Chapter One:
Childhood
“I Did Not Have the
Privilege of Going to School Much”
Bah, Bah a black Sheep,
Have you any Wool?
Yes merry have I,
Three Bags full,
One for my master,
One for my Dame,
One for the little Boy
That lives down the lane. (Wikipedia)
Isaac
John Wardle was born to John and Mary Kingston [Kinston] Wardle. He was the second child to this union, his
brother William preceding him. His
mother also had a child from a previous union, Thomas Morton. To William and Mary were born three more
children, in the order of their birth, Joseph, his sister Hannah, and the
youngest brother James. (Family Search)
The
surname Wardle is English. “English:
...habitational name from places in Cheshire and Greater Manchester (formerly
in Lancashire) called Wardle, from Old English weard ‘watch’ + hyll ‘hill’.”
(Hanks) Uncle Norval Wardle, at a
William Haston Wardle family reunion, said it may also have come from ward of
the well. (Personal memory)
Isaac
described his early life in this manner:
“Isaac J. Wardle; born 14 June 1835 in the Theune [town] of Raven Stone
[Ravenstone,] Lester Shire [Leicestershire, pronounced Lestershire] England;
son of John and Mary Wardle. I had four
brothers and one sister. I did not have
the privilege of going to school much as I was put to work at the age of seven
years old.” (Wardle, Isaac 1) ”Isaac
John Wardle was born June 14, 1835 at Ravenstone, Leistershire, England and was
the third son of John and Mary Kinston Wardle.”
(Wardle, Isaac 2)
As
indicated, Mary had a child by a previous marriage. Mary’s first husband, William Morton, died
sometime before 1832. In an email I
received from Kathy Taylor a descendant of Thomas Morton she says, referring to
William, “I only have an estimated death date of before 1832. I
don't know why it shows just the year and not before. Since Mary was
remarried in 1832, I had the date in my file as a place setter. This was
an old Ancestral File submission. Beth White has done most of the research
on the family. I got the information from her.” (Taylor, Kathy)
I
could not find any record of the marriage, or of the death of William
Morton. After his death, Mary would
have been expected to grieve for up to a year.
“At the moment of death, clocks would be stopped, curtains drawn over
windows, and mirrors covered. Black apparel was quickly donned or if black
cloth was not available, the household would quickly dye their clothes to a
darker hue. Widows from all social
classes were expected to maintain mourning for a full year, and withdraw as
much as possible from Victorian life. For women with no income, or small
children to care for, remarriage was 'allowed' after this 12 month
period.” (About Britain)
Mary Kingston Wardle, her first husband and
Thomas were born in Snarestone, Leicestershire, England. (Family Search) (Another Family Search record puts Mary’s
place of birth as well as her parents, at Shackerstone which is also in this
same area. Both Snarestone and
Shackerstone are within five miles of Ravenstone. Genealogist Patti Call could not find any
verification of Mary’s birth in Shackerston records. (Call)
Family Search indicates Mary’s parents were Mary and Edward Mouton.
Donna Olsen, my cousin, indicates she has
done some research and provides this information about Isaac’s mother.
Donna
Olsen I had a copy of the family group sheet done by Uncle Norval which shows
Isaac John Wardle as a child, with father John Wardle and mother Mary Morton.
It said Mary Morton was born 1 June 1806 in Shakerstone, Leicestershire,
England. As I tried to find Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts for this
time period in Shakerstone, I discovered that they were a part of the 10
percent of Leicestershire records that hadn't been microfilmed. I joined the
Leicestershire Historical Society and was able to hire a researcher to copy
these records for me, Josephine Pegg. I had to sign an agreement that I would
not make copies of the pages. I have been true to that agreement. In the pages,
I found the birth record of Mary Morton on 1 Jan 1804. I thought the poor
handwriting had mixed up the Jun with Jan. Her mother was listed as Ann Morton,
and there was no father listed. I assume this means she was illegitimate. Later
on, her Mother married John Bishop on 27 Jan 1806, but I don't know whether he
was Mary's father or not. I also found West Jordan, Utah, Church Records
0027416 showing Mary Wardle, Born 1 Jun 1807, Shakstone, Leicester, England,
rebaptized 26 Oct 1861 and confirmed by Thos. Beckstead, [recorded] Oct. 27,
1861, by John Bennion. Mary was alive then, and that is what she reported as
her birth date and place. (Olsen)
Thomas was born 23 December 1830. His name is also given as Thomas Martin.
(Rupp) I have a photograph of Thomas,
taken after he came to Utah. It is
inscribed on the back, “Thomas Martin, Grandfather Isaac Wardle’s
half-brother.” I do not know who wrote
the inscription. Thomas remained with his mother as indicated in Isaac’s
description of his family and census information. (Census 1841, 1851) He was listed as Thomas Wardle for the census
information, but reverted to his birthfather’s name as an adult. (Coalville Church records)
John Wardle’s parents, Isaac’s grandparents,
were born in Ravenstone. John was the
son Thomas and Elizabeth Wardle. (Family
Search) John Wardle was born 19 August 1811. (Call)
Family Search shows John Wardle and Mary Kinston Morton marrying in
Ravenstone, 12 November 1832. My brother
took a copy of the marriage register from the Family History Library. John is labeled as a bachelor and Mary as a
spinster. They both made their mark of
an X instead of a signature. (family
history library)
William was born just two months after the
union of his parents, 26 January 1833.
(Family Search) Just over four months after his birth William was
christened in Ravenstone. (ibid)
Isaac followed William, making him the middle
child of the family. The day after his
birth, he also was christened in Ravenstone.
(Family Search) Ravenstone Church
is called St. Michaels of all Angels. (The Free Dictionary)
Isaac was followed two years later by his
brother Joseph in Ravenstone, date of birth not given. Hannah [Mary,] his sister, was born July 22,
1839 in Whitwick, Leicestershire.
Whitwick is a coal mining community about four miles from Ravenstone, on
the other side of Coalville. His
youngest brother, James, was born in Ravenstone, October 16, 1841. The christenings of his younger siblings are
not a part of the family search record.
Isaac
indicated he had four brothers and a sister.
(Wardle, Isaac) Other histories I
have mention only three brothers. (Rupp;
Wardle, Orrin) The census of 1841
includes three brothers, Thomas, William and Joseph. The census of 1851 includes four brothers
adding James who was born in 1841. These
histories also mention that all of Isaac’s brothers came to Utah. (Rupp; Wardle, Orrin) However there is no record of Joseph
immigrating in the Church History, Mormon Pioneer rosters.
Patti
Call, genealogist, has verified that Joseph passed away in England, shortly
after marrying. He married Elizabeth
Williams in 1859, and died of small pox and pneumonia in 1861. (Call)
Ravenstone is just to the West of Coalville,
which is the center of the Leicestershire coal fields. It is a small community in Northwest
Leicestershire. (Wikipedia) This community has a seasonal climate. An early description was included in the
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales in 1870-72 by John Marius Wilson's:
RAVENSTONE,
a village in Leicester, and a parish partly also in Derby, but all in the
district of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The village stands 2 miles W of Coalville
r.[ail] station, and 4 S E of Ashby-de-la-Zouch; and has a post-office under
Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The parish comprises 550 acres in Leicester, and 580 in
Derby. Real property, £2, 520. Pop., 248 and 144. Houses, 54 and 55. The
property is divided among a few. The manor, with R.[avenstone] Hall, belongs to
L. Fosbrooke, Esq. R.[avenstone] House is the residence of the Rev. R. G.
Cresswell. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £320;
Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is early English, in good condition;
and has a tower and spire. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a national school, and
an alms-house-hospital for 36 women. (Vision of Britain)
The
area was rural, barely over one person per acre. (Vision of Britain) About half of the population attended the
Church of England. Many attended the
Wesleyan Methodist or the Baptist churches.
Everyone was Christian of some denomination. The birth rate was also very high, about 185
births per 1000 women between the ages of 20 and 49. About 30 percent of the people in this area
would be considered lower class; about 56 percent middle class and 14 percent
upper class. (Vision of Britain)
This compares favorably to England in
general. During the English Victorian
period, 70 percent of the population was considered poor (laborers,) 15 percent
middle class (doctors, lawyers and teachers,) and 15 percent wealthy divided
between gentry (those who earned their wealth) and aristocracy (those who
inherited.) (Damon) During this period, the lives of children varied greatly,
depending on the social class of the family.
The children of the wealthy had spacious rooms, tutors and lessons,
toys, beds and linens, dances and social gatherings. The lives of the lower class children were
very different:
Poverty was a way of life for many Victorian
children. There often wasn't the time or energy for play. Food was whatever
could be found, scraped together, or stolen. Starvation and cold were facts of
life.
Clothing most often came from trash barrels,
or was purchased with whatever few coins a person had on hand. Sniffles would
be allowed to grow into colds. Ill health was often cured only by death as the
poor could not afford medical care.
Although perhaps not played with often,
Victorian toys were available for a bit of joy. Boys would use yo-yo's, tin soldiers,
and toy drums. Marbles were popular.
Girls would make their own dolls from bits
of rags and buttons. These dolls would be loved just as much as the wax dolls
available to the wealthier little girls. A hopscotch game could be held at a
moment's notice.
If
toys couldn't be found, rolling a hoop down the street would use any energy
which was left over from a day of work. Games of hide-and-seek and Blindman's
Bluff would be enjoyed by groups of children.
Working for a Wage: Children were expected to
help supplement the family budget and were sent to work quite young. These
weren't gentile jobs, they were manual labour paying extremely low wages. Factories employed the young to crawl beneath
huge machinery - into spaces which adults were too large to enter. Long hours
of drudgery would be the order of the day, often starting before dawn and
continuing after dark. Conditions were unsafe. Children who crawled beneath
working machines were often killed. Coal
mines wanted children to open and close ventilating doors. Until the middle of
the 1800's, children as young as five would often work up to 12 hours a day
underground, often barefoot.
If not employed in a business, youngsters
would roam the streets looking for work. Being a messenger was a 'clean' job,
as was selling flowers. Others would polish shoes, sweep front steps, or become
chimney sweeps. Some poorer Victorian
children found that criminal activities made their lives easier. Pickpockets
were everywhere. Snatching food off food-vendor's carts and quickly running
away was often the only method of getting something to eat. (About Britain)
Rural homes where somewhat less crowded than
urban homes. Living in a Coal community,
many of the homes were built by the coal industry, and would have been similar
in appearance and very basic. The diet
of the poor was centered around bread and potatoes, with meat on rare
occasions. Other items may have been
cheese, sugar, butter and tea as finances allowed. The food may have been flavored with
bacon. There was no cold storage, so
items had to be used within a couple of days from purchase. This meant frequent trips to the small
markets. (See Damon.) Bread and drippings were popular. “Dripping was the fat from roasting meat;
household and institutional cooks sold it to dealers. Used instead of butter, dripping gave bread a
tasty meat flavor and supplied some needed fat.” (Mitchell)
Because so much of the day was spent in work,
there was very little time for recreation.
Isaac’s father, and older brothers, were likely away from home over
fourteen hours every day, and after a day of hard labor would have been too
tired to engage in much home life. As
evidenced by their marriage record, Isaac’s parents were illiterate. Poor lighting from cheap candles, and the
illiteracy of the family would have limited any opportunities for the children
to read.
Isaac indicated that he was not able to
“attend school much.” (Wardle,
Isaac) However, Isaac did have some
schooling. “As a boy he attended the
common school of his toun and Sunday school of the “Church of England.” (Wardle, Junius) “During my boyhood I
attended the Sunday school of the church of England.” (Wardle, Isaac 2) The Northwest Leicester area had a higher
rate of school attendance than the rest of England. 65 percent of the youth
were eligible for voluntary education, and 65 percent of those attended. That represents over 40 percent of the
youth. Attendance at Sunday school was
75 percent compared to 59 percent throughout England. (Vision of Britain) Sunday school was initially established for
more than religious instruction. “Sunday
schools, when they were first started, taught reading and writing as well as
religious subjects. They were intended
for working children who received no other schooling. (Grolier Multimedia
Encyclopedia)
During the Victorian period, most English
children had some schooling. “As with
society and clothing, schooling for Victorian children was very much divided
along financial lines. Although receiving an education was not mandatory until
the end of the 1800's, except for the very poor the majority of children had
some sort of learning, if only to read and write their name.” (About Britain)
There was likely little furniture in the
Wardle home. “Furnishings typically were
minimal: a table with wooden chairs; a few hooks on the wall and a small tin or
wooden trunk (called a box) for keeping clothes; one bed for the parents and
one shared by all the children. The
kitchenware—a kettle and two or three pans plus some knives, forks, spoons, and
plates—was kept on a shelf over the fireplace.”
(Mitchell) There would have been
a lack of privacy as the home was likely small.
“Sometimes there was a curtain that could be pulled to allow some
privacy.” (Mitchell)
(The family likely had attitudes about
privacy similar to those of William Haston Wardle, Isaac’s son. He was living in the Teton Basin in the early
20th century. Thomas Cheney,
who was baptized by William Wardle, tells of the experience of going into the
Wardle home after his baptism. It was
the wintertime. William told him to get
his wet clothes off and stand by the fire.
He was hesitant, until admonished again by Grandpa William. William’s daughter, Delilah was baptized at
the same time and also nude, warming herself by the fire.) (Cheney)
An advantage of living in a coal district,
and working for the coal industry is that coal would have been readily
available for heat and for cooking. In
referring to coal miners, Sally Mitchell in her book on Victorian England said,
“They were well paid in comparison to other workers and often had free housing
as well as free coal. (If coal wasn’t
given to them as a perk, their children could easily pick up all that was
needed for family use from the scraps overlooked in the slag heaps and along
the loading platforms.)” (Mitchell) This
may explain he high percentage of middle class in the area.
Mary (and later Hannah) would have had a
difficult time keeping the home clean.
“Cleanliness was important to the respectable working class—and not easy
to maintain, what with unpaved streets, horse traffic, and coal fires
everywhere.” (ibid)
The working class man wore clothes that were
practical. Trousers were popular at this
time, and a short coat would likely have been worn. The working class generally did not wear
night clothes, sleeping either in their underwear or in their work clothes.
(See Mitchell) Isaac talks of falling
asleep after coming home from work, and presumably slept in his work clothes.
(Wardle, Isaac) Children wore clothing
similar to their parents. Clothing was
often purchased second-hand, or handed down.
Girls generally wore the same dress day after day. They would protect the cleanliness of the
dress with layers of under clothing.
Women also wore hats out of doors.
If shoes were worn, they would likely have been hand-me-down and may not
have fit well. (See Mitchell)
Political situations in England at the time
contributed to the high rate of poor in the country. Suffrage did not extend to all citizens. Initially only property owners could vote or
be members of parliament. The Reform Act
of 1832 allowed merchants to also vote, but to be elected you still had to own
property. (Wikipedia) As a consequence, the laws were written so as
to benefit the property owner, the farmer.
An example of these were the British Corn Laws, which applied to all
grains:
The
Corn Laws were a series of statutes enacted between 1815 and 1846 which kept
corn prices at a high level. This measure was intended to protect English
farmers from cheap foreign imports of grain following the end of the Napoleonic
Wars… The beneficiaries of the Corn Laws were the nobility and other large
landholders who owned the majority of profitable farmland. Landowners had a
vested interest in seeing the Corn Laws remain in force. And since the right to
vote was not universal, but rather depended on land ownership, voting members
of Parliament had no interest in repealing the Corn Laws. The artificially high
corn prices encouraged by the Corn Laws meant that the urban working class had
to spend the bulk of their income on corn just to survive. Since they had no
income left over for other purchases, they could not afford manufactured goods.
So manufacturers suffered, and had to lay off workers. These workers had
difficulty finding employment, so the economic spiral worsened for everyone
involved. (Britain Express)
Several reformist groups grew out of these
laws. Primary of these was the Chartist
Movement. They fought for suffrage for
all (males) as well as repeal of the Corn Laws.
The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, but many of the other goals of the
Chartists were not accomplished until into the 20th century. (Britain Express)
The poem “Baa, Baa, Black sheep” may have
been a commentary on some of these conditions, particularly taxation. Although the proportions where not a third,
the church and the state each extracted their share of taxes. (See Wikipedia)
The Wardle home was not one of luxury, but
typical of working families during the industrial/Victorian era in
England. They lived in the coal mining
district of Leicestershire, Ravenstone, Coalville and Whitwick. Coal was, for the most part, the family
employment. The children had to work
outside the home to make ends meet. (Wardle, Orrin) Isaac’s first seven years at home would have
been effected by the employment of his father and older brothers. His mother would have been very busy keeping
house and child rearing. All of Isaac’s
siblings were born close together, about two years between each birth.
Donna Olsen I had a copy of the family group sheet done by Uncle Norval which shows Isaac John Wardle as a child, with father John Wardle and mother Mary Morton. It said Mary Morton was born 1 June 1806 in Shakerstone, Leicestershire, England. As I tried to find Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts for this time period in Shakerstone, I discovered that they were a part of the 10 percent of Leicestershire records that hadn't been microfilmed. I joined the Leicestershire Historical Society and was able to hire a researcher to copy these records for me, Josephine Pegg. I had to sign an agreement that I would not make copies of the pages. I have been true to that agreement. In the pages, I found the birth record of Mary Morton on 1 Jan 1804. I thought the poor handwriting had mixed up the Jun with Jan. Her mother was listed as Ann Morton, and there was no father listed. I assume this means she was illegitimate. Later on, her Mother married John Bishop on 27 Jan 1806, but I don't know whether he was Mary's father or not. I also found West Jordan, Utah, Church Records 0027416 showing Mary Wardle, Born 1 Jun 1807, Shakstone, Leicester, England, rebaptized 26 Oct 1861 and confirmed by Thos. Beckstead, [recorded] Oct. 27, 1861, by John Bennion. Mary was alive then, and that is what she reported as her birth date and place.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps! Thanks for all your work
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJeff Schrade Enjoyed the post. For any Americans reading the history of Isaac, when you read words like Lancashire -- just remember how we pronounce New Hampshire. So when you read Lancashire -- say it out loud as Lank-ah-sure. (I served an LDS mission in England and I cringe every time an American says, “Then we went to Lanc-ah-shy er.” Or, “We then went to York-shy-er.” The later is Yorkshire -- pronounced York-sure!) Be SURE to get it right! :-)
ReplyDelete