STEPHEN & ELIZABETH SHERWOOD'S STORY
Last update: Friday, 14 July 2023
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PART 1.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Family Members Mentioned in this Chapter
Those who appear in the story of Stephen and Elizabeth Sherwood nee Ward are their six children, Ann, William, and Sarah, two daughters who were named Mary and Lydia the youngest of the family. Elizabeth’s parents William and Elizabeth Ward, Elizabeth’s second husband John Dixon Senior and their son John Dixon. Stephen’s parents Stephen and Sarah Sherwood of Weston, Hertfordshire.
In the Previous Chapter
In Chapter 5 the story of William and Elizabeth Sherwood nee Smith the mystery surrounding William’s birthplace was solved. Information on the 1841 Fowlmere census enabled us to trace his birthplace to Clothall, Hertfordshire. He was baptised there in 1782. His parents were Stephen and Elizabeth Sherwood. This was an exciting discovery, an earlier generation of our family had been found living in Clothall.
In this Chapter
We explore the interesting life of Elizabeth Sherwood/Dixon. She was born in Clothall about 1760. Her parents were William and Elizabeth Ward. Elizabeth married Stephen Sherwood in 1780. Stephen died about 1796 and Elizabeth married John Dixon. In 1841 she stayed with her son William Sherwood in Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire. In 1850 Elizabeth died at the Union Workhouse, Hitchin and was brought back to Clothall to be buried.
Elizabeth’s first husband Stephen Sherwood was baptised in 1756 in Weston, Hertfordshire the fifth of Stephen and Sarah Sherwood’s six children. He is last heard of in 1775 when he appears on militia ballot lists. Stephen left Weston soon after and moved to the neighbouring village of Clothall. He was first mentioned there in 1776 when his name appears in Surveyor of the Highways accounts. Stephen died between 1794 and 1796. Exactly when and where he died and was buried is not known.
PART 2
STEPHEN & ELIZABETH SHERWOOD
STEPHEN & ELIZABETH SHERWOOD
Stephen Sherwood’s birthplace is traced to Weston, Hertfordshire.
The spelling of our name as Sherrug was a mistake made by Vicar Joseph Reed.
Stephen Sherwood is first mentioned in Clothall in 1776.
Stephen died about 1796.
Connecting the Clothall and Weston Stephen
Unlike Elizabeth, Stephen Sherwood was not born in Clothall. We don't have to look far to find where Stephen came from. One of the parishes bordering Clothall is Weston, a village in the English County of Hertfordshire, 65 kilometres north of London.
In 1775 Stephen Shearwood appears on the Weston militia ballot. The ballot was a list of Weston men between the ages of 18 and 45 eligible to serve in the local defence force the Hertfordshire militia. A search of the parish registers could not find any record of Stephen Shearwood’s birth or baptism in Weston. There is though, a baptism entry for Stephen Sherrug in 1756, the son of Stephen and Sarah.
The spelling of Stephen’s surname as ‘Sherrug’ and not Sherwood on his baptism entry was I believe a mistake made by the vicar Joseph Reed. Reed consistently spells our surname as Sherrug in the church’s baptism and burial registers. The spelling of our name as Sherrug and not Sherwood is discussed in detail in the next chapter, chapter 7.
The village constable William Hide was responsible for filling out the 1775 ballot list. He did a slightly better job at spelling Stephen’s name as Shearwood. Shearwood is very similar to Sherwood in the way it sounds and in the way it is spelt.
Stephen Sherrug who was baptised in 1756 would have been 18 or 19 years old in 1775. His name should appear on the Weston militia ballot for that year.
It doesn’t, instead the name Stephen Shearwood does. When a man first appears on a militia list he is likely to have just turned 18. Stephen Sherrug and Stephen Shearwood were both young men about 18 years old. I am convinced that Stephen Sherrug and Stephen Shearwood were the same person.
There is no further mention of Stephen Sherrug or Stephen Shearwood in Weston militia lists or any other records for Weston after 1775. Stephen had obviously left the village. In 1776 in Clothall just two kilometres from Weston Stephen Sherwood appears in Surveyor of the Highways accounts.
In 1778 Stephen Sherwood now a resident of Clothall appears on the Clothall militia ballot as a servant. When Stephen Shearwood of Weston appeared on the militia list he too was a servant. Men who appear on militia ballots as servants were young, unmarried men. It wasn’t until 1780 that Stephen Sherwood married Elizabeth Ward in Clothall.
Clearly, Stephen Sherrug was baptised in Weston in 1756 and Stephen Shearwood who appeared on the Weston militia list in 1775 is the same man who first appears in Clothall in 1776 as Stephen Sherwood.
This was a significant discovery. Stephen provided the link that connects the Sherwood family of Weston to the Sherwood family of Clothall. It enabled us to discover another generation of our family, our earliest Sherwood ancestors Stephen’s parents Stephen and Sarah Sherwood. See Chapter 10 for their story.
Even though Sherwood is spelt as Sherrug in the Weston church registers I am convinced that this is our Sherwood family. They are first mentioned in Weston in 1744 when Stephen and Sarah’s daughter Sarah Sherrug/Sherwood was baptised. Stephen and Sarah had five more children William, Elizabeth, John, Stephen Junior (the subject of this story) and James who died when he was an infant.
Stephen’s Baptism
There is no record of Stephen’s birth in Weston. This was not unusual as there was no legal requirement to record a child’s birth until 1837. It was though, as early as 1538, a requirement of church ministers to record all baptisms, marriages and burials performed in their churches. Stephen’s birth would have taken place within a matter of months before his baptism. He was baptised as Stephen Sherrug on 15 March 1756 at the Holy Trinity Church, in Weston.
Here is what we know and can speculate about Stephen’s baptism. It took place on the third Monday in March 1756. Even though March was the first month of spring in the northern hemisphere, the weather that greeted our ancestors as they made their way to the ancient parish church the Holy Trinity was most likely a little unpleasant. During March daytime temperatures in Hertfordshire are around eleven degrees Celsius, falling to about four degrees at night.
The church stands on a hilltop to the southeast of the village and is surrounded on all sides by farmers’ fields. Access to the somewhat secluded church building is via a short walk along Church Lane. The entrance to the church is through a stone arch and two large wooden doors. The floor has chequered black and red tiles leading to the altar. The vicar Joseph Reed performed Stephen’s baptism. The font used in the baptism dates from the fifteenth century.
Stephen Leaves Weston
Stephen’s two older brothers William and John appear to have left the village in search of work. William left most likely before he reached the age of 18 as he does not appear on any of the Weston militia lists. It may have been William who appears on militia ballot lists for Bygrave.
John left sometime after 1772, this is the last time he appears on militia lists in Weston. The children’s parents Stephen and Sarah both died in 1774.
Stephen’s older sister Elizabeth left the parish soon after she married George Saby in 1777. There is no mention of either of them in Weston after they married. Stephen’s oldest sister Sarah (c.1744 - ) had an illegitimate son she named John. He was baptised in Weston in 1769. Nothing more is heard of Sarah or John in Weston. Interestingly, a John Sherwood was living in Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire in 1815, more about this later.
The last time Stephen is mentioned in Weston is on 19 June 1775 the date he appears on the militia ballot list. He moved to the neighbouring parish of Clothall soon after. Stephen’s move to Clothall took place a little over a year after the death of his parents Stephen and Sarah in 1774. Stephen was twenty-one, in search of work and a new beginning. He made his way to Clothall a 30-minute walk along Ashanger Lane.
If you head northeast from Weston along this winding country lane, past farmer’s fields and houses for little more than a kilometre or two you enter Clothall.
It wasn’t long before Stephen established himself in the village. His name appears in Clothall in Surveyor of the Highways accounts on 22 June 1776. Stephen was paid 2 shillings and 4 pence for two days’ work maintaining the parish roads. In April 1778 Stephen’s name appears on the Clothall militia ballot list with 32 other Clothall men. The men appear under the following headings Farmers, Servants, Labourers and Poor men with three children. Stephen appears as one of 16 men who were recorded as servants.
The Hertfordshire Militia
The Militia Act of 1757 required that the names of all men between the ages of 18 and 45 be recorded on militia ballot lists. These lists were compiled for every parish in each county. A ballot was held to choose men to serve in the militia or local defence force.
Stephen appears on three militia ballot lists, first in Weston in 1775 and then in Clothall in 1778 and 1780. He appears as a servant on the 1775 and 1778 ballots. Men who appeared as ‘servants’ were young, unmarried and more than likely employed by a local farmer. They lived on the farm property and did labouring work for their employer. Servants were generally hired on an annual basis and as such enjoyed some degree of security. A ‘labourer’ was a married farm worker who lived in his own house or a rented cottage. Labourers were hired on a short-term basis.
On the Clothall ballot for 1780, Stephen is listed as having served in the militia. I have included a copy of the 1780 ballot filled out by Solomon Thomas the parish Constable. It shows Stephen’s name and the words ‘Hath Served.’ A line was drawn through his name indicating that he wasn’t to be included in the 1780 ballot as he had already served for three years.
Stephen most likely served as a result of having his name drawn from the 1778 Clothall ballot. His service may have covered the years 1778 to 1780. I say this because there are three consecutive years where Stephen doesn't appear in Clothall Statute duty records. They are the years 1778, 1799 and 1780. Statute duty involved maintaining the parish roads. Men were exempt from statute duty while serving in the militia.
The ballot also included the names of men exempt from serving. These were poor men with three children, those who had already served and those who were disabled. It was in effect a mini census of all males living in the parish between the ages of 18 and 45.
The militia was established as a reserve force for the British Army. One of its functions was to help protect the country in times of war or in the event of an invasion. Men were conscripted as a result of a ballot. In each parish, a list of eligible men’s names was compiled. Names were randomly drawn from these lists. If selected, service in the militia was for three years.
By 1778 the militia was embodied for full time-service. This was during the American War of Independence which began in 1775 and ended in 1783. Being embodied meant that Stephen was stationed at a military camp outside his home county. He would have undergone some basic military training and was issued with a uniform and firearm.
On the 1778 and 1780 militia ballot lists Stephen was recorded as a resident of Clothall. Another Clothall resident was the young woman Elizabeth Ward. The couple married on 8 January 1780 in the parish church.
The Marriage of Stephen and Elizabeth Sherwood
The church was the religious centre of the parish and was required to keep records of all baptisms, marriages and burials. These events were recorded in parish registers. It is in these books that milestones in the lives of our Clothall ancestors are recorded.
The parish church of St. Mary lies to the northeast of the village on the eastern slope of Hickman’s Hill. The church dates to about 1360 when it was rebuilt on the foundations of an earlier one. The most striking feature of the exterior of the church is the South tower with its tiled roof. It houses the bell chamber which has two bells that date from the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. There is a window on each of the four faces of the bell chamber from which the sound of the bells can be heard across the surrounding fields and in the village below. It was the signal that church was to begin or a wedding, funeral or meeting was about to take place.
At the base of the tower is the entrance to the South porch. This is through a stone archway and a fourteenth-century wooden door decorated and reinforced with ornamental ironwork. The graveyard adjacent to the church is the likely final resting place of our deceased Clothall ancestors. Stephen’s wife Elizabeth was brought back to Clothall to be buried in 1850.
Less than four years after Stephen first appears in Clothall he married Elizabeth Ward. She was born in Clothall and baptised on Friday 29 February 1760, which happened to be a leap year. The couple were married on 8 February 1780 by banns. Banns made public a couple's intention to marry. They were read to the congregation on three consecutive Sundays before the marriage. They were read on the 9, 16 and 23 of January. The reading of marriage banns was mandatory and done to determine if there was any lawful reason why a marriage should not take place.
Elizabeth was about 21 and Stephen about 24 when they were married by Caleb Hill, the Rector of Clothall. Witnesses to the marriage were Thomas Wallis and Isaac Hearne. Thomas Wallis a Clothall labourer appears on the 1778 militia ballot list with Stephen. Wallis was baptised in Clothall in 1745 and was ten years older than Stephen.
Transcript
Banns of Marriage between Stephen Sherwood of this Parish and Elizabeth Ward of the same were published in this Church on 9, 16 and 23 Jan: of 1780 by Caleb Hill, Rector.
Stephen Sherwood of this Parish and Elizabeth Ward of this Parish were married in this Church by Banns this eighth Day of February in the year One thousand Seven Hundred and eighty by me by Caleb Hill, Rector.
In the presence of Thomas Wallis x His Mark and Isaac Hearne
Stephen and Elizabeth signed their marriage record with a mark resembling an X. The x-mark signature is legally binding provided the signature is witnessed.
The Family of Stephen and Elizabeth
Stephen and Elizabeth had six children, five daughters and a son William. It was William who appears with his mother Elizabeth Dixon on the Fowlmere census in 1841.
Elizabeth and her six children were baptised in the Clothall church. All were baptised with the baptismal font below. The font held the consecrated water (water blessed by the minister) used during their baptisms.
The Font dates from the 12th century and is perhaps the oldest church item. It was carved from Purbeck marble. Purbeck is limestone containing organic materials, quite possibly the fossilised remains of prehistoric plants and animals. Dating from the seventeenth century is a carved wooden cover that is placed over a basin when not in use.
Transcript
1760. Elizabeth D (daughter) of William & Elizabeth Ward. Febry 29
When Stephen died sometime before June 1796, Elizabeth was left to raise their five young children Ann, Sarah, Mary and Lydia and their son William. The oldest Ann was just fourteen and the youngest Lydia was about two years old.
Ann the oldest of Stephen and Elizabeth’s children was baptised in 1780. She married Freeman Clare at Bygrave, Hertfordshire on 13 May 1798. Bygrave is 10 kilometres north of Clothall. The bride and groom were both minors.
Prior to 1823 the legal age in England for marriage for men and women was 21 years. Anne was baptised in 1780 and was 18 years old when she married. Freeman married with the consent of his father Daniel Clear and Anne with the consent of her mother Elizabeth Sherwood.
Not long after Anne and Freeman were married they moved to nearby Baldock. The couple had two children Elizabeth baptised in 1801 and James in 1802. Ann may have died sometime between 1802 and 1806. Nothing more is heard of her after the birth of her son James. Freeman Clear was born in Baldock and was baptised there in 1778. He may have died in Hitchin as a Freeman Clare died there in 1853.
William was Stephen and Elizabeth’s only son, he was baptised in 1782. He moved to Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire and later married Elizabeth Smith. They were the focus of the previous story, The Story of William and Elizabeth Sherwood nee Smith.
Sarah the couple’s third child was baptised in 1785. It may have been Sarah who appears as Sarah Shearock who married William Hall in Weston on 3 November 1804. She may have moved to Weston in search of work. They had a daughter Jenny baptised in Weston in 1806 who died the following year. A second daughter Mary was baptised in Weston in 1808. A Sarah Hall died at Weston in 1808. Further follow-up is needed to establish if this Sarah was Elizabeth and Stephen’s daughter.
Two of Stephen and Elizabeth’s daughters were baptised Mary. The first Mary was baptised in 1787 and died soon after. A second Mary was baptised in 1789. In 1808 Mary Sherwood married Joseph Biggs at Clothall. They lived at nearby Kimpton in Hertfordshire and had eight children. Mary died on 11 September 1832 at Kimpton, Hertfordshire. Mary would have been about 43.
Lydia the youngest of Stephen and Elizabeth’s children was baptised in 1794. She does not appear to have married. She died at Clothall in 1827 when she was 33 years old.
The Parish and Village of Clothall
English parishes vary in size and differ in terms of their population. Some parishes have hamlets with less than 100 people and some have a village with between 500 and several thousand inhabitants. In 1801 Clothall’s population was a mere 184 people, increasing to 495 by 1841.
Within the parish of Clothall is the village of Clothall. It is a settlement of farms and houses on the summit and slopes of a narrow band of chalk hills that run through the parish. The chalk subsoil is a greyish, white material formed from the remains of seaweed, kelp and marine life that lived in the ocean which once covered the landscape.
The chalk hills and slopes are a distinctive feature of Clothall’s countryside, along with its wheat, corn and barley fields. In the farmer’s fields sheep and cattle grazed on the meadow grass and wildflowers. In late summer the meadows are mowed to make hay to feed the livestock over the winter months. Beech, oak, and sycamore trees grow in the woods that are scattered throughout the parish.
The Clothall farmers were the biggest employers in the parish. They employed our ancestors as agricultural labourers and servants on a casual or annual basis. A farm labourer’s work involved, but was not limited to, planting and harvesting crops, tending to livestock and farm maintenance. Our female ancestors found work as domestic servants. Their work involved cleaning and maintaining their employer’s homes. In addition to being provided meals and accommodation servants were paid a wage.
Farmers’ houses were bigger and more impressive than the modest cottages provided for their labourers. Both were made from locally sourced stone, brick and timber. Most roofs were tiled or thatched. The village water supply came from a centrally located well. Depending on the size of the village, it may have had an Inn, a resident shoemaker and a baker. The ancient market town of Baldock was just 3.6 kilometres to the northwest and would have met the more specialised needs of Clothall’s citizens.
The vestry was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the parish. Chaired by the rector or vicar, vestry members were either elected or appointed. They were prominent members of the local community and quite often landowners.
The vestry’s responsibilities were the maintenance of the church building and rating and assessing property. This work was carried out by the Churchwardens. A major function of the vestry was the administration of the Poor relief. The vestry decided who qualified and appointed the Overseers of the poor to administer the relief. The poor of the parish received help in the form of food, clothing or payments. There are instances where coals were provided to keep their fires burning to ward off the cold. Another appointee of the Vestry was the village constable who was responsible for law and order.
Surveyor of the Highways
The church was responsible for keeping the parish records. These included baptisms, marriages and burials, Churchwardens and Surveyor of the Highways accounts to name just a few. These books were kept in the parish chest. This was a wooden trunk quite often made from oak, reinforced with iron bands and made secure with a strong padlock.
We are fortunate that Surveyor of the Highways accounts for Clothall have survived. They provide some fascinating information about the work done by family members. Both Stephen and Elizabeth Sherwood are mentioned many times in these accounts.
The role of the Surveyor of the Highways was to supervise the work carried out in maintaining the parish roads. Two Surveyors were appointed in each parish. They were selected by the Justices of the Peace from a short list of names drawn up by the members of the vestry. Farmers were often appointed Surveyors. There are three types of entries in the Surveyor of the Highways records for Clothall. Stephen Sherwood appears in all three records over a 16-year period, from 1776 to 1792.
1. Receipts for the payment of Statute Duty
2. Lists of labourers living in the village
3. Disbursements. Payments made to those who worked maintaining the roads
Disbursements:
There are numerous instances where the poor people of Clothall were paid by the parish to repair the local roads. Payment for working on the roads fell under the heading of disbursements. We are fortunate that these records have survived. They give us some idea of the work done by families such as ours when they were unable to find other work.
Maintaining the parish roads involved among other things gathering stones from the fields to be used to fill potholes in the roads. Gathering or picking stones was work usually done by the women and children of the village. Men dug in the ruts which formed in the roads. These were the grooves made on the road surface by the wheels of wagons and carts. Repairing the parish roads also included clearing overhanging vegetation, repairing bridges and shovelling snow.
Stephen first appears in Surveyor records on 22 of June 1776 when he was paid 2 shillings and 4 pence for two days’ work. This is the first time Stephen is mentioned as living in Clothall.
On 12 June 1789, Stephen was paid 1 shilling and 2 pence for a day's work and later in that same month 4 shillings and 8 pence for a further four days’ work. In July he worked a total of eleven days from which he earned 12 shillings and 10 pence.
For the period September 1791 through to September 1792, the Surveyor of the Highways were the farmers Benjamin Hagger and Edward Craft. Throughout June 1791 Stephen was paid for working a total of sixteen and a half days. On 4 June 1791, he was paid for 3 days in the Highway. He received 3 shillings and 6 pence. Stephen is last mentioned in Clothall Surveyor accounts on 4 May 1792.
Statute Duty
An important role of the Surveyor of the Highways was the administration of statute duty. As members of the vestry, they were authorised to raise rates for road works. A householder paid an annual levy to help fund this work. The Surveyors kept a record of these payments which appear as receipts in their accounts. Stephen first appears in these records on 13 October 1777 when he paid 2 shillings for statute duty. Stephen paid statute duty for the years 1777, 1781, 1782, 1783, and from 1785 to 1791. The amounts paid each year varied from one shilling and sixpence to two shillings.
Stephen Jailed for Assault
An event that must have caused a great deal of concern for the families involved was Stephen’s conviction for assault. In May 1791 he was found guilty of assaulting Hannah Field of Clothall and jailed for one month. He was also fined three shillings and fourpence.
We have no details of the nature or circumstances surrounding the assault. Assault covers a range of actions, from using threatening words to a physical attack. A Hannah Field married Daniel Starkey at Clothall in September 1796. She was a widow when she remarried. Stephen was 35 when convicted and sent to jail. There were four jails or bridewells in Hertfordshire at this time, Hertford, Hitchin, Buntingford and Great Berkhamsted.
It is not known which of these jails Stephen was sent to. Conditions in jails at this time were atrocious. Deaths in jail from stays as short as a fortnight were not uncommon. There is no doubt that Stephen survived his time in jail. The last mention of Stephen Sherwood that can be found in any records is the Clothall Surveyor accounts for 4 May 1792. On this date, he was paid fifteen shillings for working twelve days on the parish roads.
Stephen’s Death
There is an unexpected entry in the Surveyor accounts by the Surveyors Thomas Harmer and Edward Smith. On 6 May 1796, the following appears…
‘Widw (Widow) Sherwood and Co. 16 loads of stones in Lufnelfield, 18 shillings and 8 pence.'
This is the only record we have of Stephen’s death. Exactly when, where and how he died is not known. It may have been the result of an accident as he was still a young man no more than 40 years old. There is no burial entry for him in the Clothall church suggesting he may have died too far from home to be brought back for burial.
We can narrow the time of his death to between the 20 April 1794 when his name appears on the baptism entry for his daughter Lydia and the 6 May 1796 the date Elizabeth is recorded as a Widow. It is possible that Stephen had died prior to Lydia’s baptism as a deceased parent could still be named on their child’s baptism record. Someone knew Stephen well enough to inform the family of his death. Hopefully, further research will provide answers to the many questions surrounding Stephen’s early demise.
If Stephen died in 1796 the year his death was first reported, then Elizabeth was in her late thirties with five young children to support. The oldest Ann was 16, William 14, Sarah 11, Mary 7 and Lydia 2. Below is a timeline showing important events in Stephen’s short life. It begins with his birth in Weston in 1756 and the death of both his parents when he was just 18. It shows the year he first appears in Clothall and his marriage to Elizabeth Ward. It includes his first and last appearance on Surveyor accounts and his death in about 1796.
Figure 20. Stephen Sherwood Life Events
Surveyor Accounts and Elizabeth Sherwood
Elizabeth is mentioned in Surveyor of the Highways records from 1784 to 1815, a period of more than 30 years. From 1784 to 1799 she appears as Elizabeth Sherwood. From 1799 the year she remarried to 1815 she appears as Elizabeth Dixon. The first entry for her in these records is on 11 May 1784. She was 24 years old and the mother of two small children Ann and William both under the age of five. Elizabeth was paid for collecting three and a half loads of stone and was paid five shillings and ten pence.
The Stone Pickers. George Clausen (1852-1944) Laing Art Gallery
Picking stones was a backbreaking job, which served two purposes. The women had to take all the stones they found out of the fields so the ploughs could work without breaking. They were paid one penny per bushel. A bushel of stones weighed about 254 kilograms and they had to take the bushel containers to the edge of the field before they got their penny. At the edge could be found the overseer of the roads who offered them another penny if they would tip the stones onto the road, not necessarily here, but anywhere up to a mile away.
(Citation not available)
Maintaining the roads was hard work at the best of times, but no doubt a welcome source of income when times were tough. The men, women and children of the parish were all involved. Stones were collected from the fields by the women and children and placed in horse-drawn carts. Two or more horses were used to pull the heavy cartloads of stone. The stones were used to fill the potholes in the road surface.
In April 1791 'Bety Shurwood' (Elizabeth) was paid 6 shillings and sixpence for picking four and a half loads of stones.
Quite often the stone pickers worked in groups or teams. There are entries that read, 'Paid a company of Clothall women and children for picking twenty-four loads of stones.’ And ‘Paid the Clothall women for thirty-four loads of stones in Pybus Field'. There were times when Elizabeth worked with the other women from the village. In September 1794 the following entry appears. 'Sherwood, Armitage and Co. 93 loads of stones in Westfield.' The women were paid 6 pounds 19 shillings and 6 pence.
PART 3
ELIZABETH DIXON
ELIZABETH DIXON
Elizabeth Sherwood the widowed wife of Stephen Sherwood married John Dixon in 1799.
John Dixon died in Clothall in 1828, at age 70.
In 1841 Elizabeth was staying with her son William Sherwood in Fowlmere.
Elizabeth died in the Hitchin workhouse in 1850 and was brought back to Clothall to be buried.
Elizabeth’s Marriage to John Dixon
On 18 August 1799, Elizabeth age 40, married John Dixon/Dickson in the Clothall parish church. Witnesses to their marriage were Judith Ginn and Thomas Sparks.
Transcript
Bands of marriage between John Dixon & Elizabeth Sherwood both of this parish were published on July 28 August 4 and 11th by me J. Hull Curate.
John Dickson of this parish Bachelor and Elizabeth Sherwood of this parish Widow were married in this church by Banns this 4 Day of August in the year One Thousand Seven Hundred and 99 by me J. Hull Curate.
Both Elizabeth and John sign with an X. John’s surname is spelt Dickson on the marriage entry but is spelt Dixon in all other references to him. John Dixon does not appear to have been born in Clothall. There is no mention of him in the church baptism registers, or in militia or surveyors records.
Elizabeth and John had two children. John Dixon Junior was baptised on 23 March 1800 and Jane on 26 December 1802. Jane died less than two years later in 1804. Elizabeth's father William Ward died the previous year.
Their son John Dixon, Jr. married Ann Davis at Clothall in 1821. They had six children, five sons William, James, Charles, Noah and Israel and a daughter Esther. They were all born at Clothall.
The following information comes from the Clothall censuses from 1841 to 1871. In 1841 the family were still living in Clothall. John Dixon worked as a farm labourer. By 1851 John 51, his wife Anne and son Noah 24 were living at Hickmans Hill, Clothall.
In 1861 John, Anne, Noah and grandson Samuel Dixon were living at Barley Mow, Clothall. In 1871 Samuel age 15 was working as a stable boy and still living with his grandparents. Samuel was born in 1855 and was the son of Esther Dixon, John and Anne’s daughter. In 1861 she was 29 living in Baldock and working as a cook for Henry Routlidge a grocer and draper. John Dixon Junior died in Clothall on 29 June 1875. He was 75 years old.
After her marriage to John Dixon Senior Elizabeth continued to work gathering stones from the Clothall fields. In October 1800 'E. Dixon and Harwood and Co.' collected thirty-five loads of stones and were paid 2 pounds 12 shillings and 6 pence. There are entries where the parish paid for beer to quench the thirst of the hardworking stone pickers. When Elizabeth was first mentioned in surveyors records in 1784, she was a young woman of 24. When she was last mentioned in these records in 1815 she was 55. She had carried out the backbreaking task of gathering stones in the parish fields for over 30 years.
Elizabeth was not the only member of her family who worked gathering stones from the Clothall fields. Her mother and father Elizabeth and William Ward and her sisters Ann and Susan also worked as stone pickers, the term used to describe their work. Ann Ward was just 12 years old when she appears in Surveyor accounts under Disbursements for the year 1775.
Elizabeth Dixon’s Move to Fowlmere
Elizabeth’s youngest child Lydia Sherwood died in Clothall in 1827, she was just 33 years old. When her husband John died the following year Elizabeth was a widow for the second time. She was 68 and apart from her son John Dixon there were no other family members in the village who were able to care for her. John had a wife and a young family of his own. His wages as a farm labourer were probably not enough to support his mother.
Elizabeth’s son William and his wife Elizabeth were living in Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire 30 kilometres to the North. William’s income as a farm manager was more than a labourer making him well able to support his elderly mother. We can’t be sure when Elizabeth moved to Fowlmere. We do know that she was there on the 6 June 1841, the night of the 1841 census.
On that Sunday night Elizabeth together with her son William and his wife Elizabeth were staying in the farmhouse at Brook farm, Fowlmere. Brook farm was owned by the Nash family, and William worked there as their farm manager.
Transcript
William Sherwood Age 57 Employment Agricultural labourer Born in County: No
Elizabeth Sherwood Age 50 Employment: Agricultural labourer Born in County: Yes
Elizabeth Dixon Age 82 Ind Independent Means Born in County: No
On the census in the fourth column next to Elizabeth Dixon's name the abbreviation ‘Ind’ (Independent) appears. This indicates that she was not reliant on the parish for support. In the last column ‘No' signifies that William and Elizabeth Dixon were not born in Cambridgeshire.
Living in Fowlmere were William and Elizabeth’s three children Charles, Jane and William, they were Elizabeth’s grandchildren. All three had married by 1841. Elizabeth the matriarch of the family was surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The youngest of which was my great grandfather Arthur Sherwood (1841-1903) who was just four months old at the time of the census.
In 1843 William died from tuberculosis. He was in his early sixties. William's death left his wife and mother in a difficult situation. They had not only lost a husband and son but also the family breadwinner and somewhere to live. The new farm manager appointed to run Brook Farm would have expected to live in the farmhouse. William’s wife Elizabeth was 53 and was most likely able to find work to support herself. Elizabeth Dixon in her early eighties most likely needed to be cared for.
Elizabeth Dixon Leaves Fowlmere
So what became of Elizabeth Dixon after her son William’s death in 1843? There is no further mention of her in Fowlmere so it would appear that she had left the village. I was keen to find out where she went.
Starting in 1837 all births, deaths and marriages in England were to be registered. The index to Civil Registration Records was checked for any mention of Elizabeth Dixon’s death. I found that an Elizabeth Dixon had died at Hitchin, Hertfordshire in 1850. Hitchin is 35 kilometres southwest of Fowlmere. According to her death certificate Elizabeth died in the Hitchin Workhouse on 19 November 1850, at age 93. Most importantly she was the widowed wife of John Dixon labourer. There was no doubt that this was our Elizabeth Dixon. The mystery of where Elizabeth had gone after she left Fowlmere was solved. Elizabeth was taken to the Hitchin Union Workhouse where she spent the remaining six or seven years of her life.
The Hitchin Workhouse
We can't be sure when Elizabeth moved to the workhouse. It was most likely soon after the death of her son William in 1843. When the elderly and sick were unable to support themselves or have someone care for them, then responsibility for their welfare fell on the parish. It was the job of the Overseer of the Poor to collect a poor rate from the wealthier classes and oversee payments to the needy. This method of looking after the poor was known as outdoor relief.
With the establishment of the New Poor Law in 1834, harsh new changes were implemented with outdoor relief phased out. In its place, each parish was to form a union with other parishes to build a workhouse to accommodate the poor. The Hitchin Poor Law Union was established in the summer of 1835. It consisted of twenty-eight parishes one of which was Clothall. Because Elizabeth was born in Clothall she fell under the Hitchin Poor Law Union.
The Union was governed by a Board of Guardians who were elected to represent those parishes in the Union. One of the first things the Board did was to arrange for the building of a workhouse. A site was selected near Bedford Road in the town of Hitchin, Hertfordshire. The building was completed in early January 1837. The workhouse was still standing in 1972 and was then part of the Lister Hospital. A master and matron were appointed, and it was their job to see to the day-to-day running of the workhouse. The workhouse opened on 6 February 1837 and the first paupers were admitted.
Conditions in the workhouse were oppressive, to say the least. The intent was to discourage all but the very desperate to seek relief. For many paupers, it was a choice between starvation and the workhouse which was hardly a choice at all. Those who made up the workhouse population were the sick, the elderly, orphans, lunatics and the unemployed. Upon entering the workhouse families were split up. Husbands and wives and parents and children were separated. Uniforms were worn, and strict rules had to be followed. The diet was monotonous and rations meagre. Children were quite often hired out of a day to work in factories. The more enlightened establishments provided schooling for the young.
The Hitchin workhouse had one hundred and fifty-eight residents in 1841. Eighty-one were males and seventy were females. The oldest inmate was a ninety-year-old woman and the youngest was a one-year-old boy. Fifty-year-old James Harrison was in charge of running the workhouse. His wife Elizabeth was the workhouse matron.
William and Elizabeth Geary were the schoolmaster and schoolmistress. The two teachers had fifty-four students in their class 32 boys and 22 girls. The youngest was three and the oldest was fifteen. By 1842, a schoolroom for eighty children had been built.
A wide variety of occupations were represented in the workhouse. These included farm labourers, labourers, a charwoman, a leather tanner, a brickmaker, washerwoman, tailor, a porter (an attendant at a door or gate) a grocer, maidservant, milliner, cow keeper, straw plaiter, shepherds, and chambermaid. Eight inmates were listed as 'idiots.' A term used to describe someone with a profound intellectual disability. The word is now considered offensive.
Not long after opening the workhouse accommodation was found to be inadequate. One of the problems was an unexpected increase in the number of poor people seeking accommodation in the winter of 1841-42. The Poor Law Commissioners (in London) asked Oswald Foster the workhouse medical officer for a report on the situation. He was asked to look at the health of the occupants and the number of persons who could be properly accommodated.
Foster wrote in February 1842 that there were 312 inmates in the workhouse. It was his opinion that the facility should hold no more than two hundred persons though there were he conceded beds for two hundred and sixty. He went on to say that the building was very badly ventilated and that a filthy smell greets you as you enter some of the rooms. The smell was particularly bad in the old men's day room, the able-bodied men’s, and women's night rooms and two rooms which were occupied by women with children.
Overcrowding and poor ventilation in the rooms were a major concern. The two rooms used by the women with children were intended to hold six to eight. They were now according to Foster , accommodating up to twenty-two people.
In the 'School Department' boys slept up to six in a bed, three at the head and three at the foot. Skin diseases amongst the children were according to the medical officer very common. The yards, particularly the boys’ yard was flat and covered with gravel. When it rained it became muddy and the mud was carried into the building making it damp and dirty. It was suggested that separate rooms be provided to treat the sick. Some of the rooms that were occupied by the sick had brick floors which became very damp during bad weather. The doors to these rooms opened out into the yards exposing the patients to the cold, draughts, and changes in weather.
The Board of Guardian’s response to Foster's report was hardly positive. Before forwarding it to the Poor Law Commissioners, the Board made several comments. They did concede that there had been a large increase in pauper numbers in the workhouse over the past three months. This they felt was only a temporary situation and not likely to reoccur. They also agreed that beneficial changes could be made to the male and female probationary wards and the sick wards. This was about all they were willing to concede.
The Board suggested that things were not as bad as the medical officer had indicated. Foster, they claimed had looked at the workhouse in terms of its suitability as a hospital and not as a place to house the poor. They maintained that the building had been designed to hold two hundred and forty people and not the two hundred favoured by Foster. As for the terrible smell coming from the old men's room, the Board suggested that this was simply a result of their dirty habits.
If Elizabeth entered the workhouse soon after William died in 1843, then she spent the last seven years of her life there. Her death occurred on Tuesday 19 November 1850. She died at the age of ninety-three due to 'Old age' The informant (the person providing the information) was Catherine Moles.
Catherine was also living in the workhouse and was present when Elizabeth died. She was born in Clothall about 1818. In 1841 she was living at Shaw Green, Clothall with Thomas Mole age 40, a farm labourer and Susanna Mole age 60. Thomas may have been Catherine's father and Susanna her grandmother. Living with Catherine was her daughter Mary who was just four months old. Catherine later had another daughter Ann.
Sometime after 1846 Catherine and her daughters entered the workhouse. In 1851, she appears on the Hitchin workhouse census, she was 32 and unmarried. With her were her two daughters Mary 10 and Ann 6. Catherine and her two girls were described as paupers. After Elizabeth died she was brought back to Clothall to be buried. Her only surviving child from her marriage to John Dixon, John Dixon junior was living in Clothall with his wife Ann and young family in 1850. It may have been John who arranged for his mother’s body to be brought back to Clothall.
The fact that Elizabeth lived to the age of 90 was an incredible feat for someone born in 1760. It was even more so for someone born into poverty. Elizabeth had eight children, raising them from the age of 36 as a single mother, working to support them by collecting stones from the fields.
And then there was the emotional toll she faced. Elizabeth’s long life was filled with family tragedy. She lost her first husband Stephen when she was 36. In 1803 her father William Ward died and was buried a pauper. In 1804 Jane the daughter she had with John Dixon, died at the age of 2. In 1827 her daughter Lydia 33 died at Clothall. The following year 1828 Elizabeth lost her husband John Dixon, making her a widow for the second time. Five years later in 1832 tragedy struck again when her daughter Mary Biggs died at Kimpton age about 43. In 1843 her only son William died in Fowlmere.
Elizabeth spent the last years of her life alone in the workhouse. An institution not known for its care and humane treatment of the old, the poor and the sick. Elizabeth faced adversity and still managed to live to an incredible age. She was no doubt a mentally and physically strong and hard-working woman. It would have been an inspiration and pleasure to have met her.
