Large: William HALL

It’s getting harder as the weeks go by, and my ancestors get further away, to write these stories. This week’s prompt is no exception. So, I went to my ‘large’ blue book, as mentioned in week 13, to check which of my ancestors was still waiting to be written about. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Elizabeth Hinson, this time it’s her husband William Hall, a great great grandfather.

I don’t have an exact birthdate for him, but he was baptised 28 March 1805, St Mary, St Bartholomew and St Guthlac, Anglican Church. 

I had always thought that a baptism and christening were the same thing. But they are not, though these days the two terms are interchangeable, and happen at the same time. In the past a baptism was to ‘wash away sins’ while the baptism was a naming ceremony and a welcoming into the church. In the Church of England these ceremonies were usually on a Sunday. Interestingly in an emergency almost anyone could perform the baptism in order to save the soul. https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/churchrecs#Baptisms

William and Elizabeth’s lives are documented in Elizabeth’s story, so I thought I’d write a bit about Peterborough and Crowland.

The first census William and his family appear on the 1841, which was ten years after the first infirmary had been built in the town. English census prior to 1841 only recorded the number of people in a dwelling but not the names. By 1851 the population was almost 9,000, going on to reach 17,000 in just twenty years.

Peterborough’s streets were lit with oil Lamps from 1795 which were replaced by gas lit ones in 1830.  A corn exchange, for the selling and buying of grain was built in 1846. The 19th century saw the establishment of an iron foundry and brick making works. A rapid increase in the population was driven by the arrival of the railway in 1845. Town improvements included piped water and sewage system were completed in 1880, and Peterborough’s first public library opened in 1892. 

William and Elizabeth’s lives are documented in Elizabeth’s story, so I thought I’d write a bit about Peterborough and Crowland.

The first census William and his family appear on the 1841, which was ten years after the first infirmary had been built in the town. English census prior to 1841 only recorded the number of people in a dwelling but not the names. By 1851 the population was almost 9,000, going on to reach 17,000 in just twenty years.

Peterborough’s streets were lit with oil Lamps from 1795 which were replaced by gas lit ones in 1830.  A corn exchange, for the selling and buying of grain was built in 1846. The 19th century saw the establishment of an iron foundry and brick making works. A rapid increase in the population was driven by the arrival of the railway in 1845. Town improvements included piped water and sewage system were completed in 1880, and Peterborough’s first public library opened in 1892.