Mary Chivers was baptised in 1763 in Rode, Somerset. Banns were read on 28th July and 4th August in Hinton Chapel by Mr Godfrey, Curate, and on 11th August in Philips Norton, (Norton St Philip), by J Harris. Two children were born in Bath and baptised in St Swithins church, Walcot - Susan, on 29 Sep 1789 and Lasbury on 25th December 1791. There is also possibly another daughter called Sarah, although I have no details yet.
In 1841 Lasbury, a mason, and Mary, lived in a cottage in New Half Moon Street, Bath. There were four of their children living in the household - James and William Hardick, both labourers born between 1821 and 1826, Edward aged 12 and Jane aged 9. Lasbury and Mary had a total of 9 children - Thomas, baptised in December 1812; Hannah, baptised 25 February 1817; Jane, born 1819 who must have died before she was 13, William, baptised in 1821 and died on 18 January 1822; a second William, born 1823; James, born 1825; John, born between 1824 and 1828; Edward, born 1830; and another Jane who was baptised in 1832.
Lasbury continued to live in New Half Moon Street after Mary died, and was still working as a mason in 1851. He was sharing the house with his son James, a labourer, and daughter Jane, for whom no occupation was shown on the census. The 1861 census shows his address as Court behind 3 New Half Moon Street, Walcot. Also living in the house was a widow named Elizabeth Coleman, age 57, born in Portsmouth and who made her living as a laundress. He married Elizabeth Coleman, nee Dean, in 1862 and they moved to 6 Chelsea Court, Walcot by the time the 1871 census was taken. Lasbury was described as a pauper so they must have fallen on hard times, not surprising since Lasbury was 81 by this time and obviously unable to continue working as a mason. He died in the autumn of 1872.
In 1842 Joseph was born, followed by James about a year later and finally Eliza in 1848. The 1851 census recorded them in New Half Moon Street, Walcot where Mary was working as a laundress, although Thomas was apparently working, and living, somewhere else on census night. Lucy and James are also not recorded on this census. Mary died later that year on 19th September 1851 and Thomas married for a second time on 1st February 1852, a very short mourning by Victorian standards.
His second wife was Hannah Hibbeard, daughter of Thomas and Rachel Hibbard, who was born about 1823 in either Abergavenny, Monmouthshire or Bath! Their 5 children were Mary Ann, born 22nd October 1852 when they were living at 8 Half Moon Street; George in 1854; Hannah Rachel in 1856; Daniel who was baptised on 1st November 1861; and William, who was born on 25th September 1867. They had moved to 9 Cornwell Row in the St Michael parish of Bath by 1861 and Hannah's first three children were living there with their parents when the census was taken.
Thomas died on 30th December 1868, when his youngest child was less than 15 months old and Hannah moved to 1 Cottage, back of 66 Avon Street, Bath some time in the next 27 months and started working as a charwoman. She continued to work as a charwoman and moved to 25 New Quay, Bath by the time the 1881 census was taken. This was only a few minutes walk from where she had previously been living. She does not appear in the 1891 census but died on 19th March 1895 at 47a Avon Street of Morbus Cordis Dropsy. The death was certified by N G Hopkins, MRCS and registered by her eldest daughter, Mary Ann Vaughan of 10 Somerset Street, Bath.
Seven years later he married Martha Rich in the first half of 1848 in the church of St Swithin's in the Paragon, Bath. Martha was about three years younger than William and also born in Bath. By 1861 they were living at 2 Chapel Court, Lyncombe & Widcombe, Bath with three of their four children. These were Thomas who was born 2 years before his parents married, Mary (1852) and William J, born in 1858. Thomas was now working as a mason, Martha as a laundress, and there were four lodgers in the house - Mary Richest, a widow aged 67, a Bookbinder; Elizabeth Wyatt, an unmarried laundress aged 25; Francis Pickwick, unmarried, age 23, whose occupation was boatman; and lastly William's nephew Joseph Hardick, (son of Thomas and Mary Ann Hardick), also unmarried aged 19, and another mason.
Thomas had started work by the time of the 1861 census but had chosen a different trade to the rest of the family, he was a shoemaker. They had another child, Martha J, in 1866, and were living at 1 Chapel Row, Lyncombe & Widcombe five years later, and continued to live there until at least 1881. Their daughter Mary was working as a laundress by 1871, but only lived until she was 24 as she died in late 1876. William lived with his parents until he married in 1882, but Martha continued to live with her parents until after the 1891 census which showed them at 1 Chapel Court, Lyncombe. Martha was an errand girl in 1881 and a charwoman in 1891. William died in the autumn of 1894 aged 71, almost exactly two years after the death of his wife. Their daughter Martha married Harry Fry in the spring of 1900.
The 1871 census shows Sarah as unmarried with the relationship to the head of household blank, and with her maiden name, but Charles James Butler, a 16 year old labourer is shown as son, (of James). In 1881 James and Sarah were listed as husband and wife and living at 8 James Buildings, Walcot, by which time Sarah's occupation was charwoman, whereas in 1861 she was a dressmaker and a small change 10 years later to tailoress. The son of Sarah, (and possibly James), was not living with them. There does not appear to be a record of James and Sarah marrying so possibly they never did, and I cannot find a record of the birth of Charles James being registered.
According to the 1861 census, when they were living at 7 Princes Buildings, Lyncombe & Widcombe they had a 13 year old daughter called Ann, but she does not appear on the 1851 census and there is no record of her birth in either the local or GRO registers. Ann does not seem to be recorded in later censuses either. Elizabeth died early in 1862 and John remarried that same year to Amelia Hendy, born 1821 in Bath.
They had moved to 3 St George's Place, Lyncombe & Widcombe by the time of the next census with John still working as a labourer and Amelia's occupation was recorded as laundress. Also in the household was James Hendy, nephew of John. There was at least one more change of address before the 1881 census to 5 Charles's Place, Lyncombe & Widcombe and John was a mason's labourer, with Amelia still taking in washing to help with the household finances. There was an entry in a directory for 1885 showing John, a labourer, living at 4 Charles Place, Dolemeads, Bath, next door to their last recorded address.
Their two daughters, Mary (1851) and Caroline (1854) were still living at home. By 1871 they had move to 60 Avon Street, near the centre of Bath and where many of the family lived. Edward was labouring, Charlotte working as a charwoman, and their eldest daughter Mary was a servant. Caroline was not living with her parents as she was working as a general domestic servant for George Harrop, a licensed victualler, at the Claverton Brewery, 33 Claverton Street in Lyncombe & Widcombe. Edward died in the spring of 1879 in Bath, but Charlotte only lived for another two years, dying in the winter of 1881. She had moved back to Lyncombe & Widcombe to live, with daughter Mary and her husband David Hillyer, at 5 Plato Buildings not long before she died. Caroline married William James Nott, born 1855 in Bath, about 6 months after her father died.
