Ted the Carpenter

River Tamar map

When grandma was alive, she often mentioned that her mother's parents were from the West Country and since embarking on my research in 2007, I have proven this to be entirely true. In fact, I have managed to trace the Cornish branch of the family back as far as the 16th Century and plan to reveal more about this in the coming months.

This blog article describes the life of Edward Deacon, who was born in the Cornish village of Cargreen, on the banks of the River Tamar, in 1829. He was baptised at parish church in Landulph on 13th December 1829 and according to the records, his father, John, was an agricultural labourer.


Edward Deacon was the second son of John and Jane Deacon and when he was a small boy his parents decided to move the family away from Cargreen. One day they boarded a boat and sailed downriver to East Stonehouse on the Devon bank of the Tamar close to Plymouth. Here, Edward settled into a new home with his parents; older brother, James and older sister Mary Ann. The family settled in and before long Edward had a new younger brother and sister to play with. Jane Deacon was born around 1834 and John in around 1836. When it was time for them to be baptised they made the short journey back across the river to the parish church in Landulph.


By the time the census was taken on the night of the 6th/7th June 1841, Ted was living on Brownlow Street in East Stonehouse with his parents and siblings. His father, John Rouse Deacon, was working as a labourer at the time and apparently liked to drink. Life in the Deacon household may have been quite fraught at times during the 1840s. One imagines Ted’s mother, Jane, having to be the head of the family while her husband was befuddled with alcohol. In the end his drinking caught up with him and Ted’s father died at home of liver disease on 17th October 1848. At the time of his death, Ted was eighteen years old. The family arranged for the coffin to be transported upriver and he was buried at Landulph parish church on 22nd October.

Extract from 1851 census

By 30th March 1851 life for the Deacons had changed. Ted’s mother ran a horse and cart business and Ted’s older brother, James, was a “cart man”. They were probably conveying goods to and from Devonport docks which were accessible via a toll bridge over Stonehouse Creek. Ted was now 21 years old. He had trained as a carpenter and would have recently completed his apprenticeship. Ted’s younger sister Jane, aged 18, was employed as a domestic servant. Meanwhile his youngest brother John Rouse was attending school. The family were still living at 17 Brownlow Street, East Stonehouse.

By 1849 Plymouth had been linked to the growing railway network. This enabled travel by train to London for the first time via the South Devon Line and the Great Western Railway. Work commenced on a new railway bridge over the Tamar linking Devonport with Saltash. Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse were lit by gaslight, the gas for which was produced at the works on the road linking Plymouth with Devonport. The population of Stonehouse had increased to 9712 by 1848.

Marriage record

All Souls, Langham Place

In the early 1850s Ted met a girl named Ann Maria Stacey and they fell in love. Ann was the daughter of John Stacey, a labourer from Torpoint in Cornwall. What happened next is unclear, but one family story alleges that Ann was engaged to another and there was some doubt as to whether they could continue seeing each other. Matters came to a head when Ann became pregnant and it seems they fled to London to elope. They were married on 9th April 1854 at All Souls Church, Langham Place, Marylebone. There were apparently no members of their respective families at the wedding service.  If the above story is true, they probably lost the baby or it died in its infancy as there is no record of that child surviving until the next census in 1861. In time their families probably forgave them. 

After a while, Ted and Ann managed to acquire enough money to buy the lease on a house. They moved into 46 Clarence Gardens, St Pancras in the mid 1850s and started a family together. The house was situated close to the eastern side of Regents Park. Ann became pregnant again and when it was time for the birth, she travelled back to Torpoint in Cornwall to be with her parents for the “lying in” period. John Rouse Deacon was born there on 16th April 1856. His birth was followed by another son whom they named Edward Deacon in around 1860. The census taken the following year shows that Edward was working as a joiner which, according to the Victorian journalist Henry Mayhew, was "a man who works in a building, and usually at a bench, at everything the plane goes over, such as doors, windows, sashes and frames, closets, skirting, flooring - in fact, the joiner is the preparer, fixer, and finisher of a building." Living with the family was a 22 year old dressmaker from Norfolk named Emily Ruden. At the time, around three-quarters or four-fifths of all carpenters were from the country, so Edward was fairly typical in this respect. Wages in London were double those paid back in the West Country, so that explains why Edward relocated.

Clarence Gardens

In the 1860s they had two more children, both daughters. Annie Maria Deacon was born in the spring of 1864 and Lillian Deacon was born around 1869. They continued living at 46 Clarence Gardens and by 1871 Edward had specialised as a blind maker and his son, John, was now a carpenter's apprentice.

Extract from 1871 census

In autumn of 1874 Ted’s mother fell ill and passed away. This sad event would have necessitated a trip back to Plymouth for the funeral. By this time Ted himself was ill and was prone to frequent bouts of coughing. He would have been advised by his doctor that he was suffering from consumption (Tuberculosis). Unfortunately, his condition worsened and on 29th September 1875 he died. Rather unusually, he was buried the same day as his death at Highgate Cemetery.

Following his death, 46 Clarence Gardens passed to his wife, Ann, who continued living at the property. Census records for the 1881,1891 and 1901 suggest that she earned an income by renting out the rooms to various people. She eventually died in 1902 and was buried alongside her husband in Highgate Cemetery on 20th May.

Parents of Daisy Eveline Hewitt and her mother's lineage back to Edward Deacon