george graley

Subject :           George Graley        (b 1821 – d 1890)

Researcher :      Christine Clarke

Tough times for tight-knit Gomshall family  

George Graley was a hard-working man from Gomshall who helped his family through difficult times. George remained unmarried, working on the land and then in a tannery before a bad leg eventually forced him into the Guildford Union Workhouse.

George was the fourth of five known children for John Graley and Milley (Amelia) née Still. Born in Shere, Surrey in about 1821, George was baptised at the village’s St James’ Church on 22^nd July that year ^{1, 2}.

The 1841 Census showed 19-year-old George was living with his family in Gomshall, a village just to the east of Shere ³.  His father John was an agricultural labourer, and although not recorded, it is most likely that George and brothers John and Joseph were working similarly.  George’s mother Amelia, his sister Eliza, and the five-year-old son of his eldest sister Mary, Robert, completed the household.  Mary was in the Guildford Union Workhouse with another illegitimate child, Harriett ⁴.

George’s elder brother John died in Gomshall in April 1845, followed by his father in May 1850, which left 29-year-old George as the eldest male in the family ^{5, 6}.  His mother Amelia would certainly have now been reliant on George, his brother Joseph and her grandson Robert’s work as agricultural labourers to keep her at home and out of the Workhouse.

At the time of the following year’s Census, George’s mother Amelia was still at home with three offspring, Eliza, George and Joseph, and grandson Robert in Gomshall ⁷.  All three men were agricultural labourers. George’s sister Eliza was ‘housekeeper’, but she also had an illegitimate daughter, 2-year-old Rosabelle, to look after. Mary was living in Epsom with her daughter Harriet ⁸.

In January 1853, George’s mother passed away ⁹.  His brother Joseph married in November 1860 but barely moved away, the 1861 Census showing him with his wife Louisa in Gomshall Lane, possibly even next door to George, sister Eliza and her daughter Rosabell ^{10, 11, 12}. 

Both George and Joseph were working at a tannery, most likely the one in the centre of Gomshall village on the River Tillingbourne. 39-year-old George was a ‘beamsman’, a dirty and unpleasant job which involved taking the animal hide after it had been softened in an alkaline solution and then scraping it with a knife over a wooden beam to remove the flesh, fat and hair before the hide was stretched on a wooden frame to dry ¹³. This was a highly dangerous job. The alkaline lime solution would burn uncovered skin, while the fumes and dust from the lime could also cause respiratory problems.  The tannery was also adding to the severe pollution of the River Tillingbourne, pouring their chemicals into it, mixing with untreated animal and human waste. Little was known at that time about water-borne diseases, with typhoid taking the life of Joseph’s wife Louisa in January 1866, aged 34 ¹⁴. 

The Guildford Union Poor Law accounts show that Joseph was also ill at that time, receiving poor relief for them both, including the cost of the coffin for Louisa ¹⁵.  Two years later, George began receiving poor relief as he had a ‘bad leg’, though what had caused this problem is not known ¹⁶.

The 1871 Census recorded that George had his brother Joseph living with him again, along with their sister Eliza and her daughter Rosabelle, in Gomshall ¹⁷.  Both George and Joseph were noted as ‘labourers’ but it did not say whether they were still at the tannery or indeed if 50-year-old George was fit enough to work.

Typhoid struck the family again in December 1878, taking the life of George’s 63-year-old sister Eliza in Gomshall ¹⁸.  Eliza was noted as having been a ‘farm labourer’, so it would seem that she had needed to work, perhaps because George could not or that he was no longer at home.

Sometime after the 1871 Census, George went into the Guildford Union Workhouse.  There are no available records to show when this happened, but the Census ten years later described inmate George as a ‘general labourer’, aged 62 and single ¹⁹.  His brother Joseph, now back to being a farm labourer, was still in Gomshall at Goose Green, with their niece ‘Rosa’ and her two young children ²⁰.  Rosa’s husband, Samuel Elliott, was serving a ten-year gaol sentence after being convicted of committing an indecent act in 1879 ²¹.

It seems certain that George was unable to work because of the problem with his leg. After a lifetime of hard labour, and with his family seemingly unable to support him, he would have needed the assistance that the workhouse could offer.  By August 1890 George’s leg had become gangrenous, and on 14^th October that year he died in the Guildford Union Workhouse, aged 70 ²².  He was buried at his baptismal church, St James in Shere, four days later ²³.

February 2022, updated October 2025
Edited by Mike Brock

We’d love to hear from you if you are a relative of this family.
Please contact us by email: spikelives@charlotteville.co.uk

Sources and References

Original Surrey parish and Guildford Union accounts (for 1864-1871 only) are available at the Surrey History Centre, Woking. Digitised parish records were sourced through Ancestry.co.uk.  A complete list of references and sources may be found here: George Graley References

 Spike Lives is a Heritage project that chronicles the lives of inmates, staff and the Board of Guardians of the Guildford Union Workhouse at the time of the 1881 Census.  The Spike Heritage Museum in Guildford offers guided tours which present a unique opportunity to discover what life was like in the Casual/Vagrant ward of a Workhouse. More information can be found here