Pamela Edwards. of Brunley, Lancs, says John and Emma Edwards moved with their family to Burnley and are recorded here in 1871 Census.  Was living so hard in those days that a farm labourer, or maltster as he is variously described should wish to move to N.E. Lancs to train as a cotton operative? Would they have had adverts in the local paper inviting such a move?  They moved here and took up residence in back-to-back accommodation, which may or may not have been the norm in St. Albans, and my husband is a descendant of the family.  They had three children, Samuel, Alfred and Elizabeth.  Samuel is a bit of a mystery.  Recorded in the Census here it says born in St. A. but neither St. A. nor Watford Registry offices can help me.  He is not in IGI, and the General Register listings I have seen in Blackburn are one big blur over the Edwards S. areas...  The Lancs. and Yorks. Railway had recently been opened which gave Burnley links with the rest of the country.  Do you know of similar instances of moving to the industrial north?  Would appreciate any ideas with background info.

You raise a number of points and it will probably help others who read my reply if I add ages, etc, from the 1851 and 1881 census returns.

In the 1851 census Samuel Edwards (35. maltster, born St Stephens, St Albans) was living in Sopwell Lane, St Albans, with his wife Lydia (29, born Gaddesden), two sons born in Bushey: John (10) and William (7) and three daughters born in St Albans: Eliza (5), Amelia (2) and Sarah (1 month). There were also two lodgers. It is interesting that Samuel Edwards of Sopwell Lane voted (and accepted bribes) in the St Albans elections of 1847 and 1850, and gave evidence in the resulting parliamentary enquiry and there was a property qualification, but he is not listed in any of the trade directories covering St Albans over the next 30 years suggesting he was not in business in his own right.

In the 1881 census Samuel (65, born Park Street) is still living in the Sopwell lane with Lydia (59, born Little Gaddesden). He is described as an agricultural labourer (formerly maltster) and the birth places are given more precisely. Son John (40, general labourer, born Bushey Heath), his wife Emma (40, born St Albans) and St Albans born children Alfred (17, cotton weaver) and Elizabeth Jane (15, cotton weaver) were living at 21 Zion Street, Whalley, Lancs. Samuel Edwards junior (20, cotton weaver, born St Albans) and his wife Mary Ann (19, cotton weaver, born Carlisle) were at 8 Greenhalfh Place, Whalley.

Question 1. Details of Samuel Edwards junior's  birth. While civil registration started in 1837 and most children's births were registered it did not become compulsory until 1875 so Samuel's birth may never have been registered, There were also possibilities of errors in the registration process -see A Comedy of Errors. Another possibility is that John and Emma were not married when Samuel was born - so he would have been registered under her maiden name. You might be lucky to find a baptism -  and any clues about their religious denomination would help.

Question 2. Mobility of Hertfordshire labourers. As the large industrial mills developed in the North of England people moved from the countryside to the towns - and the back to back housing was very much a feature of the Northern industrial revolution - and as far as I am aware such mass cheap housing developments did not happen in Hertfordshire. As labourers moved to the town for factory work there was a shortage of agricultural labourers in the areas affected, and wages increased. Hertfordshire agricultural labourers were among the worst paid so there was motivation for them to move - and if you search the 1881 census for, say Lancashire, for people born in Hertfordshire  you can get some idea of who moved. I have been trying to follow up some labourers who left Sandridge in 1873 following an agricultural strike and the union tried to help them move - although adverts encouraging people to move were usually for places such as New Zealand or Queensland.

For an example of other people moving north see
 GILL/BATES, Tring/Marsworth > Yorkshire, 1875

If you can add to the information given above tell me.

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