Person:John Grout (11)

John Grout's origins have yet to be established. The ages given for him as an adult suggest he was born sometime between 1804 and 1811, and in the 1851 census he gave his place of birth as Southwark, in the southern suburbs of London.

John's first confirmed sighting is in October 1833, when he witnessed the marriage of a couple called Sarah Snelling and James Underhill at Horley in Surrey. The other witness to that marriage was the bride's sister, Sophia Snelling. It would appear that John and Sophia were a couple at this time, as in August 1834 they had a son, John, baptised at Dorking in Surrey. The baptism record presents them as being John and Sophia Grout, suggesting that they were married, when in fact they were not. At the time of their son's baptism, John was described as a labourer, and the family's abode was given as West Street in Dorking.

John and Sophia later separated. Sophia had another son in 1838 East Grinstead in Sussex who was said to be the son of a parish clerk called James Moore. By 1841 Sophia and her two sons were living at Ifield in Sussex with her mother. John's son John took to calling himself John Grout Snelling.

The 1851 census finds John living on West Street in Dorking and working as a "post boy", an alternative term for a postilion, being someone who guides a horse-drawn vehicle by riding the horse (or one of the leading horses in a team) rather than sitting on the vehicle itself. This was one of the fastest ways of travelling prior to the railways, but went into rapid decline as the railway network expanded.

How much contact John had with his son is unknown, but when the younger John married in 1857 he described his father as "John Grout, post boy".

John died on 13th October 1868 at the Union Workhouse in Dorking. He was buried five days later in the parish churchyard. He was said to be 62 or 63 years old.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 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 1598; Folio 303; Page 29, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: West Street, Dorking, Surrey
   George Lynn, head, married, male, 76 [1774/5], Blacksmith Journeyman, b. Betchworth, Surrey
   Alfred Amey, lodger, unmarried, male, 23 [1827/8], Labourer Various, b. Dorking, Surrey
   John Grout, lodger, unmarried, male, 40 [1810/11], Postboy, b. Southwark, ["Middlesex" crossed out]
   John Trimby, lodger, unmarried, male, 27 [1823/4], Labourer Various, b. Dorking, Surrey
   Will[ia]m Smith, lodger, widower, male, 48 [1802/3], Labourer Bricklayer's, b. Dorking, Surrey
   Jane Pryor, granddaughter, unmarried, female, 17 [1833/4], Laundress, b. Dorking, Surrey

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

   d. John GROUT, December Quarter 1868, Dorking Registration District, Volume 2a, page 83, aged 62 [1805/6]

3. ↑ Surrey Burials (Findmypast).

   bur. 13 Oct 1868, Dorking Workhouse: John Grout, aged 62 [1805/6]

   In light of the the church burial register below, this entry is presumed to come from a register of deaths in the workhouse rather than a burial register as it is labelled.

4. ↑ Burials register, in Dorking, Surrey: Parish Registers (Surrey History Centre, Woking).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Dorking in the County of Surrey in the Year One thousand eight hundred and Sixty Eight
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   85	John Grout	Dorking	Oct[ober] 18	63 [1804/5]	W[illiam] H. Joyce