Sarah (Maggs) Paradice’s obituary states that “…she was in all respects a model wife and mother and as such an ornament to her sex.” While these glib words reflect the attitude towards women in the 1890s, they do a disservice to a woman who prevailed despite a life of hardship and tragedy.
Sarah Ann Maggs was born to Hannah (Bodman) and James Maggs in about 1828.[i] Her birthplace was the hamlet of Englishbatch (Inglesbatch) in Somerset, England. The village was too small to have its own church, and Sarah was baptized in the Parish Church of Englishcombe on .March 9, 1828[ii] The Maggs family would have walked about 3 km, much of it up a steep hill, to reach the church.
Englishcombe and Englishbatch are agricultural communities. Mary Stacey and Rob Ilnes (1983) describe the rural landscape as follows:
The predominant characteristic of
the man- made landscape is its narrow sunken roadways with their impressive
hedgebanks and which have been little altered since at least medieval
times. Within the present field system
the medieval pattern of land use is largely retained, with the steep slope to
Newton Brook being divided into narrow strips of meadow, the arable land on the
central plateau and the woods and pasture in the east. The settlement pattern of this area is
largely nucleated. In addition to the
village of Englishcombe there are two hamlets in the parish, Inglesbatch and
Nailwell. Nailwell is a nineteenth
century development alongside the road to Priston. Inglesbatch was a medieval settlement but
most of its farms were rebuilt in the nineteenth century.[iii]
According to Jean Manco (1995), “Englishcombe was typical of the villages that developed in the late Saxon period over a large part of England. The arable land of the manor was in two large open fields, which were cultivated in rotation. Each field was divided into strips allocated by the lord to himself and his tenants. As a rule with this type of farming, the tenants lived in cottages clustered around the manor house and church. Most of them were copyholders, who held their land in return for work on the lord's. They could not sell it or bequeath it, though in practice lands often did pass from father to son.”[iv]
James Maggs, Sarah’s father, was an agricultural laborer, the lowest class of worker. He would was not have been a copyholder but would have worked on one of the manor farms and likely been paid on a weekly basis. The Maggs family probably was poor, living at a subsistence level. A typical agricultural labourer earned about 8s per week, but his wife and children of six years and older usually worked as well, adding to the family’s income. A “model labourer” brought before a committee investigating labourers’ wages described his circumstances as follows:
He lived chiefly on bread and
cheese, had often touched no meat for a month together, got now and then a
little bacon, and sometimes a ha’porth of milk, but the farmers did not like
selling it. His ordinary drink was
tea. He had no pig, but he had a garden
where he grew plenty of potatoes.[v]
The mother and children who worked in the fields raking the harvested wheat could supplement the family’s meager ration by gleaning. That is, they would collect the loose grain left in the field after the harvest. This procedure would produce enough for a few loaves of homemade bread and some straw for bedding.
The Maggs family lived in a cottage, which they probably rented from the landowner, although in some cases a cottage was provided as part of the worker’s wage. A typical cottage consisted of one large room on the main floor and possibly one or two sleeping rooms on an upper floor. The cottage had no running water and no heat except that produced by a fireplace on the main floor. It often was damp with leaking roof and walls.[vi]
What began as a hard life must have become harder when Sarah’s mother Hannah fell ill with consumption. There might have been a long period when she was unable to work in the fields or care for her family. Hannah died on December 8, 1840. Sarah was then about 12 years old.
By the following June, when the 1841 census was taken, Sarah was no longer living with her family.[vii] She might have been sent to live with another family to be looked after or more likely to work as a servant. The 1841 census shows a 14-year-old Sarah Maggs, born in “Coombe,” Somerset, living in the household of Mary Bailey in Freshford, Somerset.[viii] Freshford is approximately 15 km from Inglesbatch. This Sarah might be the daughter of James and Hannah, particularly if “Coombe” was shorthand for Englishcombe or a mistake due to similarities in the names. However, there is a Coombe Down less than 8 km from Freshford, which throws some doubt on this conclusion.
By 1851 Sarah appears to have been working in Bristol. The 1851 census lists a 23-year-old Sarah Maggs, a household servant in the home of Dora De Vine, an annuitant (pensioner).[ix] This Sarah was born in “Combe, Somerset” and appears to be the person who was living with Mary Bailey in 1841. Dora De Vine and Sarah Maggs lived in Clifton, a section of Bristol where Sarah some years lived after her marriage to George Paradice.
For Sarah, life as a servant might in some ways have become more comfortable, but not much easier than her life in Englishbatch. A flat in Bristol would at least have been drier and perhaps warmer than the farm labourer’s cottage. However, Sarah would have worked long hours with few, if any, holidays. She would have been allowed a few hours off on Sunday to attend church – or she might have been forced to accompany her employer to church. She would have been under constant scrutiny with her employer trying to ensure that she was “acting right.” Many employers insisted on no boyfriends. In the 1840s and 1850s employers were allowed to beat their servants. If Sarah’s employer had limited means to afford a servant, she might not even have received enough to eat. On the other hand, she might have been employed by a caring person who had a sense of responsibility for her welfare.[x] There are no records of Sarah’s actual working conditions.
As a servant, Sarah would have had little time to visit her family. Nevertheless, she did not lose the family connection. She returned to Englishbatch in 1853 to be a witness at the marriage of her brother Henry to Fanny Ann Stevens. [xi] Another witness was George Paradice. A year later Sarah married George Paradice.
How Sarah met George is unclear. Assuming that she was working as a servant in Bristol, the most likely place for them to have met was at church. However, it is possible, though perhaps unlikely, that George had a family connection to Englishbatch. The 1861 census shows another family headed by “George Paradise” living in Englishbatch.[xii] This George Paradise was born in Bradford, Wiltshire, and his connection, if any, to George Paradice of Bristol and Bedminster is unknown.
Sarah and George would have been expected to conform to the rules of courting that were common in Victorian England. These rules included a prohibition of physical contact between a woman and man before marriage. Nevertheless, Sarah’s and George’s first child was born only six months after their wedding, which took place on May 27, 1854.[xiii]
George Paradice, Jr. was baptized in St. Philip and St. Jacob Church on November 19, 1854,[xiv] at the age of three weeks. He was the first of nine children born to Sarah and George Paradice and the first of five who did not survive infancy or early childhood. The infant George was buried at Holy Trinity Church on April 4, 1855.[xv]
Life as the wife of a ship’s carpenter might have been more comfortable than life as the child of an agricultural labourer, but it would have been lonely and stressful. George would have spent months, or possibly years, at sea, leaving Sarah to raise their children by herself. Communication would have been infrequent and difficult. Although George might have written letters to her, it appears that Sarah was illiterate, as indicated by their marriage certificate, which she signed with an “X.” There would have been periods when Sarah wondered whether George was still alive, or she might even have believed him dead, if the family legend of shipwreck is correct. She would have been unable to reach out to him for comfort as she endured the illnesses and deaths of four of her children.
Sarah was not entirely alone, however. She had the support of George’s sister, Elizabeth Robinson, who was listed as the informant on the death certificates of Sarah’s infant son Thomas in 1863 and her daughters Emma and Annie in 1866.
George’s return from the sea brought new challenges. With major dock closures at Woolwich and Portsmouth in 1869 George was unable to find work, and Sarah again faced poverty. The British government and the British and Colonial Emigration Society “rescued” the family by financing their immigration to Canada. Sarah must have felt some trepidation about taking her three surviving children on a long sea voyage to an unknown, potentially uncivilized country. Worse, the move would mean leaving behind the family who had provided emotional support during the previous difficult years. Additionally, Sarah either was pregnant or soon would become pregnant.
As difficult as the leave-taking and the journey may have been, the move to Canada was the start of new life. In the ship-building center of St. Catharines George prospered. Sarah gave birth to a healthy son, William, who along with his siblings grew to adulthood. Within about ten years Edwin, Frank, and Alice had married and produced grandchildren. Sarah must have relished some leisure time to enjoy her grandchildren.
However, the prospects of prosperity and/or adventure soon drew Sarah’s children south. By 1890 Sarah and George were alone in St. Catharines with only Edwin and his family relatively nearby in Buffalo, New York. The rest of the family was in Denver, Colorado.
As Sarah’s life was nearing its conclusion, Sarah and George were able to see England once again. No doubt they visited George’s siblings in Bristol, with whom they had maintained contact during the long separation. Whether Sarah saw any of her family is not known, but some of her half-brothers and a half-sister were living in Bristol at that time.
Sarah died on June 13, 1894, and was buried in Victoria Lawn Cemetery. Not long after, George joined his children in Denver, leaving Sarah to rest alone in St. Catharines. Perhaps it was guilt at the leave-taking or perhaps a desire to leave something tangible to remember a woman who had little for most of her life, but the family erected a large and rather ostentatious monument over her grave (Photo by Ruth Watkins Jaynes on findagrave.com).
[i] Englishcombe is a village just outside of Bath. Sarah's death certificate lists her
birthplace as Bath. The 1861 census
lists her birthplace as Englishcombe.
The current map shows no Englishbatch, but there is an Inglesbatch about
3 km southwest of Englishcombe. However,
the 1841 census shows the James Maggs family (without Sarah) in the Village of
Englishcombe.
[ii] Church of England, Parish Church of Englishcombe,
Bishops Transcripts, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1605-1812 and 1813-1837,
Family History Library (LDS) Microfilm No. 1470971, Items No. 27 and 28, Item
28, page 21, no. 166.
[iii] Stacey, M. and R. Ilnes. 1983. Historic Landscape Study of the Manor of
Englishcombe. Planning Department.
Avon County Council. Avon House North. St. James Barton. Bristol. [Online] http://www.englishcombe.net/pdf/landscape%20survey.pdf. Accessed May 5, 2018/
[iv] Manco, J.
1996. The Parish of Englishcombe: A History. Englishcombe Parish Council. [Online} http://www.englishcombe.net/pdf/englishcombe%20history%20-%20manco.pdf. Accessed May 5, 2018.
[v] Report on
Labourers' Wages, 1824, p.
31, cited in Hasbach, W. 1894. A History
of the English Agricultural Labourer, Great Britain: P. King & Son (first
English edition, 1908), page 206.
[vi] “Life on a Victorian Farm.” [Online] About Britain http://www.aboutbritain.com/articles/life-on-a-victorian-farm.asp;
and “The Ag-Lab in England - 1750/1860” [online] http://winsomegriffin.com/Benbow/Rural_Life.html.
Accessed December 30, 2019.
[vii] 1841 Census England - Village of Englishcombe, Family
History Library FHL Microfilm # 0474605. RG9 1724, page 13. The census was
taken on 14 June 1841. It lists only James Maggs, 11-year-old Jane, and
10-year-old Henry.
[viii]"England and Wales Census, 1841," database
with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQ14-WNG: 13
December 2017), Sarah Maggs in household of Mary Bailey, Freshford, Somerset,
England; from "1841 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and
images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com: n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The
National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
[ix] "England and Wales Census, 1851," database
with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGB4-2PD: 11
November 2017), Sarah Maggs in household of Dora D De Vine, Clifton,
Gloucestershire, England; citing Clifton, Gloucestershire, England, p. 41, from
"1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images,
findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com: n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National
Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
[x] Alitt, P. 2017. “The Life of Domestic Servants in
Victorian England.” [Online] The Great
Courses Daily https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/servants-in-victorian-england/.
Accessed December 29, 2019.
[xi] Church of England, Parish Church of Englishcombe, Bishop's
Transcripts - Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1837-1866 (Family History
Library (LDS) Microfilm No. 1526169, Item 4), Page 16 & 17, No. 21
[xii] “England and Wales Census, 1861.” Database with
images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org: 23 October 2019. From "1861
England, Scotland and Wales census." Database and images. findmypast.
http://www.findmypast.com: n.d. Citing PRO RG 9. The National Archives, Kew,
Surrey.
[xiii] Certified Copy
of a Marriage Certificate - George Paradice and Sarah Maggs (1854, 2nd
quarter. District of Bristol. Number 107.
Certificate issued 23 August 2001.
MXA 886293.).
[xiv] St. Philip and St. Jacob's Church (Bristol, England),
"Baptisms 1855-1864," Baptism of George Paradice; FHL microfilm
1,596,779, item page 515. Cit. Date: 1 Jul 2010.
[xv] Holy Trinity (Bristol, England), "Burials
1855," Burial of George Paradice; FHL microfilm 1595526 1,595,526, item page
85. Cit. Date: 1 Jul 2010.
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