5
Alan March’s Family History
This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back many generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from Alan’s as (1)
ROBERT MUSGROVE and ELIZABETH HOOKER (8)
ROBERT MUSGROVE was the fifth of six children of Richard Musgrove and Sarah Gilbert. He was the older boy.
Baptism. St John the Baptist, Croydon.
1773 born May 10, bapt Jun 5 Robert Musgrove son of Richard and Sarah.
He was born in the latter half of the 18th century, in the reign of George III, when Croydon was still a separate town south of London. We learn from the 1851 census that his birthplace was Woodside, north of Croydon and south of South Norwood.
Robert became an agricultural labourer, so it is likely that his father was too. As yet, Croydon was still surrounded by farmland.
ELIZABETH HOOKER. There is only one plausible baptism for Elizabeth. She was born in the same year as Robert.
Baptism. St John the Baptist, Croydon
1773 born Mar 19, bapt Apr 13 Elizabeth Hooker daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth.
Beyond that, her origins are shrouded in mystery. There are no further baptisms in Croydon for children of Stephen and Elizabeth Hooker. Nor have we found a burial in Croydon for either parent. The nearest possible marriage we have found for them is in Lambeth, 10 m north of Croydon, in 1772, when Stephen Hooker married Elizabeth Fry. No baptisms for their children have been found in Lambeth either.
Robert and Elizabeth married at the end of the 18th century.
Marriage. St John the Baptist, Croydon.
1799 Feb 18 Robert Musgrove and Elizabeth Hooker.
In the following quarter century, they had twelve children baptised in Croydon.
Baptisms. St John the Baptist, Croydon.
1799 born Sep 11, bapt Oct 13 William. Buried 10 Apr 1800, aged 7 months.
1802 born Aug 20, bapt Sep 26 Robert Henry
1805 born Oct 21, bapt Nov 17 William
1808 born Mar 19, bapt Apr 10 John
1810 born Jul 16, bapt Aug 12 Elizabeth Margaret
1813 Mar 28 Mary. Norwood. Labourer. Buried 9 Jun 1813, aged 2 months.
1814 May 15 Sarah. Norwood. Labourer. She was buried on 1 Aug 1814, aged 2 months.
1815 Dec 3 Richard. Norwood. Labourer.
1817 Feb 9 Thomas. Croydon. Labourer. Buried 17 Aug 1817, aged 6 months.
1818 Jul 8 Samuel. Croydon. Labourer. Buried 2 Dec 1818, aged 4 months.
1820 Mar 21 James. Norwood. Labourer. Buried 1 Aug 1831, aged 13.
1824 Jul 15 George. Croydon. Labourer. Buried 20 Jan 1825, aged 5 months.
The death of six of these children in infancy is a shocking statistic. Such a high death rate is usually associated with
overty.
It may also have been connected with the rapid increase in population of the town. This led to health problems in the damp and overcrowded working-class district of Old Town.
The later baptisms show the father’s occupation and their place of residence. We can see from this that they moved several times between Norwood and Croydon. Norwood is on the northern outskirts of Croydon. As late as the 16th century it was mostly covered by the Great North Wood.
The arrival of the railway in 1839 put London within easy reach. The population increased 23-fold between 1801 and 1901.
In the 1841 census we find Robert and Elizabeth living in Selhurst Lane, with their two eldest sons. We learn here that Robert and the sons are agricultural labourers, not working on the new house building in Croydon.
1841 Census. Selhurst Lane, Whittles Row, Croydon.
Robert Musgrove 65 Ag lab Y
William Musgrove 30 Ag lab Y
Elizabeth Musgrove 70 Y
Robert Musgrove 35 Ag lab Y
Today, Selhurst Road runs north of Croydon towards South Norwood.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth died before the 1851 census, which might have told us more about her origins.
There are two possible burials in 1849.
Burials. Croydon.
1849 Feb 20 Elizabeth Musgrove 70
1849 Mar 30 Elizabeth Musgrove
The first gives the same age as the 1841 census. The ages of elderly people were not always accurately known, but there is a large difference here.
The second burial does not give her age, and is perhaps more likely.
Two years later, in the 1851 census, we find that Robert is blind, and has fallen into poverty. He is a pauper in the workhouse.
1851 Census. Union Workhouse.
Robt Musgrove Pauper Widr 78 Farm Labr Woodside, Surrey Blind
It is only now that we learn that Robert’s birthplace was Woodside. This is north of Croydon and south of South Norwood. It is short distance east of Selhurst Road, where the Musgroves were living in 1841.
Robert does not appear in the next census. There is a civil registration of his death in the 4th quarter of 1853. He would have been 80.
NEXT GENERATION: 7. MUSGROVE-NICHOLS
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 9. MUSGROVE-GILBERT