Person:Sarah Swallow (9)

Sarah Swallow was born on 18th November 1801 and baptised the following month at Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, daughter of Sarah Swallow, formerly Hopkins, and her husband William Swallow, a labourer.

On 12th October 1820, aged 19, Sarah married James Studman, an agricultural labourer from nearby Luton. Her sister Mary was one of the witnesses to the marriage, and in 1824 Sarah was one of the witnesses to Mary's marriage.

Sarah and James do not appear to have had any children. Sarah's father died in 1835. The 1841 census finds Sarah and James living with Sarah's sister Susannah and her family at Darley Hall, a hamlet in the parish of King's Walden.

Through the first half of the 1840s James was in trouble with the law on a number of occasions, being tried for stealing hens, money and a large quantity of straw plait (an important commodity in an area where the production of straw hats was one of the main industries). In 1845 James was sentenced to be transported to Australia for fifteen years for stealing straw plait worth £80. He was put on a ship in December 1845, and Sarah never saw him again.

Back in Wheathampstead, Sarah's mother died in 1848.

The 1851 census finds Sarah living at Gustard Wood in the parish of Wheathampstead. She was described as a lodger in the household of a George Catlin. Sarah's eight year old niece Ann Swallow, daughter of Sarah's brother William, was also lodging there. Ann's mother had died shortly after she was born, and it would appear that childless aunt Sarah brought Ann up. The head of the household, George Catlin, was also Ann's uncle, being Ann's late mother's brother. Later in 1851 Sarah was again witness to her sister Mary marrying when Mary married for the third time.

In 1853 Sarah stole a shawl from a Neal MacShane. She pleaded guilty at the Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions in February 1853, and was sentenced to four months imprisonment, with one of those months in solitary confinement and the other three months doing hard labour.

On 31st July 1854, aged 52, Sarah married again. Her second husband was a widower called James Claridge, who was an agricultural labourer from Cockernhoe in the parish of Offley, although they married in neighbouring Luton. On the other side of the world, Sarah's first husband James Studman was in fact still alive. Whether Sarah knew this or not is uncertain, but in any event she was presumably able to rely on the convention that after seven years' desertion she was free to remarry. James Studman died in Tasmania in 1856.

Sarah and James Claridge settled at Cockernhoe, where she acted as stepmother to his children from his first marriage. Sarah's niece Ann continued to live with them, and the 1861 census finds them all living together at Cockernhoe. Sarah was described as a laundress at this time. The following year, Sarah's niece Ann married James's son Sidney Claridge.

Sarah died at the age of 68. She was buried at Offley on 23rd February 1870. James survived her by about seven years.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Church of England. Wheathampstead Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   1801
   Swallow - Sarah daughter of Will[ia]m & Sarah his wife (late Hopkins) born Nov[embe]r 18th bapt[ize]d Dec[embe]r 13th

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 445; Book 10; Folio 26; Page 6, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Darly Hall, Kings Walden, Hertfordshire
   William Lovell, male, 30 [1806-11], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], born in county
   Susan Lovell, female, 30 [1806-11], born in county
   William Lovell, male, 9 [1831/2]
   Thomas Lovell, male, 7 [1833/4], born in county
   Sophia Lovell, female, 5 [1835/6], born in county
   Samuel Lovell, male, 1 [1839/40], born in county
   ~ [second household in same house]
   James Studman, male, 40 [1796-1801], Ag Lab, born in county
   Sarah Studman, female, 35 [1801-6], born in county
   Richard Potton, male, 50 [1786-91], Ag Lab, 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 1713; Folio 28; Page 11, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Gustard Wood, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
   George Catlin, head, unmarried, male, 37 [1813/4], Ag Labourer, b. Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Studman, lodger, widow, female, 47 [1803/4], Straw platter, b. Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
   Ann Swallow, lodger, female, 8 [1842/3], Straw platter, b. Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire

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 821; Folio 45; Page 17, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Cottage, Offley, Hertfordshire
   James Cloridge, head, married, male, 49 [1811/12], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Offley, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Cloridge, wife, married, female, 54 [1806/7], Laundress, b. Offley, Hertfordshire
   James Cloridge, son, unmarried, male, 22 [1838/9], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Offley, Hertfordshire
   Sidney Cloridge, son, unmarried, male, 19 [1841/2], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Offley, Hertfordshire
   Lucy Cloridge, daughter, female, 16 [1844/5], Scholar, b. Offley, Hertfordshire
   Elizabeth Cloridge, daughter, female, 14 [1846/7], Scholar, b. Offley, Hertfordshire
   Ann Swalow, niece, unmarried, female, 18 [1842/3], Straw Work, b. Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire

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

   d. Sarah CLARIDGE, March Quarter 1870, Hitchin Registration District, Volume 3a, page 232, aged 65

6. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Offley Parish Registers, 1653-1943. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Offley in the County of Hertford in the year One thousand eight hundred and seventy
   No. 26
   Name: Sarah Claridge
   Abode: Cockernhoe
   When buried: Febr[uar]y 23rd 1870
   Age: 68 [1801/2]
   By whom the Ceremony was performed: T. Salusbury, Vicar

7.   Hertford Mercury, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 4, 26 Feb 1853.

   HERTFORDSHIRE
   ADJOURNED QUARTER SESSIONS,
   MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21.
   TRIALS OF THE PRISONERS.
   Sarah Studman, of Wheathamstead, pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing a shawl, the property of Neal MacShane. Sentenced to be imprisoned for four months, one month solitary, and the remainder with hard labour.