Person:James Moss (17)

Early life

James Moss was baptised on 15th October 1817 at Caddington in Bedfordshire. He was the son of Martha Moss, formerly Winters. However, James's baptism record strongly suggests that James's father was not Martha's husband Thomas Moss - the baptism record does not mention Thomas by name, but says "her husband a soldier in the East Indies". In fact, Thomas Moss had been absent for some time - Martha had also had a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1815 who was the subject of a maintenance order brought by the Caddington parish authorities. Elizabeth's father was found to be a butcher named John Bigg of Markyate. No such confirmation appears to exist as to who James's father was. Martha went on to have another daughter, Mary, in about 1819, who in all likelihood was not Thomas Moss's either. At the time of James's baptism in 1817 Martha was living at Woodside, a hamlet to the south-east of Caddington village. James's grandfather William Winters was also living in the parish of Caddington at this time.

Thomas Moss did eventually return from India, and having ceased to be a soldier he became an agricultural labourer. When precisely he returned is not clear, but in 1828, when James was ten years old, Martha had a daughter named Harriet who does appear to have been Thomas's daughter. Sadly, Harriet died as a baby, and Martha's only children who survived to adulthood were Elizabeth, James and Mary, all of whom appear to have been born whilst Thomas Moss was absent in India. From Harriet's baptism and burial records we know that the family at this time was living at a place called 'Brickkiln'. This name has fallen out of use, but there were brick kilns just west of Caddington village.

James's sisters Elizabeth and Mary had not been baptised as babies, and they were baptised together in 1831 when they were about 16 and 12 years old. The baptism records describe them both as daughters of Thomas and Martha, when we know for certain that Elizabeth was not Thomas's daughter and it seems highly unlikely that Thomas was Mary's father either. At the time of Elizabeth and Mary's baptisms the family was living at Cross, just west of Caddington village and adjoining the brick kilns. Cross has subsequently been absorbed into the urban area of Caddington, being at the crossroads of the roads now called Dunstable Road, Mancroft Road and the track to Bury Farm, but at the time it just comprised one or two isolated dwellings on the west side of what is now Mancroft Road.

Adulthood

On 1st October 1836, aged about nineteen, James married Susannah Puddephatt. She was a couple of years older than him, being 22 when they married. She was also from Caddington parish; her family lived at Aley Green, just down the road from James's family at Cross. One of the witnesses to James's marriage was his sister Mary; the other witness was William Lines, who would marry Mary less than two weeks later.

On 5th March 1837, five months after their marriage, James and Susannah had a son named William baptised at Caddington. William's baptism records that James worked as a labourer. At the time of William's baptism James and Susannah were living at Pipers Bottom in Aley Green, which was where Susannah's family lived. By December 1840 James and Susannah were living back at Cross with James's mother and her husband. On 6th December 1840 James and Susannah had a daughter named Elizabeth baptised at Caddington.

Later that same month, on 27th December 1840, James's mother Martha died aged about 48 years old.

The census of 6th June 1841 finds James, Susannah and their two children living at Cross either next door to or with Thomas Moss. James was working as an agricultural labourer.

Sadly James died before the month was out. Around 8pm on the evening of Saturday 26th June 1841, he was returning from work with another labourer in Caddington and they walked under a tree. As they did, the tree started making a cracking noise. James ran forwards whilst his companion ran backwards. An arm of the tree fell on James and broke several of his bones. He died a few hours later, in the early hours of 27th June. He was 23 years old. He was buried at Caddington on 29th June 1841.

Susannah was left to look after their two small children. James's grandfather William Winters actually outlived him. James's daughter Elizabeth did not long survive her father, dying at the age of one in December 1841.

Susannah outlived James by 55 years. She married again about eighteen months after James's death.

1. ↑ 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 1817
   No.	When Baptized	Child's Christian Name	Parent's Name		Abode	Quality, Trade, or Profession	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   			Christian	Surname
   214	October 15th	James son of	Martha	Moss	Woodside	Her husband a soldier in the East Indies	G.W. Mead

   This baptism has been linked to the adult James Moss who married Susannah Puddephatt on the basis that in the 1841 census James was living next door to (or possibly even in the same house as) Martha's husband Thomas Moss. The witnesses to James and Susannah's marriage also appear to have been another of Martha's daughters, Mary Moss, and her future husband William Lines.

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 440; Book 10; Folio 37; Page 8, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Cross, Caddington, Hertfordshire
   Thomas Moss, male, 55 [1781-6], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. in county
   ~ next household ~
   James Moss, male, 20 [1816-21], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. in county
   Susanna Moss, female, 25 [1811-16], b. in county
   William Moss, male, 4 [1836/7], b. in county
   Elizabeth Moss, female, 7 months [1840], b. in county

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

   BURIALS in the Parish of Caddington in the County of Bedford in the Year 1841
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   902	James Moss	Cross	June 29	23	W. Mellard, Vicar

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

   Registration District LUTON
   1841 DEATH in the Sub-District of Luton in the Counties of Beds and Herts
   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
   66	Twenty seventh of June 1841 at Caddington Herts	James Moss	Male	24 years	Labourer	Accidentally Killed	Fra[nci]s J. Osbaldeston Coroner St Albans Herts	Seventeenth of November 1841	W. Meed, Registrar

5.   Bedfordshire Mercury, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 4, Saturday 3 Jul 1841.

   AWFUL DEATH.-On Saturday evening last, about 8 o'clock, as two labourers were returning from their work in the parish of Caddington, they happened to walk under a tree. Hearing a cracking noise proceed from the tree, one ran backwards and the other forwards, but the one that ran forwards, named Winter, a middle-aged man, was under an arm of the tree, which fell on him and broke several of his bones. He survived only four hours afterwards, and has left a wife and two children to lament their loss.

   Although James was neither middle aged, nor called Winter, it is considered almost certain that this article relates to him. The Saturday preceding the publication of this newspaper on 3rd July 1841 was 26th June 1841, the day before James was accidentally killed according to his death certificate, and so is consistent with a death about four hours after an accident at 8pm on the evening of 26th. Winters was James's mother's maiden name, and James did have a wife and two children. Conversely, there was no death for anyone called Winter or Winters in the Luton district (which covered Caddington) in 1841.