henry mandeville

Subject Name :  Henry Mandeville (b1827 – d 1901)

Researcher : Diann Arnfield

Henry Mandeville’s career as a street hawker of confectionery and then fruit came to a premature end because of disability, but this didn’t prevent him years later stealing from Godalming’s Town Hall.

Henry was born in Witley, near Godalming, into a family of publicans, probably in the early part of 1827. He was baptised at the village’s All Saints’ Church on 10th June that year, the son of spinster Elizabeth Mandeville 1.  No information on Henry’s father has been found, and it is not known if he contributed to Henry’s upbringing. 

Henry’s mother Elizabeth was about 29 years old, the daughter of Edward and Ann Mandeville 2.  Edward had been the licensed victualler of the Red Lion in Milford, a short distance from Witley, since about 1819 3.  

Less than three weeks after Henry’s baptism, his grandmother Ann Mandeville died after accidentally taking poison at the Red Lion 4.  An inquest found that 66-year-old Ann had swallowed a lotion intended for husband Edward’s leg which had been left in an unmarked bottle in the cupboard of the public bar, apparently mistaking the contents for Epsom salts.

When Henry was about 10, his grandfather Edward passed away on 10th January 1837. In his will, Edward left £120 plus £5 per annum during the lease of the Red Lion (Milford) to Henry’s unmarried mother Elizabeth, with the same amount going to her sister Jane, also unmarried 5, 6.  Elizabeth and Jane’s two married sisters Mary Mayne and Ann Moon received just £10 each as they were ‘already sufficiently provided for’.

Early 1837 was a tough time for the Mandevilles as Mary’s husband John Mayne had died just days before her father Edward 7. Elizabeth and Mary’s eldest sister Ann Moon died just two months later 8.

The Mandeville, Mayne and Moon families were all heavily involved in the pub trade.  Following his grandfather’s death, Henry’s uncle Edward Mandeville took over the Milford Red Lion, remaining in charge until his death in 1876 9.  Godalming’s Three Lions had been run by Ann’s husband William Moon from about 1820 until 1825, when Mary’s husband John Mayne became licensee 10. John and Mary moved on to the Red Lion, Godalming, in the mid-1820s 11. After John’s death in 1837, Mary took on the role, remaining in charge until at least mid-1845 12. William Moon ran The Angel, Godalming, from 1825-1836 13.

What Henry’s grandfather Edward didn’t know when he wrote his will in March 1835 was that his daughter – Henry’s mother Elizabeth – would move away and marry John Denham in Alverstoke, Hampshire in August 1836 14.  

Henry gained a half-sister when his mother gave birth in August 1838 to Elizabeth 15.  The family was now living in Broad Street, Portsmouth, some 3 miles (5 km) east of Alverstoke.  The baptism noted Henry’s stepfather John as a coachman 16.

In the 1841 Census Henry, aged 14, was recorded under the surname Denham 17.  The family were still in Broad Street, with stepfather John now a victualler.  Henry’s 2-year-old half-sister did not appear to be there.  Staying with the Denhams were Henry’s unmarried aunt Jane and her daughter Ellen, 5, incorrectly noted as ‘Denham’ when they were actually ‘Mandeville’ 18. 

John Denham was the licensed victualler for the Lion and Lamb Inn in Broad Street from 1839 to 1844 19.  Henry was old enough to work, but with no occupation noted on the 1841 Census, it’s not known what his situation was. 

Henry’s life was turned upside down at the beginning of 1846 when his mother Elizabeth passed away in Broad Street aged 47 from gastritis 20.  The informant on the death certificate was not her husband John, and whether he was still with his family is not known.  John has not been traced since.

Elizabeth’s funeral was held over 40 miles (65km) away from Portsmouth at the St Peter and St Paul Church, in Church Street, Godalming, very close to where her widowed elder sister Mary Mayne was living 21.  

This would be where Henry and his half-sister Elizabeth, plus their aunt Jane Mandeville and her daughter Ellen would settle.  In 1851 they were all living with Henry’s aunt Mary Mayne, no longer a publican but a ‘proprietor of houses’, and her two sons in Hart’s Lane, Church Street 22.  Henry was unmarried, aged 23 and his occupation ‘hawks confectionery’.  His half-sister Elizabeth Denham was 13, and their aunt Jane, a ‘fruiterer’, now had two children – Ellen (16) a shop assistant, and Richard (8).

The confectionery Henry sold on his travels around the local area would probably have included sugar-based hard-boiled sweets such as lemon drops, peppermint humbugs and barley sugar 23.  He would have needed a licence to sell his wares on the streets and would not have been permitted to operate where a market or fair was in place – it was certainly not an easy life for him 24.

By the time of the 1861 Census, Henry was living on his own in Mill Lane, Godalming 25.  Age 35 and unmarried, he was now a hawker of fruit.  Perhaps he had been working with his aunt Jane, a fruiterer in 1851 and listed as a greengrocer in Mill Lane in the 1855 Kelly’s Directory 26.  She had passed away there earlier in 1861, a few months before the Census 27.  Henry’s half-sister Elizabeth has not been traced since the 1851 Census, while his aunt Mary Mayne was lodging very close by in Church Street 28.

Up to this point, no records have been found regarding Henry’s health, but the Guildford Poor Law Union accounts of 1864-1871, the only years for which these records remain, showed him receiving, in the six-month period up to March 1864, Outdoor Poor Relief of £3 16s (£3.80) plus 10s 0 ¼ (£0.50) ‘in kind’ because he was ‘afflicted’ 29.  He received similar amounts over the following years, enabling him to remain at his Mill Lane home despite him noted as ‘paralysed’ from around 1866-67. 

Mary Mayne, the last of Henry’s aunts, passed away in Mill Lane in March 1866 aged 74, leaving him with little or no family support 30.  Despite this, Henry remained at home in his seemingly ‘paralysed’ condition until late 1870 when he went into the Guildford Union Workhouse.  The 1871 Census confirmed 46-year-old Henry as an inmate, unmarried, occupation ‘None, Disabled’ 31.  

It would therefore seem likely that he would remain in the Workhouse permanently. The 1881 Census confirmed that he was a resident there, now recorded as a hawker 32.

However, this was not the case, as in July 1884, when Henry was about 57, he was brought before the Borough Bench for stealing an inkstand from the Godalming Town Hall in Bridge Street 33. At the hearing, with Henry noted as a ‘cripple’, it was revealed that the inkstand had been found in the Brewer’s Arms, also in Bridge Street, where Henry had been sleeping.  The Bench took a lenient view of the theft, fining Henry just one shilling (£0.05), the estimated value of the inkstand.

Apart from this incident, it appears that Henry’s life continued to centre around the Guildford Union Workhouse, being an inmate at the time of the next two Censuses 34, 35.  After over 30 years since first going into the Workhouse, Henry died there on the 16th May 1901 from a cerebral haemorrhage, aged 71 36. He was buried in Eashing Cemetery, Godalming, five days later 37.

 

December 2019, updated August 2024

References

Note : the source is Ancestry.co.uk, unless otherwise stated

  1. Henry Mandeville 10 Jun 1827 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Witley, All Saints 1813-1875; page 78; entry 620
  2. Manvell 1 Jul 1798 (born 19 Jun 1798) Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Ripley, St Mary 1794-1812; ref RIP/1/1
  3. Edward Mandeville Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Licensed Victuallers; Godalming Hundred, Witley, Red Lion (1825-1827); ref QS5/10/2a, 3, 4-5, 22-23
    Milford Conservation Area Appraisal Jan 2014 Waverley Borough Council Waverley.gov.uk
  4. Ann Mandeville The Morning Herald 3 Jul 1827, page 4 FindMyPast/British Newspaper Archive
  5. Edward Mandeville 8 Jun 1837 Probate London Metropolitan archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, London; Witley, Surrey; ref DW/PA/5/1837; will number 20
    Edward Mandeville 16 Jan 1837 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul 1813-1842; ref GOD5/1; page 238; entry 1898
  6. Ann Manvell 29 May 1791 (born 29 May 1791) Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Send, St Mary 1792-1812; ref Sen/1/3
    Mary Manvell 12 Aug 1792 (born 21 Jul 1792) Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Send, St Mary 1792-1812; ref Sen/1/7; page 1; entry 6
    John Manvell 27 Dec 1795 (born 7 Dec 1795) Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Ripley, St Mary 1794-1812; ref RIP/1/1; page 3
    John Mandeville 24 Dec 1833 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul 1813-1842; ref GOD5/1; page 201; entry 1601
    Jane Mandvell 1 Jun 1800 (born 9 May 1800) Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Ripley, St Mary 1794-1812; ref RIP/1/1
    Edward Manvell 16 May 1802 (born 27 Apr 1802) Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Ripley, St Mary 1794-1812; ref RIP/1/1
    Jane Mandeville 13 Jun 1828 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul 1813-1833; ref GOD/4/1; page 221; entry 1768
  7. John Mayne 12 Jan 1837 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul 1813-1842; ref GOD5/1; page 237; entry 1896
  8. Ann Moon 23 Mar 1837 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul 1813-1842; ref GOD5/1; page 241; entry 1924
  9. Milford Death of an Old Inhabitant 25 Nov 1876 Surrey Advertiser page 2 FindMyPast/British Newspaper archive
  10. William Moon 1820 (unknown pub) 1822 (Three Lions) Surrey History Centre, Woking; Registers of Licensed Victuallers; ref QS5/10/2a, 3, 4-5, 22-23; 1815-1824; Godalming
    John Mayne Three Lions; William Moon Angel 1825 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Registers of Licensed Victuallers; ref QS5/10/2a, 3, 4-5, 22-23; 1825-1827; Godalming
  11. John Mayne 7 Dec 1827 Baptism (child of John & Mary Mayne) Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul 1813-1833; ref GOD/4/1; page 214; entry 1708 (address Red Lion)
  12. Godalming, Surrey ‘…. Hostess Mayne of the Red Lion Tavern ….’ 12 Jul 1845 The London Journal, page 6 FindMyPast/British Newspaper archive
  13. Angel Inn, Godalming, Surrey 20 Jul 1836 The Globe, page 1 FindMyPast/British Newspaper archive
  14. John Denham & Elizabeth Mandeville Hampshire Archives and Local Studies, Winchester; Anglican Bishops’ Transcripts; Alverstoke; ref 21m65/F8/4/19; page 162; entry 485
  15. Elizabeth Denham 31 Aug 1838 England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index 1837-1915; Jul-Aug-Sep 1838; Portsea Island, Hampshire; volume 07; page 143
    Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  16. Elizabeth Denham 10 Oct 1838 Hampshire Archives and Local Studies, Winchester; Anglican Bishops’ Transcripts; Portsmouth, St Thomas 1837-1839; ref 21m65/F8/212/23; page 10; entry 79
  17. John, Eliza, Henry, Jane, Ellen Denham 1841 England Census for Broad St, Portsmouth, Hampshire; class HO107; piece 412; book 1; enumeration district 3; folio 49; page 5
  18. Ellen Mandeville 21 Jun 1839 (born 8 Dec 1835) Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul 1833-1877; ref GOD/4/2; page 84; entry 668
  19. John Denham 1839-1844 Portsmouth Local History, Public Houses & Breweries, Pubs G, Golden Cross/Lion & Lamb 75/76 Broad Street PomeroyofPortsmouth.co.uk
  20. Elizabeth Denham 6 Jan 1846 England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915; Jan-Feb-Mar 1846; Portsea Island, Hampshire; volume 07; page 103
    Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  21. Elizabeth Denham 13 Jan 1846 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming, St Peter and St Paul 1842-1880; ref GOD5/2; page 35; entry 278
  22. Mary, Henry, Joseph Mayne; Elizabeth Denham; Henry, Jane, Ellen, Richard Mandeville 1851 England Census for Harts Lane, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey; class HO107; piece 1594; folio 729; pages 44-45
  23. The Ultimate historic guide to British sweets Sweets4me.co.uk
  24. Pedlars, Tinkers and Hawkers; Licences and Laws TheSocialHistorian.com
  25. Henry Mandeville 1861 England Census for Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey; class RG9; piece 429; folio 90; page 57
  26. Jane Mandeville (Mrs), greengrocer, Mill Lane 1855 Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex (Pt 1); publisher Kelly and Co; Surrey, Godalming; page 702
  27. Jane Mandeville 19 Jan 1861 Burial Nightingale and Eashing Cemetery Burial Records 1857-2022; book N1; page 16; entry 0301 Godalming-tc.gov.uk
  28. Mary Maine 1861 England Census for Church Street, Godalming, Surrey; class RG9; piece 429; folio 73; page 22
  29. Henry Mandeville 1864–1871 Guildford Poor Law Union Statement of Accounts; Reference SHC/BG6/33/1 Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  30. Mary Mayne 22 Mar 1866 Burial Nightingale and Eashing Cemetery Burial Records 1857-2022; book N1; page 33; entry 0646 Godalming-tc.gov.uk
  31. Henry Mandeville 1871 England Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Union Lane, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; class RG10; piece 813; folio 79; page 3
  32. Henry Mandeville 1881 England Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; class RG11; piece 778; folio 91; page 3
  33. Robbery by a Cripple 8 Jul 1884 Epsom Journal, page 3 FindMyPast/British Newspaper Archive
  34. Henry Mandeville 1891 England Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; class RG12; piece 560; folio 202; page 8
  35. Henry Mandeville 1901 England Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; class RG13; piece 605; folio 67; page 10
  36. Henry Mandeville 16 May 1901 England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915; Apr-May-Jun1901; Guildford, Surrey; volume 02A; page 60
    Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  37. Henry Mandeville 21 May 1901 Burial Nightingale and Eashing Cemetery Burial Records 1857-2022; book E5; page 52; entry 0012 Godalming-tc.gov.uk