Week 5 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

In the Census

Why was Ann Elizabeth Grant not with her husband and children in the 1871 Census? ¹ 

The headstone clearly shows that she did not die until 1896.

She is with her family in the 1861 census. ² 

By the time we get to the 1881 census, ³  she is listed as a widow and head of the household. 

Her husband Edward had died in 1879, 4 and her occupation was now listed as a nurse.

So where was she in 1871 if not at the family home.

A search of the census records revealed that there was an Ann Eliz. Grant born in Lyndhurst, Hants. whose occupation is listed as Carrier. She is enumerated at Hants County Prison in St Faith, Winchester, Hampshire and listed as an inmate. 5  

Why was she there what was her crime and sentence?

I found this before any criminal records had been made available online and I do not live near the Hampshire Archives. However, I managed to elicit some help from another descendant of Ann who has also been researching this family.

This is what has been posted on her tree at Ancestry.

I have subsequently been able to find digital images of criminal records and newspaper reports.

This is a transcript of a report from The Hampshire Advertiser, March 1, 1871, p. 3, col. 3, entitled "Larceny by a Bailee."

Ann Elizabeth Grant, carrier, aged53, was indicted for stealing a watch, at Lyndhurst, on November 15th.

Mr. Beetham prosecuted, and called prosecutrix, Ann Hedgerton, a single woman, who intrusted her with a silver watch to take to Mr. Pegler's, at Southampton, to be cleaned. She was to bring it back in a week, but failing this, prosecutrix went, after another week's delay, to prisoner to get it. She made a variety of excuses, and eventually went with prosecutrix to Mr. Pegler's shop, where she said she had left it there, but they denied it entirely. It was found at Mr. Cotten's shop, a pawnbroker in St. Michael's square, where, on December 19th, prisoner, he believed, pledged it, and came on February 6th to take it out again. It was pawned in the name of Ann Green, of French street.

Mr. Russell, for the defence, urged that Mr. Pegler and his shopman should have been called, and also that Mr. Cotten was not sure prisoner pledged it, but only went so far as to say she took it out of pawn. He suggested to the jury that it was pledged by some other woman, and traced out by prisoner.

The Judge, in summing up, put the ingenious defence on one side, and the jury found her guilty, recommending her to mercy on account of her age and former good conduct as a carrier. She was told her character was lost by this affair, which was most clear. The sentence on her would be six weeks imprisonment with hard labour.

It is interesting what a single census record can lead one to discover. 

I will share more about this in another post.

1. "1871 England Census," database with images, Ancestry.co.uk (https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 11 January 2005), digital image, enumerators schedule, household of Edward Grant, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England; citing The National Archives (TNA), RG10, Piece 1184, Folio 17, p. 2, New Forest Registration district, Lyndhurst subdistrict, ED 1d, household 10
2. "1861 England Census" database with images, Ancestry.co.uk (https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 5 February 2007), digital image, enumerators schedule, household of Edward Grant, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England; ; citing The National Archives (TNA), RG9, Piece 670, Folio 20, p. 33, New Forest Registration district, Lyndhurst subdistrict, ED 1d, household 169.
3. "1881 England Census" database with images, Ancestry.co.uk (https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 13 ‎April ‎2005), digital image, enumerators schedule, household of Ann E. Grant, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England; citing The National Archives (TNA), RG11, Piece 1202, Folio 42, p. 41, New Forest registration district, sub district Lyndhurst, ED 2, household 235.
4. General Register Office, England, certified copy of an entry in the certified copy of a Register of Deaths, New Forest Registration District, 18 January 1879, entry for Edward Grant, died 14 January 1879, Pike Hill, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England; photocopy certificate, issued 14 April 2010, New Forest Registration district, Vol. 2b, P. 447, General Register Office, Southport, England.
5. "1871 England Census" database with images, Ancestry.co.uk (https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 13 ‎April ‎2005), digital image, enumerators schedule, entry for Ann Eliz. Grant, Winchester, Hampshire, England; citing The National Archives (TNA), RG10, Piece 1212, Folio 99, p. 6, Winchester registration district, sub district Winchester, ED County Prison, Line 6.

Week 3 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Longevity

Both of the photographs above were taken in the 1920s, or possibly later for the first one, as the young girl in the photograph was born in 1924. She is his great grandaughter, Betty Buckle.

Henry WITT,¹ the son of Isaac WITT (1800?-1894) and Mary Ann ELDRIDGE (1812?-1893), was born on 1 April 1847 in Minstead, Hampshire, England.¹

He married Selina GRANT on 2 December 1869 in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England when he was aged 22 and she was 24.²

When the birth of his daughter Elizabeth Ann was registered on 26 November 1870, he was a Garden Labourer living in Minstead, Hampshire, England.³

He witnessed the marriage in Southampton on 31 July 1893 of Joseph Buckle and Elizabeth Ann Witt.⁴

He died of Senile Arteriosclerosis on 10 October 1946 in Southampton.⁵

On each census from 1871, his occupation was shown as a gardener. He started out as a labourer on the 1861 census but appears to have spent some time at school as in 1851 he was shown as a scholar. I will discuss more in a post later this month.

He is buried in Southampton Old Cemetery a map of the cemetery can be found here. I have seen the headstone but need to visit again to take a photograph. Several years ago, when I first looked at this, I discovered that for this cemetery, he was the person to reach the greatest age at burial. 
Reaching the age of 99 is still not that common but he was not the only one of his family to reach a good age. His father died at the age of 93 and his grandfather David Witt was 79 when he died in 1843.
He must have experienced much during his life living through both World Wars. The area of Southampton where he lived experienced a number of air raids in the years just prior to his death.

1. General Register Office, England, certified copy of an entry in the certified copy of a Register of Births, New Forest Registration District, 12 May 1847, Henry Witt born 1 April 1847, Minstead, County of Southampton, England, New Forest Registration district, Volume 8, Page 191; photocopy certificate, 10 April 2004, General Register Office, Southport, England.
2. New Forest Registration District Register Office, Hampshire,England [now part of Hampshire], certified copy of an entry of Marriage in a register in the custody of New Forest Registration District Registrar, 2 December 1869, Henry Witt & Selina Grant, Marriage in Lyndhurst Parish, County of Southampton, England, entry no. 245; handwritten certificate, 12 March 2003, Hampshire Record Office, Winchester, Hampshire, England.
3. New Forest Registration District Register Office, Hampshire, England [now part of Hampshire], certified copy of an entry of Birth in a register in the custody of New Forest Registration District Registrar, 26 November 1870, Elizabeth Ann Witt born 12 November 1870, Minstead, Hants, England, entry no. 340; handwritten certificate, 12 March 2003, Hampshire Record Office, Winchester, Hampshire, England.
4. The Register Office, Southampton, certified copy of an entry of Marriage in a register in the custody of Southampton Registration District Registrar, 31 July 1892, Joseph Buckle & Elizabeth Ann Witt, Marriage at St  Barnabas Church, Southampton, County of Southampton, England, entry no. 1; handwritten certificate, 28 February 2003, Southampton, Hampshire, England.
5. General Register Office, England, certified copy of an entry in the certified copy of a Register of Deaths, Southampton Registration District, 10 October 1946, Henry Witt, Minstead, Southampton, England,  Southampton Registration district, Vol. 6b, P. 516; photocopy certificate, 11 March 2010, General Register Office, Southport, England.

Footnote: Hants is an abbreviation used for Hampshire. 

Due to naming changes what was Southampton county is now Hampshire.