Introducing Mary Ann Hudson (the younger)

From her birth in 1858 in Worcester, to her death some 86 years and 3000 miles later in Trenton, Mary Ann Hudson was a city girl.  The oldest of James and Mary Ann Hudson's four daughters, she was the third consecutive generation named Mary Ann.  The newest Mary Ann spent at least part of her early childhood next door to or living with her grandparents, Joseph and Mary Ann Allies, which could have facilitated some kind of child care until she turned three.  At that point our ancestor most likely started school in the infant class of an "official" school or in a more informal "dame" school. The former was a 19th century combination of day care and pre-school while the latter was more baby sitting in nature.

Infant Class in a Victorian school about 1900

British law at the time required children to stay in school until age 10, a regulation the authorities had difficulty enforcing because even a child's wages were often badly needed by many struggling families.  Mary Ann appears to be fortunate as on census day in April of 1871, she was still listed as a scholar at age 12.  That was about to change, however, for on June 10, 1871 Mary Ann began work as a paintress at Royal Worcester Porcelain.

Drawing of China painters at work

As noted in the last post, both Mary Ann's mother and grandmother were china burnishers which connections may have helped the youngest Mary Ann get started on a more promising "career" path.  Burnishing, described in the last post, sounds like a lower level position than paintress and it may be that while they worked at lower levels in the pottery factories, both Mary Ann Hudson (Allies) and William Winder looked for better positions for their children.  James R. Winder, it will be recalled, began work as an apprentice mold maker rather than in a laboring position.

Another view of China painters at work, note that in both the drawing and the picture, the painters are all male

 Paintresses and painters typically began training at 13 and started by learning  drawing and the "manipulation of colors and the action of fire."   Mary Ann worked at Royal Worcester for over 20 years and was a full fledged china painter in 1891.  Tracing inherited talents is speculative at best, but I can think of a number of later generations with significant artistic talent and Mary Ann may be one source of that talent.

Birdport Street as James and Mary Ann would have known it

Six years after starting work at Royal Worcester, when she was 19, Mary Ann married James Ricketts Winder.  The most logical conclusion is that they met at Royal Worcester.  Another possibility is that Mary Ann's father met James at an Ancient Order of Foresters meeting and encouraged him to visit the family.  There is, however, no evidence James belonged to the Foresters before his marriage and the work connection remains the most logical explanation.  The marriage took place at the Countess of Huntingdon or Birdport Street Chapel, one of the major non-conformist congregations in Worcester.  Originally I thought the Hudsons were "chapel," but Mary Ann's parents and at least two of her sisters were married in the Church of England, suggesting the Winders were the non-conformists.  The fact that William Winder and Mary Ricketts were also married in a "chapel" supports this possibility.

Countess of Huntingdon Chapel where James and Mary Ann were married in 1877, now a concert hall

For Mary Ann. growing up  a woman in Victorian England, the ideal was to be a wife and mother.  Throughout the last 25 years of the Victorian era that goal became harder and harder for women to realize.  By 1900 there were a million more women than men in England, respectable working positions for women were limited and, even when available, women received lower pay for similar work.  Mary Ann, her mother and her grandmother were probably fortunate to live in a city like Worcester as a thriving pottery industry had better job possibilities for women.

Announcement of James and Mary Ann's marriage in the Worcester Chronicle, October 13, 1877, note that both of James' initials are incorrect

Marrying did not, however, necessarily make life any easier for Mary Ann, as she continued to work at Royal Worcester in addition to taking on many household responsibilities.  No matter how "liberated" James might have been by Victorian standards, it seems likely domestic management fell primarily to Mary Ann.  Without going into the details of past posts, it should also be noted that in the Victorian household, cooking, cleaning etc was both more time consuming and physically demanding than today.  The all day nature of doing laundry is just one example.

Child bearing was also expected of new couples and Mary Ann and James first child, James William Ricketts Winder, was born on July 15, 1878 at Kingston Terrace in Worcester.  Childbirth was probably safer in urban Worcester than in rural Arley Kings, but the experience was still difficult and dangerous at least by modern standards.  Over the next 11 years, Mary Ann and James had three more children, all girls, Edith May Ricketts Winder (1882), Elsie Ricketts Winder (1886) and Florence May Winder (1889).  Of interest is the fact that the first three children have their father's mother's maiden name as part of their name.This may have been a Victorian era type of hyphenated name which was passed on until it stopped, for whatever reason, with Florence.

Mary Ann and son James about 1879-1880 - one of the earliest surviving pictures of the Winders

In any event Mary Ann combined  family and a career and as a china painter was probably paid reasonably well.  In April of 1892, she resigned from Royal Worcester, not to stay at home (at least not in Worcester), but to prepare for a transatlantic voyage which about a month later would find Mary Ann and the four children at the newly built Ellis Island immigration facility in New York harbor.  At some point in the prior six months, James had gone on ahead to find work and look for a home for his young family.  For that period, Mary Ann was a Victorian single parent, working, taking care of four children and preparing for the move to the United States.

Royal Worcester Porcelain Works in 1891, not long before Mary Ann left her job

How did Mary Ann feel about leaving Worcester and, more importantly, her family?  We can only hope that the decision to emigrate was a joint one, believed in equally by husband and wife.  Mary Ann was making by far the biggest sacrifice in terms of family.   As far as is known, James only surviving relative was his mother, who would ultimately join them in the United States.   Mary Ann, on the other hand, left behind both parents, three sisters and four nieces and nephews.  The fact that Mary Ann made at least four trips to England between 1895 and 1914 demonstrates she was close with her family.  Only 34 in 1892, Mary Ann would spend the vast majority of the next 50 years, not only in a new city, but also in a new country.