Person:Elizabeth Longley (5)

Elizabeth Longley (aka Lingley) was born about 1817 in Edenbridge, Kent, the sixth of eleven children of schoolmaster, parish clerk and shoemaker Thomas Longley and his wife Sarah. She was baptised on 11 August 1817 at the Edenbridge parish church. At some time between about 1830 and 1841 the family moved to Horne, Surrey.

On 16 April 1838 Elizabeth was a witness to the marriage of labourer John Hunt and Harriett Gorringe, daughter of miller Thomas Gorringe and his wife Catherine "Kitty" Creasey. The other witness was Harriett's brother George Gorringe. A few months later on 10 November Elizabeth, aged 21, married George, aged 22, in St. Mary the Virgin's Church in Horne, Surrey. George's occupation was listed as labourer. Witnesses to the marriage were Elizabeth's father Thomas and a Salome Snelling (it's not yet known if she was any relation to the family). George and Elizabeth's first child, William, was born in 1839 and baptised at St. Mary the Virgin's church on 24 March 1839.

In the 1841 census George, Elizabeth and William were living with Elizabeth's parents and family in a house near the church in Horne. George was working as a miller - a mill was built in Horne in 1823 but it was apparently gone by 1851, or he could have been working at one of the nearby Outwood Mills. Thomas and Sarah Longley were working as the schoolmaster and clerk, and schoolmistress respectively, and Elizabeth's younger siblings Joseph and William Longley were working as shoemakers. George's parents and siblings were living about 12 kilometres away in Reigate at "Cockshot Mill", with Thomas working as a miller.

Five more children were born to George and Elizabeth in Horne before the 1851 census: George in 1841, James in 1843, Edgar in 1846, Sarah Ann in 1848 and John in 1851. George's parents Thomas and Kitty died both aged about 58 in Leigh, Surrey, in 1849 and 1850 respectively. By the 1851 census George, Elizabeth and their six children were living at Hedge Courts in Horne, Surrey. George was still working as a miller. Elizabeth's parents Thomas and Sarah were still living in the same house and Thomas was still working as the schoolmaster and parish clerk. Sarah Longley died in 1853.

Between 1851 and 1861 George and Elizabeth had three more children: Thomas in 1854, Alice in 1856 and Henry in 1858. The listings of these three children's birth locations in census records, variously given as Horne, Felbridge, Crawley Down and East Grinstead gives a good indication that the "Hedge Court" buildings where the family lived could have been near what is now known as Hedgecourt Lake and the nearby "Mill Wood".

By 1861 George and Elizabeth's sons William, George and James had left home and were boarding and working in Worth as agricultural labourers (William and George) and grocers (James). George, Elizabeth and their other four boys and two girls moved to Bolney, Sussex, where the family lived at the Stables House near the Eight Bells village pub. George was still working as a miller, and it's likely the family moved to Bolney to pursue work opportunities for George.

George and Elizabeth's last child, Elizabeth Ann, was born and baptised in 1861 in Bolney. Their older children began to marry and start families of their own - James in Paddington in 1865, George in East Grinstead in 1866, Sarah Ann in Crawley Down in 1867, and Edgar in Paddington in 1869. One of their sons, Henry, died in 1868 from measles aged just 10 years old.

By 1871 George, Elizabeth, two sons and two daughters had moved back to the Horne area and were living in one of the "Park Villas" not far from the vicarage in Blindley Heath, Surrey. George and the two sons still at home were working as labourers. George and Elizabeth's son George was also living in Blindley Heath (in the school house) with his family and working as a groom, and their daughter Sarah Ann (married to William Gatland) was living in nearby Burstow. William, James and Edgar had moved to London where they were working as coal porters and living near each other in Paddington. Elizabeth's father, now aged 84, was an annuitant and living in the old workhouse (possibly the same building as he'd been living in since 1841) with a daughter and granddaughter.

George and Elizabeth's youngest child Elizabeth died of erysipelas (a skin infection) and pneumonia in 1876 aged about 15. She was buried in St. John the Evangelist Church Cemetery, Blindley Heath with her brother Henry. George and Elizabeth Gorringe died in Blindley Heath in 1878 both aged about 62 - George on 1 February due to kidney disease and Elizabeth on 2 November due to cirrhosis of the liver. They were buried in St. John the Evangelist's Church Cemetery in Blindley Heath. Probate records exist for both, with their sons George and Thomas acting as executors of Elizabeth's estate.

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St. Mary the Virgin Church, Horne, Surrey

Edenbridge Church

Edenbridge

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 General Register Office. Marriage Certificate
   marriage certificate for George Gorringe and Elizabeth Longley, married 10 Nov 1838; citing 4/175/2, Oct-Dec quarter 1838, Godstone registration district, Surrey sub-district.
   George Gorringe m. Elizabeth Longley
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Surrey, England. 1851 Census of England
   Horne, folio 8, page 8; citing PRO HO 107/1600.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Sussex, England. 1861 Census of England
   Bolney, folio 138, page 34; citing PRO RG 9/582.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Death Index. (London, United Kingdom: General Register Office, 1837-Present)
   entry for Elizabeth Gorringe, volume 2a, page 117, Oct-Nov-Dec quarter 1878, Godstone district.
5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 General Register Office. England & Wales. Certified Copy of an Entry of Death
   death certificate for Elizabeth Gorringe, died 2 Nov 1878; citing 2a/117/102, Oct-Dec quarter 1878, Godstone registration district, Godstone sub-district.
   Elizabth Longley Gorringe death certificate
6. ↑ Horne, Surrey, England. St. Mary the Virgin, Parish Registers
   "London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906," William Gorringe, bap. 24 Mar 1839, pg 62.
7. ↑ General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index. (London, England: General Register Office, 1837-Present)
   entry for Elizabeth Lingley, volume 4, page 175, Oct-Nov-Dec quarter 1838, Godstone district.
8. ↑ ^8.0 8.1 Surrey, England. 1871 Census of England
   Godstone, folio 47, page 19; citing PRO RG 10/837.
9. ↑ ^9.0 9.1 Surrey, England. 1841 Census of England
   Horne, folio 10, page 14; citing PRO HO 107/1077/5.
10. ↑ England. National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations),1858 onwards. (Ancestry.com)
    1978: Go pg 355.

    "GORRINGE Elizabeth
    Personal estate under £300
    20 November. The Will of Elizabeth Gorringe late of Blindley Heath in the Parish of Godstone in the County of Surrey Widow who died 2 November 1878 at Blindley Heath was proved at the Principal Registry by George Gorringe Coachman and Thomas Gorringe Gardener both of Godstone the Sons the Executors."

11. ↑ Surrey, England. Burials, 1813-1987
    "Blindley Heath, St. John," Elizabeth Gorringe bur. 8 Nov 1878, pg 037.
12. ↑ England. Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. (FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, Findmypast)
    Elisabeth Ann Gorringe, daughter of George & Elisabeth, bap. 29 Dec 1861 at Bolney, Sussex, FHL Film Number: 1068521.
13. ↑ Kent, England. Baptisms. (Findmypast)
    St. Peter and St. Paul (Edenbridge, Kent, England), Parish Registers, Baptisms, Elizabeth Longley bap. 11 Aug 1817.
14. ↑ Will
    Will of Elizabeth Gorringe of Blindley Heath, Godstone, Surrey, dated 16 Mar 1868.

    In summary, she decreed that her estate be divided equally among her children, and if any child was deceased, their heirs should receive that portion. All monies payable to any female "shall be for her separate use free from the debts or control of any husband", and any for an infant "shall be invested during his or her minority and the income ... (be applied towards) the maintenance education apprenticeship or advancement of such infant".