LETITIA HUNT

Subject Name: Letitia Hunt (b1845 – d1919) 

Henry Thomas Hunt (b1869-d?)
Fanny Elizabeth Hunt (b1872-d1961)

Researchers:  Barbara Hester, Mike Brock, Carol Thompson

Letitia Hunt was born on 5 July 1845 in the village of Shere, about five miles south-east of Guildford (1). Her birth came just a few weeks after her parents Job Hunt, a gardener, and Mary Hopkins, were married at Shere’s St James’ Church on 8 May (2).  Letitia was baptised at the same church on 25 July (3).

 

Letitia proved to be one of the fortunate members of the Hunt family, as tragedy struck time and time again in the next few years.  Of her six siblings, born between 1846 and 1854, four died before reaching five months, and a further brother died aged two (4).  Only Letitia and James, the fifth child born in 1850, reached adulthood. 

1855 was the family’s lowest point, with the deaths in February of Letitia’s siblings Henry and William followed by their mother Mary, age 41, in November (5).

 

The family had moved seven miles east from the village of Shere to the town of Dorking in about 1848 with the 1851 Census showing them living in Back Lane (now known as Church Street), in the centre of the town (6).  They moved a number of times in and around Dorking and at the time of Mary’s death in 1855, they were in Cotmandene, just a few hundred yards from Back Lane in the east of the town.

 

After the death of his wife, 38-year-old Job now had to care for Letitia, age ten, and James, just turning five, while trying to continue working.  By 1861 Letitia, now 16, had moved back to Shere where she was a general servant living with 70-year-old Thomas Tilley, an importer of Alderney cows, and his wife Mary (7).  Without Letitia to help care for her younger brother, it seems that Job turned to a fellow gardener for practical help.  The 1861 Census shows James, noted as eight years old but actually ten, boarding with gardener James Clark and his wife Emma in Mill Lane, Dorking (8), just a short walk from Back Lane where Job was living (9). 

 

Less than three years later, Job passed away from pneumonia in Shere on 25 January 1864 age 51 (10), meaning that Letitia had lived through the deaths of five siblings and both her parents by the age of just 18.  

 

Things became tougher still for Letitia when at the age of 23, she gave birth to her first child Henry Thomas Hunt on 2 January 1869 in the Guildford Union Workhouse (11).  No father’s name is recorded.  Henry Thomas was baptised on 24 October that year with both him and his mother still in the workhouse (12).  

 

Within the next 18 months, Letitia was out of the workhouse and back working as a general servant, employed at the Drummond Arms in Albury, the next village to Shere, by 52-year-old licensed victualler Henry Potter (13).  Letitia had arranged for her son to live with 35-year-old William Ladd and his family in Shere, the 1871 Census noting two-year-old Henry as a “nurse child” (14).  This meant that Letitia would have paid the Ladd family a fee to care for Henry full time so that she was free to work.

 

Early the following year, Letitia was pregnant again, giving birth in the Guildford Union Workhouse to a daughter, Fanny Hunt, on 4 October 1872 (15).  Like Henry, no father was named on the record. The baptism was held on 9 February 1873 at the Workhouse, with the chaplain also conducting on the same day nine other baptisms of children born to single mothers there (16).  There are no existing admission/discharge records for the Guildford Union Workhouse, but it seems most likely that Henry would have been in the Workhouse with his mother and his new sibling, as Letitia would have unable to earn any money to pay for his keep as a nurse child.  

 

The 1881 Census showed Letitia, Henry and Fanny all as inmates at Guildford Union Workhouse (17).  The most likely scenario is that all three would have been there since 1872 because Letitia would not have been able to earn sufficient money to look after them, or to put them into the care of others.  Henry was now twelve and Fanny eight, and both would have received their education in the workhouse.

 

What became of Letitia, Henry and Fanny after 1881 is difficult to unravel, but none of them were in the Guildford Union Workhouse according to the 1891 Census.  Unfortunately, no further records can be verified for Henry.  However, it does look as though Letitia and Fanny remained closely linked, with both moving to London.

 

In the 1891 census, Letitia was noted as a general domestic servant for a lodging house keeper at 51 Lupus Street, Pimlico, London (18).  She is down as a widow, age 40 and born in London.  This is, of course, inaccurate personal information about our Letitia, and there were more errors concerning her daughter who was living in Claverton Street, a road which adjoins Lupus Street.  The Census named her as Fanny Hart, an 18-year-old unmarried servant, born in Sussex (sic), Guildford (19).  This is probably a combination of enumerator errors and “little white lies” told by Letitia to legitimise her situation. 

 

Records then note that on 13 June 1895, a Letitia Hunt, born in 1845 and an unmarried servant – all correct information regarding our Letitia – was admitted to the St George’s Union Workhouse in the Fulham Road, London (20).  This Workhouse was just a couple of miles from Lupus Street, and given the rarity of her name, it seems very likely that this is our Letitia.  She entered the same workhouse at least three times in the next two years, including one occasion in 1896 when she appears to have just had breakfast there before releasing herself the same day (21). 

 

Letitia’s only other close relative, her brother James, had moved from Shere to London sometime after 1871 (22).  He had married in Wandsworth in 1879 (23) and in 1881 at the age of 28 was a gas-fitter living in Lambeth (24).  He was living in nearby Camberwell in 1891 (25), and remained there until his death in 1932 (26), so this may have influenced Letitia – Lupus Street is less than five miles from Camberwell.

 

Letitia has not been traced on the 1901 Census – her last confirmed record being New Year’s Day 1897 in the St George’s Union Workhouse (21).  Daughter Fanny, 28, is by then an unmarried general servant working for civil servant James Charles Coombs and his family at 18 Hinckley Road, Camberwell, just a few minutes’ walk away from her uncle James (27).  On this Census, Fanny has acquired a middle name, noted with the letter E.  This is revealed to be Elizabeth on the 1911 Census, with Fanny, now 39, still single and servant to James Coombs and family at the same address (28).  Although Fanny was not registered at birth or baptised with the middle name Elizabeth, both Censuses state that this Fanny Elizabeth Hunt was born in Guildford.  No record has been found of someone of that name being born in the Guildford area around 1872/3, so it seems that she had decided to give herself a middle name.  Stronger proof that she is the correct Fanny Hunt is shown on her mother’s death certificate in 1910.

 

Over 13 years had passed since Letitia’s last known whereabouts.  Then on 1 July 1910 a Letitia Hunt is recorded as having been admitted to the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum in Fareham, close to Portsmouth (29), where she passed away on 30 October 1910 from heart disease (30).  The Fareham Asylum notified the Farnham Workhouse Board of Guardians of the death, which suggests that she was in the Farnham Workhouse prior to being moved to the Asylum (31).  Farnham is some 15 miles west of Letitia’s birthplace of Shere.

 

The death record at first glance appears to be the wrong one, as it says Letitia was a widow of Bartlett Hunt, a general labourer, of Farnham Workhouse in Surrey, although her age of 66 is only a year over what our Letitia would have been.  However, the witness to the death is Fanny E. Hunt, of 18 Hinckley Road, clearly linking the two together.  There are no admission records existing for the Farnham Workhouse, and no trace of Bartlett Hunt, so the full story of Letitia’s latter years will probably never be known.

 

Fanny’s future was clearer, although no less sad.  On Saturday 26 May 1923 she was admitted to the Constance Road Workhouse, Camberwell, from her home with the Coombs’ family where she had been for well over 20 years (32).  The admission record said that she was “alleged insane”.  Less than two weeks later, on 7 June, she was discharged to the Banstead Asylum (33).  She was 50 years of age.

 

The 1939 Register recorded Fanny as a patient of Banstead Hospital, the new name of the Banstead Asylum (34).  She lived for another 22 years, passing away there on 2 June 1961 of broncho pneumonia and senility, age 88 (35).

 

Letitia Hunt had an extremely difficult life.  She came through a traumatic childhood surrounded by so many deaths in her family, and then as an adult had the problems of trying to raise two illegitimate children without family support.  Perhaps it is not surprising that she ended up with mental problems.   Although Letitia’s son Henry’s fate remains unknown, her daughter Fanny was clearly much loved and respected by the family she served for so many years.  It’s very sad that she, like her mother, ended up with issues and spent her long later years in a mental institution.

 

 

February 2021

Barbara Hester, Mike Brock, Carol Thompson

References

1)    Letitia Hunt Birth June Quarter 1845, Guildford Vol 4 Page 163.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. (Accessed 3 February 2021)  Full birth certificate available from Gro.gov.uk.

2)    Job Hunt & Mary Hopkins Marriage 8 May 1845.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Marriages, St James Shere 1837-1884, Reference: SHER/2/4, page 63.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

3)    Letitia Hunt Baptism 25 July 1845, abode Shere.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St James Shere 1832-1871, Reference: SHER/4/2, page 64.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

4)    Elizabeth Hunt Baptism 26 July 1846, abode Shere.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St James Shere 1832-1871, Reference: SHER/4/2, page 67.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

Elizabeth Hunt Burial 29 August 1846, age 2 months, abode Shere.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St James Shere 1813-1847, Reference: SHER/5/1, page 91.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 
Stephen Hunt Baptism 14 April 1848, abode Brockham.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, Christ Church Brockham Green 1848-1912, Reference: 9370/1/1/1, page 1.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

Stephen Hunt Burial 12 July 1848, age 3 months, abode Back Lane Dorking.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Martin Dorking 1835-1867, Reference: DOM/4/2 page 128.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

Annie Hunt Baptism 11 June 1849, abode Barracks Dorking.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St Martin Dorking 1846-1853, Reference: DOM/3/3 page 43.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

Annie Hunt Burial 21 June 1849, age 3 months, abode Back Lane Dorking.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Martin Dorking 1835-1867, Reference: DOM/4/2 page 138.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

James Hunt Birth December Quarter 1850, Dorking, Surrey Vol 4 Page 142. 
Baptism 9 February 1851, abode Back Lane Dorking.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St Martin Dorking 1846-1853, Reference: DOM/3/3 page 63.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

Henry Hunt Baptism 13 March 1853, abode Stone Bridge Dorking.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St Martin Dorking 1846-1853, Reference: DOM/3/3 page 91.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

Henry Hunt Burial 23 February 1855, age 2, abode Cotmandene.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Martin Dorking 1835-1867, Reference: DOM/4/2 page 186.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

William Hunt Baptism 24 October 1854, abode Cotmandene.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St Martin Dorking 1853-1879, Reference: DOM/3/4 page 11.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

William Hunt Burial 28 February 1855, infant, abode Cotmandene.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Martin Dorking 1835-1867, Reference: DOM/4/2 page 187.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

5)    Mary Hunt Burial 25 November 1855, age 41, abode Cotmandene.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Martin Dorking 1835-1867, Reference: DOM/4/2 page 193.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

6)    Job, Mary, Letitia, James Hunt  1851 England Census, Back Lane, Dorking, Surrey.  Reference HO107; Piece: 1598; Folio: 316; Page 19.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

7)    Letitia Hunt 1861 England Census, Albury, Shere, Dorking, Surrey.  Reference Class: RG9; Piece: 426; Folio: 46; Page 23.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

8)    James Hunt  1861 England Census, Dorking, Surrey.  Reference Class: RG9; Piece: 441; Folio: 21; Page 35.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

9)    Alfred (sic = Job) Hunt  1861 England Census, Dorking, Surrey.  Reference Class: RG9; Piece: 440; Folio: 125; Page 9.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

10) Job Hunt Burial 29 January 1864, age 51, abode Shere.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St James Shere 1848-1924, Reference: SHER/5/2 page 46.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

11)  Henry Thomas Hunt Birth March Quarter 1869, Guildford Vol 2a Page 64.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. Full birth certificate available from Gro.gov.uk. 

12) Henry Thomas Hunt Baptism 24 October 1869.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St John The Evangelist, Stoke-Next-Guildford 1860-1877, Reference: STK/4/3, page 104.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

Henry Thomas Hunt Birth 2 January 1869  Baptism 24 October 1869, place Workhouse, Guildford, Surrey.  England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

13) Letitia Hunt  1871 England Census, Drummond Arms, Albury, Guildford, Surrey.  Reference Class: RG10; Piece: 810; Folio: 10; Page 13.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

14) Henry Hunt  1871 England Census, Shere, Albury, Guildford, Surrey.  Reference Class: RG10; Piece: 810; Folio: 71; Page 35.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

15) Fanny Hunt Birth December Quarter 1872, Guildford Vol 2a Page 60.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. Full birth certificate available from Gro.gov.uk.

16) Fanny Hunt Baptism 9 February 1873, abode Guildford Union.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St John The Evangelist, Stoke-Next-Guildford 1860-1877, Reference: STK/4/3, page 143.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

Fanny Hunt Birth 4 October 1872 Baptism 9 February 1873 place Workhouse, Guildford, Surrey.  England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

17) Letitia, Henry, Fanny Hunt 1881 England Census, Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey.  Reference Class: RG11; Piece: 778; Folio: 93; Page 7.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

18) Letitia Hunt 1891 England Census, Belgravia, St George Hanover Square, London.  Reference Class: RG12; Piece: 76; Folio: 62; Page 11.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

19) Fanny Hart (sic) 1891 England Census, Belgravia, St George Hanover Square, London.  Reference Class: RG12; Piece: 76; Folio: 57; Page 2.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

20) Letitia Hunt admission 13 June 1895 London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London, England, Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records; Fulham Road Workhouse Register 1895 Reference: WEBG/SG/118/059.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

21) Letitia Hunt admission 13 April 1896, discharge 13 April 1896 London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London, England, Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records; Fulham Road Workhouse Register 1896 Reference: WEBG/SG/118/062.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

Letitia Hunt discharge 5 June 1896 London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London, England, Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records; Fulham Road Workhouse Register 1896 Reference: WEBG/SG/118/062.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

Letitia Hunt admission 1 January 1897 London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London, England, Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records; Fulham Road Workhouse Register 1896-1897 Reference: WEBG/SG/118/064.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

22) James Hunt  1871 England Census, Gomshall, Shere, Surrey.  Reference Class: RG10; Piece: 810; Folio: 56; Page 5.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

23) James Hunt & Martha Carter Marriage 26 April 1879.  London Metropolitan Archives, London, England; London Church of England Marriages; All Saints Wandsworth 1861-1921. Reference: P95/ALL1/009, page 28.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

24) James & Martha Hunt  1881 England Census, Lambeth, London.  Reference Class: RG11; Piece: 595; Folio: 76; Page 16.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

25) James & Martha Hunt  1891 England Census, Peckham, Camberwell.  Reference Class: RG12; Piece: 475; Folio: 79; Page 33.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

26) James Hunt Death June Quarter 1932, Camberwell Vol 1d Page 787.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.   

27) Fanny E Hunt  1901 England Census, Camberwell.  Reference Class: RG13; Piece: 500; Folio: 130; Page 17.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

28) Fanny Elizabeth Hunt  1911 England Census, Camberwell South.  Reference Class: RG14; Piece: 2466; Schedule 210.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

29) Letitia Hunt admission 1 July 1910 The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Lunacy Patients Admission Registers 1846-1912; Class: MH 94; Piece: 45.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk.

30) Letitia Hunt Death December Quarter 1910, Fareham Vol 2b Page 373.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. Full death certificate available from Gro.gov.uk.

31) Letitia Hunt Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Farnham Board of Guardians Minute Books 1872-1910, BG4/11/12, 15 November 1910, page 171.  Available at Surreycc.gov.uk. 

32) Fanny Hunt  26 May 1923  London Metropolitan Archives, London, England.  Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records,  St Giles, Camberwell, Southwark, Constance Road Institution, 1922-23, reference CABG/185/48, Page 152.   Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

33) Fanny Hunt  7 June 1923  London Metropolitan Archives, London, England.  Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records,  St Giles, Camberwell, Southwark, Constance Road Institution, 1922-23, reference CABG/185/48, Page 159.   Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

34) Fanny Hunt The National Archives, Kew, London, England.  1939 England and Wales Register, Banstead Hospital, Banstead, Surrey.  Reference: RG 101/1407I, schedule 6, sub-schedule 193, line 22.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. 

35) Fanny Hunt Death June Quarter 1961, Surrey Mid Eastern Vol 5g Page 300.  Available at Ancestry.co.uk. Full death certificate available from Gro.gov.uk.