Person:George Worbey (1)

George Worbey (or Walby) was baptised on 31st January 1779 at Aston in Hertfordshire, son of Alice Walby, formerly Wright, and her husband George Walby. He was the fourth of nine children, all baptised at Aston. The family had been in Aston for at least a hundred years before George's birth. His paternal grandmother Dorcas Worbey, formerly Chapman, was still living in the village when George was born. She died in 1800, when George was 21.

On 11th October 1807, when George was 28, he married a Charlotte Primett at Great Wymondley, a few miles north of Aston. She was from Great Wymondley, and they settled in that area. Their eldest son was baptised less than three months after their marriage. They had eight sons in total baptised at Great Wymondley between 1808 and 1825. The baptisms of some of the younger sons record that the family did not actually live in Great Wymondley, but at Walsworth in the neighbouring parish of Hitchin. These later baptisms also record George's occupation as being a labourer. George's parents stayed back in Aston. His mother died there in 1816, and his father died there in 1821.

George's eldest son married in 1831, and George's first known grandchild was born later that year.

89-91 Woolgrove Road, Walsworth, Hitchin

The 1851 census has George and Charlotte still living at Walsworth, although George was now described as an agricultural labourer rather than a publican. Their recently married youngest son William and his wife were living in the same house.

George died in 1852, aged 73. He was buried at Great Wymondley on 10th September 1852. He had lived to see at least 33 grandchildren born in his lifetime, although some of these had died young. Charlotte outlived him by fifteen years.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Church of England. Aston Parish registers, 1558-1980. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   1779: George Son of George and Alice Walby Jan[uar]y 31st

   Whilst no named connection has been found, this baptism has been linked to the George who married Charlotte Primet in 1807 on the basis of the 1851 census in which the adult George gave his birthplace as Aston, whilst his census appearances and burial all suggest he was born around the mid to late 1770s. There is no sign of any other George Worbey / Walby or similar baptism at Aston around that time, nor has any evidence been found suggesting that the George baptised in 1779 died young or married anyone other than Charlotte Primet.

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 445; Book 4; Folio 9; Page 12, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Walsworth, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   George Worboy, male, 63 [1777/8], Publican, b. in county
   Charlotte Worboy, female, 56 [1784/5], b. in county
   Thomas Worboy, male, 24 [1816/7], Ag Lab, b. in county
   Joseph Worboy, male, 19 [1821/2], b. in county
   William Worboy, male, 15 [1825/6], b. in county
   Daniel Faulkner, male, 21 [1819/20], b. 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 1710; Folio 240; Page 22, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Walsworth, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   George Warboys, head, married, male, 74 [1776/7], Agricultural Lab[oure]r, b. Aston, Hertfordshire
   Charlotte Warboys, wife, married, female, 66 [1784/5], b. Great Wymondley, Hertfordshire
   Martha Warboys, visitor, unmarried, female, 8 [1842/3], Scholar, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire

   George and Charlotte's son William and his wife are listed as a separate household in the same house.

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

   d. George WORBOYS, September Quarter 1852, Hitchin Registration District, Volume 3a, page 145, aged 76 [1775/6]

5. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Registers of Great Wymondley. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Great Wymondley in the County of Herts in the Year 1852
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   151	George Worboys	Hitchin	Sept[embe]r 10th	76	J.J. Tuck, Off[iciating] Min[iste]r

6.   On the Hitchin Tithe Map and award of 1844, "George Warby" is listed as the owner of plot 1941, described as two houses with "sundry occupiers". Comparison between modern maps and the Tithe Map shows that plot 1941 corresponds with 89-91 Walsworth Road - a seventeenth century building which is still standing and now a listed building.
7.   Hertford Mercury and Reformer, Tuesday 7th June 1836
   HITCHIN PETTY SESSIONS, May 28. - Present: F.P. Delmé Radcliffe, Esq., the Rev. F. Sullivan, the Rev. J. Hull.
   George Waby, the proprietor of a beer-shop at Walsworth, and who kept a booth at Hitchin fair, applied for a summons against two individuals, of the names of Clue and Saunders, for an assault. It appeared that the defendants, with others, had gone into complainant's booth on the day of the fair, where, after enjoying themselves with such good things as the booth supplied, instead of paying for the refreshment they had received, fell to and ill-used complainant in such a manner as rendered the present application for protection necessary. - Summons granted accordingly.
8.   Hertford Mercury and Reformer, Saturday 2nd July 1842
   PETTY SESSIONS
   HITCHIN...
   June 28th...
   George Worboys, of Walsworth, in the parish of Hitchin, was charged with keeping his house open for the sale of beer after eleven o'clock in the evening.
   Thomas Worsley, a police constable, stated that on the 18th instant, about half past eleven o'clock in the evening, he was walking through Walsworth and heard a noise in Worboys' beer-shop; that he went in, and found nine or ten persons sitting with pots of beer before them, and that when he first went into the house he saw one of the company with a pack of cards in his hand, dealing them round to five or six others, who were sitting round the table. Worboys had no defence to make, and he was fined in the penalty of 30s. and 10s. costs.
9.   Hertford Mercury & Reformer, Saturday 7th October 1843
   Petty Sessions
   HITCHIN, October 3rd
   Summonses were issued - against George Worboys, of Hitchin, for keeping his house open for the sale of beer, before five o'clock in the morning, -...