From 1752

The Hutchin Family History Group have spent some 20 odd years delving into the archives to piece together how their families lived and worked. John Hutchin married Lucy Bowyer at the village church in 1752. They had nine children, eight of whom survived. The group have managed to research seven of these lines, the culmination of which will be the publication, on a non-profit making basis, of the story of their lives throughout the 19th century. It provides an insight into the background of working class folk during the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions relating many aspects of their individual lives to the great changes that swept Britain during this time.

The following are extracts from the book, which it is hoped will not only be a contribution to local history but also to the social history of the time.

“Thomas Morris, the father of one of the Hutchin wives, died in 1785, when his daughter Jemima was seven, eased on his way by a bottle of raisin (sic) wine supplied by the parish. The overseers also made payments to his widow, and sixpence to her children, … “for incurrigement to spin well”.”

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“On 2 May 1831 seven Alburians, five of them Hutchins, were committed to Hertford Gaol by the vicar of Great Hormead, a village a few miles from Albury, on a charge of riotously disturbing the peace there on 30 April.

1830 and 1831 were the years of the Swing Riots that arose out of the rural unrest caused by low wages …

So was the Great Hormead Affair a drunken brawl or part of the labourers’ revolt …”

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“In Albury, East Herts, in the early 19^th century, burials averaged two per month, usually the very old or the very young but in January 1837 they rose to 13, nine of which were members of the Hutchin family.

What deadly disease had struck this agricultural community in the winter cold? An article in the local newspaper dated 24 January 1837 reported “Outbreak of Influenza hits every town in Hertfordshire” …”

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“In 1836 two young Albury women became pregnant. The overseers required them to bring bastardy proceedings at Quarter Sessions against John Hutchin of Stortford, the town that would have been the place of settlement for poor law purposes of John born there in 1814 …

These events may also explain his departure for London. John Calvert, who lived at Albury Hall and played a major role in the overseeing of the poor, may well have thought two pregnancies in a year a bit much and that it would be as well to get him out of Albury…”

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“Benjamin was the youngest child of Joseph Felstead and Elizabeth Burnett … In October 1849 he married Lydia Hutchin … Two years later they left the rural life of Hertfordshire behind them and on 15 February 1855 sailed to Australia on ‘The Constitution’ arriving in Sydney on 27 May 1855 …

The arrival of new ship loads of people with disease posed a real threat to the isolated community already there. In 1832 the Quarantine Act was passed to stop the spread of cholera.

North Head Quarantine Station is located on majestic and dramatic cliffs at the end of a narrow peninsula …

It would appear from a diary written by one of the passengers of The Constitution that on the voyage over smallpox broke out claiming many lives. All the ship’s passengers went into quarantine on arrival in Sydney. It is highly likely, therefore, that Benjamin, Lydia, Rosetta and Isabella may have spent this quarantine period at North Head Quarantine Station … “

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“In June another sheep was stolen, this time at Hadham Ford. At the midsummer Quarter Sessions Thomas Dellow and John Hutchin … appeared before Lord Salisbury charged with stealing a sheep from Mr Stephen Barker. 17 year old John voluntarily confessed …

Thomas Dellow and John Hutchin were both sentenced to transportation. John for life as he also had a previous conviction for stealing peas and beans when he was 14 years old, Thomas for ten years with another ten years for a similar offence.

On 18 July 1838, John Hutchin and Thomas Dellow were taken to the hulks at Woolwich with four other prisoners due for transportation. …

The six men were to remain together on ‘The Ganymede’ through the following winter …”

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“In 1844, whilst delivering bread, an apprentice baker’s roundsman made a call to a local pub. The temptation of the unattended cart was too much for Charles who ‘helped himself’ to three loaves. He was given four months imprisonment.”

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Further information can be obtained from –

Denise Hutchin

53 Dymokes Way

Hoddesdon

Herts EN11 9NA

Tel: 01992 424742

Email: denise.hutchin@ntlworld.com

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