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Servants and So On
by Val Atkinson
Article ID: 25, First Published: April 2005SERVANTS and SO ON
On the subject of lists, have a look at this list of servants from UK 1871 census, just as they appear in the indexes:
ROSE AFFLECK aged 78 born Scotland
HANNAH BATESON aged 16 born Stainton Westmorland England
RUTH DIXON aged 21 born St Bees Cumberland England
ANN DOWSON aged 43 born Pilkington Lancashire England
MATILDA DUNN aged 49 born Manchester Lancashire England
AGNES A GLOVER aged 18 born Twyning Gloucestershire England
A JONES aged 21 born Liverpool Lancashire England
JULIA LAVENDER aged 22 born Ruislip Middlesex England
JANE MARSHALL aged 13 Born South Shields Durham England
RACHEL MAYSTION aged 74 born Clerkenwell Middlesex England
ADA HELEN PARKINSON aged 18 born Wainfleet Lincolnshire England
ABIGAIL ROBINSON aged 17 born Hoo Northumberland England
What notice do we take of these servants in census entries. For myself, all I’ve felt in the past is utter impatience if I come across one of my ancestors as a servant, because it means they’re not with their family, and I can’t confirm their parents. I’ve never given a thought to the life of a servant or their contribution to the household.
That attitude changed recently when a friend descended from the ROBSON family told me about a particular servant. She’s in the list, and her name is JANE MARSHALL.
Jane’s photograph is still among family treasures kept and handed down for over 130 years, and stories about her are well known.
According to census records she was born, lived, (and perhaps died) in South Shields Durham England
Jane is first recorded as a servant at the age of thirteen, but no one knows how long she’d been a servant or who her parents and family were.
1871 CENSUS
JANE MARSHALL aged 13 servant to John BELL a Marine Store Dealer
Some time before 1877 Jane came to work for the ROBSON family when the first Mrs. ROBSON ( Martha Thompson ) was alive. Martha died in 1877 giving birth to her 13th child, and James ROBSON married his second wife( Isobel (Bell) Urwin )in 1878.
1881 shows Jane with the ROBSON family on the census.
1881 CENSUS
JANE MARSHALL aged 22 servant to James ROBSON Assurance Agent
She was still there in 1891
1891 CENSUS
JANE MARSHALL aged 34 servant to James ROBSON Life Assurance Agent
She was with that family from before 1877 to 1898, and in that time James ROBSON had a total of twenty three children with his two wives. Nine of these children died in infancy. and another was brain damaged
What happened in 1898 that caused Jane to leave, after more than twenty one years, when the youngest ROBSON child was aged six?
She married at the age of forty! Here she is in 1901 with her husband, who had been a widower with four surviving children.
1901 CENSUS
William S Driver 42 born South Shields, Durham, England Head Joiner/Carpenter
Jane Driver 43 born South Shields, Durham, England Wife
Margaret T Driver 16 born South Shields, Durham, England Daughter
William W Driver 14 born South Shields, Durham, England Son
Elizabeth Driver 11 born South Shields, Durham, England Daughter
Ellen Driver 6 born South Shields, Durham, England Daughter
Well, I can only say that William DRIVER and his children received a treasure the day Jane MARSHALL became part of their family. She was indeed a pearl of great price.
Take notice of the servants! They brought up your ancestors, and laughed and cried with them. They saw them through the joys of birth and marriage, and the trials of disease and death.
I cannot think of Jane MARSHALL as a ‘servant’.
To the ROBSON family she must have been an anchor, an ally, a shoulder to cry on, a support in times of trouble, a stalwart through ‘thick and thin’ and a tower of strength.
POINTS TO PONDER:
Was your ancestor a servant?
Is there a ‘Jane MARSHALL’ in your family?
Give her dignity and praise
Honour her for her dedication and life long hard work
YOUR ANCESTOR WAS A HEROINE!
