sarah Earl
nee barrett

Subject :            Sarah Earl née Barrett  (b 1801 – d 1882)

Researcher :      Diann Arnfield

 

A ‘taste’ of the good life for Godalming couple

Sarah Earl and her gardener husband John lived for a time at Godalming’s Westbrook Place, home of the Godbold family who made their fortune producing a ‘vegetable balsam’.  After John’s death, Sarah suffered medical problems which together with old age eventually forced her into the Guildford Union Workhouse.

Sarah was born in 1801, the sixth of seven daughters born to William and Elizabeth Barrett 1, 2. She was baptised on 14th March 1801 at the family church of St Peter and St Paul, Godalming.

Three of Sarah’s sisters died in early childhood, but she grew up to marry bachelor John Earl in Godalming on 8th March 1826 3, 4.  Age 25, Sarah was some 20 years younger than her husband.

Sarah and John were in Ockford Lane, Godalming when their only child, a daughter named Elizabeth Patience, was born in 1829.  She was baptised at St Peter & St Paul’s on 26th August, with John’s trade recorded as ‘gardener’ 5.  Just a few weeks later, in September, Elizabeth died aged two months and was buried at the same church 6.

Westbrook Place, Godalming

In 1841 Sarah and John were living at Westbrook Place, a large estate on the north side of Godalming 7, 8.  Sarah had no employment recorded, but her husband John was gardener for the elderly widowed lady of the house, 74-year-old Sarah Godbold.

The Westbrook estate had been bought in 1790 by Sarah Godbold’s father-in-law Nathaniel Godbold 9, 10. He had made his fortune from his patented ‘Godbold’s Vegetable Balsam’ 11.

Nathaniel knew the value of product promotion in life and even in death, as seen on the most unusual epitaph on his tombstone in the St Peter & St Paul churchyard: ‘Sacred To the memory of Nathaniel Godbold Esq. Inventor & Proprietor of that excellent medicine The Vegetable Balsam For the Cure of Consumptions & Asthmas…’ 12

The Godbold and Earl family connection with Westbrook House ended when Sarah Godbold died at home in January 1843 of ‘old age’, with Sarah Earl ‘present at the death’ 13.

By 1851, John and Sarah Earl were living in Ockford Road, with John still a gardener despite being 71 14.  Sarah’s oldest sister Mary Smith and her husband John were next door 15, 16.  Sarah and Mary’s sister Elizabeth had passed away in Bridge Street, Godalming in April 1843 17, 18.

Widowhood

After 27 years of marriage, Sarah’s husband John died in November 1853 at the age of 74 from asthma, and was buried at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Godalming 19, 20.  

Sarah moved in with her sister Mary probably soon after and was there at the time of the 1861 Census 21. Mary’s husband John Smith was 78 but still working as a stonemason.

Outdoor poor relief

This situation soon changed, as Sarah’s brother-in-law John Smith died later in 1861, followed by her sister Mary in July 1862 22, 23.  

Sarah was now around 60 years old and was probably not in the best of health, as well as being on her own. 

The Guildford Poor Law Union Accounts for 1863/4-1871, the only years for which these records are available, showed payments to Sarah of around 2 shillings and 6 pence (12 ½ p) per week, probably to cover her rent, and about sixpence per week (2 ½ p) ‘in kind’ as bread and other necessities, for the whole period from September 1863 to at least eight years later when the records end 24.  The poor relief was given to her either for ‘infirmity’, or as she was suffering from a ‘fistula’. Sarah had probably been receiving this aid at least since her sister died in 1862, if not before.

This small amount of help enabled Sarah to stay out of the Workhouse. The 1871 Census confirmed that 70-year-old Sarah was coping on her own in Bridge Street, Godalming, where she had moved to in the mid-1860s 25.

Workhouse

Eventually, probably due to her age, infirmity and having no close family to support her, Sarah was forced into the Guildford Union Workhouse.  There are no records available to tell us exactly when this happened, but she was there at the time of the 1881 Census 26. She passed away there on 13th May 1882, age 82, and was buried in Godalming’s Nightingale Cemetery 27, 28.

 

June 2020, updated April 2025
Edited by Mike Brock 

Spike Lives is a Heritage project that chronicles the lives of inmates, staff and the Board of Guardians of the Guildford Union Workhouse at the time of the 1881 Census.  The Spike Heritage Museum in Guildford offers guided tours which present a unique opportunity to discover what life was like in the Casual/Vagrant ward of a Workhouse. More information can be found here

References

Note: the source is Ancestry.co.uk unless otherwise specified. Names are as spelled in original documents.

  1. William Barret & Elizabeth or Bet Sloe 9 Apr 1785 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/2/1-2
  2. Mary Barret 13 Jun 1787 Baptism
    Jane Barret 13 Aug 1789 Baptism
    Elizabeth Barret 8 Mar 1792 Baptism
    Hannah Barret 15 Feb 1795 Baptism
    Ann Barret 27 May 1798 Baptism
    Sarah Barret 14 Mar 1801
    Charlotte Barrett 28 Mar 1803 Baptism
    Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/1/4 and GOD/1/5
  3. Hannah Barrett 17 Jun 1798 Burial
    Ann Barrett 29 Nov 1799 Burial
    Charlotte Barrett 7 Oct 1803 Burial
    Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/1/5
  4. John Earl & Sarah Barrett 8 Mar 1826 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/2/3
  5. Elizth Patience Earl 26 Aug 1829 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/4/1
  6. Elizth Patience Earl 19 Sep 1829 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/5/1
  7. Sarah Godbold; John, Sarah Earl 1841 England Census for Westbrook House, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey; class HO107; piece 1073; folio 21; page 37
  8. Parishes: Godalming in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3, ed. H E Malden, London, 1911 British History Online british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3
    Westbrook, Godalming, Surrey Parks & Gardens Parksandgardens.org
  9. Godalming: James Edward Oglethorpe and Westbrook Place Exploring Surrey’s Past exploringsurreyspast.org.uk
  10. Nathaniel and Samuel Godbold, executors and successors of their late father 26 May 1800 Gloucester Journal, page 4 British Newspaper Archive / FindMyPast.co.uk
    Nathaniel Godbold & Sarah Murray 11 Dec 1823 England Select Marriages; Essex, Barking, St Margaret
    Nathaniel Godbold 5 May 1835 Probate The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury; class PROB 11, piece 1846
  11. Godbold’s Vegetable Balsam Wikipedia.org
  12. Advertisement or Advertising entry in 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 1 Wikisource.org
  13. Sarah Godbold 16 Jan 1843 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Guildford, Surrey; vol 4; page 109 Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  14. John, Sarah Earl 1851 England Census for Barton Lodge, Ockford Road, Godalming, Surrey; class HO107; piece 1594; folio 736; page 59
  15. John, Mary Smith; William, Thomas Wiggins; Walter JW Smith 1851 England Census for Barton Lodge, Ockford Road, Godalming, Surrey; class HO107; piece 1594; folio 736; page 59
  16. John Smith & Mary Barrett 3 Oct 1807 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/2/1-2
  17. Elizabeth Wiggins18 Apr 1843 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/5/2
  18. William Wiggins & Elizabeth Barret 11 Nov 1812 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/2/1-2
  19. John Earl 25 Nov 1853 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Guildford, Surrey; vol 2A; page 34 Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  20. John Earl 2 Dec 1853 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Godalming St Peter & St Paul; ref GOD/5/2
  21. John, Mary, Walter Smith; Sarah Earl; Albert Wiggins 1861 England Census for Ockford Road, Godalming, Surrey; class RG9; piece 429; folio 84; page 43
  22. John Smith 2 Dec 1861 Burial Godalming Joint Burial Committee; Burials at Nightingale Cemetery 1857-2024; book N1; entry 0350, page 20. Available at Godalming-tc.gov.uk/burial-records
  23. Mary Smith 11 Jul 1862 Burial Godalming Joint Burial Committee; Burials at Nightingale Cemetery 1857-2024; book N1; entry 0389, page 18. Available at Godalming-tc.gov.uk/burial-records
  24. Sarah Earl 1864 Lady Day (half year ending 23 March 1864) to 1871 Michaelmas (half year ending 29 September 1871) Guildford Union Poor Law Half-Yearly Accounts; ref SHC BG6/33/1 Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking SurreyCC.gov.uk
  25. Sarah Earl 1871 England Census for Bridge Street, Godalming, Surrey; class RG10; piece 814; folio 76; page 4
  26. Sarah Earl 1881 England Census for Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; class RG11; piece 778; folio 91; page 3
  27. Sarah Earl 13 May 1882 England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index; Guildford, Surrey; vol 2A; page 51 Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  28. Sarah Earl 17 May 1882 Burial Godalming Joint Burial Committee; Burials at Nightingale Cemetery 1857-2024; book N3; entry 2095, page 3. Available at Godalming-tc.gov.uk/burial-records
  29.