Booth II and Elizabeth had six children, losing one (Mary) in infancy. After Booth II died, Elizabeth took the children to Aston in Birmingham, only 5km from the home of their Handsworth ancestors.
Booth Hodgetts III (1822-1845)
This Booth was consumptive; he went to live with his grandparents at Charman’s Farm, likely seeking cleaner air. Aged 23, he made his will in 1845 and died a fortnight later.
Family legend suggests that the surviving Hodgetts children were expected to marry well. Given their father and grandparents died before any of them married, it must have been Elizabeth Hope who held such expectations.
Mary Campion Hodgetts (1827-1914)
The marriage of Mary Campion’ Hodgetts would have delighted her mother as her husband (the Reverend John Lynes) had a lengthy pedigree listed in Burke’s Family Records. He was also her second cousin (the grandson of Sarah Webb). Mary and the Rev John lived at the Melchbourne Vicarage, then at Sandsfort House, Wyke Regis which they inherited from her aunt, Elizabeth Hodgetts. They had a daughter and three sons. Mary Campion was living with her son at Lound Rectory when she died in 1914.
Thomas Hodgetts (1819-1888)
Thomas was the eldest son. At the age of 20, he was articled to his grandfather’s solicitors for five years. He worked in both Birmingham and Chancery Court, London. His 1845 marriage is unlikely to have met his mother’s expectations as his bride, Harriet Wiltshire, was the daughter of a carpenter. Thomas had been named executor for his brother (Booth III’s) will two months earlier. Despite being a solicitor, Thomas NEVER fulfilled this duty, suggesting an estrangement from his family. His eighteen-year-old sister (Mary Campion) was the prime beneficiary and, by not applying for probate, Thomas effectively withheld a legacy of £600 from her. Perhaps she had snubbed his wife. Thomas continued in Chancery Lane until 1850 before moving to Daventry in Northamptonshire. Harriet’s death in 1851 caused a complete life change and Thomas set out on a big adventure with his brothers – more on that shortly. Cautiously, he wrote his will the day of departure. It favoured his mother.
William Hodgetts (1825-1888)
William trained as a surgeon, serving an apprenticeship with a Birmingham general practitioner, apothecary and surgeon named Henry Francis Burdett. Medicine was quite primitive, and surgery mainly a matter of amputations. It seems William disliked the work as he never practiced medicine and may not have completed his training. He did, however, remain on good terms with Henry Burdett who was also a friend of his brother, Thomas. On 31 July 1852, William was living with or near Thomas at Daventry. On that day, William married Maria Breedon. Family legend indicates she had been his housekeeper, and his family disapproved the match. Maria’s father was a glass cutter so she was from quite a different sphere of society. You can read about Maria’s family here. Family disapproval motivated the young couple to set out for a new life, but more on that shortly.
Joseph Hope Hodgetts (1830-1898)
Joseph Hope Hodgetts, the youngest son, attended King Edward’s School in Aston and became a surveyor. He was the second executor in the will of his deceased brother, Booth III. Not having acted for seven years, Joseph applied for probate in 1852. It came through eight days before joining his brothers on a grand adventure. As a result, he had a legacy of £250 to add to his own funds for the venture.
The three brothers were bound for the Victorian goldfields.
Sources & Notes
Baptisms Ancestry:
- Thomas Hodgetts bapt 3/2/1819 Speldhurst, Kent
- Mary Hodgetts bapt 8/10/1820 (no burial found), Speldhurst, Kent
- Booth Hodgetts bapt 29/12/1822, Speldhurst, Kent
- William Hodgetts, bapt 29/5/1825 Brasted, Kent
- Mary Campion Hodgetts bapt 28/12/1827 Sundridge Kent.
- Joseph Hope Hodgetts Bapt 14/3/1830, Charlton-near-Dover.
Thomas Hodgetts:
- Solicitor 16/3/1840 articled to Clement Ingleby for five years, Articles of Clerkship, Ancestry. Ingleby and Wragge were his grandfather’s solicitors who had an office in Birmingham and worked in the Chancery court in London. They acted in the probate of Booth’s will, for Thomas Webb Hodgetts on behalf of Booth Hodgetts in 1843, (Wolverhampton Chronicle, 8/2/1843) and for Thomas in the matter of his aunt’s will in 1870.
- 1841 Census: 20yo clerk with mother at Park Crescent, Aston.
- Marriage 31/7/1845, St John, Clerkenwell Islington, London, Ancestry.
- Residence: 1841 census: 20 yo clerk living with his mother at Park Crescent, Aston. Will of (brother) Booth Hodgetts shows Thomas had lived in Birmingham and in 1845 was at 5 River Street, Pentonville, Middlesex; 1847-1850 solicitor 126 Temple Chambers, Chancery Lane, London Post Office Directories, Ancestry; 1850 solicitor and Westerham agent for Phoenix Insurance, South Eastern Gazette, 2/4/1850. Census: 1851 32 yo accountant and attorney with wife 28 yo Sarah HE Hodgetts in High Street Daventry.
- Harriet’s death Gro Ref 1851 Vol 3 p173, 16/10/1851 High Street Daventry, wife of Thomas Hodgetts attorney, disease of kidneys, dropsy 13 weeks, informant Mary Bailey, Foundry Place High Street Daventry, present at the death. Harriet Burial 20/10/1851, Daventry, Northamptonshire, Ancestry; 1851-2 Working for Gery & Son of Daventry Northampton Mercury 19/4/1851, Northampton Mercury 6/3/1852.
Booth Hodgetts III:
- Burial 20/5/1845, Westerham, Kent: Booth Hodgetts, Age24, Kent, Ancestry; Will of Booth Hodgetts 1845, probate 1852, Ancestry (mentions Joseph Hope at King Edward’s school).
Mary Campion Hodgetts:
- 1841 Census: 13yo student at boarding school in Kenilworth, Ancestry.
- 1851 Census: with mother at Park Crescent, Aston.
- Marriage: Rev John Lynes 17/11/1853 Barnstaple, Devon, Burke’s Family Records, Ancestry.
- 1861 Census: 33yo Mary C Lynes at vicarage of Melchbourne with husband 40yo John Lynes, curate of Melchbourne; 1871: at Sandsfort House, Wyke Regis with 50yo John Lynes, clergyman and children Frances M Lynes, John Lynes, Thomas Lynes, Booth Hodgetts Lynes. Death 4/4/1914 Scotland, National Probate Index, Ancestry.
William Hodgetts
- 1841 Census: 15yo (ages rounded) with mother at Park Crescent, Aston.
- 1851 census 23 Temple Row, Birmingham: William Hodgetts, visitor, medical assistant with Henry F Burdett (Head, General Practitioner and surgeon) and his family (The 1861 census also shows Henry Burdett with an apprentice surgeon);
- Marriage: William Hodgetts and Maria Breedon 31/7/1852 Aston, St Peter and St Paul, Warwickshire, England, Birmingham, Ancestry.
- Argus, 24/6/1856, p1 “refers to William Hodgetts, previous “HODGETTS, Mr., (formerly with -Dr. Bardett, of Birmingham, England,) will hear of something to his advantage by aplying to John Campbell, 55 Spring-street.”
Joseph Hope Hodgetts:
- 1841 Census: 15yo (ages rounded) with mother at Park Crescent, Aston.
- 1851 Census 21yo surveyor with mother at Park Crescent, Aston.