| Description | Anonymous
DOB: 1820
DOD: N/A
Born in Widdington near Saffron Walden, Essex.
Grew up in poverty; father was a poorly paid labourer (earning about 9 shillings a week, sometimes as little as 3 shillings).
One of several siblings; family reduced to six children after the death of others.
Experienced severe hardship including hunger (recounted eating frozen turnips and receiving charity from a clergyman).
First jobs involved tending sheep and grinding corn for farmers from a very young age.
Had no formal education as a child.
Learned to read while in Lewes Jail, with help from the prison turnkey and a parson.
Worked variously as:
Agricultural labourer (ploughing, tending animals)
Navvy (manual labourer on railways, tunnelling, construction)
Cart driver and sheep tender
Brickfield labourer
Tunnel worker
Dockyard labourer in Chatham Dockyard
Watchman over properties
Much of his working life involved hard manual labour and periods of unemployment.
Married a woman named Anne, a straw-plaiter from Baldock, Hertfordshire.
Marriage described as the best decision of his life; wife influenced his decision to give up drinking.
No children specifically mentioned in the narrative.
Before marriage: heavy drinking, time in pubs, socializing with other navvies.
After marriage: focused on work and maintaining a sober, stable life.
Enjoyed listening to and recounting stories, including about shooting and hunting.
His wife was a talented singer, and at one point, sang in the streets to help them survive.
Severe early poverty and hunger.
“Tramping” life in the 1840s—moving from job to job across England.
Involvement in a labour strike and subsequent imprisonment in Lewes Jail where he learned to read.
Several periods of destitution including sleeping rough, relying on charity, and brief criminal behaviour (theft of food).
Experiences in dangerous tunnel work and near-death incidents.
Marriage marked a major turning point towards stability and temperance.
Extensive travel on foot across England with his wife.
Nursed his wife through a long illness.
Eventually settled into more stable employment in London.
Type-written
Navvy, railway construction, Victorian labour, tramping, Lewes Jail, temperance, poverty, straw-plaiter, dockyard work, itinerant lifestyle, tunnelling, Victorian working class, hardship, resilience, self-education. |