HENRY WEBB

Subject Name :  Henry Webb (b ca1799 – d 1884)

Researcher :  Sue Smith

Henry Webb, left with two very young children following his wife’s early death, struggled to cope, leaving his children in the care of others before becoming an inmate of the Guildford Union for at least 20 years.

Henry, according to later records, was born in about 1799 in Guildford, Surrey although no definite record of his birth has been traced (25, 26, 27).   In fact, no official record of Henry has been found until he became a father in about 1828 to Jane Webb Loveland in Guildford, the mother being Jane Loveland (1). Their child was baptised at Guildford’s Holy Trinity Church on 25th June 1828.  Although Henry was not named as the father on the baptism record, her middle name appears to make it certain that he was.

Henry and Jane did eventually marry on 11th April 1830 at St. Mary the Virgin Church, Worplesdon (2).  They had their second child Anne the following year but tragically, mother Jane did not survive and was buried, age just 28, on 24th July 1831 at St John the Evangelist Church, Stoke Next Guildford (3). This was the church where she had been baptised in 1803 (4).  Anne was baptised two weeks after her mother’s death, on 7th August 1831, at the Holy Trinity Church with Henry noted as a labourer (5). 

Henry, aged about 32, now had new-born Anne and three-year-old Jane to care for. Henry and his children would have been relying upon family for help at this dreadful time.

The 1841 Census showed the trio were split apart.  No trace has been discovered of Henry.  His younger daughter Anne, age 10, was listed as a pauper in the Guildford Union Workhouse which had opened its doors in 1838 (6, 7).  Jane, also shown as 10 years old but actually 13, and noted under her birth surname of Loveland, was living with her grandparents John and Sarah Loveland, both age 70, in ‘Extra Parochial Place Named Friary’, Guildford (8, 9).  An historical extra-parochial area fell outside of any ecclesiastical or civil parish, meaning it had no church or clergy, and was therefore exempt from taxes such as poor rates.  Its residents were free to go to a church of their choice, the closest parish to the Friary being Guildford St Mary.  The Guildford Friary area was very small, with just 131 inhabitants on the census in 1841  (10) . These areas became civil parishes in 1857 and were eliminated by the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1868 (11). Archaeological digs in the 1970s prior to the construction of the Friary shopping centre revealed the remains of a mediaeval Dominican Friary, dissolved in 1538 (12).    

Jane’s grandmother Sarah died later in 1841 (13), and just over two years later, on 27th December 1843, Jane, probably aged only 15, gave birth to daughter Emma Loveland in St Mary, Guildford (14).  No father is named on the certificate.  As Jane was still living with her grandfather at the time of the 1851 Census, it seems most likely that he had provided shelter for Jane and baby Emma (19). In 1846, Jane fell pregnant again, giving birth to James Linegar on 5th November in Guildford (15).  The certificate named her as ‘Jane Linegar, formerly Loveland’ with the father James Linegar, a labourer, although they were not to marry until 9th March the following year at Guildford’s St Nicholas Church (16).  Their marriage certificate named Jane’s father as Henry Webb, labourer.

Henry’s occupation was confirmed four years later by the 1851 Census, which showed him as a 46-year-old (probably 50) widowed labourer born in Guildford, a ‘visitor’ of licensed victualler John Stevens at 37 High Street, Guildford (17).  This was the address of the Bull’s Head Inn (18), so Henry could have been lodging there.

As mentioned, in 1851 Henry’s eldest daughter 23-year-old Jane, plus her growing family, were with her grandfather John, age 80, in Chertsey St, Stoke Next Guildford (19).  Jane’s family were her labourer husband James, 18 years her senior, and children James, 4, and William, 1.  There is also an unclear entry in the Census for a daughter with no age given. This is presumably eight-year-old Emma, with her mother possibly trying to conceal her own age when Emma was born.

Henry’s younger daughter Anne was no longer in the Guildford Union Workhouse by 1851, but with no records available to show where she went to from there, it is unclear what became of her.  The only possibility found on that Census is that she may have been a cook in Kingston, Surrey, but with no follow-up to this traced either, Anne’s fate remains unknown (20).

Similar to 1841, the 1861 Census had no trace of Henry, although there is a clue in the Guildford Poor Law Half Yearly Accounts book for 1864 to 1871 (the only years still in existence) which showed Henry to be in the Guildford Union throughout those years (21).  The Census records for the Guildford Union in 1861 are missing the names of almost 200 inmates, so it seems probable that Henry, in his early 60s, was one of those names (22). In 1861 the Poor Law Board published a return naming every adult pauper who had been a workhouse inmate for a continuous period of 5 years or more (23).  Henry does not appear on this list for the Guildford Workhouse, which means that his entry to the Guildford Workhouse was after 1856. 

Meanwhile, daughter Jane was still living in Chertsey Street, noted as 36 although around three years younger than that, with 53-year-old husband James a coal labourer, and four children (24). 

For Henry, life appeared to have become institutionalised.  The 1871 Census showed him as a 72-year-old widowed inmate in the Guildford Union Workhouse (25). It named his occupation as a ’messenger’.  Little had changed in the Census ten years later, 1881, although he was now noted as a ‘gardener’ (26).  Trusted long-term inmates were given jobs to help with the running of the Workhouse, although occupations listed on Censuses tended to be the work they did before entering the Workhouse.

Henry passed away in the Guildford Union Workhouse from ‘decay of age’ on 22nd June 1884, age 85, occupation ‘labourer’ (27). He was buried at St Nicholas Church, Guildford, the parish he was originally admitted from (28, 21).

 

October 2023

References

  1. Jane Webb Loveland Baptism 15 Jun 1828 Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, Holy Trinity 1813-1860; Reference: GUHT/4/1; page 58. Ancestry.co.uk
  2. Henry Webb & Jane Loveland Marriage 11 Apr 1830 Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Worplesdon, St Mary 1813-1837; Reference: WOR/2/3; page 49. Ancestry.co.uk
  3. Jane Webb Burial 24 Jul 1831 Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist 1813-1882; Reference: STK/1/5. Ancestry.co.uk
  4. Jane Loveland Baptism 19 Oct 1803 Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke Next Guildford, St John The Evangelist 1727-1812; Reference: STK/1/2. FindMyPast.co.uk
  5. Anne Webb Baptism 15 Jun 1828 Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, Holy Trinity 1813-1860; Reference: GUHT/4/1; page 70. Ancestry.co.uk
  6. Anne Webb 1841 Census Class: HO107; Piece: 1080; Book: 3; Civil Parish: Stoke Next Guildford; County: Surrey; Enumeration District: Guildford Union Workhouse; Folio: 49; Page: 1; Line:  Ancestry.co.uk
  7. Guildford Union Workhouse – Early Years The Spike Heritage Centre co.uk / Charlotteville.co.uk
  8. John Loveland & Sarah Trigg Marriage 30 Jul 1800 Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke Next Guildford, St John The Evangelist 1776-1800; Reference: STK/2/2. Ancestry.co.uk
  9. John, Sarah, Jane Loveland 1841 Census Class: HO107; Piece: 1080; Book: 3; Civil Parish: St Mary The Virgin; County: Surrey; Enumeration District: 2; Folio: 38; Page: 18; Line:  Ancestry.co.uk
  10. Extra Parochial Place Named Friary 1841 Census Class: HO107; Piece: 1080; Book: 3; Civil Parish: St Mary The Virgin; County: Surrey; Enumeration District: 2; Folio: 38; Pages 14-19. Ancestry.co.uk
  11. Extra-parochial area Wikipedia.org
    Guildford the Friary, Surrey Genealogy FamilySearch.org.en.wiki
  12. Incredible archive images reveal the lost secrets of Guildford’s historic Dominican monastic order buried deep beneath Friary Centre 14 Jan 2018, Grahame Lartner, Surrey Live GetSurrey.co.uk
  13. Sarah Loveland Burial 24 Jul 1831 Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist 1813-1882; Reference: STK/1/5. Ancestry.co.uk
  14. Emma Loveland Birth 27 Dec 1843 England & Wales Birth Index, Jan-Feb-Mar Quarter 1844, Guildford, volume 04, page 164. Ancestry.co.uk
    Copy original certificate from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  15. James Linegar Birth 5 Nov 1846 England & Wales Birth Index, Oct-Nov-Dec Quarter 1846, Guildford, volume 04, page 196. Ancestry.co.uk
    Copy original certificate from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  16. Jane Loveland & James Linegar Marriage 9 Mar 1847 Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, St Nicholas 1837-1877; Reference: Gun/3/3, page 45. Ancestry.co.uk
  17. Henry Webb 1851 Census for Guildford, Holy Trinity, Surrey; Class: HO107; Piece: 1594; Folio: 587; Page: 26. Ancestry.co.uk
  18. Traders, Guildford, Surrey 1855 Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex (Pt 1), publisher : Kelly and Co., page 708. Ancestry.co.uk
  19. John Loveland, James, Jane, James, William, G….r, Linegar 1851 Census for Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey Class: HO107; Piece: 1594; Folio: 440; Page: 25. Ancestry.co.uk
  20. Ann Webb 1851 Census for Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey; Class: HO107; Piece: 1603; Folio: 167; Page: 41. Ancestry.co.uk
  21. Henry Webb Guildford Poor Law Half Yearly Accounts 1864-1871, BG6/33/1.  Surrey History Centre, Woking.
  22. Missing Pages:  Guildford Union Workhouse: 5-12 (end) 191 persons 1861 England Census Returns  Discovery.NationalArchives.gov.uk
  23. 1861 Longterm Workhouse Inmates, 1861 (Paupers in Workhouses, Ordered by The House of Commons, 30 July 1861), Guildford Union Workhouse, Page 178. Original source Peter Higginbotham, Workhouses.org.uk / co.uk
  24. James, Jane, James, William, Arthur, Emma Linegar 1861 Census for Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; Class: RG 9; Piece: 427; Folio: 40; Page: 30. Ancestry.co.uk
  25. Henry Webb 1871 Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; Class: RG 10; Piece: 813; Folio: 80; Page: 6. Ancestry.co.uk
  26. Henry Webb 1881 Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; Class: RG 11; Piece: 778; Folio: 92; Page: 6. Ancestry.co.uk
  27. Henry Webb Death 22 Jun 1884 England & Wales Birth Index, Apr-May-Jun Quarter 1884, Guildford, volume 2A, page 56. Ancestry.co.uk
    Copy original certificate from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  28. Henry Webb Burial 25 Jun 1884 Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Guildford, St Nicholas 1867-1904; Reference: GUN/5/2; page 93. Ancestry.co.uk