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Family History

Annie Wozencroft / Annie Smith (1871-1945) - Records, Dates, etc.

*** WORK IN PROGRESS ***

(See Annie's page for a summary of her story.)

Birth Certificate

Her birth certificate is one of the few pieces of firm evidence about Annie that have been passed down the family. It therefore formed the start of my search.

There is a story attached to it that at some point Annie and Robert (her husband) had to fill in a form giving Annie's date of birth. They had no birth certificate but knew that she had been born in 1871. Being pragmatists they did not bother finding the exact date and made up a date in (I think) June. Later (in 1931) they paid for a certificate and found the date to be the 15th of March ...

'Back 30' shows that Annie was born not only in a back-to-back house, but in the portion facing into the 'court' rather than out into the street.

'Egerton Lane' still exists, though no longer as a public road, as do some of the buildings that were there in 1871. (See the Egerton Lane page.)

'X the mark of Rachel Ann Wozencroft' shows that her mother could not sign her name.

Civil Registration Index (Births)

A search (on the internet) provided related details -

[** Ecclesall Bierlow was mainly in the West Riding of Yorkshire, but parts were then in Derbyshire. Annie was born in Yorkshire.]

1871 Census (2 April 1871)

{RG10/4669 Folio 59, Page 25, Schedule 140
Township of Ecclesall Bierlow, Municipal Borough of Sheffield, Enumeration District 10
Sheffield Local Studies Library - Microfilm N747 (and internet)}

Note the misspelling of the surname - this made the entry difficult to find in internet searches even though I already knew it existed from the microfilm! I have to agree that it looks like Worencroft!

1881 Census (3 April 1881)

{RG11/4640 Folio 154, Page 5, Entry 18
Township of Ecclesall Bierlow, Municipal Borough of Sheffield, Institution - Ecclesall Bierlow Union Workhouse, The Edge, Sheffield
Sheffield Libraries Microfilm M 1822 (and internet)}

This confirms that Annie had been orphaned by the time she was 10 years old, and was being cared for under the 'Poor Law' at the Work House at Nether Edge (just 'The Edge' in the district description) - later Nether Edge Hospital, and now being converted to luxury flats (sorry, apartments!)!

(I need to check whether there are any other records available from the Union Workhouse - e.g. when did Annie arrive and leave?)

Bible dated 1880

Among my mum's things was a bible carrying the inscription...

A search of the 1881 census shows ...

The parish of St Andrews, Sharrow, included the Nether Edge Workhouse.

1891 Census (5 April 1891)

{RG12/3772 Folio 71, Page 21, Schedule 130
CP of Barnsley, Municipal Borough of Barnsley, Enumeration District 13}

[** Annie's name was transcribed as WozencrAft]

From Miriam Middleton's notes we already knew that Annie worked for a 'Mr Asquith'. We think that she went into service when she was 16 (i.e. ~1887) and from Miriam's notes her employers (possibly in order) were called Bailey (or Baily), Asquith, Mallinson and Barron. She left Barrons in 1894 when she married. As we will see later, the Bailys did not come to Barnsley until 1890, so she may have been working for the Asquiths since going into service. We cannot be sure.

See John Asquith's page for a a bit more information.

Writing case belonging to Annie

This writing case was passed on to me by my mother, Miriam Middleton. The note on its base reads ...

Though Annie did work for family called Bailey (or Baily), she was not living with them in any of the census years, but we do know that her employer was described as 'Parson Bailey'.

Using census and other information we can be fairly sure that it was the family of Rev. Joseph Henry Baily (note the spelling), the minister at Pitt Street Wesleyan Methodist Church, and that 'A. Baily' was probably his daughter Ada who would have been ~15 in 1892. More details are given on Rev. Baily's page.

Try other searches using possible employer's names - Mallinson and Barron - either in internet or at Barnsley Library.

Civil Registration Index (Marriages)

A search of the index shows Annie's marriage in 1894 ...

Other entries on this page include 'Robert Smith' and we know from Miriam Middleton's notes that Annie and Robert were married at St Mary's Church, Barnsley, on April 3rd 1894.

St Mary's, Barnsley, Parish Register

St Mary's Marriage Register {Microfiche at Barnsley Local Studies Library - ref D121/37} shows more details ...

[** Robert's address is not clear, 14 and 4 are crossed out, with 'No 24' squeezed into the corner. It may have read 14 Park Road and/or 4 St John's Road. Both road names are shown. In the 1891 census Robert was living at 4 St John's Road, which is off Park Road.]

1901 Census (31 March 1901)

In 1901, Robert and Annie are living at Barugh (north of Barnsley) with their growing family ...

{RG13/4317 Folio 5, Page 1, Schedule 3
CP of Barugh, Urban Distric of Darton, Enumeration District 41}

[** Roland's name is given wrongly in the census!]

Death Information

We know from Miriam Middleton's notes that Annie died August 19th 1939, and Miriam's notes include the notice of her death (? from the Bransley Chronicle) ...

SMITH - In loving memory of a dear wife and mother, Annie Smith, who passed away on August 19th, 1939, aged 68 years. Interred at Darton August 22nd.
God's greatest gift - Remembrance.
Mr. R. Smith and Family wish to thank all relatives and friends for their kind expressions of sympathy and floral tributes.
Darton Lane. Mapplewell.

Civil Registration Index (Deaths)

A search of the GRO index shows -

Burial

Annie's burial can be seen in the Darton Parish Register {Darton All Saints, Burial Register, 1939, Microfiche, Barnsley Local Studies Library}

In one of her note books Miriam has an entry in 1952 - 'Mam's Grave stone, November £41-0-0'.
Perhaps worth a trip to Darton to see if it can be found! Can the location be found from the burial number?