James Fardon - Chapter 19

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This branch of the family was again headed by a blacksmith, a trade which he apparently followed throughout his life. He was not settled, but, after marriage, moved briefly to Warwickshire, was then seen in a number of places in Gloucestershire, before moving to Oxfordshire, and finally returning to Gloucestershire. His three children were all girls, so that on their marriages (in one case death unmarried) the Fardon name disappears. One married daughter settled in Oxfordshire, one in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. One of the granchildren may have been the first of the Temple Guiting Fardon stock to become a student at an Oxford college.

R - James

James was born in Ford and baptised in Temple Guiting on 6^th December 1807. Nothing is then known of him until 1838, when he married Elizabeth Cooper in Temple Guiting. She had been born in Condicote, near Stow in the Wold, Gloucestershire. The marriage details show him a blacksmith They must have moved to Warwickshire very soon after their marriage, for in 1840 their first child, Susanna, was born there in Leamington Spa. It is not known whether, like other Temple Guiting Fardons, he had been living in Warwickshire and had returned to be married, or whether the couple intended to move permanently there; or indeed whether they were visiting, for a cousin, also James (son of John Fardon and Mary Seebright) was briefly in Leamington at the time, where his son Edward Langley was born, see Chapter 4).

But the following year they were back in Gloucestershire, at Condicote, and four years later at Bledington, where their second child was born and baptised. Both places are very near to Stow in the Wold; the former is his wife Elizabeth's birthplace, that latter that of Elizabeth's mother, so it is not certain whether these were visits or residence. Thereafter:

1851 Wormington, north of Winchcombe

1855-61 Shurdington and Badgeworth, adjoining villages close to Cheltenham

before 1870-1881 Swalcliffe, Oxford, not far from Banbury

In 1851 Elizabeth's elderly parents were staying, Thomas Cooper, 85, a tanner born in Longford, and Martha, 75, born in Bledington. Thomas was listed in the census as blind and dependant on his child, Martha as independent. Also staying was Richard Fardon, 58, blacksmith born in Ford. Although shown as brother, he is clearly the half brother born in 1795 (see Chapter 17)

In the early 1880s James moved to Cheltenham, where his death was registered in 1887, aged 79. His wife Elizabeth survived for a further eleven years, her death being registered in Cheltenham in 1898 at the age of 85.

Children and grandchildren

There were three children, all daughters. Two of them married and had families, one in Oxfordshire, one in Cheltenham, the third remained single.

R1 - Susanna (Susan)

Susanna, who was known as Susan, even in official documents such as registration of death, was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, in 1840. She was at home in Condicote, Gloucestershire in 1841 and Wormington in 1851.

In 1861 she was in Leckhampton, a suburb of Cheltenham, staying at the Wheatsheaf hotel. David James Crump was the innkeeper, as he had been since at least 1856, and with him were his wife Elizabeth and young-adult children. Unaccountably Susan was shown in the census as David's niece, but there are other factual errors in this record, particularly the birthplaces.. Elizabeth Crump died the following year (death registered in Cheltenham in the first quarter of 1862), and in 1865 David married Susan, albeit that he was 30 years her senior.

In the third quarter of 1863 a baby, Susan Emily, had been born in the Cheltenham district. She was baptised three years later at Leckhampton, where the children of David and Susan would be baptised. She was shown to be the daughter of Susan Fardon, a single mother. In a later (1871) census the girl, now 7, was recorded as part of the Crump family, with surname Crump. She is thus likely to have been David's child. It seems clear that Susan had established a sexual relationship with David before their marriage, the result being Susan Emily; and marriage..

The reason for Susan being at the Wheatsheaf is not known. Shurdington/Badgeworth, where her home was, is only about two miles from Leckhampton, and perhaps she began in service there, before catching David's eye. Certainly in 1861 she was listed as a visitor rather than a servant. The Wheatsheaf Inn is located in the Old Bath Road, Leckhampton, Cheltenham, currently number 283. It is not to confused with the pub of the same name in Cheltenham High Street, which closed around 1923. D. J. Crump is listed as a brewer there, rather than innkeeper, in 1856, but the next record in 1885 shows a new landlord. The inn is still trading, though the building was completely rebuilt into its two-gable format in the 1930s.

The Crumps were still in the same area in 1871, but now living next door to the Wheatsheaf, which was being run by what seems to be another branch of the family headed by Charles Crump, 58, perhaps the same Charles Crump who was listed in the 1863 Kelly's directory as a baker at 47 Sherborne Street in Cheltenham. David was now a gardener. The house the other side of the inn was occupied by yet another branch of the family headed by Isaac Crump, 47, baker, earlier seen as David's brother.

By 1881 David had moved house and changed his occupation again. He was now a coal merchant, address 2 Georgina Villa, Moorend Street, in the St Philips area of Leckhampton. Susan was listed as dressmaker.

In summary, the evidence from censuses, commercial directories and children's baptism certificates shows that during these years Susan was the wife of:

David's death was registered in Cheltenham in the third quarter of 1890. He was 86. Twenty years later (1901) Susan was still at 2 Georgina Villas in Cheltenham, a 60-year-old widow, her occupation described as "house duties". This meant being landlady to a 45-year-old spinster living on her own means and to two schoolboy brothers aged 13 and 11, all from Cheltenham. Susan died in 1909, aged 69, and was buried at Leckhampton Parish Church on 13^th December, the parish documents showing her address as Fern Lea, St Luke's parish.

Susan had a number of children in addition to pre-marriage Susan Emily, as re corded in GRO indexes, censuses and baptism records. These are detailed in the attached Sources listing: Albert Edward, Francis Jacob (Frank), Sarah Elizabeth (who died in her first year), Albert Ernest, Penrice Herbert and Edgar David) are given in the attached Sources listing.

R2 - Caroline

Caroline was born and baptised at Bledington in 1845, and was at home with her parents at Wormington in 1851 and Badgeworth in 1861. She will have moved with her parents to Swalcliffe in Oxfordshire in the 1860s, and in early 1870 her marriage to Joshua Wells, a shoemaker, was registered in Banbury. Joshua was a native of Swalcliffe. The family would remain locally, at Tadmarton near Banbury. By 1881 there were three children, Lizzie born about 1873, Carrie Agatha (1883) and James Frank (1879).

The family was still in Tadmarton in 1901. Joshua was now described as "shoemaker and off-beerhouse", presumably running an off-licence for beer. He was self-employed, working from home. Only the youngest child James Frank was still at home. There is no more information on the girls, but James Frank was a 21-year-old student at St John's Training College, Oxford. This was presumably at the university, and if so, may represent the first of the Temple Guiting Fardons descendants to reach this level of education.

R3 - Annie

James's third daughter was born about 1855 in Shurdington. She was at home in Swalcliffe, unmarried, in 1881, aged 26. She presumably returned with her parents to Cheltenham in the early 1880s, for in 1891, following their deaths, she was at 53 Brighton Road, Cheltenham, listed as a housekeeper. Ten years later she was a resident in the Union Workhouse at St Paul's, shown in the census as a housekeeper and feeble minded. Also in this workhouse was her cousin Joseph (see Chapter ), though the relationship is hidden by their being separated in the list of inmates. Annie's death was registered in Cheltenham in the second quarter of 1901, very soon after the census date.