Ampthill, Bedfordshire, Record 1: The Woodbridge Family

Record 1: The Woodbridge Family.

When sorted alphabetically based on the county, the very first record in the 1911 census is that of the Woodbridge family, living on Dunstable Street in the village of Ampthill, Bedfordshire. So who were they?

Head: Thomas Woodbridge

Thomas Woodbridge was born in 1846, in the small village of Tetsworth in Oxfordshire, just south of the town of Thame. He was the second of three children to labourer Jacob Woodbridge (1820-1900) and Sarah (nee Gomm) (1821-1897). His two siblings were Mary (1844-) and George (1849-1929). Growing up prior to the introduction of mandatory school education, when he was about 15 Thomas was sent to Luton, Bedfordshire, where he became an apprentice cordwainer (shoemaker) in employment by George Wing, who taught him the trade of shoe making. During this time he also resided with the Wing family at their home in Dumfries Street in Luton. Thomas's brother George also followed in this occupation.

After completing his apprenticeship he eventually returned and found work in Tetsworth and Thame. Here, in 1869, Thomas met and married 22 year-old Sarah Allen. The pair moved back to Luton, to 5 Dudley Street, and here they had seven children between 1870 and 1889. These children were Mary (1870-1913), Eliza (1876-1969), William (1879-1942), Frank (1881-1882), Sarah Ann (1883-), Francis Thomas (1885-1963) and Mabel Helen (1889-1983).

After 22 happy years in Luton. Sarah became ill and died in 1892, aged 45. After this, Thomas left Luton, travelling for at least a year to London, where he met Sarah Stokes (nee Robinson), a widow who's husband had passed in 1891. They were married in St. Martin's Church in Camden on 1st August 1893. Following this they moved back to Bedfordshire, specifically to Ampthill along with the children from Thomas's first marriage.

2 Dunstable Street, home to the Woodbridge's from 1893.
Image copyright © Google 2010

Here, at 2 Dunstable Street, Thomas and Sarah had one child, Major John (an unusual first name). Thomas continued to work as a shoe maker as he had done since his teenage years, however, by 1911 either a lack of work or his age meant that he now worked as a straw hat maker. Such an occupation was common at this time in Bedford, which was essentially the home of straw hat making at the time. Many workers usually worked from home for firms based in Luton.

It's unknown how much longer Thomas worked in this trade for, but he eventually passed away in Ampthill on 16th May 1922, aged 76.

Wife: Sarah Woodbridge (nee Robinson)

Sarah Robinson was born in Luton in 1855. The fourth child of eight to Ebenezer Robinson (1826-1876) and Susan (nee Wilsher) (1822-1892). In 1875, aged 19, Sarah married 27 year-old straw hat maker Charles Stokes. Together the couple had one child, Minnie Maud (1881-1970). When Stokes died in 1891, aged 43, Sarah went to London, where she met Thomas Woodbridge, when the pair married and moved to Ampthill, Sarah continued to look after both Minnie, their only child Major and all of Thomas' children from his first marriage until they gradually moved out. She eventually passed away in 1926, aged 70.


Son: Major John Woodbridge

The uncommonly named Major John was born on the 4th of November 1894, the only child of Sarah Robinson and Thomas Woodbridge. Leaving school around 1906, he found work as a butcher locally until the outbreak of WW1.

On the 22nd of March 1916, he signed up and joined the Labour Corps, serving until the end of the war. Upon leaving the military he returned to live in Ampthill, and in 1924 he married 27 year-old Rose Lilian Fisher. The couple had one child, June, in 1926. The new family had settled back onto Dunstable Street living across from Major's old family home, in 3 Dunstable Street.

Ampthill Union Workhouse c.1900
Image copyright © ampthillimages.com

When WW2 broke out, Major did not sign up as he had done two decades earlier. At the time he worked as a porter at the Ampthill Union Workhouse (later St. George's Hospital), which stood practically right next to the Woodbridge's house. Rose later passed away in 1947, aged 50, and Major passed away twelve years later, on the 7th of May 1959, aged 64.