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Emily Isabel Woodhurst was born in 1844 to parents Richard William (1) Woodhurst (RWW) and his first wife Susannah Miller, and was almost certainly their first child. Her birth certificate [Birth Index: Stepney II 448, 1844 (June)] states that she was born at her parents' residence at 16, Copenhagen Place, Limehouse on April 24th 1844. RWW's occupation at that time is cited as labourer. Her middle name may have been chosen in memory of RWW's maternal grandmother Isabella.
On September 22nd 1861 in Bethnal Green Parish Church of St. Matthew she married her cousin James William (1) Woodhurst. The marriage certificate [Marriage Index: Bethnal Green 1c 601, 1861 (Sept)] describes her father RWW as a hatter and gives her place of residence (and her husband's) as 14, Virginia Row. They were both 'minors' (aged under 21). James' second name William is not mentioned. He was a clerk in a telegraph office whilst his own father, James (2) Woodhurst, was a porter. James (2) was RWW's younger brother. The witnesses were Elizabeth Marlow and Sarah Middleton whose connections are unknown. The above-cited GRO reference has two occurrences in the Marriage Index, one giving her middle name as Isabella and the other as Isabel. This may indicate that it was first registered incorrectly as Isabella and that she later discovered this and had the register amended.
Virginia Row no longer exists. The 1861 Census associates it with Old Castle Street in Shoreditch and classifies it as lying within the North Ward of Bethnal Green. Old Castle Street and Virginia Row corresponded closely to today's Virginia Road which extends north-east from the Old Shoreditch Church (St. Leonard's) on the east side of Shoreditch High Street. The census records for Virginia Row are confusing, offering four series of dwellings: 26a-29a, 1b-17b, 1c-7c and 1d-13d. It is not clear to which series the '14' cited on the certificate would have belonged. In the 'b' series the census officer noted that dwellings 13 and 14 were uninhabited. The census index notes that some records are missing for the street. A complete search of all the street's surviving records discloses no Woodhursts. However, the census was taken on April 8th, nearly half a year before the wedding.
The 1871 Census finds her at age 26 with her husband living at 2, Parliament Road in the St. John area of Hampstead. There were no children (or anyone else) living with them.
The dreadful living conditions in Bethnal Green in 1871 - doubtless much as they were in 1861 - are described in a contemporary article A fresh visit to Bethnal Green published in "The Builder". It mentions Old Castle Street and Virginia Row, as well as an Essex Street - possibly the one where James (2) was living when he married in 1841.
The 1881 Census finds her and her husband living at a more salubrious address 5, Coningsby Road in South Ealing, Middlesex. There were no children (or anyone else) living with them.
Her husband died of tuberculosis in 1884.
The 1891 Census finds her at age "47" [but actually three weeks short of 47], widowed and lodging at 23, Blanchard Road in Hackney. She was therefore just a few doors away from her mother, who was then living at No. 17 as the wife of James Cooke Taylor. Two other households were living at No. 23, one of which included a child Emily Jane Crane aged 4 who may have been named after Emily Isabel.
She died in 1893. Her death certificate [Death Index: Hackney 1b 414, 1893 (Dec)] states that she died aged 49 at Hackney Infirmary on December 13th 1893. She is described as the widow of James William (1) Woodhurst, a police inspector, and as residing then at 17, Blanchard Road (her mother's home) in Hackney. The cause of death was bronchitis and the informant was her mother Susannah, cited as 'S. Taylor, mother, in attendance'.