In my June 2017 blog post, I examined the Upson family originating from Fryerning and South Weald in Essex. Since then, more resources have become available online and I have been able to undertake further research into the children of George Upson (b. 1802) and Charlotte March (b. 1797) and in particular, Eleanor Upson (Ellen), their second eldest daughter.
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| St Mary the Virgin, Fryerning, Essex |
Ellen's Early Childhood
Ellen was baptised on 18th May 1839 at St Mary the Virgin church in Fryerning and was the 8th of twelve children born to George and Charlotte. They were a family of agricultural labourers living among a close knit rural community on Beggar Hill on the outskirts of the village. By the time she was about 4 years of age, the family had relocated 6 miles away to the village of South Weald, just north of Brentwood. By the time of the census on 30th March 1851, the family had grown with the arrivals of younger siblings Joseph, James, John and Harriet. They were all living in a cottage on Green Lane, which must have been quite cramped. That overcrowding eased slightly when her eldest brother, William married at St Peter's church on 24th September 1854 and left the family home.
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| 1851 census |
William Upson
In May the following year, William was accused of stealing a lamb, the property of James Paine. The police were called and Paine with his shepherd identified William. He was then taken to Weald Hall whereupon the Lord of the Manor, C.T. Tower, committed him for trial. The trial took place at the General Quarter Sessions in Chelmsford on 3rd July 1855 and he was found guilty. The judge sentenced him to 4 years taking into account a former conviction for felony and he was incarcerated in Springfield gaol. On the 24th September the authorities decided to include William in a group prisoners being transferred to the infamous Millbank Prison in London. He lasted there for just over a month. Poor William succumbed to Asiatic cholera on 29th October and was hastily buried in Victoria Park cemetery the following day.
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| Extract from the Chelmsford Chronicle dated 1st June 1855 |
A new life
Ellen would have been just 16 years old when these tragic events unfolded. Did hunger and privation lead to her brother stealing the lamb or was he a known petty criminal? Either way, the punishment seemed very harsh. If conditions for agricultural labourers like the Upsons were so bad then it would come as no surprise that some wanted to leave South Weald to start a new life in London. Another older brother, George, joined the Metropolitan Police B-division on 12th May 1856 and set up home in Marsham Street, just a stone's throw from Milbank Prison. Her younger brother, Joseph followed him into the Met around a decade later. For Ellen, employment options were limited and she followed a career path that many young women took at the time - she travelled to London and went into domestic service. Judging by her later employment, it is likely that she was employed by a middle class family as a "maid of all work". The maid of all work was expected to do, as the title suggests, all the work of the house. Her role included the chores of a housemaid, nurse, parlour maid and cook. It must have seemed like a never-ending list of tasks. She rose early before the family of the house and cleaned and lit the fires, prepared breakfast and began the housework that would keep her busy all day. They were expected to follow the Victorian ideals of not being seen or heard as much as possible. They worked a long exhausting day, typically rising by 5am and not getting to bed until midnight. They often had to sleep in the kitchen or basement away from the family and alone. There must have been a temptation to escape this life of domestic drudgery, if only for a few stolen moments. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before she found herself "in trouble".
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| Charlotte Ellen Perry baptism record |
A new arrival
On 14th March 1861, Ellen gave birth to a baby girl and on 31st March took her to St John the Evangelist church in Westminster to be baptised. She was accompanied by the father, an 18-year-old by the name of Robert Perry. Perry was "pot boy" and porter at The Crown, a pub at 33 Thanet Street in St Pancras. The baby was named Charlotte Ellen Perry and the fact that Robert was in attendance shows that he cared for Ellen and wanted to help, although having said that, it was probably no coincidence that this particular church was chosen, as it was very close to where her policeman brother lived and it could be construed that he was coerced into being there. As an unmarried mother it is highly likely that Ellen was dismissed from her position and just a week later on Sunday 7th April 1861 she was back with her family in South Weald. Listed on the census enumerator's form is a baby girl aged just 1 month and born in London named Sarah and listed as a daughter of her parents, who at the time were aged 59 and 56 respectively . This must have been Charlotte, which suggests that the family had agreed to conceal her indiscretion from the authorities. Meanwhile, back in London, the census shows that Robert was living at 33 Thanet Street (The Crown) with Joseph and Mary Ann Kimbrey, their 8-month-old daughter, Martha, Joseph's 73-year-old father, Thomas and 15-year-old servant girl named Caroline Charksfield.
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| 1861 census |
Back to London
With the Upson family's full knowledge of Ellen's predicament and Robert Perry's name on the baptism record, it seems likely that the Poor Law authorities would have attempted to pressurise him into doing the honourable thing and marry Ellen, or get Robert to pay for the upkeep of his child. Robert duly vanished and Ellen was left with no choice but to leave her baby with her parents in South Weald and return to London seek employment. It would have been extremely difficult for her to find a new position, after all, she could hardly get a reference from her previous employer. She may have been lucky enough to eventually gain new employment, but we can never know for sure what happened to her. Many women at the time, without the prospect of further employment chose to become prostitutes; others, whilst still in domestic employment, would sometimes offer themselves in return for trinkets and small gifts - these were known as "dolly mops". A few cases have been recorded of a client frequenting a brothel only to be confronted by his cook, his children's nanny, or a parlour maid supplementing her meagre income with a little "dolly mopping" on the side. Young women in domestic service were sometimes sexually exploited, sometimes at the hands of the master of the house or another male member of the household, whether a family member or another servant. It is my opinion that she found herself "in trouble" again and gave birth to a baby boy in 1864/65. There is no official record of his birth or baptism, which again, suggests an attempt at concealment.
What happened to Robert?
No doubt with the Poor Law authorities closing in, on 13th June 1861 Robert travelled to Woolwich and volunteered himself in the Royal Navy signing up for 10 years service. His naval record describes him as being 5' 4" in height, of fair complexion with brown hair and blue eyes. He spent the first 6 months on HMS Fisgard learning the ropes as a Boy 1st Class before being transferred to HMS Devastation which set sail for Chile and later Vancouver Island in the Pacific. HMS Devastation returned to England on 8th August 1866, by which time Robert had progressed to the rank of Able Seaman. On the following day he was posted to HMS Vixen, which was undergoing sea trials. Just four weeks later on 12th September, he was walking Ellen down the aisle at St Andrew's church in Barnsbury. We don't know whether he was compelled by the Poor Law authorities - who had been able to ascertain that he'd run away to join the navy, or whether he contacted her himself somehow, but the marriage provided Ellen with some desperately needed security and legitimised the birth of their daughter, Charlotte. At the time of the wedding, Ellen was residing at 66 Roman Road in Barnsbury, and as later records show, was working there as a domestic servant. As for the Ellen's 2nd child, we can only assume that he had been quietly sent away following his birth to live with her parents in South Weald.
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| Marriage record |
After the wedding
Robert's naval service shows that he was promoted to 2nd Captain Foretop on 12th December and after Christmas he was posted to a new vessel, HMS Vestal, which departed from Plymouth bound for West Africa on 26th January 1867. Ellen was alone again, but had a regained her respectability and seemed to have found stable employment as well. According to the census taken on Sunday 2nd April 1871, Ellen was living at 66 Roman Road in Barnsbury, the household of a Samuel Varley, a telegraph engineer. Living in the house with him were his wife, Emily, their 6-year-old daughter, Maud and sons Cornelius aged 7, Telford aged 5 and Fleetwood aged 3. Helping the 31-year-old Ellen with the chores was a 17-year-old servant from Essex named Elizabeth Fell. Ellen's own daughter, Charlotte, was in Essex living with her grandparents, uncle James, cousins Charlotte & William and a boy named Charles Upson - aged 6, who I believe was Ellen's illegitimate child.
Robert completed his 10 year service and arrived back in Sheerness on 1st August 1871 after being transferred to HMS Himalaya, a troop transport vessel sailing from the West Indies. He evidently loved his life at sea and immediately signed up for another 10 year stint in the navy. He was posted to a new ship - HMS Druid, but given some much-needed shore leave to visit his wife. Following his leave, Robert returned to Sheerness and HMS Druid departed for the Gold Coast (Ghana) on New Years Day 1872.
Ellen was pregnant again and on 12th May 1872 she gave birth to a baby boy. He was christened with the name Robert Telford Ireton Perry. Telford was the name of one of the Varley family's boys and the fact that she chose this name for her own child suggests she may have been quite fond of the boy.
Robert returned from sea, albeit briefly, in May/June 1874 and this would have been the first opportunity he had to meet his young son. His ship HMS Druid then departed for North America and the West Indies and did not return to Portsmouth until 15th December 1866. His naval record shows that he had now taken on the role of training younger seaman and initially performed this role whilst living in the Portsmouth naval barracks. Just over 2 months later, he was posted to a new ship - HMS Eurydice, a training ship for ordinary seaman on 25th February 1877, which which eventually left port bound for the the West Indies in May 1877, calling at Lisbon and Madeira on the way.
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| HMS Eurydice |
Tragedy strikes
After completing it's tour of the West Indies, HMS Eurydice left Bermuda on 6th March 1878 bound for Portsmouth. The ship was sighted by Bonchurch coastguard on the Isle of Wight at 3:30pm on Sunday 24th March under full sail. It had been a bright spring day, but as the ship passed Dunnose Head between Ventnor and Shanklin, a snowy squall blew in from the north-west causing the ship to lurch violently to the right. There was pandemonium on deck as water started rushing in through the open gun ports and the crew desperately tried to shorten the sails. The ship capsized and it was every man for himself as the occupants of the ship either jumped or were pitched into the cold sea. There were some 330 men on board the ship at the time and only 2 made it to shore alive. The rest drowned including poor Robert.
The sinking of HMS Eurydice was one of the worst peacetime disasters in the history of the Royal Navy. After several unsuccessful attempted thwarted by bad weather and the hull being stuck on the seabed, the wreck was re-floated and towed into Portsmouth. A court martial was opened on 29th August to inquire into the causes of the disaster and it determined that the loss of the ship had been a terrible accident with no blame attached to the captain or his crew for the terrible events that unfolded. A relief fund was set up for widows and family members of the dead and we can only hope that Ellen saw some of that money.
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| 1881 census |
A new beginning
The following year, her ageing father, George Upson passed away. He was buried at St Peter's church in South Weald on 27th December 1879. Both of her parents had been unable to work and were receiving some financial out relief from the Billericay Union and some support from Ellen's brothers George and Joseph. Her own daughter, Charlotte Perry, had grown up by this time and had followed her into domestic service, finding work at a house in Islington. Meanwhile, her suspected illegitimate son, Charles, had been packed off to live with his uncle John in Havering. By 1881 with her young son to support, Ellen and 8-year-old Robert had moved to 2 North Street in Luton where she was working as a laundress. The house was close to the railway station and the census shows she had supplemented her income by accommodating 3 boarders. Living just 2 doors away at no. 6 was her younger sister, Harriet and her husband George Jackson, a railway signalman. The couple were living there with their 3 young daughters.
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| 1891 census |
Ellen remained in Luton and 10 years later, now aged 51, she was still living at 2 North Road and working as a laundress. By now, her daughter Charlotte was helping out as an assistant laundress and her 18-year-old son, Robert, had joined the army and was a private in the 16th Bedfordshire Regiment.
Twilight years
Ellen suffered a decline in her mental health and her daughter must have found it difficult to cope with her behaviour. On 28th February 1894 she was admitted to the Three Counties Asylum, close to the village of Arseley in Hertfordshire.
Freed from the burden of caring for her mother, Charlotte Perry married William Luck, the widower of her cousin Elizabeth Harriet Upson on 17th June. Elizabeth had died the year before leaving 2 young children. The following year, her son Robert was posted to his regiment to India.
Ellen remained in the asylum and is listed in the census taken on 1st April 1901 as a "lunatic". She eventually died on 21st November 1908 and the cause of death was tuberculosis. Tuberculosis could not have been the reason she was committed to the asylum in the first place and without consulting the records of the asylum (which are in the Bedfordshire archives), we can only speculate as to the reason for the decline in her mental health. One possible explanation may have been Syphillis, which was very common at that time. Her late husband spent long periods away at sea and may have caught the disease and passed it onto his wife.
A brick wall demolished?
As with any illegitimacy, you can never be 100% sure that you have identified the correct parent (or parents), but I hope that by writing the above account I have made a compelling case. Working on the basis that George and Charlotte Upson were the grandparents of Charles Upson (b. 1864/65), the only candidates for his mother have to be one of their 4 daughters: Eliza (b.1829), Millicent (b. 1833), Eleanor (b.1839) or Harriet (b. 1848). Eliza married an agricultural labourer by the name of Joseph Holland in 1857 and after initially living with her parents, moved to another cottage in the village of South Weald. It can't be her. Millicent married Henry Attridge, a labourer, in 1856 and they started a family together in Great Baddow. It's highly unlikely to be her either. As for Harriet, she would have been unmarried and in her teens when Charles was born, so it could be her. However, there is no evidence that Harriet ever lived in London (where the 1871 census reports he was born), so I am inclined to think that Ellen was his mother.
