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Alfred Mitchell
b.18 Aug 1855 Warwick, Warwickshire, England
d.26 Dec 1909 Coventry, Warwickshire, England
Family tree▼ (edit)
m. 14 Oct 1851
(edit)
m. 8 Mar 1885
Facts and Events
[edit] Early lifeAlfred Mitchell was born on 18th August 1855 on Saltisford in Warwick, which was the main street leading out of the town to the north-west. He was the son of a laundress named Mary Ann Mitchell, formerly King (who was known as Ann), and her husband Samuel Mitchell, a brewery labourer. The Warwick Brewery stood on the south-west side of Saltisford, which is therefore presumably where Samuel worked. Alfred was the third of eight children, although the first had died as a baby and two of his younger siblings died young too, making Alfred effectively the second oldest of the five children who lived to adulthood. Alfred appears in both the 1861 and 1871 census living with his parents and siblings on Saltisford. In 1871 he was described as an agricultural labourer. In 1875, a few days after his twentieth birthday, Alfred left home in difficult circumstances. Since the local militia had been disbanded his parents had taken in a lodger, who was presumably a former militia soldier. Alfred claimed his parents thought more of the lodger than they did of their own children. This had caused tension between him and his parents. One Tuesday evening in August, Alfred had been drinking at the Black Horse public house on Saltisford. When his father returned home from working at the brewery, Alfred left the pub and went to fight his father, saying "Now, I am ready for you". His mother tried to stop him, saying "Alfred, I won't have it." Alfred replied "You will have it," and pulled off his jacket and waistcoat to fight his father. His mother went to the police station to call for help. The police had to be called three times that evening. Alfred broke a pane of glass, threatened to knock his mother down and used threatening language towards the lodger. Eventually the police took Alfred into custody for committing wilful damage. The next day he was brought before the magistrate, Alderman Smith, who had to consider whether to have him bound over to keep the peace. Alfred's mother made the claim against him, describing what had happened the previous night. She also added that although Alfred was employed he had never paid her even a halfpenny of his pay. Alfred said to Alderman Smith "If you will look it over this time, I will leave the town." This promise was enough for him to avoid being bound over, and so Alfred left Warwick. Alfred went to work on the canals, transporting coal. He appears in the 1881 census living on a canal boat named "Industry" moored at Aston in Birmingham. Back in Warwick, the census finds Alfred's parents still living at Saltisford, but they no longer had any lodger staying with them. Alfred's father Samuel died in 1883. By the end of the following year Alfred had returned to live in Warwick. [edit] MarriageIn December 1884, banns of marriage were read at St Mary's Church in Warwick for Alfred and a Harriet Bastock. They were both described as being of the parish. Both had been born and brought up on Saltisford, but they had not been direct contemporaries of each other as children; there was an eleven year age gap between them. Alfred by this time was 29 years old, whilst Harriet was only eighteen. She was already pregnant when their banns were read in December 1884. Even so, they did not marry immediately after the banns being read, but waited until 8th March 1885 before getting married, by which time Harriet must have been very heavily pregnant. At the time of their marriage Alfred was living at Pigwell Lane, a turning off Saltisford. Harriet signed her name on the marriage register, whereas Alfred marked an 'X' suggesting he was not literate. Shortly after their marriage, Harriet gave birth to a son, whom they named Samuel. Perhaps by this time Alfred had more affection for his father than he had had when his father was alive. The following year they had another son, George William, who was born at 9 Wallace Street, another side street off Saltisford near the brewery. They were still at 9 Wallace Street early in 1889 when they had a third son, Alfred Thomas. Sometime between 1889 and 1891, Alfred, Harriet and the three boys left Warwick and moved ten miles north to the city of Coventry. The 1891 census finds them living at "3 Court 2 House" on Sherbourne Street in Coventry. Alfred was now working as a bricklayer's labourer. Court housing was a very tightly packed form of housing clustered around small courtyards. The family's home had just two rooms. A few days after the 1891 census Harriet gave birth again, to a fourth son named Henry Arthur. Sadly he died as a small baby. Late in 1893 Alfred and Harriet had a fifth son, Charles Frederick, who was generally known by his middle name. Sometime between 1893 and 1901 something happened to Alfred. By the time of the 1901 census he was living in Coventry Union Workhouse. No occupation is quoted for him, unlike most of the other inmates. He was, however, described as an imbecile. This was a legally defined term at the time rather than the term of abuse it later became, essentially meaning that he was unable to care for himself. A clue as to why he might have been unable to look after himself comes from his death certificate, where one of the causes of death is given as "paraplegia", indicating that he had lost the use of two of his limbs. This could have been perhaps been caused by either a spinal injury leading to the loss of use of the legs, or a stroke leading to loss of use of one side of his body. Either way, he appears to have spent the rest of his life in Coventry Union Workhouse. Harriet was therefore left with four young boys to look after. With her husband still alive she was unable to remarry, but Alfred was unable to support himself, let alone his family. The principal form of poor relief from the authorities would have been for the whole family to go into the workhouse. Instead, Harriet started a relationship with a man named Edward Scholes Feary. They had five children together between 1900 and 1904, although two died as babies. The 1901 census finds Harriet living with Edward, the four surviving boys from her marriage to Alfred and her first son by Edward. They were living in two rooms at 2 Court 11 House, Thomas Street. Back in Warwick, Alfred’s mother died in 1896. In summer 1909, Alfred and Harriet's son George William was married to an Ellen Wale. Shortly after, they had a son, Alfred John Mitchell, born on 30th August 1909 and presumably named after Alfred. Alfred John would be the only grandchild born in either Alfred or Harriet's lifetime. On 8th October 1909, Harriet died. She was only 43 years old, but she had contracted tuberculosis. She left Edward Feary living with three of her four surviving sons from her marriage to Alfred and the three surviving children they had had together, the youngest of whom was only four years old. Alfred did not long outlive his wife. He died in the workhouse on 26th December 1909, aged 54. The informant for the death was his eldest son, Samuel. References
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