Person:Mary Davis (585)

Mary Davis' origins have yet to be established. As an adult she said she had been born in Wales, and she gave ages for herself suggesting that she was born around 1772.

Mary's first confirmed sighting is on 14th July 1799, when she married William Timothy at Shoreditch in Middlesex, just outside the City of London. He was a widower and was about twelve years her senior.

Mary and William went on to have seven children between 1802 and 1818, all born in the eastern suburbs of London. All their children born after 1806 were baptised at the Borough Welsh Congregational Chapel on Little Guildford Street in Southwark, which had opened in 1806. Although it was a couple of miles across London from their home to the chapel, they must have considered it worth the effort in order to attend services held in Welsh.

The family moved about frequently, and William did a variety of jobs. When their first two sons were baptised in 1805 they were living at 20 Church Lane in the parish of St George in the East and William was working as a labourer in the warehouses of the East India Company. When their daughter Mary was baptised in 1808 they were living at Gouldstone Street in Whitechapel and William was a milkman. They then lived for a time on Great Prescot Street in Whitechapel, where William worked a victualler, as recorded on the baptisms of their sons John in 1809 and William in 1811.

In 1812 the family suffered financial troubles; William was put into the King's Bench Prison in Southwark as a debtor, owing "£49 and upwards" to a Benjamin Pursell. He was sent there in September 1812 and appears to have stayed there for over a year, during which time Mary and the children would have had to support themselves by other means and would also have had to pay for William's upkeep in the prison. During 1813 the government passed "An Act for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors in England" (later termed the Insolvent Debtors (England) Act 1813), which created a new Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, giving a fairer mechanism for debtors to reach agreements with their creditors and be released from prison. William was one of many debtors who took advantage of the new system immediately after it came into force in December 1813. At the he was described as a cook, "late of Oxford Street" in Whitechapel.

After William's release, he and Mary went on to have two more children. They had another son called William (implying that the first had died young) in 1816, and a daughter called Eliza in 1818. Both were baptised in 1818, when the family was said to be living at Church Row in Stepney, and William was working again as a milkman.

Mary's elder two sons both married in 1822, and her first grandchild was born later that year. Mary had at least 22 grandchildren born in her lifetime, although some died young.

By 1838 the family had moved to 7 Mansion House Street (later renamed Cottington Street) in the Kennington area of Lambeth, in the southern suburbs of London. William died there on 9th November 1838, when he was said to be 78 years old. He was described as a gentleman, indicating that he had achieved a degree of affluence again by the end of his life. He was buried in the parish of St Giles Cripplegate in the City of London, where his eldest son lived.

After William's death, Mary left Lambeth and moved back to Shoreditch. The 1841 census finds Mary living with her daughter Eliza, son John and John's wife Mary in Goldsmiths Place in Shoreditch. John was working as an upholsterer, which was a trade that several of Mary's children went into.

Mary's son William died in 1850 at the age of 34.

The 1851 census finds Mary living with her eldest son David and his family at 1 Redcross Street in the City of London, which was where he ran a feather and bedding warehouse. David and his family later moved to 5 York Grove in Peckham, in the parish of Camberwell in the southern suburbs, and Mary moved with them. Mary died at 5 York Grove on 30th July 1860. She was said to be 88 years old.

1. ↑ 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 704; Book 3; Folio 9; Page 10, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Goldsmiths Place, Shoreditch, Middlesex
   Mary Timothy, female, 70 [1766-71], not born in county
   Eliza Timothy, female, 23 [1817/18], born in county
   John Timothy, male, 31 [1809/10], Upholsterer, born in county
   Mary Timothy, female, 22 [1818/19], born in county

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 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 1525; Folio 344; Page 32, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: 1 Redcross Street; Parish: St Giles without Cripplegate; City: London
   David Timothy, head, married, male, 49 [1801/2], Bedding Warehouseman, b. St George East, Middlesex
   Mary Timothy, widow [sic], widow, female, 78 [1772/3], supported by son, b. Wales
   Jane Timothy, wife, married, female, 48 [1802/3], b. Bethnal Green, Middlesex
   Peter V. Timothy, son, unmarried, male, 19 [1831/2], Medical Student St Barth[olomew']s Hospital, b. Cripplegate, London
   Jane Timothy, daughter, unmarried, female, 9 [1841/2], Scholar at Home, b. [blank]
   Justice T. Timothy, son, unmarried, male, 3 [1847/8], Son of a Bedding Warehouseman, b. Cripplegate, London
   Isabella Spaul, servant, unmarried, female, 21 [1829/30], Serv[ant], b. Southwold, Suffolk

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

   Superintendent Registrar's District Camberwell / Registrar's District Peckham
   1860 DEATH in the District of Peckham in the County of Surrey
   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
   79	Thirtieth July 1860 5 York Grove	Mary Timothy	Female	88 years [1771/2]	Widow of William Timothy a Superannuated Warehouseman (E.I. Company)	Senile Decay certified	David Timothy Present at the Death 5 York Grove, Peckham	Thirtieth July 1860	Cha[rle]s Jo[h]n Nicolles, Registrar

4. ↑ Camberwell, London, England. Burial registers of Nunhead Cemetery (London Metropolitan Archives).

   BURIALS in the London Cemetery Company's South London Cemetery of ALL SAINTS, Nunhead, in the Parish of SAINT GILES, CAMBERWELL, in the County of SURREY, in the Year 1860
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   14167	Mary Timothy	5 York Grove, Queens Road, Peckham	Aug[us]t 4	88 y[ea]rs [1771/2]	H. Morgan