Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label High Roding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label High Roding. Show all posts

Wednesday 22 November 2023

James Waterman and Tamar Hockley

All Saints, High Roding
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/5059359

James Waterman (bap. 5 Aug 1821 at Hatfield Broad Oak), son of Isaac Waterman and Jane Hasler, married Tamar Hockley, daughter of Daniel Hockley and Sophia Mason, on 22 Nov 1850 at All Saints, High Roding.

James and Tamar had two sons:
  1. James Waterman b. 1852 D Quarter in DUNMOW UNION Volume 04A Page 303, bap. 30 Jan 1853 at All Saints Church, High Roding.
  2. John Waterman b. 1857 D Quarter in DUNMOW UNION Volume 04A Page 319, bap. 25 Apr 1858 at All Saints Church, High Roding.
In 1861, James Waterman (40) Agricultural Labourer, Tamar Waterman (33), James Waterman (8) Scholar and John Waterman (3) were living in High Roden Street, High Roden (sic) (High Roding, obvs), Dunmow, Essex.

In 1871, living "In the Street, High Roothing, Dunmow, Essex" (hopefully, not too literally) were James Waterman (50) Groom, Tamar Waterman (45), James Waterman (18) Carpenter and John Waterman (13) Ag Lab.

In 1881, they had moved to Cannons Road (presumably Cannons Lane), Hatfield Broad Oak Aka Hatfield Regis, Dunmow, Essex. James Waterman (60) Groom; Fanny Waterman (55) from Great Dunmow (same age, I have no doubt this is Tamar) and John Waterman (23) Carpenter.

In 1891, on the Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Dunmow, Essex were James Waterman (69) General Labourer and Tamar Waterman (65).

Tamar Waterman died, aged 71, and was buried on 14 Mar 1898 in Great Dunmow (although the record isn't precise about which churchyard).

In 1901, James Waterman (79) Widower, Retired Groom from Hatfield Broad Oak, was living alone, still on the Stortford Road.

James Waterman died, aged 84, in 1905, in Great Dunmow.

Monday 15 August 2022

Beatrice Margaret Hockley

Former police station, Great Dunmow
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Robin Webster - geograph.org.uk/p/4309467
The police station was erected in 1842 and was claimed to be the oldest police station in Essex.

The following report appeared in the Essex Newsman, of 31 Oct 1903:

A Policeman Summoned At Dunmow

Case Dismissed Through Lack of Corroboration

At Dunmow Petty Session on Monday, Sydney Robert Page, a police constable, stationed at Great Stambridge, and formerly at Dunmow, was summoned by Beatrice Margaret Hockley, a domestic servant of High Roding, to show cause, etc. Mr J. W. Nutt appeared for the complainant and Mr B L Ackland for the defendant.

Mr Nutt said that before this fall the applicant had an unblemished character. The child, which was born on Sept 28, 1902, was now out to nurse at 5s a week.

The applicant, who had a baby in her arms, said she had known defendant since the summer of 1901. During the time she was in Mrs Byatt's service, the defendant used to come round after her. On one occasion when she was standing at the shop door Page came across the road, in the evening time, and said, "I am going to kiss my girl," and did so in the presence of Mrs Byatt. He was often round there. In November, 1901, she left Mrs Byatt's and went into the service of Miss Gibbons, at Down House, Dunmow. The defendant also followed her there. On January 3, 1902, Miss May Gibbons told her not to talk so much to the policeman. On December 23, 1901, Page came between ten and eleven o'clock at night and took advantage of her. On January 3, 1902, he repeated his conduct. In April, the night before she left Dunmow, she told Page of her condition. He replied that he had a little money, but not much, and that he was going up to London to join the Metropolitan Police. She went to live with her aunt at Bromley, and from there, on August 7, 1903, she wrote:

Dear Mr Page, I now write these few lines to you to ask if you intend to pay for your child without being made to do so? I think it cruel and shameful, the way you have treated me. I am shortly coming down to Dunmow to take out a summons against you for the maintenance of your child. Why I have not done so before is, as I have told you, because I do not wish to expose you, but why should I shield you while you treat me as you do? It is now time for me to begin to think what is to become of my poor child and of her future prospects. If you had been an ordinary man, instead of a policeman, I should have taken proceedings against you long ago, but you being a policeman I was afraid it might go against you, but I wish you no ill. You have never helped me and I think it time to help myself. I am very sorry that such a thing should ever have occurred, but everyone is apt to do wrong at times, but the least you could do now is to help keep your child, without it having to be made public. I remain, yours etc. B Hockley

A large number of other letters from the girl to the defendant were read. In one she said, "I have begun to like you rather". Again, so as to stop "the talk" she told someone in Dunmow "the talk about you and me is not true". On the day before she went into Bromley Infirmary she wrote, "I know I am not perfect, but you might have done worse than marry me." After the child was born, she wrote, "She is a sweet, pretty baby", and later, "It is no use for you to say the child does not belong to you, because it is exactly like you, and that is the proof." Letters from Page in reply were read, in one of which he wrote: "I am not in the habit of writing to anyone except my friends, and if I receive any more letters from you I shall return them unopened." Page afterwards wrote that he was surprised at the charge, which he described as unfounded.

The defendant, who had been subpoenaed by the complainant, totally denied the charge, or that he had been intimate with her.

Mr Nutt stated that Miss Gibbons, whom he intended to call to give evidence, was unwell, and he could not call her.

Mr Acland said that never in his life had he been called upon to take part in a case where the evidence was so absolutely uncorroborated as in this. If an order were made against Page no single man in the country would be safe.

After the Bench had retired, the Chairman (the Rev. G M Wilson) said The Justices fail to find any corroborative evidence in the case, and the charge against Page is dismissed.
We'll never know for sure, but while I agree there isn't the level of evidence required by the court, Beatrice's tone is mature and reasonable and I cannot see any reason to disbelieve her story, while Page will inevitably have known or been advised to just deny everything, because it was up to her to provide proof. 
  1. Beatrice Margaret Hockley, daughter of Daniel Hockley and Sarah Skinner.
  2. Sydney Robert Page, b. 1875 in Hoxne, Suffolk, was the son of Arthur Page and Mary Ann Flaxman. His father, Arthur Page, in 1881, was an Inspector of Police, living at Pighete, Haverhill, Risbridge, Suffolk.
  3. In 1901, Sydney Robert Page (25) Police Constable, was a boarder in the household of Hannah Doe (62) Laundress in Church End, Great Dunmow.
  4. The lowest level of criminal courts were the Petty Sessions also known as County Magistrates Courts. In Great Dunmow, these were held in a small inconvenient room at the police station, by leave of the chief constable. 
  5. Mrs Byatt was Annie Byatt. In 1901, Beatrice Margaret, listed as Margaret, had been a Domestic servant in the household of Joseph Byatt (32) Baker and Annie Byatt (39) Bookkeeper, in the High Street, Great Dunmow.
  6. Miss Gibbons was Alice May Gibbons, who at 26 in 1901, was living on her own means, the eldest of three sisters and a brother, living in North Street, Great Dunmow. (Down House, 43, North Street, Dunmow.)
Sydney Robert Page, by the way, had married Ethel Annie Purser, on 7 Oct 1903, in Stifford and in 1911, they were living at 1 The Limes, Great Stambridge, with two sons: Arthur Sydney (6) and Edward (4), as well as Sydney's sister, Millicent E Page (33) Certificated teacher.

Sadly, I can find no further records anywhere for Beatrice Margaret Hockley.

The child she named Millicent Beatrice Hockley, b. 28 Sep 1902, reg. D Quarter in BROMLEY Volume 02A Page 495. In 1911, there was a Millicent Hockley (8) listed as an Orphan at a school in Stone Road, Broadstairs, Kent. 

Interestingly, both Millicent Beatrice Hockley, born 1902 in Dunmow, Essex and Sydney Robert Page, born 1875 in Suffolk, England, were living in the Braintree area in 1921, where Page was still living in 1939. Sydney Robert Page died, at 67, on 20 Jun 1942 and was buried at Braintree Cemetery.

Millicent Beatrice Hockley married Frederick Thomas Mace (b. 10 Jul 1907) in Hendon, Middlesex in 1937.

In 1939, Frederick T Mace, Baker, and Millicent B Mace (Sewing machinist) were living at 10 Algernon Road, Hendon. Millicent's year of birth is listed as 1907, presumably to match her husband's, but her day and month were still given as 28 Sep. At 32 in 1939, Frederick will have been within the age group to be conscripted during the war, but as someone in a job such as baking, may have been exempted. The couple don't appear to have had any children.

Frederick Thomas Mace died, in Hendon, in 1975.

Millicent Beatrice Mace died, in Hendon, in 1987. Her supposed birth year had slipped forward a further five years to 1912. She will actually have been 85.

Wednesday 3 August 2022

John Easter and Edith Hockley

All Saints, High Roding
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/5059356

John Easter (b. 1859), son of Charles Easter and Jemima Thurley, married Edith Hockley, daughter of William Hockley and Charlotte Cock, on 5 Nov 1887 in Great Dunmow. The bans were read at the church of St Mary the Virgin and, as the bride's parish, the wedding may have taken place there.

John and Edith had eight children:
  1. Edith Jane Easter b. 21 Nov 1888 in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 600
  2. Alfred John Easter b. 9 Jul 1890 in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 626
  3. Annie Adelaide Easter b. 6 Dec 1893 in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 649
  4. William Charles Easter b. 14 Feb 1896 Volume 04A Page 709
  5. Elizabeth Ada Easter b. 22 Mar 1897 in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 715
  6. Mabel Mafeking Easter b. 23 Apr 1900 in DUNMOW Volume 04A Page 802. Named after the events of the Siege of Mafeking, although The Relief of Mafeking, for the troops, didn't come until the following month.
  7. Stanley James Easter b. 6 May 1903 in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 905
  8. Leonard Frank Easter b. 20 Nov 1904 in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 870
In 1891, with their address listed just as Cottage, Street, High Roothing (High Roding), were John Easter (31) Agricultural Labourer, Edith Easter (29), Edith Jane Easter (2) and Alfred John Easter (0).

In 1901, living at The Wantz, High Roding, Dunmow, Essex (Wantz Cottage is a Grade II Listed Building today), were John Easter (41) Agricultural Labourer, Edith Easter (39), Edith J Easter (12), Alfred J Easter (10), Annie A Easter (7), William C Easter (5), Elizabeth A Easter (4) and Mabel M Easter (0).

In 1911, still in The Street, High Roding, we find John Easter (51) Horseman on farm, Edith Easter (49) Domestic; Alfred J Easter (20) Blacksmith journeyman; William C Easter (15) Farm boy; Elizabeth A Easter (14) General domestic servant; Mabel M Easter (10), Stanley J Easter (7) and Leonard F Easter (6), the last three still at school. That year, Edith Jane Easter (22) was a General domestic servant in the household of Arthur William Catling at 'Gwendon' Torrington Park, N Finchley, Friern Barnet, Middlesex, while Annie Adelaide Easter (17) was employed as a General domestic servant by Arthur Carwithen at 29 Macdonald Road, Friern Barnet N, Friern Barnet, Middlesex.

John and Edith Easter are still listed in High Roding in 1921.

John Easter of The Street, High Roding, died on 13 Nov 1930, aged 69, and was buried on 18 Nov 1930 at All Saints Church, High Roding.

In 1939, the widowed Edith Easter was living with her son-in-law Allan G Bacon, married to daughter Annie Adelaide, at 13 School Villas, Dunmow.

Edith Easter died on 15 Apr 1947, aged 86, and was buried, on 19 Apr 1947, at All Saints with her husband where Essex Monumental Inscriptions say they have "a pointed top headstone with flat mantle top shoulders forming side panels with roses in relief, kerb with two corner posts."

Tuesday 12 July 2022

Charles Young and Sarah Charlotte Hockley

High Roding
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Trevor Harris - geograph.org.uk/p/7184810
High Roding is very much a linear settlement with very little development
back from The Street - which follows the line of a Roman Road.

Charles Young, son of Isaac Young and Emma Holgate, married Sarah Charlotte Hockley, daughter of William Hockley and Charlotte Cock, at St Mary the Virgin, Great Dunmow, in 1890. Banns of Marriage between Charles Young of the Parish of High Roding, Bachelor and Sarah Charlotte Hockley of this Parish, Spinster, were read in the Oct / Nov of that year.

Sarah Charlotte Hockley had an illegitimate child, Alice Jane Hockley b. 1879 M Qtr in DUNMOW Vol 04A 472, bap. 14 Sep 1879 at St Mary the Virgin - the baptism confirms Sarah was her mother. In 1881, Alice was staying with her grandparents, while Sarah C Hockley (20) was working as a Domestic Servant in the household of Amelia Hockley (32) widow, Lodging house keeper at Hockerill, Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire. Alice Jane died, aged 8, in 1887 J Qtr in DUNMOW Vol 04A 314 and was buried on 7 May 1887.

Charles and Sarah Charlotte Young added three children:

  1. Alice Annie Young b. 1891 S Qtr in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 649
  2. Arthur William Young b. 1894 M Qtr in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 703
  3. Charles Montague Young b. 6 Jun 1897, reg. 1897 S Quarter in DUNMOW Volume 04A Page 741

In 1891, Charles Young (33) Agricultural Labourer and Sarah Charlotte Young (31), were living with Charles' widowed father, Isaac Young (68) and sister Lois Annie Young (26) in High Roding, Essex.

In 1901, Charles Young (42) Horse Keeper on Farm, Sarah Young (40), Alice (9), Arthur (7) and Charles (3) were living at Brands Farm, Great Dunmow.

In 1911, Charles Young (51) Horseman on Farm, Sarah Young (50), Arthur Young (17) also Horseman on Farm and Charles Young (13) General Labourer on Farm, were living at Brands Farm, Great Dunmow. Brands Farm, Ongar Road, DunmowBrands Farm House dates from the early 16th century and is Grade II* Listed. Alice Annie Young (19), meanwhile, was a Domestic Servant in the household of Harry Gowlett (53) Farmer at The HallGreat Canfield. (The History of Great Canfield mentions The Hall.)

Charles and Sarah Charlotte Young were still in Great Dunmow in 1921.

Charles Young died, aged 69, in 1926 D Quarter in DUNMOW.

Sarah C Young was living at No 3 Sandpit Cottage, Bacon EndGreat CanfieldHope End Green in 1939. She died, aged 80, in 1941.

  • Alice Annie Young married Harry Crow in Dunmow, in 1915.
  • Charles M Young married Ethel L Owers in Dunmow, in 1918.