Person:Elizabeth Moss (27)

Elizabeth Moss was born in 1859 at Aley Green in the parish of Caddington, Bedfordshire, daughter of a bonnet sewer named Catherine Moss, formerly Warren, and her husband William Moss, an agricultural labourer. She was the eldest of the couple's five children. When she married, Elizabeth called herself Lizzie, which is presumably how she was known. In the 1861 census Lizzie was living with her parents, younger sister, paternal grandmother and her grandmother's husband at Tipple Hill in the Aley Green area of Caddington.

In September 1864, when Lizzie was just five years old, her mother Catherine died at the age of 26. Lizzie's baby sister Esther was about three or four months old at the time and did not long outlive her mother, being buried in the November. Lizzie's sister Mary died later in November 1864, aged just four years old. Lizzie had therefore lost her mother and two of her sisters in the space of less than two months.

In January 1865, just four months after Lizzie's mother's death, Lizzie's father married again. His second wife was a Bethia King, who thus became Lizzie's stepmother. William and Bethia would go on to have nine children together between 1865 and 1882, who were Lizzie's half siblings. However, Lizzie does not appear with her father and stepmother in any of the censuses. Instead, she appears to have lived with her paternal grandmother, Susan King, and Susan's husband John King. At the time of the 1871 census her grandmother was away from home working, leaving Lizzie living with John King at Aley Green. John King died in 1875.

In 1879 Lizzie had a daughter named Laura. The 1881 census finds Lizzie working as a bonnet sewer and living with her grandmother and baby Laura at Aley Green. Sadly, Laura died when she was only two years old in 1882.

Just over a year later, Lizzie had a daughter named Annie, who was followed in 1886 by a son named Albert. The 1891 census finds Lizzie and her two surviving children living with Lizzie's grandmother in a four roomed home at Aley Green. Lizzie's grandmother Susan King died in 1896.

The 1901 census still has Lizzie and her two children in a four roomed home at Aley Green, making it quite possible that they were still in the house which had been her grandmother's home. Between 1891 and 1901 Lizzie's work became more mechanised; instead of being a 'bonnet sewer' as she had been in 1881 and 1891, in 1901 she was a 'straw hat machinist'.

In 1903 Lizze was married, aged 44, to a gardener named Charles Allen. He was about ten years her junior and from the nearby village of Markyate. At the time of her marriage, Lizzie's surviving children were aged 19 and 16 years old. They did not have any further children together. Theirs was the second marriage between their families; Lizzie's sister Emily had married Charles's brother Frederick in 1889. The 1911 census has Lizzie and her husband Charles living still at Aley Green, along with her son Albert, who was working in an iron foundry. Unusually for the time the 1911 census describes Lizzie as the head of the household and Charles as her husband, rather than Charles as the head and Lizzie his wife.

Lizzie's father William died in the neighbouring town of Luton a few days after the 1911 census.

Lizzie died in 1934, aged 75. Charles survived her by nearly eighteen years.

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

   b. Elizabeth MOSS, March Quarter 1859, Luton Registration District, Volume 3b, page 454, mother's maiden name Warren

2. ↑ Baptisms register, in Church of England. Caddington Parish Registers. (Bedford: Bedfordshire Record Office).

   BAPTISMS solemnized in the Parish of Caddington in the County of Bedford in the Year 1859
   No.	When Baptized	Child's Christian Name	Parent's Name		Abode	Quality, Trade, or Profession	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   			Christian	Surname
   787	Feb[ruar]y 20	Elizabeth Dau[ghter] of	William & Catherine	Moss	Tipple Hill	Labourer	W. Mellard

3. ↑ England. 1861 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 RG9; Piece 1015; Folio 89; Page 3, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Tipple Hill, Caddington, Hertfordshire
   John King, head, married, male, 48 [1812/3], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Cadd[ingto]n, Hertfordshire
   Susan King, wife, married, female, 48 [1812/3], Straw Plaiter, b. Cadd[ingto]n, Hertfordshire
   ~ second household in same house ~
   William Moss, head, married, male, 24 [1836/7], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Cadd[ingto]n, Hertfordshire
   Catherine Moss, wife, married, female, 22 [1838/9], Bonnet Sewer, b. Cadd[ingto]n, Bedfordshire
   Elizabeth Moss, daughter, female, 2 [1858/9], b. Cadd[ingto]n, Bedfordshire
   Mary Moss, daughter, female, 1 [1859/60], b. Cadd[ingto]n, Hertfordshire

4. ↑ England. England and Wales. 1871 Census Schedules. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG10; Piece 1568; Folio 26; Page 12, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: Aley Green, Caddington, Hertfordshire
   John King, head, married, male, 59 [1811/12], Lab[ourer], b. Caddington, Hertfordshire
   Elizabeth King, daughter, female, 12 [1858/9], Sewer, b. Caddington, Hertfordshire

5. ↑ England. 1881 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 RG11; Piece 1653; Folio 137; Page 5, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: Aley Green, Caddington, Hertfordshire
   Susan King, head, widow, female, 67 [1813/4], Straw plaiter, b. Cad[dingto]n, Hertfordshire
   Eliz[abet]h Moss, granddaughter, unmarried, female, 22 [1858/9], Bonnet sewer, b. Cad[dingto]n, Hertfordshire
   Laura Moss, granddaughter, female, 16m [1879/80], b. Cad[dingto]n, Hertfordshire

6. ↑ England. 1891 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 RG12; Piece 1275; Folio 133; Page 5, 5 Apr 1891.

   Address: Aley Green, Caddington, Hertfordshire
   4 rooms occupied
   Susan King, head, widow, female, 77 [1813/4], b. Caddington, Hertfordshire
   Elizabeth Moss, granddaughter, single, female, 31 [1859/60], Bonnet sewer, b. Caddington, Hertfordshire
   Annie Moss, granddaughter, female, 7 [1883/4], Scholar, b. Caddington, Hertfordshire
   Joseph Moss, grandson, male, 5 [1885/6], Scholar, b. Caddington, Hertfordshire

7. ↑ England. England. 1901 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 RG13; Piece 1519; Folio 114; Page 21, 31 Mar 1901.

   Address: Aley Green, Caddington, Bedfordshire
   Four rooms occupied
   Elizabeth Moss, head, single, female, 40 [1860/1], Straw Hat Machinist, worker, b. Aley Green, Bedfordshire
   Annie Moss, daughter, single, female, 17 [1883/4], Straw Hat Finisher, worker, b. Aley Green, Bedfordshire
   Albert Moss, son, single, male, 15 [1885/6], Errand Boy (straw work), worker, b. Aley Green, Bedfordshire

8. ↑ England. 1911 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 RG14; Piece 9026; Schedule 108, 2 Apr 1911.

   Address: Aley Green, Caddington, Bedfordshire
   Elizabeth Allen, head, female, 50 [1860/1], married eight years, no children born to this marriage, Straw Hat Turning Machinist - Straw Hat Manufacturer, worker, b. Aley Green, Bedfordshire
   Charles Allen, husband, male, 42 [1868/9], married, Jobbing Gardener, worker, b. Markyate, Bedfordshire
   Albert Moss, son, male, 24 [1886/7], single, Iron Foundry, worker, b. Aley Green, Bedfordshire

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

   d. Elizabeth ALLEN, December Quarter 1934, Luton Registration District, Volume 3b, page 436, aged 74 [1859/60]

10. ↑ See marriage.