George Marlow (c1789-1857) and Jane Parsons (c1795-1871).
My 4th great grand-parents.
George Marlow’s origins are a mystery. Census records from 1841 note that he was not from the county of his residence – Hampshire – while later census data noted that he was from Cranborne, Dorset, and born in about 1789. However, no Marlows are listed in the parish records there so he must’ve come from elsewhere. A George Marlow was baptised in 1790 in Fordingbridge, Hampshire – where our George died – but he was probably the child buried three years later.
George’s marriage to Jane Parsons, mother to my ancestor Reuben Thomas Marlow, was not his first as he was described as a widower. By process of elimination I suspect his first wife was Hannah Hill, who came from Buriton in Hampshire and married George – a Portsea resident – on 11 April 1814 in nearby Portsmouth, Hampshire. She was buried in Buriton on 12 October 1819.
George then married spinster Jane on 8 November 1824 at St Mary’s Church in Portsea. Census returns suggest she was born in around 1795 in the Portsea area but, again, I can find no record to prove it. However, the couple raised their children in the town while he worked as an agricultural labourer.
George died in 1857 and was buried on 6 January at Kingston Cemetery in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Jane continued to live in the area with members of her family and died in 1871. She was buried at the cemetery on 17 October.
Their children were:
- Elizabeth Jane Marlow (1828-1918), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Elizabeth was baptised on 29 June 1828 at St Mary’s in Portsea, Hampshire, grew up in the area and then married there in 1853. Her husband was Edward Simpson, who’d been baptised on 21 April 1822 in East Tisted, Hampshire, to agricultural labourer George Simpson and his wife Jane. In the 1851 census, Edward was working as a coachman at grand Bury Hall in Alverstoke, Hampshire, and 10 years later he was working in a similar role at Langdown Lawn House in Dibden, near Southampton, while Elizabeth was living with her growing band of children nearby in the village. Edward then became a painter and the family moved to Southampton; the 1871 census listed them in the parish of St Luke, the 1881 in St Mary’s. Edward died in 1882 and the 1891 census showed Elizabeth working as a nurse at the Alexandra College in Millbrook, now a suburb of Southampton. By 1911 she was living as boarder with the Meadows family a few miles away in the suburb of Millbrook. She died in 1918. Elizabeth and Edward had the following children:
- Walter Edward Simpson (1857-1931) grew up to be a painter and decorator, like his father. Census records give his wife’s christian names as Elvina Adelaide and the 1911 record suggested she came from Mosterton in Dorset and that they’d been married 17 years but I’ve found no record to prove it. They had four children, two of whom survived. They later moved to Fulham and Camberwell in South London.
- Alice Jane Simpson (1859-1927) worked for many years as a servant and cook in the Southampton area and on the Isle of Wight. She married gardener and widower Henry Bath in 1908 and settled in the city. He died in 1924.
- Sarah Mary Ann Simpson (1864-1906) also worked as a servant in the Southampton area and married later in life, in 1903. Her husband was Harry Thomas Martin but she died just three years later.
- Henry Charles Simpson (1866-1950) spent his life in Southampton, marrying local girl Elizabeth Annie Jackman in 1891. He worked as a coachman but later as a gardener. They had two children but neither survived. Elizabeth died in 1949, a year before her husband.
- Charles Albert Veal Simpson (1870-1948) married Josephine Emma Stotter in Notting Hill, Middlesex, in 1892 and lived in and around London for several decades after. The couple raised a family and Charles worked as a grocer. They later settled in Shefford, near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. Josephine died in 1953.
- James William Marlow (1829-1878), my 3rd great-grand uncle. James was baptised on 20 December 1829 at St Mary’s Church in Portsea, Hampshire. Initially an agricultural labourer, he was listed in later census returns as a dairyman. He married widow Mary Page at Portsea on 1 April 1855, who was born Mary Leaver to parents Joseph and Margaret Leaver in 1827 and baptised on 30 November 1827 at St Mary’s. Her first marriage was to James Page in Portsea on 15 February 1852 but he died not long after. The Marlows had several children and continued to live in the Portsea area but James Marlow died in 1878, Mary in 1879. Their known children are:
- Mary Marlow (1865-????)
- James Marlow (1866-????)
- Reuben Thomas Marlow (1831-1903), my 3rd great-grandfather. He served in the Royal Navy.
- Mary Ann Hannah Marlow (1835-????), my 3rd great-grand aunt. Mary was baptised on the 25 January 1835 at St Mary’s in Portsea, Hampshire. She married John Gardner Ife, son of a carpenter also called John, at St Mary’s on 15 May 1853. At the time he was said to be a seaman on HMS Blenheim but later records list him as a private in either the 6th or 8th Dragoon Guards. By 1861 Mary had given birth to several children and at the time of the census was staying with her parents, John doubtless being on service. However, there’s a lack of material surrounding his miliary career including regimental service records. The Brighton Guardian of 18 December 1867, however, reported that John had been charged with stealing 12s 9d from the home of Colonel Sawyer. According to the paper, he went by the alias ‘Pratt’, was in the 6th Dragoons, had once been a servant to Sawyer and was also wearing two good conduct stripes. He was ordered to appear at the Quarter Sessions but was acquitted. Curiously, a report of deserters in the Police Gazette published on 29 January 1868 listed him as a member of the 8th Dragoons, born at Hythe in Kent, and as having deserted on 9 January 1867 in Dublin, Ireland. I suspect the latter date may be an error and should’ve been 1868. After this I can find no mention of either Mary or her husband. Their known children were:
- John George Ife (1854-1859).
- Sarah Jane Ife (1857-????).
- Harriet Mary Ife (1859-1951) was with her mother at the 1861 census but by 1871 was a pauper in the Portsea Island Workhouse, seemingly with no other family member. Had they all died? She married Augustus Pannel in 1879 and had several children. After leaving the navy, he worked as a caretaker but died in 1908 and three years later Harriet was recorded in the census living in Machester with her daugther’s family. She returned to Hampshire and died there at a grand age.
- Edward Stephen Marlow (1836-????), my 3rd great-grand uncle. Naval records give Edward’s date of birth as 9 December 1836 and he was baptised on 19 February 1835 at St Mary’s in Portsea, Hampshire. He volunteered for 10 years in the Royal Navy on 7 December 1854 but further information of his service is missing and by 1861 he was listed as a labourer and was living with his mother. Records I’m comfortable with dry up after this.
Sources: BMDs, census and other records at Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk, Familysearch.org. British Newspaper Archive (titles in text). Military records at National Archives.