The Dolamores

The Dolamores joined my family tree with my 2nd great-grandmother Maria Dolamore, who married Thomas Budgen in 1861. They were the parents of Annie Budgen, who went on to marry into the Finch family and was my great-grandmother. Maria, her relatives and ancestors came from Hertfordshire, from towns and villages such as Watford, Abbots Langley and Leavesden.

View where the Dolamores are in my current family tree

Dolamore is one of the names the Normans brought when they conquered England in 1066 and is a variation of the French surname de la Mare, meaning of the sea. The surname is most often found in London, Hampshire and Hertfordshire but over time has also been written as Delamere, Delmore, Lamere and so on. One of the first references to the name was in Gloucestershire where Guillaume de La Mare of Normandy was a tenant in chief of lands there and in Herefordshire. He also owned land in Wiltshire and Hertfordshire in 1086.

Maria Dolamore (1842-1933).
My 2nd great-grandmother.

Maria was baptised in Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire in 1842, the child of David Dolamore and Mary Ann Walker (see below) and married Thomas Budgen in nearby Leavesden in 1861. They settled in Reigate, Surrey. For details of her life and family, see the entry for her husband Thomas Budgen here.

David Dolamore (1803-1871) and Mary Ann Walker (1803-1873).
My 3rd great-grandparents.

David Dolamore was baptised on 28 January 1803 at St Lawrence’s Church, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, to parents William Dolamore and Charlotte Kimpton (see below). As a teenager he was apprenticed to baker John Sexton of Stanmore in Middlesex. However, he mostly worked as a carpenter.

He married Stanmore-born Mary Ann Walker on 23 June 1823 at St Lawrence’s Church in Abbots Langley and the family then moved on to live in Stanmore and at various addresses in Watford and Leavesden. He died at Leavesden Green on 3 February 1871 leaving effects valued at under £100.

Mary Ann Walker was baptised on the 7 August 1803 at St John the Evangelist in Great Stanmore, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Walker. After the death of her husband she was listed in the 1871 census as a ‘proprietor of houses’, usually a term for a landlord and suggesting she wasn’t exactly a pauper. She died just two years later, on 14 October 1873 in Leavesden. Her sole executor was daughter Ann, then a spinster, and she left effects worth under £100.

Read more about David’s life here.

David and Mary Ann’s known children were:

  • Job Dolamore (1824-1824), my 2nd great-grand uncle. Baptised on 25 July 1824 at St John’s Church in Great Stanmore, Middlesex, he was buried there on 12 December the same year.
  • George Dolamore (1826-1835), my 2nd great-grand uncle. Baptised on 15 January 1826 at St John’s Church in Great Stanmore, he was buried there on 26 April 1835.
  • Mary Ann Dolamore (1828-1899), my 2nd great-grand aunt. Baptised on 17 February 1828 at St Lawrence’s Church in Abbots Langley, Mary Ann married and moved to live in Wales. Read more about her story here.
  • William Dolamore (1830-1896), my 2nd great-grand uncle. Baptised on 18 April 1830 at St Lawrence’s Church in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, he was not living with his parents at the time of the 1841 Census and was instead recorded as a labourer in Watford. He married Ann Parkins at St Pancras Old Church in Middlesex on 21 April 1851. Ann, who was working as a servant in St Pancras before her marriage, came from Abbots Langley, where she was baptised on 14 June 1829 to agricultural labour William Parkins and his wife Sarah. William and Ann settled back in the Watford area, mostly in Leavesden Green (1851 and 1861 censuses) and Estcourt Road in Watford (1881 and 1891 censuses). He was a carpenter and later in life a builder’s foreman (1891 Census). The couple had many children but tragedy struck in 1864 when their two eldest daughters died within two days of each other. William died on 12 December 1893, leaving effects worth £498. Ann died on 11 March 1906. Their children were:
    • Ann Dolamore (1854-1864) was baptised on 12 March 1854 in Leavesden, Hertfordshire. The Watford Observer of 16 July 1864 reported her death as being on the 10 July.
    • Sarah Dolamore (1855-1864) was baptised on 10 June 1855 in Leavesden, Hertfordshire. The Watford Observer of 16 July 1864 reported her death as being on the 11 July.
    • William Dolamore (1859-1891). William was baptised in Leavesden on 11 September 1859 and married Uxbridge-born Isabella Smith in Watford on 24 February 1881. He worked as a carpenter and they were living at The Cock Inn in Sarratt, Hertfordshire, in that year’s census – her Aunt Elizabeth was landlord – and at the time of the 1886 Kelly’s Directory. The couple had children and at William’s death in 1891 Isabella had become the Cock’s landlord. She remarried on 18 August 1891 in Sarratt, her husband being retired policeman George Bone. A number of newspaper reports pointed to her problems with being drunk in public (Watford Observer 8 July 1911). I’m unclear what happened to her after she cropped up in the 1911 Census in Watford.
    • George Dolamore (1861-1918). George was baptised in Leavesden on 10 November 1861 and initially worked as a carpenter. He was living at home with his parents in 1881 but in 1888 he was in Kent marrying Suffolk-born widow Lavinia Sarah Leach nee Hubbard, who was almost 30 years his senior. When he moved there is not clear but by 1891 he was a servant for the Lloyd family at a house in Brasted, Kent. The 1891 Census showed that George had been promoted to butler while Lavinia served as housekeeper. She died in Kent in 1904 but the 1911 Census showed George still working for the Lloyds. He died in 1918, the probate record giving his address as Fernbank in Brasted. He left effects valued at just over £1,448.
    • Emma Dolamore (1863-1958). Baptised in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, on 9 August 1863, Emma lived with her parents and then her widowed mother in the Watford area and didn’t marry until just after the latter’s death in 1906. Widower George Frederick Hooker, who came from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, had several children with his previous wife and they were living with him and Emma at the 1911 Census in Watford. They remained in the town at Holywell Road and he worked as a carpenter. George died in Watford in 1947, Emma in 1958.
    • Edwin Charles Dolamore (1865-1922). Baptised in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, on 11 June 1865, Edwin grew up in Watford and worked as a carpenter. He was sometimes known as Charles. He married Clara Cromack of Hemel Hempstead in 1892, settled in St John’s Road, Watford, and raised a family. By the 1911 Census, he was being described as storekeeper for a building company. However, he was back working as a carpenter by 1921. Edwin died on 26 September 1922, Clara on 21 May 1939.
    • James Dolamore (1869-1937). Baptised in Leavesden on 13 November 1870, James worked as a painter and decorator. He married Aldenham native Ada Ann Barker in Watford in 1895, settled in the town and had several children with her. James died in 1937, Ada in 1952.
  • Eleanor Dolamore (1832-????), my 2nd great-grand aunt. Born in 1832, she was baptised on 28 October that year at St Lawrence’s in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. Sometimes referred to as Ellen in the records, in 1851 she was working as a kitchen maid at High Elms, a country house near Leavesden Green that at the time was owned by distiller Arthur Currie. Eleanor married Richard Mason on 13 January 1857 at St Martin in the Fields Church, Westminster. He was working as a gardener at Claremont House in Esher, Surrey, at the time of the wedding. This Palladian mansion was later bought by the nation for the Royal Family to use and at the time Richard worked there it was the home of the exiled French king Louis Philippe I and his family. Where the Masons lived after the wedding is unclear but the couple had a child, Emily, who was baptised on 13 May 1860 at Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. Richard was still working as a gardener and the couple were said to be living locally. However, the 1861 Census showed Eleanor and Emily at Orsett Mews in Paddington, Middlesex, visiting a married couple. Their story then becomes murky. Eleanor must surely be the widow and Watford-born Eleanor Mason who was living as a farmer at Winfarthing in Norfolk with 20-year-old Dublin-born daughter Louise, as recorded in the 1891 Census. So had the family moved to Ireland at some point in the 1860s? A Mary Ann Mason was born in Dublin in 1870 to Eleanor Dolamore and Richard Mason, again the coincidence of name is such that it must be them. The Diss Express of 25 September 1891 recorded the sale of farming implements and livestock belonging to Eleanor in Winfarthing, so was she selling up or had she died? I’ve not found a death record for her or any trace of Richard.
    • Emily Mason (1860-????), who was baptised on 13 May 1860 at Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. The 1861 Census showed Emily and her mother in Paddington, Middlesex, visiting a married couple.
    • Louise Mason (c1869-????). The only reference to her is in the 1891 Census when she was living with her mother in Winfarthing, Norfolk. She was said to have been born in Dublin, Ireland.
    • Mary Ann Mason (1870-????) was born in Dublin on 13 March 1870 but I’ve found nothing else about her.
  • Alfred Dolamore (1835-1910), my 2nd great-grand uncle. Alfred had a family, worked as a carpenter but killed himself as an old man in Stafford in 1910. Read about his life
  • Elizabeth Dolamore (1836-1904), my 2nd great-grand aunt. Elizabeth married William Bushby, a miller, and lived in Lancing, Sussex, but he drowned in a nearby lagoon. Read about their lives.
  • Emma Dolamore (1839-1923), my 2nd great-grand aunt. Emma was baptised on 3 March 1839 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, and grew up in the Watford area. The 1861 Census listed her working as a cook for solicitor Alfred Pollock and his family, who lived in Windmill Hill, Hampstead, Middlesex. She married Charles Samuel Minns on 5 May 1868 at All Saints’ Church in Leavesden, Hertfordshire. He hailed from Norwich in Norfolk, where he was born on 20 August 1839 to brewer’s servant James and his wife Emily. Charles and Emma went on to live at Palace Street, St Pancras, Middlesex (1881 Census) and Hassett Road, Homerton (1891). Charles was a piano maker by trade but in the 1901 Census he was described as being paralysed at home in Hassett Road. He died in 1902. At the 1911 and 1921 censuses Emma was living on her own means in Kingsland Road, Hackney. The couple had no children. Emma died in Hackney in 1923.
  • Maria Dolamore (1841-1933), my 2nd greatgrandmother. Maria married Thomas Budgen in 1861 and went to live in Surrey. They had a large family. Read about them here.
  • Ann Dolamore (1845-1928), my 2nd great-grand aunt. Ann was baptised on 25 May 1845 at Abbots Langley Church in Hertfordshire. It’s likely she was the Ann Dolamore from Leavesden Green who was working as a nursery maid at the Rectory in Abbess Roding, Essex, in the 1861 Census and as a domestic servant in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, in 1871. She married John Toovey at Abbots Langley Church on 23 December 1879. He was born to parents Benjamin and Hannah Toovey and baptised in the village on 26 September 1830. The 1851 Census described him as a draper’s apprentice in Watford but Ann and John settled at Hazel Grove Farm in Abbots Langley after their marriage, and they farmed 123 acres and employed three men according to the 1881 Census. He died there on 10 December 1889. Ann went on to farm the land herself for several decades (she leased it from Trinity College, Oxford, and Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, according to a public notice in the Watford Observer of 12 October 1901). By the 1911 Census she was no longer working and was living on the High Street at Abbotts Langley. In 1921 she was with a female companion in Leavesden. Ann died on 8 February 1928 while living at Vine Cottage, Leavesden Green, and left effects worth £110. She appears to have had no children with John, at least any that survived.
  • David Edmund Dolamore (1847-1873), my 2nd great-grand uncle. David was baptised on 29 August 1847 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. At the tender age of 13 he was already working as a domestic servant, specifically a footboy, far from home at 38/39 Craven Street, Charing Cross, London. The property was owned by Richard Millard, a military outfitter who owned Hill & Millard, described as Manufacturers of Portable Military Furniture and among the most well-respected makers of camp equipment in the 19th century. By the time of the 1871 census he was back home living in Leavesden with his widowed mother, working as a carpenter. He died young on 8 November 1873 just a few weeks after his mother.

William Dolamore (1774-1819) and Charlotte Kimpton (1771-1826).
My 4th great-grandparents.

William was baptised on 22 May 1774 at St Lawrence’s Church, Abbots Langley, in Hertfordshire. The record listed his father as James but didn’t give a name for his wife, but I believe he was the eldest child of James Dolamore and Elizabeth Ivory (see below).

William married Charlotte Kimpton (or Kimton depending on the record) at St Mary’s Church in Watford on 29 September 1794. The witnesses were Esther Dollamore and Thomas Kimton. Charlotte was the daughter of John Kimpton and Ann Freeman and had been baptised on 16 June 1771 at Abbots Langley.

William, who was a farmer, died in Leavesden Green, Hertfordshire, in 1819, and was buried in Abbots Langley on 7 November.

In his will he left all his belongings, including farming stock, furniture and money, to his widow Charlotte and chose his son James of Leavesden to run the farming business with her in return for a salary to be paid by her. He also left instructions that his son David be properly clothed by Charlotte during his apprenticeship as a baker. His son James and his widow were the executors along with William’s brother James, who was described as a victualler of St Albans in Hertfordshire. The will named his five surviving children – James, Henry, David, Eliza and Caroline – and the probate notice referred to his estate being valued at less than £200.

Charlotte Kimpton died in 1826 and buried on 5 March 1826 in Abbots Langley.

The couple had at least six children:

  • James Dolamore (1795-1849), my 3rd great-grand uncle. James was baptised on 5 April 1795 at St Lawrence’s in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire and married Maria Cooper there on 19 September 1814. She came from the hamlet of Whitwell in Hertfordshire, and had been baptised on 29 January 1792 at St Paul’s Walden to parents John and Elizabeth Cooper. In his will, James’s father William left him his farm to run alongside his widow but the 1841 Census showed him living in Leavesden, in an area called Gander’s Ash, and working as a higler/higgler. This was usually a term used to denote a general or itinerant dealer but was someone who made a living as a general or itinerant dealer but was sometimes used to describe a contract farm worker. He was also described this way on many of his children’s baptism records. It looks as if he wasn’t particularly good at managing his money for Perry’s Bankrupt Gazette of 13 February 1830 listed him as an insolvent petitioning to be discharged at a forthcoming hearing. It may even be that he was in prison for being in debt as he, and others, were described as prisoners. James died in 1849 and was buried at St Lawrence’s in Abbots Langley on 23 December. Maria was recorded at Gander’s Ash in the 1851 and 1861 censuses working as a beerhouse keeper and seller. The Hertford Mercury of 4 October 1851 reported that she had been fined 2s 6d plus costs at the Watford Petty Sessions for refusing to admit a policeman into the premises during the time of divine service. Maria said she wasn’t guilty. The plain clothes officer said he’d seen men loitering by the beerhouse and that it had taken many minutes for him to be let in. Once inside he claimed to have found evidence of drinking. Witnesses and Maria said he’d been admitted in under a minute. The bench believed that police but Maria told them she’d rather rot in prison than pay a penny in fines. The Herts Guardian of 6 April 1858 reported that she’d been fined 10 shillings plus costs at the Petty Sessions for again having her house open for the sale of beer outside of hours. Maria lived until 1864, with the Watford Observer of 24 December 1864 reporting her death in Gander’s Ash on the 19th. She was buried on the 23rd in Leavesden. James and Maria’s children were:
    • William Dolamore (1818-????). Baptised in Abbots Langley on 5 April 1818, William married local woman and labourer’s daughter Elizabeth Montagu there on 25 December 1848. He, like his father, was described as a higgler. An 1851 Census return showed widow Elizabeth Dollamore from Abbots Langley working as a servant at a house in Croydon, Surrey. The age and place of birth matches her but I’ve found no death record for William that matches and no subsequent records for Elizabeth that work.
    • Noah Dolamore (1819-1891). Baptised in Abbots Langley on 12 December 1819, Noah married Elizabeth Plaice of Middlesex on 28 March 1843 in Holcombe Rogus in Devon. At the time he was working as a railway timekeeper. They raised a family and moved round the country on work. In 1851 they were in Tipton, Staffordshire, but the census wrongly stated they were from Shropshire. In 1861 they were in Windsor, Berkshire, and Noah was working as a general dealer but he also worked as landlord of the Duke of Cambridge pub in the town (Reading Mercury 21 April 1866). Various licence transfers reported in the newspapers suggest that he was a landlord at other pubs, including the Lansdown Arms in Lambeth (Morning Advertiser 13 July 1882). Elizabeth featured in the census returns of 1871 and 1881 in Lambeth, Surrey, but Noah wasn’t with the family. She was described as a former landlady or a builder’s wife. I’ve not found Noah until the 1891 Census, when the couple were living with one of their grandchildren and family on the Walworth Road in Newington, Surrey. Noah was living there at his death just a few months later. Elizabeth died in Lambeth in 1906.
    • James Dolamore (1821-1897). Baptised in Abbots Langley on 13 May 1821, James married Phoebe McBride in Hampshire in 1845. She had been baptised there in Romsey in 1828. The couple moved around over the years with James working as a groom and ostler. In 1851 they were in Harborne, Staffordshire, in 1861 in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, and in 1871 in St George Hanover Square, London. They then settled in Hammersmith, Middlesex. They appear not to have had children. James died in Middlesex in 1897, Phoebe in December 1902 having spent her last years in Acton.
    • Frances Dolamore (1822-1835) was baptised on 8 December 1822 in Abbots Langley and buried there on 25 October 1835.
    • Mary Ann Dolamore (1822-1883). Baptised in Abbots Langley on 2 May 1824, Mary Ann married local man and bricklayer Emanuel Bunker in Watford on 3 September 1848 and raised a family with him. I’ve found no birth or baptism record for him but it seems he was also known as Robert. Confusingly there was another Robert Bunker living in Watford of a similar age – and also married to a Mary Ann – so perhaps they were related and Emanuel was used as a differentiator? Mary Ann and Emanuel were recorded in St Pancras, Middlesex, in the 1851 Census and from 1861 in Norwood, Surrey. Mary Ann died on 8 February 1890 and was buried in West Norwood. Emanuel died in 1892 and was buried in Norwood on 6 August that year.
    • Matilda Dolamore (1825-????). Matilda was baptised in Abbots Langley on 15 November 1825 and was listed as a laundress in the 1851 Census, when she was living with her mother. but I am unclear about her fate. She is most likely the woman who married a Joseph Wright or John Walker in Hertfordshire in 1854. However, I’ve been unable to find her in subsequent census returns with either surname.
    • Amelia Dolamore (1827-????). Baptised in Abbots Langley on 13 May 1827, Amelia’s future is also unclear as she could be confused with someone born in St Albans around the same time and who married in 1850.
    • Thomas Dolamore (1829-1908). Baptised in Abbots Langley on 15 March 1829, Thomas lived much of his life elsewhere. In 1851 he was in Harborne, Staffordshire, and working as a servant – several other family members were also living there at the time. His first wife was Emma Whitney from Walsall in Staffordshire and they married at Halesowen, Worcestershire, on 2 May 1859 when he was working as a railway signalman. Thomas was working as a warehouseman at the 1861 Census, when the couple were with Emma’s parents in Walsall. She died young and was buried in Kidderminster, Worcestershire – their home address at the time – on 27 May 1868. Thomas’s second wife was Sarah Elizabeth Johnson, who came from Worcestershire. They married in Wolverley, Worcestershire on 25 December 1869. He had a number of other jobs in the following years. In 1871, when they were in Kidderminster, he was working in a wine factory, but 10 years later he was a brewer’s cellarman. At that point they had moved to Wolverhampton. There, in 1901, he was an ostler. Sarah and Thomas both died in Staffordshire in 1908. He had children with both wives.
    • Daniel Dolamore (1833-1916). Baptised in Abbots Langley on 24 February 1833, Daniel followed his brother James to Harborne in Staffordshire where he was a valet at the 1851 Census. He married Annabella Grove of Worcestershire in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, on 24 August 1862, described at the time as a provisions dealer, and they had children together. The couple moved around over the years and were found in Acton in Middlesex in 1871 and Hammersmith in 1881 – on both occasions Daniel was working as a stud groom. By 1891 he was manager of a stud in Itchingswell, Hampshire. But in 1901 they were in Greenwich, Kent, and Daniel was working as a general labourer. Annabella died there in 1910 – the following year the census for Greenwich described Daniel as a retired grocer! He died in 1916.
    • Elizabeth Dolamore (1836-1904). Baptised in Abbots Langley on 31 January 1836, it’s very likely that Elizabeth married her cousin Alfred. See Alfred Dolamore’s story here.
  • Dorcas Dolamore (1796-1801), my 3rd great-grand aunt. She was baptised in Abbots Langley on 6 November 1796 but died in 1801 and was buried in the village on 4 January.
  • Joseph Dolamore (1798-1799), my 3rd great-grand uncle. Joseph was baptised in Abbots Langley on 14 November 1798 and was buried in the village on 1 December 1799.
  • Henry Dolamore (1800-1877), my 3rd great-grand uncle. Henry was baptised on 12 March 1800 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, and married Hannah Neale at St Mary’s in nearby Watford on 25 December 1819. She was probably the daughter of Richard and Ann Neale who was baptised on 10 July 1797 at St Stephen’s Church, St Albans, Hertfordshire. He had a daughter with her but Hannah died young and was buried in Abbots Langley on 1 April 1827. Henry was then married to a woman called Maria from Capel St Andrew in Suffolk – but I’ve not found a marriage record and thus her surname. The 1841 Census showed agricultural labourer Henry and Maria living in Shenfield, Essex. Was he the same Henry who’d appeared before the Essex Assizes charged with horse stealing in 1833? The case doesn’t appear to have been proceeded with, with the words ‘no bill’ recorded. In 1851 Henry and his family had moved again and he was working as a servant, living in Oldbury Road, Harborne, Staffordshire (a town many Dolamores would call home over the years). In 1861 he was a beer seller in Chalvey, Buckinghamshire. The 1869 Post Office Directory for the town described him as a beer retailer and grocer but on 19 January that year the London Gazette reported that he’d been adjudged bankrupt and was in the process of being discharged. The reports stated that he was ‘late of the Omar Pasha beerhouse’ in New Windsor, Berkshire, but now of the Flag beerhouse in Chalvey. In 1871, the census showed him at the Omar Pasha, a small pub in Sheet Street. Henry died in 1877 and Maria – described as a former poulterer – was recorded as living in almshouses on Victoria Street in Windsor in 1881. She was most likely the Mary Dolomore who died in Windsor in 1890. Henry’s children were:
    • Dorcas Dolamore (1824-????) was baptised in Abbots Langley on 16 May 1824 to Henry and his first wife Hannah. Dorcas married James Sims in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, on 27 March 1848 but I’ve not located her subsequently. She may well have been the Dorcas (or Darcus) Sims whose death was registered in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, later that year. This area covered parts of Staffordshire including Harborne, where Dorcas lived.
    • Mary Ann Dolamore (1832-????) was born to Henry and Maria in about 1832 but I have no records other than the 1841 and 1851 censuses. I suspect she was the woman whose death was registered in Staffordshire in 1853.
  • David Dolamore (1803-1871), my 3rd great-grandfather. A carpenter in Hertfordshire by trade, although he was first apprenticed as a baker in Middlesex, read about his life here.
  • Eliza Dolamore (1805-1891), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Eliza was baptised on 3 February 1805 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. She married Job Slaughter (sometimes George) on 9 June 1829 in the parish of St Stephen – part of the city of St Albans, Hertfordshire. He’d been born there in 1811 to parents Joseph and Hannah and was baptised on 28 April that year. Eliza and Job lived in and around St Albans – in the charmingly named Smug Oak and the village of Frogmore – for the rest of their lives, with Job working initially as an agricultural labourer and then (1851 Census) as a beer house keeper, a carrier (1861) and a beer house keeper again (1871 and 1881 censuses). Job had the inevitable run-in with the law, as the Herts Guardian of the 24 April 1858 reported. He was accused of drawing beer before 1pm on a Sunday, with a PC Dunn claiming to have seen a lad with a jug of ale leaving the premises. Other witnesses claimed he’d been wrong about the time and the case was dismissed. Job died in Bricket Wood, a village south of St Albans, and he was buried in the city on 29 September 1889. Eliza went on to live with her widower son George but died in 1891 and was buried in St Albans on 31 December. Their children were:
    • George Slaughter (1830-1900) was baptised on 22 August 1830 at St Stephen’s in St Albans and lived in the area his whole life. He married local woman Emma Atkins there in 1852 and raised a family with her. All the census returns showed him working as an agricultural labourer while Emma was listed as a Brazilian hat maker from the 1851 Census onwards. The manufacturing of these straw hats, made from imported palm leaves, employed many in and around St Albans. Emma died in 1881 and George was shown living with his widowed mother in 1891. He was admitted to the Hertfordshire Asylum, Hill End, on 4 August 1900 and died there a few months later on 12 October 1900. It appears that it wasn’t his first admission. Hertfordshire Archives records show he was admitted on 14 April 1899 suffering from chronic melancholia, but how long he was a patient is currently unknown.
    • Mary Ann Slaughter (1836-1854) was baptised on 9 October 1836 at St Stephen’s in St Albans and was already a Brazilian hat maker (see above) at the time of the 1851 Census. She died as a teenager and was buried at St Stephen’s on 20 April 1854.
    • William Slaughter (1839-????) was baptised on 21 April 1839 at St Stephen’s in St Albans but I’ve not found other records that I can definitely pin on him.
    • Robert Slaughter (1842-1889) was baptised on 12 June 1842 at St Stephen’s in St Albans worked as an agricultural labourer around St Albans for many years (at least until the 1881 Census). He married Jane Change on 10 June 1867 in Frogmore, Hertfordshire, and had a number of children with her. Towards the end of his life he became a beer seller in St Stephen’s – a Kelly’s Directory for the county in 1886 lists him as a beer retailer. He died in 1889. By 1891 Jane was working as a domestic servant in the area and then was living with family in 1911, the year she died.
  • Caroline Dolamore (1807-1896), my 3rd great-grand aunt. A Catherine Dolamore was baptised on 23 August 1807 in Abbots Langley, but I suspect this was Caroline and that her name was mistranscribed. No Catherine has been found subsequently and she was not mentioned in her father’s will – more evidence that they were the same people. Caroline married James Deacon on 15 May 1826 at St George’s, Hanover Square, London. He was local, having been baptised in Abbots Langley on 30 December 1804 to parents Joseph and Elizabeth Deacon. Census and baptism records show that they later settled back in Hertfordshire in St Stephen’s (1841 and 1851 censuses) and St Albans (1861 onwards). James worked as a shoemaker. Caroline was fined 10s in 1876 for shouting abuse at neighbour Elizabeth Jeffs (Herts Advertiser 21 October 1876), who told the Borough Petty Sessions that Caroline had been insulting some of her other neighbours. When Elizabeth told her to go indoors, Caroline shouted an insult at her. Witnesses supported Jeffs. James died in 1890. Caroline died in 1896. Their children were:
    • Charlotte Eliza Deacon (1826-1874). Charlotte was baptised in Abbots Langley on 26 November 1826 and married agricultural labourer George Bradbury in St Albans in 1853. They settled in Hertfordshire and had several children, some baptised in the village of Sandridge while census returns placed them in and around Hatfield, in the parish of St Peter’s. Charlotte died young in 1874. George remarried two years later – to a Sarah Hill – and remained in St Peter’s. He died in 1914.
    • David Deacon (1828-1881) was baptised in Abbots Langley on 1 June 1828 and married Hertfordshire woman Jane Lewis in 1866. They settled in St Michael’s, a parish near St Albans, and he worked as an agricultural labourer while she was a Brazilian hat maker. David died in 1881 but I’ve not found out what happened to Jane.
    • Elizabeth Deacon (1831-1831) was baptised in Abbots Langley on 2 January 1831 and was probably the three-year-old girl buried there on 12 February 1834.
    • James Deacon (1833-1905). James was baptised in Abbots Langley on 11 August 1833 and was an agricultural labourer at the time of the 1851 Census in Hertfordshire. He then met and supposedly married a Sarah Smith nee Lake. They were shown as man and wife in the 1861 Census at Rotherhithe in Surrey, when he was working as a labourer at a gas works. I’ve not found a marriage record but James and Sarah were, in future, known by the surname Smith or Deacon-Smith. This was distinctly unusual at the time. They remained in Rotherhithe before moving to Deptford (1881 Census), from which point James was also referred to as porter or labourer at the London docks. He died of bronchitis on 8 June 1905. Sarah died of a similar condition on 8 March 1906.
    • Elizabeth Deacon (1835-????) was baptised in Abbots Langley on 28 June 1835 but there were several women of the name born around the same time and it’s been difficult to pin her down. However, an Elizabeth Andrews married a William Muffin in St Albans on 7 July 1894 – she was a widow and she gave her father’s name as shoemaker James Deacon. Her first husband was probably Thomas Andrews, an agricultural labourer. The 1901 Census listed her as a lodger in Watford but in 1911 she was in the Watford Union Workhouse, probably in its capacity as a hospital. I have no idea what happened to William. Elizabeth’s death was registered in Watford in 1912.
    • Mary Ann Deacon (1837-1896) was baptised in Abbots Langley on 27 August 1837 and married agricultural labourer William Norwood of St Albans on 4 December 1859 in Leavesden. The 1861 Census listed them in St Albans, with William an agricultural labourer and Mary Ann a trimming weaver. Ten years later in Leavesden they had a family and Mary Ann was working as a Brazilian hat maker. In 1881 and 1891 they were in St Stephen’s near St Albans – both census records noted that William was blind and dates suggested he’d been so since the mid-1870s. The Hertfordshire Express of 22 May 1880, in a report on William’s failure to send two of his children to school, noted that he need them at home because of his blindness and the fact that Mary Ann only had one hand. How this disability arose was not mentioned. Mary Ann died on 10 October 1898. William died at the St Albans workhouse hospital on 25 September 1905.
    • William Deacon (1840-1876) was born in Abbots Langley in around 1840 but not baptised until 31 October 1852 in St Albans. He was a trimming weaver at the 1861 Census and then married Mary Ann Howes, probably in Bedfordshire in 1866. They were in the parish of St Michael, Hertfordshire, in 1871, with William a labourer and Mary Ann a hat maker. He died in 1876. I don’t know what happened to Mary Ann.
    • George Deacon (c1843-1852). George is a mystery. There’s no record of a birth or baptism, even in the civil registrations, but he is shown as an eight-year-old in the 1851 Census. A death registration exists for 1852 but whether this is him is uncertain.
    • Henry Deacon (1845-1902) was born in 1845 and baptised in St Albans on 31 October 1852. He was a silk throwster at the 1861 Census – someone who twisted silk into yarn in one of the local silk mills. He married Sarah Geeves of Wheathampstead in St Albans on 25 December 1867 and at the 1871 Census they were living in the town, Henry now working as a labourer. A notice in the Herts Advertiser of 5 August 1876 hinted at problems in the marriage, with Henry warning that he would not be responsible for the debts run up by his wife from that date. It makes sense then why Henry, a greengrocer, was lodging with a family in St Albans at the 1891 Census without Sarah. But they were together in the town 10 years later with him listed as a general dealer. Henry died in the town on 10 November 1902. I’ve not found subsequent records for Sarah.
    • Dorcas Deacon (1849-1906). Born in 1848 or 1849, Dorcas was baptised in St Albans on 31 October 1852. She married local man and labourer Alfred England in St Albans on 13 February 1870. They raised a family in the town and from 1881 he was listed as a straw hat blocker. Dorcas died in 1906. Alfred was listed as a general labourer in subsequent censuses and he lived until 1932.
  • Elizabeth Dolamore (1813-1813), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Elizabeth was baptised on 4 January 1813 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, and is probably the same child buried on the 19th of the month.

James Dolamore (1735-1807) and Elizabeth Ivory (1734-1817).
My 5th great-grandparents.

It’s been difficult working out who the father of my 4th great-grandfather William Dolamore was but I believe he was James Dolamore (or Dollermore), the son of James Dolamore and Betty Thompson (see below). James was baptised in Aldenham, near Watford, Hertfordshire, on 14 September 1735. His birthplace was close to villages where his offspring were born and raised, such as Leavesden and Abbots Langley. He was also said to be aged 71 on his death record, which is closer than the age the alternative James would be. This one was baptised in the parish of St Stephen – another close by – in 1733 to a Thomas Dolamore. The name Thomas does not appear among the offspring, another clue that the Aldenham one is the better option.

James married Elizabeth Ivory on 11 May 1760 at St Lawrence’s in Abbots Langley. She’d been baptised in the village on 30 June 1734, the daughter of John Ivory and Mary Rogers. The marriage record described James as being from Watford.

Curiously, a James Dollamore was baptised as an adult in Abbots Langley on 8 March 1761 – the same day his daughter Mary was christened. Some were baptised again because of concerns around the validity of the first. For example, some children were not expected to live after their birth and were baptised at home, other families wanted a private baptism. Either way, the person would be expected to ‘complete’ the baptism at church if they survived.

In 1771 a record of duties paid for apprentices and masters recorded a William Ivory as apprentice to a James Dollimore, whose trade was said to be that of a higler, another name for a general/itinerant dealer or even a contract farm worker. This was a trade followed by some of his descendants. The document stated that James was from Leavesden. Land tax assessments from 1798 showed a James Dollamore occupying land in Leavesden and from 1799 showed a James Dollamore occupying land belonging to a Mr Beech in Abbots Langley. They could be the same or separate people.

James died in 1807, described as from Leavesden, but he was buried at St Lawrence’s in Abbots Langley on 7 December. His will dated 1801 and a codicil from 1802 mentioned that he was a farmer. His wife Betty inherited his household goods, money and husbandry goods. On her death, or remarriage, James required that the land and property he leased from Samuel Elam Esq would go to his son James (who I’ve not been able to trace). After Betty’s death, his personal estate was to be shared amongst his surviving children. The rest of his property was to be shared out among all his surviving children. The codicil to the will was written after his children Mary and John died and outlined how their shares of his estate would go to their children.

Elizabeth died in 1817, buried on 2 December at Abbots Langley and listed as Betty.

The couple had at least nine children:

  • Mary Dolamore (1761-1802), my 4th great-grand aunt. Mary was baptised on 8 March 1761 at St Lawrence’s in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. She married a John Hodsdon on 15 December 1788 at St Mary’s Church in Watford, but there are several candidates for him. He was said to be of the parish of St Michael, close to St Albans, on the marriage record and a John Hodsdon was baptised there in 1757. Others were baptised in Abbots Langley in 1755 and Watford in 1763. Mary died between her father James writing his will in 1801 and the codicil in July 1802 and balance of probability suggests she was the woman buried in St Albans, Hertfordshire, on 9 May 1802. James Dolamore’s will mentioned his granddaughter Hannah as Mary’s only child, and the codicil made her a beneficiary. I’m unsure when John Hodsdon died.
    • Hannah Hodsdon (1790-????). Hannah was baptised in Abbots Langley on 23 May 1790, with her surname spelled Hoddesdon, but I’ve not found other records for her.
  • James Dolamore (?1762-????), my 4th great-grand uncle. James was mentioned in his father’s will as a beneficiary and the fact that he featured so prominently and was to inherit his leasehold property suggests that he was the oldest of the sons. However, I’ve found no baptism record for him.
  • John Dolamore (1763-1801), my 4th great-grand uncle. John was baptised in Abbots Langley on 27 November 1763. It’s been difficult pinning him down after this because of the number of men with this name in the area but he died between his father writing his will in 1801 and the codicil in July 1802 so it looks as if he was the Dolamore buried on 6 September 1801 at Abbots Langley. A note on the record said he was from nearby Leavesden. I’ve not been able to find information about his wife and very little about his four children mentioned in his father James Dolamore’s will:
    • Elizabeth Dolamore
    • Mary Dolamore
    • Sophia Dolamore
    • Benjamin James Dolamore (????-1853)
  • Elizabeth Dolamore (1767-????), my 4th great-grand aunt. Elizabeth was baptised on 25 October 1767 in Abbots Langley. She married John King on 23 October 1788 at St Mary’s Church in Watford, Hertfordshire, and they were both mentioned in her father’s will of 1802. But it’s not been possible to pin her down accurately after this.
  • Sarah Dolamore (1772-1816), my 4th great-grand aunt. Baptised on 16 December 1772 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, she married Augustin Brooks on 20 January 1794 at St Katherine Cree Church in Aldgate, London. Both were mentioned in her father’s will. Despite his unusual name, I’ve not found a baptism record for him. His will provides the clues for the couple’s deaths. Sarah died in St Albans in 1816 and was buried on the 15 May at St Peter’s in the city. Augustin died there in 1819 and was buried on 17 December. His will was written in 1805 and he left everything to Sarah, including his freehold property on Dagnall Lane, St Albans, his household goods and other personal effects. No mention was made of his children. By the time of his death, as noted in the documents, Sarah (who had also been appointed an executor) was dead and the sole remaining executor Philip Gutteridge, described as ‘one of the people called Quakers’, affirmed that the estate was in his belief worth less than £200 in total. Sarah and Augustin’s known children were:
    • Thomas Augustin Brooks (1801-?1803) was baptised on 5 December 1801 at St Peter’s, St Albans. He was most likely the Thomas Brooks, child, buried on 17 February 1803.
  • William Dolamore (1774-1819), my 4th great-grandfather. Baptised on 22 May 1774 in Abbots Langley, he was my 4th great-grandfather and a farmer (see above).
  • Hester Dolamore (1779-1836), my 4th great-grand aunt. Hester – or sometimes Esther – was baptised on 21 March 1779 in Abbots Langley and married James Downer at St Mary’s, Watford, Hertfordshire, on 12 February 1798. James came from Abbots Langley, where he was baptised on 8 January 1775 to father Richard Downer. James was a carpenter according to some of his children’s baptism records – and the couple had lots of children. Hester died in her home village in 1836 and was buried there on 30 June. James was buried in Abbots Langley on 16 August 1832. Their known children were:
    • Elizabeth Downer (1800-1852) was baptised on 23 February 1800 in Abbots Langley. She married wheelwright John Preston in Abbots Langley on 16 February 1821 and raised their family in and around Watford. She died a resident of Leavesden and was buried in Abbots Langley on 22 August 1852. John died in Leavesden on 9 June 1870.
    • Mary Ann Downer (1802-1823) was baptised on 17 October 1802 in Abbots Langley. There were several women with similar ages and names in the area but it seems our Mary Ann married George Bennett on 11 November 1820 in Abbots Langley. Her sister Elizabeth and her soon-to-be husband John Preston were the witnesses. Mary had at least one child but she died in 1823 and was buried in Abbots Langley on 9 October that year, said to be a resident of the hamlet of Bedmond. I don’t know what happened to George.
    • Sarah Downer (1805-????) was baptised on 6 January 1805 in Abbots Langley but I’ve not been able to trace her with any degree of confidence afterwards.
    • Dorcas Downer (1807-1870) was baptised on 10 May 1807 in Abbots Langley. She married Henry Fellows at St George, Hanover Square, Westminster, on 31 March 1834 and raised a family with him back in the county of her birth. He farmed Wood Farm in his home parish of Watford, Hertfordshire, employing a number of labourers. They quit the farm, composed of more than 80 acres of arable and owned by the Earl of Essex, in 1866 according to the Watford Observer of 28 July. She died in 1870 and was buried in Abbots Langley on 10 February that year. Henry remained in the village and died in 1879. He was buried there on 3 September that year.
    • James Downer (1809-1865). was baptised on 2 April 1809 in Abbots Langley. He married Louise Rumsey of Enfield, Middlesex, on 31 May 1831 at St Peter’s in Hertfordshire. They raised a family and lived in and around Watford, mainly in the area of Garston, while he worked as a carpenter. James was also an innkeeper and the Hertford Mercury of 8 June 1861 reported the transfter of the licence to him of The Crown in Garston. Louise outlived him, and for a time took on the licence of the pub (Watford Observer 20 January 1866). She was innkeeper there at the 1871 Census but 10 years later was living in retirement in Leavesden. She died on 28 April 1888.
    • Harriet Downer (1811-1846) was baptised on 29 December 1811 in Abbots Langley and was recorded in the village with her brother David at the 1841 Census. She died in 1846 and was buried in the village on 10 September.
    • Benjamin Downer (1814-1881) was baptised on 31 July 1814 in Abbots Langley and was listed as a carpenter when he married Hertfordshire-born servant Sarah Vine in Hampstead, Middlesex, on 26 February 1838. They moved back to Hertfordshire, where they were recorded with their children in Abbots Langley at the 1841 Census. By this time, however, Benjamin was a licensed victualler. Tithe Apportionments for 1839 in Abbots Langley showed him renting the Compasses pub as well as the Kings Head. A Post Office Directory for 1851 listed him at the Kings Head. On top of that he was also the licensee of the Dog and Partridge (the Herts Guardian of 2 July 1864 referred to him surrending the license). Sarah Downer died in 1859 and was buried on 13 January in Abbots Langley. At the 1861 Census, Benjamin was listed again as a carpenter. He married again – on 6 June 1863 in Abbots Langley, his bride local spinster Ann Elizabeth Cane. In 1871 they were in the village, Benjamin described as a builder. In 1881 he was a master carpenter. Dog and Partridge in Hunton Bridge. Benjamin died in the village on 20 June 1881. Ann remained in Abbots Langley and died in 1909.
    • Maria Downer (1816-1883) was baptised on 5 May 1816 at Abbots Langley. She never married and worked for many years as housekeeper to her sister Dorcas in Watford. She died there on 5 February 1883.
    • Charlotte Downer (1818-1818) was baptised on 31 May 1818 at Abbots Langley and buried there a few months later on 12 August.
    • David Downer (1821-1853) was baptised on 22 April 1821 at Abbots Langley. He was living there with his sister Harriet at the 1841 Census and married Ann Brain in Watford on 16 November 1846. They were recorded there in the 1851 Census. David died in 1853, when he drowned. I’ve not been able to find out how but he was buried in Abbots Langley on 13 April with a note on the record stating “by coroner’s warrant, drowned”. I’ve not been able to locate Ann after David’s death.
  • Benjamin Dolamore (1781-1808), my 4th great-grand uncle. Benjamin was baptised on 2 September 1781 in St Lawrence’s Church, Abbots Langley, and married Susannah Simmons there on 11 October 1802. He died in 1808 and was buried at St Lawrence’s on 13 October. I’ve not been able to find a suitable baptism record for Susannah but the marriage record noted she was a spinster of Abbots Langley. The couple had at least three children but each has so far been impossible to trace because of the regularity with which their names crop up in the area.
    • Sarah Dolamore (1803-????) was baptised on 2 September 1781 in St Lawrence’s Church, Abbots Langley.
    • John Dolamore (1804-????) was baptised on 2 September 1781 in St Lawrence’s Church, Abbots Langley.
    • James Dolamore (1806-????) was baptised on 6 July 1806 in St Lawrence’s Church, Abbots Langley.
  • Charles Dolamore (1782-1783), my 4th great-grand uncle. Charles was baptised at Abbots Langley on 29 September 1782. He died a few months later and was buried in the village on 4 January 1783. NOTE: It’s possible that this boy was not one of James’s children. The mother wasn’t named on the baptism record.

James Dolamore (1703-????) and Elizabeth Thompson (1700-????).
My 6th great-grandparents.

I suspect that my 6th great-grandparents are James Dolamore (or Dollermore) and Elizabeth / Betty Thompson but their ancestry is murky.

James was baptised at St John’s Church in Aldenham, Hertfordshire, on 25 June 1703, the child of William and Mary Dollermore. The baptism record noted ‘alias Barten’ after the entry – and perhaps even Bacton or Barton – but it’s unclear whether this was an alias used by William or Mary’s maiden name. It’s a note repeated on at least one of his other siblings.

James married Anne Godmond at St John’s in Aldenham on 22 November 1725 and this was likely our man. Ann was probably Ann Godman, whose parents Benjamin and Mary had her baptised in Aldenham on 8 October 1704. I’ve found no record of James and Ann having children, or a death / burial record for Anne.

However, Ann must have died very young as widower James Dollermore of Aldenham married in Westminster on 14 September 1729. This was a so-called clandestine marriage, a type of marriage that could be held outside the couple’s home parishes and with no notice, perhaps because they wanted speed, secrecy and so on. James’s bride was spinster Betty Thompson, also of Aldenham. She may have been the Elizabeth Thompson baptised in Aldenham on 11 February 1700 to William and Mary Thompson or, at a stretch, the Elizabeth Tomson baptised there in 1714 for Robert Tomson and his wife.

He was likely the James buried in Aldenham on 26 November 1775 – noted as being from the workhouse – while his wife was probably the widow Elizabeth Dollamore buried there on 5 November 1780.

Their children were:

  • James Dolamore (1735-1807), my 5th great-grandfather. See above for details about his life as a higler and farmer.
  • Ruth Dolamore (1739-1762), my 5th great-grand aunt. Ruth was baptised on 3 June 1739 at St John’s in Aldenham. She was buried there on 13 June 1762, described as the daughter of James Dollemore.
  • Elizabeth Dolamore (1745-????), my 5th great-grand aunt. Elizabeth was baptised on 8 August 1745 at St John’s in Aldenham. I’ve still to trace her subsequently.

Sources:
Birth, marriage, death and burial records including civil registrations from the General Register Office, census returns and other records at Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk and Hertfordshire County Archives.
British Newspaper Archive, titles in text.
Various Kelly’s and Post Office Directories for Hertfordshire.
Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858, at National Archives.