Person:Mary Kempson (3)

Mary Ann Kempson was born in 1848 at Billington, a hamlet in the parish of Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, daughter of Celia Kempson, formerly Jones, and her husband George Kempson, a straw dealer. Mary appears with her parents and siblings in the 1851 census in Billington. Her father died in 1853, when Mary was only five years old.

By 1858 Mary had moved with her mother to the nearby village of Eggington, which was also within the parish of Leighton Buzzard. Mary's mother married again at the chapel in Eggington to an agricultural labourer called James White, who thus became Mary's stepfather. The 1861 census finds Mary living with her mother, younger sister and stepfather in Eggington. Mary, her sister and mother were all working as straw plaiters at the time.

On 8th August 1869, aged 21, Mary married Levi Leach. They married in Eggington, in what appears to have been a double marriage, as Mary's younger sister Emma was married on the same day at Eggington. Mary and Levi and continued to live at Eggington (which had become a separate parish from Leighton Buzzard in 1866) for the first few years of their marriage. Their first two children, Amy and Ernest John, were born there and the family appears there in the 1871 census, when Levi was working as an agricultural labourer.

Early in 1873, Mary's mother died. Later that year, Mary and Levi's third child, Amelia Jane, was born in the Leighton Buzzard district. Shortly afterwards they moved to Hendon in Middlesex, where baby Amelia died later that same year. The 1881 census finds Mary, Levi and their two surviving children living at 6 Fuller Street in Hendon, with Levi working as a carter.

In 1887, over thirteen years after their last child, Mary had a fourth baby, who was a boy they called Charles. Sadly both Mary and Charles died shortly after the baby's birth. Mary was buried in the churchyard at Hendon on 26th February 1887, aged 38. Levi outlived her by over twenty years, and married again in 1894.

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

   b. Mary Ann KEMSON, March Quarter 1848, Leighton Buzzard Registration District, Volume 6, Page 90, mother's maiden name Jones

2. ↑ 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

3. ↑ 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 1005; Folio 24; Page 13, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Egginton, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
   James White, head, married, male, 50 [1810/11], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Clipton Egginton, Bedfordshire
   Celia White, wife, married, female, 45 [1815/6], Straw Plaiter, b. Barnet, Hertfordshire
   Mary A. Kempson, daughter in law, 14 [1846/7], Straw Plaiter, b. Billington, Bedfordshire
   Emma Kempson, daughter in law, 12 [1848/9], Straw Plaiter, b. Billington, Bedfordshire

4. ↑ England. England and Wales. 1871 Census Schedules. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG10; Piece 1560; Folio 80; Page 11, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: Eggington, Bedfordshire
   Levi Leach, head, married, male, 24 [1846/7], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Egginton, Bedfordshire
   Mary A. Leach, wife, married, female, 22 [1848/9], b. Billinghton [sic], Bedfordshire
   Amy Leach, daughter, female, 1 [1869/70], b. Egginton, Bedfordshire

5. ↑ England. 1881 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 RG11; Piece 1366; Folio 85; Page 35, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: 6 Fuller Street, Hendon, Middlesex
   Levi Leach, head, married, male, 35 [1845/6], Carter, b. Eggington, Bedfordshire
   Mary Ann Leach, wife, married, female, 33 [1847/8], Wife of the above, b. Billington, Bedfordshire
   Amy Leach, daughter, female, 11 [1869/70], Scholar, b. Eggington, Bedfordshire
   Ernest John Leach, son, male, 9 [1871/2], Scholar, b. Eggington, Bedfordshire
   Emma Lathwell, boarder, unmarried, female, 22 [1858/9], Laundry Maid, b. Eggington, Bedfordshire

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

   d. Mary Ann LEACH, March Quarter 1887, Hendon Registration District, Volume 3a, page 116, aged 38 [1848/9]

7. ↑ Burials register, in Hendon, Middlesex, England. Parish Registers (London Metropolitan Archives, London / ancestry.co.uk)
   DRO/029/034.

   BURIALS in the Parish of Hendon in the County of Middlesex in the year One thousand eight hundred and eighty seven
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   767	Mary Ann Leach	Holmdale	February 26th	38 years	Certified by G.D. Hooper having charge of the Burial