I’ve long understood that the county of Lincolnshire on the east coast of England was a hotbed of Hoodlesses from my searches through documents and registers. However, I had no idea where to start researching them since there was no obvious connection to my Cumbrian Hoodless clan. From the review of the 1841 England Census and the high concentration of the name around Barrow Upon Humber and Barton Upon Humber, I came across George, a young lad of 18 years who hailed from that area and discovered that he joined the Royal Marines briefly.
The 1851 Census documents his family living on Thornton Street in Barrow Upon Humber, George is almost 10 years old. William, the head and his father, was 44 and an agricultural labourer. The two oldest brothers, Thomas 20, Robert 18, are dock labourers. The nearest large docks were at New Holland about two miles away, where there was a ferry terminal taking passengers over the river to Hull, in operation since 1803. It would have expanded considerably after 1848 when the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway was built spanning the country West to East and terminating at New Holland, further increasing the volume of goods and passengers passing through the dock. Several brick and tile works also operated along the edge of the Humber river in this area, making good use of the railway service and the close proximity to the docks to ship their product.
It is during the next ten year span that George grew into a young man and made his short-lived bid to join the Royal Marines in 1859. The Census of 1861 records him aged 20, back in Barrow living in Cross Street with his parents. Notably, he does not have an occupation. He is described as the son of the head of household, not in employment. A search of the British Royal Marine Service & Pension Records reveals an entry for George in the Greenwich Hospital pensioners lists.
Just as the Chelsea Pensioners were soldiers injured during service and received a pension and support from the state, the Greenwich Pensioners were the naval equivalent. This is our first clue that George was injured on active duty shortly after joining the Marines.
We know George joined the Royal Marines in June 1859 and was discharged in December of the same year. He was recruited by Captain Fellowes who had served in Fatshun and Canton the previous year, during the Second Opium War between Britain and China. Fellowes was based at RM Woolwich Division. Unfortunately I can find no records telling us where George actually served and how he ended up injured and ultimately discharged.
Marriages
On 15th October 1866 at Holy Trinity Church in Hull, George married local Barton Upon Humber girl, Harriett Ann Tong at Holy Trinity Church (Hull Minster pictured at top) across the river in Hull. They had one son George Henry Hoodless. Harriett died in 1873.
On 2nd December 1873 George married widow Betsy Ann Brown (nee Watson) at the Registry Office in Louth, Lincolnshire. Betsy Ann had two sons by her previous marriage – William and Thomas Brown. They have six further children together. Below is a simplified tree for George detailing his seven children and twenty-seven grandchildren. His progeny generate Mumby, Walker and Rodgers descendants, as well as Hoodlesses. Please use the zoom in function for a more detailed look.
George-Hoodless-Tree-1841-1923A Long Life
Our last snapshot of George is from the 1911 England Census. He is a widower, living alone, his wife Betsy died in 1909. He lives in a small terrace cottage at 4 Bradshaws Yard which was just off Newmarket, one of the main roads through the town of Louth, Lincolnshire. He’s 69 years old and still working as a farm labourer.
Sometime between 1911 and his death in 1923, George relocates to Hull. He dies on 6th December 1923 at the age of 83. His address is given as 4 Wellington Terrace, South Parade, Hull. His cause of death is cardiac and arterial degeneration – heart failure. The image below shows Wellington Terrace twenty or so years later.
