william Hamilton

Subject Name :  William Hamilton (b ca 1812 – d 1898)

Researchers : Barbara Hester, Mike Brock, Carol Thompson

 

After almost 40 years of marriage, the death of thatcher William Hamilton’s wife in a fire at their home in Send left him without any immediate family to turn to, going on to spend much of the last 25 years of his life as a Guildford Union Workhouse inmate.

William Hamilton was born in the village of Send, situated between Woking and Guildford, in about 1812 1.  Details of his parentage are unclear, as there is no baptism record for William in Send.  

William married Martha Gadd on 9th November 1833 at the St Nicholas Church in Thames Ditton 2.  The register said that they were both residents of that parish, although future Censuses said that they were born in Send and Ockham respectively 1, 3, 4.  They would both have been about 20 years of age.

In 1841, the couple were living back in William’s home village of Send, with the Census noting William as an agricultural labourer 5.  It appears that they had no children during their time together, as no baptism or birth records have been found.

Ten years later, William is listed on the Census as a thatcher, while Martha has no occupation 1.  Both are age 38, and have taken in a lodger, 24-year-old carpenter Charles Goodeve, at their home in Hurst Cottages, Send.

The 1861 Census showed them still to be in the village but now at Send Heath, close to the wharf on the River Wey, with William still a thatcher but Martha now a schoolteacher 3. The school in Send had opened in 1834.  Why and how Martha came to be a teacher relatively late in life is not known.  Staying with them was Martha’s nephew, 15-year-old Henry Thorn 6, who was listed as ‘a boy at paper mill’, which was almost certainly the Woking paper mill a short walk away on the banks of the River Wey.

In 1871, William and Martha, both 58, were living at Send Wharf Cottage, with William still a thatcher but Martha no longer teaching 4.  They had two different lodgers with them, so it seems they had supplemented their income for many years in this way.

Tragedy struck two years later, when on 12th July 1873, Martha died in a dreadful accident at home.  While suffering a fit, she strayed too close to a fire which ignited her clothes 7.  She was 60.  The Surrey Advertiser reported the coroner’s verdict to be ‘accidental death’ 8.

This, of course, was devastating for William, and with no immediate relatives to turn to, he would now have had to cope by himself.  At some stage, he was admitted to the Guildford Union Workhouse, about six miles (10km) from Send.  There are no existing admission records from that time, but the 1881 Census showed him as an inmate there, age 68 9. William was there again in 1891, erroneously noted as a retired butcher on the Census 10.  It seems highly likely that he would have been there throughout those ten years.

Almost seven years later, on 20th February 1898, after probably 25 years in the Guildford Union Workhouse, William died, age 86, of senile decay 11.  

He was buried with his wife Martha in Send’s St Mary’s Church on 25th February 12. 

 

February 2021, updated March 2024

References 

Note :  the source is Ancestry.co.uk, unless otherwise noted

  1. William & Martha Hamilton 1851 England Census, Send, Guildford, Surrey.  Reference HO107; Piece: 1594; Folio: 214; Pages: 27&28
  2. William Hamilton & Martha Gadd Marriage 9 November 1833. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Marriages, St Nicholas, Thames Ditton 1813-1837.  Reference 2568/1/9, page 123
  3. William & Martha Hamilton 1861 England Census, Send, Ripley, Guildford, Surrey.  Reference RG9; Piece: 425; Folio: 129; Page: 7
  4. William & Martha Hamilton 1871 England Census, Send, Ripley, Guildford, Surrey.  Reference RG10; Piece: 809; Folio: 13; Page: 18
  5. William & Martha Hamilton 1841 England Census, Send, Ripley, Guildford, Surrey.  Reference HO107; Piece: 1080; Book: 15; Folio: 17; Pages: 27
  6. Henry Thomas Thorn mother Gadd. Birth June Quarter 1846, St Mary Newington, London Vol 4 Page 365, England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915.  Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  7. Martha Hamilton Death September Quarter 1873, Guildford Vol 2a Page 33, England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915
    Copy of death certificate from Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
    Martha Hamilton Burial 16 July 1873. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary Send, 1813-1877, Reference: SEN/5/1, page 94
  8. Send, Latest Borough & County News 19 July 1873 The Surrey Advertiser and County Times, page 5 co.uk / British Newspaper Archive
  9. William Hamilton 1881 England Census, Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey. Reference RG11; Piece: 778; Folio: 93; Page: 7
  10. William Hamilton 1891 England Census, Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey. Reference RG12; Piece: 560; Folio: 200; Page: 3
  11. William Hamilton Death March Quarter 1898, Guildford Vol 2a Page 68, England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915
    Copy of death certificate from Government Register Office GRO.gov.uk
    William Hamilton Death 20 February 1898.  Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Guildford Workhouse Deaths 1887-1914, BG6/38/1, record 507, page 58  FindMyPast.co.u
  12. William Hamilton Burial 26 February 1898. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Parish Burials, St Mary Send, 1877-1935, Reference: SEN/5/3, page 31