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’s 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 had been baptised nearby on 6 August 1826 at St Michael’s Church 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 Bletchingley, Surrey, during the 1850s judging by the census returns of some of their children, which showed it as their place of birth, but all were baptised a few miles away at the family church in Reigate. And Maria and Edward were back living there at the time of the 1861 census. Maria died young in October 1868 and was buried on 1 November that year at St Mary’s Church. Edward married again, on 24 December 1871, with his bride being spinster Mary Frost (born in Reigate in 1826). They lived for many years in Priory Road, in the South Park area of Reigate. 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. His widow lived in Reigate until her death at Redhill Hospital in 1914. She was buried on 14 January in Reigate.
Edward and Maria’s family:
- Arthur Duffell (1856-1925) was baptised in Reigate on 23 March 1856 but gave Bletchingley as his home village in the census returns. In 1871 he was listed as an errand boy but by 1881 he was an attendant at the Banstead Asylum in Surrey for several years. He married Annie Roe in Shareshill, Staffordshire, on 17 May 1882 but while she came from the county, they settled near the asylum in Surrey then later back in Reigate and had children. However, Annie died in 1889 and was buried on 20 November in Reigate. By 1891 he was a labourer, lodging with a family in Reigate. On 21 October 1898 he wed widow Eliza Jane Williams (nee Marden) in Reigate. She came from East Grinstead in Sussex. The family continued to live in the Reigate and Redhill area while Arthur worked as a gardener. He died on 25 February 1925 and his funeral was held at the Baptist Tabernacle. Eliza died on 20 May 1940 and was buried in Greenwich, now in London.
- Maria Duffell (1857-1928) was baptised in Reigate on 18 October 1857. By the 1881 Census she was working as a housemaid in Kennington, Surrey. The following two census records showed her living in Finsbury Park, Middlesex, with Mary Preece, both of them dressmakers. Perhaps they were a couple? Maria, who never married, was back in Reigate by 1911 and living alone. She died there in 23 April 1928.
- Charles Duffell (1859-1936) was baptised in Reigate on 12 June 1859 and married Rhoda Carrier in Epsom – where he’d been employed in the 1870s by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway as a porter – on 28 November 1881. By this point though, he’d become 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 Surrey, where he was shown in the 1891 Census with his young family. Rhoda died in 1932, Charles in 1936.
- Louisa Duffell (1861-????) was baptised in Reigate on 31 March 1861. At the time of the 1881 Census she was working as a housemaid alongside her sister Maria at a house in Kennington, Surrey. I’ve not been able to trace her with any confidence after this, although she may have married a James Vince in St Pancras, Middlesex, in 1887.
- Ellen Mary Duffell (1863-?1959/1963) was born on 4 March 1863 and baptised in Reigate on 17 May that year. She was listed as a a nurse when she married George Thomas Johnson in his home city of Westminster on 7 October 1889. They went on to live in Battersea and Betchworth in Surrey, although the 1911 Census showed them living in Reigate, with George working for a furniture removal company. 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) and I suspect Ellen’s death was registered in either 1959 (Wandsworth) or 1963 (Surrey).
Sources: BMD, military, census, directories and other records, including civil registrations from the General Register Office, from Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk and Surrey County Council Records Office.
British Newspaper Archive (titles in text).