Jane Dixon and the Barnes
Jane Dixon, daughter of our first ancestor old Isaac Dixon of Welling was born in Bexley, Kent 27 Dec 1807 and moved with the rest of the family to Harrow on the Hill.
She met and married a tailor called John Barnes who was born in Codford St Peters, in the middle of Salisbury Plain, Wilts in 1809. I expect that they met when John came up to London on a shopping trip or perhaps John was training as a tailor? John and Jane were married in St Peter Walworth on 6 June 1831 by Gilbert Chesnutt, Assistant Minister in the presence of Miss Williams. Clarissa Dixon and Adeline Dixon (her sisters) were witnesses.
After their marriage they lived in Walworth because the first child, Adeline was born there in 1832. They were strong in their religion like their parents. Her parents were Baptist and we see this family are Wesleyans / Methodists.
The young family moved to a very remote village in the middle of the Salisbury Plain in 1833. Why Tisbury? Tisbury was a hotbed of dissenters. Between 1818 and 1848 nine dissenters' meeting houses in Tisbury parish were certified. In 1846 a small, hexagonal, stone chapel was built for Wesleyan Methodists at the Quarry in Tisbury village. And it was hive of activity for tailors, so they moved here for work.
In Tisford they lived at 9 Tuckingmill and we find that John is a tailor and Jane is a “taylor’s wife”. Their neighbours were a cheese merchant and on the other side a pauper. Three doors down lived the family of John Goodellow, a carpenter aged 25 unmarried.
The photo below shows the chapel where the family worshipped. It was an art studio when I visited it n 2024. And the photo on the right is the street heading up to Tuckingmill from the chapel.
In 1825 a short-lived industrial venture began with the building of a cloth factory at the southern end of Fonthill Lake. There was a 6-storey block, a 5-storey factory with 3 water wheels, a drying house and a dyehouse. The buildings were erected by the eccentric Mr Farquhar, a retired gunpowder maker, and completed by 1827 with a house and 24 cottages. The idea was to weave a superfine woollen cloth and 200 people, mainly from Gloucestershire, were employed. Despite an abundant supply of water, the venture failed, probably as this was a remote area, with poor communications and a factory could not compete with the steam powered ones of western Wiltshire that were sited near canals. The machinery was sold in 1830 and the buildings demolished between 1838 and 1886.
< https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom2.php?id=225>
Jane and John’s children:
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Adeline Barnes 1832- 1917 Md James Hunt 1838 -1921
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Clarissa Barnes 1834 – 1925 Md John H Goodfellow
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Adolphus Barnes 1836 – 1909 Md Elizabeth
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Walter Barnes 1838 - 1853
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Annette Barnes 1844 - 1852
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Fanny Jane Barnes 1846 – 1930 Md Henry Bellman
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Ellen Barnes 1850
Disaster struck this family in 1852 when John died 13 Nov aged just 43. I have no idea what happened to the family because they are not listed in the 1861 census. By 1871 Jane had left the sweet smell of the Wiltshire countryside behind and was sharing a house with her daughter Fanny Jane, who was married to Henry J Bellman. They were living at 11 Landcroft Road, Lambeth together with her daughter Ellen aged 23. Fanny and Henry had three children. Jane’s occupation was listed as an annuitant .. ie she had some sort of pension or allowance. Also living with them was her grand-daughter Clarissa Goodfellow aged 5 see her story below.
Jane spent the rest of her days living near or with her daughters. By 1881 she was living with her daughter Adeline in Tunbridge, Kent. Interesting that in the 1871 census her daughter Ellen Barnes was also with her at Fanny’s house and so was a grand-daughter Clarissa Goodfellow aged 5 b Frome.
She died in Dec 1885 in Guildford, Surrey
11 Landcroft Road, Camberwell
Adeline Barnes
Adeline Barnes b 16 Jan 1832; baptised 28 Oct 1832 Wesleyan chapel Walworth. Adeline had left home by 1851 and in 1857 was living at 7 Mount Street Newington back in London. She married James Hunt son of William Hunt a farmer from Borstall, Bucks. James was a draper and they were married 25 Dec 1857. They too, are not to be found in 1861, but from later censuses we find that James does quite well for himself. In 1871 and 1881 they are living in a house in the High Street in Tunbridge, Kent; in 1891 they are in 2 houses – 136 & 138 High Street and James is a draper and outfitter; 1901 they are at 146 High Street and by 1911 they again have two buildings – 144/146 High Street. The photo below is of the same location but taken in 2022.
Left 136 & 138 High Street, Tunbridge, Kent
We think of drapers as the people we see in the BBC TV series the Paradise and ITV’s Mr Selfridge – astute businessmen making a good living selling clothes. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the nineteenth century, drapers were despised. HG Wells (author of the Time Machine and War of the Worlds) did a draper’s apprenticeship and wrote about the drudgery and feeling of entrapment. The feeling of the day was that male drapers were thought to prey in an unchivalrous way upon ‘weak’ women, tempting them to get into debt to buy the latest fashions. They were unpopular with men because much of the household cash went to the drapers to outfit their women.
Photo left is not our Barnes drapers, but was situated in Chatteris, Cambs. Our ancestor’s shop probably looked much the same
However, drapers faced the same difficulties that all shopkeepers encountered but they also needed to keep pace with an ever-growing range of textiles, including newly developed artificial fibres, And they had to be aware of the latest fashions, and were expected to talk authoritatively about the qualities and care of fabrics to an often fussy female clientele.
The retail linen draper draped selected fabrics across his doorway so they could be seen and felt. Since ready-to-wear clothes were not readily available until the mid-19th century drapers were in great demand by seamstresses and tailors. The London establishments were sometimes huge, with dozens of live-in staff called draper’s assistants, as can be seen from the census returns. We can see that the Barnes had lots of staff even in their small shops.
James and Adeline had three children:
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Ada Louisa Hunt. Ada was born in Nunhead, Lambeth in 1861. She never married, stayed home and worked in the drapery business. When her father, James died, his estate went to Ada, effects £2292.14s.6d (£97,867.58 in 2025
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Clara Lina Hunt born in the summer of 1859 in Nunhead Surrey. Clara married David Charles "Charlie" Smith in the spring of 1885 in Tonbridge. Clara was in the drapery business as was her husband and and they lived all over London. In 1901 she and Charlie were living at 46 Milner Square, Islington; in 1911 he was a linen draper’s salesman. In 1891 they were living above their own drapers shop at 6 Stamford Hill (just up from the Weavers Arms).In 1911 they were at 10 and 12 Ennis Place/Road, Finsbury Park.
Above: Charlie Smith
Right: Charlie and his older brother Herbert William Smith
Thanks to Ailleen McKay and Peter Nicholls
Charlie Smith died 28 Jul 1932 at St Columbus Hospital, Swiss Cottage. His estate was valued at £1644 (£100,097). Clara died in Jan 1939 in Edmonton. Clara and Charlie only had two children:
Cecil Charles Smith b 31 Jan 1886 Bermondsey. He became an electrical engineer. In 1911 he lived in Dulwich 128 Craxted Road and was lodging with Edward Buckingham, a meat salesman. He married Ivy Florence Vogel (b 31 Dec 1885) in July 1918 in St Pancras. In 1939 he was living in Battersea and working as cost accountant at a motor transport company and died 19 Oct 1955 at St Benedict's Hospital, London. His estate was valued at £1529 (£35,079 in 2025). (The photos are from peternicholls150 on ancestry.com).
Cecil and Ivy had a son:
Dennis Cecil Smith b 31 Aug 1920 118 St George’s Avenue, Tuffnel, Islington. d 31 Oct 1996 Hammersmith. Dennis lived in Radlett, Hertfordshire for 30 years. During WW2 he was a lieutenant. Dennis married Joan Beatrice Morton, who was in the ATS Whitehall Signals and afterwards worked as a primary school teacher. Joan was born 3 Sep 1920 at 8 Wanderers Avenue, Wolverhampton. She died 5 Oct 2018 at Perrins House, Moorlands Road.
James Stanley Smith b 3 May 1888 Stoke Newington. He became an electrician and by 1939 was a travelling salesman for an electrical engineering company. During WW2 he was an air raid warden for Ealing. James married 5 May 1918 to Edith Kathleen Doe at St Augustine, Paddington. Edith b 18 Apr 1894 and died at 69 Whitton Avenue East, Greenford 23 Mar 1974. Probate £1211. They had a son:
Ivor S Smith b 14 Apr 1922. He became a capstan lathe setter operator. He lived at 97 Hornsey lane, with his wife Audrey D J.
Clarissa Barnes
Clarissa Barnes the second child of Jane Dixon and John Barnes was b 11 Mar 1844 and christened 30 Nov 1834 at the Independent chapel in Tisbury. A few doors down there lived a lad called John Hannam Goodfellow b 1825 and they may have been childhood sweethearts because Clarissa and John were married.
There are many instances of Goodfellows to be found in the jewellery and clock making industries. John Goodfellow was born circa 1807 in Ditcheat, Somerset and trained to become a carpenter. I expect he was there because of the new works that were being put up, but after the enterprise folded, the couple moved into Frome in Somerset. She became a milliner.
The 1861 census shows us that they were living in Frome, Somerset at 8 Lower Keyford. John does well for himself and learns many new skills and once again we find that by 1871 John was the foreman of an iron works in High Wycombe. They lived in Castle Street. The enumerator didn’t put in the numbers. Sometime between 1871 and 1891, John died and the family moved to Leicestershire.
Clarissa's sons learn the watchmaking and jewellery trade. In the 1881 census Clarissa is listed as a visitor and staying with Robert James aged 63, a farmer of 48 acres at Batscombe, Somerset. Her son, Edgar, aged 19 is with her. His occupation is a drapers assistant. By 1891, the whole family is staying at Edgar’s house – way up in Leicestershire. Edgar and Sydney are listed as watchmakers and jewellers and they are living at 30 ½ Castle Street in Hinkley, Leicestershire. (That’s right 30 and a half!!). Edgar is the head of the household, and there was a Laurie C who was listed as a wife – not sure if that is the wife of Edgar or Sidney. Edith is also at home – a close knit family. In 1901 Clarissa was a matron of a nursing home in Leicester and living at 45 Princess Street aged 65 with one servant.
And in 1911 she is living in the home of her daughter’s husband at Brook House, Syston, Leicestershire. This is a tad confusing entry as the head of the house is George John Bruford (watchmaker, jeweller and shopkeeper) who has been married 21 years and had two children, one still living. In the house is Edith Lavinia Goodfellow (wife’s sister) aged 47 single b Frome, 5 boarders and Clarissa Goodfellow aged 77 a widow. Under birthplace, Tisbury Wilts was originally put in but that a line through it and the words Walworth London.
Clarissa led a good and healthy life and died in the June quarter 1925 at Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire