Person:Sarah Stocker (4)

Sarah Stocker was baptised on 8th August 1754 at Oving in Sussex, daughter of John and Mary Stocker. She was the third of their eleven children. Some time between 1764 and 1767 the family appears to have moved a short distance south to the coastal parish of South Bersted, which at that time included the small fishing village of Bognor.

On 11th November 1777, aged 23, Sarah was married at South Bersted to a blacksmith named George Hammond. Over the next eighteen years they had eight children baptised at South Bersted. Sarah’s mother died in 1781. In 1782 George also took on Sarah’s younger brother Charles as an apprentice. Sarah’s father died in 1788.

It has not been possible to trace all of Sarah and George's children; the name Hammond is very common in the area. However, she is known to have had at least 31 grandchildren born in her lifetime.

Sarah was buried at South Bersted on 4th February 1827. She was 72 years old. George outlived her by nine years.

1. ↑ Oving, Sussex: Parish Registers (West Sussex County Council, Chichester).

   Oving Christenings 1754 / Aug[us]t 8 Sarah Daugh[ter] of John & Mary Stocker

   This baptism has been linked to the Sarah Stocker who married George Hammond on the basis that it is at about the time implied by the age quoted on Sarah's burial record, plus this Sarah had a younger brother named Charles, and George Hammond took on an apprentice called Charles Stocker in 1782, when this Sarah's brother would have been 15. Also, whilst Sarah was baptised at Oving, the it would appear that her parents moved from Oving to South Bersted some time in the mid 1760s, with their two youngest children being baptised at South Bersted.

2. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Church of South Bersted (Sussex). Parish registers of South Bersted, 1564-1904. (Chichester: West Sussex County Council).

   BURIALS in the Parish of South Bersted in the County of Sussex in the Year 1827
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   352	Sarah Hammond	S[outh] Bersted	Feb[rua]ry 4th	72 years [1754/5]	Charles Hardy, Off[iciatin]g Minister