7.3 David Windebank and Elizabeth Topper: Births, baptisms, deaths and burials

In the censuses, David Windebank variously gives his year of birth as between 1827-1830. His birthplace is consistently somewhere in Berkshire beginning with B, spelt: Baselton, Bazelton, Bateldon, Baddelton and Baselton. A google search indicates that this is probably Basildon in Berkshire, an area now known as Lower Basildon, and just seven miles from Reading, where he married Elizabeth Topper in 1847, when he would have been around 18-20 years old. His father is named on their marriage certificate as Jeremiah Windebank.

Ancestry, FamilySearch and FindMyPast all have transcriptions of a baptism in Basildon, Berkshire, of David Windebank, son of Jeremiah Windebank and his wife Eleanor on 23 September 1827 (born on 25th July 1827). I have not seen a digital image of the record. His next appearance in the records that I have found is in the 1841 census, where he is shown as aged 13, an Ag. Lab, living in or next door to the household of Edward Parsons, a Smith (the digital image at Ancestry is particularly poor; it is not transcribed at all at The Genealogist). Perhaps he learnt his smithing trade from Mr Parsons.

After a full life working as a shoeing smith/farrier in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and London, David Windebank died, aged 75, on 15^th January 1903. I was a bit puzzled at his place of death on the death certificate:

He died at The Ragged School, Gedling Street, Bermondsey. He was aged 75, described as a Farrier of 298 Lynton Road, Bermondsey. His death was sudden of ‘syncope due to atheroma of aortic valves and fatty degeneration of the heart, natural causes’. A post mortem was performed and an inquest held on 19^th January, so the informant is H.R. Oswald, Coroner for London.

 

The Ragged School in Gedling Street may well have been something to do with the London City Mission in which David Windebank’s son-in-law, John Davis, London City Missionary and husband of Susan Windebank, was a leading figure. He later founded a mission specifically to support US Civil War Veterans like himself at Gedling Street in 1910. There is a short snippet from the London City Press of 1919 which notes a meeting of the London Association of the Civil War Veterans at the Ragged School, Gedling Street, which perhaps proves the link. I had hoped to find an account of the inquest in the newspapers collection at FindMyPast, but have not so far found anything. He was buried in Nunhead Cemetery on 24 January 1903. 

Elizabeth Topper’s places of birth given in the censuses are not as consistent as those of her husband David Windebank. They include: Knightsbridge, Lambeth (twice), Westminster (three times) and Bermondsey. Her year of birth is more consistent, given as 1826 apart from the 1861 census, when it is 1829. We know that her father was Charles James Topper from her marriage certificate. His occupation was difficult to read – possibly Watchman or Waterman.

Ancestry has a baptism record for an Elizabeth Topper at St Mary Lambeth on 4^th October 1826, daughter of Charles and Susan Topper of Mason Street, St Mary, Lambeth. Her date of birth is shown in the margin as 26^th September. Intriguingly, her father’s occupation is given as ‘Bow Street Officer’. Although this doesn’t tie in with ‘Watchman’ in 1847, it is, at a stretch, a similar monitoring/security occupation. 

In the 1841 census, she appears to be living away from home, aged 15, working as a servant to Robert Clark, a Coach Carver, at James Street, Marylebone, London. Perhaps she found her way to Reading as a servant, which is where she later met David Windebank? We may never know, as there are few records of female servants outside the censuses and poor law records (and she doesn’t seem to appear in those as far as I can tell). After their marriage, she appears on all the censuses with her husband, apart from the 1881 census, when she is living with her son, Charles James Windebank, Farrier, and daughter-in-law. She is described as Charles’ mother and a ‘monthly nurse’. Her son has a week-old son, so Elizabeth Windebank presumably was there to help look after her new grandson.

Elizabeth Windebank (née Topper), died five years after her husband, on 20^th March 1908. Her death certificate shows that she died of ‘senile decay, certified’, at the Bermondsey Workhouse – probably the only infirmary care they could afford. She is shown as 81 years old, Widow of David Windebank, Farrier (journeyman) of 298 Lynton Road, Bermondsey. The informant is her daughter Elizabeth Sarah Evans (her second husband’s name) of 14 Beechfield Road, Catford. She was buried in Southwark on 28^th March 1908.

 

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view