ann woods
nee tickner

Subject :  Ann Woods née Tickner (b. ca 1803 – d 1888)

Researcher :  Val Pink

 

Ann Woods raised eight children with husband Henry in Godalming, but after his death she had to earn her living, despite being well into her sixties, before ending her days in the Workhouse. 

Ann was born in Godalming in about 1803, the seventh child of Henry and Sarah Tickner née Sweatman and was baptised on 30th October 1803 in the St Peter and St Paul Parish Church 1, 2.

She was married in the same church on 5th July 1824 to cordwainer (shoemaker) Henry Woods, giving birth to their first child Ann soon after 3.  She, along with her next three siblings, were baptised at the St Peter and St Paul Church 4. 

Henry’s shoemaking business would most likely have made use of the refined leather produced at the several tanneries in and around Godalming at that time 5.

Ann and Henry’s next child Elizabeth was, however, given a non-conformist baptism in 1834 by Albury MP Henry Drummond, an advocate of Scottish preacher Edward Irving’s sect The One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church 6, 7.  Their sixth child, Mary, was similarly baptised four years later 8. 

As the sect continued to grow, Henry Drummond had a church built on his Albury Park estate in 1840. 

By the time of the 1841 Census, Ann, Henry and their six children aged between 15 and 3 had moved from Godalming and were now living in Mount Street, Guildford 9. 

Ann gave birth to Alfred, her seventh and final child, in 1844, but no record has been found for a baptism at any church 10. 

The 1851 Census showed Ann, 47, and 48-year-old cordwainer Henry still in Mount Street 11.  This was the first Census to name places of birth, but it seems that Henry did not know more than that he was born in Surrey.  Three of their children – Elizabeth (16), Mary (13) and Alfred (7) – were with them.

Ann and Henry had crossed over the River Wey to live in Quarry Hill, Shalford by the time of the 1861 Census 12.  Both were 58, with their 18-year-old son Alfred quite literally following in his father’s footsteps as a cordwainer.  Ann and Henry’s 3-year-old Croydon born grandson was also with them.

Ann’s husband Henry, a ‘master shoemaker’, passed away from lung disease aged 63 at home in Quarry Hill on 30th June 1864, and was buried on 5th July at the St Mary the Virgin Church, Shalford 13, 14.  Ann, although over 60 years of age, would have needed to find a source of income to keep her out of the Workhouse, so she became a domestic servant.  The 1871 Census noted 67-year-old Ann as a live-in general servant for widower William Finlayson in Hare Lane, Farncombe 15.  He had four children there, so Ann would have been kept busy with all the household chores.

It is not known how long Ann was able to continue like this, but at some stage she became an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse.  There are no records indicating exactly when this happened, but the 1881 Census showed her to be there, a 73-year-old (probably 78) widowed domestic servant, born in Godalming 16.

However, it seems that Ann did leave the Guildford Union Workhouse at least once.  On 2nd February 1884, a letter from the Croydon Union was read out at a meeting of the Guildford Union Board of Guardians, advising that Ann Woods was now a Croydon Workhouse inmate, and requesting that Guildford accept her.  Ann had ‘recently’ left Guildford Workhouse, and Guildford ‘resolved that she be accepted without a formal order’ 17.  Poor Law rules stipulated that Ann would have been chargeable to her home parish of Guildford, hence the request from Croydon to Guildford 18.  Her son Henry, a tinsmith, had been living in Croydon with his family for some 30 years, so Ann may have gone to live with him before, for whatever reason, she had to enter the workhouse there 19.

Ann died in the Guildford Union Workhouse on 10th February 1888 from heart disease, aged 83 according to the records, but probably a year or two older than that – quite an achievement as average life expectancy in the 1800’s was only around 40 to 50 years of age 20, 21.  She was buried three days later at Guildford’s St Mary’s Church 22.

July 2020, updated June 2024

References

All references are from Ancestry.co.uk unless otherwise noted

  1. Henry Tickner & Sarah Sweatman 22 Apr 1792 marriage. Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul; GOD/2/1-2
  2. Henry Tickner 7 Apr 1793 baptism
    John Tickner 9 Nov 1794 baptism
    Jane Tickner 30 Jul 1797 baptism
    Charles Tickner 24 Feb 1799 baptism
    James, Elizabeth Tickner 25 Oct 1801 baptism
    Ann Tickner 30 Oct 1803 baptism
    Sarah Tickner 29 Mar 1807 baptism
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul; GOD/1/5
  3. Henry Woods & Ann Tickner 5 Jul 1824 marriage. Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul; GOD/2/3
  4. Ann Woods 16 Jan 1825 baptism
    Henry Woods 21 Jan 1827 baptism
    William Woods 20 Jul 1828 baptism
    James Woods 13 Nov 1831 baptism
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul; GOD/4/1
  5. Textiles and Leather Surrey’s Industrial Past; section 5; Surrey Industrial History Group, edited by Glenys Crocker, 1999. Available from Surrey Archaeological Society, Abinger, Surrey
    ShoemakingWikipedia.org
    Godalming en.Wikipedia.org
  6. Elizabeth Woods 7 Dec 1834 baptism. The National Archives, Kew; Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857; Class RG4; Piece 3099; Albury, the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, 1833-1840
  7. Catholic Apostolic Church org/catholic-apostolic-church-apostles-henry-drummond
    Catholic Apostolic Church en.Wikipedia.org
    Albury and the Catholic Apostolic Church, an Updated version of a talk given to the Albury History Society, 21 March 2007 Dr Tim Grass. Alburyhistory.org.uk
  8. Mary Woods 6 Jan 1838 baptism. The National Archives, Kew; Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857; Class RG4; Piece 4143; Chelsea, College Street (Irvingite), the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, 1837-1840
  9. Henry, Ann, Ann, Henry, William, James, Elizabeth, Mary 1841 England Census; Mount Street, Guildford, St Nicholas; Class HO107; Piece 1082; Book 4; Folio 9; Page 13
  10. Alfred Woods Birth England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index 1837-1915; Jan-Feb-Mar 1844; Guildford, Surrey; Volume 4; Page 16
  11. Henry, Ann, Elizabeth, Mary, Alfred 1851 England Census; 3 Mount Street, Guildford, St Nicholas; Class HO107; Piece 1594; Folio 607; Page 18
  12. Henry, Ann, Alfred, Henry Lawrence 1861 England Census; Quarry Hill, Shalford, Hambledon; Class RG9; Piece 438; Folio 151; Page 9
  13. Henry Woods 30 Jun 1864 Death England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915; Jul-Aug-Sep 1864; Hambledon, Surrey; Volume 2A; Page 71. Digital copy of death certificate from GRO.gov.uk
  14. Henry Woods 5 Jul 1864 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Shalford, St Mary the Virgin; SHD/4/2
  15. William, Elizabeth, Agnes, Catherine, William G Finlayson; Ann Woods 1871 England Census; Hare Lane, Godalming; Class RG10; Piece 814; Folio 57; Page 48
  16. Ann Woods 1881 England Census; Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford; Class RG11; Piece 778; Folio 93; Page 8
  17. Ann Woods 2 Feb 1884 Guildford Poor Law Union Minute Books, ref BG6/11/21, page 45. Surrey History Centre, Woking gov.uk
  18. Poor Law (Amendment Act) 1834 Full text Workhouses.org.uk
  19. Henry, Jane, William, Fred E, Eugenie Woods 1861 England Census; Union Street, Croydon; Class RG9; Piece 448; Folio 154; Pages 38 & 39
    Henry, Emma, Frederick, Frank Woods 1871 England Census; Union Street, Croydon; Class RG10; Piece 841; Folio 41; Page 36
    Henry, Emma, Frank Woods 1881 England Census; Adelaide Street, Croydon; Class RG11; Piece 812; Folio 13; Page 20
  20. Ann Woods 10 Feb 1888 Death England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915; Jan-Feb-Mar 1888; Guildford, Surrey; Volume 2A; Page 64. Digital copy of death certificate from GRO.gov.uk
  21. Life Expectancy in Britain in the 19th Century A History of Life Expectancy LocalHistories.org
    How has life expectancy changed over time?  Office for National Statistics ONS.gov.uk
  22. Ann Woods 13 Feb 1888 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, St Mary; GUM/5/2