Person:Ann Stokes (7)

Childhood

Ann Stokes was baptised on 2nd October 1811 at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, daughter of Frances Stokes, formerly Everitt, and her husband Edward Stokes, a labourer. Ann was the couple's eldest child. A younger brother, John, followed less than two years later. John's baptism tells us that the family lived at Walsworth, a hamlet to the east of Hitchin parish, then separated from the town itself by open fields. When Ann was only just two years old, her father died, aged only 24.

Ann's mother remarried in 1820, when Ann was eight years old, to a Solomon Day, who thus became Ann's stepfather. However, Solomon Day died after only four years of marriage to Ann's mother. Ann's mother married for a third time in 1826, to a William Pestell, by which time Ann was about fifteen years old. Ann's mother would go on to have two daughters with William Pestell, who were Ann's much younger half-sisters.

Adulthood

Ann was married in 1831, aged nineteen, to a labourer named John Worbey, whose parents ran a beer house at Walsworth. Later that year they had their first son, John, baptised in Hitchin. At the time of young John's baptism they were living at Hitchin Hill, to the south of the town. By the time their second child, Alice, was baptised in 1834 they had returned to Walsworth.

Ann's mother Frances died in 1836, aged 45.

By the time of the 1841 census Ann and John and their children had settled at The Riddy, a small group of cottages surrounded by fields to the south-east of the town. Ann and John were to stay at The Riddy for the rest of their lives.

In April 1842 Ann and John had another daughter, Fanny. The next month John was a witness in the trial of Ann's brother John Stokes. It appears the two of them had stolen wheat from their employer, but it was only John Stokes who was charged with the crime. It was said that "the Court, too, felt that the witness Waby [sic] was the most guilty", and "he [Worbey] might think himself exceedingly fortunate that he did not stand in the position of the prisoner". John Stokes was sentenced to two months in prison.

Ann and John went on to have a son named James in 1848 and a daughter named Emma in 1850. Overall they had five children, two boys and three girls. The 1851 census finds the family living at The Riddy, along with a Hannah Stokes, who was Ann's niece (John Stokes' daughter). Ann's eldest son by this time was an apprentice shoemaker. Their daughter Alice had left home by 1851, and appears in the census working as a domestic servant for a farmer in Great Wymondley.

In 1854 Ann's daughter Alice married a Samuel Dearmer. Ann's first grandchild, Julia Dearmer, was born the following year. She would be the only grandchild Ann would get to meet.

In 1856 Ann's eldest son died as a young man of only 24 years old. Later that same year Ann died aged 45. She was buried at Hitchin on 18th December 1856. She and John had been married for 25 years. John survived her by about nine years.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Hitchin. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   Baptisms 1811
   Oct[obe]r 2 Ann D[aughte]r of Edward & Frances Stokes Lab[oure]r

   This baptism has been identified on the basis that Ann had a Hannah Stokes lodging with her in 1851, who appears to have been the daughter of John Stokes - Hannah appears in the 1841 census living with John Stokes but is not living with him in 1851 although some of her siblings are. When this John Stokes married (for the second time) in 1846 he gave his father's name as Edward Stokes. Looking at baptisms in Hitchin around 1811-13 we find that there was a family with father Edward and children called John and Ann. We therefore conclude that the Hannah Stokes lodging with Ann in 1851 was her niece and that Ann was the daughter of Edward and Frances. Additionally, no other baptisms for an Ann Stokes in the Hitchin area around 1811 have been found, nor has any evidence been found suggesting that the Ann baptised in 1811 died young or married anyone else.

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 4; Page 3, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Riddy, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   John Worboy, male, 33 [1807/8], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. in county
   Ann Worboy, female, 28 [1812/3], b. in county
   John Worboy, male, 10 [1830/1], b. in county
   Allice Worboy, female, 7 [1833/4], 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 231; Page 4, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: The Riddy, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   John Warboys, head, married, male, 42 [1808/9], Agricultural Lab[oure]r, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Ann Warboys, wife, married, female, 39 [1811/2], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   John Warboys, son, unmarried, male, 19 [1831/2], Shoemaker App[rentice], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Fanny Warboys, daughter, female, 9 [1841/2], Scholar, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   James Warboys, son, male, 2 [1848/9], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Emma Warboys, daughter, female, 4mo [1850], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Hannah Stokes, lodger, female, 11 [1839/40], Straw Plaiter, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire

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

   d. Ann WORBOYS, December Quarter 1856, Hitchin Registration District, Volume 3a, page 136, aged 46 [1809/10]

5. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Hitchin. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Hitchin in the County of Hertford in the Year 1856
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   658	Ann, wife of John Warbey	The Riddy	Dec[embe]r 18	46 [1809/10]	Henry Buttenshaw, Offic[iatin]g Minister