emily legg

Subject :            Emily Legg (b 1815 – d 1889)

Researcher :      Jo Patrick

Emily Legg was born with a condition which meant that she needed constant care throughout her life.  After her father died, her mother became Emily’s sole carer for over 15 years, despite her age and increasing infirmity.  Poor relief from the Guildford Union enabled them to stay in their Albury family home, but when her mother died aged 83, it seemed there was no other option but for Emily, now in her 60s, to enter the Guildford Union Workhouse.

Emily Legg was born on 24th February 1814 and baptised as ‘Amelia Lagg’ at St Mary’s Church in Send with Ripley the following month 1.   Her parents were James, a labourer, and Elizabeth née Dyer 2.  Emily was the eldest of nine children.

Soon after Emily’s birth, the family moved to Worplesdon where five siblings were born by 1825.  Two more siblings, George and Frederick, were born in Guildford, with Thomas lastly in Albury Heath as their father moved around to find employment 3. 

In 1841, James, Elizabeth and their children ‘Amelia’ (Emily), Daniel, Susannah, George, Frederick and Thomas were still in Albury Heath 4.  Robert, Maria and Jane had all left home.  Most unusually for that era, all the children survived their childhood 5.  Until the mid-1870s, over a quarter of children born in the UK did not reach the age of 5 6.

The 1851 Census recorded ‘Emaley’, 37, in Albury with her parents, brother Frederick and her 11-month-old nephew George, son of sister Susannah, plus two lodgers 6.

Emily’s father James, a ‘farm labourer’, died in Albury Heath in late December 1860, aged 71 9.  He was buried at Albury’s St Peter & St Paul, the Church where he had been baptised in 1790 10, 11. Three months later, the Census recorded that 47-year-old Emily was living at Farm Hill Lodge, Albury, where her mother Elizabeth was ‘lodge keeper’ 12.  

The Guildford Union Poor Law Accounts Book for 1864-1871, the only years available, show that both Elizabeth and Emily were receiving quite considerable amounts of outdoor poor relief from Union funds in terms of money (probably rent) and ‘in kind’ (mainly food, eg bread) for that period 13. 

The reason for this poor relief was that Elizabeth, now in her 70s, was ‘infirm’, and Emily was an ‘imbecile’.  This latter term was widely used by Victorians, referring to people whose mental age did not exceed that of a normal child of about seven years old 14.  Emily’s disability was not recorded on the 1871 Census, the first time this type of information had been included.  It was probably not disclosed to the Census enumerator as her mother Elizabeth may well have seen as it as a ‘shameful’ condition.  This Census did, however, confirm that mother and daughter were still living at Farm Hill Lodge on the Albury Park Estate 15.

Emily’s mother Elizabeth died in October 1877 at the age of 83, and was buried at Albury’s St Peter & St Paul Church, like her husband nearly 27 years earlier 12, 9.  Her death certificate said she was the widow of James Legg, a ‘gardener’, so it is probable that James had been working on the Albury Park Estate when he died.  

Four years later, in 1881, 66-year-old Emily was an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse, now officially recorded as an ‘Imbecile from Birth’ 17.  There are no remaining admission records, but it seems likely that Emily was moved to the Workhouse around the time of her mother’s death.  After having been looked after by her family her whole life, it must have been a wrench and a frightening experience at least initially for Emily.

Emily passed away in the Guildford Workhouse on 18th March 1889, aged 75, and was buried 2 days later at St Peter and St Paul in Albury, the same village church as her parents 18, 19.

 

February 2022, updated March 2025

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

References

Note:  the source is Ancestry.co.uk unless otherwise noted. Spellings are as in the original documents.

  1. Amelia Lagg sic 24 Feb 1814 Birth, 20 Mar 1814 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Send, St Mary; ref Sen/4/1
  2. James Legg & Elizabeth Dyer 22 Nov 1813 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Send, St Mary; ref Sen/2/5
  3. Robert Legg 19 May 1816 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary the Virgin; ref WOR/4/1
    Maria Legg 14 Jun 1818 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary the Virgin; ref WOR/4/1
    Daniel Lagg 10 Sep 1820 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary the Virgin; ref WOR/4/1
    Jane Legge 29 Dec 1822 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary the Virgin; ref WOR/4/1
    Susannah Legge 20 Feb 1825 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary the Virgin; ref WOR/4/1
    George Lagg 3 Jun 1827 Baptism, 22 Apr 1827 Birth Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, St Nicholas; ref GUN/2/1
    Frederick Legg 5 Aug 1829 Birth, 13 Sep 1829 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, St Nicholas; ref GUN/2/1
    Thomas Legg 13 Oct 1833 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Albury, St Peter & St Paul; ref ALB/3/1
  4. James, Elizabeth, Amelia, Daniel, George, Susannah, Frederick, Thomas Legg 1841 Census for Albury Heath; Class HO107; Piece 1045; Folio 15; Pages 23&24
  5. Robert Legg 1861 Census for Grocers shop, Valentines Lea, Northchapel, Sussex; Class RG9; Piece 627; Folio 76; Page 10
    Maria Legg & William Rennels Dean 28 Jun 1837 Marriage London Metropolitan Archives; London Church of England Parish Registers; Bishop’s Transcript, Shere; ref DW/T/8080
    Jane Legg & John Harrison 17 Oct 1840 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Albury St Peter & St Paul; ref ALB/2/2/3
    Thomas Legg 1851 Census for Albury, Surrey; Class RG9; Piece 1594; Folio 393; Page 29
  6. Child mortality rate (under five years old) in the United Kingdom from 1800 to 2020 statista.com
  7. James, Elizabeth, Emaley sic, Frederick, George Legg 1851 Census for Albury; Class HO107; Piece 1594; Folio 389; Page 21
  8. George Arthur Legg 30 Jun 1850 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Shere, St James; ref SHER/4/2
  9. James Legg 30 Dec 1860 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Guildford, Surrey; vol 2A, page 29 Digital copy of certificate from GRO.gov.uk
  10. James Legg 3 Jan 1861 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Albury, St Peter & St Paul; ref ALB/4/1-2
  11. James Legg 7 Feb 1790 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Albury, St Peter & St Paul; ref ALB/1/3
  12. Elizabeth, Emily Legg 1861 Census for Farm Hill Lodge, Albury; Class RG9; Piece 426; Folio 11; Page 11
  13. Elizabeth, Emily Legg Guildford Poor Law Union Half Year Accounts 1864-1871; ref BG6/33/1. Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking Surreycc.gov.uk
  14. 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
    The Clinical History of ‘Moron’, ‘Idiot’, and ‘Imbecile’ The words have a less-than-savory past.  Word history.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary  Merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/moron-idiot-imbecile-offensive-history
    Social Stigma, 19th Century Insanity Register of Qualified Genealogists blog Qualifiedgenealogists.org/RQGNews/blog/insanity
  15. Elizabeth, Emily Legg 1871 Census for Farm Hill Lodge, Albury; Class RG10; Piece 810; Folio 5; Page 3
  16. Elizabeth Legg 23 Oct 1877 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Guildford, Surrey; vol 2A, page 39 Digital copy of certificate from GRO.gov.uk
    Elizabeth Legg 28 Oct 1877 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Albury, St Peter & St Paul; ref ALB/4/1-2
    Elizabeth Legg 23 Oct 1794 Baptism, 17 Oct 1794 Birth Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Send, St Mary; ref Sen/1/7
  17. Emily Legg 1881 Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke next Guildford, Surrey; Class RG11; Piece 778; Folio 90; Page 2
  18. Emily Legg 18 Mar 1889 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Guildford, Surrey; vol 2A, page 62 Digital copy of certificate from GRO.gov.uk
  19. Emily Legg 20 Mar 1889 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Albury, St Peter & St Paul; ref ALB/4/1-2