Ampthill, Bedfordshire, Record 9: The Woodland Household

Record 9: The Woodland Household 

Following on from several large houses, record nine features a more common sized house with much fewer occupants. 16 Dunstable Street

Head: Alfred Woodland

Born in the town of Flitwick, just south of Ampthill, in 1856, Alfred Woodland was the third child and second son of labourer Thomas Woodland (1828-1911) and Mary Benham (1826-1901). His siblings were John (1850-1917), Fanny (1853-1873), Anne (1858-1939), and James (1863-1925).

By his teenage years, Alfred had joined his father and elder brother John as agricultural labourers, and by his 20's he had become a licensed hawker, i.e. a street dealer travelling around the area selling his wares. By this point he had moved north to Ampthill with his wife Emma King, who he married in 1875. Alfred would change his career several more times during his life. By 1891 he worked as an oil dealer and by 1901 he worked as a grocer and draper.

16 Dunstable Street, Ampthill
Image copyright © Google 2017

In between his various jobs, Alfred and Emma had two daughters, Alice Mary (1880-1968), and Lilian Emma (1888-) By 1911, aged 55, he had changed his occupation once more, and was now employed as an insurance agent by Royal London, he presumably continued in this role after moving to London around 1915, where he died in 1919, aged 63, only months after the death of his wife earlier that year.
Wife : Emma Woodland (nee King)

Emma King was born in Ampthill in 1853, the daughter of William Hugh King (1830-1882) and Lucy Stapleton (1833-1905). Emma was the eldest daughter of the couple, and had four siblings, Lucy (1856-1934), Sarah (1858-), Mary (1859-), and William Hugh (1862-1930).

Although it was uncommon, Emma received a full education from around 1858 to 1864, and after leaving school she became a bonnet sewer. She possibly first met Alfred while he worked as a hawker and visited Ampthill, but either way they married in 1875. Emma continued working after the birth of her first child, but had given up work by the time Lilian was born in 1888.

She and Alfred continued to live in Ampthill until both their daughters had moved out, and around 1915 they left for London. Here, Emma died in 1919, aged 65, her husband followed her a few months later.