A Melancholy Suicide

1813 Fashions in a happier day

On the morning of Saturday, February 26th, 1842, William Hardman, a fifty-year-old father of ten, respectable cheesemonger and bacon seller, and resident of Worcester, went for a walk, as he was accustomed to do. His wife of 23 years, Elizabeth, had died a few years before. Of their ten surviving children - an eleventh had died young - seven lived at home, ranging in age from eight to nineteen. William walked a couple of miles out of the city towards the public house (still there) called the Virgin's Tavern along, what is now, Tolladine Road. We do not know exactly what was on his mind as he walked, maybe his loneliness and the responsibilities of his family and trade. Maybe the darkness of the season clouded his mood. However, before reaching the tavern, he stopped. He put a gun to his head, and blew out his brains.

A year ago, I knew of my 4x great grandfather William Hardman only that he was father of John Hardman, Cap'n of the Mizzen Top, and three more children, all by his wife Elizabeth, and all baptized at St Swithin Worcester, England. Earlier this year, I found six more of his children, the names of his parents (James Hardman and Mary Symonds), and siblings who were baptized in Hereford. I discovered much about the family around him, but very little directly about him; even his baptismal record appears mis-spelled as William Hoardman.

Recent communication with Greg McLean, having come across Hardmans on his excellent genealogical website, sent me back into the historical record. The following life history of William Hardman includes the Hereford and Worcester baptisms from England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, the marriage and Somerset baptisms are from FreeReg.org.uk, 1841 England Census through ancestry.com, and the deaths of William and Elizabeth from google searches which found newspaper transcripts.

William Hardman was baptized 23 Jan 1792 at St John the Baptist, Hereford, the fourth child, and third son, of James Hardman and Mary Symonds. By the time he was six years old, one of his younger brothers had died, and three more brothers had been baptized in Hereford.

Our next record of him is his marriage to Elizabeth Willis, dated 15 March 1813 at St John the Baptist, Gloucester. The FreeReg index is not a complete transcript, but it does contain much of the useful information that can be gleaned from the original document. In this case, there are just the two names and a note that the marriage was after banns. As there are no witnesses recorded, perhaps this is the record of banns itself, and the marriage solemnized somewhere else. One or other of the couple must have resided in Gloucester for this to be the case.

A baptism 18 April 1814 at St John the Baptist, Hereford of William, son of William Hardman and Elizabeth is probably their eldest son. This is by no means certain, although a William Hardman of the right age and place of birth is living in Worcester in 1851 and 1861, wife Susan. They must be William Hardman and Susan Mitchell who were married in Worcester 28 Jul 1844. I have sent off for the GRO marriage record to find out more about the father of the groom.

There follow three baptisms of their children at St Mary the Virgin, Bathwick near Bath, Somerset. In each case, the address is Grove Street, and William's occupation is Tailor.
       Mary Hardman  bapt.16 Feb 1816
       Elizabeth Hardman  bapt. 22 May 1818
       Eliza Hardman  bapt. 3 May 1820

Between the last of these baptisms and the end of 1821, the family moved to Frome, Somerset, where there are three more baptisms at St John the Baptist - the entries in England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 give the church as Holy Trinity, Frome, but St John the Baptist is the parish church and this is shown on the FreeReg index. In all three baptisms the address is given as Cheap Street. In the first two, William is still a tailor; in the third he is a fruiterer, indicating a change of occupation.
       Jane Hardiman [sic]  bapt. 17 Nov 1821
       Ann Symons Hardman  bapt. 28 Apr 1824
       Matilda Hardman  bapt. 27 Mar 1826

On 30 Apr 1826, the burial of Elizabeth Hardman, age 8, is recorded at St John the Baptist, Frome. The father's name is given as John, but the address is Cheap Street. I have no indication of another Hardman family in Frome at this time, so I believe this to be a mis-transciption of Wm., and therefore a record of William's daughter Elizabeth, born in Bathwick, about 1818.

Shortly after this, the family moved again, this time to Worcester, where William and Elizabeth had four more children baptized at St Swithin.
       James Hardman  bapt. 30 Nov 1827
       Thomas Hardman  bapt. 11 Oct 1829
       John Hardman  bapt. 5 Sep 1831
       Elizabeth Hardman  bapt. 9 Aug 1833

Elizabeth Frances Hardman married 1. John Green Winter in London 1850, describing her father as William Hardman, Provision Mercht., and 2. Alexander McDougall in Glasgow 1887, describing her parents as William Hardman, General Merchant, and Elizabeth Hardman ms Willis.

John Hardman's date of birth on his service record is 13 Aug 1831. On the certificate of his 1865 marriage to Amelia Hatt, his father is described as William Hardman, Provision Dealer.

Ann Symons (also known as Simmonds) Hardman made a declaration of identity in Port Adelaide, New South Wales 1887, stating that her parents were William Hardman, Provisions Merchant, and Elizabeth his wife (formerly Willis). She listed her siblings as: William, Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, herself, Matilda, James, Thomas, John, and Eliza. Interestingly she has the siblings who survived childhood in birth order, except for switching Elizabeth and Eliza, although she did indeed have an older sister Elizabeth who had died as a child when Ann was two years old.

A Provision Merchant or Dealer is a food seller, so William appears to have diversified from selling fruit to selling food. Of his time in Worcester, Pigott's Directory lists him by 1835 as Cheesemonger and Bacon Dealer of the Shambles, Worcester. His oldest son at this time was 21 years old, and he had nine others between the ages of nineteen and two years.

Tragedy struck on 12 April 1836, when his wife died. This is reported in the Worcester Journal of 21 April that year among the deaths:
       April 12 aged 41 Elizabeth, wife of Mr. William Hardman, Shambles,
       Worcester; lamented by her family, and much respected by all who
       knew her.

The family continued to live in the Shambles, where we find them in the 1841 England Census. The ancestry.com indexes them as "Harriman", which is why I hadn't found them sooner. My strategy to find the census return for the Shambles, Worcester was to make a google search for "1841 Census Shambles Worcester" (without quotes). This found a family history page with the name and age of another individual living in the Shambles, who I then found in the 1841 England Census enumerator books using the ancestry.com search engine. Having found this return, I went household by household through the neighborhood until I found the Hardmans:
       William Hardman  45  Bacon Factor  N[ot born in Worcs.]
       Jane           Do        15                         N
       Ann           Do        15                         N
       Matilda     Do         14                        N
       James        Do        13                         Y[es born in Worcs.]
       Thomas    Do         11                         Y
       John          Do          9                         Y
       Elizth        Do         7                          Y

Missing are William, Mary and Eliza. The latter turns up married in the next household, the evidence for which we will see:
       Stephen Wilks      20   Carpenter      Y
       Eliza        Do        20                         N

Their marriage is indexed in FreeBMD Marriages:
       Stephen Wilks and Eliza Hardman  Dec(Q4) 1840 Droitwich 18 299

I had found the newspaper article reporting Elizabeth's death among the results of a google search for "William Hardman Shambles" without quotes. The result was a computer generated transcript and a link to a pay to view the original image. The following came from a similar source with slightly different search terms. The Worcester Guardian 5 Mar 1842 carried the following death notice:
       Feb 26, aged 50, Mr. William Hardman, of the Shambles, in this city

This would correspond to the FreeBMD Death Index:
       William Hardman  Mar(Q1) 1842 Droitwich 18 226

In the case of the Worcester Guardian, the computer generated transcript was very long, and I had to read through many articles before I came to the death notices (which is what the search had picked up). However, in perusing the Worcester news of March 1842, I found a detailed description of William Hardman's last moments:

       MELANCHOLY SUICIDE — On Saturday morning, about nine o'clock,

       Mr. Hardman, a bacon and cheese factor, & c., residing in the Shambles,

       shot himself with a gun, near Porte Fields Farm, in the parish of Claines,

       about two miles from this city. Deceased was in his 51st year, and has left 

       a numerous family. An inquest was held the same evening by Mr. Hughes,

       at the Virgin's Tavern, when the following evidence was adduced:

       — Thomas Bennett, of Claines, labourer: I was loading thorns in a field of

       Mr. Edward Tills on Saturday morning, a little before nine o'clock. I saw

       the deceased standing in the road between Worcester and the Virgin's Tavern.

       I did not see where the deceased came from. The first I saw of him, he was

       standing in the road. I did not perceive that he was doing anything, nor did I

       see anything in his hand. I saw him suddenly fall, and at the same time heard

       the report of a gun. I saw the smoke from the gun when deceased fell. No one

       was near him at the time. I afterwards went to him. I found him lying on the

       side of the road; the gun was about two yards from him — it was a single-

       barrel gun. The deceased's head was blown to pieces, and his brains about the

       road. — William Hudson: I keep the turnpike-gate leading from Worcester

       to the Virgin's Tavern. I heard the alarm and went up. I found the deceased as

       described by the last witness. Mr. E. Corles, of Worcester, solicitor: I was at

       Mr. T. Brampton's on business, this morning. On ascending the hill near

       Jones's farm, I heard a gun; I continued up the road, and found the deceased

       as already described. — Mr. Ledbrook, of Worcester, surgeon: I saw the

       deceased this morning. I found a circular wound above the ear — a gun-shot

       wound — which had carried away the whole substance of the brain. The

       cranium was shattered all to pieces; he must have died instantly. I have no

       doubt the deceased shot himself, regarding the nature of the wound, and the

       gun being found near him. — Stephen Wilks, of the Shambles, joiner: The

       deceased was my father-in-law. I saw him yesterday. He was quite well. The

       deceased was used to go out with a gun, hedge-popping. I am not aware of

       anything to have caused the deceased to have destroyed himself. — This was

       the whole of the evidence; and the Jury returned a verdict "That the deceased

       shot himself, being at the time of unsound mind." — The unfortunate deceased

       was buried on Tuesday afternoon at St. Helen's Church; and an immense

       concourse of spectators assembled on the occasion.

And there we leave him to rest.

Children of William Hardman, Provision Merchant of Worcester

Friar Street - at the other end of the Shambles from St Swithun's

The next question concerns the family of origin of John Hardman, Captain of the Mizzen Top. This has some of the elements of a mystery, something I enjoy in research. Given a possible baptismal record, how much evidence can I find for it being the John Hardman in question, my 3xgreat grandfather?

From his service records, John Hardman was born in Worcester on 13 August 1831. Even before I had these records, his various census returns suggested 1831-2.  Using familysearch.org with his name, and place and year of birth came up with the following baptism at St Swithin Worcester:
       John Hardman  5 September 1831  Parents: William and Elizabeth

This is consistent on three counts for his census returns, even down to the parish in 1871. Ancestry have his place of birth on the 1871 England Census transcribed as "St Isnelen", when I can make out St Swithin. Often, and especially in 18th century records, consistency in name, time and place is as good as it gets. But I did want to see if there was more evidence than this. Broadening the search, finds three more baptisms at St Swithin Worcester of children with these parents:
       James Hardman      30 November 1827
       Thomas Hardman   11 October 1829
       Elizabeth Hardman  9 August 1833

Any of these might have left a record confirming that John Hardman baptized on 5 September 1831 grew up to become Captain of the Mizzen Top. Using a search in ancestry.com, I looked for records of each of these Hardmans with birthplace Worcester and their appropriate year of birth, and parent's names.

Among searches for records of the Hardman siblings from Worcester, I found census returns from Bristol for James Hardman, Labourer, born in Worcester 1827-28, and wife Mary Ann. These are consistent with James Hardman of the baptisms at St Swithin's, although I have no direct evidence for this.

Another set of census returns (1851 through 1881) for a Thomas Hardman, Tailor, unmarried, and born about 1829-30 in Worcester most likely is the Thomas of the St Swithin's baptism.

Women are more difficult to find after marriage, so I searched specifically for a marriage occuring between 1848 and 1860 for Elizabeth Hardman. I found this one solemnized 15 July 1850 at St George the Martyr Southwark.
       Groom: John Green Winter / 21 / Bachelor / Draper / Suffolk Street
                                                       father: Robert Winter / Relief Officer
       Bride: Elizabeth Frances Hardman / 17 / Spinster / / Suffolk Street
                                                       father: William Hardman / Provision Merchant
       Signed: John Green Winter and Elizabeth Frances Hardman
       Witnesses: Richd Bell and Jane Leicester

At least, it looks like Jane Leicester; and there is a note below the entry that she is a sister of Elizabeth Hardman. (However, I have not been able to find any records for her yet). Although name, age and father's name all match, Elizabeth is far from Worcester. However, the married couple are easy to locate in the 1851 England Census at Francis Cottage, Mile End Old Town:
       John Green Winter  Head  Mar  20  Draper  Haigh St Marylebone, Middlesex
       Elizabeth Winter      Wife  Mar  17                Shambles Worcester

St Swithin's (these days St Swithun's, although now a redundant church) lies at one end of The Shambles in Worcester. Thus, the Elizabeth of the marriage record is quite possibly, the Elizabeth of the baptism record. Tentatively adding this to my tree notified me of other trees that might have the same person. One of these trees referenced a death registration in Glasgow for her in 1918 under the name Elizabeth Francis McDougall. Although I try to hold back from purchasing too many records outside of my ancestry subscription, I decided upon the marriage certificate for John Hardman and Amelia Hatt, and the death registration for Elizabeth Francis Hardman or Winter or McDougall. The former came by regular post from the General register Office, and the latter electronically from scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

First, the marriage certificate, from which my chief interest for now lies in the father of the groom. The marriage was solemnized on 8 August 1865 at the parish church in Grays, Essex:
       Groom: John Hardman / 34 / Widower / Coastguard / West Tilbury
                                                          father: William Hardman / Provision Dealer
       Bride: Amelia Hatt / 24 / Spinster / / Grays Thurrock
                                                          father: Thomas Hatt / Coastguard
       signed: John Hardman and Amelia Hatt
       witnessed: Cyprian Hatt, Eliza Booth, E Gaze, and Arthur Jeremiah Booth

Thus, it is all but certain that Elizabeth Hardman (who married John Green Winter) is the sister of John Hardman (my 3xgreat grandfather). The ages for Elizabeth and John at the time of marriage predict the years of birth which match the baptisms at St Swithin Worcester.

The second record is the civil death registration for Elizabeth Hardman.

Death registration for Elizabeth Frances Hardman or Winter or MacDougall

             Elizabeth                                    1918            F    85       William Hardman

             Frances                                       July                  years    General Merchant

             MacDougall                               First                              (deceased)

             (Widow of 1st                            11h a.m.

             John Green Winter                     12                                 Elizabeth Hardman

             Excise Officer                            Falkland Mansions       M.S. Willis

             2nd Alexander MacDougall      Glasgow                       (deceased)

             Letterhead Printer

The death registration has a consistent occupation for William Hardman. A provision merchant/dealer traded in such foods as meat, cereals, fruit, and vegetables. A general merchant or grocer would have bought and sold foodstuffs plus any household items. It also offers a maiden name (M.S. = Maiden Surname) for his wife, Elizabeth Willis. The accuracy of this information depends on the memory of the informant, Elizabeth Frances's daughter, May V S Petrie (nee Winter).

In answer to my initial question seeking evidence for linking John Hardman, baptized at St Swithin, Worcester in 1831 with John Hardman, Captain of the Mizzen Top, I have (in addition to his name):

       1. Date of birth of latter would make him a little over 3 weeks old at baptism;

       2. Place of birth of latter alway given as Worcester, and even as St Swithin in 

           the 1871 Census;

       3. Father's name is William Hardman;

       4. Elizabeth Frances Hardman, born 1833-34 has father of same name and occupation, and she 

           corresponds to Elizabeth Hardman baptized at St Swithin's at a consistent 

           time, presumed sister of the John baptized same place in 1831).

As you see, I was able to add only a little to the evidence linking John Hardman, Captain of the Mizzen Top to John Hardman, baptized at St Swithin Worcester 5 September 1831. The question of Jane Leicester's identity remains. But I do believe I have some evidence for the fate of each of the children of William Hardman and Elizabeth Willis from the St Swithin's baptisms. Next up, William Hardman, his siblings and parents, and why Edith Hardman, John's daughter, has the middle name Simmonds.