Ten years later William and Maria were living in one room at 10 Somerset Street, in the parish of St James, Bath. Maria died the next year on the 15th March 1862 of bronchitis and emphysema, and her occupation was given as 'wife of William Henry Alfred Vaughan, a journeyman mason', showing that William outlived her. The death was registered by Mary Ann Head of Rose Cottage, Bath. She could have been Mary Ann Bowler who married Charles Head in the spring of 1841 and was living at 1 St George's Place, Lyncombe & Widcombe, Bath in 1861. This is in Dolemeads just over the river from the railway station and close to the town centre, and as Charles was a labourer this may have been how the families knew each other, or they may have lived nearby at some time.
William died in the autumn of 1864, although his name was recorded as William Henry Coleford Vaughan.
He had left home by 1841 and was working as a journeyman mason, living at the delightfully named Ostrich Court, near Grove Street which is close to the city centre. I believe he married Sarah Webley from Southwick in Wiltshire in the winter of 1850 in Bristol registration district. A few months later they were living on Saltford Hill in Saltford which is on the main road between Bristol and Bath and is very close to the River Avon.
William married Hannah Maria Knight, (she was the daughter of a labourer called Thomas Knight), on the 30th May 1841 in Walcot Parish Church by the curate, C Gillmor when they were living in Gibbs Court which may have been off Grove Street. The witnesses were George Allwright and Thomas Tidmarsh. Neither William nor his bride were able to sign their names. Like most of the family William Henry was a mason.
They had three children in Bath, a son whose name is not shown on his birth certificate and a daughter called Maria Georgina in 1844 and another daughter, Emma H, in 1847. By 1849, when Laura Agnes was born, they had moved to Albrighton in Shropshire and had moved to Pattingham in Staffordshire within the next couple of years. It is probable that their son died before the 1851 census was taken.
Ten years later they were in Coleman Street, Wolverhampton and the three daughters were still living with their parents. Maria and Laura married in the mid-1860s and left home but 1871 saw William, Hannah and Emma still in Coleman Street, at number 146, with Maria's first son William Preece living with them.
William died in the spring of 1877 but Hannah continued to live in Coleman Street, but with her daughter and son-in-law Maria and George Preece. She probably died before 1891.
The 1861 census shows that they were at 5 Boswells Court off Corn Street and Richard's occupation was 'Pennant Master'. (Pennant grit is a series of grit and sandstone strata lying between the upper and lower coal measures in South Wales and the Bristol area and stone from these strata was used for paving, millstones, etc.) Robert was not living with Richard and Caroline, but three of their children were - William George, (born 1850 according to the 1861 census but not shown on the 1851 census), Henry who was born in 1852 and Maria Mary Ann Vaughan who was born on the 11th January 1855 at 5 Boswells Court. The family also had two lodgers in the house - William Pearce, an unmarried man aged 22 who was a mason's labourer born in Bath, and George Rutland, unmarried and aged18, a 'Porter in General'. Caroline died between 1861 and 1864 and Richard remarried in 1864.
His second wife was Emma Rudman who was born in 1833 in Devizes, Wiltshire. In the winter of 1865 they had a daughter Emma Rudman Vaughan who died early the following year and another daughter called Charlotte one year later but she only lived a few weeks. Their third child, William J, was born in 1869 and the three of them were living at 48 Villa Fields, Bathwick, Bath by 1871. Their last daughter was also named Emma, after her mother, and she was born in 1877, and they had moved house again, but only a short distance to 19 Villa Fields. They lived there until 1891 and Richard died one year later on the 8th May 1892 of chronic bronchitis and morbus cordis, (heart disease). He was only 64. Emma, the daughter, was working as a dressmaker in 1891 and living with her parents. After Richard died William J, and his wife Minnie and children, moved to Northampton, and his sister and mother went with them. This was between 1896 and 1900.
In 1851 he was still living with his parents at 6 St James Court in Bath and had followed his father's trade as a mason. Some time during the next ten years he met, and married, Mary Ann and in 1861 they were living in White Lion Row in Eglwysilan, just a few miles south-east of Pontypridd in Glamorgan, South Wales. Mary Ann was just a couple of years younger than Charles and also came from Bath.
Charles may have worked at the White Lion in Eglwysilan as within ten years he and Mary Ann had moved back to Bath where Charles took over the running of the Lower Bristol Road Tavern in Union Terrace, but he was also working as a mason. There were two boarders living in the pub in 1871 - Samuel Lewis, a 27 year old wheelwright and Sarah Head who was 33 and married and working as an ironer, but there is no mention of her husband.
By 1881 they had moved to take over another pub, the Long Acre Tavern in Walcot, Bath. Apparently Charles was working full time in the licensed trade at this time. They had one employee who lived in the pub, Charles's niece Emma, (daughter of William Henry Vaughan), and she was a barmaid. At no time was Mary Ann shown to have had an occupation, but it is probable that she would have worked in the pubs to assist her husband.
Mary Ann died in the spring of 1884 in Bristol, so the family must have left the Long Acre Tavern and possibly moved to the Blue Bowl public house in Temple Back, very close to Bristol Temple Meads station soon after 1881, and Charles and his niece stayed there until after 1891, with Emma acting as assistant publican.
Some time after 1891 Charles left the licensed trade, and Bristol, to resume his work as a stone mason as he was living at 4 Mezellion Place, Bath. This was near the junction of Snow Hill, Fairfield Road and Camden Road. He died in the summer of 1905. His niece was still living with him in 1901 and, although no occupation is shown for her, it is possible that she acted as a housekeeper for Charles.
His education had been sufficiently good for him to be able to sign his name when he married, although Mary could not. Two of the witnesses at the wedding were Edward Cooper and George Allwright. They had six children, the first of whom, Mary J was born in May or June 1880 when they were living at 8 Peter Street near the centre of Bath. (She probably died before she reached her tenth birthday as their last child was also called Mary.)
They moved from this address to 28 Peter Street after the 1881 census, but before Thomas George was born in the summer of 1882. By the time of the 1881 census William had probably obtained better paid work as he was then a mason, and he continued to do this work until after the 1901 census. Richard was born in the winter of 1884, and he was followed by Frederick in the summer of 1887, Rosina on the 11th of May 1889, and finally Mary Ann in 1891 after the census of that year had been taken.
Rosina's birth certificate gives their address as 27 Peter Street, but two years later the census showed them at number 28, so possibly they made short distance moves every so often. At least one more move followed as they were at 10 Somerset Street, (about a quarter of a mile from Peter Street), when Mary's mother died and still there when the 1901 census was taken. There were three other households at 10 Somerset Street in 1901, each occupying one room.
The Vaughans must have occupied at least five rooms or the number of rooms would have been noted on the census form. In addition to the seven Vaughans there was a visitor, Alfred Daighton, age 23, am unmarried stoker, born in Bath and 3 boarders. (It is possible that Alfred was Alfred Dainton, son of Mary's sister Hannah and her husband "Harry" Dainton, although this would have meant that he had returned from Canada. His occupation of stoker could suggest that he was a seaman.) The boarders were John Brown, widowed, age 57, General Labourer, born in Gloucester; Rees Thomas, single, age 20, Joiner born in Wales; and William H Sage, married age 30, Butcher, born in Bath.
The picture may have been taken in the late Victorian period. After the dog died Mary had it stuffed!
William went blind some time after 1901 and the family must have moved to the basement at Somerset Street when the children left home but this used to flood quite often as it was only about 100 yards from the Avon and the family moved upstairs until the floods had receded. William suffered from poor health towards the end of his life as he used to huddle in his overcoat in front of the fire in the front room and the grandchildren were not allowed to disturb him. Mary Ann died on the 2nd March 1930 and William nine years later on 29th July 1939.
Their first two children, Minnie E and Constance W, were born in Bath in 1892 and 1896 respectively. Some time in the next four years they moved to Northampton, taking William's sister Emma and his mother with them. A third child, and their first son, was born around May/June 1900. He was named Reginald F and in March of 1901 William and Minnie with the three children and sister and mother of William were at 86 Derby Road, Northampton. William's occupation was stone cutter and letter engraver and Minnie had no occupation, as was fairly common in those days.
