My WADEYs

Why am I interested in Wadeys?

Maria WADEY was my great-great-grandmother.   As can be seen from my PLANK ancestry a very pregnant Maria WADEY married George PLANK, my direct ancestor, at Brighton in 1843.   Maria was 26 years old and had already given birth to an illegitimate daughter, Winifred, at Brighton three years earlier.  The father was almost certainly George even though Winifred’s birth certificate named the father as John PLANK.

Maria WADEY's ancestry

Newhaven, where Maria was born, must have seemed a backwater compared to Brighton just 9 miles along the coast.  The 1831 census showed that the population of Newhaven was 904 whereas that of Brighton was 40,634.  Like many others (including my PLANK, BARTON & FOGDEN ancestors) she must have been attracted by Brighton’s growing fame but Maria did not have an easy life.  Her marriage broke down (in fact it might always have been a bit rocky) and her only claim to fame (?) was when the inquest into her death was reported in the local newspapers.

So what do I know about her life:

• Maria was born at Newhaven on 27th April 1817, the last of seven children to Richard & Elizabeth WADEY.  There is no reason to believe that the family was classed as poor.  Richard was a carpenter and, in his later years, was the Parish Clerk of Newhaven.
• By 1840 Maria was in Brighton as, on 21st April she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter named Winifred (named after one of her sisters).  Although George PLANK must have been the father she did not take his name.  At Winifred’s marriage to James RANDELL at Brighton in 1864 her name on the marriage certificate was Winifred WADY.
• At the time of the census in 1841 Maria was back in Newhaven – she had probably gone back home after the birth of Winifred but she might just have been visiting.
• By 1843 she was in Brighton again as she married George PLANK on 9th January.  As she gave birth to a son, John (my great-grandfather), only a week later it is a fair assumption that George was not the most willing of grooms.
• The 1851 census showed that the family were together but the birth of a third child, William, in 1855 may have been the final straw for George.  The 1861 census shows that Maria, a charwoman, was the Head – in fact only William, aged 6, was at home with her.  So it seems likely that George left Maria between 1855 and 1861.  He made his way into Kent as I eventually found him at the Tonbridge Workhouse in 1881 and he ended his days in 1888 at the workhouse in Minster, Kent,
• There is no Maria PLANK (or WADEY) in the 1881 census for Brighton or, indeed, Sussex.  The only possibility, going by age and place of birth, is that of Maria RALPH who was the wife of Robert RALPH.  He was a 58 year old bricklayer who had been born at Waldron in Sussex.
• Maria died on the 7th February 1892 of heart disease.   According to the inquest held the following day she had been living as the 'wife' of Thomas TASKER (confirmed by the 1891 census) so it is possible she was doing the same with Robert RALPH a decade earlier.