Mary Ann Portsmouth

c1837-1906

Mary Ann, her parents, siblings and early life:

Mary Ann was born in Newbury, Berkshire, the daughter of Daniel and Ada(h) Seward (nee Newman) who were married on the 10^th January 1835 at St Mary Thatcham, Berkshire.

Mary Ann’s mother Ada(h) was baptised on the 8^th April 1810 in Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, the daughter of John and Mary Newman. She died aged 78 in 1888 and was laid to rest in the Newtown Road Cemetery on the 19^th October

Her father Daniel was baptised on the 26^th May 1811 in Thatcham, Berkshire, the son of Joseph and Ann Seward (nee Hughes) who were married on the 26^th May 1803 at St Mary, Thatcham, Berkshire (both were single). Daniel remarried in 1889 (marriage registered in Kingston), his 2^nd wife was Eliza Lawrence. Daniel died aged 81 in 1892, he was laid to rest in the Newtown Road Cemetery on the 19^th July.

Daniel and Ada(h) also had the following children:

Henry c1835 (died aged 21, buried in the NRC on the 30^th may 1857)

Susanna(h) c1839

Elizabeth 1841 (died aged 22, buried in the NRC on the 3^rd October 1864)

Jane 1843 (died aged 24, buried in the NRC on the 6^th march 1868)

Charles Edward 1845

Harriet 1847

Eliza 1852

In 1841 Mary (4) was recorded living in West Mills, Newbury, Berkshire with her parents Daniel (25), a Shopman and Ada(h) (30), her siblings, Henry (50, Susanna (2), her aunt, Lucy (22) and her grandfather, Joseph (75). (Surname recorded as Toward on ancestry)

The 1851 census records Mary (13), living in Caroline Place, Newbury, with Daniel (39), a Mealman, Ada(h) (40), Susanna (12), Elizabeth (10), jane (8), Charles (6) and Hariet (3).

Mary Ann in later life:

In 1861 Mary (24) was working as a Parlour Maid in Compton Road, East Ilsley, Berkshire for the Rector of East Ilsley, Thomas Lovejoy (72).

She married in 1865.

Marriage details:

Place: St Nicolas Church Newbury

Date: 7^th May 1865

Groom: Joseph Atkins, full age, bachelor, occupation, Bricklayer

Bride: Mary Ann Seward, full age, spinster

Fathers: Simon Atkins, a Fellmonger and Daniel Seward, a Miller.

Witnesses: James William Hibberd and Susannah Pemberton

(Joseph was born in 1839 in Newbury, Berkshire, the son of Simon and Martha Atkins (formerly Burkett, nee Hopson)

Joseph and Mary Ann had two children, a stillborn child born in 1869, buried in the Newtown Road Cemetery on the 20^th September and a son William Simon born in 1871, who was baptised on the 31^st May 1871 at St Nicolas Church Newbury.

In 1871 Mary Ann (33) (recorded as Morgan on ancestry) was living at 67 Northbrook Street, Newbury, with Joseph (31), a Bricklayer and her widowed mother-in-law Martha Hibberd (67) a Beer House and green Grocer.

Joseph died aged 32 on the 2^nd June 1872, he was laid to rest in the Newtown Road Cemetery on the 7^th June 1872.

Mary Ann remarried in 1876, her 2^nd husband was Henry Portsmouth.

(Henry was baptised on the 27^th October 1844 in St Mary Bourne, Hampshire, the son of Mary Portsmouth (nee Sims). Henry’s father John died aged 47 in 1843. His mother married Charles Swain on the 15^th February 1845 in St Mary Bourne. Henry was also known as Henry Swain).

Mary Ann Portsmouth died aged 41 on the 18^th September 1878, she was laid to rest in the Newtown Road Cemetery on the 24^th September.

(Henry Portsmouth was recorded in the Newbury Workhouse in the 1881 and 1891 census records. In 1881 he was recorded as a Shop Porter and in 1891, a General Labourer. In 1901 he was recorded living with his married sister Charlotte James (52) (nee Swain), her husband Thomas James (52) and Thomas’ mother Martha James (82), at 4 Trewint Street, Wandsworth. The 1911 census records him aged 67, as Formerly a Domestic Gardener, in the Wandsworth Infirmary Workhouse in St John’s Hill, Battersea, London. He died aged 70 in 1915 (death registered in Wandsworth)

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