A Glemsford Family:


The Allens: Moving On

My findings about the Allen family - Henry and Susan and their descendants - are based largely on material available online: an analysis of the Census returns from 1841 to 1901, with some support from the Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths, and the observations and material from Bernie Allen in New Zealand.
There are probably some inaccuracies; there are certainly some gaps; I apologise for those. In particular, the 1841 Census is notorious for its lack of accuracy about birth years and places. That is a product of its time and intentions.
There is less excuse for inaccuracy with the 1891 Census, but I find it has often been very poorly transcribed, probably by people with little or no knowledge or understanding of English personal names, place names or common abbreviations.
So, you need to read these pages bearing in mind this "health warning": I have cross-checked and used my own logic to get as near as possible to the truth, but if you spot errors, please let me know, and if you don't, and my mistakes mess up your own research, I'm sorry, but blame the transcribers, not me! 

Alfred Allen's family has already given us a clear indication that it was in the last years of the 19th Century that the Allen clan began to move, sometimes well away from the village and England. By looking at the story of Alfred's brothers and sisters in the same period we may, perhaps, find more patterns, or at least the beginnings of some stories.

We know that the late 19th Century was a hard time for Glemsford, with its focus on Industry. Competition and changing fashion were having their effect. The Village Schools logbooks illustrate these problems quite clearly, and as early as 1875 a meeting was held in the School extolling the virtues of emigration to Australia.

Hard Times?

The 1871 Census gives us more and more hints.
In that year, Henry and Susan, both in their late 60s, were still living on Egremont Street. All their children had left home. For the only time in 6 Censuses, Henry is not recorded as a "Silk Weaver". He was an Agricultural Labourer and Susan an Agricultural Labourer's wife. Perhaps they and silk weaving were the victims of an economic downturn although, as Richard Deeks notes, some weavers in any case saw Agricultural Labouring as a better paid option.

Maria and William Copsey still lived on Egremont Street, a few doors from The Cock. Neither still worked in Silk Weaving. William was then a "Cocoa Mat Binder", while Maria was just "formerly Silk Weaver". Their family at home was:

John is listed as a "Gardener domestic, currently out of employ." Arthur was a "Cocoa Mat Maker" and Ellen a "Silk Throwster". Albert was working part time in the Matting factory, but was also attending "1/2 day school" (bearing in mind this was just before the Forster Education act took effect, and before the present Glemsford School was built).
Maria and William's oldest son, Cornelius was already married, to Hannah Hartley, in 1866, and in 1871 they, and their two children: were sharing the house of Hannah's family: William Thompson and Sarah Hartley, on Tye Green. Mr Thompson was a "Tinman", Cornelius a "Cocoa Mat Maker" and Hannah a "Horse Hair Weaver". I shall not explore the relationship of William Thompson and Sarah Hartley. Both are described as Unmarried and Sarah is listed as "Housekeeper". In 1861, Sarah is given no occupation; William was "Tinman and Brazier". In 1851, William was a "Tinker", Sarah was a Lodger: throughout the children are given Sarah's surname.

Isaac and Louisa lived on Egremont Street, with their family comprising:

Isaac was then a Baker (like his grandmother Elizabeth?). Louisa and Mary were both Dressmakers. Susanna, Ruth and Walter were all at School. Annie was but an infant; she was also Isaac's grand-daughter, born in Middlesex. Whose child? Further research is needed!

Some of Isaac and Louisa's children from the 1861 Census are proving quite elusive!
George was a Footman in the household of the "Honorable" Mary E. Henniker, in Hove in Sussex.
Leo, similarly, was a Footman in what seems to have been the very large household of Mr John Reeve, Landowner, in Victoria Road, Wandsworth (still a distinctly posh area that would probably prefer to be known as Wimbledon rather than Wandsworth).
There are several deaths of Herbert Allens recorded in the Sudbury district in the 1860s. At present I do not have the means to identify which, if any, was Isaac's son.
Henry and Caroline are equally difficult to locate, but I'll keep trying.

William and Caroline had taken on the "Carpenters Arms" in Lawshall. Their family in 1871 was:

Edward was a Blacksmith and Walter an Agricultural Labourer. Angelina was in Domestic Service in Brixton.

Eton and Ellen seem to have been firmly established in Ingoldesthorpe, Norfolk, where Eton remained a Coachman and Gardener, although it is not clear in whose service.
Their children at home were:

Albert was an "Under Gardener" and Benjamin an Agricultural Labourer.
Also in the Household at the time of the Census was Elizabeth Meek, Eton's sister. She is labelled as Married and "Sister", rather than "Visitor", and had no occupation. Of her husband Henry, I can find no trace.

Susannah and Walter Game, who had been in Braintree in 1861, were back in Glemsford in 1871, living on Brook Street. Their family was now:

Silas was born in Braintree, Rose in Glemsford, so their return to Glemsford was probably between 1862 and 1866. Walter was still a Silk Weaver.

Alfred had married Catherine (born in Stanstead) in 1864, and their young family, in 1871, was:

The Census shows Alfred as a Silk Weaver, and Catherine a Dressmaker.

George married Ellen Downes in the last quarter of 1861. In 1871, they were living at Seldom Field Cottage. George was a Cocoa Mat Weaver, while Ellen was a Silk Weaver.
They too had a young family:

John married Delilah Plume - also in the last 1/4 of 1861. By 1871, John was "Foreman of Cocoa Matting and [?] Factory" in Hadleigh. The couple seem to have had accommodation in the Factory area, and they had two young chidren:

Kate was born in Bildeston, Claud in Hadleigh, so their movement away from Glemsford must have been some time before 1870.

Samuel was living on Egremont Street with his wife Sarah (née Copsey) whom he had married in 1864. He was a "Cocoa Mat Maker". They had 3 children:

Frederick, I know, married Alice Chaplin in 1871. At present I can't locate them on the 1871 Census, but they reappear, in 1881, in Bildeston.

So, despite the hardship of the period, most of Henry and Susan's family seem to have done reasonably well, although there are hints of some difficulties, and some had moved right away from the village of their birth.

Note the range of occupations, and the places to which people migrated.

The Census of 1881 has more to say.

Page created and copyright - © Steve Clarke - February 2010