James Goddard baptised 26th June, 1803 at Angmering, son of Thomas and Sarah Goddard. Married Sarah Dyer at Angmering Church on the 22nd December 1827. Died 17th August 1862 aged 60 years.

Children

Henry, born 22.4.1829, baptised 4.5.1829, died 21.9.1876
William, baptised 6.5.1832, buried 12.2.1833
Charles, born 17.4.1834, baptised 1.1.1837, died 18.9.1904
George, born 1.11.1836, baptised 1.1.1837, died 12.10.1904
Emily, born 28.11.1839, baptised 8.12.11839, buried 7.2.1860
Oliver, born 3.2.1834, baptised 2.4.1845
Alfred, born 8.2.1846, baptised 5.4.1846, died 5.2.1911
Fanny, born 5.5.1849, baptised 22. 7.1849, died 11.12.1908
Dan Dyer, born 28.5.1853, baptised 24.7.1853, died 8.2.1924

All the children were baptised at Angmering

Note: James was born during the reign of George III, as was his father and grandfather. He lived through the reign of William IV, and Victoria had been on the throne for 25 years by the time he died. The Industrial Revolution gained momentum during his lifetime – Stephenson invented the Rocket in 1829, and the first railway started in 1830. The Indian Mutiny occurred, and colonial wars took place in many countries, – e.g. Burma and Afghanistan.


I imagine that James and Sarah must have spent all their lives in Angmering without travelling too far from it. All their children were born there, and they died there. Both he and Sarah ‘made their mark’ on their marriage certificate, so they were not literate. His occupation on his death certificate was given as ‘agricultural labourer’, and one can assume that that is what he had been for all his life. On his death certificate it also states that he had had chronic bronchitis for 18 years, and that he died of acute bronchitis. What a hard life the men like him must have had at that time. One can imagine the hours and hours of long work in all weather conditions, with no medical help for a ‘bad chest’, and probably never really having dry clothes or boots in rainy periods. Sarah was working as a charwoman according to the 1861 and 1871 censuses. All credit to them that they were able to bring up their family, without apparently having to ‘go to the parish’ – asking for charity – there is no record of them receiving any assistance in the parish records. As so often happened in those days, some of their children died at an early age, William when he was only a baby, was buried on the 12th February, 1833, and I haven’t yet been able to trace what happened to Oliver. Emily died in 1860, when she would have been 20 years old. The fact that in later life the details of the deaths of most of the brothers and sisters are recorded in Dan and Jane’s family bible must indicate that they all kept in touch after they left Angmering. Joan Hollman, one of Charles’ great grand-daughters, tells me that her Aunt Edie told her that she remembered at the age of about 9, which would have been in approximately 1920, going to Brighton from Dorking and meeting Dan and Jane, James was buried in Angmering on the 21st August, 1862, and Sarah died on the 18th March, 1879, and was buried on the 23rd March.

The children

Henry does not appear to have married. According to the 1861 and 1871 censuses he was living at home, and was an agricultural labourer. It is recorded in the family bible that he died on the 21st September 1876.

Charles became a miller, married twice, and had a large family. He died in Dorking on the 18th September 1904, and was buried in Dorking Cemetery.

George married Sarah Roberts in Angmering on the 16th May, 1868. They appear on the censuses in 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 as living in Angmering, and do not seem to have had any children at all. Their address was Baker’s Row, which is opposite the church. George was an agricultural labourer in later life, although on his marriage certificate his occupation was given as ‘mariner’. George died on the 12th October, 1904, and was buried at Angmering on the 16th October.

Alfred’s surname was given as ‘Gotherd’ at his baptism. He was a gardener from the time he started work at the age of 13 or 14. He married Alice Anna Winsor, who came from Clapham, in Angmering on the 15th May, 1869. They lived in Angmering for some time after they were married, then for a period in Lyminster, and by the time of the 1881 census they were at Tortington. They had five children at that time. Alfred died on the 5th February 1911, and was buried at Bognor Regis.

Fanny. Oh, how I regret not listening more closely to tales of the family!! All I know from the family bible is that Fanny died in Brighton at the age of 59 years on the 11th December 1908, and was buried in Brighton. I imagine she must have married – perhaps one day I shall find out. There were certainly cousins who were relatives of Dan’s visiting and staying in the vicinity of Richmond Road up until the 1940’s, and I imagine that these may well have been Fanny’s family.

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