…and travel they did, sometimes not far from their birthplace,
but more often than not further afield. Not necessarily to other countries,
though for them it may have felt just like that. Imagine moving from a small
country village to the East End of London. From clean air and open fields to
the stink of the Thames and terraced houses piled in upon each other.
Joshua Harvey, one of my
paternal great great grandfathers, was born about 1830 in the small Suffolk
village of Wilby to James Harvey and Susan Lucas. 
Today Wilby,below, is still a small country village, compared with the historic map, above. It doesn’t look as though the
picturesque village has changed much in the last 100 years. With no direct route
to London Joshua may well have gone there via Ipswich or an adjoining town.
In the 1844 History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk Wilby is described as ‘A neat village…in its parish has 623 souls and 1846 acres. The church (St Mary) is a handsome Norman structure with a lofty square tower and six bells.
The commonest occurring occupation on the 1841 census is ‘Ag
Lab’ hardly surprising considering that at one time Suffolk was one of the
principal agricultural divisions of the country. The occupations listed in the 1844 Gazetteer
reflect this too, three blacksmiths and two wheelwrights, a gig maker and a
farrier.
Though the names Harvey and Fevearyear are ones that
appear in my family tree, as well as Aldous, I am still unsure how those are connected
with my family, if at all.
According to the 1841 census Mathew Harvey, the Baptist
Minister lived just nine houses away from Joshua Harvey’s family. Also, on that census was the family of a
William Harvey that included a 15-year-old William ‘Fevyou’, 20-year-old Letice
and 2-year-old Margaret. Joshua’s father James had a sister called Letice who
married a William Feveryear and their first child was called Margaret.
My starting point in researching Joshua began back in pre
internet days. In 1999 I sent away to
England for his marriage certificate which arrived in the post a month or two later.
It confirmed that he had married Mary Anne Eldridge, 28 May 1860, and I was
surprised to see that he was described as a widow.
They married at the Hanover Chapel, High Street Peckham
in the district of Camberwell Surry. Joshua’s occupation was bricklayer and his
deceased father’s occupation was confectioner. At one time the only church in Pekham, was a
non-conformist meeting house on the High Street which was replaced in 1817 by
Hanover Chapel. Unfortunately, the Hanover Chapel no longer exists
I noticed that the marriage had taken place in an ‘Independent’
chapel and that the ceremony had been
performed by Robert Wye Betts before William Davis Registrar. That sent me off
in another direction to find out why the ceremony was performed before a
registrar. What I discovered was the 1836 Marriage Act which “… allowed
marriages to be legally registered in buildings belonging to other religious
groups. Religious groups could apply for registration for their buildings with
the Registrar General and subsequently could conduct weddings if a Registrar
and two witnesses were present.
Then next certificate I received, again by snail mail,
was his death certificate. He died on September 26th 1880 aged 50 at
19 Stebondale Street, Poplar, Middlesex. Occupation labourer. An occupation of
heavy and hard work that would have, I believe, contributed to his death form ‘Disease
of the hip 14 years’. The other cause of death on the certificate was ‘diarrhoea
and ‘debility 14 days. The informant was Amelia Shuttle, relationship
almost illegible.
What a lot of
information from just two certificates, but it raises lots of questions.
1 Who was Joshua’s first wife, when and where did they marry, and whern did
she die
When did he move to London and what might his life with Mary
Ann have been like
Who was Amelia Shuttle?
When did Joshua’s father James die?
Who were Sarah Upsgrove and Samuel Watts ( witnesses at the
wedding)?
Questions that are answered in the next blog post
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