"It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue." Oscar Wilde

Hobbs Family History News and Notes (2)

This section of the site is one that I am using to collect my thoughts on the path forward so to speak and add the notes prior to them being incorporated in the narrative

For the Family History to mean something and not just be a collection of names and dates a researcher must at least cover some of the following areas

• Contemporary histories of areas when ancestors lived and relocated to
• Use a perpetual calendar to add names to days when events happened
• Local weather that season
• Pictures (esp. contemporary ones) of relevant buildings
• Photocopies of relevant documents, especially ones not in the public
  domain
• Relevant extracts from contemporary newspapers
• Local historical events that would have impacted family, even if details
  are not known
• Interesting extracts from relevant merchants' account books
• Sections of maps, especially contemporary ones
• Present day photographs of anything relevant
• Photos of tombstones
• Pictures, especially contemporary ones of the general area where
  ancestors originated
• Extracts from relevant family letters

HEMSWORTHS

 DEATHS

 William HEMSWORTH – (79) Gainsborough – 7a 413 – September 1873 – (born 1794)

 William George HEMSWORTH Sheffield 1

 MARRIAGES

 Margaret WEBSTER – Willliam HEMSWORTH  - 9c 507 – September 1880

 William (1820) and Ann Hemsworth’s son ALONZO and daughter ANNIE

 ANNIE married Thomas HOLDING in Hull – 9d 270 – March 1867 and had a son William HOLDING born Gainsborough 1868

 From Mary Milner to my mother April 2002 

Alonzo married Mary Ann MYERS 25/12/1878. Her twin sister Sarah Ann Myers married Reuben (?)*****. They had three children Dolly, ***** (sister) and Charlie.

Sarah was married before Mary (circa 18 years of age)

Dolly married a Dutch Investment banker and lived at Stonepound House, Hassocks,West Sussex (tel 01273 – 845782). The house is now (2002) a  Nursing Home that offers specialist care to geriatric patients who have Alzeihmers disease/Dementia. The gardens may now form part of a plant nursery

Her sister ***** was mistress to the Prince of Wales (future Edward V111) and committed suicide by gassing herself

Reuben Milner married a Sarah Myers – Leeds 9b 538  - June 1875 but it was not Mary Ann’s sister who he married

SANBY’s

BIRTHS

 Arthur SANBY – 19^th June 1875 – Cobden View

 MARRIAGE

 Joseph SANBY Sheffield  - March 1868 - 9c 333 – Mary Ann Cowen or Hannah Hedley

 George Henry SANBY Ecclesall Bierlow – 9c 418

NAMING PATTERNS

ENGLISH

This is just a general guide and of course would be deviated from. For instance if someone had recently died the next child of the same sex would be called after that person. But even this can be qualified for it is assuming that no other child in the family didn't already have the name.

The naming pattern was different in Scotland

EDUCATION - SCHOOL LEAVING AGE

Compulsory schooling ages in the UK were

1876-1893 5-10

1893-1899 5-11

1899-1918 5-12

1918-1944 5-14

1944-1970 5-15

1970- 5-16

The change in school-leaving age was introduced in the 1944 Education Act From 1944, the school-leaving age was 15, even if it didn't affect those due to leave in 44, 45 or 46. it might be better to say that the school leaving age went up to 15 in 1947. What isn't generally known is that the school leaving age was due to go up to 15 in 1939 (as per the 1936 Education Act), but this was suspended due to the onset of the 1939 - 1945 War.

MARRIAGE

From time immemorial the age for matrimonial consent was fixed at 7 years, but puberty was accepted as the age for consummation of the marriage, which was 12 for girls and 14 for boys. Canon 100 of 1603 forbade, but did not invalidate  marriage of persons under 21, except with parental consent. The legal age for  marriage from 29 September 1653 was fixed at 16 for a man and 14 for a woman. In  1660 the pre-interregnum laws were reinstated and the ages of marriage reverted  to 14 for the groom and 12 for the bride. Lord Hardwicke's 1753 Marriage Act,  made it illegal for those in England under the age of 21 to get married without  the consent of their parents or guardians. The consent requirement was repealed and replaced in July 1822, and an act in July 1823 restored the pre-1753 rule of Canon 100. In effect, therefore, from  1823 the age at which a couple could undergo a valid marriage, even without  parental consent, reverted to 14 for boys and 12 for girls; although some marriages of younger children still took place. The 1929 Age of Marriage Act made all marriages void from 10 May 1929, if either partner was under the age of  16. The legal age for marriage remained at 14 for boys and 12 for girls in the  Republic of Ireland, until 1st January 1975, when it was raised to  16.

REGISTRATION

The Stamp Duty Act of 1783, levied duty of 3d. until 1794 on each parish register entry of baptism, marriage or burial. Paupers were exempt and so it is possible that, to avoid paying the duty, the number of people who declared themselves to be paupers rose substantially and many clergymen (resenting having to act as tax collectors) were willing to incorrectly record parents as paupers. Many parents also avoided payment by not baptising their children. From 1783 to 1794 the note P against an entry in the register denotes a pauper, whilst the note Pd 3d denotes payment of the duty. If you cannot locate an ancestor's baptism in the period 1783 to 1794 it is worth reviewing the registers after 1794 in case the child was only baptised after the tax was withdrawn. A similar statute of 1695 had had a similar effect on the recording of baptisms, marriages and burials until it was repealed in 1706.

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This page was last updated on 15/12/10 13:38