Charles Whiting c.1825-1874

Parents: William Whiting and Susannah Mortlock (1)
Born: c.1825 in Drinkstone, Suffolk. (1)
Baptised: 25th August 1825 at All Saint's Parish Church, Drinkstone, Suffolk. (1)
Married (1): Sophia Betts, spinster, of Quaker's Lane, Haverhill, daughter of James Betts, bricklayer, on 31st December 1851 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill. Witnessed by Joseph Humphries and Susan Smith.(2,3)
Children: None
Married (2): Susannah Mason, spinster, of Queen Street, Haverhill, daughter of Henry Mason, blacksmith (appears as schoolmaster on 1851 census), deceased, on 24th April 1864 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill. Witnessed by ?.(4,5)
Children: Kate Laura Whiting b.1865, Genetta Florence Whiting b.1867, Etherlinda Hannah Whiting b.1870
Died: 1874 in Bury St Edmunds(8) Buried on 22nd August 1874 at Bury St Edmunds Cemetery.(10)

Bio: Charles is something of an anomaly in that he is a Whiting that settled in Haverhill but is not originally from Haverhill or the locality. He was born in Drinkstone, a Suffolk Village in between Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket. We see him here aged 15 on the 1841 Census living with his parents William and Susan Whiting, and siblings Samuel, Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Hannah. It is not certain how he came to move to Haverhill, but this is where he appears on the 1851 Census working as a groom in the household of William Simpson, a doctor, who lived in Haverhill Hamlet. Later that year he was to marry Sophia Betts(2,3), and we see them on the 1861 Census living in Quaker's Lane, Haverhill. They had no children, and Sophia was to die in October of 1861 at the age of 36. She was buried at St Mary's Church.(6,7)

Charles married again in 1864(4,5), to Susannah Mason, then living in Queen Street, Haverhill, but originally of Cheveley, Cambridgeshire.

We find them living in Cross House, Haverhill Hamlet, on the 1871 census. Charles is now working as a gardener, and Susannah as a dressmaker. They have three girls, and a visitor, Mary Mason, who was Susannah's sister.

Rather strangely, Charles and Susannah appear to be on the same census twice! They are listed at 11 Manor Street, Cambridge, in the same household of another of Susannah's sisters, Elizabeth, who is married to an optician Thomas Southall. There are far too many similarities for this just to be a coincidence with names. Charles, here, is also a gardener born in Drinkstone, age given as 40, Susannah's birthplace is also Cheveley, and their daughter is present also - Etherlinda H. (not a common name), who has the correct age and birthplace of Haverhill. I guess mistakes like this occurred when people were visiting at census time, or were listed as residing somewhere in their absence.

Charles died aged 49 in Bury St Edmunds in 1874(8). The burial registers list him as a gardener, and his address as Maynewater Lane, Bury St Edmunds. He was buried on 22nd August 1874 at the local cemetery.(10)

We do know that in 1879 Susannah remarried in the Bury St Edmunds district to Alfred Coe. On the 1881 Census Alfred and Susannah are living at 1 Maynewater Lane, Bury St Edmunds with Susannah's daughters from her marriage to Charles, Genetta and Etherlinda.

Sources:

(1) IGI Individual Record, Batch No.C132371, Source Call No. 0989539, Bishop's Transcripts for the Archdeaconry of Sudbury. www.familysearch.org
(2) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4/p24 of 37
(3) Marriage Register. 4th Quarter 1851, Risbridge District, Volume 12 Page 776.
(4) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4/p26 of 37
(5) Marriage Register. 2nd Quarter 1864, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 557.
(6) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4/p37 of 37
(7) Death Register. 4th Quarter 1861, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 235.
(8) Death Register. 3rd Quarter 1874, Bury St Edmunds District, Volume 4a Page 285.
(9) National Burial Index, 3rd Edition. FFHS. Bury St Edmunds Cemetery records.
(10) SFHS, Suffolk Burial Index, Issue 2, 1538-1900