sarah,
Mary ann, william,
Amelia Jane spooner
Subject Names : Sarah Spooner née Hall (1851-1930)
Mary Ann Spooner (1870-1918)
William Spooner (1874-1945)
Amelia Jane Spooner (1879-1881)
Researchers : Julia Browne, Mike Brock, Carol Thompson
Two husbands, seven children, three County Bench appearances seeking money from three different fathers, a daughter and husband confined to the asylum, and at least one spell in the Guildford Union Workhouse – all in just 30 years of the life of one woman.
Sarah Ann Hall was born in Brookwood, Woking on 13th August 1851, the daughter of Alfred William and Hannah Hall née Burchett, 
and baptised at Woking’s St John the Baptist Church on 8th October. She was the fourth of ten children. The 1857 Surrey Electoral Register listed the family living in a ‘freehold cottage and garden’ in Brookwoodlay (now Brookwood Lye), Woking, so it would seem that her father Alfred was doing well.
The 1861 Census revealed that Sarah Ann’s father was a ‘gardener labourer’. Alfred’s father had been a nurseryman before him, so Alfred would have been working at one of the number of large nurseries in the Woking area which grew plants such as rhododendrons and azaleas, much in demand for country estates. The family were still at Brookwood Lye and 9-year-old Sarah Ann now had six siblings.
Three more siblings followed, before in December 1868 Sarah Ann’s mother Hannah died aged 43.
A first affiliation order
Whether 17-year-old Sarah Ann was still living with the family at this time is not known, but on 15th June 1870, she gave birth to a daughter, Mary Ann, at Brookwood Lye. No father was named on her birth certificate or baptism record, however the following month, the West Surrey Times reported that William Spooner had been summoned to the County Bench to 
show ‘why he should not be adjudged to be the putative father of the child of Sarah Ann Holt (sic)’. After an adjournment, Sarah Ann’s cousin Charles Burchett was brought before the Bench as a witness and following his evidence, it was decided William should pay Sarah Ann 1s 6d (7.5p) a week plus 20s (£1) expenses.
The 1871 Census taken the following April showed Sarah Ann, 19, to be an unmarried housekeeper for her widowed 50-year-old father Alfred at the Brookwood Lye family home. Sarah Ann’s daughter Mary Ann was now nine months old, and six of Sarah Ann’s siblings aged from 7 to 25 were also living there.
Despite Sarah Ann’s courtroom battle with William Spooner the previous year, the couple married at Woking’s St Peter’s Church in October 1871. William, a labourer, had been born in Brookwood Lye in 1850 to parents Richard and Caroline Spooner, who in 1871 were living at Hook Heath some 2 miles (3km) away from the Halls.
After their marriage, Sarah Ann and William had two more children, Sarah Ann on 9th October 1872 and William on 7th October 1874, with the family, including their first daughter Mary Ann, living in Hook Heath, possibly with his parents.
Sarah Ann’s father passed away in June 1877, by which time her marriage was failing.
On 25th October 1879, she gave birth to her fourth child, Amelia Jane Spooner at ‘The Booth, Woking’ (Knaphill). Despite Sarah Ann stating on the birth certificate that she was the ‘wife of William Spooner general labourer’, she did not name a father.
Amelia Jane’s birth was not registered until two months later by which time Sarah Ann, and presumably her children, were in the Guildford Union Workhouse. Amelia Jane was baptised in January 1880 at the St John the Evangelist Church, Stoke-next-Guildford, indicating that they had not left the nearby Workhouse.
A second affiliation order
In October 1880, a year after Amelia Jane’s birth, her father’s name was revealed when George Smithers, a bricklayer, was brought before the County Bench to show why he should not ‘contribute to the support of the illegitimate child of Sarah Ann Spooner’, 
fathered by him after he had lived with Sarah Ann for a year. Sarah Ann claimed that she had not seen her husband for eight years, although this was probably a slight exaggeration. The Bench ordered George to pay Sarah Ann 2s (10p) a week.
Death of youngest child Amelia Jane in the Workhouse
There are no Guildford Union Workhouse admission/discharge registers still in existence, so it is not known if the family had remained in the Workhouse after Amelia Jane’s baptism in January 1880, or whether they were there at the time of the second affiliation order in October 1880.
It is possible that the small regular payment from the affiliation order helped Sarah Ann to keep her family out of the Workhouse. However, six months later the 1881 Census taken on 3rd April listed the four of them as inmates. 30-year-old Sarah Ann was noted as the ‘wife of bricklayer’, presumably referring to George Smithers. Three of her children – Mary Ann (10), William (6) and Amelia Jane (1) were with her, while 8-year-old Sarah Ann was living with her paternal grandparents Richard and Caroline Spooner in Hook Heath. Of course, there was no sign of her husband William there – he has not been traced anywhere, nor has George Smithers.
Just after the Census, on 25th April 1881 Amelia Jane died in the Workhouse, aged 18 months, from whooping cough and bronchitis.
Without admission/discharge registers, it is unclear if the family had returned to the Workhouse just for the short time of Amelia Jane’s illness, for her to be cared for in the Infirmary, or if their stay had been longer term. Sarah Ann, and her two children, did leave the Workhouse soon after Amelia Jane’s death, as on 13th and 14th June 1881 William age 6 and Mary Ann, a day before her eleventh birthday, were respectively re-admitted as pupils at St John’s School, Woking. Mary Ann was at Hook Heath, so she was probably living with her grandparents Richard and Caroline Spooner. William’s address was given as nearby St. John’s Common, with the listed ‘parent or guardian’ simply called Sidney.
Fifth child, third affiliation order
Sarah Ann became a mother for the fifth time when she gave birth to another daughter, Amelia Newey Spooner on 29th May 1888. Again, she did not disclose the name of the father.
The truth came out that September when Thomas Newey, a local nurseryman, was summoned to the County 
Bench to explain ‘why he should not contribute’ towards Sarah Ann’s child. She claimed that Thomas had called one day at her house and was ‘unduly intimate with her’, resulting in the birth of Amelia. The Bench also heard that Sarah Ann was married but that her husband had deserted her 13 years ago. This time Sarah Ann was not successful, her case being dismissed due to lack of evidence.
Daughter Mary Ann admitted to Brookwood Asylum
Sarah Ann’s eldest child Mary Ann had been re-registered at St John’s School in December 1884, and left the following July when she was 15. Her record noted that she had not achieved any 
level of education prior to this time.
Less than four years later, in April 1890, 19-year-old Mary Ann was admitted to the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum at Brookwood, within walking distance of her home in Knaphill.
On admission she was noted as ‘an Imbecile’. This was a medical term commonly used in Victorian times to describe a person as having an intelligence that did not exceed that of a normal child of about seven years, and not then considered to be derogatory. However, families did hide details of what could be seen as shameful conditions, so perhaps that is why Mary Ann was never listed with a ‘disability’ in the censuses.
Mary Ann spent the rest of her life in Brookwood, passing away there in December 1918, aged 47.
Sarah Ann re-marries
By April 1891 39-year-old Sarah Ann, now working as a charwoman, and her daughter Amelia, were lodging with widower Alfred Daborn, a 45-year-old unemployed general labourer, and his three sons, at 2 Victoria Terrace, Knaphill. This was five doors along from Sarah Ann’s cousin Charles Burchett at 7 Victoria Terrace, where Sarah Ann’s daughter Mary Ann had been living when she was admitted to Brookwood a year earlier. Alfred’s wife had died in November 1888.
Sarah Ann and Alfred were married at Woking’s St John’s Church in July 1891. Sarah Ann said she was a widow, although no evidence has been found to prove that her first husband 
William Spooner had died. She was heavily pregnant on their wedding day, with their daughter Alice born in August. A son Herbert followed in 1893, but only lived for six months.
Having seen her daughter Mary Ann go into the Brookwood Asylum in 1890, Sarah Ann then had to cope with her husband Alfred also being admitted in May 1898 from their home at 4 Lye View Cottage, suffering from ‘Dementia’. He was there until passing away in April 1900, aged 54.
Sarah Ann remained at Lye View. In 1901 she was noted as a 49-year-old widow with ‘no means’. Her daughters Amelia (12) and Alice (9) were both scholars, while her 14-year-old stepson Arthur Daborn was bringing in some money as a farm labourer.
It seems that Arthur was going to be her main support over the coming years. In 1911 the two were living in Stevens Cottage, Robin Hood Road (later Barnby Road), Knaphill, with Sarah Ann’s daughters Amelia and Alice having moved on. Sarah Ann was a charwoman while Arthur was an unmarried labourer. She stated that she had borne eight children, although only seven have been traced.
Death of Sarah Ann
Having outlived one if not two husbands and four of her children, Sarah Ann died at home on 30th March 1930 aged 78. Her daughter Alice, who was also now living at Stevens Cottage with half-brother Arthur, was the informant and present at her death. Sarah Ann was buried three days later at the church of her baptism, where most of her children were also baptised, and the second of her marriages took place – St John’s, Woking.
William Spooner junior
William’s early childhood must have been one of confusion and instability. When his education first began at the age of 5 at St John’s School, Woking in May 1879, his parent or guardian was named as James, although his actual father’s name was the absent William, and unusually no date of birth was recorded. The home address given for William junior was The Booth, Knaphill, where his mother was to give birth to his half-sister Amelia Jane five months later. Who James was has remained a mystery.
After the spell in the Guildford Union Workhouse with his family, William went back to St John’s School as a 6-year-old in 1881. On this admission, his parent or guardian was listed as Sidney, and address ‘Common, St John’s’. Again, an unclear situation.
William was probably with his mother when he was baptised at St John’s in August 1887. Coming up to working age of 13, perhaps his family felt that being baptised could be of benefit to him in later life.
What William chose to do was to follow in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather Alfred Hall by becoming a nursery gardener. The 1891 Census showed 16-year-old William living with his paternal grandparents Richard and Caroline Spooner at Hook Heath. William’s sister Sarah Ann, aged 18, was also there.
William and sister Sarah Ann were still in Hook Heath ten years later, although no longer under the guiding influence of their grandparents Richard and Caroline who had recently passed away. William was still a nursery gardener with Sarah Ann a housekeeper. Their Hook Heath cottage was very close to Lye View cottages, where their mother was living with their half-sisters Amelia and Alice.
William married Minnie Mary Mant in February 1902 at Christ Church, Woking, with his sister Sarah Ann marrying Samuel New on the same day but at Woking’s St John’s Church.
William and Minnie settled at Heath View, Saunders Lane, Woking, having six children. Their first two did not reach adulthood – William Stanley born in 1903, died aged 14 and Sydney Stafford passed away in 1904 at just 6 weeks. Their surviving children were Dorothy Minnie born in 1905, Lilian Grace in 1907, Alan in 1912 and Margaret Joan in 1918.
William, the last survivor of the Spooner family that were Guildford Union Workhouse inmates back in 1881, remained at Heath View for the rest of his life, passing away in September 1945 aged 70.
Sarah Ann Spooner junior
Following her marriage on the same day as her brother William, Sarah Ann also remained close by at 4 Eaton Villas, Wych Hill, Hook Heath, with her gardener husband Samuel New. They had two sons – William born in 1903 and Samuel in 1904.
Like her brother William, Sarah Ann remained in her married home until she died there in February 1927, aged 54.
Amelia Newey Spooner
Amelia left home in 1908 when she married Edward Jesse Bridger, a soldier based at Stoughton Barracks, Guildford. They had two sons, Edward Henry in 1909 and Harold William in 1911, and a daughter Gladys Winifred the following year. Amelia was widowed in 1913, and also lost her son Harold William in 1915 aged 4.
She was now at 2 Gloster Cottages, Knaphill, and in 1921 was living with Bertram James Ugle, a ‘motor driver mechanic’. She had two children with Bertram – Bessie Kathleen in 1921 and Ronald Bertram in 1923 – before marrying him in 1928, although whether his first marriage in 1918 had been dissolved is not known. The family moved to 35 Herbert Crescent, Knaphill, where Amelia passed away in 1957, aged 68.
Alice Daborn
After her mother’s death in 1930, Alice remained with her half-brother Arthur at her mother’s Stevens Cottage home in Barnby Road, Knaphill. She never married, passing away in Woking in 1974 aged 82. Arthur, who had spent so much time with his stepmother in her final years, reached 95 before he died in 1980.
Sarah Ann’s legacy
Despite the many lows – and occasional highs – for Sarah Ann and her family, they spent all their lives within a small radius of Knaphill, clearly looking out for each other when times were tough. Sarah Ann’s parents-in-law, Richard and Caroline Spooner, were a huge help to her, and then Sarah Ann’s stepson Arthur Daborn was on hand to keep her out of the Workhouse after the loss of Arthur’s father, her second husband Alfred.
February 2021, updated August 2024
Sources
Ancestry.co.uk
FindMyPast.co.uk / British Newspaper Archives
Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
Merriam Webster Dictionary Merriam-Webster.com/words at play
Nurserymen to the World, The Nursery Gardens of Woking and North-West Surrey and
the plants introduced by them EJ Willson
Qualifiedgenealogists.org
Surrey History Centre, Woking SurreyCC.gov.uk
University of Western Ontario lib.uwo.ca/archives
For a full list of references click here.