Tonbridge Workhouse - possible Look Up please

[Melbell]

Would anyone be able to do a look up in the Tonbridge Workhouse Admissions & Discharge Registers please?

I'm not asking for lengthy details, just to know if a John FRY is indexed (or similar) between 1851 and 1861?

Thank you,
Melbell

[mckha489]

Are they among these?

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1949802


Yes…here
Plenty of page turning for you at a FamSearch or affiliate library

https://www.familysearch.org/search/image/index?owc=M62V-4P6%3A249447301%3Fcc%3D1949802

[Melbell]

Thanks for your post, but I'm not able to access these FS records online, which is why I was hoping that someone might be able to look in person. There's always a chance....

Thank you anyway,
Melbell

[rosie99]

You don't give us any other information on John Fry - approx year and place of birth.

Why do you think he is in the workhouse.

Just asking these questions as the records possibly are not indexed

[grandarog]

Kent History & Library Centre in Maidstone  hold the records .I believe you can request a search.

[Melbell]

Hello rosie99 and grandarog

Thank you for your posts re John FRY.

John was born in Speldhurst c.1809. He and his wife Sarah were in Frant on the 1841 Census.

They moved to Tunbridge Wells and on the 1851 Census John was living with of two of his young daughters; (the eldest was with her grandmother back in Frant). Sarah was in the Infirmary (near Grosvenor Road), where she died in July the same year. A John Fry (presumably her husband) registered the death. The two younger girls remained in the Tonbridge Workhouse, at least until the 1861 Census.

Basically, I'm trying to find John’s death/burial and I've looked in all of the 'obvious' places. I’m beginning to think that he died in the Workhouse. He was not on 1861 Census there.

Thanks for helping me,
Melbell

[Ashtone]

Basically, I'm trying to find John’s death/burial and I've looked in all of the 'obvious' places. I’m beginning to think that he died in the Workhouse. He was not on 1861 Census there.

17 Jun 1852 burial in Frittenden, Kent
Notes: Man Aged Between 30 & 40, 5'3" in Height, Found Drowned In A Pond In This Parish
John Fry (age 48)
Residence: Frant

John Fry's name is added to the bottom of the burial register page, and referenced to the drowning note above with an asterisk (*)

[AlanBoyd]

This must be him.

Tuesday 22 June 1852: South Eastern Gazette

FRITTENDEN.–On Thursday last an inquest was held before C. Willis, Esq., coroner, at the Hungerden farm, to enquire to the death of a man, name unknown, who was found drowned.

Caleb Fred, laborer, deposed—I am a servant working for Mr. Wm. Judge, on Headcorn-road farm, in this parish. Last Tuesday, at eight o'clock in the evening, I was fishing in a pond on my master's land, and saw something floating on the surface of the of the water about the middle of the pond, which is seven or eight feet deep. I saw it the following morning, at about five o'clock, when it was in the same state as the night before. I saw it again at about six o'clock in the evening, and found it had risen a little higher, and it appeared to me to be the collar of a jacket. I procured assistance, raked it ashore, and discovered it was the body of a man, quite dead, and appeared to have been under water some considerable time. He was apparently between thirty and forty years of age. There is a public footpath running by the pond, within ten or twelve feet of it; there are two rows of pollards between the footpath and the pond, so that a person passing along the path would not be likely to be drowned accidentally, even in the dark.

Wm. Judge, farmer, deposed-Last night I received information from Fred of the finding of the body. By my direction Croucher examined the pockets of the deceased, and found in his right hand trousers pocket, a purse of yellow canvass, containing half-a-crown; in the left waistcoat pocket were two pence. He was dressed in dark fustian trowsers and jacket. There was no watch, knife, or papers, about him. His cap was a black and white woollen one, with a red band. Verdict, Found drowned.

[AlanBoyd]

This links to a view of Frittenden on the 1876 6 inch map:

http://tinyurl.com/mr37y6bp

If you follow the road north out of Frittenden past Rat's Castle and the junction to Sinkhurst Green (this stretch is named Headcorn Road on modern maps) you will find Hungerden. I have not found a Headcorn Road Farm, and this article is the only hit at BNA when I search for "Headcorn Road farm", so perhaps it acquired a different name at some point.

This later large scale map shows that there were a lot of ponds in the area.

http://tinyurl.com/34fnpe6d

added: in 1851 and 1861 William Judge is recorded as Hungerden Farm. In 1861 the census entry is preceded by Appleton Cottage, Appleton Farm and Hungerden Cottage, and is followed by Rats Castle Cottage, Marsh Cottages, Street and  Rectory, so the enumerator was heading towards Frittenden from the north.

Another map view to show how many ponds were in that locality:

http://tinyurl.com/ykxvswhx