Person:Mary Swallow (9)

Childhood

Mary Swallow was born on 22nd January 1803 at Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, daughter of Sarah Swallow, formerly Hopkins, and her husband William Swallow. She was the third of nine children, although two of her younger siblings died young, and her old sister Elizabeth died aged 16. The baptisms of some of her younger siblings record that from at least 1814 onwards the family lived at Hollybush, a row of cottages near the hamlet of Mackerye End to the west of Wheathampstead.

Marriage

On 20th September 1823, a bastardy order was issued for Mary's unborn child by a labourer named Joseph Hornet, and a warrant for Joseph's apprehension was issued. The baby, a boy named John, was born on 8th December 1823. Joseph was presumably apprehended and persuaded to marry Mary - they married on 7th February 1824. Baby John was baptised a month later.

Sadly, John died young, being buried at neighbouring Kimpton on 4th May 1824.

Joseph and Mary went on to have another son named John in 1827, but he too died young, being buried when just over a year old.

Joseph and Mary then had three children who lived to adulthood, although baptisms hae only been found for two of them: William in 1829 and Maria in 1832. There was also a daughter Mary Ann, whose existence is known from the fact that her marriage in 1846 said she was daughter of Joseph Hornet and who appears in the 1881 census living with her sister Maria's daughter, who was described as her neice.

However, Joseph did not live to see the children grow up. He died in 1833, just a few days after Maria's first birthday. He was 32 when he died. Mary was left with two children aged under five to look after.

Second marriage

Less than a year after Joseph's death, Mary remarried. Her second husband was Francis Warner, another agricultural labourer. They married at Harpenden, the neighbouring parish to Wheathampstead. They appear to have had three children together. In 1835 Mary's father William died.

The 1841 census finds Mary living with Francis and their children at Cold Harbour in Harpenden, with Mary working as a straw plaiter.

Francis died in 1844. Mary's mother Sarah died in 1848. Mary appears in the 1851 census living at Upper Top Street in Harpenden. She has not been found in the 1861 census, and the most likely explanation seems to be that she was the Mary Warner buried at Wheathampstead on 1st December 1854, when she would have been 51 years old.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Church of England. Wheathampstead Parish Registers, Primary quality.

   1803
   SWALLOW Mary daughter of Will[ia]m & Sarah his wife (late Hopkins) Born Jan[uar]y 22d Bapt April 3d

2. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) HO 107/1-1465 Census Returns: 1841 Census Schedules, Class HO107; Piece 441; Book 4; Folio 32; Page 17, 6 Jun 1841, Primary quality.

   Address: Cold Harbour, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
   Francis Warner, male, 45 [1791-6], Ag Lab, b. Hertfordshire
   Mary Warner, female, 35 [1801-6], Pl[aiter], b. Hertfordshire
   Mary Warner jun., female, 15 [1821-6], Pl[aiter], b. Hertfordshire
   Elizabeth Warner, female, 15 [1821-6], Pl[aiter], b. Hertfordshire
   Susan Warner, female, 5 [1835/6], Pl[aiter], b. Hertfordshire
   Sarah Warner, female, 3 [1837/8], b. Hertfordshire
   William Hornet, male, 10 [1830/1], Pl[aiter], b. Hertfordshire
   Maria Hornet, female, 9 [1831/2], Pl[aiter], b. Hertfordshire

3. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) HO 107/1466-2531 Census Returns: 1851 Census Schedules, Class HO107; Piece 1713; Folio 73; Page 10, 30 Mar 1851, Primary quality.

   Address: Upper Top Street, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
   Mary Warner, head, widow, female, 46 [1804/5], Pl[aiter], b. Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
   Susan Warner, dau, unmarried, female, 16 [1834/5], Pl[aiter], b. Harpenden, Hertfordshire
   William Hornet, son, unmarried, male, 21 [1829/30], Ag Lab, b. Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
   Maria Hornet, daur, unmarried, female, 18 [1832/3], Pl[aiter], b. Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
   William Innance?, lodger, married, male, 41 [1809/10], Carpenter, b. Harpenden, Hertfordshire

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

   d. Mary WARNER, December Quarter 1854, St Albans Registration District, Vol. 3a, page 199

5. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Wheathampstead Parish Registers, Primary quality.

   BURIALS in the Parish of Wheathampstead in the County of Hertford in the Year 1854
   No. 1240
   Name: Mary Warner
   Abode: Wheathamsted [sic]
   When Buried: Dec[embe]r 1
   Age: 62 [1791/2]
   By whom the Ceremony was performed: Charles Snell

   The age quoted on this burial is a full 11 years out, casting some doubt as to whether this is the right person. However, no alternative death or burial has been found for her, nor has she been found in any census after 1861. A possible alternative is that she was the 46 year old Mary Ann Warner who married a William Meers in Luton in November 1851, but that couple have yet to be traced in the censuses either.

6.   Bastardy, in Church of England. Wheathampstead Parish Registers, Primary quality.

   SWALLOW unborn of My by HORNUTT Jos, both W'stead Warrant for Apprhsn HORNUTT issued to PICKERING Jn Oversr 20 Sep 1823