Peter Hunnisett

William & Amelia Heasman
of East Grinstead & Reigate

William Heasman was born in Edenbridge, Kent, in about 1819. He may have been a son of Henry Heasman of Edenbridge and Worth.

Amelia Pattenden, the first child of William and Amelia, was baptised in Lingfield on 5 November 1815. She had a daughter, Caroline, baptised in East Grinstead on 25 September 1835, but Caroline was brought up by Amelia’s parents.

William married Amelia in 1839 and they lived near East Grinstead and had the following children:

In 1851 and 1861 the family were living at East Grinstead Common, which was to the north of the town. William and his two sons, William and John, were Lath Cleavers; many of the Heasmans in the area worked in the timber industry. There were several Heasmans from Edenbridge in the area.

In about 1866 William moved to Redhill, Surrey, where he worked for a firm of timber merchants. In 1871 he was a lath render living in Garlands Road with Amelia and four of their children; John, Thomas, George and Harriet. The three sons were also lath renders, as was his son William, who had married and lived next door with his wife, Emma, and son George. William's daughter Jane was a servant in Holmsdale Road.

By 1881 William had become foreman in the timber yard and he and Amelia had moved to Lesbourne Road where they had been joined by their eldest son, Edmund, who was a sawyer and unmarried. Their other sons were all married and living in Redhill or Reigate and the name was often recorded as Heaysman. Their daughter Harriet was a cook at ‘Ferndell’, London Road, Reigate, along with the Holman sisters, Alice, who was shortly to marry Edmund Heasman, and Annette. Daughter Jane had married John Inkpen.

In 1891 William, still foreman at the timber yard, and Amelia were living at 9 Lesbourne Road. Amelia died in 1894.

By 1901 William was a widower and had retired from the timber yard. He was living at 13 Lesbourne Road and staying with him were his grandchildren Esther (28, William’s daughter) and Louis (14, Thomas’s son).

William is believed to have died in 1908 aged 90.

Of their children:

• Edmund has not been found in the 1861 or 1871 census records; perhaps he was away serving in the army? In 1881 he was a sawyer living with his parents and on 28 January 1882, at Redhill St Matthew, he married Alice Holman, 15 years his junior, who had been in service with his sister Harriet. Their children were:

  Annette

  Q3 1882

  Reigate

  Lilian Beatrice

  Q1 1884

  Reigate

  Alan

  Q4 1886

  Reigate

  John William

  bap 26 May 1889

  Redhill, St Matthew

  In 1891 they were living in Wilton Road, Redhill and Edmund was shown as a saw sharpener. Edmund must have died by 1901 as he the census shows Alice as a widow.

• William married Emma Wells (born 1840) in Hitchen on 26 December 1868 and they had the following children:

  George Henry

  Q4 1869

  Redhill

  Rose

  5 Nov 1871

  Redhill, Saint John

  Esther

  14 Dec 1873

  Godstone

  Jesse

  bap 13 Feb 1876

  Godstone (died 1876)

  Fred

  bap 23 Sep 1877

  Godstone

  Annie

  Q2 1882

  Reigate

  Minnie

  Q3 1887

  Reigate

  William was a lath render and lived in Garlands Road in 1871 and Howard Road in 1881. In 1891 he was living at 6 Howard Road and described as a fencer and lath render. By 1901 he was a rough carpenter and living at 34 Effingham Road and he and Emma were still there in 1911.

• John was a lath render and married Mary Ann Graver (born 1838) from Syderstone, Norfolk in 1872, but they do not appear to have had any children. In 1881 they were living in Wilton Road, Redhill, but by 1891 they had moved to Albert Road, Horley and by 1901 John had become a foreman in a timber yard. In 1911 their address was given as 76 Albert Road.

• Ann married Richard Medwell in Horne on 10 June 1865 and they are known to have had one daughter:

  Ellen

  Q1 1866

  Reigate

• Thomas married Emily Verall in Lambeth on 27 September 1873 and they had the following children:

  Emily Jane

  Q1 1874

  Redhill

  William

  Q1 1876

  Redhill

  Leonard

  bap. 20 Jan 1878

  Redhill, St John

  Alice Amelia

  bap. 18 Apr 1880

  Redhill, St John

  Herbert

  bap. 19 Feb 1882

  Redhill, St John

  Mabel

  bap. 20 Apr 1884

  Redhill, St John

  Louis

  bap. 4 July 1886

  Redhill, St John

  Lilian May

  bap. 7 Aug 1892

  Redhill, St John

  Evelyn Olive

  bap. 5 Aug 1894

  Redhill, St John

  Thomas was a lath render and lived at St John's, Redhill, in 1881 and 1891. By 1901 he had become foreman in a timber yard and was living at 3 Cockshot Road, Reigate. In 1911 Thomas and Emily were at 13 Lesbourne Road, Reigate, with their children Louis and Evelyn. Thomas died in 1925.

• Jane was a servant in Holmsdale Road, Reigate, in 1871 and in 1878 she married John Inkpen, a blacksmith. They had two children:

  John William

  Q1 1880

  Reigate

  Frederick Charles

  bap. 23 Feb 1883

  died Q4 1884

  In 1881 they were at 23 Ladbroke Place, Redhill, and in 1891 at Ladbroke Road. John died in 1893 and in 1901 Jane, a dressmaker, and her son John, a farrier, were living at 54 Ladbroke Road. In 1911 Jane was staying with her, by then married, son at 2 Sincots Road, Redhill. Jane died in 1942, aged 90.

• George married Elizabeth Jane Carpenter in Godstone on19 August 1877. They are believed to have had eight children, only four of whom appear in the census records:

  Arthur George Stanley

  Q2 1878

  Reigate

  Edward Charles

  Q2 1880

  Reigate

  Amelia Hetty

  Q3 1881

  Reigate

  May Sarah

  Q3 1887

  Reigate

  George was a lath render in 1871, but by 1881 he had become a plumber and was living in South Road, Reigate, with his wife and children. In 1891 they were living at 1 Malvern Villas, Cockshot Road, Reigate and in 1901 they were at 73 High Street, Redhill. Elizabeth was a confectioner dealer and their sons worked in a livery stables. In 1911 George was living as a paid helper in the Pembury Workhouse near Tunbridge Wells in Kent, while Elizabeth was staying with her married son, Arthur, in Walton on the Hill near Epsom. George died in 1921.

• Harriet married Charles Winchester, a bootmaker, in Redhill on 16 September 1882 and they lived in Ladbroke Road, Redhill (see Charles & Harriet Winchester).