Part Three

The 1841 Census.

The Census had been held every ten years since 1801 but for the first forty years only the number of inhabitants had been recorded; no names had been noted. In 1811 the Overseers in Leigh paid expenses of £1-11-0 for the "Numbering of the Population".[1] On 7th June 1841 every house was visited and the names of all in the household entered into the Enumerator’s Book. Addresses were seldom recorded so it is not easy to find out exactly where the Cotgroves lived.  There were ten families. The first of these were from the Thomas branch.    Thomas and his wife Elizabeth, now in their 70's, living alone but they had a lodger who was in fact grandson William Tyrell, the 15 year old son of daughter Elizabeth.  Thomas' other children had left home many years before and were now in their own homes; Thomas, junior and Hannah with six children at home and Henry and Sarah with four. The youngest of Henry's children was as yet unnamed and was only 2 weeks old but was in fact Sarah Rebecca. With a new baby in the house mother-in-law Rebecca Thompson, the wife of Golden Thompson, was staying with her daughter.   She was acting as nurse.

Then comes William and his wife Mary, who, although both still alive, were not at home. It is not known where they were but Mary was back in Leigh in the 1851 Census as a widow. Of their offspring only William, the eldest, and his wife Judith with three children were in Leigh.  The youngest son Henry John had already joined the Royal Navy, giving his age, falsely, as 21. He was now on HMS Cambridge as an Able Seaman. Charles was also missing but being still single he could be anywhere, most likely at sea. James Daniel, born 1815 was also missing.  He was a bit of a mystery as although he registered as a seaman in 1850 he completely disappears. He was buried in the Churchyard in 1857 but his death is not recorded in the civil records. Did he die at sea ?  There seems to be a failure in the recording of a death at sea which means that even if the body is recovered the death is not always recorded.   The three daughters died as children.

Lastly  Benjamin IV and his wife were now dead as was his eldest son Benjamin V but the latter’s  widow, now still only 56, was at her new home in Belton Hill Cottages with her three youngest surviving children, Stephen, Joseph and John. In addition she had with her James and Susan Palmer, both paupers.  These were the children of her daughter Sarah Ann whose husband had died and was now married to William Quy.[2]  Widow Mary’s eldest son, Benjamin VI, was with his wife,  also  Mary and their two children.

This then was the state of the family; three branches with a total of 10 households. The size of the village had not greatly increased from its earlier days but the coming of the railway would bring about many changes.  Leigh is fortunate in having several maps which show the position of the houses, so it is possible to identify those occupied by the family.[3]  On 7th June 1841 the Census Enumerator knew his village well and had no need to give addresses, in fact it is very doubtful if the houses were numbered at all.   If he began his enumeration[4] at Belton’s Hill Farm at the far west end of the High Street he would have had the waters of Hadleigh Ray on his right and beyond that the grass and mud plateau of Leigh Marsh.  He could just make out the hovel belonging to the resident shepherd, John Lucking, his wife and two young children.  He would have remember to return and count them before he finished. He could not get to the island now as the tide was in but in a few hours the causeway would be uncovered and he could cross over to record his last entry.

As he walked along the unmade road from the farm he was only a stone’s throw from the shore but it was only a few yards to James Markham’s rows of cottages. It was not till he reached the second cottage in the second terrace that he found his first Cotgrove,  Mary, widow of Benjamin, her husband having died a few weeks before, leaving her, now only  56, to bring up the remainder of their family alone. Only three of the children had married so far, Benjamin and daughters Sarah and Emma.  That left boys in their teens plus daughter Sarah’s two children by her  marriage to James Palmer.   In the next cottage was a relative by marriage to Mary, Henry Stagg.  Mary’s younger sister-in-law’s mother was a Stagg but as he was to find out in his travels, almost everyone was related to every one else.    Mary's own son, Stephen was to marry the girl next door on the other side, Sussannah Rand.

Past the next row of cottages and then a few more paces and he was in the village proper.  He noticed the remains of the pale fence that ran down the hill, over the track and  continued out through the water on to the marsh.  Nowadays it was in a bad state of repair and served more as a rack upon which to dry nets than a boundary fence. [5]   He was tempted to stop at the Coal Hole on his left for a pint of ale but decided he would wait until he had done Billet Lane and then stop at the better class establishment of the Crocked Billet.

First there was another Cotgrove house,  the complex on the right had once belonged to the Bundocks but now the whole block with its own wharf belonged to Peter Samuel, the carpenter.    It had now been divided into ten separate houses of which the one looking out over the Thames was to be occupied by Peter himself within a few years but the largest, facing the High Street was already taken by his step daughter,  Ann,  now Mrs William Cotgrove.   “Coggery” had married Ann in 1828 and they now had six children, all still at home and there was to be a further seven. William and Ann gave six of their 13 children either “Smith” or “Samuel” as a second Christian name and this even passed down to the grand children in a few cases.[6]  Peter owned a number of other properties up Billet Lane and these were to be let to his step daughter’s other Cotgrove relatives.  Also within this block was Henry and Sarah Cotgrove, and eight of their thirteen children.  Only the eldest, Henry junior, had married and he was at the far end of the parish next door to his new father-in-law. He didn’t realise it yet but hour Enumerator was soon to find another family headed by a Henry and Sarah Cotgrove, also with a large number of children.

Our Enumerator turned his back on the river, crossed over the road and began the climb up Billet Lane.    As he passed the gardens of the Crooked Billet Inn on his right he approached the old work house, now no longer used but it had given the steep lane its other name, Workhouse Lane.  On the left he found more houses to visit, two or three terraces running out to the west parallel to the coast. It was these that Peter Samuel owned. In fact Peter himself lived there now but was about to move down the hill to the house overlooking the Thames.[7] As he returned down the slope our Enumerator called in at the Crocked Billet and thus refreshed,  crossed over the road into the large open space reaching down to the sea, Billet Wharf, and began his task again.  He moved along the main street, pausing only to deviate down the narrow alleys that led down to the wharf; each was lined with little cottages, many with only earth floors where most of Leigh’s fisher families lived.  On the wharf stood the sheds and outhouses used to store tackle and in some the boilers used to boil the shrimps, for only a few were as yet, carrying out this process at sea.  He also noticed the stone stand with its tap where fresh drinking water could be drawn.   The water came from a spring in the hills above the village and after being piped into a storage cistern was piped down the hill to the main street.   All this work had been paid for  by the Parish before the days of Lady Sparrow,  who was later to provide two additional well sin the east of the village.

On the south side of the road a row of cottages yielded another Cotgrove family. Almost opposite the Crooked Billet lived Thomas and Elizabeth Cotgrove and their grandson William Tyrrel. Thomas and his wife were now both in their 70’s. and the young William aged 15 was the son of daughter Elizabeth.

As he approached the third drinking establishment, the Peter Boat, on his right,[8] he found the family of Benjamin and Mary Cotgrove only two doors from Thomas.  Benjamin was the eldest son of the Mary that he had recorded in the terrace at the start of his walk and together with William Mason, with whom he shared the house he also had use of the extensive yard and wharf at the back.  Mason was a boat owner.    Here he had his store of nets and other fishing equipment.  His father had worked as a Master for John Osborne the oyster merchant and it is suspected that his son was also involved.   The wharf would have provided a good site for shrimp boiling sheds but none are shown on any of the plans of the time.   Benjamin and Mary had only been married about six years so their family was limited to two infants, both girls, Caroline and Mary Jane; a son Stephen had died at birth.  In all they were to have another six, two more of whom were to die early.  Unlike a lot of his cousins who moved house at frequent intervals, Benjamin was to remain in that cottage for many years till he moved to Belton’s Hill Cottages.

Continuing along High Street towards the Strand he passed two more narrow passages running down towards the sea.  These also gave access to Alley Lane which ran between the High Street and the shore.   This lane was mainly store houses and boiling sheds but to be sure he doubled back when he got to the Strand.  This was the largest wharf in the parish and contained the outlet for the water supply provided by Lady  Sparrow in 1832 to supplement the old supply he had already passed.   He turned into the Lane and found that the first house, right on the corner, was that of Golden Thompson, whose son, also Golden, was to marry Henry Cotgrove's daughter.   Golden senior was now in his late sixties but he also had use of the wharf across the lane, facing his house and the two sheds on it.     When his father was to retire to another cottage looking over the Strand the property was taken over by his son William. The Strand had been the center of the village and it was from the wharf near by that William Outing started his first oyster business in 1700.    In fact William Alston also used the wharf when he moved to Leigh in 1810.[9]   The houses to the east were very old and one was the home of Richard Chester, Master of Trinity House in 1615.   Next door to Chester’s house and near the corner with the High Street was the cottage[10] to which Golden Thompson was to retire within a couple of years.  Facing the square on the north side of the High street was the impressive Customs House now subdivided into several private houses.

 As he turned back into the High Street to continue  his survey the second house was the old Cotgrove home sold by Benjamin in 1830.   This was now occupied by Golden Thompson junior and his wife Hannah Pond. [11]  Several years later he married Eliza Cotgrove.   Next door he came across another Cotgrove family.  This was the second and younger Henry and Sarah.  Sarah was a Thompson, the sister of Golden next door and had just had her forth child, Sarah Rebecca, only two weeks old and as yet unnamed.   Sarah’s mother Rebecca Thompson, the wife of Golden senior, was there as a nurse to watch over the health of both her daughter and grand child. The last house in the block was occupied by Thomas Constable, a relative to the painter.  It is said that  John stayed there when he painted Hadleigh Castle but there is no evidence for this story.    It was later taken over by Juniper who had a butchers shop there and it was he who gave his name to the house. The enumeration continued along the High street pass the Smack Inn on the north side of the street, then the Kings Head on the corner of Leigh Hill and then towards Bell Wharf and the Bell Inn.  This was the end of the High Street, there were no more houses on the south side as this now opened out into Bell Wharf and then petered out. The Coast Guard House was yet to be built as there was no Coast Guard in Leigh for another three years.  Further on, to the left,  the ground rose steeply up towards the top of Leigh Hill.  Upon this hillside were several cottages best approached from the Hill itself  so he retraced he foot steps and turned right at the King Head and began the climb up Leigh Hill

At the Ship he turned right again and on up the hill. Near this bend half way up he found a row of three cottages well back from the road on the right, over looking the sea shore.    The center cottage was occupied by Thomas Bundock, the boat builder who had his yard a few yards away  straight down over the hill to the foreshore.   One of his workers, Thomas Robinson lived next door but two, further up the hill, in the next block of cottages.  Between them next door to Bundock was his married daughter, Emma, who had married Henry Cotgrove, the elder grand son of the now dead Benjamin.  Henry’s mother was a sister of Thomas Robinson.  Next door to them were the Thorn family.

The sons from these cottages, Bundock, Robinson and Thorn were to seek  their fortunes in the Australian Gold Rush of 1860.  On Christmas Day 1861 they sat down together with William Thompson, son of Golden, in Melborne.[12]

The Enumerator completed the checks on the rest of the cottages on Leigh Hill and crossing over descended the road on the north side until he was back at the King's Head.  Time for lunch.  This left the north side of the High Street.    It was not until he was nearly back to the Crocked Billet that he found another Cotgrove.  Next door to the Methodist Chapel that was to be pulled down when the railway arrived were two houses that belonged to Edward Chapman.  The first had a very long garden that stretched up the hill towards the Rectory.   This house was shared between John Osborne and his family and William & Judith Cotgrove with three Cotgrove children, William, Sarah and Thomas. aged 9, 5 & 2.   William was the son of William and Mary whom he had not found in Leigh.  It was not his job to enquire where his parents were so they remain lost for 1841.   The reason for lodging with the Osbornes may also have escaped him but  knowledge of the family would have told him that Judith was a Osborne.   In a house behind was Thomas and Hannah Cotgrove.  With Thomas were six of his children, Thomas, jun., now 20, William, 15, Charles Thomas, 14, David, 11.  These four boys were old enough to go to sea and were listed as fishermen.  Next came Rachel, 7 and lastly Sarah Ann aged 4.

Next door almost at the Crocket Billit was Thomas' brother, John Cotgrove and his wife Elizabeth.   John was the son of Benjamin and Sarah Gore[13].  Only six of their children were at home, the others not having been born yet. John,15 who was to become the famous "Tolly", Thomas William aged 12, Robert, 9, Mary, 6, Edwin, 3 and William 10 months.    The first two were listed as fishermen.   Edwin was to die before he reached adulthood.  

A few more houses and our Enumerator was back at the Crocket Billit.   He looked out over the estuary to see the tide had turned and was now receded from the causeway to the island.    In half an hour it would be dry.     What better way to wait than another pint of ale.     He sat out in the sun, ordered his drink and looked though his papers,  counting up the names that he had collected.    It was surprising how many names were the same.   He had 57 Cotgroves.  Little did he know but appart from the three missing Cotgroves, of whom he had no knowledge,  these 57 formed  the total world population of those bearing that name.


[1].   Southend CRO. Overseers' A/C's D/P284/12/3.

[2].   There is no doubt that Sarah married James Palmer - in 1832 - and that she had the two children but there is doubt as to her 2nd marriage to William Quy in 1834.   There is no death known for James and she married as Sarah Cotgrove; not Palmer.  Her marital state was not given.  William Quy could have married Anne Sarah daughter of Wm &  Mary of whom nothing is known except her bapism in 1813 aged one and a half.

[3].   The 1847 Tythe Map in the Southend Record Office,  the Railway Map of 1854 and the 1841 and 1851 Census..  Although these do not give the occupier in every case and these change very rapidly, it is possible ti give a rough idea where the family lived.

[4].   Please note that the route taken by the Enumerator in this Chapter is complete fiction.    The descriptions of the village and the occupants and locations of the houses are as actuate as can be obtained from several maps and various lists of occupiers still available. 

[5].   See illustration in John Bundock’s “Old Leigh in Pictures”, Fig. 24.  From a watercolout by G.A.Fripp RWS in the Beecroft Art Gallery.  Dated 1852 it shows the Coal Hole beer house as Gilmans and Peter Samuels bloch of houses as Jone Bayliss.  Peter’s own residence is the part to the extream right.   The pale fence, shown on the paining may also be the one referred to by 2218.    Henry Highton. In an affidavit of 23rd May 1864, reports on land boundry fence.  Much detail on land boundries. See Public Record Office, Chancery Lane. C31/ 1792.  See appendix for more detail.

[6].   Ann’s mother, Susan Stagg, had first married George Smith and then Peter Sauel.  Her husband William Ctgrove also adopted the name Peter and after Ann;s death became Peter Cotgrove.  He was known as “Coggery” or “Cockilly”.

[7].   See Schedule to 1847 Tythe Map.

 [8].  The old Peter Boat was on the south of the main street. It was rebuilt after the fire of 1892 on the same site.

[9].   See Lease in Public Record Office  CRES58/420 when Alston took over the oyster beds in the swatch.  Also a deed in Southend record Office on sale of another lease for the old Thompson home 1850.

[10].  The site of this house is still marked by a series of stones laid out to indicate boundry.  It lies next to the Leigh Hertitage Center, the eastern part of which was the old Cotgrove home.

[11].  The exact identiy of the house is in doubt but the Thompson’s & Cotgrove lived next door to each other but the Thompsons could have been in a house one further along the street to that described.

[12] .  From a letter in possession of the Thorn family

[13].  No marriage for Benjamin and Sarah has been found.  There is a Family Bible which gives his wife as Sarah Gore but no evidence been found to confirm this.