Person:Ann Gobby (1)

Ann Gobby was baptised on 9th July 1815 at Woburn in Bedfordshire, daughter of Ann Gobby, formerly Packer, and her husband Thomas Gobby. Sadly young Ann died as a baby, being buried at neighbouring Ridgmont on 17th January 1816.

1. ↑ Baptism register, in Church of England. Woburn Parish Registers, 1558-1963. (Bedford: Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service).

   BAPTISMS solemnized in the Parish of Woburn in the County of Bedford in the Year 1815
   No.	When Baptized	Child's Christian Name	Parent's Name		Abode	Quality, Trade, or Profession	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   			Christian	Surname
   93	July 9	Ann Daughter of	Thomas & Ann	Gobbey	Woburn	Hortler?	G.P. Ken

2. ↑ England. National Burial Index.

   bur. 17 Jan 1816, All Saints, Ridgmont, Bedfordshire: Ann Gobby, aged 0

   Needs to be confirmed at Bedfordshire Archives.

3.   There were two couples named Thomas and Ann Gobby who were having children in this area around this time. Thomas Gobby and Ann Dennis married in Woburn in 1808 and had three daughters baptised there between 1809 and 1813, whilst Thomas Gobby and Ann Packer married at neighbouring Ridgmont in 1813. There are two Ann Gobby burials at Ridgmont in 1816; an infant and a 23 year old. There being apparently no corresponding baptism for the infant at Ridgmont, the most likely explanation is considered to be that the Ann Gobby baptised at Woburn in 1815 was the daughter of Thomas Gobby and Ann Packer, and that both baby and mother died the following year back in Ridgmont.
   
   An alternative possibility is that the Ann baptised in Woburn in 1815 could be the Ann Gobby who married John Millard in Toddington in 1831. However, this is considered less likely. In the 1851 census that Ann claimed to have been born in about 1811 in Toddington, which fits the baptism of Ann daughter of John and Mary Gobby at Toddington on 15th September 1811 rather better than this Ann, and in the 1841 census Ann and John Millard were living with an elderly John Gobby. That said, the Ann wife of John Millard in the 1851 census did have an elderly Thomas Gobby living with her - although no explicit relationship is given in the census.