Regular readers may remember the sad and sorry saga of my 43 year search for the mother of my 2 x great grandmother Mary Cardell. There have been a couple of posts about it already here and here. With all the zest of new year/new decade (arguably), I pursued the search yet again. To summarise and update slightly: Mary Cardell was born in Highgate, Middlesex between 1816 and 1818. Her father James was a gardener. She had a sister Catherine, born c. 1813 in Highgate and possibly a short-lived sister Eliza (c.1820-1824). I have already ruled out likely looking potential parents James Cadwell and Mary Ann Guteridge, who married in 1813 in Hornsey.

I then turned to a possible marriage of a James Cardall and Maria Withenbury at St. Alban, Worcester, Worcestershire on the 12^th February 1798, both claiming to be ‘of this parish’. Worcester might seem a bit far away from Highgate but there was a widowed Maria Cardell who was in St. Pancras workhouse in the 1841 and 1851 censuses who claimed to have been born in Dudley, Worcestershire and who warranted further attention. Maria has not been found in the 1861 census. I have searched under all variants, under M.C. and also with no name but just using her age and the birthplace Worcestershire. I have not been able to find the workhouse in an address search.

There is a Maria Withenbury baptised in Worcestershire 2 August 1780, daughter of James and Elizabeth née Harris but Dudley is 30 miles from Worcester. I have checked the all the Marias baptised in Dudley 1776-1780, regardless of surname, none marry a Cardell. For a long time, I agonised over a burial of a Maria Cordle on 11 May 1834 at St. Nicholas, Worcester, age 54, who seemed like a rather too convenient fit for Maria née Withenbury. I now believe that this Maria is the wife of a William Cordle. They had several children in Worcester between 1803 and 1820, on one baptism Maria appears as Celia Maria. I cannot find a marriage for William and Maria/Celia but I am happy that this burial is not Maria née Withenbury.

A Samuel Cardel was baptised in February 1802 in Worcester, son of James and Maria. Samuel cannot be found in the census returns. A Samuel Cardall of St. Pancras (no parents mentioned) was buried in September 1805 aged 3 years 8 months at Whitefields (non-conformist) Memorial Church in Camden. If Samuel was about a month old at baptism, as was typical, this fits exactly. If this is the same Samuel, it suggests that the family moved to London between 1802 and 1805.

There is also Sarah Cardall, born 22 Jan 1811, baptised 10 Feb 1811, to James and Maria at St Margaret’s Westminster. She married as a minor in 1829 at St, Mary’s Lambeth, to William Thornton, with the consent of Maria Cardall, who also signed as a witness, implying that James was dead by this time. There is a potential burial for James in 1824 in Southwark, this is only eight miles from Highgate but it is south of the river, it remains speculative. Crucially, Maria signed her name on her daughter’s marriage record and I have been able to compare this with Maria Withenbury’s signature on her own marriage thirty years early. I believe that these are not incompatible.

Maria was admitted to St. Pancras workhouse in 1836 and died there in December 1861. She is listed on the 1861 census of long term workhouse residents (available on Ancestry). Although workhouse records state that she was a widow, there is no mention of a husband on her death certificate. The informant, S Deane, is probably a workhouse employee. I have not be able to track them down. St. Pancras workhouse would have covered Highgate. There is some fascinating information about the workhouse on Peter Higginbotham’s excellent workhouses site. Thanks to this site, I know that, in 1857, the Illustrated London News reported on the innovative steam laundry that had been installed in the workhouse. As there were, according to the article, 1500-1900 inmates, 8000 items had to be washed each week and the machinery could accomplish this in four days. This is particularly significant as Maria is recorded as a laundress on her death certificate. Earlier she had been listed as a glover but perhaps by this time her eyesight no longer allowed her to sew. It may be significant that James Withenbury was also a glover.

This sounds very progressive but the previous year had found serious deficiencies at the workhouse. This too is reported on the workhouses website. The workhouse was found to be “severely overcrowded with patients in the infirmary having to be placed on the floor. Ventilation throughout the building was deficient, with fetid air from privies, sinks, drains, urinals and foul patients permeating many of the wards and producing sickness, headaches and dysentery amongst the inmates. The staff also complained of nausea, giddiness, sickness and loss of appetite. A lying-in room, also used as a sleeping room by night nurses, had a smell that was ‘enough to knock you down’. In the women’s receiving wards, more than eighty women and children slept in two rooms which provided a mere 164 cubic feet of space per adult.” Incredibly, Maria spent twenty five years living here.

So where does that leave me? I believe that James and Maria née Withenbury had a son Samuel in 1802, moved to London and had a daughter Sarah in 1811, who subsequently married William Thornton. (This despite the world and his wife on Ancestry having Sarah as the daughter of a William Cardell – the baptism and marriage records taken together are quite clear – the father is definitely James). There is obviously a large gap between Samuel and Sarah. Given that there are no baptism for great great granny Mary or her sister Catherine, if this is the same family, this could be an explanation. Samuel’s non-conformist burial may also be significant. Alternatively, James could have been away fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, he could have been in prison, there may have been a series of miscarriages, or any number of other explanations for the apparent nine year gap. The 1851 census for Cardells and variants, born in Highgate, Finchley, Westminster or Southwark reveal only a William, born c 1815/6 in Southwark, as a possible additional sibling (and then this does not fill the gap) – no baptism has been found for William but coming as he would between the two girls born in Highgate, it seems less likely that he belongs to this family.

I also believe that Maria Cardell née Withenbury, mother of Samuel and Sarah, is the Maria who spent twenty five years in St. Pancras Workhouse. The million dollar question is, is she also the mother of great great granny Mary, Catherine and probably Eliza? Can I  add her to the family tree? I don’t know if there are further relevant workhouse records that the London Metropolitan Archives have not put online, if so, that is an obvious place to start. Maria’s father, James Withenbury, left a will but unfortunately, he died before Maria married, so there is no hope of Cardell grandchildren being mentioned. I do have a DNA match with a descendant of Sarah Thornton née Cardell, which is encouraging but I also have a match with a descendant of the sister of Mary Guteridge, who married the wrong James Cawdell. I have contacted the descendant of Sarah and another who does not appear to have done a DNA test – no replies. I am almost out of ideas. Suggestions on a postcard ……..

Oh, you would like another novel hint (8/11 chapters now written) – well here is #2:- like Barefoot it is not exactly all sweetness and light. Another tragic incident underpins the story.