THE SANBY FAMILY IN SHEFFIELD 1841

There is a record of my great great grandparents HENRY and AGNES SANBY's marriage on 5th August 1849 at The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul (now Sheffield Cathedral). (Sheffield September 1849 GRO Ref Vol 22 Page 497). The marriage certificate shows that Agnes was the daughter of WILLIAM JONES, a plasterer of Marsden Lane, Sheffield. She was nineteen when she married. HENRY was a year older than Agnes and his occupation is given as Edge Tool Maker - this is the same occupation as his father JOSEPH SANBY. The address is given as Brown Street, Sheffield. 

JOSEPH SANBY and WILLIAM JONES are my great great great grandfathers.

Once I had this information, which is incidentally verified by subsequent censuses, I referred to the 1841 Census Index for the Sheffield area and the surname SANBY. (See notes below)

 The 1851 Census index for Sheffield added the following information

There is no doubt in my mind that the JOSEPH SANBY who was 35 years of age in 1841 and 45 ten years later is the same person who was christened in The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul (now Sheffield Cathedral) on 6th April 1806 (Source Information IGI Batch No C150521 Dates 1805 - 1808 Source Call No 0919327). The date of birth is given as 17th March 1806 but more importantly it gives his parents as JOSEPH SANBY and JANE. 

Apart from JOSEPH, the three other children I know of are

• ANNIE SANDBY who was born on 22nd February 1812 and christened on 15th March 1812

• ELIZABETH SANBY who was christened on 31st July 1814

• HENRY SANBY who was baptised December 25, 1826, by M Preston at Sheffield Parish Church , Church Street, Sheffield .Parents name(s) are Jane & Joseph (Edge Tool Maker).

The christenings took place in The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul (now Sheffield Cathedral). They are my great great great grandfathers younger brother and sisters. 

Incidentally JOSEPH and JANE were married on 23rd January 1803 in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottingham, England. (Source Information IGI Batch No M059392 Dates 1626-1812 Source Call No 0503791). Jane's maiden name was SLIGHT. The Parish Church is named St Edmund, King and Martyr. 

The information in the 1841 - 1851 Census is pivotal is tracing the origins of my SANBY ancestors. The two Census gives a clear indication that Joseph SANBY, (1806- 1876) married a woman called HANNAH (ANN), and that they had the following children Mary (1826), Henry (1829), William (1834), Frederick (1837), George (1839), Elizabeth (1840) prior to 1841. After that they had Caroline (1843), Hannah (1844) and Edwin (1846). They may also have had others whose names are sadly not recorded.

Frederick and William's baptisms are recorded. Sheffield Parish Church is now Sheffield Cathedral

    Sanby, Frederick (of Sheffield, born 1836-11-26).
     Baptised January 1, 1837, by J. Gibson at Sheffield Parish Church, Church Street, Sheffield.
     Parents name(s) are Ann & Joseph (Edge Tool Maker).    

    Sanby, William (of Sheffield, born 1834-06-25).
     Baptised January 1, 1837, by J. Gibson at Sheffield Parish Church, Church Street, Sheffield.
     Parents name(s) are Ann & Joseph (Edge Tool Maker).

The sad part that was common in many Victorian working class families was the high mortality rates for children. There are records to show that Henry's two younger brothers both died within two years of each other  - WILLIAM died in the December quarter of 1843 (GRO Ref Sheffield Volume 22 Page 346) and FREDERICK two years later in the December quarter of 1845 (GRO Ref Sheffield Volume 22 Page 427). Henry was to name two of his sons after his brothers who did not even reach ten years of age.

The other death that I have found is for JANE SANBY (nee SLIGHT) whose death is recorded in the March quarter of 1847 (GRO ref Vol 22 Page 537). She was their grandmother and the wife of JOSEPH.

The other births I have found to date are for three of my great great grandfather Henry's younger sisters

• ELIZABETH SANBY - born in the December quarter of 1840 (GRO ref Ecclesall Bierlow, Vol 22 Page 1119)

• CAROLINE SANBY - born in the December quarter of 1842 (GRO ref Ecclesall Bierlow, Vol 22 Page 1_ _) 

• HANNAH SANBY - born in the December quarter of 1844 (GRO ref Sheffield Vol 22 Page 570)

and his two younger brothers

4. GEORGE SANBY - - born in the December quarter of 1838 (GRO ref Sheffield Vol 22 Page 528)

5. EDWIN SANBY - born in the June quarter of 1846 (GRO ref Sheffield Vol 22 Page 665)

The next task is to trace JOSEPH's origins in Lincolnshire. As far as I can ascertain the place of Olbridge does not exist in Lincolnshire. As I mentioned in the footnotes, the vast majority of people living in England in the 1840's were illiterate, so the census enumerator wrote down what he heard, or thought he heard. This leads to many variations in spelling of names. Olbridge seems like a phonetic spelling for the town of Holbeach in Lincolnshire. If the age of Joseph in the 1851 is correct - 79, this would give him a date of birth circa 1772 in Holbeach, Lincolnshire. However if the age in the 1841 Census is correct - 65. this would give him a date of birth circa 1776. If the latter proves to be the case (and proving it will be nigh on impossible), there is a possibility that JOSEPH's christening is recorded in the Parish Registers at the parish church in Holbeach. On 22nd November 1776, JOSEPH SANDBY was christened in the church. He was the son of THOMAS and ELIZABETH SANDBY. It is only pure speculation at the moment. A more certain piece of information is that in the December quarter of 1853. Joseph Sanby died (GRO ref Sheffield Volume 9c Page 156). This would have made him 81 at the time of death.

The only other information on JOSEPH SANBY is from White's 1857 Directory for Derbyshire which lists a Joseph Sanby living at 42 Little Sheffield and trading as a greengrocer. The 1849 certificate gives JOSEPH the occupation of Edge Tool Maker but he is the only JOSEPH SANBY listed in the 1851 Census of working age in Sheffield. (his father is 79).

Before I can be certain though I will need to check the 1861 Census for Sheffield. Little Sheffield is the area that ran from about Pomona Street off Ecclesall Rd and over Cemetery Rd almost to Sharrow Lane, down to St Mary's Church on Bramall Lane, up Abbeydale Rd again to almost as far as Sharrow Lane. However, the area below Havelock Sq and as far as Eyre St seems to be included in the description on occasions.

The Sanby Family in Sheffield 1871 

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The 1841 census was the first census of the country in which the names of individuals were officially recorded and retained, and so is the first general census of use to genealogists and family historians. Nevertheless, the information is very limited compared to that in later censuses. The major differences from the censuses which followed are:

• The head of each household is not specifically identified, although he/she is normally the first person listed.
• The relationship of each person to the head of the household is not stated.
• Ages of adults are rounded, not exact. Anyone aged from 15 to 19 is listed as age 15, anyone from 20 to 24 is shown as 20, etc.
• Marital status is not shown.
• Two small columns are used for place of birth instead of the one larger column in later censuses. The first states "Yes" or "No", often abbreviated to a single initial letter, to the question "Born in the same county?". The second indicates by an initial letter whether the person was "Born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts".

The columns shown on the enumeration schedules for this census are:

• PLACE
• HOUSES, sub-divided into:
  • Uninhabited or Building
  • Inhabited
• NAMES of each Person who abode therein the preceding Night
• AGE and SEX, subdivided into:
  • Male
  • Female
• PROFESSION, TRADE, EMPLOYMENT or of INDEPENDENT MEANS
• Where Born, subdivided into:
  • Whether Born in same County
  • Whether Born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts

In addition to those limitations, the quality of the records is often poor, for a variety of reasons:

• The handwriting used is in some cases so poor as to be unintelligible.
• There are often marks on the original which obscure the writing. Ages are particularly prone to this problem, on this and later censuses.
• Most people at the time were illiterate, so the enumerator wrote down what he heard, or thought he heard. This leads to many variations in spelling of names. 
• The quality of filming the original records is vary variable, some being too faint to read. (Access is available only to the films, not the original paper records).
• The schedules which were retained and filmed were themselves transcribed by the enumerators from their own original records, and so are prone to transcription errors.

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This page was last updated on 08/03/23 15:55