Person:John Worbey (2)

Childhood

John Worbey was baptised on 3rd January 1808 at Great Wymondley in Hertfordshire, son of Charlotte Worbey, formerly Primet, and her husband George Worbey, a labourer. John was the eldest of the couple's eight children, who were all boys. Whilst all the boys were baptised at Great Wymondley, the baptisms of some of John's younger brothers specify that the family in fact lived at Walsworth in the parish of Hitchin, rather than in Great Wymondley itself. Parts of Walsworth are nearer to Great Wymondley church than they are to Hitchin's parish church of St Mary, which is in the centre of Hitchin, the other side of a hill from Walsworth.

John's paternal grandparents lived a few miles to the south-east at Aston, where his grandmother died in 1816 and his grandfather in 1821. John probably knew his maternal grandparents rather better as they lived in Great Wymondley, with his grandmother being buried there in 1822 and his grandfather in 1829.

Marriage

On 23rd July 1831 John was married at St Mary's in Hitchin to Ann Stokes, who was also from Walsworth. Later that year they had their first son, another John, baptised in Hitchin. At the time of young John's baptism they were living at Hitchin Hill, to the south of the town, and John was described as a labourer. By the time their second child, Alice, was baptised in 1842 they had returned to Walsworth.

By the time of the 1841 census the family had settled at The Riddy, a small group of cottages surrounded by fields to the south-east of the town. John and Ann were to stay at The Riddy for the rest of their lives. John's parents George and Charlotte were still living at Walsworth, where they were running a beer house; George is named in several documents from the 1830s and 1840s as keeping a beer house there, whilst in the 1841 census George described himself as a publican.

In April 1842 John and Ann had another daughter, Fanny. The next month John was a witness in the trial of his brother-in-law John Stokes, who had been charged with stealing wheat from his employer, William Hainworth. John was described as a tasker working in Mr Hainworth's yard. In John's evidence he admitted that he had helped John Stokes lift the sack of wheat which was being stolen and that once John Stokes had sold the wheat (for 2 shillings), Stokes, Worbey and another tasker in the yard had split the money between them. John Stokes was found guilty, but Mr Hainworth asked for mercy for Stokes, partly on the basis that he considered John Worbey the more guilty party. The Deputy Chairman of the court agreed, and said that "the Court, too, felt that the witness Waby [sic] was the most guilty", and "he [Worbey] might think himself exceedingly fortunate that he did not stand in the position of the prisoner". John Stokes was sentenced to two months in prison.

John and Ann went on to have a son named James in 1848 and a daughter named Emma in 1850. Overall they had five children, two boys and three girls. The 1851 census finds the family living at The Riddy, along with a Hannah Stokes, who was Ann's niece (John Stokes' daughter). John was still working as an agricultural labourer, whilst his eldest son by this time was an apprentice shoemaker. Their daughter Alice had left home by 1851, and appears in the census working as a domestic servant for a farmer in Great Wymondley.

In 1852 John's father George died.

In 1854 John and Ann's daughter Alice married a Samuel Dearmer. John and Ann's first grandchild, Julia Dearmer, was born the following year.

In 1856 John's eldest son died as a young man of only 24 years old. Later that same year John's wife Ann died aged 45. She was buried at Hitchin on 18th December 1856. She and John had been married for 25 years.

Later life

After Ann's death John continued to live at The Riddy. His daughter Fanny was married in 1860 and after her marriage lived at The Riddy with her husband Thomas Moles, next door to John and his youngest two children. The 1861 census records four cottages at The Riddy, with John and his two youngest children in one, his daughter Fanny and her husband and baby in another, and John's brother James and his wife and children in another. Therefore of the four cottages, John's family occupied three of them.

John died at The Riddy on 25th January 1865, aged 57. He had been suffering with phthisis (tuberculosis). He was not buried at Hitchin, as his wife Ann had been, but back at Great Wymondley, where he had been baptised.

At the time of John's death his mother Charlotte was still alive. She wrote her will two weeks after John's death, making clear that she wanted her grandchildren whose fathers had died still to inherit what would have been their fathers' shares of her estate.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Registers of Great Wymondley. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies).

   John son of George & Charlotte WABY 3 Jan 1808

   Disentangling the John Worbeys around Hitchin:
   
   There appear to have been at least five John Worbeys born in or near Hitchin at about the right time to be this John.
   
   A. chr. 3 Aug 1800, Great Wymondley, son of William & Frances - this John Worbey married Elizabeth West at Great Wymondley in 1837 and appears in the censuses living at Great Wymondley.
   
   B. chr. 3 Jan 1808, Great Wymondley, son of George & Charlotte - this baptism could easily be the John Worbey who married Ann Balls at Little Wymondley in 1831 and appears in the censuses living at Little Wymondley, consistently giving his place of birth as Great Wymondley. However, the witnesses to the marriage of John Worbey and Ann Balls point instead at him being the son of William and Ann, who had married in Great Wymondley, briefly moved to nearby Graveley but returned to Great Wymondley a couple of years later. Also, George and Charlotte's grandson Charles Worbey and his wife-to-be Ann Upchurch were the witnesses to John Worbey and Ann Stokes' daughter Fanny's marriage in 1860, suggesting that the 1808 baptism is the John Worbey the subject of this page. Whilst the John who married Ann Stokes consistently said he had been born in Hitchin, the baptisms of some of George and Charlotte's younger children do clarify that although the family had their children baptised at Great Wymondley they actually lived in the Walsworth area of Hitchin parish.
   
   C. chr. 22 Oct 1809, Hitchin, son of John & Elizabeth - this John Worbey died when he was only one year old.
   
   D. chr. 10 Jun 1810, Graveley, son of William & Ann - this John Worbey married an Ann Balls in 1831 at Little Wymondley and appears living at Little Wymondley in the censuses - he claimed to be born at Great Wymondley but was possibly unaware that his parents had briefly lived at Graveley around the time of this birth - they lived at Great Wymondley both before and after his birth. His marriage was witnessed by his sister Amy and a William Waby, who could be either his brother or his father.
   
   E. chr. 19 Feb 1815, Hitchin, son of John & Elizabeth - this John Worbey married an Eliza Smith in Hitchin in 1837 when he said his father's name was John, and appears in the censuses living in the town of Hitchin.

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 445; Book 4; Folio 4; Page 3, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Riddy, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   John Worboy, male, 33 [1807/8], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. in county
   Ann Worboy, female, 28 [1812/3], b. in county
   John Worboy, male, 10 [1830/1], b. in county
   Allice Worboy, female, 7 [1833/4], b. in county

3. ↑ 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 1710; Folio 231; Page 4, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: The Riddy, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   John Warboys, head, married, male, 42 [1808/9], Agricultural Lab[oure]r, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Ann Warboys, wife, married, female, 39 [1811/2], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   John Warboys, son, unmarried, male, 19 [1831/2], Shoemaker App[rentice], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Fanny Warboys, daughter, female, 9 [1841/2], Scholar, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   James Warboys, son, male, 2 [1848/9], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Emma Warboys, daughter, female, 4mo [1850], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Hannah Stokes, lodger, female, 11 [1839/40], Straw Plaiter, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire

4. ↑ 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 819; Folio 106; Page 22, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: The Riddy, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   John Worboys, head, widower, male, 54 [1806/7], Ag[ricultural] Labourer, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   James Worboys, son, male, 12 [1848/9], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Emma Worboys, daughter, female, 10 [1850/1], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   ~ next household ~
   Thomas Moles, head, married, male, 22 [1838/9], Ag[ricultura] Labourer, b. Willian, Hertfordshire
   Fanny Moles, wife, female, 19 [1841/2], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   John Moles, son, male, 6 months [1860], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire

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

   REGISTRATION DISTRICT HITCHIN
   1865 DEATH in the Sub-district of Hitchin in the Counties of Hertford and Bedford
   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
   10	Twenty fifth January 1865 Riddy, Hitchin	John Warboy	Male	59 years	Farm Labourer	Phthisis Certified	X The mark of Elizabeth Deamer Present at the Death Nine Springs, Hitchin	Twenty Sixth January 1865	William French Registrar

   
6. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Registers of Great Wymondley. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Great Wymondley in the County of Herts in the Year 1865
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   208	John Warboys	Hitchin	1865 January 30	59	Tom Jeffcoat, Curate

7.   Hertford Mercury and Reformer, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Saturday 21 May 1842.

   HERTS ADJOURNED EASTER SESSION
   Before T. MILLS, Esq., DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
   John Stokes was charged with stealing a quantity of wheat scotches, the property of Mr. Hainworth, of Hitchin, his master.
   John Foot examined - Saw the prisoner on the 23rd April at the Crown public-house; he asked Mrs. Turner, the landlady, whether she wanted to buy any wheat scotches? she replied, no; he then asked me, and showed samples, and said the remainder were close handy; I went down the yard; he brought the scotches; there were about three bushels; I gave him 2s. for it, first asking him whether his master allowed him to sell it, to which he replied - "Yes, it is our perquisites;" he shot it out of Mr. Hainworth's sack. The following morning I asked Mr. Hainworth's bailiff if he allowed his men to sell the offal corn.
   Mr. William Hainworth deposed that the prisoner had been in his employ two years: he never allowed his men wheat scotches as perquisites.
   The prisoner said he went into the yard, and the two taskers asked him to sell the scotches.
   John Waby, a tasker, in the employ of Mr. Hainworth, examined - Was in the yard, and helped to lift the sack on prisoner's back; he brought the money back, which we divided between three of us. Verdict - Guilty.
   Mr. Hainworth recommended the prisoner to mercy, stating that he considered him less guilty than the last witness; and also on the ground that he had a wife and young family.
   The Deputy-Chairman said, the prosecutor's exceedingly kind recommendation should have weight with the Court in awarding their sentence; the Court, too, felt that the witness Waby was the most guilty, and said he might think himself exceedingly fortunate that he did not stand in the position of the prisoner.
   To be imprisoned for two months - two weeks solitary.