henry cawood

Subject Name :    Henry Cawood (b ca 1813 – d 1883)                  

Researcher :        Christine Clarke

Henry Cawood had a disastrous start to life with both of his parents passing away when he was very young.   Although he had some financial help from his father’s will, his adult life was a chaotic mix – causing a riot in one workhouse, being imprisoned for theft, and disappearing from the records for many years before ending his days in yet more workhouses.

Henry was born in about 1813 and baptised at Aldershot’s St Michael the Archangel Parish Church on July 4th that year 1.  He was the second son of shoemaker John Cawood and Elizabeth née Neller, his elder brother John having been baptised at the same church in October 1810 2, 3

The family were settled in Aldershot, which in the early 19th Century was a small village of little more than 500 people 4.  Henry’s grandfather had been a master cordwainer there 5, 6.

Family life was not to last, as Henry and his brother John were soon orphaned.  Their mother Elizabeth died In September 1816 age 35, followed by their father John 4 months later in January 1817 age 47 7, 8.  Both parents were buried at St Michael’s, Aldershot.

Just two days before his death, Henry’s father had written a will, in which he named his two executors as James Fewtrell, a tailor from Farnham, and Joseph Miles, a yeoman of Stoke-next-Guildford 9.  They were named as ‘Guardians’ of John’s two young sons, responsible for providing ‘towards the support and maintenance in such manner as they, my said Trustees, shall think fit and proper’.  Whatever was remaining was to be divided equally between Henry and John when they reached the age of 21.

The will stated that John’s estate was ‘under the value of £100’.  This would have been a reasonable sum of money at that time and would have helped keep his sons out of the workhouse, possibly living with their aunt Jane Chuter, the only other relative mentioned in the will 10.  

By the time of the 1841 Census, Henry was no longer with his family in Aldershot.  At the age of 28 he was a ‘pauper inmate’ of the small Ash Workhouse in Surrey, situated in what is now Fox Hills Lane, a couple of miles from his Aldershot birthplace 11, 12

No mention was made of any employment for Henry on this Census, and three years later, in July 1844, he was tried for larceny (theft of personal property) at the Surrey County Sessions 13. He was found guilty and received three months’ imprisonment.

Henry was soon back in the Ash Workhouse, as in February 1845, he, along with another inmate, were charged by the Master of the Workhouse of ‘riot and disobedience’ 14.  Henry was clearly the main instigator as he was convicted to one month in the ‘House of Correction’ while his accomplice served just 7 days.

Six years later, the 1851 Census suggested that Henry had adopted a more settled lifestyle as he was now living at Shawfield Cottage, Shawfield, Ash, the home of George Sargent, a pig dealer, and working for him as an agricultural labourer 15.

However, the following year in May 1852, Henry appeared once again in court, now charged with ‘feloniously stealing, at Ash and Normandy, one pair of trowsers …’.  This time, Henry was acquitted of the alleged crime 16.

Henry has not been traced in either the 1861 or 1871 Censuses, but a clue to his whereabouts was illustrated by the 1873-79 Farnham Union Workhouse Creed Register 17.  

Henry was in the Farnham Workhouse because the Ash Workhouse had closed in 1869 18. Farnham’s Creed Register showed that in each Autumn from 1874 to 1877, Henry was admitted to the Workhouse ‘from Ash’, his religion ‘Church’ (of England). He was there for over 3 months in 1874-5 and 1875-6, extending to more than 9 months in 1876-7 and an unspecified length of time from October 1877.  No other Creed or Admission records are available, but it seems likely that Henry had either found himself employment on a local farm, was living rough, or was wandering from workhouse to workhouse during the Spring and Summer months for quite some time.

The 1881 Census recorded Henry as an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse, about 10 miles (16km) east of Farnham 19.  He was described as an unmarried 72-year-old labourer born in Worplesdon, Surrey.   There are no existing records to show when or why Henry had entered the Workhouse, or why he was erroneously noted as being born in Worplesdon.

Before long, he was back in the Farnham Union Workhouse, where, on New Year’s Eve 1883, Henry, a ‘labourer of Ash’, passed away from pneumonia at the age of 75, although he was probably somewhat younger than that 20.  Henry was buried at Farnham’s St Andrew’s Church four days later 21.

 

June 2022, updated January 2025

References

Note :  records have been sourced through Ancestry.co.uk, unless otherwise indicated

  1. Henry Cawood 4 Jul 1813 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Aldershot, St Michael the Archangel 1813-1851; Reference Aldm/3/1
  2. John Cawood & Elizabeth Neller 15 Jul 1809 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Aldershot, St Michael the Archangel 1754-1812; Reference Aldm/2/1
  3. John Cawood 8 Oct 1810 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Aldershot, St Michael the Archangel 1796-1812; Reference Aldm/1/3
  4. Aldershot before the Army Came The Village  Aldershotvillage.net
  5. John Cawood 24 Dec 1769 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Aldershot, St Michael the Archangel 1696-1796; Reference Aldm/1/2
    (note : son of John Cawood master cordwainer, father of Henry)
  6. John Cawood Cordwainer, Master 26 Aug 1761 UK Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices Indentures 1710-1811 The National Archives, Kew; Board of Stamps Apprenticeship Books; Series IR 1; Class IR 1; Piece 23
    John Cawood Cordwainer, Master 9 Jun 1769 UK Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices Indentures 1710-1811 The National Archives, Kew; Board of Stamps Apprenticeship Books; Series IR 1; Class IR 1; Piece 26
    (note : grandfather of Henry)
  7. Elizabeth Cawood 10 Sep 1816 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Aldershot, St Michael the Archangel 1813-1888; Reference Aldm/4/1
  8. John Cawood 28 Jan 1817 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Aldershot, St Michael the Archangel 1813-1888; Reference Aldm/4/1
  9. John Cawood 22 Jan 1817 Last Will and Testament, 24 Jan 1817 Death
    Hampshire Archives and Local Studies, Winchester; Probate Records; Wills, Inventories and Administrations Proved in the Church Courts of Winchester Diocese, 14th Century to 1858; Reference 1817a09
  10. Jann sic Cawood 21 Nov 1762 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Aldershot, St Michael the Archangel 1696-1796; Reference Aldm/1/2
    Jane Cawood & Stephen Chuter 13 Nov 1792 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Aldershot, St Michael the Archangel 1754-1812; Reference Aldm/2/1
  11. Henry Cawood 1841 England Census for Ash District Workhouse, Farnham, Surrey; Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1080, Book 1, Folio 26, Page 1
  12. The Gilbert Union Workhouse in Ash, Surrey Workhouses.org.uk
  13. Henry Cawood 2 Jul 1844 Trial England and Wales Criminal Registers 1791-1982; Surrey; Class HO 27; Piece 74; Page 224
  14. Riotous Paupers 18 Feb 1845 Sussex Advertiser, page 3 British Newspaper Archive / FindMyPast.co.uk
  15. George, Elizabeth, Herbert N, Elizabeth Sargeant; Henry Cawood 1851 England Census for Ash, Farnborough, Surrey; Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1596, Folio 45, Page 11
  16. Henry Cawood 8 May 1852 Trial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Calendar of Prisoners; Surrey Assizes; Newington 1848-1853; Reference QS3/4/1 (note : mis-transcribed on Ancestry record as 1848)
  17. Henry Caywood Creed Register 28 Sep 1873 – 14 Oct 1879; Farnham Poor Law Union; Reference BG4/42/1 Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking SurreyCC.gov.uk
  18. Ash, Surrey Workhouses.org.uk
  19. Henry Cawood 1881 England Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; Public Record Office Class RG11; Piece 778, Folio 95, Page 11
  20. Henry Cawood 31 Dec 1883 Death England and Wales, Civil Registration Death Index,1837-1915; Oct-Nov-Dec 1883; Farnham, Surrey; Volume 2A; Page 75 Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  21. Henry Caywood 4 Jan 1884 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Farnham, St Andrew 1875-1886; Reference FA/5/3