THE HEARN FAMILY IN THE CENSUSES OF 1861 TO 1881 The story of a family settling down in Ruislip

by Jessica Eastwood

In her book A Quiet and Secluded Spot found no trace of the family in Ruislip. Colleen A. Cox wrote this unusual entry - However in the census of 1861 a family called ‘Van in lane’. This was the start of my Hearn was living in a cottage at Ruislip research into the Hearn family. Initially I Common. This entry is as shown below. checked the 1841 and 1851 censuses but

Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Mark Hearn Head 57 Traveller Lucey Hearn Wife 48 Traveller Manuel Hearn Son 26 Agricultural labourer Samuel Hearn Son 24 Chair bottomer Mercy Hearn Daughter 20 Traveller Josiah Hearn Son 17 Leender Hearn Daughter 14 Scholar Mullender Hearn Son 12 Abigail Hearn Daughter 5

There is no mention in this census of a ‘van’ though she could have been the wife of but the parents and the daughter Mercy are Thomas Mullender Hearn. noted as travellers. Manuel and Samuel However Registration Office appear in later censuses as Emmanuel and covered a wide area and both Elizabeth and Samson and the names Lucey and Leenda are Hearn are common names. spelt Lucy and Leanda in later records. Such The 1871 census entries for the Hearn family discrepancies are to be expected in a show that they were now settled in Ruislip travelling family with few paper records. but the birthplaces of the children reveal their Samson/Samuel would seem to have been previous itinerant life. Judging from the involved in the furniture industry. birthplaces of the children the family moved Why the family settled in Ruislip is unclear, mostly around the Rickmansworth, Watford although the 1871 census which required the and South Buckinghamshire area with some place of birth to be supplied shows that their time at Mill End near Henley in 1840, before youngest daughter Abigail was born at staying at Northolt in 1856 for the birth of Northolt in 1856 so the family were in the their youngest child Abigail. environs of Ruislip in the middle 1850s. After moving into Ruislip they must have I also checked the death records and kept the van, as the eldest son Emmanuel and there is a death recorded in the Uxbridge area his family were living in it in 1871. The Hearn of a Thomas Mullender Hearn in 1855. family had also increased in size as the two As Mullender is an unusual name I suspect older sons had married and produced that this could be the Grandfather of children. There are three Hearn households Mullender Hearn aged 12 in 1861. Also the recorded in the 1871 census and all were death of an Elizabeth Hearn was recorded in living in Tile Kiln and St Catherine’s, now the Uxbridge Registration area in 1856. Breakspear Road. I have not been able to trace a connection The entries are as shown below. ______Ruislip, Northwood & 16 Journal 2011 Local History Society Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Birthplace Mark Hearn Head 75 Agricultural labourer Harwich, Bucks Lucy Hearn Wife 62 Towsey, Bucks Mullender Hearn Son 20 Agricultural labourer Buckinghamshire Abigail Hearn Daughter 16 Scholar Northolt Leenda Buckland Daughter 24 Wife of a labourer Rickmansworth Isaac Buckland Grandson 2 Harmondsworth

Note that the ages of the parents have censuses. I have been unable to find the increased by more than 10 years since the last villages of either Harwich or Towsey, Bucks. census. Mark from 57 to 75 and Lucy from 48 on a modern map. to 62. They were unlikely to have had written The second household (see below) was that records of their birth date as they were born of Emmanuel Hearn and here the enumerator before 1837 when registration began. Mark has written ‘Traveling Vann’. It was parked was no longer noted as a traveller but as an near to the rest of the family in Tile Kiln and agricultural labourer. Leenda was married St Catherine’s. but still living with her parents and there is no entry for her husband in this or later

Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Birthplace Emmanuel Head 37 Agricultural labourer Rickmansworth Sinementa Wife 30 Stokenchurch Elizabeth Lucy Daughter 8 Harmondsworth Myrence Daughter 3 Ruislip Joseph Son 1 Ruislip

Elizabeth Lucy could have been named travelling again after the 1861 census, after her grandmother Lucy and her great assumedly in the van that they were now grandmother Elizabeth. Sinementa was living in. later spelt as Cinementa and there is a The third Hearn family (see below) was that photograph of her and the van on one of the of Samson Hearn, who was living in the Hearn websites. Elizabeth was born at cottage next door to Mark Hearn and family. Harmondsworth, perhaps Emmanuel went

Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Birthplace Samson Head 35 Agricultural labourer Watford Rice Wife 32 St Mary’s, Kent Richender Daughter 5 Ruislip John Son 2 Ruislip

Rice or Richender came from Kent and as I have been unable to trace Mercy but a later censuses would show there seemed to Joseph Hearn aged 25 born at Watford and be much travelling to and from St Mary’s and working as an agricultural labourer was a Ruislip. Mercy Hearn and Josiah Hearn are boarder with Eli Poulter who also lived in not with the family. Tile Kiln. ______Ruislip, Northwood & Eastcote 17 Journal 2011 Local History Society This could be the Josiah son of Mark Hearn 3 May 1875, together with Joseph Bowden who was aged 17 in the 1861 census. junior, accused of trespassing on land occupied by Mr Lee of Manor Farm and The family are all living in close proximity to taking rabbits from snares set by the each other in Tile Kiln and St. Catherine’s. gamekeeper of Estate. They The father and the two eldest sons are were fined 20 shillings or fourteen days recorded as agricultural labourers not imprisonment. Joseph Bowden lived with his travellers. The four youngest grandchildren parents and siblings in the Alms Houses by were all born in Ruislip. The family are now the Church. Joseph Bowden later married settled in Ruislip although living close to Abigail Hearn. each other as people do when they are settling in. By the time of the 1881 Census there were five Hearn households, three in Ruislip and A report in the Bucks Advertiser of the 8 May two in neighbouring towns. 1875 adds interesting information concerning one member of the family. Mullinger They were - (Mullinder) Hearne (Hearn) appeared before Uxbridge Petty Sessions on Monday the

At Tile Kiln Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Birthplace

Mark Hearn Head 79 Harwich, Bucks Lucy Wife 71 Pedlar Towsey, Bucks. Mercy Daughter 40 Domestic work Mill End, Bucks. Abigail Daughter 28 Domestic work Northolt

Mark would seem to have given up work, perhaps he was too infirm, but his wife was still working as a pedlar, a particularly gipsy occupation. Both daughters are servants. Once again the ages of Mark and Lucy do not tally with the previous census.

In Road - in a Caravan Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Birthplace Emmanuel Hearn Head 42 Agricultural labourer Charldsbury, Bucks Cinnementa Wife 39 Pedlar Stokenchurch Elizabeth Daughter 18 Ruislip Mary Daughter 16 Domestic work Ruislip Joseph Son 11 Ruislip Mirance Daughter 13 Ruislip Brittannia Daughter 8 Ruislip Amy Daughter 6 Ruislip Methusalah Son 3 Ruislip Bertie Son 1 Ruislip

All eight children were born in Ruislip (although Elizabeth in the 1871 census was noted as being born in Harmondsworth) yet they still lived in a travelling van. Why when the rest of the family were settled in cottages did Emmanuel’s family continue to live as travellers? Perhaps Emmanuel as the eldest son was upholding a family tradition by living in the van.

______Ruislip, Northwood & Eastcote 18 Journal 2011 Local History Society At Ruislip Common near the Reservoir Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Birthplace Samson Hearn Head 43 Agricultural labourer Leavesden, Herts. Rice Wife 40 Pedlar St Mary’s, Kent Richies Daughter 15 Ruislip John Son 12 Scholar St Mary’s, Kent Thomas Son 9 Scholar Ruislip Norris Son 6 Ruislip Luke Son 5 West Bedford, Middx.

Two of the children were born away from Ruislip; perhaps Rice was visiting relatives when the births occurred.

In Harrow at 6 Mount Pleasant Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Birthplace Mullender Hearn Head 30 Builder’s labourer Buckinghamshire Elizabeth Wife 31 Arthur Son 8 Scholar Emily Daughter 6 Middlesex Daisy Daughter 4 Middlesex Julia Daughter 1 Middlesex

The enumerator in Harrow was less specific in recording the places of birth than the Ruislip enumerator. Mullender has become a builder’s labourer at a time when Harrow was starting to expand.

In Harmondsworth at Magpies, Bath Road Living in the house of Edward Asters aged 26, an agricultural labourer Name Relationship to Head Age Occupation Birthplace Leanda Buckland Head (married) 41 Hawker Rickmansworth Isaac Son 13 Agricultural labourer Walter Son 11 Scholar Ruislip Edward Son 1 Harlington

In Tile Kiln, living with Eli Poulter and St Catherine’s area of Ruislip and two described as his grandson was Henry Hearn branches of the family have moved into the aged 10. He could be the son of Joseph Hearn neighbouring towns of Harrow and who boarded with Eli Poulter in 1871. He Harmondsworth. They have become settled. may have married Eli Poulter’s daughter but However it is noteworthy that the older I have not been able to find any records to women in the family were all described as substantiate this. pedlars or hawkers in the 1881 census, So by 1881 the Hearns have spread out from occupations associated with travelling what was the close family base in Tile Kiln families. I am continuing to research the and St Catherine’s. No longer are they all further history of the Hearn family in the together but inhabit three roads within the censuses of 1891 and 1901. ______Ruislip, Northwood & Eastcote 19 Journal 2011 Local History Society References

Colleen A. Cox A Quiet And Secluded Spot Ruislip Northwood & Eastcote 1851-1881 1851 Census of & Wales 1861 Census of England & Wales 1871 Census of England & Wales 1881 Census of England & Wales Births Marriages and Deaths register.

______Ruislip, Northwood & Eastcote 20 Journal 2011 Local History Society