Hirdle Family Ancestry – The Families of Judith and Nicholas

The First Generation

William Hirdle & Elizabeth Marshall

My Three Greats Grandparents

William was born in Woburn in about 1777 and he married Elizabeth Marshall, the daughter of Samuel Marshall and Juliana Stanyard, on 7th November 1808 in Woburn, Bedfordshire. Elizabeth was aged 19 when she married, having been born in 1789 in Thurleigh, Bedfordshire. I understand from Tate Hirdle, who lives in Canada, that William worked at Worburn Abbey where he was Chief Steward to the 6th Duke of Bedford and sadly he committed suicide on 20th May 1827 and was buried on 26th May 1827 at Old St Mary’s Church, Woburn. His wife and children were evicted from Park House six months later and his belongings were sold by auction. Elizabeth was pregnant at the time and lost the baby -a boy named Joseph Hirdle who was buried on 10th August 1827. Their belongings were auctioned off on November 21st 1827.

**Auction notice of William’s belongings**

The Hirdle family appear to have lived mostly in Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire. Mary and I went there together and I took these photos:

William and Elizabeth had eleven children that I have been able to trace.

1/ William Francis Hirdle, born 1809, & baptised on 23rd October 1809. William married Harriet Sherratt on 23rd August 1838 in Marston Moretain, Bedfordshire. William and Harriet had three children.

Maria Sherratt Hirdle, born in 1839
Louisa Sherratt Hirdle, born in 1841 in Aspley Guise
Mary Ann Hirdle, born in 1845 and died on 13 July 1858 in Aspley Guise

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2/ George Hirdle, born 1812, baptised on 11th April 1812 and who died on 23rd December 1824.

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3/ A daughter, Mary Ann Hirdle, born in 1814 in Woburn. She died on 27th November 1867 in Wavendon, Bedfordshire

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4/ A second daughter, Caroline, born 1819 in Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire and who died on 15th January 1882 in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. When Caroline died, she left an estate of £78 3s 6d and probate was granted to her brother, William Francis Hirdle.

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5/ A third daughter, Maria, also born in 1819 so it is possible she and Caroline were twins.

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6/ A third son, John Hirdle also born in 1819. I have found out a lot about John and his wife, Eliza Sear whom he married on 7th August 1835 in Woburn. John Hirdle died on 18th December 1895 of senile decay and sadly in the Luton Workhouse.

John & Eliza had the following ten children;

Mary Ann Maria, born on 29th September 1836. Mary Ann married William Case on 28th September 1863 at the age of 27. Mary Ann Maria had six children with William, after having given birth to a son, Charles Halton Hirdle. Charles later took the name Case so presumably he was illegitimate and then adopted by William..
Elizabeth, born on 20th November 1838 in Aspley Guise
Samuel, who was born on 19th December 1840
A third daughter, Caroline, born on 22 March 1843 in Aspley Guise and who died there on 19th May 1845 at the age of 2
George Hirdle, born on 11 January 1845
Caroline Rebecca born on 16th December 1846, Caroline went to Australia in the 1860s and met Andrew Morrison with whom she had an illegitimate child but subsequently married
Eliza Hirdle, born in 1849 in Aspley Guise
A son, Alfred (the infamous alcoholic) was born in 1852. He married Sarah Pilgrim on 26 July 1879 in Ridgmont, Bedfordshire. Sarah was born in 1854 and died in 1900. Alfred & Sarah had four children.

Alfred had a drink problem and here is a newspaper report

The Easter quarter of 1883 introduced us to the character of Alfred Hirdle. Alfred was married to Sarah and appeared in court charged with a violent assault on his wife. She had taken a warrant out against him and in revenge he broke into their house in the early hours of the morning. He went to his wife’s bedroom and violently hit her about the head with a stick. He was sentenced to 5 year penal servitude.

Cases of assault appear regularly in the Quarter sessions, but we were curious to see if he was still with his wife at the time of the next census. A little investigation saw that the couple had only been married approaching 4 years at the time of the attack. It’s likely his wife knew the type of man she was marrying, as Alfred had been convicted (mostly of drunkenness) over 20 times before they married. He was only 27. He was even in trouble on the night of the 1871 census, being listed as a prisoner at Woburn police station.

The newspaper reported the following:-

Alfred died in prison in November 1907 much to the relief of publicans in the area according to this newspaper cutting:

Perhaps it gives the wrong impression to be recounting court case after court case, and I’m sure that far more was happening than drunkenness and bar room fights, but these are the stories which made the local papers and can be traced today. Alfred Hirdle, of Ridgmount, and William Munn of Aspley Guise, were summoned for being drunk and disorderly at The Fir Tree in April 1890. Arguments were made for both side over “a little row” and the magistrate found the testimony so confusing that he threw the case out.

However, the local constabulary came back with fresh evidence and recalled the men in May, much to the defendants’ disgust. William Smith gave evidence that they had been threatening and asked to leave by the landlady, to which Hirdle replied “You were as gay and fresh corned as any of us!” Ralph Collins, Andrew Smith and Thomas Cox gave similar accounts. P.C. Hewitt was asked by the landlord to remove the men from the inn. After the last summons, Hirdle had said that it was the first time he had ‘got off’, and now told the court:

“.. and I have not got off now. I call it scandalous to be dismissed and then brought up again, it is humbugging a man, the charge made against a man should be the first and last. I am shoved about, brought up here, the clever policeman spins a yarn, gets one or two others to spin a yarn, and you do what you like to me.”
Although William Farmer spoke in their defence, the duo were found guilty. Hirdle was fined 10s and £1 4s 6d costs or 14 days hard labour, and Munn 5s and £1 4s 6d costs or 7 days. Hirdle elected to serve his time, but Munn’s friends paid off his fine, so he avoided incarceration. The Chairman of the magistrates entreated Munn to have no dealings with the incorrigible Hirdle, and to “avoid him like the plague or he would be ruined, body and soul.”

Now comes the strange part. Having just confirmed that the men were indeed drunk, Garrett was brought up by the same court for permitting drunkenness at his inn, and was found not guilty! The same witnesses were called, who all stated that Garrett endeavoured to conduct the house well. His lawyer argued that it was un-English to get the Garrett to give evidence against the men, then to be charged himself. The very next case before the Court was Hirdle again, charged with being drunk at Ridgmount on a separate occasion. He received another 7 days.

Alfred Hirdle eventually passed away, whilst serving a sentence in Bedford Prison in 1900, aged 49. The doctors said cause of death was ‘Profound Disturbance of the Brain and Apoplexy’. Hirdle was infamous in the area, as his total of 59 convictions, mostly for being ‘Drunk and Disorderly’ bear testimony. Every landlord for miles around must have breathed a quiet sigh of relief!

There are several articles on the web about Alfred and I found a list of his 34 convictions. An impressive number as he died at the age of 49. Sometimes he was gabled 3 times in a year.

http://pathstocrime.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/drunk-and-disorderly.html

He sounds quite a character but fortunately the rest of the family are very law abiding.

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Another son, John Hirdle, born in 1856, who married Kate Oakley on 8th October 1885. Kate was aged 21 at the marriage having been born in 1864. John Hirdle died on 7th April 1925 at 85 Nelson Road, Gillingham, Kent, having spent his adult life in the Medway area.

John and Kate had eight children and are pictured below with their eldest child, Kate Eliza who married Ernest Albert Drury.

The children of John & Kate were as follows:

1/ A son, John Charles Hirdle 1886- 1887

2/ A second son, John Horatio Hirdle born in 1894 in Medway and who died in 1896

3/ Kate Eliza born in 1889 and who married Ernest Albert Drury

4/ Ethel May born in 1893 in Chatham, Kent and who died in 1904

5/ Maximillian George born in 1891 in New Brompton, Kent, and died in 1962 in Gillingham,

6/ Winifred Hirdle 1897-1902 in Kent

7/ William Robert 1899 – 1902 in Medway, Kent

8/ Alice Adelaide (pictured above) born in 1903 in Gillingham, Kent

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A daughter, Caroline Rebecca, born on 16th December 1846

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A son, Robert Horatius Hirdle, who was born in 1855 in Aspley Guise. Robert married Ann Bates in 1882 in Uxbridge. I was in touch with a descendant of Robert on Ancestry and she kindly sent me this photograph of Ada, a daughter of Robert’s. Robert and Ann had seven children.

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7/ Robert Hirdle, (my two Greats Grandfather), was born in 1819 also. Having four children born in 1819 makes me think that in fact they were born earlier, but all baptised at the same time. Robert married Hannah Lane in 1847 in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. Robert died in 1868 and Hannah died in 1858.

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8/ Another son, Samuel Hirdle, who was born in 1824 in Woburn and died in 1901 in Hackney, Middlesex. Samuel married Martha Brown on 24 June 1849 in Hackney. Martha died in 1872 in Hackney and Samuel married Harriet Thurley on 30th April 1876, when he was aged 52. Harriet was born about 1824 in Hackney so was aged about 52 when she married Samuel. Samuel and Martha had four children:

Caroline, born in 1850 in Stoke Newington, Middlesex
A son, Samuel, born in 1852 in Stoke Newington
A second son, Richard, born in 1854
A third son, Alfred, born in 1858

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9/ A fourth daughter, Elizabeth who was born in 1825 in Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire. Elizabeth married Frederick Moore in 1860 in St Pancras, Middlesex. Frederick was born in 1825 and died in 1888 in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. Elizabeth (also known as Lily) died in 1913 aged 88.

Elizabeth and Frederick had three children:

William Moore born in 1863 in St Pancras,
Edward Walter Moore, born in 1864 in St Pancras, Middlesex
Elizabeth Ann, born in 1867 also in St Pancras

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10/ A fifth daughter, Georgiana, born 7th September 1825, baptised 4th October 1825 and who died on 8th October 1825.

11/ A son, Joseph Hirdle who Elizabeth must have been carrying when William died and who was buried on 10th August 1827.

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Second generation of hirdles

Robert Hirdle & Hannah Lane

My great, great grandparents

Robert (1819 – 1868) married Hannah Lane in 1847, when he was aged 28, in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. Hannah died in 1858. According to the 1961 census, Robert was a livery servant.

Robert & Hannah had the following seven children:

Edward Andrew Hirdle, born in 1848 in Aspley Guise. Robert married Annie Coll who was born in 1851 in Wilshamstead, Buckinghamshire.
John Hirdle, born in 1849 in Wavendon, Buckinghamshire
Alice Hirdle, born in 1852 in Aspley Guise. Alice married Thomas Fellows in December 1872 in Bedford and died in 1884
Charles Hirdle, born in 1853 in Aspley Guise and died in 1884 in Hampstead. Charles married Louisa Jane Spray in 1879 in St Saviour, Southwark, London. Louisa died in 1914
Emma Hirdle (my Great Grandmother) Emma was born in 1855 in Aspley Guise, married George James in St Paul’s Church, Bedford on 25th August 1874
Frederick James Hirdle who was born in 1857 in Aspley Guise and died in June 1859 in Woburn at the age of 2.
Samuel Hirdle born and died shortly after birth on 8th June 1858. I wonder if Hannah died in or due to childbirth, as she appears to have died in the same year that Samuel was born .

As Hannah died in 1858, it means that my Great Grandmother lost her mother when she was just aged 3, so presumably was brought up by her father. However, he died in 1868 when she was just aged 13. I have been unable to find out what happened to Emma until she married in 1874 at the age of 21. She does not appear in the 1971 census.