A Sad Case of Morality

 

Here is a tale that shows how confusing genetics could be, based solely on a surname. There are four people involved in this mid-19th century crisscross of marriage and “housekeeping” which was played out in the village of Aldbourne in Wiltshire and produced 13 children of various parentage. It was dubbed at the time by one local newspaper as “a sad case of morality”.

While most of the action was in the parish of Aldbourne, which is on the east side of the county, between Marlborough and the Berkshire border, neighbouring parishes, such as Ogbourne St George, Ramsbury also feature.

First, an introduction to the players:

·        Joseph John Davis. He was the son of a brickmaker called John Davis and his wife Martha Davis, of Brick Kiln House, Ogbourne St George. Joseph was baptised on 24 August 1834.

·        Eliza Whiting. She was baptised at Ramsbury on 13 May 1832, the daughter of a labourer William Whiting and his wife Sarah Whiting.

·        Elizabeth Smart. Born in the hamlet of Fyfield, she was baptised in the neighbouring parish of Preshute on 16 April 1837. She was the daughter of another labourer, Joseph Smart and his wife Jane.

·        Finally there was Henry Tucker, the son of another labourer James Tucker and his wife Maria, who was baptised at Aldbourne on 20 April 1830.

Their relationships started with the marriage of one couple when in their early twenties: Joseph Davis and Eliza Whiting. The marriage was celebrated on the 13 November 1853 at the Church of the Holy Cross in Ramsbury and eighteen months later, on 5 May 1855, Harriet Ann Davis was baptised at the same church.

As far as can be determined from the records, Harriet was the only child the couple had together: both Joseph and Eliza had more children – but not with each other!

By 1861, a new woman had entered Joseph’s life: Elizabeth Smart had become his “housekeeper” at his home in Woodsend, Aldbourne, while Eliza had moved out and was acting as “housekeeper” to Henry Tucker, a willow cutter of Castle Street, Aldbourne.

Who gave up on the marriage first is not clear, but much later, Joseph said the change in relationships occurring in 1857 – the date he gave in 1911 for his “marriage” to Elizabeth Smart.

In the Davis household in 1861 were Joseph and his daughter Harriet, and Elizabeth Smart with two sons of her own: Henry Joseph Smart and Joseph John Smart.

Both boys had been born in Marlborough – Henry on 19 February 1859 and Joseph towards the end of 1860 – and both were officially registered with the name Smart. However, while there is no record of Joseph being baptised, Henry was on 21 February 1859 at St Mary the Virgin, Marlborough, as Henry Joseph Davis, with Joseph and Elizabeth as his parents.

Meanwhile in Aldbourne on 5 December 1858, two sons of Eliza Davis were baptised: William Henry Davis and Thomas Jesse Davis. William had been born in Aldbourne in the spring of 1857 and Thomas at the end of 1858 and at the time of the 1861 census both were living with their mother in Henry Tucker’s house.

It is possible that they were Joseph’s children – both of them gave him as their father when they got married in the 1870s – but …

Joseph and Elizabeth had another four children in the 1860s – all four registered with the surname Smart:

1.      Emma Jane Smart, baptised in the parish church at Ogbourne St George on 24 May 1863, with just her mother given as her parent in the register

2.      George Smart, baptised in the Market Lavington Primitive Methodist Circuit as George Davis on 20 October 1864, with Joseph and Elizabeth Davis of Ogbourne St George given as his parents

3.      Sarah Ann D Smart, baptised in the Market Lavington Primitive Methodist Circuit as Sarah Ann Davis on 20 June 1867, again with Joseph and Elizabeth given as parents

4.      Frederick William Smart, baptised at Ogbourne St George on 30 April 1871, with just Elizabeth Smart, single woman, of Aldbourne as his mother.

It should be noted that Market Lavington was some 30 miles from Aldbourne but the Circuit had links in Marlborough.

In the 1871 census, Elizabeth is referred to as Joseph’s wife and she and all the children are given his surname, but in 1881, Elizabeth and the children revert to the Smart surname.

Also by the time of the 1871 census, Harriet had moved from her father’s house to that of Henry Tucker where she was with her two brothers, William and Thomas. On census night their mother was away at the house of another couple in Aldbourne, Thomas and Honor Orchard, who had a 9-day-old son, for whom Eliza was described as nurse.

During the 1870s, another four children were born to Joseph and Elizabeth:

5.      Elizabeth Rose Smart, born 19 June 1873 and baptised 5 October 1873 at Aldbourne with just her mother mentioned

6.      Martha Kate Smart, born 17 February 1875 in Woodsend, Aldbourne

7.      David Davis Smart, born in the summer of 1878 in Woodsend, Aldbourne but died of convulsions on 7 November that year, and buried at Ogbourne St George four days later

8.      Albert J Smart, born in about 1880 in Woodsend, Aldbourne.

The couple appear not to have bothered with having the last three children baptised – perhaps their living arrangements were causing problems in finding a minister prepared to perform such rites. It was the death of David that focused the spotlight on the four adults, judging by the following article in the North Wilts Herald on Saturday 16 November 1878:

 

ALDBOURNE

Morals at Aldbourne – An inquest was taken before Mr Coroner Whitmarsh last Monday, at Woodsend in this parish, on the body of David Davis, son of Elizabeth Smart, single woman, five months old. – It appears the mother had been living with a married man of the name of Davis, by whom she has had other children, whilst his wife is cohabiting with another man in the same parish – a sad case of morality. – The mother stated that on the previous Wednesday evening, as she was downstairs, between seven and eight o’clock, with the child in her arms, a fit came on, as it had before, and continued until the child died, about three o’clock next morning. – Mr Whitmore said three weeks ago he vaccinated the child, which did not seem strong and healthy. It was not thoroughly nourished, but had not been neglected. He was of opinion the child died of convulsions, arising from natural causes. – Verdict accordingly.

The fact that these living arrangements had been in place for more than 20 years by then was clearly missed by the reporter, but doubtless there was some gossip in the village.

 

Eliza and her family

During the 1870s, all three of Eliza’s children got married.

First on 1 April 1875, William Davis (19) married Mary Deacon (18) at Aldbourne with George Jerram and Harriet Davis as witnesses. William stated that he was the son of Joseph Davis, while Mary was the daughter of Henry Deacon.

The next entry in the Aldbourne marriage register was for 29 April 1875 when George Jerram, son of George Jerram, married Harriet Ann Davis, daughter of Joseph Davis.

Then, on 29 September 1878, Thomas Davis (20) married 18-year-old Martha Mary Coxhead, daughter of George Coxhead, at St Michael’s, Aldbourne. Like his elder brother, Thomas gave his father as Joseph Davis.

Sadly, William’s marriage did not last long. He died after just four years as a husband and was buried in Aldbourne on 18 April 1879. He had, however, managed to father three children: Rose Ellen Davis was born just over a year after the marriage (18 April 1876) and was baptised on 6 June;  William Thomas Davis was born in the summer of 1878 but not baptised until 6 July 1879 – after his father’s death; and Mary Louise Davis was born eight months after her father died and baptised on 2 November 1879, but she died when she was just 18 months old, and was buried on 9 April 1881.

By 1881, Eliza was back with Henry Tucker – but without any of the children – and then two years later, Henry died, aged 52. He was buried at Aldbourne on 15 December 1883.

Eliza kept up her role as a child nurse and was described in the 1881 census as a midwife and housekeeper, and in 1901, when she was living with her son Thomas and his family in Swindon, she was described as a monthly nurse. But in 1891 she was working in a Childrens’ Home in Parrock Hall, Gravesend, Kent, as a laundress.

Eliza died in Swindon in 1910. Of her two children who survived her, Harriet Ann, who had married George Jerram and had seven children, died in 1933 while Thomas, who had married Martha Coxhead and had 10 children, five of whom died in infancy, lived until 1937.

 

Joseph Davis

The father of many of the children had a rather varied working life. All the early records refer to him as an agricultural labourer but from the late 1860s onwards, his trade changed. First, he was a brickmaker, like his father had been. Then in 1881 he was referred to as a farmer of six acres, employing one man (as well as his older sons). The 1891 census described him as a maltster, a term also used on a marriage certificate in 1878 by one of the children. He had reverted to being a small farmer by 1901 and was described as an old age pensioner in 1911 census when he was 77.

His relationship with Elizabeth Smart was never formalised but in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses, she is referred to as his wife and given the surname Davis, and that was the name used when her death was registered in 1916.

 

Elizabeth Smart’s children by Joseph Davis

All the children had adopted the surname Davis by the time they reached adulthood and used it when getting married.

Henry, the eldest of Elizabeth’s children, worked as a plough boy in 1871 and moved on to be a shepherd by the time of the 1881 census. He died, unmarried, at the age of 25 and was buried as Henry Davis at Ogbourne St Andrew on 14 January 1885.

The second son, Joseph, was also a plough boy in 1871, although he was only 10 years old. Like his elder brother, Joseph then became a shepherd and had moved away from Wiltshire. He was working in Staines in Middlesex when he married Mary Jane Spicer from Marlborough on 29 April 1882. Later the coupler moved into Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. By 1911, the couple had had 11 children, two of whom had died in infancy. Joseph himself died in 1930 in Portsmouth.

Another son, George, married Hannah May on 19 May 1888 in Swindon and have five children, one of whom died in infancy. George was a coal merchant in Swindon but soon after Hannah died in 1912, he emigrated to Canada and further records have been difficult to find.

George was flanked by two sisters – Emma Jane and Sarah Ann – but no records of their lives after 1881 have been found. In that year Emma Jane was working as a housemaid at Marlborough College, while Sarah Ann was just 13 and living at home.

Frederick William Davis, a general labourer, married Kate May, sister of George’s wife Hannah, in 1896, but he died, childless, in 1900.

Elizabeth Rose Davis married William James Pinnegar, a cowman, in Swindon in 1893 and had 10 children, of whom one died in infancy. Elizabeth Rose herself died in 1966.

Matilda Kate Davis worked as a domestic servant in Marlborough in 1901 and the following year married John Ernest Dudman, who was a blacksmith in the Swindon railway works. The couple had five children and Matilda lived until 1960.

The story of the baby David has already been told, but little is known about the youngest of Elizabeth’s children, Albert, beyond the fact that in 1901, when he was 21, he was working as a gardener in Swindon and living in the house of his sister-in-law, Frederick’s widow, Kate.

In 1911, Joseph the father stated he had had 11 children of whom five had died. Assuming that he meant the ten children we know Elizabeth had plus Harriet, the child he had with Eliza, then there are three we know had definitely died by 1911 – Henry, David and Frederick – and three that could have died Emma Jane, Sarah Ann, and Albert by then.

Perhaps one day we shall discover what happened to these three people.