After years of waiting for affordable census records and better fuzzy searches to be around
I found the ladysmaid ancestor I was after, some of her siblings had middle names prominently stated which is fairly unusual for an agric. labouring family, and she went variously by the names
Victoria Ann or
Ann(ie) (1838-1908). Brazenly she often stated her age to be exactly 5 or 10 years younger every census, never older than she was, quite a lady then.
She lived a "single" life and was appointed to interesting families (
Sir Joseph Causton, Earl & Countess of Perth, Rev. H. Gladwin Jebb at Firbeck Hall, Bishop Alfred Barry) and did have an illegitimate child, fortunately for me. We know whoever was the father made good provision for the child's future, or possibly just any of her employers. I doubt it was V.A.L. - she seems to have no probate but was on the local electoral roll 1906-1908 her death; I believe that makes her a '''ratepayer'''. Would such senior ladysmaids be pensioned off in their 60s? She lodged with her brother's family for a while and seems to have kept in good touch with them in Surbiton in her short retirement in Southfields.
If anyone has any close links to:
<b>(Clement) Alexander Lock b. Limpsfield (1835-1902), children: Frank, Sarah Ann, James, Edward, Louisa, William, Frederick, Emma, Arthur of Kingston/Hampton Wick/New Malden
<b>Katharine Mary Matilda Lock b. Limpsfield (1840-unknown)
<b>John Henley Lock b. Limpsfield (1844-unknown, but after 1891) lived in central London
I would be happy to share
what I have on them. I've written a skeleton biography of her, which seems only fair as she probably never knew the only child she had. Maybe she went to the wedding of her child who married at the slightly fashionable church of St Saviours, Southwark, the other side of the county where the child lived maybe to avoid local embarrassment in having no father to give her away.
I would love to:
- Trace the Lock line back through Surrey. Do you have similar Locks in Limpsfield, Surrey in your tree?
- Establish who V.A.L. had her child with. We have a hunch it was through Victorian banker Ebenezer Muirhead's family of Surbiton/Wimbledon who kept ties with the family as far as we can see. If you a descendant of Ebenezer's - any lingering clues on talk of an illegitimate child?
- Would Firbeck Hall have full staff records archived, if so where? I'd love to know where V.A.L. was before the workhouse infirmary in 1867 exactly, in 1871 she is with the Caustons but my family thinks the debt of thanks we owe is to the Muirheads, who for a time were near where she was in 1861, Surbiton.