CHARLES AND MARY SHERWOOD

This part looks at Charles and Mary's  life in England, the voyage to Australia on the Amazon and concludes with a brief mention of Charles’s siblings.

My grandfather Arthur Gordon Sherwood was a keen letter writer.  He often wrote to his sister Minnie Kelly who lived in Wodonga, Victoria. Around 1977, Arthur (while in his nineties) wrote to Minnie following a request by her for information on past family members.  Arthur's reply is a humorous, tongue-in-cheek account of their ancestry.  The letter serves as an interesting introduction to Charles and Mary   and appears below.

You ask me if I knew anything about our ancestors.  Well I can enlighten you quite a lot. I won't go too far back as I don't think it will be necessary so I will start with our grandpa (Charles Sherwood).  He came over from Normandy with William The Conqueror and there is no need for me to say too much about them, as we all know how quickly they cleaned up the British.  Remember just the two of them on their own they fought with such courage that after five hours of fighting they had split the Britons into two directions but each of them had lost any courage they may have had. One side took to their heels towards the south with grandpa after them. He drove them into Wales where they hid in the mountains and were too afraid to ever come out again.  William chased the others north into the Highlands of Scotland where their descendants are to this day. The ones in Wales are known as the really brave Britons.  
After it was all over grandpa decided to settle in Cambridgeshire where he married Miss Mary Perry.  They reared a large family and then brought them out to Australia.  They were Alfred, Charles, Harriet (married John Jarvis a farmer) William, Arthur, Allan, Elizabeth, Mary Ann (married Henry Henstridge) Steve and Fred a private in the Salvation Army.

             Although Arthur stretches the truth somewhat in his letter to Minnie, some of the information is quite accurate. Charles did marry Mary Perry in Cambridgeshire.  They were married 24 December 1833 at Fowlmere.  According to parish records,

Charles Sherward (signs Sherwood) married Mary Perry spinster, both of this parish.  Witnesses John Law and Sarah All

  Their ten children were all born in the order Arthur listed them with the exception of Harriet and William.  William was older than Harriet.    
According to the Sherwood Family Bible Charles Sherwood was born 5 December 1812 and his wife Mary on the 16 of January 1813.  Charles was baptised 9 May 1813, age 22 weeks.   The baptism took place at the Fowlmere Independent Chapel.   Mary Sherwood nee Perry was baptised in the Fowlmere parish church, St. Marys, on the 6 June 1813, the daughter of James and Harriet Perry.

In 1841   the first true population census for Great Britain was introduced.  Previous attempts were no more than population counts.  With this census, detailed information with a great deal of suspicion in many quarters.  Some saw it as a threat to individual privacy, while others regarded it as a prelude to the introduction   of new taxes.  Others still, felt it would be used to resettle   the poor who had left their place of birth and had settled elsewhere.

To encourage cooperation from the public, local people were used as census officials or enumerators. One of the Fowlmere   enumerators was the    plumber, Joseph Mowbray. The   census was taken on the night of Monday the 7 of June 1841.  Recorded on the returns   were the names of every person who stayed in the house previous night, Sunday the 6 June.  This included   family members, boarders and any visitors.  Charles was listed as a 29-year-old agricultural labourer, Mary was 28, Alfred was 7, Charles 5, William 3, Harriet 2 and Arthur 4 months.

            The 1851 census was taken on the night of Monday the 31 March.  The Fowlmere enumerators were Richard Johnson a 32-year-old draper and grocer and William Godfrey a 24-year-old wheelwright.  This census contained additional information to that of the previous census.   The relationship of those present in each household was given as well as the exact age of each person. Small babies were quite often unnamed.  This may account for why Stephen Sherwood who was 8 months old at the time, was not recorded. 

Those at school or not employed were listed as scholars.  Two of Charles and Mary’s children, Allen and Elizabeth are so described.   Medical conditions were noted.  Anyone who was ‘blind, deaf or idiot’ was to be recorded as such.  Eight-year-old Allen Sherwood is listed as deaf.

According to the census the family lived in High Street Fowlmere.   Charles and Mary were   38.  Charles   and his   sons Charles, William and Arthur (only 10 years old) were listed as agricultural/farm labourers.      The only members of the family not included on the return were Charles’ mother Elizabeth and his eldest son Alfred.  Elizabeth would have been about 60 years old and Alfred 17.  According to the census index, neither Elizabeth nor Alfred were in Cambridgeshire on census night.  They may have been working or visiting   a nearby county.  Of course there is the possibility that both were part of an estimated 10 percent who were missed on census night.

Very little else is known of Charles and Mary’s life in Fowlmere apart from an incident involving, Charles.

It took place a little over two weeks after Charles married Mary.  Charles was charged with assaulting a boy by the name of Shadrach Hopwood.  The assault took place on 10 January 1834.  Shadrach was about 13 years old.  He was the son of Ann and Barton Hopwood, a labourer of Fowlmere.  Charles was 21.  What Hopwood did to provoke the assault will probably never be known.  The case came to court exactly one month to the day later in neighbouring Melbourn. Charles was convicted by Henry Hawkins and William Metcalfe, two justices of the peace.  William Metcalfe was at the time the rector of the Fowlmere parish church. He held this position from 1814 up until his death in 1850.  It was the same Rev. Metcalfe who married Charles and Mary 17 days earlier in the parish church.  Charles was fined 9 shillings and 6 pence, the equivalent of a weeks wages for a farm labourer.  This amount was to be paid to Hopwood for 'costs'.  In addition sixpence was to be paid to Thomas Nash the overseer of the poor of the parish.  Failure to pay the fine would have seen Charles placed in the Cambridge jail for a month.

 To find out more about the incident, inquiries were directed to the County Records Office, Cambridge.  Unfortunately they were unable to offer much assistance.  Their reply, in part appears below.

The photocopy you enclose is one of the convictions filed amongst the Cambridgeshire Quarter Sessions Fowlmere Easter Term 1834.  The case was actually tried in the Melbourn Petty Sessional (police) Court, records of which do not survive until 1913.  We have checked with Cambridge Central Library which has an index to the local newspaper, The Cambridge Chronicle, for the period but this contains no reference to the incident.

I decided to follow up the conviction to learn more about those involved.  Shadrach Hopwood was baptised May 2, 1824. He was the son of Barton and Anne Hopwood, labourer of Fowlmere. Shadrach died in Fowlmere and was buried there on 28 May 1848.  He was 27 years old

This is a transcript of Charles's conviction in 1834.

Be it remembered, That on the Tenth day of February in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty four at the Rose Public House in the Parish of Melbourn Charles Sherwood is convicted before us, Henry Hawkins Esquire and the Reverend William Metcalfe two of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the said County for that he the said Charles Sherwood did on the Tenth day of January last at the Parish of Fowlmere in the said County unlawfully Assault and Beat one Shadrach Hopwood contrary to the Form of the Statute in such case made and provided:  And we, the said Justices, adjudge the said Charles Sherwood for his said offence, to forfeit and pay the sum of sixpence and also to pay the sum of nine shillings and sixpence for costs, and in default of immediate payment of the said sums to be imprisoned, in the House of Correction at Cambridge for the space of one calendar month unless the said sums shall be sooner paid : And we direct that the said sum of sixpence shall be paid to Thomas Nash of Foulmire aforesaid one of the Overseers of the poor of the Parish in which the said offence was committed, to be by him applied according to the directions of the Statute in that case made and provided:  And we order that the said sum of nine shillings and sixpence for costs, shall be paid to Shadrach Hopwood the party aggrieved by the said offence.
Given under our Hands and Seals the Day and Year first above mentioned .

                                                                                    H Hawkin
                                                                                    W’m Metcalfe  

Setting sail on the Amazon

  On 1 January 1856,the Sherwood family which included Charles and Mary, their 10 children and Charles’s mother Elizabeth, sailed from Plymouth, England.  Sailing on the ship Amazon, they arrived in Adelaide Monday 7 April 1856.  Charles was 43, Mary 42   and Elizabeth 65.  The occupations of the older male members of the family were given as labourers, while the older females were recorded as servants.

The reasons behind the family's decision to emigrate will never be known for certain.  The following three factors may explain to some extent why the family came to Australia when they did.  It's reasonable to assume that the distressing social and economic conditions, which prevailed in Cambridgeshire and other parts of England in the mid nineteenth century, were responsible for many families deciding to emigrate.

According to Holt substantial increases in population put pressure on services, employment, poor relief and housing.  It was rare for agricultural labourers to own their own cottages.  They frequently lived in tenements often without space for gardens in which to grow vegetables to supplement their diet of potatoes and bread. Each tenement consisted of a number of rooms held separately from the rest of the house.  It wasn't uncommon for more than one family to share accommodation under the same roof.  Accommodation often lacked sanitation and water supplies were often polluted. For the period 1845 through to the mid 1850's, potato blight caused great hardship.  As potatoes (the staple diet) became more expensive, bread became the main substitute meal.  Unfortunately disease also affected wheat crops at about this time.  With a reduction in the quality and quantity of the wheat harvest, the price of bread rose.  As a consequence, many poorly paid workers had great difficulty feeding their often-large families. Rural workers often experienced unemployment throughout the year and at other times long periods of under-employment, perhaps working as little as two to three days a week.  Further compounding the employment problem were the gangs of itinerant Irish labourers escaping the widespread starvation in their own country. They competed with the local labourers for work. From about 1811 on, the rural population showed a steady increase, while the need for rural workers declined.  The effects of this were disastrous, particularly for the inhabitants of the smaller villages such as Fowlmere.  There was simply no other industry in Cambridgeshire for rural workers to turn to.  They faced increasing unemployment and poverty.

It's little wonder that many families, including our own, must have looked to this country in the hope of finding a better life.

It's also fair to assume that other influences must have played a part too.  Influences such as the emigration of other family members.  My grandfather Arthur Gordon Sherwood is remembered as saying that his grandfather's brother was the first member of the family to settle in Australia.  Charles’s brother and wife were said to have sent word back to England encouraging other family members to follow.  By the time Charles and Mary arrived in Adelaide, the brother had left his wife and disappeared.  It was said that Charles and family met up with the brother's wife but not the brother.  Research to date suggests that Charles only surviving brother was William Sherwood.  William, born about 1819 was about 7 years younger than Charles.  It may have been William who came out first and urged other family members to follow.  

     A third factor, which may have influenced Charles and family to emigrate, was the fact that his younger sister Jane and her husband Thomas Morley had already settled in Australia.  Jane, Thomas and their young family arrived in Portland Victoria in 1853.  Perhaps they also sent word back encouraging Charles and Mary to join them.  There is evidence to suggest that members of the Sherwood and Morley families met again in Australia.  This aspect is developed further in the chapter dealing with Jane and Thomas Morley.

     For many emigrants, leaving home must have been one of the hardest decisions they ever had to make.  Many left family and friends with little or no prospect of ever returning.  No doubt many weeks and months were spent in discussion before a final decision was made.  Having decided to go, the family had to apply to the Emigration Commissioners    for an assisted passage to Australia.

In the early 1850’s preference was given to female servants, agricultural (farm) labourers, shepherds, shoemakers and tailors.   Eligible candidates were expected to be sober, hard working, of good moral character and in good health.  Once accepted the   family would have received an ‘Approval Circular’ stating the amount of money that they were required to contribute towards the cost of the voyage. Married agricultural labourers under 45 and their wives paid one pound (Charles and Mary fell into this category) single men (Alfred, Charles and William) paid two pounds, and   single women, Harriet, one pound.  The remaining children all   under 14 paid ten shillings each. 

The money paid by the emigrants towards their passage was used by     the Commissioners to supply meals, medical care, and cooking utensils.  The emigrants were provided with      mattresses, bedcovers, pillows, blankets and a canvas bag to hold linen.  Each passenger was supplied with a knife and fork, a tablespoon and tea- spoon as well as a tin plate and a pint-tin drinking mug. The emigrants were able to keep these articles provided they behaved well on the voyage.

Once accepted, each family member was required to bring with them   suitable clothing for the voyage.  For the males it was recommended that they take at least six shirts, six pairs of stockings (socks) two pairs of shoes and two complete suits of exterior clothing.  For the females it was suggested that they take six shifts, two flannel petticoats, six pairs of stockings, two pairs of shoes and two gowns. For both sexes, hats and handkerchiefs were advised.  Shoes and slippers were considered more comfortable onboard the ship   than boots. Three sheets were recommended for each berth, along with four towels and 2 lbs of soap for each person.  

Having made payment, the emigrants were     allocated a ship, port of embarkation and departure date.  For our family the port of departure was Plymouth Sound, on the south coast of England.  The ship that would bring them to Australia was the Amazon. Much to my disappointment I have been unable to locate a sketch or photograph of the Amazon.  We are fortunate though to have a    description of the vessel when     under construction.  She was built on Scotland’s longest river the river Tay at Dundee, in October 1850.  She has the distinction of being   the largest vessel (791 tons) to be built on the   Tay  up to this date (1850) and   the first of her size   to be constructed under cover in Scotland.

She was one of a number of ships built at Marine Parade, Dundee by Alex Stephen and Sons during a depression in the ship building industry.   Her owners Joseph and Frederick Somes, of Blackwall, registered the vessel in London. The Amazon   was destined for trade in    the East Indies.

An inspection report was carried out on her while she was being built at Dundee.  Using the information from the survey   I have tried to build up a picture of what the vessel looked like.

The Amazon was classified as a ‘ship.’    This indicates that she was a large vessel, with    three or four masts all rigged with square sails.

Her masts are in best condition and sufficient in size and length.  She   was rigged at yard No. 14. with two fore sails 240 fathoms, two fore top sails 80 fathoms, 2 fore topmasts stay sails, two main sails, two main topsails and two full sails and a   full equipment/compliment of other sails.

  The vessel was given an A1 classification.  According to the surveyor...

She’s been built under a roof and upwards of fourteen months in building, is sheathed in yellow metal in patent form.... and abundantly fitted with best stores. This is a superior built vessel of excellent material and workmanship.

            As a protection against damage by toredo worms (a mollusc which sometimes grew to a metre in length) yellow metal sheathing was fitted to the Amazon below the water line. The depth of her hold, where cargo, luggage and provisions were stowed measured 21 feet. She was fitted out with one long boat and three other boats.  

© R J Sherwood. 2001

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