joseph hall

Subject Name :    Joseph Hall
                              (b 1804 – d 1884)                  

Researcher :        Carol Gomm

Joseph Hall followed in his father’s footsteps as a papermaker, travelling around South and East England’s paper mills before becoming a hawker in Surrey and then spending his final days in the Guildford Union Workhouse.

Joseph was born on 14th September 1804 in Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) and baptised there on 10th May 1807 at the same time as his newly-born brother William [1, 2].  They were the sons of Joseph Hall, a papermaker, and wife Mary née Rose. 

Joseph senior and Mary had married in 1797 in the hamlet of Huxham, just to the north of Exeter in Devon [3]. Although there were only 135 people living in Huxham in 1801, the village had two paper mills on the River Culm [4, 5].  Their marriage licence showed Joseph to be a ‘sojourner’ of Huxham, meaning that he was a temporary resident of the parish.  Many employees at paper mills around the country were ‘journeyman paper makers’ who had served an apprenticeship in papermaking before travelling around the country to find work on a day-by-day basis wherever they could. This type of employment continued for many years – the 1841 Census for Huxham, for example, showed there were eight journeymen papermakers working at the mills [6].

Joseph and Mary moved on from Huxham at some stage, possibly to one or more different mills before arriving in Sutton Courtenay, some 150 miles (240km) away, where their sons Joseph and William were born. 

Situated on the banks of the River Thames, there had been a paper mill in Sutton Courtenay since the 17th Century, and which for a time had produced the paper used to make Bank of England notes [7].

Joseph and William’s sister Susan was born in December 1809 here, but by the mid-1820s, the family had moved 30 miles (48km) east to Chepping Wycombe (now High Wycombe) in Buckinghamshire [8].  This area was home to a number of mills on the River Wye, and was where Joseph junior was to work for many years [9].    

On 23rd October 1825, 21-year-old Joseph married local girl Ann Stacey in Hughenden, just to the north of High Wycombe [10].  One of the witnesses was William Hollis who married Joseph’s sister Susan the following year [11].

Joseph and Ann had two daughters in Littleworth, a small village next to Hughenden, Ellen in 1826 and Susan two years later [12, 13].  Their baptisms confirmed that Joseph was, like his father, a papermaker. 


Riots at Paper Mills

This was proving to be a critical period for industry in general.  In 1830, feelings were running high across the country about the introduction of machinery into agriculture.  This spilt over into the papermaking industry where the ‘Fourdrinier Paper Machine’ was causing similar disquiet [14]. The general unrest gave rise to what became known as the ‘Swing Riots’. 

Buckinghamshire’s extensive network of paper mills did not escape. On Monday 29th November 1830, a number of rioters congregated south of Wycombe on Flackwell Heath armed with sledgehammers, crowbars, and pickaxes.  They first proceeded to Ash Mill, the paper mill of Messrs Lane just to the west of High Wycombe.  This was the closest mill to where Joseph Hall was living so it may well have been where he was working.  The rioters, after smashing windows, eventually gained entry despite the efforts of those inside the mill.  Within 15 minutes, they had destroyed the papermaking machine.

They continued their path of destruction, even at the mill of Mr. Hayes who addressed the rioters, assuring them he would take the machine down and not work it until an arrangement with the papermakers had been agreed. Despite his plea that 53 of his hands would be out of work if his property was destroyed, the rioters continued their task of destruction.

Injuries were suffered as the authorities tried to intervene but yet more mills were damaged before eventually the disturbance was brought under control with many arrests made.

It is not known what Joseph’s sympathies were regarding the rioters or what involvement he may have had, but his name did not appear in the list of those sent for trial [15].

A Filthy Business

What was known, however, was that the papermaking industry caused serious pollution and health problems. 

Paper at that time was made from old rags and cast-off clothing, often from the poorest in society.  These items were sorted and cut up by women who were likely to be confronted by filth and infection from what they were handling.  Not only that, the noxious chemicals used for breaking down the materials, plus bleach and other products used in the latter part of the process [18], were all discharged into the rivers.

When reporting to the House of Commons in February 1834 about the supply of clean water to the London Metropolis, renowned civil engineer Thomas Telford described the River Gade at Hunton Bridge, Hertfordshire as ‘infected by the deleterious substances used for paper mills, and could not be used’ [17].

The Paper Trail

To follow Joseph’s life is to follow a paper trail – literally, as everywhere he moved to was in pursuit of employment at a paper mill.

Joseph and his family remained in the Wycombe area after the riots, continuing to move around the small settlements just to the north including Plomer’s Green and Downley. 

Joseph and Ann had three more children; Eliza in 1832, Joseph in 1837 and Ann Louisa in 1839 [18, 19, 20]. 

Just four months after giving birth, Joseph’s wife Ann died aged 31 at their home in Downley on 12th December from ‘decline’, which showed that the reason for her death was not known [21].

Joseph married spinster Mary Ann Jones seven months later in July 1840 in Wycombe [22]. By the time of the Census the following June, they were living in Downley with their daughter Sarah Elizabeth, aged three weeks, plus two of Joseph’s children from his first marriage, Susan and Joseph [23].

Joseph’s other children were all nearby.  His eldest daughter, Ellen, was a live-in servant at a farm in Hughenden [24]. Daughters Eliza and Ann Louisa were with their maternal grandparents at Littleworth [25].  Joseph’s widowed mother Mary was living in Chepping Wycombe [26].  No record has been traced for the death of his father.

Papermaker Joseph and Mary Ann’s second child, William, was born in December 1843 in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, about 15 miles (24km) east of Wycombe [27]. The area around Rickmansworth had a number of paper mills situated on three rivers, the Chess, the Colne and the Gade, about which Thomas Telford had voiced his concerns regarding pollution a few years earlier [28]

However, they did not stay long.  Within three years Joseph and family had moved again, this time 115 miles (184km) north-east to Taverham, Norfolk where their third child Charlotte was born in October 1846 [29].  Joseph would have been working at the Taverham Paper Mill, standing on the River Wensum, five miles (8km) from Norwich. This mill was re-equipped around the time of Joseph’s arrival [30].

Taverham was just a small village in 1851, with the Census listing 16 ‘journeymen paper makers’ including 46-year-old Joseph, plus half-a-dozen ‘journeymen carpenters’ [31].  The birthplaces of some of these men and their families showed that their lives were much like Joseph’s.  One example was Robert Bryant, a 44-year-old journeyman papermaker from High Wycombe [32].  One of his children was born in Rickmansworth in about 1846 with a second a year later in Taverham, so they may well have made that long journey from Rickmansworth at the same time as Joseph and his family.

A Change of Direction

For Joseph, the 1850s had several significant events.  His married daughter Ellen died in September 1850 in Hillingdon, Middlesex, followed four years later by the death in November 1854 of his 8-year-old daughter Charlotte in Downley [33, 34]. Whether Joseph’s family had moved back here is not known as her death was neither registered by Joseph nor his wife.  

Also in the 1850s, the family moved to Blackheath village, near Wonersh, Surrey.  Joseph was probably working either at the Postford paper mill on the River Tillingbourne, just a mile or so north of Blackheath, or at the Chilworth paper mill, on the same river but a little further away [35]. 

In September 1859, Joseph’s wife Mary Ann died aged 52 from heart disease and dropsy at their home in Blackheath village [36]. 

Although Joseph was recorded as a papermaker on Mary Ann’s death certificate, the 1861 Census 18 months later showed 56-year-old Joseph to be a ‘licensed hawker’, a travelling salesman or pedlar [39].  He was still living in Blackheath, with his daughter Sarah, aged 20, and son William, a 17-year-old labourer.

The most likely reason for Joseph seemingly leaving papermaking was that the smaller paper mills in rural areas were gradually closing down. The industry was moving away from old rags to using wood and esparto grass, with the new mills being built near to ports as the esparto grass was imported. 

The Postford Paper Mills had been in trouble for some time.  In 1852 they were sold off as a result of bankruptcy [38]. Then, in 1857 almost 2,000 reams of paper were auctioned off ‘under distress for rent’, coinciding with the time that wholesale stationer Sir William Magnay, first Baronet of Postford House, and a former Lord Mayor of London, was declared insolvent [39, 40]. The mill was not working in 1861, when Joseph was a hawker, being finally auctioned off in 1865 [41]. 

Chilworth paper mill, described in 1853 as ‘important and valuable … newly erected in the most substantial manner’ was sold in 1870, becoming a printing works [42, 43].

The 1871 Census confirmed Joseph was a hawker [44]. He was living with his son William, daughter-in-law Ellen and their three children at 8 Station Row, Shalford.

It is not known when Joseph entered the Guildford Union Workhouse, or how long he was there, but at the time of the 1881 Census he was listed as a 76-year-old widower inmate, a hawker [45]. 

Joseph passed away at the Workhouse on 27th July 1884 age 80 from ‘decay of age. Gangrene leg (right)’ [46].  He was described on his death certificate as a labourer of Worplesdon. As his daughter Ann was living at Broadstreet Common, Worplesdon in 1881, it seems likely he had been living with her before he entered the Workhouse [47].  Joseph was buried on 29th July at Worplesdon’s Parish Church [48].

August 2022, updated January 2025

Other biographies on this site related to papermaking include the following inmates who were in the Guildford Union Workhouse at the same time as Joseph Hall, on the night of the 1881 census: 

      Lucy Larby:  Survived on Outdoor Relief and Rag Cutting at Eashing paper mill

      Jane Mitchell, Priscilla and Susan:  Young family decimated by ill health


References

The source is FindMyPast.co.uk unless otherwise stated.
Birth, marriage, and death records have been confirmed at the Royal Berkshire Archives, Reading, and Buckinghamshire Archives, Aylesbury.

  1. Joseph Hall 10 May 1807 baptism; 14 Sep 1804 birth Berkshire Baptisms Index; Sutton Courtenay 1775-1812; ref D/P128/1/5; page 32 Royal Berkshire Archives, Reading (note: FindMyPast transcription gives birth year 1806, which is incorrect)
  2. William Hall 10 May 1807 baptism; 11 Apr 1807 birth Berkshire Baptisms Index; Sutton Courtenay 1775-1812; ref D/P128/1/5; page 32 Royal Berkshire Archives, Reading
  3. Joseph Hall & Mary Rose 8 Jun 1797 South West Heritage Trust; Devon Marriages and Banns; Huxham
  4. Huxham, Devon population 1801 GEN UKI UK & Ireland Genealogy; full 1801-1831 Data Set for Devon; David J Knapman Genuki.org.uk
  5. Exeter Working Papers in Book Trade History A History of the Book in Devon; Couchers and layers: The Paper Industry in mid-19th century Exeter; author Ian Maxted Bookhistory.blogspot.com/2007/01/devon-book-56
    Huxham Exeter Working Papers in Book Trade History; The Devon Paper Trades; a biographical dictionary; Bookhistory.blogspot.com/2014/07/devon-paper-trades-huxham
    Upper Huxham Mill Active 1774-1890
    Lower Huxham Mill Active 1770-1860
  6. 1841 England Census for Huxham, Devon; class HO107; piece 263; book 21; schedule 1084
  7. Sutton Courtenay–River & Mills Sutton Courtenay Local History Society sclhs.org.uk
    Culham Lock on the River Thames VisitThames.co.uk
  8. Susan Hall 24 Dec 1809 baptism; 15 Dec 1809 birth Berkshire Baptisms Index; Sutton Courtenay 1775-1812; ref D/P128/1/5; page 35 Royal Berkshire Archives, Reading
  9. Paper Mills in the Wye Valley, Buckinghamshire Studies on the History of Papermaking in Britain; author Alfred H Shorter; published 1993
    The Mills of the Wye Valley at 1816 (37 mills total) Beaconsfield Historical Society BeaconsfieldHistory.org.uk
  10. Joseph Hall & Ann Stacey 23 Oct 1825 Buckinghamshire Marriage Index; Bishop’s Transcripts; Hughenden 1780-1832; ref D/A/T/111 Buckinghamshire Archives, Aylesbury Buckinghamshire.gov.uk
    Ann Stacey 23 Oct 1808 England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975; Parish Baptisms; West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
  11. William Hollis & Susan Hall 19 Nov 1826 England Marriages 1538-1973; Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
  12. Ellen Hall 16 Apr 1826 England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975; Hughenden Buckinghamshire Archives, Aylesbury Buckinghamshire.gov.uk
  13. Susan Hall 9 Nov 1828 Buckinghamshire Baptism Index; Bishop’s Transcripts; Hughenden 1780-1832; ref D/A/T/111
  14. Riots Near High Wycombe 4 Dec 1830 Bucks Gazette; page 4 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
    Riots &c at Wycombe 4 Dec 1830 Berkshire Chronicle and Bucks and Windsor Herald; page 3 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
    River Wye, Buckinghamshire, Mills Wikipedia.org
    Fourdrinier Machine, Paper Machine Wikipedia.org
    Swing Riots Wikipedia.org
    Ash Mill Buckinghamshire’s Heritage Portal, Monumental Record 0122001000 Heritageportal.Buckinghamshire.gov.uk
  15. Special Commissions Buckinghamshire, Aylesbury, Monday, Jan. 10 (sentencing of rioters) 15 Jan 1831 Windsor & Eton Express, page 2 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
  16. History of Papermaking in the UK British Association of Paper Historians baph.org.uk
    The use of rags in paper-making Ivybridge Heritage Ivybridge-Heritage.org
  17. The Endless Web John Dickinson & Co. Ltd. 1804-1954 published 1955; publisher Cape; author Joan Evans
    Fraser’s Magazine – Metropolis Water 31 Oct 1834 The Globe; page 4 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
    Damnable Inventions : Chilworth Gunpowder and the Paper Mills of the Tillingbourne May 2002, authors Glenys & Alan Crocker, publisher Surrey Industrial History Group
  18. Eliza Halls sic 28 Oct 1832 England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975; Parish Baptisms; West Wycombe Buckinghamshire Archives, Aylesbury Buckinghamshire.gov.uk
  19. Joseph Halls sic 13 Aug 1837 England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975; Parish Baptisms; West Wycombe Buckinghamshire Archives, Aylesbury Buckinghamshire.gov.uk
  20. Louisa Hall 12 Aug 1839 England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index; Jul-Aug-Sep 1839; Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; volume 6; page 417 Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
    Ann Louisa Hall 23 Feb 1840 England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975; Parish Baptisms; West Wycombe  Buckinghamshire Archives, Aylesbury Buckinghamshire.gov.uk
  21. Ann Hall 12 Dec 1839 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Jan-Feb-Mar 1840; Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; volume 6; page 335 Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  22. Joseph Hale sic & Mary Ann Jones 27 Jul 1840 England Marriages 1538-1973; West Wycombe
    Joseph Hall & Mary Ann Jones Oct-Nov-Dec 1840 England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index; Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; volume 6; page 611
  23. Joseph, Mary, Susan, Joseph, Sarah Hall 1841 England Census for Downley, West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; class HO107; piece 55; book 18; pages 9&10; schedule 1702
  24. Ellen Hall 1841 England Census for Hughenden, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; class HO107; piece 52; book 14; page 2; schedule 737
  25. William, Alice, Edward Stacey; Eliza, Anny sic Hall 1841 England Census for Hughenden, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; class HO107; piece 52; book 14; page 1; schedule 733
  26. Mary Hall 1841 England Census for Easton St, Chepping Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; class HO107; piece 55; book 1; page 6; schedule 28
  27. William Hall 30 Dec 1843 England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index; Jan-Feb-Mar 1844; Watford, Hertfordshire; volume 6; page 652 Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  28. Rickmansworth A History of the County of Hertford Volume 2; pages 371-386; published by Victoria County History, London, 1908 British-History.ac.uk
    Paper Valley People Frogmore Paper Mill Birthplace of Paper’s Industrial Revolution Frogmorepapermill.org.uk
  29. Charlotte Hall 20 Oct 1846 England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index; Oct-Nov-Dec 1846; St Faiths, Norfolk; volume 13; page 102 Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  30. Taverham Mill, River Wensum NorfolkMills.co.u
  31. Joseph, Mary, Joseph, Sarah E, William, Charlotte Hall 1851 England Census for ‘In The Street’, Taverham, St Faiths, Norfolk; class HO107; piece 1811; folio 125; page 4; schedule 16
  32. Robert, Sarah, Mary H, Sarah Bryant 1851 England Census for Mill House, Taverham, St Faiths, Norfolk; class HO107; piece 1811; folio 127; page 8; schedule 30
  33. Ellen Hall & James Twitchin 26 Dec 1846 England Marriages 1538-1973; West Wycombe
    Ellen Twitchen 26 Sep 1850 Greater London Burial Index; Parish Burials; Hillingdon
  34. Charlotte Hall 25 Nov 1854 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Oct-Nov-Dec 1854 Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; volume 3A; page 285; Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  35. The Paper Mills of Surrey Author Alan Crocker; Surrey Industrial History Group; Surrey History, Vol IV, No 1; published 1998/1990 SurreyArchaeology.org.uk
  36. Mary Ann Hall 22 Sep 1859 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Jul-Aug-Sep 1859 Hambledon, Surrey; volume 2A; page 71; Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  37. Joseph, Sarah E, William Hall 1861 England Census for Blackheath, Wonersh, Surrey; class RG9; piece 438; folio 189; page 20
  38. In Bankruptcy – Postford Paper Mills, Chilworth, Surrey 21 Oct 1852 The Morning Herald, page 8 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
  39. Postford Paper Mills, Albury, Surrey 12 Dec 1857 Surrey Times & General Advertiser, page 1 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
  40. Insolvency of Sir Wm Magnay, Bart 13 Nov 1858, London City Press, page 2 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
  41. Sale by MJ Hutton, Postford Mills, Chilworth, near Guildford, Surrey 28 Jan 1865, Surrey Advertiser, page 1 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
    Magnay Baronets Wikipedia.org
    Sir William Magnay, 1st Baronet
  42. Surrey, Important and Valuable Paper-Mill Property, situate at Chilworth, near Guildford (with immediate possession) 19 Jan 1853 Morning Advertiser, page 8 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
  43. Chilworth Paper Mill, near Guildford 19 Feb 1870 Surrey Advertiser, page 4 FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
    Chilworth Mills – conflicts with gunpowder makers The Paper Mills of Surrey Part III Author Alan Crocker; Surrey Industrial History Group; Surrey History, Vol V, No 1; published 1994 SurreyArchaeology.org.uk
  44. Wm, Ellen, Wm, Ellen, Joseph Hall 1871 England Census for 8 Station Row, Shalford, Surrey; class RG10; piece 826; folio 58; page 31
  45. Joseph Hall 1881 England Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; class RG11; piece 778; folio 94; page 10
  46. Joseph Hall 27 Jul 1884 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Jul-Aug-Sep 1884 Guildford, Surrey; volume 2A; page 49; Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  47. Charles, Ann, William, Lucy, Charles, Susan, Charlotte, Henry, Florence Elstone 1881 England Census for Worplesdon, Surrey; class RG11; piece 773; folio 37; page 20
    Anne Hall & Chas Springs Elston 8 Apr 1860 England Marriages 1538-1973; Worplesdon, Surrey
  48. Joseph Hall 29 Jul 1884 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Burials; Worplesdon, St Mary 1879-1946; ref WOR/5/2; page 17