William Ginn of Farnham d. 1847

William Ginn, son of William in my post of  19th January 2014, has given me considerable pause for thought because he was quite a lad, was this guy.  A rumbustious fellow, drinking where he could get it, fond of a row and a skuffle, fathering illegitmate children while married and alleged to have deserted his wife and kids and left them to the parish - this was the William that the records paint.

He married Ann Prior at Farnham in 1823, Ann's family (which I have not researched) coming from nearby Albury in Herts.

He was technically "of Farnham", presumably because he had settlement there, but he moved around quite a lot.

The couple had their first child (Elizabeth) in Farnham, but by 1827 they were in Albury, where they had their second and William got involved in a row which ended with him damaging a hedge (Quarter Sessions).

They were technically in Farnham between 1829 and 1832, but William presumably did most of his drinking in Bishop's Stortford, because in 1831 he and two others were fined for assault (Quarter Sessions).

In 1837 the new workhouse opened in Bishop's Stortford.  This Poor Law Union covered Farnham, and all those able bodied men and women on Poor Relief were moved in.  This included William and Ann and their children.  Sarah, and apparently James (of whom more later) were born there.  Thereafter the Farnham clerk knew William as "William Ginn of Bishop's Stortford".

The entrance building to the Workhouse is shown above,  It was redeveloped for desirable apartments in 2006 and where once the lobby had paupers waiting with some trepidation, is is now replete with doorphone access and potted palms!

The Overseer’s Book of 1839 (for Farnham) notes that William had an illegitimacy order made against him that year.  William and Ann would have been separated in the workhouse (the sexes always were) so quite how William managed to father an illegit­imate child I have no idea, but manage it he clearly did.  Research in the magistrates’ records might well reveal more details.  

It is also clear from the Overseer's Book that William got into a certain amount of petty trouble in Essex, so interested readers might find one or two amusing episodes recorded in the Essex Petty (and possibly, Quarter) Sessions records.

The family were out of the workhouse by the Spring of 1841 (because they were at Farnham) but William was not to live for long.  He died in November 1847, he was 47. "William Ginn of Bishop's Stortford" is buried at Farnham.

Ann, and the two children (James and Rebecca) were at Bishop's Stortford in 1851.  Ann took in laundry to survive.  She remarried John Boyton (a widower) in 1856.

William and Ann had eight children:

Susan - she had two illegitimate children before she married William Shed at Bishops Stortford in 1852, these were Henry 1849 and Betsy 1851.  Henry married and had a family and we will discuss him in more detail later

           

Mary -  also had an illegitimate child John in 1847 by a John Gillett .  In 1851 John was at Little Hadham, Herts (with his Gillett granddad) which has made me wonder whether John Gillett and Mary were living together.
 

William - followed in his Dad's footsteps character wise, but ultimately sadly died in the "Northfleet" disaster - see post of 19th July 2012

James  - see next post

Elizabeth - married George Prior at Bishops Stortford in 1847.  George came from Bishops Stortford, but the couple soon moved to Bromley by Bow in the East End with a couple of George's brothers where they were in 1851 with a child or two. They had more children there, but sadly George died in 1863 and is buried at Tower Hamlets Cemetery in Mile End.  It is unclear how many children were alive, but in 1865 Elizabeth married Richard Golding at Stepney.  She has quite a number of descendants from the children from that marriage.

Rebecca married Robert Birch at Bishops Stortford in 1864

John and Sarah - died in infancy