Lucy Jane Brooker of Victorian London

Lucy Jane Brooker was born on the 29th of August, 1804 to Henry and Hannah Brooker. They lived in the City of London in a parish known as St Gregory by St Paul’s. Lucy was baptized there when she was five weeks old.¹ St Gregory’s was built along the outer wall of St Paul’s Cathedral, but it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and never rebuilt.²

Lucy's baptismal record shows the names of her parents, Henry and Hannah.

Although they still maintained the parish identity of St Gregory by St Paul’s, Lucy would have actually been dunked into the baptismal waters in nearby St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street (which was also destroyed in the great conflagration, but rebuilt long before Lucy came along).³

Lucy celebrated her 30th birthday six months before she married Charles Wiggins on the 24th day of February, 1836 at the church of St George Botolph Lane.⁴ That put her about ten years behind the median age of marriage for the mid-19th century.⁵ Charles was a decade older, as well as a widower twice over.

Banns were published before Lucy's marriage on the 7th, 14th, and 21st of February.

Despite her advanced age, Lucy did not seem to have any trouble with producing children. Charles and Lucy would welcome a new child about every two years for the next decade.

They had four sons and a daughter - Frederick Colthurst Wiggins arrived in 1837⁶ (two months before the coronation of Queen Victoria), Henry Wiggins was two years later in 1839,⁷ followed by George Henry Wiggins in 1841,⁸ Lucy Wiggins in 1843,⁹ and finally Walter Brooker Wiggins joined the family in 1846.¹⁰ The family of Lucy and Charles was beginning to grow as the Victorian era began, the Pickwick Papers brought Dickens to national prominence, and London’s industrialization filled the streets with smog.¹¹

On the 1851 census, Lucy was recorded with her Charles and their five children.

Frederick and Henry were baptised at St Katherine Coleman, which was not far from the church where Charles and Lucy were married. But the next three children were baptised at St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey, so the family likely moved across the Thames into Southwark around 1840.

Lucy’s husband passed away in March of 1869 and was buried in Nunhead Cemetery.¹² She moved in with her daughter, Lucy, who had married Thomas John Mossman in 1867. Thomas was a diamond merchant and the growing family employed a team of servants that also grew over the years.¹³ It was likely a very different household to which Lucy (or her daughter) would have been accustomed.

Lucy died in 1893 at the age of 88. She was buried in Nunhead Cemetery, though in a different plot than her husband.¹⁴

Since Lucy's death, Nunhead Cemetery has fallen into neglect, but is beginning to be revitalized.

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This is the third post in a set of family history profiles that I am calling #20in2020. I'll post the next one in a couple weeks.

Sources

1 "London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812" Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1624&h=7061429 : download 17 February 2020)

2 St Gregory by St Paul's. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 17 February, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Gregory_by_St_Paul%27s

3 St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 17 February, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary_Magdalen_Old_Fish_Street

4 "England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973" Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=9852&h=6360657 : download 17 February 2020)

5 "Historical Trends in Marriage Formation, United States 1850 – 1990" (http://users.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Articles/Fitch_and_Ruggles.pdf : download 17 February 2020)

6 "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917" Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1558&h=783392 : download 17 February 2020)

7 "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917" Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1558&h=783427 : download 17 February 2020)

8 "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917" Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1558&h=4600319 : download 17 February 2020)

9 "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917" Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1558&h=5060007 : download 17 February 2020)

10 "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917" Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1558&h=5396116 : download 17 February 2020)

11 Victorian Era. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 17 February, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era

12 "England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915" FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8914&h=36630440 : download 17 February 2020)

13 "1871 England Census" Ancestry.com. 1871 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7619&h=5874893 : download 17 February 2020)

14 DeceasedOnline.com Burial Registry Summary. (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOImage?sessionid=079089DF8C84911410B3595FED75A7B813504C48&imageid=10123911&type=B : download 17 February 2020)