JOHN HILL
Subject Name: John Hill (b 1853 – d 1908)
John Hill was born in 1853 in Unstead, about three miles south of Guildford, being baptised
in the nearby recently re-built St Mary the Virgin Church of Shalford on 11 December 1853 (1). He was the seventh of eight children of James (a labourer) and Mary Hill (1, 2). Very sadly, five of James and Mary’s children died before their fifth birthday (3).
John was part of three generations of the Hill family living under one roof in Upper Unstead,
Shalford in 1861 (4). Head of the house was John’s widowed grandfather George age 71, a retired labourer. John would not have known his grandmother Mary, who died in 1849 some four years before his birth (5). John’s father James, age 49, an agricultural labourer, with mother Mary (age 46), and seven-year old John’s two siblings, Elizabeth (age 21) and George (age 14) made up the
rest of the household.
Unfortunately, further tragedy struck the family twice in quick succession. John’s mother died in Shalford in February 1862 (6), and his grandfather passed away 18 months later in Hambledon Workhouse in August 1863 (7).
By 1871, James, Elizabeth and John had moved a couple of miles to Catteshall Hatch, Godalming (8). John, now 17, was an agricultural labourer like his father, while Elizabeth, 31, was still unmarried with no occupation listed. John’s older brother George was married with two children, living on the other side of Godalming at Peper Harow (9).
The following year, a still single Elizabeth became pregnant and gave birth to son Henry at
the Guildford Union Workhouse on 21 November 1872. The two remained in the Workhouse until at least February 1873, when Henry was baptised (10).
John’s father James died less than two years later, age 64, in August 1874 (11).
The 1881 Census shows that John, his sister Elizabeth and her son Henry were all “inmates” in
Guildford Union Workhouse (12). John was to remain there for the rest of his life. It looks like, for whatever reason, John could not cope on his own, and had no nobody to turn to who could
help him. His brother George was an agricultural worker, and went on to have 16 children in all so he certainly had his hands full and pockets empty!(13) Elizabeth and nephew Henry did eventually leave the workhouse, but were also in poorly paid jobs – in 1891 Elizabeth was a live-in domestic servant, and Henry a labourer in a paper mill (14, 15).
John died in the Workhouse age 55 on 19 October 1908 of aortic disease (16), and was buried in Eashing Cemetery (17). A heart-warming postscript to John’s life was published in the West
Surrey Times two weeks later (18). The article quoted the Clerk of the Guildford Union who said that John had “been an inmate at the house for 40 years. He had run errands and done a lot of domestic work which other male inmates would not attempt to do”. Although “40 years” is inaccurate as we know John was with his father and sister in 1871, this article indicates that he was resident in the institution from the early 1870s. It seems that John was never able to live
independently, and that the Guildford Union was a “safe haven”, where he was hopefully contented, and clearly was appreciated for his contribution to Workhouse life.
November 2020
References
(1) John Hill Baptism 11 December 1853. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1880, Reference: SHD/3/2, page 76. Ancestry.co.uk
(2) Ann Hill Baptism 31 July 1836. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, Holy Trinity, Bramley 1813-1841, Reference: BRAM/1/3, page 93. Ancestry.co.uk
Elizabeth Hill Baptism 9 February 1840. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, Holy Trinity, Bramley 1813-1841, Reference: BRAM/1/3, page 110. Ancestry.co.uk
Mary Hill Baptism 2 February 1845. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1880, Reference: SHD/3/2, page 38. Ancestry.co.uk
George Hill Baptism 1 August 1847. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, Holy Trinity, Bramley 1842-1880, Reference: BRAM/1/4, page 28. Ancestry.co.uk
Thomas Hill Baptism 10 February 1850. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1880, Reference: SHD/3/2, page 55. Ancestry.co.uk
Sarah Hill Birth September Quarter 1851, Hambledon Vol 4 Page 210, England & Wales, Civil
Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915. Ancestry.co.uk
Harriett Hill Baptism 5 February 1857. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Baptisms, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1880, Reference: SHD/3/2, page 87. Ancestry.co.uk
(3) Ann Hill Burial 24 November 1837, age 16 months. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey,
England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 8. Ancestry.co.uk
Mary Hill Burial 8 December 1847, age 2. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 33. Ancestry.co.uk
Sarah Hill Burial 27 July 1851, age 1 week. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 44. Ancestry.co.uk
Thomas Hill Burial 1 June 1853, age 4. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 51. Ancestry.co.uk
Harriett Hill Burial 19 February 1857, age 2 weeks. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey,
England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St
Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 61. Ancestry.co.uk
(4) George, James, Mary, Elizabeth, George, John Hill. 1861 England Census, Shalford, Hambledon, Surrey. Reference RG 9; Piece: 438; Folio: 171; Page: 16. Ancestry.co.uk
(5) Mary Hill Burial 28 December 1849, age 70. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey,
England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 39. Ancestry.co.uk
(6) Mary Hill Burial 26 February 1863, age 48. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey,
England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 75. Ancestry.co.uk
(7) George Hill Burial 18 August 1863, age 77. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey,
England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 78. Ancestry.co.uk
(8) James, Elizabeth, John Hill. 1871 England Census, Catteshall Hatch, Farncombe, Godalming, Surrey. Reference RG10; Piece: 814; Folio: 66; Page: 66. Ancestry.co.uk
(9) George, Sarah, George, Mary Hill. 1871 England Census, Peper Harrow, Hambledon,
Surrey. Reference RG10; Piece: 823; Folio: 80; Page: 1. Ancestry.co.uk
(10)Henry Hill Baptism 9 February 1873. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Guildford Workhouse Births 1866-1936. Reference: BG6/37/1, page 14. Ancestry.co.uk
(11)James Hill Burial 26 August 1874, age 64. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary The Virgin, Shalford 1835-1908, Reference: SHD/4/2, page 109. Ancestry.co.uk
(12)John Hill. Elizabeth & Henry Hill. 1881 England Census, Guildford Union Workhouse,
Guildford, Surrey. Reference RG11; Piece: 778; Folio: 90; Pages: 2 & 4. Ancestry.co.uk
(13)George & Sarah Hill. 1911 England Census, Godalming Rural, Surrey. Reference RG14; Piece: 3094; Schedule No 135. Ancestry.co.uk
(14)Elizabeth Hill. 1891 England Census, Busbridge, Godalming, Guildford, Surrey. Reference RG12; Piece: 562; Folio: 46; Page: 15. Ancestry.co.uk
(15)Henry Hill. 1891 England Census, Farncombe, Godalming, Guildford, Surrey. Reference RG12; Piece: 561; Folio: 64; Page: 20.
(16)John Hill Death 19 October 1908. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Guildford Union Workhouse Deaths 1887-1914, Reference: BG6/38/2, page 44.
Surreycc.gov.uk/culture-and-leisure/history-centre/researchers/guides/poor-law-records/guildford
John Hill Death December Quarter 1908, Guildford Vol 2a Page 69, England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915. Ancestry.co.uk. Full death certificate available from General Register Office gro.gov.uk.
(17)John Hill Burial 23 October 1908, Eashing Cemetery record book E5/0325, page 91. Available at Godalming-tc.gov.uk/burial-records.
(18)John Hill “Guildford Board of Guardians …. 40 Years in the Workhouse”. West Surrey Times, 31 October 1908, page 6. Available at Findmypast.co.uk / Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk