George and
mary ann hampton

Subject Names :  George Hampton     (b ca 1813 – d 1885)                  
                              Mary Ann Hampton  (b ca 1814 – d 1886) 

Researcher :        Val Pink

George Hampton was a journeyman carpenter who was married possibly three times but never had any children or even step-children to care for.

George was born in about 1813 in Cranley (Cranleigh), Surrey the youngest child of John and Elizabeth Hampton 1.  He was baptised at the village’s St Nicolas Church on 4th April 1813.  George’s father was a carpenter, a career that he was to follow too.

At the time of the 1841 Census, George was about 28, an unmarried carpenter lodging in Backside Common, Worplesdon, with three members of the Smither family, including Lydia whom he married on 3rd February 1842 at Worplesdon’s Parish Church 2, 3.  She was about 31, having been baptised in November 1810 in Worplesdon 4.

George and Lydia settled in Rydes Hill, Worplesdon.  George was noted as a ‘journeyman carpenter’ on both the 1851 and 1861 Censuses which meant that he was fully qualified as a carpenter and able to earn a reasonable living 5, 6, 7.  George and Lydia did not have any children, and by 1861 they were employing a 14-year-old live-in servant.

After 21 years of marriage, George was widowed in May 1863 when Lydia passed away in Stoke next Guildford aged 52 8.  She was buried at St John the Evangelist Church 9.

Just a few months later, George, 49, married 50-year-old spinster Sarah Goodyer Jelly in November 1863 at Stoke next Guildford 10.  She was the daughter of James Jelley, baptised at Guildford St Mary on 5th April 1812 11.  Nothing further has been traced of her before the marriage.

George’s second marriage lasted just over six years before Sarah died on 6th January 1870 aged 58 at Markenfield Road, Stoke next Guildford 12.  The informant on the death certificate, and present at the death, was Mary Ann Smither who was living in the adjacent street, Stoke Road.  She was the wife of James Smither, brother of George’s first wife Lydia 2, 13.  Like Lydia, Sarah was also buried at St John the Evangelist 14.

A year later, the 1871 Census listed George twice.  Firstly, still working as a carpenter, he was lodging with the Smither family in Stoke Road 15.   Secondly, he was also lodging 3 miles (5km) away in Perry Hill, Worplesdon with widowed ‘Mistress of Post Office’ Ellen Steer 16.  The Census, though, noted him to be 56 years old in Perry Hill but only 54 in Stoke Road!

Ten years later, George was an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse.  There are no records to indicate when or why he was admitted, but the 1881 Census listed George Hampton ‘carpenter’ on the line above Mary Ann Hampton ‘wife of carpenter’, born in Guildford and at 64 a year younger than George 17.  But who was Mary Ann?  She was not Mary Ann Smither with whom George had been living with ten years earlier as she was still with her husband and family 18.

No record has been found of a third marriage for George, so ‘wife’ Mary Ann’s origins are hard to confirm.  A strong possibility, however, is that she was Guildford-born Mary Ann Knowlson, the only ‘Mary Ann’ of the right age in the Guildford area who has not been traced in any record since the 1871 Census. 

In 1871 Mary Ann Knowlson was a 54-year-old unmarried laundress living in Castle Street, Guildford with her widowed mother Mary, also a laundress 19.  She was baptised in April 1814 at Guildford St Mary as ‘Marianne Knowlson’, daughter of Mary and Thomas Knowlson, a currier (skilled leatherworker) 20, 21.  In 1851 Mary Ann was working as a housemaid in Upper Belgrave Place (now Buckingham Palace Road), London 22.  By 1861, she had moved back to Guildford, living with her parents Mary and Thomas in Castle Street, working as a general servant 23.  Her father Thomas died in 1864, with her mother passing away ten years later in Dapdune Road, Stoke next Guildford 24, 25.  For at least a decade, Mary Ann had been living very near to George, so it seems likely that they had met and decided that a life together was the best way forward for both of them after her mother’s death.

As neither of them had children to help out in their old age, it seems probable that they would have remained in the Guildford Union Workhouse until their deaths.  George passed away on 24th October 1885 aged 70 (probably 72) from ‘Dilatation of the heart for 6 months’ 26. He was buried four days later at the Stoke next Guildford St. John the Evangelist Church 27.

Mary Ann Hampton died in the Workhouse exactly eight months later on 24th June 1886 aged 72, the ‘widow of George Hampton, carpenter of Stoke next Guildford’ cause of death ‘diarrohea for 4 days’ 28.  She was buried at St John’s on 29th June 29.


January 2023, updated September 2024

References

Note : the source is Ancestry.co.uk unless otherwise specified

  1. James Hampton 11th October 1791 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Cranleigh, St Nicolas 1707-1792; ref CRA/1/3
    Mary Hampton 24th March 1799 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Cranleigh, St Nicolas 1790-1812; ref CRA/1/4
    Henry Hampton 4th April 1802 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Cranleigh, St Nicolas 1790-1812; ref CRA/1/4
    William Hampton 15th April 1804 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Cranleigh, St Nicolas 1790-1812; ref CRA/1/4
    George Hampton 4th April 1813 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Cranleigh, St Nicolas 1813-1850; ref CRA/3/1
  2. Thomas, James, Lydia Smither; George Hampton 1841 England Census return for Backside Common, Worplesdon, Surrey; PRO class HO107; piece 1080; folio 24; page 6
  3. George Hampton & Lydia Smithers 3rd February 1842 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary 1837-1893; ref WOR/2/4
  4. Lydia Smither 11th November 1810 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary 1776-1812; ref WOR/1/3
  5. George, Lydia Hampton 1851 England Census return for Rydes Hill, Worplesdon, Surrey; PRO class HO107; piece 1594; folio 141; page 22
  6. George, Lydia Hampton 1861 England Census return for Rydes Hill, Worplesdon, Surrey; PRO class RG9; piece 424; folio 64; page 20
  7. Journeyman Wikipedia.org
    Wages and Cost of Living in the Victorian Era James Skipper, The Victorian Web VictorianWeb.org
  8. Lydia Hampton 30th May 1863 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke next Guildford, St John the Evangelist 1813-1882; ref STK/1/5
  9. Guildford, Stoke Parish Church, Searching for Guildford’s Earliest Picture Postcards 23rd August 2023, David Rose, The Guildford Dragon Guildford-Dragon.com
  10. George Hampton & Sarah Goodyer Jelly 21st November 1863 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke next Guildford, St John the Evangelist 1837-1867; ref STK/2/5
  11. Sarah Goodwyn Jelley 5th April 1812 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, St Mary 1755-1812; ref GUM/1/4 FindMyPast.co.uk
  12. Sarah Goodyer Hampton Jan-Feb-Mar 1870 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915; volume 2a, page 46 Digital copy from Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  13. James Smither 12th May 1822 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary 1813-1854; ref WOR/4/1
    James Smither & Mary Ann Barnett 1st October 1848 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, Holy Trinity 1837-1876; ref GUHT/2/2
  14. Sarah Goodyer Hampton 13th January 1870 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke next Guildford, St John the Evangelist 1867-1878; ref STK/5/3
  15. James, Mary A, James, Peter, Caroline, Elizabeth M Smithers; George Hampton 1871 England Census return for Stoke Road, Stoke next Guildford, Surrey; PRO class RG10; piece 811; folio 36; page 20
  16. Ellen Steer, Mary Smith, George Hampton 1871 England Census return for 18 Perry Hill, Worplesdon, Surrey; PRO class RG10; piece 808; folio 24; page 13
  17. George, Mary Ann Hampton 1881 England Census return for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke next Guildford, Surrey; PRO class RG11; piece 778; folio 93; page 8
  18. James, Mary A, Peter, Elizth M Smithers 1881 England Census return for Stoke Road, Stoke next Guildford, Surrey; PRO class RG11; piece 776; folio 43; page 3
  19. Mary, Mary Ann Knowlson 1871 England Census return for Castle Street, Guildford St Mary, Surrey; PRO class RG10; piece 812; folio 19; page 30
  20. Marianne Knowlson 24th April 1814 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, St Mary 1813-1855; ref GUM/4/1-3
  21. Currier en.Wikipedia.org.uk
  22. Mary A Knowlson 1851 England Census return for Upper Belgrave Place, St George Hanover Square, Belgrave, City of Westminster, Middlesex; PRO class HO107; piece 1477; folio 609; page 1
  23. Thomas, Mary, Mary Ann Knowlson 1861 England Census return for 37 Castle St, Guildford St Mary, Surrey; PRO class RG9; piece 428; folio 23; page 37
  24. Thomas Knowlson 14th May 1864 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, St Mary 1813-1865; ref GUM/5/1
  25. Mary Knowlson 23rd April 1874 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke next Guildford, St John the Evangelist 1867-1878; ref STK/5/3
  26. George Hampton 24th October 1885 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915; Oct-Nov-Dec 1885; volume 2a, page 53 Copy of death certificate from Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  27. George Hampton 28th October 1885 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke next Guildford, St John the Evangelist 1878-1887; ref STK/5/4
  28. Mary Ann Hampton 24th June 1886 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915; Apr-May-Jun 1886; volume 2a, page 59 Copy of death certificate from Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  29. Mary Ann Hampton 29th June 1886 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke next Guildford, St John the Evangelist 1878-1887; ref STK/5/4