealer

• William John Denman, a cattle dealer

Where did the truth lie? I suspected that she was probably illegitimate, but it took me some time to find evidence that this was the case. In 1881 her  two “Wakerley” daughters weren’t living with her. Mary Anne  appears to have been with another partner, William Job Davis. Dorothy Elizabeth Hodgson Wakeley, aged 9, was living with her paternal grandmother, Dorothy Wakerly, whereas Florence Wakerly, aged 7, was with Jemima Denman, a laundry worker who surely must have been Mary Anne’s mother. Tracking back to 1871, I found Mary Ann Wakeley living with George and Jemima Denman in Bridge Street, Kilburn.  I remembered that Jemima Denman had died in 1894 and John Thomas Mason “her son-in law” was the informant to the death. I felt that at last I was getting closer in my hunt for my mysterious great grandmother.

 I haven’t been able definitely to find Mary Anne or Jemima in 1861, although I may have found a record which possibly relates to Mary Anne. Living at 12 Paradise Cottages, Hammersmith, I discovered a 5 year old female child with the surname Mason living with her grandmother Mary Ann Mason, a widow aged 69, born in Sunbury, Middlesex. I think there’s a high probability that the widow is my 4 x great grandmother, Mary Anne, nee Dorsett, who was born in Sunbury and married William Millington Mason in 1818. William and Mary Ann had at least 5 children, two of whom (John and Jemima) appear to be my 3 x great grandparents, If that’s the case, then my great great grandmother “Mrs Wakerley” was  the daughter of Jemima Mason and she married her cousin, John Thomas Mason, in 1883.

The final piece of this jigsaw fell into place when Ancestry released the London Births and Baptisms records. After several years of searching I had found Mary Ann’s birth details! On August 26th 1855, she was baptised at St Peter’s, Hammersmith. Her mother was Jemima Mason and they were living at 12 Paradise Place. No father’s name is given, so my hunch that she was illegitimate seems to have been correct. Mary Ann’s birth date was 10th February 1852.

St Peter’s Church, Hammersmith

© Copyright Peter Trimming and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Interestingly, 4 other children from other families at 12 Paradise Place were baptised on that day.

 A further twist to the story is that Jemima Mason married a William Buckner on 11th November 1855. Was he Mary Ann’s father and what happened to him after the marriage?

There’s so much more that I’d like to know about my “Mrs Wakerley”. Was her illegitimacy the reason for the elaborate family stories about a connection to royalty, or did these tales develop because she was John Thomas Mason’s first cousin and, although it was legal for cousins to marry it may have been frowned upon by some people?

Finding “Mrs Wakerley” was a wonderful moment for me but it has opened up many new lines of research – especially into Jemima Mason, William Buckner and William Job Davis.

 If after reading this rather entangled tale you have any further information about any of the cast, please get in touch!

(Throughout this post I have given the variant spellings of the surnames, as they appear in the records)

Family Recipe Friday: grandma’s bread pudding

In the early 1960s when I was a very young child my mum and I used to visit my grandparents, Fred and Esther Neville, on Saturday afternoons. We travelled by bus to the Crooked Billet in Walthamstow and then we must have walked along Billet Road to their house which ( I think)  was number 349.

One of my memories of these visits is the wonderful rich fruity smell of bread pudding baking in the oven. My grandma used to make it regularly and it was a real treat – dark and moist, packed with dried fruit, warm with spices and topped with a liberal sprinkling of sugar.

The photo shows me aged about 3, with my granddad, Fred, and my grandma, Esther, on holiday at Canvey Island.  We probably took a bread pudding with us!

Grandma’s bread pudding recipe wasn’t written down but this is a good approximation of a real old-fashioned bread pudding:

• 8 oz/225 g stale (at least a day old) bread, broken up into smallish pieces

• 1/2 pt/300ml cold water

• 3 oz/75g soft brown sugar

• 1 egg (beaten)

• 2 oz/50g currants

• 2 oz/50g raisins

• 1/4 pt/150ml milk

• 1/4 tsp mixed spice  (I use more than this to get more flavour)
  

Put the bread in a bowl and add the cold water.

Allow to soak for 1 hr.

Drain the bread and squeeze out any excess water (using your hands!)

Mix the bread with the rest of the ingredients.

Pour into a greased 8″ square baking tin

Cook at 180C/gas 4 for 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hours until firm to the touch and brown on top.

Allow to cool for 30 mins or so in the tin, before cutting into squares.

Serve warm or cold.

I’ve since learned that bread pudding is regarded as a traditional treat from London’s East End – but I enjoyed it long before I knew anything about my family history. Going to grandma’s always meant a slice or two of just-warm, spicy bread pudding. I loved it – and still do, although we don’t have much stale bread these days!

Workday Wednesday – more laundry business

This photo was given to me by another family member, to whom I’m very grateful!  It apparently shows my great great grandfather, John Thomas Mason, at another of his laundry businesses, this time The Beach House Laundry at Westgate on Sea, Kent.  I think he’s the person at the back on the left, by the window.   The photograph I have is a PDF of a very faded image, but I think it gives a good impression of the inside of a steam laundry in the 1890s.

John Thomas Mason dissolved this business partnership in 1895, presumably to concentrate on his other laundry in north London.   Recently  I was surprised to find a little more information about The Beach House Laundry from The Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Gazette.  In March 1902 John Samuel Thearle, who had been John Thomas Mason’s business partner, filed for bankruptcy.  He had tried to keep the business going but had failed, and eventually sold out to a Mr Rogers in 1902 for £100.

In September 1903 Mr Frank Rogers was charged with arson – the laundry works had allegedly been wilfully set alight on 18th August.   The Captain of the local Fire Brigade was of the opinion that the fire had been started deliberately.  The prosecution alleged that Mr Rogers had paid an ex- employee, George Baker,  £10 to burn down the laundry because it “did not pay”. Mr Rogers denied the charge and stated that since taking over the business he had spent £150 improving the laundry , and had recently insured the premises.   At the time of the fire he was doing good business of £20 a week.  He swore that he had not known about the fire until he arrived at the premises on the Wednesday morning; he also said that he was quite solvent at the time – the implication being, of course,  that he had no need to burn down his business to get the insurance money.

So far I’ve not been able to find the outcome of this case.  The interesting connection to my family history, apart from my great great grandfather having been a previous owner of The Beach House Laundry, is that one of the family stories passed down to me is that my great grandfather and his brother burned down another of  John Thomas Mason’s laundry businesses, this time in Wandsworth.  I wonder whether the family knew about  the case of Mr Frank Rogers and this became confused in the family lore? I’ve not been able to find any press reports of a laundry fire in Wandsworth, so I suspect there’s no truth in that tale!

Mystery Monday: Researching “Mrs Wakerley” Part 3

Despite a great deal of research I was still no nearer to discovering the origins of my great great grandmother, Mary Ann(e). On my great grandfather’s birth certificate her name is given as “Mary Anne Mason, late Wakerley, previously Davis, formerly Mason”. I have still not found a marriage which would give her the surname Davis, although I think I have found her in the 1881 census in Willesden. She’s described as the wife of William Job Davis, and they had 3 children: Ester aged 5, Mary A (aged 3) and William J (aged 1).

The children’s names correspond to the names of the children listed on the 1891 census. Mary Ann was by then married to John Thomas Mason. Her two children by John Blenchall Wakerley (Dorothy and Florence)  were in the household with her, and there were some other children, who although they are listed with the surname Mason, appear to be Mary Ann(e)’s children with Mr Davis. All of them were born in Kilburn. Esther was now aged 15; Mary A was 13, William J was 11 and Henry L(?) was 9.

I’ve believe I’ve found three of the birth records for these children:

1.  Esther E Davis, daughter of Mary Ann and William Job Davis, was baptised on December 29^th 1875 at St Augustine’s Church, Paddington.  At the time , this church was a temporary iron building; the permanent church was constructed between 1877 and 1880.
2.  Mary Ann Davis, daughter of Mary Ann and William Job Davis, was born on 26^th October 1877 at 10 Bridge Street, Willesden. Her mother’s name is Mary Ann Davis, formerly Mason.
3.  Henry Lapworth Davis, son of Mary Ann and William Job Davis, was baptised on July 2^nd 1882 at Holy Trinity Church, Hampstead.   ( A “public  tree” on Ancestry suggests that William Job Davis’s  mother’s maiden name was Lapworth – I need to check this out)

So far, I can’t find a birth record for William, but, as the family story that has been passed down states that Mary Ann “had 5 children with Mr Davis”, I’ll keep searching and perhaps I’ll find child number 5 as well!