This is the third part of our multipart series on the two-generation study of the Charles Hall Shearn family and the family of his father, Mark Hall Shearn. If you like, you can also read parts one and two.
Matilda Hart was Charles’ first wife.
Charles Hall Shearn and Matilda Hart
Charles Hall Shearn married Matilda Hart on 15 March 1856 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.[1] Cheltenham is about 60 miles from Midsomer Norton and about 40 miles from Bristol. According to the marriage record, this was the first marriage for both of them. Charles’ residence was Roderic House where he was a servant.[2] Matilda’s residence was 6 St. Philip’s Street, Cheltenham. She was not working. Charles’ father, Mark Shearn, was a yeoman, a free farmer. Matilda’s father, John Hart, was a road surveyor. The data in the record comports with known information about the family including Charles’ father’s name and occupation. The name of the couple’s first child helps solidify and accentuates the veracity of these documents and their application to the ancestors.
"Hall" was Charles Hall Shearn’s paternal grandmother’s maiden name and his father's middle name.
Charles’ and Matilda’s first child, Charles James Hall Shearn, was born 9 May 1858.[3] Clearly Hall is a commonly passed on name in the Mark Hall Shearn / Charles Hall Shearn families. It was Charles Hall Shearn’s paternal grandmother’s maiden name, and it was also Charles’ father’s middle name. Charles and Matilda passed it to their first born. Charles James Hall Shearn was baptized 27 June 1858 at All Souls Church in the Parish of St. Marylebone, Middlesex. By this time Charles’ occupation was butler. The Shearn family was living at 20 George St, Marylebone, an area of London just north of Mayfair and east of Paddington, not far from Hyde Park, Westminster, Belgravia, and Buckingham Palace. By 1861, according to the census, Charles was working as butler for George Glas Sandeman at 15 Hyde Park Gardens, Paddington.[4] His name was listed immediately after the members of the Sandeman family. He was thirty years old. He was still married to Matilda, but he was living in the house at Hyde Park Gardens. In another 1861 census record, Matilda and Charles James Hall were living at 8 Palace Street in Westminster, a thirty minute walk across Hyde Park to 15 Hyde Park Gardens where her husband lived and worked.[5] Matilda was 34 years old, and Charles James Hall Shearn was 2 years old. The Shearns ran a lodge house because Matilda’s occupation was listed as lodging house keeper. On census day they had three lodgers at the home, all male: Henry Read (23), Richard Marsh (19), and J Gray (19).
Charles James Hall Shearn was Charles and Matilda's first child.
Charles’ and Matilda’s second child, son James Parfitt Shearn, was born 1862 in Kensington, Middlesex according to his birth record.[6] Parfitt was another name passed along from parent to child in the Shearn family. In this case, Parfitt is the maiden name of Charles’ mother. James was baptized 6 July 1863 at All Saints Parish in Paddington, Middlesex.[7] According to the baptism record, Charles was a butler, but the family had moved to 17 Stanley St, Paddington. Because Charles was still a butler, he was likely living in the home of his employer as he did in the 1861 census, perhaps still at 15 Hyde Park Gardens, though the baptismal record does not specify.
James Parfitt Shearn was Charles and Matilda's second child. "Parfitt" is the maiden name of Charles’ mother.
By 1871, according to the census, Matilda Shearn, Charles James Hall Shearn, and James Parfitt Shearn lived at 111 Black Dog Hill, Studly, Calne, Wiltshire. [8] Matilda was 41 years old, Charles James Hall was 12 years old, and James was 8 years old. The household was only the three of them. No occupation was listed for Matilda, though the boys were attending school. A search of 1871 census records for Charles Hall Shearn did not produce any results. However, in 1876 and again in 1881 he was working as a house steward at 54 Berkeley Square, Westminster, also known as Lansdowne House, the home of Henry Fitzmaurice, the 5th Marquess of Lansdowne.[9] The Marquess also owned a property in Wiltshire known as Bowood. Matilda and the children were at 111 Black Dog Hill, Studly, Calne, Wiltshire which was directly across the road from the Bowood property. With that in mind, it was not unlikely that in 1871 at least on census day, while Matilda and the children were at Black Dog Hill, Charles was running Bowood for the Marquess. However, if Charles had been at Bowood on census day, he would have been listed there in the census, but he was not on any England census that year. At least no record was located. It is possible that Charles was with the Fitzmaurice family somewhere not in England. A search for the Marquess, Henry Fitzmaurice or Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice born 1845, in the 1871 census, revealed no record from England or Wales. The Marquess held other offices and had other properties. He may have been out of the country on census day and, given other data, it is likely that Charles would have been with him.
Matilda Shearn died in Calne, Wiltshire in 1875.[10] She was 48 years old.
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Sources
[1] "Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 May 2020), Charles Hall Shearn and Matilda Hart, marriage 15 March 1856, document 44.
[2] Roderic House is currently part of Cheltenham Ladies’ College (https://www.cheltladiescollege.org/ : accessed 15 June 2020).
[3] "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 May 2020), Charles Hall Shearn, document 38.
[4] 1861 census of England, Middlesex, Paddington, Kensington, Enumeration District 1, folio 8, page 14, Charles H. Shearn; imaged, “1861 England Census,” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 May 2020); citing RG 9, piece 7, GSU roll 542555, 1861 Census Returns of England and Wales, The National Archives of England, Kew, document 2.
[5] 1861 census of England, Middlesex, Westminster, St Margaret, Enumeration District 13, folio 35, page 5, Matilda Shearn; imaged, “1861 England Census,” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 May 2020); citing RG 9, piece 54, GSU roll 542564, 1861 Census Returns of England and Wales, The National Archives of England, Kew, document 3.
[6] "FreeBMD Entry Information," index database with digital images (https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?r=34268220:3890&d=bmd_1588661647 : accessed 15 May 2020), birth entry for James Parfitt Shearn, September, 1862, Kensington, volume 1a, page 40.
[7] "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 May 2020), James Parfitt Shearn, document 39.
[8] 1871 census of England, Wiltshire, Calne, Studley, Registration District Calne, Enumeration District 12, folio 78, page 20, household number 111, Matilda Shearn; imaged, “1871 England Census,” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 May 2020); citing RG10, piece 1902, GSU roll 830866, 1871 Census Returns of England and Wales, The National Archives of England, Kew, document 4.
[9] 1881 census of England, London, Hanover, St George, Registration District Chelsea, Enumeration District 3, folio 65, page 33, Charles H. Shearn; imaged, “1881 England Census,” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 May 2020); citing RG 11, piece 95, 1881 Census Returns of England and Wales, The National Archives of England, Kew, document 5. House steward is similar to butler in that a house steward and butler both manage the household and staff.
[10] "FreeBMD Entry Information," index database with digital images (https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?r=55738358:7683&d=bmd_1588661647 : accessed 16 May 2020), death entry for Matilda Shearn, March, 1875, Calne, volume 5a, page 65, document 14.
