Arthur William Baynham (1856-1905)
Born: 1856 at West Bromwich
Parents: Jeremiah Baynham and Caroline Evans
Married: 1879 to Elizabeth Pye
Died: 1905 at Walsall
Arthur William, my great-grandfather, was born at West Bromwich, Staffordshire in 1856.
He married Elizabeth Pye, daughter of Edward Pye and Eliza Barrett in West Bromwich in 1879, when he was 23 and she was 17. They had eight children: Alice in 1879 (d.1879); Arthur in 1881; Nellie Ada in 1883; Louisa Mary (‘Lillie’) in 1886; Thomas in 1889; Marshall William, my grandfather, in 1897; Dora in 1899; and Harry in 1903.
Arthur died at Walsall in 1905, aged 49.
Arthur William was born in Newhall Street, West Bromwich on 6th June 1856, a couple of years after his family had moved to the Midlands from the Forest of Dean.
He was baptised, together with his older sister Urina, at Christ Church, West Bromwich on 13th July 1856.
By 1861 he was 5 years old and living with his parents Jeremiah and Caroline at 76 Union Street, West Bromwich. Both of his older sisters Louisa (7) and Urina (6) were at home, as were his younger brother George (4) and sister Agnes (8 months) and his great-uncle William Simmonds from Upton Bishop.
In the 1860s, the family moved to 126 George Street, Smethwick.
In 1871, Arthur William (now shown as just ‘William’) was 14 and still living at home with his parents, two of his three sisters Louisa M. (16) and Agnes (10) and three younger brothers George (13), Albert (3) and Thomas (1).
Urina had left home to work as a live-in domestic servant in a girls’ boarding school and great-uncle William Simmonds was no longer living with them.
Arthur William and his younger brother George were working as ‘spare boys’ in the nearby glass works where their father Jeremiah was also working.
On 10th November 1876 his oldest sister Louisa Mary died at home in George Street of tuberculosis, unmarried and aged just 23.
On 5th May 1879 Arthur William married Elizabeth Pye, daughter of Edward Pye and Eliza Barrett, in the West Bromwich parish church.
Edward had been a glass blower, so perhaps he and his future son-in-law had worked together at the glass works?
Their first child Alice was born on 28th May 1879, at 140 Hawthorn Street, Smethwick; she died of bronchitis on 1st December that same year.
In April 1881, the census showed Arthur W. (24) living with his wife Elizabeth (22) at 102 Oldbury Road, Smethwick. He had left the glassworks and was now working as a labourer at a railway station.
Also living with them were Elizabeth’s mother Eliza Pye (47) and her younger siblings Thomas (14), who was working at a glassworks and Louisa (12), who was at school.
Elizabeth’s father Edward was by now an inmate in the Kings Norton Union Workhouse. It is possible that he had been living there for over ten years as the 1871 census had recorded Eliza as still married but living separately from her husband. Edward died in the workhouse the following year and was buried on 6th March 1882.
In the 1880s Arthur and Elizabeth had four more children: Arthur on 27th May 1881; Nellie Ada on 19th September 1883; Louisa Mary (‘Lillie’) on 29th March 1886, presumably named after Arthur’s oldest sister who had died a decade earlier; and Thomas on 31st October 1889.
The children’s birth certificates also showed more of Arthur’s various occupations during this time: in December 1879 he had been a labourer on [the] highway; in April 1881, a labourer at [a] railway station; in May 1881, a wagoner at [a] railway station; in September 1883, a railway labourer; in March 1886, a railway company waggoner; in October 1889, a town commissioners’ labourer.
The certificates also showed that the family moved to 26 Oxford Street, Pleck, Walsall some time between September 1883 and March 1886.
So in 1891, Arthur (again ‘William’ in the census) and Elizabeth were living at 26 Oxford Street, Pleck with four children – Arthur (9), Nellie (7), Lillie (5) and Tom (1).
Elizabeth’s mother Eliza and her children Thomas and Louisa had moved out, but the family had taken a lodger who was also called Eliza (Eliza Worrall aged 26, who was a zinc galvanizer).
Arthur W. was now working as a general labourer.
In the 1890s Arthur and Elizabeth had two more children: Marshall ‘William’, my grandfather, on 6th May 1897; and Dora on 13th May 1899.
On both birth certificates, their father was described as a railway labourer.
In 1901, Arthur W and Elizabeth were still living in 26 Oxford Street, Pleck. They now had five children living at home – Arthur (19), Louisa (‘Lillie’)(15) and Tom (11) plus the two new additions to the family Marshall ‘William’ my grandfather (3) and Dora (1). By now Nellie (17) had left home and was working as a housemaid locally.
Arthur W was now working as a railway points shunter and his son Arthur was a railway porter. Louisa (‘Lillie’) was a tailoress.
Their last child, Harry was born on 3rd April 1903, also at 26 Oxford Street. On Harry’s birth certificate, his father was recorded as a railway drayman.
All of the children’s births had been registered by Elizabeth, usually after about a month. On the certificates, she was recorded by her mark so presumably she could not read or write – this is borne out by the fact that the certificates for three of the children show the family name as ‘Baynam’, ‘Baneham’ and ‘Bainham’. It is also probably that she had a strong Black Country accent, as one records her maiden name as ‘Toy’ instead of ‘Pye’, which she had presumably pronounced ‘Poy’ when attending the local registry office.
Shortly after Harry’s birth, the family appears to have moved to 12 Oxford Street, next door to where their eldest son Arthur was living with his young family at number 14.
Arthur W died of ‘tuberculosis of lungs, 3 months’ at 12 Oxford Street, Pleck, Walsall on 25th August 1905, aged just 49; he was buried in Ryecroft Cemetery, Walsall on 30th August 1905.
Elizabeth died of a stroke at 151 Prince Street, Pleck, Walsall on 8th October 1915, aged 54.
Notes:
- Symonds or Simmonds ….
Census extracts – www.ancestry.co.uk
In Memoriam card – family