Person:Mary Snelling (5)

Mary Ann Snelling was baptised on 13th March 1840 at Ifield in Sussex. She was the daughter of Mary Snelling, formerly Sayers, and her husband James Snelling, a carpenter. Her mother had died five days earlier from peritonitis, which can be a complication in giving birth. Mary’s baptism was a private baptism, which sometimes indicates that the child was considered to be at risk of dying. In this case, despite losing her mother so early, baby Mary managed to survive infancy.

The family did not live in Ifield, but in the neighbouring parish of Crawley, which Mary also consistently gave as her birthplace. Mary was her parents’ seventh child, and she had five surviving older siblings.

The 1841 census finds Mary living at Ifield Green with a widow called Martha Sayers and her children, who were presumably relatives of Mary’s late mother, although the connection has yet to be established.

In 1844 Mary’s father married a widow called Maria Dancy (formerly Thompson), who thus became Mary’s stepmother. The following year they had a son, who was Mary’s half brother.

Sometime between 1845 and 1851 the family left the Crawley area and moved over sixty miles west to Southampton. The 1851 census finds Mary living with her father, stepmother, siblings and her stepmother’s sister at 14 Princes Street, which was also called Sussex Cottage – possibly a name they had given it themselves, naming it after the county they had recently left.

Mary’s stepmother died in 1858. The following year her father married for a third time, with a widow called Margaret Chisholm (formerly Gamble) becoming Mary’s second stepmother.

By 1861 Mary had left home and was working as a nurse servant for a timber merchant’s family in the Portswood Park area of Southampton. That household had a nurse, a nurse servant and an under nurse, presumably focussed on looking after the family’s baby twins.

On 28th July 1862, aged 22, Mary married Walter William Savage at the Register Office in Southampton. He was a couple of years younger than her, being twenty when they married. He worked as a carpenter and last maker, making the shaped wooden blocks around which shoes are made.

The following year Mary and Walter’s first child was born, a daughter named Caroline Mary - apparently named after both Mary and Walter’s deceased mothers. She appears to have been born in Southampton, although in the 1871 census her birthplace was given as Titchfield, a few miles east of Southampton. She was followed in 1865 by a daughter named Clara then a son named Walter Edmund in 1868, both born in Southampton. Later in 1868 their daughter Clara sadly died aged just three years old.

Mary’s father died on 8th January 1870 in Southampton.

Sometime between 1868 and 1870, Mary and Walter left Southampton for good, and embarked on a lengthy period of travelling considerable distances. Initially they left England altogether, moving to the island of Jersey, where they lived in the island’s capital of Saint Helier. They had a daughter, Clara Margaret, born there on 29th January 1870, just three weeks after Mary’s father’s death.

The family did not stay long on Jersey, and by 1871 they had moved back to England, living for a couple of years in Norwich, where they appear in the 1871 census. They were still there in January 1873 when they had three children baptised there - Walter Edmund and Clara Margaret, who had not been baptised as babies, and baby Lily Louisa, who was born in Norwich in 1872.

Just after this triple baptism the family left Norwich and moved to Colchester in Essex, where their eldest daughter Caroline died aged nine in February 1873.

The family’s next sighting is in 1875 in London, when their son Alfred James was born in the Marylebone area in London’s inner western suburbs. By the time Alfred was baptised in 1877 they were living on Carnaby Street in Westminster, in the West End of London. They would stay living on Carnaby Street for the next few years. In 1878 they had a son named Charles Richard (who would be known as Dick).

In 1880 they had a son named Robert Henry, but sadly he died as a baby the following year, when only five months old.

The 1881 census finds Mary, Walter and their children living at 10 Carnaby Street. Sometime between 1881 and 1883 the family moved a couple of streets away to Portland Street (which was renamed D’Arblay Street in 1909).

Walter died on 9th June 1883 at 20 Portland Street, aged 40. He had been suffering with phthisis (tuberculosis) for two months. Mary was only 43 when her husband died, and she was also about six months pregnant; she went on to have a son named George William on 14th September 1883.

At the time of George’s baptism in October 1883 the family was still living at 20 Portland Street. Sometime between 1883 and 1889 the family moved out to Islington in the northern suburbs of London. Mary’s daughter Clara died there in 1889, aged nineteen.

The 1891 census finds Mary living with her five surviving children at 31 Rupert Road in the Upper Holloway area of Islington. She was working as a laundress. They also had living with them three children called Ormond, who were aged five, three and one and described as boarders, presumably being looked after by Mary.

Mary’s eldest son, Walter, married in 1892. Mary’s first grandchild was born the following year.

By 1901 the family had moved a short distance from Rupert Road to 18 Landseer Road. Three households occupied this three-storey house. Mary and her two youngest sons shared two rooms between them, whilst one of the other households in the building was Mary’s daughter Lily and her husband and daughter.

Mary’s youngest son, George, died in Islington in 1904, aged twenty. Of Mary’s nine children, she had therefore outlived five of them.

By 1911, Mary had left London. She had moved with her daughter Lily and her family to live together at Dartford in Kent. The 1911 census finds them living at 183 Fulwich Road in Dartford. They were not the only part of the family to move to Dartford; Mary’s eldest son Walter and his young family had moved there sometime between 1904 and 1905 and had also settled on Fulwich Road. Mary’s other two surviving sons stayed in London a while longer but would later follow their mother and siblings to Dartford.

Mary died in Dartford in 1916, aged 76. She had been a widow for nearly 33 years. She had seen fifteen grandchildren born in her lifetime, although two of them had died.

1. ↑ Baptisms register, in Church of England. Parish registers of Ifield, Sussex 1568-1901. (Chichester: West Sussex Record Office).

   BAPTISMS solemnized in the Parish of Ifield in the County of Sussex in the Year 1840
   No.	When Baptized	Child's Christian Name	Parents' Name		Abode	Quality, Trade, or Profession	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   			Christian	Surname
   481	1840 March 13th	Mary Ann Daug[the]r of	James & Mary	Snelling	Crawley	Carpenter	A. Nugée

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 1095; Book 13; Folio 28; Page 11, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Ifield Green, Ifield, Sussex
   Martha Sayer, female, 30 [1806-11], born in county
   James Sayer, male, 9 [1831/2], born in county
   Martha Sayer, female, 6 [1834/5], born in county
   Benjamin Sayer, male, 5 [1835/6], born in county
   Jane Sayer, female, 3 [1837/8], born in county
   Mary Snelling, female, 1 [1839/40], born 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 1669; Folio 287; Page 38, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Sussex Cottage, 14 Princes Street, Southampton (St Mary), Hampshire
   Ja[me]s Snelling, head, married, male, 48 [1802/3], Carpenter, b. Sussex
   Maria Snelling, wife, female, 46 [1804/5], Housekeeper, b. London
   Alfred Snelling, son, unmarried, male, 21 [1829/30], Shoemaker, b. Sussex
   Mary A. Snelling, daughter, female, 11 [1839/40], at School, b. Sussex
   Oscar Snelling, son, male, 6 [1844/5], at School, b. Sussex
   Sarah Thompson, wife's sister, female, 47 [1803/4], Nurse, b. Sussex

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 682; Folio 49; Page 42, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: 5 Portswood Park, South Stoneham, Southampton, Hampshire
   Octavius Capper, head, married, male, 33 [1827/8], Timber Merchant Clerk, b. Highbury, London
   Ellen Capper, wife, married, female, 33 [1827/8], b. Weymouth, Dorset
   Alfred Capper, son, male, 2 [1858/9], b. Southampton, Hampshire
   George Capper, son, male, 10m [1860], b. Southampton, Hampshire
   Harry Capper, son, male, 10m [1860], b. Southampton, Hampshire
   Elizabeth Amos, servant, unmarried, female, 23 [1837/8], Nurse, b. Romsey, Hampshire
   Mary Snelling, servant, unmarried, female, 21 [1839/40], Nurse Serv[ant], b. Crawley, Sussex
   Jane West, servant, unmarried, female, 15 [1845/6], Under Nurse, b. Debden, Hampshire

5. ↑ 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 1814; Folio 118; Page 48, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: Ber Street, Norwich (St John de Sepulchre), Norfolk
   Walter W[illia]m Savage, head, married, male, 29 [1841/2], b. Southampton
   Mary Ann Savage, wife, married, female, 29 [1841/2], b. Crawley, Sussex
   Caroline M. Savage, daughter, female, 8 [1862/3], Scholar, b. Titchfield, Hampshire
   Walter E. Savage, son, male, 3 [1867/8], b. Southampton
   Clara Savage, daughter, 14mo [1870], b. Jersey

6. ↑ 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 123; Folio 88; Page 7, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: 10 Carnaby Street, Westminster (St James), Middlesex
   Walter W. Savage, head, married, male, 39 [1841/2], Last maker, b. Southampton
   Mary A. Savage, wife, married, female, 40 [1840/1], b. Crawley, Sussex
   Walter Edm[und] Savage, son, unmarried, male, 13 [1867/8], Scholar, b. Southampton
   Clara M. Savage, daughter, unmarried, female, 11 [1869/70], Scholar, b. Jersey
   Lily L. Savage, daughter, unmarried, female, 9 [1871/2], Scholar, b. Norwich
   Alfred J. Savage, son, unmarried, male, 5 [1875/6], Scholar, b. London
   Charles R. Savage, son, unmarried, male, 3 [1877/8], Scholar, b. London

7. ↑ England. 1891 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 RG12; Piece 143; Folio 62; Page 47, 5 Apr 1891.

   Address: 31 Rupert Rd, Islington, London
   5 or more rooms occupied
   Mary Savage, head, widow, female, 51 [1839/40], Laundress, neither employer nor employed, b. Crawley, Sussex
   Walter Savage, son, single, male, 23 [1867/8], Packer, employed, b. Southampton, Hampshire
   Lily Savage, daughter, single, female, 19 [1871/2], Laundress, employed, b. Norwich, Norfolk
   Alfred Savage, son, male, 15 [1875/6], Piano finisher, employed, b. Marylebone, London
   Charles Savage, son, male, 13 [1877/8], Errand Boy, employed, b. St James, London
   George Savage, son, male, 7 [1883/4], Scholar, b. St James, London
   John Ormond, boarder, male, 5 [1885/6], Scholar, b. Woolwich, Kent
   Benjamin Ormond, boarder, male, 3 [1887/8], b. Greenwich, Kent
   Annie Ormond, boarder, female, 1 [1889/90], b. Peckham, Middlesex [sic]

8. ↑ England. England. 1901 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 RG13; Piece 168; Folio 76; Page 36, 31 Mar 1901.

   Address: 18 Landseer Road, Islington, London
   [all three households at this address transcribed]
   [first household:] 3 rooms occupied
   John S. Phillips, head, married, male, 31 [1869/70], Packer - Druggist, worker, b. Highgate, Middlesex
   Lily L. Phillips, wife, married, female, 29 [1871/2], b. Norwich, Norfolk
   Lily C. Phillips, daughter, female, 3 [1897/8], b. Upper Holloway, London
   [second household:] 2 rooms occupied
   William H. Good, head, married, male, 26 [1874/5], Bus driver, worker, b. Walworth, Surrey
   Esther Good, wife, married, female, 25 [1875/6], b. Holborn, London
   Lilian B. Good, daughter, female, 3 [1897/8], b. Upper Holloway, London
   Esther M. Good, daughter, female, 1 [1899/1900], b. Upper Hollway, London
   [third household:] 2 rooms occupied
   Mary A. Savage, head, widow, female, 61 [1839/40], Laundress, own account, working at home, b. Crawley, Sussex
   Charles R. Savage, son, single, male, 23 [1877/8], Packer at Grocers, worker, b. Westminster, London
   George W. Savage, son, single, male, 17 [1883/4], Engine Labourer, worker, b. Westminster, London

9. ↑ England. 1911 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 RG14; Piece 3771; Schedule 259, 2 Apr 1911.

   Address: 183 Fulwich Road, Dartford, Kent
   5 rooms occupied
   John S. Phillips, head, male, 41 [1869/70], married, Export Packer - Manufacturing chemist, worker, b. Islington, Middlesex
   Lily L. Phillips, wife, female, 39 [1871/2], married 16 years, 2 children born, 2 children still living, b. Norwich, Norfolk
   Lily C. Phillips, daughter, female, 13 [1897/8], School, b. Islington, Middlesex
   Cyril J. Phillips, son, male, 7 [1903/4], b. Islington, Middlesex
   Mary A. Savage, mother, female, 71 [1839/40], widow, b. Crawley, Sussex
   Harold R. Johnson, boarder, male, 22 [1888/9], single, Telegraph Lineman - S E & C Rly, worker, b. Tonbridge, Kent

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

    d. Mary Ann SAVAGE, March Quarter 1916, Dartford Registration District, Volume 2a, page 891, aged 76 [1839/40]