MARTHA CHEESEMAN

Subject Name :  Martha Cheeseman (b 1839 – d 1905)

Researcher : Julie Cameron

Martha Cheeseman was born illegitimate and deaf.  After being left by her mother to be raised by relatives, Martha spent much of her time in the Guildford Union Workhouse, although she did have four years in a forward-thinking asylum whose aim was to help women like Martha find a way to progress in life. 

Martha was born in Pirbright, Surrey on 4th November 1839 and was baptised the following day in the St Michael and All Angels’ Church as the illegitimate daughter of Ruth Cheesman sic, who was aged about 18 (1, 2).   The reason for a baptism taking place so quickly was generally because the child was believed to have a serious health issue.  Although Martha did survive and nothing was recorded on the baptism register about her health, the 1851 Census revealed that Martha was, in blunt Victorian language, ‘deaf and dumb’ (6).  No official General Register Office birth certificate has been traced for her.

As an infant at the time of the 1841 Census, Martha was living at ‘Potteries’, Pirbright at the home of her great-uncle Benjamin Cheesman, 50, an agricultural labourer, great-aunt Sarah, 40, and their two children (3, 4).  Martha’s 21-year-old mother Ruth was living close by at the White Hart Inn in the centre of the village, where she was a servant (5). 

Martha was still living in Pirbright with Benjamin, Sarah and their family when the 1851 Census was taken, noting her as a 9-year-old (actually 11) ‘scholar deaf dumb’ (6).  Martha’s mother Ruth meanwhile had moved over 230 miles (370km) north to York where she was a 29-year-old unmarried live-in servant for an Inland Revenue Inspector (7).

Ruth did return to Surrey, marrying George Mitchell there in early 1854 (8). They were living in Cowshot, just north of Pirbright, when Ruth gave birth to their first child George Francis Mitchell on 5th July that year (9).

Was 14-year-old Martha now with her mother and new family?  It would seem unlikely.  Her great-uncle Benjamin, with whom Martha had been living since she was a baby, passed away five years later in February 1859 (10) and the 1861 Census showed Martha to be an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse (11).  There are no admission records to show when this happened, but inaccuracies on this Census about Martha’s place of birth – marked as ‘unknown’ – and her age – 24 instead of 21 – indicate that Martha had probably not been living with her mother Ruth.

It seems certain that Martha had become a permanent inmate of the Workhouse as the Guildford Union Poor Law Accounts Book for 1864-1871 showed her to be ever-present in the Workhouse in the sixth-month period up to 25th March 1864 (12).  However, for the following six months, she was only there for 41 days. 

This was because around May 1864, the Guildford Board of Guardians sent 24-year-old Martha to live at the ‘Deaf and Dumb Asylum for Females’ which had just moved to a large old mansion at 179 Lower Clapton Road, Hackney, London (13).

The Asylum claimed to be the only institution in the UK for ‘educating and imparting the knowledge of a Trade’  to adult females like Martha (14). 

A letter written to the Kensington Board of Guardians in June 1868 about one of their inmates who had been sent to the Asylum in Hackney illustrated their aims (15):  ‘I paid a visit to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, to see how the girl Butler was getting on.  I am sure you will be pleased to hear that I found her very much improved by her residence at the Asylum.  She was very busy at needlework, and I also saw her copybook and was pleased to see that she wrote very well indeed’.

After Martha had spent three years at the Asylum, the Guildford Board of Guardians’ minutes for 18th May 1867 showed that they were happy for her stay to be extended at their expense (16) :

‘A letter was read from the Secretary of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Lower Clapton stating that Martha Cheesman would be benefitted by being allowed to remain there for another year. It was Resolved that she should remain there another year at the cost of the Union’.

After that year, Martha was brought back ‘home’ to Guildford in May 1868 (17) :

‘A letter was read from the Secretary of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum stating that Martha Cheesman’s time expired on the 7th instant and requesting to know if the Board intended to remove her when it was ordered that the Secretary be informed that the Matron would fetch her home next week’.

Whether the four years Martha spent at the Asylum did benefit her is not recorded.  However, the next four Censuses from 1871 to 1901, each of which have Martha as a Guildford Union Workhouse inmate, show her to have ‘no occupation’, so perhaps the Board’s good intentions for Martha did not work out as hoped (18, 19, 20, 21).

The 1864-1871 Poor Law Accounts Book showed that Martha, after returning from the Asylum, was again a permanent resident in the Guildford Union Workhouse, so it seems certain that she spent the rest of her life there. 

After over 40 years in the Workhouse, Martha passed away there on 16th February 1905 age 66 from ‘general senile decay’ (22).  She was buried in her birthplace of Pirbright on 20th February (23).

Martha, after she had reached adulthood, sadly had no family of her own that she could turn to.  She almost certainly suffered from the stigma attached to deafness in 19th Century Britain; the belief being held by many that it was a ‘defect’ could partly explain why she had to spend so many years in institutions (23).  Even the name of the ‘British Deaf and Dumb Asylum’ gives an uncomfortable impression of how Martha and the other residents were perceived.   It can only be imagined what frustration and helplessness Martha must have felt.

October 2019, updated March 2024

Reference List

Note :  all references are Ancestry.co.uk unless otherwise stated

  1. Martha Cheeseman 5 Nov 1839 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1921; Pirbright, St Michael and All Angels 1813-1851; PI/3/1; page 68
  2. Ruth Cheeseman 25 Nov 1821, daughter of Samuel and Hannah Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1921; Pirbright, St Michael and All Angels 1813-1851; PI/3/1; page 17
  3. Benjamin Cheeseman 10 Apr 1790 son of John and Deborah Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1538-1812; Bisley, St John the Baptist 1760-1806; BIS/1/3
    Samuell Cheeseman 5 Jun 1796 son of John and Deborah Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1538-1812; Bisley, St John the Baptist 1760-1806; BIS/1/3
  4. Benjm, Sarah, Nathan, Matilda, Martha Cheesman 1841 England Census return for Pirbright in the registration district of Guildford, Woking sub-district, Surrey. Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1080; Book 2; Folio 10; page 13
  5. Ruth Cheesman 1841 England Census return for Pirbright in the registration district of Guildford, Woking sub-district, Surrey. Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1080; Book 2; Folio 11; page 15
  6. Benjamin, Sarah, Nathan, Martha Cheesman 1851 England Census return for Pirbright in the registration district of Guildford, Woking sub-district, Surrey. Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 1594; Folio 14; page 20
  7. Ruth Cheesman 1851 England Census return for York Holy Trinity Micklegate in the registration district of York, Micklegate sub-district, Yorkshire. Public Record Office Class HO107; Piece 2354; Folio 76; page 22
  8. Ruth Cheeseman & George Mitchell 1854 Jan-Feb-Mar quarter England & Wales Civil Registration of Marriage Index 1837-1915; Guildford, Surrey; volume 2a; page 66
  9. George Francis Mitchell 1854 Jul-Aug-Sep quarter England & Wales Civil Registration of Birth Index 1837-1915; Guildford, Surrey; volume 2a; page 30.
    Digital copy of original from Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  10. Benjamin Cheeseman 8 Feb 1859 Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1885; Pirbright, St Michael and All Angels 1813-1885; PI/4/1
  11. Martha Cheesman 1861 England Census return for Guildford Union Workhouse, in the parish of Stoke, registration district of Guildford Surrey. Public Record Office Class RG9; Piece 427; Folio 89, page 5
  12. Martha Cheeseman Guildford Poor Law Half Yearly Accounts 1864-1871; reference BG6/33/1. Surrey History Centre, Woking
  13. British Asylum for Deaf and Dumb Females, Clapton, London ChildrensHomes.org.uk
  14. British Asylum for Deaf and Dumb Females, Lower Clapton E The Royal Guide to London Charities, published 1884, author Herbert Fry, publisher Chatto & Windus Google.co.uk.Books
  15. Kensington Board of Guardians 20 Jun 1868 Chelsea News and General Advertiser,
    page 4   FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
  16. Martha Cheesman 18 May 1867 Minutes of meeting of the Board Guildford Poor Law Union Minute Book; July 1866 to June 1869; BG6/11/16; page 129. Surrey History Centre, Woking
  17. Martha Cheesman 16 May 1868 Minutes of meeting of the Board; Guildford Poor Law Union Minute Book; July 1866 to June 1869; BG6/11/16; page 289. Surrey History Centre, Woking
  18. Martha Cheeseman 1871 England Census return for Guildford Union Workhouse, in the parish of Stoke next Guildford, registration district of Guildford Surrey. Public Record Office Class RG10; Piece 813; Folio 80, page 5
  19. Martha Cheeseman 1881 England Census return for Guildford Union Workhouse, in the parish of Stoke, registration district of Guildford Surrey. Public Record Office Class RG11; Piece 778; Folio 92, page 5
  20. Martha Cheeseman 1891 England Census return for Guildford Union Workhouse, in the parish of Stoke, registration district of Guildford Surrey. Public Record Office Class RG12; Piece 560; Folio 203, page 9
  21. Martha Cheeseman 1901 England Census return for Guildford Union Workhouse, in the parish of Stoke next Guildford, registration district of Guildford Surrey. Public Record Office Class RG13; Piece 605; Folio 64, page 3
  22. Martha Cheeseman 16 Feb 1905 England & Wales Deaths; Jan-Feb-Mar quarter; Guildford; volume 2A, page 72
    Digital copy of certificate from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
    Martha Cheeseman 16 Feb 1905 Guildford Workhouse Deaths 1887-1914; BG6/38/2, record 991, page 12.  Surrey History Centre, Woking SurreyCC.gov.uk
  23. Martha Cheeseman 20 Feb 1905 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey, Church of Registers, 1813-1997; Pirbright, St Michael & all Angels 1885-1942; PI/4/2; page 37
  24. Deafness : representation, sign language, and community, ca. 1800-1920. Published 6 Feb 2020; Author Dr Esme Cleall, The University of Sheffield; publisher Bloomsbury; repository copy available at White Rose Research Online eprints.whiterose.ac.uk