John Hyde
Subject : John Hyde (b 1800 – d 1882)
Researcher : Jo Patrick
East Clandon ‘ag lab’ devoted to family life
John Hyde was never more than a humble agricultural labourer, but, along with his wife Ruth, they successfully raised a huge family in East Clandon. Despite the inevitable highs and lows of family life, John and Ruth always had an open door for family members that had fallen on difficult times, even including their friends’ baby grandson, when John and Ruth were grandparents themselves.
John was born in about 1800 to master cordwainer (shoemaker) George Hyde and his wife Susannah in East Clandon, Surrey. John was the fourth of their five known children, baptised in March that year in the village’s St Thomas of Canterbury Church 1, 2.
Marriage and six infant deaths
When he was about 20, John married Ruth Braby on 3rd September 1820 in the neighbouring village of West Horsley 3. Ruth, some two years younger than John, was originally from Alfold, the daughter of Henry and Mary Braby 4.
Ruth was already pregnant, with their first son Philip born in East Clandon about the beginning of 1821 5. John was noted as a labourer on the St Thomas’ baptism record. Philip only lived for ten months, passing away in November that year 6.
Over the next 20 years, John and Ruth had eleven more children. The 1841 Census showed eight of those children aged from 15 down to one year living at Clandon Common with them – William and Alfred, born in 1836 and 1837 respectively, had only lived for a few months 7, 8, 9. John’s meagre wages as an agricultural labourer would never have been sufficient to feed a family of this size, so it seems likely that his three sons over the age of 10 – Henry, James and Robert – would also have been working, as schooling at this time was not compulsory and too expensive for John to afford.
Four more children were born in the 1840s, but only the 16th and last, Elisabeth Mary in 1847, survived – Thomas, Esther and Albert all died after just a few months 10, 11. 
10 children survive to adulthood
There were better family times for John and Ruth, though, when there was a double wedding at the East Clandon Church to celebrate in April 1848 with both their 21-year-old son James and 20-year-old daughter Hannah marrying 12.
Three years later, the 1851 Census noted that John and Ruth were still in close contact with both James and Hannah – in James’ case, his family were next door neighbours to them in Clandon Common while Hannah and her family were living in East Clandon village next door to her uncle George Hyde and his family 13, 14.
Six of John and Ruth’s children were still at home – 26-year-old Henry and Robert, 20, were agricultural labourers like their father, while Benjamin, 19, was a carter. Harriett (12) and John (10) were now attending school, with Elisabeth Mary just 4 years old.
Gradually, all the children were making their own way.
Sarah, who had moved out of the family home a few years earlier, came back to East Clandon to marry in July 1854 15. Benjamin moved to Addlestone, Surrey where he married in August 1856, and two months later, Robert married in East Clandon 16, 17.
Henry joined the Army in February 1858, signing up for the 33rd Regiment of Foot 18. He was dispatched to India, serving through the latter stages of the Indian Mutiny, a crucial time in that country’s history.
By the time of the 1861 Census, daughter Harriet was a cook near Dartford, Kent, while son John was lodging with his sister Hannah and her family in East Clandon 19, 20. This meant 14-year-old Elisabeth, noted to be an ‘invalid’, was John and Ruth’s only child still at home 21.
However, 61-year-old John and Ruth, 59, had two other children with them. One was their 14-year-old grandson George Bentley Hyde, probably the illegitimate son of their eldest daughter Ann, although no birth or earlier Census record has been traced for him. George had most likely been with his grandparents for a number of years, as Ann had passed away in East Clandon in September 1852 22.
The other child was 8-month-old George Peters, born in Brighton and recorded as a ‘nurse child’. He was the illegitimate son of 20-year-old Ellen Peters, who had brought baby George back to seek help from her parents Samuel and Sarah Peters 23. John and Ruth knew the family well, including Ellen, as they had been long-time neighbours in East Clandon – Samuel and Sarah may even have invited John and Ruth to George’s baptism held during Sunday service at East Clandon Church 24, 25. For whatever reason, Samuel and Sarah were unable to help their daughter at this time, so John and Ruth agreed to care for George while his mother Ellen went off to Gloucestershire to work as a kitchen maid 26. This may well have been just a short-term measure – by the time of the 1871 Census, George was back with his own grandparents 27.
In November 1866, John and Ruth’s daughter Harriett died in childbirth, just over six months after her marriage 28, 29. This came less than three weeks before the wedding of their son Henry, who had been invalided out of the Army earlier that year after almost eight years of service because of rheumatism in his ankle 30.
Son John was next to wed, in May 1869 31. There was one more family wedding for John and Ruth to attend, that of their daughter Elisabeth in May 1870 32.
Declining health and old age catch up with Ruth and John
Elisabeth, who was already the mother of one child, remained at her parents’ home with her new family, the following year’s Census showing the couple with a second child 33. No mention was made on this Census of Elisabeth having a disability, but the Guildford Union Poor Law accounts showed that John and Ruth were having problems of their own – both had recently been receiving poor relief for ‘illness’ and for 71-year-old John being now ‘partly disabled’ 34.
Elisabeth and her family soon moved to West Horsley, so John and Ruth were at last alone, probably for the first time in over 50 years 35. They suffered another loss when their youngest surviving son John died in November 1874 in Worplesdon, aged 34 36.
John and Ruth’s life together finally came to an end after more than 56 years of marriage when Ruth passed away on 23rd November 1876 aged 74 from ‘apoplexy’ 37. She was buried at East Clandon’s St Thomas of Canterbury Church four days later 38.
Whether John was still living at home at the time of Ruth’s death is not known, as the informant on the death certificate was his daughter-in-law. It seems likely that he would have struggled to look after himself after his wife’s death, and at some stage had been forced into the Guildford Union Workhouse, which is where he was at the time of the 1881 Census, although there are no admission records available to show exactly when this had happened 39.
Another of John’s sons, Benjamin, died in July 1881, meaning only five of his sixteen children – three sons and two daughters – outlived him 40.
Just seven months later, John died in the Workhouse on 6th February 1882 aged 82 from ‘dropsy’ 41. John was buried on 10th February at the St Thomas of Canterbury Church, East Clandon which had borne witness to so many Hyde family occasions over the past 80 years or more 42.
December 2019, updated October 2025
Edited by Mike Brock
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Sources and References
Original Surrey parish and Guildford Union accounts (only available for 1864-1871) are available at the Surrey History Centre, Woking. Digitised parish records were sourced through Ancestry.co.uk. A complete list of references may be found at John Hyde 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