What an odd idea! Why on earth would children from Wandsworth and Clapham, in London, be fostered in Eversholt? This is another episode that seems to have slipped from our collective consciousness.
Poor law schools committee. Minutes of evidence taken before a departmental committee appointed by the Local Government Board to inquire into the existing systems for the maintenance and education of …, 1896WANDSWORTH AND CLAPHAM. 289 [?] children boarded out since 1876, under 21 committees, Hitcham, Jfenn [?], Woodford, Brightstone, Ampthill, Abinger, Eversholt, Milton Bryant, Mildenhall, Sfc. Lawrence [?], Maulden, Surbiton, Slinfold, Chalgrave, Nnthurst [?], Aspley Guise, Windermere,. Thorndon Hall, Banbury, Missondo[?], Keswick, …
These 21 places are all over the country, although Ampthill, Eversholt, Milton Bryan, Maulden, Chalgrave, Aspley Guise form a clear local group. Wandsworth and Clapham were lumped together in their local poor law union – there was a Wandsworth and Clapham Union Workhouse.
Here’s another reference:
Eighteenth annual report of the Local Government Board., 1889The Eversholt Committee (Bedfordshire), had 14 children chargeable to Wandsworth and Clapham, all boarded-out in excellent homes in one parish, and carefully supervised by a committee of four persons also living in the parish. The Milton Bryant Committee (Beds), in a parish adjoining that of Eversholt, had 21 children chargeable to Wandsworth and Clapham, Hampstead, Shoreditch, and Poplar. They were also in good homes, with one or two doubtful exceptions, and were well supervised by a committee of seven persons.
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to cock a snook at our neighbouring parish, there!) So Wandsworth and Clapham were paying people in Eversholt to look after children. Who were the four people on the Eversholt Committee? Did they leave any records?
Here’s the list of all the people living in Eversholt in 1881 who were listed as “boarder”. If you have an Ancestry.com login, you can click on the first or last columns to see the census details. (Sorry, lots of the links below require an Ancestry login. But most of the information is actually given on this page, so don’t feel too upset if you don’t have one!)
| View Record | Name | Birth Year | Birthplace | Relation | Residence | View Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Record | Eliz. Mary Burchby | abt 1860 | Wingeworth, Derbyshire, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire |  |
| View Record | Laura Butler | abt 1868 | Brighton, Sussex, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Charles Butler | abt 1869 | Kidlington, Oxfordshire, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Alfred Chin | abt 1869 | London, Middlesex, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Florence Chin | abt 1874 | London, Middlesex, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Louisa Churchill | abt 1870 | London, Middlesex, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Elizabeth Dale | abt 1870 | Clapham, Surrey, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Mary A. Groves | abt 1872 | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
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| View Record | Marion Hendy | abt 1871 | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
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| View Record | James Keens | abt 1812 | Eversholt, Bedfordshire, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Charles Pasiour | abt 1869 | Wandsworth, Surrey, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Ada Selmes | abt 1872 | London, Middlesex, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Thomas Whitbread | abt 1854 | Eversholt, Bedfordshire, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Louisa Wilson | abt 1870 | Scotland | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
Alfred Chin, 12, and Florence Chin, 7, are possible candidates. Lousia Churchill, 11. Elizabeth Dale, 11, born in Clapham. Mary A Groves, 9, Marion Hendy, 10. Charles Pasiour (his name is not really legible in the census) was 12 and born in Wandsworth. Ada Selmes, 9. Louisa Wilson, 11. What families did these people come from? What happened to them?
In 1881, Alfred Chin lived in Church End with Ann Harris, 75 and a laundress, head of the household. (That’s not the Ann Harris that ran the Post Office, but another Ann Harris.] Also in the household was Susan Farmer, who described herself as a pauper, 68. Susan is a “lodger”, which somehow is different from a “boarder”. Ann Harris and Susan Farmer were born in Eversholt. It can’t have been much fun for a 12-year-old in with them! That is the only census entry anywhere, any time for an Alfred Chin born around 1869.
Florence Chin lived in Brook End with Isaac Carr, 59 and a garden labourer, and his daughter Amy, 29 and a dressmaker. Florence was 7. If Florence and Alfred were siblings, at least they didn’t have far to walk to see each other. Isaac and Amy were Eversholt born and bred, too. This, too, is the only mention of Florence in any census.
Chin was a very rare name back in 1881. More Chins start turning up around 1901, with mentions of people born in China and Chinese citizens. But Florence and Alfred Chin were born 30 years earlier, in London, and were British citizens. There’s no obvious record of their birth. Maybe their names were changed as part of the fostering? Goodness knows what happened to them. Any ideas?
Louisa Churchill, 11, and Ada Selmes, 9, lived in Brook End with Eliza Wright, 60 and “former laundress”, and William, 30, Eliza’s son, a “general labourer”. Ada Selmes is hard to trace, but there was a Louisa Churchill born in 1870 and living in the Wandsworth and Clapham Union Workhouse in 1871. She seems to have been youngest of a family: Eliza Churchill, 33 and married (not widowed), a servant; Eliza, 7, Sophia, 3 and Louisa, 1.
Elizabeth Dale, 11, from Clapham, and Louisa Wilson, 11, from Scotland, lived in Upper Rads End with George and Elizabeth Millard, both aged 52. Their married daughter, Lizzie Dalton, 29, lived there too. George was an “Ag. Lab.” and nobody else admitted to a profession. George, Elizabeth and Lizzie were born in Eversholt.
Marion Hendy, 10, and Mary A Groves, 9, lived in Witts End with the Inns family. Jane Inns was 62, a laundress. Her daughter Sarah A Inns was a teacher, probably at Eversholt School. her son George was an apprentice of some sort.
In 1891, Marion Hendy had moved to Lambeth. Her profession is maddeningly unreadable, but may include “LCC Improvers” in the title. She seemed to be living in some sort of communal accommodation “for working people”. Her birthplace was listed as “parish not known, London”. There are various other possible references to Marion in the records, but nothing certain.
Charles Pasiour, 12, lived with the Shearwood family in “New End” which seems to have been what the houses around what is now the recreation ground were called. (They were all demolished in the 1890s). Charles and Lucy Shearwood were both 33. Charles was an “Ag Lab” and nobody else worked. They had five children of their own, from 11 down to 1, so it must have been a busy place! Charles’s name is hard to read in the census return. If he’s really “Pasiour”, then he’s the only one ever!
These young people are all rather harder than usual to trace through the censuses, and the birth, marriage and death indexes. Perhaps their poverty meant that they were easily ignored or sidelined, and their records have been jumbled and lost because nobody cared very much. But 9 young people from far away were fostered in Eversholt homes in 1881.
Here’s the list of boarders for 1891. These are all the people living in Eversholt with the status “boarder”. Again, if you have an Ancestry login, you can click on first or last columns to see details.
| View Record | Name | Birth Year | Birthplace | Relation | Residence | View Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Record | John H Cox | abt 1885 | Wandsworth, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Jessie C Creasey | abt 1877 | Poplar, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Horace W Creasey | abt 1879 | Battersea, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Lizzie Dade | abt 1869 | Clapham, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | William Dunkley | abt 1883 | Hampstead, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Robert Heath | abt 1880 | Hampstead, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Alfred Merton | abt 1882 | London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Emma Messenger | abt 1880 | Wandsworth, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | William Messenger | abt 1884 | Wandsworth, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Ada F Millard | abt 1867 | Camden Town, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Harriet Mills | abt 1879 | Wandsworth, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Eliz Mills | abt 1881 | Wandsworth, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Charles Mills | abt 1883 | Wandsworth, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Philip J Netheral | abt 1886 | Hampstead, London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
This is a fascinating list. Lizzie Dade has grown up! She appeared in the 1881 census as Elizabeth Dale. She’s 22 now, still single and still living with George and Elizabeth Millard. She doesn’t list a profession in the census, but she must be helping to look after two newcomers in the household, Philip J Netheral [?], 5, and William Dunkley, 8, both born in Hampstead.
Chasing down Lizzie’s life through the records is irresistible. She was born to Thomas Charles Dade and his wife Mary Ann on 15 November 1869 in Clapham, and baptised Elizabeth Emma at the parish church that year. Thomas and Mary already had one daughter, also called Mary Ann, born in 1860. In 1861 and 1871 they were living as a family in lodgings in London. Thomas is described as a painter, glazier and plumber. Elizabeth Emma might have been a bit of a surprise – her mum was 40 when she was born – but there’s nothing to indicate that the family’s anything other than happy. But Thomas died, aged 45, in 1876, and Lizzie’s mum died in 1878 when Lizzie was 9. Lizzie’s sister would have been old enough to look after her, but she clearly wanted to live her own life, for she married William Davis, a bricklayer, in St John’s church, Clapham in 1879. Which is how Elizabeth Emma Dade, Lizzie, came to live with the Millards in Upper Rads End by 1881, and was still there a decade later.
Lizzie married John Stanbridge Gazeley in 1894 – presumably, in Eversholt church. In 1901, Lizzie and John were sharing the house of John’s sister on the Square in Harlington. They had a daughter, Fanny Standbridge Gazeley, who was 4. In 1911, Lizzie was living in Upper Rads End on her own. She was 41 and a widow. John had died around 1908. Lizzie stated that she’d borne four children, two had died, and two were still alive. But they were not living there. Fanny Stanbridge Gazeley actually lived until 1970, but she doesn’t seem to be in the 1911 census. Lizzie died aged 54, in 1924. (There’s another Gazely family in Eversholt here in 1911, one of whom, James William Curtis Gazeley, is commemorated on the war memorial. But he’s too old to be Lizzie’s legitimate child.)
Who was Lizzie’s other child? Where did the children live? Any ideas?
William Dunkley is a common enough name to be hard to trace. Philip James Netherhall (with an aitch) was born in Hampstead in 1885. Philip Netherall (with two ells) turns up as the adopted son of Alfred and Annie Bates of Prince’s Street, Toddington, in 1901, but then disappears from the record.
John H Cox was just 4 or 5 in 1891, and was living with William Tompson, 48, a retired policeman, and Emma, his wife, 45 and a dressmaker. They lived in Higher Rads End, probably next door to the Millards. By 1901, William had remade himself as a “small farmer”, and John Hy [Henry] Cox was still living with them. He was 16 and some sort of labourer. But he’s been adopted! William and Emma had adopted their foster child. In 1911, William and Emma are still together in Rads End. Emma never gave birth.
What happened to John Henry Cox?
In 1891, the Creasey children, Jessie C, 14, and Horace W, 12, lived with the Gibbons at Vine Cottage in Higher Rads End. Robert Heath, 11, boarded there too. Joseph W Gibbons was 51 and “living on own means”. Mary A Gibbons, 39, was his wife, and Sarah A Gibbons, 16, their daughter. The Creaseys were from Poplar.
Alfred Creasey married Elizabeth Sarah Alice Balley in All Saints Parish Church, Poplar, on 13 October 1863. Alfred was a ship’s steward, presumably afloat much of the time, which would explain why Elizabeth was living with her Mum and 4-year-old Alice in 1871. (Elizabeth’s father was a steward too; maybe that’s how they met.) Son Alfred G Creasey (named after his father) came in 1873, then Jessie Caroline in 1876, then Horace William in 1878. But Alfred died in 1880. In 1881, Elizabeth was a young widow trying to run the Railway Tavern in Battersea High Street with three small children. Then in 1884, Elizabeth died. So the children were orphans, and came to Eversholt.
Neither Jessie nor Horace is obvious in the 1901 census, but Jessie turns up in 1903. She’s married Frank Aumonier, a civil servant – and her father-in-law, James Aumonier, was an artist of some repute, collected worldwide today. Quite a catch for an orphan from Battersea. It’s not clear whether they had any children – they don’t appear in the 1911 census, but must have moved to Norfolk, because Frank died there in 1949 and Jessie in 1964. Horace William Creasey might be living in St. Pancras in 1911 and married, but the record isn’t definite enough to be sure.
Robert Heath is a common enough name to make tracing harder, but there was one born in 1878 and living with no family in Hampstead Workhouse in 1881.
Alfred Merton, aged 9, is living with Thomas and Charlotte Thompson in Witts End in 1891. Thomas was 69 and an agricultural labourer. Charlotte was 65.
Emma Messenger, 11, and William, 7, lived in Water End with James and Sarah Hudson and their daughter Jane. James was 64 and a “general carrier”. Sarah was 63 and a laundress. Sarah was 25, single, and listed herself as a laundress too.
Ada F Millard is unusual in being 24 years old. She’s living with Sarah Crouch, 41, in Lower Rads End, in 1891. She’s listed in the census as “imbecile from childhood” which may explain why she’s boarded out.
Harriet, Elizabeth and Charles Mills, 12, 10 and 8, live with Mary Chew, widow and 72, in Lower Rads End. Mary’s granddaughter edith, 15 and already a domestic servant, lived there too. Their names are too common to track reliably without great effort!
By 1901, the fostering effort has come to an end. Here are the boarders in Eversholt in 1901:
| View Record | Name | Birth Year | Birthplace | Relation | Residence | View Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Record | John Hy Cox | abt 1885 | Wandsworth, London, England | Adopted Son &Boarder(Adopted Son) | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
| View Record | Ada Fr Millard | abt 1867 | London, England | Boarder | Eversholt, Bedfordshire | |
So, there really was an influx of poor London kids in Eversholt in the 1880s and 1890s. They must have attended Eversholt School. A few of them – John Cox, Ada Millard, Lizzie Dade, Philip Netherhall – put down more roots locally. Were there more that don’t show up int he census? Are there Wandsworth Workhouse genes in Eversholt today? Just how successful was this intervention? Did these people live better lives because they’d been fostered in Eversholt?
There’s a splendid article about Wandsworth and Clapham workhouse here but nothing about boarding people out to Eversholt.