I wanted to find out more about William Pudwine or Podevin but a further search on the FamilySearch site gave me only one possibility, for a William Potvine christened on 16 May 1793 in Saint Mary Magdalene, Canterbury, Kent.

Disappointed I headed back to the Surrey History Centre to search the Census.

By 1851 both William Pudwine and his wife Harriet were dead and I wondered what had happened to the younger children. I searched all the villages surrounding Guildford and eventually found them in the 1851 Census in Hambledon Union Workhouse.

Henry Podevine (again the strange spelling of the surname, as if it wasn’t strange enough already) was sixteen years of age, an agricultural labourer born in Albury. Also with him was Edward aged fifteen, Mary aged twenty, Ann aged eleven and excitingly, Lewis aged six, the latter two born in Bramley. This was the second mention of Lewis after finding his marriage certificate with a London address. I was so pleased I had followed my instincts on this one.

With the above success I decided to search the Worplesdon area as there were several Pudwine/Pudvine children born there.

My next find was equally thrilling although not what I was looking for. I at last found John and Charlotte Voller. John was a farm labourer aged 53 and Charlotte 46 years of age both born in Worplesdon. With them was Charles aged sixteen years and Emily aged twelve years, both born in Worplesdon. Emily was obviously Henry’s wife. There was also Albert aged seven years and Henry aged five years, both born in Stoke near Guildford where this Census was taken. Also living in the same house was James Marsh aged 76 years, father-in-law. Remarkably I had stumbled across another generation. This meant that Charlotte Voller was formerly Charlotte Marsh. Also Charles Voller was a witness at my three times great grandfather Frederick’s marriage to Harriet which has now convinced me that Harriet and Emily Voller were sisters who married Pudwine or Pudvine brothers.

I also fell across two families called Bonsey, a name that was familiar to me, and took copies of these pages only to find when I got home and checked through my records that I had found Richard Bonsey who would marry William and Harriet’s daughter Susanna later that year. The family consisted of Richard Bonsey, head, aged 50, occupation shoemaker, Mary Bonsey his wife, aged 56, and Richard Bonsey, their son aged 22, occupation railway labourer. Also living in the house were Benjamin aged 19 and John aged 16. The other family also had two family members listed by the name of Benjamin so I decided to hold onto this information for a later date.

Going back to William Pudwine I was now beginning to think that the spelling of the name Pudwine or Pudvine was taken from the pronunciation rather than knowledge of how it was spelt, as there were several derivatives of the family name. Also, whenever I searched for Pudwine on FamilySearch, a whole variety of names appeared from Potvin and Potvain to Pudwine, Poitevin and Podevin, the latter proving to be of the most interest with the other evidence I had collected. There was nothing about William’s birth or christening. I was beginning to get frustrated again because if I could not find details of his birth then I would not be able to trace this line any further!

Back at home on the 1881 Census, as I had not found Henry Pudwine I decided to look for his second wife Alice Bristow. I found her living in Castle Street, Guildford, a widow aged 42 born in Adlow, Kent, and with her were two daughters Ellen aged six years and Mary aged three years both born in Guildford. A quick check of the marriage certificate of Alice and Henry told me they married later that same year so I searched the neighbourhood. To my utter delight I found Henry Pudwine recorded as Henry Indwine. I knew it was my Henry because he was a widower who was born in Wonersh, the same district as Albury, and also because, amusingly, he was living in the Rising Sun public house – quite fitting as he appeared to like a drink.

On the same Census by trawling through the National Index of Surnames I also found Lewis Pudwine/vine in London. He was listed under the name Lewis Rudine, aged 33, born in Bramley, Surrey. With him was his wife Grace Rudine aged 32 and her sister Christina Fergusson. Finding Grace’s sister with the same surname as her own maiden name confirmed my find was correct. I looked up the address where Lewis was living at the time of his marriage two years previously at 19 Belgrave Square. Living at that address in 1881 was William Ernest Duncombe, Peer of Parliament and Mabel Molet (Countess) Forenshaw along with four children, one of whom was a Lieutenant in the Scots Guards. How very real this made Lewis to me.

A further search revealed Ann Rose, nee Pudwine, who had married Henry Rose. They were living in Pirbright, another village local to us where we have socialised, and also right next to Brookwood Cemetery where Martino Marelli and son Martin are buried. They are listed as Henry Rose aged 42, an agricultural labourer, his wife Annie Rose (Ann) aged 41 and their children William aged 13, Lizzie aged 11, Lillian (sic) aged five and Harrey (sic) aged two.

Another search on FamilySearch playing with the spelling of the surname Pudwine brought me the christening record of Ann Podavine, daughter of William and Harriet Podavine. With another proof of birth recording William as the father, I now thought I should concentrate on looking for William Pudwine rather than Thomas Pudwine. If I had no luck searching for him I would then concentrate on the Christian name of Thomas or both. But how do I find William?

To keep you in the picture but to make things simple I have split the family trees into groups (see figures 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3).

I decided to return to the Surrey History Centre to find parish records on film for some of the Pudwine children of William (Thomas) and Harriet Pudwine.

• 1.The first I found was for Susanna Pudwine dated 1828, daughter of Thomas and Harriet, the occupation of Thomas being papermaker (occupational information is not given on the FamilySearch site). This disappointed me because I wanted Thomas to have been an input error on FamilySearch. Also the occupation of papermaker was a little disconcerting.
• 2.William Pudwine was next, dated 1829, son of William and Harriet. The occupation given for William was wheeler.
• 3.Mary Annie Pudwine was next, dated 1832. On FamilySearch her Christian name is Maryanne, parents Thomas and Harriet, the occupation of Thomas being wheeler.
• 4.Next was Frederick Pudwine, dated 1833, my three times great grandfather, parents Thomas and Harriet, the occupation of Thomas being wheeler (see figure 8.4). Frederick stated on his marriage certificate that his father was William, so this had to be an error in the parish register. William and Thomas must be the same person. Perhaps his name was Thomas William or William Thomas.

• 5.Next was Henry Pudwine, dated 1834; his parents and the occupation of his father were the same as above.
• 6.I also found Stephen dated 1835 with parents and occupation of father the same as above. As I had a death record for a Stephanie dated 25 September 1835 from the National Burial Index I decided to check burials and found only Stephen for this date, so the National Burial Index is a misprint.
• 7.Finally I looked up Ann Podavine dated 1841. This also turned out to be a misprint on FamilySearch – it should have been Ann Podevin, the other spelling of Pudwine again. She was the daughter of William and Harriet Podevin of Bramley, the occupation of William this time being millwright.

I was so pleased I had the above parish records and also the Census records because, although they are only copies, to me they are the real thing and a real piece of my family history. I cannot explain the pleasure in seeing the writing of the person responsible for recording this information in parish records or looking at the details of who else is recorded on the same page, wondering if my ancestors and these other families knew each other.

Another search of the Census looking at the villages surrounding Guildford brought me the following:

1861 – Worplesdon

• Frederick Pudwine, head, aged 26, occupation shepherd, born in Albury;
• Harriet Pudwine, wife, aged 28 years, born in Worplesdon;
• Louisa Voller, daughter, aged three years, born in Stoke;
• Mary Pudwine, daughter, aged nine months, born in Worplesdon;
• John Voller, father, widower, aged 64 years, occupation agricultural labourer, born in Worplesdon.

1871 – Guildford Workhouse

• John Voller, inmate, widower, aged 74 years, agricultural labourer born in Worplesdon;
• Frederick Pudwine, inmate, widower, aged 35 years, agricultural labourer born in Albury;
• Louisa Pudwine (taken the Surname of her stepfather), inmate, aged 13, scholar, born in Worplesdon;
• Mary Ann Pudwine, (Asor Zoar’s mother), inmate, aged 11, scholar, born in Worplesdon;
• Alice Pudwine, inmate, aged eight, scholar, born in Worplesdon;
• All the above are resident in Guildford Workhouse. (Frederick had lost his first wife, Harriet, at this stage and I assume that his youngest children were staying with relatives.)

I also found another entry for Edward Pudwine, aged 34, a labourer living in lodgings in Guildford (William and Harriet’s son).

1881

Although I already had the 1881 Census records on CD I decided to obtain copies of the original records of the following:

• Frederick and his second wife Maria and children who were living in Albury;
• Ellen Walker and family living in Milk House Gate;
• Alice Bristow, second wife of Henry Pudwine, living in Castle Street, Guildford;
• Henry Pudwine also living in the Rising Sun Pub in Castle Street, Guildford (Henry is spelt Indwine on the CD-ROM version of the 1881 Census, but still, I’m not complaining).

1901

I found Henry Pudwine, aged 67, and Alice Pudwine aged 57, living in Sparrow Row, Chobham. Henry’s occupation was given as agricultural labourer.

Another visit to the FRC

The first death certificate was for Charlotte Voller dated 20 March 1857, aged 50 years, wife of John Voller, an agricultural labourer. The cause of death was scrofula for fifteen years and dropsy for seven days. Scrofula is hereditary and although Ada, Frederick’s daughter, died of the same complaint she is not the granddaughter of Charlotte because she is the child of Frederick’s second wife Maria, so I have to assume this complaint was common and in more than one branch of my family. Hannah Whale was present at the death.

The next death is for Maria Pudvine dated 24 January 1880, aged five years. I nearly didn’t get this certificate because it was registered in Leicester. It states she is the daughter of Frederick Pudvine, a labourer. The cause of death was pneumonia and the informant of death was E. Dickinsson (sic), Matron of Leicester Union Workhouse. I can only assume that Frederick moved to this area to find work.

I found another death for a Frederick George Pudvine in Bromley, Kent, dated 2 September 1904 aged three months. He was the son of Helen Pudvine, spinster and domestic servant. The cause of death was syncope from tubercular desease of the heart from natural causes. Under informant it stated the certificate was received from J. Powell, Coroner of Kent, and the inquest was held 5 September 1904. As yet I have not found a connection with my family but my instincts tell me there could be eventually.

The final death certificate was for Lewis Pudwine dated 15 December 1907, aged 64 years. The occupation was given as caretaker of mansion, and the cause of death as pneumonia and heart disease. Present at the death was Gertrude Pudvine, his daughter. Lewis died in Stamford House, Newmarket.

I moved to Births to carry out a blanket search of the name Pudwine but as I had not found the birth certificate for Lewis I decided to look under variations of the spelling of the surname. I found Lewis under the surname of Podavin dated 10 March 1843, son of William Podavin, a wheelwright, and Harriott Podavin, formerly Saunders. Lewis was registered in Hambledon, Cranley (sic) but William’s address is Bramley. Lewis is not recorded in the FamilySearch records. Later this month I would find a record at the Surrey History Centre of Lewis Pudevine baptised on 27 March 1843, parents William and Harriet, occupation of father, wheelwright.

The next birth I found was a complete surprise – it was for a Jane Pudvine dated 22 August 1846. Jane was the daughter of William Pudwine, wheelwright, but the mother is recorded as Sarah Pudwine, formerly Saunders, and hysterically the informant of the birth is Harriett Pudwine, mother. Surely the registrar must have noticed he had two differently named mothers on the same certificate? I was delighted with this extra find but also because I had further confirmation that Harriet was previously a Saunders or Sanders.

A birth for a Henry Pudwin in North Aylesford, Kent, dated 19 February 1847 is a bit of a mystery. Henry is the son of Richard Pudwin and Ann Pudwin, formerly Decan. I ordered this certificate because of the Christian name and also because the surname was so close to Pudwine, although at this moment I couldn’t find any family connection.

I found the birth certificate for Alfred Frederick Pudwine dated 25 February 1862, one for Alice Pudvine dated 3 May 1863 and one for Emma Pudvine dated 25 August 1865, all children of Frederick and Harriet Pudvine.

The next birth was for a Maria Pudvine born in Richmond, Surrey, on 31 October 1874. Maria is the daughter of Frederick Pudvine and his second wife Maria Pudvine, formerly Webber. She was born in Richmond Workhouse. So I now know that Frederick lived in Richmond in 1874 and Leicester in 1880.

I found two other children from the marriage of Maria and Frederick, one for Ellen Pudvine born in Hambledon on 6 April 1877 and one for Frederick Pudvine born in Croydon on 8 June 1879. Both children were born in the workhouse. So Frederick had now also lived in Croydon.

During a relatively short space of time Frederick had lived in Guildford in 1871, Richmond in 1874, Hambledon, Surrey in 1877, Croydon, Surrey in 1879, Leicester in 1880 and back to Albury in 1881. This gave me a strong reason to believe that Frederick must have been working with a travelling agricultural labouring gang. (I had purchased a couple of books about rural life in Surrey during the nineteenth century that explained about labouring gangs.)

The next certificate was for Frederick George Pudvine born on 2 June 1904, son of Helen Pudvine of Kent whose death certificate I had also acquired, and felt that a connection might be established one day.

Finally were the certificates for two daughters of Lewis Pudvine. Edith Pudvine was born on 24 December 1881 and Gertrude on 25 September 1883. Both were daughters of Lewis and Grace Pudvine, formerly Fergusson. The occupation of Lewis is given as lodging house keeper in Paddington, London.

My friend Sue was interested, as I was, that Lewis Pudvine had died in Newmarket because there had been no mention of this district previously. We both searched the Internet for information about Stamford House. (We are lucky that Wendy our boss allows us to use this facility at work, and we try not to take advantage of her generosity.) Sadly we could not find anything although Sue did find a site called Newmarket Local History Society (www.wood-ditton.org.uk/newmarketlhs.htm) and sent an e-mail explaining about Lewis Pudvine. Below is part of the information we received back from Rod Vincent, the recorder for the website taking queries and comments:

Stamford House was the middle house of three occupied by Lady Stamford. One of the other houses was lived in by Lady Cardigan and all the three houses made up the original Panton’s House a substantial mansion owned by Thomas Panton who was the ‘Keeper of the King’s Running Horses’ for George II. After he died in the early 19th century the house went to a notorious gambler called William Crockford and after his death the mansion was divided up into three houses.

I searched the net for a William Crockford and on www.thegoodgamblingguide.co.uk website below is an edited version of what I found. Although there is no mention of Stamford House or Newmarket in this particular bit of information it is still interesting.

William Crockford b. 1771 – d. 29 May 1844 London

William was founder and proprietor of the most famous English gambling establishment. His career was remarkable from start to finish. He had been a fishmonger of Fleet Street with a sideline in bookmaking and such small-scale swindles as the three-card trick. In 1816 he bought a quarter-share in a gambling tavern in St James’s, but Crockford realised that this tavern could only have limited success. So after winning a large sum of money –£100,000, according to one story – either at cards or from running his gambling club, in 1827 he built a luxuriously decorated gambling house at 50 St James’s Street in London. This was an exclusive membership club and almost every English celebrity from the Duke of Wellington down frequented his establishment. Hazard was the favourite game at the club and large sums changed hands. Crockford retired in 1840 with about £1,200,000 but he subsequently lost most of this in unlucky speculations. His establishment eventually became know as the Devonshire Club.

While at the FRC during the month of May I trawled unsuccessfully for the marriage certificate of Frederick Pudvine to Maria Webber. Thinking that as his eldest daughter Maria had been born in Richmond he might have been married there I wrote to the Register Office there and asked for a search to be carried out. Surprisingly they were unable to search for a marriage for me because I could not supply the name of the building in which the marriage took place. They suggested I try the FRC even though I had explained I had already searched there.

I carried out more searches on FamilySearch and found a possible birth record for William Pudwine although I was not happy about the date. It was for William Alexander Parker Podevin born on 2 January 1806 to parents Joseph and Ann Podevin. However, I did find an interesting marriage. It was for William Podevin and Harriet Saunders dated 3 April 1826 in Saint Mary, Newington. Up until this date I had only searched in Guildford and the surrounding area.

I was so excited about this and investigated how to go about acquiring a copy of this record in the hope it would give me details of William and Harriet’s parents. I found an address for a small branch of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints in Aldershot via the FamilySearch site. After a phone call I visited the church full of hope only to find they would have to order the film with the record I required from America but surprisingly within only a couple of weeks it arrived. Sure enough I found the marriage record but unfortunately no information about either parent. I asked if I could have a copy of the record but they did not have facilities at this site to provide copies.

As I had the name of the church I went onto the Internet and again simply typed in what I was looking for – ‘St Mary Newington Church.’ To my delight up popped a website and there was also an e-mail address. I e-mailed and asked where the records for births, marriages and deaths were kept and had an almost immediate response giving me the following information:

The London Metropolitan Archives
40 Northampton Road
London EC1R 0HB
Tel: (+44) 020 7332 3820 (Reception)
(+44) 020 7332 3822 (Parish records)
Fax: (+44) 020 7833 9136
E-mail: ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk

I e-mailed the above and received a form that would enable me, for a small fee, to order a copy of William and Harriet’s marriage record; I received the document a short time later (see figure 8.5).

As you can see witnesses at the marriage were W. and A. Davey and I wondered if one of them might be a relative of William or Harriett. I decided to look for a marriage for William Davey, William being a good bet for the Christian name. I also hoped to establish a link to Albury where William and Harriet came to be living. What I found was that William Davey married Ann Slade on 4 November 1817 in Albury, Surrey. The Daveys had to be part of the reason why William ended up in Albury – perhaps William or Harriet originally came from Albury.

I had a birth date of circa 1808 for Harriet from the 1841 Census and her death certificate so I searched FamilySearch for a record of her birth around this date. I found two possible records – one was for the Leatherhead area but the other was for Puttenham, a village on the outskirts of Guildford. The latter was for Harriot Sanders dated 19 July 1807, born in Puttenham, and the other for a Harriot Saunders born in Leatherhead of the same date. Either of these could be my Harriet, but although Puttenham is on the outskirts of Guildford I cannot discount Leatherhead either, it being only a few miles from Albury. In addition, the Harriot from Leatherhead has the correct spelling of the surname.

My feelings on the above information collectively is that Harriet knew the Daveys from her home somewhere in the Guildford area and perhaps went with them to find work in Newington, or maybe they invited her to stay with them. While Harriet was residing in Newington she met William Podevin, married him and they both moved to her local area where he found work in Albury. This is the only theory with a few clues but to me it makes sense.

I also managed to find on FamilySearch a John Voller, christened on 19 June 1831. That had to be the brother of Harriet Voller, Frederick’s first wife, as the parents are John and Charlotte Voller.

What I learned

• When you find an ancestor on a Census return also search around the locality, as you are likely to find other family members.
• Searching the Census can also produce further generations – as happened with James Marsh, father of Charlotte who married John Voller – another four times great grandfather.
• You should consider not only variations of spelling where your ancestors are concerned but also origins of surnames as with the strangely spelled surname of Pudwine.
• Researching witnesses at weddings of your ancestors can bring further clues as with the Daveys at William and Harriet’s marriage which gave me another link to Albury near Guildford.
• It is always worth e-mailing and asking for help as I did with St Mary’s Church.

I now had enough information to convince me that my Pudvine and Pudwine ancestors were descendants of French origin. The surname Podevin in French apparently means ‘pot of wine’ so again another of Mum’s recollections proved correct and we did have French ancestors.