Son of a Hatchelor

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 JMW Turner

Turner's image of change was a success when first exhibited, and endures in the popular imagination. HMS Temeraire was a sailing ship of the line, launched 1798, which had distinguished itself at the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805. When the Admiralty sold it for scrap, there was considerable interest, and thousands of spectators came to see her towed up the Thames by two steam tugs, nostalgic for Britain's opposition to the French Revolution and Napoleon. By the 1830s, Britain was undergoing constitutional reform, and the political landscape had changed with the Reform Act of 1832. Technologically, the Royal Navy launched HMS Tartarus in 1834, their first side-paddle steamer ship of the line. The days of sail were numbered, a process my Babbage ancestors were well placed to witness.

Thomas Babbage is among my 3xgreat grandfathers, documented as Shipwright and Gentleman born in Pembroke, Wales about 1822. Having already followed Thomas, this post collects the records for his father, who I believe is William Dundridge Babbage, baptized in Stoke Damerel and mentioned in the last Will and Testament of Mrs. Elizabeth Dundridge (or Dunrich) of Sheviock, Cornwall.

The first mention of William Babbage in census records is in 1841 at the Featherstone Buildings in Limehouse, East London, where we also see his children.
       William Babbage  45  Shipwright      N[ot born in Middlesex]
       Sarah        do        45                          N
       Thomas   do         15  Ap Shipwright  N
       Edmund  do         15                           N
       Charlotte  do         9                            N

The Methodist Brunswick Chapel, Limehouse records the burial on 29 October 1842 of Sarah Babbage of Featherstone Buildings, aged 50. This corresponds to:
       BMD Death Index Sarah Babbage Dec1842 Stepney 2 319

Wales, Births and Baptisms, 1541-1907 has the following baptisms at St Mary Pembroke, children of parents William and Sarah. The first five were baptized 5 June 1822, the last name given as Babbeg:
       Louisa; George; John; William; and Thomas

The next two children were baptized 19 November 1828, the last name given as Bebbeg:
       Elizabeth; and Edmund

As to years of birth for these children, I have found records for George Babbage of Pembroke, Coachbuilder who lived in Manchester, suggesting he was born about 1819. As we have seen, Thomas, Shipwright and Gentleman, was born about 1822. Other than these I have no other information on birth order. The 1841 census lists Charlotte, born about 1832, but I have no baptism information for her.

The Methodist Brunswick Chapel, Limehouse records the burial on 29 January 1837 of Wm Babbage of Three Colt Street, aged 21. This might be the William baptized in Pembroke, in which case his year of birth would be 1816.

An index of people from Pembroke's People by Richard Rose, a book of genealogical information on Pembroke, lists William Babbage, Shipwrights, 1st Company, his wife Sarah (p.145), and William Babbage, List No.2 Shipwrights (p.120). No longer in print, second hand copies of the book run at over $150. If I can find it in a library, I'm curious as to other information on the Babbages is contained therein.

Continuing with William Babbage, senior, in 1851, still at Featherstone Buildings is:
       William Babbage  Head  Widower  59  Shipwright  Devonport

While in 1861 at 36, Suffolk Street, Poplar is:
       William Babbage  Head  Mar  67  Superannuated Shipwright  Devon Devonport
                                                                           Admiralty Office

I might have taken his status of "married" in 1861 as an error. There is, however, the following parish record at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney for a marriage on 17 April 1855:
       Groom: William Babbage / 57 / Widower / Shipwright / 6 Mile End Place
                        father: William Babbage / Rope Maker
       Bride: Frances Ferris / 52 / Widow / / 2 York Street
                        father: John Skinner
       Signed: William Babbage / Frances x Ferris her mark
       Witnessed: Martha x Babbage her mark / Ithiel Price

Ithiel Price is the Parish Clerk at All Saints. His witness signature appears on other marriage documents, so he is most likely unrelated to the Babbages. Martha Babbage is possibly William's daughter-in-law (nee Jarvis), wife of Thomas Babbage, and my 3x great grandmother.

I can find very little on the bride, except that on 20 January 1830 at St Mary Lambeth, Thomas Ferris mand Frances Skinner were married. This record probably belongs to William Babbage's wife, but so far, no census returns for Frances Ferris or Frances Babbage.

Having not found William Babbage in the 1871 Census, his may be the death recorded in:
       BMD Death Index William Babbage Jun1869 Kensington 1a 35  Age:76

Between them, these records yield a year of birth in the range 1792-98. Of these, the 1855 marriage is an outlier. But I do believe they all refer to the same person, William Babbage, Shipwright, born in Devenport, and residing in London's East End. Vanity, perhaps, explains his underreported age!
       1841  Age  45-49   Born 1792-1796
       1851  Age  59        Born 1792
       1855  Age  57        Born 1798
       1861  Age  67        Born 1794
       1869  Age  76        Born 1793

England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 has the following baptism at Stoke Damerel, consistent with a Devonport place of birth, and around the right time:
       William Dundridge Babbage  baptized 8 Sep 1793  parents: William and Rose

Could this be the William Babbage of the later records from East London? There is also a sister, baptized at the same place:
       Elizabeth Babage  baptized 27 Jan 1788  parents: William and Rose

The parents of these two must be William Babage and Rosamond Gimblett whose marriage at Stoke Damerel on 21 August 1786 is recorded in England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973. These would be my  5x great grandparents.

The last Will and Testament of Elizabeth Dunrich (or Dundridge) Widow of Sheviock, Cornwall made 18 July 1801 contains the following:
       Item I give and bequeath to my cousin Elizabeth Babbage and William Dunrich
       Babbage son and daughter of William Babbage late of the town of Plymouth
       Dock in the parish of Damarell in the County of Devon Hatchelor deceased the
       sum of two hundred and Fifty pounds apiece to each of them of lawful money
       of Great Britain to be paid at the end of Six months next after the Day of my
       Death and in Case either of them shall die before me that then and in such case
       I give and bequeath to the Survivor of them the sum of Five hundred pounds of
       lawful money of Great Britain to be paid to the said Survivor at the End of Six
       months next after the day of my Death...

       Item I give and bequeath to Rosamond Sampson mother of the above named
       Elizabeth Babbage and William Dunrich Babbage my Brown Chintz Gown
       black quilted petticote and running sprigd Apron...

England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 has the marriage on 30 June 1800 at Stoke Damerel of Rose Babbage and Richard Sampson, consistent with the bequest of clothing to Rosamond Sampson, mother of the Babbage children.

So what on earth is a hatchelor? That being the occupation of William Babbage deceased, whose children were given 250 pounds each - a significant sum at the turn of the nineteenth century. A hatchel (or hatchell) is a comb used to separate flax fibers used in ropemaking. The diagram below shows it as a two-dimensional array of steel spikes on a small board. A hatchelor must be one who works with a hatchel - a rope maker.


Rope Making Tools - Hatchel is lower left

And this makes another connection between the William Babbage records from the East End of London and those of William Dundridge Babbage baptized in Devonport 1793. We have:     1. Name William (Dundridge) Babbage
     2. Year of birth about 1793 - but note discepancy with the 1855 marriage document
     3. Place of birth Devonport/Stoke Damerel
     4. Father's name William Babbage
     5. Father's occupation Rope Maker/Hatchelor

In this case: William Dundridge Babbage was born in Devonport 1793, moved to Pembroke, presumably when the naval dockyard opened there in 1814. This is where he raised his family before moving again to Limehouse. By 1861, he had retired with an Admiralty Office pension. He died in 1869.