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Emma DICKINSON
1857 - 1947 (89 years)
Has 3 ancestors and one descendant in this family tree.
Set As Default Person 
-
Name Emma DICKINSON Relationship 
with Teresa Ann GOATHAM Born 6 Feb 1857 Meriden, Warwickshire, England 
- GRO ref: Dickenson, Emma q1 1857 Meriden RD 6d 314; GRO online index does not shown a mother's maiden name, suggesting she was illegitimate.
Emma is shown as the daughter of the unmarried Sophia in the 1861 census and the daughter of Philip Dickinson on her marriage certificate (marriage to Herbert Goatham). The census entry could be a mistake - Sophia's parents were certainly young enough to have another child - but following a list of brothers and sisters a change to daughter seems unlikely to be an error; most likely Philip was her grandfather not father, though she could have been brought up as the sister of Sophia. Now there is a GRO online index with mother's maiden names that agrees with Sophia being her mother. (Of course it is possible that Sophia was her mother and Philip her father, but probably unlikely).
Shown on the 1939 register with a birth date of 6 Feb 1862, I guess date and months are correct although year isn't.
Baptised 22 Feb 1857 St. Laurence’s Church, Meriden, Warwickshire, England - From PR entry (image on Ancestry, viewed 3 Oct 2017)
Gender Female Census 1861 Meriden, Warwickshire, England Education 1861 Scholar Census 1871 Meriden, Warwickshire, England Census 1881 Eastwick Park, Great Bookham, Leatherhead, Surrey, England Residence 1887 Birchington, Kent, England - At the time of her first marriage (from KFHS transcription of banns data, on CD 39)
Census 1891 Lower Beeding, Horsham, Sussex, England Census 1901 9A, Streatham Place, Streatham, London, England Residence to 27 Apr 1909 28, Ebury Street, Pimlico, London, England At time of 2nd marriage - If the numbering in the road hasn't changed, then no. 28, now (2011) part of "Tophams Hotel", is a classical 5 storey town house, as can be seen on Google street view.
Census 1911 Fern House, High Street, Garlinge, Margate, Kent, England Census2 Apr 1911 Fern House, High Street, Garlinge, Margate, Kent, England Census29 Sep 1939 Alexandra Homes, Margate, Kent, England Died 4 Jan 1947 33, Alexandra Homes, Margate, Kent, England - GRO ref: Goatham, Emma q1 1947 Thanet RD 5b 1072 age 90
In the BMD column of the Thanet Advertiser (14 Jan 1947, p.6, col. 8):
"Goatham.-4th January, at 33 Alex-
andra Homes, Margate, Emma
Goatham, late of Garlinge, aged
90 years."
Half-siblings4 half brothers and 1 half sister (family of Thomas SKIDMORE and Sophia DICKINSON) Patriarch & Matriarch 
Frances THOMPSON, b. Abt 1818, Meriden, Warwickshire, England, bur. 19 Feb 1897, St. Laurence’s Church, Meriden, Warwickshire, England (Age ~ 79 years) (Grandmother) 
Notes - Emma's mother Sophia was unmarried when she was born in 1857, but was head of household not only to her young daughter in 1861 but also to 4 younger brothers and sisters (aged 9 to 18), so Emma probably spent her early years with quite a few family members around. They appear to have been hard working; not only did Sophia have family responsibilities but she was also described as a charwoman in the 1861 census, while her own mother, by then a widow though only aged 42, was not with her children because she was a live-in house servant at the home of local GP Harry Adkins and his family. Emma's birthplace was the village of Meriden, between Birmingham and Coventry, and it was here that by the age of 14 Emma had taken the place of her grandmother as the sole live-in general servant tothe GP Henry Adkins and his family. She was to continue in domestic service for much of her life. Ten years later (1881) she was a housemaid in Eastwick Park Mansion in Great Bookham, Surrey - the home of young brewer Hedworth Barclay and his mother and sister. Very different to the GPs home, here Emma was one of 7 servants living in in a very grand house (now demolished), while the grooms, gardeners, game keeper etc. lived in the stables / botthie / gardeners house etc.
These Francis Frith photos give an idea of the house - the first is impressive, but part is hidden from view as becomes apparent in this second.
Both of Emma's marriages took place on the Isle of Thanet, so she may have found work here, though as her first husband, Tom Newing, was also a servant (groom / coachman) they could have met anywhere and just married on Thanet because that's where his family were living. In 1881 Tom had been working in Westminster. Eastwick Park was sold in 1882 - Hedworth probably inherited on his father's death in 1873 but only came of age in 1880, a change of circumstance which may have freed him to sell and and this may also have led to a change in employment for Emma. (No obvious link of the Barclays with Thanet - in 1891 Hedworth was a visitor in Leicestershire, while his mother was living in Wandsworth).
Although they had married in 1887 on Thanet, by the time of the 1891 census Emma and Tom were living and (Tom at least) working in Lower Beeding near Horsham in Sussex, where Tom was a coachman (domestic). It is not clear who he worked for - he was living in the village with adjacent census entries being for labourers, a carpenter and a beerhouse keeper. The closest family (census entry wise) likely to have employed a coachman was that at Newells, but the entry immediately after that for the main house is the stables where a coachman lived; the previous page though includes both the Vicar and one Louisa Maria Hulbard, both wealthy enough to employ several servants, so possibly a coachman too. A William Hulbard, probably Louisa's brother, was living at Selehurst (a C19th "gentleman's house" in Lower Beeding) and clearly did employ a coachman.
By 1901 they had moved again and were the two servants living with publican W H Caudwell, his wife and a companion at 9A Streatham Place (in Streatham). Some writing on the census has marks over making it very hard to read but it appears that Tom may no longer have been a coachman and that he at least was working at the Inn, rather than in the home. Mr Caudwell was aged 68 so probably needed someone younger to heave barrels around! (Was this Tom's choice or was there less work for co achmen with the spread of the railways now being augmented with cars beginning to make an appearance?) By the time of her second marriage she was presumably working at the Ebury Street address in Belgravia, given as her address she was living at on the marriage certificate.
William Newing witnessed Emma's marriage to her second husband Herbert in 1909 (with Mary E Scott, one of Herbert's sisters); William was not only Emma's father-in-law in her 1st marriage, but the husband of Herbert's mother-in-law by his 1st marriage - presumably it was through her 1st in-laws that she met Herbert, especially as she appears to have spent little if any time living on Thanet prior to her second marriage.
Her birthdate would suggest that Emma was 51 when she married Herbert though the marriage certificate gives her age as 49 - she was a few years older than both of her husbands and seems to have lost 2 or 3 years during her marriage to Tom! Although Emma appears to have had no children of her own with Tom (if she did have any the absence of them with her in the censuses would suggest they did not survive infancy), and was too old when she married Herbert, but she was a much-loved step mother to Ethel, for whom she was the only mother she knew. Her other step-children were probably too old when their father remarried to regard her as their mother; Charles was the only one still living at home in 1911 and he was 25 and to marry later that year, but she was also a "granny" to Charles's son Eric and presumably her other grandchildren. Living to 90 she would have seen them grow up - though those born across the ocean may never have met her.
Person ID I178 All | England: Kent Group (in Go(a)tham One-Name Study), England: Kent Group - subjects of Go(a)tham One-Name Study, All in the Goatham / Gotham One-Name Study , All subjects of the Goatham / Gotham One-Name Study, The descendants (and other halves) of Charles Goatham and Sybilla née Hunt, The descendants (and other halves) of George Goatham and Ann née Winch, The descendants (and other halves) of John Prior and Amy née Reynolds, The descendants (and other halves) of Richard Whitehead and Mary née Grigsby Last Modified 1 Dec 2023
Mother Sophia DICKINSON, b. Mar Q 1839, Meriden, Warwickshire, England , d. Mar Q 1914, Meriden Reg Dist, Warwickshire, England (Age ~ 75 years)
Other Partners: Thomas SKIDMORE m. 1 Feb 1870Married? Not married or evidence to suggest they didn't marry Family ID F4094 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family 1 Thomas ("Tom") NEWING, b. Dec Q 1861, Dunkirk, Kent, England , d. Jun Q 1908, Lambeth Reg Dist, London, England (Age ~ 47 years) Banns of marriage From 17 Apr 1887 to 1 May 1887 All Saints’ Church, Birchington, Kent, England - From KFHS CD 39 (transcribed data)
Married 4 May 1887 All Saints’ Church, Birchington, Kent, England - GRO ref: NEWING, Thomas to DICKINSON, Emma q2 1887 Thanet RD 2a 1371
Details from PR entry (image on FMP, viewed 26 Jan 2018)
Last Modified 23 May 2020 Family ID F276 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family 2 Herbert GOATHAM, b. 18 Feb 1862, Church Street, Faversham, Kent, England , d. 18 Apr 1934, 33, Alexandra Homes, Margate, Kent, England (Age 72 years)
Other Partners: Sarah Ann HYDE m. 28 Aug 1881Married 27 Apr 1909 Emmanuel Church (Lady Huntingdon Connexion), Margate, Kent, England - Lady Huntingdon Connexion (I have cert)
Certificate for the marriage of Herbert Goatham to Emma Newing Children 1. Ethel Florence GOATHAM, b. 5 Apr 1902, Bakers' Shop, Garlinge, Margate, Kent, England , d. 4 Aug 1983, Hill House Hospital, Minster in Thanet, Kent, England (Age 81 years) [natural and legitima] [Stepchild]▻ John Charles DENTON m. Dec Q 1939Last Modified 23 May 2020 Family ID F112 Family Group Page | Family Chart
- GRO ref: Dickenson, Emma q1 1857 Meriden RD 6d 314; GRO online index does not shown a mother's maiden name, suggesting she was illegitimate.