Butland Gooding Family Tree

The Gooding Family Part 2: Dorking and Croydon to Kent (1845 – 1953)

Joseph Gooding (1845 – 1896) was the seventh of George Jubilee and Susanna’s children, and the third son. Records tell us that he was born on 1 March 1845 and baptised on 27 April the same year at St Peter’s Marsh Baldon. He remained living at the family home until at least 1861, working as an agricultural labourer, before moving to Dorking where he is recorded in 1871 as living in West Street with his wife and two sons as well as his unmarried sister, Frances Payne Gooding. Joseph had married Mary Ann Dangerfield (1846 – 1880) at St Clement Danes church in Westminster on 23 December 1866. In 1871 he was working as a railway porter.

Joseph changed career during the 1870s. When his son Arthur was baptised in 1878 in Dorking, Joseph’s occupation was recorded as “waiter”. By 1881, he was widowed and living in Junction Road, Croydon where he was managing a coffee tavern, and he remained in this business for the rest of his life.

Joseph and Mary Ann had six children together, four boys and two girls. Although three survived to adulthood, one, Walter James, died at the age of 7. I have been unable to trace the lives of the oldest (George Henry) and the youngest (Elizabeth Kate) as yet. Mary Ann was unfortunately unwell with tuberculosis for six years and died on 12 February 1880, only seven months after her youngest daughter’s birth (baptised July 1879). She was 34.

On 10 April 1881, Joseph married a second time, to Mary Ann Hubbard (nee Gale), a widow from Dorking. The marriage took place at St Martin’s church. Joseph had a further three children, one son and two daughters, with his second wife.

St Martin’s Church, Dorking, https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2402905/st-martin-churchyard

By 1891, Joseph and Mary Ann were living at the Coffee House on 288 London Road, Croydon, with five of the children. Joseph’s occupation was listed as Coffee House Keeper, with his wife and the two older children, Susan and Arthur, all Coffee House Helpers. When Arthur married in 1899, the marriage certificate gave his late father Joseph’s occupation as a Restaurant Keeper. I have not been able to find any photographs of the coffee tavern and the original building no longer exists.

Joseph died in Croydon of pleuro-pneumonia and exhaustion on 29 May 1896. He was at home, now 390 London Road, Croydon, and his son Arthur was present at his death.

Arthur Gooding (1878 – 1933) was the fifth child and fourth son of Joseph and his first wife Mary Ann Dangerfield. He was born in July 1878 and baptised on 22 September the same year at St Martin’s church.

When Arthur married Fanny Peters (1876 – 1953) in 1899, he was still living at 390 London Road, in the Thornton Heath area of Croydon and was working as a labourer, having had a very brief military career. The wedding took place at Holy Saviour church in Croydon on 4 November. The couple had five children, three sons followed by two daughters, four of whom lived to adulthood.

In 1901, the couple had moved to Plumstead in Woolwich and had a son, Arthur Joseph Charles Gooding (1900 -1961). The family lived at 359 High Street along with two other families, and Arthur worked as a General Labourer. The family had moved to 1 Sutcliffe Road in Plumstead by 1911, by which time there were three surviving children and Arthur was working at the Royal Gun Factory in Woolwich as a Hyde Crane Driver. This painting shows the Royal Gun Factory in 1918. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/5150

I have not been able to find out what a “Hyde” crane was, however my grandmother told me that her grandfather Arthur was an engine driver and the Royal Gun Factory did have a steam crane that ran on rails so this perhaps was it.

https://www.royal-arsenal-history.com/royal-arsenal-west—woolwich.html

Arthur Gooding died aged 54 on 27 June 1933 at St Alfege’s Hospital in Kent. He was buried in Greenwich on 30^th June, and left £455 to his wife in his will. Fanny lived for almost another 20 years, until 2 February 1953 when she died in Folkestone aged 76. She was buried on 5 February 1953 in Hawkinge Cemetery.

The Gooding Family Part 1: Oxfordshire Origins (1740 – 1887)

I have traced the Gooding family back to two small villages near Oxford, Toot Baldon and Marsh Baldon (sometimes March Baldon). Both villages are ancient and have remained fairly unchanged in terms of population size for many centuries. The following websites give a good overview of the history of these villages.

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol5/pp47-56

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol5/pp30-47

Our branch of the Gooding family lived in the area from at least the 1740s, and probably earlier, however I have been unable as yet to trace our direct Gooding ancestors any further than the 1740s from the parish registers.

hourglass-chart-for-arthur-gooding-2 Download

The earliest Gooding ancestor is John Gooding (?1740 – 1810). I have not been able to find John’s baptism in the village registers but he married Elizabeth Simmonds (1742 – 1803) on 23 October 1762 (Marsh Baldon) at which point the parish register gave his address as Toot Baldon. Elizabeth was baptised in 1742 in Marsh Baldon so it is likely that John was born around this time but may have been baptised elsewhere (or not at all). John and Elizabeth had two children baptised at Marsh Baldon, John Gooding (1769 – 1823) and Joyce (1772 – 1838). Elizabeth died in 1803, whilst John senior died in 1810 and was buried at Marsh Baldon on 21 October 1810.

John Gooding junior was baptised in Marsh Baldon in December 1769. He appears to have lived in Marsh Baldon all his life, marrying Sarah Polley (1774 – 1863) at St Peter’s church on 13 October 1796 and being buried there on 10 December 1823 aged 54. We know from Sarah’s death certificate that John had worked as an Agricultural Labourer. The Polley family also have a long local history. John and Sarah had eleven children between 1797 and 1817 (six sons and five daughters), of whom at least seven survived into adulthood (one child died in infancy, and I have not yet been able to trace the lives of the remaining three). Most of the surviving children remained in Oxfordshire however two, William and Martha, moved to London and another, Joseph, moved to Berkshire.

Sarah was buried in Marsh Baldon on 10 April 1863, having lived to the age of 88, and survived her husband by 40 years.

The eighth child (and third son) of John and Sarah was George Jubilee Gooding (1809 – 1887). Baptised on 7^th January 1810, it is likely that he was born in December 1809 as his middle name reflects the jubilee of King George III which was celebrated in 1809. He married Susanna West (1811 – 1887) on 16 December 1834, possibly in Nuneham Courtenay, the neighbouring village where Susanna was born. It has been possible to find out a bit more about George Jubilee than his ancestors due to the census records which began in 1841. Between 1841 – 1861, George Jubilee was recorded as being an Agricultural Labourer, a very common occupation for village men. There were several farms in the area. In 1871 he became Assistant Gamekeeper, and was subsequently recorded as Gamekeeper in 1881. The place of work is not noted but there was a large estate at Nuneham Courtenay which is a likely location.

Although none of the census records give the exact address where George Jubilee lived, he is listed in the electoral records for the Dorchester Polling District in 1885, with his address given as “Cottage 20 on the Green”. Marsh Baldon Green remains the centre of the village and has changed little over the years. George Jubilee and Susanna’s house can still be seen, though it has been extended in more recent times.

The 1885 register of voters also shows that five of the other houses on the Green were occupied by members of the extended Gooding family. This included three nephews, one of whom, Alfred, lived in the building that had been the old School House. Number 25 was lived in by George Jubilee’s brother Joseph, while number 47 was lived in by John Gooding who was either George Jubilee’s brother or his son, both of whom were still living in the area around this time. Thomas Gooding, who lived in The Lane just off the Green, would have been either George Jubilee’s brother or his nephew. A further three houses on The Green were lived in by members of the Polly (Polley) family.

The Old School House, Marsh Baldon (2018)

George Jubilee and Susanna had twelve children, eight sons and four daughters; all but one survived into adulthood, and most lived to a good age. Six of the ten surviving children remained in Oxfordshire, the rest moved to London, presumably for better work prospects.

George Jubilee lived to the age of 77, and was buried on Christmas Eve 1887 in Marsh Baldon having passed away on 20 December at Stanton St John in Oxfordshire. It is not clear why he was there and I have not been able to find a family connection with the person who registered his death. George Jubilee’s death certificate gives his age as 74 which is incorrect, he was also noted to be a General Labourer rather than a Gamekeeper, so it may be that the registrar was not someone close to him. His cause of death was “enlarged prostate, surgical kidney urinaemia”, i.e. uraemia, the end stage of chronic kidney disease. Unfortunately no headstone is visible in St Peter’s churchyard, it may be that the grave was unmarked. Susanna had died not long before (12 May 1887) aged 76. Her death certificate states that George Jubilee was present and he signed the certificate with his mark. He is recorded as being an Under Gamekeeper at this time so may have still been working up to his last few months of life.

After George Jubilee and Susanna’s deaths, 20 Marsh Baldon was lived in by George Jubilee’s younger brother Herbert (Ellis) Gooding and his family. George Jubilee and Susanna had 49 grandchildren so it is perhaps not surprising that some of them married each other. In 1908, Sidney Arthur Gooding (son of their son Richard Albert) married Beatrice Magdalen Gooding (daughter of their son John).

In Search of our Ancestors…

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I first began researching my family tree over 15 years ago. At this time, birth, marriage and death information was only available to me via microfiche, living, as I do, a long way away from where these family events took place. A day spent in the library may, if I was lucky, enable me to uncover a new generation of ancestors.

After a long break, I picked up my research about 3 years ago. Online digitised information has transformed the research process and I have discovered more than I ever thought possible about my ancestors and where they came from. I have also been able to correct a number of mistakes from my original research!

Family history has become a real hobby for me, I can lose myself for hours in research and love visiting some of the places where my ancestors’ feet once trod.

The purpose of this private website is to share some of my discoveries about the ancestors of the Butland and Gooding families with family members. I have embedded documents such as the relevant sections of the family tree for ease of reference, please note that I have not included any living family members in these charts so as to protect privacy. I hope that you will find it interesting but also that you may be able to add more detail, as I know that some of you have undertaken your own research or hold family archives yourselves. If you have photos, stories or documents that you would be able to share with me, please do get in touch!