Henry Finley married my great great aunt Ellen Finley in St John and St George, Exeter on 20th March 1871. The witnesses to their marriage were Charles and Ellen Voysey, children of cabinet maker William Voysey of Exeter. Although Henry and Ellen had the same surname they were not closely related.
Henry was born circa 1852 in Emsworth to Thomas and Jane Finley. The 1861 census shows Thomas, Jane, Henry and his older brother James in Market Street, Croydon. Thomas’ occupation was umbrella maker/traveller and his place of birth was recorded as Emsworth. Henry’s mother Jane was said to have been born in Croydon. No birth certificate or baptismal record has been found for Henry, his brother or his father and I have found no record of the marriage of his parents. Aside from Henry, I have been unable to locate any members of his family in the 1851 or 1881 censuses.
Thomas has been found in the 1841 census with his parents, Thomas and Mary, and siblings Philip and Mary Ann in Warblington. Thomas the elder was an Irish born pensioner born circa 1797 – 1801. Mary was of a similar age and foreign born. The enumerator has recorded that Philip was born in Ireland, Thomas the younger in London and Mary Ann outside of Hampshire. I have been unable to find any later records for Thomas the elder, Jane or Philip. Thomas and Mary Ann grew up in the Warblington area and both believed it their place of birth. By 1851 Mary Ann was in service in Portsea. She married John Cooper, whitesmith on 16th April 1854. One of the witnesses to their marriage was another umbrella maker, James Smith of Portsea.
As a child Henry spent a lot of time in Brighton, so much so that he thought it his place of birth. In August 1867, as a 14 year-old, Henry had been charged with gambling on Race Hill in the town. The case was not clearly proved and he was discharged but it perhaps reveals an aspect of his character that would later have tragic consequences.
On 10th January 1871 Henry was granted a pedlar’s license in Surrey. The chief police officer in Exeter indorsed the license for his district on 4th March. The Pedlars Act of 1871 defined a pedlar as “any hawker, pedlar, petty chapman, tinker, caster of metals, mender of chairs, or other person who, without any horse or other beast bearing or drawing burden, travels and trades on foot and goes from town to town or to other men’s houses, ‘carrying to sell or exposing for sale any goods, wares, or merchandise, or procuring orders for goods, wares, or merchandise immediately to be delivered, or selling or offering for sale his skill in handicraft”. Henry had similar indorsments on his licenses of 1872, 1874 and 1878.
On their marriage certificate Henry’s occupation was given as a hawker and Ellen a musician. When the census was taken a couple of weeks after their marriage Henry and Ellen were in Poole with Anne and Julia Finley. Henry was a hawker of brushes and there were brush manufactories in both Exeter and Poole. There was also a branch of the Brush Makers Society in each town and Exeter and Poole were adjacent stops on the Society’s Tramping Route. (More about brush making in Poole)
In June 1879 Henry was in Winchester where he participated in a rash drinking game. He claimed that he could drink a bottle of whiskey in 30 minutes. Another commercial traveller agreed to pay for the whiskey if Henry was successful. Henry won his wager but lost his life for, although his stomach was pumped, he died of alcohol poisoning. The incident was widely reported. The most detailed account of the incident is this in the Winchester Observer of June 28th:
The Dorset Herald of 3rd July reported:
The incident was also raised in parliament. From the Daily News (London) on July 15th:
Henry was buried in the Unconsecrated portion of Winchester Cemetery on 28th June 1879. The ceremony was conducted by Catholic Priest Canon Luke Gunning from Eastleigh. Shortly afterwards there was a public appeal for aid for Ellen and her son. I have no idea why it was considered there was a need to home the boy unless it was felt that Ellen was unsuitable or incapable of supporting them both. Perhaps he was already an inmate of the workhouse.
I have only been able to identify one possible child of Henry and Ellen, a Charles Finley who was baptised in Alverstoke on 1st April 1872. Whether this was the son referred to in the advertisement requesting donations after Henry’s death and what subsequently became of him is unknown.
Ellen also had an issue with drink. On Boxing day 1879 a drunken Ellen and her sister Julia smashed up a bar and assaulted the landlady of the Star and Garter in Peter Street, Westminster. They were fortunate to avoid jail and were bound over to keep the peace for 12 months.
Ellen has not been found in the 1881 census. She married the cutler Jeremiah Collins in Croydon the following year.