Charles MARGRETT
Ancestral line: Charles 1809, Stephen 1778, ?Stephen 1738.........Family Tree number 14.
Born: about 1809
Second of four children of
Father: Stephen 1778
Mother: Mary Piff 1786
Charles Married: 29MAR1830 in Gloucester (city)
Spouse: Martha Martin
Eight Children: Charles 1832
Martha Ann 1833
Eliza 1837
Alfred 1839
Henry Stephen 1842
Matthew 1844
Martha 1845
William 1847
Died: 27DEC1894 aged about 85 at Leamington, Warwickshire, England
Until the Act of Parliament in 1837 the first visible record of an individuals' arrival in the world for almost everyone had been an entry recording a religious baptism. Because Charles was born before 1837 he therefore does not appear in the United Kingdom birth registers and we have to rely on the date of his baptism. Happily we have traced his baptism which was on Saturday 2nd September 1809 in the parish church of Staverton, Gloucestershire. Just sometimes church baptism registers also record the birth date of the child because the parish clerk is keen, but not in the case of Staverton. Can we presume that Charles was born in the same year as he was baptised? Some parents had their child baptised within weeks of birth but some were less organised.
Staverton is a small village near Cheltenham, about 7 miles (11km) north east of the city of Gloucester. Most Margrett families have their roots in Gloucestershire. The father of Charles, Stephen, was aged 31 when he was born. His mother, Mary, was 23 and already had a daughter called Eliza aged two years. Three years after Charles' birth a brother called Henry was born and died very soon. And then in the following year, 1813, David was born when Charles was about 4. A small family for those days of one daughter now aged 6, Charles now aged 4 and baby David.
Research has given us no information about Charles until he is married. He is aged 21 on that special Thursday 29th March in 1830. His age might suggest that he took the earliest opportunity to get married because he would be able to go ahead without his parents permission once he is an adult away from Staverton. The wedding is in the City of Gloucester. Perhaps Charles and his new wife Martha Martin are living in the same neighbourhood. The city offers more opportunities of work for Charles (and perhaps Martha) than the village of Staverton, and generally lodgings are available to young workers. We cannot guess how they meet, but in a city people 'rub shoulders' more than in villages. The very next year, in the June of 1831, the elder sister of Charles, Eliza, aged 24, also marries.
After their Gloucester marriage in 1830, and by the time their first child is born in 1832, Charles and his wife Martha have moved to Worcester. Their first-born is given the name of his father. Once more Charles, Martha, and son Charles move by the time a daughter called Martha Ann is born in 1833 this time in Leamington in Warwickshire. Leamington becomes their permanent home now and in 1837 another daughter called Eliza is born, named after the sister of Charles.
The first disclosure of Charles' occupation is in 1839 at the age of 30 on the birth of his fourth child, Alfred. Here, Charles is described as a gardener. But in the June 1841 census he is recorded as a coal dealer. Charles is described as a gardener again in 1842 on the birth certificate of their fifth child, Henry Stephen. In 1843 when his father dies aged 65 possibly in Staverton where Charles was born, and we do not know whether they were still in touch or visited.
In October 1844 their 6th child, Matthew, is born still in Leamington, quickly followed in 1845 by their 7th called Martha after her mother, and finally in 1847 by their eighth, William. Charles' wife now seems to have children aged 15, 14, 10, 8, 5, 4, 3, 2, 0.
From 1851 Charles is now consistently described as a coal merchant in Leamington until 1881 when his is aged 72. Quite what was the extent of his business, number of customers or businesses he supplied, or the number of of employees, we know nothing as yet.
Charles' mother Mary dies in about 1856 aged 70. His mother has been a widow for some 13 years. Charles has reached the age of of 49 and Martha about 50 when their eldest child, Charles aged 26 marries in Warwick in 1858 away from home. But in 1861 this newly-wed son is living in Grove Place, Leamington with his wife. He is a gas-fitter, a profession he continues for 30 years. The Census return of 1861 shows his father and mother living at 24 Brook Street, Leamington with coal dealing continuing to support the rest of the family. Martha also continues as a bonnet-maker, with son Henry a gas fitter, perhaps working with his elder brother, Charles. In the same year, 1861, daughter Eliza now 24 marries someone down in the city of Gloucester.
Marriages continue with Henry Stephen aged 24 in 1868, Matthew aged 25 in 1869. A real surprise is that in October 1870, Alfred aged 31 is married to Margaret Clifford in Orilla Village, Ontario, Canada. Alfred was at home aged 21 at the last Census but now is firmly established abroad. Soon they will be in the USA where they live out their lives.
We get another snapshot of Charles and family in the 1871 Census which records Charles continuing to carry on his business as a coal merchant and the Post Office Directory of Warwickshire prints the same address, 24 Brook Street, Leamington as the census reports as their home. The only child left at home is William aged 23 and unmarried, still working as a labourer. With more room after 7 children have left home there is a “boarder” aged 65 working as a dressmaker and providing extra income.
In 1877 Charles is 68 and still in business when he loses his elder sister, Eliza who is aged 70 and whose husband died 9 years earlier.
But he is not the retiring sort! In 1881 he is still a coal merchant. Aged 72 and moved from number 24 to number 52 Brook Street, Leamington with Martha aged 74 no longer bonnet-making. But here's a tragedy. William their youngest son is aged 33 and a plasterers labourer described as a widower with two daughters living with his parents. The last to get married and the first to lose his wife. Happily, in his parents home, the family supports each other. One further thing. There is another “boarder” called Ann Sharp aged 65 and working as a cook. She is not the cook for the household, otherwise she would be a “servant” and not a “boarder”. So, she pays rent.
If we turn the page on yet another ten years to 1891 – nothing has really changed! The snapshot of 52 Brook Street naturally shows Charles and Martha ten years older but with Charles no longer working. And still there are widower son William and one of his daughters. So is the “boarder” of ten years ago, Ann Sharp aged 80 but now “living on own means” instead of working. What should we understand from all this? People supporting each other? Most likely.
Charles is 83 when Martha dies in January 1892 and, just under 3 years later Charles dies in December 1894. This is such a full story of a life which in one sense is unremarkable, but in the light of it's own traumas must be thought utterly remarkable.
None of the life of Charles appears to have been published previously before the above record was created.
None of the Margrett Magazines from 1986 to 2012 included any of his experiences and therefore those experiences were not previously recorded in the public domain through the magazines deposited at the British Library under the I.S.S.N. 0269-0284 in those years.