BURROWS, Charles - Friends of Horton Cemetery

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b.1837-d.1902

According to his death certificate, Charles Burrows was aged 65 when he died, which would give him a birth-year of around 1837. The censuses found from 1871 onwards, recorded Sherborne, an ancient town situated in the northwest of Dorset and close to the Somerset border, as his place of birth. As there was not a GRO birth record found for Charles, it would indicate that he was born prior to 1^st July1837 when the Sherborne Registration District was officially created.

The 1871 census recorded Charles as being aged 34, unmarried, and that he was a coachman from Dorsetshire (sic). He was lodging at 16 North Street, Marylebone, London.

Charles’s son is born

Although no marriage has been found, on 1^st December 1872, at 29 Middle Street, Hastings, Sussex, Charles’ son, Charles junior, was born. His birth certificate states that his parents were Charles, a coachman, and Sarah Ann Burrows (nee Fordham), whose home address was 16 Gloucester Mews West, London. On 28^th December 1875, Sarah gave birth in their London home to their daughter Lily Hannah.

Sarah Ann was the daughter of James and Mary Ann Fordham and had been born in 1844 in Stanton, Suffolk. She was aged 33 when she died from typhoid fever, on 27^th August 1877, in St Mary’s Isolation Hospital, Kensington. Her death certificate states that she was the wife of Charles Burrows, coachman, of 45 Seymour Place, Marylebone, who was present at her tragic death.

On 5^th July 1880, Charles junior started his education at St Matthews School, Westminster. The school register recorded that Charles was his father and that they were living at 2 Linden Garden Mews, Kensington.

When the 1881 Census was taken, 42-year-old Charles was just recorded as ‘C. Burrows,’ who was still working as a coachman and living at 2 Linden Garden Mews, Kensington, with his 8-year-old son ‘C. Burrows’, and 5-year-old daughter Lellie (sic) Burrows. Also recorded underneath Charles’ name as married, was 24-year-old ‘M. Burrows’, born in Oundle, Northants, in 1857. No marriage record has been found for her and Charles.

Family Members Emigrate to America

(Lily Hannah Burrows was also recorded in the 1881 Census as Hannah L. Burrows living with her maternal grandparents James and Mary Ann Fordham and her uncle James Fordham in Stanton, Suffolk. When Lily was baptised as Hannah Lily in All Saints Church, Stanton, on 4^th June 1882, her parents were recorded as Charles, a coachman, and Sarah Ann Burrows of Notting Hill.

After her grandmother Mary Ann’s death in October 1882, Lily, her grandfather James senior, uncle James junior, aunt Caroline Fordham, all emigrated, in 1883, via Quebec, Canada to Michigan, USA, where Lily later married Archie Pearl Wonser on 16^th September 1903 and had a family. Lily died on 11^th April 1953 in Chester, Eaton, Michigan, USA).

The 1891 Census recorded that Charles was now married to Agnes who had been born in Oundle, Northamptonshire, in 1851. Again, no marriage has been found for them but was she connected in some way to the elusive ‘M. Burrows’ who had also been born in Oundle?

Charles and Agnes, along with Charles junior, were living at 22 Horbury Crescent in Kensington, which was part of a continuous terraced houses between Ladbroke Road and Kensington Park Road, only a stones-throw from Notting Hill Gate. Charles was recorded as being a caretaker, and Charles junior as a groom.

Recorded in 1901 as being on his own but married, 64-year-old Charles was living in rooms at 9 Western Terrace, Kensington, in the parish of All Saints, which is part of Notting Hill. Charles was still working as a domestic coachman, while Agnes, aged 45, was recorded as working as a married housemaid to Lionel and Madeline Phillips, and their daughter Frances, at 7 Upper Westbourne Terrace, Paddington.

Charles junior had left home and was working in 1901 as a railway labourer in East Ham, Essex. The following year he married Elizabeth Ann Kirby on 27^th April 1902.

Charles Admitted to Horton

A month later, on 27^th May 1902, his father Charles was admitted to Horton Asylum in Epsom, Surrey. His stay there was short, and on 24^th August 1902, this was where he died.

Charles was buried on 29^th August 1902 in grave 41 in Horton Estate Cemetery, Epsom. Charles’ death was registered that day by his widow, ‘A Burrows’ of 99 Princes Road, Notting Hill, on 29^th August 1902.

His death certificate states that he was a Coachman (domestic) of Uxbridge Street, Notting Hill Gate. The cause of his death was recorded as ‘Vacuolic Heart disease considerable’. Whether Charles had had a heart attack previously is unknown but if he had, then that could have led to depression, or anxiety, or a mental breakdown and hence his admittance to an asylum.

After Charles’s death

Charles’ widow Agnes remarried in 1903 to Richard Bond, but by 1911 she was a widowed inmate in Kensington Workhouse, where she died on 3^rd July 1915. Her death certificate states she was a ‘Homeless widow. Charwoman, other particulars not known’, and that she had died from heart disease and bronchitis.

Charles junior and his wife Elizabeth had two known children both born in Manor Park, Essex – Lilian Annie in 1903 and Herbert Charles in 1905. By 1911, he was a widower and living with him, to help with the care of his children, was his sister-in-law Annie Kirby. Charles junior died in 1952.

FOOTNOTE:

Looking for a baptism for Charles born c1837 came to nothing, but the 1841 Census did record a Charles Burrows living in Castleton, which is now a suburb of Sherborne. This Charles, according to the 1841 Census, was aged 14 and had been born to John and Maria Burrows. This would give him a birth-year of around 1827, which is a ten-year difference to what he later gave as his age. I believe this could be ‘our’ Charles Burrows, and that he possibly decided to make himself younger when looking for work as a coachman.

This Charles’s father, John Burrows married Maria Pope on 26^th December 1814 in Sherborne. Further research found eight baptisms for children of the couple in Castleton as follows:

James baptised on 23^rd January 1820. Father John a labourer.
Emma baptised on 21^st July 1822.
James (2^nd) baptised on 19^th October 1823.
Maria baptised on 22^nd May 1825.
Charles baptised on 24^th June 1827. Father John now a servant.
Louisa baptised on 26^th October 1828.
Alfred baptised on 22^nd May 1831.
Louisa (2^nd) baptised on 23^rd December 1832.

The 1841 Census records the Burrows family as John aged 49, and Maria aged 48, and their children James aged 18, Maria aged 16, Charles aged 14, and Alfred aged 12. Another Maria Burrows aged 50, who may have been John’s sister, was also listed with the family. John was recorded as working as a labourer in this census. This is the last time I found this Charles living with his family.

The 1851 Census recorded Charles’ father John aged 57, his mother Maria aged 55, and siblings Maria aged 22 (sic), and Alfred aged 20, as living together in Castleton. Sibling James and his family were living next door.

The 1861 Census recorded that only sister Maria, aged 27 (sic), was still living with their parents John and Maria in Doghouse Cottage in Sherborne.

Charles’s father John died in 1868 and his mother Maria in 1878.

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