daniel Dewbury

 

Subject Name :  Daniel Dewbury (Dewberry)  (b1797 – d 1887)

Researcher :      Pauline Sieler

Daniel Dewbury was well into his 80s in the Guildford Union Workhouse Census of 1881, making him one of the oldest male inmates.  He was a former soldier, who spent over 12 years in South Africa, and a twice-widowed agricultural labourer.

Daniel was born on 25th February 1797, the third of seven children of William and Elizabeth Dewbery 1.  He was baptised on 19th March at Ripley’s St Mary’s Church.

When Daniel was 12, his mother Elizabeth died in June 1809 and was buried at St Peter’s Church, Woking 2. His father William does not appear to have remarried.

Daniel was only 18 when he married Mary Taylor in October 1815 at St Peter’s 3.  Mary, also about 18, was expecting their first child, William 4.  Three more sons followed, but Mary died shortly after giving birth to David in 1823 5, 6.  She was buried at St Peter’s aged 26 on 10th May. David was baptised at the same church on 1st June.

Daniel joins the Army

This would have been a tough time for Daniel, trying to look after four small boys aged between 8 and 1, and earn a living as a labourer.  Despite this – or maybe even because of this – he enlisted in the British Army in May 1824, attesting for the newly-formed 98th Regiment of Foot 7, 8.  No records have been found to show who was left with the task of raising William, John, James and David.

In December that year, the 98th Regiment was posted to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, where they were to remain for over 12 years.  Although the Regiment was never called into action, it proved to be not a happy time for Daniel. 

Whilst working as a cook in the Army hospital, he scalded his leg whilst in a ‘state of intoxication’.  In September 1836, he was court martialled in Cape Town for being ‘drunk on duty’ and sentenced to three months hard labour in gaol 9. 

The 98th Regiment returned home the following year, arriving back at Spithead, Portsmouth in June 1837 10.  Two months later, Daniel was declared unfit for further service because the scalding on his leg had turned into an ulcer which had failed to heal.  His medical report stated that he had spent 607 days in hospital, adding that the ‘protracted time of his cure originated from an irritable and broken-down constitution resulting from the immoderate use of ardent spirits, to which he was much addicted’.

Daniel was described upon leaving the Army as being 5’7” (1.70m) tall, brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion with his occupation a labourer.  He was unable to write, as he signed his report with a mark.  The Regimental Board described his general character in one word – ‘drunken’.

Despite this far from glowing reference, Daniel still received an Army pension for one year, which amounted to 6d (2.5p) per day 11.  The cost of a 4lb (1.8kg) loaf in 1837 was 9d (4p approx.) so his pension wouldn’t have gone very far 12.

Back in Woking

While he was in South Africa, Daniel’s youngest son David had passed away in Sutton Green aged 11 in October 1834, but there was better news to come when in 1838, two of his sons’ marriages took place 13, 14.  Firstly, eldest son William married in July in Guildford and then John wed in Worplesdon in October.

In 1841 Daniel, 40 and his unmarried son James, 20, were lodging with Daniel’s sister Dinah Why, her husband and three children in Sutton, Woking 15. 

Daniel’s father William, a 71-year-old husbandman (farmer) died in Sutton, Woking, in 1842, dividing his estate equally between his four surviving offspring, including Daniel, and their children 16.  However, there was less than £300 in his will to be distributed amongst everyone.

A second marriage

On 4th November 1843, 42-year-old labourer Daniel married widow Rhoda Ladd, 36, at St Peter’s, Woking 17.  The very next entry on the St Peter’s register on 8th December showed his son James marrying 18.  In a nice touch, Daniel’s wife of five weeks Rhoda was one of the witnesses to mark the register.

Daniel was seemingly on course for a settled family life but this was not to be the case.  By the 1851 Census he was an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse 19.  He was recorded as unmarried, with no employment, and an ‘idiot’, a medical term at that time for someone who had the mental age of a child not beyond the age of two 20.   This would appear to be an enumerator error as no further mention of this has been found.  As for being ‘unmarried’, however, no record for his wife Rhoda’s whereabouts in that Census has been traced. 

Daniel does not appear to be on the 1861 Census, although 191 Guildford Union Workhouse inmate Census records have been lost, so he could well be one of those missing names 21.  This time Rhoda was on the Census as a 53-year-old married dressmaker born in Kirdford, Sussex lodging in Sutton, Woking, with John and Mary Bristow, her parents 22.

The first record found for Daniel since the seemingly inaccurate 1851 Census is the 1864-1871 Guildford Union Poor Law Accounts, which revealed that in the 18-month period between September 1863 and March 1865 Daniel was an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse for almost all of that time 23.  Now moving into his late 60s and early 70s, the records for the following years showed that Daniel spent much of the six months between September and March in the Workhouse but far less time as an inmate in the other half of the year.  As he did not receive any poor relief funding when he was not in the Workhouse, it would suggest that he was earning his keep as a labourer in the Spring and Summer months.  Whether his ulcerated leg was still a concern is not known, but he was managing without receiving any medical poor relief.

Daniel’s wife Rhoda was not mentioned in any of these Poor Law Accounts records, so it would seem that she was having nothing to do with him, but when she died in Sutton, Woking in April 1870 aged 65, the certificate noted her as the ‘wife of Daniel Dewberry, agricultural labourer’ 24.  

In April 1871 Daniel was out of the Workhouse, lodging at the Cricketer’s Inn, Ripley 25.  The Census said he was a 75-year-old ‘married’ farm labourer, so it is possible he wasn’t aware that his wife Rhoda had died the previous year. 

There are no records to indicate when Daniel was next admitted to the Guildford Union Workhouse, but by the time of the 1881 Census, he was a widower inmate 26.  Now well into his 80s, he almost certainly remained there until passing away from ‘decay of age’ on 6th December 1887 27.  He was recorded as a ‘farm labourer of Woking’, with his age given as 94 although he would actually have been 90.  Daniel was buried at Woking’s St John the Baptist church three days later 28.

 

December 2020, updated August 2024

References

Note :  the source is FindMyPast.co.uk unless otherwise stated.  Spellings are as written in the records.

  1. James Dubery 5 Aug 1793 Baptism (born 28 Jul 1793)
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Baptisms; Send & Ripley, St Mary 1792–1812; ref SEN1/7
    John Dewbery  5 Apr 1795 Baptism (born 23 Mar 1795)
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Baptisms; Send & Ripley, St Mary 1792–1812; ref SEN1/7
    Daniel Dewbery 17 Mar 1797 Baptism (born 25 Feb 1797)
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Baptisms; Ripley, St Mary 1794–1812; ref RIP1/1
    Mary Dewbery 24 Mar 1799 Baptism
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Baptisms; West Clandon, Ss Peter & Paul 1756–1807; ref CLW1/3
    Diana Dewberry  19 Jul 1801 Baptism (born 22 Jun 1801)
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Baptisms; Send & Ripley, St Mary 1792–1812; ref SEN1/7
    Charlotte Dewberry  12 May 1805 Baptism (born 18 Mar 1805)
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Baptisms; Woking, St Peter 1770–1808; ref WOKP1/3
    David Dewberry 19 Jul 1807 Baptism (born 18 Jun 1807)
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Baptisms; Woking, St Peter 1770–1808; ref WOKP1/3
  2. Elizabeth Dewberry 19 Jun 1809 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Burials; Woking, St Peter 1809–1866; ref WOKP5/1
  3. Daniel Dewberry & Mary Taylor Oct 1815 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Marriages; Woking, St Peter 1813–1837; ref WOKP3/4
  4. William Dewberry 21 Jan 1816 Baptism Woking, St Peter FreeReg.org.uk
  5. John Dewbury 29 Mar 1818 Baptism Woking, St Peter
    James Dewbury 17 Sep 1820 Baptism Woking, St Peter
    David Dewbury 1 Jun 1823 Baptism Woking, St Peter
    FreeReg.org.uk
  6. May Dubary 10 May 1823 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Burials; Woking, St Peter 1809–1866; ref WOKP5/1
  7. Private Daniel Dewberry 21 May 1824 enlistment; 22 Jul 1837 discharge
    The National Archives, Kew; Royal Hospital Chelsea; Pensioner Soldiers’ Service Documents 1760-1920; ref WO97 Ancestry.co.uk/Fold3.com
  8. 98th (Prince of Wales’s) Regiment of Foot Wikipedia.org
  9. Danl. Dewberry 2 Sep 1836 The National Archives, Kew; Judge Advocate General’s Office; District Courts Martial Registers, Home and Abroad 1834-1836; series WO86; piece 002
  10. The Army 22 Jun 1837 The Enniskillen Chronicle, and Erne Packet, page 3
  11. Danl. Dewberry 13 Sep 1837 The National Archives, Kew; Royal Hospital Chelsea; Admission Books, Registers and Papers 1702-1980; ref WO23/9; piece 002
  12. Price of Bread 15-18 July 1837 The St James Chronicle and General Evening Post, page 1
  13. David Duberry 10 Oct 1834 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Burials; Woking, St Peter 1809–1866; ref WOKP5/1
  14. William Dubery & Hannah Lee 21 Jul 1838 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Marriages; Guildford, Holy Trinity 1837–1894; ref GUHT2/3
    John Dewberry & Caroline Hepburn 20 Oct 1838 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Marriages; Worplesdon, St Mary 1837–1893; ref WOR2/4
  15. Henry, Dinnah, Henry, Geo, Ann Why; James, Donald sic Dubery 1841 England, Wales & Scotland Census for Sutton, Woking, Guildford, Surrey; ref HO107; piece 1080; book 6; folio 34; page 23; schedule 1288
    Henry Why & Dinah Dawberry 17 Apr 1824 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Marriages; Woking, St Peter 1813–1837; ref WOKP3/4
  16. William Dewberry 17 Dec 1842 Probate Date London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, Clerkenwell, London; ref DW/PA/5/1842; will no 9 Ancestry.co.uk
  17. Daniel Dewberry & Rhoda Ladd 4 Nov 1843 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Marriages; Woking, St Peter 1837–1899; ref WOKP3/5
  18. James Dewberry & Rebecca Lampard 8 Dec 1843 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Marriages; Woking, St Peter 1837–1899; ref WOKP3/5
  19. Daniel Dewberry 1851 England, Wales & Scotland Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke next Guildford, Surrey; ref HO107; piece 1594; folio 467; page 2; schedule 1
  20. The Language of Madness: Understanding Terminology Restoring Perspective, Life and Treatment at the London Asylum, project of the University of Western Ontario, Canada lib.uwo.ca/archives/virtualexhibits/londonasylum/terminology
  21. 1861 England Census Returns. Missing Pages  RG9/427 Registration sub-district 4 Guildford. Parish Stoke next Guildford Guildford Union Workhouse: 5-12 (end) 191 persons.   The National Archives, Kew Discovery.NationalArchives.gov.uk
  22. John, Mary Bristow; Rhoda Dewberry 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census for Sutton, Woking, Surrey; ref RG09; piece 424; folio 155; page 12; schedule 64
    Rhoda Bristow 13 Dec 1807 Family Search Int’l; Sussex Baptisms; Wisborough Green, Sussex
  23. Daniel Dewberry/Dewbury 1864–1871 Guildford Poor Law Union Statement of Accounts; Surrey History Centre, Woking; Reference SHC/BG6/33/1
  24. Rhoda Dewberry 13 Apr 1870 England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007; Guildford, Surrey; volume 2A, page 30. Digital copy from Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  25. Daniel Dubbery 1871 England, Wales & Scotland Census for Cricketers Inn, Ripley, Guildford, Surrey; ref RG10; piece 809; folio 35; page 21; schedule 129
  26. Daniel Dewbury 1881 England, Wales & Scotland Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Guildford, Surrey; ref RG11; piece 778; folio 94; page 9; schedule 3
  27. Daniel Dewberry 6 Dec 1887 England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007; Guildford, Surrey; volume 2A, page 52. Digital copy from Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  28. Daniel Dewberry 6 Dec 1887 Death 9 Dec Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Guildford Workhouse Deaths 1887-1914; ref BG6/38/1, page 3