6th Gen - Dudley / Hewlett

Sixth Generation (3rd Great Grandparents)

Thomas Dudley and Mary Hewlett

Joseph Dudley (1850 – 1918)

Walter Charles Dudley (1881 – 1962)

Noreen Dudley (1907 – 1981)

Dudley John Andrews (1929 – 2010)

####### ####### ####### (1959 – )

George III (1760 – 1820)

George IV (1820 – 1830)

William IV (1830 – 1837)

Victoria (1837 – 1901)

Thomas Dudley

Thomas is the son of Richard Dudley and Mary Andrew and was born in 1805 in Totternhoe, Bedfordshire. He was christened on the 10th of March 1805 in Totternhoe and died on the 9th of September 1859 in Totternhoe age 54. The cause of his death was fever for five weeks certified.

In this year, 1805;

4th of June – The Horse Guards at Buckingham Palace troop the colour for the first time.
21st of October – The Battle of Trafalgar Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson defeats the combined French and Spanish battle fleet off Cape Trafalgar. But Nelson was mortally wounded.

Thomas was the seventh child of 13 and he was married twice. He had seven children with Ann Jeffs and three more with Mary Hewlett.

Possess

The marriage certificate for Thomas and Mary and the death certificate for Thomas.

Ann Jeffs

Before marrying Mary Hewlett, Thomas married Ann Jeffs on the 30th of November 1827 in Totternhoe, Bedfordshire. She was born in 1802 in Dunstable, Bedfordshire and was christened in Totternhoe on the 17th of October 1802. Ann unfortunately died at the age of 39 on the 20th of March 1842 in Totternhoe.

Children from this marriage were:

i. William Dudley – (1828 - )

ii. Mary Dudley – (21/5/1829 - )

iii. Elizabeth Dudley – (1/6/1831 - )

iv. Jane Dudley – (2/4/1834 - )

v. Thomas Dudley – (11/7/1837 – 26/8/1899)

vi. Anne – (14/3/1839 - 1840)

vii. George Dudley – (1841 - )

Just six months after marrying Ann gave birth to their first child, William on the 8th of May 1828 in Totternhoe. They baptised him on the 1st of March the following year also in Totternhoe. At the time of the christening Ann was pregnant with their second child, Mary who was born on the 21st of May 1829 in Totternhoe and she was baptised a few weeks later on the 5th of July.

Two years later they had another daughter, Elizabeth on the 1st of June 1831 and baptised her on the 11th of September that year in Totternhoe.

On the 7th of July 1837 Ann gave birth to Thomas. Ann registered his birth in Luton, Dunstable, Bedfordshire and signed with a mark, the birth certificate is on Ancestry. It was not until the 4th of March 1838 that Thomas and Ann baptised him at Totternhoe.

Just a year later another daughter, Anne was born on the 14th of March 1839 in Totternhoe. She was baptised on the following 7th of July, but sadly Anne died in February 1840 and was buried on the 20th of February in Totternhoe.

In 1841 in Totternhoe at the Western Part of Middle End a Farm House and outbuildings, yard and garden was the home of Thomas Dudley, aged 35, an agricultural labourer, his first wife Ann, aged 35, and their five children. Mary aged 12, Elizabeth aged 10, Jane aged 7, Thomas aged 3 and George aged 2 months.

Also on the same pages of the 1841 census are the family of his future wife Mary Kempson nee Hewlett. Around Lane Farm were two cottages and gardens, one of which was the home of John Kempson, an agricultural labourer and Mary and Thomas their son. The farm was owned by the Twidell family and it is likely that John was labouring for them.

Within a year on the 20th of March 1842 Ann was dead and Thomas was left to bring up their seven children. Three years later John Kempson died in June 1844 and within a year Thomas was married to Mary on the 4th of May 1845 in the Parish Church, Totternhoe.

George had been born in 1841 and he was baptised on the 3rd of April 1842 in Totternhoe, and so Thomas had him baptised after the death of his mother.

Mary Hewlett

Mary is the daughter of William Hewlett and Martha Simmons, was born about 1807 in Ivinghoe Aston, Buckinghamshire and was christened on the 29th of March 1807 in Ivinghoe. She died in 1890 in Bedfordshire.

Although the 1871 census suggests that Mary was born in Totternhoe, Bedfordshire the 1861 suggests that she was born in Ivinghoe Aston in Buckinghamshire.

Possible death - J/A/S 1890 Luton Beds Vol 3b 216

Another name for Mary was Mary Howlett.

Before Mary wed Thomas she married John Kempson on 19th November 1836 in Totternhoe,

Bedfordshire. He died about June 1844 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

Their marriage can be found in the Parish registers of Totternhoe, 1559 – 1812 for the Parish Church.

Marriages solemnized in the Parish of Totternhoe in the County of Bedford in the Year 1836
No. 106 John Kempson of this Parish and Mary Hewlett also of this Parish were married in this Church by Banns with Consent of [blank] this nineteenth Day of November in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty six
By me W.B. Wroth, Vicar
This Marriage was solemnized between us, the Mark X of John Kempson and the Mark X of Mary Hewlett
In the Presence of the Mark X of Maria Hewlett and John Ginger

As the register was signed with an X by John and Mary it suggests that both were illiterate.

In 1841 the couple, along with their son Thomas, were living in a cottage at Lane Farm in Totternhoe. John was an agricultural labourer.

Children from this marriage were:

i. Thomas Kempson – (28/2/1838 - )

Thomas and Mary

On the marriage certificate both Thomas and Mary are listed as widower and widow. No ages are given, both are just listed as Adults. Again Mary signed the certificate with her mark which again suggests that she was illiterate. The marriage was witnessed by Maria Arnold who also used a mark X and John Bates? Maria Arnold may well be Maria Hewlett who witnessed Mary’s first marriage. It is very likely that Mary and Maria are sisters.

Children from this marriage were:

i. William Dudley – (20/12/1846 - )

ii. Joseph Dudley – (14/1/1850 - )

iii. John Dudley – (18/7/1852 - )

William was their first child they had together and he was born on the 20th of December 1846 and he was baptised about a month later on the 17th of January in Totternhoe. As Thomas already had a son called William born in 1828 from his marriage to Ann it is likely that he had died by 1846.

On the 11th of October 1849 Thomas gave his daughter Mary away to John Linney in Totternhoe.

The following year on the 14th of January 1850 Thomas and Mary had a second child, Joseph in Totternhoe.

In 1851 Thomas aged 46 and Mary 44, were living at 14 Church End in Totternhoe and he was still an agricultural labourer. With them were Elizabeth 19, Jane 16, Thomas 13, George 9, who all worked as straw plaiters, William 4, Joseph 1, Mary 77 and Ann Howlett 20 who is listed as daughter-in-law and also working as a straw plaiter. Mary 77, would of course be Thomas’ mother.

On the 10th of June 1852 Jane, Thomas’ daughter by Ann, married Enoch Gates in Totternhoe. Jane was a straw plaiter and Enoch a labourer. The couple must have had a ‘hard’ life in their early years of marriage as their first child Sarah Ann, according to the 1861 census, was working as a straw plaiter at the age of just six. Their son, George, according to the 1871 census was a farm labourer at the age of 13. The couple had six children in total, three boys and three girls.

The following month on the 18th of July Mary gave birth to their third child, John who they baptised on the 1st of November that year in Totternhoe.

On the 5th of March 1854 Thomas’ daughter by Ann, Elizabeth married George Scott in Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire.

The Dunstable Chronicle, Advertiser for Bed, Bucks, Herts of Saturday the 3rd of May 1856 reported the following;

LEIGHTON BUZZARD

At the Petty Session, on Tuesday week (before Col. Hammer and the Revds. J. V. Moore and G.E Whyley,) ……. Thomas Dudley, of Totternhoe, was charged with assaulting Susan Impey, of Eaton Bray, on the 12th of April last. Defendant was also charged with assaulting Jane Foster at the same time; and William Morgan, of Totternhoe, was summoned for assaulting Elizabeth Heley, at the same time and place. MR. DAY appeared for the defendants, and, after hearing the evidence, was about to address the Bench on their behalf, when the chairman said there was no necessity for his doing so, as they had determined on dismissing the cases.

There is no definite link that this refers to our Thomas Dudley but it is possible. It could though refer to his son by Ann Jeffs.

On the 5th of March 1858 Thomas and Ann’s son Thomas married Mary Ann Cain at St. Mary the Virgin in Studham, Bedfordshire. The marriage certificate is on Ancestry and Thomas senior’s occupation is given as labourer. The couple had ten children between them.

On the 9th of September 1859 Mary was widowed again when Thomas succumbed to a fever that he had had for five weeks and died at the age of 54. Mary was present at the time of his death.

In 1861 and still at Church End in Totternhoe and Mary is now head of the family the census her birthplace is listed as Ivinghoe Aston in Buckinghamshire some six miles from Totternhoe. Having lost Thomas she was now working as a straw plaiter. With her were Thomas Kempson 23 and William 16 both agricultural labourers also Joseph and John aged 11 and 8 respectively and both scholars. All of the children of Thomas and his first wife Ann had now left home.

On the 16th of April 1864 George, a son of Thomas and Ann, married Amy Maria Cain in Cudham in Kent. It is quite likely that Amy Maria is a sister Mary Ann Cain, but how they ended up in Cudham is unknown, though I believe it should be Studham but the hand writing on the marriage record clearly states that they married in the Bromley area.

In 1969 Thomas and Mary’s first child William died in Bedfordshire at the age of 23.

By 1871 she had moved to Lower End, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire and with her were Joseph aged 21 and John aged 10, though John's age could well be wrong and should have been written as 18. The whole family are now straw plaiters. Her birthplace has changed again to Totternhoe.

On the 1st of September 1874 in the Parish Church in Edlesborough in Bedfordshire the couple’s second child, Joseph married Fanny Hazzard. Joseph and Fanny went on to have seven children.

At the age of 74 in 1881 Mary was at the home of her son Joseph and his family at 9 Rutland Terrace, Bunbury Street in Radford in Nottingham. She was now classed as a Laundress (unemployed). Her birthplace has moved again and she was now recorded as ‘Edlesboro’ in Buckinghamshire.

Thomas and Mary’s grandson Walter Charles Dudley recalled to his own grandson Dudley Andrews that he could remember that Thomas and Mary wore smocks when they were dressed.

Noted events in Thomas’ life were:

* Living: 11th July 1837, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.

* He worked as a Labourer on 11th July 1837.

* Living: 1841, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.

* He was employed in 1841 in Agricultural Labourer.

* He worked as a Labourer on 4th May 1845.

* Living: 1851, 14 Church End, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.

* He was employed in 1851 in Agricultural Labourer.

* He worked as a Labourer on 5th June 1858, this is from the marriage certificate of his son

Thomas and Mary Ann Cain.

* He worked as an Agricultural Labourer on 9th September 1859.

Noted events in Mary’s life were:

* Living: 1841, Lane Farm, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.

* She worked as a Platter on 4th May 1845.

* Living: 1851, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire.

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

* She worked as a Straw Platter in 1861.

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

* She worked as a Straw Platter in 181.

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

Joseph Dudley and family.

* She worked as a Laundress (unemployed) in 1881.

Possible date of death 1890 J/A/S Luton, Bedfordshire, Vol 3b, Page 216.