Peter Hunnisett

William & Sarah Winchester of Bletchingley

William Winchester, the eldest son of Thomas and Mary, was born on 6 April 1806 and baptised in Horne, Surrey, on 4 May. He was brought up in Bletchingley.

He married Sarah Parsons (ca.1812 - 1912) in Croydon on 21 February 1830 and they had the following children, all baptisms in Bletchingley, Surrey:

Sarah Winchester ca.1911

The 1841, '51 & '61 census records show the family living in a cottage at White Hill, which is North of Bletchingley.  As William is shown as a farm labourer it is possible that he worked on Hextalls farm.

William died in 1865 and at the 1871 census Sarah was registered as a laundress living at Great Common on the West side of Bletchingley with her youngest daughter, Emma, and her son-in-law and daughter, George and Jane Potter.

By 1881 Sarah had moved into one of four Alms Houses which were situated between Berry Cottage and School House on Bletchingley High Street.  The 1891 and 1901 census records show that her youngest daughter, Emma, was also living there and looking after her.  Sarah is thought to have gone blind before she died in 1912 aged about 99.

The Surrey Mirror & County Post of Friday 23 February 1912 carried the following obituary:

Of their children:

• Eleanor had an illegitimate son, Edwin Frederick Winchester, baptised in Bletchingley on 10 February 1849 but he died soon afterwards.  In 1851 she was working as a servant in Bletchingley. In 1853 she married William Watson and they had 3 children; Emma in 1858, Mary in 1859 and William in 1860.  William died in 1863 and she then married George Brown in 1866 shortly before their daughter, Eleanor, was born but he also died, aged 30, later that year. In 1868 she had another daughter, Alice, and in 1870 she married William Plumridge, a brickmaker. At the 1871 census they were living in Bletchingley High Street with four of Eleanor’s children, Mary, William, Ellen and Alice and two of William’s sons. In 1881 Eleanor was living in The Square, Bletchingley, with her children William, Eleanor and Alice. Although she described herself as a labourer’s wife there was no sign of her husband.
• Mary married William Tuckwood from Kinoulton in Nottinghamshire in 1859 but they are not known to have had any children.  In 1871 Mary was a general dealer living at 18 South Street, Reigate, and her 12-year-old sister Emma was staying with her.  In 1881 William and Mary were greengrocers living at 19 Cromwell Road, Reigate.  In 1891 they were living in Horley and in 1901 they were at Rose Cottage, Buckland, Reigate.  Mary’s death, aged 75, was registered in Reigate at the beginning of 1910.
• Charlotte was a servant in Brighton in 1861. She married Thomas Akehurst, a farm labourer from Patcham, Sussex, in 1867 and lived in East Dean, Sussex, with their two daughters:
  

  Charlotte	1869	East Dean, Sussex
  Alice	1871	East Dean, Sussex

  In 1871 and 1881 their address was given as Under Hill, in 1891 as Birling Farm and in 1901 and 1911 as the Gilbert Institute, all East Dean.  Charlotte died on 23 June 1915 and was buried in East Dean.  Her headstone in East Dean churchyard also records Thomas’ death on 12 January 1927.
• Frederick married Susannah Brooker in Godstone on 4 November 1863. They had two children baptised:

  Alice	12 Jun 1864	Godstone
  Frances Susan	11 Feb 1865	Godstone

  Frederick died at the age of 25 and was buried in Godstone on 18 March 1867. Susannah remarried in 1869 to John Bryant and in 1871 had Alice with her but not Frances. In 1881 Frances was staying with her uncle, Jesse Brooker, in Worth.
• Mahala had a daughter, Mary Winchester, baptised in Bletchingley on 11 June 1860.  On 28 July 1860 she married James Parsons, a 23-year-old stone digger from Bletchingley.  In 1871 they were living at 2 Halls Cottages, Redhill, where James was a carman.  Mahala appears to have had six children:
  

  Mary Winchester	11 Jun 1860	Bletchingley
  Margaret Parsons	1862	Bletchingley
  James Parsons	1867	Bletchingley
  Thomas Parsons	1869	Redhill
  Frederick Parsons	1870	Redhill
  Mahala Caroline Parsons	1872	Redhill

  Mahala died in 1879 and James remarried in 1880 to Emma Humphrey. At the 1881 census James was at 119 Cromwell Road with Thomas, Frederick, Caroline, his second wife, Emma, and four of her children.  Mahala’s daughter Mary was a servant at Chesterton Terrace, Redhill, in 1881.
• William married Mary Jane Elsey from Horley in 1867. Mary already had a son:

  Charles Elsey

  1864

  Charles, Mary’s illegitimate son was variously known as Charles Elsey and Charles Winchester. William and Jane had two children:

  William Abraham	bap. 28 May 1876	Redhill, St Matthew
  Leonard George	1892

  In 1871 William was a carter living in Woodlands Road, Redhill, and in 1876 he was living in Linkfield Lane.  In 1881 he was a publican in Horley Road, Redhill, and his son Charles was a gardener.  In 1891 he lived in Grove Hill Road.  Kelly's directories for 1874, 1887 and 1890 show William as a beer retailer at Earlswood Common, Redhill.  Mary died in 1894 and William married Sarah Jane Scott in 1895.  They seem to have had one son:
  

  Alfred Victor

  1897

  In 1901 William, Sarah, Leonard and Alfred were living at 111 Monson Road, Redhill. William, Sarah and Alfred were still at that address in 1911. William is believed to have died in 1923.
• Lewes married Mary Ann Bryant (born 1847) in Godstone on 5 September 1868 and they had at least five children:
  

  Frances Mary	11 Jul 1869	Redhill
  Eliza Jane	13 Jan 1872	Godstone
  Albert Lewis	30 Nov 1879	Bletchingley
  Oliver Ernest	1884	Bletchingley
  Florence Marion	1886	Bletchingley

  In 1871 Lewes was living in Station Road, Godstone, and working as a railway porter but by 1881 he was a Fullers Earth pit labourer living at Stychens in Bletchingley.  In 1891 he was still at Stychens but working as a farm labourer and in 1901 he was a hearth stone miner living on Walton Heath, to the north of Reigate. Lewis, Mary and Albert were still in Walton Heath in 1911. Lewis died in 1937, aged 89.
• Jane married George Potter, a Fullers Earth pit labourer, in 1870 and at the 1871 census they were staying with Jane’s mother, Sarah, at Great Common, Bletchingley.  In 1881 they were living at School House, High Street, Bletchingley, and in 1891 were still in High Street.  Their children were:
  

  William George	1872
  Frederick	1875
  Charles	1879
  Fanny Edith	1881
  Harold	1883
  Arthur Winchester	1884
  Walter Winchester	1886
  Zephaniah Henry	1888

  Jane died in 1892 and George re-married the following year and had further children.
• Charles became a boot maker, married Harriet Heasman and lived in Redhill (see Charles & Harriet Winchester).
• Harry became a bootmaker like his elder brother Charles and in 1871 he was in High Street, Redhill, apprenticed to Alfred Breach, Bootmaker.  He married Lizzie Bone, from Bedfordshire, in 1875 and by 1881 they were living at 24 Cromwell Road, Redhill, where Harry was working as a bootmaker.  They had two children:
  

  Lilian Gertrude	1877	Spalding, Lincs
  Leonard Harry	1882	Redhill

  The 1887 Kelly's directory shows Harry as a shoemaker at 19 and 24 Cromwell Road and in 1890 and 1899 just at 19 Cromwell Road as in the 1891 census.  In 1901 and 1911 they were at 35 Woodlands Road, Redhill, which was also the address given in Kelly’s in 1909, although the 1913 Kelly’s has 45 Woodlands Road. Harry probably died in 1935.
• Emma seems to have remained a spinster and lived with her mother. She appears to have died in 1930.

According to Kelly’s directory a Leonard Winchester lived at 28 Howard Road, Reigate, between at least 1948 and 1959 but it is not known if this was William’s son or Harry’s son.