William Fowles was born on the 20th September 1805 in Croydon, Surrey, England to William & Mary Fowles. He was baptised on the 20th October like all of his siblings at the nearby St John the Baptist Church.
Around the age of eighteen William met and married Mary Ann Gatton (or Gatten also born 1805).
Mary Ann hailed from Sussex. During September 1823, the banns were read at their parish church (St George the Martyr). This occurred for three consecutive weeks. Witnesses to the wedding were Richard Hirst and Mary Whelan. They were married at St George the Martyr in Southwark, on the 30th November 1823. Mary Ann recorded her name as Ann on her wedding certificate.
Just over 200 years later, I had the pleasure of visiting this beautifully preserved church on a sunny London day.
Mary Ann can be found by Mary Ann, Mary or Ann in different records.
Mary Ann stated when she filled out the census; that she was born in Lewes, Sussex.
To put into context what was happening in England when William and Mary Ann were married. The Prime Minister Robert Peel had successfully seen five acts of parliament through. These acts abolished the death penalty for over one hundred summary offences. These offences were considered archaic and uncivilised. The unpopular and spendthrift King George IV was on the throne. He was wildly out of touch with the common people. He did little to improve their lot. His people widely lampooned him throughout his life and beyond.
British society drew toward the end of the Regency period. Napoleon Bonaparte and Daniel Boone both died a few years before. Daniel O’ Connell was agitating in Ireland for emancipation for the Irish people. For the next ten years, it would still legal to keep slaves. This lasted until 1833. Particularly in the Indies and the Caribbean.
William and Mary Ann lived south of London. Residing in working-class areas Clapham, Croydon, Brixton, and Lambeth. By 1830 they have moved to Brixton.
Their known children were Sarah Ann Fowles, born in 1824. William Fowles was born in 1826. Elizabeth Ellen Fowles was born in 1832. Alice Fowles was born in 1835. Henry Fowles was born in 1838. John Fowles was born in 1843. Frederick Fowles was born in 1848.
The 1841 census recorded the family living in Clapham, William aged 35, occupied as a Labourer. Mary Ann aged 35, mother of William aged 15, Elizabeth Ellen aged 8, Alice aged 6 and Henry aged 1.
Henry would not survive to adulthood dying in Lambeth in July 1848 having just turned eight years old.
Sarah would have been aged around seventeen at the time of the census. Sarah may have been employed, and living elsewhere as she is not recorded with the family in the 1841 census. At the age of nineteen Sarah married Charles Clapp a nineteen year old shoemaker. They married on the 4th of February 1844 at St Lukes in West Norwood. This was four miles from her family home in Clapham. Her father William is recorded in the register, signing as a witness to the marriage. William gave his occupation as Labourer. Charles father Abraham Clapp was also a Labourer. The record misspelled Sarah’s surname as Fowler.
Elizabeth Ellen would marry Mr C. Blunden and like her brother William, a few years later the Blunden family would emigrate from England to Australia.
Alice married Mr. J. Luetchford/Lutchford. A local man whose family resided near hers. They would live their lives in the London area raising their family.
The 1851 census found William (45) and Mary (45) living at Pleasant Retreat, 3 Nelsons Place Lambeth, Brixton. Occupation was now given as car man and shopkeeper. A car man being the driver of any vehicle on the roadways. Wife Mary Ann, and daughter Alice were employed as assistants in the shop. John (7) was a scholar and Frederick (2) still a baby.
For the Fowles family, this must have been a period of comfort. As shopkeepers, they would have had a good income. They probably had a solid, safe home. Lambeth was still a quiet semi-rural part of London with large tracts of land given to farming and agricultural works. In 1858 whilst living at Nelson’s Place William contracted bronchitis and sadly died as a result. For Mary Ann, this must have been exceedingly hard. She was only 52 years of age with dependent children.
William was buried on the 9th May 1858. The burial certificate was issued from the parish of St Matthew’s Brixton. The Church of St Matthew was consecrated in 1824. The churchyard commenced taking interments. In the twentieth century the churchyard which had fallen into disrepair was levelled and made into a public garden. Any gravestones were removed and stored in a crypt under the church . This burial ground was built over and is now a garden surrounding the active church. The church itself being restored in the 1990’s. The interred bodies remain unmarked but insitu in the garden grounds.
By 1861 Mary Ann’s living circumstances had changed. Mary Ann was now living with her sons Frederick and John at 2 Kendles Cottage, Water Lane, Brixton. She no longer had a shop and her occupation was given as housekeeper. At the time that their father died in 1858 John was fifteen and Frederick ten. In the 1861 census John gave his employment as a wheelwright and Frederick a scholar (student).
From 1871, Mary Ann was living with her son Frederick. She also lived with his wife Mary Ann and their 6-month-old infant daughter Miriam. They lived at 5 Archbishop Place, Brixton.
Mary Ann was recorded as an Annuit. This means she was getting money each year for the remainder of her life. This was to support her upkeep. The 1881 census did not yield much about Frederick. I couldn’t conclusively find any information about his wife Mary Ann. The census also had little information on their daughter Miriam. The 1891 census turns up a Marian Fowles. She is the daughter of Mary Ann. Marian was born in Brixton, Surrey and living in nearby Wandsworth. The transcription might be wrong and it could be Miriam. Miriam was 20 (which is about right) and her widowed mother 46 which is also about right. She had two brother’s Frederick John aged 16 and Ernest Edward aged 12. It seems that Miriam was the main bread-winner in the home as her mother is recorded as being sick. Miriam was a mantle-maker (item of fashion worn by ladies of the time) for employment. Her 16 year old brother Frederick was a messenger and 12 year old Ernest still a scholar. Ten years later, Frederick John Fowles, aged twenty six, appears in the 1901 census. He was born in Brixton. He was married with a 5 1/2 month old child and worked as a Bookkeeper in Wandsworth. I don’t know for sure but I suspect these are our people.
Mary Ann Gattan/Gatton Fowles died in Lambeth in 1876 at the age of seventy six. She had watched her family grow. They achieved levels of prosperity different from those she and William had been born into.
Yews to Eucalypts 