Edward Ship c.1813-1874

Parents: Timothy(1) and Sarah Ship
Born: c.1813 in Haverhill.
Baptised: ?
Married: Susannah Whiting, spinster of Burton End, Haverhill, daughter of Joseph Whiting, labourer, deceased, on 11th October 1845 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill. Witnessed by Charles and Phoebe Backler.(1,2)
Children: None.
Died: February 1874. Buried on 19th February 1874 at Haverhill Cemetery.(3,4)


Bio: Edward was born in around 1813 in Haverhill Hamlet, the son of Timothy Ship, a weaver, who must have died sometime before 1841.

Edward Ship appears on the 1841 census in Haverhill, living in Duddery with his widowed mother Sarah, 50, and his siblings John, Eliza, Thomas, William, Mary, Elizabeth and Henry. As Elizabeth and Henry are 6 and 1 respectively, they could well be the children of one of the brothers or sisters. Edward is working as a silk weaver.

Edward married Susanna Whiting, who already had an illegitimate child, Lydia, and on the 1851 census we find them all in Haverhill high street where Edward works as a silk weaver and his step-daughter is a silkwinder.

In 1859 Edward got into a spot of trouble for a brawl with James Farrant as the Bury and Norwich Post testifies: 'Clare Petty Sessions, July 18th. Assault at Haverhill - Edward Ship, labourer, of Haverhill, was convicted of assaulting James Farrant, of Haverhill, and sentenced to pay a fine of 10s and costs 8s in default to be imprisoned one month.'(5)

By the 1861 census, Lydia has left home and Susannah has taken over silk-winding duties. She and Edward are living in Haverhill Hamlet and boarding with them are her grand-nephews Henry and Thomas Whiting, who were the illegitimate children of Susannah's niece Harriet (Louisa Whiting's illegitimate daughter). Henry is working as an agricultural labourer, and Thomas is a silk winder.

Back in Burton End on the 1871 census, Susannah and Edward have their daughter Lydia, her husband Thomas Jobson and their three children boarding with them.

Edward died in early 1874 and was buried at Haverhill Cemetery.(3,4)

Sources:

(1) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4/p23 of 37
(2) Marriage Register. 4th Quarter 1845, Risbridge district, Volume 12 Page 829
(3) Death Register. 1st Quarter 1874, Risbridge district, Volume 4a Page 298
(4) Haverhill Cemetery, Ref.446. http://www.haverhill-uk.com/pages/burial-records-137.htm
(5) Bury and Norwich Post, Tuesday 19th July, 1859, issue 4021. C19th British Library Newspapers: part II