Tracing the Snelgroves back into Hampshire and Wiltshire
Having concentrated for so long on investigating the ‘unknown’ branch of my paternal family tree, I realised that I had neglected thoroughly recording the history of the branch of the family tree that I have always known best – that of my maternal grandfather, John Snelgrove.
 |
| William Snelgrove |
It was back at the end of 2022 that I last
posted
on the history of how the Snelgroves had made the change “from New Forest
gardeners to London florists”. In that post, I traced the ‘Snelgrove’ branch of
my family history forwards in time from the 1851 census to the 1920s. In this
post, I will explain how far I think I can trace that history back into the
past.
 |
| Jane Brown |
Tracing back from 1851
Pictures (above) of both William and Jane – although photographed at a much older age – have survived – as has the original wedding certificate which was passed on to my Aunty Gwen – and now to me. Sadly, apart from Eaglehurst itself, and the Fawley parish church - All Saints - other buildings that link to this time no longer exist. [And even the Parish Church is squeezed up against the Oil Refinery that Fawley is now better known for!]
The wedding – between Jane Brown (a laundress) and William
Snellgrove (a gardener) - took place on 18th April 1843 at the
Independent Chapel of Southampton. This appears to refer to the Above
Bar Congregational Chapel – destroyed during the Blitz in November 1940. The
witnesses are William’s sister, Sarah Snellgrove and Richard Cotten, a local
bricklayer – presumably by then Sarah’s fiancé, as they themselves are married a
few months later, in September 1843.
Their abode at the time of the marriage is listed as “Exmouth
Place, St.Mary’s” – demolished as part of a slum clearance scheme in the
1930s.
The recorded baptisms for the four daughters give an idea of
where the couple may have been living in the first few years of their marriage.
The first three are registered in Bramshaw, a village on the other side of the
New Forest, but Fanny’s 1850 baptism is recorded as being at Hythe, in the
Parish of Fawley. William’s profession is consistently listed as ‘gardener’.
The Snelgroves
The 1843 wedding certificate records William’s father as
being John Snellgrove, also a gardener. What do the ancestry records say about
him and his family?
In the 1851 census John Snelgrove is recorded as living with
Jane Snelgrove, William’s mother, in the Parish of Dibden. John is listed as
being, once again, a gardener, aged 59, and born locally in Fawley. Jane is
older – listed as being 70 – so a birth year of birth of around 1781. However,
her recorded birthplace is over 70 miles away, in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. I’ll
come back to that unusual detail shortly.
At some point between the 1780s and the 1810s, Jane –
originally Jane Rose according to the Marriage Banns - must have travelled
south-west towards the Southampton area because their marriage, in 1815, took
place in Fawley. One of the witnesses signing the Banns is a ‘Sarah Snelgrove’ –
probably John’s sister-in-law, the wife of John’s older brother Henry Snelgrove.
The April 1816 Fawley Parish baptism register for John and
Jane’s first daughter, another Sarah, records John’s profession as being simply
a ‘labourer’, with the family living in Langley, a hamlet close to Fawley. By
1819, when my great-great-grandfather William is born, the baptism record gives
John’s profession for the first time as “gardener” – as it remains in the
historical records from now on. More precisely, he is recorded as being the “Gardener
to Mr. de Crespigny”, living at “Kings Rew Lodge”. A note in the margin also gives
William’s exact birthday – July 31st 1819 – with the baptism taking
place a fortnight later.
Gardeners and Servants to the Wealthy
Who was Mr de Crespigny? Well, at that time, Sir William Champion de
Crespigny was the Member
of Parliament for Southampton. Various historical records confirm that De
Crespigny had a property at Kings Rew (or Row) in Fawley at this time. [The
main family residence appears to have been ‘Champion Lodge’ in
Camberwell, later demolished in 1841 but still referred to in SE5 road names
such as Champion Hill and De Crespigny Park].
,_2nd_Bt.jpg)
De Crespigny was a wealthy Baronet, educated at Eton but, to
give him his due, he apparently spoke out against the “illegal attack upon an
unarmed multitude” – the ‘Peterloo massacre’ that took place just a week after
William Snelgrove’s baptism. He also spoke up in favour of Robert Owen’s work
at New Lanark Mills in Scotland. [Owen’s model factory complex – including a
school and medical care, if ‘utopian’ in its model of socialist reform, was
described by no less than Karl Marx as providing a “germ of the education of
the future”].
John wasn’t the only Snelgrove to work for De Crespigny, it
appears that his brother Henry did as well. When Henry and Sarah Snelgrove - the
likely witness on the Marriage Banns mentioned above – christen their first
child, Thomas, in 1815, Henry’s ‘Trade’ is given as “Bailey to Mr. Crespigny” -
presumably a ‘bailiff’ helping to administer the estate - and their ‘abode’ is
also given as being ‘Kings Rew”.
But where exactly was “King’s Rew”? The location of de
Crespigny’s Fawley home – just to the south of Langley - took a bit of finding.
It’s possible that, like Champion Lodge in Camberwell, it was demolished around
the 1840s because it certainly doesn’t appear on the relevant Ordnance Survey
Map from the 1860s. But on the 1810 map, it’s location is clearly marked [and
it appears that the ‘Kings Rew’ name has been reused by a modern property in a
similar spot].
When Henry and Sarah’s next child is born, Louisa in 1819 (see
above – Louisa’s baptism actually listed just two lines further up in the 1819 Fawley
register from my great-great-grandfather William’s baptism), a new ‘Trade’ is now
listed for Henry: “Footman to the Revd Mr Lukin” and the family’s new abode is
given as the village of ‘Nursling’, outside Southampton. This matches other
records showing that the Rector of Nursling at the time was indeed a ‘Rev. John
Lukin’.
Of course, it wasn’t just John and Henry who worked as
gardeners or servants for the rich and wealthy. As I explained in my earlier post, John’s son
William, my great-great-grandfather, went on to be a gardener on the nearby Eaglehurst
estate. This centred on a grand residence then belonging to Colonel Berkeley
Drummond, a relative of the wealthy banking family that ran Drummonds Bank. It
was only when the next generation of Snelgroves left the New Forest, and headed
to London, that they could start trying to work for themselves – eventually as
florists - rather than for the wealthy. William and his wife Jane eventually
also moved away to the city – living their last years of married life together
in Whitechapel until Jane’s death in 1891.
I should just quickly mention the trades recorded for the other children of this generation:
- As mentioned above, William’s sister, Sarah, married local bricklayer Richard Cotton
- Henry’s son, Thomas, became a waiter and then a ship’s steward.
- Henry’s daughter Louisa moved to London and married Henry Hunt. He was, at first, also a ‘servant’ but later became a railway worker in London and Peterborough.
- John and Henry’s younger brother, Isaac, born a little later in 1802, perhaps didn’t find the same opportunities – as he spent his life in the Fawley area just as an “agricultural labourer”. Most of his children also seem to have stayed in the Hampshire area too.
I haven’t, as yet, traced any DNA connections with the
descendants of Henry and Isaac but, perhaps there are still some distant
cousins out there to be tracked down!
Interestingly, Fawley was reportedly one of the Hampshire parishes
gripped by ‘rural unrest’ in the 1830s. A study
by the Hampshire Archaeological Society explain how, “in November, 1829, Mr
Thomas Fry was appointed overseer of one of Fawley's four districts. By March
1830, he had become a salaried assistant overseer of the poor and was
responsible for the payment of relief in the entire parish. It was his use of
the parish paupers to pull the parish cart which incited many to riot in
November 1830, at Fawley (The Times 29 Dec 1830)”. Fry himself was “singled out
as [a] target by the rioters”. The actions did, at least temporarily, win
increase in labourers’ wages. What attitude Issac, for example, had to the
‘unrest’ would be interesting to know!
Jane – and the Roses of Marlow
Until recently, the trail back into the past for William’s
mother, Jane Rose from Marlow, seemed to be cold. For one, the birth year was
uncertain – the 1841 census suggests it could be as late as 1786 but her burial
record (for Fawley in 1859) suggests it could be as early as 1777. However,
there now seems to be a likely birth record from the Parish of Great Marlow
that links to another well-worked on family tree! It’s for the baptism of twin
sisters, Mary and Jane Rose, born to Elisabeth and John Rose, on 28th
January 1779 – which is about right for the later records that I have for Jane
in Fawley.
This record has been located by another ancestry searcher
compiling the family tree of the Rose family who has compiled detailed records
of generations of ‘Roses’ living in the Marlow area. Interestingly, she had
been unable to locate any reliable local marriage record for Jane – which is
understandable if, for whatever reason, she was actually married 70 miles away
in Fawley.
However, there’s no DNA match to back the record up.
Nevertheless, this could be ‘our’ Jane.
Henry, John and Isaac’s parents – John and Sarah
Snelgrove – my 4th great grandparents
So far, I haven’t said anything about Henry, John (see 1793
baptism record pictured) and Issac’s parents. All three of their baptism
records show that their parents were John and Sarah Snelgrove – clearly these
were popular names in the family!!
John – born 1760
Going back a generation to the baptism of this senior John
Snelgrove, the Fawley register gives this baptism as being on 8 May 1760 and
John is, of course, son of another John Snelgrove!
John - married 1781
The marriage between John and Sarah is also listed in the
Fawley register for 21 February 1781. Sarah’s maiden name is listed as
“Semore”.
John and Sarah – died 1825
The details for John’s burial in the Fawley register– for 31
March 1825 - stand out for two reasons. Firstly, because both John and his wife
Sarah are buried together on the same date and, secondly, presumably they died
pretty much together in the final abode – the “Poor House”. Remember that the
anger that erupted later in 1830 was, in part, due to the treatment of the poor
in the Parish …
The record suggests that Sarah had been born in 1762 but
I’ve no reliable record for this birth.
One more generation of Snelgroves? – and perhaps my
5th great grandmother?
Going back one further generation, it becomes very hard to
make any reliable decisions about the “John Snelgrove” recorded as the father
of the next “John Snelgrove” in the 1760 Fawley baptism record above. There is,
however, an October 1755 Fawley Marriage Banns which might well fit, recording
a marriage between John Snelgrove and Betty Gayler.
There’s also an April 1738 baptism record for “Elizabeth
Gayler”, daughter of Nicolas Gayler, in the Parish of Fordingbridge, on the
other side of the New Forest to Fawley. Could this be the same “Betty” as in
the Marriage Banns above? It’s possible. However, as for her husband John, there
are no immediately obvious candidates amongst the recorded John Snelgroves of
this period – although his roots could be somewhere in Wiltshire where many of
the potential records are located (and, geographically, that’s also not far
from Fordingbridge either)
Back to the Browns – and the Briants
Going back to the 1843 wedding certificate that this post
started with, there’s another branch of the family tree to follow back – that
of my great-great grandparent, Jane Brown, daughter of James Brown, a labourer.
And it seems that the Brown family roots are definitely in Wiltshire.
The 1851 census records Jane’s birthplace as being Nunton in
Wiltshire, in around 1820. Fortunately, there’s a baptism record for September
1820 that exactly fits those details:
Jane’s parents and grandparents
Jane’s parents are recorded on the baptism register as being
James and Sarah Brown. However, there’s a marriage certificate that fits the
records suggesting that, on marrying James, himself then a widower, on 31st
October 1813, Sarah was already a widow, marrying with the name Sarah Francis –
and, whilst James was from nearby Nunton, the marriage was taking place in
Sarah’s parish of Bishopstone.
However, a previous 1804 marriage can also be traced, for
another nearby parish, Homington , showing that Sarah’s original maiden name
was in fact Briant:
Homington is also the birthplace recorded for Sarah in the
1851 census and there is a matching baptism record for her - as Sarah Briant -
for January 1788, giving her parents’ names as James and Betty Briant – and,
therefore, these are also Jane Brown’s grandparents (and my fourth great grandparents!):
It’s not quite as easy to reliably trace a similar baptism record
for Jane’s father, James Brown. The 1851 census for Nunton – showing James (still
listed as a ‘farm labourer’ but at the age of 84!) and Sarah living with their
grandson Charles at Down Farm - gives James’ birthplace as being Gomeldon – a hamlet
on the other side of Salisbury to Nunton and Homington. This also suggests a
birthdate as early as 1767, meaning James would have been around 15 years older
than Sarah:
However, with James Brown being such a common name and with
uncertainty over the exact birth year (the 1841 census date suggests 1772),
it’s not possible to be sure which of various possible baptism records is
definitively the one that is correct for my third great-grandfather.
James and Sarah’s burial records are, however, much more
certain, both being registered in Nunton within two years of each other – in July
1852 and 1854 respectively:
Jane’s brothers and sisters
To complete this branch of the family tree, it’s worth
looking at some of the ancestry records for Jane Brown’s siblings- at least for
what few hints they give about their parents James and Sarah.
The marriage certificates for the eldest child, Frederick
Brown (Puddletown, Dorset, in 1843), for one of Jane’s younger sisters Emily (Breamore,
in 1847) and her younger brother Abraham (Odstock, in 1855) all record their
father as being James Brown, “a labourer”.
The marriage certificate for Mary Ann Brown, married in
Fisherton Anger, Salisbury, in 1848 has no father’s details recorded at all –
but it does look as if the youngest daughter, Hannah, is one of the witnesses:
What’s more useful, however, for confirming the family tree
above, is the good number of DNA “fourth cousin” connections that back up its
reliability – at least back as far as my third great grandparents.
Comments
Post a Comment