5th Gen - Dudley / Hazzard

Fifth Generation (Great Great Grandparents)

Joseph Dudley and Fanny Hazzard

Walter Charles Dudley (1881 – 1962)

Noreen Dudley (1907 – 1981)

Dudley John Andrews (1929 – 2010)

####### ####### ####### (1959 - )

Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901)

Edward VII (1901 – 1910)

George V (1910 – 1936)

Joseph is the son of Thomas Dudley and Mary Hewlett, was born on 14th January 1850 in Totternhoe, Bedfordshire and died on the 7th of February 1918 at 1 Midland Grove, Netherfield, Nottingham. He was buried on the 11th of February at the General Cemetery in Nottingham.

Whilst working as a weighing machine clerk Joseph committed suicide, his death certificate states that death was by hanging whilst of unsound mind. His suicide came just three months after the death of Fanny, his wife of 43 years. He had been present at her death.

An inquest into his death was held by the coroner on the 8th of February. The certificate suggests that his home address is in Carlton Road, though this is listed under the heading of occupation.

Joseph was the second of three children, although his father had been married before and so he has seven half-siblings.

In 1851 Joseph’s family lived in Totternhoe, by the 1861 census the address became Church End in Totternhoe, this could possibly have been the same address in 1851. At this time Joseph was a scholar. His father, Thomas died in 1859 although it is not known whereabouts in Totternhoe it is quite possible that it was Church End.

The family had by 1871 moved to Lower End in Totternhoe and Joseph was now working as a straw packer. But by the time of his marriage to Fanny on the 1st of September 1874 at the Parish Church, Edlesborough, Bedfordshire, Joseph was now working on the railways and living in Nottingham. The marriage witnessed by his brother John and Mary Branson.

At the age of 24 Joseph was a member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants his grade is given as a Weighing Machine Clerk for the Midland Railway. He was a member of the Nottingham Branch (Branch number 129). According to the ledger his name is crossed out and has a reference to an accident on the 7th of February 1918 as his cause of death and £5 written at the side of it. Although suicide is mentioned for other members there is no mention of it for Joseph.

At the time of birth of their first son, William on the 4th of August 1875 the new family were living at 2 Melville Terrace, Melville Street, Nottingham. In 1877 Joseph and Fanny had another child and christened her Edith Mary Ann and just two years later in 1879 they had another child, Fred.

At the time of the 1881 census Joseph and Fanny were living at 9 Rutland Terrace, Bunbury Street, Radford, Nottingham and Joseph is working as a Railway Guard in 1881. Also on the census is Henry Binch, a boarder aged 21 from Calverton, Nottingham who was employed as a Railway Navvie. Just a few months later on the 2nd of August they were celebrating the birth of their fourth child, Walter Charles and the following month on the 25th they baptised him at St. Saviour’s in Nottingham.

There is an entry in the UK Employment records, 1880 – 1898 Guards, for a J Dudley at the Midland Railway as a Head Guard earning 29 shillings. The entry has been crossed out and a note made, Trans to Goods Dept. 6/9/81.

Albert their fifth child arrived in 1883, followed a year later by Arthur.

By 1886 the family were living at 21 Uppingham Terrace, Waterway Street in Nottingham since on Christmas Eve that year Mabel, their seventh and last child, was born. At this time Joseph’s occupation was now classed as a Railway Servant.

In 1890 Joseph’s mother, Mary, died in Luton, Bedfordshire.

The family still lived at Uppingham Terrace at the time of the 1891 census and Joseph’s occupation was now given as a Railway Machine Clerk in 1891. By 1894, according to Whites Directory, Joseph and Fanny were living at 15 Arkwright Street, Nottingham. Joseph was working as a clerk and Fanny as a curtain dresser. The following year in Kelly’s directory Fanny was listed at the same address with a slight change to her occupation which was now classed as a lace curtain dresser.

Joseph was still working as a machine clerk on the 11th of November 1899, the date of the wedding of his third child, Fred to Annie Poxon. Fred’s address is given as 1 Summer’s Terrace, Summer’s Street, Nottingham and this is likely to be the address of Joseph and family. It is similar to that of the 1901 census, which gives 2 Summers Terrace, Nottingham. His job is now given as a Railway Machine Clerk and Timekeeper.

Also in the fourth quarter of 1899 their son William married Margaret Flear in Lincoln.

In 1900 Joseph and Fanny’s daughter Edith in Nottingham died at the age of just 23 years.

In the 1905 edition of Wright’s Directory for Nottingham Fanny is listed under the heading of Lace Makers and Dyers. Her address is given as 1 Summers Terrace, Summers Street.

On the 7th of April 1906 their fourth child Walter married Mabel Smith and on the certificate the address of Walter is given as Somer’s (sic) Terrace and Joseph’s occupation as Clerk.

There is a record of a J Dudley being on the marshalling staff of Midland Railway at the Toton Sidings, Notts on the 14th of November 1907, with wages of 20 shillings. I cannot confirm whether this is Joseph.

By the 1911 census Joseph and Fanny were now on their own at 42 Ryehill Cottages, Kirkwhite Street, Nottingham, and Joseph was now a Night Machineman on the Midland Railway. According to the census Joseph & Fanny had been married for 36 years and had eight children, two of whom had died by 1911. I have only been able to find seven children. As two have died by 1911, one is Edith who died in 1900 and the other could be Mabel or the missing child.

They were still at Ryehill Cottages the time of Fanny’s death on the 5th of November 1917 his occupation was now classed as a Railway Weighing Machine Man and shortly afterwards on the 7th of February 1918 at the time of his death it was classed as a Weighing Machine Clerk.

Nottingham Evening Post Friday 8th of February 1918

DEATHS

DUDLEY – On the 7th inst., at 1 Midland-grove, Netherfield, Joseph Dudley, aged 68. At rest. Funeral Monday, General Cemetery,

1 p.m.

The main railway company in Nottingham in Joseph's time was the Midland Railway with the Great Northern making inroads from the east and it is known that Joseph was injured in a railway accident and given a desk job. The accident could have been between 1881 and 1891 as his occupation had changed from railway guard to railway clerk. Joseph had lost a leg and it was probably this accident that was the cause. His suicide was in 1918 and was at least 37 years since he worked as a guard on the railways, and 27 years since he was given a clerks job so it is possible that the trauma of the accident did not play a role in his suicide. It is more likely to be the loss of his wife of 43 years that was the main reason, possibly he couldn’t cope at the age of 67 living on his own and being disabled.

Noted events in his life were:

* Living: 1851, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.

* Living: 1861, Church End, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.

* He worked as a Scholar in 1861.

* Living: 1871, Lower End, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.

* He worked as a Straw Packer?? in 1871.

* Living: 1st September 1874, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Railway on 1st September 1874.

* Living: 4th August 1875, 2 Melville Terrace, Melville Street, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Railway Guard in 1881.

* Living: 24th December 1886, 21 Uppingham Terrace, Waterway Street, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Railway Servant on 24th December 1886.

* Living: 1891, 27 Uppingham Terrace, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Railway Machine Clerk in 1891.

* Living: 1894, 15 Queen’s Road, Arkwright Street, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Clerk in 1894.

* He worked as a Machine Clerk on 11th November 1899.

From Marriage Certificate of Fred Dudley and Annie Poxon

* Living: 1901, 2 Summers Terrace, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Railway Machine Clerk and Timekeeper in 1901.

* He worked as a Clerk on 7th April 1906.

From Marriage Certificate Walter Charles Dudley & Mabel Smith

* Living: 1911, 42 Ryehill Cottages, Kirkwhite Street, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Night Machineman in 1911 in Midland Railway.

* Living: 5th November 1917, 42 Ryehill Cottages, Kirkwhite Street, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Railway Weighing Machine Man in 5th November 1917.

* He worked as a Weighing Machine Clerk in 7th February 1918.

Joseph married Fanny Hazzard on the 1st of September 1874 in Parish Church, Edlesborough,

Bedfordshire.

Children from this marriage were:

i. William Dudley – (4/8/1875 – 27/11/1966)

ii. Edith Mary Ann Dudley – (1877 – 1900)

iii. Fred Dudley – (1879 - )

iv. Walter Charles Dudley – (2/8/1881 – 19/11/1962)

v. Albert Dudley – (About 1883 - )

vi. Arthur Dudley – (About 1885 - )

vii. Mabel Dudley – (24/12/1886 - )

Fanny Hazzard

Fanny is the daughter of James Hazzard and Ann Cooke, was born about 1853 in Edlesborough, Buckinghamshire. She died on the 5th of November, 1917 in Nottingham aged 64. She died of cancer of the rectum.

On the 1861 & 1871 census Fanny's birthplace is given as Totternhoe, Bedfordshire

In 1861 Fanny was living in Edlesborough Green, Edlesborough, Buckinghamshire and although about eight years old she was working as a straw plaiter.

Straw plaiting is the manufacture of textiles by braiding straw where straw is plaited to produce products including straw hats and ornaments.

The districts around Luton in Bedfordshire and the neighboring counties were, since the beginning of the 17th century, the British home of the straw-plait industry. The straw of certain varieties of wheat cultivated in this area is, in favorable seasons, possessed of a fine bright color and strength.

The plaiting was carried out by women and children who were taught the skills in plait schools.

It gave employment to many thousands and at its peak in the early 19th century a woman could earn more by plaiting than a man could earn on the land. There was concern that the industry led to dissolution and idleness in the menfolk.

The amount of people employed in the industry had largely ended by the beginning of the 20th century: the number of English plaiters was not more than a few hundred in 1907, as compared with 30,000 in 1871. The English industry was eventually killed off by free trade from 1860 which allowed cheap imports of plait from Italy and later China and Japan.

In 1871 Fanny was still working as a straw plaiter, but three years later Fanny married Joseph Dudley on the 1st of September 1874 in the Parish Church, Edlesborough, Bedfordshire. At this time she was living in Northall, a hamlet near Edlesborough.

Noted events in her life were:

* Living: 1861, Edlesborough Green, Edlesborough, Buckinghamshire.

* She worked as a Straw Plaiter in 1861.

* Living: 1871, Northall, Edlesborough, Buckinghamshire.

* She worked as a Straw Plaiter in 1871.

* Living: 1881, 9 Rutland Terrace, Bunbury Street, Radford, Nottingham.

* She worked as a Railway Goods Guard Wife in 1881, probably meaning that she had no occupation.

* Living: 1891, 27 Uppingham Terrace, Nottingham.

* Living: 1894, 15 Arkwright Street, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Curtain Dresser in 1894.

* Living: 1895, 15 Arkwright Street, Nottingham.

* He worked as a Lace Curtain Dresser in 1895.

* Living: 1901, 1 Summers Terrace, Summers Street, Nottingham.

* Living: 1905, 1 Summers Terrace, Summers Street, Nottingham – Wright’s Directory.

* She worked as a Lace Maker and Dyer in 1905 – Wright’s Directory.

* Living: 24th December 1886, 21 Uppingham Terrace, Waterway Street, Nottingham.

* Living: 1st September 1874, Northall.

* Living: 1911, 42 Ryehill Cottages, Kirkwhite Street, Nottingham.

* Living: 5th November 1917, 42 Ryehill Cottages, Kirkwhite Street, Nottingham.