People

Spending afternoons in the churchyard last Summer made all the difference for me. I was furloughed for many months and cycling there with a cup of tea and piece of cake was a saviour. Idyllic some days.

So on Monday afternoon (it’s mid-April 2021 now), the Sun was shining, it was just warm enough, so I found my bench again. Utter joy. Plus I chose some people to get to know a bit about and it turned out really interesting and quite touching, as you’ll see.

I chose an area of the churchyard I have neglected so far, the south side. There was a lovely big stone with such a clear inscription, it jumped out at me

The stone was in remarkably good condition for its 137 years and contained a good degree of detail, giving birth dates as well as dates of death.

Finding John and Eliza was quite easy really. Being born well before 1837 and civil registration, they do not appear in census’ until they are somewhat older and married.

But their birth and marriage entries are available.

John was born on August 24th, 1804 at Boughton Aluph. He was baptised on 3oth September, 1804 at All Saints, Boughton Aluph and his parents were John and Eliz [SIC].

Eliza was born on November 19th, 1806 in Lewisham and her parents were James Cutbush and Lucy Jeaker (or Jeater depending on the transcription source). There are some unusual surnames. James and Lucy were themselves married on 24th December 1805 at St Alfege, Greenwich.

1828
John and Eliza were married on 3rd April, 1828 here, at St Mary’s, Kennington.

1851
This is the first time I could pick them up as a couple, on the 1851 census. They are living at 27 Station Road. There is John aged 46 and shown as a Gardener, Eliza aged 44 and their daughter, Eliza, aged 21.

1861
The 1871 census shows just John and Eliza his wife as living at Boughton Corner. I was hoping here that their daughter had flown the nest as a reason for her absence. John is now shown as a Builder.

1871
We now see John 66) and Eliza (64) living at 47 Somerset Road. Now, their daughter Eliza (41), now Eliza Cummins, is living with them along with their son-in-law George W. Cummins (42). So at least we can see that indeed, their daughter had married. George is shown as a Mechanic and having been born at Eastwell.

1874
As we know from the stone itself, John died on June 11th, 1874…

1881
This census shows Eliza (74) now living with her Eliza (51) and George (52) at 51 Willesboro Lees. George is shown as being a ‘Sheetmaker in factory’.

1884
The stone shows us that Eliza died on November 16th, 1884…

That was about as far as I could go. I had sat and watched a huge, loud swarm of bees about twenty feet away from me work their way into the large Ewe tree to my left, so it was time to go anyway.

I decided to leave via the south side and pay my respects to John and Eliza and this is where several pennies dropped…

As I stood there looking at their stone, I glanced at the one in front and the one to the side. The one on the right of this image is for George W Cummins and Eliza Cummins – John and Eliza’s daughter. How lovely that they were together.

Then I realised the one to the left in the image was James and Lucy Cutbush, Eliza’s parents! Doubly lovely, the whole family group together. So by researching one stone, I had revealed the other two in the process.

An interesting aside – can you help?

You can see, to the right, between John and Eliza’s stone and Eliza and George’s stone, a smaller stone. At first I thought this may be for a child.

But if you look at the image, you will see it has the two sets of initials “C W C” and “E L C”. These are George and Eliza’s initials.

I am not sure of the purpose of this stone. Was it a marker put in place before their own deaths, as a reserved plot marker? One would think this would have been removed once the two of them were finally laid to rest and the main stone erected.

If you have some knowledge of this practice, please do leave a comment, I would be most grateful.

Newest entry

Wilks was a name that was familar to me, could Eliza be related to a famous Ashfordian? Eliza had quite a life, as you will see…

Eliza’s name stood out when I saw it. I have noticed there are quite a few Eliza’s in St Mary’s, it was a popular name. But her surname, Wilks, was what caught my eye. Could she be a relative of the ‘Doctor Wilks’ whose name adorns the Ashford Museum building?

Eliza was born on 8th August, 1815 to Thomas Prescot Wilks, an Apothecary and his wife Mary. She was baptised at St Peter and St Paul church in Charing on 22nd September 1815 and was younger sister to George Frederick, Jane and Henry and older sister to Edward and Francis. It is worth noting at this stage that George Frederick followed in his Father’s shoes and is later shown as a GP living in North Street, Ashford.

Eliza was different to many of the searches I have carried out on people in St Mary’s graveyard. My experience has been that you can search within five miles of where most people were born for all of their records. Eliza proved to have moved around somewhat, for example…

1841 Census
This shows Eliza, now 30, as a Schoolmistress at a school in White Hart Lane, Edmonton, Tottenham, London. It doesn’t show ‘schoolmistress’ explictly but she is working in a school and later census’ show her as a schoolmistress, so I am making a reasonable assumption here I hope! Her age is shown as 30, which is interesting. For the 1841 census, enumerators were told to round down the age of those over 15 to the nearest 5. Here, Eliza would actually have been 25/26 years old and so should have been shown as 25. I believe the enumerator made an error here and rounded her age up. I feel confident this was the Eliza Wilks we are speaking of…

1851 Census
Eliza, now 35, has moved again and took some finding. She is shown as at a school at 3 and 4 Addison Road, Kensington, London and is named as a Schoolmistress and the ‘Head’ for purposes of the ‘Relation to head of family’ column. I assume this probably means she is the Head Mistress of the school.

Interestingly two of her nieces, Lucy P Wilks (10) and Anna Wilks (7) are students at the school. Both were shown as being born in Charing too.

1861 Census
Eliza has moved yet again! She is now at a school at 3 and 4 Oaten Hill, Canterbury and her niece, Lucy P Wilks, previously a student at her school in Tottenham, is now a teacher working with her.

1871 Census
Things take a bit of a turn here… Eliza is shown as Housekeeper to a Robert W Coleman and family living at Oxford Lodge, West Hill Road, Wandsworth, London.

1881 Census
I have not been able to locate Eliza in this census. Worth noting is that I did coincidentally find ‘Elizabeth’ Wilks, who is actually Eliza’s sister-in-law, being married to her brother George Frederick, the GP. It is worth mentioning and noting that one of their children is called George. Here, Elizabeth happens to be staying with her daughter Susannah, who is married to the Rector of St Andrews, Canterbury, Samuel E Lepard, so her daughter is Susannah Lepard. Keep all of this in mind for later!

1891 Census
Eliza, now 75, is easily found living in The Street, Kennington, Ashford with her cousin Anna M Wilks who is 47. Eliza is shown as Aunt and of ‘Independent means’. They have a cook and a housemaid, so seem reasonably well off.

1901 Census
Here we find Eliza aged 85 and living at Temple House, Kennington with her niece Mary J Wilks who is 68. Mary’s place of birth is shown as NSW Sydney! Very exotic for then I would have thought. I believe Mary is a daughter of her older brother, William. Both ladies are shown of ‘Independent means’.

This actually took some finding as I believe the transcriber has made an error here and shows her as Eliza Wicks. I submitted the error to Findmypast for checking… I am confident this is Eliza as she is shown as born in Charing and has Mary Jane with her.

1904…
Eliza died on 17th July, 1904. Her probate shows her leaving her estate of £2293 7s and 6d to the Rev Samuel Campbell Lepard and Mary Jane Wilks. Note that the 1881 census I mentioned earlier showed the Rev Lepard as being her niece Susannah’s husband.

Tying things up…
So, Eliza had quite a life as a Schoolmistress and working in London and Canterbury. I wondered at the beginning if Eliza could be related to a famous Ashfordian, Dr. George Wilks…

The Ashford Museum is housed in a building that was the first Grammar School in Ashford. It is now known as the Doctor Wilks Memorial Hall after Doctor George Wilks who was a local GP and son of George Frederick Wilks, Eliza’s brother. So George is Eliza’s Nephew and Susannah Lepard’s brother. George was also a ‘Doctor of Music’ according to various articles and started a choir in the parish church, opposite the hall. I would heartily recommend this article on the Ashford Choral Society’s website, it tells much about George.

It was so nice to learn about Eliza’s life and interesting to find she was related to Doctor Wilks too.

A small green leather diary with just two entries, but it left so many questions…

The owner had written their name and address in the front –

The inscriptions were so lovely that I just wanted to know that things worked out. The date of the wedding, Saturday 8th April 1944 and the comment about returning to camp worried me. In two months it would be D-Day, did Minnie’s new husband go off and not return, as happened to so many?

I’m not putting stacks of detail into this one because it is relatively recent compared to other stories I have shown here. There will be relatives alive who knew these two people…

Yes, all was well, her husband was Leslie Knell and they had a son and two daughters from what I can see.

If you’ve read through the other stories here, you will know I love a twist in the story…
Being more recent, it is difficult to find out much, quite rightly so. The most recent census data we have available is 1911, well before this story began. But the timing of this story made it the perfect to refer to the 1939 Register. This register was a pseudo census performed in 1939 to ascertain who was available in the country and what they could do, ready for the looming war. Being only five years before their wedding, it was perfectly placed to find out where Minnie and Leslie were.

Well… I looked at Minnie’s details first and there she was at the address inscribed in the front of the diary, with her parents, Sydney and Edith Walsh and her brother Eric. I always have a look around on the census forms, there are often interesting things, and here was this one. Leslie lived with his parents… at number 47. Minnie married the boy next door! That was the icing on the cake for this story!

If you are related to Minnie, I hope this story is ok to relate here, I hope it is accurate. And if you would like Minnie’s diary back, it is yours with my compliments. Drop me a line. I don’t know how it came to be on the open market, I’m assuming a house clearance, but maybe it will find it’s way back, it’s what I hope of all the stories I put here based on ephemera I have obtained.

Sarah lived close to St Mary’s church, Kennington, Ashford and was implicated in events surrounding The Battle of Bossenden Woods in 1838 and her association with a self-styled Messiah, Sir William Courtenay.

This is a name I knew previously. Geoff, a former friend and coleague, lived at a house called ‘Culvers’ in Ball Lane, beside the church. I remember visiting back in the 90s and he mentioned at the time something about Sarah Culver and prisoner in relation to the house in which he lived. It didn’t quite sink in at the time.

1793…

Sarah Culver is born in Molash. Her Father was William, a Farmer, and her Mother was Mary Elizabeth. She was baptised on 20th May, 1793 in Molash.

Somewhere in here…

Around 1838, before her first appearance on the first ever census in 1841, Sarah had become involved with a movement led by a self-styled ‘Knight of Malta’ who called himself Sir William Courtenay. His real name was John Nichols Tom, a spirit merchant from Cornwall. He was it seems often thought to be a Messiah by some and a madman by others. He seemed to be causing trouble in the name of the impoverished agricultural labourers and the poor in general in and around Boughton, Hernhill and Dunkirk in north Kent. At some point it seems he was staying with the Culvers in Dunkirk and I imagine this is where he crossed paths with Sarah.

After the death of ‘Sir William Courtenay’ in the ‘Battle of Bossenden Wood’ (1838), a place close to the Red Lion Public House in Dunkirk, a number of people were rounded up and later convicted for their association with Courtenay. Sarah was one of those. What her penalty was I am unsure, but she appears in the 1840 census at Dunkirk, with her parents, so was certainly free by then and then for the first time in Ashford in the 1851 census.

Interestingly there is a lane named Courtenay Road in Dunkirk now, so this is clearly very much part of the folklore of the area.

I acknowledge the site linked to above for this outline, namely https://favershamlife.org/the-battle-of-bossenden-wood-1838/

1841 Census

Sarah is shown living in Dunkirk with her Father William (70) and Mother Mary (65). Also listed is a John Culver (70) who may have been her Father’s twin brother? Also another John Culver with Mary Culver, both 40, so her brother perhaps and William Culver (15), a Farmer, another brother? These are relationships that could be investigated but I am focused on Sarah here.

1851 Census

Sarah (57), unmarried, is shown living in Ball Lane, Kennington as a ‘Landed Proprietes’ and was born in Molash.

1871 Census

Sarah (77), unmarried, is shown as still in Ball Lane, Kennington and her means are “House and Land and interest of money”.

11th April 1875…

Sarah died and was buried on 15th April, 1875 in St Mary’s churchyard, Kennington, Ashford.

Sarah’s name lives on, as the house, Culvers, still bears her name as do, I believe, one or two nearby dwellings now.

Both locals, married in an important church and Publicans at a local Public House.

1835…

This story begins with Jane Goldup being baptised on 3rd January 1835 at Godmersham. Her Father was Daniel, a labourer from Wye, her Mother Anne was from Elmstead.

Edward was baptised on 29th March 1835 in Mersham. His Father was Thomas, a Bricklayer from Margate and his Mother Harriet (1794 – 1867) from Ruckinge.

1841 Census

The census shows Jane (5) living with her Mother and Father in Godmersham with older sister Mary Ann (9). Curiously the names of two lads appear between the Goldup sisters and their parents, George Kennett (15) and Henry Kennett (12). This census did not ask for relationship information and so it is difficult to know what this means. The position of the names suggests they were living with the Goldups.

Edward’s entry has an interesting twist. He is shown living at Kingsford Street, Mersham with his parents and five brothers and four sisters! They are: Mary (20), Thomas (20), John (20), William (15), Elizabeth (15), Harriet (12), Robert (10) and Selina (1). So, it appears that there is one set of twins in the family AND one set of triplets!

1851 Census

Jane (15) is at home with her parents. Mary Ann is no longer listed there and I could not see her elsewhere locally. However, there are both a marriage and a death entry in that name before 1851. They are not both her as the death certificate precedes the marriage entry. Perhaps sometime I will follow this up to clarify.

Edward is living with his parents at Mersham Street, Mersham and is shown as working for his Father now. His sisters Mary Ann (34), an Infants School Mistress and Selina (11), a scholar are also listed.

1861 Census

Jane (25), now shown as a Dressmaker, is living with her parents in Godmersham Village.

Edward (26) is living with his brother John (39) and his wife Eliza (39) and their three daughters at School House, Mersham.

His Mother and Father are living at Mersham Street, one door away from his sisters Mary (44) a School Mistress and Selina (21) a Teacher.

1862…

John and Jane marry! This is one of two interesting twists for me in their story. They were married on 20th April 1862, at St. Martins in the Fields. Their witnesses were Charles Bullock and Mary Goldup, Jane’s sister. This is very unexpected as this is a very famous church now. I am not sure of its status in 1862, but I would imagine due to its location, it was important then too. Why on earth did they marry there? Their marriage entry shows they were both resident at Dartmouth Street, London, which is not too far from the church. What were they doing there? They married by Banns so it was not a hurried wedding. Did they meet in London or did they know each other from the proximity of their family homes in Kent?

1871

This has the second interesting twist for me. Jane and Edward are publicans and living at The Rose Inn, in Kennington, Ashford. He is shown as a Bricklayer and a Licenced Victualer. They also have three children: Herbert (8), Harry (4) and Julia J (6). Herbert’s age does not give a reason for their marrying some distance away!

This is interesting to me as, being a collector of old cards of Kennington, I have a few of The Rose Inn and I also walked past it every day while at secondary school.

1881 Census

Jane (45) and Edward (44) are now at ‘The Limes’ on Faversham Road. He is shown now as ‘A builder employing 8 men’ and so seems succesful. Herbert (18) is a Carpenter, Julia (16) a Dressmaker (after her Mother), Harry (14) a scholar and Thomas (63) now a builder. There is also a niece called Ellen E Hill (?) (20) living with them, a Dressmaker, born in Canterbury.

1891…

Jane died on 9th February 1891, before the 1891 census.

1891 Census

Edward (54) is still living at ‘The Limes’ on Faversham Road with son Harry (24), an ‘Enginer in a factory’ and with another niece, Alice M Hill (?)(19), born in Canterbury.

1899

Edward died on 18th December 1899…

This one was different. In fact it was the first I ever did, but strictly speaking, this wasn’t ‘graveyard’ inspired.

I collect old postcards of Ashford, where I live. These usually end up on my sister website – history-of-ashford.org.uk.

On the card, she seems to be writing to her cousin, Dora. Dora is a little difficult to trace as she will very likely have a different surname. But the person writing signs the card Em Foote. Quite a distinctive name.

There is an Emma Jane Gill Foote, born in Ashford. I am assuming this is the writer because the card is addressed from 5 New Rents, Ashford. This suggests the writer lives in Ashford and is quite likely from Ashford? And Foote is a fairly distinctive name in that spelling. There is only one in the birth records so I feel confident of this.

I am also going to assume that the lady on the front of the card is Emma herself. If you send someone a note on a card, especially a family member, surely it would be a picture of yourself? So I believe we are looking at Emma Jane Gill Foote here. Hello Emma.

So, to her life…

1885
Emma was born on 1st September 1885 in Ashford. Her Father was Alfred Gill Jarvis Foote, a Painter from Dorchester. He was living with the family, before Emma’s birth, at 12 Hardinge Road (as seen in the 1881 census), but sadly he died in 1890. Her Mother was Mary Ann Brooker from East Grinstead and they were married in East Grinstead on 26th April, 1871.

1891
The census shows Emma living at 31 Somerset Road, which still exists as a property. She resides with her Mother, Mary Ann, as the head (aged 37, a wash laundress) and her sister Ellen R (19) and two brothers John (10) and Frederick J G (7). It seems Frederick may share that unusual name, Gill, with her.

1901
This is interesting. The head at 31 Somerset Road is now John Tanner and his wife is Mary A Tanner. It seems Emma’s mother has re-married. Emma still lives there, she’s 15 now. Interestingly there is also a Jarvis Foote living there, aged 17. Looking back at the last census, I strongly suspect this is her brother Frederick J G, now being known by his second name which I assume is Jarvis, as it was his father’s third name. Another interesting point, which I think is an error on the part of the census enumerator, is that Emma and Jarvis are shown as ‘Daughter in Law’ and ‘Brother in Law’ respectively. This is clearly not right and I suspect they meant step-daughter and step-son respectively. A curious error.

1911
This is where it gets interesting, for me particularly as a local historian. Emma is shown at the premises of Lewis and Hyland, 11 – 19 New Rents, Ashford, a very early and very large example of a department store. In the image linked above, it is the large building on the right. She is shown as a ‘Drapers Shop Assistant’. I thought this odd at first as it looked as though she lived there. But on inspection I noticed wording that said either this is where you were on the night of Sunday April 2nd 1911, or the morning of Monday April 3rd 1911, having not been enumerated elsewhere. So she must have arrived at work on Monday and been recorded there. It’s a really interesting document showing many workers in the store on that Monday. I wish I could reproduce it here!

Note that the card is addressed as from 5 New Rents, which is just a few ‘doors’ down from the shop. I’m not sure what was there, but it suggests she was living there when the card was written. Sadly there is no indication on the card of when she was writing it.

Things get difficult here as the 1911 census was the last released. We can look forward to the 1921 census in January 2022 and I will update this when that is released… I could not trace anyone else from the family in the 1911 census, not in Ashford at least.

EDIT: The 1921 census shows Emma, now 35 years and 9 months, working for a Miss M E Hughes as an ‘Art needlework and shop assistant’ at 98 Station Road, Redhill. Her address is shown as the same, so she must be living in the shop with Miss Hughes. This name explains how Emma met Elizabeth Hughes, which you can see by the next paragraph I did not originally know until this census was published.

1939
But we have the 1939 register and this shows 54 year old Emma living with a lady called Mary Elizabeth Hughes at a house called ‘Harmony’, Lynmouth Drive, Sheppey. They are both shown as ‘Confectioners’, so what could be the story there?

1945
Emma died on 14th June, 1945 at the County Hospital, Sheppey. She had still been living at the above address with Mary and indeed she left her estate, £238 6s and 10d to Mary according to the probate record.

This one was different. Having what I believe is a photograph of the person I am learning about is a very different experience. If you happen to be reading this because you are related, please do get in contact, Emma set me off on this path!

My first churchyard inspired search was for Samuel and Harriet, two locals who met where they were employed and worked their way through long lives.

My first churchyard inspired search was for Samuel and Harriet Watson. Their gravestone is the one which appears in the header for this site and is closest to stones belonging to members of my own family. In the hour or so I searched whilst in Kennington’s St. Mary’s graveyard, I became rather attached to them both. Perhaps that is a strange thing to say, but you see their lives pass in front of you, where they lived, how they met, their marriage, children then old age together. Finally their death, and there they are, in front of you…

So, Samuel Watson. He was born in 1823 in Hothfield. His Father was William, a labourer and his mother was Hannah. He was baptised in St Margaret’s Church, Hothfield on 13th June 1823.

Harriet Eleanor Missing was born in Egerton (sometimes shown as Pluckley) in 1822. She was baptised at St. James’ Church, Egerton on 2nd June, 1922. She is actually shown in the register as ‘Harriot Eleanora’, but these spellings are not seen anywhere else in the records, always Harriet Eleanor. Her Father was James, a labourer and her Mother was Ann.

1841

I can find a Samuel Watson living in Hothfield with William as his Father in the 1941 census, but William’s wife is shown as Emma. Samuel’s Mother was listed as Hannah in his baptism entry. But so much is right about this that I wonder if his Mother died and his Father remarried. I will look further when time allows.

There is no sign in the area of Harriet and her family.

1851

This is where it gets interesting. Samuel and Harriet are both listed at Sandhurst Farm, Sandhurst Lane, he as a Farm Labourer, her as a House Servant. They are 27 and 29 respectively. So, it seems likely this is where they met. We have a Sandyhurst Lane now so this was either an error on the part of the census enumerator or the name has changed since 1851. I would suspect the latter personally.

1857

They marry. Yay! They married on 23rd May 1857 in Ashford Parish Church with the Rev John Price Alcock presiding. Samuel signed, Harriet placed her mark and their witnesses were Thomas Missing and Mary Ann ??? I could not read the surname.

1861

I could not find them in the area on the 1961 census. Something for another day…

1871

And there they are, shown living at “Sandhurst”, so I’m assuming the same place, but now with their four children!

Joseph baptised at Hothfield St Margaret’s, 18th October 1858. Interestingly their ‘Abode’ is shown as Westwell.
Walter baptised at Hothfield St Margaret’s, 10th June 1860.
Ernest born 1862.
James born 1863.

Samuel is shown as a ‘Domestic farm servant’. Other families are also shown living at Sandhurst, as before.

1881

Samuel and Harriet are now seen to be living at ‘The Forstal’ which I believe is/was on Bockhanger Lane and he is shown as being a ‘Farmer of 8.5 acres”! I’m hoping this means he has worked his way up and now owns and works his own land. The two youngest sons still live there, Ernest is shown as being a Carpenter and James a Cabinetmaker. I can not see Joseph or Walter in the area.

1891

The four of them are now listed as living at “Mount Pleasant”. Again, by the other entries around them, this appears to be in Bockhanger Lane. In fact I would go as far as to say they are in the same place but it is named differently here. Look to the next census for more evidence. Both younger sons are now listed as “Carpenter and Farmer”.

1901

So now only Samual and Harriet are shown together and they are at ‘The Forstal’. I don’t believe they were in a different place in the last census and this helps bear this out I think. Samuel is shown as a Farmer.

I thought I would try and see what became of the sons, all of whom have moved away now.

I can see an Ernest, a Farmer, with his wife Emma and their three children living at Castle Farm, Westwell. This is in keeping with the family having lived there when younger ( see Joseph’s baptism date above). Lack of other records and corroboration of age here suggest this is him.

There is a James Watson, a Joiner, shown as living with his wife Lucy A and five children at 55 Kent Avenue, Ashford. I believe this is probably him due to lack of other records with this name and his profession and age.

So, to 1905…

Sameul died on 18th March, 1905, as his stone tells us, aged 82 years.

And then 1908…

Harriet died on 23rd September, 1908 aged 86 years.

They both lived long lives and look to have brought up a succesful family. I do want to know what happened to Joseph and Walter as they seem to just disappear between the 1871 and 1881 census’. I am hoping this is not a bad sign and that they just moved form the area. Both were still pretty young when they left.

It was strange by the end, to find that I had some insight into where these two people met each other, fell in love and then their marriage, their children. I knew it would come to finding when they died, because that was literally right there in front of me, but it was quite difficult to read…

So much for my first foray into Random Genealogy. This was pretty much all done on my phone while sitting on a bench in Kennington churchyard on a very pleasant summers day. It is a beautiful place and I have four family there myself, so spend some time there. I had hoped to be able to show snippets of the records I used, but this is not possible it seems due to copyright. If any family happen to come across this and would be willing to let me know more detail or story, I would love to add it.

I have other stories ready to show you… Please comment if you want to.