Many family histories will include children born ‘out of wedlock’. However, do we consider the attitudes of others towards the mothers, and whether the illegitimate births impacted on their future as well as the future of their children?
Robert & Sarah Carter
Church of St James, Great Ellingham
On the 24th September, 1826, Stow Bedon born Robert Carter and his wife Sarah (nèe Cowles) took their two daughters, Mary and Hannah, to St James’s Church, Great Ellingham for baptism. The baptism register does not state that the sisters were twins. However, according to the later 1841 census, the sisters were the same age i.e. then both 15.
St Mary’s Church, Attleborough
The couple had married in Sarah’s home parish church of St Mary’s Church, Attleborough on the 6th April, 1824. Both Robert Carter and Sarah Cowles were single, and they both signed the marriage register. This tells us that they both had some degree of literacy.
The couple then moved to Great Ellingham where Mary and Hannah were born.
In 1828, Sarah Carter gave birth to a son John. He was baptised in St James’s Church on the 28th September. Sadly, the couple buried 12 week old John in the churchyard on the 7th December the same year.
1841 census
The 1841 census captures agricultural labourer Robert Carter and his wife Sarah with daughters Hannah and Mary living in Great Ellingham, not far from Tanyard Farm.
Indeed the 1843 Great Ellingham Tithe documentation shows Robert Carter as an occupier ‘with others’ of a cottage and garden owned by tanner and farmer Samuel Warren of Tanyard Farm. This cottage comprise of at least two tenements. It has long since disappeared.
1851 census
Unfortunately, I am unable to locate Hannah’s sister Mary after the 1841 census.
However by 1851, Hannah (then 24) is in the Wayland Union Workhouse at Rockland All Saints.
Her parents, Robert and Sarah Carter, are still living near to Tanyard Farm in Great Ellingham. Now aged 56, Robert Carter is working as a farm labourer.
George
Hannah Carter was heavily pregnant at the time of the 1851 census. Just six weeks later, Hannah gives birth to George on the 11th April. She had entered the Wayland Union Workhouse for the birth.
Wayland Union Workhouse. Courtesy Liz Barrett
We can but wonder how long Hannah had been in the workhouse. Did Hannah seek refuge just a few weeks before her confinement? Did she have a choice here? Did her parents ‘throw her out’ because she was expecting and, in their view, had brought ‘shame’ upon her family?
The Wayland Union Workhouse records confirm that George was baptised on the 16th April. I do not know whether Hannah left the workhouse with George following his baptism and, if so, where she went.
William
Nevertheless Hannah was back in the workhouse in time to give birth to William on the 10th December, 1853.
Following William’s birth, it is possible that Hannah came back to live in Great Ellingham. However it seems that she returned to the workhouse with her two children when, sadly, young William died ion the 26th May, 1857. He was three years old.
The registration of his death records his cause of death as ‘diseased lungs, 6 months certified’. Accordingly, we know that William had been ill for at least 6 months.
Rockland All Saints Church
William was buried in Rocklands on the 28th May, 1857. His place of abode is given as ‘Union’ and ‘Great Ellingham’.
Robert
Even if Hannah left the workhouse again following William’s death, she had returned by late October, 1858. At 8.40pm on the 22nd October, 1858, Hannah gives birth to her third son whom she named Robert. The child was baptised on the 29th October.
Again I do not know whether Hannah came out of the workhouse following Robert’s birth.
1861 census
Nonetheless the 1861 census captures Hannah and her two sons as inmates in the Wayland Union.
As is usual for the time, the inmates are identified by their initials and not by their names. Accordingly, Hannah is ‘H.C’ aged 33, an unmarried general servant. George is recorded as ‘G.C.’ aged 9, and Robert as ‘R.C.’ aged 2. The census also confirms that both boys were born in the Wayland Union House.
Did Hannah remain in the workhouse or did she leave?
Hannah’s parents, both now in the seventies, are living in the Bush Green area of Great Ellingham. However, it is more than possible that they are occupying the same cottage as they were a decade or so before.
We can but wonder whether Hannah had any contact with her parents since ‘leaving home’ some 10 years or so ago. Did Hannah see her father before he died in Great Ellingham in the November of 1861? Of course, we will never know.
Alfred
Nevertheless Hannah gave birth to her fourth illegitimate child – another son, in the Wayland Union Workhouse on the 22nd June, 1862. Infant Alfred was baptised on the 6th July.
It may be that again Hannah returned to Great Ellingham following Alfred’s birth.
Sadly Alfred died aged 2 on the 19th June, 1864. His primary cause of death is measles. Alfred also had pneumonia.
The burial register for Rockland All Saints with Saint Andrew gives Alfred’s abode as ‘Union’ and ‘Great Ellingham’ which (again) suggests that Hannah may have brought her sons back to Great Ellingham. Particularly if Hannah relied on ‘parish relief’, it follows that she returned to her home village of Great Ellingham for support.
1871 census
However by 1871, 42 year old Hannah Carter is lodging with the family of 28 year old higler, William Sizeland, in Rockland All Saints. She is working on the land.
Her youngest surviving son, 12 year old Robert, is with her. Hannah’s eldest son George is in Attleborogh working as a servant.
1881 census
Ten years later in 1881, Hannah (now 54) is back in the Wayland Union Workhouse. However, on this occasion she is not an inmate. Hannah is employed by the workhouse as a cook and general servant. This seems to be a ‘step up’ for Hannah.
After 1881
Unfortunately I lose track of Hannah Carter after 1881.
George
George may well be the farm labourer George Carter lodging with publican John Hollroc in Feltwell. However, the 1891 census gives his place of birth as Attleborough.
Robert
Hannah’s youngest son Robert has since married and is living with his Yorkshire born wife Esther and their children in Great Horton, Yorkshire.
The couple married in the Parish Church at Bradford on the 15th December, 1884. As Robert (and his wife) signed the marriage register, it is clear that despite periods of his early life spent with his mother in the workhouse, Robert had received some education. Indeed, schooling was given to children in the workhouse.
1891
However, Robert and Esther with their five children are living in just two rooms. The census of 1891 gives Robert’s occupation as ‘Farmer’s Man’.
1901
In 1901, Robert is employed as a gas works labourer. However the family (which still includes five children) is still occupying two rooms at No.4 Peel Row, Great Horton, Bradford. However three of the children are working as worsted spinners, presumably at one of the nearby mills.
1911
By 1911, Robert (now 51) is working as a gas purifier. He and Esther have three daughters living with them. Emma, Beatrice and Alice are all working as weavers at a nearby cotton mill. Robert Carter’s family is now living in a 4-roomed dwelling at 70 Harlow Road, Lidgel Green, Bradford. The census confirms that, sadly, two of the couple’s six children had died.
1921
At the time of the 1921 census, Robert and his wife are still living at 70 Harlow Road. Robert is still working at the Mill Street Gasworks for Bradford City Council.
1939
Moving on, the 1939 Register for England & Wales, captures widower and retired gas labourer Robert Carter and his two unmarried daughters, Emma and Beatrice, living at 70 Harlow Road.
Robert’s date of birth is recorded as 22 October 1858. This concurs with the entry for his birth some 81 years earlier in the records for the Wayland Union Workhouse in Rocklands All Saints, Norfolk!
Conclusion
Hannah
It seems that Hannah Carter spent the early part of her life with her parents in Great Ellingham. I do not know whether she received any form of education. There were ‘day schools’ in the village at that time but only available to those who could afford to pay. However there was a Baptist Church Sunday school which was supported by voluntary contributions.
At the age of 24, Hannah may well have left her parents’ home when she became pregnant during the latter part of 1850. We know that she is in the workhouse at Rockland All Saints by March, 1851.
Hannah had four illegitimate sons in the Wayland Union Workhouse at Rockland All Saints between 1851 and 1862. Sadly, two of the children died in the workhouse. I do not know the identity of the father of any of Hannah’s children. Indeed I do not know whether the same man fathered all four children.
From at least 1851 to 1864, Hannah appears to be in and out of the workhouse. When not in the workhouse, Hannah may have been back in Great Ellingham. Did Hannah ever go back to her parents’ home at Bush Green?
However by 1871, Hannah is living independently in Rockland All Saints with her youngest son, Robert, albeit that mother and son are lodgers. Nevertheless, Hannah is working on the land. Her eldest son, George, is living and working in Attleborough.
By 1881, Hannah has secured employment as a cook/general servant in the very same workhouse where she had years before, given birth to her four sons and said her ‘goodbyes’ to two of them.
Life certainly had its challenges for Hannah and it seems that her life choices were limited. Unfortunately, I do not know what happened to Hannah after her time as a cook at the Wayland Union Workhouse. or what happened to her eldest son, George.
Robert
However, Hannah’s youngest surviving son, Robert, moved away from Norfolk to Yorkshire. The 1880s was a time of the Great Depression of British Agriculture, and with the move from agriculture to industry, many individuals and families left the area. Robert may well have been one such individual.
Despite his birth and early childhood in the workhouse, Robert had a long and, perhaps, a fulfilling life.
Sources:
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 609. Also available www.familysearch.org, www.ancestry.co.uk & other subscription sites
Rockland All Saints with Saint Andrew Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 335. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
Attleborough Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office. PD 438. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
1841 census HO107/781/8
1851 census HO107/1823/158, HO107/1823/124
1861 census RG9/1237/98, RG9/1237/133
1871 census RG10/125/9
1881 census RG11/1974/131
1891 census RG12/3639/88,
1901 census RG13/4167/28
1911 census RG14/26820/32
1921 census The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; 1921 Census Returns; Reference: RG 15/21890, ED 10, Sch 35; Book: 21890. Ancestry.com. 1921 England Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2025.
1939 England & Wales Register. Robert Carter. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/3330A. Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
15 Dec 1884. Marriage Robert Carter & Esther Jowett. West Yorkshire Archive Service; Leeds, Yorkshire, England; Reference Number: BDP14. Ancestry.com. West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
England, Norfolk, Poor Law Union Records, 1796-1900.” Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 3 December 2024. Record Office, Norwich. Norfolk, Wayland, Rockland All Saints Workhouse
Death Registration Images for William Carter & Alfred Carter. Obtained from GRO.
Great Ellingham Tithe Documentation. Tithe Apportionments, 1836-1929 [database online]. TheGenealogist.co.uk 2025 Original data: “IR29 Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe Apportionments” The National Archives