Arriving in London

Introduction

This short piece was written as a 250-word weekly assignment piece for the Diploma of Family History Unit “Writing Family History”. For this assignment we had to “think about a moment in your ancestor’s life where they arrived in a new place and ask yourself some of the key questions of family history: what? where? when? how? why?”

John Common was baptised in 1779 in Longhorsley, Northumberland. In 1806 his first child by Mary Oldfield was buried in Wapping, London. Given that there were coalmines in Longhorsley and that massive amounts of coal were being shipped from the Northumberland ports (including Newcastle) to London, it is almost certain that John would have made the trip by collier. How would a young man who had grown up in a rural Northumberland village feel as the collier slowly made its way up the Thames estuary?

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Arriving in London, circa 1800

It was the sheer size which stunned John as the collier drifted up the Thames estuary within sight of the northern shore. A bare, flat shore with just the occasional church tower which the master noted one by one as they passed. Initially John couldn’t make out the southern shore, but then it appeared as a flat hazy line on the horizon. It was so different to the Tyne back in Northumberland, where the estuary showed as a clear gap between the low cliffs.

Gradually the banks edged together, but it was still very wide when the river began to meander, wide sweeping loops between the flat lands. He suddenly felt a longing for the hills around Longhorsley.

At Blackwall they heaved to as a boat rowed out from the old docks to check their cargo and direct them to their wharf. Then they continued left, right, left up a series of long reaches. Gradually small groups of cottages appeared on the flat banks. They made a final left turn and suddenly there were buildings as far as the eye could see across a mass of ships. He gasped and asked the man next to him if that was London. “Nay,” came the answer, “’Tis just Shadwell.”

As they approached the wharf he saw that the houses were just as small, mean and pokey as the cottages he had left behind in Longhorsley and as well just as crowded as Newcastle. Well, he was committed to a future here now.

Sources

1. Parry, Naomi, ‘Module 5 Writing Activities’, HAA004: Writing Family Histories, Accessed 23 Nov 2011.
2. Baptism of John Common, baptised 30 August 1779, Parish Registers of St Helen’s Church, Longhorsley, Northumberland, England, FHL microfilm 252593, item 1.
3. Marriage of John Common and Mary Oldfield, married 27 Jul 1806, Parish Registers of Saint John of Wapping, Wapping, Middlesex, England.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_mining_in_the_United_Kingdom
   https://web.archive.org/web/20160418022803/http://www.cmhrc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/nblandcf.htm.
5. http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/mhn/1896-33.htm.
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collier_(ship).
7. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/urban-history/article/abs/industrial-coal-consumption-in-early-modern-london/5777CBD7E2B6D476303AF91CEFBA4D1D.
8. https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/womens-history/maritime-women/perils/.
9. https://maps.nls.uk/view/102341461.
10. https://maps.nls.uk/view/102342032.
11. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Schematic-map-of-the-Thames-Estuary-showing-in-two-parts-up-and-down-estuary-of-the_fig1_226079902.
    

Was John Common a Bigamist?

My 4xgreat-grandfather, John Common, was baptised in Longhorsley, Northumberland (north of Newcastle), on 30 Aug 1779.¹ By 1805 he was resident in Red Lion Street, Wapping and on 27 July 1806 he married Mary Oldfield, daughter of a Yorkshire-born coal-ship owner.^2,3,4

 

Figure 1: The Ruins of St Helen, Longhorsley, photographed by Susan Law, 27 June 2019.

The couple lived around the Wapping waterfront producing children at regular intervals up to 1815 (William Oldfield 1808 at 115 Wapping St, Frances born 1809 at Wapping Wall, Mary born 1811 at 64 Wapping Wall, Henry born 1813 at 64 Wapping Wall, Ann Maria born 1815 at 64 Wapping Wall). In the baptism records for these children, John is listed as a grocer, not very different from the “victuallers” who organised the work gangs who unloaded the coal ships.^5,6,7

The production of children continued in 1817 with Sarah Barbara Common but she was born and baptised in St George in the East. Two final children followed: Robert Robinson born 1819 in Wapping and Jane born 1822 in St George in the East. In these baptism records, John is stated to be a “Coal Undertaker”.^5,7 Note that Robert, Robinson, Sarah and Barbara are all names in the pedigree of the Commons family in Longhorsley (see Figure 2).

 

Figure 2: Ancestors and siblings of John Common of Longhorsley (generated from Legacy Family Tree).

At this time the surname Common was rare in the East End of London. However in 1815 a John Common of unknown origin married Elizabeth Mary Sheffield in Bethnal Green.⁸ In 1822 William John Sheffield Common was baptised in Shadwell, close to where the first John Common resided. William had been born in 1818.⁹ This family was living at 18 Star Street, Wapping and John was a “Hat Maker”, different from the “Coal Undertaker” listed in the later “John and Mary” baptisms.¹⁰

However, there were changes made to the baptism entry: William John’s surname had originally been entered as “Sheffield” but this was struck through and replaced with “Common”, then “Sheffield” added as a third given name. The handwriting on the correction is different from that of the original entry.⁹

 

Figure 3: Baptism entry of John William Sheffield Common.

Note that the marriage took place in Bethnal Green, where the first John would have been unknown, but the baptism took place in Shadwell, the area in which he had been living for nearly twenty years. The modified baptism entry could support possible bigamy because if it was the same John Common the Shadwell clerics would have known of the pre-existing marriage. There is no indication of when the correction was made.

In 1826 the last two children of John & Mary (Robert, 1819 and Jane, 1822) were baptised at St John of Wapping and the 1829 the Post Office Directory lists a single John Common as a silk hat manufacturer of 48 High Street Shadwell.^5,10

In 1830 Elizabeth Common age 34 of High Street was buried at St Paul, Shadwell.¹¹ This is the right age for the wife of the 1815 marriage. In 1834 Mary Common of Spring Street Shadwell died age 50 and was buried in the Ebenezer Chapel, Shadwell.¹² This is the right age for the wife of the 1806 marriage. On 18 July 1836 John Common witnessed the marriage of William John Sheffield Common.¹³ The signature is similar to the other John Common signatures.

Figure 4: Signatures of "John Common" from: Marriage Licence Allegation 1806; Marriage entry 1806; Marriage entry 1815; Marriage entry of W. J. S. Common 1836 (witness).

 

So between 1815 and 1836 we apparently have two Johns with two families. Unfortunately from this point on the records indicate the existence of only one John Common. Apart from his death registration, the age is correct for the John from Northumberland, but the records are inconsistent with regard to his occupation:

• 24 July 1840: John Common of Shadwell, widowed, disabled labourer born c. 1781 admitted to the Mile End Workhouse at Ratcliff.¹⁴
• 23 October 1840: John Common of Shadwell, widowed, disabled hatter, born c. 1780 admitted to the Mile End Workhouse at Ratcliff.¹⁴
• 6 June 1841: Census, John Common, age 60, hatter, not born in Middlesex resident in the Mile End Workhouse in Ratcliff.¹⁵

The age in these records is consistent with John from Northumberland. The crucial piece of evidence is the 1851 Census where John Comnon is listed as a widowed pauper, age 69 (i.e. born c. 1782), a journeyman hatter born Northumberland/Newcastle.¹⁶ This information combines the occupation of the second John with the age and rough birth place of the first.

The death and burial entries in 1858 which form a series with the workhouse and census records give John’s age as 71, but this could be a transcription error for 77, consistent with the earlier information from the Workhouse.^17,18

So was John Common from Northumberland a bigamist? If so it was a risky thing to do because at this period in time bigamy was a criminal offence which carried a jail term (though there is no record of this happening to John Common). This is one case where a genetic link would be helpful.

A Family Historian’s Nightmare

I’ve traced my Commons/Common line for a hundred years in Tower Hamlets from Albert Edward Common (Why Chris Locke?) to the marriage of John Common and Mary Oldfield on 27th July 1806 at St John of Wapping Parish Church.¹ By various pieces of evidence I have identified the groom as John Common baptised 30 Aug 1779 at St Helen’s Longhorsley Northumberland.²

The Ruins of St Helen's Church, Longhorsley, photographed by Sue Law 27th June 2019

In 2009 I ordered the FHL film covering the Longhorsley registers. Using these I was able to track the Common line back to the marriage of William Common and Isabel Robson on 9th June 1719.³ During this time the family married into other local families, especially the Robsons, Hills and Prudlocks.

Unfortunately on page 2 of the first register is written:

“This oldest Register, belonging to this Parish was falling to Pieces for want of attention & was given by the Vicar abt 1761 to an illiterate Parish Clerk to revew. The Clerk copied only such names as he himself could decypher & burnt the Original Register imagining it of no use which is the reason of this being so imperfect.

The above is from the report of several responsible Persons who remember the circumstance inserted by me March 8, 1803,
Richd. Oliphant, Curate.”

Just to make things worse the extant Bishop’s transcripts for Longhorsley only start in 1769.⁴

One fairly solid brick wall, though I think I may be lucky with the Commons, as the records seem to indicate that William was the first Common to move to Longhorsley.

A Common family headstone in St Helen's graveyard, photographed by Sue Law 27th June 2019

  Sources

1. St John of Wapping (Wapping, Middlesex, England), "London Metropolitan Archives P93/JN2/018, Register of Marriages 1803-1812," page 38, marriage of John Common & Mary Oldfield, 27 Jul 1806; LMA microfilms X089/160, London Metropolitan Archives, London.
2. St Helen (Longhorsley, Northumberland, England), "Northumberland Archives EP 145/1, General Register 1667-1670; 1695-1723," page 46, baptism of John Common, 30 Aug 1779; FHL microfilm 252593, item 1.
3. St Helen (Longhorsley, Northumberland, England), "Northumberland Archives EP 145/1, General Register 1667-1670; 1695-1723," FHL microfilm 252593
4. Holdings of Bishop’s Transcripts from St Helen’s Longhorsley, Durham University Library Special Collections Catalogue GB-0033-DDR/EA, Durham Diocesan Records: episcopal administration,  (http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s1gf06g2666.xml#DDR-EA-PBT-2-t, Accessed 21st February 2020)