Mary Ann Downer (1803-1891).
My 3rd great-grandmother.
Mary Ann Downer was the first of the Downer’s in my Finch family tree, marrying my 3rd great-grandfather William Ward. The Wards lived in Middlesex – present-day London – but my Downer family came from Hampshire. The surname is common in Sussex, the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, which has made it hard to pin my ancestors down. It’s likely that the name originally referred to people who lived on the hills or downs – ‘doun’ being Middle English for hill.
View where the Downers are in my family tree.
Mary Ann Downer was born in 1803 in Winchester, Hampshire, and baptised at St John’s Church in the city on 28 December that year. Her parents were Charles Downer and Ann Brent (see below). She married William Ward on 20 May 1827 at Christ Church in Spitalfields, Middlesex, but why she ended up in the capital is unknown, although it’s possible that she moved for work. While raising a family, she worked with her husband as a milk vendor. William died in 1875 and Mary Ann on 4 February 1891, according to the Tottenham and Edmonton Weekly Herald of 6 February. It reported her address as Fore Street Villas, Upper Edmonton.
See more about Mary Ann, William and their family on the Wards’ page.
Charles Downer (1777-1851) and Ann Brent (1780-1863).
My 4th great-grandparents.
Charles Downer was baptised a few miles from Winchester in Kings Worthy, Hampshire, on 19 October 1777. His parents were George Downer and Elizabeth Southwell (see below).
He married Ann Brent on 9 November 1800 at Holy Trinity Church in Wonston, Hampshire, a mile or two from his home village. Ann came from Wonston, where she’d been baptised on 27 March 1780 to parents Henry Brent and Mary Guyatt.
The couple had a large family, all of whom were baptised in Winchester. The 1841 census recorded them at Dean Gate in Winchester, while by 1851 they were in Wales Street. George was listed as a carpenter and Ann as a laundress in both. He died in November 1851 and was buried on the 13th at St John’s in the city. Ann died in 1863 at the city workhouse and was buried on 9 April.
Charles and Ann’s children were:
- Mary Ann Downer (1803-1891), my 3rd great-grandmother. See her details above.
- Harriet Downer (1805-????), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Harriet was baptised on 3 December 1805 at St John’s in Winchester but her trail then goes cold.
- George Downer (1808-1864), my 3rd great-grand uncle. George had a successful career in the Royal Marines, but less of a one as a pub landlord. Read more here.
- Fanny Downer (1811-????), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Fanny was baptised on 13 January 1811 at St John’s in Winchester but her trail then goes cold.
- Olive Downer (1814-????), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Olive was baptised on 20 February 1814 at St John’s in Winchester but she, too, cannot be traced in existing records.
- Emily Downer (1816-????), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Emily was baptised on 21 April 1816 at St John’s in Winchester. The 1841 Census showed her working as a servant at Twyford School a few miles south of the city. She may have married a William Pink in Hampshire later in 1841 but the marriage record gave her father’s name as Joseph. This may have been an error by the clerk but I’ve not been able to prove it.
- Jane Downer (1818-1838), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Jane was baptised on 7 June 1818 at St John’s in Winchester and buried there on 18 June 1838.
- Charles Downer (1820-1892), my 3rd great-grand uncle. George was baptised on 3 December 1820 at St John’s in Winchester, Hampshire. He married Lucy Nye on 18 August 1841 at St Mary’s in Portsea, Hampshire. Lucy came from Chichester in Sussex, where she was baptised at St Peter the Great Church on 14 March 1823 to Noah Nye, a tailor, and his wife Lucy. They settled in Portsea and raised their family there, while Charles worked as a carpenter at the Royal Navy Dockyards. At the time of his death on 22 January 1892 he was living at 138 Malins Road, Portsmouth (Portsmouth Evening News 29 January 1892). He was buried on 27 January at Kingston Cemetery, Portsmouth. Lucy was recorded lodging with a family in Portsmouth in the 1901 census. Her death was registered there in 1903. The couple’s children were:
- Emma Ann Downer (1843-????) was born in 1842 and baptised in Portsea, Hampshire, on 30 August 1846. She married schoolmaster John Wynn there in 1863 and had a daughter but he died in 1869. Emma, a lodging house keeper, and her daughter were recorded in Portsea in the 1871 Census (Emma’s birthplace was noted incorrectly) but both then disappear from the records.
- Charles George Downer (1850-1869) was born in 1850 and baptised in Portsea, Hampshire, on 21 May 1854. He died on 30 March 1869 aged 19 in nearby Southsea.
- George Alfred Downer (1853-????) was born on 31 January 1853 and baptised on 21 May 1854 in Portsea, Hampshire, and at the 1871 Census was living with his parents and working as a draper’s assistant. He served for a time in the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1873 and married Mary Ann Bryant in Portsea on 1 December 1872, when he was described as a steward with the Navy. He then moved with his family to Newington and Lambeth in Surrey, where the 1881 Census showed him as an assistant at a surgery. The couple had children. George was missing from the 1901 Census and in records thereafter Mary Ann (or Annie as she was often known) was classified as a widow. However, I’ve found no death record for him that I’m confident in. By the 1911 Census Mary Ann was living in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, with her son, a coal hewer. She remained there until her death in 1945.
- Alfred Downer (1825-1882), my 3rd great-grand uncle. Alfred was baptised on 1 January 1826 at St John’s in Winchester, Hampshire. He married Louisa Longland at St Mary’s, Alverstoke, Hampshire, on 4 September 1845. She’d been baptised on 8 September 1822, her parents being tailor Joseph Longland and his wife Martha. The couple lived in Winchester and had children, while Alfred worked as a journeyman carpenter. Louisa died young in 1866 and was buried at Bighton in Hampshire on 13 July that year, said to have been a resident of the village. Perhaps the family had moved there for work. Henry remarried on 19 August 1871 at St John’s in West Meon, Hampshire. His bride was widow Eliza Underwood, nee Smith, who was baptised in 1819 in Meonstoke, Hampshire, to parents Richard and Ann Smith. The couple settled there and had a daughter. The Hampshire Advertiser of 8 February 1873 reported that Alfred had been sent to prison for 10 days for contempt of court at Winchester County Court, but what this related to was not made clear. Alfred died in on 5 September 1882 at Winchester, according to the Hampshire Chronicle of 9 September 1882. He was buried in West Meon on the 9th. Eliza died in 1891 and was buried in Meonstoke on 17 August.
- Alfred William Downer (1847-1894) was the son of Henry and Louisa, and was baptised on 5 September 1847 in Winchester. He worked as a dairyman and remained unmarried, living at home with his father for many years. However, the 1891 Census showed him at Droxford Union Workhouse, listed as blind and working as a basketmaker. He died in 1894 and was buried in West Meon on 22 September.
- Henry Downer (1848-1919) was the son of Henry and Louisa and was baptised in Winchester on 4 November 1848. He married Catherine Matilda Watts there on 24 April 1879. He followed his father into the carpentry trade and the couple had a large family. Originally settling in Winchester, also Catherine’s home town, they later moved to Chichester in Sussex. At some point after the 1911 census, they moved to Kensington in London. Henry died there in 1919. By the 1939 Register, Catherine was living back in Chichester. Her death was registered there later in the year.
- Annie Rose Downer (1871-1962) was the daughter of Henry and Eliza. There is no known record for her year of birth other than the 1939 Register, which recorded it as 3 May 1871, and she wasn’t baptised until 30 September 1883 at Hook with Warsash in Hampshire. She married house painter Archibald Hill in Staffordshire in 1903 and had a family with him. He joined the Royal Navy but was invalided out in 1911 with tuberculosis, then emigrated to Canada in 1912 with several children (whose parentage I’m unsure about). At least some of Annie’s children remained with her. I suspect the marriage had broken down. Annie settled in Hampshire, was recorded at the Shearers Arms pub in Owslebury in 1939 and died at St Mary’s Hospital in Portsmouth on 16 March 1962.
George Downer (c1755-1809) and Elizabeth Southwell (1747-1785).
My 5th great-grandparents.
Mystery surrounds the birth of George Downer but some sources point to his coming from Fordingbridge in Hampshire. A child was baptised in its neighbouring parish of Breamore on 30 May 1757 to parents Matthew and Ann. However, there were quite a few George Downers in Hampshire and identifying them all has proven difficult – baptisms included boys in Havant on 11 August 1756 and Portsea on 22 October 1758.
Wherever he came from, by 1777 George was in the parish of Micheldever – about 30 miles from Fordingbridge. Micheldever is where he was living on his marriage to Elizabeth Southwell at St Mary’s Church in Kings Worthy, Hampshire, on 19 May 1777. George signed his name on the record.
Elizabeth’s ancestry is even less clear. The age given on her death record pointed to a birth in 1747 but no baptism record has been found that matches her. All I know is that she was from Kings Worthy on the marriage record. So was she a widow? The record didn’t mention the status of bride or groom so it’s a possibility.
George’s links to Fordingbridge are suggested in a number of Poor Law removal order and settlement certificate documents from the parishes of Kings Worthy and Fordingbridge. These were issued by the Overseers of the Poor in each locality under the Act of Settlement and Removal (1662) and determined which parish was responsible for paying poor relief to individuals and families. People needed to prove entitlement to live in a parish and claim relief, such as through having worked there for a given period of time. A woman who married took her new husband’s settlement parish. A settlement examination was used to determine a person’s right to relief when they looked in need of help. If they weren’t, they were issued a removal order to their settlement parish.
A removal order was issued by two Justices of the Peace on the 12 December 1781 for George, his wife and his three children – Charles, George Jnr and Frances – to be sent to Fordingbridge. This document noted that they had “lately intruded and come into the said parish of Kings Worthy and are likely to become chargeable to the same”, the JPs’ concluding that the family’s last legal settlement had been Fordingbridge.
A further document, dated June 24 1782 and signed by a churchwarden and overseer of Fordingbridge, acknowledged that the family were legal parishioners. But another removal order was issued on 30 October 1783, again requiring George, his wife and now four children to be sent from Kings Worthy to Fordingbridge – suggesting that the family had either returned or not left in the first place! It’s possible that George and his family never actually needed poor relief in the end, negating the need for a move.
The only possible conclusion to draw from the documents is that George had lived in Fordingbridge before his marriage because from then on he appears to have been in Kings Worthy – it’s where all his children were baptised for example. It’s also where his wife Elizabeth died in 1785, being buried on 13 October.
George then remarried – in Kings Worthy. He wed widow Jane Hart on 27 February 1791. The couple had two children.
George died in 1809. Shortly before his death, he may have sought to go to Fordingbridge or seek funds from there because tucked away in the papers referring to his settlement in Kings Worthy in the 1780s is a letter dated 31 March 1809 from the overseer at Fordingbridge. It stated: “Yesterday your letter respecting Geo. Downer was laid before the committee and no gentleman present knew anything of him and directed me to acquaint you that we are very heavily burdened with poor, and pays from 4 to 5 shillings on the average pound more than our neighbouring parishes. This being the case they now make it a rule to be exceedingly careful how they hand money out of the parish.”
George died around the time this letter was sent and was buried in Kings Worthy on 5 April 1809. What happened to his second wife Jane is unclear but she may have been the Jane Downer buried in Winchester in 1835, born in 1751.
Charles’s children with Elizabeth were:
- Charles Downer (1777-1851), my 4th great-grandfather. Charles was a carpenter and spent many years in Winchester. See his details above.
- George Downer (1779-????), my 4th great-grand uncle. George was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Kings Worthy, Hampshire, on 27 June 1779. What happened to him is unclear.
- Frances Downer (1780-????), my 4th great-grand aunt. Frances was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Kings Worthy, Hampshire, on 31 December 1780. What happened to her is unclear.
- James Downer (1783-1790), my 4th great-grand uncle. James was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Kings Worthy, Hampshire, on 1 April 1783, and buried there on 17 December 1790. The word ‘pauper’ was written alongside the entry.
Charles’s children with Jane were:
- Rachael Downer (1791-????), my 4th great-grand aunt. Rachael was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Kings Worthy, Hampshire, on 24 April 1791. The word ‘pauper’ was written alongside the entry. What happened to her is unclear. A marriage to a James Bunday in Hampshire in 1808 probably relates to a woman born near Fordingbridge in 1790.
- James Downer (1792-1792), my 4th great-grand aunt. James was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Kings Worthy, Hampshire, on 28 May 1792, and buried there on 6 July. The word ‘pauper’ was written alongside the entries.
Sources: Birth, marriage, death and burial records including civil registrations from the General Register Office, census returns, apprenticehsip and other records at Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk and familysearch.org.
British Newspaper Archive (titles in text).
Hampshire Archives removal and settlement documents: 24M82/PO10/64, 19M78/PO5/8, 19M78/PO7/3. National Archives British Royal Navy Personnel 1831 records ref 37/8089.