#52 Ancestorsin52 Weeks: Week 14/52 Mary Ann CARRETT (nee PASBY) 1835-1919
Mary Ann CARRETT (nee PASBY) 1835-1919
Ahnentafel Number 41
Variations in spelling of surnames: PASBY, PASKY, CARRETT, CARETT, CARRITT
Context for discovery:
This
biography was written as part of the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks exercise devised
by Amy Johnson Crow. You can join in too
here. The theme for this month is women and the theme for this week is Check it Out.
Mary was my paternal 3rd-great-grandmother. I have written her husband's biography here.
Well I have been checking out books from my local library and buying books to try and check out the local history of where my ancestors came from as much as possible.
NB Dates written in BLUE below are from http://projectbritain.com/
The historical events written in RED are compiled from the defining moments timeline from the National Museum of Australia website and Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg Australia.
Childhood
1834 Tolpuddle Martyrs
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| St Matthew, St Matthew's Road© Copyright Stephen Richards and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
Birth Date/Place:
Not located. Civil registration didn’t begin until 1837. Birth date/place not recorded on baptism register.
Baptism Date/Place:
Mary Ann Pasby was baptised Sunday 1 November 1835 at St Matthew’s, Brixton, Surrey, England.[i] She was the eldest of eight children – four daughters and four sons.
From A guide to London Churches by Mervyn Blatch
“ In the 1820s four Commissioners’ buildings were erected to cater for the needs of an increasing population. Dedicated to the four Evangelists (St John, St Luke, St Mark and St Matthew), two (St John’s, Waterloo Road and St Mark’s Kennington) were severely damaged in the 1939-45 War but have been restored. Of these four churches, the outstanding one architecturally is St Matthew’s Brixton where the perennial problem of the steeple riding on the roof when placed above a west end portico has been overcome by siting the steeple at the east end, leaving the handsome portico to answer for itself." (p.361)
And from A
History of Brixton by Alan Piper
“St Matthew’s new churchyard filled up with burials very rapidly…many well-to-do families had recently moved to the area, and took the opportunity to secure a decent resting place for relatives.” pp25-26
“St Matthew’s Church…founded a school in 1828. Its premises in St Matthew’s Road were rebuilt in 1871 but demolished after heavy damage in WW2.”
From the Church’s website here
“The Church Building Act of 1818 allowed for the building of churches in parishes where a quarter of the population could not all fit into the local church at once.”
And
“Gas lighting was introduced into the church to replace the oil and paraffin lights in 1847. In 1853 the graveyard surrounding the church was closed to new burials. It was thought that burying people in the middle of a populated area might have been one of the causes of the cholera epidemic.”
1837 Queen Victoria comes to the throne
1839 Daguerreotypes displayed and taken in London by M. de St Roix from France[ii]
1840 vaccination for poor begins
1841 London and Brighton Railway begins operating from Norwood Junction
1841 Census
Mary is living with her parents at Pleasant Retreat Lambeth, Surrey, England. She is aged 6. Her younger sister Martha is aged 5, her brother Henry is aged 4 and her youngest brother John is aged 2. Her father is Henry aged 35, Coal dealer and Catherine her mother is aged 30.
This newspaper article gives us an indication of where Pleasant Retreat was located in Lambeth and what it was like.
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| 29th April 1829 Sun (London) |
1845 Irish potato famine
1848 Chartist rally on Kennington Common
1849 2nd cholera pandemic
Working Life
1851 Census
The Pasby family is still living at Pleasant Retreat at 9 Harvey’s Cottages. Martha is now aged 17, Henry aged 13 is a scholar, Alfred aged 8 is a scholar, Eliza aged 7 is a scholar, Thomas aged 5 is a scholar, Sophia aged 3 is a scholar and John aged 11 is a scholar.
Mary Ann, aged 15 is living at 21 Rotherfield Street North Islington as a house servant for a Dentist, Price (Pryse) Roger Protheroe (Welsh born from Aberystwith), his wife Margaret (born Brixton) , son Pryse aged 3 and daughter aged 11 months and sister (born Nantwich) aged 32 at. The Protheroes had previously lived at 21 Brighton Terrace Brixton according to their son’s baptism.[iii] Mary Ann is the only servant.
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| A female servant holds a small child whilst its fashionably dressed mother touches its face on her way out. Wood engraving by J. Thompson, 1840, after D. Wilkie.This file comes from Wellcome Images, a website operated by Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation based in the United Kingdom. |
From Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management originally published in 1859...
“The general servant, or maid of all work, is perhaps the only one of her class deserving of commiseration: her life is a solitary one, and in, some places, her work is never done. She is also subject to rougher treatment than either the house or kitchen-maid, especially in her earlier career: she starts in life, probably a girl of thirteen, with some small trademan’s wife as her mistress, just a step above her in the social scale….she has to do in her own person all the work which in larger establishments is performed by cook, kitchen-maid and housemaid and occasionally the part of a footman’s duty, which consists in carrying messages.”
Keep in mind the following:
“..the police surgeon of Lambeth (in 1847) stated that even the wealthy continued to use cesspools for ‘water closets are very rare, even in the better class of houses….In 1848 one of the committees reporting on the sanitary state of Lambeth described one case in which the window of a house overlooked the open sewer and the stench from this was such that the family often could not eat. The inhabitants were ‘a respectable, hard-working labourer and his family – who would keep the house clan and sweet if possible.’ [iv]
There are four pages in Beeton's guide, outlining the work of a maid-of-all work.
Duties included but were not restricted to:
- · Lighting fires
- · Cleaning hearths
- · Dusting
- · Laying the table for breakfast
- · Cleaning the door-step and brass knockers
- · Cleaning boots
- · Cooking breakfast
- · Airing bedrooms
- · Washing up
- · Emptying slops and scalding vessels
- · Making beds
- · Cooking dinner (lunch)
- · Cleaning the scullery
- · Cleaning knives
- · Preparing tea
- · Turning down beds
- · Closing windows and drawing blinds
- · Locking up the house
1852 First public lavatory erected in London[v]
“Vaccination against smallpox was made compulsory in 1853, an Act of 1857 required every child to be vaccinated within three months of birth, and an Act of 1871 required the Boards of Guardians to appoint paid, public vaccination officers. Despite all this a large proportion of the population was not vaccinated, to the continual despair of medical officers, including those of south-west London….”[vi]
1854 cholera epidemic kills 10,000 and Lambeth Pottery changes its name to Doulton and Co.
“The sanitary work of the local authorities did not bring an immediate end to epidemics, and machinery had to be provided to deal with them. As there was no local sanitary authority in Lambeth in 1854, the epidemic of that year was allowed to rage virtually unchecked, and the parish was ‘left without any adequate protection against the epidemic’. [vii]
Married Life
Marriage Dates/Places:
Mary Ann married George Henry CARRETT 24 September 1855 at Church of All Saints, Croydon, Surrey, England
George and Mary Ann had the following children in the UK:
1. George Henry Carrett born 1856 Brickston Hill[viii]
2. Mary Ann born 1858 but died in 1862[ix]
3. William Thomas born 1860[x]
Mary Ann’s sister Eliza, married John Woodley in 1861 and George and Mary Ann Carrett were the witnesses.[xi]
4. Charles Alfred born 1864[xii]
1855 London General Omnibus Company established
1859 Big Ben operational
1861 Census
Mary is living with her children at 38 Lyam Road Lambeth. The surname is spelled CARRIT. It is noted that she was at work in Kent. George is listed as 5 years old. Mary Ann as 3 years old and William as 4 months. I have not been able to find George in the Census.
1862 Westminster and Lambeth Bridge open
1863 First underground railway opens[xiii]
The move to Australia
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| Scene on the deck of the Pegasus, with canvas rigged up to provide shelter. A man (the Captain?) is reading from the Bible, using a flag-draped object as a lectern. Men, women and children are seated listening, with at least one holding a prayer book or hymnal. Artist unknown :[Album of an officer]. Divine (?) Service, Ship Pegasus. 1865. For more lovely images of the voyage go to the National Library of New Zealand here. |
George and Mary Ann and their sons George Henry, William Thomas and Charles Alfred emigrated to Australia via New Zealand on 17th December 1864 on the clipper ship Pegasus. [ii] George kept a daily diary of the voyage which some family members have a copy of and have transcribed. The Carretts were assisted passengers.
5. Their daughter Catherine Anne was born 1866 Auckland, NZ[xiv]
Howevenr the Carretts did not stay long in New Zealand. Peter Carrett, who has self-published a family history called Bricks & Mortar, suggests that George left for Australia on the Prince Alfred arriving 8th May 1866. When I look at the Shipping List on Ancestry, it says William Carret rather than George Henry. I cannot find any other record of George entering Australia.
It is conjectured he came to do work on the railway from Lithgow to Dubbo.
Mary and the four children arrived in Sydney 10th July 1867 on the steam ship Auckland.
The following children were born in Australia:
6. Susannah Florence Carrett born 1869 Sydney, Australia[xv]
7. John Carrett born 1871 Sydney[xvi]
8. Matthew Charles Carrett born 1872 Hill End, NSW[xvii]
In 1875 Mary Ann's sister Sophia marries Samuel Conn, a coach builder at St John's Paddington in London.[xviii]
9. Henry George born 1876 Orange, NSW [xix]
1877 Mary Ann’s father Henry dies?[xx] (to be confirmed by ordering death certificate) and her sister Sophia's first born son, James Henry is christened.(Ancestry.com, London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P87/MMG/004)
10. Thomas born 1877 Dubbo, NSW[xxi]
In 1878 Mary Ann's sister Sophia has daughter Catherine Jane, followed swiftly by daughter Ann Edith in 1880 (FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.Original data:General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.)
11. The Carrett's last child, Benjamin is born 1880, Dubbo, NSW[xxii] By now Mary Ann is 45 years old.
1881 Mary Ann's sister Sophia's daughter Ellen Eliza is christened at St George's Hanover Square (City of Westminster Archives Centre; London, England; Westminster Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: STG/PR/2/9)
One of the
handwritten descendant charts I have from one of my cousins also lists three
stillborn children born to Mary Ann in 1862, 1868 and 1875. So fourteen children all up !!
In 1883 Mary Ann’s mother died in March,aged 75[xxiii] (to be confirmed by ordering death certificate) and her sister Sophia's daughter Alice Daisy is christened.(Ancestry.com, City of Westminster Archives Centre; London, England; Westminster Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: STG/PR/2/9)
1886 Mary Ann's sister Sophia's son Ernest Alfred is christened at St Mark's at St John's Wood (London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P89/MRK1/001)
1886 Sophia's husband Samuel Conn dies (FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.Original data:General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.)
1887 Sophia's son Thomas William is christened (Ancestry.com London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 Record)
1888 Mary Ann's sister Sophia and her six children emigrate to Australia (yes I count seven as well but James was probably considered an adult by the age of 16)
1893 Mary Ann's sister Sophia dies in Dubbo
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| Our Summary of Australasian News since last Issue. (1893, October 13). The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (NSW : 1856 - 1861; 1863 - 1889; 1891 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved April 9, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189985428 |
Given that Sophia's four youngest children would have been aged between six and twelve, would Mary Ann have felt obliged to raise them? At the age of 58? I suspect she would have done the right thing. So all in all she raised at least 11 children and probably more like sixteen.
Let's try not to think too much about her husband's bankruptcy a few years later.
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| 14th April 1899 Advertising (1899, April 14). Dubbo Dispatch and Wellington Independent (NSW : 1887 - 1932), p. 5. Retrieved April 9, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228221447 |
12 June 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act gives women the vote in federal elections
1907 Australia’s first lifesaving club established at Bondi, Sydney
1908 legislation introducing national age and invalid pensions
1909 first powered aeroplane flight in Australia is made
1909 compulsory military service instituted in Australia
1912 2 July Mary Ann’s husband George Henry Carrett dies[xxiv]
10 October 1912 Australian Government introduces a maternity allowance
1913 Foundation of Canberra as the national capital and the newly created Royal Australian Navy’s ‘fleet unit’ sails into Sydney Harbour
1914-1918 WWI
27 January 1919 Influenza pandemic reaches Australia
Retirement
Death Date/Place:
Mary Ann died 23 January 1919, aged 84, in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia[xxv]
Burial Date/Place
Church of England Section L2C – Row 3 – Commencing Northern End.[xxvi]
Probate:
Nil
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| DUBBO. (1919, February 5). Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), p. 14. Retrieved April 9, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263704827 |
 |
| Death of Mrs. Carrett, Sen. (1919, January 24). Dubbo Dispatch and Wellington Independent (NSW : 1887 - 1932), p. 1. Retrieved April 9, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228188814 |
Translation is as follows:
After a period of ill-health, Mrs.
Mary Ann Carrett, widow of the late
George Henry Carrett, passed away
yesterday, at the residence of her son,
Mr. Ben Carrett, of Darling-st., Dubbo,
at the age of 84 years. Deceased was
born in England, but early in life emi-
grated to New Zealand, and subse-
quently, after a term in Orange her
husband and herself came to Dubbo, 42
years ago, and became the original
owners of the farm at Eulomogo, now
the property of Mr. T. H. Mathews.
Later on they moved to Dubbo, the
late Mr. Carrett engaging in the manu-
facture of bricks, an industry which
occupied his attention for many years.
Then he returned to farming at Delroy,
and 11 years ago tho venerable couple
retired from the fighting line, and both
spent the evenings of their existence
in town. Six years ago having lost her
beloved partner, Mrs. Carrett went to
live with her son. Her 40 years in
Dubbo were rich in good works in the
domestic circle and further afield in
her splendid recognition of the claims
of friendship and civic responsibilities.
In her methods of dispensing char-
ity and extending assistance to those
needing help and encouragement, she
acted from the impulses of the heart,
and little heeded the conventialities of
custom. There are several surviving
sons and daughters — Messrs. George
Carrett (Sydney), Willlam (Sydney),
Charles (Delroy), Matthew, Thomas,
and Benjamin (Dubbo), Mrs. Mangan
(Dubbo), and Mrs. Gilmour (Black-
town). Her descendants also include
35 grandchildren and over 30 great-
grandchildren. She died in peace,
alter having the privilege of saying,
farewell to all of these and speaking
kindly and inspiring words to each.
The funeral took place this morning,
and was very largely attended. The
interment took place in the Church of
England portion of the Dubbo ceme-
tery, the Rector, Rev. C. W. Leavers,
conducting the service.
Organizations/Associations Dates/Places:
FAN CLUB (Friends and Neighbours)
Baptism sponsors/godparents
Marriage Witnesses Officiants –
Accompanying passengers on shipping list
Newspaper articles – see above
Census – other lodgers/neighbours – as above
City directories – others living in household/on street
Land Deeds – witnesses/buyers/sellers
Maps – neighbours
Military – unit members
Death – informant/undertaker
Obituary – survivors
Probate – as above
Cemetery – others in plot –
Conclusion
What a dignified ending to a life that was no doubt filled with much hard labour against sometimes seemingly insurmountable odds. Let us not forget on whose shoulders we stand.
References
[i] Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_London_(1800s)
[iii] Ancestry.com London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P69/STE1/A/01/MS 4454/3
[iv] Roebuck, Janet Urban Development in 19th Century London Lambeth, Battersea & Wandsworth 1838-1888 by published by Phillimore & Co Ltd London and Chichester 1979 p162
[v] https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/city-timeline
[vi] Roebuck ibid, p. 105
[vii] Roebuck ibid p. 153
[viii]
FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data:General Register Office. England and
Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.
[ix] FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data:General Register Office. England and
Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.
[x] Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data:Board of Guardian Records and Church
of England Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives, London.
[xi] Ancestry.com, London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P95/ALL2/004
[xii] Ancestry.com London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P95/ALL2/001
[xiii] https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/city-timeline
[xiv] Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Birth Index, 1840-1950 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
[xv] Ancestry.com. Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
[xvi] Carrett, Peter Brian "Bricks and Mortar" self-published family history
[xvii] Ancestry.com. Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. The New South Wales Pioneers Index: Pioneers Series 1788-1888
[xviii] Ancestry.com London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P87/JNE1/016
[xix] Ancestry.com. Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. The New South Wales Pioneers Index: Pioneers Series 1788-1888
[xx] FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data:General Register Office. England and
Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.
[xxi] Ancestry.com. Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
[xxii] Ancestry.com. Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
[xxiii]
FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data:General Register Office. England and
Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.
[xxiv] Ancestry.com. Australia Cemetery Index, 1808-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
[xxv] Ancestry.com. Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
[xxvi] Ancestry.com Dubbo and District Family History Society; Collection Title: Dubbo and District Cemeteries, Vol. 5; Reference: Dubbo Cemetery
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