george and jane penfold

 

Subject Names :    George Penfold  (b 1816 – d 1883)                                                        Jane Penfold       (b 1808 – d 1881)         

Researcher :        Christine Clarke

 

George Penfold came from a long line of woodworkers, moving with his wife Jane around Surrey villages seeking employment as a journeyman carpenter before they spent their final years in the Guildford Union Workhouse.

George was born in 1816 in the village of Puttenham, Surrey, the second of five children for George Penfold and Sarah née Woodham 1, 2.  He was baptised at Puttenham’s St John the Baptist Church but not until he was 17, on 14th July 1833.  The rector helpfully recorded the date of George’s birth in the register as 8th July 1816.  All four of George’s siblings were also baptised in later life although the reason for this is unknown.

Penfolds in Puttenham

Penfolds had lived in Puttenham since at least the late 1600s when a George Penfold married Sarah Toft in the village 3.  

A century later, wheelwright George Penfold, a maker and repairer of wooden wheels, was an important resident of Puttenham, serving as a Surrey juror from around 1769 until the 1790s 4.

His son Abraham was also a wheelwright, recorded taking on apprentices in 1779, 1783 and 1789. He too qualified as a juror, serving from the mid-1790s, until around 1813 5.  

Abraham’s son George, born in 1777, continued the family line by becoming a wheelwright 6, so this meant that his son George, the subject of this biography, was at least the fourth generation of Penfolds to work with wood.

George and Jane marry

In 1841, 25-year-old George was a carpenter, living in The Street, Puttenham with his three siblings and their widowed father 7.   George’s younger brothers Alfred and Samuel were not yet listed with an occupation but both, like their father and ancestors, would become wheelwrights, while their sister Elizabeth would marry a carpenter 8, 9, 10.

At this time, living close by at the Puttenham Rectory, was Jane Mills, the future wife of George 11.  She was working as a servant and had been born in about 1808 some 10 miles (16km) away in the village of Headley on the Surrey-Hampshire border. She was the second of eight children of James Mills and Frances nee Matthew 12, 13.

George and Jane married on 6th January 1846 in licensed rooms in Ripley, as the village’s St Mary Magdalen Church was closed for extensive renovations 14, 15.  They were living in Ripley, with George still a carpenter.  There are no records of them having children during their marriage.

By 1851, George and Jane had moved back to Puttenham and were again living on The Street 16.  George was described on that year’s Census as a ‘journeyman carpenter’, meaning that he would have been employed on a day-by-day basis and would have needed to move on to find more work.  His sister Elizabeth was living next door with her journeyman carpenter husband.

Although the only records traced for George and Jane over the 35 years following their marriage were the Censuses, it appears that they did not have to move far for George to find work as a carpenter.  The 1861 Census showed them at Pond Hill, Wanborough, just outside Puttenham, and ten years later, they were a short distance north at Passengers Farm, Worplesdon 17, 18.

By the time of the 1881 Census, however, 65-year-old George and Jane, 71, were inmates of the Guildford Union Workhouse 19. 

There are no surviving records to tell us when they entered the Workhouse, but Jane’s health was certainly an issue at this time.  She passed away there seven months later on 4th November from ‘decay of age’ at 72, having been suffering from paralysis for two years 20.  Jane was buried at St Mary the Virgin Church, Worplesdon six days later 21.

It seems likely that George remained in the Workhouse until he died aged 67 on 23rd June 1883 from ‘morbus cordis’ (unspecified heart disease) 22.  Like Jane, he was buried at Worplesdon’s St Mary the Virgin Church 23. 

October 2020, updated January 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 stated

  1. George Penfold & Sarah Woodham 23 May 1809 marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns; Compton, St Nicholas 1755-1813; ref COM/2/1
  2. Sarah Cumber Penfold wife of George Cumber 15 Apr 1810 birth; 10 Nov 1833 baptism
    Sarah Penfold 1 Apr 1836 burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Burials; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1813-1917; ref PUT/4/1
    George Penfold     8 Jul 1816 birth; 14 Jul 1833 baptism 
    Elizabeth Penfold 10 Nov 1833 baptism 
    Alfred Penfold 30 Jul 1825 birth; 14 Aug 1842 baptism 
    Samuel Penfold 1825 birth; 19 Jun 1842 baptism 
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1813-1861; ref PUT/3/1
  3. Geo Penfold & Sarah Toft 2 Feb 1693 marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1562-1763; ref PUT/1/1
  4. George Penvill 30 Mar 1730 baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1562-1763; ref PUT/1/1
    George Penfold & Ann Toft 23 Oct 1751 marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns; Peper Harow, St Nicholas 1697-1800; ref PEP/1/1
    George Penfold 1769-1791  Surrey History Centre, Woking; England, Jury-Qualified Freeholders and Copyholders; ref QS3/10A/2-4
    George Penfold 8 Feb 1794 burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1752-1812; ref PUT/1/2
  5. Abraham Penfold 18 May 1752 baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1562-1763; ref PUT/1/1
    Abraham Penfold & Mary Eliott 27 Dec 1776 marriage London Metropolitan Archives; London, Church of England Parish Registers; Hornsey Rise, St Mary 1754-1837; ref DRO/020/A/01/007
    Abraham Penfold ‘wheelwright’ 4 Dec 1779, 17 Dec 1783, 21 Aug 1789 The National Archives; Kew; Board of Stamps, Apprenticeship Books; Series IR 1; Class IR 1; Pieces 30, 32 & 34
    Abraham Penfold 1796-1813  Surrey History Centre, Woking; England, Jury-Qualified Freeholders and Copyholders; ref QS3/10A/5-7
    Abraham Penfold 9 Jan 1815 burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1813-1917; ref PUT/4/1
  6. George Penfold 23 Feb 1777 baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1752-1812; ref PUT/1/2
    George Penfold & Sarah Woodham 23 May 1809 marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns; Compton, St Nicholas 1755-1813; ref COM/2/1
    George Penfold 11 Oct 1863 burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Puttenham, St John the Baptist 1813-1917; ref PUT/4/1
  7. George, George, Elizabeth, Alfred, Samuel Penfold 1841 England Census for Puttenham, Surrey; Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1073; Book 8; Enumeration District 7; Folio 6; Page 6
  8. Alfred, Caroline, Ellen, Samuel Penfold 1871 England Census for The Street, Puttenham, Surrey; Public Record Office Class RG10; Piece 815; Folio 80; Page 5
  9. Samuel, Frances Penfold 1871 England Census for Good Intent Inn, The Street, Puttenham, Surrey; Public Record Office Class RG10; Piece 815; Folio 79; Page 4
  10. Elizabeth Penfold & Charles Stovold 6 Jun 1846 marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Puttenham, St John the Baptist, 1837-1882; ref PUT/2/2/3
    Charles, Elizabeth, Alfred Stovold 1851 England Census for Puttenham St, Puttenham, Surrey; Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1596; Folio 9; Page 10
  11. Jane Mills 1841 England Census for Rectory, Puttenham Common, Puttenham, Surrey; Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1073; Book 8; Enumeration District 7; Folio 3; Page 1
  12. James Mills & Frances Matthew 25 Apr 1806 marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Headley, All Saints 1779-1812; ref Hed/2/2/2
  13. Mary Mills 21 Feb 1807 baptism
    Jane Mills 20 Oct 1808 baptism
    Ann Mills 22 Sep 1810 baptism 
    Sarah Mills 11 Jul 1812 baptism 
    James Mills 23 May 1815 baptism 
    Sophia Mills 24 Aug 1817 baptism 
    William Mills 6 Feb 1820 baptism
    John Mills 4 Aug 1822 baptism 
    Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Headley, All Saints 1795-1812; ref Hed/1/8 & 1813-1852; ref Hed/3/1
  14. George Penfold & Jane Mills 6 Jan 1846 marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Ripley, St Mary 1840-1893; ref Rip/2/1
  15. The Earl of Onslow has given 200l towards the rebuilding of Ripley Church, Surrey 23 Nov 1846 Bell’s Weekly Messenger; page 4 British Newspaper Archive / FindMyPast.co.uk
  16. George, Jane Penfold; Charles, Elizabeth, Alfred Stovold 1851 England Census for Puttenham St, Puttenham, Surrey; Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1596; Folio 9; Page 10
  17. George, Jane Penfold 1861 England Census for Pond Hill, Wanborough, Surrey; Public Record Office Class RG9; Piece 429; Folio 164; Page 6
  18. George, Jane Penfold 1871 England Census for Passengers, Worplesdon, Surrey; Public Record Office Class RG10; Piece 808; Folio 39; Page 8
  19. George, Jane Penfold 1881 England Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; Public Record Office Class RG11; Piece 7788; Folio 94; Page 10
  20. Jane Penfold 4 Nov 1881 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915; Oct-Nov-Dec 1881; Guildford, Surrey; volume 2A; page 45. Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  21. Jane Penfold 10 Nov 1881 burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary 1879-1946; ref WOR/5/2
  22. George Penfold 23 Jun 1883 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915; Apr-May-Jun 1883; Guildford, Surrey; volume 2A; page 57. Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  23. George Penfold 26 Jun Nov 1883 burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary 1879-1946; ref WOR/5/2