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AYSHFORDS OF AYSHFORD |
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On the 28th of April 1811, Henry Ayshford, brother of the amateur soldier William, married Ann Needs in Burlescombe church. Apprenticed to agriculture aged about 12, Henry was now just short of his 26th birthday and the last of the siblings to wed. From the fact that he did not sign his name in the marriage register we can assume functional illiteracy. Unlike his brother who did sign at marriage, Henry appears to have made his living as an agricultural labourer in an age unfriendly to small scale farming. The first of many children, Henry, was baptised in Burlescombe in 1812, but the second, William, was baptised in Hockworthy, the home parish of his Grandfather, Thomas Needs. This was in 1814 and John followed in 1817 by which time Henry senior was already in receipt of poor relief from Holcombe Rogus his parish of birth. From November of 1816 Henry, like his brother, was granted regular sums at a subsistence level of income. Twice between that date and July of 1818 he is described as sick and on the 7th of July when he buried his first born, Henry, it is at parish expense. Things must have looked up for a while because he is paying poor rates on a cottage and garden in 1820, a Holcombe Rogus property. This situation didn't last. By March of 1822 a child, another Henry, is again buried at Holcombe expense but in TIVERTON. By 1824 the next baby, Charlotte, is baptised in Tiverton as are all subsequent children but Henry continues to receive poor relief from Holcombe until February of 1836! The Tiverton Land Tax entries give us their Tiverton address, a cottage in Elmore (now Chapel Street). After Charlotte came James 1826, Ann 1828, Mary 1829, Edward 1832 and George Syney in 1834. All baptised at Tiverton St Peters. Charlotte, James, Edward and George all died young. Of the boys only William and John survived to a marriageable age, a situation not untypical at a time of overcrowded and malnourished populations. By the time of the 1851 Census, Henry and Ann are back on parish pay, their eldest surviving son, William, is living in St Pauls Exeter and his younger brother John is still in Tiverton, each brother with his own wife and family. By 1861 Ann Ayshford (nee Needs) is dead and Henry is living with John and his wife, still on parish pay. Henry died on 15th April 1865. He had lived to see his grandchildren come to maturity but what a roller-coaster his life had been. From the son of an esquire to a labourer in a matter of months. It was for his sons, particularly the tradesman William, to start the long road back to solvency.
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