Person:Sarah Marshall (52)

Sarah Marshall was born in 1865 at Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. She was the daughter of a straw hat sewer called Rachel Ellen Marshall, formerly Linney, and her husband George Marshall, a hat blocker. Sarah's parents had married and had their first two children in Luton, but Sarah's mother was from Leighton Buzzard, so perhaps Sarah was born at her maternal grandparents' home. The family returned to Luton after Sarah's birth, appearing in the 1871 census living at 39 Albert Road. In the late 1870s the family moved over fifty miles away from Luton to Peterborough, where Sarah's father worked as a railway labourer. The move proved temporary, and by 1881 the family had returned to Luton, living at 46 Albert Road. By this time Sarah was working as a straw hat machinist.

In 1885 Sarah had a daughter called Esther Rosson Marshall. Perhaps the middle name of Rosson is a clue as to Esther's father's identity.

Two years later, in 1887, Sarah married a soldier called Edmund Edwards Dexter. (She called herself Sarah Ann Marshall when she married, even though the middle name does not appear on her birth certificate or any of her previous sightings.) Edmund had recently returned from a tour of duty in India. The 1891 census finds Sarah, Edmund and their children living at 21 Occupation Road in Luton, along with Edmund's mother Ann. Edmund left the army in 1892. About the same time the family left Luton and moved to the London area, living at various addresses in the south-eastern suburbs of London around Greenwich, Woolwich and Bexleyheath. In the 1901 census the family was living at 88 East Street in Charlton, in the borough of Greenwich, and Edmund was working as a furnace man. Between 1888 and 1910 Sarah and Edmund had twelve children together, although the youngest two both died as babies.

In 1910 the family returned to Luton. Their youngest daughter, Florence Stellabelle Dexter, was born in the Dartford district (which covered Bexleyheath) in the first half of 1910, but she died in Luton towards the end of that year. The 1911 census finds Sarah, Edmund and their children living at 5 Warwick Road in Luton. Edmund was working as an iron worker in a factory making water meters.

During the First World War, Sarah's son Edmund Charles was killed in action. He was one of the crew of the HMS Invincible, which was sunk at the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea on 31st May 1916.

Sarah's husband Edmund died in Luton in 1931, aged 71.

Four years later, aged 69, Sarah married again. Her second husband was a widower called Nathaniel Shepherd, who was an army pensioner, having been a Company Sergeant Major who had served in India and fought in the Second Boer War. In the 1930s he was running the True Briton public house in the village of Arlesey, about fourteen miles north-east of Luton, although he had previously lived in Luton before and after the First World War, so perhaps Sarah knew him from then. They married in the Biggleswade district, which covered Arlesey, but then appear to have returned to Luton.

Sarah died in Luton in 1938, aged 72. Nathaniel survived her by three years.

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

   b. Sarah MARSHALL, December Quarter 1865, Leighton Buzzard Registration District, Volume 3b, page 397, mother's maiden name Linney

2. ↑ 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 1573; Folio 18; Page 27, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: 39 Albert Road, Luton, Bedfordshire
   George Marshall, head, married, male, 33 [1837/8], Straw hat & bonnet blocker, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Rachael Marshall, wife, married, female, 29 [1841/2], Straw hat sewer, b. Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
   George Marshall, son, male, 9 [1861/2], Scholar, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   William C. Marshall, son, male, 7 [1863/4], Scholar, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Sarah Marshall, daughter, female, 5 [1865/6], Scholar, b. Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
   Joseph Marshall, son, male, 2 [1868/9], b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   John Marshall, son, male, 6m [1870], b. Luton, Bedfordshire

3. ↑ 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 1651; Folio 76; Page 16, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: 46 Albert Road, Luton, Bedfordshire
   George Marshall, head, married, male, 43 [1837/8], Engine driver at iron works, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Rachael E. Marshall, wife, married, female, 39 [1841/2], Straw hat machinist, b. Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
   George Marshall, son, unmarried, male, 19 [1861/2], Straw hat blocker, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   William C. Marshall, son, male, 17 [1863/4], Bricklayer, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Sarah Marshall, daughter, female, 15 [1865/6], Straw hat machinist, b. Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
   Joseph Marshall, son, male, 13 [1867/8], Domestic servant, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   John Marshall, son, male, 10 [1870/1], Scholar, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Rose E. Marshall, daughter, female, 8 [1872/3], Scholar, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Emily E. Marshall, daughter, female, 6 [1874/5], Scholar, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Rachael E. Marshall, daughter, female, 4 [1876/7], Scholar, b. Peterborough, Northamptonshire

4. ↑ 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 1272; Folio 81; Page 31, 5 Apr 1891.

   Address: 21 Occupation Road, Luton, Bedfordshire
   Four rooms occupied
   Edmund Dexter, head, married, male, 30 [1860/1], Straw Hat Blocker, b. Old St S. Luke's, London
   Sarah Dexter, wife, married, female, 25 [1865/6], Straw Hat Machinist, employed, b. Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
   Esther Dexter, daughter, female, 5 [1885/6], Scholar, employed, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Edith Dexter, daughter, female, 3 [1887/8], Scholar, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Edmund Dexter, son, male, 1 [1889/90], b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Ann Dexter, mother, widow, female, 61 [1829/30], Living on her own means, b. Bow, London

5. ↑ 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 562; Folio 73; Page 27, 31 Mar 1901.

   Address: 88 East Street, Charlton, London
   Five or more rooms occupied
   Ernest Dexter, head, married, male, 42 [1858/9], Furnace Man, worker, b. St Lukes, London
   Sarah Dexter, wife, married, female, 37 [1863/4], b. Layton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
   Edith Dexter, daughter, female, 13 [1887/8], b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Edmund Dexter, son, male, 11 [1889/90], b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Mabel Dexter, daughter, female, 6 [1894/5], b. Woolwich, London
   Christine Dexter, daughter, female, 3 [1897/8], b. Woolwich, London
   Stanley Dexter, son, male, 1 [1899/1900], b. Charlton, London

6. ↑ 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 9010; Schedule 173, 2 Apr 1911.

   Address: 5 Warwick Road, Luton, Bedfordshire
   Four rooms occupied
   Edmund Dexter, head, male, 45 [1865/6], married 24 years, 13 children born alive, 11 still living, Labourer Iron Work - Water Meter Maker, worker, b. London
   Sarah Dexter, wife, female, 45 [1865/6], working at home, b. Luton
   Edith Dexter, daughter, female, 23 [1887/8], single, Cardboard Box Maker, worker, b. Luton
   Christina Dexter, daughter, female, 16 [1894/5], single, Servant, b. Woolwich
   George Dexter, son, male, 15 [1895/6], single, Foundry Labourer - Water Meters, worker, b. Woolwich
   Stanley Dexter, son, male, 13 [1897/8], single, b. Woolwich
   Jack Dexter, son, male, 11 [1899/1900], single, b. Woolwich
   Reginal [sic] Dexter, son, male, 8 [1902/3], single, b. Woolwich
   Annie Dexter, daughter, female, 6 [1904/5], single, b. Woolwich
   Frank Dexter, son, male, 4 [1906/7], b. Woolwich

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

   d. Sarah SHEPHERD, September Quarter 1938, Luton Registration District, Vol. 3b, page 354, aged 72 [1865/6]