William Gardiner (c.1850-1924)
1850
William was born in about 1850 in Staffordshire, possibly in Leek as he stated on the 1891 census. No record of his baptism has yet been found. His marriage certificate states that his father was Joseph Garner [sic], a waterman. Given the itinerant nature of watermen, it may be difficult to verify William’s birth or parentage.
Garner may be a mishearing of Gardiner/Gardner but two facts should be considered:
· There are a lot of Garners in Staffordshire, so this could be his correct name.
· There are a lot of Gardiners in Chalford, so Gardiner may simply have been adopted as the correct spelling.
William was unable to write his name so its spelling would have been irrelevant to him!
1873
The first definite mention of William in the records is his marriage to Elizabeth Hewer in 1873 in Birmingham:
It is likely that they met while the Hewers were on a journey to the Staffordshire coalfields. The marriage certificate states that they were of ‘full age’ though this is not strictly true as Elizabeth was about a month short of her 21st birthday. No parents acted as witnesses, so was this marriage with parents’ permission?
1881
No verifiable record of a William Garner/Gardiner/Garner born in about 1850 in Staffordshire has been found in the censuses for 1851, 1861 or 1871. He first appears in a census in 1881, when we have additional information about his wife and children to support the identification.
Source: 1881 Census, Gloucestershire, Bisley, District 10 (RG11/2543 folio 117)
The 1881 census says that Francis Hewer employed two men and we can surmise from the following document that these were his son, Joseph, and his son-in-law, William Gardiner:
Most of the barges collected coal from Lydney or Bullo Pill (or roadstone from Bristol or Chepstow) and delivered to wharfs along the Stroudwater and Thames & Severn Canals as far as Chalford. Only a few passed over the summit to Cirencester and Lechlade. Those bringing coal from Bullo Pill entered the canal at Framilode …
… Around one third of the narrow canal boats made the short but potentially hazardous trip across the River Severn to collect coal from Bullo Pill on occasions. …
Table 2. Summary of Narrow Canal Boat Traffic on the Stroudwater Canal Jan-May 1881
Source: Hugh Conway-Jones, Traffic on the Stroudwater Canal 1881 (Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology, April 2007), pages 2-5
1891
The 1891 census finds William aboard a barge with his son, William Edward, on the canal in Gloucester. William is ‘employed’ so the boat Edith could belong to Francis. The rest of the family were at home in Chalford in this census.
Source: 1891 census, Gloucestershire, Vessels, District Edith (RG12/2013 folio 43)
1895
On 26 September 1895, William obtained a copy of his daughter, Mary’s, birth certificate as proof of age so that she could leave school and start work, because she was under the age of 16. On his application for the certificate, William stated that Mary was born in 1881 but in fact the certificate reveals that she was born in 1882.
The certificate states that in 1895 the family were living at Duck’s Nest, Chalford (in Hyde Lane and now demolished).
1901
The 1901 census finds William at home with Elizabeth:
Source: 1901 census, Gloucestershire, Chalford (RG13/2437 folio 112)
1911
By the time of the 1911 census, just two children appear to be still at home:
Source: 1911 census, Gloucestershire, Chalford (RG14/15365 schedule 212)
1924
William died on 16 April 1924. He was buried at Christ Church, Chalford on 22 April. A notice of his death was printed in ‘Chalford Echoes’ in The Stroud Journal on 25 April:
The death occurred on Wednesday in last week, after a short illness, of Mr. William Gardner, familiarly known as “Stafford Billy”. He was well-known in the village and was for a great many years in the employ of the late Mr. James Smart, being one of his oldest boatmen. He was about 73 years of age, and leaves a widow and grown-up family.
Source: Stroud Journal, 25 April 1924 (Accessed via microfilm at Stroud Library, Local History section on 23 July 2012)
The informant on William’s death certificate was his son, Frederick Leonard Gardiner of Cowcombe.