Introduction
Susan Rendell (nee Chaffey) lived at Hardington her entire life. At the age of 23, she married Thomas Rendell, a weaver with his own house. In the mid-1840s, her family’s fortunes began to decline. She also had to contend with her eldest daughter giving birth to two illegitimate children, the death of her youngest daughter from heart disease, and her only son joining the army. By April 1871, she was receiving outdoor relief, and she died two years later.
Birth
Susan was born on 4 July 1804 at Hardington, the youngest of seven children born to Thomas and Susannah Chaffey.
Marriage
On 8 April 1828, Susan married Thomas Rendell at Hardington. Thomas was 28 years old, while Susan was 23. Thomas signed the marriage register, and Susan made a mark.
Thomas was the son of Samuel and Susan Rendell.
Family life
In June 1841, Thomas and Susan lived in Barry Lane with their two children, Louisa and Simeon. At that time, Thomas was a weaver and owned their house, which was recorded in the 1843 tithe survey as plot 337.
In the 1840s, the family’s situation deteriorated. Thomas became a farm labourer, and they moved to Hardington Moor. This change may have been due to the decline of the cottage weaving industry, although both Susan and their daughter, Louisa, continued to work as weavers.
By March 1851, they lived in a house in Moor Lane owned by Mr Kiddle.[1] Their household included Louisa, Simeon, and their daughter Emily, born around 1845, as well as Louisa’s illegitimate daughter, Selina, and a lodger named Edward Chapman. Around 1853, Louisa had a second illegitimate daughter named Lucinda Jane.
In 1856, Emily began showing signs of heart disease, from which she died three years later, on 30 August 1859, at the age of 14.[2]
On 2 September 1860, their daughter, Louisa, married John Gillard, a railway navvy from Lancashire. The 1861 census shows Louisa living with her parents while her husband, John, was away from home, and her daughter, Selina, was working as a nurse in a farmhouse at Pendomer. Also living in Thomas and Susan’s household were their granddaughter, Lucinda, and Edward Rendell, a lodger. Meanwhile, their son, Simeon, had joined the army.
Pauper
By April 1871, Susan’s household had dwindled to three people: her husband, Thomas, who was a farm labourer; Thomas’s brother, Joseph, who was a pauper; and Susan herself, who was also a pauper.
Louisa’s family had relocated to Hendon, Lucinda had moved away, and Edward Rendell, the lodger, had either moved away or passed away.
Death
Susan died on 22 February 1873, at the age of 69.[3]
Thomas’s later life
In October 1873, Thomas’s brother, Joseph, died at the age of 75.
In April 1881, Thomas was in the household of his son, Simeon, at Hardington Moor.
On Hardington Club Day, 12 June 1888, at the age of 88, Thomas accepted an invitation to get on a roundabout and “galloped round in a merry style.”[4]
Thomas died in late 1889 or early 1890 at the age of 93.
Children
Thomas and Susan had two sons and two daughters. One son died in infancy.
References
[1] Hardington Guardian Valuations.
[2] Death certificate of Emily Rendell.
[3] Western Gazette, 7 March 1873, p.5.
[4] Western Chronicle, 15 June 1888, p.6. This report incorrectly states his age as 92.
