CHRISTIANA DOUTHWAITE

Subject Name : Christiana Douthwaite (b 1801 – d 1882)

Researchers : Mike Brock and Carol Thompson

Christiana Douthwaite, listed as a 77-year-old widowed inmate in the Guildford Union Workhouse in the 1881 Census (1), had lived a long and eventful life in the rapidly developing industrial north-east of England before, well into her 70s, she travelled over 250 miles south to Surrey to spend her final days close to her family.

She was born in Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, on 29 July 1801, the second of seven daughters born between 1799 and 1812 to innkeeper James Gray and wife Ann. Christiana was baptised on 11 October 1801 at St. Thomas’ Church, now known as Stockton Parish Church, in the centre of town (2).

Although there is little known of the Gray family in the early part of the 19^th century, Christiana and her six sisters all reached adulthood, a great credit to their parents James and Ann (3).

Stockton, however, was hitting the headlines, with the town becoming a terminus for the world’s first commercial railway, the Stockton-Darlington line, opened in 1825 (4). It was also the main port on the River Tees, with Middlesbrough four miles downstream yet to be developed (5).

Christiana, age 33, married John Potter, an agricultural labourer around eight years younger, on 13 June 1835 at St. Thomas’ Church (6) and they soon started raising a family. The 1841 Census shows them living in West Row, Stockton-on-Tees, with three children – Ann, age 5, Elizabeth 3, and Ellen, just 5 days old (7). They did have a son, William, in 1843 but he died at just 6 months from inflammation of the windpipe (8).

John was still noted as an agricultural labourer on the 1841 Census, but around 1845 he became a merchandise guard on the Stockton and Darlington railway (9). The 1851 Census showed the family had moved just over ten miles west to Darlington where they had acquired a lodger, Robert Thompson, age just 4, born in Islington, London (10). The oldest daughter Annie, 15, was now living and working as a house servant in Hilton, near Stokesley, about 15 miles away (11).

Just under three years later, on 13 March 1854, John died in a terrible accident on the railway when he was crushed and run over when attempting to uncouple timber wagons which had come off the rails at a junction just outside Stockton Station (9). He was 45. The inquest found no evidence to indicate how John had fallen from the train so a verdict of accidental death was given. Christiana was therefore widowed at the age of 52.

There are no records to say what happened to Christiana over the next five years, until on 14 May 1859 she married Henry Douthwaite at the Holy Trinity Church, Stockton-on-Tees (12). He was a 58- year-old widowed ships’ block and mast maker from Middlesbrough.

Like Christiana, Henry had been through personal tragedy. Just two days before Christiana’s husband John had been killed, Henry’s first wife Elizabeth had died after giving birth to their son John Henry (13, 14). The child was clearly very ill and was baptised the same day (15), but he too passed away after living for just 15 hours (16). The funeral of both mother and child took place on 14 March 1854 (16, 17). Henry’s devastation at his double loss must have worsened when his remaining son James died age 21 just six months later (18). Henry’s mind was clearly in deep turmoil, leading him to attempt to take his own life on 16 September 1855 in his house in Graham Street, Middlesbrough (19). Fortunately, he was discovered in time and was saved. Two days later, he was admitted to the County Lunatic Asylum, York, where he remained for almost two years until 29 July 1857 (20).

When and where Christiana and Henry first met is of course unknown, but it can only be hoped that the sharing of their appalling experiences would have been of some help and comfort to each other.

Following their marriage, Christiana and Henry set up home in Middlesbrough. The 1861 Census showed them living in East Street with three of Henry’s daughters – Anne Elizabeth age 15, Catherine age 13, and Agnes age 11 – as well as Christiana’s 19-year-old daughter Ellen and 14-year-old lodger Robert Thompson (21). Elizabeth Emily, Christiana’s 23-year-old daughter, was noted as a visitor, while her other daughter Annie, 24, had moved south to work as a cook in Woking (22).

Middlesbrough, which had a population of less than 100 in 1829, had almost 19,000 living there in 1861, thanks to the new industrial development producing pig iron, and the docks where Henry was employed as a block and mast maker. This sudden growth came with many social problems including crime, drunkenness, violence, begging and prostitution, and Christiana and Henry’s East Street home was right in the centre of it (23).

Unfortunately, Henry’s mental health was again causing concern, and on 11 March 1862 he was readmitted to the County Asylum. He remained there for over six months, being released as “recovered” on 27 October 1862 (24).

While Henry was absent, Christiana’s unmarried daughter Ellen became pregnant, giving birth to Emily in early 1863 (25). Another of Christiana’s daughters, Elizabeth, also became pregnant around this time, giving birth to Anne Wilkinson on 31 August 1863 (26). The birth certificate indicated that the father was Richard Wilkinson and that Elizabeth was married to him, although there is no official record of this marriage. When Elizabeth married Henry Goldsmith in 1871, the certificate stated she was a spinster with the surname Potter, so the “marriage” to Richard was indeed fictional (27).

By the time of the 1871 Census, Christiana and Henry, both age 68, had moved just a short distance from East Street to Marton Road in Middlesbrough (28). They shared their house with Christiana’s two grandchildren, Emily Potter, age 8, and Annie Wilkinson, age 7, as well as the long-time lodger Robert Thompson, 23 – who was now an apprentice block and mast maker, presumably to Henry – plus two other lodgers. Christiana’s daughter Ellen had died the previous year of liver disease age 28 (29), while Elizabeth had left her child Annie with Christiana, heading south to marry in Esher, Surrey in December 1871 (27). All of Henry’s daughters had moved away.

The following year, the lodger Robert Thompson married Mary Jane Holmes in Middlesbrough (30). The marriage certificate said that his deceased father Robert had been a master mariner, but what the connection had been between him and Christiana’s family for his son to have been raised by them is still a mystery.

The next few years saw Henry’s mental health worsen again, and he was readmitted to the County Asylum on 16 March 1877. He remained there for the rest of his life, passing away on 6 June 1879, age 76 (31).

Christiana’s thoughts during this difficult time must have turned to her two surviving daughters and their families. Her oldest daughter Annie, who had been living in Woking in 1861 (22), had married George Cooper in Derbyshire in 1867 (32) and later that year had given birth in Stockton to a daughter Ellen (33). Annie and Ellen had then lived in Nottingham where George was working as a butler (34), and a second child Lilly was born (35), before they moved in the 1870s to Godalming. George passed away there aged only 42, in April 1879 (36), just a few weeks before Christiana’s husband Henry died in the asylum (31).

It seems most likely that this sad coincidence led to Christiana deciding to make the long journey south to be with Annie, Ellen and Lilly in Godalming (37).

Christiana’s other daughter Elizabeth was also fairly close by with two young children (38). It is also very likely that Christiana’s grand-daughter Emily made the journey south with her, as she is noted in the 1881 Census working as a kitchen maid at Charlwood Park, right alongside what is now the site of Gatwick Airport (39).

Christiana had clearly been a strong and loyal wife, mother and grandmother, coming through the tragic loss of her first husband and the trauma of coping with her second husband’s mental illness. Her death in Guildford was a long way from her roots in the north east, but life in Stockton and Middlesbrough had been tough. In her final years, Christiana had her family nearby in their newly adopted homes in the Surrey area.

March 2021, updated May 2022

References

(1) Christianna Douthwaite. 1881 England Census, Guildford Union Workhouse, Surrey. Reference RG11; Piece: 778; Folio: 91; Page: 4. Ancestry.co.uk

(2) Jane Gray Baptism 6 January 1800, 1^st daughter, born 3 October 1799.

Cleveland Family History Society; Durham Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, Stockton on Tees. Findmypast.co.uk

Christian Gray Baptism 11 October 1801, 2^nd daughter, born 29 July 1801.

Cleveland Family History Society; Durham Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, Stockton on Tees. Findmypast.co.uk

Mary Gray Baptism 18 October 1803, 3^rd daughter, born 13 September 1803.