Maria Finch (1829–1868) and Edward Duffell (1826-1895).
My 2nd great-grand aunt and uncle.
Maria Finch (or Mary as she was sometimes recorded) was baptised on 18 January 1829 at St Mary Magdelene Church in Reigate, Surrey, the daughter of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford.
She grew up in the town with her parents and siblings and was working as a house servant by the time of the 1851 census, living with employer and butcher William Silver and his family in Bell Street, Reigate.
Maria married Edward Duffell at St Mary’s in Reigate on 20 May 1855. He was baptised nearby on 6 August 1826 in Betchworth, Surrey, the son of labourer Thomas Duffell and his wife Elizabeth. In subsequent census returns and records Edward was described as a carman (in other words the driver of a horsedrawn cart), a coal porter or a labourer. Together they had a number of children.
The couple may have lived in the village of Bletchingley, Surrey, during the 1850s judging by the census returns of some of their children, but all were baptised a few miles away at the family church in Reigate. And they were back living there at the time of the 1861 census. Maria Snr died young in October 1868 and was buried on 1 November that year at St Mary Magdalene Church. Edward married again, on 24 December 1871, with his bride being Mary Frost. He died on 11 February 1895, at South Park in Reigate according to the death notices in the Surrey Mirror of 15 February of that year.
Edward and Maria’s family:
- Arthur Duffell (1856-1925). Arthur worked as an attendant at the Banstead Asylum in Surrey for several years but later became a gardener. He married Annie Roe in her native county of Staffordshire in 1882 and had children with her but she died in 1889. In 1898 he wed Eliza Jane Williams (nee Marden), who came from East Grinstead in Sussex. The family lived in the Reigate area. Arthur died in 1925 and his funeral was held at the Baptist Tabernacle.
- Maria Duffell (1857-1928). Maria remained single and in 1881 was working as a housemaid in Kennington, now South London. The following two census records showed her living in Islington with Mary Preece, both of them dressmakers. Perhaps they were a couple? Maria was back in Reigate by 1911 and living alone. She died there in 1928.
- Charles Duffell (1859-1936). Charles married Rhoda Carrier in Epsom in 1881 when he was working as a shunter on the railways. He remained on the railways for the rest of his working life, mostly as a signalman. It was probably work that was behind his move to Battersea in South London, where he and Rhoda raised their family. She died in 1932.
- Louisa Duffell (1861-????). Louisa crops up in the 1881 census working as a housemaid alongside her sister Maria at a house in Kennington, South London. I’ve not been able to trace her with any confidence after this.
- Ellen Mary Duffell (1863-????). Ellen worked as a nurse as a young woman, married George Thomas Johnson in his home city of Westminster in 1889 and raised a family with him. The 1911 census showed them living in Reigate, George working for a furniture removal company, but he’d previously worked as a stoker for an electricity works. They were living in West Wickham, Kent, in 1939, when he was described as a retired steamwagon driver. He died in 1948 (Bromley & West Kent Mercury 17 September 1948) but I’ve yet to confirm a date for Ellen.
Sources: All data has been gathered from Ancestry.co.uk, FindMyPast.co.uk, the British Newspaper Archive and visits to Surrey Family History Centre in Woking.