Introducing Mary Ricketts

In January of 1835, when  the teenage William Winder was probably working somewhere in Gloucestershire, Mary Ricketts was born in a small village in Worcestershire, north of  the city of Worcester.  Since 1835 pre-dates mandatory civil registration of births, we don't know the exact birth date, but Mary was baptized on January 18, 1835 at St. Peter's Church in Astley.  It's also not clear whether Mary was born in Astley or the neighboring village of Arley Kings where the family was living in 1841.  It appears that her father's family was in Astley in 1835 and it's certainly possible Mary was born there.

Interior of St. Peter's Church, Astley - Mary Ricketts and James Ricketts (Winder) were baptized here.  Carol and I attended a Sunday service at the church during our visit in 2000

Mary was the daughter of Samuel and Mary Ricketts.  Of Mary's mother, we know almost nothing.  No marriage record has been found in local church registers so her maiden name is unknown.  Samuel appears to be the son of Samuel and another Mary Ricketts, born in November of 1809 in the nearby village of Ribbesford.  By 1841 Samuel's father had apparently died, but his mother and some adult children were living in Astley.

Map showing both Arley Kings (center of picture) and Astley (southwest of Arley Kings).  The city of Worcester would be below the bottom of this picture.

According to the 1841 census, Mary, then six, had an eight year old sister named Sarah and a third child, James was born later in 1841 (after the census day).  Samuel was an agricultural laborer and the family couldn't have had an easy life.  Tragedy hit the family in 1849 when Sarah died at age 16, followed less than a month later by mother Mary who was only 40.  Mary, who was only 14 when her mother died, most likely had to take over her mother's responsibilities.  Interestingly on the 1851 census, Mary's brother, James is listed as a scholar and, unlike William Winder, Mary was able to sign her marriage certificate, so although poor, the Ricketts children enjoyed some education.

1841 Census showing Ricketts family (first four lines)

In writing about William Winder's early life, I spent some time on the hard lot of the agricultural laborer, but it's worthwhile to return to the subject to get a sense of the woman's experience in a Victorian agricultural family.  At an average of 11 shillings per week in the 1850's, agricultural laborers were the lowest paid workers in England.  The only exception to this were skilled workers who could actually bargain with farmers for pay rates at annual hiring fairs.  Agreements negotiated at these events were for a full year, while everyone else was hired on a daily basis and paid only for days actually worked.   Weather probably limited days worked during the winter, but at harvest time, everyone, including women and children, worked long days regardless of the weather.  It's safe to guess that Mary worked in the fields at harvest time, helping out in the race against time and weather.

Burial entry for Mary Ricketts (Mary Ricketts's mother) in the parish register of St. Bartholomew's Church, Arley Kings (third from top)

In addition to helping with the harvest, Mary may very well have been called on for other farm tasks, like hoeing, weeding and removing stones.  Women also took care of cows and poultry which could include milking and making butter and cheese which was hard physical work requiring strong arms.  Women worked in long dresses with an apron and cap, for outside work in the summer, a bonnet was added.  The effects of wind and rain were offset to some degree by sacking tied around the waist or across the shoulders.

Female Agricultural Laborers 

To the extent she did agricultural labor, Mary had the advantage of youth, but like other women of the time, she probably suffered from a diet inferior to that of men like her father, who as the primary wage earner, needed the "best" food which was already limited in amount and quality.  Described as "stodgy, monotonous and nutritionally deficient," staples consisted of bread, cheese, potatoes and porridge with little or no meat.  Supposedly old men looking back on childhoods in the 1830's and 1840's remembered feeling "hungry almost all the time," so we can image how women must have felt.

Workers Cottages 

As the "lady" of the house from 1849 through possibly the end of 1854, Mary presumably had the job of cooking what food there was in less than ideal conditions.  Agricultural laborers typically lived in cottages which were too damp, too small and in poor repair.  The downstairs was usually nothing more than one room with a fire place, but no oven so Mary did all the cooking in a pot over the fire.  Typically the cottage had no well, in which case, Mary went to the nearest farm or the village which was additional strenuous work.

Marriage Certificate of Samuel Ricketts and Ann Wilcox 

Assuming Mary had indeed taken on the lead female responsibilities, it's hard to know the impact on her when her father married Ann Wilcox in 1854.  We don't know, for sure, if Mary was still living at home, her father's marriage may have been partially caused by Mary having moved out.  If she was still there, however,  Ann Wilcox's arrival should have at least lightened the workload.  At the same time, it could very well have been a difficult adjustment for a young woman almost at adulthood and used to a certainly level of authority.  No matter what really happened, big changes took place beginning no later than 1856.