Joshua Perry was a coachman at Hardington Rectory in 1851.

Early life

 Joshua was born at Dowlish Wake in about 1824. His father, William, was a farm labourer.

Initially, Joshua followed in his father’s footsteps, as the 1841 census recorded him as a Farm Labourer. However, by March 1851, he had entered domestic service, working as a coachman at Hardington Rectory.

Within a year or two, he moved on to become a servant at Whitelackington. On 29 June 1853, he married Eliza Trump, a fellow servant.

Bath

Joshua and Eliza moved to Bath, where they remained for about thirty years. Addresses where they lived are as follows:

17 August 1854 1 Northampton Street

16 April 1857 Circus Mews

17 December 1858 1 Williams Place

3 April 1858 1 Williams Place

1861 1 Williams Place

1871 13 Royal Crescent Mews

1881 15 Royal Crescent Mews

Each census over this period consistently describes Joshua’s occupation as a coachman.

Eliza appears to have looked after the family home, except the 1881 census records her at 25 Marlton Buildings, where she nursed an elderly spinster with a private income.

Children

Joshua and Eliza had two daughters and a son. The daughters died in childhood at about the same time and were laid to rest together on 17 December 1858. Ellen was four, and Emma one and a half. Their untimely deaths, presumably due to disease or a tragic accident, must have been a devastating blow to Joshua and Eliza.

A son named William was born in 1859 and went on to work in London, first as a footman and later as a government servant. He married Frances Higgins at Butleigh in 1884, and they had a child, Ethel, who died young. William died in 1890, aged only 31.

Retirement in London

Between 1881 and 1891, Joshua and Eliza retired to London, presumably to be near their son, moving into a three-roomed house at 68 Grandison Road, near Clapham Common. Joshua died there on 23 November 1901, aged 77. By his will made on 15 April 1891, he left his entire property, valued at £895-17s-2d, to his wife.[1]

Eliza died in 1918, aged 102. In the last years of her life, she shared her home with her son’s widow, Frances, or at least she did so in April 1911.

References

[1] The will of Joshua Perry, dated 15 April 1891, proved in London on 13 December 1901.