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Facts and Events
Name |
George Kempson |
Gender |
Male |
Christening[1] |
16 May 1779 |
Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, England |
Marriage |
14 Oct 1802 |
Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, Englandto Rebecca Turnham |
Marriage |
28 May 1835 |
Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, Englandto Celia Jones |
Census[2] |
6 Jun 1841 |
Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, EnglandChurch End |
Census[3] |
30 Mar 1851 |
Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, EnglandNorth Leighton Road, Billington |
Death[4] |
22 Sep 1853 |
Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, EnglandUnion Workhouse |
Burial[5] |
26 Sep 1853 |
Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, EnglandBillington |
George Kempson was baptised on 16th May 1779 at Totternhoe in Bedfordshire, son of Judith Kempson, formerly Sear, and her husband George Kempson, a labourer. Young George appears to have been the eldest of nine children.
On 14th October 1802, aged 23, George married a Rebecca Turnham at Totternhoe. They went on to have thirteen children baptised at Totternhoe between 1804 and 1824. Several of the children's baptisms describe George as a labourer, but the youngest two children's baptisms describe him as a 'straw drawer' (1822) and straw dealer (1824).
George's father died in 1815. George and Rebecca's eldest daughter, Lydia, died as a child of about ten years old in 1817. George's mother died in 1823.
In 1827 George's son Thomas was the first of his children to marry, and George's first grandchild was born later that year. Thomas died as a young man in 1830.
In 1833, George's wife Rebecca died, aged 52.
About eighteen months later, George married again. His second wife was a Celia Jones, who was originally from Barnet but had probably been living with her mother and stepfather at Fenny Stratford, about ten miles north of Totternhoe. George and Celia married at Totternhoe on 28th May 1835. By this time, George was 56 years old, whilst Celia was about 21. George's new mother-in-law was about sixteen years younger than him. Celia became stepmother to George's eleven surviving children, five of whom were older than she was.
George and Celia went on to have a further seven children between 1836 and 1850. The third of George's children with Celia died as a baby in 1841, but the others all lived to adulthood. In total therefore, George had a remarkable twenty children, spanning over 45 years.
The 1841 census finds George living at Church End in Totternhoe, and described as a 'straw factor'. In 1844 a tithe apportionment was carried out for the parish of Totternhoe, in which George was in possession of a house and garden on the north side of the junction of the roads now called Church Road and Furlong Lane. After George's death his sons William and James were involved in a number of court cases regarding this cottage with the landlord, who had evicted them. At a case in 1860 it was said that George and then his son William after him had held the house between them for about fifty years, suggesting that George had moved there around 1810.[6]
George's son George died aged 23 in 1843. The following year, his son John died as a young man of 32. Celia was pregnant at the time, and they called the baby John after the son George had most recently lost.
In the mid 1840s, George, Celia and their younger children left Totternhoe, apparently putting George's son William into their old house there, and moved to nearby Billington, where their youngest two children were born, and where the 1851 census finds them living at North Leighton Road. George at this time was described as a 'labourer on the road'.
George died at the Leighton Buzzard Union Workhouse on 22nd September 1853, aged 74. He was buried at the chapel at Billington four days later. His youngest daughter was only three years old when he died. Celia survived him by nearly twenty years, and married again five years after his death.
References
- ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of Totternhoe. Bishop's transcripts for Totternhoe, 1602-1860. (Bedford: Bedfordshire Record Office).
Burials, Christenings & Marriages Transcript of the Register of Totternhoe Beds. from Lady Day 1779 to Lady Day 1780 May 16. George, son of George & Judith Kempson bap[tized]
This baptism has been linked to the adult George Kempson on the basis of the 1851 census which indicates that he was born in Totternhoe, the ages quoted in the 1841 and 1851 census which indicate that he was born between 1773 and 1791, and the fact that one of the witnesses to his first marriage was Thomas Kempson, which was the name of the younger brother of the George baptised in 1779. No evidence has been found suggesting the George baptised in 1779 died young or married someone else.
- ↑ 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 36; Folio 6; Page 7, 6 Jun 1841.
Address: Church End, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire George Kempson, male, 50 [1786-91], Straw factor, born in county Cerea Kempson, female, 25 [1811-16], not born in county Enoch Kempson, male, 6 [1834/5], born in county Sophia Kempson, female, 4 [1836/7], born in county Amos Kempson, male, 15 [1821-6], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], born in county Jesse Kempson, male, 15 [1821-6], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], born in county
- ↑ 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 1756; Folio 214; Page 3, 30 Mar 1851.
Address: North Leighton Road, Billington, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire George Kempson, head, married, male, 77 [1773/4], Labourer on the road, b. Totternhoe, Bedfordshire Celia Kempson, wife, married, female, 36 [1814/5], Labourer on the road wife, b. Barnet, Hertfordshire Enoch Kempson, son, unmarried, male, 15 [1835/6], Labourer on the road, b. Totternhoe, Bedfordshire Sophia Kempson, daughter, female, 12 [1838/9], Plaiter, b. Totternhoe, Bedfordshire John Kempson, son, male, 6 [1844/5], Plaiter, b. Totternhoe, Bedfordshire Mary Kempson, daughter, female, 3 [1847/8], b. Billington, Bedfordshire Emma Kempson, daughter, female, 1 [1849/50], b. Billington, Bedfordshire
- ↑ Death certificate, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).
Registration District Leighton Buzzard | 1853 Death in the Sub-district of Leighton Buzzard in the Counties of Bedford and Buckingham | No. | When and where died | Name and surname | Sex | Age | Occupation | Cause of death | Signature, description and residence of informant | When registered | Signature of registrar | 435 | Twenty Second September 1853 Union Workhouse Leighton Buzzard | George Kempson | Male | 76 years | Labourer | General debility 12 months certified | Joseph Inns present at the death Union Workhouse Leighton Buzzard | Twenty sixth September 1853 | Richard Doggett, Registrar |
- ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish registers of Billington, 1653-1982. (Bedford: Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service).
BURIALS in the Parish of Billington in the County of Bedford in the Year 1853 | No. | Name | Abode | When buried | Age | By whom the Ceremony was performed | 147 | George Kempson | Leighton Union | 26th September | 76 years [1776/7] | John Cha[rle]s Orlebar, Parochial Minister |
- ↑ See transcript of newspaper articles on George's son William's page. The brothers lost all their attempts to regain possession of the house from the landlord. Comparing the 1844 Tithe Map with the first Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map of 1880 suggest that by 1880 the Kempsons' old house had been demolished and a pair of cottages built in a different position on the site.
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