Hertfordshire Genealogy: Crane, Sandridge, late 19th century

Jane Gourlay (?) of Plymouth writes: Do you have any information about a family called Crane who used to live in Sandridge? I believe that they were connected to farm work of some sort. My grandmother's maiden name was Elizabet Crane, she was born in about 1872 and died in about 1951. She later married Harold Noaks in London on her marriage certificate her father was listed as William Crane Dairy Man. I believe that her mother was called Rebecca. They eventually moved to Sandridge Road St. Albans. I was led to believe that the Richardsons who ran a printing firm in High Street St Albans were also relatives of ours.

Your ancestor, William Crane is of particular interest to me because for at least 20 years he lived in a house at Beech Bottom - a massive Iron Age ditch which was part of Jacob Reynolds (my greatgrandfather)'s farm on Bernards Heath. The information I have on him, mainly from census returns, is as follows:

In 1841 there was no-one called Crane living in Sandridge.

At the time of the 1851 census William Crane (21, born Sandridge) was one of a number of hired agricultural labourers living in Bailiff's Cottage, Sandridgebury, Sandridge. John Kinder was living in Sandridgebury and was almost certainly his employer. Living in Sandridge village was a Thomas Crane (43, born Codicote, agricultural labourer) and his wife Sophia (38, born Sandridge).

In 1861 William Crane (31, born Codicote, agricultural labourer) was living at Beech Bottom with his wife Emily (26, born Sandridge) and children Mary (8), James (6), William (4), Ann (2) and Martha (2 months). All the children were born in Sandridge.

In January 1866 a 15 year old boy, William Barnes, was charged with stealing a chicken from his employer, Mr Thomas Kinder, of Sandridgebury. One of the witnesses was William Crane, cowman for Thomas Kinder. William Barnes was sentenced to one month's imprisonment with hard labour. (The account of William Crane's evidence was in the Herts Advertiser of 27th January, 1866, and unfortunately I do not have a copy. The St Albans Central Library has a microfilm and might be prepared to make a copy for a fee.)

In the 1871 census William Crane (40, born Codicote, farm labourer) was living at Beech Bottom with his wife Rebecca (25, born Sandridge, hat maker) and children Mary (18, hat maker), Ann (12, scholar), Martha (10, scholar), Ellen (4) and Eliza (3). Also in the house was William's brother-in-law, Thomas Archer (17, born Sandridge, farm labourer). It would seem that William's first wife had died and he had remarried Rebecca Archer(?). Eliza would appear to be your Elizabet.

In September 1875 William Crane won third prize for cooking apples in Sandridge's first vegetable and flower show, which was held at Sandridgebury,

In the 1881 census William Crane (51, born Codicote, farm bailiff) was at Beech Bottom with Rebecca (35), Ellen (14), Eliza (13) and two young boarders Hannah Barker (6, born Sandridge, scholar) and Minnie Barker (3, born Sandridge).

It is possible (but firm evidence is needed) that the Beech Bottom cottage/house (whose exact position I have not been able to confirm) was vacated about this time, and that the building became the Soot House, of Soot House Lane, (location also uncertain) which is said to have been used by Jacob Reynolds to store soot which was to be used as fertilizer on the farm.

In the 1886 and 1890 Kelly's Directories William is listed (for the first time) as a beer retailer in Sandridge.

In the 1891 census William Crane (60, born Codicote, ???? & publican) at The Woodman, Sandridge village, with Rebecca (45) and Eliza (23). [It could be worth looking a the microfilm of the census returns to see if one can work out his "unreadable" second occupation in the light of what we now know about him.]

In the 1898 Kelly's Directory William is listed as a beer retailer in Sandridge.

I have not checked the 1901 census.

When Elizabet (Eliza) Crane married you say William was described as a dairy man. It is not impossible that he worked for Jacob Reynolds at Heath Farm Dairies, on Bernards Heath, although there were other dairies in the area which also supplied St Albans with milk.

A deceased relative of mine, Beryl Grove, recorded that someone called Avery Crane worked on Heath Farm, almost certainly sometime after the First World War.

The above should give you a good jumping off point for investigating other members of the Crane family - using the techniques described in the help files on this site.

See also The Iron Age, The Beech Bottom Shooting Range and Heath Farm Dairy