Mary Wright Jeffery was born on Tuesday 15 August 1837 in Norwood Green, Middlesex the daughter of William Jeffery, a lockkeeper from Kingston, Surrey and Mary Wright from Norwood Green, Middlesex. Mary was baptised at the Church of St Mary the virgin, Norwood Green on Sunday 10 September 1837 [1], the second of six children, four sisters and one brother (see family tree, below).

Mary Wright Jeffery (1837 - 1880)

Mary Wright Jeffery's Immediate Family

Mary Jeffery was brought up in the lock-keepers cottage at Norwood Green, located adjacent to lock no 92 on the Grand Union Canal. The cottage, constructed in the early part of the nineteenth century, is now a grade II listed building, and is shown below.

Lock-Keepers Cottage, Norwood Green

Lock-Keepers Cottage, Norwood Green, Middlesex

The 1841 census [2] for Norwood in Middlesex shows Mary aged three living with her parents William, the lock-keeper, and Mary, both aged thirty, together with her siblings, Maria, Elizabeth and Anna. The census also shows an Elizabeth Ayford living with the Jeffery family, which may be Mary's cousin (her aunt's married name was Ayford).

Ten years later the Jeffery family had moved to Marsworth, Buckinghamshire, a distance of forty miles along the Grand Union Canal, and were living in the lock-keepers adjacent to lock no 39. The 1851 census [3] shows Mary, aged 7, living with her parents William, the canal lock-keeper and Mary, elder sister Elizabeth, employed as a dressmaker, and younger sister Maria is a scholar. Both Mary, aged thirteen, and her younger sister Anna, aged eleven are employed as straw-cutters, so presumably they did not receive much schooling.

Six years later, on Thursday 26 June 1856 Mary Wright Jeffery, aged 19, married William Etherington aged 25, at the church of St Mark, Kennington, South London. [4].It is very likely that they met when William passed through the canal lock at Marsworth, where Mary was living.

During the 1861 census Islington [5] Mary was living at no. 12 Canal Terrace, Islington. Her husband, William was away working on a canal boat on the Grand Union Canal on the night that the census was taken 1861 census Linslade [6].

The 1871 census [7] shows Mary, a dressmaker aged twenty-nine living in Macclesfield Street, Islington with her husband William, a canal dredgerman aged forty-three and their daughters Mary, aged seven and Anna aged four. Not long after the birth of their only son Mary's husband William was arrested whilst working on a canal barge in Hemel Hempstead, see William Etherington.

On Saturday 11 October 1873, Mary gave evidence at the inquest into her husband William's death held at the Plough Inn, Hertford. After this the family fell onto hard times which found her children going into service and Mary herself being admitted to the workhouse [8]. Mary died at the age of forty-one of paralysis in Edmonton Union Workhouse on 09 Feb 1880 [9].

Notes and Abbreviations:

  1.  Bap Register, St Mary the Virgin, Norwood, 1837
  2.  National Archives, 1841 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/656/10 f5 p2
  3.  National Archives, 1851 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/1716 f247v
  4.  GRO, Marriage Certificate William Etherington and Mary Wright Jeffery, 1856
  5.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/149 f83r
  6.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/1006 f80v
  7.  National Archives, 1871 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG10/399 f32r
  8.  London Workhouse Admission Records, London Metropolitan Archives, 1876
  9.  GRO, Death Certificate Mary Etherington, 1880
  10.  'M W' stands for 'Mary Wright'

Notes and Abbreviations:

  1.  Bap Register, St Mary the Virgin, Norwood, 1837
  2.  National Archives, 1841 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/656/10 f5 p2
  3.  National Archives, 1851 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/1716 f247v
  4.  GRO, Marriage Certificate William Etherington and Mary Wright Jeffery, 1856
  5.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/149 f83r
  6.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/1006 f80v
  7.  National Archives, 1871 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG10/399 f32r
  8.  London Workhouse Admission Records, London Metropolitan Archives, 1876
  9.  GRO, Death Certificate Mary Etherington, 1880
  10.  'My W' stands for 'Mary Wright'

Notes:

  1.  Bap Register, St Mary the virgin, Norwood, 1837
  2.  National Archives, 1841 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/656/10 f5 p2
  3.  National Archives, 1851 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/1716 f247v
  4.  GRO, Marriage Certificate William Etherington and Mary Wright Jeffery, 1856
  5.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/149 f83r
  6.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/1006 f80v
  7.  National Archives, 1871 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG10/399 f32r
  8.  London Workhouse Admission Records, London Metropolitan Archives, 1876
  9.  GRO, Death Certificate Mary Etherington, 1880

Notes:

  1.  Bap Register, St Mary the virgin, Norwood, 1837
  2.  National Archives, 1841 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/656/10 f5 p2
  3.  National Archives, 1851 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/1716 f247v
  4.  GRO, Marriage Certificate William Etherington and Mary Wright Jeffery, 1856
  5.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/149 f83r
  6.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/1006 f80v
  7.  National Archives, 1871 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG10/399 f32r
  8.  London Workhouse Admission Records, London Metropolitan Archives, 1876
  9.  GRO, Death Certificate Mary Etherington, 1880

Notes:

  1.  Bap Register, St Mary the virgin, Norwood, 1837
  2.  National Archives, 1841 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/656/10 f5 p2
  3.  National Archives, 1851 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/1716 f247v
  4.  GRO, Marriage Certificate William Etherington and Mary Wright Jeffery, 1856
  5.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/149 f83r
  6.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/1006 f80v
  7.  National Archives, 1871 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG10/399 f32r
  8.  London Workhouse Admission Records, London Metropolitan Archives, 1876
  9.  GRO, Death Certificate Mary Etherington, 1880

Notes:

  1.  Bap Register, St Mary the virgin, Norwood, 1837
  2.  National Archives, 1841 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/656/10 f5 p2
  3.  National Archives, 1851 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/1716 f247v
  4.  GRO, Marriage Certificate William Etherington and Mary Wright Jeffery, 1856
  5.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/149 f83r
  6.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/1006 f80v
  7.  National Archives, 1871 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG10/399 f32r
  8.  London Workhouse Admission Records, London Metropolitan Archives, 1876
  9.  GRO, Death Certificate Mary Etherington, 1880

Notes:

  1.  Bap Register, St Mary the virgin, Norwood, 1837
  2.  National Archives, 1841 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/656/10 f5 p2
  3.  National Archives, 1851 Census for England and Wales, Ref. HO107/1716 f247v
  4.  GRO, Marriage Certificate William Etherington and Mary Wright Jeffery, 1856
  5.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/149 f83r
  6.  National Archives, 1861 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG9/1006 f80v
  7.  National Archives, 1871 Census for England and Wales, Ref. RG10/399 f32r
  8.  London Workhouse Admission Records, London Metropolitan Archives, 1876
  9.  GRO, Death Certificate Mary Etherington, 1880
 

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