My Father, Bill Carver, spoke fondly of his childhood and early life but did not give away much detail. There is a video recording of him in a ‘talking heads’ interview that my sister made in the 1990’s. He spoke, with some prompts, of his upbringing and life in Oxted, Surrey, where he was born. I remember watching it. That video seems to be either missing or lying in a box somewhere unknown, and I cannot reference it in the telling of his maternal history. Bill Carver never talked of his family history, possibly because he didn’t know much about it, and there are few if any records of his family’s life before he was born.
I knew my Father’s Mother very well. She was always known as Country Grandma (to differentiate her from my London Grandma). Her maiden name was Ada Spillett and she was an old-fashioned, but kindly woman. She was pleased to see her Grandchildren and had time to talk with us. If only I had the interest in family research then that I now have. I would have had so many questions for her.
I have managed to find the records of Ada’s three generations of ancestors that tell us a bit of the Spillett background.
Ada’s Great Grandmother was Eleanor Spillett and she was born around 1796 in the village of Sturry, a short way out of Canterbury. Without being able to triangulate the information it is highly likely that she was born Eleanor Richards and possibly married George Spillett in 1817 in Chartham. There is a death of George Spillett recorded in 1840. This then would tally with the following 1841 Census return for Eleanor Spillett, then living in the Longport district of Canterbury.
The return shows that Ellen Spillett is living in Ivy Lane with four children: Ellen aged 15, George aged 13, Esther aged 9 and Stephen aged 2.
The Census enumerators who called at each house to record the names and ages and occupations were writing the information down in their book as it was told to them. It is quite common for names and other information to be recorded incorrectly and spelling mistakes would be frequent. There is no doubt that one of the two Ellen’s in this return was Eleanor. Eleanor was recorded as a Labouring Woman.
This was the first Census conducted in England and Wales and the information that was gathered was limited. Unlike future Census returns there are columns for name, age, sex, profession or trade, whether born in that country, whether born in Scotland, Ireland or in Foreign Parts. It should also be noted that the Census collation in the 19th Century was undertaken by men who recorded information at the door which was then recorded by a second party in a Census register. Consequently inaccuracies could occur, particularly with regards the recording of women. Had Eleanor’s household been headed by a man, Eleanor would not have had her occupation recorded. As it is Eleanor is the head of her household and she is described as a Labouring Woman. A man would have been recorded like this as a Labourer. Given that the Spillett household was in Canterbury it is not clear what Eleanor did as a Labouring Woman.
Most working class women in Victorian England had no choice but to work in order to help support their families. They worked either in factories or in domestic service for richer households or in family businesses. In future Census returns we can see that Eleanor worked as a Charwoman.
It is young Esther that I am paying attention to. Esther was Ada’s Grandmother and she was brought up in Ivy Lane and other than a short spell in Domestic Service, she stayed in Ivy Lane for most of her life.
This part of Canterbury would have been an ideal place for a family and its members to find employment.
Moving on to the 1851 Census and I find Esther is then a Domestic Servant in an elderly Widow’s house. She is Lydia Hefoe or Hesoe. It has been difficult to read the precise name and any searches that I have made have failed to come up with any clues. Lydia is aged 70 and described as an Annuitant, someone in receipt of an inherited annuity. The address is in High Street, Broadstairs. Esther would have been able to walk out the front door and be within minutes of the seafront.
Abney Place is no longer a named postal address and I wonder if it is the cluster of buildings close to the sea front at the bottom of the High Street.
There is no record to tell us for how long Esther remained in Broadstairs. Eventually she returns to Ivy Lane in Canterbury. This part of Canterbury, known as Longport, is steeped in history and has been the subject of a lot of research and recording. I came across this interesting Canterbury history website that has a record of many of the residents who lived in Ivy Lane. I can find the Spillett family in two of the houses at 48 and 49. Although the following photograph is not their house, I can get an idea of the 19th century lane that Esther lived in.
The 1861 Census reveals that she has two children aged 7 and 2. In the return Eleanor has been recorded as Elenda, Esther has been given the age of 26 and other than her brother Stephen, there are two grandchildren, John aged 7 and George aged 2. I take these two children to be Esther’s children. George is in fact Henry George, my Great Grandfather. Esther has to be 31 and goodness knows how the Census enumerator came up with the name of Elenda.
In the following image, Henry Spillett’s birth was registered in Canterbury and in this document and the ’51 and ’61 Census returns, there is no mention of Ivy Lane. The address is always recorded as Longport, St.Paul’s. Esther is recorded as Hester and the Father’s name and profession are not filled in. Esther has signed the register with her mark.
I find these images and records and the information, or lack of, incredibly personal. So much can be read into the information here but for me, I see an independent woman who is working full time, being supported by and then supporting her mother, while bringing up two young children. In later stories I shall show how Henry supported his mother until Esther died in 1906.
So, between 1841 and 1861, Esther Spillett has left home and worked as a Domestic Servant in Broadstairs, on the Kent coast, then returned to live with her mother in Canterbury with two young children. Esther was then working as a Charwoman. Unlike a Domestic Servant, a Charwoman worked for hourly wages, often for several employers. It was in the late 19th Century that the name changed to Charlady. It has nothing to do with tea by the way.
The Spillett family remained in Ivy Lane in 1871 at number 6 with Esther’s two sons, now 17 and 12. Eleanor Spillett is listed in the 1871 Census as a Widow aged 84.
By 1881, Eleanor had died and Esther had moved to 48 Ivy Lane to live alone. She is aged 50 and is still a Charwoman. Then in 1891 Esther has taken in a lodger. She is described as a laundress aged 59, and her lodger is a widower aged 73 and described a s a Rope Maker.
I can find no entry for Esther in the 1901 Census. However, by 1906 she has moved to live with her son Henry in the village of Oxted, Surrey. She died there in 1906 and was buried in the parish church yard.
This short story illustrates the challenges of researching the Census returns. The information gathered was not always skilfully done or managed and was dependent upon the handwriting and spelling skills of the enumerator and also dependent upon the quality of information given to them. Another problem has been the transcribing of the handwritten records and registers by 20th and 21st Century volunteers who have been reading the information and transcribing it to Excel sheets. I have found one record where Spillett was recorded as Spilld.
In the course of this research I messaged another researcher who was looking at the same family tree. I discovered that they were a descendant of Esther’s brother Stephen. Yet another ‘instant cousin’.