The search for the Carpenters begins with James.

James Carpenter

The only evidence for James Carpenter’s age comes from the burial register and sexton’s day book at St Martin in the Fields which state that he was 50 years old when he died in June 1819. However, the facts set out by Sarah Carpenter in her examinations in 1816 and 1819 provide a number of facts which suggest that James is older.

Sarah tells us that James was apprenticed from St Anne’s Charity School (which the history of the school tells us they would do when boys reached the age of 14) and that his seven year apprenticeship ended in 1784 (there is some evidence to support these dates, as we know that James was a witness to a theft at his master’s premises at Long Acre in 1783 which is consistent with the address given by Sarah for James’ last 4 years as an apprentice).

Sarah’s evidence also implies that James attended St Anne’s Charity School which did not admit boys below the age of 9 or 10^[1].

Taken at face value, these facts would suggest that James was 14 in 1777 when his apprenticeship started and 21 when it ended in 1784. On this basis, James would have been born around 1763 and attended school from either 1772 or 1773 until 1777.

No mention is given to James’ place of birth in the examination book. It is not clear whether this was because (a) Sarah did not know the details, (b) this was not relevant (perhaps subsequent events had overridden this original settlement right) or (c) it indicates that he did not have such a strong claim to poor relief from St Martin in the Fields? (i.e. that he was not born in the parish).

Our feeling is that if Sarah had been aware that James had been born in St Martin in the Fields this would have been mentioned, so perhaps this means we need to look elsewhere for James.

It is possible that James’ move to St Martin the Fields was connected to his work as an umbrella maker/for the Deykins and may have pre-dated his marriage to Sarah in 1803.

The earliest record we now have for the Carpenters places them in the Parish of St Anne’s Soho, Westminster.

James Carpenter, son of Peter & Ann Carpenter

Until the discovery of the evidence given by Sarah in 1816 we had considered the James Carpenter born in St Martin in the Fields to Peter & Ann Carpenter and baptised on 18th November 1770 to be a good fit for our James - on the basis that he if he was 50 years old at his death in 1819 he would have been born around 1769 – although we were never able to find any evidence to connect him to our family.

It now seems unlikely that this is our James given the likelihood that we now suspect he is older. In addition, a search of the burial registers of St Anne’s Soho reveals that a James from St Martin in the Fields was buried in 1771 which could be the same individual (one of the other children from this couple was buried in St Anne’s Soho around this time).

Peter and Ann Carpenter were descended from French Huguenots and their family tree is fascinating. Peter and Ann married at the Mayfair Chapel in 1753. Peter was a goldsmith.

Ann Carpenter (née Le Dru) was baptised in 1731 at the French church in Castle Street. Ann’s father, Hermand Le Dru,  was a watchmaker at Tower Street, St Giles in the Field and one of his watches survives today in the collection of the British Museum. Her grandfather, Harmand Le Dru, brought his family from Valenciennes, France to London via Dublin, Ireland. This tree can be traced back to André Dupain and Catherine Penin, whose son Théodore was baptised at Loudun in January 1590 (André was Ann’s great-great-great grandfather). If you are interested in this line, please get in touch and we can supply further details.

Carpenters in St Anne’s Soho

The records show that there were a number of Carpenter families in St Anne Soho in the late 18th century, including three families of Huguenot origin – not entirely surprising given William Maitland’s claim (made in the in the mid-eighteenth century) that "Many parts of this parish so greatly abound with French that it is an easy matter for a stranger to imagine himself in France"^[2].

However, given the evidence that the Carpenter families were spread across the neighbouring parishes of St Giles in the Fields and St Martin in the Fields it will be necessary to build up a more complete picture of births, marriages and deaths to understand where (and indeed, if) our Carpenters fit into this.

Jane, Caroline and Edward Carpenter

The admission of Jane, Caroline and Edward to the workhouse from Moor’s Yard in 1800 is intriguing. Is it possible that these are relatives of James? Were they living in Moor’s Yard at the same time?

The earliest that we know our James lived in Moors Yard was 1804 but we do not have any information on where he was based between 1784 and 1803. There is some evidence that one or two umbrella makers had property in Moor’s Yard at the turn of the century and James could have been working there prior to his marriage in 1803.

Jane died in 1801 and Edward was sent to Lancashire as an apprentice in 1802 at the age of 10 (until the age of 21).

An Edward Carpenter who was born in St Martin in the Fields in 1792 appears in the 1851 and 1861 census – which we assume is the same individual returned to London after completing his apprenticeship. Edward was an umbrella maker, presumably having learnt his trade from James Carpenter or through James’ connection to the Deykin family. Edward later lived in Stibbington Street, Camden Town at more or less the same time as James’ grandson, Alfred William Carpenter was living there. Our feeling is that there are too many coincidences for Edward not to be related.

It seems possible that Jane’s husband (assuming that she was a widow in 1800) could be the brother of James – but who was he?

Unfortunately, the settlement examination books for 1800 which could have given us the answers (assuming Jane applied for poor relief before they were admitted to the workhouse) have not survived. Other records which might have provided the answers have also proved unhelpful (Edward’s entry in the register of apprentices states ‘not known’ in the column used to record parents names).

There is an entry for the marriage of a Thomas Carpenter to Jane Price in the Parish of St Anne’s Soho in 1787. Jane Carpenter (née Price) could be the same individual that enters the workhouse, but there has been no evidence to establish this so far.

The baptisms of Edward (1792) and Caroline (1800) are the key pieces of information needed in our search for the Carpenters. At the moment these have not been located, although we do know that these baptisms did not take place in St Anne’s Soho or St Martin in the Fields.