Matilda Jenner, née Yeoman, 1836-1911
During her summertime visits to her brother in Blackham, Sussex, 1905-1907, Anne Gilchrist noted three songs from a Mrs Jenner of Ashurst, Kent (although they are in different counties, Ashurst is actually only 1 mile from Blackham, the other side of the River Medway). Gilchrist didn’t provide any record of the singer’s first name, but her song notes refer to “Mrs Jenner, native of Penshurst” and “Mrs Jenner, 70, from her mother, Mrs Yeoman”. From these clues we can confidently identify her as Matilda Yeoman, baptised at St John the Baptist, Penshurst, on 20th November 1836. Her father Nicholas was a farm labourer, born Chiddingstone c. 1811. He married Jane Coomber (born Hartfield, Sussex, 1812) at the church of St Mary, Chiddingstone in 1833.
The 1841 census shows the couple living with four young children at Fordcombe Green, Penshurst. Matilda was not present when the census was taken – she is listed with a couple in their fifties, Richard and Philadelphia Ashdown, at Hall Boro, Penshurst. In 1851 the family had expanded to include four sons and three daughters, living at Blowers Hill Farm, Penshurst.
At the time of the 1861 census Matilda, now 25, was a house servant for Isaac and Elizabeth Verrall, who ran one of the pubs in Speldhurst (less than 3 miles from Penshurst). Two years later, in 1863, she was married to James Jenner, an agricultural labourer from Ashurst. They appear to have set up home in Ashurst: the 1871 census has them living at Hard Hill, Ashurst with James’ 70 year old father William, two sons, two daughters, and a stepson and stepdaughter. They remained in the village, with the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses listing them as living at The Bank, Ashurst. Matilda must have died not long after the 1911 census, being buried on 6th May 1911 at St Martin of Tours, Ashurst.
Songs
- Babes in the Wood (Roud 288)
- The Banks of Sweet Primroses (Roud 586)
- Green Bushes (Roud 1040)
The three songs which Gilchrist collected from Matilda Jenner had all been learned from a family member.
Jane Yeoman née Coomber, 1812-1887.
‘Green Bushes’ came “from her mother, Mrs Yeoman”.
Matilda Jenner’s mother was born Jane Coomber (or Comber), baptised at Hartfield in Sussex on 12th April 1812. She married Nicholas Yeoman at Chiddingstone in 1836 and lived in Penshurst until her death in 1887. The 1881 census lists her as a widow, occupation ‘Ag lab dairy woman’.
Alfred Yeoman, c1834-1855 (?)
‘Babes in the wood’ was learned “from her eldest brother, as a child”.
This was Alfred who, according to census records, was born in 1833 or 1834. In 1851 he was a farm labourer at Saints Hill, Penshurst, working for Robert Hopkins, “Farmer of 150 acres employing 4 labourers”. Thereafter he seems to disappear from the official record; possibly he was the Alfred Yeomans whose death was recorded in the North Aylesford district in 1855.
Myrah Yeoman, 1835-1901(?)
‘The Banks of Sweet Primroses’ was learned “From her eldest sister”.
The elder of Matilda’s two sisters was Myrah (sometimes given as Myra, Mira, or Mirah, and later as Maria or Marianne). She was baptised at Penshurst, 15th March 1835. At the age of 17 Myrah was working as housemaid for a farmer at Leigh, near Sevenoaks. She married George Woolley, a labourer almost 20 years her senior, at Tunbridge Wells in October 1857, and they continued to live at Leigh. After his death in 1876, she was married in 1880 to Ephraim Haysman, a game keeper. He died in 1885, and in 1891 she was the head of the household, living with her daughter and grand-daughter, both named Florence, at Garden Road, Tunbridge Wells; her occupation was given as “Laundress”. Given the multiplicity of names under which she appears in official records, it’s hard to say for sure, but she was probably the “Mariam Haysman” who died in the Tonbridge district in the final quarter of 1901.
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