PUBZ3/7/83

Folio.126-130 Mrs Ann Curtis of St Paul, Bedford, widow.

29 July 1829

From: 1829 To: 1829

I am about 35 years of age, was born in the town of Potton in the said County of Bedford where my father Thomas Emery then resided and belonged. On 15 June 1809 I let myself to Captain Johnson of the parish of St Mary, Bedford as a general servant for one year with the understanding I was to leave at any time on giving my master a months warning. I continued in such service according to the same terms for seven years. I renewed the contracct every year and was there all the time except when I left to see my friends for a few days with the permission of my Master. On 18th June 1816 I was married to my late husband Thomas Curtis who then kept the Hearse & Horses public house in the parish of St Mary aforesaid for which he paid between eight and nine pounds rent. My husband rented the same premises at the same rent of Sir William Long til the 7th June 1825. During my husbands tenancy under Sir William Long he occupied a farm at Kempston belonging to the Reverend Mr Fenwick until Michaelmas 1819 for which he paid upwards of £100 a year rent, but I do not know the full amount. He resided during the whole of his tenancy of the farm at the Hearse & Horses, St Mary's Bedford. On the 7th June 1825 he went to reside in the parish of St Paul and rented a tenement of Mr William Berrill at the rate of £26 per annum and continued there seven months and a fortnight. He then rented a house of Mr Budd in the same parish at the rate of £20 per annum and continued there six months until the 21st July 1826. He then took a farm at Brickington Bury in the County of Hertford of - Dent Esquire from new Michaelmas Day 1826 (by a lease which was never signed) for a year for which he was to pay between two and three hundred pounds, but in consequence of a misunderstanding between my husband and his landlord he left the farm on 16th June following (1827). He paid rent for the farm up to Lady Day (1827) only. On the 16th July 1827 he rented a house at Hertingfordbury in the County of Hertford of Mr Thomas Parrott at the rate of £20 per annum and continued there three months. In September 1827 he rented a house of Mr Francis Surrell at the town of Hertford for a month at the rate of £16 per annum and continued there til Easter Sunday April 1828. He then rented a house of Mr Winepress in the town of Biggleswade from that date for six months at the rate of £16 yearly and occupied it until Michaelmas (1828). He then rented a house of Mr Element in the town of Hitchin for three months and occupied it til Christmas (1828) but I forget at what rent. In January 1829 he rented a house of Mr Thomas Davis of St John, New Street, Horsley Down, Dock Head for a year at the rate of £26. My husband continued there til the 1st April last when he died. I paid rent up to that time only. I then came to Bedford and have done no act since whereby I could gain a settlement. I have three children by my late husband now living, namely Harriet aged ten years, Isabella aged seven years and Joel aged four years.

item

Curtis, Mary Ann,
Emery, Mary Ann,
Emery, Thomas,
Johnson,
Curtis, Thomas,
Long, William,
Fenwick,
Berrill, William,
Budd,
Dent,
Parrott, Thomas,
Surrell, Francis,
Winepress,
Element,
Davis, Thomas,
Curtis, Harriet,
Curtis, Isabella,
Curtis, Joel

BEDFORD, POTTON, BIGGLESWADE, KEMPSTON, Southwark, Brickenden, Hertingfordbury, Hitchin, Hertford, POVERTY, Poor Laws, Overseers, magistrate, Settlement, MARRIAGE, Kempston farms, Bedford Hearse & Horses, tenancy, rentals