Jeremiah Baynham (1829-1900)
Born: 1829 at Upton Bishop
Parents: James Baynham and Elizabeth Symonds
Married: 1852 to Caroline Evans
Died: 1900 at Birmingham
Jeremiah was born at Upton Bishop in Herefordshire in 1829
He married Caroline Evans, daughter of William Evans and Mary Hall in 1852 – at Much Marcle, presumably in St. Bartholomew’s Church, when he was 23 and she was 20. They had ten children: Louisa Mary in 1853; Urina Ann in 1854; Arthur William (my great-grandfather) in 1856; George in 1857; Agnes in 1860; Andrew Henry in 1862 (d. 1863); Albert in 1867 (d. 1892); Thomas in 1869; Peter in 1874; and Amos Joseph in 1876.
Jeremiah died at Birmingham in 1900, aged 71.
Caroline died at Smethwick in 1913, aged 84.
My great-great-grandfather Jeremiah was born in the tiny village of Upton Bishop, Herefordshire in 1829; he was the seventh and youngest child of James and Elizabeth. He was baptised on 27th May 1829 a few miles away at Weston-under-Penyard, presumably in St Lawrence church.
His mother Elizabeth died in 1831, just two years later.
He first appears in a census in 1841, but he is not living with his widowed father James and his siblings at Scowles. Instead it records him as still living in Upton, ‘part of Upton Bishop’, with his aunt Ann and uncle William Symonds, his mother’s brother, who are in their 50s and childless. Jeremiah is aged 12 and working as an agricultural labourer, as is his uncle.
Given that his mother Elizabeth had died back in 1831 and his father James was presumably left to look after six other children – Thomas (13), Cornelius (11), Sarah (9), Isaiah (7) and (twins?) Ezekiel and Tryphenia (5) – it is likely that two year-old Jeremiah went to live with William and Ann around that time.
In 1851 he is still living with William and Ann Symonds, at No.4 Crews Village in the Parish of Upton Bishop Crews; he is now aged 23 and still working as a farm labourer.
In 1852 he married Caroline Evans at Much Marcle, presumably in St. Bartholomew’s Church, on 13th December.
Jeremiah appears to have signed the register and Caroline made her mark, as did the witnesses Jeremiah’s uncle William Simmons and Caroline’s younger sister Matilda Mary Evans.
Caroline had been born in 1830, the third of seven children of William Evans (1797-1864), a tailor, and Mary Hall (1795-1886). She had grown up in Much Marcle, but three of her siblings had died in 1833-4.
Jeremiah and Caroline’s first child Louisa Mary was born at Upton Bishop Crews on 19th September 1853 and registered at Ross; she was baptised on 13th November at Ullingswick, presumably in St Luke’s church.
This suggests that Jeremiah was possibly working on a farm there at that time and that Caroline had gone to Upton Bishop for the birth.
Only Louisa was born in Herefordshire and all the other children were born in the Midlands, so presumably the family moved to West Bromwich at some time during 1854, before the birth of their second child Urina on 20th November, at Oak Road.
Three more children were born before 1861, at another three different addresses – Arthur William, my great-grandfather, on 6th June 1856, at Newhall Street; George on 26th September 1857, at Glover Street; and Agnes on 18th August 1860, at Union Street.
The birth certificates of Arthur William (1856) and George (1857) both show Jeremiah working as a labourer at [a] glass works and the birth certificate of Agnes (1860) shows him working as a glass maker.
So by 1861 Jeremiah is living with his wife Caroline and five young children – Louisa (7), Urina (6), Arthur (5), George (4) and Agnes (8 months) – in West Bromwich in Staffordshire, on Union Street. He is now 32 and still working as a labourer in a glass works. Also living with him is his uncle William Symonds (‘Wm. Simmonds, Boarder’ in the census) who is now over 70 and is also working as a labourer in a glass works
It is possible that they both been working at Chances Glassworks, but the company records contain no mention of either man.
Another three sons were born during the 1860s – Andrew Henry, was born in July 1862 and baptised on 8th August 1863 but died later that year aged just over 1 year old; Albert was born on 17th July 1867; and Thomas was born on 24th April 1869.
The birth certificates of Andrew (1862), Albert (1867) and Thomas (1869) show Jeremiah working as a carter, jobbing carter and carter at [a] glassworks.
By 1871 the family had moved to 126 George Street, Smethwick – just off Spon Lane, where the glass works was situated. Their eldest child Louisa (16) is still at home with two teenage brothers, a younger sister and two small brothers but Urina (16) is not – she is employed as a live-in general servant (domestic) in a school for girls at Barton In The Beans, Leicestershire.
Teenage sons Arthur (referred to by his middle name William in the census) (14) and George (13) have both started working as ‘spare boys’ in the glass works where Jeremiah is still shown employed as a ‘labourer’, but perhaps this is down to the census enumerator, as Jeremiah appears throught this period to have been working as a carter of some sort, either in the glass works or otherwise as a jobbing carter. Agnes (10) is at school.
William Symonds is no longer living with them.
During the 1870s, another two sons were born – Peter on 21st April 1873 and Amos Joseph on 7th July 1876 – but later that year on 10th November Louisa Mary died at George Street of tuberculosis; she was unmarried and aged just 23.
As recorded on the birth certificates of Peter and Amos and on the death certificate of Louisa Mary, during the perod 1873 to 1876 Jeremiah was working as a jobbing carter. So perhaps he is the ‘Baynham Jeremiah, carter, George st, W. Smethwick’ in the 1873 White’s Directory? If so, he could also be the ‘Jeremiah Baynham of West Smethwick, haulier’ who on 22nd December 1880 was listed under Liquidations By Arrangement in The London Daily News section ‘From Last Night’s Gazette’. Certainly the next census records him as a general labourer, with no mention of carting or the glass works.
By 1881 the family is still in Smethwick, but at some time after 1876 had moved again – to 38 Corser Street. Arthur and George and Agnes have all left home. Albert (13) is ‘out of employment’ and Thomas (11) is at school – as are the two youngest boys, Peter (7) and Amos (4). Jeremiah is working as a general labourer.
The family has also taken in a lodger, William Lloyd. Aged 22, he had been born and had grown up in Much Marcle where Caroline was from and the following year he married her daughter Agnes who at the time of the census was working away from home as a live-in servant in Monks Coppenhall near Crewe. Like Jeremiah, William is working as a general labourer.
By 1891 the family has moved yet again – to 111 Heath Street, Birmingham.
Jeremiah is a general labourer again, with no mention of the glass works – plus his 1900 death certificate (informed by his widow), describes him as a railway servant and Elizabeth’s 1913 death certificate (informed by their son Peter), describes him as a coal hauler.
There appear to be some mistakes in the census, but presumably Thomas (21) has left home, but three sons are still living there – Albert, Peter, who is working as an electro-plater, and Amos. There is now a different boarder – Charles Johnson (32) a ceramic artist who was born in Hay.
In 1892 Albert died at the family home of pneumonia, after a bout of influenza which had lasted 13 days; he had been working as a factory labourer, was unmarried and aged just 23.
Jeremiah died at home of St. Anthony’s Fire, after 21 days of influenza, on 19th August 1900, aged 71. He was buried on 22nd August at Oldbury Cemetery, St. Paul’s Road, West Smethwick in Sandwell.
After his father’s death, Peter took over his father’s position as head of the household at 111 Heath Street – in 1901 he is recorded as living there with his mother Caroline and the boarder Charles Johnson. Peter is still working as an electro-plater.
Sons Thomas, Arthur William and George all died of tuberculosis in 1905-6 – Thomas died at the Selly Oak Workhouse Infirmary on 8th February 1905, aged 36; Arthur William died at home, 12 Oxford Street, on 25th August 1905, aged 49; and George also died at home, 92 St. George Street, Smethwick, on 22nd August 1908, aged 50.
Caroline died at 127 Cape Hill, Smethwick on 2nd August 1913, of old age – at 84. She too was buried at Oldbury Cemetery, on 7th August.
Jeremiah and Caroline are buried in an unmarked grave to the right of this photograph, within the shade of the tree.
Notes:
- the area covered by the 1841 census was “All that part of the Parish of Upton Bishop which lies on the eastern side of the road leading from the Old Gore to Sandford and on the south side of the road from the Crow Hill to Kempley”.
- transcriptions of this census have shown ‘Jeremiah’ incorrectly – as variously ‘Beresmah’ and ‘Beremiah’ – and his age as 18, not 12.
- the description of area covered by the 1851 census was “Upton Bishop bounded on the East by Dymock and Kempley on the South by Weston and Linton on the West by —— and Brampton Abbots on the North and North West by —— and Much Marcle. Its length from East to West about six (?) miles, from South to South about four, is of considerable dimensions with Houses, scattered from one extreme to the other, contains about 5000 acres”
- this census records Jeremiah’s surname as Symonds and his relationship to William as ‘son’; presumably the person recording the information simply made these assumptions – an easy mistake for the enumerator to make!
- William Symonds is shown as ‘Simmonds’ in the census
- he is shown aged 62, but he is actually 72 – in the 1851 Upton Bishop census his age was recorded as 60
- Caroline’s age is shown as 69, but she is 59
- certificate shows Jermiah’s age as 73, but he was in fact 71.
- it shows his profession as ‘Railway Servant’
- burial register shows Jermiah’s age as 73, but he was in fact 71.
- it also shows trade as ironworker
- the census shows Caroline as 72, but she is actually 69
Census and Burial Register extracts – www.ancestry.co.uk