We all think that sex before marriage is a modern phenomenon but they were all doing it hundreds of years ago. Take my 3x great grandfather William Bird of Newnham (Week 43) as an example. In 1798 he was a very successful house builder and certainly quite wealthy. He was 41 years old and single when he had a child in 1798 with a young girl, Sarah Elizabeth Elliott, who would have been 19 when she became pregnant. It is this child who I want to blog about this week.
William Henry Elliott was born on 26th June 1798 at 8.20 in the evening and was baptized at St George the Martyr, Queens Square, Bloomsbury on 21st July the same year.
His father eventually did the honorable thing and married Sarah the following year on 2nd March 1799. On 3rd May 1799 the Church's baptism records show that their son was "received" which presumably means he was accepted as being their son.
William Henry Elliott was born on 26th June 1798 at 8.20 in the evening and was baptized at St George the Martyr, Queens Square, Bloomsbury on 21st July the same year.
His father eventually did the honorable thing and married Sarah the following year on 2nd March 1799. On 3rd May 1799 the Church's baptism records show that their son was "received" which presumably means he was accepted as being their son.
Nothing is known about William's childhood but on 1st November 1821 he married Jane Crawley. They had 6 children together over the next 12 years. Most of them were living at 8 Elizabeth Place on the 1841 census, which was a house his father had built. William was described as a "builder" so may well be carrying on the business his father started although I have found nothing specific as evidence to this.
Jane died in February 1851 after a long and probably painful illness described on her death certificate as "pericarditis hydrothorax - 6 months" which seems to be related to tuberculosis.
On the census for that year, William is described as a "widow" and two of their children are still living at home.
Eighteen months after losing his first wife William married for the second time to Selina Curtis nee Collier, a widow herself, 20 years his junior. Like father like son, he must have got her pregnant before the wedding because less than nine months later she would give birth to his child.
Jane died in February 1851 after a long and probably painful illness described on her death certificate as "pericarditis hydrothorax - 6 months" which seems to be related to tuberculosis.
On the census for that year, William is described as a "widow" and two of their children are still living at home.
Eighteen months after losing his first wife William married for the second time to Selina Curtis nee Collier, a widow herself, 20 years his junior. Like father like son, he must have got her pregnant before the wedding because less than nine months later she would give birth to his child.
The 1861 census describes William as a "builder of houses" and when one of his sons gets married in 1867 he is even described as an "architect and surveyor". I guess he is doing pretty much what his father did ..... designing and building houses. William died of bronchitis at the age of 71 on 19th January 1870 at the house his father built and where he had lived for most of his life, 8 Elizabeth Place, Lambeth. His live in cook, Anne de Luce, was the informant on his death certificate. He was buried two weeks later at the same cemetery where his mother was buried - Norwood Cemetery, Norwood Road, Lambeth. |