Person:Sarah Smith (582)

Sarah Smith was baptised on 27th July 1828 at Luton, daughter of a labourer named William Smith and his wife Esther Sheffield. In 1845, she witnessed her brother William's marriage. On 1st May 1848 she married a brickmaker named William Mayo, who was originally from Hitchin, but had been living at Cockernhoe, very close to Luton, in the early 1840s.

Sarah has not been found in either the 1841 census (much of which is badly faded for Luton), or the 1851 census - in which her husband William is living in Hitchin with his parents. She gave birth around the time of the 1851 census or shortly after to her first child, a son named George. Sadly he died the following year. Altogether Sarah and William had seven children between 1851 and 1866, although four died as children. Back in Luton, Sarah's mother died in 1858 and her father died in 1873.

In Hitchin, Sarah and William lived on the west side of town for the three censuses in 1871, 1881 and 1891, living in the adjoining streets of Bedford Street and Union Road / Union Street (later renamed Oughtonhead Way). Sarah was described as a straw plaiter and bonnet sewer. They then moved to the east side of town where they lived opposite Hitchin railway station at Benslow Lodge on Walsworth Road, a lodge house for Benslow House, where William appears to have worked as a gardener.

William died in 1896, aged 74.

Sarah outlived him by about five years, with her daughter Alice (who did not marry) coming to live with her at Benslow Lodge. In 1897 Sarah administered the estate of her brother James, who had died childless back in Luton.

Sarah died in 1901, aged 73.

1. ↑ Bedfordshire Family History Society. Luton Parish Register Transcript. (Bedford).

   ch. 27 Jul 1828, St Mary: Sarah d William & Esther SMITH labourer

2. ↑ 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 58; Page 2, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Bedford Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Mayo, head, widow, female, 62 [1798/9], Straw Plaiter, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Hannah Mayo, daughter, unmarried, female, 26 [1834/5], Bonnet Sewer, b. Digswell, Hertfordshire
   ~second household at same address~
   William Mayo, head, married, male, 39 [1821/2], Brick Maker, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Mayo, wife, married, female, 32 [1828/9], Bonnet Sewer, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Emma E. Mayo, daughter, female, 7 [1853/4], Scholar, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Susan Mayo, daughter, female, 5 [1855/6], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Selina Mayo, daughter, female, 1 [1859/60], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire

3. ↑ 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 1367; Folio 67; Page 26, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: Union Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   William Mayo, head, married, male, 49 [1821/2], Brickmaker, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Mayo, wife, married, female, 42 [1828/9], Straw Plaiter, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Alice Mayo, daughter, female, 8 [1862/3], Scholar, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Kate Mayo, daughter, female, 4 [1866/7], b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire

4. ↑ 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 1418; Folio 55; Page 21, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: Union Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   William Mayo, head, married, male, 59 [1821/2], Laborer, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Mayo, wife, married, female, 53 [1827/8], b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Kate Mayo, daughter, female, 14 [1866/7], Nurse Maid, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire

5. ↑ 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 1108; Folio 9; Page 11, 5 Apr 1891.

   Address: Lodge to Benslow House, Walsworth Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   5 or more rooms occupied
   William Mayo, head, married, male, 69 [1821/2], Gardener, employed, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Mayo, wife, married, female, 62 [1828/9], b. Luton, Bedfordshire

6. ↑ 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 1302; Folio 29; Page 10, 31 Mar 1901.

   Address: Benslow Lodge, Walsworth Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   3 rooms occupied
   Sarah Mayo, head, widow, female, 72 [1828/9], Lodge keeper, b. Luton, Bedfordshire
   Alice Mayo, daughter, single, female, 37 [1863/4], Cook Domestic, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire

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

   d. Sarah MAYO, September Quarter 1901, Hitchin Registration District, Volume 3a, page 348, aged 73 [1827/8]