Post Mistress Mini Project 2016 FACHRS Ref: ESGC01 Researcher Name: Gillian Clark Name: Charlotte Cusden nee Williams Age in 1881 Census: 38 Source: - RG Number: RG11 Piece: 1311 Folio: 48 Page: 14 Reg. District: Wokingham Parish: East Swallowfield County: Berkshire

Wikipedia says: Swallowfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) south

of Reading, and 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the county boundary with Hampshire. The civil parish of

Swallowfield also includes the nearby villages of Riseley and Farley Hill, and is in turn is within the Borough

of Wokingham.

British History On Line says The parish of Swallowfield is situated on the east bank of the Loddon between Stratfield Saye and Arborfield. On the south it is divided from Hampshire by the Devil's Highway. The River Blackwater crosses the parish from south-east to northwest and joins the Loddon on the west side of Swallowfield Park. Sheepbridge on the west of the parish and Farley Hill on the east (fn. 2) were included in the county of Wiltshire until

1844, (fn. 3) when they were transferred to Berkshire. (fn. 4)

Wikipedia says: Hawley is a village in the civil parish of Blackwater and Hawley[1] in the Hart district of

northeastern Hampshire, England. The village is contiguous with the small town of Blackwater. It is on the

western edge of the Blackwater Valley conurbation, about 3 miles (5 km) north of central Farnborough,

Hampshire, about 2 miles (3 km) west of Camberley, Surrey and about 33 miles (53 km) west-southwest of

London. Hawley is also next to Cove, a large suburban village of Farnborough

Migration and Social Status

Post Mistress Birth place: Charlotte CUSDEN born Hawley Hampshire1843, daughter of Richard Williams and his

wife Harriet

Occupation of her father: Richard Williams born Cove (Hawley) Hants Farm labourer.

Charlotte’s husband, William Cusden was born and baptised in Swallowfield in 1838 and so was 4 years older than

her. William’s parents were Jonathan and Mary Ann Cusden [Family Search 1938 Q2 Wokingham 6 268 and

Swallowfield parish register 29 April 1838]

Information from each census about Charlotte Cusden and the household she lived in:

YEAR 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 CENSUS PIECE FOLIO PAGE REG DIS SUB DIS PARISH

HO 7 1596 118 27

RG10 1287 18 9

RG11 1311 48 14 Wokingham East Swallowfield

RG13 1155 18/9 Wokingham

9 64 6622

ADDRESS Hawley Hants Farley Hill 77 New Rd Farley Hill Farley Hill Farley Hill TOWN East

Swallowfield East Swallowfield

East Swallowfield

East Swallowfield

East Swallowfield

COUNTY Hampshire Berkshire Berkshire Berkshire RELATIONSHIP TO HEAD

daughter wife wife wife Charlotte died Wokingham 1904 {yob 1843} Q1 2c 273

AGE Born 1843 8 18 28 38 58 died 1904 age 61

OCCUPATION Post Mistress HUSBAND’S NAME

Father Richard Williams

William Cusden

William Cusden

1887 William Cusden shop keeper and post master Farley Hill

William Cusden

William Cusden

HUSBAND’S OCCUPATION

Ploughman, servant, the Grange Farnborough Hants

Farm labourer age 32

Farm labourer age 47

Farm labourer, worker age 64

Widower, general labourer, age 74 living with married daughter

NO OF CHILDREN

4 at home age 0 - 7

5 at home, age 6-14. one a teacher and the others scholars.

1 at home age 18

Other Post workers

Other Post Workers

Servants Is she living at the Post Office?

OTHER information

Middle of three girls, 16. 8 and 8m all born Hawley

Running total of children 7

Running total of 7 children. Neighbour in this year was Beatie Peck, assistant School mistress age 20. See above for detail and photo.

In 1911 the postmistress Mary Harriet Deane, was at Farley Hill and was the wife of the rural postman

The 1861 census has William at Farnborough close to Hawley in Hampshire, working as a ploughman and The

Reading Mercury [2 Oct 1858, p 6) has the results of The Royal Forrest Agricultural Show at Warfield with William

Cusden employed by Mr Robertson Ruse being the driver to the winning team of an event for ploughing with 3 horses

and reins. The winner’s prize was £1 and William’s was 2s 6d. In a second event, this time for the ‘driving lads’, he

took second prize and won 12 shillings.

William and Charlotte married in about 1863 but the event has not yet been found. The Reading Mercury on 18

August 1867 reports on the Reading Amateur Flower Show, an event open to anyone living within 5 miles of the town

and a J Cusden, possibly William’s father, won prizes for potatoes, cabbage and radish. There is no evidence of how

Charlotte came to be post mistress at Swallowfield but the family move to the hamlet of Farley Hill may have been the

reason why she did hot continue in the post.

Does she move to different locations? No Do you think her social status changed over the period of her life? No

Family Connections

If married does her husband work for the Post Office? No

Are other members of her family involved with the work of the Post Office? No

Employment

Did she have any other employment before becoming a Post Mistress? No

The Community

Is she working in a village or a town? East and West Swallowfield are rural parishes, this one (the East parish), the more rural of

the two Farley Hill being a hamlet in it. The village proper is in West Swallowfield

What is the size of the community she would have been serving? 1881 census: East Swallowfield CP Houses inhabited 78,

population 313 (male 149, female 164).

What type of community is the Post Office in? The women were largely employed in domestic labour and the men in agriculture

The Post Office

Is it just a Post Office or part of a shop? I would assume, given the small size of the place, that it was in a shop.

Do you think it was a large or small Post office ie just a small counter within a shop or a small premises or a larger premises with a

number of counters?

There is a cross-over of postal staff between the two parishes – see below for Cusden of West Swallowfield.

Trade Directory or other Sources:

YEAR 1887 1891

TRADE DIRECTORY (OR OTHER SOURCE)

Kelly’s Directory: Berks, Bucks and Oxon

Kelly’s Directory: Berks, Bucks and Oxon

PAGE NUMBER 162 165

INFORMATION Mrs Ann Cullum, receiver (see Cullum sheet) and William Cusden post master and shopkeeper Farley Hill

William Cullum post master on both Swallowfield sites.

Additional Optional Project Information

In 1881 Ann, the eldest of the Cusden children, age 14, was an assistant teacher. Sir George and Lady Russell, owners

of the ‘big house’ in the village, Swallowfield Park, had been progressive enough to open a school in the lodge for 116

girls and boys (Kelly’s Directory, Berks Bucks and Oxon 1891). It is very likely that this was where Ann was teaching.

In 1891 the Cusdens were neighbours of William Peck, a coachman, and his daughter Beatie Peck, age 20, was also an

assistant school mistress. Beatie quite certainly taught the school that the Russells set up because she was there

with the author’s aunt Mary (May, Maisie) Sellwood from West Swallowfield and appears with her in two

photographs. These girls, Ann Cusden, Beatie Peck and May Sellwood have in common that they made the social

jump to teaching from a rural background where their fathers were a farm labourer, and coachmen, albeit that Ann’s

mother had made the jump to post mistress, even if only for a short time and in a very small way. The first of these

photos shows two of the girls, Beatie (standing ,second left) and Mary (seated, far right), dressed for playing tennis in

high necked blouses with long sleeves , long skirts with belted waist lines and each wearing a hat.

The first of the two pictures (above) has been dated by one of Beatie’s family as 1900. Mary Sellwood was married

in 1915 and gave up work so the second photo is between 1900 and 1914. In this second, later, circular photo

Mary (May) is on the right behind Mrs Russel and Beatie, in the dark dress, is in the gap between the seated figure.

In this picture the skirts are still long and the blouses long-sleeved and high-necked. The differences are in the

patterned fabrics they are wearing and in the hair styles that have replaced the hats.

The school premises, Swallowfield, sometimes called the Park School