Thomas Budgen (1838-1910) & Maria Dolamore (1842-1933)

Thomas Budgen (1838-1910) and Maria Dolamore (1842-1933).
My 2nd great-grandparents.

I have many memories of my great-grandmother Annie Finch, who lived to the grand age of 105. She was a Budgen, the woman who forged the link between the Finch and Budgen families.

Annie was one of the daughters of Thomas Budgen, who was baptised at St Nicholas’ Church in Worth, Sussex, on 21 January 1838. His parents were Benjamin Budgen and Eliza Botting. In the 1851 census Thomas was listed as an agricultural labourer and was living with his family in Balcombe Lane. Ten years later they were at Standing Hall Farm in Worth, where Thomas worked as a footman and his father as a gamekeeper.

Thomas married Hertfordshire girl Maria Dolamore on 4 June 1861 at All Saints Church in Leavesden, near Watford. Thomas was described as a servant on the certificate, Maria’s father as a carpenter. In the census 10 years later the family were living at Kinnersley Manor near Horley in Surrey, where Thomas was a gardener among a multitude of household servants. The manor was occupied by the family of Bernard Schrober, a German who’d been born in Hannover and was working as a ‘general merchant’.

Judging by the baptism places of their children, Thomas and Maria Budgen moved around the neighbouring villages for much of this period as baptisms were recorded in Chipstead, Sidlow and Merstham as well as Worth and Reigate. By 1881 they were settled in Bell Street, Reigate, and Thomas was working as a gardener and domestic servant. They were still living there in 1891.

At the time of the 1901 census, Thomas and Maria had moved to 76 Lesbourne Road, Reigate, along with their grown-up children Clara (an elementary school teacher) and Harry (a clerk at a water works office). Thomas died in 1910 and was buried on 7 November at St Mary’s Church in the town. The record suggests he was living at 5 Blackborough Road at the time.

Maria Dolamore was born in 1842 and baptised on 18 December that year at St Lawrence’s Church in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. Her parents were David Dolamore and Mary Ann Walker. I’ve yet to discover how she met Thomas but it may have been through her working as a servant.

After her husband’s death, Maria was recorded as living with her son Harry at a six-room house called Leavesden in Eversfield Road, Reigate. Maria died on 16 March 1933 at the age of 90 in Reigate. The Surrey Mirror report on her funeral (edition of 31 March, page 9) noted she died at her daughter’s home in Chart Lane, Reigate. The funeral was on 22 March at St Mary’s in the town.

Thomas and Maria’s children were a fascinating bunch. One was married to the wife of a Reigate Mayor, one was an award-winning sleuth and another went to Australia and ended up as a POW in the First World War:

• Emma Budgen (1861-1925), my great-grand aunt. Born in Worth, Sussex, she was Mayoress of Reigate and one of her sons became chairman of the industrial giant Cable & Wireless.
• Mary Ann Budgen (1863-1953), my great-grand aunt. Mary Ann was born in Worth, Sussex, and unlike some of her siblings had to face poverty.
• Maria Budgen (1866-1953), my great-grand aunt. Maria was baptised on May 6 1866 at St Nicholas’s Church in Worth, Sussex. In the 1891 census, she was still living with her parents and listed as a dressmaker. She married widower Frank Stafford at St Peter’s Church in Brighton, Sussex, on 14 September 1898, her sister Clara listed as a witness. Frank was described as a general dealer and came from Guildford in Surrey, where he was baptised on 31 December 1869 to mail contractor John Stafford and his wife Frances. Frank’s first wife was Mary Ann Thomas – they married in Nutfield, Surrey, in 1895 but she died in October 1897. In 1901 Frank and Maria were living with the two sons from his first marriage in George Street, Brighton, but by 1911 Maria and her stepsons were living with a relative called William Henry Bastable in Onslow Street, Guildford. Frank was not listed. She was still there in 1921, listed as widower William’s niece and married, but had the Staffords separated or was Frank working elsewhere? I’ve not located him anywere after 1901. Maria cropped up as a witness in the report of a robbery in the Surrey Advertiser of 20 May 1925, and this noted that she was a tobacconist. The paper also reported her as witness to another robbery in an edition dated 3 October 1931, with her address now given as 27 Woodlands Road, Stoke, Guildford. She was living there at the time of the 1939 Register, again with William Bastable. It seems likely that she was either his housekeeper or that they had been in a long-term relationship. Electoral rolls from the 1920s and 30s showed a Maria Budgen living at 41 Springcopse Road in Reigate at the home of Clara (nee Budgen) and William Eastes but I suspect this must’ve been a different woman. Maria’s death on 7 February 1953 was reported in the Surrey Advertiser of 14 February that year, her address given as 27 Woodlands Road. Note that in later years the records sometimes listed her as ‘Marie’.
• Edward Thomas Budgen (1868-1925), my great-grand uncle. He emigrated to Australia, served in the First World War and was taken Prisoner of War.
• Charles Budgen (1870-1925), my great-grand uncle. Charles was baptised on 2 October 1870 at Emmanuel Church in Sidlow, Surrey, a village between Horley and Reigate. He married Millie Eliza Stevens at St Mary’s Church in Reigate on 13 December 1891, the record showing that he was a photographer. In 1911 he was living at 3 Greville Road in Walthamstow with his family and at this point in his life he was an unemployed dispatching clerk for a photography company. Millie, who was baptised in Reigate on 20 November 1870 to carpenter James Stevens and his wife Mary Ann, died in April 1912 and was buried on the 22nd at Queens Road Cemetery in Waltham Forest. The 1921 census showed Charles living with a couple of his daughters at Evelyn Road, Walthamstow, working for the Port of London Authority as a labourer at the Royal Albert Docks in East London. It’s likely that he was the Charles Budgen who married Florence Nugent in West Ham later that year. This couple – he a retired dock worker – were living in Chalford Walk, Wanstead & Woodford, in 1939. I have no confirmed death date for him, although a Charles Budgen of Northolt, Middlesex, died in 1947 and was a match for his age. Charles and his first wife had a large family:
  • Millie May Budgen (1891-1961). Millie was born in Reigate, was living in Croydon, Surrey, in 1939 and died in Rickmansworth in Buckinghamshire. She remained single and worked as a maid and domestic servant for some years.
  • Evelyn Gladys Budgen (1893-1978). Evelyn married printer William John Higginson in 1918. They had a family and by 1939 were living in Beulah Hill in Croydon. William died in 1979, a year after his wife.
  • Cyril Budgen (1898-1970). Cyril was working as a tool maker by the time of the 1921 census and married Madge Edith Dawson in 1929 at Harlesden, Middlesex. He died in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. Madge lived until 1979.
  • Vera Budgen (1901-1948). Also born in Reigate, Vera married Percy Pettitt in Croydon in 1928. He worked as a wood machinist and the couple lived in Reigate. She died in Redhill Hospital in 1948 but Percy lived until 1977.
  • Constance Alice Budgen (1903-1978). Constance was born in Walthamstow, Essex, and married Harold Faulkner Brittain in 1925. They had a family and lived in and around Norwood in Surrey for much of their lives, raising a family. In 1939 Harold was working as a postman. He died in 1975.
  • Doris Budgen (1906-1977). Also born in Walthamstow, Doris married Frank William Lenthall in Croydon in 1936. By 1939 they were living with their child in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, with Frank working in printing. He lived until 2003.
  • Ena Budgen (1911-????). Ena married Albert Williams in 1937. By 1939 they were living in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, and Albert was also working in printing. He died in 1986 in Devon.
• William Budgen (1873-1916), my great-grand uncle. Born in Merstham, Surrey, William became a baker but died young.
• Annie Budgen (1875-1980), my great-grandmother. A centenarian, Annie helped drive the family bakery business.
• Clara Budgen (1877-1971), my great-grand aunt. Born on 22 January 1877 in Merstham, Surrey, Clara was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Reigate on 25 March that year. By the 1901 census, she was working as an elementary school teacher and living with her parents and brother Harry at 76 Lesbourne Road in Reigate. She married law clerk William Silvester Eastes at St Mary’s on 9 August 1909. He came from Deal in Kent, where he was born on 9 October 1875 to tailor Silvester Eastes and his wife. For many years they lived at 41 Springcopse Road, Reigate, raising their family, but later moved to 51 Chart Lane. During the First World War, William was a member of the 4th Battalion Surrey Volunteer Regiment, which was set up for home defence. The Surrey Mirror of 19 December 1916 noted that he’d been promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. He went on to be chief clerk at Redhill County Court, retiring at the age of 70 in October 1945. Newspaper reports (Surrey Mirror 8 October 1937) also mention his membership of the Reigate Miniature Rifle Club, of which he was vice-president. William died at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, on 27 January 1959, leaving effects valued at £4,685. An obituary in the Surrey Mirror of 30 January 1959 noted that he’d been a singer with the Reigate Congregational Church Choir for many years and had also served as a deacon of the church. Clara was living at Fen Place, Turners Hill, Sussex, at the time of her death on 7 November 1971. She left effects worth £6,750, according to the gov.uk probate search website. Their children were:
  • William Silvester Eastes (1910-1990). He married Winifred Elizabeth Pullin in 1939, when he was working for the Post Office Engineering Department. He was living in West Norwood at the time of his death on 24 July 1990.
  • Henry James Eastes (1912-2008). Henry trained as a doctor and worked at Redhill County Hospital and then as a GP at Bank House, Marshfield in Wiltshire – the latter for decades. He married fellow doctor Zeta Matthews in Ruislip, Middlesex, in 1939, the same year they took over the surgery. Zeta, who died in 1999, had worked at Redhill County Hospital at the same time as Henry. An obituary in the British Medical Journal of 1 June 2009 stated: “He was archetypal of the general practitioner of his era who inherited the traditions of the past but lived through and developed the enormous changes in medicine that have taken general practice to the position it is in today”.
  • Clarence Godfrey Eastes (1919-1984). Clarence served with the Queen’s Own Hussars during the Second World War and in 1944 was promoted to Captain while on the Indo-Burmese border (13 October 1944 Surrey Mirror). He was promoted again to Major and married Anne Veronica Preutz at Reigate in 1956. He later worked as a nuclear engineer with Fiat in Turin. His daughters were talented skiers (Western Daily Press 10 January 1976).
• Harry Budgen (1879-1944), my great-grand uncle. Born in Reigate, Surrey, Harry battled the criminals!
• Arthur George Budgen (1884-1894), my great-grand uncle.

Sources: BMD and census records from Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk and Sussex Family History Group. Surrey Records Office. British Newspaper Archive (titles as mentioned), British History Online, family memories, Probate Search.