Biography: Henry Lowe (1821-1892) & Bridget Fox (1821-1893)

Henry Lowe was born in 1821* in the county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. Henry was baptised in the village of Chilwell (which means cold well) in a suburb of the city of Nottingham called Attenborough. Famous for being the home of the medieval legend of Robin Hood, Nottingham is about 200 km north of London.

Nottinghamshire borders south Yorkshire to the northwest, Lincolnshire to the east, 

Leicestershire to the south and Derbyshire to the west.**

The decade when Henry was born was a time of peace for the British Empire after the Napoleonic wars (which ended in 1815). Henry was of the same generation as the Bronte sisters who were born in 1816, 1818 and 1820, although they lived a little further north in the county of Yorkshire. If you've read their stories or seen films based on them, you'll get a feeling for the period in which Henry lived. Victoria, who would later become queen, was born in 1819, just two years earlier than Henry, so she too was a contemporary. Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and his novels were written during the period when Henry lived.

Flag of the county of Nottinghamshire, England showing an image of Robin Hood

The population of the Nottingham area at the time of Henry’s birth was about 40,000. Records show that the city had 1,500 people in the 11th century, and by the end of the 17th century had reached 5,000. But 100 years later, Nottingham had grown to almost 30,000. The population continued to rise throughout the 1800s and was 159,000 in 1881. This was a classic example of the industrialization in England that started in the mid 1700s with thousands of people moving to cities every year to find work in mines, foundries, factories and textile mills.

This Plan of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham and of the several extra Parochial place within the Libertines of the Castle, together with parts of the Parishes of Lenton, Radford and Sneinton, in the County of Nottingham – From Surveys made in the Years 1827, 1828 & 1829 is dedicated with every sentiment of respect by their most obedient servants E. Staveley & H.M. Wood.***

In the first edition of The History, Gazeteer and Directory of Nottinghamshire, published in 1832, there were 70 hosiery manufacturers, 186 lace manufacturers, and 257 bobbin-net makers in the Nottingham area. The bobbin-net was a lacemaking machine invented in 1808. Another 546 bobbin-net makers were listed in the four industrial villages nearest to the town. This would indicate that the main industries, other than farming, were all related to textiles.

Excerpt from the History, Gazeteer and Directory of Nottinghamshire published in 1832 .****

The baptism record for Henry shows that his father was John Lowe, a labourer, and that his mother's first name was Elizabeth. Unfortunately, the term labourer is too vague to be sure what John did for a living. In a later document, John is shown to be a gardener, so agricultural labourer is a possibility.

The church where Henry was baptised, St. Mary the Virgin, appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 indicating that the building had been constructed before then, and part of that original structure still exists today. Additions and restorations have occurred since 1821, but other than the new spire, the following photograph shows the church much as it would have looked when Henry was baptised there. Since Robin Hood was supposed to have lived in the 13th or 14th century, this church would have already existed for a couple of hundred of years by the the time of his legend. 

St. Mary the Virgin church in Attenborough, Nottinghamshire.***

The church has eight bells in the bell tower today, one of which dates to 1370, coincidentally about the same time historians believe the first ballad was written about Robin Hood. Another of the bells dates to 1631, a third to 1733 and a fourth to 1749. The remaining four bells are from the 20th century. These bells are still rung on special occasions, and, as indicated by their age, four of them have been ringing for centuries. Henry would surely have heard the four oldest bells ring while he was growing up. 

Amazingly, we can listen to those same bells today, 200 years later, as part of the eight bells recorded here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRqYEMRMvaY 

Read more about the bells here: https://southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/nottingham-st-mary/hbells.php

Politically, the 1820s through 1830s when Henry was young was a time of reform throughout England. In 1822, Britain abolished the death penalty for more than 100 crimes. By the end of the decade, barbaric punishments, such as drawing & quartering and flagellation, fell out of use, and the government repealed many oppressive laws, including one against Roman Catholics. But in 1831, when Henry was 10 years old, the House of Lords rejected the Great Reform Bill, which was intended to increase the number of people who were allowed to vote and provide fair representation in parliament. At the time, only wealthy land owners were permitted to vote. The people of Nottingham were so angry that the bill didn't pass that they rioted and burned down the nearby castle of the Duke of Newcastle, who had opposed the reform.

One of the reasons the population wanted better representation in government was that conditions throughout England, particularly in cities, were grim. Nottingham was a dirty, unsanitary place, and in 1833, when Henry was 12, a cholera epidemic killed 330 people there.

Conditions did improve somewhat and progress continued during the 1830s. The election reform act did pass in 1832 giving more men (not women) the right to vote. Nottingham had a police force by 1835, and in 1839 the railroad arrived in the city. Queen Victoria became the monarch, inheriting the throne in 1837 when both she and Henry were still teenagers. However, with progress and industrialization comes increased population. Nottingham, like other cities in Britain, suffered from overcrowding and disease throughout the 1800s.

Henry may have been keen to leave the area as a result of those conditions, because on 3 January 1842, he enlisted in the British army. He was 20 years old and signed up for the 3rd Dragoon Guards, a horse guard or light cavalry regiment. Henry may have come from a poor family and was looking for a way to make money. The army would have given him a steady income and offered adventure and an opportunity to travel. But Henry may have been specifically targeted by recruiters.

During that period, British army recruiters often set up in pubs looking for men who fit their regiment's requirements. The requirements for the 3rd Dragoon Guards was tall men with long legs who could ride big horses. Henry’s service record shows that he was 5 ft. 9-3/4 in. with a fair complexion, grey eyes and sandy hair. That height is not considered tall by today’s standards, but the average height of an Englishman in the 1800s was 5 ft. 5-1/2 in. Height actually declined during the industrial revolution by several inches from the middle ages, when the average height for a man was about 5 ft. 8 in. This was apparently due to poor diet, unsanitary conditions, and a decline in working environments. That height loss was not recovered until the 20th century.

Description of Henry Lowe from service record.

So at nearly 5 ft. 10 in., Henry was certainly tall for the time and would have stood out to 3rd Dragoon Guards recruiters as a good candidate for their regiment. There is also one more possibility, and that's that Henry's father or another family member had served in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and Henry had deliberately chosen that regiment. Most young men followed in their father's footsteps, and if a father had been in the army, the son usually joined the same regiment.

Henry signed up for the army in Nottingham, which was where he was baptised, so he'd likely not gone far during his first 20 years. His attestation shows that he was a gardener at the time he enlisted, which might have meant agricultural worker (farmer) but could also have meant a groundskeeper for an estate or government property. On Henry's marriage registry later, his father is also shown to be a gardener, so Henry likely had learned the occupation from his father.

Henry became a private and his regimental number was 647. As noted, the 3rd Dragoon Guards was a horse guard and was similar to a national mounted police force (think RCMP in Canada in the 1800s). The regiment’s units moved around the British empire 'keeping the peace.' (For more information about Henry’s career in the military see the separate post in the military section.)

Painting of a 3rd Dragoon Guards officer circa 1850.

We don't know for certain where Henry spent the first couple of years but Henry was stationed in Dublin at some point, because he married an Irish lass named Bridget Fox in the city on 23 November 1846. There may have been a reason for the couple marrying at that time as the regiment was being moved from Ireland to Scotland. If Henry and Bridget were courting, they’d need to marry for him to take her with him. In fact, they married twice. 

For a marriage to be legal in the British Empire at the time, a couple had to wed in the official church, The Church of England in England and the Church of Ireland in Ireland, both of which we call Anglican in North America today. Since Henry was in the army, he’d definitely need for the marriage to be legal so that his wife could live in army quarters.

Marriage record for Henry Lowe & Bridget Fox in St. George's Anglican church.

The record above is for the marriage in the Anglican parish church of St. George, Drumcondra, Dublin. St. George’s parish had been established in 1793, but the church they were wed in would have been built in 1802 and was known as the New St. George's. The witness for the groom was Michael McDonnell, who may have been an army buddy of Henry's. The witness for the bride was John Fox. Bridget's father was named John but she may also have had a brother named John, so this could have been either of them. Witnesses to marriages were often siblings of the bride or groom. 

Based on his baptism, Henry was Anglican, but Bridget was Catholic, so she would have wanted a Catholic wedding as well. And sure enough, a second marriage was held the same day at St. Michan's Roman Catholic Church. This church was constructed in 1686, but the foundation for a church had been built on that site in 1095. St. Michan's claims to be the oldest parish in Dublin and is famous for its crypt, which contains an 800-year-old mummy.

In the Catholic marriage registry, Henry and Bridget are shown in the Latin versions of their names as Henricus Lowe and Brigidam Fox. The priest who performed the wedding was J. McMahon. Witnesses were Michael McDonnell (the same witness for the Anglican marriage) and Anna Fox, who was likely Bridget’s sister, cousin or sister-in-law.

Unfortunately, the original Catholic document is in poor condition and the microfilm copy is nearly unreadable. On the couple’s Anglican marriage registration, Bridget’s father was shown to be a gardener named John Fox. Bridget herself was listed as a servant, which was one of only a few acceptable occupations for single young women then. Due to a lack of census records for that period in Ireland, not much is known about Bridget’s family before she married Henry. 

St. Michan's church in Dublin.***

A parish baptism shows a Bridget Fox with a father named John baptised in Dublin in 1821. If that is our Bridget then she and Henry were the same age and were both in their 20s at the time of the wedding.

Parish baptism registry for Bridget Fox in 1821 with father John and mother Bridget.

To understand the Ireland of Bridget's youth, we must be aware that all of Ireland had been under British control since the 1600s. The Irish had rebelled against British rule in 1798, and the early 1800s saw a continuation of the repercussions for that, including deportation to Australia, and of unrest throughout the country. During the 1820s, rallies were held in support of Catholic emancipation, resulting in the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, freeing those who practiced that religion from government discrimination. This was followed by the Tithe War from 1830 through to 1836, which mainly consisting of civil disobedience and passive resistance with occasional flare ups of violence. The campaign was a reaction to the enforcement of tithes for the upkeep of the state church, the Church of Ireland. Payment of tithes was compulsory, regardless of an individual's religious adherence. Roman Catholics, who represented 75 percent of the population of Ireland, felt the tithes were unfair. In 1838, the British Poor Law established workhouses throughout the empire, including Ireland. The intent was to create institutions where the destitute, aged and ill could find relief. But in reality, workhouses were bleak and degrading, often removing the poor from their homes and separating families. Political unrest continued into the 1840s, and then the potato blight struck, devastating the country. This was the world Bridget grew up in.

Dublin from Phoenix Park 1837 (from a book called Dublin Delineated).***

King's Bridge and the Royal Barracks in the background 1837

(from a book called Dublin Delineated).***

Henry's and many other units of the British army were deployed to Ireland before, during and after the famine. Historians disagree on the intent of the British government in using the army in Ireland during the Great Famine. Some say that it was to subjugate the population while the English took their remaining food, leaving the Irish starving. Others insist that it was to help the suffering country. Whatever the intent, history has shown that the British did little to assist the starving in Ireland, and in the end, one million people died. The different army regiments were rotated throughout the British empire, and Henry’s unit was moved out of Ireland in 1846, the year the potato crop failed nearly completely. But Scotland was suffering from its own potato famine, although not as severe, and also experiencing unrest. The 3rd Dragoon Guards was sent to Scotland at the end of 1846 shortly after Henry and Bridget wed. 

We know that Bridget went with Henry to Scotland, because she gave birth to a daughter named Mary in Edinburgh in 1848. Women, both wives of soldiers and 'camp followers' (prostitutes), were a common part of army life before the mid-1800s. Wives often performed unofficial work such as cooking and laundry and were paid by both individual soldiers and the regiment for these services. So Bridget may have been making a small living by carrying out domestic tasks. Each regiment had its own rules about living arrangements for both married and unmarried women, but in the first half of the 1800s, wives and children were typically permitted in barracks. Allowing women to travel with a regiment fell out of favour in the second half of the nineteenth century and was gradually phased out.

This photo shows the wife of a non-commissioned officer feeding soldiers of the 4th Dragoon Guards in camp during the Crimean War, 1855. Bridget would have worn similar clothing, although probably not as high quality.****

The regimental history shows that units of the 3rd Dragoon Guards were dispersed throughout England from 1848 to 1852. Bridget gave birth to a daughter named Elizabeth in Nottingham in 1849, indicating that the unit was stationed in the area. Nottingham is where Henry was born, so that likely would have been a homecoming for him. Then in 1851, their son Henry (sometimes shown as Joseph Henry in records) was born in Bury, Lancashire at the army barracks there.

This is the barracks where Henry & Bridget lived during their time in Bury, Lancashire and is where their son Henry Joseph was born. There may have been an infirmary, but if not, she'd have given birth in the general living quarters. ***

These transfers from one location to another were common as army units were moved frequently to prevent soldiers from becoming attached to any one area or to the locals. Those attachments could make it difficult for soldiers to carry out orders that involved controlling or oppressing the population.

Bridget likely left England for Ireland after her son Henry’s birth since she does not appear in the 1851 English census that was taken a few weeks later. In that census, Henry is shown to be living alone in the army barracks at Bury. Bridget had (at least) three small children by then and may have found it difficult to care for them without the help of her family. She appears to have chosen to return to Dublin without her husband. Luckily, Henry’s regiment was sent back to Ireland in 1852, which may have been anticipated. If the orders had been given for his unit to transfer to Ireland by early 1851, the couple would have expected to be reunited in the near future making her return home even more understandable.

The couple had their next child, Arnold, in the town of Ballincollig, Ireland in 1853 or 1854 (this was pre-civil registration in Ireland and no baptism has been found). Ballingcollig is in the south of the country in the county of Cork.

Postcard showing the canteen at the army camp at Ballincollig (undated).***

Another son, named James, was born to Henry and Bridget in 1856 in Dublin. We don't know if Henry's unit had been sent back to Dublin from Ballincollig or if Bridget had gone home to her family to give birth.

Then in 1857, the 3rd Dragoon Guards was sent to India. With several young children, Bridget likely stayed in Dublin rather than following her husband overseas. And as noted, women were being discouraged from travelling with the army by then, although wives of officers continued to accompany their husbands. Henry was in India for three years, and then left the army and returned to the UK in 1860. By the time he was discharged in 1861, Henry had been in the army for 18 years and 146 days.

Henry was reunited with Bridget in Dublin, and their address was 31 Barracks Street. The couple had their next, and probably last, child in Dublin in 1862, a boy named Joseph. It’s possible the couple had more children throughout their marriage, but baptism records haven’t been found for others (so far). Most couples had 10 to 14 children during a marriage, although many did not survive until adulthood. Bridget may have lost children that we don't know about, either due to miscarriage/still birth or to disease as child mortality rates were very high. But since Henry and Bridget were likely away from each other for a significant amount of time while he was in the army, Bridget may have had fewer pregnancies than the average wife. By the time Henry returned from India, Bridget was around 40, which means she may have been unable to have more children after Joseph was born.

Henry and Bridget settled in Dublin, and he took up the occupation of tailor, which he carried out for many years. He probably learned this trade in the army. Making and repairing uniforms, tents and other textiles was important, and soldiers in each unit would have been assigned to that task. In an 1881 city directory, Henry Lowe, tailor, is shown to be doing business at 61 Manor Street.

The larger building on the left is 61 Manor Street today. This building might have been built after 1900 and may not have been the same place that existed in 1881. However, the buildings on the right are older and have been there in the mid-1800s. Note the shop built on to the front of one of the residences on the right. Henry was a tailor and could have run his business from the actual residence but might also have had a shop at the front like this.**

From 1868 onward, a Bridget Lowe appears in Dublin city directories as a grocer and provision dealer. Unfortunately there is no specific address given, only Rosemount, Dundrum, which is an outer suburb of Dublin. If this is our Bridget, she was fined a couple of times for having a scale that was inaccurate. Essentially she was accused of overcharging because her scale was giving wrong weights, whether deliberately or accidentally.

In 1869, Henry was baptised into the Roman Catholic church, probably to please his wife or her family, or to better fit into the community. It's also possible that Bridget's parish priest insisted that Henry officially convert to legitimize the couple's children in the eyes of the church.

At least two of their sons joined the army. Young Henry Joseph served in the 3rd Dragoon Guards like his father and eventually settled in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Arnold served in the Royal Lancaster Regiment and later settled in Wales but eventually moved to Dublin. The rest of the children appear to have stayed in the Dublin area. Henry applied for and received an army pension when he turned 50 in 1871, but the amount was likely not much.

Unfortunately, without census records, we know little of the couple's life in the late 1800s. But in 1892, both Henry and Bridget landed in a workhouse called the North Dublin Poor Law Union, too sick or old to work. In the 1800s, workhouses were the only government-funded institutions available to the aged or infirm. Unless their families had the resources to care for them or to pay for a private hospital, workhouses were the only option. Henry was shown on his admission to be a tailor. Bridget was listed as a servant. Henry died on Christmas day 1892 in the workhouse. Bridget died there in February the following year, 1893, only a couple of months later. 

Henry's workhouse record.

Bridget's workhouse record.

Henry's death registration shows that he died of "senile debility." Bridget's cause of death was listed as "chest affection." They were both in their early 70s when they died and reportedly were buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, Ireland.

* The record for Henry's baptism as shown in genealogy databases has the date as 16 June 1822, however, on documents later in his life he claims his birthday was 10 June 1821. Since the baptism record is from a transcription of a hand-written document (and the original document is not available online for review), I'm guessing that the transcription is wrong. It's also possible that the later records (two of them) are wrong since people didn't have birth certificates and often did not know the exact year they were born. But as there were two records indicating his birth was in 1821, I'm choosing that year over the one record that shows 1822. Until the original baptism record can be reviewed, we won't know for sure. But the vicar for the church in both 1821 and 1822 was named Samuel Turner, so he likely performed the baptism.

** Images from Google Maps and Streetview

*** Images from Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org

**** From the National Army Museum Victorian Soldiering Wives 

(Click on images for larger versions.)

Prepared with information available as of 3 January 2019.