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, […]
Sussex
- 17th century
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Philip Comber (c1606-1680) – merchant tailor of London
Philip Comber (c1606-1680), Elizabeth (????-1654) and Dorothy Hounsell (????-1714). My 9th great-grand uncle and aunts. Philip Comber was probably born in West Hoathly, Sussex, but baptism records for the parish survive only from 1606 so his birth year remains a guesstimate. His parents were Thomas Rivers Comber and Ann Burstow and he received £10 from […]
Sarah Comber and my other Comber ancestors
Sarah Comber (1682-1758).My 7th great-grandmother. The Combers were a long-established Sussex family, some prospered as landowners and sheep farmers, and family pedigrees were presented at the Heralds’ Visitations of Sussex in 1634. The surname probably derived from the occupation of combing wool, although a ‘combe’ refers also to a valley. Curiously, some members of the […]
Sarah Rice and my other Rice ancestors
Sarah Rice (1791-1871). My 4th great-grandmother. Sarah was the first of the Rice family to join my family tree. She was baptised on 3 July 1791 at St Mary’s Church in Balcombe, Sussex, to parents George Rice and Mary Harman (see below). She married William Budgen at St Nicholas’s Church in Worth, Sussex, on 2 […]
Thomas Finch (1686-1755) and a family of Sussex yeomen
Thomas Finch (1686-1755), Elizabeth Greenfield (1695-1715) and Mary Hobbs. My 7th great-grand uncle and aunts. Thomas got off to a rough start in life but married into a prosperous Sussex family. He was born in the village of Slinfold to carpenter John Finch and his wife Sarah Richardson but he was clearly very ill as […]
William Robert Green (1847-1882)
William Robert Green (1847-1882) and Ellen Lodge (1848-????).My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. William was baptised on 18 July 1847 at St Nicholas’s Church, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. His parents were William Mark Green and Elizabeth Maria Symonds. He lived as a child in Birmingham and Camberwell in Surrey with his parents and siblings before returning […]
Maud Jane Wetherall (1881-1958) and a golden wedding
Maud Jane Wetherall (1881-1958) and Augustus Charles Towell (1882-1962). My great-grand aunt and uncle. Maud was born on 15 June 1881 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and baptised in the town’s St Nicholas’s Church on 29 November that year. She grew up with her parents Benjamin Thomas Wetherall and Sarah Ann Elizabeth Green and siblings in Admiralty Road. […]
Mary Bilcliffe and my other Bilcliffe ancestors
Mary Bilcliffe (1735-1783). My 5th great-grandmother. The Bilcliffe surname is a rare one in the UK and appears in several forms in the records (like many other surnames of the time), for example as Billcliff, Billcliffe, Bentley and even Bentlet. The first to marry into my Surrey-based Finch family was Mary Bilcliffe – see where […]
Sarah Ann Green (1829-1902) – a troubled marriage
Sarah Ann Green (1829-1902) and Jonathan Jary (1831-1890).My 3rd great-grand aunt and uncle. Sarah was baptised on 5 June 1829 at St Nicholas’s Church, Great Yarmouth, and grew up with her siblings and parents William Green and Willoughby Staff in the town. The 1851 census recorded her living with relative and mariner’s wife Elizabeth Saunders and […]
William Budgen (1707-1782), successful yeoman
William Budgen (1707-1782). My 6th great-grand uncle. William Budgen was baptised in St Margaret’s Church in West Hoathly on 25 September 1707, the son of Thomas Budgen and Sarah Comber. He married Elizabeth Farmer in the village on 1 June 1736 and raised a family with her. Elizabeth is most likely the girl baptised at […]
Susan Budgen (1795-1870), a Sussex publican
Susan Budgen (1795-1870) and George Tulley (1787-1837). My 4th great-grand aunt and uncle. Susan Budgen was baptised on 19 April 1795 in St Nicholas’s Church in Worth to parents William Budgen and Betty Streeter and grew up in the village. She married George Tulley on 16 October 1820 in Nuthurst, Sussex, an 11 or so mile journey from […]
Mary Ann Budgen (1863-1953) and her family’s brush with poverty
Mary Ann Budgen (1863-1953) and Frederick John Lunnon (18664-1932). My great-grand aunt and uncle. Born in 27 August 1863 in Worth, Sussex, Mary Ann Budgen was baptised on 4 October that year at St Nicholas’ Church. Her parents were Thomas Budgen and Maria Dolamore. At the time of the 1881 census she was living at […]
Sarah Finch (1714-1766) and a clandestine marriage
Sarah Finch (1714-1766) and John Moore (????-1788). My 6th great-grand aunt and uncle. Sarah Finch was baptised on 20 August 1714 at St Peter’s Church, Slinfold, Sussex, the daughter of carpenter William Finch and Elizabeth Puttock. It’s likely – by process of elimination – that it was our Sarah who married John Moore on 21 […]
George Budgen (1826-1893), Brighton publican
George Budgen (1826-1893), Anne Maria Baker (1826-1873) and Margaret Cole (1835-1903) My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunts. Baptised on 28 January 1827 in Worth, Sussex, George was the son of agricultural labourer William Budgen and Sarah Rice. In 1841 George was living with his parents at Standing Hall Farm in the village and working as a farm […]
William Budgen (1820-1864) – killed on the railway
William Budgen (1820-1864) and Amy Frith (1826-1921). My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunt. Baptised in Worth, Sussex, on 6 February 1820, William was the son of William Budgen and Sarah Rice and would meet a gruesome end. But that was some years after he married Amy Frith, the 18-year-old daughter of a gamekeeper, on 6 April 1844 […]
Edward Thomas Budgen (1868-1925) – he took his family to Australia
Edward Thomas Budgen (1868-1925) and Alice Jane Hacker (1868-1943). My great-grand uncle and aunt. Edward Budgen was born in the Sussex parish of Worth on 28 April 1868, and was baptised by his parents Thomas Budgen and Maria Dolamore at St NIcholas’ Church there on 7 June that year. He went to live in Australia, […]
Emma Budgen (1861-1925) – Mayoress of Reigate
Emma Budgen (1861-1925) and George Alfred Reynolds Ince (1863-1951).My great-grand aunt and uncle. Emma Budgen was the oldest of Thomas Budgen and Maria Dolamore‘s children. She was born in 1861 in Worth, Sussex, and baptised in the village on 1 September that year, but went from humble beginnings to become the Mayoress of Reigate, Surrey. […]
William Henry Finch (1874-1949)
William Henry Finch (1874-1949).My 2nd great-uncle. William Henry Finch was the son of Isaac Finch and Phoebe Ann Ward, born in 1874 in Reigate, Surrey. He was baptised on 12 July that year at St Mary’s parish church. He grew up in the town with his siblings and by the 1891 census was working as […]