Person:Elizabeth Hale (24)

Elizabeth Hale was baptised on 29th May 1776 at Hampton in Worcestershire, daughter of Ann Hale, formerly Marshall, and her husband William Hale. Elizabeth had a brother called Jotham who was baptised the same day as her. It is not clear when Elizabeth’s parents died.

Elizabeth’s next sighting is on 15th September 1794, aged eighteen, when she married a weaver called William Spire at Buckland in Gloucestershire. They settled in the hamlet of Laverton in the parish of Buckland, where they went on to have ten children together between their marriage and 1817.

Only four of their children survived to adulthood. A son died as a baby in 1801. They also had two daughters who died in 1806 and 1809 for whom no baptism records have been found, but who were probably not babies when they died given how close their burial dates were to the known birthdates of other children. Another daughter died in 1814 when about eighteen months old, and a son died in 1815 when just a few days old.

Elizabeth’s eldest son, Thomas, married in 1819 and her first known grandchild was born later that year.

In 1823 Elizabeth’s daughter Ann died aged 17.

In the late 1830s Elizabeth and her husband William received inheritances in the form of an income for their lifetime from William’s late sister’s husband, Jeremiah Knill, who died in 1837. The terms of his will were ambiguous – it was not clear whether a number of payments mentioned in later codicils to the will were intended to be on top of payments list in the main will, or instead of them. The Spires took the executor to court, arguing that the payments were cumulative. The case concluded in 1839 in favour of the Spires, giving them a combined income of £60 per year. Considering average earnings at the time were around £34 per year, this would have enabled them to live relatively comfortably.

That said, the 1841 census finds Elizabeth living in Laverton working as a servant for Elizabeth Sperry, one of William’s cousins. William and one of their grandsons were living elsewhere in the village.

In 1845 Elizabeth’s son William’s wife died aged 35, and her son William was left with five surviving children aged between eleven years and just seventeen days old to look after. He was a policeman and was regularly posted to different parts of Gloucestershire. The five children therefore came to live in Laverton with their grandparents. In 1848 Elizabeth’s son William was discharged from the police on grounds of ill health, having developed a heart condition, and he too came to live with his parents and children at Laverton.

The 1851 census finds Elizabeth, her husband William, their son William and his five children all living in the same house in Laverton.

Elizabeth’s husband William died in January 1854, aged 77. They had been married for 59 years. Elizabeth survived him by less than two years. She died aged 79, and was buried at Buckland on 15th September 1855. She had lived to see eighteen grandchildren born in her lifetime, although some of them had died young. She had also lived to see great grandchildren.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Registers for Hampton, 1538-1965. (Worcester: Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service).

   Baptisms 1776:
   May 29th Jotham the Son of Will[ia]m & Ann Hale
   May 29th Elizabeth the Dau[ghte]r of Will[ia]m & Ann Hale

2. ↑ England. 1841 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 360; Book 2; Folio 6; Page 7, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Laverton, Buckland, Gloucestershire
   Elizabeth Sperry, female, 55 [1781-6], Ind[ependent], born in county
   Elizabeth Spiers, female, 65 [1771-6], F[emale] S[ervant], born in county

3. ↑ England. 1851 Census Returns for England and Wales. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 1971; Folio 225; Page 16, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Buckland, Gloucestershire
   William Spire, head, married, male, 73 [1777/8], Fund Houlder, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Elizabeth Spire, wife, married, female, 73 [1777/8], Fund Houlder, b. Hampton, Worcestershire
   ~ second household in same house ~
   William Spire, head, widower, male, 40 [1810/11], Tea Dealer, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Amelia Ann Spire, daughter, unmarried, female, 16 [1834/5], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Jephunneh Spire, son, unmarried, male, 14 [1836/7], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Julia Clarke Spire, daughter, female, 10 [1840/1], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Jabez William Spire, son, male, 9 [1841/2], b. Marston Sicca, Gloucestershire
   James Sperry Albert Spire, son, male, 5 [1845/6], b. Dursley, Gloucestershire

4.   Deaths index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   d. Elizabeth SPIRES, September Quarter 1855, Winchcomb Registration District, Volume 6a, page 196, aged 79 [1775/6]

5. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Buckland Parish Registers, 1539-2000. (Gloucester: Gloucestershire Archives).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Buckland in the County of Gloucester in the Year 1855
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   277	Elizabeth Spires	Laverton	Sept[embe]r 15	79 [1775/6]	W. Phillipps Rector