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Henry Carter was baptised on 30 December 1832 in Purleigh Essex.
He was the eldest son of William Carter (1810-1872) and Elizabeth Stephens (1809-1844). William was a Labourer at the time, and was the eldest son of William Carter (1785-1858) and Sarah Theobold (1789-1846) of Purleigh. Henry's grandfather was a labourer, but had also been master of the Purleigh workhouse in the 1820s, before the Poor Law Reforms. Henry's immediate family In 1841 Henry and his parents were living on the Chelmsford Road in Purleigh, along with his younger siblings William (1834), Mary (1836) and Elizabeth Ann (1838). A further two children Samuel (1842) and Emma (1844) came along - their baptism records show that their father was now also keeping a beershop in Purleigh. A series of tragedies 6 months after Emma was born, Henry's mother Elizabeth died of TB. Two years later, Henry's grandmother Sarah died of Typhus. Henry's father took a second wife, Susannah, and in 1851 was living in Maldon - by that time Henry was working for his great uncle Samuel Theobold, grocer and baker, Purleigh village. Worse was to come. In April 1852 Henry's brother William "was smothered in a sack containing pollard by two men named Ward & Cable up Mr Auger's Farm", according to the parish burial records. The newspaper report of the inquest implied that this was a farmyard prank gone wrong. Farewell to Purleigh... It is not surprising that by 1861 there were few of Henry's Carters left in Purleigh. His grandfather had died in 1858, and his father was in Maldon. Just his Uncle James remained, working in Samuel Theobold's shop (which he had taken over by 1871). Henry was by now employed as a Journeyman Baker at the Bakers Shop run by his Aunt Mary's husband, George Brown, in Aveley, Essex. .. and Welcome to Croydon In 1871 Henry was running his own Bakery at 59 Mitcham Road, Croydon. Living with him was Lucy Pond (1850-1934) who was described in the census as a servant. Lucy was from Woodham Ferrers, near Purleigh, and was the eldest daughter of a farmer and subsequently Publican in Cold Norton, Essex, William Pond (1821-1904) and his wife, Lucy Poole (1822-1888).
Living next door to Henry and Lucy were Henry's youngest sister Emma and her husband Alfred Ingleton, also a Baker and a colleague of Henry's from Aveley. The presumption is that Alfred was working for Henry. Another of Henry's sisters, Elizabeth, was living less than a mile away, in Pitlake, with her husband William Marten, a professional cricketer. In December 1871 Henry and Lucy's first child, William Henry Carter, was born. Henry and Lucy celebrated by getting married on 19 January 1872 at Croydon Registry Office. It does not appear that any family were present. A growing family More children followed at a regular rate. By the end of the decade there were 6 - William, Edith, Arthur, Lillian, Bob, and Hilda. A further 6 children followed (one short of a baker's dozen) - George, Eleanor, Bertha, Charlie, Joe and Frank. Accident in the Bakery The Bakery would have been a busy place and tragically Eleanor died aged 3 after a scalding accident. Otherwise all the Carter children lived well into adulthood (all the men surviving World War 1). Henry was still running the same Bakery in the Mitcham Road Croydon (although by 1891 it was 129 Mitcham Road because of renumbering), and some of his sons worked alongside him. "Shocking death near Croydon" On the morning of 10 January 1895, Henry set out to undertake some business and did not return home. The next morning he was found dead in two feet of water in a ditch by the Mitcham Road. The Death certificate says Henry ""Accidentally drowned by falling into the brook - a dangerous spot which the council are asked to protect"; Thomas Jackson, Coroner for Croydon. The family's view was that he was most likely the victim of a robbery as he had left the house/bakery with the money to buy a horse or pony. The Croydon Advertiser (headline above) reported that the policeman who found Henry said that, on searching the body, nothing of consequence was discovered. Henry's Legacy Lucy carried on running the Bakery with her sons beyond 1901, but soon after the family moved to nearby Grafton Road (where Lucy's father died) and prior to WW1 to 65 Sutherland Road - where Lucy died in 1934. That house remained in the family until the late 1960s - Hilda and Bertha shared the role of running the house for the various family residents. Henry and Lucy's children William Henry Carter 1871-1946; Married Nellie Mead. Baker and Carman. Henry's siblings William Carter 1834-1852. House Servant. Back to Henry Carter family background page Back to Children of Henry Carter page [Last updated 2 December 2008] |
Family background
