edward stenning

Subject:              Edward Stenning      (b 1811 – d 1881)

Researcher:     Diann Arnfield

Career with horses as groom, coachman, omnibus driver for Dunsfold man

Edward Stenning’s working life revolved around horses – firstly as a groom before progressing to be a private coachman, and then an omnibus driver in the 1870s before ending his days in the Guildford Union Workhouse.

Edward was born in Dunsfold, Surrey around 1811, the fifth of six known children for labourer Thomas Stenning and his wife Jane ^{1, 2}.  He was baptised at the village’s St Mary and All Saints Church in March 1811.

Dunsfold to Farnham

30 years pass before Edward is traced again, the 1841 Census showing him having moved about 15 miles (24km) north-west of Dunsfold to Farnham, Surrey ³.  Edward was an ‘M.S.’, meaning that he was a male servant, living with and working for a clergyman, Richard Garth, his wife and two daughters, in East Street.  Reverend Garth had inherited the title of Lord of the Manor of Morden, and employed several servants.  The Reverend’s son, also called Richard Garth, went on to become MP for Guildford from 1866 until 1868 ⁴.

Just over a month after the Census, on 19^th July 1841, Edward married Mary Ann Tolfree, who lived almost next door to him in East Street, although the wedding took place in Edward’s home village of Dunsfold ^{5, 6}.  The marriage certificate clarified Edward’s occupation as a groom, with his younger sister Harriet as a witness.

Edward and Mary lived with the Garth family in East Street after their marriage, although there is no record to show if Mary was employed by them as well.  Mary’s parents Joseph and Ann Tolfree also remained close by.

Edward and Mary’s son Edward was born in June 1849 in East Street but by then, Mary’s life was almost certainly centred on the care of her recently widowed mother ⁷.  Mary’s father had passed away in January that year, leaving her mother, who had been stricken with paralysis for over six years, alone ⁸.

On the night of the 1851 Census, 30^th March, Mary and her young son were staying with her mother in East Street, while husband Edward remained living with and working as a groom for Richard Garth just down the road ^{9, 10}.  By this time, Mary’s mother Ann was receiving ‘parish relief’, and less than three months later, she passed away ¹¹.

Coachman in Middlesex

By 1861 Edward and his family were living in East Finchley, Middlesex, where he had progressed to being a ‘coachman’ ¹². He was working for Edward Robert Butler, an attorney and solicitor of Cromwell Hall, with the Stenning family living in the adjacent Cromwell Hall Lodge ¹³.

Horse-driven carriages were still the primary means of transport – Finchley did not have a railway station until 1867 – so Edward would have been well used by his employer whose practice was at Furnival’s Inn, Holborn, some six miles (10km) away, a journey time probably close to an hour each way ¹⁴.

In January 1868 Edward’s wife Mary passed away at home from ‘bronchitis’, and ‘gangrene in the legs’ ¹⁵.

Two years later, Edward’s employer also died ¹⁶. Edward and his son, now a groom like his father had been, remained at Cromwell Hall Lodge, working for the new occupier, until shortly after the April 1871 Census ^{17, 18, 19}.

It is not known what happened to Edward and his son immediately after leaving Cromwell Hall.  The first record found for either of them is for Edward junior marrying Mary Ann Burt in August 1879 in Paddington, London ²⁰.  The couple moved to Knightsbridge where Mary and Edward, now a coachman like his father, raised seven children, living and working there for many years ²¹.  Edward junior died in Fulham in 1922 ²². 

What became of Edward senior? 

The 1881 Census is the first record found for Edward senior since he left his job in Finchley some ten years earlier ²³. He was now an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse, listed as age 73 (actually 70), a widower, and an ‘Omnibus driver’ .

Edward’s reason for moving to Godalming may have been that his only remaining sibling, younger sister Harriet Tucker and her husband, were living there in Wharf Street ^{24, 25}.

An added attraction might have been that that Godalming offered excellent opportunities for experienced coachmen and horse omnibus drivers like Edward. However no other records have been traced to confirm Edward’s employment as an omnibus driver in Godalming, or elsewhere. 

Edward died in the Guildford Union Workhouse on 28^th June 1881, having been paralysed for the past year ²⁶.  His death certificate noted him as a ‘labourer of Godalming’, so perhaps he had been forced in his later years to give up his role as an omnibus driver.  One thing does seem to be clear, though – Edward had passed on his love for working with horses to his son, who was still a coachman in his sixties.

March 2020, updated April 2026
Edited by Mike Brock  

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

Sources and References

Original Surrey records are available at the Surrey History Centre, Woking. Digitised records were sourced through Ancestry.co.uk. A complete list of references is at Edward Stenning 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