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b.1845-1902
Robert’s young parents had married on 22nd July 1830 in St Andrew the Great, a Church of England parish church in the centre of Cambridge. Robert’s father John Onion (1810-1886) was aged 20, and his mother Sarah Ringwood (1811-1866) was aged 19. As there was a five-year gap between their marriage day and the birth of John Henry junior in 1835, they may have had more children other than the nine known ones:
- John Henry 1835 – 1911.
- Victoria 1837 – 1916.
- Joanna 1840 – died after 1841.
- Octavius* 1843 – 1917.
- Robert 1845 – 1902.
- Henry 1848 – died after 1918.
- Hannah 1850 – died after 1851.
- Sarah Ann 1851 – died after 1871.
- Alexander 1855 – 1942.
The First Census – 1841
The 1841 Census was taken on the evening of 6th June and recorded the Onion family as living in Market Street in the parish of Ely Trinty, Cambridgeshire. John senior was recorded at the time as being a publican. The 1841 Census enumerators recorded both John and Sarah as aged 30*, John aged 6, Victoria aged 4, and Johanna (sic) aged 1.
*The ages of people over 15 years old were usually rounded down to the nearest 5 years. For example, someone who was actually 34 years would have their age listed as 30, and someone who was actually 37 years old would have their age listed as 35.
It seems that Joanna may have been a poorly baby, as she had been baptised soon after her birth on 5th June 1840 in Holy Trinity Church, Ely. It seems that she may have died sometime after the 1841 Census was taken as she does not appear in any other record.
On 24th February 1843, John and Sarah took John Henry, Victoria, and Octavius to be baptised in the same church as Joanna had been baptised in. Their address was recorded as being Market Street and John’s occupation as a carpenter.
Robert was baptised in the same church on 3rd November 1845.
Ten Years Later
The Onion family was recorded as living in Hophards Lane [now Upherds Lane] Ely St Mary, Cambridgeshire when the 1851 Census was taken during the night of 30th March. The family was recorded as John aged 41, Sarah aged 40, John junior aged 16 (working as a gardener’s boy), Octavius aged 8, Robert aged 3, Henry aged 3, and Hannah aged 10 months. (No birth, baptism, marriage or death records have been found for Hannah, so I do wonder if she was actually John and Sarah’s daughter). Robert’s sister Victoria was working in London as a servant when the census was taken. John senior was recorded in the census as being a carpenter, but when Robert’s sister Sarah Ann was born on 12th June 1851, her birth certificate stated that her father was working as a gardener.
Robert’s Father in the News
Newspapers of the day sometimes give us a glimpse of what was happening in-between censuses and The Cambridge Weekly News newspaper did so reporting that on 4th January 1854, Robert’s father John and his 17-year-old brother John Henry had been arrested. John was charged with stealing and John Henry receiving, knowing it had been stolen, £1.00, the property of Eliza Hadden. After 2 days trial, they were found not guilty of larceny and receiving stolen monies.
The following year, on 15th June 1855, Sarah gave birth to Robert’s last known sibling, Alexander.
On 28th August 1860, Robert’s sister Victoria married Walter Walter, a tobacconist, in St James Church in Shoreditch. She is the only member of her family to be found in the next census that was taken in 1861.
Robert’s brother John Henry also moved south, and married Eliza Jackson on 27th August 1865 St John the Baptist Church in Hoxton, Middlesex.
Robert’s Mother Dies
Robert’s mother, Sarah Ann, was aged 55 when she died on 9th June 1866 in Newnham, Ely. Her death certificate states that she had died from disease of the liver and kidneys, plus dropsy. After his mother’s death, Harry left home and trained as a schoolteacher. He later married Mary Ann Tynemouth in 1883 Hartlepool, Durham, and had four children.
Robert in the News
It was Robert’s turn, on 9th May 1868, to be reported in the Cambridge Weekly News newspaper
“Robert Onion, carpenter, Ely Trinity, charged with an assault on Mary Ann, the wife of Philip Linton, was fined 10 shillings and 13 shillings 6 pence costs; paid”.
By the time the 1871 Census was taken, Robert was lodging in the home of laundress Sarah Lindall in Little Lane, Ely St Mary. His occupation was noted as being a sawyer.
Robert’s Sister in the News
In the same year, on 10th August 1871, Robert’s 19-year-old sister Sarah Ann was arrested for indecent conduct at Newmarket and was sentenced at Moulton, Suffolk, to 14 days imprisonment for prostitution. She was described as the daughter of John Onion, a carpenter of Ely. I have not found any other record for her after this.
Robert was once again in trouble and the incident reported in the Cambridge Weekly News newspaper on 4th October 1873 –
“Robert Onion, Ely, gardener, was charged with assaulting Henry Onion, at Ely, on the 25th of September. Fined 10 shillings and 11 shillings 6 pence costs, or 14 days”.
The Peterborough Standard expanded the story by printing
“Assault – Robert Onion, labourer, Ely, was convicted in 10s. penalty and the costs, for assaulting his uncle, Henry Onion, gardener, of Ely; in default, 14 days imprisonment”.
What the true story behind this family argument was we do not know.
Witness to a Drowning
The whereabouts of Robert when the 1881 Census was taken is unknown, but his name appeared again in the newspapers when the accidental drowning of a young boy named William Selwood Legge was reported on 29th July 1884 in The Bury and Norwich Post. Robert, this time, was minding his own business, fishing in Roswell Pitts in Ely, when he had this harrowing experience
“…..Robert Onion, barman and cellarman, said he heard the alarm that someone was in the water, and went to the place, but saw nothing. He bought the body up with a sprit; it had drifted. The body was a good twelve feet from the side of the boat”.
Aged 76, Robert’s father John died in his home in Common Road, Ely, in 1886.
Robet Moves to London
The 1891 Census recorded that Robert had moved south and was boarding at 7 Museum Street, Bloomsbury St George, London, and that he was working as a cellarman.
Robert was aged 40 and still working as a cellarman when he married 37-year-old Frances Lee on 16th August 1892 in St Saviours Church, Southwark. Both gave their address as 16 Newington Causeway. Their witnesses were Robert’s brother-in-law Walter Walter, Victoria’s husband, and Frances’ sister Amelia Lee. It was on his marriage certificate that his surname was written for the first time as ‘Onyon’. The couple did not have any children.
Robert was one of the witnesses to his brother Alexander’s marriage to Amelia Jane Farminer on 23rd December 1894 in St Matthew’s Church Newington.
Robert and Frances continued living at number 16 Newington Causeway until at least 1895, but by 1901 they had moved to 6 Borough Road, Southwark, which was next door to the Public Library. Robert was now a Licensed Messenger, and his wife Frances was working as an office cleaner.
Admitted to the Workhouse
It was on 11th April 1902 that Robert was admitted as an alleged lunatic into the St George’s Workhouse where he stayed until he was discharged into the care of Horton Asylum on 10th May 1902. His stay there was short and aged 57, Robert died on 23rd August 1902. Following a post-mortem, the cause of his death was described as ‘considerable General Paralysis’.
His body was buried in grave 40 in the Horton Estate Cemetery on 29th August 1902, the same day that his widow Frances of 6 Borough Road, Southwark, registered his death. His death certificate stated he was aged (incorrectly) 54 and confirmed that he was a Licensed Messenger of St George’s Workhouse, Southwark.
Frances continued working as an office cleaner and appeared as living at 211 Southwark Bridge Road, London, when the 1911 \census was taken. Her 27-year-old nephew Walter Bush was living with her. In 1913 she married her brother-in-law William Humphrey and died in 1927.
Author’s note about Robert’s brother Octavius
*I feel that I should document what happened to Robert’s brother Octavius after their mother Sarah’s death in 1866. Interestingly, Sarah’s maiden name on Octavius’ birth certificate was recorded as ‘formally Melborne’ not Ringwood.
Aged 26, Octavius, with his surname spelt as Onyons, was recorded as a painter on the 1871 Census and was living with his uncle John and aunt Eliza Welch in Bethnal Green, London. There was another nephew, Thomas Onyon aged 24, also living there.
On 9th September 1875 Octavius was admitted to Hoxton House, a lunatic asylum in Hackney, where he stayed until 1st May 1877 when he was moved to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum in Friern Barnet, Middlesex. Here he was recorded just by his initials OO when the 1881, 1891, 1901, and 1911 censuses were taken. It was also noted that he had formally been a painter, and a general labourer.
Octavius Onion died on 8 December 1917 in Barnet, Hertfordshire, when he was 74 years old.
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