Peter Hunnisett

William & Amelia Pattenden
of East Grinstead

William Pattenden, the second son of John and Elizabeth, was baptised in East Grinstead, Sussex, on 14 May 1786.

Amelia Dearling was born in Horne, Surrey, where she was baptised as Mille, daughter of William and Mary on 10 October 1790.

William married Amelia in East Grinstead on 21 October 1814 and they had the following children baptised:

Mary's parents were recorded as William and Mildred in the baptism register but from other evidence it is clearly the same family.

It seems likely that William worked in the timber industry for most of his life and at the 1841 census he was shown as a lath render. Also with him was his wife Amelia, children John, shown as a brewer, and Thomas and a grand-daughter, Caroline, the illegitimate daughter of Amelia who had since married to William Haesman.

The East Grinstead Tithe of 1842 lists William Pattenden as owner of a cottage, and just over six acres of land, in the area of what are now the allotments in Imberhorne Lane.

In 1851 William, by then 67, was described as a brewer living at East Grinstead Common with his wife, their son Thomas and grand-daughter Caroline (shown as niece). Thomas was also a brewer. At this time most of their children were married and all except James were living within a few houses of each other on East Grinstead Common.

William died on 29 March 1852 and was buried at St Swithuns, East Grinstead. In his will, made in 1841, he descibed himself as a shopkeeper and left everything to his wife Amelia.

SACRED
to the memory of
WILLIAM PATTENDEN
who died March 29^th
1852
aged 66 years

photo courtesy of
Isobel Holman,

Headstone at
St Swithuns
East Grinstead

The 1861 census shows Amelia as a carpenter’s widow living as an inmate at Sackville College, East Grinstead, where she died in 1869, aged 78, and was buried in East Grinstead Cemetery on 1 May.

Of their children:

• Amelia had a daughter, Caroline, baptised in East Grinstead on 25 September 1835. She later married William Heasman, a lath cleaver in the timber industry, and they had about eight children in the East Grinstead area before moving to Redhill in 1866.

• George was a sawyer and he and his wife, Harriett, had eight children:

  Mary Jane

  Q4 1841

  Horne, Sry

  Eliza

  Q3 1843

  Horne, Sry

  Anna

  Q1 1846

  Horne, Sry

  James

  Q1 1848

  Horne, Sry

  Harriet

  Q2 1850

  East Grinstead, Ssx

  William

  Q4 1852

  Horne, Sry

  Charles

  Q4 1857

  Godstone, Sry

  Fanny

  Q4 1860

  Kennington, Sry

  In 1851 George was living on East Grinstead Common and in 1861 they were at 11 Church Street, Lambeth. In 1871 they were in Farnborough, Kent, but I have not found George in 1881. By 1891 George was a widow and living in Hayes Common in Kent where he was still living in 1901. He died in 1909, aged 90.

• James married Mary Criswell in 1849 and they had three children:

  Ann

  Q2 1850

  Godstone

  Mary

  Q2 1853

  Godstone

  Henry James

  Q3 1861

  Godstone

  James worked in the timber industry, mainly as a lath render. In 1851 they were at Hedge Court, Horne and in 1861 at 4 Rope Platt Lane, Horne. By 1871 they had moved to Godstone. James may have died in 1889.

• John married Frances Walder in East Grinstead on 22 November 1845 and they had six children:

  Amelia

  Q3 1846

  East Grinstead

  Alfred

  Q3 1847

  East Grinstead

  Thomas

  Q1 1849

  East Grinstead

  Agnes

  Q3 1850

  East Grinstead

  Charles

  Q4 1851

  East Grinstead

  Kate

  Q2 1856

  East Grinstead

  In 1851 John was a farmer with 80 acres on East Grinstead Common but by 1861 they had moved to Croydon, Surrey, and John was working as a sawyer. They settled in Croydon as they appear in each census up until 1891 and John was sometimes referred to as a Park Fencer.

• Mary, aged 13, appears to have been working as a servant in Crawley in 1841. Her first marriage was to Henry Kenward in 1843, when she was probably still only 15. However, there were no known children and Henry died in 1845. Mary then married William Dyer on 3 August 1846 witnessed by her brother, George, and his wife, Harriet. Mary and William had one son:

  William Dyer

  Q3 1847

  Lingfield

  At the 1851 census Mary was shown as a married seamstress living at East Grinstead Common with her son and a lodger, George Holman. Her husband has not been found, either in this census or in any subsequent record!

  Mary married her lodger, George Holman, a labourer, in East Grinstead on 15 January 1855 and appears to have had 6 children by him:

  Ann Dyer

  bap. 30 May 1852

  East Grinstead, St Swithun

  Alice Holman

  ca. 1855

  East Grinstead

  Caroline Holman

  Q3 1861

  East Grinstead

  Annette Holman

  Q1 1860

  East Grinstead

  Alan Holman

  Q2 1864

  East Grinstead

  George Holman

  bap. 18 Feb 1868

  East Grinstead

  Mary and George continued to live in the East Grinstead Common area until Mary died in 1909 and George in 1910.

• Thomas was a brewer working with his father in 1851. By 1861 he had married Harriet, moved to Godden Green, Seal in Kent and Thomas was working as a carpenter, which he did for the rest of his life. Their children were:

  William

  Q3 1855

  East Grinstead

  Mary

  Q1 1860

  Sevenoaks, Kent

  Anna

  Q1 1863

  Seal, Kent

  Harriet

  Q4 1865

  Seal, Kent

  Caroline

  Q2 1868

  Seal, Kent

  Alice

  Q3 1870

  Seal, Kent

  Thomas Edmund

  Q1 1877

  Seal, Kent

  Thomas and Harriet were still living in Back Lane, Godden Green, in 1901. Thomas died in 1908.