Sarah Ann Andrews are born around 1847 in Stoke Canon, Devon, to William Andrews (about 29), a railway and agricultural labourer, and Kent-native Jane Andrews (nee Perkins) (about 26).
Sarah Ann was baptised on 18th April 1847 in Stoke Canon.
Sarah Ann was the third of ten children (four sons and six daughters):
- Mary Jane 1841 - 1843 (about 2 years old)
- John 1844 -
- Sarah Ann 1847 -
- George 1851 -
- James 1854 -
- Mary E 1857 -
- William 1859 -
- Eliza Jane 1861 -
- Jane 1864 -
- Elizabeth 1865 -
1851 Census:
Sometime in the early 1850s, when Sarah Ann was a young girl, she and her family moved about thirteen miles north-east from her native Stoke Canon to Sampford Peverell, where most of her younger siblings were born and baptised.
Sarah Ann lived and worked away from home from a young age. The 1861 Census shows Sarah Ann, aged about only thirteen, working as a domestic servant for the Drewe family, headed by blacksmith Richard Drewe, in Cullompton, which is about half way between her native Stoke Canon and her family's new home of Sampford Peverell.
1861 Census:
On Christmas Day 1864, Sarah Ann married James Bennett (22), a railway labourer, in Heavitree, near Exeter. Whilst Sarah Ann was able to sign her name on their marriage certificate, James left only his mark, implying he could not write.
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| Sarah Ann's Signature on her 1864 Marriage Certificate |
Sarah Ann gave her age as twenty, when she married. Whilst early records (her baptism, the 1851 and 1861 Censuses) imply Sarah Ann was born around 1847, so in fact nearer to seventeen when she married, later records (her marriage, the 1871 and 1891 Censuses) imply Sarah Ann was born around 1844, making her twenty at the time of her marriage.
Sarah and James had two children:
- William 1868 - 1942 (73 years old)
- Emma 1871 - 1944 (73 yeas old)
The young couple moved about five miles south-east from Heavitree to Ebford, where their eldest child William was born in 1868. Did Sarah Ann name her son after her father?
James worked as a labourer and packer for the railway. It seems likely his work took the young Devonian family just over the boarder to Somerset, where daughter Emma was born in 1871. Sarah Ann's parents and young siblings also moved to Somerset, possibly also following work - Sarah Ann's father William also worked as a railway labourer. Did Sarah Ann's father and husband work together?
1871 Census:
At the time of the 1871 Census, Sarah Ann and James were yet to decide a name for their newborn daughter, but soon decided on Emma, perhaps after James' older sister. Sarah Ann's kid sister Eliza stayed with the family at the time.
On Monday 19th August 1872, James' life was cut tragically short. He passed away, aged thirty, from injuries received in an accident at work. In his role as a packer for the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company, he aimed to unload a truck. Alas he attempted to get into the truck while it was still in motion; he missed his step and his leg got entangled in the wheel!
From the Western Gazzette on 23rd August 1872:
James' sudden death left Sarah Ann a widow, with two infant children, and with no obvious means of support. Her parents and younger siblings were only about three miles away in Hillfarrance, Somerset, but with her father being only an agricultural labourer and with other younger children to support, perhaps he couldn't afford to help Sarah Ann much. Left a pauper, Sarah Ann sought relief in Exeter. Sadly, Sarah Ann and her children were not welcomed by the city, and its justices sought to have them legally removed to South Molton.
Around August 1873, Sarah Ann conceived a son, born around May 1874. Around the time she sort relief, she would have been around eight months pregnant. Who was the father?
From the Western Daily Mercury on 2nd April 1874:
Census records imply Sarah Ann soon remarried, and her young children gained a step-father in the form of Scottish veteran of the Crimean War James Clapperton. Yet it should be noted that I cannot find a record of marriage between Sarah Ann and James Clapperton, though they would live for years as husband and wife. We assume James junior was the son of James Clapperton, though no birth or baptism record for James junior can be found, which is not rare if a child is illegitimate.
The family of Sarah Ann, her two infants, and her new husband did settle in Exeter.
Sarah Ann and James would have six children (three sons and three daughters):
- James 1874 -
- George Henry 1876 -
- Walter John 1880 - 1913 (32 years old)
- Minnie 1884 -
- Ada 1886 - 1888 (1 year and 9 months)
- Florence 'Florrie' Mabel 1889 -
From around December 1877, Sarah Ann and James had lodgers at their home in Little Clifton Street in Exeter. Their lodgers were a couple, Samuel Ford, a cabdriver, and his unwell wife Dinah Ford. Dinah was in hospital for some months, then cared for at Little Clifton Street by Samuel's mother and Sarah Ann, who must have meanwhile been caring too for her four young children. In December 1878, Dinah passed away, with Sarah Ann as witness.
By 1881, also living with the Clapperton/Bennett family were the Miller family: Sarah Ann's younger sister Eliza, now married to American Henry Miller, a fellow pensioner and porter of James, and their baby daughter Mary Jane, Sarah Ann's niece.
I like to think Sarah Ann and Eliza were close, with Eliza living with her older sister on the 1871 and 1881 Censuses.
1881 Census:
Alas Sarah Ann's son James, around the age of eleven, turned to stealing. And not being a fast runner, he was twice caught. On 31st August 1885, James, 11, acted as watch-out, as his younger friend Charles Henry Green, 9, stole threepenny worth of sweets from a shop at 54 Richmond Road, the property of a Miss Osborn. Their crime was witnessed by a William Kerslake, who subsequently caught James. Charles said James, the older lad, had told him to steal the sweets. Only a week later, on 7th September 1885, James attempted another steal with Charles, and another lad, Frederick Charles Hookaway, 10. They stole 50 prawns, worth 1s 6d, from a fish shop at 15 Paris Street, the property of a Mrs Smith. She ran after the boys down the street and once more James was caught. He was sentenced to three weeks in prision, to be followed by five years in a Reformatory School.
Sometime between 1885 and 1888, Sarah Ann and the rest of her family moved from Little Clifton Street to New Cheeke Street, also in Exeter. Sarah Ann's young niece Mary Jane Miller stayed with the family.
Tragedy struck Sarah Ann again in 1888: as an accident involving a lorry killed her first husband, so an accident involving a tram killed her daughter. On the evening of 11th April 1888, Ada was only a toddler, out of her mother's sight for barely a minute while she fetched water from the house next door, and watched over by an older brother; but in a passing moment a younger brother left the front door open and little Ada wandered out, just when the older brother wasn't looking, and just when a tram came pass. The tram-driver braked suddenly, but too late. The elder brother, oh how racked with guilt and shock and sadness he must have been, when he then ran to his mother to tell her. The sons in the article aren't named. Was the young brother Walter, aged about eight, going out onto the street to play with his friends? The older brother James, aged about fourteen, maybe, or George, aged about twelve, running to tell poor Sarah Ann?
From the Western Times on 17th April 1888:
1891 Census:
Sarah Ann's became a military family. Her second husband James served in the Crimean War, all four of her sons served in the Boer War, and many of her grandchildren and great grandchildren served in the the First World War and Second World War...
Her second husband James was dismissed from the army, being found no longer fit to serve, on 26th June 1874, after nineteen years service, and having risen to the rank of Sergeant. Due to exposure to the sun in India, James was suffering from amaurosis (a painless temporary loss of vision in both of his eyes).
His record of dismissal gives a brief description of James' character and physical appearance...
Such was written of his character: "Conduct has been very good... [he is] in possession of four good conduct badges... [however] his name appears five times in the Regimental Defaulters' Book [and] he has been twice tried by Court Martial". Although a good soldier, James would later prove a bad husband. The sad point I will cover later on.
Such was written of his physical appearance: he was 5'10'', had a fresh complexion, blue eyes and light hair. His colouring was quite viking it seems.
He had left his wool-spinning family in their native Galashiels, just over the Scottish boarder, and signed up as a private on 31st January 1855, aged nineteen; he now left the army, aged thirty-eight, a Sergeant, having spent half his life, and essentially all his adult life thus far in the army. It seems there was a change of plan: his initial intended place of residence after leaving the army is crossed out and a street in Exeter written in its place. In April 1874, Sarah Ann was being denied relief in Exeter; James junior's later army service records imply he was born around May 1874; and in June 1874, James senior was dismissed from the army and settled in Exeter likely to join Sarah Ann and his son.
I imagine James inspired or encouraged his step-son and sons to later serve. Sarah Ann's eldest child, her son from her first marriage, William, served for thirteen years. Aged twenty, he joined the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry as a private on 27th July 1889. Like his step-father before him, he served in India. He served in India for four years from 26th November 1892 to 14th February 1897, and then again for another year from 3rd August 1899 to 21st December 1900. Finally he served in Ceylon from 22nd December 1900 to 21st July 1902. William did not resemble in step-father in appearance: he had sallow skin, grey eyes, brown hair, and was only 5'3 1/2''. Did he look like Sarah Ann? Did he look like his father, Sarah Ann's first husband James Bennett? Did he remind her of him?
Sarah Ann's next son, James, the one who stole the sweets and prawns as a boy, also served. He served in both the Boer War and the First World War. Unfortunately I cannot find his service record for the Boer War, but his service record from the First World War gives us some information of his previous service. It informs us he served in the Devonshire Regiment for ten years, leaving around 1903, meaning he must have joined around 1893, aged about nineteen. James, who rose to the rank of Sergeant like his father before him, reenlisted on 19th November 1915, aged forty-one, as a Sapper and Line Telegraphist. He then served in the Royal Engineers on the British Eastern Front from 29th May 1916 to 14th December 1916. He was discharged on 28th May 1917, suffering from gas poisoning. His conduct in the war was described as "very satisfactory" and his character "very good". In appearance, James seems less the viking Clapperton and more perhaps like his mother Sarah Ann: he had a fresh complexion, hazel eyes, dark brown hair, and was 5'4''.
Sarah's third son, George, followed his older brother James into the Devonshire Regiment, in which he served as a private for seven years. He enlisted on 11th March 1896, aged nineteen. George served in the East Indies from 28th February 1898 to 20th September 1899, and in South Africa from 21st September 1899 to 21st May 1903. It seems George resembled his father: he had fresh skin, blue eyes, fair hair, and was 5'5 1/2''.
Sarah's fourth and youngest son, Walter, served as a private in the Royal Marines Light Infantry: Plymouth Division for thirteen years, from 1898 to 1911. Walter enlisted on 28th December 1898, aged eighteen. The fair Clapperton colouring came through: Walter had blue eyes, light brown hair and was 5'8''. His general character was found to be "good". Walter served on many ships, before being invalided out on 16th November 1911. Eighteen months later, he passed away, aged only thirty-two, in April 1913.
Back to the 1890's... In early 1894, Sarah Ann's father William passed away, aged seventy-five, at his home in Hillfarrance, Somerset. There he was buried on 21st January 1894. Sarah was middle aged, a mother of seven, her sons were one by one enlisting, and her husband James, ever the military man, was alas turning his violence onto her.
From the Western Times on 27th April 1899:
And from the Exeter Flying Post on 6th May 1899:
The last paragraph is a sad one: Sarah Ann, the victim of domestic abuse, being chastised by representatives of the law for her conduct.
Alas this is the last record I can find of Sarah Ann, in 1899, in her early fifties, living apart from a violent husband, her four sons all away fighting.
In the 1901 Census, James is described as single, not a widower, implying Sarah Ann may have still been alive in 1901. The family seem to stick by James: the 1901 Census shows him lodging with his step-daughter and Sarah Ann's daughter Emma and her family; when he dies in 1907, his death makes the papers, his military service is celebrated, and his family mourn him. Meanwhile Sarah Ann disappears from record. She is not listed as an relative mourner at the reported funerals of her husband in 1907 or their son Walter in 1913. Had she passed away by then? Maybe I cannot find record of her because, to escape a violent husband, she moved away, perhaps changed her name. I hope her ending was not sad. In my wilder fancies, I wonder: did she run away with the unnamed lodger from the 1899 article? I wish: for her, who had so much happen in her life, and so much tragic, that she had a happy ending.
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