Person:Esther Gobby (1)

Esther Gobby was baptised on 14th March 1813 at Woburn in Bedfordshire, daughter of Ann Gobby formerly Dennis and her husband Thomas Gobby, an agricultural labourer. Esther was the third of five children. The family moved from Woburn to the nearby village of Toddington before 1817.

In 1833, when she was twenty, Esther had a son named John. He was followed in 1837 by another son named William, and in 1841 by a third son named George. The 1841 census finds Esther working as a straw plaiter and living at Woburn Street in Toddington with her three sons and her sister Sarah and her two children (Sarah's husband William Neal had recently been transported to Australia for stealing a sheep).

Esther's son George died when he was a little over a year old in 1842. Esther had one more child, a daughter called Mary Ann, in 1843. None of Esther's children name a father on their baptism records.

Esther died aged 35 and was buried at Toddington on 9th November 1848. After her death her two surviving sons, John and William, went to live with Esther's brother Joseph, whilst her daughter Mary went to live with her brother John.

1. ↑ Baptisms 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 1813
   No.	When Baptized	Child's Christian Name	Parent's Name		Abode	Quality, Trade, or Profession	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   			Christian	Surname
   12	14 March	Esther Daughter of	Thomas & Ann	Gobbey	Woburn	Labourer	John Parry

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 5; Book 34 part 1; Folio 12; Page 18, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Woburn Street, Toddington, Bedfordshire
   Hester Gobby, female, 25 [1811-16], Straw Platter, b. in county
   John Gobby, male, 8 [1832/3], b. in county
   William Gobby, male, 5 [1835/6], b. in county
   George Gobby, male, 3 weeks [1841], b. in county
   ~
   Sarah Neal, female, 25 [1811-16], Straw Platter, b. in county
   Thomas Neal, male, 9 [1831/2], b. in county
   Ann Neal, female, 6 [1834/5], b. in county

3. ↑ England. National Burial Index.

   bur. 9 Nov 1848, St George, Toddington, Bedfordshire: Esther Gobby, aged 35 [1812/3]

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

   d. Esther GOBBY, March Quarter 1849, Woburn Registration District, Volume 6, page 87, aged 34 [1814/15]