Phoebe Ann Ward (1836-1921).
My 2nd great-grandmother.
Phoebe Ann Ward was born in Tottenham, Middlesex, on 28 November 1836 and was baptised there on 26 February 1837 at All Hallows Church. Her parents were gardener William Ward and Mary Ann Downer.
As a teenager, Phoebe worked as a domestic servant. The 1851 census shows her living at a house in Tottenham High Road with governess Margaret Nicholson and her sisters.
By 1861 she had moved to Reigate in Surrey, where she must have met her future husband Isaac Finch while working as a servant with the Wallers at their home in Wray Common. Why she moved to Reigate is unclear. Stephen Wallers, the head of the house, was a solicitor and one of his other servants was Isaac’s brother Henry.
Phoebe and Isaac, a bricklayer, married on 3 September 1865 at St Mary’s in Reigate. They lived in Chart Road, Reigate, for many years and had six children, including my great-grandfather Walter Alfred Finch. They then moved to 4 Glovers Road but Isaac died in September 1896. She remained there for some years but the 1911 census shows her at 167 Garlands Road, Redhill, a one-room property, but she must’ve later moved to live with her daughter Mary Ann in Dover, Kent. Phoebe’s gravestone is at Charlton cemetery in Dover and it records her death on 17 November 1921. A notice in the Dover Express reported that she had suffered a long and painful illness.
The gravestone was erected by her daughter, who’d married railway worker Thomas Wall in 1894. They lived with their family at 8 Millais Road, Dover. Phoebe’s gravestone refers to her grandson Gunner Thomas Walter Wall, who was killed in 1916 during the First World War.
The gravestone reads: In Loving Memory of our dear mother Phoebe Ann Finch who passed away 17 Nov 1921 in her 85th year, also of our dear son Gunr T W Wall RFA, died of wounds 23 Oct 1916 aged 18 years, interred Etaples cemetery. RIP.
The Dover Express reported that Phoebe’s funeral at Charlton cemetery was attended by “Mr W Finch (son, Reigate), Mr and Mrs TR Wall (son-in-law and daughter), Miss Agnes Wall, Miss Dorothy Wall and Miss Mary Wall (granddaughter), Mrs WC Ward (niece) and Mr W Ward (nephew). Floral tributes were sent from Tom and Mary, Agnes and family (Glasgow), Agnes (Edmonton), Joe and Clara (Birmingham), Walter, Annie and family (Croydon), Agnes, Dorrie, Molly and Percy; her son at Reigate; Hannah and girls; Mrs Hood; and all at No. 6.” Dover Express 25 November 1921
Sources: Ancestry.com and Findmypast.com for census and BMD returns, Surrey Family History Centre (Woking), British Newspaper Archive, The Dover War Memorial Project.